He’ll never be impeached in the House as long as Repubs have it, no matter what is found.
He’ll never get convicted in the Senate unless he did/does something in addition to or a lot worse than obstruction.
You want to get rid of him before 2020, half the country has to stop going to work.
Money, the Dollar Almighty. That is his strength, and that is his weakness. Pull the thread on his business loans, and the sweater unravels. Let him know, quietly and deniably, that if he resigns in order to spend more time with his family, the pressure will lessen. Otherwise, every irregularity, every hinky-dinky deal, will get the sunlight treatment.
Then, hi-ho, hi-ho, its off to court we go! Where, we will hint, the most stringent and ruinous penalties will be applied. A few million here, a few million there, it begins to add up to real money. Especially if Il Douche is not as rich as he pretends to be.
He’s always been rich, he has no idea what it like to be poor, or even just not-rich. He’s never filled his own gas tank, never shopped at Piggly Wiggly with the lumpenprole.. Death doesn’t scare him as much as not-rich.
Follow the money, threaten to take it away, and he will cave.
From a factual standpoint, can anyone enlighten me as to what happens if the FBI probe identifies undeniable criminal activity that the House still won’t impeach for? Can the president be a defendant in court in a criminal prosecution? At some point, it has to be out of the House Republican’s hands, no?
It seems to be an open question. The WH OLC has argued in the past that impeachment is necessary, but the question hasn’t been tested before a court.
In other words, the answer seems to be “I dunno, try it and see if it works.” The suddenly relevant debate about whether a president can be prosecuted, explained - Vox
“And hoo-boy, if people think your hands are tiny…”
So, any predictions for what happens after next week when Comey testifies that Trump obstructed justice?
A shitload of tweets.
I predict nothing at all will happen regardless of how damning Comey’s testimony may be.
Articles have to be passed by a majority of the House Judiciary Committee, so the Committee chairman has to be on board. Then, the Speaker would have to schedule it for a vote by the full House. So, there are two separate chokepoints. But realistically, the House Judiciary chairman is not going to allow any articles to be considered at all unless the rest of the leadership already consented.
This.
Trump already admitted he obstructed the investigation. Why would Comey agreeing make any difference?
After the election results, I am not predicting anything for a good long time, but I’d love to hear such testimony! I may even take the day off of work to watch it.
Comey is no idiot. I predict that he will not testify that Trump obstructed justice.
Why would testifying that Trump did make Comey an idiot?
Two reasons. As a LEO, he knows that such a case would be very difficult to prove. And secondly, he knows that such a charge against a sitting president is a political act, and as such is up to Congress to do.
He may, however, testify that he was told to stall or halt the investigation without opining as to the motive.
Stranger
Comey need not state conclusions about whether what the President did might constitute a crime. Just like witnesses at a trial don’t need to say, “The defendant took my personal property, thereby committing theft in the third degree!”
Comey has an opportunity to simply say what Trump told him. He doesn’t need to testify that what Trump told him constitutes a crime: it’s up to others to judge that. But I don’t know what Comey will say during his testimony. I can see a scenario that he would lay everything out on the table, and another scenario that he keeps certain parts of the story private.
I will bet that he won’t testify that he was told to do so.
That is a very small part of the venn diagram for obstruction of justice.
Yeah, Comey would never say anything that could be construed as a political act.
So what?
Then it’s a good thing I didn’t say that! Frankly, you may actually be correct. But I still didn’t say that.