“Several White House advisers and personal associates of President Trump have urged him to hire an experienced outside lawyer to help him deal with issues arising from a surging controversy over whether his campaign had ties to Russia,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Trump is said to recognize that he needs help beyond the White House counsel. But he is deeply cautious in selecting people he trusts, and he adds new people to his orbit slowly.”
“When House Democratic leaders hastily called a news conference Wednesday to demonstrate their outrage at President Trump’s latest dramatics, they took great pains to show they were not seeking to railroad him out of the White House,” the New York Times reports.
“Democratic members of Congress have for weeks sought to find their own political safe space when it comes to questions about removing Mr. Trump, calling for a special prosecutor and a thorough investigation and airing of all the facts. But the decision Wednesday by the Justice Department to name the former F.B.I. director Robert S. Mueller III as special counsel for the investigation into Russia’s interference in last year’s election has complicated their position.”
For members: What Democrats Are Not Saying Should Terrify Trump
“President Trump has tapped Stephen Miller, a senior adviser at the White House and an outspoken NATO critic, to draft his speech before the military alliance in Brussels next week,” BuzzFeed News reports.
“The prospect of a speech penned by the 31-year-old anti-globalist adds a new layer of anxiety for NATO allies uncertain about which version of Donald Trump will show up in Belgium’s capital: The one that believes NATO is ‘no longer obsolete’ or the one that thinks the 28-member military alliance is a relic of the past.”
“The top Republican on the Senate intelligence panel says Michael Flynn’s lawyers say he will not honor the committee’s subpoena for documents,” the AP reports.
“The Senate intelligence committee subpoenaed former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn for documents related to the panel’s investigation into Russia’s election meddling.”
President Trump “is considering scaling back White House press secretary Sean Spicer’s public role… as Trump also weighs a broader shakeup of his communications shop in the wake of several scandals,” Politico reports.
“He is no longer expected to do a daily, on-camera briefing after Trump’s foreign trip.”
“The briefings have become one of the most dreaded parts of the president’s day, and Trump has told allies and aides he doesn’t want Spicer, who has developed a belligerent persona from behind the podium, publicly defending and explaining the message anymore.”
“Late last month, fired National Security Adviser Michael Flynn — under investigation by federal prosecutors, with his lawyer seeking immunity for him to testify to Congress — met with a small group of loyalists at a restaurant in the northern Virginia suburbs,” Yahoo News reports.
“Saddled with steep legal bills, Flynn wanted to reconnect with old friends and talk about potential future business opportunities. But one overriding question among those present were his views on the president who had fired him as national security advisor.”
“Flynn left little doubt about the answer. Not only did he remain loyal to President Trump, he indicated he and the president were still in communication. ‘I just got a message from the president to stay strong,’ Flynn said after the meal was over, according to two sources who are close to Flynn and are familiar with the conversation, which took place on April 25.”
“House Democrats have already raised more money in online contributions this year ahead of the midterms than they did during all of 2015, the most recently comparable year,” a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee official told NBC News.
“The unusual fundraising haul is the latest sign that President Donald Trump is motivating Democrats in extraordinary ways as the party looks to win back the 24 seats it needs to retake the House of Representatives in next year’s midterm elections and put Rep. Nancy Pelosi back in the Speaker’s chair.”
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) is expected to announce that he is resigning before the end of this congressional term, Politico reports.
Time: “For many Americans, Russian hacking remains a story about the 2016 election. But there is another story taking shape. Marrying a hundred years of expertise in influence operations to the new world of social media, Russia may have finally have gained the ability it long sought but never fully achieved in the Cold War: to alter the course of events in the U.S. by manipulating public opinion. The vast openness and anonymity of social media has cleared a dangerous new route for antidemocratic forces.… Current and former officials at the FBI, CIA and in Congress now believe the 2016 Russian operation was just the most visible battle in an ongoing information war against global democracy.”
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Roger Ailes, the recently ousted CEO of Fox News, died this morning, according to a statement by his wife on the Drudge Report.
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After initially taking a conciliatory tone, President Trump slammed the appointment of a special counsel to investigate any ties between his campaign and Russia as a “witch hunt.”
Tweeted Trump: “With all of the illegal acts that took place in the Clinton campaign & Obama Administration, there was never a special councel (sic) appointed!”
In another tweet, Trump called the probe into his campaign’s ties to Russia as the “single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history.”
“House Republicans facing tough reelection bids are running for cover from Donald Trump — an early sign that they believe the president’s deepening scandals could cost them their seats and even put the House in play,” Politico reports.
“More than 10 centrist Republicans over the past 48 hours have criticized Trump for reportedly sharing classified information with Russian officials or allegedly trying to quash an FBI investigation.”
“The danger he faces is his own party, with a growing chorus of leading Republicans who want to distance themselves from Trump because he has the smell of a wounded animal. Right now, there aren’t many Republicans in Congress facing reelection who are going to want to be in photo opportunities with him. He’s a man without coattails.”
— Historian Douglas Brinkley, quoted by the Washington Post.
Politico: “Under terms of his appointment by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Mueller will have wide powers to investigate ‘any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump’ and—beyond that—’any matters’ that arise from the investigation, including perjury and obstruction of justice.”
“The wide scope suggests an inquiry that is almost certain to last for years, given the history of these sorts of investigations, and will have an unpredictable impact on near year’s congressional midterm elections and the early jockeying in the 2020 presidential campaign. There are likely to be strains between Mueller’s inquiry and those being conducted on Capitol Hill, especially if congressional investigators want to give immunity to targets of Mueller’s investigation in exchange for their testimony, which would complicate the former FBI director hopes of ever obtaining criminal convictions.”
Mike Allen: “Mueller is by-the-book, focused on making cases, viewed as impervious to outside influence.”
“Mueller also happens to be friends with the spurned Jim Comey, another reason that the choice — announced by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who apparently was irate that the Comey firing was initially pinned on him by the White House — is worrisome for the West Wing.”
New York Times: “It would be hard to imagine a choice less helpful to the White House.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump, who was looking through papers, reacted calmly but defiantly at first, according to two people familiar with the events, saying he wanted to “fight back.” Realizing the seriousness of the situation, he quickly summoned his staff…”
“Most of those gathered recommended that the president adopt a conciliatory stance… Mr. Kushner — who had urged Mr. Trump to fire James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director — was one of the few dissenting voices, urging the president to counterattack… After a brief discussion, however, calmer heads prevailed, and Mr. Trump’s staff huddled over a computer just outside the Oval Office to draft the statement that was ultimately released.”
Politico: “Trump handled it better than anyone expected… He didn’t yell or scream. He told the assembled crowd they had nothing to hide. The mood in the room appeared to be one of resigned acceptance even though they were blindsided.”
“Michael Flynn and other advisers to Donald Trump’s campaign were in contact with Russian officials and others with Kremlin ties in at least 18 calls and emails during the last seven months of the 2016 presidential race,” current and former U.S. officials familiar with the exchanges told Reuters.
“The previously undisclosed interactions form part of the record now being reviewed by FBI and congressional investigators probing Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election and contacts between Trump’s campaign and Russia.”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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