Trump’s Nightmare: Mueller to Testify Publicly on July 17th

Responding to a a subpoena, former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III will testify in open hearings of the House Judiciary and House Intelligence committees on July 17th. A notorious straight-arrow, he is not expected to divulge anything about his investivation of Russian involvment in the 2016 election and White House obstruction of justice that was not in his 448-page final report. That has not stopped President Trump from trash-talking him. Perhaps it is the thought of square-jawed Robert Mueller, decorated war hero, former Assistant Attorney General and FBI Director, testifying on television, in a Brooks Brothers suit, with all America watching, that is rattling our Reality TV President.

More:

“Robert Mueller to Testify to Congress, Setting Up a Political Spectacle,” Nicholas Fandos, New York Times

“Chad Pergram: Media coverage of Mueller testimony will be ‘off the Richter scale,'” Victor Garcia, Fox News

“Why do Democrats want to talk to Mueller if they know he won’t talk much?” Amber Phillips, Washington Post

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Image (“Trump’s Worst Nightmare”) by Mike Licht. Download copies here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com.

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Trump’s Worst Nightmare

President Trump agreed to allow Robert Mueller to testify before the House Judiciary Committee until he didn’t. What changed his mind? The thought of square-jawed Robert Mueller III, decorated war hero, former Assistant Attorney General and FBI Director, testifying on television, in a Brooks Brothers suit, with all America watching, and becoming an instant TV star. That would really rattle our Reality TV President.

More:

“Trump Doesn’t Want Mueller To Testify Because It’ll Get Media Coverage,” Nicole Lafond, TalkingPointsMemo

Related:

“House Republicans want Mueller to testify despite Trump opposition,” Kyle Cheney and John Bresnahan, Politico

“AG Bill Barr believes special counsel Robert Mueller should be allowed to testify,” Katherine Faulders and Mike Levine, ABC News

“Trump’s Opposition to Mueller Testimony Poses a Test for Barr,”Charlie Savage and Katie Benner, New York Times

“Trump ‘no conceivable basis to stop Mueller from testifying,’ according to legal experts,”Alex Henderson, Salon 

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Image (“Trump’s Worst Nightmare”) by Mike Licht. Download copies here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com.

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Sessions Stonewalls Senate. Again.

In an encore to his empty Intelligence Committee testimony back in June, Attorney General Jeff Sessions refused to answer questions put to him by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Clearly, Mr. Sessions believes he is Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, not the U.S. Attorney General.

More:

“What Jeff Sessions wouldn’t say was more revealing than what he did,” James Hohmann, Washington Post

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Summer Intern Speaks Outside White House

New Jersey youngster Jared Kushner spoke to White House reporters Monday, claiming credit towards his Citizenship Merit Badge. He’s a good boy, say his counselors.

Every summer well-connected, rich white American youths who can afford to work without pay descend upon the Nation’s Capital. They serve a vital function, staffing federal government offices while our elected officials are playing golf at their private clubs. Inevitably, the inexperienced and unsupervised young folks get into trouble. Everybody just shrugs.

More:

“Kushner’s damning account: At the very least, he’s in over his head,” Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post

“Jared Kushner’s explanations on Russia reveal a man wholly unsuited to his job,” Ed Pilkington, The Guardian

“CNN analyst rips Kushner’s statement to shreds: He’s going to solve the Middle East but can’t fill out forms,” Eric W, Dolan, Raw Story

“Jared Kushner Blames Basically Everyone — Donny, His Assistant, His Tough Job — For the Russia Headache,” Emily Jane Fox, Vanity Fair

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Jeff Sessions Stonewalls the Senate

On Tuesday, Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III appeared in front of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and defended his sacred honor by testifying to nothing. He did not exactly invoke executive privilege; he invoked the president’s right to invoke executive privilege at some unspecified later date. Mr. Sessions did this on the authority of the “historic policies of the Department of Justice” for which he could not cite written records, saying unnamed Justice Department career employees had told him there were such traditions. To be fair, during his long career Mr. Sessions has consistently championed historic policies, notably segregation.

For some reason, Democratic members of the Intelligence Committee were not keen on having a sworn witness in a congressional proceeding who refused to testify on unnamed grounds.

More:

“Sessions to Wyden in testy exchange: ‘I am not stonewalling,’” Devlin Barrett, Washington Post

“Sen. Kamala Harris leaves Sessions ‘nervous’ in interrogation over his refusal to disclose conversations with Trump,” Michael Finnegan, Los Angeles Times

“Dem Senator to Sessions: You’re ‘Impeding the Investigation,’” Daily Beast

“Explaining Executive Privilege and Sessions’s Refusal to Answer Questions,” Charlie Savage, New York Times

“Did Sessions and Trump conspire to obstruct justice?” Clark D. Cunningham, The Conversation

“Sessions could earn a ticket to the grand jury,” Mike Allen, Axios

 

Credibility: Comey Versus Trump

On June 8th, former FBI Director James Comey testified under oath before the Senate Intelligence Committee that President Trump asked him to end the FBI investigation of former White House advisor Michael Flynn’s Russian contacts.

Senator Martin Heinrich ( D – NM): “A lot of this comes down to who should we believe. Do you want to say anything as to why we should believe you?”

James Comey: “I think people should look at the whole body of my testimony because, as I used to say to juries when I talked about a witness, you can’t cherry-pick it. You can’t say ‘I like these things he said, but on this, he’s a dirty, rotten liar’. You can’t say, ‘I like these things he said but on this, he’s a [rot]ten liar’. You have to take it together.”

“… in looking at any witness, you look at consistency, track record, demeanor, record over time, that sort of thing.”

President Trump refuted Mr. Comey’s charges that he sought to impede the Flynn investigation, and offered to testify under oath about the matter. The last time Donald Trump offered sworn testimony, in 2007, he was forced to admit to lying 30 times.

Video clip: Fred Astaire and Jane Powell in Royal Wedding (1951). Music by Burton Lane, with lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. 

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Comey Testifies

Former FBI director James Comey testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee  at 10:00 AM Eastern Time today, Thursday, June 8th. The Intelligence Committee is investigating links between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign. Mr. Trump told Lester Holt of NBC News that he fired Mr. Comey to end the FBI’s criminal investigation of the same matter

Yesterday the committee released Mr. Comey’s prepared introductory remarks (highlights here). Today’s Q & A will be streamed live on PBS and many other platforms.

More:

“The Back Story on the 15 Senators Questioning Comey,” David Hawkings, Roll Call

“West Wing aides fearful of directly attacking Comey,”  Matthew Nussbaum, Josh Dawsey, Darren Samuelsohn, and Tara Palmeri, Politico

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Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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