U.S. President Donald Trump congratulates Prime Minister Leo Varadkar of Ireland during a phone call from inside the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., June 27, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
A pattern of behavior is emerging, as Trump tried to pressure the Prime Minister of Australia for dirt he could use to discredit the origins of the Mueller report.
The New York Times reported:
President Trump pushed the Australian prime minister during a recent telephone call to help Attorney General William P. Barr gather information for a Justice Department inquiry that Mr. Trump hopes will discredit the Mueller investigation, according to two American officials with knowledge of the call.
The White House restricted access to the call’s transcript to a small group of the president’s aides, one of the officials said, an unusual decision that is similar to the handling of a July call with the Ukrainian president that is at the heart of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry into Mr. Trump. Like that call, the discussion with Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia shows the extent to which Mr. Trump sees the attorney general as a critical partner in his goal to show that the Mueller investigation had corrupt and partisan origins, and the extent that Mr. Trump sees the Justice Department inquiry as a potential way to gain leverage over America’s closest allies.
Trump was looking for dirt to discredit the origins of the Mueller report.
There is a pattern. Trump is using the presidency to advance his own political cover-ups by pressuring foreign leaders for dirt on those who he views as a threat or a rival.
Trump carries out his pressure campaigns by personal phone call. His Department of Justice and State Department are involved, and the calls are moved to a classified server so that the public and the rest of the government will have no idea what he is doing.
The Ukraine whistleblower said in his complaint that there were other phone calls. The American people are getting a taste of how many calls there might be.
Donald Trump is abusing his power in unpreceded ways to hang on to the presidency.
This is just the beginning. The dam is breaking, and there is likely even more damaging information to come out in the near future.
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