Comey Catastrophe, Flynn Subpoena, India Goes Green

WH Spokesperson Says Trump “Lost Confidence” in Comey Starting From Election Day: On Wednesday, deputy White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders took on the daily press briefing in Sean Spicer’s absence (we hope he is on vacation, seems like he needs one). She told reporters that Comey had committed “atrocities” (umm, word choice?) in overseeing the FBI’s probe into Hillary Clinton’s private email server. Sanders said the president had “lost confidence in Comey from the day he was elected.”

Really?? We think we remember that Trump said in an interview with The New York Times on November 22, exactly two weeks after Election Day, that he had no intention of pressing for an investigation into Clinton’s private email server or into the financial operations of her family’s foundation. “I don’t want to hurt the Clintons, I really don’t,” Mr. Trump said during the interview. “She went through a lot and suffered greatly in many different ways, and I am not looking to hurt them at all. The campaign was vicious.” Now, keep in mind that Trump is a Gemini, the astrological sign represented by the twins Castor and Pollux. So maybe on that day in November, still basking in the sparkly afterglow of his win, it was the more compassionate of Trump’s two faces that told the Times he was completely backing off campaign promises to ‘lock ’er up!’. But really, and this is an important question: Do you fire someone for their incompetence in an investigation that you previously said you were going to drop?  

In the briefing, Sanders also implied that Trump’s Monday meeting about Comey was instigated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein: “They came to him on their own.” But several White House officials said that during the Monday meeting, Trump gave Sessions and Rosenstein a specific mission: to detail in writing the case against Comey.

Rosenstein was apparently not pleased with the firestorm that erupted over Comey’s dismissal. The Washington Post quoted a White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity: “Rosenstein threatened to resign after the narrative emerging from the White House on Tuesday evening cast him as a prime mover of the decision to fire Comey and that the president acted only on his recommendation.”

Flynn Documents Subpoenaed: US Senators Richard Burr (R-NC) and Mark Warner (D-Va), who are heading the Senate investigation into Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 election, issued the panel’s first subpoena to former national security adviser Michael Flynn. It is a step that Burr, the Senate committee’s chairman, has long been reluctant to take. Burr said Wednesday morning that up until that point, all calls for evidence had been voluntary. The subpoena arrived after Flynn’s lawyer Robert Kelner informed the panel that he would not provide documents in response to their April 28 request. Another member of the committee, Senator James Lankford (R-OK) told Fox News Wednesday evening that the panel had “subpoenaed a large number of documents” and that he expected them to be delivered.

India Goes Green: As the world’s second most populous country and the third largest carbon polluter, India is essential player in the battle against climate change, and solar energy is leading the way. Well ahead of analysts’ predictions, wholesale solar power prices have reached a record low in India, further undercutting the price of fossil fuels. At a reverse auction in Rajasthan on Tuesday, two energy companies agreed to what amounts to a 40 percent price drop for solar power. This dramatic decrease has been driven by cheaper finance and growing investor confidence in India’s ability to dramatically increase its renewable energy production. The falling price of solar energy also increases the likelihood that India will meet, and likely even exceed, the renewable energy targets it set at the Paris climate summit in 2015.

Brazil’s Former President Faces Corruption Charges: Brazil, a country once hailed as the globe’s rising economy, has faced years of anemic economic growth after the 2008 global recession. The Brazilian justice department is currently prosecuting former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (known simply as ‘Lula’) over allegations he was part of a scheme in which billions of dollars were siphoned off contracts at the state-run oil company Petrobras. Federal judge Sérgio Moro, a national hero as a result of his crackdown on the rich and powerful, questioned Lula for almost five hours. Lula is the most popular president in Brazil’s history, but now faces up to 3 years in prison if convicted. He denies the charges, which his supporters say are part of a politically motivated legal battle to stop him from winning a third presidential election in 2018. Having transformed Brazil during his eight year tenure as president, it is not only his re-election but his legacy that hangs in the balance.

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