Posted on 12/04/2017 9:33:48 AM PST by Mariner
Am I the only one who is a tad disappointed that Trump tweets may or may not actually be the actual words of Trump?
Alan Dershowitz has weighed in that he cannot obstruct justice unless he does something illegal. Nothing illegal done in expressing his opinion as head of the executive branch, per Dershowitz.
that’s what’s gonna happen.
Send some troops up north to Staten Island.
We’ll be protecting four bridges and stuck between 4 liberal boroughs and a liberal state (NJ)
Flynn lied to Trump et al about his lobbying for Erdogan and Turkey. That is why he was fired. It had nothing to do with Russia.
Later he finally filed as a lobbyist for them. Before that he was representing Erdogan’s interests, which is unacceptable in a foreign relations adviser, and doubly so for doing it covertly.
DemocRATs always always always accuse others of their own crimes. Always.
>> Flynn lied to Trump et al about his lobbying for Erdogan and Turkey. That is why he was fired. <<
Looks to me as if Dowd didn’t know that factoid. If indeed he didn’t know, then maybe Trump needs a new lawyer.
For what it's worth, despite the “high crimes and misdemeanors” language, what is impeachable is what the House decides is impeachable. Removal from office is heard by the whole Senate acting as a jury with a 2/3rds majority required to convict.
1) I agree though on slightly different grounds: These people serve at the pleasure of the POTUS and POTUS has discretion to fire them for any reason. You cannot charge POTUS with obstruction for exercising his discretion otherwise you impinge on his absolute discretion. I think there are cases heard by the USSC that suggest the same
2) I am not sure why people think the Trump tweet strengthens the case against him. I think it underscores the point above, plus, I think the case being made is that Comey is a liar too - if Flynn was fired for lying Comey can be fired for the same thing (even though POTUS needs no cause to fire any of them).
3) I am tired of the media presenting every issue in a vacuum. All of the pieces fit together, and relate to each other. Let us not forget that Rod Rosenstein wrote Trump a letter saying that POTUS must fire Comey if there is to be any semblance of morale restored at the FBI and DOJ. How could POTUS ignore such a letter? How could acting on such a letter, weighed against his own judgement, be construed as “obstruction?”.
There are 101 reasons why Trump could have fired Comey up to and including that he is a rat liar and he worked for and exonerated the rat liars in the criminal organizations that preceded Trump. Trump did not need to keep him on, and Rod Rosenstein made clear why Comey’s continuation was harmful to the country. All of this and more, and still is impossible to second guess POTUS and say his true motive for firing Comey was due to these empty accusations. That is impossible to prove but I do realize that this is not a question of law but a question of politics. There is no standard of “reasonable doubt” for impeachment that is purely a political machination not a legal one.
4) Which is another absurdity - he is accused of obstructing justice in an investigation which turned up nothing criminal?
Yes, and that is why POTUS has executive privilege.
The establishment is so powerful and corrupt, including the nefarious deep state, that Trump is within his rights to order the indefinite arrest of anyone he likes in my opinion.
To get us back to being a properly functioning constitutional Republic, won’t be pretty, but it will be worth it.
“what is impeachable is what the House decides is impeachable. “
Precisely correct.
The reason it didn’t work for Nixon, as you mentioned, is detailed above.
There was clear political will to impeach. And since Nixon was covering up an underlying crime he thought he would likely be convicted.
But the defense in valid in all other cases...ESPECIALLY if there is no underlying crime. And likely even if there is.
There are two levers of power over a POTUS.
And only two.
The next election. And, Impeachment.
While in office they are literally above the law. Literally, above the law.
” Flynn lied to Trump et al about his lobbying for Erdogan and Turkey. That is why he was fired. “
“”Looks to me as if Dowd didn’t know that factoid. If indeed he didn’t know, then maybe Trump needs a new lawyer.””
You would be amazed at what these so called insiders don’t know. I had a discussion about 9 months ago with the guy who had been Bush’s top White House Counsel as well as other high positions he held and currently holds. He thought Comey was a good guy who was just very independent. He didn’t know about Comey’s brother, or what all Comey had done as a fixer for the Clintons for decades. Boy, was I proven right as it became more public!
What if Trump fired Comey because he found out the FBI was lying to him? After all, we now know that Comey was a leaker; how long did Trump know that Comey was leaking?
It's not obstruction to use your Constitutional authority to stop a corrupted investigation that outwardly appeared legitimate but internally went rogue, is it?
-PJ
I guess Trump was too when he fired them.
I was merely pointing out the hiprocracy of the left.
If the president had the authority to fire THE prosecuting attorneys, he surely had the authority to fire the head of the FBI.
A good analysis.
” I am not sure why people think the Trump tweet strengthens the case against him. I think it underscores the point above, plus, I think the case being made is that Comey is a liar too - if Flynn was fired for lying Comey can be fired for the same thing (even though POTUS needs no cause to fire any of them).”
I agree that the executive branch serves at the pleasure of the president and while he needs no reason to fire anyone, he obtained a very convincing public reason for Comey’s dismissal with Rod Rosenstein’s letter.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39866767
“....Although the President has the power to remove an FBI director, the decision should not be taken lightly. I agree with the nearly unanimous opinions of former Department officials. The way the Director handled the conclusion of the email investigation was wrong. As a result, the FBI is unlikely to regain public and congressional trust until it has a Director who understands the gravity of the mistakes and pledges never to repeat them. Having refused to admit his errors, the Director cannot be expected to implement the necessary corrective actions.”
The inevitable result of Comey’s individual wrongful acts was his dismissal. That analysis by Rosenstein is a nearly insurmountable barrier to now suggest that the reason was to obstruct justice. The enemies of President Trump are grasping at straws which will never get them to impeachment.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.