slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is trying to show Congress that he's boss.

The release last week of special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 e******n and possible obstruction of justice by Trump has unleashed the president's fury — as evidenced by a steady stream of angry tweets and threats of retribution against adversaries real and perceived — and his willingness to thumb his front tooth at Congress.

The result is an escalating assertion of the presidency as the dominant branch of government in a war over the balance of power. The battle has implications for the rest of Trump's first term, his re-e******n bid and the institutional authorities at the heart of American democracy.

There's even some thought that Trump is now baiting the House to impeach him.

"I think it's entirely possible he’s pursuing a briar-patch strategy, like bring your impeachment because you will be punished for it — not by me, but by the v**ers," said Michael Caputo, a GOP strategist and former Trump adviser.

Increasingly, constitutional experts say Trump is providing evidence to conclude that there are grounds outside Mueller's findings that he has crossed the Constitution's loosely defined "high crimes and misdemeanors" threshold for impeachment.

Most recently, for example, Trump has instructed subordinates to deny Congress access to witnesses and documents that House leaders have demanded for their investigations. The Washington Post reported that the White House plans to block a subpoena for former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify by exercising executive privilege, though Trump told the paper in an interview that he had not "made a final, final decision" to do so.

But some longtime analysts of the Washington power balance say Trump's latest moves are the most contemptuous in a full-scale effort to stretch the bounds of his office.

"Trump is not inventing executive int***sigence out of whole cloth," said Heidi Kitrosser, author of "Reclaiming Accountability: T***sparency, Executive Power, and the U.S. Constitution" and a professor at the University of Minnesota law school. "At the same time, this is not same-old, same-old. He is taking longstanding pathologies in terms of an increasingly imperial executive branch and ratcheting it up many times over."

In recent months, Trump has declared a national emergency so he could re-appropriate money to build a border wall — a move congressional Democrats and several state attorneys general say is an unconstitutional encroachment on Congress' spending authority — and his administration has routinely denied lawmakers' requests for basic information from federal agencies.

It's not just Congress that has found Trump's regard for the rule of law wanting; the courts have also weighed in.

In a review of more than five dozen instances in which courts blocked actions by the Trump administration, The Washington Post found a common thread: judges ruling that officials had implemented policies without following the rules.

In his report to Attorney General William Barr, Mueller identified 10 instances in which Trump's behavior could be viewed as obstruction of justice. While Mueller declined to conclude the president had, in fact, obstructed justice — he said that Justice Department policy precluded him from recommending a prosecution of the president whether or not he believed it was warranted — he also said his report did not exonerate Trump.

Trump's angry reaction to the release of the redacted Mueller report, his ongoing commentary about witnesses and his demand that the White House fight congressional efforts to interview Mueller's witnesses has been taken by some critics as fresh evidence that he continues to obstruct justice.
Increasingly, constitutional experts say that Trump's actions, both within the context of the just-released special counsel report and outside it, represent abuses of office so serious they could rise to the constitutional impeachment standard of "high crimes and misdemeanors."

"The report’s details add to an existing body of information already in the public domain documenting the president’s violations of his oath, including but not limited to his denigration of the free press, verbal attacks on members of the judiciary, encouragement of law enforcement officers to violate the law, and incessant lying to the American people," several members of the group Checks and Balances, co-founded by conservative lawyer George Conway, wrote in a statement released Tuesday. "We believe the framers of the Constitution would have viewed the totality of this conduct as evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors."

In any event, Trump is demonstrating a resistance to the constraints on his office — and a disrespect for the powers of the other "co-equal" branches of his government — that is both familiar in nature and unfamiliar in degree to those who have watched authority ceded to the presidency in recent decades.

"I think this is an extension of a trend that has been occurring over the past several presidencies," said Mack McLarty, who served as President Bill Clinton's chief of staff. "President Trump has pushed the limit and that may be putting it diplomatically."

Kitrosser, the University of Minnesota law school professor, said the response to Trump will be important for the future of the balance of power.

"The big question is, will the Trump administration be a turning point that leads us to address some of these longstanding pathologies, particularly executive imperialism and Congress' abdication, or whether it is going to lead us to accept ever greater imbalance of power?" she said. "I think we're at a real turning point and it can go one way or the other."

Liberty Tree

The Democrats on Congress went to war against the President the day he was elected and immediately started yelling impeachment. They are the ones who want to show who is "boss and want to launch investigation after investigation in hopes they can find a way to get him. It is Democrats who are the real danger to the nation as they wish to force their far left agenda on the nation and h**e Trump for standing in their way. This article has it totally backwards.

lpnmajor Loc: Arkansas

That sounds eerily like the way Republicans treated President Obama. I'm sure you remember Mitch telling Republicans that their only job was to make sure Obama was a one term President, blocking and delaying 100's of nominees, suing President Obama multiple times.................

Morgan

I would say yes to that slatt, with every cloud there's a silver lining. These loopholes are always in the details. We have witnessed a complete manipulation of a party and person to gain full control, from every branch of government. We are learning that without bipartisan working within the process of our governing we can be screwed, for a lack of a better word. When representatives only v**e to their party's agenda and not the issue at hand or what is best for the country "we're screwed". Yes, it is time to re-evaluate the details.

This man promised to show his tax returns, we're into year number three, he's not only not kept his promise but has planted his feet against the process of our Constitution, he continues to disrespect it and us.

Morgan

I misread this, apologies, yes trying to intentionally make a president a Lame Duck, is in my mind... subversive.

Trump is now trying his own subversive tactics, these undermining tactics look to be habitually from the right.

bylm1-Bernie

But he has kept his promise about the important things! Look at the Dow, the unemployment rate and the economy. The Democrats want his tax returns for what reason? So they can keep after him and hope for death by a thousand cuts. You guys just can't stand being beaten - legally yet!

Morgan

You guys can't get over that it has nothing to do with being beaten, but all to do with the character, the lack of, the man.

The Dow, who does that benefit, when most Americans can't last beyond a month without income.

What you don't realize is that all these environmental catastrophes has cost our country millions, if not billions but has also promoted employment for blue-collar workers all over the country.

Canuckus Deploracus Loc: North of the wall

Nice article Slatten...

Some points one might contend...

But I think this last question rates consideration...

Liberty Tree

Republicans treated Obama nothing like the way Democrats are treating Trump. Republicans in Congress opposed Obama's agenda while Democrats in Congress are driven by pure personal h**e of Trump.

bylm1-Bernie

The Dow is a very good indicator of how the US economy is doing. Employment is at the highest level. How can you not see these benefits? I guess you're still concerning about using the right bathroom!

Kevyn

The investigation of Russian meddling was bright on by republicans and ridiculously limited in scope.

Jimmy Boy

Good morning Mr. Morgan, can you please backup your words with FACTS! Catastrophes to the environment! To me the only real pain is to all those people we will never hear about whom were going to grow there bank accounts! On the backs of people all over the world! You people just can not understand that Trump is for Americans and America first! We don't want to join the new world order!! But we do want order and that's what to me he is trying to do. Character yes he is different but that's what we v**ed for and Mr. Trump is doing his job well. Character and Mr. Obama , lets see he used the IRS on people he did not like, set our race relations back many years. If our AG does not get weak knees, we
are going to here more about Mr. Obama Character , and many people whom worked for him. History will show he will be one of our worst Presidents! All the best

working class stiff Loc: N. Carolina

Agreed. We have been discussing an 'imperial presidency' for as long as I remember. I also remember the Congress not legislating, nor objecting to the Executive branch legislating. The two go hand in hand.

It's probably good that this set of issues is coming to a head. One could almost say it's the Fates at work. We have a President who had no political experience (other than schmoozing) and is used to the role of CEO, of employees carrying out his every dictum. We have a Congress divided against itself, unable and unused to governing, needing an executive to follow because it has no road map of it's own.

A President who can say 'nobody disobeys me' is thinking like a CEO of a private company, not as a politician. Some would argue that's exactly why he was elected and that's a good thing, but that's not the issue. The public sphere is not like the private sphere. Congress is under no obligation to 'obey' the President. I am under no obligation to obey the President and can support the opposition.

I'm thinking old style Greek tragedy here: the protagonist and bit players all meeting a fate, written in the stars, they are unable to control nor able to discern the outcome.

It's an interesting time to be alive, ala the Chinese curse.

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

"When you have an efficient government, you have a dictatorship." [quote/HarryS.Truman]

working class stiff Loc: N. Carolina

That's a fable you keep telling yourself. Democrats are opposed to his agenda: industries 'regulating' themselves, enriching the 1%, packing the courts, etc. What you call h**e is political opposition, just as you claim about Republicans and Obama.

Very few of us have time for h**e: we're busy organizing for 2020.