Gaslighting: Did Trump’s Own Lawyers Leak the Memo He’s Accusing the Justice Dept of Leaking?

The New York Times has published an article about a memo by Donald Trump’s lawyers that asserts essentially that the President is above the law. The memo asserts that the Constitution empowers Trump to terminate any inquiry and, therefore, makes him immune to prosecution or even questioning by legal authorities.

Donald Trump

That, of course is nonsense and has no legal foundation. Nevertheless, the Times’ article states that:

“President Trump’s lawyers have for months quietly waged a campaign to keep the special counsel from trying to force him to answer questions in the investigation into whether he obstructed justice, asserting that he cannot be compelled to testify and arguing in a confidential letter that he could not possibly have committed obstruction because he has unfettered authority over all federal investigations.”

This is the sort of unfounded logic that has been promulgated by Rudy Giuliani and the Trump-fluffers on Fox News. There is no legal precedent for that conclusion, and the memo doesn’t even cite any. But what makes this even more interesting is that Trump blasted the release of the memo before it was actually released. He tweeted:

First of all, the special counsel investigation is a bargain compared to previous investigations, and it has already produced dozens of indictments and five guilty pleas. But more to the point, where did Trump get the idea that the memo was leaked? The story had not yet been published. Potential leakers might include the Times, or someone interviewed by the Times. But in order to figure out who was most likely to leak this information, you have to ask the old conspiracy question: Who benefits?

There is very little to suggest that any opponents of Trump would benefit from the disclosure of a legal position that Trump is above the law. The most likely beneficiary would be Trump himself, as he and his legal team seek to make that theory mainstream. It’s a theory that has already been advanced by his legal representatives and his supporters on Fox News.

If Trump wanted to push the notion that he cannot be questioned or indicted, then a good way to do that would be to get the New York Times to publish his own lawyers’ interpretation of the law. But he couldn’t allow it to be known that the leak came from his team. So he would then post a tweet pointing the finger of blame to the Justice Department or the special counsel, who he has already sought to discredit.

However, by posting the tweet before the article was published, he reveals that he was already aware of the article. How did that happen? Perhaps because it was him or his people who leaked the memo in the first place. The Times reporter, Michael Schmidt, was concerned about the President’s tweet and posted a tweet of his own:

If Trump or his team were responsible for the leak, Schmidt could not say so without violating an agreement with his anonymous source. But his tweet suggests that Trump’s involvement was more than a little suspicious. So that puts Trump in an advantageous position. He can say what he wants about the article, the memo and how it all became public, without having to worry about being exposed as the source. That is, unless Schmidt were to regard Trump’s dishonesty about the leak as a de facto breach of the agreement that would free him to acknowledge the identity of the source.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

All of this is highly speculative at this time, but it’s worth considering. Particularly in light of Trump’s penchant for gaslighting America. He is a known liar who will use any and every tactic for obfuscation and deceit. Which makes the probability of him leaking this memo and them blaming it on a Justice Department he despises pretty damn high.

Bill Maher Calls Republicans the Alex Jones Party – And Hannity Promptly Proves It

The trends have been taking shape for several years. The Republican Party began devolving into a conspiracy theory factory with crackpots like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck setting the tone for its political messaging. They inspired GOP loons like Louis Gohmert and Michele Bachmann to contribute to the madness that has become what is now their mainstream ideology.

Sean Hannity Fox News

Stories that used to reside exclusively on the outer fringes of the wingnut blogosphere are now routinely elevated to the bastions of right wing media, including its headquarters, Fox News. Much of the responsibility for this lies with America’s Conspiracy-Theorist-in-Chief, Donald Trump. He has not only disseminated the ludicrous inventions of the right’s most psychotic losers, he runs his own blather lab to manufacture fresh drivel on a daily basis.

On Friday Bill Maher delivered a monologue that nicely presented the decline of the GOP’s collective mental failure (video below). He noted that “conspiracy theorists used to be called ‘crazy,’ now they’re called ‘Senator.'” He continued:

“It used to be the unwritten rule of both parties that you can’t just make sh*t up. The old ‘you’re entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts’ thing. But that was until Republicans discovered that yes, yes you can just make sh*t up. You can have your own facts. In fact we just pulled a fresh batch out of the oven. And by the ‘oven’ I mean our ass.

“You know, I never liked Rush Limbaugh, but I would take a return to 90’s era dittoheads any day, because it turned out that Rush was really just a gateway drug to which they eventually built up a tolerance and then needed something stronger. That was Glenn Beck. Which led to Alex Jones. And now, Republicans, you’re the Alex Jones Party. There is literally nothing to stupid and conspiratorial that you will not swallow.”

If you think that Maher was just exaggerating for comic effect, you haven’t been watching enough of Sean Hannity. Because, also on Friday, Hannity announced that he had some “Great news for me tonight.” The news came from Hannity’s pal, Jerome Corsi, who also happens to be the Washington D.C. Bureau chief for Alex Jones’ Infowars. That’s right. The circle is complete. Corsi, who was the fruitcake responsible for the Swiftboat lies during John Kerry’s presidential campaign, told Hannity that he is “the next target of the Deep State.” Imagine Hannity’s surprise:

“Wow, isn’t it so great to know that these corrupt officials with their backs against the wall are desperate, desperate people do desperate things. The people that have the most powerful tools of intelligence are now going after me, okay? Really? […] I promise you this one thing: I’m never stopping, ever.”

Well, that’s comforting. The Energizer Bunny of Fox News will keep going and going. No matter what the “Deep State” does to bring him and his BFF Donald Trump down. Never mind that neither Hannity or Corsi identified any alleged deep-staters who were plotting against him, or how the plotters would execute their fiendish plans. Would they send commandos to storm his basement studio on Long Island? Or maybe poison his vape juice? Whatever. It’s enough to merely make the allegation that this mysterious (i.e. fake) Deep State cabal is holed up somewhere cooking up schemes to exterminate the fearsome Sean Hannity.

Apparently the Deep State has nothing better to do than threaten delusional, paranoid TV pundits. You might think that would distract them from their primary mission to destroy Trump and replace him with their Hillary Clinton lizard clone. But you underestimate the deepness of this secret society of Trump haters. They are everywhere, embedded in the very fabric of American life. They could be your boss, or your dry cleaner, or your daughter’s math teacher. And if you think that’s scary, whatever you do, don’t look in the mirror.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.