Axios

Once upon a time, Saturdays were devoid of news beyond the boring presidential radio address. Now, they are wild affairs, featuring Trump Twitter tantrums. All of these were (really) sent on Saturdays since Trump took office:

The NYT has a wrap on the Trump White House's scramble to respond to the president accusing former President Obama — over Twitter, nonetheless, of wiretapping him during the campaign. Paragraphs 9 and 10 are rather interesting:

But a senior White House official said that Donald F. McGahn II, the president's chief counsel, was working on Saturday to secure access to what Mr. McGahn believed was an order issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court authorizing some form of surveillance related to Mr. Trump and his associates.

The official offered no evidence to support the notion that such an order exists. If one does, it would be highly unusual for a White House to order the Justice Department to turn over such an investigative document, given the traditional independence of law enforcement matters.

Why it matters: Pay attention to how the Obama folks worded their denial of ordering a tap on Trump. They explicitly said presidents can't order — and don't have access to — such actions during active investigations. If there is such an active investigation, the White House would be entering unusual territory seeking access to it.

How "normal" once looked:

"TRUMP CLAIMS OBAMA TAPPED HIS PHONES IN 'NIXON/WATERGATE' OPERATION." Broadcast networks cut in, Congress stops everything to investigate, the wheels of government grind to a halt. AP might alert: "President Trump today, inspired by the musings of a right-wing radio host, ... "

Cue this morning: It's just Trump being Trump, waking up on a Saturday morning at Mar-a-lago with a slow schedule, and key advisers back in D.C. And to 40% of America, it's plausibly true.

From Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis, a public denial that Obama the president ordered wire taps on Trump.

"A cardinal rule of the Obama administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice. As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false."

Why it matters: Note that the statement doesn't deny Trump was tapped, but rather says the Obama White House played no role in ordering or directing any taps. The full Trump Twitter saga here.

President Obama reportedly ordered the Pentagon three years ago to enhance their cyber strikes to thwart North Korean missiles in their first few seconds of launch, according to the New York Times. Although initial efforts may have been successful (some of the DPRK's rockets exploded, veered off course, or fell apart in midair), North Korea has launched three medium-range rockets over the past eight months.

Why this matters: Obama told Trump before he was sworn in that North Korean nuclear and missile programs would be the most urgent threats he would confront over the course of his presidency. North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, says his country is in "the final stage in preparations" for intercontinental ballistic missiles, but the U.S. still does not have the capabilities to counter North Korean nuclear and missile programs, per the NYT. Trump himself said "we're so obsolete in cyber" during his campaign.

What's next: Trump could ramp up the Pentagon's cyber strikes against North Korea, he could negotiate with the DPRK to halt its nuclear and missile programs, or he could prepare the U.S. for directing missile strikes to the launch sites. These options were all discussed in the Situation Room as recently as Tuesday.

President Trump's six Saturday morning tweets might look a little confusing. Here they are, in order:

The first meeting Jeff Sessions had with the Russian Amb was set up by the Obama Administration under education program for 100 Ambs...... Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism! Just out: The same Russian Ambassador that met Jeff Sessions visited the Obama White House 22 times, and 4 times last year alone. Is it legal for a sitting President to be "wire tapping" a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW! I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election! How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!

Donald Trump has raised suspicion about his relationship with Russia by complimenting Vladimir Putin, proposing that the U.S. work with Russia to defeat ISIS and even calling on Russia to hunt down Hillary Clinton's emails. Those suspicions haven't gone away with his election.

Below is a full timeline of the interactions with Russia that have caused so much trouble for Trump:

This afternoon, President Trump went to see a 4th-grade class at St. Andrew Catholic School in Florida with Betsy Devos, Gov. Rick Scott, Marco Rubio, Jared Kushner and Ivanka.

According to the pool report, Trump told one girl who wanted to start her own business, "That's a good idea. Make a lot of money, right? But don't run for politics after."

Just before leaving the classroom, he told a little African American girl with braids, "Oh that hair is beautiful. I love that hair, right?" After passing another African American girl with braids, he repeated, "I love her hair!"

Trump then met with local educational officials and beneficiaries of school choice policies.

Peter Thiel's chief of staff Michael Kratsios has been named Trump's deputy chief technology officer, reports TechCrunch. Politico was first to report the appointment. Prior to his high-ranking role at Thiel Capital, Kratsios was the chief financial officer of Clarium Captial Management, another company founded by Thiel.

His close relationship to Thiel — who has been one of Trump's closest advisors on all things tech since the RNC — has likely helped Kratsios in scoring the new title. He fills the role that had been held by former Twitter general counsel Alex Macgillivray.

Interestingly, the White House has yet to name a Chief Technology Officer, which oversees the administration's technology and innovation agenda. That role was held by former Google engineer Megan Smith.

The White House declined to comment, and Kratsios did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Russian Ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak is back in the limelight, bringing a second Trump official into a delicate situation.

Trumpworld: First there was retired Gen. Michael Flynn, who lied about his phone conversations with Kislyak, and ultimately resigned from his position as National Security Advisor. Second was Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who claimed he hadn't met with any Russians, then admitted he'd twice met with Kislyak. He's also met with Jared Kushner, in addition to two other Trump campaign members.

Democrats: Sen. Claire McCaskill falsely tweeted Thursday that she had never met with him, and Politico reported on Friday that Kislyak met with Nancy Pelosi, who earlier claimed they hadn't.

So who is this man who has gotten so many U.S. officials in trouble?

You already saw the leaks from Sean Spicer's attempt to stop leaks from the White House press shop. Now Reuters has a comprehensive look at the administration's attempts to stop the leaks that Trump hates so much. Spoiler: it's produced a whole new series of leaks.

• National Security Council: The classified system used to share documents has been locked down, per Reuters. That's in response to the leaks on Trump's calls with Mexico and Australia.
• Homeland Security: Officials there are wary as the department attempts to identify the leaker of the draft memo the AP published late last month. An anonymous bureaucrat told Reuters the "atmosphere has become toxic, and that is not conducive to the work."
• Treasury: Secretary Steven Mnuchin reportedly told senior staff in their first meeting that they could be monitored to prevent leaks. Treasury denies that account.
• State Department: Officials have reportedly reverted to face-to-face communication, wary of monitoring. That's a consequence of a "culture of intimidation," per a source quoted by Reuters.

Rather than take aim at President Trump Thursday night on Jimmy Kimmel, GWB chose to poke fun at himself instead. When asked whether the impersonations of him during his presidency got under his skin — as Alec Baldwin seems to have done to Trump — Bush said no, and gave Kimmel a little anecdote about Will Ferrell's SNL sketch of him:

"I had dinner with Lorne Michaels, the head of 'Saturday Night Live,' and he said, 'I put a great speechwriter [Ferrell] on you, and he came up with "strategery."' And I said, 'Wait a minute, I said "strategery."' And he said, 'No, you didn't say "strategery."' I said, 'I damn sure said "strategery."' He said, 'We invented it.' I said, 'Well, let me ask you this: Did he come up with 'misunderestimate?'"

Good morning, Day 43 of the Trump presidency — a week from halftime of the 100 days.

I was chatting with a smart Republican about the White House's Russia issues, and he said: "This is the rare case where the smoke IS the fire."

What he meant is that even if the White House wound up being right that there's no "there" there (harder to see, with each day's revelations), the warning signs and botched reactions and mounting questions have themselves become huge problems for the President.

Donald Trump took to Twitter late Thursday night to call out Democrats for blowing the "narrative" surrounding Attorney General Jeff Sessions out of proportion, adding that Dems were just "saving face" after losing an election "that everyone thought they were supposed to win."

In four tweets, Trump emphasized that Sessions "is an honest man" and reiterated that he believes the AG did nothing wrong. The president also pivoted back to the administration's leaking problem: "The real story is all of the illegal leaks of classified and other information. It is a total 'witch hunt!'"

ICYMI: Sessions announced today that he is recusing himself from all investigations involving the Trump campaign amid the drama surrounding his meetings with the Russian ambassador to the U.S.