As the relentless investigations into th criminal acivitiws of the Trump Government continue, it is becoming clear that Trump and his inner circle are panicking. The flow of indictments is starting to take off. I am picking up that Mueller has an extensive set of grand jury sealed indictments on key criminal targets. This has given the FBI, who have taken extensive internal precautions to protect the safety and security of the Investigations into Trump regime criminality, so that they will continue and have back-up, against suppression, a key weapon that they can use to determine the outcomes. If the Congress asks the FBI to pass to them the materials, they have the power to do so, then the whole thing would become a flood of leaks, criminal evidence, etc. The GOp in the House and senate are in a state of fear. They fear for themselves, some fear for the safety of the American Constitution and Republic, and some fear for the continued existence of the existing system. many politicians in the American political class now realise, at all levels, that a major constitutional overhaul and changes, are going to be essential, whatever the outcome of the present investigations. This will all play out up to the mid-term elections.
In the meantime, Trump and his inner circle are getting desperate. So are the group of American oligarchs aurrounding Him, like the Koch brothers. they fear now, the wrath of the American people, when everything emerges. this will be much worse than Nixon and watwrgate, so various fixes are being discreetly discussed. A Nixon style exit is top of the list, after the Mid-term elections. These elections will be a slaughter of the right wing political class.
In the meantime, the Trump inner circle are looking at extreme, criminal measures, to save the situation. Only an inner group are aware of what is being discussed. Some cabinet officers are completely out of the loop. Incredibly, Trump is considering, very seriously, using his very large presidential powers, passed by congress after 911, to mount something like a counter-coup, like the one enacted recently in Saudi Arabia by the Crown Prince and the king. Trump could use Obama era legislation, that gives the President sweeping powers in an emergency, to arrest and detain american citizens, and use military law against them. The incredible delusions in this mans head are terrifying to scan. he is losing his grasp on reality. he thinks that a move to push various actions against Clinton and various DEMO scandles, (there are many, its the way the system works) would head off the present investigations. he could, in theory, use emergency powers to arrest and detain people, to wreck the investigations. This is being recieved, even inside the deep state and the Trump insiders, as sheer madness. Nixon was trying to do the same thing, when he was forced out. But he had a fraction of the powers that the Obama legislation has given Trump. I do not think this will succeed at all, but that it is being gamed in the Regime shows how desperate they have become. Literally, sheer madness. Trump is now being "Minded" very closely, and everyone is beginning to worry deeply over his mental stability. I think we have a repeat of the watergate process here. I am posting this, as paradoxically, it gives us hope. i think we are seeing the start of the internal collapase of the trump admin. More later. He will not get far, i think, before things really start to impact.
Why are they holding onto the indictments? Because they fear Congress will undermine the investigations? This seems inevitable whenever they release them. So that they can use them to negotiate further information from those who stand to be indicted? Are they going to turn portions of the indictments over to New York state, to the IRS? Is it all a matter of timing for a conducive political climate? I know I'm incredibly impatient.
I don't know why Mueller is holding them, but there are sealed indictments (I think in the Eastern District of VA). Rachel Maddow reported on it. Some may be additional charges against Manafort. I think they're being held as a prosecution strategy.
Gracesinger, the FBI are holding the indictments sealed in order not to telegraph what they have knowledge of to other people that are still under scrutiny. They don't want to 'spook' certain people into moving out of range. Workings of the law in this case is a sequential process of 'turning' lower echelons of the GOP to give info on the higher ups. FBI is moving up the food chain. IMHO, the crazed ranting from the White House indicates the Mueller investigation is closing its jaws around the highest levels--which is a kind of indicator where we are in the process. Sealed indictments will not be opened until certain goals have been accomplished.
Zoron, I find your analysis completely accurate. I would also say 'please please don't allow the inside of Trump's head into your own' when viewing him. It's not a healthy place to go. (The image of an invasive energy parasite comes to mind!)
It is a good question about whether a coup will be attempted. Some here see lightworkers having to go underground. Some see protests being curtailed. Some see active repression. I don't see an active Federal level 'coup' as much as an atmosphere that encourages bad actors--like Trump's refusal to disavow white supremacism giving space for Charlottesville to happen. He'll encourage open season on protestors and those he views as 'disloyal', then various police departments will overreach and abuse their power. But it is not a 'Federal Law'.
I've been feeling now for a week an impending darkness of repression rolling in. I could feel it like a heavy weight all through the holidays.
The Republicans are desperate for Mueller not to continue. They want to fire him, but are trying to do as much public relations/propaganda work first so it will seem like a justifiable move.
The Koch's are also impatient to fire Mueller. They want to crush anyone who could threaten GOP rule.
I noticed when going over the recording of the Q&A at the end of the Dec 21st Read the Future session that when someone asked me about the Tax Proposal, I actually found myself channeling Charles Koch. When I reviewed the tape, I was shocked to see that my facial expression looked like David Koch. I've never seen Charles Koch on video so maybe it was more like him. But anyway, He was vehemently yelling at Ryan and his GOP colleagues, like a violent crime boss, I WANT THAT MONEY NOW! I WANT IT NOW! And if you don't get it to me NOW, you are finished. You will never see another dime from me. DO YOU UNDERSTAND? A few days later, I heard that the Koch super pac was relaying these kinds of messages to their beneficiaries.
So he got his money with the passage of the Tax Package. And they dispensed a large scale coordinated propaganda campaign to sell the most unpopular piece of legislation in recent history to the American public. Ryan has been reported as saying that the public will like the legislation once they are able to explain it to them. It's interesting that it used to be that the public asked for legislation and they may or may not get it. Nowadays, the oligarchs demand legislation, the GOP passes it, then they have to do a massive reeducation campaign to convince Americans that it is actually good for them.
And now Koch and others want Mueller disabled.
The more money and power Koch gets, the more scared he gets that he will lose it. And the more willing he is to take desperate measures. Meanwhile Putin laughs at them for tiptoeing around the American public.
I'm not sure how Mueller can manage to keep from being fired, although I haven't seen it happen in visions. Like the Moore campaign, the PR has to get bad enough that even the Republicans won't try to save those who Mueller is exposing. The GOP operatives have a list of measures they will take, each more lawless and repressive than the other - to stop Mueller.
First, They will try to go for getting Mueller fired. They launched a Congressional interrogation of Justice Department people. They interrogated the Justice Department's Rosenstein but he didn't budge. They also have the smear campaign with FOX and Breitbart, etc. Next they will work on using a scapegoat they can throw at the public. They also are using the act of ignoring the findings and getting Trump to quiet down a bit.
SO in the end, I don't see Mueller fired. I do see a scapegoat. I think it is going to be in the longer term that Mueller's work will all play out, that justice will prevail.
Jeanne, in answer to why Mueller can't be fired, I suggest following Elizabeth Cronise McGlaughlin on YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UC85eSMgCIdzVn4y_CBCrvag
Scroll down & look for the 'casts on Mueller. ECM is a former Washington prosecutor. Her podcasts provide succinct analysis of how a special prosecution works, the legal boundaries involved, and what each news drop really means about the inside workings of the special prosecution.
Basically Trump can't fire Mueller himself. Creating a Nixon style 'Saturday Night Massacre' and firing heads of the DOJ until he reaches someone who WILL fire Mueller is the very definition of Obstruction of Justice, which will get him impeached.
Even if Trump managed to get Mueller fired and he *wasn't* immediately impeached, Mueller's firing would trigger a f***-tonne of lawsuits from the State of NY, among others, regarding money laundering, payola, and probably sexual harrassment. He'd very rapidly be hog-tied and thrown down.
Trump's safest route is doing exactly what he is doing--throwing up a smokescreen to discredit the FBI, which is all BS & everyone knows it's agit-prop except the 13% of hard core GOP Trumpites that love their Faux-News propaganda.
Trump can't do diddly squat about firing Mueller.
I watched Rachel Maddow's show with her "dream team" of prosecutors twice; thanks for the explanations. Jeanne's insight into the Koch brothers totally creeps me out. It seems like the world needs a real Lisbeth Salander. On that note, I remember how freaked out Trump was when he first went into office about the possibility that his conversations had been taped and accused Obama of wiretaps. I assumed he was referring to the NSA's ability to listen in to anything anywhere before Congress limited its ability to do that. Is it possible that the NSA has a trove of incriminating conversations somewhere?
Gracesinger--remember when Comey was giving testimony and he said on camera "lordy, I hope there are tapes?" I think that was actually a hint. Given the NYT news drop in the opinion section yesterday, it seems likely someone was wearing a wire *during the campaign*... tapes are quite likely.
I read the opinion section written by the co-founders of Fusion GPS and a related link related to Papadopoulos (go Australians!), but why put a wire on somebody when the FBI could get a FISA warrant, especially when the concern is someone is suspected of being an agent of a foreign government or why not do both?
Gracesinger--I doubt any of us outside the investigation can make sense of which approach is the right one. The most salient fact I have is that Mueller is approaching this like taking down the Gambino crime boss. For that kind of corruption case, you start with the runners, work your way up. Every level rats on another level, up the chain. A FISA warrant gets you top down info that's clearer, more codified, even narrower in its channels. Wire tapping can expose an investigation to broader spectrum, close to the ground info that may shake out significant, unexpected leads. It's not just about nailing a given individual dead to rights, it's about exposing the entire rotten system of rats nests.
But I am *not* Mueller. This is just my interpretation.