Trump

Make no mistake: Mueller already has dirt on all of this, and and likely much more that the public may never learn. That he’s choosing to charge Flynn for only one count of lying to the Feds is proof that not only has he flipped his target, but that the target is also cooperating with an investigation that’s after an even bigger fish — despite insistence by the biggest fish of them all that this is all a witch hunt.

But Mueller is only getting started. And the fact that he charged Flynn for misdeeds that occurred before the special counsel was even appointed is proof of his genius — that is, he’s showing the president’s apologists that he’s not some political hack on a fishing expedition for made-up charges concocted after he was assigned to the case. The best, or worst, is yet to come for the Trump administration.

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But Trump continues to make it chillingly clear that his unceasing attacks upon the system are neither accidental nor a mistake borne of naïvete. Trump believes he commands the government with the same totality he commands his business.

His lawyer, John Dowd, has elevated this assumption to official presidential doctrine in an explosive interview with Mike Allen. A “president cannot obstruct justice because he is the chief law enforcement officer under [the Constitution’s Article II] and has every right to express his view of any case,” he says.

It is easy to hyperventilate about various Trumpian offenses, but Dowd is claiming on Trump’s behalf virtual immunity from the law. The powers he is asserting, and the dangers it would bring, have almost no limit.

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