According to RawStory, Benjamin Wittes, a confidante of former FBI Director James Comey, who was also privy to Comey’s notes on meeting with Trump before they were released, predicted resignations at the FBI and the Justice Department if Trump makes good on his Twitter threat to demand an investigation of both agencies on Monday.
Here is the tweet:
I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes – and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2018
This threat, according to Wittes is, “a nakedly corrupt attempt on the part of the President to derail an investigation.”
I normally ignore presidential tweets. This one requires attention, because it could genuinely produce a crisis with the Justice Department and the FBI. Here’s an explanatory thread that may (or may not) be useful. /1/ https://t.co/uB62J45TwK
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) May 20, 2018
The President in this tweet announces that he will tomorrow formally demand of the Justice Department a specific investigation—to wit, one about whether the DOJ and FBI spied on the Trump campaign and if the Obama administration demanded such action of them. /2/
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) May 20, 2018
There is no doubt that he has the constitutional authority to make this demand. /3/
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) May 20, 2018
There is also no doubt in my mind that neither the attorney general (who is recused anyway) nor the deputy attorney general nor the FBI director can in good conscience comply with such an order. And I don’t believe they will. /4/
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) May 20, 2018
This is a nakedly corrupt attempt on the part of the President to derail an investigation of himself at the expense of a human source to whose protection the FBI and DOJ are committed.
See @qjurecic and my piece on this from yesterday. /5/ https://t.co/TsMMdPGp9g
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) May 20, 2018
So if the President really gives Rod Rosenstein or Chris Wray an order (as opposed to Twitter bluster) demanding a particular investigation not properly predicated under FBI/DOJ guidelines for this overtly political purpose, I believe both men will resign rather than comply. /6/
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) May 20, 2018
Trump is a wuss, so he may well back down. He was going to fire Rosenstein, and he wussed out. He was going to fire Mueller and he wussed out. So I don’t want to overstate this. There’s lots of ways this could peter out. But this tweet is no joke. /8/
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) May 20, 2018
As Quinta and I wrote yesterday, “Don’t underestimate this episode. It will have a long tail and big consequences—all of them terrible.” Those consequences, if you believe the President, may start tomorrow. /9/
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) May 20, 2018
Eyes open people. /10/
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) May 20, 2018
That’s all I got. /11/
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) May 20, 2018
Looks like things just heated up for Donald. And, it wasn’t even Guiliani or Avenatti who made things worse for him. It was his own big, orange, idiot-mouthed self!!
Sometimes karma works.
