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A NOTE FROM FRED
President Trump has hit the panic button.
In calling on Attorney General Jeff Sessions yesterday to shut down the Mueller investigation, of which he is a subject, the President publicly acted to obstruct the criminal investigation. In tweeting a message yesterday supportive of Paul Manafort and labeling his criminal prosecution “a hoax,” the President improperly interfered with Manafort’s ongoing trial.
This is part of a pattern of increasingly erratic actions by the President, who appears to believe the Mueller investigation is closing in on him and his associates.
For many months, the Trump mantra was “no collusion.” Now the line from President Trump and his public relations attorney, Rudy Giuliani, is still that there is no collusion, but even if there is, collusion is not a crime.
This focus on “collusion” is simply an effort to confuse and distract the public.
The Mueller investigation has never used the word “collusion,” and the issue here has always been whether the President and/or his associates engaged in a conspiracy with the Russians to illegally intervene in our elections. Such a conspiracy would definitely be a crime.
We can expect more attacks on Special Counsel Mueller and Deputy AG Rosenstein. Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon called today, in effect, for Rosenstein to be promptly fired. The Trump attack dogs in the House, Representatives Meadows and Jordan, are expected in September to press for passage of a meritless resolution holding Rosenstein in contempt of Congress, which, if passed, Trump could use as cover to fire Rosenstein.
It is essential that both Mueller and Rosenstein be forcefully defended at every step of the way.
The removal of Rosenstein would allow the President to place a Trump "loyalist" in Rosenstein’s position of overseeing the Mueller investigation and allow the President, through his agent, to irreparably damage the investigation.
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MUST READS
D21 NEWS
GOP Reps.’ Attack On Rosenstein Is An Attempt To Undermine Mueller Investigation
“An effort to hold Rosenstein in contempt of Congress is just as irresponsible and unjustifiable as the articles of impeachment that Meadows and Jordan introduced and quickly abandoned,” D21 President Fred Wertheimer and former chief Obama White House ethics counsel Norm Eisen write, via CNN. Read more
Reps. Meadows & Jordan Recklessly Pervert Impeachment Process To Play Irresponsible Partisan Political Games
Wertheimer: “The effort to impeach Mr. Rosenstein is unprecedented, unwarranted, meritless, and a gross abuse of the impeachment process and of the offices Reps. Meadows and Jordan hold.” Read more
“TRUMP & FRIENDS”
Trump Policy Shop Filters Facts To Fit His Message
“Inside the Health and Human Services policy research shop, staffers say the political pressures to tailor facts to fit Trump’s message have been unprecedented,” via Politico. Read more
Trump Is Putting Indelible Conservative Stamp On Judiciary, via The New York Times. Read more
52 Train Wrecks John Kelly Couldn’t Stop — Or Started Himself, via Politico. Read more
Jared And Ivanka Step Back In The Spotlight
“As Mr. Trump, cut off from dissenting voices and convinced of his own popularity, has become more emboldened, so have his daughter and son-in-law,” via The New York Times. Read more
Trump Administration Mulls Bypassing Congress And Giving A $100M Tax Cut To The Rich, via The New York Times. Read more
White House Uses Foreign Aid Agency To Give Jobs To Trump Allies And Loyalists, via The Washington Post. Read more
Crowds, Stoked by Trump’s Rhetoric, Increase Their Ire Toward the Press, via The New York Times. Read more
Kris Kobach’s Lucrative Trail of Courtroom Defeats
A former mayor described Kobach’s approach as, “Let’s find a town that’s got some issues or pretends to have some issues, let’s drum up an immigration problem and maybe I can advance my political position, my political thinking and maybe make some money at the same time,” via ProPublica. Read more
New EPA Chief Andrew Wheeler’s Past Lobbying Ties Attract Scrutiny, via The Washington Post. Read More
The Case Against Interior Sec’y Ryan Zinke, via The New Republic. Read more
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FACT OF THE WEEK
When The Washington Post began examining President Trump’s comments during his first 100 days, Trump averaged 4.9 false or misleading claims a day.
Now, 558 days in, he has made 4,229 false or misleading claims – an average of 7.6 per day.
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THE INVESTIGATIONS…
Flynn, Comey, And Mueller: What Trump Knew And When He Knew It
Previously undisclosed information including White House records “provides some of the strongest evidence to date implicating the president of the United States in an obstruction of justice,” via The New York Review of Books. Read more
Trump’s Lawyers Updated Him On The Mueller Investigation. Then He Tweeted, via CNN. Read more
Trump Pushes For Interview With Mueller Against Lawyers’ Advice, via The New York Times. Read more
Mueller’s Digging Exposes Culture Of Foreign Lobbying And Its Big Paydays, via The New York Times. Read more
Manafort Made More Than $60M In Ukraine, Mueller Says, via Bloomberg. Read more
Prosecutors Say Manafort’s Wealth Was Fueled By Lies To IRS And Banks, via The Washington Post. Read more
In Private, SCOTUS Nominee Kavanaugh Hints At Views On Mueller, via CNN. Read more
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“The idea the Congressional Leadership Fund is an independent super-PAC is absurd. This is an arm of the House Republican leadership and, as such, is prohibited — in our view — from accepting unlimited contributions.”
-- D21 President Fred Wertheimer,
via The Columbus Dispatch. Read more |
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96 DAYS TO THE MIDTERMS (AND BEYOND)
SCOTUS Nominee Kavanaugh On Campaign Finance Laws, via National Public Radio. Read more
Senate GOP Rejects Additional Funding For Election Security Despite Intel Warnings, via The Daily Beast. Read more
The Midterm Battleground Is Not What Was Expected
“The broader battleground is a positive development for Democrats. It’s a reflection of how much the Republican structural advantage in the House has eroded over the last year,” via The New York Times. Read more
Liberal Secret-Money Network Hammers House GOP, via Politico. Read more
In Florida, Trump Shapes Governor’s Race, via The New York Times. Read more
“The Map Is Different Now”: Trump Blows The 2020 Race Wide Open
“[T]he era of the hardened electoral map — 40 of 50 states voted for the same party from 2000 to 2012 — may be coming to an end,” via Politico. Read more
Potential 2020 Presidential Candidates Jockey For Money, via The Washington Post. Read more
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