The Law of Unintended Consequences

Unintended Consequences:  Last week when Trump fired FBI Director Comey and said that his decision was based on the recommendation of Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein, he thought he had brilliantly deflected blame and hastened the end of the Russian probe in one fell swoop.  Was he ever wrong.  Rosenstein, who had built up a reputation as a highly competent attorney during his years of government service was less than pleased by accusations that he was just another Trump toady and grew increasingly unhappy as Trump’s incriminating tweets, security leaks and attacks on the credibility of the Comey memos reached a deafening crescendo.  Yesterday evening he appointed Robert Mueller, a highly respected attorney and former FBI Director under both Bush and Obama, and ironically a friend and colleague of Comey’s, to serve as Special Counsel for the Russia investigation.  Trump and Attorney General Sessions, Rosenstein’s boss, weren’t told about Mueller’s appointment until one hour before Rosenstein’s announcement.  Rosenstein is still scheduled to testify in a closed door Senate session today about Comey’s dismissal but now instead of being vilified by all the Democrats, he can expect a warm welcome.  The Republicans, who were on record questioning the need for a Special Counsel up until the time that Mueller was appointed, are now on board because at this point they would look even more partisan if they objected.  Last night Trump’s communication team remained in hiding but Trump issued a statement saying that a thorough investigation will confirm that there was no collusion adding “he will never stop fighting for the people and the issues that matter most to the future of the country.”  In other words, he will still try to destroy Obamacare, build a war, defund social services, and reduce his own taxes.  

Vetting Flynn:  Last night, the New York Times revealed that Trump’s transition team knew that former security adviser Michael Flynn was under FBI investigation for secretly working as a paid lobbyist for Turkey because he told them all about it.  Trump who last week told NBC’s Lester Holt that he didn’t know any of this and had just relied on Obama’s vetting, hired Flynn anyway because he likes him a lot and didn’t think it was a problem for Flynn to get access to every government secret. During his short tenure as security adviser, Flynn stopped a military plan that Turkey opposed. NBC reports that Flynn and Paul Manafort are now the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation.

It’s the Press:  Yesterday morning while speaking to graduates at the Coast Guard Academy, Trump went off script and told the cadets that “no politician in history has been treated worse or more unfairly” by the news media and Washington elites than him.  And this was before the appointment of the Special Counsel.  Trump, probably wishes that he could emulate his BFF, Turkey’s President Erdogan and throw a few members of the press corps in jail and manhandle some of those Washington elites.  Erdogan’s thuggish bodyguards viciously beat up a few anti-Erdogan protesters in Washington, DC on Tuesday while Erdogan was lunching with Trump.  After a long delay, the State Department finally issued a strong protest to Turkey.       

Another Russian Connection:  VEB, the Russian state owned bank that Jared Kushner met with in December but then forgot to mention on his disclosure forms, provided some financing for a Trump related Toronto Hotel project. Though the project was presented as a Trump joint venture, the Trump organization says that it doesn’t have an equity interest in the hotel and only licenses its brand and manages the hotel and residences.  Putin was chairman of VEB’s supervisory board.  The bank is now on the US sanctions list and the FBI is investigating its connection to Trump.  

Idle Chatter:  During the presidential campaign Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy was taped telling a group of Republican representatives that he thought that Putin could be making payments to Trump.  Paul Ryan was so concerned about the comment that he interrupted McCarthy and told the rest of the crowd not to repeat the remarks. Yesterday, McCarthy and Ryan denied that the remarks were ever made until they were confronted with the tape.  They then changed their story and said that McCarthy was just being funny.  McCarthy probably was just joking, but then again some jokes turn out to be true.  In any case, McCarthy whose name has been mentioned as a replacement for Chief of Staff Reince Priebus whose job is reportedly in jeopardy, is probably no longer under consideration.  Putin continued trolling yesterday by offering Congress his “tapes” of last week’s Lavrov, Kislyak Oval Office meeting, the one where Trump leaked valuable intelligence that put an undercover Mossad agent’s life at risk.

FBI Director Finalists:  In between graduation speeches and crisis meetings, Trump has been interviewing candidates for America’s Next FBI Director. Right wing Senator Cornyn, Trump’s first choice, pulled himself out of the running when it became apparent that he wouldn’t be able to get enough votes to pass the Senate.  The list now includes a surprise candidate, former Connecticut Senator and Democratic Vice President nominee Joe Lieberman, who was interviewed on Wednesday.   

The Market is Getting Nervous:  The stock market is starting to catch up with Trump reality.  Yesterday the Dow dropped 373 points as investors belatedly realized that Trump’s plans to spur growth through deregulation and corporate tax cuts will likely be upstaged by all of the pending investigations.    

No Trump Tweets on Wednesday, too many other things going on at the White House.