The lawyer, Donald F. McGahn II, rebuffed the president, saying that he had no authority to order a prosecution. Mr. McGahn said that while he could request an investigation, that too could prompt accusations of abuse of power. To underscore his point, Mr. McGahn had White House lawyers write a memo for Mr. Trump warning that if he asked law enforcement to investigate his rivals, he could face a range of consequences, including possible impeachment.
The encounter was one of the most blatant examples yet of how Mr. Trump views the typically independent Justice Department as a tool to be wielded against his political enemies. It took on additional significance in recent weeks when Mr. McGahn left the White House and Mr. Trump appointed a relatively inexperienced political loyalist, Matthew G. Whitaker, as the acting attorney general.
So Trump tried to use his position to go after who he viewed were his political enemies. Which is standard operating procedure for any good authoritarian who dreams of living the dictator lifestyle, like his good buddies Putin and Kim Jong Un.
But it seems his White House Counsel told him in no uncertain terms that the consequences for him would be dire. Additionally, it would seem to me that the person who makes the most sense in leaking this information is the recently departed White House Counsel, Mr. McGahn. Trying to take the image rehabilitation route that so many others have felt the need to take, after showering off the filth of working in this White House.
Anywho, what say you here? Big deal? No big deal? Will you care if a Democrat is in office and tries to pursue this same thing against their Republican rivals?
For months liberals have been posting on the board that if he thought clinton was a criminal he could order the justice department to file charges. Does this mean all the liberals who have said that over the last year and a half are wrong?
I don’t know if that’s what the “liberals” have been saying.
I think that we’ve been saying that Trump promised during the campaign that he would prosecute Clinton - and his true believers actually thought he would follow through.
The reason why he hasn’t followed through - because it would clearly be a banana-republic dictator move, would be tossed out by the courts and could possibly result in his impeachment - is well known to us.
It’s interesting to see that he actually tried, though.
I don’t think anyone disagrees with that. In light of no crimes, do you think it’s acceptable for the president to investigatee his political opponents or people he decides are his political enemies?
I’m not liberal, so I’m not going to answer for those who are - but, speaking for myself, I’ll say that there is a big difference between what he CAN do and what he SHOULD do. Sure, I’d venture to say he has the authority to order the investigation. The question is - how will the optics of that look? He could have saved himself a lot of trouble if he’d asked himself that before handling the Comey situation the way he did.
Talking about good faith in this era of alternative facts. When we have a president who disparages military heros. A president who this weekend alone called a congressman a word that gets filtered here. An administration that lies so often. A currupt cabinet that would make the Grant cabinet look like saints. But please do go on about good faith. Lol.
Let’s all keep in mind that republicans will be OK with Dems pulling all this type crap when they get back in power.
Trump has rewritten the rules over the past 2 years and it’s going to be awesome to watch the right whine about Dems doing what THEY want once they’re back!
For starters, cannot wait to see all the rightwing media’s credential YANKED. The next Dem President will have a field day monetizing the Presidency the way Trump has. Of course Dems will have to dramatically increase entitlements to blow up the deficit like Trump has, especially since they’ll be dramatically reducing military spending.
Funny part is this is mainly due to Trump’s stupidity; less to do with being a Machiavellian dictator. He’s too much of a wuss to be the latter. He’s so afraid of conflict that he can’t even fire someone unless he does it from the safety of his twitter.
