[Politico] Lawmakers need "ironclad, rock-bottom assurances" from attorney general nominee William Barr that he will fairly oversee special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Sunday.
"I’m worried about it," Durbin told host George Stephanopoulos during an interview on ABC’s "This Week."
"I mean, clearly he’s a good lawyer, no question, but when it comes to this delicate political situation ‐ the power of the presidency, whether this investigation is warranted ‐ Bill Barr had better give us some ironclad, rock-bottom assurances in terms of his independence and his willingness to step back and let Mueller finish his job," Durbin said.
Barr, who previously served as head of the Justice Department under President George H.W. Bush, is scheduled to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday and Wednesday for his confirmation hearings.
Democratic lawmakers on that panel are expected to ask the nominee about a memorandum he wrote to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein last year criticizing Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and potential coordination between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign.
In the memo, Barr said Mueller’s inquiry into possible obstruction of justice by the president was "fatally misconceived."
Trump nominated Barr in December following the departure of Attorney General Jeff Sessions. In the interim, Matthew Whitaker, Sessions’ former chief of staff, has served as acting attorney general.
#1
That would be 'Senator Dick Durban' from that oasis of economic plenty, fiscal responsibility and upright governance, formerly referred to as the 'Land of Lincoln'.
#6
Sang Marion: "Robin, I ween
That Lincolnshire oughta be greener
Than Abe at a rave:
Raised by bears in a cave,
They've out-Laboured the Queen, eh, old bean?
[Breitbart] Sunday on ABC’s "This Week," ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl said his sources "interacting with" special counsel Robert Mueller’s team said Mueller’s forthcoming report was "almost certain to be anti-climactic."
Partial transcript as follows:
KARL: What I am getting is that this is all building up to the Mueller report and raising expectations of a bombshell report. And there have been expectations that have been building, of course, for over a year on this. But people who are closest to what Mueller has been doing, interacting with the special counsel caution me that this report is almost certain to be anti-climactic. If you look at what the FBI was investigating in that New York Times report, you look at what they were investigating, Mueller did not go anywhere with that investigation. He has been writing his report in real time through these indictments and we have seen nothing from Mueller on the central question of, was there any coordination, collusion, with the Russians in the effort to meddle in the elections? Or was there even any knowledge on the part of the president or anybody in his campaign with what the Russians were doing, there’s been no indication of that ...
STEPHANOPOULOS: They hadn’t laid that out yet in the indictments but how do things like the Trump Tower meeting with Russians, Don Jr., Paul Manafort, Paul Manafort giving polling data to Ukrainian oligarchs, the pursuit of a Trump Tower in Moscow. How does that fit into this theory?
KARL: What we’ve certainly seen over and over again is the people around the president, first of all, have been willing to lie to investigators, and had their own dealings with Russians, had their own agendas with Russians. And Manafort was trying to get paid for his work on behalf of Ukraine. Flynn had his own dealings. But it is not added up to anything of the central question, again, was there anybody ‐ was the Trump campaign aware of or coordinating with the Russians in their effort to meddle with the election. So far there’s been nothing on that and I’m led to believe don’t expect there’s going to be any.
#4
yet Lucianne is full of articles today saying the Mueller novel will claim Trump worked with Putin to destabilize the US.
Posted by: Caesar Cloluter6522 ||
01/14/2019 9:02 Comments ||
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#5
It was a witch hunt to find something on the Don. They kept it going even when they couldn't find anything to keep the narrative alive. Now they can wind down the investigation as the demoncrats have the house and can issue impeachment after impeachment to keep the narrative alive.
Posted by: Caesar etc ||
01/14/2019 9:17 Comments ||
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#8
I expect the report to use a lot of weasel words designed to allow the left to claim Trump did this and that but it was unproven or covered up or whatever so he got away with it.
[Free Beacon] In a new interview on PBS, former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey "Tank"
Abrams (D.) said she’s open to non-citizens and minors voting in municipal elections.
Margaret Hoover, host of PBS’s "Firing Line," asked Abrams about progressive cities such as San Francisco where non-citizens can vote in local elections. Abrams said "there’s a big difference between municipal and state and federal" elections, and the larger democratic norms in the U.S. aren’t damaged by non-citizens voting on local matters.
"I’m not arguing for it or against it, but I will say having been deputy city attorney, the granularity of what cities decide is so specific as to, I think, allow people to be participants in the process without it somehow undermining our larger democratic ethic that says that you should be a citizen to be a part of the conversation," Abrams said.
Hoover pressed Abrams on whether she supports the idea, and she said she "wouldn’t oppose it."
During her 2018 campaign for governor of Georgia, Abrams told supporters there would be a "blue wave" of Democratic victories fueled by many people, including "those who are documented and undocumented." At the time, the Washington Free Beacon contacted her campaign for comment and did not hear back.
#3
THIS one, is a PRIME example of WHY "CIVICS" Classes need to be mandatory through out ALL schools WITH of course History! If not taught you get moronic imbeciles just like this as a example.~~~IMO
[Townhall] U.S. District Court Judge Mark Walker ruled on Wednesday that former Florida Gov. Rick Scott had no right to suspend Broward County elections supervisor Brenda Snipes in November. Snipes had already announced her plans to retire on Jan. 4, before Gov. Scott effectively fired her.
Snipes was the face of the Broward County election controversy in November after her county became one of only two in the state that failed provide a ballot count in the Senate race between Scott and incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson (D) by the initial deadlines. They then missed a couple more deadlines after that. At one point Snipes was confronted by the press but she was unable to provide the number of outstanding ballots her office was still counting. This wasn't the first scandal for Snipes either. As Rep. Matt Gaetz (R) noted, Circuit Judge Raag Singhal ruled that Snipes had illegally destroyed ballots during Debbie Wasserman Schultz's primary race against challenger Tim Canova in 2016.
#3
Mark Eaton Walker is a federal judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida. He joined the court in 2012 after being nominated by President Barack Obama.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/14/2019 8:43 Comments ||
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#4
Shop for a feral judge. They are out there for the picking. Cheap.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/14/2019 9:04 Comments ||
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#5
"Gentlemen, we have to protect our phony baloney jobs!"
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.