Dana Bash: This is so telling about where the Republican party is NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 24: Trump Tower stands on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on August 24, 2018 in New York City. Following new allegations over hush money that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen paid to an adult-film actress, the Manhattan district attorneyÕs office in New York City may seek criminal charges against the Trump Organization in the coming days. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Why GOP is standing in the way of Capitol riot investigation WASHINGTON - NOVEMBER 08: US Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-VA) remarks on the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at the US Capitol November 8, 2006 in Washington, DC. Warner said he supports President George W. Bush's nomination of former CIA Director Robert Gates for Secretary of Defense. Warner said he anticipates Gates' confirmation before the end of the year. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), joined by Senate Assistant Minority Leader John Thune (R-SD) (L) and Senate Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO), speaks following a Senate Republican Policy luncheon at the Russell Senate Office Building on May 18, 2021 in Washington, DC. US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters upon his return to the White House on March 24, 2019 in Washington, DC after spending the weekend in Florida, declaring he had been completely exonerated after his campaign was cleared of colluding with Russia in the 2016 election campaign. (Photo by Eric BARADAT / AFP) (Photo credit should read ERIC BARADAT/AFP/Getty Images) (CNN) — There’s no “reporter” that President Donald Trump likes more than Fox News’ Sean Hannity – largely due to Hannity’s unwavering, puppy dog-like support for the President. Trump likes to reward people who play nice with him, which brings us to the 45-minute phone interview he gave to Hannity on Wednesday night, the latest in a series of conversations between the two men. I went through the transcript of the interview and picked out some of the most, uh, noteworthy Trump lines from it. They’re below. 1. “It was a cloud. It was a cloud that most people didn’t believe, fortunately.” Trump is talking about special counsel Robert Mueller’s report. And away we go! [Old man yells at cloud] 2. “How did it start? You had dirty cops. You had people that are about FBI folks.” The Mueller probe grew out of an FBI investigation into Russian interference into the 2016 election. That investigation began when the Australians reported that Trump foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos had bragged to one of their diplomats that the Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton. (You can read it all here.) That, or, you know, dirty cops. 3. “When I said there could be somebody spying on my campaign, a lot of things happened. It was like – it went wild out there. They couldn’t believe that I could say such a thing.” I think Trump is referring to his March 2017 tweet alleging that President Barack Obama had ordered his phone tapped during the 2016 election. The reason people couldn’t believe he would say such a thing is because, well, it wasn’t true. And Trump didn’t then – and hasn’t since – provided any evidence to back up that claim. 4. “When you look at what happened, and when it happened, and the money that was spent, the millions and millions on the phony dossier, and then they used the dossier to start things, and there was no truth whatsoever. It was a fraud and paid for by Hillary Clinton and paid for by the Democrats and the DNC.” Lot of untruth here. First, the opposition research that became the so-called “Steele Dossier” was, originally, funded by a conservative media publication. But the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee did take over the funding for it. Trump’s repeated assertion that the dossier was the impetus for the FBI investigation has been proven wrong again and again. 5. “You’re only allowed to do this legally if there is a crime. There was no crime. They’ve all admitted it.” If “this” is the Mueller investigation, Trump is wrong about that. The FBI can choose to investigate without knowing laws were broken. As to the claim that “there was no crime,” that’s not entirely accurate. Better said this way: Mueller didn’t recommend that Trump or anyone in his world be prosecuted for obstruction of justice. Attorney General William Barr decided not to prosecute. That’s a bit different than what Trump is saying. (Also, it’s worth noting that Mueller uncovered lots of crimes – including among a number of Trump associates.) 6. “Had he been there initially, this all would not have happened, because what has gone on there is just a disgrace to our country.” The “he” here is Barr. And this does reflect a consistent belief that Trump has held: That the only reason the special counsel was formed in the first place is because Jeff Sessions stupidly recused himself. In Trump’s mind, if Sessions had never done that, there would been no investigation. (Left unsaid, again, by Trump is that the investigation actually turned up considerable wrongdoing – including by people quite close to him in the campaign.) 7. “You need so many different – you need genius, you need rationality, you need different levels of good.” Donald Trump on the characteristics that make for an effective attorney general. “Different levels of good.” 8. “If the Republican Party had done this to the Democrats, if we had done this to President Obama, you’d have 100 people in jail right now and it would be treason. It would be considered treason and they’d be in jail for the rest of their lives.” Treason! Lifetime jail sentences! 9. “It’s very, very important for our country to know, because in 50 years from now, and 100 years from now, if someone tries the same thing, they have to know that the penalty will be very, very great, if and when they get caught.” Get caught doing what exactly? Remember that Mueller’s stated mission was to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election and the possibility of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians. He did not establish conspiracy but did uncover any number of other illegalities committed by people close to Trump. So, what was Muller “caught” doing other than his job as laid out by the special counsel statute? 10. “It’s a very, very sad thing. I don’t want to talk about pardons now but I can say, it’s so sad on so many levels.” No, Trump didn’t outright say he would pardon former national security adviser Michael Flynn here. Just that Flynn has been treated very badly, probably did nothing wrong and is the victim in all of this. So, there’s that. 11. “When you mentioned Rush or Mark – Mark Levin, or Steve Doocy, and Ainsley in the morning, and Brian and Laura, Jesse, Jeanine – I hope Jeanine’s back soon.” An unintentionally revealing moment in which Trump lists a slew of (mainly) Fox News hosts and refers to them by their first names. Which proves just how much TV – and Fox in particular – he watches. Also, Jeanine Pirro, who Trump hopes is “back soon” was suspended for questioning the patriotism of Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar (D), who is Muslim. 12. “I don’t want to keep going because I’m going to leave out some people. I could again go so long. So many great people have been – you know, they get it.” By “get it,” Trump means that the people he likes on Fox News totally affirm his worldview and never question him. Just to translate for you. 13. “Nobody has been tougher, nobody, on Russia than me. And everybody – my enemies say that, when they are reasonable enemies, when they are fair.” Not true! (Also, Trump non-sequitur-ed to this “Russia line” DIRECTLY after praising a bunch of Fox News people. The mind works in mysterious ways! 14. “Look at the fact that we would have been powered by wind, which wouldn’t have worked, by the way, because it only blows sometimes, and lots of problems come about.” So, if Trump wasn’t president, we would be running on wind power right now? Also, he’s right – the wind does “only blow sometimes.” 15. “I have many, many records of the highest stock market. “I.” 16. “But nobody has been tougher to Russia or on Russia than Donald Trump, President Trump. Nobody even close.” Again, no! 17. “The good news is, based on polls and based on other things, based on where we stand now with the public, Sean, the people never bought it. They get what’s happening.” Donald Trump’s approval rating in the latest CNN poll was 42%. A majority – 56% – said they thought Trump was not exonerated by Barr’s summary of Mueller’s report. 18. “We will become the party of health care, the party of really good health care.” Trump keeps saying this, while offering zero details on how it will happen. And, as I’ve written recently, re-engaging the healthcare fight if a very dangerous move for Republicans heading into 2020. 19. “The good news is, I heard their ratings last night, both of them were – they dropped off the folder.” The TV ratings for CNN and MSNBC dropped right off the folder, you say? 20. “I mean, the finding was very, very strong. No collusion, no obstruction, no Russia, no nothing.” Mueller expressly wrote in his report, according to Barr, that the decision not to make a recommendation on obstruction vis a vis Trump “does not exonerate him.” 21. “I notice your record, you had virtually record ratings last night. So, that’s because you have credibility.” Oh, so that’s why Hannity’s ratings are so high. Also, the President of the United States is looking at nightly ratings for cable TV shows? 22. “I knew that it was going to get worse, not better. I’m not going to fire [former FBI Director Comey] and everything goes away.” And yet, according to former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Trump also believed that firing Flynn earlier in his administration would make the whole Russia thing go away. 23. “But NBC didn’t want to play it that way. They wanted to play it a different way.” Trump has repeatedly alleged that his interview with NBC’s Lester Holt shortly after Comey’s firing was doctored in some way. Or that NBC spliced the quote in some weird way. They didn’t. Here’s the quote – in full: “He made a recommendation, but regardless of recommendation, I was going to fire Comey, knowing there was no good time to do it. And in fact when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story. It’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won.” 24.”And I will tell you this about Russia, if they had anything on me, it would have come out a long time ago, probably a long time before I ran because they would have been much better off.” To be clear: There has been zero established collusion between Trump and the Russians. But I also don’t get his logic. Russia would have used any dirt they had on him before he was President because “they would have been much better off?” Seems to me that if Russia did have incriminating information on Trump – and there’s no evidence they do – they’d be WAY better off to hold it over the head of a sitting president, right? 25. “Hillary wouldn’t let you drill, there would be no oil, there would be no gas, there wouldn’t be anything to compete.” So, if Hillary Clinton was president right now, we’d have no oil or gas. Just wind. And you know the wind “only blows sometimes.” 26. “Russia much rather have Hillary than Donald Trump. I can tell you that right now.” The US intelligence community unanimously (and the Senate Intelligence Committee) agreed that not only did Russia interfere in the 2016 election but they did so to help Trump and hurt Clinton. Why?<doc-sep>Fasten your seatbelt: Sean Hannity is going to interview President Donald Trump on Wednesday. Though we hardly need to be told, Fox noted Trump will “react” to Attorney General William Barr’s summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report and discuss the latest in re his southern border wall-building progress. Hannity famously foamed over on Sunday when Barr unleashed his four-page interpretation of Mueller’s report: “MSNBC CONSPIRACY NETWORK LIARS FAKE NEWS CNN LIARS NY TIMES WAPO LIARS” Hannity Twitter-screeched that evening. He also previewed his top-rated cable program’s plans for the coming days, tweeting, “Starting Monday we will hold every deep state official who abused power accountable. We will hold every fake news media liar member accountable. We will hold every liar in Congress accountable.” On Monday’s show, Hannity blasted that “the so-called mainstream media, so-called journalists, should be embarrassed” by Barr’s recap of Mueller’s report. He added: They should feel humiliated, they should be apologizing to the American people. It will take me months, but we will follow every lead, and we will remind you what has been done here. The truth has been laid bare for all to see. No collusion, no obstruction, no truth to the lies that have been peddled daily. We on Hannity have been right all along because, unlike the mainstream media, we have been telling the truth with evidence to back it up. Many of you since yesterday have been writing to me and you want me to spike the football. I am not in any type of celebratory mood. This is a time where every American that now knows the truth should be angry at what has happened here to all of America. I am ticked off, and the rest of the country should be, too. This is only the first chapter. This must be a day of reckoning for the media, for the Deep State, for people who abused power — and did it so blatantly. If we do not get this right, if we do not hold these people accountable, I promise you with all the love I can muster for this country and our future for our kids and grandkids, we will lose the greatest country God has ever given man. Presumably, Trump will have some thoughts on the subject on Wednesday. Stay tuned…<doc-sep>
President Trump called into Hannity on Wednesday night for his first interview since Special Counsel Robert Mueller filed his final report to the Justice Department. It’s probably inaccurate to refer to this segment as an “interview.” The call, which lasted nearly 45 minutes, consisted mostly of Trump aimlessly cycling through issues with little intervention or pushback from the Fox News host, someone he counts as a friend and informal adviser. The president has claimed, falsely, that he has been totally exonerated from any wrongdoing in the wake of the Mueller Report. He continues to attack the investigation. “This was an attempted takeover of our government, of our country, an illegal takeover,” Trump said Wednesday. “If it were the other way around, where I was doing it do President Obama or a Democrat, it would be virtually the maximum sentence that you could find no matter where you look in whatever legal book.” Here's where Trump suggests on Hannity that the Russia investigation was "an attempted takeover of our government, of our country, an illegal takeover" pic.twitter.com/MFhiJS6ryn — Salvador Hernandez (@SalHernandez) March 28, 2019 Trump went on to levy the usual attacks on those who have criticized his relationship with Russia. He called former CIA director John Brennan a “sick” person. “Either sick or there’s some other problem,” Trump said. Former FBI director James Comey, Trump declared, is “a terrible guy.” The president also tried to once again claim that NBC doctored the video of him telling Lester Holt explicitly that he fired Comey in 2017 because of the Russia investigation. Trump said Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) could be considered a criminal for criticizing him so vehemently. Former FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page are “treasonous,” Trump offered, while the agents who carried out the investigation are “dirty cops.” The entire interview was basically a 45-minute audio version of Trump’s Twitter feed. Meanwhile, Trump lamented the “many, many people who were in­cred­ibly hurt by this whole scam,” including George Papadopolous, the former campaign aide who just finished a prison sentence for lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia, and Michael Flynn, the disgraced national security adviser who, too, lied to the FBI about his contacts with Russia. Trump didn’t take the idea of pardoning either man off the table. “I don’t want to talk about pardons now,” he said, “but I can say it’s so sad on so many levels.” Asked if he'd consider pardons for Flynn or Papadopoulos, Trump says, "Many, many people were hurt, incredibly hurt, by this whole scam." He says Flynn had a great record in the military. He adds, "I don't want to talk about pardons now, but…it's so sad on so many levels." — Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 28, 2019 In an effort to prove his campaign would have never worked with Russia, Trump dusted off his belief that Russia actually wanted Hillary Clinton to win the election. This has been roundly disproven, including by the U.S. intelligence community, which has determined that Russia interfered in the election with the specific intent of putting Trump in the White House. To prove it, Trump cited “all of the different things.” “You look at all of the different things, Russia would’ve much rather had Hillary than Donald Trump,” he said. “I can tell you that right now.” One of the “things,” Trump argued, is the energy situation, which he said, falsely, would have been more favorable to Russia under Clinton because America would have had no domestic fossil fuel industry. Trump took the opportunity to recycle a laughably inaccurate argument that wind energy is not effective because sometimes the wind doesn’t blow. President Trump: "Look at the fact that we would have been powered by wind, which wouldn't have worked, by the way, because it only blows sometimes, and lots of problems come about." pic.twitter.com/DzSmuJCzIE — Zack Ford (@ZackFord) March 28, 2019 If the president didn’t get everything he wanted to out of his system Wednesday night, he’ll have another opportunity on Thursday during a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Strap in.