... Trump’s legal team has reached an unsurprising decision: They don’t want him talking to Mueller, especially not under oath. The worst-case scenario is that Trump’s attorneys think he’s guilty of some Russia-related crime. But the [New York] Times suggests there’s a somewhat less damning explanation: They think the president of the United States is innocent, but incapable of telling the truth. “His lawyers are concerned that the president, who has a history of making false statements and contradicting himself, could be charged with lying to investigators,” the paper reports. [snip]
Aside from Trump’s well-documented penchant for lying, the president’s attorneys must also deal with the strong possibility that their client is not, like, really smart. According to the Times, he’s privately claimed he wouldn’t just survive an exchange with Mueller, he’d find a way to exonerate himself: “The president has bragged to some aides that he would be able to clear himself if he talked to Mr. Mueller’s team.”Beyond the obvious conclusion that most of us have already drawn about Rump's character and capacity, Josh Marshall at TPM says this amounts to Rump pleading the 5th Amendment. We think it's one of the safest bets you can make today that Rump will not be allowed to submit to an interview with Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Unless you're in the Rump Bubble, if it's not painfully obvious why by now, further shoes that will be dropping in the investigation will clarify the state of play further.
The ultimate problem lies with the spineless Republican party- before- country caucus (Michael Gerson calls it the dominant "lickspittle wing"), who are giving Rump plenty of leeway while laughably insisting they are exercising oversight. As long as Rump believes they have his back, he'll feel immune from any possible blowback from his words or actions, up to and including stopping the Mueller investigation in its tracks.
