White House: Trump believes he has power to fire Mueller

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: The Hill


President Trump believes he has the power to fire Robert Mueller as special counsel leading the Russia probe, the White House said Tuesday.

“He certainly believes that he has the power to do so,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.

That stance is rejected by many legal experts, who say Trump does not have the power to fire Mueller directly. Under Justice Department regulations, that authority falls to to the department official in charge of the investigation — in this case, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

Mueller has returned to the center of Trump's crosshairs on Monday after the FBI raided the president's personal attorney, Michael Cohen.

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/382513-white-house-trump-believes-he-has-power-to-fire-mueller

[Gothmog]

1. From my twitter feed

Link to tweet

[olegramps]

25. Trump is playing with fire and may get burned. He will soon discover no man is above the law.

[RandySF]

2. Rosenstein has the power

And Trump has the power to fire Rosenstein

[Farmer-Rick]

3. Trump believes he's king of the United States too

It doesn't make it so.

[murielm99]

10. He's not.

That would be Garfield Goose. Garfield bought Bozo's Circus when Bozo retired.

Trump is too stupid to usurp that title from a goose.

[Farmer-Rick]

31. I had to look that one up to find out Trump is trying to wrestle a crown

Away from a puppet. Trump can't let anyone have anything.

[murielm99]

35. I loved that show when I was a kid.

I wanted to go home for lunch the last day of the Bozo show. We couldn't tape things back then. I had a business lunch, and I would have been fired if I had gone home to watch Bozo's circus. I was a grown woman, in my late twenties.

My brother took half a day off, not telling anyone why. He said Bozo cried, and the Goose bought the circus. Sigh.

[cojoel]

29. listen

Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not some farcical aquatic ceremony.
You can't expect to yield supreme executive power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!
I mean, if I went 'round saying I were emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!

[Farmer-Rick]

30. Monty Python and the Holy Grail

The best line of any King Arthur movie ever.

[Botany]

4. Please call your senators and congress critters (especially republicans) and tell them that ....

.... you demand that Bob Mueller be protected. Ask two friends to do the same.

[BigmanPigman]

26. Here are two great sites to help fellow resisters and to resist yourself.

http://twwusa.org/5058/activist-tools-resistance-101-for-introverts-or-activism-for-everyone/

https://5calls.org/issue/action-against-gun-violence (go down to number two).

RESIST!

[BootinUp]

5. Pssst! Pssssst!

You can, you can! Don’t be a wimp!

[LudwigPastorius]

6. Rosenstein's gotta go first.

Then Trump will go down the line until he finds a subordinate who will agree to fire Mueller. Or, he could even dangle Sessions' job as bait for the person willing to do his bidding.

Sessions, Rosenstein, Mueller could all be axed very shortly, bringing on Trump's final self-immolation.

[nmgaucho]

9. I'm betting he appoints that pond scum Pruitt to do it

[SFnomad]

18. Didn't some President already try this once? It didn't end well for him, did it? n/t

[LudwigPastorius]

36. Yeah, but there were more than a few Congressional Republicans who put country before party...

back then.

The only reason Nixon resigned was because the House had the votes to impeach and the Senate did not have the votes to acquit. (I doubt Trump would resign even if he was facing similar numbers. He's too pig-headed and egomaniacal.)

An Article II, Section 4 solution will require Republican defections regardless of the outcome of the upcoming election. I, for one, don't trust any of those bastards to do the right thing when the time comes.

[SFnomad]

40. Unfortunately, I agree with you n/t

[Your Waiter Tonight]

7. Trump believes a Lot of Crazy Shit

That being said, Friday is going to be nerve-wracking.

[PunksMom]

8. Whats happening Friday???

[marylandblue]

14. A lot of crap happens on a Friday

[PunksMom]

19. Gotcha

[unblock]

11. How are all these threats to fire mueller not obstruction of justice?

Especially when sometimes accompanied by "red lines" that he's told not to cross?

[bucolic_frolic]

12. Trump believes Attorney-Client privilege is dead

I think he's bumped up against something that won't bend to his whims, unlike every other applecart he's overturned in his life.

If he can do it, he's not bragging, but it sure will send the country into a maelstrom because everyone knows it would mean the end of the rule of law and the beginning of dictatorship

I doubt he understands that at this point

[LiberalLovinLug]

13. Why do they keep goading Trump to fire Mueller?

By continually asking him or Sleezy Sarah or anyone else they can find to ask?

Does anyone else have a problem with this? I think we all know Trump's personality by now. We have all met individuals that have the same misogynist arrogant selfish childish attitudes, maybe not to the same level, but on the same track. I fear Trump will do it just because everyone around him, not just the 'fake news' stations, but prominent Republicans are telling everyone that there is no way he would do it.

[procon]

16. Breaking news like that would generate a huge jump in ad revenues for

every media outlet. Fox News, as Enabler in Chief, is on the frontline with every show encouraging Trump to pull the trigger. He has no other source of information. He too stupid to listen to anyone telling him something he doesn't want to know, like, "No."

[UpInArms]

17. Better to have it out there and on the record than to act as though it is not an issue

The press is (finally) doing its job ... it is the watchdog and it’s barking like mad at the intruder

[Hugin]

38. "Let's you and him fight."

Has been a standard in court intrigue for as long as there have been courts to intrigue.

It's the modern equivalent of bear baiting.

[irisblue]

15. Soo...who is the most like Bork in this administration? nt

[Skittles]

20. this is just a continuation of his TV show

yes indeed

[dembotoz]

21. and i have the power to fart unicorns

[Sam McGee]

22. ". . . believes. . . "

Trump believes he has the authority to fire Mueller.

My children are adults but when they were 2-year-olds they believed they could throw a screaming fit, lie on the floor, kick and scream and get whatever they wanted.

Guess how that worked out for them.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

23. Breaking news next week: "Interim Attorney General Scott Pruitt....."

".....announces termination of Special Counsel Robert Mueller."

[Sam McGee]

24. Meanwhile . . .

Do I recall correctly that last week Deputy AG Rosenstein issued a memo in which he assigned to other DOJ senior officials responsibility for various parts of the Mueller investigation in the event Mueller could not complete the investigation?

As I recall, I heard that on MSNBC -- Hayes, Maddow, etc. The idea being, if Trump fires Mueller, other DOJ senior investigators will pick up the various threads of the investigation and march ahead.

[angrychair]

27. I triple dog dare you cheetolini

[mahatmakanejeeves]

28. Per Richard W. Painter:

It doesn’t matter how people feel about Pence.
If Trump fires Mueller, Trump is gone.
Members of the House and Senate can take up their issues with Pence later.

Link to tweet

Trump is looking for an excuse to fire Mueller. Press coverage conflating two entirely separate investigations is dangerously misleading. Mueller has no control over the SDNY investigation which is about financial crimes, not just the Daniels payoff.

Link to tweet

SDNY equals Southern District of New York

[LudwigPastorius]

37. "If Trump fires Mueller, Trump is gone."

Mr. Painter might remember that Democrats had control of both houses of Congress, and quite a few Republicans who put country over party, when Nixon was forced out.

They also had "smoking gun" tapes of Nixon discussing his crimes.

Whether these things will come into play in the case against Trump remains to be seen. I'd love a blue wave to take control of the House and Senate, but barring that, there is no guarantee that Trump will not serve out his term.

It sucks, but there it is.

[bluestarone]

32. If tRUMP does fires mueller, is it Rosensteins job

to go after tRUMP? for what he did? Or who will handle it? The repubs in congress? how does this play out?

[woundedkarma]

34. I just asked essentially the same question! :) n/t

[woundedkarma]

33. q: what happens if trump tries to fire mueller?

What would he even do when there's no process? If he says Mueller is fired, do they have to take it to court? lol... it's all crazy

[Orsino]

39. I wish they would just phrase every Trump statement as "wants to believe"...

...or "wants us to believe."

When Trump opens his mouth, he's just wishing out loud for things to be simple enough for him to grasp. And they never are.