The Shoe Drops: President Trump’s reported attempt to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller has kicked off debate about whether his intent was obstruction of justice in the Russia investigation, or just petty stupidity. A NY Times editorial says, “For a man who insists he has done nothing wrong, President Trump sure acts as if he has something big to hide.”

Trump has previously offered the following as reasons Mueller cannot serve: Years ago, Mueller resigned his membership at the Trump National Golf Club in Virginia in a dispute over fees; he had worked at the law firm that previously represented Trump’s son-in law, Jared Kushner; he interviewed with the President to be attorney general the day before he was named Special Counsel.

The big question is whether the attempt to fire Mueller fits into a pattern of efforts to obstruct justice including the firing of FBI Director James Comey and pressuring intelligence agencies to back off their assessments that Russians interfered with the election.

Part of the conversation out there is about why this story came out in The NY Times now because the incident happened in June. Some analysts think it’s because the Russia investigation is looking grim for the President and people around him are trying to get on the right side of the law.

Harry Litman a former United States attorney, writes in The NY Times that, “Some number of people in the know have decided, perhaps in concert, to drop a bombshell now, one they kept to themselves for many months. Perhaps from their insiders’ perches, they see that Mr. Mueller is wrapping up a case of obstruction that the president likely cannot defend against, because he is guilty.”

In The New Yorker, Jeffrey Toobin says, “Mueller and his team surely have evidence on obstruction of justice that has not yet been made public. But even on the available evidence, Trump’s position looks perilous indeed. The portrait is of a President using every resource at his disposal to shut down an investigation — of Trump himself.”

The Fallout: A day after the university’s president resigned, Michigan State’s athletic director has stepped down amid outrage over the school’s handling of sexual molestation accusations against former athletic doctor Larry Nassar. ESPN reports that its investigation “found a pattern of widespread denial, inaction and information suppression of such allegations by officials ranging from campus police to the Spartan athletic department.”

In a touching account of her personal experience after her 2016 complaint about Nassar to the police, former gymnast Rachael Denhollander says she faced scorn and disbelief. She writes in The NY Times that “More than 200 women have now alleged abuse by Larry Nassar. Even more staggering than that number is the revelation that at least 14 coaches, trainers, psychologists or colleagues had been warned of his abuse.”

She says, “Far too often, it feels easier and safer to see only what we want to see. Fear of jeopardizing some overarching political, religious, financial or other ideology — or even just losing friends or status — leads to willful ignorance of what is right in front of our own eyes, in the shape and form of innocent and vulnerable children.”

Econ 101: The economy grew at an annual rate of 2.6 percent in the last quarter of 2017, a good number, but far short of President Trump’s campaign promise of 4 percent. Still, the US economy is into its ninth year of growth and is pulling much of the world with it.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump claimed credit for the addition of 2.4 million jobs to the economy and the addition of $7 trillion of wealth to the stock market. It’s actually 1.8 million jobs, and $8.3 trillion in stock wealth. He undersold himself on that one.

The Roundup: A Taliban bomb placed in an ambulance in the Afghan capital of Kabul killed 40 people and wounded another 140 — In the worst flu season in recent memory in the US, at least 37 people have died. — Billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, Saudi Arabia’s most prominent rich guy, has been freed after two months of detention in the Ritz-Carlton in a massive corruption crackdown. — Las Vegas casino magnate Steve Wynn, 76, has been accused of decades of sexual misconduct with employees. Evidently what happens in Vegas no longer stays in Vegas.

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