Most of us suspect that Robert Mueller’s investigation report will not be good for team Trump. Trump has to know this too. Will he fire Sessions and Rosenstein before Mueller’s report is published, and replace AG and Deputy with people willing to bury what has been found to date? I have worried about that.
Something encouraging, though. Jill Wine-banks, one of the prosecutors during the Watergate scandal, said that members of her team feared Nixon would try to squelch the investigation by such tactics. And so, team members began to take copies of crucial reports/findings home with them at the end of their working day. That way, if office documents were commandeered, sealed, or by other means buried by Nixon’s lawyers, copies would survive. The truth would be preserved and eventually come out.
So, if Team Trump is able to terminate (bad word choice?) Mueller’s investigation, probably the only thing to regret is what Mueller’s folks have not found so far. What they have found will eventually be revealed (I think, I hope, I pray, I’m counting on).
For what ideological differences we might have with Jeff Sessions, he seems to respect the rule of law. When this is over, he doesn’t want history to view him as a Trump puppet. He is not a Trump loyalist or protector. That’s why Trump has been trying to get rid of him sans Saturday Night Massacre. Trump thought the Justice Department was to be his personal defense team, but Sessions said no. After all, that role is better served by the GOP Congress.
Rod Rosenstein, being Mueller’s boss, is in a tougher position. He’s gotta know everything that Mueller has uncovered so far, and therefore what a crook Trump is. He, like Sessions, must also be concerned with history’s verdict. Thus he has to “handle” Trump carefully. Tell him what he wants to hear while quietly helping Mueller do his job. Yes, he was complicit in getting Comey fired, which Trump was going to do with or without the justification letter, but the letter allowed him to stay on and keep Mueller’s work moving.
If you look at all the people who have flipped so far, people who know dirty little secrets of Trump and family, and are feeding Mueller this info, no wonder Trump is hosting more we-love-the-king rallies. That’s not counting what Mueller can find without help from the flippers (tax records, money laundering, conspiracy evidence).
Who will history look upon unfavorably? Trump enablers and supporters in the GOP. They will say “Oh, we didn’t know what a crook he was,” but in this age of electronic communications and hundreds of bird-dog reporters, not just two as in Watergate, that defense will ring hollow.
Bob Moores
Chestertown
Michael H C McDowell says
Well said, Mr. Moores. Let’s see what transpires on Thursday, when Trump meets Rosenstein. Options? Fire Moore — which means he has to appoint a successor which would require a Congressional confirmation for that level of position; Rosenstein resigns, the least good option, since Trump could fill the job with an “acting” individual; cleverest option? Do nothing and keep Rosenstein on, ideally till after the mid-term election on November 6, by which times the Democrats are very likely to have a majority in the House and — this would be a big struck of luck — taken the Senate narrowly. We shall see. Not counting on the later result but the former would be good enough for the moment, till Mueller delivers his report and, ideally, has a copy of it which finds its way to the Congress and the American people, should a Trump patsy sit on it or dilute it. Of course Trump has no impulse control. Then, Impeachment? Possibly. But more likely the party-before-country invertebrates McConnell and Ryan, having seen the losses in November 6, find a few vertebrae. Hope springs eternal. Even if there is no “collusion” found by Trump himself with Russia, there should be enough obstruction of justice and financial chicanery with massive Trump debt/money-laundering (and maybe Kushner too) to sink Trump. Then we end up with unctuous lickspittle hard right evangelical zealot Pence; but one thing at a time. We still have the Constitution and checks and balances. And although the GOPers are packing the courts, they haven’t packed a majority of them yet, barring the Supreme Court, so far. Speaking of which, God only knows what will happen with Kavanaugh’s nomination. He is damaged goods and so is the Supreme Court since McConnell stole the seat which Scalia had and which should have been filled with centrist judge Merrick Garland.
Gren Whitman says
Hard on the heels of the GOP’s Kavanaugh fiasco (however it turns out), I’m thinking it’s now too close to the November 6 election for Trump to fire Mueller. Ditto Rosenstein.
I am optimistic that the Dems will regain the House majority, reconfigure all the House committees, and set in motion a welcome new set of motions. And given the Kavanaugh blow-up, Dems retaking the Senate is not far-fetched.
Gerry Mayned says
Gee, a other guikty without facts ketter from a frustrated liberal. Muellers investigation has turned up nothing about the president. His repirt will have tk admit no Collusion, just some financial dealings that gappened yesrs ago, BY Manafort that happened years before he met Trump. Yearz from now the term for going fishing, will become, simply gone Mullering.