Dear Lindsey: Not Even Trump Gives a Shit What You Think about the Whitaker Appointment
About the most competent thing Trump managed with his ham-handed roll out of a hatchet man to oversee the Mueller investigation was to pick someone with close ties to Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley. Matt Whitaker has driven all around Iowa with Grassley.
And somehow, Whitaker managed to have Gary Barnett, whose Linked In profile says he still works as Jeff Flake’s Chief Counsel, installed as his new Chief of Staff in time to attend Whitaker’s takeover strategy huddle, while Sessions huddled with Senate confirmed officials.
So whatever else he is or is not, Whitaker is certainly well wired with one of the committees that would have oversight on his actions.
Perhaps that’s why Lindsey Graham and CBS Face the Nation thought he’d be a good guest to opine that everything pertaining to Whitaker’s appointment is hunky dory.
Graham told “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan on Sunday he believes the acting attorney general was “appointed appropriately” and “legally,” and he’s “confident” Whitaker won’t interfere in Mueller’s ongoing investigation.
“I talked with Matt yesterday,” Graham said. “I’m going to meet with him next week when we get our schedules aligned here. I think he was appropriately appointed legally. I don’t think he has to recuse himself. I am confident the Mueller investigation will be allowed to come to a good solid conclusion, that there’ll be no political influence put on Mr. Mueller by Mr. Whitaker to do anything other than Mr. Mueller’s job. I’m confident that Mr. Mueller will be allowed to do his job without interference.”
To be clear: I’m not minimizing the degree to which Trump has eliminated one possible source of resistance to his hatchet man plan, by picking someone wired into SJC (and backed vocally by Leonard Leo, since Republican SJC members appear to answer to him).
But by picking Whitaker, Trump has affirmatively told the Senate they — and the professionals for whom they have spent the time to advise and consent — are expendable. After all, the sole reason to appoint Whitaker rather than rely on normal succession is to prevent Rosenstein from having oversight of investigations into Trump.
More importantly, while SJC could have a hearing and Lindsey promises he’ll meet with Whitaker, none of that will have an immediate effect. SJC has absolutely no way to prevent Whitaker from burning up all the norms critical to a functioning DOJ, including recusal where it clearly is called for. There’s not even a way to prevent Whitaker from trumping up some charge and firing Mueller before any such meeting happens.
And it’s not SJC’s place to judge if Whitaker’s appointment is illegal. That role belongs to OLC (whose head, Steven Engel, has already been in at least one discussion about whether it is constitutional) and the Courts. If the question gets to the latter, SJC is not among the leading entities that might have standing to challenge it.
Having Lindsey’s seal of approval might make it easier for Whitaker to last out the two months or so until Democrats take the House. But that will have zero role in whether Whitaker blows up the Constitution.
Lindsey (and CBS) think he matters here. That’s quaint.
What a relief to know the acting AG’s CoS is Jeff Flake’s man….great catch…but ugh the Senate just sucks right now
I guess at least 1 key point will be somebody with proper authority telling Whitaker any action against Mueller is illegal…and then dealing with that issue if such ill advised action is taken once the proper authority chain is restored (assuming- can’t believe I’m writing that but still-assuming such occurs).
“Behave yourselves and appoint more judges.”
Bless his heart.
kavanaugh could not have gotten through the fake gauntlet without the odious grahams help. he has every reason to believe that this time is no different. it doesnt matter what anyone thinks. what matters is what they are getting paid to do. somehow grahamn has been compromised. i dont know with what. but after that one first golf game with trump he seems bought. sold. repackaged. i dont think we can expect him to do anything in the nations interest anymore. the honorable grahamn is gone and the thing that has taken his place is a doorman who works for trump towers.
I’m no federal expert but it sure seems like Senators – and particularly those on the SJC – have some of the strongest standing claims around.
What would their injury be?
Lawrence Tribe (via HuffPost) seems to have no reservations about their standing.
Chris Geidner on who might be able to claim standing:
New Acting Attorney General Is Already In Trouble. And He Just Started.
Not sure why Face The Nation booked Lindsey G. and believes it is useful for public to hear from this senator. Media is complicit to giving a platform to him, as he continues lying, as they did with Trump.
So many news the public really cares they could cover, and they picked LG for a show that airs once a week. Media being lazy, that’s all I can came up with.
Money is the reason and Citizen’s United set that in stone…it’s a long uphill road those who wish to separate money from politics face (all hail Sen. Warren). I blame Bill Clinson for capitulating but it was gonna happen.
How many civil servants can hang on to the vision like Ocasio-Cortez (can she)?
Paul Volcker touches on this a few times in his recent bio- turning down big money for civil service. But I think he was running away from more than money. Leave that to the Psych boys.
I took the cash, so I can’t say living a life less luxurious is easy to give up.
There are a few banker, hedge fund buddies of mine who see the world this way, but there are far too many (in my view) Ayn Rand acolytes who just don’t see humanity in all humans.
Here is the thing though. And we go through this here every now and then like clockwork. Citizens United is not the real problem with money in politics, it is a result, not the cause. First off, the First Amendment argument behind CU is arguably not wrong at all.
But, more importantly, the real damage was done on this issue in Buckley v. Valeo in 1976 and a followup two years later known as First National Bank v. Bellotti. People that focus their ire on CU are seriously misguided.
I agree.
The issue is money, or rather how to decrease the influence of money on votes, and it might be happening. 2006 was a good economy year and yet the Dems won. This year was a good economy year but the Dems won.
My guess is, in part, the concentration of income is so severe that low unemployment, growing GDP just doesn’t translate into enough good econ feeling for enough people to get them to vote for the GoP.
If, during the next elections, the reality, so transparent with Trump can be promoted and accepted by enough, that progressive taxes can be set such that most of our budget problems can be dealt with. So few of those who actually made their money are against this. It’s the inheritance class that fights it tooth and nail.
Anyway, we will see.
Last Tuesday was great and I hope more will follow.
Yes, exactly. I also think campaigns are just now realizing you can raise an insane amount of cash in small donations that even the less well off can, and will, make. It doesn’t always have to be institutions, corps and banks etc. Took the Dems WAY too long to realize that.
The 3rd way of Clinton/Blair was a long detour.
Both parties were trying to feed from the same trough.
Great point on crowd-funding. $10 from 100M people adds up.
Better yet, $10 gets so many invested in a way that $100K doesn’t for 1 person.
I’m hopeful.
Right! Heck even $5. Any investment, even small, makes a voter invested and more likely to get involved in the campaign and then show up at the polls. It feeds off of itself.
Slightly hysterical — but not wrong: The purest future for our American representative governance is to remove or defenestrate the influence of moneyed interests on our governmental processes. That means TAXING (and pre-clearing with the IRS) any political contribution above $100.00 per person per election cycle, whether direct, indirect, bundled (bundled = single contribution), self-financed, or other, at a % rate in the 1,000’s (VAT) and TAXING all governmental lobbying expenses at a rate of 500%? 1000%? for any for-profit individual/business/corporate interest. In addition, any political contributions which are unexpended and controlled by any candidate should be TAXED at a rate of 75% per annum.
GOPers rely on big pockets. The deplorables will not pony up — see Turtle’s comments re: ActBlue.
Lindsey lost his balls playing golf with Trump!
They’ve got something on him. Political Adage: “…a dead girl or a live boy.” I suspect it is the latter wrt Lindsey.
John R. Schindler:
”An Intelligence Community official who assisted the Special Counsel’s investigation told me this week that Team Mueller is holding “dozens of sealed indictments” of people associated with the president, his 2015-16 campaign, and his administration. “Nobody who’s close to the Russians is getting out of this,” said the IC official. When will those indictments start being unsealed? Watch this space.”
https://observer.com/2018/11/mueller-holding-dozens-sealed-indictments-intel-source/
John Schindler is a crackpot asshole, and I highly doubt anybody from Mueller’s shop is talking to him about Rule 6 sealed material. He is full shit.
Schindler is full of shit
Actually, under the emoluments case of Blumenthal vs. Trump, it seems that Senators do have strong standing claims to sue under an Appointments clause challenge, as the ruling in that case that established standing seems to be closely related.
The question is whether they do file suit, whether they do so quickly and how fast the courts move on the issue.
Lindsey Graham quotes:
“You know how you make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to hell.” – CNN interview. Dec 8, 2015
“I’ve got a ticket on the Titanic. So I am like on the team that bought a ticket on the Titanic after we saw the movie. This is what happens if you nominate Trump.” – to reporters on Capitol Hill, Feb. 25, 2016
Forgive me because this comment does not really add to this discussion but my fingers could not resist: Though the competition is fierce, is there a bigger feces specimen, presumably respirating, than lindsey graham? Btw, that’s a rhetorical question. Carry on.
Joe LIEBERMAN?
I wish the ghost of John McCain would come back and headbutt Lindsey Graham like Carol Kane did to Bill Murray in Scrooged. The least he could do is rattle a coupla chains in the evenings.
I’d love to know how this would work in the Courts. (I don’t mean how anyone would rule, of course. Just what the process would look like–and who’d have to make it happen, etc.)
This:
“…But by picking Whitaker, Trump has affirmatively told the Senate they — and the professionals for whom they have spent the time to advise and consent — are expendable. …”
It’s now time to see whether the Dems on the SJC concur that they are expendable.
Do you all know about “Wolf-Pac”? https://www.wolf-pac.com/
State by state effort to get a 28th Constitutional Amendment to get corporate money out of politics-public financing of elections.
Marinela: Why book Sen. Graham on Sunday talk shows?
With Sen. McCain’s passing Sen. Graham inherited the reasonableplainspokenmoderateestablishmentRepublican mantle.
/Cap’n Obvious
bmaz retweeted a link to this story:
Saudis Close to Crown Prince Discussed Killing Other Enemies a Year Before Khashoggi’s Death
This is a premium paywall, but search Zamel/Netanyahu and it should show there:
The Countless Israeli Connections to Mueller’s Probe of Trump and Russia
The Israel-lobbyists, Netanyahu cronies, psyops manipulators and well-connected oligarchs —
Cough~Kushner~cough~cough. Reminder: August 2016 meeting at the tower, plus Junior with Zamel. And “George Nader, told Trump Jr. that the crown princes of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were “eager to help” Donald Trump win the 2016 election.”~search May 19, 2018
Wouldn’t it be a kick in the ass if Junior (or the unloved Eric) became a secret cooperating witness with immunity?
One can dream.
So one thing I have been thinking about, but haven’t seen any speculation about:
With the appointment of Whitaker, Jeffrey Sessions is no longer AG. He was involved in a number of important meetings with the Russians, including the one at the GOP Convention and a couple during the transition that he lied about during his Senate Confirmation. Does Mueller have any reason to bring him in for a talk?
For those who still need it, this description of Matthew Whitaker’s rise to prominence perfectly captures his utility (link omitted):
Matthew Whitaker built his career on being a pinata to decorate the parties of the GOP’s opponents, not for legal skills that would put Alberto Gonzales on par with Brandeis, Brennan, and Douglas.
Is that the sort of guy Hawkeye Iowans want as a federal judge or as the US Attorney General? Regardless, it does not bode well for justice for anyone in America that Matt Whitaker is even temporarily responsible for it.
“Filler/Placecard”, but for who or what @ earl? Usually something even worse, unless they manage to pull a Kavanaugh with this doughboy.
Normally, it’s to separate the permanent replacement from the organizational gore left by the long knives wielded by the locum. But, yea, who will replace Whitaker after he wields them? Sessions permanent replacement might be a better lawyer than Whitaker, but he’s unlikely to be better for the country or the DoJ.
Nobody capable of performing as AG would work for Trump, let alone in the last eighteen months of a corrupt and declining administration. And Trump’s angst about his personal exposure aside, few people have so resolutely supported him and promoted his agenda better as Jeff Sessions.
Trump has followed the BushCheney route in hiring a lot of people to perform acting roles, temporarily skirting the need for Senate approvals. Those appointments inevitably and intentionally degrade the work and morale of the host organizations, which fits squarely into the neoliberal game plan.
To coin a phrase, is there a way for Republicans to win, to hold onto power longer?
That line was delivered by the great Robert Mitchum in Jacque Tourneur’s, Out of the Past. No better place to look for descriptions of this Republican party’s behavior than in film noir.
White House confirms Trump will not visit Arlington cemetery on Veteran’s Day as rain is expected~Rawstory
Water and evil witches
(cut and paste)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aopdD9Cu-So
Frail…just doesn’t have any stamina.
So Lindsay Graham is a Trump sycophant and trying to “sell” the People that Whitaker is ok and legal. Duh!
Maybe he is afraid of going out and being served 😉
about that picture of senator graham at the top of the post,
would it be unfair to describe the senator’s smile as a “shit eating grin”?
Lindsay is such a grotesque and disgusting human being. Such a moral midget. As a closeted homosexual, he is a member of and supports a party that sees his own sexual orientation as sinful and aberrant. What more do you need to know about such a man.