Sally Yates Pre-Testimony Leaks

First of all, FBI director James Comey is going to testify in about half an hour, as of this writing, before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Most analysts think we're not going to learn anything new. We'll see.

But Sally Yates is supposed to testify Monday, and the news that broke yesterday was this:

Former acting attorney general Sally Yates is expected to testify to Congress next week that she expressed alarm to the White House about President Donald Trump's national security adviser's contacts with the Russian ambassador, which could contradict how the administration has characterized her counsel.

Right. She expressed alarm. So she's going to contradict the White House, and as I said yesterday, she's going to clarify the timeline for everything, highlighting that the administration left Flynn at his post as National Security Adviser for 18 days, knowing he lied about discussing sanctions, knowing he was an unregistered foreign agent, and whatever else Yates told them (as if those weren't bad enough).

I think this "pre-testimony" leak is actually very smart. Trump's folks cooked up the stunt with Nunes just before her scheduled testimony in March, effectively sabotaging it. But this leak is a preemptive way of keeping that from happening again. In effect, the most salient piece of her testimony is now already out there, if not officially on the record. And if some weird stuff happens that delays or stops her testimony, it will look even fishier. I'm reading between the lines, but I'm pretty sure that's why this information was leaked how and when it was.

In the days leading up to her testimony, I would expect a torrent of Trump tweets about how the Russia story is all fake, how unreliable the media is, and how the real story is about unmasking/leaks. Worst-case scenario would be Trump trying to distract from the testimony with military action. Let's just hope that doesn't happen, and that we get to hear the truth.