Obstruction

  • Russiagate
  • The Mueller Report
  • The Investigators
  • The Investigated
  • Impeachment
  • Defense the Trump Way: Diversion and Counter-attacks
  • Trump Lawyers
    • William Barr, Attorney General for the US, not Trump, but neither acts like it.
    • Don McGahn– Trump’s White House Council;George W Bush-appointed Chair of the Federal Election Commission (FEC-July 10, 2008 – December 31, 2008) during Citizens United & the non-profit’s president, David Bossie, suggested that Trump use McGahn as his campaign lawyer; Trump Transition Team attorney, disobeyed Congressional Subpoena & overruled by federal court of appeals; Uncle Patrick McGahn, a NJ attorney worked for Trump on casino projects earning his namesake bar, “Paddy’s Saloon” at the Atlantic City Trump Taj Mahal before they fell “out over billings…During the campaign, Mr. McGahn helped lead the development of a list of 21 candidates Mr. Trump said he would consider for the court, according to people involved in the process who spoke on the condition of anonymity…Jones Day, with Benjamin Ginsberg, a colleague at the firm who was a mentor to Mr. McGahn when he was starting out in election law…Ann M. Ravel, another Democratic commissioner, who joined the panel after Mr. McGahn, said she found it “shocking” that Mr. McGahn would be the president’s top legal adviser. “His record indicates that he’s not particularly concerned about conflicts or ethics issues,” she said…“I don’t see any way that Don McGahn is going to be a yes man,” said Bradley A. Smith, a professor in election law at Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio, who has worked with Mr. McGahn on election issues…At one hearing at the election commission in 2011, Mr. McGahn ripped the pages out of an election regulation book and tossed the scraps in the air to demonstrate his claim that Democratic commissioners were ignoring their own rules in a case involving ads by American Crossroads, the conservative group founded by Karl Rove. “I just don’t understand how you can do this,” he said…His clients have included Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader from Texas, who resigned in 2006 under indictment and a cloud of ethics charges; Bob Ney, a former Ohio congressman imprisoned in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal; and, this year, Aaron Schock, the former Illinois congressman who redesigned his congressional office in a “Downton Abbey” style and was indicted last month on charges of misspending about $100,000. (Mr. McGahn no longer represents him.)..Mr. McGahn’s first big prize for Mr. Trump came 10 months ago in the Republican primary contest in New Hampshire, where Mr. McGahn went to court to fight efforts to keep Mr. Trump off the ballot on procedural grounds.” New York Times
    • Michael Cohen– Donald Trump is co-conspirator Individual 1 in Campaign Finance Violations and Tax Fraud for paying off Stormy Daniel; RNC Finance Committee – Handled payoffs of $130,000 to porn star Stephanie Clifford aka Stormy Daniels & $150,000 to Playmate Karen McDougal involving David Pecker of AMI/National Enquirer and Atty. Keith Davidson who also handled the $1.6 m payoff to Shera Bechard for forcing an abortion, physical abuse, and herpes.  Cohen’s clients in the case: Donald Trump as David Dennison that Elliott Broidy claimed in Bechard’s case, Sean Hannity. Michael Avenatti  became Stormy Daniel’s and McDougal’s attorney, while Bechard contracted Stris & Maher
  • Trump Lawsuits
    • Mazars CPA-Refusing to release Trump’s taxes
    • Deutsche Bank
        • VTB Bank-Putin’s  bank  backed  around  $2billion  in  Deutsche  Bank  loans  to  Trump
    • Trump Organization-NY AG Leticia James’ 68-Page Memo
      • Allen Weisselberg – Trump Organization CFO, Prepared Taxes for Decades Testified & granted immunity in Michael Cohen payoff to Stormy Daniels & Karen McDougal to protect the Trump Campaign
      • Alan Garten, Executive Vice President & Chief Legal Officer
    • Trump Family
      • Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr., Steve Bannon, Sam Clovis, Erik Prince: Criminal referral for prosecution by the Senate Intelligence Committee to the DC US Attorney‘s Office under Jessie Liu, who was fired and replaced by Trump AG Bill Barr‘s associate Tim Shea (charged in the “We Build The Wall” scam), who then reduced  Roger Stone‘s sentence & dropped the case  against Mike  Flynn on May 7, 2020, who already pleaded guilty twice.  Fmr. DC US Atty.Glenn Kirschner Explains It NY AG Leticia James v.DONALD TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP, IVANKA TRUMP, ERIC TRUMP, THE DONALD J. TRUMP FOUNDATION founded in 1987 November 7, 2019; Ordered to pay $2 million “(1) breach of fiduciary duty and waste under New York’s Not-for- Profit Corporation Law (“N-PCL”) against the Individual Respondents; (2) failure properly to administer Foundation assets and waste under New York’s Estates, Powers and Trusts Law (“EPTL”) against the Individual Respondents; (3) wrongful related party transactions against Mr. Trump as defined in the N-PCL and EPTL; (4) dissolution of the Foundation under the N-PCL §§ 112 and 1101; (5) dissolution of the Foundation under the N-PCL §§ 112 and 1102; and (6) an injunction pending resolution of this proceeding.” Des Moines, Iowa on January 28, 2016 Donald Trump for Vets.com video Mike Huckabee: Fundraiser for military veterans was actually a campaign organized and planned event. The campaign contributed $2.8 million to the Trump Foundation. The following day, named donors C-Span. 
      • Jared Kushner Middle East Peace Plan: Qatari Blockade: “In return for pushing anti-Qatar policies at the highest levels of America’s government, Broidy and Nader expected huge consulting contracts from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, according to an Associated Press investigation based on interviews with more than two dozen people and hundreds of pages of leaked emails between the two men.” New York Magazine
          • Donald Trump Jr.– Referred for criminal prosecution by the Senate Intelligence Committee to the DC US Attorney‘s Office
          • Eric Trump – NY AG Leticia James v. THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION, INC.; DJT HOLDINGS LLC; DJT HOLDINGS MANAGING MEMBER LLC; SEVEN SPRINGS LLC; ERIC TRUMP; CHARLES MARTABANO; MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS, LLP; and SHERI DILLON 68-Page Memo to Force Compliance with Remitting Taxes & Corp. Documents August 24, 2020
          •  Ivanka Trump – Under FBI Counterintelligence Investigation for Trump for the brand-licensed Trump International Hotel and Tower in Vancouver that opened a Ivanka Trump™ Spa in February 2017 & developed by Malaysian billionaire Joo Kim Tiah’s Holborn Group for $360 million after Tiah befriended Donald Trump Jr.. in 2013 & pitched Ivanka on October 21, 2015 at a “Trump Luxe” VIP condo service launch  in the YVR London Aviation Centre . Holburn is backed by Tony Tiah Thee Kian, chairman of TA Enterprise, who has securities laws violations and  made “false statements to the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange”CNN.  Trump International Hotel Vancouver operator files for bankruptcy Daily Hive Urbanized Kenneth Chan. August 28, 2020 “Records obtained by Daily Hive Urbanized from the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada show TA Hotel Management has total liabilities of $4.8 million and total assets of $1.1 million.”
            Trump International Hotel & Tower Baku, Azerbaijan–Never opened (2008 conception), 2009-10 US Embassy cables exposed by WikiLeaks; May 2012 developer contracts with former maintenance engineer turned parliamentarian Elton Mammadov & Baghlan Group‘s Baku XXI Century ($2.5m), 2014 hotel announcement with architect Pierre Baillargeon & Mace of London, Backers: “notoriously corrupt” Ziya Mammadov, Azerbaijani Transportation Minister & an oligarch, supposedly using son Anar’s company and a Trump license, the family shell zqan. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (F.C.P.A.)-(Trump’s SEC Chair, Jay Clayton, wrote a 2011 paper against it. In 2000, 3 cases, in 2016, 54): US Companies cannot reward a foreign government officials in exchange for material or immaterial, preferential benefit. even unknowingly by avoiding discovery of a partner’s corruption (closing the “head in the sand” loophole; see Frederic Bourke of Dooney & Bourke sentenced 1 year in prison for Azerbaijani deal, 2009 ; Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRG)– When TIH&T Baku was conceived (2008), Ziya gave the 2008-incorporated construction company Azarpassillo millions in contracts for the Baku-Iranian Astara highway & more, chaired by Keyumars Darvishi who was head of the construction company, Raman, owned by the IRG‘s main financial arm, the Islamic Revolution Mostazafan Foundation. Keyumars has been the acting director of brother Habil’s Tehran Metro Co. & was a Sardar/Sr. Official of the IRG, and brother Kamal runs the IRG-controlled & 2007 US-sanctioned for Iran nuclear missile development co., Nasr that makes ballistic missile guidance systems. The Trump Org. knew by 2015.  The US considers the 150,000 independent theocratic military IRG a terrorist organization involved in Drug Trafficking & Money Laundering, and supports Hezbollah New Yorker
          • Trump Campaign
      • Trump Inaugural Committee– Illegal Foreign Contributions
        • Elliott Broidy
        • Fmr. Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY-27)- Insider Trading 2018 for June 22, 2017, MIS416 – a multiple sclerosis drug in development by Innate
      • Emoluments
      • Trump Ethics
      • Trump Sexual Abuse Cases
      • Coronavirus Corruption
      • Republican Party
        • 2017 RNC Finance Committee:
          • Elliott Broidy- RNC National Deputy Chairman (2017) Finance Committee 2009 Bribery of NY State officials to conceal Israeli NSO Group “Pegasus”  spyware sold to Mexico; Tried to get the DOJ to drop the case against Jho Low in the 1MDB Malaysian sovereign wealth fund theft and also to get Mar-a Lago member Guo Wengui extradited to China at Low and a Chinese government official’s request.
            • July 28, 2020-Malaysia’s former prime minister Najib Razak sentenced “to 12 years in jail on one count of abuse of power, 10 years each for three counts of criminal breach of trust, and 10 years each for three counts of money laundering, as well as a fine of 210 million ringgit ($49.4 million). But he ordered the sentences to run concurrently, meaning that Najib will face only up to 12 years in jail.” AP
  • Freedom Caucus
  • Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader
  • Devin Nunes, House Intelligence Committee

The Mueller Report Volume 2 lays out the many instances of Obstruction regarding the investigation into Russian election interference.

THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE has jurisdiction and is conducting the investigation.

Rep. Jerry Nadler AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE TO A RESOLUTION OFFERED BY MR. NADLER July 11, 2019

House panel authorizes subpoenas for Jared Kushner, Trump officials CNN July 11, 2019 Jeremy Herb “July 11, 2019 House Judiciary, Rep. Jerry Nadler authorizes subpoenas for “Jared Kushner, Jeff Sessions, John F. Kelly; Mike Flynn;Corey Lewandowski; Rod J. Rosenstein;Rick Dearborn; Jody Hunt; Rob Porter;Keith Davidson, attorney for Shera Bechard, Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougal and Dylan Howard & David Pecker of AMI/National Enquirer–AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE TO A RESOLUTION OFFERED BY MR. NADLER CNN – “The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday broadened its investigation into President Donald Trump and possible obstruction of justice.

The committee also authorized subpoenas to current and former Trump administration officials related to the “zero-tolerance” immigration policy that led to the separation last year of migrant families who crossed the southern border illegally. The vote was approved on party lines, 21-12.”

Thus far, the most visible example of “obstruction” is the firing of James Comey as FBI Director on May 9. In his testimony on June 8, 2017, he stated that he felt he was fired for how he was handling the Russian investigation. On June 9, Rep. Al Green-TX filed for articles of impeachment, based upon Comey’s firing. His proposed replacement was Christopher Wray, later FBI director, but “Bridgegate” defense attorney for Trump’s friend NJ Gov. Chris Christie. Wray’s law firm represents the Russian state-owned oil giants Gazprom and Rosneft, whose biggest deal in history with Sec. of State Rex Tillerson‘s ExxonMobil was stopped by Obama’s sanctions for annexing Crimea and Ukraine. These sanctions were the subject of a June 9, 2016, meeting between Russians including Natalia Veselnitskaya and the Trump Campaign.

Obstruction Inquiry Shows Trump’s Struggle to Keep Grip on Russia Investigation

By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT   NY Times

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) called on Chair Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) to invite Trump before panel to testify under oath as Trump declared in the Rose Garden press conference following Comey’s testimony. The Hill  Letter  June 9, 2017

Preet Bharara on ABC News, June 11, 2017  There’s “absolutely evidence” to begin obstruction of justice case on Trump: Bharara

“Trump spoke to Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and National Security Agency Director Adm. Michael Rogers after Comey revealed in March that the bureau had launched a probe into alleged collusion. Both Coats and Rogers were uncomfortable with the nature of the President’s request and refused to comply, the sources with knowledge of the situation told CNN.” CNN

WATCH: Clapper: Trump asked me to refute unconfirmed dossier Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said that President Donald Trump asked him to rebut allegations contained in a dossier. ABCNews March 6, 2017

May 20, 2017: Comey’s father” Trump was ‘scared to death of FBI director CNN

Comey Memo Says Trump Asked Him to End Flynn Investigation NY Times

By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT

“I hope you can let this go,” the president told Mr. Comey, according to the memo.

The documentation of Mr. Trump’s request is the clearest evidence that the president has tried to directly influence the Justice Department and F.B.I. investigation into links between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russia. Late Tuesday, Representative Jason Chaffetz, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, demanded that the F.B.I. turn over all “memoranda, notes, summaries and recordings” of discussions between Mr. Trump and Mr. Comey.”

Such documents, Mr. Chaffetz wrote, would “raise questions as to whether the president attempted to influence or impede” the F.B.I.

Mr. Comey wrote the memo detailing his conversation with the president immediately after the meeting, which took place the day after Mr. Flynn resigned, according to two people who read the memo.” NY Times

May 12, 2017: Trump says he considered ‘this Russia thing’ before firing FBI Director Comey CNN

Trump sees Nunes memo as a way to discredit the Russia investigation By Kevin Liptak, Kaitlan Collins, Sara Murray and Dan Merica, CNN February 1, 2018

Republican House ‘leaders’ are complicit in obstructionBy Jennifer Rubin January 29, 2018

“Graham on Sunday called for legislation to protect special counsel Robert S. Mueller III; House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) dismissed the idea. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) decries attacks on the Mueller; House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) lifts not a finger to restrain, let alone remove, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who is prepared to endanger national security with the release of his memo and spends waking hours thinking up new smears to hurl at the intelligence community.

You see embarrassing exchanges with McCarthy like this one on “Meet the Press”:

Don McGahn

House Counsel Intervention ‘Significantly Hampered’ Russia Probe “The committee’s experience demonstrated the potential for abuse of executive privilege, particularly as it relates to impeding a congressional inquiry,” the Senate Intelligence Committee report found. Law. com By Jacqueline Thomsen | August 18, 2020 “

White House Counsel Donald McGahn, prior to President Donald Trump announcing the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to be associate justice at the U.S. Supreme Court, replacing Justice Anthony Kennedy, in the East Room of the White House, on July 9, 2018. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

The Senate Intelligence Committee faced “specious” claims of executive privilege from the White House counsel’s office that impeded a years-long and bipartisan probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to the committee’s final report in the investigation released Tuesday.”

HOPE HICKS

Mueller Zeros In on Story Put Together About Trump Tower Meeting NY Times By JO BECKER, MARK MAZZETTI, MATT APUZZO and MAGGIE HABERMAN

Trump started working on whittling away ethics rules before taking office which hides potential evidence:

A new rule quietly protects some lawmaker records from Congressional ethics inquiries, The Fiscal Times January 9, 2017

“The new rule states that records created, generated or received by the congressional office of a House member “are exclusively the personal property of the individual member” and that the member “has control over such records,” according to a report by OpenSecrets.org. After congressional ethics experts, voters, and President-elect Donald Trump forced House Republicans to back down last week from a rules change that would have eviscerated the independent Office of Congressional Ethics, one important sentence quietly slipped through another rule change. That sentence enables individual members to hide official documents that could prove embarrassing or even incriminating if they were suddenly investigated by the ethics office or the Justice Department for criminal activity. Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, said Monday that the rules change “is not good” and threatens to erode ethical oversight in government further. She said it leads to a situation where “There’s no cop on the beat – that we’ve lost a critical element of independent oversight” over government records and members’ activities.” Business Insider