A protective partisan wall forms around Trump, with just a few cracks in it

WASHINGTON — The political earthquake touched off by President Donald Trump’s sudden firing of an FBI director investigating his campaign’s ties to Russia left only the slightest, most subtle cracks in the partisan wall that protects him.

The immediate aftermath saw the vast majority of Republicans defending their president, shrugging off the dismissal of James Comey as a non-issue and not the strongman-style, institution-squashing gesture depicted by opponents.

That prevailing attitude was reflected on Trump’s favourite morning TV show. A Fox News segment presented the story as a partisan skirmish, Democrats versus Republicans, blown out of proportion by the president’s enemies, with an on-screen headline that read: “Media Meltdown — Networks Slam President For Firing Comey.”

Yet the potential for trouble ahead was planted in Tuesday’s soil.

It wasn’t so much the protesters outside the White House, where several hundred people gathered for a noon-hour demonstration, brandishing signs with slogans like “Special Prosecutor Now” and “Impeach Trump.”

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It was about signs lawmakers investigating Trump’s campaign are raising new questions. Some involve money. A senatorial committee has demanded documents from a Treasury Department unit that tracks foreign money-laundering.

There was also an invitation to Comey to testify next week behind closed doors; multiple reports Comey was fired right after demanding more money for his investigation on the Russia ties; Democratic threats to block business in the Senate; and the grumbling of some GOPers — all of which suggests this episode isn’t over.

Republicans quickly brushed off calls for a special prosecutor. 

Any new investigations would only impede the current work being done, said Senate leader Mitch McConnell. Two investigations are already underway, he said — one in the Senate and by the FBI, although both answer to Republican politicians.

Trump’s vice-president dismissed the idea his boss fired Comey to save himself.

“That’s not what this is about,” Mike Pence said.

“President Donald Trump showed strong and decisive leadership to restore the trust and confidence of the American people in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I’m grateful for the action the president has taken.”

Democrats called such explanations surreal.

Trump has suggested he fired Comey for being unfair to Hillary Clinton. He said he also acted on the advice of a newly installed deputy attorney general — although reports said the president had been looking for reasons to fire Comey earlier.

Equally surreal, according to Democrats, is the notion the president could turf the investigator investigating his own inner circle. Comey had recently confirmed an intelligence investigation into ties between Trump’s campaign and Russia.

“Were those investigations getting too close to home for the president?” top Democrat Chuck Schumer wondered aloud in the Senate.

“If there was ever a time when circumstances warranted a special prosecutor, it is right now… Nothing less is at stake than the American people’s faith in our criminal justice system and the integrity of the executive branch of our government.”

But there are small cracks in the closed ranks.

Members of the Senate intelligence committee have started to hint that their own investigation is entering a new avenue — leading to Trump’s financial relationships.

It wouldn’t be the first time federal authorities have probed Trump’s financial space:

—The U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network imposed a $10-million civil money penalty against Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort for what it called, “significant and long-standing anti-money laundering violations.”

—A Russian money-laundering ring operated inside New York’s Trump Tower. Dozens pleaded guilty in 2013 over the scheme. Gambling profits had been run through a financially struggling plumbing company. The two main actors worked from their apartments in Trump’s building. Trump was not linked to that.

—Trump did do business with another Russian previously convicted of money-laundering. Trump walked out on a BBC interviewer in 2013 when asked about Felix Sater, whose Bayrock Group invested in three Trump properties, and who on other occasions reportedly presented himself as an employee of the Trump organization.

—Both Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort and his former national security adviser Michael Flynn have been the subject of investigations related to allegedly improperly reported income from Russia.

Now the Senate is asking for more information about Trump’s finances.

Its Russia investigators on the intelligence committee are asking the same unit that fined the Trump casino, within the U.S. Treasury Department, for any information relevant to the president, his top aides and campaign officials.

The Democrats, for their part, sought to use what little leverage they have to push their demands: an independent prosecutor, and a closed-door briefing for senators so they can ask about the events leading up to Comey’s firing.

As it happened, Russia’s foreign minister was visiting the State Department on Wednesday. In a joint media appearance with Rex Tillerson, Sergei Lavrov was asked whether the firing cast a shadow over the visit.

“Was he fired?” a mock-stunned Lavrov asked. Yes, came the reply.

“You are kidding,” Lavrov answered, tongue firmly planted in cheek. “You are kidding.”

He then went to meet Trump.

“He wasn’t doing a good job,” Trump said in his first public statements on why Comey was fired. “Very simply, he was not doing a good job.”

Alexander Panetta, The Canadian Press