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A Mueller legal showdown could be just around the corner As special counsel Robert Mueller prepares to issue his final report, we soon could face a constitutional dilemma -- leading down the same road previously walked by President Richard Nixon. The facts are different in some respects now, but the stakes would be the same. In 1974, a special prosecutor subpoenaed Nixon for tape recordings made inside the White House. The President resisted, asserting executive privilege -- the idea confidential communications between the President and his advisers must remain secret and beyond the reach of a subpoena. And, in a unanimous 8-0 decision -- including three judges appointed by Nixon himself -- the Supreme Court recognized the concept of executive privilege but rejected its application to Nixon's case. Nixon was forced to turn over the tapes, and he resigned days later. This week, we learned White House lawyers expect to see Mueller's report before it becomes public, to enable them to object based on executive privilege. Similarly, President Donald Trump's personal counsel Rudy Giuliani stated he has "reserved executive privilege and we have a right to assert it. The only way we can assert it is if we see what is in the report." Trump -- surely aware of the recent 420-0 bipartisan vote in the House calling for full disclosure of the report -- later appeared to claim willingness to the House seeing the report, stating "I told the House if you want, let them see it." Trump's statement left unaddressed whether he meant the House should see the report in its entirety, or subject to his legal team's objections. If the President's lawyers assert executive privilege, then three crucial decision points will follow: 1. Will Attorney General William Barr show Trump the report in advance? The special counsel regulations require Mueller to file a "confidential report" with Barr, who in turn has broad discretion over whether and how to disseminate factual findings. It therefore sits squarely in Barr's hands whether to provide the report to Trump's lawyers before he sends it to Congress or the public. 2. If Trump asserts executive privilege, will Barr accept or reject it? If they do see the report in advance, Trump's legal team likely will assert executive privilege over communications between Trump and his close advisers, including conversations relevant to potential obstruction of justice with former White House counsel Don McGahn (who reportedly refused Trump's order to fire Mueller), former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker (reportedly the recipient of Trump's ire over the Southern District of New York's investigation of Michael Cohen) and others. It is possible Barr decides on his own to accept Trump's assertion of executive privilege over portions of the report. But Barr could reject those assertions, setting the stage for a legal showdown. 3. If the dispute goes to the courts, who will prevail? A dispute over executive privilege in Mueller's report could go directly to the Supreme Court (see below for more on this). The Nixon court ruled executive privilege is meant to protect "military, diplomatic or sensitive national security secrets" but not as a general shield against criminal exposure. Trump might argue the Nixon case involved production of evidence (the tapes), whereas Trump would object to evidence of spoken conversations, but it is hard to see why distinction would make a difference in the legal outcome. Trump's best bet might be to rely on the changing composition of the Supreme Court itself. None of the justices from the Nixon case remains on the bench, and two of the nine current justices are Trump appointees -- one of whom, Brett Kavanaugh, has written the President enjoys broad powers and protections from criminal processes such as subpoena and indictment. If the case goes to the Supreme Court, we will see a legal showdown with the highest of stakes. The content of the Mueller report, and the future of Trump's presidency, could hang in the balance. Meanwhile, this week, we got our first glimpse of the documents prosecutors submitted to a federal judge who authorized the Southern District of New York's April 2018 search warrants on Cohen's home, office and hotel. I see three big takeaways here. First, the Cohen investigation started with Mueller in July 2017 -- nearly a before the SDNY took over the case and searched Cohen's properties. Even before the SDNY's April 2018 search, prosecutors had ample evidence of crimes committed by Cohen and others. Second, the SDNY appears to be working toward additional campaign finance charges. The newly unsealed documents include 20 pages of redactions to protect ongoing investigations, and Judge William Pauley noted the documents "catalog an assortment of uncharged individuals and detail their involvement in ... the campaign finance charges to which Cohen pled guilty." Third, the documents put to rest the suggestions by Trump and Giuliani the FBI acted improperly or unfairly when a group of "stormtroopers" (per Giuliani) "broke into" (per Trump) Cohen's properties. In fact, as the newly released documents make clear, prosecutors went through all proper legal channels and amply demonstrated to a federal judge they had probable cause to believe Cohen had committed crimes. Throw out the conspiracy theories; these documents prove this case was handled by the book from the start.  Honesty is the best policy. |
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Trump Triples Down on Bizarre Attacks Against ‘Evil’ John McCain, Complains ‘He Was Horrible’. John McCain passed away on Aug 25, 2018. Trump won't let go a dead senator and he has to repeatedly mock and attack late senator McCain. Because McCain put his thumb down for reform Obama Care to Trump care. Trump doesn't know "let bygone be bygone". McCain already dead for 7 months. We can see Trump's personality - the hatred. After a weekend tweet-storm and a Wednesday speech, President Donald Trump again attacked the late Arizona Sen. John McCain in an interview with Fox Business Network that aired Friday morning. Trump told Maria Bartiromo that his recent criticisms of the politician — including falsely mocking McCain as “last in his class” at the Naval Academy — stem from the fact that the president believes McCain was motivated by “evil” intent when he gave the FBI an as-yet-unconfirmed dossier about Trump’s alleged connection with the Russian government. (According to the New York Times, federal authorities already had a copy of the dossier when McCain brought it to them.) As CNN explains, the so-called “Steele dossier” was written by British intelligence officer Christopher Steele and alleges a “widespread conspiracy of collusion” between the president and the Russian government. Both Trump and the Kremlin deny the claims and some details of the dossier have not been verified, though many have “held up over time” or “proved to be partially true,” according to CNN. Trump said Friday the dossier “was a fake, it was a fraud” and that McCain passed it to the FBI “for very evil purposes. That’s not good.” The president also brought up McCain’s dramatic last-second 2017 vote against efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, essentially dooming the Republicans’ years-long campaign against it. John McCain’s Ultra-Private Daughter Bridget Tweets Directly to Trump Over His Attacks — ‘You Are a Child’ Honesty is the best policy.
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Robert Mueller submits Russia report AFTER stock market closed on Friday in order NOT to disturb the stock market. Just as I expected. Hopefully the 2 days weekend will reduce (cool down) the emotional investors to selloff the market. Mueller report given to Attorney General, Barr, on Friday late afternoon. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer made a brief statement Friday afternoon in response to the news that special counsel Robert Mueller had completed his investigation into potential Russian meddling in the 2016 election. SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER: Now that special counsel Mueller has submitted his report to the attorney general, it is imperative for Mr. Barr to make the full report public. And provide its underlying documentation and findings to Congress. Attorney General Barr must not give President Trump, his lawyers, or his staff any speak preview of special counsel Mueller's findings or evidence and the White House must not be allowed to interfere in decisions about what parts of the findings or evidence should be made public. Honesty is the best policy.
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Do you have D'e j'a vu feeling? Please refer to my blog "Longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone indicted" post dated January 25, 2019. On Jan 31, 2019 in the comment section I posted From photo 2 we know Roger Stone is a big fan of the former president Nixon and we know Nixon's fate at the end - he resigned before been impeached. Let me put two and two together from Roger Stone admires Nixon and Trump, so now you can predict what Trump's ending - Resign before been impeached. Whomever Roger Stone admires will have same fate. You understand?? We shall see........ Did you read my blogs? Did you read my prediction? It is a "D'e j'a Vu" feeling. Honesty is the best policy.
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