monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

Rudy Giuliani seemed to confirm on ABC's "This Week" Sunday that President Donald Trump actually did ask former FBI Director James Comey to drop the probe into ex-White House national security adviser Michael Flynn despite Trump's previous denials that he said anything of the sort.

"He didn't direct him to do that," Giuliani said. "What he said was, can you, can you ..."

"Comey says he took it as direction," host George Stephanopoulos interjected.

"Well, that's okay. He could have taken it that way, but by that time he had been fired," Giuliani responded. "He said a lot of other things, some of which has turned out to be untrue. The reality is, as a prosecutor, I was told that many times, 'can you give the man a break,' either by his lawyers, by his relatives, by his friends. You take that into consideration. But you know that doesn't determine not going forward with it."

Trump's lawyer made the comment while dismissing Comey as a potential witness in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and potential ties between Trump campaign associates and Russia.

Comey testified to senators in June of last year that Trump told him during an Oval Office meeting the previous February that he hoped Comey could "see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go."

Trump has denied discussing Flynn with Comey. During a May 2017 news conference, Trump said when asked if he had urged Comey to ease up on the Flynn investigation, "no, no," and then said, "next question."

Self-described Nazis and white supremacists are running as Republicans across the country.

SCOTUS Pick Today, Brace for Democratic Insanity

Maggie Haberman
‏Verified account
@maggieNYT

Will never understand the idea that the president simply shouldn’t be covered in certain venues. Lots of things should be debated about how they’re done and in some cases covered better. But he’s the president of the United States, still kind of an important policy maker

Jay Rosen
‏Verified account
@jayrosen_nyu

It IS hard to understand, if you start with "what the president says is news." Begin here: His political style is to divide the country, polarize our politics, confuse and misinform the public, discredit the press— and "what the president says is news" helps him do it. Now what?

Begin here: His political style is to divide the country, polarize our politics, confuse and misinform the public, discredit the press— and "what the president says is news" helps him do it. Now what?

SCOTUS Pick Today, Brace for Democratic Insanity

“Did @RudyGiuliani really say on Sunday shows that @MichaelCohen212 should cooperate with prosecutors and tell the truth? Seriously? Is that Trump and Giuliani definition of “truth”? Trump/Giuliani next to the word “truth” = oxymoron. Stay tuned. #thetruthmatters,” Davis tweeted.

I wasn't aware Lanny Davis was representing Cohen. This might get interesting.

And because admitting that the obsession with “energizing the base” in competitive GOP primaries has driven Republicans almost literally crazy is considered extremely damaging, it’s Kemp’s campaign that released the portion of the tape containing the latest Cagle remarks. It does make you wonder what else is on that tape that Kemp might be holding in reserve for the days just before the July 24 runoff. Will Casey Cagle admit there’s a real thing called climate change, or that Georgia’s gun laws letting people pack heat at bars and churches is nuts, or that some of the president’s tweets embarrass him? Nobody knows for sure, but the happiest observer of Cagle’s True Confessions is likely to be Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams

Updated: Jul 9, 2018 - 11:33 AM

Another leak rocks Georgia GOP governor's primary runoff
ATLANTA (AP) - Another leak is shaking up Georgia's Republican primary runoff in the governor's race.

Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle's runoff campaign was already rocked last month by the release of a secretly recorded conversation in which Cagle said he backed what he called "bad public policy" for political gain.

Cagle's runoff opponent, Secretary of State Brian Kemp, released another snippet of that conversation on Monday.

In this 50-second piece, Cagle can be heard candidly discussing the GOP primary's sharp turn to the right, saying the 5-way race came down to who had the biggest gun and biggest truck, and could be the craziest.

Cagle has said the conversation was never meant to be public and has been taken out of context.

Will Casey Cagle admit there’s a real thing called climate change, or that Georgia’s gun laws letting people pack heat at bars and churches is nuts, or that some of the president’s tweets embarrass him?

The globe is in trouble, and people are suffering.

Wow, that's insightful!