WTF Community

Day 833

General Discussion
#1

Updated 5/2/2019 2:27 PM PDT

1/ Nancy Pelosi accused Attorney General William Barr of "not telling the truth to the Congress of the United States — that's a crime." At a House Appropriations Committee hearing on April 9th, Charlie Crist asked Barr if Robert Mueller's team believed he had failed to adequately represented their findings in his four-page memo. Barr responded that he was not aware of any concerns from Mueller's team. Mueller, however, had written Barr two weeks earlier, on March 27th, complaining that the attorney general's memo "did not fully capture the context, nature and substance" of his work. "He lied to Congress," Pelosi said. "Nobody is above the law. Not the president of the United States, and not the attorney general." The Justice Department called Pelosi's words "reckless, irresponsible and false." (Associated Press / Politico / CNBC / Washington Post)

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2019/05/02/day-833/
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#2

Here’s a running list of stories I’m keeping an eye on today. What’d I miss? Contribute any links, write short blurbs, or send me copyedits below and become the media.

The White House has accused special counsel Robert Mueller’s team of playing politics with the investigation and wildly straying from their mission in a letter sent to Attorney General William Barr last month and released Thursday afternoon.

In the five-page letter, a top White House lawyer, Emmet Flood, raised several concerns with the substance and format of Mueller’s report, which did not establish a criminal conspiracy between Trump’s campaign and the Russians but did unearth substantial evidence of obstruction by Trump, but without saying if the President should be prosecuted.

Nancy Pelosi on Thursday accused Attorney General William Barr of committing a crime by lying to Congress

“He lied to Congress. He lied to Congress,” Pelosi said soon after at a news conference. “And if anybody else did that, it would be considered a crime. Nobody is above the law. Not the president of the United States, and not the attorney general.“

Attorney General William Barr would not show up for his scheduled testimony before the panel and that the department would not comply with a subpoena for special counsel Robert Mueller’s full report.

The U.S. State Department allowed at least seven foreign governments to rent luxury condominiums in New York’s Trump World Tower in 2017 without approval from Congress

From earlier

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#3

Today’s Title?

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#4

Wait, wut? Is the White House arguing that the President should have been charge with a crime and that Mueller created a “road map” for congress and that’s not fair? I’m so confused. :woman_shrugging:t2:

https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/05/02/politics/white-house-barr-mueller-obstruction/index.html?r=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

In the five-page letter, a top White House lawyer, Emmet Flood, raised several concerns with the substance and format of Mueller’s report, which did not establish a criminal conspiracy between Trump’s campaign and the Russians but did unearth substantial evidence of obstruction by Trump, but without saying if the President should be prosecuted.

Flood slammed Mueller’s approach to the obstruction investigation. Even though current Justice Department guidelines say a sitting president cannot be charged, Flood wrote that Mueller needed to "either ask the grand jury to return an indictment or decline to charge the case."

"The (special counsel) instead produced a prosecutorial curiosity – part ‘truth commission’ report and part law school exam paper," Flood wrote.

[…]

Another part of the letter explains the White House argument that Mueller overstepped his role by providing a “road map” that Congress could use to initiate impeachment proceedings. Mueller never said this directly in his report, but some Democrats and commentators have said that the report could give Congress what it needs to take the next steps against Trump.

"Under a constitution of separated powers, (Justice Department officials) should not be in the business of creating ‘road maps’ for the purpose of transmitting them to (Congressional) committees," Flood wrote.

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#7

Good one.

All the Presidents Lawyers we should create a new book title.

There was mention of one of the WH lawyers who is going against the grain. I am trying to track that down.

Not Emmett Flood…

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#8

I haven’t had a chance to read and digest this, yet…

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#9

Well, the event happened in September of 2016, according to the article. This is well after Papadopolous spilled the beans to the Aussie diplomat, in the Spring of 2016, and well after the Australian government reported the fact to US intelligence, in the summer of 2016. By September, the investigation was under way and we should not be surprised to find out that some investigating went on… .

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#10

Ok! Nadler in direct talks with Mueller. Go right ahead and schedule that House Judicial Committee hearing then. May 15th looks good. :boom:

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#11

This topic was automatically closed 15 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.

#5

lol amazing

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#6

The only thing I gleaned from that article is that even the WH thinks the report reads like a roadmap for congress. At least we all agree? :woman_shrugging:t2:

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