[nathanbedford]

Let's establish some first principles:

1. The Atty. Gen. has an absolute right, indeed the responsibility to oversee and intervene in the day-to-day operation of his trial lawyers.

2. The trial lawyers had deceived the Atty. Gen. by telling him that they would seek a sentence less than nine years.

3. The trial lawyers in recommending a nine year sentence have breached standard norms considering the degree of the crime, the lack of criminal record of the defendant, the lack of harm to society, the relative disparity and severity of sentence running to other political figures on the Democrat side.

4. The President of the United States has the absolute right, indeed the responsibility, to direct the office of the Atty. Gen. in the conduct of pursuing the nation's justice.

5. The only evidence before us is that the Atty. Gen. acted to modify the sentence recommendation before the president tweeted.

6. The only evidence before us is that the president has never intervened with the Atty. Gen. respecting a criminal case.

Nevertheless the Atty. Gen. is correct, the president made an unforced error with this tweet. Just as the president made an unforced error with the phone call leading to his impeachment. In each instance he was innocent and constitutionally authorized but ill advised. The Atty. Gen.'s job has been made more difficult, the Democrats were given the appearance of improper action, the administration was placed on the defensive.

I acknowledge that no matter what the president does he and his administration will be attacked, notwithstanding there is no need to tee up the ball for them.

[wastoute]

7. Trump avoids the need to “pardon” and thereby avoids the Rat’s trap of “abuse of power” for pardoning Stone.

[wastoute]

8) now Pelosi wants to impeach Barr.

9) Pelosi impeaches Barr and Trump does nothing “to avoid the perceived conflict of interest”.

10). Bar spins in the wind for a few months. (How does it feel?)

[Prolixus]

Without the President’s tweet, no-one is looking at what Stone was convicted of. Now many are looking at the ridiculous charges and inexplicable conviction. The most punishment Stone should have gotten was for Twitter to have given him a time-out.

Also, the Bidens are the elephant-in-the-room regarding U.S. - Ukraine relations and monetary aid. At least now I have an explanation, for why Biden was running for President, to give to my wife for her questions about why is this old-fool running for President instead enjoying his retirement. He’s running to obstruct justice.

[pepsionice]

At the current pace of things, I might suggest two more impeachment attempts for 2020. One on Barr, which would take the House three months to conduct the investigation, and prep the case for the Senate. Then a final House attempt by August on the President, with the Senate getting this in October (right before the election).

The plus side of this? Getting Nadler, Shiffty and Pelosi on TV for part of the Trump campaign in the fall. You’d virtually guaranteed a land-slide vote (maybe up around 45 states, and a 60-percent vote tally). I could even see a plus-up of four more Senate seats by January of next year.

[Raycpa]

Unforced errors or laser pointers?

[Engedi]

Exactly. You stated this perfectly the situation one tweet has put the AG, who we all have faith and trust in to ensure those who tried to take down our President be accountable.

[ALPAPilot]

Nevertheless the Atty. Gen. is correct, the president made an unforced error with this tweet. Just as the president made an unforced error with the phone call leading to his impeachment. In each instance he was innocent and constitutionally authorized but ill advised. The Atty. Gen.'s job has been made more difficult, the Democrats were given the appearance of improper action, the administration was placed on the defensive.

I disagree. The President has an obligation to confront, head on, the existence of a two tiered Justice System. The fact that Michael Flynn is being racked over the coal while Clapper and Brennan are left unscathed; no one seams to care about the felony leaks coming from the NSC; Hillary's emails etc. The Judge and the jury in this case are riddled with political bias. Having half the country loose confidence in the fairness of the Justice System is an existential problem he needs to solve. Making it known, making it known that he knows is a required step.