WTF Community

Day 837

General Discussion
#1

1/ More than 370 former federal prosecutors asserted that Trump would have been charged with obstruction of justice if he wasn't president. Robert Mueller declined to exonerate Trump in his report, citing a Justice Department legal opinion that a sitting president cannot be indicted. The former career government employees who worked in Republican and Democratic administrations signed on to a statement saying "Each of us believes that the conduct of President Trump described in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report would, in the case of any other person not covered by the Office of Legal Counsel policy against indicting a sitting President, result in multiple felony charges for obstruction of justice." (Washington Post)

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2019/05/06/day-837/
4 Likes
The Impeachment of President Donald J. Trump
Day 838
#2

Happy Monday everyone.

More than 370 former federal prosecutors who worked in Republican and Democratic administrations have signed on to a statement asserting Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s findings would have produced obstruction charges against President Trump — if not for the office he held.

The statement — which is signed by a myriad of former career government employees, as well as high-profile political appointees — offers a rebuttal to Attorney General William P. Barr’s determination that the evidence Mueller uncovered was “not sufficient” to establish Trump committed a crime.

Mueller himself had declined to say one way or the other whether Trump should have been charged, citing a Justice Department legal opinion that sitting presidents cannot be indicted, as well as concerns about the fairness of accusing someone for whom there can be no court proceeding.

4 Likes
🔍 All things Mueller - What we know he has on Trump 'n Co
Day 834
#3

New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) on Monday filed a lawsuit against the Treasury Department and IRS, arguing that the agencies have failed to respond to information requests about its guidance reducing donor disclosure requirements for certain tax-exempt groups.

“My office depends on these critical donor disclosure forms to be able to adequately oversee non-profit organizations in New York,” said James, who filed the suit alongside New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal (D).

“Not only was this policy change made without notice, the Treasury and the IRS are now refusing to comply with the law to release information about the rationale for these changes. No one is above the law — not even the federal government — and we will use every tool to ensure they comply with these regulations to provide transparency and accountability."

It’s time for a full-court press.

3 Likes
#4

And it gets worse.

The latest update reveals that North Korea isn’t even trying to keep this secret. Instead they are bragging about the achievement on state-run TV with images of Kim overseeing the launch. They are also saying the missiles are long-range (as opposed to South Korea’s description of them as short range) – whether that claim is true or not is not as important as the fact they have made the claim. Analysts are also saying that one of the launches appears to be a ballistic missile.

This clearly demonstrates that Trump’s belief he had an arms agreement with Kim was nothing more than a delusion – or it was simply an outright lie designed to score some points in the polls.

North Korean state media on Sunday showed leader Kim Jong Un observing live-fire drills of long-range multiple rocket launchers and what appeared to be a new short-range ballistic missile, a day after South Korea expressed concern that the launches were a violation of an inter-Korean agreement to cease all hostile acts.

3 Likes
#5

Surprise, surprise! /snark

Next step: Contempt charges.

2 Likes
#6

Happy Tuesday. FBI Director contradicts the Attorney General’s statements about the FBI “spying” on the Trump Campaign during the 2016 election.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/fbi-director-tells-congress-he-has-no-evidence-of-spying-on-trump-campaign/2019/05/07/075e6f3a-70cc-11e9-9f06-5fc2ee80027a_story.html?utm_term=.d0f1a5a2875c#click=https://t.co/qRVortA435

FBI Director Christopher A. Wray said Tuesday he would not call the investigation of Trump campaign advisers in 2016 “spying’’ — distancing himself from language used by President Trump and Attorney General William P. Barr.

“That’s not the term I would use,” Wray said in response to a question from Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) during a congressional hearing about the FBI’s budget.

[…]

The FBI director’s comments are in contrast to those made by Barr at a Senate hearing April 10, when he said “spying did occur, yes,” calling it “a big deal.”

At that hearing, Barr said he wanted to explore whether any Justice Department rules were violated in the course of the investigation of people associated with the Trump campaign. “Frankly, to the extent that there were any issues at the FBI, I do not view it as a problem that’s endemic to the FBI. I think there was probably a failure among a group of leaders there in the upper echelon,” Barr said.

He later said he did not mean the term “spying” in a critical way, noting he had once worked as a lawyer at the CIA.

#8

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

#7

The number of former federal prosecutors signing on to the letter was over 800 as of Sunday.

3 Likes