Leaky, Leaky

President Trump told Russian officials in the Oval Office this month that firing the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, had relieved “great pressure” on him, according to a document summarizing the meeting.

“I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job,” Mr. Trump said, according to the document, which was read to The New York Times by an American official. “I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.”

Mr. Trump added, “I’m not under investigation.”

[...]

The White House document that contained Mr. Trump’s comments was based on notes taken from inside the Oval Office and has been circulated as the official account of the meeting. One official read quotations to The Times, and a second official confirmed the broad outlines of the discussion.

  NYT

The Times is out to be Trump's Number One Enemy, and proud of it.

What a dufus Trump is.  Still high off the power that allowed him to summarily dismiss James Comey, he's bragging about it the next day.  To the Russians.  I guess the case could be made by the faction that says he's colluding with the Russians to get and keep him in the White House that he was simply informing them that he pulled off the hit.  If the idiot isn't guilty of the collusion charges, he sure is making it appear that way.

The "Russian officials" included the Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, and Russian ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak.

Who's leaking? If Trump can get his hands on that person, Jeff Sessions will prosecute. And if Trump can get Joe Lieberman (of all people) in as director of FBI, the search for that person will be a priority.

Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, did not dispute the account.

[...]

“By grandstanding and politicizing the investigation into Russia’s actions, James Comey created unnecessary pressure on our ability to engage and negotiate with Russia,” Mr. Spicer said. “The investigation would have always continued, and obviously, the termination of Comey would not have ended it. Once again, the real story is that our national security has been undermined by the leaking of private and highly classified conversations.”

Yes, that's the REAL story.

Actually, it IS a story. A good one, too.

Behind closed doors, according to the document read by the official, Mr. Trump said that news stories about possible Russian collusion were fake, a comment he has repeatedly made in public. He told the Russians that his poll numbers remained strong and that Americans wanted the government to have a healthy relationship with Russia.

At one point, Mr. Trump jokingly asked whether there were reporters in the room.

“No,” Mr. Lavrov said. “No fake media.”

Trump didn't even realize the Russian news agency TASS was in attendance?!  Who was in charge of who got in?

Like the public meeting at a Mar-a-Lago restaurant where Trump discussed the North Korean missile launch with Japan's PM, the major threat to American national security is the entire Trump administration itself.

In fact, it was paramount that SOMEone leak something from that meeting since the American press was not allowed in.  Another action for the collusion folks to point to.  Christ, what an idiot.

While American reporters were prohibited from attending, the Russian news agency Tass distributed photographs of the meeting.

[...]

The Oval Office comment about Mr. Comey’s sanity echoed what Mr. Trump has said privately at other times. The Times reported the day after Mr. Comey was fired that the president had told aides there was “something wrong with” Mr. Comey.

Ha! Something wrong. He wouldn't bow to Trump and kiss the ring. He didn't fall for the old Trump charm offensive. Or the cajoling. And possibly threats.  "Something wrong" indeed.

A third government official briefed on the meeting defended the president, saying that Mr. Trump, whose discursive speaking style has hindered him in office, was using a negotiating tactic when he told Mr. Lavrov about the “pressure” he was under. The idea, the official suggested, was to create a sense of obligation with Russian officials and to coax concessions out of Mr. Lavrov — on Syria, Ukraine and other issues — by saying that Russian meddling in last year’s election had created enormous political problems for Mr. Trump.

I apologize if you were taking a drink when you read that. I know what it's like to have chocolate milk spray out of your nose. Very painful.

There are several investigations concurrently going. Who gets the documents first? And if it's the FBI, or the special prosecutor, do they have to share?

Speaking of that Oval Office meeting, watch this video clip. Foreign Minister Lavrov is an arrogant asshole.

Lavrov is a highly experienced diplomat who has served as Russian foreign minister since 2004. Before that, he was Russia's ambassador to the United Nations in New York from 1994 to 2004.

  CNN

Not very diplomatic for a diplomat. Maybe he was just having a bad day. He was having to meet with tRump, after all.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.