Weekly Trump Report Card: Mueller Time

Jed Babbin

Compared to the Russia investigation, President Trump didn’t make much news this week. Robert Mueller’s continuing drama is a passion play with an unlimited number of acts. This week’s act featured the conviction of one-time Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort on eight of eighteen counts against him and a guilty plea by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.

Upon Manafort’s conviction, Trump (again) proved himself his own worst enemy. Trump congratulated Manafort for “refusing to break.” In New York terms, Trump was expressing thanks that Manafort didn’t rat him out on some misdeed known to them both. In the Cohen plea deal, the shots at Trump came from the other direction.

Cohen’s plea deal implicates the president in making illegal campaign contributions in order to make payments of hush money to women allegedly linked sexually to him. The plea accuses Trump of crimes but doesn’t prove them.

Cohen’s lawyer — the ever-faithful Clinton pal Lanny Davis — proclaimed that his client was eager to provide more information to Mueller, hinting that it could be the holy grail of the Mueller crusade, evidence of collusion by the Trump campaign with the Russians. If the source were almost anyone other than Lanny Davis, the threat to Trump could have had some credibility. Moreover, it’s clear that if Cohen had proof of those accusations, they would have already been provided to Team Mueller in exchange for greater leniency in charges and sentencing.

Meanwhile, back at the Oval Office, the administration announced further sanctions on Russian companies for violating trade sanctions. Harsher sanctions on President Vladimir Putin’s Russia are being withheld. Trump’s feud with the intelligence community continues unabated, more tariffs were levied on Chinese goods and the Taliban are being invited to Russia for peace talks. Trump’s latest verbal assault on Attorney General Jeff Sessions was countered by Sessions who said that Justice Department policy won’t be dictated by politics. Sessions may be sufficiently fed up with Trump’s nearly constant bashing to quit soon.

Grade D-

John Zogby

Wall Street is delirious. President Trump is as popular as ever with his base on the campaign trail. His polling numbers are holding steady so far.

But his former personal consigliere, Michael Cohen, has pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws at, as he claims, the president’s urgings. His one-time campaign manager Paul Manafort, was convicted within an hour of Cohen’s plea deal on eight counts of bank and tax fraud — and faces at least one more trial. Even his longtime buddy, the publisher of the National Enquirer, has been granted immunity in the Cohen case.

The White House is complaining about not being able to focus on its policy agenda. Trump is at war with his own attorney general who he claims was appointed only because of loyalty. (What a great thing to tell the American people!) At week’s end the president was forced to acknowledge that denuclearization talks with North Korea were stalled.

Meanwhile, the highest profile policy announcement to emerge is from the president’s EPA saying the U.S. can expect about 1,400 extra deaths from relaxed carbon emissions standards. Very bad week.

Grade F

Jed Babbin is an Examiner contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in administration of former President George H.W. Bush. Follow him on Twitter @jedbabbin

John Zogby is the founder of the Zogby Poll and senior partner at John Zogby Strategies. His latest book is We are Many, We are One: Neo-Tribes and Tribal Analytics in 21st Century America. Follow him on Twitter @TheJohnZogby