Pardon Me

Pardons R Us: Things are getting ugly.  On Wednesday, Trump told the New York Times that Special Counsel Mueller should stick within the scope of his mandate, by which Trump means that Mueller should stay away from investigating Trump family members and Trump finances especially if the investigation of the Trumps and their finances is a key part of the Russian probe.  Thursday, Bloomberg news reported that Mueller has already crossed this red line.  He is investigating Trump financial activity focusing on Russian purchases of Trump condominiums, the 2013 Miss Universe Contest and the purchase and subsequent sale of a property in Florida at a suspiciously inflated price. All of these could involve financial dealings with Putin related Russian oligarchs and shady financial dealings including money laundering so, despite Trump’s protest, they are Russia related.  Jay Sekulow, one of Trump’s lawyers responded quickly to the Bloomberg article saying that Trump’s legal team intends to make sure that Mueller stays within “the scope of his assignment” or at least the scope they want him to stay within.  So it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that the Washington Post reports that Trump’s legal team is now looking for ways to discredit Mueller, alleging that he has conflicts of interest that make him unsuited for the investigation. There is even a suggestion that Mueller has a grudge against Trump because of an alleged dispute over dues at a Trump golf club, something the usually silent Mueller has already denied.  Trump’s lawyers are also exploring a president’s powers to pardon aides, family members and himself, a pretty convincing indication that Mueller is on to something bigly. At the same time, Trump’s legal team is undergoing changes. Marc Kasowitz has had his legal role cut back and Mark Carallo, a spokesman for Trump’s personal legal team has jumped ship.  No reason has been given but before signing on Carallo had complimented Mueller’s integrity and honor and had tweeted critical comments about Trump, it looks like he doesn’t want anything more to do with the Trump circus.  The changes aren’t helping, after newest lawyer Ty Cobb lectured Trump and his team on Tuesday about the importance of message discipline, Trump went out and gave his inexplicable NY Times interview.   

Sessions, Rosenstein, and Tax Returns:  The path to firing Mueller runs through Attorney General Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein.  Sessions is recused from the Russia investigation so right now Rosenstein is the only person who could vanquish Mueller and he’s already on record saying that he wouldn’t fire him. Of course, Trump could fire Rosenstein and direct the next in line at the Justice Department to fire Mueller and so on.  Alternatively he could fire Sessions, replace him with a new Attorney General, one that wouldn’t be recused from the Russia investigation, and then have the new guy fire Mueller. Wednesday, Trump started the process when he told the New York Times that he was disappointed in Sessions  and doesn’t trust Rosenstein. Thursday both Sessions and Rosenstein said that they love their jobs and aren’t going anywhere so if Trump wants them out he’s going to have to do a lot more than disparage them in public. Asking for their resignations might sound farfetched but with Mueller getting closer and closer to obtaining Trump’s elusive tax returns it’s not out of the realm of possibility.  

Testimony on Tap:  Don Jr and Paul Manafort are supposed to be testifying in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.  Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Manafort is now being investigated for money laundering.  Between Trump’s pardon inquiries and Manafort’s additional legal exposure, the Committee is concerned that neither one of them will show up so Committee leadership is preparing subpoenas to force them to appear.  Manafort is probably wondering if Trump’s investigation into his pardoning capabilities covers him or if he will be left holding the bag.  Kushner, who would definitely be protected by his father-in-law, at least as long as he is still married to favorite child Ivanka, is still expected to sit down with Senate Intelligence Committee staff next week, at least for now.   

The State of Health Care: Health care legislation remains in flux.  Republican Senators do not appear to be any closer to agreeing on legislation but McConnell still plans to push for a vote early next week. When asked how they would vote a number of Senators said they couldn’t answer because they still don’t know what they will be asked to vote on, Trumpcare or an Obamacare repeal.  Complicating matters, the Congressional Budget Office released another scoring report on Thursday.  This report scores the most recent version of Trumpcare but doesn’t score the unpopular Cruz Amendment.  The results are fairly similar to the Senate’s first version of Trumpcare:  15 million people would become uninsured next year with 22 million losing insurance by 2026.  The scorers also noted that by eliminating Obamacare subsidies, some deductible requirements reach $13,000, so high, especially for the targeted working poor, that they would be illegal, hardly a selling point for the few concerned moderates.  The deficit would be reduced by $420 billion, giving McConnell some more “influence” money to throw around.  For America, a conservative PAC, isn’t relying on McConnell’s persuasive skills or his bribes, they are pushing an attack video out this weekend through Facebook targeting Senators Murkowski, Moore Capito and Portman calling them traitors for their opposition to repealing Obamacare.           

Sanctions:  On Thursday, the Treasury Department fined Exxon $2 million for violating sanctions that were imposed on Russia in 2014 in response to Russian’s annexation of Crimea.  The Exxon violations occurred under the direction of then CEO Rex Tillerson who received his Order of Friendship medal from Putin in 2013.  While at Exxon, Tillerson said that he didn’t support sanctions, because “we don’t find them to be effective unless they are very well implemented comprehensively, and that’s a very hard thing to do,” especially when executives of major corporations willfully violate the law. The Senate has already passed legislation imposing new sanctions on Russia and it appears that the House is getting closer to signing off on their version of the bill over Trump and Tillerson’s objections. A presidential veto may be looming.  

Hire America: With all the attention on Health Insurance and Trump’s efforts to sabotage the Russia investigation, Made in America and Hire American Week isn’t getting much attention which may be why Trump’s Mar a Lago thought that no one would notice its application for seventy foreign worker visas.  It was noticed.