JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/ROBERT MUELLER/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “When the Mueller report crashes into a Washington feverish with anticipation on Thursday [4-18-19], the White House hopes to show President Donald Trump busy doing his job — and far away from a phone-sized keyboard. Trump typically spends the first half of his workday in the White House residence in ‘executive time’ — making phone calls, reading news reports, keeping an eye on the TV and talking to top officials. That’s exactly when the Department of Justice is expected to release special counsel Robert Mueller’s long-awaited report, and when the freewheeling tweeter-in-chief is likely to have the least amount of supervision. So on Thursday, the president’s hands will not be idle: Trump and the first lady will host an event for wounded warriors before he meets with the secretary of state and then departs for a long Easter weekend at Mar-a-Lago, according to his public schedule and a Federal Aviation Administration notice. The goal for Thursday is to use the bully pulpit of the White House to give the appearance of a president consumed by the demands of his office. Former President Bill Clinton often leaned on the same playbook at key moments during the Starr investigation — a historical example Trump’s lawyers have studied closely.”
–Nancy Cook, “The White House’s Mueller reaction plan has a wild card: Trump,” Politico, April 17, 2019 8:46 pm