Mueller Has Early Draft of Trump Letter Giving Reasons for Firing Comey - Polidicks

[media]https://twitter.com/benjaminwittes/status/903656149077123072[/media] [Img]https://cdn1.nyt.com/images/2017/09/02/us/00dc-comey1/00dc-comey1-articleLarge.jpg[/img] [quote] WASHINGTON — The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has obtained a letter that President Trump and a top political aide drafted in the days before Mr. Trump fired the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, which explains the president’s rationale for why he planned to dismiss the director. The May letter had been met with opposition from Donald F. McGahn II, the White House counsel, who believed that some of its contents were problematic, according to interviews with a dozen administration officials and others briefed on the matter. Mr. McGahn successfully blocked the president from sending Mr. Comey the letter, which Mr. Trump had composed with Stephen Miller, one of the president’s top political advisers. A different letter, written by the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, and focused on Mr. Comey’s handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server, was ultimately sent to the F.B.I. director on the day he was fired [/Quote] [URL="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/01/us/politics/trump-comey-firing-letter.html"]New York Times[/URL] Comey was fired on the 9th, the letter was drafted on a weekend in May, which leaves it to be may 7th or 8th.

Lordy, there were tapes. I just can't envision a future where Trump isn't being brought before congress or a court to answer for all this anymore. I just lack the imagination or, I suppose, the inability to see a world where there could be such lows to the dignity of the nation when this keeps getting spelled out in huge, brightly-colored, letters.

[QUOTE=Firgof Umbra;52637267]Lordy, there were tapes. I just can't envision a future where Trump isn't being brought before congress or a court to answer for all this anymore. I just lack the imagination or, I suppose, the inability to see a world where there could be such lows to the dignity of the nation when this keeps getting spelled out in huge, brightly-colored, letters.[/QUOTE] Well considering the GOP has been toeing this kind of line for decades I don't think a future where he isn't is too far fetched.

[quote]Well considering the GOP has been toeing this kind of line for decades I don't think a future where he isn't is too far fetched.[/quote] I mean, if they don't then... I just can't see a world in which the GOP isn't wholly and utterly destroyed by that. Our lot tends to be lazy about a lot of stuff - but anything we perceive as injustice we can get pretty rabid over and I can think of few greater injustices than the Legislative [I]refusing[/I] to check the Executive when it is plainly obvious that their mandate of office would otherwise command them to.

[QUOTE=Firgof Umbra;52637278]I mean, if they don't then... I just can't see a world in which the GOP isn't wholly and utterly destroyed by that. Our lot tends to be lazy about a lot of stuff - but anything we perceive as injustice we can get pretty rabid over and I can think of few greater injustices than the Legislative [I]refusing[/I] to check the Executive when it is plainly obvious that their mandate of office would otherwise command them to.[/QUOTE] The perception of justice is a two way street. A significant chunk of the country blindly believes that this is all just a Liberal Conspiracy Witch Hunt, reality be damned. They're [I]wrong,[/I] of course, but they view the real injustice here being that we're even allowing the investigation in the first place. [editline]1st September 2017[/editline] [QUOTE=Firgof Umbra;52637267]Lordy, there were tapes. I just can't envision a future where Trump isn't being brought before congress or a court to answer for all this anymore. I just lack the imagination or, I suppose, the inability to see a world where there could be such lows to the dignity of the nation when this keeps getting spelled out in huge, brightly-colored, letters.[/QUOTE] Where are you seeing the bit about the tapes? I read through the article, but can't find that section. If there [I]were[/I] tapes, and Trump does not turn them in (or worse, has had them destroyed), then that's one more charge of obstruction of justice for the pile.

[QUOTE=Firgof Umbra;52637267]Lordy, there were tapes. [/QUOTE] Trump- "there are no tapes" *tapes are discovered* "I was given that information, I don't know"

[quote]Where are you seeing the bit about the tapes?[/quote] Ah, sorry. Referring to Comey saying 'Lordy, I hope there are tapes' about their meetings, Trump's desire to fire him, and Trump threatening that 'Comey had better hope there were no tapes'. There's no actual tape here - just a letter Trump drafted. For intents and purposes though, it serves a similar role as 'tapes' would've. That said Trump's got so many charges of obstruction going for him right now that adding this one to the pile I'm not sure would make much difference for him; I'm betting things are looking a lot like a potential life sentence right now as-is if there are indeed financial crimes going on here as well. [quote]They're wrong, of course, but they view the real injustice here being that we're even allowing the investigation in the first place.[/quote] I agree - but I do think that a significant chunk of them at very least would accept a reasoned and data-backed argumentation from Mueller. He's got so much bipartisan support that it'd be tough for them to call his judgments a conspiracy set by Soros or whatever. No doubt there'll still be some who choose to believe that - but the less of a cohesive whole they become the easier it'll become for the actual facts to penetrate their spheres of denial.

[QUOTE=Firgof Umbra;52637267]Lordy, there were tapes. I just can't envision a future where Trump isn't being brought before congress or a court to answer for all this anymore. I just lack the imagination or, I suppose, the inability to see a world where there could be such lows to the dignity of the nation when this keeps getting spelled out in huge, brightly-colored, letters.[/QUOTE] wait, where does it say theres tapes? this is a draft letter not nixon-esque tapes

See my above reply. I meant it metaphorically; this is likely as close to tapes as we'll actually get because surely even Trump couldn't be so implausibly incompetent as to record his own criminal intents on audio/video. Or at least so my fragile but battered view of the world portends. As 'tapes' would have though, this nonetheless speaks to his exact intents well before this came into the public eye making his position even less tenable that he didn't fire Comey to obstruct the investigation - he had already made up his mind to fire him - it fairly lays bare that his firing of Comey wasn't "I just said to myself this is a made up story, this Trump/Russia thing, so I should fire him".

[QUOTE=milktree;52637545]Trump- "there are no tapes" *tapes are discovered* "I was given that information, I don't know"[/QUOTE] Trump's adventures in power and treason has partly taught me to have an audio recording device on my phone, as well as a call recorder like having recordings of people who legitimately screw people over is probably the greatest thing ever "you cant prove I said that" *plays audio*

[QUOTE=Firgof Umbra;52637579][B]I agree - but I do think that a significant chunk of them at very least would accept a reasoned and data-backed argumentation from Mueller.[/B] He's got so much bipartisan support that it'd be tough for them to call his judgments a conspiracy set by Soros or whatever. No doubt there'll still be some who choose to believe that - but the less of a cohesive whole they become the easier it'll become for the actual facts to penetrate their spheres of denial.[/QUOTE] You're kidding, right? We're talking about a group of people who legitimately believe that Hillary Clinton ran an international child sex slave operation with human sacrifices to Satan in the basement of a popular pizza parlor. A pizza parlor which, as if the theory itself weren't ludicrous enough, [I]doesn't even have a basement.[/I]

[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;52637643]You're kidding, right? We're talking about a group of people who legitimately believe that Hillary Clinton ran an international child sex slave operation with human sacrifices to Satan in the basement of a popular pizza parlor.[/QUOTE] Including Notch, weirdly enough.

[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;52637643]You're kidding, right? We're talking about a group of people who legitimately believe that Hillary Clinton ran an international child sex slave operation with human sacrifices to Satan in the basement of a popular pizza parlor. A pizza parlor which, as if the conspiracy itself weren't ludicrous enough, [I]doesn't even have a basement.[/I][/QUOTE] Not all of them believe that though, thankfully.

[QUOTE=Lambeth;52637647]Including Notch, weirdly enough.[/QUOTE] I followed through that one, apparently he actually believes Pizzagate is a Drug-ring, and he was just describing what other people think about.

[QUOTE=J!NX;52637599]Trump's adventures in power and treason has partly taught me to have an audio recording device on my phone, as well as a call recorder like having recordings of people who legitimately screw people over is probably the greatest thing ever "you cant prove I said that" *plays audio*[/QUOTE] r/prorevenge will be a mine gold for you

[QUOTE=J!NX;52637599]Trump's adventures in power and treason has partly taught me to have an audio recording device on my phone, as well as a call recorder like having recordings of people who legitimately screw people over is probably the greatest thing ever "you cant prove I said that" *plays audio*[/QUOTE] he'd just call the recording fake news and his followers will believe it

[QUOTE=milktree;52637742]he'd just call the recording fake news and his followers will believe it[/QUOTE] So does this mean Trump is fake news? and by extension... :thinking:

[QUOTE=Lambeth;52637647]Including Notch, weirdly enough.[/QUOTE] Wait, [I]Notch[/I] buys into Pizzagate? Oh, how the mighty have fallen... :surrender:

[QUOTE=BlindSniper17;52637766]Wait, [I]Notch[/I] buys into Pizzagate? Oh, how the mighty have fallen... :surrender:[/QUOTE] I'm honestly not surprised, much of his demeanor and attire seems to suggest he's one of the quiet alt-right or right-leaning types

[QUOTE=milktree;52637742]he'd just call the recording fake news and his followers will believe it[/QUOTE] Who cares about his followers, they're not the ones deciding his fate, the courts would be.

[QUOTE=BlindSniper17;52637766]Wait, [I]Notch[/I] buys into Pizzagate? Oh, how the mighty have fallen... :surrender:[/QUOTE] He doesn't necessarily believe the child-sex ring stuff but he [I]does [/I]believe it's a front for political collusion and drugs, which is only slightly less insane. Also believes the media is perpetuating a race war and that Clinton has had many people assassinated. [URL="https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/minecraft-creator-pizzagate/"]Compilation of tweets[/URL]. Every few days t_d will post one of his tweets, which really says a lot about how far off the deep end he is by now.

[QUOTE=Raidyr;52637854]He doesn't necessarily believe the child-sex ring stuff but he doesn't believe it's a front for political collusion and drugs, which is only slightly less insane. Also believes the media is perpetuating a race war and that Clinton has had many people assassinated. [URL="https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/minecraft-creator-pizzagate/"]Compilation of tweets[/URL]. Every few days t_d will post one of his tweets, which really says a lot about how far off the deep end he is by now.[/QUOTE] Notch is a bit of a racist. Good example of why you shouldnt idolize someone because they made something you like

[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;52637643]You're kidding, right? We're talking about a group of people who legitimately believe that Hillary Clinton ran an international child sex slave operation with human sacrifices to Satan in the basement of a popular pizza parlor. A pizza parlor which, as if the theory itself weren't ludicrous enough, [I]doesn't even have a basement.[/I][/QUOTE] we're talking about people who right now are saying "well where was Obama during katrina?!"

Also back to the topic at hand: Everyone recognizes the real reason why Trump fired Comey and he has confirmed as much himself but this bit is just further confirmation [QUOTE]Mr. McGahn successfully blocked the president from sending Mr. Comey the letter, which Mr. Trump had composed with Stephen Miller, one of the president’s top political advisers. A different letter, written by the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, and focused on Mr. Comey’s handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server, was ultimately sent to the F.B.I. director on the day he was fired [/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Raidyr;52637854]He doesn't necessarily believe the child-sex ring stuff but he [I]does [/I]believe it's a front for political collusion and drugs, which is only slightly less insane. Also believes the media is perpetuating a race war and that Clinton has had many people assassinated. [URL="https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/minecraft-creator-pizzagate/"]Compilation of tweets[/URL]. Every few days t_d will post one of his tweets, which really says a lot about how far off the deep end he is by now.[/QUOTE] I wonder where he would be now if he never made Minecraft. I remember way back when Minecraft was still pretty much a tech demo, there was some semi-hidden plaintext page on the website listing his previous projects and a little "I love my GF <3" message at the bottom. Flashforward to today, and he's filthy rich, but he's divorced, his father committed suicide, and he's been dragged into a world of right-wing lunacy. Might he'd still be some good-natured Swedish indie Dev doing projects in his spare time?

[QUOTE=proboardslol;52637903]Notch is a bit of a racist. Good example of why you shouldnt idolize someone because they made something you like[/QUOTE] Pretty much. "Separate the art from the artist." [QUOTE=Mingebox;52638081]I wonder where he would be now if he never made Minecraft. I remember way back when Minecraft was still pretty much a tech demo, there was some semi-hidden plaintext page on the website listing his previous projects and a little "I love my GF <3" message at the bottom. Flashforward to today, and he's filthy rich, but he's divorced, his father committed suicide, and he's been dragged into a world of right-wing lunacy. Might he still be some good-natured Swedish indie Dev doing projects in his spare time?[/QUOTE] He hasn't done shit in forever too, he stopped working on Minecraft years ago, wasn't even involved in the development of Scrolls and canned his "Minecraft in space" game, to still call him an indie dev is kind of a stretch.

I really really really want to read this letter. I imagine it's basically just one extra long barely coherent angry tweet. [QUOTE=Electrocuter;52638212] He hasn't done shit in forever too, he stopped working on Minecraft years ago, wasn't even involved in the development of Scrolls and canned his "Minecraft in space" game, to still call him an indie dev is kind of a stretch.[/QUOTE] He's asking if Notch would still be a good natured indie dev in this hypothetical scenario where Minecraft was never made.

[QUOTE=BelatedGamer;52638261]I really really really want to read this letter. I imagine it's basically just one extra long barely coherent angry tweet. [/QUOTE] [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wvuw_Zmubg[/media] probably goes something exactly like this.

[QUOTE=Sableye;52638930][media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wvuw_Zmubg[/media] probably goes something exactly like this.[/QUOTE] jesus christ Trump is so fucking difficult to follow, he just says words without any coherence

[QUOTE=Dr. Ethan Asia;52638999]jesus christ Trump is so fucking difficult to follow, he just says words without any coherence[/QUOTE] you know i think this is a fake thing so i fired the guy proving its a fake thing. [editline]2nd September 2017[/editline] his word salads make bush w's look like the Gettysburg address.