'Category 5 hurricane': White House under siege by Trump Jr.'s Russia revelations

[DonViejo]

Source: The Washington Post




By Philip Rucker and Ashley Parker July 11 at 9:41 PM

The White House has been thrust into chaos after days of ever-worsening revelations about a meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a lawyer characterized as representing the Russian government, as the president fumes against his enemies and senior aides circle each other with suspicion, according to top White House officials and outside advisers.

President Trump — who has been hidden from public view since returning last weekend from a divisive international summit — is enraged that the Russia cloud still hangs over his presidency and is exasperated that his eldest son and namesake has become engulfed by it, said people who have spoken with him this week.

The disclosure that Trump Jr. met with a Russian attorney, believing he would receive incriminating information about Hillary Clinton as part of the Kremlin’s effort to boost his father’s candidacy, has set back the administration’s faltering agenda and rattled the senior leadership team.

Even supporters of Trump Jr. who believe he faces no legal repercussions privately acknowledged Tuesday that the story is a public relations disaster — for him as well as for the White House. One outside ally called it a “Category 5 hurricane,” while an outside adviser said a CNN graphic charting connections between the Trump team and Russians resembled the plot of the fictional Netflix series “House of Cards.”




Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/category-5-hurricane-white-house-under-siege-by-trump-jrs-russia-revelations/2017/07/11/1e091478-664d-11e7-8eb5-cbccc2e7bfbf_story.html

[mobeau69]

1. Junior threw j-rod under the bus.

Then he goes on hannity and starts lying again.

This is bad and the only good thing is it's going to get a lot worse. How sweet it is.

[Perseus]

2. Will Trump throw Jr under the bus?

I am just wondering how much help will Jr have from his father if things get rough for him. One thing he can do is pardon him, that is if daddy is still in the WH.

[Eyeball_Kid]

14. Any legal opinion? Can't pardon anyone for crimes committed before the Prez takes office. Eh?

Junior's documented bad behavior occurred in June, 2016.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

18. Ford pardoned Nixon. nt

[Kaleva]

19. Acceptance of a pardon is an admission of guilt

Don Jr. couldn't then plead the 5th in any further investigation and would have to talk or face jail time.

[Locrian]

22. more like under the boat....

Jr's nickname in the wh is Frado after all

[CrispyQ]

3. It could be Shakespearean by the time it all plays out.

[Generic Brad]

4. One of the tragedies? Or one of the comedies?

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

[GulfCoast66]

6. I pulling for a MacBeth ending

Metaphorically of course.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

10. King Lear. . . . nt

[cab67]

5. This is almost Monty Pythonesque.

It's straight-up absurdism.

[gordianot]

11. "Absurdism" a great description for a comedic tragedy until some loses their life.

And it did not happen with just this election it has been decades in the making.

[Doitnow]

7. Mobsters stick together ----until they don't!! It's coming.

[bucolic_frolic]

8. I don't see how this one goes away

It's high-level, it involves a family member, it's almost inconceivable the candidate didn't know
especially with all the tweets and revelations over the months, the Special Prosecutor is investigating.

They might ride it out for awhile, but really, the longer it plays the worse it gets. It will keep resurfacing.

[C Moon]

9. It will be entertaining to see what they are drumming up.

[kairos12]

12. More like House of Czars.

[Gothmog]

13. This qualifies as treason

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. Kick (nt)

[wishstar]

16. They can't blame this on "fake news" anymore or illegal leakers when info came from themselves

Seems that Manafort provided info on this meeting to Senate and FBI and Kushner turned over info to his lawyers and FBI about this meeting. Seems this story was exposed because they and their lawyers shared info plus Trump's own WH advisors proved details to NY Times.

[duncang]

17. Who originally leaked the email?

Last edited Wed Jul 12, 2017, 05:36 AM - Edit history (1)

There were only 4 people on the list. (Unless a bcc) The article said it came from the WH. And that leaves jared. So was it jared, his lawyers, or ivanka? Good way to get daddy to drop donnie jr. off the will.

Just saw it sounds like jared's lawyers may have sent it out. They had been looking through jared's old emails.

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. Article speculating on who and why - Jared or his lawyers seem most likely

---snip---

The Vipers and the Derp

...
What I’m lead to understand is that he might think that putting Don Jr in the spotlight, at the center of the story, would in some way help him, push him into the background and thus take pressure off him. Does that make any sense? Not really. But remember, Kushner thought firing James Comey was a good idea. With Kushner, Don Jr and the rest of these guys, I have a persistent sense that they don’t quite grasp the seriousness of the situation they’re in. This is not like a media war in New York City where you can land a blow by placing a nasty story in The New York Post or bludgeon your enemies by buying your own paper. Big, sprawling criminal investigations of this sort rumble on in perfect indifference to whether or not you won the morning or killed it in ten different news cycles.

This brings us to the third passage where we learn that President Trump is losing faith with his longtime lawyer Marc Kasowitz and that Kasowitz, frustrated with the President, may resign. (As the President finds himself unable to escape his own actions there’s always a new person who is at fault.)

"...
The president’s lawyers view Mr. Kushner as an obstacle and a freelancer more concerned about protecting himself than his father-in-law, the person said. While no ultimatum has been delivered, the lawyers have told colleagues that they cannot keep operating that way, raising the prospect that Mr. Kasowitz may resign."
...
Part of this would be simply to get Kushner away from the President. After all, before the last few days focus on Don Jr., Kushner was the guy. He had had meetings with various Russia probe players, reportedly tried to get Russian secure communications devices to have secure communications with people in Russia, perhaps hit up a Russia state banker for a multi-hundred-million dollar loan to save his family business. Kushner is by any reasonable measure radioactive. Having him in the White House, with a security clearance and his hand in every decision endangers everyone. Any lawyer or capable political advisor would try to separate the President from that danger.

But there’s another part of it as well. Kasowitz and at least some other Kushner foes seem to have believed that if Kushner could be pushed out the President could finally be freed from the Russia albatross. Imagine it this way. They put the life boat into the water, make Jared get inside, hand him the Russia scandal and then push him off into the open sea.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-vipers-and-the-derp
---snip---

[DesertRat]

21. I'm grateful to the journalists working on this story

But I worry for their safety. This is dangerous business.

[alterfurz]

23. "This is like House of Cards while Yakety Sax is playing in the background." -- reddit