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?
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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Photo credit: IMDb (Rob Reiner)
Now please express your personal opinions by following the instructions above. And thank you for reading The Controversy.
Photo credit: IMDb (Rob Reiner)
Copyright 2018 Gary B.
Duglin and TheControversy.net. All Rights Reserved.
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