| | | | Donald Trump still sees conspiracy in Mueller probe |  | | President Donald Trump was on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, just 36 hours removed from one of the best moments of his presidency: Attorney General Bill Barr announcing -- via a letter to Congress -- that special counsel Robert Mueller did not establish any conspiracy or coordination between the President's 2016 campaign and the Russian government.
And yet, despite that clear political victory, Trump proved old habits die hard. He insisted the investigation, which was begun by the FBI and taken over by Mueller after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, was the result of some sort of targeted effort by high-ranking officials to bring him down. Here's the exchange:
TRUMP: "It went very high up, and it started fairly low, but with instructions from the high up. This should never happen to a president again. We can't allow that to take place."
REPORTER: "Do you think it reached the West Wing of the Obama White House?"
TRUMP: "I don't want to say that, but I think you know the answer."
As with almost all his conspiracy theories, Trump offered zero proof of his claim, which, if true, would be a massive deal. Think what he is alleging: The outgoing administration somehow targeted the incoming President simply because they disagreed with his policies. That's a HUGE story (if true).
Trump has long harbored -- and promulgated -- the unproven and, to date, fact-free idea that there was (and is) some sort of "deep state" conspiracy against him. "The Deep State and the Left, and their vehicle, the Fake News Media, are going Crazy - & they don't know what to do," Trump tweeted last fall. "The Economy is booming like never before, Jobs are at Historic Highs, soon TWO Supreme Court Justices & maybe Declassification to find Additional Corruption. Wow!"
He doesn't provide evidence for these claims because a) none seems to exist and b) his supporters don't require it. Remember when Trump made a similarly outlandish claim that then-President Barack Obama had ordered his phone at Trump Tower tapped during the 2016 campaign? Trump never offered any proof of that allegation and intelligence and national security officials denied it happened. Didn't matter. To this day, lots and lots of Trump supporters believe Obama did it.
This is who Trump is and what he does. His political ambitions were born amid a conspiracy theory (that Obama wasn't born in the United States) and he trafficked in all sorts of conspiracy theories during the campaign and as President. That he refuses to give up the idea that Mueller, a lifelong Republican handpicked for the special counsel job by Trump appointee Rod Rosenstein, was somehow leading an Obama-inspired bureaucratic coup against him EVEN AFTER Mueller's final report was as favorable to Trump as he could have wanted, speaks to the depths of Trump's commitment to his conspiracies.
The Point: Trump won't change. But we shouldn't let that reality get in the way of the facts. And the facts here are simply not on Trump's side.
-- Chris | | "We must terminate gerrymandering."
-- Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger leaned hard into his acting roots while disavowing gerrymandering at a rally on the steps of the Supreme Court. | | |  | My 1 BIG question (still) about the Mueller report | | The much-anticipated Mueller report is finished. But the as-of-yet unreleased report is still raising a lot of questions for the Trump administration.
Another big question: Have you subscribed to The Point on YouTube? | | An amazing and harrowing read on Sen. Martha McSally's rape during her time in the military
The backstory on the two gerrymandered congressional maps that got to the Supreme Court today
Speaking of the Court -- PSYCHED for this new John Roberts biography by Joan Biskupic
Barack Obama is a wee bit concerned with the cost of some of the programs liberals in Congress are pushing, according to Rachael Bade
Del Quentin Wilber on what John Hinckley's life is like now
How Adnan Virk got fired from ESPN -- and what he's doing now
Are the Children of the Forest still a thing? | | | Jay Farrar's voice isn't for everyone. But it is for Chris. Here's the new Son Volt track "The Reason." | | ⚖️ THE SUPREME COURT RULES | | It sounds rare, but it's possible: What happens if you want to use a hovercraft to shoot a moose on a river that runs through National Park Service lands?
The nation's highest court ruled on that quandary today -- and determined that an Alaska man "can again rev up his hovercraft in search of moose," according to a unanimous decision.
The hovercraft hunter, whose name is John Sturgeon, filed suit with the support of Alaska, arguing that the National Park Service did not have jurisdiction over the land. Alaska allows the use of hovercrafts.
For what it's worth, the court's ruling is specific to Alaska. But it does show support for states when it comes to control of waterways through public lands. | | Kirsten Gillibrand: Supported overturning the Washington, DC, handgun ban in 2008, KFile reports.
Elizabeth Warren: Was interviewed by TMZ about the Mueller report while basically running through Penn Station -- and she still made her train.
John Hickenlooper: Has come out fully against the Green New Deal as proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez in a new op-ed, one of the first 2020 candidates to do so.
Pete Buttigieg: Is getting the glossy magazine treatment with a new feature by Vanity Fair.
Larry Hogan: Joined those calling on the Supreme Court to take on gerrymandering cases -- including one challenging Democratic-led gerrymandering in his home state of Maryland. Hogan is considering a primary challenge against Donald Trump. | |
WHEN A PICTURE SAYS A THOUSAND WORDS | | How many words does this one say?
Sen. Mike Lee used some very -- inspired -- visual aides while on the Senate floor to discuss the Green New Deal today ahead of this afternoon's vote -- "discussing it with the seriousness it deserves," as the Utah Republican put it.
"This of course is a picture of former President Ronald Reagan, naturally firing a machine gun while riding on the back of a dinosaur. You'll notice a couple of important features here. First of all, a rocket launcher, strapped to President Reagan's back, and then the stirring, unmistakable patriotism of the American flag ... a symbol of all it means to be an American," Lee explained.
"Now, critics might quibble with this depiction of the climactic battle of the Cold War because, while awesome, in real life there was no climactic battle. There was no battle with or without velociraptors. The Cold War, as we all know, was won without firing a shot.
"This image has as much to do with overcoming communism in the 20th century as the Green New Deal has to do with overcoming climate change of the 21st. ... Mostly, it's ridiculous. There isn't a single serious idea here."
The overwhelming majority of Democrats voted "present" -- while they are generally supportive of the ideas in the nascent Green New Deal, they were unwilling to vote for or against it before it was written into final legislative language.
Four senators who caucus with the Democrats joined all 53 Republicans in voting "no," and the vote failed, 0-57.
Ocasio-Cortez, meanwhile, criticized Lee on Twitter: "GOP Senators are using their Congressional allowances to print Aquaman posters for themselves to argue that a #GreenNewDeal saving our nation from climate change is a 'waste of money'" | | | | | | |
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