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US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump said today a top Justice official’s reported discussions about invoking the Constitution to remove him from office were part of an “illegal and treasonous” push against him.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein raised the possibility of removing the president in 2017 after Trump fired FBI director James Comey, according to Andrew McCabe, who replaced Comey as the bureau’s acting director.
McCabe and Rosenstein “look like they were planning a very illegal act, and got caught…..,” Trump said in a series of tweets.
“This was the illegal and treasonous ‘insurance policy’ in full action!”
Trump has often attacked the federal investigations into his campaign’s links to Russia as a “witch hunt” aimed at sabotaging his presidency.
The “insurance policy” he cited refers to an ambiguous text message a top FBI investigator sent to his lover in August 2016 that alludes to their concerns about then candidate Trump, which the president often points to as evidence of a “deep state” conspiracy against him.
“I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office — that there’s no way he gets elected — but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk,” the investigator, Peter Strzok, wrote. “It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40.”
Comey firing
Trump abruptly fired Comey 9 May 2017 as pressure rose over the Russia investigation, setting off alarm bells in the FBI and Justice Department.
According to McCabe, in a lengthy interview that aired Sunday on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Rosenstein brought up the possibility of invoking the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution, which provides for the removal of a sitting president for incapacity.
“Rod raised the issue and discussed it with me in the context of thinking about how many other cabinet officials might support such an effort,” said McCabe, who has a book coming out, The Threat.
Rosenstein even pondered wearing a wire to secretly record his conversations with the president, he said.
The deputy attorney general, who remains in office but no longer supervises the Russia investigation, appears never to have acted on those ideas.
“But what I can say is the deputy attorney general was definitely very concerned about the president, about his capacity and about his intent at that point in time,” McCabe said.
McCabe himself was fired in March 2018 for “lack of candor” in an internal investigation into the FBI’s handling of a 2016 probe into Trump’s Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
In the interview, McCabe also touched on Trump’s inclination to believe Russian President Vladimir Putin over what his own intelligence services are telling him.
He recounts a meeting he did not attend but was witnessed by another FBI agent, in which Trump reportedly said he did not believe North Korea had missiles capable of reaching the United States because Putin had told him that.
“Intelligence officials in the briefing responded that that was not consistent with any of the intelligence our government possesses,” McCabe said. “To which the president replied, ‘I don’t care. I believe Putin.’”
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How can it be illegal and treasonous if it’s in the constitution?
@Jane: Trump just makes things up because his supporters are too dumb to know any better.
@Jane: It’s not, obviously. But that doesn’t matter anymore. What matters is his version “has play” and so it will be played and replayed and… you get the idea.
Truth as a point of view; a society built on sand.
@Seán Ó Briain: i think it’s unfair to label all his supporters as dumb. A lot of them just have clintonitis.
@Seamus Mac: “i think it’s unfair to label all his supporters as dumb”
Nah, it’s pretty fair. They are dumb.
@Jane: The 25th Amendment is meant for a situation whereby the president is incapable of performing his duties ie in a coma or sick. It was not designed nor ever meant to allow anyone to affect a coup against a healthy sitting president.
The only way to remove Trump is through a vote of impeachment through Congress.
I hate to agree with the Trumpster but McCabe and co are likely guilty of treason.
@Will: then explain this; Section 4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
@Dave O’Keeffe: Section 4 relates to the possibilty of the president being unable to perform his duties but unwilling to step down. The VP can then temporarily declare himself acting president with the agreement of all the department heads (like our cabinet). This has never been invoked.
Also, the FBI (McCabe) could not have any input in this.
The talk from McCabe of the FBI invoking the 25th amendment is outrageous and probably treasonous if true.
@Will: but he didn’t talk of the FBI invoking it. You know how we know that? Because he said he didn’t. He spoke of checking with cabinet to see if any of them wanted to invoe it.
@Will: by the way, I agree that it’s outrageous. In my opinion it’s not outside the scope of the amendment and would be challenged in courts and possible get all the way to the SC.
The Journal must be really hard up for genuine news.
@Liam Mernagh: and yet here you are commenting on their article, generating revenue for them.
@Liam Mernagh: They definitely undermine his credibility by reporting accurately the words that he speaks in public.
Trumps been best president in a long time. The other usa politicians always come across as weak in comparison to him.
Americans love him because he cares making their lives better and the fake media cant stop his real views on twitter, which really annoys them.
A hero
People who hate him are usually mis informed or jealous of melania
@Paul Donaghy: “Trumps been best president in a long time.”
That’s demonstrably incorrect. He has the lowest approval rating average in US history.
@Seán Ó Briain: I don’t think approval ratings are much to go on tbh. He definitely knows how to divide the question is will he conquer in 2020
@Paul Donaghy: You got me there, I was just jealous of Melania, married to such an Adonis.
@Orla Smith: Mushroom action, amirite?
(Of course I am, I know what the ladies want)
@Paul Donaghy: emporer of a fading empire. We’ll only really know in hindsight how he did. History will tell all.
@John Considine:
USA is still strong but eventually China will be the leading nation.
States have had a good run like the British empire the romans etc also did
@SPQH: The present sez enough for me.
@Seán Ó Briain: that is not the measure of success. Look at jobs, economic growth and security; that’s what people actually need.
@Daraghosullivan: how did improving all of those work out for the last guy? To paraphrase Newt Gingrich, facts don’t matter, what matters is how people feel.
@Paul Donaghy: eventually?
Sorry to burst the bubble but China has past the USA as a leading nation.
If China called in all the US debt it owns the USA would be in awful trouble
@Dave O’Keeffe:
Anyone called newt id take with a pinch of salt
@Paul Donaghy: you clearly don’t know who he is. Only one of the most prominent republicans of the last 30-40 years
@Dave O’Keeffe:
I was joking I do know him, great servant
@Seán Ó Briain: Bullshit
Shutting down the federal government for 35 days, declaring a fake national emergency and sacking the head of FBI during an active investigation into Russian electoral interference, is treasonous IMO. So is dismissing your own intelligence sources with respect to North Korea’s nuclear capabilities, in favor of the word of Putin.
Trump also tonight –
‘You’ll lose everything!’ Trump issues ultimatum to Venezuelan military, says all options are open
US President Donald Trump warned the Venezuelan military that they are risking their lives and future by supporting President Maduro in a heated speech that left “all options” open to bring democracy in the Latin American country.
“We seek a peaceful transition of power, but all options are open,” Trump declared, speaking at Florida International University in Miami on Monday. Directly addressing the Venezuelan soldiers who continue to back President Nicolas Maduro, he gave them the choice of accepting self-proclaimed ‘interim president’ Juan Guaido’s “generous offer of amnesty,” or facing “no safe harbor, no easy exit, and no way out.”
“You will lose everything,” he cautioned.
The US has said it is their way or oblivion for democracy..
@Pixie McMullen: You’re frequently wrong but it’s actually not like you to distort context. Trump is targeting the money these guys have stashed abroad, not their lives. It’s not cricket, to be sure, but it’s not what that context-less quote is inferring either.
@John Considine: yep Gold that has been plundered. Don’t forget all that oil though. Massive oil, goes well with Trumps massive coal play.
@John Considine: Frequently? Pixie the Shinnerbot has never been right!
I still don’t get the pink eyes and orange face? Is Donald actually doing Orange Face?
@Orla Smith:
Trump is like a fine vino like a connery a clooney a neeson a masterpiece, he still makes the ladies weak at the knees. The men wanna be him the ladies wanna be with him. Gotta admire the man.
@Paul Donaghy: I love the way his mouth looks like a hole.
It’s amazing the way if any other President made this sort of comment it would be unbelievable and cause absolute chaos. But because it’s Trump we are all just like ‘Meh!’ and scroll on to the next article.
Et tu Toupee?
Wake up deplorables, This Lad is a serious threat to World peace, Putin has a hold over him and all his actions are into his echo chamber, wonder what he’s got on him!!!!
Americans are illegal people there. The country was born on illegal immigrants, then the Americans invade foreign countries and get pissed off when they follow them home. Like the Brits.
Any chance of ignoring it.
More worried about what his Administration is doing to create dissent within the European project. They’d only love a weakened Europe tear itself apart so they could leverage trade negotiations. They’ve already started with dismantling the Iran Nuclear deal, sanctioning companies (European) trading with Iran, and pulling out of the INF leaves Europe exposed to possible Nuclear weapons.
The simpletons worried about brownies invading their beloved countries have no idea.
have your say