Our obstruction-of-justice inquiry focused on a series of actions by the President that related to the Russian-interference investigations, including the President's conduct towards the law enforcement officials overseeing the investigations and the witnesses to relevant events.
Focus on the actions of the president is not difficult. He carries out his law breaking within public view as if that is going to exonerate him. Trump doesn't care about law enforcement, except, as a campaign issue. He will carry on about the police and their good work, but, when it comes down to the Rule of Law he could care less. Any person working on this report expects respect and should be getting it.
Trump's rantings about a Deep State is only campaign rhetoric, but, he is doing his level best to make the lie become the truth. The fact the Special Counsel picked up the disrespect toward the efforts of these prosecutors is not a surprise to me. They were attacks that should have never occurred and the Former Director of the FBI, James Comey should still be leading the department.
Rudy Guiliani can claim to be mayor of New York City at the time of September 11th, but, Robert Mueller lead the FBI because he was worried about this country.
April 19, 2002
...As much as I miss San Francisco, (click here) I am grateful to have the opportunity to serve in what I believe to be the world's finest law enforcement agency -- the FBI. It is particularly rewarding to serve at this unparalleled moment in history, when America is depending on the FBI more than ever, when protecting the homeland from terrorist attacks has taken on new meaning and new urgency.
Like most Americans, I'll never forget the day it all began. I had been on the job exactly one week when word came that a plane had struck the World Trade Center. We rushed down to the FBI's command center, hoping it had been a terrible accident but fearing the worst. Minutes later, we watched in horror as a plane hit the second tower. Then, reality hit even closer to home, when across the Potomac, another plane rammed into the Pentagon.
I don't want to hear a word about the Deep State. It is completely baseless and political rhetoric. Every American has a profound debt of gratitude to Robert S. Mueller. if there was a trace of a Deep State in this country, he would be the very first person to report it and do something about it. I have no worry about any Deep State AND NEVER WILL regardless of the policial hack known as Bill Barr.
Why does Trump carry out his law breaking in view of the public, besides the fact it provides a venue of legitimacy when a USA president carries it out?
Because the Justice Manual says it does not indict a sitting president. Not even one that CHRONICALLY breaks the law?
FACTUAL RESULTS OF THE OBSTRUCTION INVESTIGATION
The key issues and events we examined include the following:
The Campaign's response to reports about Russian support for Trump. During the 2016 presidential campaign, questions arose about the Russian government's apparent support for candidate Trump. After WikiLeaks released politically damaging Democratic Party emails that were reported to have been hacked by Russia, Trump publicly expressed skepticism that Russia was responsible for the hacks at the same time that he and other Campaign officials privately sought information....
The FBI had engaged in an investigation AS IT SHOULD HAVE when it was discovered the DCCC and the Clinton Campaign had their cyber accounts hacked. There are laws about such issues and they are not minor laws. The FBI was compelled to enter into an investigation because there were laws broken. This was not a Deep State attempting to discredit a political candidate. This was the JOB the FBI was supposed to do.
To the FBI the facts were obvious. They found EVIDENCE that the Russian Federation was responsible for the hacking. There were traces in the cyber record that proved the culprit. Donald J. Trump wanted to discredit the FBI by providing cover for Russia. He did it as a candidate and he continues to carry out these myths about a Deep State to create the idea the Russian Federation IS A VICTIM.
When an American lays down cover for the Russian Federation they are automatically a concern to the intelligence agencies of the USA.
The cyber attacks were unilateral and did not have any effect on the Trump campaign and Donald J. Trump was laying down cover for Russia. You betcha there was going to be an investigation.
HARM TO ONGOING MATTER
...about any further planned WikiLeaks releases....
I think I can guess what the ongoing matter is. Trump lied. We know he lied because his company was actively seeking a Trump Tower in Moscow even after the election results were in.
...Trump also denied having any business in or connections to Russia, even though as late as June 2016 the Trump Organization had been pursuing a licensing deal for a skyscraper to be built in Russia called Trump Tower Moscow. After the election, the President expressed concerns to advisors that reports of Russia's election interference might lead the public to question the legitimacy of his election.
Ya think? Trump's worry about the way Russia would perceive an investigation is what lead to the Twitter firing of James Comey. The Former Director of the FBI, James Comey would not agree to a loyalty oath to Trump. Below is the oath James Comey took.
I [name] (click here) do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.
What could possibly be an oath to Trump that would be better than those words? If Trump wanted to change the oath to include himself there are ways of doing that through Homeland Security where the FBI is housed as an authority. I don't know why anyone would want it changed. It seems like a perfect and constitutional oath.
(Trump's) Conduct involving FBI Director Comey and Michael Flynn. In mid-January 2017, incoming National Security Advisor Michael Flynn falsely denied to the Vice President, other administration officials, and FBI agents that he had talked to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak about Russia's response to U.S. sanctions on Russia for its election interference....
The surveillance of Michael Flynn was routine. There was nothing exceptional about it. The FBI or CIA would not need a warrant for listening in on matters that concern the country of a person no longer a private citizen.
On January 27, the day after the President was told that Flynn had lied to the Vice President and had made similar statements to the FBI, the President invited FBI Director Corney to a private dinner at the White House and told Corney that he needed loyalty. On February 14, the day after the President requested Flynn's resignation, the President told an outside advisor, "Now that we fired Flynn, the Russia thing is over." The advisor disagreed and said the investigations would continue.
Flynn didn't have to lie. He had to know the intelligence services were listening. The entire episode with Flynn is curious because he knew better. He was former USA military intelligence. He knew the degree to which listening took place. The fact Flynn lied is extremely curious. It is what got him in trouble with the Special Counsel investigation.
I think it is still unclear who and under what circumstances someone in the administration provided the documents Trump gave to Russians in the Oval Office.
I think it is worth realizing that when testimony is taken by the Special Counsel and Congress there is an understanding the witness will respond truthfully to questions.
Do you solemnly (swear/affirm) that you will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, (so help you God/under pains and penalties of perjury)?
Lies indicate an obstruction. The US relies on the truth to carry out the Rule of Law. When it becomes obvious there are lies propagated by persons of interest, there must be a pursuit of the truth. Rove changed his testimony six times before the Grand Jury regarding the outing of Valerie Plame in retaliation for an Op-Ed written by her spouse, Ambassador Joe Wilson. Yet, Rove was never indicted. If he was caught lying without correcting the information to the Grand Jury he would have been indicted on crimes. Yet, Flynn lied as did many others. If find that very curious.
Later that afternoon, the President cleared the Oval Office to have a one-on-one meeting with Corney. Referring to the FBI's investigation of Flynn, the President said, "I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. T hope you can let this go." Shortly after requesting Flynn's resignation and speaking privately to Corney, the President sought to have Deputy National Security Advisor K.T. McFarland draft an internal letter stating that the President had not directed Flynn to discuss sanctions with Kislyak. McFarland declined because she did not know whether that was true, and a White House Counsel's Office attorney thought that the request would look like a quid pro quo for an ambassadorship she had been offered.
What are all these letters Trump demands from seasoned professionals? He solicits letters, like that of the Asst. Attorney General Rosenstein. Trump is a strange guy. He arrives in the Oval Office overinflated with his own authority knowing his brand is firing people and proceeds to solicit career professionals for letters that are unethical to ask for in the first place.
He does not belong in government. His understanding of the world doesn't even border on professional. When a family company is run by members of the family it appears as though they hold a great deal of power But, that "idea" of power disappears when they enter government, especially the presidency. This is not a CEO's job. This is a government capacity that has others to answer to in ways that are important. That is why the Office of the White House Counsel exists.
Trump refuses to give up his idea of authority even as the courts shoot down his proclamations. I suppose that is why it is so important for Trump to assign judges at a feverish pace. HIS JUDGES will allow all the proclamations he declares. Amazingly simpleton.
The President's reaction to the continuing Russia investigation. Tn February 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions began to assess whether he had to recuse himself from campaign related investigations because of his role in the Trump Campaign. Tn early March, the President told White House Counsel Donald McGahn to stop Sessions from recusing. And after Sessions announced his recusal on March 2, the President expressed anger at the decision and told advisors that he should have an Attorney General who would protect him. That weekend, the President took Sessions aside at an event and urged him to "unrecuse." Later in March, Corney publicly disclosed at a congressional hearing that the FBI was investigating "the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election," including any links or coordination between the Russian government and the Trump Campaign. In the following days, the President reached out to the Director of National Intelligence and the leaders of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) to ask them what they could do to publicly dispel the suggestion that the President had any connection to the Russian election-interference effort. The President also twice called Corney directly, notwithstanding guidance from McGahn to avoid direct contacts with the Department of Justice. Corney had previously assured the President that the FBI was not investigating him personally, and the President asked Corney to " lift the cloud" of the Russia investigation by saying that publicly.
Trump causes a lot of ethical problems for professionals that work for him. How can a Director of the FBI lift the cloud of the Russian investigation when the reason the president wasn't being investigated was because of a stupid opinion in the Justice Manual? That doesn't mean Trump is innocent. It just means Trump wasn't being investigated personally. A very uninformed man would think those things. Trump doesn't get it. If he wasn't on Twitter day in and day out he might have time to ask questions of professionals available to him to explain the law.
continued in next entry - It is time for dinner.
