Ever since the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller nearly two years ago, there have been persistent rumors of his investigation's imminent conclusion—and this week, the speculation reached fever pitch.
Many of these rumors were floated by President @realDonaldTrump's lawyers—either out of wishful thinking, or in an effort to calm Trump's nerves; others have come from Trump himself, by way of his threats to fire Mueller.
Regardless of their provenance, all of these rumors have one thing in common—none have proven true.
And so, the waiting continues.
Whenever Mueller's investigation ultimately reaches its conclusion and his highly-anticipated report is issued, that won't necessarily be the end; in fact, it might just be the beginning.
Until then, we're basically waiting for Godot.
Morning lineup:
Meet the Press: Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT); Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R); Roundtable: TBA.
Face The Nation: Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA); Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO); Rep.Adam Kinzinger (R-IL); Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D); New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D); Roundtable: Ben Domenech (The Federalist), Susan Page (USA Today), Jamal Simmons (The Hill) & Edward Wong (New York Times).
This Week: Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA); Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe; Legal Analyst Dan Abrams; Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz; Former Trump Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Adviser Tom Bossert; Former CIA Analyst Jung Pak; Former UN Ambassador Bill Richardson; Roundtable: Republican Strategist Alex Castellanos, Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), Rachel Bade (Washington Post), Patrick Gaspard (Open Society Foundation) & Former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND).
Fox News Sunday: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; DNC Chair Tom Perez; Roundtable: Republican Strategist Karl Rove, Republican Strategist Josh Holmes, Julie Pace (Associated Press) & Juan Williams (Fox News).
State of the Union: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo>; Former US Attorney Preet Bharara; Former Obama Homeland Security Adviser Lisa Monaco; Roundtable: Democratic Strategist Jen Psaki, Republican Strategist David J. Urban, Former Rep.Mike Rogers (R-MI) & Democratic Strategist Symone Sanders.
Evening lineup:
60 Minutes will feature: a report on the international race to dominate the electric car industry (preview); an interview with former FDA Commissioner Dr. David Kessler on the opioid epidemic (preview); and, an interview with Bryant Viñas, an American who joined Al-Qaeda, then turned informant (preview).
Late night shows:
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Monday-Friday: Reruns.
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Monday: Actor Chiwetel Ejiofor; Tuesday: Singer-Songwriter John Legend; Wednesday: Author Angie Thomas; Thursday: Musician Gary Clark Jr..
Elsewhere...
Fox News contributor Joe diGenova issued a call to arms.
Former prosecutor and Fox News regular Joe diGenova had a moment on Thursday where he said America is careening toward "civil war," suggesting people grab their guns before country presumably dissolves into a lawless free-for-all.
DiGenova joined Laura Ingraham on her latest podcast, where she bemoaned how the news about arrested Coast Guard lieutenant Christopher Hasson takes oxygen away from Jussie Smollett and the troubles in Virginia's state government.
When Ingraham asked diGenova for his thoughts on whether there's a connection between Hasson and President Donald Trump, he grumbled about Virginia's leaders "getting a pass" because of the decreasing media focus on them. Soon enough, diGenova went all out and declared "We are in a civil war in this country."
"There's two standards of justice, one for Democrats one for Republicans. The press is all Democrat, all liberal, all progressive, all left – they hate Republicans, they hate Trump. So the suggestion that there's ever going to be civil discourse in this country for the foreseeable future in this country is over. It's not going to be. It's going to be total war. And as I say to my friends, I do two things – I vote and I buy guns."
Meanwhile...
Tucker Carlson was triggered by one his guests.
Tucker Carlson spiked an interview he originally planned to run on his show this month, but the Dutch historian he spoke to has released a recording from their discussion, and it sheds some light on how the interview completely collapsed.
Dutch economics writer Rutger Bregman drew intrigue weeks ago when he claimed that the Fox News host had a profane meltdown as they spoke to each other about Bregman's remarks at Davos. At the time, Tucker Carlson Tonight Senior Executive Producer Justin Wells told Mediaite that they aborted the segment because Bregman had turned the interview into a "calculated personal insult campaign" that wasn't worth viewers' time.
As Bregman went through his ideas on how to make tax systems fairer, he spoke of "corruption," "people being bribed," and accused the Murdoch family of using the network to "scapegoat immigrants" instead of talking about tax avoidance. Bergman went on to tell Carlson "you are a millionaire funded by a billionaire," and the Fox News host grew increasingly agitated as Bregman noted the wealth of Carlson's colleagues.
Bergman predicted that Carlson would spike the interview, and sure enough, Carlson ended the chat by saying "why don't you go f*ck yourself you tiny brain – and I hope this gets picked up – because you're a moron. I tried to give you a hearing, but you were too f*cking annoying."
That's all, folks!
– Trix