In France there are 365 cheeses, one for each day of the year, and at the rate things are going, there will be 365 active legal cases against Donald Trump — or maybe more. The man is a walking crime machine, forget about crime family or syndicate. He needs no assistance, he breaks the law like other people breathe.
The latest revelation comes from John Kelly, who signed a sworn statement, testifying that Donald Trump had discussed having the Internal Revenue Service and other federal agencies investigate Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, who were two FBI agents assigned to investigate the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. Or, Russia Russia Russia, as Trump refers to the matter. New York Times:
Mr. Kelly said that his recollection of Mr. Trump’s comments to him was based on notes that he had taken at the time in 2018. Mr. Kelly provided copies of his notes to lawyers for one of the F.B.I. officials, who made the sworn statement public in a court filing.
“President Trump questioned whether investigations by the Internal Revenue Service or other federal agencies should be undertaken into Mr. Strzok and/or Ms. Page,” Mr. Kelly said in the statement. “I do not know of President Trump ordering such an investigation. It appeared, however, that he wanted to see Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page investigated.”
Mr. Kelly’s assertions were disclosed on Thursday in a statement that was filed in connection with lawsuits brought by Peter Strzok, who was the lead agent in the F.B.I.’s Russia investigation, and Lisa Page, a former lawyer in the bureau, against the Justice Department for violating their privacy rights when the Trump administration made public text messages between them.
And it’s not like Trump hasn’t already done exactly this, send the IRS after people who have crossed him.
The New York Times reported last July that two of Mr. Trump’s greatest perceived enemies — James B. Comey, whom he fired as F.B.I. director, and Mr. Comey’s deputy, Andrew G. McCabe — were the subject of the same type of highly unusual and invasive I.R.S. audit. […]
The sworn statements from Mr. Kelly are similar to ones he made to The New York Times in November, in which he said that Mr. Trump had told him that he wanted a number of his perceived political enemies to be investigated by the I.R.S., including Mr. Comey, Mr. McCabe, Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page. […]
In the sworn statement, Mr. Kelly said that Mr. Trump had discussed having the security clearances of Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page revoked, although Mr. Kelly did not take action on the idea. Mr. Kelly said that his notes showed that Mr. Trump discussed the investigations of the two on Feb. 21, 2018.
“I did not make a note of every instance in which then President Trump made a comment about Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page,” Mr. Kelly said. “President Trump generally disapproved of note-taking in meetings. He expressed concern that the notes might later be used against him.”
And bear in mind, if Trump did in fact later find notes that caused him concern, he used to flush them down the toilet. Why anybody would do that in a building with twenty-six fireplaces and dozens of shredders is a question no one has the answer to. Well, maybe Sigmund Freud. He did a lot of theorizing about peoples’ characters based on toilet training.
And true to form, it only gets worse.
Mr. Kelly told The Times last year that Mr. Trump had at times discussed using the I.R.S. and the Justice Department to address others in addition to Mr. Comey, Mr. McCabe, Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page.
They included, Mr. Kelly said, the former C.I.A. director John O. Brennan; Hillary Clinton; and Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and the owner of The Washington Post, whose coverage often angered Mr. Trump.
I don’t think you need to be Nostradamus to divine that John Kelly does not want Trump to be re-elected. Good for him. If the GOP collectively had the survival instinct of a gnat, they would cut this albatross that Trump is, loose.
“If the GOP collectively had the survival instinct of a gnat, they would cut this albatross that Trump is, loose.”
Instead they bind themselves tighter to him, making all of them un-electable.
Which, in a perverse way, is much better for the country.
This is the problem as I see it: Democracy is contingent on two functioning political parties. We had that in this country. We may have disagreed, fought, whatever, but that’s normal. It is not normal to have one functioning political party and the rag tag remnants of another. It is a set up for fascism. That is what terrifies me.
The GOP has split open like a rotten log. And when it did, Trump crawled out. The GOP doesn’t seem able to get past him and move ahead. So I fear for our country. The basest elements are getting involved in politics now and that’s what happens when a certain level of instability happens in a nation. Look at Germany in the 1930s.
Absolutely! 👏👏👏
One reason I dislike using the concept of Trump being an albatross for the GOP is the actual mariner’s superstition. Even most dumba$$ MAGAs heard The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner in school and if they (or others) don’t remember it well they remember one thing – it’s VERY bad luck to kill an albatross! I can’t help but wonder if so many GOPers, especially those in elective office or power players in the GOP do in fact view Trump as their albatross. Which is why they are quite willing to be critical as long as it’s off the record, and to say he should STUF and go away and definitely NOT run again but say something very different publicly. The fact is for at least one cycle it WOULD cost the GOP electorally. They know killing the albatross named Trump would bring about electoral (Very) “bad luck.”
It’s like they’ve completely forgotten Watergate and Nixon. Many thought the GOP was on the ropes, especially when a former Gov. from a not all that major southern state beat Gerald Ford in 1076, even with rather lackluster support from DC establishment Democrats. Yet four years later Reagan won, and took credit for many accomplishments and rode it to ramming through a new conservative agenda, and winning re-election in a landslide before the problems manifested. I’m convinced that if the GOP was willing to take the hit now, by 2028 if they got their collective sh*t together again they’d be a formidable foe.
Still, as the legend goes those who do the actual killing of the albatross will be doomed to wear it around their necks and “carry the curse” for the rest of their lives. And they’re too goddamned selfish to take on that burden despite the needs of their Party and the country as a whole!
By “willing to take the hit now” you mean get rid of Trump?
I think that it may come down to the GOP v. MAGA. MAGA is a certain number of individuals committed to the Cult of Trump. But if the rest of the GOP denounced Trump and moved on, I think MAGA would fizzle.
For the GOP to collectively move on, somebody would have to have the balls to rally the party. It’s not McCarthy. And forget about McConnell. He’s just watching what’s going on and hoping for the best. Stefanik has thrown in with Trump. Paul Ryan squeaks occasionally from the sidelines. There’s no leadership in the party.
Less an albatross,more like 300pounds of dumbbells and cement over shoes. He can win a primary, but it is unlikely he can win the general. It would require Biden nuking N.Korea or marrying Putin (much more up Trump’s…alley).
Hmm. I wonder if this information could be presented to those GOPers in Congress who keep talking about “weaponizing the government?” I know it won’t change their minds but it might remind them that they are the ones currently *TRULY* in the process of “weaponizing the government.”
I’m sure they’re cringing as the read this story in the papers.
Not cringing. They accuse liberals of wanting to.do what they themselvesate spreading doing.
Already, not spreading.
Thanks URSULA … sharing on FB
AND on Threads .. where I now have over 1000 pure Dem followers!
Posts only 500 words so they have to get full piece!
Hope a lot see it!
(lorion70 threads.net)
W old eye avatar.
https://poets.org/poem/rime-ancient-mariner