The Morning Briefing: Comey, ABC News Join Forces for Infomercial and Much, Much More

Good Monday morning.

Here is what’s on the President’s agenda today:

The president hosts the Tax Cuts for Florida Small Businesses Roundtable in Hialeah, Florida

Lordy: Comey appears on ABC News infomercial shilling new book

~~The Home Shopping Network~~ ABC News hosted an hour-long infomercial on Sunday night as part of a larger marketing strategy for the hyper-emotional former director of the FBI. James Comey, who regularly dispenses his wisdom and bon mots on Twitter, was “interviewed” by Clinton foundation donor George Stephanopoulos. (Here’s the transcript if you are interested.)

I watched this horrible interview and walked away with a few questions.

If Comey was so uncomfortable with Trump’s alleged behavior and requests, why didn’t he just quit? This man is billing himself as a very thoughtful, moral and introspective “leader” but was perfectly willing to stick around and work under Trump?

Why didn’t the donor of $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation ask Mr. Comey why he leaked memos, at least one of which contained classified material, to the media? Why would a man with Comey’s fine-tuned moral compass illegally leak classified information?

Other things we learned: the Comey family ladies marched in the pink-hat, #resistance march following Trump’s election; Comey drank red wine from a paper cup after learning he was fired. Comey seems like he would drink rosé or possibly wine coolers. Comey will appear on other media outlets this week selling his salvation show book. On Wednesday, he participates in a drum circle with the ladies of The View.

Loretta Lynch defends handling of Clinton investigation ahead of Comey interview

James Comey’s ABC interview sidesteps his shocking decision to break every rule and leak to the press

Comey says he believes the source of the Steele ‘dossier’ to be ‘credible’ and yet he claimed, under oath, that the contents were “salacious and unverified”

Trump lashes out again at ‘slimeball’ Comey, suggests he should go to jail

Comey Throws Obama And Lynch Under The Bus In New Book

Obama DOJ tried to end Clinton investigation

On Friday, we got a surprise from the Department of Justice’s inspector general: a report on “Andy’s office” McCabe. The report includes details of Andy’s “lack of candor” when questioned about his professional behavior by the IG. We also learned of the Obama administration’s efforts to shut down the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s “foundation.” We haven’t heard much about this revelation from the media which is unusual, as they have been obsessively reporting their hallucinations that President Trump is moments away from interfering with Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Strange.

The inspector general (IG) confirmed in its long-awaited report released Friday that in 2016 the FBI had ongoing field investigations of the Clinton Foundation in New York, Los Angeles, Little Rock, Arkansas and Washington, D.C. The multi-city investigation was launched when agents found “suspicious activity” between a foreign donor and Clinton Foundation activity in the Los Angeles area, as TheDCNF reported in August 2016.

The report, authored by Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz, an Obama appointee, chronicles the Justice Department’s effort to to shut down the FBI’s investigation on Aug. 12, 2016. The pressure allegedly came in the form of a phone call to McCabe from a Justice Department principal associate deputy attorney general (PADAG) who pressed McCabe on the continuing investigation. The IG did not identify which PADAG made the call.

It was important the pressure for ending the investigation was issued in a phone call and not in a written document, former FBI assistant Director Ronald Hosko told TheDCNF.

“They did it in a phone call, which is maybe a little more difficult to serve up as evidence,” he told TheDCNF in an interview. Hosko said that by giving a verbal order, the Justice Department “chose not to document it by design”

“It makes it harder to reconstruct. But that might be part of the goal, right?” he noted.

“McCabe acknowledged that the PADAG call was a very memorable event in McCabe’s career. It involved a dramatic confrontation between McCabe and the principal associate deputy attorney general, one of the highest ranking officials in the department. McCabe told the OIG that, despite his long career in the FBI, he had never had a conversation ‘like this one’ with a high level Department of Justice official before or since August 12, 2016,” the IG wrote.

More reports are expected from the Office of Inspector General so stay tuned.

Democrats plan to block Pompeo nomination to State Department

Senators on the Foreign Relations Committee are coming forward to say they will block the Pompeo nomination for secretary of State, knocking him out before he can get a vote before the entire Senate.

“I have decided to vote against him to be secretary of state. … We have a president who is anti-diplomacy, and I worry that Mike Pompeo has shown the same tendency to oppose diplomacy,” failed VP candidate Tim Kaine told CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday. “I don’t want a secretary of state who is going to exacerbate President Trump’s tendencies to oppose diplomacy.”

Democrat Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Rand Paul (R-KY) are also indicating they will vote against Pompeo.

Kaine and Shaheen both voted to confirm Pompeo for CIA director. If all three vote against Pompeo, he will have an 11 to 10 vote against sending his nomination.

Are you trying to remember if we saw was this level of obstruction by the GOP against President Obama’s nominees? There was not. Here’s a list of the Obama’s cabinet and their vote tallies. Hillary Clinton confirmed 94 – 2. Holder confirmed 75 to 21. John Kerry confirmed 94 to 3.

Your daily WTF:

Gay rights lawyer burns himself to death in protest against fossil fuels

Historical picture of the day

Apollo 16 astronauts, from left wearing white suits, Thomas Mattingly, John Young and Charles Duke, pose for photographs by Navy Frogmen in rubber raft after leaving spaceship, left, in the Pacific Ocean on Thursday, April 27, 1972. The successful splashdown of their spacecraft was made precisely on time, within one mile of the recovery ship, USS Ticonderoga. (AP Photo)

Other morsels:

‘Full Metal Jacket’ sergeant R. Lee Ermey dies at 74

Former Dem Lawmaker Cautious On Cohen Raid: ‘Government Can Go Too Far’

Trump might survive firing Rosenstein or even Mueller. The reason: Fox News

Sanders ‘not aware’ of Trump plans to fire Mueller or Rosenstein

Ex-DOJ officials urge Congress to ‘forcefully respond’ if Trump fires Mueller

Trump tried to block Mike Pence from hiring an adviser because Trump believed he was part of the ‘Never Trump’ movement

President Trump Files in Court to Intervene in Michael Cohen FBI Raid Case

South Dakota e-commerce sale tax fight reaches U.S. Supreme Court

Paul Ryan endorses Kevin McCarthy for speaker of the house

Kentucky governor apologizes after comments on teacher protests

Democrat hits Trump for message sent by pardoning Scooter Libby