DamianaRaven wrote:Does
this amount to an admission of complicity in a justice-obstructing coverup? (I'm no legal expert over here.)
Alright, let's just nip the obstruction thing in the bud because I see it everywhere these days.
The fact of the matter is, if obstruction of justice was the charge to prove, Mueller could spend about one day writing up a report on the firing and attach that interview with Lester Holt where Trump said he fired Comey because of the investigation. It's open and shut--It's obstruction because Trump literally tried to end an investigation by firing the man heading it.
Why Mueller is probably not going that route, however, is because an investigation like this is inherently political and depends on the mood of the country. Obstruction of justice will not fly as a reason for impeachment, even if it should be (indeed, even some publications I respect, like NR, have contributors who talk about the investigation like it's a coup [can't imagine you thought the same about the Lewinsky scandal]) because at the end of the day, the
national Republican mood is that it's simply not good enough a reason to impeach a president they're still behind (even though nobody else is). If Mueller were to bring charges of obstruction, Trump would likely pull a Clinton and argue that it's all a partisan-led attack, and probably successfully.
*It's important to note here that I don't agree. There are things I think are of national import to the country and worth impeaching a president for, and a blowjob in the Oval Office is not, in fact, one of them (yes, I know it was for lying under oath, but let's be real, going after him for an affair is pretty silly). Interfering with investigations, however, is.
So it's either Russia or nothing. Any lesser charges (a) will not fly with the GOP or a large majority of Republican voters and (b) will be seen by many people as no better than a coup. Lastly, and let's be honest about this, the GOP will not impeach AND remove him, and I suspect that to be true even if there is a phone call with Trump telling Vladimir Putin to swing the election for him. I don't care if the Democrats win literally every seat open to them on the state and federal level in 2018, they still won't have the votes or political power to do it.
So, as I kinda suspected from the beginning, we're stuck with Trump until 2020.