Feb. 4:
“ ‘I believe that the president has learned from this case,’ (Sen. Susan) Collins said in an exclusive interview with ‘CBS Evening News’ anchor Norah O’Donnell on Tuesday, before a speech on the Senate floor about her decision (to vote for acquittal). ‘The president has been impeached. That’s a pretty big lesson. … I believe that he will be much more cautious in the future.’ ”
Feb. 5:
“Trump, on the other hand, declared himself completely innocent, and set out to settle scores.
“ ‘We went through hell, unfairly,’ (Trump) said, after holding up a front-page Washington Post story about his acquittal. ‘Did nothing wrong. Did nothing wrong.’ ”
Feb. 6:
“White House aide Vindman, who testified in Trump impeachment probe, fired”
“Emboldened by his victory and determined to strike back, Mr. Trump ordered Gordon D. Sondland, the founder of a hotel chain who donated $1 million to the president’s inaugural committee, recalled from his post as the ambassador to the European Union on the same day that Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman, a decorated Iraq war veteran on the National Security Council staff, was marched out of the White House by security guards.
“The ousters of Mr. Sondland and Colonel Vindman – along with Mr. Vindman’s brother, Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman, an Army officer who also worked on the National Security Council staff — may only presage a broader effort to even accounts with the president’s perceived enemies. In the two days since his acquittal in the Senate, Mr. Trump has railed about those who stood against him, calling them ‘evil,’ ‘corrupt’ and ‘crooked,’ while his press secretary declared that those who hurt the president ‘should pay for’ it.”
Feb. 7:
“Sen. Collins says she opposes any retribution against impeachment witnesses”
Feb. 8:
“Actually, I don’t know him, never spoke to him, or met him (I don’t believe!) but, he was very insubordinate, reported contents of my ‘perfect’ calls incorrectly, & was given a horrendous report by his superior, the man he reported to, who publicly stated that Vindman had problems with judgement, adhering to the chain of command and leaking information. In other words, ‘OUT.’ ”
Feb. 9:
“FBI Director Christopher Wray just admitted that the FISA Warrants and Survailence (sic) of my campaign were illegal. So was the Fake Dossier. THEREFORE, THE WHOLE SCAM INVESTIGATION, THE MUELLER REPORT AND EVERYTHING ELSE FOR THREE YEARS, WAS A FIXED HOAX. WHO PAYS THE PRICE? ….”
Feb. 10:
“The White House is expected to pull the nomination of Elaine McCusker to be the Pentagon’s comptroller and chief financial officer in the latest staffing fallout from President Trump’s impeachment, The Post has learned.
“McCusker resisted the president’s directive to stall about $250 million in military aid to Ukraine and her emails protesting the delay were leaked in January to the blog Just Security ahead of Trump’s Senate trial.
“ ‘This administration needs people who are committed to implementing the president’s agenda, specifically on foreign policy, and not trying to thwart it,’ a White House official told The Post.”
Feb. 11:
“WASHINGTON — The four lawyers who prosecuted Roger Stone quit the case Tuesday after the Justice Department overruled them and said it would take the extraordinary step of lowering the amount of prison time it would seek for President Trump’s longtime ally and confidant.
“The departures raised immediate questions over whether Trump, who earlier in the day had blasted the original sentencing recommendation as ‘very horrible and unfair,’ had at least indirectly exerted his will on a Justice Department that he often views as an arm of the White House.”
“President Trump on Tuesday withdrew the nomination of former U.S. attorney Jessie K. Liu of the District of Columbia to a high-ranking Treasury Department post after being lobbied by critics of her office’s handling of cases, including ones inherited from special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, two people familiar with the decision said.”
Feb. 12:
“Laurence Tribe, the Carl M. Loeb University Professor and professor of constitutional law at Harvard, accused Trump and (Attorney General William) Barr of wielding ‘immoral power.’
“ ‘The Rule of Law is gasping for breath, being suffocated by Trump and his personal henchman Bill Barr,’ tweeted Tribe, a frequent critic of the administration. ‘Not even a pretense of legality. They’re doing it because they can. It’s raw, naked, unprincipled, immoral power.’ ”
NBC’s Peter Alexander asks President Trump what lessons he learned from impeachment. Trump: “That the Democrats are crooked. They got a lot of crooked things going. That they are vicious. That they shouldn’t have brought impeachment.”
ABC White House correspondent Karen Travers on Twitter
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