Donald Trump’s pile up, but still no smoking gun
Donald Trump has received news that will further furrow his brow, news.com, yesterday:
Filings by federal prosecutors have brought revelations about Russian efforts to forge links to the US President before the 2016 election. They’ve also dropped a bombshell about illegal payments … to bury potential sex scandals.
A fishing expedition? Hans A. von Spakovsky, Fox News, Saturday:
When he was appointed a Justice Department special counsel in May 2017, Robert Mueller was assigned the task of determining whether … Donald Trump … conspired with Russia to elect Trump president. New court filings by Mueller and federal prosecutors … leave this central question unanswered. In 19 months, the Mueller probe has expanded … taking an ever-widening look … Unquestionably, this is a fishing expedition that has caught some fish.
Sacked US secretary of state Rex Tillerson unburdens himself, The Houston Chronicle, Friday:
We did not have a common value system. When the President would say, “Here’s what I want to do, and here’s how I want to do it” … I’d have to say to him: “Mr President, I understand what you want to do, but you can’t do it that way, it violates the law” … He got really frustrated. I didn’t know how to conduct my affairs with him any other way than in a very straightforward fashion, and I think he grew tired of me being the guy … that told him, “You can’t do that.”
Adam Davidson, The New Yorker, Friday:
Federal prosecutors released two memorandums on (Trump’s lawyer) Michael Cohen … While they are ostensibly designed to guide Cohen’s sentencing, they carry far greater weight. These documents make clearer than ever before the case against President Trump … In September 2015, Trump approved Cohen’s plan to reach out to the Russian government. That November, Cohen “spoke with a Russian national who claimed to be a ‘trusted person’ in the Russian Federation who could offer the campaign ‘political synergy’ and ‘synergy on a government level’ ”. Cohen’s contact “repeatedly proposed” a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Former Barack Obama staff member Jen Psaki on the appointment of William Barr, CNN, Friday:
Donald Trump believes that the job of the attorney-general is to protect him. … But Barr should not be mistaken for a … moderate pick. He is a strong defender of sweeping presidential power. Long before the Russia investigation and the national obsession with special counsel Robert Mueller, in 1992 Barr helped president George HW Bush pardon key witnesses in the Iran-Contra scandal, cutting the legs from under the independent prosecutor. In more recent months he has defended Trump’s firing of former FBI director James Comey … This nomination is about one thing: Donald Trump’s survival.
Barry Berke, Noah Bookbinder and Norman Eisen, The New York Times, Friday:
Prosecutors also disclosed a list of false statements that Paul Manafort, (Trump’s) former campaign chairman, allegedly made to investigators in breach of the agreement he entered into following his conviction for financial fraud and subsequent guilty plea to criminal conspiracy … Contrary to the President’s claim that all of this “totally clears” him, the danger to Trump … has compounded significantly. For all these reasons, the President is unlikely to have a restful, tweet-free weekend.