Donald Trump's White House is deliberately attempting to distract the American people from the memo's of fired FBI Director James Comey, an ace Washington Post explained on MSNBC.
Ruth Marcus used air quotes when describing James Comey's "leaks" to Hardball host Chris Matthews, explaining the White House strategy to "muddy things up."
"If you have a problem in a criminal case or in any case, you just throw up a lot of smoke, and you throw up a lot of dust to distract people," Marcus explained.
The veteran journalist didn't just explain what was going on, she also offered advice for how American citizens should respond.
"People should not be distracted," Marcus instructed. "Whether or not Comey was behaving honorably or dishonorably in getting this information out, the question is what is the meaning and import of the information? That's what they don't want you to get to."
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) suggested, "that never works" of the White House strategy.
"It reminded me actually when i was a prosecutor in the courtroom, and it was always a losing argument when the defendant's attorney wanted to take and accept the most favorable pieces of testimony from a damaging witness that helped their client, but then throw out anything that hurt their client," Rep. Swalwell recalled. "That never works in a courtroom. In the court of public opinion, I don't think the President doing it today will work either."
"You can't cherry pick, you have to take the testimony, warts and all," Rep. Swalwell reminded. "If the president is going to accept what helps him, he also has to accept what hurts him."
Earlier in the segment, Matthews was harshly critical of "divorce-type lawyer" Marc Kasowitz. "To have him come in and represent the President of the United States, I found it -- it seemed to me something you'd see in night court somewhere in a small county after a DUI case or something."
Watch the whole segment: