Trump's Assault On The Constitution And Laws Intensifies

Two stories today to point to that demonstrate the willingness of would- be autocrat Donald "Rump" Trump and his party of hyenas to trample on the Constitution and on a law of the land (our emphasis throughout).

Congress "Has No Standing" To Investigate Trump

The White House’s top lawyer told the House Judiciary Committee chairman Wednesday that Congress has no right to a “do-over” of the special counsel’s investigation of President Trump and refused a broad demand for records and testimony from dozens of current and former White House staff.

White House Counsel Pat Cipollone’s letter to committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) constitutes a sweeping rejection — not just of Nadler’s request for White House records, but of Congress’s standing to investigate Trump for possible obstruction of justice. In his letter, Cipollone repeated a claim the White House and Trump’s business have begun making: that Congress is not a law enforcement body and does not have a legitimate purpose to investigate the questions it is pursuing. 

The Sabotage of the Affordable Care Act Continues

The Sunlight Foundation is a non-profit dedicated to keeping government transparent and accountable, and this report is part of its Web Integrity Project, which tracks government websites. This study has "documented 26 instances of ACA censorship—including excised words, removed links, altered paragraphs, and removed pages—on HHS websites." Furthermore, it reports, this "may represent only a small sample of the censorship that has occurred since President Trump took office." The censorship is widespread, with information that was intended for the general public, for prospective customers, for beneficiaries, and for providers and insurers all removed. That includes HHS having "surgically removed the term ‘Affordable Care Act’ from many webpages; taken down information on rights guaranteed under the ACA; eliminated statistics and data on the ACA's impact; and removed links to the federal government's main platform for enrolling in ACA coverage, HealthCare.gov."

The deletions, tracked with the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine on pages monitored by Sunlight, seem intended to make it much harder for people to find out about eligibility for ACA coverage, how to sign up, and what benefits are available. More troubling, Sunlight says, the information that has been systematically removed is particularly relevant to women and to people of color, as well as to LGBTQ people and people with mental illness—in other words, the most underserved communities, and those who've gained the most through Obamacare.

 As we and others are saying, the lights aren't flashing yellow any more; they're on red.

Hundreds Of Former Prosecutors: We'd Have Prosecuted Trump For Obstruction

Here's a slice from the statement signed by 439 (and growing by the hour) former Federal prosecutors concerning just the obstruction of justice portion of the redacted Mueller report:

Each of us believes that the conduct of President Trump described in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report would, in the case of any other person not covered by the Office of Legal Counsel policy against indicting a sitting President, result in multiple felony charges for obstruction of justice. [snip]

We emphasize that these are not matters of close professional judgment. Of course, there are potential defenses or arguments that could be raised in response to an indictment of the nature we describe here. In our system, every accused person is presumed innocent and it is always the government’s burden to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. But, to look at these facts and say that a prosecutor could not probably sustain a conviction for obstruction of justice — the standard set out in Principles of Federal Prosecution — runs counter to logic and our experience.

As former federal prosecutors, we recognize that prosecuting obstruction of justice cases is critical because unchecked obstruction — which allows intentional interference with criminal investigations to go unpunished — puts our whole system of justice at risk. We believe strongly that, but for the OLC memo, the overwhelming weight of professional judgment would come down in favor of prosecution for the conduct outlined in the Mueller Report.

Confirming what we already knew, but in numbers that have to be taken seriously by Congress, the courts, and the media.  Maybe.

Signs Of Pushback On Trump's Declassification Order?

We'll take any indication that the law enforcement and intelligence communities are standing up for the rule of law, for protecting the on- going Trump- Russia investigation and for national security interests as rays of light in this dystopian, criminal regime:

President Donald Trump has demanded the “immediate declassification” of sensitive materials about the Russia investigation, but the agencies responsible are expected to propose redactions that would keep some information secret, according to three people familiar with the matter. 

The Justice Department, FBI and Office of the Director of National Intelligence are going through a methodical review and can’t offer a timeline for finishing, said the people, who weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the sensitive matter. [snip]

The Justice Department and FBI are expected to submit their documents and proposed redactions to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which will assemble all the material into a package and hand it over to the White House, according to the people. 

While the agencies want to guard against revealing classified sources and methods about the ongoing Russia investigation, doing so could put them in direct conflict with Trump, who as president has the power to override the agencies and declassify material on his own. 

Slow- walking, then proffering documents that are still partially redacted seems to be, according to this report, the operating strategy to postpone the reckoning that would result from allowing Putin asset Donald "Rump" Trump and his band of co- conspirators in the Republican Congress unprecedented access to sensitive, probably self- incriminating investigatory materials, only to make mischief with cherry- picked information as they have tried in the past.  One hopes the slow- walking is intended to get past the mid- term elections, so that Republicans can't use cherry- picked snippets in their deflecting fog machine. We'll wait to see what actually materializes, and then what the reaction is from Rump and his Republican Congressional lickspitttles before speculating further.

Desperate Times ...

Desperate measures:

On Monday, Donald Trump ordered the FBI to immediately declassify a number of documents related to procurement of the FISA warrant against Trump adviser Carter Page. Trump has also ordered the release of transcripts from FBI interviews with Justice Department official Bruce Ohr. And Trump has ordered the FBI to publically produce all text messages related to the Russia investigation from Ohr, FBI director James Comey, deputy director Andrew McCabe, special agent Peter Szrok, FBI attorney Lisa Page. This is being done for the express purpose of undermining the Russia investigation.
We have been here before. This effort is the direct follow-on of the Republican 

Congressman Devin Nunes’ “release the memo” memo, and of earlier documents which Trump declassified in July. Those earlier releases were done over the objection of both the FBI and DOJ who warned that in releasing the information, Trump was threatening both sources and methods of the agencies and damaging an ongoing investigation. With this order, Trump has made it blindingly clear that the intent of his actions is just that: Damage the FBI, demean the DOJ, out sources, reveal methods, and attempt to cripple the Russia investigation … and, of course, any other investigation that gets in the way. (our emphasis)

With attention focused on the Kavanaugh debacle and the prosecutorial walls closing in on Putin asset Donald "Rump" Trump (a.k.a., "Agent Orange"), it was time to pull out all the stops and inject more self- serving poison into the American political bloodstream. As one example of the duplicity at work here, the Carter Page FISA warrant issued in October 2016 was never the catalyst for the FBI's undertaking its counterintelligence probe, as Agent Orange and his dutiful, lying lackey Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Kremlin) would have people believe.  It was the babbling of Agent Orange advisor George Papadopoulos to Australian official Alexander Downer in May 2016, and Downer's subsequent tipping off American intelligence to Papadopoulous's inside knowledge that the Russians were in possession of Hillary Clinton emails.  Moreover, the judges who signed off on the four FISA warrants were all Republicans -- not "angry Democrats".  (For background, Lawfare unpacked the meaning of the original, redacted Page FISA warrants back in July.)  The text messages and other documents related to the early days of the investigation will also be deceitfully cherry- picked to put Agent Orange and his co- conspirators in the best light, while dangerously compromising sources and methods.

As the documents are un- redacted, a monumental effort to change the narrative will be engaged in by Nunes and his corrupt cronies, the right- wing noise machine and, of course, Agent Orange working those tiny twitter digits.  Exposing and countering this barrage of bullshit will be a test of the "democracy dies in darkness" posturing of the non- Republican media:  will they have the courage and sense to cut through to the truth or will they allow the liars and traitors to continue to undercut democratic institutions and the on- going investigations?  It will also be a test of the Department of Justice and FBI, as Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) notes:

President Trump has intervened again in a pending investigation by ordering the selective disclosure of classified materials he believes to be helpful to his defense. The DOJ and FBI have previously informed me that release of some of this information would cross a “red line.”

— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) September 18, 2018

So, if these slugs are allowed to release bowdlerized information on the Trump- Russia scandal less than 60 days before an election, isn't it fair game for the Mueller team and Southern District of New York to feel free to drop some indictments now too?

BONUS: Agent Orange may have put himself in legal jeopardy again by declassifying the documents and exposing himself to a violation of the Privacy Act.

BONUS II:  Marcy Wheeler on the distorted view Agent Orange and his co- conspirators want to present.

Corrupt Intent In One Tweet

Over the past 18 months, we've heard former prosecutors and lawyers using the term "obstruction of justice" usually in reference to something that unhinged con man and co-conspirator Donald "Rump" Trump has done, said or tweeted. They almost always clarify that to prove obstruction, you have to show "corrupt intent" on the part of the perpetrator. That is, in lawyerly terms,

"...they must not only have the specific intent to obstruct the proceeding, but the person must know (1) that a proceeding was actually pending at the time; and (2) there must be a nexus between the defendant’s endeavor to obstruct justice and the proceeding, and the defendant must have knowledge of this nexus."

Rump's demonstration of "corrupt intent" toward the multiple investigations of him and others vary from ambiguous to blatant. Case in point was his twit-rage against the Justice Department and his Confederate States Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions regarding the indictments of two of his political allies, disgraced Representatives Chris "Insider Trading" Collins and Duncan "My Wife's The Guilty One" Hunter:

Two long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department. Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff......

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2018

Rump is signaling that he wants the Justice Department to defend him and his Congressional supporters (who would be important in impeachment proceedings), and conversely to punish his political enemies. More importantly, from the obstruction standpoint, he knows of the proceedings against the two "very popular" Congressmen, and that there is a nexus between what he's tweeting and the ongoing judicial process for the two (the "Mid-Terms" are coming). He's undermining the prosecutions of these two Rethuglican crooks, and he's poisoning the jury pool that will sit in judgement of them, likely in their solid Rethuglican districts.

We hope and trust that this can and will be used as yet another obstruction of justice exhibit either by the Special Counsel, another prosecutorial entity, or Congress if and when it produces articles of impeachment.

BONUS: Former U.S. Attorney and CNN analyst Jeffrey Toobin calls this incident an "impeachable offense."

Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links provided for the full articles.

Jeff Greenfield on the murder of Robert F. Kennedy, 50 years ago:

To see him at the podium claiming victory in the crucial California primary, jokingly thanking his dog Freckles, passionately hopeful that the divided country could come together, flashing a peace sign as he exhorts: ‘So it’s on to Chicago and let’s win there!” Knowing what is to come a moment later, it is hard not to assume that it was only Sirhan Sirhan’s bullets that kept Robert Kennedy out of the White House.

Sam Fullwood summarizes yet another study about how the dehumanizing rhetoric of sociopath Donald "Rump" Trump is "awakening and emboldening" his nativist, anti- democratic base, and the long- term threat that poses:

The most recent such study comes from political scientists Steven V. Miller at Clemson University and Nicholas T. Davis at Texas A&M University.  Their working paper – “White Outgroup Intolerance and Declining Support for American Democracy” – fires a warning shot to signal a budding threat to the nation. Miller and Davis collected and compared polling data compiled between 1995 and 2011 by the World Values Survey and discovered an escalating impulse among some white Americans to embrace “an unwillingness to associate or fraternize with individuals whose cultural, racial, or religious ideas or ways differ” from their own. They identified such attitudes as “socially intolerant,” which they also found to correlate with a willingness to sacrifice democratic notions, such as political compromise or respect for minority rights, if such principles conflicted with their selfish interests.  (our emphasis)

As Rump's minions frantically spin their inane thoughts about presidential powers and immunity, their notion that a president can't obstruct justice would have a hard time passing a smell test given this precedent:

Sitting GOP senators who voted to toss President Clinton from office for obstruction of justice:
BLUNT
BURR
CRAPO
ENZI
GRASSLEY
GRAHAM
HATCH
INHOFE
MCCAIN
MCCONNELL
MORAN
PORTMAN
ROBERTS
SHELBY
THUNE
WICKER
***
SESSIONS also voted to remove Clinton for obstruction.

— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) June 3, 2018

There are primaries tomorrow in multiple States, including a problematic "jungle primary" in California:

There are primaries in five states Tuesday: California, New Jersey, Iowa, Montana, and New Mexico. 

California will likely be the most closely watched state. With seven Republican-held districts that Hillary Clinton won in 2016, the state is an integral part of Democrats’ path to regaining control of the House in November. 

But the states is also home to the chaotic “top two” primary system — in which all candidates of all parties compete against each other, with only the first- and second-place finishers advancing to the general election. It’s high stakes for Democrats, who legitimately fear losing out to Republicans because of the crowded field of Democratic candidates in many contests.

California should have done something about its primary system before now. We'll see if that omission will cause Democrats to miss an opportunity to pick up vulnerable Republican seats.

Man Baby Trump not like mean Frenchie boyfriend criticizing him!

A call between President Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron last week that focused on trade and immigration went badly and saw Macron be highly critical of Trump’s policies, two sources familiar with the call told CNN. 

"Just bad. It was terrible," one of the sources told CNN. "Macron thought he would be able to speak his mind, based on the relationship. But Trump can't handle being criticized like that."

Meanwhile, the Trumpy U.S. Ambassador to Germany (and ex- internet troll) wants to facilitate the spread of Trumpism far and wide in Europe:

Germany has asked the U.S. government to clarify remarks by President Donald Trump’s new ambassador to Berlin after he told a right-wing website he wanted to empower “other conservatives” in Europe. 

The comments from Richard Grenell, a former U.S. spokesman at the United Nations and outspoken defender of Trump, drew criticism from politicians across the German political spectrum, who cautioned him against meddling in domestic politics.

There's some diplomatic tact for you right there! Meddling in another country's domestic politics -- sounds Putin- esque.

Finally, we once again recommend the excellent link round- up provided by Infidel 753, containing "Various interesting stuff I ran across on the net over the last week."

Wow! That's Not A BOMBSHELL, Cadet Bone Spurs (And You Know It)

The evermore desperate compulsion of un- indicted co- conspirator and Putin asset Donald "Rump" Trump to distract and discredit revealed itself again today.  Playing off a piece of agitprop from water carrier Ed Henry at Fox "News," Cadet Bone Spurs thought he 'sploded the latest BOMBSHELL! that would lead to his total vindication!

Wow! -Senator Mark Warner got caught having extensive contact with a lobbyist for a Russian oligarch. Warner did not want a “paper trail” on a “private” meeting (in London) he requested with Steele of fraudulent Dossier fame. All tied into Crooked Hillary.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2018

Not so fast, nitwit!  You need to stop playing with those dud BOMBSHELLS!

You see, several hours earlier, none other than Republican Sen. Marco "Glug Glug" Rubio (R- Ambition) had already 'sploded the BOMBSHELL! right back in Fox's and Cadet Bone Spurs' faces:

Sen.Warner fully disclosed this to the committee four months ago.Has had zero impact on our work. https://t.co/bnmI2Thedt #FoxNews

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 9, 2018

Not to be outdone, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) and Sen. Warner also issued a joint statement popping the latest distraction balloon (but not until the original BOMBSHELL! distraction was making all the headlines in the right- wing media bubble).  Via TPM:

“From the beginning of our investigation, we have taken each step in a bipartisan way, and we intend to continue to do so. Leaks of incomplete information out of context by anyone, inside or outside our committee, are unacceptable,” Burr and Warner said in the statement. “The Senate Intelligence Committee has been in possession of this material for several months. The full committee has had access to the material and been brief on its content, and committee investigators have pursued all relevant investigative leads related to this material.”

Three things:  investigation- obsessed Cadet Bone Spurs basically has "consciousness of guilt" tattooed on his forehead at this point;  second, the vast majority of the right- wing media (Fox "News," Washington Times, The Blaze and all the other lickspittle fauna in that hothouse of treason, bigotry and stupidity) are going to actively follow this utterly compromised, unfit, authoritarian nitwit down whatever rabbit hole in which he decides to take refuge; and third, there may be enough Republicans -- especially on the Senate committees -- who have been privy to enough classified material to keep them from embracing Cadet Bone Spurs and his increasingly transparent efforts to stop the investigations.

Wisconsin's Cheesehead Senator Fails At Obstruction (Again)

Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron "Small" Johnson has a well- deserved reputation as one of the least bright members of the Senate (and that's not a high bar). He has a long history of dirt dumb lies -- high on partisanship and low on IQ. It's to Wisconsin's everlasting shame that this lump has been elected to two terms (over the lamented Russ Feingold -- WTF?!).

Lately, Johnson has been doing his best Devin "Sherlock" Nunes impression as head of the Senate's Homeland Trump Security Committee. Back in January, he was trying to abet the Trump regime's efforts to undercut the FBI by claiming there was a "secret society" out to git Cadet Bone Spurs. That tinfoil hat fever dream -- based on a cherry- picked text of emails between two FBI agents engaged in an affair -- blew up in Johnson's face in less than 48 hours when the term was revealed to be a joke. One would think such an ignominious fail would chasten this numbnut (and one would be wrong):

Nevertheless, he persisted. And on Wednesday, Johnson published a 25-page report, analyzing the harrowing implications of a larger body of text messages between the aforementioned FBI employees — (now former) investigative agent Peter Strzok and bureau lawyer Lisa Page. [snip] 

One of the report’s biggest “bombshells” was an exchange in which Page and Strzok discussed talking points for then–FBI director James Comey to share with Barack Obama. “Potus wants to know everything we’re doing,” Page wrote. 

Johnson concluded that this message raised troubling questions about “the type and extent of President Obama’s personal involvement” in the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email server...

It was left to that liberal bastion "The Wall Street Journal" (!) to blow that flim flam out of the water in less time than it takes to say, "Ron Johnson has the brains and ethics of a slab of Wisconsin cheese."

[A]ssociates of Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page said that exchange referred to the president’s wanting information on Russia election meddling, which the FBI was heavily involved in over that period. That exchange occurred just days before Mr. Obama met Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in China. Mr. Obama said in December 2016 that he had addressed the issue of tampering with the election process with Mr. Putin at that September meeting. 

In August and September 2016, the FBI was no longer actively investigating the Clinton matter, after Mr. Comey had said that July that he was recommending no criminal charges be filed.  (our emphasis)

So as we wait for the next effort from Johnson to undermine confidence in the FBI and Special Counsel Mueller's investigation in service to Cadet Bone Spurs, remember that Johnson and Nunes are just the front men for Republican rot.  Their many colleagues who willfully shield and enable their treasonous and morally bankrupt Leader rather than uphold their oaths to "support and defend the Constitution" are just as emblematic of a party that is only concerned with holding onto power and not with our country's values and democratic institutions.

BONUS:  Jeet Heer at The New Republic on the Republican rot.

(Photo: Nothing going on in there.)

53 Percent Think Trump Has Tried To Obstruct Or Derail Mueller Probe

A 53-41 percent majority of Americans have rightly seen un- indicted co- conspirator Donald "Rump" Trump's blatant attempts to discredit, obstruct or derail the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller according to a recent Quinnipiac poll.  The fact that, while it's a majority opinion, the percentage seeing what's obvious isn't much higher can likely be seen as the result of the furious disinformation campaign being waged by Rump, his Congressional lickspittles, and the Fox "News" media. Those numbers basically represent the low information/ "tribal Republican" portion of the population that continues to give Rump good approval ratings.

But despite the disinformation campaign by the Trumpists, and the false equivalence he said/ she said reporting by many in the distrusted "mainstream media," some important numbers haven't changed in the past 12 months:

American voters approve 48 - 36 percent of the way the FBI is handling its job, compared to 46 - 38 percent in a January 13, 2017, Quinnipiac University Poll. 

The FBI is not biased against Trump, voters say 55 - 33 percent.  

"Special Counsel Robert Mueller is not out to get President Donald Trump, American voters say, but they do feel the president is out to get Mueller," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. "And almost half of voters think Republicans in Congress are trying to obstruct the Russian investigation.  

"Despite the beating they've taken from the White House, the judiciary and the intelligence communities are considered a lot more trustworthy than the Oval Office and the Fourth Estate."

 You can fool some of the people all of the time....

Trump's Setting The Stage (Cont.)

We hear this morning from the Very Stable Genius who is definitely not setting the stage for a coup against the Justice Department and FBI based on the treasonous Nunes nothingburger memo:

This memo totally vindicates “Trump” in probe. But the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on. Their was no Collusion and there was no Obstruction (the word now used because, after one year of looking endlessly and finding NOTHING, collusion is dead). This is an American disgrace!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2018

Manafort/ Gates/ Flynn/ Papadopoulos = NOTHING!

Also, "their"... Dimbulb Despot.

Tweets Of The Day -- Nunes' "Fart In A Hurricane"

Sometimes, you have to yield the floor to Republicans.

That’s it? Dishonest and misleading memo wrecked the House intel committee, destroyed trust with Intelligence Community, damaged relationship with FISA court, and inexcusably exposed classified investigation of an American citizen. For what? DOJ & FBI must keep doing their jobs.

— James Comey (@Comey) February 2, 2018

The latest attacks on the FBI and Department of Justice serve no American interests – no party’s, no president’s, only Putin’s. https://t.co/6dsbcBIla6

— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) February 2, 2018

Nunes fizzle underscores the point: You can both seek to obstruct and be an idiot. You intend to harm investigators but you're too dumb to see what you have is unhelpful

— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) February 2, 2018

Trump says re memo: “What’s happening in this country is a disgrace. A lot of people should be ashamed.” Agree. Donald Trump should be ashamed. Devin Nunes should be ashamed. And every Republican looking the other way on this partisan attack on law enforcement should be ashamed.

— Ana Navarro (@ananavarro) February 2, 2018

So now I know what a Nothingburger tastes like: https://t.co/zwdPdXNvl7

— Bret Stephens (@BretStephensNYT) February 2, 2018

The FISA warrant was a decision made by a judge.
Nunes in attacking it just makes himself look like a Putin stooge.
The rest of us couldn’t give a hoot about his memo. We’re waiting to hear from Mueller.

Disputed GOP-Nunes memo released @CNNPolitics https://t.co/veNSaC7uaF

— Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) February 2, 2018

MAGA world yesterday: "ZOMG this is bigger than Watergate! It will end the Mueller witch hunt and put Obama, Hillary, and Steele in jail. God-Emperor Trump will rule for 1000 years!"

MAGA world today: pic.twitter.com/7wLIfA3asB

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) February 2, 2018

When a national security professional, current or retired, sounds the alarm over a political candidate’s apparent cooperation with a Kremlin attack on our democracy, that’s not “bias,” it’s patriotism and duty.

— Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) February 2, 2018

And finally we hear again from the bard inside Rick Wilson:

Nunes and his little friends
Vowed to bring the pain
But Devin's memo whiffed today
Like a fart in a hurricane

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) February 2, 2018

BONUS: Check out these hilarious reactions in GIF form.

BONUS II:  It's also sparked a trending Twitter hashtag,  #YoMemoJokes.

Trump's Recklessness Threatens Allies... And Us

As Trumpists attempt to undermine the investigation by Robert Mueller into Putin loyalist and justice obstructor Donald "Rump" Trump with the Nunes memo, our major ally, the UK, is warning that the misleading and cherry-picked statements in the memo could compromise its intelligence gathering. The memo falsely alleges that raw intelligence gathered by former British intelligence official Christopher Steele formed the entire basis for a FISA warrant to wiretap Rump Russian advisor Carter "The Idiot" Page. The intelligence officials indicated that in the future, they would be less likely to share intelligence with the U.S. as a result.

Flash back to last year. The day after Rump fired former FBI Director James Comey, he bragged to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in the Oval Office not only about taking pressure off the Russian election meddling investigation, but about some top secret intelligence involving Israeli operations to undermine ISIS. The Israeli intelligence community was understandably outraged by the breach of trust with an ally of its enemy Iran. New reporting by Israeli investigative journalist Ronen Bergman indicates that intelligence breach was even worse than originally reported.

As our allies see that an ignorant and reckless man-baby has no hesitation to use classified information they've shared with us to puff up his ego or to create confusion over his potentially treasonous relationship with Moscow, they will pull away from us, and make us far less safe.

BONUS:  Andrew Cohen has one of the many good reads about this. A snippet:

...[T]here is nothing frivolous politically or morally about the publication of the Nunes memo, which I believe is the manifestation of a chilling conspiracy between the White House and its most supine supporters on Capitol Hill to aid the Russians and undermine the nation’s law enforcement and intelligence apparatus. We already knew before it was released that the memo is not the whole truth. It can’t be. We already knew that it isn’t a version of any truth worth relying on since we don’t know what we don’t know about the intelligence behind it. One could summarize the Bible and turn it into an ode to the Devil himself, right? [snip] 

The big winner in all of this, of course, is Vladimir Putin. What a week for him! On Monday, his man in Washington, Donald Trump, refused to impose those sanctions Congress voted overwhelmingly to impose on the Russians as punishment for their interference in our elections. And today the White House and Congressional Republicans made this reckless move to undermine the credibility of America’s intelligence and law enforcement communities. As Sen. John McCain, the ailing Republican from Arizona just put it, “if we continue to undermine our own rule of law, we are doing Putin’s work for him.” Indeed, Donald Trump and Devin Nunes are doing just that. (our emphasis)

Trump's Setting The Stage

His tiny fingers tapped this out early this morning.  With his determination to use the steaming pile of innuendo, lies and smears known as the "Nunes memo" as his "proof," the only question now is when he starts firing those FBI and Justice people. And what gall and cynicism to accuse others of politicizing "the sacred investigative process"!!

The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans - something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago. Rank & File are great people!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2018

BONUS: "Jimmy Come Lately" Comey anticipated Moscow Don's tweet by a day:

All should appreciate the FBI speaking up. I wish more of our leaders would. But take heart: American history shows that, in the long run, weasels and liars never hold the field, so long as good people stand up. Not a lot of schools or streets named for Joe McCarthy.

— James Comey (@Comey) February 1, 2018

Bombshell Du Jour: Insider Will Confirm Obstruction Effort

While we were still absorbing the news (below) that co- conspiring weasel Rep. Devin "Sherlock" Nunes (R-Trumpland) altered the FBI- bashing, justice- obstructing memo he sent to the White (Supremacist) House, another bomb dropped:

Aboard Air Force One on a flight home from Europe last July, President Trump and his advisers raced to cobble together a news release about a mysterious meeting at Trump Tower the previous summer between Russians and top Trump campaign officials. Rather than acknowledge the meeting’s intended purpose — to obtain political dirt about Hillary Clinton from the Russian government — the statement instead described the meeting as being about an obscure Russian adoption policy. 

The statement, released in response to questions from The New York Times about the meeting, has become a focus of the inquiry by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election... [snip] 

What is already clear is that, as Mr. Trump’s aides and family members tried over 48 hours to manage one of the most consequential crises of the young administration, the situation quickly degenerated into something of a circular firing squad. They protected their own interests, shifted blame and potentially left themselves — and the president — legally vulnerable. 

The latest witness to be called for an interview about the episode was Mark Corallo, who served as a spokesman for Mr. Trump’s legal team before resigning in July. Mr. Corallo received an interview request last week from the special counsel and has agreed to the interview, according to three people with knowledge of the request. 

Mr. Corallo is planning to tell Mr. Mueller about a previously undisclosed conference call with Mr. Trump and Hope Hicks, the White House communications director, according to the three people. Mr. Corallo planned to tell investigators that Ms. Hicks said during the call that emails written by Donald Trump Jr. before the Trump Tower meeting — in which the younger Mr. Trump said he was eager to receive political dirt about Mrs. Clinton from the Russians — “will never get out.” That left Mr. Corallo with concerns that Ms. Hicks could be contemplating obstructing justice, the people said. (our emphasis)

The frenetic efforts by the regime of un- indicted co- conspirator Donald "Rump" Trump and the lickspittle Republican Party to undermine the Mueller investigation at all costs is the very definition not only of obstruction of justice, but of "consciousness of guilt." That they happen to be singularly inept at it doesn't mean they're not a mortal danger to the American political and legal systems. With a supine "leadership" in Congress more interested in "investigating" (i.e., smearing) the investigators than investigating the compromised, potentially treasonous Rump regime, the danger of a desperate, rogue White (Supremacist) House thinking it has a free hand to engineer a coup at the Justice Department is very real and imminent. It's in that context that the Nunes memo is being rightfully seen as a pretext for removing Mueller supervisor Rod Rosenstein and replacing him with a Rump loyalist.

We have a sense that pretty soon we'll be seeing who's willing to put themselves on the line for our country.

Conspirator Nunes Altered Memo Before Sending To WH (UPDATED)

It appears that slimy co-conspirator Rep. Devin "Sherlock" Nunes (R-Trumpland) made significant edits to the memo that was sent to the White (Supremacist) House in order to undercut the FBI / Justice Department / Mueller investigation after his House Intelligence Committee had approved a different text. Ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee and national treasure Rep. Adam Schiff caught the ratf*cker red handed:

BREAKING: Discovered late tonight that Chairman Nunes made material changes to the memo he sent to White House – changes not approved by the Committee. White House therefore reviewing a document the Committee has not approved for release. pic.twitter.com/llhQK9L7l6

— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) February 1, 2018

Nunes now admits he altered the memo after his Committee had approved an earlier version:

Nunes is admitting to editing the document. Although he says edits were requested by Dems and FBI, he acknowledges changes were made after HPSCI approval and before WH review

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 1, 2018

The White (Supremacist) House is indicating that today it will release the memo that the Justice Department and FBI have called "reckless" and misleading, as part of its continuing obstruction of efforts to continue the Russiagate investigation.

UPDATE:  House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is calling for Nunes' removal (pdf) from the chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee.

UPDATE II:  Karoli Kuns at Crooks & Liars has an interesting take, starting with this tweet from CBS' Major Garrett:

Administration officials tell me #GOPMemo will be sent back to House Intelligence Committee on Friday with redactions from the #WH based on internal consultations w @FBI & other agencies. WH will not "release" memo but send it back to committee for it to release on its timetable

— Major Garrett (@MajorCBS) February 1, 2018

This memo was never, ever intended for public consumption. It is and always has been a distraction, and it will not be released by the White House or the House Intelligence Committee. 

The value of "the memo" is its secrecy. As long as it's opaque, claims of "deep state interference" and horrible acts on the part of the FBI can be claimed without any substantiation. The point isn't to expose anything, it's to stoke people's deepest fears about law enforcement and the intelligence committee in order to discredit them.

Which doesn't negate the possibility that the memo will be used as an excuse to fire Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, as part and parcel of killing the Mueller investigation. 

Undermining The State Of The Union

Today, as we undergo a barrage of breathless media talking heads speculating about tonight's first State of the Uniom* big boy speech by Putin asset Donald "Rump" Trump, Americans with respect for the Constitution and rule of law will have several other things on their minds.

Yesterday, party- before- country House Republicans, led by desperate weasel Rep. Devin "Sherlock" Nunes (Trump-CA) and facilitated by Sneaker of the House Paul "Lyin'" Ryan, voted to release a partisan hit job on the FBI's investigation of collusion between Rump's campaign and his Russian benefactors. At the same time, they voted to quash a rebuttal report by Democrats. The release of the Nunes hit job, without review of classified material contained in it, has been described by Rump's Justice Department as "extraordinarily reckless." (But desperate times call for desperate measures, right?!)  The 4- page hit job, which focuses on the FBI's use of the dossier prepared by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, is being characterized as a misleading hodgepodge "rife with factual inaccuracies," that also potentially exposes U.S. intelligence assets. It also takes aim at Special Counsel Mueller supervisor Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein's handling of an application to surveil probable Russian asset and Rump advisor Carter Page, as a fig leaf to give Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III cause to fire Rosenstein. Once again, we'll leave it up to the legal beagles, but this hindering of the investigation smells like obstruction of justice. Releasing the hit job should, however, fulfill its main mission: as fodder for the right- wing propaganda machine to blow smoke and undercut any findings to come from Mueller's investigation.

At the same time, soon- to- retire thorn- in- Rump's- rump FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was ousted, ostensibly prior to the release of an Inspector General report criticizing the FBI's conduct of investigations into Hillary Clinton.  The small person named Rump also had wanted McCabe out for a long time, inappropriately asking who he voted for and holding against him his friendship for James Comey and McCabe's wife's running for office in Virginia as a Democrat. Replacing McCabe with a Rump loyalist who would be privy to inside information about the Mueller investigation is the likely plan now.

Yesterday was also the deadline for imposing the latest set of sanctions on Russia as punishment for their meddling in the 2016 election, and to discourage future meddling. Naturally, the Rump regime tried to water down the sanctions, then has been dragging its feet ever since the law was passed nearly unanimously last year. When pressed up against the statutory deadline, it finally showed its hand:  it declined to impose the sanctions, claiming that current laws were "deterring" Russia.  And, as Charles P. Pierce would say, I am the Tsar of All the Russias.  The regime did release a list of oligarchs and businesses with ties to Putin, but it was merely re- releasing a list already largely covered by Forbes magazine (!). So, cue the helpful Putin faux outrage to fool media into thinking Rump is being tough on his handlers. (Also recall the Steele dossier that Rump and Nunes are so desperate to disparage includes intelligence that the Russians were actively trying to leverage the Rump campaign to ease sanctions already imposed by the Obama administration.)

While Rump is reading his big boy speech off the teleprompter tonight, this is the real danger to our system of government that he and his servile minions in Congress have unleashed in their desperation to hold onto power.  Always be mindful of that.

BONUS:  Tengrain at Mock Paper Scissors lays out the Republican plan to end with the firing of Robert Mueller.

Bombshells Du Jour: Trump Initiated Efforts To Discredit FBI Leaders; Rosenstein Next?

Following the revelation that un- indicted co- conspirator Donald "Rump" Trump tried to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller back in June 2017, we're learning from Murray Waas at Foreign Policy.com that at the same time he was leading an effort to discredit high- ranking FBI officials who could corroborate former FBI Director James Comey's testimony that Rump tried to improperly influence him to end the Mueller investigation:

President Donald Trump pressed senior aides last June to devise and carry out a campaign to discredit senior FBI officials after learning that those specific employees were likely to be witnesses against him as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, according to two people directly familiar with the matter.  

In testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8, recently fired FBI Director James Comey disclosed that he spoke contemporaneously with other senior bureau officials about potentially improper efforts by the president to curtail the FBI’s investigation of alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.  [snip] 

The FBI officials Trump has targeted are Andrew McCabe, the current deputy FBI director and who was briefly acting FBI director after Comey’s firing; Jim Rybicki, Comey’s chief of staff and senior counselor; and James Baker, formerly the FBI’s general counsel. Those same three officials were first identified as possible corroborating witnesses for Comey in a June 7 article in Vox. Comey confirmed in congressional testimony the following day that he confided in the three men.  (our emphasis)

Again, we only play attorneys on this blog, but that sounds an awful lot like conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Also:  "... according to two people directly familiar with the matter."  Those would be corroborating witnesses in the White (Supremacist) House (approximately 20 of those staff have now been interviewed by Mueller's team), not the besmirched FBI/ Mueller team. The specter of Michael Flynn and his indictment for lying to the FBI is obviously weighing heavily in the minds of some of these Trumpkins (=cough= Don McGahn =cough=) who are paranoid about who's telling what to whom and don't want to be caught in a lie that can result in serious jail time.

There's also word that Mueller's supervisor at the Justice Department, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, is the object of Rump's ire:

Months after his reported effort to fire special counsel Robert Mueller, President Donald Trump is still fuming over the Russia investigation and has Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in his crosshairs. 

The President has been venting about Rosenstein -- who oversees Mueller and the special counsel investigation -- in recent weeks, according to four sources familiar with the situation. At times, Trump even gripes about wanting Rosenstein removed, two of those sources said. One source said the President makes comments like "let's fire him, let's get rid of him" before his advisers convince him it's an ill-fated idea. 

Ignorant narcissist Rump, who has so far succeeded in life without regard for the laws or customs that the rest of us are bound by, can only be controlled for so long.  When he sees the indictments starting to fly over the transoms in the White (Supremacist) House, he will go for what he will perceive to be his only option for survival: shut down the investigation and dare anyone to stand up to him. He's already had at least one dry run; next time, he won't be deterred -- mark those words.

Bombshell Du Jour: Trump Tried To Fire Mueller In June 2017

Add supporting facts to the indictment/ articles of impeachment:

President Trump ordered the firing last June of Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel overseeing the Russia investigation, according to four people told of the matter, but ultimately backed down after the White House counsel threatened to resign rather than carry out the directive. [snip]

After receiving the president’s order to fire Mr. Mueller, the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, refused to ask the Justice Department to dismiss the special counsel, saying he would quit instead, the people said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to be identified discussing a continuing investigation. 

Mr. McGahn disagreed with the president’s case and told senior White House officials that firing Mr. Mueller would have a catastrophic effect on Mr. Trump’s presidency. Mr. McGahn also told White House officials that Mr. Trump would not follow through on the dismissal on his own. The president then backed off.  (our emphasis)

The obvious speculation is that this information is coming out now because McGahn is cooperating with the Mueller investigation, at least to a point. McGahn is seen as being in a highly vulnerable position, given his role in the firing of James Comey, what he knew about Michael Flynn's lying to the FBI, and the discussions around whether Confederate Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III should recuse himself from the investigation.

Former U.S. Attorney Renato Mariotti has a long read about how this latest piece of information fits into the story that Mueller has been piecing together:

All of this, taken together, greatly strengthens the case that Trump had “corrupt” intent when he fired Comey. That said, there is still a lot we don’t know. For example, according to the New York Times, Mueller has an early draft of a letter drafted by Trump aide Stephen Miller at Trump’s direction offering an unvarnished view of Trump’s thinking regarding the firing of Comey. The Times and Post also reported that McGahn expressed concerns to Trump about the letter, and the Times noted that McGahn gave Miller a marked-up copy of the letter, highlighting sections that he wanted removed.  [snip]

While we don’t know all of the evidence, Thursday’s revelation suggests it is likely Mueller will conclude that Trump obstructed justice. Some conservative legal commentators have argued that Trump’s constitutional authority to fire personnel and end investigations is so vast that he cannot obstruct justice as a legal matter. Most legal scholars find that argument unpersuasive, but it is an academic point—not one that is decisive—because Mueller has pressed forward in investigating the firing of Comey as obstruction of justice and the power of Congress to impeach Trump goes beyond the text of any statute.

Those around Rump, like McGahn, know full well he's an undisciplined incompetent whose sense of loyalty goes one way. When the chips are down and they're facing potential conspiracy charges, they're not going to go to jail to save his *239- pound* ass.  See, Flynn, Michael, and Papadopoulos, George.

BONUS:  Prime Rump fluffer Sean Hannity was whiplashed last night "reporting" on the McGahn bombshell -- and hilarity ensued --

Tweets Of The Day - Obstruction

The harder Mueller squeezes the White House and its hyper partisan allies, the louder they blast claims of bias. Much like a whoopee cushion.

— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) January 24, 2018

There is a difference. A whoopee cushion does not stink. https://t.co/eiIG89flgA

— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) January 24, 2018

On behalf of historians who'll be writing about this era one day, I'd like to thank @RepMarkMeadows and @RonJohnsonWI for stepping forward to fill the role of "insane partisan hack" in this saga.

Rest assured, gentlemen: Your place in history is secure.

— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) January 24, 2018

Don't forget:

Nunes memo strategy has blessing of @SpeakerRyan.

This has left Dems in position of getting basic facts out to defend career law enforcement professionals against smear campaigns that are backed by GOP leaders and are designed to shield Trump from accountability. https://t.co/dMRPeR1EG2

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) January 24, 2018

That was a hell of a pro-Clinton conspiracy the Obama Administration, Comey and the FBI we’re engaged in, which culminated in Comey tipping the election ten days out...to Trump.

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) January 24, 2018

Efforts By Trump, McGahn, Sessions To Obstruct Justice Reported

The New York Times reported yesterday on efforts by unfit nitwit Donald "Rump" Trump and several of his lickspittles to derail the FBI's investigation into his campaign's collusion with Russia. "Consciousness of guilt" weaves its way all throughout this:

President Trump gave firm instructions in March to the White House’s top lawyer: stop the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, from recusing himself in the Justice Department’s investigation into whether Mr. Trump’s associates had helped a Russian campaign to disrupt the 2016 election. 

Public pressure was building for Mr. Sessions, who had been a senior member of the Trump campaign, to step aside. But the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, carried out the president’s orders and lobbied Mr. Sessions to remain in charge of the inquiry, according to two people with knowledge of the episode. 

Mr. McGahn was unsuccessful, and the president erupted in anger in front of numerous White House officials, saying he needed his attorney general to protect him. (our emphasis)

Again, what does an innocent person need to be protected from, he asked rhetorically. Why would an innocent person want to do this, too:

The New York Times has also learned that four days before Mr. Comey was fired, one of Mr. Sessions’s aides asked a congressional staff member whether he had damaging information about Mr. Comey, part of an apparent effort to undermine the F.B.I. director. It was not clear whether Mr. Mueller’s investigators knew about this episode.

Mr. Mueller has also been examining a false statement that the president reportedly dictated on Air Force One in July in response to an article in The Times about a meeting that Trump campaign officials had with Russians in 2016. A new book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” by Michael Wolff, says that the president’s lawyers believed that the statement was “an explicit attempt to throw sand into the investigation’s gears,” and that it led one of Mr. Trump’s spokesmen to quit because he believed it was obstruction of justice.  [snip]

Two days after Mr. Comey’s testimony, an aide to Mr. Sessions approached a Capitol Hill staff member asking whether the staffer had any derogatory information about the F.B.I. director. The attorney general wanted one negative article a day in the news media about Mr. Comey, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting. (our emphasis)

Keep in mind this is several months after evil elf Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III supposedly recused himself from the Russia investigation, being led by then- FBI Director James Comey. A more rotten, dishonest cast of characters (cut from Rump's cloth) would be hard to imagine... and we're haven't even mentioned the knuckle- draggers on Capitol Hill that are desperate to protect this dysfunctional, loathsome, dangerous regime (see below).

BONUS:  Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog notes an effort by one lawyer in the White House to save Rump from himself (unsuccessfully).

BONUS II:  James Fallows says what we know to be true -- that the revelations in Michael Wolff's "Fire and Fury" come as no surprise to those who, were they responsible country- before- party Republicans, would do something about Rump, but for their own malicious, twisted reasons have not. (h/t Mock Paper Scissors)

BONUS III: Michelle Goldberg echoes the same view - "Everyone in Trumpworld knows he's an idiot."