This thread is about Trump. You didn't hear it from me. Trump cont

[Orlantina]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2927686-This-thread-is-fired-Terminated-Trump-cont

Only been 4 days since the last one.

Sadly, Yes. Unless Mattis can persuade him otherwise.

Josh Dawsey‏Verified account @jdawsey1 23m23 minutes ago
Spokespeople for Ryan and McCarthy denied this happened. Post told them they had audio. They changed their tunes! www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/house-majority-leader-to-colleagues-in-2016-i-think-putin-pays-trump/2017/05/17/515f6f8a-3aff-11e7-8854-21f359183e8c_story.html?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.60522a1112e7 …

CBS News‏Verified account @CBSNews 3m3 minutes ago
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MORE: FBI investigators who are currently on this case may stay on case, @PaulaReidCBS reports; Mueller to have discretion on who to use.

I agree, cozie. My sad was a sarcastic comment on the people out to defend Trump. They are getting desperate now.

Mueller sounds a good thing though I wonder if this signifies Trump is going to make a partisan appointment as FBI Director and needed to push the Russian enquiry sideways to get confirmation.

WP has a transcript.

apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/national/read-the-transcript-of-the-conversation-among-gop-leaders-obtained-by-the-post/2437/?tid=sm_tw

He was appointed by Rosenstein though? And he was T'd off with the WH.

Ari Melber‏Verified account @AriMelber now5 seconds ago
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Trump WH learned of this appointment after it was formally ordered by DOJ today, reports @PeterAlexander

Amy Siskind‏Verified account @Amy_Siskind 51s51 seconds ago
Special counsel Mueller also has experience with financial fraud and money laundering. pic.twitter.com/PSU5YwBToB

Evan Rosenfeld‏Verified account @Evan_Rosenfeld 2m2 minutes ago
Law enforcement officials to @NBCNews: both Flynn, Manafort formally considered "subjects" of criminal investigation nbcnews.to/2pXPjPB

Bruce Bartlett‏ @BruceBartlett 4m4 minutes ago
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Prediction--Republicans will demand that Mueller also look into Benghazi and Hillary's emails.

Peter Alexander‏Verified account @PeterAlexander 5m5 minutes ago
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NOW: Spotted leaving the SCIF in the Capitol after briefing congressional leadership: Acting FBI Director McCabe & Deputy AG Rosenstein.

Feinstein gives .Mueller her pretty wholehearted support.

Temp Mariners Fan‏ @nbeaudrot 10m10 minutes ago
(1) what are the odds Trump tries to fire Mueller?
(2) would Sessions refuse to?

He can't fire an independent, but can fire a special.

To lose one FBI Director etc etc..........

(Even though the second is a 'former')

CBS News‏Verified account @CBSNews 4m4 minutes ago
WATCH: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell makes no comment after Robert Mueller appointed special counsel by DOJ cbsn.ws/2qxQKpH pic.twitter.com/Dm31K4Q73l

Just catching up.

Seen the new "special counsel"

I'm waiting for Trump to make a serious error in courtesy when he doesn't like the nice food and asks for KFC.

It's a good thing he, supposedly, doesn't drink.

And even more frightening to think that means all his stupidity is sober.

Chris Geidner‏Verified account @chrisgeidner 6m6 minutes ago
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So, the special counsel HAS prosecutorial authority. However, the special counsel doesn't need to prosecute; he also can investigate.

I see, by the way, that 45 is to do a presser tomorrow? Questions and all.

Josh Kraushaar‏Verified account @HotlineJosh 23h23 hours ago
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Dana Bash now reporting Congressional Rs debating between supporting independent prosecutor or independent commission. Major development.

Seth Abramson‏Verified account @SethAbramson 7m
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(1) Special prosecutors are appointed if DOJ sees a conflict of interest in it continuing to pursue a given federal criminal investigation.

(2) This means SESSIONS is partly to blame for ROSENSTEIN appointing MUELLER. SESSIONS violated his "recusal" from the Russia investigation.

(3) There are many other conflicts of interest for the DOJ, namely that TRUMP is the boss of SESSIONS, and SESSIONS the boss of ROSENSTEIN.

(4) Broadly, though, Rod ROSENSTEIN so quickly appointing a Special Counsel on Russia suggests TRUMP is very much part of the investigation.

(5) The term "Special Counsel" is now preferred by DOJ; during Watergate it was "Special Prosecutor" and in the 1990s "Independent Counsel."

(6) The statute governing Special Counsels lapsed in 1999. There is currently no law on SCs, only an internal DOJ regulation about them.

(7) DOJ regs say a Special Counsel can only be fired for good cause, e.g. misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest.

(8) It's ROSENSTEIN who has the power to fire MUELLER, as AG SESSIONS claims (it seems falsely) he is recused from the Russia investigation.

(9) Could TRUMP fire MUELLER? The answer is: we don't know. We're in uncharted waters. But here's what would likely occur in that scenario:

(10) TRUMP would order SESSIONS to fire MUELLER. SESSIONS would have to decide whether to maintain his voluntary recusal from #Russiagate.

(11) If SESSIONS "unrecused" himselfsomething he has already done several times as to Russia, it now appearshe could then fire MUELLER.

(12) The political fallout from SESSIONS firing MUELLER, even with good cause shown, would be significant. It could lead to an impeachment.

(13) If SESSIONS stayed recused, he would pass the issue to ROSENSTEIN, who TRUMP would then ask to fire the man ROSENSTEIN himself hired.

(14) If ROSENSTEIN were to refuse to fire MUELLER, TRUMP could fire ROSENSTEIN and demand that any replacement for ROSENSTEIN fire MUELLER.

(15) This would be a situation identical to the "Saturday Night Massacre," when Nixon ordered a succession of his AGs to fire Archibald COX.

(16) Given that precedent, it's unlikely anyone at DOJ would be willing to fire MUELLER on the command of TRUMP, so MUELLER is here to stay.

(17) The exception to this would be if ROSENSTEIN found "good cause," without White House interference, to fire MUELLER. This WON'T happen.

Oh excellent. That is good news. He's been put out of Trump's reach.

CBS News‏Verified account @CBSNews 22m22 minutes ago
As special counsel, Mueller will be given civil service protections; won't be able to be removed by the president, @stevenportnoy reports. pic.twitter.com/neyEkaspOM

I'm sure he's been briefed by Rosenstein. And it's not as though he can be unaware of the general situation. This feels like an 'eyes wide open' appointment?

I need to come back in the morning having slept on this, but the thing I know about Flynn is that he is fanatically anti-Islam, and nothing is more important to him than that. He's more than happy to see the Russians as his best pals if they support his anti-Islamicism.

So this bit of the WaPo article is ringing bells for me:

"'There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,' McCarthy (R-Calif.) said, according to a recording of the June 15, 2016 exchange, which was listened to and verified by The Washington Post. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is a Californian Republican known in Congress as a fervent defender of Putin and Russia.
...
"Ken Grubbs, a spokesman for Rohrabacher, said the congressman has been a consistent advocate of 'working closer with the Russians to combat radical Islamism. The congressman doesn’t need to be paid to come to such a necessary conclusion.'"

Put that together with this bit from the same article:

"Before the conversation, McCarthy and Ryan had emerged from separate talks at the U.S. Capitol with Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, who had described a Kremlin tactic of financing populist politicians to undercut Eastern European democratic institutions."

It would also fit for another Kremlin tactic to be, to specifically feed the Islam-the-bogeyman story in order to drive US politicians directly into their own arms.

But I'm quite tired and can't tell if I'm babbling or stating the bleedin' obvious.

I wonder if we'll see any apologies or less hysteria once no ties to Russia are found.

I'm not going to hold my breath.