White House looking at ethics rule to weaken special investigation

[MelissaB]

White House looking at ethics rule to weaken special investigation: sources

The Trump administration is exploring whether it can use an obscure ethics rule to undermine the special counsel investigation into ties between President Donald Trump's campaign team and Russia, two people familiar with White House thinking said on Friday.

Trump has said that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein's hiring of former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel to lead the investigation "hurts our country terribly."

Within hours of Mueller's appointment on Wednesday, the White House began reviewing the Code of Federal Regulations, which restricts newly hired government lawyers from investigating their prior law firm’s clients for one year after their hiring, the sources said.

An executive order signed by Trump in January extended that period to two years.

Mueller's former law firm, WilmerHale, represents Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who met with a Russian bank executive in December, and the president's former campaign manager Paul Manafort, who is a subject of a federal investigation.

More: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-mueller-idUSKCN18F2KK

Holy shit. What a day!

[LisaM]

1. I hope this doesn't apply.

Mueller was appointed, not hired, and he wasn't appointed to be a lawyer, but an investigator.

[octoberlib]

2. A DOJ lawyer in another article said that Mueller would get a waiver since

he had nothing to do with Jared and Ivanka in his time with the firm. They weren't his clients and he wasn't involved in any of their cases. Rosenstein would have checked this out before appointing Mueller.

[wiggs]

3. Of course they are. There's nothing they won't do or try in their own self-interests. And

this is what happens if you elect the sharkiest of the sharky corporate sharks out there...a narcissistic sociopath uninterested in morality, justice, fairness, or truth.

Stacking the deck, loopholes, cheating, bluffing, threatening (listen to Michael Cohen's rant against a journalist investigating a Trump sexual assault allegation!), throwing others under the bus, loyalty oaths, corruption, personal enrichment, and breaking promises is standard mode of operation. Also don't want to forget bribes, nepotism, lying, deception, AND CHANGING LAWS AND REGULATIONS.

I'm sure they have an expansive playbook written by Bannon, Cohen, and Miller for tamping down dissent, investigations, and hearings...which is why we are in a race for justice before we have few effective checks and balances left.

[Mr. Ected]

4. These are not the acts of an innocent man

Every single act this man has taken, every single deflection, lie, firing, all of it screams GUILT.

This is playing out like a game, like a reality TV show, where Trump has a head start and every cheat code ever devised. It's a game of "Run for Your Life" and all of our lives are stake.

[Blue_true]

7. Trump and his people clearly are doing everything they can to subvert laws.

Nixon outright fired a Special Investigator when Cox starting uncovering damaging information, I won't be remotely surprised if Trump does the same thing if Mueller starts getting too close to jailing him and his son in law. The people who have screaming about their patriotism and calling everyone else traitors are dead silent now while this pervert subverts 241 years of democracy.

[dalton99a]

5. They're trying to protect Kushner

[Blue_true]

6. So if Trump gets impeached and removed by the Senate, will the military have

to physically remove him?

[obamanut2012]

9. yes, and i am being serious

he has those wingnut personal DeVos/Blackwater bodyguards, too, remember.

[Blue_true]

10. What will the Secret Service and US Marshals do? nt

[Tom67]

8. Since when are any Trump people concerned about ethics? nt