Top Democrat says Trump firing of Mueller could provoke 'constitutional crisis'

[webfact]

Top Democrat says Trump firing of Mueller could provoke 'constitutional crisis'

By Warren Strobel

 

Special Counsel Robert Mueller leaves the U.S. Capitol Building after meeting with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, U.S., June 21, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, responding to escalating Republican attacks on Special Counsel Robert Mueller, said on Wednesday that if President Donald Trump fires Mueller, it "has the potential to provoke a constitutional crisis."

 

Speaking on the Senate floor, Senator Mark Warner denounced attacks on Mueller's impartiality and said the special counsel's investigation of ties between Trump's presidential campaign and Russia must be "able to go on unimpeded."

 

Russia denies meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and Trump has denied any collusion.

 

While Trump's political allies have increased their criticism of Mueller, the president said on Sunday he was not considering firing him.

 

Republican lawmakers have seized on anti-Trump texts by a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent who was involved in the Russia investigation as evidence of bias in Mueller's team. Mueller removed the agent from his team after the texts came to light.

 

Republicans on several House of Representatives committees have also announced their own probes into long-standing political grievances, including the FBI's handling of Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server when she was secretary of state. Democrat Clinton was Trump's opponent in last year's election.

 

"Over the last several weeks, a growing chorus of irresponsible voices have called for President Trump to shut down Special Counsel Mueller's investigation," said Warner, adding that the attacks were "seemingly coordinated."

 

"Firing Mr. Mueller or any other of the top brass involved in this investigation would not only call into question this administration's commitment to the truth, but also to our most basic concept of rule of law," Warner said. "It also has the potential to provoke a constitutional crisis."

 

"In the United States of America, no one, no one is above the law, not even the president," the senator said.

 

"Congress must make clear to the president that firing the special counsel or interfering with his investigation by issuing pardons of essential witnesses is unacceptable and would have immediate and significant consequences."

 

House Democrats had circulated rumours last week that Trump would fire Mueller on Dec. 22, just before the Christmas holiday.

 

Trump's White House lawyer, Ty Cobb, denied that speculation on Saturday, followed by the president's comments the next day.

 

U.S. Representative Jackie Speier, a Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, echoed Warner's concerns in an MSNBC interview.

 

"There has been a very systematic character assassination of ... Special Counsel Mueller," she said. "There is an echo chamber of sorts."

 

(Additional reporting by Jonathan Landay; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-12-21

[anono222]

Who cares!  Get back to the business of making the US productive again.  All of this is nonsense and a gross waste of taxpayer money at this point. 

[klauskunkel]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

"In the United States of America, no one, no one is above the law, not even the president," the senator said.

the cynic in me is not convinced about that, Mr. law-designer.

[Becker]

27 minutes ago, Jiggyfly said:

Who cares!  Get back to the business of making the US productive again.  All of this is nonsense and a gross waste of taxpayer money at this point. 

The gross stuff currently wallows in the WH. As to who cares you will see that if the man-child actually goes ahead and fires Mueller. Be prepared for fireworks.

[nodomino]

There is little left of the constitution to shred. GWBush stated the the document was ‘just a piece of paper’ which is pretty much how Americans see it. It exists as little more than a cultural artifact, like old insect collections in the Museum of Natural History.

[Jonnapat]

1 hour ago, Jiggyfly said:

Who cares!  Get back to the business of making the US productive again.  All of this is nonsense and a gross waste of taxpayer money at this point. 

I would have thought that the truth in this scandal would be of national importance, not just sweep it under the carpet.

[Sir Swagman]

Odd thing is, it is an investigation.....concluding it as speedily as possible would involve cooperation which seems not to be happening. The calls and comments about suitability, impartiality etc etc do nothing to assist bringing things to a conclusion. I know tha if I was being investigated and was innocent I would go all out to ensure that was discovered- makes one wonder.......

[chilli42]

They will discredit Meuller and his team with lies and allegations.  Then replace him with a Trump friendly puppet.  It’s all very simple and it is going to happen like that with no substantive backlash

[smokinfun]

I think chilli42 has the proper crystal ball; don't like it - but if their is a line on the outcome; I'd bet the house on that one.

[atyclb]

all we can do during the trump presidency is pray for america

 

 

pray that after he leaves office there are still some pu ss ies to grab

Edited December 21, 2017 by atyclb

[riclag]

9 hours ago, Sir Swagman said:

Odd thing is, it is an investigation.....concluding it as speedily as possible would involve cooperation which seems not to be happening. The calls and comments about suitability, impartiality etc etc do nothing to assist bringing things to a conclusion. I know tha if I was being investigated and was innocent I would go all out to ensure that was discovered- makes one wonder.......

Even with a favorable decision from Mueller, the left won't stop resisting and obstructing .This will be  their downfall for 2020.

Edited December 21, 2017 by riclag

[riclag]

1 hour ago, atyclb said:

all we can do during the trump presidency is pray for america

 

 

pray that after he leaves office there are still some pu ss ies to grab

PT was elected mainly for his economic agenda .Not for his locker room banter,tweeting and nonsensical prose. Finally a non politician in the WH.

 Stock market has broken a record for the most gains in 1 year. African American's house ownership up  more than ever before.GNP up 4 % in the last 2 quarters.PT job gains haven't been as good as Obama's first year but the tax cut jobs bill along with lifting restriction from business and repatriating overseas money will help us to be great once again.

Globalism didn't work for us, we made to many bad decisions in the last 40 years,we tried to take care of the world.

 

It's all downhill from here on. MAGA! 

Edited December 21, 2017 by riclag

[ilostmypassword]

11 minutes ago, riclag said:

PT was elected mainly for his economic agenda .Not for his locker room banter,tweeting and nonsensical prose. Stock market has broken a record for the most gains in 1 year. African American's house ownership up  more than ever before.GNP up 4 % in the last 2 quarters.PT job gains haven't been as good as Obama's first year but the tax cut jobs bill along with lifting restriction from business and repatriating overseas money will help us to be great once again.Globalism didn't work for us, we made to many bad decisions in the last 40 years,we tried to take care of the world It's all downhill from here on. MAGA! 

So many falsehoods in so little space. Where do you get this nonsense from.

You actually believed Trump's claim that black home ownership is at its highest level ever? You actually believed a claim by Donald Trump?

AP Fact Check: Trump Wrong on Black Homeownership, Trade, Wages

The U.S. Census finds that the black homeownership rate peaked during 2004, when 49.7 percent of black households owned homes (the rate for all races that year reached 69.2 percent, also a modern record). The black homeownership rate stayed in similar territory until the recession, when it dropped to the mid-40s.This year: 42.7 percent in the first quarter, 42.3 percent in the second and 42 percent in the third.

https://www.voanews.com/a/ap-fact-check-trump-black-homeowners-trade-wages/4157239.html

 

And your claim about GNP was false, too.

GNP was up 3.5 percent in the quarter ending in June and 2.8 percent int the quarter ending in September.

https://ycharts.com/indicators/us_real_gross_national_product_growth

 

And actually, contrary to what you claim, the tax bill will actually encourage corporations to invest abroad.

The GOP tax bill is a massive victory for globalization

"The GOP’s new tax overhaul may appear to be a victory for Donald Trump’s nationalist politics—but it’s not. In reality, the bill endorses globalization and backs business trends that shift jobs from the US to the rest of the world."

https://qz.com/1160761/gop-tax-bill-the-republican-tax-plan-is-a-victory-for-globalization/

No wonder stock markets are loving it.

 

[Scott]

A post with the use of a disparaging term for one of the political parties has been removed.   The two main parties are the Democrats and the Republicans.   Please stick to those terms so your post doesn't get removed.  

[lannarebirth]

13 hours ago, Sir Swagman said:

Odd thing is, it is an investigation.....concluding it as speedily as possible would involve cooperation which seems not to be happening. The calls and comments about suitability, impartiality etc etc do nothing to assist bringing things to a conclusion. I know tha if I was being investigated and was innocent I would go all out to ensure that was discovered- makes one wonder.......

I agree with you but it comes down to defining what is being investigated.  I'll give you an example from my own life. In the mid 90's I got a letter from the IRS to justify a deduction I had made on my return. I had the relevant records and met in their offices to present it. I did and they accepted my interpretation of their rules and the deduction stood. THEN, for no reason whatsoever they began to demand further documentation and records going back a number of years. I was forced to retain a tax attorney @$450/hr and bring in my accountant @$75/hr to mollify them. $15k later they were satisfied my returns were in order and I owed them nothing. Juxtapose that aginst current policy since the "Taxpayers Bill Of Rights". Now they must specifically define the nature of the investigation and what specific documentation they seek. No more fishing expeditions! There is such a thing as government abuse of power.

 

edit: Amusing aside: I kept asking the IRS investigator if my expenses related to his fishing expedition were deductible on my next year's returns and it turns out they were.

Edited December 21, 2017 by lannarebirth

[mrwebb8825]

So, dems start their own rumor as the investigation is turning up nothing and now they are trying to make out like it's of some global consequence and the dem supporting sheeppoele fall right in line with the bashing of President Trump even though he said it was false and so did his lawyer the day after the dems started the rumor.

Tlak about grasping at straws. 

[lannarebirth]

So it's December 22nd today. Let's see if the accusation was credible or a desperate lie. If the former (or it happens in the near future) Dems sweep the mid term elections. If the latter, Dems sliding towards irrelevancy.

[MajarTheLion]

What a silly article. It is essentially a total straw man. First off, we have something called the First Amendment. Anyone is free to voice their opinion on Mueller, climate change or anything else they choose to talk about. That includes Donald Trump. By all means, someone tell me all about the rule that precludes Trump from doing so. Reality: some people will complain about ANYTHING Trump does. That's it.

 

And of course, the babbling in the article about firing Mueller is worthless. Oh sure, there was some article about a "rumor" by some Democrat that Trump was going to fire Mueller before Christmas. So now it appears we have a straw man article built on a silly partisan rumor.

 

And people wonder why the term "fake news" is bandied about so much? Seriously?

[MajarTheLion]

On 12/20/2017 at 11:49 PM, Sir Swagman said:

Odd thing is, it is an investigation.....concluding it as speedily as possible would involve cooperation which seems not to be happening. The calls and comments about suitability, impartiality etc etc do nothing to assist bringing things to a conclusion. I know tha if I was being investigated and was innocent I would go all out to ensure that was discovered- makes one wonder.......

That all depends on who is doing the investigating and what their intentions are. I can imagine many scenarios in which an innocent person would not want to cooperate with investigators.