Posted on 01/18/2019 10:07:04 AM PST by Seizethecarp
When Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) asked President Trump’s nominee for attorney general, William P. Barr, earlier this week whether it would be a crime if “the president tried to coach somebody not to testify, or testify falsely,” Barr was unequivocal: “Yes,” the nominee told the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Under an obstruction statute, yes.”
Now that an explosive story published Thursday by BuzzFeed News alleges that Trump did just that, by ordering Michael Cohen, his former attorney, to lie to Congress, Barr’s answer presents the White House with a new quandary — the president’s own choice for the nation’s top law enforcement official has described such conduct as “classic” obstruction of justice. Barr said the same when pressed by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), as well as in his own written statements. He has affirmed his view at least three times, both in a once-private memo and in sworn testimony.
The White House’s difficulty isn’t that Barr spoke out of turn or betrayed an unconventional opinion in line with Democratic talking-points, said David Alan Sklansky, a Stanford law professor. The problem for Trump, who pushed out Jeff Sessions as attorney general after seething that he had failed to protect him from the inquiry led by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, is rather that a view more favorable to the president would have been indefensible, the criminal law scholar said.
The nominee’s clearly stated judgment "limits his ability to take a particular position in defense of the president, but that position would have been an untenable one anyway,” Sklansky said in an interview with The Washington Post. “It would have been more awkward to defend the nomination of an attorney general who didn’t think this is obstruction of justice. It’s not a controversial position.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
This is a counter-offensive by the Deep State to offset the bombshells from Bruce Ohr’s testimony.
Battle of the leakers.
Looking for the word “allegedly”, which is always missing from Articles concerning Trump but is always included about Illegal Invader Crime.
Not a NYT article, however!
We are discussing the ramifications of an event that never occurred.
Exactly, a fiction created to drown out with noise the fact that Trump is thumping the dems on borders and SOTU.
This is a counter-offensive by the Deep State to offset the bombshells from Bruce Ohr’s testimony.
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Bingo. The story is being pushed by the corrupt FBI.
Binders full of fact checkers.
Asking to impact polls 2 years ago has NOTHING to do with lying under oath, in current witch hunt.
Michael Cohen has not confirmed this story nor has his lawyer, Lanny Davis. It was only recently that McClatchy revived the story of Cohen being in Prague or at least his cell phone was.
This all smacks of a coordinated disinformation campaign. The noose is tightening around the coup members. The are getting desperate.
Another report made reference to Cohen’s prepared statement to Congress. I do not know if this statement was submitted in open session or whether it is still confidential. It will be important to know exactly what Cohen said in the prepared statement because that will have been vetted by whomever vets stuff for Trump, presumably the White House Counsel and others. If Cohen clearly lied in prepared remarks, it’s big trouble. If Cohen was sloppy in answers to Q&A, there will likely be considerable ambiguity.
Glad you posted this. Boy, it’s getting hairy out there in libland.
Bill and Hillary “reportedly” had several people killed. Let’s start with that before we move onto PDJT and his piddly alleged transgressions.
This is about the next Supreme court justice.
Can’t have a President under impeachment making SC nonomations can we?
Or if he should get another onevon the court it will give them an excuse to pack the court when they gain power.
This really has nothing to do with anything.
However, the Government lied to the FISA court to get trump, and that is means nothing.
Buzzfeed outed the fake dossier, Isn’t Carter page suing them?
Who told the government lawyers to lie or to deceive the FISA courts?
Oh my, a liar who was asked to lie for a lesser sentence is telling the gaggle of liars that someone else told him to lie.
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Excellent summation.
So it looks like the questioning democrat senators already knew this leak of fake news was coming up.
Be careful what you wish for.
There are 20 Bush League Republican Senators that would love to get rid of President Trump
He said she (Cohen) said. yawn
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