Posted on 08/23/2018 4:18:05 PM PDT by Kevin in California
Call a primetime presser and announce the firing of that useless and gutless AG we have along with that crooked Deputy AG. Play dirty just like them...you have my support.
What do you have to lose? NOTHING!
After you fire their sorry asses, appoint someone (maybe DiGenova) that will convene a special council and turn the tables on these bastards and investigate them.
I am so sick of the SH*T that's taking place in my country.
DO IT MR.TRUMP!
That.
How soon they (you) forget that Paul Manfort got Trump over the Convention hump. Manfort helped (shepherded) Trump get past roadblocks and delegate challenges. Is why he was hired. Trump only let him go when Manforts Ukraine lobbying came out. I believe Manafort was working in the Tony Podesta (Democrat) lobbying group at this time.
Manafort did nothing that 100 high powered DC lobbyists for foreigners were doing and are probably still doing. If Manafort never came on board w Trump he never would have been prosecuted. And you know this.
VERDICT— Paul Manfort is a stand up guy and needs to be pardoned in the future. Michael Cohen caved but not Manafort.
After Sessions and Rottenstein get booted.....
Since Pompeo has gotten Senate confirmation he can easily be moved laterally to Attorney General and clean house and set things right. Then Trump has to find someone to head up State. Could be that Mike Pompeo has an able lieutenant who can take over. Matter of fact Pompeo should get one lined up right now who is serious, unafraid and not a stinking Dem
Have patience. Look to the week after the midterms.
I agree with all of that except “stand up guy”. He didn’t pay his income taxes. Since his prosecution was unfair, he should have the opportunity to amend and pay them, like Geithner.
I believe under the Vacancies Reform Act a previously confirmed member can take the position for up to 210 days.
That Myers v US decision is still in effect, so AFAIK it would be pretty hard (as in “impossible”) for Congress to impeach a President for exercising a power that Scotus has ruled is his alone.
That decision removes all doubt that Trump firing his AG is legal- so how can it possibly be construed as a high crime & misdemeanor?
I mean this isn’t a gray area, that Myers decision eliminates any ability by Congress to claim that they get a vote in it.
I discovered Myers when all of the impeachment talk began... Andrew Johnson was impeached and nearly removed from office when he fired Secretary of War Stanton, so I wondered if that was still a real threat. Myers cleared it up. It’s interesting that the decision was written by Chief Justice William Taft, himself a former President.
Everyone agrees Trump has the power to fire Sessions. No one has ever said firing Sessions is illegal per se; no one has ever made that argument. It is pure politics and optics. It is Congress throwing its weight around and threatening Trump with impeachment because they say it gives the impression of obstruction of justice. The media would support impeachment and produce stories as to why it is obstruction of justice and drive public opionion. The reality is that impeachment is a political process. It is not a criminal process, although most people would argue otherwise.
It’s obvious Congress got Trump’s attention as he has been completely hands off of the DOJ and Sessions due to the threat of impeachment. Whenever that threat passes, Sessions will be out the door. No one knows when that will occur.
One thing is certain. If the dems flip the House, Trump will be impeached regardless.
You seem to be double minded here- you concede that Trump firing Sessions isn’t “illegal per se”, but then you fall back to the idea that he could be impeached if he does it.
Well impeachment requires “high crimes and misdemeanors”- which sounds distinctly like the very definition of “illegal”- but apparently those who like to insist that impeachment is solely a political issue just treat that inconvenient phrase in Section 4 Article 2 of the Constitution as if it doesn’t exist or is infinitely flexible, and that Congress can stretch it to mean anything and everything.
Well unfortunately for Congress there is one thing that they definitely cannot stretch it to mean, and that is the case of a President firing a Cabinet officer. We know this because it is in fact one of the few issues that Scotus has ruled upon:
“Myers v. United States, 272 U.S. 52, was a United States Supreme Court decision ruling that the President has the exclusive power to remove executive branch officials, and does not need the approval of the Senate or any other legislative body”
Imagine that. It doesn’t say “except in the case of the AG”. It doesn’t say “except when Congress decides that such a firing constitutes obstruction of justice”. Nope. It’s a complete and final authority reserved for the President. So. Back to your drawing board. Try again.
“There is no lateral move. If the AG position is open, there has to be hearings and a vote in the Senate. No one just moves from one position to another - not allowed.”
That’s correct:
“As a complimentary example, between the Reagan and Bush administrations in the 80’s, Elizabeth (Liddy) Dole served as Secretary of Transportation and then Labor. Likewise Leon Panetta moved from CIA to Defense under President Obama. In each case, the movement required re-approval by the relevant oversight committees in the US Senate and then approval by the whole body thereafter. It’s a grueling process, but approval once does not carry over to approval for a new job title if the President decides to move them. “
The VRA was passed in 1998.
Panetta moved from CIA to Defense during Obama, had to undergo Senate confirmation in order for it to be a permanent post. Vacancy Reform Act 1998 allows for temporary assignments by the President. IIRC recess appointments can be for an even longer term.
Good point and yes I agree. My original point was that I believe another confirmed member could be appointed acting AG for up to 210 days. Scott Pruitt offered to do this before he left. He could have closed up the entire SC investigation in a few weeks and then either resigned or gone to the Senate for confirmation.
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