Battling the press on Sunday morning talks shows, Trump’s legal team made the rounds, disputing prevailing wisdom about the FBI’s Russian investigation. Mixing it up with Fox News’ Chris Wallace on Father’s Day, Trump’s personal lawyer Jay Sekalow kept his cool while Wallace came unhinged. “Well then. Don’t tell me what I’m trying to do,” Wallace barked at Sekalow. “Actually what I’m trying to get is a straight answer out of you,” said Wallace, referring to Sekalow’s clarification about Trump’s June 16 tweet that he’s under investigation. “I’m being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt.” Tweeted Trump, prompting Wallace’s ire. Wallace showed his age, unable to get Sekalow’s message that no one, including Trump, has gotten any confirmation from the FBI or anyone else that Trump’s under investigation.
Wallace went in circles with Sekalow over nothing, insisting that Trump’s attorney admitted that Trump was under investigation. When the Washington Post reported June 14 that unnamed sources said Trump was under FBI investigation for obstruction of justice, the media went wild. Today’s media charges, tries and convicts anyone based on unverified, unnamed, un-sourced reports. Swept up in Russian hysteria since Trump won the election Nov. 8, the Washington press accepts without proof any speculation about Trump or his campaign team influencing the election. FBI, CIA and National Security Agency officials insist that Russia impacted the U.S. election in favor of Trump, despite the fact that Hillary won nearly 3 million more popular votes. To believe the Russian election conspiracy theory you’d have to believe that the Kremlin influenced voters only in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Speaking to Wolf Blitzer on CNN’s “State-of-the-Union June 18, Sekalow disputed the idea that Trump was under investigation. “The president has not been and is not under investigation,” said Sekalow, apparently contradicting Trump’s June 14 tweet. “The legal team has not been notified,” referring to any investigation by Justice Department Special Counsel former FBI Director Robert Mueller. Unlike the media that swallows any anonymous press story, Sekalow was trying to make a point that no one at the White House has received any confirmation about Trump under FBI investigation. Trump’s legal team is commissioned with the task of disputing the press, hasty to charge, try, convict and sentence Trump in the media. “I don’t care who Trump hires. There’s no reason to think he’s going to listen to legal advice,” said Washington defense lawyer Peter Zeidenberg.
Last week’s vicious rumors had Trump firing Mueller and Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein, prompting angry calls from members of Congress. No press account had anything other than rumor, gossip and innuendo insisting Trump looked for fire both men. For weeks, the Washington press has made a federal case of Trump’s alleged obstruction of justice for firing former FBI Director James Comey May 9. When Comey testified June 8 he impeached Trump’s credibility saying the president lied. When pressed about what Trump lied about, he fingered Trump’s statement that he fired Comey to obstruct the FBI investigation. Comey insisted Trump lied about the FBI’s low morale and lack of confidence in his leadership. When Trump said the FBI had low morale, it was his opinion, not a lie. Yet the FBI Director showed a pattern of saying he couldn’t trust Trump or former Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch.
Comey got his chance to retaliate against Trump June 8 in the Senate Intelligence Committee. Comey said he didn’t Trust Lynch because she met with former President Bill Clinton to discus Hillary’s email investigation June 28, 2016, less than a week before Comey ended the probe July 5, 2016. Trump’s legal team challenged the Washington press’s narrative that Trump was under FBI investigation for obstruction of justice since firing FBI Director James Comey May 9. While the press—and Democrats—has no problem convicting Trump of obstruction, most reputable legal scholars, like Harvard Law Professor Alan Desrshowitz, say there’s no case. After letting Democrats and the Washington Press convict Trump in the media, Trump’s legal team is finally pushing back. Anonymous quotes from the Washington press don’t prove anything about whether Trump’s under investigation.
Fighting back against Democrats and the Washington press, Trump’s legal team are pushing back against the twisted narrative that Trump’s committed high-crimes-and-misdemeanors, warranting impeachment. When you look at the facts, Trump had every right to fire Comey for incompetence, whether or not there’s an ongoing FBI investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election, or, more importantly, whether Trump campaign officials colluded with the Kremlin. After nearly a year of investigation by the FBI and Congress, there’s zero evidence that Trump or his campaign team colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election. Shifting the crime to obstruction of justice also hasn’t yielded fruit for Democrats and the Washington press. If there’s evidence of anything, Trump’s been guilty of incompetent public relations, letting Democrats and the media define his White House.
