White House Turmoil Persists as Russian Saga Continues
ESPN is breaking into the world of the Oscars for the first time this year with a documentary about the original reality TV star — OJ Simpson. At the same time, we’re seeing Donald Trump similarly revolutionize what we think of as daytime news.
C-span and CNN have long been thought of as the fodder for political junkies and retirees, but daily tirades from Kellyanne Conway, Sean Spicer, and even the President himself (as was the case today) have made traditionally standard comments from the White House into must see television. In Wednesday’s episode, NBC reported that Vice President Mike Pence was kept in the dark for weeks as he paraded around news outlets like a trained buffoon, claiming that former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn did not discuss sanctions with Russian officials.
Flynn’s resignation letter, on the other hand, said that he provided the VP and others with “incomplete information” because of the rapidly unfolding events that he was attempting to handle. This is a disconcerting inconsistency in its own right, but the plot thickened Thursday when The Washington Post reported that the inconsistency was actually just another smoke-infused lie.
The then acting National Security Advisor reportedly obfuscated the truth in an interview with the FBI on Jan. 24. The FBI wanted to talk to Flynn about what they perceived as issues that would make him vulnerable to blackmail by Russia. The agency’s concerns originated from an intercepted call between Michael Flynn and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak on Dec. 30, during which they are said to have discussed the newly imposed sanctions by the Obama Administration.
Trump was briefed by the FBI on the interview just two days later, but he failed to pass along the information to his second in command. Instead, Pence was forced to find out about the ordeal through the original Washington Post article published last Thursday. Unsurprisingly, sources told Fox News that Pence and Chief of Staff Reince Priebus were driving forces behind the push for Flynn’s eviction.
An afternoon press conference Thursday, which was supposed to see Trump announce his pick for labor secretary — Alexander Acosta — quickly devolved into a mudslinging circus not seen since the campaign trail. When he wasn’t partaking in adolescent banter with reporters, who clearly resented his ill-advised attempts at humor, he resorted back to the safety of the spin zone:
“What [Flynn] did wasn’t wrong.” -Trump
“When WikiLeaks, which I had nothing to do with, comes out and happens to give, they are not giving classified information.” -Trump
“I would have directed him to do it if I thought he wasn’t. I didn’t direct him but I would have directed him. That’s his job.” -Trump
“This administration is running like a fine-tuned machine.” -Trump
I don’t know if I would call an administration that has a President and Vice President on two very different pages a “fine-tuned machine.” In fact, if I wasn’t a Hoosier that witnessed Pence ravage Indiana over the course of the last four years — abandoning the marginalized and ignoring a crumbling infrastructure as he extolled the black ink in the state’s ledgers — I might be inclined to have empathy for the guy. But this is also a person that was likely sold on an offer to be “the most powerful VP in history.” I’m sorry, but my empathy is gone.
Trump asked former Navy Seal Robert Harward to replace Michael Flynn as acting National Security Advisor Thursday, but he respectfully declined.
We are officially four weeks into the Donald Trump presidency, and the Russian saga shows no sign of abating in the foreseeable future.
