The Trumpist Right Just Cannot Let Go of the Russia

Investigation

In a world with only one hoax—the hoax intended to slime

Trump—all of the president’s problems have the same source.

7:34 AM ET

by QUINTA JURECIC & BENJAMIN WITTES

"It’s been a busy week for Michael Flynn, the disgraced former national security adviser who in February 2017 resigned from President Donald Trump’s White House after less than a month in his role. In December 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States—a narrative thread that featured prominently in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian election interference. This week, however, Flynn’s lawyers kicked off a frenzy of speculation within the right-wing press that their client is about to be exonerated. They released FBI records documenting conversations within the bureau about how to handle Flynn’s case, which have led many Trump supporters to argue anew that Flynn’s—and Trump’s—woes have been fabricated by malicious agents of the “deep state.”

On Fox News, the pro-Trump host Maria Bartiromo argued that Flynn is set to be “completely exonerated.” The National Review’s editorial board insisted that Flynn has been “treated unjustly” by the FBI. And the president has joined in the fun, writing on Twitter, “What happened to General Michael Flynn, a war hero, should never be allowed to happen to a citizen of the United States again!” and suggesting in a press briefing that he might consider granting Flynn a pardon or even rehiring him.

That the internal FBI documents that have generated this hubbub don’t provide anything close to an exoneration of Flynn is immaterial. This is another instance of a familiar pattern for Trump and his supporters: searching for a shred of new material on the Russia investigation, then insisting that this latest crumb is part of a trail that will eventually, somehow, lead to the vindication of Trump and his associates. What Trump once called “complete and total exoneration” is not just his framing of the result of Mueller’s investigation. It is also a prediction, the anticipated conclusion of coming revelations as the investigations into the Russia investigators continue."

moar:

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/right-just-cannot-let-go-russia-investigation/611137/

>>9037080

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Barr urges Trump administration to back off call to fully

strike down Obamacare

By Kaitlan Collins, Joan Biskupic and Evan Perez, CNN

Updated 1315 GMT (2115 HKT) May 5, 2020

"Washington (CNN)Attorney General William Barr made a last-minute push Monday to persuade the administration to modify its position in the Obamacare dispute that will be heard at the Supreme Court this fall, arguing that the administration should pull back from its insistence that the entire law be struck down.

With a Wednesday deadline to make any alterations to its argument looming, Barr made his case in a room with Vice President Mike Pence, White House counsel Pat Cipollone, members of the Domestic Policy Council, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and several other officials. The meeting ended without a decision and it was not immediately not clear if any shift in the Trump administration's position will emerge.

Barr and other top advisers have argued against the hard-line position for some time, warning it could have major political implications if the comprehensive health care law appears in jeopardy as voters head to the polls in November.

According to four sources familiar with the meeting, Barr argued for modifying the administration's current stance to preserve parts of the law, rather than fully back the lawsuit filed by a group of Republican states. As it stands now, the Trump administration's position seeks to invalidate the entire Affordable Care Act, signed by President Barack Obama in 2010 and commonly known as Obamacare."

moar:

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/05/politics/william-barr-obamacare-supreme-court/index.html