Posted on 05/02/2018 10:46:40 AM PDT by sickoflibs
The leak of a list of questions Mueller wants to ask President Trump is a sign that Mueller’s seemingly never-ending investigation in search of a crime may be getting close to a conclusion. One would think that before interviewing Trump, Mueller would have interviewed everyone else relevant to the case and is now trying to show discrepancies between Trump’s amazingly elastic memory and the memory of others in order to give his leftwing fan club the joy of claiming “obstruction.”
Yesterday, the Washington Post ran an anonymously sourced story claiming that Mueller had threatened Trump with a subpoena if he refused to submit to a “voluntary” interview.
In a tense meeting in early March with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, President Trump’s lawyers insisted he had no obligation to talk with federal investigators probing Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.
But Mueller responded that he had another option if Trump declined: He could issue a subpoena for the president to appear before a grand jury, according to four people familiar with the encounter.
Mueller’s warning — the first time he is known to have mentioned a possible subpoena to Trump’s legal team — spurred a sharp retort from John Dowd, then the president’s lead lawyer.
“This isn’t some game,” Dowd said, according to two people with knowledge of his comments. “You are screwing with the work of the president of the United States.”
Will Trump agree to go along with an interview? I’d say the odds are quite a bit less than 50-50. It is widely reported that Trump is still incensed over Mueller using the Southern District of New York US attorney’s office as a stalking horse to get him access to Michael Cohen’s communications with Trump. (Let’s not fool ourselves here and think Cohen was subjected to a no-notice raid of his home, office, and residence because of some bullsh** back tax due on taxi medallions or any other financial wizardry he may have been involved in.) And this tweet by Trump is probably a solid indication of the direction he’s going in part because he’s pissed at Mueller and in part because he’s read the polls and thinks a fight with Mueller will be politically profitable.
It is also an open question whether Mueller even has that authority. Department of Justice regulations say that a sitting president can’t be indicted. So if Trump just refused to comply with the subpoena, Mueller would have damned little recourse. Trump might even think the blatant defiance was a win…and he might be right.
And Mueller is not a special counsel in the mold of Ken Starr. He’s a temp employee of the Department of Justice. He’s supervised (hahaha) by Rod Rosenstein who would certainly have to sign off on anything as extraordinary as a subpoena issued to the President. If Rosenstein did that, his tenure could be measured in nanoseconds.
More to the point, if the leaked questions are in any way accurate, they are simply inappropriate. There is no reason on earth why any president should have to explain to anyone his rationale for firing people or for his policy preferences or reveal his feeling about particular people. That is just fodder for leaks.
Mueller may get his interview, but you can bet it probably will not be a multi-hour, under oath session.
Mueller is a scumbag.
Who the hell does this guy think he is?
Just don’t make it under oath.
The independent counsel statute expired in 1999. The law is very different today than it was back then.
When will Peter Strzok be asked about the insurance policy he was referring to?
When he admits the insurance policy was the Russian investigation then they will shut the whole thing down.
Yeah, but the authority of a special counsel to compel a president to testify was never tested in the courts.
June 29, 1998:
“President Bill Clinton agrees to testify voluntarily and Starr’s office withdraws the subpoena. Clinton’s testimony is set for Aug. 17 at the White House.”
It’s a good thing we have so many smart people here on FR. If Donald Trump listened to us here he would have dropped out of the 2016 campaign about 200 different times.
1. Trump fully recognizes and understands what is occurring, and is just stringing out the process until the coup is crushed; or
2. Same as above, but Trump is worried about his level of military support and ability to turn the ship of state around.
Now, which option seems more sensible knowing what we (think we) know about Trump? I've long held the opinion that the only way the US gets back on track is with wide-spread arrests and military adjudication. Every thing else is just noise.
Entirely possible that Giuliani or any other state attorney general, assistant or former state attorney general may be eligible to bring such charges. That would include several members of congress. I wouldn’t expect anybody in DOJ to have the nerve, and Deep State is notorious for getting revenge. Sessions is a doorpost, and Rosenstein is Mueller’s chief enabler. Also, as far as disbarment would be concerned, I think a fellow member of his state bar assn. could bring charges of unethical conduct. Since disbarment is not about criminal charges, statute of limitations for discovery should not apply-I guess!
I thought if you just TALKED to the Sacred FBI or special counsel you don’t dare lie.
Although lying about what one is thinking at given moment,...good luck making that sound like you are sane. Therefore, you can THINK one thing one second and change your mind. I can’t imagine what the the he!! Mueller is going to do with President’s thoughts.
A pathetic arsehole, that Mueller.
My suggested response:
Dear Mr. Mueller:
A number of America’s leading newspapers, including the Washington Post and New York Times, have documented well that my memory is faulty.
I suspect that you know the correct answers to all the questions you have posed.
My answering would gain you nothing in fact, but my cause me the great difficultly and embarrassment of explaining a memory fault, possibly in a court of law.
I surmise based on this list of questions that you have no further basis at this time to file any further charges within the scope of the duties assigned by you by Mr. Rosenstein.
Kindly do me and the American people a favor by facing that hard truth for a man of your zeal and resigning.
D. Trump
What a great response!
My answering would gain you nothing in fact, but may cause me the great difficultly and embarrassment of explaining a memory fault, possibly in a court of law.
I thought it was in the oval office in private.
After 8yrs of Obama and from what we have recently seen, that is a legitimate question.
Almost certainly, there have been back channels up and running that will help id the good guys in place. Not all the admirals and generals that continued with Obama's outlandish policies were bad guys but rather some sucked it up saw the need to remain.
Worse case, Trump can work his way down the chain of command until he gets the one he wants (or the one Rudy recommends). If not, he can bring in someone or even a team he has good reason to trust.
How does the DOJ define subpeona? Isn’t it give us something when you get around to it if you haven’t lost it already. You can ignore it if you want or just blacken out any info that might incriminate you.
This idea has merit, though I don’t know if it’s possible. What about Homeland Security? Surely they can be tasked with investigating DOJ.
That may be true but he is trying to manufacture one.
“Robert Mueller Threatens President Trump With A Subpoena If He Does Not Submit To An Interview”
Deceptive headline in that Mueller threatens subpoena if Trump does not submit to Mueller. The interview is extraneous and is what is now called a “hook”.
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