Trump Timeline ... Trumpocalypse

[Michael Scally MD]

MANCHESTER, N.H. — President Trump has decided to hire the longtime Washington lawyer Joseph E. diGenova, who has pushed the theory on television that Mr. Trump was framed by F.B.I. and Justice Department officials, to bolster his legal team, according to three people told of the decision.

Mr. diGenova is not expected to take a lead role but will instead serve as a more aggressive player on the president’s legal team. Mr. Trump broke over the weekend from the longstanding advice of some of his lawyers that he refrain from directly attacking the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, a sign of his growing unease with the investigation.

The hire has not been announced, and Mr. Trump frequently changes his mind and sometimes adjusts his plans based on media coverage. It was not clear whether Mr. Trump planned to hire other lawyers.

Mr. diGenova has endorsed the notion that a secretive group of F.B.I. agents concocted the Russia investigation as a way to keep Mr. Trump from becoming president. “There was a brazen plot to illegally exonerate Hillary Clinton and, if she didn’t win the election, to then frame Donald Trump with a falsely created crime,” he said on Fox News in January. He added, “Make no mistake about it: A group of F.B.I. and D.O.J. people were trying to frame Donald Trump of a falsely created crime.”

 

[Michael Scally MD]

MANCHESTER, N.H. — President Trump has decided to hire the longtime Washington lawyer Joseph E. diGenova, who has pushed the theory on television that Mr. Trump was framed by F.B.I. and Justice Department officials, to bolster his legal team, according to three people told of the decision.

Mr. diGenova is not expected to take a lead role but will instead serve as a more aggressive player on the president’s legal team. Mr. Trump broke over the weekend from the longstanding advice of some of his lawyers that he refrain from directly attacking the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, a sign of his growing unease with the investigation.

The hire has not been announced, and Mr. Trump frequently changes his mind and sometimes adjusts his plans based on media coverage. It was not clear whether Mr. Trump planned to hire other lawyers.

Mr. diGenova has endorsed the notion that a secretive group of F.B.I. agents concocted the Russia investigation as a way to keep Mr. Trump from becoming president. “There was a brazen plot to illegally exonerate Hillary Clinton and, if she didn’t win the election, to then frame Donald Trump with a falsely created crime,” he said on Fox News in January. He added, “Make no mistake about it: A group of F.B.I. and D.O.J. people were trying to frame Donald Trump of a falsely created crime.”

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

President Trump's lack of comment regarding the Austin bombings has not gone unnoticed.

Austin authorities determined Monday that they are dealing with a “serial bomber” terrorizing the city after a Sunday night explosion had “similarities” with the https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/03/13/austin-police-search-for-bombing-motive-say-explosives-made-with-skill-and-sophistication/?utm_term=.0a8627497297 (three bombs that detonated) in the Texas capital this month.

The Washington Post previously https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/03/18/two-injured-in-explosion-in-austin-police-say/?utm_term=.c74884e3032a (reported):

The explosive device Sunday adds to the uncertainty and tension in Austin, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/03/14/who-did-this-and-why-austin-remains-tense-after-deadly-bombings-as-police-look-for-answers/ (which has been on edge) since previous bombings killed two people and injured two others, one seriously. Authorities have seemed at a loss to explain who could be setting off these devices or why, saying only that https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/03/13/austin-police-search-for-bombing-motive-say-explosives-made-with-skill-and-sophistication/?utm_term=.0a8627497297 (the bombs were sophisticated) and that the attacks could have been motivated by racial bias, although they acknowledged that this is only a theory.

The first victims have been black and Latino in east Austin's historically black and Latino neighborhoods. Two of the black men come from prominent families in Austin's black community, leading some activists to dismiss that the bombings could be coincidental.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Since even before Donald Trump was elected, I was warning that he was a dangerous authoritarian who would subvert our democracy given the opportunity — warnings that were greeted with accusations of hyperbole, pessimism, the abandonment of hope, alarmism, and mental illness.

But there can be no doubt, to anyone who is paying the slightest bit of attention, that Trump is indeed a dangerous authoritarian who is undermining our democratic institutions, systems, and norms as quickly as he can; showing undiluted contempt for the rule of law; and consolidating power, with the help of his irredeemably corrupt party.

Just since last Thursday:

• The Democrats on the House Oversight Committee sent a letter [pdf] to Chief of Staff John Kelly and Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan reporting that they have "obtained extremely disturbing new documents from a whistleblower indicating that high-level officials at the White House and State Department worked with a network of conservative activists to conduct a 'cleaning' of employees they believed were not sufficiently 'supportive' of [Donald] Trump's agenda." This sort of ideological purging of career bureaucrats is certainly unethical and may be illegal.
  
• The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) issued an alertbased on the joint analytic efforts of the DHS and the FBI, which details information "on Russian government actions targeting U.S. Government entities as well as organizations in the energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation, and critical manufacturing sectors. ...DHS and FBI characterize this activity as a multi-stage intrusion campaign by Russian government cyber actors who targeted small commercial facilities' networks where they staged malware, conducted spear phishing, and gained remote access into energy sector networks. After obtaining access, the Russian government cyber actors conducted network reconnaissance, moved laterally, and collected information pertaining to Industrial Control Systems (ICS)." A hostile intrusion to which the White House has made no response.
  
• Special Counsel Bob Mueller subpoenaed the Trump Organization "for records related to his investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election." Mueller, whose subpoena was delivered to the Trump Organization "in recent weeks," is reportedly seeking documents related to Russia, "bringing the special counsel's office closer to the president's financial dealings — an area he previously described as a 'red line' that Mueller should not cross."
  
• Trump nearly fired National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, hours after he https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/974459391310204928 (proposed) "serious political and economic consequences" for Russian aggression, including "atrocities" in Syria and the "abhorrent nerve agent attack" on Sergei Skripal — and in the same week Trump fired Rex Tillerson a day after saying Russia should face consequences over poisoning in UK. Instead, Trump backed off but is keeping McMaster "in a state of perpetual limbo about his future in the administration, aware that his unpredictable boss could keep him around indefinitely or terminate him at a moment's notice."
  
• Stormy Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti said during an interview on Morning Joe that his client has been "physically threatened." He also https://twitter.com/samstein/status/974480772735361024 (said) that "'six separate women with similar claims to my client' have approached him, two of whom have NDAs. He and the firm are still investigating their claims."
  
• Trump pressured Attorney General Jeff Sessions to fire FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe one day before McCabe was set to retire anyway, thus robbing him of his pension. The justification for firing McCabe was a Justice Department review which had supposedly found "McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor — including under oath — on multiple occasions," but in a blunt statement, McCabe said he was fired for testifying honestly to Congress about James Comey's firing, on which he, like Comey, has contemporaneous notes.
  
• Trump called the firing of McCabe "a great day for Democracy."
  
• Trump's personal lawyer, John Dowd, said on the record "that he hopes Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will shut down special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russia's election interference."
  
• Trump tweeted that Mueller's investigation never should have existed in the first place: "The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!"
  
• Trump sources announce he will continue to attack Mueller: "Multiple aides and Trump confidants tell The Daily Beast that they believe this will not be the last time the president goes after the Justice Department special counsel on his frenetic Twitter feed. ...The president, those close to him say, is determined to more directly confront the federal probe into his campaign's potential role in alleged Russian election interference, even if it means exacerbating his legal standing amid an investigation that has already ensnared some of his most senior campaign and White House aides."

All of this is very concerning, to put it mildly. And yet there is still a shocking lack of urgency among the nation's powerbrokers to even correctly identify what is happening, no less take the necessary steps to stop it.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

President Trump’s attorneys have provided the special counsel’s office with written descriptions that chronicle key moments under investigation in hopes of curtailing the scope of a presidential interview, according to two people familiar with the situation.

Trump’s legal team recently shared the documents in an effort to limit any session between the president and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III to a few select topics, the people said. The lawyers are worried that Trump, who has a penchant for making erroneous claims, would be vulnerable in an hours-long interview.

The decision to share materials with Mueller’s team is part of an effort by Trump’s lawyers to minimize his exposure to the special counsel, whom the president https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-rails-against-mueller-investigation-dismisses-mccabes-notes-as-fake-memos/2018/03/18/30e71546-2aaa-11e8-b0b0-f706877db618_story.html?utm_term=.797a28f19ac0 (recently attacked) in a series of tweets.

Trump has told aides he is “champing at the bit” to sit for an interview, according to one person. But his lawyers, who are carefully negotiating the terms of a sit-down, recognize the extraordinarily high stakes.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

It was just a little thing, a scratch, that he failed to treat and gangrene set in and it was killing him. They were on safari, in Africa, and their truck had broken down and the rescue plane was never going to make it in time. This is the way Harry died in Ernest Hemingway’s “The Snows of Kilimanjaro.” I reread it the other day because of President Trump. I think of him as Harry. Stormy Daniels is the scratch.

The saga of the adult-film star and the juvenile president has become a rollicking affair. Each step of the way, Daniels has out-Trumped Trump. She is as shameless as he, a publicity hound who adheres to the secular American religion that, to be famous, even for nothing much, is to be rich. By and large, that’s not true, but then there is Kim Kardashian to prove otherwise.

Daniels alleges she and Trump https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/porn-star-stormy-daniels-detailed-alleged-affair-with-trump-in-2011-interview/2018/01/19/8bdd1a50-fbb5-11e7-ad8c-ecbb62019393_story.html (had an affair) beginning in 2006. The president’s lawyer and his press secretary allege that the allegations are not true. The lawyer, Michael Cohen, does admit to paying Daniels $130,000, apparently to keep her silent about an affair that, according to Cohen, did not happen. To do this, Cohen set up a private Delaware company and concocted false names for everyone involved — the allegation-maker and the allegation-denier. Only the name Delaware is legit.

...

Sometime in the last month or two, it must have occurred to Trump that he is up against himself. Daniels is indefatigable. She appears everywhere. She makes statements, vows, rebuttals and allegations and is scheduled to appear this Sunday on “60 Minutes.” Trump must be shaking his head in admiration. He supposedly used to https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/donald-trump-alter-ego-barron/2016/05/12/02ac99ec-16fe-11e6-aa55-670cabef46e0_story.html (call in gossip items about himself) to New York reporters, employing a false name and false voice. He even exulted in publicity about his extramarital affair with Marla Maples, who was overheard by the New York Post alleging it was the “best sex I’ve ever had.”

...

In pre-Trump days, it might have been possible to destroy Daniels by calling her a slut or whatever. But Trump himself is a slut. He is a liar and a moral harlot who revels in irresponsibility and bad-boy behavior. He has no moral edge over his accuser. We have all been instructed by Trump himself to disregard schoolhouse virtues of honesty, dignity and rectitude. Trump himself travels light.

It was the little thing that killed Harry on safari. It was the unattended cut, the disabled truck, the tardy rescue plane. As he died, he dreamed of Kilimanjaro, “unbelievably white in the sun” but the hyena that had been stalking him made “a strange, human, almost crying sound,” and he knew what the hyena already knew. It is what Trump is learning.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

President Trump shook up his legal team Monday by hiring a combative former prosecutor who has publicly argued that Trump is the target of an elaborate FBI conspiracy — marking another confrontational move by the president against the rapidly mounting legal threats facing him and his administration.

Joe diGenova, a TV pundit and former U.S. attorney who was a longtime antagonist of Bill and Hillary Clinton, is the latest addition to the sprawling array of lawyers assembled to represent Trump on two main fronts: in the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and in the case of an adult film star who claims an adulterous affair.

The hiring caught many of his advisers by surprise, prompting fears that Trump is preparing for bigger changes to his legal team — including possible departures — as he goes on the offensive in the primary legal challenges facing him.

Trump is not consulting with top advisers, including Chief of Staff John F. Kelly and chief White House lawyer Donald McGahn, on his Russia legal choices or his comments about the probe, according to one person with knowledge of his actions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive conversations. He is instead watching television and calling friends, this person said.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]