| This. Feels. Different. Of all the controversies that have enveloped the Trump White House these past four months, this one’s the most ominous. (CNN’s Chris Cillizza calls it an “existential” threat.) Sources say ex-FBI chief James Comey documented in a memo the fact that President Trump asked him to stop investigating former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. If that’s true, lots of folks consider it obstruction of justice, a straight-up impeachable offense. Comey wrote that the request from Trump — “I hope you can let this go” — came during a meeting on February 14 in the Oval Office.
The White House denied Trump said such a thing. Democrats ran for the nearest microphones to condemn Trump; Republicans pretty much disappeared. GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House oversight committee, said let’s see the memo and anything else that’s relevant (and Comey reportedly has written lots of memos about his conversations with Trump).
CNN’s David Gergen says buckle up, because we’re in “impeachment territory,” and he should know it when he sees it. Gergen worked at the White House during Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal and Bill Clinton’s impeachment.
This latest scandal — is it too early to call it “memogate?” — spooked the financial markets, as the dollar fell, but at least it turned everybody’s attention away from the Russia saga — and there’s an update there too. Officials tell CNN that Israel was the source of some of the classified info that the President reportedly told the Russians last week in that infamous White House get-together. |
