| | | | This was the last week of the Trump presidency as we know it |  | | Donald Trump has been president for 792 days. Special counsel Robert Mueller was on the job -- investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and the possibility of collusion between the Russians and members of Trump's campaign -- for 675 days.
That all came to a head at 5 p.m. Eastern, when the Justice Department announced that Mueller had delivered his investigation to Attorney General William Barr. While we don't know what's in the report, we do know that this marks a major milestone: Mueller's investigation, which has occupied 85% of Trump's presidency, is now finished. We are likely to look back on Trump's presidency -- no matter what the report actually says -- as "before Mueller report" and "after the Mueller report."
Barr told congressional leaders in a letter Friday that he may be able to advise them on the "principal conclusions" of the Mueller report "as soon as this weekend."
This all began on May 17, 2017, when Mueller was appointed as special counsel by deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. In the intervening 22 months (statistics courtesy of CNN Mueller probe expert Marshall Cohen): - Mueller brought criminal charges against 37 people and entities.
- 6 of them were associates of President Trump: Campaign chairman Paul Manafort, deputy campaign chairman Rick Gates, national security adviser Michael Flynn, foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, Trump ex-attorney Michael Cohen and political svengali Roger Stone
- 5 people have been sentenced to prison
- Trump has referred to the investigation as a "witch hunt" more than 170 times.
Given the length of the Mueller probe, the number of charges it has produced and Trump's unrelenting negative attacks on Mueller and his team, it's normal to see the conclusion of the Mueller report as the beginning of the end of all of this.
Except that even with Mueller's probe now shuttered, we still don't immediately know a) what he submitted of his findings to Barr b) what Barr will redact c) whether the White House will be able to see the report before Congress and/or exert executive privilege on parts of it d) when Congress will get the report and how extensive or not the report will be and e) when -- and if -- the report is made public.
That leaves off the many House Democratic investigations into the Trump administration, the possibility of bringing Mueller in front of Congress to testify over the report, and the likely legal fights that will follow any redactions and executive privilege claims.
See what I mean? End of the beginning. Not the beginning of the end. (Thanks, Sir Winston!)
Still, it is an end -- if not the end.
The Point: With the news that Mueller is done, Trump's presidency as we have known it since, well, almost its first days, will begin to change. How will it change -- and will that change be the beginning of the end for Trump or a new and more positive beginning?
-- Chris
Below, the week that was in 18 headlines.
Monday: Tuesday: Wednesday: Thursday: Friday: | | "I depend on this ... [points to head]."
-- President Donald Trump in an interview with Fox Business Network. | | | President Donald Trump's early afternoon tweet sent the international community scrambling.
Trump tweeted the administration would withdraw additional sanctions against North Korea ... even though those additional sanctions had just been announced by his own administration.
The White House declined to give details on the sudden policy shift, but said Trump was pulling back newly issued sanctions because he "likes" North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, according to CNN's Jeremy Diamond and Kylie Atwood.
It was not immediately clear which sanctions Trump was referring to in his tweet. But just 24 hours earlier, the Treasury Department announced sanctions targeting two Chinese shipping companies that have allegedly helped North Korea skirt sanctions imposed by the United Nations. | | | It's an embarrassment of riches today! New albums from Andrew Bird and Jenny Lewis! #winning (Also, read this WaPo Jenny Lewis profile.) | | | President Donald Trump's dream 2020 matchup is ... Beto O'Rourke? "When I watch Beto, I say we could dream about that," Trump said when asked by Fox Business Network's Maria Bartiromo who he'd rather face in 2020. "My attitude is, I wouldn't mind. I mean, I'd love to have Biden. I'd love to have Bernie, I'd love to have Beto. I mean, Beto seems to be the one the press has chosen. The press seems to have chosen Beto," Trump said.
Trump indicated he'd lean into his support for the US border wall in a potential O'Rourke match-up.
"So you have Beto. And Beto comes out and he says, `Let's take down the wall,' " Trump said. "If you ever took down the wall, this country would be overrun." | | | As more than a dozen candidates fan out across the early voting states, next week will see two official presidential campaign rallies, plus a lot more.
Saturday, March 23: - Kirsten Gillibrand: Will hold her campaign kickoff rally in New York City (with a speech delivered outside of one of Trump's properties)
- Amy Klobuchar: Participates in a town hall in Rye, New Hampshire, with the Rye Democrats
- Elizabeth Warren: Holds a community conversation on the opioid crisis in Littleton, New Hampshire
- Steve Bullock: The Montana governor, who has not formally announced a presidential bid, spends his second day in New Hampshire
- John Hickenlooper: Hits Vermont for a discussion about marijuana and the economy in Burlington
Sunday, March 24: - Kamala Harris: Is making two stops in Atlanta -- at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church and Morehouse College
- Beto O'Rourke: Will hold two meet-and-greet events in Las Vegas
Monday, March 25: - Bill Weld: Kicks off a five-day stay in New Hampshire with a private meeting with New Hampshire Republicans in Concord. Weld is currently considering launching a Republican primary bid against Trump.
Wednesday, March 27: - Cory Booker: Participates in a CNN town hall Wednesday from Orangeburg, South Carolina
Friday, March 29: - Seth Moulton: Participates in a veterans roundtable in Iowa City
- Howard Schultz: Participates in the Unrig Summit in Nashville, Tennessee, billed as the "South by Southwest of politics"
Saturday, March 30: - Beto O'Rourke: Has three campaign kickoff rallies planned in El Paso, Houston and Austin
| |
POMPEO ON TRUMP'S ELECTION | | Secretary of State Mike Pompeo agreed Thursday with an interviewer's suggestion that it's possible God raised Donald Trump to be President in order to protect Israel from Iran.
Per CNN's Julie Gallagher:
In an interview in Jerusalem, the Christian Broadcast Network's Chris Mitchell asked Pompeo, "Could it be that President Trump right now has been sort of raised for such a time as this, just like Queen Esther, to help save the Jewish people from the Iranian menace?" Esther is the main heroine of the Jewish holiday of Purim, which was celebrated this week.
"As a Christian, I certainly believe that's possible," Pompeo said.
Pompeo earlier this week joked that he plans to be Secretary of State until Trump "tweets me out of office." | | | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment