Curiouser and Curiouser

The Curious Timeline:  On January 24, security adviser Flynn was interviewed by the FBI about his cozy relationship and sanctions relief conversation with Russian Ambassador Kislyak.  On January 26, after getting a heads up from the FBI, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates warned White House Counsel Don McGahn that Flynn was playing footsie with the Russians and could be a blackmail target.  McGahn immediately updated Trump.  So what did Trump do next?  Having learned that his security adviser was a threat to national security, he didn’t boot Flynn, instead he summoned FBI Director Comey for dinner on January 27.  On January 30, Trump fired Yates.  As to Flynn, Trump did nothing until February 13 when, after being outed by the Washington Post, he fired him for “lying to Pence.”

The Dinner with Donald:  Comey told friends he was concerned about going to a private dinner at the White House with Trump but went anyway because “you can’t turn down an invitation from the boss.”  Over meatloaf and ice cream, Trump not so casually asked if he was a target of the Russia investigation and tried to extract an oath of loyalty from Comey while implying that Comey’s job would be safe as long as he was a team player.  Comey promised honesty not loyalty.  Trump’s version of the dinner is that Comey said he wasn’t a target and that he didn’t ask for a pledge of loyalty.  Comey hasn’t spoken yet but his friends and colleagues say Comey would have said nothing about the investigation.  Last week, with the Russia investigation heating up, Comey requested more prosecutorial resources.  He was fired on Tuesday.

The Tapes:  Comey is still silent, but Trump’s been engaging in a twitter tsunami.  In response to press reports that Comey wouldn’t have said the things that Trump says he said, Trump tweet threatened Comey saying he  “better hope that there are no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press.”  With that tweet Trump unwittingly unleashed a firestorm. Trump, no student of history, learned nothing from Nixon’s fall.  As of yet there is no confirmation as to whether or not Trump really has wiretapping “microwaves and toasters” in the White house but it sounds like at least one of his lawyers has told him to stop talking about it.  Spicer refused to comment about the tapes in the daily news conference, and Trump stayed mum when asked about them in an interview with Fox’s Jeanine Pirro.  He also told Pirro that though he didn’t ask Comey to pledge his loyalty or first born child, he thought that it would be reasonable to do so which in Trumpspeak is an admission that he did.   If the tapes exist it would be illegal for Trump to have them destroyed.  Senator Dianne Feinstein has already said she wants to subpoena them.  Comey, who apparently has a great memory and a history of documenting troubling meetings by writing memos to the “files” isn’t concerned.   

The Letter:  Trump had his tax lawyers at Morgan Lewis give him an artfully written “certified” letter stating that he owes no debts to Russians, that no Russians have equity investments in his properties and that he has no investments in Russian entities. The letter went on to say that Trump’s only Russia related income was from a beauty contest, the sketchy sale of Florida property to a Russian oligarch and routine condo sales.  Of course the letter says absolutely nothing about investments or loans from shell companies based in Cyprus, the Netherlands, or the Virgin Islands, the way that Russians and others seeking secrecy would invest in real estate assets. Adding to the absurdity of the letter, Morgan Lewis was named Russian Law Firm of the Year in 2016.

The Investigation:   Despite Trump’s continuing assertions that the Russia investigation is a witch hunt, it goes on.  The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN) has agreed to share financial records with the Senate Intelligence Committee.  The Committee wants to see any information about relevant shell companies, money laundering and property transfers.  The Justice Department has requested former Campaign Manager Paul Manafort’s banking records and are likely looking to learn more about his real estate investments.  NY Attorney General Schneiderman and Manhattan District Attorney Vance are also examining Manafort’s real estate investments. And Democratic Senators Durbin and Feinstein are calling for Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein, this week’s winner of the Trump Blame Game award, to resign if he refuses to name a special prosecutor for the Russia investigation.  Despite Trump’s best efforts, he isn’t doing well at this week’s round of Whack a Mole.

The Next FBI Director:  Trump has started interviewing candidates for FBI Director.  The best way for him to make the uproar about Comey’s poorly timed and executed firing die down would be to replace him with a non-partisan candidate.  But this is Trump and that’s not the way he does things so though he is considering Andrew McCabe, the acting director of the FBI, this weekend’s list of interviewees includes Senator John Cornyn, Majority Leader McConnell’s right hand man, who last week tweet slammed the Democrats “as hypocrites for decrying the firing of a man they’ve also assailed.”   

The Most Revealing Tweet of the Week:  “As a very active President with lots of things happening, it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at the podium with perfect accuracy!...”  Which is Trump’s way of saying he lies, they lie and he sets Pence up to lie.  And that’s okay.