Yesterday was Donald Trump’s 71st birthday. The Washington Post decided to throw him a special impeachment-themed birthday party by way of a stunning but not surprising exclusive story. The story? Independent Counsel Robert Mueller has expanded the Russia investigation to include interviews about Trump’s possible and probable obstruction of justice. Here are the main thrust:
The special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election is interviewing senior intelligence officials as part of a widening probe that now includes an examination of whether President Trump attempted to obstruct justice, officials said.
The move by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III to investigate Trump’s 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 then-FBI Director James B. Comey starting in January that he was not personally under investigation. Officials say that changed shortly after Comey’s firing.
Five people briefed on the interview requests, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said that Daniel Coats, the current director of national intelligence, Mike Rogers, head of the National Security Agency, and Rogers’s recently departed deputy, Richard Ledgett, agreed to be interviewed by Mueller’s investigators as early as this week. The investigation has been cloaked in secrecy, and it is unclear how many others have been questioned by the FBI.
WaPo goes on to say that the investigation shifted/expanded in the days following James Comey’s firing, and the days after Trump’s interview with Lester Holt where he said outright that he fired Comey because of the Russia investigation. Makes sense, because those two things – the firing of Comey and the Holt interview – were widely seen as Exhibit A and Exhibit B in any obstruction of justice charges to come.
Also: remember during the campaign, when Trump was so bratty and child-like that he would literally accuse everyone else of something he did himself? He does that as president too. His current thing is to attack everyone else as being guilty of “leaking” – when he’s actually the biggest leaker, having leaked highly sensitive and classified material to Russian officials. Mark Corallo is the spokesman for Trump’s lawyer Marc Kasowitz, and Corallo responded to this WaPo story with this statement: “The FBI leak of information regarding the president is outrageous, inexcusable and illegal.” The Washington Post did not claim that this information came from the FBI. A case could be made – and probably will be made – that the information could have easily come from the staffs of Coats, Rogers and Richard Ledgett. Once the FBI and DOJ investigators start interrogating/interviewing people around the president, everybody starts blabbing.
Here’s the statement from the president of the United States on WaPo’s report:
They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2017
“Nice” is the new “Sad!”
Update: He’s still tweeting. SAD!
You are witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history – led by some very bad and conflicted people! #MAGA
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2017
No, Bigly. You are the very bad and conflicted person.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
HBD asshole!
Couldn’t have said it better myself. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
When will this nightmare of a Presidency be over. There were reports Trump was going to fire Mueller but was talked out of it. I hope this Washington Post story doesn’t unhinge Trump further and he does fire Mueller. The thing is if there’s nothing to hide and you’re so innocent, let the investigation proceed and clear your name. Why act this way if there’s nothing to hide?
He can’t actually fire Mueller directly. That can only be done by Deputy AG Rosenstein, who already said the special cousel can only be fired for cause and he sees no cause for firing Mueller. Trump could try to direct Rosenstein to fire Mueller but it is likely Rosenstein would resign instead. Trump could also fire Rosenstein and try to find a Justice department official who would fire Mueller but that is ultimately the kind of action that led to Nixon’s resignation.
I can’t see any Republicans protesting these days regarding Trump’s efforts to fire Mueller. They’ve sold their souls to Putin, and I think they mean to see this through, come what may.
Can you imagine, though, if he did fire Mueller after it was released that Mueller started an obstruction of justice investigation? It would be doubling down on stupid! I wouldn’t put it past him, but it would just strengthen the case AND it wouldn’t stop the investigation. He seems to fail to realize that these investigations aren’t just a 1 person operation. It is my understanding that removing 1 person won’t stop the investigation(s) from continuing.
But yes, EOA is correct. He can’t have Deputy AG fire Mueller without cause.
Yep what Mueller’s team did by leaking the info to WaPo was brilliant. Orangino can’t touch him without nuking himself. So if he’s that stupid, go ahead, it will bring and end to this farce sooner.
I would think that is why someone leaked that he is being investigated for obstruction of Justice.
It will be much harder to fire him. And if he does, yet another obstruction of Justice charge
Even IF OOJ investigation goes through…guess who gets to decide what to do with it? YEperz. Congress. And who will break the tie? Voldemere. I meant, Pence.
This leak is in direct response to Trump’s rumored plans to fire Mueller and numerous GOP members, like Mike Lee, who also voted against Russian sanctions & helped steal that SCOTUS seat last year, loudly proclaiming that they had seen no evidence of obstruction or collusion and the ENTIRE Russia investigation should be shut down. Retired members of the intelligence community like Malcolm Nance and the exCIA/FBI guy on CNN, whose name I never remember, have said that the intelligence community, which tends to be extremely conservative and patriotic, is extremely alarmed by what they have seen and will do whatever is necessary to get this thoroughly investigated and acted upon. And then there is MOSSAD, which now has a grudge against Trump.
And all the GOP people could do last night was mumble talking points about leaks. Jake Tapper even managed to get a copy of the talking points memo.
If Mueller is fired and the Russian investigation is “officially” halted, do you think the intelligence community will continue its efforts to get the truth out to the public?
Congress really needs to protect Mueller from getting fired by Trump (actually, Trump needs to fire other people first as they refuse to fire Mueller, until he gets to one who will). They need to require Congressional approval before the Special Counsel is fired. That will also protect the Justice Department from losing a number of people as they individually refuse to carry out his orders.
This is the second time we’ve had a President who tried to avoid investigation this way. The last one was Nixon over Watergate, who was persuaded to resign before he was impeached. It’s time we woke up and realized that when the President or his staff are under investigation, it’s unwise to give the President power to fire the person leading the investigation.
Congress did do their job and required Congressional review of any plans to lift sanctions against Russia, which Trump tried to do very early in his Presidency. We were saved by State Department staffers who quietly made sure the right people knew about it before it happened. Congress needs to do the same to protect Mueller. They nearly all agree he’s a good person for the job and is fair.
Adam Schiff has mentioned that if Orangino fires Mueller. He has to power to hire Mueller back to serve Congress. I doubt these dogs will go down the tubes with Orangino.
Happy Birthday Foolius!!! And you only have yourself to blame for this.
I still don’t think he understands how an investigation works. If they did not find any proof, why would they keep expanding the scope? If there is nothing to investigate, then they would have just closed the case.
I guess he thinks that everyone is just as dumb as the people who were running the Benghazi carnival show.
Yes to everything you said, except I’m not sure the people who were running the Benghazi circus were as dumb as they were vindictive. Or as Bigly says, they were bad and conflicted.
Okay I am no lawyer, but how are they going to prove that he obstructed justice when it is his word against Comey? Comey documented his conversations with Trump but is it enough proof? What else can they possible find to prove that Donald Trump asked Comey to stop the Russia collusion investigation against his people?
Pattern of behavior – if made the same request or had the same convo with Coates, Rogers and/or Ledgett then it is Donald’s word v. Comey, Coates, Rogers, and Ledgett and possibly others.
Trump also fired US Attorney Preet Bharara in New York (who had been assured multiple times that Trumo wanted him to stay, just as happened with Comey) after making many ethically inappropriate contacts quite reminiscent of what he was attempting with Comey – to get him into a “friend” relationship. Bharara was apparently investigating something that at least indirectly involved Trump’s businesses.
My guess is that the investigation is surfacing other inappropriate behavior of the same sort or soon will. Trump has probably been using this tactic for a very long time to help smooth the way for him, getting investigations dropped. Remember that he funneled $25,000 through his Foundation to the Attorney General of Florida’s election campaign, and soon afterward she decided not to pursue an investigation of Trump University for Florida residents.
The inappropriate schmoozing of high-level Justice Department people also is a way to figure out who can be bribed outright. Now that he is President, he has the power to fire the honest ones. This is why he was so angry with Sessions recusing himself – the deal was that Sessions as Attorney General would derail the Russia investigation. Now he can’t do that and his Deputy apparently can’t be bribed, considering he went ahead and actually hired another honest man as the Special Counsel after Comey was fired. But it would have been political suicide for Sessions to not recuse himself and he knew it. Hence Sessions has been trying to offer his resignation, apparently several times. He wants out but he’s afraid of Trump’s wrath if he does it without permission. Poor little elf.
Great response, jwoolman!
He can release the tape he says he has with Comey. Then it would be his tape against Comey’s memo. And as The Other One says, a pattern of behavior. My money is on Comey’s memos.
The real importance may not be in the initial charges..when you open a fed investigation, they can follow leads into all sorts of things–business, financial, past associations…the talking heads that say this isn’t a big deal are naive in ignoring what feds can uncover.
Yes, like with Clinton and Whitewater. Although it seems to me with Trump the initial charges have merit. Especially since he flat out told Lester Holt that he fired Comey because of the Russia investigation.
Taxes, too?
It is my understanding that Comey not only wrote memos, he also talked to 5-10 FBI staff members about the conversations within 24 hours of them happening. That is corroboration of the memos. Asking Sessions, etc., if they were asked to leave the room corroborates Comey’s testimony.
I also think that Trump saying on broadcast TV that he fired Comey because of the Russian investigation is proof of obstruction of justice on it’s own (I am not a lawyer).
Well, you have to hand it to Comey… He truly did a great job in covering his ass on this one.
Very true, vaultdweller101. I think it is very telling that Comey knew something was off on day 1 and immediately started documenting. That habit of obsessively documenting could really help the investigation.
Also the courts ruled that notes from law enforcement can be admissible evidence. Coupled with the character of Comey vs. Orangino who is more believable? Plus he asked the same questions to Coats etc. There is a pattern.
This is not going to stick. This monster is f-ing Teflon, and we are stuck with him.
*returns to cave.
I agree, it seems nothing sticks to him.
Don’t give up so easily Clare. We have a long way to go but we will be vindicated. Remember watergate took about 2 1/2 to be resolved. Nixon was re-elected during that time if I’m not mistaken.
^^^Yes! This is important to keep in mind. The Washington Post article which informed the nation about the details behind Watergate was released in Oct. 1972. Nixon was re-elected in Nov. 72. It wasn’t until August of 1974 that impeachment process started.
It takes time…but that doesn’t mean that progress isn’t being made. *** The most important advancements in this investigation won’t be public, they will be confidential until the whole this is ready to blow open. ***
Don’t fret. His approval numbers are dismal. Tangerine may just decompensate completely before the year is out. They may find him curled in an orange fetal position tweeting maniacally say around late October. Early November if he can double up on golf excursions in the fall.
Obstruction of justice is what ultimately brought Nixon down…I am hopeful.
But it was the Congress not the special investigator that ultimately went after Nixon. Unfortunately, we have GOP controlled do nothing Congress that won’t carry out its duty to impeach.
The Republican Congress during Nixon did not want to impeach until the evidence became overwhelming – namely the tape. But these Republicans will do what they have to including impeachment if Donald becomes a political liability. They are already independently increasing sanctions against Russia and simultaneously decreasing his executive power.
An investigation is a lengthy process. 2018. 2018. 2018. 2018.
Law enforcement investigations like this take a long time. There are a lot of layers and a lot of players. 2018 is not that far away. And he will continue to have meltdowns, tantrums, act stupidly and hoist himself on his own petard.
It is true that we no longer have the likes of Ed Brooke in the Senate but the intelligence community is not going to back down on this. He and the GOP have made it worse for themselves by insulting the FBI
Happy Birthday, you big pile of steaming poop! 💩
Did he get a haircut for his birthday?
Hahahahahaha! 😂
It’s a sad world we live in, because one of my first thoughts was: it’s really interesting that this GOP baseball practice shooting where everyone was shot in their extremities and no one was fatally injured happened on the same day we were to find out that Donald Trump is under investigation for obstruction. I hated myself for thinking it afterward, but I couldn’t help it. This is what this presidency has done to me, and I don’t like it.
That said, I was genuinely giddy for the first time in a long time last night.
His entire, sorry, corrupt business life has been spent fending off lawsuits. He probably thinks this is just another one. Welcome to the big time, donnie. Hope you end up in the Big House. Maybe one of your buddy’s for profit hellholes.
That’s an interesting thought. Trump’s so clueless he thinks this is just like the multiple real estate lawsuits he’s had to face in the past. If that’s the case, he’s about to get schooled in a big way…lol
In terms of trumps lawyer there was a great tweet about how the team working for Mueller has several lawyers/former prosecutors that have taken down mobster and the mafia.
And Trumps guy is a real estate lawyer. *eye roll*
Part of me thinks it isn’t that trump is guilty-it’s just that he’s so dumb and his ego gets in the way that continues to do things that make him look guilty (when he’s trying to look tough) which everyone comments makes him look bad and then the ego monster starts again.
Maybe he’s not guilty of collusion, but he’s definitely looking guilty of obstruction. And that’s being as kind and fair as I can.
I stopped reading after “probed.”
I’ll take my comfort anywhere I can get it.
Lol Whatever gets you through.
There is an infamous Nixon quote in which he says that he “gave” his enemies “the sword” with which to destroy him. It’s notable for its paranoia, its disregard for the law, and its Shakespearean echoes. Trump does not go for any such fancy allusions. However, the basic qualities are exactly the same.
Trump isn’t literate enough.
Okay replace sword with bigly light saber and it could still be a Trump quote.
LOL.
Trump isn’t smart enough. For someone who went to the best schools, I guess he was chasing and harassing women during his formative years.
Hey now, Andrea! Trump once canceled a golf game to watch Ken Burns’s Civil War. He’s very intellectual, okay.
Corallo never denied the statement. Very telling!
And I believe Michael Cohem will be brought in for questioning. Oops!
Happy 7th birthday ManBaby!
Hoisted with his own petard… Poor baby.
But it was a pretty obvious conclusion that even if he hadn’t been an individual target for investigation earlier when he kept poking FBI Director Comey – Lordy, he sure would be once he fired Comey. Especially when he admitted what everybody knew on Holt’s interview, that he fired Comey because Comey continued to pursue the Russia investigation.
Trump should have read the history of Nixon and Watergate more closely. On second thought, keep on being ignorant, Mr. President. You don’t have to read. Books and old articles are boring and beneath you. Tweet all you want. Don’t let lawyers and staff prevent you from keeping the American people directly informed about your every thought the moment it is thunk. Keep talking to interviewers on tv. We are all waiting with intense anticipation for every tweet and every golden word from your mouth. Really! I wouldn’t kid you about that. Tweet on!
After his Coronation, when he started binge-tweeting his every twisted idea, I thought “That orange baboon is going to Tweet himself right out of the White House.” He’s arrogant and delusional enough to believe that he can get away with anything, because he always has. Mr. con artist “businessman” has been screwing people over for decades, and now it’s time he toppled from his lofty perch.
Shouldn’t he know not to mess with the FBI?! Doesn’t everyone know that? Perhaps the worm is about to turn.
Kellyanne Conjob’s hubby pretty much told him to stop tweeting. He also turned down a position with the govt because I think he knows Orangino’s days are numbered.
This presidency is just exhausting and never-ending. Having diehard Republican parents means Faux News playing on a loop all day in the living room and having to hear my dad yelling “He’s president! He can fire whoever he wants! They need to get over it!” is gonna drive me into ‘hysteria’. 🙄
My parents and brother too!
oh man, that sucks.
Sometimes I wish trump and his “fans” would just go off and start their own country.
Oh, the irony of the fact that having fired Comey may be his downfall is DELICIOUS!
I thought McCarthyism was the greatest political witch hunt in history?
For Trump, history extends back to Nov 2016, and only includes anything related to him personally.
trump’s name isn’t found anywhere in its history, so he’s unaware of it.
LOL brilliant SusanneToo
Who are we kidding-he probably doesn’t even know who McCarthy was.
Agreed, afterall he thinks Fredrick Douglass is alive.
I do think this is good news. His supporters know nothing about the rule of law. Justice moves slowly, but surely. He took an oath to protect this country and uphold our laws. He has no idea what is coming for him.
Does he really expect people to believe that everyone is just out to get him? The Russians are working WITH our intelligence agencies to take him down? Everybody knew ahead of time he’d get all paranoid and obstruct an investigation he claims is fake??
This dude is a piece of work. Incredibly dishonest, selfish, graceless, stupid and utterly amoral.
DT did this to himself. End of story. Comey told him he wasn’t under investigation. He never should have fired him. He’d still be sitting pretty if he hadn’t done that, and if he hadn’t admitted to Lester Holt that the firing was related to the Russia investigation.
Bet Biglg is super mad at Jared now. Word was he is the one who encouraged the Comey firing. Should’ve went to Zales, Bigly.
There is a cute video on daily mail with Australian Prime Minister mocking 45 about how much they are winning ect. Very funny.
I saw that a little while ago on the “fake news ” channel CNN.So funny! Everyone on DM seem to be Trumpsters. They’re probably ranting and raving like the Trump children do about how vicious and mean we are since we’re not people and have no morals. Hilarious. I’ll definitely watch it again and again
The kindest thing I could say is that he turned a blind eye when his people were all over communicating with the Russian government…? But I feel there’s no way they didn’t tell him, that he didn’t know, he’s too controlling for that. I definitely think he’s guilty of obstruction, that he’s probably been obstructing justice most of his life and he will be the cause of his own ends.
^^^This!!!
baby fists’ cozy, jokey manner with Kilyak when they mocked Comey after his firing says it all. baby fists and Kislyak (and Putin) have a relationship based in an easy banter, telling each other’s secrets, making sleazy deals and a great confidence that they know each other very well and think they are smarter than everybody else. baby fists’ knows and condones what the Russians did to infiltrate our democracy and he doesn’t care because it doesn’t interfere with his getting cash from Russian banks.
And if the Libs, and Dems, and Republican in name only (that are so well represented here) finally finish gnashing their teeth and hating his guts all the way out ,I ask you, -when all of the old oak trees in Washington have finally been eviscerated and cut down low to your satisfaction- who will you raise up as President then? I’m sincerely asking ya’ll …will you pick loser crooked Hillary again ? Or will you give President Obama a third term? I would seriously like to know that answer. Maybe the former President will pick Kamala Harris for his Vice President, y’all are salivating at that thought now right? Don’t forget to raise up David Miliband as Secretary of State too , okay? Could be the future’s Socialist Dream team ! Good luck with all of that !
So if a Republican doesn’t support Trump then that person is a Republican in name only? How about that person is putting country over party? So the last 8 years when people were bashing Obama, were you saying the same thing? Honestly, I don’t like Trump’s policies or his way of saying one thing one day and then doing a 180 and saying the exact opposite the next with no real reason for the switch. That’s not how you run a company, a country, a charitable organization, etc. Just saying.
You do know that all the countries in the world that score highest on standard of living, happiness, health, mortality, and education are all more socialist than the US. Yet you say it with such disdain like it would be the worst thing ever for slightly more socialist policies. As someone living in one of those countries; I don’t know why on earth you have that mentality. I feel like a lack of education can be the only reason.
Lol Crooked Hillary? Go ahead ignore facts and the realities of who is in the White House. He has always been a rotten human being who hung tight with the mafia and Don King who is a murderer 2 times over. Once he stomped someone to death. But he and Tangerine are great pals. Soooo Beth you support a man like that in the White House. His dirty business deals or how about Crooked Jared’s convict father and his sleazy scandal. Surely you are beside yourself about that SJW.
It doesn’t really matter who gets “raised up” next, because basically anyone would be better than Trump. He is a complete and dismal failure, so the good news is that we can only go up from here.
lol I’ve been a Republican for 30 years, but I voted country over party this time.
Because anyone with a IQ and eyes knows cheetolini is corrupt and a inexperienced threat to our country.
Who I’m hoping gets in , in 2020 is Joe Biden
This is what happens every time the press and people praise Trump for being “presidential”(reading a speech from a teleprompter that someone else prepared or dropping bombs on countries). Trump somehow thinks that these “presidential” moments will wipe out all of negative press, which was generated by his bad behavior. I don’t understand why the press falls for this every time.
Trump is having another meltdown and he is back to tweeting about Hilliary. Hillary didn’t go on tv and ask the Russians to hack Trump(evidence of collusion with the Russians); tell Lestor Holt that she fired Comey to stop the Russian Trump investigation(evidence of obstruction of justice); lie about Obama wiretapping her; had Devin Nunes and 3 WH staffers reverse engineer support for the Obama wiretap lie(evidence of obstruction of justice); request that Rogers, Coats, Nunes, Burr, Comey, McCabe, and many others, to refute the Trump Russian collusion stories in the press(evidence of obstruction); invite 2 Russians to the WH a day after firing Comey where she leaked classified information to them that he wasn’t supposed to even talk about and bragged about how she fired Comey to stop the Russian investigation(evidence of obstruction and collusion); had Devin Nunes halt all activities of the HIC just to prevent Sally Yates from testifying(evidence of obstruction); threatened both Sally Yates and Comey on twitter(intimidation of a witness and therefore is an example of evidence of obstruction); tried to use her lawyer to scare Sally Yates into not testifying before the HIC(intimidation of a witness and therefore is an example of evidence of obstruction); had Rosenstein reverse engineer a letter to fire Comey; or invited Rubio and Cotton to dinner so that she could instruct them on what to do and say when they question Comey and Sessions. Trump is in this position because of Trump.
What does he mean by bad and conflicted people? Is he talking about Mueller? Didn’t they try to hire Muller? So now that Mueller isn’t backing down after Trump put out all those stories about how he was going to fire Muller(someone said he threatens people’s jobs to get them to do what he wants them to do. He thinks that saying he will fire Mueller will make Mueller vindicate him and conclude that Trump didn’t collude with the Russians), he is bad and conflicted?
Trump is the king of Witch Hunts. Sally Yates, Obama, the Central Park 5, Susan Rice, Ted Cruz’s father, and all those women who exposed Trump for harassing them have all been verbally attacked by Trump.
I just hope that Muller doesn’t fall for Trump’s “I’m going to fire you if you don’t vindicate me ” campaign and doesn’t pull a McMaster, Devin Nunes, Spicer, and Rosenstein. These people all went into Bannon and Trump’s WH qualified and came out complicit. McMaster was viewed as the adult in the WH when he took charge and demoted Bannon and made Trump stop talking about the Obama wiretap lie, but that all went down hill when he started defending Trump’s bad behaviors and covering up for Trump when he leaked classified information to the Russians and removed article 5 from his Nato Speech. Trump tweeted that the attack in Manila was a terrorist attack, then when criticized by the media because it was a robbery, he said that McMaster gave him bad information. Rosenstein was told to write a memo(many pointed out how odd the memo was because it plagarized articles about Comey from last year and didn’t include legal references) to justify Comey’s firing when he knew that Trump was going to fire Comey before the letter was even written.
Trump’s tweets and words(speechs during his campaign) were enough to make the courts stop his Muslim ban 7 times, but why aren’t his words(the campaign speech where he directly asks Russian to hack Hillary or talks about what was in the hacked information before it’s even posted publicly or talked about how much he loves WL) and tweets not enough for collusion and obstruction of justice?
He’s tweeting about Crooked Hillary again >.<
Lol, of course he is. He literally has the mentality of an 8 year old.
Right now they are trying to character assassinate Mueller. Cabbage Patch Baby Newt and the other jerks are going around talking smack about Mueller. My thing is, if he says he’s not “guilty” then why the hysteria (yeah I went there) over the interviews? Sorry if you didn’t do it you would’t have a problem with Mueller looking around and asking questions.
On the other hand well played by Mueller’s Team. They leaked this and now if Orangino touches him, it sets off a massive chain reaction. Him and his stooges know this so they are going to talk smack about Mueller. How is there a conflict when you didn’t even see the final report?
What pisses me off is some people in Congress are still saying he’s a political novice so he should be pardoned for obstruction of justice. WTF! You don’t have to be a politician to know what obstruction of justice is. Plus he has a team of advisors.
Tangerine is way out of his depth with Mueller and Comey. He was with Obama. He doesn’t exactly hang with members of the national brain trust. His circle is full of a bunch of thugs. Real Estate in Atlantic City doesn’t happen without the mob and New York is full of dirty dealings. He got to feel special and smart. This is a game he doesn’t know how to play.
When his tweets didn’t stop people from talking about being under investigation, Trump went to Rosenstein and asked him to issue a statement to refute the “Trump is under investigation for obstruction of justice” headlines. Rosenstein issued a weird statement about the reports of Trump being under investigation for obstruction of justice, saying not to believe what was being reported, to not trust “anonymous” sources that don’t identify the country of the sources, and implied that the information was coming from a foreign source. Didn’t Trump also tweet that these stories can’t be trusted whenever they use “anonymous sources” and then he retweeted an article that used anonymous sources? So Rosenstein isn’t even hiding the fact that Trump is telling him what to say. The problem with Rosenstein’s statement is that the Trump administration confirmed that the story was true when they admonished the FBI for leaking classified information, many people pointed out how the article didn’t even mention that the source was the FBI and then when Trump got on twitter today he also confirmed that he was being investigated for obstruction.
Rosenstein is compromised, he lacks the ability to tell Trump no. Trump asked him to write a letter because he was going to fire Comey and he did it. Trump asked Rosenstein to push back on the obstruction of justice stories and once again, Rosenstein did it. What is it with this WH that it turns qualified people into complicit and incompetent people? Rosenstein had his chance to do his job and he failed. What if this was a test to see just how compromised by Trump, Rosenstein is?
Rosenstein is the only one that can stop Orangino from Firing Mueller. Comey has stated as much that Rosenstein waves where the winds blow. I don’t care if he did that weird statement to pacify the baby. I want him to stay on the job so Mueller cannot get fired. Although the chances of Mueller being asked to leave are pretty much nil now since it’s been disclosed that Orangino is under investigation.
Regarding the investigations, probably the most telling thing to happen over the past few days is that Pence has now lawyered up. Which likely means he is going to be questioned? About Flynn? About Trump?
The ongoing Trump tweeting is hilarious. After all the admonitions he’s had not to continue tweeting, I picture Trump reaching out for his smartphone, quietly mumbling the words ” I just can’t quit you!”