Now that Donald Trump has made it clear he is beyond the rule of law and answerable to no one, he’s not hiding the fact that he would have stopped the Russian investigation immediately, had not there been a slight complication.
Had Sessions not recussed himself, Trump would have simply told Sessions to kill any investigation. This open admissions is not just a message that Trump no longer feels any need to disguise his obstruction of the investigation—after all, his attorneys have declared that he can’t be charged with obstruction, or anything else—but a message to any other official thinking they should step away from an issue in which they have a personal interest.
That message is: Don’t be silly. What is a position in the Trump government for, if not for personal benefit? Whether it’s a townhouse provided by lobbyists, angling a multi-million contract to friends, or a sweet billion dollar payday from a county at the center of an international shakedown … there are no laws.
Donald Trump is making it clear that for himself, and for his supporters, the law exists to be laughed at. Scott Pruitt may have played cover-all on corruption Bingo, but it hasn’t slowed one moment of his efforts to cause more damage and collect more payola. Jared Kushner may be handing over the classified lists of names to be killed to a Middle Eastern dictator … but it hadn’t kept him from being given top security clearance.
When Trump’s attorneys state that no laws apply to him, they’re not talking about theory. They’re talking about 501 days of facts on the ground.
The same levels of do-what-you-will do not apply for anyone who fails to meet Trump’s standard for kneeling. After months of attacking the FBI, DOJ, CIA, State Department, and every other agency where there was a hint of rationality remaining, Trump is prepared to add another name to the Deep State list.
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The 400-plus page report on these actions has origins that go back to January of 2017, when Trump first pushed for an exploration of James Comey’s actions, and has been circulating for some weeks. Standard practice is that it would be shown first to those directly involved—including Comey and his former deputy Andrew McCabe—and the inspector general would include any objections or rebuttals from the principles, as well as witnesses and others, as part of the report. Early comments suggested that this report was headed toward the same conclusions everyone else had made: Hilary Clinton’s missteps over email represented several instances of sloppy procedure, but show no pattern of deception or intent to make personal use of classified information. Comey’s errors all fall on the side of being too harsh in his condemnations of Clinton, and in breaking DOJ rules by giving his opinion on an investigation that did not lead to charges.
But this report isn’t being made in a vacuum. The Department of Justice’s inspector general, Michael Horowitz, has been under increasing pressure from Trump to produce a report that undercuts Comey and McCabe, making it easier to dismiss any statements they may have made to to Special Counsel Robert Mueller. He may be reluctant to allow them the standard rebuttals, with the feeling that it would look like he was, in Trump’s terms, “softening” the report. McCabe has already claimed that the inspector general report used to justify his last minute firing when he was on the brink of retirement, was heavily politicized.
Trump may also be looking to find something that would allow him to genuinely move to “lock her up.” Launching the ultimate show trial against Clinton would provide a massive distraction, one during which quashing the investigation into his own actions may seem like small potatoes.
If Horowitz delivers to Trump a report that fails to demean Clinton, Comey, and McCabe, he’s likely to be consigned to being one more member of the “Deep State Conspiracy.” If even portions of that report can be cited as reasons to discredit or prosecute any of the above … they will be.
The one thing that won’t be generated is Justice. Because Trump has already declared that it doesn’t apply.