June 15, 2017

"Certainly, if Mueller wanders outside the bounds of professionalism and basic integrity, he can and should be fired."

"Concerns are already being raised — including about Mueller’s friendship with Comey and his staff-packing with anti-Trump partisans. He will be closely watched. In the meantime, Congress is busily carrying on its constitutionally ordained function of oversight. What we’ve seen over the past week has not been pretty, but it is effective and important.... Notwithstanding reports that the special counsel has launched an inquiry into whether the president obstructed justice, the early returns also suggest the absence of any Oval Office criminality, even with the unsettling use of Trump Tower business methods where they don’t belong.... [T]he official processes now under way should continue unimpeded. Let the legislative and executive branches fulfill their respective roles, ordained at the founding and matured by the wisdom of sobering experience gained over the course of seven generations."

Writes Kenneth Starr in a WaPo op-ed with the silly title "Firing Mueller would be an insult to the Founding Fathers."

Silly, because Starr doesn't mention the "founding fathers" or fret about "insulting" eminent figures of the past. In the context of highlighting the practical value of an independent prosecutorial function, Starr refers to the "structural arrangements put in place at the founding of the nation and augmented through the experience of succeeding generations." If he were about venerating the choices of the founding fathers, he wouldn't have said "augmented through the experience of succeeding generations." The founding fathers adopted a text that said: "The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States." If you wanted to respect that — rather than "the experience of succeeding generations" — you'd align with Justice Scalia, who dissented in the case that approved of the independent counsel law:
In his analysis of the statute, Scalia relied on constitutional text, pointing out that Article II vests not some but all of the executive power in a president. And because it does, the independent counsel law must be unconstitutional "if the following two questions" are answered affirmatively: "Is the conduct of a criminal prosecution .  .  . the exercise of purely executive power?" and "Does the statute deprive the President of the United States of exclusive control over the exercise of that power?" Scalia said they must be answered affirmatively: the first because "governmental investigation and prosecution of crimes is a quintessentially executive function," the second because "the whole object of the statute" is to deny a president exclusive control over the exercise of purely executive power.
That's the losing side, of course, but the independent counsel law — the law under which Starr dogged Bill Clinton — died a natural death in 1999

93 comments:

Sebastian said...

"Let the legislative and executive branches fulfill their respective roles, ordained at the founding." In which case there cannot and should not be an "independent" counsel. Scalia was right and Trump should fire Mueller forthwith.

Achilles said...

We watched Obama and Hillary break the law repeatedly and nothing. Fine.

Now you want to depose a lawfully elected president over nothing? Fuck you.

Most of the country thinks this is treasonous bullshit. I look forward to DC getting cored out like a melon.

Sprezzatura said...

Thanks for the excerpt.

I saw that headline at wapo and decided to skip the piece because I thought the headline was silly. Silly in an eye-roll inducing sorta way. I.e., when clickbait is too clumsily such, such that it backfires, imho.

Anywho, the Alt excerpt seemed better than the silly headline hinted at. So, I read da ting.

Achilles said...

And you know it was Bezos that wrote the headline, not Ken Starr.

Mueller should resign now. Trump will correctly ignore anything he does and fire him in disgrace if necessary.

Fen said...

1) friendship with Comey is conflict of interest
2) hiring of obama/Clinton loyalists to
3) already leaking like a sieve.

The public knows this is just a witch hunt to handicap the President and prevent him from draining the swamp.

Fire Mueller. He's not acting in good faith.

Someone truly interested in the Rule of Law would have already recused himself to avoid besmirching any rightful indictment with his conflict of interest.

Sprezzatura said...

"We watched Obama and Hillary break the law repeatedly and nothing. Fine."

Sure DJT winning is a double edge sword. But, ya gots ta take the good and take the bad, that's the facts of life.

So Rs are in power, that's good, from you POV.

But, Rs are in power, so when they prove that all the accusations against Ds were total BS, i.e. they don't actually follow through re holding supposed criminals to account, ya got to acknowledge that you enjoy eating shit...when it's from a bull...and figurative.

No lib government is protecting the Ds. There are no more scary black AGs. The DJT justice department isn't a bunch of corrupt D's allowing themselves to do hate America stuff.

Duh.


Fen said...

...hiring Obama/Clinton loyalists to staff

n.n said...

The attempted coup is one thing. The collusion by the press and government employees with their special and peculiar interests is another. The violence triggered by the ongoing baby hunt is clearly intolerable. The leaks, real and created, have been a violation of people's rights and have placed the lives and welfare of people in America and around the world in progressive jeopardy.

Fen said...

Will someone please translate whatever 3rd Grader was trying to say? God I hope you didn't go into debt for that education.

Fen said...

And n.n. has to be the most underestimated commenter here. Maybe that's not the precise word. But he/she is up there with Bruce Hayden, and I'm embarrassed I've overoverlooked n.n. for so long. No more. And hat tip to ya.

Hagar said...

I don't think Trump can - that is should - fire Mueller unless Mueller does something patently stupid, which I do not think is going to happen.
This is a bad situation that Comey has brought about, but I don't see anything to do about it other than to ride with it and hope that Mueller will see his task to be to extricate the FBI from this uncomfortable situation Comey has placed it in as best he can.

traditionalguy said...

Mueller is 100% FBI fixer for the Deep State. He has zero integrity.

The post WWII Deep State is the FBI and the CIA. The Constitution empowers them as the Fourth Branch of Government somewhere in the Classified Section ( unfortunately that part was deleted from the popular version of the Document to protect the 33rd Degree FreeMason Wizards.)

DJT is at war with the entire corrupt bunch. The man has no fear of death. He almost wants to go to the mat with them to prove he is a winner. We are watching a remake of On The Waterfront.

Achilles said...

Sure DJT winning is a double edge sword. But, ya gots ta take the good and take the bad, that's the facts of life.

DJT winning apparently only delayed the inevtiable.

So Rs are in power, that's good, from you POV.

More of the same. The only thing I hate more in DC than the Dems are the R's that cover for them.

But, Rs are in power, so when they prove that all the accusations against Ds were total BS, i.e. they don't actually follow through re holding supposed criminals to account, ya got to acknowledge that you enjoy eating shit...when it's from a bull...and figurative.

The R's never follow through. I absolutely agree. They are vichy traitors. Just means they go first.

No lib government is protecting the Ds. There are no more scary black AGs. The DJT justice department isn't a bunch of corrupt D's allowing themselves to do hate America stuff.

Yes it is. That is what this whole bullshit Russia Collusion story is about. It is a silent coup attempt that will fail. I am not sure if they actually think they can pull it off or if they are just trying to keep the rubes that usually vote Democrat from breaking up the party.

Duh.

Here is your chance to denounce the Stalinists and this bullshit investigation.

MeatPopscicle1234 said...

Here are some questions:
1. Can anyone explain for me who chose Mueller (anyone... anyone...)? Was it a Congressional committee? If so, who specifically on the committee voted for him?

2. Under what authority / law / statute does the selection of a Special Counsel to investigate the PTOUS exist? Are there any constraints around this selection power.

3. If Mueller (or any special counsel) ends up accusing the PTOUS of committing a crime, what happens then? Does s/he have any special prosecutorial powers? Or does s/he simply present evidence to Congress and they then have to decide how to proceed?

4. Does there have to be any real evidence of a crime, or could Congress just decide, "Hey, we don't like this guy - better impeach him before he causes anymore trouble?"

5. If Congress was to try and impeach (god forbid) Trump, what are their chances? Are there enough Democrats and NeverTrumpers to do the deed?

Achilles said...

Joshua Barker said...

5. If Congress was to try and impeach (god forbid) Trump, what are their chances? Are there enough Democrats and NeverTrumpers to do the deed?

Doesn't matter. That's when we find out where everyone stands. 1-10 million armed people will descend on DC and another 50% of the country will cheer them on. 30% are stalinist fucks who are stupid and poorly armed. 18% are "undecided.

My guess is Trump has accurate polling and that is why he has been openly mocking the investigation. He will call them out and DC will be addressed properly.

Fen said...

While we are asking questions...

Will there be ANY consequences for the jackasses that put the nation through the 7 month fake Russia scandal? Or will they get a pass so they can move on to their next coup attempt?

We know Hillary was one of the major players. When is Trump going to have all her shenanigans investigated? She needs to be thrown in jail.

Michael K said...

DJT is at war with the entire corrupt bunch. The man has no fear of death. He almost wants to go to the mat with them to prove he is a winner. We are watching a remake of On The Waterfront.

You make an excellent point. I do worry that he is so fearless when so many are out to get him any way possible. I still expect an assassination attempt.

That shooter was not the only leftist loon that wants to be famous. Guiteau, the assassin of Garfield, bought a pearl handled revolver because he thought it would look better in the museum.

Reagan beat Trump, or at least the Congress baseball team. to the assassin by a month or two.

steve uhr said...

Trimp's email this afternoon says the democrats do absolutely NOTHING for this country. Caps in original. I'm not sure I can take anymore of this new unity.

Fen said...

And then tie McCaulif to her. Cell Block C before he even announces his candidacy. There should be such an odor hanging over him that he is persona non grata in two years.

Fen said...

Hey Steve, shove your fake unity up your ass. Thanks.

steve uhr said...

fen - good question. Why did Trump decide not to have Hillary investigated for her crimes. And the answer is ?

eddie willers said...

God I miss Scalia.

Bob Boyd said...

"1. Can anyone explain for me who chose Mueller "

That's what I was wondering. I think it was Rod Rosenstein who was in charge of anything Russia at Justice because Sessions recused. They sure were quick about selecting him, weren't they.

Biff said...

I laughed out loud at the "matured by the wisdom of sobering experience" line regarding the legislative and executive branches. Perhaps the editorial actually is satire.

steve uhr said...

Bob That's correct. Trump appointee Rosenstein picked Mueller

Bob Boyd said...

Here's some pull quotes from an ABC News piece on the appointment of Mueller:

Former FBI Director Robert Mueller was assigned by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to "oversee the previously-confirmed FBI investigation of Russian government efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election, and related matters."

Mueller will have 60 days to put together a budget for resources to conduct the investigation and that budget must be approved by Rosenstein. Attorney General Jeff Sessions previously recused himself from all matters related to the presidential campaign.

Justice Department officials were in touch with Mueller within days of the firing of FBI Director James Comey last week. Comey confirmed in March that the bureau was actively investigating Russian influence and collusion with the Trump campaign.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/robert-mueller-appointed-special-counsel-oversee-probe-russias/story?id=47472673

Richard Dolan said...

It was a terrible disservice to the country to appoint Mueller to investigate a non-crime but with a vague and elastic definition of his jurisdiction. The leaks will continue and Trump will become incensed at what he already regards as a partisan witch hunt. At that point, Trump will fire him, and bid good riddance to any in DoJ who try to stop him.

No president of the usual sort would take the risk of dumping Mueller. But Trump revels in his unusualness, and is not shy about firing people. It's just a matter of when.

rcocean said...

Rosenstein never made it clear WHY we need a special counsel or WHAT SPECIFIC criminal matter he's investigating.

We've been discussing this fucking trump-Russia-collusion thing for 7 months, and no one has pointed to a crime yet.

So why do we need Mueller?

Trump should either fire him or narrow his scope to a very specific matter.

I'll ask the question again. Who is Rosenstein and why was he appointed DAG?

rcocean said...

Why are Republicans always so stupid? Didn't they learn from Judge Walsh and his 7 year investigation of Iran-Contra or the never ending Fitzgerald investigation of Scooter Libby?

n.n said...

Fen:

Underestimated good or underestimated bad?

No matter. Thanks, I think.

Earnest Prole said...

Bill Clinton's special-prosecutor tribulations began as an investigation of a backwoods land deal and ended up as an investigation of semen stains and cigars. Donald Trump's tribulations began with the Russian hacking confection and will end with the investigation of his tax returns being leaked bit by bit until he succumbs to a thousand cuts.

Bob Boyd said...

"2. Under what authority / law / statute does the selection of a Special Counsel to investigate the PTOUS exist? Are there any constraints around this selection power."

Looks like hiring, scope, termination, everything is at the discretion of the AG or the Acting AG. But they're rules, not statutes.

Fairly concise explanation here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_prosecutor

steve uhr said...

Trump can't fire Mueller. Only Rosenstein can fire Mueller and he must have good cause. I believe that is a DOJ policy. So trump would need to fire Rosenstein and replace him with someone who would change the policy so that Mueller could be fired without cause. Not like with Comey.

Anyway that is my understanding.

Bay Area Guy said...

Ferris Mueller's Day Off

Quaestor said...

It may be appropriate to investigate Jared Kushner. It is NOT appropriate to leak information about said investigation to the Washington Post. Jeff Sessions hired Robert Mueller as a sign of good faith. Muller works for Sessions. He doesn't work for the Unites States. He doesn't work for Congress. He certainly doesn't work for the Democratic Party in spite of what fantasies he may entertain. Sessions needs to deal with this asshole ASAP. I suggest a four-step process:

1) Order Mueller to attend a meeting tomorrow at 8 am in the office of the Attorney General of the United States. If he demurs in any way, remind him of his status: Attend me in my office by 8 or hand in your resignation by 9.

2) Document the meeting with witnesses and a stenographer. Make an audio recording.

3) Demand the names of all his staff members and associates who may have had contact with any outside party. If Mueller is unable to name names, instruct him to fire his entire staff immediately. There's plenty of time to hire honorable and reliable people, that that requirement may exclude most Democratic Party hangers-on, well tough titty.

4) If Mueller refuses to name names or fire his staff proceed to Step 4a.

4a) Send reliable people to clear Mueller's office and secure all files, computers, HDDs, government-owned tablets, phones, USB drives, etc. Padlock the premises.

Ab) Fire Robert Mueller. Have him escorted off the premises by uniformed security. Fire everyone he has hired or contracted to work on the investigation.

4c) Hire Ken Starr.

rcocean said...

"So trump would need to fire Rosenstein and replace him with someone who would change the policy so that Mueller could be fired without cause. Not like with Comey."

Well, fire Rosenstein then. What makes him so special?

Bob Boyd said...

"3. If Mueller (or any special counsel) ends up accusing the PTOUS of committing a crime, what happens then?"

I don't think he'll do that, at least not directly. He'll issue a confidential report to the AG or Acting AG who will take it from there.

Achilles said...

Earnest Prole said...
Bill Clinton's special-prosecutor tribulations began as an investigation of a backwoods land deal and ended up as an investigation of semen stains and cigars. Donald Trump's tribulations began with the Russian hacking confection and will end with the investigation of his tax returns being leaked bit by bit until he succumbs to a thousand cuts.

If Trump did anything even remotely illegal with his income taxes the IRS would have leaked it. He has been audited every year. There is zero chance there is anything illegal in his tax returns.

Mueller will resign or be fired long before any of that bullshit comes up.

But as in everything else the left has the person they want to take down first and they will take as long as they need to find the crime. Pure Stalinism.

Achilles said...

@Quaestor

5. Set up guillotine.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bob Boyd said...

"4. Does there have to be any real evidence of a crime, or could Congress just decide, "Hey, we don't like this guy - better impeach him before he causes anymore trouble?""

Theoretically they can impeach for any reason. As a practical matter they are restrained by the voters. I think...

Quaestor said...

I think I'll watch Absence of Malice on Netflix tonight. The parallels are striking.

MeatPopscicle1234 said...

Bay Area Guy said...
Ferris Mueller's Day Off

-------

Ding ding ding! Glad somebody caught the reference...

Mike Sylwester said...

Rosenstein chose Mueller because Rosenstein is a top FBI official who wants to make sure that the FBI will be whitewashed.

The FBI has been conducting a bogus and never-ending investigation of Russian meddling in the election. The investigation's real purpose is to provide the FBI a pretext to investigate any Trump associate who can be linked to Russia:

* business deals with Russia

* associates in Russia

* travel in Russia

* frequent watching of RT television shows

* and so forth -- any link at all.

The FBI leadership wants to remove Trump from office, just like the FBI leadership wanted to remove Martin Luther King from his leadership of the Civil Rights Movement in the mid-1960s.

Just like the FBI's investigation of Russian meddling in the Civil Rights Movement was a pretext to bug MLK's phone and bedroom, the FBI's investigation of Russian meddling in the election is a pretext to investigate and pressure all of Trump's associates.

The best person to cover all that up is Robert Mueller, the BFF of "Crazy Comey the Leaker".

Anonymous said...


Rosenstein while under oath at the hearing on Tuesday, said he wouldn't fire Mueller and yes only he can fire him and not Trump.

http://www.npr.org/2017/06/13/532756387/rosenstein-says-he-wouldnt-fire-special-counsel-without-good-cause

"Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said Tuesday that even if President Trump told him to fire Robert Mueller as special counsel overseeing the Department of Justice investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, he would not follow the order unless he thought there was good cause.

The statement came after Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, asked Rosenstein during an open Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing what he would do if Trump asked him to fire Mueller.

"Senator, I'm not going to follow any order unless I believe those are lawful and appropriate orders," Rosenstein said. "Special counsel Mueller may be fired only for good cause, and I am required to put that cause in writing. That's what I would do. If there were good cause, I would consider it.

"If there were not good cause, it wouldn't matter to me what anybody says."

MeatPopscicle1234 said...

According to several articles I've seen, Mueller needs to recuse himself because he has a close personal relationship with Comey, as well as has worked for a law firm with ties to the Clintons.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/06/14/mueller-should-recuse-himself-from-investigating-russia--comey-william-otis-column/102827924/


28 USC Section 528 provides:


The Attorney General shall promulgate rules and regulations which require the disqualification of any officer or employee of the Department of Justice, including a United States attorney or a member of such attorney's staff, from participation in a particular investigation or prosecution if such participation may result in a personal, financial, or political conflict of interest, or the appearance thereof. Such rules and regulations may provide that a willful violation of any provision thereof shall result in removal from office.


28 CFR Section 45.2 provides in part:

Disqualification arising from personal or political relationship.
(a) Unless authorized under paragraph (b) of this section, no employee shall participate in a criminal investigation or prosecution if he has a personal or political relationship with:
(1) Any person or organization substantially involved in the conduct that is the subject of the investigation or prosecution;
or
(2) Any person or organization which he knows has a specific and substantial interest that would be directly affected by the outcome of the investigation or prosecution ...

(c) For the purposes of this section:
(2) Personal relationship means a close and substantial connection of the type normally viewed as likely to induce partiality. ... Whether relationships (including friendships) of an employee to other persons (outside his or her family) or organizations are "personal" must be judged on an individual basis with due regard given to the subjective opinion of the employee.

Bob Boyd said...

"5. If Congress was to try and impeach (god forbid) Trump, what are their chances? Are there enough Democrats and NeverTrumpers to do the deed?"

Who knows? Doesn't seem likely any impeachment would take place unless and until the Dems take control of Congress.

I'm the opposite of an expert on this stuff and all the answers I've given are worth what you paid for them.

Mark said...

We've been discussing this fucking trump-Russia-collusion thing for 7 months, and no one has pointed to a crime yet.

And it is because of that that it would not be surprising that Trump said it is time to wrap this thing up. Time to shit or get off the pot, in other words. And his saying it is time to end looking into a non-crime that apparently amounts to "obstruction," at least when Trump is involved.

Fen said...

Nice try Earnest. Bill Clinton's ended up with an investigation into perjury, subornation of perjury and obstruction of justice in a sexual discrimination lawsuit. The Chief Executive of the United States raped a Democrat and attempted to deny her rights to discovery.

Bob Boyd said...

"Senator, I'm not going to follow any order unless I believe those are lawful and appropriate orders," Rosenstein said.

"Lawful"? Okay.

"Appropriate"? What does that even mean?

Mark said...

You missed the key word there, Bob.

It's "I."

Fen said...

Joshua that's correct. Mueller has a conflict of interest if any part of his investigation touches Comey. He is compromised and I don't understand why he hasn't handed stepped down and handed off to someone else.

His findings are inadmissible right out of the gate.

Mark said...

Mueller has a conflict of interest if any part of his investigation DOES NOT touch Comey.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

To me expanding the investigation means a fishing expedition to justify the silly decision of triggering the call for an independent counsel in the first place. If the leak is true the universe is expanding because it hasn't found intelligent life.

Earnest Prole said...

There is zero chance there is anything illegal in his tax returns.

You may not have gotten the memo: illegality is no longer a prerequisite for slow-motion coups.

Mark said...

In fact, there is reasonable suspicion that Mueller has committed obstruction of justice by looking the other way with respect to Comey and by doing nothing with respect to the leaks from his office, which is more than can be said about any "collusion" with the Russians.

Dude1394 said...

6/15/17, 7:44 PM
Blogger Achilles said...
Now you want to depose a lawfully elected president over nothing? Fuck you.

Most of the country thinks this is treasonous bullshit. I look forward to DC getting cored out like a melon."

Well said.. let me repeat the most pertinent part. Fuck you.

Mike Sylwester said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Earnest Prole said...

Bill Clinton's ended up with an investigation into perjury, subornation of perjury and obstruction of justice in a sexual discrimination lawsuit. The Chief Executive of the United States raped a Democrat and attempted to deny her rights to discovery.

Once again we are in violent agreement.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Conflict of interest is a nebulous thing for the lay person to understand. No disrespect intended. To me a conflict of interest is a good sign that things are moving in the right direction. Not true of government ethics.

Mike Sylwester said...

Just like his BFF "Crazy Comey the Leaker", Robert Mueller too believes that the FBI should leak FBI secrets on occasion in order to make people submit.

When Mueller was FBI Director, he micro-managed the investigation to find the perpetrator of the anthrax attacks in 2001. After Mueller's investigators made up their minds that the perpetrator was Steven Hatfill, Mueller's FBI investigators leaked to various journalists that the FBI was closing in on Hatfill. Of course, all those journalists -- grateful for the professionally valuable tip-offs -- published articles along those lines.

By causing lots of articles to be published denouncing Hatfill, the FBI strove to accomplish two goals:

1) assure the public that the FBI was making great progress in solving the crime,

2) bully Hatfill into confessing or trying to flee or committing suicide.

Fortunately for Hatfill, the FBI got caught and its leakers had to confess in a libel trial and Hatfill was exonerated and compensated.

Mueller believes that sometimes the FBI Director just has to leak FBI secrets to journalists. It's just a fact of life for the FBI Director.

That's why Rosenstein chose Mueller, because Rosenstein knows that Mueller understands that fact of life.

Rosenstein and Mueller both think it's outrageous that any FBI Director should be called to account for leaking.

Fen said...

"Absence of Malice"

Man I love the way he sets them up.

And Wells was perfect: "What did ya figure you would do after government service, Eliot?" Hehehe.

The Godfather said...

Free advice to Trump: Issue a directive to Muller requiring that he provide to the President (1) a report in 14 days regarding leaks to the press from his team; and (2) by Sept. 30 a full report regarding the status of the investigation, including the nature and effect of Russian interference in the 2016 and the supporting evidence, and further the nature and effect of any collusion by Americans, including but not limited to the Trump campaign, with the Russians, and the supporting evidence. If Muller is making reasonable progress toward completing the investigation, the President should set a reasonable deadline for a further status report. If Muller is unable or unwilling to show that he has made substantial progress in resolving this issue by Sept. 30, fire him for incompetence (and if Rosenstein refused to cooperate, fire him, too).

Sprezzatura said...

"Reagan beat Trump, or at least the Congress baseball team. to the assassin by a month or two."

Actually, an assassin already went after DJT at an Ohio rally during the campaign. DJT was about to use his bare hands to merc the assassin, but the Secret Service removed the guy, saving him from a DJT beat down.

Dude1394 said...

"I'll ask the question again. Who is Rosenstein and why was he appointed DAG?"
Because sessions pussed out, throwing trump to the wolves without protection. Not even pushback on his recusal.

I'm surprised trump didn't fire him, he needs fighters, not milquetoasts in this toxic environment.

Original Mike said...

Blogger Fen said..."Will someone please translate whatever 3rd Grader was trying to say? God I hope you didn't go into debt for that education."

Pass. That would require me to read him.

Fen said...

Ya know, if the FBI of all things is this corrupt, we are all tools to abide by any rule of law. Let's nuke the swamp and start over.

Fen said...

Fools not tools, but both work.

steve uhr said...

I would think that Jarrd had business dealings with his father-in-law so an investigation of Jared's businesses would focus to some degree on trump's businesses.

Quaestor said...

Will someone please translate whatever 3rd Grader was trying to say? God I hope you didn't go into debt for that education.

He pawned his guitar.

Birkel said...

It is rumored Mueller has already given Comey blanket immunity.

Swamp creatures, if so.

Who investigates the investigators?

Grab your carry on.

Mike Sylwester said...

Our President Trump should tweet every day about the BFF relationship between Robert "The Whitewasher" Mueller and "Crazy Comey the Leaker".

Trump should assemble photographs that include both Mueller and Comey and should tweet at least one such photograph every day.

Trump should use his tweets to inform the public about all the points where the careers of Mueller and Comey intersected.

Not a day should go by without a Trump tweet about this BFF relationship.

LakeLevel said...

I heard that the special council's office has been in touch with the Russians. The FBI (or any other investigative agency) should start an investigation. Then have some Russian, any Roosky will do, repeatedly call everyone in the special council's office. That should allow for the bugging and unmasking of everyone in that office to find out who is leaking. I mean, Obama did it right? So it should be OK. While they are at it, have the Roosky call the NY Times and the Washington Post.
See now lefty's, that's what Obamas crap hath wrought.

Bob Boyd said...

"It is rumored Mueller has already given Comey blanket immunity."

The other side of the coin is he could talk about what happened with Lynch and all that sordid business.

Mike Sylwester said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mike Sylwester said...

Our President Trump should order the FBI's public-relations department to deliver to him every available photograph that includes both Robert "The Whitewasher" Mueller and "Crazy Comey the Leaker". The public-relations department must dozens of such photographs.

Every day, Trump should tweet out such a photograph, along with a snide comment.

Trump should use his tweets to discredit Mueller and his team every day.

Every day that Trump sends out such a tweet, CNN and Morning Joe and all the others will throw temper tantrums. Every such Trump tweet will be rewarded with enormous publicity and discussion.

Trump's supporters continue to support him. Trump should provide them new ammunition every day.

Resist !!!!!

Gideon7 said...

Every time these special counsels are appointed they grind along interminably until they can tag somebody. They never end with no charges filed. It is always a process charge related to the investigation itself, and never the actual original act that got them appointed in the first place.

Whitewater (Ken Starr), Valerie Plame (Patrick Fitzgerald), and Watergate (Jaworski) all came down to obstruction/perjury charges, not the actual events that they were supposed to investigate.

Fen said...

n.n. , underestimated as in - you have very sharp analysis and rarely get credit or noticed for it.

Achilles said...

Blogger Birkel said...
"It is rumored Mueller has already given Comey blanket immunity."

Given the calls for recusal because of his relationship with Comey I would be amazed if he was that brazen.

Sprezzatura said...

"n.n. , underestimated as in - you have very sharp analysis and rarely get credit or noticed for it."

Thanks for the clarification.

I thought you were expressing praise for someone who can always make everything about abortion.

E.g.: Someone says they had PB&J for lunch, then n^2 notes that aborted babies don't get sandwiches.



Carry on.

Mike Sylwester said...

One legacy-lesson that J. Edgar bequeathed to his successors was this:

** Cultivate journalists **

Whenever some Soviet spy defected or whenever some Mafia member became a rat, Hoover would give the scoop to some lucky journalist. A book deal would be arranged for the lucky journalist, whose career would be made. The lucky journalist would be able to send his kids to college.

When Robert "The Whitewasher" Mueller was FBI Director, he used this same tactic when he wanted journalists to write and publish articles denouncing Steven Hatfill as the anthrax culprit.

Mueller's biggest beneficiary in that particular arrangement was Nicholas Kristof, who wrote a long series of articles for the New York Times reporting that a "Mr. Z" (i.e. Steven Hatfill) was the anthrax culprit and was about to be arrested by the clever and heroic FBI.

That scoop made Kristof's career. Kristoff still gets paid big bucks to write a NYT column every Sunday.

"Crazy Comey the Leaker" was cultivating the career of NYT journalist Michael Schmidt with the same lucky-leak method. Scmidt too would be able to send his own kids to college if he just published articles repeatedly glorifying Comey as a principled FBI Director.

Birkel said...

More depth to n.n. than PB&J can recognize?
No surprise.

Birkel said...

Deputy AG Rothstein put out a statement encouraging skepticism of anonymously sourced fake news.

The media reacted... Poorly.

Sprezzatura said...

"When Robert "The Whitewasher" Mueller was FBI Director, he used this same tactic when he wanted journalists to write and publish articles denouncing Steven Hatfill as the anthrax culprit."

Plus that loser gets all uppity just cause he gots a Purple Heart and Bronze Star.

Big F-in deal:

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/trump-purple-heart-226565

&

http://www.politicususa.com/2016/07/30/trump-insults-military-claiming-sacrifices-fallen-soldiers.html

Plus DJT wanted to fight, but:

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/02/us/politics/donald-trump-draft-record.html?_r=0

So, y'all are right to call out that POS Mueller, especially when compared to our supreme leader, Mr. virtue DJT.

Yancey Ward said...

Mueller should have been given a definite time period of no more than six months- at which time any indictments be tried by the DoJ itself, but Mueller and his team go home. That has always been the real problem with independent counsels- they always go on for years. This is a huge no-no for any kind of project, legal or otherwise. Indefinite time periods and open budgets are just asking for massive corruption of the stated purpose.

I personally think Mueller will wrap this up by September, but if he is still going at the end of the year, he and his team will be fired- count on it. I think the main reason he is building the team he is building is to make the charge that the coming exoneration of the Trump Campaign and Trump's inner circle was corrupt harder to maintain. Mueller no doubt has seen the exact same evidence that has somehow never leaked to the NYTimes and WaPo, and realizes that the original innuendo that Trump and his people colluded with the Russian government is a complete hoax.

As for the obstruction- everybody, including Comey, has already said that the investigation was never hindered once by Trump or anyone else in the chain of command. The only thing that happened was Comey got the boot, but the investigation continued anyway. That is an open and shut case against obstruction. Mueller surely knows all this and probably already knows what the ultimate decision is going to be and is already buttressing the public for that outcome.

Fen said...

Oh lookie, allofasudden 3rd cares about military valor. I've got a PH too 3rd, you going to suck my dick like you suck Muellers?

Lewis Wetzel said...

Look, what Trump should do is meet with Mueller. Maybe informally, maybe by "accident." Let's say both of their planes were at the same airport, and Mueller walked over to Trump's plane. Just to say "Hi!"
But there should be pics of them shaking hands. Even photoshopped pics of Trump and Mueller shaking hands would make liberals want to see Mueller fired.

Unknown said...

You can hear the sound of worry in the Trumpski's posts.

When Trump resigns or is removed from office for obstruction of justice and money-laundering amongst others, people will pour out into the streets in the US and around the World. There will be dancing in the streets. The Trumpski's will continue swigging Russian vodka in front of Fox News.

Bruce Hayden said...

"Trump can't fire Mueller. Only Rosenstein can fire Mueller and he must have good cause. I believe that is a DOJ policy. So trump would need to fire Rosenstein and replace him with someone who would change the policy so that Mueller could be fired without cause. Not like with Comey. "

That is just plain silly. As I have repeatedly pointed out, all the executive power devolves from the President (Article II, Section 1, Clause 1 "The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America"). All.Of.It. This is the President's most basic power, which is why it is listed first. DoJ policy binding the hands of the President would, essentially, mean policy adopted under the executive power of one of his predecessors (delegated to his AG) binding the current President's actions. Doesn't work that way, as the Dems have discovered with Trump reversing much of what Obama did with the stoke of a pen, with a stroke of his own pen. And, likewise, DoJ policy can be revised by the AG as easily as it was implemented by his predecessor(s).

Bruce Hayden said...

Can and will, are, of course quite different here. Trump could most likely fire Mueller, along with his band of Dem associated staffers. But probably shouldn't. And if he did fire Mueller, he should do it for cause, but probably doesn't need to. Plus, cause is pro forma here. A fig leaf. The leaks, if they are indeed true, are sufficient cause for firing, since they are both illegal and contrary to DoJ policy.

As with firing Comey, the question is not whether Trump COULD fire Mueller, but whether he SHOULD, at some point. And that is a political decision, with the sole remedy being impeachment. Sole. Remedy. Anyone else (except maybe VP Pence) could be prosecuted and maybe sent to prison. But not the President. Of course, the (few) saner heads on the Dem side, the "resistance" side, know this. And there is near zero chance of impeachment in the 115th Congress (and even lower of removal from office by the Senate). The Republican base is not about to stand for it. Which leaves the possibility of impeachment by the 116th Congress in a couple of years. This is the game afoot right now - to discredit Trump and his Administration in order to build support for flipping the House next year, which would very likely result in impeachment, on essentially, general principles (the principle being that Trump stole the Presidency from Crooked Hillary and the Dems, and compounding that has reversed much of the work of their glorious leader, Obama).

The Dems problem is that Trump has already gone over their heads, and that of their MSM subsidiaries, to his base, with his tweets. To us, Mueller has already been discredited. And Trump is immunized with his base, regardless of what Mueller and his minions do. We expect a star chamber investigation, and if they find anything, and esp process "crimes" (like obstruction of justice), they will be seen as merely further evidence that the Deep State and their Dem allies are trying to take down, or at least neuter, Trump and his Administration,

Rusty said...

Unknown said...
You can hear the sound of worry in the Trumpski's posts.

When Trump resigns or is removed from office for obstruction of justice and money-laundering amongst others, people will pour out into the streets in the US and around the World. There will be dancing in the streets. The Trumpski's will continue swigging Russian vodka in front of Fox News.


He can only be removed by impeachment.
You might want to spend some time actually reading the founding documents and the commentary that goes with them.

BH
Always worth the time to read your comments.

Kevin said...

Rightys will be able to opine in Lefty publications as long as the Lefties can distort what they say by writing the headline.

Bruce Hayden said...

Last night Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein released a statement that: "Americans should be skeptical about anonymous allegations. The Department of Justice has a long-established policy to neither confirm nor deny such allegations," and, the question being asked was what does that mean.

My take is that he is talking about the reports that the Mueller team was going to investigate obstruction of justice by Trump and his team. With Sessions recused, Mueller is 100% Rosenstein's problem. He appointed Mueller. And did so after apparently having been maneuvered by Comey, who turns out to be a good friend of Mueller. It stinks, and Rosensteien's big boss, President Trump, has pointed that out to his base with some tweats. Which puts Rosenstein in the hot seat. Has his handpicked independent counsel almost immediately gone into Dem party conspiracy witch hunt mode? While the Mueller team is leaking (illegally and contrary to DiJ policy) like crazy to damage Trump? I don't know if Trump called Rosenstein himself (with Sessions recused), or Rosenstein is smart enough to know what Trump's tweats meant by himself, but I smell fear. I think that he was saying to ignore the leaks, but by policy (which the leakers, if they truly are in the DoJ, are not goring), he couldn't ethically tell us that the obstruction of justice claims were bogus, but sure wanted to.

We shall see.