THE HEAT IS ON
Multiple investigations and a cover up led by his hand crafted attorney general have Trump’s rump roasting. (Photo credit: The Weekly Opine)
Trump awash in the blue wave.
After months spent feigning in and out, bobbing up and down and weaving round and about, House Democrats cleared their throats last week and, pardon the expression, manned up. Finally, House Dems decided the bullseye includes Donald Trump’s tax returns.
In what must have been a cold, slap-in-the face reversal for Trump, the House Ways and Means Committee, after just days earlier saying his taxes were of no interest until 2020, abruptly changed course.
Even for a man who regularly reverses course – border is closing, now it’s not; healthcare is going away, now it’s not; NAFTA is done, now it’s not – the swift action, by what had been somewhat accommodating Democrats, must have felt like a gut punch.
House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal’s perfectly legal request, that the United States Internal Revenue Service turn over six years of Trump’s tax returns, reverberated from Washington D.C. like seismic waves spreading from the epicenter of an earthquake.
Joining the fray, House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters backed Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin into a corner, regarding his ill-conceived role shielding the IRS from their legal obligation to release Trump’s taxes. Mimicking what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi regularly does to Trump, Waters dominated Mnuchin in an intense showdown.
(If Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez can give congressional Democrats a tutorial on how to use social media, Waters should give Dems a master class on dismantling incompetent liars.)
Fittingly, the other main bullseye component – impeachment – surfaced and now lurks at the president’s doorstep.
On Capitol Hill, House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler prepared to subpoena Attorney General William Barr, to gain access to the complete, un-redacted Mueller report. Nadler, ever the gentleman, offered the sly AG a chance to cooperate, holding the subpoena as a last resort. (Note to Nadler: we are at the last resort.)
And then a bombshell report came out from The New York Times stating, “some on Mueller’s team see their findings as more damaging for Trump than Barr revealed.” The story went on to report that Mueller’s investigators say Barr “failed to convey the gravity of Mueller’s report.” And Barr left out material Mueller’s team included in their own summary to the attorney general. Uh-oh.
To put it succinctly, some of Mueller’s investigators are pissed-off at Barr’s cover-up.
The significance of Mueller’s team speaking out to the media cannot be overstated. For nearly two years they were silent. No comments. No leaks. Just methodical plowing ahead with their investigation, doing the work American taxpayers paid them to do.
Media and the House regain footing
It should be noted The New York Times and other media, including The L.A. Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, took Barr’s bait when the AG released his whitewashed, four-page summary of the voluminous 400-page report.
Headlines like “Mueller Finds No Conspiracy” (true but hardly the whole story) popped up, even though no one had access to Mueller’s report. In that instance the trustworthy, venerable media momentarily slipped into Fox News Lies never-never land.
Frankly, it is surprising how some mainstream reporters who cover the White House still convey Trump’s musings with a reverence that should be reserved for credible presidents. Considering Trump is a serial liar, the media should never accept what the president says and should always be skeptical of this administration.
Now back on sure footing, The Washington Post reports Mueller found obstruction evidence that is “alarming and significant.” And that the Trump campaign was manipulated by the Russian government. Maybe not outright conspiracy but not a clean bill of health, either.
Keeping pace with his colleagues, House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings is exercising the power of the subpoena, after his repeated requests for documents from the White House have been ignored by anti-rule-of-law minions populating 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
After slumbering during the month between Michael Cohen’s riveting testimony and the spring equinox, House Democrats have awakened like hungry bears searching for a Trump to chew on.
Speaking of Cohen, his stall tactics to avoid reporting to prison have grown tiresome. First, it was because he needed time to rehabilitate after minor shoulder surgery. Then last week he asked for another delay, claiming he found computer files with an (unbelievable) 14 million documents that he wants to sort through to help the case against Trump.
How about this? Michael, thanks for your help with the investigation. Now run along to prison.
Still here
Back to the Trump matter, one hopes Speaker Pelosi remembers where she placed her notes that say she won’t bother to impeach Trump unless something overwhelming pops up. Madame Speaker, the overwhelming evidence is in the toaster.
Hopefully, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff recognizes the difference between “wrenching” and criminally impeachable.
It is not news the Trump presidency is a sham. Sure, he can sign executive orders (which can be reversed by his successor). He can bask in adulation at MAGA rallies. But Trump’s reality is this:
His press secretary hides from giving standard daily briefings because there is no substance to this administration. His supposed big policy victory, a massive tax cut benefitting the wealthy, has been proven to be a fraud. MAGAs try to figure out what happened to their tax refunds, while writing checks to the IRS. And the IRS reports they are distributing fewer refund checks this year than years past.
The Wall will not be built. Healthcare will survive. North Korea continues its nuke program. Trump’s tariffs harm American businesses while the trade deficit soars toward $1,000,000,000,000. That’s one trillion dollars. China’s Belt and Road economic initiative successfully spreads into Latin America. The Carrier Plant in Indianapolis did in fact send jobs to Mexico. Barack Obama was born in Hawaii.
And while Joe Biden is deservedly under the microscope, remember this: before he was president, the President of the United States cheated on his wife, having sex with a pornography actress. Then, while president, Trump committed a felony trying to cover it all up.
TWENTY-THREE women have credibly accused Trump of sexual misconduct. And to think, many conservatives became hysterical when Barack and Michelle fist-bumped at a political rally. Lordy!
The Wall Street Journal reports the Southern District of New York interviewed Trump’s ex-Communication Director Hope Hicks and ex-bodyguard Keith Schiller, related to the hush money probe into paying off women to keep quiet about sexual affairs during Trump’s marriages.
Trump is obviously intent on hiding something that is significant. His desperation to keep his taxes and the Mueller report secret is telling. His rush to say he’s innocent of obstruction, even though the Mueller report does not exonerate him of obstruction, is telling. Trump’s admission he has not read any of the report is telling – and probably a lie.
Toast is coming
AG Barr testified earlier this week before a House panel on the Mueller report. And as he did with his 4-page summary, Barr did the president no favors. Refusing to divulge if he’s reviewed the Mueller report with the White House creates more trouble for Trump. Barr’s non-answers and squirming in his chair created the illusion of a cover-up.
House Dems did let Barr off a bit easy on Tuesday, not pressing him about how he, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, arrived at the conclusion there was insufficient evidence to charge Trump with obstruction.
Prior to the 2018 midterm elections, former FBI General Counsel James Baker told the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee the FBI was “very alarmed and concerned” that Trump took actions to obstruct justice. Other senior national security officials shared Baker’s concern.
In front of a Senate panel the following day, Barr made the incredulous claim that the Justice Department used “spying” tactics in 2016 against the Trump campaign. The truth is, as part of routine FBI surveillance of Russia, the bureau stumbled upon communication between high-ranking Russian officials and people associated with Trump. And doing their job, they put some campaign officials under surveillance.
Regardless, potentially more problematic for the president is this; by blocking the release of the un-redacted Mueller report, Barr may inadvertently back Trump into impeachment’s corner.
Some legal experts opine the House Judiciary Committee could obtain the un-redacted report by initiating an impeachment inquiry. This would force the Department of Justice to hand over the report, as it would become evidence in an impeachment inquiry.
All of this while Donald Trump fumes, simmering like Yellowstone’s volcanic caldera. No doubt Trump knows the game be over if Congress and the public see his taxes and/or the Mueller report. Even some of his MAGA base, whose financial fortunes are tied to the healthcare program Trump wants to destroy, would abandon the tent.
As happened during Watergate, Republican senators will recoil at Trump’s criminality, choosing the path of survival to protect their chances of re-election. Even if that means impeaching Trump.
Speaker Pelosi, the toaster is getting warmer. Overwhelming evidence will eventually pop up.
© 2019 Douglas Freeland / The Weekly Opine