Trump ousts Jeff Sessions from AG position, Mueller investigation endangered

[Xzi]

So of course we couldn't be allowed to unwind and stop paying attention to politics for a while after the midterm. Sessions has been replaced by Matthew Whitaker, who hasn't been shy about announcing his desire to end the Mueller probe.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...b7a214-e144-11e8-ab2c-b31dcd53ca6b_story.html

Rod Rosenstein no longer has any authority over the investigation, which means nationwide protests have been triggered for tomorrow at 5 PM local time.

https://act.moveon.org/event/mueller-firing-rapid-response-events/search/

Watching Trump walk the tightrope here will be interesting, because Mueller no doubt has some sort of "dead man's switch" set up should he be removed, and House Democrats can call on him to testify about everything he knows.

 

[Clydefrosch]

Because that's certainly the move someone innocent would take at this point in history...

 

[WD_GASTER2]

I honestly would just like a non-troll explanation from a pundit on the right as to why they think this is a great idea.
it has not even been five minutes since the midterms and he wants to start controversy

 

[Taleweaver]

Is it possible that 2nd link confused Rosenstein's name with Session?

From what I thought, the chain of command went Trump -> Session -> Rosenstein -> Mueller. As such, it seems like that link wants to gather a riot for...well, not for the wrong reasons, but based on incorrect information.

 

[Xzi]

Is it possible that 2nd link confused Rosenstein's name with Session?

From what I thought, the chain of command went Trump -> Session -> Rosenstein -> Mueller. As such, it seems like that link wants to gather a riot for...well, not for the wrong reasons, but based on incorrect information.

The information is correct. Sessions had recused himself in the Mueller investigation, Mueller was reporting to deputy AG Rod Rosenstein. Since the new AG Matthew Whitaker is not recused, Mueller has to report to him instead unless he recuses and gives authority back to Rosenstein. By all accounts, Whitaker is a Trump lackey who wants to starve the Mueller investigation financially, so he seems unlikely to recuse even with mass protests.

 

[Taleweaver]

The information is correct. Sessions had recused himself in the Mueller investigation, Mueller was reporting to deputy AG Rod Rosenstein. Since the new AG Matthew Whitaker is not recused, Mueller has to report to him instead unless he recuses and gives authority back to Rosenstein. By all accounts, Whitaker is a Trump lackey who wants to starve the Mueller investigation financially, so he seems unlikely to recuse even with mass protests.

I see. Thanks for clarification.

 

[SG854]

I honestly would just like a non-troll explanation from a pundit on the right as to why they think this is a great idea.
it has not even been five minutes since the midterms and he wants to start controversy

The Russia collusion is completely fabricated. If they did interfere it still wouldn’t have impacted the election and Trump would have still won. Muller himself has investment in Russia and should himself be investigated. It’s only fair if they want to investigate Trump and doing illegal things to do it.

 

[The Catboy]

"I'm innocent and to prove it I will remove everyone investigating me to make sure I can't be proven guilty." - Trump logic

 

[Hanafuda]

Sessions has been piss-poor as an AG from day 1, irrespective of the Mueller sideshow. The President has every right to remove ineffective employees.

 

[Xzi]

Sessions has been piss-poor as an AG from day 1, irrespective of the Mueller sideshow. The President has every right to remove ineffective employees.

Any AG Trump appoints is going to be a shitshow, but that's not the reason Sessions was removed. It was specifically to gain control over the investigation into himself. Nixon 2.0 essentially.

 

[Hanafuda]

Any AG Trump appoints is going to be a shitshow, but that's not the reason Sessions was removed. It was specifically to gain control over the investigation into himself. Nixon 2.0 essentially.

That's your assumption. It's not an unreasonable one, but its a biased one. There are other reasonable explanations. Trump has been expressing his dissatisfaction with Sessions for well over a year or myriad other instances of not doing his job, and Sessions HAS been a piss-poor excuse for AG. Also, we were recently told by the media, via Mueller's people, that his report on the investigation would be dropping after the midterms and they were just waiting so as to ensure no effect on the election. It's done. So what's being hampered here?

 

[Xzi]

That's your assumption. It's not an unreasonable one, but its a biased one. Sessions HAS been a piss-poor excuse for AG. We were told by the media, via Mueller's people, that his report on the investigation would be dropping after the midterms and they were just waiting so as to ensure no effect on the election. It's done. So what's being hampered here?

If it was only about Sessions, Whitaker would have immediately recused and handed authority on the Mueller investigation back to Rod Rosenstein, who initiated the investigation to begin with. Barring that, it's blatantly obvious what Trump's motivations were here.

 

[Hanafuda]

If it was only about Sessions, Whitaker would have immediately recused and handed authority on the Mueller investigation back to Rod Rosenstein, who initiated the investigation to begin with. Barring that, it's blatantly obvious what Trump's motivations were here.

There are already stories running today of Pam Bondi being considered as the appointed replacement. Whitaker's just keeping the seat warm as "acting" AG - there's no way a hi-value political appointment like that goes to a nobody.

 

[Xzi]

There are already stories running today of Pam Bondi being considered as the appointed replacement. Whitaker's just keeping the seat warm as "acting" AG - there's no way a hi-value political appointment like that goes to a nobody.

I'm sure Trump considers one stooge as good as another. He's made it clear that "loyalty" is all that matters to him, not competence or experience. Whitaker hasn't been shy about giving Trump verbal handjobs, and he's also been clear about wanting the Mueller investigation ended.

 

[chrisrlink]

if only the republican senate had the damn morals needed they'd impeach their own but they shit on morals if in power typical politics

 

[Attacker3]

Before Trump fired sessions, people on the left were freaking out about him wanting him fired as he was a Grand Dragon of the KKK or something, and then when he is fired, they freak out again. Make up your mind, guys.

Also, don't you find it interesting that this news just broke, and yet 900 or so protests are already ready to go? Perhaps it is because billionaires like Dustin Moskovitz, the co-founder of Facebook, donated 2.5 million dollars to MoveOn, the PAC that is organizing this? A guy named Daniel Tierney gave $666,666 to MoveOn as well. SMP, a huge SuperPAC worth over 150 million gave MoveOn a nice 1.5 million dollars to work with. These are all just from 2017 to today. If we actually look at stuff before, we start seeing people like Dustin's total contribution starts jumping to 2.5 million, and we see Dustin's wife giving Move On 1.25 million, making their total contributions up to 3.75 million dollars. And you nee to remember that SMP is also funded by these billionaires. Hell, Michael Bloomberg himself gave SMP 20 million dollars this October.

And you guessed it, back in 2004, our friend George Soros gave MoveOn.org 1.46 million himself.

These protests are funded and directed by billionaires, bankers, and dishonest folk. Just a little digging and I find millions and millions of dollars being poured into these PACs from people who are worth literal billions. And you gotta remember, MoveOn is a small PAC comparably, and they're able to organize and direct these protests themselves? Imagine the pull SMP has like 8 times more money than Move On. But even SMP is fucking tiny. The idea that the whole backlash against Trump is grassroots is the dumbest and easily disprovable thing ever. You're being manipulated by billionaires and the media. You might say "But Trump is a billionaire too!" which is right, but at least he's not fucking sneaking around being subversive and keeping his actions in the shadows. Democratic Party is the party of bankers and billionaires, and I hope you realize that. The idea that they're for the people is retarded.

And before you go asking for proof, the information is publicly available. https://www.fec.gov/data/
Except for all the charity arms of these organizations, we are able to see all the donations to them. Yeah, MoveOn has a charity branch that they're tax exempt from. And these protests are both funded by MoveOn Political Action, the PAC branch, and MoveOn Civic Action, the charity branch. Good shit >:c

 

[Hanafuda]

if only the republican senate had the damn morals needed they'd impeach their own but they shit on morals if in power typical politics

Only the House of Reps can initiate impeachment. The articles of impeachment are procedurally comparable to an indictment. If the articles of impeachment pass in the House, they get passed to the Senate for the trial.

When Clinton was impeached, he squeaked through because exactly zero Democrats voted to convict*. If only they had the damn morals ...

Impeachment is predominantly a political process for removal from office. When the stars align (both houses of Congress aligned against the impeached officer), it can get accomplished. Otherwise, it is pretty much baked-in that the Senate will vote on party lines unless the conduct is egregiously and undeniably criminal. I still have yet to hear someone set forth actual, specific grounds for impeachment of President Trump. I've heard a lot of vague "he's literally Hitler" type stuff - but nothing that qualifies as "high crimes and misdemeanors" while in office.


Edit: * a little more about the Clinton impeachment. He was impeached for perjury (testified falsely under oath before a federal grand jury about his involvement with Lewinsky) and obstruction of justice. The obstruction charge was weaker, less specific. The perjury charge was pretty obvious - it was established by then that Clinton did have sexual relations with Lewinsky in the Oval Office, despite his earlier multiple denials. The Republicans had 55 seats in the Senate and so only needed 5 Democrats to agree with the obvious, proven truth that Clinton committed perjury. Zero Democrats voted to convict. Clinton did surrender his law license (to avoid being disbarred) and paid a $25,000 fine to the Arkansas state bar for committing perjury -- i.e. in a real-world test of whether he 'did it,' he didn't even contest it.

So anyway, point is whether you think Clinton should or shouldn't have been impeached, the political environment at that time was realistic for it. It reasonably could have succeeded. The Republicans had 55 members in the Senate, and needed 60 votes for conviction. And at least one of the charges sent by the House was solid. Today though, the Republicans hold a solid majority in the Senate, so there's basically NO WAY an impeachment sent over from the House would/could succeed, unless the 'bad behavior' is absolutely, unambiguously 1) criminal, 2) universally outrageous, and 3) undeniable. So the new Democrat majority in the House can waste a bunch of time and taxpayers' dollars on trying to impeach President Trump, but that's all they'll accomplish.

 

[chrisrlink]

so say if the sealed tax documents contain missing papers (IE tax evasion which is a federal crime and can result in jail time,even though trump cant be criminally charged, as you said if it was a serious crime they could bypass the senate?) (then again politicians are crooks anyway given power ppl become corrupt)

 

[the_randomizer]

if only the republican senate had the damn morals needed they'd impeach their own but they shit on morals if in power typical politics

Neither party has any morals.

 

[chrisrlink]

no duh