Subject: Axios AM: Mike's Top 10 — Comey truth bomb — Eerie timeline shows Watergate parallels — The Swamp Hotel
From: "Mike Allen" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2017 06:36:11 -0400 (EDT)

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Comey truth bomb — Eerie timeline shows Watergate parallels �=80� The Swamp Hotel

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Axios AM

By Mike Allen = ·Jun 08, 2017

1 big thing: Comey truth bomb

Lazaro Gamio / Axios

Jim Comey's cinematic opening=statement, describing his awkward encoun=ers with President Trump in vivid detail that you almost never get fro= inside government, foretells gripping testimony when the fired FBI direct=r goes before Capitol Hill cameras at 10 a.m. ET today.

MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell pointed out th=t any actor would want to act it, and any director would want to direct it=

Comey's pre-released testimon=, about a Jan 27 dinner in the White House Green Room: "[T]he Pre=ident said, 'I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.' I didn't move, speak, or c=ange my facial expression in any way during the awkward silence that follo=ed. We simply looked at each other in silence."

For all the =able-news talk of smoking guns, top Republicans were authenticall= relieved by what they read in the afternoon bombshell.

Thei= reaction puzzled me at first, but here's a truth bomb: Comey's s=ven-page, 3,100-word statement describes unusual, unprecedented and, to mo=t, disturbing behavior by the president. But it presents no new informatio= that proves a crime:

Read between the lines, =nd you see Trump's transactional side — trying to make a distracti=n go away, like you would in business. The problem of course, is that he's=no longer just running a family business: Corner-cutting and interference =oesn't work in the Oval.

The rapier reporti=g by The New York Times' Michael Schmidt was perfectly borne =ut. Putting aside the astonishing atmospherics, the facts of Comey's accou=t are what we expected, but not much more.

The key passage= when Comey says Trump "called me at the FBI" on March 30: "He sa=d he had nothing to do with Russia, had not been involved with hookers in =ussia, and had always assumed he was being recorded when in Russia. He ask=d what we could do to 'lift the cloud.'"

Brookings senior =ellow Benjamin Wittes, a friend of Comey's and editor-in-chief of=the Lawfare blog, posted one of the best deconstruct=ons of the statement, calling the Trump scenes "poisonous stuff ... co=duct that a society committed to the rule of law simply cannot accept in a=president."
But Wittes also writes: "Let's leave to an=ther day whether anything the President did here amounts to any kind of ob=truction of justice."

A top Republican close to t=e White House said the statement "shows Trump is relentless and unconcerne= with Presidential behavioral conventions, which are two of the characteri=tics that won him votes."

Republicans, though, ne=d to recognize what they're defending: actions that show little respect or=understanding for the lines and limits that safeguard rule of law. This is='t normal.

Be smart: The road ahead is long.=Comey's statement is captivating, but not grounds for impeachment. The thr=shold for any action is much higher than many think, because Republicans a=one will set it.

2. The "satellites"

One more passage from Com=y that helps explain Trump's mindset in a way that has not been c=ear before:

"I explained that we had briefed the leadership of Congress on exactly which individu=ls we were investigating and that we had told those Congressional leaders =hat we were not personally investigating President Trump. I reminded him I=had previously told him that. He repeatedly told me, 'We need to get that =act out.'"

Then Comey uses a word that I suspect wi=l become famous as the investigation unfolds:

"The President went on to say that if there were so=e 'satellite' associates of his who did something wrong, =t would be good to find that out, but that he hadn't done anything wrong =nd hoped I would find a way to get it out that we weren't investigating hi=."

The big question: Who does the Trump think of as="satellites"?

3. Parallels between Russia probe and Watergate

From Axios' Chris Canipe and Andrew Witherspoon, a side-side-look at events that led to Nixon's resignation,=and to today's testimony by fired FBI Director James Comey.

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4. Comey's successor

King & Spalding, via Reuters

The morning before Comey's testimony, President Trump t=eeted his selection as his new FBI director: Chris Wray, 50, a litigation partner at=King & Spalding in D.C. and Atlanta, who was President George W. Bush'= assistant attorney general overseeing the Criminal Division.

<= href="http://link.axios.com/click/9797086.29226/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5uai5jb20=cG9saXRpY3MvaW5kZXguc3NmLzIwMTcvMDYvdHJ1bXBfcGlja3NfY2hyaXN0aWVzX2JyaWRnZW=hdGVfbGF3eWVyX3RvX3J1bl9mYmkuaHRtbD91dG1fc291cmNlPW5ld3NsZXR0ZXImdXRtX21lZ=l1bT1lbWFpbCZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249bmV3c2xldHRlcl9heGlvc2FtJnN0cmVhbT10b3Atc3Rv=mllcw/5871993924c17c54d77a8b8cB62eeee4e" target="_blank">Wray re=resented Chris Christie in Bridgegate.
<=i>N.Y. Times p. A1, " F.B.I. Nominee Seen as Shield Against Politics," by Adam Goldman a=d Matt Apuzzo: "a safe, mainstream pick from a president who at one point =as considering politicians for a job that has historically been kept outsi=e of partisanship."

More from NYT: "a veteran Was=ington lawyer who is more low key and deliberative than either Mr. Mueller=or Mr. Comey but will remain independent. ... Wray will not tolerate medd=ing, his friends say."

The rollout, per WashPost's Callum Borchers: " Speaker ... =yan ... didn't get a heads up ... Trump also failed to notify top Democra=s ... Many of Trump's own staffers did not know about the Wray selection.=

5. If you click one thing

A primitive robot: A vacuum

Apologies for the link trouble yesterday. But worth the=wait ...

Axios-style="smart brevity" comes to video, with a new series "Almost Now=" as part of our Future of Work Launch.

This quick, fun history =f robots (by Rob Groulx and Eli Sinkus, with the help of Bubb= Atkinson, Steve LeVine and the design squad) has cameos by the Jetsons an= Larry Summers. One forecast: Every robot created can cost three to five j=bs.

Check it ou= here!

Axios is on YouTube! See what we've got cooking.

6. "Suite of power"

TIME cover story ... "Why Donald Trump's Washington hotel is the capital's new swamp," by=Alex Altman:

"There's a seafood pyramid calle= 'the Trump tower' that costs $120."

A former Trump campai=n adviser: "Of course we hang out there. Everyone hangs out there= Being in the Trump hotel's lobby is a way to get people to know you."One longtime Republican power broker summed up the ro=e the hotel is playing in Trump's Washington: "It is a magnet for unsophis=icated foreign governments and companies to offer tribute. It does not wor=, but it's perceived as a path to influence."

7. Polls open in the U.K.

Last-minut= polls put Prime Minister Theresa May's Tories (Conservatives= ahead of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour in today's snap election Her huge cus=ion shrank in recent polls, and the pre-election terrorist attacks injecte= uncertainty.

Polls close at 5 p.m. =T. Projections usually come quickly.

N.Y. Times Quote of the Day ... Rachel Johnson, a writer who is the sister of the foreign secretary Bori= Johnson, describing the looming snap elections in Britain, the country's =ourth major vote in four years: "The country is exhausted. This has been j=st a depressing exercise in democracy."

The quick facts, from Axios' Shane Sa=itsky.

Why it matters: "The outcome of the el=ction will determine how the United Kingdom moves forward with its Brexit =egotiations, which will have an impact across the entire world."

8. This year's Fortune 500 is "rebel territory"

Fortune 500, ranked by total revenue:

Walmart

Berkshire Hathaway<=li>
Apple

Exxon Mobil

McKesson

UnitedHealth Gro=p

CVS Health

General Motors

AT&T

Ford Motor

Includes=/a> "Radical Thinkers and "Stargazing Inventors."

The 2017 Fortune 500 List Inclu=es 32 Women CEOs.

9. Facebook "constituent badges"

Facebook is rolling out a product that will let lawmake=s (or, more likely, their staffers) see what articles are popular with peo=le who live in their districts, Axios' David McCabe writes.

=he company says it will help lawmakers better respond to the issu=s their constituents are focused on.

Why it matters: It's the latest civic-engagement move from the company, which has gr=ppled with its place in the political landscape.

But wait,=there's more: The company is letting users get "badges" that show=they are a constituent of a certain lawmaker. It will appear next to comme=ts on that official's page. It also added a targeting option for lawmakers=to more precisely reach people in their district with posts.

10. 1 fun thing

Late-night hosts feast on what Stephen Colbert calls "t=e most magical night of the year," Comey testimony eve: "I hung my socks o=er CNN."

Top lines from N.Y. Times "Best of Late Night," by Giovanni=Russonello:

Jimmy Kimmel: "President Trump wa= like, 'You can prepare statements?'"

Kimmel: " "Can you imagine getting fired, and then the next thing you know, y=u get to trash talk your boss in front of the whole world? It's like a dre=m come true."

Seth Meyers: "It sounds like a terr=ble Tinder date."

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