DEMS/MEDIA/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA INVESTIGATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “As he awaits the Thursday [4-18-19] release of the redacted special counsel report on his 2016 campaign’s ties to Russia, President Trump is filling his idle moments — and blowing off any anticipatory steam — by turning to a familiar pastime: television. In speeches, in interviews and on Twitter this week, the president has returned to his comfortable role of town crier and news wire as he opines on the news developments of the day. Bernie Sanders, a prospective Democratic challenger for the presidency, appeared on Fox News: Weird, the president tweeted on Tuesday [4-16-19], adding that it was odd that ‘we’ — meaning he and Fox News — had brought the Democratic strategist Donna Brazile into the channel’s Trump-friendly fold of cable contributors. Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic House speaker, appeared on ’60 Minutes’ over the weekend: ‘Puff piece,’ the president scoffed on Twitter, adding that Ms. Pelosi was a ‘disaster’ in negotiations with him at the White House. (‘Thanks for watching!’ Ms. Pelosi responded.)”
–Katie Rogers and Maggie Haberman, “This Just In! Waiting for Mueller, Trump Passes Time Commenting on the News,” The New York Times online, April 16, 2019