Trump’s Davos denial hands the Russia mess a fresh life

Edition · January 26, 2018

Trump’s Davos denial hands the Russia mess a fresh life

On January 26, 2018, the president tried to swat away a report that he wanted Robert Mueller fired—and made the whole thing louder.

January 26 turned into a self-inflicted Russia-probe headache for Trump in Davos, where he denied he ever tried to fire special counsel Robert Mueller even as the underlying report kept ricocheting through the White House and Congress. The denial did not settle the question; it underscored how badly the president’s public story had already been shredded by his own prior statements and by the people around him. That left Republicans scrambling, Democrats sharpening obstruction arguments, and Trump once again sounding less like a man in control than one trying to outrun his own record.

Closing take

Trump’s best defense on January 26 was the oldest one in the book: deny, distract, and hope the noise machine buries the paperwork. It did not work. The Mueller story kept the obstruction cloud hanging over the White House, and the president’s own Davos remarks helped keep it there.

Ranked by how bad the fuckup was

5 stars means maximum fallout. 1 star means a smaller self-own.

Story

Trump’s Davos denial only made the Mueller question worse

Mueller denial Confidence 4/5

★★★★☆Fuckup rating 4/5 Serious fuckup

At the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 26, Trump called reports that he tried to fire Robert Mueller “fake news,” but he did not give a detailed denial. That matters because the reporting he was swatting away said he backed off only after White House counsel Don McGahn threatened to resign, turning the episode into a fresh obstruction-of-justice flashpoint. The public contradiction also revived questions about Trump’s credibility, since he had previously said he had not given firing Mueller “any thought.”

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