monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

It would be instant and compelling evidence of obstruction of justice, and would ignite a bipartisan firestorm of condemnation lfar behyopnd the present growing groundswell of condemnation.. He should tryk it. It would be the last stupid mistake he would make in office.

Senior Administration and campaign officials who work for Putin and then lie about it are not innocent.

The only thing they might be guilty of is failing to register as a foreign agent.

Attorneys General who meet with Russian ambassadors and then lie about it twice are not innocent.

Assumes facts not in evidence. Some of these supposed meetings may not have happened. And there is no proof that his statements were untrue, much less an intentional lie.

Seattle gun tax failure--Firearm sales plummet, violence spikes after law passes

When the City of Seattle passed a tax on all sales of guns and ammunition, the measure was hailed as a way to defray the rising costs of gun violence.

But since the tax took effect, those costs have only risen as gun violence in the city has surged.

The number of people injured in shootings climbed 37 percent and gun deaths doubled, according to crime statistics from the Seattle Police Department.

Mike Coombs, owner of Outdoor Emporium, is the last large gun dealer left in Seattle. Coombs said gun sales have plummeted 60 percent. “I’ve had to lay off employees because of this,” Coombs said. “It’s hurting us, it’s hurting our employees.”

Coombs also owns a gun shop in the nearby city of Fife. Sales there are described as robust. plummet, violence spikes after law passes

Employees at the Big 5 sporting goods stores in Seattle also report anemic gun sales. But there’s evidence Seattleites are just going outside the city to buy their guns. Coombs also owns a gun shop in the nearby city of Fife. Sales there are described as robust. Another gun dealer simply left Seattle and moved his shop, Precise Shooter, to nearby Lynnwood. Sergey Solyanik said business has never been better.

Dave Workman thinks the city council should have predicted the results of the gun tax, such as gun dealers leaving with no drop in gun ownership. As for the gun violence, he says that too should not surprise anyone.

“All these gun control laws affect the wrong people,” Workman said. “The gang bangers don’t go in and buy ammunition at retail, at least not around here. It certainly hasn’t stopped them from getting their hands on firearms.”

OLralloy loves the Gestapo.

Well, my basic point here has been that this is a hot mess with no easy solution. The responses you make all seem to assume that there are a great many ways to completely resolve the problems in very simple fashion.
I guess we just disagree.

dream on. It would be instant and compelling evidence of obstruction of justice,

and would ignite a bipartisan firestorm of condemnation lfar behyopnd the present growing groundswell of condemnation..

He should tryk it. It would be the last stupid mistake he would make in office.

Ford pardoned Nixon on the grounds that it would be in the best interests of the country to end the ongoing obsession with Watergate that was greatly interfering with pursuit of solutions to more important problems facing the country.

The voters seems to accept and be satisfied with that, but ONLY because Nixon was out of office. Trump could do the same by letting Pence take over, I suppose.

But it would never have worked for Nixon if he simply tried to pardon himself and continue to hold power. It wouldn't work for Trump either, in my view. It wouldn't make the issue "just go away."

The best thing for Trump to do, assuming Moeller accuses him of obstruction of justice, might be to just flatly deny it, and assert that he looks forward to confronting the bogus charges in open court when he leaves office. Until that time, he intends to serve the American people as he was elected to do.

Would he then be convicted of "high crimes and misdemeanors" by 2/3 of the Senate? I doubt it, just like Clinton wasn't convicted. He probably wouldn't even be impeached. The rationale would be that he's entitled to a presumption of innocence until such time as he's actually convicted of a crime.

OLralloy loves the Gestapo.

He'd better hurry up. There are so many scandals piling up, Trump doesn't have much time left in office. And it's getting worse-they're now looking into Trump's financial dealings and brought on a prosecutor who specializes in money laundering and financial crimes. That stuff is going to make Trump's obstruction of justice look like a pair of doctored parking tickets.

Manafort got paid millions by the Kremlin and he never reported it. Charges are being investigated. Also being investigated is the fact that Manafort signed a contract with one of Putin's operatives to promote Russian interests in the US and he never told anyone. Which means Congressional and Senate committees have every justification to look at this and investigate more.

No chance this is just about failing to register as a foreign agent. There's a ton of stuff here, and it has only begun to unravel.

What is clearly IN evidence is that Attorney General Sessions lied to the committee confirming his appointment to that office that he never met the Russian ambassador, then admitted later the testimony was not the truth-AFTER the media found out Sessions had met the Russian ambassador.

Then ANOTHER Sessions meeting with the Russian ambassador was discovered.

Keep repeating these silly legal "defenses" that are being shot full of holes every night on the news if it makes you feel good.

Trump goes down-soon. And maybe Pence as well.

Trump pardoning himself wouldn't work for Trump anymore than it would have worked for Nixon.

2) Mueller finding evidence of improper collusion between one or more of Trump's satellites (Most likely Flynn, Manafort, and/or Page) either filing criminal charges based on some technical violation of a statute that hasn't been applied in decades if ever, or driving them into the shadows in utter disgrace. (I realize Mueller is only supposed to investigate criminal matters, but does anyone believe that if finds any Trump satellite to have engaged in very inappropriate, shady, albeit not illegal, dealings with the Russians that he won't find a way to make this known to the public?) Trump will throw them under the bus in a futile hope of putting and end to the Opposition's feeding frenzy. The Opposition will continue to harass Trump with innuendo and wild claims that he was guilty himself, but he and the Russians were too clever to leave any tracks. Ivanka will still talk to him.

3) Mueller finding solid evidence of Trump being engaged in a cover up will try to get the Supreme Court to rule that a president can be charged with a crime while in office, while the roaring din for Trump's impeachment rises to a level that causes earthquakes in Maryland and Virginia, birds to drop from the sky stone dead, and Rachel Maddow to spontaneously combust on live TV. Fearing for the continuation of certain avian species in the DC area and their political asses, the GOP Elders will visit the White House and tell Trump that he has a choice: Resign or be thrown out of office by Congress. Trump will refuse, the House will impeach him as part of a deal cut between the Leadership of both parties, (while John McCain stands outside of the meeting room screaming obscenities and demanding to be allowed in), that involves Impeachment in return for the Dems calling off the hounds and leaving Pence alone, and then Trump will resign. President Pence will pardon him to end our long national nightmare and The Opposition will immediately switch to attacking Pence with innuendo and wild claims that the pardon reveals he too was guilty or why else would he pardon Trump?! Elizabeth Warren will immediately call for the appointment of a Special Counsel to investigate the obvious crimes of Pence.