Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu said on Monday that Donald Trump is digging his own political grave by repeatedly committing crimes via his Twitter account.
In an interview with MSNBC’s Ari Melber, the California congressman said the president’s social media comments alone – before even getting to his Russian entanglements – provide ample evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
“If I were special counsel Mueller, I would have a whole series of exhibits that simply have Donald Trump’s tweets pasted on a page,” Rep. Lieu.
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.@tedlieu says Trump committed two crimes in just one tweet on Monday. #ctl #p2 pic.twitter.com/E5bIuaZ7ys
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) December 4, 2018
Rep Lieu said:
I can tell you the witness tampering statute is very broad. You can violate it merely by attempting to corruptly persuade another witness from attempting to testify. It looks to me in this case that Donald Trump is attempting to persuade Roger Stone to keep him from testifying. If I were special counsel Mueller, I would have a whole series of exhibits that simply have Donald Trump’s tweets pasted on a page. … I think it’s an attempt to persuade Roger Stone not to testify. That by itself would violate the witness tampering statute. It also could violate a separate statute, which is obstruction of justice, which simply requires again Donald Trump to merely attempt to influence a federal investigation with corrupt intent. A lot of this centers on the intent of Donald Trump. I think it’s pretty clear what his intent is, and it’s to protect himself and his family, and that is corrupt intent.
The president is running out of allies
The fact that Donald Trump is pinning his hopes on Roger Stone shows how desperate he is to have some type of ally as Robert Mueller’s investigation rages on.
That’s likely why the president tweeted words of encouragement for Stone on Monday, praising his former associate for having “guts” and not spilling the goods to Mueller.
“I will never testify against Trump.†This statement was recently made by Roger Stone, essentially stating that he will not be forced by a rogue and out of control prosecutor to make up lies and stories about “President Trump.†Nice to know that some people still have “guts!â€
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 3, 2018
But as Rep. Leiu pointed out on Monday, Trump’s tweet represents witness tampering and obstruction of justice, and there’s a good chance Mueller has a thick file filled with similarly criminal social media ramblings.
All of this goes without mentioning the rest of the Trump dirt Robert Mueller has that the public isn’t yet aware of.
As PoliticusUSA’s Jason Easley pointed out on Monday, “Donald Trump‘s behavior is that of a scared criminal who has been caught.”
It’s shaping up to be an explosive next few weeks.
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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.
