Friday, August 4, 2017

It's Mueller Time!

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Yesterday the word got out that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has impaneled a grand jury to assist in his investigation of Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 election and ties that Russia may have had with the Trump campaign.   It also became known that Mueller is issuing subpoenas with regard to Trump Junior's meeting with a Russian lawyer who had promised to provide dirt on Hillary Clinton.  And while having an assist from a grand jury is apparently fairly standard procedure in an investigation of this magnitude, the announcement of its existence nevertheless served to twist the tail of the pig.

Trump went on a major verbal rampage in West Virginia last night with an all-out attack on the Mueller investigation, implying that it was an attempt to derail democracy.  Here is a snippet of his spew:

"They can’t beat us at the voting booths, so they’re trying to cheat you out of the future and the future that you want. They’re trying to cheat you out of the leadership that you want with a fake story that is demeaning to all of us, and most importantly demeaning to our country and demeaning to our Constitution.”
Poor me, poor me, witch hunt, poor me, poor me.

Trump may be the future that West Virginia wants - no argument there - but he is not the future that a majority of American's wanted when they went to the polls last November.   Robert Mueller has been charged with looking into that election and figuring out what impact a foreign nation had on the process - and if that foreign nation colluded with the Trump campaign in engineering the outcome.  It is a matter that needs to be thoroughly aired and investigated - regardless of how loudly Donald John Trump squeals.

Also yesterday I saw a picture on Twitter that snagged my interest.  It was of a smiling man who was wearing a tee-shirt that with a logo that stated:  "It's Mueller Time!"  I smiled back and thought, "I'll drink to that!"  Later in the day I visited Amazon.com to determine if those shirts were readily available for purchase, and I found them listed with multiple vendors.  The one I bought was black with white lettering and is large enough to fit me comfortably - and it was priced under fifteen dollars!

It's good to know that Donald Trump and his relatives aren't the only one profiting off of his new job.  Gotta love that First Amendment!

2 comments:

Xobekim said...

A Grand Jury gives the Special Prosecutor the power to issue Subpoenas and Subpoenas Deuces Tecum. This authority is not granted liberally and the U.S. Attorney's Manual has a rule for it. 9-11.150 - Subpoenaing Targets of the Investigation

A grand jury may properly subpoena a subject or a target of the investigation and question the target about his or her involvement in the crime under investigation. See United States v. Wong, 431 U.S. 174, 179 n. 8 (1977); United States v. Washington, 431 U.S. 181, 190 n. 6 (1977); United States v. Mandujano, 425 U.S. 564, 573-75 and 584 n. 9 (1976); United States v. Dionisio, 410 U.S. 1, 10 n. 8 (1973). However, in the context of particular cases such a subpoena may carry the appearance of unfairness. Because the potential for misunderstanding is great, before a known "target" (as defined in USAM 9-11.151) is subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury about his or her involvement in the crime under investigation, an effort should be made to secure the target's voluntary appearance. If a voluntary appearance cannot be obtained, the target should be subpoenaed only after the grand jury and the United States Attorney or the responsible Assistant Attorney General have approved the subpoena. In determining whether to approve a subpoena for a "target," careful attention will be paid to the following considerations:

The importance to the successful conduct of the grand jury's investigation of the testimony or other information sought;
Whether the substance of the testimony or other information sought could be provided by other witnesses; and
Whether the questions the prosecutor and the grand jurors intend to ask or the other information sought would be protected by a valid claim of privilege.
[cited in USAM 9-11.153]

Marianne Love said...

You need to purchase some toilet paper with Trump's tweets to go along with your shirt. Then, you can wipe him away any time you wish.