Firing Mueller means firing Sessions and likely Rosenstein, and then hoping his new appointments actually get confirmed in order to fire Mueller. That seems pretty much not possible. It does finally seem the walls are closing in on the orange goblin.
There's a chain of command after Rosenstein that would need to be exhausted. After Rosenstein comes Rachel Brand (who's a bit of an unknown but seems generally respected), and then comes a succession plan dictated by an executive order earlier in the administration: Dana Boente is next up (seems to have some Trump loyalty, but also was an Obama appointee originally, and was involved in the sentencing of the Virginia governor on corruption charges, so he's been in this sort of situation before and has shown some ethics. After that, it goes to relative unknown attorneys for districts in North Carolina and Texas, who were probably chosen by Trump more out of loyalty than qualifications.
why is Don so pissed at Sessions for recusing himself?
Does he feel he lost one of his minions that could have an affect on the investigation, or that Sessions isn't loyal enough?
Trump cannot fire that many people at once without triggering a Saturday night massacre scenario backlash. I suspect all but the most ardent Trump supporters will turn on him if he tries to fire Rosenstein for not dismissing Mueller. Gringrich, Ryan, Pence, McConnell and the like will continue support, rest are a crapshoot.
GOP agenda will grind to a halt on pretty much everything since support won't be there for any legislation, with the post firing GOP infighting, and they'd likely get destroyed in 2018 midterm elections by the Dems. Likely then real impeachment proceedings would begin.
Ha. This was too funny. I wonder if she was pretending not to speak English, or just plainly didn't want to talk to Trump and that is Trump's interpretation.
And yet, last week at the G20 summit in Germany, when the opera performance ended, Trump says she was seated next to him for dinner and simply sat in silence, rather than endure the presidential chit chat.
She appears to have pretended not to speak English, pulling off one of the greatest tricks in the history of dinner diplomacy.
If so, Abe had a plausible reason, as Trump has a long record of disrespectful behaviour toward women, most recently an aggressive handshake and lewd comment about the body of Brigitte Macron, the first lady of France,
Ha. This was too funny. I wonder if she was pretending not to speak English, or just plainly didn't want to talk to Trump and that is Trump's interpretation.
Interesting note about why Trump's personal finances and business dealings are in question. This goes all the way back to the 2013 miss universe pageant in Russia.
Quote:
The 2013 Miss Universe pageant is of interest because a prominent Moscow developer, Aras Agalarov, paid $20 million to bring the beauty spectacle there. About a third of that sum went to Trump in the form of a licensing fee, according to Forbes magazine. At the event, Trump met Herman Gref, chief executive of Russia’s biggest bank, Sberbank PJSC. Agalarov’s son Emin helped broker a meeting last year between Trump’s son and a Russian lawyer who was said to have damaging information about Hillary Clinton and her campaign.
Just bizarre all around. One wonders what the Japanese interpreter was thinking then. Did he just demand some Asian-looking interpreter assist him?
And Peng Liyuan is fluent in English as well. I can't help thinking that he probably sat down next to her, started talking, and when she realized he had mistaken her for someone else, she decided not to correct him. Who knows what he might have said? "So glad to be seated next to a real ally like Japan, instead of a phony ally like Gina. Hey, speaking of Gina, let me tell you some things about our covert intelligence there."
Dude, did you even read the article? It's even funnier at the end. Apparently he was actually sitting beside the first lady of China.
That doesn't seem to be true.
At the start of this video, you can see Trump arrive and sit down. There isn't a clear shot of the woman on his right, but it does look like Japan's first lady. You can also see China's first lady is sitting a few seats to his left, in the dress with the embroidered flowers.
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Turn up the good, turn down the suck!
Ben Jacobs @Bencjacobs
Sanders on Mueller: The president is making clear that the special counsel should not move outside the scope of the investigation
Maggie Haberman @maggieNYT
Sanders says the president "has no intention to do so at this time" re firing Mueller.
'At this time' means right now. Tomorrow? Who knows.
I know this tire fire of an administration has ruined all of us but qualifying a statement with "at this time" is a standard political move. Absolutes don't work well with statements etc.
A reporter yesterday livestreamed the audio of an off camera press briefing. This deserves far more attention than it is getting since this Republican adminstration's push to normalize their attacks on free press is clearly working.
"At this time" is just a way of saying "we aren't actually firing anyone, but here's a subtle reminder that we can."
or there's this...
Quote:
Preet BhararaVerified account @PreetBharara 19h19 hours ago
Preet Bharara Retweeted The New York Times
The President today effectively asked Sessions for his resignation. Will he resign or insist on being fired?
