Team Trump: expect Trump to attack Mueller more directly
105 replies, posted
https://www.thedailybeast.com/team-trump-expect-trump-to-attack-mueller-more-directly
On Saturday, Donald Trump did something he’d never done before, something his closest advisers had warned him not to do: He tweeted Robert Mueller’s name. But what seemed like a frantic, even panicked, bit of late-night lashing-out is actually a sign of things to come. Multiple aides and Trump confidants tell The Daily Beast that they believe this will not be the last time the president goes after the Justice Department special counsel on his frenetic Twitter feed. And that’s making some of them nervous.
The president, those close to him say, is determined to more directly confront the federal probe into his campaign’s potential role in alleged Russian election interference, even if it means exacerbating his legal standing amid an investigation that has already ensnared some of his most senior campaign and White House aides. Two sources who speak regularly with Trump said they had noticed an uptick in recent months in the frequency of the annoyance the president would express regarding Mueller and his team, and the irritation at the deluge of negative news stories regarding the probe.
Last week, for instance, The New York Times reported that Mueller had subpoenaed the Trump Organization to turn over documents, some pertaining to Russia—a demand for personal financial details that the president famously said would be crossing a “red line” in an interview with the Times last year. Still, on Sunday, White House lawyer Ty Cobb blasted out a statement to reporters that simply assured, “in response to media speculation and related questions being posed to the Administration, the White House yet again confirms that the President is not considering or discussing the firing of the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller.”
The White House press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But some of the president’s more prominent allies—on Capitol Hill, in the administration, and in pro-Trump media circles—looked on with unease as Trump attempted to undermine the special counsel’s probe.
“I think it’s a very delicate balance,” former Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA), a top Trump media surrogate, told The Daily Beast on Sunday morning. “There’s nothing unusual about sending signals, but I think because of the highly charged nature of the situation… [He should] make sure his lawyers know what he’s up to.”“It’s an area full of landmines, so tread carefully,” Kingston added. This advice, of clearing tweets with lawyers and advisers, has been recommended by various people close to Trump before. And it has consistently been ignored by the president. That’s left aides searching for more creative ways to try to insulate the president from his own worst instincts.
On Sunday, that appeared to mean shepherding him to the golf course, where he wouldn’t be tempted to weigh in on cable news broadcasts about developments in the special counsel investigation.
Congressional Republicans have publicly warned Trump on multiple occasions that it would be politically toxic if he fires Mueller—but they haven’t thrown their weight behind bipartisan legislative pushes aimed at shielding Mueller from the president’s whims, arguing that Trump’s statements do not constitute a real threat to the special counsel.
Even Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who co-authored one of those legislative backstops, had begun backing away from his own proposal in recent months. On Sunday, however, the South
Carolina Republican appeared to harden his position and signal a potential revival of his legislative effort. “If he tried to [fire Mueller], that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency,” Graham said on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. “I think it’s very important [Mueller] be allowed to do his job without interference, and there are many Republicans who share my view.”
How woefully transparent.
Fuck me I can't wait for this piece of filth to be in chains.
He may shut down the investigation all together.
He may not end up in chains due to his power to shut it down, an impotent, limp dicked congress and senate, and a misinformed manipulated public all standing idly by.
It's becoming increasingly clear that Donald Trump sees no avenue of escape through the U.S. legal system, and instead must resort to extralegal tactics such as propaganda (by attacking Mueller's credibility) rather than plead his case in a court of law. He's guilty as hell, and it's getting harder and harder to find it.
If Trump finds himself in immediate danger of impeachment and prosecution, there's no telling what will happen. He may try to fire Mueller, or spontaneously declare war on North Korea. Perhaps he'll declare martial law and muster his own private army of brownshirts to form a human shield around the White House.
Right now the most important thing we can do is reiterate our support for the special counsel and demand that our legislators use any means necessary to protect the investigation from obstruction.
I hope Mueller finishes the investigation.
If he shuts down the investigation you can expect massive brain drain to begin from the US as young and educated people leave for better places. Not with this as the sole cause of course, but it's going to happen if that trend begins. As a Brit living in the US I can tell you for a fact that I'll be returning home, Brexit won't be nearly as bad as the circus that will be going on here.
I hope the increasingly apparent desperation sees a fracture in the already shaky congressional Republican base. We already see some Senators like Graham (I can't believe I am agreeing with anything that guy says, but that's where we are now) talking about how bad of an idea it would be to shoo Mueller away. Let's hope any remaining vertebrae in the R side form together and make themselves known.
I want to believe Mueller has contingencies in place, since i'm sure he's noticed people in his agency getting removed left and right, it'd be a bad move not to have a plan B for this situation. I know he's only human but still.
Mueller is one of the best prosecutors on the planet, but he's only human and he's up against unimaginable corruption. It's up to all of us to hold this administration accountable. If we trust everything to Mueller, we're being both naive and lazy. Rule #1 under Trump: Prepare for the worst.
Everyone better fucking riot if Mueller gets canned.
Obligatory rapid response organized protest link. Bring family and friends.
As it gets closer and closer to the midterms the worst the consequences of firing Mueller will be.
Trump: "It's time to end this MUELLER WITCH-HUNT-"
*door bursts open and Federal agents pour in*
Mueller: "I agree. Mr. President, you are under arrest."
Please? This is the best ending.
Only if the film can have Peter Dinklage as Mueller's wise cracking, tough on crime sidekick.
If they choose to fire him they’ll do it when there’s a diversion to protests. Why? Nobody will want to protest if there’s a foot of snow on the ground and the northeast US cities are shut down.
Sold!
Which will probably turn violent quickly and destabilize the US even further.
It may even play into the GOP's hands by allowing them to declare a large portion of the opposition as terrorists and traitors.
f they want to label me as a traitor for preserving the Constitution instead of the Monarch of Lord Cheeto. I'll gladly be a "Traitor" to whatever abomination of a government they want to exist.
We're prepared to shut down every city in the country if this investigation is prematurely ended.
https://act.moveon.org/event/mueller-firing-rapid-response-events/search/
I'm for getting loud to show we won't stand for this blatant disregard for justice, but shutting down cities? That seems a tad overdramatic to me.
There is no way he's that stupid
come on that has to be all talk and no bite
To me, it's not a question of if, but when.
What I really want to know is, what are they waiting for?
Then you are vastly underestimating the danger we're in.
Considering it's a blatant powergrab that runs counter to the entire core of democratic principles the US is founded on, I'd say shutting down cities is a measured, appropriate response.
Trump is preparing to cross the Rubicon. The "Senate" is doing nothing to stop him. If we allow Trump to take this action without immediately rising up as a country and demanding his deposement, without compromise, there will be no coming back. The Republic will fall, and our fuckwitted Caesar will install a throne on the Senate floor.
If the investigation is ended prematurely, we must bring the social, economic, and political wheels of our country to a grinding halt, and offer to respite from the protesting and disorder until such time as Trump is dragged out of office in handcuffs.
I feel like if this is how you feel, you might as well give up, roll over, and quit on everything.
Yes there are more important things in a day to day basis but really, this is how things GOT this bad. This mindset. This bullshit. This type of apathy. If people had always cared, and always stood up for the right thing, it would be much harder to have political bad actors take advantage of things.
It's like refusing to help yourself. Yeah, you're going to pay for it in the long run but it feels nice to be a lazy git while you can, right?
I'm most certainly not blowing this out of proportion. Either we react appropriately and depose Trump if he terminates the investigation, or America as we know it will cease to exist. With the checks and balances destroyed and the rule of constitutional law overturned, our government will undergo some horrendous transformations. As to whether or not enough people stand up to give them appropriate response? Well, it'll absolutely be the largest protest in US history. That will either be enough, or it won't. I hope we don't have to find out, because if peaceful protest isn't enough, then open revolt will soon follow.
Man, I think you're way too high on politics right now.
The democrats are obviously going to win big in the midterms, and Trump isn't going to be re-elected in 2020 either way, so I really don't get where this fear of a dictatorship is coming from.
And besides, it's not like the Republicans are going to do anything when Muller comes out with the evidence anyways. They'll just act shocked and concerned while the Democrats will call for impeachment as they have many times before. Mueller or no Mueller, it's not going to change the outcome.
All I can say is that I hope you're right and that I'm simply overreacting. However, I've followed every major story in this investigation, all the way back until the very first whispers of possibility were starting to coalesce during the campaign. In my opinion, anybody who isn't horrified at threat we're currently facing, and the consequences of not stopping it in its tracks, simply hasn't been paying attention.
Less and less people are able to do that.
By design.
This is how democracy dies. We let it. We let them design rules to create situations where less and less people are able to affect what should be a society wide decision.
Yes, we are up against huge odds and huge titans that will probably win.
But if we don't fight, why are you alive? To be ruled over by others who have no right to rule over you?
True, shit has been going downhill fast in the last year, but I just don't see how they can sustain it for much longer.
I mean, the NRA is losing funding, the GOP is losing their gerrymandered state maps, both occurences being pretty much unthinkable in the years past, and Trump's inner circle is crumbling.
The turd that stinks twice as bad stinks half as long. Or something.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.