Politics Plus

It’s not so far-fetched to fear we are headed for a “Saturday Night Massacre Redux” only with a different cast of characters than Nixon brought us.

So how did we get to this sad, disturbing juncture in our history?  Clearly it all pivots around one Donald J. Trump, our minority-vote president and his desire to end Robert Mueller’s investigation as Special Counsel.

[BACKGROUND: Although the terms “special counsel”, “special prosecutor” and “independent counsel” tend to be used interchangeably, they actually are not.  Following the constitutional crisis caused by Nixon’s malfeasance, the Office of Independent Counsel was established by law in 1978 with the Ethics in Government Act.  That law directed a three-judge panel from the US Court of Appeals in Washington, DC, to appoint the counsel or special prosecutor.

[That special prosecutor was typically given plenary powers with no checks or balances to contain it which led to far-afield investigations best exemplified by Ken Starr’s obsessive persecution of the Clintons that began as an investigation of a real estate deal, but exponentially exploded and segued to a stain on a little blue dress.

[There was bipartisan agreement those powers were too broad, and so the Independent Counsel Act was not renewed, and it expired in 1999.  This led to the enactment of the Special Counsel Regulations, which empowers Robert Mueller’s investigation.  Those regulations are spelled out here: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2001-title28-vol2/pdf/CFR-2001-title28-vol2-part600.pdf ]

 

HOW CAN TRUMP GET RID OF MUELLER – OR AT LEAST STYMIE HIS INVESTIGATION

There are three broad forces that can interfere with Mueller’s investigation resulting in it either being terminated outright, or having it stymied to the point of futility: [1] Trump; [2] a high-ranking Justice Department official (generally the Attorney General, but since Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III has recused himself, it falls to the Deputy AG, Rod Rosenstein) or [3] Congress.

 

[1]

So, the main question is can Trump fire Mueller?  The short answer is “Yes”.  Under Article II of our Constitution, the president is given full plenary prosecution power, therefore all federal prosecutors work for the president.

But the special counsel regulations are very precise on how he or she can be removed:

The Special Counsel may be disciplined or removed from office only by the personal action of the Attorney General. The Attorney General [or acting Attorney General] may remove a Special Counsel for misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest, or for other good cause, including violation of Departmental policies. The Attorney General shall inform the Special Counsel in writing of the specific reason for his or her removal.

Of note is that if Rosenstein were to invoke that authority, the regulations also require him to notify the House and Senate Judiciary Committees as well as the ranking minority member of those committees.  It’s prescient that that the authors of the Regulations included that proviso, which was specifically added to address the possibility that the majority party Chairpersons would be of the same party as the president, and either spineless enough or unwilling to act.  Sound familiar?

And Deputy AG Rosenstein testified he would do so only for “good cause”.  Based on his testimony, the possibility that Trump could convince him that Mueller had acted in such a manner to justify his removal was not only off the radar for Deputy AG Rosenstein, it wasn’t even conceivable to him.

Not only does Mueller enjoy an impeccable, bipartisan reputation and has not engaged in any inappropriate behavior that would justify his removal for “good cause” – but he was also granted a waiver by the Justice Department to lead the investigation despite a possible conflict of interest stemming from the fact that members of his law firm represent some of the people that are a focus of the investigation, including former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser.

And although the Trump team is actively digging to try to find dirt on Mueller and his team, it’s universally agreed that Trump’s whining about campaign donations given by investigators to Democrats does not constitute a “conflict of interest” – and there’s case law to support that.  Sorry, Donnie!

So, if Trump were to direct Rosenstein to fire Mueller, just as Nixon directed AG Elliot Richardson to fire Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, Rosenstein would most likely resign like Richardson did, or Trump would fire him, like Nixon did with William Ruckelshaus, the next in line at the DOJ – which he has the power to do.  And then just like Nixon, Trump could work his way down the chain of command to try to get to a toady like Nixon’s Robert Bork, who did fire Cox (and then that night was promised the next seat on SCOTUS by Nixon).

Or Trump, under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, could appoint an interim attorney general – but it would have to be someone who was previously confirmed by the Senate for a Federal position.

(As noted, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D) has made it clear that Democrats will not allow Trump to use a recess appointment to insert a lackey AG to his liking, as Democrats will use the pro forma session option to prevent the Senate from going into the 10-day recess required to permit recess appointments.)

Or Trump could be brazen enough to actually repeal the Special Counsel Regulations and then fire Mueller himself.  Back in 1999 when the regulations were put into place, that scenario was so unthinkable that is was not even addressed.  But today with Trump, who has no moral rudder, it’s a distinct possibility.

 

[2]

This is the actual “Appointment of Special Counsel” statement by Deputy AG Rosenstein addressing Mueller’s appointment: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/appointment-special-counsel

And the actual enumeration of Mueller’s mandate:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/967231/download

It is widely believed that Mueller will broadly interpret the phrase “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation.”  Sorry, Donnie!

But it must be remembered that under the Special Counsel Regulations, the AG (or Deputy AG) retains the power to not only limit the scope of the investigation, but the Justice Department alone retains the right to either pursue the findings from Mueller’s investigation and bring criminal charges – or not.  It’s hard to believe that Rosenstein would turn a blind eye if Mueller’s findings were compelling, but I no longer rule out any possibility.

 

[3]

Congress itself could seriously interfere – or prevent – the pursuit of criminal charges resulting from Mueller’s investigation by granting immunity to individuals in exchange for testimony.  As you know, former national security adviser Michael Flynn has actively sought such immunity, and that could well make Flynn’s prosecution impossible.

If you recall, Oliver North was criminally convicted by an independent counsel during Reagan’s Iran-contra scandal.  However, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit threw out his conviction because Congress had granted him immunity.  And even though that immunity didn’t directly cover action by the independent counsel, the court found that the special prosecutor could have benefited from “the fruits” of his testimony before Congress.

 

 WHAT HAPPENS IF TRUMP SUCCEEDS IN GETTING RID OF MUELLER

The two most likely ways that Trump could get rid of Mueller is if he were able to find his “Bork” (now I know you’re thinking, given his anatomical … hmm, constraints related to his teeny, tiny hands, he already has problems finding his “Bork” – but let’s move on) in some form, and have him or her fire Mueller.  The other is that he actually revokes the Special Counsel Regulations (which he theoretically could do) and fire him outright by himself.

One would hope that Rep. Adam Schiff (D) is correct that Congress would immediately enact an Independent Commission to investigate the same area that Mueller was pursuing.  The problem is that it would not have the power to press criminal or civil charges – that still remains the domain of the Justice Department.

It’s also possible that Mueller could file a lawsuit seeking to vacate his firing, arguing that the Special Counsel Regulations are pointless if there’s no way to enforce them.  But clearly that, like so much of what Trump is churning up, is unchartered waters.

But assuming the worst-case scenario and Mueller is removed, then what?

We need to remember that the FBI has already launched a formal counterintelligence investigation of its own into the meddling by Russia in the 2016 elections, and it’s over a year old.  It will continue and there’s nothing Trump can do to stop it.

The FBI investigation is focused on “if any American citizen acted in concert with the Kremlin to commit acts of espionage, obstruction of justice, interference with the federal election process and other crimes.”

Clearly the aspect that has Trump the most worried is the money trail, and Mueller has the power to obtain his income tax returns.  Just as Deep Throat advised concerning Nixon and the Watergate investigation, “follow the money” that still holds true today.

Mueller’s firing would definitely impede the progress of the investigation, because as Special Counsel he has broad investigatory powers including access to the Treasury Department’s FinCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) that concentrates on money laundering, as well as the IRS and other executive departments.  So, Mueller’s team has focused on federal criminal acts, while FBI has focused more on espionage.

No doubt Mueller and his team have given some thought to contingency plans if he were to be terminated, as his position largely stems from a political rather than legal aegis.  It depends on how far Trump is willing to ignore not only the rule of law, but the traditions of his office.  If past is prologue, this is not an encouraging sign.

Mueller’s team has surely documented everything they’ve done, creating a large body of work product which Congress could demand in the event he was removed.  It’s highly doubtful that Trump, or even a bevy of his lackeys, would – or even could – destroy all that evidence.

And even then, Mueller and his team could be called to testify before Congress to share what they had found to date.  So there are mechanisms in place to protect and see that their findings are disseminated to people who could act on that information.

The main concern is that if somehow Mueller were removed, that Congress would continue in its current format of facilitating Trump’s endless outrages and make no effort to take proper action and impeach him.  The fact that it’s very possible that Republicans will continue to put party before country is the real risk our nation faces.

 

RESOURCES

 

https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2001-title28-vol2/pdf/CFR-2001-title28-vol2-part600.pdf

http://www.businessinsider.com/can-trump-fire-special-counsel-robert-mueller-pardon-2017-7

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2017/live-updates/trump-white-house/sessions-to-testify-before-senate-intelligence-committee/how-trump-could-have-mueller-ousted-as-special-counsel/

http://theweek.com/articles/713648/what-happens-trump-fires-mueller

https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-07-24/what-happens-if-donald-trump-fires-special-prosecutor-robert-mueller

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/the-administration/343149-what-will-happen-if-trump-fires-mueller-or-pardons

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/07/impeach-donald-trump-if-he-fires-robert-mueller/534585/

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/13/opinions/what-would-happen-if-trump-tried-to-fire-mueller-callan/index.html

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-mcmanus-mueller-fire-20170723-story.html

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-20/trump-move-to-fire-mueller-likely-would-trigger-purge-at-justice

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-sessions-scenarios-idUSKBN1AA2U9?il=0

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/interrogation/2017/07/what_happens_if_mueller_s_axed_an_interview_with_tim_weiner.html

 

No doubt you probably have seen most – if not all – of the fun photos from Chris Christie shamelessly enjoying New Jersey’s Island Beach State Park as his own private paradise for the Fourth of July weekend, while denying access to other Jerseyans.  (I Googled it – that’s what they’re called.)  But I felt it’d be good if we preserved that meme for posterity.

To remind you what the Christie Klan clan decided they – and they alone – were entitled to …

[NOTE: You can right-click or scroll-click a photo to open it as a full-sized photo in a separate Tab]

 

Of course you knew it would give rise to some great memes, so let’s enjoy a few:

Keying in on his role in Bridgegate, here he is blocking a couple lanes of traffic on the George Washington Bridge

Since it was a holiday, he felt entitled to take time for some fun.  Here he is clearly enjoying listening to Elvis

It appears he really does like going to the movies …

Sound of Music

 

From Here to Eternity

 

Planet of the Apes

 

Jaws

 

Up

Forrest Gump

But it wasn’t all fun and games.  He was busy keeping an eye on developments at D-Day

And helping out in the Oval Office (I’m sure he figured that if Kellyanne Conway can put her feet up on the couch, he can bring a beach chair in)

But that wasn’t the only the only time with Twitler.  He “grabbed” some more time with him, along with Billy Bush and Arianne Zucker, during that infamous X-rated Access Hollywood interview (no doubt loaded down with plenty of Tic Tacs)

And he was there in the Situation Room helping Pres. Obama and Hillary when they masterminded the removal of Osama Bin Laden.

Not surprising that most Jerseyans were NOT pleased that he had created a private island paradise for just him and his family – so they took to the air to share their displeasure

And you would think that being such a shameless, self-absorbed A-hole would make Christie feel repentant …

But you’d be wrong.  Just like Twitler, this is how he sees himself

But Jerseyans had the last laugh when The Bikini Boys did a great sand sculpture of him on July 4^th

There’s an Instagram by them doing a 360 degrees around the sculpture.  And apparently the link to it embeds Instagram stuff – never tried it before:

Overweight and over budget @chrischristie #artist #beach #newjersey #chrischristie #christie #seasideheights #islandbeachstatepark

A post shared by TheBikiniBoys (@thebikiniboys) on Jul 4, 2017 at 10:04am PDT

 

THE END

…

Off Topic: I really enjoyed how the wife of Poland’s Pres. Duda “handled” greeting Twitler yesterday.  Just look at that face after her great maneuver.  That was  NOT the face of a Happy Camper on our “Dear Leader” afterwards …

It was just a week ago that the month-long Sampling the Abyss marine biology expedition ended.  While they found thousands of rare deep sea creatures, about a third of which are new to science, they created a major internet sensation and got the most attention when they revealed just one – the Peanut Worm:

And that is NOT a typo – it is Peanut Worm (Sipuncula) – so you should not confuse it with the already discovered Penis Worm (Priapulida).

And of course as a physician, I took it right in stride with an ever so mature reaction:

The Sampling the Abyss mission was comprised of 40 scientists under the auspices of Australia’s Museums Victoria and CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation).  It set out on the ship Investigator to explore Australia’s Abyss off its eastern coast down to a depth of 4km (2.5 miles) – some of the most remote and unexplored area on earth in some of its most treacherous waters.

The lead scientist on the mission, Dr. Tim O’Hara, said, “Australia’s deep-sea environment is larger in size than the mainland, and until now, almost nothing was known about life on the abyssal plain.”

He added: “The abyss is the largest and deepest habitat on the planet, covering half the world’s oceans and one third of Australia’s territory, but it remains the most unexplored environment on Earth. We know that abyssal animals have been around for at least 40 million years, but until recently only a handful of samples had been collected from Australia’s abyss.”

To corral new creatures, the team lowered nets to a depth so deep that it took seven hours to reach the ocean floor.  And in addition to looking for new life-forms, the team also used “high-tech multi-beam sonar” for mapping purposes to the previously unexplored area.

One can imagine the environment of the Abyss: crushing pressures, no light, little food and close to freezing temperatures.  So the creatures that call this home have developed extraordinary attributes to survive – from having no eyes, to producing their own light through bioluminescence.  Many are jelly-like, most likely to endure the pressures, while others have partially calcified skeletons and spines.  But they all have one thing in common: they are without a doubt some of the strangest creatures ever discovered.

So let’s meet a few of these new finds, and I’ll try to do them alphabetically.

Bamboo Coral

The delicate bamboo coral skeleton is made up of calcium carbonate with joint like nodes giving them the appearance of bamboo. They are incredibly long-lived with some having been recorded as old as 4,000 years.  And they have growth rings like trees, so it’s hoped they’ll be able to provide a past history of major oceanic events.

Blind Cusk Eel – or Faceless Fish

It has no eyes, and its mouth is underneath.  It’s actually a cusk eel with the scientific name Typhlonus nasus, which is derived from Greek, meaning “blind hake.”

 

Blobfish

The blob fish was collected at a depth of 2.5km and has soft watery flesh.  It nestles in on the ocean floor, lies very still and then ambushes unsuspecting prey as they pass by.

It’s a close cousin to Mr. Blobby, the social media phenom we’ve all probably seen that was collected in the Tasman Sea in 2003 and was voted the World’s Ugliest Fish in 2013.

Brittle Star – Game of Thrones

This was a new find, so Dr. O’Hara named it the Game of Thrones Brittle Star, Ophiohamus georgemartini, because of its sharp thorns similar to those depicted on the Game of Thrones crown.  It has no eyes and no brain – so I’m sure it’s a republican.  It’s just a protoplasm of pure nerves.

Cookie-cutter Shark

It has perfectly aligned serrated teeth and strange eyes that glow in the dark.  It preys on preys on pretty much anything including dolphins, whales and the occasional unfortunate human, latching onto them before gouging out cookie-sized chunks of flesh.

Dumbo Octopus

Dumbo Octopus flaps its ear-like fins to “fly” or glide through the deep abyss – just like the Disney movie Dumbo elephant.

Lizard Fish

The lizard fish (Bathysaurus ferox) is pretty much just a mouth with sharp hinged teeth.  They live at depths of 1,000-2,500 metres (3,280-8,202 feet) where there is very little food, so they tend to be sparse in number.

At that depth, it tends to be even harder to find a mate than a meal, so they have evolved to become hermaphrodites: they have male and female reproductive organs.  So when they do come across another one they’ll be able to mate – and have cute little baby lizard fishes.

Peanut Worm

They actually do look like a peanut – but it only happens when they are threatened and then assume a defensive posture.  The worm retracts its head inside itself, and so really does look similar to a peanut.

Sea Pigs

They found a herd of sea pigs on the ocean floor.  They act like little vacuum cleaners by using their tube-like feet to move across the floor, hoovering up microorganisms.  They are the only type of sea cucumber with ‘feet’ and tend to gather in large numbers where food is abundant.

Zombie Worm

Zombie worms are 1 to 3 inches long and were first discovered in the bones of a rotting gray whale on the ocean floor.  They have no functioning mouth, digestive tract or anus, but have bacteria that digest whale bone marrow.

They burrow into bones to feed, and according to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, they secrete an acid from their skin that dissolves that bone, freeing up the fat and protein.  They then use the symbiotic bacteria living inside the worms to digest the fat and protein.

You can find lots more information at a number of sites – or just Google “Peanut Worm” in the last month, and you’ll find lots more!  But you may want to start w/ the expedition’s own blog site:

https://www.nespmarine.edu.au/abyss-landing-page

https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/news/2017/06/21/weird-and-unseen-fish-discovered-in-australian-abyss/103063292/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/sciencefair/2017/06/21/australian-deep-sea-researchers-find-peanut-worm-other-creatures/415980001/

http://www.newsweek.com/faceless-fish-weird-underwater-creatures-626836

http://www.torontosun.com/2017/06/20/australian-deep-sea-expedition-dives-into-the-abyss-and-discovers-sea-creatures-from-your-nightmares

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4619510/Photos-deeps-ea-creatures-Australia-s-coast.html

 

It’s a profoundly sad comment on a president when the highlight of his (hopefully truncated term) is having made up a nonsensical word.  But it looks like Twitler reached the Zenith of his presidency (probably accidentally) when he Tweeted out the neologism “Covfefe” – which he or someone deleted a few hours later, so all we have are screen captures.

So to mark this solemn occasion, I thought we should revisit some of the better takes on “Covfefe” – the “Meme of the Week” – because it’s all downhill from here on out.  (Not that he reached any peaks prior to this – but “Covfefe” is probably going to be as good as it gets … *sigh*.)

I realize that you've probably seen a number of them already, so I doubt you’ll laugh your covfefe off.  But I do hope some of them will provide a chuckle, or at least a smile.

From the “Obama-Biden Bromance Meme”, I think Joe actually followed through on this one

Biden: I'm going to leave him a dictionary of fake words in your office.#covfefe pic.twitter.com/BWe0IpDYvL

— Rachael Lackner (@RachaelLackner) May 31, 2017

And the reaon is because this was the most popular definition:

And right away, there was Spicey defending it by doing his normal bang-up job of lying:

And Kellyanne Conway joined in circling the wagons by explaining where the word came from

"Of course #covfefe is real word. It was coined during the Bowling Green Massacre." pic.twitter.com/DYjqX1xE7M

— Diane N. Sevenay (@Diane_7A) May 31, 2017

Leave it to the Trump clan (?Klan?)  to try and make a buck off of it …

Well, RC Cola decided that they weren’t going to be left out of the entrepreneurial effort

And just when I was about to head out the door to buy some RC Cola, we learned that it was a rogue account and is now suspended. 

But this Big Boy restaurant had more success

\

And even “Wheel of Fortune” got in on the act

But “Covfefe” does have a couple of serious medical issues to be concerned about

And an even bigger concern for all of us was this …

But the one we all hope and pray is true is this translation: