Washington Post: “Some of President Trump’s lawyers are exploring ways to limit or undercut special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia investigation, building a case against what they allege are his conflicts of interest and discussing the president’s authority to grant pardons. … Trump has asked his advisers about his power to pardon aides, family members and even himself in connection with the probe.”
this guy’s a prof at Pepperdine University Law School…isn’t that considered a bastion of conservatism? check out the last line.
pbs newshour:
[…re prez dismissing Mueller…]
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, Doug Kmiec, at this point, the president is saying he’s not going to do that.
But he also seemed to send a shot across the bow in saying that, if it turns out that Mr. Mueller is looking into his own financial dealings, any financial dealings with Russia, which may be the case, that he would give it another thought.
So, what does that mean for Mr. Mueller and his ability to go forward?
DOUGLAS KMIEC: Well, I don’t think Mr. Mueller will be intimidated whatsoever.
As Walter said, he’s a straight shooter, and he is being very careful and very quiet as he gathers his information, as he should. The concern I have is that the president, if he thinks that it’s only a very narrow question of whether there was a contact with Russia, that is just simply not plausible, because the real concern is that the president somehow has gotten himself into a difficult position with a foreign country, where a foreign country has some information, perhaps with this disreputable memo that talks about terrible practices that the president allegedly was involved in, perhaps something else.
To the extent that there is some undue influence of a foreign nation of his decision-making, it strikes every aspect of his job, foreign policy and domestic policy. And that’s just simply not going to be accepted. And so what is going to be the answer if he objects?
I think the answer will be a referral to the House of Representatives for removal.
wapo:
Trump has been fuming about the probe in recent weeks as he has been informed about the legal questions that he and his family could face…… He has told aides he was especially disturbed after learning Mueller would be able to access several years of his tax returns.
doesn’t he know or realize that they also can be accessed (if have not been already) by congress critter committee?
Yet, the repugs keep holding-on to the commander-in-thief…so desperate to ‘burn the black’ out-of-the government and regress to the 1950s. I see very few of the repug party breaking ranks with him and they continue to allow this ruse to continue. Meanwhile, the good countries are ‘unfriending’ us.
A ray of sunshine into tillerson, exxon and sanctions? Or billionaire infighting? Being on both sides of the ‘v.’
We can thank comey for getting us to this point with trump. comey is such an enigma and I recently thought of the Ferguson Effect that caused so much angst between him and the Obama admin. In Minneapolis, the killing of a woman at the hands of the cops? The Ferguson Effect on steroids. Cops shooting innocents, the very humans they are to protect and letting the very dangerous go. Fear on the streets. Meanwhile, humans targeting cops for being cops. trump is fueling this rather than addressing the citizens and talking with us. Plus, we have a lot of weather disasters and the trumpence junta no longer hands-out diapers as they did during the election. trump is a disaster unto himself.
“Trump has asked his advisers about his power to pardon aides, family members and even himself in connection with the probe.”
-Guilty.
…but we knew that LAST YEAR.
Picking up part of the thread from yesterday, My earliest recollection of sensational news was the Kennedy assassination and the seemingly endless looping of the television footage from it. Before that, cartoons, Sky King, The Lone Ranger, Leave it to Beaver, etc.
pardons are usually associated within the context of criminal behavior not in the context of impeachable behavior. which seems to suggest that he and his team foresee charges that may range anywhere on the spectrum from tax avoidance to money laundering to perjury to treason. or maybe just reneging on his promise to make America great again instead of globally trashing it.
https://youtu.be/MwHHCZTvQco
Dems really need to push a law, requiring those financial disclosures be made before a candidate is put on the ballot, to prevent this from happening, again, disregarding the fact that it’s too late, anyway.
or begging pardon for putative porn tapes
huffpo:
“When you’re in this room, I don’t know how to describe it. It’s soaked in history,” Colbert said as he stood before the bed. “It just washes over you. I mean, it’s not even like it’s in the past. You’re in history. You’re in it.”
The power of presidential pardon extends only to crimes against the US, i.e. acts that violate the US criminal code or subjecting the perp to federal prosecution. Nothing precludes its application to family members. It does not prevent state prosecution or civil suits.
Does whatever title that Queen Ivanka holds (advisor to POTUS?) imply a salary?
Edit- $172,200 a year to sit in Daddy’s chair. A good gig if you don’t mind your father staring at your ass, all day.
http://spreadsheets.latimes.com/white-house-salaries-2012/
Edit 2, see below- leering is free when you’re POTUS
cbs news
There’s been a shakeup in President Trump’s legal team.
Marc Kasowitz is out as Mr. Trump’s personal attorney, CBS News chief White House correspondent Major Garrett reports. And Kasowitz’s spokesman, Mark Corallo, has resigned, Garrett says.
bink, from last month politico story White House releases salary info for Trump’s aides
Priebus, Bannon, Spicer and Conway all pull in annual salaries of $179,700.
[….]
Only three staffers — first daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump, son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner and intergovernmental and technology aide Reed Cordish — take home no pay from taxpayers, according to the disclosure.
I’m sure the three unpaid will be able to rake off enough in side deals to more than make up for any measly 100K plus salary.
We pay KellyAnn Conway $180k to lie to us. I’ll lie to you for half that!
I’ve been mulling over how past crimes can be impeachable, assuming that can be done only for acts in office. The Pepperdine profs comments in pats first link get the job done to my mind. If they can prove past dealings with Russia affect decisions today. Perhaps even being blackmailed. well there ya go. But obviously it will take solid proof for both pieces to get a Senate conviction.
The Zinke disaster or how to destroy the environment without looking as if you are trying to destroy the environment
I’m A Scientist, And I’m Blowing the Whistle on the Trump Administration
to your “guilty” point Bink:
https://a.msn.com/r/2/AAoxDeD?m=en-us
Anyone with a true sense of public service and patriotism would resign in the face of such controversy and suspicion before allowing it to tear the nation apart, but Trump doesn’t care about anybody or anything but himself and that daughter he wants to fuck. He is content to drive you and I to a 3rd-world living-standard and global irrelevance so long as he can shit in a gold-plated toilet.
#realtalk
for the record I don’t see the Constitution preventing a president from pardoning himself, very broad: “shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” — Article II, Section 2, Clause 1
note that doesn’t include pardoning from state prosecutions, just federal
Bink, trouble for him with resigning is that then there would be no question he could be criminally indicted. It is a question while in office. He’d have to get a pardon somehow to do that. And if Pence does it (as in Gerald Ford) hello Democratic WH 2020.
Plan Nine From DC. To Serve Americans.
There was something in Trump’s tax returns that he did not want us to see.
If Mueller has those returns, he has the ‘smoking gun(s).
Pardoning one’s self = public masturbation while in office
Flatus,
Not with those little hands.
something in Trump’s tax returns that he did not want us to see
jace, given the narcissist he is, his ego couldn’t take that it simply may be they show he is not mr bigly deal rich guy but just a punk loser. a true house of cards and the con man’s game is exposed as the cards fall.
What could embarrass the Man With No Shame? Grant him and his cronies immunity in exchange for full disclosure of Russian interference and collusion. I don’t bear any if them any ill-will, I just want them to stop destroying my country ASAP
on the other hand, remember the son bragging about their Russian $$$
bink, i’d opt for just getting him officially out of the white house…. give him his tower, golf clubs and a get out of jail card if he promises to just go away.
Maybe the Great Gildersleeve will help PG
from horsey’s column at la times:
Trump is now whining that the media have made a big deal about his ignorant breach of diplomatic etiquette. Of course he is whining. He is a man-child who knows nothing about the intricacies of international relations. In total thrall to the self-manufactured image of himself as a great dealmaker, he seems eager to be a willing dupe for the Machiavelli of Moscow.
“I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden…”
Ha! Pat beat me to it.
President-lose-lips is sinking his ship cuz nobody can shut him up.
Kushner real estate still offering US visas to Chinese nationals who buy in???
I’m just soaking it all in this morning. For those that don’t think SFB asking about pardons is for all practical purposed an admission of guilt… there’s nothing anyone can do for you. May you live happily in your blissful ignorance.
I can’t believe that I’m back to watching cable news… but I am. Even Tweety isn’t half bad at times. Although he did say last night he wished Kelly Ayotte would come back as an elected Senator… putz!
Here’s a link , FROM THE MEDIA, to the story BlueInDallas was too lazy to find, that he/she saw IN THE MEDIA.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/kushner-companies-to-send-cease-and-desist-letter-after-jared-kushners-name-used-to-attract-chinese-investors/article/2629304
Patd,
I think that you are right. His tax returns would show him to be less wealthy than he claims and perhaps kept afloat by the largess of foreign (Russian) deal makers.
A man who campaigned as a fraud and one who governs as fraud soon to be exposed.
At what point does Trump become too radioactive even for republicans?
Nothing to date suggests that they will back away from Trump regardless of his deceit and manifest unfitness for office. It is way past time for republicans to understand that when Trump goes down they go down with him.
Jace, it is why I keep watching polls that measure the outer edges of trump’s core (such as those who voted for him and Obama). GOPers in swing districts will bolt only when sure those voters won’t hold it against them. There is some slippage but don’t think it’s enough so far.
Um, if the 2016 vote was manipulated electronically, e.g. voting machines being hacked to benefit Republican candidates, then nothing Trump does will make those Republicans interested in revealing the actual depth of fraud in that election.
Craig,
Probably true, but at some point the GOP must come to the realization that their willingness to follow Trump off the cliff is going to cost them dearly. The health care fiasco should have been ample warning.
Did YOU leave your polling station with a paper-receipt with all of your ballot-choices on it? I sure didn’t. That needs to be mandated, henceforth.
The whatever he is while supposedly living there who has not spent more than 9 days straight at the White House is going on a NJ vacation.
yes Bink paper receipts are absolutely necessary — intel folks who’ve investigated this are all publicly saying that, emphatically
Bink
Great idea. A paper trail that can be reviewed and recounted is an absolute necessity.
I’m ashamed of myself for not demanding a receipt, but I had already complained to election-officials about Trump surrogates intimidating voters at the door, and the volunteers working at the polling-station were all nice, old ladies and I didn’t want to distract them from all of their other duties.
…no wonder Republicans would rather have us discussing health-care, eh?
yep Jamie, Bink — Some states might squeal but this needs to be a federal law, especially now that national security is a factor.
My one horse town has what is called a vote scan machine. You get a paper ballot… you blacken the circles with your choices… you put your paper ballot into the machine that then optically reads your choice… the machine spits out a total at the end of the day. The paper ballots are in a bin at the bottom of the machine. They are a paper record and can be read by hand for recounts (which I have done multiple times as an election official). IMO, this is the only electronic voting machine that should be allowed.
for states that are paperless Congress would probably have to sweeten the pot with some funding and long deadlines, but would be worth it.
Of course, protecting ballot integrity is critical. But the main problem in this case seems tougher to solve: how to prevent foreign “hacking” of media with fake news that influences voters and stolen emails from the side they are opposing.
In California, the receipt is the top of your ballot – the election workers tears it off and gives it to you
I’ve got chores to do now, maybe someone who has time could research which states are paperless
Spicer resigns
https://a.msn.com/r/2/AAoyHYJ?m=en-us
off to yard work
You or Spicer off to yard work, poobah? So Trump’s now got Mooch, a new liar, for his communications director. Donnie Deutsch said he had absolutely no qualifications to fill that position.
BTW, Bwahahahahah.
Spicer resigns
I grieve for Melissa McCarthy!
Jamie, earlier you posted this quote
Summer vacation: FAA says Trump is scheduled to be at Bedminster golf club from August 3-20
was that before or after this one from the twit according to la times?
“Inaction is not an option. And frankly, I don’t think we should leave town unless we have a health insurance plan, unless we can give our people great healthcare.”
as tonto would say,”we” who, white man?
I’ve done a little poking about, and I think the argument that a president can pardon himself is stronger than the argument that he can’t. ( I use “he” since only SFB would do that. For example WJC could have pardoned himself for perjury – it wouldn’t have prevented his impeachment but there would have been no criminal jeopardy for perjury or obstruction although he was never charged for either).
from nyt spicer resigns story:
During the transition, Mr. Trump had planned to appoint Mr. Scaramucci, a 52-year-old Harvard Law graduate from Long Island, as director of his office of public liaison, but the offer was pulled at the request of Mr. Priebus over concerns about Mr. Scaramucci’s overseas investments.
so are Scaramucci’s overseas investments that were mentioned in the article no longer a concern?
does it matter what reince thinks anymore? and since he was the one who sponsored sean in the 1st place, is he next out the door? and more to the point, how soon will they start leaking their revenge?
Scaramuccia literally means “small, fast fray” giving the idea of a soldier who doesn’t involve himself too much in the battle, and this is his way of fighting too, a little touch here, a short attack there.
very fitting for the twit team
from politico:
Schiff called the reports “disturbing” and said it is something the president “should rule out categorically.”
Warner said pardoning individuals “at this early stage in these ongoing investigations” would be “crossing a fundamental line.”
Schiff and Warner serveon the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, respectively, which are investigating Russia’s interference in last year’s presidential election, including the possibility of collusion with the Trump campaign.
[….]
“There is no doubt that Mueller has the authority to investigate anything that arises from his investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, including financial links,” Schiff said on Friday. “Indeed, this is a very important part of Mueller’s responsibility, given that any financial impropriety between Russia and the Trump organization — such as money laundering — could represent just the kind of ‘kompromat’ that Russia could utilize to influence administration policy.”
short epitaph/elegy? from the a.v. club Farewell, Sean Spicer, we hardly knew what the hell ye were doing
Sean Spicer, who for months delighted audiences as the bumbling comic foil of Donald Trump’s White House, resigned today, according to the Associated Press, a decision that comes as a disappointment to all who have appreciated the way his bungling antics animated the bureaucratic banality of evil. According to reports, Spicer “vehemently disagreed” with the appointment of Wall Street financier and Queen lyric Anthony Scaramucci to be White House communications director, with The New York Times saying Spicer told Trump it was a “major mistake.” Given that this particular blunder finally threatened Spicer personally, it was the one he decided he could no longer defend. Thus ends one of the shortest reigns of a White House Press Secretary in history, though the laughter will last a lifetime.
[…more not so nice stuff….]
It was a shitty position, and Spicer acquitted himself terribly, but there was a pitiable quality to him that leavened the mood, even as he was participating in the total erosion of the free press by a megalomaniacal charlatan. There is no such flop-sweat humanity to his replacement, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, for example, who evades questions as blithely as her brother strangles dogs. And there is certainly none to be found in Scaramucci, a hedge-fund huckster whose qualification for the job seems to be that Trump likes to watch him on TV. We will miss having Sean Spicer to kick around, at least until he inevitably lands at Fox News.
Also, no more Melissa McCarthy on Saturday Night Live. Way to screw one more thing up on your way out the door, Spicey.
I’m having difficulty modifying Scarmucci to include the word liar.
Anthony Scaramucci named White House Obfuscation Director
At least Sean had the dignity to follow through and resign as he said he would if the Mooch came in. At least the view of the undercarriage of the bus was voluntary. So we have gone from spicy to scary now that Scaramucci has groveled and adored his way into the WH. He really should provide barf bags when uttering his most obsequious remarks.
Scaramucci
I eagerly await our Nickname Chief KGC’s offering.
boss, pogo’s “mooch” says it all.
am confused now with which distractions are supposed to be distracting us from whatever it is that’s distractedly going on.
wonkette in the meantime warns us: Trumpcare not dead yet, Says it’s feeling better
We know that Trumpcare seems dead, what with the failure of the Senate’s awful repeal and replace bill to make it to the Senate floor this week and then the refusal of three Republican senators to back a repeal-and-do-nothing option immediately after. But as we keep reminding you all, a horror movie villain has an unsettling habit of coming back to life, even after you’ve electrocuted it, blown it up with a bazooka, sewn garlic into the corpse’s mouth, plunged a stake through its heart, and cancelled its HBO. For one thing, there’s no getting anyone off a mailing list. For another, you should never underestimate what the cabal of mad scientists (engineers, really) who are driven to re-animate a bunch of dead tissue can come up with. Several reports are suggesting that deep in the bowels of the Senate, Mitch McConnell and other Republicans are plotting, plotting to bring back their replacement for the Affordable Care Act and will stop at nothing to do it. Beware suspicious lightning storms over Capitol Hill.
Remember, we thought the House’s effort to revive the monster was dead, until they suddenly shouted “IT’S ALIIIIIVE!” and set it loose to shamble into the Senate, where instead of making it look more human, McConnell and crew bolted lasers, sharks, and a plan to fund Medicaid through population-capped block grants to the stinking corpse. McConnell is determined to hold a vote next week, and now nobody’s sure what that vote will be on….
[….]
It’s still hard to see how McConnell can put together a draft that would please both hardliners who want to burn it all down and “moderates” who only want to burn it down a little, and unless John McCain has a miracle, he won’t be back in Washington next week. But as Matt Yglesias warns over at Vox, we might also see a replay of what happened with the House bill:
once the Freedom Caucus was fully on board with the leadership’s plans, moderates lacked the backbone to actually kill the bill.
So don’t get complacent, stay on the phones, and stay in the streets. There’s way too much at risk for us to depend on Rob Portman and Ron Johnson suddenly finding their spines.
Our voting machines are like those described by Ms Renee at 11:28 AM. They are fine, except for no receipt & not being of any use when they are torched or stolen. We have experienced attempts at both, here in the Dem rich Twin Cities. Now, who would want to destroy the ballots in the most Dem precincts of the most Dem wards of the most Dem cities in MN ? I wonder.
https://youtu.be/uF-rRUgNBk0
Patd, I could see the House passing the Kill Ocare and F%&k Replacing It Bill daily, but with McCain out, so long as Collins and Capito remain opposed, and with the house version of R&R having already been rejected by the Senate, I don’t see anything likely to come down the pike with a prayer of passage in the Senate. (And wasn’t Murkowski a no vote as well?)
My question about Scaramooch is, “Does he do the fandango?”
Going back to yesterdays comments, ExRep offered 3-2 odds that Sessions wasn’t that stupid. As I have yet to see a limit to Sessions stupidity……. any more easy money out there?
And to the underlying question in the topic of the day, is Trump that stupid??
Do you really need an answer to that?
Paper ballots with electronic scanners is always my choice. We get a choice as they have a touch screen too. I always go for paper ballots.
As exrep pointed out you can still steal them but at least somebody has to pickup a heavy box to do so. Stealing votes should be hard work.
Jack
Scary Moocher looks best to me. Also in the running :
Scary Mush & The Hedger Hog
Wikipedia says of Scaramuccia : Scaramuccia, also known as Scaramouche or Scaramouch, is a stock clown character of the Italian commedia dell’arte. The role combined characteristics of the zanni and the Capitano. Usually attired in black Spanish dress and burlesquing a don, he was often beaten by Harlequin for his boasting and cowardice.
Mr Jack, jeffbo had just enough brain cells to recuse himself, and not a synapse left over.
He’s a credit to the race of white mice.
Mr Pogo, Yes, Rep murkowski stood against RepubsDon’tCare and LessThanCare.
A nickname for Scaramucci… right now the headlines at huffpo are Moochie Mania…. so how about Moochie Maniac… or MM for short.
Renee, I watched the Presser. He obviously has a high opinion of himself. So I offer one up on yours, M&M; seems to flow easier.
RR, I’d say MM is a good enough placeholder until KGC comes up with a zinger that will stick.
Damn Trump! Scramucci ruined a perfectly good song title.
Scaramucci, Scaramucci, will you do the fandango…to distract us from what we should be paying attention to in Trump-land?
Why now?
Mini-the-Moocher blows kisses??? That’s just weird. He has arrogant hair like Blagoiovich & Tom DeLay.
He spoke for a bloke named Trumpy, whose son-in-law took us down to China…
Russia. Healthcare.
We are not cats & Donald’s laser-pointer (tweets & admin changes) will not distract us…for long.
Ya gotta give it up…..voting is more screwed with every election.
What can you do? Well, you can vote.
oh.
Speaking of first memories, one of my first ones is a movie Ive come to find out starred Mario Lanza, The Life Of Caruso, or whatever….One scene involved swordsmen fighting up and down a staircase and a balcony…..it’s like six against one and they’re all hollering, “SCARAMOUCHE”.
so me and my brothers adopted Scaramouche as the rallying cry and held sword fights all over several yards…..that went on for months. Up the street, don’t know if he saw the movie or not, but Norman Felder lost one of his eyes in mock swordplay. It wasn’t us.
The largest assisted living facility in TX to take Medicaid patients is closing on August 9th.
For sword-fighting banter I prefer, “My name is Inigo Montoya…”
Basil Rathbone wielded a mean foil…….
I bet Jimmie Cagney coulda done a mean sword fight……
They figured he looked better with Thompson sub-machine guns…….
I don’t recall ever seeing John Wayne in a sword fight……although he could have had one when he played Genghis Khan
Those Hollywood guys……they slay me with their irony……..They changed the guy’s name from the original, Genghis Klein……..
And with a snap of the fingers, you have Danny Kaye
Larry Tribe disagrees with my assessment and sez drumpf can’t pardon himself. I defer to Prof. Tribe. He’s forgotten more about the constitution than I ever learnt.
#45 disagrees with anyone who disagrees with HIM & WILL pardon HIMSELF if that is what HE damn well pleases because THAT’S the type of a-hole HE is and HE IS THE PRESIDENT AND YOU ARE NOT! Rules are for losers, you must-be-from-Baltimore-fake-news-media-crooked-Hillary-followers. SAD!!
CNN and scaramucci late in June. The guy came out like the new emcee of the WH. But, one answer to the question about whether scaramucci would be like larry speakes who said the following
‘You don’t tell us how to stage the news and we don’t tell you how to cover it.’
was a bit telling. scaramucci said that was not how things are today. Expect the WH briefing to dramatically change. It is a new era and watch the communications feed be altered for more control by trump. I just love this guy! Applause.
I dunno Pogo, I see a lot of interpolation to reach a prior conclusion in Tribe’s analysis. Those strict constructionists on the Supreme Court could easily bat that away. I’m sticking with your view.
But if this drags on until the next campaign, he loses, and, there is proof of criminality on the part of many in the Trump camp, including the Tsar…
I must admit the citation to Dr. Bonham’s case is less than compelling considering that it predates the constitution by 170 years. And the self dealing proscription re congress’ pay … I’m not biting. When the likes of Tribe, Painter an Eisen agree I have to at least consider their views although I’m not sure exactly what I think yet. I guess I should start by actually reading the provisions cited by Tribe, et al. ?
Pogo, I prefer your inductive approach, let the facts take us to the conclusion. Not a fan of Tribe’s deductive, cherry pick the facts to fit your conclusion.
The President…shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment. [Article II, Section 2, Clause 1]
pogo & craig & sjwny, looks like the big C clearly says he can with only one exception…. he can’t undue impeachment. now that still leaves in question what happens after house critters impeach him and the senate critters vote removal. would removal fall under that Offences against the United States?
I know, picky picky picky
was kislyak jerking chains?
the guardian:
Jeff Sessions discussed Donald Trump’s White House bid with the Russian ambassador to Washington in 2016, according to reported US intelligence intercepts which contradict the US attorney general’s assurances that the campaign was not discussed.
Sergey Kislyak told his superiors in Moscow he talked about campaign-related matters and significant policy issues during two meetings with Sessions, according to current and former US intelligence officials, the Washington Post reported on Friday.
The ambassador’s accounts of the meetings – which US spy agencies intercepted – clash with those of Sessions and pile fresh pressure on the attorney general just days after the president publicly criticised him.
[….]
The Post cited an unnamed US official who called Sessions’ statements “misleading” and “contradicted by other evidence”. An unnamed former official said the intelligence indicated Sessions and Kislyak had “substantive” discussions on matters including Trump’s positions on Russia-related issues and prospects for bilateral relations in a Trump administration, the paper reported.
The officials acknowledged that the ambassador could have mischaracterised the meetings in his briefings to Moscow.