Thread by @BBuchman_CNS

Hearing gets underway in a little over 30 minutes at 2PM ET. I hope you'll join me as I live-tweet for @CourthouseNews.

https://twitter.com/BBuchman_CNS/status/1138037800752820224

John Dean will provide examples of parallels between the Watergate scandal and the instances of obstruction Mueller pointed to in his report. Echoes of Nixon's Chief of Staff HR Haldeman, he says, exist in activities of former nat sec advisor Michael Flynn:

He also draws the comparison of the Saturday Night Massacre (firing of Archibald Cox) to Trump's firing of FBI director James @Comey:

Dean also recounts the parallels between the pressure he faced to write a "phony" report for Nixon & the pressure Don McGahn faced:

More on overlap, this time on recusal:

Hearing now underway. House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler giving his opening remarks.
@CourthouseNews

He notes there was not sufficient evidence to charge Trump with conspiracy per Mueller report; but he says it cannot be ignored that 16 Trump campaign officials had contact with Russians, incl. high level Russian officials and oligarchs.

Over the next few weeks, lawmakers will continue to investigate this. (First hearing after this one will be at House Intel and I'll be there for @CourthouseNews). Now onto obstruction: Nadler is recounting the 10 instances Mueller indicated in his report.

There can be no question this committee must investigate this behavior as well. Today's hearing is designed to unpack the work of the special counsel and related matters. They will make recommendations "to the whole House as circumstances warrant."

Nadler adds the point of these hearings is, in part, to ensure that "this behavior" never plays out under another president again.

Nadler: Even if we cannot agree to draw the same conclusions from the evidence, we should proceed with a common understanding: we were attacked by a foreign adversary and President Trump's campaign took full advantage of that.

Ranking Republican on the committee Doug Collins agrees the U.S. was attacked by Russians during the election, but says this is about "priorities."
"If we were attacked, the priority should be to go to the battlefield and not to the sideshow run by commentators."

The priorities were from Nov. 2016, Collins says, and the issue Dems had with who was elected president.
"We're not bringing Russians front and center...and I want to move forward, but here we come, with great folks from TV.. I could have caught your testimony on TV"

Says witnesses are here to "pontificate." Collins then calls Dean the '70s star of obstruction.' Calls Comey, McCabe and a "cabal" and calls John Dean "the godfather" of this cabal.

Collins says there was no pursuit of obstruction charges by Mueller.
He does not acknowledge why this is - and the fact that Mueller himself said this on May 29 - you cannot indict a sitting a president under guiding Justice Dept opinion.

Though Rep Collins called them "pontificaters" the actual titles of the witnesses are: Former United States Attorney, Northern District of Alabama (Joyce Vance) and Former United States Attorney, Eastern District of Michigan (Barb McQuade)

Joyce Vance: the federal principles of prosecution direct prosecutors to indict a case only if they can obtain a conviction on trial and sustain on appeal. The Mueller Report sets this out in regard to obstruction in 3 ways:

There must be an obstructive act, a nexus between that act and an official proceeding and corrupt intent.

Because SPC followed OLC guidance that prohibit indicting a sitting president, the report analyzed the evidence without making an ultimate decision on whether it was sufficient to indict. People can debate that... but as long as that memo is in effect, it binds DOJ lawyers.

Vance is now going down the instances of obstruction Mueller pointed to including Trump's order to WH counsel Don McGahn to stop Attorney General Jeff Sessions from recusing himself from the Russia probe....

The president’s multiple requests to the members of the intelligence community that they push back on suggestions he was connected to election interference efforts and his multiple attempts to have Mueller removed from the investigation - after he was legally appointed- outright

We'll get into more of these instances later, no doubt.

Vance concludes, noting: "If you or I would have committed this same conduct, you or I would have been charged by now."

Vance's full opening remarks are available here: documentcloud.org/documents/6145…

John Malcolm, director of legal studies at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, now testifying.
"Individuals who attempt to obstruct justice do so because they know darn well they committed a crime... someone attempting to obstruct an investigation also engages..

"...in other nefarious activities." Like suborning evidence, threatening bodily harm etc. But, Malcolm says: Trump provided 1000s of documents, allowed staffers to be interviewed etc.
"These are not the actions of someone who is obstructing justice..."

"...despite being "maddened" by the circumstances."

Malcolm: "It is certainly true that no man is above the law, including POTUS, but it is equally true that the president holds a unique position in our constitutional structure, some rules apply differently to him, and some not at all"

Here is Malcolm's full testimony: documentcloud.org/documents/6145…

.@BarbMcQuade says in at least 4 of the 10 obstruction episodes noted by Mueller the obstruction is clearer in the following: instruction to Don McGahn to remove Mueller, asking McGahn to deny public reports and Trump's creation of a false doc to support that lie.

Then, she notes, the push by POTUS to reverse Session recusal position and announce that the Russia investigation would focus on future elections only.

Her full remarks here: documentcloud.org/documents/6145…

McQuade says Mueller was being "incredibly deferential" to Congress; didn't want to overstep the executive branch, that is why he pulled back on indicting.

McQuade on Barr's view that Congress can't limit the president because of sep of powers - Yes, there is a sep of powers, she notes, "But POTUS doesnt just have the power to execute laws, but that he must faithfully do it. He cannot act corruptly."

Rep Doug Collins, Vance and McQuade have "great opinions" but asks, do you and Rachel Maddow have evidence of collusion that Mueller didnt have? (Maddow was in a tweet by McQuade from Dec 2018 he referenced)

McQuade says collusion is an "interesting term," that's why Mueller doesn't use it, he says, "I didn't establish crime of conspiracy" but he did document numerous contacts between Russia and Trump campaign.
Collins uses up the time without giving McQuade add'l room to testify.

She says as he closes up his time, "Read page one of the report."

Let's back up a second to something Dean said about Don McGahn: Nadler noted that McGahn hasn't testified before congress. He asked if he had an obligation to do so?

Dean responded that the situation with McGahn "pushes the limit further" than anything he's ever seen. Recall, Dean is saying this as a man who went to prison for obstruction. Meaning, he knows very well what the parameters are or are not.

McQuade says even if there is no ultimate finding of a crime of conspiracy or if Trump didnt know what the outcome might be, he knew there were Russian contacts, mtgs being held. He knew about the hush money pymts, all of these could have been motivators for Trump to obstruct.

Rep Jackson Lee of Texas holding up a copy of Mueller Report. Zeroing in on McGahn-Trump interaction again; POTUS called McG. twice, on first call, POTUS said "You gotta do this, you gotta call Rod [Rosenstein]." McGahn said he would see what he could do but didn't act on it.

Why would that call perturb McGahn? John Dean says: McGahn was very aware that firing SPC could trigger a Saturday Night Massacre scenario.
Dean: "He stepped away from it. He didn't want any part of it."

When Trump called McGahn a second time, POTUS was more direct, said "Call Rod, tell Rod that Mueller has conflicts and cant be special counsel... Mueller has to go, call me back when you do it." McGahn understood the call was a directive to have Rosenstein remove Mueller.

Vance: This conduct has all the elements prosecutors need to successfully charge obstruction: there's an act to have him fired; Trump knew the investigation was ongoing and then there is a corrupt motive to curtail the investigation.

McQuade adds to that, reminds the committee - all of this was the very thing that prompted McGahn to resign.

That's how clear it was to McGahn that there was obstruction going on. He resigned over it, rather than get in any deeper.

Dean's reaction to the phone calls between POTUS and McGahn upon reading the report: "McGahn took the high road."

I must take a quick break from live-tweeting to get a report together for those readers who missed the live-tweet session! Be back in 15.

Technical difficulties folks, sorry. My computer froze up mid-story. All now resolved, back to live-tweeting now.

Rep Eric Swalwell, D-CA, asks how one could interpret directives from Trump to Lewandoski to go see Sessions and un-recuse himself? Barb McQuade says it went well beyond the scope of exec. powers, for one, because at the time, Lewandowski was a private citizen enticed by Trump

Later, to Swalwell, Dean says of the rate of corruption occurring in modern day: "I would say, the Trump administration is in fast competition with what happened with the Nixon administration."

John Malcolm is up again, saying Trump was "bedeviled" by the investigation, couldn't fulfill his role as president because of that "ongoing cloud" and his actions were not an attempt to fire Bob Mueller because if he wanted to, he could have at any time.

"This is a president that likes to vent, but if you look at what he does," Malcolm said, he didn't actually fire Mueller.

"Even other people knew he was venting, and they didn't do what he asked him to do."

Rep Ted Lieu, D-Calif., zeroes in on the request by Trump to Sessions that he "un-recuse."
Vance say, recusal is not an issue the JD ignores that often; it's pretty common. And when those situations come up, prosecutor and AG go and get advice about what to do.

Vance: "Thiis request from Trump that he [Sessions] revisit that, its not just improper, its incomprehensible. There is no such thing as un-recusal."

Ted Lieu just read, verbatim, the quote from Trump, per the Mueller report:
"Oh my god, this is the end of my presidency. I'm fucked."
Dean says this comment ultimately speaks to an "unprecedented" view from Trump about the role of AG/JD regs.

John Dean, of the Nixon presidency, calling this unprecedented is.... noteworthy.

Sidebar: any lawmaker who takes issue with a witness being a paid contributor to a news network - OK, the minority witness works for a think tank, most witnesses are paid contributors somewhere, that's pretty standard & while we're here - lawmakers could disclose who pays them?

Even if Trump cannot be charged criminally, Barb McQuade says Congress is responsible to hold the president responsible and ensure that he can uphold the laws faithfully. Trump's urging of Mike Flynn investigation being dropped qualifies as unfaithful.

"It is quite startling to me that history is repeating itself and with a vengeance. This is why I'm speaking out." - John Dean

Story developing.
courthousenews.com/watergate-witn…

Rep Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash. talking pardons and Rudy Giuliani's own chatter to reporters - recall, Giuliani said Trump was considering them for Cohen, Manafort.
Dean says he's still waiting on Giuliani to address this issue and how Mueller pointed to it for obstruction.

Prayapal noting how Manafort attys spoke to WH about proceedings, asks McQuade what her rxn is to Manafort lying and briefing WH legal team. Is that common?
No, it's not. If you enter into a cooperation agreement, that means you're Team USA. It's antithetical.

McQuade also notes the numerous tweets from Trump on pardons as supporting evidence to Mueller's obstruction arguments: see Trump tweet about Cohen being a "rat" when you cooperate w/feds and encouraging Manafort to stay "strong"

John Malcolm says if congress went after the full unredacted Mueller report, they would lose in D.C. Privilege by DOJ/EB to those docs would override the request.

Rep Scanlon notes that Trump refused to answer *any* questions about obstruction, not in person or in written responses. Vance: that bars follow up Qs and goes against precedent by presidents in similar situations - recall, Clinton agreed to sit for interview during his impchmt

Rep John Ratcliffe, R-Texas says, you don't need to prove a crime to impeach Donald Trump, Mueller couldn't find a crime. Tells his Dem colleagues "You're in control of the House... stop wasting our time."

Rep Sylvia Garcia, D-TX, notes the Mueller report detail on Michael Cohen: he recalled spking w/POTUS about pardons after searches of his homes, at the time, he said pardon discussions were occurring at the WH, and that WH personal counsel told Cohen to "stay on message"

And said "everything would be fine." Cohen understood based on this and previous conversations, that he would be "taken care of" by POTUS.

Vance: If you take this scenario out of of the context of the Trump admin, it seems fairly obvious. She says, think about drug crime indictments, likening it to instances where a drug lord, for example, signals to underlings to stay quiet - you would likely deem it obstruction

When you're on his side, he likes you. The minute you stray off his team, he's quick to condemn you. -Vance says of POTUS
This comment, elicited by Rep Scanlon, signals to those listening: there is a pattern of obstructive behavior present in the Trump admin.

Vance notes you have to ask yourself, if the president and his team were adamant that he did not violate any laws, why forgo the chance to testify in an interview and clear the air?

I am finishing up my story on today's hearing. Will update and post soon.