Trump insisting on meeting Mueller?

[Hayabusa Rider]

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/02/tru...ce-mueller-team-that-probe-is-witch-hunt.html

I'm not betting the farm on this report being true but if so it's fascinating.

1) Would Mueller meet with Trump if the latter is entirely in control of the agenda?
2) Would he not meet at least at this time to avoid yet another political mess?
3) Does Trump believe he can convince Mueller, which IMO would be like Sanders saying "alcohol" instead of the clearly stated "groceries"?

Thoughts?

 

[fskimospy]

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/02/tru...ce-mueller-team-that-probe-is-witch-hunt.html

I'm not betting the farm on this report being true but if so it's fascinating.

1) Would Mueller meet with Trump if the latter is entirely in control of the agenda?
2) Would he not meet at least at this time to avoid yet another political mess?
3) Does Trump believe he can convince Mueller, which IMO would be like Sanders saying "alcohol" instead of the clearly stated "groceries"?

Thoughts?

I predict Trump will never sit down with Mueller under any circumstances. Just like with his tax returns he will continue playing the game of 'I might do it any day now!' ad infinitum. The goal is to appear like he has nothing to hide while continuing to hide from giving testimony.

 

[hal2kilo]

I predict Trump will never sit down with Mueller under any circumstances. Just like with his tax returns he will continue playing the game of 'I might do it any day now!' ad infinitum. The goal is to appear like he has nothing to hide while continuing to hide from giving testimony.

I actually think he really wants to. Just ask him. He thinks the Helsinki talks were a complete success. He can run rings around Mueller cause he a stable genius.

 

[Jhhnn]

No lawyer in their right mind would ever let Trump, the client, testify to Mueller. They'd quit first. Not even Rudy.

 

[MomentsofSanity]

Trump believes, in effect, that he can convince prosecutors that the inquiry is a "witch hunt," and bring the investigation to a quick conclusion, the Times reported.

Pssst. Hair Fuhrer. The fact they want to sit down with you so bad and want to discuss certain things so bad should tell you they know more than you think.

 

[VRAMdemon]

Frankly, this sounds like a good idea. No matter how limited the questions, once Trump starts talking, he won't be able to shut his vomiting yap. And he will certainly ignore any coaching from his only-slightly-less-smarter advisors. Just a guess, but Trump is almost guaranteed to say something stupid and incriminating.

 

[Jhhnn]

Frankly, this sounds like a good idea. No matter how limited the questions, once Trump starts talking, he won't be able to shut his vomiting yap. And he will certainly ignore any coaching from his only-slightly-less-smarter advisors. Just a guess, but Trump is almost guaranteed to say something stupid and incriminating.

You mean... he's a compulsive liar?

 

[Homerboy]

No lawyer in their right mind would ever let Trump, the client, testify to Mueller. They'd quit first. Not even Rudy.

Do not underestimate the insanity level of Rudy.

 

[Commodus]

Yes, please let Trump talk to Mueller. Knowing Trump, he'd go in expecting to end the investigation and would come out having confessed to enough that Mueller could practically issue indictments on the spot.

 

[jackstar7]

To be fair, in the meme pic of Trump yelling at the kid mowing the lawn... that kid could compel Trump to incriminate himself.

A cactus with googly eyes stuck to it could get him to incriminate himself.

If he gets questioned, it will end his time in office.

 

[VRAMdemon]

If Mueller wanted to meet with Trump without any preconditions, he should have become the head of Iran or North Korea.

 

[VRAMdemon]

Or...

This may be another one of his little "fake-outs". Trump does NOT want to sit down with Mueller, but he knows that if he says that, he'll look like a scared guilty little weakling.

So he says 'sure, with certain conditions, I'll meet' and then everyone starts speculating how he's so confident and all. Meanwhile, his lawyers forbid the meeting, and Trump can say 'hey, I wanted to - but I have to listen to my lawyers.'

Or..If said meeting did happen (Not!) he can say, "See, I met with him. I told him everything. I did what they wanted, and they still won't leave me alone. I'm trying to be president here." His base would eat that up. Or maybe he wants to get Mueller alone, one and one, and try to intimidate him, like he tried with Comey.

 

[fskimospy]

I actually think he really wants to. Just ask him. He thinks the Helsinki talks were a complete success. He can run rings around Mueller cause he a stable genius.

If he wanted to he could meet with him today. No one can stop him. Similarly if he wanted to release his tax returns he could do that today also. When he says he wants to but is being prevented by his lawyers, his accountants, etc, he's lying. He doesn't want to do either of those things or come within a country mile of doing them. In both cases he will only do so if forced.

 

[K1052]

Trump does not want to meet with Mueller. Trump also thinks that his mucho superior brain could indeed convince Mueller that his investigation is a "witch hunt" if he just met with him.

In the hellscape that is Trump's psyche this particular contradiction is pretty minor really and easily folded into the "reality is whatever I will it to be" section.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

If he wanted to he could meet with him today. No one can stop him. Similarly if he wanted to release his tax returns he could do that today also. When he says he wants to but is being prevented by his lawyers, his accountants, etc, he's lying. He doesn't want to do either of those things or come within a country mile of doing them. In both cases he will only do so if forced.

This is a game Trump thinks no one knows about. Frankly I don't care if he shows up in front of Mueller or not. This is a paper prosecution like Manafort meaning that the case will be made by documentation more than anything else. Trump tweets obstruction? Documented and so on.

IIRC a private or semi-private meeting would be distinct from a grand jury where he'd have none of his lawyers with him. Trump definitely does not want to go there even if the may think otherwise.

 

[Stokely]

Logic says that Trump meeting Mueller would be disastrous for Trump.

Every time I've tried to apply logic to Trump, I've been wrong.

I just hope Mueller doesn't decide to lob softballs at him if they do meet. Part of me always has to remember that Mueller is a Republican too. He's got a great reputation, but nobody is immune to political pressure. For all I know he might buy into the whole "the President is being distracted" bs, or be pressured by others into letting Trump off the hook. I don't trust much in the government right now. If one thing has become clear to me over the past years, this Congress has shown it represents Party far more than it does Congress, little blips on the radar like McCain torpedoing the health care bill notwithstanding...

 

[zinfamous]

Trump can essentially do whatever he wants. He can meet with Mueller if he absolutely wants to, and I do believe that he should. It would be hilarious.

But I do wonder how it plays to his base that their great and noble and fearless leader, the man that has all the power that one man have, and that no one--not some pansy washington politicians or smartypants lawyering types--can stand in his way, publicly claims that he very much wants to do a thing, but can's, because his lawyers said so.

I wonder how that actually plays with the false image of the Turnip that they have allowed the Turnip to create in their own brains?

 

[zinfamous]

Logic says that Trump meeting Mueller would be disastrous for Trump.

Every time I've tried to apply logic to Trump, I've been wrong.

I just hope Mueller doesn't decide to lob softballs at him if they do meet. Part of me always has to remember that Mueller is a Republican too. He's got a great reputation, but nobody is immune to political pressure. For all I know he might buy into the whole "the President is being distracted" bs, or be pressured by others into letting Trump off the hook. I don't trust much in the government right now. If one thing has become clear to me over the past years, this Congress has shown it represents Party far more than it does Congress, little blips on the radar like McCain torpedoing the health care bill notwithstanding...

Moments like this, I go by history and what we know of reported facts to understand how a hypothetical situation might break down.

Mueller: seems to be law first, party last, if at all. As a homicide detective and through to the top of the FBI, he is known to have been a straight-laced, law first type of person that didn't back down from squeezing the balls of a suspect (dangling a spouse's imminent conviction as bait) to get their cooperation.
Trump: an illiterate lying criminal that couldn't deal himself out from under a half-rolled carpet.

But this only based on published history from actual life and from first-hand accounts of people that know these two men.

 

[trenchfoot]

Trump's convoluted alternate world of fantasy that he and his supporters currently infest looks like it's just about ready to crash into the Immovable Wall of Reality. That right there should be a sight to behold. It'll be like a biblical version of every natural disaster movie ever made all rolled into one with a cast of millions of Trump's idiots running around in circles screaming "lock her up!!" with their hair ablaze and all of it produced and directed by none other than Mel Brooks.

I know this because there isn't anything remotely sensible that's been happening with the way Trump has led the nation and with the way his supporters cheer him on as he keeps setting himself on fire on Putin's orders only to be continuously rescued by a plethora of lies and lame ass excuses blurted out by his sycophant minions.

So, such as things are in the Trump universe, the aforementioned apoplectic end to Trump's hayride in hell seems about the only logical thing that can happen to him and his loyal band of escapees from reality.

 

[interchange]

Well I can say I've met a few drug addicts who were itching to see me because they were positive they could convince me to give them drugs even when provided with direct and unambiguous evidence of their addiction. My favorite was someone who intended to prove they needed the controlled substance because when they didn't have it they always ended up in jail. To prove it, they showed me their most recent jail records. Charge? Diversion of a controlled substance.

In short, sometimes people are so assertive of their perspective being right they behave extremely illogically.

 

[kage69]

This has to be the 2nd or 3rd time we've heard about this desire of Trump's, to try to work it out with Mueller "man to man." I guess this means he's serious, that his narcissism is still able to override the obvious advice of his legal counsel. At this point, with all the stuff that's already on tape, it almost seems unnecessary, but dipshit wants to keep digging that hole deeper and deeper. I hope he gets the meeting, because then his fate is pretty much sealed. Trump's room temperature IQ and debilitating narcissism vs, Robert fucking Mueller? Hahaha, wow... Cadet Bonespurs really does live in his own little dementia-addled world.

 

[UglyCasanova]

Unfortunate as it may be I’m not sure what the end result of all this is going to be without some concrete damning evidence of wrongdoing. Personally I do think conspired with agents for the Russian government, to what degree remains to be seen. But if the charge brought is some kind of technicality and the President removed from office over it I’m scared to think what happens. Trump doesn’t seem the type to just step down and his rabid base will quite literally want blood.

 

[fskimospy]

Unfortunate as it may be I’m not sure what the end result of all this is going to be without some concrete damning evidence of wrongdoing. Personally I do think conspired with agents for the Russian government, to what degree remains to be seen. But if the charge brought is some kind of technicality and the President removed from office over it I’m scared to think what happens. Trump doesn’t seem the type to just step down and his rabid base will quite literally want blood.

I imagine Trump will be listed in the report as a conspirator and depending on how deep Mueller wants to go he will also possibly be listed as committing multiple other crimes. I mean there’s no way any rational person believes all of his closest associates had a meeting to conspire with the Russian government and he wasn’t involved. All that is just the surface too, if they go into his finances there’s probably felonies everywhere. The thing is I believe no matter how strong the evidence Trump’s supporters won’t believe it and Trump will actively encourage it.

Question for you, even if Trump loses the 2020 election convincingly do you think he will leave voluntarily?

 

[jackstar7]

Question for you, even if Trump loses the 2020 election convincingly do you think he will leave voluntarily?

This is the question that makes me really hope he is forcibly removed from office due to unequivocal evidence. I don't want to see what happens when he declares the elections rigged and refuses to acknowledge their legitimacy.

MMMaybe he'll take up his rightful place on right-wing media and bloviate for all the money that world will shower him with, but I am not without concern for something much more dastardly.

 

[fskimospy]

This is the question that makes me really hope he is forcibly removed from office due to unequivocal evidence. I don't want to see what happens when he declares the elections rigged and refuses to acknowledge their legitimacy.

MMMaybe he'll take up his rightful place on right-wing media and bloviate for all the money that world will shower him with, but I am not without concern for something much more dastardly.

I suspect he will declare the election rigged and/or fraudulent. The problem is in 2016 he could say whatever he wanted and it wouldn’t matter because he had no power. In 2020 he will.