1/ I hadn’t understood the AG succession plan. @EricColumbus opened my eyes. I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. It adds a meaningful layer to one of my principle theories. Trump nominated Rosenstein intentionally and with the full understanding Sessions would recuse.
2/ To quickly reprise, @realDonaldTrump wants to get a clean bill of health. Who gives it to him and how they arrive at the conclusion is key. That’s why Mueller has investigated everything including Trump’s finances. Trump wants him to.
3/ Trump isn’t a victim of Sessions recusal. He nominated Rosenstein after Sessions said he’d recuse in his Senate testimony. Then knowing an Obama appointee was in charge he fired Comey which would obviously lead to a SC. He set it up this way purposely. cnn.com/2017/06/13/pol…
4/ A key to my theory is that, if Trump felt threatened by the Russia investigation & wanted to obstruct it, he never would have appointed Rosenstein. Republicans controlled the process. He could have nominated anyone including a loyalist to be Deputy AG. Just as Obama had done.
5/ This is the fundamental reason the “Trump obstruction” narrative is so flawed. From the outset Trump nominated a bipartisan selection like Rosenstein, confirmed 94-6, and put his future in his hands. However you could argue “maybe originally but since then Trump got nervous”.
6/ That’s where the details of the AG succession comes in. If at any point Trump was nervous or wanted to thwart the investigation he could’ve. As @EricColumbus explains, if Sessions resigned Trump could appoint Pruitt AG the next day and he would serve as AG for up to 9 months.
7/ Let’s review the logic of why Trump would in theory obstruct. The investigation threatens Trump or his admin so he’s trying to stop investigators. He fires Comey but that only makes things worse so then he tries to fire Mueller. The problem? Neither act stops anything.
8/ What could’ve thwarted the investigation? A Sessions resignation. The one thing Trump didn’t do? Ask Sessions to resign. Sessions said publicly he was willing to resign. If he had Pruitt could’ve immediately replaced him and Rosenstein would’ve been cut out of the loop.
9/ In this scenario Trump would’ve simply been fixing a problem created by Sessions both in his recusal and resignation. A simple fix. However this would’ve actually changed the leadership and the nature of the investigation. I’ve joked Trump is a really ineffective obstructor.
10/ The reality is Trump wants this investigation & he wants it conducted by people that will be credible when they say Trump didn’t collude or obstruct. It’s why I believe he will interview with Mueller. Trump didn’t do anything & he wants someone credible to say so.
11/ An interesting aspect to all of this will be the contrast. How differently Obama era officials and Obama himself will deal with what I believe is the upcoming second special counsel that will investigate the Hillary email investigation and the actions of DOJ/FBI during 2016.
12/ I’ll end it here. Point is, for all of you worried about Mueller and Rosenstein, they wouldn’t be where they are with the free hand they have if Trump didn’t want it this way. Period. So again you either #TrustTrump or you think you know better. How’s that been going?
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