Donald Trump gave an interview today to the New York Times that may have crossed from standard Trump ramblings to slander, threats and witness tampering.
Oh, and he dragged the hell out of Jeff Sessions.
He started by saying he would "never would have appointed Attorney General Jeff Sessions had he known Mr. Sessions would recuse himself from overseeing the Russia investigation that has dogged his presidency, calling the decision very unfair to the president.”
He went on:
“Jeff Sessions takes the job, gets into the job, recuses himself, which frankly I think is very unfair to the president. How do you take a job and then recuse yourself? If he would have recused himself before the job, I would have said, ‘Thanks, Jeff, but I’m not going to take you.’ It’s extremely unfair — and that’s a mild word — to the president.”
Oh, so he is admitting he placed someone who he knew would be more loyal to him than to the United States? We all knew that was his reasoning behind placing someone so clearly ill equipped to take on the position. It was loyalty to Trump. Period.
He also dug the knife a little deeper in Sessions' back about his testimony during the Senate confirmation hearings when he said numerous times that he had not met with any Russians, even though he had. Trump said “Jeff Sessions gave some bad answers. He gave some answers that were simple questions and should have been simple answers, but they weren’t.”
He went on to blame Sessions personally for Mueller being on the case, saying “Sessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job and I would have picked somebody else."
Again, he is admitting that he placed Sessions in the AG position purely to stop any investigations into him and his campaign. This alone should raise major concerns across Capitol Hill and should be an extra piece of evidence for Mueller to hold on to.
Trump also went after Comey, going so far as to accuse Comey of trying to blackmail Trump with that Steele Dossier. No, you read that right. He is accusing the former FBI Director of trying to blackmail the President. Why? No idea. His scattered brain hasn't come up with the next lie. He said that he believed Comey told him about the dossier specifically to make it clear that he had something "to hold over him." Trump said “In my opinion, he shared it so that I would think he had it out there.”
Oh, and Mueller. Always a great idea to start publicly bashing the man who is investigating you. He actually levied a warning to Mueller: don't dig into my family's financial matters that don't have to do with Russia. Hmmm, what is he trying to hide? Here is the exact exchange:
Asked if Mr. Mueller’s investigation would cross a red line if it expanded to look at his family’s finances beyond any relationship to Russia, Mr. Trump said, “I would say yes.” He would not say what he would do about it. “I think that’s a violation. Look, this is about Russia.”
They talked about a variety of other things, but inevitably drifted back to Trump's favorite topic: Russia, and how he is not under investigation (he is). He said:
“I don’t think we’re under investigation,” he said. “I’m not under investigation. For what? I didn’t do anything wrong.”
He also alluded to some conflicts that will come out later. Never O'Clock is about when they will come out.
Next up for the firing squad: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. First he accuses Rosenstein of being a Democrat because “There are very few Republicans in Baltimore, if any." Oddly enough, declaring your political party is not a pre-requisite to work at the FBI. Trump must have missed that lesson.
He also said “Do you know how many conflicts of interests there are?” alluding to even more fictitious conflicts that exist only his mind.
Oh, and Russia. His bromance with Putin. Their infamous Super Secret Second Meeting. He said “The meal was going toward dessert. I went down just to say hello to Melania, and while I was there I said hello to Putin. Really, pleasantries more than anything else. It was not a long conversation, but it was, you know, could be 15 minutes. Just talked about things. Actually, it was very interesting, we talked about adoption.”
So we are still going with the "adoption" story?
He continued (lying) and said “I actually talked about Russian adoption with him. Which is interesting because it was a part of the conversation that Don had in that meeting.”
This is a lie.
Sessions and Comey had no comment. No one else cared to respond. Putin is probably laughing somewhere. Sessions may be in the fetal position crying. Comey is writing his memoirs. Mueller is adding this to the insane stack of evidence he has.
When a defendant starts talking, what does a good detective do? Nothing. Let them go. Keep talking, Donnie. Keep on talking.