Day 496: Trump’s Vow to Not Focus on Russia Barely Lasted a Day
Donald Trump publicly proclaimed, after 16 months in office, it was time to get to work. No more focus on Russia, only on vitally important things like North Korea and the economy, he promised.
That vow lasted about a day.
The New York Times published a piece Tuesday detailing the latest in potential obstruction of justice exposure for Trump. According to the report, Trump asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions to un-recuse himself from the Russia investigation during a March 2017 meeting because he needed a loyalist overseeing probe. Sessions declined the extremely unusual request.
That declination was essentially the end of the Trump-Sessions relationship, with Trump largely blaming Sessions for everything that has followed, despite the fact that Trump is the one who fired James Comey from his position as FBI director just two months later. That decision — not Sessions’ — directly led to the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel.
This morning, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) was interviewed on CBS This Morning. He gave his thoughts about Sessions, which Trump quoted on his Twitter account and agreed with, throwing Sessions — described as a “key witness” in the Times piece — under the bus.
Trump is openly admitting that he wants Sessions gone and has for some time. This kind of public feuding simply does not happen. However, Trump is seething — and has been for over a year — that Sessions didn’t jump in front of the Russia probe for him. (Again, if he’s innocent, why does he care about any of this?)
Either way, his promise to not dwell on Russia didn’t last long.
R.I.P. Trump’s Russia silence (5/29/18, 7:27 am — 5/30/18, 8:46 am).
Trump also failed to mention that on CBS, Gowdy totally undercut Trump’s latest conspiracy theory that there were spies in his campaign.
The president has also, in recent weeks, accused the Department of Justice of having inserted a “spy” inside his campaign — even nicknaming the alleged situation “spygate.”
But Gowdy, who also sits on the House Judiciary and House Intelligence Committees, also pushed back on that particular Trump claim Wednesday — and said he had seen no evidence to support it.
“That is not a term I’ve ever used in the criminal justice system. Undercover informant, confidential informant, those are all words I’m familiar with, I’ve never heard the term ‘spy’ used,” he told “CBS This Morning.”
When asked specifically whether he’s seen any evidence of a spy having been “inserted into the campaign,” Gowdy replied, “I have not.”
Overall, Trump’s promise to work hard from Tuesday isn’t even believable, as he’s blasting the Times over crowd size at 10:35 am on a workday.
496 days in, 966 to go
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