Jeffrey Toobin is an American lawyer, author and legal analyst who frequently discusses political issues on CNN news. In this book Toobin presents a step-by-step analysis of the Mueller probe and the impeachment hearings that followed President Trump's election in 2016.
The Trump drama starts well before 2016, when (then) candidate Trump is alleged to have colluded with Russia to sway the election.
President Donald Trump
Russia's assistance to Trump was a multi-pronged effort including: manipulation of social media, including Facebook, by the Russian 'Internet Research Agency'; hacking Democratic emails and disseminating them via Wikileaks; and meeting with members of Trumps re-election team, including Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner.
Donald Trump Jr.
Jared Kushner
In Toobin's view, FBI Director James Comey helped elect Trump as well, because of his ham-handed management of various email disclosures. Toobin views Comey as a showboat whose 'foolish actions before the election - putting himself in the limelight - essentially sabotaged Hillary Clinton.' Though Comey claims it was his duty, Toobin thinks the FBI director was keeping on the right side of the Republican Party, for job security.
James Comey
In any case, Trump's election came back to bite Comey in the butt because the Russia probe - which began right after the election - infuriated Trump. Trump tried to wheedle and bully Comey into quashing the Russia inquiry, and when Comey demurred, he was fired. Toobin writes, "It may be an overstatement, though not much of one, to say that James Comey was responsible for both the election of Donald Trump and the appointment of Robert Mueller.”
Trump's increasingly strident efforts to stop the Russia probe eventually led to the appointment of Robert Mueller as Special Counsel. Mueller's brief was to investigate Trump's alleged collusion with Russia and Trump's obstruction of justice during the subsequent investigation.
Robert Mueller
Unfortunately for the American public, Mueller was too cautious, and his probe too narrow, to do the job properly. Mueller recalled Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, who was fired by obstructionist President Nixon, and Whitewater Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, who spent eight years trying to pin something - ANYTHING - on then President Clinton. Not wanting to join the ranks of the ignominious, Mueller determined that his investigation would be quick, efficient, and focused.
Archibald Cox
Kenneth Starr
Toobin thinks Mueller should have pushed harder to interview the president; probed Trump's financial ties to Russia; and examined Trump's personal finances and tax returns. These avenues were blocked by the president's associates, and Mueller didn't force the issue. Thus Mueller and his prosecutors could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump's team coordinated with Russia - though campaign manager Paul Manafort and advisor George Papadopoulos were VERY cozy with Russians.
Paul Manafort
George Papadopoulos
Toobin observes, “Certainly, Mueller found abundant evidence that Trump and his campaign wanted to collude and conspire with Russia, but they hadn’t been able to close the deal.”
Trump's obstruction of justice was more 'provable.' For one thing, White House counsel Don McGahn testified that Trump asked him to fire Mueller. Toobin writes, “Mueller had uncovered extensive evidence that Trump committed the crime of obstruction of justice—repeatedly. The Mueller Report spelled it out clearly. Trump told Comey to lay off Michael Flynn; when Comey didn’t, Trump fired Comey. Trump tried to undermine Mueller, and then he ordered McGahn to oust the prosecutor; then Trump told McGahn to lie about it. These were illegal acts—in conception and execution. These were crimes, even if Mueller stopped short of saying that they were.”
Don McGahn
Michael Flynn
In the end, the Mueller Report stated that Trump did wrong, but didn't say Trump should be prosecuted. This allowed the president and his allies, especially Attorney General William Barr, to misrepresent the Mueller Report findings and say Trump was exonerated. According to Toobin, all this "placed Trump effectively above the law."
William Barr
Thus the president went right on lying. Toobin observes, “Trump had been lying for his entire adult life, and far from being brought down by this pervasive dishonesty, he had been elected president of the United States. Why change what was working so well?" Toobin is more scathing when he talks about "the magnitude of [Trump's] flaws, of his narcissism, sociopathy, and ignorance. Trump’s only concern was his feral self-interest, his only belief was that those around him existed to serve him.”
Trump's arrogance increased following the Mueller Report, and - encouraged by his lawyer/advisor Rudy Giuliani - Trump tried to coerce the Ukraine into saying it would investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
Rudy Giuliani
Joe Biden and his son Hunter
Toobin notes, “It was the job of Trump’s lawyer to tell him not to do it. But that’s not what Giuliani did. To the contrary, Trump sent Giuliani to Ukraine, and he went. Together, the two men didn’t just advocate for collusion with Ukraine; they executed it.”
Trump and Giuliani's Ukraine shenanigans led a whistle-blower to report that Trump threatened to withhold military aid unless Ukraine President Zelensky besmirched the Bidens. Eventually, according to Toobin, “The White House released the military aid to Ukraine after allegations of the link to the Biden investigation became public. In other words, the Trump administration released the aid only because it was caught linking the aid to the quest for political dirt.”
Ukraine President Zelensky
These bombshell revelations resulted in Trump's impeachment, but (of course) the majority Republican Senate didn't convict him.
Toobin's book can be seen as a warning that Trump's narcissistic self-interest will continue as long as he is in office. Toobin writes, "“From the day [Trump] declared his candidacy, through the Russia scandal and his endless solicitude toward Vladimir Putin, and on into his cruel manipulation of the struggling democracy in Ukraine, Trump didn’t give a shit about anyone or anything but himself.”
Further proof of Trump's overwhelming egocentricity can be seen in his reaction to the coronavirus pandemic. Toobin observes, "Trump responded to the coronavirus with the same belligerent dishonesty that characterized his treatment of Mueller and impeachment. In the critical early days of the pandemic, when it might have been contained, he behaved with characteristic self-obsession, preferring to hound his enemies on Twitter rather than to learn the facts about the virus and protect the American people.
America will need a lot of 'fixing' when Trump is gone.
I think Toobin's book, which is a detailed overview of the Mueller investigation and the impeachment hearings, will be a good resource for future scholars of this era.
Rating: 4 stars
There is so much to investigate with this man. When he is no longer president, I think he should be thrown in jail. Very interesting book here, Barb.
ReplyDeleteThank you Carla. I completely agree with you. 🙂🌸🌹
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