Last Week - A Brief Recap

Monday, May 8:  Former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates testified in an open hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee. She was clear in her testimony that White House Counsel Don McGahn had been briefed about concerns that Michael Flynn was vulnerable to blackmail for his activities having to do with Russian officials. The FBI had interviewed Flynn on January 26 and become concerned. She testified that it was unclear what, if any, steps McGahn had taken after the briefing.

• January 24: Flynn's interview
• January 26: Yates-McGahn meeting (also in attendance: Mary McCord, acting head of the department’s national security division)
• January 27: Yates calls McGahn to make arrangements for him to see the evidence for FBI concern about Flynn, which must be viewed in a secure location
• January 27: Executive Order is signed on the first travel ban
• January 30: Sally Yates is fired

Tuesday, May 9:  James Comey, director of the FBI, was fired. At a press briefing, Press Secretary Sean Spicer asserted that the firing was prompted by recommendation from Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

Wednesday, May 10:  President Trump met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak in the Oval Office. The regular press pool was barred from entering, but photos taken by a TASS photographer were disseminated through wire services. The White House made a statement asserting that they did not realize the photos would be released. No mention was made in the readout from the meeting of the fact that Kislyak was present.

The White House press briefing was conducted by Sarah Huckabee Sanders, while Sean Spicer served Naval Reserve duty. Her account of the firing of Director Comey conflicted with the previous day's account. Huckabee Sanders made a statement asserting that Comey as FBI Director had committed "basic atrocities."

Thursday, May 11:  President Trump admitted in an interview with Lester Holt of NBC News that the investigation into Russian connections to the Trump campaign and the Trump administration had been on his mind when he fired James Comey. 

Friday, May 11: President Trump sent a Tweet in which he alluded to tapes of his conversations with Director Comey.

Multiple investigations have been ordered into the firing of the FBI director. If there are tapes of conversations between President Trump and Director Comey, they will likely be subpoenaed as part of the investigations.

A Washington Post article summarizing the Senate hearing can be found here.
www.google.com/search?q=wednesday+May+10&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS586US586&oq=wednesday+May+10&aqs=chrome..69i57j0.4409j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

CNN reports about the press briefings during the week can be found here.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/10/media/sean-spicer-white-house-press-secretary-job/

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/10/politics/sarah-huckabee-sanders-james-comey-atrocities/
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