This administration is nothing if not an abject lesson in doublespeak and pimp talk as Donald Trump and his little friends find creative ways to lie to and gaslight us, all in an attempt to make us believe that our eyes and ears are lying to us—and the only truth comes from them.
In what is surely a preview of the defense the Trump legal team plans to use when special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation inevitably lands at his feet, Jim Dowd—Trump’s outside lawyer—told Axios’ Mike Allen that the president cannot be guilty of obstruction of justice.
His reasoning? The “president cannot obstruct justice because he is the chief law-enforcement officer under [the Constitution’s Article II] and has every right to express his view of any case,” Dowd said.
Over the weekend, Trump fired off a tweet that many viewed as an admission that he obstructed the Russia investigation begun by now-former FBI Director James Comey.
“I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI,” Trump wrote. “He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!”
Dowd claimed that he drafted the tweet and said, “The tweet did not admit obstruction. That is an ignorant and arrogant assertion.”
Either way, it’s obvious the legal team is preparing for what is coming down the pike. You don’t go to the trouble of testing your defense out in the press unless you believe that defense is ultimately going to be put to use in a court of law.
Bob Bauer, a New York University law professor and former White House counsel to President Barack Obama, says that he believes it is possible for a president to be guilty of obstruction.
“It is certainly possible for a president to obstruct justice,” Bauer told Axiom. “The case for immunity has its adherents, but they based their position largely on the consideration that a president subject to prosecution would be unable to perform the duties of the office, a result that they see as constitutionally intolerable.”
It is worth noting that the articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon accused him of obstructing and impeding the administration of justice.
Of course, we have a Republican House of Representatives, and until lawmakers there decide it’s time to get Trump out of the White House—which doesn’t seem to be coming anytime soon—we are stuck with the never-ending cycle of doublespeak and pimp talk we are enduring right now. At this point, they seem to be turning a blind eye to everything he does.
Maybe they are victims of his gaslighting as well.
Read more at Axios.