Courtesy of NBC News:
A Senate investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential election has revealed a possible obstruction of justice case against President Donald Trump, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein said on "Meet The Press" Sunday.
"The [Senate] Judiciary Committee has an investigation going as well and it involves obstruction of justice and I think what we're beginning to see is the putting together of a case of obstruction of justice,” Feinstein, the panel's top Democrat, said.
“I think we see this in the indictments, the four indictments, and pleas that have just taken place and some of the comments that are being made," Feinstein added, referencing the indictments of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates, who face charges that include conspiracy and money laundering that were uncovered during Special Counsel Bob Mueller's investigation into potential links between Trump and Russia. Also charged in connection to the Mueller investigation are Trump's former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, who both pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
"I see it in the hyper-frenetic attitude of the White House, the comments every day, the continual tweets. And I see it most importantly in what happened with the firing of Director [James] Comey, and it is my belief that that is directly because he did not agree to ‘lift the cloud’ of the Russia investigation. That’s obstruction of justice,” Feinstein said.
Gonna be kind of hard to call this all "fake news" when the courts issue a subpoena charging you with obstruction of justice, now isn't it?
Of course Trump's lawyers have a response to that as well:
John Dowd, President Trump's outside lawyer, outlined to me a new and highly controversial defense/theory in the Russia probe: A president cannot be guilty of obstruction of justice.
The "President cannot obstruct justice because he is the chief law enforcement officer under [the Constitution's Article II] and has every right to express his view of any case," Dowd claims.
I'm sorry, what?
I swear it's like this Trump legal team all got their license to practice law from a box of "Cracker Jacks."
Man so far December has rocked.
Update: Here is more from CNN:
The White House's chief lawyer told President Donald Trump in January he believed then-national security adviser Michael Flynn had misled the FBI and lied to Vice President Mike Pence and should be fired, a source familiar with the matter said Monday.
The description of the conversation raises new questions about what Trump knew about Flynn's situation when he urged then-FBI Director James Comey to drop the investigation into Flynn and whether anyone in the White House, including the President himself, attempted to obstruct justice. Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russians, a probe led by Comey until Trump fired him.
White House counsel Donald McGahn told Trump that based on his conversation with then-acting Attorney General Sally Yates, he believed Flynn had not told the truth in his interview with the FBI or to Pence, the source said.
So Trump was told that Flynn had lied not only to Mike Pence, but also the FBI, but did not decide to fire him until the Washington Post story came out almost two weeks later.
Damn, Donald Trump really IS bringing Christmas back!
CNN Puts Another Nail In Trump’s Coffin With Report That He Knew About Flynn’s Lies To The FBI
ReplyDeleteThe case against Trump for obstruction of justice is getting even stronger after CNN reported that the President knew that Mike Flynn lied to the FBI weeks before he fired him.
According to CNN, “The White House’s chief lawyer told President Donald Trump in January he believed then-national security adviser Michael Flynn had misled the FBI and lied to Vice President Mike Pence and should be fired, a source familiar with the matter said Monday. The description of the conversation raises new questions about what Trump knew about Flynn’s situation when he urged then-FBI Director James Comey to drop the investigation into Flynn and whether anyone in the White House, including the President himself, attempted to obstruct justice.”
If Trump knew that Flynn lied to FBI before he asked James Comey to drop the investigation into his former national security advisor, then he obstructed justice. The excuse that Trump didn’t obstruct justice, he just didn’t know how government works is not holding up well.
Trump was trying to get Flynn off the hook, and the Russia investigation buried to save himself.
http://www.politicususa.com/2017/12/04/cnn-puts-nail-trumps-coffin-report-knew-flynns-lies-fbi.html
In the mean time Flynn the flipper had a security clearance, who knows what info he sold.
DeleteWhy does Kushner still have a security clearance?
CNN Blockbuster: Top White House Lawyer Told Trump Flynn Lied To FBI In January
ReplyDelete..."What we learned from our sources and our reporting is that White House counsel Don McGahn had told the president after a meeting with the acting attorney general Sally Yates that White House counsel DonMcGahn believed that Flynn had lied to Mike Pence when he told him that he didn't have conversations with the Russian ambassador and that he had misled the FBI during that interview," she replied.
It never made any sense after Sally Yates informed McGann that Flynn had lied and was susceptible to being blackmailed by the Russians, that they didn't take any action or Trump wasn't informed.
Why wasn't Flynn dismissed once the White House learned of this news?
A week later "McGann and the White House counsel's office had received the testimony from Flynn's conversation with the Russian ambassador and that led them to believe he had misled the FBI and Pence and suggested that he be fired," Scannell reported.
As anyone with a brain would have suspected, Trump and his team knew all along that Flynn had undertaken criminal activities while serving as their National Security Adviser.
Wolf then made the next obvious connection between Trump and James Comey.
Wolf said, "Basically the whole notion right now is that when the president actually spoke with the then-FBI director James Comey, he knew precisely or almost precisely what Flynn had told the FBI - clearly since then Flynn plead guilty to lying to the FBI."
https://crooksandliars.com/2017/12/cnn-blockbuster-wh-lawyer-told-trump-flynn
The House passed two articles of Impeachment against Bill Clinton. One was for lying and the other was for obstruction. I’m okay with Trump simply being impeached.
ReplyDeleteNo, I want Trump to go to prison for money laundering and NO PARDON!!!
DeleteI think because they have passed their tax package,
DeleteCongress will go tone deaf
and stop protecting the Donald. Playing dumb. Shrug.
And, it's way past time to impeach Trump! He's a detriment to our country - the worst ever!
DeleteI would hope they could come up with more than that.
DeleteViolating his oath of office would be nice.
Misdemeanor if he fails to show up in court for that defamation suit.
OT?FB:
ReplyDelete:When the time comes, and I hope it comes soon, to bury this era of MORAL ROT and the defiling of our communal, social, and democratic norms, the perfect epitaph for the gravestone of this age of unreason should be Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley's already infamous quote:
"I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing... as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies.”
Grassley's vision of America, quite frankly, is one I do not recognize. I thought the heart of this great nation was not limited to the ranks of the plutocrats who are whisked through life in chauffeured cars and private jets, whose often inherited riches are passed along to children, many of whom no sacrifice or service is asked. I do not begrudge wealth, but it must come with a humility that money never is completely free of luck. And more importantly, wealth can never be a measure of worth.<{TRUE DAT}
I have seen the waitress working the overnight shift at a diner to give her children a better life, and yes maybe even take them to a movie once in awhile - and in her, I see America. I have seen the public school teachers spending extra time with students who need help and who get no extra pay for their efforts, and in them I see America.
I have seen parents sitting around kitchen tables with stacks of pressing bills and wondering if they can afford a Christmas gift for their children, and in them I see America.
I have seen the young diplomat in a distant foreign capital and the young soldier in a battlefield foxhole, and in them I see America.
I have seen the brilliant graduates of the best law schools who forgo the riches of a corporate firm for the often thankless slog of a district attorney or public defender's office, and in them I see America.
I have seen the librarian reshelving books, the firefighter, police officer, and paramedic in service in trying times, the social worker helping the elderly and infirm, the youth sports coaches, the PTA presidents, and in them I see America.
I have seen the immigrants working a cash register at a gas station or trimming hedges in the frost of an early fall morning, or driving a cab through rush hour traffic to make better lives for their families, and in them I see America.
I have seen the science students unlocking the mysteries of life late at night in university laboratories for little or no pay, and in them I see America.
I have seen the families struggling with a cancer diagnosis, or dementia in a parent or spouse. Amid the struggles of mortality and dignity, in them I see America.
These, and so many other Americans, have every bit as much claim to a government working for them as the lobbyists and moneyed classes. And yet, the power brokers in Washington today seem deaf to these voices. It is a NATIONAL DISGRASE of historic proportions.
And finally, what is so wrong about those who must worry about the cost of a drink with friends, or a date, or a little entertainment, to rephrase Senator Grassley's demeaning phrasings? Those who can't afford not to worry about food, shelter, healthcare, education for their children, and all the other costs of modern life, surely they too deserve to be able to spend some of their “darn pennies” on the
SIMPLE JOYS OF LIFE.
Never mind that almost every reputable economist has called this tax bill a SHAM of handouts for the rich at the expense of the vast majority of Americans and the future economic health of this nation. Never mind that it is filled with loopholes written by lobbyists. Never mind that the wealthiest already speak with the loudest voices in Washington, and always have. Grassley’s comments open a window to the soul of the current national Republican Party and it it is not pretty. This is not a view of America that i think President Ronald Reagan let alone President Dwight Eisenhower or Teddy Roosevelt would have recognized. This is unadulterated cynicism and a version of top-down CLASS WARFARE run amok." <Dan the man Rather
Beautiful!
DeleteBEHAVIOR MODIFICATION!
Delete“K to 12 is partly about babysitting the kids so the parents can do other things.”
"The Gates agenda is an intellectual cousin of the Bush Administration’s 2002 No Child Left Behind law."You be the judge. The following screen shots come directly from documents about DATA collection and sharing pilot programs put in place simultaneously with Common Core Standards."
" Next up will be the College Transparency Act (CTA) which overturns the ban on a federal student record system.
This is the Gates agenda. But go back and read the Dear Hillary Letter."
https://thecrucialvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the_marc_tucker_dear_hillary_letter.pdf
https://thecrucialvoice.com/2017/12/03/bill-gates-education-reform/
Yeah. Bill can divert that.
DeleteMost kids understand better if someone is talking, while reading along in a book.
Bill can take Microsoft and
Upload already established
Books write by Educators.
This would raise test scores as they have gone over it so many ways - visual, writing and oral presentations to go along with the books. Take homework to a new level. Go online, listen to assignment
Do the homework. That is what Mr.Bill needs to do. Shrug.
I hope Grassley ends up living in a cardboard box under a bridge.
DeleteAnother nasty,poor excuse for a human being.
Wonder if Dan and Brian Ross ever chat...
Delete"“I don’t think ever in my career have I felt more rage and disappointment and frustration that I felt through this weekend and through the last half of Friday,” he exclaimed.
Goldston added that they had talked about the need to get it right and not worry about being first. “About how in this particular moment, with the stakes as high as these stakes are right now, we cannot afford to get it wrong,”"NOT ONCE.
Didn't Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr lie about what they testified to and the paperwork they filled out?
ReplyDeleteWell daddy may be above the law (yeah right) but those other two hooligans are not above the law until daddy pardons them.
Can an indicted president pardon anyone?
DeleteTiming, now, is everything.
'Cause Trump can't pardon those two chuckleheads now BEFORE they go to trial, can he?
Oh yes a President can pardon someone BEFORE trial - but that means they admit their guilty - I doubt these folks care and would take the pardon - the only question is whether a president can pardon himself - I'm sure he will try and then we have to wait for the case to work its way to the Supreme Court - which may by now too stacked in favor of the rich repugs.
Deletehttps://slate.com/business/2017/12/the-republican-tax-bill-is-for-winners.html
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Birch_Society
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heritage_Foundation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Crossroads
ALL THE $hAME^
By the people.
DeleteFor the people.
United States of America.
Merry effing Christmas, dotard!
ReplyDeleteTrump’s lawyer comes unhinged, claims Trump “has every right” to obstruct justice
ReplyDeletehttps://shareblue.com/trumps-lawyer-comes-unhinged-claims-trump-has-every-right-to-obstruct-justice/
JHC! What a fucking mess our country is in!
DeleteJeff Sessions himself said, in regards to Bill Clinton, believe it or not, that POTUS has every right to obstruct justice. Funny that, seems it works for both parties, at least according to the Keebler AG.
DeleteWasn't just Sessions, but also turtlehead mcconnel and grossly.
DeleteHowever Bill was a Democrat and the rules are different.
Also republicans all have Jeff Sessions "I don't remember" syndrome when it comes to their own.
First there was no obstruction.
DeleteThen it’s there’s nothing wrong with obstruction.
There was no collusion.
What next? There’s nothing wrong with collusion? Haven’t they tried that already?
There was no sexual assault...those women are all liars.
?.......
GOP senator: Ram tax bill through final stages so nobody figures out what’s in it
ReplyDeletehttps://shareblue.com/gop-senator-ram-tax-bill-final-stages-nobody-figures-whats/
No one noticed that it removed all tax deductions for corporations until today, oops, looks like someone pissed off their overlords. Redo!
DeleteThey passed it,now they have to sit down and read what they passed!
DeleteIf any of them worked in the private sector, they would be FIRED!
Trump drops all pretenses, says we “need” an accused child molester in the Senate
ReplyDeletehttps://shareblue.com/trump-drops-all-pretenses-says-we-need-an-accused-child-molester-in-the-senate/
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michael-steele-gop-roy-moore_us_5a25f053e4b0f9f0203ec254?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
Delete"The “sanctimonious” party that loves to tell people how to live needs to find a “backbone” and take a moral stand on Roy Moore and his Alabama race for the U.S. Senate, declared Michael Steele, former chair of the Republican National Committee.
“This political party, which has stood on the moral high ground for lo these 30-plus years, sanctimoniously telling people ... what they should do and what they shouldn’t do ... sanctimoniously judging people because of who they love and where they live, now has the temerity to step back and go, ‘Oh, well, I just think we just leave it to people to decide what they want to do.’ Really?” Steele asked incredulously on MSNBC on Monday.
“I wish more Republicans would find something related to a backbone” on Moore, said Steele, who predicted a “dear price” for the party next year for not condemning the Senate candidate. “Women and men around the country are looking at this and going, ‘I cannot believe that you value the vote of a pedophile over leading this country, over protecting women,’” Steele added. Donald Trump gave Moore his full support Monday, saying it was necessary to preserve GOP power in the Senate."
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/moore-accuser-evidence-washington-post_us_5a25d012e4b086e4e503df06?section=us_politics
"Gibson said that as a teenage girl, she had written down dates she’d had with Moore in the scrapbook and listed him as her guest for her Etowah High School graduation. She says her relationship with Moore at the time was consensual, and prior to the allegations, she said she held Moore in “high esteem.” The pair stayed in touch over the years, and Gibson even worked on his circuit judge campaign in 1982, she said."
"After Moore claimed not to know his accusers, Gibson said she realized he was a liar. She’d planned to keep her scrapbook to herself until she saw another accuser, Beverly Young Nelson, share that Moore had signed her high school yearbook."
"Gibson said that Moore’s attack on her (Beverly's) “integrity” was another reason she decided to come forward with her scrapbook, despite receiving numerous death threats. The Post had a former FBI forensics expert authenticate that a graduation card in the scrapbook had not been altered. "
I am having to work at keeping facts straight about who did and said what and when. Most of the work is weeding out Trump’s non stop lies.
ReplyDeleteThe indictments are great gifts and Trump’s incriminating tweets are icing on the cake.
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/12/ex-government-ethics-head-suggests-trumps-flynn-tweet-opens-door-for-mueller-to-investigate-yates-firing/
ReplyDelete" the result of the fact that she refused to back him and implement his controversial travel ban. Following the firing , Trump reportedly declared that Yates had “betrayed” his administration." tinydjt has 'BETRAYED' The NATION.
Supremes enacted the full travel ban today.
Deletehttp://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-travel-ban-muslim-countries-supreme-court-ruling-allowed-go-ahead-latest-a8092086.html
Actually, the Supremes allowed the ban to stay in place while the lawsuits continue up through the lower court systems. Not exactly the same thing.
DeleteSo what? It’s the House that has to move to impeach first. Then the Senate has to find him guilty. With Deplorable majorities in both houses, this will never make it out of committee.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile McConnell and Trump are both on the Molester Moore bandwagon because a Republican vote means more to them than “family values”.
they have no values. family or otherwise.
DeleteBut apparently Michael Steele does.
Delete"The “sanctimonious” party that loves to tell people how to live needs to find a “backbone” and take a moral stand on Roy Moore and his Alabama race for the U.S. Senate, declared Michael Steele, former chair of the Republican National Committee.
“This political party, which has stood on the moral high ground for lo these 30-plus years, sanctimoniously telling people ... what they should do and what they shouldn’t do ... sanctimoniously judging people because of who they love and where they live, now has the temerity to step back and go, ‘Oh, well, I just think we just leave it to people to decide what they want to do.’ Really?” Steele asked incredulously on MSNBC on Monday.
“I wish more Republicans would find something related to a backbone” on Moore, said Steele, who predicted a “dear price” for the party next year for not condemning the Senate candidate. “Women and men around the country are looking at this and going, ‘I cannot believe that you value the vote of a pedophile over leading this country, over protecting women,’” Steele added. Donald Trump gave Moore his full support Monday, saying it was necessary to preserve GOP power in the Senate."
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michael-steele-gop-roy-moore_us_5a25f053e4b0f9f0203ec254?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
CREEPY " MormonLeaks, a whistleblowing group intent on exposing corruption within the Church of the Latter-day Saints, the Mormon church baptized Trump’s grandfather Friedrich and his grandmother Elisabeth Marie Christ in 2015 and 2016. Friedrich died in 1918, and Christ died in 1966. "As the whistleblowing website points out, posthumous baptizing is common among Mormons so that they can accept the LDS church’s gospel even from beyond the grave."
ReplyDeletehttps://www.rawstory.com/2017/12/leaked-documents-show-mormons-are-bothering-trumps-grandparents-in-the-afterlife/
https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2017/12/02/commentary-president-trump-meet-the-mormons/
The Morons are so hilarious with their posthumous baptism.
DeleteI guess it only bothers people who actually believe there is anything after this life, which anyone with even half a brain knows there isn't, so no harm no foul, just a bunch of Morons doing what they do. Add it to the long list of stupid religions grifting the faithful and performing idiotic rituals.
Something is broken in the human mind that requires the fairy tales for fulfillment, hopefully evolution in all it's glory will eventually cure us of this cancer.
hey! do i make fun of your believes? yes-a liberal Mormon-a rare breed. yes, we are weird. but we take care of all we can. i like the church's core values-the weird stuff i just pretend isn't there. look, i know you don't believe in God. that's fine. but why do atheists think that gives you the right to attack us at every turn? and nasty? is it so hard to say i don't believe in God and i think people who do are wrong. that's all that needs to be said. tithing is not mandatory. the church helps many people pay rent and buy food. you can just ignore us.
DeleteWhy do you claim that " atheists think that gives you the right to attack us at every turn? and nasty" ? 2 or 3 people laugh at some of the same ideas that you " pretend isn't there " and you just tar and feather all Atheists with the same brush.
DeleteReligion breaks more things than it fixes, period.
Delete" It seems that in his haste, McConnell managed to axe all of the goodies for corporations while dropping tax rates down to 20 percent."
ReplyDeletehttps://crooksandliars.com/2017/12/doh-mitch-mcconnell-killed-all-corporate
If they can put them back in the reconciliation process, they will. Along with a lot of other cruel deplorable shit, while dropping as much of the pork and bribery as they can.
Deletes.............o good. all the chocolate in the world isn't this tasty.
ReplyDeleteThey'd better be really, really careful with this idea that a president is above the law. That's not a democracy, that's a dictatorship and the wonderful experiment that was the USA is over.
ReplyDeleteIt never occurs to them that 2020 may bring a Democratic President and they may not like the precedents they are setting.
DeleteThere is no doubt in my mind that Trump, his family and administrative and transition team obstructed justice. I'm more interested in having Mueller uncover "why" they are lying and "what" they are hiding that is really important.
ReplyDeleteCheck the tax returns. Follow the money.