DISSENT IN REPUBLICAN RANKS – AT 3:44 P.M. ET:  The president has made a big issue out of his belief that the FBI planted a spy in his presidential campaign.  Other Republicans, though, including those whom we respect here, are not buying the story, at least not so far.  This is creating a serious rift in the ranks, and a potential danger to the president's credibility.  From The Hill: 

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) defended the FBI's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election during a Wednesday interview in which he took issue with President Trump's characterization of the FBI's use of an informant to gather information on some of his campaign aides.

“I don’t know what the FBI could have done or should have done other than run out a lead that someone loosely connected with the campaign was making assertions about Russia,” said Gowdy, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

“I think you would want the FBI to find whether or not there was any validity to what those people were saying,” Gowdy said during an interview with "CBS This Morning." 

COMMENT:  Gowdy is a serious man.  He could be wrong, of course, but the caution sign must go up at the White House.  The answer here might be the appointment of an outside counsel to investigate the president's stated concerns.  But the president cannot go on with these charges without producing more evidence to back them up.  He is losing, not gaining, support on this issue.

May 30,  2018