Will a Weekend News Dump Bring Down Another Trump Associate?

Well, if the speculation of some in the media is correct, we may be looking at a weekend news dump that involves special counsel Robert Mueller making his move on Donald Trump’s creepy, longtime pal (and informal “adviser”), Roger Stone, and WikiLeaks, the information sharing site operated by Julian Assange.

On Thursday evening, NBC anchor, Chuck Todd, suggested that before we get into this long, Labor Day weekend, Mueller’s team may choose to act, based on what has been uncovered about Stone’s involvement in the ongoing Russia probe.

Mike Allen, NBC’s executive editor, appeared on Morning Joe to give more context to what Todd alluded to on Thursday.

Allen tapped down expectation a bit, explaining that the office of Special Counsel is likely on its own timeline adding that they won’t succumb to “taunts” from the “other side.” He then revealed that “the two topics mentioned to me by lawyers close to this investigation when they talked about what might happen today,” are legal questions surrounding Roger Stone, Jr. and Wikileaks.

Stone himself is widely accepted to be the unnamed person in the indictment of 12 Russian agents in the Mueller probe and raised eyebrows when he his anti-Hillary tweets appeared to coordinate with Wikileaks release of hacked DNC emails that were, at best, politically embarrassing to the Clinton campaign.

When Allen mentions “taunts from the other side,” he’s talking about President Trump’s attorney in dealing with the ongoing investigation, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Giuliani, also on Thursday, suggested that rather than cooperate with special counsel, the new strategy for Team Trump is to attack Robert Mueller.

According to Giuliani, the legal team is preparing a multi-pronged report on Mueller’s investigation, aimed at proving the investigation is “illegitimate,” as well as discrediting Robert Mueller.

I can only assume, given the recent history of Giuliani’s statements, this report will be a reflection of that same calm, cool, professional manner, and we won’t see President Trump directly or indirectly implicated in the murder of a bus full of nuns.

In Allen’s esteem, Mueller’s next actions “won’t be based on taunts from the other side or anything else from the other side,” adding “If one word comes up again and again when you talk to people who have worked with Mueller and interacted with his team on this investigation, they say it is methodical.”

Indeed.

The clown car that is Trump’s crack legal squad has, if nothing else, provided a long series of unbelievable, wild-eyed, and borderline comical theories, but nothing of actual substance.

I’m of the belief that this, in itself, is a strategy. At some point, Trump will have one of his other lawyers point to Rudy Giuliani and claim his client did not have adequate representation.

Meanwhile, if Robert Mueller, the decorated war hero and seasoned lawman, has been shaken by Giuliani or any of President Trump’s Twitter ranting and raving, we wouldn’t know it.

That ship does not leak.

The man who brought down the Gambino crime family, a current day Eliot Ness, does not seem the sort that can be intimidated by such juvenile antics.

I think a solid rule for observers, at this point, is to watch how crazed Trump becomes as a tip-off to the next shoe to fall.