This article notes the ways Whitaker can mess with the investigation that are within the powers of an acting AG.
As he is a Republican, and IOKIYAR generally rules the day, I doubt he will limit himself to things that are on the up and up.
The best way to know the shenanigans he is pulling is to listen to what he and the administration accuse Democrats of doing.
That is the tell. ( for another example of this see Rick Scottâs comments on democratic election officials counting votes)
Whitaker is a lightweight and a partisan dumbfuck. Once the Mueller team shows him the overwhelming evidence of the conspiracy with foreign states will he be stupid enough to think they can still get away with this? Is he too stupid to understand the legal jeapordy he risks by aiding and abetting the cover up?
these guys didnât either: Mitchell, Haldeman, Ehrlichman.
didnât work out too well for them.
Exactly
I have a dog that could think this through better.
- If they fire Mueller he is no longer under any restrictions , there is nothing to stop him from standing in front of a microphone and telling what he found out.
- The investigation is just about complete and Rosenstein could release it in a final Fuck You
they should cut a deal with a publisher to flash print and sell and put up on Amazon to download if they get nuked by Whitaker. Insta-mega-hit! Proceeds to the VA or other gubmint institution.
Okay - that wonât work for a 1000 different reasons but in the movie version Mueller cuts a deal with Random House.
The investigation is just about complete and Rosenstein could release it in a final Fuck You
Rosenstein is already out of the loop.
This is why Sessions wasnât allowed to stay until the end of the week.
Trump doesnât do subtle. My bet is he tells Whitaker to fire Mueller.
Relax. Mitch says not to worry.
Another lying liar.
Youâre right
Fat Nixon always does the stupid thing
He doesnât think past the morning tweet and his talk with Faux and Friends
My bet is bring it on and reap the consequences
This is already shaping up to be one of the mornings where Iâm afraid to go to sleep: what will these eejits do before I wake up this afternoon?
Fire Mueller? Nuke Iran?
NPR had an interview this morning with a friend of his who shared a few gems: the election is over, so everyone should move away from partisanship (clearly, he meant that Democrats should move away from partisanship), that the guy has the highest integrity, and that he played college football. WaitâŚwhat?
Morning Edition must have said âeveryone will be waking up and getting ready for work, so they wonât have time to throw the radio across the room. Run it.â
But he canât. No one can make this investigation go away. Whitaker can try, fool no one, draw enormous exposure for himself and in the end fail. The investigation has been going on for near 2 years and Iâm sure Mueller has hard drives full of itâs discoveries. Whitaker canât order them destroyed. Someone outs them.
This is a match up of Whitaker against Mueller. Given what we know of the two thereâs just no way Whitaker wins.
Would the House committees still be able to access the info in January?
Question for anyone more familiar with the budgeting process than I am: Can Whitaker do that?
My understanding is that Muellerâs budget is already set until sometime this summer:
https://twitter.com/AshaRangappa_/status/1060333807201644545
What is it about these type who go to work for Trump? His track recored of backstabbing and throwing-you-under-the-bus is profound. If Whitaker makes a move on Robert Mueller, he will ultimately be destroyed and ostracized from society at large.
The theory that Whitaker will successfully use administrative guile to suffocate Mueller is highly problematic. It requires a lot of know how to pull that off. Mueller has decades of bureaucratic experience. He can ask for written instructions and clarifications and written assurances at every turn. He can if needs be challenge Whitakerâs authority to supervise him. It will be far from straightforward to pull off an administrative heist here, particularly as DOJ staffers will not be cooperative.
Update: a quick glance at the Special Counsel regs reveals that âthe Special Counsel shall determineâ what to share with the AG. That alone will be a problem for Whitaker. Moreover the AG canât stop the SC from taking prosecutorial steps unless those streps are clearly not warranted by established practices and the AG has first given âgreat weight â to the SCâs opinion. If the AG overrules the SC he must report this to Congress. Itâs all a bit tricky to stop this train gradually.
One question is whether Whitaker is one of those more-familiar people. Heâs not a longtime government guy. He was a federal prosecutor for a while, but heâs in his current role as I understand because he went on TV and said things Trump liked, and started working for Sessions as an consequence of that. Saying âyou could starve the budgetâ was one of those things he said. But inside the gummint, you have to know how to play the game, and he doesnât as far as I know, and heâs not bright enough to learn in a hurry. He could find himself getting nowhere with his sabotage. If youâve ever tried to do an unpopular thing in a complicated bureaucracy you know how it can be.
At some point trump will turn on whitaker.
Once whitaker realizes he has been thrown to the wolves with a career ending trump fantasy.
Iâve seen several things pointed out:
- Whitaker was Sessionâs chief of staff, not a true nose-up-trumpbutt toady like that drooling buffoon Wohl. Thereâs no reason to think Whitaker was particularly happy with how Trump treated his boss, nor any reason to think Whitaker is in pursuit of anything but his own power. Thatâs not a recipe for stable, long-term loyalty.
- Being flagrantly negligent or obstructive is not a brilliant choice for somebody seeking future power, and Whitaker is a relatively youn gman. You donât have to be Muellerâs best bud, but anything more than modest prodding is probably a bad career move.
- Attorneys General have gone to prison.