Is Trump Abdicating Leadership of Justice Department?

President Trump recently posted a pre-dawn mini-tweetstorm, proving that he is willing to continue his criticism of special counsel Robert Mueller.But is he willing to use the power of his high office to act on his complaints? If not, he raises doubts about his oversight and leadership by proclaiming Mueller a rogue prosecutor while refusing to do anything about it.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1067395266511347713

Corsi Connection

The line about ruining people’s lives if they refuse to lie must reference Jerome Corsi, an associate of Trump dirty trickster Roger Stone. Popular speculation fueled by leaks from Mueller and/or his lieutenants suggests Corsi/Stone/Trump possessed advance knowledge of the stolen emails of John Podesta. Corsi made news recently with claims he would not sign a negotiated plea deal with Mueller, telling CNN, “I am not going to sign a lie.”

Corsi would have us believe Mueller is demanding Corsi sign a plea deal that includes the falsehood that he had the stolen e-mails, thus implicating Stone and perhaps Trump himself in a criminal act.

Corsi now claims he has a joint-defense agreement with President Trump, suggesting a verbal agreement negotiated by his attorney and Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow is in place. Joint-defense agreements are an extension of the attorney-client privilege, extending it to communications with another party and his or her lawyer for purposes of a joint defense. Sekulow did not return a request for confirmation of an agreement.

The Buck Does Not Stop With Trump

Trump went on:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1067398375337791488

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1067404517841518593

If only there were some type of management or quality control over the actions of special counsel Mueller, some kind of oversight or boss, who could make sure this Justice Department employee obeys the law instead of using it to “ruin lives.” Well, there is such a check on the special counsel’s power. President Trump is in charge of Mueller and must stop him if he knows Mueller is acting in violation of the law. Mr. President, suborning perjury is a crime, and you, sir, have to fire Mueller if that’s what he’s doing.

Manafort Plea Deal Gone?

Perhaps Trump’s tweets are simply about trying to damage Mueller ...

The Guardian published a story alleging Paul Manafort met secretly with WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange several times in the months before the DNC emails were published. If so, such meetings give massive credibility to the charge that Trump was or his close associates were acting illegally. Mueller asserted in federal court that Manafort lied to his office and the FBI after he agreed to cooperate as part of his guilty plea, breaching that agreement.

Perhaps Trump’s tweets are simply about trying to damage Mueller in advance of his report. Alan Dershowitz told ABC’s This Week the report is “going to paint a picture that's going to be politically very devastating. I still don't think it's going to make a criminal case.” If that’s what he’s up to, the president should stop making allegations of wrongdoing and illegality he is duty-bound to act upon, lest the complaining on Twitter makes him look like an empty vessel.