A thought for Yom Kippur: just because I'm a better person than the President doesn't mean I'm a good person. 1/
It's never been easier to feel morally superior to the people running this country -- and to mistake that for evidence that I'm running my own life consistent with the standards I apply to our nation's leaders. 2/
I can't do much to govern the country, but only I can govern myself. The best #Resistance is to resist all that stands in the way of my becoming a better father, husband, son, brother, friend, and neighbor. 3/
We spend a lot of time on this website looking down on other people, and looking down at our devices as we do so. And that's ok! But our attention, like all else about our lives, is finite. In the year to come, I hope to spend more time looking around, and looking up. 4/end
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The Senate staffer who says they don’t issue subpoenas for nominations might want to look back at the Clarence Thomas hearings. loc.gov/law/find/nomin…
As noted in this excellent @charlie_savage piece, it was reported at the time that Starr had concluded that Clinton could be indicted, and Starr even prepared a draft indictment. 2/ nytimes.com/2017/07/22/us/…
As I discussed in this piece, Starr had more running room than Mueller -- under the now-defunct independent counsel statute, Starr essentially had no boss and could ignore DOJ precedents where "inconsistent with the purposes" of that statute. 3/
If Trump actually fires Sessions, what's next? Let's talk about how that would play out. 1/
Under the normal course of events, Rod Rosenstein would become Acting Attorney General. Of course, Rosenstein already is acting AG for the Mueller investigation due to Sessions' recusal. 2/
If Trump nominates a new AG and the Senate confirms, that person would then supervise the Mueller investigation unless he/she were recused for some other reason. 3/
In light of news that David Pecker -- who killed Karen McDougal story for Trump -- was granted immunity, here's my old thread on Trump/Weinstein similarities in the dark art of scandal-quashing. Both used Pecker to bury sex stories. Is there other overlap?
We know that Pecker tried to use "catch and kill" to bury stories about sexual assault allegations for Weinstein. Many women have accused Trump of the same. Did Pecker kill those as well?
Jessica Drake reportedly signed an NDA to stay quiet about allegations that Trump kissed her against her will (and offered her $10K for sex, which she declined). Were there other such NDAs? Was David Pecker involved?
Now that we've all had a good night's sleep, I'd like to push back against the notion that Cohen/Manafort day marks The Beginning of the End. I hope it does, but let's keep the champagne corked for now, 1/
Let's start with Cohen: yes, he implicated Trump in a crime. But the prosecutors didn't. The statement that Cohen made illegal payments in coordination with and at the direction of Trump came from Cohen himself in court, not from prosecutors. 2/
To be sure, it's highly likely that Cohen is right. But we basically knew that already from Giuliani's idiotic media tour in May, when he confessed that Trump knew of the payments. thedailybeast.com/giuliani-trump…
Odd that Brennan thinks the "only questions that remain" involve criminal liability. Key questions: what did the president know and when did he know it? The answers may doom his presidency regardless of whether they map onto a specific crime. 1/ nytimes.com/2018/08/16/opi…
Anyone who thinks the Trump presidency will end in a courtroom is kidding themselves. Trump won’t be prosecuted while in office, if ever. 2/
Suggesting the only Q is whether crimes were committed allows Trump to claim victory if he’s not tied to any specific crime. And it plays into the hands of those like Dershowitz who claim that a president can’t be impeached unless he commits a crime. 3/