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Justice Department Appoints Former FBI Director Robert Mueller As Special Counsel For Russia Investigation (thehill.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Hill: The Justice Department has appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate Russia's involvement in the U.S. election. Mueller, a former prosecutor who served a 12-year term at the helm of the bureau, has accepted the position, according to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. "In my capacity as acting attorney general I determined that it is in the public interest for me to exercise my authority and appoint a special counsel to assume responsibility for the matter," Rosenstein said in a statement. "My decision is not a finding that crimes have been committed or that any prosecution is warranted. I have made no such determination. What I have determined is that based upon the unique circumstances, the public interest requires me to place this investigation under the authority of a person who exercises a degree of independence from the normal chain of command." UPDATE: President Trump has released a statement: "As I have stated many times, a thorough investigation will confirm what we already know -- there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity. I look forward to this matter concluding quickly. In the meantime, I will never stop fighting for the people and the issues that matter most to the future of our country."
So
Much
Winning
We didn't know the extent of the Nixon atrocities until more than a year after the break in. It's quite likely lots of evidence exists, but is being used in an ongoing investigation and will not be disclosed publically anytime soon. If trump asked Comey to back of Flynn, and we know he admitted to firing Comey over Russia issues, that is likely enough on its own. Not to mention the overwhelming list that grows by the day. If we see Paul Ryan buckle, it's all over.
A special Counsel is not the same as a special investigator. He does not have the power to investigate, just determine if there is evidence of wrong doing.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Trump is a stupid helpless infantile bastard. Stick a fork in him. He is DONE. What a goddam disappointment.
Yep - putting classified data on an insecure server in your basement is a felony.
The law doesn't require malice - just negligence.
I don't believe there is any "Deep State" but if there is any this is evidence that it is composed primarily of people who care more about the rule of law than partisan politics. I for one welcome our globalist overlords.
of this yet. He'll have a hard uphill battle.
How could this possibly be described as a story that would appeal to the geek community? How is this "News for Nerds. Stuff That Matters"?
The Democrats have been screaming "Russians!" since the election, even though there's no evidence that Russia had any influence in the way it turned out.
I believe part of the reason they keep blaming the Russians is because they fear we'll find out who actually had Seth Rich murdered. Julian Assange himself said the Russians didn't give him the emails, and Wikileaks has offered a $20K reward to solve the case.
Trump is a blowhard who is full of himself, but he's no evil politician making nefarious plans to take over the world. Only skillful, corrupt politicians could plan something like what's going on now - the overthrow of an elected President.
The existing FBI investigation will continue (just as it was going to anyway), and we'll have yet ANOTHER person echoing the multiple agency heads and senior legislators (from both parties) who have after months of investigations repeated that there is no evidence of any collusion.
Mueller is tasked with looking into "Russian attempts to influence the election," a given - something they've always done, and continue to do in elections all around the world. That's not the same as the thing that political partisans on the left are attempting to conflate with it, which is their narrative that somehow the campaign was involved in that - again, something for which there appears to be zero evidence, as has been authoritatively said multiple times by people in the know from multiple angles. The question is whether or not Mueller will be re-hashing the ten months of investigations already conducted by multiple entities. Note that this is NOT a special prosecutor. This is a special counsel, and setting up somebody in that role doesn't indicate any awareness that there is something to prosecute (the statement from the DoJ AD explicitly says this is not a finding that there is even anything prosecutable). More like a chance to finally settle the dust on this after ten months of FBI investigation and shut down the unhinged narratives being bandied about by people who don't even seem to understand the constitution.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
He was chosen as G.W.B.'s attorney general on 09/04/2001, so he has a hot week in office before the WTC fell.
Director Mueller, along with Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey, threatened to resign from office in March 2004 if the White House overruled a Department of Justice finding that domestic wiretapping without a court warrant was unconstitutional.
Obama kept him on for two years after he was elected, and Comey was not only his assistant, but his successor.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
Slashdot needs to start charging all the Russian paid sills for access. The profits would be Yuge.
I would agree it was just Democrats shouting in the dark... if there didn't keep being problems. See here's the thing: The issue isn't with the e-mail leaks. That's not what is being talked about, it is if any of Trump's associates had illegal ties to the Russians and more importantly if Trump tried to cover it up.
Trump was told that Flynn was likely compromised and he shouldn't hire him. Had he not, well that story would end there. But he did hire him. He then pressured the FBI director to drop the investigation in to Flynn, and only fired Flynn when it leaked that he had this conflict of interest. He then implied the problem, and the reason he fired Flynn, was the leak not the compromise. Then he later fired the FBI director which his people claimed was related to the e-mails but he came out and said was because of the Russia investigation.
Guess what? That shit starts to look a lot like obstruction of justice. That's why this thing continues to have legs.
Oh an impeachment of a president? That's not "corrupt politicians" "overthrow[ing] of an elected President," it is constitutional, and is what is supposed to happen if the president breaks the law. Article one section 1 states that "The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and other officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment." Article two section four states "The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."
So ya, if it turns out he obstructed justice, which you'd need an investigation to determine (and that is what is going on), accepted bribes, or other illegal acts then the House would be within its constitutional power to impeach him and the Senate to try him. That's not some covert scheme to subvert the Constitution, it is written right in the original text.
Winning
And this is not going to make anybody forget about Seth Rich, murdered by the DNC for releasing the Podesta emails to Wiki leaks.
Notice leftists, democrats will kill their own to cover up their crimes. Don't put yourself in a position to become a target.
Democrats are screaming about impeachment, this will be the Nth time a link to Russia isn't found... how foolish can a party look?
If Putin didn't tamper with voting machines then thanking him for President Trump's victory doesn't make much sense.
Trump didn't write that tweet, it is a boilerplate politician statement. He doesn't tweet like that.
That new US Prez sitcom is better than anything I've ever watched. At first I was skeptical because it looked like a cheap Spin City knockoff or a weak rehash of That's my Bush, and, well, basically it is, but they really manage to spice it up and get to new heights week after week.
Though I have to admit, it slowly starts to get a wee bit unrealistic.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
to vote the other side in 2018. It's that simple. Vote the other side. Heck, if you're genuinely conservative you'll vote the other side next election just for the sake of gridlock (conservative meaning you're opposed to change). But either way, we've got one side in complete control and it's meant that all our checks and balances have collapsed. And if you're waiting for the current House Speaker to step up well.... I won't stop you from holding your breath. Asphyxiation is probably preferable to the current situation.
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he's admitted in absolutely no uncertain terms that he interfered with Comey's investigation. That's obstruction of justice. Full Stop. Am I missing something where that's _not_ an impeachable offense? Whatever happened to the rule of law? Even Hilary got an investigation (that concluded with no charges being filed, I might add). What do you think would've happened if Obama fired Comey during that investigation? What possible reason could there be _not_ to impeach him? I'm waiting...
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Liberals, be careful what you wish for. Mike Pence is everything that Trump is not: bright, articulate, a polished politician who will not have to hold a well-thumbed copy of Presidenting For Dummies in one hand while tweeting with the other. And also an evangelical Christian who is pro-life and hates every letter in your gender preference string.
Don't like the orange guy they have replacing Kiefer though.
Where's his partner Scully?
Bueller, Bueller, (you read that in Ben Stein's voice), won't find shit, he didn't find shit about US war crimes, he didn't find shit about Cheney's war profiteering, and he didn't find shit about the US engagement in torture--even after it was posted on the internet.
He is going to continue to cover the POTUS's ass and make sure that nothing is found.
And like the voting machine tampering in the 2016 election, he will make sure that any evidence that is found relating to the Cheeto is tainted to give reasonable doubt in case there is an impeachment.
My god people- and you call yourselves intelligent. You really are the stupidest people ever to walk the earth. Everyone on Slashdot, I advise you to end your life immediately you are too stupid to exist.
There are plenty of legitimate reasons to oppose Trump. But Democrats have lost their goddamned minds after Mrs. Nafta lost the Rust Belt, and are desperately looking for a reason, any reason, to declare a president from the opposing party illegitimate. Like the Teabaggers who spent 8 years insisting that Obama was born in Kenya, not Hawaii.
So they've bought wholesale a conspiracy theory that has less evidence than Bush & Cheney planning the WTC attacks back in 2001. Show us the evidence or STFU already.
Uh huh. This assumes that Putin is smart and clever enough to hack information that will swing a US election, yet stupid enough to share that information (directly or indirectly) with someone as stupid as Trump.
Or....maybe it's all a bunch of stupid BS, like the theories that Stanley Kubrick faked the moon landings for the USG so he could use a low light camera....to make a movie. There's been as much evidence offered so far on Russia as there is on the moon landings being faked. Key word: evidence.
I'd genuinely like to know. What am I missing. I just don't see how this is _not_ obstruction of justice. You can argue that Comey lied, I suppose. But otherwise Trump told Comey to drop an investigation into one of his people. That's pretty much a textbook example of Obstruction of Justice AFAIK. Then again, IANAL so take that with a grain of salt. Bill the Clinton perjured himself and managed 8 years. But what he did was a _lot_ less serious. Lying about a side piece isn't remotely in the same boat as doing favors for a semi-hostile nation in exchange for money...
Again, am I missing something? Is there any way for this to end without impeachment? I suppose if the speaker is a Republican he can just decline to bring impeachment. That's his prerogative, but the last time that happened (Nixon) they were afraid of losing the House over it. Are they safe now? There's been a lot of Gerrymandering. Maybe they just don't care. But if that's true it's frightening. It means we're no longer a nation of laws, but of men...
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How is it "independence" if he reports to the Deputy Attorney General? This is not an independent prosecutor. There is no independence since the results will pass through the deputy attorney general and he reports to Trump. This is yet another ruse and when he is fired or told to suppress details or directed not to pursue certain leads or ask to regularly report to the deputy attorney general so he can brief the president on what to hide we'll be back at this same point in 6 months with everyone calling for an independent investigation that reports out to congress.
"At this point you even have some Democratic strategists hoping he doesn't get impeached and removed, because the longer he's in the White House, the worse the Republicans look."
Probably, after all it's that kind of logic that ousted Bernie for Hillary
Probably the first thing the grand jury will do is indict Hillary Clinton since all the evidence has already been assembled and the only thing preventing it was Comey.
Since we now know some are coming from the FBI. Comey better hope there are no "tapes". The leaking is the only known crime so far, so the special counsel is required to prioritize them.
After spending hours each day studying the Trump nightmare, I now wonder if a real criminal conviction will put Trump in prison. It is hard to look into anything Trump has touched and not find serious criminal activity. The obstruction of justice charge alone is sufficient to demand a prison sentence as are his numerous violations of the Foreign Powers Corruption Act. But we all pretty much know that after being tossed out of office and fined there will be no prison time as the sick truth is that we never have equal justice for all. At this point numerous Trump properties have been placed in the names of family members. I suggest that all Trump's assets, including those transferred be seized and frozen so that the numerous crimes and injuries can be taken from those funds. Besides, if he spends the rest of his life in prison he won't need money anyway.
I bet the under on, "A special prosecutor is appointed to investigate Trump by day 120".
Now the big proposition bet is "Trump will rage quit by January 19, 2018".
The smart money is on the under.
You are welcome on my lawn.
When does that piece of paper matter to the leftists? Freedom of speech? Not if it's "hate speech" (which is anything found to be inconvenient at the time). Right to bear arms? Nope, not unless you work for the Government (or them). I know, the right to due process? Well, once again if you are in the wrong political party the leftists and leftist media will try and convict you long before any evidence is shown. I don't need to go on, but surely we could play this game for a long time.
Face facts, this is not an issue with the Leftists and their media with President Trump. This is an issue with _ANY_ President who is not on the left. I'm old enough to remember how the media and leftists bashed and played the same games against Reagan. Perhaps try going back and reading some papers from his day.
Everyone on the left gets a free pass. Remember when President Obama leaked the CIA chief's name from Afghanistan? Where were the calls of impeachment for him? How about the open mic incident where President Obama told President Medvedev he would have "more flexibility" to negotiate with Putin after the election. (Left leaning site confirms). Where were the calls of collusion? Where were the calls from the media and left for Obstruction on Hillary for deleting emails? How about perjury which the left's villain turned hero Comey outlined in front of Congress? Was it Comey lying to Congress then or Hillary, because one did and nobody on the left cared. How about Bill committing perjury? Where was the outrage by the media and "gotcha" for an open and obvious lie? *crickets*
But no, there is no media collusion and it's all about the Constitution. If of course you are def dumb and blind (intentional or not). You should probably read, talk, or listen to Constitutional experts (Larry Elder, Dennis Prager, Mark Levin, Ben Shapiro, etc..). Hint: You won't find any on CNN or MSNBC, or any of the other MSM stations. MSM brings you their echo chamber.
Posting anonymously since this post is being bombarded with moderation from commie leftists.
When they find Russian collusion we all know whose alcohol-soaked fingers will be clutching the payoff money. From Uranium-One to Haiti the C-word is recognized as the epitome of corruption. From classified emails to selling out Crimea and Ukraine to Russia, the deplorables know who is causing the problems. And she needs to be locked up.
Fighting for people that matter.
Got a billion dollars?
Then you matter and Trump is going to fight for you against those that don't.
And there it is the utter hypocrasy of the alt right, all the usual alternative facts. You fucking inbreds spent 8 years making up dumb lies about Obama, now getting all whiny when their own tactics are turned against them, even worse for you poor snowflakes, this time its true. You can smell their fear now.
You can give it out but you cant take it, suck it up princess, this wont stop until Pence pardons Trump. Trumpers, just an outdated puss filled pimple on the ass of society.
Are they ever going to get done with their witch hunt? So much hand wringing in the media. Zero proof.
I guess you have to have something to blame for losing so badly. Please just stop before you become completely irrelevant.
Bitch Clinton was found guilty of everything. Guilt as shit is brown. She was just not prosecuted by her pimp nibberizing Obama.nation.
Not while he is President - kind of a flaw in the system at the moment.
So all those weirdos who pretend to be colonials at political events rejoice - you've got yourself a King who is above the law - so that's a worse situation than the King that George Washington fought against. So long as enough Senators are on his side he's untouchable.
People with 6 month old accounts or Anonymous Coward = "this is nothing"
People with actual accounts who have been around for awhile = "we should at least look into this".
The president DID spy on Trump's campaign, and that's an indisputable fact. The only thing they've got wrong is the motive, and of course one other minor detail. The president DID spy on Trump's campaign but mainly to make sure he was getting his MONEY'S worth, not in any way to harm or oppose it. The minor detail to which I refer is WHICH president was spying on the Trump campaign... ;-p
Hint... it wasn't Obama!
... that's why we need fewer laws.
Trump just left the country on a tour of fairly unfriendly places.
If someone like Putin thought he was likely to turn 'States Evidence', and blow the whole scheme wide open, he might take steps.
Will the Donald make it back from his trip? Inquiring minds want to know...
The only actual EVIDENCE of election rigging is by the DNC, in their primary.
I suspect Muller could pretty easily prove that with what I've seen already. Imagine Debbie Schultz and Donna Brazil brought up on charges for electioneering, because they are actually guilty and there IS evidence.
Consider that Trump making a lot of noise is just smoke and mirrors. Trump will probably wind up impeached and the republicans are OK with that because their agenda is unhindered by the opposition that is so fixated on him.
We invest billions in departments to oversee, manage and report in things exactly like this but now we're going to spend millions more on a special group to investigate and report on it. If the press (the ones that make millions on creating a shit storm around select, partisan events) wasn't available as a political tool (when pigs fly) we'd let the departments we already spend billions on do their job and avoid spending millions more on a new group to report on the same stuff the other group should be working and reporting on!
by the time it's all over he won't have a reputation and his name will be Shit.
His name already is. Which reminds me, I've gotta go take a Trump.
See here. Comey was asked to drop the Flynn investigation. This is more or less fact now (memo's are admissible as evidence). So no, I'm not saying the FBI director is lying. I'm saying he's telling the truth and Trump broke the law by obstructing justice. Unless Trump is above the law he is due to be impeached. Again, is there a flaw here I don't see?
This is another case of "The cover up is worse than the crime". Bill Clinton didn't break the law getting a blow job, he broke the law lying about it under oath. Now, if a regular guy lied about getting a blow job to a judge he'd probably get a fine and let off. If a regular guy interfered in a police investigation I don't think he'd get let off with a fine.
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4. Never forget the Obama birth certificate crap. That was trying to destroy Obama, presumably to gain political advantage. As a side effect he weakened the ability of that government to get things done. Had their been truth to it, it would be fine, but the purpose was not truth. The purpose was basically A1 grade evil.
As a point of interest, Trump supporters who comment on Scott Adams blog just this week were still bitching about Obama's "fake" birth certificate. How is that even rational any more? Even Trump himself when pinned down about it after winning the primary admitted Obama was born in the USA. But even if this certificate was faked, then we need to deal with the following.
1) Ted Cruz was born in Canada to one US citizen parent. How is that different to Obama being born in Kenya to one US citizen parent? Cruz was allowed to run for president. So even if Obama was born in Kenya, how does that disqualify him from being president? And if somebody is then going to argue that his mother gave up her US citizenship they have to prove it by providing US government records that show it happened.
2) Hillary Clinton very badly wanted to win the Democratic Party nomination in 2008. If Obama was somehow lying about his birth or even worse Constitutionally unqualified to be president, why did she not exploit this? And if you are going to argue that she was a loyal solder, that's just crap. People are accusing her of cheating with the help of party leadership in the primaries last year but somehow dishonest Hillary wouldn't use that information in 2008 for her personal benefit? Yeah. Right.
3) Why did John McCain not use this information to argue in 2008 that his opponent, Obama, might not be qualitied?
4) Why did people in the Republican Party independent of McCain not use this information in 2008 or even 2012 to try to derail Obama's campaign? Why did Romney not use it in 2012 if it was true?
5) How do you explain the birth announcement in a local Hawaiian newspaper announcing Obama's birth? But I suppose if you want to argue that the certificate is faked it's no stretch to argue that this was faked too somehow.
President Pence will pardon the orange Hitler. Sad.
Easy. It's because of the magic (R) beside the name that makes it all different and allowed. If you have anything else, like a (D) or such, it's really bad. But having an (R) means you have a free pass.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
What I don't understand is why Trump is worried about this investigation into Russia.
If you look at the facts, the investigation is whether or not Russia sought to influence the election, and that certainly seemed to be titled in favor of Trump. But that does not mean that Trump was involved in any way. It could simply mean that Putin didn't want Clinton to win. If that were true, it would tarnish Trump's win of course, but what's done is done. I really don't know what would happen, and it would surely be a disaster.
But the way Trump keeps saying that the investigation is into HIM, and that he never colluded with Russia, is disturbing. It all seems irrelevant to the question about if Russia tried to influence the election. He's making it about HIM, instead of about Russia. I find that strange. But I find a lot of what he says to be strange. His obsession with himself is quite nauseating - whether he's president or not.
So the press is evil, but let's have daily press briefings. (?!) I try to ignore it, but people at work keep putting it on the TV in the break room. I just get this sick sense that this is just an extension of the instant-gratification of today's media. I say let them do their investigation into Russia, and report on their findings. But instead, there is a constant barrage of micro-updates on things. So much so that it's really rather disheartening. I can't even read THIS site without hearing these kinds of updates. I read the BBC, but they even keep re-running the same story, with just a few little updates and a title change. Everyone has lost their damn minds.
It makes me just want to ignore it all.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
Everyone -politicians, mainstream media - seems falling over each other while heaping praise fro Mr. Mueller. I recall from a few years ago that he expressed that there was a continuum between people who protest and people who commit crimes. I think it was lazy of the congress to enable / allow his extension when the terrm limits were intentionally set up to prevent entrenched point-of-view in that office.
The only country to dramatically effect the election was Saudi Arabia, which funded 25% of Hillary's campaign. The DNC leaks, showing their corruption and what they did to Bernie, came from an insider, not Russia. That insider was Seth Rich... who was promptly killed. Russia hasn't been involved with US politics since they paid Hillary $100m for access to one of our Uranium mines
and that ones just getting started.
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When you put it in terms of unfounded conspiracy theories and outright lies, it all makes sense! You had better go into hiding before the lizard people use chemtrails to fluoridate your water and get the Illuminati to give you vaccines. The truth is out there!
He is beyond the reach of the courts so your long winded text about irrelevant legal issues does not apply. Legal issues sadly do not apply - just the advice of Congress and the will of the Senate.
Bitch Clinton was found guilty of everything.
Says no prosecutor anywhere.
Now, your butt-buddy Trump is ALSO not trying to prosecute her.
You know, that whole "No evidence of crime" thing that Starr had to live with also!
Get off the Alt-right diet. It's bad for your brain.