"The Failing" New York Times tries hard but does not deliver - M.N.: New York Times makes 'obstruction of justice' case against Trump while admitting there's 'no evidence' in long report - 4:10 AM 2/20/2019
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An extensive New York Times story published Tuesday purports to take you “inside” President Trump’s “Two-Year War on the Investigations Encircling Him.” But save yourself the precious time and read Trump’s tweets instead.
The news out of the lengthy piece is an allegation that Trump late last year asked then-acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker if it was possible to appoint U.S. Attorney General for Southern New York Geoffrey Berman, a White House ally, to lead the district’s investigation into Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty in November to charges of perjury, tax evasion, and campaign finance violations.
The Times reported that Whitaker “knew he could not put Mr. Berman in charge, since Mr. Berman had already recused himself from the investigation” and admitted that “there is no evidence that he took any direct steps to intervene in the Manhattan investigation.”
That’s the extent of news in the story, which otherwise recounts everything Trump has said on Twitter or in news interviews — that he was disappointed with former Attorney General Jeff Sessions recusing himself from the Russia probe, that he thought ridding himself of former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former FBI Director James Comey would quell the investigation, and that he believes there are conflicted elements at the highest levels of the DOJ working against his presidency.
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| New York Times makes 'obstruction of justice' case against Trump while admitting there's 'no evidence' in long report | ||
An extensive New York Times story published Tuesday purports to take you “inside” President Trump’s “Two-Year War on the Investigations Encircling Him.” But save yourself the precious time and read Trump’s tweets instead.
The news out of the lengthy piece is an allegation that Trump late last year asked then-acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker if it was possible to appoint U.S. Attorney General for Southern New York Geoffrey Berman, a White House ally, to lead the district’s investigation into Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty in November to charges of perjury, tax evasion, and campaign finance violations. The Times reported that Whitaker “knew he could not put Mr. Berman in charge, since Mr. Berman had already recused himself from the investigation” and admitted that “there is no evidence that he took any direct steps to intervene in the Manhattan investigation.” That’s the extent of news in the story, which otherwise recounts everything Trump has said on Twitter or in news interviews — that he was disappointed with former Attorney General Jeff Sessions recusing himself from the Russia probe, that he thought ridding himself of former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former FBI Director James Comey would quell the investigation, and that he believes there are conflicted elements at the highest levels of the DOJ working against his presidency. The Times report asserts that Trump's conduct has "exposed him to accusations of obstruction of justice," but Trump has made all of his thoughts on all of his actions public over the course of more than a year, and the Times didn’t change anything by repeating it. The article is an excellent source of information, however, if you want to know what mood Trump was in during any number of private conversations with his advisers. [Also read: Why Trump doesn't like Ann Coulter anymore] | ||
| National Security Expert Warns There's 'A Chance That Vladimir Putin Is Controlling' Trump's White House | ||
National security expert Samantha Vinograd has warned that there is “still a chance that Vladimir Putin is controlling” President Donald Trump’s White House.
Vinograd, who previously worked on the National Security Council and for the Treasury Department, told CNN that after former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe said Tuesday that he had briefed leaders of Congress—half of whom were Republicans—on the FBI's investigation of Trump and none had raised objections, she wondered if the investigation has continued. “Is that investigation still ongoing? McCabe has said that the president’s moves to undercut investigations, to believe Vladimir Putin over his own intelligence officials, to make personnel decisions based on Russia-related matters all led to this investigation,” Vinograd pointed out. President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin attend a joint press conference after a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki on July 16, 2018. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images “McCabe would have laid that out before the Gang of Eight [a bipartisan group of congressional leaders],” she continued. “But just in the past few days, the counterintelligence red flags are flying a lot higher than they did, arguably, then, when this investigation was first launched [in 2017],” the national security expert said. She suggested that others in the government may have been briefed and that the probe is ongoing. “It is entirely possible…that this investigation is continuing and there is still a chance that Vladimir Putin is controlling the White House,” she concluded. Speaking to the Today show’s Savannah Guthrie on Tuesday morning, McCabe explained the FBI had informed the Gang of Eight it intended to place the president under investigation following the May 2017 firing of his boss, FBI Director James Comey, by Trump. He said that “no one objected” and insisted the investigation followed legal protocols. McCabe also revealed that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had floated the idea of getting Cabinet members and the vice president to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. Rosenstein has denied having made the suggestion. Then FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe arrives for a meeting with congressional members of the Oversight and Government Reform and Judiciary committees on December 21, 2017. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Trump and his supporters have blasted McCabe’s revelations, made in a recent interview on CBS News’s 60 Minutes, even likening it to a “coup.” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a frequent Trump supporter, has described McCabe’s claims as “beyond stunning,” vowing to launch an investigation into the FBI and the Justice Department. “I promise your viewers the following, that we will have a hearing about who's telling the truth, what actually happened,” Graham told Face the Nation on Sunday. McCabe was fired from his position at the FBI by Trump's attorney general, Jeff Sessions, in 2018. A report by the Office of the Inspector General charged that McCabe had lied to or misled federal investigators on at least four occasions. McCabe disputed the report, and his lawyer argued that it had been written under political pressure from the White House. Trump has dismissed McCabe as a liar, slamming the allegations as a conspiracy. “Wow, so many lies by now disgraced acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe. He was fired for lying, and now his story gets even more deranged,” Trump posted to Twitter on Monday. “This was the illegal and treasonous ‘insurance policy’ in full action!” Trump said in a follow-up tweet. | ||
| Intimidation, Pressure and Humiliation: Inside Trump’s Two-Year War on the Investigations Encircling Him - The New York Times | ||
WASHINGTON — As federal prosecutors in Manhattan gathered evidence late last year about President Trump’s role in silencing women with hush payments during the 2016 campaign, Mr. Trump called Matthew G. Whitaker, his newly installed attorney general, with a question. He asked whether Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York and a Trump ally, could be put in charge of the widening investigation, according to several American officials with direct knowledge of the call.
Mr. Whitaker, who had privately told associates that part of his role at the Justice Department was to “jump on a grenade” for the president, knew he could not put Mr. Berman in charge, since Mr. Berman had already recused himself from the investigation. The president soon soured on Mr. Whitaker, as he often does with his aides, and complained about his inability to pull levers at the Justice Department that could make the president’s many legal problems go away.
Trying to install a perceived loyalist atop a widening inquiry is a familiar tactic for Mr. Trump, who has been struggling to beat back the investigations that have consumed his presidency. His efforts have exposed him to accusations of obstruction of justice as Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, finishes his work investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Mr. Trump’s public war on the inquiry has gone on long enough that it is no longer shocking. Mr. Trump rages almost daily to his 58 million Twitter followers that Mr. Mueller is on a “witch hunt” and has adopted the language of Mafia bosses by calling those who cooperate with the special counsel “rats.” His lawyer talks openly about a strategy to smear and discredit the special counsel investigation. The president’s allies in Congress and the conservative media warn of an insidious plot inside the Justice Department and the F.B.I. to subvert a democratically elected president.
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An examination by The New York Times reveals the extent of an even more sustained, more secretive assault by Mr. Trump on the machinery of federal law enforcement. Interviews with dozens of current and former government officials and others close to Mr. Trump, as well as a review of confidential White House documents, reveal numerous unreported episodes in a two-year drama.
Matthew G. Whitaker, the former acting attorney general, is now under scrutiny by the House for possible perjury.CreditTom Brenner for The New York Times
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Newsweek.
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