Donald Trump insists that he and his campaign never colluded with Russia. But a lot of his actions suggest–or more accurately, scream–otherwise. The latest came when he tried to fire special counsel Robert Mueller in June, a mere month after his hiring. He only backed down when White House Counsel Donald McGahn threatened to resign rather than sign off on the firing.
On Saturday morning, The New York Times editorial board became the latest to wonder about the fuss we’ve seen from the White House. In a Web-only editorial, the Times loudly wondered, “Why Does President Trump Fear the Truth?”
The Times reminds us that for all of Trump’s protests of innocence, “(he) acts as if he has something big to hide.” The revelation that he tried to have Mueller fired is the latest chapter in what the Times sees as “an undeniable pattern” of behavior from the White House. The verdict?
“The president of the United States has tried repeatedly to shut down an investigation into whether his campaign coordinated with Russian officials to help him win the 2016 election.”
It then reviews the “long string of firings and lies” from Trump that establish this pattern.
- Attempting to demand loyalty from then-FBI director James Comey
- Pressuring Comey to back off the investigation of Michael Flynn a day after that Flynn was pushed out
- His attempt to prevent Jeff Sessions’ recusal from the Russia probe
- Pressing intelligence officials to get Comey to back off, then pressing them to deny that there was any collusion
- Trying to convince us that he fired Comey for committing “atrocities” during the Hillary Clinton email server investigation, then admitting it was to stop the Russia investigation
- And finally, the news that he tried to fire Mueller
While it may look and smell like obstruction of justice, Trump initially tried to convince us that he’s just “fighting back.” By Friday, however, he was back to a familiar tactic–claiming that it was “fake news.”
But even Trump’s most ardent defenders have been forced to concede that Trump did indeed try to fire Mueller. One of the loudest Trump loyalists of all, Sean Hannity, initially screamed that the Old Grey Lady was “trying to distract” Americans. But later in the show, he was forced to backtrack when Fox News’ Ed Henry was able to confirm some of the details in the Times report. Matt Fuller of HuffPost got clips.
Sean Hannity: The New York Times is trying to distract you. They say Trump tried to fire Mueller, but our sources aren’t confirming that!
Sean Hannity, minutes later: Alright, yeah, maybe our sources confirm Trump wanted to fire Mueller. But so what? That’s his right. Anywho… pic.twitter.com/yUIt7Un56d
— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) January 26, 2018
To the Times’ mind, the news that Trump tried to fire Mueller eliminates any possible good-faith explanation for Comey’s firing. Trump would have us believe that Mueller has a welter of conflicts of interest, but the Times believes that line “is not worth taking seriously.”
For the Times, there are three burning questions to answer. First, why is this only now surfacing when it has been known for some time that several Trump advisers had to talk him out of firing Mueller months ago? Second, why are we getting “repeated lies” from the White House about the Trump campaign’s possible contacts with Russians? And third, and most importantly, if Trump and his compatriots did nothing wrong, “what do they have to be afraid of?”
It’s hard not to agree. After all, Trump knows deep down that he has no mandate. He lost the popular vote by almost three million votes, remember. You would think that he would want to remove any question about his legitimacy.
(featured image courtesy Gage Skidmore, available under a Creative Commons BY-SA license)
