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

Nice tactic for everyday Joe.

Not appropriate for the POTUS.

 

Perhaps this is the real reason why commodore and other trump supporters don't want trump to be interviewed?

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-has-faced-the-fbi-beforebut-now-its-a-crime-if-he-lies

 

Why is it so hard not to lie?

 

Because he wants to be the greatest liar of all time, since he is greatest at everything.

 

Way back in the day, our preacher had a little children's sermon where he would call up all the kids and talk to us in front of the church. I'll never forget the day he talked about habits. He had a little chain made of paper cuffs, and he had a big chain made of metal.

He said when you start doing something every day it's like the paper chain. And he let us all take a piece and break it. But he said if you keep doing something every day, it becomes like the metal chain, and you'll never be able to stop.

It was really really a "boom" effective moment for me. But mostly, all of us kept picking our noses.

 

IIRC Trump has to lie with the intent of covering up illegal acts from him and his campaign.

Hillary lied to the FBI about her emails, but lacked the intent to cover up her wrong doings.

 

RE: Russian Election Interference

That didn't happen.
And if it did, it wasn't that bad.
And if it was, that's not a big deal.
And if it is, that's not my fault. <== WE ARE HERE
And if it was, I didn't mean it.
And if I did... you deserved it.

 

I expect to go my entire life without ever being asked to talk to the FBI. Maybe this is good advice for the sort of person the FBI wants to talk to.

I certainly agree that it is in Trump's best interest to not talk to the FBI. His story has already been compromised in numerous ways. And, he has a self-confidence that is not matched by his abilities. He'll go in thinking he can bluff the FBI, but he can't. He will also have no scruples about being under oath as he thinks the truth is pretty relative and mutable, so he'll probably perjure himself every 5 minutes. If I was his lawyer, no way would I let him talk to the FBI. I also wouldn't let him tweet, but that's a lost cause.

 

I should add though: I would not be happy if the conclusion of all this inquiry is an accusation that Trump lied to the FBI. That isn't grievous enough to take down a president. I don't want to see simple obstruction either. If you can't show the underlying high crime -- conspiracy, money laundering, whatever -- don't come at a president. If we allow a presidency to be disrupted by charges of obstruction and lying to the FBI, then criminal prosecutions will become a recurring political weapon.

 

Dipshit often does the opposite of what his closest advisers push him on, so I'm hoping they are really pushing him not to testify.

I hope they are telling him that there is no way he can outsmart Mueller.

 

Trump's impromptu press event yesterday was interesting in the fact that he very purposefully laid the groundwork for a strategy for Trump, his lawyers, and his surrogates to protect Trump for the likely incoming charges from Mueller on obstruction of justice that will likely be referred to the Judiciary Committee in the House.

His line that will certainly be repeated was "There's nothing wrong with FIGHTING BACK"... "now they want to call that Obstruction".

Its an obvious attempt to confuse Trump's normal combative style of dealing with just about everything with the law and the breaking of it. It seems like the way the Special Counsel is working that they could very well present the Obstruction Charge referral to the House very soon. If this happens before the (hopeful) changing of the guard in the House, this then becomes a political position where the House has to make a decision to impeach and remove, or to not based on how Trump is politically standing in the polls.

At the very least, it seems like they are anticipating Obstruction referral to the House for Impeachment.

My opinion is the only way Trump gets impeached is if Mueller combines Obstruction with financial crimes involving Russia (laundering obviously) and the cherry on the top would be lying to the FBI or purgery. If Mueller is JUST sending a referral first to the House for Impeachment based on Obstruction Charges, I think Paul Ryan and Co. refuse to even open impeachment hearings. An excuse you'd probably hear is conclusion of the House & Senate Investigations where they can manipulate their findings against the Special Counsel to protect the president.

Only way Trump gets impeached by Paul Ryan is if Mueller has solid financial crime evidence, along with Obstruction, and he tops it off with Purgery in his upcoming interview with Mueller.

 

Lying under oath was the linchpin of the Clinton impeachment so there'll be that incredible GOP hypocrisy when they dismiss Trump's inevitable lies to the FBI. Except in this case, it'll be lying about things much more serious and much more crucial to a functioning democracy than a blow job.

 

Vegas has set the over/under on Trump lies to the FBI at twelve.

 

Curious as to whether the case against Richard Nixon or Bill Clinton would withstand your test?

Nixon had three articles on impeachment (the last of the three we can ignore, as it basically said he failed to uphold his office by doing the first two). The first article had multiple parts but essentially the obstruction of justice charge. The second article was a list of crimes committed against people like misuse of IRS to get tax records, misuse of FBI and secret service for surveillance, etc.

Clinton had two articles of impeachment (others were tried but failed), the first was essentially perjury, the second was obstruction of justice.

So obstruction of justice was the common charge in both. My guess is Mueller will have at least one more... either money laundering, emoluments, or the always popular collusion charge. Plus the very possible perjury if trump testifies under oath.

So would obstruction plus one of the other four meet your "high crimes" bar?

 

Probably they wouldn't, but I wasn't really trying to set a universal threshold for high crimes. I was thinking that in this set of circumstances, canning Comey or lying to Mueller to impede the investigation would not be very satisfying. Nixon had it coming. And I think things worked out alright with Clinton. It probably did not have the gravity to warrant getting thrown out of office, but he did perjure himself not simply in Ken Starr's investigation but to get a favorable verdict in a suit over his sexual harassment. He needed some consequences.

Now, firing Comey to stop the investigation is pretty bad. Probably worth an impeachment because he abused the power of his office to subvert justice. The idea that "fighting back" isn't obstruction is ridiculous (he didn't really have a lawyer advise him on this strategy, did he?). But, that's the smoke that indicates the fire. Mueller has failed pretty hard if he can't find the fire. So, I expect the obstruction will be coupled with other charges, and I think money laundering is the likeliest. That makes for a serious charge that Congress cannot ignore. I don't expect emoluments to come up (which is a shame for our republic, imo, and a bad precedent). It's a Constitutional charge that really only Congress can make, and the sniveling Republican House members show no willingness at all to make the president abide the Constitution.

 

The over appears to be a safe bet.

 

...Don't see how any financial crime that may be charged could be applied, but I'm not a lawyer. Heck, I don't even play one on the internet.

Impeachment is, again, simply an assessment of charges.

And of course, you don't have obstruction (lying) if there's nothing to lie about.

The elephant in the room is the idea of finances disproportionately manipulating federally elected officials (or particularly, election campaigns generally), which is legal now.

I never vested a lot into any outcome of this investigation except exposing the danger such a law as Citizens United poses to the nation, for many different reasons. We've got laws on the books running parallel and counter to each other in this regard.

The "fire" you mention is there, and everybody knows it. The question is what to do about it...because in all honesty, for everything else Donald Trump is and is not, he's not the cause of this mess.

Just the result of it.

 

trump continues to change his story... can't keep his lies straight.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trumps-clinton-tweets-could-muddy-comey-firing-explanation

 

I can't imagine the fact that they can't keep the story straight would be helpful in their attempted defense against Obstruction charges.

 

Starr: Grounds for impeachment if Trump lied about trying to fire Mueller

http://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-...mpeachment-if-trump-lied-about-trying-to-fire