Important book by Mueller top prosecutor @AWeissmann_
“They were hamstrung by Mueller’s decision not to look into Trump’s financial dealings with Russia, which might have established a source of Russian leverage over Trump.”
Weissmann told his colleague. “When there is insufficient proof of a crime, in volume one, we say it. But when there is sufficient proof, with obstruction, we don’t say it. Who is going to be fooled by that? It’s so obvious.”
3. Note:
Those potential obstruction charges are still lying in wait.
When Trump leaves office, he loses immunity from criminal prosecution.
4. Mueller “trusted his friend Barr to play it straight, not realizing that Barr had gone crooked.”
(that quote is from George Packer’s description of book)
“Barr,” Weissmann writes, “had betrayed both friend and country.”
5/5.
“Where Law Ends describes numerous instances, large and small, when Mueller declined to pursue an aggressive course for fear of the reaction at the White House.”
- George Packer
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Federalized Texas and California Guard to Portland is a "DIRECT CONTRAVENTION" of court's TRO from Saturday.
Both on 12406 statute and Tenth Amendment grounds.
2/ Your reminder that Judge Immergut was appointed to the bench by President Trump.
3/ The new Temporary Restraining Order bars the deployment by the Trump administration of any federalized National Guard -- eg California or Texas National Guard -- in Portland.
@charlie_savage @EricSchmittNYT 3/ "The administration has also stressed that about 100,000 Americans annually die from overdoses.
However, the focus of the ..attacks has been boats from Venezuela. The surge of overdose deaths...has been driven by fentanyl that drug trafficking experts say comes from Mexico"
With terrific team, I just published large study looking at all court cases involving the Trump administration.
Shows basis for courts no longer giving a so-called "presumption of regularity" (a legal doctrine involving a strong benefit of the doubt) to the administration.
🧵
1/ I worked at DoD. I literally cannot imagine lawyers coming up with a legal basis for lethal strike of suspected Venezuelan drug boat.
Hard to see how this would not be "murder" or war crime under international law that DoD considers applicable.
Read this expert analysis⤵️
2/ The author of the expert analysis worked at the State Department under several administrations with these types of use of force issues as his portfolio.