George Conway takes an extended look at the question of Trump’s disordered behavior.

As Bob Woodward recounts at length in his book Fear, members of Trump’s criminal-defense team fought both Trump and Mueller tooth and nail to keep Trump from being interviewed by the Office of Special Counsel. A practice testimonial session ended with Trump spouting wild, baseless assertions in a rage. Woodward quotes Trump’s outside counsel John Dowd as saying that Trump “just made something up” in response to one question. “That’s his nature.” Woodward also recounts Dowd’s thinking when he argued to Trump that the president was “not really capable” of answering Mueller’s questions face to face. Dowd had “to dress it up as much as

Is he thinking (or more likely being told) that if he does it openly then it’s not a crime?

Historian Kevin Kruse:

This is apparently going to be the play — repeat the impeachable offense out in the open and pretend that it’s a totally normal thing to do.

Legal eagles on Twitter are pointing out that it’s still a crime. Hillary Clinton for one:

Someone should inform the president that impeachable offenses committed on national television still count.

Laurence Tribe for another:

Nixon: “ If the president does it, it’s not illegal.”

Trump: “If this stable genius does it in broad daylight, it couldn’t be impeachable.”

Q: How dumb does he think we are?

A: Dumb

What’s new? Trump on the lawn telling reporters he did tell Ukraine to “investigate” Bidens.

Trump admits he asked Ukraine to dig up dirt on Biden, and asks China to do the same. Like Nixon telling America “I ordered the break in.”

The Guardian reports:

Donald Trump, speaking outside the White House, said Ukraine should investigate his rival Joe Biden – exactly the thing Trump is under threat of impeachment for – and added that China should also start a probe.

“If they were honest about it, they would start a major investigation into the Bidens,” Trump said when asked what he wanted Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky to do.

“I would say President Zelenskiy, if it was me, I

After the car crash sit down with President Niinistö there was a car crash press conference with President Niinistö.

It starts at about 1:15.

It’s a replay of the sitdown.

That’s one of the creepiest things about watching and listening to Trump – the repetition. The endless, endless, demented repetition. He has his talking points and he repeats them on Twitter and at sit downs and at press conferences and at press sprays and doubtless every couple of minutes everywhere else. The call was perfect, perfect. Lindsey Graham said “I never knew you were that nice.” It was perfect, perfect, not a thing wrong with it. He called Ukraine to get permission to share the transcript; he didn’t want to … Read the rest

Doug Mills of the NY Times:

@realDonaldTrump responds to reporters question about Ukraine during a meeting in the Oval Office.

… Read the rest

The headlines are piling up this afternoon (or evening or morning where you are).

Subpoena for Giuliani:

The Democratic chairmen of three House committees announced they have subpoenaed Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer.

The former New York mayor has reportedly played a key role in trying to convince Ukraine to launch an investigation of Joe Biden and his son, a claim that Giuliani himself has confirmed in television appearances.

When pressed last week by CNN’s Chris Cuomo whether he urged Ukraine to investigate the Bidens, Giuliani eventually said, “Of course I did.”

And Cuomo’s eyes bugged out of his head.

Adam Schiff of the intelligence committee, Eliot Engel of the foreign affairs committee and Elijah Cummings of the

Trump raving on.

Twelve hours ago:

“State Department has stepped up Hillary Clinton Email probe.” @foxandfriends You mean the 33,000 Emails that she has deleted and acid washed so they can never be found, even though she said that all 33,000 pertained only to her daughter’s wedding, and her Yoga!

“Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats can’t put down the Impeachment match. They know they couldn’t beat him in 2016 against Hillary Clinton, and they’re increasingly aware of the fact that they won’t win against him in 2020, and Impeachment is the only tool they have to get……..rid of Donald J. Trump – And the Democrats don’t care if they burn down and destroy this nation in the process. I

So, the whistleblower is under federal protection. I hope it’s the independent of Trump kind of federal, and not the other kind.

The intelligence whistleblower whose complaint on the Trump administration’s dealings with Ukraine triggered an impeachment inquiry into the president is under federal protection because they fear for their safety, “60 Minutes” first reported.

Why it matters: The letter from the whistleblower’s lawyer that the CBS News program first obtained outlining [outlines?] their concerns that the whistleblower may be identified. The lawyer specifically cites President Trump’s demand to know who gave the whistleblower the information and states that a $50,000 “bounty” relating to information identifying them has been issued by “certain individuals.”

The big picture: Trump 

One Gregg Opelka in the Wall Street Journal:

If Democrats really wanted to understand the President, they would read Shakespeare’s King Lear. All the ageing monarch wants is to be loved and appreciated by his three daughters. “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is / To have a thankless child,” he laments about his eldest, Goneril.

Trump is Lear, and the country is the king’s daughters. What wounded the king more than anything was filial ingratitude.

Er…no. That’s not Shakespeare’s play. “All the aging monarch wants” is everything – to quit being a king but to go right on getting all the perks and all the groveling, to get everyone to declare infinite love for him, to be … Read the rest

Oh did he now.

Business Insider:

“Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace said Sunday morning that top US officials confirmed President Donald Trump was working with more than one personal lawyer “off the books” to pressure Ukranian officials for damaging information on former Vice President Joe Biden.

Wallace reported that in addition to his known personal lawyer, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has publicly admitted to his involvement in the matter, Trump has been working with the controversial legal team and married couple Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing, who run a firm in Washington, D.C., to communicate with Ukraine.

And not to communicate with Ukraine about the weather or football or the wheat crop, either.

Trump was going … Read the rest

Further illustration (not that any is needed) of how completely he doesn’t get it. He’s all at sea. He has no idea what he’s supposed to be doing or how he’s supposed to be behaving. He might as well have been kidnapped and taken to Mongolia.

Perfect, perfect, perfect.

It’s not a high school test. It’s not a bathing suit competition, it’s not a piano recital, it’s not gymnastics. It’s not about how “nice” he was or whether he stumbled over his words or not. None of what he says is relevant, it’s just wild off-topic babbling.

(Note, also, how artlessly he confides that Lindsey Graham was surprised he was “nice” on the call. Graham knows he’s not “nice” … Read the rest

Trump gave a deranged press conference just now.

Trump is recounting the meetings he has had this week as part of his UN visit and touting his administration’s foreign-policy achievements.

According to a PBS NewsHour reporter, the press conference could go on for a while.

Trump is reiterating his claim that he did not pressure the Ukrainian president to investigate Joe Biden. “No push, no pressure, no nothing,” Trump said.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy made the same claim earlier today during his meeting with Trump in New York.

But the White House memo on Trump’s call with Zelenskiy showed that the president asked for “a favor” from Ukraine after the country’s leader mentioned military aid. Trump went on to suggest that