Lies and Consequences

The Message:  If you work for this President and your job involves investigating him or his friends, watch out, you will be fired, he will find a reason even if he has to make one up.  Sally Yates was booted for her valid concerns about Mike Flynn while Trump hid behind the convenient excuse that her refusal to defend the poorly designed travel ban was the reason.  Preet Bharara was assured that his position was safe but then Trump found out he was investigating Fox for improperly disclosed payments to O’Reilly victims so he was conveniently included in the mass firing of the other Obama era Federal Attorneys.  And then there is, James Comey, who was fired for the way he handled the Clinton emails that propelled Trump to victory, when the real reason was his refusal to end his “leave no stone unturned” Russia investigation.  Trump does what Trump wants, defies convention, misrepresents his motives, lies and gets his minions to lie on his behalf and still holds onto his presidency.  At least for now.    

What Really Happened: Trump became increasingly freaked out by Comey’s Russia investigation, he was angry that Comey had dismissed his wiretapping accusations and furious that he couldn’t identify who had leaked Flynn’s phone call with Kislyak.  Egged on by his cronies, including Rudy Guiliani, his anger peaked last weekend when he decided that he’d had it with Comey.  Unaware that his days were numbered, Comey asked new Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein for more funds for expanding his increasingly productive investigation.  While Comey was letting the Senate intelligence committee know that he was seeking more funding, Trump called Rosenstein and Sessions, who was supposed to be recused from all things Russia, directing them to prepare a memo justifying Comey’s dismissal.  They ginned up the bogus email rationale, handed it to Trump who added a few lines exonerating himself from any Russia collaboration and then surprised his inner group by telling them he planned to move forward with the immediate dismissal of Comey. Surprisingly Bannon was the only one who understood it was a bad idea. Trump went forward anyway. 

Artless Lies:  Trump had no plan, hadn’t anticipated the uproar that his rash act would inspire and hadn’t prepared his press team.  They had no talking points and could do little to prevent the Comey story from spinning out of control.  Trump became even more enraged when he turned on the TV and saw that he wasn’t being adequately represented and lashed out at his press team who then spun the story, crediting Rosenstein with originating the recommendation to fire Comey. Press Secretary Spicer was so overwhelmed with the resulting hysteria that he jumped into his Easter bunny costume and hid in the White House bushes before running off to reserve duty, leaving his deputy Sarah Huckabee Sanders to take on the daily press conference.  She stuck with the Rosenstein spin, threw Comey further under the bus by referring to his acts as “atrocities,” impressing Trump with her southern ooze. Don’t be surprised when you hear that Spicer’s reserve duty has been extended to include a stint in Afghanistan. Rosenstein may enlist too, last night the Washington Post reported that he threatened to resign when he realized that he was the designated scapegoat for Trump’s decision to fire Comey.  Rosenstein, who is the one person with the authority to call for a special prosecutor for the Russia investigation, could still redeem himself by calling for one.               

Russia meeting:  What do you do right after you fire the guy who was leading the Russia investigation?  If you’re Trump you invite Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov and Ambassador Kislyak into the Oval Office of course.  And then because you’ve really had it with the lying, false news spreading US press corps, you exclude them from your meeting, instead inviting only a representative from TASS, the Russian state owned agency.  While US reporters cooled their heels outside the White House, TASS tweeted out pictures of Trump and Tillerson kibbitzing with Lavrov and Kislyak.  Having stray Russians hang out in the Oval Office with cameras and electronic equipment is a big security no-no so a team of “cleaners” had to spend last night sweeping the Oval Office for bugs.

Consequences: Trump thought that Democrats would celebrate Comey’s dismissal and that Republicans would stand by him because they’ve pretty much let him get away with murder up till now.  He totally miscalculated Democratic reaction.  They may be furious at Comey for the way he handled the Clinton email investigation but were hanging their hopes on Comey waking them from the Trump nightmare.  Crafty Majority Leader McConnell is a pragmatist and won’t do anything to jeopardize his legislative agenda so he’s standing by Trump and most of the Republicans are following his lead but a few are wavering.  Senator Burr, the Republican chairman of the Intelligence Committee, overcame his earlier reluctance and subpoenaed Flynn’s records yesterday, the first time the Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed records since the 1970s.  

One Bright Light:  While the decision on whether to ditch or stay in the Paris Climate Accords remains on hold, chalk one victory for the environmentalists.   With a surprising assist from dissenting Republican Senators McCain, Graham and Collins, Democrats were able to prevent the rollback of an Obama-era rule limiting methane emissions from energy production sites on federal lands.  Maybe a chink in the Red Republican wall?