The President of the United States has ordered the firing of the lead prosecutor of the Special Counsel conducting a counterintelligence investigation into possible collusion between the president’s campaign and a foreign power AND a criminal investigation into possible obstruction of justice on the part of the president for his actions pertaining to these investigations. Normally word of this firing would be a big deal. Not here in the ethically challenged world of Donald Trump. In Trump World reality is whatever the president says it is.
The New York Times, Washington Post and a host of other news outlets have confirmed with multiple sources that the president ordered Bob Mueller’s firing only to back down when his White House counsel, Don McGhan threatened to quit over the matter. Trump’s response when questioned: “Fake News!”
“Fake News!” That is the president’s response to any story that paints him in a bad light. Trump dismisses the story and moves on; usually moving on to another controversial act of impropriety that obscures and distracts from the previous one. Like water through a fire hose its hard to handle them all.
However, Trump’s recent flirtation with a “constitutional crisis” is just further evidence of Trump’s obsession with the Mueller investigation and his unbridled willingness to go to any and all lengths to bring to to a halt.
Consider…
-Upon learning that Michael Flynn had lied to the Vice President and the FBI; Trump first asked FBI Director for his loyalty before asking Comey to: “let it (the investigation into Flynn) go.” When Comey refused grant Trump either request Trump fired Comey.
-Trump crafted a memo that falsely stated that Donald Trump Junior’s meeting with a Russian lawyer was about adoptions when in fact it was to obtain promised dirt on Hillary Clinton.
-Trump had previously ordered Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rob Rosenstein to draft a memorandum documenting grounds for Comey’s firing. A document that purported to recommend Comey be fired because of unprofessional behavior in his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails. In an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt, Trump stated that he intended to fire Comey regardless of the recommendations. Trump told Holt he fired Comey to end the Russian investigation.
-Trump told Russian Ambassador Kislyak and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov that he fired Comey to remove the pressure from the Russian investigation.
-Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russian investigation because of his personal contacts with Russian officials. Trump publically expressed his frustration with Sessions for recusing himself because he expected Sessions to protect him like: “Bobby protected Jack and Holder protected Obama.”
-Trump pushed the directors of the CIA, DIA and NSA to put pressure on the FBI to end the Russian investigation.
-Now we have Trump ordering his White House counsel to fire Mueller.
Interference on the part of the executive branch to influence ongoing DOJ investigations is a violation of the separation of powers as spelled out in the constitution.
To any rational person there is clearly an effort on the part of the president to obstruct an ongoing DOJ investigation into Russian efforts to influence the 2016 general election.
That would exclude members of the Republican Party who inexplicably continue to carry the water of this unethical president.
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