Tweet from Rachel Maddow! Wow! Obstruction of justice, including dangling pardons to grand jury!

[DippyDem]

Link to tweet

The Orange Shitgibbon is screwed!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. So we add witness tampering to the list...

[AJT]

2. The republicans in congress still have to do something about it.

[Sherman A1]

3. Precisely

and they will not likely do so.

[Cosmocat]

40. They absolutely will do something about it - rank fuckwittery

He is a victim of a rouge investigation and you can't hold it against him to try to obstruct it ....

[uponit7771]

44. +1, they will pee on the report ... that's about it

[kag]

64. Nah...

They'll hire prostitutes to do it.

[uponit7771]

72. lol

[askyagerz]

48. I have always said the republicans were gonna use him like a shield

Until they got as much as they could then toss him aside when he was no good to them. They got their tax cuts. They know he is poison. I think a lot of them are just waiting for a solid enough charge to impeach so their base wont eat them alive.

[Honeycombe8]

50. I hope you're right. But the damage has been done to them. They've shown they're cowardly.

Weak, cowardly people don't normally create a situation where they have to try to impeach a President, which is a very difficult thing to do.

In Watergate, there were some strong Republican leaders who took the bull by hte horn and had a "discussion" with Nixon. I don't see anyone in the current Repub Party who would do that. They're too weak and cowardly (they're still scared of him...he's rich & powerful). They act more like jesters in King Henry's VIII's court than leaders of a political party.

They ARE scared of Trump. He can ruin careers and is petty and vengeful enough to do that.

[askyagerz]

60. I dont think they are scared of trump but their base

They know they have been feeding the lions red meat propaganda for years. Now that they are at their most vicious they are afraid of what will happen if they get out

[Honeycombe8]

62. They saw what happened to Corker & Flake, when they spoke out.

Corker & Flake - they didn't run for re-election because Trump hurt their chances too much. Of course, then Corker & Flake were more free to speak out. Flake wrote a book, too, didn't he?

Maybe the Repubs who are leaving will speak out. But the ones who aren't leaving...they are scared of Trump. Trump is like a mob boss and goes after anyone who speaks out against him. No one is too small or large or unimportant. The message is like a mob boss: you don't go against me, ever.

[briv1016]

76. But you're forgetting about the primaries.

Donald's 30% is closer to 60 or 70% of the Republican primary voters. They can't afford to anger them.

[mercuryblues]

4. hooooolllly fffffff

That is huge.

Witness tampering, obstruction

[standingtall]

5. Lindsey Graham will surely give Trump a tough speech now

and then after a couple of weeks he will say "while Mueller's finding of obstruction is problematic it doesn't quite rise to the level of obstruction"

[HopeAgain]

15. and a serious finger-wagging...

Maybe a strongly worded letter to boot?

[magicarpet]

19. But first Lindsay has to hop on a Lear Jet....

.... for a quick flight to London so he can carry out a citizen's arrest on that MI6 spy
Christopher Steele and drag his ass back here to Washington DC. to answer for disparaging and nasty remarks he made against very highly respected presi-dunce tTdump.

[MagickMuffin]

23. After he plays a round of golf with his party's Leader

Yep, that about does it!

[magicarpet]

32. FOUR ! I mean... FORE !

"Other possible origins include the term being derived from the term "fore-caddie", a caddie waiting down range from the golfer to find where the ball lands. These caddies were often warned about oncoming golf balls by a shout of the term "fore-caddie" which was eventually shortened to just "fore!"

(Source:Wikipedia)

[uponit7771]

46. +1, don't forget McConnell will scowl and Ryan will hide for 2 weeks

[still_one]

6. I dont think so. The republicans are not going to do sqwat. It will be up to the voters next in

November

[Eliot Rosewater]

27. GOP are incapable of putting country over party

[Adrahil]

37. Agreed, but their refusal to act will result in...

Electoral devastation.

[Cosmocat]

41. They will absolutely do something - be the hypocrital jackasses they are

they will make him out to be a victim, and say he can't be blamed for obstruction because of the rouge, deep state attacks on him ...

[Stuart G]

7. Good, He deserves the very worst, because he is the very worst...nt

[IluvPitties]

8. Come on, Mueller! Nail this bastard!

[nolabear]

9. And Rachel does not screw around with this stuff.

She’s not an emotion tweeter. But... his makes ME very happy.

[cungar2000]

39. She may not be an emotion tweeter

But she is the person who royally embarrassed herself with the "I have Trump's tax returns and I'll show you them in three hours" tease line. Then she preceded to produce a 12 year old tax form with nothing interesting in it.

[roscoeroscoe]

74. Let it go!

How long ago was that?

[triron]

10. Whoa!!!

[NCTraveler]

11. This would be big.

No, the Republicans won’t do anything with it. Doesn’t really matter. It keeps the story about them and negative. Big time.

[DippyDem]

12. I can't wait to see Rachel Maddow Show tonite! n/t

[FailureToCommunicate]

17. I just made sure I have enough popcorn...

and butter!

[DippyDem]

22. I have only 2 microwave bags left

And I have to share it with my dog, a crazy Border Collie!

[FailureToCommunicate]

36. Okay, you need to re-examine your life...

How could you EVER let yourself get that low on popcorn ?!?

AND you have a dog to consider !?!

There is still time. Rachel's not on till 9: pm

Do the right thing.

Go buy more.

(These times are upsetting enough without having to worry about essential supplies!)

[DippyDem]

42. OK! Thank you for the push! I'll get on it, pronto!

[BBG]

45. No one knew that the demand for popcorn was this strong

Just saying that the DippyDem couldn’t have known it would be so hard to keep popcorn on hand with this shitshow in DC.

[Honeycombe8]

51. I just got a Presto Air Popper! It works great! nt

[mnmoderatedem]

66. here

[chillfactor]

38. I also have popcorn with plenty of butter...

can't wait for Rachel and Lawrence tonight!

[triron]

13. Wonder what else the 4 findings on Trump include??

[FakeNoose]

29. It might include his lawyer John Dowd

According to the OP it was John Dowd who dangled the pardons in front of Flynn and Manafort. So even though Dowd no longer represents Cheeto, maybe he's being dragged into this on separate charges. We'll see.

[malaise]

14. K & R

Lock him up!

[triron]

16. kick for visibility

[Wwcd]

18. Good Read on Dangled Pardons. Shows what Trump was trying to do to get around Mueller

https://www.justsecurity.org/54356/dangling-pardon-obstruction-justice-even-pardon-power-absolute/

SNIP
The message of the dangle was sufficiently clear:
" hang in there and keep fighting (do not cut a deal with the special counsel) because you will be pardoned before you spend a day in jail."

The President and his lawyer’s hope would have been that with the threat of jail eliminated, neither former aid would feel compelled to plead guilty and cooperate with Mueller to reduce his sentence.

But, since they were not actually pardoned or not yet anyway, they still kept their Fifth Amendment privileges, and so Mueller could not simply demand they testify before the Grand Jury.

In this way, the dangle could operate to stop any cooperation from Flynn and Manafort, who could then be pardoned later if and when they were indicted or even after their cases went through pretrial, trial and appeal.

More at link

[world wide wally]

20. Only 4?

...and how about on Tuesday?

[BigmanPigman]

21. Who the Hell does he think he is, Al Capone?

[dameatball]

24. Pretty much. Rude awakening coming.

[BigmanPigman]

31. He doesn't even have VD, which drove Al mad, as an excuse for being insane.

Well, maybe he does since the self proclaimed germophobe doesn't use condoms.

[argyl]

70. You're right, he doesn't. And he's got the combat medals to prove it.

[Honeycombe8]

52. I hope. I'm not convinced anything will be DONE, & we'll be left w/a mob boss in the W.H.nt

[SoCalMusicLover]

57. I Agree

I'm sure next week there will be an even bigger news story, and nothing will come of it either.

The guilty parties know that they are too powerful, and have the full backing of the repub party, so nothing will ultimately happen to them, aside from perhaps the cost of paying off lawyers.

Drumpf is going to be in office until at least January 2021, and perhaps longer, if he gets help from the Russians again.

[Honeycombe8]

61. That's my fear. nt

[oberliner]

25. So this basically means nothing will happen to Trump

:small

[Freethinker65]

28. Agree. The GOP congress will do nothing about obstruction during Trump's presidency.

However, what about possible state crimes? And crimes discovered prior to his presidency?

[oberliner]

34. You raise a good point

But that is a separate question from the Mueller findings that Rachel is tweeting about.

My thought is Trump gets away with everything, sadly.

For sure, Congress will not make any moves to impeach him on the obstruction stuff.

[Volaris]

68. Ehhhh....

My suspicion is that Mueller knows he's playing the long game and that history is watching...

If he thinks for a second that this president deserves to be removed from office, AND he thinks the Dems will end up with congressional majorities, he can time the release of evidence to positively affect that outcome. And once that's done, it won't matter much how the GOP wants to sit on their own thumbs. The Dems will have control.
My hope is twofold--that Mueller presents enough evidence to impeach THE TICKET, and that Dems have the balls to actually DO THAT.

[Honeycombe8]

53. State crimes may not be "high crimes & misdemeanors." Also, can't indict a President....

I thought a President could be indicted, but I've been hearing that a President can't be criminally indicted.

[magicarpet]

26. tRdump has always whipped out...

.... his fat wallet or checkbook to buy his way out of - and just make problems go away.

Why should this time be any different - this is his standard operating procedure and has always worked out just dandy in the past.

The tRdump criminal syndicates simply will not tolerate this uncalled for and unwarranted governmental scrutiny.

[Honeycombe8]

56. You need darkness to do that. His $$ is in sunlight right now.

He has ways of paying through a money laundering system, but Mueller's team has unraveled those, and killed some of those avenues.

[riversedge]

30. Hoping to tune into her show tonight.

[happy feet]

33. Lordy!

Pleeeezzz let this be true!!!!!!!!!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

35. In the replies a tRumpLicker adamantly asserts that tRump will be President through 2024.

[SoCalMusicLover]

58. He May Very Well Be

He will surely get help from the Russians again, and since the Democrats only seem capable of semi-strongly worded statements, I doubt they will do anything except go through reasons why they lost yet again.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

67. You are being defeatist. Democrats are capable of blue waves. Get with the program, please. . . nt

[uponit7771]

43. Ryan and McConnell will pee on reports and do nothing

[former9thward]

47. Rachel said Trump would pardon people three weeks ago.

It was going to happen that weekend. Remember that? Her sources have a poor batting average.

[bearsfootball516]

55. We have Trump tax returns

[former9thward]

71. Well then publish them.

What in the world are "We" waiting for?

[Honeycombe8]

49. Hmm. Mueller's team doesn't normally leak. What gives? nt

[Gothmog]

54. I will be watching Rachel tonight

[BadGimp]

59. Oh My

v

[Kablooie]

63. I wish this could convince Republicans he's a corrupt asshole.

But I seriously doubt it will.

Heinous, criminal, corruption will be exposed and would get any president immediately impeached and anyone else sent to prison but our illustrious Republican Congress will simply yawn and continue to facilitate the destruction or our nation's foundations.

[ananda]

65. How do you convince the already corrupt that their guy is corrupt?

nt

[FailureToCommunicate]

69. Rachel's tone just changed. She just said Right now is a time to be ready. Be sober. Be calm.

Pay attention. Check in with family and friends, and loved ones...

She had been detailing how spinning out of control -even more than has become 'normal'- the President and the White House has become...

And that over at FOX news there is a pounding drumbeat to "FIRE COMEY!!"

With John Bolton in charge and most of the top people around him being forced out, it doesn't take a crystal ball to imagine the kind of catastrophe that Rachel implied might be swiftly upon our heads.

Insane times.

We should take her suddenly dry-eyed advice:

Check in with those you cherish...

[Blue Owl]

73. That's about all he's capable of dangling

n/t

[duforsure]

75. Its on!

They know so much will be exposed from this last revelation from the raid on cohen, they'll just go ahead and start their campaign to cover it all up by firings, positional changes, and from threats of retaliation. They'll just cause their exposures to increase, and it'll speed up them getting exposed, and from many other sources. It'll badly backfire on them now , and open it up even more, with more explosive details what they're involved in. Watch how quickly it all starts caving in on them after he tries firing his way out of this. He's committing political suicide. Wondering how long before more women and others paid off come out, and more raids because of illegal acts being committed, still. Destruction of evidence charges coming I suspect. More will also be charged for helping him as co-conspirators to crimes being committed. Just a matter of time now. Mueller will continue either way, even if fired by trump, or his latest loyalist he owns. GOP will either die off, or start standing up to corruption, and criminals , and trump, or be voted out, and possibly face charges when both Houses turn over to the Democrats, which it will do in Nov. .