White House counsel Don McGahn had ostensibly planned to leave his post after the midterm elections but found out Wednesday, via Twitter, that Donald Trump had a different idea. Trump doesn’t like it when people leave on their own, he likes to show them the door. And McGahn out the door does not bode well for Jeff Sessions and Jeff Sessions gone does not bode well for the Mueller probe. RawStory:
Former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence Frank Figliuzzi said that we’re coming dangerously close to an un-checked presidency.
He noted without McGahn there might be no one to protect Sessions left and other Republicans are giving their blessing for it.
“And the danger signal to me is we’re hearing people say, ‘Well, as long as he picks an attorney general who lets Mueller finish,’” Figliuzzi continued. “Letting Mueller finish is only half the equation. How you properly deal with Mueller’s report, Mueller’s potential request to subpoena the president for an interview, Mueller’s potential request to indict a sitting president. If a new attorney general is there and he’s a lackey for this president, look out.”
2/ Trump wants to ensure Mueller never finishes his work; and if he does finish, can't produce a report; and if a report is produced, that it's not published; and if published, not given to Congress; and if given to Congress, ignored.
And he'll fire anyone who stands in his way.
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) August 30, 2018
4/ The course of obstruction and witness tampering we've seen from Trump is like nothing that I've ever seen in the public square before: blatant, notorious, relentless, and shameless. He senses the walls closing in and he'll burn *everything* down to protect himself—count on it.
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) August 30, 2018
PS/ I agree with those White House staffers who say a Sessions firing is inevitable—it's only a question of *when* Trump installs a stooge to shut Mueller down. I worked with accused criminals for many years—Trump's mindset is one I saw in the 0.1% *worst* of those I represented.
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) August 30, 2018
Trump’s not the only one who wants Sessions gone, Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham are out for blood and the topic does not provoke the political anxiety that it once did. Politico:
Inside the White House, the president’s lawyers have changed their tune, too. They once warned Trump that firing Sessions would help Mueller build an obstruction of justice case, particularly because the president had fulminated in both public and private about his recusal from the Russia probe.
They have come to believe, however, that if Mueller wants to build an obstruction case around Sessions, he has the fodder he needs in the form of a January 2018 New York Times report indicating that the president instructed White House counsel Don McGahn to prevent Sessions from recusing himself — and that Trump aides have talked with Mueller about the episode.
The drumbeat of presidential tweets denigrating Sessions as “weak” and calling on him to “stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now” have also shaped the view among the president’s legal team. They have come to believe that if Mueller wants to build a case that the president has intimidated his attorney general, he can do so given the voluminous public record created by the president — and that firing Sessions won’t change much.
Senator Ben Sasse said recently, “It would be a very, very, very bad idea to fire the attorney general because he’s not executing his job as a political hack.” Sessions hasn’t been acting as Trump’s political hack to the extent that Trump would wish, in any event, and McGahn wasn’t skipping to Trump’s tune, either. Trump can’t grasp the fact that neither Sessions nor McGahn are there to act as his personal lawyers. Trump will undoubtedly force Sessions out in a coup to derail Robert Mueller and when that happens, constitutional crisis, here we come.
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