No Doubt Trump Under Investigation…. We’re not privy to all that’s happening behind closed doors, but from what we do know of the reports we’re already aware of, Mueller’s probe is proceeding along full speed ahead. The pieces to this giant jigsaw puzzle displaying the Russian scandal are steadily being put in place. With the large number of contacts between Trump’s campaign staff & the Russians, plus the subsequent lying & covering up about them, lead us to believe something was up. We do have proof Russia did interfere in our election, by making public hacked emails & running fake ads on social media seen by more than 100 million Americans. And along the way much as Trump tried to deny it or wish it just weren’t so, Trump under investigation is indeed a reality. Even GOP allies sense he’s in trouble: republican-
We also have several indictments having been handed down, showing there was criminal wrongdoing, & there’s even a sentencing today: first-sentencing-
So despite confounding echo-spin, this Russian probe is definitely not a nothing-burger. That far-right media is doing all they can to deny it, which is increasingly making them look foolish. No, this scandal wasn’t born out of a romantically involved couple in the FBI sharing messages showing their personal biases against Trump. And no, that dossier from a British spy isn’t the only source that launched the scandal to begin with. Plus trying to water down this scandal by creating a crazy conspiracy about possible abuses from a FISA warrant doesn’t hold water, which the crazies in the House Freedom Caucus want a second special counsel so they have their own sideshow to salivate over. The unrelenting unjustifiable smearing of the DOJ & FBI can’t camouflage the stain of the Russian scandal, which stopping Mueller is really the focus behind much of the absurd echo-reporting. Trump & his echo will keep lying to deflect & distract so long as their base keeps buying in, & Fox fake news keeps cooking up irrelevant conspiracies to avoid the real news, always duping their painfully naive audience.
Furthermore, why such impatience coming from the echo wanting to just wrap up & shut down the investigation? Mueller has been on the job less than a year as his team pours over testimonies from dozens of witnesses & millions of documents, while following the money trail through banks all over the world, so such an extensive & complicated probe does take time. Conservatives certainly showed plenty of patience when the Benghazi case dragged on for years, or even a couple decades ago when Ken Starr went down various rabbit holes as it took years to investigate the Clintons. By the way, Starr was a partisan Republican (& just for the record, Mueller is a registered Republican). When there are strong indications an American presidential campaign coordinated with a foreign adversary to taint an election in their favor, even echo-people should understand the vital importance of getting to the bottom of it, so it’s a probe that should not be treated casually or hurriedly. If proven, a campaign stealing a presidential election is a serious crime & direct attack on our democracy. We demand to know what really happened.
The level of corruption in this administration is beyond measure, far worse than anything we’ve ever seen. See some of the first links in the Related Articles where Republican strategists warn about the legal jeopardy Trump faces. A former Bush ethics lawyer has never been known to mince words, so here’s an excerpt from ex-bush-ethics-lawyer-peo
He pointed to a new court filing by Mueller alleging that former Trump campaign adviser Richard Gates was knowingly in contact with a Russian intelligence agent during the campaign. Painter called the revelations of Russian contacts that have been made so far “probably only the beginning” of evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. He also said that Mueller will have to determine “whether there was illegal collusion, whether it was criminal.” “A lot of people are lying about their contacts with the Russians and that’s criminal, so we’re going to have people going to slammer over this,” he said. “The question is who and how high this is going to reach in respect to criminal conduct. But the notion of no collusion is ridiculous because there is collusion and we know it by now,” Painter said.
This next excerpt from trump-putingate-pardons-c
The key point about this timing, and the reason the pardon issue is so explosive, is that Flynn knew about the pardon discussion while he and his lawyers were negotiating the terms of his plea bargain with Mueller. The probability is very high that Flynn told Mueller the exact details of the pardon discussion with Dowd while he was finalizing his agreement with Mueller, which would have significantly increased his value to Mueller and resulted in more lenient terms for the plea deal being offered. This is why it is so revealing and important that the Times reported that other witnesses have been question by Mueller about pardons. Again, assuming the story is correct about this, it is certain that Dowd will be questioned by Mueller, or has been questioned, about the exact details of the pardon conversation with Flynn’s lawyer and Manafort’s lawyer. Any questioning of Dowd about pardons would treat Dowd as a potential suspect for his own role in the pardon talks and as a potential witness about Trump’s role in the pardon discussions. This could well explain why Dowd resigned as an attorney for Trump almost immediately before the New York Times story was published, a coincidence of timing that would get the attention of any prosecutor, investigator or defense attorney.
While it is true that a president enjoys substantial powers to grant pardons, it is equally true that a pardon could also be a criminal offense if it was offered for an illegal purpose. On the matter of the alleged discussion initiated by Dowd to lawyers representing Flynn and Manafort, there are two potential crimes that in theory could be charged. If the pardon talk was knowingly initiated for the purpose of inducing Flynn or Manafort to not reach a plea agreement with Mueller or to falsify testimony to the grand jury or in interviews with Mueller, it could be grounds for charging obstruction of justice or charging bribery, the offering of a pardon in return for not accepting a plea bargain or committing perjury in testimony. It is also important that the Constitution explicitly includes bribery as an impeachable offense, while obstruction of justice was a central element in the articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon.
In the article rick-gates-donald-trump-robert
Gates’s testimony could prove crucial as Mueller seeks to determine what role, if any, the Trump campaign played in Russian election meddling. Gates, who served as Manafort’s No. 2 and worked on Trump’s inaugural committee after the election, was a key member of the Trump campaign at critical points. “Was he in the strategy meetings? No. But he was an implementer,” one person said of Gates to CNN. This person added that if there was any coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russians, “He would be the kind of person who would probably know that.” Gates was a major player on the campaign at the time of Donald Trump Jr.’s infamous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, as well as during the Republican National Convention, where the Trump campaign reportedly altered the language in the G.O.P. platform to be more favorable toward Russian interests.
Under the international dangers group, we continue to see Trump appeasing Putin & is practically begging to hold a summit with him, even coming on the heels of Putin calling for the murders of former Russian spies living in Britain & probably even here in the U.S.: trump-invites-putin-white-
Wouldn’t you know — millionaires, billionaires, relatives and generals who have not served in high civilian posts aren’t necessarily the best people for senior roles in an administration, especially one in which the president has virtually no policy expertise. Contrary to the positive spin that Trump is now getting the Cabinet he wants (was he not president before this?), he’s in fact getting the dregs, the cranks, the Fox News personalities and the even more unqualified hangers-on to backfill posts. Some of the worst of the worst — Carson, Pruitt, Kushner — remain. With the possible exception of Mike Pompeo replacing Tillerson at State, the quality of his senior advisers generally is going down (e.g., Ronny Jackson for Shulkin, John Bolton for McMaster). Don’t expect it to improve with the Russia investigation ongoing and Trump’s habit of humiliating appointees well known. Experienced, ethical, sober and self-respecting public servants don’t want to work in this White House. Trump spinners who assured us during the campaign that everything would work out because stellar people would be there to help were horribly mistaken.
In the last few group of links below, we can read about more of his despicable personal traits & chaotic management of the White House that make him so distasteful as President. You can see the latest reports on his sex scandals, violations of the Emoluments Clause (from-mueller-to-stormy-to-
Indeed, he’s a cruel bully devoid of normal human compassion or empathy. Trump has the type of selfish, narcissistic, egomaniacal personality, that it would be easy to envision such a person engaging in illegal activities with a foreign power for his own gain. But personality traits or naivete can’t excuse such an offense. Once we have proof of such a criminal power grab, our laws & preserving our constitutional democracy demand those involved not be permitted to get away with their abuse of power. And for the sake of America, we’d better hope our nation finds the means to constitutional remove this president, since serving his full term could bring on permanent damage we’d never recover from. Yes, Trump under investigation offers the hope our country can soon get a reprieve.
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