Wednesday, May 17, 2017

"Special counsel named to probe Trump-Russia ties"

Via MSN News:  Besieged from all sides, the Trump administration appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller Friday evening as a special counsel to oversee the federal investigation into allegations Russia and Donald Trump's campaign collaborated to influence the 2016 presidential election.

The appointment came as Democrats insisted ever more loudly that someone outside Trump's Justice Department must handle the politically charged investigation. An increasing number of Republicans, too, have joined in calling for Congress to dig deeper, especially after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey who had been leading the bureau's probe.

Earlier Wednesday, Trump complained in a commencement address that "no politician in history" has been treated worse by his foes, even as exasperated fellow Republicans slowly joined the clamor for an significant investigation into whether he tried to quash the FBI's probe.

31 comments:

Methadras said...

What does it look like jumping out of a perfectly good moving car? Republicans. The Double-Epic Facepalm Party.

Leland said...

If they didn't like Trump, they won't like what voters do next.

ndspinelli said...

Comey and Mueller are very close. This is a YUUUGE mistake and reports are Rosenstein didn't even consult or give the WH a heads up. They got notified AFTER the press release. Rosenstein didn't like the way he was setup as the patsy in the Comey firing and appointing Comey's former boss and friend is payback.

ndspinelli said...

Dems LOVE this appointment.

cliff claven said...

Few people know Richard Ben Veniste was part of the Watergate Committee and played bass for Savoy Brown in the 1970's.

Trooper York said...

I think Nick is right but it doesn't matter. Because Trump did not colude with the Russians. It is all bullshit drummed up by Hillary and the enemies of the people the main stream media. So he will investigate and find nothing.

President Trump needs to keep doing what he was elected to do. Some of it is working out good. He is bringing back manufacturing jobs. 20,000 last month. The elite scumbags sneer at that but the 8,000 miners who went back to work will kill for the Emperor of the Cherry Blossom Throne.

The two big deals he made with China regarding beef and natural gas exports will also add to a boon. The drop in the price of energy because of his pro-pipeline and exploration policies will "prime the pump" so to speak.

All of this will happen under the radar because the media will refuse to report it. But people will pay attention.

The only thing he has to do without fail is build the wall. If he doesn't then he is toast.

Leland said...

Sell, sell, sell... markets tanking. That may be red meat for SJW's, but for many Americans, it means a return to the era of lost hope under Obama.

ndspinelli said...

Troop, I agree about Russia. I think it's bullshit and obviously created by the loser Hillary. But this will drag on and be a distraction at best, suck the oxygen out of Trumps goals at the worst.

Trooper York said...

Oh it will drag on. But the difference with Trump is that he thrives on the hate. He lives for it. He did that all those years in the Tabloids. I know Trump a long time. You think he gives a shit what the media says about him. When he can go out and have a rally with 20,000 screaming fans backing him to the knife.

The people who did in Nixon where the cowardly Republicans. Now we certainly have plenty of them now but they don't have the balls to remove Trump. Not if they know what is good for them.

The elites of the two parties and the news media can not bring down a President who has the heart of the populist middle America in his hand. They can try of course. And reap the whirlwind.

Rabel said...

We'll see, Trooper. If they are out to get Trump, then they only need to turn one player. Whether or not Trump actually committed a crime won't matter. A city boy like you should be familiar with the lawman's methods.

edutcher said...

Special counsels need there to be a there there.

This is a joke. Think OCare. Same idea.

Mueller will be the one who vindicates Trump. The more the Lefties scream, the more idiotic it gets.

And, in the end, Mueller will be the one asking, "Where do I go to get my reputation back?".

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Still, whoever investigates needs to come up with solid evidence if Trump is to be removed. Just get on with it.

Michael Haz said...

Running guns, no special counsel.

Using the IRS to attack political rivals, no special counsel.

Setting up homebrew server with classified documents, no special counsel.

AG meets with the husband of the target of an FBI investigation in private, no special counsel.

DNC computer hacked, not turned over to FBI, no special counsel.

Third party Dem-linked consultant cries Russians!, special counsel.

Unreal.

ndspinelli said...

Troop, This ain't NY and he ain't a real estate guy anymore. It's an entirely different ballgame w/ much different rules. One of Trump's strengths is he knows the importance of being on offense. It's goal line defense now.

Leland said...

It's goal line defense now.

So disagree... He now has all the rational needed to have his DOJ open up investigations into all the things mentioned by Haz and more. After all; there is evidence that US citizens were unmasked in intelligence surveillance. There is evidence that classified information ended up on the laptop of a Hillary Clinton aide. And I'm sure Trump knows a few things to upset a couple of NE politicians at the state level. If it is fair game to investigate every charge, then open the flood gates. Heck start with voting irregularities in Pennsylvania (2008 and 2016).

Look, prior to the election, people openly stated that some Trump voters were motivated by the notion of just burning it all down. I realize not everybody, certainly not all Trump voters, actually felt that way. But a significant number did. Exactly how would such an event look? I think we have our answer. Politically speaking, Democrats just threw a match onto a powder keg in much the way Wile E Coyote might do so.

That said, Sessions was probably a poor choice for AG in this instance. Trump may have the instinct, but not Sessions.

So disregard my statement.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The point is to drag Trump thru the mud so that democrats can re-take the house and senate.

TrooperYork said...

I think the thing is people are holding Trump back from being Trump. They keep telling him to be "Presidential" and to work with the people in Washington. How has that worked out for him so far?

Now he is talking about bringing Corey back and going to the mattresses. Which is what he has to do. Enough with the Rance Prebius and Scott Spicer moderates. Go full Bannon. All the way.

That's what won the election. It is his only hope of beating back this coup of the Deep State.


Methadras said...

I'm telling you all that killing these piece of shit democrats would have been preferable to this horseshit. Now you believe me or is it still all dignity and comity and stiff upper lip bullshit while they kick us all in the nuts and laugh while you suck it up because being above it all is more important?

How many more times will you let democrats fuck you while you take it with joy and glee because being the better person is so much more prefarable?

Leland said...

Agree with Meth. Either we believe the things we say and act appropriately, or bend over and grab the knees. Haz notes a long list of real crimes that have supporting evidence that something did occur, but our elected officials pretend there is not enough there. Dems believe Trump stole the election, they have no evidence for their belief, but damn if they aren't acting on their belief. Now that they shot their wad; time for us to fire back and act on what is known. If Special Counsels are a good idea; then expect more to come. Scratch that, demand that more be appointed, tell the GOP squish that if they want a chance in 2018, whenever they see a microphone, they better name at least 3 scandals to be investigated by a prosecutor over the next year. Tell any potential primary opponent to name 5. It's not hard, Haz rattled off 6 of them.

And watch them. Already stories are going up that no serious people believe Trump will be impeached. Sure, and none of those serious people are out calling Maxine Waters for suggesting it. So don't let them get away with being a squish.

ndspinelli said...

I read Joe Lieberman is a leading candidate for FBI. If that's the case, Trump isn't going "full Bannon," he's grabbing his ankles. But, Ailes chose a good day to die..maybe the cause of death will be listed as: Utter Disappointment.

Sixty is too quiet on this. I think he's biting his tongue until it bleeds.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Trump may thrive on hate (having watched him for years, that is absolutely true), but he is setting himself up to fail as President. Will they impeach him? Not without a serious crime. But they will destroy him with a thousand cuts if they get a chance and damage his ability to do anything and get reelected.

Oh by the way, wait till they jack up interest rates to really crash the market.

He needs to play smarter to avoid this nonsense.

ndspinelli said...

Evi, If I were a Dem, I wouldn't want to impeach Trump. Firstly, a true conservative is VP. Secondly, he's more useful as a whipping post for 2018 and 2020 elections. I would do just as you said, just keep going to the body. I thought about Yellen and interest rates last night. No love there.

ndspinelli said...

The market stabilized today. Always trying to find the positive. The market is important as a firewall.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

What pisses me off is Trump makes things worse. If he just called Comey in and fired him and had a replacement in the wings ready to go, he could have said it was just time for a change. Sure the dems and media would have still tried to make hay of it, but it would have been way less than what went down.

Instead Trump flailed around like a retard, throwing his staff under the bus and driving the media crazy. He needs not to rise to the bait. I bet the brew ha ha over Comey is what led Rosenstein to go special prosecutor. Maybe Rosenstein would have done it anyway, but I doubt it.

That is the part that drives me crazy, the lack of discipline at Team Trump. He has his core advisors he can trust Hope, Ivanka, Jared (they are not the ones leaking). Dump Reince and bring in Newt.

Leland said...

I don't know if Trump made things worse (ok, the tweet was stupid), but Trump is way slow on having people to fill positions, so he can drain the swamp as he stated and fill in with better people. But already, the Dems are walking things back. Trump needs to step up now and go on offense. As AoS notes, Dems can't name a crime that Trump committed, but most of us can rattle off various statutes violated by Hillary, her staff, and other Democrats. They wanted special prosecutors, reach across the aisle and give them what they wanted.

ndspinelli said...

Living in Wisconsin during the govt. union hissy fit on Walker, this has some of the same dynamic, only on steroids. People saw through it and Walker got 200K more votes in the recall than he got in the regular. Walker was FOCUSED and ORGANIZED.

Fr Martin Fox said...

This is a consequence of President Trump's badly bungled firing of Comey. Someone the President trusts -- and who has good sense -- needs to sit down with him, and lay out for him the mistakes he's been making, and what to do to correct them. He and his supporters love to blame the hateful media, and yes, the media are eager to stab Trump every chance they get. But when your day-to-day message is, "The media are evil!" then you're losing.

ndspinelli said...

Padre, Nixon lost that battle w/ the MSM.

ndspinelli said...

I don't think anyone can tell Trump anything he doesn't want to hear.

Fr Martin Fox said...

Nds:

My point is, the problems Trump is having right now? He, himself, is contributing to them "bigly." There are other things he could have been doing that would have helped his cause, and things he needs to change ASAP.

Meanwhile, he and his supporters just say it's all the evil media's fault. It's only some their fault.

Fr Martin Fox said...

Also, however evil or hostile the media may be doesn't mean one can't have a skillful and successful media strategy. And Trump has a far better correlation of forces than Nixon had.