'Russiagate'

In an early morning tweet today US President Donald Trump appeared to confirm earlier reports that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is now investigating his handling of former FBI Director Comey to see whether there might be grounds for a charge of obstruction of justice.

I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 16, 2017

Reports have surfaced that during his heated exchange with Stephen Colbert, Oliver Stone responded to statements from Colbert repeating the tired narrative about Russia interfering in the US election by bringing up an elephant in the room that many media outlets have totally ignored.
Stone said of alleged and thus far totally unproved Russian interference,

“Israel had far more involvement in the US election than Russia, why don’t you ask me about that?”

Colbert, quick to end that part of the discussion replied,

Since the shock outcome of the general election in Britain last week one dog has rather surprisingly failed to bark and a number of people are asking why?
That dog is the allegation of Russian meddling in the election.
That allegation has been made – to a massive degree – about last year’s US Presidential election, about last year’s British Brexit referendum, about this year’s French election, and about the German election which is pending later this year.
However no-one has made it in relation to the British election and some people are wondering why?

US President Donald Trump has lashed out in against allegations circulating today that he is now under investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller for obstruction of justice.

They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2017

Supporters of Russiagate, endeavouring to find some material in former FBI Director Comey’s essentially empty testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, seem to have convinced themselves that certain comments of Comey’s somehow pointed to Attorney General Jeff Sessions being in some way implicated in the scandal.

As Donald Trump watched the increasingly farcical testimony of James Comey before the Senate Intelligence Committee, one could almost feel an air of vindication about Trump’s prior statements.
The hearings have re-confirmed that Trump has never been and is not now under any sort of investigation and that furthermore, it was James Comey himself who leaked the contents of a personal memo detailing Trump’s private/personal views on the fate and reputation of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
Trump Tweeted the following about his now nemesis James Comey

One point I have already made about former FBI Director Comey’s testimony to the Senate Committee is the extremely poor quality of the questioning Comey was subjected to by its members.  However one particularly inept line of questions stands out: those asked by Senator John McCain of Arizona, who is not even a member of the Senate Committee but who was there by invitation.

Former FBI Director Comey has concluded the open part of his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The quality of the questioning – both by Republicans and Democrats  – struck me as extremely poor.  I found Comey’s written testimony to the Committee published yesterday far more informative than his answers today.

No evidence has ever been found which could demonstrate any Russian involvement or attempted involvement in foreign elections, not in the US, not in France, not in Brexit, not anywhere. Russia has likewise repeated constantly that they have no desire to do such things. But do you wish that you had?

As my colleague Adam Garrie has pointed out, The New York Times story that Russian President Putin has ‘suggested’ that patriotic Russian hackers might have hacked Podesta and the DNC is mendacious and wrong.