Trump v. Mueller

Writing in The Weekly Standard, former Solicitor General Ted Olson reviews the groundwork for subpoenaing a President. His gist: based on (scant) past precedent Mueller would need to demonstrate a specific need for information only the President has; a 'let's chat' fishing trip would not pass muster.

Based on what we have seen so far I imagine there are folks out there hoping that Mueller is angling to have Trump invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and then contort that into an obstruction charge. Strange times!

Comments

[Bunky]

Hey everybody!

[Threadkiller]

Ever since Ted Olson spooned Laurence Tribe while drafting the non-binding SR511 that declared McCain eligible, despite existing law, I have avoided his opinions.

Nice picture at the top of the linked article, BTW.

[Dave (in MA)]

Maybe Trump could take Mueller out for a cruise on The Stugots.

[Tom R]

SIAP http://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/388549-stopping-robert-mueller-to-protect-us-all

An oped from former Clintonista Mark Penn. Knowing his past background as a Clintonista, its really hard for me to accept this oped was written from a honest perspective. While the points he makes about all the problems associated with the Mueller SC investigation mirror the same exact points made by many people here, my main question is WHY would a Clintonista be making these points, which have also been made by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity?

While there is the possibility Penn is displaying true honesty here (and kudos to him if he is), knowing his background IMO what Penn is really doing is trying to protect the Clintons and the Democrat party. This would be a sign that Democrats are starting to get worried that Mueller could possibly be working with Trump to expose the corruption within the Deep State as well as the DC Uniparty Establishment. Assuming the Horowitz IG report comes out this week and it includes damning evidence against the Democrats, if we start to see other prominent Democrats call for the ending of the Mueller SC investigation then that will be a signal the Democrats have come to the realization that Mueller's investigation is larger in scope than they realized.

Of course if Penn is being completely honest then the oped represents someone putting their patriotism before their politics. In that case don't expect to see any Democrats calling for the end of the Mueller investigation.

[Janeprobably about 10 minutes after getting ther]

Insty via Stephen Green links yesterday's Pieces, with a nice long excerpt as I'm sure you know.

[Eye Doctor]

Tom R

Mueller is not working with Trump!

[Duda!]

Watching the President being humiliated by China is a sad sight.

Get off your knees cheto dust. You thought the Chinese were like a couple of local contractors you could bully. Now they're holding you by the neck in front of the world and they're saying "this is what happens to countries who fuck with us".

Humiliating.

[Eye Doctor]

Duda, perhaps John Kerry and James Taylor can go to China and make it all better.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Tom R.,

I have been noting certain people making comments - Jonathan Turley, whom I quoted this morning.

I think the panic is setting in, big time.

Whether Mueller is good or bad, I don't know. His actions have been a pain in the neck, unless he is a deliberate distraction away from the IG's investigation. (As we know, the DC press is a bunch of morons.)

Ben Rhodes has been very quiet on Twitter. So has Obama. Trump obviously knows Obama knew about this, given his tweets this morning.

It looks to me like they are going to lay the blame on this on Brennan, who is an unsympathetic figure. While I believe Brennan orchestrated the nuts and bolts of this plot, Obama had to know given what we have learned from the Page/Strzok texts and also the fact that Brennan incorporated dossier material in the PDF's, plus the fact that Obama contacts Hillary on the non-governmental email which was against the law.

"Because you'd be in jail."

[Old Lurker]

Pagar...20,000 sealed indictments. Ext...long seated GJ in Utah. Mueller met with Trump before his appointment, therefore. Sessions is an immensely capable prosecutor who knows how to hide his cards until the last minute. DoJ is looking into everything in detail starting the day after Trump moved in. Everything we know at JOM has been known by Trump long before and his team is building the biggest takedown since Michael stood as Godfather.

No doubt there are many many dots that once connected after the fact will "prove" that these are all meaningful observation. Or if nothing in fact happens, then these dots are just random stars in the sky, there never was an Orion, and he certainly was not wearing a belt.

How's that?

[rse]

Over the weekend Peter asked me to explain what I meant about organized deceit in several different areas that touch on ed. I just wrote it up in more detail and how I think it links to the school shootings. http://invisibleserfscollar.com/rising-like-a-phoenix-from-the-ashes-despite-repeated-autopsies-and-pretend-burials/

[Eye Doctor]

How anyone could at this point in history think that Mueller is anything but a criminal POS is baffling to me.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Well, there is this little added bit:

It sure is weird that a campaign with no candidate and no election paid so much money in 2016 to the law firm that funneled cash to Fusion GPS to hire foreign spies to attack Trump. https://t.co/pmCKNVE281

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) May 20, 2018

===============================

That is money from OFA (Obama for America) paid to Perkins Coie who paid Fusion GPS.
Money was paid beginning in April, 2016.

These people really thought Hillary would win and no one would look at those records, since his campaigns were over.

[Extraneus]

6th Amendment:

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

https://twitter.com/MsTriaI/status/998593500831731712

MsTrial has the records of payments to Perkins Coie and other interesting documents.

[Thomas Collins]

I think Penn's piece is to protect the Clintons. I don't think Mueller is working with Trump. However, as long as the Mueller witch hunt is on, the pushback from Team Trump will highlight past Obama/Clinton transgressions that Oligarch Media will have trouble muffling.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-05-21/fbi-informant-stefan-halper-paid-over-1-million-obama-admin-spied-trump-aide-after

That isn't for incidental expenses.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

http://dailycaller.com/2018/05/21/maxine-waters-campaign-funds-to-daughter/

Over 100 grand.

[Extraneus]

PROFESSOR: Trump ‘Animals’ Comment Puts U.S. On Track To Genocide

No, seriously, people, we are on the track to *official* ethnic cleansing. And, yes, it will be worse than what we've seen in the past several decades. And, yes, it can happen here. We are in grave peril. https://t.co/9bxLLWlfsm

— Woke Progress Administration (@profmusgrave) May 21, 2018

It's hard to sound the alarm without being written off as an alarmist, but if you think that American norms or institutions will somehow restrain the power of the state when deployed against those constructed as "the other" you are gravely, gravely mistaken. They will not.

— Woke Progress Administration (@profmusgrave) May 21, 2018

etc.

[Dave (in MA)]

@profmusgrave this shithead gets paid by donks taking money out of my paycheck.

[Dave (in MA)]

Doesn't consider MS-13 to be "the other".

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

It's hard to sound the alarm without being written off as an alarmist,

No problem; you sound like lunatic.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

A variation on the book advance scam:

President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama have entered into a multi-year agreement to produce films and series for Netflix, potentially including scripted series, unscripted series, docu-series, documentaries, and features.

— Netflix US (@netflix) May 21, 2018

[henry]

netflix fans, look what you are paying for:

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/21/barack-and-michelle-obama-sign-multi-year-deal-with-netflix.html?__source=twitter%7Cmain

[narciso]

A small detail:

https://mobile.twitter.com/Techno_Fog/status/998553924998070274

Re carter page, there are suggestions from the emails he presented, about how helper reeled him in.

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

36 12 I love that Trump is doubling down on calling MS-13 "animals". No retreat, no apologies. That's how you defeat the lying MSM.
Posted by: Guzalot at May 21, 2018 11:15 AM (prSvo)

I think this is why they *really* hate Trump. In their rulebook, it says that whenever the lefts point out what a rotten person you are, you're supposed to issue a grovelling apology. Trump never does this, he refuses to play by their rulebook, and the more he does this, the more deranged they get.

[Dave (in MA)]

Maybe they can have a season where Mooch and Reggie visit Jughead in the hoosgow.

[narciso]

From the link:

https://mobile.twitter.com/carterwpage/status/998131289063591936

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

unscripted series

A reality show in the Kalorama Kompound

[narciso]

Say, this blankenship fellow may be a bad egg:

https://mobile.twitter.com/CortesSteve/status/998556274584375297

[Dave (in MA)]

CH, I don't know if you're familiar with this DC-area purveyor of non-mainstream music, but back around New Year's they announced that they were going to go on hiatus for 2018 and reconsider whether it's worthwhile anymore to try to operate their record label.

Well, they just came back into operation, for now anyway, with two new releases involving Mary Halvorson. I know you're a fan.
http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/

[rich]

Posted by: Extraneus | May 21, 2018 at 12:03 PM

in re: to this and your comment on the other thread ... one stray thought I had is that it is the definition of "where the crime took place" ... if say it was accessing illegal surveillance materials, the interpretation of that could be accessing it where it was stored-Utah ... or it could just be no one in the Accela corridor wants to go out to Utah.

[henry]

rich, I assume anyone indicted would sue to change venue to DC anyway.

[rich]

no doubt henry. no doubt.

[rich]

i think i'm trying to be too clever anyway.

[Dave (in MA)]

Orange is the New ½Black

[narciso]

In season 2 of house of cards, one intrepid reporters does try to exfil data, not unlike what Seth rich is alleged to have done to the Dnc servers, at one of those data farms, to get evidence on underwood, he is arrested sent to jail, tries to attack him in season 4, and later serves as a source for a critical profile.

[Extraneus]

"The Stakes Here Go Beyond Trump's Future" WSJ Editors Demand Truth About FBI Spying

They can't help but take a gratuitous shot, though.

[Captain Hate]

Dave,

I have quite a few Cuneiform releases including the earlier Thumbscrew; the group's supposed to be here in a month promoting the two new ones. Didn't know about the label's hiatus interruptus since the economics of those entities makes less sense to me than real estate.

[Jack is Back!]

I agree with TC. This is getting to close to the flame and the Dems know it. I give you Mark Penn for one and the other being paranoid John Brennan. One to protect one extreme of the "insurance policy" coup and the other at the operations end of the spectrum.

I am intrigued by Trump's tweet ordering the DoJ/FBI investigation into spying on his campaign. He has been waiting for anknowledgement from the NYT andWaPo so he have earned credibility for opening up Pandora's box. Even Brennan fell for it in his response telling Mitch and Paul to oust Trump before he burns Brennan even further.

This reminds me of scouting expeditions to surveil the enemy before the major components of force are brought in. First, it starts with inadvertent skirmishes of small arms fire and then expands whe the tank and artillery brigades show up and start using the targeting maps the scouts or recon made.

Trump just let loose his first barrage of artillery.

[narciso]

I guess Hes going for a run silent run deep motif:

https://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/the-fight-moves-up-a-notch/

[Dave (in MA)]

I thought House of Cards became unmentionable once Spacey was unveiled as a diddler.

[narciso]

I'm pointed out its predictive elements, remember the showrunner hung around with schemer (by extension wiener) Hillary and Howard dean.

[Beasts of England]

Someone at Ace claims Rt. Rev. Comey has been missing from Twitter for about ten days...

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

http://themindcircle.com/volkswagen-hippy-van-new-electric-version/

1. I was half-way interested until I realized the photo at the top of the article is the OLD VW bus. The new one is ugly.

2. The only person I knew who had one of the old VW buses was a friend of my mother's who had 8 children.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Ken Livingstone has resigned from the Labour Party - Labour confirms

— steve hawkes (@steve_hawkes) May 21, 2018

[narciso]

Did he ever read the bible?

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6337719/pope-francis-gay-man-god-loves-you/

Yes, god loves all his creations, but one cannot continue to engage in sinful behavior.

[Dave (in MA)]

David Burge@iowahawkblog
 you know you're in a world class cosmopolitan city 
 when all the bathrooms have to be kept under lock 
 & key like the crown jewels

[Threadkiller]

Here are Trump's remarks at Langley today as well as Haspel's statement:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-swearing-ceremony-gina-haspel-director-central-intelligence-agency/

Here is a photo of Obama at The Whitehouse watching from the sidelines as Brennan was sworn in on something other that a Bible:

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/photos-and-video/photo/2013/03/president-obama-attends-swearing-ceremony-cia-director-john-brennan

Here Josh Earnest explains how great the administration is and why Brennan didn't use a Bible:

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/03/08/press-briefing-principal-deputy-press-secretary-josh-earnest-382013

Compare and contrast.

[Extraneus]

Chuck Ross:

The FBI Could Have Interviewed George Papadopoulos, But Opted To Spy On Him Instead

Here's an incidental detail I didn't know:

Papadopoulos has pleaded guilty to the special counsel’s office for lying to the FBI during that interview. As part of his plea deal, Papadopoulos admitted he lied about the timing of his interactions with two Russian nationals and a Maltese professor named Joseph Mifsud. Papadopoulos initially told FBI agents that the contacts occurred prior to joining the Trump campaign when, in fact, they occurred after he learned that he would be joining the Trump campaign in March 2016.

Is that what he had to plead guilty about? Seems like he told the truth if it was before he actually "joined."

[Dave (in MA)]

Miss Marple the Deplorable | May 21, 2018 at 01:07 PM, ditto to your #2. My uncle had 8 kids and they had one, but I can't remember if it was before or after their International Travelall.

[Dave (in MA)]

sworn in on something other that a Bible

Place your wiping hand on this fake dossier and repeat after me

[rse]

Just got a recorded phone call from hillary clinton asking me to vote for her friend stacy abrams in tomorrow's dem gubernatorial primary. Interesting.

[Janeprobably about 10 minutes after getting ther]

Hey Dave, Rocco, TC, Boatbuilder, and all you other nor'easters. I'm in Sturbridge, I have no idea for how long, and no idea when I'm free cause it's a bit of a crisis. I'd love to get together, but have no idea if I can.

Isn't that the best invite you've gotten in ages?

Anyway I'll let you know if I can work it out.

[narciso]

Getting back to the wisegu episode from 1990, there is a dossier of sorts a recipe for toppling the Japanese economy through Co terfeiting, the economist who wrote it is assassinated, the lobbying firm that commissioned it has to go into hiding, it is funded by a mysterious billionaire magnate.

[Dave (in MA)]

a bit of a crisis

:^(

[Janeprobably about 10 minutes after getting ther]

Yeah it sucks!

[Janeprobably about 10 minutes after getting ther]

BTW why in the Northeast am I wearing shorts and so sleeves, and am hot, while everyone around me has on jeans and wool shirts and is cold?

[Janeprobably about 10 minutes after getting ther]

No, not so sleeves

[Extraneus]

Mueller’s Dirty Lawyers Obtained Obscure ‘Special Status’ to Pursue Matters Outside of Special Counsel Mandate in Manafort Case

Last Thursday, Robert Mueller’s office begrudgingly gave Judge T.S. Ellis the unredacted Rosenstein memo detailing the Special Counsel’s scope in a sealed court filing.

Mueller knew the day would come he would be challenged by an honest judge so his team of hack lawyers resorted to some dirty tricks in order to stay in control of this case.

Mueller’s lawyers filed for, and obtained an obscure special status giving them dual roles as not only special counsel prosecutors, but also as ‘Special Assistant US Attorneys (SAUSAs) which could make it difficult for Judge Ellis to hand the case over to other prosecutors.

[Extraneus]

“As special assistant U.S. attorneys, they are not confined to the scope the special counsel is acting under,” said Haley White, a North Carolina attorney who wrote a 2015 law review article on the SAUSA phenomenon. “They can potentially have the ability to go outside that scope….They have all the powers and abilities that just a regular U.S. attorney would have.”

At least four of Mueller’s prosecutors have submitted court pleadings indicating they have SAUSA status: Andrew Weissmann, Greg Andres, Kyle Freeny and Scott Meisler.

[henry]

Gee Ext, that Rosenstein sure runs a tight ship. /sarc

[narciso]

Wait who gave them the status, and on what authority?

[lurkersusie]

The Public Evidence About Crossfire Hurricane Demands A Full Investigation, Stat
Rather than vindicate the FBI, this raises the specter that the FBI extensively targeted Trump campaign officials before its official launch of Crossfire Hurricane.
Margot Cleveland By Margot Cleveland
MAY 21, 2018
What we know about federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies’ spying on the Donald Trump campaign likely represents but a sliver of their covert activities. But it’s about time we do, and President Trump is right to demand an investigation. Here’s what we know so far.

In the run-up to the presidential election, on July 31, 2016, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) opened a “counterintelligence investigation” to probe whether the Trump campaign was colluding with Russia to influence the election. Over the last two weeks, in a series of articles, The New York Times and Washington Post revealed that the investigation, dubbed operation Crossfire Hurricane, involved a government informant connected to the Trump campaign.

http://thefederalist.com/2018/05/21/public-evidence-crossfire-hurricane-demands-full-investigation-stat/#disqus_thread

[Eye Doctor]

During the 2008 election the Bush DoJ stepped on anyone who came forward with damning info on Obama!

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

The Horde has pointed out that Susan Rice, noted expert on the agitation value of videos, is on the board of Netflix.

[henry]

maybe Sessions can asset forfeiture the Neflix thing.

[Eye Doctor]

Rahm Emanual is seizing cars faster than they can be imported.

[paladin2]

Fox News:

Trump to meet with Wray and Rosenstien at 3Pm today

[Tom R]

If my friends Tom R and RG wanted to tell me Rudy and Joe were the Italian yin and yang of 8d chess, I could be receptive to that.

8D Chess requires time travel and the existence of multiple universes of which Trump is the God Emperor of them all. I will stick to 4D Chess which would include among many things a deception campaign conducted by multiple people like Rudy and DiGenova.

[Extraneus]

Rod Rosenstein yearns for the days when no one knew who he was

[Eye Doctor]

Tom R

Are you still selling Mueller is working with Trump?

[exdemocrat]

lurkersusie: from your linked federalist piece:

Steele added that former top Russian intelligence officers claimed the FSB (the Russian intelligence agency) had compromising information on Trump (related to the “golden showers”) and “a dossier of compromising material on Hillary Clinton,” which had not yet been distributed abroad or to Trump. However, according to Steele’s memo, “the Kremlin had been feeding Trump and his team valuable intelligence on his opponents, including Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.,/b>”

so what was this "intelligence" on Clinton? After all, we're supposed to assume that all of Steele's info is gospel, right?

[exdemocrat]

oops

[exdemocrat]

fixed?

[jimmyk]

Does a defendant have a better case of fair trial impingement on the basis of governmental official Facebook posts, tweets, Instagrams?

TC, It seems to me Obama made all sorts of idiotic public pronouncements about Trayvon and Michael Brown, and none of that prevented those cases from going to trial, and Darren Wilson and George Zimmerman from getting properly exonerated.

[Jack is Back!]

I was half-way interested until I realized the photo at the top of the article is the OLD VW bus. The new one is ugly.

MM,

Fillmore could not be reached for comment, or George Carlin (may he rest in peace).

[jimmyk]

I don't know Mark Penn's history--maybe he's a Dick Morris type who worked for the Clintons but nonetheless (Fox Butterfield alert) sees that they're behind a criminal operation.

[Eye Doctor]

Tom R

Who was Mueller working with when he covered for the criminals behind the BCCI scandel?

[JimNorCal]

To Capt Hate and others of our ilk, a bit of dark humor shamelessly stolen from the BJG blog.

[Jack is Back!]

I see where jimmyk is interested in buying a local bridge in NYC:)

Dick Morris? Haven't heard from him a long, long time. Wonder what he is up to beside sucking harlot's toes?

[Eye Doctor]

Tom R

Who was Mueller working with when he told Armitage, Powell and Taft to not tell anyone Armitage was Bob Novak's source?

[Janeprobably about 10 minutes after getting ther]

He's got a TV show, I think on CRV TV.

He's an ass,IMO.

[Captain Hate]

Teddy played with a Belgian Malinois today at a dog park today named Bear (the owner was unaware of the POI dog) that was beautiful and extremely well behaved. Teddy will sometimes mount another dog to get them to chase him; whoa did he get more than he bargained for.

[narciso]

He,was a Clinton pollster who was more accurate than most, but I recall they gave him the lobbying contract that mandated the vekakte digital tv comversion.

[Captain Hate]

Love it, JNC.

[jimmyk]

I'm just saying that you can work for a politician and not be a party hack or stooge for that person when you're not working for him any more. Morris worked for Slick but pulls no punches when it comes to Hillary.

[JimNorCal]

Yes, CH, we are of the same ilk on this one LOL

[Captain Hate]

Tammy: Tub Dive has deplorably endorsed Cuomo over a woman candidate. Maybe Slick ordered her to do that.

[narciso]

Mi 6 in the assasination business, unlikely re suez they had contacted a,wing commander khaddam to ice nasser, but he was a double agent, they did a,little better against provos in the Armagh, they tried against qaddafi inn the mid 90s but those were Libyan fighting group aka al queda. Tomlinson who was their snowden or agee was the one who burned Steele and 200 other operatives.

[pagar, a bacon, ham and sausage supporter]

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/05/muellers-dirty-lawyers-obtained-obscure-special-status-to-pursue-matters-outside-of-special-counsel-mandate-in-manafort-case/

IS this obscure special status like candy, every one who wants one picks one up? It looks like a very dangerous thing to me.

[narciso]

The bit about the libyans came from another jackalope David shayler fmrly of mi 5, and his crisscrossing future 9/11 denialist girlfriend.

[narciso]

Or maybe he,was the crossdressimg one, any ways very stable people, uikes.

[Captain Hate]

pagar, it supports my view that the legal system is just like Islam where random creeps do whatever they want without being smacked down.

[Captain Hate]

By golly, there's a new thread.

[henry]

Threads are like Chinese food. Every time you get caught up on one you want another.

[JimNorCal]

NEW