Can't blame Trump.
His AG is recused.
The Deputy looks confused regarding his responsibility under the Constitution and the lawyers' code of professional responsibility.
The NYT and WaPo have yelled "fire!"
The potential perps are exposing themselves.
The next president will be grateful he's asserted himself in this situation.
Bill and Hillary Clinton received millions of $ from the Russians, yet the FBI did not inject an informant into her campaign. Wonder why?
2
Brilliant!
Invoke the 25th amendment.
This clown is clearly unfit for duty.
He is deranged, senile and wears an orange toupee.
President Clown and Rain Man all rolled into one raw toxic stench filled sewage dump.
5
Dear NYT:
It is most unseemly for The Times to blame Trump for "outing" the CIA-linked informant who penetrated his campaign, and "crossing a line" that, in fact, it is the President's duty to direct inquiries into Justice Department abuses of power. IN our unitary executive system, this is his job.
For a cogent, and non-hysterical opinion on the other side, see: https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/05/donald-trump-department-of-justic...
The American people deserve to know what happened in the 2016 election -- whether Trump's Russia collusion or Obama/Clinton dirty tricks to "dirty up" his campaign, and cripple his presidency.
The Time should not be acting as defenders of the Obama legacy. The press should not be -- in effect -- calling for prior restraint to keep embarrassing information from the public.
Trust the facts. Act as journalists again.
5
Trump is a habitual line stepper.
1
When has Mr. Trump accepted FBI conclusions he didn't like? From Clinton emails to Russian meddling, Trump has flat-out rejected the FBI's work. If he won't firmly commit in advance to accept the F.B.I.'s conclusions, his investigation request should be ignored.
1
Mr. Mueller needs to provide a clear and severe accounting of the Trump election activities, his business practices and his corruption while in office. We cannot suffer under this man and his raping of our country, constitution and the people he is sworn to serve. This is our only salvation.
3
This entire comment section is littered with obvious trolls, 2 of which are NYT picks for the love of pete! Would some moderators please step and do your dang jobs?!
1
As it is widely known among news sources whose aim is to tell this tale completely, rather than fudge on its main component (that of who abused power and who's rightfully defending his Presidency), that unless President Trump gets way down to the last rotten apple in the bottom of the Obama-era barrel, America will never be told the truth.
Let's say President Obama knew nothing about how his folks planted informers and spies in the Trump campaign in the hope of defeating Trump or at least ruining his Presidency once he was elected. Then the exasperated, desperate rantings of Holder and Brennan this week and the worn out inquisition of Robert Mueller show that, in an effort to cover their own hind ends, they're yammering diversionary warnings. How sad that all makes sense, but MSM prefers to live in the delusional world of denial and reckless journalism.
1
Trump is revolting but having agents from the outgoing administration infiltrate and spy on the opposing party's candidate is worse than Venezuela or any other Banana Republic.
7
It would be if it were true. If it were true tRump's appointees would already know about it because they are in the Justice Department. This is Nixon having the IRS investigate his political rivals.
Like, duh...
2
More smoke and mirrors from the carnival barker-in-chief. If anyone wanted to "infiltrate" the Trump campaign, all they had to do was follow the red carpet they laid out for the Russians.
6
The Obama administration has a proven record of spying on EVERYBODY and then lying about it.
From ordinary Americans to American journalists, ordinary foreigners to foreign heads of state, the EU headquarters, the UN...you name it, and they spied on it.
Judging by his actions it is more likely that Obama did spy on the Trump campaign rather than not.
He also had no quarrels suspending habeas corpus, assassinating America citizens without due process, ignoring war crimes by the previous administration and financial crimes by his buddies on Wall Street, and jailing whistleblowers for exposing war crimes and government corruption.
No matter how much one hates Trump, nobody should be surprised if it turns out that Holder and the Obama WH used the FBI and DOJ to spy on a political opponent. Their track record is pretty clear.
Why anybody would make this a partisan issue is beyond me.
If crimes were committed, Americans of all stripes deserve to know.
5
Obama wrote “For good reason, particular criminal matters are not directed by the president personally but are handled by career prosecutors and law enforcement officials who are dedicated to serving the public and promoting public safety,” Mr. Obama wrote. “The president does not and should not decide who or what to investigate or prosecute or when an investigation or prosecution should happen.”
Why did the Obama administration decide to use Halper to spy on the Trump campaign in order to obtain a FISA warrant to allow the NSA to electronically spy on Trump????
5
For the first time in my adult life, I fear for my nation.
7
The power the Justice Department independently wields has been the biggest thorn in Trump's side from the start. It's authority to investigate and charge whomever they choose, including him and his family, and his inability to do anything about it are culminating in a constitutional crisis.
He is now determined to weaponized the power of the DOJ for his own purposes -- namely revenge, obstruction and extortion. Even if he could understand them, legal niceties such as separation of powers and constraints on his intrusion into case decisions would have absolutely no meaning for him except as obstacles to be kicked aside.
Now that he’s crossed this line we will see whether our institutions are strong enough to resist a tyrant’s will to power.
6
It would be nice, at some point, to learn just exactly what was the FBI's justification for planting a mole, informant, spy, take your pick, in a presidential campaign. Was it Papadopoulos mouthing off in a bar? Just curious.
5
What is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee doing while Trump uses the DOJ and FBI to attack his political enemies? Absolutely nothing. Senator Grassley only carries water for Trump by appointing all of Trump’s hacks to the federal bench. No push back, no nothing. He’s just laid down for Trump. The so-called powerful Judiciary Chairman. Afraid of a Trump tweet if he fights back
Submitted at 3:41 pm CDT
3
The independence of DOJ from the White House is a secondary issue. Of greater importance right now is that the person under investigation is obtaining information about the witnesses and the evidence against him before the trial. That is a clear violation of the rule of law.
The DOJ needs to refuse to cooperate with releasing such information. And Republican congressional representatives should be supporting DOJ rather than assisting Trump with a cover up.
6
With this breach of the separation of powers by Trump and the apparent capitulation by the FBI and the DOJ, we have entered a new very dangerous time in our democratic process. It is as though the fox is being let into the hen house to count the chickens he wants and which ones he wants to destroy. And, with a Republican controlled congress that appears to want to go along with this perfidy, I fear for our democracy now than at any time in my 72 years on this planet.
The next great threat from Trump is to use some excuse to delay, suspend or outright do away with the November elections particularly if he feels the Democrats have a chance to take the House and potentially the Senate who would greatly curtail these assaults on our fundamental democratic institutions.
And do not say it cannot happen here. It is happening right before our eyes, it is happening now.
3
If anyone is undermining government security and institutions it is Mr. Trump and his administration.
6
Asking our law enforcement agencies to explain their actions is part of our executive branch responsibilities at all levels of government. Ourfreepress should be remind of that, The FBI is no different from any other agency of law enforcement,
Do we really want an untouchable federal agency? One not accountable to anyone? One that may have been subverted by a political party? Our "progressives" claim they are opposed to tyranny yet support an all powerful untouchable federal agency - an utterly inconsistent position.
4
@jaco
Do we really want an untouchable President? One not accountable to anyone? One that may have been subverted by a hostile foreign power? Our "conservatives" claim that they are opposed to tyranny and are the party of the rule of law yet they support an all powerful untouchable President -- an utterly inconsistent position.
2
If this continues and a political party is allowed to end a legal investigation; we will have a constitutional crisis unseen in this nation. The Founders believed that men of goodwill would provide the wisdom and the patriotism to protect the constitution at all costs. The Republican Party is now made up of men and women who appear at all costs to protect their political party's power.
Unless Mueller, or a Prosecutor in some federal jurisdiction indicts Trump and his associates for any all crimes found during this investigation, this nation is in serious trouble. The GOP needs to slap down is sycophants and stand and do its job. If not, I fear for this nation.
4
Is there any chance that Rosenstein & Wray will send their notes from yesterday's meeting to Mueller, making yesterday's meeting Trump's first sitdown with the investigation? I wonder if Trump had a lawyer telling him what to say to those law enforcement professionals?
3
With these politicians ruling our country just they way they want to their own convenience, and thinking about the gloomy future of the US, I think people I know are right to close their businesses here in the US and moving them to other countries.
This country is going down the hill by the day!
4
I believe Trump just stepped in his own mess...He just added another supported charge to the "obstruction of justice" case. Can't get any closer that asking justice to undermine its own rule of law for his sake. Democrats should start banging the drum of impeachment..otherwise the people will remember it in November that they sat silently by and played the monopoly game with Trump, unable to win and unwillingly to go on record that they do stand by their oath of office..upholding the Constitution..for the people, by the people...not corporations, lobbyists or foreign government.
6
Dictator.
That just sums it up for me. And your GOP is happy to have one. Nothing for the good of the country, but all for the power. I so hope some Republicans will start to see that the USA is going down, down towards Venezuela.
Not much difference between Maduro and Trump.
10
New lines were crossed when political dossiers were used to obtain eavesdropping warrant on American citizen that has not resulted in any charges against him. So much for probably cause...
Another line was crossed when Stephan Halper something like a Bush family spy from the Jimmy Carter campaign was used by FBI to inform on Trump campaign -- and the media pretends it does not know his identity.
3
For the last time, the GOP appointed judges of the FISA court used much more than a political file to issue a wiretap on a Trump aide Putin was actively using as a spy on the United States.
Get your priorities straight.
3
This spineless and worthless GOP should be forced to spend 8 hours at Arlington National Cemetery and see what why all of these heroes have their life to protect...our democracy and nation. Yet, the collude with the Traitor in Chief to besmirch our government, our institutions, and our great nation, spreading the most vicious and disgusting lies that their puppet master concocts out of thin air. They could not have desecrated their graves more with their disgusting unpatriotic behavior. They all need to be voted out for being part of this disgusting attack on our nation and democracy. Traitors is too kind a word for them.
6
Roy Cohn taught him well.
5
pfff.... Didn't Eric Holder say he was Obama's wingman ? Didn't Obama say he saw no reason to indict Hillary ?
Nothing special here, just more NYT hyperbole.
4
Maybe because there was no reason to indict her.
What convoluted conspiracy next?
2
The bigger picture notwithstanding Carter Page was under investigation LONG BEFORE Trump ran for president. In addition, planting a spy would mean that Trump hired someone who was a mole for the DOJ/FBI. Getting Carter Page to talk to someone in a social setting, which by the way was not hard, is pro forma when someone is under investigation.
Nunes is a hack and Trump, at some point, will throw him under the bus. He won't be re-elected so I hope he can't do too much more damage before he throws his political career away and becomes a lobbyist.
I hope Rosenstein takes this all the way to the Supreme Court because I am very frightened about what is happening to the rule of law in our country. November can't come soon enough BUT dems have to make sure they don't screw it up.
6
Imagine some drug lord paying off congressional committees to demand the confidential informants who have been used to build criminal cases against their inner circle! Outrageous! Sessions has recused himself from interfering in the investigation and Trump should too. Trump should not be making any decisions about what to declassify or what info the executive branch should or should not provide to Congress. This is a blatant conflict of interest and should be an ethics violation. Trump should not just get away with this trashing of American values.
6
One small step for Trump, one giant leap toward totalitarianism.
8
The heads of the DOJ and the FBI are both on the President's side, as are many in the rank and file.
I don't think there is nearly as much conflict here as the press is suggesting.
The Attorney General and his deputy are still showing backbone
2
When this Trump investigation is completed, Congress must shift focus and look at Nunes, and his confederates. Obstruction of Justice by congressmen should not be immune from prosecution. I presume there is some kind of immunity that attaches to congressmen. Is that immunity unchecked?
5
‘The White House does not make decisions about individual law enforcement investigations.’
And yet President Obama assured us in April 2016 that there was no evidence Hillary Clinton did anything wrong with her deliberate mishandling of classified materials and the deletion of 33,000 emails under subpoena.
Oh, and about Loretta Lynch’s ‘impromptu’ tarmac meeting with the spouse of the subject of a DoJ/FBI investigation... I mean... er... ‘matter.’
6
You are doing the "whataboutism" without directly addressing the issue.
4
Making decisions and being briefed are two entirely different things.
4
You all do realize what the real story here is...
Of course you do - you helped write it...
By now, it's - as scientists are wont to say - obvious what's gone on...
Just as our Air Force couldn't maintain its well-deserved reputation for air dominance by parking billion-dollar BX's by the runway - it and they need to regularly do fly-bys - our spymasters need to be doing spy-bys on a similarly-regular basis, to stay quick and not dead...
Doubly so - during vulnerable times...So, guess every campaign spied upon - and has been for a while...
Reaching out to recruit the most marginal members of any campaign - including Team Trump - almost certainly De Rigueur...
But going public – on the Russian bear in 2012 and prosecutorial here ever since – has set off a chain reaction as unintended but powerful as the supposedly-inert Li7 in the thermonuclear woodpile...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Bravo
As folks across The Pond have known for a while - the path to any fifth column and back again fundamentally leads through the fourth estate...
The saving grace – as with any of these weapons of mass destruction – is that, beyond a certain megatonnage, they simply blow a hole in the atmosphere and radiate more of the energy into space…
You all do realize the monolith is watching…Doesn’t even report back on junkers being lobbed into space - so long as they stay clear of Europa…
But the big blasts – it already knows from the pattern whether we’re going to make it or not…
This presidency is an anomaly. Everything is wrong, top to bottom and sideways. I long for the day this nightmare is over and responsibility presides over our lawmakers, over decisions that actually affect so many people's lives worldwide. This farce has gone on for too long. I am tired of daily terrible news. This abomination is not my president. This country is not his to sell. The profit is not theirs to take.
4
By demanding a counter investigation Trump is abusing his position as president and definitely obstructing justice.
As a CEO he could abuse his position because he answered to no one and he thinks that the position of president has the same authority.
He needs to go to a civics class and learn how the government is run.
This could be the beginning of the end for him as he totally disregards any rule of law concerning the office of the POTUS.
3
With each passing day, it becomes clearer and clearer that, barring a major electoral tidal wave in November (which also seems unlikely in the face of the general public apathy towards politics), Trump is going to get away with his open flouting of the Constitution and the rule of law.
Who is going to stop him? The spineless GOP Congress that has turned into a Trump personality cult? The court system, when Trump has five Supreme Court votes in his back pocket, including that of the newest Justice, who owes his very appointment to all the chicanery that occurred in the 2016 "email" election?
Or will it be the news media, who continue to "normalize" Trump's behavior through the sheer quantity of their endless, repetitive coverage of his every move, all in profitable exchange for the high ratings, advertising revenue and book deals that he brings to the media companies?
In the face of this endless barrage of Trumpmania, Mueller and the quaint notion of the "rule of law" are increasingly being outmatched. There no longer s seems to be any adequate counterforce in our political system sufficient to withstand Trump's sustained assault on our American liberal democracy.
30
I couldn’t agree more with all of your statements, John M of Portland, Maine. It seems Trump can get away with anything. As he said during the campaign, “I could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue, and no one would care.”
5
This is a deep and profound analysis of the current situation. When the republican congress fails to challenge this out of control, very disturbed person we have in the White House. Even when he crosses the line and orders the Justice Department around. And you combine that with the news media lacking the self reflection to not, intended or not continue to promote Trump by keeping him in our face I think you have the situation John describes.
So much for checks and balances. Hopefully, they will be restored in November.
6
With assurance from the Republican Congress that impeachment will never happen, the president has crossed another line in the Justice Department. The rule of law no longer exists. Crooked Donald has become a law unto himself. His supporters must be proud.
9
Perhaps the Inspector General might investigate the propriety of the President demanding such an investigation.
9
We watch from Canada, with a mixed sense of wonder, humor and horror, as your country slowly spirals into what looks to become the worlds most powerful banana republic. That the checks and balances put in place by your forefathers hundreds of years ago, are being eroded as rapidly as they are, and that no one seems too interested in doing anything REAL about it, is astounding.
Donald Trump may be lauded in some parts of your country, but the world over, he's nothing but laughed at. How can ANYONE take this man seriously? He's the worlds biggest buffoon. It's like having Michae l Scott, from 'The Office', running your country. This is 'The Emperor Has No Clothes', come to life, for goodness sake. Isn't anyone going to actually DO anything about this?
14
Here in the U.S., our options are limited: congress can impeach him, law enforcement can indict him or voters can vote him out. Tens of millions of us sincerely wish we had more options. Rioting is not our style. And he’ll never resign out of shame or disgrace. Yes, we’re horrified, more so every day. But at least we don’t have to read or listen to a single thing that he says. No one should. We all know that he’s a pathological liar, with absolutely zero credibility. But it’s a truly sick individual who doesn’t care that he’s seen as such by the entire world.
4
Thanks for the reminder. Meanwhile, it's evident that your PM is no longer perfect. Good night and good luck.
1
Can a person be paranoid and narcissistic at the same time?
5
Actually, quite common a combination.
“I am the center of the world” and under attack by everyone who wants to be Center of the World too.”
1
How dare Trump demand an investigation into the Deep State and all of their lies and corruption, put forth on behalf of democrats. Why its terrible.
6
Deep state? Oh, you mean the thousands of federal workers who devote their lives to keeping us safe, and, for the most part, are as political as the average voter.
2
Trump is a disgrace and his GOP enablers are complicit accomplices. Historians will rightly wonder what on Earth Trump was doing and why he didn't face greater opposition from his own party.
8
The problem that I perceive at this point has nothing to do with the actions of the obviously frustrated President Trump, but the outright refusal of the DOJ and FBI to allow Congress to exercise its constitutional oversight responsibilities. The "Gang of 8" has full authority to view highly classified information and there is simply no legitimate reason for the requested documents to be withheld. The DOJ may be a quasi-independent department, but it is not and cannot be allowed to exercise power with impunity.
1
If it's part of an ongoing investigation, and if the gang is also part of that investigation, some information may need to be withheld.
Is the Congressional gang being investigated ? It certainly is a possibility.
3
Nothing in the constitution inhibits the President from exercising authority over subordinate departments. Trump has done nothing illegal.
The remedy for congress of real or perceived executive wrongdoing is overturning a lawful election by impeaching the president.
In other words, this "news analysis" is basically meaningless.
1
"Nothing in the constitution inhibits the President from exercising authority over subordinate departments."
The FBI and DOJ aren't mentioned in the Constitution, are they ?
"Trump has done nothing illegal."
Of course he has. You really don't think he's driven over the speed limit or jaywalked ? Perhaps he hasn't been cited for his illegal actions, but your statement is false.
1
"The OIG investigates alleged violations of criminal and civil laws by DOJ employees and also audits and inspects DOJ programs. The Inspector General, who is appointed by the President subject to Senate confirmation, reports to the Attorney General and Congress."
1
If the FBI was crooked, of course, it needs to be investigated by someone other than the FBI.
The Obama Administration used the IRS in a crooked way resulting in destroyed hard drives and lots of taking the Fifth.
So, yes. It can and may have happened.
2
The problem here is the overwhelming appearance of blatant bias on the part of Mueller in this investigation. He had approximately 40,000 prosecutors across the nation to select for his team, many if not most of whom were conservatives. He instead chose 17 attorneys, 14 of which were registered Democrats and not a single Republican. At least half had donated to Hillary Clinton's campaign, and two thirds to Democrats at a federal or state level. All told, the group donated $85,000 to Democratic candidates and $2,500 to Republicans. One of Mueller's team of attorneys had actually personally represented Hillary Clinton in legal actions.
Whether or not these prosecutors are acting in a fair manner, the appearance of bias is simply stunning. For a year, Trump gave Mueller a chance to prove he is running a legitimate investigation, and what he observed is indictments of defendants like General Flynn where Mueller's own agents felt he was innocent of the charges. So Trump has finally taken the gloves off, and it's hard to blame him.
4
It looks like Mueller assembled an awesome team of lawyers. It's not their political affiliation that matters, it's their legal skill, experience and tenacity in the legal issues in involved. These guys are accomplished in prosecution of thugs and money-launderers. http://www.businessinsider.com/lawyers-robert-mueller-hired-for-the-trum...
3
NOW IS THE TIME FOR ALL GOOD MEN (& WOMEN) TO COME TO THE AID OF THEIR COUNTRY.
1
I don’t doubt Trump has crossed a line. But surely a line was crossed when the FBI planted a mole in the campaign of a presidential candidate. We’re approaching banana republic status here.
4
The President is certainly not treated like an ordinary citizen. No ordinary citizen can demand to know an informer by using congressional allies as an instrument. No ordinary citizen can demand to investigate the investigators. We say the President is not above the law, but everything about the way he is treated is different from an ordinary citizen. Some are more equal than others.
3
Trump reminds me of the movie, "Greedy" with Kirk Douglas and Michael J. Fox. In one scene, the Phil Hartman character describes the Kirk Douglas character's behavior and says, "Every time you draw a line in the dirt and say, ''No farther,'' he draws one an inch farther and you say, ''Why not?'' ''I've come this far already.'' Then you look back and can't even see where you started.".
2
Outrageous and impeachable.
Get out and vote in November folks - give Democrats the house and get some control over this constitutional nightmare.
3
"I hereby demand..." — the command of an autocrat.
With this kind of dangerous minuet taking place, the country is hardly recognizable these days. The hard-won independence of the judiciary is dissolving before our eyes.
10
It seems as though Trump misses the days of J. Edgar Hoover.
3
“Demand” and “order” are not synonyms. If one has the right or prerogative to do the thing of asking, it’s an order.
If someone is just being unreasonable and making forceful requests they have no business making, it’s a demand.
2
We are headed into a Constutuional War. This President does Not Repsect the Three Equal Branches of the U.S. Government. Judicial, Executive and The Legislative Branches. What I don't understand is how do the Republician leaders in the Senate and the House just stand by. Is it really just about their next Election? I don't think the likes of Senator Dirksen would have kept quiet.
6
Like when Obama thought it was okay to legislate by Executive Order?
2
There's nothing normal about this presidency or the DOJ/FBI looking into a campaign. But an internal investigation to ensure propriety is required once the president makes such a serious accusation against the DOJ/FBI, and I hope they reveal just how corrupt his campaign people were that such an investigation was warranted (for the first time ever, as I understand it).
2
Well from where I am sitting, it looks like the President is doing exactly as described and the GOP Congress is backing him 100%.
I see Rosenstein and Wray going to the Oval Office to end up capitulating regarding information to be given.
The only question that remains seems to be who will be named to head the new investigation? Devin Nunes?
It's happening right before our eyes, right now.
Now where does that leave our country?
5
It remains appalling that Congress does not contain Trump's inexorable move towards authoritarianism and the dismantling of our Constitutional checks and balances. Those in Congress who support Trump's outrageous actions to undermine the rule of law are on the wrong side of history. Trump has tilted into a Constitutional crises with his latest demand and those in Congress who are in denial will surely regret their inaction. Trump supporters who want to change the status quo have no idea of the consequences of their support for a President who has clearly violated his oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution.
6
"In response, the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, referred the matter to the department’s independent inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, and issued a statement clearly intended to mollify Mr. Trump: “If anyone did infiltrate or surveil participants in a presidential campaign for inappropriate purposes, we need to know about it and take appropriate action.”"
Any attempt to "mollify" Trump's behavior will not succeed. It only emboldens and encourages him. Who doubts that if and when the IG finds no political motive behind using an informant that Trump will immediately fit that into his narrative of the "dark state" and Democratic Party conspiracy against his presidency?
As Stormy Daniels and the Chinese negotiators have demonstrated, Trump can be successfully confronted, but not appeased.
5
why does simply demanding an investigation constitute an "abuse of power" or an "assault on the rule of law". what if we were to find out that the FBI placed a paid confidential informant into the campaign for the sole purpose of creating a pretext to start a counterintelligence investigation? what if we were to find out that such actions were authorized by the Obama White House?
everyone agrees that the people in charge of the Hillary Clinton email investigation made lots of mistakes. yet the same people were in charge of investigating Trump's campaign.
it seems to me that an investigation is not only proper but necessary.
don't worry our democracy and the rule of law will survive.
6
You make some good points.
The concern about overreach in the activities meant to favor one candidate over the other in the last Presidential election make it clear that the investigation needs to occur. The country needs to know about this in order to have confidence in our government.
3
It may have been just one person, but I did not see anyone complain about his disregard for the Constitution when Obama ordered the "sanctioned" killing of an American citizen who Obama assumed was an "Islamic Terrorists" (ironically two words he could never use together). The man was not formally charged, tried or convicted. He may have been have been an Islamic Terrorists and deserved to die, but according to our Constitution he also deserved a trial, and i don't recall seeing the words "sanctioned murder" in the Bill of Rights. I'm sure we'll continue to hear all the legal rationalizations for this murder, but, ironically, they sound very similar to those justifying Trump as well?
5
The "established constraint" on a president's power to order investigations is a fallacy with no basis in law. The President -- and the President alone -- is charged with the executive power in the United States.
2
There are basically two questions: What does he have to lose? And, is the Constitution worth the paper it’s written on? Trump has a way of behaving hatefully but taking umbrage when he perceives he is not loved? Go figure! While it is not inconceivable that some political influence may have affected scrutiny of his campaign, it’s been clearly acknowledged that the characters he associated with were being scrutinized. Chicken or the egg? However, his motives are clear; since inauguration he has whined about wanting DOJ carte blanche exemption/protection. Trump is a defiler/manipulator of the law, not its protector. Trump risks nothing by challenging the separation of powers and gets his carte blanche. The Constitution, though open to some interpretation, is clear on its structure and mandates, but is subject to the whims of the humans who enforce it. Tyrants advance until they are stopped. Napoleon found that out. So did Czar Nicholas, and Idi Amin. Constitutional democracies are supposed to endure. Let’s see who blinks first.
4
But, what if he is right?
Then justice should be served. However, the ‘broken clock’ analogy seems apt here.
Given what is happening with Trump's incursions into DoJ necessary independence from the politics of the WH, I'm starting to wonder whether there will be a free election come November.
3
It is astonishing how easily the GOP -- supposedly the party of law and order -- abandons law enforcement when one of its own comes under investigation.
9
Trump is well on his way to earning a special place in future history books--he will be revealed as the narcissist Manchurian candidate who willfully undermined our democracy all for his own benefit. Who would have imagined almost all of our democratic checks against the abuse of power would be chipped away so that we are now left with only one person, Robert Mueller, standing in the way of the USA becoming a tinpot dictatorship. Trump's last obstacle is Robert Mueller, and it appears that Trump's team of lawyers have realized that they can't take out Mueller directly without severe backlash, so now they are going after Mueller's boss, Rod Rosenstein. By concocting this "Obama had the FBI spy on me" conspiracy theory (which Fox News happily amplifies for the Republican base), he can now order Rosenstein to investigate and then either force Rosenstein to resign or get fired by Trump when Rosenstein refuses to follow Trump's order. With Rosenstein out of the way, Trump will surely replace him with someone who will strangle, squash and bury the Mueller investigation. And then we will have arrived at an unimaginable place--turning our once-proud democratic republic into a tinpot dictatorship.
6
What, he's not abused his power enough already? For heaven's sake, impeach the man now before he does any more damage to the rule of law, the fabric of our society, and our standing in the world.
4
And it goes on and on ! Isn't congress supposed to protect the country from this type of DICTATOR like behavior ??? If he has done nothing wrong ( which many people doubt ) let things come to an end and don't interfere. The more he protests and tries to BULLY his way out, the more guilty he looks. He drained the swamp and filled it with sludge. By the way CONGRESS where is the great bill on infrastructure , our country is falling apart. We need roads not money spent on a parade.
3
The NYT seems to have a short memory. Wasn't it President Obama who, as part of a TV interview, declared Hilary Clinton as innocent, even though an investigation was active? Even Comey thought that was inappropriate.
It's interesting that some of the "crazy" things Trump said a year ago, like being surveilled and wiretapped as a candidate, are slowly being revealed as true. I think the DOJ IG, at a minimum, should look into this. The Times seems to want a DOJ that's both independent and answerable to no one. That's certainly not good for democracy.
5
If you're reading this, Tom STeyer, set aside your impeachment campaign against Trump and concentrate your resources on defeating Devin Nunes, Mark Meadows, Goodlatte, and Jim Jordan in the fall elections. These men are leading Trump's attacks on our Constitution, separation of powers, and on our system of justice. Put billboards u all over their districts and
tell the truth about what they're doing. They are anti - Americans. Voters of these districts need to rise up and vote them out of public office forever.
4
If officers of the DOJ themselves nterfere politically, what organ in the Constitution has the power to rectify that? It’s the Executive Branch, which is headed by a single @POTUS. Congress cannot force the DOJ to do anything, as demonstrated by recent failed attempts by Cong. Nunes and Sen. Grassley to simply get document production from the DOJ, who called that “extortion.” Courts can enjoin, but they can’t force the DOJ to do anything. The DOJ reports to the President; it’s not independent. Read your Constitution.
2
The President of the United States lacks the necessary tools to independently investigate the primary investigative agency for US domestic affairs. Asking an investigative agency to address any shortcomings within its investigation can only revisit issues addressed within the larger examination of past campaign activities.
God save America! I cannot think of any other entity with the power to undo the damage wrought by the Trumpet and his band of sycophants.
Is your flag also displayed upside down to indicate extreme distress and danger to life, property, and country? Do you have the courage to take a stand?
2
The Times doing whatever they can to provide cover to Obama, Jarrett, Holder, Lynch, Clinton and the rest of the corrupt Obama administration. Bottom line, Obama spied on a sitting presidential candidate in an attempt manipulate the outcome of a U.S. Presidential election. Time to indict Obama and his GANG.
6
It appears to my untutored eye that this Congress in consort with this President & his foreign & domestic handlers are speeding up their destruction of our Constitutional rights in advance of the Special Counsel investigation & its effect on the midterm elections.
Saving their own skins is more important than maintaining the democratic principles we've depended upon to save us from just this kind of tyrannical power grab.
Nothing would surprise me any longer. Even the suspension of the midterm elections. We never, any of us, thought we'd get to this point, did we? Now all bets are off.
4
Independence of the justice department? I did not realize they were a coequal branch of the government. Executive, legislative, judiciary, and the justice department?
Of course the justice dept should be under the control of the executive.
6
I can hardly bear to read the news anymore as Trump chips away at the legal system of the country -- apparently with the permission of the Republican party. Rosenstein apparently gave in to revealing the name of the secret source to the House committee which claims to be investigating the Russia investigation, but actually is a channel of information for Trump.
I cannot wait for a chance to vote against Trump and everyone he has ever touched in my voting district. I just wish I could vote against Devin Nunes, but I do not live in California.
I believe in the rule of law. Clearly Trump believes he is the law and has many sycophants who are willing to help him subvert the Constitution which they claim to value.
We need to rid ourselves of the madman who got himself elected to the Presidency of the United States.
6
"The president escalated his campaign to undermine the Justice Department’s traditional independence from White House interference."
DOJ independence from the White House? That ship sailed and then sunk during the last administration.
5
evidence?
Particularly making law enforcement decisions about himself.
4
Who among us does not think this thug is obstructing justice. It is a conspiracy at every step, and Gowdy and Nunes, Jordan, Ryan, and McConnell are in it up to their eyeballs. Americans by majority WANT this investigation unimpeded; we WANT honest elections, and we want DECENT government. This thug is giving us none of those things. Send him, his son, his son-in-law and his daughter, before a grand jury. We'll come back for the rest later.
18
Will someone please tell The Republicans in Congress that Donald Trump is not a king? In this instance disregard of the rule of law IS an obstruction of justice. And while the gutless Republicans who have supported him are hanging on for dear life, Robert Mueller's report will come, as will the November mid term elections. And at that point we will know if our system of government still has the capability to remove a cancer,from the presidency.
16
We have the president of the United States, supported by a congress controlled by his own party, and hos own people installed at every federal agency, and still, Donald is a victim.
Why doesn't he see his government as his team? Why is he apart from the government he controls? What does he think his people have against him? They work for him. Their only higher loyalty is to the constitution.
Unless, maybe... he's guilty.
3
Trump is only as powerful as congress allows. At present the House of Representatives is controlled by the Freedom Caucus which is a reflection of white dissatisfaction with the direction of the country. Trump plugged into the dissatisfaction and they consider their support a payback for a generation of disrespect. They basically do not care what Trump does provided he continues to echo the message of the put upon white race. Twenty something years ago a black jury gave OJ Simpson a free pass as a payback for years of unpunished police brutality. Today Trump gets a free pass because of there is a constituency who resents government involvement e.g. Civil Rights Act, Americans With Disabilities Act, Social Security, etc.
6
This, sadly, is exactly how a democracy turns into a dictorship. And it is happening to the USA right now because the Republican Party members are allowing it to happen and too many people are apathetic.
16
Republicans and conservative leaders and voters have generally tended to seek to limit the power of Washington generally and the Presidents specifically. What has happened to change all that? Republicans seem to be happy to turn a blind eye to an individual who seems determined to central more power with himself and potentially run roughshod over the Constitution for his own purposes. If a Democrat were behaving in such a manner, these rather timid weak Repubilicans would be shouting to sky. Guess integrity only cuts one way. And I say this with disgust as a Republican! Again all this Washington perversion seems totally out of character for Republicans and even the remnants of the Tea Party to willfully go along with.
7
Why doesn't everyone follow Nancy Reagan's advice, "Just say no." Why can't anyone just say no?
If you see a crime and you don't say anything, isn't it pretty criminal?
I hate to see us becoming him, but such is his mysterious power.
2
Your country is on the road to hell. Do something.
BVB
11
And your country may very well be dragged along for the ride. Get ready.
It's not Trump's pedantic rants, his degrading tweets about our institutions, it's not even his destructive executive orders that gets to me. Everyone knew what kind of clown show we were going to get from day one.
What truly disturbs me the complicit silence from Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell. Paul Ryan said he would hold this president accountable. Yet where has he been? He is still collecting a public paycheck, he will be collecting a public pension when he leaves office. He might be a lame duck but that doesn't excuse you from doing the duty of a congressional representative and leader of the House.
When people ask how Hitler gains so much power. It wasn't taking away guns or anything as overt as that. It was Germany's parliamentary leadership who handed power to the tyrant.
We now have a first hand view into how democracy fails.
16
I hope that everyone who read Ayn Rand and believed she showed the way to a new America will take a hard look at what you have wrought. We are all suffering through your life lesson: Businessmen do not inherently make trustworthy and effective political leaders. The skill sets are markedly different.
7
It is a crying shame that the Republicans do not stand up to trump and remember there is separation of powers in our government for a reason. Please get out there and vote in November.
11
Let’s investigate the investigators investigating the investigators. No matter the size of the hall of mirrors he tries to create, in the middle of it all is Donald Trump.
And he’s a liar.
12
Posting a message on social media does not equal an official presidential "demand"--it equals a cyberbully shooting off his mouth. I can't believe anyone, including the government and the legitimate news media, is treating this as anything but a childish stunt. No wonder Trump thinks he can get away with murder.
5
For Liberty Hound: is liberty having a fascist dictator named Trump your idea of freedom?
5
These are not the actions of an innocent person.
12
Wasn't the FBI doing their job? Weren't they trying to protect the Trump campaign from meddling? I don't understand the outrage from Trump. The way I understand it is that the FBI was made aware of unsavory behavior by outside governments (ie Russia) and any covert FBI activity was, 1. what they're expected to do, 2. meant to protect the US democracy, and 3. meant to protect the Trump campaign from bad actors.
11
Were that their actual intent they would have told the campaign and asked for their assistance. This looks, instead, like opposition research to dig up something, anything against Trump, not to protect the election process. Ham-handed at best, corrupt at worst.
1
Americans elected Trump knowing full well he is a charlatan, a grifter, a con man who uses and abuses the legal system for his gain and his gain alone. Americans elected Trump knowing full well he believes, actually, he knows that he is the only answer for any American problems because what is good for The Donald is all that should matter to Americans. Americans elected Trump.
4
No, Tom. Americans did not elect trump. The partisan, corrupt Electoral College illegally put an UNFIT dictator into our presidency, which they are PROHIBITED from doing. They, too, should be made to answer to the law before they are dissolved.
2
Textbook definition:
Obstruction of justice
Time to impeach the mad king
8
Trump openly calls for an investigation into how the resources of the government were co-opted for political purposes during the 2016 election based on various reporting including the NY Times of spying/investigation by the Obama administration.
Where was the public disclosure by the Obama administration back in early 2016 of the reasons to investigate the Trump campaign? Even today, we do not know the answer to why the 2016 investigations/spying began.
3
The line Trump is also crossing is that of dictatorship. Especially, when some member so the legislative branch, are allowing him to cross this line, and actually support him. And, this is for political reasons, to go after President Obama.
It is no secret that there is a segment of the sitting GOP Congress that have a score to settle with President Obama. This goes back to when he was elected, in 2008. The Freedom Caucus (former Tea Party Caucus), has been clean, for the past ten years, to impede and destruct the legacy of President Obama. Never the mind that this has been tearing the country apart for the past decade.
Now, we have Trump, and his allies, trying to deflect from their scandal, to redirect the investigation on President Obama, his administration and the Democratic Party. And, is trying to control, and steer, the Justice Department, and FBI, for his own personal pleasure. If they do not cooperate, he will put people in place who will do so.
Thus, if Trump does carry through with this, and Congress allows this to happen, then Trump's executive powers crossed into dictatorship territory. And, this will empower him to make other autocratic decisions, with his party's cooperation, to limit the "rule of law".
President Obama's comments, at the end of this article, needs to be heeded for the sake of the republic. If not, the republic is doomed.
20
The "legacy of Obama" amounts to $500K speaking fees, $60 million book deals (both both Obamas), a just-announced TV production deal (maybe a cooking show?)and a $500 million (probably more) Obama library and ego complex in South Side Chicago that destroys a National Historical Preservation site. But most of Obama's legacy is Trump's election which, if nothing else, was a reaction to and a rejection of Obama's presidency plus a poor choice for Democratic candidate.
5
So you don't think trump got help in the 2016 election???What about the indictments,guilty pleas,one dude is serving time as we speak,cambridge analytica admitting guilt,5 people copping pleas
Trump is death for democracy in the US. The reason Trump has an undying love affair with Putin, is that Trump has managed his "fake empire" the same way Putin has managed Russia. With fear, intimidation, lies and deceit. They both are cut from the same cloth. It's a sad time to be an American, as our reputation is destroyed around the world.
And where is the "gutless GOP"? Too, busy consoling the NRA and the right wing Christians who support their campaigns with huge donations. Our US government is "bought and paid for".
16
The FBI appropriately looked into interactions between private individuals and the Russian government in an election year. To have not done so would have been dereliction of duty. So, what is this stink really about? It is about the destruction of the rule of law as we have known it. Danger is all around us.
18
The president, his officials and spokespeople are obstructing justice in real time, openly, brazenly and illegally. The Republican congress is, by their silence, aiding and abetting them.
They will all be accountable.
5
It is about time that Congress took some control of this out of control president. His actions are a threat to our democracy. If he has nothing to hide then why does he protest so much and want to have these investigations stopped. Dollars to donuts when Mueller's team is finished we will have the evidence of Russian meddling with the support of the Republican Party or the Trump campaign in the 2016 elections. But then Trump will call it 'fake reporting' and deny it.
4
Yes, Trump crossed another big important line. Banana republic is an apt description.
And he has now documented that he paid hush money to a prostitute just before the election.
And he has called human beings animals.
And that's just in the last little bit of time.
I try to wait for the midterms. I give up on Republicans in Congress. I watch with dismay as the Supreme Court with Gorsuch and not Garland throws individuals under the bus and conservative (and sometimes questionably qualified) judges increase in number.
All of our checks and balances are being strained. The voters must vigorously act to defend our democracy. Yes, vote. Yes, work to get out the vote. Yes, run for office. Yes, supply money to groups like Emily's List. Yes, write to our Congressmen and women. Yes, march.
No? Quietly continue to read poll numbers saying the 40% hold steady and shake our heads as events that are intolerable continue to unfold.
7
If we still have a Constitutional democracy a decade or so from now, one of our greatest priorities should be to elect statesmen and stateswomen who will work to repair the flaws that make our system vulnerable.
Congress created the Justice Department, let Congress legislate its true independence. Legislate systems that protect our ballot box, and legislate systems that limit the influence of money on elections and laws. Define what "war" is in today's world, and determine under what authority it can be waged. Close loopholes that allow a Presidential Executive Order to effectively reverse established law (ACA, both ways.. DACA, both ways).
We often hear cries that "The system is broken!" Maybe We, the People, through our elected representatives, should fix it.
4
Congressional Republicans are attempting a coup on the United States. Later today, Tuesday, they are going to break the Constitution right before our eyes.
6
WASHINGTON — Mark J. Penn, one of the primary architects of Bill Clinton’s re-election campaign in 1996 and chief strategist for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2008, has accused associates of the Clintons of helping to orchestrate a politically driven, manufactured “deep state” investigation into President Trump that Mr. Penn says should be shut down.
So what?
Mark Penn is a Dick Morris level sell out to the forces of right-wing supremacy.
Everyday we normalize Trumps behavior. The Republican Party for the most part has shown us the way to accept this behavior. This fear of losing power will lead to a very bad place. It already has. Many can sense this and a few speak out but it grows worse.
For some psychological reasons the Presidents base is o k with this behavior even in the face of its obvious antipathy to what used to be their ideological standards.
America has survived many problems in its brief history and it should survive this one but history should not judge our evolving democratic republic kindly given all the education and information available to our electorate. We owe it to those who worked to form this country to try to influence our fellow voters to select representatives with a certain amount of integrity beyond self interest.
Voting might be the only way out of this mess.
3
Did President Obama hire Rick Gates who signed a plea deal?
Did President Obama hire Paul Manafort indicted for money laundering, false statements, failure to disclose foreign assets?
Did President Obama hire Michael Flynn who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and was President Trumps NSA director?
Did President Obama hire George Papadopoulos who plead guilty to making false statements to the FBI?
The reality is both Republicans and Democrats agree that Russia tampered with our elections. The reality is the investigation has so far indicted 13 Russian nationals, got plea deals and admissions of guilt by former Trump cabinet and campaign operatives.
What's clear is this should have come out before the election.
6
And then what? -- If any of this came out before the election, no doubt Trump would've turned this into another "witch hunt" against him orchestrated by the Obama administration... just like he's doing now.
“How dare they investigate me when I am in the middle of committing a crime!” Only little people go to jail for breaking the law. Only Democrats get investigated.
Benghazi, nine investigations.
Trump’s telecome China deal (bribe), NO INVESTIGATION.
5
Trump behavior aside, leaks from FBI, DOJ are as troubling. Leaks seemingly designed to push a narrative.
I think Trump has been over the “line” since at least the birther issue. He was well over the “line” when he stalked Hilary Clinton and kept blurting out “wrong” during a debate. Maybe Trump has crossed a new line but his previous behavior was far from admirable.
5
And now we know the answer to the proverbial question, "Who's checking the checkers?" Well, of course, it's Donald Trump! Now, the question becomes, "Who's checking the checker who's checking the checkers?" Last we heard, it's supposed to be Congress, but since they refuse to do it, then who?
3
trump-1, Democracy-0. This is the beginning of the end in more ways than one. This man has done nothing to enhance the well being and concerns of the citizens of this country, not to mention our allies abroad. He has done everything in his power, and beyond, to belittle and destroy every principal and value that this country stands for and that millions have died for.
His goal and aim is to aggrandize himself and his hapless base who can not see the damage that is being done to the nation, and ironically to themselves. What a tragedy!
5
"By Demanding an Investigation, Trump Challenged a Constraint on His Power"
And it won't be the last time he does.
3
Are we powerless in the face of a recalcitrant minority?
Apparently. This sliding backwards, losing our moral compass, won't be fixed overnight. Will bad men and women, from the left and right, abuse the new potential for demagoguery? We won't know until it happens, but the foundations are being set.
1
To expect President Trump to have any insight into Constitutional procedure or separation of powers is to expect him to tell the truth and place the nation first before self. The Founding Fathers have ears and down through the centuries have mostly rested in peace. They are restless now and cannot sleep. More is at stake than a simple struggle for headlines by political parties or factions. A struggle to keep the founding hearts beating is what should concern us as there are some in high places who would redact and abridge Constitutional meanings to inflate their powers beyond limits they were sworn to uphold and protect.
3
It's kinda of adorable that there are still people so naive that they think the Justice Department is in any way independent of Trump. Horrifying, but still adorable.
It seems that the NYTimes is paying increasing attention to the controversy over the Mueller probe. You have three or even more pieces dealing with it on today's front page. There must be a reason of it. Feeling the heat?))
This a their week off from front page Hamas cheerleading ,so they need something to fill the gap. Normal NY Times calls for the destruction of Israel will resume next week.
Okay at what point will the republican accept the fact that there is a document called "The United States Constitution." It need to be upheld. The trump is not king which is one of the reasons this country was founded!
4
You are in a chicken-and-egg question. What crossed the line first? Can The Times find a precedent for the FBI and/or CIA conducting electronic surveillance of, or running a paid asset against U.S. citizens who are working for a U.S. presidential campaign?
The campaign was running all over town cavorting with Russians. Didn’t you get the memo?
Let’s not kid ourselves...we are smack in the middle of a constitutional crisis. Trump is acting like a dictator of a banana republic and he is aided and abetted by Congressional Republicans. What is happening to our great nation? Will we ever be the same again?
4
And no one ever stops him.
Maybe the US is ready for a dictatorship.
3
Mr. Mueller should indite Donald Trump, Now.
3
In an effort to create enough red herrings to distract from the Russian probe, Trump and the GOP are destroying your republic.
3
I have a creepy, uneasy feeling we're purposely being set up with a story that the FBI and/or Obama are the boogymen for some other nefarious purpose. Any mistake (honest or otherwise) made by the FBI, Mueller, Obama Administration will be twisted and distorted by the Trump Administration for future justification for consolidation of power. I just don't have faith that there is any honorable intent in any of the Administration's actions. The drum beats of war (Iran, North Korea) are echoing in the background. This all way to convenient.
We need to demand truth, from everyone and everything in this dangerous period.
1
During WWI the U.S. — after much dithering — joined the fight against belligerent European powers.
When Hitler's savagery trampled Europe and Hirohito's forces terrorized Asia, the U.S. — after much dithering — joined the fight against fascism and Japanese imperialism.
Today, the GOP does not bother with dithering — it surrenders totally and with finality to the authoritarianism of Trump.
There is little wonder why the only place in the world where Trump is popular is Russia, run by a tyrant with the same mindset as your ignorant and bullying president.
3
This is America (copyright Donald Glover), after all. Trump is allowed to cross (burn, spit on, defile) all of the lines. If, by some stroke of black magic, he woke up tomorrow--black, the House would vote on impeachment proceedings by noon.
2
I guess if the informant is killed, Trump and Nunes will be charged with accessory to murder. That is the only kind of move that will restore faith in cooperating with the justice department--at all levels.
2
Assuming everything is proceeding according to the book with the investigation, Democrats will have another weapon in their arsenal to implicate Trump and his Republican cronies in their desperate attempts to obstruct justice.
5
"I hereby demand..."
This phrase makes my blood freeze, quickly followed by my blood boiling.
Who does he think he is? Henry VIII? Does he think by inserting "hereby," he is using important legal language? Does he think presidents run around in ermine robes making "demands" of the little people?
Well, I have a demand of my own: I hereby demand that the Republicans and the Democrats get rid of this wannabe king.
56
"Yes your lordship, right away your lordship. Anything else your lordship? My that suit does become your lordship. And such an exquisite knot in your tie my lordship".
2
Watching Trump for the one year plus, I have to say that as a country, the U.S. had been very blessed. We have many great presidents, e.g., Lincoln, Washington, etc. We also had some bad ones, e.g., Johnson (17th), Harding, etc. But we never had someone who is completely without shame and unapologetic on all his obvious wrongdoings -- until Trump. And Trump is not that bright. And Trump was elected by those who have similar a mindset and intelligence. As Trump's presidency wears on, my opinion for the American people simply gets lower and lower.
My conclusion? This country, like many other countries, is well stocked with dimmed-witted and unkind voters.
13
Amen, NYCLAW. Were it otherwise the Times would have no subscribers....
1
Lets get real and stop talking about the infinite wisdom of the founding fathers. They were mere mortals and their wisdom was based on the circumstances of their time, the antiquated constitution is no longer suitable for the current day politics. We need a major revision to truly separate the powers where judges are selected by a judiciary body and no executive branch member has oversight over the justice system. Unless we face the reality unfolded by the election of the current occupant of the white house, this country will face serious threat to our freedom and democracy or worse split along political lines into one or more countries.
5
The United States has a unitary executive. The President is the boss of the DOJ, and his picture is in the lobby. He has the right, and the responsibility, to direct the DOJ to investigate areas where there efforts seem deficient. The DOJ and FBI have been uncooperative with Congress in disclosing information about their spying on the Trump campaign. They clearly need direction to investigate any irregularities in this effort. They seem much more concerned about embarrassment than the truth. They keep claiming national security exceptions to disclosure, but when the information comes out, it has nothing to do with that, and everything to do with embarrassment.
7
Dude, based on what? There is nothing in the public record to suggest improprieties by the DOJ or FBI except tRump's and Nunes' statements!!
2
You have proof of spying? No. You have the word of a known liar who says there was a spy in his campaign. There was an FBI agent who asked some questions after the Trump campaign ignored warnings about possible Russian interference. That agent was not a spy he was trying to protect the electoral process. But deny, lie and spin, spin, spin anyway. You are not fooling anyone.
2
Do you have any proof of what you say other than the word of a habitual liar who is under investigation by that Department and has every motive to lie about them?
1
"...Justice Department independence became more entrenched. Senators have since routinely asked attorney general nominees at confirmation hearings questions eliciting promises to resist any effort by a president to intrude upon matters of prosecutorial discretion."
Never you mind about that tarmac meeting between Bill Clinton and Loretta Lynch.
9
so you're concerned about this meeting on the tarmac, but no concerns about all the secret meetings between numerous Trump associates and Russians and Saudis that they lied about????
3
If you're aware of "secret meetings between numerous Trump associates and Russians" (assuming those meetings occurred when those associates were actually on Trump's campaign staff), I'm sure Mr. Mueller would like to hear from you.
As of now, the only evidence we have of either candidate leveraging foreign sources to dig up dirt on their opponent is the HRC campaign's payment to Michael Steele (a foreign intelligence agent who likely bribed his Russian sources).
NYT and WasPo in this instance were a wash. It is a CI investigation, not criminal investigation. And even we distaste Trump by many, you couldn't make up the accusations as Muller goes, then to justify. Trump as much as we loathe him, he won the election by a margin but still a win, therefore he is "a" POTUS. I am highly disappointed by former DOJ/FBI/CIA high ranking officials conducting themselves, Sally Yates brought up the Logan act to snowball into an uncontrollable scandal.
4
My question is: Why would the FBI, Obama administration or anyone else have bothered to spy on the Trump campaign? Up until the Comey revelation, not many people thought he had any chance to win, so why waste time & money.
6
That makes sense
This attack on America does not
Thank
Fox
Ingraham
Hannity
Murdoch
Alex Jones
For undermining/overthrowing the American system of govt for their own profit
The FBI is just doing their job, protecting the U.S.A. from its enemies, both foreign and domestic. The Trump is an enemy of the USA. Period. Trump is not defending, protecting, and preserving the U.S. Constitution, in my opinion. Fox News, Bebe Netanyahoo and V.V. Putin along with Xi are calling the shots in the USA. Comrade Nunes is being quite helpful and McConnell and Ryan are both AWOL.
6
"...whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes..."
Why does the president capitalize random words in his tweets? Virtually every tweet contains one or more incorrect capitalizations. Theses are not typos, as the same word is frequently capitalized more than once (e.g. "World"). Does the president think political purposes is somehow a proper noun, or does he just not know the rules of grammar? Sorry for going off topic, but aside from the content, this is what bothers me the most about the tweeting.
4
Can't imagine the pressure Rosenstein's been under the past several months (than God), but I have to say I am dismayed that he appears to be finally acceding to Trump's demands. Hope I'm wrong.
1
Trump wants to fight dirty. OK.
The DoJ and FBI can counterpunch, and they can get it on inside a month, plenty of time before November's elections.
Turn over the stuff on Trump's son and son-in-law to the NY attorney general for pardon-free indictment - start at accepting bribes and work up to election violations including international mob-style conspiracy.
Set up and announce indictment of Trump for obstruction and bribery and money-laundering and tax fraud, sealed until the day another president is sworn in.
Arrest Nunes for leaking top-secret stuff, and try him in US District Court in Washington. Several cabinet members can be indicted, just pick and choose the charges. Announce enough charges against Cohen to result in life behind bars.
Trump keeps saying he's only fighting back. The DoJ and FBI need to fight back for their lives.
An even fight: no holds barred.
5
If they want war
Give it to them
Nothing less than the republic is at stake
Perhaps the biggest problem we face today is the failure of the Congress to provide the "checks and balances" over this President. The consequence of this failure is a man who thinks he can run roughshod over the Constitution, previous constraints on the presidency, and maul the very people has appointed. Our democracy is being threatened by an administration that believes it can deceive the country by simply lying its way through the swamp of it's own making.
4
So basically - the FBI initiated a 'political' inquiry into the Trump campaign, but never used that inquiry for political gain before the election??? This doesn't hold water. If it had been for political gain wouldn't they have announced the inquiry into the Trump campaign *before* the election? That would be the moment where the FBI and the "deep state" could have leveraged the information for the most political gain. But alas they didn't.
Instead they talked about the ongoing inquiry into Hillary Clinton's email servers.
Perhaps a more likely reason for our president's new stance is that the inquiry continues to uncover more and more actions that violate our norms (see last weekend's article about other meeting in Trump tower).
When will logic take over?
6
How ironic that Thomas Jefferson so roundly castigated the evils of monarchy, specifically in the person of George III.
Now the American presidency is devolving into a monarchy in everything but name, thanks to the failure of the founding fathers to make it virtually impossible for a incompetent and corrupt president to be dismissed from office and their failure to shield absolutely the other two branches of government from such a president's attempts to impose his personal will upon them.
Trump is rapidly gathering the three reins of government into his hands alone, and all the opponents of his bid for absolute power can do is impotently wring their hands and attempt to alarm a public whose apathy toward the president's every move to consolidate his power makes a mockery of the Constitution, the legitimacy of which ultimately depends on their actively and continually affirming its place as the bedrock of their country's democratic political culture.
The American people who actively support or simply remain indifferent to Trump's attempt to establish himself as the American monarch will succeed in reducing the Constitution to mere words, words, words and find themselves to be the subjects of a king rather than the citizens of a republic.
The answer to Ben Franklin's question of whether the American people will be able to keep their republic is becoming more and more likely to be "No."
2
Why uplift critics who decry “spies” on corrupt Donald’s campaign? Where were the media back then: burying or dismissing important facts about him that voters needed to know. He is now president only because not enough people were asking the right questions.
Vote, people. Don’t let the destructive bullies or their enablers win this November, nor ever again.
3
If the President is constrained to order an investigation in a Cabinet Department under the control of the Executive Branch, then what is to stop a rogue entity within the DOJ from conducting operations that are politically motivated? Are we to assume that the FBI or other factions within the DOJ are morally pure and do not need oversight? There is a long history of rogue elements or even a Director (ie Hoover), who pursued agenda's in direct violation of the Constitution. If the FBI had been using informants within the Presidential campaigns, then what was their mission? This past election has had too many instances of FBI interference not to have full hearings and disclosures of their actions. It is easy to dismiss Trump's demands for an investigation given his bombastic personality, but the facts remain that the FBI has had multiple involvements in actions that directly affected the Presidential election and the subsequent workings of the current administration.
4
This whole twitter tantrum Sunday makes me think that the Saudi Arabia/Prince/Emirates meeting reported by the NYT has touched on something that Trump is really hoping to obscure. So instead of letting the news cycle dwell on that for more than 2 seconds, he had to create another bit off news, and conveniently killing off two birds with one stone, punch at hard at the DOJ in the process.
This whole experience is feeling more and more like being in an abusive relationship. You can't get your footing because you always under attack, and the people supposed to be protecting you also fall under the sway or manipulation of the abuser. Finally you are blamed for the abuser's misdeeds, and if long enough in such a relationship, you start to believe it really is your fault and questions yourself. Dynamics of power and control are in inglorious display here.
7
I don't remember Nixon being able to launch an investigation into the investigation into him and Watergate. This is very strange. Nor was Clinton given power to launch an investigation into the investigation into him. And both these men were great public servants! Are we granting Trump this right on the basis of his having had a successful TV reality game show? I don't get it.
5
Mr. Trump and his Cabinet have crossed so many lines, that I've lost count. And what's even more amazing is that he and they do that every day: the NYT and WaPo go nuts, Fox cheers, and the same thing happens a day later. How is it possible that Congress accepts all this - do only newspaper editors have a conscience? Is Robert Mueller the only law enforcement professional on the job these days? Why aren't the whole lot on their way to jail?
3
I am concerned about future generations. I believe the lines of acceptable behavior are being re-drawn. The slide toward despotism has begun. We may return to more normal times first but the bar is permanently lowered. This madness must stop.
10
And that requires forcible removal from office. Impeach.
Not a Trump fan, didn't vote for him. But does anyone here think it's okay for the FBI to infiltrate a campaign? For the sitting president to approve that infiltration? There is much more at stake than getting Trump out of office, the goal of the NYTimes and it's readers on day 1. What is at stake is the law, the power of a president to use his agencies for partisan politics, and the credibility of the FBI as an objective agency. The latter was not always so - J Edgar Hoover put a blight on the FBI for decades in the mid-1900s. The FBI is supposed to be beyond that scandal.
7
I don’t mean to be too pessimistic, but this reminds me very much of how Rome fell... or rather, one of the signs that it was beginning the long downward fall. I’m talking about new level of instability in politics and legal systems therein, via unusual infighting, chaos and poisonous attacks of increasing desperation and anger. Let me suggest to the ten or twenty people who reads my comment... I implore you to help bring about the implementation of efficient A.I. tools in governance. Humans are shockingly inefficient and selfish when it comes to “serving” the public good. Just look around at the millions of Americans suffering day to day. Enough. May the cool logic of smarter computers save us from Rome’s fate.
When the legal justice systems are being stepped on in new and dangerous ways, by immensely powerful people, maybe we need to think outside the box we have boxed ourselves into.
Let’s create a government that doesn’t fight itself. Wouldn’t that be something?
Imagine it. Create it, with the help of A.I.
I dont understand this "news analysis" and the frantic comments.
I thought that if one has nothing to hide, one should welcome any and all investigations.
We are watching our democracy dying a death of a thousand cuts (or the frog being boiled, or whatever metaphor you choose). Regardless, I am legitimately afraid for our nation.
We are trading away our freedoms and rights for ephemeral feelings of superiority that no longer exist. Our Founders would be saddened (but perhaps not shocked since they were students of history).
I watched Episode III of Stars Wars with my wife and young sons. When one of the characters commented that the Republic's democracy was being supplanted with thunderous applause, my wife and I looked at each other with worry that that was happening to US.
8
Much as I despise Trump and his GOP enablers, it is the cowardly Dem party that I have the most antipathy for. Their one message on Trump is not to even speak of impeachment. In fact, their silence on Trump's daily assaults on our democracy tells me the Dems are not speaking at all. It is the Dems betrayal that truly wounds.
What, exactly, should Dems say? There's an investigation, Adam Schiff, Chris Murphy, and others have been quite vocal. Things take time, but ranting and raving isn't going to materially help anything, certainly not from people holding office. No, the blame falls squarely on the GOP as the sycophants in charge.
2
Thanks for responding.
I appreciate Schiff's comments CNN which is how I hear from him. There are others as Kamela Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie. Chris Murphy I hear little about or from but good if he is speaking out. But we know the Dem party is split between the liberal faction and the other which I don't even have a label for.
What I expect from the Dem's would be a constant stream of messages on Trump's autocratic actions; their silence is entirely unethical because it normalizes Trump.
How about holding Trump and the GOP accountable for not taking action against Russian interference in November, but instead working to discredit Mueller and all others who entrusted with investigating foreign influence in our elections.
Then there are dirty tactics which I know from reading up on Watergate. Nixon intimidated a Dem majority Congress by threatening to expose their lobbying gifts if they voted against GOP interests. I'm referring to the banking committee on a vote to regulate bank practices. Nixon got his way.
The Dems need to say what desperately needs to be said and, if need be, learn from the GOP.
It was the Obama administration the used the intelligence community to launch a counter intelligence operation against Trump. NYT you have this all backwards.
7
Except....no they didn't
The entire justice department is charged with protecting the US. They take that responsibility very seriously.
Their job during the campaigns is to watch and report on others who seek to infiltrate our elections.
The means they use include following "others"....and when "others" continually converse with members of one campaign or another....THEY REPORT.
1
Donald Trump is an inept president but he continues to demonstrate that he is a gifted con man. His demand that the Justice Department launch an investigation into whether the department or the F.B.I. infiltrated his campaign with an intent to sabotage it is shameless but skillful flimflam. 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.
So yet once again Trump proves his great skill at the "long con" by his elaborate construction of a fable with just enough superficial plausibility to persuade or at least distract the uninformed.
9
Here we go, again, treating Trump like a naughty five-year old when he has repeatedly violated the law and abused his Presidential authority. What is it with this guy? Why won't anyone stand up to him?
It's not like Rosenstein or Sessions is exactly going to have a hard time finding a good job, if they get fired by the Idiot in the White House! No, they've got nothing to lose, not at all. And, yet, here we are, a year into an investigation on very obvious election crimes, and they just keep letting him step on the law like it was a fire ant that annoys him. It's disgusting. What do we have to do to get these guys to do their jobs and issue at least one stinking report!? Revolt?
8
Donald Trump - entitled inheritor of so much for so long - inherited the burden of performance, urgency and expectation. As expected, a man who ran on a 'birther lie' and playing either the skunk at the garden party or pretending to be the garden party himself, now faces the Rule of Law. His response: "You know the saddest thing, because I'm the President of the United States, I am not supposed to be involved with the Justice Department. I am not supposed to be involved with the FBI. I am not supposed to be doing the kinds of things that I would love to be doing. And I am very frustrated by it." [Radio interview WMAL Washington, D.C. 11/2/17] This is the admission of a tyrant.
8
Trump has crossed so many lines since he took the oath of office that our government looks like a rat's maze. He is acting the same way he has for decades in his business dealings so this should be no surprise to anyone. What is a surprise is that we have a Republican Congress that refuses to hold him accountable and continues to move the lines for their self-interests and agendas. The only way out of this chaotic maze is to vote these Republicans out of office in November. If we don't, this man will continue to destroy the foundations of our democracy and our country.
12
If Obama suggests that a president should not interfere in matters involving the DOJ Trump will of course do the exact opposite. Trump’s presidency is predicated on his hatred and jealousy of Obama. Whether domestic or international Trump is determined to be the au contraire President.That is au contraire to Obama.
5
Why would Obama need to interfere when his appointees (Loretta Lynch for example) are already carrying out his bidding, even if unstated.
1
Donald J. trump is exposing just how fragile our democracy can be.
6
I am shocked and horrified at how many Americans especially elected officials, have signed on to support actions that threaten our democracy. How sad that they willingly give up freedoms and principles for whatever naive or selfish reasons they harbor. It is an insult to all who have fought and died to protect us from such as this.
319
Mark J. Penn, one of the primary architects of Bill Clinton’s re-election campaign in 1996 and chief strategist for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2008, has accused associates of the Clintons of helping to orchestrate a politically driven, manufactured “deep state” investigation into President Trump that Mr. Penn says should be shut down.
2
I wish this was true.
God bless the deep state -- that anonymous and nebulous group of Americans who keep checks on Presidents who would abuse their powers.
We are watching as if this is a TV series... amazed at the audacity, the twists and turns... and the end
of the story will be an authoritarian regime for all of us. Pole numbers rising... why?
5
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin sends his foes to hospitals, mental institutions, prisons, urns and coffins.
While Donald John Trump 'fights' by tweeting and speaking slurs and threats.
Trump leads one branch of our divided limited power republic. And the legislative, executive and judicial branches are all the elected and selected hired help of the American people.
1
This is an auto-immune process.
1
After months of the press, including Mr. Savage, discussing endlessly whether it would be at all possible for Mr. Trump to talk to the FBI or prosecutors without dire consequences, and after a full weekend of telling us that this latest presidential overreach was a clear attempt to obstruct justice, the President sits down with the boss of all prosecutors and the top guy at the FBI. Alan Dershowitz was hair on fire before the meeting about the President going into it without his lawyer.
Does the Press really believe that the only people who can see this action by the President as obstruction of justice are reporters, that a pair of career lawyers and law enforcement personnel have no inkling of that at all?
Why doesn't the press stop bombastically prognisticating to us stupid readers and go find out who did the talking at the meeting and what the two top Justice officials did directly afterward? For all we know, the President may have just resolved any problems Robert Mueller had with proving the mens rea of the President in firing Jim Comey.
How many lines has Trump crossed so far? 5, 10, 50, 100?
2
The counter investigation demand by Trump is not only unprecedented but amounts to declaring war against his own justice delivery system with long term damage to the rule of law principle.
7
When you have both the President and his Congressional allies who now control Congress working together, there is very little that can be done to protect the Special Counsel investigation. There may yet be a bright "red line" that both the FBI and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein firmly believe must not be crossed, but all they can do in that case is resign. Would that lead to a Constitutional crisis? With this Congress one has to wonder. Step-by-incremental-step Donald Trump is pushing aside the Constitution aided and abetted by Speaker Paul Ryan who has overruled DOJ and the FBI to allow Rep. Devin Nunes and his allies access to classified documents and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who refuses to allow a vote on a bill to protect the Special Counsel. We all watch helplessly as our democracy seems to slipping from our hands into a tyranny. We only can hope that Mr. Rosenstein is able to buy enough time until the November mid-term elections and that the voters realize the peril we are in.
171
Mr. Wortman: I agree with your comment. From my perspective Trump believes the administration and the various branches of government exist to help him achieve his personal goals. The more intense the scrutiny into his behavior, the wilder his claims and actions. His "tweets" show a man that flies off the handle at the slightest provocation. For some strange reason, he can't see the damage he's doing to himself by exhibiting his nut-job behavior. The Stormy Daniels situation is remarkable. It's a perfect example of a deer caught in the headlights of oncoming traffic. His response is to move the deer and say it didn't happen. Well, at lease we can thank Giuliani for providing clarity of detail regarding the payment. Yes, Trump knew about the $130,000 payment. I sincerely doubt that anyone with both feet on the ground believed that a payment of this magnitude would be made without Trump's approval and if hadn't frolicked in Stormy's Garden of Eden. Let's hope that Trump's bite of Stormy's apple was big enough to do him in.
30
WASHINGTON — Mark J. Penn, one of the primary architects of Bill Clinton’s re-election campaign in 1996 and chief strategist for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2008, has accused associates of the Clintons of helping to orchestrate a politically driven, manufactured “deep state” investigation into President Trump that Mr. Penn says should be shut down.
Mark Penn's current opinion is not surprising and should be viewed with extreme skepticism given his current work:
http://www.stagwellgroup.com/press/mark-penns-republican-investment/
Clearly it is now important to his livelihood to curry favor with Republicans.
The misconduct in the DOJ and FBI -- and possibly within the Obama White House -- vis-a-vis the 2016 election is also epic and unprecedented. It demands extraordinary legal review.
36
The oligarchs are pushing for the end of Democracy, Trump and Nunes and all the sycophantic GOP enablers are happily pushing this country over the cliff. If foreign nationals were attempting to influence the election (as seems largely proven) then this is a crime, investigating federal crimes is the job of the FBI. Put another way if the FBI is investigating Trump it is largely due to the campaigns actions.
74
Or, the FBI is investigating Trump because the Clinton campaign paid a British spy to coordinate with Russian intelligence agents to gather and spread dirt on Trump during the late stages of a presidential campaign. And a U.S. intelligence agent was tasked by Washington to target Trump campaign aides and pimp them for information.
We know that HRC paid Fusion One, which employed Mr. Steele to get Trump dirt from Russian agents. We know he briefed the "dossier" to FBI and State Department officials, and we know he shared it with media, including The Times. We also know that HRC was privy to the allegations as she highlighted on the stump in October and November 2016.
This is not a fair characterization of events which have been widely reported. Your first sentence is not accurate. The investigation into Russian ties to the Trump campaign probably date to George Papadopoulos' apparently drunken comments to Australian officials. So the investigation began before the 'dossier' was reviewed by the FBI. The original source of payment was a Republican operative. The Clinton campaign was the second source of funding after the first - Republican - source dropped interest. It doesn't do your comment any good to note that the 'dossier' has been generally confirmed in many of its elements.
Trump and his administration are corrupt and have likely committed crimes - Of course they are going to attack those people investigating them.
What surprised me is the lack of integrity by many Republicans who are willing to defend the corruption, a support attacks on these dedicated law enforcement officials.
When are we going to do actually something about it ?
32
I believe we fought a Revolution to establish this country as one that does not recognize an" absolute right" of kings and other rulers......
29
TRUMP: “I need loyalty.”
COMEY: “To my mind, the demand was like Sammy the Bull’s Cosa Nostra induction ceremony –
with Trump in the role of the family boss, asking me if I have what it takes to be a ‘made man’.”
Apr 17, 2018: James Comey, former FBI director, book “A Higher Loyalty”. Comey claims Trump’s presidency is run like a mafia-family.
7
Yes, and he's getting away with it. At what point do we as a nation stop this monster from doing any more damage to our Constitutional system??
35
Congress has failed. We have lost one of the founders' intent for checks on a corrupt leader. They have failed the republic. Supreme Court will soon follow, and our long experiment will be over.
29
I lament that I took presidential leadership and dignity for granted during the Obama years. Honesty, integrity, lawfulness...will we ever enjoy such simple values in America again?
55
The conspiracy to aid and abet a foreign power’s effort to influence or disrupt our Federal elections is a serious crime, a felony bordering on treason. The FBI and the DOJ should make every legal and time tested effort to protect our nation from foreign interventions.
Consider this example, if the FBI got wind of a conspiracy to hack into our banking system in order to steal electronic funds, we would expect the FBI would seek out informants and attempt to infiltrate the gang of conspirators. Why would their tactics be different for these election fraud activities?
17
Trump and the Republican Congressional leadership have been "chipping away" at the intelligence and judicial communities since taking office. This "death by a thousand cuts" makes a direct assault on the system more palatable and more accepting by the public because it happens so slowly and incrementally. One thinks of the metaphorical frog being boiled alive in a pot that is slowly heated; before he knows it, he's cooked. Let's hope the Republic doesn't ultimately find itself in that same "pot'.
7
What other forms of law enforcement would the Trumpists classify (i.e., smear) with the “spy” or “surveil” label?
Is it spying when the FEC requires reporting on campaign contributions?
Is it surveillance when a Congressional committee staffer makes a phone call to the EPA asking about spending?
These people are gaslighting America.
If the President can get the DOJ to show its cards before charges are filed, we are quickly slipping into authoritarianism.
Trump and the GOP shouldn’t be able to see this stuff until it’s referred to as “discovery.”
Mueller, please put some items on the table, and then keep investigating. Time to play some big cards.
9
I agree with everything except the last two sentences in your comment. I would be the last person to tell Mueller or Avenatti what to do with their cases. I'd get some popcorn and watch the show.
He seems to want to out the CI to get this info to Putin and you know how Putin handles informants.
Trump's actions to invade the Justice Department standard rules seem to me to be another case of Obstruction of Justice. The Republicans viewing the material will be a direct conduit to Trump. If I am not mistaken, they can not be charged. Nunes and other members like him are guilty of collusion in other actions, so what do we do once they violate their oath and our laws by giving Trump the information they will be seeing. Our Democracy is taking a beating.
8
Whatever the final outcome of the Mueller investigation, here we have an example of true collusion: collusion between the Republicans in Congress and a Republican POTUS to destroy the political independence of the Justice Dept. Trump couldn't do this alone without complicity from Congress and his fellow Republicans in other positions of power. This is one more way the GOP as a whole is working to chip away at our Democratic institutions. Very scary!
32
There's one small detail I think we're overlooking: Rosenstein didn't open a criminal investigation in response to the president's tweet. He handed the issue off to the inspector general as part of an existing inquiry. The inspector general is not responsible for criminal investigations. The IG provides something more similar to an internal business audit. If they happen find evidence of criminal activity, they hand the information back over to the FBI. However, they are definitely not conducting a criminal investigation.
The Trump news syndicate is out there stumping as though this is some major accomplishment. However, I don't think Rosenstein's response is as norm breaking as everyone thinks. The fact that the president ever asked is frankly more shocking. As noted though, Trump has been challenging the norms of the Justice Department since the beginning of his administration. I have a feeling his current inroads are going to snap back the other way: Hard.
There's a certain elasticity to our institutions. They can give under pressure without breaking. Sort of like a rubber band on your arm tough, the harder you pull the more it hurts when you let go. I think we're going to find a sea change in the not to distant future.
4
Government of, by and for Trump shall perish from the earth…
When you and I vote in record numbers this Fall and in 2020.
And, if our right to vote is infringed, then, we fight the enemies of freedom.
10
It appears that the Obama administration fabricated a reason to have the FBI spy on the Trump campaign - an unprecedented abuse of power. Investigating that is not an abuse of power it is necessary to understand how it happened and to protect our democracy and the integrity of the FBI and Justice department.
30
An FBI planted by the previous administration is the latest fantasy put forth by the current corrupt administration to divert attention from the numerous criminal and treasonous acts that have come to light.
87
Asking a foreign government to mettle in our election process is okay with you? Obstructing an ongoing investigations is okay with you? Personally profiteering by the President is okay with you?
65
Saying it over and over again doesn't make it true.
It's not really in serious question that the Obama Administration used the IRS against its political enemies and then obstructed an investigation into the abuses. Having the IG look into whether there was any improper behavior seems fair, particularly given what we know about the extreme partisanship shown by the FBI "investigators" working for Mueller so far.
12
Trump crosses a new line - and what's being done to contain him and his bunch of crooks?
A big, huge nothing.
In any other country calling itself a decent democracy - this man and his government, party and backers would have been booted out.
The fact that he is allowed to cross lines again and again show, that the USA is a pathetic banana republic. He should have been booted out ages ago.
9
A bi-partisan Congress—the Senate in particular—saved the Republic’s bacon when Richard Nixon made his scary lunge for power in 1973-74. He attempted to shut down an investigation into his (or his agents’) conduct about a “third-rate burglary” that two WaPo reporters found on a common police blotter. What Donald Trump is doing now—and, chillingly, is going far beyond what Nixon did. Ultimately, the SCOTUS decided—unanimously—that Nixon had to “give it up.”
What’s even more sinister here is that if all this Trump drama ends up at the SCOTUS, we must fear that a deeply-politicized John Roberts Court would twist and contort and obfuscate and mix and match Constitutional law—not to mention common sense—to ultimately side with the “president from hell,” throwing, irretrievably, the foundations of our culture and law and history—everything—under the bus in their absolute zeal to render to the “vast right wing conspiracy” (thank you, Mrs. Clinton) the unfettered, iron control of America.
Citizenship abroad looks like an even more tantalizing and appealing prospect. Who, pray, in the current Senate, would vote to convict a proven criminal? And who, in the current House of Representatives, would bring bills of impeachment against a rogue president, all because they fear “the base,” that dreaded dynamic that propelled Donald Trump to high office?
Not only should he be held to account but so also should his Congressional seditionists whose job is to represent “We, the People!”
9
This is just Dennison being Barron. The best defense is a good offense. Those of us who see him for the liar he is have our eyes on the ball.
5
It is ironic that a president, Barack Obama, who wanted to avoid the appearance of placing his thumb on the scale of the 2016 presidential election now looks on as trump throws his full weight behind his attempt to make the Department of Justice his personal legal valet and attack dog.
8
TRUMP: “I have absolute right
to do what I want to do with the Justice Department.”
Dec 28, 2017: Trump’s interview with The New York Times. Trump thinks he has absolute power over the Justice Department like a tyrannical king, tyrannus rex.
Is he acting like tyrannosaurus rex?
5
Trump doesn't have a line, everything is HIS, and THAT will be his downfall!!
God Bless Robert Mueller and Rob Rosenstein!
16
The more the evidence piles up, the more places there are to hide a bloody glove.
3
How silly of me!
I thought the Times would hit the roof over the Justice Department spying on a Presidential campaign. How about that for "breaching an established constraint on executive power".
But nary a peep from the Times.
Now, if it had been Clinton's campaign, the newspaper would have been the country's most stalwart defender of the traditional constraints of our system of government.
6
When President Maduro in Venezuela pulls a stunt like Trump's, the world condemns Maduro as a dictator.
13
Trump has overthrown the Constitution. The Congress now operates as a totally political body, just like Trump himself, in which there are no limits to power, and no duties or obligations.
This definition of government will trigger civil war, just as it always has throughout history.
15
This is one of the warnings of so many books and commentators: don't accept violations of norms because that's what leads to fascism.
The Republican Party is the biggest threat to our democracy, currently led by a president who believes he's above the law.
Look at all the norms that Republicans have violated.
Stealing a Supreme Court, the Senate majority leader claimed he wanted to let the people speak in the election in 2016.
Well, the people did speak, in landmark fashion in 2012. But Republicans ignored that, ignoring a candidate praised by both Republicans and Democrats, Merrick Garland.
Voting rights: Claiming widespread voter fraud that just doesn't exist, unless you consider 50-100 votes out of billions cast to be "widespread". The attempts at "cleaning up" our elections is just euphemism for disenfranchisement of voters who are legally entitled to vote.
It's too bad that Republicans have no interest in making sure that no one is above the law in this nation of laws.
If it were Hillary being investigated, you can bet there would not be a single complaint from the GOP about how long the investigation was taking!
Unfortunately, the Republican Party will keep putting their party interest over that of our nation.
108
Trump's action is only crossing a new line if nothing is found. If his allegations are confirmed, then it was President Obama who crossed the line.
26
Wrong. The president can't order the FBI to not investigate his misdeeds...no matter what does or doesn't emerge.
18
The Republican Congress has already ceded it's power as the second branch of government to Trump. The Supreme Court with the seat stolen from President Obama is a right wing rubber stamp and the justice department has been cowed by Trump. Will America wake up in time to save itself from the Dictator in the White House?
36
We know what Trump believes is in this for him. He wants to thwart, discredit, and end the investigation into his wrong-doing. He also wants revenge on the men in the FBI who he thinks wronged him. He is a petty little man. No one you would want to sit next to at a dinner party, to understate the case.
The real question is: What is in it for the Republican party? He cannot do this without their acquiescence. We have no doubt that will happen. They are beyond supine; they are complicit in the destruction of our democracy. Will someone please ask the Kochs, who are the puppet masters, how this promotes their agenda, because it does.
Lincoln is rolling in his grave at what has become of his party. He died trying to save and restore the Union; his party is now the one destroying it.
36
Trump believes the rule of law doesn't pertain to him, only the rest of us. Trump believes he is the head of an organization whose sole purpose is to do his bidding. Trump believes that pesky Constitution is a framework for the rest of us, but not him. Trump believes he is above the law, not because he is the President, but because he is Donald J. Trump. And he has enough sycophantic spineless minions around him to egg him on every day. May God help the rest of us.
15
This is clear abuse of power, right?
17
The worst president ever knows no boundaries. Our country is in great peril and those who still support him are, as was said, deplorable.
23
I guess we should not investigate any Trump administration official for any crime. Probably if he is any on them are taking campaign funds now and buying anything they want it is not a crime. Probably then can just take gifts of case and the FBI should be Trump's FBI and help them deposit the money in safe offshore accounts.
2
I believe the FBI was doing its job to protect the democracy against foreign intrusion. I also believe that Russia, and possibly others, did indeed interfere with the 2016 election. These countries were given opportunities to gain influence in our government by Trump and his allies, and they took them. This demand to investigate the investigators is just another smokescreen, bringing to mind the Obama had my phone tapped lie. The Congressional Republicans are complicit and will be judged to be on the wrong side of history. Power must be so intoxicating.
166
Whether Republicans care or not, the leader of their party is chipping away at the foundations of our imperfect democracy. It is imperfect, always subject to correction to improve it, make it better & stronger - America's perennial & tough challenge.
What Trump is doing is what all authoritarians around the world are in process of doing or have done. Close to home we see Maduro in Venezuela, & he is far from finished. The same with the authoritarians in Europe, Asia, Africa & the Middle East, including Israel.
We remain a nation of non-readers & disinterested in the past, aka history, when compared to other nations & their better educational systems. The templates for authoritarians & dictators are saved in the history books & scholarship that appeal mostly to academics. We like our history potted & sanitized so we feel better about our national past & our present image. Trump likes his history on Fox News
We crow about American exceptionalism which has become a stupifying nationalist mantra with little to it except our own need to believe that we are better than any other nation. All Americans came from around the world & many more people want to come here. Does that makes us exceptional? No, we became wealthy & made ourselves "leader of the free world." The rest of the world believes it. It's a fantastic lie. Trump wants to be a dictator, the only role he truly strives for. TRUMP ATTACKS THE FBI TO MAKE US UNFREE AS FAST AS HE CAN. HE'LL BE OUR VERY OWN MADURO.
5
Trump is many things, but it is clear he is no patriot.
He relentlessly assaults fundamental democratic institutions (free press, independent judiciary, independent prosecutors, science based public health decision making etc., the rule of law , etc. ) while deflecting attention away from the core question that hangs over the nation like a black cloud, haunting us all and remaining unaddressed: :
Why does he, Donald J Trump, not demand and support a full inquiry into Russian interference with an American election ?
Why?
Could there be anything more treacherous, and if he was knowingly involved - anything more treasonous, than conspiring with foreign nationals to throw an American election?
What patriot, what innocent person would NOT want to get to the bottom of this ?
(on what I think is surely a related note - why wont he release his tax returns ? )
Methinks Donald doth protest way too much.
8
High crimes and misdemeanors. Trump's assault on justice must be stopped. Teachers: please spend some time educating your students on just how Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Latvians, et al won their freedom - and on how the Hungarians seem to have lost it. We must not allow our country to fall to a tyrant who has no regard for the Constitution to which he swore an oath. He has breached that oath and is not legitimate.
48
The trouble with Trump is he hasn't an inkling of how our Democratic system actually operates and he will test it. Our only hope is that our Department of Justice resists his demands and upholds the law. No one is above the Law, not even Trump.
66
Oh for goodness sakes, he HAS inklings. He just doesn't want it to apply to him. He is clearly telling us that our current form of government is on the way out. He may succeed. Republicans everywhere are all for it.
1
The key phrase here is “prosecutorial independence”. The president doesn’t want the Justice Department, the FBI or any agency to work outside of his sphere of influence. He insists on complete control of the DOJ and law enforcement and now openly threatens to stretch the limits of his power to influence the course of American jurisprudence, especially concerning his own actions. Clearly, he is putting himself above the law and is in attack mode because he has something to hide. It is also disingenuous of Devin Nunes to want to identify the FBI’s source because he went after Susan Rice last year for supposedly unmasking a source, of which Rice was soon cleared.
“I hereby demand” is not what American president say or do. This president wants to abuse the power of his office for his own political ends and Congressional Republicans are willing to let him get away with it. The president is looking for loopholes to circumvent the rule of law. Like a rat, he is scurrying in the dark for an exit to avoid being held accountable for the muck and filth he left behind. As Count Dracula fears the coming of dawn, the president fears the light of truth that is every man’s dawning.
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WASHINGTON — Mark J. Penn, one of the primary architects of Bill Clinton’s re-election campaign in 1996 and chief strategist for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2008, has accused associates of the Clintons of helping to orchestrate a politically driven, manufactured “deep state” investigation into President Trump that Mr. Penn says should be shut down
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The appropriate response in this case is clear: the President’s demand to investigate his own investigation must be ignored.
No one in power at the Justice Department should resign, as this “demand” may just be an attempt to clear those left who have maintained ethics and follow the law.
The Justice Department represents the American people. The President may nominate people to lead the department, subject to Congressional approval.
Trump thinks the Justice Department is an extension of his personal law firm, operating at his direction to cover up his actions and prosecute his enemies.
He will not put boundaries on himself, but will continue to push the line of ethics and law. Limits must be imposed upon him, as he is not knowledgeable about norms or the prescribed limits on Presidential power. Instead he surrounds himself with unscrupulous sycophants and yes-men, his Roy Cohn’s.
America does not have a king who sits above the law. We fought a war and created a Constitutional Republic with numerous checks and balances to ensure that.
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You're right, his request to "investigate his own investigation" should be ignored.
If Trump fires Rosenstein or anyone else in the Department of Justice for ignoring this outrageous, dangerous and unprecedented request, it'll be the equivalent of Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre. Then, hopefully, the sleeping Republicans in Congress will finally wake up.
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Our first problem is that Mr. Trump believes he is the law above all other laws. Without a Congress imposing it's power of oversight and providing necessary balance, Mr. Trump is out of control. He can attack those who investigate him, he can abuse his power without fear of restraint. The best solution is electing a strong Democratic majority into both houses of Congress.
That Congress would be able to protect us from a man abusing the executive office. Today's congress has become his accomplice, especially Rep. Nunes, who has demonstrated he cannot be trusted with confidential information.
It isn't just this attack on the investigators, it is the abuse of his executive position to threaten other nations and then to back off after they have endorsed or supported his families business interests. We need a committee to review his family's profits from private and public entities seeking his favor.
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He IS above the law until proven otherwise. That proof is not secured. We are in extreme danger.
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It is fairly transparent. Sessions has to recuse himself again because he was part of the Trump campaign. If Rosenstein refuses to comply as he should, Trump fires him and replaces him with a more compliant deputy attorney general. The new deputy attorney closes down the Mueller investigation, declares that nothing of interest was found, and declines to release the information Mueller has collected.
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It just occurred to me that Trump and his GOP house buddies seemed so worried about someone talking to 2-3 trump campaign people, saying they might have been spied on, and want to blame the FBI. Guess what informants are used all the time by all law enforcement. Many drug cases are made that way, with some taking months to several years. So what is alarming to me and should be to most Americans is all this concern about whether the FBI was doing there job, but not any show of interest or concern that Russia did interfere in our 2016 elections. Whose side is this administration or the House GOP on, doesn't sound like the Unites States of America.
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Revealed by his pardon of Arpaio, the so-called president's disregard for those things constitutional, legal ethical and moral has morphed into the "Worship ME!" phase.
The statue of liberty now lifts high a tiki torch.
Sad, sad days for democracy ahead.
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If Melania wants to truly stop bullying, she should do something about her husband. His demanding is just bullying for those who done want to say obstruction of justice.
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'By Ordering Inquiry Into F.B.I., Trump Crosses New Line'.
Errr! Didn't the FBI cross a line putting an informer into the Trumps campaign activists??
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Considering that is not something that actually happened, I believe the answer to your question is quite moot. An informant *spoke to* the campaign.
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with investigations going back years before the campaign started, a warrant in hand, and now 20 people formally charged to go to court or pleading guilty, I don't understand this weird phrasing. "putting an informer into"? it was unfair for the law enforcement person to talk to the suspicious guy? it was bananas to quietly investigate suspicious activity confirmed by the CIA, NSA, and FBI, and downplay it until after the election?
I believe in checks and balances on government power, for sure, but what checks would be reasonable against people in campaigns committing crimes?
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It has become clear that FBI persons who have a proven disdain and documented hatred for POTUS began a counterintelligence operation designed to "insure" his presidency fails. I guess this is of no importance to the NYtimes.
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Why does the Justice dept keep caving to Trump? Our Justice dept. is beginning to look more and more like that of Hungary or Poland.
I
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This is absurd. He was told Russia might interfere during the campaign, but his first thought is how this makes him look not how it will damage the entire nation.
How can anyone believe a word Trump says?
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That is not clear to me. Could you provide the documented proof to back up your allegations?
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Trump thinks he is above the law. It is what he learned sitting at the knee of his mentor Roy Cohn. With 50 Republican senators welded to his derriere, he is being enabled by 50 craven hacks who have forgotten their oaths of office.
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