IV. Lift the Cloud

Credits

+ Produced, composed, engineered, and mixed by Henry Bloomfield
+ Keyboards, vocals, programming, string arrangement, and lyrical arrangement by Henry Bloomfield
+ Lyrics by Donald J. Trump, James Comey, Rudolph Giuliani, Robert Mueller III, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Corey Lewandowski, Annie Donaldson, Konstantin Kilimnik, Steve Bannon, Michael Cohen, and Donald J. Trump’s counsel 
+ Violin performed by Chiara Fasi 
+ Cello performed by Susan D. Mandel  
+ Mastered by Brian Lucey 
+ Photography by IowaPolitics.com

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Verse 1
Frankly I didn’t want to do it¹
Please don’t over interpret
What I’ve said²
I’ve been privy to facts that I can’t repeat³
But⁴ in the heat of the moment⁵
A slip of the tongue⁶
Could be done to⁷

Chorus 1
Lift the cloud⁸
This is the worst thing that ever happened to me⁹
What can I do? I’m a nobody¹⁰
Is this the beginning of the end?¹¹

Don’t talk me out of this
I’ve made my decision¹²
I am more than sure that it will be resolved¹³
I hope this¹⁴
As I¹⁵
Remain¹⁶
Hope¹⁷
Less¹⁸

Verse 2
Now¹⁹ I’m²⁰ feeling trapped²¹
Like²² I’m²³ an open book²⁴
I used my own funds to facilitate a payment of
$130,000 to Daniels²⁵
What a²⁶ scandal²⁷

Chorus 2
Lift the cloud²⁸
This is the worst thing that ever happened to me²⁹
What can I do? I’m a nobody³⁰
But I’m not gonna answer about anybody³¹

Don’t talk me out of this, I’ve made my decision³²
But let me see if I can’t state it in starker terms³³
This is what he wants me to do³⁴
This is the beginning of the end³⁵

¹ DJT expressing his disinterest in developing real estate opportunities in Russia after having brought the 2013 Miss Universe pageant to Moscow (p. 19 of “TMR”, V. II [p. 285 of TWP edition])

² James Comey refusing to answer directly when asked whether DJT was “under investigation during the campaign” or “under investigation now” (p. 53 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 319 of TWP edition])

³ Rudolph Giuliani in an interview with Sean Hannity, explaining that Paul Manafort’s plea/cooperation agreement had “nothing to do with the Trump campaign” (p. 127 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 393 of TWP edition])

⁴ “But collusion is not a specific offense or theory of liability found in the U.S. Code; nor is it a term of art in federal criminal law” (p. 2 of “TMR,” V. I [p. 64 of TWP edition])

⁵ Sarah Huckabee Sanders clarifying that her comment (“rank-and-file FBI agents had lost confidence in Comey”) was made under pressure and in fact “not founded on anything” (p. 72 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 338 of TWP edition])

⁶ Sanders explaining that her comment to a reporter (“Look, we’ve heard from countless members of the FBI that say very different things”), which countered the idea that most FBI agents supported Comey, was an innocent mistake (p. 72 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 338 of TWP edition])

⁷ DJT asking Comey what "could be done to" shift the public’s focus away from the Russia investigation (p. 58 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 324 of TWP edition])

⁸ “The president asked Comey what could be done to 'lift the cloud'” (p. 58 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 324 of TWP edition])

⁹ DJT’s reaction when he first heard about the appointment of the SC (p. 78 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 344 of TWP edition])

¹⁰ Corey Lewandowski (former campaign manager for DJT) explaining to Reince Priebus that he was powerless and wouldn’t be able to get Jeff Sessions to resign (p. 93 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 359 of TWP edition])

¹¹ A note taken by Annie Donaldson (Don McGahn’s chief of staff) “because she was worried that the decision to terminate Comey and the manner in which it was carried out would be the end of the presidency” (p. 68 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 334 of TWP edition])

¹² On 5/8/17, DJT told McGahn, Priebus, and others that his mind was made up: he was going to fire Comey (p. 66 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 332 of TWP edition])

¹³ Konstantin Kilimnik trying to convince Manafort that his connection to Oleg Deripaska (a Russian billionaire friend of Vladimir Putin) would soon be reenergized given, at that moment, Deripaska’s refocusing on the U.S. election. Manafort, who had worked for Deripaska as one of his investment consultants for years, had offered to give Deripaska “private briefings” about the Trump campaign (p. 137 of “TMR,” V. I [p. 199 of TWP edition])

¹⁴ Comey translating DJT’s “hoping” that he would end the FBI’s investigation of Michael T. Flynn as a subtle directive, perhaps with Comey’s job at stake (p. 40 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 306 of TWP edition])

¹⁵ DJT recounting his memory of conversations with Cohen about the Trump Tower Moscow project: “As I recall, they were brief, and they were not memorable” (p. 149 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 415 of TWP edition])

¹⁶ “Certain proceedings with the Office’s work [investigating ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign] remain ongoing” (p. 12 of “TMR,” V. I [p. 74 of TWP edition])

¹⁷ Comey (p. 40 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 306 of TWP edition])

¹⁸ “WikiLeaks began releasing Podesta’s [Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman] stolen emails on October 7, 2016, less than one hour after a U.S. media outlet released video considered damaging to candidate Trump” (p. 5 of “TMR,” V. I [p. 67 of TWP edition])

¹⁹ DJT: “Now that we fired Flynn, the Russia thing is over” (p. 3 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 269 of TWP edition])

²⁰ Steve Bannon, recounting a conversation with DJT: “He told me three times: I’m not under investigation” (p. 64 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 330 of TWP edition])

²¹ “McGahn recalled feeling trapped because he did not plan to follow the President’s directive [of removing the SC]” (p. 86 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 352 of TWP edition])

²² “Priebus recalled that before the dinner [the private dinner between DJT and Comey], he told the President something like, ‘don’t talk about Russia, whatever you do’” (p. 33 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 299 of TWP edition])

²³ Bannon (p. 64 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 330 of TWP edition])

²⁴ “Cohen said that after the searches [when the FBI raided his office and home] he was concerned that he was ‘an open book,’ that he did not want issues arising from the payments to women to ‘come out,’ and that his false statements to Congress were a ‘big concern’” (p. 146 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 412 of TWP edition])

²⁵ Cohen, in reference to his $130,000 payout to Stormy Daniels on behalf of his client, DJT (p. 145 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 411 of TWP edition])

²⁶ “On February 19, 2018, the day after the New York Times wrote a detailed story attributing the payment to Cohen and describing Cohen as the President’s ‘fixer,’ Cohen received a text message from the President’s personal counsel that stated, “Client says thanks for what you do” (p. 145 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 411 of TWP edition])

²⁷ See e.g., Darren Samuelsohn, Michael Cohen hires Clinton scandal veteran Lanny Davis, Politico (July 5, 2018), (p. 148 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 414 of TWP edition])

²⁸ DJT (p. 58 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 324 of TWP edition])

²⁹ DJT (p. 78 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 344 of TWP edition])

³⁰ Lewandowski (p. 93 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 359 of TWP edition])

³¹ Comey (p. 53 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 319 of TWP edition])

³² DJT (p. 66 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 332 of TWP edition])

³³ In November 2017, Flynn began cooperating with the SC and terminated the joint defense agreement he had with DJT. After Flynn’s counsel told DJT’s counsel that Flynn could no longer have “confidential communications with the White House or the President,” DJT’s counsel left Flynn’s counsel the following voicemail: “I understand your situation, but let me see if I can’t state it in starker terms…[I]f…there’s information that implicates the President, then we’ve got a national security issue,…so you know,…we need some kind of heads up. Um, just for the sake of protecting all our interest if we can (p. 121 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 387 of TWP edition])

³⁴ Comey (p. 40 of “TMR,” V. II [p. 306 of TWP edition])

³⁵ p. 68 of “TMR,” V. II (p. 334 of TWP edition)