Retweeting to Form

Retweeting to Form:  Wednesday night, in an effort to appear unfazed by the appointment of Robert Mueller as Special Counsel for all things Russian, the White House released a carefully crafted, measured statement and hid Trump’s tweeter.  Thursday morning Trump unearthed his secret stash of smartphones and ended his brief twitter hiatus by tweet smacking his favorite targets Clinton and Obama before moving on to “this is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!”  He stuck to the theme during his pre-scheduled lunch with network anchors adding that the appointment of the special counsel “hurts our country terribly,” though in all likelihood by “our country” he meant himself.  Then in the press conference that followed his meeting with Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos, he went off script and whined that the appointment was “dividing the country” before launching into the old, now discredited, excuse that he had fired FBI Director Comey on the strong advice of Deputy AG Rosenstein, because of his poor, poor performance and due to his unpopularity.  President Santos stood quietly by his side, though it looked like he was mouthing the words:  Ayudame por favor, su Presidente es muy loco.  Trump’s advisers have suggested that the time has come for him to hire outside counsel.

Trump Tweets, Comey Writes Memos:   Comey has remained quiet and now that there is a Special Counsel his congressional testimony may be put off for a while. However, his friends and former colleagues are talking up a storm. Apparently, from the start, Comey was uncomfortable with Trump’s calls and couldn’t get Trump to understand that FBI policy discourages direct communication between the White House and the FBI.  Despite his attempts to “train” Trump to convey messages through his White House Counsel or the Attorney General’s office, the unconventional Trump remained “untrainable” and continued calling Comey.  In addition to asking Comey to “lay off” his good friend Michael Flynn,  he asked him to get federal authorities to put the word out that he was not being investigated.  Trump even got his Chief of Staff Priebus to pressure Comey to make comments exonerating Trump and his associates.  After every one of these conversations, Comey added another damning memo to the files.       

The Growing Flynn Problem:  Though their friendship only goes back to the campaign, Trump remains oddly committed to Flynn and continues to say that Flynn is a great guy.  Flynn told friends that they are still in touch and that Trump texted him to remain strong in the face of the ongoing investigations.  Despite a growing pile of evidence to the contrary Mike Pence still insists that the White House kept him in the dark about Flynn’s Russian and Turkish connections.  Pence continues to pretend that the letter that Elijah Cummings wrote him warning about Flynn’s Turkish lobbying doesn’t count.  Last week following advice from his military adviser, Trump decided to arm the Kurds in the battle against ISIS.  No one at the White House mentioned that he is following plans Obama tried to put in place during the transition when he sent his adviser Susan Rice to meet with Flynn.  Flynn who had just accepted $500,000 from the Turks, who oppose any cooperation with the Kurds, rejected the strategy.   

Russian Contacts:  Periodically Trump or one of his surrogates, including Mike Pence, deny that anyone from the Trump team had any contact with any Russians.  Then when information is leaked about a conversation or meeting between a Trumpkin and a Russian a Trump spokesman says “oops” we forgot to mention that one. Thursday, Reuters reported that there were at least eighteen “oops” contacts between Trumpkins and Russians, including six calls with Ambassador Kislyak.  Pence who is rolled out to earnestly deny any improper contact whenever asked is either a complicit liar, very cunning or really stupid. He is now raising funds for his future presidential campaign.

First off the Ship:  Republican Representative Jason Chaffetz, Chairman of the House Ethics Committee, is leaving Congress at the end of June to become, what else, a FOX commentator.  Tired of investigating Trump, he would prefer to advance alternative facts, applaud Trump’s accomplishment and maybe cover his downfall.  House Majority Leader Ryan learned about Chaffetz’s career plans and departure date from a reporter at his weekly press conference where he was also asked if Pence was making plans to become President when Trump leaves.   Ryan’s response to that last question was “Good Grief.”  Trey Gowdy, nicknamed the Hillary Slayer for relentlessly going after Hillary Clinton over Benghazi, is expected to replace Chaffetz as Chair of the Ethics Committee.  

Rosenstein Talks:  Rosenstein testified before a closed meeting of the Senate yesterday.  Since the meeting was in the “cone of silence” only a few details emerged.  Rosenstein admits to writing the “fire Comey” memo on his own, but confirms that Trump’s decision to fire Comey predated his memo.  Republican Senator Lindsey Graham says that the Russian probe “is now considered a criminal investigation” and added that going forward it will be more difficult for congressional committees to conduct their individual investigations because they won’t want to interfere with the Special Counsel’s work.  Democrats are a little bummed about that because they want to influence public opinion with as many public hearings as possible.

The Next FBI Director:   Trump still plans to pick his next FBI Director today before embarking on his world tour.  The four finalists in this round of the Apprentice are former Oklahoma Governor and FBI Agent Frank Keating, former FBI Agent and Justice Department spokesperson Richard McFeely, Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and former Senator Joe Lieberman.  Lieberman is the leading contender in part because Trump thinks he would please both Democrats and Republicans.  Democratic opposition to Lieberman, who testified on behalf of Sessions during his confirmation hearing, is already building.