In other news, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) says they're going to skip doing anything about guns (obviously) and turn their attention to deregulating banks. What could go wrong?
Meanwhile, the European Union is planning to retaliate against Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminum with a few tariffs of their own on blue jeans, bourbon, and motorcycles. Trump started this because he got mad at the TV.
Finally, the FBI inspector general's report on the agency's behavior leading up to the 2016 election is expected to say former deputy director Andrew McCabe authorized a leak to the Wall Street Journal about a defunct investigation of the Clinton's charity foundation.
In October 2016, The Wall Street Journal revealed a dispute between F.B.I. and Justice Department officials over how to proceed in an investigation into the financial dealings of the Clinton family’s foundation. The article revealed a closed-door meeting during which senior Justice Department officials were dismissive of the evidence and declined to authorize subpoenas or grand jury activity. Some F.B.I. agents, the article said, believed that Mr. McCabe had put the brakes on the investigation.
Others rejected that notion. The Journal, citing sources including “one person close to Mr. McCabe,” revealed a tense conversation with a senior Justice Department official in which Mr. McCabe insisted that the F.B.I. had the authority to press ahead with the investigation into the Clinton Foundation.
The inspector general has concluded that Mr. McCabe authorized F.B.I. officials to provide information for that article, according to the four people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the report before it is published.
In other words, McCabe authorized a smear of Clinton.
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There was enough news this week to make your head spin, and my 5 o'clock shadow is probably telling the story right now, so here are some other stories I didn't get to:
The Bernie Sanders campaign has been fined by the FEC because they accepted in-kind contributions from Australian nationals who volunteered for the campaign.
Former Trump communications director Hope Hicks reportedly kept a diary of her time in the White House which she's using to shop around for a book deal. That's definitely getting subpoenaed by Mueller.
In closely-related news, Politico reports that Trump ignored his lawyers and regularly blabbed about the Russia investigation in front of Hope Hicks. Dumbass.
Trump says he won't host Persian gulf leaders at Camp David in May if they don't resolve their blockade of Qatar (which he supported) before then. I'm sure they're real sad about that.
Smith & Wesson told investors in a conference call that gun sales increased after the Stoneman Douglas high school shooting. But they "share the nation's grief," you know.
Former Trump deputy campaign manager Rick Gates canceled a trip to Boston because of reports of threats from the Russian mafia. Him and Manafort should both keep an eye pealed.
ICE is mad at Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf because she tipped off the community before the agency conducted a raid. Maybe ICE should just go get fucked.
Infamous "Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli will be held liable for $10.4 million in losses sought by investors, a federal judge has ruled.
A new study from the libertarian Cato Institute found that undocumented and legal immigrants commit fewer crimes than native-born Americans. No shit.
The parent company that was suppose to save jobs at Carrier Corp. in Indiana (they didn't) just received a no-bid contract from Defense Department worth $2.5 billion.
The first openly-transgender recruit has volunteered for military service. Courts have ruled that Trump can't block their service.
Starbucks says the Retailapocalypse is actually good for them because there are so many empty storefronts they can rent for less money.
Pro Publica has obtained documents that show large industry trade groups have a very similar view of Trump compared to our own.
One candid glimpse emerges in a pair of PowerPoint presentations delivered last year by top executives of the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), one of the construction industry’s national trade groups.
Trump, the presentations state, is an “autocratic leader” who regularly “humiliates [his] senior team” and is running the administration “like a bad family owned small business.” One presentation quotes the president’s statement that infrastructure should be “easy” and follows it with a rhetorical eye-roll: “Really?????”
Have a good weekend.