NYT: Trump Asked Comey to End Flynn Investigation

[The Other Castro]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/us/politics/james-comey-trump-flynn-russia-investigation.html

[The Other Castro]

If this isn't Obstruction of Justice, nothing is.

[The Other Castro]

Also, if there are indeed tapes of Trump and Comey...

[The Other Castro]

When does Comey testify?

Not soon enough. But when he does, the first two questions they will ask him are:
1. Did you ever tell Trump that he was not the subject of the Russia investigation?
2. Did Trump ask you to end the Flynn investigation?

I'm more concerned about the leaks. Very disturbing.

Dude.....

[The Other Castro]

I'll preemptively ask that no personal attacks take place in this thread like the other one, or a mod might end up locking it.

[The Other Castro]

So it might be Comey's word against Trump's, unless there are indeed tapes of the conversation, and such tapes have not been destroyed.

[The Other Castro]

The NYT confirms they don't have the memo, but they've "seen it" lol.

Guess I'll have to wait and see if another media outlet confirms this story.

NBC has already confirmed it, and I think CNN has too.

Do you think we will ever find out, sometime long from today, who the main leaker/WH source is?

They'd probably be able to make a pretty lucrative career out of speaking about it.

It must be Mark Felt.

Look for the guy with the longest neck. He has a deep throat.

[The Other Castro]

Is it normal protocol for an fbi director to keep notes about their meetings with the president? I assume it is, or did comey see his firing coming and wanted enough "revenge material" as possible?

If trump really said what the memo states, how did he expect it not to be leaked?

It's simple: He has no idea what he is doing.

[The Other Castro]

Former Republican Congressman David Jolly throwing fire:

David Jolly‏ @DavidJollyFL
Hope that private school tuition in Maryland this Fall for the POTUS family is refundable.

https://twitter.com/DavidJollyFL/status/864596564580470784

[The Other Castro]

John Kasich is probably thinking he has a chance in the primary in 3 years.

He has a town hall on CNN with Bernie Sanders in about 2 hours, I'm sure they'll ask about this.

[The Other Castro]

Chaffetz actually doing something? Strange times...

[The Other Castro]

Trendsmap Realtime Local Twitter Trends

Super interesting.

Gotta love/hate the random avocado toast trending stories.

[The Other Castro]

Endangered Republican Congressman:

Rep. Carlos Curbelo @RepCurbelo  11m11 minutes ago
If recent allegations are true, they mark the beginning of a new and very sad chapter of scandal and controversy in our country.

[The Other Castro]

Gowdy, McMorris Rogers, Amash calling for open Comey testifying ASAP.

[The Other Castro]

This just keeps getting better and better.

No, it keeps getting worse and worse. If the allegations are true, it's not something that is "good" regardless of party. It hurts everyone. Watergate hurt everyone and american trust in gov't has not recovered since.

It's hard to imagine that Government trust isn't already at rock bottom.

[The Other Castro]

STAHP APATHETIC AUSTRIAN I WAS ABOUT TO POST THAT!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTHsOSGJHN0

[The Other Castro]

If Quist wins next week, the Republican Trump wheels could really fall off.

[The Other Castro]

I know this sounds petty, but I am feeling prety suicidal over all this. Not because I like trump, but because I fear the next 20 years will be nothing but democrat/liberal control due to fallout.

Pence is better for us than Trump. Much better (if not complicit).

Pence is better for Republicans, but he's also safer for Americans than Trump. I think the costs of Pence's policy positions (in my opinion as a generally more liberal person) aren't as bad as the continued risk of Trump as the President.

[The Other Castro]

It's a bad time for America.

Democrats should not be giddy, Hillary Clinton had tons of baggage and a Hillary Clinton presidency would have been slow of legislative accomplishments as well.

America is facing it's consequences.

Hillary Clinton is completely irrelevant to whether Trump told Comey to stop investigating Flynn.

[The Other Castro]

Legit question, not a partisan hack-type thing:

Is it considered obstruction of justice if he just asked Comey to stop without doing anything?

The request alone likely qualifies as obstruction of justice, but combined with his actual firing of Comey after the fact would certainly qualify.

[The Other Castro]

So let me understand this. Mike Flynn is under investigation and is currently facing a grand jury. His counts include not disclosing Russian business work and Turkish work as part of his vetting. He has extensive ties to Russia. The president asked the FBI director to drop the investigation on this man (who almost certainly will be indicted).

How does this work out? After all if Flynn is convicted then I don't see how this doesn't end up bringing down Trump for a clear obstruction of justice.

Am I right on the facts?

Bringing Trump down requires impeachment and removal, which requires Republican cooperation in Congress. It's the latter part that seems unlikely in most scenarios.

[The Other Castro]

What will be really important is the Republican reaction immediately following Comey's potential public testimony. If he states publicly, under oath, what this memo says, then we will have a clearer understanding of what is to come. Assuming there are no tapes of the encounter, the questions are:
1. Will they take Comey's word over Trump's?
2. Will they consider that obstruction of justice?
3. Will they consider that an impeachable offense?

[The Other Castro]

Sad!

[The Other Castro]

Justin Amash says that if the memo is true, it's grounds for impeachment.

[The Other Castro]

Generally, it seems like the big bombshells happen with little warning, while these hyped up ones just fizzle out.