While many in the media speculate about what dirt Robert Mueller might privately have on Donald Trump, Rachel Maddow pointed out key ways the president has already committed crimes right before our eyes.
Not only did Trump famously admit that the Russia investigation was the reason he fired former FBI director James Comey, but as Maddow highlighted on Thursday, he admitted he had the same motive for firing Jeff Sessions and replacing him with Matthew Whitaker.
“Trump just did the exact same thing about putting Matthew Whitaker in to replace attorney general Jeff Sessions,” the dumbfounded MSNBC host said.
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Rachel Maddow points out the similarities between Trump’s firing of Comey and Sessions. #ctl #p2 #maddow pic.twitter.com/AxAR2SVWuX
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) November 16, 2018
Maddow explained:
The president can certainly replace anyone in his cabinet. There is nothing wrong with that in the abstract. But you can’t do that sort of thing for the corrupt purpose of diverting or stymieing or getting some sort of advantage over an ongoing criminal investigation that the president fears might hurt him. But now today, like he did with the Comey firing, the president has simply and bluntly volunteered that’s that’s in fact what he did, that that’s in fact what he was thinking about when he installed this new guy at Justice. Conservative website called the Daily Caller just interviewed President Trump and then released a full transcript of their conversation with him. You remember in the Leter Holt interview after Trump fired Comey, Lester Holt didn’t ask Trump about the Russia investigation, just asked him about firing Comey. Trump volunteered to him, hey, you know, I was thinking about Russia when I did that. Trump just did the exact same thing about putting Matthew Whitaker in to replace attorney general Jeff Sessions.
Trump’s intent has always been clear
As Maddow pointed out on Thursday, there is nothing wrong with a president firing and replacing any member of his or her cabinet. It happens with every administration of both parties.
But the president can’t do so with the intent to derail a criminal investigation, as is clearly the case with Trump.
Certainly, in most instances, proving intent can be difficult for investigators when making an obstruction of justice case. But in this case it is not – or at least it shouldn’t be.
Donald Trump’s motive has always been clear because he has quite literally explained it to us all along. He wants to derail the special counsel investigation because he’s terrified of it. In the process of doing so, he has repeatedly obstructed justice in plain sight.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
