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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Giuliani probably feels safe in saying things like that because Trump's base will never hear it, and even if they do it will be easily spun as necessary for Trump to combat the deep state/ swamp, or they simply won't care .
They feel so safe that they can openly talk about criminal activity and not expect repercussions.
In that case, we're back to the fact that Giuliani and Mueller apparently have known each other very well over a long period of time and therefore Mueller won't be simply be unsurprised by Giuliani's behaviour, he'll have anticipated it.
I think that's the point. I don't believe it's evidence of Trump's incompetence that Scott Pruitt was hired for the EPA. I believe that's actually one of the competent things Trump's done: for someone who is anti-science, anti-climate change, and anti-environmental protections, Pruitt is the perfect candidate to place in charge of the organisation to gut it.
That's likely to be the case with most of his appointments, where someone antithetical to the department has been placed in charge of it: they're exactly the right people to hamstring and even destroy those departments.
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.@Silasw: The quote is very simple, but the case law has expanded this.
https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Speech+or+Debate+Clause
has a bit of the Supreme Court precedent surrounding this, though.
He successfully obstructed much of Obama's agenda and managed to steal a Supreme Court nomination from him. He literally refused to do his job and then he was rewarded when his entire party overwhelmingly conquered every chamber of Washington.
Do not let the fact that we have won some victories against him distract from the fact that he's pretty much the head guy of an obstructionist campaign that's been very successful at both tearing down public faith in Democrats and reaping numerous rewards for the Republican party.
McConnell knows exactly what he's doing and needs to be handled with extreme caution. He's not about to be taken down by some amateur-hour horseshit like obstructing the Special Counsel's investigation.
edited 27th May '18 12:11:58 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Nunes is the perfect sacrificial idiot to try and shut down the investigation and get nailed on obstruction charges. It's been no secret that he's a Trump patsy. He's been one since the House Intelligence Committee started their investigation.
McConnell knows that as long as he keeps paying lip service to the important of the investigation while killing bills meant to actually secure it, it's only a matter of time before someone like Nunes gets desperate. I have no doubt that his end goal is something like
- Mueller Investigation ends abruptly and never comes back.
- Nunes or someone like him goes down for Obstruction.
- Republican supremacy continues unabated.
Basically, he's waiting for a patsy to hurl himself to the wolves for the sake of achieving an enduring victory that can only be bought with political suicide.
edited 27th May '18 12:27:41 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.The Speech or Debate Clause names both houses, so Nunes has the same protection. That said, Speech or Debate specifically exempts "Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace" as situations where the clause may be voided.
So Nunes could still hypothetically be picked up for Felony Obstruction if, and only if, the Department of Justice was already prepared to present such a case in a court of law and seek conviction.
We all know that it's next to impossible to arrest the President of the United States, but it's also really hard to arrest a Congressman too.
edited 27th May '18 1:08:01 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.NVM
edited 27th May '18 1:12:27 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Nunes, to my knowledge, has not crossed the line yet. He has shared information on the investigation with the White House, cited Trump as an anonymous source testifying in Trump's defense, and requested classified documentation from the investigators that he had no intention of reading in the hopes of having a pretense to take action against them, as well as issuing various statements opposing it.
But nothing that, to my knowledge, actually qualifies as obstructing in the legal sense. Trump himself has a stronger obstruction case against him, for doing things like firing James Comey and then bragging on television that he did it to kill the investigation.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Talking out your arse can be obstruction, if his intention with his lies is to influence witnesses (and that intent can be proven) than he could be done for obstruction, same if he tried to makes witnesses less willing to cooperate with the investigation.
On top of that leaking classified investigation documents to unauthorised parties is likely to violate something.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran

On the one hand, Trump's hires have definitely been incompetent, but part of that comes from choosing people actively hostile to their own jobs, so it could go either way