Turning The Ballot Box Against Republicans

It is an orchestrated conspiracy and will be proven to be one.

Editorial cartoonist covering government and social policy; particular interest in issues of equality and environment

Since Trump has been dealing with Kremlin connected oligarchs for decades, all of whom make their money by crooked means, we are certain to see a multiplicity of crimes by Trump for both violating sanctions and violating laws which were on the books before the sanctions were applied.

It won't help, of course. Partly because Trump cannot get good legal representation since he doesn't pay, and partly because if Jesus Christ himself came back down to earth and became his attorney, Trump still wouldn't have a prayer.

Michael Cohen says 'family and country' have his loyalty above Trump

You are quoting me as saying something I never posted.

I will report this as abuse.

The only things that should appear in a quotes box, that links/refers to a poster's previous posts, are direct quotes from something written in that post.

Your lack of regard for honesty

I will put what I want in "Quotes"[

If Democrats really want to fight it out in the streets, they’re going to have to get better at it than this.

You do it all the time, isn't it?

Yesterday’s Communist Is Today’s Progressive

The longer we continue to ignore this while we fight among eachother over the latest fabricated issue of audacious act committed by the president with the aide of congressional capitulation, the harder it becomes to counter. If we are unwilling to let go of our personal animosities against eachother in favor of turning our energy against those in power who are destroying us, then we leave for the younger generations a future that will destroy them.

I will put what I want in "Quotes"

Quote:

Not whsn you put it in a quote box under my name--unless it is a direct quote from something I actually posted.

If you don't realize you can't post fabricated statements in quotes, as though they were said, or actually mentioned, by another A2K poster, then this Web site is far above your pay grade . And, if you continue to do that sort of thing, I will report it.

Where is the proof? Why hasn't it been presented? There has been more than enough time.

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and related matters turns one year old today, and Republicans are simply disgusted that it could have dragged on this long. Their position is summed up by the president:

Congratulations America, we are now into the second year of the greatest Witch Hunt in American History...and there is still No Collusion and No Obstruction. The only Collusion was that done by Democrats who were unable to win an Election despite the spending of far more money!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 17, 2018
As President Trump’s crackerjack lawyer Rudy Giuliani put it on Fox: “It’s about time to get the darn thing over with. It’s about time to say, ‘Enough. We’ve tortured this president enough.'”

The truth, however, is that Mueller’s investigation has been both fruitful and efficient compared with many similar investigations of administration officials. To make that clear, let me offer you a selection of prior investigations conducted by independent and special counsels, along with the length of time they took to conclude:

•Iran-contra: 6 years, 8 months (1986-1993)
•Samuel Pierce, HUD corruption: 9 years (1990-1999)
•George H.W. Bush administration, improper search of passport records: 3 years (1992-1995)
•Henry Cisneros, mistress payments: 11 years (1995-2006)
•Mike Espy, gifts from agriculture company: 6 years (1994-2001)
•Bill and Hillary Clinton, Whitewater: 6 years 8 months (1994-2000)
•Lewis “Scooter” Libby, CIA leak: 3½ years (2003-2007)

In all these cases, people complained that the investigations went on too long, and they were often right. But some of them certainly warranted a lengthy investigation. Iran-contra was a sweeping conspiracy involving multiple crimes committed by multiple people in the Reagan administration, in which arms were sold to Iran and the profits taken to fund an illegal proxy war in Central America. Even if almost seven years was too long, it would have been ridiculous to suggest that a single year would have been enough.

Other investigations were absurdly lengthy given what they were investigating; for instance, HUD secretary Henry Cisneros lied to the FBI during his background check about money he had paid to his mistress, which was indeed against the law but hardly warranted an investigation that went through multiple phases and wasn’t completely closed for 11 years.

But no one is suggesting that Mueller will need an additional 10 years to get to the bottom of the Trump omni-scandal. Informed observers looking from the outside believe that he’ll be finished by the end of this year or the beginning of next year, meaning the whole thing will be wrapped up in less than two years.

One of the most important things to remember about Mueller’s critics is that, like all of us, they have only a general sense of what Mueller has been doing. His investigation has been leakproof; whenever we learn something about it, it’s via someone who has testified to the grand jury or the substance of court filings. There’s zero indication that Mueller has been anything but thorough and professional, which is exactly why he, a lifelong Republican and widely respected law enforcement official, was picked for the job.

Now let’s do a quick rundown of what Mueller has so far produced:

•An indictment of 13 individuals and three companies in connection with Russian efforts to infiltrate and manipulate the 2016 election.
•Indictments on multiple charges against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
•Guilty pleas from former Trump aides Michael Flynn, Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos, offered in exchange for their cooperation.
•Guilty pleas from two other figures, Alex van der Zwaan and Richard Pinedo, tangentially connected to the original investigation.

There is obviously much more on its way.

We have to remind ourselves of the scale of what Mueller has to investigate. It starts with the fact that a hostile foreign government mounted a comprehensive effort to swing the results of an American election. That we have to actually argue about whether that is a big deal is utterly insane. Then there are Trump’s efforts to obstruct justice, for which there is ample evidence. Then you move to the other potential crimes the investigation has uncovered along the way, like Paul Manafort’s alleged money-laundering and Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower-sized pile of potential crimes. Given what we know and what we’re learning literally on a daily basis, nobody sincerely thinks that Manafort and Cohen aren’t going to wind up behind bars.

When it comes to Cohen in particular, his potential misdeeds keep leading back to Trump. The fact that Trump has now admitted that he lied about what he knew about the hush money Cohen arranged for Stormy Daniels is just the tip of a very dirty iceberg, a colorful illustration of the fact that we have only the barest idea what the investigation will uncover about the Trump Organization and Trump himself. As I have explained elsewhere, the president may be the single most corrupt prominent business figure in the United States, and once prosecutors start examining that business, they’re going to have a lot of work to do.

So no, this investigation hasn’t gone on too long. All indications are that Mueller is moving with all appropriate speed; the trouble is that there’s just so much potential malfeasance to examine. And no amount of hand-waving from Giuliani or cries of “Witch hunt!” from thepresident will change that.

No, the Mueller investigation hasn’t gone on too long.

You mean it has to go on until Trump is impeached?