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Impeachable Offenses?

~ Examining the Case for Removal of the 45th President of the United States

Impeachable Offenses?

Tag Archives: donald

Mueller Denies BuzzFeed Report

19 Saturday Jan 2019

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

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buzzfeed, Collusion, Congress, deny, dishonest, donald, Frank Bowman, impeachable, Impeachment, lie, lying, Michael Cohen, moscow, president, report, Robert Mueller, russia, Russian, slate, trump, Trump Tower

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office has issued a rare statement denying the veracity of the BuzzFeed article published yesterday. The article in question stated that Mueller’s office had a cache of documents which established that President Trump encouraged his former attorney, Michael Cohen, to lie about the extent of the Moscow Trump Tower negotiations. If that were true, the legal consequences would have been severe; Professor Frank Bowman provided an analysis which was published on Slate.com.

However, though BuzzFeed has dug in its heels, the rarity of such public statements from Mueller’s office and its direct nature seem to indicate that there is no truth to the story. That is to say, Mueller’s office does not have hard evidence of such directions exchanged between Trump and Cohen. There is some concern that this revelation will give the President new ammunition against the media; however, it should not be forgotten that the truth finder of most significance in this case is Robert Mueller. It should be heartening that he is staying the course.

UT5EXCA3QYI6TCATZOO6Y5Q6OM.jpgRichard Drew/AP

 

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Mueller’s Questions Exclude Obstruction

14 Sunday Oct 2018

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

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donald, Elie Honig, impeach, investigation, Jonathan Turley, Mueller, Obstruction of Justice, president, questions, robert, russian collusion, Special Counsel, trump, written answers

Special Counsel Robert Mueller sent President Trump and his lawyers questions this week regarding collusion between the Trump Campaign and Russian officials. This represents a breakthrough in negotiations between the parties as to the scope of questioning of the President; however it is limited. The President’s answers will only be written. Given Trump’s history of contradictions this may be a safeguard against perjury. Commentators have noted that the series of questions leave out obstruction of justice.

Jonathan Turley, in an opinion piece written for The Hill, has theorized that the absence may indicate Mueller is not pursuing an obstruction charge. His supports his opinion by pointing out that obstruction of justice is a bad fit for the President’s alleged crimes, since the charge is normally applied to the obstruction of some kind of judicial proceeding. Elie Honig, a former federal prosecutor from New York, disagrees with Turley. He theorizes that if Mueller is presenting questions about collusion that must be because he is focused on specific conduct and doesn’t see “wiggle room” for the President in his answers. In his mind, the fact that Mueller isn’t giving questions about obstruction does not mean that he has given up on the charge, but rather that he is preparing for a legal battle that could go to the Supreme Court.

Regardless of Mueller’s motivation, readers would do well to remember that the crimes of obstruction and collusion are intimately involved. If it could be established that President Trump was involved in the Russian election interference, that would go a long way in establishing the mens rea required to convict the President of obstruction of justice — his corrupt influence, if you will.

trumpfirst_opi2jd.jpgKevin Lamarque/Reuters

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Trump Balks at “Chinese Propaganda”

27 Thursday Sep 2018

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

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Abraham Denmark, bots, china, China Daily, chinese, Collusion, Conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the united states, des moines, donald, Impeachment, interference, iowa, president, register, Russian, the des moines register, trump

President Trump charged China with “placing propaganda ads in the Des Moines Register and other papers,” in response to a 4-page advertorial purchased by a Chinese State-run paper. The advertorial was fashioned as a series of articles entitled “China Watch” (PDFs found here). Trump’s response is particularly striking in light of his relative silence in response to the established interference of Russian robots. Abraham Denmark, “a former senior Pentagon and U.S. intelligence official [and current] director of the Wilson Center’s Asia Program,” told the New Yorker that this was an old practice and much less extreme than recent Russian actions: ” . . . there’s a distinction between influence and interference. What China did was the former, what Russia did was the latter.”

Denmark brings up an interesting point for an impeachment discussion. President Trump is being investigated for conspiracy to defraud the United States for his possible collaboration with Russians with the intention of interfering with the Presidential election. Some scholars believe that could constitute fraud. Though Trump could not be charged with colluding with the Chinese, it is an interesting question whether the actions of the Chinese government could similarly constitute fraud. That seems unlikely. In addition to what Denmark has already suggested (that there is a distinction between influence and interference) we are also missing the element of deceit (as described by Professor Bowman in the link posted immediately above). The Chinese were very candid in their attempts to influence voters — there was a banner at the top of each page of their advert which read “section sponsored by China Daily.” This is far from the equivalent of the massive campaign of Russians who adopted American personalities online. Therefore there was no probably no fraud involved; making Trump’s reaction contrast even more starkly his silence in the face of Russian interference. That being said, that’s an answer to a question nobody was asking. More soon.

397c0ded-a693-4cc2-bf77-10f6043cadb3-IMG_5088.jpgThe Des Moines Register

 

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Getting to Know Jane Raskin

12 Wednesday Sep 2018

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

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bloomberg, defense, donald, donald trump, impeach, investigation, jane raskin, Lawyer, Mueller, president, rudy giuliani, Special Counsel, trump, white collar

Readers might be interested in an article published by Bloomberg today entitled “Trump’s Little-Known Lawyer on the Front Lines Against Mueller.” It details the background of Jane Raskin, a white-collar defense lawyer from Florida. Though she is less talked about than Giuliani, Raskin has been working as President Trump’s lawyer since April, shortly after John Dowd left the position. She has gone head-to-head with Special Counsel Mueller’s deputy, Jim Quarles, over permissible communications with President Trump, conducted much of the research behind Trump defense, and is the lead writer of a report meant to counter Mueller’s eventual findings. Interestingly the lawyer has personal ties to Mueller: “both lawyers were prosecutors in Boston early in their careers — Raskin tried organized crime and racketeering cases for the Justice Department while Mueller investigated financial fraud, terrorism and money laundering for the U.S. attorney’s office.”

raskin.jpgraskinlaw.com

 

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Frank O. Bowman, III


Floyd R. Gibson Missouri Endowed Professor of Law
University of Missouri School of Law

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