Thread: Top Trump officials saved the President from himself

Top Trump officials saved the President from himself

Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 4:50 AM ET, Wed November 21, 2018

(CNN) Had President Donald Trump been successful in launching prosecutions against Hillary Clinton and James Comey, it could have spelled the end of his presidency, as a clear-cut abuse of power.

It never happened, apparently thwarted by then-White House Counsel Don McGahn and other senior officials. But that does not mean this is a crisis dodged for Trump and he is now free from fresh legal and political jeopardy. Quite the reverse.

And it leaves anyone on the outside wondering what other potential disasters top officials like McGahn, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and current Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein might have prevented.

They also raise questions about the capacity of a now-understaffed White House and legal counsel's operation to protect the President from current or future transgressions.

It will be impossible to confirm, given the habitual silence from the special counsel's office, but the revelations hint at the possibility that Robert Mueller knows much more about what went on in the corridors of the West Wing than has been publicly revealed.

That will play into rising tensions in Washington amid expectations that the endgame of Mueller's probe is in sight and speculation about possible indictments targeting Trump world and the content of his final report.

Bombshell reports by CNN and The New York Times about the President's intentions emerged on another surreal day in Washington that saw shocking disclosures about Ivanka Trump's emails and a huge foreign policy pivot over Saudi Arabia.

They will bolster perceptions that Trump views the Justice Department as an instrument of his personal power rather than an insulated government department responsible for the neutral administration of justice.

Trump had forecast his intentions

CNN reported Tuesday that the President, on multiple occasions, asked Rosenstein and Matt Whitaker, who was then chief of staff to the attorney general, how they were doing in investigating Clinton.

Earlier, The New York Times reported that Trump had asked McGahn to get the Justice Department to prosecute Clinton and fired FBI Director Comey but that he had been rebuffed.

The paper, lifting the lid on extreme pressure faced by top law enforcement officials in the US government, also said Trump had repeatedly criticized FBI Director Christopher Wray for failing to more aggressively investigate Clinton, calling him weak.

It is not surprising that Trump would call for such prosecutions. He has frequently said as much on the campaign trail and on Twitter and beamed as his crowds chanted "lock her up," referring to his 2016 election foe.

But that he would actually believe he has the power to follow through on his demands and such action would be politically acceptable is the most alarming takeaway from the reports.

A prosecution of Clinton -- possibly over her private email server or an Obama-era uranium deal struck with Russia, both while she was secretary of state -- would have challenged the fundamentals of the political system itself. American democracy since George Washington, the first president, has been assured by the peaceful transfer of power between often bitter rivals. In a saga that became embroiled in the 2016 election, the FBI investigated Clinton's email use, but declined to recommend charges.

Mobilizing the government's prosecutorial powers against Comey would represent a vindictive swipe against a political enemy, a worrying sign in itself.

But it could also have led Trump onto perilous legal ground because he fired Comey and then told NBC News he had done so because of the Russia investigation -- which Comey was then leading -- raising concerns that the President had obstructed justice.

The dismissal made the former FBI director a key witness in the probe, which was taken over by Mueller shortly after Comey was forced out. Using the federal government to target such a witness would risk playing into the obstruction of justice case that Mueller is investigating, since it could offer evidence for the question of whether the President had acted with malicious intent.

Josh Campbell, who served as an aide to Comey at the FBI and is now a CNN analyst, said his former boss was shaking his head at reports that the President wanted the Justice Department to investigate him.

"This is what had him worried then. This is what he's been so vocal about now and speaking out," Campbell said on "Anderson Cooper 360."

Comey wrote in his book "A Higher Loyalty," which came out earlier this year, that Trump often reminded him of a mafia boss and sent him back to his days prosecuting the mob, especially with the President's demands for personal loyalty.

Renewed scrutiny of Matt Whitaker

The latest revelations also cast new scrutiny on Whitaker, who is now acting attorney general, after Trump fired Sessions.

Whitaker's elevation, and past criticism of the Mueller probe, sparked concerns that he was put in place to thwart the Russia investigation.

A source told CNN's Pamela Brown that Whitaker, in his former role, came to meetings with Trump prepared to answer how the Justice Department was pursuing investigations against the Clinton Foundation and on the Uranium One issue, over a mining company whose sale to Russia's atomic energy agency had been approved by the Obama administration while Clinton was secretary of state.

The source said Whitaker tried to appease the President and there was no sign that he had crossed a line.

Whitaker is now in a role in which he oversees the Mueller probe, and thus could face intense pressure from a President who has made no secret of his disdain for an investigation he has called a "witch hunt."

When Trump first requested the investigations in April, McGahn told the President he could not compel the Justice Department to prosecute people, the Times said. The paper also reported that McGahn had gone so far as to have White House lawyers draft a memo listing the consequences of such a request.

In many ways, the latest reports underline how Trump, a neophyte in Washington when he was inaugurated in January 2017, does not appreciate or respect normal boundaries between the White House and Justice Department.
They also suggest how if he is not constrained, the President could accidentally stumble into a position that contravenes the Constitution and puts his presidency in jeopardy.

That possibility seems to be exacerbated by Trump's increasing self-confidence in a White House that may be about to be deprived of many remaining restraining influences in a government reshuffle.

Tuesday's reports recalled an exchange in a Clinton/Trump presidential debate in 2016, when the Democratic nominee remarked that it was good that someone with her rival's temperament wasn't running the country.
"Because you would be in jail," Trump replied.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/21/polit...ler/index.html

For those who wanted Hillary and Comey prosecuted, it wasn't Trump who let you down, it was Jeff Sessions and the US Department of Justice (which includes the FBI).

By the way, did Trey Gowdy's committee ever send a referral to the DOJ for prosecution of Hillary Clinton for anything?

Donald Trump Fans Express Disappointment After News That He Won’t Prosecute Hillary Clinton

• 
• By Brendan Morrow

• Updated Nov 22, 2016 at 11:55am

Donald Trump holds a campaign rally in Sioux City, Iowa. (Getty)

After participating in “lock her up” chants on the campaign trail, Donald Trump’s most fervent supporters are expressing disappointment today as an aide says that the president-elect will not follow through on his promise to prosecute Hillary Clinton.

In an appearance on Morning Joe on Tuesday, Trump spokesperson Kellyanne Conway said that the nation needs to heal and that Trump will not appoint a special prosecutor to look into Hillary Clinton’s situation as he had previously promised.

“I think when the president-elect, who’s also the head of your party, tells you before he’s even inaugurated that he doesn’t wish to pursue these charges, it sends a very strong message, tone and content to the members,” Conway said. “And I think Hillary Clinton still has to face the fact that the majority of Americans don’t find her to be honest and trustworthy. But if Donald Trump can help her heal then perhaps that is a good thing. Look, I think he’s thinking of many different things as he is preparing to become president of the United States and things that sound like the campaign aren’t among them.”

After Conway’s remarks aired on television, Breitbart News, a far-right website widely read among Trump’s base, lead with the headline “Broken Promise.” Over the past two weeks, Trump has hinted that he will walk back some of his campaign rhetoric, such as when he said that he might not completely repeal Obamacare or that Mexico might not actually pay for the southern border wall. But this is the first time Trump’s hardcore fans have really expressed major disappointment in the president-elect.

The comments section of that Breitbart article, for example, is chock-full of disappointed Trump supporters, with the top comment reading, “I have to admit…that was not something I wanted to hear!!” This received 208 upvotes. Other users said they are angry that justice will not be pursued, saying that Hillary Clinton is allowed to break the law.

Meanwhile on The_Donald, the Donald Trump subreddit on which there is almost never anything but universal praise for Trump, many were also taken aback by this news, with one user writing, “If Clinton does not get charged and indicted in the next 4 years, I will be very disappointed in [Donald Trump]. It’s the most important thing, but follow through on your words.”

Still other hardcore Trump fans had a more positive reading of Kellyanne Conway’s comments, saying that even though Trump won’t pursue charges, his attorney general or the Department of Justice will. A comment on The_Donald reads, “Perhaps Donald just means HE will not personally prosecute Hillary. Donald will let DOJ decide and do the work (and take their recommendation for the appointment of a special prosecutor).”
And on Breitbart, a reader commented, “He said he didn’t want to pursue. Didn’t say the FBI wasn’t. Also, if he said right now that he was pushing hard for her then there is a 100% chance Obama would pardon her. Obama now thinks he doesn’t have to pardon her. I trust Trump to do what is best for our country.”

A similar position was taken by many Trump fans all across the internet, who insisted that Trump isn’t actually breaking a promise and that he has some other play here.

Trump said he wouldn't pursue charges against Clinton
but never said that Sessions wouldn't…
— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) November 22, 2016

Small Biz for Trump@SmallBiz4Trump


Trump needs to start his first 100 days with a pro-growth, anti-regulation, anti-Obamacare agenda - not prosecuting Hillary Clinton.
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President-elect Trump does not plan to pursue charges against Hillary Clinton for her personal email server, Kellyanne Conway says.



9
10:46 AM - Nov 22, 2016
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Am I disappointed Trump won't pursue Clinton? Idk. She shouldn't be above the law, but he has to pick his battles like SCOTUS, borders, ACA
— Pro-Lifer For Trump (@MyPresidentme) November 22, 2016

On 4chan’s politics board, one of the most far-right websites on which Trump fans assemble, one user suggested that Conway is lying and that Trump is just trying to lower Clinton’s guard, writing, “He’s said numerous times that he’s never going to announce his plans openly to fight terrorists and criminals. That includes Clinton as well.”

Rudy Giuliani, who was even more passionate about the “lock her up” chants during the campaign than Trump was, said this morning that he’d be supportive of the decision to not, in fact, lock her up.

“There’s a tradition in American politics that after you win an election, you sort of put things behind you,” Giuliani said, according to ABC News.

Kellyanne Conway’s comments aside, as president, Donald Trump will have no authority to decide whether a person is prosecuted.

https://heavy.com/news/2016/11/donal...way-breitbart/

“I don’t want to hurt the Clintons, I really don’t,” Trump said, according to a tweet by Times journalist Mike Grynbaum. “She went through a lot and suffered greatly in many different ways.” -- Donald Trump

LOL!! It's so funny to me how the people who were never Trump Supporters to begin with never understood that it was Trump Supporters, not Trump, who chanted "lock her up", for fun, making a point, that Crooked Hillary is a .... CROOK and shouldn't be President.