Sunday, June 5, 2022

June 26, 2018: The President Twists a Tale to Suit His Narrative

 

6/26/18: If you study Donald J. Trump’s Twitter feed you know he’s worried about the Russia probe. Trump’s first tweet yesterday came at 6:28 a.m., and seemed to hint that the F.B.I. and Obama and Cotton Mather were all out to get him – that the witch hunt was strong all along. 


If you read the story, it doesn’t bolster his position. 

“Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey said that President Trump is probably correct that there was surveillance on Trump Tower,” he claimed. “Actually, far greater than would ever have been believed!”  

There would be seventeen more tweets before the day ended. But I thought this one was a surprise. Had Mukasey just weighed in on Trump’s “witch hunt” theory and supported him, too? 

I decided to check. Apparently, Trump was dredging up any argument he could, in this case citing a story from March 2017. If you read the story, however, it doesn’t bolster his position. If there was F.B.I. surveillance of Trump Tower, Mukasey told ABC News, “It means there must have been a basis to believe that somebody in Trump Tower may have been acting as an agent of the Russians [emphasis added], for whatever purpose – not necessarily the election – but for some purpose.” 

Mukasey told reporters that the F.B.I. would have been doing what it always did in these kinds of situations: “They keep track of people who act as agents of the Chinese, the Russians, the Israelis, everybody.” 

In other words, Trump is trying to build support for the idea that he is the victim of a witch hunt, using the testimony of a former Attorney General who says, quite clearly, that there is no witch hunt. (See: 7/7/18.)

 

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TAMPA BAY Buccaneers QB Jameis Winston is suspended for three games for grabbing the crotch of a female UBER driver. 

Finally, an NFL player Trump can respect.

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