Former Obama official: We never needed lawyers 'just thought I'd point that out'

[George II]

Bryan Logan Business Insider UK14 July 2017

As the White House ends another week engulfed in controversy, a former aide who served under President Barack Obama threw a rhetorical jab at the Trump administration on Friday.

Chris Lu, a former White House cabinet secretary and former deputy secretary of the US Labor Department, wrote on Twitter: "I served 4 years in the Obama White House. I never hired a lawyer, and I don't know anyone who did."

Lu appeared to be referring to the Trump administration, which has been buried in negative headlines for much of the last seven months.

Several members of the Trump administration, including Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner have hired outside counsel to represent them during the investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 US election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign. Jamie Gorelick, one of Kushner's attorney's, announced on Friday that she would no longer represent him.

Conversations surrounding Russia's meddling shifted to President Donald Trump's eldest son, Trump Jr. this week. He is now facing scrutiny over a June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer who offered him damaging information on Hillary Clinton at the height of the contentious 2016 campaign.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/former-obama-official-never-needed-020646398.html

[malaise]

1. Off to the greatest page

because

[tblue37]

2. K&R for visibility. nt

[SWBTATTReg]

8. no lawyers needed

Absolutely right. No lawyering up, etc. was needed on part of Obama. I'm glad you caught this fact and mentioned this, I thought of this a.m. when I read that another lawyer was added to Trump's stable of lawyers.

If you're not guilty, then why continue to add / retain so many lawyers? If you claim you're being so transparent, then why keep adding lawyers? What else are you hiding? If you hid 1 meeting and who you were meeting with at that meeting (the Russian meeting for non-existent dirt on HRC), then I almost guarantee that there's more dirt under the carpet. Trump is so cheap (his supposed $6 million in donations, etc.), that I can't imagine him or his fellow trolls spending money on anything else other then themselves, so again, my point, something is happening here, or has.

I was wondering if Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has any play here? Sounds like it too.

Also, does RICO (usually used against criminal enterprises by Feds) apply? There appears to be collusion on the part of many (Trump, Trump allies, and some in the GOP (so determined to grab power at any cost)) to obscure / hide / talk around / etc. meetings w/ a hostile foreign power.

There's too much going on here, too many Trump lies, evasions, not disclosing tax returns, not disclosing all of potential massive conflicts of interest, etc. to simply write off as just pure speculation and democratic anger on election loss, and mandates that we all, as Americans, ensure that our elections are above board, and beyond question as to accuracy and fairness.

There was massive Russian interference w/ our elections (well established by our respected intelligence community) and I feel that there was a massive cover-up by GOP elements of the Russian interference on the results of the 2016 elections, particular in some states that were vulnerable to hacking (there were media stories at that time on some of the very partisan effects during the certification of vote tallies on some of these things going on right after the 2016 elections, getting rid of materials, etc.).

These states won't admit to the hacking for fear of embarrassment. I don't blame them, that is embarrassing, but they need to put this aside and ensure that it doesn't happen again (have to determine what happened, and then fix). If it determined that a significant impact occurred such as changing the tenor of an entire race, then we must redo (e.g., if a bank computer messed up your bank statements due to an error such as this, they redo and fix, why should this be different?).

It is very laughable in that Rep. King of Iowa is demanding that democrats stop hammering Trump on Russian interference or else they'll reopen up HRC investigations. There is a far more serious issue here (interference) that he needs to be concerned with, and he doesn't seem to be. Why? This should make you think about Rep. King, and perhaps he and his campaign needs to be examined more closely.

[Scarsdale]

9. King is a sleaze.

No, the Obama administration never needed to hire lawyers, they are DEMOCRATIC people!! Honest, trustworthy, constantly scrutinized. This dirtbag in the WH, and his gop cohorts in DC need to be flushed out, soon. Hopefully before it is too late to save this country. We have sunk down low enough in 6 months.

[lastlib]

3. There were no scandals in the Obama admin.

Benghazi and the e-mails were KGOPee-made-up shit shows for the pure sake of flinging shit, hoping it would stick.

[USALiberal]

4. I miss Obama so much. n/t

[L. Coyote]

5. ... but I do remember the ones with Russians. Because I didn't have any.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[SweetieD]

6. Yeah I thought about that the other day. Despite all that fast and furious stuff, benghazi stuff

Clinton's emails or whatever fake rw "scandal" they tried to come up with, I don't remember Obama have private lawyers dealing with it. I don't even remember H. Clinton having lawyers but its possible she did. Almost every major player in this administration has their own lawyer regarding this Trump Russia stuff.

[Stuart G]

7. Truly the most damning comment ever made comparing the 2 adminstrations..GREAT POST

My hat is off to Chris Lu..............

[spanone]

10. K&R...

[NastyRiffraff]

11. Great point!

Oh, for the days when almost every senior WH aid wasn't lawyering up. Oh, for the days of grownups in the White House!

Oh for the days, not so long ago, when we had a real president.

[NurseJackie]

12. LOL!

[DFW]

13. I was wondering what Jamie Gorelick was doing with the likes of Kushner

She's one of Al Gore's pals. It never seemed like a good fit.

[Ligyron]

14. Well, Obama has a bunch of lawyers now.

Sort of...

Many from his former Administration are joining together to launch civil litigation against Trump and Co. I wish them every success too. The discovery process itself may yield several items of interest such as Trump's tax returns and corporate paperwork.

That's if they are allowed to proceed.

[orleans]

15. "Jamie Gorelick, one of Kushner's attorney's, announced on Friday

that she would no longer represent him. "

caveat:

on the russian matter

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029330441

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/14/politics/jared-kushner-lawyer-jamie-gorelick/index.html

[avebury]

16. K&R nt

[raven mad]

17. Telling, isn't it. Repukes will do anything, and not one can even spell ethics.

Let alone honesty.