Emails and cankles. Thank heavens we averted that disaster.
I heard she was sickly. She’d probably have keeled over by now, or nuked Israel during her first period in office*.
* I feel compelled to note that I understand the biological unlikelihood of there having been one :)
At the very surface, if the email described by the Times exists, we have collusion and we have a felony. I mean…is this all real?
Nothing they did is illegal unless the House says so.
… And why do you think that, exactly? Mueller is putting together an all-star team of prosecutors. Not investigators, prosecutors. You don’t put together an all-star team just so they can all sit on the bench. (And more to the point, no one drops everything to join an all-star team unless you think you’re going to play.)
Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean anyone’s going to jail (on Federal charges.) Donnie can play the get-out-of-jail-free card by pardoning everyone, or (probably illegally) try to fire Mueller before indictments happen. But there will be indictments.
So…what does this mean?
I mean, let’s start with the fact that Federal Election laws – like those listed a few posts above yours that may have been violated here – were written and signed into law by The House. Now, maybe not this current sitting House, but the cool thing about American law is that when a statute is enacted, it stays the law until it is either superseded by another law or overturned by the court system.
And even setting that aside, the House does not act as a charging or enforcing body for any laws regarding private citizens.
So, other than the House of Representatives having already helped put laws on the books about this, and
The House of Representatives not having enforcement power (that resides with the DOJ, which is part of the executive branch),
um…sure. Whatever.
I mean, I dunno if anyone’s getting charged, but House of Representatives won’t have a say in it one way or another.
IANAL, so how might it work then? Who’s going to bring indictments? Meuller isn’t authorized for that AFAIK, just to bring reports and advise indictments. Is Sessions going to do it ( or allow it) from any DOJ agency? Isn’t the House the only one who can touch DT himself.
I think we’re down to state AGs for indicting the campaign guys and hangers-on. But even if every one of them gets pinched, how does that help stop Trump if the House still wants to slow-walk it until after 2018? Unless the House separates itself from the DT True Believers as a base, they have no reason to act.
So the question is, is this happening because:
- Donnie is mad because he can’t get away with his plan to have a buddy of Jared’s develop it.
- Donnie wants to punish the FBI
- the Republican Congress is so dysfunctional it couldn’t find its ass with both hands and a map.
Just kidding, of course it’s all three.
Yes, but there’s tons more people involved in this than just Donnie.
As a basis of comparison, 40 people went to jail over Watergate (and other simultaneous investigations, like Agnew’s conviction for tax fraud.) Though Nixon went free.
Yeah, right now it’s Manafort, Carter Page, Flynn, Kushner and now Trump Jr in the cross-hairs.
And when Rosenstein declines to pursue it, or resigns to avoid being ordered to drop it, and someone else Trump picks gets to make the call, what is the next step then? In Watergate this scenario is what generated the outrage that made congress act, but would that happen here? Do you think DT wouldn’t throw every one of these people under the bus to avoid this? Maybe not his kids because that is his name legacy… that may be his only weak point.
This is a small bit of esoterica, but it’s maybe an important piece of info, if Schiff’s timeline is accurate.
He claims in this clip that Russia had already hacked the DNC servers at the time of the June 9 meeting. That’s been something up for debate, because the timeline helps Junior out a little if the hacking happened after the meeting. Then at least Junior, Manafort, and Kushner aren’t sitting in on a meeting with the Russians while the Russians hold data from the DNC servers.
But if the meeting happened after the hack – as Schiff claims it did – that’s pretty bad.
He’ll pursue it.
If Mueller thinks he has indict-able infractions to charge, he’ll ask Rosenstein to empanel a Grand Jury. That’s a key step, because it effectively abrogates some responsibilities from Rosenstein or the US Attorney in DC to file charges themselves. Instead, if the Grand Jury returns indictments, you get a situation where the DOJ has little choice but to file those charges or face getting their collective dicks slammed in the dryer by not only public opinion, but also the courts.
And on the off chance that Donald Trump isn’t the last POTUS (he said with hopeful hyperbole) and assuming that a Democrat will once again reside at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the recriminations will be…not good if the DOJ fails to act on Mueller’s recommendations. We’re talking not just disbarment, but also likely criminal charges being filed up and down the river.
(Republican Congressional Roleplay): So, no voter consequences until after the 2018 elections? I can leave Trump alone, and pursue GOP policy crazyness, get re-elected, and then Chaffitz myself into a real money job early in 2019? Nice!
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I think you are mixing up the political and legal consequences of investigation.
The legal consequences are the responsibility of Mueller and his team. We might see something happen before 2018, after Trump leaves office, or some time in between. It doesn’t and shouldn’t matter too much, provided justice is finally served to guilty parties.
However, Mueller et al. are not responsible for stopping the GOP agenda and its operatives. And frankly, it’s unreasonable to expect them to work within the timeframe of an election cycle. Winning elections is up to you, me and all the other Democrats.
Yeah, it seems like this could very well be the meeting where team Trump coordinated with the Russians on the release of the DNC emails. The nonsense from Don Jr. about adoptions and Russian donations to Clinton makes no sense. He knows they have the email that explicitly set up the purpose of the meeting (for the Russian government to assist Trump), so he had to come up with something.
Perhaps hard to prove unless someone who was in that room rolls over. Too bad Flynn wasn’t there. He seems like a roll-over kind of guy.
Or maybe that Russian lawyer was under surveillance (please, please, please)…
