Mueller to Testify Before Congress - July 17th

[fskimospy]

It is amazing to me how nonchalantly the Democrats have approached a situation where the president is using his powers of office to commit felonies.

 

[soulcougher73]

It is amazing to me how nonchalantly the Democrats have approached a situation where the president is using his powers of office to commit felonies.

Kind of makes you wonder if this is the party you want to be a part of sometimes. I feel the new younger progressive Dems are more in line with most liberals. We need a new real legit 3rd party. And 4th, 5th....

 

[hal2kilo]

Kind of makes you wonder if this is the party you want to be a part of sometimes. I feel the new younger progressive Dems are more in line with most liberals. We need a new real legit 3rd party. And 4th, 5th....

It's like they think we have all the time in the world. That idiot Neal, let's not be too aggressive in getting those tax returns. So afraid of what!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Jhhnn]

Trump claims presidential privilege, again, whatever that means-

https://www.politico.com/amp/story/2019/07/22/justice-mueller-congress-testimony-limit-1426035

 

[Paratus]

Trump claims presidential privilege, again, whatever that means-

https://www.politico.com/amp/story/2019/07/22/justice-mueller-congress-testimony-limit-1426035

Does it mean an extra scoop of ice cream?

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Trump claims presidential privilege, again, whatever that means-

https://www.politico.com/amp/story/2019/07/22/justice-mueller-congress-testimony-limit-1426035

Friend Nancy won't allow a challenge I'm sure.

 

[brandonbull]

Does it mean an extra scoop of ice cream?

Seems like Congress serves two flavors, Peach Mint and NothingBurger.

 

[Jhhnn]

Friend Nancy won't allow a challenge I'm sure.

Is that supposed to mean something?

 

[HomerJS]

To quote a line in every Star Wars movie..."I've got a bad feeling about this"

Methinks odds greater nothing much comes from this. Hope I'm wrong. I do know Trump and his people are worried.

 

[HomerJS]

Seems like Congress serves two flavors, Peach Mint and NothingBurger.

I chuckled. Second was lame

 

[Thump553]

Trump claims presidential privilege, again, whatever that means-

https://www.politico.com/amp/story/2019/07/22/justice-mueller-congress-testimony-limit-1426035

Presidential privilege being used to bury a special prosecutor's investigation where the president is a central character-this is a case of jargon supplanting logic and rationality. I see, let's have an unbiased investigation of the president's actions but then give the president unfettered power to bury the results so Congress can't use them in their explicit Constitutional power of impeachment.

Mueller expressly asked for guidance from the DOJ where, as a private citizen, they have no power over him. I predict tomorrow Mueller will use this letter tomorrow as an excuse not to go beyond the already DOJ edited (ie, redacted) report.

 

[soundforbjt]

Presidential privilege being used to bury a special prosecutor's investigation where the president is a central character-this is a case of jargon supplanting logic and rationality. I see, let's have an unbiased investigation of the president's actions but then give the president unfettered power to bury the results so Congress can't use them in their explicit Constitutional power of impeachment.

Mueller expressly asked for guidance from the DOJ where, as a private citizen, they have no power over him. I predict tomorrow Mueller will use this letter tomorrow as an excuse not to go beyond the already DOJ edited (ie, redacted) report.

Mueller has certainly been demonstrating his Republican roots lately.

 

[VRAMdemon]

The blasts of explosive Twitterrhea hits gale force as Mueller's testimony date approaches:

Said by Napoleon Bonyspurs:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1153286989053079552

In three sentences, we learn that Robert Mueller is conflicted and ran a witch hunt. But that witch hunt exonerated him. But Democrats want him to testify about that exonerating report which will be bad for them, while he does not wish for Mueller to testify about that exonerating report which will be bad for Democrats. What the ever loving fuck!

That paradox has been hanging over the heads of Trumpist defenders: Mueller Exonerated Him AND Mueller is Untrustworthy.

There are a lot of broken brains out there. Even under oath. Mueller may have thought it would not be worthwhile even to try to get a straight answer from him. I can fully understand anyone's reluctance to wade into the bullshit. That stuff is soul-destroying, or at least, hard to remove with dry-cleaning. But if Trump had testified, he would have become guilty of perjury within a minute of sitting down.

I know there are much bigger fish to fry, but for me Trump's constantly references to Lisa Page solely as someone's "lover" is weird as hell ..the kind of humanoid who views women as nothing but meat around a vagina. Trump is just one creepy motherfucker.

 

[VRAMdemon]

Mueller has certainly been demonstrating his Republican roots lately.

Yeah..There's always the possibility that Bob Mueller is a Trump supporter. But what's more likely, I think, is that he thinks of himself as a conservative above all else - and on some level, preserving the status quo is what's most important to him.

He was assigned a job, and he did it. It seems, he wants no part of efforts to get rid of Trump, because getting rid of a president is disruptive of order.

 

[thilanliyan]

Said by Napoleon Bonyspurs:

I lol'd

That paradox has been hanging over the heads of Trumpist defenders: Mueller Exonerated Him AND Mueller is Untrustworthy.

You're assuming they know what a paradox is and also that they care about truth and honesty.

 

[trenchfoot]

So now I'm hearing something about Mueller bringing in with him someone who can answer questions that he cannot and the Repubs are totally up in arms about this.

Anyone got the skinny on this?

 

[hal2kilo]

Presidential privilege being used to bury a special prosecutor's investigation where the president is a central character-this is a case of jargon supplanting logic and rationality. I see, let's have an unbiased investigation of the president's actions but then give the president unfettered power to bury the results so Congress can't use them in their explicit Constitutional power of impeachment.

Mueller expressly asked for guidance from the DOJ where, as a private citizen, they have no power over him. I predict tomorrow Mueller will use this letter tomorrow as an excuse not to go beyond the already DOJ edited (ie, redacted) report.

Its disgusting, and I agree. This is going to blow up, only the snide Republican queries will get the airplay because of the sensationalism. Call them off!

 

[jmagg]

Falls under be careful what you *wish* for.

 

[VRAMdemon]

Trump claims presidential privilege, again, whatever that means-

https://www.politico.com/amp/story/2019/07/22/justice-mueller-congress-testimony-limit-1426035

So...Trumps Justice Department has written a letter to Mueller stating that his testimony :

...must remain within the boundaries of your public report because matters within the scope of your investigation were covered by executive privilege."

Now... Do they have the actual legal authority to restrict his testimony this much?

I know Aaencies have pretty broad authority to authorize (or not) testimony of employees or former employees about their official duties under the so-called "Touchy regulations", although I don't know if DOJ's regulations extend to testimony before Congress (or whether they could).

Is instructing a witness not to answer something because it is privileged fairly routine?. Whether it is privileged is a somewhat different question.

 

[dank69]

So now I'm hearing something about Mueller bringing in with him someone who can answer questions that he cannot and the Repubs are totally up in arms about this.

Anyone got the skinny on this?

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/23/us/politics/mueller-zebley-witness-testimony.html
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/07/23/...-hearing/index.html?__twitter_impression=true

 

[VRAMdemon]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/23/us/politics/mueller-zebley-witness-testimony.html
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/07/23/...-hearing/index.html?__twitter_impression=true

Sounds likely if the aide is sworn in as a witness, the aide is not bound by the same regulations, or bound by letter. Interesting

 

[darkswordsman17]

Yeah..There's always the possibility that Bob Mueller is a Trump supporter. But what's more likely, I think, is that he thinks of himself as a conservative above all else - and on some level, preserving the status quo is what's most important to him.

He was assigned a job, and he did it. It seems, he wants no part of efforts to get rid of Trump, because getting rid of a president is disruptive of order.

I don't think that's likely at all. I just think he doesn't want to be the face on this literally historic event. Taking down mob bosses is one thing, becoming a key historic figure in a pivotal moment of American history is something else. Which that'd be fine, but I hope he realizes him not doing that very likely will still make that happen, only the legacy will be that he essentially stuck the fork in American Democracy by refusing to say that he thinks Turmp committed crimes and the only reason he didn't go after him is his belief that he could not due to political decorum.

 

[Jhhnn]

The only real constraint on Muellers testimony is his conscience. He can say anything he wants & there's not fuck-all that Trump can do about it.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Sounds likely if the aide is sworn in as a witness, the aide is not bound by the same regulations, or bound by letter. Interesting

He's not though. He's only there as counsel for Mueller (meaning, he's not under oath and can refuse to answer any questions as he's not the one there to be questioned).

Which that NYT article makes it sound like Mueller wanted him sworn in but the Democrats refused but offered to let him be "counsel" during the questioning.

No one knows what to make of Mueller's request (i.e. was he trying to enable someone else to be able to say what he wouldn't? or was he just looking to maybe take heat off himself?). Guess we'll see. But effectively, now Mueller has to be the face of whatever is said (which if I had to guess, is not what Mueller wants, I think he'd be ok signing off on any of his team doing so, but for whatever reason he just does not want to). The Democrats made a calculated risk, and I'm not sure if its because they wanted to force Mueller to have to put his name behind what is said, or if they did it to appease the Republicans throwing tantrums claiming the Democrats are going outside the accepted norms and trying to appear like they're being objective and non-partisan. If its the latter, they should know better (and should come right out and say that there's nothing wrong with it and that so what if its not normal, the entire situation is not normal and it would be a dereliction of their duties to let someone so credible and willing to testify). If its the former, we'll have to see how that turns out (will Mueller just give "reference my report for our findings" kind of answers, or is the guy there to help Mueller craft hedged answers, or is he there to give his take on the situation and have Mueller go "my team feels this way" and gives concise answers to questions like "if he were not President would you have indicted Turmp?" or "in your view, did the President commit crimes?", point blank stuff that can't be dismissed by Republicans - meaning if they want to claim that Mueller lied they're gonna have to take him to court and I think that's something they don't want as I'm pretty sure he'd tear the fucking assclowns a new asshole in any court proceedings).

Which this guy was requested to meet with both of these panels but the DoJ complained. So its not surprising that Republicans are going apeshit as they definitely seem to view him as damaging to their obstruction.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Barr is claiming Mueller asked the DoJ to send the letter limiting what he could testify about. So, another clear point to prove if Barr is just straight up lying to protect the President. I hope someone asks Mueller point blank if he did that.