We read the Comey memos last night as soon as they were released. Our immediate observations:
A. There was very little new that we haven’t heard from Comey this week.
B. Trump actually looked pretty good to us in the notes.
C. He clearly denied anything about the hooker story and wanted it cleared.
D. There was not a shred of evidence about any collusion.
E. There was nothing that touched obstruction that we saw.
F. Trump explained his feelings about Flynn — but was clear he had reservations about him. He questioned Flynn’s judgement and we never heard that before. It was always that Trump tried to protect Flynn. Not in what we read. He was apprehensive about him and wanted to fire him.
G. The one questionable thing that surprised us was Comey’s comment that Trump said Putin told him Russia had great hookers. Trump has always denied speaking to or meeting Putin.
H. We have heard Comey say that “Trump said I am not a person who needs hookers” on many occasions. But we never heard another line in the notes that Trump said “Why would I need that? I have a beautiful wife”.
I. Trump continually in each meeting was asking about McCabe and if he could be fair. Why? Because, he said he attacked the connection between McCabe’s wife and the Clinton money she got. He kept asking if McCabe could be fair or was bitter.
J. Comey always defended McCabe as fair and a professional. But clearly there was a difference of concern between the two.
K. Finally, Trump continually denied the dossier had any validity and was adamant he wanted it cleared. Yet it was used over and over as part of the FISA warrant. We have to question that.
So where are we today? Well, add the additional news out today:
That Rob Rosenstein has told Trump he is not a target of neither the Mueller nor Cohen cases.
That the Inspector General has sent a recommendation to prosecutors laying out charges that can be brought against Andrew McCabe. The charges are serious and involve leaking.
That Comey, seeing the charges, said McCabe is a good man, but these are serious mistakes. That McCabe says everything he did was with Comey’s knowledge.
Suddenly you have the real possibility of charges coming, but not against the President and his team, but the heads of the FBI.
Then add the I.G. is finishing his report and recommendations on the Clinton investigation and this could get really ugly for the bureau and those who saw nothing but misdoings by Trump and team.
Finally, here comes Rudy Guiliani to the party. Rudy will try to meet with “his friend Mueller” to get this collusion investigation over.
Wow, what a day. If our observations are right the MSM will have a hard time spinning these stories into a negative. You may see in a week or ten days, a bump in Trump’s numbers. But twenty-four hours in this administration is a lifetime. Stay tuned.
A Pompeo Update
It appears all ten Democrats are going to vote against him in committee. (The same committee Dems voted no last year on Tillerson, and he became the first Sec of State nominee to win on a party vote). Well add Rand Paul who is still a “no” and Pompeo will lose the committee vote.
That means Mitch O’Connell will bring the nomination to the full floor through a procedural move.
Yesterday we mentioned, keep an eye on the Democrats running for reelection in Trump popular states. Well one of them Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota has indicated she will will vote “yes”. That would wipe out Paul in the whole senate and leave just two Republican questions. They are Flake (undecided) and John McCain (can he make it and how will he vote) as questions. A 50-50 tie means VP Pence gets the tiebreaker vote.
So things look a little better for Pompeo, but isn’t it a shame how politics is playing games here. With all that is going on — think North Korea, Russia and Syria, we have this in Washington.
The Ratings
Total Viewers WEDNESDAY. Fox wins night and 7 of 8 time slots.
- Total day: FNC: 1.672 | CNN: 803 | MSNBC: 1.313 | HLN: 180
- Primetime: FNC: 2.789 | CNN: 1.028 | MSNBC: 2.479 | HLN: 213
| 4p: | 5p: | 6p: | 7p: | 8p: | 9p: | 10p: | 11p: | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FNC | Cavuto: 1.414 |
Five: 2.268 |
Baier: 2.245 |
MacCallum: 2.041 |
Carlson: 2.444 |
Hannity: 3.334 |
Ingraham: 2.589 |
Bream: 1.471 |
| CNN | Tapper: 912 |
Blitzer: 845 |
Blitzer: 844 |
Burnett: 972 |
Cooper: 1.128 |
Cooper: 982 |
Lemon: 971 |
Lemon: 770 |
| MSNBC | Wallace: 1.342 |
MTPDaily: 1.461 |
Melber: 1.287 |
Matthews: 1.646 |
Hayes: 1.904 |
Maddow: 3.146 |
O’Donnell: 2.387 |
Wlms: 1.548 |
| HLN | Michaela: 93 |
Cupp: 71 |
Banfield: 109 |
Banfield: 117 |
CNNSpcl: 149 |
Files: 208 |
Files: 282 |
Files: 300 |