New Robert Draper book shows how Trump worked the refs

Here's scoopage from long-form artist Robert Draper's "Weapons of Mass Delusion: When the Republican Party Lost Its Mind," out Tuesday.

The big picture: The book chronicles high-profile, far-right House Republicans who, "far from moving on from Trump, have taken the politics of hysteria to even greater extremes."

In the early months of a Senate Intelligence Committee's probe of President Trump and Russia, Draper writes, Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) received dozens of unsolicited phone calls from President Trump.

"These were not check-in calls," said someone with knowledge of the conversations, but instead Trump seeking to work the ref. His constant refrain to Burr was, "I did nothing wrong."

Draper reports that Trump also frequently called Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell "to complain about Burr, whose only offense was that he had not instantly declared Trump’s innocence and immediately shutter the inquiry."

• More on the book.