Trump at risk from Comey/Mueller: If “they don’t get you on the crime, they get you on the process”
Robert Mueller should not be the “investigator in this because he is friendly with a key witness, James Comey”
I was a guest today on Newsmax TV – America Talks Live with Bill Tucker.
The main topic was my post about James Comey’s Senate testimony, Robert Mueller should step aside: Friends shouldn’t be investigating friends:
“… the case has dramatically changed since James Comey was outed, or outed himself, as the leaker of a memorandum to the NY Times and testified before the Senate. Remember this case started as an investigation of Russian involvement.
We now know from Comey’s testimony that as of the date Comey was fired in late May, Donald Trump individually was not under investigation for anything, not criminal, not counter-intelligence. So there’s nothing for Mueller to be investigating about Donald Trump individually except for one thing, which is James Comey’s conversations with Donald Trump regarding the Michael Flynn investigation. That’s where Comey famously quotes Trump saying ‘I hope you let it go, he’s a good guy,’ I’m paraphrasing there.
That is now the center of attention. That involves James Comey as a key witness. Who is James Comey personally and professionally friendly with? Robert Mueller.
Robert Mueller, if he is going to consider the alleged obstruction of justice asserted by James Comey, should not be the prosecutor or investigator in this because he is friendly with a key witness, James Comey. So that’s what I meant when I said ‘friends should not be investigating friends.’ And Robert Mueller, if he is considering Trump’s asserted obstruction of justice, cannot and should not be the investigator on this case.”
I then discussed Comey’s history of involvement in obstruction of justice prosecutions where he could not prove an underlying crime. I’d refer you to an excellent article on this topic by Mollie Hemingway at the Federalist, James Comey Has A Long History Of Questionable Obstruction Cases. Frank Quattrone, someone wrongfully convicted by a Comey investigation and ultimately vindicated, has been tweeting about the team Mueller is putting together.
Mueller's addition of Andrew Weissman,who led Enron Task Force+contributed to wrongful conviction of Arthur Andersen, undermines credibility https://t.co/xevrFyaemh
— Frank Quattrone (@FrankQuattrone) June 8, 2017
Andrew Weisman's overzealous prosecutions are well chronicled in @SidneyPowell1's excellent book Licensed to Lie https://t.co/YmorJAD1tw https://t.co/ScRoGbP2Sb
— Frank Quattrone (@FrankQuattrone) June 8, 2017
I discussed how this history increased the risk to Trump from testifying before the Special Counsel.
That is what this crew [of prosecutors] that Mueller’s putting together specializes in, … if they can’t get you on the substantive crime, they get you on the so-called process crime, which is a crime committed in the course of the investigation. And that’s why this is beginning to smell a little bit like a traditional Comey set-up, like he did with Martha Stewart and others, like was done with Scooter Libby by another special counsel, special prosecutor, that they don’t get you on the crime, they get you on the process.
For Donald Trump, even if he’s right about what was said or what was not said, needs to be extremely, extremely careful around a group of prosecutors who, as I think you’ve noted, have a history of bringing overly aggressive prosecutions.”
We ended the discussion with two more of my posts:
- Pathetic endings to prosecutorial careers of James Comey and Loretta Lynch
- Jewish Voice for Peace targeted at-risk LGBTQ contingent in Israel Day Parade
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Comments
Great stuff professor. Far more substantive and detailed about the threats than I have read elsewhere, and very persuasive points to share.
Also far better than the incredibly annoying Never Trumpers who are still whining and still hoping to see Trump on the wrong end of one of these investigations. I cannot believe the Republicans who are jumping into bed with the media enemy on this one – even gleefully and willfully and frankly ignorantly. The same ones who complain about media bias but forget the next second and jump at every charged drop. Y the MSM.
This is a critical and dangerous time in the presidency, and clear thinking is needed. Welcome posts, Professor.
If ever there was a valley of death for Trump this special counsel is it. Trump has never dwelt in the world of legal protocol and is loose with his facts. That is a deadly combo in the world of Mueller /Comey working as a team. I simply cannot believe that Mueller was ever approved knowing his background with Comey. Judge Napolitano of FNC said he believes that Mueller can do his job without prejudice. I am not so sure. Mueller has and is living in the Demorat world of DC and most of his contacts are liberals. Like the Murdoch brothers at FNC, he and they do not care about their future only their ideology.
The take at TCTH is just the opposite, that Comey’s testimony was meant to bait Trump into firing Mueller. Sure they are acquainted, but is there someone who would have been appointed Special Prosecutor who would not be acquainted with Comey?
And yes they met before the testimony, but what did they discuss? I can see an innocuous meeting, where Mueller simply told Comey the boundaries of what he can or cannot say during open testimony.
Maybe Comey wanted Mueller, but maybe he wanted Fitzgerald and is now trying to get Mueller removed. No way to really know right now.
It’s hard to judge either way. here is what I think Daddy (1) should be doing:
* Appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary and the Clinton Foundation like he said during election.
* Appoint a special prosecutior to investigate Obama/Lynch interference with an FBI investigation.
* Keep an eye on Mueller, make sure that he is not just investigating Trump but the whole incident. Including why Comey would not release his memos himself, but used an intermediary, and why Comey wrote memos instead of writing up 302 forms.
* Issue an executive order, reminding all federal workers that there is a proper way of documenting investigations and other incidents, and that anyone not following those procedures will be fired and prosecuted. What sunk Martha Stewart was that there were no tapes of her meetings, and the only transcripts available were the FBI’s.
* Make sure that Congress and the Senate are keeping a close eye on Mueller, and see that he is acting independently and not for someone.
If Mueller is toxic then Daddy should fire him, but if he is not and Trump fires him, then Daddy takes a political hit to do what Comey wants him to do. Not good.
PS. Hope that Daddy really has those tapes.
(1) Yes I’ve been listening to Milo recently.
I agree completely.
If nom actions are taken against the Democrats who committed numerous serious crimes, they will continue to attack Trump at will for fake crimes.
Please let us wake up one morning to news reports of arrests of the many democratic criminals.
My take on the Mueller team building is the following.
He is not building a team to “get Trump”. There is nothing even remotely on the radar that would stick to Trump, with regard to Russian Collusion or even to obstructing the investigation of such collusion. The real danger in this investigation is to the former President, Barack Obama, and all of the upper management team who were present during his administrations. The object of Mueller’s investigation will most likely be to protect Obama and his people.
An investigation into Russia/Trump collusion will, by necessity, have to involve any claims of improper contact with Russian officials. At this point, it appears that much of the evidence for such contact comes from electronic surveillance. And, as the FBI obtained a FISA warrant to conduct such surveillance, after four months of investigation, it could well be that improper or even illegal electronic surveillance occurred during the FBI part of the investigation. This then leads to what information was gathered, to whom was it disseminated and how was it used. This, of course would end up involving senior Obama officials who may have unmasked and disseminated intercepted information illegally. As we now know that one senior official in the WH was unmasking and disseminating the identities of private citizens, this then leads to the question of what did President Obama know, when did he know it and did he authorize any of this activity. Get the picture? If not, ask yourself what happened to Devin Nunes.
If Mueller is interested in protecting the former administrations, then he would want reliable people on the team to control what is learned and that nothing harmful to the former administrations is leaked. It also explains why Mueller met with so much approval from the Democrats. The Democrats, and most of their Establishment masters, know there is no evidence to be found of any Trump/Russia collusion. Comey’s job was to change the narrative from “Trump colluded with the Russians” to “Trump tried to obstruct the investigation of such collusion”. Now we see the Dems beginning to portray Sessions as actually hindering the investigation behind the scenes. This is simply the set up for the claim that nothing was found because Trump and Sessions acted to bury or expunge evidence of such a collusion. That we have a brand new AAG firing Comey and actively recruiting Mueller for SC, is a little disconcerting.
Washington scandals are like snakes in a basket. Some are deadly. Some mildly dangerous. And some are relatively harmless. To get the most dangerous out of the basket, you have to grab them one at a time. Right now, the Dems, and the rest of the Establishment, are trying to keep people focused on a harmless “snake”, the Trump/Russia collusion, and away from the much more dangerous snake of domestic surveillance by the federal government for political purposes. Watch for this “investigation” to drag on until after the midterms, and then peter out, without ever addressing the actions of the Obama administrations. This will allow the Dems to run against “Trump the traitor”. They do not have to worry about any significant legislation being passed, as the Republicans are doing a masterful job of stonewalling and slow walking every single piece of legislation in existence.
I would love to believe what you wrote, but the truth is that Mueller and the team he is building are swamp people and have records of prosecuting process crimes when there was no underlying reason for the initial investigation.
Damn the democrat media torpedoes: full steam ahead.
So how does Trump keep Mueller from covering up the crimes of the Obama administration? I would think he just appoints a special counsel to examine that. Sessions can do so. Sort of a carbon copy of the letter appointing Mueller, with “Obama” in place of “Trump / Russia”.
That special counsel would have equal rights to Obama related stuff.
Here’s a weird idea. We could also set up a relationship where the leader of each one reports to the President on the other investigation. And then when Mueller is reported to be getting nowhere, he’s dismissed.
This whole situation reminds me of the novel The Trial by Franz Kafka. From Wikipedia:
That précis describes everything by Kafka. That man was in a rut, big-time.
All of those German authors of the Weimar period were in the same rut. Hermann Hesse for just one.
I think Trump’s best course of action would be to stonewall the investigation. Refuse to testify, citing executive privilege. Trump has a tendency to run his mouth and occasionally snack on his foot. That can be legally fatal, here.
This is a Democratic legalistic witch hunt. Maybe if Trump can find a tame judge to declare Mueller to be invalid on some grounds, and enjoin his investigation.
No, Trump should shut down the special investigation since it was created based on a lie and because we now know that there is nothing to investigate. Go big Donald, shut it down. And demand network time to make his case directly to the American people. If they can make time for the Comey and Session hearings, they surely can make time for a historic event that Trump promises.
He can’t shut it down because the Special Persecutor is a Congressional creature, even though he works through the DOJ. There’s case law on this that goes all the way to SCOTUS.
Stonewall on defense. None of this Mr Nice Guy, just trying to be cooperative here … because there’s zero chance anyone will reciprocate.
And aggressive attack. Hillary, Lynch, Waters, Holder, Obama … they’re all vulnerable to genuine criminal charges, and they don’t have a President who will protect them with pardons. L’attaque, l’attaque, toujours l’attaque! (I know, easy to say … but Trump’s a pretty energetic guy, and if anyone can get it to work, he’s the one.)
Wasn’t that “audacity” and not “attack”?
“De l’audace, et encore de l’audace, et toujours de l’audace!”
Comey said he knew Sessions would recuse himself when he leaked the memo did he also know Mueller would be picked as Special Counsel? Who’s on first??
Time for this dog & pony show to be shut down.
Mueller needs to either recuse himself, or he needs to be fired.
Then completely shut down this utter nonsense.
The Special Persecutor (sic) is a creature of Congress. The President can’t fire him.
That’s the way it used to be, but not any more. From Wikipedia:
Now it’s totally a Justice Dept. internal procedure, and they are called “counsels” not “prosecutors”. Somehow Sessions got suckered into appointing a special counsel when there was no reason to do so. Typical GOPe surrender…
And I don’t think Rosenstein is going to let go of his power any time soon. Elsewhere at PJM, Rosenstein, who would be ordered by Trump to fire the special counsel he hired if it came to that, told the Senate Appropriations Committee in a morning hearing that he was “not going to follow any orders unless I believe they are lawful.”
Unless “good cause” exists to fire Mueller, Rosenstein said, “it wouldn’t matter what anybody said.”
Sounds like any other arrogant little pr*ck.
And in the House Mr. Ryan assures us that he knows Mr. Mueller, and he has confidence in Mr. Mueller.
IMO, this President is screwed by this Congress every which way but Sunday. Add that with the deep state players, mix and pour.
If I wasn’t living it I wouldn’t believe this was my country or my government.
I’d fire Rosenstein first, then Mueller.
Then, have Sessions appoint special persecutors per Rodfc at 10:16 above.
The deep state wants a war, the least we can do is provide it.
I thought there was a difference between a Special Prosecutor and a Special Consul. And that Mueller was a Special Consul appointed by Rosenstein at DOJ. And the President could have him fired.
However, Mr. Rosenstein has now put the country on notice that he would not follow orders to fire anyone if he thought nothing unlawful had taken place.
DOJ is an interesting place, HRC walks because she did not “intend” to do anything ilegal. And nothing gets done unless Mr. Rosenstein deems it “unlawful”.
Interesting place? It’s an effing snake pit. You are watching the Deep State in action.
The PURE FACT that mueller ACCEPTED the position and has not resigned is proof to me THAT HE HAS NO INTEGRITY !
Exactly.
Maybe the President should appoint a special prosecutor to probe Mueller’s conflict of interest