Red Mosquito

surfndestroy wrote:

doug rr wrote:I've stayed away from the news today..do i drink or not?

Bathe in it today.

Bi_3 wrote:Also, I’m waiting at least until Monday to try and understand the release. Far too much hysteria right now

bada wrote:If I understand everything....they couldn't prove collusion....the president tried like hell to obstruct but no one listened to him so there was no crime....you probably can't successfully impeach someone for being an asshole. That about right?

Mueller confirmed the accounts that former FBI director James B. Comey supplied: Trump demanded his loyalty and pressed Comey to lay off national security adviser Michael Flynn. Trump falsely claimed that neither of these things happened, but the report sides with Comey’s versions of events.

Mueller details that after Trump fired Comey, the White House flatly lied to cover up the fact it was Trump’s decision. Trump called Rosenstein — who had written that memo providing the pretext that the firing was about the FBI’s unfair treatment of Hillary Clinton — and asked him to do a news conference explaining the firing. But Rosenstein refused, saying that if he did that, he’d have to tell the media the truth, which was that it was Trump’s decision, and not his. A White House spokesman subsequently told the falsehood to the media.

The report notes that when Trump became aware he was being investigated for obstruction of justice, Trump’s misconduct grew substantially more serious: "At that point, the President engaged in a second phase of conduct, involving public attacks on the investigation, non-public efforts to control it, and efforts in both public and private to encourage witnesses not to cooperate with the investigation.”

The report details that Trump repeatedly ordered White House counsel Donald McGahn to instruct Rosenstein to fire Mueller. The report says McGahn “decided to quit because he did not want to participate in events that he described as akin to a Saturday Night Massacre,” but ultimately stayed and deflected the requests.

When media reports emerged about Trump telling McGahn to have Mueller fired, Trump instructed McGahn to lie to the public and claim that the president had never ordered him to remove the special counsel. McGahn refused.

The report has new details on how Trump misled the country about the infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting. It recounts that top Trump adviser Hope Hicks wanted to disclose that Russians had offered Donald Trump Jr. information helpful to the campaign. But the president nixed that, explicitly ordering Hicks to issue a statement that falsified the true purpose of the meeting.

The report confirms new details about Trump’s pressure on top intelligence officials to impede the investigation. It details that Trump may have pressed Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats to subvert the investigation, with one aide to Coats suggesting (in the report’s words) that Trump wanted him to “get it over with" or “end it."

Trump also called a second top official and asked him to publicly refute news stories linking him to Russia. A third official called it (in the report’s words) the "most unusual thing he had experienced in 40 years of government service.”

Trump directed his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to tell then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to give a speech announcing he was directing Mueller to focus his investigation only on “election meddling for future elections." Lewandowski was unable to arrange a meeting with Sessions.

, but the report also makes it clear that they felt his actions “materially hindered the investigation,” and likely rose to the level of impeachabilty.

McParadigm wrote:Taken together, it’s beyond any historical presidential obstruction efforts. But no, impeachment won’t happen, because Democrats fear the impact it could have on the election, and their leadership is grade A chickenshit.

durdencommatyler wrote:

McParadigm wrote:Taken together, it’s beyond any historical presidential obstruction efforts. But no, impeachment won’t happen, because Democrats fear the impact it could have on the election, and their leadership is grade A chickenshit.

Also, impeachment is meaningless given that the Senate will never remove him anyway.

bune wrote:

Chris_H_2 wrote:

durdencommatyler wrote:

McParadigm wrote:Taken together, it’s beyond any historical presidential obstruction efforts. But no, impeachment won’t happen, because Democrats fear the impact it could have on the election, and their leadership is grade A chickenshit.

Also, impeachment is meaningless given that the Senate will never remove him anyway.

agreed, if you're looking for a conviction. but if you want this president to carry the infamous distinction of being only the 3rd president to be impeached, they would be successful.

Bi_3 wrote:

bune wrote:

What is this referencing, like what is the context of this statement?

bune wrote:

Bi_3 wrote:

bune wrote:

What is this referencing, like what is the context of this statement?

I don't understand the question. Do you mean what is the footnote linked to? I'm going to assume page 390 of the Mueller Report.

Trump has gone full "Thanks Obama" today. Nice.

meatwad wrote:Pro Tip: life is far more enjoyable if you tune out Donald Trump.