There’s no good way out for Trump from Special Counsel quicksand
My interview on Sandy Rios show: “His administration is in danger of being paralyzed”
I appeared this morning on the Sandy Rios in the Morning on American Family Radio. I’ve appeared on Sandy’s show before, and I appreciate that she gives me plenty of time. The segment is 30 minutes long.
We talked about several topics, all surrounding Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and Trump’s related frustration with Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from anything related to Russia. Trump’s continuing Twitter dressing down of Sessions and rumors Sessions and/or Mueller would be fired, were discussed.
In the course of the discussion we touched on the following posts of mine:
Because of the length of the interview, I can’t transcribe the whole thing, but here are some highlights focused on the dilemma Trump faces. I wish I had used the analogy of quicksand, because that’s the gist of what I was getting at.
“The whole way this thing has gone down has been really suspect. But the media, because they want the Special Counsel not only to harass the Trump administration, but to actually indict people, or try to indict people, the media is acting like the Special Counsel is sacrosanct. That there is nothing you can do. That if anything were to be done to the Special Counsel it’s a constitutional crisis, etc., etc.
The media’s very happy, the Democrats are very happy, Republicans who hate Trump are very happy, because what you have is a situation that’s not supposed to take place in this country where they haven’t identified a crime to be investigated, they haven’t even said there’s a crime to be investigated, yet they appoint this team, which is growing in size, to do nothing but investigate people to try to find a crime. That’s not how we’re supposed to work here. The police, prosecutors, investigate and prosecute crimes. They don’t say, they don’t find the person and then try to find the crime. There’s a very famous saying by the head of the secret police during Stalin in the Soviet Union: “Find me the man, and I’ll find you the crime.”
The fact is if any of our lives were to be subject to a team of 20 prosecutors plus FBI plus investigators, scouring over every aspect of our life, you probably could find some laws broken. There’s a very famous book written by civil liberties lawyer in the Boston area called Three Crimes a Day. With thousands and thousands of federal crimes on the books, we all probably violate some of those every day just by leading our lives.
So it’s a really bad situation, it’s politically motivated, it has morphed into, and I do believe he’s [Trump’s] right about this, a witch hunt, where you have this enormous team of people trying to find a crime. That’s not what it was supposed to be when it started. When it started it was supposed to be, let’s investigate whether there was collusion between the campaign and the Russians, and now it’s morphed into something much, much more.”
***
“It’s a no win situation for the administration. Because if they let the [Mueller] thing go on, on the trajectory it is now, it is going to be water torture of them for years. It’s going to essentially freeze the administration’s ability to get anything done.
If they terminate it, there will be enormous pressure, and who knows, they may even get the votes in Congress to impeach. They don’t need 100 percent of Republicans. Every single Democrat, of course, would vote [for impeachment], so they only need to pick off 40, or 30, whatever the number is, in the House Republicans out of 200 plus, they only need to pick off 10 or 15 percent of the Republicans, and they have enough for impeachment.
I don’t know the way out of this for Trump. But it’s just a really bad situation, and it all emanates from the appointment of the special counsel, despite there not being a finding under the regulations that there was in fact a crime to be investigated.”
***
“What didn’t happen [in evaluating the nomination of Sessions], is nobody expected the Russia-mania to go on as long and as far as it did. I think Trump mistakenly believed, and the people around him believed, that once the election was over, yeah, there’s be a month or so of people screaming, but then it would calm down and we’d do like we do with every other presidency. Which is even if you don’t like the person and you oppose their policies, you don’t try to literally disrupt the transition of power. So I don’t think they expected it to go the direction that it went…, but I think it was something that nobody really thought through, where is this thing going to go, and is Sessions going to be in the position, and what might that mean.
When people look back upon the history of the Trump administration, I think Jeff Sessions recusing himself is going to be, at least as of this point in time, the single biggest influencer of how the administration went. Now obviously we still got time, other things could happen. But as of now, that has probably been the single most significant event of the administration because it put into motion this seemingly endless, wide-ranging attempt to find a crime by the Mueller team. And that, I think, is the defining moment in the administration.
So I understand Trump’s frustration, and I understand that it all goes back to the fact that if he hadn’t appointed Sessions, he had appointed somebody else, that he wouldn’t be in this situation now with this special counsel seemingly out of control ….”
***
“The Democrats, and some Never-Trump Republicans, decided immediately upon Trump’s election that they were going to do everything within their power to get him out of office, or prevent him from taking office. [Discussion of interference in Electoral College] … When Democrats, some Never-Trump Republicans, and parts of the legal community, tried to disrupt the Electoral College, I’ve never heard of that happening, at least not in our lifetimes, where you literally try to prevent the transition of power because you don’t like an election result.
And when they tried to intimidate the Electors, when they tried to lobby them, when they were emailing them and harassing them, to me that said this is so far beyond what is the norm, that they pose a significant threat to our Republic…. Now it didn’t pan out, I don’t think any Electors changed their vote, but they tried…. Being nice to people who would try to prevent a peaceful transition of power, which is the Democrats and some Never-Trump Republicans, is not going to work….
As much as people opposed Obama and Obamacare, and other things, I don’t recall anybody trying to prevent the transition of power …. You have had a full scale attempt to prevent the peaceful transition of power which is continuing to this day. And that’s what makes this whole situation very different than anything I’ve ever seen, very different than the opposition to Obama. And it’s really unprecedented and I think a very worrisome development.”
***
“This is one of those situations where there is no way out for the Trump administration, there’s no good way out, I should say. I think that allowing the Mueller investigation to continue the way it’s going is the easy choice, there’s no question about it, because whatever the repercussions are, they’re months, maybe years down the road, as opposed to the repercussion now of firing him, or firing Sessions and getting a new AG in place who says we no longer need a special counsel. I don’t know the way out, I wish I knew the way out.
This all emanates, as I was indicating, from a desire of Democrats and some Never-Trump Republicans to prevent the administration of Donald Trump from being able to operate, to staff itself, and to conduct the business of the country. And I think this is an unprecedented and very dangerous situation we’re in where we’ve gone beyond political objections and we are now trying, six months after Inauguration still, to prevent the President from fully taking power.”
***
“His administration is in danger of being paralyzed. And that is the goal of the Democrats. The goal of the Democrats and Republicans who hate Trump is to completely paralyze the administration, to put it in a position as if it never existed. And they’re getting very close to that. They’re getting very, very close to that…. If I had advice to Trump, it would be, start getting things done…, start getting some successes.”
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Comments
Rosenstein is either out to get trump or he is an extremely naive and ignorant little fool. Every step he has taken has been ridiculous.
He got tricked/pressured into appointing the special counsel with no crime for a basis.
He appointed a friend of the man who was at the heart of what was supposedly the reason for the investigation. And now he just sits back and hopes for Mueller and his dirty minions to “do the right thing”.
What a fool.
You don’t seriously get all they way to the top of the DOJ without knowing basics like you need a crime and you need no conflict of interest for the special prosecutor
Your assumptions about the Special Counsel regulations compel a curious result. Either Trump appointed a complete fool to be DAG, he appointed an abject knave to be DAG, or he must be actually guilty of a crime. If we accept your argument, there is no other logical conclusion.
Trump didn’t appoint Rosenstein; he’s an Obama traitor.
Trump absolutely appointed him, why are you spreading ridiculous lies?
https://www.congress.gov/nomination/115th-congress/56
You can get to the top of the DoJ, you can know all those things, and yet you can do inappropriate things, things that are contrary to all that. Exhibit A: The Attorney Generalships of Holder and Lynch.
Naive? Come on. All snakes in the grass know what they are doing.
“start getting things done” – I’m confused about this, especially after reading something along the lines of “HERE IT IS=> Complete List of President Trump’s Major Accomplishments in His First Six Months #MAGA”
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/07/president-trumps-first-six-months-are-historical-with-stock-market-on-fire-and-americans-hopeful-that-america-will-be-great-again/
I would like to submit for you consideration a way. Were another investigation, say today;s proposed House investigation into Lynch and Comey with either or both actually testify before Congress to answer questions regarding the situation Comey reported in prior testimony, that investigation might eclipse the Mueller investigation which in the absence of any evidence, has been floundering. Or it could produce yet two more Clinton-affiliated allies taking the fifth instead of testifying.
There may not be a neat and tidy LEGAL path for Trump to escape Mueller but onsidering how fed up the American people already are with the Russia “scandal”, wouldn’t an investigation featuring proven crimes in high places be infinitely more interesting? Couldn’t the silliness of the Mueller investigation be forced to collapse under its own weight of BS and lies? And aren’t we already primed for it?
Now that Team Trump is on offense (Trump himself is campaigning in Ohio tonight), these investigations may be about to take a turn into a completely different direction, kind of like during the presidential campaign that everyone got wrong every step of the way.
“Now that Team Trump is on offense (Trump himself is campaigning in Ohio tonight)”
Isn’t this exactly what Limbaugh defined as the Obama technique? A perpetual campaign in lieu of governing.
But I understand. Selling snake oil is really Der Donald’s talent.
You are disgusting and such a petulant fool
Well, you got the ad hominem idiotum thing down.
Now, wipe the spittle off your chin and deal with the points I raised.
There is a major difference between Obama’s technique and Trump’s.
Obama campaigned for his own reelection, from the day of his inauguration until his second inaugural, at which point he went on vacation, unless he was campaigning for other Democrats. He had the backing of the Dems, until the GOP took over in Congress. And, even though the Republicans were claiming to be opposed to Obama’s policies, they were horrible impotent to stop them, even with control of both houses of Congress.
Trump’s problem is different. Trump has NO support among beltway politicians. He has NO support among beltway bureaucrats. He has NO support among the media. All he has is the grassroots support that elected him. All he has is the PEOPLE. So, he is forced to communicate directly with the people. Going through the filter of the media is not an option, if he wants to get his message across. His only other option is to govern as a dictator and have the secret police influence the rest of the government. And, no one wants that, including Trump.
Yeah, no, and bullshit.
The Limbaugh Theorem worked all through the second term of Barracula.
T-rump NEEDS the energy he gets from enthralled crowds. He throws off propositions and expertly senses their reception. He’ll turn on a dime and adopt the opposite position as needed. If you are not stupid, you can watch the process as it happens.
” If you are not stupid, you can watch the process as it happens.”
And if you are stupid, you’ll keep predicting the same wrong thing over and over.
And if you’re REAALLLLLLY stupid, you can conflate observation with prediction.
Which is all about you…
> T-rump NEEDS the energy he gets from enthralled crowds.
This is absolutely true, his supporters need it just as much also. Remember, Trump has nobody else supporting him except for his legion base. His base also has nobody else representing them in Washington except for Trump, so it works both ways.
Trump doesn’t need you dude. You are the reason he won.
Effortless.
Long ago Rush did note that Obama was in permanent campaign node. He also noted Bill Clinton was doing the same thing, after Monica Lewinski.
More recently, he had some theory that Obama’s strategy was to never be identified as the source of the Bad Thing happening, whatever it was. Riots in Ferguson? Obama would get to the bottom of it. Out-of-control IRS? Just some field officers in Ohio. He threw underlings at all levels of government under the bus with wild abandon.
But it would appear the underlying concept behind the comment is that since most of the media is anti-Trump and actively suppressing any “good” news concerning Trump, then he resorts to “campaigning” to get the message(s) out directly to the people in attendance. Hence, the use of “campaigning” for both Trump and Obama, would simply be a form of direct communications and not at all inconsistent with governing.
Here’s a good way out: fire him, then mock him daily for the next 3 years.
Never Trumpers and GOPe better get behind Trump on this .If he is run out of Office the Democrats will smell blood in the water and no future Republican will be safe. They expected the fundamental transformation of America and they will get it or die trying. It may not be a concentration camp you get marched into , it will just feel that way
Here’s the way out for Der Donald…
STFU.
Let surrogates make any valid points they can.
STOP being the spoon that keeps the pot stirred. LET. IT. DIE.
Only an idjit would believe that it dying no matter WHAT President Trump does is even a possibility.
Maybe a dumb question, but could Sessions “un-recuse” himself?
Absolutely.
Cold turkey is always best.
Just fire mueller, let the fur fly. Who cares? Not a single Trump supporter is going stray from him, and every democrat voter is not going to ‘not vote for him'(?)
Once mueller is fired, go after clinton and holder. That’ll keep the traitors to this country busy.
Trump is not a politician. He relies upon his political advisors to provide good direction. Unfortunately, it appears that most of his political advisors are either naive, incompetent or actively attempting to sabotage his administration.
It never made sense for Sessions to recuse himself from overseeing the Russia “investigation”. The FBI investigation would have been overseen by an assistant AG, not the AG, anyway. Having been a state AG, you would expect him to understand how this works. It covered his a**, but did nothing for his boss, the President. Bringing in Rosenstein might have looked like a good move, though we do not know who suggested him in the first place. But, his actions, since taking the position, are bizarre, at best. It would be stupid to bring in Mueller, unless you had solid evidence that outlined the parameters of his investigation. The the SC warrant was so vague that it looks like a 1st year law student wrote it up, not a seasoned political attorney. Add to that the fact that Mueller is a close friend of the FBI director, who had just be relieved for incompetence, and you wonder what these people could have been thinking. And, politically, removing Mueller is tantamount to shooting yourself in the foot, or worse, politically.
The best course for the Trump administration, at this point, is to have surrogates go after Mueller and dump negative information into the news cycle to force him to resign the SC position. Barring that, use the info to force Mueller to restrict his investigation to evidence of collusion during the actual campaign. We’ll have to see if Trump has any real political operatives available.
According to you, T-rump is a dolt in terms of hiring and management.
This I can believe…
“The the SC warrant was so vague that it looks like a 1st year law student wrote it up, not a seasoned political attorney.”
And just HTF would you know…???
Trump is a businessman, not an attorney or a politician. And, like most successful businessmen, he depends upon professionals to give him sage advice as to how to run the business. He has become the CEO of a company in an area in which he has no experience. And, he is dealing with people who say they will do one thing and then turn around and do another for their own purposes. He is rapidly learning that he can not trust ANY politician or most professional political advisors. He is finding himself in the position of the man whose attorney tells him that he has every right to break into another person’s house and take property which he feels is his. Unfortunately, as they are carting the poor sap off, his attorney waves at him from the courthouse steps and promises to appeal the sentence, before going to the bank to deposit his fee. Why do you think that his family plays such an important role in his administration? It is because he can’t trust anyone else to have his interests at heart.
He has attempted to enroll the Republican Congress in his agenda and they have rebuffed him. The media dispenses lie after lie and has made it perfectly clear that they do not care about the truth, if it does not further their agenda of removing Trump from office. He has to use twitter so that his statements are at least dispensed verbatim to the public rather than through the dishonest filters of a hostile news media. So, the only people that he can turn to for support, are the people who elected him.
As to the warrant for SC Mueller, it is horribly composed. This is essentially a contract between the government and a private individual. And, as with any other contract, it should specify exactly what duties are being contracted for, they limits of the party’s authority, the cost of the services and a time limit for the services. This contract is exceptionally vague, has no cost limits and no time limits. The assumption was that Mueller would limit his investigation to contacts between the members of the Trump campaign during the actual election period. Instead, he is now investigating business deals involving Trump and individuals of Russian citizenship dating from 7+ years before the elections. Knowing that the whole Russia collusion thing is a political boondoggle, one would assume that any competent attorney would have drafted language which would have precluded a boundless fishing expedition. This, however, is not the case.
“Trump is not a politician.” Sorry, Trump is and was a politician. He has injected himself into politics and mingled with them his who adult life. He was a politician when he championed the birthers. He was a politician when he took out full page ads on the ‘Central Park 5’. It just turns out that he isn’t a very good one. Yes, he got elected. But after that – meh.
“He relies upon his political advisors to provide good direction. Unfortunately, it appears that most of his political advisors are either naive, incompetent or actively attempting to sabotage his administration.” You mean he isn’t a very good judge of people? That’s funny! He claimed to be the BEST.
He is lazy. He thought that winning the election was all he had to do. His staff is at each other’s throats. He just tweets and attends rallies where relives his election victory.
WAJ: “There’s a very famous book written by civil liberties lawyer in the Boston area called Three Crimes a Day. With thousands and thousands of federal crimes on the books, we all probably violate some of those every day just by leading our lives.”
“Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent” by Harvey Silverglate
Thanks for the proper citation.
Professor, I do hope you know that the book’s title premise, that the average person commits three federal felonies a day, has long been proven preposterous. I spend most of the Clinton investigation convincing Democrats of that basic reality …
Of course it has….. if you’re as dumb as a sack of Rags.
You thought Obama appointed Rosenstein DAG, apparently missing the whole drama where Trump fired the Obama-appointed DAG Sally Yates. And the well publicized confirmation hearing in March.
Read it – fascinating book.
Professor, you know as well as anyone there is a very good way out of special counsel quicksand for Trump; STOP TALKING ABOUT IT! STOP THINKING ABOUT IT! STOP REACTING TO IT!
He’s like a selfish, undisciplined child, unable to focus on achieving basic tasks because he’s so focused on what’s being said about him or what others think about him. He’s so focused on it, instead of evaluating his AG on his actual performance, he’s decided to judge him wholly on this one issue. He’s focused on himself, as always.
Awing1, since your advice is standard fare for regular times, fair enough. But.. the media and the Democrats and the never’s are in a fit daily as the President confounds conventional wisdom and by his actions, shows DC and that crowd, just how he views them and their rules.
He fights. We’re paying attention. I’d argue the more he battles and the more unfair the media and the Dems make things, the more normal folks will say enough is enough. The negative stuff thrown at Trump only make him stronger now. The all-out assault on him splashes on 60 million voters.. who are watching… getting frustrated .. and angry. and not blaming him, but the ridiculous circus that is DC politics and media lies and leaks.
I really don’t see how him making easily disproven assertions that demonstrate his lack of understanding of basic aspects of American governance endears him to any but the most ignorant common person.
How do his claims that WaPo’s stories about Trump Jr. meeting with a Russian government lawyer are false, only to be followed by Trump Jr. releasing e-mails proving that he knowingly met with someone represented to him explicitly as a Russian government lawyer, strengthen his position?
I don’t see how such incredible claims help him anymore than his incredibly ignorant claims that “a lot of people don’t know that” France was America’s first ally or that “most people don’t know” that Lincoln was a Republican. The man is in his 70’s, even if he wasn’t POTUS, as a lifelong American, these things shouldn’t have been a surprise to him.
I have never met Napoleon, and expect never to meet him, no matter how many people I meet who are “represented to me” as him.
I don’t understand your assertion, are you claiming that all Russian government lawyers are as dead as Napoleon? Or are you just making a false equivalence because facing the reality of your total abdication is harder to swallow for you than whatever BS comes out of Trump?
Wait, no, I’ve got it. Your claiming that if you were a senior member of a major-party candidate’s campaign for the presidency, you’d meet with someone claiming to be Napoleon, and even drag along other senior members of the campaign, because … well, you haven’t thought that far ahead I assume.
There is no valid reason to disbelieve DNA in some circumstances and not others.
I mean, quite simply, that the woman wasn’t a Russian government lawyer, therefore Trump Jr didn’t meet one. QED. What she was “represented as” is irrelevant.
What would you call representing the FSB in court for at least seven years, exactly?
http://docs.pravo.ru/document/view/28936110/29499394/
If you don’t know Russian, the Chrome web browser provides a serviceable translation function (“Military Unit 55002” is an entity of the FSB). You’ll have to either sign up for service (you can click the case number and it’ll take you to a sign-up page. I’m not sure if it works without a Russian mobile.) if you want to see how long the case went on, it started in 2005 and was finally disposed of in 2013.
Maybe you take a different position, but I’d say its fair game to call a lawyer for the FSB a “Russian government lawyer”.
The Mueller “investigation” is of no significance. He’s rooting around in a field which has already been picked clean, and he’ll find no more than his predecessors. The very best that the Dems and the press can hope for is that someone inconsequential, someone most of us have never heard of, will be Scootered.
The Democrats in Congress will try to block every initiative and every action Trump will take. They don’t need Mueller to do this—they were planning to do it anyway, no matter what happens with Mueller or anything else. And even after their blatantly obstructionist tactics, they can be confident of support from their electorates (meaning, after the next election they’ll still have jobs). Obstruction is a “no lose” tactic for them; it can’t hurt, and it might, in some small way, just possibly succeed.
The Republicans in Congress will also try to block Trump at every turn. And they don’t need Mueller any more than the Democrats do. The major difference between the two parties in Congress is that the Republicans can’t be confident of electoral support. Enough of their voter base will detest them for acting like Democrats, and they’ll be in serious danger of being primaried by just about any person or animal which chooses to run. So they’ll be very … well, let’s just say “selective” about their obstruction.
If, as genuinely seems to be the case about the whole The Russians! The Russians! silliness, there’e no “there” there, then everything about l’affaire Mueller comes down to just more fake news. And fake news doesn’t have the power it did a short time ago.
Trump doesn’t need a way out of this quicksand because the quicksand pool is only ankle deep.
You can manage to drown yourself in a puddle…
Of course there is no danger of Mueller finding evidence of collusion with Russia. The danger here has to do with the open-ended nature of the investigation. There is literally no limit to the amount of money the Mueller team can charge the government, they can expand to hundreds, maybe thousands of lawyers before this is finished. And they’ll all be researching the most intimate details of Trump’s entire life, and anyone in Trump’s orbit, and beyond.
There is no time limit either, so the chance that Mueller will still be investigating Trump all the way through 2020, or even 2024 if Trump remains in office is quite high. All the while, every smidgeon of dirt uncovered (and perhaps imagined) will be leaked to the press. You thought the Deep State was bad, wait until this investigation gets wound up, we’ll be learning more about Trump and company’s private lives then you’ll know about yourself!
Whatever happens, this investigation *must* be limited at some point by Trump. It *has* to be or this cannot end well. The investigation needs a time limit, it needs a limited scope, and it needs its scale limited.
I agree with Kurt Schlichter’s advice:
https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2017/07/24/trump-needs-to-be-smart-about-how-he-fires-mueller-n2358768
I find it interesting that Schlichter’s “letter” is full of lies, based on what else he writes.
That isn’t OK.
What lies would those be?
President Trump is a man of action. The people who elected him want change now. Neither will be content with years of paralysis.
Ultimately Sessions and/or Rosenstein will be ousted along with Mueller.
I believe but not positive President Trump can appoint an acting AG or DAG who can serve for 120 days. That is enough time to fire Mueller and his minions.
Odds are President Trump will act and likely before September.
Compare, to this corrupt loser:
Boehner predicts Republicans will ‘never’ repeal and replace Obamacare:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/boehner-predicts-republicans-will-never-repeal-and-replace-obamacare/2017/07/24/e4190718-70d9-11e7-8f39-eeb7d3a2d304_story.html
Also. My vote for Sessions and/or Rosenstein replacements are Tom Fitton from Judicial watch or Jay Sekulow.
Fitton does not have a JD.
If Trump is willing to fire Sessions, who supports the Trump agenda as much as anybody, it sends a signal he will fire anybody.
Who would want to be Trump’s AG?
Even if he finds someone to replace Sessions, it may be hard to get 51 confirmation votes. In other words, firing Sessions may be the best thing to happen for the Democrats and Never Trumpers. They’ll be able to lock up his Justice Department by effectively making Rosenstein the “permanent” Acting AG.
http://hotair.com/archives/2017/07/25/trump-knifes-sessions-endorsed-big-crowds-home-state-not-hes-loyal/
Donald Ducks is an asshole. A cowardly, ungrateful asshole.
Anybody who would accept an appointment from Der Donald as AG will have to be a complete toady. Approval by the Senate would be a doubtful proposition.
There’s word out that you’ve accepted an appointment as AG from Trump.
Congratulations.
You win the award for the stupidest comment I have ever read on this site. That is truly an accomplishment.
Anyone know what Mueller is actually investigating?
Mueller’s quest is akin to that of secret agent Phil Moskowitz in Woody Allen’s comedy, “What’s Up Tiger Lilly?”. (Moskowitz was hired by the Grand Exalted High Majah of Raspur (“a nonexistent but real-sounding country”) to find a secret egg salad recipe that was stolen from him. In other words, Moskowitz had a more serious mission.)
Hilarious:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f5SiQhV9qo
We still don’t know. We know what the press thinks about what Mueller’s up to, but as everyone on the planet knows by now, the press is (1) probably dead wrong, and (2) certainly going to lie about it.
Trump is tweeting more attacks on Sessions than on Mueller. That makes me suspect that Trump and Mueller (and maybe Rosenstein) are working on something which they don’t want the Dems to know about yet; and that maybe Sessions isn’t on-board with the plot, so has to be pressured or dumped.
Maybe.
I’m sure he’ll let as know as soon as he finds it.
Apparently, he is unlike the Trumpeteers. His staff can keep a secret. But it is my guess that he has found a lot of loose threads and he is pulling on them.
“If I had advice to Trump, it would be, start getting things done…, start getting some successes.”
Trump has gotten a lot done without legislation. Legislation is not supposed to be his job primarily is it, Prof. Jacobson, according to the separation of powers? So you “recommend” that he succeed in an area he doesn’t control? Are you trying to get him to overreach, so there really is something to impeach for?
Trump should just dump Mueller, announce that it’s a witch-hunt with no evidence, and dare Congress to impeach and convict. With the 2nd Amendment well in place, I don’t think they would.
It’s come to this. Maybe it can be done more smoothly but those are the rough outlines. The cancer that is Mueller’s investigation must be excised.
“we can never have a political dispute turn into a criminal dispute, in any way that would suggest anything other than absolute objectivity,” Sessions said in January. “This country does not punish its political enemies, but this country ensures no one is above the law.”
Too bad Jeff Sessions didn’t make sure the above high minded principles applied to President Trump.
By recusing on the Russia probe Sessions guaranteed that President Trump would be subjected to a political dispute turned into a criminal witch hunt.
This disservice by Sessions in turning over the DOJ to anti Trump lawyers outweighs all his other good qualities.
His poor judgment was further confirmed by failing to have Trump appoint a true Trump loyalist as #2 AG instead of pushing for Rosenstein.
Sessions is otherwise a great person but he may not be the right person for this job at this time. One thing is for sure either Sessions or Rosenstein have to go soon.
One of them needs to be replaced by Tom Fitton from judicial watch or Jay Sekulow.
“His poor judgment was further confirmed by failing to have Trump appoint a true Trump loyalist as #2 AG instead of pushing for Rosenstein.”
OH! Of course! He shoulda stuck his hand up T-rump’s back and had him be Howdy Dooody.
T-rump isn’t responsible for his own appointments and retentions.
No, no. IT’S always going to be someone else who’s to blame.
Some “boss”.
The buck never stops with Trump – not in business & not in politics. He and/or his acolytes will always find someone else to blame.
DAG Rosenstein needs to hit the bricks immediately as he has proved to be incompetent at a minimum. The President can do this. The President and AG can then agree on a new DAG who can then reel in Mueller or discharge him, Mueller’s choice.
The commie-left and #NeverTrump will howl loudly but the country pretty much has those 2 groups on ignore.
At this point the attention will turn to congress and the new investigations.
So… would firing Rosenstein create an opportunity for Sessions to “unrecuse” himself, with the claim that the importance of this Mueller “investigation” is such that no other current staffer is capable of handling this and it would create a situation that awaiting the confirmation of a new Deputy AG would, in the interim, have Mueller essentially a direct report(?) of Trump.
I don’t think that would make it possible for Sessions to un-recuse, if he can’t do that already. (I don’t know whether he can or not.)
But Sessions could appoint someone more reliable to oversee the investigation Rosenstein started, a fresh pair of eyes to come in and oversee Mueller whom Rosenstein very suspiciously picked. And if that pair of eyes happens to be linked to Trump, that’s OK because so many of Mueller’s hires have been linked to Clinton. An adversarial boss to make sure there’s no bias against the President.
If Sessions does all this, Congress could impeach him, but now they’ve told Trump he’d better not fire him so they’re sort of stuck with him. But I don’t see that they would have momentum to impeach Trump.
Is there a basis for the AG to “unrecuse” (if that’s a word)?
Is it possible for the AG to mount a review of all pending investigations by DOJ to ensure normal order (i.e. crime must be established, findings, interim or final, must be internally documented, etc)?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Chamber
Rosenstien should ask for a report, thank Mueller, give him a medal and send him home.
There is no way to please the left, so don’t even try. Just give the reasons Mueller is hopelessly compromised and then fire him.
Why not two special counsels? Another independent counsel to go after hillary and other democrats with no effective limits staffed by republican lawyers.
One really, really good reason is that T-rump won’t have it.
The federal regulations are trump’s friend.
The Russian investigation isn’t a criminal investigation.
A special prosecutor is only for investigating crimes and as there is no evidence of a crime there can’t be a special prosecutor.
Recusal is only for criminal investigation so Sessions doesn’t need to recuse himself. He can unrecuse himself.
Trump should just show his tax returns. When it turns out that is a honest fellow, the public will want the dogs called off.
Get Hillary. Get Bill. Do you think democrats will care? It won’t help Trump one bit.
There is an easy way out. Trump promotes a friendly lawyer in Justice and assigns the investigation to his supervision requiring weekly reports and exercising control on wandering. He terminates the investigation when the russian thing is exhausted.