Does this strike you as the tweet of an innocent man?
The fact that Sneaky Dianne Feinstein, who has on numerous occasions stated that collusion between Trump/Russia has not been found, would release testimony in such an underhanded and possibly illegal way, totally without authorization, is a disgrace. Must have tough Primary!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018
If, as he keeps telling us, there was no collusion between his campaign and the Russians, and the Steele Dossier is a made-up hatchet job, then he shouldn’t be worried about the release of Glenn Simpson’s testimony. If he’s confident that Diane Feinstein agrees that there was no collusion, then he shouldn’t question her motives. And if he’s legitimately worried, he shouldn’t let us know he’s worried.
On every level, this tweet is a mistake. It demonstrates a complete consciousness of guilt and reveals open irritation that his efforts to misconstrue the dossier have been so solidly undermined. It shows that he was depending on Chuck Grassley to keep the testimony hidden from the public even as he and Sen. Lindsey Graham made a criminal referral against Steele to the Department of Justice.
One way of looking at this is that an obvious effort to obstruct the public from knowing the facts of this case has failed. That’s somewhat different from trying to prevent the FBI or the special counsel’s investigators from learning the facts of the case, but it’s the same basic instinct. There doesn’t seem to be a clear dividing line for Trump between these two things, which was obvious from the outset of his administration. When Acting Attorney General Sally Yates informed White House Counsel Don McGahn that Michael Flynn had lied to Vice President Pence about his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, McGahn initially did not understand why it should concern the FBI when one member of the administration lied to another member of the administration. For McGahn, if the vice president was giving bad information to the public, that was just politics and not a legal matter. Yates had to explain that the Russians knew the truth and had documentary evidence to prove it. Lying of this type could expose Flynn and the administration to blackmail.
This is how ethically challenged people can imperil our national security as well as inadvertently commit acts of obstruction of justice, as when Trump crafted a dishonest public response to the revelation that his son, son-in-law, and campaign chairman had met with Kremlin-connected Russians in Trump Tower. He thought he could lie to the public without legal consequences. Mark Corallo, the spokesman for President Donald Trump’s private legal team, disagreed with Trump’s judgment on that, and quietly resigned rather than being a party to what he perceived as a crime.
Just ask yourself this question: if Flynn could be blackmailed because what he was saying both privately and in public could be easily disproved by the Russians, then what does it mean that Trump continues to lie about things like Glenn Simpson’s testimony that was easily disproved by Diane Feinstein? Might she not have merely threatened to release the transcript in exchange for something of value?
This is why lying is a problem even when it isn’t obviously illegal.
Diane Feinstein has a primary challenger –
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article179005781.html
But nice of Trump to help her out.
“On every level, this tweet is a mistake.”
Can I see the tweets that weren’t mistakes?
An obviously guilty, and possibly demented, man. And yet, his approval rating has crept upwards from 36% to 39% over the past 4 weeks, and a recent poll found that a plurality think it is at least somewhat likely that Mueller will clear him.
It’s a war of two realities, and I’m not 100% confident that ours will win.
“…a plurality think it is at least somewhat likely that Mueller will clear him.”
Fortunately the fact that they think that has no bearing on the actual outcome.
I saw an interview with a woman lawyer who has deposed Trump several times. Her recollection is that he’s much nicer in public than he is while being deposed. He did arrive mild mannered once but she also saw other interviews where he was so belligerent that some lawyers could barely speak. He also threw a temper tantrum and stormed out once.
If that’s his history of depositions, he’s going to be in for a nasty surprise as Mueller’s team takes him down. Using his lying to bully will only sink his own ship.
The donald is one doing the blackmail. Remember he got access to all the dirt the FBI, CIA, NSA has on all the GOP. Is that the explanation for why an 85 yr old is defending the donald instead of living what time he has left with his family?
Absolutely not. No matter what he, technically, “has access” to, you can bet he’s not availing himself of any of it. His presidency is totally reactive and totally in-the-moment.
Left to his own volition, he watches television, eats ice cream and cheeseburgers, and golfs. In between, people bring him topics, and engage him until he loses interest or until the next person arrives — and there’s no consistency from visit to visit.
I think that is an excellent description of the administration.
Completely reactive.
Recent articles have said as much. Many hours a day of `Executive Time’ and a few meetings as people come to him.
Not a single original idea, or original solution to an issue, in his empty head.
.
Except when Bannon was around, ramming EOs through. (And yes, I believe all of that material from Wolff.)
Imagine being the president of the United States but deciding you’d like your chefs to cook you McDonald’s rather than the best food in the world, you’d like to stay at the same “resort” and hotels you’ve always gone in the same three cities, and you can see the truth to every conspiracy you’ve ever entertained as plausible…but you’d prefer your intelligence briefings from Fox and Friends.
The word “scofflaw” comes to mind here.
Every politician not wanting to go down when Trump goes down (and he will) will start practicing now the so-called chump attitudes of not being a scofflaw. Squeaky clean became in again almost a year ago.