Is That All There Is?

Mueller Time:  Literally it may be Mueller time.  Various news outlets report that Mueller plans to deliver his report to the Justice Department as early as next week.  What that report will consist of continues to be anyone’s guess. Some of the indicators that Mueller is winding up his investigation include reports that his staff have been seen carrying boxes away from his offices, boxes that could be heading to prosecutors, permanent filing, or into hiding to protect them from Trump’s newest appointees; that some of the attorneys working on his team have notified their prior bosses that they are ready to return to their old jobs; and an apparent lack of activity at his grand jury.  Then there is also the Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein “watch.”  Rosenstein once said that he planned to stick with the Mueller investigation until it’s end, and he’s expected to leave by mid-March.  Additionally, his successor has already been selected, Trump has announced plans to appoint Jeffrey Rosen who currently serves as the Transportation Department’s Deputy Secretary.  Rosen who has been in an out of senior government positions was formerly at Kirkland & Ellis, Barr’s former firm.  Though he has a significant amount of litigation experience he’s never been a prosecutor which makes him a less than ideal choice for Deputy Attorney General but he’s the guy that Barr wants, and getting his choice into the Deputy Attorney General slot was one of the conditions of his accepting the Attorney General position.  As to Mueller, he’s already farmed out a number of cases to other federal attorneys in different locations throughout the country and it’s expected, or at least hoped, that the Department of Justice will continue to process any of the other cases that he might still send its way.  That said there are still lots of unknowns, first and foremost will there really be a report and is Mueller really on the verge of submitting it, or has the press gotten ahead of itself;  will Congress and the public ever see the report, a summary of the report or will most of it get squashed by Barr and/or Trump with its final reveal mired in a fight between Congress and the White House?  Additionally, what about all of those other indictments that were supposed to be, or that we all hoped were, imminent, indictments of people like Don Jr, Jared Kushner and the other Trumpkins who lied during their Congressional testimony, do they go public at the same time as the so-called report; and what’s happening with the mystery case involving a foreign government owned company, and the case being fought by Jason Miller, an associate of Roger Stone? Then there’s Trump, has Mueller given up on pushing for him to testify in person, are the answers that he “wrote” in response to Mueller’s questionnaire, the answers that we know he didn’t really write, all that’s forthcoming?  Regardless of whether or not Mueller is finished, investigations continue.  It does appear that things are continuing to heat up in the Southern District of New York and the House Democrats are just beginning their work. To that end, the evasive former Trump lawyer/fixer Michael Cohen is once again scheduled to appear in front of the House Oversight Committee for a public hearing now scheduled to take place next Wednesday.  He’s also scheduled for a closed door session with the House Intel Committee.  Cohen’s first day in jail has now been deferred by two months to May 6, his spokesperson says that the postponement  was provided to accommodate Cohen’s recuperation from shoulder surgery but others surmise that Cohen may have been granted more time because he has been working with prosecutors.  Roger Stone’s days in court aren’t over yet either.  He’s due in front of Judge Amy Berman Jackson today for a hearing on his threatening Instagram post, and it’s fair to assume that we haven’t heard the last of him or about his alleged communication with WikiLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 yet.  Lots of questions, and far too few answers remain.

Press Wars:  Both the NY Times and former Acting Director Andrew McCabe have really gotten under Trump’s skin.  Yesterday in response to the NY Times’ detailed article about his campaign against the Mueller and SDNY investigations Trump tweet ranted the “The Press has never been more dishonest than it is today, Stories are written that have absolutely no basis in fact. The writers don’t even call asking for verification. They are totally out of control. Sadly, I kept many of them in business. In six years, they all go BUST!” before adding “The New York Times reporting is false. They are a true ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!”  NY Times publisher AG Sulzberger responded with a statement condemning Trump’s words writing that although all presidents dislike criticism, Trump has gone way too far because by “demonizing the free press as the enemy, simply for performing its role of asking difficult questions and bringing uncomfortable information to light”  Trump “is retreating from a distinctly American principle.”  He then added “The phrase ‘enemy of the people’ is not just false, it’s dangerous. It has an ugly history of being wielded by dictators and tyrants who sought to control public information. And it is particularly reckless coming from someone whose office gives him broad powers to fight or imprison the nation’s enemies….there are mounting signs that this incendiary rhetoric is encouraging threats and violence against journalists at home and abroad.” That last part is particularly prescient, yesterday afternoon a Coast Guard officer was arrested for stockpiling weapons and drugs, he was described as a "domestic terrorist" who was planning "to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country." Along with the guns and drugs, confiscated materials included a hitlist with the names of prominent Democrats such as Senators Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand and Richard Blumenthal along with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Maxine Waters and former House member Beto O’Rourke.  The list also included the names of several MSNBC and CNN hosts including Chris Hayes, Joe Scarborough, Don Lemon and Van Jones.  As of now, there has been no outrage or condemnation from Trump. As to Andrew McCabe, Trump denies every insulting his wife even though his tweet history and speech records indicate otherwise and called him a disaster, terrible, a disgraced man, a poor man’s J. Edgar Hoover who was terminated not by me but solely at the direction of FBI leadership. Putting aside all the insults that last part is highly debatable.  During an interview with MSNBC’s Nicole Wallace, McCabe said that he had seen an early rambling four page draft of Trump’s Comey dismissal letter that was handwritten by Trump before Rod Rosenstein “cleaned” it up and wrote the version that was used to justify Comey’s firing.  McCabe asserts that Trump’s draft cited Comey’s failure to fire McCabe, presumably because his wife had committed the “crime” of accepting funding from a PAC run by Clinton friend and then Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe for her run for local office as one of the reasons for the Comey dismissal.  Notably Trump’s comment that Comey should have fired McCabe predates the release of the FBI Inspector General report that criticized McCabe and was used as the basis for his ultimate dismissal, the dismissal that took place just hours before he would have qualified for his pension.      

Other Odd Stuff:  Richard Grenell the Trump appointed US Ambassador to Germany announced a “push” to decriminalize homosexuality worldwide. In particular he has denounced Iran, one of the 71 countries where homosexuality is outlawed, for its persecution of gay people.  Grenell, who is openly gay, insists that his efforts have bi-partisan support and though it’s clear that Trump is all in on denouncing all things about Iran, he appears to be trying to distance himself from Grenell’s efforts which is odd because there is no way that the fairly ambitious Grenell, who has at times been considered for the UN Ambassador spot, would launch such a campaign without Trump’s support.  When asked about the campaign yesterday, Trump said he wasn’t aware of it, his way of saying that he doesn’t want the evangelists in his base to know that he’s signed off on tolerance.  Things aren’t looking good for Mark Harris, the North Carolina Republican Congressional candidate who hired a consultant to abscond with and/or alter absentee ballots.  Yesterday his son John Harris, a federal attorney, testified that he had warned his father ahead of time that the consultant he was then about to hire had a reputation engaging in illegal election tactics.  Lastly, yesterday in his annual speech to his countrymen Putin engaged in some saber rattling, threatening the US with new and improved missiles, a response to what he says is increased hostility to his country.  Notably, he didn’t have anything bad to say about Trump, instead he said Trump can’t be blamed for US attitudes, that he’s crippled by the pressure put on him by the “deep state.”  Another one of those talking points that he and Trump worked on together?