Tweeting scared this morning

He still hasn't learned how to spell counsel.





Then why can't you shut the fuck up and let the investigation do its job?

Pretty sure Crooked Hillary and the Democrats were already investigated, which is the basis of the excuse you gave for firing James Comey.  "Crooked's emails" were gone over twice.  Strzok and McCabe got fired.  And we don't know what other investigations might be going on, but publicly, we're down to you and your criminal cabal, asshat.

Which "members of the media" called to apologize?  None, I'm guessing, but if any did call, it would have likely been Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity - Fox "journalists".

So...let's have a look at that Times article that has him so exercised this morning.

The White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, has cooperated extensively in the special counsel investigation, sharing detailed accounts about the episodes at the heart of the inquiry into whether President Trump obstructed justice, including some that investigators would not have learned of otherwise.

[...]

In at least three voluntary interviews with investigators that totaled 30 hours over the past nine months, Mr. McGahn described the president’s fury toward the Russia investigation and the ways in which he urged Mr. McGahn to respond to it. He provided the investigators examining whether Mr. Trump obstructed justice a clear view of the president’s most intimate moments with his lawyer.

  NYT

So, how long do you think before Trump gives McGahn a nasty nickname and starts blasting tweets at him?

Mr. McGahn was also centrally involved in Mr. Trump’s attempts to fire the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, which investigators might not have discovered without him.

[...]

Lawyers are rarely so open with investigators, not only because they are advocating on behalf of their clients but also because their conversations with clients are potentially shielded by attorney-client privilege, and in the case of presidents, executive privilege.

[...]

Mr. McGahn’s cooperation began in part as a result of a decision by Mr. Trump’s first team of criminal lawyers to collaborate fully with Mr. Mueller. The president’s lawyers have explained that they believed their client had nothing to hide and that they could bring the investigation to an end quickly.

Apparently, these lawyers did not know their client.

Mr. McGahn and his lawyer, William A. Burck, could not understand why Mr. Trump was so willing to allow Mr. McGahn to speak freely to the special counsel and feared Mr. Trump was setting up Mr. McGahn to take the blame for any possible illegal acts of obstruction, according to people close to him. So he and Mr. Burck devised their own strategy to do as much as possible to cooperate with Mr. Mueller to demonstrate that Mr. McGahn did nothing wrong.

[...]

Trump was blaming Mr. McGahn for his legal woes, yet encouraging him to speak to investigators. Mr. McGahn and his lawyer grew suspicious. They began telling associates that they had concluded that the president had decided to let Mr. McGahn take the fall for decisions that could be construed as obstruction of justice, like the Comey firing, by telling the special counsel that he was only following shoddy legal advice from Mr. McGahn.

Worried that Mr. Trump would ultimately blame him in the inquiry, Mr. McGahn told people he was determined to avoid the fate of the White House counsel for President Richard M. Nixon, John W. Dean, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice in the Watergate scandal.

“This sure has echoes of Richard Nixon’s White House counsel, John Dean, who in 1973 feared that Nixon was setting him up as a fall guy for Watergate and secretly gave investigators crucial help while still in his job,” said the historian Michael Beschloss.

Obviously, Mr. McGahn and Mr. Burck knew exactly who they were dealing with.

The president wrongly believed that Mr. McGahn would act as a personal lawyer would for clients and solely defend his interests to investigators, according to a person with knowledge of his thinking.

McGahn, as you will recall, is White House counsel, not Trump's personal lawyer.

When Mr. Mueller was appointed in May 2017, the lawyers surrounding the president realigned themselves. Mr. McGahn and other White House lawyers stopped dealing on a day-to-day basis with the investigation, as they realized they were potential witnesses in an obstruction case.

[...]

As White House counsel, not a personal lawyer, he viewed his role as protector of the presidency, not of Mr. Trump. Allowing a special counsel to root around the West Wing could set a precedent harmful to future administrations.

But he had little ability to intervene.

[...]

[Trump and McGahn] rarely speak one on one — the White House chief of staff, John F. Kelly, and other advisers are usually present for their meetings — and Mr. Trump has questioned Mr. McGahn’s loyalty. In turn, Mr. Trump’s behavior has so exasperated Mr. McGahn that he has called the president “King Kong” behind his back, to connote his volcanic anger, people close to Mr. McGahn said.

[...]

Mr. Burck said that Mr. McGahn had been obliged to cooperate with the special counsel. “President Trump, through counsel, declined to assert any privilege over Mr. McGahn’s testimony, so Mr. McGahn answered the special counsel team’s questions fulsomely and honestly, as any person interviewed by federal investigators must,” he said.

[...]

“The president and Don have a great relationship,” the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said in a statement. “He appreciates all the hard work he’s done, particularly his help and expertise with the judges, and the Supreme Court” nominees.

We'll see.

Last fall, Mr. Mueller’s office asked to interview Mr. McGahn. To the surprise of the White House Counsel’s Office, Mr. Trump and his lawyers signaled that they had no objection, without knowing the extent of what Mr. McGahn was going to tell investigators.

[...]

Mr. Burck has explained to others that he told White House advisers that they did not appreciate the president’s legal exposure and that it was “insane” that Mr. Trump did not fight a McGahn interview in court.

[...]

Mr. Mueller has told the president’s lawyers that he will follow Justice Department guidance that sitting presidents cannot be indicted.

At least, that's what the president's lawyers say he told them. It may be true. And it may not.

The White House has handed over more than one million documents and allowed more than two dozen administration officials to meet with Mr. Mueller in the belief that he would be forced to conclude there was no obstruction case.

Under the false assumption that Trump was not lying to them.

As the months passed on, it became apparent that Mr. McGahn and Mr. Burck had overestimated the amount of thought that they believed the president put into his legal strategy.

[...]

[Since the termination of Trump's personal attorneys John Dowd and Ty Cobb,] the White House has a new lawyer for the investigation, Emmet T. Flood, who has strong views on privilege issues. When the special counsel asked to interview Mr. Kelly, Mr. Flood contested the request, rather than fully cooperate.

Flood, it seems, knows his client better than Dowd and Cobb did.

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

Ty Cobb

High altitude obstruction of justice

Not the only signals they're sending:



Back to the obstructing business...


The tale is that Flood and Kelly only went to the meeting to make some comments and then left.  I need to know what they said.  I figured they went in order to find out what the informant knows.  On rethinking that, in light of the claim that they didn't stick around, not to mention that Devin Nunes is going to tell Trump whatever he learns, I'm a bit puzzled.  It could be a simply message:  we can do whatever we want.







If it's up to the media, we're well and truly fucked.  Mainstream reporters are  not the enemy, but they gave up their adversarial role decades ago.

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

Very wrong

How is this allowed?  Oh, never mind.

Still wrong

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

UPUPDATE:

Very wrong.

Autocracy in action

Like so many other things in the Trump era of governance, this is outrageous.



This was never for the benefit of a Congressional ethics review.  It was always about Trump finding out what the FBI informant knows.

Flood was there for one reason, and one reason only. To look at, and evaluate for himself any evidence that was presented as a part of the briefing. From day one this was about nothing but getting a dry run as to how close the FBI was able to tie Russian agents to active members of the Trump campaign, and they weren’t taking chances today on anything getting lost or wrong in the translation. And Mr “the DOJ won’t be extorted” Rosenstein let them right on in. SAD!

  Daily Kos

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly also reportedly attended at least part of the briefing.

FBI Director Christopher Wray and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats also joined Rosenstein at the briefings. After the noon meeting, they headed to the Capitol to brief the so-called “Gang of 8”: The House and Senate Intel Committees’ chairs and vice chairs, the House Speaker and Minority Leader, and the Senate Majority and Minority Leaders. (Ryan attended the noon briefing due to a prior commitment.) Gowdy was also slated to attend that meeting.

Flood, too, was spotted heading into the briefing, being held in the basement of the Capitol, as was Kelly.

Kelly did not explain Flood’s presence at the briefings when asked by CNN reporters at the Capitol.

  TPM

Unfuckingbelievable.

And how does it affect the investigation that Trump's lawyer got this briefing?

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

UPDATE:



Still wrong.

How long do you think Emmett Flood will last?

Pressed about the possibility [of being interviewed by Mueller's team] while addressing reporters outside the White House, Trump said, “I would love to speak. I would love to. Nobody wants to speak more than me. In fact, against my lawyers, because most lawyers they never speak on anything. I would love to speak.”

But the president cautioned that he would not opt to sit down with Mueller’s team of federal prosecutors if he felt he would[not] be treated fairly.

"If I thought it was fair, I would override my lawyers,” the president said.

  Politico

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

There goes Cobb

President Trump has hired Emmet T. Flood, the veteran Washington lawyer who represented Bill Clinton during his impeachment, to replace Ty Cobb, the White House lawyer who has taken the lead in dealing with the special counsel investigation and has decided to retire, according to two people briefed on the matter.

  NYT

So beaten down, he's not just being replaced, he's retiring altogether.

In a phone interview, Mr. Cobb, who is 67, said he informed the president weeks ago that he wanted to retire.

Who can blame the poor man? This has been hard on him, and when it's over, it will have tarnished the reputation of every attorney connected with Trump.

[Cobb] said publicly that the White House had no interest in firing Mr. Mueller, and told friends privately that he would not remain in the administration if Mr. Trump moved to fire the special counsel.

Can we interpret that as a hint that Cobb thinks that's likely?

Mr. Flood is expected to take a more adversarial approach to the investigation than Mr. Cobb, who had pushed Mr. Trump to strike a cooperative tone.

I'm sure that will work wonders.

Mr. Flood’s hiring has not been made final, the people cautioned, noting Mr. Trump’s practice of reneging on personnel decisions after they are reported in the press.

Ha ha. Oh, yeah. We can't get too far ahead of ourselves.  He really doesn't like it if we already know something.  He wants to create surprises.

Mr. Flood was part of a team of lawyers who represented Mr. Clinton during his impeachment proceedings. Though he did not have a high-profile role, Mr. Flood did attend the Senate’s deposition of Mr. Clinton’s lawyer and confidant, Vernon E. Jordan Jr.

Hmmmmm. I wonder if that impeachment experience is what attracted Trump.  (Earlier reports said that representation of Clinton was actually off-putting for Trump, but I bet that was just smoke.)

Mr. Flood was also the lead lawyer in the White House Counsel’s Office during George W. Bush’s second term in dealing with congressional investigations, including the examination of the Bush administration’s decision to dismiss seven United States attorneys.

Oh, that's definitely a factor.

In private practice, Mr. Flood represented former Vice President Dick Cheney.

So, at least we know he has no morals.

Mr. Flood is himself seen as a prospective replacement for [White House counsel], potentially providing a smooth exit ramp for [Don] McGahn, who has clashed privately with Mr. Trump and whose departure has long been rumored.

Mr. McGahn spearheaded the effort to bring in Mr. Flood. Mr. McGahn and his personal lawyer, Bill Burck, who is close with Mr. Flood, convinced him over the past several weeks to join the administration.

McGahn trying to get out, too. So you can't say Mr. Flood doesn't have hints at what he'll be facing.

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

UPDATE:

No problems at all with his legal team, with whom he is "very happy"

As President Trump heads into one of the most critical phases of the special counsel’s investigation, his personal legal team has shrunk to essentially just one member [Jay Sekulow, a conservative commentator who made his name on religious freedom cases], and he is struggling to find any top lawyers willing to represent him.

[...]

In some cases, lawyers’ firms have blocked any talks, fearing a backlash that would hurt business.

The president lost two lawyers in just the past four days, including one who had been on board for less than a week.

Joseph diGenova, a longtime Washington lawyer who has pushed theories on Fox News that the F.B.I. made up evidence against Mr. Trump, left the team on Sunday. He had been hired last Monday, three days before the head of the president’s personal legal team, John Dowd, quit after determining that the president was not listening to his advice.

[...]

Roger Cossack, a seasoned legal analyst, said the key to successfully defending a high-profile client under immense scrutiny was to have a cohesive legal team with a consistent strategy.

“In these types of cases, you need highly competent lawyers and a client who will listen and follow their advice,” Mr. Cossack said. “If you don’t have both, you have what we’re seeing here: chaos and disaster.”

[...]

“He is looking for the guy who can say, ‘I know how to handle Mueller, I know you think he is bad, and we’ll take care of it.’ Problem is you can’t find that lawyer because no one will be able to do that.”

[...]

[Trump attorney Marc] Kasowitz pushed for an adversarial approach to the special counsel, which the president was poised to follow. But Mr. Kasowitz clashed with Mr. Kushner, and he was soon pushed aside after a series of missteps and embarrassing incidents.

[...]

When Mr. Kasowitz took the lead after Mr. Mueller was appointed in May, he wanted to follow a model used by Mr. Clinton, with a separate team of lawyers and communications professionals handling issues related to the inquiry, so that the White House staff could keep its distance.

But Mr. Trump, who trusts few people and considers himself his best lawyer, spokesman and strategist, never wanted that type of system. As a result, his legal and public relations strategies have been out of sync, with the president at times publicly contradicting his lawyers, and the White House often finding itself flat-footed in the face of new disclosures about the Russia investigation.

[...]

This month, the president met with the veteran lawyer Emmet Flood about the possibility of joining the legal team. But Mr. Trump was put off by the fact that Mr. Flood, a Republican, had represented Bill Clinton during his impeachment process, and Mr. Flood has made clear that he will not represent the president if Marc E. Kasowitz, his brash longtime personal lawyer, has any role in the effort.

Mr. Trump also tried to recruit Theodore B. Olson, a well-known Republican lawyer, but Mr. Olson has said he would not be representing the president.

[...]

One reason Mr. Dowd quit was that, against his advice, Mr. Trump was insistent that he wanted to answer questions under oath from Mr. Mueller, believing that it would help clear him.

Mr. Dowd had concluded that there was no upside and that the president, who often does not tell the truth, could increase his legal exposure if his answers were not accurate.

  NYT

"If".

Mr. Trump, hoping to bolster his team, met with Mr. diGenova and Ms. Toensing in recent days but, according to two people told of details about the meeting, did not believe he had personal chemistry with them.

There were also significant conflict-of-interest issues, but Mr. Trump could have waived them if he wanted. Ms. Toensing is representing Mark Corallo, who was the spokesman for Mr. Trump’s legal team in 2017 before they parted ways. Mr. Corallo has told investigators that he was concerned that a close aide to Mr. Trump, Hope Hicks, may have been planning to obstruct justice during the drafting of a statement about a meeting between a Russian lawyer and Donald Trump Jr. during the campaign.

How could he have waived that conflict? That's a big conflict. To argue on behalf of Corallo - against Hope Hicks, the lawyers would have to implicate Trump in Hicks' actions.

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