| | | | Donald Trump's very dramatic case against impeachment | | President Donald Trump sent a very clear warning in an interview with "Fox and Friends" host Ainsley Earhardt on Thursday: Impeach me and watch things go to hell.
"I tell you what, if I ever got impeached, I think the market would crash, I think everybody would be very poor, because without this thinking, you would see -- you would see numbers that you wouldn't believe in reverse," Trump said.
While in Scotland on a golfing trip, Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani, as he often does, echoed his boss's thinking. "You'd only impeach him for political reasons, and the American people would revolt against that," predicted Giuliani in an interview with Sky News.
Markets would crash! Everyone would be poor! People would revolt!
Hyperbolic language is something of a norm in this White House -- everything Trump does is the BIGGEST or the BEST or MOST HISTORIC -- but even by those exaggerated standards, the hellscape that Trump and Giuliani paint if Democrats try to impeach the President feels like a step further than they've gone before.
The "why" is pretty clear: Republicans badly need their base energized in advance of the 2018 midterms. A series of special elections over the past two years have shown considerable Democratic overperformance, a sign that the Democratic base is passionate about voting -- hoping to send a very clear message of disapproval to the President and his administration.
Impeachment, Trump and Giuliani believe, is their silver bullet. Democrats don't like how the last election turned out, so they're trying to overturn it. Don't let them! You get the idea.
But with the midterms so close at hand, the President is turning the rhetoric WAY up to make that point. Subtlety is out the window. In its place is fear. Like your life the way it is? Better vote for Republicans. If not, you will be "very poor." People will be rioting in the streets. Undocumented immigrants will swarm the borders. It's the stuff of nightmares for many people. And if the 2016 election taught us anything, it's that fear is a very powerful voting motivator.
Democratic leaders know -- and worry about -- the power of Trump's politics of fear. It's why leading liberals like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, of California, and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren have been very wary of talking much at all about impeachment in the run-up to the 2018 election.
The Point: The world won't end if Democrats take over the House. Or even if that Democratic House votes to impeach Trump. (The Senate, where the impeachment case would be heard, is still more likely than not to be in Republican hands in 2019.) It would, of course, be a major political upheaval that would likely worsen our already terrible polarization. But we'd all soldier on. Trump -- and Giuliani -- know that, it's just not in their political interest to say so.
-- Chris | | "He is the quintessential Boy Scout."
-- Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, on why Jeff Sessions shouldn't be forced out of the Justice Department by President Donald Trump | | | TRUMP THROWS A PUNCH AND SESSIONS HITS BACK | | The feud taking center stage today is between President Donald Trump and his own attorney general, Jeff Sessions. Trump has frequently criticized Sessions since taking office. But as Chris writes, today was one of two times Sessions decided to actually speak up in his own defense.
What started it this time: Trump again lambasted his attorney general as woefully ineffective during an interview with Fox News. The President said he appointed an attorney general who "never took control of the Justice Department."
Sessions hits back: "I took control of the Department of Justice the day I was sworn in..." Sessions said in a statement. "While I am Attorney General, the actions of the Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations."
An awkward encounter: Sessions met with Trump at the White House today for a meeting on prison reform. A source who was in the room for the meeting told CNN that the meeting between Trump and Sessions was cordial and that neither raised the earlier exchange.
Does Sessions still have his job? Yep. Another source told CNN's Jim Acosta that nothing negative regarding Sessions's future as attorney general arose during the meeting.
But maybe not for long? South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham suggested that Trump could replace Sessions after the midterm elections: "Clearly, Attorney General Sessions doesn't have the confidence of the President." ... "After the election, I think there will be some serious discussions about a new attorney general." | | | The Great Lake Swimmers are a) underrated and b) out with a new album! | | MORE OF TRUMP'S INTERVIEW WITH FOX NEWS | | Besides that "everybody would be poor" if he were impeached, here are other headlines to come from the interview Trump did with Fox News: - CNN's Kevin Liptak and Jeremy Diamond: Trump falsely said the felony counts that Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to "weren't crimes." Reminder: Cohen on Tuesday admitted under oath to two campaign finance violations -- an excessive campaign contribution and causing an unlawful corporate contribution -- both of which are crimes.
- Trump argued that the longstanding legal practice of flipping should "almost ought to be outlawed."
- He again lambasted Jeff Sessions and his decision to recuse himself: "I put in an attorney general who never took control of the Justice Department."
- He gave himself an "A+" when asked to grade his performance in office so far.
Also, Chris highlighted the 36 most outrageous quotes. | | David Pecker, the CEO of the National Enquirer's publisher and longtime friend of Trump, has flipped on the President, having chosen to cooperate with prosecutors.
The Wall Street Journal reported today that Pecker, the CEO of American Media Inc., provided federal prosecutors information in the Michael Cohen investigation and in exchange was provided immunity.
Pecker told federal prosecutors that the President knew about Cohen's payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and AMI's to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who had alleged sexual encounters with Trump, sources familiar with the matter told CNN. Pecker also provided investigators with details about payments Cohen made to the women, the sources said.
Cohen had pleaded guilty Tuesday and admitted in court to working together with the "CEO of a media company, at the request of the candidate" to squelch bad press during the campaign.
Read more of CNN's Erica Orden and Kara Scannell's story here. | | The Democratic National Committee said what it feared was a hacking attempt of its voter database was actually an unauthorized "simulated phishing test," CNN's Donie O'Sullivan reports.
On Monday, an initial detection of the apparent hacking attempt by a cybersecurity firm prompted the DNC to call the FBI, a Democratic source told CNN.
But on Wednesday, as the committee continued its investigation, it became evident that the apparent hack was not what it seemed. The DNC did not say what entity commissioned or built the test. It's also not clear how the DNC determined the hack was actually a phishing test.
TLDR: There was no attempt to hack into DNC systems by an adversary. | | | From Brenna: "I love tours of manufacturing plants in the Midwest as much as the next person, but today Vice President Pence hit the tour jackpot and got to go to Johnson Space Center and see that super cool pool where astronauts train. Give your friends a super cool tour of the day's news by sharing The Point with them!" | | | | | | |
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