Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Trump Wanted DOJ To Prosecute Clinton, Comey



The outrages are almost coming too fast now (NYT paywall - no link):
President Trump told the White House counsel in the spring that he wanted to order the Justice Department to prosecute two of his political adversaries: his 2016 challenger, Hillary Clinton, and the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey, according to two people familiar with the conversation. 
The lawyer, Donald F. McGahn II, rebuffed the president, saying that he had no authority to order a prosecution. Mr. McGahn said that while he could request an investigation, that too could prompt accusations of abuse of power. To underscore his point, Mr. McGahn had White House lawyers write a memo for Mr. Trump warning that if he asked law enforcement to investigate his rivals, he could face a range of consequences, including possible impeachment. 
The encounter was one of the most blatant examples yet of how Mr. Trump views the typically independent Justice Department as a tool to be wielded against his political enemies. It took on additional significance in recent weeks when Mr. McGahn left the White House and Mr. Trump appointed a relatively inexperienced political loyalist, Matthew G. Whitaker, as the acting attorney general.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller spent a reported 30 hours interviewing McGahn;  it is inconceivable he doesn't have this information and hasn't added it to the bulging abuse of power/ obstruction of justice file of banana Republican moron Donald "Rump" Trump