My Letter to the White House

Early this morning:

Mr. President,  it seems you were ill served by FBI Director Comey when you asked him to help Mike Flynn.  He should have both warned you that what you were asking  came close to obstruction, not in criminal but political terms and should have advised you to communicate instead to the Pardon Attorney at DoJ.  While they traditionally act only after someone is convicted, you have the unilateral power to pardon anyone for any reason, whether convicted or not.  As long as the only issue is communication with the Russian Ambassador about sanctions and unfortunate oversight on security paperwork, a pardon seems appropriate.  Indeed, if he was contacting the Ambassador on your behalf, coming forward and saying so would help defuse the process.  While deciding to do so on your part would have been improper, it would not have been illegal.  Taking responsibility for any part of that incident that you had would help defuse the whole incident, as well as apologizing for any misunderstanding with Director Comey.  As you have recently learned, FBI Directors are not the kind of cops that look the other way because they like you.  Comey is no different from anyone before him or after him.

Unless there is evidence of other wrongdoing regarding the election or violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (and if there are, you should resign and hope the next pardons you and your family), you should quietly accept Censure and agree to a few conditions that will show a commitment to good public service.  It seems that the Attorney General was involved with Russia and lied about it under oath.  Fire him now.  Fire any White House staff member without significant political staff experience (and party office does not count).  I suggest you ask for staff to be detailed from congressional committees, both  majority and minority.  If you want to serve the nation rather than the party, bipartisanship is a must.  In business, personal loyalty is important.  In government, loyalty to the United States is much more important.  Those public servants that forget that when hiring staff are ill served and with them the nation.  Finally, cancel your Twitter account, both while you are the President and when you are a former President, as  in the Club, you don't openly criticize your successors.  Follow W.'s example in this and do not renew your account, ever.  You are now the man of the nation.  You serve it, it does not serve you.   Best wishes, MB