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Mueller Knows the Game — Raise the Stakes
It seems that as soon as there were rumors Trump was thinking of dumping Mueller, Mueller came up with the strategy laid out by Comey: Once you get a special prosecutor launched, that perch can be used to control the whole process. But, the collusion with Russia business didn’t seem to be taking off, did it? Mueller needed to act fast if he wanted to keep his position.
So, now Mueller decides — out of the blue — that he should look into obstruction of justice just like Comey was hinting at. This all seems planned with Rod Rosenstein, doesn’t it? Perhpas it’s ad hoc, but either way the important thing was to get the special prosecutor established firmly and on the hunt. And by hunting the president’s scalp directly, it would be much more difficult for Trump to fire him. Pretty clever, isn’t it? This all seems too contrived — it doesn’t even pass the Hollywood thriller smell test. It’s too far-fetched.
Mr. President: you and your hapless AG need to fire a bunch of the top people over there at Justice, starting with Rosenstein. The people still there are the ones who didn’t quit under Obama, remember. They are the true believers in ruining your presidency. Do it now — it will only get worse.
Update:
I heard Louie Gohmert on Hugh Hewitt’s show this morning — he agrees with me that this was done to make it harder for Trump to fire Mueller. Also, he said that Mueller did more damage to the FBI than Comey and that Mueller is very vindictive in his dealings with his political enemies.
Published in Politics
You can’t make this stuff up; no one would believe it. Truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense. In the meantime…
Michael Henry has made a good suggestion on how to get around Trump firing Mueller as has Andrew McCarthy at NRO. Staring down the wolf doesn’t amount to much if it means flailing around and allowing yourself to get baited. Draining the swamp doesn’t work if you act stupidly and get yourself drowned at the start of the project. We just went through this with Trump’s firing of Comey which gave us Mueller. Because he can’t think ahead he just keeps getting himself more entangled.
Who knows what is actually happening. Maybe he is being investigate maybe not. Just because he is investigated doesn’t mean anything will come of the investigation. But, as far as my comment about guilt, I think there is a possibility that Trump is guilty of something, even if it isn’t the thing that Democrats want. Do you think all of Trump’s business dealings are above reproach? Worse still he could become guilty of something concrete simply by lying in a deposition if it should come to that. That is how Clinton got to impeachment if I recall. Was Clinton not guilty of perjury? This is the trap for Republicans what if Trump lies but less skillfully than Clinton did under oath? Do you trust Trump not to botch a deposition up? Then what do you do?
None of this has happened yet, but until you know how anything is going to break why make a move? Especially if you have no guarantee that you move will get any support from the White House.
So guilty until proven innocent?
I’ll answer your question with a question, counselor:
After decades in the real estate business, do you think Trump has no experience with depositions?
Other than a real conspiracy that Trump couldn’t have known about there was no reason to think a special counsel would be appointed by a rat in his administration. Trump did the right thing then (even though kinda late) and now he must follow this through. Please don’t take the media’s wording on what happened and stop with the flailing stuff — that’s all the work of the leftists.
Remember, the information that Mueller is investigating Trump for obstruction of justice was leaked to the Washington Post by anonymous sources (likely Mueller himself, just as Comey leaked his memos). So the effort to make it more difficult for Trump to fire him results from an illegal act itself (the leaking). And, obviously, Mueller’s office is just as leak prone, if not more so, than was Comey’s FBI, with Comey the main leaker. All of this got started, of course, with a fake dossier drummed up under Democratic opposition activities, then used by Brennan to get a FISA court warrant, apparently under false pretenses, to investigate the Trump campaign, conveniently abetted by Obama’s orders to allow wide circulation of intelligence information, and exploited by Susan Rice and perhaps others to “unmask” private individuals, etc. ,etc. etc. So this looks like nothing less than an attempt at a coup by the intelligence agencies and Democrats. Nothing looks legitimate about the whole cirumstance. Yes, Sessions should take control of the Justice Department, Rosenstein should be immediately fired, and the Justice Department, which was thoroughly politicized by Obama should be gutted and re-staffed from the ground up.
I agree RA, but the resulting chaos and hue and cry from the media with constant references to Nixon’s firing of Archibald Cox can only exacerbate the problem. Loud and unreserved support for the administration from the Republicans in the Senate and House is sorely missing at this point. We’re in a horrible situation.
How do I love thee. Let me count the ways.
Myself, I want Trump to only do the firing of individuals or slates of individuals on Saturday nights.
We are in complete agreement. And thanks for laying out the case pretty clearly.
Of what is Trump guilty?
Sessions should most definitely “unrecuse” himself. Why can’t a special counsel be appointed to investigate the leaks?
Excellent question Z.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/2016-election/trump-lies/?utm_term=.a516aff9fcda
Seems so…
Of what was Bill Clinton guilty?
I’ll ask again: guilty of what? Of trying to publicize the fact tbat he’s not guilty; that’s all we’ve heard so far.
If the leaks continue the investigation will seem out of control and Mueller will be perceived as being unfit to hold the position of Special Council. He will need to be replaced. IMHO.
Ok, I’ve made my case. Let’s see what Trump decides to do.
I will un-follow this now.
And how stupid do the GOP have to be get this guy as Special Council when they control the congress and the White House?
Hasn’t Mueller only hired four people so far? If there were five sources, that would be him and his entire staff.
You guys don’t get it. Trump has nothing to lose. No matter what he does, you and the Democrats will always find a way to see it as the wrong thing. So he might as well do something that will stop this madness, and he should address the American people and tell them why.
Sen. Feinstein thinks Trump’s “staunchest supporters will balk” if he fires Meuller. She’s wrong. Trump needs to drain the swamp, now more than ever.
11. President Clinton abused his constitutional authority by (i) lying to the public and the Congress in January 1998 about his relationship with Ms. Lewinsky; (ii) promising at that time to cooperate fully with the grand jury investigation; (iii) later refusing six invitations to testify voluntarily to the grand jury; (iv) invoking Executive Privilege; (v) lying to the grand jury in August 1998; and (vi) lying again to the public and Congress on August 17, 1998 — all as part of an effort to hinder, impede, and deflect possible inquiry by the Congress of the United States.
Everyone knows Clinton was impeached for getting a hummer, not for lying. Ask any Democrat. Frankly, I would *Love* to see the Democrats draw up articles of impeachment of Trump for Lying under oath. It would be the funniest thing in the history of the world.
In fact, he should find someone named “Archibald” and appoint them to the investigative team, just so he can fire them.
In the court of public opinion that is the way it works, and that is the court that really matters in terms of politics.
Well the irony will only be compounded when Republicans engage in the same shameless defense tactics of their president. Of course I would like to point out that Clinton got impeached after his reelection and during a time of economic growth and seeming global stability. None of which where his doing really but in which he basked nevertheless. Trump does not have such a margin of error.
But it won’t stop the madness. No more than throwing gasoline on a fire will quench it. The way to stop the madness would have been to to let it all burnout on its own. It isn’t clear the FBI had anything on him prior to the firing of Comey and opening up this obstruction of justice allegation. Now they have a reason and political cover to look at everyone around Trump. The coals were cooling down and Trump decided to throw another long on and give it more oxygen. Now his most loyal supporters are urging him to make the inferno bigger because they like to see the fire burn. This is the problem with the burn all of Washington Down desire that Trump’s hardcore base has. They are now in Washington, Trump is President, Republicans control Congress. You can only burn it all down if you are willing to go up in the flames with it. Trump needs less drama not more.
Despite my high negative opinion of the man I stand I don’t always see everything he does as negative. It is just that in the case of his reaction to Russiagate and Comeygate I think Trump has acted stupidly.