Sometimes the Smoke Is the Fire

Mike Allen: “I was chatting with a smart Republican about the White House’s Russia issues, and he said: ‘This is the rare case where the smoke IS the fire.’ What he meant is that even if the White House wound up being right that there’s no ‘there’ there (harder to see, with each day’s revelations), the warning signs and botched reactions and mounting questions have themselves become huge problems for the President.”

“So many of the players — by slow-rolling, obscuring or trashing the facts — have made it LOOK like they have something to hide.”

“Republicans close to the White House said events seem to be moving from the Distraction Zone to the Danger Zone. Democrats see that the scandal and investigative machinery that was used against them in the Clinton administration can now be cranked up to hobble this president, just as he heads into the months when he needs to be putting legislative points on the board.”