Today’s articles talk about Trump’s attempts to pressure Jeff Sessions into controlling or ending the Mueller investigation, files from Michael Cohen’s cell phones, Trump spilling classified secrets again, Ambien’s side effects, and an accountant who embezzled millions from literary agency Donadio & Olson, affecting lots of big-name authors.
Definitely Read This One
New York Times: Trump Asked Sessions to Retain Control of Russia Inquiry After His Recusal
To sum up: Sessions recused himself from anything to do with Russia-related investigations because he had connections to Russians, including meetings with Russian ambassador (and probable agent) Sergey Kislyak that Sessions kept quiet about. Then the Trump-Russia investigations exploded, and Trump has been super angry that he doesn’t have a Trumpster running the investigation and keeping it on lockdown. For obvious reasons, I’m sure. Since then, Trump has been trashing Sessions, ignoring him, and generally trying to get him to un-recuse himself or step down.
Now the New York Times reports that Trump had Sessions in Florida, trying to pressure/coerce him into stepping down or un-recusing himself. Mueller is investigating that, because it’s probably obstructing justice, like firing Comey probably was.
The line that leapt out at me in this article, though, was, “Mr. Trump complains to friends about how much he would like to get rid of Mr. Sessions but has demurred under pressure from Senate Republicans who have indicated they would not confirm a new attorney general.”
As far as I can tell House Republicans are a complete waste. They don’t seem to have any intention of governing, holding the White House to account, etc. They seem to be perfectly happy going along with the rolling dumpster fire that is the Trump White House.
The Senate Republicans are a different kettle of fish. I suspect there’s more going on behind the scenes than we’re guessing at. It’s hard to see. You have to watch what they’re doing, not what they’re saying. They support Trump verbally, but their investigation seems to be ticking along a lot more seriously and steadily than the House’s ever did. And now there’s this gentle threat about firing Sessions.
Which is not to say that Senate Republicans are “good guys” or any such nonsense. They seem to agree with Trump’s politics, for the most part, which is reason enough to vote them out of office. They don’t seem quite so interested in covering for Trump’s corruption, though.
Except for Mitch McConnell, of course. That guy is trash.
4 Other Things to Read
- Washington Post: Federal prosecutors poised to get more than 1 million files seized from Michael Cohen’s phones – The feds investigating Michael Cohen will be getting their hot little hands on over a million files from three of his cell phones that were seized during that FBI raid. Stormy Daniel’s lawyer, Michael Avenatti, wants the files, too, but he might not get them.
- Politico: Trump bragged about classified Syria skirmish at fundraiser – Back in February, there was apparently a skirmish between the US and Russian mercs in Syria, and we killed a crapton of Russian mercs. You didn’t hear about it because the whole thing is classified. You did hear about it because Trump just ran his mouth about it and bragged it all up at a recent fundraiser.
- The Verge: Ambien manufacturer wants you to know its product does not make you racist – Roseanne said racist crap on Twitter and got her show canceled, then claimed that she said the racist stuff because she was on Ambien, a sleep aid, at the time. The makers of Ambien have released a statement saying that racism is not one of the side effects of any of their medications, including Ambien. Just, y’know. FYI.
- New York Post: Accountant embezzled $3.4M from famed literary agency – One of the authors affected is Chuck Palahniuk, the guy who wrote Fight Club, who’s apparently been driven into bankruptcy by the theft. He talks about it here.
Featured Photo: Jeff Sessions, by Gage Skidmore. (Source and licensing.)
Notes & Thoughts 