Firing Mueller

(The image above came from here.)

Writing in the WP, former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti says:

On Sunday, though, Trump insisted that he will not fire Mueller but is contemplating firing Rosenstein or Attorney General Jeff Sessions, realizing that firing Mueller would be a “step too far,” according to The Washington Post.

Trump made noises about canning Sessions some time ago, but did not go through with it. There must be a hidden story there. I don't think that Sessions will leave.

It seems clear now that the plan is to get rid of Rosenstein and to replace him with someone who will fire Mueller. Trump prepared the way for this move when he labeled Rosenstein "a Democrat," even though Rosenstein is a Republican.

Will Move On be able to whip up large protests if Rosenstein goes? I doubt it.

From Trump's POV, the smart move would be to keep Mueller in place for a few more weeks while the Noise Machine drums up even more anti-Mueller hysteria. The smartest move of all would be to replace Rosenstein with a compliant Democrat -- someone susceptible to blackmail or bribery.

Mariotti goes on:

Why would Trump hold off on firing Mueller? Because if his goal is to undermine the investigations into Russian interference in last year’s campaign, keeping Mueller around is probably the best way to do it.

[Trump always lashes out when he’s cornered. He told me so years ago.]

Firing Mueller would not end the investigations that the former FBI director leads. Although we often speak about the “Mueller investigation,” inside the Justice Department that term probably refers to several different but related investigations. Some of those, such as the investigations of Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn, began before Mueller was appointed. Others, such as the inquiry into obstruction of justice, began later.

Those investigations would go on even if Mueller leaves. When the Justice Department initiates an investigation, it can’t be closed without following a set of procedures that ensure cases aren’t shut down for improper reasons. If a case is opened, it can’t be “declined” — closed without bringing charges — without a detailed justification for closing the case. As a former federal prosecutor, I’ve declined my share of cases, and it takes time. Declining even a routine case requires a written explanation justifying the declination, citing specific reasons that are consistent with Justice Department guidelines. In more complex or high-profile matters, much more extensive memorandums are prepared. Once in my career, I inherited a complex case that another prosecutor unsuccessfully sought to decline, and I ultimately charged the case.

This is a bit naive. Trump doesn't care about what goes on behind-the-scenes; he wants the case deep-sixed PERIOD. If a "detailed justification" is needed for closing the case, heads will roll until he finds someone willing to write a detailed justification. Simple as that.

Understand this: Donald Trump is actually guilty, and that he will do whatever it takes to save his skin.

Jim Clapper, former Director of National Intelligence, knows what's what. Here's what he told CNN recently:

I think this past weekend is illustrative of what a great case officer Vladimir Putin is. He knows how to handle an asset, and that’s what he’s doing with the president … You have to remember Putin’s background. He’s a KGB officer. That’s what they do. They recruit assets. And I think some of that experience and instincts of Putin has come into play here in his managing of a pretty important account for him, if I could use that term, with our president.

Two days ago, Seth Ambramson offered an important Twitter thread, which I shall try to translate into conventional prose.

Hey, want to know who ran the Clinton email investigation? Republicans. Want to know who's running the Trump-Russia investigation? Republicans. Want to know who's prolonging the Trump-Russia investigation? Republicans.

Special Counsel Bob Mueller is a lifelong Republican, and the man who oversees his work daily—Acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein—is a lifelong Republican. The Republican Rosenstein—who appointed the Republican Mueller—was himself appointed by a Republican: Donald Trump.

I need to interrupt at this point. Democrats are the ones who should be outraged by the choice of Mueller to head this probe, since a special prosecutor is traditionally someone who belongs to the opposite party.

Ken Starr was a Republican. His corrupt investigation went far beyond the Whitewater pseudoscandal (of which Clinton was completely innocent) and transmogrified into an out-of-control, all-purpose attack machine. The Starr Chamber, unlike the Mueller probe, leaked damaging information on a near-daily basis. Starr kept Susan McDougal jailed on bullshit charges in an attempt to force her to tell lies about Clinton. Unable to find any substance to the Whitewater allegations, Starr decided to focus on the president's sex life, offering a completely inane justification for this shift.

(Without using Google, can you recall the justification Starr offered? Of course not. At this point, nobody can remember it. Maybe Starr can remember it off the top his head, but nobody else can.)

Imagine the outrage that would ensue if Mueller decided to look into Trump's sex life.

Yet back in the 1990s, Democrats put up with Ken Starr's bullshit. They tolerated an utterly unfair and abusive inquest. Why? I'm not entirely sure, but much of the blame belongs to the supposedly-liberal media -- the NYT, the WP and so forth. These publications convinced many liberals that Whitewater and the other bogus Clinton pseudoscandals were based on something real. After Starr came up goose eggs on Whitewater, everyone realized that the WP hated Clinton almost as much as Rush Limbaugh did.

Today, the ever-docile Dems have decided to agree with the Republican insistence that only Republicans may investigate Trump. In fact, Democrats crow about the fact that Mueller, Comey and Rosenstein are Republicans.

The right-wing propaganda machine (Fox News, Brietbart, Limbaugh, Alex Jones and so forth) has spent decades convincing the population that all Dems are evil, conspiratorial schemers. Dems have given up on fighting this perception. How can we hope to clean up politics in a society that grants Republicans the presumption of innocence and Democrats the presumption of guilt?

Let's get back to Abramson:

When the Republican Trump appointed the Republican Rosenstein, top D.C. Republicans overwhelmingly approved the appointment. And when the Republican Rosenstein appointed the Republican Mueller, top Republicans overwhelmingly—again—approved the Republican Rosenstein's choice.

The FBI Director now—Wray—is a lifelong Republican, just as the *former* FBI Director (Comey) was a lifelong Republican. The Republican Comey was fired by the Republican Trump. The head of the DOJ—Sessions—is a lifelong Republican, just as the *acting* head (Rosenstein) is.

Republicans control the White House. Republicans control the United States House of Representatives. Republicans control the United States Senate. That means Republicans control every one of the three Trump-Russia investigations that are currently ongoing in Washington, D.C.

Republicans control the Trump-Russia investigation in the House Intel Committee. Republicans control the Trump-Russia investigation in the Senate Intel Committee. Republicans control the Trump-Russia investigation in the House Judiciary Committee. Three Republican-led probes.

Republicans also control all the committees in the House of Representatives and Senate that we'd *normally* expect would be conducting investigations into ties between Trump and Russia but are not—because they're Republicans, and they run everything that happens in Washington.

Republicans controlled both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate in 2015 and 2016, too. And that means Republicans were in control of the entire legislative branch in Washington, D.C. for the full course of the Clinton email investigation.

Speaking of the Clinton email investigation, not only was it run by a Republican—Comey—but the FBI field office that was in charge of the Clinton investigation was *so* Republican that it was (and is) called "Trumpland." Of course, some of the investigation was done by NYPD.

*NYPD* is so Republican it was illegally leaking news—some of it false or misleading—to lifelong Republican Rudy Giuliani (an advisor to the Republican Trump) for the full course of the Clinton investigation. The Republican Giuliani then leaked to the Republican-led Fox News.

FNC is America's most-watched cable news. It's run by a lifelong Republican—Rupert Murdoch—a pal of the Republican Trump. Top FNC anchors include lifelong Republican Sean Hannity—advisor to Republican Trump—and lifelong Republican Jeanine Pirro (advisor to Republican Trump).

The reason the FBI probe run by the Republican Comey took so long is that a veritable clown-car full of lifelong Republicans—including Paul Manafort and Mike Flynn—either lied to the FBI (which is a federal crime) or did anything they could to lead probe investigators astray.

No one has done more to undermine the Trump-Russia probe than the Republican Trump—who, on the advice of the Republican Sessions and the Republican Rosenstein, fired the Republican Comey after he'd been overseeing the probe for a year, forcing unnecessary, significant delays.

The Republican Trump has also used Twitter, Republican rallies, and even a false statement he wrote for his Republican son to generate a flurry of *new* crimes the Republican Mueller must now—with the help of the Republican-led FBI—investigate in addition to everything else.

The Republican Trump, with Republican Congressional allies and Republican advisors nominally working as "journalists" for Republican-run FNC, has also delayed the probe by bringing up nonsense like the idea he was wiretapped in Trump Tower or the GSA is part of a secret plot.

Turns out the GSA—whose General Counsel was a lifelong Republican appointed by the Republican Trump—warned the lifelong Republicans at Trump for America who staffed the all-Republican Presidential Transition Team that their emails would be available to the Republican-led FBI.

So with Republicans running the White House, Congress, DOJ, and the FBI, and therefore all Trump-Russia probes—and having run Congress during the Clinton investigation that was run by a Republican field office of the Republican-led FBI—Republicans have announced a complaint.

Their complaint—naturally—is that DEMOCRATS staged a massive DEMOCRAT plot to plant a mountain of inculpatory DEMOCRAT-developed evidence against the president while erasing a mountain of inculapatory DEMOCRAT-created evidence that would've incriminated the DEMOCRAT Clinton.

This DEMOCRAT plot involved DEMOCRATS somehow convincing several dozen Republican politicians and advisors to lie to the FBI, America, and one another about their contacts with Russia. The DEMOCRAT plot also involved saying not-nice things about Republicans via text messages.

So only a partisan—or conspiracy theorist—would see anything in this wall-to-wall Republican sh*tshow but a big DEMOCRAT conspiracy to (wait for it) put *Mike Pence* in the presidency instead of Donald Trump, as Trump was once a Democrat but Pence never has been.