For
all the drama of the televised confrontation in the Oval Office, the
odds are overwhelming that there won't be a government shutdown. The
plain fact is that neither party wants one.
So what happened
between Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer during those tense
17 minutes on Tuesday was more about political theater and
blame-shifting.
The amount of money — Trump wants $4 billion more
for his wall than the Democrats are willing to provide — is almost
negligible. And the House Democrats aren't going to budge when they take
over next month. What's at stake is the symbolism surrounding the
president's signature issue.
The media verdict is that Pelosi and
Schumer embarrassed Trump and boxed him into a damaging declaration: He
now owns any shutdown.
As The New York Times
put it, "The trick in Washington has always been to make sure a
government shutdown is pinned on the other guy. President Trump is the
first to ever pin one on himself."
With the Times saying Pelosi
and Schumer "essentially goaded" the president into saying he'd proudly
close the government for border security, The Washington Post
says the Democratic duo "called out Trump's falsehoods. They exposed
him as malleable about his promised border wall. They lectured him about
the legislative process and reiterated to him that he lacked the votes
to secure the $5 billion he seeks for the wall."
But there's another view, as these and other accounts acknowledged.
The
border wall, and the broader issue of illegal immigration, is immensely
important to Trump's core supporters. He wanted to send them an
unmistakable signal that he's fighting for them and understands their
concerns. And then, if he falls short, he can blame the Dems. Or, with
his recent comments that some of the wall is already being built, Trump
can try to cobble something together and claim victory.
The
incoming House speaker seized upon Trump's tactic of brutally personal
insults. Democratic allies leaked to reporters that Pelosi later told
party colleagues that she felt like she'd been in a "tinkle contest with
a skunk," adding: "It's a manhood thing for him. As if manhood could
ever be associated with him." So much for the high road.
What the
president may not have fully appreciated is that the party seen as
triggering a partial government shutdown always pays a stiff price. The
Republicans were hurt when they tried the tactic during the Clinton
years and again during the Obama administration. But when Democrats were
seen as precipitating a shutdown at the end of last year, they quickly
backed off and made a deal within hours.
When real people are hurt
— furloughs, delayed paychecks, national parks and monuments closed —
the underlying issues get lost in the backlash. Of course, that may not
be a factor if Trump doesn't really plan to take things past the brink.
I
think it's great to watch our leaders debating serious issues on TV.
Trump did that with lawmakers last year on gun control but never
followed through, leading to criticism it was all about the show.
But
let's face it, the process only goes so far. Pelosi and Schumer were
right when they told Trump that a deal needed to be made behind closed
doors. There's too much posturing, by everyone, when the cameras are on.
The
frenzy over the meeting will quickly fade unless there's actually a
Christmas-season shutdown. But the one clear loser was Mike Pence. The
media mockery of a stiff and stone-faced vice president may have been
unfair, but the images will stick to him like tarpaper.
California
Democrat Ted Lieu bemoaned on Wednesday that though he would “love to
be able to regulate the content of speech,” including that on Fox News,
he can’t do it because of the U.S. Constitution.
Lieu made the
comments during an interview about the testimony of Google CEO Sundar
Pichai at a House Judiciary Committee hearing, where he dismissed the
allegations that the tech giant amplifies negative stories about
Republican lawmakers, saying “if you want positive search results, do
positive things."
CNN host Brianna Keilar praised Lieu for his
performance but asked whether other Democrats should have used the
committee to press Google on conspiracy theories that spread on their
platforms.
“It's a very good point you make. I would love if I
could have more than five minutes to question witnesses. Unfortunately, I
don't get that opportunity,” Lieu said of the committee hearings.
“However,
I would love to be able to regulate the content of speech. The First
Amendment prevents me from doing so, and that's simply a function of the
First Amendment, but I think over the long run, it's better the
government does not regulate the content of speech,” he continued.
"I
would love to be able to regulate the content of speech. The First
Amendment prevents me from doing so, and that's simply a function of the
First Amendment, but I think over the long run, it's better the
government does not regulate the content of speech." — California Democrat Ted Lieu
Lieu added that private companies should self-regulate their platforms and said the government shouldn’t interfere.
After
his remarks aired, Lieu came under fire on social media, prompting him
to go on a Twitter spree to clarify his views, including that he would
like to regulate Fox News.
One Twitter user had accused him of being “a poster child for the tyranny.”
Lieu insisted that he’s actually defending the First Amendment rather than showing his desire to regulate speech.
“My
whole point is that government officials always want to regulate
speech, see e.g. the Republican Judiciary hearing alleging Google is
biased against Republicans,” he wrote in another tweet. “But thank
goodness the First Amendment prevents me, @POTUS and Republicans from
doing so.”
“I agree there are serious issues, but the speech
issues are protected by the First Amendment,” the Democrat added. “Would
I like to regulate Fox News? Yes, but I can't because the First
Amendment stops me. And that's ultimately a good thing in the long run.”
Lieu
has become somewhat a foe of President Trump following his election,
often taking to social media to throw jabs at the president.
He’s
among the Democrats who’s been flirting with the idea of impeaching
Trump over the perceived collusion between Russia and the campaign. He
also tried to kick-start earlier this year the impeachment process of
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. CA DEM: TRUMP 'TRULY AN EVIL MAN' WHO LIKELY VIOLATED HIS OATH OF OFFICE
Lieu
also raised eyebrows in summer after playing on House floor an audio
recording of the crying migrant children separated from their families
as part of the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance policy.”
Last year, Lieu was slammed for walking out of a moment of silence for victims of a mass shooting at a Texas church.
Rudy Giuliani, an attorney for President Donald Trump, speaks in Portsmouth, N.H. (Associated Press)
Rudy Giuliani, one of President Trump’s
lawyers, said Wednesday that the president’s legal team is focused on
encouraging special counsel Robert Mueller to end his Russia
investigation.
“Our strategy is … to do everything we can to try
to convince Mueller to wrap the damn thing up, and if he’s got anything,
show us,” Giuliani told Yahoo News
in a phone interview. “If he doesn’t have anything, you know, write
your report, tell us what you have, and we’ll deal with it. He can’t
prosecute him [Trump]. All he can do is write a report about him, so
write the g--damned thing and get it over with now.”
Giuliani said he believes there is no further reason to probe into Russian efforts to influence the election in Trump's favor.
“I’ve
seen their questions. There’s nothing to look at. They could look at
collusion for the next 30 years and, unless they get somebody to lie,
they’re not going to find any evidence of it because it didn’t happen,”
Giuliani said.
“I think he’s desperately trying to come up with
some smoke and mirrors so he can say there’s some form of collusion. I
don’t think he can do it,” Giuliani said of Mueller. “I saw a prosecutor
that was on a fishing expedition as opposed to somebody that has a
solid piece of evidence and wants to nail you with it. It’s like
something you’d do at a beginning of a case, not the end.”
“I
saw a prosecutor that was on a fishing expedition as opposed to
somebody that has a solid piece of evidence and wants to nail you with
it." — Rudy Giuliani, lawyer for President Trump
READ: MICHAEL COHEN SENTENCING MEMO FILED BY PROSECUTORS
He
suggested a crime could have taken place only if Trump was directly
involved in efforts by Russia to hack Democrats’ emails during the 2016
campaign. U.S. intelligence agencies have said the Kremlin orchestrated
hacking efforts to hurt Hillary Clinton and help Trump.
Giuliani’s
comments came hours after Trump’s former personal attorney Michael
Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison in relation to several
charges, including lying to Congress about a tower Trump sought to build
in Moscow, tax evasion and making payments to two women who claimed to
have had affairs with Trump.
“The president’s not a lawyer. The
simple fact is that it’s not a criminal violation of the campaign
finance law,” said Giuliani of the alleged payments.
During FBI raids, agents seized tapes made by Cohen of conversations with Trump and others.
“Cohen
is a completely dishonorable person. … I’ve never heard of a lawyer
that tape-recorded their client without the client’s permission, and
I’ve known some pretty scummy lawyers,” Giuliani said. “You don’t exist
very long in the legal profession if you go around taping your client.”
"I’ve
never heard of a lawyer that tape-recorded their client without the
client’s permission, and I’ve known some pretty scummy lawyers." — Rudy Giuliani, lawyer for President Trump
He
also chimed in on Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman who
agreed to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation, though Manafort was
accused by Mueller last month of violating the terms of the agreement by
lying about contacts he had with the Trump administration. MUELLER FILING: MANAFORT LIED ABOUT CONTACTS WITH TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS
“In
Manafort’s case, they really should give up at this point. I mean, how
much do you want to do to the guy? Do you want to waterboard him? I
mean, come on, you have him in solitary confinement," Giuliani said.
"They take him out every other day. He knows exactly what he has to say
to get out, but he says, you know, ‘I’m not going to say it because it’s
not true.’ Gee, is it possible maybe he’s right — it isn’t true?”
One day after former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's legal team made the bombshell allegation that the FBI had pushed him not to bring a lawyer
to his fateful Jan. 24, 2017 interview with agents at the White House,
the federal judge overseeing Flynn's criminal case late Wednesday
ordered Special Counsel Robert Mueller to turn over all of the
government's documents and "memoranda" related to the questioning.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan -- who overturned the 2008 conviction
of former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens after government misconduct came to
light -- is weighing how to sentence Flynn, who pleaded guilty to one
count of lying to federal authorities in the Russia probe during that
interview in the West Wing. Flynn faced mounting legal bills that forced him to sell his home amid the prosecution, and Mueller has already recommended he receive no prison time.
Sullivan's
extraordinary demand puts Mueller under the microscope and sets a 3:00
p.m. EST Friday deadline for the special counsel's office to turn over
the sensitive FBI documents. Sullivan's brief order states that Mueller
can choose to file the materials under seal.
Sullivan also ordered
the Flynn team to turn over the documents backing up its assertions.
The judge could determine why the FBI apparently took a significantly
more aggressive tack in handling the Flynn interview than it did during
other similar matters, including the agency's sit-downs with Hillary
Clinton and ex-Trump adviser George Papadopoulos.
Flynn is set to
be sentenced next Tuesday -- but Sullivan's move might delay that date,
or lead to other dramatic and unexpected changes in the case. Sullivan
even has the authority to toss Flynn's guilty plea and the charge
against him if he concludes that the FBI interfered with Flynn's
constitutional right to counsel, although he has given no indications
that he intends to do so.
Federal authorities undertaking a
national security probe are ordinarily under no obligation to
inform interviewees of their right to an attorney unless they are in
custody, as long as agents do not act coercively. Flynn's lawyers
claimed in Tuesday's filing that FBI brass had threatened to escalate
the matter to involve the Justice Department if Flynn sought the advice
of the White House Counsel before talking with agents.
Sullivan,
first appointed a judge by President Ronald Reagan in 1984 and then to
the D.C. federal bench by Bill Clinton in 1994, could also assess why
the two FBI agents who interviewed Flynn -- including fired anti-Trump
agent Peter Strzok -- would have provided an Aug. 22, 2017 date on their
so-called "302" report documenting what Flynn told them during their
conversation at the White House.
The August date on the FBI
302 cited by the Flynn team is nearly seven months after the Flynn
interview took place, and about a week after reports surfaced that
Strzok had been summarily removed from Mueller's Russia probe because
his persistent anti-Trump communications had surfaced.
So-called 302
reports are ostensibly contemporaneous accounts by agents of what is
said during their interviews with witnesses and subjects, as well as
other critical details like interviewees' demeanor and descriptions of
where the interview took place. They are often critical pieces of
evidence in false statements cases where, as in the Flynn case, the FBI
typically does not audio- or video-record interviews. FEDERAL JUDGE 'SHOCKED' AND 'DUMBFOUNDED' BY FBI ACTIONS IN HILLARY PROBE, SAYS STATE DEPT LIED TO COVER FOR CLINTONS
In
June, Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C, charged that the
FBI may have "edited and changed" key witness reports in the Hillary
Clinton and Russia investigations. Meadows also raised the possibility
that the FBI misled the Department of Justice watchdog in an attempt to
hide the identities of FBI employees who were caught sending anti-Trump
messages along with Strzok.
In this image made from a video taken on Dec. 10, 2015 and made
available on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2017, US President Donald Trump's former
National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, right, shakes hands with
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Moscow.
(The Associated Press)
Flynn "clearly saw the FBI agents as allies," according to the 302 prepared by Strzok and another agent.
In a lengthy court filing
Tuesday, Flynn's attorneys alleged that then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew
McCabe pushed Flynn not to have an attorney present during the
questioning that ultimately led to his guilty plea on a single charge of
lying to federal authorities.
The document outlines, with
striking new details, the rapid sequence of events that led to Flynn's
sudden fall from the Trump administration.
While Flynn is among
several Trump associates to have been charged with making false
statements as part of the Russia probe, no one interviewed during the
FBI’s Clinton email investigation was hit with false statement charges –
though investigators believed some witnesses, including Clinton
herself, were untruthful. FALSE STATEMENT CHARGES ABOUND IN MUELLER PROBE, IN CONTRAST TO CLINTON CASE
According
to Flynn's legal team, FBI agents in his case deliberately did not
instruct Flynn that any false statements he made could constitute a
crime, and decided not to "confront" him directly about anything he said
that contradicted their knowledge of his wiretapped communications with
former Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
If “Flynn said he did
not remember something they knew he said, they would use the exact words
Flynn used, ... to try to refresh his recollection," FBI agents wrote
in the 302 report cited by the filing, which Sullivan has ordered both
the Flynn team and the FBI to produce by Friday. "If Flynn still would
not confirm what he said, ... they would not confront him or talk him
through it.”
According to the 302 as described in the filing,
Flynn was “relaxed and jocular” as he gave the agents a "little tour" of
his West Wing office.
McCabe -- who was fired earlier this
year for making unauthorized media leaks and violating FBI policy --
wrote in a memorandum that shortly after noon on Jan. 24, 2017, he
called Flynn on his secure line at the White House, and the two briefly
discussed an unrelated FBI training session at the White House. Quickly,
the conversation turned to a potential interview, according to an
account provided by McCabe cited in the Tuesday filing.
McCabe reportedly testified later that the agents, after speaking with Flynn, “didn’t think he was lying" at the time. HOW THE FBI MADE INCORRECT ASSURANCES TO THE FISA COURT TO OBTAIN A SECRET WARRANT TO SURVEIL TRUMP AIDE CARTER PAGE
In
his order, Sullivan requested Mueller turn over not only the Flynn 302,
but also a memo written by McCabe and any similar documents in the
FBI's possession. Sullivan similarly demanded that Flynn's lawyers
produce the McCabe memorandum and 302 they used to make their
assertions.
Mueller has signaled he is wrapping up his probe into the Trump
campaign's communications with Russians. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak,
File)
(Separately, Sullivan ruled last month that Clinton
must answer more questions under oath about her use of a private email
server to store classified documents. But the hard-charging judge has
not been easy on the Trump administration: In August, he threatened to
hold then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions in contempt of court when he
learned that authorities were in the process of deporting a woman and
her child while a court heard her legal appeal, calling immigration
officials' actions "pretty outrageous.") JEROME CORSI: MUELLER WANTED ME TO LIE
McCabe
purportedly said in the memo that he told Flynn he “felt that we needed
to have two of our agents sit down” to discuss his contacts with
Russian officials.
“I explained that I thought the quickest way to
get this done was to have a conversation between [Flynn] and the agents
only," McCabe wrote, according to the Flynn filing. "I further stated
that if LTG Flynn wished to include anyone else in the meeting, like the
White House Counsel for instance, that I would need to involve the
Department of Justice. [General Flynn] stated that this would not be
necessary and agreed to meet with the agents without any additional
participants."
Former FBI Lawyer Lisa Page and fired FBI Special Agent Peter
Strzok exchanged anti-Trump text messages during their time at the
bureau.
(AP, File)
Explaining why Flynn was not
warned about the possible consequences of making false statements, one
of the agents wrote in the 302 cited by Flynn's lawyers that FBI brass
had "decided the agents would not warn Flynn that it was a crime to lie
during an FBI interview because they wanted Flynn to be relaxed, and
they were concerned that giving the warnings might adversely affect the
rapport." FBI OFFICIALS IMPROPERLY RECEIVED SPORTS TICKETS FROM REPORTERS, DOJ WATCHDOG FINDS
The
tactics were apparently in sharp contrast to the FBI's approach to
interviewing former Trump aide George Papadopoulos, who also pleaded
guilty to making false statements and was recently released from prison.
In a court filing last year, Special Counsel Mueller's team took pains
to note that FBI agents who interviewed Papadopoulos on Jan. 27, 2017 --
just days after the Flynn interview -- had advised Papadopoulos that
"lying to them 'is a federal offense'" and that he could get "in
trouble" if he did not tell the truth.
The revelations in the
court filing, if accurate, would also sharply differ from the FBI's
handling of its interview with then-presidential candidate Clinton in
2016, during the height of the presidential campaign. Clinton brought a
total of nine lawyers to her interview -- a number that fired FBI
Director James Comey said was "unusual ... but not unprecedented" in
House testimony in September.
A scathing report released earlier this year by
the Department of Justice's inspector general (IG) found that the FBI
had taken actions "inconsistent with typical investigative strategy" by
allowing former Clinton chief of staff Cheryl Mills and ex-campaign
staffer Heather Samuelson to sit in on the Clinton interview -- even
though "they had also both served as lawyers for Clinton after they left
the State Department." FLYNN HAS PROVIDED 'SUBSTANTIAL ASSISTANCE' ON CRIMINAL PROBE, MUELLER WRITES
In
fact, the IG wrote, FBI officials fretted about how many FBI
representatives should be at the interview, for fear of prejudicing
Clinton against the agency if, as expected, she went on to become
president.
“[S]he might be our next president," FBI attorney Lisa
Page wrote, in urging that the number of people at the interview be
limited to four or six. "The last thing you need us going in there
loaded for bear. You think she’s going to remember or care that it was
more doj than fbi?”
The IG report further noted: “Witnesses told
us, and contemporaneous emails show, that the FBI and Department
officials who attended Clinton’s interview found that her claim that she
did not understand the significance of the ‘(C)’ marking strained
credulity. (FBI) Agent 1 stated, ‘I filed that in the bucket of hard to
impossible to believe.’" FBI MAY HAVE MODIFIED 302 REPORTS AFTER-THE-FACT, GOP REP SAYS
Strzok,
who was one of the two agents who interviewed Flynn and who was later
also fired for violating FBI policies, had compromised the FBI's
appearance of impartiality by sending a slew of anti-Trump texts on his
government-issued phone, the IG concluded.
“In particular, we were
concerned about text messages exchanged by FBI Deputy Assistant
Director Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, Special Counsel to the Deputy
Director, that potentially indicated or created the appearance that
investigative decisions were impacted by bias or improper
considerations,” the IG report said.
In one of those texts, Strzok
wrote to Page in 2016 that Trump would not become president because
"we'll stop" it from happening. SEVEN BOMBSHELL REVELATIONS IN SCATHING IG REPORT INTO FBI, DOJ MISCONDUCT DURING CLINTON, RUSSIA PROBES
"Even
when circumstances later came to light that prompted extensive public
debate about the investigation of General Flynn, including revelations
that certain FBI officials involved in the January 24 interview of
General Flynn were themselves being investigated for misconduct, General
Flynn did not back away from accepting responsibility for his actions,"
Flynn's lawyers wrote in the filing Tuesday.
FILE - In this Jan. 28, 2017 file photo, President Donald Trump
accompanied by, from second from left, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus,
Vice President Mike Pence, White House press secretary Sean Spicer and
then-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn speaks on the phone with
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in the Oval Office at the White House
in Washington.
(The Associated Press)
Flynn was fired as
national security adviser in February 2017 for misleading Vice
President Mike Pence and other White House officials about his contacts
with Russian officials. In arguing that Flynn should receive no more
than a year of probation and 200 hours of community service for making
false statements to federal investigators, his lawyers Tuesday
emphasized his service in the U.S. Army and lack of criminal record.
In
a sentencing memo earlier this month, Mueller recommended a lenient
sentence -- with the possibility of no prison time -- for Flynn, stating
he has offered "substantial" help to investigators about "several
ongoing investigations."
Meanwhile, Comey revealed in closed-door
testimony with House Republicans on Friday that he deliberately
concealed an explosive memorandum about his one-on-one Oval Office
meeting with President Trump in February 2017 from top Department of
Justice officials.
The former FBI head also acknowledged that when
the agency initiated its counterintelligence probe into possible
collusion between Trump campaign officials and the Russian government in
July 2016, investigators "didn't know whether we had anything" and that
"in fact, when I was fired as director [in May 2017], I still didn't
know whether there was anything to it."
His remarks square with
testimony this summer from former FBI lawyer Page, whose anti-Trump
texts became a focus of House GOP oversight efforts. Page told
Congress in a closed-door deposition that "even as far as May 2017" --
more than nine months after the counterintelligence probe commenced
-- "we still couldn't answer the question" as to whether Trump staff had
improperly colluded with Russia.
In this image made from a video taken on Dec. 10, 2015 and made
available on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2017, US President Donald Trump's former
National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, right, shakes hands with
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Moscow.
(The Associated Press)
Mueller has signaled he is wrapping up his probe into the Trump
campaign's communications with Russians. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak,
File)
Former FBI Lawyer Lisa Page and fired FBI Special Agent Peter
Strzok exchanged anti-Trump text messages during their time at the
bureau.
(AP, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 28, 2017 file photo, President Donald Trump
accompanied by, from second from left, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus,
Vice President Mike Pence, White House press secretary Sean Spicer and
then-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn speaks on the phone with
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in the Oval Office at the White House
in Washington.
(The Associated Press)
