Hurricane Harvey fallout is still with us, as the death toll climbs to 37. Mueller seems to be bearing down on Trump, and is coordinating with New York Attorney General Schneiderman’s office. Mueller is running a tight ship, but we learn about subpoenae and testimony already given. A lot of focus on Manafort. So what was going on at Fox News … Read More
As Houston Struggles, The Trump-Russia Collusion Story Deepens
Houston, the 4th largest city in the United States, is essentially paralyzed. Residents had to be rescued by helicopters and boats as streets turned into raging rivers and made evacuation all but impossible. Rain is expected for a few more days. But the rescue efforts seem to be running along without Katrina-like snafus. Seriously, the rain amount is insane for … Read More
Trump’s Vacation Doesn’t Stop The Tweets (and Leaks)
Nine tweets so far today from Trump — several attacking the “failing” New York Times for an article about 2020 Republicans contenders against Trump, a few trying to reassure everyone that he is actually “working” on his vacation, and this… … which seems to unintentionally confirm that there was… collusion? Ah well. Why did Trump go after Blumenthal? Probably this: … Read More
Breaking: Mueller Empanels DC Grand Jury
In a piece by Del Quentin Wilber and Byron Tau of the Wall Street Journal, just published: Special Counsel Robert Mueller has impaneled a grand jury in Washington to investigate Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections, a sign that his inquiry is growing in intensity and entering a new phase, according to two people familiar with the matter. The grand jury, which began … Read More
Document Dump: Protecting Mueller
This bill — from Sens. Lindsey Graham, Cory Booker, Sheldon Whitehouse and Richard Blumenthal — us actually one of two bipartisan bills designed to protect the special counsel from removal by the President or Attorney General. The other bill — by Sens. Thom Tillis and Chris Coons (both on the Senate Judiciary Committee) — does essentially the same thing: it says … Read More
The “Fake News” Is Coming From Inside The (White) House
I have avoided writing about the Seth Rich conspiracy theory being propped up by Fox. It was just too disgusting. But now it has political, rather than journalistic, implications. Seth Rich was murdered in Washington, D.C. in July 2016 in what police describe as a botched robbery attempt. But the conspiracy-lovin’ right-wing manipulation machine, sensing intrigue — he was MURDERED! — used … Read More
Trump Really DOES Want To Get Rid Of Sessions
Trump was VERY busy this morning on his Twitter machine. It’s hard to deny that Trump does not want his AG Jeff Sessions to stay on when he disses him when you look at the second and third from the bottom tweets. Trump raised similar questions over the weekend days after telling reporters in an interview that he had second … Read More
Kushner Releases Statement Of Testmony
Main takeaways: Kushner says he had four contacts with Russians last year. The first was a handshake with then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak before a Trump speech in April. The second was the highly controversial meeting with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower in June. The third was a meeting with Kislyak during the transition. And the fourth was with Russian … Read More
The Constitutional Crisis Cloud
It’s been an insane few days for me personally (with work) and insane in the world of Trump. I wanted to write at some length about the bizarre Trump interview in the New York Times — and how he dissed his attorney general for recusing himself from the Russian collusion investigation and his veiled threats to Bob Mueller, the independent counsel … Read More
Person No 8 In The Trump Tower Meeting Is Identified
WaPo: An American-based employee of a Russian real estate company took part in a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between a Russian lawyer and Donald Trump Jr., bringing to eight the number of known participants at the session that has emerged a key focus of the investigation of the Trump campaign’s interactions with Russian. Ike Kaveladze’s presence was confirmed by … Read More
Trump Hits Record Unpopularity — But Does It Matter?
Six months into the Trump presidency. An ABC/WaPo poll this weekend put Trump’s approval rating at 36%, an all-time low for any president since they started polling. It’s even lower than Nixon’s was when Nixon resigned. At 538, Harry Enten put this chart out: What astounds me is that there has been no crisis to cause it to go down. … Read More
So Much For Don Junior’s “Transparency”
Whatever position you take on the Trump-Russia Collusion Scandal, one thing is hard to argue with: the crisis management team at the White House is ineffective and probably non-existent. The first rule of crisis management is to avoid the drip-drip-drip of damaging evidence. Get out in front of the stories, explain everything — EVERYTHING — there is to explain and … Read More
Document Dump: Why Did The DOJ Settle A Case That Involved That Russian Lawyer
The Democrats in the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Attorney General Sessions regarding the DOJ settlement of fraud case THIS YEAR that handled by same Russian lawyer who met with Don Trump Jr. (and handled by the US Attorney who Trump summarily fired for now reason): Was the settlement a quid pro quo?
Trump Participated In Lie To Media
The New York Times didn’t make this the headline today, but it should have: As Air Force One jetted back from Europe on Saturday, a small cadre of Mr. Trump’s advisers huddled in a cabin helping to craft a statement for the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., to give to The New York Times explaining why he met last … Read More