Questions about credibility come as president pushes for health-care overhaul, Supreme Court confirmation
.. The Comey appearance also threatens to further erode Mr. Trump’s job-approval ratings, possibly giving Republicans in more moderate districts an incentive to keep their distance from the president as the FBI investigation plays out... The poll found that 58% of Americans disapprove of the president’s job performance and just 37% approve... “If you like him, you’re blowing it off as the swamp going back at him,”.. “If you’re one of our activists, all you care about is, are you getting these things done—Supreme Court, Obamacare repeal?”.. Some of the centrist Republicans whom Mr. Trump needs for his governing coalition skipped an opportunity on Monday to defend the president, with intelligence panel members such as Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R., Fla.) saying it was important to conduct an investigation of Russian election meddling in a spirit of bipartisanship... But when Mr. Comey confirmed the FBI was investigating Russian meddling in the elections, including potential links between Russians and people in Mr. Trump’s orbit, Republicans seemed to realize that embracing Mr. Trump might expose them to unwanted political risks.By the end of the hearing, they were openly worrying that the revelations could interfere with the ability of the Trump administration to succeed... Mr. Spicer predicted that the FBI investigation will inevitably conclude there were no illicit contacts between the campaign and Russian operatives... “Republicans have a historic opportunity for conservative change if they keep their eyes on governing and away from the shiny objects,” Mr. Holmes said... some Republicans had been questioning Mr. Trump’s credibility in the sausage-making aspects of passing laws. When Mr. Trump last Friday said he had won the support for the health bill from of an influential bloc of House conservatives, some House Republicans openly challenged him on Twitter.“Absolutely not true that conservatives have flipped to yes on the health care bill,” wrote Rep. Justin Amash (R., Mich.) in a post that was retweeted by Rep. Thomas Massie (R., Ky.). “It doesn’t repeal Obamacare. It remains a disaster.”.. Republicans may be reaching a point where they can challenge Mr. Trump with impunity... “GOP lawmakers are criticizing him with impunity—and that makes it easier for them to oppose him on Obamacare, his budget, tax policies, etc.,” he said. “Trump is squandering his political capital, which he needs to win enactment of his agenda.”
Yes, Trump Is Being Held Accountable
James B. Comey (a former colleague of mine at the Justice Department), has proved to be an independent actor
.. Mr. Trump could fire Mr. Comey on a whim, but that would not kill the F.B.I. investigation. Rather, just as President Richard Nixon hastened his impeachment with the Watergate-related firings known as the “Saturday Night Massacre,” canning Mr. Comey would only heighten the public’s and Congress’s suspicions about Mr. Trump’s guilt and increase pressure on the F.B.I. and others to get to the bottom of the Russia matter.
.. Those investigations will now be supervised by Rod J. Rosenstein, soon to be the deputy attorney general, who is a career prosecutor of undoubted independence and an expert on national security and public corruption.
.. Another reason to think the existing process is working to keep the president in check are the plentiful leaks from the executive branch that have revealed a great deal about the Russian imbroglio. Leaks of this sort are a predicable response to a perception of illegitimacy or overreach inside the executive branch.
.. one should not overlook what is truly remarkable here: In the second month of a new presidency, several bodies in a Congress controlled by the president’s party are conducting high-profile, politically fraught and hard-to-control investigations that potentially implicate current and former administration officials and former campaign officials.
.. All of these actors and institutions are holding the Trump presidency to account.
Trump Adviser Had Twitter Contact With Figure Tied to Russians
Roger J. Stone Jr., an off-and-on adviser to President Trump for decades, has acknowledged that he had contact on Twitter with Guccifer 2.0, the mysterious online figure that is believed to be a front for Russian intelligence officials.
.. But Mr. Stone insisted in an interview that the contact had been brief and involved nothing more than the exchange of a few direct messages, well after the party committee had been hacked. “Even if he is a Russian agent, my cursory exchange with him happens after he releases the D.N.C. stuff,” Mr. Stone said on Saturday. “There’s only one exchange with him. I had no further exchanges.”
.. He denied any knowledge of what the hackers were up to before their attacks. “This is a witch hunt,” Mr. Stone said. “It’s the worst form of McCarthyism. Seems as if you’re not for nuclear war with the Russians over Syria, then you must be a traitor.”
.. During the campaign, Guccifer 2.0 used social media to invite individual reporters and Republican operatives to request specific caches of documents.
Can Trump weather the storms of his own making?
I’d suggest that Trump reflect on this fact: The Post and other news organizations apparently had no trouble getting inside sources to dish about the president’s mood swings. While Trump fumes about leaks from the intelligence community and the entrenched federal bureaucracy, his closest aides are bending journalists’ ears with self-serving narratives.
.. The White House press office later doubled down by demanding a congressional investigation of this alleged snooping.
Trump must be unfamiliar with the adage about being careful what you ask for.
.. What if Congress grants Trump’s demand, however, and launches an investigation? Any serious inquiry, it seems to me, would necessarily have to look into the alleged reason for the alleged wiretapping: contacts between the Trump campaign and the Russians.
.. Trump has put himself in a no-win position. If the Republican leadership in Congress denies his request for an investigation, he suffers an embarrassing public rebuke. If the request is granted, however, Trump sets in motion a process he will not be able to control.