At a press conference a short time ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to provide Congress with notes of the Trump/Lavrov Oval Office meeting to prove that no classified information had been disclosed.

We’re getting more clarity on where Republicans are ending up after a bruising, punishing 36 hours. Republicans are now reportedly debating whether to push for an independent prosecutor or commission, two demands Democrats have made for weeks or months but which almost all Republicans have heretofore refused. They seem almost universally to be calling to see the Comey memos and hear from Comey himself as soon as possible. Wanting to hear more from Comey – either from his memos or his testimony is an obvious position for Republicans since it covers all the possible bases and leaves freedom to maneuver as the situation becomes more clear. They’re not condemning or defending. They just want to hear more. They can interpret that as condemnation or defense later, as more facts reveal themselves. The upshot of tonight, I think, is that Republicans collectively decided to get out of the way. They’re not attacking Trump. But they’re also no longer standing in the way or blocking more investigations. For now at least they seem to saying: you’re going to need to handle this on your own.

We are, to put it mildly, in a weird, liminal moment. The Times Comey blockbuster is less than three hours old, now confirmed in its essentials by a handful of other publications. The White House released a statement which amounted to a flat denial. But so far, with the exception of that first response contained in the written statement, there’s been radio silence from the White House. Read More

With the latest revelation – that President Trump straight up asked James Comey to end the Flynn investigation – this is starting to feel like a prize fight where one boxer just took three straight punches to the head. It’s hard to know how much longer this can go on. But I suspect the answer is this: a lot longer.

We talk a lot about smoke and fire. But this isn’t smoke. This is the fire. It’s not clear to me what more we need to know. The only question is whether we decide to put it out or just let it keep burning. As I said above, I bet we’re going to let it burn for quite a while longer. Read More

We now have a report that the allied intelligence service whose intelligence President Trump shared with Sergei Lavrov was an Israeli intelligence agency. My best guess was Jordan. Shows what I know.

What is remarkable about this is that reports in the Israeli press from January said that US intelligence officials had warned their Israeli counterparts about sharing intelligence with President Trump because of fears he might share such intelligence with Russia.

Really. Read More

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We were just watching General McMaster’s press conference – which has taken the place of Sean Spicer’s briefing today. The key take away is that McMaster is essentially conceding the accuracy of last night’s reporting (first from the Post and later confirmed by other outlets) but saying that in the context it was okay. It was appropriate. Notably, when it comes to specifics, he is hiding behind classification to refuse to give further answers. Read More

A few moments ago Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared on cameras and gave a response to the Lavrov blockbuster which captured in two or three sentences the essential cynicism of the current Republican position on the moral and strategic implosion of the Trump presidency. Read More

This one I can really only capture in images.

Note that Trump is not only confirming the essence of the Post story. He has already seized upon the constitutional and legal fact that as President if he shares information it means he decided to declassify it.

Note: If the text isn’t quite legible, click the title to go to the full page version of this post.

Despite nominal denials from the White House, it seems clear that The Washington Post blockbuster about President Trump’s meeting with Lavrov and Kislyak is accurate and may even understate what transpired last week. Numerous other news organizations have now independently verified the Post’s report.

Why did this happen exactly? Read More