Robert Mueller, Former F.B.I. Director, Is Named Special Counsel for Russia Investigation

This is the standout statement:

While Mueller has prosecuted two Trump associates for lying to the FBI, the Obama Justice Department gave a pass to Mrs. Clinton and her subordinates, who gave the FBI misinformation about such key matters as whether Clinton understood markings in classified documents and whether her aides knew about her homebrew server system during their State Department service.

The Mueller team didn't prosecute two Trump associates for lying.

They found and discovered numerous crimes and pled them to lying, the lowest of the charges, to flip them. If Mr. Flynn would have accepted a plea to kidnapping and conspiracy to defraud elections, it would have been done.

You Conservatives still seem to be struggling with the nuances of all of this.

 

Alt Facts people are going to MAGA.

 

Looks like Guilty-in-Chief is floating out pardon talk...

 

lord have mercy

 

Does Flynn have access to the internet and television currently? I'm sure his lawyers relay the message.

I wonder if he is throwing these possiblities for Flynn to hear so he doesn't speak?

 

Trump's thinking-

If you know for a fact you are going to get an obstruction of justice and abuse of power referral from the Special Counsel regardless, and your head of the Judiciary committee is Chuck Grassley, and the House speaker is Paul Ryan, why not just fully obstruct with pardoning key witnesses to keep them quiet on the bigger issues that will hurt him more politically. If he's still politically popular with his base afterwards, Ryan and Grassley will do NOTHING with just obstruction charges.

Lets face it... the BigTexx's and RL's could care less if he obstructs justice, and Trump knows that. They will say that the investigation was a Witch Hunt so obstructing to close out a Witch Hunt is the right thing to do.

I've said this for awhile and I'll say it again... Trump is about to create a constitutional crisis very very soon to shut this down, and he's going to have support with his loyal fanclub.

 

The one thing I will say about this-

Mueller's team is smarter than to be caught off guard by this. No way in hell they give him a plea deal without already obtaining information of HIGH value from Flynn. Whatever they were going to get from Flynn they most likely already got.

Also - don't forget state charges. Trump cannot pardon those.

That being said, my above quote still stands. I do think either way, he's going to start making moves to shut down Mueller. I definitely think he is going to challenge Grassley & Ryan to really pull the trigger on removing him "just" for Obstruction and Abuse of power. He has to know that he's already going down in that department when it comes to Mueller.

 

I do not care if he is removed from office at all, all I want is the underlings and a 2018 and 2020 defeat for the Trump base. IMO it is better if he stays in office for four years so he can be used as a history lesson.

 

I agree. My focus is 2018 House at the very least, and limiting the damage done this year. I believe the only reason Trump acts the way he does is because of the lack of oversight. Its like letting my 3 year old pick what we will be eating as a family for an entire month with Paul Ryan and co. acting as "oversight" of the executive branch.

Removing Trump from office might have to be done, but it will just make him a martyr to the Trump fanbase that proves there is a "deep state" etc. if he's removed for something like Obstruction. Hell they might even cry foul if he's removed on conspiracy charges reg Russian collusion, but regardless the less his removal makes him look like a martyr, the better for the country in general since we are at such a hyper-partisan boiling point.

That being said, the law is the law, and if he broke it, he is faces the same consequences of any other president.

 

Adam Schiff has gone on a twitter storm about the House preparing to shut down their investigation.

 

If they do shut it down, I just hope voters make GOP pay for it.

 

The House investigation was always doomed to begin with though with the leadership in the House. It was always going to be up to Comey's investigation and now Muellers investigation to prove any crimes that were committed and its up to the Intelligence departments to counter what the Russians are going to be doing going forward with our elections. The goal of Schiff all along was just to find a way to extend long enough to follow up on Muellers investigation to make sure they go a step further in not just finding crimes, but communicating to the American people what happened, and what is being done moving forward.

The best we can hope for is for members of the House & Senate committees to work with Mueller to all push for a Special Committee to take all the findings of the House, Senate, and Counsel to create a legit report much like the 911 Commission. However even then, you still can have political interference (see Warren Report), and public distrust.

That wont happen without Democrats leading the House, and Muellers case will likely have a tipping point well before December of 18. So we are pretty much stuck with whatever happens with Mueller over the next few months. The best the House and Senate can do is hold off long enough to follow up on his investigation.

 

Just hope Mueller have enough on the underlings already so when they do shut it down, he can publish the reports. We will have to drain the swamp in 2018 for sure.

 

This is more appropriate.

 

...and those "voters" would hopefully be all of those folks who decided (for whatever reason) to just sit this last (or any other) election out.

I understand from science (that thing a lot of people have some trouble with) that nature abhors a vacuum. If the foundational idea of our American society is individual responsibility for collective governance, and that state of mind and being is indeed man's natural, inalienable right...

...as we've all seen over the last calendar year, just about anything is liable to rush in and fill that vacuum of irresponsibility and indifference and vapidity if we're not vigilant and careful.

We can (and should) be rightly disgusted with this entire mess around our national election...and to be perfectly honest, it's all a bit like calling on the fire department after the house has burned down (money is not "speech" and corporations are not "people")...

...but actions, and just so, inaction, do bring about consequences. And the less action you take, the more susceptible you are to the consequences of that inaction.

Moms used to say to me:

"...boy, it's one thing to be mad about the dog's out the yard an' down the street carryin' on all manner of noise...but the dog's just doing what somebody let it do. What you really wanna know is who in the hell left the gate open?..."

 

I'd agree with this but Trump would leave the government in smoldering disaster with his appointments of scheming morons and his dismantling of government agencies on a regular basis.

 

Do you think Pence would do much better?