Tapes, What Tapes? 

Trump is Vindicated and Fighting Mad:  Though he says that he feels vindicated by Former FBI Director Comey’s confirmation that he was told three times that he wasn’t being directly investigated, Trump has come out fighting because everything else Comey said was false news.  Trump and his surrogates are doing their best to malign Comey, calling him a liar, questioning his manhood, and, horror of horrors, labeling him a Leaker.  Trump’s one time campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, went so far as to suggest that Comey is the leader of the “Deep State,”  a grand conspiracy of disgruntled government employees determined to take Trump down.  Trump’s lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, announced that he plans to file a complaint against Comey for the “criminal” leaking of his meeting notes with the Justice Department’s Inspector General and the Senate Judiciary Committee even though, there was nothing confidential in the notes, Trump did not exert executive privilege and releasing personal notes is not a crime and, even if it was, the Justice Department’s only remedy would be to put a note in Comey’s files, banning him from future Justice Department employment.  These types of threats are standard operating procedure for Trump and Kasowitz.  Last year they threatened to sue the NY Times for libel for articles about the women who had accused Trump of sexual harassment.  That suit went nowhere.

Romanians, Tapes and Perjury:  Trump welcomed Romania’s President Iohannis to Washington on Friday.  After their meeting they held a press conference where they fielded questions from US and Romanian correspondents.  In response to a question from one of the Romanians, Trump finally affirmed his support for NATO and confirmed that the US would honor the Article Five mutual defense provision but also managed to throw in another demand that NATO member nations increase their contributions and pay up for past years shortfalls, even though there is no provision in the NATO agreement that requires make-up payments.  In response to an American correspondent’s question about Comey’s testimony, Trump said that there was no collusion, no obstructions, Comey’s a leaker and that “100%” he would gladly provide sworn testimony in order to dispute the lies. He didn’t say when.  It’s not clear that Trump understands the consequences of perjury or that his advisers and lawyer knew he was going to make that promise. Trump added that he didn’t know Comey well enough to ask for his “pledge of allegiance” before resorting to his usual script by adding that the whole Russian thing is just an excuse by Democrats who lost the election and  bragging about his electoral college victory.  The only thing he left out was the assertion that he would have won the popular vote if it wasn’t for all those fraudulent votes.  When asked whether he really had tapes of his Comey conversations, he played coy and said that he would tell everyone about them “soon, maybe.”  He refused to define soon but on Thursday Sarah Huckabee-Sanders reported that she is searching for tapes under the Oval Office couches.  The House Intelligence Committee asked White House Counsel McGahn whether any tapes exist and, if so, to produce them by June 23, preferably before Huckabee-Sanders sends them to Moscow for cutting and editing.

Mueller Time:  Special Counsel Mueller is working away on his investigation which now likely covers obstruction, espionage and collusion.  He has expanded his legal team to include two lawyers who worked on the Watergate investigation, the head of the Justice Department’s fraud section, a sign that he is following the money trail, and one of the most highly respected criminal prosecutors, a sign that people are going down.  Trump will find it hard to criticize Mueller, apparently he tried to hire him to replace Comey as FBI Director before Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein went behind his back and appointed him to serve as the Special Counsel.  Score one for Rosenstein.

Obstruction of Justice:  Late Friday, Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein sent a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Senator Chuck Grassley requesting that the Judiciary Committee “investigate all issues that raise a question of obstruction of justice.” During his testimony, Comey provided the names of the colleagues he spoke with after each of his Trump meetings.  Feinstein’s letter requests that all of these people be called to confirm Comey’s recollections.  She also requested that National Intelligence Director Coats and NSA Director Rogers, who stayed mysteriously mute earlier in the week when asked if Trump had also urged them to interfere with the Flynn investigation, be compelled to testify, by subpoena if necessary. Their corroboration would validate Comey’s testimony.    

Conflicting Signals:  Trump and Secretary of State Tillerson continue to give conflicting signals about the conflict between Qatar and a Saudi Arabia led bloc of Arab countries including Bahrain, Egypt and the UAE.  Tillerson called for the Saudi bloc to resolve their differences with Qatar and to ease their blockade for humanitarian reasons and to facilitate US military activities out of the Qatar bases.  While Tillerson was trying to mediate the dispute, Trump again expressed support for Saudi Arabia’s actions and called Qatar out for funding terrorism and supporting the Muslim Brotherhood.  An administration official, the way Spicer identifies himself when he is trying to avoid incurring Trump’s wrath, said that despite appearances Trump and Tillerson are on the same page, it’s just their tone that’s different.  

Adios Havana:  If you are planning to travel to Cuba, go soon.  Next Friday, Trump plans to announce that he will be reversing flexibility on who can travel to and do business with Cuba. This may explain why Senator Rubio, a Cuba hardliner,  asked some very Trump friendly questions at Thursday’s Comey hearings.   

See you at the Women’s Mini 10K! #Crazylegs