We are now in Nixonian territory.

President Donald Trump asked the FBI director, James B. Comey, to shut down the federal investigation into Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, in an Oval Office meeting in February, according to a memo that Comey wrote shortly after the meeting.

And this from SF Gate:

Comey wrote the memo detailing his conversation with the president immediately after the meeting, which took place the day after Flynn resigned, according to two people who read the memo. The memo was part of a paper trail Comey created documenting what he perceived as the president’s improper efforts to influence an ongoing investigation. An FBI agent’s contemporaneous notes are widely held up in court as credible evidence of conversations.

Is it any surprise that a narcissistic , impulsive businessman who repeatedly used bankruptcy to get out of self-created disasters is having a hard time running the country? 

NY TImes reports:

The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, called on Mr. Trump to operate with “less drama” on Tuesday.

In his comments to reporters on Monday, Senator Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican close to some in the White House, was explicit about the situation.

“Obviously they’re in a downward spiral right now,” he said, “and they’ve got to figure out a way to come to grips with all that’s happening.”

Look at how Trump ran his campaign and now try scaling that to run a country. This is part of why I supported Obama in 2008- he showed the ability to be an executive in how he ran his campaign. Clinton and McCain both ran disastrous campaigns but nothing like the carnival that was Trump in 2016. Government by chaos and tweet until Trump is no longer in office.

Trump allegedly shared classified information about Islamic State with the Russian diplomats who visited the White House last week (and brought along their own photographer) according to SF Gate.

The White House has pushed back against those reports, but has not denied that classified information was disclosed in the May 10 meeting between Trump and Russian diplomats. The Kremlin dismissed the reports as “complete nonsense.”

“She would get off the air, the camera would be turned off, the microphone would be taken off, and she would say ‘Blech, I need to take a shower,’ because she disliked her candidate so much,” Ms. Brzezinski said of Ms. Conway in the NY Times.

The story was that Trump fired Comey because of a written report from Deputy Attorney General Rosensteim. Trumps account in the LA Times contradicts that:

“I was going to fire regardless of recommendation,” Trump said Thursday, repeating his intention a moment later.

Over the last two days, White House officials repeatedly had said Trump did not decide to sack Comey until after he met with Sessions and Rosenstein in the Oval Office on Monday.

There wasn’t room in the Oval Office for US photographers to capture Trump’s meeting with Russian diplomats…but thankfully a Russian photographer was allowed. According to the Washington Post, there was a bit more to the photographer:

“We were not informed by the Russians that their official photographer was dual-hatted and would be releasing the photographs on the state news agency,” the administration official said.

As a result, White House officials said they were surprised to see photos posted online showing Trump not only with Lavrov but also smiling and shaking hands with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

You’d think there’d be a much higher level of trust and cooperation between Trump and the Russians. And there was also this tidbit:

The officials cited the danger that a listening device or other surveillance equipment could have been brought into the Oval Office while hidden in cameras or other electronics. Former U.S. intelligence officials raised questions after photos of Trump’s meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were posted online by the Tass news agency.

House Republicans are struggling to explain their vote to dismantle Obamacare. You’d think it would be easy with savvy politicians such as this guy: “Rep. Raúl Labrador (R-Idaho) told frustrated constituents on Monday that “nobody dies because they don’t have access to health care”. My neighboring Congressman is trying to justify it in the Politico article: 

Rep. Jeff Denham of California, one of 23 Republicans representing a district won by Hillary Clinton last year, told constituents that the legislation, which was approved without a single Democratic vote, passed after a “bipartisan” process.

Nice work boys.

Trump is unhappy with the reaction to his erratic, bizarre decisions…..so it must be his Press Secretary’s fault. Considering all of the crazy he has had to try and justify, Spicee should be getting a freaking medal. But according to Politico, Trump is looking for his replacement. This Administration will continue to churn through people at a record setting pace. And this takes place while Spicer is on Navy Reserve duty- you can always count on Trump to keep it classy.

According to  the Washington Post:

After Spicer spent several minutes hidden in the bushes behind these sets, Janet Montesi, an executive assistant in the press office, emerged and told reporters that Spicer would answer some questions, as long as he was not filmed doing so. Spicer then emerged.

“Just turn the lights off. Turn the lights off,” he ordered. “We’ll take care of this. … Can you just turn that light off? Continue reading →

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tells us not to worry our pretty little heads about the need for a Special Prosecutor because:

Installing a special prosecutor to take over the FBI’s probe of whether Trump campaign figures were working with Russian interests before the election would “only serve to impede the current work being done” by the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is conducting an investigation, McConnell said.

Also in the  SFgate article was a quote from Dianne Feinstein:

“I can’t go into the specifics, but you and I know that it was rather comprehensive for this kind of briefing. The FBI director was precise and he presented us with substantial information. It was clear the FBI was taking its job seriously and that a substantial investigation was under way.”