Cliff Notes on Democracy and the Rule of Law Under Direct Assault by a U.S. President

[bigtree]

The New York Times @nytimes
Breaking News: In a confidential memo to the special counsel, President Trump’s lawyers made broad claims of executive power in a bid to avoid a subpoena https://t.co/MxPvKViUA9

Maggie Haberman @maggieNYT
READ the full confidential memo, all 20 pages, that @realDonaldTrump’s lawyers sent to Mueller in January. With annotation explainers. https://t.co/A7czFeXlMc


Judd Legum @JuddLegum 17h17 hours ago
The letter Trump's lawyers sent Mueller is extraordinary.

They effectively argue that Trump cannot break the law because Trump is the law

All investigations belong to Trump

All crimes can be erased by Trump

read: https://goo.gl/xT94Qx




The Hoarse Whisperer @HoarseWisperer
In case you’ve been off Twitter today, here’s a catch-up:
A guy who says he is innocent had his lawyers write a 20-page letter on why he refuses to explain how innocent he is.


Richard Blumenthal @SenBlumenthal
The Trump memo is a chilling, ominous blueprint for totalitarian Constitution burning.


Renato Mariotti @renato_mariotti 22m22 minutes ago
Trump’s team not only argues that he can pardon himself but also argues that he has unlimited power to investigate his enemies and end investigations into his friends. If this sounds like tyranny to you, that’s because it is. twitter.com/ABCPolitics/status/1003257562622406656


Malcolm Nance @MalcolmNance
WHAT?! I’m sorry but the President is NOT above the law. This is an assertion that he IS THE LAW. Constitutional Crisis? Bring it on. #HereWeGo


Chuck Schumer @SenSchumer
This would be a valid legal argument — if our government were a dictatorship. Fortunately, we are a government of laws, not men. And in America, no one is above the law, including the president.


Adam Schiff @RepAdamSchiff
The President’s legal arguments would render whole sections of the Constitution moot, and allow a president to engage in any form of criminality and obstruct an investigation into his own wrongdoing. Nobody is above the law. Not this President. Not any president.


Sam Stein @samstein
"It's an outrageous claim. It's wrong" -- Chris Christie on the Trump legal team's claim that the president inherently can't obstruct justice.


Rep. Eric Swalwell @RepSwalwell
With #TrumpRussia investigation, @realDonaldTrump, you will be remembered as either a cooperator or a colluder. Remember what you said about people who refuse to answer questions?


Caroline O. @RVAwonk
So the thing about this confidential memo is that it was sent to Mueller in January.

It's now June... and Mueller is definitely still investigating obstruction & definitely still trying to interview Trump. So clearly it's not having its intended effect in that aspect.


The Hill @thehill
JUST IN: Giuliani threatens to take Mueller to court if he subpoenas Trump http://hill.cm/EIoSEWH


Brian Schatz @brianschatz
The President, through his lawyers, offered a 20 page document asserting he is above the law. This is neither an open question nor a partisan matter. No one is above the law, especially not the most powerful person on the earth.


Joyce Alene @JoyceWhiteVance
Trump is saying he can put an end to any criminal investigation he & he can pardon anyone he wants to. In other words, he can insulate himself & his family if a jury votes to convict them. No other President has successfully set himself above the reach of the law until now.


Steve Schmidt @SteveSchmidtSES
A clear line has been drawn with the release of Trumps legal memo. Make no mistake, it is a direct attack on the rule of law and a declaration of absolute power on the part of the President. It’s thesis must be attacked relentlessly. The American Republic is worth fighting for.


Steven Beschloss @StevenBeschloss
This is what the criminal Trump has longed for his whole adult life, maybe longer: to have so much power that he’s untouchable and can get away with anything. For the sake of our nation, we have to ensure he fails in this goal.


Michael Beschloss @BeschlossDC 1h1 hour ago
“Well, when the President does it, that means that it is not illegal.” —Richard Nixon to David Frost, 1977

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. Words fail me.

K&R

[procon]

2. Nixon was remarkably prescient in foreshadowing that Trump would try

to resurrect his infamous assertion kingly powers. We'll have to await on pins and needles to see how far Congress will let Trump get with his version of, “Well, when the President does it, that means that it is not illegal.”

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3. Trump and his lawyers take cues from the well-worn conservative trope

...that Nixon would have won if he stayed in and fought harder (both his impending impeachment and Vietnam).

Trump has an advantage Nixon lacked: a compliant and obsequious Congress which allows him temporary, but effective ability to ignore laws, norms, and democratic principles in a self-obsessed orgy of personal aggrandizement and vindictive assaults against political, personal, and decided opponents.

"We'll see" if voters can shun cynicism and apathy and elect a Congress determined to uphold the rule of law and provide for the rehabilitation of the neglected, abandoned, and discarded tenets of our democracy and social compacts.

[procon]

4. The scenario for a Perfect Storm is brewing.

Trump knows no boundaries, the Congress is purposefully weak and ineffective, and their base voters are boastfully ignorant. The outcome will fall on the Robert's court, where oligarchs seem to fair inordinately well and far too often emerge with their power and wealth enhanced rather than checked.

[smirkymonkey]

5. I'm sorry, but I think it's time for the Ceausescu treatment.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. He needs to be stopped.