On Saturday morning, Trump made his first public comments after Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in a deal that reports suggest will see Flynn testify against members of Trump’s inner circle and family—and possibly Trump himself.

I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 2, 2017

So General Flynn lies to the FBI and his life is destroyed, while Crooked Hillary Clinton, on that now famous FBI holiday “interrogation” with no swearing in and no recording, lies many times...and nothing happens to her? Rigged system, or just a double standard? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 3, 2017

Many people in our Country are asking what the “Justice” Department is going to do about the fact that totally Crooked Hillary, AFTER receiving a subpoena from the United States Congress, deleted and “acid washed” 33,000 Emails? No justice! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 3, 2017

The second and third tweets are what you expect from Trump, since he has long tried to make a scapegoat of Clinton. But the first tweet is what matters. Trump reportedly told former FBI Director James Comey to go easy on Flynn a day after Flynn was fired, and this tweet implies that Trump was aware that Flynn had lied to the FBI when he made these comments. That is an admission of guilt: The president is effectively admitting to obstructing justice in his conversation with Comey.

This embarrassing error has led to more embarrassing errors. Trump lawyer John Dowd admitted that Trump likely knew that Flynn had lied to the FBI when he spoke to Comey, but argued that it didn’t matter because “the president cannot obstruct justice.” Dowd also took credit for the tweet, saying that he drafted it and sent it to the president’s social media director.

The president's lawyer claims he drafted the president's tweet, and then sent it to White House social media director to publish as the president.



When asked for the original email he sent to aide, the president's lawyer claimed he dictated it orally. https://t.co/FA9Pu1UmoY — NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) December 4, 2017

At this point, arguing that the president can’t obstruct justice may be the only argument Trump can make in his defense—if he doesn’t fire Robert Mueller before then, that is.