From the Lawfare blog*
The president's competency issues begin with himself, but extend outward indefinitely. What was it, five or six major law firms that refused to counsel him on the Mueller case before he found a taker. If he's a prosecutor's dream, he's a defense attorney's nightmare. He won't listen, and he won't shut up.
Tweet, tweet.
From the increasingly unhinged attacks on the FBI in general to Mueller in particular ranging from the recused-for-cause Nunes memo to secret society conspiracy theories, it's clear his closest supporters aren't merely spooked, they're terrified. The most recent Times bombshell can't be read as anything other than a plea for help from deep within the administration, and likely from McGahn's office itself. They think he's strapped on the vest and ready to detonate.
Partisans are going to run for the mattresses on one side, and cheer the bloodbath on the other, but the wider perspective sees every president as ephemeral. It's the presidency itself that needs protection now.
* Taking the piglet's implied criticism of shortened url's to heart.
Testimony under oath about the obstruction charges would be a bloodbath for Trump. The president has told serial lies about his conversations with Comey, whose account is in any case backed by contemporaneous evidence and, it would appear, the testimony of Trump-camp insiders such as Reince Priebus.
Mueller’s team will meticulously serve up each of those lies back to Trump, forcing him either to disavow them (adding to the obstruction case) or recommit to them (adding perjury counts to Mueller’s ledger). And Trump is arrogant and easily goaded, making him a prosecutor’s dream.
Mueller’s team will meticulously serve up each of those lies back to Trump, forcing him either to disavow them (adding to the obstruction case) or recommit to them (adding perjury counts to Mueller’s ledger). And Trump is arrogant and easily goaded, making him a prosecutor’s dream.
The president's competency issues begin with himself, but extend outward indefinitely. What was it, five or six major law firms that refused to counsel him on the Mueller case before he found a taker. If he's a prosecutor's dream, he's a defense attorney's nightmare. He won't listen, and he won't shut up.
Tweet, tweet.
From the increasingly unhinged attacks on the FBI in general to Mueller in particular ranging from the recused-for-cause Nunes memo to secret society conspiracy theories, it's clear his closest supporters aren't merely spooked, they're terrified. The most recent Times bombshell can't be read as anything other than a plea for help from deep within the administration, and likely from McGahn's office itself. They think he's strapped on the vest and ready to detonate.
And there would be a number of options for Trump to upend the sandbox. He could discharge Mueller and face the firestorm. He could take the Fifth Amendment but posture as if he were doing it only out of contempt for the probe. He could perhaps agree to testify but basically filibuster and treat the whole proceeding as a “witch hunt” kangaroo court. That might force the unseemly prospect of Mueller’s bringing a contempt proceeding against him, which would raise new unresolved legal issues. Even a “wag the dog” strategy could not be counted as off the table.
Partisans are going to run for the mattresses on one side, and cheer the bloodbath on the other, but the wider perspective sees every president as ephemeral. It's the presidency itself that needs protection now.
* Taking the piglet's implied criticism of shortened url's to heart.
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