Russiagate intrigue, the U.S.-Saudi relationship, Jeff Flake’s blockade of judicial confirmations: All of this week’s news will be backburnered this morning as the Sunday shows scramble to cover the passing of George H.W. Bush. Because the announcement was made late Friday night, no guests were booked yet as of Saturday morning to pay tribute. But I expect we might see James Baker, maybe Dick Cheney, possibly even Bill Clinton, who remembered 41 warmly in an op-ed yesterday and grew close enough to the Bushes in later life to have Dubya refer to him as a “brother with another mother.”
I wouldn’t even rule out a cameo by Barack Obama, who met with Bush this week in his final days. It’d be fitting to have Democrats remember him this morning, as he was the last president of the United States not to inspire quite the same bitterly acidic partisanship that the last four have coped with and which now seems par for the course. That’s one of Poppy’s many legacies.
There’ll be news chatter too, of course. Flake is scheduled for “Face the Nation” to discuss his blockade to nowhere. He’ll follow Mike Pompeo, who’s set for that show plus “Fox News Sunday” to dodge questions about the Saudi crown prince’s role in murdering Jamal Khashoggi and what the administration’s plan is if Congress yanks support for the Saudi war in Yemen. And “Little Adam Schitt” will sit down with “This Week” to pregame the coming House Intel Committee investigation of Trump’s Moscow apartment project, which may or may not have involved an illegal bribe to Vladimir Putin that the president may or may not have known about. The full line-up is at the AP.
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