The temperature skyrocketed in Washington, D.C., which seems appropriate as the heat continues to rise on President Trump on the various controversies in which he finds himself embroiled.
This weekend, it was the testimony of former FBI Director James Comey that grabbed most of the headlines, especially after Trump said Friday he’d be willing to testify in front of Congress.
Trump himself weighed in on the Comey testimony — from New Jersey, where he found time to visit a wedding being held at his club — and called the former FBI director “very cowardly” for leaking a memo about a conversation between the two.
On the Sunday shows, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer encouraged Trump to testify in front of Congress. But, his colleague Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, said he didn’t feel that would be appropriate on separation of powers grounds. Rep. Keith Ellison even went so far as to link Trump’s rhetoric with the death of two men in Portland who tried to stop a white supremacist from harassing Muslim women on a commuter train.
Former U.S. attorney Preet Bahara, fired by Trump in a similar manner as Comey, said in his first public interview that he thinks there’s “absolutely evidence” to start an obstruction case against Trump.
Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., didn’t do his father any favors when he said President Trump did tell Comey he hoped the FBI would end its investigation into former national security adviser Mike Flynn, which contradicted Trump’s statement that he “never said that.”
Members of Trump’s own party had a simple message for the president on the Sunday shows: Either stop talking or be honest. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s advice to “stop talking” about Russia was perhaps the simplest advice, but Sen. Susan Collins expressed her disappointment that Trump wouldn’t give a yes or no answer on whether he recorded conversations with Comey and urged him to release the tapes to lawmakers, if they exist.
Sen. John McCain went as far to say that Trump’s causing America’s standing in the world to go down.
Others had Trump’s back: Sen. Mike Lee said there’s no sign of obstruction of justice and Sen. James Lankford, while warning Trump’s conversations with Comey were “very inappropriate,” said the same thing.
However, a political operative from the past warned Trump about getting too far over his skis in his public statements. Former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer warned Trump he was walking into a “giant perjury trap” with his public statements.
The RNC would just like the whole thing to go away. Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel said there’s been no evidence of collusion between Trump and Russia, and the investigation needs to end.
White House aides had to fight off another controversy Sunday after a report surfaced that Trump is looking at postponing a trip to the United Kingdom because he’s worried there will be massive protests against him. British Prime Minister Theresa May, and White House staff, both shot down the report.
Questions are still circling about people close to Trump in connection to the Russia investigation. Trump’s personal lawyer reportedly has ties to the Kremlin.
Trump at least got some friendly company at the White House Sunday — his wife Melania and son Barron officially moved into the executive residence Sunday.
Trump’s weekend was mostly quiet, with his only major activity coming when he headlined a fundraiser for Rep. Tom MacArthur at his golf course in New Jersey. No press was allowed in the fundraiser.
Meanwhile, all is not good and happy between the Russian government and American diplomats. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that American attacks on pro-government Syrian troops are unacceptable in a phone call Saturday.
Perhaps the biggest actual congressional news of the weekend came Saturday when Attorney General Jeff Sessions revealed he would be testifying Tuesday to the Senate Intelligence Committee as Democrats get perjury fever over his statements on his meetings with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. However, it’s not clear if Sessions will testify in open or closed session, or if he’ll testify at all, Sen. Dianne Feinstein said.
A few major votes came during the weekend as well — in Puerto Rico, 97 percent of the electorate there voted for statehood, which remains unlikely. For one thing, a major boycott of the election by the island’s main opposition party drove down turnout and congressional Republicans are unlikely to jump on board with the idea.
New French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron’s En Marche! party managed to get past the hindrance of having an exclamation mark in its proper name and grabbed a huge number of seats in the French parliament. It was a massive victory for the young prime minister.
There was also some tragic news from abroad, this time in Afghanistan. Three American soldiers died Saturday when an Afghan soldier turned on them and opened fire. Another American was wounded in the attack in eastern Afghanistan. The identities of the service members were not immediately released.
American service members were also at work in Somalia, where they carried out an airstrike on al-Shabaab, and in the Philippines, where they joined the Filipino military in trying to kick ISIS out of a besieged city.
Back at home, Vice President Mike Pence made the rounds on Saturday, speaking in Wisconsin about healthcare reform (he blamed Democrats for not getting on board) and in Washington to the Faith and Freedom Coalition (he begged them to “pray for America”). The Pence family also mourned the loss of Oreo, the Second Cat Of The United States, who passed away on Saturday.
In much, much sillier news, White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was roundly mocked on Twitter because her toddler got a hold of her phone and posted a bunch of emojis. No word on whether the heat was getting to people, causing them to mock Sanders for a silly reason.
Hillary Clinton surfaced briefly this weekend as well, speaking at the commission ceremony for the USS Gabrielle Giffords. The ship’s namesake said she would “never forget this day.”
It was a tough weekend for a few people for a few different reasons: Joe Biden’s niece, who pleaded guilty to credit-account theft. A British pundit fulfilled a promise to eat his book on air because of a bad election prediction. Kellyanne Conway was caught criticizing her coworkers at a party. And Shakespeare in the Park in New York City lost a big-name sponsor after Delta stopped sponsoring its production of “Julius Caesar,” which had Donald Trump as the titular character — who, of course, is assassinated at the end. Apologies for the spoiler.
