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 ...
You mean Cohen could be disbarred?
Amazing!
He's already pleaded guilty to a felony. That is automatic disbarment in New York.
The Buzzfeed article also contradicts the Cohen charging document from his sentencing. If Mueller had actual testimony and corroborating evidence of this allegation it would have been used as an October surprise before the congressional elections.
It’s spaghetti journalism, fling it against the wall and see if it sticks.
Established chronic liar cohen “reports” that President Trump told him to lie. Sure...I believe a liar.
If we are punishing people for lying....then most dims should be exicuted.
This seems extraordinarily thin. Even if Cohen (under pressure from a corrupt prosecutor) claims this is true, it’s insufficient evidence for far too trivial a charge to justify meeting the Democrat dream that somehow Hillary can be named the retroactive winner of the 2016 Presidential Election. I hope the insider class will not push this, or things will get VERY ugly.
Now at the end of the day it looks like the NYT was wise to hold back on NOT buying the story!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3721101/posts
“Mueller team disputes BuzzFeed report claiming Trump told Cohen to lie”
Following up a day later: Mueller’s “team” says it ain’t so.
It’s all here
www.alamo-girl.com
A long read, find what you are most interested in and absorb some research on the Clintons
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