Less than a month after we learned that Donald Trump asked Ukraine to dig up dirt on Joe Biden, it probably shouldn’t come as a shock that he leaned on other countries to smear his enemies as well. In fact, at this point, it would probably be more useful for the White House to release a list of the nations Trump hasn’t pressured to do his dirty work. Earlier this week, the New York Times reported that the president had asked the prime minister of Australia to help with a DOJ investigation into the origins of the Russia probe, and, according to the Associated Press, Australia was just one of several foreign countries Trump tried to enlist to discredit Robert Mueller. Also on the list? His buddy Boris Johnson.
The Times of London reports that Trump called Johnson on July 26, two days after the new U.K. prime minister took office, apparently to ask BoJo for help compiling evidence to undermine the investigation into his campaign‘s ties to Russia. For those of you keeping up at home, that’s just one day after Trump spoke to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and asked for “a favor,” suggesting the president had a scratch pad with a list of foreign leaders and phone numbers that he spent July—which, as a reminder, happened to be the month Mueller testified to Congress—working his way through.
According to the Times, Attorney General William Barr landed in London days after Trump’s call with Johnson, where he attended a meeting of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance, and allegedly told officials he suspected the information that led to the Mueller probe came from British agencies. (Last week, Barr reportedly flew to Rome as part of his investigation into the Special Counsel’s probe, with a special interest “in what the Italian secret service knew about Joseph Mifsud, the erstwhile professor from Malta who had allegedly promised then-candidate Donald Trump’s campaign aide George Papadopoulos he could deliver Russian “dirt” on Hillary Clinton.) Stay tuned to find out what other countries Trump rang up to ask for help smearing his enemies, of which there are presumably many.
— Impeachment fervor is causing a ruckus at Fox News
— Why Rudy Giuliani’s Ukrainian adventure could end his career
— Inside the stunning collapse of WeWork (and its kooky CEO)
— It’s official: Trump has met his Twitter match
— A surprise appearance by Tiffany Trump
— From the Archive: The power broker who taught Donald Trump the dark political arts
Looking for more? Sign up for our daily Hive newsletter and never miss a story.
