Donald Trump's got another winner on tap for the top science post at the Department of Agriculture, Sam Clovis. At first, we thought his only credential was that he hasn't cracked a science book since middle school biology. Silly us! Clovis is so much more than just a climate denier. In fact, we just discovered that he's the guy who cheered on Trump's campaign Russia connector, George Papadopoulos.
The Washington Post's Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger reported Monday night that Clovis was one of those anonymous campaign officials cited in former Trump aide George Papadopoulos's plea deal. Clovis was the one named as a “campaign supervisor,” and he both praised Papadopoulos's efforts to broker a meeting with the Russians as “great work” and later urged Papadopoulos to make the trip rather than Trump.
But wait, Clovis wasn't just a Trump campaign middle manager who inherited Papadopoulos. He was steering the foreign policy ship that also included Walid Phares, Carter Page, Joe Schmitz, and ret. Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg. TPM's Josh Marshall writes:
For a long time we did not know on what basis the five had been chosen or who had done the choosing. But as the Russia probe heated up, it became clear that the person who chose the group was Sam Clovis. We now know that two of those five men immediately began trying to establish contacts between the Trump campaign and the government of Russia or spies working on behalf of Russia. Two of five. That’s a hell of a batting average.
The other one was happy-go-lucky-who-needs-a-lawyer Carter Page, who's pretty close to being a national cable TV treasure.
Don't worry though, Clovis has an alibi for encouraging Papadopoulos to collude with an adversarial foreign government. The Washington Post writes:
Clovis's attorney, Victoria Toensing, told The Post that Clovis was only being nice and that he actually opposed the campaign meeting with Russians:
She said Clovis was “being polite” when he encouraged Papadopoulos to meet with Russian officials in August, adding that the campaign had a “strict rule that no person could travel abroad as a representative of the campaign.” Clovis could not stop an American citizen from traveling abroad “in his personal capacity,” she said.
Rules, shmules! Graciousness was the glue that held the Trump campaign together. Wait, did they say, Victoria Toensing—isn’t she pushing that Uranium One conspiracy theory? Yes, indeedy. Fox News knows her.
Victoria Toensing, a lawyer for the former FBI informant, told Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” that her client has “specific information about contributions and bribes to various entities and people in the United States.”
She said she could not go further because her client has not been released from a nondisclosure agreement but suggested the gag order could be lifted soon. Toensing also claimed that her client was “threatened by the Loretta Lynch Justice Department” when he pursued a civil action in which he reportedly sought to disclose some information about the case.
Sen. Chuck Grassley asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions to lift that nondisclosure agreement and, guess what? He did!
Get ready for some sizzle about the Clintons, folks. And speaking of testimony, we're really looking forward to some righteous revelations from Sam Clovis, who's confirmation hearing is scheduled for November 9.
If nothing else, Clovis is a microcosm of Trump's problems right now. Trump seems to surround himself with people who either aren't terribly qualified for their jobs or haven't been carefully vetted, and many of those decisions have come back to bite him.
Clovis is a twofer!