The Stunning Sound of Silence

Legal Morass:  Saturday night Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer/hatchet man, joined him for a little dinner, testimony coordination and Mar a Lago lobster.  At least for now, despite the way he appeared to have mucked up the attempt to “hush” the Stormy Daniels affair, Cohen is still on the Trump legal team.  That’s more than can be said for Joseph diGenova and his wife/legal partner Victoria Toensing, the two lawyers/Fox commentators that Trump retained last week to join his Russia legal defense team.  Toensing is already representing two other Trumpkins, former legal spokesperson Mark Corallo, the guy who resigned after growing concerned that Hope Hicks was obstructing justice by helping craft the press release about the Don Jr Russian Lawyer meeting, and former Agriculture Department guy Sam Clovis who may have approved George Papadopoulos’ Russian outreach, something that someone on the Trump team would have known if anyone had bothered to do any vetting. It wasn’t just the conflicts that disqualified diGenova and Toensing, after sitting down with them, Trump, who had just hired them, infuriating his lead lawyer John Dowd so much that he resigned, decided that he didn’t have any of that special chemistry with them nor did he like their less than snazzy attire.  They are now out, leaving Trump somewhat in the lurch, relying mostly on Jay Sekulow, a conservative commentator whose legal expertise is in religious freedom cases rather than white collar crime. Not to worry though, Trump is sure that help is on its way because  “many lawyers and top law firms want to represent me in the Russia case...don’t believe the Fake News narrative that it is hard to find a lawyer who wants to take this on. Fame & fortune will NEVER be turned down by a lawyer…”  At least for now, those lawyers are all either conflicted out, camera shy or too smart to join the Trump train, a train that White House counsel Don McGahn wants to leave too.  According to news reports, he is looking for an exit, but has promised to stay on board until a replacement can be found even though it’s not clear than there are any lawyers left who would consider the job. As to legal genius Michael Cohen, his handling of adult film actress Stormy a/k/a Stephanie leaves a lot to be desired and might result in him getting disbarred or worse.  Stormy finally told her story last night on 60 Minutes.  The details regarding her relationship with Trump weren’t all that surprising or interesting, but the efforts to keep her quiet were, and to the extent that she is to be believed, they involved threats of bodily harm to her and her child.  It’s also quite possible that the  $130,000 hush payment that Cohen claims to have paid with the proceeds of a personal home equity because of his love for Trump may well have violated campaign finance laws.     

Omnibus Sillies:  Friday, before signing the $1.3 trillion Omnibus spending bill Trump freaked out Republican leadership by threatening to veto it instead.   After hearing from a number of Fox commentators and right wing pundit Rush Limbaugh that the bill looked like something that Obama would have passed, an agitated Trump had to be talked down off the cliff before he’d agree to sign off.  He finally agreed to play ball but not before holding an impromptu press conference in which he whined incessantly about how the bill funded almost everything the Democrats wanted but provided little if anything for his pet projects.  He wasn’t far off the mark.  The bill left arts funding intact, doesn’t kill funding for Planned Parenthood, provides money for the start of the NYC – NJ tunnel and funds the CDC and alternative energy programs.  He tried to blame the omission of a DACA solution on the Democrats by insisting that he and the Republicans really, really wanted to include a solution but were stymied by Democratic intransigence even though it was his executive action that put DACA on the chopping block in the first place and his plan didn’t include a path to citizenship and provided only a three year program extension. Clearly the DACA assertion was made solely to provide a soundbite for friendly news outlets, and no doubt is even now being disseminated across the country on every Sinclair and Fox station.  One time VP candidate,  Virginia Senator Kaine, called him either delusional, a liar, or both.  Lastly, Trump called for the return of the line item veto, a feature that would permit him to go after specific provisions that he opposes, leaving the rest of any spending bill intact. He’s not the first president to call for the line item veto, but since it was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1998, Trump’s call for its reinstatement was odd at best.  Also odd was Treasury Secretary Mnuchin similar call during an interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace. When Wallace reminded him of the Supreme Court’s ruling, Mnuchin just shook his head and said there are ways to get around the courts.  Let’s hope not.   

The Marchers:  The Parkland students proved once again that they are a force to be reckoned with.  The marches they planned went off without a hitch, drawing large crowds both across the country and overseas.  Notably the Washington DC crowd was larger than Trump’s inauguration crowd, which is quite astonishing given that Trump’s inauguration attracted  the largest crowd in the history of mankind, or so he says. It’s hard to select the most memorable moment because almost all the moments and speeches were remarkable. Emma Gonzales’ minutes of uncomfortable silence stood out but so did the eloquent speech given by Naomi Wadler, the eleven year African American student activist, and the chant led by Yolanda Renee King, the young granddaughter of Martin Luther King, Jr.  Also standing out was Trump and Pence’s  absence.  While the rest of us were marching Trump was on one of his golf courses and Pence was somewhere bemoaning that his rabbit book was being outsold by John Oliver’s gay parody.  Then there’s Rick Santorum, the once and future Conservative presidential wannabee and frequent CNN commentator.  He criticized the Parkland students, saying that instead of pressing for “phony” gun laws, they should take CPR classes to better prepare themselves for the next inevitable school shooting. Before flying off to Mar a Lago, Trump did get one gun related thing off of his to do list, he announced that he’d directed the Department of Justice to finally issue those rules banning bump stocks and then went on to blame Obama for bump stocks not be banned sooner.   Under Obama the  Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) had determined that bump stocks were firearm parts that could not be banned under current laws.  It’s unclear how Trump can ban them absent any new legislative action.  This is another thing that could end up in the courts.

Other Follies:  With all of the hirings, firings, marches and Trump tweets, it would have been easy to miss that Trump slipped in a revised version of his transgender military ban late Friday.  This version, which he asserts is supported by military leadership though it’s not clear that it is, grandfathers existing transgender soldiers but makes it difficult for new transgender individuals to serve.  This is just another one of those policies that will hang out in the courts for a while.  As to military readiness, given the selection of the rather belligerent John Bolton to serve as national security advisor, Trump may want to reconsider doing anything that reduces the number of eligible recruits.  To the extent that Bolton manages to get a security clearance, something that isn’t a done deal given the NRA sponsored speech he gave in Russia and his Political Action Committee’s involvement with the now disgraced Cambridge Analytica, war with Iran and/or North Korea could be on the horizon.  Trump could need all the troops he can get his hands on. He may also need some help in the midterms.  Another Republican Congressman, Pennsylvania’s Ryan Costello, has decided not to run for reelection.  He’s concluded that his chances of winning in his newly redrawn Pennsylvania district are slim and that Trump’s incessant tweeting and “women” problems are just making those odds worse.  Trump may also want to find a few new fund raisers.  Problems continue to mount for one of them, Elliott Broidy, who was forced to cancel out of the Los Angeles fundraiser that he co-hosted after news about his involvement with George Nader’s efforts on behalf of the United Arab Emirates went public last week.  The NY Times reports that he’s been engaging in lots of influence peddling, promising access to the Trump administration to sketchy characters from Romania, the Republic of the Congo and Angola in exchange for lucrative defense contracts for his company.  So much for draining the swamp.