• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

GOP senator wrote a bill to protect Robert Mueller; Trump called to make him kill it

D

Dalek

Member
A GOP senator wrote a bill to protect Robert Mueller. Trump called him to try to kill it.

Since Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed to head the Justice Department’s Russia investigation back in May, Washington has speculated about whether President Donald Trump will end up firing him.

And according to a new report from Politico’s Josh Dawsey and Elana Schor, the president still seems to badly want to keep that option open.

Dawsey and Schor write that shortly after Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced a bill that would let Mueller appeal his firing in court, Trump called up Tillis, signaled he was “unhappy” with the bill and said he didn’t want it to pass.

Tillis is a first-term senator who hasn’t been particularly known as a moderate or really for taking any high-profile stances at all. So it was a bit surprising when, earlier this month, he co-wrote a bill with Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) to protect Mueller from Trump, and went on television to tout it.

Justice Department regulations already state that the special counsel can only be fired for “good cause,” but Tillis and Coons’s bill — the Special Counsel Integrity Act — would make that regulation the law of the land. It would also state that the special counsel could only be fired by a Senate-confirmed official.

Perhaps most importantly, the bill would also let a special counsel appeal his firing in court. If judges find that the firing was improper, the special counsel would be reinstated.

On August 6, Tillis appeared on Fox News Sunday and said there was “no question” that the bill was designed to prevent Trump from improperly firing Mueller. He also appeared on ABC’s This Week and said he wasn’t sure that he agreed with Trump that the Russia investigation was a “witch hunt.”

Trump called Tillis the next day to communicate that he didn’t want the bill passed.
Click to expand...


Considering that President Trump already fired the FBI director in connection with the Russia investigation, there’s long been speculation that he might end up firing Mueller too.

And right now, it appears he could — but it wouldn’t be easy, and would likely cost him much of his Justice Department (in addition to, of course, creating an enormous political controversy).

Per Justice Department regulations, only the attorney general can fire the special counsel — and only for “misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest, or for other good cause.”

Due to Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s recusal from all campaign-related investigations, though, the person who has the responsibility of firing Mueller is Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. (Trump’s unsuccessful effort to pressure Jeff Sessions into resigning this summer was likely motivated in part by his desire to get in a new, hand-picked attorney general who would not be recused from the Russia investigation. But, for the time being, this has failed.)
Click to expand...

But that doesn’t mean Mueller’s safe. That’s because Trump has the authority to fire Rosenstein himself. Rosenstein also could choose to resign if Trump orders him to fire Mueller without good cause. Indeed, like President Richard Nixon once did during the Saturday Night Massacre, Trump could repeatedly fire Justice Department officials until he has someone in place who would fire Mueller.
Click to expand...
 
W

Wanda/Wander

Member
tenor.gif
 
B

Betty

Banned
So he really does seriously want the option of firing Mueller on the table... I hope he tries it just for the fallout.
 
S

SolarPowered

Member
Heard about this and Trump literally screaming and swearing at McConnell over the Russia investigation on msnbc. If the Republican party had some balls Trump would be drowning in obstruction of justice charges.
 
R

Random Human

They were trying to grab your prize. They work for the mercenary. The masked man.
Can't get impeached for a crime if every senator has to recuse themselves due to being a witness to the crime.

ceqSpHg.png
 
B

BassForever

Member
PandaPandaPanda said:
clearly the actions of an innocent man
Click to expand...

Let's just say for the sake of discussion trump is 100% innocent and it is in fact "a witch hunt"

The dude is probably guilty of other questionable shit that he doesn't want discovered

And even going a step beyond that lets say trump is 100% innocenct of any illegal activity and all he's guilty of is being an awful person. He's narcissistic enough to believe an investigation into him even if he's not guilty is a slight against his character.
 
T

TAJ

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Aselith said:
To be fair, he made his name saying "you're fired" It's like cutting off Samson's hair.
Click to expand...

What's really funny is that he didn't even get to decide who was fired on his TV show.
 
P

PandaPandaPanda

Member
BassForever said:
Let's just say for the sake of discussion trump is 100% innocent and it is in fact "a witch hunt"

The dude is probably guilty of other questionable shit that he doesn't want discovered

And even going a step beyond that lets say trump is 100% innocenct of any illegal activity and all he's guilty of is being an awful person. He's narcissistic enough to believe an investigation into him even if he's not guilty is a slight against his character.
Click to expand...

there's no doubt there's some skeletons in his closet (although it's pretty damning at this point as i'm sure Russia is involved in one form or another) but if he didn't want people to go looking for them, he shouldn't have run for a government position at the highest level.
 
H

HP_Wuvcraft

Banned
"Look, I'm not going to fire him, but still. Kill the bill saying that I can't fire him."

While I believe that Trump knows he is 100% guilty, he probably also believes that everyone is just being mean.
 
F

Foffy

Banned
Innocent person wanting to end an investigation he knows he's innocent with.

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
 
D

Derwind

Member
If he fires Rosenstein he's not coming out unscathed, if he tries to fire Mueller, he'll look even worse than he did with the firing of Comey.
 
B

BatDan

Bane? Get them on board, I'll call it in.
"There's absolutely no collusion. There's nothing to find. So stop the investigation?"
"No. We have to prove it without a shadow of a doubt"
"B-b-b-but I'm saving you time! I'm totally innocent!"
"We're still investigating"
"Then I'm going to fire Mue-"
"An amendment is being passed so you can't"
"Then I'll ve-"
"Bipartisan support"
"... Heeeey don't craft the bill plz?"
"*hangs up*"
 
P

Ponn

Banned
Lets see if it actually passes first. We already know what Trump is about and the shit he is doing. It's the people complicit and giving into him that need to show their hands.
 
H

HP_Wuvcraft

Banned
Derwind said:
If he fires Rosenstein he's not coming out unscathed, if he tries to fire Mueller, he'll look even worse than he did with the firing of Comey.
Click to expand...

If he fires Mueller, especially after all the obstacles put up so that he can't, he is fucking done.

And the GOP knows it.
 
W

WhateverItTakes

Banned
HP_Wuvcraft said:
If he fires Mueller, especially after all the obstacles put up so that he can't, he is fucking done.

And the GOP knows it.
Click to expand...

Let me be the worrywart here- what makes this the last straw? I mean he's crossed so many lines but he's still got his support, even if those numbers are getting smaller. Is it that by firing Mueller his ratings will drop so far the GOP need to get away from his name? Because I keep worrying that there are enough fools that stick to him blindly that the only thing that'll sink him is something illegal and prosecutable.
 
S

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
If you were genuinely innocent, who would you want investigating you? A famously competent serious person or like, anyone except him?
 
M

Mael

Member
Plasticine said:
Clay Aiken: 'Trump didn’t decide who got fired on "Apprentice"'
Click to expand...

Oh lol the quotes
“There used to be a little thing right on his desk that looked like a phone — he pretended it was a phone — but it was actually a teleprompter where the producers were sending him notes,” said Aiken, who launched a failed House bid in North Carolina as a Democrat in 2014. “He didn't know that people were getting in fights during the week while we were doing these tasks, the producers did. And they'd send him notes and he'd say, ‘Oh you two didn't get along.’”

Aiken says, “It was very much, ‘I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV.’”

Saying he thinks Trump is actually a “nice guy,” Aiken maintained he's “probably leading the country in the same way that he did ‘The Apprentice.’
Click to expand...
 
J

jstripes

Banned
HP_Wuvcraft said:
"Look, I'm not going to fire him, but still. Kill the bill saying that I can't fire him."

While I believe that Trump knows he is 100% guilty, he probably also believes that everyone is just being mean.
Click to expand...

He knows what he did was illegal, but he doesn't believe that he is in the wrong.
 
E

Eppy Thatcher

God's had his chance.
Stinkles said:
Also said Trump is a "nice guy."


SURE HE IS
Click to expand...

Nice guy in the same way that a career criminal can look you squarely in the eye, shake your hand and say "It's been a pleasure drive home safe!" and then sell the ring he slipped off your finger before you even start your car.

He'll be nice enough to your face that you can leave and think "eh... whatever i guess... Nice enough guy. Wouldn't wanna work for him though."
 
S

snap

Banned
Stinkles said:
If you were genuinely innocent, who would you want investigating you? A famously competent serious person or like, anyone except him?
Click to expand...

well some of the stuff going around is that trump himself doesn't see it as a criminal matter, that he won't be at risk of jail time or anything, but he thinks it's a political problem for him, where this investigation existing just prevents his agenda from going forward so he presumably wants it to end and in his mind that'll be when people stop talking about russia and move on.

he's also an idiot of the highest degree, if it wasn't already apparent.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Judge rejects Manaforts motion to dismiss charges in Russia probe.
5
1K
n0razi replied
Trump Ordered Mueller Fired, but Backed Off When White House Counsel Threatened to Quit [NYT]
40
4K
rokkerkory replied
WaPo: Senators unveil two proposals to protect Mueller's Russia probe
36
6K
Maiden Voyage replied
So looks like Mueller is about to wrap things up?
2 3
117
11K
infinitys_7th replied
FBI Raids Office Of Longtime Trump Attorney Michael Cohen
2
84
8K
Harksteed replied
Top Bottom