I'm starting to get the feeling that El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago may be flailing just a bit as we get closer and closer to somebody he doesn't want to see testifying before Congress testifying before Congress. On Thursday, he was blowing some serious smoke in John Kerry's direction. From the Washington Post:

The president raised the issue during a freewheeling exchange with reporters after an event on health care at the White House, accusing Kerry of telling Iranian officials not to speak with members of the Trump administration. “I’d like to see — with Iran, I’d like to see them call me,” Trump said. “You know, John Kerry speaks to them a lot. John Kerry tells them not to call. That’s a violation of the Logan Act. And frankly, he should be prosecuted on that. But my people don’t want to do anything that’s — only the Democrats do that kind of stuff, you know? If it were the opposite way, they’d prosecute him under the Logan Act.”

OK, so only two people ever have been prosecuted under the Logan Act, both of them in the 19th century, and neither of them were convicted, so this is one more thing about which the president* does not know dick. But this little episode came as part of yet another strange press availability, this one at the end of another White House meeting on healthcare that will produce nothing resembling a healthcare plan. It wasn't the only strange interlude therein, either. Via RealClearPolitics:

"Bob Mueller is no friend of mine, I've had conflicts with him," the president said. "We had a business dispute, we had somebody that is in love with James Comey. He liked James Comey. They were very good friends. Supposedly best friends. Maybe not, but supposedly best friends. You look at the picture file and you see hundreds of photos with him and Comey. With all of that, and other things, he wanted the FBI job... And the day after he didn't get it he became the special counsel. That's a conflict. And we had other things, but those are tremendous conflicts."

He also had some thoughts to share regarding the subpoena that got dropped on his son, Junior.



He repeated that his son is a "good person" and testified for "hours and hours," and was ultimately "exonerated by Mueller...Frankly, for my son after being exonerated and now, getting subpoenaed, and to go again to speak again after close to 20 hours telling everybody that would listen" about the Trump Tower meeting, Trump said, he was "very surprised" by the subpoena. Asked if Trump Jr. should fight the subpoena, the President wouldn't say: "Well, we'll see what happens."



So, if you're keeping score at home, John Kerry is a criminal, Bob Mueller is a sellout, and Donald Trump, Jr. is a good person, but his father isn't going to make the call on whether he should fight the subpoena. This is not a situation that would make me comfortable at all.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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