President Trump: Making America Great Again...

[Commando]

Actually , a number of presidents have done exactly the sorts of things Trump has done. It's just that he blows through the halls of power like Rodney Dangerfield at the Caddyshack Country Club dance and it disgusts everyone and makes his stunts looks worse. But if you think that other presidents havent tried to influence FBI investigations, etc., I think you are kidding yourself.

Actually I think most presidents have had somewhat of an idea as to what the f*k they are doing.

[Northwestcoug]

So - you're saying that all of the speculation over and over again that Trump colluded with the Russians - and which Comey himself said was never under investigation because there was no evidence of it - is a bigger constitutional issue than Obama being from Kenya - which was also never a real investigation in spite of some people getting riled up over it.

Just to clarify - if Trump had really colluded with the Russians - then that would be a constitutional issue and a pretty big deal. Comey himself is saying it never happened, there's no evidence of it, and it's never been the subject of an investigation.

Just as - if Obama had been born in Kenya of non-citizen parents - that would be a constitutional issue and a pretty big deal. But there was no evidence of it and it never was the subject of a serious investigation.

You're arguing the wrong thing. The Comey hearing is first and foremost about potential obstruction of justice. How much did Trump lean on Comey to kill the Flynn investigation? The overall Russia question is a separate issue. It is not resolved yet, and I wouldn't be surprised in the least if Trump is clean of the worst charge; i.e. he personally colluded with Russia. However, there still is plenty of smoke about lesser connections between Russians and people connected with the Trump campaign. That still needs to be investigated.

The Kenya question was always a joke of a 'scandal'. It never rose to anything even coming close to obstruction of justice. So yeah, the Comey hearing is nowhere near as silly as the Kenyan thing.

[Blueintheface]

A countdown to Comey's testimony? Really? America is in the midst of a complete nervous breakdown and our elected officials are more concerned with retaining their seat rather than providing the therapy and medication the American people need. That this idiot hasn't already been removed from office further proves that indignation and apathy are not mutually exclusive in this country.

This is not going to end well and we have no one to blame but ourselves.

[Shaka]

A countdown to Comey's testimony? Really? America is in the midst of a complete nervous breakdown and our elected officials are more concerned with retaining their seat rather than providing the therapy and medication the American people need. That this idiot hasn't already been removed from office further proves that indignation and apathy are not mutually exclusive in this country.

This is not going to end well and we have no one to blame but ourselves.

How is it you think that Trump should have already been removed from office?

[Northwestcoug]

The statement from Trump's lawyer begins with this:

I am Marc Kasowitz, Predisent Trump's personal lawyer...

Other grammatical errors follow.

No doubt this is more eight-dimensional chess from Trump, sure to enrage the left and endear him to his base.

[Commando]

The statement from Trump's lawyer begins with this:



Other grammatical errors follow.

No doubt this is more eight-dimensional chess from Trump, sure to enrage the left and endear him to his base.

I can already script his worshippers' next lines: "WHAT A MAD GENIUS! PRESIDENT TRUMP IS PLAYING CHESS WHILE THE LIBTARDS ARE PLAYING CHECKERS! CHECK MATE, ASSHOLES!"

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

I enjoyed Comey saying that most of the media is basically making "fake news" then CNN, NYT and others start retracting stories. The only thing this has done is entrenched the Trump crowd deeper in. Hopefully we can get two good candidates in 2024, we are going to need it bigly.

[Crockett]

Maybe you don't, but that was a point Crockett tried to put forward and has been repeated in right circles over and over again, that Clinton rewarded Russia with a uranium deal.

Just because I have not joined in the Russia hysteria, false “collusion” narrative, and general Trump Derangement Syndrome, does not make me a Trump apologist. He says and does a lot of stuff I won’t defend. I am open to fact-based arguments.

I brought up Hillary and the Clinton Foundation for a couple of reasons: (1) Moliere already said it, but to help establish a baseline of what might be a normal level of interactions with Russians because it's genuinely hard to judge and (2) most of the press is going bananas about Russia, yet the Clinton Foundation’s unethical, at the least, and quite possibly corrupt activities got minimal coverage. We actually have a money trail of 10s of millions of dollars flowing from many foreign interests, including Russians, into the CF.

The Snopes piece defines the charge very narrowly and then rejects it. Yes, Hillary did not solely make a decision here, she was only one on a committee of decision-makers, but there were a range of activities even before this decision that show the Clintons and the State Department supporting and advocating on behalf of Uranium One and its predecessor companies. The CF corruption charges go far behind just this Russia deal, though. The CF pulled in hundreds of millions of dollars and only 6-15% of that went to charitable recipients. Why the hell did so many foreign interests “donate” millions of dollars if they did not expect something in return? (There are other examples of advocating for donors' interests besides the uranium, BTW.) Of course, they were seeking favors and/or influence. You’d have to be hopelessly naïve or willfully blind to conclude otherwise.

Also, a question, Frank: What did the Russians intentionally do that actually got Trump elected? Hack voting machines? What? Please be specific.

BTW, if Mueller uncovers things currently unknown that truly implicates Trump colluding with Russians, then I will go where the facts go and Trump would deservedly be impeached. I really don’t think that will happen, though, and there is no evidence out there right now. Comey even said today that there is and has been no investigation of Trump himself.

[Crockett]

My 19 year-old daughter, who is very woke and is on an environmental crusade after Trump pulled out of the Paris accord, is watching the Comey hearing. I can't imagine watching something like that when I was her age.

Oregon schools are good at turning out little SJWs.

[Crockett]

You're arguing the wrong thing. The Comey hearing is first and foremost about potential obstruction of justice. How much did Trump lean on Comey to kill the Flynn investigation?

Not as much as Loretta Lynch leaned on Comey to adopt the Hillary campaign's phrasing of the investigation.

[Northwestcoug]

Oregon schools are good at turning out little SJWs.

To be fair, I'm proud that she is as motivated as she is. Given enough time, I think she will be on the right side of history on this one.

Not as much as Loretta Lynch leaned on Comey to adopt the Hillary campaign's phrasing of the investigation.

Uh huh. I'm not sure I will trust the likes of Powerline blog to convince me that these are fundamentally different.

[Topper]

You're arguing the wrong thing. The Comey hearing is first and foremost about potential obstruction of justice. How much did Trump lean on Comey to kill the Flynn investigation? The overall Russia question is a separate issue.

I have not bothered to listen to the hearing, so I am making this advance disclosure.

There is a concept called "prosecutorial discretion" which states the superior of a prosecutor can't be guilty of obstruction of guilty by encouraging or discouraging prosecution of a case.
As Comey's boss, I don't see legally how Trump can be guilty of obstruction of justice, unless there is the component of corruption involved, i.e., paying Comey not to prosecute.

US Attorneys lean on their deputies all the time, to prosecute or not to prosecute, and the discouragement is not an obstruction of justice as a matter of law.

Further, if Compey believed Trump had committed a crime, it would be a criminal offense for Comey not to report it. Thus, his failure to report suggests Comey did not suspect Trump of having committed a crime.

What am I missing by not watching the circus show?

[Northwestcoug]

I have not bothered to listen to the hearing, so I am making this advance disclosure.

There is a concept called "prosecutorial discretion" which states the superior of a prosecutor can't be guilty of obstruction of guilty by encouraging or discouraging prosecution of a case.
As Comey's boss, I don't see legally how Trump can be guilty of obstruction of justice, unless there is the component of corruption involved, i.e., paying Comey not to prosecute.

US Attorneys lean on their deputies all the time, to prosecute or not to prosecute, and the discouragement is not an obstruction of justice as a matter of law.

Further, if Compey believed Trump had committed a crime, it would be a criminal offense for Comey not to report it. Thus, his failure to report suggests Comey did not suspect Trump of having committed a crime.

What am I missing by not watching the circus show?

I'm....going to bow out here. This is way over my head. And I can't comment on the circus show. I only listened to about 15 minutes of it on the radio.

[Crockett]

To be fair, I'm proud that she is as motivated as she is. Given enough time, I think she will be on the right side of history on this one.

That Trump has single-handedly killed the earth?

Uh huh. I'm not sure I will trust the likes of Powerline blog to convince me that these are fundamentally different.

Wut? Comey's words:

[Crockett]

So even Chris Matthews (!!!) nows says the collusion theory was blown apart by Comey's testimony today.