Can Robert Mueller Really Hold Trump Accountable? (Very informative)

[blue-wave]

........in any case, the momentum of this scandal has clearly shifted towards Mueller. It is more likely than not that he is investigating the president of the United States. If Mueller is indeed is looking into whether Trump—or any members of his administration—obstructed justice in the process of firing Comey, what powers does Mueller have to make this inquiry, and what can he do with the results?

The answers are complicated, but will be critical to understand over the coming months. The short answer is that Mueller has extraordinary powers to investigate, subpoena, and prosecute wrongdoing—but there are still several ways Trump can shut Mueller down.........


........Under the special-counsel statutes governing Mueller’s work, he must get DoJ approval for certain major actions—subpoenas, grants of immunity, search warrants, arrests and so forth. That approval would normally be granted by the attorney general, but in this case, since Jeff Sessions has recused himself, it falls to deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein.

Mueller must followDoJ “urgent report” procedures that require him to give Rosenstein three days notice of “major developments in significant investigations and litigation,” as well as “events affecting the Department that are likely to generate national media or congressional attention.” Rosenstein can block any of these moves, and the DoJ would only inform Congress it blocked Mueller’s moves once Mueller’s entire investigation is complete. It would be Rosenstein’s decision alone to make any such blocks public.

Rosenstein alone would also decide whether to release Mueller’s final report to the public; Mueller will likely file it privately to Rosenstein.

This grants enormous power to Rosenstein—a man whose reputation and reliability has been severely tarnished in recent weeks. Rosenstein already admitted that when he drafted a memo that served as pretext for firing Comey, he already knew Trump planned to do it. Making matters worse, Comey testified Thursday that he “explained my serious concern about the way in which the president is interacting, especially with the FBI,” directly to Rosenstein after the now-infamous February 14 Oval Office meeting. So in May, when Rosenstein wrote his memo that justified Comey’s termination, he already knew Trump had been trying to get Comey to stop investigating Flynn.......




A lot of perspective here on the role and scope of Mueller's authority.

Read full article here:https://www.thenation.com/article/all-eyes-are-now-on-robert-mueller/

[Lucinda]

1. Bookmarking to read later. Thank you!

[Blue_Roses]

2. We're in good hands with Mueller on the case

He wouldn't ask for something unless it was vital to carry out his investigations. And Rosenstein has pretty much said Mueller gets what he needs. Rosenstein isn't going to fuck with this.

[moonscape]

3. Yes, well, unless Rosenstein has to recuse himself. Also, I'd feel better if

he had answered Kamala Harris in the affirmative about Mueller's ultimate, unquestioned independence.

Mueller can be fired. He's not out of 45's reach.

[Blue_Roses]

4. 45 would be out of his effing mind...

(even more so, believe or not) to fire Mueller. There would be an uprising in the streets like never before.

[moonscape]

6. Here's my worry: when things start tightening even more,

and 45 feels cornered, he might feel he has nothing to lose and everything (in his warped mind) to gain. It would take T's support to collapse in order for Repubs to do anything about it, and those are some powerfully brainwashed folk.

Every day I think 'that can't happen!' and it does. Every morning there is another point of alarm.

I would be shocked if 45 isn't busy planning to get rid of Mueller once he can come up with a plan - and the plan doesn't have to be a good one, only one he can talk himself into.

[Duppers]

7. "45 would be out of his effing mind..."

Well, HE IS!

[KewlKat]

5. kicking