Bye, Bye Rose Garden

Paris Climate Agreement:  The story for today is the Paris Climate Agreement.  Yesterday it was widely reported that Trump will pull the US out of the accords.  Appropriately, an announcement of Trump’s final decision is scheduled to take place this morning at a press conference on the White House Rose Garden before the roses succumb to excessive heat.  Trump, who has said several times that climate science is just a Chinese hoax, had made pulling out of the accords one of his campaign promises along with building the infamous wall. He may not have anything to show on the wall front but pulling out of the accords is one thing he can deliver to his base.  News of his impending announcement sent a number of corporate leaders into a frenzy of activity yesterday.  Tesla CEO Elon Musk told Trump that he will pull himself off of Trump’s advisory councils if the US withdraws from the accords and a large and diverse group of major corporations are expected to run a full page ad in support of the accords in today’s New York Times.  Despite all this pushback and the arguments in support of climate control pressed by Ivanka, Jared, Al Gore, the Pope, the scientific community and all other participating nations, Trump is expected to listen to Steve Bannon, EPA head Scott Pruitt and senators and representatives from coal mining states and pull out of the accords unless, of course, he’s been punking us all along and uses the Rose Garden press conference to celebrate a new found commitment to reality. 

More Must See TV:  Unless Trump manages to put the kibosh on it by invoking executive privilege, former FBI Director Comey will be testifying in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee next week.  Surprisingly, Special Counsel Mueller’s gave him permission to proceed, though he probably put some limitations on what Comey can discuss.  The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that among other things, Comey will tell the committee that Trump asked him to back off the investigation of former national security adviser Mike Flynn.   

Other Things Russian:  Yesterday’s daily White House news conference was held as an off camera gaggle because Spicer is coming close to using up his weekly quota of Trump allowed TV facetime.  During the gaggle, Spicer informed the press that Trump did not make a mistake when he tweeted out covfefe, that it is a code word known only to a tight group of his closest advisers.  More importantly, he also told them that all questions related to the Russia investigation now fall outside his purview and should instead be forwarded to Marc Kassowitz, Trump’s newly hired lawyer.  Last fall, in response to Russian election meddling,  Obama kicked a bunch of Russia spies out of the country and closed down Russian owned diplomatic compounds in Maryland and New York.  Last night it was reported that the Trump administration plans to return the compounds to the Russians.  It’s not clear if questions about this oddly timed decision will fall into Spicer’s bucket or if they too will go to Kassowitz. 

More Subpoenas:  Yesterday, the House Intelligence Committee kicked into gear by issuing seven subpoenas.  The first four were to obtain testimony and records from former security adviser Mike Flynn and Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. The last three were unilaterally thrown in at the last minute by Representative Nunes without the knowledge of his Democratic counterparts.  Nunes, who is supposed to be recused from the Russia investigation, was recently caught on cell phone video telling Republican donors that the Russia investigation is just a ploy by Democrats to blame Clinton’s loss on phony claims of Trump collusion with the Russians.  He added the last three subpoenas to obtain records of any unmasking requests by former NSA adviser Susan Rice, former CIA Director John Brennan and former UN Ambassador Samantha Power. Nunes, who is still playing the role of Trump dupe,  is sticking to the narrative that unmasking the names of US citizens involved in potentially illegal footsie with Russians is the real scandal. 

No Birth Control for You:  While attention is diverted to all things Russian and bizarre Trump tweets, the Trump administration is drafting a resolution rolling back Obamacare’s requirement that all insurance plans provide free birth control services.  To date only religious institutions were allowed to sidestep the mandate.  The Trump regulations would allow any company to stop providing contraceptive services based on moral objections, a loophole so large that it would basically allow any company to step away from the mandate.  This from the administration whose budget plan decreases funding for child health care and food stamps.

Joe Biden:  Former VP Biden still really wants to be president.  Affable Biden is most popular when he isn’t running for president but that’s not stopping him from leaving his options open. Biden, who will be 77 years old in 2020, is setting up a PAC and considering another run. 

Severed Heads:  Kathy Griffin learned the hard way that depicting the bloody severed head of a living president is a step too far.  She was widely criticized for crossing the line and despite her apologies has lost a number of endorsements and her prized New Year’s Eve CNN slot opposite Anderson Cooper.  Ted Nugent, who called for Obama and Clinton to be hung a few times and still got invited to dinner at the Trump White House,  is laughing about this one.