Cont: The Trump Presidency: Part 19

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Sean Davis
@seanmdav
You all but accused Michael Flynn of treason for talking to world leaders on behalf of the incoming president.
And now you want to pretend that secretly colluding with a terrorist regime overseas to undermine U.S. foreign policy is perfectly kosher?

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Chris Murphy
@ChrisMurphyCT
1/ Attached is my usual account of my latest trip abroad, this one to Ukraine and Munich.
I met w the Iranian Foriegn Minister in Munich. It’s dangerous not to talk to adversaries, esp amidst a cycle of escalation.
Quick thread on what I told Zarif.
https://medium.com/@ChrisMurphyCT
 
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Kerry & Murphy illegally violated the Logan Act. This is why Iran is not making a deal. Must be dealt with strongly!
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Tom Fitton
@TomFitton
That Yates/Mueller/FBI/Obama admin would suggest that Logan Act would apply to presidential transition shows the fundamental corruption of the Flynn prosecution.
@RealDonaldTrump should pardon him. Or will the DOJ will now also prosecute Kerry/Murphy? https://twitter.com/TomFitton/status/981549328803168257
 
I would agree with that. It's one data point towards the conclusion that he can do anything. Combined with him getting off scott free for various crimes related to cheating in the coming election, I would say that overall, the conclusion that Trump can do anything and get away with it is not without merit.

Legal sources say the larger issue is, the president -- any president -- taking these actions not based on law, or his reading of it, but merely on personal whim. As some of the media has reported, Trump has a personal connection to everyone he's pardoned. Below is a quote by Jeffrey Toobin writing in The New Yorker. Toobin spent three years as a federal prosecutor.
The common link among this group is that all have some personal connection to the President. Blagojevich was a contestant on “Celebrity Apprentice,” and he was prosecuted by Patrick Fitzgerald, a close friend of and lawyer for James Comey, the former F.B.I. director who is a Trump enemy. Explaining his action today, Trump said of the case against Blagojevich, “It was a prosecution by the same people—Comey, Fitzpatrick—the same group.” Milken’s annual financial conferences are a favorite meeting place for, among others, Trump’s moneyed friends. (Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner spoke at last year’s gathering.) Milken is also an active philanthropist, as Trump observed: “We have Mike Milken, who’s gone around and done an incredible job for the world, with all of his research on cancer, and he’s done this and he suffered greatly. He paid a big price, paid a very tough price.” Trump’s explanation for the Kerik pardon is probably the most revealing. The President said that Kerik is “a man who had many recommendations from a lot of good people. You know, oftentimes—pretty much all the time—I really rely on the recommendations of people that know them.” Kerik was appointed police commissioner by Rudolph Giuliani, who was then the mayor of New York and is now Trump’s personal lawyer. It’s safe to assume that Giuliani played a role in Trump’s decision to pardon him. Link
 
Legal sources say the larger issue is, the president -- any president -- taking these actions not based on law, or his reading of it, but merely on personal whim. As some of the media has reported, Trump has a personal connection to everyone he's pardoned. Below is a quote by Jeffrey Toobin writing in The New Yorker. Toobin spent three years as a federal prosecutor.

It's only natural for the king to favor his coterie and favorites. It's why they're called favorites, after all!
 
Explaining his action today, Trump said of the case against Blagojevich, “It was a prosecution by the same people—Comey, Fitzpatrick—the same group.”

The same group of people as what?
 
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Is corrupt Bloomberg News going to say what a pathetic debater Mini Mike is, that he doesn’t respect our great farmers, or that he has violated campaign finance laws at the highest and most sinister level with “payoffs” all over the place?
 
....
He served 8 years (assuming that is true) that is a long time and in his opinion it was a powerful ridiculous statement. 14 years seems like a long sentence to me too. I understand they want to make an example.

The guy was convicted of multiple felonies relating to abuse of his office as governor. There is no question about his guilt, and no argument for some kind of hardship break. The real issue is that there is a procedure to review and consider applications for clemency, and Trump circumvented it to do favors for his pals.
 
Man, Season 9 of Game of Thrones is really diverging from the books.

And why did it move from HBO to CNN?



Creative differences. The original show runners thought having more than half the Senate bend the knee to a clearly unfit ruler was an unrealistic plot that undermined the entire character of the government as it has always been described in the series canon.
 
The guy was convicted of multiple felonies relating to abuse of his office as governor. There is no question about his guilt, and no argument for some kind of hardship break. The real issue is that there is a procedure to review and consider applications for clemency, and Trump circumvented it to do favors for his pals.

Gotta remember whose Senate set Blago was trying to sell. That probably makes him ok in Trump's book.
 
I agree it looks bad and there are plenty of others in jail who are serving excessive sentences for a non violent crimes. I just don’t see it as thinking he can do anything.

Depends on what's next. Do you find the timing of these pardons odd coming soon after the impeachment was over?
 
I'd think he'd be giving a lot of thought to pardoning and/or commuting the sentence for Michael Cohen. The guy is slated to get out next year anyway, and I can't see him not writing a tell-all book unless he gets something for not doing it.

Cohen was unfaithful in the end. Petty Trump never forgets.
 
Depends on what's next. Do you find the timing of these pardons odd coming soon after the impeachment was over?

I find it odd considering the election is upcoming. If I were an incumbent president I'd be avoiding any actions that look controversial or iffy until after the election. But I'm very different from Trump. Either he's got some cunning scheme at work or is just that stupid/crazy. I'm getting tired of having to guess between those two possibilities. It seems to boil down to those a lot of the time!
 
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There must be JUSTICE. This can never happen to a President, or our Country, again!

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Lee Zeldin
@RepLeeZeldin
There are high expectations that the Justice Dept will very soon deliver transparency & ACCOUNTABILITY regarding DOJ/FBI officials who weaponized the awesome powers at their disposal in order to target the Trump campaign. Frustrated Americans demand justice! It’s LONG overdue!

Angry is a big time understatement. Pelosi, Schiff, and Nadler should be stripped of their gavels and the Dems should be removed from power in Nov for their corrupt, rigged, rushed impeachment, hijacking Congress to appease a radical activist liberal base. Angry? Buckle up!

“When law ends, tyranny begins.”
The Trump-Russia collusion hoax was rigged w/gross misconduct!
The targeting of AG Barr isn’t because he is missing the mark. It’s because he is laser focused on it center mass.

The more drained out the swamp gets, the more the swamp creatures act out in protest.
 
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What Mini Mike is doing is nothing less than a large scale illegal campaign contribution.
Which is of course wrong. Self-funding a campaign is not illegal. Possibly a moral grey area, but not illegal.
.....Mini is illegally buying the Democrat Nomination.
Rather ironic, considering that in 2016 Trump claimed that he was "self funding" his campaign (for at least part of the time).

Of course in Trump's case it was bunk... he ended up getting significant donations from outside sources.

https://www.politifact.com/factchec.../donald-trump-self-funding-his-campaign-sort/
 
Trump retweets

Tom Fitton
@TomFitton
The coup cabal is worried about Barr:...
Meanwhile, Obama gang interfered in Russia election interference investigation to protect Obama's emails while crookedly spying on @realdonaldtrump. Again the Clinton email scandal cover-up is as much about protecting Obama as it is about protecting Clinton.

"[The Deep State] is concerned that AG Barr might do the right thing and they are desperate to do everything to stop him from prosecuting the criminal gangs that targeted @realDonaldTrump and other innocent Americans.”
Over 11 years ago, FBI interviewed Barack Obama about sale of his Senate seat. There's a FBI "302" report of interview. Rather than releasing document, DOJ has fought @JudicialWatch tooth and nail to keep it secret. #blagojevich

Reagan ordered halt of a criminal grand jury investigation against British Airways in 1984. George HW Bush ordered to DOJ to investigate police in wake of Rodney King rioting. Obama directed DOJ action after Eric Garner acquittal.
President @realDonaldTrump has a positive constitutional obligation to speak up about DOJ corruption.

Barr should clean house at DOJ...@realDonalldTrump,was the victim of a seditious conspiracy out of DOJ/FBI, etc. President Trump can also appoint a special counsel directly.
 
Depends on what's next. Do you find the timing of these pardons odd coming soon after the impeachment was over?
I find it odd considering the election is upcoming. If I were an incumbent president I'd be avoiding any actions that look controversial or iffy until after the election.
Maybe Bloomberg will put together more attack ads along the lines of "Willy Horton"...

"Trump claims he's for law and order, but he cut years out of these criminal's prison sentences".
But I'm very different from Trump. Either he's got some cunning scheme at work or is just that stupid/crazy.
Trump is a Forrest Gump-like character... he succeeds not because of any special intelligence or abilities, but largely by luck.
 
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