Tag: Trump obstruction of justice

Fox News Judge: Yes, Trump’s Misconduct Is Impeachable

The revelation last weekend by Michigan Republican Congressman Justin Amash that he believes the Mueller Report accuses President Donald Trump of impeachable offenses has ignited firestorms in both major political parties on Capitol Hill. Amash’s argument is simple and essentially unassailable, though his fellow congressional Republicans don’t want to hear it and Democrats don’t know what to do with it.

Here is the backstory.

When special counsel Robert Mueller delivered his report to Attorney General William Barr, it was a 448-page tome that effectively summarized nearly two years of work and nearly two million pages of documents in an effort to establish whether elements of the Russian government interfered with the 2016 presidential election, and, if so, whether the Russians had any American collaborators in the Trump campaign.

View the complete May 26 article by Andrew Napolitano on the National Memo website here.

White House tells McGahn to defy House subpoena

President Trump has instructed former White House counsel Don McGahn to defy a subpoena to testify before Congress on Tuesday, his latest effort to stymie congressional Democrats who are investigating him and his administration.

The House Judiciary Committee had subpoenaed McGahn to appear before the panel to answer questions about the Russia probe, but the White House on Monday released a legal opinion from the Justice Department arguing the lawyer should not attend over concerns about separation of powers.

“I think it’s a very important precedent,” Trump told reporters at the White House before leaving for a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. “They’re doing it for the office of the presidency.”

View the complete May 20 article by Morgan Chalfant and Jordan Fabian on The Hill website here.

Paul Rosenzweig, Former Starr Prosecutor, Shreds Trump’s Obstruction

Trump’s attempts to stonewall Congress and block the legislative branch from conducting oversight are blatant acts of obstruction of justice and are in violation of the Constitution — according to conservative Republican lawyer Paul Rosenzweig, who served as a senior counsel on the team led by Kenneth Starr that investigated former President Bill Clinton back in the 1990s.

The former Starr counsel testified Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee, which was conducting a hearing on Trump’s stonewalling of Congress. Trump has been doing so by banning current and former administration officials from complying with congressional subpoenas, and asserting executive privilege when no executive privilege is warranted.

Rosenzweig pointed out that he is not often called to testify by Democratic members of Congress, but that in this case he stands with Democrats who believe that Trump’s attempts to avoid congressional oversight are wrong.

View the complete May 15 article by Emily Singer on the National Memo website here.

Pelosi says Trump is ‘becoming self-impeachable’

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that President Trump is “becoming self-impeachable,” pointing to his efforts to fight all subpoenas from congressional investigations and prevent key aides from testifying before Congress.

“The point is that every single day, whether it’s obstruction, obstruction, obstruction — obstruction of having people come to the table with facts, ignoring subpoenas . . . every single day, the president is making a case — he’s becoming self-impeachable, in terms of some of the things that he is doing,” Pelosi said at a Washington Post Live event. Continue reading “Pelosi says Trump is ‘becoming self-impeachable’”

Trump says he would challenge impeachment in Supreme Court

President Trump on Wednesday said that he would attempt to challenge impeachment in the Supreme Court if Democrats carried out such proceedings, though it’s unclear the high court would hear such a case.

“The Mueller Report, despite being written by Angry Democrats and Trump Haters, and with unlimited money behind it ($35,000,000), didn’t lay a glove on me. I DID NOTHING WRONG,” Trump tweeted.

“If the partisan Dems ever tried to Impeach, I would first head to the U.S. Supreme Court. Not only are there no ‘High Crimes and Misdemeanors,’ there are no Crimes by me at all,” he continued.

View the complete April 24 article by Brett Samuels on The Hill website here.

Poll: Nearly half still think Trump obstructed Russian probe

The special counsel’s report may have concluded there was no conspiracy or coordination between Russia and Donald Trump’s campaign, but a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll shows the political fog around the president remains.

The poll shows a plurality of voters, 47 percent, think Trump “tried to impede or obstruct the investigation into whether his campaign had ties to Russia” — despite the fact that Special Counsel Robert Mueller didn’t reach a decision on the question. Thirty-nine percent don’t think Trump tried to impede the investigation, and 14 percent don’t know or had no opinion about whether Trump tried to obstruct the investigation.

Following the release of the report’s summary, the president is not riding a new wave of popularity. His approval rating in the poll remains underwater — 42 percent approve of the job he is doing, compared to 55 percent of voters who disapprove of the job he is doing — which is essentially unchanged over the past few weeks. And when asked whether Attorney General WIlliam Barr’s letter summarizing the report changed their opinions of Trump, voters fell predictably along partisan lines.

View the complete March 26 article by Steven Shepard on the Politico website here.

Inside President Donald Trump’s two-year war on the investigations encircling him

An examination by the New York Times reveals the extent of the president’s sustained and secret assault on the machinery of federal law enforcement.

WASHINGTON – As federal prosecutors in Manhattan gathered evidence late last year about President Donald Trump’s role in silencing women with hush payments during the 2016 campaign, Trump called Matthew Whitaker, his newly installed attorney general, with a question. He asked whether Geoffrey S. Berman, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and a Trump ally, could be put in charge of the widening investigation, according to several U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the call.

Whitaker, who had privately told associates that part of his role at the Justice Department was to “jump on a grenade” for the president, knew he could not put Berman in charge because Berman had already recused himself from the investigation. The president soon soured on Whitaker, as he often does with his aides, and complained about his inability to pull levers at the Justice Department that could make the president’s many legal problems go away.

Trying to install a perceived loyalist atop a widening inquiry is a familiar tactic for Trump, who has been struggling to beat back the investigations that have consumed his presidency. His efforts have exposed him to accusations of obstruction of justice as Robert Mueller, the special counsel, finishes his work investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.

View the complete February 20 article by Mark Mazzetti, Maggie Haberman, Nicholas Fandos and Michael S. Schmidt of The New York Times on The Star Tribune website here.

Cohen postpones testimony, citing threats from Trump

Michael Cohen, the former attorney and “fixer” for President Trump who is now cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller, is postponing his planned congressional testimony next month, citing threats from Trump.

“Due to ongoing threats against his family from President Trump and Mr. Giuliani, as recently as this weekend, as well as Mr. Cohen’s continued cooperation with ongoing investigations, by advice of counsel, Mr. Cohen’s appearance will be postponed to a later date,” Cohen’s legal adviser Lanny Davis said in a statement.

“Mr. Cohen wishes to thank Chairman Cummings for allowing him to appear before the House Oversight Committee and looks forward to testifying at the appropriate time. This is a time where Mr. Cohen had to put his family and their safety first.”

View the complete January 23 article by Tal Axelrod and Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

It Sure Looks Like Trump Obstructed Justice, Huh

A new report indicates that Trump obstructed justice to cover up interactions between his inner circle and Russia that occurred during the 2016 campaign. This report was based on accounts from multiple witnesses and documents, not on Cohen’s testimony. These are very serious charges and this report must be thoroughly investigated.

OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE: Trump reportedly directed his fixer Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign.

BuzzFeed: “President Donald Trump directed his longtime attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, according to two federal law enforcement officials involved in an investigation of the matter.”

TRUMP RECEIVED PERSONAL UPDATES: Trump received at least ten personal updates from Cohen on the progress of negotiations for a Trump Tower in Moscow and knew Cohen had talked to the Russian government.

BuzzFeed: “On the campaign trail, Trump vehemently denied having any business interests in Russia. But behind the scenes, he was pushing the Moscow project, which he hoped could bring his company profits in excess of $300 million. The two law enforcement sources said he had at least 10 face-to-face meetings with Cohen about the deal during the campaign. … Trump was even made aware that Cohen was speaking to Russian government officials about the deal.”

NOT A CASE OF HE SAID-HE SAID: The special counsel’s office is reportedly relying on multiple witnesses, emails, text messages, and other documents, not just on Cohen’s testimony.

BuzzFeed: “The special counsel’s office learned about Trump’s directive for Cohen to lie to Congress through interviews with multiple witnesses from the Trump Organization and internal company emails, text messages, and a cache of other documents. Cohen then acknowledged those instructions during his interviews with that office.”

MUST BE INVESTIGATED: Like any other interactions Trump has had with witnesses in the Russia investigation, this report must be thoroughly investigated. The special counsel’s office is doing just that, and House Democrats will too.

Washington Post: “Democrats in Congress vowed Friday to aggressively investigate a new report that President Trump personally directed his former attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about the president’s push for a Moscow real estate project ahead of the 2016 election.”

Trump’s latest tweets cross clear lines, experts say: Obstruction of justice and witness tampering

Several of Roger Stone’s longtime associates have been interviewed by the special counsel. The Post visited Stone, just as Mueller’s probe zeroes in on him. (Monica Akhtar, Erin Patrick O’Connor/The Washington Post)

President Trump took to Twitter Monday morning, haranguing special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and witnesses to his ongoing Russia investigation. His tweets have become a common morning occurrence, particularly in recent weeks. But legal experts are calling Monday’s missives a newsworthy development that amounts to evidence of obstructing justice.

Trump’s first statement went out after Michael Cohen, his former personal attorney who pleaded guilty last week for lying to Congress about the president’s real estate project in Russia. In his tweet, Trump alleged that Cohen lied to Mueller and called for a severe penalty, demanding that his former fixer “serve a full and complete sentence.”

After the overt attack on Cohen came a tweet encouraging Roger Stone, a longtime adviser to Trump, not to become a witness against him:

View the complete December 3 article by Deanna Paul on The Washington Post website here.