Not Even Trying -- And Worse

Justice Department lawyer Aaron Zelinsky has issued a statement in preparation for his testimony before Congress. He describes a "deeply corrupt process" in which the Department of Justice treated Trump ally Roger Stone differently from other defendants. The statement is brutal. Zelensky said the person responsible for conducting Stone's case received "heavy pressure from the highest levels of the Department of Justice to cut Stone a break." And, he says, he was explicitly told the motivation to decrease Stone's case was political.

Last week we learned that Donald Trump almost surely lied in his responses to cases from Robert Mueller's investigative team. A newly released, and less redacted, copy of the Mueller Report indicates that 

According to multiple witnesses involved with the Campaign, beginning in June 2016 and continuing through October 2016, Stone spoke about WikiLeaks with senior Campaign officials, including candidate Trump.

Trouble is, Trump claimed he had no knowledge of these doings. And "William Barr announced after reviewing Mueller's report he 'did not find' that any Trump campaign associates coordinated with Russian interference in the election," per CNN. 

It's kinda hard to trust Barr. Last week Barr announced that the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Geoffrey Berman, had resigned his position. Trouble was, Berman had not resigned and had no attention of resigning. Instead, Berman was investigating Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, and maybe Trump, and he wanted to assure the public his investigations would continue. In other words, Barr lied.

I learned in a press release from the Attorney General tonight that I was ‘stepping down’ as United States Attorney.  I have not resigned, and have no intention of resigning, my position, to which I was appointed by the Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.  I will step down when a presidentially appointed nominee is confirmed by the Senate.  Until then, our investigations will move forward without delay or interruption.  I cherish every day that I work with the men and women of this Office to pursue justice without fear or favor – and intend to ensure that this Office’s important cases continue unimpeded. 

Barr wanted to replace Berman with SEC Chair Jay Clayton. But there were a couple of problems there. First, it's not Barr's job to replace Berman. Instead, there's a chain of succession until Congress approves a replacement. Berman held out until that chain of succession held out, leaving Clayton to wait. Second, there's a bigger problem. The SDNY is investigating Deutsche Bank -- remember, this very bank had been subpoenaed for Trump's tax records -- while Clayton has served as an attorney for the bank. 

Tying the bow: the guy investigating Trump was removed so that the guy who defended Trump's bank could replace him.

It's a lot lately. The other night, Trump told his small Tulsa audience that he'd actually discouraged government efforts to expand coronavirus testing because it made the numbers look bad. Rapidly Trump spokespeople rushed to explain that Trump didn't mean what he'd plainly said. He was just joking! But today Trump insisted: Yes, I meant what I said.

"I don't kid, let me just tell you, let me make it clear."

Faced with America's greatest public health crisis, the occupant of the White House has zero interest in mitigating the harm. All he cares about is optics. With the United States by far the world's leader in coronavirus outbreaks, and with cases rising in blue states, it's become apparent that Trump isn't failing to contain the virus. He's not even trying.

He told the Christian Broadcasting Network,

but I think we put ourselves at a disadvantage, I told my people. I said, "We've gotten so good at testing ... We test much more than any other nation," so you hear about all these cases.

Also,

By having more tests we have more cases...We did 25 million tests therefore the tests are gonna have more cases. By having more cases it sounds bad...Testing is a double edged sword....

 

But hey, Trump knows what's going on. Tuesday night he told an Arizona crowd.... Wait, stop. Isn't Arizona among our hottest coronavirus outbreaks? Not even trying. But having called the virus the "Kung Flu," the Racist in Chief told them: "COVID, COVID-19, COVID, I said what’s the 19. COVID-19, some people can’t explain the 19."

Some people can't explain the 19. Sweet Baby Moses.