A lot of people are counting on special counsel Robert Mueller.
But the online community that's fervently depending on the 73-year-old former FBI director to shake up the Trump presidency may be in for its share of disappointment.
Three months into the job, however, it's not clear what, if anything, investigators may uncover about the president, who has repeatedly denied any improper contacts with people in Russia and has called the special counsel probe "a witch hunt."
Moreover, even if authorities uncover damaging information about Trump or anyone else in the White House, there are serious questions about whether that material will ever be made public, short of an indictment or impeachment.
Regulations governing the special counsel say that at the conclusion of his work, he "shall provide the Attorney General with a confidential report explaining the prosecution or declination decisions." Then, it's up to the attorney general to determine whether releasing some information would be in the public interest.
Another complicating factor: Mueller is using grand juries in Alexandria, Va., and Washington, D.C., and grand jury information is rarely made public.
"It is going to be hard and frustrating to get this information out," said Peter Zeidenberg, a lawyer at the Arent Fox firm who worked on the special counsel team investigating the leak of a CIA operative's identity in the George W. Bush administration.
These are some snippets from an article written by an NPR Justice Correspondent who has made a career in following the FBI, Justice Department, political investigations, and prominent criminal trials. The author does not lend any opinions as to what Mueller may or may not ultimately find, but she leaves open the possibility that it may be nothing. However, the author is clear to the degree that while Mueller might have been given broad investigative leeway, that he will have almost no authority as to what ultimately is done with his investigation.
When Robert Mueller accepted the position of Special Counsel, he agreed to a great number of things, including that whatever is found would be handed off to the Justice Department as confidential. It would then be up to the Justice Department as to what to do next. This would include not only any legal decisions regarding indictment, but also the political decisions on what to release (if anything) to the public. It's very unlikely that anything that is not directly linked to Russian interference, or actually criminal will make it to the press.
In other words, unless specifically authorized by the Trump Justice Department to do so, there will be no James Comey style press conference where Robert Mueller stands before America and pours over everything he found. There may be leaks, there may be implications, but there will very likely be no formal statements made. In fact, unless the investigation finds true cause that convinces the Justice Department that indictment(s) are necessary, we may ultimately hear nothing publicly from Mueller.
Wouldn't that be the ultimate disappointment to so many?
27 comments:
now that you mention it, i've kinda been wondering why i haven't been seeing adam schitt on MSDNC lately.
If Mueller doesn't make a statement, there will be a full-scale war from the left.
The likes of which we've never seen.
They can't accept the results of the election, I guarantee you they won't accept a "no-show" from their new saviour.
"haven't been seeing adam schitt on MSDNC lately."
Another inbred.
A Missouri state senator said in a now-deleted Facebook post that she hopes President Donald Trump is assassinated.
Maria Chappelle-Nadal acknowledged on Thursday that she wrote a post which read: “I hope Trump is assassinated!”
Chappelle-Nadal, a Democrat, represents a district in a St. Louis suburb.
http://dailycaller.com/2017/08/17/missouri-senator-i-hope-trump-is-assassinated/
THIS is cnn:
"There will be questions about copycats," Blitzer said. "There will be questions if what happened in Barcelona was at all a copycat version of what happened in Charlottesville, Virginia. Even though there may be different characters, different political ambitions, they used the same killing device: a vehicle going at high speed into a group, a large group of pedestrians."
http://freebeacon.com/politics/cnn-questions-barcelona-attack-copycat-charlottesville/
And good old Chuck Todd endorsed Antifa violence on MSNBC.
There's a contest among CNN, and MSNBC to see who has the most asinine coverage.
"Maria Chappelle-Nadal acknowledged on Thursday that she wrote a post which read: “I hope Trump is assassinated!”
She's black. She'll get a pass.
Putin More Trusted Around the World Than Trump
A new Pew Research survey finds that respondents in 22 out of 36 countries trusted Russian President Vladimir Putin more than President Trump when it comes to handling global affairs. And that includes American allies like Germany, France and Japan.
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Winning Is Survival for Trump
Howard Fineman: “Trump seems perfectly willing to destroy the country to maintain his own power… The goal, as always with Trump, is to win amid the chaos he sows, to be the last man standing in rubble. And ‘winning’ is rapidly being reduced to the raw, basic terms he prefers: brute survival. With a record-setting low approval rating, world crises everywhere and a special counsel on his tail, the main victory he can hope for is staying in office. It’s not only an emotional imperative for Trump, it’s a deliberate ― and thus far successful ― strategy.”
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The Breitbart Presidency
Rich Lowry: “Over the past few days, Trump hasn’t spoken as the leader of the country, or even leader of one party, but as a leader of an inflamed faction. In general, Trump’s news conference was a tour de force of whataboutism, one of the most important rhetorical tools of the pro-Trump internet. The ‘alt-right’ marched on Charlottesville? Well, what about the ‘alt-left’? Robert E. Lee’s statue is coming down. Well, what about George Washington?
“They were used, as whataboutism so often is, as cover for Trump’s failings and to obscure rather than sharpen distinctions. Charlottesville highlights how the problem with Trump is not the crudity of his expression. This, at times, can be part of his charm and makes him a distinctively powerful communicator. It’s the crudity of thought and feeling.”
HE IS A NEANDERTHAL.
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The Opposite Came True
Michael Brendan Dougherty: “The whole theory behind a successful Trump presidency was that he could unite conservative populists with mainstream, business-oriented Republicans, somehow managing to make the worst aspects of each group cancel each other out. The populists would check the greedy self-dealing of the business types, and the desire for respectability would prevent the populists from acting on their darkest animosities.
“This was always a pipe dream. It would have been impossible even if the man at the top was a political genius of great cunning and self-control. Instead, we have Trump, and almost the opposite case obtains: Our head of state is trying to micromanage the social opprobrium falling on neo-Nazis and all Republicans can think to do with their power on the Hill is cut taxes and social benefits.”
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What Should Republicans Do?
The Economist: “Those in the administration face a hard choice. Some will feel tempted to resign. But his advisers, particularly the three generals sitting at the top of the Pentagon, the National Security Council and as Mr Trump’s chief of staff, are better placed than anyone to curb the worst instincts of their commander-in-chief.
“For Republicans in Congress the choice should be clearer. Many held their noses and backed Mr Trump because they thought he would advance their agenda. That deal has not paid off. Mr Trump is not a Republican, but the solo star of his own drama. By tying their fate to his, they are harming their country and their party. His boorish attempts at plain speaking serve only to poison national life. Any gains from economic reform—and the booming stockmarket and low unemployment owe more to the global economy, tech firms and dollar weakness than to him—will come at an unacceptable price.
“Republicans can curb Mr Trump if they choose to. Rather than indulging his outrages in the hope that something good will come of it, they must condemn them. The best of them did so this week. Others should follow.”
Here we go again.
The pedophile has to spam every thread.
Rrb,thanks If it is news, it is news to cnn.
I'm neither a pedophile nor a mis-quoter of Lincoln
as you and Common"sense" are.
See next thread down.
Why have Jane and his fat sister opium gone to the cowardly act of not posting using their moniker?
Corker Says Trump Lacks Stability and Competence
Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) that President Trump “has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability, nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful,” NPR reports.
Said Corker: “He also recently has not demonstrated that he understands the character of this nation. He has not demonstrated that he understands what has made this nation great and what it is today.”
Corker also warned that without that, “our nation is going to go through great peril” and called for “radical change” at the White House.
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Scott Says Trump’s Moral Authority Is In Question
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) told Vice News that he questioned President Trump’s moral authority following the tragedy in Charlottesville.
Said Scott: “I’m not going to defend the indefensible… Trump’s comments on Monday were strong. His comments on Tuesday started erasing the comments that were strong. What we want to see from our president is clarity and moral authority. And that moral authority is compromised when Tuesday happened. There’s no question about that.””
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Trump Abandons Council on Infrastructure
President Trump will not move forward with a planned Advisory Council on Infrastructure, Bloomberg reports.
“The council, which was still being formed, would have advised Trump on his plan to spend as much as $1 trillion upgrading roads, bridges and other public works
“The action follows Trump announcing on Wednesday that he was disbanding two other business advisory councils. Corporate chief executive officers had started to quit the panels in protest over Trump’s remarks that appeared to confer legitimacy on white supremacists following a violent rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 12.”
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He might as well go ahead and abandon the White House too. He can't get anything done with it, either.
This is one epic fail of a presidency.
SEVEN AND A HALF MORE YEARS of President Trump
Thanks for all the assistance james
no need to thank me
ROFLMFAO !!!
Yeah, it will be disappointing when Mueller doesn't recommend charges that rise to the level of impeachment. I was hoping Trump would be funnier, but his shtick is getting old. Granted, elevating his daughter to the role of stand-in UN diplomat was great slapstick, and the Indian diplomat and Saudi prince calling her a half-wit makes is pretty awesome. Thanking Putin for expelling our diplomats was also funny. But you get the feeling that Trump has "jumped the shark" since then - not all stupidity is funny. It needs a certain style, the right angle of outrageous, to really come off. Trump is failing in that, so it feels like a sequel that tries to hard but falls flat.
The special investigation finding something to pin on him would give Trump new material I think. That would be outstanding, if Trump could springboard off that to new heights of absurdity. At least then we could see something of value from this administration.
Republicans worry their connection to Trump may prevent getting anything of significance done with tax reform.
So what else is new?
James are you for tax reform?
gone to the cowardly act of not posting using their moniker?
Like you asshole?????? Does fucking goats suck your brains out?????
Commonsense said...
And good old Chuck Todd endorsed Antifa violence on MSNBC.
LIAR!!!!!!!
Gee, let's go to the video.
CS, clubbing the stupid beached whale oDopie
In 2016 election the failed economy of obama cost hillary the win. We the people said the driving issue was the economy and Jobs. The us people voted and Trump won bigly. Today we see a Yuge spike in the confidence in this economy.
Case against Wasserman Schultz’ ex-IT aide expands with 4-count indictment
Fix the election so Bernie looses to cankles, open up the DNC and possibly entire congress IT to Paki ISI.
This is who should be investigated
Bingo
Finland under armed attack by Isis.
This (Wasserman Schultz) is who should be investigated
August 18, 2017 at 9:52 AM
Indeed. One also has to wonder, given the access these IT contractors had and their lack of integrity, if there is a connection there with the DNC data breaches. Perhaps Mueller will turn some attention to that possibility.
Don't hold your breath.
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