WTF Just Happened Today

Friday, February 14, 2020

Subscribe: Get the Daily Update in your inbox for free

1/ Trump declared that he has the “legal right” to ask Attorney General William Barr to intervene in federal criminal cases a day after Barr publicly asked Trump to stop tweeting about the Justice Department, because it “make[s] it impossible for me to do my job.” Trump tweeted Barr’s quote that Trump had never asked him to do anything related to a criminal case and said that “This doesn’t mean that I do not have, as President, the legal right to do so, I do, but I have so far chosen not to!” (New York Times / Washington Post / The Guardian / NBC News / USA Today)

2/ Barr assigned an outside prosecutor to review the criminal case against Michael Flynn – days after Barr’s Justice Department undercut Roger Stone’s recommended sentence by career prosecutors. Flynn, who served as Trump’s first national security adviser and resigned a month into the new administration, is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about a conversation he had with the then-ambassador to Russia, but recently asked to withdraw that plea, further delaying his sentencing. In October, Trump tweeted that Flynn had been the target of a “setup.” (New York Times / NBC News / ABC News / CNN / Axios)

• The Army will not investigate Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman. The announcement comes after Trump said the military would “take a look at” whether Vindman should face disciplinary action for the “horrible things” he told House investigators about the phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last July. (Politico)

• The Justice Department will not charge former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe with lying to investigators. The DOJ’s letter to McCabe’s attorney ends a months-long inquiry stemming from inaccurate statements McCabe made to FBI investigators about his actions around the time of the 2016 election. The White House was not given advance notice about the decision, which upset Trump. A White House official said Trump “believes very strongly that action should be taken.” (Politico / Washington Post /