RUSH: Kimberley Strassel has a column, “How Trump Takes on Obstruction.” We have a couple sound bites. I’ve got the column here, but let’s listen to the sound bites and take a quick break. We’ll come back and get some calls and analyze this. She was on with Melissa Francis today on Fox Happening Now. That’s the hour before this program. Kimberley Strassel, the columnist, member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board. Melissa Francis… Remember that title of her column: “How Trump Takes on Obstruction.” First question: “You say Trump could take two very bold actions to turn this entire investigation around. Tell me the first one.”
STRASSEL: By all accounts, Mr. Mueller is not looking at collusion anymore. This is now about obstruction of justice. That requires a legal team that begins to make the argument that that is a nonstarter on constitutional grounds, because you cannot construe a president to be obstructing justice when he’s engaged in his core constitutional functions, and that includes directing law enforcement and firing people like Mr. Comey. So they need a team, they go to court, they get a declaratory judgment of that finding — and then, Mr. Mueller, we can just take that entire topic off the table.
RUSH: Here’s her point. Her point is that the Trump legal team is narrowly focused, that they’re focused on defending and protecting Trump and what they need to be focused on is defending and protecting the Constitution and the presidency and the executive branch — and in doing so, they will take care of Trump. And her theory here, they’re blowing it by looking at this as a singular attack on Trump, when it isn’t. It’s an attack on the Constitution.
It is an attempt to say that any president exercising his constitutional duties is obstructing justice! He can’t fire Comey, that’s obstructing justice? That’s bogus! Her point is, the Constitution permits him control of the executive branch! He can do with anybody in the executive branch what he wants! He can declassify any file that he wants! He could make sure that we all could see the FISA warrant application. He could release everything; nobody could stop him. Her point is actually very good, that any president exercising his constitutional duties cannot be guilty of obstruction.
And yet that is exactly what the special counsel’s investigating. Specifically, obstruction by firing Comey, because theoretically, Comey was getting close to nailing Trump. It doesn’t matter. That’s all speculation. In other words, Trump needs a legal team that is gonna take Mueller on with the charge that he is unconstitutional, that this investigation is unconstitutional! Because a president cannot be accused or found guilty of obstructing justice when he is carrying out constitutional presidential duties!
And that is right on.
And all I could add is exclamation points.
If Trump would get a legal team that is constitutional and is… You know, stop worrying about defending Trump on whatever these bogus individual charges are. Get a legal team that’s gonna challenge the very constitutionality of this whole investigation and end it! At least the obstruction of justice element of it, because there can be no such thing. And if a sitting president is ever found guilty and is charged with obstructing justice, what does that do to every president that follows? It’s just turned the Constitution upside down. It’s not constitutional.
None of this is even legal, is her point, on the obstruction pursuit.
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RUSH: Here is the second suggestion she has for wiping the Mueller investigation off the map.
STRASSEL: This is another core constitutional function. As the commander-in-chief, he has the ability, ultimate say over classification, and he needs to just go direct the Justice Department to completely release everything underlying this FISA application, everything to do with the FBI’s Russia investigation in 2016. Obviously with deference to sources and methods. We don’t want that to come out. But the public just needs to see all of this, and it’s very clear the Department of Justice and FBI are doing their very best to keep it hidden even from Congress.
RUSH: She says that Trump should just declassify everything, which he can do. Let the American people see the documents that started this whole hoax. Let the American see what it is the FBI and the DOJ do not even want Congress to see. Just declassify everything, including that FISA warrant application. Let’s just see how they got that FISA warrant. What did they use? The dossier and what else? Trump can do it. So her ideas are twofold: Declassify everything, change the legal team, and challenge the very investigation Mueller is conducting.
That Trump cannot be guilty of obstruction when he is performing his constitutional duties. And if Mueller continues and ends up charging Trump with obstruction, the Constitution’s being stood upside down for not only Trump, but for every president following thereafter.