Memo Mania: President Trump is expected today to act over the objections of the FBI director and intelligence agencies to clear the release of a House Intelligence Committee memo that questions the integrity of the bureau’s acquisition of a domestic intelligence warrant.

The NY Times reports that the President wants the memo released. “He had told people close to him that he believes it makes the case that law enforcement officials acted inappropriately in seeking the highly classified warrant on one of his campaign advisers, Carter Page,” the paper reports.

In Washington, the talking heads are wondering whether Trump’s new FBI Director Christopher Wray will find it necessary to resign if his concerns are ignored. A NY Times editorial says, “There remains a phalanx of honorable people at the Justice Department and the FBI more beholden to principle than politics, prepared to fall on their swords rather than suborn high crimes. Mr. Wray is one.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan said the memo is not an attack on the FBI or an attempt to undermine the Russia election-influencing investigation, but Democrats on the Intelligence Committee see it as just that.

Former FBI Director James Comey tweeted yesterday, “American history shows that, in the long run, weasels and liars never hold the field, so long as good people stand up. Not a lot of schools or streets named for Joe McCarthy.”

The Russia Thing: A former spokesman for the Trump legal team plans to tell the Special Counsel that he witnessed an attempt to cover up emails pertaining to the Trump Tower meeting with a Russian woman peddling dirt on Hillary Clinton, The NY Times  reports. The paper says that on a conference call with the President and his aide Hope Hicks, she said the emails “will never get out.” That could be interpreted as an intent to obstruct justice.

Liar’s Poker: President Trump tweeted yesterday that, “45.6 million people watched, the highest number in history.”

Is he lying to himself, or the public?

Trump had a lot of viewers, but he came in 9th in the history of State of the Union messages since 1993. The fantasizer-in-chief has been beaten by George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. No. 1 on the list is Bush, who had audiences of 51.8 million and 62.1 million in 2002 and 2003. Obama beat Trump in 2010 with 48 million viewers.

Net Reality: A 15-year-old Wisconsin girl was sentenced yesterday to 40 years in a psychiatric hospital after pleading guilty to attempting to kill a friend on the orders of the fictional internet character Slender Man. Morgan Geyser, was found to be delusional as a result of schizophrenia at the time. She and another friend Anissa Weier, were 12 at the time Geyser stabbed Payton Leutner 19 times while Weier urged her on. Leutner survived and Weier was sentenced to 25 years in a psychiatric hospital.

Wag the Dog: Seven members of the Humane Society of America’s board of directors resigned after the majority of the board decided to keep its CEO, Wayne Pacelle, after considering complaints of sexual harassment and misconduct against him.

Several major donors also immediately announced they will stop giving money if Pacelle stays on. Complaints against him date back to 2005. Pacelle told The Washington Post, “I absolutely deny any suggestion that I did anything untoward.”

The Obit Page: Nicholas von Hoffman, a prolific journalist and commentator who scrutinized America for 50 years from a perch on the left wing, has died in Maine at age 88.

As a columnist for The Washington Post, he attacked the President Nixon over the Vietnam War, condemned Chicago police violence against protesters at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, and skewered Nixon’s Oval Office profanities caught on the in-house taping system.

On Nixon’s demise, von Hoffman wrote, “Nixon is going into the history books as the president who absent-mindedly didn’t mind having his people drop the Bill of Rights from the Constitution, but who was chased from office for public profanity. You commit treason but they get you for littering.”

Old Flames: Electric car entrepreneur Elon Musk has sold out … sold out of flamethrowers. Musk decided to make 20,000 compact flamethrowers and sell them at $500 apiece to raise $10 million for his new transportation tunneling company, Boring.

He claims the flamethrowers are harmless novelty toys but, “When the zombie apocalypse happens, you’ll be glad you bought a flamethrower,” he tweeted on Sunday. “Works against hordes of the undead or your money back!”

Speaking of flames, Musk has broken up for a second time with his flame, Amber Heard, the ex of Johnny Depp. They say they will remain friends, but not flames.

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