Leaky, Leaky

Another US attorney said Trump tried to do a Comey number on him. (Click the graphic for the video.)

Now. Trump also fired Bharara. That was back in March. So I find this bit from a March 11 CNN article quite interesting:

[T]he reason Bharara's sudden dismissal came as a surprise is that the high-profile US attorney had been told after a meeting with Trump in November that he could stay on and felt blindsided by the request for his resignation on Friday, sources told CNN.

[...]

According to a source familiar with the meeting between Trump and Bharara in November 2016 at Trump Tower, the President-elect asked Bharara to stay on the job and they shook hands. Trump then directed Bharara to go out to the cameras and tell them, "I asked you to stay."

  CNN

Same as Comey. But, also, look at this, and remember the timing.

Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente called Bharara on Saturday to ask if it was true that he was refusing to resign, and Bharara told him yes.

Boente then called Bharara back and said Trump was firing him, the source said.

This was after the President, through his assistant, tried to call Bharara on Thursday and left a voice mail, a source familiar with the call told CNN.

Bharara notified Attorney General Jeff Sessions' chief of staff about the call, saying he wasn't going to talk to Trump, the source said; there are rules against sitting US attorneys talking to the President. Bharara then called Trump's assistant and explained he couldn't talk to the President because of the protocols, the source said.

Comey had also complained to Sessions about Trump's personal calls, but Paul Ryan is trying to tell us it was just because Trump "is new at this." If both of those men complained to Sessions, did Sessions simply not inform Trump that he was going about things the wrong way? And surely, Trump's assistant told him what Bharara said about that. So, did Trump know what he was doing was improper and say, "fuck it - I'm the president- I can do what I want"?  Yeah, that's what I think, too.

So, why did Trump fire Bharara?

New York Sen. Chuck Schumer also said at the time that Trump called him before the meeting to ask what he thought about Bharara continuing in his role as US attorney.

"I told him I thought Preet was great, and I would be all for keeping him on the job and fully support it. ... He's been one of the best US attorneys New York has ever seen," Schumer said.

[...]

Trump "assured him" he wanted Bharara to continue to serve as US attorney.

[...]

A source close to the President told CNN that Trump informed Bharara that he wanted to keep him on as a gesture to Schumer -- then the incoming minority leader -- whom Trump had previously supported for years. Since November, however, Schumer has led the Democratic opposition in the Senate, which the White House views as obstructionist and running counter to the President's agenda.

The Trump doctrine. Simple spite. Or more sinister?

Remember, he also fired Sally Yates because she refused to support his Muslim ban.

These things are going to weigh against him when it comes to whether or not he is guilty of obstructing justice in the Comey case. That is, if Robert Mueller is indeed the excellent and impartial prosecutor people think he is.

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