“Three White House officials told the Daily Beast that Chief of Staff Reince Priebus has privately expressed worry about a possible Comey memo specifically involving one of their reported chats, and how it might play in the press and to investigators.”
Trump Preps for Long War Against the ‘Deep State’
Mike Allen: “West Wing officials are prepping for a years-long war with investigators and the bureaucracy, with plans to beef up legal, surrogate, communications and rapid-response teams as part of a ‘new normal’ for President Trump — besieged.”
Said one Trump ally: “The White House is embracing the fight, which is going to last as long as Donald Trump is president. We’re getting street fighters ready to go.”
“Trump aides recognize that besides being in the crosshairs of investigators on Russia, they will be the continuing target of leaks from the bureaucracy. The Trump ally referred to this second enemy as ‘nameless, faceless, deep-state types‘ who have been inflamed and are punching back through the media.”
Politico: White House tried to avoid “paralysis” amid investigation.
Manafort Advised Trump Team on Russia Scandal
“Months after the FBI began examining Paul Manafort as part of a probe into ties between President Trump’s team and Russia, Manafort called Trump’s chief of staff Reince Priebus to push back against the mounting controversy,” Politico reports.
“It was about a week before Trump’s inauguration, and Manafort wanted to brief Trump’s team on the alleged inaccuracies in a recently released dossier of memos written by a former British spy for Trump’s opponents that alleged compromising ties between Russia, Trump and Trump’s associates, including Manafort.”
Mar-a-Lago Employee Working on Trump Foreign Trip
“A top Mar-a-Lago employee is also working for the government to help prepare for President Trump’s visit to Taormina, Italy, for the G-7 Summit — an unconventional arrangement that further blurs the line between the president’s business empire and the White House,” BuzzFeed reports.
“Heather Rinkus, the guest reception manager at Trump’s ‘Winter White House,’ is working with the president’s advance and logistics team, while Trump’s exclusive club, Mar-a-Lago, closes for the summer. She has an official White House email and government-issued phone.”
Sessions Did Not Disclose Meetings with Russians
Attorney General Jeff Sessions “did not disclose meetings he had last year with Russian officials when he applied for his security clearance,” CNN reports.
“The new information from the Justice Department is the latest example of Sessions failing to disclose contacts he had with Russian officials. He has come under withering criticism from Democrats following revelations that he did not disclose the same contacts with Kislyak during his Senate confirmation hearings earlier this year.”
Spicer Left Out of Vatican Visit
President Trump’s entourage at the Vatican “included his wife, his daughter, and an array of staffers—but not White House press secretary Sean Spicer, a devout Catholic who told reporters earlier this year that he gave up alcohol for Lent,” Politico reports.
“Both sides, according to a White House official, agreed to limit the number of staffers who attended. Two other senior communications aides from the White House were included: Hope Hicks, who like Melania and Ivanka Trump wore a black veil over her hair, and Dan Scavino, the White House director of social media and a longtime Trump loyalist.”
Most Think Trump Is Abusing His Office
A new Quinnipiac poll finds American voters believe that President Trump is abusing the powers of his office by a 54% to 43% margin.
He also has a dismal 37% to 55% approval rating.
Meanwhile, voter opinions of most of Trump’s personal qualities remain negative:
- 59% say he is not honest;
- 57% say he does not have good leadership skills;
- 56% say he does not care about average Americans;
- 65% say that he is not level-headed;
- 64% say that he is a strong person;
- 62% say that he does not share their values.
Trump’s Base Is Shrinking
Nate Silver: “There’s been a considerable decline in the number of Americans who strongly approve of Trump, from a peak of around 30 percent in February to just 21 or 22 percent of the electorate now. (The decline in Trump’s strong approval ratings is larger than the overall decline in his approval ratings, in fact.) Far from having unconditional love from his base, Trump has already lost almost a third of his strong support.”
“And voters who strongly disapprove of Trump outnumber those who strongly approve of him by about a 2-to-1 ratio, which could presage an ‘enthusiasm gap’ that works against Trump at the midterms. The data suggests, in particular, that the GOP’s initial attempt (and failure) in March to pass its unpopular health care bill may have cost Trump with his core supporters.”
Trump Companies Not Tracking Foreign Payments
“Just days before taking office, President Trump promised to donate all profits earned from foreign governments back to the United States Treasury to avoid the appearance of impropriety.”
“But MSNBC has learned the Trump Organization is not tracking all possible payments it receives from foreign governments, according to new admissions by Trump representatives. By failing to track all foreign payments it receives, the company will be hard-pressed to meet Trump’s pledge to donate foreign profits, and could even increase its legal exposure.”
Kushner Sought Christie’s Advice on Outside Counsel
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) has told people that Jared Kushner asked him if Trump should hire a lawyer to deal with the ramifications of the Russia investigation, Vanity Fair reports.
“A spokesman for Christie, who was responsible for prosecuting Kushner’s father, denied that the governor talked to Kushner about anything related to seeking outside counsel. An administration source said that the conversation about retaining counsel ‘simply did not happen.’ Both sides confirmed that a phone call between them took place, as the two talk frequently.”
Why It May Not Matter If Trump Colluded with Russia
Byron York: “Now, rather than focusing on alleged collusion, the thrust of leaks in recent days has been directed almost exclusively toward building a case of obstruction of justice against the president, charging that he actively tried to derail the investigation into his campaign and his associates. More and more, day after day, Trump’s adversaries believe that, when it comes to bringing down the president, it might not matter if collusion occurred or not. A cover-up would be enough to do the job.”
“The Trump-Russia case could become the ultimate illustration of the old Washington saying that it’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up. In this case, there might be no underlying crime at all.”
Comey Friend Says Trump Should Be Scared
Benjamin Wittes, a friend of ousted FBI Director James Comey, told CNN that if he were President Trump he would be scared of Comey’s pending testimony before the Senate.
He added: “I have no doubt that he regarded the group of people around the President as dishonorable.”
Trump Hires Private Lawyer for Russia Probe
“President Trump has retained the services of a trusted lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, to help him navigate the investigations into his campaign and suspected Russian interference in last year’s election,” the Washington Post reports.
“Kasowitz, who has known Trump for decades, has represented Trump in numerous cases, including on his divorce records, real estate transactions and allegations of fraud at Trump University. He is a partner at Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman in New York.”
Goldman Sachs Banker Was Managing Treasury
Bloomberg: “Between a personnel shortage at the Treasury and a political crisis at the White House… Mnuchin faces difficulty fulfilling President Trump’s ambitious economic agenda… Mnuchin was already leaning on Jim Donovan to help manage the department, even though he had not officially left Goldman Sachs. One of Donovan’s tasks was to recruit people for other senior positions in the agency.”
Last week, Donovan withdrew his nomination before the Senate to become Mnuchin’s deputy.
InfoWars Gets a White House Press Pass
InfoWars — “the fringe right-wing outlet best known for spreading 9/11 Truther theories, the scurrilous idea that the massacre at Sandy Hook was a hoax, and a founder who has ranted about malevolent forces conspiring to put things in the water to ‘turn the freaking frogs gay'” — got a White House press pass, CNN reports.
Trump Was Not Always So Linguistically Challenged
“STAT reviewed decades of Trump’s on-air interviews and compared them to Q&A sessions since his inauguration. The differences are striking and unmistakable.”
“Research has shown that changes in speaking style can result from cognitive decline. STAT therefore asked experts in neurolinguistics and cognitive assessment, as well as psychologists and psychiatrists, to compare Trump’s speech from decades ago to that in 2017; they all agreed there had been a deterioration, and some said it could reflect changes in the health of Trump’s brain.”
“In interviews Trump gave in the 1980s and 1990s (with Tom Brokaw, David Letterman, Oprah Winfrey, Charlie Rose, and others), he spoke articulately, used sophisticated vocabulary, inserted dependent clauses into his sentences without losing his train of thought, and strung together sentences into a polished paragraph, which — and this is no mean feat — would have scanned just fine in print. This was so even when reporters asked tough questions.”
Anonymous Spokesman Won’t Confirm Leaks
From the Washington Post:
“The White House does not confirm or deny unsubstantiated claims based on illegal leaks from anonymous individuals,” a White House spokesman said. “The president will continue to focus on his agenda that he was elected to pursue by the American people.”
Quote of the Day
“So many young, beautiful, innocent people living and enjoying their lives murdered by evil losers in life. I won’t call them monsters because they’d like that term. They’d think that’s a great name.”
— President Trump, quoted by ABC News, on the people behind a bombing that brought “death to innocent young people” who were attending an Ariana Grande concert in England.
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