Watergate Week

Tweet Admission:  Early Friday, to the dismay of his staff and legal advisers, Trump admitted that he was being “investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI.”  Except of course, the man his tweet referred to, Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein, really didn’t tell him to fire former FBI Directory Comey because, as he admitted on TV and to the Russians, he made that decision all by himself in an attempt to get rid of his Russia problem.  And, Rosenstein who has become one of Trump’s favorite whipping boys, isn’t the one investigating him, it’s his other whipping boy, Special Counsel Mueller. Trump is doing his best to bully Rosenstein, in the hope that a beleaguered Rosenstein will resign sparing Trump from the consequences of firing him.   In all likelihood Rosenstein will not quit though he may have to recuse himself at some point if Mueller calls him to testify on the events surrounding the Comey firing.  Should Rosenstein step aside or succumb to one of Trump’s voodoo pins, Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand will step into his shoes, assuming oversight for Mueller’s investigation.  Unlike Rosenstein who coasted through his confirmation hearing with 94 yes votes, Brand received only 52 votes with no Democratic support because of concerns that she had a “pro-corporate” agenda.  Additionally, she has no prosecutorial experience and is not a criminal lawyer.  Hopefully, if she’s put on the spot and asked to fire Mueller her pro-corporate agenda won’t translate into a “kowtow” to Trump agenda.  Should Brand decide to resist Trump pressure, next in line for the hot “Bork” seat would be Dana Boente, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.  Boente is the guy who agreed to defend Trump’s travel ban after former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates was fired for questioning its constitutionality. As to Trump’s Friday morning tweet admission, though Sean Spicer has previously said that Trump means what he tweets, an unnamed White House spokesperson said that he really didn’t mean that one.   

More Legal Eagles:  Trump has finally found another lawyer willing to represent him.  He retained John Dowd, who actually has some relevant Washington and white collar criminal defense experience.  The seventy-six year old Dowd successfully represented Senator McCain in the “Keating Five” scandal which involved accusations that McCain had improper meetings with federal bank regulators on behalf of a campaign contributor but was notably less successful representing Raj Rajaratnam who was convicted on multiple counts of insider trading.  Trump’s first hire, divorce and real estate lawyer Marc Kasowitz, is still on board but is a little busy, beating back a number of ethics complaints alleging that he violated conflict of interest rules when he inappropriately advised White House staff that they didn’t need to hire their own lawyers and that he is not authorized to practice law in Washington.   Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, who has been subpoenaed by the House Intelligence Committee, is smart enough to know that he needs his own lawyer and has hired one to represent his interests.  Cohen is the guy who may or may not have delivered a secret Ukrainian peace plan to the Trump team during the campaign.  Trump’s former campaign communications adviser, Michael Caputo, has also hired a lawyer to guide him through the House Intelligence Committee investigation. The poor souls in the White House who didn’t graduate from the Goldman Sachs training program are lining up at legal aid.   

Your JetBlue Reservation is Cancelled:  Going forward if you want to check out the Art Deco buildings and old cars in Havana, you will have to cancel your Airbnb room and sign on to a museum or religious group tour because Trump has rescinded portions of the Obama executive action that eased travel and liberalized business investments in Cuba.  Trump who has no problem sword dancing with the Saudis, hanging out with Turkey President Erdogan, bonding with Philippine President Duterte, or cozying up to Putin has suddenly developed a conscience when it comes to human rights abuses in Cuba.  More likely he is just pandering to Florida’s Senator Rubio since he never knows when he’ll need “little Marco” to stand up for him at a Senate hearing. The majority of the Senate is opposed to Trump’s Cuba policy.  Senators Flake and Leahy, with the aid of fifty-five co-sponsors have been trying to get their bi-partisan Freedom for Americans to Travel to Cuba Act on to the Senate floor for a vote but can’t get it past Majority Leader McConnell.  At least for now Trump is leaving one of Obama’s executive actions alone. “Dreamers” covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA) will not be deported although the Department of Homeland Security cautions that the program is still under review.          

The Trumpcare Saga Goes On:  Senate Trumpcare’s terms remain a closely guarded secret but McConnell continues to push forward with his plan to force his Obamacare repeal/replace legislation through ASAP.  Senator Lisa Murkowski, whose support for Planned Parenthood has vacillated in the past, is now on record saying that she can’t vote for a health care plan that defunds Planned Parenthood and eliminates the Medicaid extension.  She joins Senator Susan Collins as one of the two Republicans least likely to vote for Trumpcare.  That leaves McConnell, who can only afford to lose two Republican votes, trying to come up with a plan that placates Ohio Senator Portman, West Virginia Senator Capito, and Nevada Senator Heller who all want to delay the phaseout of the Medicaid extension while at the same time convincing Texas Senator Cruz, Kentucky Senator Rand and Utah Senator Lee that the Obamacare taxes needed to pay for a delayed Medicaid phaseout will be eliminated. This may sound impossible but, sadly, McConnell is a master legislator so it’s too early to count him out.    

HUD’s New Wedding Planner:  HUD head Ben Carson doesn’t know much about housing but he appreciates a good wedding celebration so with Trump’s support he plans to appoint Lynne Patton, son Eric’s wedding planner to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development division that oversees New York and New Jersey, HUD’s largest regional office.  Patton also headed Eric’s charity which is now under investigation by the NY Attorney General for funneling money back to the Trump organization.  Patton has no housing experience and contrary to her Linkedin resume, she isn’t a lawyer.  As of now, possibly due to her falsified resume, HUD says that the NY and NJ position is still open. If things don’t work out at HUD, Patton could consider offering legal services to one or more of the less financially secure White House staffers. If her price is right, they may not care that she isn’t really a lawyer.

MSNBC commemorated this weekend’s forty-fifth anniversary of Watergate with a special on the making of All The Presidents Men narrated by Robert Redford.  Wonder if Trump, who is making  his first visit to Camp David, had time to tune in.