Last Sunday, less than 48 hours after receiving Special Counsel Bob Mueller's report on the 22-month investigation into allegations of collusion with Russia and obstruction of justice, Attorney General Bill Barr delivered his verdict: Not guilty.
Barr's 4-page summary of Mueller's findings—which he would later claim was never intended to be a summary—was not just substantially shorter than the Mueller report, it was also substantially shorter than the unsolicited memo that Barr sent to President @realDonaldTrump's legal team last year when he was auditioning for the job.
Despite the fact that Barr's (non-summary) summary quoted Mueller explicitly stating that Trump was not exonerated, Trump and his allies claimed that he was completely exonerated—a view that's rejected by the majority of Americans.
Nevertheless, Trump declared victory and immediately set about seeking retribution against those people he believes did him wrong.
Although it remains to be seen whether or not the full Mueller report will ever be made public, one thing is clear (to Republicans): Hillary Clinton must be further investigated.
Morning lineup:
Meet the Press: Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL); Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY); Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D); Roundtable: TBA.
Face The Nation: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT); Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL); Roundtable: Jamelle Bouie (New York Times), Jonah Goldberg (National Review), Anna Palmer (Politico) & Kelsey Snell (NPR).
This Week: Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney; Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN); Roundtable: Former Trump Deputy Campaign Manager David Bossie, Former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Ayesha Rascoe(NPR) & Jonathan Swan (Axios).
Fox News Sunday: Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway; Rep.Jim Hines (D-CT); Roundtable: Guy Benson (Townhall), Republican Strategist Josh Holmes, Julie Pace (Associated Press) & Charles Lane (Washington Post).
State of the Union: Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney; Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA); Roundtable: Republican Strategist Amanda Carpenter, Democratic Strategist Karen Finney, Democratic Politician Abdul El-Sayed & Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA).
Evening lineup:
60 Minutes will feature: an interview with the parents of a girl killed in the Aurora, CO movie theater shooting who now travel the country helping others who've losted loved ones to mass shootings (preview); a report on a US prison program inspired by German-style corrections (preview); a report on scientists in Siberia who want to recreate pieces of the Ice Age, including mammoths, to combat climate change (preview).
Late night shows:
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Monday: Actor Nathan Lane; Antoni Porowski, Bobby Berk, Jonathan Van Ness, Kamaro Brown & Tan France (Queer Eye).
Tuesday: Actress Emilia Clarke; Actor Henry Winkler; Singer-Songwriter H.E.R..
Wednesday: Actor John Lithgow; Politician Stacey Abrams (D); Musician Kevin Garrett.
Thursday: Actress Sandra Oh; Actor Zachary Levi; Singer-Songwriter Nina Nesbitt.
Friday: Actor Hank Azaria; Historian Henry Louis Gates Jr..
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Monday: Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY); Tuesday: Actress Marsai Martin; Wednesday: Musician PJ Morton; Thursday: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
Elsewhere...
In a shocking development, Pat Buchanan said something racist.
During a guest appearance on Fox News host Laura Ingraham's podcast, former Reagan advisor Pat Buchanan warned against bringing "people from different… cultures and ethnicities and races” to America by claiming African-Americans haven't been "fully assimilated."
"We give 1.3 million green cards, which I think is way too many, every year in the United States," Ingraham said. "Most Americans polled say — think it's either — keep it the same, or lower the number."
"90 percent of these are folks coming from what you might call the second or the third world," Buchanan replied. "People are fundamentally, basically good, but there's no doubt there’s a greater difficulty in assimilating people from different civilizations and cultures and ethnicities and races in the United States, than there — than other folks."
He continued by claiming black Americans have not been integrated into U.S. society, despite being brought to America as slaves 500 years ago.
As did Lou Dobbs.
Lou Dobbs urged President Donald Trump to close the U.S. southern border on Thursday night, and by the next morning, the president was threatening to do so in a tweet. Friday night, Dobbs stepped up the rhetoric, warning that immigration from Mexico into the U.S. could consign "millions of Americans to their deaths."
The insane and morbid prognostication came on the same night the Fox Business host called on Trump to fire Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.
"If this is what we have come to, if the quality of people in leadership in DHS from the secretary of the department on down I mean — let's you know, just literally put out welcome wagons," Dobbs said. "Pile 'em high because we're just going to consign tens of thousands, perhaps millions of Americans to their deaths."
Color me surprised.
– Trix