Donald Trump’s sit down with former U.S. Attorney and current conspiracy theorist Joe diGenova and his law partner/wife Victoria Toensing did not go well at all and they are out. DiGenova was hired on Friday after John Dowd was the last one through the revolving door on Thursday. Toensing was added later in the day and now it’s Sunday and it’s all over. New York Times:
The president met with Mr. diGenova and Ms. Toensing, who are married, in recent days to discuss the possibility that they would join his legal team in the Mueller case. According to two people told of details about the meeting, the president did not believe he had personal chemistry with Mr. diGenova and Ms. Toensing.
Toensing represents Marc Corallo, who used to be Trump’s legal team spokesman. Trump should have known of this blatant conflict of interests when he hired diGenova, or diGenova should have told him. Corallo is a witness to the statement that Trump drafted aboard Air Force One regarding the Trump Tower meeting and Trump Junior. At the very least, he could expose one of Hope Hicks’ little white lies, at the most obstruction of justice. New York Times, 01/31/18
In Mr. Corallo’s account — which he provided contemporaneously to three colleagues who later gave it to The Times — he told both Mr. Trump and Ms. Hicks that the statement drafted aboard Air Force One would backfire because documents would eventually surface showing that the meeting had been set up for the Trump campaign to get political dirt about Mrs. Clinton from the Russians.
According to his account, Ms. Hicks responded that the emails “will never get out” because only a few people had access to them. Mr. Corallo, who worked as a Justice Department spokesman during the George W. Bush administration, told colleagues he was alarmed not only by what Ms. Hicks had said — either she was being naïve or was suggesting that the emails could be withheld from investigators — but also that she had said it in front of the president without a lawyer on the phone and that the conversation could not be protected by attorney-client privilege.
Corallo quit shortly thereafter.
This speed bump with diGenova and Toensing is part of the general hollowing out of the core of the White House administration. Both David Shulkin and Ben Carson are expected to be replaced as heads of Veteran Affairs and HUD, respectively. All this is going on while Melania stays at Mar-a-Lago rather than return to Washington with Trump as the Stormy Daniels interview is expected to break rating records tonight. Look for a resurgence of Trumpty Dumpty memes to follow.