If you want an unfiltered look at what is important to Trump, read the article about the resignation of the ambassador to Panama.
Even after all the lies and chaos of the past year, I was shocked to read in The New Yorker Ambassador Feeley's account of his interview with Trump. Not sure which was worse--his ignorance or the final focus on his hotel:
'Trump asked, “So tell me—what do we get from Panama? What’s in it for us?” Feeley presented a litany of benefits: help with counter-narcotics work and migration control, commercial efforts linked to the Panama Canal, a close relationship with the current President, Juan Carlos Varela. When he finished, Trump chuckled and said, “Who knew?” He then turned the conversation to the Trump International Hotel and Tower, in Panama City. “How about the hotel?” he said. “We still have the tallest building on the skyline down there?”'
10
The Trump Administration has proven one thing. We need a better system of separation between the executive and judicial branches of our government. Perhaps we should elect our Attorney Generals at a national level, like most states, rather than have them appointed by the POTUS.
It is clear that having the Fox in charge of the Chicken House doesn't work.
4
I comment as a friend of the USA having travelled there for business and please over many decades. From a country far away what is visibly happening in your politics appears dangerous deep and malignant. The Trump POTUS is a direct threat to your democracy and a direct threat to a global order that has us served reasonably well for well over a half century. There is so much danger in so many Trump policies and positions it's hard to know where to start.
Aside from the diseases attacking US body politic there is also the question of the state of mental health of your once great nation. I refer to your gun culture, the NRA, right wing ascendancy et al. The facts about the insanity that is US gun culture are indisputable. That nothing can be done about the ever growing toll of dead and wounded Americans - being attacked by fellow citizens - is simply unfathomable.
I see a United States losing moral authority and global influence at a rapid rate. The Trump presidency is a daily unfolding catastrophe that needs to brought to an end sooner than later. It may well be that it is already too late to come back from this abyss.
12
I just wonder who in the American Government or establishment would stand against Mr. Trump if he declared martial law or some other form of dictatorial rule. He is already musing on president for life. He now seems to be making a case to discredit all government leaving only himself in charge. Well I suppose the guardians of the people, the House of Representatives and the Senate will stand up to him at some point. I mean they will won't they? Wake up America, you are much further down the road to one man rule than you think you are.
5
It should be obvious by now that Trump expects that he can continually arouse his devotee crowds as counters to any of the Mueller-led Special Counsel investigation findings. And, of course, the GOP-led Congress, with the uncontrolled Trump toady Nunes in the lead, and with McConnell placing barriers to our history of laws, will do all it can to kick over the traditions of legal or constitutional barriers that they're already ignoring.
Of course, with the evidence of Trump's crowd-frenzied-incitements, supported by unchecked Russian tampering, the probability of efforts to disrupt the 2018 and then the 2020 elections is quite high. A government of laws, not men? Maybe.
So, with our expectations of legal and electoral protections being stripped away, what then?
5
Little by little, day in day out, democracy gets worn away by relentless greed and ego. Nixon couldn't have gotten away with this, but Trump can and will. The line gets drawn, and crossed (but only by a little bit) day after day. We are frogs in the frying pan, and we're more than half cooked. We depend on congress to know when it's time to jump, and it isn't looking good.
7
The smell coming from Washington is overpowering.
4
Rather than a direct assault as Tricky Dick did and ended his presidency with efficiency, DJT is trying the "death by a thousand cuts" approach to ending the investigation into his nefarious dealings with foreign powers, etc., etc. In the end this brings us all down, our government will have a hard time recovering what little integrity it had left.
4
Even democracy can apparently produce a monster of tyranny. We have never been more medieval. Trump seems to think the president's power's make him a king. Even if he is that delusional, though, the GOP who are enabling him in congress aren't deluded; they are merely boot-licking, and it's our sacred duty to the country, to turn as many of them out of office as we possibly can, and then go on to the project of bringing ourselves back into the 21st century . . .
6
Maybe the Obamas will produce a show for netflix about how Barry ordered Loretta Lynch to order Comey to open the Russia-Trump collusion investigation before anyone knew Russia had done anything. And then how Barry sat on the info that Russia might have been responsible for hacking the DNC just on on the off chance HRC lost and he needed the Russia-Trump collusion deal to undermine his successor and save his legacy. That's episode 1 -- in Saint Barry ain't never done bad unless it was for a good cause. By Barrack Obama.
In episode 2 Barry gets his minions at the FBI and elsewhere to spy on Trump the candidate -- and Trump's team. What fun and intrigue.
Then -- in episode 3, Barry explains how he got the intel community to swear it was the Russians who fooled with our election, at Putin's direction to help Trump win. All in a couple of months when we usually take years to figure out what Russia is up to and then we usually get it wrong. Go Barry GO.
In episode 4 Barry will relate how he orchestrated leaks from the Trump WH and generally worked to undermine the Trump presidency.
in Episodes 5 and 6 the new special investigator tracks the source of the Trump-Russia collusion investigation to the OBAMA WH. Then Barry and HRC and Comey and a whole bunch of other otherwise good folks go to jail. Charged with acting out on their Trump derangement syndrome.
THE END.
I prefer biography to fiction. Trump goes to prison for conspiracy and bribery.
8
I am not a lawyer, however, it seems to me providing information to a subject of an investigation prior to trial and the discovery process, sets precedents that have ramifications with respect prosecuting future cases. Aside from that, it i a sure thing Trump and his cronies will misconstrue whatever they learn, especially given his choice of Nunes and Goudy. Nunes has shown he is a lackey for Trump while Goudy waffles. Why is the rest of the GOP
sitting by? If supposedly they stand by Mueller and his investigation they should be moved to action under the current circumstances or there will be no doubt they have earned the label being pinned on them. They are all self-serving and "corrupt'.
3
Let's not forget, Donald Trump is, in a sense, the spawn of one of the most despicable men in US history, Roy Cohn. He learned well from him. If this country allows Trump and the republicans who support him to get away with their destructive behavior, Freedom and Democracy as we know it is over. Alarmist? Maybe, but to me, Trump [and the current republican party] presents "a clear and present danger."
5
Maybe I am seeing it wrong; but, I keep thinking about the Magna Carta, the first chink in the king's armor. And, then the US "experiment" to supplant the king with the people, who must vote, vote, vote. Does this man have any decency left to see that he is messing with these concepts. That he must answer to the people, not have "his" justice department do "his" bidding for him?
2
If trump claims to be innocent, then maybe he should *start acting like an innocent man*. Answer Mueller's questions. Heck even publicly testify before Congress! Like Hillary did for 11 straight hours. Something tells me that after about 2 hours of questioning trump would either storm out or become increasingly emotionally unhinged. More than he already is.
5
Unfortunately, the gentlemen who created this great country could not have imagined that a politician could gain power by spewing lies, half truths and innuendo because the good faith of the electorate combined with the checks and balances would prevent that from happening. They could not imagine that aware and informed people would support such a failed individual. One thing they failed to see was that the religious conservatives would support a conniving representative who advanced their collective ideologies at the expense of democracy. Their love of a Christian caliphate is barely discernible from the Muslims'.
7
"Good morning, class. On behalf of the free world, I would to welcome you to "How To Keep Your Security Clearance and Not Go To Jail. Day 1, Lesson 1, Power Point Slide 1."
"Do not put classified material on your personal server. Do not back up classified material to someone's porno portal. Simply removing the word "CLASSIFIED" from the material does not make it unclassified. If you see a capitol "C" at the top and bottom of the page, it means that page and usually the entire document is classified. If you are caught with classified material on a "home brew" setup, you will be arrested. You will be charged with a felony. You will be convicted and sent to prison. No one is above the law. Any questions?"
"You, in the back, with the Chairman Mao suit, what is your question?"
"What if I didn't intend to commit a felony, would I still be in trouble?"
"No. If you do not intend to commit a felony, no reasonable prosecutor would charge you with a crime."
It is getting difficult even for such savants as the Editorial Board to find some new way to communicate the full criminality of the President. And you seem to be preaching to the choir. But, don;t stop.
1
May 22, 2018
With friends like that ,who needs enemies – blatant cast of characters offering to defend, protect, or in fact themselves from collateral damage in endless questionable actions in Trump’s campaign to win the presidency. Yet unless his sorted historical activities are properly litigated the entire election process is debased and polluted by wrongheaded aggression and indeed subject to the courts to resolve – non to soon to know who is or are to be held to justice.
Jja Manhattan, N.Y.
1
Cartoonish Quotes from the Civil Activist in Chief:
"You can keep your doctor."
"You didn't earn that!"
"Dark Money!"
Yet the NYT EB drooled all over themselves with each quote from The One.
2
“This self-interested assault is doing incalculable damage to the integrity of the American law enforcement.”
In whose eyes? Since the summer of 2016 there have been near constant seismic shock waves turning what was already a rift over American identity and politics into a chasm. One side still believes in the integrity of our institutions and is anxiously waiting for the results of the many on-going investigations to inform our reactions to what is happening and where we go from here. My fear is that the other side will never fully submit even in the face of overwhelming evidence claiming any impropriety, regardless the source.
My point is, that damage has already been done.
2
A strange mixture of fact and opinion spun to make a web around Donald Trump, when it would be just as easy to spin the facts the other way to entrap the Obama administration.
First, the idea that the Vladimir Putin set the Russians on to help Donald Trump win the election is opinion, not fact. There is nothing to support that idea that would stand up in a court of law.
Indeed, the most mischief the Russians caused was its disinformation campaign run through Christopher Steele. A sophisticated and experienced man, Steele was completely fooled by the story the Russians told him. While it is possible that was all independently concocted by those who talked to him, it's much more likely that it was disinformation coordinated by the government.
If so, that campaign worked much better than anyone could have hoped for. The US government has been in turmoil for the whole of Donald Trump's presidency. Vladimir Putin must smile when he thinks about it.
3
Well, the CIA, FBI, and NSA all supplied the intelligence for the report that Putin tried to influence the US elections, and in January Trump agreed with them.
Sure, they could all be lying. But while there may not be enough evidence to stand up in court, there certainly is enough to consider that the report is factual.
At any rate, establishing what is the truth of the matter is the the whole point of Mueller's investigation.
4
and it may end it being spun around to the truth, that the Obama admin was up to no good.
The Wall Street Journal is a superb paper, and its board is a necessary defender of free markets and American power in the world, one which is often quite adept at making cogent, convincing arguments therefor. But it is vital for the educated, print-paper-readers among Republican voters to be informed about what transpired with Trump's campaign and Russia (and pretty much anyone willing to offer help and money), and about the investigations into such actions. And on that front, The Journal is disgracing itself. Reading the opinion pages there, one comes away with the impression -- nay, with the certainty -- that the real scandal is Obama-administration spying, FBI lying, "deep state" nefariousness, and subsequent cover-ups.
The Journal devotes very little time to the scandals of this presidency and has nearly become but a more sophisticated version of Fox News in its defense of Trump. What Trump's campaign did and did not do, and how he has behaved in office, is of utmost importance to the country that the paper seeks to enlighten; and I say it should be ashamed of itself. (And I still think Kimberley Strassel would do well to acquire a good psychiatrist.)
5
The WSJ EB and opinion columnists are about a light year ahead of the NY Times and several units of candle power brighter as well. They've got this one nailed. It's the Obama admin that behaved badly, not Trump. Barry and Michelle better translate their public service into big bucks quickly (following the Clinton's) before the new sheriff in town comes knocking on their door with subpoenas and indictments.
This is most likely because as of about 5 years ago, the WSJ and Fox News have the same owner.
2
When the Trump campaign was told about nefarious Russian efforts, they already knew.
"Those are our people. We're not worried about them."
Trump is on the ropes right now. The counter allegations are steadily increasing in ludicrousness. You can smell the desperation.
But I see the hand of Bannon heavily at work here. It was Bannon who wanted everything torn down. And that's exactly what's going on.
Trump is attacking his own government. Let that sink in.
10
"Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress compound their shame daily, either by standing by in silence or by working actively with the White House and conservative media..."
Can we stop calling Fox and rabid talk radio shows "conservative media"? There's nothing "conservative" about the values they are championing. Conservative used to mean frugal, self-reliant, upright, family-value oriented, and patriotic. Maybe right-wing or shameless media would be more appropriate.
9
June, 1994:
I hereby demand that the pair of leather gloves seized by the LAPD be returned immediately. They were a gift from my wife.
O.J. Simpson
2
NOW IS THE TIME FOR ALL GOOD MEN (& WOMEN) TO COME TO THE AID OF THEIR COUNTRY.
5
Yes, Dan -- to ensure that the deep state doesn't undermine our sitting president and to ensure that the FBI and DOJ are cleaned up and will never interfere in one of our elections again.
This is way too complicated! Too many rules! Here's all I need to know - whatever Trump tells me. Who the heck doesn't get that?! So many wasted words. Good thing I didn't read 'em anyway.
I don't deny there may be genuine and sincere patriots who are informed and who support President Trump. To you - are you okay with what Trump is doing here? If so, what is your reasoning?
1
Sadly, our White House has been diminished to the Tweet House.
3
Stand up, America, to protect ourselves from abuse of power. We must stand up against injustice and moral corruption of Trump.
4
And, yet, despite all these arguments it's still not acceptable to have put a spy into an opponents' campaign. That's the part that eludes Trump's critics. Heaping criticism on him doesn't change the problem with Obama's team's behavior.
Who, according to you, was the Obama spy in Trump's campaign?
I see no evidence of that.
This is just an excuse for the EB and trump deranged commentariat to bash Trump.
We know there was a lot of anti-Trump activity at the FBI in 2016. There's no question about this. We need to know exactly what happened. What started the investigation -- why they obtained the FICA warrant, was their spying, etc.
If (and there's a lot of smoke here, and some flames) the FBI misbehaved and used their office(S) to try and put their thumb on the election scales -- that is a bigger threat to our democracy than someone hacking a few e-mails and making a few posts on facebook. We can handle attempts by foreign entities to sway voters -- but an agency (or perhaps agencies) attempting to swing an election -- that's 3rd world.
1
The GOP is willing to give the Trump Administration a free pass and/or protection while behind the scenes government agencies are being dismantled and the public is being handed daily evidence of why a President should not be given a lot of power. The perfect scenery for a stage set for "...drowning government in a bathtub".
And the audience watches, mostly, in terror that the slow-motion destruction will have no one brave enough to intervene before death takes us all over.
3
Call not only your congressman/woman but the other party's . Let the Senators of both parties know - Republicans and Democrats alike. Stop this so-called president's destruction of everything we hold dear.
2
Will the Republicans -- particularly those in the House, facing elections in a few months -- ever find their spines? Their sycophantic loyalty to Trump is astonishing. Leaving aside, as they clearly do, the oath they all swore to uphold the Constitution, in terms of their self interest alone, it makes no sense. We've seen elections in several districts Trump won turn over to Democrats. Isn't it obvious to these craven people that being tied to Trump is not a key to election victory?
2
May they continue to worship Trump, and lose.
1
I believe that Dir. Wray and Deputy Atty. General Rosenstein are trying to forestall a frontal assault from this president and are trying to balance the needs of their organizations against the pounding fists at the White House and House Intel GOP leaders. The end game is protecting the Mueller investigation and to that end, both Wray and Rosenstein must remain in their positions.
Yes, our Justice Dept. is dying the death of 1000 cuts. I fear that when the next terrorist incident happens (here or elsewhere), the intel agencies of other nations will hold back information from us because we may leak it (as we did with the concert bombing in England) or won't speak with us to give us a heads-up, as Christopher Steele did, because that, too, will be leaked or misused. The long, corrupt, venal arm of this president will have degraded everything he touches, including our law enforcement.
Please hang in there, Mr. Rosenstein--you are critically important. And Trump understands this.
2
Can someone please tell me why people are so afraid of Trump? What does he have on all those soulless Republican representatives and Senators that they appear too afraid to take a moral stand against him? Do they really believe that he is a competent, ethical, and qualified president, or does he have something on them that makes them paralyzed with terror to act with conscience? Why does the media feel they have to give equal time to his sycophants and surrogates? Isn't it enough that Fox News spews out a continuous stream of lies and that the White House staff twists themselves into pretzels trying to back up his outrageous tweets and behaviors? I am so tired of the media trying to be fair and trying to figure out what the "real" meaning of his behavior is. The bottom line is, we have a thug in the WH...he uses mafia tactics to try to muscle anyone who is against him into submission. He has attacked the very fiber of American norms and values and now he is attacking his very own Justice Department and intelligence agency. Seriously? And we are okay with that? If the Democrats don't come out in droves in November to win back the house, Americans can forget about singing the last stanza in the National Anthem...O'er the land of the free...and the home of the brave.
7
Considering Republicans' fear of standing up to Trump, I'm beginning to wonder if Vladimir Putin has kompromat on the whole lot of them.
It does seem that something's up that we don't know about (yet.)
1
Oh, the sad irony that while Trump was waxing poetic on America's greatness in Summer 2016, he really was selling our national soul to the highest bidder. We are at a crossroads, a moment when the world will long remember what we say--and do here. It is high time to speak up and to act in defense of the rule of law, for it is that constitutional principle that makes us truly great.
5
America, most blessed of modern nations, had a truly exceptional and exceptionally well qualified candidate in Hillary Clinton, instead it elected a buffoon of the first order. Not only does this prove that if you live long enough you'll see everything, but also that, however paradoxically, America's public enemy # 1 must now be the goose that lays the golden egg.
1
Forget about impeaching Trump. Impech Republicans in Congress who go along with Trump’s wild, baseless charges. They are a danger to our democracy.
12
Seems to me that if Trump makes one more “demand” that Mueller’s team submit their factual evidence before Trump’s appearance, Congress should start impeachment proceedings immediately. Anyone think this will happen?
5
Every Day with each new Tweet I'm totally embarassed that the U.S. Elected this man to the Office of the President. I'd would give anything to know what Washington, Jefferson and Madison would say about this Man.
7
So many people have just made up their mind the minute they woke up and he was president. He must be a criminal. He must be guilty. No argument, nothing the resistance does, no wrongful act by anyone else, can mean he's not guilty. It's just a non-starter for them. No investigation necessary. Just impeachment followed by exile to Russia. Or worse. I don't think Bush, Obama or Trump should be president, but I didn't want to hang them - and believe me, people would.
Of course, that's exactly what the Rs were all about when H. Clinton was the target, such as with Whitewater and Benghazi, and, of course, the emails (although, she clearly violated the disclosure of classified information law). They didn't care what the facts were - just the conclusion that she was guilty and had to be locked up. The only difference between the two parties is that the press has a side.
If we have two kids or two employees, and they fought the way that Ds and Rs do, we'd be embarrassed by their behavior, and would make sure that it wasn't worth it to continue sniping at each other. At least, we should do that. But, that's not what we do with our two childish and embarrassing parties. We, collectively anyway, keep giving them money and voting for them - even though they can't seem to fix anything and behave abominably.
Is it better than not having a democracy? Of course. Is it better than both parties nominating reasonably moderate candidates? No. And that shouldn't be so hard.
1
It is way too late and extremely misguided to try to argue for some kind of moral equivalence between Democrats and the Republican Party-before-country.
3
You're comparing form, but not content.
Trump gave and continues to give ample reasons to mistrust and even revile him.
Clinton did not.
And she did not knowingly transmit classified information. Only three documents of the many thousands were found to have been classified, but they were not marked as such until after the fact, so Clinton had no way of knowing.
The GOP is waging a war on the working people of America. It's way beyond shaking hands and making up.
1
Trump crossed the Rubicon when he tried to launch a Justice Department investigation of Mueller.
He may have done this out of ignorance of the Constitution, but this action was an unprecedented, unforgettable, and impardonable assault on the rule of law.
If Congress will not call the president to task for this outrage, then it will be up to some brave soul in the Justice Department to rein him in.
9
As President Trump continues his daily tweeting of falsehoods, lies, and exaggerations, all the while with the full support of his pathetic, incurious base, when will the leaders of the Democratic Party take to the steps of our Capitol Building and lay out for those who are not supporters of this just maligned administration, how important the November elections will be?
The Democratic Party must get their mojo in gear now and not waiting until early November, thinking as they typically do that common sense will prevail. Their history of not getting out in front of issues has our nation in deep trouble. They must convince those who oppose Trump that if we do not win back the House in November, 2018 and the Senate in 2020, the America they once new will be lost forever.
4
Great piece. The prospect of a President's power to call for "an investigation of his investigators" goes to the heart of the problem - Trump's frontal attack on the rule of law. If we're not already in a constitutional crisis, we are quickly careening toward one. Keep up the editorial excellence.
6
The Republican-controlled Congress stands neutered as Trump demands DOJ provide him with secret investigation info on his offenses. The constitutional crisis that was once just a prediction is now happening & the very existence of our constitutional republic is no longer certain.
3
All Trump has to say is "I'm innocent". Does he say that? Nope. He attacks over and over again. Just like most kids anymore when you catch them in the act, they attack the accuser. Immaturity and deep insecurity cause such a reaction. Think about it...if you were innocent, why would you discredit the department that keeps our country safe unless you were afraid of what they know....afraid that they know the truth. Afraid that the image of the perfect person is nothing more than a terrified little man who is hiding the truth that he is terribly guilty. Too bad for those of us who can see it and can only watch while he destroys our democracy.
5
Under our democratic system of government (or at least the system we had for over 2 centuries until Trump too office), NOBODY was above the law. Nobody who is under investigation, either as a "target" or a "subject" (as Trump is) has any right to see information or know the names of informants while the investigation proceeds. The defendant's attorneys' "right of discovery" does not become active until AFTER charges have been filed. Imagine anybody being investigated for potential criminal activity getting inside information on the investigators' case, methods, or informants while the investigation is still under way. It would give the subject the opportunity to know who to influence, threaten, or bribe, what potential charges he has to prepare phony defenses against, how to drag red herrings across the investigation, how best to block or misdirect ongoing investigation.
What gives Trump the "right" to go above and outside the law just to protect himself? Especially, since he claims he has done nothing wrong. Even Mafia Dons haven't put up as frenetic and desperate fight to prevent the truth from coming out. Every week, Trump is acting more like a man guilty of crimes that appear to be bigger & bigger the longer & more desperate he fights to keep them hidden.
Donald, if you are innocent, for God's sake, act like it. You & your inner circle are acting like mega-criminals terrified of being exposed.
6
The real danger with Trump is that after he's gone the damage that he and the Republicans are doing to our country will still be with us. The precedents they're setting will negatively change our democracy forever.
5
Almost every statement printed here is disputed. But the larger point is that by your standard, no one will effectively ever be able to run for President again.
2
On the contrary, the minute a democrat has regained the presidency, all will be right with the world and the glorious glow of that rightness will shine upon us all.
Then again, when we now discover that federal agents were spying on a political campaign during an election year, it really doesn't look good. If the same thing occurred during the Trump administration and the target were a democratic candidate, I doubt any reader would find that acceptable. I know, according to some people, it's always different when Trump is involved.
Remember when Trump said that the Obama administration was tapping into his phones? Everyone, myself included, thought that was crazy talk, but it kind of sounds like he wasn't that far off the mark.
2
They never found a shred of truth to that lie. And now you use that as an example to satisfy yourself that Trump’s campaign was spied on? Bad logic. He is desperate and don’t you wonder what he is hiding? Good grief. Comey helped him get elected and yet and still you are supporting his wretched behavior of tearing down our laws and institutions? Really?
4
The willingness of the Republican congress to support the attacks on Justice is saddening. It signals the collapse of any feelings of country over party.
November will be crucial to the saving of democracy in the USA.
History will be the judge of Media extremists and the corporate greedy who have abused the democratic system by taking advantage of the citizens united SCOTUS mistake,, as well as the SCOTUS as well. The names of Fox News, Koch Bros. and McConnell and Ryan will be remembered as scoundrels.
4
I am 68 years old. I remember Watergate as if it happened yesterday. I actually worked as an IRS agent during the time Nixon constructed his enemies list. If Watergate taught me anything, it was that the system works. Perhaps more slowly that we would like, but it works. Now I’m not so sure anymore. I never would have believed fascism could take hold in this republic. And that Americans would be the ones who ushered it in was once inconceivable. I am coming to the conclusion that we need to do something before we reach the point of no return. We need to do something proactive. I am no longer sure the system can take care of this. I fear I’ve lost faith in the republic’s ability to right itself. Perhaps that is the biggest tragedy of all.
13
In my opinion Trump is a typical bully and at his core a wimp. He cannot take the same things he dishes out. Nixon was investigated for four years. Clinton was investigated for seven with an investigation that kept changing direction while the RNC cheered at each turn. All the Presidents, starting with Washington, have been assailed by the press and had salacious rumors spread. Nixon finally resigned and the rest of them put up with it.
There is no “Deep-State” as those are part of dictatorships and undermine the power of the absolute ruler. The POTUS isn’t an absolute ruler and we have Congress, Courts and agencies loyal to The Constitution that make a “Deep-State” ineffective if not impossible to form let alone succeed.
What has surfaced so far is that Trump had more than a few malefactors in his campaign/administration. There may be more, but so-far nothing that rises to the level of High-Crimes and Misdemeanors pointed directly at Trump.
Maybe Trump sees himself as an absolute ruler under siege. Maybe his ego cannot stand the constant dissection of his every word. If those are true, he will have a miserable presidency. Investigation or not, the POTUS is always under the electron microscope and as one former POTUS noted: “If you can’t stand the heat,…”
6
Republican mantra: Never another Republican Watergate, no matter the cost to the Country, the Constitution or the people
2
Typical narcissism. Anything to take the focus off oneself when caught misbehaving. The mental pathology of narcissism whispers in the patient's ear: "tell any lie, accuse anyone else, throw out any red herring, change to any other subject, do anything to stop this criticism of my magnificence." I'm surprised he didn't mention Hillary, a favorite red herring, in his tweet; but he did not fail to pander to his racist base by mentioning Obama. A malignant narcissist occupying a bully pulpit like the American Presidency is a clear and present danger to the Body Politic!
8
Mueller's investigation and what preceded it have been political from the start, and Trump is completely right to politicize it and turn the tables on these highly suspicious moves.
3
So you didn't even read this editorial and its links, Stephen?
1
Yeah I read it. The usual nonsense from people who have discovered sudden enthusiasm for the Deep State when it is turned against Trump.
Congress lost control of their responsibility in the formerly coequal branches when Trump fired Comey and boasted to of all people the Russian Foreign Minister in the Oval office that he had got rid of the Russia problem. The Justice Department shirked their responsibility to uphold the law when they started to dither about conditions of interviewing Trump as a witness if that is what he is or interrogating him as a suspect if that is where the evidence leads. Now the word is that they are saying that you can't indict a president. What happened to "no man is above the law"? If the Courts also fold, we have lost the Judicial Branch. The next step is probably oligarchy although considering how these two branches of government have fallen it is probably too late.
5
The FBI operates under the DOJ umbrella, but reports to both the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence, both of whom seem to be protecting and defending Trump rather than the Constitution. The same may be said for Republicans in both Houses. Trump’s “I hereby demand” and “my Justice Department” riffs have raised the stakes in his quest to become a true authoritarian who can thumb his nose at the law with impunity. So far the investigation of the FBI is limited to an IG inspection that’s very narrow in scope. How far will Mr Rosenstein allow himself to be pushed before he digs in his heels and forces Trump to fire him? And, then what? Will a majority of congressional Republicans remain cowering on the sidelines or stand up for the rule of law? It is difficult indeed to be optimistic.
107
HenryJ - Well stated! It is the failure of congressional Republicans to live up to their oath and responsibility to protect and defend the Constitution that represents the greatest threat to our republic.
30
My hunch is that Rosenstein is very close to the point of forcing Trump to fire him. There are positives and negatives to bringing about his own demise.
On the positive side, surely we'll see some kind of forced action as a result. Say, Mueller deciding to blow the lid off everything by exposing the evidence he has in hand now. Perhaps some of the sycophants in Congress will abandon the clown-in-chief.
On the negative side, we could see the appointment of another clown-psychophant [sic; intentional] who immediately shuts Mueller down. Perhaps then the clown's authoritarian rise will proceed apace.
Depressing, eh?
11
Threedog - I don't see how Rosenstein has a choice. Either he outright refuses to play ball, giving Trump the excuse he needs to fire him, or he plays for time by appearing to cooperate while working to protect Mueller and hoping that Trump is distracted by another scandal. BTW, love "psychophant".
1
One of the many victims of this administration, beyond the harm it has done to people of color, the disabled, war hero, the gay and transgender community, the elderly, the poor, the sick, children--who fear for their lives when they go to school--beyond all that, the victim is our very idea of America.
Most of us grew up with the idea of our country as a light among nations. A place where there were checks and balances on Presidential power, where elected officials, starting with George Washington, swore not to tell lies. We know that a great deal of this was mythological, and that America is not the America that many people have experienced over its long history. Many of us were and have been and are in constant disagreement with many of our country's policies. But the idea that our country was a democracy, that we stood for what was right: that idea matters.
It will be a long time before we know how much damage Trump (once he is gone, for he will be gone, sooner or later) has done to us abroad, and, even more importantly, what he has done to our hearts, and to the hearts and minds of children who are growing up now, with this despicable public spectacle.
I cannot state too strongly how much I have disagreed with the policies of previous Republican administrations. But I could count among the GOP not only friends, but politicians I respected. Now, where are they? Where are the vows that they made to uphold the laws of the country we share?
12
I stand with the Constitution, the rule of law and this country. Not a party or a person. A president of a democracy acting like a monarch, an autocrat. No. And no. A president demanding that this thing or that be done. No. And no. A party group lcokstepping with questionable behavior. No. And no.
7
For future reference, when I was in law school one of my teachers said one, "If the facts are on your side, you argue the facts. If the law is on your side, you argue the law. Of you don't have the facts or the law, you argue justice.
2
Time for campaign finance reform, folks! It's the only way our elected representatives will actually represent us, the people who elected them, instead of the businessmen (and, yes, I mean men) and corporations (remember: they're people too now under Citizens United).This greedy cabal heaps unseemly amounts of money upon candidates who then owe (and are owned by) it to implement its shortsighted, immoral, agenda: more money for the rich no matter what. Kill the increasing number of the poor through global warming, stagnating wages, lack of nutritious food, increasingly threatened water supplies, lack of adequate medical care, inadequate educational opportunities.
Can't even say "Workers Unite!" after this week's Supreme Court decision.
So what's next, folks? Do we just lie down and take it? Does the American public have any backbone left?
1
The root of the problem in the Republican Party goes back several decades. It turns on the idea that to be a citizen in the country, it is okay to not care for your neighbor, that it is okay to take away from your fellow workers, that it is okay to care only about yourself and your own wants and needs. That is, it is okay to be selfish and greedy even to the detriment of the country that provides that very freedom for you. That is Libertarianism.
I would suggest that human beings are two things at once: both an individual with rights and a member of society with responsibilities. We have forgotten about the second part in this country. The ethics of looking out for your fellow Americans and the shared prosperity through the collective pooling of workers rights are the two pillars upon which our country stood strong for most of the 20th century.
Nixon and Reagan and Cheney did as much as they could to diminish the collective prosperity and unity of this country by appealing to racial and religious animosities, by giving the power of the workers to the corporations and the 1%, and by starting a propaganda campaign after eliminating the Fairness Doctrine to deceive the people as much as possible. Libertarian Dystopia.
5
Thank you. This is the most concise and clearly thought out summary of the troubles we face with Trump. Amid all the chaos created by Trump and Giuliani, we must keep our minds clear that yes there was interference and Trump hired people for his campaign in order to take advantage of just such interference. Mr. Trump himself called upon the Russians to find Hillary's emails in the public debate. He is responsible for hiring these thugs and he should be held accountable. What noone wants to admit is that the Russians were successful. The election turned on about 75,000 votes in key areas and between successfully energizing Trump's base and by successfully encouraging HIllary's base to stay home, they influenced the outcome of this election. That is the conclusion that Trump, the GOP and even the Justice Department and the FBI do not want us to realize. No one is really talking about it and possibly it would do no good to talk about it since we still have to accept the results and do the best we can to not only repair but improve our democracy.
4
As long-time "operative" for Bill and Hillary Clinton, Mark Penn, is quoted as saying on today's front page about Mueller's investigation: "Rather than a fair, limited and impartial investigation, the Mueller investigation became a partisan, open-ended inquisition that, by its precedent, is a threat to all those who ever want to participate in a national campaign or an administration again.”
This is the precedent the Times should be worrying about.
No matter what one thinks of Trump, it is beyond credible for a sitting president to approve that the FBI investigate a campaign via spy or informant. Did the FBI act alone? Did they base the decision on the DNC's dossier? The NYTimes and readers believe Trump has too much power, but I'm starting to see that the previous President had too much power, and still does.
"...the previous President had too much power, and still does."
I have no idea what you mean by this, but I'm almost afraid to ask because I think I can imagine the answer.
2
When will the American people finally wake up and say "we've had enough!"When will we finally call the bluff of a pathological liar, an autocrat who passes himself off as President of the United States? Are we as a people so uneducated and so ignorant that we cannot see the con job that is being enacted before our eyes? When will the Republicans in Congress understand that they have put their own interests ahead of the interests of the country and the preservation of our democracy? Will they ever see this?
Clearly the New York Times does see this , thank you to the Editorial board and to all the journalists on the Times for speaking out tirelessly and unrelentingly, as some of us do our best to shine a light on this aberration of a man who is now in the Oval Office .
5
Congressional Republicans are attempting a coup on the US. Later today they're going to break the Constitution right before our eyes.
2
The country's only hope is to vote the GOP out of office and trust that the Democrats will act in support of the nation's well being. Trump bragged that he could shoot somebody in the middle of the street and nobody would care. He's done worse than that, and the GOP is still compliant.
2
The editorial omits mention that all those Trump campaign operatives, including the current AG, lied about their Russian contacts. That's a lot of "smoke" to ignore. It's not the way people generally behave when their activities are innocent.
5
Increasingly dangerous times! When will this end? Who has the guts to stop this insanity? Where are the higher angels that will speak the truth and guide us. I am waiting. I have never felt so fearful for our Nation as I do now!
2
Yesterday's Supreme Court decision ridicule the belief that justice is an element in a society where everything has a price. Reagan's nomination of Bork and Scalia to the Supreme Court served notice that America was a land of law not justice.
Citizens United served notice that justice is no longer even a goal. Trump is only making it official that Department of Justice is America's Ministry of Truth.
1
You are right: "President Trump sank to a new low," not just because of the contents of the tweet. But also because of the language he used in it. It is more than "cartoonish." Words like "I demand" belongs in the vocabulary of dictators.
One doesn't expect them from the lawfully elected head of state of a country that is a beacon of hope for those living in dictatorships. That those who elected him bowed their heads in shame when they read those words is a different matter.
Now, to the contents of the tweet. President Trump is demanding something that, if complied with, put future intelligence gathering operations in jeopardy. He is braying for the head of the F.B.I. informant but for whose help we wouldn’t have known about his campaign’s Russian connections. If the demand is complied with, it will also put the informant's life at risk.
There is nothing abnormal about F.B.I. agents' talking to informants on allegations of foreign entities' interference in the country's election. Such interference is a crime. It is the responsibility of those agents to get to the bottom of those allegations.
Mr. Trump sinks to another low when he suspects that the F.B.I. informant was a mole inserted into his campaign by the Obama administration. Isn't ordering investigation of foreign entities' interference in our election the responsibility of any administration? It's quite a stretch to characterize it as spying on his campaign.
Shame on you, Mr. Trump.
2
Trump is right in one important sense: this isn't about facts, this isn't about law. It never was.
What if the 2016 election was not really an election but a non-violent coup? I believe this is the case. And if I'm right, the new government would rightly be able to claim that the many administrations that came before it and the people who served those administrations are enemies of the new guard. Looking at things through my "coup theory" lens, voting for Trump was not simply a choice between two candidates of the old American political system. It was a choice between voting for the old system (for traditional Democrats and Republicans alike) v. blowing up that whole system. In other words, if you voted for Trump, any investigation into wrongdoing on the Trump campaign's part would be by definition political, since that investigation would have to be led by members of the old guard.
We are in a state of civil war. So far it has been mostly non-violent. I hope it stays that way. But regardless, when the time comes the winners have to be careful about gloating over their vanquished enemy, whoever that may be. If Trump is pushed out, the many of us who were against him must be careful not to alienate his followers; we must bring them back into the fold by hearing and addressing their (often valid) complaints about the injustices in America. Otherwise, there will be violence.
2
If the Justice Department agrees to release information to the party being investigated for foreign interference in our democratic elections - clearly we have lost our system of law -a system established and founded on the idea of checks and balances. Foundational to this system is the fundamental truth that the law applies equally to all citizens of the United States - no one is above the law. When this central organizing idea is compromised we no longer have a rule of law or a democracy. As citizens do not yet know the guilt or innocence of the president himself - we have, until now, maintained faith in the judicial system. Does the justice department so easily forfeit the trust of the American people? and at what cost?
2
The two-party system makes for a poor form of government, especially when one of the parties is the Republicans. We need more political parties in this country. All the political power is concentrated in a couple of parties and all they do is compete for more power and ignore the needs of the people they are supposed to govern.
4
Remember when the right-wing political class and blogosphere erupted because a Democrat made contact with a DOJ AG during an active investigation into a Democratic politician? I'm talking of course about Bill Clinton's tarmac meeting with Loretta Lynch, the AG at the time of the Hillary Clinton investigation. And the rest of us agreed that it was improper, even if not the Watergate-level scandal that was suggested at the time.
So let's see this in perspective. A Democratic ex-president makes casual unplanned contact with an active DOJ AG during an active investigation of his wife, and we all agree it was improper. Now the actual president not only makes improper contact with DOJ officials, but issues "demands" directly related to their ongoing investigation of him - and that's OK with Republicans because they say the investigation is really terrible in the first place. Of course many Dems felt the investigation into Hillary was misguided. But we still agreed Bill Clinton had no business making contact of any kind. Where are the Republicans? Lining up with the President, demanding the DOJ meet with him and provide details of their investigation.
Anyone who still pretends there's some kind of equivalency between these two parties has their head buried in the sand.
12
Why are there no investigations into Mitch McConnell and his willingness to support Trump 's ideology? How does he benefit?
6
He benefits by keeping himself and his wife, Elaine Chao, U.S. Secretary of Transportation employed.
This paper, just a few days ago, did everything but use a given name in identifying the confidential informant. A retired academic living in the UK who "had coffee" with Sam Clovis on a given date. If Trump cared to find out who that is (assuming he doesn't know), he'd not have to ask many people. Beyond this, if there is any reason to believe there was a "spy" or anyone "embedded," then I think Trump is the one who should come up with the evidence supporting that suspicion, rather than sending everyone off Hunting for a Snark (who doesn't exist).
2
As appalled as I am by the president and the Republican-controlled Congress, I’m more disappointed by the significant swath of Americans who continue to support them. In the end, we get what we deserve.
11
You would have to accept your beliefs might be wrong, to understand why so many people voted for Trump and will do so again. Eagerly, I might add.
.
To be clear, how you and your beliefs exist, won't have any detrimental effects on Trump voters.
The GOP emboldened by trump's flagrant use of position and power are happy to engage our taxpayers dollars on another set of investigations that will result in nothing more than political character assignations.
The president is ignoring the separation of powers and the GOP is not affirming that pillar of our Constitution.
I want the GOP to repay the $6M wasted on the Benghazi committee hearings and the $12M wasted on the email investigations.
13
We should give the Republican members of the Senate and House the full recognition which they richly deserve. We ought to raise funds to purchase land will a gentle hillside on a grassy expanse of several acres, enough to build a parking lot and visitor center. Atop the hill should be raised a very large granite wall on which would be inscribed the following:
Let America always remember the Republican Senators and Representatives who, in 2017 and 2018, worked tirelessly to assure that President Donald J. Trump was never fully investigated and escaped punishment for conspiring in 2016 with Russians and others hostile to America to interfere in American elections on Mr. Trump’s behalf and for allowing Mr. Trump, his business and his family to receive great sums of money and other things of value in return for weakening the national security of the United States of America.
Senators: Mitch McConnell (Leader), John Cornyn (Whip), Bob Corker, Ron Johnson, Rob Portman, Johnny Isakson, Lindsey Graham, ….
Representatives: Paul D. Ryan (Speaker), Kevin McCarthy (Leader), Steve Scalise (Whip), Ed Royce, Devin Nunez, Trey Gowdy, Michael McCaul, ….
20
"...President Donald J. Trump was never fully investigated ..."
When we get the bill for Mueller's Magical Mystery Tour, you will say, "That was a lot of money, for a crime that wasn't committed."
Hillary had to cheat to beat Bernie. Hillary, Obama and the deep state cheated AND still could not beat Trump. I'd be mad, too.
We needn’t bother to wonder, Mike, which even-handed, reputable sources provide your information about recent history, but you appear to be bothered about the same thing that bothers me: Why, if Donald Trump is innocent, are he and his Republican supporters in Congress issuing threats and going to such great lengths to block all inquiries? An innocent man would want his name cleared, wouldn’t he?
Mike, you use the Trump trigger word, “deep state,” and you list your location as “Republic of Texas.” Did you shorten the complete name: Peoples’ Republic of Texas?
As far as being mad, Mike, you and your Leader are probably mad and bewildered that Mueller, Rosenstein, and McCray are Republicans. We understand. Get over it.
If Hillary didn't have her own email server, she might have been President. But she did. Strike One.
Comey said it was very probable it had seen by various cyber entities. Huma backed up her emails to Wiener's porn machine. Wiener gets caught sexting teen girls. More than once. Strike Two.
Hillary "wipes" the drives, to get rid of personal emails, for Yoga, CGI money scams and the usual grandma stuff. Strike Three.
Trump, joking, asks the Russians if they can find those emails. Obama Deep State(ODS) are afraid this might happen. To protect DJT, ODS spies on his campaign. Trump will be alerted if the Russians try to influence his team. More like arrested.
Two years on, there is no evidence about Trump and Russia. The Trump campaign was spied on. Had FISA warrants issued on his staff.
Now, for the funny part. ODS wanted to stir up enough grief, to get a popular uprising, to get Trump out. There was no worry about this charade being exposed, because, DJT, the hot head, will fire Mueller and Trump would impeached, after the Blue Wave. But, DJT let this roll. DJT poll numbers keep going up. The ODS is being exposed. I will definitely have to get a "Lock Her Up" t-shirt. Gitmo Granny.
Dems, ever the geniuses, too smart by half, will save Her. If they didn't save her, she couldn't run in 2020. Until she assumes less than room temperature and the buzzards land, she will run. Those Clintons, they are a class act.
The "guardians of democracy" have no concern that Obama's regime planted a mole in the Trump campaign, it's okay because it was Obama. Or better yet, Obama was helping Trump as the alt left claims.
I wonder what the narrative would be if Trump had done the same thing to the Obama campaign?
4
The silence of the Republicans in Congress is both deafening and shows how much they've allowed Trump to take over their so called leadership in American morality.
9
Spot on! Republicans in Congress - in particular the leadership - are a clear and present danger to the rule of law. Their divisive tactics and obstructionism, their commerce in innuendo rather than in sober reflection are clearly not in the service of the country. They reveal unriveled self interest. The leadership can change the tone and direction any time it chooses. It should be held equally responsible for the damage being done by the WH to revered law-enforcement institutions. And no, the other side is not engaging in the same destructive politics. Save America Now Everyone! (Nice acronym: SANE.)
12
So far, Republicans have spent over $50 million investigating Hillary for missing emails and other phantom crimes. But when it comes to actual, documented attacks on our institutions and democracy, Republicans show themselves to be the traitors they really are by blocking investigations.
14
You better believe I hope the FBI and CIA investigated the political campaigns for foreign interference. That is their job.
14
Trump is a master of distraction and diversion. By creating this latest drama with the Justice Department, his supporters are distracted from his administration's moves on the foreign policy front. Blow up the Iran deal, which Trump's business partners in Saudi Arabia and UAE pushed for, but will inflame anti-Western sentiment in Iran and push them even closer to Russia. Enforce a blockade led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE against Qatar, only to lift it once the Kushners obtain a huge loan from a Qatari-linked investment firm for their financially troubled property at 666 Park Ave. And let's not forget the sudden reversal on sanctions against China's ZTE, and the sudden freeze on threatened tariffs, while the Trump Organization gets a major deal done in Indonesia funded by a state-owned Chinese company.
Pay no attention to shiny objects. Follow the money.
10
The behavior of Donald Trump and the Republican Congress should come as no surprise. The moment he attained the Office of The President, he made the best deal he ever made and that was with a Republican Congress in which he stated that in return for their total loyalty and protection from any questioning of his indiscretions, he would sign ANY BILL they placed on his desk(many bills he didn't bother reading). In agreeing with this corruption, the Congress which is supposed to act as the "check and balance" to the President immediately became his "enablers".
The beginning of the Trump presidency was the beginning of the totally dismantling of democracy in America and its institutions and in addition to Trumps obvious behavior, the "true colors" of a bankrupt Republican Party has been exposed in its entirety for all to see, a party that has always claimed to be the party of "law and order", yet, is doing everything it can to destroy it.
7
As far as I know, Trump made only one statement that wasn't a lie: he said that he could shoot someone of 5th Avenue an his supporters wouldn't care.
When a supine Congress refuses to see the obvious, and refuses to impeach and convict the administration for high crimes that approach treason The United States that we knew is gone.
11
Thank you, keep reprinting & retelling all the laws that have already been broken. Help us expose all the criminals, keep telling the truth!
6
When the dust settles on this mess, I hope that both parties come to the conclusion that the power of the presidency must be limited. It is insane to have one person with this much power (who is elected by as corrupt and undemocratic a system as the Electoral College). That lawyers and politicians and pundits can even argue that the sitting president is immune from such-and-such is anti-democratic. It is time for some serious revision of our system of checks and balances.
169
I wish to make two points. Even if one strenuously disagrees with the Electoral College [I myself do not], I hardly think it is undemocratic and corrupt. Rather it preserves an important aspect of our national government, which interacts with most citizens as citizens of states as well as citizens of the country. While we could obviously argue about the merits of the Electoral College, the labels of corrupt and undemocratic are not accurate in my mind, and do not advance serious discussion.
The second point is cautionary. It is fair to say that the modern presidency is not what the founders imagined, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. The modern presidency responds in part to the necessity and/or desire for speed in modern life. One cannot always wait for Congress to act.
One must also bear in mind that politics operates on a pendulum. Sometimes your side has power and sometimes it does not. Would you want the same limits on your preferred president? One always has to keep in mind that the rules have to work for both those you prefer and for those whom you do not prefer.
I would be curious to hear how you think a revised system of checks and balances would benefit the country. In my reading of 19th century American history, particularly of the first half, much is made of how significant Congress was. Do you actually think that Congress any time soon will become a functioning body that can provide a meaningful check and balance on the Executive?
10
Come on Chad, grow up a little. The EC is not corrupt, it's the system we've had since the founding. It has both strengths and weaknesses, but every candidate knows what it is and has to make decisions about campaigning in that system. We are a republic, not a pure democracy, and all states should have some say in national elections.
BTW, can you please direct us to your published comments about revising the system of checks and balances, and presumably your implication Trump has too much power, when Obama was running roughshod over his constitutional limits.
1
The Electoral College is an abomination in a country that pretends to be a democracy. Each state gets one elector for each Representative & two more for its Senators. Wyoming, with a population of 579,315, has one Rep & 2 Senators. That's one Elector for each 193,105 citizens. California, at the other end has a population of 39,536,653 (both 2017 estimates). It has 53 Representatives & two Senators, for 55 Electors. That's one Elector for every 718,848 people. In Wyoming, 1 EV for every 579,315 people. In California that same 1 EV covers 718,848 people, yet both EVs are equal in the Electoral College. Something is clearly out of whack (democratically speaking) with this horrific slant of power from large industrial states to small rural states.
Three card Monte it is - only Trump lacks any sleight of hand. Perhaps his "base" still finds it a real hoot that a President can lie through his teeth day after day without consequences - but he would crumble if not for the GOP backers who will cling to his trailing dirty red tie, allowing any obstruction and misrepresentation as long as it increases their immediate power by
Those "professional" pols who would sell out the country for an election are either dupes, or have been groveling for money in the dirt so long that they see foreign intervention in an election as no different from selling an election to the Koch Bros or others.
4
When you try to raise a "child" correctly, you must not be afraid to tell him/her NO! Our man/child President will continue to undermine norms and laws until stopped. The Congressional R's cannot to continue to allow him to do whatever he wants. They have sworn to do what is in the best interest of the country, not the political or legal interests of the POTUS. Wake up and say NO!!!! before it is too late.
1
Trump vs. Dept. Of Justice but also
Trump vs. Justice, period, and Truth and Liberty as well.
We must right this sinking ship.
The little mad captain is despicable.
11
Wasn't the NYT the organization to report an information in the Trump campaign in the first place? I'm no fan of Trump, but I don't think he conjured up a 'mole' out of thin air...
5
As much as I get tired of seeing Trump and Trumpists make stuff up about moles, the origins of the FBI investigation, their desire to get everything (except for the President's tax returns, of course) out into the disinfecting sunlight, Carter Page's integrity, Robert Mueller's satanic communism, and the Vast Conspiracy behind not posting their comments, I really did enjoy that "Hereby."
"Hereby," hereby takes its place in the annals of silly stuff boys say to sound impressive, right up there with "Abracadabra!" And "SHAZAM!" And "I HAVE THE POWER!" And "Flame ON!"
3
The first thing any would be dictator des is to discredit the Governmental law enforcement, The second is to put in charge people who are only loyal tot the dictator and not the country. The third thing is to fire all those who put the law above the dictator's demands. Once a dictator has complete control of the top law enforcement agency it becomes a Gestapo.
Trump is following that age old pattern.
7
We the People of the United States are responsible.
If we care about the country, we MUST put a check on Trump in November, and send him home in 2020.
My grandmother used to say: "Enough is enough and too much stinks." Trump and his various scandals are too much, and they stink to high heaven.
11
And where was the FBI and the Clinton campaign??? After all the Clinton campaign "said" they were hacked per a third party by the Russians ... It was so big a deal our FBI took their word for it from a "third" party.
Give the FBI another chance - Hilary campaign paid for "Russian" information on the Trump campaign and used it to hurt their opponent... Oh, and they routed the money through a third party to hide the transaction ...
5
Conservatives ordered the dossier on Trump first before they realized he had a chance to win. Once it was created and showed Trump's campaign was willing to work with a foreign country to undermine the voting process it started getting attention. Since its common for campaigns to try to undermine competition it's reasonable for competing candidates to legally check out credible dirt on each other. The difference is that Trump's people actively sought to do something illegal, despite access to the top legal minds in the world. It's pretty clear that law enforcement went out of their way to protect the Trump campaign (probably because they know what a dirty fighter Trump is) but Trump knows how to manipulate his base in spite of the truth.
4
The constitutional crisis is here! Maybe it was the combination of The Walking Dead, Modern Family and everything on Bravo (Stir in FauxNews) for the last 10 years that impacted our culture in such a way that it extracted the worst compulsions from the conservative right and put them into full megalomania. We are clearly the frog in boiling water here. How could we be witnessing this "slow coup" that is distorting democracy as we know it and appearently "trumpeting" a new American era of authortarianism, tribalism and bald face corruption? We are all the enablers of this nightmare circus of modern American politics. We are letting the mean kids win in this "1984" / "Lord of the Flies remix. I think its time for a March on Washington people. Lest we remain incredulous while this Godzilla like King Trump stomps on our free press and our 1st amendment too. He has clearly perverted the "Truth" as "we" know it and severely damaged the America justice system. Let's not be Hamlet here. The ghost has spoken. We may not get to a fifth act.
5
This is death by a thousand cuts. Rose
nstein and Wray should just refuse any further treasonous (is that a word?) orders from Trump. If Trump fires Rosenstein civil revolt will commence.
2
The idea that this mental case thinks he can make demands is so eye opening. His rants and tirades are always on the verge of a ticket to the rubber room. As Mr Steyer points out, impeachment isn`t about politics, it`s about protecting our country. trump is a wanna be tyrant. In reality he is a spoiled brat who kicks and screams and makes demands. We need to just tell him NO and send him to his room until he is willing to act like a civil little man.
7
Any sentient being knew tdump and his cronies would be bad, but they are far worse than expected.
8
If Trump can slowly turn this country into Fascism as the Republican Party sit idly by and his supporters cheer him on out of ignorance, spite and hatred it will happen.
If that doesn't happen, sooner or later the Democratic Party will control the Presidency and Congress . When that happens their extremists will be as revengefull as possible and that will be bad for this country as well.
2
Trump is a danger to democracy and the longer he remains in office, the further our Constitutional system of government, nay decency of this nation, are in peril. Are there no leaders left who can quickly remove this cancer from our lives?
4
Well, if Failing 45 does manage to change POTUS's role in law enforcement, President Bernie Sanders may use those new powers to punish the DT45 Gang. That'd be fun to watch.
3
The Times continues to quote assistant attorney general Stephen Boyd that providing information to Congress can 'risk....lives'. Is anyone else struck by the fact that this assumes that our elected representatives are so untrustworthy and venal that they would criminally leak classified information? How are they to enact legislation in advance of the 2018 election to prevent tampering without the facts? This feels like a suspicious, broken system that is much bigger than any single individual's actions.....and now that the 'informant' has been outed, however inappropriately, doesn't't the Times have a respossibility to its readers to provide some background and context to its readers?
1
The Times' Editorial Board standing up for law enforcement! It truly is a new day.
1
The Anti-Clinton element in the F.B.I. were helpful in electing Trump. Now Trump is busy destroying the institution. Be careful what you wish for.
Trump will burn the country down to protect his own hide.
6
"...our law enforcement and intelligence communities are trying to protect the country. Donald Trump and his supporters are simply trying to protect Donald Trump."
I'd add that Vichy Republicans and their oligarchs (Trump and his family included) are protecting Trump so that they can continue profiteering and financial raping our country's resources and our financial lives, while decimating our citizens' civil, legal, human and reproductive rights, our financial, consumer and environmental protections and our democracy. THEY ARE TRAITORS.
9
Popodopolus was described by sear Trump campaign officials as "the part time coffee boy". Would you assign a spy to the part time coffee boy?
3
Your editorial sounds desperate. Your invocations of security threats ring hollow. Your message speaks only to your faithful. You have lost all the independents now. There are more and more revelations coming everyday. You need to face the truth: you have lost the battle for the public opinion. The majority of the public (outside of NYC) is either indifferent or against the Mueller probe and the Democrats.
3
In ABC/Washington Post poll done 4/13/18, 69% Americans support continuation of the Mueller investigation into Russian election tampering, 64% support Mueller investigation into Trump's business.
2
Perhaps we should of questioned Comey's motives more than we did when he made his Hillary Email comments right before the election.
Trump and the GOP constitute a national psychotic disorder for which the Constitution never envisioned a cure or intervention. As has been true since time immemorial, the only cure will be a national revolution against the 1% oligarchy and blood in the streets, if the GOP and Trump aren't voted out of office.
1
Trump's tries so hard to emulate authoritarian idols Putin and Duterte, he has no use for the rule of law or our Constitution — seeing them instead as impediments to his royal reign. How dare the Justice Department question his almighty decrees? The man has no idea he works *for us,* as our highest public servant.
I "demand" to see his tax returns, that he stops using the presidency for personal enrichment ("Winter White House") in violation of the Emoluments Clause, that he be held accountable for encouraging and assisting Russian interference into our election, that his sordid ties to money launderers get the sunlight disinfectant they deserve.
4
Two trifectas seem clear and two seem uncertain. The clear part: (1) #45, his lawyers, and the fanatic right-wing media such as Fox, will do anything and everything to protect the mafia-style boss. They do not care one whit about what’s good for America, the constitution, our institutions, or the rule of law. They believe #45 should be above the law, and they believe their greatest strength is dictatorship and pandering to the base. (2) #45’s base is fine with all this. (3) The GOP Congress will not do anything to stop #45. They consist of active co-conspirators such as Nunez and Goudy, and their “silent majority” standing by saying and doing nothing (or, worse, occasionally mumbling).
The uncertain part: (1) Whether the Democrats will gain the political advantage in November that would position them to resist more effectively. (2) Whether the Justice Department and justice system will cave in to #45, thereby compromising themselves forever. (3) Whether the American people have a point at which we will use our power to stop a dictatorship from forming.
We are standing on a precipice. As the old blues song says, “Rabbit, if you ain’t scared, you ain’t right.”
3
Dear NYT Editorial Board, thanks for the great reporting. You have now shown unequivocally that Trump is guilty of real federal crimes. He has clearly obstructed justice. He and his campaign have now clearly colluded with multiple foreign nationals to rig the election. But Trump is right about one thing.
We do need to find out: what is the FBI doing?
If it weren't for Trump's idiotic tweets, it can clearly be shown that the FBI has actually helped Trump on multiple occasions. First, they kept all this under wraps until after the election. And, now, we have very, very clear evidence of Trump having committed crimes of obstruction and collusion, and they aren't doing anything at all about it, not that I can tell. And how much evidence does Mueller need to issue a report on Obstruction of Justice? Trump has gone before millions on TV and out-right lied and incriminated himself, lied about his staff's collusion, lied about everything and been busted. It's right there in front of us!
Is this all some elaborate ruse? Is the FBI actually in cahoots with Trump? We have a criminal for a President! Quit pulling punches, please. We do need to question the FBI--hard. For those of us who'd like to live in a free world, this is way beyond outrage already. We are in 3rd world banana Republic territory here with this triad of a Criminal President, a Fox News Propaganda machine, and a complaisant law enforcement agency. It's got to stop!
4
DJT is simply the symptom of our modern American society's deficit in education, extreme disparity in wealth & opportunity, coupled with unscrupulous governance sponsored by and for the benefit of the grotesquely wealthy 1%.
Being of the dissolving middle class into the poor, disillusions DJT supporters into "wannabees" to a better life of white opportunity. This illusion is promulgated via Tox..(Fox News) and other fear mongering media outlets created by the 1% to manipulate the rest of us.
We are a sick society who is drunk on the cool-aid poured into our minds by the media and our own destructive tribal beliefs, thus vastly impairing our electoral judgement. Pan camera one to DJT.....
3
Well, I hereby demand that Trump stop tweeting nonsense, end his petulant pouting about the unfairness of an investigation that is necessary for the security of all future elections, and that he concentrate instead on doing right by the country he claims to love.
There. That should do the trick.
3
One party in our two party system has apparently embraced fascism. I guess there is only so far a party can swing to the right before arriving at that eventual destination. We aren't in Kansas anymore people. Please pay attention to the man behind the curtain. If we allow Trump and the GOP to completely dismantle our republic it will be gone forever no matter how hard we click our heels together and chant "there's no place home." But of course this all had to happen because...you know...Hillary and her emails.
3
Trump continues to inch us closer to a dictatorship...
Trump cannot be allowed to sic our security forces on whomever he doesn't like, or manipulate them to cover his own misdeeds. This is what Putin does.
How did the GOP get to be so disloyal to our country?
8
I refuse to give up on American voters. I believe we will rid ourselves of Trump at the ballot box and we will do it by replacing members of Congress who will impeach him. After he is impeached he will be indicted and tried for his crimes. That is the way our government is set up to operate when facing something as evil as Trump.
4
Thank you NYT Editorial Board and Mr. A.G. Sulzberger for standing up so resolutely for America! This latest move by Trump, to order an investigation into those investigating Trump for crimes he may have committed, signals the greatest challenge to the rule of law as enshrined in the U.S. Constitution as this nation has ever seen. Please, Lord, help our Congress and the American People understand that if Trump is allowed to continue in office after this latest episode, it will mean the end of American Republican Democracy, as our Founding Fathers intended our government to fuction.
8
We haven't even talked about Michael Cohen and Donald Trump and his acolytes want to make sure it remains that way. Unlike Hillary Clinton Donald Trump is in a position to decide whether or not he wants to be investigated. No one knows why Sessions allowed a special counsel in the first place but given that reality there is some hope and that hope lies in how Robert Mueller responds to Donald Trump's brute force. If Mueller just goes away quietly then brute force wins.
1
Trump has certainly proved to be Putinesque in directing and circumventing the nation's justice and intelligence systems.
6
Trump and his enablers are eating away at everything that makes America livable. We have seen the gutting of the State Department, firing of federal judges, undermining of the security agencies and law enforcement agencies, the firings of the FBI directors, the dismantling of the education bureau, housing department, commerce department, ...... the attacks on the press, the disregarding of truth, and the domination of both houses of Congress. Trump's acid is constantly eating away at our very foundation.
How much longer until a little puff of wind will blow it all over?
3
All Trump cares about is winning. The integrity of our system of government is of no concern.
2
In Masha Gessem's recent book on recent Russian history ('The past and the future' (sic), one can see a very disturbing parallel between Putin's Russia and the present US Government. Trump is like a weak, incompetent and bumbling Putin, but his tactics and the behavior of his allies are very similar to Putin's. If he had his way, Trump would make this country a carbon copy of Russia.
3
Sorry, your facts are disputed. The President has every right to make the demand of the DOJ since they answer to him. The election is over, you lost. Your buddies in the FBI/DOJ that have not already been fired, demoted, or resigned are and should be scared about what is to come.
2
Until Donald discloses his income tax, there is every reason to believe he is hiding something illegal.
8
Divide and Conquer. Keep the attention on the idiocrat. Frankly, and i’m growing quite weary, everyday this individual is the center of attention. He’s beginning to remind me of Kim. Except Kim is an honest outright dictator.
8
I feel as though the nation has been watching a play that began as a farce that then progressed to a tragedy. But now the cast is locking the theater exit doors and walking around with torches saying they want to burn the whole place down. I don't think this is part of the script anymore. When will the audience become alarmed? After the curtains are on fire?
The silence in Washington is as clear as a bell. With their silence the republicans are actually saying that this is their country, where corruption and tax evasion are skills to be rewarded, where one's "net worth" is one's only value, where laws can only be used on their enemies. They are saying that this whole country belongs to them and they will not compromise or submit to the will of the majority. They are saying they will not give up what they think is their country without a fight.
So, must we fight them on their terms? No more yes votes on any of their judicial appointees? No more crossing the aisle to vote for routine measures and budgets? Shut the whole place down until Trump resigns, is impeached, or voted out? Must the DNC resort to the same targeted voter specific disinformation and scaremongering techniques with social media bot amplification? Should Dems seek financial aid or hackers from foreign powers to spy on Repub campaigns or to steal & publish the Kochs emails? Should we assume that any judicial decision favoring a republican was biased?
So be it.
1
The most likely scenario here in my mind is Rod Rosenstein is caught in a very difficult place and is buying time so that the investigation can continue. I find it unlikely that he would be taking such a step if he wasn't convinced that the most important thing is that Mueller gets as far along as possible before a potential "Saturday Night Massacre" occurs. Defying Trump and his stooges in Congress at this point was surely a play he could have legitimately made, but it also might have been playing directly into Trump's hand by giving him enough (phony) cover to fire him.
One has to ask oneself why would he violate something he stated only a couple of weeks ago....that the DOJ won't be held hostage. It's logical to conclude that he knows better than anyone what Mueller has and is taking this step to allow the investigation to reach a point of no return. Additionally, he also knows better than anybody that the claims of moles and informants illegitimately planted by the FBI in Trump's campaign most likely won't be validated by the OIG. Yes, the review of documents by Congress is very troubling given certain member's past manipulation of such information for political purposes. But there is also the possibility that it falls apart much like the unmasking hysteria now forgotten. Here we have to rely on Trey Gowdy.
2
The NY Times doesn't want to face it, but it is indeed troubling that the FBI was conducting covert surveillance of members of the Trump campaign, and the claim of "national security" does not ring completely true. If national security were at stake, the FBI would have informed Mr. Trump directly and immediately of its concerns about Russian meddling. The fact that it didn't do so does indeed raise questions of political motivation or influence in this surveillance operation. President Trump is therefore correct to raise the question of political motivation and call for an investigation. It is unfathomable that the NY Times would oppose such an investigation if it is interested in the truth.
2
In fact the FBI did warn the Trump campaign, just after Trump secured the Republican nomination, about Russian meddling. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fbi-warned-trump-2016-russians-woul...
3
NWindep: But they did not inform Trump of their surveillance of his campaign, nor the pattern of contacts the FBI supposedly had observed among campaign members. It is suggestive of a pretext to spy on the campaign rather than to prevent "meddling."
Your initial statement was incorrect. The FBI DID warn Trump beginning in August 2016. Trump was given direct and fair warning that a hostile foreign power was attempting to interfere with the election. An intelligent and sophisticated candidate, with nothing to hide, would appreciate that the FBI had some intelligence basis for that warning. He might ask about the source of this information. He might even ask if they knew about anybody in his campaign that had any improper contacts with the Russians. He would not need to be told that the FBI was watching. At the very least, the candidate would warn his people about this information, tell them to avoid the Russians, and to report any such improper contacts. None of that happened, to the best of our knowledge. Instead, we now know that many Trump people had surreptitious contacts with the Russians, both before and after that briefing, initially denied but later admitted to. Trump himself has had a remarkably pro-Putin stance since he was elected. And now, Trump is attacking the DOJ, the FBI, and the Mueller investigation as some sort of deep state conspiracy trying to undermine his presidency. If Trump is so innocent, why does he act so guilty?
The editorial board calls this a fact:
"There was a sophisticated, multiyear conspiracy by Russian government officials and agents working under direct orders from President Vladimir Putin, to interfere in the 2016 presidential election in support of Donald Trump".
They can only surmise this - no way they can call this set of premises facts. Unless of course they have some super spy who is monitoring and recording Putin's. orders.
The rest of this opinion is equally deceptive. Our corrupt intelligence agency leadership shielded the investigation because to disclose it would have alerted the Trump team that they were being spied on.
2
We desperately need a "Profile in Courage" to stand firm against the forces that want to end the independence of DOJ and FBI from control by the White House and Congress. Trump in the White House and his enablers in Congress have and will continue to be a nightmare for America until we vote them out of office.
My dream is for Trump to be indicted. Why should this unhinged individual be free to continue to break the law, just because "the President cannot be indicted"? Trump does nothing but Tweet and watch Fox News most of the day, so there would not be a disruption of the duties of the "Commander in Chief".
3
Isn't it pretty obvious by now that there has been epic misconduct in the DOJ and FBI? And that the UK (intelligence services) meddled in the 2016 election far more than the Russians?
2
It seems just about everybody commenting is focused on the contest between the rule of law and our norm-breaking POTUS. Is nobody else (besides me) worrying about this unravelling of our country to the point of distraction? Is nobody else thinking and worrying about the cost, frankly, to one's own work, to one's own state of mind, and to the work and mental state of one's loved ones? Of the many sad and unfortunate things happening, probably the saddest and most unfortunate is Trump's unravelling of the very idea of America as a nation founded the rule of law. I'm most aware of, and saddened by, the personal cost of this unravelling. I don't like living in this country right now. It's stressful, embarrassing, creepy. I'm literally losing sleep. I feel like a kid who's parents are the midst of a War of the Roses divorce. It's awful.
7
It's that 1% mentality where I am special and above the law, where the 99% are here on this planet for the sole purpose to be exploited and to service the 1%.
1
Congress has failed. The founders hoped to install checks on a corrupt president. They have failed in their protection of the country.
4
Trump is obstructing justice right out in the open - he is rubbing our noses in it. His message could not be louder; "I am above the law, and you can't do anything about it". And, we really aren't doing anything about it - Many Republicans are even supporting him in his obstruction and attack on our law enforcement officials in the FBI and CIA.
8
The talk of constitutional crisis is more than 40 years far too late. We've been lurching further and further spinning into what one could define as a constitutional crisis since Reagan sold missiles to Iran, the Gingrich revolution in 1994 that sought to hunt the Clintons relentlessly simply because they had the power to do so and impeach Bill Clinton for a sexual indiscretion that was none of our business and should have been kept between he and his wife.
We lurched even further with the 2000 election and the Supreme Court choosing the president. Further even more when we traded privacy for security and fevered distrust, racism and hatred of Muslims after 9/11. And more so when Mitch McConnell purposely denied President Obama his appointment of Merrick Garland a confirmation hearing and vote for the Supreme Court. And now, by the second with this traitor in the White House and his Republican enablers in congress letting him flout the rule of law openly with impunity and eviscerate the credibility of our institutions and rule of law to protect him.
If you're waiting for the trumpets to sound the coming Constitutional crisis, you're far too late. We've been there for decades. Republicans/right wing media complex broke our constitution, eroded faith and trust in our system of government, and used it to splinter us apart for political gain while blaming Democrats/liberals for what they did to us. When will real conservatives stand up and join Democrats to end this insanity?
5
Trump supposedly believes that there exists some kind of "deep state" within the federal government that is maliciously out to get him. Who knows whether he really does believe this or that he simply is using this as an effective deception and distraction tactic. What is definitely true is that there is no ubiquitous bureaucratic conspiracy against him but, rather, that Trump and the rightwing are dangerously conspiring against the nation's rule of law.
With his demand that the Justice Department immediately launch an investigation into whether the department or the F.B.I. infiltrated his campaign with an intent to sabotage it, Trump demonstrates that he is a skillful and shameless con man. The idea that the F.B.I., of all organizations, intended to undermine the Trump campaign and help the Clinton campaign is manifestly preposterous based upon the history of what actually happened. After all, even though the F.B.I. was indeed conducting an investigation of the Trump campaign's possible collaboration with the Russians, at no time during the long election season was there any public disclosure of this potentially extremely damaging information. On the other hand, F.B.I. director James Comey repeatedly notified voters of developments in the investigation into Hillary Clinton's mishandling of emails which obviously did very serious damage to her campaign.
3
We've had an illegitimate dictatorship as our government for over a year now.
This gang of criminals -- in all branches of our former government -- is plundering our natural resources, breaking all remaining protections of working people from the depradations of increasingly nasty and tyrannical corporations, denying basic human rights to women, children and people of color, seeking to starve and sicken the poor and elderly.
The picture is pretty familiar, and complete. Even some of the worst tyrants of the past were more sensible about spreading a bit of the wealth to stay in power.
Ultimately, we have a very sick, deluded, ignorant populace, unwilling to rise up against this tyranny in any way except purely symbolic form.
So, the country is plunging quickly into the barbarism it apparently desires.
The United States at this point is a lost cause; the only remaining serious world problem is how the rest of the world deals with it, to prevent the self-destruction occurring within the country from exploding outside its borders and enveloping the rest of the world, taking it down with it.
There's nothing to stop the rapid implosion occurring here, quite clearly. What will the rest of the world do to cope?
In some ways, President Obama's diplomatic push to move things to a more multi-polar world have been rapidly accelerated by the failure of US democracy; the world must quickly find a way to do without us.
3
I find Mr Trump’s legal tactics incredibly enlightened and hugely effective. The next time I get a speeding ticket, I’m going to copy my role model by demanding the police dept investigate the officer and, because I’m a tax payer, thus a public service employer, who contributes towards his or her income, imply I might fire the hapless cop for doing his duty. In the meantime, I’ll hire a legal team to obfuscate the details of my velocitous violation, my relative guilt becoming less an objective issue than how it was subjectively established. I’ll attempt, for good measure, to harangue and humiliate the constable who is clearly biased, politically motivated, and a stooge of Barack Obama. Hopefully, the cop won’t notice I was driving in concert with other road hogs from my international motoring club, notably from Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. If he/she does, I’ll just loudly claim that there’s no evidence of the original sin so a wider net is being vindictively cast.
In this way, I shall overthrow the rule of law, at least as it pertains to traffic.
5
Trump’s actions continue to reflect the pathology of severe narcissism, and are rather predictable if one bothers to understand them. Trump evidences more paranoid and rageful behavior; when others do not act ‘as if’ they are extensions of himself, when they do not do his bidding (hence, his emphasis on loyalty — he means fealty) he becomes enraged. And now, more and more, those around him try to ‘contain’ and ‘appease’ him in the mistaken, in my opinion, hope that such actions will work, will ‘settle him.’ One has forgotten his narcissism — the more Trump finds himself appeased, the more his appetite for unrestrained power and action is fed. Appeasement proves to him that he is in fact right. And that emboldens him, psychologically; it in no way appeases him. Those around him are caught between his rage on one hand, and his unbridled narcissism and lust for power and adulation on the other. It is a dangerous, no win situation. Trump must be opposed — better to counter his rage than submit to his perverse lust for power.
Aside from the inappropriateness of a President “demanding” that the DOJ investigate the FBI investigators of his own campaign(!) there is the real possibility that should the name of the informant, who initially called the FBI to investigate the “something funny” happening in the Trump campaign, become known to WH officials, it will not so mysteriously be leaked to the press.
Who then will be able to trust any government agency to keep their identity secret? And what citizen in the US will then be safe from spies and other foreign or domestic threats to security even if they report them to the FBI? The “demand” of this WH is another salami slice along the route to tyranny. It may sound like it’s not out of the ordinary, but the threat is very real — not to Trump — but to the rest of us as a nation. What ally will entrust us with any secret? Any information? What citizen can be secure that they won’t be exposed?
We have a dangerous, ignorant person in the Presidency aided and abetted by a silent Congress on one political side and a complicit Congress on the other. And all of this is greased by the great slosh of money in the hands of the less than 1% of the population and our corporations.
What a legacy: we can claim to have a front row seat in the demise of our democracy.
1
Consider this - none of this would be happening to our country if Americans of good will resoundly rejected a man who lied about President Obama’s place of birth, and who also hid his tax returns from public scrutiny. Everything that has followed is just par for the course. It confirms a lot about a leader without character, but sadly a lot about Americans as voters.
2
We are waiting for a hero, and I don't mean Mueller, who will no doubt do his job faithfully and write a fair report. He works in the background. We need a public hero.
I mean someone from the GOP with a conscience, moral convictions and courage, who loves this country more than their party, power, wealth and control. Someone must rise up and speak the truth: the President is NOT above the law, and the DOJ/FBI serve the constitution, law and justice, not his personal interests and whims! "Obama wiretapped my phones." If only we knew then that this diversionary pathetic ranting would go on and on and on.
An innocent man, an innocent campaign, an innocent administration wouldn't give a hoot how long it takes to complete this investigation. They would want as thorough an investigation as possible into a hostile foreign country interfering in our electoral process.
2
John, I've often hoped for the same. We need someone with the stature of Reagan or Eisenhower to be given time on the networks and, in measured language, explain what Trump, the present make up of the Republican Party, and the daily reactionary hatefests are doing to the nation, and what is at stake if they are allowed to get away with it. Unfortunately, I don't think those kinds of leaders exists any more.
Did anybody check out who Trump talked to when he was in Moscow for his "beauty pagent"? Was he making deals with the Russians then? This is a shameful man who has no conscience.....anything to win! By recruiting the Russians, not only would he win the election, but pave ways for his businesses to prosper and be built in Russia.
1
Trump v. the Constitution on behalf of Russian President Vladmir Vladimrovich Putin along with Russian military intelligence aka GRU, Russian domestic intelligence aka FSB and Russian foreign intelligence aka SVR.
Whatever Trump is hiding from the American people in his personal and family income tax returns and business records is the evidence of Trump's motivation for all of his action and inaction. Trump is bent on preserving, protecting and defending his ability to profit from being President of the United States by any means necessary.
3
No matter what you think of Trump, the FBI has engaged in bizarre behavior including Comey's pronouncements that might well of influenced the outcome of the election. McCabe's activities are criticized by the IG for DOJ and now there is a referral for possible criminal prosecution. And, there seems to be a real question as to the means that the FISA warrants were obtained( that is using the dirty dossier and not disclosing to the court it was opposition research and none of it was verified). So, if Trump thinks he was surveilled or the FBI had a mole in his organization, he just might be right. It is something that needs to looked at and even worse if President Obama authorized it, we are in worse shape than anyone thought.
12
The President suggests, without any evidence, that Obama may have prompted the FBI investigation of Trump's campaign. And you give weight to this pure speculation by pondering the harm to our democracy if such action by Obama actually occurred. The harm to our democracy happens when some of us promote unfounded cynicism about the institutions of government.
21
I'm no cheerleader for the FBI, especially is it relates to it's role in mass incarceration. But even in its 'bad old days' when Hoover practically turned 'The Bureau' into a fourth co-equal branch of government and his private fiefdom, no president chose to try to control and subvert the FBI for his own selfish reasons more than this one.
You've basically repeated verbatim what right-wing media talking points have been for over a year now. Talking points more closely related to protecting trump personally, than to any basis in law or facts, and miles away from what is in the best interest of the country.
5
This sentence is simply misleading: "And, there seems to be a real question as to the means that the FISA warrants were obtained( that is using the dirty dossier and not disclosing to the court it was opposition research and none of it was verified)." So much has been written about the dossier being only one aspect of the FISA request, that its origin was revealed to the court, and that subsequent requests that were granted were based on so much other evidence than the dossier... that I don't even know where to begin.
5
Actually it is Trump versus the People. We are losing.
2
The investigation was ginned-up by the outgoing Obama Administration/Clinton Campaign!
The real collusion story of the 2016 election was the way that the Obama administration put the law enforcement and intelligence arms of the administration in the service of the Clinton campaign.
Many of the Mueller lawyers come from the top levels of the Obama Justice Department.
1
The overriding question, which no Trump lackey will ever ask or answer, is: If the FBI did work to undermine the Trump campaign and elect Hillary Clinton president, was that before or after its director torpedoed the Clinton campaign? Twice.
1
This is the clearest, most unfettered, editorial of the NYT on where we stand with the sordid Trump affair and the GOP effort, whatever cost, to hang on to power. It is clearly a coup attempt against the Constitution and rule of law. Hopefully, when and if all this is over, historians will be able to sort out how American democracy was derailed and what safeguards were enacted to prevent its recurrence.
2
We all saw this heading our way on 11/9/2016. This has not surprised the Resistance, the Resistance was formed because we all knew his plan. He has to destroy the rule of law to effectively become what he admires most, Vladimir Putin.
Do you think the president, his cabinet and administration, his followers, and most of the rest of the country have a clue to what is being done to the country? This is the first time, in the history of this country that an elected official and his minions are tearing at the very fabric of the country itself. It doesn't matter that he has achieved what his lapdogs say he has in the form of appointing a supreme court justice, getting through a tax plan, having a raging stock market. It doesn't matter if in the end the country actually loses its way and culminates the downward spiral to hit rock bottom and ceases to be what the founders envisioned.
Americans since the beginning have revered our country for the freedoms and the rule of law. All of that will be gone in another six years if the president is reelected as well as this feckless congress. Most of us in our eighties won't live to see it, and that may be a blessing in disguise, but those that do will wonder for a long time "how we let it happen."
The intimate meeting today consists of Republican members of Congress. The Democrats on the House Committee should notify news outlets follow the Republicans to the White House gates and film the Democrats being barred from entering in order to view the bias. The majority of Americans could visually see this is one party rule in this stage of history.
All precedents set by this Administration from President for personal profit, nepotism, lack of security clearances, incompetents and for profits in every Cabinet post to the possessive use of the pronoun, "my", as in my Generals. Trump's use of the words treason, should be fired, locked up should be directed towards him and include what he refers to as good men
And I hope EVERYONE asks themselves this question. WHERE ARE THE REPUBLICAN Leaders in the Senate and the House & WHY aren't they reminding President Trump and his Administration of the FACTS that are summarized in this article? NOTE: And they are FACTS. Trump's Campaign Team was repeatedly warned about our government's intelligence agencies deep concern that Putin and Russia was interfering in the election. Nobody at that time was accusing Donald Trump of wrongdoing. They were clearly warned of the outcomes if they did interfere. Trump's team dismissed all the warnings and it is likely that they did collude with Russia. This was not a game, this was the U.S. Presidential Election. WHEN ARE the REPUBLICAN LEADERS going to step up to the plate and LEAD? President Trump is incompetent and also has been repeatedly dishonest. Ultimately, WE the PEOPLE get to decide. Everyone needs to get out and VOTE.
2
Well, the EB is carrying water for the FBI and DOJ. We know that in 2016 the DOJ under Loretta Lynch was politicized --- and we know the FBI under Comey was politicized. We know that high level members of the FBI were coordinating to do what they could to prevent a Trump presidency from happening.
We know an FBI asset spied or attempted to spy on Trump. We know the Comey FBI obtained FISA warrants on Trump team members for reasons that seem sketchy. We know the FBI claims they opened the Trump-collusion investigation in late July within days (if not hours) of hearing from the Aussies that a Trump team member had bragged to the Australian ambassador in London that the Russians had something on HRC that would be coming out. We know the FBI claims they didn't know nothing about nothing or the Steele dossier until long after they opened the Trump-Russia investigation -- yet we also know they had the dossier in early July.
We know Obama did nothing about Russia's attempts to interfere with out election UNTIL after Trump won then he threw together an intel team charged with solving what happened and why. And strangely, this team of Obama appointees came out with a report backed up by nothing but "trust us" that said Russia interfered to help Trump win.
We don't know the provenance of the Trump-Russia collusion investigation but we do know there is something fishy there.
And yet all the commentariat and the EB can do is cast ad hominem darts at Trump. Ridiculous.
4
With blatantly open corruption through misuse of his office, and with systematic attacks on law enforcement agencies and DOJ, Trump has become 21st century equivalent of Caligula. With their total lack of actions against Trump, Capitol Hill has become equivalent of impotent Roman senate under Caligula.
Under current administration, the U.S. has lost its right to be called "oldest and most developed democracy" and has lost its right to criticize other nations under corrupt and/or dictatorial rule. We have become one of those nations.
1
Trump has revealed the GOP for the hypocritical threat to our democracy that they are. They've chosen to stand by and defend someone who most likely colluded with a foreign government because he's willing to rubber stamp their agenda. They wrapped themselves in patriotism after the shock of 9/11 and took advantage of our fears to lie us into a war with Iraq and deny us our civil liberties with the expansion of the patriot act. The only way to keep our democracy is to vote the bums out. Otherwise we'll be a democracy in name only.
The Supreme Court verdict on arbitration makes it clear that the worst undermining of justice isn't the President's constant bluster or bullying, it's Mitch McConnell's rigging of court appointments stretching back almost ten years. There are more wolves in the Republican Party than the one in the hen house.
Law enforcement and the justice department should stand up to Trump? Really? How does one do that on planet earth? Pick out what orders that you want to obey, refuse to obey others?
Law enforcement and justice department officials, ex-officials that is, are standing up to Trump and his government every day on CNN and MSNBC. They have no respect for Trump and are the best analysts of what is informing Americans about what is actually going on... and in skewering the President. They are in touch with their colleagues inside and many of them worked for Comey or Mueller, and know Rosenstein as well. They are free to talk; it's entertaining and incisive and a bit scary as well as they document Trump's assault on American Justice.
On the other hand, the one group that actually should be standing up to Trump, performing their checks on the Executive Branch is complicit. That is why this continues. That is why the country is damaged and divided and getting worse each day.
Lay it at the Republican Congress. Complicit. Cowardly. Corrupt.
2
Here is the real danger. We keep drawing lines in the sand and Donald Trump keeps crossing over them. We keep being outraged at his behavior and policy decisions, but that has not deterred him in the least.
I was raised with the legal maxim that no one is above the law. What a joke! Donald Trump is. He can pardon himself it turns out. What is he, Emperor? I do believe he could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot someone and get away with it.
I keep reading about how his behavior is doing "incalculable damage to the integrity of American law enforcement." How is this for a nightmare scenario? Donald Trump is defeated in 2020 and refuses to step down from office, claiming that the election was rigged.
He invokes his powers as Commander-in-Chief and uses the military to prop him up so he can remain in office. Can't happen here? Really?
1
Donald Trump and the Republican Party leadership suffer no pangs of shame. Instead, they lie, obfuscate and attack. Democracy and its fundamental institutions are seen as a threat to GOP/Trump accumulation of power and profit. Trump administration actions and Republican leadership inaction have proven power and profit are primary motivations for policies which ultimately undermine our democratic institutions.
The way Trump is going, even Maduro looks more respectful of the Constitution.
1
I had no strong position on this until I read the NY Times article on Crossfire Hurricane. Until then, a lot of the suspicions about the intelligence community and DOJ did seem like Fox News hyperventilating. Ironic for me that the Times now frames this as DOJ v Trump, when the Times is the one outlet that made me realize there is a lot to this concern. I think we should all just wait and see. This was indeed born in a crossfire hurricane.
3
We the people are all that stands in the way of Trump's complete destruction of American Democracy.
This site, https://www.runforoffice.org/, allows you to enter your ZIP code and see what offices are available to you and the filing window for that office. They also have video short-courses on running a campaign.
Become a Precinct Committee Officer, Ward officer. Meet your neighbors and get out the vote.
Run for School Board. Make sure Civics is being properly taught. Think a majority of America knows how government works? Just 26% of eligible voters in America voted for Trump, and half of all voters stayed home last November. HALF! Today's 12-year olds will be voting for President in 6 years.
Run for Mayor, City Council, County Commissioner, Borough Assembly. And get on your Planning Commission.
Run for State Legislature or Congress. The next census is in 2020 when we'll redraw Congressional Districts.
Register people to vote. If you need to help people overcome the GOP-led voter-run-around campaign help them do that. This site, https://www.aauw.org/resource/organize-a-voter-registration-drive/, has a how-to on organizing a voter registration drive. Or even sitting outside Wal Mart with a folding chair and a card table. Organize a League of Women Voters chapter in your community if you don't already have one. Fair, honest and above board. Democracy functions better with them involved.
Civics, civility and civilization all share the same roots.
With Rosenberg's and Wray's capitulation to Trump and the Congressional Republicans, we have now become a dictatorship. If Trump can order a groundless investigation of those who have turned up countless facts of his lawbreaking, and they cower before him, this democracy is over. We are no longer a nation of laws. We are a nation of one man rule.
Mr. Mueller's investigators have been painstakingly developing the facts of Trump's unlawful activities, including his conspiracy with Russians and other foreign nationals, that has spanned several years. And yet, with one tweet, our dictator may "demand" that they themselves be investigated. And why is he doing this? To create a fictional pretext that he has somehow been wrongly targeted and to shut down Mr. Mueller's investigation, assuming the Congressional Republicans don't simply ignore it.
But we must never forget how we got here. Trump voters. Trump did not seize power. Nearly half this country put him there and their support of him remains rock solid. As long as this is true, we will continue to be a dictatorship. A survey noted in the Washington Post several months back showed that well over half of Republican voters believed it was fine for Trump to suspend elections if he, himself, thought there was reason to do so. This man won't go quietly, and he knows he doesn't have to. And we will be looking back on our concerns about Mr. Mueller's investigation, and will be wondering how we could ever have been so naive.
192
DB Cooper - No, nearly half of this country did not vote for Trump. There were 225 million registered voters in 2016, 62.9 million voted for Trump, 65.8 million voted for Clinton, 89 million stayed home.
14
This editorial does a wonderful of summing up where we are at this point. Effectively, we not only have scandal, foreign influence in elections, a president trying to end an investigation, a staff playing interference, members of Congress looking fro a scandal that does not exits and the GOP, with it PACS, and right win news support, doing anything possible to retain power and caste blame to the Democrats and former President Obama himself.
What started as a possible interference by Russia, in the 2016 elections, has turned into a full scale scandal involving both the executive and legislative branches. And, Mr. Mueller is not finished with investigation. While, at the same time, the FBI leadership is under fire, because they are getting very close to the Trump himself.
The so called "fake news" media (as Trump calls it), needs to step it up more. It needs to keep digging for the final smoking gun. It needs to do to Trump, what they did to Nixon. No matter what happens, the "rule of law", and the Constitution, must prevail in the end. Even if that means it brings down Trump, Pence, his cabinet, a number of Senators and representative, in Congress, leadership of the GOP, and those every wealthy domestic and foreign national who may have illegally sent money to the Trump campaign or who have paid Trump for favors/access.
Trump was right about one this, "this is bigger than Watergate", but fro far different reasons than he indicated. This is a full fledge major scandal.
1
A clear and concise statement of the case. the Trump/Republican attack on federal law enforcement and national security. It is time for all patriots to come to the defense of our country. in word, deed and vote. This is not a military attack by foreign foes that requires taking up arms and risking one's life. It requires courage of a different order. Courage to rise about partisan allegiance, ideology and identity, to risk one's career, business or paycheck, to test one's social relationships and more. For Republicans, it requires the courage to say, "I was wrong to trust this man with the power of the presidency. I no longer do."
1
Trump claims because he was running for president no one had the right to investigate its practices or outside contacts with foreign powers, this despite his constant drum beat for DOJ investigators to go after his Opponent, Hillary Clinton. But if an organization no matter who they are or their political cover is breaking the law law enforcement officials must reveal and indict those guilty of crimes.
Trump was not president when these alleged crimes were reported and an investigation begun. But now because he is president he claims immunity. The facts are as they are stated here and there is plenty of evidence gathering force day by day. But none of this seems to matter as the Trump supporters in their blind millions just want to ignore what is evident as a witch hunt, but we do not need to look for fanciful witches here, only flesh and blood people who used and abused our political system and laws.
119
Some of these investigations of his election aides started in 2013, namely of Carter Page.
1
Where are the chants of "lock him up?"
That's worth wondering as it seemingly demonstrates one tribe's view of the legal process vs. the other tribe's view (no process required).
If the DOJ succumbs to Trump's pressure, the rule of law is DOA. Even an amateur legal mind could also charge half of Congress as an accomplice to the administration's clear effort to keep Trump above the law.
2
All we who care about this country have to do is have more love and faith and devotion to this constitutional democratic republic than Donald Trump and his administration and backers in and out of this country have contempt for it.
People fought and died for our right to vote out tyrants like the sort that inhabit the White House—or is it Mar-a-Lago today?—and when our Constitution failed to be infallible we passed Amendments to bring us up to date and ever more compliant with the original promises of equality under the law and a government of, by, and for the people.
Cynicism and apathy are what got us here and it's going to take being willing to believe in something again to get us out of here. The challenge is that nobody is perfect and we haven't exactly made it easy for the good guys to do the work we sent them to do. We demand perfection and tireless effort yet we're too easily distracted and discouraged and don't give more than a few hours every four years toward our civic duty ourselves.
Pick three positive changes for the good of all that you want to see our country make. Connect with your fellow Americans who want to bring about that same change through nonviolent means and work toward making it come to fruition.
We can't let this happen a second time, a third… Stop letting them depress turnout. Stop letting them frame our choice as between the lesser of two evils. Everything Trump accused Clinton of he's proven guilty of himself to a factor of 100.
12
One problem Trump's critics fail to recognize is that the longer Mueller's investigation continues, the greater the amount of information unearthed about the "origins" of the investigation. The supposed originating event (remember when it was the dossier?), the timeline and the players involved have already changed several times. I suspect this is the real reason Mueller will wrap up the investigation sooner rather than later.
5
The origins of the investigation remain what they were: FBI and NSA evidence that Russia was actively meddling with our elections, as they've been doing around the world.
In other words, no, it was not the Steele dossier, however many times Trump and Trumpists try to repeat that cheap lie.
The "origins" can be changed or explained several times, BUT that has no effect on crimes committed.
Did you perhaps think that Bob Mueller only cares about why the investigation was necessary and not the crimes unearthed?
The other day I came across a statistic that hasn't been focused on by the press: in the past, the average DOJ investigation has taken 1154 days. If this is indeed true, the public and the administration need to be informed that Mueller has barely passed the opening salvo. Hopefully, enough money has been provided for Mr. Mueller's staff to carry out their investigation as quickly and efficiently as possible. I believe that to be the case otherwise the press would have reported any difficulties Mueller had regarding hiring enough staff. I would like to commend Mr. Mueller's team for performing their work, to date, quietly and efficiently. It seems that each day that passes Trump is becoming more unhinged. He's actually self destructing before our eyes. I'd guess that as Mueller is coming closer to learning about the various shenanigans pulled by Trump, his family and compatriots in crime, his behavior is becoming more unglued. Well, I'm sitting back, relaxing and observing the Trump reality TV Presidency Show without the cost of purchasing one of Trump's expensive golf club membership's.
11
Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein shouldn’t give Trump or Congress anything relating to Mueller’s investigation or any other investigation of the campaign without a federal court order to do so. Let a federal judge or appeals panel decide if the demands for documents are justified and if the material would compromise investigations or assets if divulged prior to investigations closing or legal proceedings which arise as a consequence being adjudicated.
4
I think most would welcome a good hard objective look at the alleged "security" threats claimed by the FB to justify its stonewalling. Time to let the sun shine on it all. What better way for the FBI to demonstrate that it's not a political tool and hasn't been corrupted.
3
I am sure the FBI would love to give away the store, but it seems they're being audited by the IRS.
The only documents that should be turned over to the president and congress should be indictments for all involved in this monumental act of treason committed against our country!
19
This administration and the entire Republican Congress is an absolute horror. Gone forever are the days when they actually cared about America and it's people. It's time to take off the kid gloves and expose them for what they have become, liars and thieves.
17
"Comments are moderated for civility" meaning only comments which do not support the President will be published.
5
Do the editors of the NYT's have no shame? Your paper launders leaks from the FBI and DOJ on an almost daily basis. Last week your paper, combined with the NY Post and Washington Post printed very similar articles sourced from the DOJ reveling the FBI mole inside the Trump campaign. Over the past year, Mueller has found nothing on your allegations. The IG's report will be coming out soon which is why the DOJ is leaking to get ahead of what will be a very bad story for it, the FBI and the media.
8
Well, I guess we'll see won't we.
This idiot of a so-called POTUS previously accused President Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower (which turned out to be utterly false and totally unsupported).
Now this idiot of a so-caled POTUS is accusing the DOJ and the FBI of infiltrating his shambles of a campaign with spies. First of all, anyone hanging around the campaign for an extended period of time would have to be somebody that the idiot approved of. We know that he does not hire people who have made public statements that disparage him. That says any "spy" in the campaign would have to be somebody that the idiot agreed to hire. Stangers do not get to wander around at will, talking to just anyone ... oh, wait, ... Michael Wolff got to sit in the West Wing for months as he interviewed many people for his book "Fire and Fury." So maybe the Trump Campaign willingly let somebody "spy" on them.
The one person who appears to have gone (ahem ...) "undercover" [with Der Fuehrer Drumpf, that term may have an unintended meaning, sorry] is an American professor who spoke to Carter Page in July 2016 (who was under investgation by the FBI since 2013), Roger Stone in Aug. 2016 (who has made all manner of comments indivcating he is in communication with WikiLeaks and Julian Assange), and George Papdopoulos in Sept. 2016, who admitted that he was informed that the Russians had hacked emails that they were going to use to help Trump.
The idiot has no idea what he is asking for. He will end up with an omelet on his face.
3
It seems to me that if the suspicion of colluding with a foreign power during an election rears its ugly head.....it SHOULD be investigated by the CIA AND FBI. What, are they just to stand by and let it happen????
1
Read “How Democracies Die” by Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt.
6
It's a serious matter when the organs of government police are secretly investigating the campaign of one of the presidential election parties in the middle of an election. What happened and why should be revealed and not swept under the rug. If there were legitimate reasons for it, fine. But, it's of such important concern, that the details of how and why should be released to the public.
10
We already have members of the Presidents campaign who pleaded guilty to crimes and others are indicted. We already know there were legitimate reasons for it.
1
Yes, it is a big deal. The suppression of this by the media is probably the saddest thing about this entire debacle. The media has fallen so far. Obama put members of the media in jail at an alarming rate, yet it still cannot stop its sycophantic behavior towards him. It has earned all the opprobrium heaped upon it.
2
Once you give in to a bully one time he will always come back for more.
Mr. Rosenstein has made that mistake...Trump will be making more demands of the DOJ and it now is time for Rosenstein to draw the line in the sand...
6
"What about the law?"
My dear editor, this fool has no understanding or respect for the law. He would sell this nation out at the drop of a hat and may very well be convicted for treason. He sees anyone or anything opposing him as an enemy. He treats our treasured government like a Queens building inspector and his base is not a solid voting block, but a cult led by a petty snake oil salesman. Trump is going to ignore the rule of law until their is an overthrow. He will sell us all out to Russia and China to preserve his own ego. This is what happens when fools puta fool in power.
14
When it comes to bad things and worst case scenarios, I have an excellent imagination. But I am sorry (VERY SORRY!) to say that in The Strange Case of Donald Trump, my imagination has fallen short.
At least for the most part, but I expect it will be just a matter of time. (Hint: Think Big Red Button!)
1
Of all the head-snapping aspects of this administration and its base, this one confounds me the most. Without a single exception, every Trump supporter I know was all-in on law enforcement. These were the people incensed enough by #BlackLivesMatter to conjure up BlueLivesMatter. Don't want to be hassled or worse by the police? Then don't behave in a way that asks for it.
Now here comes their beloved champion, hell-bent on tearing down our venerated federal law enforcement community. (For no observable reason than to insulate himself from law enforcement, I might add.) And the base stays with him.
What the actual [heck]?
7
That terrible person is gutting American institutions like a fish. We are in trouble...maybe worse.
2
The current President has some nerve complaining about the FBI when it was consistently behaving in suspicious and criminal ways. There is so much that is unfathomable that there is no fire. A cursory look at his business life shows that he is consistently willing to skirt rules and laws, so it is no surprise that his campaign and administration operate in the same fashion. He is given carte blanche by his supporters and the rest of us are wondering how a group of Dick Tracy goons can pull the wool over the eyes of so many. I have never been more afraid for my nation and democracy itself. Even if Trump faces any consequences at all (which seems doubtful) the damage to our nation may be irreparable.
4
Trump should be as opposed to Russia as
He is the FBI and DOJ. An American president bringing down America....disgraceful.
3
The media and those in a position to effect change need to stop sugar-coating what Trump and his handlers and backers are attempting: replacing our democracy with a right-wing dictatorship. The parallels between the Trump playbook and the Hitler playbook are plainly evident, and will not be erased by invoking Godwin's Law.
Attacking the media, and then the legal system, which are two of the chief safeguards of democracy, are classic moves by someone wishing to consolidate their power. If the media and others in power who still possess a conscience and patriotism do not confront this and call it what it is, by the time they awaken to the danger it will be too late. Trump has already gotten those who support him to believe that he is above the law, in stark contrast to what our Founding Fathers intended. They would have him be king as long as he promised to do their bidding, even when the evidence is mountainous that he will do anything but.
Our democracy hangs by a thread.
11
Only if we let it!
Pretty soon, by Labor Day or thereabouts, we'll see a repeat of the Saturday Night Massacre. Who will 'Bork' this time?
1
Writes the Times: "If the law is against you, argue the facts. If both the facts and the law are against you, pound the table and yell." To which should be added, "and why not? You've nothing to lose and can only go up."
Trump’s “self-interested assault,” directly upon the FBI and indirectly upon the DOJ, puts far more at stake than just “doing incalculable damage to the integrity of American law enforcement.” It threatens democratic-government process at its core because it seeks to assert executive political power superior to the rule of law.
Preserving the rule of law is the purpose of the hands-off-policy tradition of the executive in regard to DOJ and FBI investigations, particularly when focused upon the executive or entities surrounding it. If both parties in Congress uphold their oaths and Constitutional obligations to check presidential abuse of power with a threat of impeachment, the preservation of the rule of law is not an option of tradition; it is assured.
Republicans make it clear their conservative, special-interest agenda is more important than the Constitution, the rule of law, or the freedom-preserving structure of separation of powers the Constitution’s framework provides. If the career lawyers at DOJ join the shameless, hypocritical Republicans in Congress and bend to Trump’s demands, America will at that moment cease to be a constitutional republic/quasi-oligarchy and instead will be firmly on the path to authoritarianism, the mid-term election being the last remaining hope to restore the sanity of oversight that government under Trump especially requires.
Hitler’s Germany was only made possible when its jurists turned away from justice and law to meet his demands.
5
This "editorial" board should be ashamed of yourselves. It seems quite apparent that an unprecedented misuse of the DOJ and FBI occurred when they were tasked/allowed to infiltrate the political campaign of an adversarial party. This is big news! You bask in the glow of bringing to life the "pentagon papers"; yet you completely ignore an exponentially larger, and more insidious crime because of your juvenile hatred for the current President. Isn't there a single voice in your organization that stands for actual journalism?
8
Jim says it very well. If this is any where close to what it appears to be, it corrodes the integrity and believability of our justice department. This corrosion will live on long after trump is gone.
1
What do you mean by "infiltrated"? Cite some sources here.
Another day, another obscenity from the bottomless pit of Trump. Another assault on human decency. Another assault on the Constitution and the separation of powers.
Another temper tantrum from this spoiled, ugly brat. Won't someone change his diapers, or a least give him his binky?
If his party does not resist him, there is literally nothing that will stop him. He thinks he is our Emperor.
2
Kudos to Trump. Obama's justice department was corrupt to the core. Thy left a dastardly trail of sabotage and destruction for the incoming president. Bur the swamp cannot investigate itself. We need a new special prosecutor. This is the biggest scandal in American history. A rogue group of Trump haters in CIA, DOJ, FBI and State conspired to usurp the will of hundreds of millions of Americans who cast their sacred vote for our leader Donald J. Trump. The willing lapdog media, led by the NY Times and Washington Post has remained mute. In their demented world, spys planted in the campaign are really " informants", and those "informed upon" should be grateful for the "protection." The fourth estate is dead.
8
Sessions and Rosenstein both Trump appointees democratic plants for the persecution of the glorious Donald Trump? Please give me a break.
It is revealing that the editorial board, the voice of the paper, has chosen to double down rather than try and figure out a way to work out of the hole.
Russian collusion, a years long effort led by Putin himself, and a whopping $50 grand of Russian Facebook ads stole the election from Hillary, according to the NYT.
Except, there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever, after two years of spying, fake dossiers, feigned outrage and outright lying by Democrat operatives, to support any of those claims.
All of the evidence - actual evidence - shows massive corruption and the most shocking abuse of governmental power by a Democrat administration and several government agencies engaged in a criminal conspiracy to change America’s election results for partisan purposes.
That the NYT can pretend to be so obtuse mostly shows they have no options left to maintain their dignity. .
Hillary’s anger is primarily that those scheming Trump people ruined the Clinton Foundation’s chances at becoming a multi-billion dollar a year money laundering machine.
What’s your excuse, NYT editorial board?
9
Very well said!
3
The present American administration, including the Republican Congress, is nothing but a pack of hoodlums and criminals.
The worst include Nunes, McConnell, and Ryan. They are not concerned with the desperate needs of the American public but with their own narrow-minded bigoted "FreedomCaucus" aims. If they were looking after our well-being we would have clean air, universal health care and the NRA would be abolished. I don't agree with Uysses below. The FBI and CIA are honorable organizations designed to protect Americans from criminals and their investigations are being scorned by a fascist pack of wolves.
5
The Times says that all comments are "moderated for civility." If the President were moderated BY civility, we wouldn't be having these discussions. This man is a pig, in every way.
2
First, the facts. The FBI director exonerated the Democratic candidate for president from gross negligence in mishandling classified materials, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, and even though he lacked the authority to make the decision. The FBI used a dossier assembled by a foreign agent working on behalf of Democrats to seek warrants to conduct surveillance on people connected to the Trump Campaign. This foreign agent fabricated the contents of the dossier in consultation with senior Russian officials. None of the most salient and salacious aspects of the dossier have been verified. In seeking warrants to "investigate" (spy on) people in the Trump orbit, officials failed to inform the courts that the dossier was paid for by the Clinton Campaign and the DNC. Senior Obama officials requested the unmasking of members of the Trump campaign who were incidentally spied on but were not targets of warrants. The FBI used an informant to try to insinuate himself into the confidence of three people associated with the Trump campaign (which the NY Times in Orwellian fashion claims was not “spying”), in order to get evidence of collusion with the Russians, evidence that they obviously lacked. The Obama CIA Director lied to Congress claiming that the dossier had nothing to do with opening an investigation into the Trump Campaign. The Obama DNI lied to Congress in denying that he leaked information about the dossier to the press.
8
Trump is the biggest floater in the infamous swamp that he promised to drain.
3
Isn’t it time this destructive, infantile, sham president be held accountable?
4
Dear Mr. Edgar J. Hoover
Your agent, Mr. Eliot Ness, is being mean to me. Please have him stop.
Yours truly,
Alphonse Gabriel Capone, Esq.
Chicago, Ill.
2
It would seem, in an ironic twist, that the completely fake NYT polls that kept showing Hillary with a 98.3% chance of winning lulled the conspirators into believing that, since Hillary was going to win, nobody would ever find out.
And they got sloppy.
And Hillary lost.
And they got caught.
And they can no longer hide.
And next, they will turn on each other.
4
How Nixonion. Let's hope it ends the same way. Soon.
1
Why even cover this guy? A dimwit
with a vacant agenda. If we ignore
him he'll go away.
The "you dirty coppers, come and get me" defense. The last resort of the defiantly guilty.
Yes the Russians interfered in our election. According to the Democratic Party they hacked the campaign server though there is not ONE piece of existing physical evidence to that statement. Then the ever vigilant FBI, then led by that President of indecision but mostly red-line drawing, thought it would be brilliant to help by being too clever by half. Oh don't tell the American people they are too stupid but get the three stooges at the FBI, CIA and NSA to work this. Well we now know what this has all wrought - no one believes what the Feds say unless your position is that the unwashed are crazy and they elected a crazy uncouth person to the lofty position that should only be reserved for east-coast Yalie's, et al.
You really can't make this up. I for one find this search for a red under every bed so tedious and stupid for the way it was handled that it makes me nauseated.
4
It sure is amazing what utter garbage the US puts up with in denial of the fact its entire presidential election system is a broken relic of slavery that was a bad idea from the outset.
1
Trump’s “self-interested assault,” directly upon the FBI and more indirectly upon the DOJ, puts far more at stake than just “doing incalculable damage to the integrity of American law enforcement.” It threatens democratic-government process at its core because it seeks to assert executive political power superior to the rule of law.
Preserving the rule of law is the purpose of the hands-off-policy tradition of the executive in regard to DOJ and FBI investigations, particularly when focused upon the executive or entities surrounding it. If both parties in Congress uphold their oaths and Constitutional obligations to check presidential abuse of power with a threat of impeachment, the preservation of the rule of law is not an option of tradition; it is assured.
Republicans make it clear their conservative, special-interest agenda is more important than the Constitution, the rule of law, or the freedom-preserving structure of separation of powers the Constitution’s framework provides. If the career lawyers at DOJ join the shameless, hypocritical Republicans in Congress and bend to Trump’s demands, America will at that moment cease to be a constitutional republic/quasi-oligarchy and instead will be firmly on the path to authoritarianism, the mid-term election being the last remaining hope to restore the sanity of oversight government under Trump especially requires.
Hitler’s Germany was only made possible when its jurists turned away from justice and law to meet his demands.
Trump is so selfish and dim-witted he thinks the Department of Justice is the Department of “just us”.
"integrity of American law enforcement"
LOL, you guys have no idea what you are talking about. These guys have watched Judge Dread about 1000 too many times.
The miasma of complaints and counter-accusations coming from the circled wagons of Orange Julius and his paid, libelous sycophants show just how deep in the swamp dookie they are. However, with republican neo-fascists controlling the Senate and Supreme Court, the legal outcome of the swindler in chief's dealings is far from the surety of Justice. The election of Trumpolini, once it was clear that Russian oligarchs aided and abetted, should have been annulled immediately, and a new election raised. But no, we are America, a shining example of hypocrisy and duplicity, exceptional at global war for profit, exceptional at killing children in classrooms in order to pander to gun manufacturers and their militants, exceptional at environmental destruction and the dumbing down of populations through mass propaganda and the starving of public education funds. USA? USA? USA?
No Justice So What
No Justice So What
Vox Amerikanski has spoken.
2,800,000 more voters voted against Vladimir Trump
(albeit votes for Stein were in reality votes for Dennison)
so the die is cast.
Quisling Ryan stands by and tacitly supports traitors Meadows, Nunes, and Jordan.
Shocking....shocking.
In this week of royal celebrations, it seems that the President is confused: “I hereby demand" is not his prerogative. Unless his mother outlives him, Charles will be king. Barring major social upheaval or nuclear holocaust, William will be king. But Donald will never be king, much to his dismay and confusion! The President's delusions of grandeur have reached a level that would almost be humorous if the entire situation were not so terrible and disgusting.
2
The DOJ exists to serve the American people, not t he dirty Democrat Party. Apparently Obama succeeded where Nixon failed: Obama perverted the DOJ (and FBI) into the American equivalent of the KGB. Democrat crimes are buried and covered up, while every political rumor regarding a political opponent is inflated into a criminal investigation. If no crime can be found, perjury traps are set. Obama promised to "fundamentally change American society" and now, finally, we see what he really meant.
2
Remember that Trump used conspiracy theories to pump up his base during the primaries and election. Also, the right wing is a conspiracy theory factory for its media and representatives. Since the majority of his base does not read, or cannot read, we are in deep trouble.
1
Aside from having Donald Trump at the helm alongside a lock-step Republican Congress, a sure sign that there would be trouble on the road ahead came with the appointment of Jeff Sessions as U.S. Attorney General.
It was this move alone that guaranteed the fix was in for anything this president planned to pull off under the guise of it being constitutionally correct.
And that's where we now find ourselves, with Mr. Trump showing signs of increasing desperation as the Robert Mueller investigation draws ever closer.
One would think if he were innocent, he'd be doing everything in his power to aquit himself by cooperating; but instead he's making demands, placing the blame on the 'usual suspects', and tweeting more furiously than ever.
Still, what's really at stake here is not whether the F.B.I. or anyone else was spying on him during the course of his presidential campaign. It's what they actually saw, and how effectively it can be proven in Court beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Stay tuned.
4
I think the DOJ should investigate the NDAs Trump had government employees sign prior to joining his cabinet. They are probably unconstitutional. If this is true, they should all be forced to resign, or have their security clearance rescinded or denied. Nobody who signed such an agreement can be trusted to serve the public interest.
7
The intelligence community and the FBI team investigating these incidents know so much more than has been released. Telephone calls by foreign nationals recorded by NSA combine with human sources in the Kremlin, and what actually occurred is a known, but if released would collapse our Russian intelligence collection at a time of rapidly increasing tensions. Once briefed on the classified facts, even Trump appointees become strangely silent in their critism of the investigation. The FBI now must find unclassified sources that can be used in open court, so flipping those that Trump uses as cutouts will be the only way to prove his involvement.
7
Read "The Men Who Terrorize Rio" in this issue and use your imagination.
I have lost all hope. Trump is being allowed to gaslight the country with his fake spying "scandal". I am disgusted. Republicans are gutter dwellers. I am getting old but I could weep for my children and especially my grandchildren. Fascism has made deep inroads in the good old USA. We're done.
11
Trump Russia Collusion . . . no, not really.
American Feds Colluding against Trump . . . yep, pretty much
4
It's ok for Trump to use Russia to spy on Clinton but if he thinks the DOJ found out about it with a operative it's a conspiracy. He is a very unbalanced man and very bad for American
4
Please Thomas -- what evidence is there that Trump used Russia to spy on Clinton? That's a new one on me.
This may just be the most biased, partisan, and unfair piece I have ever read in this publication--and that's saying something.
The Department of Justice has shown itself to be part of the Deep State that conspired with the FBI--and probably other agencies to deny Trump the presidency. At least 6 agents and top level officials have been fired for covering up, conspiring and lying to investigators. The Justice Dept has systematically blocked requests for information, including congressional subpoenas.
In short--there has been verifiable conspiracy and collusion on the part of the Deep State--against the Trump Administration. Yes...I realize that Liberals are cheering this fact--but it's illegal and it's right for the Administration to try to root it out--and fire those responsible. I'm not sure why the Editorial Board is OK with this level of criminality.
5
Deep State conspiracy theories? Perhaps there is a conspiracy to prove that the world is round, but flat Earthers have absolutely no evidence that their point of view is true.
I am sure that the DOJ has had it corruption episodes as people run our government and everything else, but conspiracies need evidence which the Mueller investigation is carefully gathering. Much of what floats around the internet and in our minds without evidence is just smoke and mirrors. If we depend upon this for our 'proof' we might as well go to the x files.
I am waiting for the Mueller report and looking at what people have admitted to and the evidence we have right now and if you are not worried about what this reveals so far just continue to read Trump tweets and listen to FOX news if that makes you happy.
4
Excellent rebuttal, just Robert!
The NYT Editorial Board needs to read the 2017 NYT review of Jesse Eisinger’s book, explaining that the U.S. Justice Department has been undermined for decades by both republican and democratic White House administrations, because enforcement powers against large-scale fraud collar crooks are routinely destroyed by the multi-trillion dollar fraud within.
ProPublica’s Eisinger observes that U.S. prosecutors routinely decide against convicting most of America’s biggest financial crooks, essentially encouraging them to keep trillions of dollars of stolen assets. For decades, prosecutors have been addicted to tacit future payoffs, knowing that they will be paid soon enough – upon leaving government to take money from financial criminals–in the charade of defending them from the government that won’t convict them. Honest American middle-class citizens cannot compete with Fraud Street financiers.
The NYT review indicates how prosecutors are “reined in by their politically appointed bosses.” Political appointees destroy Justice Department enforcement against multi-trillion-dollar financial fraud. The NYT review points out that for prosecutors, “Conducting the criminal investigation of an executive” would be “jeopardizing a future partnership at a prestigious law firm” that defends fraud collar financial criminals.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/05/books/review/the-chickenshit-club-jes...
1
Donald J. Trump the Malignant Narcissist. The personality that Eric Fromm described as ," The quintessense of evil!" Now playing at the White House, to the chagrin and shame of most Americans, and dread of the world. Ever wonder how and why the U.S. Presidency has sunk so abysmally low? MAGA?
8
They must be going crazy over at Mueller's right now, with Trump's demand for an investigation into his investigators.
Obstruction of justice...Check
Abuse of Power...Check
Danger to Self or Others...Hey, Bob. That's not a crime, it's the standard for institutionalizing mentally unbalanced people against their will...Oh, Bob, holy baloney! You're right...Checkmate
1
All this so we can get judges to outlaw abortions, to put a gun in every house, deny science, enrich the already very rich, and maybe have another show of shock and awe in the Middle East.
13
When Mr. Trump rages on like this, it's usually for a reason. In the past, Mr. Mueller usually drops a bomb shortly after these rants. Don Jr. must be next in the investigation.
As for the Justice Department, I hope that Mr. Rosenstein is doing what he can to keep the Mueller investigation alive. We may not understand it, but I hope that's his strategy.
Congress - I'm not sure how they can support Trump. History will remember them as cowards & opportunists. Get involved - please urge everyone you know to vote!
6
There"s the joke about the wife that comes home early to find her Husband in bed with their neighbor, the husband jumps out the bed and yells at his wife, are you going to believe me or your lying eyes.This sums up the fiasco going on by Trump & his gang.
8
To paraphrase Kingfish, Trump might proclaim:
“I resents the investigation...and I resents the investigators!”
2
Yes to the NYT. Yes to WaPo. No to Trump and the Trumpets.
5
Never in my life would I have thought I'd see an American president actually try to endanger law enforcement and endanger the very national security of our country. This is horrifying and shameful. We have a compromised lying criminal in the oval office who is putting this country in serious danger because he's terrified like a cornered animal that his crimes against the American people are slowly being uncovered. He can't even point to ONE single thing the FBI to date has done that in any way hindered his election. If anything it was Comey's bad decision that HELPED him into the Whitehouse. No this is about a very guilty man who has been putting his position as president in the worst play for pay schemes to our enemies in history. Donald J Trump is a traitor. The question now becomes is how many republicans knowingly helped with the exception and how many are going to cowardly jump ship after their party has ruined this country and our reputation in the world??
6
"The Department of Justice and FBI and their enablers (e.g., NYT, WaPo, etc.) are engaged in a campaign to undermine the foundations of American justice."
1
This should have been front page, top, 96 pt type. People need to get loud, and this includes YOU, NYT. I'm amazed that all news, cable news, print, etc coverage of this is the same shocked, shocked, even tempo reporting. Trump needs to be scared into pulling back-he keeps testing the waters and "reasonable" reportage just won't do anymore. DO SOMETHING!!!! Shout it out!!!
4
I'm sorry, but I'm finding it more and more difficult to read these "sounding the alarm" Times editorials you guys put out.
You guys, more than anyone - save Fox News - created the nightmare that is the Trump White House. You guys, more than anyone, blasted Hillary for, well, anything and everything during the campaign - and still, to this day! - while allowing Trump to skate free. You guys, more than anyone, still, to this day, give this man a pass with gentle headlines and ledes buried way down in paragraph nine or something when it comes to reporting how dangerous his Presidency is.
So, please, save your faux outrage. We're not buying it. That ship has sailed. You guys, more than anyone, are the reason more and more of us are turning elsewhere in the hopes of finding real news.
And, as your boy Donald would say, that really is Sad!
2
Thank you, NYTimes! And where is Congress in all this mess? Turning their backs on America, as is the Trumpet....... Obvious, isn't it?
What's next? Who's next? Waiting for the worst to come, as it is all downhill from here. I would not be surprised if the valuable source is outed by tomorrow and the Trumpet is fully exposed....the raw and brutal truth shall set us all free from the shackles of the Trumpet and his sycophants.
Donald has no clue about our system of government! He does not know we have checks and balances, laws, a Constitution. The Department of Justice is not his! He is not a dictator.
Please vote on November 6th and fire each and every complicit Trump GOP-puppet in Congress!
2
That Russian interference in the 2016 elections, on the direct orders of Vladimir Putin, was for the purpose of, "support of Donald Trump," is an opinion, not a fact as the Times asserted. University of Virginia Prof. Allen Lynch, writing in the Foreign Policy Association's "Great Decisions" publication, contended, "It seems clear that Putin's motive was NOT to help elect Trump. Putin assumed that Clinton would win. He intended to foment maximum possible international humiliation for the U.S. political system in order to neutralize efforts by a future Clinton administration to intervene in Russian politics."
Dr. Lynch, a well-known expert on Russia, pointed out that Clinton had earned the hatred of Putin by interfering on America's behalf in Russian parliamentary elections, and her agent in Moscow, Ambassador Michael McFaul, had openly courted Russian opponents of Putin's presidency. Lynch contends that it was a side effect that Donald Trump's campaign benefited from Russia's interference.
The Times is entitled to its opinion, but it is merely an opinion, not a "fact."
2
What a bunch of liberal hyperbole, The corrupt Obama admin along with the corrupt leadership of the CIA and FBI illegally attempted to thwart an election. Trump won and now the deep state is in deep trouble. The corrupt FBI and CIA now are attempting to undermine/soft coup a duly elected president.
We the people and the defenders of freedom, justice and liberty will not let this stand, under any circumstances.
1
The coup actually took place when Trump took money and aid from foreign adversaries to win the presidency and rewarded them with foreign policy advantageous to them and disadvantageous to the US.
This is treason and the congressional enablers and willfully ignorant followers of Trump are complicit.
We the people and defenders of freedom and democracy will not let that stand.
"Party and Self above country". The slogans for both Trump and the Republican Party. Both are rotten to the core. Dump the Republicans and Impeach Donald Trump, a deranged, amoral human being if there ever was one. It is a sad time for this once great country.
3
Trump alone is nothing. He is a danger to our republic because of the Republican Party.
The GOP is now just as corrupt as Donald Trump. Truth, honesty, decency, patriotism and especially country do not matter to them. Everything and anything, no matter how outrageous, harmful, vile, seditious and treasonous, is fine with them if it helps them to obtain and hold political power to serve themselves and their donors. That is who they now are.
They are presently helping Trump in his attempt to turn this country from the worlds greatest democracy into a corrupt third world style banana republic. The sooner more news and media organization can say this ugly truth the sooner the forces of decency can start to stop them.
3
You editorial is what discredits both sides!
If these revelations were being discussed about President Obama done by a Republican Adm., you would rip the skin off the previous adm. crying, screaming, and gnashing your teeth about wrong doing and a need for a Special Prosecutor! The same goes for the Republicans! They'e both just two sides of the same coin, and you just sude with the Democrats when it's convenient!
Respectfully Yours! Dennis
2
We know the Russians were trying to influence the election, although it's hard to believe they expected to get Trump elected. If they did, they were more prescient than anyone else. More likely they expected Clinton to win and wanted to discredit her.
While so far there is nothing that has been leaked that indicates any collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, we do know that the Clinton campaign actively sought damning information on Trump from the Russians. Luckily for Clinton, they put enough distance - a law firm, Fusion GPS, Steele - between the campaign and Russian sources to make any charge of collusion difficult.
1
Looks to me like Donal Junior was trying as hard as he could to "collude" with any foreign agents with whom he could set up a meeting.
"I hereby demand ... that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated ... the Trump Campaign."
After the DoJ uncovers the spy in the Trump campaign, perhaps they can find Captain Queeg's missing strawberries.
3
It is unfortunate that the media - led by the NY Times - has not fulfilled its role, by investigating the DOJ's shabby performance. Being an enemy of President Trump has blinded the NY Times to its important responsibilities in holding accountable the minions at the DOJ and the FBI. These minions found reason to send a mole into the Trump campaign (notwithstanding that the RNC's servers had not been breached) to determine if the Russians were interfering with their campaign - but took no comparable step towards the Hillary Clinton campaign - notwithstanding that the DNC servers were the ones that had been breached. The NY Times should be leading the charge in uncovering the shenanigans that were going on under the former Administration - fulfilling its journalistic mission.
1
What makes you think the RNC servers were not breached, too?
It appears the president found his Roy Cohen. His name is Rudy Giuliani.
1
I wonder if he stamped his little bitty foot when he tweeted, "I hereby demand"?
Just saw a picture of a phone in his hand (and why is he allowed to have unsecured phones, which he does? Should we ''lock him up' for being loosey-goosey with his phone addiction and possibly able to be hacked?) and wow, that phone looked big. Then I realized why: he has such stubby little fingers. Like a child's hand. A toddler's hand to match the little bitty feet that he likes to stomp furiously.
3
I assume there were millions of politically-themed posts on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms during the last election, many very silly, most, if not all, having no influence on anyone's vote. (Quick question reader- Was YOUR vote influenced by Facebook posts? Neither was mine.) The NYT's contention that Russian interference in our election is a fact ignores the fact that any individual items of Russian manufacture streaming in the vast roaring river of the internet were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of all political posts. Putin is not a stupid man. Why would he greenlight a stupid and pointless campaign? The Russia investigation is simply sour grapes by sore losers. But if it gives you comfort to believe Trump stole the election with Russian aid, knock yourself out.
1
Under Trump and lack of oversight from GOP house and senate, w finally ecame the United States of Banana Republic. Xi, and Putin's dreams finally come true!
4
"This self-interested assault is doing incalculable damage to the integrity of American law enforcement." Really? Above sentence is an example of hyperbole. We'll see.......when the dust settles. Many (1/2) of the voters of the USA believe this is a "witch hunt." The NYT is an example of the "group think" of the left and majority of MSM where 90% of the coverage of Trump is negative. We'll see. Stay tuned.
1
Yes, I hope the Mueller investigation is allowed to continue to completion so that we can see what was going on during the election.
Attacks on the press, threats to exclude certain reporters and networks from news briefings, repeated lies and denigration of former and current politicians - anyone and everyone POTUS perceives as the "enemy", efforts to manipulate FBI and Department of Justice officials and so it continues with this incompetent, ignorant and arrogant man. If you, as you would have the American public believe, you are innocent of any wrong doing, then why repeatedly castigate, blame and deny- someone who has nothing to hide doesn't behave in the defensive and disorganized manner you continue to exhibit. The witch hunt will soon be over and sadly your unbelievably blind base and your feckless GOP cohorts will continue to turn a blind eye to your nefarious actions which have brought this Country to the lowest point in recent memory. The damage you have already done here and abroad will not be undone until you are gone... and that day, for the good of most Americans, can't come too soon.
2
The worst American president of all times Donald Trump is slowly and step by step destroying the America we all love and respect.
4
The solution is obvious, no? Destroy the "Republican" "Party" by any means necessary. Second Amendment solutions work quickest. Just ask "Republicans"....
Trump is a true enemy to all democratic norms and to American ideals. He needs to be stopped immediately.
I feel he has committed treason and obstruction of justice and that his business career is one of criminality and fraud. He is an inviolate liar and an autocratic demagogue.
He needs to be impeached and indicted and face true justice for a life of deceit and indecency.
I remember he invited Russia to hack Hillary's emails and promised to release dirt on her at the time of the notorious Trump tower meetings with Russia.
His behavior confirms any suspicions of his criminality as he attacks an investigation that is seeking the truth about Russian involvement in our democracy and in our Presidential election. He has no interest in the truth
and in protecting our sacred democracy but is only interested in concealing his past misdeeds.
What a role model for our children!
He is definitely a fake President. Just the most ignoble
human being in modern American history!
4
Did you ever notice that the DOJ/FBI is allowed to lie to you, but you aren't allowed to lie to them??? That's why the government is trying to protect the liar Stefan Halper while, alternatively, they charge Michael Flynn with perjury. Those e-mails Halper sent to Carter Page were flat-out, old-school lying. Lying, duplicity and secrecy is deeply embedded in modern law-enforcement and it's sad to see people defend it who should know better.
1
We the People hereby demand a fair trial, after which, should the facts and the law and the table pounding and yelling corroborate hanky-panky in the presidential election, fully warrant jail to the chief.
2
First The Facts: There was a sophisticated, multiyear conspiracy by AMERICAN government officials and agents, working under direct orders from President BARRACK OBAMA, to interfere in the 2016 presidential election in support of HILLARY CLINTON.
2
Nonsense. Ask Joe Comey who changed the results of the election to Trump with his announcement of reopening his email investigation. Ask President Obama in his refusal to tell the voting public of Russian interference in our election to favor Trump.
You are too influenced by Fox News and Right Wing talk shows.
.
1
Obviously, If the FBI and DOJ improperly started and investigation or conducted an investigation, that should be investigated and corrected.
But Trump and supporters have offered zero evidence of such impropriety. Their only claim of impropriety appears to be that an investigation was started under the Obama Administration.
What concerns me, other than Trump abusing the powers of his Office to shield himself and his cohorts from the consequences of their playing footsie for personal gain with foreign powers, is that Trump often projects.
What he accuses others of is what he is thinking of doing himself. So, with his paranoia, it is highly probable that he is spying on political opponents.
The man is a menace to himself and us. People like John Kelly should stop enabling him.
1
Check-Mate !
If Rod Rosenstein and Chris Wray "hand over" what the man in the White House has demanded this past weekend -
Does this spell "Game-Over" for our Justice and Intelligence Community !
If our government was behaving even somewhat normally, the rediculous demands from the president for classified information from the Justice Department would spark a stand-off - where the noble thing for Rod to do would be resign - before letting the integrity of the DOJ slip even further down the slope.
These are not normal times - and Rod's resignation would merely give Donald the opportunity to replace him, en route to shutting Mueller down.
Will Rod and Chris actually cave in to the treasonous GOP Leadership, and the corrupt Fox media storm and give up classified information from an On-Going Case?
The very best for America and the World - would be if Rosenstein and Wray present the wanna-be-dictator and his lawless gang a folder containing the document:
"Go Fish" !
This IS the line in the sand that must not be crossed !
217
Leonard--I think Chris and Rod are stretching out their response, to gain time, and will come up with another stretch, when tRump manufactures another attack, with a similar lack of supporting evidence.
12
But there have been so many lines, and he/we have crossed them every time ...
13
The Democrats need to put a stop to this. They need to nominate a candidate that can beat Mr Trump in 2 years. The electoral college will still be in place so they need a platform and a campaign strategy to win. Now!
4
President Trump’s demand for an investigation is politically motivated nonsense, but only in the eyes of his opponents and not in the opinion of a very large number of voters who are suspicious of the political motivation behind everything anyone in government does. Without an investigation and greater transparency about what the FBI was doing when it used an informant to collect information about the activities of people involved in the Trump campaign, about half the country will believe what the president and FOX news say, whether they are right or not. And when the election comes, we will have the same situation we had last time of a president who is able to win votes by portraying himself as both the staunchest opponent and the greatest victim of the Washington establishment. Instead of the truth that such an investigation might provide, we will continue with back and forth opinions and accusations that force people to form their beliefs, not on the basis of facts, but on the basis of allegiance to one side or the other. Only revealing what actually happened will force people to face the truth—whatever that might be.
6
If the FBI had put an informer into the Clinton campaign or had wiretapped one of her principal advisers, wouldn't Democrats be concerned that this suggested a preference for her opponent? Would not they worry, perhaps legitimately, that this was a way of finding out and using information on campaign tactics to influence the outcome?
It is extremely important that Justice, FBI and the intelligence agencies preserve the reality and the appearance of complete political neutrality.
3
The only reason the Trump campaign was being investigated was because they were doing things that should be investigated.
The Democrats did not need to be investigated because they didn't do anything wrong.
So great that you presume the Trump campaign to be innocent and the Clinton campaign to be guilty.
The first time I ever encountered Trump in the 70's, I knew he was not to be trusted.....with anything.
Now we have 60 million people who believe his lies, and echo his abhorrent views.
Come to your senses, people.
If she had people like Carter Page, who worked for hostile foreign governments, working on her campaign, or if her campaign was benefitting from Russian interference, or if just about every member of her campaign, including cabinet picks, were having meetings during the campaign with her campaign staff and with her advising them, yes. but she didn't. You are mixing apples and oranges. Your question is like asking if, because Charles Manson's cult was investigated for murder, because that is where evidence led, then wouldn't we all want, say, the Bishop of the Episcopal Church investigated for murder because..well, just because and because Manson was? Fallacious argument.
The President has every reason to attack and challenge the Justice Department and the FBI. The Inspector General found that the number 2 man at the FBI committed perjury three times. And shortly he will find the Clinton e-mail investigation very suspect and incorrect.
4
Did any of us even dream how bad and evil trump would be??
11
I cannot vote in your election but I will be bold and play the devils advocate. Reporters are prisoners to facts but a commentator can use images to describe beliefs which I intertwine with democracy, so I relish those commentaries by the Susans, Socrates et al. Nevertheless like a fly in the ointment I find slivers mocking American democracy. These are tone deaf double barreled submits twisting fecklessness and the banality of evil into Obama’s double barreled presidency. They also take me back 75 years when I used a double barreled 28 bore shot gun to pursue wild ducks, crawling 100 yards on my stomach to reach a lagoon. Then to stand up and hold off until the ducks flew beyond the waters edge before firing, to avoid wading. Sometimes I was lucky to take two ducks home for dinner. No doubt a young trumpian fan member of the 1% would excitably embrace democracy to go duck hunting at this lagoon which still exists. His father would support such democratic joy by joining the RA, hire a contractor to make a trench, no need to crawl, and insist on mooring an 8ft punt. The son would take advantage of Americas 2nd amendment to double barrel the odds with a rapid fire gimmick that makes sitting ducks an easy ego boosting target, and then in the aftermath “Whoopee Dah it was a great autocratic day for there were two ducks, one I called Obamacare and the other Democracy, please celebrate that I was successful in killing both”.
Trump is conducting a silent revolution. After he leaves, he will have normalized the idea that a leader on the Right should be a tyrant. This will sooner or later, come back to haunt us.
So for shame, Republicans. You are abetting this.
8
This is Madeleine Albright’s “Warning” playing out faster than a fox can eat a gingerbread man. And another thing: please start printing all future Trump pieces upside down. That might help. So far the op ed trend, no matter how incriminating we want to believe, has been his friend and fodder for the Twitter monster, the anti-op-ed.
2
We, the people “hereby demand” that Donald J Trump be denied his autocratic, tin pot dictatorial demands and be held fully accountable for his, his family’s and GOP co-conspirators numerous and quite undeniable crimes against America. Will that fit on a campaign poster?
10
So Trump has effectively silenced the DOJ, FBI from all investigations in the future. The Republican Congress has been used to carve the heart out of our protections and our intelligence. Be wary GOP, going all in can drown you.
2
Trump comes Accross as so guilty. As an example, I am a honest person so the FBI and the DOJ can investigate me all they want, they can plant anybody they want in my household and I will talk to them all they want because I have nothing to hide. Looks like Trump has lots to hide.
6
Lest we forget: Trump said that he would only accept the Election results IF he won!!!
It’s become blindingly obvious that he ‘won’ because he cheated. He broke the law.
We do not yet know the extent of his criminality and electoral cheating…but don’t expect this to end peacefully.
Trump is deranged…and dangerous when cornered!
7
Clearly Trump, his administration and the Republican House and Senate only believe in the rule of law if it is applied to a person of color (Trump orange excepted).
I find it terrifying and disgusting, even though I am an old well to do ex-military white guy. Have Republicans no sense of responsibility to either the Constitution or their constituents?
4
And what can the common Joe do about this mess?
Vote!
5
If you think the Republicans will give up either house of Congress in November, think again. They will find a pretext to thwart any Democratic victory. They will get the majority of the white vote, and they will then feel justified in whatever they do, because that is the only "America" they recognize. The Presidency and the Congress are in the hands of right-wing revolutionaries and simple criminals. They won't go quietly. Much greater troubles lie ahead than the ones we have already seen. We're already well in the abyss, but there is still a very long way to go to the bottom.
2
Men and women are dying daily for our democracy. Our children, too, are in this crossfire. Our republic is being destroyed by the paranoia of PT Barnum and allegiance of flunkies like Nunes and Giuliani. Will somebody shout and stand up? These are the worst times.
3
Wake up America. Steve Bannon said repeatedly that he would destroy America and by God he is doing it.
Also for an impartial referee I would suggest that Trump appoint Devin Nunes to investigate the DOJ.
2
This editorial is an excellent summary of the latest attempt at Trump trickery and the situation in general. One monster, placed in position by a combination of selfish greed and ignorance, will keep trying his best to aggrandize (and protect) himself at the expense of all the rest of us. Hideous.
4
I am a conservative, a Republican and a Trump supporter. I think a lot of us who support him know he’s a dirty guy. I researched his past and that’s really the only thing one could conclude. I also think he’s using this mole theory to deflect and he got help from Russia during the election. But, I still support. We need someone who’ll play dirty for America. Like Putin is doing. He’s a devil, but he’s our devil. He’s kicking but for this country and that’s what I care about.
The key phrase in this OpEd is...Republicans in Congress compound their shame daily....
Trump is who he is and has always been, a fraudulent, perpetual liar that cares about nothing on this planet but himself and his personal enrichment and glorification. That is proven with every breath he takes and every move he makes.
Trump's Republican enablers knew what an amoral, ignorant incompetent person Trump is well before they joined in supporting him in the 2016 election. They have abandoned the American people in their Russian-assisted power grab backed by a minority of voters who reveled in Trump's anti-Obama Birtherism lies.
Americans who care about this country know full well that the FBI was fully entitled to pursue a covert investigation centered on foreign interference in the electoral process.
But the Republican racist and Evangelical base is not interested in truth or justice. They have deified Trump such that the Republican leadership will never go against this important source of votes. The GOP leaderhip may even be treasonous in their obsessive protection of their crime-boss mascot, Donald Trump.
The Republican Party has no shame and they must be taught a lesson in humility by being thrown from office by the majority of citizens who want to restore dignity to the the Oval Office and to the flag that flies over our nation.
6
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to today's broadcast of, "Donald Trump Vs The Rule Of Law"! (Season 71 / Episode 618,947)
2
Could we just skip the part where Trump crowns himself Emperor and go directly to exiling him to some island - perhaps the one in our very own United States where a volcano is now erupting?
1
The so called “Intelligence” community has become a joke in this country. Our handlers don’t like the fact that their horrific candidate lost so they are basically staging a coup right before our eyes and most Americans are just too busy to even notice it. The ridiculous investigation of Mr. Trump should be shut down immediately and our “Justice” department needs a go scrubbing. While we’re at it let’s take a look at the FBI as well.
1
This is a frightening time. Republicans are ready to jump off a cliff and take the country with them, undermining every iota of the rule of law to protect this megalomaniac and his administration. This opinion piece is right on, and now its time for Richard Burr, who represents me here in North Carolina, to protect Rosenstein and Mueller. Mr. Burr, you can muster the necessary troops to do what is right from the side of the Senate and with your force of decency, you can get those House Republicans who have not yet drunk the Kool-Aid to seriously consider the future of our nation. You guys know what is right and necessary and there is no time to waste in this matter. Say no to a constitutional crisis beyond where we are now. You got this, now take care of business.
1
As anyone with a law degree knows, the United States Department of Justice is a cesspool of left-wing radicals.
Who tend to live very comfortable lives.
So it's not unusual that attorneys deeply embedded there would be fighting the man who might bring their free ride to an end.
Even if it means violating your own oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States.
1
The American people will need to resist the oppressive Republicans, corporations and Trump in these terrible times. If you aren't scared, you aren't bright.
1
These facts are totally disputed. What a ridiculous assertion. I would say it’s unworthy of this board but that would also be a laugh.
Do Trump's defenders in the public and enablers in the government not realize that if this creeping fascism is not stopped, it may one day be unstoppable? And that if/when fascism rules the day, it will hurt them, too, not just liberals and Democrats?
1
The Times reported that an FBI undercover agent was investigating the Trump campaign during the elections. At the time, the investigation was overseen by Eric Holder. The Times saw fit to disclose all this, thereby disclosing the investigation to Trump. I don't find it improper that Trump wants to know what's going on. What I find improper is that the Times disclosed all this to Trump, giving him a reason to divert attention from his own wrongdoing.
1
In the 1930's several senators and congressmen, along with the heads of such companies as DuPont were implicated in an attempted military overthrow of FDR's administration. Their only problem was that the marine general they wanted to lead it was a patriot who turned them in.
Today, I'm not sure it would work that way. And, the Koch Brothers don't really have to work in back alleys: they've got the internet, shadow banks, power-mad, party-mad, corruptible politicians who will gladly do their bidding. Thanks to Roberts court, they're not even breaking the law, no matter how treasonous.
It is not surprising that other parties, foreign governments, would take advantage of this lapse in morality in the American system.
In the end, it may be up to the American people whether we fight a civil war to restore our country. Congress and the courts will be on the opposite side, with the rich. In the end, all of us will pay dearly for our failure to live up to the American ideals of fairness, equality, honesty, and patience.
1
Trump seems determined to do destroy our democratic principles on his way to be Dictator of the United States of America. He is indeed cartoonish, but he also incredibly dangerous.
2
We need to fill the National Mall with a few million people voicing our concerns.
2
Under Trump, the US is now the 'axis of evil'. These vicious tweets of his inflame problems and subvert justice. Every day he holds his own court assaulting the American public with a barrage of fake news and half baked conspiracies for his own ends. Confusion is where he dwells.
However, we know the truth. The truth is his campaign took up overtures from foreign governments and played dirty. Very dirty. It got in so deep because egregrious Trump's calling card is all about winning. He can't bear to lose; a day must be coming when his putrid luck runs out.
I really do not care how upset, wounded or aggrieved he feels. He's an imposter, a fraud and grandstander who cannot be shoved out soon enough. His newly minted coin in recognition of the Kim summit is so Trump - it goes with the rest of his tacky collection of a gold plaque here, a building there, myriad useless merchandise, everything imprinted for sale. The geezer has no class and will always be this uncouth yob with an equally offensive Clampet type family with a penchant for colonial hobbies. Yes, the world is a much darker place with him and his offspring in it.
3
Trumpy and Justice, two words which do not belong in the same sentence. Trumpy has no sense of what Justice is. If you agree with Trumpy, you're the best, the greatest. If you criticize him, well then, stand back and get ready for the fallout. For his entire adult career, Trumpy has run his organization like a mob boss. When I read James Comey making that comment I applauded. He and many others in DC are finally figuring it out. Trumpy has had so many "deals" with real mob bosses, he does not see the difference between with his criminal activity as a private businessman and as president. He was president of Trump Enterprises and now he's president of USA Enterprises, not a dime's worth of difference. Well America, you voted for him. Yes, we know, three million fewer of you did, but that's all part of the rigged game America's Founders saddled US with. The Founders didn't trust the American people. I can see why.
DD
Manhattan
1
It only looks like they’re protecting Trump. They’re protecting their plan to harm and enslave women, POC, workers, the middle class and bring forth a theocratic kleptocracy. These are the worst of our history. Vote like your country depends on it.
2
This is not surprising at all when someone with mob mentality and business practices gets "elected" to the WH and his party cares about nothing but to serve big money.
Vote them out!
2
I think it's time for Mr. Mueller to show his cards. Lay it all out for the public to see and let justice take its course.
Instead of “My Country, ’Tis of Thee”
Our nation’s hymn about liberty
Our president chooses
To look for excuses
To keep singing, “It’s all about me.”
Is not It FBI in the business of gathering information stealthily? That is the nature. This Hullabaloo by trumps team is justice a distraction and an attempt to postpone. The truth is bound to emerge it wants to!
5
Yes but it must do so lawfully and with proper cause. For instance, it must be looking for violations of specific laws, not just an open ended search to see "what comes up".
1
It is more than apparent now that our Fake President recklessly wants to provoke a "Constitutional Crisis". The Justice Department should oblige him and adamantly, absolutely refuse to accede to any more of Trump's outlandish, extrajudicial demands.
If this governmental paralysis is to occur, let it happen sooner rather than later, and at last force heretofore cowardly Republicans to cast their lot with the rule of law, or America's tinpot, wannabe dictator. What will it be G.O.P.?
3
I'm not upset that Republicans are attacking the justice department. I'm upset that they control Congress and the Presidency and don't seem to be doing anything to protect US citizens who aren't the President from the US Justice department.
At the very least the Patriot act should be suspended, the FBI investigations into crimes across the country should be suspended and all court ordered wire taps and search warrants should be immediately suspended upon review.
If the President of the US who is also a billionaire can't be treated fairly by the US justice department and the FBI, Congress and the President should suspend their operations until they can be fully investigated and the public can be assured the rules and fairness are applied equally under the law to all.
3
What happens next.
The global community expect even more extreme violence erupting across the world because of weird Trumps warped view of humanity advocated by his weird cronies.
Whatever happens next will be 'very very bad'.
1
Nice deflection.
What about Brennan’s overt Twitter threats? All of the Obama henchmen and women are scattering. All roads lead to Obama’s crimes, his abuse of power.
Remember, Obama had Congress spied on. He had reporters spied on. So it’s not unreasonable to think he would have Trump spied on.
6
66th Street and Third Avenue, just a few blocks from one of Trump's many eyesore buildings in Manhattan (Trump "palace" 69th St), Is generally accepted to be where the Revolutionary War patriot, Nathan Hale, was hanged, reported to have said,
"I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country."
In dramatic contrast, Trump (enabled by Republicans such as Nunes) seems to keep saying, "I only regret that there are laws and a Department of Justice that might stand in the way of my life-long obsession to amass wealth, power and prestige at the expense of MY country."
8
Where is Paul Ryan?
Where is Mitch McConnell? Where is the rest of the Republican Congress?
I only ask these puppets of Donald Trump, do they remember what they were like before Trump bullied his way into the Oval Office? Do you any of these Republican's remember that they took an oath to abide by the Constitution of the United States?
They all need to ask them themselves the simple question what would they have done if President Obama, had even exhibited any of this bizarre type autocratic behavior?
Trump is acting like Erdogan of Turkey or Putin in Russia, when does Paul Ryan or Mitch McConnell remember why they are in public service, and stop acting like Trump boot lickers.
This is more than disgusting, this is so un-American that it is beyond words and imagination.
Republicans are anti-democracy.
Republicans employ a "heads we win, tails you lose" approach to our government. They don't want to govern, they only want to rule. They have spent decades sabotaging legitimate governance, sabotaging the operation of our democracy, all in the attempts to establish a permanent right-wing aristocracy. Republicans aren't conservatives, they're fascists.
We need to vote Republicans out of power for at least a decade if only to right the ship of state. Hopefully their time in the political wilderness will remind them how a democracy is supposed to function. If not, they can always decamp for somewhere like Iran, North Korea, or Russia, where the flavor of power is more to their liking.
7
Where is Paul Ryan?
Where is Mitch McConnell? Where is the rest of the Republican Congress?
I only ask these puppets of Donald Trump, do they remember what they were like before Trump bullied his way into the Oval Office? Do you any of these Republican's remember that they took an oath to abide by the Constitution of the United States?
They all need to ask them themselves the simple question what would they have done if President Obama, had even exhibited any of this bizarre type autocratic behavior?
Trump is acting like Erdogan of Turkey or Putin in Russia, when does Paul Ryan or Mitch McConnell remember why they are in public service, and stop acting like Trump boot lickers.
This is more than disgusting, this is so un-American that it is beyond words and imagination.
7
When political operatives say, 'It's the economy, stupid', that's the truth. We are relatively simple beings that need food, water, shelter and security at the base. This is the cause of the calamity in America.
Much of the world, including America and Britain, have seen money and power concentrate, with the average citizen being left far behind. Good-paying jobs with benefits are few. Owning a home is less likely. Struggle to pay bills is widespread. Such is the bed we've made.
Trump is the corrupt carnival-barker that tells those left behind what they want to hear: it's not your fault. He blames everyone but himself. It's like most dictators, of course. We're no different that other countries or times: when feeling imperiled we cling to the strong-voiced that finds us enemies to hate, & thus spill out our emotions.
I'm glad Trump's President because we can't hide anymore; something we've done for decades. We've watched equality diminish since Reagan's 'trickle down' tax cuts, with Democrats not doing much to stem the tide & Republicans leading the charge. Our bad.
Money is a fever and our President has burned much during his lifetime. He's as self-centered & greedy as they come. And we elected him.
In a way, we deserve him, if only to face our lesser selves: hardly the 'moral majority', hardly the 'patriot', surely not 'family values'. No, Republicans are clearly fraudulent with this traitorous man of vainglory.
But, I believe good will win; it's just time to fight.
5
All Donald's actions prove he is guilty.
Trump supporters choose to be blind to the truth.
Trump sycophants working to distort and destroy the truth.
4
Will we seniors outlive this demise of our country’s honor?
Donald Trump had his chance for his reality show on TV. Why do we have to be dragged into this one?
My poor kids and grandkids whose lives are in the hands of corruption at the helm. Trump has poisoned this country.
3
Holy J.Edgar Hoover! You have to wonder what the gumshoes at DOJ/FBI were thinking when they decided to send an asset/informant/snitch to infiltrate a presidential political campaign. Even Hoover said no to LBJ and Nixon when it came to this sort of political espionage. The spinning in the MSM (the FBI was just trying to protect Trump) is laughable on it face. If it was bad actors that the FBI was concerned about, why not fully brief the campaign and solicit their help in thwarting the Russians?
We need transparency and better answers here and no more cover-up. Otherwise, it will happen again and again and again.
2
"I hearby demand.." Really? Did he get this from a movie he saw?
Someone please explain to him that he does not "own" our government.
4
At this point, you can either be pro-Trump or pro-America; you cannot be both.
3
The so-called "Department of Justice" was caught red handed, spying on an active Presidential campaign. As in the case of Donald, if no laws were broken, then the people involved have nothing to worry about. For the NYT to imply that the Department of Justice is above reproach is tantamount to supporting totalitarianism.
2
The content of this opinion piece is shocking, shocking. After 14 months, 30 some years of Trump, why is any of this worth printing. Again. Falling to a new low? Ignoring the facts? Evidence? How about this fact. There are no “tribes” or parties in America. Tribes imply a organizing ethos, a group loyalty. With Trump, his group are people that share vague, changing notions of their beliefs. What they know for sure is they believe a version of reality where their personal ideas, whatever they are, are always predominant. Trump knows the general notion of their reality; a white, Christian, male, gun toting, misogynist, gas guzzling, fearful one where a single nasty man always wins and never admits failure. Trump is always speaking to and taking advantage of these people, that consistent 30% group of Americans. The sad fact is that another 10-15% or so are drinking Trump’s Koolaide.
2
I assume that members of Congress who commit acts of Treason, exposing undercover agents, misprision of felonies, and other crimes are also free from indictment?
Or shall we see Cong. Nunes join the other toadies and sycophants in jail?
1
It needs repeating: a terrible disease afflicts US, it could destroy US. Trump is a symptom. The disease is the Republican Party.
2
I imagine that any documents presented to the republican congress will be leaked immediately.
1
Defending the electoral result of 2016
No matter how it was obtained
Fear of losing their hold on power
The paranoia racist, religious rage that fuel it
Keeping 911 victimhood alive
Democratic values are an afterthought
If not a threat to their inner beliefs
For the autocratic theocratic love they truly espouse
and the gated, gilded community
in which they wish to separate themselves
from the rest of humanity;
Oh, the ghost of James Buchanan, and Nixon
struggling to arise and destroy this county
1
Every time I think the Trump Administration and the GOP have reached the bottom, they dig down further into the corruption and muck. I do not feel very positive about the future of America--if there is one.
3
With each passing day, the world sees the obvious ignorance and cluelessness of Donald Trump. He's in the deep end of the pool and he's flailing badly. It's just a matter of time now, until he goes under and doesn't come back up. You reap what you sow, Mr. President.
1
I wish President Trump put Democracy first.
If there is a conspiracy here, it is between Trump and the Republican legislative cohort to turn American justice into something closer to its Russian counterpart, where the verdict is decided, the suspect arraigned, the "trial" held, and the criminal sentenced...if he is still alive. In that order.
1
A more accurate headline would be the Republican Party versus Justice.
1
When Papadopulos and Carter Page were indicted by Muller, Trump and his henchmen dismissed them as "coffee boys" who had no role in his campaign. Why now the sham outrage that they were "surveilled? Trump is destroying all our constitutional institutions and our Republican congressmen cover in fear.
2
Where is Paul Ryan?
Where is Mitch McConnell?
Where is the rest of the Republican Congress?
I only ask these puppets of Donald Trump, do they remember what they were like before Trump bullied his way into the Oval Office?
Do you any of these Republican's remember that they took an oath to abide by the Constitution of the United States?
They all need to ask them themselves the simple question what would they have done if President Obama, had even exhibited any of this bizarre type autocratic behavior?
Trump is acting like Erdogan of Turkey or Putin in Russia, when does Paul Ryan or Mitch McConnell remember why they are in public service, and act like Trump boot lickers.
This is more than disgusting, this is so un-American that it is beyond words and imagination.
"Are simply trying to protect Donald Trump"—
And Donald J. Trump is one of the most odious self-centered individuals most Americans have ever met or heard of.
2
If this weren't so terrifying, it would be funny.
I laughed at "I hereby demand" followed by "Oh right, it's Sunday, what I mean is, first thing Monday morning, just you wait."
1
Interesting take --- I thought is was this newspaper and others media who openly scoffed at the mere notation of the current President's campaign being spied on?
I hope Trump goes down in flames. but anyone who thinks the media is fair or responsible is not credible.
2
I don't know who to trust. The MSM believe it's their duty to give any story on any topic the maximum possible anti Trump slant without technically lying. I don't even look at FOX. The President is constitutionally incapable of admitting the slightest mistake and not found of details. What is the DOJ protecting in this particular case? Mifsud first gave Papadapolis the Hacking information. Who does he work for? Is he still alive?
It matters. Was the whole thing started by the dossier and the setup of a low level campaign aid? If so is everyone cool with that?
Trump is cornered, and knows it, so out of desperation he's striking out against whatever threatens him the most, which at this point is the Justice Department.
1
We have only ourselves to blame.During the presidential campaign, the man's basic character was revealed. Anyone with any sense would have taken the time to look into Trump's background, and seen what sort of individual they were willing to elect to the highest office of the land. All of his transgressions were there, in print, for anyone who wanted to know more about this degenerate. How could so many people be so wrong about something so obvious ? Just learning fully about Trump University should have set off alarm bells.
We were warned of the great chaos that would develop if this man was to win the elction, but too many people put infantile reasoning ahead of respect, and love for country. Now we have a GOP intent on protecting this lying, dangerous egomaniac because of personal gain.
Thank you Trump supporters for dragging my country into the gutter.
2
Why can't anyone say no to this conman who, as president, is tearing down our country in order to make sure his name is on everything, even if it's destruction? The real phenomenon for me, re: Donald Trump, is how he is able to get so many people to sell their souls, dignity, and professional integrity for such an overtly horrible man. I find his narcissism to be thoroughly exhausting. Even his parents apparently couldn't put their foot down with him but found him impossible enough to send him away to military school. Someone needs to tell him to sit down, be quiet, stuff some chocolate cake in his mouth and tell him to go sit in a corner for a timeout. And just as with an out of control bratty toddler having one tantrum after another, the absent parent who inflicts that toddler on everyone from airplane passengers to restaurant patrons here are the Republicans in Congress, esp. McConnell and Ryan (while Nunes is helping Trump by feeding him sugar water). Democrats must run on what the country looks like under Republican control, namely like a banana republic with no leadership, no integrity, no morality, no protection of American values and the Constitution. But please, someone stand up to Donald Trump, for once and for all; stick a pacifier in his mouth, stick him in a crib, shut the door, turn a white-noise machine on, and let us enjoy some peace for the first time in 16 months.
2
A NEW LOW/ He hit bottom a long time ago. Now he’s dragging the Republican Party right down with him. They will suffer. He won’t!
1
Putting aside the cartoonish language (“I hereby demand”? Really?), consider the seriousness of the threat posed by a president ordering federal law enforcement officials to investigate the people who are investigating him. (NYT Editorial Board)
And shouldn’t we also consider the Republicans in Congress, senators and members of the House, supporting this act to be traitors for having failed to uphold their oath of office, “I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic;?”
1
I wish the right wing media would explain to us just what their vision of governing the United States is when Trump is done twisting our institutions for his own purposes.
Does the right, and its Republican adherents, really want us to betray our roots as a nation? Do they understand that the divisiveness they champion can lead us to becoming an authoritarian form of government? Is that what they want? Have they found one in modern history that has been as successful as the United States for the last two centuries? Do they understand what will happen to the US in the interconnected and interdependent global economy? Don't they see that Trump has accomplished nothing on international trade because he knows nothing about international trade? Sometimes I think China is telling us, "Look in order for things to work, the rest of us need the US to be the US and not another puppet economy we can't trust." Amazing that that might be what all of these failed trade pronouncements are telling us, but Trump is too deaf to hear the message.
I am so disappointed in Congress. Neither chamber provides oversight that I would call "historically American." Paul Ryan lets Devin Nunes run roughshod over our cherished institutions without asking once whether he is serving the interests of our nation.
I am down to placing my hope in nine Supreme Court justices as the final arbiters of what it means to be America. Maybe I'm fooling myself.
2
Welcome American to third world status.... This is precisely what a third world dictator would do, faced with a potentially threatening investigation - attack the investigators, dig up dirt on the investigators, attack his department...sacking the investigators will come next - for those Americans who think this is inconceivable... just wait and see... America is well on its way to third world governance!
1
Where in the world was Waldo?
The people have the right to know how far up the food chain the corruption went. Before this ball of yarn is completely unraveled, there will be another special prosecutor.
Otherwise our Democracy will never be the same.
It's time to ask if Donald Trump and his aides and abettors in and out of government are domestic enemies of the United States of America.
There's only so much further down this road we can go before we cease to be the country we pride ourselves on being.
Trump's own intelligence agencies agree a "sophisticated, multiyear conspiracy" happened, and continues.
Unregistered secret agents of foreign powers worked at the highest levels of Trump's campaign and administration. A suspected Russian spy among his first foreign policy advisers. Several aides indicted or plead guilty. Yet Trump's main concern is nailing down exactly when and why the FBI got wise?!
Clearly this is an effort to spread around how much Muller might know in advance of giving testimony or copping pleas.
Trump and his campaign were warned in advance of the elections and asked to report anything suspicious.
To the contrary and true to form, they saw it as an opportunity to exploit for their private enrichment under cover of neoconservatives' partisan gain, from Trump through family, in-laws, a Four-Star General, a former state AG, our current Attorney General, a number of his lawyers…
The guy who said he was so rich he couldn't be bought, it's now in the multiple billions that Russia, the Middle East and China have given or pledged to Trump and Jared Kushner's private businesses as they jerk proposed and actual policies back and forth for the whim of every authoritarian dictator and steel-fisted monarchy.
3
We know who and what Trump has always been. But now we are finding out that Republicans in Congress are cut from the same cloth. When our system of checks and balances no longer works, this country no longer works and we die a slow death.
1
The investigation began and snowballed with political motivation. An investigation of the investigation is reasonable. If it it was well founded, Obama has nothing to worry about.
What are you afraid of?
1
I appreciate this editorial: little editorial, and long on undeniable facts. I encourage occasional summaries since the depth of detail & minutiae reported & discussed daily can be overwhelming.
Reporting on the Meuller investigation and Trumps' counter public relations spin is worthy and noble. At worst the reporting effort is amusing because the Meuller team does not leak, nor do they need to win a political public relations war... The sole Meuller focus is a lawful investigation regarding the Trump election team, & later his administration.
Patience: There will be a Meuller report that will likely be devastating for Trump, given the indictments and convictions to date.
2
These are some of the same tactics used by Richard Nixon and we all know how that turned out. Trump's "Curly Shuffle" is getting a little old. He can only dance around the truth for so long. Trump is acting like just another third-world despot and ruining our country. He shouldn't have been elected in the first place. Now, we just need him to be gone.
5
You are correct...Obama was a lot like Nixon.
The Liberals wanted Hillary to win at all costs.
Obama, the FBI, CIA & DOJ inserted a paid spy into the opposing Presidential campaign in order to obtain info used to get a FISA warrant to allow the NSA to use all of it's spying power on Trump.
Why does the media with hold facts and lie to the American people.
We need an investigative free press to protect the American people like Woodward !
Subpoena McConnell and Ryan. Along with Sanders and Conway.
7
And Nunes. Why Nunes hasn't been charged with Obstruction of Justice, let alone impeached and removed from Congress, is beyond me. Obviously, there is NO oversight by Congress when Republicans are in charge and there is a Republican president. Anyone here really believe Republicans would not only support but fund a seven year investigation of Trump, ending in an impeachment over an irrelevant private affair? I don't, for a second. Corrupt president at the head of a corrupt party. It is interesting, to me, that donald trump, a lifelong Republican, knew the only way he, with his toxic, vicious, no-decency personality could only win the presidency if he ran as a Republican.
1
The president has now demanded that the justice department investigate whether the president's campaign was surveilled or infiltrated while the president and the conservative media have worked together to unmask an FBI asset, a professor who has been a life-long Republican who was concerned that something was going on in the president's campaign that might be improper.
Isn't this again obstruction of justice by the president?
370
Halper hated Trump !!!
This is well known.
Halper was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for his actions!!
Regardless of whether or not anybody hates Trump, the truth will eventually come to light. From the indictments that have been issued, it seems very clear that many of those people given positions in the Trump administration or involved with his campaign were up to no good.
1
Yeah, well, Mark Felt hated Nixon, with excellent reason because he knew what sorts of abuses of power were taking place, and he did the country a huge favor to guide Bob Woodward's investigation.
21
It ain’t just Trump. Like an Ebola virus that takes over a body’s cells and forces them to replicate and spread itself, he has taken over the powerful infrastructure that is the Republican Party. And none of these GOP leaders (unless they are retiring) will say a peep about his anti-American activities. I’m glad the Times is calling them out, but it’s even more important to let people know that our action in this crisis is imperative. We must vote out all members of the GOP from Dog Catcher on up. Sorry extra party folks, this is not a democracy; it is a winner take all republic. You don’t get a percentage of parliamentary seats based on your vote totals. The Republicans, all of them, have to go. Is that so hard a duty to do for your country in a time of crisis?
5
Trump has circled the wagons as a result of the Mueller investigation is engaged in a destructive and historic assault on the rule of law in order to save himself. He has clearly obstructed justice and has also misused agencies under the executive branch, articles of impeachment that led to Nixon's resignation. If this isn't enough, Trump likely has also engaged in criminal financial activities. Given nearly complete and total intransigence by congressional Republicans, though, it isn't clear how this will end. For months now, Trump has been orchestrating a crude but possibly successful misinformation campaign designed to discredit the Mueller investigation and tap the incendiary anger of the pitchfork and torches crowd that somehow continues to support him. As Trump pushes towards what appears to be an inevitable constitutional crisis, this country with its checks and balances, two-party system, and democratic institutions is going to be tested in a way it rarely has been.
5
The DOJ should not be caving to the Republicans in Congress and sharing any documents they deem too sensitive to be leaked. There is absolutely no doubt what is going to happen — the shared information will be used by Trump and his supporters to distort the truth in an attempt to defend the Perpetrator in Chief. By allowing another inch, Chamberlain-like, the DOJ will not keep Trump from claiming a yard.
3
Follow the money with this huckster. The presidency was only a way for him and his organization to make more money by abusing the position for personal gain. Chances are likely that every deal he makes there is a cut for him.
Its curious that there is no transparency about the $billion contracts signed and brokered by Kushner and Ross while they were in Saudi Arabia. And it's curious that there was such a big national emergency to impose steel tariffs especially since Ross holds US steel assets that are likely to make even more $billions.
And this recent loan of $.5 billion to Trump from the Chinese backed company and the bailout of Kushner's bankrupt properties by the Qatar's is probably just the tip of the iceberg.
The sad thing is that Trump doesn't see anything wrong with this manner of doing business.
4
A sadder thing is that millions voted for him, and would gladly do so again today. That is our problem.
Interesting obstruction of justice, Mr. President.
3
For Mr Trump attitude towards law it is instructive to see him arguing (many years back) in a Congressional committee that he should have the same rules for running casinos as Native Americans. A video is available on YouTube. The congressmen in the video don’t know where to start, given Trump’s chutzpah and ignorance.
1
Not only did his campaign (at least 7) meet with Russians, after being warned by the FBI of possible election interference, they welcomed their help ('If it is what you say, love it') and lied often and continuously about all connections with Russian. Hope Hicks originally said, "There has been no communications with Russia. It never happened". Trump and his campaign are, obviously, guilty, as some have pleaded of this and more. The bigger concern now is why aren't the Republican leaders in Congress doing more to safeguard our democracy? Were they paid off through the NRA by big donors (Russian oligarchs) or through real estate deals (like Sean Hannity)? How many Congress folk are involved or how many does this investigation implicate? Now, we are finding out that it isn 't just Russia that saw to influence the Trump campaign but Quatar, Saudis, Israel, China and who knows how many other countries Trump and other thieves stole from for promised influence towards their countries' goals? It seems that Trump had no intention of caring for the needs of all Americans, nor even keeping the promises made to his base, but simply wanted to gain more power, prestige, and wealth for himself and family. Mueller is taking too long we think, but to take down a criminal conspiracy that might be spread across 5 continents, and involve many of the Republican leadership, will take more time. WE are praying for Mueller, who opted not to work for private companies but to be a public servant/
4
How do well meaning, moral and legislative Republican leaders sleep at night, knowing they are defending this, even encouraging this by saying nothing
4
An "informant' is somebody within, who provides information. And, a "spy" is someone implanted within, under false pretenses, to obtain information.
1
"Mueller needs to wrap this up." He will. Many in the Executive Branch (and their families) should start packing their bags and preparing to report to various Federal and State correctional institutions in NY and other states. The next legal scrambling will be about Presidential pardon law. So I agree: let's wrap this up. Drain some of the swamp at least, and try to repair our damaged national reputation and tarnished ethics and morals.
3
Another Nixon moment. Another new revelation of wrong doing. Where are the old days of no lies and rants from the President of the United States.
2
There is great irony in the protest that a "mole" was imbedded in his campaign. How is this "mole" different than the multiple "leakers" in the Trump administration? This is not a plot concocted by the DOJ, it's just an early leak - another example of what happens when the boss only creates chaos and anger. And remember the conduct Trump engaged in - actively pursuing help from the Russians and Saudi Arabia, hacking the DNC emails and disseminating fake Facebook and other media posts. All to steal the election. The king of dirty tricks now objects that he was tricked? And the DOJ and media are treating his attack on the DOJ the same as made by an honest man? The reporting on the Republicans' war on the DOJ does not include discussions of Trump's bad acts and the Republicans' complicity. NYTimes, think about what you're reporting and point out the attempted manipulation of our media, including you, by the real bad actors.
2
If Democracy depends upon an informed electorate then Trump and his minions are attacking it by systematic disinformation and deflection.
4
Trump is attacking the investigators based on self-preservation - he will obfuscate for as long as his "base" buys the tripe - but it is worth noting that here at the Times and in general in progressive America we ridicule his attacks and highlight his undermining "justice" and the rule of law but we never make these points when *we* criticize justice. On May 20th David Leonhardt attacked the justice system for prosecuting a man six times for the same crime - each of the first five trials ended without a not-guilty verdict - none found that the man didn't commit the murders. The very next day Leonhardt's wrote "Trump’s Attacks on the Rule of Law Reach a New Level." I guess only we can criticize the justice system.
What is "Black Lives Matter" but an "attack" - in the same sense - on bias in law enforcement.
Sure - BLM and the column on the six trials of Curtis Flowers are more legitimate monitoring of flaws in a system that is, nevertheless, necessary and vital. Trump is just blowing smoke hoping no one notices he was supported by our enemies in his election to president. We assume the prerogative of criticizing "justice" until it doesn't fit with our world view. The same goes for "believing in science;" the far right criticizes science and we protest. All the post-positivist tripe of the 1980s was fine - "science" was biased toward white hetero males - but now we're big believers in positivist empirics about the environment. Just saying...
1
As we look through history we find many despots who find themselves on the ropes demanding they be protected from prosecution or the masses.
This appears to be an abuse of power, "demanding" our Justice Department, to perform some activity that benefits him personally rather than the people the department serves.
This third rate wannabe authoritarian becomes more and more, as Gail Collins puts it, totally unhinged.
3
So far the Senate has failed to bend to Trump's will. If the American people are indeed tired of all of this they will flip the House for two years and "The Donald" will be neutralized for his last two years. But the will of the people will prevail, and that's democracy.
2
Why is this outrageous behavior being tolerated by any branch of our government, much less the American people? The man has assumed dictatorial powers and become both a national and international pariah. He undermines our democracy daily yet no one steps up to confront him. We, by default, are becoming as craven as he.
1
"I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes...."
Ah, Trump at his Orwellian best! But of course, what glares most here is the red flag of Trump's own 'political purpose.'
More Fake news.
1) We can't say for certain that it was the Russian government behind the hacking of the DNC. Those who made the determination were Obama's political appointees who headed 3 intel agencies.
2) We certainly don't know & there has been no public release of info that proves that Putin directly ordered anything. To know that you'd have to have sources very close to Putin.
3) There is absolutely no proof that IF Russia interfered it was to help Trump. It may have been to hurt HRC and by default would have helped any Republican candidate. It also may have been to simply disrupt. There were anti-Trump elements as well and where did the Steele dossier come from? Russia.
4) The FBI is trying to sugar coat the reasons why they started this investigation. As of now none of it holds water. Campaigns have contact with people from other countries -- just like the dems had with Steele. We aren't at war with Russia. And according to Obama they aren't a threat. And remember all the Russian money the Clnton's received?
5) The indictments Mueller has obtained were for activities unrelated to the Trump campaign. The guilty pleas for lying to the FBI were trivial and the "lies" weren't about illegal actions.
6) Mueller is only getting closer to the oval office in the fevered imaginings of the left. Mueller has been on the job 12 months and Comey 10 months before that. Not any evidence of collusion has surfaced from the FBI or congress.
2
The two clowns are treating this case the same as the Central Park Jogger case. Soon we will see full page ads extolling the guilt of our law enforcement. How did we ever get to this point as a nation.
1
We are now at the beginning of imperial government in the United States. Sinclair Lewis wrote “ It Can’t Happen Here” in the 1930’s. Well, it can and is happening here.
1
The Republican Party is spineless because they themselves have something to hide. Would someone PLEASE do some investigation into Dana Rohrabacher, for whom Erik Prince once worked? HE is the back door that the Trump campaign so desperately tried to open. HE is probably the one who is still acting as a liaison to Putin. He’s happy to be ignored while the craziness rages on around him. And then there’s Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, who accepted donations from Russia-linked oligarchs. And the NRA. and Devin Nunes (WHY haven’t any journalists looked into why he is such a sycophant?!). The list of perfidious Republicans is endless.
2
"I hereby demand" that the Postmaster General be given the Presidential Medal of Freedom (by the next president, presumably) for being the only person in a top post in our federal government apparently able to say "No!" to Donald Trump.
3
These actions by Trump and the GOP are all obstruction of justice.
2
While there are good and favorable aspects to this in-fighting between the Trump led Republican Party and the variously un-led Democratic Party --- of which the best aspect is that both parties are contending less on the previously seminal fight for wealthy "donations" --- the bad and dangerous aspect of this historic change from fighting to control the 'money stream' to controlling the legal and intelligence 'power stream', is that both the blemished 'R' Vichy Party and the 'D' Vichy Party are in the words of the Corleone family "going to the mattresses".
However, the only potentially beneficial aspect for 'we the American people' could be to free ourselves from both these corrupted Vichy Parties (and the Disguised Global Capitalit Empire that they serve) and continue toward "perfecting the union" of a real functional democracy of the people.
1
GOP leaders are organizing a coordinated effort to forge an alternate reality where wrongdoing by Trump is against the laws of physics, like an object falling upward. Any person or institution that openly suggests the possibility of wrongdoing by the president is branded a leftist collaborator with the "deep state" and threatened with firing or prosecution.This November, American people need to stop this totalitarian campaign against democracy and rule of law in our country at the ballot box, before it is too late.
Trump and his enablers are in fact in this case in the right. The Russia interference charge is bogus and this charade has taken on a life of its own. The corporate news media and their talking head army is in the final super nova of phase expansion as fuel disappears and expansion then radical collapse and explosion. This whole effort is a scandalous red herring which the NYTs will have to live with. The worst part is that the public will have to listen to Trump's triumphant crowing after it is over.
3
the saddest thing is is that NO republican has said a word. It seems that every day, djt does another outrageous thing, and congress simply ignores it. Why, fellow citizens, does everyone continue to let him mostly do whatever he wants, including severely damaging one of our key institutions of democracy.
More importantly, how do we stop him?
Trump ordered an investigation of FBI and DOJ actions in 2016. There is, as the NYT has reported, some smoke there. The FBI and DOJ will continue long after Trump is gone. Trump for all his bluster is ephemeral. If the behaviors of the FBI and DOJ ran afoul of law, regulation or just fair play then shine a light on it and correct it. The Mueller investigation is wholly apart and separate from this investigation and the tens of thousands of other investigations going on. If Trumps guilt is lessened by findings against FBI and DOJ , then shame on them. The notion that DOJ can't do multiple investigations simultaneously - investigating the investigators - is a nonsense and invoking that argument speaks to desire to cover up.
50
These aren't well thought-out points. Not sure why this is a Times pick.
First, it's true that if there were any evidence that the FBI or DOJ ran afoul of the law, then it might be appropriate to investigate them. But there is no such evidence.
Second, there are good reasons other than wanting to cover up illegality for not wanting the investigation in this case. It's a bad precedent when the President can order an investigation so as to undermine the credibility of an investigation against him. That's too much power for someone who is the subject of an investigation. Another reason to oppose this is that it's a fishing expedition: Trump and his legal team just want some sort of insinuation that they can pound the tables with in order to try to undermine the credibility of the investigations against them. Their aims are to subvert the legal process in this case, and there are good reasons other than covering up illegality to oppose that.
41
Fact check: Trump couldn't have ordered any investigation in 2016. He wasn't in office until January, 2017.
4
The FBI and DOJ will still be there? Don't count on it. Trump is talking to Erik Prince a lot these days. Prince, as you may recall, can field a mercenary army for you. We may end up with no DOJ, no FBI, and a private force that owes its loyalty only to the man who cuts their checks (with your tax money, needless to say).
11
Republicans are not interested in finding out whether or not the Russian interference was seconded by the Trump campaign. If they were, they would simply wait until Mueller presents his findings. For all we know, he may come out with conclusions that exonerate Trump. Relax and wait for the report. So, both Trump's fulminations and Republicans' machinations indicate, at least, an attack of nerves that can only mean that they have something to hide. My feeling has always been that Trump, his children, Manafort, Cohen and so on were principally interested in making money and were willing to go along with the Russians to advance their financial interest. Just as now Trump doesn't realize the damage he is doing to our judicial system with his unprecedented attacks, he was then equally indifferent to what he was doing by collaborating with the Russians. Throughout his career, Trump has skirted the law and he hasn't changed a bit because he has always managed to come out unscathed...so far.
4
"... Trump doesn't realize the damage he is doing to our judicial system …"
Sure he does. And he's enjoying it immensely. Even Trump is aware he isn't immortal, in spite of that idiot doctor's chatter about 200 years. He's paving the way for his favorite child to become an American tsarina.
The illustration of the Twitter Cup Game says it all.
Look what we are all talking about daily. Trump! He is 24/7 non-stop news and in many ways that is the way his presidency was always about. What we didn't count on was the support of Senators and Congresspersons that are simply playing along. Are they guilty, not really. Are they complicit, absolutely.
What worries me most is that after all of this Trump stuff, we will simply be exhausted as a nation. Too tired to care, too tired to fight and too tired to want to separate truth from lies.
It is my belief that when it comes to country and the vote, we are a pendulum. When it swings too far to one side, it swings equally in the opposite direction. History tells this story eloquently. Bush led to Clinton. Clinton led to Bush, Bush led to Obama, Obama led to Trump. With each swing, the arc became larger. What will be the next swing?
My guess is that after this all plays out, we will have had enough of Trump and the Twitter Cup Game. It is my hope that we return to "swings" that don't arc so wide.
3
Trump is getting more desperate as the noose tightens around his neck. So he meets with his Cosa Nostra Republicans to figure out the next step to stall the inevitable. Nunes, the court jester, brings up the story about Obama having had a mole in the Trump campaign. Trump consults his N.Y. capo, Giuliani. They hatch a plan and he tells Trump to demand an investigation of the DOJ and FBI. Rosenstein placates Trump knowing full well that Trump's demand is like swiss cheese-full of holes. Sorry Donald but you are going to have to build a better mousetrap. Mueller will be eating you for breakfast and give the crumbs to Rudy the Rat. It reminds me of the graphic novel "Maus."
7
Can't imagine anyone can act more guilty of crimes than Russia's P-POTUS (i.e. puppet), but then the sun rises and he outdoes yesterday.
Who knew the goal of draining the swamp was to create a gutter.
5
Donald Trump is the useful idiot of the GOP. He learns his lines well and is a master of media manipulation. Not the first choice for the GOP but the party quickly learned how to work with Trump once reality TV bestowed the POTUS prize upon them.
It is the power and money that now intoxicates them. The GOP lets Trump grift away as long as he delivers his lines.
It is a mutually beneficial relationship wherein both the GOP and Trump use each other to gain long desired goals. Trump is no more a moral or religious man than a rock and yet the Evangelical GOPers know the moment is upon them to enact repressive laws of Evangelical glory upon our society.
Trump and the GOP are sitting pretty with power and money flowing their way. If any part of our democratic government structure gets in their way, the GOP and Trump are determined to roll over any impediment no matter the cost to the rule of law or country.
The GOP and Trump saw an America in a crisis of progressivism and diversity during the Obama years. 'Carnage' or a hell scape of liberalism's worst. The old white men bought their way back to the top with welcomed Russian help and they are going to finally save America from it's decline. If that means going authoritarian and reinterpreting our rule of law, so be it.
The GOP knew about and welcomed the Russian meddling. Fair and open elections have never been a Republican concern. Trump's win at all costs personal belief fits right in with this. Trump is the GOP's TV Savior.
276
Elizabeth, how will you react when the investigation gets into the "Mr. Obama, what did you know and when did you know it" weeds? There are many mosaic pieces that will put the Obama Administration squarely against Individual Sovereigns by their spying. Associated Press reporter was surveilled by Mr. Obama's Administration. Zero Hedge's Tyler Durden reported yesterday that the "Mole" was paid more than $1.0 million of Individual Sovereigns' support of defending community tranquility and not to spy on Political Opponents. The extreme racist, fascist left cabal needs to listen to the JFK/MLK conservative voices in the Democrat Party to get to the bedrock of truth.
Donald Trump is NOT a MASTER of Media Manipulation. He is the willing PUPPET of Media Manipulation. Steve Bannon and Vladimir Putin are MASTERS of Media Manipulation. Put them together with the unlimited funds from the Mercer's, Koch Brothers and many other Russian and U.S. Oligarchs and you have the recipe for a potential disaster. Add FACEBOOK, TWITTER to the mix as a tools to spread targeted misinformation with no legal responsibility and you increase the intensity of the potential disaster. It's time for the American People of ALL Political Parties to stand up and say ENOUGH! Trump is NOT going to take this country down on my watch.
19
"The extreme racist, fascist left cabal" . . . please get your caricatural rhetoric straight!
You seem to have switched things around: the left is a communist, abortion-lovin', freedom-despisin' bunch o' atheist freeloaders; the right is a fascist, theocratic, gun-eroticizin', white supremacist, semi-literate mob of banjo enthusiasts.
If you're going to deal in paranoid fringe stereotypes, at least learn the well-established stereotypes.
Very well then, carry on.
Trumpism is about 'winning,' whatever that may be in a given context, at the expense of somebody else. Whether it's 'the blacks,' Khizr Khan, Maxine Waters, Judge Gonzalo Curiel, Muslims, Mexicans, or 'nasty women,' or, as it turns out, Reince Priebus, Rex Tillerson, Robert Mueller, or John McCain, it's not enough to be comically wrong on the given issue. The person or persons who are right must be destroyed.
It's also about kakistocracy, that is, government by the worst, the most vile, venal, and ignorant, the least fit. That is how the Paris climate accord and the Iran deal came to be thrown away; how federal regulations, their merits be damned, came to be gutted or twisted to favor or attack; and how Mulvaney, Sessions, DeVos, Carson, Pruitt, Haspel, Pompeo, and Gorsuch came to have their tax-funded jobs.
Hurry November.
11
What a disgusting, loathsome, despicable, lying, grotesque lowlife is Donald Drumpf. With no integrity, even less knowledge, and at the nadir of experience. and we are stuck with him for two more years. The world is in a living HELL because of him . He alone is living proof that there is no higher power, for if there were he would have been struck down by now.
5
I am the President. I do not like you. I make up, out of thin air, an allegation that you have committed some wrong. I then demand that the weight of the FBI be brought down upon you. The FBI complies.
This is a worrying lesson for the entire world, and not one which the beacon of democracy and freedom should serve up.
It is all the more worrying that the "you" here is the Justice Department the independence of which is a lynchpin of that democracy and that freedom.
Add to this that the alleged "wrong" turns out to be the FBI actually trying to protect US political campaigns from undue manipulation from the outside, and we have a President of the beacon actually prosecuting the defender of the beacon on a trumped up charge.
It does not really look like the United States we have long known and admired.
6
If the Pres can not be indicted or subpoenaed we need to change the Constitution. The Framers never envisioned a man capable of treason would find their way into the presidency, nor did the Framers envision that the Senate would abrogate their oversight duties. The Framers never envisioned a made up position of ’Senate Majority Leader’ . Senate Majority Leader is a position that does not exist in the Constitution. That position was made up by the political parties in the 1920’s. This is the reason why McConnell does nothing, he has no Constitutional duty to act, other than as a party hack. I have learned a lot over the last few months. The main thing is we, the People, need to take back some of the levers of power. WE rely to much on the ‘goodwill’ of our politicians to uphold the Constitution. We need to change the rules and insist that a megalomaniac has to be removed. We should never have to go through this again. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW.
8
This president engaged in such widespread collusion with Russians and Russian agents that it requires a jury to function as finder-of-fact to determine whether the purpose of that collusion was to influence the outcome of the election.
He has committed so many acts of obstruction of justice in order to thwart the government's responsibility to investigate his collusion that it would be unreasonable not to indict him for obstruction.
The president's state of mind and behavior also clearly demonstrate that he is engaged in a desperate campaign to stop every constitutional and legal government attempt to reveal or constrain his collusion and obstruction. His notion of government by tweet is not consistent with his oath of office, and is magnifying his inability to distinguish between his legitimate powers and those powers which are forbidden to him under law.
He should be removed from office.
11
Since the brazen challenge of Bush v. Gore in 2000, it seems to me that the Republican long game has been to gradually dismantle, corrupt or shape the election and judicial systems to remove uncertainty in the process and assure the dominance of certain ideas (so-called conservatism). Some commenters have already suggested this: a slow-moving coup. I don't think it's hyperbole to say this seems more believable now than ever before.
36
Of course, Bush v. Gore was the culmination of Gore’s unsuccessful effort to reverse his election loss in Florida. It was hardly a Republican coup or anything like one.
1
One of the jobs of the congress is to represent the voice of the people. But the Republicans are representing the voice of the President. Many of them should be part of whatever, if any, collusion charges are raised.
26
The US has created a system where no politician is answerable to a national constituency. None of them respond to anything from outside the district they represent, besides money.
6
Cut to the chase. The real issue is, why are there so many of Trump’s people meeting and talking to Russians? They did not caucus with our friends and allies, Great Britain, France and Canada.
Look at the latest Trump business deal with a half billion cash infusion into a Trump enterprise in Indonesia by China.
Follow the money.
Russia election interference is problem. But equally as big a problem is Trump and his “associates”, selling our country to our adversaries to enrich themselves.
We as a country need to be very frightened and very watchful.
VOTE!
38
Our founding fathers did not foresee our three branches of government taken over by corrupt officials. And they didn't expect our three branches of government to side with our adversaries.
What's next, another American Revolution?
26
It may come to that (i hope something happens to get this personification of evil out of WH)...perhaps I should arm myself in case a militia is needed?
1
Comments about a "new constitution" and "revolution", keep popping up in comments here, and I find that just as scary as Trump's antics. How is taking a wrecking ball to our very foundations or turning the country upside down going to work? Look where that kind of Bannon-esque thinking has gotten us so far. If the constitution is moot, and there are no guard rails to protect us from illegal acts by what is supposed to be OUR government, then what do we have? The chant for "change" is vague, and look what it got us in 2016. Look where Italy is politically today. How do we save democracy? My opinion: if democracy fails, it is the American people who have failed. Why? Alternative facts. Alternative realities. Who is to blame for that? Aren't we responsible for finding the truth? For informed voting? Instead, we hear "change" from the right and "revolution" from the left. We have emotional fact free Trump rallies, and Bernie free for alls. If we don't find our common ground and our common sense, we are lost. If the common ground is revolution, taking a wrecking ball to all of it, what do you propose?
Hard to do anything when democracy in midst of becoming autocracy. Look at what happened at epa meeting today.....
Manafort's indictment has nothing to do with Trump's campaign. Flynn pleaded guilty to a trumped up charge of lying to the FBI, something that Comey said he did not do. The "facts", as you refer to them, also prove that the higher ups in the FBI were out to undermine Trump. Why, then, was McCabe fired and other demoted?
I would think that President Trump has every right to demand the DOJ to investigate whether the FBI actually spied on his campaign. The outcome may prove him right. It may not. That's a risk he's taking. I would think either result would be welcomed by the NYT or any American interested in getting the truth.
10
MCH, we're going to try to follow your logic: the Republican mostly-male FBI was 'out to get' Donald. They picked up his top aides talking to and working with known Russian agents. Donald had taken hundreds of million in laundered rubles from pals of Vlad.
The FBI blundered the Weiner emails just in time to sink Hillery in an excess of 'fairplay'. But They were really out to get Donald.
Oh Yeah - a couple of love-birds in the bureau mentioned in emails that they thought Donald was an idiot. So did Tillerson. So do most of his staff. No News.
They only treat people fairly if they respect them? Probably not true for 99% of these career people. McCabe was demoted for spite, for mean-spirited revenge, for being the kind of moral, strong person Donald will never be. Decades of superior work.
25
We Americans are interested in getting the truth. We are certain when facts are fully revealed we will learn the extent of this President and his associates conspiracy against our country, our democracy, who are traitors that are in bed with the enemy. We have a right to be concerned when our Justice Department is being ordered to do an investigation of the department that is investigating HIM!.
1
Thanks for summarizing the right wing propaganda machine's take on the Russia Investigation for those of us who do not have the time or the intestinal fortitute to put up with such swill. Meanwhile, enjoy the Kool-Aid. Mr. Meuller is on the job again today and will be so for quite some time.
1
Has anyone told Failing 45 that he will not be President For Life? It's almost as if he thinks that President Bernie Sanders have so much fun riding the Great Blue Wave that he will forget to prosecute all F45's crimes.
6
"There was a sophisticated, multiyear conspiracy by Russian government officials and agents, working under direct orders from President Vladimir Putin, to interfere in the 2016 presidential election in support of Donald Trump. The American law enforcement and intelligence communities warned the Trump campaign and asked it to report anything suspicious. The campaign didn’t do this."
Oh, please! Cut the hysterics. The Russian involvement was smaller than that of some other governments - and much less effective. And it dwarfs compared to the amount of involvement that US allows itself in elections in other countries.
As for this "warning": did the editor read the article it links to or did it only look at the heading? It says that when the Trump campaign started to receive classified information it received the standard warning to be careful for foreign infiltration. This warning is given to all parties in all elections.
9
Yes, the warning is given to all parties, but it appears the Trump campaign is the only group that failed to heed it.
1
Trump has opened the door for the next president.
He or she can make the justice department investigate all of Trumps taxes . They can do business out of the white house. They can get other countries to hack opponents emails.
Trump has made the president's job into one step below mayor of Hoboken NJ.
25
"Consider the seriousness of the threat posed by a president ordering federal law enforcement officials to investigate " the opposition political party's presidential candidate and all of the candidate's staff.
Did President Obama or his administration order such an investigation?
The Editorial Board has been relentless in its promotion of a "Russian collusion" theory but is obstructionist when investigation of the political actions of the Democratic Party, Obama, and Clinton is proposed.
Political campaigns are complicated and often at least in a gray zone of "dirty " tactics.
The Editorial Board has every right to demonstrate its political bias but the hypocrisy is recognized by at least some readers.
8
"Did President Obama or his administration order such an investigation?"
he did not. This is a pretty serious thing that Trump is doing, worthy of a would-be dictator. Which his supporters are fine with.
It is the FBI which employed a non-government employee, Stefan Halper, to make contacts with the Trump campaign officials, representing himself falsely. Trump did not initiate that; the FBI did. The supposed Russian investigation, whatever its merits, had no business and no place attempting to interfere with a political campaign or its officials. That is what Nixon or his top aides did in Watergate; engage in surreptitious conduct with a group of burglars to manipulate information about a Presidential campaign. The unwillingness of the editorial writers of the NYT to acknowledge the appalling conduct of the FBI in engaging Halper is shocking; and the unwillingness of the editorial writers to speak now of Halper, who he is, what his purposes were, who directed him, is equally appalling. The conduct of the FBI in employing Halper as a mole was lawless, for the same reason that breaking into the Watergate Hotel was lawless.
7
I see your point. Investigating Republicans for possible crimes is a crime. With this thinking Al Capone should have been able to have the FBI investigate Elliot Ness for the crime of investigating Al Capone.
1
Ridiculous false equivalence. The FBI was investigating. That’s their job. No one, especially a presidential candidate, gets a free pass. That’s not quite the same as Nixon breaking into the DNC now, is it?
1
The FBI knew that the Russians were trying to meddle into our election. They had every right to try and stop it. Shame on you and every person who calls themselves American and supports this disgrace of a human being who cheated his way to the presidency.
Look, all of the points you have made regarding this cartoonish president and his woeful presidency are terrific. But characterizing what we already know to be factual is not getting to the root of the problem.
Although the character of Trump and the 'administration' he is leading are well known, the vast majority of Republicans support him. The Republican legislature continues to do his bidding and not only refuses to criticize Trump's anti-democratic instincts but engages in anti-democratic actions sua sponte (see, Merrick Garland et al.)
The issue isn't Trump--he is, unfortunately, not unique in America. There is no shortage of loud mouth bores on TV and the radio willing and able to take the reins from this character should it be necessary.
Instead, the problem is with the people; Those who have elected Trump and support his perilous clown show to the detriment of our liberty.
33
AMEN to that last paragraph.
3
Trump sees himself as above the law.
Trump doesn’t disclose his tax returns.
Trump doesn’t separate his business interests from the government.
Trump has made his family part of the government.
Trump’s family doesn’t have security clearance but still get security briefings.
Trump thinks he can fire the man investigating him and call it “fighting back”.
Trump thinks he can question a judge’s ability to do justice when it concerns him.
Trump called Clinton Foundation’s activities Pay for Play when his own lawyer has made millions from Access.
Trump cheated thousands who trusted him at Trump U, donated money to the Republican attorney general who closed the case against him.
Trump: One law for the rest of America and none for him... I’d run on that Democrats.
49
Great, accurate post. As the day goes on, note that none of trump's fans can accurately refute any of it. Thanks for posting.
12
@John P: Thank you!
I’ve been reading the Times online since 1997. I only started commenting in late 2015 after it became clear to me Trump was being underestimated in terms of the damage he could inflict on America.
I’m gonna keep posting till we overcome him one day... :)
Obviously, those who remain Trump supporters care nothing about the rule of law. Worse than sad.
24
I don't understand why the Republicans in Congress continue to support Trump. Will they also be implicated in this investigation? Why so much loyalty to someone who would not hesitate to literally throw them under a bus? November can't get here soon enough.
18
I’ve believed since Trump’s election that the only hope for our country’s survival would be in the hands of the intelligence community and investigative journalists. We must not allow their powers to be perverted.
20
The difference between Nixon and Trump is that the former didn't rely on Russian KGB to hack the DNC.
I rest my case.
24
Democrats could not fathom how Hillary Clinton could have lost, so they conjured up the boogeyman of Russian collusion, and plunged us into yet another special prosecutor investigation which has no limits or bounds. I don’t blame Trump for wanting to end it, especially if he has been told he is not a target. I really don’t care about Paul Manafort’s dirty deals with the Ukrainians etc.
5
Somehow I am sure that you fully supported the endless Ken Starr investigations, or repeated Benghazi hearings.
It's not necessary about finding collusion, but about Russian interference, which needs top be investigated to the fullest. And why would you not care if the "best people" Trump has hired have dirty deals with other countries. Even without collusion, that should worry every American.
19
What is emerging from the investigation is a pattern of the multi billionaire class engaged in money laundering and influence peddling on a massive and international scale. Examples of this have already been exposed by the investigation and go far beyond Russia. The GOP have positioned themselves as pro business, so the cycle of money for influence for money has spiraled into... Trump and the happily complicit GOP. The mystery is why so many non wealthy voters think the GOP gives a hoot about their lives and why they continue to vote against their own interests. To what end - so that they can arm themselves to the teeth, make sure their neighbors don’t get an abortion, and so they can pray in school? The GOP donor class laugh all the way to their off shore bank accounts. Fox News, owned by billionaire trolls, distorts reality to keep their viewers enthusiastically helping the oligarch class shred democracy and our constitutional form of government.
2
Collusion has already been proven. Trump asked for it in the campaign, his son, Jr., admitted to it in statements of the Trump Tower meetings, and Trump admitted obstruction of justice by firing Comey because he wanted to prevent the investigation from expanding as Comey had asked for more funding. Then he went on to slander Comey, the FBI, and the DOJ, led by his own appointees.
And yes, the investigation has no limits or bounds as to where it can go in following the facts it uncovers on criminal or treasonous activity, and for being a "witch hunt," it has already produced many significant indictments and at least three guilty pleas, two high level.
Governments are undone by the work of henchmen, so you should care about the "very best people," who Trump taps and are then indicted and plead guilty, and even those who abuse their offices without penalty, wasting taxpayer money and working opposite to the mission of their agencies.
These are not streams of smoke. They are fire, burning the Constitution and threatening an already weakened democracy.
Open your eyes!
1
I had an analogy that the GOP enablers were like firemen doing nothing as a madman burns down a house. I realized the flaw in my logic was thinking that they were firemen, instead of fellow arsonists.
16
How are DJT’s actions in the past 48 hours - the tweets and orders to expose an informant in a lawful investigation - not defacto attempt to obstruct justice? This makes “I hope we can let this go” appear ridiculously innocent.
11
If the investigation was for political purposes, one would keep it secret (as they did). If it was to investigate Russian interference in the election, they would have been more inclined to disclose (leak it) before the election. You have it backwards!
1
It's not just the president who sank to a new low on Sunday.
It's not just the republican party who sank to a new low by either implicitly or explicitly condoning his rants.
It is the portion of the electorate who continue to support this person in the fact of facts that are sinking to a new low. They are the current day versions of the "good Germans" of the 1930s and they are proud of it. They don't like to be called fascists, but neither did those Germans.
That doesn't include everyone who voted for the conman and his swamp denizens. There's no question that millions who voted for Trump did so in a populist rage against the political machine. Like it or not, democracy gives the people the chance to sweep out the old or unwanted and bring in replacements.
We have had strong political men who have challenged complacency and political orthodoxy.
But Trump is different. Consorting with a foreign adversary is different. Undermining the rule of law is different. Neither logic nor facts matter; only Pavlovian agreement with his viewpoint matters. To believe Trump or his propagandists or his enablers is to suspend rational thought.
It is the suspension of rational thought that is bringing our country to this Orwellian stage. Trump has demonstrated his response to rational thought and facts. It's up to he voters in the midterms to demonstrate their response.
The voters' response will determine how far the 1930s will be replicated.
15
It seems to me that we have been fighting for more than Democrat vs. Republican. Clearly the Republican party is taking a page out of Putin's playbook and desires power no matter the cost. There is no level Republican congressional leaders will not stoop to in order that they remain in power. In my opinion this is more than Russia, this is the GOP trying to permanently cement itself by any means, legal or not. I am less concerned about Trump, I am fairly sure that he will not survive the next election. I am less sure about Mr. Nunes and his colleagues who have blatantly put party before country and seek permanent fascist-like power in government.
11
Very few criminals give themselves up willingly to the police. They run, they hide, they throw obstacles in the way of an investigation. Trump works by using Twitter to defame those investigating him, slashing away at their credibility with the public. He skillfully makes himself out to be the victim, and the FBI to be the perpetrators of crime — the very opposite of the truth. Every success that a tyrant has gives him more power. Tump is trying to gain power over the FBI, as he has over other agencies. When it is under his control, the White House can be run like the Mafia without this investigation threatening them. Trump has now co-opted members of Congress to believe in his inversion of reality. The result is Congress dissing the FBI and demanding papers that the FBI ought not to give up. Made more bold, the tyrant demands what he believes ought to be his — the subservience of the top law enforcement agency, to evade detection of past wrongdoing and to allow future crimes such as election meddling, real estate deals on the side, laundered money, to be carried out with impunity. Law enforcement officials must draw a line in the sand and stand firm. This is not a time to have "low morale". It is a time to fight.
6
We are divided and conquered.
What comes to mind is the utter outrage that our public high schools are blatant shooting ranges where the death tolls of teens augments every month, yet the fleecing of Americans status quo of this administration remains.
As a former NYC public high school teacher, I ask myself, "If our adolescents would have received an excellent education in US government and Civics, wouldn't these young people be brandishing their guns on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?
3
The “Constitutional Crisis” that many of us have been worried about is happening right under our noses! Unfortunately, we are too distracted by Trump’s Twitter tantrums to realize that the ship has already crashed into the pointy rocks and is taking on water. Where is it going to end? It already did. We are all currently living in The Upside Down.
12
Think Mr. President, think. Think back to your campaign. If there was one person who constantly told you the truth, then that's your spy.
1
Truth has never been a friend of Trump.
Never can we let Trump, Putin and dark money interests behind the authoritarian followers in the GOP undermine our rights to know the truth.
The free press is our friend.
5
If the president has complete control over the Justice Department as Trump claims, then even pretending Obama did everything they claimed he did he was within his rights as President.
If not, then Trump just violated the very standards he wants Obama to be investigated for violating.
7
The only reasonable conclusion for being in favor of the Mueller investigation, while being opposed to investigating Justice and the FBI, is that you either don't want to see if Justice and the FBI were up to shenanigans... or you don't care if they were.
1
Will he suburbs punish the GOP Congress for their moral and ethical collapse in the face of Trump?
I am really not sure. Certainly not in Texas but maybe in Iowa or Ohio or Pennsylvania? I'm trying to think where common sense still rules.
It is a fact that the Russians and their spies were a daily presence in the Trump campaign and our intelligence agencies were doing their due diligence by trying to get the facts about these contacts. Every American should be proud that our nation's law enforcement officials were listening. After all Putin and his thugs had only one objective in mind when they offered help to this con man campaign and that is the destruction of our democracy.
3
The problem with Trump is oddly not Trump.
If we had a functioning democracy, Trump would be isolated and hemmed in. However, we don't and he's not. Why?
I would argue that the failure of checks and balances comes from a system run by the few for the few. We have allowed our politics to be financed by elites. Apparently millions were deluded that democracy could resist these investments by the 1% in policy gains that favored them at the expense of everyone else. The people will not be represented when staying in power is dependent on toeing the line of the Kochs and Mercers. They don't have to like Trump. But with both houses of Congress and the White House under one party rule, there is an unprecedented opportunity to realize the plutocratic agenda. Trump will be stay as long as he is useful.
Trump is pleasing because he continues the divide-and-conquer GOP anger-machine. That prevents the 99% from seeing what is really happening to their democracy and the economy. Every time we celebrate the Dow Jones it merely makes clear who the economy truly works for like salt in a wound. Keep us divided!
There is no branch of government that represents the 99%. And until we take to the streets, even if led by high school kids, our voices will continue to be drowned out by money and the propaganda and politicians it can buy.
Don't look to DC to defend democracy and return what was lost. It is up to we the people to revolt as those already corrupted are incapable of saving us.
487
Thank you Tom! This is well said. It is WE THE PEOPLE. The terrifying thing for me is that too many people don’t care. But those of us who do must stand up, be counted, and resist!
45
Yes, this is the problem for those of us who still care for our democracy and freedoms or what's left of them if the Republicans and Don the Con finally succeed in allowing the rich to run America with a one party ruled nation. In the actual words of one of Trump's brainwashed followers in one of his carnival events: "We don't care!"
It didn't take millions to be deluded, Tom, it took five. Five of the sort that only a Republican would nominate. Republicans of the sort that only gerrymandered districts could give a majority.
There are people in government defending our democracy as we speak, even if it's not apparent that they're going to win at the moment.
The revolt we need is the kind that throws this president's party out at every level of government from the U.S. Congress to Governorships and State House races all the way down to the bottom of the ticket.
Send a message that we don't want Republicans in there gerrymandering or covering up and obstructing justice.
Literal revolt is the sort of thing that plays into the hands of the Russians and Chinese and every tin-pot dictator around the world who wants to see us rip each other to shreds for a generation and further trash the greatest country in the history of the world.
The revolt we need now is an electoral revolt, and once we get that we need a legislative revolt, and once we get that we need impeachment hearings on all of them for crimes and cover-ups, and once we get that we need to amend the Constitution.
Like reversing Citizens United to get big money out of politics.
Elucidating the "well-regulated" part of the Second Amendment.
Requiring social media companies be responsible for all their content just like old media companies.
Standing against our own human rights abuses.
And ensuring fair and free elections here at home.
31
“This self-interested assault is doing incalculable damage to the integrity of American law enforcement.”
More generally, it seems that a significant fraction of the Republican Party is willing to inflict “incalculable damage” on anything which stands in the way of short-term political gain.
I wonder, does this reflects a belief that the world is about to end? Some (but not all) evangelicals think the end of days is approaching; they support Israel because it brings the second coming closer, as Revelations foretells.
For Donald the end of days may be more personal. He’s no longer a young man, and all the fibs his doctors tell cannot hide the truth. To such a vast and self-centered ego, the prospect of his own death must seem indistinguishable from the end of the world. It may be that he, too, is anticipating the Last Trump.
1
How demoralizing it must be for the courageous men and women of the DOJ and FBI to have their integrity continuously impugned by the President of the United States. It is truly heart-wrenching.
3
As long as we're asking Republican appointees Rod Rosenstein and Christopher Wray to stand up to Trump and do the right thing, what about Jeff Sessions? Why does our Attorney General get to sit on the sidelines while Trump rides roughshod over those reporting to him?
1
I think it is premature to say Trump's words are doing incalculable damage. They have the potential to, and they are irresponsible, but we do not know now that they will have any lasting effect. Trump is essentially playing the role of accused criminal screaming at the "crooked cops" who framed him or set him up. How often are such pleas believed by a jury?
They are doing damage, because he has now crossed deeper into dictatorial behavior, and is getting away with it, in the eyes of his supporters. And his party remains silent. Thus, regardless of the outcome, he knows he can do more of the same, and democracy and the justice system have been damaged.
We've just crossed the line and gone into darkness where even Richard Nixon didn't go. Trump and his GOP lapdogs are using the justice system against itself to protect one man. Trump is striving for absolute power, which of course corrupts absolutely,
4
I'm worried that the news media are turning to questioning the legitimacy of the Mueller investigation. It's not just Fox News.
It has been predictable that this would happen given the need for commentators to shock and titillate.
There are some big guns working to manipulate public opinion and pundits are as susceptible as the general public. Beyond that, defending the president may have become to "new" thing that makes the news "edgy."
I don't know if Trump "colluded" with Russians, but he had a lot of people involved in his campaign who were seeking power and profit. Some of them were playing a game or seeking approval from high places.
1
I am struggling to find a way to say this: There is nothing new here. Trump breaks most of the conventions of respect for institutions, despite the havoc and damage it will wreak; and Congress lets him because it distracts the nation from the damage they are doing.
And Americans are happy as long as we have declared a tax break and tormented immigrants. And blustered at Iran and North Korea.
None of this is new. We can vote, or drown in our own sea of corruption.
3
We can no longer pretend to be shocked by what Trump does. Tearing down things that stand in his way is what he has always done, and in this respect, if no other, he has demonstrated a remarkable consistency. But we have been slower to perceive that the Republicans have also been consistent in pursuing a course of subversion against democracy. When, for example, people wonder why McConnell and Ryan haven't objected to Trump's threats to the rule of law, the answer is as plain as day: they are on his side in his effort to convert America into an oligarchy. This should be borne in mind when--not if-- the Mueller is shut down and dismissed as a partisan witch hunt.
3
A concise, excellent opinion piece that needs very little elaboration.
One quibble. It shouldn't be "Trump v the Department of Justice" but rather Trump v the People of America.
2
Facts are stubborn things. The previous administration has sworn that it didn't surveil the Trump campaign. Unfortunately for them, Brennan and Clapper have left far too many fingerprints in their past efforts to get the dossier leveraged into the creation of a special counsel. It explains the vehemence of their attacks on Trump since they know that they have been caught with their hands in the proverbial cookie jar.
3
Even the media has sprung to their defense with its weighing in on what constitutes "spying". Obama has always had a cadre of defenders. This time were too many hands in that cookie jar, and one by one, they are being exposed.
Many times in these and other forums, I read exhortations to get out and vote. I understand that this is one of the few actions the ordinary citizen can take to try to influence a very corrupt system. I applaud and admire those who are willing to try.
But nowhere have I seen thought given to what happens if November brings no change in Congress and/or Senate.
What then, America?
2
When about 40% of the country is determined to go in a very different direction from the rest, then no institutions, however well designed, can prevent that. The congressional Republicans speak volumes with their silence. This is the sound of democracy coming apart at the seams. Trump cares about himself and not the country. The 40% care about Trump and not democracy or our institutions, and the congressional Republicans care about the 40% and their political futures. It appears bleak. Yet, I feel that we will rise from this abyss….Of course, 60% is more than 40% and in a democracy that should be all that matters. Will the 40% let that happen after they have tasted “Trump-opia”, a toxic brew of hate, anger deception, and ignorance? This is the new politic. As Michelle said, “go high when they go low”; that is the best way. The seams we hear tearing apart can come together again for a better future. This is more a statement of faith and hope than logic. Let us hope it is correct.
1
An investigation into the investigation involving himself? Does anyone think Trump will say, "yes, you're clear. The investigation into me and my campaign is perfectly on the up and up? Proceed!" I have a feeling it was the wrong move to even placate the President and Congress with this viewing of classified information on the supposed planting of a "spy."
From “getting away with it” during his business career, Trump moved to being “above the law” as president. Now he wants to move to “I am the law” and no one in Congress, not even the Democrats are confronting or challenging him or expressing any outrage. Welcome to the banana republic America. Remember this when you’re not allowed to criticize Trump’s uniform or the size of his hat during the military parade in November.
1
Please vote in November. It is our chance to remedy this farce and save democracy.
1
I see the opposite. From the surprise victory, Trump's opposition has acted with a hysteria I've never seen before, including Nixon. The false claim that he is authoritarian or wants to undermine the country seems without any basis. He actually has obeyed court orders that couldn't have pleased him, unlike his predecessor, who did not always. It has been demonstrated without question that some high up in the Justice Department acted to prevent his election and to help Clinton. Were any of this too happen when Obama was president the press would be calling for an end to the DOJ. Even the question of obstruction of justice seems a non-starter, almost as ridiculous as Comey's exoneration of Clinton after clearly spelling out a crime. Most of the media has joined in on the free for all. They are only pro-DOJ b/c they have hopes of impeachment. I don't see it. If he survives the onslaught, the "resistance" may help get him re-elected, as they did his initial election.
It's also true that Trump brought a lot of hatred on himself, not just from Ds, but from some Rs too, with his incendiary campaign, his inflammatory statements and what appeared to be gross ignorance. I didn't vote for him and still don't think he should be president, but I will give him credit for making strides in foreign policy.
I expect little from politicians, but I am completely disappointed by the press, which has mostly abandoned its traditional role. Thank goodness for the internet.
4
There are many, but one glaring example is The Time's describing McCabe as "less than candid". Hardly the behavior of someone who the Justice Department Inspector General has found to be worthy of a criminal referral.
1
" I will give him credit for making strides in foreign policy."
I will not, I see very little good things (except the talks with North Korea, if they actually happen). Alienating all of our allies is not "making strides".
And the press is doing exactly what it is there for, reporting on his doings. The internet? What does that even mean? Are you still getting your news from facebook and message boards? No wonder you think he is doing well
Martin, one of the wonders of the internet is how it lets you see the similarities of arguments. I see the same ones all the time. For example, b/c you disagree with me, you immediately assume that your disagreement was due to some fault of mine or negative quality. E.g., despite your presumption, I don't use facebook (no "friends," - you can't even find me on a search - although I have used its database as a search tool for professional reasons b/c its very effective). And I think I know what a message board is but not sure. I think I've used them for travel, but, certainly not where I get my news.
By "thank goodness for the internet," it means I can read actual documents and watch videos, b/c the press often misrepresents or misinterprets what happens. I'm not going to presume you disagree with me b/c of some negative characteristic you have, but if you don't do your own research, I recommend it. You cannot trust the press.
Unlike most people I know, I don't have a political narrative or team. Not surprisingly, I find some of the things Trump does not so good and some good. Foreign policy is one of the good ones. I do like some of the changes in the military, which helped defeat ISIS (mostly). I do like our taking tougher stances with countries that dislike us or consider us an enemy and supporting our true friends. I did not like the emphasis on humility without strength of the last administration, which led to the empowerment of virtually all of our adversaries.
Trump has already done considerable harm to the rule of law, to due process, and to the principle of separation of powers.
He has abused, and has acted beyond, his powers. It may take generations for the harms he has inflicted to be cured.
1
How much power does the President of the USA has? Trump “orders” the JD to investigate those that are investigating him, which is not allowed by the rule of law, but he can do it with no reaction from other branches of government that are there to keep the balance of power and the abuse of power. No reaction from a anybody. Then we talk about Banana Republics!
2
This man - and his Republican enablers - have no interest in the American democratic experiment. Trump is a born-to-privilege, lifelong, gifted grifter who is interested only in his personal gain and the gratification of his own ego. If he could, he would anoint himself ruler for life. Every single Republican, from Ryan and McConnell on down, bends over backward to protect not our country's institutions but their (and Trump's) hold on and access to political power. The shame and astonishment are overwhelming as we watch so-called conservatives puncture and drain the lifeblood from our country's vital institutions. Trump is who he is. McConnell and Ryan and all the others should know better. Their silence is deafening.
2
I'm getting scared. Who among you, in a position to do so, is willing to step in to say "no" to this man? The law, the constitution, mean little or nothing. Fear is the rule. Fear of loss of position, of funds, of status, of safety, of belonging to the club. One day this dangerous, destructive, egomaniac, will be gone. What will be left? Will this be the new paradigm?
Please. Someone. Step up. We need you.
What more could Mueller reveal? Isn't the evidence of lying to federal authorities, obstructing justice, laundering money, failing to register as a foreign agent and conspiring with a foreign power to influence the outcome of an election already publicly available?
Trump's illegal activities are established. It's time to prosecute, depose, and unwind the illegal actions of an illicit president.
2
Putin installed Trump.
The uninstall button has been hidden by the Republicans.
Sleep well and dream about voting.
2
It is as though Grover has finally gotten his wish.
1
Describing Trump's "I hereby demand" tweet as "cartoonish language" is perhaps one of the most subtle Simpson's references I have read in a long time.
1
Maybe I'm missing something but this sure does look like obstruction of an investigation in the clear light of day. Shooting somebody in the middle of Fifth Avenue indeed.
2
“There will be no civil uprising to protect Trump. Trump is not the leader of a philosophical or moral movement.” No, but he is the demagogic leader of a sizable mass of disaffected citizens who seek a strongman-champion to avenge their aggrieved identities and assuage their insecurities. This so-called “Trump’s base” is permanently ensconced in tightly gerrymandered congressional districts so that congressional support for Trump will not so easily evaporate into thin air. Fueled by the talk radio-FOX news propaganda machine, and in a socio-culture low point in our history wherein we have once again lost our capacity to at least tolerate those who differ from us politically as actual human beings/citizens and not mortal enemies (the Left is guilty here too), any move to unseat Trump could very well generate violent unrest. Can you imagine, then, what it will be like when the DOJ and the FBI come knocking on your door at the behest of the Great Leader because he and his mob don’t care for your politics?
1
Trump can attempt to distract all he wants by ginning up new accusations against others including law enforcement, but in the end the truth will surface and the empower will have no clothes. That’s an ugly picture on so many levels.
2
Thank you NYT for another great editorial. The constitutional crisis we are facing as we watch another shoe drop every day would be enough to send people to the streets in any other country. We are being told that information cannot be released to the public because of "national security". That is nonsense. We, the American people deserve to know the truth. We elected officials in Congress who are supposed to work for us, not the President. When are the so called Republican MoCs who cherish family and country going to stop burying their head in the sand and wake up to this nightmare we are living every day? Are they so attached to this President to the hip that they are willing to sacrifice their country and its people? They have no shame. The kettle of discontent is ready to boil over. The next election will certainly teach these Republican sycophants a lesson. However, November seems light years away. The image of this country abroad is diminishing by the day and the clock is ticking on this government. The people are fed up with the lies and deceit, the corruption and incompetence. We are living a moment in history which is not just absurd and deafening. It is an error in history that our children and grand children will have to repair for generations. Poor America!
2
Rather than describe his "demand" as "cartoonish," I'd call it dangerously "dictatorial."
2
Trump wants to be president for life. He’s said as much.
Of course, our system of government as currently constituted prevents this from happening — begging this question: why does he seem so hostile to it? Is he intent on overthrowing it?
The only way he can achieve such a lofty goal, a prize won by the likes of Stalin, Egypt’s Mubarak, Cuba’s Castro, Marcos in the Philippines and Zaire’s Mobutu, is by destroying the United States as we know it. Slash and burn attacks on federal law enforcement agencies like the FBI and the judicial system itself, tactics used by Erdogan in Turkey and Putin in Russia to cement their hold on power, indirectly undermines the U.S. Constitution that President Trump swore to preserve and protect; including the amendment that limits American presidents to no more than two four-year terms.
Amazingly, at least 35% of adult Americans do not understand this, or approve of what Trump is doing generally. Nor do they see him for what he really is — a nascent dictator on the rise. And among nativists and white supremacists many, if not most, would not object if it kept America a “white man’s country” and the Democrats they hate out of power indefinitely.
2
Much-needed editorial and should be read by every voting-age person.
An assault on the Dept of Justice is an assault on America.
It's time to take down the President.
1
Our democracy and the rule of law are at stake here. If the President is given the data by Congress (likely Nunes) which the DOJ and Special Prosecutor has on him and his troupe of criminals, then the President will be engaging in Obstruction of Justice.
If Rosenstein knows everything about the informant within the Trump campaign organization, and that there was no political bent on having that person in-place because Carter Page and Papadapolous and maybe even Manafort were already being investigated, and the DOJ & FBI needed to know how far the Russians went into the Trump campaign. They were pursuing a criminal investigation.
As for any other Russian investigation data being given to Nunes or anyone else in Congress, the precedent set by the Trump order is a Pandora's Box which could damage every criminal investigation performed by the DOJ in the future.
Trump is leading our country into a Constitutional battle which could end our democracy or shore it up and cause Trump to be the first President to ever be indicted for a major crime while in office. Trump's actions in this case are nothing short of treason since a foreign adversary has had information and access during a political campaign whose actions resulted in the defaming and illegal acquisition of emails of Trump's political opponent, ala' Putin in Russian "elections".
The removal from office of Trump and anyone else involved in the conspiracy and collusion and obstruction of justice cannot occur soon enough.
328
As Trump and his associates so cavalierly lie and smear law enforcement, it’s up to dedicated professionals in the Justice Department & FBI who have devoted their lives to the nation and to the rule of law to stand up to the president and defend these institutions. The underlying premise that the Republican led FBI was investigating the Trump campaign during 2016 because the bureau was out to get Trump rather than follow Russian attempts to interfere in a US presidential election is absurd. One way or another, we’re going to learn what the now top-secret informant learned about the Trump campaign. And if Trump and his defenders thought there was nothing damaging to be revealed, they wouldn’t be trying so hard to preemptively discredit this informant, in the same way they’re doing to the whole investigation. As they have been all along, they’re acting as though Trump and others around him are guilty as sin.
225
This is just a minor incident in the accident that is the Trump presidency.
Unfortunately none of this will matter as the Republicans will not do anything even if there are monstrous things found from Mueller's report. He will never resign, like Nixon.
We will have to live with Trump until the natural end of his presidency. God help us if he were to win a 2nd term, that is just unthinkable for America.
2
This could easily have been a completely non-partisan investigation of an attack on our electoral system--an attack on the heart of our democracy. In fact it started out that way (Trump's campaign was warned of the attack and asked to report any suspicious approaches). Mitch McConnell took the first step in preventing it from continuing in that manner, but the only one responsible for ensuring that it ended up being all about Trump... was (and is) Trump.
4
All presidents have dabbled in this with Nixon being noteworthy re DOJ firings.
However Trump has taken it to an art form.
I lost count how many times he has tried to obstruct justice with the DOJ.
The republican congress, dereliction of duty, letting Trump routinely break the law.
7
Trump and his Republican Party have thus far given the nation absolutely nothing except a tax bill that benefits the wealthy at the expense of those who need financial relief the most. Everything else from immigration, infrastructure, healthcare, national security, trade and even the environment have been damaged and in some cases will never be the same. Attacks on the judiciary, the intelligence community and free press weaken democracy and with the complicit Republican congress may even cause a collapse of everything the nation stands for and has embraced for over two hundred years.
The delusional revelation of a mole in the FBI directed to infiltrate the Trump campaign is a fantasy now being used by Trump and the Republicans to obstruct a legitimate investigation into Russian meddling in a U.S. Presidential election and possible cooperation by those in Trump's orbit who have been exposed and are either cooperating with the Special Counsel or have been indicted. Those that support this corruption should also be exposed and investigated. Devin Nunes and Jim Jordan will be historically remembered right next to Pontius Pilate and Benedict Arnold.
This seems to be like a bloodless coup right out of Vladimir Putin's playbook and he's quite proficient at matters of that nature. And it's all being done with the help of the GOP who once respected the rule of law. The nation may have died on November 08, 2016, but we just don't know it yet.
Thanks Trump supporters.
10
Let's see if the Obama Administration spied on an opposing campaign in order to hobble it in the 2016 election. This is the party of Lois Lerner, so at least there is an argument that they may have done something improper or illegal again. President Obama stated several times that he was above the law, and that he would accomplish by illegal executive order what he could not get through Congress. So spying on the Trump campaign would just have been a small thing. After all, the guy isn't going to win, is he, Mr. Obama said so several times.
Oops ...
Before you come down on one side or the other in this, should you not at least wait for the results? Remember the 95% probability of an HRC win a couple of weeks before the election? Your track record isn't great.
Anyway, the IG report is coming out soon.
Please enjoy reading it. We all will.
16
The track record that's failed here comes from the Trump administration, who have consistently denied or ignored the findings of federal law enforcement regarding Russian influence in the 2016 election. Trump's claim that his office was bugged by Obama was also proven false. Your claim that Obama thought himself above the law is extremely offset by Trump's consistent disregard for the separation of powers, challenges to protocol, and ultimately, ignorance of the process of law and constitutional process in this nation.
But of course given the current balance of power and sycophantic responses from Congress, we can only wait for the results and hope that ethics and integrity are respected.
38
I suspect the Inspector General's report will be disregarded just as the condemning report on McCabe was. There is a intractable mindset on Trump's guilt. It can only get worse. It's likely the Inspector General will continue to find criminal behavior on the part of those investigating Trump. Of course, if the media doesn't cover it, it's almost like it hasn't happened -- in their minds. Thank goodness for the internet.
7
“President Obama stated several times that he was above the law, and that he would accomplish by illegal executive order what he could not get through Congress.”
Would love to see the actual quote wherein President Ibama said he was above the law. No need to list each of the several times. Once will do.
He used EO’s far less frequently than his predecessors, and Trump is on track to exceed Obama’s total in his first two years in office (even though Tepublixans control both Congressional chambers). It’s “illegal” and tyranny when a Democratic President resorts to executive orders, but just business as usual when a Republican does it, is that it?
65
Since "little rocketman" stopped being used as a foil, the FBI and the Justice Department now fill that roll. According to Trump, the evils of the world are housed in those agencies and he is now determined to use whatever powers he has to demolish the enemy. Never mind that he has a profound conflict of interest. The fact that the republican party is aiding and abetting this effort should inspire every citizen of every persuasion to take to the streets. This isn't a one off. This is the path Trump will take every time he is challenged and if we hope to have a democracy left once he leaves office, we need to insist that our collective voice be heard now!
10
While there are usually legitimate reasons for a federal investigation, the methods of our prosecutors are abusive and often self-serving, due to personal ambition or agency political goals. Improper conduct has been normalized and rewarded in the DOJ. The department has lost sight of their ethics and therefore lost the trust of the public.
I rarely agree with Donald Trump, but he is exposing a broken system even as he tries to manipulate it to his benefit. Federal prosecutors want to win cases, often by any means necessary. They are motivated by the prospect of gaining personal glory and monetizing it, not committed to public service based on equity, honor and truth - just like our President.
4
The justice system is adversarial and it is hardly improper for prosecutors to want to win, not only because of that, but more largely because a win is an affirmation of law, a striking down of criminality and corruption, good over evil in a democracy, and in the larger sense of the federal system, these values predominate, not self-ambition or ego as you claim, which may be more of a factor in state systems, as has been often uncovered by the DOJ in oversight of state-justice process.
What can you cite supporting your claim implying widespread rewarding and normalizing of improper DOJ prosecutorial conduct? Trump has made the same claims against DOJ, the FBI, and the CIA with absolutely no evidence, only to shift blame as a process of deflection, and painting a false picture of the DOJ when they must stand up for justice against an aggressive, self-serving president with no consideration for the institution or the democracy within which it operates and which it protects is not helpful.
5
Ordering an investigation on the ones that are investigating him is crossing a dangerous line but it is fine because at the end of the day Trump will pardon himself and all involved who did not collaborate with Mueller.
Has anybody heard Trump talking about Michael Flynn lately? Giuliani and Trump deserve each other. The loss goes to the 200 years of democratic tradition and values of the country.
10
The old saying " A house divided against itself can not stand" comes to mind here.
We have a country and government that are becoming more divided all the time, and to at least some respect it is due to the Trump campaign and the non responsiveness of the republican party.
I think it safe to say that the country has never been so divided since the civil war days. "These are the days that try mens soul". Please, let this be a learning experience for all of us and my truth and justice win out in the end.
20
We should view the Trump presidency as a test for the rule of law in the United States. If a clearly dishonest president and a complicit congress can undermine the law and allow obvious criminality in our government, then we will have failed this test. If they are brought to justice then we will have passed. Either way we will have an outcome that proves once and for all what the true nature of this country really is.
42
But we have Republicans who won't stand up to him. They are unpatriotic or bought off. I'm 70 and for the first time fear for my country.
This investigation at it's core is about foreign interference in our elections. It's not about Trump per se. However, every screaming action on Trump's part seems to be an open admission of guilt. He and his supporters don't care one iota about our democracy or protecting our elections. This is the scariest part about today's GOP. They got their Republicans to head this investigation, and got a Republican to head the justice department, but it seems that even with this, guilt is apparent. So, Trump and team will stop at nothing to destroy our democracy rather than protect it. The oath that he, Pence, Nunes, et al took is meaningless and if a few good politicians don't start speaking out loud and clear we will not have a democracy much longer. They're already trying to impede the mid-term elections, and at this point it appears that is our only hope for securing our democracy.
31
If that were true than the Russians would have been the target of the investigation, not Trump campaign officials (none of whom to date have been implicated in “collusion”).
1
Or, as Presidents have done in the past, they are protecting the power of the Presidency. Independent departments within the executive branch do not appear to be something the Constitution contemplates. There is a remedy for that. But amending the Constitution is considerably more difficult than writing fantastic editorials that bestow upon appointed officials an independence from the President that simply does not exist. The problem lies in the way we think about these investigations. Their goal should be to clear the President if they can, not to incriminate him. And if, in spite of their best efforts, they are unable to clear him, the Congress should know what to do.
6
This investigation is about Russian interference into our elections Unfortuantely, through his actions, it looks like Trump et al were involved in thwarting our democracy. At it's core you must remember that this investigation is about foreign interference.
21
“Their goal should be to clear the President if they can, not to incriminate him.”
No. Their goal should be to follow the facts of the case wherever they may lead, not to presuppose either the guilt or innocence of the subjects of the investigation.
“And if, in spite of their best efforts, they are unable to clear him, the Congress should know what to do.”
This statement is frighteningly naïve.
49
Try looking at it this way. Wasn't it Comey's inability to exonerate Clinton that brought her down? If he had been able to say that it was not likely that any foreign actor had accessed her server, she would be President now.
The last defense, now that the executive and legislative branch is under Trumps control is the Judiciary, ultimately a majority of the Supreme Court.
It is useful to conceptualize this moment as a civil war, only as of now, contested by lawful structures rather than bullets. Trump, has his core base, defined by the "shoot a person on fifth ave" declaration. Assuming the Senate does not have a Democratic majority in January, he will still be able to select another Justice, ending any resistance by his enemies, defined by those reading this article.
12
Maybe I'm naïve, but I think that there are still enough good people who care about this country and democracy to allow Trump and his allies in Congress and the media to win. Yes, it is going to be an all-hands-on-deck fight, but I watch a lot of cable news, and I read a lot of mainstream media, and I know that there are a whole lot of people who will do whatever they have to do to make sure Trump and company do not ruin America.
23
Just about all that can be said about the situation has been said. Can we depend on congress? It appears doubtful. Can we depend on the courts? They move snails and speak in tongues to ordinary folk. We can vote in the fall but that seems a long time to wait as the appearance of crisis pending immediately mounts and sham acting on the part of a president becomes more threatening on the national and international stages. Outside of out government there is too much money in too few hands to expect reasonable voices speak to up about threats to our democracy for the simple reason that whatever the outcome of the spiraling uncertainty wealth will find a way to protect itself and profit. So for the moment all ordinary folk who care can do is wait and worry. It is really sad that we cannot find and elect leaders who serve the people over self interest but leaders tend, no matter how much education they have, to repeat the well document failures of history.
53
We have arrived at the place where the President is working in concert with the Republican House to subvert a legal inquiry into the actions of our President's election committee, and perhaps, the actions of the President himself. This is not normal, and is not Constitutional. If Mr. Mueller's investigation has gone off the tracks, the Congress can bury it in a deep, deep hole in a bi-partisan action. There is no justification for exposing our law enforcement people to this kind of extra legal, unconstitutional inquiry. Let Mr. Mueller finish his work, and expose whatever truth is to be known.
62
Legal inquiries are not based on fraud.
Mueller’s entire investigation is based on a fraud.
1
Mr.Trump's berating the Justice Department poses a serious threat to our democracy.I have lived through many presidencies and am imbued with reverence for the system of justice which protects our democratic rights.I worry that young people who do not have this background may come to think that the Justice Department is just like the president's cabinet and can be disrespected and dismissed.We depend on the authority of the Justice Department-they decided a presidential election in Bush versus Gore.The country accepted the decision because we are a country of laws.Mr.Trump is destroying and devaluing the Justice System.
49
Looking at the actions of the FBI, particularly by James Comey, the Bureau was tilted in favor of Trump. The spurious investigation of Clinton’s emails was played out in public in a strip tease that suggested a crime but never delivered.
Conversely, the Russian investigation never saw daylight until Trump had taken the oath of office. After a year of investigation and another strip tease, we can see criminal acts that include welcoming foreign agents into our elections, paying off people to remain silent, and official actions that line the president’s bank account.
The worry is that the stripper has only removed her gloves.
84
The question to ask, who in the Republican Party also suspected possible Russian interference, which major donors may have been involved, and why is this Republican Congress so silent now?
106
Part of the reason for Russian interference in our election was in retaliation for the Obama/Clinton interference in their election. And for that, Putin had a special animus for Clinton. Published reports said the Russians thought she'd win and they wanted to tarnish and destabilize her. Her losing was an unexpected bonus to them.
I am amazed that the Russians manipulated Clinton into ignoring Wisconsin and giving short-shrift to Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. How could they be so clever?
1
I think, in addition to 'standing in silence' and 'working to expose the FBI informant" one should note that there are many Republican congresspeople like Devin Nunes that have taken it upon themselves to promote false narratives and conspiracy theories to the public. Just a paragraph on those bomb-throwers should be included in this terrific and comprehensive editorial..
74
I suppose one might compare trump to Hitler but fortunately for us, I hope, the majority of citizens of our country will not be swayed by this petulant fool. On the other hand the monster in the White House has a support group in Congress and in the Cabinet which is doing tremendous damage. Hitler was a brilliant orator and a voracious reader, if essentially an autodidact. Our diaper baby in the White House doesn’t read and has trouble forming sentences. While his cronies might start WW III everything will turn out well in the end? I hope.
21
The "petulant fools" don't need to be swayed. Trump, with his hatred and fear of outsiders and change and his values of pure greed and control, is their dream come true.
1
I think that what is happening in the US shows that the flaw in its system of checks and balances among the different bodies in government is that it is based on good faith. If good faith is absent in any aspect of the various bodies exercising power, the system falls apart. Especially when it is the president not acting in good faith, because the role of the president under this system is given a lot of power, more than in many other systems of government and his good faith in exercising is presumed -- now we know it shouldn't be -- hopefully there are safeguards in the judicial system now being attacked by the President to counteract this frightening development.
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The safeguard we can all rely on is the TRUTH. Facts will win out. Facts may be disputed, but they will not go away. Trump can't buy his way out of the mess he has created.
15
I agree ... there is no good faith. I wonder how long it will take to restore good faith. I'm a senior...so not in my lifetime.
4
You can't legislate morals, and one can't legislate good faith. It is required for a functioning democracy. One of the three bodies of government can be reigned in if good faith is lost. But we have nearly all three operating in that capacity. Democracy is doomed unless We the People demand change.
11
If Trump supporters did not feel the sting of suckerdom and were not outraged by the pittance in their paychecks after the "greatest tax cut in history", while the price they pay for gasoline continues to escalate, then they are completely impervious to reality. If the simple arithmetic of dollars and cents hasn't swayed them, no amount of legalese from this or any other quarter will.
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We obviously need a new constitution. One that acknowledges things like high powered, rapid fire guns in the hands of civilians; one that incorporates the power of media and the propaganda machines used to exploit truth; one that copes with social media as an arm of government; one that reinstalls the American Dream.
However, we may--unfortunately--need another revolution before there is consensus about our plight, and, more importantly, the best course of action moving forward.
20
Whoa! Don't encourage Trump to rip up the Constitution! Andy Borowitz's recent satire become reality? Maybe we need to add some guard rails, but let's keep the Constitution.
I don't want those in power rewriting it.
What we have does not seem to be able to keep up with scoundrels' augmented-by-technology- abilities.
Perhaps it is our nature to fail and be reborn,only to repeat the process ad nauseum.
"Change is indubitable, progress is a matter of controversy." Bertrand Russel
I was with you until the revolution thing. The Civil War was rather costly. That’s just what the Russians want. Why don’t you start getting people excited about voting blue in the coming election?
1
The "demand" alone is truly worrisome but to allow only the partisan GOP hacks to "see" the background materials shows how much there is no honor in Washington and no concern about all the damage being done to our democracy. If there was evidence of Russian interactions that might be inappropriate, then the FBI did what it was supposed to do. They should be applauded for trying to keep us safe, not castigated for doing their job. Hopefully this continues to add to the long list of obstruction of justice. As for collusion- that is self evident even if little might have come from it. One must continue to wonder why the presidential outrage- if there is nothing there then........
39
these are scary times. Donald Trump, whose life has been devoted to self interest and cutting corners to gain wealth, has never ever faced a serious challenge to his behavior.
oh sure, he's lost a lawsuit here and there, and been forced to settle financially as a citizen in private life.
but never before has he had executive power in government.
It didn't take him long to begin testing the limits of that power--Sally Yates, Comey, McCabe, and a concerted effort to meddle in a serious investigation against him.
He calls the justice Department "my" department, as if a king who can order prosecutors and judges to carry out his edicts. He runs roughshod over norms of separation of powers, totally unchecked.
why are Republicans so totally devoted to helping this man defy the law? at what point will Rosenstein, Wray, and other members of justice--even Jeff Sessions--rise up to refuse his unprecended power grabs?
this is worse than Nixon, worse than McCarthy, worse than any situation the country has ever faced.
are we really going to allow Donald J. Trump to have unfettered power to indulge his grievances and paranoia?
Wake up America!
422
I’m 46 years old, a dual citizen of the US (my origin of birth) and Australia.
For years I’ve tried to explain why I chose to reside in Australia. It is flawed, but there is a social security net and universal healthcare. And good weather.
The actions of Trump and his Republican supporters in Congress should be more than mildly alarming to US citizens and the rest of the world.
A continual, persistent undermining of the justice department and the free press will undoubtedly end in tragedy unless it is stopped.
I am truly scared for the future of democracy and individual rights. And I’m downright sad. And I doubt I’ll ever want to be an American again if this isn’t stopped.
85
Trump's actions like casting the Mueller probe as the witch hunt, or firing and castigating the FBI, or toying with the idea of enjoying an absolute power of pardoning those indicted by the Mueller investigation do clearly suggest that he is not only undermining the law enforcement mechanism of the country but also threatening the very foundations of the rule of law, simply to get away with what he has accumulated and earned through dubious means.
62
In total Nixon appointed 235 Article III federal judges.
Among these were 4 Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States (including 1 Chief Justice), 45 judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, 179 judges to the United States district courts, 3 judges to the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, 3 judges to the United States Court of Claims and 1 judge to the United States Customs Court.
5
“…consider the seriousness of the threat posed by a president ordering federal law enforcement officials to investigate the people who are investigating him.”
Why? Because the actions of federal law enforcement officials can’t be tainted by political ends? This after J. Edgar Hoover? We already know that at the behest of the Obama Administration all this “innuendo” regarding Trump was “seeded” throughout our intelligence and police services to better survive what they assumed would be a Trump “purge” (that, other than Comey, never happened) — heck, that was reported by the Times itself (after it was reported by Sean Hannity – hehehe).
Why? Because it was IMPOSSIBLE that the White House and Justice could collude with some IRS officials to go after conservative non-profits?
Giveth me a break. You don’t trust Trump? I don’t trust ANYONE – and not just since the appearance of Donald Trump, but as far back as the excessively partisan ramming of ObamaCare by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.
Trump is (so far) merely the CURRENT end-point of a decided process that began with Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America”, but leapt by quantum stages during the undivided Democratic government of 2009-2010, causing the tectonic Republican response embodied by the Tea Party.
16
The extremists on BOTH sides own EVERYTHING, Democratic candidates today want nothing to do with Hillary Clinton because she represents “the old Democratic politics” of relative moderation and they represent the civilization-razing tactics of the sixties generation.
Offer instead outrage at a president suspecting the FBI when we’ve cashiered EVERYONE and replaced them with center-right and center-left people who can get things done WITHOUT sinking shivs so deeply and with such joyous abandon … into their opponents’ backs. Unfortunately, current indications suggest that this isn’t going to happen anytime soon, so I’m not surprised at Trump’s suspicions, beset as he is every blessed microsecond by a mouth-frothing unchained, potted liberati. And they’re apparently everywhere, including lodged in our most “non-political” institutions of government.
9
The political party in power desires a power that is absolute and permanent. The party not in power, seeks a that power which is absolute and permanent and will go to any length to obtain it.
1
Nice history lesson Professor, and (horror of horrors) I might inclined to agree with your sentiments on compromise and the middle. But that isn't what this about, and you ruin your very premise of an appeal to the middle, by your doing the very thing you criticize - making a political claim on something that isn't real.
By ignoring the statements that show how careful the FBI was in avoiding any political effects; by ignoring the very reason for the infiltration (suspicious activity by Carter Page et al); by ignoring the fact that the FBI INFORMED the Trump campaign about this and was rebuffed - you then give yourself liberty to take the ball and run with it in a wild claim.
Maybe we need more politicians in the middle, but first we need people who are able to stick to the facts.
1
No doubt this president is seriously unglued by conspiracy theories.
Bottom line: he's insisting the DOJ investigate the DOJ.
His "I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow" is absolutely bizarre.
Maybe his campaign shouldn't have met with so many foreign officials offering help for him to win an election!
Turns out it wasn't just Russia, but Gulf States as well.
It would appear he's engaging in yet further obstruction of justice in this latest obsession.
94
I can recall a time in my life when I worked with a colleague who seemed like a good guy to me but I later realized he had numerous questionable ideas and opinions and I was often led down a paths I now regret. I said things I wish I could take back and I did things I'm not proud of today. I feel fortunate that events separated us in reasonably short time and my moral compass righted itself (I hope).
It seems to me that Donald Trump is corrupting (even more) the Republican party. They are following his lead, seemingly unaware of the erosion to their integrity. I can only hope events happen such that the party is separated from this President and they have a chance to recover just as I did.
38
I find it quite disturbing that the FBI and the Department of Justice, would place a spy in any Presidential candidate campaign.
I hope for America's sake, that all pertinent documents are allowed to come to light.
14
I find it quite disturbing that a presidential candidate and his campaign organization would seek out foreign governments to help get elected and subvert the election process. I hope for the sake of the country that these people are brought to light and be subject to the rule of law.
16
Did you feel that way when they relentlessly investigated Hilary Clinton? Did you care when James Comey broke with precedent and suggested that there was more to the Clinton emails. This certainly influenced the outcome of the election. If the FBI leaned in any direction, it was in favor of the GOP. You really need to read several independent sources on what happened and why there was someone even speaking to people in the campaign. Was the FBI suppose to ignored evidence that came to it's attention or should Comey have told us that Trump was being investigated too?
1
So when the Justice Department has findings of a foreign power trying to infiltrate and corrupt a Presidential campaign, you believe that assigning an investigator to secretly look into the situation is "spying"? Your choice of words is more than spurious.
1
Strangely enough, one can understand Trump’s worldview by reading Deepak Chopra:
“Guilt is a perception, and all perceptions are open to change.”
That’s why we need the rule of law. We can’t leave justice to conscience or a majority vote.
That’s also why facts matter. Otherwise, it’s just one person’s perception and “truth” versus the other’s.
17
In the end, this will be resolved in the courts, but unfortunately American courts, especially the Supreme Court, have become too partisan to represent justice as depicted by the image of a blind lady justice who holds up the scales of justice, and then weighs the evidence, but rather to the team with which they identify.
This was demonstrated just yesterday when the Supreme Court ruled against the right of workers to participate in class actions against employers, forcing individuals to hire lawyers who’s fees they can never afford to attain justice. It’s very sad, but just like school shootings, it’s what folks expect in America these days, I suppose. Predictable, but how long will it remain acceptable?
48
But aren't Wray and Rosenstein caught up in a classic Catch 22? If they do what they believe and stand up to Trump, won't he take their actions as insubordination and fire them, just as he did Sally Yates? And then replace them with folks who care about the rule of law and the Justice Department's freedom from political manipulation about as much as Devin Nunes, folks who would effectively suffocate the Mueller investigation (and its FBI support) by slow strangulation? And don't they know that?
As the Editorial Board suggests, both Wray and Rosenstein have devoted their lives to this nation and to the rule of law on which it was founded. But they are now being put in an unprecedented position: either accede to the president's demands enough to keep their positions or effectively relinquish the Justice Department's hold on the rule of law altogether.
Maybe there will come a day when they will have no choice but to make this president fire them. But for now, perhaps we should trust these career professionals--with their long experience and strong moral compasses--to figure out the least destructive ways to get through the current battles so they can live to defend the republic in the far bigger war.
22
Trump’s autocratic subversion of America’s canons of legal and Constituional structure raises the question of whether he believes that he is above the law or is the law. However, this might be a distinction without a difference. The more apropos query might well be whether he even knows what constitutes law!
45
Trump's compatriot in the 80's, Leona Helmsley, famously said "Taxes are for little people". My hunch is that you can replace "laws" for "taxes" and get Mr. Trump's opinion about them.
4
"... infiltrated or surveilled the Trump campaign for political purposes...". Say what? Obama erred, egregiously so in my view, in deciding not to make known to the American people BEFORE the election the solid evidence of foreign tampering. I forgive him for that, as I realize that he did what he thought was the right and honorable thing out of respect for our political process, and also because he understood that too many citizens have succumbed to propaganda and conspiracy theories, and have demonstrated themselves incapable or unwilling to think independently and critically. There is zero evidence of political shenanigans resulting from the FBI investigation, in fact quite the contrary. It is the Clinton campaign that has any shred of a reasonable basis on which to question the FBIs approach leading up to the election. But the truly frightening thing now is that it is difficult to expect a solid majority of citizens to recognize this. We are heading for the most severe test of our constitutional democracy in our history. And no one knows how it will play out. But we are clearly about to find out.
73
Just wondering, if you were betting everything you had, on how this is resolved, where would you place your bet, with the resilience of your institutions or with Trump?
Because you may just be in that seat at the table, whether or not you want to play in the game.
3
Agreed. Pres. Obama didn't have a lot of time to act. And McConnell and Ryan flatly objected to the evidence of Russian interference being made public prior to the election.
24
Yes, I agree that Obama "did what he thought was the right and honorable thing out of respect for our political process." I heard a discussion tonight of why the Justice Dept has been so accommodating to GOP demands for classified info in an ongoing investigation, which everyone knows won't remain classified once they get their hands on it. The general consensus is that Rosenstein, et al, are trying to give up "something" in order to head off another Saturday night massacre and the firing of Mueller.
The problem is that Trump and congressional Republicans have gone far beyond advancing an agenda and "taking it right up to the edge" to do so. The fact is that they don't seem to care who or what is destroyed in the protection of this president in order to further their "conservative" agenda. Decent people play by the rules and try not to appear biased and do what's "right and honorable out of respect." The current zealots in the GOP seem to have zero respect for the law, for honor and integrity.
We are being tested as a nation. I wish I were as confident about the outcome as I used to be.
6
What is Trump afraid of? If he is not guilty, why doesn’t he do what he is elected to do and let the investigators do their job, and in the end, if he is found not guilty, if nothing else, his rating might go up which he desperately needs.
18
First, I am beginning to get a little tired of this notion perpetuated by both, the liberal and conservative media, wittingly and unwittingly, that only Republican independent and special counsels are capable of being fair and impartial in conducting inquiries into presidential transgressions. From Lawrence Walsh to Kenneth Starr to Robert Mueller – it has always been Republican prosecutors heading up investigations into executive branch malfeasance of both Democratic and Republican administrations. This has got to change.
Second, Trump is pursuing a high-risk strategy in so overtly taking on our nation’s law enforcement institutions. Also, he has penchant for attacking the judicial branch, including personally slandering judges, who rule against him. When the facts and the law seem to be increasingly going against him, Trump might want to dial it back a notch. While his new attorney, Rudolph Giuliani, might shout and scream from the rooftops that a president cannot be subpoenaed or indicted, a tired and harangued judiciary might just rule otherwise – because with the petulant, unprofessional behavior Trump exhibits on an almost daily basis, it is more than likely that the Supreme Court will rule that the president is not above the law. Especially a president who seems to disrespect the law, when it does not favor him.
Finally, we can only be thankful that King Donald did not tweet, “I hereby proclaim…” But, who knows – it could still happen!
72
I’ll betcha a quarter that it does.
2
When will those who defend Trump wake up and admit he's crying wolf ? Perhaps when the wolf is at their door , and by then it'll be too late . Never in the history of this country have we ever come this close to allowing a man with autocratic yearnings to literally demand our institutions do as he says . The Republicans , those who could and did nothing , simply to achieve their ends , will bear the stigma of this disaster .
80
“I will tell you what has carried me to the position I have reached. Our political problems appeared complicated. The German people could make nothing of them. … I, on the other hand … reduced them to the simplest terms. The masses realized this and followed me.” -- Adolf Hitler
33
As usual, a spot-on editorial. The much bigger question, though, is 'how does this end?'
Irrespective of the facts and the law, Trump and most of the GOP have shown that they are prepared to shred your Constitution and your country rather than concede. Anyone who thinks Trump will accept the verdict of any investigation is wilfully blind.
So it looks to a foreigner like me that you are headed towards some sort of Civil War II. While there are some Republicans who will, when push comes to shove, adhere to the law, there are many in Trump's base who (having been brainwashed night and day about this) will feel justified in using their Second Amendment rights to go on to the streets and create mayhem. (Of course, he will be egging them on.)
There is a constitutional crisis just around the corner and, not long after that, a high chance of serious civil unrest in the United States.
Please, tell me I'm wrong.
72
After Mueller has issued his findings and the midterm elections, we may find that many in the GOP will have either had enough of the dishonesty and contempt for our country (and most other countries for that matter) or realized Trump will only be a liability going forward. Out of decency, patriotism or political calculation, there is a good chance Trump's overt support in Congress will be a fraction of what it is now.
There will be no civil uprising to protect Trump. Trump is not the leader of a philosophical or moral movement. Mike Pence can enact similar policies without the MAGA hats and Twitter spewing, and life will go on.
16
Agreed. If Democrats gain control of Congress in the November elections, Republicans protecting Trump will flee from his side, if only to save their own political hides.
Hope you are right, Alan. Still, how will those decent, patriotic or politically calculating people manifest themselves - and when? Is there a point-of-no-return moment when the institutional foundations of your country have been destroyed? If so, isn't that moment getting pretty close?
This is not a Donald Trump problem. He has made it clear that he is a grifter and a cheat. He considers the office of the President to be his to use to enrich himself. And he is. The problem is the republican party. They are coordinating with him to sandbag and sabotage the Mueller investigation. For them there isn’t and seems never to have been any bottom to their enabling of Trump.
406
Let us welcome the investigation that Trump demands so long as the special counsel or equivalent is someone as trustworthy as Robert Mueller. If Trump wants to re-open his investigation into President Obama's place birth, let us welcome that too! It is obvious that Trump wants the public to be distracted from Mueller's investigation.
But the fun begins from this point onward. The Republicans have tried to derail Mueller's investigation. Let's see what their reaction is to the new investigation. As for the Democrats, I urge them to welcome this investigation - as long as the special counsel (or equivalent) is as respectable as Robert Mueller. The public will see the contrasting attitudes: They will see Republicans supporting one investigation and opposing another. They will see Democrats supporting both investigations.
Finally the American public will get to see which side has nothing to hide and which is truly fearful of an investigation.
9
The Justice Department's Inspector General Michael Horowitz is already reviewing the FBI's investigation; he has been given the additional task (as if it were not already part of the job) to determine whether the FBI's actions had "political motivation."
And if you think the IG's review or Mueller's findings will sway Republican voters, well I have more news for you...
1
no they wont. They would already.
Let's do away with the misnomer and call it the Trump Administration's Department of Injustice.
28