Tick, Tick, Tick.....

Vatican Visit:  In 2013  a boastful Trump illogically tweeted “the new Pope is a very humble man like me, which probably explains why I like him so much!” Their relationship quickly went downhill during the 2016 campaign when Pope Francis reacted to Trump’s plans to build his beautiful Mexico border wall by saying that anyone who thinks only of building barriers instead of bridges is not Christian.  Wednesday, shortly after a Philippine transcript of Trump praising Philippine President Duterte for his murderous drug crackdown was released, the Pope and Trump, who disagree over virtually everything from the environment to the treatment of refugees, met for twenty-eight minutes.  So much to discuss, so little time.      

Intelligence Chiefs on Russia:  Current and former intelligence chiefs testified yesterday in front of three different Congressional committees and all agreed that Russia interfered in the election and that frequent Trump team contacts with the Russians were “troubling” to put it mildly.  Former CIA Director John Brennan’s testimony at a House Intelligence committee hearing was the most damning.  He said that it should be “clear to everyone that  the Russians brazenly interfered in the 2016 elections.”  He added that contacts and conversations between Russia and people involved in the Trump campaign “left open the possibility that Russian officials may have been successful in recruiting some of the aides.” When pressed by Republican Trey Gowdy, who was trying to get him to say that there was no evidence of Trump team collusion, Brennan responded that the CIA collects information, the FBI deals with evidence and that he had passed a lot of really concerning intelligence onto the FBI, enough for the FBI to initiate its counter-intelligence investigation.  Gowdy’s aggressive efforts to get Brennan to dismiss assertions of collusion with the Russians failed miserably.  In an appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats wouldn’t say that Trump had asked him to deny evidence of Russian collusion but implied that he would answer that question in the affirmative if asked it again in a closed session at one of the intelligence committees.  Similarly, in testimony before an Armed Services subcommittee NSA chief Mike Rogers wouldn’t deny he had been pressured by Trump.  Trump has retained attorney Marc Kasowitz to help him “deal” with the Russia investigations.  Kasowitz has previously represented Trump for cases related to his divorce records, real estate transactions and fraud at Trump University.    

Tick, Tick, Tick: The Senate Intelligence Committee will be issuing two subpoenas for Michael Flynn’s businesses in order to compel him to hand over documents.  Stymied by Flynn’s earlier refusal to release personal documents, the Committee is instead seeking business documents which are not covered by the Fifth Amendment’s protection against self-incrimination.   They are leaving open the possibility of contempt charges.  The Flynn “bomb” keeps ticking.

Dead on Arrival:  To quote dozens of members of Congress from both sides of the aisle, Trump’s harsh budget plan which was largely written by the very conservative Heritage Foundation, is dead on arrival. Congressman Mark Meadows, a member of the right wing Freedom Caucus, said “getting rid of meals on wheels is a bridge too far” even for him.  Senator McCain wants more for defense and Democrats took the opportunity to point out that that the budget plan breaks many of Trump’s promises while impacting his voters the hardest. It’s not uncommon for Congress to reject a President’s budget plan but pushback for Trump’s plan, sounds louder and more bipartisan than usual.  In any case, the Trump plan will be used as a guide for budget deliberations and Senate McConnell has admitted that he will need Democratic cooperation so the fight has just begun.

Montana Election:  The special election for Department of the Interior Zinke’s former congressional seat takes place on Thursday.  The election, which was supposed to be an easy win for Greg Gianfonte, the Republican candidate, is now polling much closer than expected. Bernie Sanders has been campaigning with Democrat Rob Quist, the somewhat flakey folk singer and first time candidate.  Their focus has been health care not the Russian investigation.  A Republican loss in this Republican stronghold would be shocking but even a narrow win will send a scary message to the GOP though they will likely celebrate any win as an affirmation of Trump’s policies.  Stay tuned.