Bob and Ducky

Obstruction and Coffee: More than 500 former career and/or politically appointed prosecutors, Republicans and Democrats, have signed on to a statement asserting that Special Counsel Mueller’s findings would have produced obstruction charges against Trump “if not for the office he holds.”  In the statement, a rebuttal to Attorney General Barr’s determination that the evidence uncovered was “not sufficient” to establish that Trump had committed a crime, the prosecutors say that each of them believes that Trump’s conduct “would, in the case of any other person not covered by the Office of Legal Counsel policy against indicting a sitting President, result in multiple felony charges for obstruction of justice,” emphasizing “that these are not matters of close professional judgment.” They added that though “there are potential defenses or arguments that could be raised in response to an indictment of the nature we describe here. . . . But, to look at these facts and say that a prosecutor could not probably sustain a conviction for obstruction of justice — the standard set out in Principles of Federal Prosecution — runs counter to logic and our experience.” Prominent Republican signers include Bill Weld, a former US attorney and Justice Department official in the Reagan administration who is running against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination; Donald Ayer, a former deputy attorney general in the George H.W. Bush administration; John S. Martin, a former U.S. attorney and federal judge appointed to his posts by Republican presidents; Paul Rosenzweig, who served as senior counsel to independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr; and Jeffrey Harris, who worked as the principal assistant to Rudolph W. Giuliani when he was at the Justice Department in the Reagan administration. Their thoughts on obstruction is likely one of the reasons that Trump tweeted that he doesn’t want Mueller to testify in front of either house of Congress, a tweet that  Politico reports “more than a dozen” of his close advisors, none of whom were willing to be named, were taken aback by since they don’t believe that he will really try to block Mueller’s testimony.  They assert that Trump was just venting his frustration.  Assuming Trump doesn’t act upon that frustration, Mueller will testify in front of the House Judiciary Committee, possibly as early as next week.  As to Mueller, he’s been seen out and about in the  Washington are.  Last night a picture of him exiting Georgetown’s Martin’s Tavern with Ducky A/K/A David McCallum (Ilya Kuryakin for the slightly older set) lit up twitter. Though House Judiciary Chairman Nadler, who Trump calls “Fat Jerry,” wasn’t seen hitting the restaurant scene, he is finally taking some action.  Nadler has scheduled a Wednesday vote on holding Barr in contempt of Congress for his failure to turn over an unredacted version of the Mueller report to the committee. In an effort to put off that vote, one of Barr’s underlings, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd, tried to schedule a Wednesday afternoon meeting with Nadler to “negotiate” a  possible “accommodation” to satisfy Nadler’s demands. After Nadler refused to buy into the delaying tactic, the meeting was rescheduled for later today.   Attorney General Barr isn’t the only Trump cabinet member falling on his sword for Trump, late yesterday Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin sent House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal a formal letter informing him that he would not be sending him any of those six years of Trump’s tax returns that he’s requested claiming that the request “lacks a legitimate legislative purpose,” a bogus interpretation of the law that says that the IRS “shall” supply requested returns.  Suffice it to say Chairman Neal wasn’t all that happy about Mnuchin’s denial, it’s not clear how he will proceed; options include filing a lawsuit against the Treasury Department or trying to access the returns with a subpoena. Both options would likely lead to a protracted court fight.  While that case winds its way through the courts Michael Cohen, Trump’s one time lawyer/fixer will be hanging in jail.  Yesterday he turned himself in to authorities to start his sentence.  As he headed into his new “home” in the Catskills he expressed his hope that when he “rejoins his family and friends, that the country will be in a place without xenophobia, injustice and lies at the helm of our country" and then told reporters "there still remains much to be told, and I look forward to the day that I can share the truth," whatever that means.  Though there were no reports that Cohen stopped at a Starbucks on the way upstate, the same can’t be said for the Game of Thrones cast.  Eagle eyed watchers of the program noted a misplaced cup of joe hanging out on the set.  But then again, as one reviewer noted, if Dragons can fly, why not Starbucks  in Winterfell?       

International News:  Things are heating up on the Iran front.  Late Sunday night the White House made the surprise announcement that the USS Abraham Lincoln and a bomber task force were being deployed to the Middle East in response to unspecified "troubling and escalatory indications and warnings" out of Iran which may be an indication that the Iranians were planning to “hit” some US targets in Iraq, Syria or Jordan or may be an indication that National Security advisor John Bolton and/or Secretary of State Pompeo, both known Iran hawks are getting their way.  To that end Bolton said that the deployment was intended “to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force.”  When asked about the deployment and Bolton’s statement, Pompeo remarked “it’s something we’ve been working on for a little while,” hardly a comforting response.  On a different subject but also not all that comforting, during his speech before the Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting in Finland Pompeo said that melting Arctic ice caps present “new opportunities for trade,” but did not discuss the dangers that climate change presents for the world’s population. Instead he told the skeptical audience that “Steady reductions in sea ice are opening new passageways and new opportunities for trade that could “potentially slash the time it takes to travel between Asia and the West by as much as 20 days. Arctic sea lanes could come before — could [become] the 21st Century Suez and Panama Canals.”  In more pleasant international news, Megan and Harry had a bouncing 7 pound plus baby boy, one that will most likely face some really hot summers and rising water levels but might get to travel through that modern Suez Canal.  Lastly, in response to Trump’s tariffs threats, the Dow traded down 471 points yesterday before recovering on news that a Chinese Trade delegation, albeit a smaller one, was still planning to travel to the US to continue trade negotiations with the Trump team.