BY PRIYANKA ARIBINDI, BRIAN BEUTLER
& CROOKED MEDIA

Thursday, April 12, 2018

—James Comey on Trump’s hand size

WHAT GOES AROUND COMEYS AROUND

Meet Lyin’ Comey dot com—the White House-approved, RNC-directed smear campaign against the former FBI director. Law and order! Comey’s tell-all book hits the shelves next week, and his first sit-down interview since his firing airs Sunday evening. Trump will probably be very conciliatory about the whole thing. “Water under the bridge,” his tweet will say.

Republicans want you to believe that since Democrats criticized Comey for his handling of the Clinton email investigation, they’re not allowed to cite anything he says about Trump now. It’s a bad-faith tactic meant to deflect attention away from Comey’s (presumably) explosive revelations. It also comes at a time when Trump is still weighing whether to breach the rule of law by firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and/or Special Counsel Robert Mueller. That would definitely deflect attention away from Comey’s book.

DEMOCRATS: REJECT MIKE POMPEO

Outgoing CIA Director, and Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, Mike Pompeo faced a Senate confirmation hearing today.

From Crooked contributor Ben Rhodes: Over the course of a short and volatile political career, Pompeo has advocated regime change in Iran and North Korea, peddled Benghazi conspiracy theories, and politicized intelligence as the director of the CIA. He comes before the Senate at an unusual moment, when his party’s majority has dwindled down to a one-vote margin, and his fate may in fact rest in the hands of the opposition. Senators from both parties should oppose his confirmation.

CNN reports that Pompeo may not get a favorable report from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, thanks to expected opposition from Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), and Rand Paul (R-KY). If this happens, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell could still bring the nomination to the Senate floor, but to be confirmed, Pompeo would need at least one Democratic senator to break ranks.

Make sure it isn’t yours! Call your Senators → (202) 224-3121

STOP IN THE NAME OF LOVE CHILD

The New Yorker reports that in 2015, American Media Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer, paid Trump Tower doorman Dino Sajudin $30,000 to kill a story alleging that Trump fathered an illegitimate child with an employee in the 1980s. Sajudin was reportedly made to sign a contract including a $1 million penalty if he spoke about the deal or the information.

This is NOT the first time AMI has been accused of using this tactic to help Trump. AMI’s chief executive, David Pecker, is a longtime friend of Trump’s, who has been accused of using payouts to kill damaging stories for Trump in the past.

This afternoon, Sajudin released a statement all but confirming the story: "I was instructed not to criticize President Trump's former housekeeper due to a prior relationship she had with President Trump which produced a child.”

SPRING IS FOR MUELLERS

Robert Mueller’s office and President Trump’s team are now devising their legal strategies under the assumption that Trump will not agree to an interview with the special counsel. Trump needs an excuse for reversing himself, so he’s saying it’s because he’s pissed that the FBI raided Michael Cohen’s home and office.  

NBC reports that Mueller is instead likely to present an obstruction of justice report to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein even sooner than he had planned. This report will supposedly address Trump’s firing of James Comey; his involvement in efforts to cover up the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between his campaign leadership and Russian spies; his efforts to squelch cooperation from implicated witnesses by dangling pardons before them; and his attempts to interfere with Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recusal. Like Peter Jackson and the Hobbit, the question is, how many reports will Mueller need to tell the story right?

It’s (still) Cohen down: Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen kept tapes of his conversations with associates, and Trump allies worry that those tapes may have been seized when the FBI raided his office this week. Stormy Daniels’ attorney also says that Cohen has threatened to plead the fifth in an anticipated criminal case against him. Lordy, eh @Comey?!

Blood and urine samples the U.S. obtained from Douma, Syria have tested positive for chemical weapons, including chlorine gas, as well as a nerve agent. The Trump administration is not yet providing specific information regarding a U.S. response.  

Trump has reportedly asked officials to look into rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership—a trade agreement he once referred to as “a rape of our country.” Last month, the 11 remaining countries in the TPP renegotiated the agreement without the United States. It’s almost as if he’s just winging it.

Republicans think Paul Ryan may be forced out as House speaker by summer, ahead of his retirement in January. It’s hard to type through the tears.

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Former EPA Deputy Chief of Staff Kevin Chmielewski, an ex-Trump campaign staffer, was placed on involuntary, unpaid leave after objecting to administrator Scott Pruitt’s exorbitant spending. Also: The Senate confirmed a former coal lobbyist as Pruitt’s second in command. Apparently the lesson Republicans have learned from Pruitt’s tenure is why bother pretending?

Remember when we told you that Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee might actually take a meaningful step to protect Robert Mueller? Well, don’t count your rule-of-law chickens just yet: “[Ranking member Dianne] Feinstein is worried that [chairman Chuck] Grassley is prepared to water down the bill with a surprise amendment, while Grassley says ‘it’s ridiculous’ for her to try and dictate the committee process from the minority.” Can’t you two just admit that you’re in love?

The Seattle Seahawks postponed Colin Kaepernick's opportunity to train with the team when he refused to stop kneeling during the national anthem next season.

Tons of people in Manhattan called 9-1-1 this morning to report spotting a tiger in the street. Turns out it was a “large raccoon,” which is worse.

On Pod Save the World: Tommy talks with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright about the rise of fascism around the world, and her concerns about how it’s being enabled (and emulated) by our own president.

Listen →

Today, the New Jersey Legislature passed automatic voter registration legislation, which Gov. Phil Murphy is expected to sign. This bill has advanced in New Jersey before—Chris Christie vetoed it in 2016, but now Murphy will have the chance to right that wrong.

For everyone keeping score at home, automatic voter registration is now law in Alaska, California, Colorado, Washington D.C., Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia, and will be on the ballot in Nevada in 2018.

Less than a week after Denver Post reporters used their own paper to publish an impassioned plea to their hedge fund owners to stop gutting the paper’s staff and resources, a civic group, Together For Colorado Springs, has begun assembling potential investors to buy the paper from Alden Global Capital. So far, they have pledged $10 million toward the effort. (Together for Colorado Springs is wholly owned by the Koch Brothers. Jk, jk.)

The Washington Post went behind the scenes of Marjory Stoneman Douglas’ school newspaper, documenting how the student journalists covered the tragedy they lived through, and the stories of the teachers and classmates they lost.

Watch + read →

Is Coke Zero okay?

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