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A Confirmation On The Brink: Three Scenarios For The Kavanaugh Hearing

440px-Judge_Brett_KavanaughBelow is my column in USA Today on the different outcomes possible in the ongoing Kavanaugh controversy.  These scenarios have become more complex after a hearing was schedule for Monday and then Dr. Christine Blasey Ford announced that she would not appear.  She has declared that the FBI must investigate her allegations of attempted rape as a condition of her testimony.  What is clear is that the last minute allegation has galvanized the Democratic ranked, including Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskall.  Obviously, if Ford does not show up at the hearing the GOP could use the refusal as a basis for treating the allegations as unproven and proceed to a vote on the merits.  If she does show up, Kavanaugh is likely in for one of the most brutal hearings in history.

Here is the column:

Christine Blasey Ford is about to enter the political lexicon of Washington with other names that embody the cathartic scandals that define this city. Like many, she is reportedly a reluctant addition to the list with figures like Anita Hill. While she expressly asked that the Democrats not move forward with her allegations, Democratic operatives reportedly leaked her letter after Judge Brett Kavanaugh seemed set for confirmation in a matter of a couple of weeks. After the leak, Ford felt compelled to come forward and will now find herself in the center of a maelstrom of Beltway politics with a key Supreme Court seat at stake.

Ford came to the controversy willingly but anonymously. She reached out to Congress to have members consider her allegation that Kavanaugh, in high school, attempted to rape her. The alleged sexual assault occurred at a small gathering of teenagers at a Maryland home. Ford says she went to use the bathroom when she was attacked by Kavanaugh and pulled into a bedroom. She says he held his hand over her mouth as she tried to scream and tried to pull off her clothes and bathing suit. She says the assault ended when Kavanaugh’s friend, Mark Judge, jumped on top of them and knocked Kavanaugh to the floor. She says she then ran to the bathroom and locked herself in. She says that both Kavanaugh and Judge were drunk, and that she eventually fled the party.

The ‘she’ in the ‘he said, she said’ controversy

When this story broke, many of us expressed our concerns over the fairness of the last minute allegation. After all, the Democrats had this letter since July and then decided to leak the letter (against the apparent wishes of Ford) on the eve of Kavanaugh’s vote. The delay effectively ran out the clock for the Senate if the White House had to put forward a new nominee before the midterm elections. The Republicans could well lose the Senate with the House in November. Had the letter been leaked in July, the White House could have either tried to blunt the impact or replace the nominee.

Now, even if it were inclined to dump Kavanaugh, it would be hard pressed to advance another nominee in time to beat the rapidly closing calendar. Kavanaugh is its only pre-election option, and the White House appears ready to go “all in” on confirmation.

Until Sunday, this calculus was easier when the allegation was nameless and faceless. We now have a “she” in this “he said, she said” controversy. She’s willing to testify, which means that he will be expected to respond — just as Clarence Thomas was compelled to address the allegations of Anita Hill.

With the announcement that Ford will testify, Kavanaugh’s already slim majority appears to be evaporating. Sens.  Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski were already under fire for leaning toward confirmation despite their pledges to vote against an anti-Roe nominee. They and other Republicans now want to hear testimony, and it is hard to see how Kavanaugh could maintain his majority at the end of that process.There are only three ways that such hearings can play out:

The ‘A Few Good Men’ scenario

Republicans could try for “A Few Good Men” scenario that try to break Ford at the witness table like the famous “you can’t handle the truth” scene. However, Ford is not some powerful, snarling Marine general but an alleged victim of an attempted rape with an accomplished career as a university professor.

Nevertheless, they could try to impeach Ford. Republicans could question why she does not have a single contemporary witness beyond Judge, who vehemently denies the allegations. They could press her on the absence of a single friend with whom she confided or a record of seeking legal or medical assistance before 2012. They could also press her on any coordination or knowledge of the leak of the letter. Finally, they could question why the only record of her discussing the attack occurred during counseling sessions with her husband despite the fact that Kavanaugh had been much in the news with his earlier confirmation to the D.C. Circuit.

Republicans are concerned with midterm voters

The problem is that this is not a few good men but all men on the Republican side. On an all-male GOP bench on the Senate Judiciary Committee and a GOP struggling to retain dwindling numbers of women voters, the optics could not be worse. Moreover, many young women are reluctant to tell people about such attacks, and the silence of Ford is not dissimilar from other accounts in the “Me Too” movement.

‘The Caine Mutiny’ scenario

The second scenario is a type of “The Caine Mutiny” where, like Capt.  Philip Francis Queeg, Kavanaugh breaks behind the witness table by appearing uncertain and paranoid. Kavanaugh has already weathered a heated confirmation hearing without a misstep and previously prepared witnesses for such hearings. But this is different.

While Republicans will likely be reluctant to hammer Ford, the Democrats will have no such hesitation with Kavanaugh, who will be asked about underage drinking and relations in high school. His friend, Mark Judge, has written a book that describes drunken out-of-control parties and describes himself as essentially a blackout drunk during this period.

A tie scenario

The third option is no better for Kavanaugh. This cannot end in a tie. Either Ford has to be discredited, or the matter is left to credibility judgments. The public is likely to find Ford’s account more compelling, particularly if Republicans are leery of pressing her account or veracity. As in trial, there is no half-way option in seeking to impeach a witness alleging sexual assault. Either she is a liar or a victim. If you leave it somewhere in the middle with a jury, your client is likely to be found guilty.

In the end, Kavanaugh could be looking at a considerable challenge toward confirmation. He is relying on politicians who are already looking over his shoulder at the approaching midterm elections. It is their demise, not his, that they are worried about. Kavanaugh does not want to find himself in the balance between a senator’s future and his own. But that is precisely where this could be heading.

Jonathan Turley, a member of USA TODAY’s Board of Contributors, is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. Follow him on Twitter: @JonathanTurley

106 thoughts on “A Confirmation On The Brink: Three Scenarios For The Kavanaugh Hearing”

  1. Ford alleges that Kavanaugh’s prep school classmate and friend, Mark Judge, was present in the room at the time the incident with Kavanaugh took place. Another Georgetown Prep alum, Erik Ruyak, said that former Georgetown Prep priest, Garrett “Gary” Orr, molested him while he was a student. Judge defended Orr, claiming that Ruyak was lying, adding that Ruyak made up the story about Orr because “liberalism” had converted him into a homosexual. However, Orr later confessed to molesting several children between 1989 and 2002 and Georgetown Prep apologized for his behavior in a letter to students and parents. In 2002, Orr was transferred to Loyola College in Baltimore and in 2008 he left the priesthood.

    In a post on Facebook, Ruyak wrote that that the incident involving Kavanaugh and Ford “is one that I know was repeated dozens of times in my 4 years at Prep.” Women who attended Holton-Arms with Ford have lent credence to her allegations about the atmosphere existing at Georgetown Prep at the time.

    1. bettykath – sounds like sour grapes to me. He does have an axe to grind and he seems to want to grind it finely.

  2. Here’s why I predict Kavanaugh to be confirmed in the next couple of weeks.
    1. Mrs. Ford will stick to her decision to not seek prosecution of Judge K.
    2. The narrative is shifting to the matter of which untrustworthy Democrat(s) decided to
    betray Mrs. Ford’s condition of remaining anonymous. Was it Feinstein? Was it Eshoo?
    A staffer? The narrative is shifting to political operatives using Mrs. Ford as an expendable
    pawn.
    3. There is simply too much heat on the Senators running for re-election. They can only remove the heat by allowing Judge K to be confirmed, and hoping the raw feelings will dissipate before November — holding the controversy open is a “nobody wins” risk for the incumbent Senators.

      1. David Benson is the King of Making Stuff Up and owes me nine citations (one from the OED) and the source of a quotation, after sixteen weeks, and needs to cite all his work from now on. – it might be a staffer, but is it a staffer who is following directions, or a staffer working on their own.

        BTW, is WSU on the quarter system? Just found out the Udub was.

    2. pbina: # 3 stands out as absurdly wishful.

      “They can only remove the heat by allowing Judge K to be confirmed, and hoping the raw feelings will dissipate before November”.

      Only someone deep inside the right-wing media bubble could possibly think those raw feelings will “dissipate before November”. Perhaps voters will respond instead to Trump’s “fantastic” healthcare plan.

  3. Dr. Ford is not going to appear on Monday, and Judge Kavanauh will be confirmed – as even Politico and the New York Times now concede (albeit “on a narrow vote along party lines”)
    . Indeed, the resigned liberals commenting on the later article in the Times vow to unleash the FBI and then impeach Kavanaugh just as soon as they regain control of congress.

    The no holds barred attempt to block the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh, announced before a nominee was even chosen by the president, has been nakedly partisan and sickening.

    Before you bring up Merrick Garland, at least the Republicans were upfront about why they were blocking his nomination. They didn’t resort to costumed protesters, wire hangars mailed to senators, contrived allegations of “perjury” and allegations of sexual assault *in high school* no less.

    Then when all was said and done Kavanaugh’s accuser (who remembers no details except she had precisely one beer) didn’t even have the guts to appear and state her allegations under oath.

    This was not in the context of a rough and tumble senate race, but a judicial confirmation hearing.

    Vile and disgusting and it will hurt Democrats badly, including with women (who thought Dr. Ford should have been heard.)

    Regarding the “fair hearing” claim, the only senators who were prejudging the merits of Dr. Ford’s allegations were Democrats, who were busy this week giving press conferences adamantly saying that they “believe’ the allegations to be true. This was before they had the opportunity of weighing Judge Kavanaugh’s testimony on Monday against Dr. Ford’s.

  4. For Perspective On Kavanaugh Problems:

    6 YEARS AGO REPUBLICANS DISCUSSED REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

    BUT NO WOMEN WERE PRESENT

    Republican politicians are treading into murky (read: sexist) waters in the contraception debate. Earlier today, in protest of House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa’s refusal to allow women onto a panel of witnesses at the hearing on the White House mandate to require employers and insurers to provide contraception coverage, Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) walked out, garnering a significant amount of media attention and setting off an ensuing furor among women and men. Why no women? Issa said, “the hearing is not about reproductive rights and contraception but instead about the Administration’s actions as they relate to freedom of religion and conscience.”

    Currently under the Obama plan, in cases in which religious groups are involved, contraception coverage will be offered to women by their employers’ insurance companies directly, so that religious employers who oppose contraception don’t have to be involved with that nasty business. What Issa means is that the hearing is about whether requiring insurers to cover birth control violates the religious freedom of people who don’t believe that birth control should, essentially, exist. The people on his panel, then, were men. Religious men. (Two women appeared on a second panel at the hearing. Both spoke against contraception.)

    But back to Issa’s statement: How do you take “reproductive rights and contraception” out of a conversation about birth control? You can’t. You might try to ignore those parts of the conversation because you want to get a specific answer, for a specific purpose. And allowing women on a panel to talk about how and why they need birth control — and how and why they need insurers to pay for it — detracts from that mission.

    Edited from: “Why Are Men Dominating The Debate About Birth Control?”

    THE ATLANTIC, 2/16/12

    1. In the above controversy, Republicans tried to claim ‘religious freedom’ had nothing to do with reproductive rights with regards to healthcare. They then refused to hear testimony by women concerning their efforts to cut-off prescription coverage to birth control pills.

      That controversy, 6 years ago, helps explain, in part, the problems Republicans face with Kavanaugh. The GOP has this well-known history of being hostile to women’s reproductive rights. And its an open secret that Kavanaugh would overturn Roe vs Wade.

      So women are naturally very cynical of Republican motives right now. And the fact that Republicans have no women on the Judiciary Committee reinforces the deepest cynicism.

  5. My money is on her not turning in her CV by 10 am Friday, so Monday can be voting day. She cannot withstand cross-examination.

  6. “…that embody the cathartic scandals…”

    BS, this scandal will leave everybody embittered.

    It appears more likely that Kavanaugh will be rejected and have a permanent cloud over his reputation.

    I for one am feeling very angry; don’t know what to do other than contribute and vote, but the system is failing when these shenanigans become SOP.

    We have a slow rolling coup going on against the legally elected president and against the people who elected him.

    1. There is some reason to believe Judge Kavanagh has committed impeachable offenses and ought to be removed from his circuit court seat. Further, I question his mental stability, basically over his binging on baseball tickets — and then wonder how he paid his debts.

      Not a life of propriety.

      1. There is some reason to believe Judge Kavanagh has committed impeachable offenses and ought to be removed from his circuit court seat.

        There is no reason to believe that. There are half-assed memes circulating courtesy partisan Democrats promoting that idea.

  7. Even IF Kavanaugh did what this woman alleges he did, it is NOT AS SERIOUS an allegation as we are being told it is. PERSPECTIVE is needed here. What she describes was a teenage drunken fumbling encounter that frightened a teenage girl. And for this — this! — the leftist media mob is about to destroy a good man’s life and reputation?

    It disgusts me enough as a lifelong registered Independent voter to get out knocking on doors to Get Out the Vote for any and all Republican candidates in every single election in the midterms. I don’t care who they are, whether you like them or not, just vote for all the Republicans up and down the ballot. Do not capitulate to the leftist mob! Vote Republican just to say FU to the mob. That’s a good enough reason for me this time around. I don’t need any other reason.

    I am beyond disgusted by the Democrat party right now. I’m beyond disgusted by the Democrat party, the media, and Hollywood right now. And yes, it’s the ‘Democrat’ party. Why? Because the Democrats are anything BUT “democratic” in their disgusting mob mentality, ruthless, shameless, seek and destroy methods. There is nothing “democratic” about the Democrat party of today.

    1. Bob, the media can’t just sit on these allegations. They have no obligation to Kavanaugh. It’s not the media’s fault that any of this happened.

    2. Not serious? I guess you have never been in a position of an attempted rape by two drunks who thought it was a joke. Nor have you ever been in a position where you feared of being smothered to death.

      1. bettykath – I am willing to take her at her first word from the family counselor’s notes. Four boys, she is late teens, takes place in summer. No names are mentioned. So, the narrative about it being all around school is out. Now, let’s shift the narrative a little, she is still late teens, but the story about the school is accurate. Kavanaugh and Judge are in college, so they are out of the picture.

        She is re-creating this memory as she goes. Repressed memories are historically with children, not 15-19 year olds. As a psychologist she knows this or should. And even then, they are suspect. Very suspect. Eye witness testimony is suspect. People have gone to prison for rape on eye witness testimony who later were exonerated by DNA. Repressed memory is 1000x worse.

        Then, if it was all around the school Dr. Ford would have had her own story told back to her at some point. Certainly one or more of the 65 women who supported Judge Kavanaugh would have heard this story. Some of them would have gone to the same school with her. Might have been in the same social circle.

        I believe the repressed memory is a repressed memory and I take it as such. The family counselor’s notes are closest to the truth of the repressed memory. However, just because it is a repressed memory does not make it the truth of anything.

        Let’s add another layer to the cake. On Rate Your Professor all of the raters said not to get on her bad side, even the one person who gave her a good review. Some said she was unprofessional, at least one said she was scary and mentally unbalanced. Another said she had a dark side. Would a person like this be above making up a story of a repressed memory in family counseling to get sympathy from her spouse and the counselor? And would she later be above using it anonymously to bring down a Supreme Court nominee? And why would she be secretly contacting WaPo if she wanted to stay anonymous?

        1. About your “Rate Your Professor” comments, Paul:

          “Let’s add another layer to the cake. On Rate Your Professor all of the raters said not to get on her bad side, even the one person who gave her a good review. Some said she was unprofessional, at least one said she was scary and mentally unbalanced. Another said she had a dark side.”

          “Christine Blasey Ford: Rate My Professor Reviews Are for a Different Ford”

          https://heavy.com/news/2018/09/christine-blasey-ford-rate-my-professor/

          So while you’re waiting on DBB for those citations, Paul, why don’t you start sourcing your own material.

          2. anonymous – if that is true, then I will walk it back, however, where are ‘her’ Rate My Professor reviews? I do feel bad for the kids at Fullerton then. 😉

    3. Haha. Excellent. But what is that ticking sound?

      this is to “darn, the true American patriots have nearly shut down we gullible rubes, dupes, klan-wannabees, pocket-traitors and grifters on the make” t-hot bobbie

      1. Mark M, You are one of my faves on this blog…such cleverness, such wit, such originality. That ticking sound is the beat of my heart when I read your words. Don’t ever change. xoxo

  9. A GoFundMe campaign for Blasey Ford has been setup and is being promoted by Hollywood celebrity activists to raise a half million or more to pay for her legal and security costs. Call your Senators! Vote No on Kavanaugh! Do Not Confirm Kavanaugh! Your Sisters Support Your Bravery! We Believe You! We Stand With You!

    He’s been declared ‘guilty by accusation.’ The ladies on The View have said ‘he’s probably guilty,” the Ellen Show, the late night so-called ‘comedy’ shows, the cable news shows — all of it has been “activated” against Kavanaugh based on one allegation of something he may have done as a drunken teenager almost forty years ago — that he vehemently denies.

    God help Brett Kavanaugh and his family. His life’s work, his integrity, his reputation, his family — all if it is being destroyed, right now, because of one single flimsy accusation of a drunken teenage encounter. This disgusts me beyond belief what the Democrats, the left, the liberal media, the Hollywood activists are doing.

    1. Your sentiment is shared by so many of us. I really think I’m developing a stomach ulcer because of the constant tsunami of vile from the Left. All lies, and usually told in such a cavalier manner. If people like us are getting ill,, what must the Kavanaughs be experiencing?!

    2. Just true American patriots defending our country from the gullible rubes, dupes, klan-wannabees, pocket-traitors and grifters on the make. So sorry for your loss.

      this is to “so tell me again why I like Putin?” t-hot bobbie

  10. A tribute song for Dr. Ford. “White Rabbit”, sung by Grace Slick. “Go ask Alice what she said before”. Go ask Alice, you know what was god damn said.

  11. All you do is have a safe-seated Republican conduct a minimalist, aggressive cross-exam on Ford to disclose how stupid this charge is and how incredible the story. A law school student could write the questions: When did it happen? Can you narrow it to a year certain since you’ve told us you were fifteen? Where did it happen? Describe the house. What neighborhood was it in? Who was there? Were you drinking? How much? Did you knowingly come alone to a party with four boys older than you there? Why do you decide to do that? If you didn’t why did you decide to stay with two falling down drunk older boys? Why did you wait so long to mention the claimed attack? Did you call Police? Tell your parents who apparently were available to you? Given the seriousness of your claim, didn’t you feel obligated to let the world know a possible sexual abuser was on the federal bench? If you didn’t feel that way, why not? You always had the option to write your confidential letter when Judge Kavanaugh was nominated to other federal jobs, right? But you didn’t until now, right? Are you an activist? Do you contribute to Democratic causes and candidates? Is this you in the picture with the pussy hat and marching against Trump? Did you coordinate the leaking of the letter? If you thought the letter was confidential why did you take a lie detector test and hire a lawyer before it was leaked? Are you paying for your lawyer? Did you talk about it at school despite telling us all you didn’t mention it except to the counselor? Were you truthful with the counselor? If so, why do her notes reflect that you say that four people attacked you when it was only one? Why didn’t you tell her the names? Why did you delete your social media posts about your promiscuity and drinking before the hearing? Why do the people you cite as eyewitnesses adamantly deny the event happened including the person who cite as your savior? Did it happen during summer break as a hearsay witness claims or during the school year? Are you actively seeking a book or movie deal? Do you plan to? Etc. They just write themselves and you don’t even have to lead since either way, the answers are damning. And if you do lead, the results are more devasting for her.

    She’ll fold like a tissue since at the academy where she supposedly thrives, no one directly challenges your nonsense preferring to stroke their chins at your “brilliance.” In the world of Congressional hearings, she won’t get “suffered gladly.” This is high stakes poker and the ante is high along with the betting. Most folks can’t stay in the game.

    1. Mespo, the problem is that all Republicans on the panel are male. Just that alone looks terrible to voters. Which shows how these allegations caught the GOP totally flat-footed.

      1. Just that alone looks terrible to voters.

        You keep projecting your stupidities on ordinary and decent people, Peter.

        1. Spastic, are we to believe that All-Male Committees don’t influence perceptions..?? Of course they do! You’re in denial and trying to be dismissive as usual.

  12. I have been so sickened by listening to someone I respect like Turley continue the mental mind game of the smear. The Press and Dems continue imagining scenarios that almost betray logic and defame someone based on an allegation – a clear GUILTY before proven innocent. I am a 54 year old woman, who finds the Alinskyite tactics of the Left a terrible blight on our body politic. The Democrats obviously used this as a Bork/Thomas smear tactic and anyone who denies that is ignorant and gullible.

    There are hundreds of reasons to have to unfortunately dismiss her claims: they are 36 year old allegations absolutely unprovable never reported; a therapists notes are not admissable and could be entirely fabricated or erroneously suggestive especially as they didn’t even name names; multiple people whom she named have denied her allegations including Judge and the other named participant; she has a foggy memory of anything about the situation and memory is manipulatable and changeable; behavior of teenagers defies logic, which is why we have 2 different penal codes; there are absolutely no other indications that Mr. Kavanaugh behaved in this fashion at any other time and indeed plenty of indications that he didn’t. THis is just like the Duke and UVA smear…or how about the Cultural Revolution .. or the Salem Witch Trials. Yes – it is getting that bad and the Democrats are the ones who have gone to that extreme.

    1. This is a good comment and good summary of the apCray before the American people. I do not believe the so called victim. I do not respect many of the Senators and House members. I do not particularly like Kavanough but would vote for him as of today.

    2. SBG:
      “Yes – it is getting that bad and the Democrats are the ones who have gone to that extreme.”
      ************************************
      They have and like all extremists they’ll turn on themselves. Human nature rarely changes. In the meantime, we just use our right to vote and to speak against them. Nothing new here. Same old socialist song, different singers.

      1. Socialist song lyrics:
        “And crown thy good with brotherhood
        From sea to shining sea.”

            1. David Benson is the King of Making Stuff Up and owes me nine citations (one from the OED) and the source of a quotation, after sixteen weeks, and needs to cite all his work from now on. – you are a legend in your own mind.

      2. MESPO

        Kavanaugh’s perjury leaves him with little room to be given much benefit of the doubt, and questions about his curious credit cards debt doesn’t help establish his credibility. The issue here is whether his denial of attempted rape is just another lie.

    3. On the other hand, you, your ilk, the gullible rubes, dupes, klan wannabees, pocket traitors and grifters on the make have been found lacking by true American patriots who won’t stand for the damage you people have inflicted on our beloved country. So sorry for your loss and that you’ve still not figured out that hannity cares nothing about you.

      this is to “my tummy hurts” sbg

  14. Once Kavanaugh is on the Supreme Court then Trump can focus on replacing RBG with Attila the Hun.

    1. Excerpted from the article linked above: Trump in his own words:

      “If I did one mistake with Comey, I should have fired him before I got here. I should have fired him the day I won the primaries,” Trump said. “I should have fired him right after the convention, say I don’t want that guy. Or at least fired him the first day on the job. … I would have been better off firing him or putting out a statement that I don’t want him there when I get there.”

      So Trump now says that he should have announced his intention to fire Comey as soon as he had a delegate lock on the Republican nomination for President. One wonders what effects such an announcement from Trump might have had on the outcome of the 2016 election or, perhaps more importantly, the various decisions made by James Comey during the 2016 election. Since they still say that timing is everything, it might make a big difference if Trump had made such an announcement before Comey exonerated Clinton or shortly before Comey reopened the Clinton email investigation. And exactly when did Trump get a lock on the Republican nomination, anyhow?

      1. Haha, did you see the people he was running against? He got in because he wasn’t status quo, he wasn’t taking any BS, people knew he wouldn’t be the same ol’ BS republican, and they liked that. He beat Hillary, well, because Hillary is Hillary, and the vast majority seem to hate her …. the reason escapes me, Haha.

        1. Perhaps you didn’t read the quotation from Trump. Here it comes, again:

          “If I did one mistake with Comey, I should have fired him before I got here. I should have fired him the day I won the primaries,” Trump said. “I should have fired him right after the convention, say I don’t want that guy. Or at least fired him the first day on the job. … I would have been better off firing him or putting out a statement that I don’t want him there when I get there.”

          Now see if you can answer this question: When did Trump form the intent to fire Comey?

        2. He lost the majority of voters. He beat Hillary because she pissed off so many Sanders supporters that most stayed at home rather than to go vote for her. I was pro Bernie but knowing what the other guy represented and what it could do for the Supreme Court I couldn’t sit idly.

        3. Here’s a fun game you can play with the quotation from Trump. It’s call “frame substitution.” I’ll show you how to play it:

          “If I did one mistake with [Sessions, Rosenstein, Mueller], I should have fired him before I got here. I should have fired him the day I won the primaries. I should have fired him right after the convention, say I don’t want that guy. Or at least fired him the first day on the job. … I would have been better off firing him or putting out a statement that I don’t want him there when I get there.”

          To play the game, just pick one of the names in the [brackets] or substitute a name of your own choosing [Flynn, Priebus, Bannon, McMaster, Tillerson . . .] Notice that certain names–such as Manafort, Gates, Papadopoulos, Carter Page–will not work very well as frame substitutions for Comey in Trump’s quotation. Otherwise, have fun and enjoy the game.

    2. Trump had more than enough delegates to win the Republican nomination by early March of 2016. Comey announced that he would not recommend criminal charges against Clinton in July of 2016. Comey’s first draft of that announcement was supposedly written in May of 2016. And Comey reopened the Clinton email investigation in late October of 2016.

      So, had Trump announced his intention to fire Comey in March of 2016, then Trump might have been called upon to explain Trump’s reason for intending to fire Comey before Comey had even written the first draft of his letter exonerating Clinton–assuming that Comey would still have gone on to exonerate Clinton in July of 2016, anyhow, despite Trump’s hypothetical announcement of his intention to fire Comey.

      P. S. This is yet another fine example of why Trump’s lawyers cannot allow Trump to answer any of Mueller’s questions–not ever.

  17. Nothing changes.- Insert any of the other short lists including the very shortest Garland what’s his name and if it came from President Trump the same reaction would occur.

    Chaffetz book came out today I’m half way through it. It is doing a good job of tying things together as to what has become of FDR’s scientific administration. And so far as I’ve thought for a very long time FDR should be dug up, tried, convicted, sentenced and reburied. Franklin was correct.

    Third….I was wrong about Sessions. Replace him immediately. with Chaffetz or Gowdy. But it’s proof that RINO’s like Sessions are deeply embedded and the word conservatism is no longer useful Either Constitutionalist or Socialist will do nicely and with far more accuracy.

    My bet Ford won’t show up she can’t afford to have to take the oath. That was obvious so the only reason for the charade is obstruct and delay.

    I’m hoping that lady Judge will be number three

  18. Maybe the Republicans could offer up Merrick Garland. He actually does not have a liberal background; Obama nominated him basically to try to placate the Republicans.

    1. I wondered about that. obama said that was as far to the right as he was willing to go and let it go at that indicating he had not too much interest. Any chance anyone has a good set of verifiable background for when the constitutionalist majority is set in place? Part of that is the ability to rule on changes such as revisiting the term limits act..

  19. Influence doesn’t create truth. Once again, I believe folks(you’re included), deem to exonerate an unsubstantiated- uncorroborated allegation. I’m not impressed that you believe this to be substantial. Please place this in a court of law…would this hold water? Yep, not so much. But, you’ve decided to give it basis. Please explain Sir.

    1. It has no place in any court of law. FBI rejected it and the local courts would say cite statute of limitations. So a court it will never see.

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