Mueller’s probe focuses on Trump’s FBI moves

G-force vs. Trump

President Donald Trump hasn’t been able to force his will upon the FBI. Will having tried cost him in the end?

Special counsel Robert Mueller is seeking to question Trump in the coming weeks about the firing in May of FBI Director James Comey — a sign of an intensifying focus on possible efforts to hamper the Russia probe, according to The Washington Post. Mueller also wants to ask about the decision process leading up to the firing of national security adviser Michael Flynn, who lied about his Russian contacts.

Mueller’s investigators last week questioned Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a key figure in Comey’s ouster.

Trump’s frustration with the FBI continues under its current director, Christopher Wray, who promised to stand up for the bureau’s political independence. Wray is reported to have resisted pressure from Sessions to purge Comey aides, whom Trump regards as his enemies.

Trump hasn’t turned on Wray. After all, the last time he fired an FBI director, he got Mueller. But he continues to portray the bureau as corrupted by Comey. White House spokesman Raj Shah said Trump expects Wray “to clean up the misconduct at the highest levels of the FBI.”

On that point: Trump reportedly asked Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe how he voted in the presidential race while interviewing him for the top job.

Look who was skeptical

Trump allies pushing doubts about Mueller’s investigation have zeroed in on FBI agent Peter Strzok. The discovery of texts critical of Trump led Mueller to remove him from his team.

Trump tweeted Tuesday that news the FBI couldn’t find five months of Strzok texts is “one of the biggest stories in a long time.”

But others have been found — including one in which Strzok has doubts about Mueller’s investigation that made him hesitant to get onboard, The Wall Street Journal (pay site) reported. “My gut sense and concern is there’s no big there there,” he wrote.

Will Feb. 8 be Groundhog Day?

Here’s how post-shutdown efforts to reach a deal on DACA, other immigration issues and border security before the next deadline are going so far.

Trump tweeted: “Nobody knows for sure that the Republicans & Democrats will be able to reach a deal on DACA by February 8, but everyone will be trying.”

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer announced he had withdrawn his offer to support federal funding for the president’s proposed Mexican border wall.

Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said bipartisan legislation to save DACA proposed by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) is “dead on arrival” with Trump because it doesn’t satisfy his demands for border-wall funding and visa reforms.

Repeating that message, Trump also returned to thumbing his nose at Schumer on Twitter. 

See Newsday’s story by Laura Figueroa Hernandez.

Janison: Follow the sun

The solar energy industry had divided reactions to Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on solar-panel imports. U.S. companies that make the panels applauded, while those who buy the foreign-made panels say it will drive up costs and hurt the renewable energy business.

But the “America First” move isn’t “America only.” The European Union, considered friendly to green power, and India have also slapped import duties on Chinese and Malaysian solar modules. See Dan Janison’s column for Newsday.

Hail to his chief

Trump gave a Twitter smooch to his chief of staff, John Kelly, suggesting reports of a strained relationship were off base.

“Thank you to General John Kelly, who is doing a fantastic job, and all of the Staff and others in the White House, for a job well done,” the president tweeted. “Long hours and Fake reporting makes your job more difficult, but it is always great to WIN, and few have won more than us!”

Early risers

The 2020 elections are still a long way off, but a CNN poll took voters’ temperatures on how Trump would fare against three potential Democratic rivals.

The readings: Trump trails Sen. Bernie Sanders by 55 percent to 42 percent, lags further behind former Vice President Joe Biden by 57 percent to 40 percent, and loses the ratings contest to Oprah Winfrey by 51 percent to 42 percent.

Biden was back in the news this week. He claimed Senate GOP Majority Leader Mitch McConnell  stopped the Obama administration from speaking out about Russian interference in the 2016 campaign by refusing to sign on to a bipartisan statement of condemnation, Politico reports.

What else is happening

• A Utah GOP congressman compared Trump’s governing style to the Rodney Dangerfield character in “Caddyshack.” It was meant as a compliment. Rep. Chris Stewart said that while the president’s style is “very, very loud” and distracting, he’s able to do what he’s trying to achieve.
• As long as he carries their agenda, evangelical Christians can look past Trump’s libertine past — even the alleged affair with porn star “Stormy Daniels,” Family Research Council president Tony Perkins told Politico. “We kind of gave him — ‘All right, you get a mulligan. You get a do-over here,’ ” he said.
• In a change of plans, first lady Melania Trump will not go with her husband to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Her press office said that there were “too many scheduling and logistical issues.”
• Trump will invite French President Emmanuel Macron for the first state visit he will host, the White House said.
• The Senate voted 85-12 to approve Trump’s choice of Jerome Powell to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve.
• Deutsche Bank denied a report in a German magazine that it flagged an account tied to Jared Kushner for “suspicious transactions.”