August 8, 2018 Trump's legal team rejects another Mueller request for an interview

[Puffnstuff]

I just came across this story on MSNBC and once again Trump's legal team is rejecting an interview request from Mueller. If I recall correctly Trump has stated many times that if you aren't trying to hide something then you should conduct an interview. What's the problem now?

http://www.msnbc.com/craig-melvin/w...counsel-s-request-for-interview-1294862403670

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...6e177f3081c_story.html?utm_term=.d39aa12ea067

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/08/us/politics/trump-mueller-interview.html

 

[zinfamous]

aww man. Trump wanted to so, so, so, so, so, so, so badly, but his lawerin folks wouldn't let him!

The big strong best deals man, only man that can fix anything and everything, just couldn't make this one deal work because he wasn't allowed out to play!

 

[sactoking]

He'll still be able to answer all Mueller's questions once the subpoena is issued.

 

[fskimospy]

Remember guys, he totally wants to sit down for an interview his lawyers just won’t let him. He also wants to release his tax returns but his accountants won’t let him.

It’s not that both of these things benefit him personally and that he’s just lying, he’s just unable to overcome the objections of people who work for him.

One nice thing about the last 18 months is that America seems to have finally realized this guy lies about literally everything. Before there were people who tried to argue he was misunderstood or misconstrued. Now, we all basically accept it’s lies.

 

[K1052]

Remember guys, he totally wants to sit down for an interview his lawyers just won’t let him. He also wants to release his tax returns but his accountants won’t let him.

It’s not that both of these things benefit him personally and that he’s just lying, he’s just unable to overcome the objections of people who work for him.

One nice thing about the last 18 months is that America seems to have finally realized this guy lies about literally everything. Before there were people who tried to argue he was misunderstood or misconstrued. Now, we all basically accept it’s lies.

My lies are still under audit!

 

[Jhhnn]

I seriously doubt that Mueller will issue a subpoena. He wants to avoid a Constitutional crisis that he'd likely lose. The way the Constitution is written, the President, any President, answers only to Congress. The President can defy the SCOTUS because only Congress can remove him. He must necessarily be removed from office before any criminal charges are brought. Congress can set the bar for removal considerably lower than what might be required for a criminal conviction, as well they should.

I also seriously doubt that Trump will ever submit to verbal questioning that isn't completely scripted & known to him in advance. There's nothing in that for Mueller that he can't get from written answers so he won't do it. It's kinda cute the way Trump's team is playing footsie with the idea but that's all they're interested in. They'll weasel away. They have to.

 

[fskimospy]

I seriously doubt that Mueller will issue a subpoena. He wants to avoid a Constitutional crisis that he'd likely lose. The way the Constitution is written, the President, any President, answers only to Congress. The President can defy the SCOTUS because only Congress can remove him. He must necessarily be removed from office before any criminal charges are brought. Congress can set the bar for removal considerably lower than what might be required for a criminal conviction, as well they should.

I also seriously doubt that Trump will ever submit to verbal questioning that isn't completely scripted & known to him in advance. There's nothing in that for Mueller that he can't get from written answers so he won't do it. It's kinda cute the way Trump's team is playing footsie with the idea but that's all they're interested in. They'll weasel away. They have to.

I suspect the opposite and I suspect Mueller will win. US v. Nixon supports this.

 

[Amused]

I suspect the opposite and I suspect Mueller will win. US v. Nixon supports this.

This. The precedence is solid on this.

Question
Is the President's right to safeguard certain information, using his "executive privilege" confidentiality power, entirely immune from judicial review?

Conclusion by unanimous vote of the Supreme Court of the United States:

No. The Court holds that neither the doctrine of separation of powers, nor the generalized need for confidentiality of high-level communications, without more, can sustain an absolute, unqualified, presidential privilege. The Court granted that there was a limited executive privilege in areas of military or diplomatic affairs, but gave preference to "the fundamental demands of due process of law in the fair administration of justice." Therefore, the president must obey the subpoena, and produce the tapes and documents. Nixon resigned shortly after the release of the tapes.

 

[Jhhnn]

I suspect the opposite and I suspect Mueller will win. US v. Nixon supports this.

There's a world of difference between turning over records & demanding a sworn interview. Trump could simply refuse to appear, thus asserting his Constitutional rights under the fifth amendment. I mean, wtf do you think? That US Marshals will be sent out to force his appearance?

Trump will just keep playing it the way he has- Witch hunt! No collusion! It wasn't a crime! FBI corruption! Deep State conspiracy! Angry Democrats out to hang him! Nancy Pelosi! Maxine Waters! OMFG! Hillary colluded! Lock her up!

And the Faithful will keep right on believing.

 

[fskimospy]

There's a world of difference between turning over records & demanding a sworn interview. Trump could simply refuse to appear, thus asserting his Constitutional rights under the fifth amendment. I mean, wtf do you think? That US Marshals will be sent out to force his appearance?

Trump will just keep playing it the way he has- Witch hunt! No collusion! It wasn't a crime! FBI corruption! Deep State conspiracy! Angry Democrats out to hang him! Nancy Pelosi! Maxine Waters! OMFG! Hillary colluded! Lock her up!

And the Faithful will keep right on believing.

I see little difference.

 

[Jhhnn]

I see little difference.

As I pointed out, Trump can just use executive privilege as cover for his fifth amendment rights & nobody can do a damned thing about it but Congress. You won't find 67 votes in the Senate. I doubt that our SCOTUS would rule against Trump, anyway.

There's still a whole lot of investigative work & unfolding going on in the background we can't see. They're just starting in on Michael Cohen. I doubt Trump had really good opsec along the way so there are lots of minor players in Trump doings we don't know about, either. Hope Hicks was recently spotted boarding AF1. Dunno what that means, but it probably means something.

Nixon's impeachment didn't hinge on his refusal to turn over the tapes to Jaworski per the SCOTUS, anyway, but on his refusal to obey a Congressional subpoena to do so.

 

[trenchfoot]

Trump making himself out to be the more than willing clever champion duelist against the despised Deep State operative Mueller to his supporters is quite the different guy who's actually terrified of Mueller and his seasoned team of dedicated headhunters.

I get a good chuckle every time I think about that. Trump is no more than a spoiled brat child being manipulated by very experienced big time players who're using his personality flaws to get whatever they want out of him.

If his supporters only knew what a meathead their Chosen One actually is. Nah, they wouldn't mind that either.

 

[JSt0rm]

trumps lawyers know he is too stupid to be interviewed by this shit.

 

[Moonbeam]

A constitutional crisis would focus the mind. I am not sure even Mueller knows what he will do. It's a huge decision. He has a number of options.

 

[trenchfoot]

trumps lawyers know he is too stupid to be interviewed by this shit.

His fatal flaw is his being a pathological liar. He lies to make the world fit his own personal view of it. He lies to make excuses for his previous lies that were called out on him. He lies to cover things up. He lies to blame others for his own mistakes. He lies to keep his base from revolting against him. He even lies to himself to satisfy his megalomania, his narcissism, his need to be adored. He wouldn't last a minute with Mueller. He'd piss his pants the moment he looked square into Mueller's eyes.

He is one thoroughly screwed in the head mofo that has a cult following that allows him to dictate terms to a compliant Repub controlled legislature which in turn allows him to control a nation whose majority understood what a fake he is and never wanted him as their leader to begin with.

Sad part of all of this is he managed to sucker just enough gullible folks in the right places to give him the keys to the treasury and the ransacking began the moment he took office.

 

[Thump553]

Executive privilege is somewhat of a bogus "right." Nowhere is it spelled out or even hinted at in the Constitution or any supporting speeches and documentation from the time of the creation of the Constitution. It's a court created immunity that arose in the twentieth century to enable free discussion of ideas within the Executive Branch.

The problem is that expansion of this immunity tends to promote an imperial Presidency endangering the fundamental core of our system of government.

Any ruling on a subpoena in favor of Trump would have to make a distinction without a real difference with the Nixon tapes case and also violate the spirit of Clinton v. Jones, the 1997 decision saying Bill Clinton had to submit to a sworn deposition in a civil case-which led directly to his impeachment.

Distinguishing those cases would be horrible jurisprudence. If Kavanaugh gets on the Court he will now be a strong proponent for such immunity-a 180 degree reversal from what he argued in the Clinton case.

How can a President be compelled to testify in civil actions (like collection cases, auto accidents, etc) but be immune from the criminal laws of our society? That argument boggles my mind.

And the whole argument that compelling Trump to testify is a perjury trap is likewise bogus and founded upon the assumption that he will lie under oath. He can assert his Fifth Amendment rights like any other citizen-why create a special imperial right? But given his track record on truthfulness I can certainly see his supporter's concerns that they don't want him to say anything.

From the little that I understand at this point Mueller's team wants Trump's testimony primarily to determine his subjective intent for the actions he has taken. I can see Mueller proceeding to a final report without pressing that issue-the Donald has certainly been stupid enough to make multiple damaging admissions on that issue (his tweets, brags to the Russians in the White House meetings, his rallies, etc).

No man is above the law, and we are a nation of laws not men are THE central core principles of the noble American experiment. Time will tell whether those will be thrown away to protect short term partisanship advantage or not.

 

[cytg111]

I cant believe this. He promised he would. Under oath.
I wonder what changed?

- Absolutely NOTHING.

 

[interchange]

As I pointed out, Trump can just use executive privilege as cover for his fifth amendment rights & nobody can do a damned thing about it but Congress. You won't find 67 votes in the Senate. I doubt that our SCOTUS would rule against Trump, anyway.

There's still a whole lot of investigative work & unfolding going on in the background we can't see. They're just starting in on Michael Cohen. I doubt Trump had really good opsec along the way so there are lots of minor players in Trump doings we don't know about, either. Hope Hicks was recently spotted boarding AF1. Dunno what that means, but it probably means something.

Nixon's impeachment didn't hinge on his refusal to turn over the tapes to Jaworski per the SCOTUS, anyway, but on his refusal to obey a Congressional subpoena to do so.

I don't think that you could refuse a subpoena claiming executive privilege broadly. You could claim privilege for certain questions, but at least much of what Mueller is interested in is candidate Trump not President Trump so privilege wouldn't be cover, and his only valid refusal to answer would be fifth amendment rights. Also, since Trump allowed Comey to testify about his meetings, I think his opportunity to assert executive privilege if he were asked about them has already past. Now, he could still illegally refuse without asserting fifth amendment rights and we get to the question of what to do about it. That alone is grounds for impeachment, but it depends on Congress to act. Even if they don't do so for this offense, if the conclusion of the Mueller probe leads to impeachment, his refusal to testify is pretty solid evidence against him then.

But it's also not 100% certain that Trump couldn't be criminally charged with contempt. Yes, precedent is not to charge a sitting President, and the DOJ has stated in their review that you can't, but technically it's not explicitly forbidden in the Constitution, and SCOTUS has never had a chance to weigh in on it. So it could happen even though I think SCOTUS would protect Trump in the end. If so, it would put more pressure on Congress.

Anyway, trying to compel Trump to testify at this time does throw is down some sort of crisis path, so I don't think Mueller would actually subpoena him unless he's at the end of his investigation otherwise.

 

[compuwiz1]

I'm looking at this from an any president perspective. He is not required to be interviewed while in office and he shouldn't do it. He has a certain fire wall from these things, while in office. When he becomes a regular citizen again, then maybe, but for now, I do believe he can tell Mueller to f@ck off and not answer his questions. He should know that the aim is to bring him down and any interview will be under oath and full of perjury traps. Good prosecutors have ways of creating those situations, even though the defendant may have been telling the truth. Good thing I didn't say Trump and truth in the same sentence. Oh, wait...I did. lol

 

[interchange]

He is not required to be interviewed while in office and he shouldn't do it.

As has been established here, that position is at best uncertain, and going with arguments in US v. Nixon and Clinton v. Jones, it seems likely the SCOTUS would agree he has to testify if subpoenaed. Now... He doesn't have to do it without subpoena, and he likely has nothing to gain as far as any case against him is concerned. In that case, the only good reason to testify would be for public or political benefit. Trump may still want to because of psychic distortions.

 

[HomerJS]

A constitutional crisis would focus the mind. I am not sure even Mueller knows what he will do. It's a huge decision. He has a number of options.

Mueller has been leak free to date but its time for him to go public.

Hold a press conference requesting a sworn interview reminding people these "negotiations" have been going on since Jan. He can say I'll issue my report well before the midterms as you requested pending any updates arising from the trials of Manafort, Butina, Flynn, et al.

 

[Moonbeam]

I'm looking at this from an any president perspective. He is not required to be interviewed while in office and he shouldn't do it. He has a certain fire wall from these things, while in office. When he becomes a regular citizen again, then maybe, but for now, I do believe he can tell Mueller to f@ck off and not answer his questions. He should know that the aim is to bring him down and any interview will be under oath and full of perjury traps. Good prosecutors have ways of creating those situations, even though the defendant may have been telling the truth. Good thing I didn't say Trump and truth in the same sentence. Oh, wait...I did. lol

What is a perjury trap? Is that where they ask you a question they know the truthful answer to and you lie to them with your answer. Looks like a perjury trap is where somebody asks you under oath to tell the truth and you lie in your say something in your answer that can be proven to be a lie. Your mind has been corrupted.

 

[Jaskalas]

What is a perjury trap? Is that where they ask you a question they know the truthful answer to and you lie to them with your answer. Looks like a perjury trap is where somebody asks you under oath to tell the truth and you lie in your say something in your answer that can be proven to be a lie. Your mind has been corrupted.

To be fair, the President is clearly divorced from the truth and any answer he gives is easily a 50/50 chance of perjury. More so on issues he is emotionally attached to.

 

[Moonbeam]

Mueller has been leak free to date but its time for him to go public.

Hold a press conference requesting a sworn interview reminding people these "negotiations" have been going on since Jan. He can say I'll issue my report well before the midterms as you requested pending any updates arising from the trials of Manafort, Butina, Flynn, et al.

I am going with, it will be time to go public when Mueller determines to go public. I have no idea when that is nor a personal opinion on when it should be.

 

[fskimospy]

I'm looking at this from an any president perspective. He is not required to be interviewed while in office and he shouldn't do it. He has a certain fire wall from these things, while in office. When he becomes a regular citizen again, then maybe, but for now, I do believe he can tell Mueller to f@ck off and not answer his questions. He should know that the aim is to bring him down and any interview will be under oath and full of perjury traps. Good prosecutors have ways of creating those situations, even though the defendant may have been telling the truth. Good thing I didn't say Trump and truth in the same sentence. Oh, wait...I did. lol

It’s such a weird idea that the right has concocted this idea of ‘perjury traps’ as if people are somehow naturally expected to lie to the FBI and it’s unfair if they aren’t allowed to. If Trump simply tells the truth in his deposition he has nothing to worry about. The reason conservatives are terrified of this is that they know as well as anyone else that he’s a pathological liar.

Oddly, most people would likely think that means he should be removed from office immediately. Republicans appear to think that means he should be immune from law enforcement.