The Donald Trump Score Card

Trump's magic is evaporating on the campaign trail
Opinion by Dean Obeidallah
Sun November 17, 2019 Updated 8:16 PM ET

Trump's magic is evaporating on the campaign trail (opinion) - CNN

excerpt:

"Overall, since Trump took office, Democrats have flipped nine governorships from New Jersey to Kansas, taken control of the House of Representatives and won more than 400 state legislative seats. And with Trump's average approval rating at an anemic 41%, Republicans in close races in 2020 must ask if embracing Trump will serve them well — or be an albatross which drags them down.

To be fair, Trump wouldn't be the first President that candidates in the same political party ran away from in an election year because they perceived him to be a political liability. The same thing happened to former Presidents George W. Bush in 2006 and Barack Obama in 2014, who were both less than popular in several critical battleground states.

But, in Trump's case, his appearance in a closely contested race might inspire those who oppose him to come out and vote for the Democratic candidates. Just look at recent polls that show a big gap between those who "strongly approve" and "strongly disapprove" of Trump. For example, a recent Washington Post-ABC poll found that overall 38% of Americans approve of Trump and 30% "strongly" approve. Compare that to the 58% of voters who disprove of Trump, with 48% "strongly" disliking what Trump is doing as president."

 

The Independent Counsel expired when the Ethics in Government Act expired in 1999.

Such investigations are now invoked by the Attorney General instead of by a decision of a three-judge panel.

The Mueller investigation was invoked by Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein after Trump disposed of Attorney General Comey (which is part of what precipitated the Mueller investigation) and after Attorney General Sessions had recused himself of the issue. Trump later disposed of Sessions and Rosenstein and appointed Barr.

Considering Barr's public statements supporting Trump and his lengthy record of supporting expansive executive power, the chances seem small for William Barr to invoke a Special Counsel investigation of possible criminal behavior of Trump related to his Ukraine phone call. Congress chose to proceed with impeachment hearings instead of calling upon Barr of the Justice Department.

 

Expired Independent-Counsel Law Leaves More Power With Justice Department
Deputy attorney general has more control over possible special prosecutor since three-judge panels ended in 1999
By Erica Orden and Jacob Gershman
May 10, 2017 5:59 pm ET

Expired Independent-Counsel Law Leaves More Power With Justice Department

excerpt:

"The federal law regarding such unorthodox investigative arrangements has changed since the wide-ranging probes into the Clinton administration, when a three-judge panel could appoint an independent counsel, also called a special prosecutor."

 

Trump May Have Broken Federal Bribery Laws in the Ukraine Scandal—But What Will His Justice Department Do About It?
By Roger Parloff
11/4/19 at 9:46 AM EST

Trump may have broken federal bribery laws in the Ukraine scandal—but what will his Justice Department do about it?

excerpt:

"Apparently some of Trump's defenders want to argue that, okay, it's true that there was a quid pro quo, but Trump still didn't act "corruptly."

Of course, defendants can always make such an argument to the jury—and usually do. But here there's ample evidence of personal gain; no objective evidence of legitimate public purpose; months of furtiveness; secrecy; and consciousness of guilt. Career envoys, ambassadors, and national security staff were all kept in the dark while only a handful of political appointees and the President's personal attorney were in on what was happening. Why was the memo of the Trump-Zelensky call placed in a hyper-secure "code-word" server? Why were Vindman's corrections of the memo never incorporated into it? Why was Vindman instructed not to discuss the call? Why does Trump keep falsely insisting that the call memo was "an exact word-for-word transcript ... taken by very talented stenographers"?

Perhaps there are innocent answers to these questions—but that's why a full criminal inquiry needs to occur. If the answers to these questions don't turn out to be innocent, they raise questions about whether still other federal criminal laws have been violated—notably obstruction of justice laws."

 

Trump May Have Broken Federal Bribery Laws in the Ukraine Scandal—But What Will His Justice Department Do About It?
By Roger Parloff
11/4/19 at 9:46 AM EST

Trump may have broken federal bribery laws in the Ukraine scandal—but what will his Justice Department do about it?

excerpts:

'"I think there is a solid basis for DOJ to investigate these actions as potential bribery violations," says Eliason, of George Washington University, in an email. "That would probably require the appointment of a new special counsel—and you can assess for yourself how likely that is with [Bill] Barr as Attorney General."'


"But the absence of a parallel criminal inquiry tends to demean the seriousness of the allegations in the eyes of both the public and the impeachment jurors—the Senators. And if the President is ultimately acquitted of impeachment articles by political allies fearful of facing primary opponents, nothing will protect the public from criminally corrupt executive acts for the remainder of this presidential term and, perhaps, the next.

The last possibility is more concerning still. Maybe the Justice Department has quietly decided that a sitting President is, as his personal lawyers recently argued in state court in Manhattan, not merely immune from prosecution during his term—which many legal scholars have long assumed—but immune even from all criminal investigation. That audacious contention has been widely criticized as radically at odds with the nation's history and constitutional consensus.

Still, the department's silence in the face of mounting evidence of Presidential criminality does raise that distinct possibility."

 

Instead of considering invoking investigations about Trump's possible criminal behavior with Ukraine, Barr himself has been implicated in the Ukraine schemes generated by Trump's personal attorney Giuliani who has been acting as an unofficial, external, backdoor channel. Trump stated in the phone call to the Ukraine president that Barr would be calling him to discuss the conspiracy theories. Barr has been making trips to various countries in what appears to be an effort to conjure up material for investigations of conspiracy theories that Trump believes are factual related to Biden, Hillary, and Mueller. Barr appears to be considering investigations of officials who investigated Trump.

Barr has publicly dismissed the results of the Mueller investigation, in spite of a list of instances by Mueller of Trump behavior that could be deemed as obstruction of justice and which Mueller relegated to Congress to determine. Barr made a speech before the conservative Federalist Society in November 2019 once again supporting Trump and scorning Congress.

Unlike Rosenstein who assigned Mueller, the chance of Barr invoking a Special Counsel investigation of Trump's Ukraine phone call to determine if he did anything illegal currently seems very remote.

 

Trump Replies ‘See You Soon’ After Kim Jong-un Calls for Biden to Be ‘Beaten to Death With a Stick’

 

Barr Attacks Trump Opponents, Democrats in Fiery Speech
Attorney general castigates Congress, courts and ‘Resistance’
Barr didn’t mention impeachment inquiry now in motion
By Chris Strohm
November 15, 2019, 10:08 PM EST

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

excerpt:

"“One of the ironies of today is that those who oppose this president constantly accuse this administration of shredding constitutional norms and waging a war on the rule of law,” he said. “Of course there is no substance to these claims.”

“In waging a scorched earth, no-holds-barred war of resistance against this administration, it is the left that has engaged in the systematic shredding of norms and undermining the rule of law,” Barr said."

 

Trump backs off his flavored vape ban — for exactly the reason he said he wouldn’t
by Aaron Blake
November 18, 2019 at 8:44 AM EST

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...d-vape-ban-exactly-reason-he-said-he-wouldnt/

 

Trump's impeachment ire turns on Pompeo amid diplomats' starring roles
Impeachment hearings have created a rift between the president and one of his staunchest allies in the administration
By Carol E. Lee, Courtney Kube and Andrea Mitchell
Nov. 18, 2019, 4:24 AM EST

Trump's impeachment ire turns on Pompeo amid diplomats' starring roles

excerpt:

"Trump has fumed for weeks that Pompeo is responsible for hiring State Department officials whose congressional testimony threatens to bring down his presidency, the officials said. The president confronted Pompeo about the officials — and what he believed was a lackluster effort by the secretary of state to block their testimony — during lunch at the White House on Oct. 29, those familiar with the matter said.

Inside the White House, the view was that Trump “just felt like, ‘rein your people in,’” a senior administration official said.

Trump particularly blames Pompeo for tapping Ambassador Bill Taylor in June to be the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, the current and former senior administration officials said."

 

Washington DC talk is saying Trump is going to resign for health reasons. I think he is going to do that because if he remains in office and the Supreme Court rules against him over the tax and business record matter … he will go to prison. Maybe Bret Kavanaugh told him that such a scenario is a reality now.

 

70% of Americans say Trump’s actions tied to Ukraine were wrong: POLL
By Kendall Karson
Nov 18, 2019, 10:02 AM ET

70% of Americans say Trump’s actions tied to Ukraine were wrong: POLL

excerpt:

"An overwhelming 70% of Americans think President Donald Trump’s request to a foreign leader to investigate his political rival, which sits at the heart of the House of Representatives' impeachment inquiry, was wrong, a new ABC News/Ipsos poll finds.

A slim majority of Americans, 51%, believe Trump’s actions were both wrong and he should be impeached and removed from office. But only 21% of Americans say they are following the hearings very closely."

 

Demonrat? Grow up, fool.

 

If Trump's trip to the doctor was to do lab work related to completing a portion of his physical exam, it was a bad time to do it. He was stressed highly from the rough week of bad news, which tends to elevate one's blood pressure and blood glucose and insulin.

It's curious that he would do such tests a few months before the time when they are normally done. The administration claims he is using some free time now that he wouldn't otherwise have, which is difficult to believe considering the large amount of free time he spends at his resorts most weekends and time used for his everyday twitter rants and daily dose of Fox News.

News reports say that the entire exam takes about four hours. Trump spends about that amount of time each day watching Fox and twitter ranting.

 

I would be surprised if trump comes up with a fake illness, to garner sympathy.

 

John Roberts has placed a hold on Trump's appeal to the Supreme Court over release of his taxes and business records. Congress has to respond by 3pm Thursday or Friday. Trump has used his political appointees on the DC circuit to help. He must be banking on Kavanaugh and Gore-sick to help coverup his criminal activity including any money laundering.

 

White House theme music.

 

Trump says he will consider providing written answers for the impeachment hearings after deploring the whistleblower by saying that his/her written answers weren't acceptable.



Democrats Offer Trump Chance To Testify, And He Says He Might Do It — In Writing
Bobby Allyn
November 18, 20192:48 PM ET

Democrats Offer Trump Chance To Testify, And He Says He Might Do It — In Writing

excerpt:

"Earlier this month, Trump tweeted "written answers not acceptable!" after the legal team representing the whistleblower, who filed the complaint over the July 25 call between Trump and the Ukrainian president, said the whistleblower would respond to written questions under penalty of perjury. But House Republicans ignored the offer."