White House in crisis

[Rewind]

Donald Trump calls Fire & Fury "phony" and "full of lies." Author Michael Wolff possesses detailed notes and audio recordings and stands by everything he wrote, saying, "My credibility is being questioned by a man who has less credibility than perhaps anyone who has ever walked on earth." This drama is more entertaining than any movie or tv show!

Michael Wolff on Trump's legal response: 'He's proving the point of the book'

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...desist-1071820

[Rewind]

The Tweeter-In-Chief took to Twitter today -- so what else is new? -- to continue his attacks on the Michael Wolff book and to make another dig against "Crooked Hillary."

Trump insists he is 'a very stable genius' and 'like, really smart'

http://www.fortune.com/2018/01/06/do...stable-genius/

[Rewind]

Facing impeachment for his involvement in, and attempted cover-up of, the Watergate break-in, Richard Nixon resigned the Presidency August 9, 1974. The impeachment charge was "obstruction of justice." Donald Trump could be facing impeachment for the same reason.

Mueller calls back at least one participant in key meeting with Russians at Trump Tower
Los Angeles Times, Jan 6 2018 3:00 AM

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has recalled for questioning at least one participant in a controversial meeting with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer at Trump Tower in June 2016, and is looking into President Trump’s misleading claim that the discussion focused on adoption, rather than an offer to provide damaging information about Hillary Clinton. Some defense lawyers involved in the case view Mueller’s latest push as a sign that investigators are focusing on possible obstruction of justice by Trump and several of his closest advisors for their statements about the politically sensitive meeting, rather than for collusion with the Russians.

Investigators also are exploring the involvement of the president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, who did not attend the half-hour sit-down on June 9, 2016, but briefly spoke with two of the participants, a Russian lawyer and a Russian-born Washington lobbyist. Details of the encounter were not previously known.

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-n...106-story.html

[Rewind]

My prediction: Every Democrat will read the book and every Republican will refuse to read it.

Democratic mega-donor and billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer bought a copy of Fire & Fury for every member of Congress

http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/06/politi...ess/index.html

[Rewind]

Although staffers in the West Wing are not openly questioning Trump's mental stability, Michael Wolff says they have been discussing the 25th Amendment, which provides for the removal of an unfit President. Author and investigative journalist Carl Bernstein spoke with CNN's Brian Stelter regarding what he calls a "Constitutional crisis" and Trump's unfitness. Here is the video:

http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2...ess-sot-rs.cnn

[Rewind]

Trump's lawyers are already trying to negotiate the terms and possible limitations of such an interview. To update an old saying, you can lead Trump to Mueller but unfortunately you can't make him tell the truth.

Robert Mueller indicates he will seek to interview Trump

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politi...54d_story.html

[Rewind]

Four of the five commissioners are Republicans. One is a Democrat. All are Trump appointees. And all five rejected Trump's plan to strengthen the coal industry. Unlike the President, they know this is 2018 and not 1840.

In a surprising blow, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejects Trump's bid to boost coal, nuclear power

http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/m...109-story.html

[Rewind]

We keep learning more and more about Trump-Russia connections. I wonder how this story will end: a charge of collusion, a charge of obstruction of justice -- or both.

Senator Dianne Feinstein releases transcript of interview with dossier firm
New York Times, Jan 9 2018

Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, today unilaterally released a highly anticipated transcript of the committee’s interview with one of the founders of the firm that produced a salacious and unsubstantiated dossier outlining a Russian effort to aid the Trump campaign. The interview, with Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS, took place last summer and is expected to shed light on the origins of the firm’s work, its concerns about the Trump campaign’s activities and what the FBI may have done with the information.

"The American people deserve the opportunity to see what he said and judge for themselves," Feinstein said. "The innuendo and misinformation circulating about the transcript are part of a deeply troubling effort to undermine the investigation into potential collusion and obstruction of justice. The only way to set the record straight is to make the transcript public."

Simpson and Peter Fritsch, the firm’s co-founders, had called for the transcript’s release last week in an op-ed in The New York Times in which they accused Republicans of concealing their testimony in an effort to smear the dossier and distract from questions about the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/09/u...ranscript.html

[Rewind]

Today, Trump again denied colluding with Russia and he again parroted his tiresome mantras of "Fake news!" and "Witch hunt!" and "Democratic hoax!" The facts show otherwise.

FBI knew of possible Trump-Russia collusion, according to Glenn Simpson’s Senate testimony
NBC News, Jan 10 2018 7:11 AM

By the time the FBI sat down in September 2016 for a full interview with the ex-British spy who had been researching Donald Trump’s Russia connections, the bureau had already received information raising concerns about possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, according to a transcript made public Tuesday. Glenn Simpson, a former newspaper reporter and the founder of research firm Fusion GPS, spoke to the Senate Judiciary Committee for more than 10 hours in August about his research into Trump, and on Tuesday more than 300 pages of his testimony were released by the committee’s ranking Democrat, Dianne Feinstein of California.

Simpson told the committee that his associate, former British intelligence operative Christopher Steele, sat down for a "full debriefing" with an FBI contact in Rome in September 2016. During the debriefing, Steele shared information from his Russian sources, who said Trump had been coordinating with the Russian election-interference campaign of hacking and leaking. For the FBI, it wasn’t entirely new information, Simpson testified. "They believed Chris might be credible because they had other intelligence that indicated the same thing," Simpson said.

Simpson said when he began his research into Trump, he was struck by Trump’s many connections to people linked to Russian organized crime, including Felix Sater, who pleaded guilty in 1998 to a mafia stock swindle and later helped Trump develop the Trump Soho hotel. Simpson said he found Steele’s reports that the Russians were coordinating with the Trump campaign credible. Simpson said he concluded from his research that Trump was not as rich as he has claimed and that he had a lot of questionable business entanglements that bear further scrutiny.

https://www.aol.com/article/news/201...mony/23329582/

[Rewind]

Rodong Sinmun (로동신문, "Workers Newspaper" in English) wrote, "The anti-Trump book is sweeping all over the world so Trump is being massively humiliated worldwide,"

North Korea weighs in on Fire & Fury, says the book 'foretells Trump's political demise'

https://www.aol.com/article/news/201...mise/23330954/