Earlier this week it was revealed that Robert Mueller is working with New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, which opens up the possibility that the investigation will eventually result in state as well as federal criminal charges. Presidents can’t pardon state offenses. There also are reports that Mueller is working with the IRS Financial Crimes Unit, which usually works on tax evasion and money laundering cases. Heh.
Today we’re learning that Mueller has in his possession a letter composed by soulless creep Stephen Miller and Trump himself to justify James Comey’s firing. Andrew Prokop writes at Vox,
When President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey back in May, his administration at first offered a laughably implausible pretext. The claim was that Comey’s ouster had nothing to do with the Russia investigation, and that Trump was merely accepting the Justice Department’s recommendation to fire Comey because he had been too tough on Hillary Clinton in the email investigation.
But that wasn’t the initial story. The New York Times’ Michael Schmidt and Maggie Haberman report that Trump and White House aide Stephen Miller first drafted a different letter recommending Comey’s firing — a letter that White House counsel Don McGahn blocked because he found it to be “problematic.”
It’s not yet known what, exactly, the letter said or why the White House counsel found it to be so troublesome. But the Washington Post’s Rosalind Helderman, Carol Leonnig, and Ashley Parker report that it is several pages long and mentions “Trump’s frustration that Comey was unwilling to say publicly that Trump was not personally under investigation in the FBI’s inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.”
Obstruction of justice, anyone? See also Bob Mueller has an unreleased Trump letter about firing James B. Comey. Here’s why that’s big.
Josh Marshall writes about the time at which this letter probably was written.
What happened that Sunday night on Air Force One? What am I talking about? Let’s look at the timeline. We know from abundant reporting that in early May (May 6th-7th) President Trump spent the weekend at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey. He apparently stewed over that weekend about Comey and came back to Washington Sunday night determined to fire him. He proceeded to do just that. He called in Rosenstein and Sessions the next day (Monday), got Rosenstein’s recommendation memo and promptly fired Comey on Tuesday (May 9th).
This we all know. But that Sunday evening return flight from New Jersey was also the night something kind of odd happened. Air Force 1 left Morristown at 8:02 PM and landed at Andrews at 8:40. But unlike what normally happens, the President didn’t get off the plane. Just before 9 PM Jared and Ivanka got off the plane with their kids. Jared put Ivanka and the kids into a silver minivan and got back on the plane. He got off the plane again at 9:07 and then got back on the plane a couple minutes later. The press pooler for that night filed an update at 9:18 PM updating colleagues and noting that there’d been no explanation what the hang up was or why the President was still on the plane.
Stephen Miller also was one of the people on the plane.
How worried is Trump? Hard to say from a distance of course, but there are stories yesterday that Trump out-of-the-blue called Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley and pledged his support for ethanol. Grassley is a senator from Iowa, so he likes ethanol subsidies. But note that Donald Trump, Jr., had just agreed to be interviewed by … the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Trump and Miller working in tandem to compose a letter? WOW, that must be a doozie. It’s like two idiots try to compose prize winning ransom note. Dumb and dumber.
So I was taught in rookie bureaucracy 101 CYA. Loosely translated that means cover your butt. Advancing a bit I learned intermediate bureaucracy 502 CYOA.
This loosely translates into cover your own butt. Comey was much more advanced than I ever got and I have no direct knowledge of the advanced courses. I can only extrapolate to what degree of skill and expertise that might entail. Looking at what information I have, and what has transpired since his firing, my personal estimation is that Comey could write the book on surviving bureaucracy. With a chapter on post survival.
I think firing Comey will haunt Trump in every history book ever to be written. If homo sapiens survive his rule.Â
How worried is Trump?
I think Trump is becoming aware that he’s in over his head and he can’t come up with a viable escape route..I think he assumed that once he became president he could control all situations and effectively bury any skeletons.
Trump is still battling via tweets on social media trying to control the dialog of public opinion that he thinks is going to save his ass. He defending himself with idle threats that will only result in greater exposure of all of his little schemes. He’s desperate because he didn’t have a grand plan other than thinking as president he would have all power, and consequently he’s had to resort to a hasty patchwork of trying to knock down inquiries of illegality or wrongdoing as they surfaced while not understanding that he still is constrained by the law.
I also think that the initial investigation has metastasized to the point where he won’t be able to hold on to the presidency. Trump is a pathological liar, and that fact will prove to be his Achilles heel.
When Donny Jr. testifies before the Judiciary committee , whether under oath or not, he’ll still be held accountable for telling the truth. And when they ask if his father had knowledge of the meeting in Trump Tower prior to the time he claimed to have knowledge of it,it’s going to make one them stand out as a lair. And given the fact that Kushner, Bannon, and Manafort all had access to the president and an awareness of timing of his knowledge of the meeting. There are too many people involved who all have to protect their own interests to avoid a perjury charge.
I think Donny Jr. has the same gene as his father where he thinks he can bullshit his way through any situation. If he were smart he’d just dummy up and plead the fifth. But if he’s stupid enough to testify without being subpoenaed it kinda shows he thinks he can get over. He’s not going to be dealing with softballs like Hannity with the barbershop quartet haircut was gently pitching at him.
In my extreme dislike of conservatives (I ‘hate’ using the word “hate,” but… You get my drift, I think) and what they believe, say, do, and how they act and treat others, I am becoming like them in the following respect:
When it comes to the current lot of deplorable conservatives – and in particular, t-RUKMPLE-THIN-sKKKin and his stupid, ignorant, bigoted, and evil brood of sociopaths, and their hangers-on, cohorts, partners, and enablers – I revel in there agony.
The greater their agony, the greater my joy!
There, I said it!
And best of all?
It looks like a fall and winter full of joy!!!
This is not something that I like in myself, nor am I proud of it, but I just can’t help it…
Speaking of obstruction of justice…this:
“Trump out-of-the-blue called Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley and pledged his support for ethanol.”
Alex Jones at InfoWars is predicting (inciting) a civil war if liberals oust Trump. I don’t consider Alex Jones a credible source. If he said it was raining, I’d go outside to check. However, the rant is VERY significant because even the lunatic fringe thinks Trump is vulnerable. The diatribe was intended to frighten the snowflakes into not pushing impeachment – like we’re scared of Infowars. But the universal perception liberals all the way to rabid conservatives is that Trump COULD be removed.
Impeachment is a political proceeding, not a legal one. Unlike the vast majority of presidents, Trump has given a menu of impeachable offenses that we know about. Mueller is searching for proof of what I only suspect. The question is not if Trump can be impeached but will the republicans in Congress decide they have to cut the risk of the GOP being permanently damaged by Trump. It’s NOT a question of law or ethics – only expediency.
The flowchart of possible outcomes is interesting. If Congress will NOT impeach and the Oval office is painted blue in 2020, then whatever criminal offenses the republicans ignore will still be available when Trump is a civilian. (Trump may have more incentive to win reelection than any American president in history. It may be his only escape from jail.)
Another outcome is a permanent split of the GOP into rabid bigots in the Trump camp and establishment politicians affiliated with the existing power structure. This could occur whether the GOP impeaches or not.
What I consider most likely and most repugnant is that Mueller will find piles of hard evidence, but the GOP won’t impeach or prosecute and in order to avoid the accusation of abusing the power of the DOJ in a vendetta against Trump, democrats in power give Trump a pass for clear and evident crimes.
I love Lady Karma.
Hubris is her favorite target.