The Wall Street Journal: A President’s Credibility

Donald Trump’s presidency has been marked with a series of claims, including a suggestion that British intelligence officials assisted former President Barack Obama in spying on Trump Tower. A Wall Street Journal editorial describes “the damage that Mr. Trump is doing to his Presidency with his seemingly endless stream of exaggerations, evidence-free accusations, implausible denials and other falsehoods” and how “he hands his opponents a sword.” Public officials are expected to wait for evidence and allow investigations to proceed through proper channels, before accusing citizens or key allies. A possible motivation behind wild claims may be an attempt to divert attention from FBI confirmation of an ongoing investigation of links between the Trump campaign and Russia. The editorial comes amid a series of alarming reports: Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee David Nunes compromised that committee’s investigation after alerting the press and White House – without checking with intelligence officials – that an unnamed source claims campaign officials were monitored during the course of legal surveillance. The Associated Press reports former campaign manager Paul Manafort worked for a Russian billionaire and “proposed in a confidential strategy plan as early as June 2005 that he would influence politics, business dealings and news coverage inside the United States, Europe and former Soviet republics to benefit President Vladimir Putin's government.” CNN reports a source's claim the FBI “has information that indicates associates of President Donald Trump communicated with suspected Russian operatives to possibly coordinate the release of information damaging to Hillary Clinton's campaign.” During the House Intelligence hearing on Monday, the FBI director was reminded of once suggesting “that if you decide that a witness deliberately lied about something significant in this case, you should consider not believing anything that witness says.” – YaleGlobal