Sunday, December 17, 2017

'Twas a week before Christmas


And all through the White House
Trump thinks he's the ruler,
but he's just a louse.

This is the latest from the Trump legal* team (*a term to be taken with a jar of salt):

Officials of President Trump's transition team plan to ask Special Counsel Robert Mueller to return "many tens of thousands" of transition emails they contend were unlawfully provided to him. But the prosecutor's office says emails being used in the investigation were properly obtained.
What's new: A source close to Trump's transition, which still exists as a legal entity so it can shut down what was once a 1,000-person operation, said the transition will send a letter to Mueller informing him that some of the emails are privileged, and asking for their return. The transition says it is willing to provide Mueller with vetted emails.

The source told me: "What they did is totally illegal, and they need to fix it."
Sure it was.  I'm sure Judge Jeannine said so:

But Peter Carr, spokesman for the Special Counsel's Office, told Axios early this morning: "When we have obtained emails in the course of our ongoing criminal investigation, we have secured either the account owner's consent or appropriate criminal process."

And what does that mean?  I'm glad you asked:


But about the e-mails themselves, and how and why they were acquired:
And this, IMHO, is crucial:
So what the judge did was "totally illegal," and Mueller needs to "fix it"?  Yeah, that's the way the legal system works.

And obtaining "privileged documents" is a routine matter:
Game, set, match.  This is why Trump thinks Jeanine Pirro is a "judge."
And a reminder:  there actually is a process:
What Trump wants is simply for his word to be law.  These assaults on the justice system, from him, his lawyers, and Republicans in Congress, is so far beyond anything Nixon ever tried to do we're not even in the same reality anymore.  It's an impeachable offense to be so deeply in violation of his oath of office.

And John Cornyn embarrasses me by being a graduate of the same law school I attended.  There is no excuse for these defenses of Trump and assaults on the legal process.  Unless, of course, you want to upend the legal process for political purposes; or even just a tax break for the super-rich.

But that's cynical of me, isn't it?

And by the way, John Dean is exactly right:

“Watergate was initially ignored, even though it was a pretty spectacular scandal with five men arrested in business suits and surgical gloves with hundred dollar bills in their pocket in the offices of the Democratic National Committee with direct links to Nixon, with direct links to the re-election committee,” he continued. “That was a pretty spectacular opening, but people were tired of the story within 48 hours. The New York Times virtually stopped covering it. Only the Washington Post really gave it attention, and the only people following the story were in the Beltway.”

Good things come to those who wait.  Isn't that the real meaning of Christmas?

Yes, I'm very cynical....

No comments:

Post a Comment