49 Questions

Obstruction and Collusion:  Trump continues to insist that the Mueller investigation is a witch hunt.  If he is so sure, he should have no trouble clearing things up by sitting down with the Special Counsel to answer the forty-nine questions that the NY Times published last night.  That list, which the Times reports was presented to Trump and his legal team in March, including then lawyer John Dowd, includes questions about what Trump knew about his campaign’s interaction with Russia and WikiLeaks, including any outreach by former security advisor Flynn and former campaign manager Manafort.  Not surprisingly, the questions also address Trump’s purpose and thinking behind his conversations with former FBI Directory Comey and Attorney General Sessions.  Bottom line is that the questions address most of the subjects that we’ve heard about over the past year. Some things not included on the list are any questions about Trump’s finances or much about son-in-law Kushner, however it’s probably too soon to think that either subject isn’t of interest to Mueller and his team. The NY Times doesn’t name the source, but says that the question list doesn’t come from Trump’s legal team and since Mueller’s team doesn’t leak, that probably means that they come from another member of the Trump team. As to those chatty Trumpkins some of them told NBC that current Chief of Staff John Kelly, has repeatedly called Trump an idiot and that he, Kelly, thinks he is saving the world from disaster by sticking with Trump.  Of course Kelly called these assertions bull sh-t and said the report was a “pathetic attempt to smear people.”  He went on to say that he spends a lot of time with Trump and that the two have an “incredibly strong and candid relationship,” which probably means that he has called Trump an idiot, but not to his face.   The story had multiple sources, some of them probably related to Trump and the rest probably the staff members who NBC reports are unhappy working with Kelly and who have said that the morale in the White House is awful in part due to Kelly.  It’s been long suggested that Kelly’s days are numbered, last week one report even suggested that he could be the person next nominated to head the VA, a job that he reportedly has no interest in taking.  His days probably are numbered.  Trump may have decided that not only is he his own best communication director but that he is also his own best chief of staff.   

Stormy and the Mikes:  Michael Avenotti filed another lawsuit against Trump on behalf of his client, adult star Stormy Daniels.  This one sues Trump for defamation for his assertion that Stormy’s story about being threatened by an unidentified thug  to keep her story about her Trump hook-up quiet and her composite picture of the alleged thug is a “con job.”  The suit, which seeks $75,000 in damages to cover the costs of extra security that Avenotti says that Stormy has had to employ, was filed in New York and may be part of a strategic move to bring the Stormy case into the same court system that is responsible for the Michael Cohen case.  As to Cohen, apparently Trump’s  campaign fund has paid $228,000 of Cohen’s legal fees, something that is probably kosher if that money was paid in relation to the Russia investigation but might be a violation of campaign finance laws if the payments had anything to do with the Stormy related investigation. Cohen needs all the help he can get which may explain why his lawyers told the judge presiding over the California Stormy “hush agreement” case that he would plead the fifth if called to testify, something that led the judge, who also said that he expects Cohen to be indicted soon, to postpone that case for ninety days.   Separately, Trump’s closest allies in Congress have drafted articles of impeachment, not against Trump but against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.  They allege that Rosenstein hasn’t provided them with the documents that they want, particularly those about Hillary Clinton and her “crimes” and the FBI and Justice Departments malfeasance but really the articles have been drafted as part of a concerted effort to disrupt the Mueller investigation by getting rid of his boss, the much attacked Rosenstein.  

War Drums:   At least ten reporters were killed yesterday in a series of suicide bombings in Afghanistan, something for Trump and his team to think about the next time that they attack the press for spreading “false news.”  In other international news, Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu gave a widely broadcasted speech where he presented a raft of  documents obtained by the Mossad that prove that Iran, despite its denials,  was working on the development of  nuclear weapons prior to the signing of the Iran nuclear agreement.  Though he didn’t assert that Iran had violated the terms of the Obama era agreement, he argued that the agreement was based on lies.  Since he gave the speech in English, it’s likely that his targeted audience was Trump who has until May 12 to decide whether or not to trash the deal.  Netanyahu’s information is well sourced and disturbing, but not all that shocking and is unlikely to change anyone’s opinion about the agreement. However, for a brief moment last night it looked like Trump was on the verge of starting a war with Iran.  The White House issued, and then retracted a statement that said that Iran “has” a secret and robust nuclear weapons program.  Apparently someone, maybe security advisor and well known hawk John Bolton had a grammar and tense problem.  The statement was supposed to say that Iran “had” a secret program, bigly difference.  For his part Trump asserts that walking away from the deal won’t hurt his negotiations with North Korea but that it will instead send a message that he is serious and a tough negotiator who shouldn’t be toyed with.  Most experts disagree with Trump’s assessment but then again few of them predicted that Kim Jong Un would be willing to come to the table.  As to that table, when Trump meets with Kim Jong Un, their table may be situated in the demilitarized zone that currently serves as the buffer between North and South Korea.  At least for now Trump has pushed off his trade war with Europe, Canada and Mexico.  Last night the White House announced that steel and aluminum tariffs that were due to go into effect today have been delayed for another thirty days.

Another Pruitt-ism:  The Scott Pruitt led EPA has granted a financial hardship waiver to an oil refinery owned by billionaire Carl Icahn, Trump’s former adviser and fellow billionaire, exempting the Oklahoma facility from requirements under a federal biofuels law, proving once again that Pruitt knows how to keep his boss happy, and his boss, Trump, knows how to keep his friends on his side.