Love you, love you not

If you’re having trouble keeping track of all the staffers leaving the Trump White House of late, you could certainly be forgiven. A recent found that Donald Trump’s team has had a record number of departures, with a turnover rate twice as high as that of the Reagan administration.

Trump himself is more sanguine. “People will always come & go … ” he tweeted this week, noting: “I still have some people that I want to change (always seeking perfection).”

He added later: “So many people want to come in. I have a choice of anybody. I could take any position in the White House and I’ll have a choice of the 10 top people having to do with that position – everybody wants to be there.”

Shortly after that, the White House announced the economic adviser Gary Cohn was resigning, the latest in a list of high-profile departures.

Several White House staffers have been terminated or reassigned for issues related to their security clearances — with at least one individual employed in the Office of the First Lady relieved of duty, sources with direct knowledge tell ABC News.

There is a list of several other individuals with security clearance issues that are under consideration for possible termination or reassignment in the coming days, sources also tell ABC News.

Rexit! How Tillerson's firing proves that total loyalty is all that matters to Donald Trump

The White House’s account of the Tillerson firing collapsed within minutes.

Senior administration officials told outlets including The Washington Post and CNN that Tillerson had been told he would be dismissed on Friday, March 9.

Within the hour, the State Department issued a statement insisting that Tillerson “had every intention of remaining” and “did not speak to the President this morning and is unaware of the reason.” CNN reported that Tillerson had received a call from White House Chief of Staff John Kelly on Friday night indicating that he would be replaced that did not specify timing; a senior White House official told the network that it was Trump himself who had suddenly decided to pull the trigger on Tuesday morning. Tillerson learned of his actual firing the same way everybody else did: By reading about it on Twitter shortly after 8:44 a.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, March 13.

A lot turns on that timing. On March 12, Tillerson had backed the British government’s accusation that Russia was culpable for a nerve-agent attack on United Kingdom soil. If Tillerson had been fired March 9, then his words of support for Britain could not explain his firing three days before. But if the White House was lying about the timing, it could be lying about the motive.

And since it now seems all but certain that the White House was lying about the timing, it looks more probable that it was lying about the motive too.

The U.S.-U.K. response to the Russian nerve gas attack should have been coordinated in advance. It was not. The U.S. statement of support for Britain should have arrived on the day that the prime minister delivered her accusation. It did not. The retaliation—if any—should also already be agreed upon. It plainly has not been.

The United Kingdom does not find itself deprived of U.S. support because of some British mistake or rush to judgment. Most of the U.S. government shares the British assessment of what happened—as attested by Tillerson’s statement in support of Britain, which would have relied on U.S. intelligence agency reports. Only Trump stands apart, vetoing any condemnation of Russia and perhaps punishing his secretary of state for breaking ranks on the president’s no-criticizing-Putin policy.

Yesterday, the Republicans on the House intelligence committee announced that they had concluded the investigation of the Russian interference—and would soon publish a report acquitting Trump of collusion. Bad luck for them to release the report on the very day that Trump again demonstrated that something is very, very wrong in the Trump-Russia relationship. It’s possible to imagine innocent explanations. And it’s easy to list the plausible explanations. Ominously for the western alliance and the security of the United States, those two sets no longer overlap at all.

On Tuesday morning, the White House formally announced Rex Tillerson’s departure as secretary of state. The decision comes as little surprise: The former Exxon chief executive’s exit was foretold in March, June, July and through most of October and November. Tillerson’s coup de grace was so drawn out that it even earned its own Beltway shorthand: the Rexit.

Being removed may actually be a relief for Tillerson, who has bucked many of the secretary of state’s traditional obligations, confiding in reporters as early as March 2016 that he “didn’t want this job.” But before his successor, CIA Director Mike Pompeo, takes the reins, Tillerson has one final decision to make: how to leave.

Trump — who built his public persona on the catchphrase “you’re fired” — is likely betting on a similar pivot. But a smooth transition at the State Department will require more forethought and discipline than the administration has thus far been able to muster.

By securing Tillerson’s replacement, the administration has cleared the first and easiest hurdle of any such transition. But Haig’s messy departure reminds us that a former secretary of state can still cause trouble. A smooth transition requires the White House to act decisively to maintain a clear chain of command during the change in leadership and to avoid further undermining the State Department’s role in managing U.S. foreign relations. This White House has already struggled with this, as Trump’s tweets often stoke diplomatic conflict.


The Reagan administration learned this lesson the hard way, and the cloud surrounding Haig’s resignation periodically returned over the remainder of the presidency. Yet even in the midst of Haig’s tumultuous departure, Reagan and Shultz refused to publicly criticize the outgoing secretary, choosing to preserve the dignity of the office even while distancing the administration from a former official. If the previous year has been a guide, it’s unlikely that Trump will show similar restraint, which could prompt a potentially debilitating feud.

In either case, whether Tillerson sees value in going quietly, or, like Haig, chooses to defend his reputation, is now beyond the administration’s control. Ironically, Haig’s words to an aide moments after his final removal offer sound advice: “Don’t get bitter … there’s still our country to worry about.”

Trump aide abruptly fired – then hired by Trump's 2020 team
The removal came after reports that the longtime aide John McEntee had trouble gaining necessary security clearance

A longtime personal aide to Donald Trump was abruptly fired and escorted from the White House Monday afternoon, only to be hired immediately by Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign, according to multiple media reports and a campaign statement.

Aide John McEntee, whose slight public profile belies his relatively long service with Trump going back to the early days of the original campaign, told colleagues that he had had trouble gaining necessary security clearances, according to the Wall Street Journal, which broke the news.

It was not clear why a clearances issue would have warranted the abrupt removal of McEntee from the White House grounds. Neither the White House nor the Trump campaign replied to a request for comment.

McEntee formerly worked as a production assistant at Fox News, according to financial disclosure records.

McEntee attended to details of Trump’s daily life such as supplying him with markers for autograph-signing and turning the clocks ahead with the advent of daylight savings time, the Journal reported.

Other departures from the administration this week so far include Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Last week, national economic council director Gary Cohn stepped down, and last month saw the departures of former communications director Hope Hicks, former communications aide Josh Raffel, and staff secretary Rob Porter.

Porter resigned after a difficulty with security clearances, relating to allegations of domestic abuse, which the White House admitted mishandling.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Friday night that he was firing former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, a longtime and frequent target of President Donald Trump's anger, just two days before his scheduled retirement date.

Though his departure has been painted as a victory for the president, McCabe could represent a time bomb for Trump as their interactions leak to the press and become fodder for Special Counsel Robert Mueller. For example, shortly after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey in May, he brought in McCabe, the new acting director, for an introductory Oval Office meeting. Trump reportedly asked McCabe who he voted for in the 2016 election. (He didn’t vote in the general election, but is reported to have cast a ballot in the Republican primary, potentially making the McCabes the Washington equivalent of a black rhino: a bipartisan couple.) NBC reported Monday that Trump berated McCabe for allowing Comey to return from Los Angeles to Washington on an FBI plane after he’d been fired, and then suggested McCabe ask his wife how it feels to be a loser. McCabe replied: “OK, sir.”

John Dowd, the defense attorney who was leading President Donald Trump's team in the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, has resigned from representing him, The New York Times reported Thursday.

The revelation comes as Trump has increasingly vented his frustration toward the Russia investigation and Mueller. Dowd invited intense scrutiny last weekend when he publicly called for deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein to shut down the Russia investigation, which Dowd characterized as corrupt and biased against Trump.

Dowd's resignation is also likely just one part of a broader legal team shakeup Trump is said to be considering. The president is reportedly weighing whether to fire White House lawyer Ty Cobb, who has largely advocated for a more cooperative approach toward the probe. Trump recently hired Joseph diGenova, a controversial former federal prosecutor known for peddling conspiracy theories about the Department of Justice and the FBI.

Trump reportedly made the decision without consulting with his top advisers and after speaking to friends and loyalists on the phone.

Hallie Jackson
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WH departures announced in the last month <revolving door emoji> (via @albamonica)

Feb 27: Josh Raffel
Feb 28: Hope Hicks
March 6: Gary Cohn
March 12: John McEntee
March 13: Rex Tillerson
March 22: John Dowd
March 22: HR McMaster

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@mmpadellan
Following Following @mmpadellan
More BrooklynDad_Defiant! Retweeted Donald J. Trump
Indictments of White House staff:

2008: Zero
2009: Zero
2010: Zero
2011: Zero
2012: Zero
2013: Zero
2014: Zero
2015: Zero
2016: Zero
2017: Four
2018: Thirteen and counting...

Source: Long arm of the Law

In April, Donald Trump tweeted that Michael Cohen is a "fine person" who he has "always liked and respected", adding that he didn't see him ever turning on his former boss.

The president might be having second thoughts now that Mr Cohen has made public his recording of a controversial conversation first leaked to the press last week.

"We were not going to let Michael become a punching bag," Lanny Davis, Mr Cohen's new lawyer, said in explaining the move.

Instead, Mr Cohen is throwing the punches, raising suspicions that this may be the first blow in an escalating fight with the president. There are, Mr Davis says, "a lot of other tapes". And given Mr Cohen's business and legal work for Mr Trump over the course of a decade, there's no telling what surprises might be in store.

Mr Cohen telegraphed this latest turn of events by selecting Mr Davis as his attorney. The long-time Washington operative is a former Democratic congressional candidate, member of the Democratic National Committee and lawyer for President Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial.

Mr Davis is the kind of man you want if you're preparing for war… against Republicans.

In April, Donald Trump tweeted that Michael Cohen is a "fine person" who he has "always liked and respected", adding that he didn't see him ever turning on his former boss.

US President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen has pleaded guilty in a Manhattan court to violating campaign finance laws.

He said he did so at the direction of "the candidate", acting for the "purpose of influencing the election".

Mr Cohen's admission was related to hush money paid to Mr Trump's alleged mistresses.

The 51-year-old admitted eight counts, including tax and bank fraud in a plea deal with prosecutors.

Mr Trump ignored questions about Mr Cohen as he arrived on Tuesday evening for a pre-scheduled rally in West Virginia.

The White House also declined to comment.

In court earlier, Mr Cohen said he had been directed by "a candidate for federal office" - presumed to be Mr Trump himself - to break federal election laws.

The indictment against Mr Cohen carries up to 65 years in prison, but he is expected to receive a far more lenient sentence of about five years under his deal with prosecutors.

He has pleaded guilty to:

Five counts of tax evasion
One count of making false statements to a financial institution
One count of wilfully causing an unlawful corporate contribution
One count of making an excessive campaign contribution at request of a candidate or campaign
His sentencing is set for 12 December.

Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been found guilty on eight fraud charges – a resounding victory for special counsel Robert Mueller and his team in the first trial arising from their investigation.

Manafort, 69, was convicted on Tuesday of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failure to report a foreign bank account. The charges carry a maximum sentence of decades in prison. He avoided conviction on some charges however, with the jury saying it could not reach a consensus on 10 out of 18 total counts.

He had been charged with bank fraud, tax fraud, failure to report foreign bank accounts and conspiracy. Some of the fraud activity overlapped with his time chairing the Trump election campaign.

Arriving for a campaign-style rally in Charleston, West Virginia, Trump called the verdict a “witch hunt” and “a disgrace.”

Trump portrayed the Manafort prosecution, which grew out of an FBI investigation predating the 2016 campaign, as an unnatural outgrowth of the special counsel’s investigation into Russian interference in the election.

“This has nothing to do with Russian collusion,” Trump said. “These are witch hunts and it’s a disgrace... It had nothing to do with Russian collusion, we continue the witch hunt.”

Manafort faces additional charges in a separate case, to convene in Washington DC in September.

Manafort’s conviction brought the tally of former Trump advisers who have pleaded to or been found guilty of crimes in the Mueller investigation to four. Mueller has also secured guilty pleas from a California man and a London-based lawyer, and his team has indicted 26 Russian nationals and three Russian companies.

Prosecutors presented evidence that Manafort had lied to banks in seeking personal loans and lied to the Internal Revenue Service in reporting income related to his political consulting work in Ukraine and elsewhere.

While the trial did not focus on influence peddling within the Trump campaign, emails presented by the prosecution showed that Manafort remained influential in the campaign until after the election – months after it emerged that he was under investigation by the FBI.

In one email, Manafort wrote to Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to recommend the Federal Savings Bank CEO, Stephen Calk, for the position of secretary of the army. Witnesses at the trial said Calk had personally expedited $9.5m and $6.5m loans for Manafort.

“On it!” Kushner replied. Calk was not nominated for a Trump administration role.

In September in Washington DC Manafort is scheduled to go to trial on charges of conspiracy to launder tens of millions of dollars in overseas earnings, failing to register as a foreign agent and making false statements.

Zephyr Teachout
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If Donald Trump pardons Manafort, the federal pardon would not cover state crimes. As AG of New York, I will investigate and pursue any state law violations to be ready for Trump trying to protect himself with a pardon. We have to be totally clear that no one is above the law.

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