Forget all the Russia stuff. The Comey firing itself has turned into a blunder of such epic proportions that Donald Trump is now under investigation for obstruction of justice, the Washington Post reports, citing anonymous officials. It’s hard to imagine what you could add to this blooper reel of an administration…I dunno, pee tape footage?
While the Washington Post doesn’t specifically state that the investigation is linked to the Comey firing, it reports that the Russian investigation’s special counsel Robert Mueller, former FBI director, took up the investigation days after.
After all, Trump himself mentioned the possibility of a personal investigation in his very brief dismissal letter:
While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the bureau.
Now you are.
Comey’s most damning allegation was that Trump had pulled him aside in inappropriate private meetings and not-so-subtly hinted that he should drop the probe into Michael Flynn’s ties to Russian officials. In further fumbles, the special counsel is now looking into more private meetings in which the president allegedly asked top intelligence officials–Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats and NSA Director Mike Rogers–what could be done about Comey. From The Washington Post:
Coats told associates that Trump had asked him whether Coats could intervene with Comey to get the bureau to back off its focus on former national security adviser Michael Flynn in its Russia probe, according to officials. Coats later told lawmakers that he never felt pressured to intervene.
A day or two after the March 22 meeting, Trump telephoned Coats and Rogers to separately ask them to issue public statements denying the existence of any evidence of coordination between his campaign and the Russian government.
Coats and Rogers refused to comply with the president’s requests, officials said.
This probably means that the window for firing Mueller has closed, which Trump’s friend told News Hour he was “considering” on Monday:
