Täällä seurataan Trumpin presidenttikautta

[Nahkanuijan nuupauttaja]

Trump team seeks to control, block Mueller’s Russia investigation

By Carol D. Leonnig, Ashley Parker, Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger July 20 at 9:58 PM
Some of President Trump’s lawyers are exploring ways to limit or undercut special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia investigation, building a case against what they allege are his conflicts of interest and discussing the president’s authority to grant pardons, according to people familiar with the effort.

Trump has asked his advisers about his power to pardon aides, family members and even himself in connection with the probe, according to one of those people. A second person said Trump’s lawyers have been discussing the president’s pardoning powers among themselves.

Trump’s legal team declined to comment on the issue. But one adviser said the president has simply expressed a curiosity in understanding the reach of his pardoning authority, as well as the limits of Mueller’s investigation.

“This is not in the context of, ‘I can’t wait to pardon myself,’ ” a close adviser said.

With the Russia investigation continuing to widen, Trump’s lawyers are working to corral the probe and question the propriety of the special counsel’s work. They are actively compiling a list of Mueller’s alleged potential conflicts of interest, which they say could serve as a way to stymie his work, according to several of Trump’s legal advisers.

A conflict of interest is one of the possible grounds that can be cited by an attorney general to remove a special counsel from office under Justice Department regulations that set rules for the job.

The president is also irritated by the notion that Mueller’s probe could reach into his and his family’s finances, advisers said.

Trump has been fuming about the probe in recent weeks as he has been informed about the legal questions that he and his family could face. His primary frustration centers on why allegations that his campaign coordinated with Russia should spread into scrutinizing many years of Trump dealmaking. He has told aides he was especially disturbed after learning Mueller would be able to access several years of his tax returns.

Trump has repeatedly refused to make his tax returns public after first claiming he could not do so because he was under audit or after promising to release them after an IRS audit was completed. All presidents since Jimmy Carter have released their tax returns.

Further adding to the challenges facing Trump’s outside lawyers, the team’s spokesman, Mark Corallo, resigned on Thursday, according to two people familiar with his departure. Corallo did not respond to immediate requests for comment.

“If you’re looking at Russian collusion, the president’s tax returns would be outside that investigation,” said a close adviser to the president.

Jay Sekulow, one of the president’s private lawyers, said in an interview Thursday that the president and his legal team are intent on making sure Mueller stays within the boundaries of his assignment as special counsel. He said they will complain directly to Mueller if necessary.

“The fact is that the president is concerned about conflicts that exist within the special counsel’s office and any changes in the scope of the investigation,” Sekulow said. “The scope is going to have to stay within his mandate. If there’s drifting, we’re going to object.”

Sekulow cited Bloomberg News reports that Mueller is scrutinizing some of Trump’s business dealings, including with a Russian oligarch who purchased a Palm Beach mansion from Trump for $95 million in 2008.

“They’re talking about real estate transactions in Palm Beach several years ago,” Sekulow said. “In our view, this is far outside the scope of a legitimate investigation.”

The president has long called the FBI investigation into his campaign’s possible coordination with the Russians a “witch hunt.” But now, Trump is coming face-to-face with a powerful investigative team that is able to study evidence of any crime it encounters in the probe — including tax fraud, lying to federal agents and interference in the investigation.

“This is Ken Starr times 1,000,” said one lawyer involved in the case, referring to the independent counsel who oversaw an investigation that eventually led to House impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton. “Of course, it’s going to go into his finances.”

Following Trump’s decision to fire FBI Director James B. Comey — in part because of his displeasure with the FBI’s Russia investigation — Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein appointed Mueller as special counsel in a written order. That order gave Mueller broad authority to investigate links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign, as well as “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation” and any crimes committed in response to the investigation, such as perjury or obstruction of justice.

Mueller’s probe has already expanded to include an examination of whether Trump obstructed justice in his dealings with Comey, as well as the business activities of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.

Trump’s team could potentially challenge whether a broad probe of Trump’s finances prior to his candidacy could be considered a matter that arose “directly” from an inquiry into possible collusion with a foreign government.

The president’s legal representatives have also identified what they allege are several conflicts of interest facing Mueller, such as donations to Democrats by some of his prosecutors.

Another potential conflict claim is an allegation that Mueller and Trump National Golf Club in Northern Virginia had a dispute over membership fees when Mueller resigned as a member in 2011, two White House advisers said. A spokesman for Mueller said there was no dispute when Mueller, who was FBI director at the time, left the club.

Trump also took public aim on Wednesday at Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Rosenstein, whose actions led to Mueller’s appointment. In an interview with the New York Times Wednesday, the president said he never would have nominated Sessions if he knew he was going to recuse himself from the case.

Some Republicans in frequent touch with the White House said they viewed the president’s decision to publicly air his disappointment with Sessions as a warning sign that the attorney general’s days were numbered. Several senior aides were described as “stunned” when Sessions announced Thursday morning he would stay on at the Justice Department.

Another Republican in touch with the administration described the public steps as part of a broader effort aimed at “laying the groundwork to fire” Mueller.

“Who attacks their entire Justice Department?” this person said. “It’s insane.”

Law enforcement officials described Sessions as increasingly distant from the White House and the FBI because of the strains of the Russia investigation.

Traditionally, Justice Department leaders have sought to maintain a certain degree of autonomy from the White House as a means of ensuring prosecutorial independence.

But Sessions’s situation is more unusual, law enforcement officials said, because he has angered the president for apparently being too independent while also angering many at the FBI for his role in the president’s firing of Comey.

As a result, there is far less communication among those three key parts of the government than in years past, several officials said.

Currently, the discussions of pardoning authority by Trump’s legal team are purely theoretical, according to two people familiar with the ongoing conversations. But if Trump pardoned himself in the face of the ongoing Mueller investigation, it would set off a legal and political firestorm, first around the question of whether a president can use the constitutional pardon power in that way.

“This is a fiercely debated but unresolved legal question,” said Brian C. Kalt, a constitutional law expert at Michigan State University who has written extensively on the question.

The power to pardon is granted to the president in Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, which gives the commander in chief the power to “grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” That means pardon authority extends to federal criminal prosecution but not to state level or impeachment inquiries.

No president has sought to pardon himself, so no courts have reviewed it. Although Kalt says the weight of the law argues against a president pardoning himself, he says the question is open and predicts such an action would move through the courts all the way to the Supreme Court.

“There is no predicting what would happen,” said Kalt, author of the book, “Constitutional Cliffhangers: A Legal Guide for Presidents and Their Enemies.” It includes chapters on the ongoing debate over whether presidents can be prosecuted while in office and on whether a president can issue a pardon to himself.

Other White House advisers have tried to temper Trump, urging him to simply cooperate with the probe and stay silent on his feelings about the investigation.

On Monday, lawyer Ty Cobb, newly brought into the White House to handle responses to the Russian probe, convened a meeting with the president and his team of lawyers, according to two people briefed on the meeting. Cobb, who is not yet on the White House payroll, was described as attempting to instill some discipline in how the White House handles queries about the case. But Trump surprised many of his aides by speaking at length about the probe to the New York Times two days later. Cobb, who officially joins the White House team at the end of the month, declined to comment for this article.

Some note that the Constitution does not explicitly prohibit a president from pardoning himself. On the other side, experts say that by definition a pardon is something you can only give to someone else. There is also a common-law canon that prohibits individuals from serving as a judge in their own case. “For example, we would not allow a judge to preside over his or her own trial,” Kalt said.

A president can pardon an individual at any point, including before the person is charged with a crime, and the scope of a presidential pardon can be very broad. President Gerald Ford pardoned former president Richard M. Nixon preemptively for offenses he “committed or may have committed” while in office.

[Liskomies]

Eikö parhaimmassakin skenaariossa Trump eroa ja Pence armahtaa heti kun pääsee pressaksi...?

[Pöydällä nakki ja pullo vodkaa]

Eikö parhaimmassakin skenaariossa Trump eroa ja Pence armahtaa heti kun pääsee pressaksi...?

joo, trump armahtaa muut ja pence trumpin. tosin trumpia ei varmaan edes tarvitse armahtaa kun se voi rahalla viivyttää oikeudenkäyntejä niin pitkään kunnes kuolee

[Jesse Python]

Toi oliskin temppu jos se armahtais itsensä etukäteen. Ja miksei armahtais, koska ennakkotapausta ei ole, lakia moisesta ei ole ja muutenkin täysin häikäilemätön tyyppi.

[Nahkanuijan nuupauttaja]

News: Marc Kasowitz out as @POTUS attorney - legal team now Cobb, Sekulow & Dowd. Sounds like a law firm but is not. Corrallo has resigned.

[velli]

News: Marc Kasowitz out as @POTUS attorney - legal team now Cobb, Sekulow & Dowd. Sounds like a law firm but is not. Corrallo has resigned.

elikkäs ymmärsinkö oikein että tunnettu mafia-asianajaja on lähteny lätkimään.

tajusikohan se että muuten voisi tulla aika hc tason tutkintaa senkin kohdalle.

[Jesse Python]

News: Marc Kasowitz out as @POTUS attorney - legal team now Cobb, Sekulow & Dowd. Sounds like a law firm but is not. Corrallo has resigned.

elikkäs ymmärsinkö oikein että tunnettu mafia-asianajaja on lähteny lätkimään.

tajusikohan se että muuten voisi tulla aika hc tason tutkintaa senkin kohdalle.

Luulen että fiksummat lakimiehet tajuaa melko pian että toi on ihan mahdoton tapaus.

[Jussin villapaita]

Jay Sekulow, one of the president’s private lawyers, said in an interview Thursday that the president and his legal team are intent on making sure Mueller stays within the boundaries of his assignment as special counsel.

Tästähän on hyvää kokemusta jenkkilässä, kun Ken Starrin johtama ns. whitewater -tutkinta, joka siis alunperin koski Bill Clintonin 70-luvun kiinteistösotkuja, muuntuikin yht'äkkiä Vince Fosterin kuoleman tutkinnaksi ja lopulta alettiin tutkia Clintonin seksijuttuja, josta se sitten saatiikin nalkkiin.

Jossain oli juttua, että tämmöiset tutkinnat on tosi laaja-alaisia, koska ei haluta, että tutkitaan eka vuoden verran ja sitten tulee joku uusi paljastus heti tutkinnan lopettamisen jälkeen. Ja tietysti koska tutkinnan myötä voi tutkijoille paljastua ties mitä muita eri juttuihin liittyviä rikoksia.

Trumpin kannalta aika paska juttu, että tää Mueller on kaikesta päätellen ihan helvetin kylmäverinen kaveri, jota voi olla hankalampi pompotella kuin vaikkapa Marco Rubiota.

Mueller’s service of presidents from both parties undoubtedly contributed to his selection as special counsel during an intense political crisis. Eric Holder, a former attorney general under Obama, praised Mueller’s selection as special counsel and described him as “incorruptible”.

Trump tietty voi erottaa sen, mutta se näyttäis aika helvetin pahalta.

[Nahkanuijan nuupauttaja]

Trump tietty voi erottaa sen, mutta se näyttäis aika helvetin pahalta.

Ikään kuin Trump ajattelisi sen pidemmälle kuin "kostan sille!!!1!!"

[Jussin villapaita]

Trump tietty voi erottaa sen, mutta se näyttäis aika helvetin pahalta.

Ikään kuin Trump ajattelisi sen pidemmälle kuin "kostan sille!!!1!!"

On tossa tietysti sellanen kulma, että se saattaa harkita oikeusministeri Sessionsin erottamista, että pääsis valkkaamaan uuden itselleen uskollisen kaverin sinne, joka sitten erottais Muellerin eikä presidentin tarttis suoraan liata käsiään. NYT:n haastattelussahan se komeen avoimesti kiros, että Sessions jääväs ittensä hommasta ja oikeusministeriössä nyt sitten venäjätutkinnasta vastaava kaveri ei oo hänen miehiään.

TRUMP: Look, Sessions gets the job. Right after he gets the job, he recuses himself.

BAKER: Was that a mistake?

TRUMP: Well, Sessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job, and I would have picked somebody else.

HABERMAN: He gave you no heads up at all, in any sense?

TRUMP: Zero. So Jeff Sessions takes the job, gets into the job, recuses himself. I then have — which, frankly, I think is very unfair to the president. How do you take a job and then recuse yourself? If he would have recused himself before the job, I would have said, “Thanks, Jeff, but I can’t, you know, I’m not going to take you.” It’s extremely unfair, and that’s a mild word, to the president. So he recuses himself. I then end up with a second man, who’s a deputy.

HABERMAN: Rosenstein.

TRUMP: Who is he? And Jeff hardly knew. He’s from Baltimore.

________

TRUMP: Yeah, what Jeff Sessions did was he recused himself right after, right after he became attorney general. And I said, “Why didn’t you tell me this before?” I would have — then I said, “Who’s your deputy?” So his deputy he hardly knew, and that’s Rosenstein, Rod Rosenstein, who is from Baltimore. There are very few Republicans in Baltimore, if any. So, he’s from Baltimore.

[Jesse Python]

Voi hemmetti mikä show siitä tulee jos se Sessionsin menee erottamaan.

[Suomalainen tilauspukki]

Voi hemmetti mikä show siitä tulee jos se Sessionsin menee erottamaan.

Musta näitä "mikä show siitä tulee jos" tyyppisiä tilanteita on ollut jo aika paljon, mutta siellä se vaan porskuttaa menemään. Tietysti _joskus_ se raja tulee vastaan, mutta en tiedä, vähän kyyniseksi vetää.

[Jesse Python]

Astetta kevyempää Trump-sekoilua, tekeekö se näitä tahallaan että huomio kääntyy pois vakavammista jutuista?

Trumpilta käsittämätön väite Japanin pääministerin vaimosta
Jenni Haukio tutustui kalliolaiseen kahvilaan Japanin pääministerin rouvan Akie Aben kanssa

00:15 / 00:54

Julkaistu: 21.7. 10:58
Jaa128TwiittaaSähköposti
Yhdysvaltain presidentin haastattelussa esittämä väite pääministeri Shinzo Aben vaimosta on herättänyt suurta kummastusta.
Yhdysvaltalainen New York Times-lehti haastatteli presidentti Donald Trumpia pitkälti keskiviikkona. Haastattelu tehtiin Valkoisessa talossa ja paikalla oli kolme lehden toimittajaa.

Presidentti ja toimittajat keskustelivat pitkän haastattelun aikana monista asioista, mutta Trumpin uskomaton väite liittyen G20-maiden kokoukseen ja Japanin pääministeri Shinzo Aben vaimoon on nyt noussut kohun keskelle.

Suomessakin puolisonsa kanssa vierailulla mukana ollut Akie Abe ei Donald Trumpin mukaan osaa puhua sanaakaan englantia. Asia tuli esille presidentin keskustellessa huippukokouksen yhteydessä järjestetystä illallisesta.


Jutun päävideolla kuvaa Akie Aben vierailusta helsinkiläiseen kahvilaan yhdessä rouva Jenni Haukion kanssa.
Trump kertoo lehden haastattelussa istuneensa illallispöydässä Argentiinan presidentin ja tämän vaimon vieressä, jotka kyllä osasivat puhua englantia. Hänen toisella puolellaan taas istui Japanin pääministerin puoliso, joka ei puhunut koko illan aikana sanaakaan.

– Hän (pääministeri Shinzo Abe) on mahtava tyyppi ja hänen vaimonsa on loistava nainen, mutta hän ei puhu sanaakaan englantia, Trump sanoo haastattelussa.

Toimittajat yllättyvät Trumpin väitteestä ja toistavat kysymyksen. He kysyvät presidentiltä, eikö pääministerin vaimo todella osaa sanaakaan kieltä.

Pääministeri vaimoineen osallistui G20-maiden kokouksen illallisohjelmaan.
Pääministeri vaimoineen osallistui G20-maiden kokouksen illallisohjelmaan. (KUVA: Jens Krick)

– Ei hän sano edes ”hello”, Trump vastaa.

Trumpin mukaan Aben vieressä istuminen oli haastavaa, sillä pöydässä oltiin tuntikaupalla. Hän selventää myöhemmin, että paikalla oli myös japaninkielen tulkki, jonka välityksellä he kommunikoivat.

– Toisella puolellani oli Argentiinan presidentin puoliso ja toisella puolen Japanin pääministerin vaimo. Mukana oli onneksi tulkki, sillä muuten se olisi ollut vielä vaikeampaa.

– Mutta nautin illasta hänen kanssaan ja hän on aivan ihana nainen, Trump tiivistää.

Useat tahot ovat tarttuneet presidentin lausuntoon ja kyseenalaistaneet sen täysin. On totta, että useissa julkisissa puheissa pääministeri Aben vaimo Akie Abe on puhunut japania, mutta todellisuudessa hän puhuu erittäin hyvää englantia.

Esimerkiksi on nostettu Aben kolme vuotta sitten New Yorkissa pitämä 15 minuutin mittainen puhe englanniksi, sekä esiintyminen MTV-televisiokanavan sukupuolitautikampanjassa.

Esimerkiksi New York Timesin Tokion toimiston päätoimittaja Motoko Rich on lytännyt väitteen täysin.

http://www.is.fi/ulkomaat/art-2000005298523.html

[Nahkanuijan nuupauttaja]

President Trump has nominated a well-known climate change doubter to the top science job at the Department of Agriculture.

The nomination, which had been expected, was announced in a statement by Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. Sam Clovis, an early campaign adviser to Trump, will serve as undersecretary for research, education and economics.

“Dr. Clovis was one of the first people through the door at USDA in January and has become a trusted advisor and steady hand as we continue to work for the people of agriculture," Perdue said. "He looks at every problem with a critical eye, relying on sound science and data, and will be the facilitator and integrator we need."

Clovis, who does not have a science degree, according to a Washington Post report, takes over a position that it said has generally gone to someone with an advanced degree in science or medicine.

If confirmed by the Senate, he would serve as the USDA’s chief scientist, coordinating the department’s research and education policies and ensuring the “scientific integrity” of the research done at the department.

Loput: http://thehill.com/policy/energy-enviro ... ree-to-top

Onnea, Amerikka. Jälleen kerran.

[Nahkanuijan nuupauttaja]

^^ Kielitaidon yllättävä häviäminen on ihan ymmärrettävää, kun viereen istutetaan Trumpin käytöstavoilla ja sivistyksellä varustettu tyyppi.