White House: Trump believes he has power to fire Mueller
Source: The Hill
President Trump believes he has the power to fire Robert Mueller as special counsel leading the Russia probe, the White House said Tuesday.
He certainly believes that he has the power to do so, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.
That stance is rejected by many legal experts, who say Trump does not have the power to fire Mueller directly. Under Justice Department regulations, that authority falls to to the department official in charge of the investigation in this case, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Mueller has returned to the center of Trump's crosshairs on Monday after the FBI raided the president's personal attorney, Michael Cohen.
Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/382513-white-house-trump-believes-he-has-power-to-fire-mueller
Gothmog
(145,291 posts)olegramps
(8,200 posts)RandySF
(58,884 posts)And Trump has the power to fire Rosenstein
Farmer-Rick
(10,175 posts)It doesn't make it so.
murielm99
(30,742 posts)That would be Garfield Goose. Garfield bought Bozo's Circus when Bozo retired.
Trump is too stupid to usurp that title from a goose.
Farmer-Rick
(10,175 posts)Away from a puppet. Trump can't let anyone have anything.
murielm99
(30,742 posts)I wanted to go home for lunch the last day of the Bozo show. We couldn't tape things back then. I had a business lunch, and I would have been fired if I had gone home to watch Bozo's circus. I was a grown woman, in my late twenties.
My brother took half a day off, not telling anyone why. He said Bozo cried, and the Goose bought the circus. Sigh.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not some farcical aquatic ceremony.
You can't expect to yield supreme executive power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!
I mean, if I went 'round saying I were emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!
Farmer-Rick
(10,175 posts)The best line of any King Arthur movie ever.
Botany
(70,510 posts).... you demand that Bob Mueller be protected. Ask two friends to do the same.
BigmanPigman
(51,607 posts)BootinUp
(47,156 posts)You can, you can! Dont be a wimp!
LudwigPastorius
(9,150 posts)Then Trump will go down the line until he finds a subordinate who will agree to fire Mueller. Or, he could even dangle Sessions' job as bait for the person willing to do his bidding.
Sessions, Rosenstein, Mueller could all be axed very shortly, bringing on Trump's final self-immolation.
nmgaucho
(527 posts)SFnomad
(3,473 posts)LudwigPastorius
(9,150 posts)back then.
The only reason Nixon resigned was because the House had the votes to impeach and the Senate did not have the votes to acquit. (I doubt Trump would resign even if he was facing similar numbers. He's too pig-headed and egomaniacal.)
An Article II, Section 4 solution will require Republican defections regardless of the outcome of the upcoming election. I, for one, don't trust any of those bastards to do the right thing when the time comes.
SFnomad
(3,473 posts)Your Waiter Tonight
(35 posts)That being said, Friday is going to be nerve-wracking.
PunksMom
(440 posts)marylandblue
(12,344 posts)PunksMom
(440 posts)unblock
(52,243 posts)Especially when sometimes accompanied by "red lines" that he's told not to cross?
bucolic_frolic
(43,173 posts)I think he's bumped up against something that won't bend to his whims, unlike every other applecart he's overturned in his life.
If he can do it, he's not bragging, but it sure will send the country into a maelstrom because everyone knows it would mean the end of the rule of law and the beginning of dictatorship
I doubt he understands that at this point
LiberalLovinLug
(14,174 posts)By continually asking him or Sleezy Sarah or anyone else they can find to ask?
Does anyone else have a problem with this? I think we all know Trump's personality by now. We have all met individuals that have the same misogynist arrogant selfish childish attitudes, maybe not to the same level, but on the same track. I fear Trump will do it just because everyone around him, not just the 'fake news' stations, but prominent Republicans are telling everyone that there is no way he would do it.
procon
(15,805 posts)every media outlet. Fox News, as Enabler in Chief, is on the frontline with every show encouraging Trump to pull the trigger. He has no other source of information. He too stupid to listen to anyone telling him something he doesn't want to know, like, "No."
UpInArms
(51,284 posts)The press is (finally) doing its job ... it is the watchdog and its barking like mad at the intruder
Hugin
(33,148 posts)Has been a standard in court intrigue for as long as there have been courts to intrigue.
It's the modern equivalent of bear baiting.
irisblue
(32,980 posts)Skittles
(153,164 posts)yes indeed
dembotoz
(16,806 posts)Sam McGee
(347 posts)Trump believes he has the authority to fire Mueller.
My children are adults but when they were 2-year-olds they believed they could throw a screaming fit, lie on the floor, kick and scream and get whatever they wanted.
Guess how that worked out for them.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,182 posts)".....announces termination of Special Counsel Robert Mueller."
Sam McGee
(347 posts)Do I recall correctly that last week Deputy AG Rosenstein issued a memo in which he assigned to other DOJ senior officials responsibility for various parts of the Mueller investigation in the event Mueller could not complete the investigation?
As I recall, I heard that on MSNBC -- Hayes, Maddow, etc. The idea being, if Trump fires Mueller, other DOJ senior investigators will pick up the various threads of the investigation and march ahead.
angrychair
(8,699 posts)mahatmakanejeeves
(57,465 posts)It doesnt matter how people feel about Pence.
If Trump fires Mueller, Trump is gone.
Members of the House and Senate can take up their issues with Pence later.
Link to tweet
Trump is looking for an excuse to fire Mueller. Press coverage conflating two entirely separate investigations is dangerously misleading. Mueller has no control over the SDNY investigation which is about financial crimes, not just the Daniels payoff.
Link to tweet
SDNY equals Southern District of New York
LudwigPastorius
(9,150 posts)Mr. Painter might remember that Democrats had control of both houses of Congress, and quite a few Republicans who put country over party, when Nixon was forced out.
They also had "smoking gun" tapes of Nixon discussing his crimes.
Whether these things will come into play in the case against Trump remains to be seen. I'd love a blue wave to take control of the House and Senate, but barring that, there is no guarantee that Trump will not serve out his term.
It sucks, but there it is.
bluestarone
(16,959 posts)to go after tRUMP? for what he did? Or who will handle it? The repubs in congress? how does this play out?
woundedkarma
(498 posts)woundedkarma
(498 posts)What would he even do when there's no process? If he says Mueller is fired, do they have to take it to court? lol... it's all crazy
Orsino
(37,428 posts)...or "wants us to believe."
When Trump opens his mouth, he's just wishing out loud for things to be simple enough for him to grasp. And they never are.