The Timeline Speaks Clearly

President Donald Trump speaks while meeting with Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen in the Oval Office at the White House, Thursday, March 30, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
President Donald Trump speaks while meeting with Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen in the Oval Office at the White House, Thursday, March 30, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

I mentioned in my post below that there’s a very tight timeline or chain of events tying Trump’s claims of Obama wire-tapping and the various doings of Ezra Cohen-Watnick. Let’s walk through it.

On March 4th, President Trump went on his twitter tirade against President Obama.

On March 10th, National Security Advisor McMaster told Cohen-Watnick he was out.

On March 14th, Trump overruled McMaster and decreed that Cohen Watnick would stay.

Then on the 21st, House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes got that late night call to come over to the White House and get debriefed on the information Cohen-Watnick et al. had come up with.

So far so good. But let’s add this. On March 15th, Fox aired Tucker Carlson’s interview with President Trump in which Carlson asked about his wiretapping claims. Here’s how the President responded: “But wiretapped, it covers a lot of different things. I think you’re going to find some very interesting items coming to the forefront in the next two weeks.”

So at the risk of needless repetition.

March 4th: Obama wiretap claims tweeted.

March 10th: Cohen-Watnick canned.

March 13th or 14th: Trump overrules McMaster; Cohen-Watnick keeps job.

March 15th: Trump says new info coming.

March 21st: Nunes called to White House to review “new info.”

I think this speaks for itself.

Latest Editors' Blog
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: