On October 23, 2014, Whitaker joined the advisory board for World Patent Marketing…The firm was closed in May 2017 by the Federal Trade Commission for fraud.
I don’t think the new House majority can do a thing to protect Mueller. The investigation is out of Justice and the AG is over Justice. The AG is appointed by the Senate. The House can just stand by and watch like the rest of us. Right?
I would love for a lawyer to weigh in here. I don’t see how the U.S. AG can order the retraction, since the indictment comes from a Federal Grand Jury (as stated in the 5th Amendment). Once the indictment occurs I would believe that the AG could heavily influence the Justice Department’s decision of whether to prosecute or not, so in essence a retraction could occur. But I would have to believe that some reasonable Republican members of Congress would be queasy about allowing the AG to assume sole power over deciding what gets prosecuted and what does not. But we do not live in ordinary times.
The Justice Department and the AG came into existence under President Grant. It has always seemed to me that its position in the Executive Branch is peculiar, and that the necessary independence of the JD relies far too much on tradition and policy. How much of that independence is codified by law?
The lame-duck Senate would have trouble confirming a super toady. The more-Republican new Senate will be more prone to letting someone awful in, but cabinet members are still subject to filibuster.
For anyone who STILL thinks that winning the House wasn’t a huge deal: try reading this story and imagine the GOP with continued full control over Congress.
Because at heart, Trump is a coward. He blusters when he’s “safe,” but whenever it comes to real confrontation, he runs away screaming. A face-off with Mueller is not something that he could stomach.
If tRump is desperate enough to fire Mueller, the House can do little to protect him. It’s the Senate that confirms appointees like the AG. As I’ve suggested elsewhere, the lame-duck Senate (including Flake and Corker) is not too likely to get stampeded into a full-toady AG nominee. And nominees are still subject to filibuster. I have to question whether McTurtle will go nuclear on the rule pertaining to filibusters when there’s a good chance that a Democrat will be making appointments in 2021.
With his new big majority in the Senate, Trump should easily win quick approval for Frank, Thieirack, Gürtner, or Freisler. Steve King? The suddenly unemployed Kris Kobach?
Just kidding - he will bring in Lindsey to help Rudy write a final report - “Clinton and Dems Colluded Bigly” and that will be that.
Will be interesting to see how such “heroes of the Resistance” as Mr Rosenstein and others soon in the crosshairs react.
