DONALD TRUMP IS HIS OWN WORST ENEMY

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     Donald Trump has cooked his own goose.  He need not wait to see if Michael Cohen, Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort or any of his other former sidekicks is going to cook it for him.  

     Trump does not know when to shut up.  It has been unmistakable in the past...and it was indisputable on Thursday, April 26th, 2018 in a live, telephone interview on Fox & Friends...that "The Donald" might as well come before the American people and confess to us all...that he is a big fat liar.

     In a rolling rant that probably would be going on to this very moment if the Fox hosts and network executives would have allowed him...Donald Trump admitted that "Michael (Cohen) would represent me, and represent me on some things.  He represented me like with this crazy Stormy Daniels deal, he represented me."

     Definitely...Trump is his own worst enemy.  He gets his jollies by hearing himself speak.  But then...that's what we get from a narcissist in The White House.

     However...Trump continues to put his foot in his mouth.  While aboard Air Force One on April 5th, reporters asked the following series of questions to America's "Liar-In-Chief"...which totally contradicts what he blabbed about on the Fox News Channel.

     Reporter:  "Did you know about the 130-thousand dollar payment to Stormy Daniels?"

     Trump:  "No.  No.  What else?"

     Reporter:  "Then why did Michael Cohen make it, if there was no truth to allegations?"

     Trump:  "Well, you'll have to ask Michael Cohen.  Michael is my attorney.  And you'll have to ask Michael."

     Reporter:  "Do you know where he got the money to make that payment?"

     Trump:  "No, I don't know."

     Reporter:  "Did you ever set up a fund of money that he could draw from?"

     That question Trump did not answer.

     Michael Cohen has never denied preparing a non-disclosure agreement with adult film actress Stormy Daniels, which was intended to guarantee her silence about an alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Donald Trump.  Cohen has acknowledged paying the porn star the aforementioned sum of money as part of a deal to keep her from telling anyone about what she claims was a one-night sexual fling with the current Oval Office occupant...which White House officials say Trump insists never happened.

     Anyone who has ever watched an episode of Perry Mason knows that a lawyer cannot bind a client in a legal transaction, or - for that matter - in anything that legally represents his client, unless first discussing it with said client.  But even if you're not a fan of any television shows that feature attorneys...it's not necessary for a person to hold a law degree to realize that a lawyer works for a client, not the other way around.  Therefore, it lacks credibility that Michael Cohen would have paid 130-thousand dollars of his own money to Daniels without advising Trump first...and without Trump agreeing to the payment.  Furthermore...it's not the slightest bit plausible that Cohen would shell out such a large amount of bucks from his own wallet without previously making an arrangement with Trump for the funds to be reimbursed.

     In addition...if Trump didn't even have an inkling of knowledge about the hush money...or about the non-disclosure agreement that he never signed...then why would Trump tweet on April 18th..."A sketch years later about a nonexistent man.  A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!"
   

     Stormy Daniels - whose real name is Stephanie Clifford - claims that in 2011, her life was threatened...allegedly by a Donald Trump henchman...who Daniels says was ordered by Trump or by someone associated with Trump. Daniels alleges that the "thug" - which is what her attorney Michael Avenatti has labeled him - approached her in a Las Vegas parking lot while she was with her infant daughter...and the unidentified man allegedly warned Daniels to keep her mouth shut about any affair with Trump or else she would suffer physical harm. Daniels told 60 Minutes correspondent Anderson Cooper in a CBS News broadcast on March 25th that "A guy walked up on me and said to me...'Leave Trump alone. Forget the story.'  And then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said... 'That's a beautiful little girl. It'd be a shame if something happened to her mom.'  And then he was gone."

     A composite sketch of the man who allegedly threatened Daniels was revealed by Daniels and Avenatti on the April 17th edition of ABC's The View.  Daniels told the program's hosts..."His face is burned in my memory."  It is the sketch of that man who Donald Trump refers to in the above tweet.  

     Query.  If Trump was clueless about the money that Michael Cohen admits to paying...and he was unaware of the non-disclosure agreement...then how would Trump know...or not know...whether there is any truth to someone threatening Stormy Daniels?  By tweeting that the man was "nonexistent" leads me to believe that he was indeed well-informed about everything going on between Cohen and Daniels.

     Stormy Daniels alleges that in July 2006 she had a one-time, romp-in-the-bed with Donald Trump.  That's less than four months after Melania Trump gave birth to the Trumps' son, Barron.  Meanwhile, Trump reportedly is suing Daniels, in excess of 20-million dollars, because he claims that by not remaining mum about a sexual relationship, Daniels is violating the non-disclosure agreement.  But if Trump denies such a tryst...then a non-disclosure agreement - especially one not signed by Trump - is worth nothing more than the paper it's written on.  It cannot be valid. 

     On April 9th, the FBI raided Michael Cohen's office, home and hotel suite...and agents reportedly seized documents which show that eleven days before the 2016 presidential election, Cohen paid Daniels that 130-thousand dollars...to buy her off and zip her lip.

     I'm waiting for Special Counsel Robert Mueller to possibly come forward with written proof - or perhaps even audio or video recordings - that Donald Trump knew about the payment to Stormy Daniels...that he directed Michael Cohen to pay it...and that he ordered to have someone threaten Daniels' life.

     Am I pointing the finger at Donald Trump for committing such crimes?  No, I am not.  I am merely stating a possible theory, not a fact.  It is not for me to make such an accusation so I dare not do that.  But I won't be surprised if that's what Mueller and the FBI discover after reviewing every morsel of documents from Cohen's premises.

     However...if it is proven - and I'm not insinuating that it definitely will be...or that it ever will be - but if physical evidence positively confirms that Donald Trump is guilty of the allegations against him...I am confident...that Congress - Democrats as well as Republicans - will impeach and remove him from office.  I wonder, though, if his supporters will call it "fake news"...and if they will still have his back and protest that Trump should remain in The White House.  Well...it'll be an effort in futility...but unfortunately...they probably will do it anyway.

     And that's The Controversy for today.

     I'm Gary B. Duglin.

     "We'll talk again."

The Controversy is a publication of GBD Productions.  Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Controversy is Gary B. Duglin.

Now please express your personal opinions by following the instructions above.  And thank you for reading The Controversy.

Photo credit:  CBS News/60Minutes/Associated Press/CNN (Anderson Cooper interviewing Stormy Daniels)

Copyright 2018 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net.  All Rights Reserved.

A PAIR OF MICHAELS AND A MUELLER WILL TRUMP A TRUMP

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DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTERS NEED TO WAKE UP, JUMP SHIP, AND KNOCK HIM OFF HIS PEDESTAL. OR ELSE...DON'T BE SHOCKED WHEN ROBERT MUELLER AND CONGRESS TAKE HIM DOWN.

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     Query?  Does television executive producer Mark Burnett want a royalty from Donald Trump, as the current Oval Office occupant uses The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice format - which Burnett created - to run his administration?  Of course I jest about any compensation from Trump to Burnett.  But since "The Donald" - about every other week, on average, since his inauguration - has been using his catch phrase, "You're fired"...which he made famous during the NBC reality shows...there's an obvious appearance that Trump is running the Executive Branch of our federal government as if he was still hosting his two TV series.  I wonder if he viciously snarls and points his finger at his White House victims when he terminates their employment, as he did when he fired contestants on his programs.

     Trump has got to be scared stiff that some of the people he fired are being questioned by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.  And I'm confident that many of those individuals are bound to spill the beans and throw Trump under the bus in order to save their own skins.

     On January 23rd, 2016...Donald Trump bragged - at a rally in Iowa - about his popularity during the presidential campaign.  Trump boasted that if he shot a person on a crowded New York City street, it wouldn't affect his support.  "I have the most loyal people...where I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any voters."

     But loyalty only goes so far.  Trump's approval rating is the lowest of any American president in U.S. history at this point in a first term.  And although Trump hasn't actually fired a gun at anyone on a Manhattan roadway, I can guarantee you...if he ever did shoot anyone...anywhere...he'd not only lose voters...he'd lose his presidency...and his life.

     Trump fans need to stop worshiping him.  They need to wake up, jump ship, and knock him off his pedestal.  Otherwise, they are going to be shocked to the core when Special Counsel Mueller and Congress take him down.  

     Donald Trump - because of an Electoral College system that should be abolished - is officially the President of the United States.  But he certainly does not, in any way, act like any American president in U.S. history.  One example...Trump slammed a former FBI Director on Friday, April 13th, 2018 by calling him a "slimeball."  Now I have no affection whatsoever for James Comey.  As do most Democrats, I blame him for Hillary Clinton not winning the 2016 election.  Comey's infamous letter to Congress - eleven days before voters went to the polls - unfairly jeopardized Mrs. Clinton's chance at being elected our nation's first woman president.  Without Comey's letter, there is no doubt in my mind that the former Secretary of State would be sitting behind The Oval Office desk.  Instead, we suffer day after day with a president who is incompetent and incapable of governing our country.  In an exclusive interview with ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos - which aired on Sunday, April 15th - Comey was blunt and to the point.  "Our president must embody respect and adhere to the values that are at the core of this country.  The most important being truth.  This president is not able to do that."  

     Long before the election, I wrote that Donald Trump would be "unfit to be president."  I later wrote that he is "mentally unfit to be president."  But in his interview on ABC...Comey went one step further and labeled Trump..."morally unfit to be president."  Anyone who could...and would...make the statements Trump made about women in the Access Hollywood video...anyone who could...and would...mock a disabled reporter, as Trump did during the presidential campaign...and anyone who could...and would...offend Gold Star parents...among venomous insults towards others...is indeed "morally unfit to be president."  But voters were fully aware of what I noted above BEFORE they pulled the levers to elect Trump.  So let's lay the cards on the table.  If a person agrees with a racist...then that person is also a racist. In the same vein...if an individual agrees with an immoral person...then that individual is also immoral.  About 63-million Americans cast their ballots for Donald Trump.  I guess our nation is jam-packed with about 63-million immoral people.

     As with his interview with George Stephanopoulos...James Comey, in his new autobiography - A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership - did not mince words. "This president is unethical, and untethered to truth and institutional values." Despite all that being said...I never - in all my years - thought I would ever hear a U.S. president use the word "slimeball" in a public forum.  But then...Trump has tweeted and uttered other disparaging words that no other president would have ever dreamed of letting roll of his tongue...or off his fingers...so that everyone - including children - could hear or read.

     I certainly don't want anyone to think that I am painting a picture of praise for James Comey.  I will never forgive him for his destructive communication before the 2016 election.  However...that does not mean that I cannot agree with him when he speaks the truth about America's "Liar-In-Chief."  After all...Donald Trump wouldn't know how to be honest if Abe Lincoln himself told him he was lying.  So I do trust Comey about the conversations he claims to have had with Trump about "loyalty" and putting a stop to the Russia investigation.  In spite of that...I adamantly oppose Comey's decision to break from...and quite frankly, violate...Justice Department protocol by issuing the aforementioned letter to Congress...which became public. That unfounded demonstration before the election ultimately caused some Independents to vote for Trump instead of Hillary Clinton...and for some Democrats to simply stay home and not vote at all.

     Following George Stephanopoulos' interview with James Comey, I spoke with various Democrats who think Comey should have been charged with a crime for that letter to Congress.  What Comey did was not illegal...although his actions did go against the policies of the U.S. Justice Department.

     In August 2008, President George W. Bush's Attorney General, Michael Mukasey, issued an internal Justice Department memo that stated..."Simply put, politics must play no role in the decisions of federal investigators or prosecutors regarding any investigations or criminal charges.  Law enforcement officers and prosecutors may never select the timing of investigative steps or criminal charges for the purpose of affecting any election, or for the purpose of giving an advantage or disadvantage to any candidate or political party."  Therefore...the Department of Justice - which oversees the FBI - explicitly prohibits its employees from either interfering with an election...or giving the appearance of interfering with an election.  In March 2012, President Barack Obama's Attorney General, Eric Holder, sent the same memo to everyone who works at the Justice Department.  Thus...what then-FBI Director Comey did...in October 2016...was without question...wrong.  But he did not break any law.

     Meanwhile...a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll says that only 22 percent of Americans "strongly approve" of Donald Trump's performance.  So all other Trump voters need to come to the conclusion that he isn't ever going to be successful at the job he was elected to do.

     Throughout his campaign, Trump promised to achieve two primary goals if he became president...both of which, I have always written, he would never accomplish. First...Donald Trump will never be able to repeal and replace "Obamacare"...despite his insistence throughout the campaign that it is a "total disaster."  Oh sure...the Republican tax bill - which Congress passed in December 2017 and that Trump signed in to law - will unfortunately get rid of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate and thus cause premiums to rise...but the ACA is the law of the land...and it will remain so forever.  All that aside...President Obama would be the first person to acknowledge that the Affordable Care Act needs certain improvements.  However...it has provided health insurance to millions of Americans who would otherwise not have it.  And in his first State of the Union Address - on January 30th, 2018 - Donald Trump never even mentioned any further efforts to do away with "Obamacare," as it is obvious that the GOP on Capitol Hill won't be moving forward with any additional attempts to repeal and replace it.  And why?  Because it cannot be done...and it shouldn't be.

     Secondly, I am on the record - in column after column - since Trump initially proposed the idea nearly three years ago...that he will never build his border wall between the United States and Mexico.  It was a doomed project from the very start...and it will remain a failed plan for as long as Trump's name is on The White House letterhead.  I have been against such an insulting structure from day one.  It is not only cruel and heartless to Mexicans and Mexican-Americans...but it is disrespectful to everyone who's heritage is of a Latino or Hispanic ethnicity...or, for that matter...to everyone whose family is of a foreign background.  In other words... except for Native Americans...that's everybody.  Congress will never fund such an offensive monstrosity, which Trump insisted during the campaign would be paid for by Mexico.  But there'll be no pesos.  Still, Trump thinks he will, at some point, build such a wall.  For now, though, he wants National Guard troops to guard the border until a wall can be built.  But I repeat...the construction of such a project will never see the light of day.

     As for National Guard soldiers patrolling the border, the governors of all four bordering states needed to agree to such a plan.  A small contingent of National Guard troops have already begun their duties along the U.S./Mexico border.  The Republican governors of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas have deployed six-hundred-thirty military members to the border, so far, with another eight-hundred-seventy expected to receive similar orders.  But Donald Trump and Defense Secretary James Mattis want up to four-thousand troops to patrol our southern border. As for California...Democratic Governor Jerry Brown - who has butted heads with Trump over immigration - stated in an April 11th letter to Secretary Mattis and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen - that he "will accept federal funding to add approximately four hundred Guard members statewide to supplement the staffing of its ongoing program to combat transnational crime."  But Brown wants to be "crystal clear" that "this will not be a mission to build a new wall.  It will not be a mission to round up women and children or detain people escaping violence and seeking a better life.  And the California National Guard will not be enforcing federal immigration laws." Governor Brown already has fifty-five soldiers from his state's National Guard on the California-Mexico border to "target transnational criminal gangs, human traffickers, and illegal firearm and drug smugglers."  About one-hundred-ninety-five other Guard members "support operations" along "the coast and throughout the state" in an effort to accomplish the same objectives.  Brown says "combating these criminal threats are priorities for all Americans...Republicans and Democrats."  Federal law does not allow National Guard troops to arrest people who illegally cross the border.  Only the Border Patrol can do that.  National Guard members, from any state, will be limited to observing and reporting activity.

     As for actually building a wall...when are Donald Trump's cheerleaders going to realize that he is nothing but a phony who has pulled the wool over their eyes?  I think Trump knew from the get-go that he would never construct a wall.  But to those Americans who seemed to fall in line with Trump's racist thinking, a wall sounded like the perfect way, during the campaign, to persuade those voters to leap on to his xenophobic and bigoted bandwagon.  Let me remind everyone that Trump has tweeted over and over again...and he has talked a blue streak...that the American free press - except for Fox News Channel - reports nothing but "fake news."  Let's face it...the only thing "fake"...is Donald Trump.  If Republicans only realized that before they made him their nominee in July 2016...and then elected him president in November...our nation wouldn't be in turmoil today with a White House in chaos and a country on the verge of a constitutional crisis.

     
     Donald Trump only cares about Donald Trump.  His narcissism doesn't permit him to be loyal to anybody, but himself.  However, to those of you who did cast your ballots for Trump - nearly eighteen months ago - and who continue to root for him...he fooled all of you big time.  So I ask you...when are you going to stop letting him do that?

     And that's The Controversy for today.

     I'm Gary B. Duglin.

     "We'll talk again."

The Controversy is a publication of GBD Productions.  Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Controversy is Gary B. Duglin.

Now please express your personal opinions by following the instructions above.  And thank you for reading The Controversy.

Photo credit:  Mark Burnett Productions/NBC/LADbible (Donald Trump on The Celebrity Apprentice)

Copyright 2018 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net.  All Rights Reserved.

THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE 2019 STARRING DONALD TRUMP AND FRIENDS...LIVE FROM SAN QUENTIN

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     I really hadn't planned on devoting today's column to Donald Trump's continued lunacy...but as the days, weeks and months go by, Trump proves more and more to be so disturbing that I wish we lived in the era of Star Trek so I could be "beamed up" to the Enterprise for the next eight and a half months until the Democrats regain control of the House of Representatives - which I believe they will...along with probably the Senate too - and impeachment proceedings begin.  That way I could avoid hearing America's "Liar-In-Chief" - as I labeled him more than a year ago - tell more falsehoods than a Pinocchio puppet.  Furthermore...from outer space, I wouldn't have to sound like a Pepto-Bismol television commercial after listening to the repulsive White House Press Secretary who gives me "nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea" - along with headaches - as she regurgitates Trump's venomous vomit all over the Press Corps and - via the airwaves and cable systems - all over our nation.

     The Trump Administration is jam-packed with so much evil and corruption that Trump and his crooked cronies make "Boss" Tweed look like a shoplifter.

     In his new book, former FBI Director James Comey calls Donald Trump "unethical" and "untethered to truth and institutional values."  Comey's memoir describes Trump as an American president who lives in "a cocoon of alternative reality."  Also in his autobiography - A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership - Comey paints Trump as an innate liar.  "We are experiencing a dangerous time in our country, with a political environment where basic facts are disputed, fundamental truth is questioned, lying is normalized and unethical behavior is ignored, excused or rewarded."

     Regular readers of The Controversy are likely to recall that I have, in the past, compared Donald Trump to Marlon Brando's character in The Godfather.  Meanwhile, James Comey writes that Trump acts as if he was cast as a mafia kingpin and not as someone who was elected President of the United States.  The former FBI chief says that when communicating with Trump, it gave him "flashbacks to my earlier career as a prosecutor against the Mob." 

     Let us all remember that on May 11th, 2017...in a nationally televised interview with NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt...Donald Trump - in essence - admitted... or, if you will, confessed...that he fired Comey as the FBI's top cop...in his attempt to end the Russia investigation...a probe that Comey led.  It was essential with Comey - as it is now with Special Counsel Robert Mueller - that Americans must know definitively whether there is evidence to prove that the Trump campaign...and/or Donald Trump himself...colluded with Russia in a conspiracy to interfere in our 2016 presidential election.  That investigation, of course, still continues...but I am confident...that Mueller will eventually put the pieces of the puzzle together...to corroborate that certain members of the Trump campaign - and more than likely Trump too - did indeed collaborate with Russia...and that Trump has spent the last fifteen months - since his inauguration - ordering a cover-up of such a conspiracy. And therefore...Trump would be guilty of obstruction of justice for giving Comey his walking papers.

     As I have penned in earlier columns...if Trump takes steps to somehow fire Special Counsel Mueller, it will be a fast-track to Trump's eviction from The White House.  Count on impeachment hearings to start as soon as Trump echoes his catchphrase from his television reality show, The Apprentice.  But most legal experts insist that Trump cannot be the one to say to Mueller..."You're fired!"  Only the head of the Justice Department can do that.  And since Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from anything connected to the Russia investigation, it would be the sole responsibility of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to actually give the boot to Mueller, which he will not do.  But Trump has hinted recently that he might fire Rosenstein.  "The Donald" has reportedly been like a bull in a china shop following the FBI's raid on the offices and home of Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, on Monday, April 9th, 2018...which Rosenstein signed off on.  Were he to fire Rosenstein, Trump would obviously nominate someone loyal to him who would agree in advance to terminate Mueller.  But even many Congressional Republicans have indicated that if Trump was to get rid of Rosenstein...that would be one more nail in Trump's political coffin and he could kiss The Oval Office goodbye.  Most legal scholars say Trump doesn't have a legitimate reason to lawfully dismiss Rosenstein. Plus...before any new Deputy Attorney General could do anything, he or she would need to be confirmed by the Senate, which would quite possibly be difficult to do because - under new rules - just a simple majority is necessary.  Therefore, Democrats would only need two Republicans to jump on their bandwagon for a 51 to 49 victory to not confirm a new Deputy A.G.  Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer cautioned Trump to tread lightly.  From the Senate chamber on Capitol Hill, the New York Democrat on Tuesday, April 10th issued a strong statement to Trump that "any attempt to remove Rod J. Rosenstein will create the exact same constitutional crisis as if you fired Special Counsel Mueller."  Such action by Trump would be another example of obstruction of justice.

     Writer Michael DiGaetano of New York City is someone I have quoted in the past...and I do so again today.  In a Facebook posting on April 10th, Mike wrote... "Looking forward to Celebrity Apprentice 2019...live from San Quentin."

     A priceless line like that...I wouldn't even attempt to top.

     And that's The Controversy for today.

     I'm Gary B. Duglin.

     "We'll talk again."

The Controversy is a publication of GBD Productions.  Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Controversy is Gary B. Duglin.

Now please express your personal opinions by following the instructions above.  And thank you for reading The Controversy.

Copyright 2018 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net.  All Rights Reserved.

"THE TRUMP TRAIN IS STARTING TO DERAIL"

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     For more than a year, Donald Trump has bragged that he personally is not under investigation by the Justice Department.  Well guess what, Donald...you're under investigation.     

     The Washington Post's Carol D. Leonnig and Robert Costa reported on Tuesday, April 3rd, 2018 that Special Counsel Robert Mueller informed Trump's attorneys last month that Trump is, in fact, being "investigate(d)" but that Mueller "does not consider him a criminal target at this point, according to three people familiar with the discussions."  However, The Washington Post says that "Mueller described Trump as a subject of the investigation in to Russia's interference in the 2016 election. Prosecutors view someone as a subject when that person has engaged in conduct that is under investigation but there is not sufficient evidence to bring charges."

     The way I read Leonnig's and Costa's well-worded article, the operative words are..."at this point" Trump is not a criminal target.  Therefore...Trump is still trapped in a cauldron of hot water, but it's not yet come to a boil.  To my thinking...by the time Mueller has completed his probe, that pot of hot water will be bubbling over and Trump will be boiled to a fully-burned, orange-haired blister.

     Donald Trump may not publicly express that he's soiling his underpants as a result of nervousness and fear that Mueller is going to dig up all the dirt necessary to bury his presidency, but if Trump truly is not scared stiff then he is not only a "moron" but a first-class fool.  You may recall in October 2017, NBC News broke the story in an exclusive report that now-former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson allegedly called Trump a "moron" or perhaps a "f---ing moron" and that Tillerson threatened to resign. Tillerson denied that he used such words about Trump and labeled it "petty nonsense."  NBC News reported it was Vice President Mike Pence who twisted Tillerson's arm to stay on...while Tillerson claimed Pence "never had to persuade" him not to resign...that he had no thoughts of quitting.  Of course, five months later - on March 13th, 2018 - Trump fired Tillerson.

     To date, it appears obvious that evidence is mounting against Donald Trump that will likely bring down the second U.S. presidency in less than half a century.  Special Counsel Mueller will - I believe - eventually be the key to get rid of Trump...so a final White House exit out the front door is inevitable long before Trump's term is scheduled to end on January 20th, 2021.

     Whether it's Donald Trump or anyone else who sits behind The Oval Office desk, the President of the United States is not in any way above the law.  Although it appears as if Trump thinks that he is...nobody is above the law.  Everyone is bound by the U.S. Constitution and not even the President is permitted to do what he wants when breaking the law is part of such action.

     Conspiracy and/or collaboration with a foreign government...with the intention to interfere and influence the outcome of a presidential election...is indeed a crime. When Republicans say it is not...they are wrong.  Therefore, if Mueller discovers definitive evidence to prove that Trump coordinated such an unlawful act then Trump will be forced to resign the presidency.  As I have written in many earlier columns, Donald Trump will never put himself through impeachment hearings by the House of Representatives, followed by a conviction and removal from office by the Senate.  Before he would let any of that happen, Trump and his narcissism would tell Capitol Hill...all of Washington, DC...and the entire country...to go to hell.

     But as I also wrote in an earlier commentary...Trump may end up taking a hike if it can be proved that he paid Stormy Daniels 130-thousand dollars - eleven days before the 2016 presidential election - to keep the porn star's mouth shut about an alleged one-night sexual fling with Trump in 2006.  If that money is determined to be a violation of campaign finance laws - because the most any candidate can receive as a political contribution from one person is 27-hundred dollars - then Special Counsel Mueller could add that illegal behavior to his case that Trump broke the law. Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, has been up front that the funds paid to Daniels were from his own wallet.  And on Thursday, April 5th, Trump told Catherine Lucey of the Associated Press that he was unaware of the payment that Cohen paid to Stormy Daniels.  Trump also claims that he did not know the source of the money. But when asked whether he set up an account that Cohen could draw funds from... Trump wouldn't answer.  

      Stormy Daniels - whose real name is Stephanie Clifford - signed a non-disclosure agreement when she received the money from Cohen. Donald Trump never signed the document.  So here's the bottom line - part of which I contended in an earlier editorial.  If Trump didn't know about the non-disclosure agreement...and if he now wants us to believe that he had nothing to do with the hush money to Daniels...then I don't think one has to be a Philadelphia lawyer to figure out that the non-disclosure agreement should be considered null and void.  And if that contract is invalidated... then Stormy Daniels should legally be allowed to tell her story to the press...in a book...for a Hollywood movie screenplay...or to anyone in the worldwide public. Meanwhile, Trump denies ever having a sexual affair with Daniels...which she says happened not too long after Trump's wife, Melania, gave birth to their son, Barron.   

     But let's go back to the Russia investigation.  I am thoroughly convinced that Trump has had his hand firmly interlocked with Russian President Vladimir Putin's - at the very least - after the initial idea to interfere in our election was arranged.  But let's - for argument sake - say that Trump did not plan or participate in Russia's meddling...but that he has orchestrated a cover-up...then that too is a crime. Richard Nixon resigned his presidency after he had manipulated and maneuvered the Watergate cover-up.  

     Let us never forget that Trump's oldest son - Donald Trump, Jr. - was out to get...what he expected to be...damaging information on Hillary Clinton in a June 2016 New York City Trump Tower meeting with Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort and a Russian lawyer.  Trump, Jr. had been told in an e-mail from Rob Goldstone, a Trump family associate who also attended the meeting, that such a gathering could result in getting "dirt" on Mrs. Clinton.  Of course there was no "dirt" then and there is no "dirt" now that could be gotten on the former Secretary of State.  Nevertheless, the proposed encounter intrigued Trump, Jr. to where he responded to Goldstone's e-mail with the phrase..."I love it." The Associated Press, in July 2017, reported that at least eight people were present at the meeting including a Russian-American lobbyist, an interpreter and one other person.  If there is anyone on this planet who honestly thinks that Donald Trump, Jr. and Jared Kushner did not tell "Daddy Donald" about the meeting - either before or after it - then I've got a bridge to sell you.

     Donald Trump is hiding from the truth.  After all...Trump - in essence - admitted to NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt - in a nationally televised interview - that he fired James Comey as FBI Director to put the brakes on the Russia investigation. That - according to most legal scholars - is obstruction of justice.  As former U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg told Brian Williams on his MSNBC broadcast, The 11th Hour, on March 7th, 2018..."The attempt" to obstruct justice is enough to "trigger the statute."

     What more do Republicans nationwide need to know that will convince them that Donald Trump is involved - in some way - with a Russian conspiracy...and that he obstructed justice by giving Comey his pink slip?  When will Republicans realize that Donald Trump - and just about his entire administration - are corrupt...in a White House that is in chaos?  And when will the cowardly Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and the yellow-bellied Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell - along with other GOP leaders - grow some balls and crawl out from under their rocks to put our country ahead of their political party? 

     Acclaimed actor and director Rob Reiner writes some of the best tweets about Donald Trump and his destructive presidency.  There are more recent ones that deserve applause, but Rob tweeted one on February 28th, 2018 that I particularly embrace and it's applicable to this column.  "The Trump train is starting to derail.  The ship of state is taking on water.  Storm clouds are gathering over the WH (White House).  Whatever metaphor you want to use, this guy is f---ed.  GOP might want to recalculate."

     Ya gotta love Rob Reiner.

     And that's The Controversy for today.

     I'm Gary B. Duglin.

     "We'll talk again."
  

The Controversy is a publication of GBD Productions.  Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Controversy is Gary B. Duglin.

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