Romans 13

Inspecting the FBI:  The biggest takeaway from the DOJ Inspector General Report on the Clinton email investigation is that good guys aren’t perfect, they make mistakes and they say and do dumb things.  Sadly, even without bad intent or overt political bias those stupid things are very consequential as they can and in this case probably did impact the outcome of the 2016 election.  The report criticized former FBI Director Comey for being too concerned about appearances and perception, for being too emotional during the press conference where he announced that no charges would be file against Hillary Clinton and then for using poor judgment when he went public with the investigation into the emails found on Anthony Weiner’s laptop.  That said the report also concluded that Comey didn’t break any laws, that his ultimate decision not to pursue charges against Clinton was correct and that at the end of the day, despite a number of damming internal comments by some agents who should have known better, the FBI actions did not include any intentional political bias. One of those comments came from Peter Strzok, the FBI agent who was good at his job but whose trail of damning texts with his then girl friend Lisa Page, including one where he said “we’re going to stop Trump” from becoming president, fuels Trump and his team’s deep state suspicions and is already being used by the bombastic and scarily effective Rudy Giuliani to call for an end to the Mueller investigation into Trump and Russian meddling in the election.   The report also noted that though former Attorney General Loretta Lynch used poor judgement when she  visited Bill Clinton on his plane after their infamous tarmac meeting, she didn’t do or say anything that was illegal.  Ironically, it turns out that Comey, who famously criticized Clinton for her poor judgement in using a private email server used his private Gmail account a few times too.  The Inspector General recommends that the FBI institute firm policies that formally restrict discussing ongoing investigations and that restrictions on agents private communications also be imposed.  For his part, though he still feels that he did the right thing, in a NY Times Op-Ed, Comey complimented the Inspector General for his work, going on to say that if anything the report pretty much exonerates the FBI.  Others are less convinced.  The Hillary crowd feels more than ever that the FBI screwed up the election and, even though they won, the Trump crowd feels like the deep state is and was out to get them.

Additional Legal Woes:  Yesterday, Barbara Underwood, NY State’s Attorney General, the long term civil servant who took over after the last Attorney General Eric Schneiderman fell to the forces of the MeToo movement, proved that she is more than up to the task of her new position.  She is suing Trump's charitable foundation along with its directors which include Trump, his sons Eric and Don Jr. and daughter Ivanka, alleging they violated state and federal charities law.   The suit claims a pattern of “persistent illegal conduct over more than a decade that includes extensive unlawful political coordination with the Trump presidential campaign.”  She went on to say that the Trump foundation was “little more than a checkbook for payments from Trump or his business to nonprofits, regardless of their purpose or legality" noting that it was used to illegally settle personal debts.  These instances include a $100,000 payment to settle legal claims against his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.  Underwood is seeking millions in restitution, wants Trump banned from serving on the board of any other NY not-for-profits for ten years and wants the kids banned for a year.  Of more concern, she has referred the case to the IRS.  Not surprisingly Trump responded  with one of his tweet bashes "The sleazy New York Democrats, and their now disgraced (and run out of town) A.G. Eric Schneiderman, are doing everything they can to sue me on a foundation that took in $18,800,000 and gave out to charity more money than it took in, $19,200,000. I won't settle this case!" That said, he  probably will try his to settle this one as others have actually gone to jail for similar offenses.  With all the news yesterday, it would have been easy to miss that the Summer Zervos case took another step forward after NY’s highest court ruled in her favor by denying Trump’s efforts to delay her defamation suit.  Zervos’ lawyer responded to the court win by saying that she is looking forward to continuing discovery and “uncovering the truth,” by truth she means getting her hands on the Apprentice tapes, the ones that probably reveal way too much about Trump’s pattern of harassment. Trump’s lawyer Marc Kasowitz slammed the court decision, he may try to take the case to the Supreme Court to the extent that’s possible. As to that other case, the one involving Trump lawyer/fixer Michael Cohen, he still hasn’t turned on Trump, as far as we know, but his problems continue to grow.  Yesterday the Wall Street Journal reported that he is now under investigation for illegal secret lobbying.  The U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York is examining whether Cohen violated any federal disclosure laws in connection with his consulting deals, including whether he lobbied for domestic or foreign clients without properly registering.  Though the overwhelmed Cohen is shopping for new lawyers and better find some soon,  he did find time to go after his nemesis Stormy Daniels lawyer Michael Avenatti.  Yesterday Cohen filed for a restraining order to prevent Avenatti from speaking to the press about the Stormy lawsuit arguing that Avenatti’s actions are mainly driven by his seemingly unquenchable thirst for publicity," and saying that Avenatti "routinely denigrates" Cohen.  Somehow or other, that seems to be the least of Cohen’s problems, though it may be the one thing he feels he can deal with right now.  Oh, and one more thing, by the end of today Paul Manafort may be short two ankle bracelets but sporting an orange jumpsuit depending on what Washington DC Judge Berman has to say about his attempts at witness tampering.    

Major Minor Problems:  While immigration legislation continues to percolate and probably flounder in the House, the children horror show rages on.  Attorney General Sessions defended the administration’s policy of separating children from parents by citing of all things a passage from the Bible.  He told a group of law enforcement agents that "I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order." His citation isn’t going over all that well with others including the Southern Baptist Conference, the very conservative and largest Protestant denomination who passed a resolution calling for secure borders and a pathway to legal status that maintains "the priority of family unity, resulting in an efficient immigration system that honors the value and dignity of those seeking a better life for themselves and their families, ” one that went on to say that “any form of nativism, mistreatment, or exploitation is inconsistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ."  All this left Sarah Huckabee Sanders in another one of those really bad spots. When asked during her daily news conference about Sessions’ biblical citation and “where in the Bible does it say it is moral to take children away from their mothers” she defended the administration’s policy and Sessions’ comments by saying “it is very biblical to enforce the law, that is repeated a number of times throughout the Bible."  When pressed to cite a specific verse she instead lashed out at the journalist saying "I know it's hard for you to understand even short sentences I guess," then she pivoted blaming the "loopholes" created by the Democrats for the Trump policy.  It’s worth noting that Sanders father, former Arkansas Governor and presidential wannabee Mike Huckabee is a Christian Minister. Sadly, he taught her everything she knows.

More:  Trump is expected to announce the imposition of $50 billion of tariffs on China today and is apparently seriously evaluating the possibility of imposing tariffs on foreign cars.  He’s asked the Commerce Department to evaluate whether or not he can claim that the import of Audis and other such vehicles represents a threat to national security, really.  As to security, Trump continues to show an inexplicable preference for autocrats and their generals, the meaner the better.  A video of him saluting a North Korean General, one that has now been shown many times on North Korean TV, has gone viral.  Additionally, he is still arguing for the readmission of Russia to the G7 group.  Trump who is reported to have told the G7 members that Putin had the right to annex Crimea because the people there speak Russian, told Fox’s Brett Baier that he and other world leaders would have a better relationship with the Kremlin "if Vladimir Putin were sitting next to me."   Even better if they were holding hands?