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The president decided to start his morning by reminding the entire world just how unstable he really is. Trump called into his favorite television show Fox & Friends and unleashed a paranoid, rambling rant so clearly unhinged that even the sycophantic, propaganda-peddling hosts were visually uncomfortable.
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Rather than attending to his myriad presidential responsibilities, Trump bragged about his electoral win, using it as an opportunity to bash the “fake news” that said he wouldn’t be able to win the presidency. He jumped from one topic to another, transitioning from admitting that he didn’t get First Lady Melania Trump a birthday present, to talk about Iran, to the “witch hunt” he’s convinced he’s a victim of, to North Korea, to his lawyer Michael Cohen.
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At one point host Brian Kilmeade — one of the most obsequious Trump toadies currently on air — suggested that Trump should simply stop watching news he doesn’t like. In response, the president made the clearly absurd statement that he doesn’t watch the “fake news” networks, a lie that was preemptively undone by the complaints he uttered just seconds before. If he didn’t actually watch them, he wouldn’t know to whine about them.
Trump also complained about NBC and the fact that they don’t run fawning coverage of him the way Fox does. He feels entitled to complementary segments since his hit show The Apprentice was on NBC and he “made them a fortune.” Then he started rambling about former FBI Director James Comey before Ainsley Earhardt finally interjected to ask him an unrelated question about North Korea, a clear attempt on her part to change the subject and salvage the segment.
In perhaps the most disturbing section of the program, Trump alluded to the possibility that he might interfere at the Justice Department and direct them to go after the FBI, an act that would constitute a blatant attempt to obstruct justice and undermine Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
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Take action now to demand Congress stop Trump from firing Special Prosecutor Mueller!
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The hosts were unable to get a word in until Kilmeade finally pushed the president off the phone, helping him save face by saying that Trump had a lot of things to go tend to. The entire segment was utterly pathetic.
A lot happened in that interview, but for my money the most important thing was Trump saying that "our Justice Department — which I try and stay away from, but at some point I won't — our Justice Department should be looking at "corruption at the top of the FBI." pic.twitter.com/Nc4jMhM0Am
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) April 26, 2018
Trump begins @foxandfriends interview by saying he chose to do it today because it's Melania's birthday, but can't say what he got her for a present ("maybe not so much") pic.twitter.com/yIG0NR1t9T
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2018
Trump pivots from talking about Melania to threatening Iran pic.twitter.com/g5fM9gDlJS
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2018
Asked about Ronny Jackson, Trump doesn't address allegations against him, but characterizes fact that cabinet appointees are vetted by the Senate as "a disgrace."
"The Democrats are obstructionists. It is horrible what they're doing." pic.twitter.com/DHqRuvWCiK
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2018
Trump says that all of the misconduct allegations against Ronny Jackson are false.
"These are all false accusations. These are false. They are trying to destroy a man…. there's no proof of this. His son is a wonderful boy." pic.twitter.com/sgbte3UCov
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2018
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/989477832886767618
Trump on him meddling in DOJ: Because of the fact that they have this witch-hunt going on against the president of the United States, I have taken the position, and I don't have to take this position and maybe I'll change, that I will not be involved with the Justice Department." pic.twitter.com/ZRTbTXz9PE
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2018
.@foxandfriends steer Trump from being very worked up about Michael Cohen to talking about his bromance with Kanye West pic.twitter.com/MRccBk0YXX
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2018
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/989479848916799490
TRUMP: "Everyone goes home & says, 'you know, I really like Donald but I have watched on the news' – they don't know it's fake news. I have taught them it is fake news -'I watched on the news that he can't win. So let's go to the movie darling & we'll come home & watch him lose'" pic.twitter.com/NRF7wzMSwC
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2018
Trump rants about North Korea, uses anti-Semitic slur about Chuck Todd, and @foxandfriends hosts can barely get a word in pic.twitter.com/VDjRKNtroh
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2018
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/989481392873582592
TRUMP on his performance as president: "I'm fighting a battle against a horrible group of deep-seeded people — drain the swamp — that are coming up with all sorts of phony charges, & they're not bringing up real charges against the other side. So we have a phony deal going on." pic.twitter.com/KeYdG9Ob0y
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2018
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Trump concludes @foxandfriends interview by screaming about conflicts of interest on Robert Mueller's team, and promising to meddle more aggressively in the Department of Justice going forward. pic.twitter.com/ITak7tEEJJ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2018
Now it turns out the unhinged television performance could land Trump in real trouble. Attorneys from Southern District of New York’s U.S. Attorney’s Office intend to use this morning’s footage to refute previous claims Trump made about Michael Cohen.
CNN’s Jim Sciutto reported the news. In particular, the attorneys are zeroing in on Trump’s claim to Fox & Friends that Cohen only does a “tiny, tiny, little fraction” of Trump’s total legal work.
The Attorney’s Office claims that this admission by Trump means that the documents the FBI seized when they raided Cohen’s Trump Tower office are unlikely to contain privileged documents, making them fair game for investigatory review. Once again, Trump has stumbled headfirst into trouble because he couldn’t keep his lying mouth shut.
There you go: NY prosecutors cite Trump comments on Fox this am that Cohen did “a tiny, tiny little fraction” of his legal work as reason to expedite review of seized documents pic.twitter.com/qtkOIl7yFn
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) April 26, 2018
