Trump, June 2017: From [Covfefe] with Love

My Comey testimony expectations are subdued, but like always with that guy he'll probably say things that beg to be parsed for clarification at a later date.

xpost Completely. Also, why bother delivering a coup de grace. It's already clear he's cleared whatever he had to say with Mueller, and things will go from there.

Wittes is having fun again.

Now please don't read anything into this, but

tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick pic.twitter.com/fc0By0CWqK

— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) June 6, 2017

Wasn't his last bombshell mostly pretty eh, by the standards of the day?

even dan fielding wouldn't take a job in this administration

Wasn't his last bombshell mostly pretty eh, by the standards of the day?

One of them was (the 'hide in the curtains' one), the rest were legit big.

whats he doing in the barren wastes of agoura hills thats what I want to know

And all the fiscal conservatives wail...

SCOOP: Trump backs Mnuchin, who wants clean debt limit, over Mulvaney, who doesn't. With @BresPolitico @burgessev https://t.co/wsmniCBdjc

— Ben White (@morningmoneyben) June 6, 2017

NYT: Comey Told Sessions: Don’t Leave Me Alone With Trump

Chris Hayes just used "vouchsafes" in a sentence, so the developments are serious.

I feel like a city a thousand miles long and one block wide would be a pretty entertaining setting for an SF novel or five

I somehow feel J.G. Ballard already wrote a dystopia about that.

the subway map design competitions would be amazing

a tram seems the best option

Sanpaku, are you thinking of "Concentration City?" Same thing occurred to me

Between that and High Rise and Concrete Island yes.

xp: Sci-fi. We can have moving sidewalks. Indeed, many, so one can step sideways incrementally from walking speed to 100 km/h.

WAPO: DNI chief Coates told associates Trump asked him to intervene with Comey on FRI probe.

some people pack for a day and ride the people mover from one end to the other

i love the people mover!!!

when i was 13 i used it to listen to my headphones and look at girls

were you disappointed when it became a gimmick band from LA

xp: Sci-fi. We can have moving sidewalks. Indeed, many, so one can step sideways incrementally from walking speed to 100 km/h.

this made me lol so hard for some reason

And I really needed that, thanks

That Coates story is something else

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/top-intelligence-official-told-associates-trump-asked-him-if-he-could-intervene-with-comey-to-get-fbi-to-back-off-flynn/2017/06/06/cc879f14-4ace-11e7-9669-250d0b15f83b_story.html?pushid=593743cd2e12651d0000003c&sw_bypass=true&tid=notifi_push_breaking-news&utm_term=.6d65b5f6c2df

The nation’s top intelligence official told associates in March that President Trump asked him if he could intervene with then-FBI Director James B. Comey to get the bureau to back off its focus on former national security adviser Michael Flynn in its Russia probe, according to officials.

On March 22, less than a week after being confirmed by the Senate, Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats attended a briefing at the White House together with officials from several government agencies. As the briefing was wrapping up, Trump asked everyone to leave the room except for Coats and CIA Director Mike Pompeo.

The president then started complaining about the FBI investigation and Comey’s handling of it, said officials familiar with the account Coats gave to associates. Two days earlier, Comey had confirmed in a congressional hearing that the bureau was probing whether Trump’s campaign coordinated with Russia during the 2016 race.

After the encounter, Coats discussed the conversation with other officials and decided that intervening with Comey as Trump had suggested would be inappropriate, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal matters.

"don't leave me alone with Trump" - I guess Comey is not the first to beg this of someone

Oh Thursday will be fun.

Trump won't let Comey "smear him without punching him as hard as he can.” My latest w/ @philiprucker @ashleyrparker https://t.co/yD2dDBwIMa

— Robert Costa (@costareports) June 7, 2017

Alone in the White House in recent days, President Trump — frustrated and defiant — has been spoiling for a fight, according to his confidants and associates.

Glued even more than usual to the cable news shows that blare from the televisions in his private living quarters, or from the 60-inch flat screen he had installed in his cramped study off the Oval Office, he has fumed about “fake news.” Trump has seethed as his agenda has stalled in Congress and the courts. He has chafed against the pleas for caution from his lawyers and political advisers, tweeting whatever he wants, whenever he wants.

I want to know more about this 60 inch TV Trump is hunched in front of.

And I'm sure this isn't helping:

The West Wing, meanwhile, has taken on an atmosphere of legal uncertainty. White House counsel Donald F. McGahn has told staff to hold onto emails, documents and phone records, officials said, a move of caution designed to prepare the staff for future legal requests, should they come. McGahn has specifically advised staffers to avoid what are known as the “burn bags” in the executive branch that are often used to discard papers.

POTUS thinks sick burns via twitter is going to save his ass? What a time to be alive..

The Republican National Committee has lined up a roster of surrogates to appear on conservative news stations nationwide to defend Trump. But a list the RNC distributed on Tuesday could hardly be described as star-studded: The names include Bob Paduchik, an RNC co-chair who worked on Trump’s Ohio campaign; Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R); and Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge (R).

Tons of anecdotes in this story. Two of my favorites:

The White House recently approached Geoff Morrell — who served as the Pentagon press secretary for more than four years under former defense secretary Robert Gates — about coming inside the administration and overhauling the communications operation, according to three people with knowledge of the overture.

Morrell declined to comment, but BP announced last month that Morrell would be moving to London this summer to run government relations and communications for the company globally.

Some Trump loyalists outside the White House who are preparing to go on television news shows Thursday to defend the president and undermine Comey’s testimony said they have been given no talking points, nor seen any evidence of a strategy taking shape. One such loyalist said external supporters are afraid to coordinate too closely with the White House because they fear they could be accused of obstructing justice.

I pity them so.

holy shit at Comey telling sessions not to leave him alone, and coates being told to intervene.

I really hope he live-tweets the Comey hearing. So much scope for "I never mentioned Israel" style accidental confessions

and this Eric Trump charity Story, how Despicable are these people

The names include Bob Paduchik, an RNC co-chair who worked on Trump’s Ohio campaign; Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R); and Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge (R).

So it's probably fair to assume that Trump has also funneled money to Bob Paduchik and Leslie Rutledge.

It's almost 9pm and WH still cannot say whether POTUS has confidence in his Attorney General. "No updates," a WH official said.

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) June 7, 2017

POTUS thinks sick burns via twitter is going to save his ass? What a time to be alive..

― officer sonny bonds, lytton pd (mayor jingleberries), Tuesday, June 6, 2017 7:47 PM (twenty-five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Saving one's ass is of secondary importance compared to impotent displays of one's dominance.

Ah, the silver tongue of Pam Bondi.

Suspect "don't leave me alone with him" is also on Melania and Barron's wish lists.

blare from the televisions

it's like fox controls the volume from their end nationwide somehow

Trump also randomly quipped that "Jared's actually become more famous than me" -- on heels of son-in-law's TIME cover

— Justin Sink (@justinsink) June 6, 2017

Ooh jared's dead

He'll be calling him a showboat next

Curiously, Comey never got a Time cover, AFAIK. He did get high praise from McCain prior to his firing.

Amusing tweet thread, even for a comics hater like me.

"I'm glad you could both make it. I'd like to talk to you about... The Avengers Initiative" pic.twitter.com/dUsaiwkSrG

— Oliver Willis (@owillis) June 7, 2017

I believe that's referring to something from a series of Hollywood motion pictures.

Great news for once: Sam Brownback's experiment of turning Kansas into an abattoir has been halted:

The Kansas House garners enough votes for lawmakers to override the governor's veto of the tax bill to balance the state's budget. would raise $1.2 billion over two years by increasing income tax rates and ending an exemption for 330,000 plus farmers and business owners.

The House vote passed 88-31.

http://www.kwch.com/content/news/Bill-raising-taxes-delivered-to-Kansas-governor-426826281.html

Has he even vaguely said anything about how he fucked up?

https://robertnielsen21.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/laffer_curve_3.png

Clapper, giving a speech just now in Australia:

Ooooh. Clapper: "I have to say I think you compare the two that Watergate pales really in my view compared to what we're confronting now"

— Mark Di Stefano 🤙🏻 (@MarkDiStef) June 7, 2017

Clapper says on his only trip to Trump Tower, Trump asked him: "Wouldn't it be a good thing if we could get along with the Russians?"

— Mark Di Stefano 🤙🏻 (@MarkDiStef) June 7, 2017