In short, Trump's financial disclosure is nice. His tax returns -- which he became the first presidential candidate in four decades to refuse to release -- would be far better.

Trump's wealth, as documented in the report, is vast. He took in hundreds of millions of dollars in income over the past 15 months while carrying liabilities north of $300 million. (The Post estimated that Trump's assets are worth at least $1.4 billion.)

Trump raked in $288 million from his golf courses alone; he made at least $37 million from Mar-a-Lago, his Florida resort and a frequent weekend stomping ground for the first family.

The big problem with financial disclosure forms is that they only require ranges of assets and liability -- making it extremely difficult to get an accurate sense of what Trump true's wealth is.

"Overall, Trump reported liabilities of at least $311 million -- mortgages and loans. But the number could be much higher because he was required only to report a range in value for each loan."

"Of the 16 loans he reported, five were worth more than $50 million each; one is worth between $25 million and $50 million; and seven were worth between $5 million and $25 million apiece. Another three loans combined were worth less than $1 million."

All of which makes the rhetoric coming from Trump and his top aides regarding his level of transparency about his finances misleading.

That isn't accurate. But you can bet that Trump's decision to voluntarily file his financial disclosure forms months ahead of time will become a new talking point for Trump and his aides whenever the questions regarding his taxes inevitably arise again.

The key point to remember: Financial disclosures are simply no substitute for tax returns when it comes to understanding someone's financial standing and various commitments.

Think of it this way. You go to a baseball game. Financial disclosure forms are like sitting near the top of the upper deck. You can see a baseball game is going on but it's tough to make out the individual players or figure out what pitch the pitcher is throwing. Tax returns are like having front-row seats behind home plate. You can see the reaction on the batter's face when he disagrees with a call. You can see how the teams interact -- both with each other and amongst themselves. You can hear the pop of the fastball hitting the catcher's mitt.

It's an entirely different game and experience.

Right now, the American public is sitting way up in the rafters of Trump Financial Stadium. You have a vague sense of what's going on. But unless and until he releases his tax returns -- BREAKING: He probably won't! -- we'll all be squinting to try to figure out exactly what we're looking at.

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Why we still really need to see Donald Trump's tax returns - CNN

And, man, did she have something to say Friday. Here's her full statement on President Donald Trump's latest tweets about the special counsel investigation being led by former FBI Director Bob Mueller:

"I'm growing increasingly concerned that the President will attempt to fire not only Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating possible obstruction of justice, but also Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein who appointed Mueller.

"The message the President is sending through his tweets is that he believes the rule of law doesn't apply to him and that anyone who thinks otherwise will be fired. That's undemocratic on its face and a blatant violation of the President's oath of office.

"First of all, the President has no authority to fire Robert Mueller. That authority clearly lies with the attorney generalor in this case, because the attorney general has recused himself, with the deputy attorney general. Rosenstein testified under oath this week that he would not fire Mueller without good cause and that none exists.

"And second, if the President thinks he can fire Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein and replace him with someone who will shut down the investigation, he's in for a rude awakening. Even his staunchest supporters will balk at such a blatant effort to subvert the law.

"It's becoming clear to me that the President has embarked on an effort to undermine anyone with the ability to bring any misdeeds to light, be that Congress, the media or the Justice Department. The Senate should not let that happen. We're a nation of laws that apply equally to everyone, a lesson the President would be wise to learn."

Just a few lines worth reading again:

* "The message the President is sending through his tweets is that he believes the rule of law doesn't apply to him."

* "If the President thinks he can fire Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein and replace him with someone who will shut down the investigation, he's in for a rude awakening."

* "It's becoming clear to me that the President has embarked on an effort to undermine anyone with the ability to bring any misdeeds to light."

* "We're a nation of laws that apply equally to everyone, a lesson the President would be wise to learn."

Any one of those lines is a 99-mile-an-hour fastball thrown way, way inside. Taken all altogether, it's a statement very clearly designed to send a message to Trump.

That message? Enough! Time to start acting like a president.

To be clear: Feinstein is a Democrat. She represents one of the most Democratic states in the country and risks absolutely nothing, politically speaking, by issuing a statement like this one that blisters Trump.

But she is also one of the institutions in the Senate, having spent the last 25 years in the chamber. Unlike her longtime colleague Barbara Boxer, who retired in 2016, Feinstein is not seen as terribly partisan and generally enjoys strong across-the-aisle relationships.

"Every conversation that I've had with her now that she's ranking member has been not only friendly, but has been productive, and these little heads-to-heads that you see us having when the committee's actually functioning, work things out right then."

In short: Feinstein isn't just a predictable partisan or someone who pops off at the slightest political provocation. This statement is a purposeful attempt to make clear that Trump has crossed a line and that he needs to take one big step back.

My prediction: He won't.

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Dianne Feinstein is done pulling punches when it comes to Donald Trump - CNN

An abstract, in-case-of-emergency-break-glass executive order drafted by the Trump administration in March may become real-world applicable as the president, raging publicly at his Justice Department, mulls firing special counsel Robert Mueller.

Since taking office, the Trump administration has twice rewritten an executive order that outlines the order of succession at the Justice Department once after President Donald Trump fired acting Attorney General Sally Yates for refusing to defend his travel ban, and then again two months later. The executive order outlines a list of who would be elevated to the position of acting attorney general if the person up the food chain recuses himself, resigns, gets fired or is no longer in a position to serve.

Story Continued Below

In the past, former Justice Department officials and legal experts said, the order of succession is no more than an academic exercise a chain of command applicable only in the event of an attack or crisis when government officials are killed and it is not clear who should be in charge.

But Trump and the Russia investigation that is tightening around him have changed the game.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has already recused himself from overseeing the investigation into possible collusion between Trump campaign aides and Russian operatives, after it was revealed that he failed to disclose meetings with the Russian ambassador during the campaign. And Trump started his morning on Friday by appearing to take a public shot at his deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, who has increasingly become the target of his impulsive anger.

I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt, the president tweeted.

The Justice Department said in a statement on Friday that there are no current plans for a recusal, but Rosenstein has said in the past that he would back away from overseeing Muellers investigation if his role in the ouster of former FBI Director James Comey becomes a conflict.

That has legal experts closely examining the dry executive order to figure out who might be next up to bat, or, as Democratic lawyers and consultants view it, who might serve as Trumps next sacrificial lamb.

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We know Rachel Brand is the next victim, said Benjamin Wittes, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and the editor-in-chief of Lawfare, referring to the former George W. Bush official who was recently confirmed as associate attorney general, the third-highest position in the Justice Department.

For those of us who have high confidence in Rachel the more confidence you have in someone in this role, the less long you think theyll last, said Wittes, who said he considers Brand a friend. That does put a very high premium on the question of who is next.

That question, however, has become more complicated because the Trump administration has been slow to fill government positions and get those officials confirmed. Typically, the solicitor general would be next in line after the associate attorney general, followed by the list of five assistant U.S. attorneys, the order of which would be determined by the attorney general. But none of those individuals have been confirmed by the Senate, and they would be unable to serve as acting attorney general without Senate confirmation.

Because of that, the executive order comes into play one that puts next in line after Brand the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Dana Boente. Boente, a career federal prosecutor and an appointee of former President Barack Obama, was tapped last April to serve as the interim head of the Justice Departments national security division, which oversees the FBIs Russia investigation.

Boente, who was briefly thrust into the no. 2 spot at the Justice Department after Yates was fired, was also tasked with phoning Preet Bharara, then U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, to deliver the unexpected news that he was fired. At the time, Boente also vowed to defend Trumps travel ban in the future.

Boente is followed, on the succession list, by the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, John Stuart Bruce; and the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas, John Parker. Both are career prosecutors who are serving in their posts on an interim basis, until a presidential appointment is made. But they would not need to be Senate confirmed to take over.

It was not clear why the Trump administration chose those three U.S. attorneys to be in the succession line. During the Obama administration, sources familiar with the drafting of the old executive order said, the positions were chosen based on geographic diversity, and purposely included big cities where officials assumed there would be a talented attorney capable of stepping in: The U.S. attorneys on the succession list were from Washington, D.C., Chicago and Los Angeles.

Some former Justice Department officials said they would find it inconceivable for Trump to clean house, or to fire Mueller even taking into account the sometimes erratic behavior of the commander in chief.

This president is so unpredictable, its hard to say, said Emily Pierce, a former Justice Department official in the Obama administration. It would be the craziest thing hes done to date if he were to start firing the special counsel or Rosenstein. Im trying to give him the benefit of the doubt that he realizes how much trouble he may be in and that with the firing of Comey, he wouldnt do that.

Deputy U.S. Attorney General nominee Rod Rosenstein and Rachel Brand, then a nominee for associate attorney general, testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 7. Brand is considered the next person in the executive order at the Justice Department. | Getty

But others were less willing to predict the actions of a president who prides himself on being unpredictable. At the rate we're going, it's clearly possible, because you could go through a number of people in one go depending on the things that are asked of them, said Jane Chong, a national security and law associate at the Hoover Institution. If Rosenstein had refused to write the memo [laying out the case for Comeys firing], you can imagine him being fired, and you can imagine Brand doing the same thing. Its not difficult to see a scenario like that playing out down the line, Chong said.

In Washington circles, the comparison being made is between Trumps desire to rid himself of Mueller, at potentially any cost, and the Saturday Night Massacre during Watergate, in 1973, when the attorney general and the deputy attorney general both resigned after refusing to obey President Richard Nixons order to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox. It fell to the solicitor general at the time, Robert Bork, to do the deed.

I think the Watergate scenario would make most self-respecting lawyers loath to put themselves in the role that Bork ended up playing, said Brian Fallon, a former Obama Justice Department and Hillary Clinton spokesman. Most career-minded independent lawyers that have high regard for the Justice Department as an institution would be loath to be the modern-day equivalent to Bork.

But Trump, too, is cognizant of the comparison to Nixon, according to one adviser. The president, who friends said does not enjoy living in Washington and is strained by the demanding hours of the job, is motivated to carry on because he doesnt want to go down in history as a guy who tried and failed, said the adviser. He doesnt want to be the second president in history to resign.

A White House spokeswoman referred queries to the Justice Department. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.

Darren Samuelsohn contributed to this report.

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Trump threatens to break the glass on DOJ succession plan - Politico

President Donald Trumps financial disclosure released today by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics has provided the greatest detail yet of the CEO-turned-Commander-in-Chief since he ran and became President of the United States. The 98-page filing dropped today doesnt include his much-discussed still-private tax returns, but it does show Trumps income related to his Hollywood interests, including his annual SAG pension totaling $84,292, and monies from his production businesses that co-produced The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice.

In the filing (read it in full here) submitted by Trump on June 14, Trump reported assets totaling around $1.4 billion, with $596.3 million in total for the reporting period through April 15. His debts totaled more than $300 million.

Among his Hollywood assets, Trump reported income from Miss Universe LLP of $10,973,722, and his Trump Productions LLC noted as the television production and entertainment business arm of the privately held Trump Organization brought in income of $1,103,161 and is valued between $1 million-$5 million.

He also received stock dividends during the period that included from such entertainment-industry related companies as Comcast, 21st Century Fox, NBCUniversal Media LLC, Apple, Yahoo, Alphabet, Verizon and Microsoft.

Among the 12 books listed in the filing, royalties for 1987s The Art Of The Deal grew to as much as $1 million as his profile rose during the GOP primaries and general election. Crippled America, published in 2015 the year he announced his POTUS run, netted royalties as high as $5 million.

Among his numerous golf holdings is Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, which was valued at more than $50 million, earning $14,982,417 in golf-related income and $12,035,000 in land sales.

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Donald Trump's Financial Disclosure Has Hollywood Starpower - Deadline

"The Fake News Media hates when I use what has turned out to be my very powerful Social Media - over 100 million people! I can go around them," Trump tweeted.

If Trump believes this -- and he certainly seem to -- it shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how the media views the president's Twitter feed and how he employs it.

The reality is this: Every political journalist in the world is absolutely thrilled that Donald Trump not only tweets but does with the frequency and bluntness that he does. NO reporter wants Donald Trump to stop tweeting. Not one.

Trump's Twitter feed gives the political media -- and anyone else who follows him -- a direct look into his thought processes. We know what he is thinking about -- or angry about -- at all times of day. That's absolutely invaluable. It's "The President: Raw and Uncut."

Even as his White House will be excoriating the media for focusing too little on some policy roll-out or another, Trump will drop a series of tweets about the "witch hunt" Russia investigation or complain, as he did yesterday, about why the Justice Department isn't investigating alleged improprieties surrounding Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

All presidents have private thoughts that sometimes (often?) run counter to the official message the White House is pushing in a given day, week or month. But, no past president has been willing to put those discrepancies on public display in front of the tens of millions of people who follow him on Twitter before Trump.

What sort of reporter would want that pipeline to end?

The people who do want Trump to stop tweeting or to tweet less aren't the media. They're Republicans and Trump loyalists who believe his willingness to tell people exactly what is on his mind at any minute of the day fundamentally undermines the White House's efforts to find some consistent messaging and build the momentum the administration has been sorely lacking to date.

"[Twitter is] a powerful tool, but I do believe that it can be used more effectively to achieve his purpose," New York Rep. Lee Zeldin, a Trump supporter, said on CNN Friday morning. "I don't know the strategy behind, you know, this morning -- this latest tweet you are asking me about. But if there is a bigger strategy that makes sense, I'm all ears."

If you're reading this, Mr. Trump, let me be crystal clear as a card-carrying member of the media: Please keep tweeting. It provides us insight into how you think that we have never had before and may never get again from a president. Period.

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The one big thing Donald Trump gets totally wrong about the media - CNN

New York Times

Donald Trump, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, 'All Eyez on Me': Your Friday Briefing New York Times Steve Garvey, a former major league star, led a prayer before the congressional baseball game in Washington on Thursday. Credit Al Drago/The New York Times. (Want to get this briefing by email? Here's the sign-up.) Good morning. Here's what you need to ... and more »

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Donald Trump, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, 'All Eyez on Me': Your Friday Briefing - New York Times

Im starting to suspect that Donald Trump may not have been right when he said, You know, Im like a smart person. The evidence continues to mount that he is far from smart so far, in fact, that he may not be capable of carrying out his duties as president.

There is, for example, the story of how Trump met with the pastors of two major Presbyterian churches in New York. I did very, very well with evangelicals in the polls, he bragged. When the pastors told Trump they werent evangelicals, he demanded to know, What are you then? They told him they were mainline Presbyterians. But youre all Christians? he asked. Yes, they had to assure him, Presbyterians are Christians. The kicker: Trump himself is Presbyterian.

Or the story of how Trump asked the editors of the Economist whether they had ever heard of the phrase priming the pump. Yes, they assured him, they had. I havent heard it, Trump continued. I mean, I just I came up with it a couple of days ago, and I thought it was good. The phrase has been in widespread use since at least the 1930s.

Or the story of how, after arriving in Israel from Saudi Arabia, Trump told his hosts, We just got back from the Middle East.

These arent examples of stupidity, you may object, but of ignorance. This has become a favorite talking point of Trumps enablers. House Speaker Paul Ryan, for example, excused Trumps attempts to pressure FBI Director James Comey into dropping a criminal investigation of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn on the grounds that the presidents new at this and supposedly didnt realize that he was doing anything wrong. But Trump has been president for nearly five months now, and he has shown no capacity to learn on the job.

More broadly, Trump has had a lifetime 71 years and access to Americas finest educational institutions (hes a graduate of the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School, he never tires of reminding us) to learn things. And yet he doesnt seem to have acquired even the most basic information that a high school student should possess. Recall that Trump said that Frederick Douglass, who died in 1895, was an example of somebody whos done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more. He also claimed that Andrew Jackson, who died 16 years before the Civil War, was really angry that he saw what was happening in regard to the Civil War.

Why does he know so little? Because he doesnt read books or even long articles. I never have, he proudly told a reporter last year. Im always busy doing a lot. As president, Trumps intelligence briefings have been dumbed down, denuded of nuance, and larded with maps and pictures because he cant be bothered to read a lot of words. Hed rather play golf.

The surest indication of how not smart Trump is that he thinks his inability or lack of interest in acquiring knowledge doesnt matter. He said last year that he reaches the right decisions with very little knowledge other than the knowledge I [already] had, plus the words common sense, because I have a lot of common sense and I have a lot of business ability.

Hows that working out? Theres a reason why surveys show more support for Trumps impeachment than for his presidency. From his catastrophically ill-conceived executive order on immigration to his catastrophically ill-conceived firing of Comey, his administration has been one disaster after another. And those fiascos can be ascribed directly to the presidents lack of intellectual horsepower.

How could Trump fire Comey knowing that the FBI director could then testify about the improper requests Trump had made to exonerate himself and drop the investigation of Flynn? And in case there was any doubt about Trumps intent, he dispelled it by acknowledging on TV that he had the Russia thing in mind when firing the FBI director. Thats tantamount to admitting obstruction of justice. Is this how a smart person behaves? If Trump decides to fire the widely respected special counsel Robert Mueller, he will only be compounding this stupidity.

Or what about Trumps response to the June 3 terrorist attack in London? He reacted by tweeting his support for the original Travel Ban, rather than the watered down, politically correct version under review by the Supreme Court. Legal observers including Kellyanne Conways husband instantly saw that Trump was undermining his own case, because the travel ban had been revised precisely in order to pass judicial scrutiny. Indeed, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in refusing to reinstate the travel ban on June 12, cited Trumps tweets against him. Is this how a smart person behaves?

You could argue that Trumps lack of acumen is actually his saving grace, because he would be much more dangerous if he were cleverer in implementing his radical agenda. But you can also make the case that his vacuity is imperiling American security.

Trump shared code-word information with Russias foreign minister, apparently without realizing what he was doing. In the process, he may have blown Americas best source of intelligence on Islamic State plots a top-secret Israeli penetration of the militant groups computers.

Trump picked a fight on Twitter with Qatar, apparently not knowing that this small, oil-rich emirate is host to a major U.S. air base that is of vital importance in the air war against the Islamic State.

Trump criticized Londons mayor, Sadiq Khan, based on a blatant misreading of what Khan said in the aftermath of the June 3 attack: The mayor had said there was no reason to be alarmed about a heightened police presence on the streets not, as Trump claimed, about the threat of terrorism. In the process, Trump has alienated British public opinion and may have helped the anti-American Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, win votes in Britains general election.

Trump pulled out of the Paris climate accord apparently because he thinks that global warming a scientifically proven fact is a hoax. His speech announcing the pullout demonstrated that he has no understanding of what the Paris accord actually is a nonbinding compact that does not impose any costs on the United States.

Trump failed to affirm Article V, a bedrock of NATO, during his visit to Brussels, apparently because he labors under the misapprehension that European allies owe the United States and NATO vast sums of money. In fact, NATO members are now increasing their defense spending, but the money will not go to the United States or to the alliance; it will go to their own armed forces. Trump has since said he supports Article V, but his initial hesitation undermines American credibility and may embolden Russia.

Trump supporters used to claim that sage advisors could make up for his shortcomings. But he is proving too willful and erratic to be steered by those around him who know better. As Maggie Haberman of the New York Times notes: Trump doesnt want to be controlled. In [the] campaign, [he] would often do [the] opposite of what he was advised to do, simply because it was opposite.

The 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides that if the vice president and a majority of the cabinet certify that the president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, he can be removed with the concurrence of two-thirds of both houses. That wont happen, because Republicans are too craven to stand up to Trump. But on the merits perhaps it should. After nearly five months in office, Trump has given no indication that he possesses the mental capacity to be president.

Photo credit:Tom Pennington/Getty Images

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Donald Trump Is Proving Too Stupid to Be President - Foreign Policy (blog)

The yearning in the character of Donald Trump for dominance and praise is bottomless, a hunger that is never satisfied. Last week, the President gathered his Cabinet for a meeting with no other purpose than to praise him, to note the great honor and blessing of serving such a man as he. Trump nodded with grave self-satisfaction, accepting the serial hosannas as his daily due. But even as the members declared, Pyongyang-style, their everlasting gratitude and fealty to the Great Leader, this concocted dumb show of loyalty only served to suggest how unsustainable it all is.

The reason that this White House staff is so leaky, so prepared to express private anxiety and contempt, even while parading obeisance for the cameras, is that the President himself has so far been incapable of garnering its discretion or respect. Trump has made it plain that he is capable of turning his confused fury against anyone in his circle at any time. In a tweet on Friday morning, Trump confirmed that he is under investigation for firing the F.B.I. director James Comey, but blamed the Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein, for the legal imbroglio that Trump himself has created. The President has fired a few aides, he has made known his disdain and disappointment at many others, and he will, undoubtedly, turn against more. Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Jared Kushner, Jeff Sessions, Sean Spicerwho has not yet felt the lash?

Trumps egotism, his demand for one-way loyalty, and his incapacity to assume responsibility for his own untruths and mistakes were, his biographers make plain, his pattern in business and have proved to be his pattern as President.

Veteran Washington reporters tell me that they have never observed this kind of anxiety, regret, and sense of imminent personal doom among White House staffersnot to this degree, anyway. These troubled aides seem to think that they can help their own standing by turning on those around themand that by retailing information anonymously they will be able to live with themselves after serving a President who has proved so disconnected from the truth and reality.

I thought about Trump and his aides and councillors while reading The Last of the Presidents Men , Bob Woodwards 2015 book about Alexander Butterfield, a career Air Force officer who took a job as an assistant to Richard Nixon. He made the move less for ideological reasons than to indulge a yearning ambition to be in the smoketo be at the locus of power, where decisions are made.

As an undergraduate, at U.C.L.A., Butterfield knew H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, and, after serving in Vietnam and being stationed in Australia, he called on Haldeman, who was Nixons most important assistant. Haldeman made Butterfield his deputy. Butterfield got what every D.C. bureaucrat craves mostaccess. He worked on Nixons schedule, his paper flow, his travel; he offered advice, took orders, no matter how bizarre or transitory. Butterfield could not have been more in the smoke than he was then. He quickly discovered that Nixon was a fantastically weird and solitary manrude, unthoughtful, broiling with resentment against the Eastern lites who had somehow wounded him, be it in his imagination or in fact. Butterfield had to manage Nixons relations with everyone from his Cabinet members to his wife, Pat, who on vacations resided separately from the President. Butterfield carried out Nixons most peculiar orders, whether they involved barring a senior economic adviser from a White House faith service or making sure that Henry Kissinger was no longer seated at state dinners next to the most attractive woman at the occasion. (Nixon, who barely acknowledged, much less touched, his own wife in public, resented Kissingers public, and well-cultivated, image as a Washington sex symbol.)

Butterfield experienced what all aides do, eventually, if they have the constant access; he was witness to the unguarded and, in Nixons case, the most unattractive behavior of a powerful man. Incident after incident revealed Nixons distaste for his fellow human beings, his racism and anti-Semitism, his overpowering personal suspicions, and his sad longings. Nixon, the most anti-social of men, needed a briefing memo just to make it through the pleasantries of a staff birthday party. One evening, Butterfield recounts to Woodward, he sat across from Nixon on a night trip back to the White House from Camp David on Marine One, and watched as Nixon, in one of the more discomfiting passages in the literature of sexual misbehavior, kept patting the bare legs of one of his secretaries, Beverly Kaye:

And hes carrying on this small talk, but still patting her. Because I can see now, Nixon being Nixon, he doesnt quite know how to stop. You know, to stop is an action in itself. So hes pat, pat, patting her. And looking at her. And feelingI can see hes feeling more distressed all the time now about the situation hes got himself into. So he keeps trying to make this small talk, and I can see him saying [to himself], you know, when the small talk is over, what the hell am I going to do? . . . Shes petrified. Shes never had this happen before. The president of the United States is patting her bare legs.

For how long? Woodward asks.

It seems like half the way to Washington but Id say a long time, minutes.

When it appeared, The Last of the Presidents Men did not receive the attention that was paid to some of Woodwards early investigative books, but its intimacy and strangeness are very much worth returning to in the Trumpian momentespecially so if you are blessed with serving the current President. It is instructive.

Butterfield, who is ninety-one and spent dozens of hours with Woodward recounting his experiences in proximity to a President who ran what was essentially a criminal operation from the White House, emerges from the telling as a man of complex motivations. He hardly charged forward in the early days of the scandal to tell what he knew. After Nixons relection, Butterfield left the White House to lead the Federal Aviation Administration. But no matter how hard Butterfield worked to swallow his hurt feelings or to submerge his knowledge of the various enemies lists and the criminal cover-up that took shape all around him during Watergate, no matter how hard he tried to rationalize Nixons venality with his achievements, particularly the diplomatic opening to China, he came to an almost inevitable moment of reckoning.

In February, 1971, Nixon came up with the idea of putting a voice-activated taping system in his offices. Butterfield was charged with the installation. Haldeman told Butterfield that Nixon wanted the system installed on his telephones and in the Oval Office, his office in the Executive Office Building, the Cabinet Room, and the Lincoln Sitting Room. Kissinger was not to know; neither was his senior-most secretary, Rose Mary Woods. Only a few aides and the President were aware that no conversation was now truly confidential. Tiny holes were drilled into the Presidents desktop to make way for the microphones. A set of Sony 800B tape recorders was set up in the White House basement.

It was all for the sake of history, Nixon said. Kennedy and Johnson had taped selectively, but Nixon wanted it all for the recordhis own recordsbut no one was to know. Goddamn it, this cannot get out, Nixon told Butterfield. Mums the word.

In the end, of course, the tapes were Nixons undoing. In July, 1973, when Senate Watergate investigators asked Butterfield point-blank whether the White House taped conversations, Butterfield decided that his loyalty was not to the cesspool of Nixons White House but to the truth. And by confirming what so few knewthat there were tapes of Nixon and his cronies discussing Watergate and its cover-upButterfield helped end a Presidency.

Donald Trump now faces an investigation led by Robert Mueller, late of the F.B.I., and it could last many months. There is hardly any guarantee that the Administration will be found guilty of collusion with Russia, or with Russians, on any score; to predict that is to leap ahead of any publicly available evidence. Nor is there any guarantee, despite the testimony of Comey, and the testimony coming from other top national-security figures, that there will be a charge of obstruction of justice. This is bound to take some time.

But, while Trumps personality is different from Nixons, there is little evidence that the show of bogus loyalty performed last week has any basis in real life. Will Bannon, Spicer, Conway, Sessions, Kushner, and many others who have been battered in one way or another by Trump keep their counsel? Will all of them risk their futures to protect someone whose focus is on himself alone, the rest be damned? Will none of them conclude that they are working for a President whose honesty is on a par with his loyalty to others? The government is already filled with public servants and bureaucrats who have found ways to protest this Presidents actions and describe them to investigators and reporters. Will the inner circle follow? Have they already?

Alexander Butterfield, day after day, would hear Nixon say, Were going to nail those sons of bitches. He heard the lies; he watched the President try to crush his opponents with surveillance and dirty tricks. It disgusted him, but, for a good while, he assumed that the Presidency would endure; it was too powerful an institution to fall. But then momentum toward the truth began to build a wave, as Butterfield called it. He was, all along, ambivalent, torn between loyalty to the Presidentor, at least, to the idea of the Presidencyand a desire to do the right thing. When his time came, though, Butterfield testified.

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Who in the White House Will Turn Against Donald Trump? - The New Yorker

That was 219 days ago.

And yet, on Thursday afternoon, Trump sent two tweets attacking his former opponent.

What these twin tweets suggest is something we already knew: Trump just can't quit the 2016 election, and Clinton.

He spent weeks reveling in his stunning win. He reminded anyone who asked -- and lots of people who didn't -- that he had won over 300 electoral votes, a feat people said was impossible for any Republicans. As his 100th day in office approached, Trump handed out electoral maps to reporters coming to talk to him about what he had done for those first 100 days.

Huge framed electoral maps were shown being brought into the White House.

The 2016 election represented Trump's greatest triumph, his life's work: Proving that all the elites who mocked him or said he couldn't do something were mistaken all along. They had to eat their words. He was right. Everyone else was wrong. The end.

Then there's the fact that Trump also works better when he has someone or something to run against. In Clinton, he found a perfect opponent -- someone as cautious as he was risky, someone as insider as he was outsider, someone as mannered as he was unruly.

The problem for Trump is that he won the election. It's over. Has been for a long time. (We are now closer to November 2017 than we are to November 2016.)

In winning, he became the president. And what the current president does or has done matters a whole lot more than what a losing candidate for president does, in the eyes of our criminal and legal systems.

(That's not unique to Trump. Many members of Congress -- of both parties -- have resigned in the face of legal problems, knowing that a former House member is a lot less juicy of a target than a sitting one.)

Then there are the specifics of the allegations Trump is making against Clinton in his tweets.

Here's the key paragraph:

"As the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, Canadian records show, a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation. Uranium One's chairman used his family foundation to make four donations totaling $2.35 million. Those contributions were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons, despite an agreement Mrs. Clinton had struck with the Obama White House to publicly identify all donors. Other people with ties to the company made donations as well."

What Trump is arguing is, essentially, that the questions about the uranium mine sale and the plane visit should take precedence over the "hoax" that is the investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election, potential collusion with his campaign and the possibility that he obstructed justice in the probe.

That is, of course, a matter of personal opinion -- and one Trump is very much entitled to. But remember that the special counsel was appointed by the deputy attorney general within the Trump administration. Bob Mueller was deputy AG Rod Rosenstein's pick, not Clinton's, or anyone else's. This was not a partisan action.

Trump is a victim of his own success here.

He won the election. He is the President -- and the most powerful person in the country. That means he gets a level of scrutiny no one else does. Particularly when there is so much smoke swirling regarding the ties between Russia and his campaign, and his decision to fire Comey in the midst of a federal investigation into those allegations.

Trump can try to distract. He can try to deflect. He can complain about Clinton's alleged transgressions. But what he can't change is the fact that he is President, and this investigation isn't going to disappear just because he sent two -- or two hundred -- tweets about Clinton.

Continued here:

Memo to Donald Trump: The election ended 219 days ago. You won. - CNN

New York Times

Moving to Scuttle Obama Legacy, Donald Trump to Crack Down on Cuba New York Times WASHINGTON President Trump on Friday will move to halt the historic rapprochement between the United States and Cuba set in motion by former President Barack Obama, delivering a speech in Miami in which he plans to announce he is clamping down ... Trump to unveil new Cuba travel restrictions in aim to slam regime's human rights recordCNBC Trump to announce Cuba policy changesWashington Times Donald Trump's Cuba policy restricts travel, business with militarySun Sentinel Quartz -Wall Street Journal (subscription) -The Independent all 225 news articles »

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Moving to Scuttle Obama Legacy, Donald Trump to Crack Down on Cuba - New York Times

From his rise in Manhattan social circles to his career as a real estate developer to his time as a reality TV star, he's always employed these same basic tactics. If someone writes or says something Trump doesn't like, he either threatens to or actually sues while simultaneously pushing out a counter-narrative aimed at discrediting the initial report and turning the story toward more favorable ground for him.

Everything is to be treated as a tabloid story that can be shaped, changed, rebutted, knocked down and torn apart though force of will -- and words.

It's worked remarkably well for Trump. And so it shouldn't be all that surprising that he's brought that blueprint to Washington with him.

Except that the White House -- and the political and legal worlds it touches -- isn't the same thing that Trump is used to facing. Not at all. The rules governing this world aren't the rules of the tabloids of New York City media. Bob Mueller isn't some "Page Six" reporter.

Trump doesn't seem to have even the slightest understanding of that distinction. His twin tweets Thursday morning make that point better than I ever could.

This is standard-issue stuff in the Trump playbook. When attacked, attack back -- harder. Go after the story in big, broad ways -- "total hoax" is one way Trump has described the federal investigation -- and assume that the average person won't consume enough details or follow it closely enough to see whether you're right or wrong.

But this investigation isn't anything like what Trump has faced before. He can't simply say this is all a "witch hunt" or a "hoax" and have it disappear. Short of firing Mueller, which seems to me incredibly unlikely -- particularly after the leak of the obstruction investigation -- Trump can't stop it. The investigation will proceed no matter what Trump says about it or who involved in it he calls names. It will also, eventually, reach some conclusions about the nature of Russia's hacking of the election and whether or not there was any collusion in that effort by any member of the Trump campaign.

That train has already left the station. And Trump's ability to derail it is decidedly limited.

That doesn't mean Trump's use of his tried and true "attack, pivot, declare victory" strategy against Mueller and the special counsel investigation won't have any impact.

The more Trump casts the investigation as biased and unfairly targeted at him, the more his supporters will believe that it is. Which means that if Trump either fires Mueller -- again, that is so hard to imagine -- or works to discredit the final conclusions of the special counsel, there will be a ready bloc of his supporters eager to adopt and spread that message.

"I told you this whole special counsel was a witch hunt," you can imagine Trump saying to nods from his supporters. "Of course they concluded I was in the wrong. They had decided that before they even started investigating. We need to drain the swamp and make America great again."

That line will work with his supporters. But it won't change the underlying facts Mueller unearths -- and the reverberations they could cause among everyone outside of Trump's most loyal backers.

Trump is a blunt instrument. He knows one way of doing things. And that way has always worked for him. But this investigation is both more serious than anything Trump has faced before.

Almost everyone grasps that. Everyone except Donald John Trump, that is.

View original post here:

Donald Trump doesn't get the special counsel investigation. And he's never going to. - CNN

Windsor Mann, Opinion contributor Published 3:54 p.m. ET June 15, 2017 | Updated 10 hours ago

Great president or greatest? That appeared to be the question at President Donald Trump's first meeting of his full Cabinet on Monday, as top aides took turns piling praise on the boss. (June 12) AP

President Trump(Photo: Pool photo by Olivier Douliery)

President Donald Trump and his cabinet both have the same job: praising and overpraising Trump on camera. Thats what happened on Monday. The job is so demanding that Trump cant do it alone.

Never has there been a president, with few exceptions who has passed more legislation and who has done more things than what weve done, Trumpsaid, proving himself to be a student neither of history nor of the present.

Trumps message of how awesome he is resonated with members of his cabinet, who took turns thanking and praising him.

Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta: I am privileged to be here deeply honored and I want to thank you...

Chief of staff Reince Priebus: We thank you for the opportunity and the blessing to serve your agenda.

Vice President Mike Pence: The greatest privilege of my life is to serve as vice president to the president. Being his wifes husband and his childrens father are probably not far behind.

Monday was Thanksgiving Day at the White House. In all, Trumps cabinet thanked him 46 times. They said great 32times, honor 15 times and privilege seven times. They found a thesaurus zero times.

History repeats itself, and so does the Trump administration, which has a history of praising itself. In April, the White House issued a press release declaring its support of itself: Senior Administration Officials Praise President Donald J. Trumps Buy American, Hire American Executive Order. This is what happens when only a third of Americans approve of the job youre doing and a large percentage of those people work for you.

Smart cookies Trump might be honored to meet: Windsor Mann

Lessons from Rep. Gabrielle Giffords shooting would serve us well today

Flattery is Trumps cocaine hes addicted to it and, like cocaine, its not always genuine. Listening to Youre the Best from The Karate Kid soundtrack does not make you the best. Trust me, Ive tried. Likewise, praising Trump does not make him praiseworthy. This I havent tried.

Trumps dependency, enabled by his sycophantic staff, distorts his grasp of reality. If he ever holds a debate at the White House, it will be about whether he is the best president ever or the best human ever. When his children got good grades at school, Trump probably forced them to give him a round of applause.

After the meeting with his cabinet-cult, Trump tweeted that hes bringing real change to D.C., which unfortunately is true. The change is of the North Korean variety, and its real. Kim Jong Don is not entirely a figment of our paranoid imaginations. As were learning daily, reality is sometimes more cartoonish than cartoons.

Tuesday was the 51st anniversary of the Supreme Courts Miranda decision a reminder that Trumps staff has the right to remain silent. Wednesday was Flag Daya reminder that the Pledge of Allegiance is to the flag, not to The Donald.

Trumps slogan is America First, but his policy is Me First. Whats disconcerting about this policy is how swiftly it is being executed. While Trump is free to speak his mind about anything, no one else in the administration has this privilege. They speak honestly only when anonymously. Their privilege is thanking Trump for the privilege of thanking him and getting paid for it.

POLICING THE USA:Alook atrace, justice, media

We need patriotism, not severed heads, to make America great again

Checks and balances, as David Frumpointed out inThe Atlantic, are a metaphor, not a mechanism. Someone must do the checking and balancing, and so far theres no sign of either in Trumps coterie.

Speaking of balancing, Id like to take this opportunity to balance my criticisms with some praise. Trump makes my job easy by doing his job poorly, and for that I am (sort of) thankful.

Windsor Mann is the editor ofThe Quotable Hitchens: From Alcohol to Zionism. Harass him on Twitter@WindsorMann.

You can readdiverse opinions from ourBoard of Contributorsand other writers ontheOpinion front page,on Twitter@USATOpinionand in our dailyOpinion newsletter.To submit a letter, comment or column, check oursubmission guidelines.

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Flattery is Donald Trump's cocaine he's addicted to it - USA TODAY

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull mimicked President Trump during a leaked speech at a ball in Australia hosted by the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery on June 14. (AP)

You know what they say: In the age of smartphones, there's no such thing as off the record.

It's a lesson Australias prime minister just learned the hard way.

On Thursday, Malcolm Turnbull delivered a jovial speech at Parliament House's annual press ball, the equivalent of the White House Correspondents' Association dinner. In it, he made fun of the Australian government's dismal poll rankings. And he did so usinga verbal tick made popular by a certain world leader.

Donald and I, we are winning and winning in the polls, Turnbull said. We are winning so much. We are winning like we have never won before.To raucous laughter, he continued: We are winning in the polls. We are, we are not the fake polls, not the fake polls theyre the one were not winning in. Were winning in the real polls, you know, the online polls. They are so easy to win.

Though the speech was off the record, it was recorded on a phone and broadcast by the Nine Network.

Turnbullalso referenced Trump's Russia troubles. Referencing his supposed glowing polls, Turnbull asked: Did you know that? I know that, did you know that? I kind of know that. I know that. They are so easy to win. I have this Russian guy.

The prime minister later tried to walk back his remarks, telling Melbourne Radio 3AW that he was disappointed by the leak. Its a breach of protocol; its a breach of faith and all those things, he said. Though he also noted the obvious:He was only kidding. Its lighthearted, its affectionate, good-natured and the butt of my jokes was myself, the prime minister said.

The U.S. Embassyin Canberra released a statement saying it takes the impersonation with the good humor that was intended.

We understand that last nights event is equivalent to our own White House correspondents dinner, the embassy's statement reads.

Historically, Australia has been one of America's closest allies, though that relationship has been tested under Trump. Turnbull's first telephone call with Trump was, in the president's words, testy.Trump was surprised and angry to learn about a deal that required the United States to accept about 1,250 refugees who had made their way to Australia.

Since then, though, the pair has made an effort to appear close, at least in public. Turnbull is rarely critical of the U.S. president, and even shares some of his hard-line views about immigration.

The head of the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery, which hosted the event, said he was disappointed that the non-publication agreement had been breached. But Laurie Oakes, who broke the story, said he had not attended the ball and did not think that journalists should be in the business of letting politicians go off the record at events they host.

The idea that there be no leak with hundreds of people in the room armed with mobile phones is just ridiculous, Oakes told the Associated Press.

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Australian leader is on the hot seat for making fun of Donald Trump - Washington Post

The Senate approved the bill 98-2, with Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky and Independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont voting against the measure. The bill, which includes both Russian and Iranian sanctions, now heads to the House, which still needs to pass it before it goes to President Donald Trump's desk.

The measure is widely seen as a rebuke to Trump, as it hits Russia with new sanctions to punish Moscow for its interference in US elections, as well as over Moscow's aggression in Ukraine and Syria.

The bill establishes a review process for Congress to have a say whether the White House eases Russia sanctions. It also establishes new sanctions against those conducting cyberattacks on behalf of the Russian government as well as supplying arms to Syrian President Bashar Assad, and it allows for sanctions to hit Russia's mining, metals, shipping and railways sectors.

"We moved to make the Congress, not the President, the final arbiter of sanctions relief when necessary," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said. "Any idea of the President that he can lift sanctions on his own for whatever reason are dashed by this legislation."

The Russia sanctions measure was added as an amendment to an Iranian sanctions bill, after a deal was struck between the heads of the Senate Foreign Relations and Banking Committees. The Russia amendment was added to the sanctions bill in a 97-2 vote on Wednesday.

Despite the overwhelming vote, the Russia sanctions package was no sure thing. Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker of Tennessee had initially been hesitant to take it up, as the administration had expressed a hope it could improve relations with Moscow.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said this week that he was wary of Congress taking actions that could interfere with the administration's efforts to improve relations with Russia.

"What I wouldn't want to do is close the channels off," Tillerson told a Senate committee.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday that the Trump administration is "committed to existing sanctions against Russia" but is "still reviewing the new Russia sanctions amendment."

"We will keep them in place until Moscow fully honors its commitment to resolve the crisis in Ukraine," Sanders said. "We believe the existing executive branch sanctions regime is the best tool for compelling Russia to fulfill its commitments."

Still, Corker and other Republicans said they expect Trump to sign the bill if it's passed by the House.

"I called over myself yesterday and just shared some thoughts with them. But look, this bill is going to become law," Corker told reporters on Wednesday. "I've had conversations with Tillerson more generally about our relationship with Russia, not about details (of the legislation)."

The Senate also passed two amendments before approving the bill. The first was a technical change that the sanctions would not apply to NASA and commercial space launches, as Russian rocket engines are used for the American Atlas V and Antares rockets.

The second reaffirmed "the strategic importance of Article 5" in NATO, the principle that an attack on one NATO member is an attack on all members of the alliance.

CNN's Dan Merica contributed to this report.

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Senate passes Russia sanctions bill, pushing back against Trump - CNN

I reply to President Donald Trump'stweets sometimes.

I'm not proud of it. It's a compulsion, like biting fingernails or eating all the Doritos in the bag at once. When I wake up and see a blustery new message from our tweeter-in-chief, what am I supposed to do?Walk away? Perform yoga stretches? No. I carve out a snarkyretort. If I'm fast enough, I watch the likes and retweets roll in at lightning speed. (This is the 2017 equivalent of commenting "FIRST!" on an explosive message board thread.)

Sometimes, I try to debunk the misinformation Trump sharesthe false claimsabout an apologyletter from The New York Times, for instance, or the lies about his approval ratings. Other times, I just tweet Borat jokes.

Culture Emails and Alerts- Get the best of Newsweek Culture delivered to your inbox

Again: Not proud. The sight of some verified nobody pumping out atweetstorm in Trump's mentions has become such aclich that there are now numerous profiles of the people who do this every day. The genre is very ripe forparody:

I won't pretend this is some noble act of resistance (or, as they say, #resistance). It's just a quick shot ofdopamine when my tweet blows up. Plus, it'smomentarily satisfying to be able to talk back to Trump on the public medium he can'tstay away from. There isno historical precedent for Trump'sTwitter. The president of the United States communicates directly with us in unfiltered outbursts when he's at his angriest, and we get to respond. It's weird. Sometimes he even sees the responses. And then he gets madder.

On Thursday, Trump, or somebody with access to his account, must have seen my response to one of his tweets.I know this, because he blocked me.

The block came shortly after Trump tweeted about being caught in"the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history." (Presumably, he is referring to the Russia investigation.) The president's use of the phrase "witch hunt" is curious butahistorical. I sent a snarky reply telling Trump to stop comparing himself to witches, who've been persecuted far more than he is:

A few minutes later, I checked to see if Trump had done any more tweets. Instead, I found that he had blocked me. (If you're new to Twitter, this means I can't tweet at him or read his tweets anymore.)

Was I blocked due to a pattern of behavior or because that one joke hurt Trump's feelings? No idea.It would be flattering to think that the president has read the articles I've written about him, like the one in which I relayed the stories behind his terrible movie cameos or the one where I profiled his celebrity admirers. But that seems unlikely, since they don't get discussedonFox&Friends. Plus, Trump doesn't really seem to read,anyway.

Related: The ridiculous stories behind Donald Trump's movie and TV cameos

I'm not the first to be blocked. Trump has been making liberal use of the feature lately. He blocked the writer Bess Kalb, who frequently mocks his tweets. He evenblocked Stephen King the other day. Fellow author J.K. Rowling kindly offered to DM Trump's tweets to King:

In fact, Ashley Feinberg, over at Wired, has a running list of people Trump has blocked on Twitter. For a certain breed of journalist, being insulted by Trump is a badge of honor. CNN'sChris Cillizza, for instance, has had an unflattering quote from Trump in his Twitter bio for yearsproof that even a broken clock is right twice a day:

Chris Cillizza's Twitter bio. twitter.com

So I'm not alone. After I revealed I'd been blocked, I got some interesting replies. Random Trump-haters started tweeting at me with a strange mix of congratulations ("Welcome to the #BlockedByTrump club drinks are at 6," tweeted@BrandonTXNeely) and messages of condolence. "Wow, another one down," tweeted@MissNeverTrump, as though I'd been slain on the front lines of some war. One person shared a memethat says, "Live your life in such a way that Donald Trump blocks you on Twitter." (I assume this is an ancient Greek proverb.) Even the actress who voicedDil Pickles on Rugrats swung by to voice her support.

Meanwhile, I received a new wave ofvitriol from Trump supporters. One guy asked me if I support the recent shooting ofRepublicanRepresentative Steve Scalise. (I don't!) Another Twitter user called me a "dumb ass dork not worth anybody's time." (Tough, but fair.)

The weird thing about being blocked by Trump is that I can no longer look at his tweets, unless I open an incognito browser that was probably intended for porn, not statements from the president. This has worrisome constitutional implications. TheKnight First Amendment Institute has argued that Trump is violating people's right to free speech when he blocks them on Twitter.The Institute has threatened to file a lawsuit. "If theres any kind of forum the government is operating for expression, it may not discriminate on the basis of viewpoint," a senior fellow at the Institute told Wired.

Meanwhile, I now have no idea whether Trump has tweeted in the last hour. Is this whatfreedom feels like?

Actually, you know what? J. K. Rowling, if you're reading this, can you DM Trump's tweets to me, too?

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Donald Trump Blocked Me on Twitter for Telling Him He's Not as Cool as Witches - Newsweek

President Donald Trump departs the White House on June 7 in Washington.

Win McNamee/Getty Images

Have you filed an emoluments lawsuit against Donald Trump yet? If not, you better act fastthe docket is getting crowded. The attorneys general of D.C. and Maryland filed a suit on Monday alleging that the presidents receipt of foreign gifts and payments violated the Constitution. Two days later, nearly 200 members of Congress also sued Trump for the same purportedly unconstitutional conduct. Trumps attorneys at the Department of Justice, meanwhile, are busy fighting another emoluments lawsuit, this one filed back in January on behalf of an ethics watchdog and Trumps business competitors.

Mark Joseph Stern is a writer for Slate. He covers the law and LGBTQ issues.

Do any of these lawsuits have a real chance of success? And what would success even look like in this deeply ambiguous and heretofore uncharted area of constitutional law?

The very first emoluments suit is beginning to provide an answer to those questions. Spearheaded by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, this lawsuit elevated the emoluments problem from academic blogs to front-page headlines. The Constitutions Foreign Emoluments Clause declares that no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state. CREW reads this clause very broadly, arguing that it bars the president from receiving any payment from a foreign government.

CREW hopes to obtain a court order compelling Trump to divest from his business empire, which continues to receive cash from foreign, state-owned corporations. Its secondary goal is much more modest: The group wants to get to discovery, allowing it to demand financial records from Trump and his business empireincluding the presidents tax returns. To get to that point, however, CREW must prove it is an injured party and thus has standing to sue in court. CREW alleges that Trump injured the group by forcing it to divert valuable resources to an investigation into his ethics violations. This theory of standing was clearly a long shot. So, in March, CREW brought a restaurant association and a luxury hotel booker into its suit; both claim Trumps emoluments violations are causing them to lose business, a more solid ground for standing.

Even if CREW cant get past this threshold, it has already scored one political victory: The lawsuit forced the Justice Department to defend Trumps acquisition of wealth. In its lengthy brief, the DOJ argued that the Foreign Emoluments Clause applies only to benefits arising from services the president provides to the foreign state. Under the DOJs theory, Trump wont run afoul of the Constitution unless he receives payment from a foreign government for engaging in some official act.

This cramped interpretation is designed to ensure that private commercial transactions fall outside the clauses scope. To bolster that proposition, the brief embarked upon a comically tone-deaf tour of presidential profiteering through the ages. We learned that, during their presidencies, George Washington owned a gristmill; Thomas Jefferson, a nail factory; James Madison and James Monroe, tobacco plantations. According to the DOJ, these enterprises are constitutionally analogous to Trumps empire which, to give just one of many examples, allows the president to receive millions of dollars from a state-controlled Chinese bank.

The DOJs thesis is probably wrong; a wealth of historical evidence suggests the Framers viewed an emolument as any good or service of value, not one specific kind of bribery. But even if Trumps lawyers are right, their brief is still politically deleterious. The DOJ is now defending the chief executives constitutional right to rake in as much money as he can from foreign states, so long as the exchange doesnt involve a demonstrable quid pro quo. Trump and his lawyers are defining corruption downward. First, we were told the president would separate himself from his businesses. Now we have learned that he wont, but he promises not to take any outright bribes. As far as presidential ethics go, only Richard Nixon set a lower bar.

Top Comment

Birther v. Emoluments. There was no evidence, none, that Obama was born in Kenya. The one misprint was by a literary agent who flat admitted she messed it up. More...

Should a federal judge toss out CREWs suit, Trumps opponents will have at least two more bites at the apple. The Washington and Maryland suit is especially interesting, since both jurisdictions have a strong case for standing. Maryland argues that Trumps D.C. hotel is drawing foreign business out of the state, reducing its tax revenue; the District of Columbia alleges the hotel is drawing business away from its convention center, which is taxpayer-owned. The congressional lawsuit, on the other hand, asserts Trump is injuring members of Congress by depriving them of the opportunity to vote on his emoluments. Because the Constitution allows the president to receive emoluments with the consent of the Congress, these representatives argue they must be able to allow or prohibit Trumps acceptance of foreign payments.

That theory is certainly creative, although law professor and emoluments expert Andy Grewal doubts it will succeed since Congress could vote on Trumps emoluments and has simply chosen not to. Either way, both suits will force the Justice Department to continue defending Trumps profiteering. If one makes it past the standing stage, the plaintiffs will enter the promised land of discovery (and tax returns). The emoluments litigation has already put Trump on the defensive and forced his lawyers to justify presidential enrichment; it now poses a real threat of unveiling his secretive business dealings as well. What started as a single long-shot lawsuit may soon turn into a nightmare for the president.

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Donald Trump Is Now Facing Three Emoluments Lawsuits - Slate Magazine

In a white-walled suite on the second floor of the West Wing, about a dozen of Donald Trump's top aides gathered with their early-evening coffees on a recent Monday to map out the President's midsummer message. Most people in the country now know that that task is akin to staging an opera in a hurricane. But for a handful of senior aides, imposing order on the chaotic nature of the Trump presidency has become something of an obsession.

Just a few weeks earlier, White House aides had christened June "Jobs Month" only to find the story line's launch upended by a misfired May 31 midnight tweet from the President featuring the nonword covfefe. "Infrastructure Week" largely fell victim to the testimony of former FBI director James Comey, prompting mockery from no less than Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, who returned from a trip to the gleaming airports of China to ask, "How did 'Infrastructure Week' go?" And "Workforce Development Week" might have had more success had Trump's visit to Wisconsin not been overshadowed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions' raising his right hand and taking an oath to tell the truth to the Senate Intelligence Committee about the Russia investigation.

Yet this group--including chief of staff Reince Priebus, staff secretary Rob Porter, legislative and policy aides, and press secretary Sean Spicer--has stayed focused on its task, plotting from the second floor where Trump seldom wanders. They tout accomplishments their predecessors have pulled off with greater ease, albeit under relatively easier circumstances. Trump's overseas trip, organized by Jared Kushner and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, proved that a well-scheduled and prepared President could avoid major missteps. Since then, they have pointed to the months of meetings and meticulously staged announcements around Trump's decision to quit the Paris climate accord and to privatize the air-traffic-control system as emblematic of the more ordered West Wing. "What people don't see is that this stuff doesn't just happen by accident," says one senior official involved, who, like most of the 11 White House officials TIME spoke with for this article, asked not to be named in order to speak freely. "You can't take 52 cards and throw them down and have them fall into a neat stack."

Neat is not a word most people would use to describe anything about the Trump Administration to date. Most of the men and women working in the West Wing didn't work with the President on the campaign before they took over the Executive Branch on Jan. 20, and many had never worked in government before. Their politics ran from far-right nationalist to centrist, and internal disagreements were frequent and noisome. Arguments became public, and senior advisers tried to circumvent one another for short-term advantage. The leaks seldom resulted in punished, even when the offenders were easily identified. And Trump's open-door policy left aides vying to be the last voice in his ear, undermining the finality of his decisions. His aides have since pledged to no longer try to outmaneuver the policymaking process by stealing private moments with the President to make their case. "We've all been burned," explains one West Wing staffer. "You can win today, but you pay for it tomorrow."

Trump's self-assurance made things worse. He entered the Oval Office as confident in his abilities as he was unprepared for the task of managing the government. In marked contrast to other Administrations, just one senior staffer, deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin, had prior White House experience in a senior role, and his new job was primarily logistical. A reluctant delegator, Trump initially believed the White House was just a larger-scale version of Trump Tower, with him seeking counsel from a wide circle. As ever, he expected aides to jockey for his favor.

Some things have changed. In late April, Priebus and Porter imposed a strict flow chart for every decision heading the President's way, requiring the buy-in--and, most important, the participation--of all appropriate senior aides, Cabinet secretaries and Capitol Hill liaisons. Dissenting voices are channeled in brief memos and organized meetings for the President, who likes to take in the differing views as if he's watching a judges' table on a reality show. Aides often don't agree, but there is a growing recognition that they're heard regularly. "Increasingly, everyone has more ownership of it," said Porter. "There's a lot more discipline now."

The White House has also fallen into a set rhythm of weekly meetings, despite regular disruptions from the President, who still surprises top aides with inflammatory tweets, impromptu gatherings and unscheduled announcements. The goal is modest: one out-of-town trip and one agency visit a week, bolstered by a handful of White House roundtables and meetings with stakeholders and Capitol Hill lawmakers. The team had already set aside the last two weeks of June for the themes of "technology" and "energy." July is set to have a "Made in America" theme, playing the nationalist strings that helped Trump win the White House in the first place.

What no one controls is Trump himself, who has encouraged the new structure but also takes the opportunity to regularly disrupt it or work outside the process. Trump continues to be critical of many of his senior staff, creating internal tensions and fraying levels of trust. The President punctuates meetings and visits with allies with questions about the performance of everyone, from Vice President Mike Pence to Spicer. The result is a West Wing staff that functions with an unspoken motto akin to the Serenity Prayer, the meditation common among 12-step program participants: aides focus on changing what they can, seeking to accept what they cannot and trying to keep a level-enough head to know the difference between the two.

Trump advisers now talk about the self-inflicted wounds of the first five months as largely out of their hands--forced upon them by an instinctual, impulsive President. They believe their advice will best position the President for success--if he chooses that path. "He has his own opinions as far as reading the tea leaves and watching the news and trusting his gut on how things need to be done," the senior official says.

Maybe so, but Trump has yet to empower any single person to speak authoritatively in his stead, and there is little sign that he trusts his team to steer him in the right direction. Trump has prevented Priebus from assuming the traditional chief-of-staff role as first among equals. If an aide's profile grows too big, the President has a tendency to publicly shoot that person down, or privately raise the specter of a staff change. (Even son-in-law Jared Kushner drew the President's ire over his elevated public profile and contributions to the internal discord.)

As a result, the careful planning in the White House is often upended from within. On June 7, when Trump tweeted that he would pick Christopher Wray to be his new FBI director, his communications operation was left in the dark, rushing to craft a response without forewarning. The same was true when he announced the firing of Comey, or the dozens of times he has redirected the news cycle with an early-morning tweet.

Several senior Republicans expect that a breaking point will come, which will force the President to cede more of his control. "When his numbers go down to 30%, he has got to listen," said one Republican with prior White House experience. "And they are starting to decline." On June 12, Trump hit 60% disapproval in the Gallup daily poll.

Those declining numbers may explain why, inside the West Wing, an alternative mood is sometimes the order of the day. Trump's entire Cabinet gathered steps from the Oval Office for its inaugural meeting in a classic Trump style, with effusive public praise of the President himself. "It is just the greatest privilege of my life to serve as Vice President," Pence began, after which each officer followed. Priebus called the chance to serve Trump's agenda a "blessing." The televised performance offered a rare public glimpse to the sort of praise aides often give Trump in private as they seek to win his favor. But such tactics won't solve the many headaches that still shadow the President. Dozens of key positions throughout the federal government--like deputy Cabinet secretaries, independent agency heads and U.S. Attorneys--have still not been appointed, in part because of disagreement at the White House. Congress is still waiting to be briefed on strategic plans for the wars against Islamic extremism, and there is little hope of passing any of Trump's big-ticket legislative priorities before the end of the summer.

Hours after the Cabinet meeting, White House aides returned to the second floor to focus on the task at hand: cobbling together a message to incorporate disparate agenda items like the budget, health care reform and infrastructure investment. Then, as the group was heading out, the careful planning was thrown off again as a friend of Trump's said in a television interview that the President was considering firing the Russia investigation's special counsel, Robert Mueller. The White House team quickly rushed out denials, but for many top aides--even those central to the planning process--the news had struck a nerve. No matter how much they prepare, they just can't be sure what the President will do next.

--With reporting by MICHAEL SCHERER/WASHINGTON

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Play Video - TIME

Aris Folley, AOL.com

Jun 15th 2017 4:08PM

Of all of the strange theories about Donald and Melania Trump, this one is possibly the most bizarre.

On Wednesday it was the 71st birthday of President Donald Trump and his wife wished him well via Twitter.

But a subtle detail on the image of a birthday card she tweeted to her husband has left many online scratching their heads -- a small orange dot.

Since she published the image on Wednesday evening, more than 40,000 users have "liked" the first lady's post -- and many have speculated on about whatever could have caused the glaring stain.

RELATED: Donald and Melania Trump through the years

34 PHOTOS

Donald and Melania Trump through the years

See Gallery

Real estate magnate Donald Trump (L) and his girlfriend Melania Knauss leave Hollinger International's annual meeting at the Metropolitan Club in New York on May 22, 2003. Hollinger publishes The Chicago Sun-Times, The Daily Telegraph of London, the Jerusalem Post and other newspapers. REUTERS/Peter Morgan PM/ME

Donald Trump and his girlfriend Melania Knauss arrive at the Vanity Fair Oscar party at Morton's restaurant in West Hollywood, California, February 29, 2004. REUTERS/Ethan Miller REUTERS EM/AS

Real estate tycoon Donald Trump and his friend Melania Knauss pose for photographers as they arrive at the New York premiere of Star Wars Episode I: "The Phantom Menace," May 16. JC/SV/AA

From left, Billy Crystal, host of the 76th annual Academy Awards, his wife Janice Goldfinger, Melania Knauss and her boyfriend Donald Trump, pose together as they leave the Vanity Fair Oscar party at Morton's restaurant in West Hollywood, California, early March 1, 2004. REUTERS/Ethan Miller EM

Developer Donald Trump (R) and his girlfriend Melania Knauss pose for photographers after the final show of "The Apprentice" April 15, 2004 in New York. Bill Rancic, a 32-year-old Internet entrepreneur from Chicago, edged out Kwame Jackson, a 29-year-old New Yorker and Harvard MBA, for the Trump-described "dream job of a lifetime" and its $250,000 salary. REUTERS/Jeff Christensen JC

Donald Trump's new bride, Slovenian model Melania Knauss, waves as they leave the Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church after their wedding in Palm Beach, Florida, January 22, 2005. REUTERS/Gary I Rothstein

Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs (R) accepts an award from the Rush Philanthropic Foundation for his efforts to support public education and dedication to youth and social activism, from Donald Trump and his wife Melania (L) at Trump's Trumps Mar-A-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida on March 11, 2005. REUTERS/Jason Arnold MS

Donald Trump and his wife Melania Kanauss watch the Miami Heat play the New York Knicks in the first quarter of their NBA game in New York's Madison Square Garden, March 15, 2005. REUTERS/Ray Stubblebine RFS

Donald Trump (L) and his wife Melania arrive at the Museum of Modern Art for a reception in honor of Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, in New York November 1, 2005. The Royals are on the first day of an eight-day visit to the U.S. REUTERS/Gary Hershorn

Donald Trump arrives with wife Melania at a reception in honor of Britain's Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, November 1, 2005. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Donald Trump (L) and his wife Melania (R) arrive at the Museum of Modern Art for a reception in honor of Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, in New York, November 1, 2005. The royals are on the first day of an eight-day visit to the U.S. REUTERS/Gary Hershorn

Real estate tycoon Donald Trump and his wife Melania attend a Miami Heat against the Los Angeles Lakers NBA game on Christmas Day in Miami, Florida, December 25, 2005. REUTERS/Marc Serota

Donald Trump stands next to his wife Melania and their son Barron before he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles January 16, 2007. REUTERS/Chris Pizzello (UNITED STATES)

Real estate magnate and television personality Donald Trump and his wife Melania stand on the red carpet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Benefit celebrating the opening of the exhibition "Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty" in New York May 2, 2011. REUTERS/Mike Segar (UNITED STATES - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT FASHION BUSINESS)

Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump and his wife Melania watch Rafael Nadal of Spain play against Tommy Robredo during their men's quarter-final match at the U.S. Open tennis championships in New York September 4, 2013. REUTERS/Adam Hunger (UNITED STATES - Tags: SPORT TENNIS ENTERTAINMENT REAL ESTATE BUSINESS)

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (2nd from L) watches with his wife Melania as Serena Williams of the U.S. plays against her sister and compatriot Venus Williams in their quarterfinals match at the U.S. Open Championships tennis tournament in New York, September 8, 2015. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump kisses his wife Melania as he speaks at a campaign rally on caucus day in Waterloo, Iowa February 1, 2016. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks as his wife Melania listens at a campaign rally on caucus day in Waterloo, Iowa February 1, 2016. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump reacts to an answer his wife Melania gives during an interview on NBC's 'Today' show in New York, U.S. April 21, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Melania Trump gestures at her husband Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump as they leave the stage, after she concluded her remarks at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. July 18, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Melania Trump appears on stage after U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speech at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. July 21, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar

Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump greets his wife Melania onstage after the conclusion of his first debate with Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, U.S., September 26, 2016. REUTERS/Joe Raedle/Pool

(L-R) Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Tiffany Trump and Ivanka Trump attend an official ribbon cutting ceremony at the new Trump International Hotel in Washington U.S., October 26, 2016. REUTERS/Gary Cameron TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump cuts the ribbon at his new Trump International hotel in Washington, DC, U.S., October 26 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump kisses his wife Melania Trump at a campaign rally in Wilmington, North Carolina Florida, U.S. November 5, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Republican U.S. President-elect Donald Trump kisses his wife Melania at his election night rally in Manhattan, New York, U.S., November 9, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and his wife Melania take part in a Make America Great Again welcome concert in Washington, U.S. January 19, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and his wife Melania take part in a Make America Great Again welcome concert in Washington, U.S. January 19, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attend the Liberty Ball in honor of his inauguration in Washington, U.S. January 20, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attend the 60th Annual Red Cross Gala at Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., February 4, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump greet a marching band as they arrive at Trump International Golf club to watch the Super Bowl LI between New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., February 5, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

U.S. President Donald Trump hugs his wife Melania during a "Make America Great Again" rally at Orlando Melbourne International Airport in Melbourne, Florida, U.S. February 18, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

U.S. President Donald Trump holds up H.R. 321 as his daughter Ivanka Trump (C) and U.S. first lady Melania Trump (2nd R) watch after it was signed in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, DC, U.S. February 28, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

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Here are a few ideas, according to the people of Twitter.

Some argued the small dot came from the president's finger print, given his previous issues with the size of his hands.

Others linked the mark to covfefe -- the president's Twitter typo from late May that's taken on a whole new meaning.

And then came the spray tan jokes.

SEE ALSO: First lady Melania Trump slaps at President Trump's hand on Tel Aviv tarmac in Israel

Go here to see the original:

Tiny mark on Melania Trump's birthday card to Donald Trump sparks wild theories - AOL

President Donald Trump speaks in the Diplomatic Room of the White House about the shooting in Alexandria, Va., where House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and others were shot during a congressional baseball practice. | AP Photo

All sides are closely watching his temperament in a time of crisis.

By Darren Samuelsohn

06/14/2017 11:28 AM EDT

Updated 06/14/2017 05:34 PM EDT

President Donald Trump's first domestic mega-moment has arrived, and his measured reaction to the unexpected tragedy is being praised by all sides as they gauge his temperament in a time of crisis.

Trump touched on all the key notes in the immediate hours after Wednesday's shooting at a congressional GOP baseball practice that sent five people to the hospital, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise.

Story Continued Below

His first remarks: A statement saying he and Vice President Mike Pence were deeply saddened by the shooting and a tweet calling Scalise a true friend and patriot.

Then, just before noon, the president embraced the role of sympathizer-in-chief, delivering a four-plus minute speech in the White House Diplomatic Room revealing Scalise and two Capitol Police officers were in stable condition and confirming the alleged gunman had died following the incident.

In other large-scale moments since arriving on the international stage, Trump sparked controversy by referring to hot-button policy points, attacking his critics and getting ahead of confirmed law enforcement reports. All that was gone in his nationally-televised remarks.

We may have our differences, but we do well, in times like these, to remember that everyone who serves in our nations capital is here because, above all, they love our country, Trump said near the end of his remarks.

We can all agree that we are blessed to be Americans, that our children deserve to grow up in a nation of safety and peace, and that we are strongest when we are unified and when we work together for the common good, the president added.

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Earlier this month, Trump sparked an international uproar when he touted his controversial travel ban following a terrorist attack in London and also mischaracterized the city mayors position reassuring the public in its aftermath. During the heat of the 2016 campaign, Hillary Clinton criticized Trump after the Republican declared a bomb had detonated in New York before the local authorities had made that announcement.

Trump also drew criticism last June when he issued a seven-paragraph statement in response to the mass shooting at a night club in Orlando, criticizing President Barack Obama for not saying the words radical Islam during the shooting and urging him to step down from office because of the omission.

A White House official said while prepping for Wednesday's speech, Trump was cognizant of the importance of his demeanor. "He wanted to hit the right tone. Moments like this give the president an opportunity to rise above politics and strike a certain chord that captures the sentiment of the nation, that's unifying and that's what he wanted to do."

Trump's softer and more tactful approach earned him praise from an unlikely source: Democrats.

It's looks like Trump and his team took this shooting seriously and acted accordingly. His statement was measured and respectful and hit all the right notes when he issued a call for unity, said Jim Manley, a longtime Democratic spokesman who worked for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Added a former senior Obama White House aide: I think he sufficiently played the part.

Republicans also applauded Trump for his immediate response.

I think he set the right tone and message, said former George W. Bush White House spokesman Scott McClellan. This is a time to set aside politics and for all of us to come together in support of those who were injured in this tragic shooting. The president has an important role at times like this to be the comforter-in-chief for the nation.

"Temperate, compassionate, and thoughtful the president's remarks met the test of the moment," said Michael Steel, who served as a spokesman for former House Speaker John Boehner.

One longtime Trump adviser said the president is more astute at "striking the right tone when he needs to do so." Over the years, this person said, Trump would make gossipy or controversial remarks to a TV network or on Twitter, minutes before striking a grim, "tough-man" pose and doing business.

This person referenced Trump's speech earlier this year to Congress and the "somber" remarks he gave after he ordered 59 missiles into a Syrian air field. "He can play the role of the sturdy commander-in-chief," this person said.

"It's not like he acts like his Twitter feed all the time."

Beyond the initial White House statement and tweet, Trump stayed out of the spotlight Wednesday morning as local and federal law enforcement pieced together the shooting in Alexandria, Virginia. Law enforcement sources named the suspected shooter about four hours after the incident as James T. Hodgkinson of Belleville, Illinois. Those reports identified him as a supporter of Bernie Sanders, and his apparent social media accounts included anti-Trump posts. Sanders, in a statement, said he was sickened by this despicable act and condemned the shooting by someone who apparently volunteered on my presidential campaign.

The White House canceled Trumps speech at the Labor Department that was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

According to the White House, Trump has spoken to House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Scalises wife and chief of staff and the Capitol Police chief. Pence has also spoken to Ryan, as well as House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Texas GOP Rep. Joe Barton, Arizona GOP Sen. Jeff Flake and a staff member who coaches the Republican baseball team.

While the president's televised response Wednesday drew praise, amid the initial presidential silence several Trump surrogates made charged public statements and even ascribed a motive to the shooting.

The presidents oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., issued a one-word post on Twitter This in sharing a tweet by conservative commentator Harlan Hill, who wrote: Events like today are EXACTLY why we took issue with NY elites glorifying the assassination of our President. The tweet was an apparent reference to a current Central Park production of Julius Caesar who in the play is made to look like the president.

White House adviser Kellyanne Conway shared a post by a local South Carolina television reporter quoting South Carolina GOP Rep. Jeff Duncan, who said the shooter asked, Is this a team of Republicans or Democrats practicing?

#breakingnews. Conway wrote.

New York GOP Rep. Chris Collins also placed blame on Democrats, saying in an interview with WBEN radio they need to tone down their rhetoric.

I can only hope that Democrats tone down the rhetoric, Collins said. The finger-pointing, the angst, the anger directed at Donald Trump and his supporters some people react to those things.

Collins referenced a die-in protest that happened at his office several weeks ago regarding Obamacare.

Lets hope we can disagree on a more polite, conversational basis and not do things like they did at my office a couple weeks ago. Its gone too far, Collins said.

Several former Democratic White House aides in the hours after the shooting said they hoped Trump would avoid politics in his first major domestic shooting incident.

The tone and the words coming out of the White House matter the most, said the same former senior Obama White House official who later praised the presidents in-person remarks. There may be a lot of breathless speculation in the press and an instinct to react strongly, but the sweet spot is typically one of respect, vigilance, and considered thoughtfulness."

In these moments the public looks to the president to bring some rationality to what we all have difficulty rationalizing, added a former Clinton White House aide. It's a time to be the healer-in-chief, not the tweeter-in-chief.

Tara Palmeri and Josh Dawsey contributed to this report.

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Trump faces first big domestic moment - Politico

President Donald Trump says the man who opened fire on a congressional baseball practice has died from injuries in the shootout with capitol police.

The shooter has been identified as James T. Hodgkinson -- a 66-year-old man from Illinois who has publicly called for the destruction of Trump and his supporters.

POTUS addressed the media moments ago and said Hodgkinson "has now died."

As we previously reported, Hodgkinson walked up to a baseball practice in Virginia early Wednesday morning and opened fire -- striking Rep. Steve Scalise and others.

Capitol police officers on the scene exchanged gunfire with Hodgkinson -- striking him. The officers were also shot. They survived and are being treated for their injuries.

Trump called the incident a "very, very brutal assault."

He described Scalise as a "good friend, he's a patriot and a fighter."

Trump also praised the capitol police officers as heroes.

See the article here:

Congress Shooter Is Dead - TMZ.com