abuse of power

Obstruction of Justice in Plain Sight: It’s Time For Congress to Intervene And Do Its Constitutional Duty

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On Wednesday, the New York Times published a massive compendium of all the known incidents — and new reporting adding context to earlier reporting — of Donald Trump’s attempts to interfere, to impede and to obstruct the investigations of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and the U.S. Attorneys in the Southern District of New York. Intimidation, … Read more

‘ I can’t tell where the lies end and the dementia begins’

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On Friday, President Trump held a press availability to make claims about his “big beautiful wall” on the Mexico border that was incoherent nonsense. Video Link.

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REPORTER: Mr. President, why not just go ahead and do the national emergency now? (talk over)

TRUMP: We’re building the wall now. We’re building the wall. People don’t understand that, they’re starting to learn. We’re spending a lot of money that we have on hand. It’s like in a business, but we have money on hand, and we’re building, I would say we will have 115 miles of wall, maybe a little more than that shortly. Uh, it’s being built. Some of it’s already completed. And in San Diego, if you look, it’s been completed. It’s really beautiful, brand new. Uh, we have other wall that’s under construction, and we’re giving out a lot of contracts. So we’re building the wall. It’s getting built one way or the other.

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Michael Cohen delays his testimony citing witness intimidation

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President Donald Trump’s former lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen announced he is postponing his public congressional testimony that was scheduled for February 7, citing “ongoing threats against his family” from the President and his attorney Rudy Giuliani.

Cohen is alleging witness tampering by Trump, a felony crime. If the Special Counsel agrees, charges should be filed.

CNN reports, Michael Cohen postpones House testimony, citing ‘threats against his family’:

“Due to ongoing threats against his family from President Trump and Mr. Giuliani, as recently as this weekend, as well as Mr. Cohen’s continued cooperation with ongoing investigations, by advice of counsel, Mr. Cohen’s appearance will be postponed to a later date,” Cohen’s attorney Lanny Davis said in a statement. “Mr. Cohen wishes to thank Chairman Cummings for allowing him to appear before the House Oversight Committee and looks forward to testifying at the appropriate time.”

Davis added, “This is a time where Mr. Cohen had to put his family and their safety first.”

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It’s Mueller Time!

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Investigative reporter Michael Isikoff reports that Mueller is preparing endgame for Russia investigation:

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s prosecutors have told defense lawyers in recent weeks that they are “tying up loose ends” in their investigation, providing the clearest clues yet that the long-running probe into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election may be coming to its climax, potentially in the next few weeks, according to multiple sources close to the matter.

The new information about the state of Mueller’s investigation comes during a pivotal week when the special counsel’s prosecutors are planning to file memos about three of their most high profile defendants — former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen.

A Flynn sentencing memo is due Tuesday, and memos about Manafort and Cohen are slated for Friday. All three documents are expected to yield significant new details on what cooperation the three of them provided to the Russia investigation.

There has been much speculation that Mueller might file his memo in Manafort’s case under seal in order to prevent public disclosure of the additional crimes his office believes Manafort committed when he allegedly lied to prosecutors and broke a plea deal after agreeing to cooperate.

But Peter Carr, spokesman for the special counsel, confirmed to Yahoo News on Monday that the Manafort memo “will be public,” although he added there could be some portions that are redacted or filed as a sealed addendum. The Manafort memo has been requested by the federal judge in his case so that prosecutors could, for the first time, spell out what matters they believe Manafort has lied to them about.

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The Department of Justice bows before the madness of King Donald

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It appears that Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel is willing to sacrifice his integrity and his career in service to King Donald and undermining the independence of the Department of Justice. His Justice Department memorandum, dated Wednesday, attempts to argue that Trump’s appointment of Matthew Whitaker (right) as acting Attorney General — who has never been confirmed as a principal officer by the U.S. Senate in his previous position as chief of staff to Jeff Sessions — does not violate the Constitution.

This runs counter to the overwhelming weight of expert legal opinion from lawyers on both the left and right, as I have previously posted. Obstruction of justice in plain sight: appointment of Whitaker is unconstitutional and illegal.

The state of Maryland is taking the lead in filing a lawsuit to challenge Whitaker’s unconstitutional and illegal appointment. Whitaker’s Appointment as Acting Attorney General Faces Court Challenge:

Now, Mr. Whitaker’s appointment is facing a court challenge. The State of Maryland asked a federal judge on Tuesday for an injunction declaring that Mr. Whitaker is not the legitimate acting attorney general as a matter of law, and that the position — and all its powers — instead rightfully belongs to the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein.

Mr. Trump may not “bypass the constitutional and statutory requirements for appointing someone to that office,” the state said in a court filing.

[Read Maryland’s court filings.]

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