Nah, I don't think Graham is quite subserevant to Trump enough for Donnie.

That story is from November

And then there's this guy, who's not exactly White House but a True Trumper nonetheless:

Well, crappe. It popped up somewhere for me, perhaps he's just now actually going? Dunno.

The Best People.......

ANd the guy being named Ian Smith is just too appropriate......If you remember the history of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe

Yup, I intended to mention that but forgot.

It's another one than the guy from November.

"White House ethics lawyer Stefan Passantino is leaving the Trump administration, a senior White House official told NBC News on Thursday."

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...ration-n905031


From the same article: "Passantino — who had been in charge of making sure White House officials complied with government ethics rules"

So yeah:

...in the same way you don't notice a dam until it bursts...

I have often wondered why Sessions has resisted Trump's many insults and demands by continuing to recluse himself from the special investigation and defending, however weakly, the concept of a independent Justice Department. Does Sessions actually possess some vestige of a soul, some remnants of morality after all? It seemed so implausible. But now I think I got it! Despite his denials under oath, Sessions was deeply involved in the collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia and realizes that he would be opening himself up to very serious charges of obstructing justice if he does anything to head off the investigation. And, given the latest from Papadopoulos, Session must know that the evidence of his role in the Russian connection is out there and that he has to tread very softly. Better to take no action and have your genitals, character, and intelligence repeatedly demeaned by the POTUS than to give in to Trump and to wake up one morning charged with an easily proven felony.

Thanks, I was suspecting that but hadn't gotten around to looking it up yet.

The Senate isn't as crazy as the House. The nominee will be DOA if it's someone who will wave their hand and shutdown the Russia investigation. A complete sycophant is probably off the table.

I've never before wanted so badly for someone named Craig to be correct.

Word has been that Mattis may be next, and he recently has been standing up to Russia.

Maybe Mattis has been smoked out as Lodestar?

One can only hope.

Well, ...

Once again, Jeff Sessions has his head back on the Trump chopping block:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...=.24a6606832ec

‘I don’t have an attorney general’: Trump escalates his attacks on Jeff Sessions

President Trump escalated his attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday, offering a scathing assessment of his performance on the job and in his confirmation hearing.

“I don’t have an attorney general. It’s very sad,” Trump said in an interview with Hill.TV, in which he also said the former senator from Alabama came off as “mixed up and confused” when he appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee in January 2017.

...

“I’m disappointed in the attorney general for many reasons, and you understand that,” he told reporters.

In the interview, Trump suggested he appointed Sessions out of blind loyalty.

“I’m so sad over Jeff Sessions because he came to me,” Trump said. “He was the first senator that endorsed me. And he wanted to be attorney general, and I didn’t see it.”

...

Trump did not offer a firm answer when asked about Sessions’s future by Hill.TV.

“We’ll see what happens,” he said. “A lot of people have asked me to do that. And I guess I study history, and I say I just want to leave things alone, but it was very unfair what he did.”

“We’ll see how it goes with Jeff,” Trump added. “I’m very disappointed in Jeff. Very disappointed.”

Three words that Trump spoke here are particularly amusing...

If a job made me as sad as Trump says he always is, I would quit.

But he only employs the best people....

It's not the job. The world never meets a narcissist's expectations.

Mattis breaks his long media silence to write an op ed saying he is undermining the president? That seems hardly likely. In a career of being apolitical and working as SECDEF to keep the military apolitical that would be an odd move.

The author of that op ed works in communications. It's hard to imagine a career national security professional seeing that letter as a good idea. It diminishes the US further than the sitting president already has.

Oddly enough, with both Sessions and Rosenstein being on Trump's purge list, it seems that both their jobs are more secure than if only one of them was in the crosshairs: Trump would have to replace both at the same time, making it an ugly process even if Republicans keep the House - which they won't.
Trump might be well advised to stick to his current DoJ heads.

I agree. Lodestar is not one of the career politicians. They just don't work like that. I was just being snide about Mattis's steadying even-keeled approach and Trump's erratic and ultra-paranoiac responses to Lodestar.

Which means they will be fired probably after the mid-terms because they "failed to meet expectations".

Their fate likely hinges on the make-up of the Senate. A 50-50 split or a 51-49 favoring dems and the two stay.

It's Rosenstein. Just resigned as a pre-emptive strike to getting fired.

This is some seriously bad news, quite possibly the beginning of the end of the independent investigation into election tampering.

Fired or resigned?

"It was not immediately clear whether he expected to be fired by Mr. Trump or whether he planned to resign. Justice Department officials said on Monday morning that he was on his way to the White House expecting to be fired. But over the weekend, Mr. Rosenstein called a White House official and said he was considering quitting, and a person close to the White House said he was resigning."

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/24/u...ent-trump.html

It's the same thing that happened with Shulkin. White house leaks he resigned so they can use the vacancies act even though they actually fired him.

Does "I ******* quit this nonsense" constitute a "verbal resignation"?

In the interim, Noel Francisco, Solicitor general, would take over and might actual try to wrap up the Mueller probe before the Elections.

That's still an open question. Wow.

And maybe neither!

"NEWS- per source familiar, rod rosenstein is still the deputy attorney general as of right now.

he had a previously scheduled meeting at the WH at 12p, which he is at right now.

the axios report that he verbally resigned is false, though there was a conversation over the wknd."

https://twitter.com/politiCOHEN_/sta...56231123288066

I get the impression that neither the White House nor Rosenstein wants him to be in his current position. Rosenstein wants to be fired but the white house wants him to resign so they're stuck with each other.

Jonathon Swan is now saying Rosenstein has offered his resignation to Kelly.

Also worth noting Jonathon Swan is getting pummeled quite thoroughly for jumping out (and walking back) on this.

Trump doesn't have the balls to fire anyone, and someone on the level of Rosenstein doesn't get to get fired by only the Chief of Staff.
Rosenstein might be save after all.

If he doesn't resign, they can't use the vacancies act to fill his position with their own choice. They'd have to have his replacement approved by congress and that would require a guarantee that he wouldn't just fire Mueller as a hatchet man.

FWIW, there's a spreadsheet here of every departure from the Trump administration. 387 to date.

twitter.com/dylanmatt/status/1044259852334374912

Brilliant summary of the circus...

That's perfectly normal ...
... for a sinking ship.