USA TODAY International Edition
Even by Trump standards, a busy week
Flurry of tweets and filings won’t slow down
Washington rarely has a slow news week under the administration of President Donald Trump, but political reporters were busier than usual in the past few days covering all the latest developments out of Trumpland.
From his former lawyer implicating him in a felony as special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation seems to close in on the White House, to some major staff announcements and some insults for a former Cabinet member, last week might have been full of more fire and fury than the president prefers.
Things don’t such much sign of slowing down this week, as Trump’s former lawyer is expected to get sentenced to prison on Wednesday, his former campaign chair has a court hearing over allegedly lying to Mueller and the president continues his hunt for a new chief of staff.
Here is a rundown:
Prosecutors connect Trump to Cohen payments
In a court filing on Friday, prosecutors from the Southern District of New York said Trump ordered one of the felonies committed by his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen. Cohen pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws when he made hush payments before the 2016 election to two women alleging past sexual encounters with Trump.
According to prosecutors, Cohen carried out the payments “in coordination with and at the direction” of Trump. And they said both payments were made “with the intent to influence the 2016 presidential election.”
Flynn cooperates with Mueller
Michael Flynn lasted only a few weeks as Trump’s national security adviser before resigning over some misstatements about his contacts with Russian officials.
Now, the retired Army lieutenant general who had pleaded guilty last year to making false statements to federal investigators appears to be making a lasting impact in assisting Mueller’s investigation.
The special counsel said Flynn had given his team “substantial assistance” and recommended he be given little to no jail time.
A heavily redacted court filing revealed he met with investigators 19 times.
... Manafort doesn’t
Mueller was far less enthusiastic about the cooperation he got from Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
On top of his conviction by a Virginia jury on eight federal felonies, Manafort pleaded guilty to two felony conspiracy charges in a deal with Mueller. But Mueller voided the plea agreement on Nov. 26 after Manafort told investigators “multiple discernible lies.”
In a filing on Friday, Mueller revealed the nature of those lies, which dealt with his interactions with a Russian national a $125,000 wire transfer and his contacts with senior Trump administration officials.
Those lies cost Manafort a chance at a shorter prison term, but also robbed Mueller of a highly placed witness.
Chief of Staff John Kelly is out
On Saturday, Trump announced that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly would be leaving the job at the end of the year. Kelly came in last year to replace Reince Priebus and to try and establish more discipline in what was widely considered a chaotic White House (Bob Woodward said Kelly referred to it as “Crazytown”).
Kelly’s efforts to control the chaos and access to the president often put Trump, known for a more freewheeling approach, and the former Marine general at odds. On Sunday, Vice President Mike Pence’s Chief of Staff Nick Ayers, pulled out of the running.
William Barr emerges as attorney general pick
Trump said Friday he will nominate former Attorney General William Barr to return as the head of the Justice Department. Barr served as attorney general under President George H.W. Bush from 1991 to 1993.
Last month, Trump dismissed Attorney General Jeff Sessions after heaping abuse on him for more than a year over his decision to recuse himself from the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Barr, in recent months, has criticized aspects of the Russia probe and defended many of Trump’s actions, including the firing of FBI Director James Comey and his calls to investigate former Secretary of State of Hillary Clinton.
Many officials, including a number of Democrats, have expressed support for Barr because of his experience. They see him as an improvement over acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, who has been called unqualified and who has been highly critical of the special counsel.
Trump calls his former secretary of state ‘dumb as a rock’
On Thursday, Trump’s former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in an interview that said it had been “challenging” working for the president, whom he called “undisciplined” and someone “who doesn’t like to read.”
Tillerson said he and Trump clashed because “we did not have a common value system” and that he would sometimes have to inform the president that he couldn’t do something because “it violates the law.”
“He was dumb as a rock and I couldn’t get rid of him fast enough,” Trump tweeted Friday in response to his former top diplomat’s remarks.
Trump names next chair of Joint Chiefs of Staff
On Saturday, Trump announced he will nominate Army Gen. Mark Milley as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. If confirmed by the Senate, Milley would replace Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford.
Trump picks new UN ambassador
Trump named Heather Nauert, a former Fox News anchor and the current State Department spokeswoman, as his pick to replace outgoing United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley.
Nauert has served as the State Department’s chief spokeswoman since April 2017.