In response to increased pressure over Russian investigations Donald Trump starts to assemble a "war room." and hire outside legal team.

Courtesy of Politico: 

The White House is looking to wall off the scandals threatening to overtake the president’s agenda by building a separate crisis management operation. 

President Donald Trump personally reached out to two of his former campaign aides – his first campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, and his deputy campaign manager, David Bossie – to sound them out about working with the administration as crisis managers, according to two people familiar with the situation. POLITICO previously reported that both men were spotted in the West Wing last week, before Trump departed on his overseas trip.

No formal announcement is expected before Trump returns to the U.S. this weekend. A White House spokesman said there were no immediate plans to hire Lewandowski and Bossie inside the White House, and it is unclear that the rapid response operation would be housed in the West Wing. It is likely, one person familiar with the operation said, that the work would be done outside of the White House.

Really, Corey Lewandowski? The guy who once manhandled a female reporter?

Doesn't Donald Trump know a single person who is not some kind of scumbag?

Actually I think we already know the answer to that question.

Trump is also bringing on longtime lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, to provide legal assistance in responding the Russia investigation.

Also courtesy of Politico: 

President Donald Trump plans to select Marc Kasowitz — his longtime, New York-based lawyer — to lead his outside legal team as an investigation of Russian election interference heats up, an administration official said. 

Kasowitz has represented Trump in legal matters for decades and is considered to have the president’s trust. He has a well-established rapport with Trump and has spoken to him regularly since Trump was sworn into office. 

In selecting Kasowitz, Trump once again is turning to a person with extensive experience working with him — rather than a seasoned, Washington-based operator — to deal with a high-profile challenge.

And Kasowitz also has experience dealing with the Russians: 

Kasowitz has represented Trump for over 15 years, and is known as a litigator, not a criminal defense lawyer. 

He currently also represents OJSC Sberbank of Russia, the nation's largest bank, which is charged in an open U.S. federal court case of conspiring with granite company executives and others to raid the assets of a competitor.

I guess I should edit my earlier question to read " Doesn't Donald Trump know a single person who is not some kind of scumbag, or is not on the Russian's payroll?"

And once again, I think we know the answer. 

Anti-abortion activists hack Planned Parenthood.

Courtesy of The Daily Dot:

Planned Parenthood has been hacked. 

Late Sunday night, a group of hackers who oppose the healthcare nonprofit's abortion practices released Planned Parenthood's website databases as well as names and email addresses of the organization's employees. 

The attack on Planned Parenthood follows a storm of controversy over the organization. Anti-abortion activists sparked the uproar earlier this month with the release of an edited video showing a Planned Parenthood director discussing the donation of fetus organs and tissue to medical research facilities, a legal but highly controversial practice. “Trying to mold an atrocious monstrosity into socially acceptable behaviors is repulsive.” 

One of the hackers, who goes by the pseudonym “E,” told the Daily Dot that the cyberattack was politically motivated. 

“Trying to mold an atrocious monstrosity into socially acceptable behaviors is repulsive,” said E. “Obviously what [Planned Parenthood] does is a very ominous practice. It'll be interesting to see what surfaces when [Planned Parenthood] is stripped naked and exposed to the public.”

Apparently the hacker's plan is to release names of Planned Parenthood employees as well as internal e-mails to the public at large.

When first told of this hack Planned Parenthood was not aware that it had taken place, however after checking their IT workers it turned out to be true: 

“Today Planned Parenthood has notified the Department of Justice and separately the FBI that extremists who oppose Planned Parenthood’s mission and services have launched an attack on our information systems, and have called on the world’s most sophisticated hackers to assist them in breaching our systems and threatening the privacy and safety of our staff members. We are working with top leaders in this field to manage these attacks. We treat matters of safety and security with the utmost importance, and are taking every measure possible to mitigate these criminal efforts to undermine our mission and services. 

Planned Parenthood is the most trusted women’s health care provider in this country, and anti-abortion extremists are willing to do anything to stop women from accessing the reproductive health care they are seeking. Extremists have broken laws, harassed our doctors and patients, produced hack videos, and now are claiming to have committed a gross invasion of privacy — one that, if true, could potentially put our staff members at risk. 

No matter what extremist acts those who oppose safe and legal abortion commit, the fact remains that women and men across America will still need access to basic, reproductive health care: life-saving cancer screenings, birth control, STI testing and treatment, well-woman exams, and yes, safe and legal abortion. As always, we will continue to provide that care, and serve the 2.7 million women, men and young people who rely on us each year.”

This is getting incredibly ugly.  And all of it based on carefully edited videos and debilitating ignorance.

On the plus side the recent attempt by members of the Senate to defund Planned Parenthood failed miserably.