Uncaged Canary:Former National Security Adviser Michel Flynn is scheduled for sentencing today for lying to the FBI. He’s expected to get little or no time in jail, an indication that he’s come clean and given valuable information to Special Counsel Robert Mueller in the Russia investigation.

Flynn’s lawyers filed papers last week claiming their client had been tricked into lying to the FBI in a rushed interview without a lawyer present. Mueller countered in a filing of his own that said, “A sitting National Security Advisor, former head of an intelligence agency, retired Lieutenant General, and 33-year veteran of the armed forces knows he should not lie to federal agents.”

Flynn’s guilty plea and testimony is just part of a larger picture that’s looking dark for President Trump.

The Mueller team has indicted 35 people, including 26 Russian nationals. The indictment of two of Flynn’s associates, accused of illegally lobbying on behalf of the Turkish government, were revealed yesterday. In all, seven of the accused, some of them Trump’s formerly close associates, have pleaded guilty or been found guilty of charges at trial.

The Washington Post noted over the weekend that nearly every major organization Trump has led in the past 10 years is under investigation; the Trump family business, his charity foundation, his campaign, and his inaugural committee. It’s at least 17 investigations into Trump’s world.

Trump’s biographer, Timothy L. O’Brien, told the Post, “The kind of legal scrutiny they’re getting right now — and the potential consequences of that scrutiny — are unlike anything Donald Trump or his children have ever faced.”

The consequences are uncertain — most likely political. Mueller would have to drop a nuclear bomb for Trump to be removed from office. The House could impeach, but the Republican Senate would be unlikely to convict and remove the President.

It is the policy of the Justice Department that a sitting president may not be indicted. But that’s policy, not law. It’s not in the Constitution. Like every boundary he has pushed, Trump may be the President who finds out whether he can be indicted while sitting in the Oval office.

Words Matter: Former FBI director James Comey came out of his second interview with a congressional committee firing both barrels at the Republicans.

Speaking to reporters, Comey said, “The president of the United States is lying about the FBI, attacking the FBI, and attacking the rule of law in this country. How does that make any sense at all? Republicans used to understand that the actions of a president matters, the words of a president matter, the rule of law matters, and the truth matters. Where are those Republicans today?”

Comey was incensed that Trump called his former lawyer Michael Cohen a “rat” for cooperating with investigators.

“At some point someone has to stand up and face the fear of Fox News, fear of their base, fear of mean tweets, stand up for the values of this country and not slink away into retirement but stand up and speak the truth.”

The Russian Social: Special Counsel Robert Mueller was also a target of Russian social media campaigns, according to reports prepared for Congress. Russian operatives used fake accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms to falsely claim that the former FBI director was corrupt and that the notion of Russian interference in the 2016 election were conspiracies theories. One post on Instagram claimed that Mueller had worked in the past with “radical Islamic groups.”

Easy Come, Easy Go: The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 507 points, or 2.1 percent yesterday, still sliding after a 496-point loss on Friday. A lot of sectors took a hit, but big among them were healthcare stocks after a federal judge in Texas ruled that Obamacare is unconstitutional. It will take years before that reaches the Supreme Court, if ever, but investors have quick trigger fingers.

The Dow has pretty much lost all its gains for the year. This morning the President was on Twitter urging the federal reserve not to raise interest rates again. “Also, don’t let the market become any more illiquid than it already is.”

Does he know how any of this stuff works?

The Roundup:Two Chicago police officers were killed last night when they were hit by a train while responding to a complaint of gunshots. — Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Republican stalwart who has held the office since 2002, announced that he will not run for re-election in 2020. He’s 78. — Google says it will sink $1 billion into a new headquarters in Manhattan. Appkle, $1 billion in Austin, Texas — CBS announced that it will not pay $120 million in severance to its former CEO Les Moonves after finding that his sexually inappropriate behavior was just cause for firing him. The CBS board cited Mooves’s “willful and material misfeasance” as well “his willful failure to cooperate fully with the company’s investigation.”— New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he wants marijuana to be legal in his state by next year, demonstrating once again that there’s nothing wrong with gambling and drugs so long as government gets a cut.

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