On Wednesday, Donald Trump fired off a long series of tweets in which he called the Russia investigation “a total hoax,” said that Robert Mueller was engaged in “dirty work” that was “a disgrace to America,” and called on Jeff Sessions to end the Russia investigation immediately. In the series of tweets, Trump seemed to hit every note from every complaint he’s made about the Russia investigation from he beginning. That would seem to make the morning session a good example for what Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani said this week.
Giuliani: A lot of his tweets have been very helpful. The reason he may not have to testify is that he’s laid out his defense very clearly,
So Trump’s tweets are his defense, and his defense includes two repetitions of the word hoax, two uses of disgrace, two calls for an investigation of Hillary Clinton, and two calls for Jeff Sessions to halt the Russia investigation, all in one Twitter session. And that last part in particular starts to look a lot less like defense, and a lot more like obstruction. Like this …
But fortunately, at least 15 minutes have gone by, so Rudy Giuliani now has a completely different opinion than he had the last time he opened his mouth. As reported by the Washington Post:
Giuliani: I think it’s very well-established the president uses tweets to express his opinion. He very carefully used the word ‘should.’
Trump attorney Jay Sekulow made it more formal, saying that Trump had ”issued no order or direction” to Sessions, and that he was “allowed to express his opinion on Twitter.” So, because Trump said “should,” that makes it an opinion rather than an instruction. That’s something to remember when your boss tells you that you should complete that report today.
Or how it’s just my opinion when I say that special counsel Robert Mueller definitely should put this in his list of times that Donald Trump sought to obstruct the investigation.