Politics

President Trump has just issued the following statement in response to the news that former FBI Director Robert Mueller has been appointed as Special Counsel in an investigation looking into his campaign's alleged collusion with Russia intended to throw the 2016 campaign.  Taken at face value, it seems to confirm what the administration has said several times, namely that, like many of us, the White House is eager to proceed with, and conclude, an investigation as quickly as possible. 

And just like that, Trump may have avoided near certain political doom.

As news was breaking that the DOJ had named a Special Counsel for the Russia probe, a move that will substantially ease political tensions on the Hill (and is a move which the administration would almost certainly not have allowed if it had anything material to hide), another major hurdle for Trump dissolved this afternoon, when one of the biggest "risk-factors" behind a potential Trump impeachment was removed.

The Department of Justice has announced the appointment of former FBI Director Robert Mueller as Special Counsel to oversee the federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, including potential collusion between Trump campaign associates and Russian officials.

Acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein made the decision to appoint Mueller, the Justice Department told reporters Wednesday. It isn’t clear if Trump had a role in the decision, Bloomberg reported.

Having done the "good cop" routine earlier today, when it explained why a Trump impeachment is "very, very unlikely" despite growing media speculation that VP Mike Pence may be preparing to step into the Oval Office, now it's JPMorgan's turn to play bad cop when previewing "what comes next" for both markets and politics. The reason for that is that according to JPM's Adam Crisafulli is that question is "one of the market's problems" because there simply "isn't any quick action that would help to alter the narrative in Washington" resulting in a quick and painless resolution.

Authored Op-Ed via The Wall Street Journal,

The state of the Trump Presidency has been perpetual turbulence, which seems to be how the principal likes it. The latest vortex is over Mr. Trump’s disclosure of sensitive intel to the Russians—and whatever the particulars of the incident, the danger is that Presidencies can withstand only so much turbulence before they come apart.