Tag Archives: FBI

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Trump launches potential war of attrition

I long have thought that every human being has a limit to the amount of emotional baggage he or she can lug around.

Accordingly, it’s fair to wonder just how much bedlam Donald John Trump can endure as he continues — in some form or fashion — to govern the United States as its president.

His first 100-plus days as president have been a stunning exercise in chaos, controversy and confusion.

It’s making me wonder — and I’m quite serious about this — whether Trump has the stamina to continue to function in this manner. My memory of presidential transition goes back to when John Kennedy took over from Dwight Eisenhower in 1961. No one has managed to create the number of firestorms so early in their presidency as the 45th man to hold that office. Not even Lyndon Johnson, who became president in 1963 in the midst of a horrifying national tragedy; or Gerald Ford, who ascended to the presidency in 1974 in the wake of a crippling constitutional crisis and scandal.

In a related matter, it’s also fair to ask just how much of this the public can withstand.

Just in the past week, we’ve seen the president fire the FBI director and ignite a political wildfire that continues to rage out of control. Trump cannot formulate a cogent message. His White House communications team is flummoxed hourly it seems by contradictory statements pouring out of the president’s pie hole.

How do they handle it? How can they withstand this level of chaos?

And I haven’t even mentioned what seems like an increasingly real possibility that we might have an impeachment process starting to take shape in the U.S. House of Representatives.

There might be an obstruction of justice charge leveled at the president over the threat he leveled at James Comey two days after he fired the FBI boss; Trump well might have sought to bully the FBI into backing off its investigation of the president’s campaign and whether it colluded with Russians seeking to sway the 2016 election.

Then we have the Emoluments Clause issue, and questions about whether Trump’s businesses have been enriched by contracts with foreign governments. The U.S. Constitution prohibits presidents from obtaining any such financial gain, yet the president continues to hold onto his worldwide business interests.

I suppose I could mention the continuing string of lies and defamatory statements he makes about his predecessor as president, the woman he defeated in 2016 and any number of individuals and organizations opposing him.

What happens, too, if he crosses yet another “red line” by restricting the media from doing their job, which the Constitution guarantees them the right to do without government interference?

Ladies and gents, we have elected someone who continues to demonstrate every single day that he doesn’t know what the hell he is doing. He is unfit for the office he holds. He is making a mockery of the presidency and, sad to say, of the greatest nation on Earth.

His legislative agenda — whatever it is! — is going nowhere. Jobs bill? The wall? Tax reform? Health care overhaul? How does he do any of it while the tempest over what the Trump calls “the Russia thing” continues to boil over?

Are you frightened yet? I damn sure am.

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Do you remember past Trump absurdities?

It occurs to me as the nation wallows in this latest Donald J. Trump immersion that we’ve all but stopped talking about some of the president’s previous absurd assertions.

For example:

* Do you recall how the president accused his predecessor, Barack H. Obama, of wiretapping his campaign offices in New York City’s Trump Tower? Trump produced no evidence of it but in the process essentially defamed President Obama.

* How about the allegation that “millions of illegal aliens” voted for Hillary Rodham Clinton, giving her the nearly 3 million popular vote margin over Trump? Again, this clownish president never offered a hint of proof for the allegation. He also managed to defame the reputations of local elections officials who work diligently to protect the integrity of our electoral process.

* Then there was the interview Trump gave to former Fox News talk-show host Bill O’Reilly, who questioned why the president was so kind to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “He’s a killer,” O’Reilly said, to which Trump responded, “There are a lot of killers. Do you think the United States is so innocent?”

These previous controversies have been buried now the latest avalanche dealing with Trump’s firing of James Comey as head of the FBI. We have the possibility of obstruction of justice. There are the many contradictory statements and the chaos that has erupted in the West Wing of the White House.

Our attention span is getting tested terribly by this guy, the president of the United States.

My head is spinning.

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POTUS isn’t mad, but his actions are, um, maddening

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I do not believe Donald John Trump is clinically insane.

His actions in light of his firing of FBI Director James Comey, however, seem to foster a sense of insanity in the White House.

The president is contradicting the vice president; he is backtracking on his own statements; he has acknowledged meddling in an ongoing investigation by the FBI; he has issued a bald-faced threat to Comey; the White House press secretary has refused to decline the existence of recording devices inside the Oval Office.

The FBI director’s dismissal has begun to swallow the Trump administration whole. It is vanishing before our eyes.

Oh, and get this: Two of the four men being considered for FBI director are partisan politicians, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas and Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina.

The stage is being set for a drama that well could play out in the worst way possible for the president.

I believe I now will mention “impeachment.” Betting houses are shortening the odds of an impeachment of the president. On what grounds? The conflict of interest that occurred when Trump quizzed Comey about whether the FBI is investigating the president.

There also could be a cover-up in process as Trump seeks to put distance between himself and the FBI’s investigation into allegations that the Trump campaign was in cahoots with Russian government hackers who sought to influence the 2016 election.

It seems that every time the president opens his mouth, he ignites another firestorm.

Every single day that passes produces more controversy. It comes in the form of those idiotic tweets that Trump fires off; it boils up when he utters absolute falsehoods; it happens when he fails to back up the statements made by senior White House aides.

The attorney general pledged to recuse himself from anything to do with the Russia investigation. What does Jeff Sessions do? He offers a recommendation that Trump fire Comey. Then the president said he had made up his mind before hearing from the AG.

Now we have questions about obstruction of justice. The president told NBC News that he fired Comey because the FBI director was devoting too much time and effort to the “Russia thing.”

Is that an obstruction? Is the president meddling directly in an FBI probe? Isn’t that a direct violation of the oath of office the man took?

I keep getting this feeling that this drama is going to end badly for the president of the United States.

All of this, dear reader, is a consequence of electing someone who “tells it like it is.”

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POTUS keeps ’em hopping at White House

It’s tempting to feel a bit of sympathy for the White House media machine, and for the vice president, and for the senior West Wing advisers.

Why? They are working for someone who doesn’t have a clue on how to “control a message,” or even how to conduct the business of being president of the United States.

Donald J. Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. Mike Pence, the vice president, said he acted on the advice of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Assistant AG Rod Rosenstein. But wait! Trump then said he decided before consulting with Sessions and Rosenstein to fire Comey.

Pence also said that the FBI probe into the Russia hacking matter had “nothing to do” with Trump’s decision to fire Comey. Then, what do you know? The president contradicted the VP directly by saying, yep, Comey was spending too much time on the “Russia thing.”

White House press flack Sean Spicer has been keeping a low profile since the stuff hit the fan. Deputy flack Sarah Huckabee Sanders has been back-filling like crazy, trying to provide some semblance of sense to the chaos that has enveloped the Trump administration. She’s not succeeding, though.

In the midst of all this the president is tweeting himself silly with threats to Comey about possible recordings of conversations. He’s continued his attack on the media, threatening to suspend the daily press briefings.

And the media haven’t yet asked him directly about whether he committed a conflict of interest violation by asking Comey directly if the FBI was investigating the president. Trump had the power all along to fire the FBI boss and he shouldn’t have even thought about meddling directly in an ongoing investigation. Holy cow, man!

It’s tempting, yes, to feel sympathy for the president’s senior staff.

I’m managing to resist falling for it, though. They all ought to have known what they were getting into when they signed on.

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Bluff or no bluff about those recordings?

Donald John Trump might be trying to pull of the costliest bluff in U.S. political history.

He has mentioned the word “tape recordings” relating to his conversation with former FBI Director James Comey. The nation’s capital is now buzzing with reports about whether the president actually recorded the conversation he had with Comey.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer has declined to answer directly the question about the existence of recording devices.

So … has the president recorded conversations in the Oval Office or not? If he has, then is there more to learn?

Those of us of a certain age remember a fellow named Alexander Butterfield. He worked in the White House during the Nixon administration. The Watergate scandal was beginning to overtake President Nixon in 1973-74. Butterfield, in testimony before the Senate Select Watergate Committee, blabbed to the world about the existence of Oval Office recording devices.

What did they reveal? Oh, all kinds of things that revealed that the president was using the power of his office to obstruct justice.

The rest is history, you know?

What has the current president done to preserve his comings and goings for posterity? What on Earth might such recordings — if they exist — reveal about his alleged connection to, oh, Russian government officials?

Yet another question for the president to answer. If only he would.

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How far can Trump go with this senseless combat?

Words are failing me. I am running out of ways to express my utter outrage at the conduct of the president of the United States.

Donald John Trump is ramping up his war with the FBI director he fired and against the media that are covering this drama for the public that they — and the president — are supposed to serve.

Trump went on another Twitter rampage, warning former FBI boss James Comey about the danger of leaking information to the media. He said something about Comey hoping there are no audio recordings of the men’s conversations.

Then he went after the media — again! There are reports that Trump might cancel the daily press briefings.

Some members of Congress — mostly Democrats, of course — who are using the word “unhinged” to describe the president’s behavior. The continued tweet tirades would be enough to wonder aloud about the president’s mental health.

I guess it shouldn’t surprise anyone, let alone those of us who expect bipartisan outrage, to learn that Republicans in Congress continue to give Trump pretty much a pass on his strange behavior. It baffles me in the extreme.

The fight goes on

Think about, for instance, what Trump told NBC News anchor Lester Holt, that he actually asked Comey whether the FBI was investigating the president; Comey reportedly said “no.”

How does the president get away with committing an act that reeks of an egregious conflict of interest? He has the authority to fire the FBI director and he asks him to comment on an active investigation? There are damn near too many ethical violations to count on that one.

My friends and family members think I’m supposed to always have something cogent to say about these matters. I am sorry to disappoint them all. I am absolutely dumbstruck by this president’s lack of knowledge about any aspect of the high office to which he was elected.

For that matter, I am just as baffled that Donald Trump got elected in the first place.

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Can’t this guy get anything straight?

Good, ever-lovin’ grief, man!

Donald John Trump reportedly asked the then-FBI director, James Comey, if he — the president — was under investigation. Comey allegedly said “no.” The president then told Comey he’d think about keeping on the job. Then he fired him!

Oh, but here’s the good part: Donald Trump might have committed an ethical boo-boo by asking the FBI boss about a pending investigation involving, yep, the president himself.

“There generally shouldn’t be communications about pending investigations and if you need an explanation why, see: Watergate, basically,” according to Kathleen Clark, an ethics expert at Washington University’s School of Law, in comments to NBC News.

Improprieties keep mounting

Trump described the conversation in an interview with NBC News anchor Lester Holt. And — wouldn’t you know it? — he’s raised even more eyebrows in the legal community.

More news is filtering out about how angry Trump had gotten with Comey. The final act occurred the other day when Comey — in quite animated testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee — kept harping on the investigation he was leading as it regards the Trump campaign’s alleged ties to Russian government officials.

The president wanted Comey to focus more on White House leaks and less on the Russia matter. Comey wouldn’t relent on the Russia probe. So, he got canned!

Except that Vice President Mike Pence said the firing had nothing to do with the Russia investigation. Really, Mr. Vice President? Talk to your boss about that, will you?

Can we get a straight answer? Is anyone in the White House able to communicate with Americans who want to know what in the name of constitutional crises is going on here?

As for the president wanting the FBI to look less at the allegations of Russian meddling in our election — and whether the Trump campaign was complicit in it — um, I think the feds should keep digging until they learn all there is to know.

This is a pretty damn serious matter, even if the president of the United States doesn’t think so.

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Hey, didn’t the AG recuse himself from Russia probe?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVpDT4PyM04

Al Franken knows a lie when he hears it. He wrote a book about “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them.”

The U.S. senator from Minnesota stood on the Senate floor and offered a point-by-point rebuttal of an apparent lie that Donald J. Trump likely told about a recommendation he got to fire FBI Director James Comey.

Then again, perhaps the lie came from the mouth of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who announced this year he would “recuse” himself from any dealings at any level with the probe into whether Russian government officials sought to influence the 2016 presidential election in the president’s favor.

You see, the president said he got a recommendation to fire Comey from — drum roll! — AG Sessions, the fellow who said he would recuse himself from this matter.

Oh yeah! Then there’s that matter of Comey leading the FBI probe into allegations that the Trump campaign colluded with Russian hackers to sway the election.

Sen. Franken’s statement zeroes in quite cleanly on Sessions’ recusal and he casts doubt (a) on whether the president really got a recommendation from Sessions to fire Comey or (b) on whether Sessions has actually recused himself as he pledged to do.

Man, this Comey firing matter is beginning to get stinkier by the day.

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Where in the world is Sean Spicer?

This isn’t how it’s supposed to go.

The president of the United States makes — without question — the most controversial personnel decision of his administration and the White House press secretary is AWOL at the daily briefing for reporters. He’s supposed to “brief” the media on what’s happening in the White House.

Sean Spicer is nowhere to be seen or heard. Instead, he sends out his No. 2 press flack, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, to tell the media that it’s time to “move on” after Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. He acted without warning. The dismissal surprised the FBI staff and reportedly the White House staff, too!

Why did the president axe the FBI boss? “He wasn’t doing a good job,” said the president. Well, that explains everything, right? Wrong!

The firestorm has erupted in the White House. Spicer reportedly is off doing Navy Reserve duty. Oh, but wait! The Navy says he can reschedule these duties when, um, other duties call — in this case duties involving the commander in chief.

Spicer ought to get back in a hurry

Sean Spicer is getting paid the big bucks to talk to the media. And, no, I don’t mean lecture them about how they’re doing their job and whether they’re telling the president’s story the way he wants it told.

The Comey firing is all over the newspapers and all over TV these days. The former FBI head man was pursuing an investigation involving the Trump presidential campaign and allegations that it might have colluded with Russian government officials/goons to sway the 2016 presidential election.

Except that Vice President Pence says the president’s decision to can Comey had nothing at all to do with the FBI’s probe into Russia’s meddling in the U.S. election.

Do I believe that? Let me think. Umm. No!

The White House’s main press guy needs to speak to the media. He needs to be forthright. He needs to answer direct questions … well, directly.

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Time for an independent counsel

Here is a copy of the letter that Donald John Trump sent to former FBI Director James Comey informing him that he was being relieved of his duties immediately.

No expression of thanks for Comey’s service to nation is here. No salute for Comey’s work at the FBI or as U.S. attorney in New York state. All we get here is some expression of thanks that Comey told the president he wasn’t being investigated.

This stunning development, though, is crawling with back stories.

One of them involves why the president praised Comey so effusively on the eve of Election Day. Why did the president declare that Comey was such an excellent public servant after he sent that letter to Congress informing lawmakers of his intention to look yet again at those e-mails that Hillary Clinton sent out when she served as secretary of state. Back then Comey seemed to be a candidate for sainthood, the Nobel Prize and perhaps even a spot on Mount Rushmore.

Today, though, Comey’s name is mud. Trump reportedly is angry that Comey “wasn’t doing a good job.”

Oh, but wait. Now we hear that Comey sought more money and manpower to step up his investigation into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russian government officials who were hacking into our electoral system.

One more thing: We now hear that Trump was “thinking about” getting rid of Comey since right after the 2016 presidential election. Sure thing. Was the president also “thinking about” bungee jumping off the Washington Monument?

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said today he won’t appoint a special prosecutor.

Are we now expected to believe that Donald Trump is going to appoint someone to continue an investigation into his own administration and his own campaign and whether something improper occurred between Trump and a foreign power?

I believe the concerns coming from congressional Democrats and Republicans. They are labeling this controversy as a full-blown constitutional crisis.

We need an independent counsel to grab this investigation by the throat.