RUTHFULLY YOURS

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Expect the anti-Trump mob to be drinking heavily this weekend. The week has been filled with lots of bad news for them.

Sadly for Trump foes, the U.S. economy is thriving: Market indicators this week continued to rise, pointing to a “robust” 2018. Jobless claims are near a 45 year-low, and “job openings are near a record high, and scattered but growing shortages of skilled labor are forcing companies to increase pay or improve benefits to attract or retain employees,” according to an assessment by MarketWatch.

Several polls this week show the double-digit lead that Democrats had in the generic congressional ballot at the end of last year is nearly gone. Issues such as immigration and gun control are backfiring, while most voters credit Trump—not Obama—with the strong economy: The Democratic Party is bitter, listless, and devoid of any winning message or policy agenda.

Which brings us to the week’s worst news for the Left and NeverTrump Republicans, who have devoted 100 percent of their energy to taking down the president via Robert Mueller’s probe into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government before the 2016 election: The credibility of the investigation and the key players involved in the scam is disintegrating.

Let’s revisit the week’s lowest moments for the anti-Trump mob:

James Comey: It started off with so much hope for the anti-Trump mob. In a tweet that was “liked” nearly a half-million times, Comey promised his upcoming book release and tour would show the American people “who is honorable and who is not.”

Turns out, the former FBI director possesses the vanities, pettiness, and self-awareness of a teenage girl. (I have two, trust me, I know these things. He even uses a high-pitched, falsetto tone when he’s trying to be convincing.) But Comey’s inconsistent comments in A Higher Loyalty and television interviews have provoked Congress finally to take some action.

Despite his moral preening about being above politics, the former FBI director admitted public polling influenced the release of his October 28, 2016 letter to Congress about reopening the Clinton email investigation. He was universally zinged for writing about Trump’s appearance, including his hand size, eyes and clothing: Fox News’ Chris Wallace said he was surprised by how “bitchy” the book was, and The Today Show’s Savannah Guthrie questioned Comey about his “cattiness” and whether his book might jeopardize the Mueller investigation.

Comey told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he did not tell the president the dossier originated from his political opponents, a shocking disclosure from someone lecturing the nation about “values.” (We also discovered Mrs. Comey and their daughters voted for Hillary Clinton and attended the Women’s March the day after the inauguration.) On The View, Meghan McCain accused Comey of sounding “like a political commentator.”

And in a brutal interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday night, Comey embarrassingly admits his “common sense” rather than any hard evidence leads him to believe the Russians might have dirt on President Trump. Tapper to Trump: “You have said in your interviews, when asked, do the Russians have something on President Trump, you’ve said it’s possible, which is not a very FBI director answer.” Tapper also blasted Comey for trying to influence the appointment of a special counsel after he was fired. “What do you say to people who say, boy, that sounds awfully manipulative, not your role, and even payback?” (Comey responded that he was a “private citizen” at that point. LOL.)

When you’ve lost Tapper . . .

After watching Comey’s Clown Show for several days, congressional Republicans have had enough. Republican lawmakers this week asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FBI Director Christopher Wray to investigate Comey for several offenses related to his handling of the Clinton email probe and his leaking to the media of potentially classified information. Leaders on the House Intelligence Committee demanded that the Justice Department disclose copies of Comey’s memos this week; Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein acquiesced and released the memos to Congress—which were quickly leaked to the media Thursday night. The notes contain no bombshells. Nor do they support Comey’s claim he felt pressured by Trump to exonerate former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, which was the basis of the anti-Trump mob’s obstruction of justice charge.

To the contrary, as The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway explains, one of Comey’s memos reveals how the then-FBI director set up the incoming president by warning him about media coverage of the alleged “golden shower” nugget in the dossier: “This briefing, and the leaking of it, legitimized the dossier, which touched off the Russia hysteria. That hysteria led to a full-fledged media freakout.”

And late Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Justice Department’s inspector general will now investigate whether Comey improperly leaked classified information to the media after he was fired.

Worst book tour ever.

Andrew McCabe: On the heels of last week’s report outlining serious misconduct by Comey’s former deputy, Andrew McCabe, the Justice Department’s inspector general has sent a criminal referral to U.S. prosecutors asking them to investigate McCabe for lying to federal officials, including Comey, last year.

Although Comey has publicly defended his No. 2 in the past—even tweeting that “America needs” McCabe after he stepped down in January—he has offered conflicting views about McCabe this week. Comey told Tapper that “he likes [McCabe] very much as a person, but sometimes even good people do things they shouldn’t do.” (McCabe and his lawyer have pushed back on the report’s finding that his leak to the Wall Street Journal in October 2016 was unauthorized and now Comey is backpedaling.) So the man who just weeks ago was the hero of the anti-Trump mob (including folks like Bill Kristol who suggested McCabe’s firing might be “unfair and ungenerous”) may now face jail time.

Rod Rosenstein: The anti-Trump mob was rapturous last week after the FBI raided the office, home, and hotel room of Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. Now that everyone has conveniently forgotten that the Mueller probe was supposed to be about Trump-Russia collusion in the 2016 presidential election, Trump foes are slobbering over the prospect that an adult film star and not a Rooskie will take down the president.

But the deputy attorney general informed Trump this week that the president is not a target of the Cohen investigation and that the probe is solely focused on Cohen. [Sad trombone.]

Team Mueller: During a court hearing Thursday on the case against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, a federal judge raised concerns over the scope of Robert Mueller’s investigation.

According to Politico, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson questioned whether Rosenstein’s “directive appointing Mueller granted him more authority than Justice Department regulations appear to permit” because Justice Department rules require that a special counsel be notified of a “specific factual matter” to pursue. (Andrew McCarthy also has repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of the Mueller probe for that very reason.) Manafort’s lawyer also objected to Mueller’s team searching Manafort’s home and storage locker before Rosenstein broadened the special counsel’s purview in an August 2017 memo.

Scoffing at the silly notion they should have to follow federal guidelines: “Mueller’s team argued Thursday that criminal defendants and the public at large have no right to enforce those regulations.” While it’s unlikely a D.C.-based federal judge will toss out any part of Manafort’s case over technicalities, it’s still worthwhile noting that the courts are now wary about Mueller’s limitless power.

Not a good week at all.

So if you see anyone from #TheResistance (snicker)—a Democratic politician or a CNN host or a NeverTrumper—drowning their sorrows at a D.C. watering hole this weekend, buy him a pinot grigio or a daiquiri. Things are only going to get worse.

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