There is talk about trump's "red line". My question is since when does the person being

[shraby]

investigated get to put up parameters on what is looked at?

The law will put up the outlines, the criminal doesn't. That's why hoops were jumped through to be able to do a no-knock search of cohen's office, home and hotel room. It took a judge to issue that warrant under probably cause that cohen would destroy evidence if forewarned.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

1. You are 100% right./nt

[Trust Buster]

2. The Big Os red line was in Syria. Spankys red line resides in his Depends.

[Mr. Ected]

4. It's parallel to his brown line, which grew exponentially yesterday.

[Mr. Ected]

3. The fact that the media keeps mentioning this red line REALLY pisses me off

Every time it comes up, it should be pointed out that the subject of an investigation has no right to circumscribe said investigation.

Why does our press leave so many loopholes for the crazies on the right to crawl through?

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

7. The press has made a lot of money on Trump. Goading him into firing Mueller

will cause Donnie Two Shoes to react (especially if Fox News tell him to) and fire Mueller, or Rosenstein and Mueller, or Sessions, Rosenstein and Mueller -- the possibilities are endless. We will finally have the "constitutional crisis" that every politician and pundit has been warning about since Comey was fired.

When I went to journalism school, the Reporting 101 professor asked, "What is the purpose of a newspaper?" (For millennials, a newspaper is like an Ipad made out of paper.) After we exhausted all the romantic purposes for entering the profession ("Pursuing the Truth!" "Seeking out corruption!" "Keeping people informed about what's going on in the world!" ), the professor -- a crusty old sod who had spent most of his professional life in the trenches -- pounded his fist on the podium and intoned, "The purpose of a newspaper is to make money."

So while the excellent investigative reporters from the Washington Post, New York Times and Wall Street Journal -- as well as their electronic media counterparts -- dig out the facts and provide analysis and context (Rachel Maddow's forte) and are diligently doing their jobs, the owners are concerned with one thing only, which is the bottom line.

Donald Trump makes the media money. He knows this, and has even said this in so many words. The more scandals he has, the more he melts down on camera, or fires someone by tweet, or fails to acknowledge the death of a tenant while praising a golfer's "courage," the more people tune in and the more advertising bucks flow in.

Intentionally or more likely unintentionally, Trump is the goose that lays the golden eggs, as far as the MSM is concerned. He's the shiny ornament that people cannot avoid looking at; he's the terrible accident on the highway that you can't drive past without gawking. A constitutional crisis will be the Journalists' Full Employment Act, and a never-ending supply of income for their employers.

[PJMcK]

13. One of my first jobs was in radio

My first day on the job, the station manager told me how the business worked. He said, "Kid, we play music so the listeners will hear our ads. That's the point of radio."

Took all the romance out of it for me.

[manor321]

5. Haberman

The "red line" is an invention of access-journalist Maggie Haberman, who had the nerve to mention it again yesterday in a tweet.

Link to tweet

"But both Trump and Cohen believe this is really Mueller and that farming it out to SDNY was a fig leaf. Both sources say that this has crossed the "red line" that Trump laid out for Mueller going outside his purview in intvw w @nytmike @peterbakernyt and me last July"

[Orsino]

6. Executive powers are real.

This isn't just a person being investigated, but a president who has weapons such as Executive Privilege and pardons at his disposal, as well as the ability to fire investigators.

We made the terrible mistake of inaugurating a corrupt fool, likely dooming us to the farce we see coming.

[el_bryanto]

8. We are stuck between two conflicting values - that Trump and his party are exploiting

On the one hand nobody should be above the law. On the other hand law enforcement mechanisms shouldn't be allowed to punish political enemies - but we know they have been in the past - and we know that at least in the 20th and 21st centuries it was usually Republicans doing it. In this case, however, the conflict is more theatre than reality - the truth is that the protections put in place to prevent retribution politics aren't intended to protect criminals, and it is looking more and more like Trump is either a criminal himself or he just surrounded himself with criminals.

Bryant

[kentuck]

9. Why was Cohen living in a hotel instead of in his home??

Are there domestic problems?

[spanone]

10. it's easy. THEY DON'T.

he's bullshitting again

[rock]

11. Trump's Red Line is meaningless

As is standard for most of what he says.

[malaise]

12. Arrogance, hubris

and an amazing sense of entitlement.
The Con is not above the law

[oberliner]

14. He never actually used that phrase - and seemed to not know what it meant

Maggie Haberman had to explain it to him.

[Adrahil]

15. Keep in mind....

Trump honestly believes he is above the law. He thinks he was elected Emperor, and that he has absolute control over the law enforcement apparatus of the country.

And unless the Congress acts as a check against him, he may be close to correct. We shall see.