Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

Flynn Strategery:  So former national security adviser Michael Flynn is a liar and, unlike most other members of the Trump cabal, he’s been forced to admit that he’s a liar because he lied to the FBI, got caught, and then was forced to fess up to his lying ways. Despite Trump’s repeated statements that Flynn is a really good guy, his legal team plans to protect him from anything that Flynn knows, and may have already revealed to  Special Counsel Mueller, by pulling the liar card.  We’ve all seen this defense played out enough times on countless episodes of Law and Order to have suspected that it was coming, still it does seem patently absurd for Trump, the liar in chief, the man who lies daily about everything from crowd size, to the comparative ranking of his accomplishments, the man whose son-in-law lied on every form he ever filled out, whose favorite daughter falsely claimed academic awards on her website, and whose wife represented herself as a multi-degreed scholar go after Flynn for his lying.  At least for now the Trump legal team is “confident” that there is no paper trail to back-up any of what they believe Flynn is likely to say about Trump’s alleged misdeeds and, as his many harassment accusers have found out, Trump is comfortable with the “he said, she said” defense because up till now it has worked well for him.  Then again, Trump has never before come up against someone as persistent, thorough, capable and impervious to verbal attacks as Mueller.  Reports are that Mueller continues to expand his investigation.  In addition to focusing on the Trump, Kushner, Manafort, Russia money trail, Yahoo News reports that he is diving deeper into the intersection of the Republican National Committee and Trump’s 2016 campaign digital operations, focusing not only on the presidential election  but also looking at whether the targeting of voters in swing Congressional districts affected the outcome of those elections.  The focus on the digital strategy raises additional concerns for Jared Kushner and may be one of the many reasons that his lawyers have been looking to add a crisis management firm to his defense team.  As to Flynn, despite Trump’s lawyers efforts to brand him as an untrustworthy liar, Flynn’s brother Joseph Flynn is still hoping for a presidential pardon.  On Tuesday, in a tweet that has since been deleted he said its “About time you pardoned General Flynn who has taken the biggest fall for all of you given the illegitimacy of this confessed crime in the wake of all this corruption” and who knows, Trump could be listening, as recently as last week he hinted that he might pardon Flynn, some day.  

Tillerson Coda: This morning, in a NY Times Op Ed, Secretary of State Tillerson defended the current state of US Diplomacy.  Putting aside his questionable approach to reorganizing, really downsizing, the State Department, his statement was surprisingly cogent which may explain why his days at State are likely numbered.  While talking about the importance of working with the Russians in areas and hotspots where cooperation is needed, he acknowledged that they meddled in the US election and called them out for the invasion of Ukraine.  He talked about the Iran nuclear deal, calling it flawed, but did not suggest that the US should walk away from it.  He addressed the situation in North Korea, applauding Trump’s efforts to take a more forceful stance, the imposition of the new harsh and hopefully effective sanctions, adding that the point of the “peaceful pressure” was to push North Korea to the negotiating table.  With the possible exception of his assertion that all is well at the State Department and his failure to mention the need for more seasoned diplomats in the key positions that remain unfilled, Tillerson’s piece came off well. However, given his recognition of Russian election interference and his call for negotiations with North Korea, a call that consistently provokes a tweet attack from Trump, his op-ed seems more like a coda to his career at State than anything else.  The cabinet shuffle may begin soon.  The beleaguered Attorney General Sessions, who Trump blames for everything Russian as well as the election loss in Alabama, may want to duck too.     

It Ain’t Over Yet:  As to that election loss, accused child molester and Senatorial wannabee Roy Moore is still at it.  He’s now filed a complaint contesting the outcome of the Alabama election that he lost to Doug Jones, urging the Alabama Secretary of State to delay certifying the election results.  Taking a page from the Trump election fraud handbook, and citing the expert analysis of a known JFK conspiracy theorist, he claims that thousands of illegal voters were bussed in from parts unknown to vote for Jones.  He is also questioning the “anomalous” voter turnout in largely black Jefferson County, saying that there is no way all those African American voters would really have shown up to vote.  It’s unlikely that his strategy will work but as Yogi Berra used to say it ain’t over till the fat lady sings, or in this case until the court throws out his case and John Merrill, the Alabama Secretary of State, certifies the results.  In other Senator news, Orrin Hatch, was so pleased that the Salt Lake Tribunal called him the Utahan of the Year that he tweeted out their editorial without taking the time to read it first.   If he had, he would have caught the part where they denounced his "utter lack of integrity" and called for him to end his 42-year career in the Senate. Hatch who has been considering retiring hasn’t yet announced whether or not he plans to run again in 2018, when his current term is up.  Former Massasschusetts Governor and one time presidential nominee Mitt Romney is anxious to throw his hat in the ring and would be the likely Republican nominee for Hatch’s seat.  Trump, on the other hand, really wants Hatch to stick around because he isn’t anxious to see Romney, one of his frequent and more articulate critics sitting in the Senate any time soon. 

Other News:  The Justice Department is now having it’s “me too” moment.  An Inspector General report citing ongoing sexual harassment at Justice was completed in May but is just now coming to light.  Never one to miss a moment to blame Obama, Fox news pointed out that most of these allegations predate Trump.  Fox isn’t wrong, but then again the point isn’t the party affiliation of the offenders, some were Republicans and no doubt some were Democrats, the point is that the time has come to do something about it, to figure out how to deal with harassers when their jobs are protected by civil service rules,  and with the “me too” movement in the forefront, that responsibility falls into Trump’s and his Justice Department’s courts, so to speak.  And we know how much Trump likes speaking out against sexual harassment.   New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco filed  a lawsuit yesterday against the Defense Department and Defense Secretary Mattis for failing to report criminal convictions of people in the military to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and its national gun background check database.  The lawsuit came about in response to the murder of 25 people in Sutherland, Texas by the veteran who should have been on that list. The cities are seeking to force the Defense Department to fully participate in the reporting system, which is already required by law.  No comment, yet, from the NRA, no doubt they are busy on the shooting ranges with all those gun owners trying out their holiday presents.