Things are coming to a head:
President Trump’s lawyer called on the Justice Department to immediately shut down the special counsel probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, in the wake of the firing of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
Attorney John Dowd said in a statement that the investigation, now led by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, was fatally flawed early on and “corrupted” by political bias. He called on Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who oversees that probe, to shut it down.
“I pray that Acting Attorney General Rosenstein will follow the brilliant and courageous example of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility and Attorney General Jeff Sessions and bring an end to alleged Russia Collusion investigation manufactured by McCabe’s boss James Comey based upon a fraudulent and corrupt Dossier,” Dowd said in an emailed statement.
Dowd told The Washington Post on Saturday he was speaking for himself and not on Trump’s behalf. Earlier Saturday, Dowd told the Daily Beast that he was speaking on behalf of the president and in his capacity as the president’s attorney. (After the Daily Beast published its story, Dowd emailed the publication and said he was not speaking on the president’s behalf.)
Firing McCabe solved nothing for the president and probably made things worse:
Andrew McCabe — the former FBI deputy director just fired by the attorney general — kept personal memos regarding President Donald Trump.
That’s according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation who wasn’t authorized to discuss the memos publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
This person says the memos are similar to the ones maintained by former FBI Director James Comey, who Trump fired last May.
Comey’s series of notes detailed interactions with Trump that Comey said unnerved him.
The person with knowledge of McCabe’s situation says McCabe’s memos include details of interactions with the president, among other topics.
It’s not immediately clear whether any of the McCabe memos have been turned over to special counsel Robert Mueller or requested by Mueller.
Meanwhile, James Comey has a book coming out and he’s talking some pregame smack:
Comey tweets Saturday: “Mr. President, the American people will hear my story very soon. And they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not.”
Comey has a book scheduled for release in April called “A Higher Loyalty.”
The president is like a badger caught in a burlap sack, lashing out with his claws in desperation, seeking any way he can think of to get out of his predicament.
He really could do almost anything at this point.
A badger will escape a burlap sack. Trump needs to be put in a steel container if you expect to be able to contain him.
AG
“Corrupted” — when Trump and his supporters say that, I’m reminded of Inigo Montoya responding to Vizzini when the latter exclaimed “Inconceivable!”
Anybody want a peanut?
“As you wish.”
Just a little side note, NV…
You seem to be able to successfully stop Succuri from rejecting YouTube embeds in comments. What code are you using?
Thanks…
AG
I’ll answer your question by quoting Don Durito.
I’ve typed out Don Durito’s code and saved it to a file. I then paste in the alphanumerosymbolic YouTube uses to identify videos to embed the right clip.
Thank you, Neon Vincent. I had gone to a successful YouTube post here and opened “Show page source” under my “Develop” area on Safari and seen this code, but I did not fully understand how to use it.
Can it also be used…or something like it…to post images that are available online?
Thanks again…
AG
No. What’s the matter with (pointed bracket)img src=”URL”(slash)(pointed bracket)?
Succuri sometimes rejects that. Dunno why. Sometimes not, also.
It could be because of my somewhat limited digital expertise as well, plus now that Dropbox no longer functions as an open source for images…and I have yet to find a reliable substitute…it’s just too time consuming to find good images that have a postable URL.
AG
Try Pinterest. Seriously. It works well as a photo hosting service, even if it’s not meant to be one.
Thanks. I will.
AG
. . . that is good and holy and, more importantly, for the continued readability of the recently far-less-cluttered-and-abused post-Succuri Trib, don’t tell him. Just don’t!
Thanking you in advance.
You are so predictable, oaguabonita!!! I actually considered writing this sort of complaint for you and posting it under my name, but…I figured you’d do it for me.
Thank you…
AG
Sorry, too late. I didn’t see your comment before I posted. Even if I had, I’d have still directed him to one of my diaries or Don Durito’s, where the information has already been posted. Besides, I like the idea of AG being indebted to one of his biggest critics (Don Durito, not me).
Reading your post I was again reminded how the Republican talking points keep getting repeated (without challenge) by the MSM. Example: quoting Dowd’s statement that the Russia investigation is “based upon a fraudulent and corrupt Dossier.” (Side note, the capital D now indicates that someone considers Dossier to be a proper noun in current usage — hmmm.) Of course, if anyone tried to point out all of the inconsistencies/lies/conflations of Republican talking points that are spewed every day, there would be little time for anything else.
Your last sentence is what keeps me awake some nights. An unhinged lunatic is president. Anything is possible.
McCabe’s firing crosses so many crooked lines. Not only is the timing poorly orchestrated but it is certainly a disproportionate punishment. Sessions, who was ‘not forthright’ in a Senate hearing while he was under oath and was given a do over then turns to McCabe and denies him any opportunity for clarification.
Remembering the infamous John Woo and the charges laid against him, his torture memos and more and how he was allowed to defend his actions.
And while I am still horrified by the way Comey, McCabe and the FBI interceded into the election that doesn’t make this firing sit any better.
Clearly, this is an act of vengence by a President who has his claws out.
Before he can shut it down he has to fire Rosenstein and that means either Sessions does it or he fires ole’ Jeff first and appoints, Oh I don’t know, how about Bolton to do the deed. But Jeff is fast becoming his go to guy. Mueller is prolly preparing to go fishing anytime now. And then what? Does this all go down a black hole and all those indictments become null and void?
The ugliness of Fat Donnie is beyond words. And he still manages to keep his supporters.
The “conventional wisdom” (such as it is) is that Trump fires our Neo-Confederate AG and then brings in Pruitt, who is a “lawyer” and already confirmed by the Senate as Acting AG. That scumbag then fires Rosenstein and then fires Mueller.
Of course, that does nothing because a Grand Jury is in place and they will continue to function. (You can bet, Mueller has long since loaded up the batting order so they will continue to function.)
If I was Pruitt, and thank Dog I am not, I wouldn’t touch this poisoned chalice with a 10 foot pole but Pruitt is such a slime ball, he might go for it.
Trump is flailing, that’s clear. He doesn’t have a lot of actual viable options and he’s not going to be able to execute a coup d’etat to save his sorry ass.
There are at least two grand juries.
Manafort has been indicted in both DC and Virginia, has trials scheduled in both.
Conventional wisdom be damned, I think Sessions is da man. He proved himself to the Trump man. He fires Rosenstein and hires the scum bag what fires Mueller. But no matter the gun is loaded either way. Russian investigation crashes and burns. Hope I’m wrong about the last part. Fun times coming and popcorn ready.
It does feel like the wheels are coming off. Did ya hear that Don Jr.’s wife not only has a divorce atty but also hired a criminal defense atty. Also the donald has hired the Gawker atty to fight the porn star….has he thrown Cohen off the bus?
Cohen can’t fight it because he’s a party to Daniels’ lawsuit. As well he should be since he ridiculously claimed he was giving her money essentially just because and out of his own pocket.
Even before the McCabe firing, I thought that things were coming to a head. Perhaps the UK poisonings have sped up the timeline?
In his desperation Trump may have kicked over yet another hornet’s nest with his vindictive firing of McCabe. I don’t believe the MSM prediction that the move will strike fear in the rank and file, instead it will likely embolden the FBI to go even harder to bag this clown.
And even though there is probably no scenario in which the GOP pulls the plug on this disastrous presidency, one thing we learned from the PA-18 election is that the Scared Stupid part deux show is starting to wear thin on previous Trump voters.
Ending sentence for the first chapter of a bad, young adult dystopian fiction book we are living in.
I think of it as ‘the great derangement’; which I think is the title of a book.
Yes, it is book title but it’s about climate change not Trump (at least not directly). http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/G/bo22265507.html
It’s a fabulous, highly readable book and everyone should read it. Seriously, it’s about our future as humans and, as I have said, it’s a very accessible read; no need to have a PhD.
Republicans in the House and Senate are really between a rock and a hard place. With such an ignorant jackass in the presidency there’s no place to run or hide. They can’t turn on him without destroying themselves and they can’t support him without destroying themselves. At least in the short term, it’s checkmate. Then they have to wait and take advantage of the American People’s 5 second attention span to hit the reset button and start tossing out the same old bullshit again.
You can’t allude to Hunter Thompson without quoting him.
Perhaps an even better quote later:
If only HST were alive today. Oh, what he might have written.
On those rare occasions when I can stomach watching Trump speak, I can’t help but wonder if this is what happens when someone takes the world’s largest dump and that steaming pile of feces just happens to be capable of speaking. Whatever it is, it should be dumped into the nearest septic tank.
I was in Orange County the day of Nixon’s funeral. From the moment the casket was unloaded until the funeral was over, a raging thunderstorm hit the area. Southern California was not known for thunderstorms then, and it happened during a month when rain normally didn’t fall. As soon as the funeral was over, the storm ended. The experience struck me as somewhere between awe-inspiring and very creepy.
This is a whopper of a good point.
https:/www.justsecurity.org/54037/sessions-firing-mccabe-violated-promise-recuse
Fortunately, we can count on the Republicans in Congress to rein in his excesses should he well and truly melt down. Country first, you understand.