This generation's Saturday Night Massacre has started

Trump has made clear that he refuses to enforce sanctions against Russia. He has formally declared that sanctions are not needed. (Of course, Trump would demand sanctions if it were true that Putin favored Hillary, as Trump and his paranoid legions like to pretend.) Refusal to enforce legislation passed by Congress is an impeachable offense, and yet Congress is doing nothing.  

As most of you know by now, Trump has finally managed to kick out Andrew McCable. Waiting until March was apparently intolerable, probably because Trump worries that his administration might not otherwise have last until then.

We've also learned about Trump's predictably bestial behavior when Comey was fired. As you will recall, he got the sack during a trip to Los Angeles. Trump asked McCabe why the former FBI Director was allowed to fly home in a government-funded plane; apparently, the president preferred to leave him stranded. McCabe said that he had not approved the flight but would have done so if asked.

This answer apparently didn’t sit well with the president, as according to NBC, he went “silent for a moment” and then laid into McCabe, “suggesting he ask his wife how it feels to be a loser.”

This, from a failed hotdog salesman -- which Trump literally is. (Trump Steaks also sold wieners.)

I knew Trump would be bad, but I honestly did not think that any human being could be this vile. Even Hitler had a better sense of public comportment.

Although I can't link to an article which proves the point, it seems likely to me that McCabe was deep-sixed so rapidly and brutally pursuant to a larger effort to shut down FBI cooperation with Mueller.

Here's what Comey had to say:

Special Agent Andrew McCabe stood tall over the last 8 months, when small people were trying to tear down an institution we all depend on. He served with distinction for two decades. I wish Andy well. I also wish continued strength for the rest of the FBI. America needs you.

Rosenstein is also soon to get the boot. Everyone knows it. From TPM:

The pivotal position Rosenstein occupies may help explain the determination of many Trump loyalists in and out of Congress to release the Nunes memo. Rosenstein has been facing calls since last year to step down or recuse himself from the Mueller probe — and his replacement would likely be a Trump loyalist. That means that if Rosenstein is forced out and a Trump loyalist takes his place, the move could neuter the Mueller probe.

At the heart of the issue are limits on the powers of the special counsel. Many legal scholars believe a sitting president can’t be criminally indicted, meaning that if Mueller finds evidence of crimes by Trump, his strongest recourse might well be to make a referral to Congress for potential impeachment proceedings. But some of those experts tell TPM that under the regulation governing the special counsel’s office, Mueller lacks the authority to make that referral without approval from Justice Department officials overseeing his investigation.

If Rosenstein is fired or steps down, Trump would appoint his successor. And if Rosenstein recuses himself, the ranking official in the department of justice (DOJ) would be Rachel Brand, a Republican legal operative who worked in the George W. Bush White House*. Brand then would decide whether or not to send Mueller probe’s findings against the president, if any, to the House.

John Aravosis offered a series of tweets worthy of your attenton:

BREAKING: Rep Adam Schiff just announced that the Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee have opened an investigation of the FBI and the Department of Justice in order to undermine Mueller’s investigation of Trump’s collusion with Russia.

The GOP members of the House Intelligence Committee refused to let the FBI come to brief them on why releasing the “Nunes memo,” written by the GOP to attack the FBI & DOJ, and undermine the Mueller probe, could compromise national security.

The republicans voted to make public their partisan memo attacking the FBI & DOJ, but refused to make public the Democratic memo defending the FBI & DOJ.

The Republican party crossed a line today. We’re in banana republic territory now. Watergate territory. And it involves not just Trump, but the entire Republican congress. We now have a full blown crisis, and I fear what comes next.

Trump and the GOP Congress forced the resignation of the #2 in the FBI today. The Nunes Memo attempts to force the resignation of the #2 at the DOJ. We are witnessing a full blown Saturday Night Massacre started by Donald Trump and enabled by the GOP Congress.

And no one in the Trump administration or the leadership of the GOP Congress cares about what Russia did to undermine our election, or continues to do to undermine our democracy. This is outrageous, un-American and treasonous behavior by the Republican party.

There is literally NO ONE in the Trump administration coordinating the response to Russia’s ongoing attempts to undermine our democracy. NO ONE. Trump is doing NOTHING to stop the Russians from attacking us. When will say “enough”?

And now the House Intelligence Committee is actively trying to kill the Mueller probe while starting a new investigation accusing the FBI and Dept of Justice of being a criminal hotbed because the FBI & DOJ are the only way we’re going to stop Russia.

Who needs Vladimir Putin when you have Donald Trump, Devin Nunes, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell undercutting our democracy and our democratic institutions, from law enforcement to the media, to protect Trump & Russia. Never has our country seen such un-American traitors.

Paul Ryan did this. Along with Trump, Nunes & McConnell. Ryan just today said that he agreed with Nunes about the false, defamatory anti-FBI memo meant to undercut the Mueller probe. Let’s make Ryan pay. Donate to Ryan’s opponent 2018 Randy Bryce & RT...

The only way to stop these people, short of revolution, is at the ballot box this November. We have to DESTROY the GOP in the Fall elections. And let’s start with Paul Ryan, who may actually lose his seat.

Adam Khan has made a catch which everyone else seems to have missed:

Side effect of Trump hollowing out DoJ, chasing out career professionals and replacing them with partisan hacks - reduced enforcement of big financial crimes, laying off big banks and mega donors.

General counsel for Steven Cohen–who was fined record $1.8 billion for biggest insider trading scandal in history–picked Trump DoJ staff!