Fudging the official record

Yesterday's Twitter:

Please note the date of the memorandum (Nov. 8) vs. the date stamp showing when it was received at the DoJ (Nov. 13, 11:59 pm).  Five days to get to the DoJ from the White House?  Surely it didn't go by post.  Surely it was hand delivered or went through intra-departmental mail.

Unless that is a hell of a coincidence, now we know it takes 4 minutes to get something from Trump's desk to someone from DoJ with an official date stamp, even when it's nearly midnight.

And why then did they date the memo November 8?  Because Jeff Sessions was booted on November 7.

White House spokesperson Raj Shah used similar language, telling BuzzFeed News, “After accepting the resignation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the President signed a memorandum addressed to Matthew Whitaker, directing him to perform the functions and duties of the office of Attorney General, until the position is filled by appointment or subsequent designation.”

The next week, Shah declined to provide a copy of the memorandum or any additional information, writing that it was “relevant to ongoing litigation.” BuzzFeed News subsequently filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain the memorandum.

[...]

White House and Justice Department officials previously had repeatedly declined to make public a copy of Trump’s memorandum designating Whitaker the acting attorney general this past November. A copy of the document, obtained by BuzzFeed News in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, suggests why that was the case: The document raises several questions about the timing of and process involved in Whitaker’s appointment.

Then-attorney general Jeff Sessions, whose departure as the head of DOJ was forced by Trump, resigned by way of an undated letter made public Nov. 7, 2018. Trump tweeted that afternoon that Matthew Whitaker, Sessions’ chief of staff, would be taking over as the acting attorney general until a replacement was confirmed.

The obtained presidential memorandum, dated Nov. 8, does not make clear when Sessions’ resignation took effect or when Whitaker actually began serving as acting attorney general.

  Buzzfeed

Just sloppy because no one in this administration knows what they're doing? It could matter on legal decisions. Or maybe it's not simply incompetence?

Whitaker’s appointment was not automatic: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein would have become the acting attorney general under law by default if Sessions left, but Trump took advantage of another law that allows the president to name certain people as acting officers for a period of time.

[...]

Notably, on Nov. 8, Whitaker, along with Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, issued the asylum rule that preceded Trump’s Nov. 9 move seeking to limit asylum applications from along the southern border.

[...]

In addition to the big questions of when Sessions’ tenure formally ended and when Whitaker’s formally began, the obtained memorandum also leaves unclear when DOJ was formally notified of Whitaker’s appointment and why the Executive Secretariat’s notation signifies that DOJ did not receive the appointment memorandum until late at night Nov. 13.

Neither a DOJ spokesperson nor White House spokespeople responded to questions about the memorandum and the timing of Sessions’ resignation and Whitaker’s ascension to acting attorney general.

We've come way too far on the road of making excuses and allowances for the Trump administration. The laxer the rules become, the freer they are to bend and break them. How do you hold anyone coming after to norms and rules? The legality of things done is in question. The authority of things done is in question. Is it intentional? In the alternative, will it become intentional if there are no consequences?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.