June 15, 2017


News and Views


COMPLETELY WITHOUT INTENTION, THIS HAS TURNED INTO DUMP TRUMP DAY, SIMPLY BECAUSE OF THE VARIETY AND IMPORTANCE OF THE ARTICLES I FOUND. SO, IF YOU HATE HEARING TRUMP TRASHED (AS HE HAS TRASHED OTHERS SO MANY TIMES) DON’T READ TODAY’S BLOG. PROCEED.



TRUMP LYING UNDER OATH

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-trump-lies-under-oath-20170612-story.html
Commentary: My lawyers got Trump to admit 30 times, under oath, that he lied
Timothy L. O'Brien
Bloomberg View
June 12, 2017

Video -- President Trump denied asking fired FBI Director James B. Comey for a loyalty oath or requesting that he drop the investigation into former national security advisor Mike Flynn.

Donald Trump closed out last week by rumbling back into his battle against James Comey, who was FBI director until POTUS fired him. In the morning, he celebrated Comey's Senate testimony as a "complete vindication" on Twitter. In the afternoon, Trump flat-out called him a liar — in the Rose Garden, no less.

When a reporter asked Trump if he would testify about his version of events "under oath" with the Justice Department's special counsel in the Russia probe, Robert Mueller, the president said, "One hundred percent." And Trump elaborated, "I would be glad to tell him exactly what I just told you."

Well, that's interesting.

A decade ago, my lawyers questioned Trump under oath during a deposition in a libel case he filed against me for a biography I wrote, "TrumpNation." (Trump lost the case in 2011.) Trump had to acknowledge 30 times during that deposition that he had lied over the years about a wide range of issues: his ownership stake in a large Manhattan real estate development, the cost of a membership to one of his golf clubs, the size of the Trump Organization, his wealth, the rate for his speaking appearances, how many condos he had sold, the debt he owed, and whether he borrowed money from his family to stave off personal bankruptcy.

Trump's propensity for lying was also on display throughout the 2016 presidential campaign. He said that he had opposed the Iraq War when he hadn't; he lied about his stances on climate change and the national debt; he lied about various insults he had hurled at women; he lied about who had endorsed him; he lied about how much money his father had given him over the years, and on, and on.

A loose relationship with the facts has also plagued Team Trump in the White House. Kellyanne Conway, Sean Spicer, Stephen Miller, Mick Mulvaney, Reince Preibus and, of course, Michael Flynn, have all been caught peddling blather or lies in the course of carrying out their civic duties.

Trump's own lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, has had problems getting his facts straight, too. (Kasowitz represented Trump when the president sued me in 2006.) In a press release littered with errors and a misspelled title for Trump ("Predisent"), Kasowitz last week accused Comey of trying to undermine the White House by leaking information about his conversations with the president.

Kasowitz also said that Comey lied when testifying that he shared information about his conversations with the president only after Trump tweeted that he might have made tapes of the same conversations. Yet, Kasowitz claimed, the New York Times had published an article about the Comey-Trump conversations prior to Trump's tweet. Kasowitz was wrong, however. The Times' first article about the conversations appeared on May 16, four days after Trump tweeted: "James Comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press! 8:26 AM - 12 May 2017"

And what about those tapes? Trump revived speculation about hidden White House tapes again on Friday, suggesting in the Rose Garden that he will advise the world about whether they exist in the "very near future."

I don't think any tapes exist. Trump told me and other reporters over the years that he had a taping system in his Trump Tower office that he used to record journalists meeting with him. But when he testified under oath in the deposition for his suit against me, Trump acknowledged that he was "not equipped to tape-record."

There's another odd aspect to all of the back-and-forth about Trump's multiple conversations with Comey: The president apparently never inquired about the substance of the FBI's Russia investigation. That has prompted a former law enforcement professional and others to say that it reveals a troubling disregard for national security on the president's part (which it does). Others noted that it also suggests that Trump may have already known quite a bit about the Russian affair — and therefore had few questions for Comey.

"The innocent ask a multitude of questions about what the detectives know, or why the cops might think X or Y or whether Z happened to the victim," former police reporter and creator of "The Wire," David Simon, noted in a pair of Twitter posts. "The guilty forget to inquire. They know."

House Speaker Paul Ryan said that Trump deserves a pass for strong-arming Comey because "the president is new at this" in Washington and he's "learning as he goes." But positioning the nation's capital as a complicated place for unwary newcomers doesn't hold much water for the president, who turns 71 in two days. In fact, Trump is not new at this at all — he's been directly lobbying and strong-arming regulators and law enforcement officials for decades.

Trump is the man, after all, who coined the term "truthful hyperbole" as a euphemism for lying in his 1987 non-fiction work of fiction, "The Art of the Deal." Thirty years later, he's still up to his old tricks.

The difference now, of course, is that Trump is president. And in James Comey he's collided with a seasoned, wily law enforcement official who opened the investigative door for Robert Mueller and cleared a path for him to bring the full force of the law to bear on the White House.

"I can definitively say the president is not a liar," Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a White House spokeswoman, said on Friday in response to a question about whether it is Trump or Comey who is lying.

But now that the president himself has invited the broader Russia probe and the Justice Department into the Oval Office we won't have to take Sanders' word for it — Mueller is going to help answer the question.

Bloomberg View

Timothy O'Brien is the executive editor of Bloomberg Gadfly and Bloomberg View. He has been an editor and writer for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, HuffPost and Talk magazine. His books include "TrumpNation: The Art of Being The Donald."

RELATED ARTICLES:

Donald Trump's palpable fear of the truth

Trump is a profoundly incompetent president

Don't expect spineless Republicans to defy Donald Trump

That "cloud" Trump wanted Comey to lift is now a gathering storm



YADDA, YADDA, YADDA! HOW’D HE COME UP WITH A WORD LIKE “CONFLICTED?” IS IT POSSIBLE THAT HE ACTUALLY HAS DONE SOME PSYCHOTHERAPY? IF SO, THEY DIDN’T FINISH THE JOB.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-hits-back-after-report-says-mueller-investigating-him-n772706
POLITICS JUN 15 2017, 12:05 PM ET
Trump Decries ‘Witch Hunt’ After Report That Mueller Is Investigating Him
by DANIEL ARKIN

President Donald Trump on Thursday morning once again dismissed the Russia investigation as a "phony story" and blasted federal investigators as “bad and conflicted people” after a report said special counsel Robert Mueller is examining whether the president attempted to obstruct justice.

Follow
Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice
6:55 AM - 15 Jun 2017
29,189 29,189 Retweets 94,979 94,979 likes

Follow
Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
You are witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history - led by some very bad and conflicted people! #MAGA
7:57 AM - 15 Jun 2017
23,389 23,389 Retweets 77,236 77,236 likes

Trump has repeatedly lambasted the Russia probe as a “witch hunt,” using the phrase in at least eight tweets since March.

Mueller has requested interviews with senior intelligence officials about their conversations with Trump in an effort to investigate possible obstruction of justice, a former senior intelligence official with knowledge of the discussions confirmed to NBC News. The Washington Post was first to report the news.

Related: Reported Investigation of Trump Would Have Widespread Legal Implications

Those who have agreed to be interviewed include Dan Coats, director of national intelligence; Mike Rogers, chief of the National Security Agency; and Richard Ledgett, who recently left his post as deputy to Rogers.

Mark Corallo, a spokesman for Trump's personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, criticized the Post report: "The FBI leak of information regarding the president is outrageous, inexcusable and illegal."

The report in the Post cited anonymous sources who had been briefed on requests made by Mueller's investigators. It was not known whether the FBI was the source of the information in the report.

At the end of an executive order signing Thursday afternoon, Trump ignored shouted questions about whether he was under investigation.

Obstruction of justice probe of Trump is 'major' legal development Play Facebook Twitter Embed
Obstruction of justice probe of Trump is 'major' legal development 1:29

Former FBI head James Comey, who testified under oath before Congress last week, said he had told the president on multiple occasions that he personally was not under investigation during the probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Comey, however, would not say that publicly, citing the fact that the investigation was ongoing.

The situation changed, the Post reported, after Trump fired Comey. Days after the FBI chief was ousted, Trump told NBC News' Lester Holt that the Russia probe played a role in his explosive decision to dismiss him. At his hearing last week, Comey testified that he believed he was fired on May 9 “because of the Russia investigation.”

At a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing last week, Coats and Rogers refused to say whether Trump asked them to intervene in the investigation, which is also examining whether the Trump campaign team colluded with Russia during last year's presidential campaign.

Intel Chiefs Coats, Rogers Are Asked if Trump Requested They Influence Comey
Play Facebook Twitter Embed
Intel Chiefs Coats, Rogers Are Asked if Trump Requested They Influence Comey 1:49

"In the three-plus years that I have been director of the National Security Agency, I have never been directed to do anything I believe to be illegal, immoral, unethical, or inappropriate, and to the best of my recollection, during that same period of service I do not recall ever feeling pressured to do so," Rogers said.

Mueller, a former FBI chief, met Wednesday with the heads of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Sen Mark Warner, D-VA, said in a statement Wednesday that they “look forward to future engagements” with the special counsel.



I COULD BE WRONG, BUT I THINK THE PRESIDENT IS RUNNING OUT OF ROPE. AT LEAST, I CERTAINLY HOPE SO. WHAT I HAVE NOTICED IN THE SIX OR EIGHT “CRISES OF DEMOCRACY” THAT WE HAVE HAD ALREADY UNDER TRUMP, THE COURTS CAME THROUGH WITH FLYING COLORS, AND NOW THIS TIME IT’S THE SENATE. I REALLY DO LOVE OUR CONSTITUTION, COURT SYSTEM, BUREAUCRACY, ETC. WHAT MAKES IT SO HARD TO RAM THROUGH A BILL THE WAY TRUMP – AND OTHERS – HAVE TRIED TO DO, IS OUR GOVERNMENT’S VERY COMPLEXITY. IT’S ANNOYING SOMETIMES, BUT A LIFE SAVER IN OTHERS.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-passes-new-russian-sanctions-bill-would-curb-trump-s-n772826
POLITICS JUN 15 2017, 3:07 PM ET
Senate Passes New Russian Sanctions Bill That Would Curb Trump’s Power
by LEIGH ANN CALDWELL

WASHINGTON — The Senate easily passed legislation Thursday that would impose additional sanctions against Russia and limit the president's power to lift them in the future.

The Senate passed the bill, which also includes additional sanctions on Iran, by an overwhelming 98-2 vote with Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky. and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. voting against it.

The measure will now go to the House of Representatives where the path forward is not clear. "The speaker was a vocal proponent of the last round of sanctions and believes we must do more to hold Russia accountable," said AshLee Strong, a spokesperson for House Speaker Paul Ryan. "The Foreign Affairs Committee is reviewing the details in this latest sanctions package being voted on in the Senate, and after that we will determine a path ahead in the House."

If it passes the House, President Donald Trump would have to either sign or veto a bill that the White House has had little response to so far.

White House Principle Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the administration remains "committed" to the existing sanctions against Russia, calling them the "best tool" for compelling Russia to honor its commitments to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Asked if they felt handcuffed by the Senate actions, Sanders demurred, saying that because the process was still ongoing, there was no final product to weigh in on.

The sanctions are in response to a trio of Russian actions, including their interference in the 2016 election, engagement in Syria and invasion of Crimea. Trump has been reluctant to address Russian’s involvement and has repeatedly praised the country and President Vladimir Putin.

The addition of Russian sanctions to the bill was a rebuke to the president because it would prohibit the president from being able to lift them without Congressional approval.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had encouraged the Senate to hold off on more sanctions, saying that he’d like more time to try and work diplomacy with Russia.

“I would hope to allow the diplomatic efforts to attempt to make some progress,” Tillerson said earlier this week. “If we cannot make some progress, and I have told others in the Senate, I have had conversations with them, I may very well be coming to you and saying the time has come now to do this in order to motivate some movement on their part.”

But the Senate moved forward anyway.

Related: Senate Strikes Deal on Russia Sanctions

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and co-author of the bill, said he’s been updating the State Department.

“We’ve been interacting with the state department and, again, we’ll see what happens,” he told reporters.

The sanctions would codify existing economic restrictions and place new ones in an effort to economically harm specific individuals and Russia's economy.

Sanctions would be placed on Russians who violate human rights, supply weapons to the Bashar al-Asad regime in Syria or who are involved in the Russian defense and intelligence industry. It also places additional sanctions on specific industries, including the country's mining, shipping and railway industry.

Sanders said he voted against the larger bill because he said sanctioning Iran could harm the Iranian nuclear deal. "I am strongly supportive of the sanctions on Russia included in this bill," Sanders said in a statement. "But I believe that these new sanctions could endanger the very important nuclear agreement that was signed between the United States, its partners and Iran in 2015."

In another challenge to Trump’s foreign policy, the measure also “reaffirm the strategic importance” of NATO. While Trump recently said he, too, supports NATO, he failed to do so at a NATO meeting in Brussels, worrying the alliance’s supporters and members.



THIS ANNOUNCEMENT THAT PEOPLE ARE FEELING ALARMED AMAZES ME. I WAS FEELING ALARM WHEN I FIRST HEARD HIM PRAISING PUTIN ALMOST EFFUSIVELY WHILE ON THE CAMPAIGN AND THEN AFTER THE INAUGURATION AS WELL, PLUS HIS ACCIDENTALLY OR PURPOSELY INSULTING OUR OLD-TIME NATO ALLIES. WHAT DOES HE THINK HE IS DOING? OH, YES. HE’S PADDING HIS POCKETBOOK WITH HIS RUSSIAN BUSINESS DEALS. SOME SAY HE OWES THEM MONEY; OTHERS SAY HE IS BEING BLACKMAILED BY PRES. PUTIN.

GERMANY, FRANCE, BRITAIN AND OTHERS IN EUROPE ARE LIKE BROTHERS PHILOSOPHICALLY WITH CLASSIC AMERICAN THINKING. GERMANY, ONCE IT WAS EXORCISED OF ITS’ DEMON, IS A CULTURAL FRIEND. WE MUST NOT FORGET WWII, BECAUSE THE SAME ENEMIES, FASCISM AND OTHER FORMS OF DESPOTISM, ARE STILL OUT THERE WAITING FOR ANOTHER CHANCE, AND SOMETHING TELLS ME THAT THIS PARTICULAR TIME PERIOD MAY BE THEIR CHANCE.

IF WE DO WISH TO MAINTAIN THE BEST OF OUR AMERICAN IDEALS, WE MUSTN’T BE BLAISE ABOUT THIS. “GOING WITH THE FLOW” IS NOT A GOOD OPTION AT TIMES LIKE THIS. OF COURSE, GOING TO A PUBLIC EVENT AND SHOOTING US SENATORS WHICH OCCURRED YESTERDAY IN ALEXANDRIA, VA, IS A TERRIBLE IDEA, NO MATTER HOW WE MAY “FEEL” ABOUT THINGS. INSTEAD, WE NEED TO WRITE, DISCUSS, PLAN, AND NOTIFY ALL LEGISLATORS THAT IF THEY DON’T DO SOMETHING CREATIVE ABOUT THE THINGS THAT TRUMP IS DOING, THEY WILL HEAR FROM YOU EVERY WEEK, OR DAY, OR ON THEIR OFFICIAL FACEBOOK PAGE (IF THERE IS ONE.) THERE IS NOTHING SO CONVINCING AS A CONSTANT DRIPPING TO DESTROY THE MENTAL POISE OF ANYONE. IF THERE ARE ENOUGH OF THOSE DRIPS, THE TOTAL FROM ALL OF US WILL BECOME A FLOOD, AND SOMETHING WILL BE DONE.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trumps-indifference-russias-election-attack-raises-alarm?cid=eml_mra_20170615
Trump’s indifference to Russia’s election attack raises alarm
06/15/17 12:43 PM
By Steve Benen

Photograph -- This file handout photo taken on May 10, 2017 made available by the Russian Foreign Ministry shows shows US President Donald J. Trump (C) speaking with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L) and Russian Ambassador to the US, Sergei Kislyak during a meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C. President Donald Trump revealed highly classified information to Russia's foreign minister and ambassador to the United States during an Oval Office meeting last week, the Washington Post reported Monday, May 15, 2017. AFP PHOTO / RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY

In the current political climate, it’s rare to see any policy measure receive broad bipartisan support; the parties are simply too far apart on practically every issue. Yesterday, however, offered an exception.

The Senate voted 97 to 2 in support of legislation imposing new economic sanctions on Russia in response to Moscow’s intervention in the American presidential election. The same measure, which now heads to the House, would block the White House from acting unilaterally on easing sanctions against Moscow – a move Donald Trump has reportedly considered more than once.

For many Senate Republicans, this was literally the first time in 2017 in which they voted against Trump’s preference.

There are a variety of interesting questions surrounding the bill – most notably, no one knows if the president would veto it – but let’s not miss the forest for the trees. The fact that the chamber took this action at all demonstrated something important: nearly every member of the Senate cares that a foreign adversary attacked our democracy, and they’re taking steps to do something about it.

Donald Trump, meanwhile, seems indifferent, if not outwardly hostile, to the core details – which is difficult to accept at face value, and even harder to defend.

Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, talked to CNN on Tuesday and expressed his frustration about Trump’s and his administration’s indifference. His comments were quite candid:

“The other question [Attorney General Jeff Session] didn’t answer – I’ve got to say, it really, really disturbed me – and that is, ‘Have you looked into what the Russians did? Have you asked for any briefings? Do you understand the magnitude of what was done to us?’ And the answer was no.

“And Jim Comey essentially said the same thing last week about the president. He had nine interactions with the president. The president never asked, ‘What did the Russians do? How did they do it? How do you know they did it?’ […]

“[T]his is the most serious attack on our country since September 11. An adversary is aiming an arrow at the heart of our democracy. And these folks are just shrugging it off and saying, you know, ‘Let’s move on and talk about other issues.’ I understand their defensiveness on whether they were involved in it or not, but the fundamental story of what the Russians did – and that they’re still at it and will continue to be at it – is just being ignored, and it really bothers me when the Commander in Chief takes that position.”

As it should.

Jeff Sessions’ testimony highlighted Team Trump’s indifference, but it was the latest evidence of a larger pattern. A Politico piece noted after James Comey’s recent testimony that the “starkest aspect” of what Americans heard was “the president’s lack of curiosity about the long-running, deep-reaching, well-executed and terrifyingly effective Russian attack on American democracy…. The president is interested in his own innocence, or the potential guilt of others around him – but not at all in the culpability of a foreign adversary, or what it meant. This is utterly astonishing.”

A week earlier, the Washington Post ran a piece from a former counterintelligence FBI agent who was “shocked” that Trump has “cared little about understanding either the magnitude of the Russian intelligence threat, or how the FBI might be able to prevent another attack in future elections.”

The political circumstances are, to be sure, awkward. Trump is quite pleased with the result of Russia’s espionage operation against our democracy – it helped put him in the White House – and the greater the focus on the crime, the more reason Americans have to question the legitimacy of his presidency. It’s not surprising that Trump finds all of this terribly inconvenient.

But the end result is nevertheless untenable. A foreign adversary attacked the United States, and the American president is inclined to do nothing – ask no questions, express no anger, seek no retribution, hold no one responsible – except welcome the foreign adversary’s officials into the Oval Office for a friendly chat, and satisfy the foreign adversary’s foreign policy goals.

If Team Trump wants the public to believe there’s nothing to the Russia scandal, it should probably adopt a very different kind of posture in response to Russia’s efforts to subvert our political system.



TRUMP’S LEADERSHIP STYLE

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-delegates-too-much-his-commander-chief-authority?cid=eml_mra_20170615
Trump delegates too much of his Commander-in-Chief authority
06/15/17 11:20 AM—UPDATED 06/15/17 11:42 AM
By Steve Benen

Photograph -- WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 03: (AFP OUT) US President Donald Trump flanked by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (L) and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (R) looks... Pool

The vast majority of the top positions in the Pentagon are still empty, and McClatchy reported last week that in several cases, it’s because the White House refuses to accept Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis’ personnel recommendations. Trump World, the article said, has “blacklisted national security and defense leaders who publicly disagreed with Trump during the 2016 campaign.”

But while the Secretary of Defense lacks the authority to pick his team, he’s apparently gained the authority to establish troop-deployment levels in Afghanistan. The Washington Post reported:

President Trump has given the Pentagon new authority to decide the troop levels in Afghanistan, a U.S. official said Tuesday. The move could lead to a deployment of thousands more troops as commanders decide the way forward in the 15-year-old war. […]

With the new authority, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis could authorize deployment of additional troops to Afghanistan, something commanders on the ground have been requesting for months.

Mattis issued a written statement yesterday, confirming that Trump has “directed the Department of Defense to set troop levels in Afghanistan.”

At first blush, that may not sound especially surprising, but this is a power the president is supposed to hold onto, not delegate away. Military leaders have a mission in Afghanistan, but the White House has a responsibility to consider the Pentagon’s recommendations in a larger policy context.

This president, however, apparently doesn’t want to – and it’s a dynamic that keeps coming up.

As we discussed several weeks ago, Trump has also told Mattis to take the lead on setting troop levels in Iraq and Syria, relaxing rules intended to prevent civilian casualties in Somalia, and deploying rarely used weapons – such as the MOAB (“Mother Of All Bombs”) – without presidential input or approval.

In other words, Trump may be the Commander in Chief of the military, but he’s taking a hands-off approach when it comes to leading the armed forces, delegating much of his authority to the Defense Department. The L.A. Times added last week that the president hasn’t met or even spoken to the top U.S. military commander in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Circling back to our coverage from May, Candidate Trump, despite having no experience or background in military service at any level, used to boast to voters about his expertise in matters of national security – remember when the Republican amateur boasted he knew more about ISIS than American generals do? – but as a president, he appears to be effectively taking a pass.

To be sure, every president needs to strike a balance. Ultimately, the military is required to follow a president’s orders, but it’s unrealistic to think any modern Commander-in-Chief, especially during ongoing conflicts, would personally consider and approve literally every individual mission and strike. Some delegation is a practical necessity.

But with Trump, we appear to have a president who’s content to leave key decision-making authority to others.

I’m reminded of Trump’s reaction to the disastrous raid in Yemen, shortly after the president took office, which left Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens and many civilians dead. Asked about what transpired, Trump made comments in a Fox News interview that were almost hard to believe.

“Well this was a mission that was started before I got here,” the president said. “This was something that was, you know, just, they wanted to do. They came to see me they explained what they wanted to do, the generals … and they lost Ryan.”

This was obviously an outrageous example of a president trying to avoid responsibility for a mission gone wrong, but in retrospect, I wonder if Trump was being literal. From his perspective, if he handed over decision-making authorities to military leaders, and Trump effectively removed himself from the process, then from the president’s vantage point, “they” are to blame for what went wrong, not him.

A variety of words come to mind, but “leadership” isn’t one of them.


DO WATCH THIS HONEST AND CONVINCING VIDEO FROM MORNING JOE. “FORCES AT PLAY THAT I’VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE ....” SANFORD IS A REPUBLICAN, I SEE, BUT HE’S GOT IT ALL JUST RIGHT IN MY VIEW. “THE PRESIDENT HAS UNLEASHED ... DEMONS...” I’M GLAD THAT SOME REPUBLICANS ARE ACKNOWLEDGING THAT TRUMP’S TRULY BIZARRE CAMPAIGNING, RHETORIC AND LEADERSHIP STYLE IS INTENSELY HARMFUL, AND IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE EXTENT OF THE HATE-FILLED RHETORIC AND ACTIONS WE ARE SEEING ON THE INTERNET AND IN THE PUBLIC STREETS. IT ALSO MAKES THE AMERICAN CITIZENS WHO ELECTED HIM A LAUGHINGSTOCK AROUND THE WORLD. I PRAY THIS WHOLE TREND WILL TURN AROUND AND MOVE TO APPROACH GOODNESS AGAIN.

http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/sanford-there-s-some-heavy-soul-searching-going-on-967981635744
MORNING JOE 6/15/17
Sanford: There's some heavy soul-searching going on

Rep. Mark Sanford, R-SC., discusses Wednesday's shooting during a Republican baseball practice in Alexandria, Va. and why civility is needed in current American politics. Duration: 4:51


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/criminal-investigation-of-trump-a-turning-point-in-russia-probe-967836739575?cid=eml_mra_20170615
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 6/14/17
Criminal investigation of Trump a turning point in Russia probe

Ari Melber, MSNBC chief legal correspondent, talks with Rachel Maddow about the legal implications of the revelation that Donald Trump is being investigated for obstruction of justice for firing James Comey over the Russia investigation. Duration: 5:35


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-news/watch/gop-lawmaker-the-tone-of-negative-politics-has-to-change-968187971571
MSNBC LIVE WITH STEPHANIE RUHLE 6/15/17
GOP Lawmaker: The Tone of Negative Politics ‘Has to Change’

Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger tells MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle that the tone of government has to change and everyone has to accept partial responsibility. Duration: 5:00



http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/gop-senator-mueller-is-a-man-of-integrity-968102979876
MORNING JOE 6/15/17
GOP senator: Mueller is a man of integrity

Sen. John Thune, R-SD, discusses the current divided political climate, the GOP health care plan and why he believes Robert Mueller is a 'man of integrity.' Duration: 8:24



“I AM THE GREATEST!!” THEN SEE THE VIDEO OF THE CABINET MEETING THAT WENT AROUND THE WORLD.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/reflecting-his-record-trump-convinced-his-own-awesomeness
Reflecting on his record, Trump is convinced of his own awesomeness
06/13/17 09:22 AM—UPDATED 06/13/17 10:02 AM
By Steve Benen

Photograph -- U.S. President Donald Trump waves before delivering keynote address at Liberty University's commencement in Lynchburg, Virginia, U.S., May 13, 2017. YURI GRIPAS

Donald Trump hosted a deeply unsettling cabinet meeting yesterday – his first full cabinet meeting as president – featuring a display for the cameras in which every member of Trump’s team took turns effusively praising their leader. It was unlike any cabinet meeting ever witnessed, at least in this country.

But before Trump listened to his cabinet chiefs express their adoration for him, the president took some time to reflect on how impressed he is with how awesome his tenure has been thus far.

“[W]hen I ran, it was make America great again, and that’s what we’re doing, believe me. We’re doing it and we’re doing it at a much faster pace than anyone thought. I would say that never has there been a president, with few exceptions – in the case of FDR, he had a major depression to handle – who’s passed more legislation, who’s done more things than what we’ve done, between the executive orders and the job-killing regulations that have been terminated, many bills, I guess over 34 bills Congress signed, a Supreme Court justice who’s going to be a great one, going to be a great Supreme Court justice, and many other things.

“We’ve achieved tremendous success. And I think we’ve been about as active as you can possibly be, and at a just about record-setting pace.”

Maybe there’s a broader political strategy behind such boasts. It’s quite likely, for example, that Trump is aware of how woefully unpopular he is. His White House is gripped by crisis and scandal; there are credible allegations that Trump personally obstructed justice; and his presidency is an international laughingstock. Perhaps, Trump has come to the conclusion that if he tells people he’s an extraordinary success, some marks might actually believe it.

The trouble is, reality is stubborn.

Trump has signed exactly zero major pieces of legislation since taking office. When he says there’s “never” been a president who’s had more accomplishments, Trump has it backwards: other than William Henry Harrison, who died a month after taking office, Trump is effectively tied for last when it comes to presidential successes.

Sure, Trump has put his signature on plenty of bills, but they’re all fairly minor and inconsequential. As NBC News noted yesterday, “Three of those bills were appointing three members to the Smithsonian’s board, another approved a war memorial, a fifth promoted women in entrepreneurship, and a sixth encouraged the display of the American flag on Vietnam War Veterans Day.”

Hardly the stuff of history in the making.

And sure, he’s signed plenty of executive orders, but nearly all of them are glorified press releases – and the most notable exception, the White House’s notorious Muslim ban, has failed spectacularly in the courts.

If Trump wants to make the case that he’s on track to eventually have important accomplishments, he’s welcome to try. But for the president to believe he’s already succeeding beautifully suggests he’s little more than a legend in his own mind.


FIRST, SEE THIS TRUMP CABINET MEETING VIDEO (THE REAL DEAL):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DR66oehFQ4Y


HERE IS THE FAMOUS SCHUMER “CABINET MEETING” VIDEO FROM AMNY, WHICH IS FOLLOWED BY CHICAGO TRIBUNE’S KING LEAR PARODY BY ALEXANDRA PETRI.

http://www.amny.com/news/politics/schumer-mocks-trump-s-cabinet-meeting-with-parody-video-on-twitter-1.13733426
POLITICS
Schumer mocks Trump's Cabinet meeting with parody video on Twitter
By Nicole Brown nicole.brown@amny.com June 13, 2017

VIEW THE SCHUMER VIDEO IN THIS ARTICLE.
New York Sen. Chuck Schumer mocked President Donald Trump on Monday with a video parodying his Cabinet meeting.

During the meeting, each member took a turn thanking and complimenting the president.

Vice President Mike Pence began the praise, saying, “The greatest privilege of my life is to serve as vice president to the president who’s keeping his word to the American people.”

“We thank you for the opportunity and the blessing to serve your agenda,” Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said.

Seeming to comment on how unusual the meeting was, Schumer posted a video to Twitter of his staff sitting around a table and complimenting him on his hair and how he did on Sunday talk shows.

One staff member repeated Priebus’ quote word for word before the room broke out laughing.

The strange Cabinet meeting comes amid a number of setbacks for the administration.

The same day, a second appeals court ruled against the president’s travel ban, and just the week before, former FBI director James Comey accused Trump of lying about why he fired him.



http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-trump-cabinet-meeting-praise-20170613-story.html
Commentary: Trump's Cabinet meeting competition: 'I love you more, Mr. President'
Alexandra Petri
The Washington Post
June 13, 2017

President Donald Trump responded to the news that the Public Theater was putting on a defiant production of "Julius Caesar" by staging his own production of "King Lear" during a very strange Cabinet meeting on Monday.

It went approximately as follows.

Trump: All right. Which of you shall we say doth love us most, that we our largest bounty may extend where nature doth with merit challenge? Go around, name your position, talk about your work. Start with Mike.

Mike Pence: I love you more than words can wield the matter. Dearer than eyesight, space and liberty. Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare. No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honor; as much as child e'er loved, or father found. A love that makes breath poor and speech unable. Beyond all manner of so much I love you. Serving you has been "the greatest privilege of my life," Mr. Lear.

We already deliver for millions of business across America. Find out why they count on us through videos, testimonials and thought leadership content.

Jeff Sessions: Sir, I am made of that self mettle as my sister, And prize me at her worth. In my true heart, I find she names my very deed of love — Only she comes too short, that I profess Myself an enemy to all other joys, Which the most precious square of sense possesses. And find I am alone felicitate in your dear highness' love. "An honor to be here."

Jim Mattis: I respect the troops a lot.

Trump: Nothing will come of nothing. Speak again.

Mattis: (uncomfortably) I prefer to maintain a dignified silence in the presence of media.

Mike Pompeo: Hey, that's my line!

Rick Perry: i like you more than i like my hat

and i like my hat a lot

my glasses i don't like because i sometimes feel that they are judging me and whispering that i am not smart

but you and my hat are both okay

i take it off to honor you

thank you for showing the Earth who was boss, and for showing the Paris accords that the only real Paris is in the Lone Star State.

Linda McMahon: Thank you for letting me work at the Small Business Administration! With you in charge we will have to change the name, because nothing will be small. Businesses will not be small, and dreams will not be small. You will lift us up and hold us in the palms of your right-size hands. You have won the biggest smackdown of all, against the economy, which before was raw and now is cooked.

Alexander Acosta: When I look at you, I feel the way dogs feel when they look at anyone. Merely to breathe your air is an unthinkable honor. (begins to strike himself on the chest) No, air, leave my foul and corrupted lungs and go where you may be appreciated, into the magnificent lungs of Donald Trump, where you will help to power a true king among men. Turn his blood even redder and help to make him strong. He must be strong — for all of us.

Tom Price: My king, please glance into the doorway, where my strong son has brought you a nightingale made entirely of gold and silver. Take it with my compliments and let its tinkling mechanical song fill your heart with joy and make your people glad. If you wish, my son will join your household as your loyal retainer. His presence will vouch for my loyalty, and he knows what will happen to him if I fail you.

Mick Mulvaney: Your budget is more beautiful than the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and was put together much quicker. It will benefit the same people. Also, you smell nice, like an expensive pine tree.

Elaine Chao: You have helped me to make hundreds of people happy!

Trump: Only hundreds?

Chao: (swallows nervously) That is a lot. Just try to count to a hundred. It's not even POSSIBLE.

(Trump appears to think for a long time, then slowly nods.)

Sonny Perdue: My lord, when you walk in the street, dogs leave their masters to follow at your heels and cats who see you experience loyalty for the first time. Young brides, stepping out of churches, release their husbands' arms and rush to throw themselves at your feet. The husbands would do so, too, if they did not know that it would not make you slightly uncomfortable, and the mere thought of making you uncomfortable fills them with a sorrow greater than any sorrow they have ever known. When you smile, it is not winter anymore. You alone can melt the frozen heart and the frozen polar ice cap. Also, you are very popular in Mississippi.

Ben Carson: I know what it is to hold a human life in my gifted hands and perform a surgery that is a matter of life or death. So you will understand when I say that the most precious thing I have ever held in my hands is ... you. You mean everything. Everything. Everything. (begins to weep with emotion) I believe that if you touched any of us right here, you could heal us all and there would be no need for science. But you must do what you think best.

Reince Priebus: You smell like a thousand angels. Sometimes I think you might be an angel. If heaven is not serving you, I don't know what is. Maybe there is no heaven. I am grateful to God every day for putting you into my life. You are sunshine. My only sunshine. The only sunshine. "On behalf of the entire senior staff around you, Mr. President, we thank you for the opportunity and the blessing that you've given us to serve your agenda and the American people."

This seems fine.

Washington Post
Alexandra Petri is a Washington Post columnist.


What to read next:

Trump fired Comey. Why not Mueller too?
Don't expect spineless Republicans to defy Donald Trump
'Julius Caesar' should go — and all of these too
My lawyers got Trump to admit 30 times, under oath, that he lied



I DID CATCH SOME OF THIS “CABINET MEETING” ON THE NEWS, AND COULDN’T BELIEVE MY EARS. WHILE I’VE SAID BEFORE THAT THIS MAN IS DANGEROUS, I DIDN’T KNOW THE EXTENT OF IT – PURE MEGALOMANIA. THE ATTEMPTS AT CRACKDOWNS ON OUR WAY OF LIFE ARE ON THEIR WAY, I’M AFRAID. I HAVE FAITH IN THOSE, WHO ARE LEGITIMATELY IN POWER IN THE US, HOWEVER, TO STEP IN BIT BY BIT AND COUNTER ANY MOVES LIKE DECLARING MARTIAL LAW. SCHUMER’S PARODY OF THE CABINET MEETING SHOULD GET TRUMP’S ATTENTION.

THIS TELEVISED FOOTAGE FROM THE CABINET MEETING REALLY IS CHILLING. IT SOUNDS, TO ME, LIKE A CULT LEADER AND NOT A PRESIDENT. PRETTY SOON WE’LL BE CALLING HIM “DEAR LEADER,” I’M AFRAID. THE COMPLEXITY OF OUR LEGAL SETUP, THE SHEER STUBBORNNESS OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ONCE AROUSED, WILL MAKE THAT DIFFICULT FOR HIM TO ACHIEVE, HOWEVER. THE PROBLEM OF COURSE, IS AROUSING THEM. WE ARE TOO COMFORTABLE FOR OUR OWN GOOD. IT HAS MADE US TIMID, VERY LAZY, AND AT LEAST A LITTLE BIT STUPID. WHEN ARE WE ALL GOING TO STOP SAYING “YASS, MASSAH?”

WHO WAS THE “GREAT LEADER” WITHIN MY LIFETIME? GOOGLE HELPED ME REMEMBER: http://www.north-korea-travel.com/kim-il-sung.html. THIS IS A SHORT, BUT VERY GOOD HISTORICAL ARTICLE, SHOULD YOU CARE TO READ IT, WITH SOME NICE VISUALS AS WELL. I RECOMMEND IT. THE TERM “GREAT LEADER” IS OBVIOUSLY THE PARENT OF “DEAR LEADER,” WHICH THE NORTH KOREANS ARE USING NOW, AND IT CERTAINLY IS EXCESSIVE PRAISE, BUT LESS NAUSEATING THAN “DEAR LEADER.” PERSONALLY, I WOULD LIKE SOMETHING DIGNIFIED, LIKE “MR. PRESIDENT.”

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trumps-first-full-cabinet-meeting-was-surprisingly-creepy
Trump’s first full cabinet meeting was surprisingly creepy
06/12/17 03:34 PM
By Steve Benen

Photograph -- WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 03: (AFP OUT) US President Donald Trump flanked by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (L) and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (R) looks... Pool

Presidential cabinet meetings are, as a rule, dull. We generally see a president offer some brief remarks for the cameras, while his cabinet members watch on. Soon after, a president may answer a question or two from reporters, at which point the press is ushered out, the doors close, and the meeting begins in earnest.

Donald Trump, meanwhile, hosted his first full cabinet meeting this morning, and it wasn’t like anything we’ve ever seen, at least in the United States. The Washington Post reported:

President Trump on Monday used his first full-fledged Cabinet meeting to try to make a case that, despite the Russian investigation and other distractions, his administration is racking up accomplishments at a record clip.

“Never has there been a president, with few exceptions – case of FDR, he had a major depression to handle – who has passed more legislation and who has done more things than what we’ve done,” Trump, referring to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, said during the meeting at the White House.

It seems entirely plausible to me that Trump has no idea what “legislation” means, and when he signs executive orders and glorified press releases, he thinks he’s breaking major new policy ground.

But if you watch the C-SPAN video from the cabinet room, note that after the president’s odd praise for himself, Trump went around the room, offering each member of his cabinet an opportunity to talk about how much they like him and are proud to serve in his administration. With few exceptions, that’s precisely what they did.

White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, whose job is reportedly in jeopardy, went so far as to declare, with arms raised, “We thank you for the opportunity and blessing to serve your agenda.”

As cabinet members went around the room, singing the president’s praises, Trump simply nodded in agreement, basking in his underlings’ adulation.

Cabinet meetings have been periodically televised since Eisenhower, but no one has ever seen one quite as creepy as Trump’s display this morning.

CNBC’s John Harwood‏, apparently flabbergasted, said via Twitter, “Honestly this is like a scene from the Third World.”

The New York Times’ Glenn Thrush described it “one of the most exquisitely awkward public events I’ve ever seen.”

For the record, I don’t necessarily blame the cabinet members, at least not all of them. They were put on the spot, and given what they (and we) know about Trump, the cabinet members have reason to fear for their careers if they fail to compliment in ways he finds flattering.

Which is why I do blame the president, who didn’t have to host a meeting as creepy as this one for the cameras.

It was so over the top that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and his staff pounced, quickly pulling together a satirical staff meeting in the senator’s conference room, mocking the tone and the rhetoric of Trump’s cabinet meeting.

A couple of weeks ago, the Washington Post published an interesting piece noting the “outlandish” praise Trump’s aides use when talking about the president, and the article quoted Mike Murphy, a longtime Republican consultant, saying, “It’s insecure, over-the-top. I call it Great Leader-esque.”



http://www.amny.com/news/politics/schumer-mocks-trump-s-cabinet-meeting-with-parody-video-on-twitter-1.13733426
POLITICS
Schumer mocks Trump's Cabinet meeting with parody video on Twitter
By Nicole Brown nicole.brown@amny.com June 13, 2017

CLICK ON VIDEO TO VIEW SCHUMER’S WORK.

New York Sen. Chuck Schumer mocked President Donald Trump on Monday with a video parodying his Cabinet meeting.

During the meeting, each member took a turn thanking and complimenting the president.

Vice President Mike Pence began the praise, saying, “The greatest privilege of my life is to serve a vice president to the president who’s keeping his word to the American people.”

“We thank you for the opportunity and the blessing to serve your agenda,” Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said.

Seeming to comment on how unusual the meeting was, Schumer posted a video to Twitter of his staff sitting around a table and complimenting him on his hair and how he did on Sunday talk shows.

One staff member repeated Priebus’ quote word for word before the room broke out laughing.

The strange Cabinet meeting comes amid a number of setbacks for the administration.

The same day, a second appeals court ruled against the president’s travel ban, and just the week before, former FBI director James Comey accused Trump of lying about why he fired him.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-aides-are-starting-to-rival-their-boss-when-it-comes-to-praising-him/2017/05/30/a849b2b8-4565-11e7-a196-a1bb629f64cb_story.html?utm_term=.ef0803819344
Politics Perspective
Trump’s aides are starting to rival their boss when it comes to praising him
The Debrief: An occasional series offering a reporter’s insights
By Jenna Johnson May 30, 2017

Photograph -- White House press secretary Sean Spicer gushed over President Trump's "historic" foreign trip during a press briefing on May 30. (Video: Jenny Starrs/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

To most observers, President Trump’s first overseas trip was either a moderate success that was at times overshadowed by viral GIFs or a disaster that damaged the United States’ relationships with longtime European allies.

But as Trump and his aides tell it, this was the most successful, most historic, most well-received foreign trip ever embarked on by a U.S. president.

“It truly was an extraordinary week for America and our people,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday afternoon as he kicked off a gushing recap to reporters that lasted roughly nine minutes and featured the word “historic” a half-dozen times.

Spicer channeled his boss as he declared that Trump’s speech to leaders of more than 50 Arab and Muslim nations “was a historic turning point that people will be talking about for years to come” and “was met with nearly universal praise.” He claimed that the president single-handedly “united the civilized world in the fight against terrorism and extremism” and that his meetings at the Group of Seven summit in Sicily “were marked by outstanding success.”

“We’ve never seen before at this point in a presidency such sweeping reassurance of American interests and the inauguration of a foreign policy strategy designed to bring back the world from growing dangers and perpetual disasters brought on by years of failed leadership,” Spicer said.

Trump’s aides often exaggerate on his behalf — such as when Spicer insisted in January that the president’s inauguration crowd was the largest ever — but Tuesday’s monologue seemed to venture into new territory for even the Trump administration.

Spicer’s press room paean to his boss prompted rounds of mocking and alarm on Twitter and from cable-news pundits, some of whom compared this breathless praise to North Korean propaganda promoting the Dear Leader.

But Spicer isn’t the only White House staffer lavishing praise on Trump.

Over the weekend, White House National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn — who was the second-in-command at Goldman Sachs before joining the White House — declared the president’s economic development deal with Saudi Arabia to be unlike anything he had seen in his 30 years in business. And Hope Hicks defended the president against accusations that he demeans his staff, issuing a lengthy statement for The Washington Post that read, in part: “President Trump has a magnetic personality and exudes positive energy, which is infectious to those around him. He has an unparalleled ability to communicate with people. . . . He is brilliant with a great sense of humor.”

It is no secret that the president has been unhappy with his media operation — communications director Mike Dubke announced Tuesday that he is stepping down, and there are reports that Spicer’s role could soon be reduced — and these Trumpian comments seem to indicate that his staff is now directly passing along the president’s thoughts without any vetting or editing.

“Ultimately, the best messenger is the president himself,” Spicer said at the briefing. “He’s always proven that he is the best messenger — not just for what he wants to articulate, but that the American people resoundingly chose him as their president because he understands the frustrations and concerns and values of the American people. And he is probably the best person to communicate that.”

But this approach often forces aides to make outlandish claims that simply draw attention to the weak points of Trump’s trip or time in office instead of the highlights, said Mike Murphy, a longtime GOP consultant who ran the political action committee for Jeb Bush’s failed presidential campaign. He compared the exaggerations to North Korean propaganda.

Play Video 3:02
Spicer spars with reporters over ‘fake news’

White House press secretary Sean Spicer got into a heated exchange with reporters on May 30. Spicer said he and President Trump are “frustrated” with “patently false” news stories. (Reuters)

“It’s insecure, over-the-top,” Murphy said. “I call it Great Leader-esque.”

Tommy Vietor, who was a spokesman for President Barack Obama, said former Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs once gave him this advice: “The first rule of spin is that it has to be believable.”

The claims coming from Trump’s spokespeople just are not, and saying the words out loud makes Spicer, and others, “look like an idiot,” Vietor said.

“It’s baffling, because it doesn’t convince anyone. It doesn’t serve anyone to insist that black is white, that down is up, or that Donald Trump is this warm and fuzzy guy,” Vietor said, referring to Hicks’s statement. “I mean, his tag ­line is: ‘You’re fired.’ ”

Spicer’s deference to the president continued as he took questions from reporters on Tuesday.

On the search for a new FBI director, Spicer said: “The president is the ultimate decision-maker. When he makes a decision as to who he believes is best to lead the FBI, he will let us know.”

On concerns that the relationship with Germany has become strained, as expressed in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s remarks suggesting that Europe cannot rely as much on the United States as it once did: “I think the relationship that the president has had with Merkel, he would describe as fairly unbelievable. They get along very well.”

On whether the president has been meeting with lawyers to discuss the investigation into ties between his campaign and Russia: “The president has a lot of meetings. If the president has a decision on anything, we’ll be sure to let you know.”

On the president’s position on climate change: “I can’t say. I haven’t asked him. I can get back to you. I don’t know. I honestly haven’t asked him that specific question.”

As the discussion shifted to how Trump is communicating with the country, the press secretary insisted that the president is “very pleased with the work of his staff” and denounced “fake news.”

This brought protests from reporters seeking examples of “fake news” and a back-and-forth with Spicer that seemed to leave no one in the room satisfied.

“The reason that the president is frustrated is because there’s a perpetuation of false narratives, a use of unnamed sources over and over again about things that are happening that don’t ultimately happen,” Spicer said, “and I think that is troubling.”

He then ended the briefing.



http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/did-trumps-personal-lawyer-help-fire-key-us-attorney
Did Trump’s personal lawyer help fire a key U.S. attorney?
06/13/17 10:09 AM—UPDATED 06/13/17 10:28 AM
By Steve Benen

Photograph -- U.S. President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Marc Kasowitz, speaks to the news media after the congressional testimony of former FBI Director James Comey... YURI GRIPAS

There’s no shortage of important unanswered questions surrounding Donald Trump’s White House, but as we discussed yesterday, one of the more important lines of inquiry is why the president fired dozens of U.S. attorneys without notice or explanation.

Of particular interest are the circumstances surrounding Preet Bharara, who served as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, which made him one of the most important and highest profile federal prosecutors in the United States, tackling cases ranging from terrorism to Wall Street to government corruption. After the 2016 election, Bharara wanted to stay at his post, and both Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions made the same commitment: the New York prosecutor could stay right where he was.

In March, Trump reversed course and fired Bharara anyway, and the federal prosecutor still has no idea why. Pro Publica reports this morning on one possible explanation.

Marc Kasowitz, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer in the Russia investigation, has boasted to friends and colleagues that he played a central role in the firing of Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, according to four people familiar with the conversations.

Kasowitz told Trump, “This guy is going to get you,” according to a person familiar with Kasowitz’s account.

Kasowitz, it’s worth emphasizing, is an ally of the president who’s represented Trump in a variety of lawsuits, including the fraud allegations surrounding Trump University. He’s now responsible for overseeing the defense of the president, despite his lack of experience in cases like these, and by all appearances, he’s off to a rough start.

It’s entirely possible that Kasowitz was boasting to his friends and colleagues in a dubious way, exaggerating his influence to make his White House reach sound more impressive. That said, it’s at least plausible that Kasowitz would’ve been in a position to offer Trump occasional advice on legal matters, and he may have seen Bharara as a potential threat to his pal in the Oval Office.

Given that we have no other credible explanation for why Trump fired Bharara, it’s at least worth considering.

If, however, Kasowitz was directly involved in the firing of a federal prosecutor because he hoped to shield his client from legal trouble, it’s hard not to wonder whether Trump’s lawyer needs a lawyer.


A FINAL GREAT VIDEO OFFERING FROM THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW:

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/criminal-charges-filed-in-flint-water-crisis-967795267743
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 6/14/17
Criminal charges filed in Flint water crisis

Congressman Dan Kildee talks with Rachel Maddow about the shooting at a Republican congressional baseball practice and the criminal charges, including involuntary manslaughter, being filed by the Michigan attorney general against officials in the Flint water crisis. Duration: 6:12