Not the most relevant, now as for wanting to have an independent investigation and to see impeachment:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-poll-idUSKCN18B2LN
Stranger, what does The Art of the Deal have to do with Trump’s thoughts? He’s probably never even met the guy who wrote it, and he certainly hasn’t read it.
Among the people that I know that dare to discuss such things, none of this mess matters. Trump still really could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and his supporters simply wouldn’t care.
Yeah, all Trump has done is threaten to sue the guy, which for Trump is no connection at all.
(If Trump IS removed from office, will he sue each and every member of Congress that votes against him?)
Personally, I doubt the whole “threat” aspect of this. I don’t have any difficulty thinking that Il Douche believes in his own gravitas and personal magnetism. He has lived his tragically long life rich, where everyone laughs at your jokes and gasps in amazement at your insightful intelligence.
I can easily believe that he decided to talk to Comey one-on-one, man to man. Give him the straight from the shoulder candor, tell him that Flynn is a good man, stand up guy. And that would be enough.
And now, we hear the Trump campaign had undisclosed contact with Russia. Reporting “no evidence of wrongdoing or collusion between the campaign and Russia in the communications reviewed so far,” though. The lack of disclosure itself is troubling, though.
Trump told Russians that firing “nut job” Comey eased pressure from Russia investigation.
*White House press secretary Sean Spicer did not refute the Times story, but said that it was Comey’s “grandstanding and politicizing the investigation into Russia’s actions” that created “unnecessary pressure on our ability to engage and negotiate with Russia.”*Somewhere the ghost of James Gandolfini is gnashing his teeth in how the Trump administration has now exceeded The Sopranos in depicting unbridled venality.
Stranger
Russian officials bragged they could use Michael Flynn to influence Trump.
Could Trump use the argument that this is evidence he, himself, wasn’t colluding? Because if he was, the Russians wouldn’t have to use Flynn to influence him?
Then he would publicly confess that he’s ridiculously stupid. Not that we don’t know that by now, and maybe he wouldn’t notice…Well, I think he’ll be using this defense.
I was thinking the same thing. However, with the Comey firing, the disclosure of intelligence to the Russians, and every other damn thing, I think Trump is hurting even if he wasn’t directly, personally colluding. At least, I hope he’s fucked either way.
At this point, I would not be surprised if Trump blurted out that the Russians did not even pay him that much, so really, it’s not a big deal.
That the question: guilty of collusion or just cover-up/obstruction? I recall reading an article (days ago, which feels like weeks now), on the idea that Trump could convince the voting public he’s guilty when he’s not, just by his actions.
The thing is, before Trump said all this Russia stuff with Comey as a reason, I really did think he could be the type to fire Comey just for not getting the results he wanted (Clinton guilty, Trump being wiretapped by Obama, etc.) and for not being a toady, even though Trump wasn’t actually guilty of any crime. But as that article said, if he’s not guilty, he’s sure doing his best to make himself look that way.
AKA, “It’s not the crime, it’s the coverup.”
Now it seems there are reports of a memo from where Trump asked the director of national intelligence and director of the NSA to “publicly deny the existence of any evidence of collusion during the 2016 election.”
We’ll have to wait and see if that’s correct, of course. If they do exist, they could be made available to the special counsel.
Per CNN, Comey will testify as soon as next week that Trump pressured him to end the investigation.
If this is true, does this change any Trump supporters’ opinions?
No, it will not change his supporters. It is like about 20% of the population has become Manson girls, incapable of thought or reason and completely incapable of thinking anything bad about their beloved leader. He was absolutely right during the campaign, he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose any of his voters.
I think Comey will be professional in his testimony, but boy it must give him some satisfaction to publicly take a dump on the reputation of the guy who fired him.
Unless he pulls a Frank Pentangeli and suddenly can’t remember Trump talking to him about anything but baseball.