In a move that triggered fresh recognition of the power President Donald Trump possesses to ratchet up tensions—or even start a war—with a foreign adversary in order to distract from the “legal hurricane” that now engulfs his administration, Trump announced on Friday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will not be visiting North Korea for scheduled high-level talks.
“I have asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo not to go to North Korea, at this time, because I feel we are not making sufficient progress with respect to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Trump’s last-minute cancellation of a major diplomatic trip comes at the close of a week that saw his former “fixer” Michael Cohen implicate him in a criminal conspiracy and his former campaign manager Paul Manafort convicted on eight counts of bank and tax fraud.
“If criminal investigations surrounding Trump tighten to the point that his political base starts to show signs of cracking, then he may decide that the time has come to try that ultimate diversionary tactic.”
—Paul Pillar
Lawmakers and legal experts say these momentous developments—combined with reports that some of Trump’s closest business and media allies have flipped on him and are now cooperating with federal prosecutors in exchange for immunity—indicate that the walls are closing in on the president.
If Trump’s legal troubles continue to intensify—and if Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation continues to reach deeper into his sprawling business empire—analysts are warning that the president could try to use his substantial executive authority to launch a military conflict overseas in an effort to divert media and public attention from his countless domestic scandals.
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