At the urging of longtime friends and outside advisers, most of whom he consults after dark, President Trump is considering a "huge reboot" that could take out everyone from Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and chief strategist Steve Bannon, to counsel Don McGahn and press secretary Sean Spicer, White House sources tell me.
Trump is also irritated with several Cabinet members, the sources said.
"He's frustrated, and angry at everyone," said one of the confidants.
Trump tweeted Friday that his fired FBI Director James Comey better hope there aren't any tapes of their conversations, which critics quickly noted only further links him to Nixonian practices.
President Trump has had his good moments — his speech to Congress, appointing a Supreme Court justice and passing the healthcare bill through the House. But it seems like after every success, there's a fumble or scandal to steal the spotlight. It's been a wild presidency of ups and downs, so take a ride on the the Trump rollercoaster, which isn't slowing down any time soon.
Fired FBI director Jim Comey stunned yesterday when he declined an invitation to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee next week in a closed session. Now a "close associate" of his told the NYTimes that he's more than willing to testify, but not behind closed doors.
Why it matters: Those closed sessions routinely leak to the press, but if Comey has something to say, a public hearing will be harder for Trump to avoid or describe as "fake news."
President Trump may wind up paying a huge price for the Comey debacle. But so far, it's playing out a bit like the Access Hollywood tapes where Trump boasted to Billy Bush about groping women: Washington freaks and Trump Country yawns.
Instead of getting caught boasting of groping a woman's genitals, Trump kneecapped the FBI's top man. This time, the stakes are even higher: Trump has raised the possibility of secret taping in the People's House. And by his own account, he crossed traditional lines of independence between the White House and the FBI.
Health care in immigrant prisons leads to suffering and death, according to a new Human Rights Watch report that includes analysis from independent medical experts. The report highlights several medical cases that have been mishandled in the immigrant jail system.
The findings: Dangerous patterns of over-reliance on unqualified medical staff, unreasonable delays or denials of care, subpar mental health care, and bad record-keeping, in public and private prisons both. This all contributed to seven deaths in detention out of a total of 18 in-custody deaths.
The list: "acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), former Justice Department Criminal Division Chief Alice Fisher and New York state judge and former U.S. Attorney in Manhattan Michael Garcia."
The interviewers: AG Jeff Sessions and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, who is set to appear before Congress next week.
Why you should pay attention: the past three short lists from Trumpworld — SCOTUS, VP and Michael Flynn's replacement — all included the eventual selection.
There's only one thing on the mind of Trumpland this week: the firing of FBI Director James Comey. It's saturated the news for the better part of a week — largely through POTUS' own special skill of keeping a single story on life support across multiple news cycles. So let's get the story straight on how everything went down and huddle amongst the bushes of Trumpland.
