There is a truly remarkable number in the most recent CNN poll, conducted by SSRS and out this morning. In it, 42% of Americans say President Donald Trump should be impeached and removed from office. What makes it remarkable is that he’s on par with President Richard Nixon, who 43% of Americans said should be impeached and removed from office in a March 1974 Harris poll. That was after the scale of Watergate came to light, but months before the House started to move against Nixon, who would go on to resign in August 1974 rather than be impeached. Impeachment requires “treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors,” according to the Constitution, which also lists it as the only thing for which a President can’t issue a pardon.
Rubin on Russia
I’m up against a deadline so I’ll mostly let these articles do the talking. I always refer to Rubin for her spot-on judgment, which these excerpts provide interesting thoughts on Trump’s legal jeopardy & options from pardon-me-no-trump-wont-get-
What does that mean? In practical terms, if special counsel Robert S. Mueller III finds evidence sufficient for a crime (though when the president can be indicted is a matter of legal debate), Trump, unless he wants to risk jail, would need to obtain a pardon from the only person who can be sure to give him one: Vice President Pence, who would need to ascend to the presidency to give Trump his get-out-of-jail-free card. When Mueller, as we expect, comes forward with manifold evidence of obstruction of justice, Trump will need to think about leaving office before Pence does. That might not happen immediately, but for some period of time (a day, a week, a year), Trump has to guarantee that a legitimate and reliable pardoner is president. (Incidentally, if Pence follows through and pardons Trump, his political career for all intents and purposes is over; even Gerald Ford — who enjoyed the benefit of the doubt in a much less-polarized environment — lost in 1976.) This raises a host of interesting questions. Could Trump announce his intent to pull such a stunt? Would Congress then impeach him and Pence? Nevertheless, Trump’s assertion of the power to self-pardon is meaningless. If he tries it, he’s a goner politically and probably legally.
The pardon issue should inform Democrats when asked whether they favor impeachment. Democrats might be wise to say, “No, we favor criminal prosecution if and only if there is evidence of a crime, although prosecution may have to wait until he leaves office. But if he tries to self-pardon, all bets are off.” That’s a smart political answer, and it nicely highlights Trump’s dilemma. Admittedly, we are getting ahead of the facts, but when one considers the mound of evidence that Trump sought to stymie the Russia investigation (firing former FBI director James B. Comey, coming up with a phony excuse for the firing, creating a false explanation for the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower, dangling the prospect of pardons in front of key witnesses, repeatedly lying to the American people, threatening the special counsel, badgering Attorney General Jeff Sessions not to recuse himself so he could quash the investigation, creating false conspiracy theories to delegitimize the investigation, etc.), it becomes clear that Trump has a real risk of facing prosecution — and no simple way to prevent it.
Rubin also provides these words of wisdom from trumps-unhinged-attacks-on-the
In a weeks-long assault on the FBI, the Justice Department, former FBI director James B. Comey, Hillary Clinton, the Russia investigation and, of course, the media, President Trump and his personal attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani have offered up plenty of baseless accusations and hysterical rhetoric. But their attack on the Russia probe has not affected those unmoved by baseless accusations and hysterical rhetoric. As with practically every other issue, Trump is making his wackadoodle base more estranged from reality, but he’s not developing a political coalition that would help him survive a possibly withering report from special counsel Robert S. Mueller III that would either recommend impeachment or indict Trump. Trump hasn’t convinced the voters the Russia investigation is a “hoax.” To the contrary, 64 percent say it is very or somewhat important, compared with 34 percent who say it is not too or not at all important. Within the GOP, the more conservative a voter, the more likely he or she is to believe in the “It’s all a hoax!” hooey — “self-described moderates and liberals are more likely to say the investigation is important than are conservatives (43% vs. 31%).” The upshot of this is that Trump is unlikely to let up on a strategy that sustains him with Republicans. He needs to keep the number of senators who would consider impeachment as low as possible. He will therefore persist in an effort that makes him less credible with non-Kool-Aid-drinking voters. Yet his strategy for avoiding impeachment increasingly contradicts a strategy for reelection. He needs the far-right cult to keep him going even as the other Americans shake their head in disbelief. Trump is dragging his party with him, forcing Republicans to double down on their support for him in the face of a growing mound of evidence (20 indictments of individuals and five plea deals) that there was massive wrongdoing on his campaign and during the transition.
Trash News Teams Up With Trump/Cohen
Looks like Trump’s buddy who heads the trashy National Enquirer is now fully caught up by the scandals swirling around Trump, with Cohen used as the intermediary. See the-broadening-criminal-ca
The publisher of National Enquirer has been subpoenaed for records related to its $150,000 payment to a former Playboy model for the right to her story that alleged she had an affair with President Trump. The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday reported that the subpoena, filed by Manhattan federal prosecutors, is asking for information from the publisher, American Media Inc., about its 2016 payment to Karen McDougal. The subpoena is part of a larger probe into Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen. Investigators are reviewing whether Cohen tried to suppress any potentially damaging information about Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. As part of the probe, investigators are looking into whether Cohen coordinated with American Media to pay McDougal for her story and then not publish her account, the Journal reported. The payment is under investigation for possible campaign finance violation.
That’s because Trump’s control over — and Cohen’s involvement in — the Enquirer’s and American Media’s business is at the center of the probe into Cohen and alleged hush-money payments to Trump’s accusers. While Cohen has clearly been implicated in the payment to one adult-film star who has claimed an affair with Trump, Stormy Daniels, the connection when it comes to another, Karen McDougal, has been much more tenuous. We also know Trump and David Pecker are friends. We knew that the Enquirer’s parent company paid for Playboy Playmate McDougal’s story and then killed it — a “catch-and-kill” practice that some AMI employees have said was either a favor for Trump or leverage to use against him — but we haven’t previously seen such a clear indication of a business and editorial relationship between Cohen and AMI. McDougal, in her since-settled lawsuit, accused Cohen of colluding with AMI to silence her, but to this point that has largely been conjecture. AMI employees have also told the New Yorker that they believe Cohen was in close contact with AMI executives as the Enquirer was buying (and not running) another story from a Trump accuser — a doorman named Dino Sajudin who said he had heard about Trump fathering an illegitimate child in the 1980s.
And a number of signals this week suggested Cohen may be interested in flipping on Trump — which is really the big, broader question in all of this. Within a day, the Journal reported Cohen is unhappy that Trump isn’t footing his legal bills, CNN reported someone close to Cohen was warning Trump that Cohen has a story to tell if he flips, and Cohen conspicuously distanced himself from Trump’s policy of separating families who immigrate illegally. In addition, Cohen resigned from his position as deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee — even though he didn’t need to. All of this came after Cohen hired a new lawyer with ties to the same Southern District of New York office with which he would be arranging a deal. When it comes to Trump’s longtime lawyer and personal “fixer,” that’s a whole lot of bad signs in a very short period of time for the president.
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