Trump getting a lot of this. LoL, how predictable.
https://twitter.com/JarrettBellini/s...40140560322562

Joy Reid‏ Verified account
@JoyAnnReid

@CNN reporting Kasowitz is being "phased out" of the Trump legal team.
------------
Maggie Haberman‏ Verified account
@maggieNYT
Kasowitz is out in same way Gorelick is out - ie not gone but lesser role.

[As a practical matter, I'm not sure what this means. Does Kasowitz stay on email chains of team? Is he sought out for advice (when he doesn't really know the relevant law anyway, as it's not his area)? Does he respond to subpoenas, letters, write briefs? I suspect it means he's out and it's just a way for him to save face. Among other things, he probably could get security clearance due to drinking, as reported last week.]

I'm no expert on legalize but my reading is that the AG can just declare the complete is done "at any time". Maybe the special prosecutor has to submit a report to the AG, but the AG can just ignore it, right?

Most people say yes, but it's never been tested in court, so we don't know.

Didn't Ford pardon Nixon before any crime was officially charged?

Simplicitus, that seems to be referring to the independent council law that expired years ago. Based on the IC name and the reference to a court handling the twrmination. Mueller is a Special Council.

"the statute permitted the special division of the court—by its own choice or by the recommendation of the Attorney General" = the AG can "recommend" to the special division of the court (think it's 3 DC Circuit judges) to declare the investigation is complete, but it's for them to decide. It's not a loophole. Also, the "AG" in this context would be Rosenstein, as Sessions is recused.

Nope, it's a June 2017 Report from the Congressional Research service dealing with the current SC law.

To explain, the current SC law is actually a set of "regulations" that govern the office. Most "regulations" are enacted based on statutes passed by Congress, but they tend to be more specific, with operational details that give meaning to broader terms used in statutes. There are laws that govern how such regulations are made under the Administrative Procedure Act and other statutes, e.g., they are subject to notice and comment periods, etc.

Now, it may be that the current special counsel regulations are not actually enacted based on a statute (which lapsed) but from the Consitution itself, to specify the role of a special counsel in light of inherent conflicts from the executive branch investigating itself. Could the president, in theory, rescind the regulations? In theory, but the Executive branch cannot merely rescind regulations willy nilly. He would be stopped by the courts and, in any event, any attempt would absolutely force Congress to pass a new special counsel law.

[By the way, this whole thing will serve as the basis for Administrative Law exams in law schools for at least the next 15 years.]

Lol NYT telling Manny Fort to suck a Dick penis.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-med...request-240782

Man, if I received a "strongly worded letter" from Trumps'/Manafort's/Don Jr's lawyers, I would literally cut and past a "dickbutt" jpg in response.

Like, "In response to your letter of July 20, we would note that:



Govern yourself accordingly.

Very truly yours,

Simplicitus

Just read a cool tweet that said if Mueller is fired people need to become visible immediately. Like hundreds of thousands within minutes and millions within an hour (peaceful of course). Sounds like a good idea. How can something like this be coordinated?

lol

I love how National Review, where every article reads like a scolding from your granddad, finds no moral dimension to this. Is it good that's he firing Mueller? Bad? Fair? Corrupt? Can't really say. It certainly is "bold" though. ****ing cowards.

You can start by posting the tweet here so people can retweet.

Trump team seeks to control, block Mueller’s Russia investigation

On Monday, lawyer Ty Cobb, newly brought into the White House to handle responses to the Russian probe, convened a meeting with the president and his team of lawyers, according to two people briefed on the meeting. Cobb, who is not yet on the White House payroll, was described as attempting to instill some discipline in how the White House handles queries about the case. But Trump surprised many of his aides by speaking at length about the probe to the New York Times two days later.

lol

That spokesperson resigned last night.

And of course, there's a Trumpism for every situation.

Not good. Jared Kushner's appearance on Monday has strangely been changed from meeting with Senators to only meeting with staff. It's also now being called an "interview" instead of "testimony." WTF these people??

Note: Kushner quietly met with Graham yesterday to talk about immigration policy. Not adoptions, immigration this time. Why is he meeting with a Republican questioner anyway for any reason?

Just saw an exchange that made me chuckle. Surprisingly it was new to me.

Trumpkin/RusskBot: Trump is greatest POTUS. He created 1000s of jobs on his own.
Lib1: Name one.
Lib2: Robert Mueller.

I'm pretty sure you're conflating IC and SC here. The first few pages of that pdf go into a bit if detail discussing the lapse of the IC statute, and IC and SC are explicitly defined on the very next page. I'd be shocked if the use of "independent counsel" wasn't precise in your earlier quote, especially in a CRS report.

Mueller is a true Patriot. If they somehow fire him and it looks like things are being swept under the rug, the information will get out. Would not be surprised if some US attorneys or at least deputies will be getting some large Manila envelopes. Maybe even the press.

If firing Mueller doesn't move the needle and get the GOP Congress to impeach Trump then whatever leaked details Mueller passes around after the fact isn't going to bother them either.

You guys are imagining a GOPer's reaction to be something like?:

Mueller fired: well boy howdy I am sure am deeply concerned and troubled but we have to give the President the benefit of the doubt after he's now fired the acting Attorney General, the FBI Director and Special Counsel Mueller
Mueller leaks embarrassing stuff he found out: woah, now we gotta act

They'll probably just start fretting about leaks and how it's partisan witch hunting, leaking sordid details from an incomplete investigation. While deeply troubling, everyone is at fault, let's just carry on. And that's the BEST you can hope for. The hardcore partisans (e.g., all of them) are just going to ignore or it prosecute Lorreta Lynch or prattle on about Hillary's email servers.

If Mueller is fired, and Congress doesn't act then, the post hoc leaks aren't going to save anyone.

Dvaut, they don't know what Mueller has yet. Could be Trump's taxes, could be anyone involved. Could be murders, heart attacks, and suicides for all we know.

Trump DOES know what he's on the hook for though. Hence the (self)pardon talks and lawyer resignations/demotions.

You're correct, the quoted portion was discussing remove of an IC under the prior statute. Here's the discussion of the removal of SC's from p. 11:

I italicized "conflicts of interest" because Trump has raised the issue. In legal matters and investigations "conflicts of interest" is a well-defined phrase, as potential conflicts are not uncommon. The "conflicts" raised by Trump are nowhere near actual, legal conflicts of interest. And if there were an actual conflict of interest replacement of the SC with a new SC would be the remedy.

Regarding the legal authority for appointment of a SC:

Regarding the scope of the SCs inquiry, recently challenged by Trump:

If Trump fires Mueller then everyone should and probably assume the worst about what Mueller has. If Congress isn't convinced to act, some leaked confirmation of bad stuff isn't going to take down Trump. They'll just blame the leaks or express some insincere trouble. Haven't we seen this before? THIS TIME it would be different though, right?

If Trump fires Mueller and Congress does nothing, it's basically over and it's anyone's guess where bottom is from there, but the floor won't be restored by leaks from the now shuttered investigation. Those are going to get swatted away and ignored.