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Trump's Wrong Doing Is Breathtaking

4/18/2019

“I’m f**ked” was Donald Trump’s reaction to the appointment of a Special Counsel, Robert Mueller. And it looks like he was right. Quickly skimming the Mueller’s report, two points become apparent. First, Mueller did not think he could indict a sitting President. And second, because Trump could not be exonerated at trial, he did not believe it appropriate to accuse Trump of committing crimes.

Nonetheless, the Mueller Report is replete with criminal activities, not all of which could be established beyond a reasonable doubt. The scope of Trump and his campaigns wrong-doing is breathtaking.

The New York Times: Read the Mueller Report: Full Searchable Document.https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/18/us/politics/mueller-report-document.html

What Will Barr Do?

4/17/2019

On the eve of the release of the redacted Mueller Report, Attorney General William Barr is attempting to shape the public’s perception of what the report says. Before anyone (except White House officials) sees the report, Barr will hold a press conference summarizing and interpreting Mueller’s Report.

Hopefully, trying to shape impressions of the report is all Barr will do. At least one pundit has speculated that he could announce a “panel” to investigate the origins of the Mueller investigation. Right-wing Republicans and Trump supporters believe that those origins lead to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Holding this press conference, along with other acts, has undermined Barr’s credibility and cemented his standing as a political hack serving Donald Trump and not the American people. For example, Barr has been briefing the White House on the Mueller Report, despite his suggestions that he had not briefed the White House.

Standby. Tomorrow we will know more about what Barr and the White House are doing to minimize and obfuscate the facts that will be contained in the Mueller Report.

The New York Times. Sharon LaFraniere: The Mueller Report Will Be Released on Thursday. Here's a Guide. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/17/us/politics/mueller-report-release-guide.html

The New York Times. Mark Mazzetti, Maggie Haberman, Nicholas Fandos and Katie Benner: White House and Justie Dept. Officials Discussed Mueller Report Before Release: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/17/us/politics/trump-mueller-report.html

Trump Is Weakening The Entire Federal Government

4/15/2019

Immediately after Donald Trump’s inauguration, some observers believed he would try to hollow out the government. One of his closest advisors, Steve Bannon, even publicly celebrated Trump’s election as the first step in the destruction of the “deep state.” After Trump fired Bannon for criticizing Trump to a gossip columnist, even the pundits who had raised the question of whether Trump would try to undermine the federal bureaucracy turned their attention to other issues.

Now, after Trump has removed the top leadership of several agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), we are again focusing on Trump’s hollowing out of the federal government. While Trump’s first Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, was blamed for failing to fully staff the State Department, his successor, Mike Pompeo, has not reversed the trend. Pompeo has not filled key positions, including ambassadorships to several Middle East countries.

Pundits generally view Trump’s recent purge of DHS leadership as the most concerning of the key leadership vacancies across the government. These pundits believe Trump purged the DHS leadership because he was unhappy about their inability to stop asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants from entering the U.S. Nonetheless, the impact of the DHS vacancies will be, among other things, to undermine the ability of the department to terrorist threats, protect the President, his family, and other high officials, and respond to natural disasters.

Trump is filling the top leadership positions in the State Department, DHS, and other federal agencies with acting appointees. These acting appointees are often not confirmed by the Senate and thus not fully vetted for top positions. As a result, Trump is seriously weakening the management of these federal agencies. Acting appointees are trusted less by other agency personnel because their tenure will be short-term. (The Federal Vacancies Act allows acting appointees to serve for no longer than 210 days.) And acting appointees are themselves more unwilling to make important decisions.

Hollowed out federal agencies will not snap back once Trump is out of office. It will take time and the expertise of the next administration to repair the government. It is unlikely that this country can take another four years of Trump.

The New York Times. Peter Baker, Maggie Haberman, Nicholas Fandos and Zolan Kanno-Youngs: Trump Purge Set to Force Out More Top Homeland Security Officials
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/08/us/politics/randolph-alles-secret-service.html

The New York Times. On Politics: Trump's Purge of Homeland Security
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/09/us/politics/trumps-homeland-security.html

The Assange Ouster From The Ecuadorian Embassy Adds to US Focus on Espionage

4/12/2019

Julian Assange - Reuters

Now that the Ecuadorian government has thrown Julian Assange out of its London Embassy, he faces extradition to the U.S. To smooth the extradition process, U.S. prosecutors charged Assange with conspiring to help Chelsea Manning hack into government computers. While this charge may make extradition easier, it may still take up to two or three years and is not certain.

Assange may have faced other charges tied more closely to Russian interference in the 2016 election. Besides complicating extradition, however, government lawyers believe that if they eventually try Assange on an espionage charge, they would also have to charge newspapers that published the information. Government lawyers are unwilling to open that can of worms.

But the inability to charge Assange with espionage also shows the problem with establishing enough evidence to bring conspiracy charges against anyone in the Trump inner circle. Without being able to link Assange to Russia, the nexus of the conspiracy against the U.S., tying the Trump inner circle becomes harder. Nonetheless, it is illuminating to note that every U.S. intelligence official, including Mike Pompeo when he was the Director of the CIA, believes Assange to be a Russian asset or agent.

Politico.com. Shafer. Julian Assange Might Have Already Won
https://politi.co/2X5E0Wj

The Washington Post: Horwitz: Julian Assange Unlikely to Face U.S. charges over Publishing Classified Documents
https://wapo.st/2Xbyulh

Trump Tramples the Law

4/11/2019

After Donald Trump’s Presidential victory in 2016 and before the Democratic midterm triumph, a number of books were written about fascism, authoritarianism, and the decline of democracies. Both Trump’s admiration for authoritarian leaders and his autocratic style partially fueled this publishing trend. The prospect of Democratic oversight of the Trump administration and the promise of an impending Mueller Report apparently dampened concerns about authoritarianism.

As it turns out, Trump’s increasing frustration with oversight and investigations, the ability of his Attorney General, William Barr to stifle the public’s reaction to the Mueller Report, and the growing agitation of his right-wing base to fulfill his promises have increased his lawless tendencies. His response to the avalanche of subpoenas has been to slow-walk the officials or materials required; the clear implication being that without Supreme Court rulings he will not deliver them. For example, the law governing the IRS requires Commissioner of the IRS to turn over any tax returns demanded in writing by the Chair of the Ways and Means Committee. Yet, the IRS is dragging its feet because Trump does not want his tax returns made public. Trump’s Chief of Staff has said that the Chair of Ways and Means will never obtain the returns.

Trump has sworn vengeance on the individuals whom he says instigated and carried out an illegal probe of his association with Russians. Despite extensive investigations by right-wing Republicans, no hint of illegality was found. Nevertheless, Barr mimicked the same trope as Trump and his supporters; he believed “the intelligence community spied on Trump.” Trump has finally achieved his long-held wish to have his own Roy Cohn- like Attorney General to protect him and do his bidding.

The arrest of refugee families seeking refuge has surged at the U.S. – Mexican Border, to the chagrin of Trump and his supporters. Trump blames the surge on the unwillingness of the officials at the Department of Homeland Security to implement a policy separating children from their parents because of court rulings prohibiting this policy. Trump admonished Homeland Security officials to ignore these court rulings and replaced a number of senior management officials who are more willing to follow his instructions.

Trump’s willingness to ignore the rule of law, along with his rampant lying and corrupt cronyism, are the hallmarks of dictators. And we should all care that the rule of law is being trampled because it protects us. And in the long run, the only real protection we have is the fairness and consistency from the rule of law.

The New York Times. Fandos and Goldman. Barr Asserts Intelligence Agencies Spied on the Trump Campaign
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/10/us/politics/barr-trump-campaign-spying.html

Joe Biden - Experience, Gravitas, and Old-Time Courtesy - Is That What We Want?

4/9/2019

Former Vice-President Joe Biden is leading in polls of likely 2020 contenders for the Democratic Presidential nomination. Recent claims by some women that they were discomforted by his hugs and invasions of personal space have not affected his poll standing. With Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders in first and second place, respectively, the other contenders fail to break into double digits. Most observers believe Biden’s (and Sander’s) lead is the result of name recognition.

In addition to name recognition, some observers believe that Biden’s popularity in these polls is due to his “centrist” or “establishment” positions. They think that Biden’s centrist positions are attractive to voters such as Democrats who voted for Trump and moderate Republicans disaffected from Trump. Moreover, Biden’s working-class background is attractive to working-class voters in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Ohio—states Trump must win to 2020.

Democrats who voted for Trump, especially working-class whites who have suffered economic dislocations, may not be as enamored of Biden as some observers believe. Biden was a part of an administration that did little to reverse the decline of the middle- and working-classes with the exception of the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care). The inability of the Obama-Biden administration to do more for the working- and middle-class was due to the opposition of Republicans like Vice-President Mike Pence.

Biden in a style reminiscent a previous era recently had nice things to say about Pence. Many Democrats who think the system is rigged against them may question Biden’s style. It is notable that Trump defeated Hillary Clinton, in part, because championed populist ideas like affordable, health care for everyone.

Republicans who claimed to be disaffected with Trump voted for Democrats in 2018. But those Republicans were not primarily voting on policies advocated by Trump and the Republican Party. They were voting for checks and balances to reign in Trump. Even disaffected Republicans may feel they benefit from continued tax cuts, deregulation, and the appointment of conservative judges.

Biden does lead the other contenders in two ways. First, Biden is the only contender who has substantial foreign policy experience. Despite the intention of all the contenders to focus on domestic issues, foreign affairs will be even more critical after Trump than before. The U.S. will need to brush back Russia and China and re-build international alliances. Second, Biden has gravitas, if only due to age and appearance. Unfortunately for Biden, gravitas may not be enough to carry Biden to victory.

New York Times. Burns, Flegenheimer, Lee, Lerer, and Martin. Who's Running President in 2020?
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/us/politics/2020-presidential-candidates.html

Barr Obstructs Congress's Access to Mueller Report

4/8/2019

Attorney General William Barr interfered with the smooth submission of the Mueller Report to Congress. He held up the submission of the report while he added his own faulty interpretation of the facts surrounding Donald Trump’s possible obstruction of justice. Barr also said he intended to submit to Congress a version of the report redacted of grand jury information, classified material, material affecting on-going investigations, and information unduly infringing on the privacy and reputation of “peripheral third parties.” Congressional Democrats have signaled their intention to fight for an un-redacted version of the report.

Barr clearly intended to give Trump the opportunity to shape the public narrative before Democrats could comment on the Mueller Report. Barr’s effort to help Trump calls into question how he might assist the President in other on-going investigations. These investigations include the Southern District of New York investigation Trump’s payments of hush money, bank fraud, money laundering, and money donated to his inaugural committee. Although these district offices have some degree of autonomy, they are subject to the authority of the Attorney General.

Currently, the Attorney General of the State of New York is also investigating possible fraud involving the Trump organization and his now-defunct foundation. That may be the best possibility to hold Trump accountable because of Barr’s cloak of protection.

The New York Times: Buchanan and Yourich. The Criminal Investigations That Sprouted From Mueller
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/03/31/us/politics/trump-investigations-that-grew-out-of-mueller.html

Barr is For Trump; Maybe Not So Much For Justice

4/5/2019

Attorney General William Barr interfered with the smooth submission of the Mueller Report to Congress. He held up the submission of the report while he added his own faulty interpretation of the facts surrounding Donald Trump’s possible obstruction of justice. Barr also said he intended to submit to Congress a version of the report redacted of grand jury information, classified material, material affecting on-going investigations, and information unduly infringing on the privacy and reputation of “peripheral third parties.” Congressional Democrats have signaled their intention to fight for an un-redacted version of the report.

Barr clearly intended to give Trump the opportunity to shape the public narrative before Democrats could comment on the Mueller Report. Barr’s effort to help Trump calls into question how he might assist the President in other on-going investigations. These investigations include the Southern District of New York investigation Trump’s payments of hush money, bank fraud, money laundering, and money donated to his inaugural committee. Although these district offices have some degree of autonomy, they are subject to the authority of the Attorney General.

Currently, the Attorney General of the State of New York is also investigating possible fraud involving the Trump organization and his now-defunct foundation. That may be the best possibility to hold Trump accountable because of Barr’s cloak of protection.

The New York Times. Buchanan and Yourish. The Criminal Investigations That Sprouted From Mueller
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/03/31/us/politics/trump-investigations-that-grew-out-of-mueller.html

Mueller Team Members Dispute Attorney General Barr's Little Summary

4/4/2019

After Attorney General William Barr published his 4-page summary of the conclusions of the Mueller Report, critics questioned the accuracy of his summary. Barr’s defenders immediately claimed that if the summary was inaccurate, Robert Mueller would loudly object.

Now members of Mueller’s prosecution team are coming forth to dispute Barr’s summary. These anonymous sources say that the summary did not omit information that showed the Trump campaign was duped by Russian intelligence. Details about how Russia carried out the operation and used Trump is included in the report but was missing from the summary.
Also, these sources say that Mueller did not make a determination about whether the evidence supported an obstruction of justice charge because he believed it was a judgment Congress should make. They thought Barr’s summary implied that Mueller and his team was too indecisive about making a decision.

The apparent disagreement between Mueller’s team and Barr can only be resolved when we have the report to read. Let’s hope it happens soon.

New York Times. Fados, Schmidt, and Mazzetti. Some on Mueller's Team Say Report Was More Damaging Than Barr Revealedhttps://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/03/us/politics/william-barr-mueller-report.html

Does Turning the Mueller Report into Another Trump False Narrative Matter?

4/3/2019

Neither Donald Trump’s impeachment nor the disaffection of his supporters were going to happen as a result of the Mueller Report. Nonetheless, Trump ability to flip the Mueller Report issuance into a public relations vehicle provides some lessons about Trump and the state of our political affairs.

First, we relied too much on Robert Mueller and the limitations he was inevitably going to face. The Department of Justice Special Counsel regulations under which Mueller operated were flawed. Those regulations required that the Special Counsel’s report, the Mueller Report, be sent to the Attorney General rather than Congress. The Attorney General then reports to Congress on the Special Counsel’s findings and conclusions. The obvious flaw is that the Attorney General, a political appointee whose impartiality is so suspect that a Special Counsel was needed, acts as a supervisor and gatekeeper. Members of Congress will now try to use the courts to obtain a redacted copy of the report. Even assuming the courts rule in their favor, it may take years to get the report.

Second, we have put too much hope in the ability of our institutions to hold in the face of the various Trump assaults. Barr’s willingness to help him flip the potential of the Mueller Report to further impair his Presidency into a victory celebration is one indication of institutional debilitation. During Barr’s confirmation hearing, many observers noted that Barr has served as the Attorney General during George H.W. Bush’s administration was an “institutionalist.” Presumably, this meant that Barr would be the people’s Attorney General and defend the independence of the Department of Justice from Trump’s base.

But like so many others who should have known better, Barr folded to Trump. Barr believes that the Constitution vests all executive power in the President. Thus, the President alone can direct the enforcement and prosecutorial activities of the federal government and fire anyone within the executive branch for any reason, including that might benefit him. With his beliefs in the “unitary executive” power of the President, It was inevitable that Barr would succumb Trump. Many other conservatives hold these same beliefs about unitary executive authority. It should not surprise us if they consider President Trump as an elected monarch.

Third, Trump recognizes no limits to the actions he can take. He does feel bound by any rules. Predicting what he will do depends on what he feels he can get away with doing. Despite decades in which candidates for President felt obliged to show their income taxes, Trump either did not want to or could not because of what they would show. He falsely claimed that his taxes were being audited and promised to make them public as soon as the audit was completed. Trump’s behavior in business, with women, and in golf, as with his taxes, show his utter disregard for rules and norms.

After Trump’s initial glow from not being indicted (Justice Department rules preclude indicting a President while in office), he apparently realized that the Mueller Report must contain evidence of criminal activity. Trump then reversed his previous promises to make the Mueller Report public and now, with Barr’s help, intend to hold it as long as possible and redact it as much as possible.

No one who is in Trump’s favor should doubt that they may quickly fall out of favor with him. And if they do fall out of favor with him, Trump may treat them in the most degrading and humiliating manner. The rule of law means living in a world with fixed boundaries. We should all want to live in a country where we can expect fixed standards of behavior to apply.

Issues Connect. Mueller Can't Carry Our Water. http://issuesconnect.com/issues-to-connect/mueller-cant-carry-our-water

New York Times. Jerrold Nadler: America Is Done Waiting For the Mueller Report: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/01/opinion/mueller-report-trump.html

New York Times. Eileen Sullivan: Who Is William Barr: He Will Decide What Happens With Mueller's Report. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/22/us/politics/william-barr-bio-facts-history.html

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