The details are still coming into focus, but we know that the FBI raided the office and hotel room of Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s personal attorney, yesterday. As NBC News reported, we also know that the search warrants “were sought and executed by FBI agents and federal prosecutors in New York in coordination with special counsel Robert Mueller’s team after an initial referral from Mueller’s office.”
As for why federal law enforcement launched this raid, that gets a little tricky. It appears that officials are looking for information about the $130,000 in hush money Cohen paid porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election, though as Rachel noted on last night’s show, Cohen has been at the center of all kinds of controversies, and the Washington Post and New York Times reported separately that the president’s attorney is also under investigation for possible bank fraud.
One that’s perfectly clear, however, is that Trump isn’t taking the news especially well.
Trump wasted no time addressing the raids when reporters entered the Cabinet Room where he was meeting with senior military leaders, starting his remarks by calling Mueller’s investigation a “witch hunt” and a “disgrace.”
It’s “an attack on our country in a true sense, an attack on what we all stand for,” Trump said of the raids, which were first reported by The New York Times.
To fully appreciate the scope of the presidential tantrum, it’s worth checking out the transcript. Trump characterized the FBI raid as a break-in; he used the words “disgrace” or “disgraceful” nine times; and he lashed out at the special counsel’s office, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, federal investigators, Hillary Clinton, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
One gets the sense the president is unfamiliar with the phrase, ‘Never let ’em see you sweat.”
Indeed, between yesterday’s comments in the White House’s cabinet room, and this morning’s tweets, it appears the pressure is starting to get to Trump, and panic is setting in.
As for Robert Mueller, Trump was asked whether he intends to fire the special prosecutor. The president didn’t answer directly, though he did say, “Well, I think it’s a disgrace what’s going on. We’ll see what happens…. And many people have said, ‘You should fire him.’”
As recently as three weeks ago, prominent congressional Republicans said they saw no need to shield Mueller from White House interference because, as several GOP lawmakers said, they saw no evidence that Trump might fire the special counsel.
Perhaps now would be a good time for Congress to reconsider those assumptions.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."