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For Mueller, a question of three conflicts
The Hill ^ | 04 May 2018 | Sharyl Atkisson

Posted on 05/05/2018 8:00:49 PM PDT by Meet the New Boss

...Mueller is treading in waters in which he — the special counsel — may have at least three serious conflicts of interest.

The first area has to do with Mueller’s reported inquires into Trump’s alleged desire to terminate Mueller himself as special counsel, as well as Trump’s firing of Mueller’s longtime friend and colleague, former FBI director James Comey.... no matter how close to perfect an investigator might be, it may not be reasonable to expect him to be able to completely set aside his feelings on matters of his own position or the treatment of a longtime friend and colleague.

snip

That brings us to a second area of possible conflicts of interest. Mueller’s institutional ties would seem to be relevant in a case whose counterpoints rest largely on the institution’s own alleged misbehavior. By that I mean some in the intelligence community and the Department of Justice allegedly conspired to “get Trump,” promulgated and leaked questionable “intelligence” that turned out to be political opposition research, and exploited the government’s most intrusive surveillance authority to spy on Americans who were tied to Trump during the presidential campaign....

A third possible conflict of interest involves the case’s entanglements with two of the people instrumental in Mueller’s appointment as special counsel. Though we didn’t know it at the time, it was his old friend Comey who secretly leaked — or gave — information to the New York Times to spur the appointment. And Mueller’s actual appointment was made by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who we now know signed his name to at least one of the controversial wiretaps against a Trump campaign associate. To make matters more complex, Rosenstein is the one who provided President Trump a strongly worded memo supporting the decision to fire Comey....

(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: jamescomey; lisabarsoomian; lisapage; michaelcohen; muellerconflicts; muelleroutofcontrol; peterstrzok; robertmueller; rodrosenstein; sharylatkisson
I would add a couple of additional legal points.

Mueller interviewed with Trump for the vacant position of FBI director on May 16, 2017.

Mueller was then appointed Special Counsel to investigate Trump's links with Russia the next day, on May 17, 2017. It now appears that the Special Counsel investigation also includes whether Trump obstructed justice in firing Comey as FBI director.

The first point is that it is hard to imagine that the interview between Mueller and Trump for the vacant FBI directorship did not touch on the reasons for terminating the old FBI director and whatever assurances Trump wanted from the new guy that he would not repeat the same behavior that prompted the firing of the previous director.

That would make Mueller a fact witness as to the reasons for the firing of Comey, and would disqualify him as a prosecutor in such a situation.

The second point to make is an observation that it defies belief that Mueller did not know that he was about to be or likely to be appointed Special Counsel to investigate Trump at the time of the interview for the vacant FBI directorship.

What discussions were there among Rosenstein, Mueller and Comey in the days leading up to Mueller's appointment as Special Counsel to investigate Trump? Was the interview by Mueller a pretext to gather information for the coming Special Counsel investigation, or at least to evaluate Trump for purposes of Mueller's decision as to whether to investigate Trump?

If so, then Mueller may have committed a felony under 18 USC § 1001, the same section under which Mueller has gone after General Flynn and Papadopoulous for allegedly lying to FBI agents.

It is not limited to FBI agents but applies to other executive branch agents - including almost certainly the president - and nor is it limited to false statements, but also concealing or covering up material facts.

In other words, did Mueller lie to President Trump during his interview for the vacant FBI spot regarding the reason Mueller was participating in such interview? Was Mueller (who was a private citizen at the time) there really as a pretext, for example, trying to elicit information from President Trump for the upcoming Special Counsel investigation? If so, Mueller may have committed a felony.

We need a second Special Counsel with grand jury authority to obtain the communications of all these parties in order to investigate and prosecute the FISA abuse, the unmasking, the leaking, the corruption within the FBI and the DOJ, and the actions of Mueller, Comey and Rosenstein.

1 posted on 05/05/2018 8:00:49 PM PDT by Meet the New Boss
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To: Meet the New Boss

Three conflicts.

Is his head firmly planted?

Is his firmly implanted in him or someone else?

Has his head NOT been firmly implanted in the last decade?


2 posted on 05/05/2018 8:08:17 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (01/26/18 DJIA 30 stocks $26,616.71 48.794% > open 11/07/16 215.71 from 50% increase 1.2183 yrs..)
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To: Meet the New Boss

Comey concealed material information from Trump when he first told him about the Steele dossier (not telling him its origin) but that was before the inauguration, so Trump was just a private citizen at the time so I guess Comey can’t be considered guilty of a felonyunder 18 USC squiggly mark 1001.


3 posted on 05/05/2018 8:19:37 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: Meet the New Boss; acapesket; al baby; AllAmericanGirl44; Art in Idaho; BatGuano; Batman11; ...

Sharyl Attkisson Ping!

Now available: Sharyl's latest book Smear. Five stars!

Watch Sharyl host "Full Measure," a Sunday morning talk show on the Sinclair network. More info.

Want on or off this ping list? Just click Private Reply below and drop me a FReep mail.

4 posted on 05/05/2018 8:42:58 PM PDT by upchuck ("In America we don't worship government, we worship GOD" ~ President Donald Trump)
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To: Meet the New Boss

“That would make Mueller a fact witness as to the reasons for the firing of Comey, and would disqualify him as a prosecutor in such a situation.”

I have not seen or heard this line of reasoning before. You may be on to something.


5 posted on 05/05/2018 9:21:03 PM PDT by map
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To: Verginius Rufus

Where are Mueller’s notes on his meeting with Trump?

Where are Trump’s notes on his meeting with Weasel Mueller?


6 posted on 05/05/2018 9:23:45 PM PDT by Paladin2
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To: Meet the New Boss

Wow. That introduces an entire new line of attack. If lying to the President is the same as lying to the FBI, just imagine how many people are potentially liable for criminal offenses in the past 16 months?


7 posted on 05/05/2018 9:55:37 PM PDT by Defiant (I may be deplorable, but I'm not getting in that basket.)
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To: Defiant

“......how many people are potentially liable for criminal offenses in the past 16 months?”..........

If a special investigation was ever initiated to determine that number, none of us would live long enough to ever see the end. Seems Mueller is trying to be the one to set a record for such longevity.


8 posted on 05/06/2018 5:42:45 AM PDT by DaveA37
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To: Meet the New Boss

We are witnessing a conspiracy to overthrow the government. The conspirators are overwhelmingly Democrats, but every single one of them are members of the Washington establishment. They have arrogantly decided that the election of Donald Trump is unacceptable and they are out to reverse that outcome. Certainly the issues pointed out in this piece are correct, but they are only a small part of the larger conspiracy employing the power of bureaucracy, bold and unfettered lies, abuse of justice, and deliberate criminal acts. They are supported and enabled by the media, who if they were honest, could bring a quickly end to this travesty. Our elected representatives could also put a stop to this assault on our Republic, but they don’t want to annoy the bureaucracy who do the dirty work that enrich the politicians. The politicians are comfortable with the organized criminal activity of Washington because it benefits them.

We need to demand a stop to this and call it what is really is: the most dangerous threat to our government in our history. Pretending that this is just an investigation that may have gotten a little out of hand is to ignore what is really going on. We’ve seen enough evidence to know what the real objective is.


9 posted on 05/06/2018 7:38:50 AM PDT by centurion316 (Back from exile from 4/2016 until 4/2018)
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To: Meet the New Boss; acapesket; al baby; AllAmericanGirl44; Art in Idaho; BatGuano; Batman11; ...

Sharyl Attkisson Ping!

Now available: Sharyl's latest book Smear. Five stars!

Watch Sharyl host "Full Measure," a Sunday morning talk show on the Sinclair network. More info.

Want on or off this ping list? Just click Private Reply below and drop me a FReep mail.

10 posted on 05/24/2018 5:01:45 PM PDT by upchuck (The problem: parents doing their careers instead of raising their kids. h/t: Wyrd bið ful aræd)
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