Protests against Whitaker takeover of Trump-Russia probe are slated at 5 p.m. today, including Ramona’s Collier Park and federal courthouse downtown
By Miriam Raftery
November 8, 2018 (Washington D.C.) – Critics are accusing President Donald Trump of obstructing justice after the President forced resignation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Washington Post reports. The removal of Sessions shits oversight of Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged Trump-Russia collusion to Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker.
Sessions had recused himself from oversight of the special counsel probe due to conflict of interest laws, leaving Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in charge. But with Sessions gone, Whittaker is now in charge of the investigation that he has long criticized.
Some fear Whitaker could fire Mueller outright or take other steps to impede the investigation, such as barring Trump from being questioned under oath.
Whitaker has made clear that he will not recuse himself despite publishing multiple opinion pieces he wrote criticizing the Mueller investigation in the past. In August 2017, he even suggested that a replacement for Sessions might reduce Mueller’s budget “so low that his investigation grinds to almost a halt.”
The timing of Trump’s actions are particularly suspect given reports today in major media that Mueller is in the process of writing his final report – a report that could potentially lead to indictments of Trump and/or members of his family including his son, Donald Trump Jr. and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner over their involvement with Russians seeking to influence the outcome of the elections.
Mueller’s mandate gives him broad latitude to further investigate all crimes discovered in the course of the investigation, potentially including financial crimes involving the Trumps.
Numerous members of Trump’s campaign and cabinet and others have already been indicted in the Mueller probe including several Trump allies who have pled guilty to felony crimes.
A group called Nobody is Above the Law is organizing nationwide protests at 5 p.m. today to protest these actions, with four planned in San Diego County including downtown at the federal courthouse (333 W. Broadway), Ramona’s Collier in East County, Westfield North County Mall and Carlsbad Premium Outlets in North County.
Concerned citizens are also asked to contact members of Congress and ask them to pass legislation to protect Robert Mueller.
Those critical of the President note that President Richard Nixon resigned under threat of impeachment after the “Saturday night massacre” in which he attempted to obstruct justice with similar firings to impede the Watergate investigation.
Trump's only criticism of Sessions has been Sessions recusal from oversight of Mueller, a decision Sessions was required to make by law, making the President's demand for Sessions' resignation even more suspect.
Comments
Outstanding Verifiable Fact Based Spiro Agnew, Relevant Today!
https://www.msnbc.com/bagman.
Dictator Checklist
https://youtu.be/ty9nKYq-qqI.
After a quick search on you.
Your Quick search on me.
We did run articles critical of Clinton in the past at times,
including during the email and Benghazi controversies. She's not in power and not running for anything right now. Our focus has been on the current administration.
If Trump's criteria for appointing an Attorney General was that he not recuse himself from overseeing the probe into the President, why wouldn't you be concerned about that? This should not be a factor, unless the President is trying to control the invsetigating to avoid being implicated in crimes. That is called obstruction of justice. Shopping for an Attorney General to squash the investigation is illegal and an impeachable offense, just as when Nixon fired people until he found someone who would fire a special prosecutor. That's why Congress was ready to impeach him, and so he resigned.
"Clinton Cash" book review by Dennis Moore
It should be noted that I wrote a book review in the East County Magazine very critical of the Clintons, right after I wrote a review of Hillary Clinton's "Hard Choices". "Clinton Cash" so disturbed me that I was swayed to put some balance and perspective in my view of the Clintons. Nevertheless, I looked at Hillary Clinton as the lesser of two evils between her and Donald Trump, and ended up voting for Hillary. I also wrote book reviews of Bernie Sanders in the very same news magazine, and if I was given the choice, would have voted for Bernie Sanders for President. Politics is such a nasty business!
Thank you, Dennis, for tha reminder.
We did indeed run reviews on books by all the major candidates including Trump, in some cases, more than one book, and these included astute and critical commmentary by Dennis on all of the books, There are generally no saints running for president; most have done positive things but also had some negative issues in their long careeers.
Trump was an anomaly who never held pubilc office before and had a background that was largely inflated. He ran as a billionaire businessman but had many failed businesses and what money he did make was largely on the backs of ripping off others -- thousands of lawsuits against him from contractors he never paid, for example. He had a very abusive history toward women, too.
The lesson of 2 Evils?
Oh, this bothers me.
You don't understand how these cases work.
In a large conspiracy, as with organized crime cases, it starts with taking down minor players to get them to talk, then works upward to higher and higher levels. The Mueller probe so far has resulted in dozens of indictments and at least eight convictions, including some guilty pleas. Not a single one has been found not guilty.
Next to be indicted may well be members of the Trump family. And I'd be willing to wager Mueller has a great deal of evidence on Trump, but you don't indict the crime family boss until you've taken down the minions below him and amassed all the evidence that you can. Two years is not an unusually long time in cases this involved.
Mueller also reportedly has numerous sealed indictments already on file with the report, likely waiting until the early cases have worked their way through the courts.
Some of the crimes for which guilty pleas ahve been obtained are the most serious of crimes including conspiracy against the United States. There are indictments against many Russians, too, including some involved with meetings with the Trump family members and campaign members over providing them with illegally obtained information with which to throw an election. But there are also financial crimes and crimes of key top cabinet members, even a National Security Director appointed by Trump. Apart form the campaign shennanigans, the bigger and most serious question is do we have a president and his family members who are beholden to a foreign power and putting Russian national interests ahead of America's? That should concern us all, as this is arguably treason. Perhaps you should read some of the past indictments and court documents to undertand the appalling criminality going on here with dozens of top presidential advisors and insiders, and he also has many unsavory ties to organized crime figures who may also be calling some shots.
Oh and by the way...the Watergate investigation took over two years, too, and had less entanglements than this does, since Watergate did not involve foreign powers, only two-bit burglars and a buffoonish effort to cover up the crime of breaking into Democratic party headquarters -- child's play compared to the far more serious crimes involved in what Mueller is investigating.
Sessions not forced out by President Trump.
How can anyone in El Cajon accuse us of bias toward Dems?
Apparently you haven't read our investigative reports that exposed many of the ethical and legal scandals involving Councilman Kalasho, who was a Democrat at the time we wrote most of the stories.
There is much in Trump's actions that mirrors the Watergate scandal, for those of us old enough to remember it or who have studied history. Other major media outlets around the world are describing this as Sessions forced out -- he certainly didn't quit on his own to go play golf or enjoy retirement -- had he not resigned Trump was reportedly prepared to fire him. Trump offered no legitimate reason for this. Every American should be concerned when a president blatantly engages in obstruction of justice to protect himself from being held accountable for crimes, which is what appears to be occurring here.