Donald Trump exults. More than ever in the campaign for his re-election, the President of the United States leaves Monday, February 17 for a tour of the west of the country which he will take advantage of by holding three campaign meetings in Arizona, Colorado and then Nevada, on the eve of the Democratic primary to be held there Saturday. Donald Trump had done the same in Iowa and New Hampshire and will reoffend in North Carolina on March 2, on the eve of a decisive Super Tuesday for the Democratic nomination contest. Meanwhile, this president, so sensitive to the figures of his audiences, will have been rewarded in India by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in Ahmedabad, with a show of force by the militants of his nationalist party.
Released from the Ukrainian affair since its acquittal by the only Republican senators, on February 5, reassured by the resilience of the American economy which for the moment shows no sign of slowing down even if its growth remains below the promises of the Republican candidate in 2016, Donald Trump displayed an assurance that pushed him more than ever to test the institutional framework in which his presidency is theoretically inserted.
On Thursday, February 13, he questioned the practice that his telephone calls with foreign dignitaries were followed live by his advisers. "I could end it, sometimes twenty-five people listen", did he declare. The Ukrainian affair was part of the report of a whistleblower informed of the haggling proposed by the president to his Ukrainian counterpart in July 2019: the release of military aid and an invitation to the White House in exchange for investigations by Kiev targeting political opponents of Donald Trump.
Pressure on the justice department
The pressure, however, is concentrated on the justice department. Public statements by Donald Trump for the benefit of a relative, Roger Stone, accused of lying in Congress and threatening a witness in the "Russian" affair – interference during the 2016 campaign – testified to this. They forced theattorney general of the United States (Minister of Justice) William Barr at a dramatic update on February 13.
"Having public statements and tweets about the department, about the people in the department, the men and women who work here, about the cases going on in the department, and about the judges before whom we have cases, makes that 'it is impossible for me to do my job and to assure the courts and prosecutors of the department that we do our work with integrity', said the former Bush administration senior. "I can't do my job here in the department with a constant substantive comment", he added, anxious to dispel the image of justice under the orders of the White House.
