President Trump's increasingly frenetic tweets are apparently an accurate reflection of his mental state. "The start of Paul Manafort's federal trial this week has triggered Trump's hottest blast yet, and has renewed the possibility that Trump will fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein," possibly within a few weeks, Gabriel Sherman reports at Vanity Fair. Trump is "increasingly taking his legal defense into his own hands — very much at his own peril," annoyed with lawyer Rudy Giuliani for saying too much and White House Counsel Don McGahn for rebuffing his effort to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, among other things, Sherman says, elaborating:
Whether it's confidence, bluster, or delusion, Trump is venting to advisers both inside and outside the White House that the Manafort trial proves Mueller has nothing on him and his family, because Manafort's trial doesn't involve Russia or the 2016 campaign. "The Manafort trial is spinning him into a frenzy," one Republican in frequent contact with the president told me. Another Republican told me Trump thinks "the only thing the trial shows is that Manafort is a sleaze." [Gabriel Sherman, Vanity Fair]
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