Congressial Investigations on Trump - Post Mueller

[RedDenver]

2 minutes ago, Moiraine said:

 

 

Agree, but I’m more concerned about surviving Trump right now. 

If the Executive Branch is unchecked, then we won't survive Trump. The coup will be over before there's an election.

[Moiraine]

32 minutes ago, RedDenver said:

If the Executive Branch is unchecked, then we won't survive Trump. The coup will be over before there's an election.

 

 

I think Trump can (hopefully) be ousted by the election even if they refuse to give up the information they’re being asked for now. But it’s hard to say because I don’t know how low the GOP is willing to go. Every time I think they can’t sink lower they sink lower. 

[RedDenver]

6 minutes ago, Moiraine said:

I think Trump can (hopefully) be ousted by the election even if they refuse to give up the information they’re being asked for now. But it’s hard to say because I don’t know how low the GOP is willing to go. Every time I think they can’t sink lower they sink lower. 

Trump and his allies are already starting to talk about how he should get an additional two years as President because of "reparations" for being investigated.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/05/06/claiming-two-years-his-presidency-were-stolen-trump-suggests-hes-owed-overtime/

 

If the Dems (and Repubs for that matter) can't do their duty to uphold the Constitution, then America is done. This is the time when it matters, not some theoretical election over a year away. And if you think the GOP/Trump is going to attempt a coup after the election, then it is definitely the time to act now to establish the rights, responsibilities, and authority of Congress.

[Moiraine]

8 minutes ago, RedDenver said:

Trump and his allies are already starting to talk about how he should get an additional two years as President because of "reparations" for being investigated.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/05/06/claiming-two-years-his-presidency-were-stolen-trump-suggests-hes-owed-overtime/

 

If the Dems (and Repubs for that matter) can't do their duty to uphold the Constitution, then America is done. This is the time when it matters, not some theoretical election over a year away. And if you think the GOP/Trump is going to attempt a coup after the election, then it is definitely the time to act now to establish the rights, responsibilities, and authority of Congress.

 

 

It’s more up to the Republicans. It would be easy to hold him accountable if 20% of them would do what’s best for the country. The Democrats don’t have the numbers to do a lot. 

[Danny Bateman]

Yesterday several said the Dems would not ultimately hold Barr in contempt. They did and now the entire House will as well.

 

It seems to me they are getting creative with their Congressional powers because they know what a corrupt, amoral bunch of scumbags they're dealing with. Talk of withholding salaries, imprisoning Barr if he does not comply with the subpoena, etc. are good because they are all unique avenues Congress can use to assert its constitutional authority. Much like Mueller did and is done when dealing with the mob, starting at the bottom and working your way up may be best.

 

But @NM11046 is right - they're doing things methodically (slower than we'd like) intentionally because that's how you win when this inevitably goes to court. While no one would enjoy seeing them bring the hammer down on Barr immediately more than me, they must demonstrate that they reasonably, responsibly used their power only when Barr, who is a corrupt weasel, would not obey the law.

[RedDenver]

7 minutes ago, Danny Bateman said:

Yesterday several said the Dems would not ultimately hold Barr in contempt. They did and now the entire House will as well.

I'll believe it when I see it.

[Danny Bateman]

25 minutes ago, RedDenver said:

I'll believe it when I see it. 

 

That's fair, but what faction of the Democratic House majority are you expecting to back down now, exactly? That would be them publicly neutering themselves.

[RedDenver]

1 hour ago, Danny Bateman said:

 

That's fair, but what faction of the Democratic House majority are you expecting to back down now, exactly? That would be them publicly neutering themselves.

It's what I've come to expect out of the Dems, but I'll be pleasantly surprised if they can muster the "courage" to actually do something.

[TGHusker]

21 hours ago, Moiraine said:

 

 

I think Trump can (hopefully) be ousted by the election even if they refuse to give up the information they’re being asked for now. But it’s hard to say because I don’t know how low the GOP is willing to go. Every time I think they can’t sink lower they sink lower. 

Here is a reason why Trump may resist being removed from office by a close vote - indictment as soon as he permanently steps out of the oval office.

 

 

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/may/9/james-comey-donald-trump-indictment-possible-after/

Quote

 

Former FBI Director James B. Comey said Thursday that he thinks President Trump likely has committed crimes that could be cause for indictment once he leaves office and, were he not president, likely would already have been indicted.

In a CNN town-hall-style meeting, Mr. Comey was asked by host Anderson Cooper whether Mr. Trump acted with corrupt intent to interfere with an ongoing investigation.

“It sure looks that way,” Mr. Comey replied, saying he based that judgment on his reading of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report and leaning most heavily on Mr. Trump’s order to White House Counsel Don McGahn to fire Mr. Mueller.

 

When Mr. Cooper asked the former FBI chief whether he agreed with an open letter from numerous federal prosecutors that Mr. Trump would already have been indicted on obstruction of justice charges if he were not the president, Mr. Comey was emphatic.

“Yes. agree. No doubt,” he told Mr. Cooper.

 

 

[TGHusker]

Quote

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday said she agreed with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler's (D-N.Y.) assertion that the U.S. is currently facing a "constitutional crisis" after the panel voted to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress.

"Yes, I do agree with Chairman Nadler," Pelosi said during a press conference in the Capitol, "because the administration has decided that they're not going to honor their oath of office." 

Yet Pelosi said even a constitutional crisis is not grounds to launch impeachment hearings against the president before Nadler and the heads of the other investigative committees are able to gather more evidence — and convince more voters — that such a step is necessary. 

"This is very methodical, it's very Constitution-based, it's very law-based, it's very factually based," she said. "It's not about pressure, it's about patriotism."

 

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/442889-pelosi-i-do-agree-we-are-in-a-constitutional-crisis

 

 

So this week from h..., we see Trump's tweets and negotiation 'skills' drive the market down as he initiates 25% tariffs on China and he creates a constitutional crisis by shielding his AG and other admin officials from testifying before congress.  Just another week in Trump World.

[ZRod]

Comey needs to shut up and takes notes from Mueller. As much as I want answers and analysis it kills any perception of impartiality when you have heads, and former heads, of investigative authorities dipping their toes into the political fray and doing interviews with the media. Plus, he's not really one to cast stones against anyone given how he handled a lot of the Clinton/Trump saga.

[TGHusker]

1 minute ago, ZRod said:

Comey needs to shut up and takes notes from Mueller. As much as I want answers and analysis it kills any perception of impartiality when you have heads, and former heads, of investigative authorities dipping their toes into the political fray and doing interviews with the media. Plus, he's not really one to cast stones against anyone given how he handled a lot of the Clinton/Trump saga.

This is true

 

 

[TGHusker]

 

"He lied", "No you lied."  Now we McCarthy pointing the lying finger at Nadler.   Civil discourse and getting to the bottom of the issue is officially dead.

 

 

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/441860-mccarthy-says-nadler-lied-not-barr

Quote

 

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Thursday rejected Democrats’ assertion that Attorney General William Barr had lied to Congress last month and committed a crime.

Instead, McCarthy accused House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) of being a liar.

“I do not believe Attorney General Barr lied; I believe he’s been very transparent in all of this,” McCarthy told reporters Thursday afternoon. “I think if people are looking at who has lied in the process, simply look at Chairman Nadler.”The combative remarks from McCarthy, a close ally of President Trump, came after Nadler staged a Judiciary Committee hearing with an empty chair. Barr backed out of the hearing after objecting to Democrats’ demand that staff attorneys be allowed to question Barr in addition to lawmakers.

“Chairman Nadler asked the attorney general to come and he said yes. After the attorney general said he would come to the committee, to speak to every member, they moved to change the rules,” McCarthy said. “The only time an individual, a staffer questioned somebody was during Watergate. Nadler has been wanting to impeach the day after the election.”

A Nadler spokesman did not immediately provide a comment.

Earlier Thursday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) accused Barr of committing a crime when he testified before House lawmakers in April that he wasn’t aware of any concerns from special counsel Robert Mueller about the attorney general’s four-page summary of the report on Russian interference.

In fact, Mueller had written a letter to Barr nearly two weeks earlier expressing concerns about the attorney general’s summary.

“What is deadly serious about it is the attorney general of the United States of America was not telling the truth to the Congress of the United States. That's a crime,” Pelosi told reporters Thursday.

“He lied to Congress; he lied to Congress,” Pelosi continued. “And if anybody else did that, it would be considered a crime.”

 

 

[TGHusker]

Judge Nap taking on Barr's testimony as deceptive.   Note : at the end of the article he wasn't allowed to share these thoughts on

Fox & Friends or Cavuto's show.

 

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/judge-napolitano-barr-foolish-attempt-205941227.html

 

 

Quote

 

In a FoxNews.com op-ed and subsequent video essay on the network’s streaming service Fox Nation, senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano shredded Attorney General William Barr for his “misleading” and “disingenuous” attempt to spin the conclusions of the Mueller report, adding that the attorney general was “deceptive” during his congressional testimony.

With the House Judiciary Committee voting Wednesday to recommend the House hold Barr in contempt for failing to turn in the full un-redacted Mueller report, Napolitano said Thursday that the attorney general is also under fire for deceiving Congress, notably for telling the House last month he was unaware of any criticisms from the Mueller team over his initial four-page summary of the report’s findings.

“But of course, Barr did know because Mueller told him in his letter of the complaints his office had about the four-page letter,” Napolitano said, adding Mueller “made a permanent record of his complaint about Barr's sanitized letter, and Barr hid that record from Congress.”

Claiming that Barr “dropped the ball again” by ignoring the Judiciary Committee’s subpoena for the un-redacted report, the Fox analyst said the attorney general should have sought a judge’s opinion on the “lawfulness of compliance” rather than giving the House an opportunity to hold him in contempt.

“What’s going on here?” Napolitano wondered. “It is clear that Barr's four-page letter, about which Mueller complained to Barr and some of Mueller's team complained to the media, was a foolish attempt to sanitize the Mueller report.”

The judge continued: “It was misleading, it was disingenuous, it was even deceptive. Also, because Barr could argue that all or nearly all of the Mueller report would soon become public, it was dumb and insulting.”

Napolitano went on to further criticize Barr for saying Trump had been exonerated on the charge of conspiracy, stating that the DOJ wasn’t “in the business of exonerating the people it investigates” and the Mueller report “revealed “127 communications between Russian agents and Trump campaign officials in a 16-month period.”

“That is hardly an exoneration,” he added.

The judge, meanwhile, said it was ironic that House Democrats now claim the attorney general violated the same obstruction of justice statutes that the special counsel found President Trump violated.

“This is a gravely serious charge against the attorney general of the United States,” he declared. "Attorney General Barr's prosecutors regularly prosecute defendants for doing what it appears the attorney general himself has done."

Interestingly, while Napolitano published the op-ed and video on Thursday morning, the judge—who has been pilloried by the president recently for saying he obstructed justice—was not asked to address any of this during his appearance on Fox & Friends or his subsequent hit on Fox Business Network’s Cavuto: Coast to Coast.

 

 

[Danny Bateman]