Trump’s latest tactic: Try to shift focus to Clinton e-mails


Developments on Day 282 of the Trump Administration:

Trump’s Clinton Gambit as Russia Investigation Moves to Indictments

Donald Trump tries again to divert attention to Hillary Clinton, amid confirmation of the first criminal charges in the Trump-Russia investigation.

On Saturday the White House spread the story that Trump has asked the State Department to release any remaining e-mails from Clinton, Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013, as soon as possible.

The White House gave no rationale for the publication of the material, given that sensitive Government documents are often withheld for decades, but cloaked it in the presentation that Trump is committed to “transparency”. Earlier in the week, Trump sought acclaim for his acceptance of the scheduled release of some of the remaining files on the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

On Friday, sources confirmed that a Washington grand jury had approved the first criminal charges in the Trump-Russia investigation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Reports yesterday said the name or names of those indicted will be revealed on Monday.

With the charges looming, Trump and his supporters spent last week in a heated campaign to switch attention to Clinton. With a combination of distortion, exaggeration, and even falsehood, they claimed that Clinton and the Clinton Foundation profited from the Obama Administration’s approval of the sale of a small US uranium mining company to Russian interests. And, closer to the Trump-Russia issue, they tried to portray a 2016 dossier — which includes material on Trump-Russia contacts later corroborated by other investigations, including that of the FBI — as a disinformation attack by Clinton and the Democratic National Committee.

Trump tried to keep the diversion going on Friday with the story that he has asked the Justice Department to lift restrictions on an FBI informant from speaking publicly about the US uranium company and Russia — a step which could open up Trump to further claims of political interference with judicial agencies. Throughout the weekend, Fox TV and the hard-right attack site Breitbart buried the news of Mueller’s criminal charges under stories about Clinton and “fake news” outlets.

Trump spent of Saturday on the golf course, his 76th day playing golf since he became President in January.