We Get It, Donald, It’s a 'Witch Hunt!'
It’s not difficult to know what our nation’s projector-in-chief worries about every day, because he conveys his anxiety through Twitter. And judging by the frequency with which he has been tweeting about the special counsel’s Russia probe lately, things are likely heating up on that front.
Among Donald Trump’s habitual Saturday morning Twitter rants is yet another reference to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of election tampering by Russia, potential collusion by the Trump campaign, and obstruction of justice by several members of Trump’s team and some Republican lawmakers. Trump has tweeted twice already today about the “Russian Witch Hunt.”
“Poll numbers plummet on the Democrat inspired and paid for Russian Witch Hunt. With all of the bias, lying and hate by the investigators, people want the investigators investigated. Much more will come out. A total scam and excuse for the Dems losing the Election!” Trump tweeted, tagging Fox News.
In his very next tweet, the president said only, “The Russian Witch Hunt is Rigged!”
CNN Executive Producer David Gelles compiled a list of Trump’s “Witch Hunt” tweets going back a year and found that since May 2017, the president has tweeted the phrase he likes to use to gaslight his base about the Russia probe a whopping 72 times—well over half of them occurring in the past two months alone.
Starting in May, something really appears to have gotten under Trump’s skin about the ongoing investigation, which so far has snagged 20 people and three companies with indictments or guilty pleas. According to Gelles, Trump was averaging around 3-5 tweets per month using the term “Witch Hunt.” But last May, he tweeted the phrase 20 times. He has tweeted it 22 times already in June, and the month’s not even over yet.
Perhaps the president realized he has been living on borrowed time since April, when FBI agents raided the office and hotel room of Trump’s longtime fixer and “attorney” Michael Cohen. Trump now seems to have abandoned Cohen, leaving him to the prosecutorial dogs, meaning he’ll probably flip.
On Friday, Manhattan Federal Court Judge Kimba Wood decided that Cohen was more of a client than an attorney, according to the New York Daily News. Of nearly 300,000 emails, texts, documents, and other items seized by the FBI, Judge Wood said that only eight involved Cohen actually communicating with a client. That’s less than 0.003%. Trump is screwed.
The same day as Wood’s decision on admissible evidence in the Cohen investigation, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson issued another ruling in former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort’s case. The judge denied a request by Manafort to dismiss a money laundering charge that would require him to forfeit properties if convicted, CNBC reported.
Just a week ago, Manafort was sent to jail to await trial after Mueller busted him tampering with witnesses and obstructing justice. If Manafort flips, Trump is doubly screwed.
Now it’s merely a waiting game to see who the next domino to fall is. Will it be Julian Assange? Roger Stone? One of Trump’s kids? Trump himself? Whatever the case, the increasing frequency with which Trump tweets “Witch Hunt” is actually an indication of good things to come.