Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Republicans in disarray!

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

This fight is for everything.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

This blog will pay for itself.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Their freedom requires your slavery.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / The President Attempted to Order the Department of Justice to Prosecute Secretary Clinton and Director Comey

The President Attempted to Order the Department of Justice to Prosecute Secretary Clinton and Director Comey

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It appears it is that time once again; time for the monthly Don McGahn singlehandedly saves the Republic news dump via court stenographer Maggie Haberman at The New York Times.

WASHINGTON — President Trump told the White House counsel in the spring that he wanted to order the Justice Department to prosecute two of his political adversaries: his 2016 challenger, Hillary Clinton, and the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey, according to two people familiar with the conversation.

The lawyer, Donald F. McGahn II, rebuffed the president, saying that he had no authority to order a prosecution. Mr. McGahn said that while he could request an investigation, that too could prompt accusations of abuse of power. To underscore his point, Mr. McGahn had White House lawyers write a memo for Mr. Trump warning that if he asked law enforcement to investigate his rivals, he could face a range of consequences, including possible impeachment.

The encounter was one of the most blatant examples yet of how Mr. Trump views the typically independent Justice Department as a tool to be wielded against his political enemies. It took on additional significance in recent weeks when Mr. McGahn left the White House and Mr. Trump appointed a relatively inexperienced political loyalist, Matthew G. Whitaker, as the acting attorney general.

It is unclear whether Mr. Trump read Mr. McGahn’s memo or whether he pursued the prosecutions further. But the president has continued to privately discuss the matter, including the possible appointment of a second special counsel to investigate both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Comey, according to two people who have spoken to Mr. Trump about the issue. He has also repeatedly expressed disappointment in the F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray, for failing to more aggressively investigate Mrs. Clinton, calling him weak, one of the people said.

In his conversation with Mr. McGahn, the president asked what stopped him from ordering the Justice Department to investigate Mr. Comey and Mrs. Clinton, the two people familiar with the conversation said. He did have the authority to ask the Justice Department to investigate, Mr. McGahn said, but warned that making such a request could create a series of problems.

Mr. McGahn promised to write a memo outlining the president’s authorities. In the days that followed, lawyers in the White House Counsel’s Office wrote a several-page document in which they strongly cautioned Mr. Trump against asking the Justice Department to investigate anyone.

The lawyers laid out a series of consequences. For starters, Justice Department lawyers could refuse to follow Mr. Trump’s orders even before an investigation began, setting off another political firestorm.

If charges were brought, judges could dismiss them. And Congress, they added, could investigate the president’s role in a prosecution and begin impeachment proceedings.

Ultimately, the lawyers warned, Mr. Trump could be voted out of office if voters believed he had abused his power.

Mr. Trump’s frustrations about Mr. Comey and Mrs. Clinton were a recurring refrain, a former White House official said. “Why aren’t they going after” them?, the president would ask of Justice Department officials.

Much more at the link.

We are off the looking glass and through the map!

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

87Comments

  2. 2.

    Ken

    Time to post that meme of Mueller frowning with text “Can’t he stop committing crimes for five minutes so I can wrap this thing up?”

  3. 3.

    Corner Stone

    We are off the looking glass and through the map!

    I am getting Thai food and there’s nothing Trump can do to stop me.

  5. 5.

    Corner Stone

    Mueller is way too late to this dance party. He’s like a late career Ray Lewis that piled on every tackle after the whistle blew.

  8. 8.

    Mary G

    Is Maggie one of the rats who’s decided to skip the sinking ship? It would be irresponsible not to speculate.

  10. 10.

    PsiFighter37

    Elijah Cummings and Adam Schiff are going to have their hands full come January. Those hearings should be fun to watch.

  12. 12.

    Schlemazel

    @Corner Stone:
    Patience, clodhopper, the master moves in tune with his inner rhythm, he will strike at the correct moment and will not be rushed by the incompetence of his opponent.

    We all just need to chill out. It is going to happen and it will happen at the time Mueller, who is the expert at these things, believes it will have the greatest chance of success, Might be this friday, might be January 4th, 2019

  13. 13.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    And, fuck, if the Democrats try any of this “We have to look forward, not backward,” shit when this is over, I’m going to personally set every elected Democrat on fire or something. We cannot walk away from this shit this time. We can’t “move on for the sake of the country” or anything like that. We have to bring these people to account, and then radically overhaul our laws to see that nothing like this can ever happen again. We just never foresaw anything like this creature oozing his way into office. Now we know, and if we don’t do whatever we have to to ward off this kind of thing from here on out, then we deserve to wither away as a country.

  16. 16.

    randy khan

    I said much the same thing at LGM, but I find myself wondering if these stories aren’t signals to other Republicans that the adults are keeping Trump from doing anything too dangerous.

  17. 17.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Corner Stone: You ever been involved in a counterintelligence investigation? Ever done any network based targeted? A FINCEN investigation? An organized crime investigation?

  19. 19.

    A Ghost To Most

    Fuck McGahn. His work on the Kavanaugh travesty alone makes atonement impossible. May people spit on the street at his feet as he passes.

  22. 22.

    Steve in the ATL

    Jesus fucking Christ. No one who voted for this corrupt moron should ever be allowed to vote again.

  23. 23.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Corner Stone: Just that these things take time. That’s it.

    I also get your frustration, I really do. And I’m equally concerned that all the effort may still come to naught.

  26. 26.

    A Ghost To Most

    @Schlemazel:
    Bobby Three Sticks is moving as we speak. He filed a motion today, apparently with regard to a recalcitrant cooperating witness. He also has up to18 sealed indictments ready to roll.

    Shit Hitler and his SS (Sycophantic Seditionists) are about to get an Acme Safe dropped on them.

    It is to laugh.

  28. 28.

    Schlemazel

    @Corner Stone:
    sorry, I had no idea you were an expert an organized crime investigations and successful prosecutions. I sort of thought Mueller had that on his resume.

  30. 30.

    waratah

    @randy khan: i am not sure who is actually trying to prevent ultimate disasters. They all seem to be busy trying to do as much damage as they can. What are those other Republicans doing? I did not think I would be grateful to our retired military commanders who are the only ones speaking out publicly.

  31. 31.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Schlemazel: He’s got some experience, but what is going on is overwhelming and it is understandable when people respond negatively to what is going on.

  34. 34.

    stinger

    They wrote a “several page document” for Trump to read? hahahahaha

    Only if it was 36-pt doubled spaced with 2-inch margins and they inserted his name on every page and illustrated the thing with photos of golf courses and maga hat-wearing crowds.

  35. 35.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Platonailedit: McGahn, like McConnell, like Pence, like Leonard Leo, like Stephen Miller, etc, etc, etc are all using the President for their own purposes. McGahn enabled him to the point that it allowed McGahn and Leo working with McConnell to fill a lot of Federal court vacancies with young Federalist Society members. McGahn, however, will not put his own neck on the line for the President. Hence his cooperation with the Special Counsel’s investigation and his careful use of the press to protect his own reputation.

  36. 36.

    A Ghost To Most

    @Adam L Silverman: No principles leads to bad career moves. Thanks, I hadn’t heard who the filing was about.

    I am reminded of Augustus Gloop, caught in the chocolate pipe. Wonka says “The suspense is killing me!”

    Eta I suppose the more fitting analogy is wondering if the load in the toilet will go down, or overflow.

  37. 37.

    SFAW

    @A Ghost To Most:

    Shit Hitler and his SS (Sycophantic Seditionists) are about to get an Acme Safe dropped on them.

    Yeah, keep telling yourself that.

    In the meantime, corrupt-as-fuck AAG Whitaker is still there, deciding whether protecting his “client” is more important that “faithfully executing” his current job description. I, for one, believe he will take the latter path. Of course, I also believe Lucy will not pull the football away.

  38. 38.

    Schlemazel

    @Adam L Silverman:
    I am tired of people whining that he is not operating at a speed they like. The guy is a pro with a history of success the investigation is not easy. For weeks people have been hopping up and down on one foot like a 6 year old waiting for Christmas. It will happen when it does and it will still take Congress to impeach and the Senate to convict and the MAGAts will still be with us and probably more toxic then they currently are. Calm down & let it play out until there is something you can do

  39. 39.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Schlemazel: I don’t disagree. But I’ve got both enough experience working with some of the Army CI guys (I’ve both done and taught network based analysis and targeting for the Army) and a very good ability to compartmentalize, so I don’t get too freaked out. But most people have neither of those things. So while we wish for and encourage them to have patience, we need to have patience for them as well.

  40. 40.

    A Ghost To Most

    @SFAW: Do you believe the Supremes will let it stand? Roberts thinks mainly of his legacy. I doubt he will choose this hill to die on. It only takes one.

    I feel optimistic for the first time in two years. Still preparing for the alternatives, though.

  42. 42.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Schlemazel:

    Calm down & let it play out until there is something you can do

    To your point: We’re the ones who believe in expertise. In experience. That skill isn’t something you just conjure up. That those without these things, shouldn’t deign to put themselves in the place of those who possess them. We believe the Dunning-Kruger effect is real.

    I think we -must- assume that Mueller&team is doing as good a job as is possible. And, y’know, when there’s something for us to do, we need to do it — all in, all in. But meanwhile, we can’t really go second-guessing him and his team — b/c we lack both data & expertise to be able to judge.

    Someone said: “nothing’ll be worse, than waking up the Wednesday morning after the 2018 general election, wishing you’d done more; do it now”. If there’s something for us to do, we should do it: all-in. But really, how many of us are -ready- to go learn to shoot, to stock up on ammo? To start ratlines into the Red States and the Red areas, to get them weapons? I think we’re kidding ourselves, if we think there’s anything else we can be doing Right Now.

  43. 43.

    trnc

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):

    We cannot walk away from this shit this time. We can’t “move on for the sake of the country” or anything like that. We have to bring these people to account, and then radically overhaul our laws to see that nothing like this can ever happen again.

    I think they get that. Although they downplayed impeachment (and I understand why they did, given that the republican senate will not convict), they stated clearly before the election that they are ready to use their subpoena power.

  44. 44.

    Dan B

    @Schlemazel: Not much point until we can pull some GOP Senators towards examining their legacies. We’d also need several who’d say no to their corporate masters. I heard from friends that David Koch at tended an anarchist camp(?). So they may be Mercer level crazy.

  45. 45.

    hilts

    More evidence (as if any sentient being needed it) that Trump is a malevolent savage beast.

    Of course Fox News douchebag Chris Wallace thinks Trump is a swell guy:

    He is thoughtful, asks questions about you, and is very pleasant to be around. On a personal level, I kind of like him. While there are things that are going on now that disturb me, I do think there is some anti-Trump hysteria that exaggerates what’s going on as well

    h/t https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/money-and-power/a25022055/chris-wallace-interview-fox-news-donald-trump

  46. 46.

    Bill Arnold

    @Adam L Silverman:

    McGahn, like McConnell, like Pence, like Leonard Leo, like Stephen Miller, etc, etc, etc are all using the President for their own purposes.

    Does DJ Trump fully realize this?
    I’m also reminded of this piece yesterday by Heather Digby Parton on John Bolton:
    John Bolton takes command: Is he now the power behind the Trump throne? (Salon, November 19, 2018 2:05pm (UTC))
    She quotes the WSJ then adds:

    “If John ever behaved in a way that led people in the administration to refer to him as ‘President Bolton,’ his effectiveness would be destroyed,” said Elliott Abrams, a longtime Bolton friend and one-time member of President George W. Bush’s National Security Council. “It’s critical that the president never think that, and no one understands that better than John.”

    That’s something he really can’t control. Trump will hear about it eventually. He’s got a lot of “executive time” to fill.

    (bold mine)

  47. 47.

    A Ghost To Most

    @Dan B: Legacy might be an angle that could put to good use. Of course, that presumes that they could be shamed. Nevermind.

  48. 48.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Coroner Stoned: Fuck you for your arrogance, fuck you twice for your infantile impatience, and fuck you once more sideways with a rusty chainsaw dripping with Clostridium perfringens for the gratuitous Ray Lewis slur.** I’d pay to see the interior of the Ravens’ DL play Thanksgiving make-a-wish with your lower extremities, turkey.

    **I am well aware that this is a minority opinion on this blog. Tough shit. Stealer & Cheatriot fans are also cordially invited to fuck the hell off.

  51. 51.

    Jackie

    The Espy vs Hyde-Smith debate is on C-SPAN right now 10:15 EST
    I can’t get over her ultra nasally voice.

  52. 52.

    Corner Stone

    @Uncle Cosmo: You’re slowing down there, champ. Much like Ray Lewis the last 3 years or so of his career. Can’t even manage to work in a slur against Italian Americans (which you think is justified because somehow you are one) ? Be Best.

  55. 55.

    Jeffro

    @Adam L Silverman: (I know – was being semi-sarcastic)

    So that meme of Mueller wishing Trumpov would quit committing crimes for just 5 minutes so he could wrap things up…that’s probably pretty close to the truth, actually!

    Just get that Dem Congress seated and then here come the charges. Can’t wait much longer than that, and can’t go any sooner either (or the GOP would just bury it all)

  56. 56.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Bill Arnold: To answer your first question: I don’t think so. Or if he does, he’s willing to tolerate as long as they’re useful to him.

    To answer your second question, within Digby’s framing: The answer is that Bolton has a very short leash and very limited power. He may be, within his lane/lanes, a very effective bureaucratic knife fighter, but his most senior deputy was just fired publicly while he was out of the country. And he couldn’t do anything to stop it and he can’t do anything to reverse it. This was done to send a very public message. Specifically, that he is not really in charge of anything and has very little authority and power over anything.

  58. 58.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Uncle Cosmo: No need to pile on Corner Stone. I made the point that needed making. He got the point. We can all do with having a little more patience for each other right now.

  59. 59.

    Barbara

    @Corner Stone: I don’t expect Mueller to bring down Trump via indictments, not because he won’t find lots of bad stuff but because ultimately this is a political fight. Round One was the midterms. Whatever utility Mueller serves will be through heightened, hopefully unbearable, political pressure.

  60. 60.

    Corner Stone

    @Schlemazel:

    For weeks people have been hopping up and down on one foot like a 6 year old waiting for Christmas.

    Bullshit. They are owning the battlespace. Every week that goes by without a “Trump” getting indicted is another win for the opposition. Manafort this, Papadox this, 28 Russians that. Nobody gives a fuck. A majority of the dumbass Americans polled say that Mueller has found nothing. Nothing. But, yeah. Let’s wait til 2020.

  62. 62.

    jonas

    @Adam L Silverman: This was done to send a very public message. Specifically, that he is not really in charge of anything and has very little authority and power over anything.

    So another Trump Dignity Wraith, just with worse hair and a mustache. Which Trump supposedly never liked.

  65. 65.

    oldgold

    Since Memorial Day I have argued Mueller has not paid enough attention to time and timing in conducting this investigation.

    I understand that this investigation, at least the collusion/ conspiracy aspect is complex, but sometimes the matter being addressed is so aggressively malignant that certain protocols have to be truncated.
    This is such matter.

  66. 66.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Gin & Tonic: Then Congress holds then in contempt. But it’s up to the DoJ to prosecute. Have they ever nullified a Congressional contempt holding by refusing to prosecute? Yes, the Reagan administration did it for Neil Gorsuch’s mom.

    So they could just ignore any subpoena for themselves as long as they’re willing to stonewall consistently. However, the most important thing I could see the House doing with the subpoena power would be to bring in Mueller if he gets fired, and he wouldn’t be a hostile witness.

    I basically see all of this as keeping a spotlight on Trump’s scandals to jack up base turnout and disarm any centrists inclined to give Trump a chance in 2020.

  67. 67.

    Gravenstone

    @hilts:

    asks questions about you

    “How are you? How’s the wife and kids? Nice day, isn’t it?” is not exactly asking questions about you. Fuck Wallace and his enabling bullshit.

  69. 69.

    burnspbesq

    @smintheus:

    In a sane political world, Trump would already have been impeached, tried, convicted, and jailed.

    In a sane political world, Trump would have gotten less than one percent of the votes in the Iowa caucuses.

  70. 70.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Gravenstone: Idunno. I’ve read elsewhere, that many people (even people who hate the fucker) attest that he can be charming one-on-one. I note that that’s a valuable skill for a salesman&grifter. Also, that people say the same thing about Hillary — that sure, she may not be the greatest public speaker, but when you meet her, she is -magnetic- in her ability to really get you to like her.

  71. 71.

    burnspbesq

    @oldgold:

    Since Memorial Day I have argued

    … foolishly and at excruciating length.

    I’m sure you mean well, but you couldn’t be more wrong if your name was Corner Stone.

  73. 73.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Gravenstone: People like being engaged. You’d be amazed what I could get Iraqi sheikhs, imams, elected officials, business leaders, local elites and/or notables, even internally displaced Iraqis by engaging with them as subjects. By asking them how they were to tell me about their families. Things like that. And things that the intel bubbas didn’t normally think about.

  75. 75.

    Dan B

    @A Ghost To Most: Legacy could be their dream utopian government free USA. Or it could be a country run by the country club class.

    I hope Nancy and Chuck know where enough skeletons are buried to be able to frighten them worse than the Koch Mercer Adelson dragon.

    I’m forgetting a few monster names partly because I could not read more than the first chapter of Jane Mayer’s ‘Dark Money’

  76. 76.

    Barbara

    @Corner Stone: I’m not waiting for anything. I have no idea what you’re talking about, although you are the one who seems to be waiting, evidently for Armageddon.

  77. 77.

    Corner Stone

    @Barbara:

    Whatever utility Mueller serves will be through heightened, hopefully unbearable, political pressure.

    Sorry, thought you were waiting for something that wasn’t coming.

  78. 78.

    oldgold

    @Mike J:

    True to a point, but when the malignancy is metastasizing aggressively and poses an existential threat to the Republic, you best not wait too long.

  80. 80.

    Mandalay

    @hilts:

    He is thoughtful, asks questions about you, and is very pleasant to be around. On a personal level, I kind of like him.

    Imagine that: a con artist being interested in you. This is more of the same hey-let’s-make-this-about-me-as-well drivel reporters have been spewing about Trump any time he talks to them for 20 seconds:

    “Well one the one hand he’s lazy, incompetent, stupid, vindictive, nasty, dishonest and corrupt. But on the other hand he was really nice to me, and asked me how my daughter was doing in school, and he really seemed interested. Didn’t grope me, not even once. So on balance I think he’s not so bad….”.

    It’s the tire swing all over again, but a thousand times worse.

  81. 81.

    Millard Filmore

    @Schlemazel:

    it will happen at the time Mueller, who is the expert at these things, believes it will have the greatest chance of success

    I do not expect any high level indictments until after the Democrats take over the house. If there is anything that approaches the Treason line, it will not happen until Trump is out of office.

  83. 83.

    Mandalay

    @Adam L Silverman:

    This was done to send a very public message. Specifically, that he is not really in charge of anything…

    Or maybe Trump had absolutely no choice but to accede to Melania’s very public demand that Ricardel be fired?

    Put more starkly, Trump is only in charge as long as Melania permits it. She could easily bring down his presidency if she chose to.

  84. 84.

    Barbara

    @Corner Stone: I can’t say whether or to what degree it will arrive, my point being that I highly doubt criminal indictments will be Trump’s downfall and that Mueller’s greatest potential impact is political. The people who are most relying on Mueller to bring indictments are those like Rick Wilson, who are seeking to purge Trump from the GOP so they can go back to the way things were.

    Silvio Berlusconi is the best analogy here to understand what might weaken Trump. I could be pleasantly surprised but I don’t think we should be counting on redemption by Mueller.

  85. 85.

    Ella in New Mexico

    @Adam L Silverman: Don’t tell John, but it’s these kinds of bar fights going down in the alley that “nested comments” are made for…they can bash away at each other into eternity, and the rest of us can just step over their mess and focus on constructive commentary. ;-)

  87. 87.

    hilts

    @Gravenstone: @Mandalay:

    I was a great fan of Mike Wallace, so I’m beyond disgusted to see what a clueless, useless prick his son turned out to be. I think Mike is spinning in his grave right about now.

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