Today Trump is basically at war with the Justice Department, so things could probably speed up a good deal now. Maddow was saying that last night, in response to these little explosions that keep coming from the Times at the end of the Times-timezone day. List of questions! Mueller threatens to subpoena! Trump threatens everything in sight!
There was no Collusion (it is a Hoax) and there is no Obstruction of Justice (that is a setup & trap). What there is is Negotiations going on with North Korea over Nuclear War, Negotiations going on with China over Trade Deficits, Negotiations on NAFTA, and much more. Witch Hunt!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2018
He calls it a setup and a trap that he told Comey to protect Flynn and fired Comey to protect himself and told the Russians he fired Comey to remove the pressure on himself. It’s not a setup and it’s not a trap.
“The questions are an intrusion into the President’s Article 2 powers under the Constitution to fire any Executive Branch Employee…what the President was thinking is an outrageous…..as to the President’s unfettered power to fire anyone…” Joe Digenova, former US Attorney
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2018
Scavino isn’t very good at excerpting, is he.
NEW BOOK – A MUST READ! “The Russia Hoax – The Illicit Scheme to Clear Hillary Clinton and Frame Donald Trump” by the brilliant Fox News Legal Analyst Gregg Jarrett. A sad chapter for law enforcement. A rigged system!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2018
A Rigged System – They don’t want to turn over Documents to Congress. What are they afraid of? Why so much redacting? Why such unequal “justice?” At some point I will have no choice but to use the powers granted to the Presidency and get involved!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2018
He’s trashing the legal system and the Congress because they won’t let him be a dictator. It’s an astounding spectacle.
Now we know why he tweeted this — The Justice Department informed Meadows and Jordan *Monday* that it won't turn over the Rosenstein memo detailing the scope of the special counsel’s investigation because it pertains to an ongoing criminal investigation, per @LauraAJarrett. https://t.co/CUaXJhdEym
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) May 2, 2018
Comments
2 responses to “Burning it down from within”
This argument that, if the President has the authority to do something under the Constitution, he cannot be held accountable for how or why he chooses to use that power, or even questioned about it, simply doesn’t hold up under any real scrutiny, no matter what principles of constitutional law you subscribe to.
As a simple matter of common sense, Trump’s claim is tantamount to Nixon’s statement that “when the president does it, it’s legal,” which is an utter contradiction of the principle that it’s a nation of laws, not men.
In legal terms, it’s completely unexceptional to punish people for engaging in acts that they have the legal right to do, if done as part of a broader illegal scheme. I have the right to tell my neighbor that his or her spouse is having an affair. If my neighbor’s spouse offers me money in exchange for my silence, I have the right to accept it. But if I approach the spouse and demand money for my silence, that’s extortion. The directors of a corporation have the legal power to have the company do pretty much anything that isn’t explicitly barred by statute or the bylaws — but if they use those powers to benefit themselves at the expense of the shareholders, they can be sued. A trustee has the power to decide how the trust’s assets are managed — but that doesn’t mean the trustee can decide to “invest” in a self-interested way. A university professor has broad discretion to assign grades to students — but a professor who hands out “A”s to students who accept sexual advances and “C”s to those who don’t is hopefully not going to be a professor for long.
It’s also ahistorical to suggest that the President’s decision-making cannot be questioned. The Founders were very keen on having constraints on the president’s potential abuse of power. Congress has exercised oversight and demanded to know why various Presidents took certain actions that they indisputably had the right to take. One of the Articles of Impeachment against Nixon was for Abuse of Power.
His tweets read like a carnival barker’s yelling.