July 24, 2019

Trump and Article II, Explained

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Earlier today Donald Trump gave a speech at the Turning Point conference where he said, “I have an Article II where I have the right to do whatever I want as president.” But what was this all about? What was the context?

It turns out that Trump was freewheeling about the Mueller report, telling the rapt audience that Mueller interviewed 500 people, issued 2,500 subpoenas, etc:

They did everything. The collusion, no collusion, they have no collusion. Then I have an Article II where I have the right to do whatever I want as president, but I don’t even talk about that. Because they did a report, and there was no obstruction. After looking at it—our great attorney general read it, he’s a total professional—he said there’s nothing here, there’s no obstruction.

So what was Trump talking about? As always, there’s no telling, really, but I assume he was referring to the fact that he’s allowed to fire executive branch officers if he wants to. In other words, firing James Comey was within his Article II powers, so it can’t represent obstruction of justice. Likewise, he could have fired Mueller if he’d wanted to.

That’s my best guess, anyway.

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

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Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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