It’s Mueller Time (Again): Special Counsel Subpoenas Trump Organization, Demands Russia Docs
If Donald Trump was thinking about firing Jeff Sessions and replacing "Mr. Magoo" with someone who's a little more gung-ho when it comes to obstructing justice by the pussy, now might be a good time to go ahead and speed the process up.
Because according to the New York Times, Mueller has subpoenaed the Trump Organization "to turn over documents, including some related to Russia," marking what the Times notes is "the first known time that the special counsel demanded documents directly relate
Fyi, Trump can’t fire Mueller – he would have to direct Rosenstein to do it and Rosenstein would refuse. It would set up a Saturday Massacre situation and there’s your impeachment. I’ve been kind of skeptical about this Russian collusion stuff, but if Mueller starts looking into Trump’s business practices, they’ll find something. One of Mueller’s lead prosecutors, Andrew Weismann, is well-know for “pushing the envelope.” He convicted Arthur Anderson on a rather novel legal theory that was later unanimously overturned by the Supremes, though a little late for the more than 20K employees who lost their jobs.
Rumor going around: Trump will fire Sessions and replace him with Scott Pruitt, who won’t need Senate confirmation (you know, where they ask you under oath, Will you fire the Special Counsel?) because he already got it when he was made head of the EPA. Then Pruitt fires Mueller. And then???
I think Pruitt would still need to be confirmed by the Senate. Under normal circumstances the fact that he has already been confirmed for a cabinet position would make a subsequent confirmation process easier. It wouldn’t in this case.
If Trump wants to fire Mueller directly, he can. If Trump wants to fire Sessions directly, he can. If Trump wants to fire Rosenstein directly, he can. No matter what the DOJ regulations and rules “seem” to state otherwise, absent a Federal statute that expressly circumscribes those firings, he can fire any one of those officials willy inly. Attempting to forecast congressional reaction to any of those firings is a fool’s mission.
Until he takes such action, with the service of the subpoena duces tecum upon the Trump Organization, it is clear that Mueller has gathered a ton of Trump Organization documents form sources outside of the Trump Organization, to include its tax returns, bank records, business transactions, real estate holdings, etc., from within and without the United States. All of it has been installed in software programs. He now invites a cover-up and looks to see if the documents produced match up to the tax returns filed in various jurisdictions. Recall evidence of Trump keeping two sets of books.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/danielwagner/trump-showed-investors-rosier-numbers-for-his-dc-hotel-testi?utm_term=.bpWDm6Q5Z9#.ebexPRjX27
Trump’s questionable bookkeeping practice appears to be habitual.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/inside-a-donald-trump-audit-missing-books-and-unusual-accounting/
So, why does Trump draw red lines about his tax returns and finances?
Here’s a further taste.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/art-of-the-steal-this-is-how-trump-lost-dollar916m-and-avoided-tax
The subpoena served upon the Trump Organization could be either a subpoena duces tecum, which is a writ ordering a person to attend to a court and bring relevant documents. Or, it can be a subpoena duces tecum ad testificandum, which is a writ ordering a person to attend to a court to bring relevant documents and to testify about those documents. It’ll be interesting to learn if it’s the later and if so does the subpoena identify the witness or describe the witness as “records custodian,” which is typically how a documents/record subpoena is directed.
The Bloomberg article that alluded to slow playing is just shy of amateur hour stuff. There’s no way Mueller is indicting Trump in seriatim. To the extent that Mueller indicts Trump, it will be all at once. To the extent Mueller indicts Trump, Jr. Ivanka, Kushner or Hicks, you would expect that the will be indicted on the same day as Trump.
Notice that Mueller has yet to interview or subpoena Trump Jr., Ivanka or Kushner before a grand jury. It makes sense they will be interviewed or subpoenaed last in line and after Muller has subpoenaed and reviewed Kushner’s corporate and personal documents, reviewed the Trump Organization’s documents recently subpoenaed, and perhaps Trump Jr. and Ivan’s own corporate and personal documents.
The documents that Mueller has subpoenaed form the Trump Organization and any that are obtained or compelled by subpoena from Kushner. the Trump Organization, Trump Jr., or Ivanka will be shared with New York Attorney General Eric Schneider man and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance.
======
As an aside, one of the dumbest legal moves of 2018, was when Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen sued Buzzfeed for defamation in January claiming that BuzzFeed’s publishing of an intelligence “dossier” that purported to detail how Russia assisted the Trump campaign and which, on pages 30-35 of the dossier focuses on Cohen, ad alleges that Mr. Cohen was a key player in what it called a “conspiracy.” Well, this claim, of course, opens up full discovery of the claim of whether Russia assisted the Trump campaign, and whether there was a conspiracy on which Trump and Cohen participated. So, guess who is exposed to giving depositions in the case?
Well, all the members in the conspiracy, of course. Discovery rules permit taking depositions of all persons that have knowledge of any related information in order to afford Buzzfeed full disclosure of all matters material and necessary in the defense of the defamation action. https://law.justia.com/codes/new-york/2012/cvp/article-31/3101/
So, line up Cohen, Mr. Destructo, Kushner, Trump, Jr., Ivanka, Bannon, and the rest of clowns for the three ring circus that Clarence Cohen Darrow, Esq. has brought America and the World.
Start a pool. How many days until Cohen voluntarily dismisses the law suit?