4:41 AM 4/14/2019 - Editorial: Looking into surveillance - Opinion - providencejournal.com Sunday April 14th, 2019 at 5:38 AM
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Editorial: Looking into surveillance - Opinion - providencejournal.com - Sunday April 14th, 2019 at 5:38 AM
The bitter partisanship that dominates Washington erupted again last week after Attorney General William Barr told a Senate panel that he thought “spying did occur” on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and that he is looking into the matter.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused him of putting his devotion to the president above his loyalty to the nation. Senator Minority Leader Chuck Schumer demanded that Mr. Barr “retract his statement immediately,” arguing, “Perpetuating conspiracy theories is beneath the office of the attorney general.”
Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said that Mr. Barr’s comment was “unnecessarily inflammatory” and “could cause everybody in the cable news ecosystem to freak out.” The Washington Post accused him of mouthing President Trump’s “talking points.”
The level of distrust seems to be off the charts.
But perhaps we can all step back, take a deep breath and agree on one thing: the protections of individual liberty built into the Constitution and its Bill of Rights are a good thing. If our government has improperly used its immense power to spy on citizens for political purposes, it is vital that it be stopped, and those involved be punished, lest we become a police state.
That’s a big “if,” of course, as the attorney general made clear in his testimony.
“I am not saying improper surveillance occurred. I am saying I am concerned about it, and I am looking into it,” he said.
“Yes, I think spying did occur. The question is whether it was adequately predicated” — meaning, whether top Obama intelligence officials were legally justified in surveilling the communications and activities of members of the presidential campaign of the opposing party. For obvious reasons, the government’s intelligence agencies are not supposed to cross that bright red line causally.
“I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal,” Mr. Barr said. “I feel that I have an obligation to ensure government power was not abused.”
He is waiting for the Justice Department inspector general, Michael Horowitz, to report on the use of warrants issued by a secret court for the investigations.
We view President Trump with immense skepticism and consider his bad policies, mercurial behavior and freewheeling pronouncements to be damaging to the nation and demeaning to his high office. We proudly endorsed his opponent, Hillary Clinton.
All the same, it is unnerving that former leading intelligence officials who should scrupulously stand above politics have been bitterly partisan in their texts, tweets, books and cable TV gigs. Given the immense powers of the government to probe citizens, particularly in the digital age, it is absolutely essential that our intelligence agencies not be weaponized for political use.
Though a big GOP campaign contributor, Mr. Barr does not seem to be an obvious hothead. A well-off 68-year-old with round glasses and a deadpan expression, he has long been regarded as a careful lawyer and a member in good standing of the Washington establishment, having formerly served as attorney general under President George H.W. Bush.
Whether he will fairly explore what led to government surveillance of members of his boss’s campaign team remains to be seen.
But certainly this matter is something that the country’s top justice official should look into, whether that affects the ecosystem of cable news or not.
Read the whole story
· ·
Meanwhile, Trump's claiming, based on Barr's summary, that he is ... So is phoning Putin's buddy, al Bashir, to warn him that we were going to bomb ...
After Trump fired FBI Director James Comey over “this Russia thing,” Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller, a lifelong Republican and a man with an ...
Terrorist label is a convenient pretext for military intervention Frederick News Post
"Rudy Giuliani" - Google News
For the first time in history, the United States has designated a military unit of a foreign country as a terrorist group.
Editorial: Release Trump's tax returns | News, Sports, Jobs Lawrence Journal-World
"trump electorate" - Google News
Republicans may be right that efforts by Congressional Democrats to force the release of President Donald Trump's tax returns may open a big can of worms.
Palestinians hoped for change, but a lurch to the right in Israel’s elections has only brought despair
Donald Trump | The Guardian
For as long as she can remember, Mary Giacaman, a Christian Palestinian, has watched the outcome of the Israeli election on TV. “But not this year,” she explained. “It was too depressing, and anyway I knew what would happen.”
This Holy Week, the 56-year-old Catholic will be attending mass each morning as usual at Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity across the square from her olive wood carved souvenir shop; she will spend a festive Easter day with her sons, daughters and six grandchildren. If nothing else, it will be a welcome distraction from a “very bad” election result, which saw a decisive victory for prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Continue reading...
Next Page of Stories
Loading...
Page 2
Where the investigations related to President Trump stand ABC News
Where investigations related to President Donald Trump stand and what may lie ahead for him: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY: A top House Democrat on ...
Harry Litman: Barr’s testimony was a terrible self-inflicted wound Valley Town Crier
"trump investigated by the fbi" - Google News
One of the most frequently used words, including by me, to describe William Barr when he was nominated for attorney general was “institutionalist.”Barr himself ...
Harry Litman: Barr’s testimony was a terrible self-inflicted wound Valley Town Crier
“fbi criticism” – Google News
One of the most frequently used words, including by me, to describe William Barr when he was nominated for attorney general was “institutionalist.”Barr himself …
Ilhan Omar has become the target of a dangerous hate campaign The Guardian
"social media in trump campaign" - Google News
Fox News, New York Post and Donald Trump are contributing to a climate of vigilantism that threatens every Muslim in America today.
The Russians are screwing with the GPS system to send bogus navigation data to thousands of ships Business Insider
"Russian Intelligence services" - Google News
The Russians are hacking the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) on a mass scale in order to confuse thousands of ships and airplanes about where they ...
Will: Crony capitalism disguised as patriotism The Augusta Chronicle
The president has received from one of his employees, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, a report that probably tells Ross' employer what he wants to hear: that ...
Next Page of Stories
Loading...
Page 3
3:15 AM 4/14/2019 - Trump White House braces for full Mueller report Politico
Next Page of Stories
Loading...
Page 3
Trump White House braces for full Mueller report
Politico-2 hours ago
While most of official Washington is on edge ahead of the expected release of special counsel Robert Mueller's full report, Trump White House ...
As the Mueller report looms, Democrats find voters would rather talk ...
International-USA TODAY-11 hours ago
International-USA TODAY-11 hours ago
The expected redactions in the Mueller report, explained
Vox-Apr 11, 2019
Sorry, but you probably won't get to read the entire report by special counsel Robert Mueller. Here's why: The document, which will detail the ...
What We Already Know About the Mueller Report Should Scare Us
International-The Bulwark-Apr 12, 2019
International-The Bulwark-Apr 12, 2019
Only 13% of Americans think Attorney General William Barr's summary ...
International-Business Insider-Apr 12, 2019
International-Business Insider-Apr 12, 2019
The legal battle between Democrats and AG Barr over the Mueller ...
Opinion-<a href="http://NBCNews.com" rel="nofollow">NBCNews.com</a>-Apr 11, 2019
Opinion-<a href="http://NBCNews.com" rel="nofollow">NBCNews.com</a>-Apr 11, 2019
Roger Stone wants full copy of Mueller report for his criminal case
New York Post-9 hours ago
Roger Stone wants a full copy of the Mueller report for his criminal case, according to reports. Lawyers for Stone, a former top Trump adviser, ...
Trump confidant Roger Stone demands the full release of the Mueller ...
In-Depth-Daily Mail-8 hours ago
In-Depth-Daily Mail-8 hours ago
Read the whole story
· · · · ·
3:09 AM 4/14/2019 - Assange has been under U.S. Justice Department scrutiny for years...
Assange has been under U.S. Justice Department scrutiny for years for WikiLeaks’ role in publishing government secrets.by <a href="http://fbrss.com" rel="nofollow">fbrss.com</a>
Assange has been under U.S. Justice Department scrutiny for years for WikiLeaks’ role in publishing government secrets.
WikiLeaks' Assange hauled from embassy, faces US charge
LONDON (AP) — British police on Thursday hauled a bearded and shouting Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian Embassy where he was holed up for nearly seven years, and the U.S. charged the WikiLeaks...
WikiLeaks' Assange hauled from embassy, faces US charge
LONDON (AP) — British police on Thursday hauled a bearded and shouting Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian Embassy where he was holed up for nearly seven years, and the U.S. charged the WikiLeaks...
Thousands of homes are at risk from the next inferno across California, their wood-shake shingles waiting to ignite.by <a href="http://fbrss.com" rel="nofollow">fbrss.com</a>
Thousands of homes are at risk from the next inferno across California, their wood-shake shingles waiting to ignite.
'A lot of Paradises': Many towns at high risk of wildfire
SACRAMENTO, California (AP) — Impoverished towns in the shadow of Mount Shasta. Rustic Gold Rush cities in the Sierra Nevada foothills. High-dollar resort communities on the shores of Lake Tahoe....
'A lot of Paradises': Many towns at high risk of wildfire
SACRAMENTO, California (AP) — Impoverished towns in the shadow of Mount Shasta. Rustic Gold Rush cities in the Sierra Nevada foothills. High-dollar resort communities on the shores of Lake Tahoe....
Fires at black churches in Louisiana are evoking memories of civil rights era violence. Authorities have stopped short of calling the blazes hate crimes. by <a href="http://fbrss.com" rel="nofollow">fbrss.com</a>
Fires at black churches in Louisiana are evoking memories of civil rights era violence. Authorities have stopped short of calling the blazes hate crimes.
Authorities say deputy's son behind fires at black churches
OPELOUSAS, La. (AP) — The suspect in a string of fires that destroyed three black churches in rural Louisiana is the white son of a sheriff's deputy whose father helped arrange for his arrest,...
Authorities say deputy's son behind fires at black churches
OPELOUSAS, La. (AP) — The suspect in a string of fires that destroyed three black churches in rural Louisiana is the white son of a sheriff's deputy whose father helped arrange for his arrest,...
Read the whole story
· · · · · ·
3:02 AM 4/14/2019 - Donald Trump Is ‘Financially Compromised’ By Russia - Google Search Sunday April 14th, 2019 at 4:00 AM
While special counsel Robert Mueller’s two-year probe may not have established conspiracy between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia during the 2016 election, it did not dive nearly deep enough into the president’s relationship with the foreign power.
In fact, it barely scratched the surface, according to former federal prosecutor and counterintelligence expert Kenneth McCallion. McCallion once represented former Ukraine Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in her civil case against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort in the Southern District of New York. The case served as a basis for Mueller's indictments of Manafort and former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates.
“I would not have much difficulty or most experienced prosecutors given what evidence is available now would not have much difficulty prosecuting Mr. Trump,” McCallion told Newsweek shortly after Attorney General William Barr handed over his summary of the Mueller report to Congress.
“I think that may still happen—it may not happen immediately, but time will tell,” he added.
McCallion, who spent the early part of his 40-year legal career working as a federal prosecutor for the Department of Justice, had a front-row seat in the 1980s watching then-real estate mogul Trump elude investigators looking into corrupt “sweetheart deals” between mob-controlled labor unions and developers.
It came as no surprise to McCallion when he did it again throughout the Mueller investigation, attacking the probe as a “witch hunt” and refusing to do more than provide written answers to questions posed by the special counsel.
“Both Trump and [his attorney] Roy Cohn went through the motions of cooperating, but Trump continued to adamantly deny that he had this corrupt deal,” McCallion recalled, adding that in the end he got “no real cooperation” from either Trump or Cohn. Eventually, the duo were given a pass as the department focused on taking down bigger felons.
But it was there that the former prosecutor first noted the connection between Trump and Russian organized crime leaders, who, McCallion said, essentially provided him with enough money and labor to keep his real estate empire afloat.
That business relationship turned political when Trump became the Republican nominee for president. Since then, the former federal prosecutor argues, there is a case to be made that the president has “aided and abetted” Russia to the harm of U.S. interest out of financial obligation—treasonous behavior that was not explored in the special counsel’s investigation.
That case is laid out in McCallion’s upcoming book Treason & Betrayal: The Rise and Fall of Individual-1, which will be released on April 15.
The book provides a detailed analysis of Trump’s murky relationship with a foreign power, breaking down moments in which Trump has decided to walk a pro-Russian line (often in contradiction to U.S. interests) both throughout his campaign and during his presidency. It also makes the argument for how and why a sitting president can be indicted or impeached.
McCallion does not mince words in Treason & Betrayal, describing the president as “traitor to the traditional American democratic ideals” who “must be removed as soon as possible before he can do more harm."
“Eventually Trump, either as a sitting president or as a private citizen, will find out that he is not above the law and will be held accountable for his duplicity and his aiding and abetting of Russia,” McCallion said.
McCallion spoke to Newsweek about his book, the Mueller report and what legal challenges still cloud Trump’s presidency.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
After the special counsel’s finding of no collusion, do you stand by your conclusion in Treason & Betrayal that Donald Trump is a traitor of the American people?
Oh absolutely. The [Mueller] investigation did not specifically address the issue of whether Trump, because of his position of being financially and economically compromised by the Russians, is aiding and abetting Russian foreign policy to the harm of U.S. foreign policy.
Those are the issues that are not addressed by the special counsel’s office. And it’s that aiding and abetting, treasonous behavior by Trump and his close associates that I hope Congress takes a further look at as it pursues various investigations.
Do you agree with Mueller and Attorney General Barr’s determination that there was no collusion in the 2016 campaign between Trump’s team and Russia?
No I don’t. There was, in my view and I think the evidence supports it, conspiracy. Now, conspiracy is a meeting of the minds to carry out an illegal or illicit goal. Certainly, to some extent, part of that conspiracy was for the Trump team to cooperate and facilitate the dissemination of hacked emails from the Clinton campaign and other Democratic sources as reflected by the [Trump Tower] meeting.
There was some critical evidence that has been loudly reported in the press that would establish, I think in the minds of most experienced prosecutors, sufficient evidence and indication of conspiracy or collusion between the Trump campaign team and transition team and the Russians. In essence, we do have a Russian agent and operative in the White House.
You highlight that Trump’s relationship with Russia began in business, but when do you think that the relationship became political?
It’s really hard to separate out the two because in order to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, it requires the approval of the Kremlin. So certainly I think that Trump’s decision to bend over backwards to really walk a pro-Russian line during the campaign and during the administration was really tactically designed to support his business objectives.
Every decision he makes on important issues relating to Russia is informed and indeed dictated by financial leverage. For example, I doubt that Trump really cares one way or another if Crimea is under Russian or Ukraine control. But by giving Russia a pass on the Crimean issue, and not pressing it like the Obama administration did, he is essentially trying to further ingratiate himself with the Kremlin and more specifically prevent the downside of any retaliation by the Kremlin financially against the Trump Organization.
Editor's Note: While Trump has suggested sympathy for Russia's stance that Crimea is their territory, he has kept the sanctions put on Russia by the Obama administration.
One chapter of your book is devoted to “All the President’s (Pro-Russian) Men.” Eight of the 11 former Trump associates you discuss have been indicted by Mueller or by federal prosecutors. Why hasn’t that prosecution been extended to the president?
Because the special counsel’s office and Barr in the Justice Department are still abiding by what I believe to be, and many knowledgeable jurors believe to be, an obsolete policy and practice: a blanket prohibition on the indictment of a sitting president. They feel that they can’t indict a sitting president even though the Constitution itself does not speak to that issue.
It will be interesting to see whether, for example, additional information gleaned from the grand jury investigation in the Southern District of New York may provide such overwhelming evidence that the Justice Department may reconsider its position for this president.
However, I think it’s likely that President Trump’s legal liability will continue and intensify, particularly if he is not re-elected in 2020. As a private citizen, he will be stripped of any protection of Justice Department regulations and will be subject to prosecution either at the federal or state level. So, I do not think that he is out of the woods yet.
President Donald Trump boards Air Force One prior to departure from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, April 5, 2019. Former federal prosecutor Kenneth McCallion wrote a new book that makes the case for how and why Trump has been "aiding and abetting" Russia throughout his presidency. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Do you believe that indictment or impeachment is still on the table for Trump?
Absolutely. There’s no constitutional prohibition against a president being indicted or impeached. My book primarily addresses the issue as one of treason and betrayal, which is both a crime as well as a basis for removal of a president through impeachment.
I do not think that the president is scot-free at this point on either obstruction charges or of larger charges of having been the head of an organization that engaged in conspiracy with Russian operatives to improperly swing the election away from Hillary Clinton. I think that is the larger, more important issue that was not addressed by the special counsel and certainly not by Barr.
What would you like to see happen next? Should the American public move on or should we keep digging into Trump’s relationship with Russia?
I don’t think the matter can be put behind us because the investigation by the special counsel’s office was a relatively narrow one. It was a deep one, a lot of subpoenas were sent out, but the broader issue as to whether the Trump campaign or Trump himself engaged in numerous covert acts intended to aid and abet Russia foreign policy—that is something that Congress with its constitutional oversight responsibilities should pursue.
And we’ll have to see how deep the Mueller report and it’s backup went but you have to remember that this a complex, many-headed hydra and even two years of intensive investigation did not close nearly all the areas of investigation.
Congress has a lot of important business to do and it does have a responsibility in its congressional investigative committees to pursue these matters until they and the American public are confident that all of the facts have come to the forefront. Because without that I don’t think the electorate will be able to make an informed decision in 2020 in the presidential election. All of the facts must be out and they certainly aren’t at this time.
Was it a mistake for Democrats to focus so heavily on the special counsel's Russia probe?
Both prosecutorial offices like the Southern District of New York as well as Congress must do their job. They are mandated by Article 1 of the Constitution to provide oversight and investigative resources. I am fairly confident that they will do that, whether that’s politically wise or not for the Democrats. I really can’t speak too much to it, but I think it is part of their obligation which was abdicated under Republican leadership in Congress. I think the Democrats, whether it’s good or bad for them in 2020 we’ll see, are really required to take that responsibility very seriously and will be pursuing that no matter what the outcome may be.
With the Mueller probe over, what do you now consider to be the biggest threat to Trump and his presidency?
Read the whole story
· · · · · · · · · ·
While special counsel Robert Mueller’s two-year probe may not have established conspiracy between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia during the 2016 election, it did not dive nearly deep enough into the president’s relationship with the foreign power.
In fact, it barely scratched the surface, according to former federal prosecutor and counterintelligence expert Kenneth McCallion. McCallion once represented former Ukraine Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in her civil case against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort in the Southern District of New York. The case served as a basis for Mueller's indictments of Manafort and former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates.
“I would not have much difficulty or most experienced prosecutors given what evidence is available now would not have much difficulty prosecuting Mr. Trump,” McCallion told Newsweek shortly after Attorney General William Barr handed over his summary of the Mueller report to Congress.
“I think that may still happen—it may not happen immediately, but time will tell,” he added.
McCallion, who spent the early part of his 40-year legal career working as a federal prosecutor for the Department of Justice, had a front-row seat in the 1980s watching then-real estate mogul Trump elude investigators looking into corrupt “sweetheart deals” between mob-controlled labor unions and developers.
It came as no surprise to McCallion when he did it again throughout the Mueller investigation, attacking the probe as a “witch hunt” and refusing to do more than provide written answers to questions posed by the special counsel.
“Both Trump and [his attorney] Roy Cohn went through the motions of cooperating, but Trump continued to adamantly deny that he had this corrupt deal,” McCallion recalled, adding that in the end he got “no real cooperation” from either Trump or Cohn. Eventually, the duo were given a pass as the department focused on taking down bigger felons.
But it was there that the former prosecutor first noted the connection between Trump and Russian organized crime leaders, who, McCallion said, essentially provided him with enough money and labor to keep his real estate empire afloat.
That business relationship turned political when Trump became the Republican nominee for president. Since then, the former federal prosecutor argues, there is a case to be made that the president has “aided and abetted” Russia to the harm of U.S. interest out of financial obligation—treasonous behavior that was not explored in the special counsel’s investigation.
That case is laid out in McCallion’s upcoming book Treason & Betrayal: The Rise and Fall of Individual-1, which will be released on April 15.
The book provides a detailed analysis of Trump’s murky relationship with a foreign power, breaking down moments in which Trump has decided to walk a pro-Russian line (often in contradiction to U.S. interests) both throughout his campaign and during his presidency. It also makes the argument for how and why a sitting president can be indicted or impeached.
McCallion does not mince words in Treason & Betrayal, describing the president as “traitor to the traditional American democratic ideals” who “must be removed as soon as possible before he can do more harm."
“Eventually Trump, either as a sitting president or as a private citizen, will find out that he is not above the law and will be held accountable for his duplicity and his aiding and abetting of Russia,” McCallion said.
McCallion spoke to Newsweek about his book, the Mueller report and what legal challenges still cloud Trump’s presidency.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
After the special counsel’s finding of no collusion, do you stand by your conclusion in Treason & Betrayal that Donald Trump is a traitor of the American people?
Oh absolutely. The [Mueller] investigation did not specifically address the issue of whether Trump, because of his position of being financially and economically compromised by the Russians, is aiding and abetting Russian foreign policy to the harm of U.S. foreign policy.
Those are the issues that are not addressed by the special counsel’s office. And it’s that aiding and abetting, treasonous behavior by Trump and his close associates that I hope Congress takes a further look at as it pursues various investigations.
Do you agree with Mueller and Attorney General Barr’s determination that there was no collusion in the 2016 campaign between Trump’s team and Russia?
No I don’t. There was, in my view and I think the evidence supports it, conspiracy. Now, conspiracy is a meeting of the minds to carry out an illegal or illicit goal. Certainly, to some extent, part of that conspiracy was for the Trump team to cooperate and facilitate the dissemination of hacked emails from the Clinton campaign and other Democratic sources as reflected by the [Trump Tower] meeting.
There was some critical evidence that has been loudly reported in the press that would establish, I think in the minds of most experienced prosecutors, sufficient evidence and indication of conspiracy or collusion between the Trump campaign team and transition team and the Russians. In essence, we do have a Russian agent and operative in the White House.
You highlight that Trump’s relationship with Russia began in business, but when do you think that the relationship became political?
It’s really hard to separate out the two because in order to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, it requires the approval of the Kremlin. So certainly I think that Trump’s decision to bend over backwards to really walk a pro-Russian line during the campaign and during the administration was really tactically designed to support his business objectives.
Every decision he makes on important issues relating to Russia is informed and indeed dictated by financial leverage. For example, I doubt that Trump really cares one way or another if Crimea is under Russian or Ukraine control. But by giving Russia a pass on the Crimean issue, and not pressing it like the Obama administration did, he is essentially trying to further ingratiate himself with the Kremlin and more specifically prevent the downside of any retaliation by the Kremlin financially against the Trump Organization.
Editor's Note: While Trump has suggested sympathy for Russia's stance that Crimea is their territory, he has kept the sanctions put on Russia by the Obama administration.
One chapter of your book is devoted to “All the President’s (Pro-Russian) Men.” Eight of the 11 former Trump associates you discuss have been indicted by Mueller or by federal prosecutors. Why hasn’t that prosecution been extended to the president?
Because the special counsel’s office and Barr in the Justice Department are still abiding by what I believe to be, and many knowledgeable jurors believe to be, an obsolete policy and practice: a blanket prohibition on the indictment of a sitting president. They feel that they can’t indict a sitting president even though the Constitution itself does not speak to that issue.
It will be interesting to see whether, for example, additional information gleaned from the grand jury investigation in the Southern District of New York may provide such overwhelming evidence that the Justice Department may reconsider its position for this president.
However, I think it’s likely that President Trump’s legal liability will continue and intensify, particularly if he is not re-elected in 2020. As a private citizen, he will be stripped of any protection of Justice Department regulations and will be subject to prosecution either at the federal or state level. So, I do not think that he is out of the woods yet.
President Donald Trump boards Air Force One prior to departure from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, April 5, 2019. Former federal prosecutor Kenneth McCallion wrote a new book that makes the case for how and why Trump has been "aiding and abetting" Russia throughout his presidency. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Do you believe that indictment or impeachment is still on the table for Trump?
Absolutely. There’s no constitutional prohibition against a president being indicted or impeached. My book primarily addresses the issue as one of treason and betrayal, which is both a crime as well as a basis for removal of a president through impeachment.
I do not think that the president is scot-free at this point on either obstruction charges or of larger charges of having been the head of an organization that engaged in conspiracy with Russian operatives to improperly swing the election away from Hillary Clinton. I think that is the larger, more important issue that was not addressed by the special counsel and certainly not by Barr.
What would you like to see happen next? Should the American public move on or should we keep digging into Trump’s relationship with Russia?
I don’t think the matter can be put behind us because the investigation by the special counsel’s office was a relatively narrow one. It was a deep one, a lot of subpoenas were sent out, but the broader issue as to whether the Trump campaign or Trump himself engaged in numerous covert acts intended to aid and abet Russia foreign policy—that is something that Congress with its constitutional oversight responsibilities should pursue.
And we’ll have to see how deep the Mueller report and it’s backup went but you have to remember that this a complex, many-headed hydra and even two years of intensive investigation did not close nearly all the areas of investigation.
Congress has a lot of important business to do and it does have a responsibility in its congressional investigative committees to pursue these matters until they and the American public are confident that all of the facts have come to the forefront. Because without that I don’t think the electorate will be able to make an informed decision in 2020 in the presidential election. All of the facts must be out and they certainly aren’t at this time.
Was it a mistake for Democrats to focus so heavily on the special counsel's Russia probe?
Both prosecutorial offices like the Southern District of New York as well as Congress must do their job. They are mandated by Article 1 of the Constitution to provide oversight and investigative resources. I am fairly confident that they will do that, whether that’s politically wise or not for the Democrats. I really can’t speak too much to it, but I think it is part of their obligation which was abdicated under Republican leadership in Congress. I think the Democrats, whether it’s good or bad for them in 2020 we’ll see, are really required to take that responsibility very seriously and will be pursuing that no matter what the outcome may be.
With the Mueller probe over, what do you now consider to be the biggest threat to Trump and his presidency?
Comments
Post a Comment