I’ve been away for a few hours – anything new?

Not much – just Trump telling Lavrov and Kislyak that Comey is a “nut job” and a White House official being a suspect in the Russia investigation. Just another day in the world of Donnie Twoscoops. (Double meaning there, geddit?)

The Times scoop:

President Trump told Russian officials in the Oval Office this month that firing the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, had relieved “great pressure” on him, according to a document summarizing the meeting.

“I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job,” Mr. Trump said, according to the document, which was read to The New York Times by an American official. “I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.”

Trump calls Comey a nut job. In Trump world, Trump is reasonable and Comey is a nut job.

Mr. Trump added, “I’m not under investigation.”

The conversation, during a May 10 meeting — the day after he fired Mr. Comey — reinforces the notion that Mr. Trump dismissed him primarily because of the bureau’s investigation into possible collusion between his campaign and Russian operatives. Mr. Trump said as much in one televised interview, but the White House has offered changing justifications for the firing.

Which helps its credibility a lot.

The White House document that contained Mr. Trump’s comments was based on notes taken from inside the Oval Office and has been circulated as the official account of the meeting.

So they’re proud of it then.

Spicey didn’t dispute the story.

In a statement, he said that Mr. Comey had put unnecessary pressure on the president’s ability to conduct diplomacy with Russia on matters such as Syria, Ukraine and the Islamic State.

“By grandstanding and politicizing the investigation into Russia’s actions, James Comey created unnecessary pressure on our ability to engage and negotiate with Russia,” Mr. Spicer said.

Wtf? What is this “grandstanding” crap? I hate what Comey did in October and I hate it that he says he’d do it again, but how is investigating Russian meddling in our election “grandstanding” as opposed to doing his job?

A third government official briefed on the meeting defended the president, saying Mr. Trump was using a negotiating tactic when he told Mr. Lavrov about the “pressure” he was under. The idea, the official suggested, was to create a sense of obligation with Russian officials and to coax concessions out of Mr. Lavrov — on Syria, Ukraine and other issues — by saying that Russian meddling in last year’s election had created enormous political problems for Mr. Trump.

Oh, please.

The president has been adamant that the meddling did not alter the outcome of the race, but it has become a political cudgel for his opponents.

He can be as adamant as he likes, it makes no difference. He can’t possibly know that the meddling did not alter the outcome of the race. Insisting on it doesn’t make it true.

With all the glass he broke in that one meeting, just imagine what he’s going to get up to on this trip he just started. We may be at war by Sunday.