Trump allies gang up on Trey Gowdy: Rep. Trey Gowdy has been a pitbull investigator for Republicans for years. Now, he’s in President Donald Trump’s doghouse for daring to challenge the president’s unsupported claim that Democrats and their sympathizers in the FBI embedded a spy in his 2016 campaign. Trump allies have been pummeling Gowdy in recent days, branding him … Read More
Trump Has Been Pressuring Jeff Sessions To Obstruct Justice For Him
Axios: President Trump pressured Attorney General Jeff Sessions to reclaim control of the Russia investigation on at least four separate occasions, three times in person and once over the phone, according to sources familiar with the conversations. Why it matters: The fact that there were multiple conversations shows that Trump’s pressure on Sessions to stop recusing himself was heavier than previously … Read More
Trump Pardons Dinesh D’Souza
Dinesh D’Souza is a conservative “scholar” and terrible filmmaker who has said of Obama “you can take the boy out of the ghetto” ridiculed Michelle Obama as “affirmative action” Princeton student said slavery wasn’t racist, slaves were treated “pretty well” mocked Rosa Parks suggested the Charlottesville rally was staged shared a meme calling Obama a “gay Muslim” suggested Michelle Obama … Read More
David Frum Has Questions
Good ones, too: I’ve compiled a short—and by no means exhaustive—list of the open questions about matters potentially involving criminal law swirling around the president, his campaign, his company, and his family. Trump campaign aides and associates met with Russian agents in advance of the Russian hacks and releases of Democratic internal communications. Did these meetings lead to any form … Read More
The Charges So Far
In an attachment to a court filing (in a case in D.C. federal court where the press wants access to certain government records), the DOJ filed a brief which conveniently had, as an attachment, a summary of all the criminal charges filed to date in the Mueller investigation. 56% of Americans, according to recent poll, think Mueller has not found … Read More
Spygate: The New Faux Counterscandal
SPYGATE! This Trump tweet this morning (he had at least nine, following what was being said on Fox & Friends) started it: This tweet sums it up: A year of faux Russia investigation scandals: -“Wiretapp” -Unmasking -Mueller “conflicted” -Mueller attorneys are Dems -Strzok’s “secret society” -FISA application & Steele -“Spygate” — Justin Miller (@justinjm1) May 23, 2018 There is no … Read More
How To Message The Trump-Russia Scandal
Having written about The Navigator last month, I am glad to see that the second issue deals with how to talk about the Mueller scandal. Some quick takeaways: A majority of Americans — 59 percent — say that Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia and the 2016 campaign has not yet uncovered evidence of any crimes, even though in reality, Mueller … Read More
Adam Serwer: It’s One Scandal
The Atlantic: There are not many Trump scandals. There is one Trump scandal. Singular: the corruption of the American government by the president and his associates, who are using their official power for personal and financial gain rather than for the welfare of the American people, and their attempts to shield that corruption from political consequences, public scrutiny, or legal … Read More
It’s Time To Stop Taking Giuliani Seriously
That’s the title of a Washington Post editorial by Jennifer Rubin, and yes, I agree: President Trump’s TV lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani declared on Sunday that the special counsel plans to wrap up the obstruction-of-justice inquiry into his client by Sept. 1. The press treated this as true, or possibly true, when it is obviously another ludicrous Giuliani utterance (e.g. … Read More
Was The Actual Collusion With The Saudis?
Remember Devin Nunes fake scandal about “unmasking” that caused him to do his “midnight run” to the White House? What people forget that the subject he was so concerned about was that Obama’s National Security Advisor, Susan Rice, and unmasked intelligence data and discovered that Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan had a secret meeting with Flynn, Kushner, and Bannon in NY. That … Read More
Why Did He Release This Email Admitting To Collusion?
Interesting: Released in a tranche of documents by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday morning, the release of this email in particular is likely to further ignite already-existing inquiries into the younger Trump’s knowledge of alleged Russian collusion with the Trump 2016 campaign during the presidential election held that same year. The sender of the email in question is redacted. … Read More
Trump To Instruct The FBI/DOJ To Investigate The Mueller Investigation
On Sunday, Trump’s simmering anger over Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s year-old Russia probe spilled over into a series of well-worn recriminations in several tweets, including that the investigation was politically motivated and had its roots in the administration of his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama. Read Sunday AM tweets from @realDonaldTrump: they are a portrait of a man alone, paranoid, isolated, … Read More
Loose Ends From A Crazy News Day
Yesterday was one of those crazy Trump news days. Big story followed big story. But what was odd was a lot of it was retrospective. Things that happened in the investigation that we are NOW just learning. It clearly got under Trump’s nerves, as shown by his tweets this morning. It is a little silly for him to say that. … Read More
Senate Intelligence Committee — In A Bipartisan Statement — Show Up The House Intel GOP
Picture says it all: Unlike the GOP majority in House Intelligence Committee, the Senate Intelligence Committee states clearly that it agrees with the Intelligence Community Assessment — Russia attempted to interfere with the 2016 election, and Putin ordered it.
Trump Discloses Financials
As I wrote about yesterday, Trump was to disclose his financial liabilities, and there was an open question as to whether he would admit his payments to Cohen as a liability, and how much was paid. Today the public got its answer, sort of. I will attach only the page dealing with financial liabilities. See there at the bottom? He is … Read More