Trump says Mueller should report all of his own conflicts of interest - Polidicks

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-offers-advice-mueller-what-he-should-include-final-report-n940046?cid=sm_npd_nn_fb_np President Donald Trump had some suggestions on Monday for what special counsel Robert Mueller should include in his final report. After submitting written answers last week to Mueller's questions centered on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion between Russian officials and the Trump campaign — which Mueller is tasked with investigating — Trump wondered if the special counsel would write a "preamble" detailing supposed conflicts of interest, something the president has tweeted about repeatedly in the past. The president also wondered if Mueller would recommend actions against "those 'on the other side.'" Trump on Monday didn't explain what conflicts of interest he believes Mueller has. But the president tweeted earlier this year claiming that the pair had a "very nasty and contentious business relationship" and that Trump had "turned him down" to replace former FBI Director James Comey, who Trump fired. Plus, Trump said, Comey and Mueller are friends. According reports in The Washington Post and The New York Times, Trump and allies have alleged that there was a dispute between Mueller and Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, over membership fees, which prompted Mueller, the FBI director at the time, to leave the club in 2011. However, a spokesman for Muller told the Post last year that there was no dispute. Shortly after his appointment in 2017, Department of Justice ethics officials concluded that Mueller was free of any conflicts that would interfere with him overseeing the government's investigation. Earlier this year, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said he "not aware of any disqualifying conflict of interest" involving Mueller. Trump's Monday tweet also asks, "Whatever happened to Podesta?" — an apparent reference to Tony Podesta, the former lobbyist under investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, as NBC News reported earlier this year. That investigation was prompted by a referral from Mueller's office. Tony Podesta is the brother of John Podesta, the White House chief of staff under former President Bill Clinton who served as campaign chairman for 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1067063727994884096 https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1067066584882126848

He's nervous as fuck.

From what I gather, Coffee boy wasn't involved with Russia, no collusion?

Right, all his conflicts of interest such as um... Uh... Criticizing and opposing the president?

Mueller hasn't even done that, he's literally only publicly spoken once after being made Special Counsel.

These are the actions of a totally innocent man, mmmhmmm.

you first, don

Breaking News: Mueller quits after Trump says "nuh-uh you lost" and deploys "everything proof shield", tells Mueller "If you hurt me I'll call Mom"

Good point, lol. I was grasping for anything that could remotely be taken as an actualy conflict of interest, even if it's a total bullshit one. The fact that even that one came out as totally invalid says a lot about just how many conflicts of interest Mueller has.

He's free to launch an investigation if he wants to, but slandering tweets are more useful to Trump. Who needs truth to rile up his base?

They really ought to write up some legislation that prevent presidents from shitposting this loudly.

"This Will Be The End Of Mueller's Investigation," Says Increasingly Nervous Man For Seventh Time This Week.

I like how he just automatically assumes that everyone is as compromised as he is.

Peole like Trump (and much of the GOP from what I've seen) are physically incapable of considering that other people aren't actually as awful as they are. So they operate on the assumption that everyone is just as shitty and they're just hiding it better.

Mueller quit his position at WilmerHale (and liquidated all shares thereof) upon accepting the Special Counsel position, specifically to prevent conflicts of interest. And he was specifically cleared by the DOJ as ethically cleared. There was some Fox News manufactured controversy last year, saying he had a conflict of interest because firing Comey was probably obstruction*, and Comey was Mueller's successor as Director of the FBI, and before that was his Deputy Director so they worked together quite often. Which TBH I don't know if it counts, without researching the law I don't have a good guess either way, but if the DOJ ethics board looked into it and says that doesn't qualify as a conflict of interest, I'm going to trust them to know the rules unless someone can point to a specific law or precedent otherwise. * Fox, obviously, didn't say that part with actual words. But the argument falls apart completely if firing Comey was an entirely ordinary event, and not obstruction of justice, which is probably why they stopped running with it.

no, collusion isn't a crime, which is true, but the act of colluding breaks quite a few laws.

Mueller is one of the few people you just can't get any dirt on. The dude's had a long ass clean career as far as I know. Trump is just using the same tactic he's used probably 50 times since taking office. Making shit up to run a little personal smear campaign, and of course the brown nosing FOX takes off and runs with it so it gets exposure

"No you do it first"

Some contend that he has a conflict of interest with James Comey, who worked for the FBI while he was it's Director.

I beg to differ. That Trump often places Russian interests above American interests, whether as payment for their assistance in getting him elected or as part of blackmail, is the most concerning part of his regime, and the #1 reason why he needs to be removed from office.

God I'm tired of this shitty talking point. Yes, it is.

"no u" - The President of The United States

This is such an absurd normalizing statement, and even if it was true it doesn't make it ok. The entire reason we have this shit is because people just say "Yeah but the other side does it worse" "Yeah but everyone does it" "Yeah but we do it to other countries" "Yeah but that's the only way to win" As if that magically makes being an amoral twat that cheats the system suddenly acceptable to do. It doesn't and never will. it's like murdering your wife and then sprinkling a bunch of glitter on the corpse, and saying a bunch of magic words that'll make it morally sound to have done. That isn't how that works.

I believe a Trump appointed judge did rule that collusion was a crime, iirc.

He's always trying to shift the narrative and make his opponents claims look illegitimate, but he needs reactions to do that effectively. Eg. after the midterms he shifted focus away from his awful press conference by making his opponents defend Jim Acosta instead; Acosta was the headline, not just Trump's failure. However, Bob Mueller is smart and won't engage Trump to blow up any discussions about himself. If anything, he'll just investigate the tweets for obstruction.

Perpetual reminder that "collusion" is not legally defined, but "criminal conspiracy" is, and it pretty much describes what Trump is talking about when he says the word "collusion". Let's also remember that impeachment is not a criminal process but a political one, and impeachment may be invoked for any abuse of the Presidential office, criminal activity or otherwise.

Read "The Road to Unfreedom" by Timothy Snyder and "Proof of Collusion" by Seth Abramson and then tell me whether you think collusion is something to be concerned about.

So much this. I've seen this behaviour with GOP politicians repeatedly over my whole politically aware life. It's also an attribute I've noted dishonest people have that I've encountered in my personal life. They compulsively assume other people are at least as dishonest as them. I believe it's a big reason why such politicians oppose genuinely good changes like green energy, healthcare, education, whatnot. For them the other side is just that, the other side, and like themselves the others are simply driving the policies for their own selfish gains. Opponent opposing coal? Paid for by renewable energy companies. Climate report on earth going to shit? Just another forged report. Truth isn't a part of the equation.