Posted on 12/18/2017 5:32:33 PM PST by Golden Eagle
All eyes are on what Donald Trump will do, as the oracles on Twitter and the Hill have predicted that the president may fire special counsel Robert S. Mueller around the holidays. Trumps lawyers have denied that he is considering such a move, and Trump himself has not directly criticized Mueller. However, Trump has recently expressed dissatisfaction with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, calling him weak and a threat. Along with those comments, the Washington Post reports that Trump appeared to be contemplating changes in the Justice Departments leadership. In short, theres a good chance that the guillotine is poised for Rosenstein, not for Mueller....
Removing Rosenstein and replacing him with a DAG who is at the very least more sympathetic to Trump could have drastic repercussions for the investigation. The new DAG could burden the special counsel with a requirement to provide an explanation for every move he makes and then decide that they arent necessary or appropriate. A new DAG would even have the ultimate, er, trump card: She could decide at some point that the investigation should not even continue at all...
Since Rosenstein is his own political appointee, Trump has great discretion in deciding whether to remove him, and he can do it quickly and directly. And by removing Rosenstein but not touching Mueller, Trump can claim that he is in fact not trying to interfere with the Russia investigation at all: Indeed, it could be very hard to prove otherwise, which insulates him significantly from further obstruction charges.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
Agreed !
Why would POTUS pick the next in line at DOJ? With the millions of lawyers in the US, Trump could find a good lawyer from outside the DOJ. The Dems would take this line of offense. Why can’t a Rep.? Put one of the ex DOJ lawyers from better administrations or someone brand new. Clean house Donald J. Trump.
He is toast regardless as in Mueller
” A new DAG would even have the ultimate, er, trump card: She could decide at some point that the investigation should not even continue at all...”
Judge Pirro perhaps?
I remember reading it was Jared who recommended firing Comey.
Let's hope so, but so far the only ones arrested in this whole scandal have only Trump associates.
To me, the only true solution is to appoint a non-DOJ person to investigate potential crimes by the DOJ. At least that's the best chance we'll get an honest result, and not a cover up.
But if that doesn't happen, firing Rosenstein (or Sessions) is politically more palatable than firing Mueller directly.
Actually, no.
If Rosenstein were fired tomorrow, the DAG post would be filled on an interim basis by the Associate Attorney General. That position is held by Rachel Brand, who was appointed by President Trump in February and confirmed in May.
Sometimes even the Indian author of a left-wing rag gets it right. LOL.
It is the conservative media and the Congressional committees that have exposed Mueller’s biases, but only Trump (or AWOL Sessions) that will ever shut him down for them.
>><<
At this time it would be stupid of Trump to fire him and Trump isn’t stupid.
The longer Mueller operates, the more discredited he becomes and he won’t ever effectively reach “the top” as you put it.
Trump is too smart for them. He'll just wait for Mueller to implode, which should be any day now.
Rod Rosenstein was appointed by President Trump. In fact, Trump thought highly enough of him that he refused to accept his resignation from his prior position as the U.S. Attorney for the Maryland District when Jeff Sessions asked for the resignations of all these U.S. Attorneys back in February.
That NYT interview from July 2017 was one of the wackiest media reports of the year. After reading some of those quotes and comparing them to the facts as they actually happened earlier in the year, I concluded that Trump agreed to the NYT interview for the sole purpose of blowing smoke up everyone's @ss. LOL.
Statement by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Anonymous Allegations
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein today issued the following statement:
"Americans should exercise caution before accepting as true any stories attributed to anonymous 'officials,' particularly when they do not identify the country -- let alone the branch or agency of government -- with which the alleged sources supposedly are affiliated. Americans should be skeptical about anonymous allegations. The Department of Justice has a long-established policy to neither confirm nor deny such allegations."
As soon as I read this, I figured Rosenstein was sending a message to the Trump team to ignore the 'fake news' reports about the Special Counsel investigation that were coming out on a daily basis.
“the DAG post would be filled on an interim basis by the Associate Attorney General”
She’s interim, right?
So she gets replaced by the new permanent appointee...Ms. Coulter.
Or Ms. Ingraham. They’re both credentialed attornies, don’t know if members of the DC Bar. Don’t know if that’s even required...
Laura Ingraham would be lucky to get five U.S. Senators to vote in favor of her confirmation.
Ann Coulter would get zero on a GOOD day.
P.S. — Neither Coulter nor Ingraham is a real attorney. They may have gone to law school and practiced law at some point in the past, but they are nothing more than media figures right now.
And if they arrest Kushner or Don Jr. next, Trump could loose the control and momentum he currently has. We can kick the can down the road some more, but if a Trump family member is charged we will be in uncharted territory.
In fact it's been reported that Mueller is already operating on a conflict of interest waiver, which is outrageous considering he's supposed to be a unbiased independent special counsel!
Contradicting Trump, deputy AG Rosenstein says his memo not meant to ‘justify’ Comey firing
“My memorandum is not a statement of reasons to justify a for-cause termination,’’ Rosenstein told lawmakers, according to prepared remarks released by the Justice Department Friday. “My memorandum is not a press release.’’
some days it's downright depressing to read all the crap headlines here.
I see your points. Hopefully Rosenstein is bailing out the water slower than it is coming in.
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