GOP pushes Trump for new attorney general amid Mueller uproar

[DonViejo]

Source: Politico




Senate Republicans hope replacing Matthew Whitaker will calm the firestorm over Trump’s attacks on the special counsel.

By BURGESS EVERETT and ELIANA JOHNSON 11/16/2018 05:06 AM EST

Senate Republicans are urging President Donald Trump to quickly nominate a permanent attorney general, hoping a new top law enforcement officer will blunt bipartisan concern over the future of special counsel Robert Mueller and boost the GOP ahead of tough government funding talks.

Even after Trump’s latest attack on Mueller in a flurry of tweets Thursday, most Republicans argue the president will not fire Mueller or derail his investigation because the political consequences would be too great.

But they said that naming an attorney general nominee as soon as possible — specifically one who would vow to preserve the Russia probe — would go a long way in halting legislative momentum to protect Mueller and Democratic messaging that acting attorney general Matt Whitaker will undermine the investigation.

“If we had some confidence that there is somebody nominated that would be confirmed in a reasonable period of time, to me it seems like it would relieve a lot of the controversy,” said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas, who predicted that Whitaker, who was openly critical of the Mueller probe before Trump tapped him for the job, is “not going to be there long.”

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/16/matthew-whitaker-mueller-senate-republicans-995056

[NoMoreRepugs]

1. I guess elections have consequences huh?

Taking the House back very well might have saved our Democracy.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. Necessary but not sufficient. Much work to be done. Praised be Democratic workers got out the vote.

"Taking the House back very well might have saved our Democracy."

It was needed but there is much work to be done yet. Now we can take back the Senate in 2020 and most likely the Presidency.

Thanks Democratic election workers!

[justhanginon]

2. I wonder if Whitaker was put in temporarily just to feed

the information that Mueller has accumulated to trump.
I don't know how much info he has access to but it wouldn't surprise me if he was brought in as a feeder.

[wishstar]

4. Yes, definitely a desperate move to give Trump heads-up to help him shore up his legal defense

since apparently Mueller's funding is safe until next summer and Whitaker can only hope to try to stop or slow down issuance of future subpoenas directly related to Trump and his businesses/family as Whitaker cannot stop indictments coming from Grand Jury that has been quite active recently.

[SergeStorms]

18. I think he's already been feeding information...

to the Trump White House, and bundles of it. He was placed in the AG seat to do exactly that, and I believe he's already paid huge dividends to Trump. I want to see this asshole ruined! He's a traitor to our country and it's people. I think Trump and his family are in so much trouble it's not going to help all that much, but any information Whitaker has leaked is too much. Trump and his loyal cadre of butt kissers are destroying the core values of our democracy, and Vladimir Putin is laughing himself silly because he's done so much damage to the U.S. with such a small investment in TrumpCo.

[justhanginon]

20. That would be my suspicion too. Take away his law licence and

let him spend some time in prison for obstruction of justice if he gave any info at all to trump.

[lilactime]

3. No Republican who has not recused can be trusted.

[amcgrath]

5. Even if Whitaker is removed

Trump has been boasting of 'knowing what is going on' in the investigation. It seems almost certain that Whitaker has accessed Muellers files and handed them to Trump and his lawyers. This should be added to Trumps list of obstruction charges and Whitaker should be charged with leaking Justice Dept. information to suspects.

[sfwriter]

7. Oh the subpoena he'll Have!

Once he’s out, he Can testify.

[H2O Man]

8. Respectfully disagree.

There is no evidence that Whitaker has reviewed the documentation the Mueller investigation has gathered. More, he has not had enough time to read anything, even if he has gone beyond conversations with Mr. Rosenstein. And even if he had seen some of the evidence, he could not get copies of anything himself. The danger here is that if, in time, he learns what Mueller has, he will verbally report on it to Trump and the White House counsel, who would pass the message to Trump's personal legal team.

A few people have incorrectly concluded that Trump's tweets about knowing how the "inner workings" of the investigation are going. This would require one to believe that Mr. Rosenstein or one of the Mueller team told Whitaker they are screaming at witnesses, in order to pressure them into giving the testimony they desire. The chances of that are somewhere below zero.

Rather, Trump is either making that up out of thin air -- very likely -- or basing it upon watching Jerome Corsi's recent youtube clip, or perhaps most likely, lawyers for Corsi et al have told Trump's legal team that their clients are feeling pressured to tell the truth.

[NewJeffCT]

10. I'd be shocked if the "inner workings" of the Mueller investigation

are a chaotic mess - I think that is classic Trump projection.

From everything I've heard about Mueller is that he is very thorough and very methodical.

[H2O Man]

13. Right.

It is Trump projecting while in a state of panic.

[NewJeffCT]

9. If Trump's lawyers got the files

isn't that potentially illegal and/or unethical?

[H2O Man]

11. Yes.

Excepting Rudy, no lawyer would even consider taking actual files from Whitaker. And I doubt that even Rudy would be that stupid.

[Marthe48]

12. whitaker was installed

trump leap-frogged over the system of law and custom that is in place, probably because he has no clue, and if he does, he couldn't care less. If trump gets away with having whitaker taken seriously, he has succeeded in chipping away another piece of the foundation of our rules of law.

Aside from my strong opinion on the legality of trump's dictatorship, I have a question. In trials, don't the prosecutors have to show the defense what they have? If not before indictment, then after?

[paleotn]

22. Legal challenges to Whitaker are already

Winding their way through the courts. Even Clarence Thomas has written that the executive can’t short circuit Senate approval. Whitaker is just the work of a pissed off crazy old man flailing about. A distraction from a process said crazy old man can do nothing to stop. If he could, he’d have done it already.

[Grins]

14. "naming an attorney general nominee....who would vow to preserve the Russia probe"

"naming an attorney general nominee ASAP...one who would vow to preserve the Russia probe"

Yeah. That'll happen. Do they even know this guy?

[turbinetree]

15. Not to be a cynic......yeah I will be a cynic .......let's suppose the Federalist Society

sends over a list of ass***** to be the new AG, does anyone by chance think that this Federalist Society ass**** will not force the team investigating the outright espionage to stop.............after all these same f***ing right wing republicans put a f***ing ass**** on the supreme court without even batting and eye on the advise and consent rule of the Constitution, and he didn't even think for one iota, that maybe with some decency, did he say, that he thinks that the advise and consent rule of the Constitution should be honored first, he didn't give a rats ass.........................

These same jerks, with the help of that ass**** Don McGahn, who in my opinion is an ass****, and is eyeballs deep in the crime of the century, and should be brought before the House investigation committees, for some answers, not the senate but the new Democratic majority house.

Because after all he got a serial sexual predator and drunk on the supreme court by withholding information, with the help from right wing fascist Federalist Society and the senate, where he McGahn is a member with flying right wing colors, that do not like the Constitution, no matter what Kelly Anne Conway's husband, or Tom Ridge say.............its all libertarian bull****................................

What make's everyone think, that whomever gets on the DOJ as the "new" AG will not shut this down.................we keep forgetting that the Deputy AG is suppose to move up to the AG, and the last time that this shenanigans was pulled in 1867, I think, the House brought articles of Impeachment...................because they thought it was illegal ......................



November 3, 2020 cannot get here fast enough

[ouija]

16. This stooge

Figured out it’s easier to firebomb from the outside on CNN but serious constraints regarding the destruction of the special council.

[Grasswire2]

17. Former FBI and prosecutors on MSNBC reminded us..

...that questioning can be VERY INTENSE when information is sought under oath.

[Just a Weirdo]

19. They can change it from Whitaker to Bozo the Clown

The changes still does nothing to fire Mueller.

[paleotn]

21. Doesn't matter

One of the first acts of the new House will be to pass legislation protecting Mueller and dare the Senate not to take it up. Shitler won’t sign it, but so what. The political point is already made. The only thing that could preempt this is Mueller releasing his report. Too bad rethugs. You’re no longer in control of this process.