Russia Investigation
On Monday, Pelosi tried to tamp down impeachment fever, while not foreclosing the possibility: “For now, House Democratic leaders appeared to have enough leeway to pursue investigations without formally convening impeachment proceedings.”
Bouie makes the case for impeachment: “there’s also the real question of our constitutional order. Either the president is above the law or he isn’t. Voters can’t determine this… impeachment helps Democrats make a truly comprehensive case against the president, uniting his corruption, his criminality and his contempt for ordinary Americans under a single narrative.”
Hillary Clinton pens an op-ed for the Washington Post advising democrats how to proceed. She suggests time and caution before impeachment: “Watergate offers a better precedent. Then, as now, there was an investigation that found evidence of corruption and a coverup. It was complemented by public hearings conducted by a Senate select committee, which insisted that executive privilege could not be used to shield criminal conduct and compelled White House aides to testify. The televised hearings added to the factual record and, crucially, helped the public understand the facts in a way that no dense legal report could.”
Nadler subpoenaed McGahn to testify and turn over documents for a May 21 hearing. Trump’s lawyers are suggesting they will invoke executive privilege to keep Don McGahn and others from testifying before congress.
Wheeler suggests that McGahn welcomes the subpoena and is eager to testify: “He appears to be upping the ante by further distancing himself from Trump’s corruption.”
Mnuchin has blown past the second deadline to hand over Trump’s tax returns to congress. He says he will reach a final decision by May 6.
To resist Congressional investigations, Trump had called for a refusal of all requests and subpoena’s: “Mr. Trump’s scorched-earth strategy appears meant to prompt a lengthy fight for each subpoena, by giving the House a choice between seeing its subpoenas ignored or going to court to ask a judge to order the administration to comply with them. Such lawsuits would then prompt wrangling in the courts over whether Mr. Trump had the authority to block the subpoena.”
Three current senior Trump Administration officials and one former sounded an alarm about Russian interference in the 2020 elections by speaking with the New York Times: Officials said [Neilson] had become increasingly concerned about Russia’s continued activity in the United States during and after the 2018 midterm elections — ranging from its search for new techniques to divide Americans using social media, to experiments by hackers, to rerouting internet traffic and infiltrating power grids. But in a meeting this year, Mick Mulvaney, the White House chief of staff, made it clear that Mr. Trump still equated any public discussion of malign Russian election activity with questions about the legitimacy of his victory. According to one senior administration official, Mr. Mulvaney said it “wasn’t a great subject and should be kept below his level.”
FBI director Wray gave a warning that the Russians were working on their 2020 election interference now, and that they would use a mix of old and new methods this time around.
The Washington Post reports on why Trump did not fire Rosenstein back in September when news broke that he ha discussed the 25th Amendment and wearing a wire. He assured Trump that “I give the investigation credibility,” Rosenstein said, according to an administration official with knowledge of what was said during the call. “I can land the plane.”… Trump ended the call with Rosenstein thinking he was “on the team after all,” one senior administration official said, adding that the president has been further swayed by Rosenstein’s deference in meetings and other settings.”
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Trump Job Approval: 41.2%