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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump's New Impeachable Offenses: Obstruction of Justice, Conspiracy, Abuse of Power
There is absolutely no doubt Trump's motive in firing Comey was to eliminate the person investigating #TrumpRussia and to obstruct the FBI investigation. That is criminal action.
The action was taken be three persons, Trump, Sessions and Rosenstein, and therefore conspiracy statutes prevail:
The conspiracy began earlier, with truth-suppressing acts by co-conspirators Sessions, Flynn, and Kushner. Given perjury, false declarations, or assertion of a false affirmative statement by an individual testifying under oath accompanied by other obstructive, evasive testimony, such as a false denial of knowledge or memory, legal offenses exist. Sessions committed perjury in his confirmation hearing, Flynn lied to the FBI and about his Russia contacts, Kushner failed to disclose his Russia contacts in his security clearance. These acts and Trump's firing of Comey are part of a pattern of actions, a cover up related to the Trump campaign, and have been carried out for a unified purpose and in a concerted manner.
(1) having taken an oath before a competent tribunal, officer, or person, in any case in which a law of the United States authorizes an oath to be administered, that he will testify, declare, depose, or certify truly, or that any written testimony, declaration, deposition, or certificate by him subscribed, is true, willfully and contrary to such oath states or subscribes any material matter which he does not believe to be true; or
(2) in any declaration, certificate, verification, or statement under penalty of perjury as permitted under section 1746 of title 28, United States Code, willfully subscribes as true any material matter which he does not believe to be true;
is guilty of perjury and shall, except as otherwise expressly provided by law, be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. This section is applicable whether the statement or subscription is made within or without the United States.
Obstruction and impeding any inquiry or investigation in Congress is also criminal. Director Comey was a witness before Congress in both public and classified hearings in the very days before his dismissal.
Shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years or, if the offense involves international or domestic terrorism (as defined in section 2331), imprisoned not more than 8 years, or both.
History repeats. The first charge in Nixon's impeachment resolution was obstruction of justice. Abuse of power and politics can continue to impede investigations. An independent investigation is an immediate imperative.
The best path forward remains unresolved. There were reasons to impeach Trump before this latest action, but political will was lacking. That too is changing, moreso behind the barriers of secrecy imposed by classified information. As more information from the multitudinous investigations is revealed, the demands to end Trump's despotic tenure will grow. I doubt partisanship will be set aside to restore justice and undo an election outcome that never should have been. However, we don't have all the facts yet and when we do, even that may happen. Meanwhile, let the impeachment begin.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Russ Feingold
Firing the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, James Comey, demonstrates a whole new level of defiance of the rule of law and our foundational system of checks and balances. More bluntly, it proves just how dangerous an illegitimate president is to our democracy. His actions do not only undermine the legitimacy and credibility of his presidency; they are a direct threat to our constitutionalism and our democratic legitimacy.
Our democratic legitimacy comes from the power of the people. When a president is duly elected by the people, that person is accountable to those people. After a president is elected by a majority of the people, it is self-evident that the people who gave them power can also take it away. But when a president wins the White House while losing the popular vote, this accountability to the people is lost.
The president took power in defiance of the people, and expects to be able to do so again. So the will of the people becomes irrelevant in the mind and decision making of an illegitimate president. An illegitimate president can fire the FBI director in order to impede an investigation into his own campaign, and believe there will be no consequences. If he can fire the head of the FBI, what else can he do?
This seems like an obvious demand at this point ....................
dchill
(40,127 posts)"His presidency exists without the support of the majority..."
malaise
(277,303 posts)Rec
BSdetect
(9,046 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Jason Easley on Tue, Apr 25th, 2017
When the White House refused to turn over documents that were requested by the House Oversight Committee's investigation, they were engaging in a criminal cover-up that could be the beginning of the end of this administration.
L. Coyote
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By Max Kutner On 5/10/17
.......... The U.S. Department of Justices Office of the Inspector General announced in January that in response to requests from members of Congress, organizations and the public, it was opening a review of the FBIs handling of the Clinton matter. Among the aspects that the office said it would review were allegations that the FBI deputy director should have been recused from participating in certain investigative matters.
Those concerns came after revelations by media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, that a political action committee affiliated with Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, who has ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton, contributed almost $500,000 to the 2015 Virginia state Senate campaign of McCabes wife, Jill McCabe. (She lost the election.) She also received $207,788 from the Virginia Democratic Party, which is connected to McAuliffe, a Democrat. ..........
LaydeeBug
(10,291 posts)smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)pbmus
(12,437 posts)[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)
Let me be very clear that the Presidents decision to accept the recommendation of the deputy attorney general and the attorney general to remove Director Comey as the head of the FBI was based solely and exclusively on his commitment to the best interests of the American people and to ensuring that the FBI has the trust and confidence of the people this nation, Pence told reporters Wednesday.
Was Pence that far out of the loop? Nope. He was lying! .........................
Meanwhile:
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dixiegrrrrl
(60,011 posts)1. "armada"
2. "black plastic"
Loving it....
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Taking out the trash day! Armada Sanitation Services ASS will haul away your trash. Just phone ASS-HAUL
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dixiegrrrrl
(60,011 posts)that had black plastic covering all the windows? This was at Mar-Loco when Trump did not want anyone seeing who he was talking to.
Alice11111
(5,730 posts)like the red sirens flashing from the WH, that it is impossible to keep up w it. Obviously, he did not want any reporters seeing in to Mar o Lago, so we wouldn't know who was thete or who was talking to whom.
Initech
(101,542 posts)It's fucking maddening!!! If one shoe like this had dropped on Hillary's side, the republicans would be on TV 24/7 calling for Hillary's impeachment, arrest, and indictment, and they'd be calling for all liberal voters to be locked up. But Trump's got a full fucking walk in closet full of shoes that have dropped and they're doing nothing! And they'll accuse us of corruption tomorrow. And find some way to blame us for this, and weasel out of it. God damn them.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Not many if Trump just keeps talking and tweeting. Someone should Miranda him.
President Donald Trump On His Firing Of James Comey
May 11, 2017
In an NBC News exclusive interview, President Trump revealed to Lester Holt that he was preparing to fire FBI Director James Comey regardless of recommendations from the attorney general and deputy attorney general.
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Duppers
(28,221 posts)FSogol
(46,256 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)'Where is your integrity?': Jeff Merkley accuses Trump officials of 'false story' about Comey firing
The junior U.S. senator from Oregon demanded that an independent prosecutor be appointed to find out whether there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian hackers who sought to sow chaos in the 2016 U.S. election. He said the real reason Trump fired Comey was because the FBI's investigation into the matter was escalating.
"To call the times we find ourselves in right now 'interesting' would be certainly an understatement," Merkley said. "The fact is we find ourselves in our country at a moment that is profoundly testing the rule of law here in America, profoundly testing the strength of our democratic institutions."
Merkley, a Democrat who supported Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign last year, said President Trump is "engaged in a pattern of removing individuals from office who are executing their responsibilities under the law," citing Trump's firing of former Acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates, former New York U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and Comey.
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VOX
(22,976 posts)It's much appreciated.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)The paper said that by firing Mr Comey, the President has cast doubt on further investigation into the Trump campaign's potential links to Russia, which could become "one of the biggest political scandals" in American history. ..............
thesquanderer
(12,283 posts)It would be ironic if they ultimately impeached over his conspiracy to oust Comey if, in fact, Comey wasn't necessarily even on to anything impeachable.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)dixiegrrrrl
(60,011 posts)He knew for a couple months he was going to fire Comey, yet the meeting was scheduled.
He knew, and yet did the theatrical charade of having Sessions and what's his name write a supporting recommendation.
( yes, Sessions was stupid to write that letter, which is now proof he violated the recusal)
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Steve Holland and Jeff Mason - May 11, 2017
Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had wanted a heads-up from Comey about what he would say at a May 3 hearing about his handling of an investigation into former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server.
When Comey refused, Trump and his aides considered that an act of insubordination and it was one of the catalysts to Trumps decision this week to fire the FBI director, the officials said.
"It gave the impression that he was no longer capable of carrying out his duties," one official said. Previews of congressional testimony to superiors are generally considered courteous.
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L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Dismissing FBI Director Comey didnt make the Russia problem go awayit made things worse
John R. Schindler 05/11/17
Where this all ends now is anyones guess, though Trumps firing his secret police chief unavoidably will bring scrutiny to issuesabove all his links to Russiawhich the president is desperate to make disappear. Indeed, it was Comeys refusal to ignore Team Trumps Russia problem that led to his brusque dismissal by Trumps bodyguard-turned-factotum. In Los Angeles when he got the news from television, the FBI director was so stunned that at first he thought it was a prank.
However, the White House was deadly earnest about defenestrating Comey, whose refusal to toe the Trump line on the Kremlin proved his undoing. In particular, his unwillingness to say three magic wordsTherere no tiesand thereby take the heat off the president regarding Russia drove Trump to distraction. Press reports portray a White House in crisis over Kremlingate. ....................
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L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)After Donald Trump followed through on his previous threats and fired FBI Director James Comey, in the midst of that agencys investigation into Russias interference in our presidential election and possible collusion with Russia on the part of Team Trump the calls for a special prosecutor immediately grew louder.
And now 20 state attorneys general, representing nearly half of the country in both red and blue states, have signed a public letter to the deputy attorney general for the United States, Rod Rosenstein, urging the appointment of a special counsel to continue the FBIs probe ...................
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L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)May 11, 2017
President Donald Trump says he asked former FBI Director James Comey if he was under investigation. Constitutional expert Laurence Tribe takes issue with that and other Trump actions he says are likely impeachable offenses.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Link to tweet
Laurence H. Tribe is Carl M. Loeb University Professor and Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School.
The time has come for Congress to launch an impeachment investigation of President Trump for obstruction of justice. ....
......... the country is faced with a president whose conduct strongly suggests that he poses a danger to our system of government.
Ample reasons existed to worry about this president, and to ponder the extraordinary remedy of impeachment, even before he fired FBI Director James B. Comey and shockingly admitted on national television that the action was provoked by the FBIs intensifying investigation into his campaigns ties with Russia.
Even without getting to the bottom of what Trump dismissed as this Russia thing, impeachable offenses could theoretically have been charged from the outset of this presidency. One important example is .....................
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TheFrenchRazor
(2,116 posts)Cha
(304,374 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)because the guy is too honest to tolerate his crimes. How many pissed off Republicans at this point?
And now Trump threatens Comey with secret surveillance? Has a civil war begun in their own ranks?
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Cha
(304,374 posts)against comey for anything he might have to say in the future?!
Thanks for the Tweet for KO.. they support him because they think he's going to get them everything they've always dreamed of.
They don't care that he's a hideously insane idiot.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Last edited Fri May 12, 2017, 10:08 AM - Edit history (1)
President Obama must be ROLF'ing about now, first Trump falsely accuses him of a "wire tapp" and now Trump implies he wire tapped Comey.
The guy in the White House is totally bonkers at this point, so in all seriousness, Obama is probably crying, not to mention Hillary.
Hey Comey, one voice can change the world.
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L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Not yet on YouTube, out in a tweet:
You Cant Fire the Person Investigating You
This is either the end of Trump or the end of our democracy
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L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Last edited Fri May 12, 2017, 11:30 AM - Edit history (1)
Caitlin MacNeal, Esme Cribb and Matt Shuham Published May 12, 2017
.... Trump contradicted his entire communications staff on the rationale for Comeys dismissal during a highly-anticipated Thursday interview with NBCs Lester Holt, in which he revealed he had the FBI probe into his campaign on his mind when he decided to go through with bringing the hammer down.
Heres how the White House narrative evolved in the aftermath of the shock firing.
Rosensteins memo was the catalyst
In the initial aftermath of Comeys firing, the White House pinned his ouster on a three-page memo from Rosenstein. The deputy attorney general .............
You just can't fix stupid!
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L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Mark Hensch - 05/10/17
Comeys lack of support partially led Trump to fire him, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.
The Post said that Trump was also angry Comey publicly revealed the breadth of counterintelligence into Russias meddling in the 2016 presidential race.
Trump also disliked Comey paying more attention to the FBIs probe of Russian election interference than leaks from administration officials to journalists.
The Post said it confirmed its report of Trumps growing animosity toward Comey with more than 30 officials, including from the White House
Meanwhile, the most significant week in recent political history continues to unfold unpredictably as Trump's presidency crashes and burns at breakneck speed:
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Alice11111
(5,730 posts)a kennedy
(31,803 posts)oh right, he's not a politician, he's a businessman, and give him time to get up to speed.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)When Trump crossed his 100-day threshold, many of us hoped we had survived the most jaw-dropping saga in modern American politics. Then this week happened. ............
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L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)By Amy Davidson May 12, 2017
What I did was, I was going to fire Comey, Trump said. My decision. One could almost see the thought bubble over his head: Me, me, me.
HOLT: Because your letter, you said, II accepted their recommendation, so you had already made the decision.
TRUMP: Oh, I was going to fire regardless of recommendation.
Trump also said that although Rosenstein was a very smart guy, he, Trump, was actually thinking about something not mentioned at all in his memo when I decided to just do itthat is, to fire Comey: I said to myself, I said, you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story; its an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won. His aides, needless to say, had spent the day saying that Comeys firing had nothing to do with Russia.
............. Trump would rather raise the possibility that hed had an improper, if not actually illegal, conversation with Comey than leave anyone with the impression that he couldnt instruct the people who worked for him to do anything he desired. ..............
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oberliner
(58,724 posts)No Republican has even hinted at possibly of supporting such a thing (and it can't happen without Republican support).
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)His new private attorney has probably already advised him to resign, just after advising him that he has the right to remain silent. The 26 new attorneys hired by the White House must be pulling their hair out as their client keeps digging a deeper and deeper hole.
So why does Trump have a new private law firm? The implication seems to be that he knows he is under investigation for crimes before entering office. White House counsel cannot represent him for previous crimes!
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Agents are pissed off at the way he was fired, the total disrespect with which it was handled. It was a slap in the face to the F.B.I., to everybody in the F.B.I.
Chris Smith May 11, 2017
............ a year. Thats the amount of time it was likely going to take the Justice Departments Office of the Inspector General to probe Comeys actions in handling the investigation of Hillary Clintons e-mails. If President Donald Trump was looking for a pretext to fire the F.B.I. director, a critical inspector generals report could presumably provide it. Next year.
Clearly, Comey underestimated Trumps impatienceas well as the presidents pathological inability to allow anyone to question the legitimacy of his election, let alone keep pressing the investigations into the Trump campaigns possible ties with Russia. Comey is now puttering in his yard in Northern Virginia. But the political and legal whirlwind that his firing has set in motion is just beginning to spin, with the White House and the F.B.I. subject to the greatest damage. Even pro-Trump agents are horrified and furious at how Comey was treated. It shows us, the career people who care only about justice, that there is no justice at the top, one agent says. ................
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L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)More news breaking every day, a pace difficult to keep up with, even without the behind the scenes news. Gorsuch RECUSED?
With a secret FISA court having jurisdiction, the Supreme Court is involved and Roberts is the lead jurist. It seems Gorsuch cannot be in the loop.
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Guilded Lilly
(5,591 posts)2naSalit
(91,888 posts)Bookmarking for future refs.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Just a reminder, Comey was fired after Comey's classified briefing to the Intel committee. What did the Republicans tell Trump?
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L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Five Reasons the Comey Affair Is Worse Than Watergate
A journalist who covered Nixons fall 45 years ago explains why the current challenge to America may be more severeand the democratic system less capable of handling it.
James Fallows May 12, 2017
So Ive been thinking about comparisons between Watergate and the murky, fast-changing Comey-Russia-Flynn-Trump affair. As with anything involving Donald Trump, we have no idea where this will lead, what is true, and when the next bombshell will go off.
But based simply on what is known so far, this scandal looks worse than Watergate. Worse for and about the president. Worse for the overall national interest. Worse in what it suggests about the American democratic systems ability to defend itself. Here is a summary of some reasons why: ...............
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Locutusofborg
(540 posts)No way the Republican controlled House would vote out a Bill of Impeachment and no way 19 Republican Senators (plus all 48 Democrats/Independents ) would vote Trump guilty of any offense.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)And if Trump and his campaign are charged with egregious crimes, the Repulicans will impeach him or he will resign.
gordianot
(15,462 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)shraby
(21,946 posts)Kudos to you for starting it. K & R
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Benjamin Locke- May 12, 2017
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has some answers and they are terribly disturbing for all of us who are patriotic and not among the very richest Americans.
He shows why Republicans, who for generations claimed to be the party of patriots, now refuse to consider an independent investigation of Trump and Russia despite unrefutable evidence that a foreign power is gleefully tampering with our country.
Krugmans answer is that the 2017 Republicans are more interested in serving the desires of the rich and powerful who give them huge donations and when they lose their positions, hire them for wildly over-compensated jobs instead of doing what is right for all Americans.
.............
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L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Link to tweet
This thread and the new thread are very much converging into a single story. The same Grand Jury issued the sealed indictments on Trump. Manafort, Flynn, and others.
Those doubting the Mensch and Taylor reporting should avail themselves to the public record!
EXCLUSIVE: Sealed Indictment granted against Donald Trump
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)L. Coyote
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5:02 Heard on All Things Considered
May 13, 2017
Amid comparisons between President Trump's firing of FBI Director Comey and the Watergate scandal's "Saturday Night Massacre," John Dean, a White House Counsel to Nixon, shares a historical view.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)May 15, 2017
A case can now be made based on what Donald Trump did last week.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)A Times Exclusive: Trump, Comey and the Russia Investigation
By A.J. CHAVAR | May. 16, 2017 | 1:36
VIDEO: Michael S. Schmidt, a New York Times reporter, explains new revelations from a memo written by the fired F.B.I. director James B. Comey. The memo showed that President Trump may have tried to halt the agency's investigation into Michael T. Flynn.
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L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)May 16, 2017
Donald Trump fired James Comey after asking him to drop the FBI investigation of Michael Flynn raises the spectre of obstruction of justice. Lawrence O'Donnell discusses with former federal prosecutor Samuel Buell, Tim Weiner, and Joy Reid.
oasis
(51,485 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Streamed live
House Democrats are holding a news conference on a reported memo by former FBI director James Comey, which claims President Trump obstructed justice during Russia probe
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L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)May 17, 2017
Rep. Al Green (D-TX): "I rise today, Mr. Speaker, to call for the impeachment of the President of the United States of America for obstruction of justice."
Trump's New Impeachable Offenses: Obstruction of Justice, Conspiracy, Abuse of Power
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Trump asked two of the nations top intelligence officials in March to help him push back against an FBI investigation into possible coordination between his campaign and the Russian government, according to current and former officials.
Trump made separate appeals to the director of national intelligence, Daniel Coats, and to Adm. Michael S. Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency, urging them to publicly deny the existence of any evidence of collusion during the 2016 election.
Coats and Rogers refused to comply .............
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L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)May 15, 2017
The American historian accurately called every U.S. election outcome since 1984, including Trump's win. Now he's laying out reasons why the president could be impeached.
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Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)The conspiracy just gets ever more complex and intertwined as more reports surface, adding evidence and co-conspirators as well as conspirator motives.
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L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Link to tweet
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By MATT APUZZO and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDTJUNE 7, 2017
WASHINGTON From his first days in office, President Trump repeatedly put pressure on his F.B.I. director, James B. Comey. He demanded loyalty. He asked that an investigation into an adviser be dropped. And he implored Mr. Comey to publicly clear his name.
As Mr. Comey described Wednesday in written testimony prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mr. Trumps entreaties continued for months, in unexpected phone calls and awkward meetings. As Mr. Comeys discomfort grew, so did the presidents persistence and his frustration with Mr. Comeys unwillingness to help.
..... He asked what we could do to lift the cloud, Mr. Comey wrote after a March 30 phone call with Mr. Trump. I responded that we were investigating the matter as quickly as we could, and that there would be great benefit, if we didnt find anything, to our having done the work well. He agreed, but then re-emphasized the problems this was causing him. ...............
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L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Jun 7, 2017
Rep. Ted Lieu weighs in on new reporting from the Washington Post that a top intel official told associates the President asked him to intervene with fired FBI Director Comey about the Russia probe.
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pnwmom
(109,445 posts)dangling the FBI job over his head in exchange for his promise of "loyalty."
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Jason Easley on Sat, Jun 10th, 2017
Former Bush ethics lawyer Richard Painter told NBC News:
The Department of Justice reports to the President of the United States. And the President of the United States is saying, youre going to be a witness against me? Im going to open an investigation against you thats clearly witness intimidation, and that itself is obstruction of justice, Painter said.
So theyre going to compound the problem, he said.
Every solution that Trump comes up with to make himself feel better only serves to add to his troubles. Going after James Comey for an act that wasnt a crime is a horrible idea. Instead of moving on after Comeys testimony, the President is trying to intensify and personalize the conflict. Trumps motivation for attacking Comey isnt to save his presidency, but to punish the former FBI director for testifying before the Senate.
Trump has used bullying and legal threats throughout his entire adult life, but he is in way over his head as president. Donald Trump is getting a hard lesson in the realities of presidential power ...............
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L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Devlin Barrett, Adam Entous, Ellen Nakashima and Sari Horwitz June 14
The move by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III to investigate Trumps own conduct marks a major turning point in the nearly year-old FBI investigation, which until recently focused on Russian meddling during the presidential campaign and on whether there was any coordination between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Investigators have also been looking for any evidence of possible financial crimes among Trump associates, officials said.
Trump had received private assurances from former FBI Director James B. Comey starting in January that he was not personally under investigation. Officials say that changed shortly after Comeys firing.
Five people briefed on the requests, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said Daniel Coats, the current director of national intelligence, Adm. Mike Rogers, head of the National Security Agency, and Rogers recently departed deputy, Richard Ledgett, agreed to be interviewed by Muellers investigators as early as this week. The investigation has been cloaked in secrecy and its unclear how many others have been questioned by the FBI.
The NSA said in statement that it will fully cooperate with the special counsel, and .......................
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L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)L. Coyote
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L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Jul 19, 2017
In an astonishing interview with the New York Times, Trump said if knew Sessions would recuse himself in the Russia probe, he'd have picked a different Attorney General. Lawrence O'Donnell explains this is a "signal" from Trump about the unfolding investigation.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Muellers Grand Jury: What It Means
The news that special counsel Robert Mueller has impaneled a grand jury has shaken Washington, fueling speculation that the investigation into Russian election meddling is growing in scope and seriousness.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that Mueller, whose team of prosecutors has swelled to 16 in recent weeks, now has a dedicated pool of 23 grand jurors charged with examining subpoenaed documents, listening to witness testimony and ultimately deciding whether criminal charges are warranted.
A spokesman for the special counsel declined to confirm or deny the existence of the grand jury. ............
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L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Barry H. Berke, Noah Bookbinder, and Norman Eisen -- October 10, 2017
Note: Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a party (and is providing representation to other parties) in active litigation involving President Trump and the administration. Noah Bookbinder is the executive director and Norman Eisen is the chair and co-founder of CREW. Barry Berke and Kramer Levin are outside pro bono counsel to CREW.
Our paper proceeds in four parts. In Section I, we summarize the relevant facts and allegations that can be gleaned from witness testimony and credible media reports. In Section II, we explain the law governing obstruction of justice and how it applies to the apparent facts and allegations as currently known. In Section III, we lay out the options available after Special Counsel Mueller has completed his investigation. These options include referral of the case to Congress, indictment of the president, holding the case pending removal of the president, and closing the case without indictment. Finally, in Section IV, we discuss the actions that Congress could take concurrently with or in addition to Muellers investigation. We explain that although Congresss decision to take those steps is ultimately governed by both political and legal standards, there is precedent for impeaching a president .....
Discuss: https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029693845
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L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)By MIKE LEVINE -- Nov 19, 2017
In particular, Mueller's investigators are keen to obtain emails related to the firing of FBI Director James Comey and the earlier decision of Attorney General Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from the entire matter, according to a source who has not seen the specific request but was told about it.
Issued within the past month, the directive marks the special counsel's first records request to the Justice Department, and it means Mueller is now demanding documents from the department overseeing his investigation.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein played key roles in Comey's removal. And Sessions has since faced withering criticism from Trump over his recusal and Rosenstein's subsequent appointment of Mueller.
Mueller's investigators now seek not only communications between Justice Department officials themselves, but also any communications with White House counterparts, the source said. Before this request, investigators asked former senior Justice Department officials for information from their time at the department, ABC News was told.
The latest move suggests the Special Counsel is still actively digging into, among other matters, whether Trump or any other administration official improperly tried to influence an ongoing investigation. ....................