The case can already be made that Trump obstructed justice when he fired James Comey and when, according to several reports, he tried to persuade people in the intelligence community to tell the media there’s no collusion with Russia. As we know, obstruction of justice was the first of several charges leading to Nixon’s impeachment.
Trump has made his legal situation worse with each move. Finally, he decided to hire a lawyer to represent him personally on all things Russia related.
In typical Trump form, the president hired Joe Lieberman’s boss and Trump’s long-time legal savior, Marc Kasowitz.
As I reported before, Kasowitz has represented Trump on a variety of legal matters over the years. They range from keeping his divorce records sealed to suing writers for saying Trump’s net worth was less than Trump felt it was. No kidding. Trump sued Timothy O’Brien because O’Brien wrote in his book, TrumpNation: The Art of Being The Donald, that Trump is merely a millionaire. Trump lost that suit because for some mysterious reason, the Court didn’t accept Trump’s feelings about his net worth as proof that he is in fact a billionaire, maligned by being “reduced†to a multi-millionaire.
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Kasowitz also played image enforcer, writing threatening letters to the New York Times demanding retracts of articles where Trump doesn’t come off well. One notable example is an article where some women accused Trump of touching them inappropriately. Given Trump’s confession on the Access Hollywood video; this shows, if nothing else, that Mr. Kasowitz has chutzpah.
Kasowitz, was once described by Trump’s general counsel as someone who has “always been a guy you go to when you have complex, intricate legal problems.â€
No one questions the fact that who Trump hires as his personal lawyer is his choice. But, the fact that Kasowitz is Joe Lieberman’s boss should raise eyebrows if Trump nominates Lieberman to head the FBI.
With Kasowitz as Trump’s personal attorney, if Lieberman were to be confirmed as FBI Director, his involvement in any Russia related matter would taint the FBI’s findings – regardless of where the evidence points. Something that Trump wouldn’t mind, despite the harm it would do to America.
This again is a consequence of Trump’s own words and actions. After Trump fired Comey, by his own admission, over “the Russia thing†and Trump tried to pressure members of the Intelligence Community to say “there is no collusion†most, if not all of America, simply won’t believe that Kasowitz and Lieberman would abstain from having private discussions about the case.
This is also optics 101.
At the same time, Trump’s decision to retain Mr. Kasowitz to represent him on Russia related matters could be a sign that Lieberman is no longer Trump’s first choice to run the FBI.
Choosing someone who has experience and integrity and who isn’t Lieberman to run the FBI would be the smart thing to do in these circumstances. As we all know, making smart choices isn’t this President’s forte
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Image, David Sirota on Twitter
Former contributor.
