TPM - Marshall - "The WaPo Obstruction Blockbuster and the World of Hurt To Come"
(Please let it be so....a huge world of hurt for trumper and all of his trumpettes)
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-wapo-obstruction-blockbuster-and-the-world-of-hurt-to-come
By JOSH MARSHALL Published JUNE 14, 2017 8:51 PM
After marveling at the lede of this new Washington Post bombshell – Mueller investigating Trump for obstruction of justice – I went back and read the whole piece again. You would think that news would be enough for a single piece. But when you read it all the way through the picture it paints is actually considerably more dire.
One key point is that Mueller did not start this obstruction investigation. According to the Post, that probe began “days after Comey was fired on May 9…” Mueller was appointed on May 17th. Reading the Post piece closely, I do not think it explicitly says that the probe began prior to the 17th. But the wording and logic of the piece strongly suggests that is the case.
One key point I draw from this is that it was clear to people at the DOJ and FBI almost from the beginning that this was a potential case of obstruction of justice. That makes me consider who then was in place to make such a decision. Once James Comey was fired, the acting Director of the FBI was Andrew McCabe, who remains in that role. If my surmise about the chronology is correct, Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein remained in charge of the Russia probe. Thus I think he would have been acting in Attorney General Sessions’ stead to make the decision to authorize such a probe.
This last point isn’t crystal clear to me since this would not necessarily have been considered part of the Russia investigation. In any case, you do not begin such an investigation of a sitting President except at the very highest level. That decision apparently came quickly. We can note here that soon after Comey’s firing Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein made statements suggesting that he may have been a witness to something that could be construed as a crime. If my memory serves, McCabe did as well. They are the two logical people to have signed off on an investigation at that point.
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this is long, and very worthwhile reading all of it - see the link above
= new reply since forum marked as read
HILLARY!
Why isn't Hillary being investigated for the things SHE did? Why are they investigating the things Trump didn't even do, even if he intended not to do them, after not doing the things the he intended not to do? Sad!
