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 Quietly Signs Russian Sanctions Bill
No big ceremony this time, although it is arguably the most important piece of legislation he has signed in his administration so far. He did issue a statement, calling the bill “seriously flawed”: Statement by President Donald J. Trump on Signing the “Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act” Today, I signed into law the “Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act,” … Read More
Trump White House Staff 2.0
Spicer gone. Anthony Scaramucci in as White House Communications Director. Reince Priebus gone. Jon Kelly in as new Chief of Staff. What do I think? What everybody else thinks: (1) You need people with experience in their job. Scaramucci is a Wall Street bulldog, and has no experience at communications. This was made abundantly clear by giving a profanity-laced screed to Ryan … Read More
It Happened Last Night
It was dramatic. Even for 1 a.m. But…. …it appears that any chance of repealing (and replacing?) the Affordable Care Act died last night as Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins were joined by John McCain in opposing the Senate’s “skinny repeal” bill. Here’s how it went down. Yesterday afternoon, the Senate voted against a straight repeal of the Affordable Care … Read More
Hot Mic: He’s Crazy
Awkward: At the end of a Senate subcommittee hearing on Tuesday morning, Chairman Susan Collins (R-Maine) didn’t switch off her microphone. Apparently speaking to Sen. Jack Reed (R.I.), the ranking Democrat of the committee, Collins discussed the federal budget — and President Trump’s lack of familiarity with the details of governing. After Reed praises Collins’s handling of the hearing, held by the Transportation, … Read More
BIG Vote Today On Something That Nobody Knows What It Is
In a few hours, Senate Republicans will vote whether to start debate on a plan to overhaul American health care, without knowing exactly what is in that plan or, by extension, how it will change the lives of millions of Americans. There are few, if any, comparable examples of a bill with such wide-reaching consequences, being voted on so abruptly, with so … 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
Trump’s Boorish Behavior
Everyone is talking about Trump’s horrible appearance before the Boy Scouts of America at their annual Jamboree yesterday. I agree with the criticism — I just am not very surprised or shocked. In keeping with the Scouts’ traditions, all eight presidents and surrogates who have represented them have stayed far, far away from partisan politics. Franklin Delano Roosevelt used the … Read More
Trumpers See Whatever They Want To See In Trump – Exhibit A
“He is unashamed in standing up for increasing an awareness of God in the United States. He recognizes how important that is and that that is a basis of Western civilization. As a believer in Jesus Christ, I could not be more happy with what I am seeing coming out of the Trump White House. This is beyond my wildest … Read More
Can A Sitting President Be Indicted?
The conventional wisdom has always said that a sitting president cannot be indicted. Under current law, a President is immune from civil lawsuits in federal court, when it comes to his official acts as president. This is because of Nixon v. Fitzgerald, a 1982 Supreme Court ruling. There, the Supreme Court wrote: “The ‘singular importance of the President’s duties’ warrants a stay … Read More
Beleaguered Attorney General
So why aren’t the Committees and investigators, and of course our beleaguered A.G., looking into Crooked Hillarys crimes & Russia relations? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 24, 2017 Trump could always pick up the phone and ask his “beleaguered” Attorney General this question, although I think the answer in all cases was that the Committees and investigators looked into … 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