Thursday, May 9, 2019

"Case Closed?" How About Contempt And A Constitutional Crisis? This Battle Is Just Getting Started

What the scene ought to be after Dotard leaves office- given over 800 former prosecutors have now stated he ought to have been indicted on the basis of Mueller's findings.

"People don't read a 448 page report, not all of that. But they will watch the movie. And the movie will make a powerful difference, especially after Trump has made such a big deal out of keeping it all secret.  He said falsely the report exonerated him. Of course, if it did, he would want all of it out and want Mueller to testify.

What we have here is a situation where the Mueller report shows without any doubt that a hostile foreign power attacked the United States in this (2016) election  That Donald Trump welcomed that attack, benefited from it and then - the last couple of years - tried to cover it up every possible way.  That was with ten instances of felonious obstruction of justice. that over seven hundred former prosecutors - Republicans and Democrats alike- say established obstruction.

I trust the American people will understand that which is why I stand with Elizabeth Warren when when she says the time has come for people to stand up for principle. I don't favor voting articles of impeachment tomorrow, we have to have the hearings. But they are clearly impeachment hearings.  Which, among other things, will increase the power of the House of Representatives to get all the evidence that it needs."  Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Tribe, Tuesday night on MSNBC.

"It may seem like there are a hundred different battles going on. In fact, there is just one: Trump versus the Mueller investigation."  Rachel Maddow, Wednesday night

That House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler yesterday announced the Committee had voted to charge Attorney William Barr with contempt should come as no surprise to any alert and aware citizen.  That he also announced we are in a "constitutional crisis" was inevitable given the totality of actions over the past month by perhaps the most lawless administration in U.S.  history.  Indeed, the previous evening the die had been cast when Trump toady Barr fired off a letter in which he wrote in part:

"In the face of the committee's threatened contempt vote the attorney general will be compelled to request that the president invoke executive privilege with respect to the materials subject to the subpoena. I hereby request the committee hold the subpoena in abeyance and delay any vote on whether to recommend a citation of contempt.for non-compliance with the subpoena pending the president's determination of this question."

Basically asserting if there can be no delay in the  vote for contempt citation  he would recommend Trump invoke "executive privilege" on everything that the Judiciary committee is subpoenaing.

This elicited a comment Tuesday night by 'Last Word' guest  and political analyst Jason Johnson:

"This is it. The Democrats basically have to decide if they are actually the party of resistance and oversight or if they're simply going to comply with the dictatorial tendencies of this administration."   Adding:

"If the report, the full report, cannot actually be seen by the committee then what was the point of the report to begin with? And the idea that Barr, who has basically worked as a personal attorney for the president, is threatening 'I will take my ball, your ball and five other people's balls home with me if you don't play by my rules' is the clearest sign the Democrats have to stop pussy footing around and start with impeachment proceedings."

Former Republican strategist Rick Wilson's reaction to Barr's threat was even more colorful:

"Barr threw a gauntlet down and the middle finger of that gauntlet is extended.  This is a Watergate level of contempt for congress. This guy makes John Mitchell look like Mother Theresa. He's basically saying to them, I will go the full nuclear option if you do that.  I will blow it all up if you do this.... If I was the committee I would just hold the vote and find him in contempt. This guy has nothing but contempt and should be held in contempt."

And this is exactly why the House Dems need to bring the hammer down, to avoid what Prof. Lawrence Tribe also warned about: allowing caution to become cowardice.  Tribe's warning was timely given that thus far the House Dems appear to be overly tepid and holding back using the full force of what they can do including: demanding emergency court decisions, and dispatching the sergeant - at -arms with an accompanying team of Capitol police backups to arrest the scofflaw SOB Barr.  Also enjoin the sergeant-at-arm Paul Irving to arrest McGahn,  Mnuchin, Don. Jr. and any others who've blow off subpoenas.  I understand there is a special Capitol jail which was last used during the Bush Jr. administration to put a Dem who failed to respond to a House GOP subpoena. So it's not like this is totally new territory as the media would have you believe.

Enough of this BS already!  No more talking Dems, time to fish or cut bait!

The WSJ editorial enablers and protectors of the traitor Trump meanwhile seem to like the idea of the latter as if it will trigger a kind of Mexican standoff favoring Barr. I.e. writing yesterday (''The Pseudo-Impeachment',  p. A14):

"Perhaps Mr. Nadler will send the sergeant -at-arms  to arrest Mr. Barr, which would make for an interesting showdown with the federal marshals who protect the AG."

Except, you deluded lunkheads, the sergeant -at -arms enforces the LEGISLATIVE branch and its subpoenas,  and so has priority over any other law enforcement, including federal marshals. In any case, if that's what it takes to finally bring this smoldering constitutional crisis to a head, I say 'bring it on'.

The WSJ, Rupert Murdoch- backed stooges are also out of it when they write this fulsome codswallop(ibid.):

"The real offense against the Constitution here is by the Democrats. Oversight of the executive branch is an important Congressional power.  But the Supreme Court has said it should be related to congress' legislative function or constitutional duty.  It can't merely be a trawling exercise to see what nasty details they can find to score political points and discredit a president before the 2020 election."

Failing to note that Trump has discredited himself. It is indeed all in the existing version of the 448 page Mueller report which readers can access here:

You will see Trump's own lawless actions revealed and which amount to a discrediting and full incrimination of himself.  These were summed up well by Lawrence Tribe (see top quote) and in Mueller's 10 cited episodes of obstruction. These  now have seen - at latest tally-  over 800 former prosecutors (Dem and Reep) sign a letter attesting to the fact they meet an indictment standard. In other words, if this sorry turd wasn't president he'd be in an orange jumpsuit already!  Don't take my word, read the relevant section in the report, and while you're at it, the part relating to the attack on our democracy as well. Don't take Barr's words or Trump's either!  Don't be deluded for one second into believing this is "all settled, all over".   No it is not.

Those with the time and temperament - as well as patience - to read the report (from the link given) will also find that it establishes beyond a doubt that a hostile foreign power engaged in a systematic effort to subvert our democracy and Trump egged them on ("If you're listening, Russia....")   Mueller's explosive report shows clearly - when you READ it (and not Barr's crib note) that Trump's only concern was for his own fat, orange skin not for American democracy.

Also, we learned why former White House Counsel Don McGahn must be a key witness in hearings which hopefully will begin soon. That is, Mueller reveals that Trump directed McGhan to fire Mueller based on the accusation of "conflict of interest" that Trump knew to be groundless.. Worse, Trump instructed McGahn to lie about it.  As one former associate DOJ prosecutor put it last night on 'All In' "That nails it. Obstruction!"

All this, especially with Barr's contempt and the effort to neuter congress, means impeachment proceedings must start sooner than later. The Dems have no choice, especially if the Trumptards continue to refuse to respond to subpoenas. Thus, the only way to obtain the evidence needed is to take the crisis to the next level - of impeachment. The House Dems then become the lawful prosecutors and must be given the evidence, including the unredacted full report and all ancillary evidence.  Could there be political, blowback? Yes, as Lawrence Tribe noted, but at the same time "no one has a crystal ball" to foretell exactly how things will unfold, adding:

"As you note I take a cautioned view of impeachment in my book but there is a point where caution becomes cowardice and cowardice becomes betrayal of the Constitution."

This is an important warning to sound as Trump more and more leaves congressional investigators little choice. It's either impeach the imp or send the signal an impious criminal  WH resident who flouts every subpoena is A-ok,  and send the country to perdition.

 Also as Prof. Tribe noted may well be that failure to act in a courageous manner will cost the Democrats votes - millions of them.

So the WSJ editors can sputter about "pseudo-impeachment" all they want, but the Reeps and the mutt they're protecting are leaving the Democrats with no other choices. By their obstinate and obstructive tactics to try to nullify the Article 1 powers of congress, they have made their traitor boy the target of impeachment.

Will he try to use it to play to his forlorn loser base? Of course! But that can't be used as an excuse to refrain from holding this criminal and his whole embedded enterprise to account. It's either that, or  set a dangerous precedent for any future executive who fancies himself a dictator. 

Now it is true that in a culture in which most people have the attention span of gnats too many voters appear "unmoved by Mueller's conclusions" - according to one TIME magazine take (May 13, p. 33).  However, I would say this is only insofar as they've been exposed to Barr's truncated, skewed, 4 page version of the report. If they could instead bestir their brains (and attention) to read the WHOLE report - as I've provided the link to it above - they would find it not only damning - but agree with the 800 former prosecutors who maintain if it were anyone else he'd be wearing an orange jump suit.

By the same token, the claim of one Trump imbecile (2020 campaign secretary Kayleigh McEnany, ibid.) that "the report creates a massive credibility for the left"  is easily skewered. Again, once one reads the actual report, or just the key sections that give away Trump's actions as manifestly criminal.   Why didn't Mueller then "pin the tail on the Dotard?"  My take and that of many other observers is that he was a victim of overthinking his role, in particular the 'need' to err on the side of caution:  bending over too far backwards so as not to appear unfair. But also to hold to the DOJ Office of Legal Counsel trope that "no president can be indicted". Faced with the OLC opinion, which is what it was, and Trump's refusal to show up to answer questions in person, he reasoned he had no choice other than to punt.  Despite all that, as the 800 plus former prosecutors attest - his report was an indictment in all but name.   Read it and you will agree as well!

Especially when you note that when Mueller said clearly in Vol.II he found evidence to support every element of the offense of obstruction of justice committed by the president and\he found it over and over. As one MSNBC legal specialist put it this morning:   "That is case open not case closed."

Rick Wilson is correct that there is no way a 2/3 majority in the Senate will vote to evict Trump - not with Repukes in control. And yes, it is possible Trump could jump on any positive result as an excuse to brag "Look now I'm really exonerated" and get $250 mil for his campaign.  But Sen. Elizabeth Warren made a larger point for impeachment Tuesday night in her Chris Hayes interview.  This was hours after Bitch McConnell whined earlier that the Dems "were trying to undo the 2016 election" and it's "case closed". You wish, Bitch. But you damned well know that the if tables were turned and your bunch was running the House during a Hillary admin probe there is no way in hell you'd pack it in and run. So STFU, you Guppy -mouthed asshole!

Anyway, Sen. Warren's point was irrespective of the Senate not voting to indict, ALL Senators will still have to go on record - historical record - with their votes.. Twenty years from now when the final history of this abominable administration and its traitorous instincts is written - they will have to then take ownership (including their spawn) for enabling and protecting a criminal and traitor  - as well as attempting to destroy the American Republic.

Can they live with that? Probably, because as JFK once said, these "circus elephants" only see as far as the tail of the one in front.  They will truly only see the temporary advantage they hold now, but be unable to parse how it plays out in destroying any positive posterity.  But this is part and parcel of what the author of the book 'Irrationality' has written, that they are an integral part of the :structural irrationality that "allowed Trump to end up where he never should have ended up".

But part of the blame for that also goes to those who helped put him there, who voted for this fraud and con man believing he'd somehow make their lives better, when his tariffs have made them much worse.  In other words, there is the irrationality of individual members of society with which we must also contend, and which is likely to persist even if we finally clean house of Trump next year.

Ultimately, this battle will determine whether the U.S. remains a constitutional Republic, i.e. as Ben Franklin put it "You have a Republic IF you can keep it", or a one party state autocracy.  The choice is ours and it begins with reading the Mueller report and ascertaining just how despicable a leader we have in power and why he merits sanction - and certainly no re-election!  Personally, it is possible the one-sided impeachment "dam" could break if just one Reep House rep found the time to read the actual Mueller report then come forth to side with impeachment of the scum in the White House.

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