Sheila Markin is a former Assistant US Attorney. She helps people to understand in plain English what is going on in US politics today. Subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a post!
IF TRUMP FIRES MUELLER THIS IS NOT A FIRE DRILL. THIS IS THE FIRE. EVERYONE MUST GET OFF THE BENCH. CONTACT YOUR NEAREST INDIVISIBLE AND GET READY TO GET OUT AND MARCH, CALL AND PUSH BACK!!
If you look under a rock, you can find a lot of creepy things – worms, insects, cockroaches, ants, slugs…you name it. The Mueller investigation picked up the rock and they are finding a lot of creepy things, illegal things, and they are doing what they are tasked with doing, namely, following the trail of insects and bugs to find out the origin, what is going on and get to the truth of the matter.
Steve Schmidt had another useful analogy about what is happening with the Mueller investigation as it collides and interweaves with the Stormy Daniels matter and yesterday’s no-knock execution of search warrants by the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan. He says it’s as if a doctor starts off intending to do exploratory surgery and once he gets in there discovers that the body is riddled with cancer.
This is what is happening now with the investigation into Trump and his close buddies, including his “fixer”, Michael Cohen, his pals from the campaign with all their Russian connections with oligarchs, and many other shady, underworld-styled people who have invaded the leadership of our country, brought in by Mafia Don. Our president is basically a mafia style guy who has surrounded himself with sleazy people who have broken the law to get what they want in life. Cohen probably lied to the bank to get that second mortgage home loan from the bank when he allegedly decided to go rogue and dig up $130,000 to help out Donald Trump pay off a porn star who was lying about having an affair with him. That violation alone could result in a jail term of some 30 years. Do you think he told the bank the truth when they asked him what he would be using the money for? “To pay off a porn star who is threatening to tell the truth about Donald Trump.” Not likely. When you lift the rock on the underworld, you find a lot of creepy things there.
Let’s set the record straight here. What just happened that may well send us all headlong into the Constitutional Crisis we have been anticipating, is that Mueller found a cockroach under the rock and sent it over to the Southern District of New York’s US Attorney’s Office to investigate because the cockroach he found was not within his core mandate to investigate. This US Attorney, Geoffrey Berman, is a Trump appointee who also was a donor to the Trump campaign and formerly worked at Rudy Guiliani’s law firm. That was the office that carried out what Trump is erroneously claiming was a raid on his lawyer’s office. To be clear, the FBI carried out a no-knock search warrant which is a pretty big deal, especially on a lawyer and even more especially on the lawyer for the president of the United States. This does not happen every day. In fact, it never happens.
So why did it happen? First, there had to have been a very compelling reason for that search warrant and it had to pass muster up the chain from Rosenstein, to the federal magistrate who approved it. The underlying evidence that would permit the FBI to carry out this kind of no-knock execution of a search warrant had to be very specific and it had to show evidence of not only probable cause but a reason to believe that the evidence would be covered up or destroyed with if the search was conducted in a less intrusive manner. The FBI acted as they would if this was an investigation of the Mafia. For good reason. It is.
There is something very big in that search warrant in terms of evidence being sought and this likely involves the president as well as Cohen. We do not know the particulars yet, although we know that this is an investigation for bank fraud, wire fraud and violation of federal election laws. Records having to do with two women who alleged they had affairs with Trump were seized. We do not know the extent of the evidence that the FBI just got on Trump, but the president does because he is terrified about what just happened. Trump knows that if he cannot stop this information from coming out, he will be exposed in some way that is very very bad.
During the photo op meeting yesterday, that was supposed to be about Syria and how to retaliate for their assault on their own population with nerve gas, Trump went on an angry rant about how “They” “broke in” to his lawyer’s office, claimed it is a “witch hunt” and an “attack on our country”. And this afternoon he is saying that the Justice Dept has told him he has the power to fire Mueller.
Yesterday I wrote about a big storm heading our way. Given what we knew then, I predicted it would be coming in the summer. That was before the raid of Trump’s lawyer’s office and hotel. They seized Cohen’s cell phone right out of his hands. They took email records, and tax documents. I do not believe that this president is likely to hold back anymore. John Dowd is no longer there to placate him and tell him he should cooperate. Hope Hicks is not there to calm him down. There are no more adults in the Oval Office. And the Republicans have not stood up in any way shape or form to restrict Trump with legislation that would prevent him from firing Mueller.
If Trump fires Mueller the investigation is not going to go away. It is too late for that. More Americans believe Mueller than Trump. We are on the verge of a Constitutional crisis today if Trump carries out his threat to fire Mueller. If the Republicans let this happen, they need to know that the American people will rise up. Get ready to march if you care about this democracy. This is not a fire drill. This is the fire.
Trump Denounces F.B.I. Raid on His Lawyer’s Office as ‘Attack on Our Country’
The president mused about firing Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, and railed against Attorney General Jeff Sessions and other top law enforcement officials.
NYTIMES.COM