Mueller Investigation

https://www.axios.com/omarosa-secret-tapes-record-phone-7ca4d160-4033-4acd-a035-45f3625315d4.html

According to this piece, Omarosa secretly recorded almost every conversation she had with people in the White House. That needs to be looked into pronto, regardless of whether or not there's anything incriminating in the recordings. I can't imagine that all of those recordings would be considered legal.

Washington, D.C. is a one-party consent jurisdiction when it comes to recording conversations, so there's no obvious illegality. I'm not saying it's legal, just that the most obvious law that might apply in some places doesn't in this one. I'm also not saying it's right.

That's some slippery language there.
Rape and murder are "one party consent".

I wasn't thinking about the issue of consent, I was thinking about using a recording device in a secure area. If any of those recordings contain classified info....

I was thinking the same thing. The recordings might be legal based on the location, but might not be based on the content that's in them.

So probably can't be used in a Congressional hearing (or a court), but could certainly provide background for the investigators?

The illegality comes with having recording devices in the White House in areas where they are forbidden. Wrt to D.C. though, yes, there likely is no liability with D.C. law. Just, possibly, with Federal law and regulations for government employees.

Washington D.C. is a one party consent but does that apply to White House grounds?

There would have to be a law specifically regulating a given circumstance, such as recording a meeting where everyone involved had to have a certain level of clearance. I doubt there would be any kind of blanket prohibition, given how many things in the White House are recorded all the time.

Yep, there will most certainly be special federal laws and regulations which apply. We are talking about where the chief executive does his business.

For the first time, however, we are using that phrase in the same way I refer to what I send my dog into the garden for.

Oh really? So why wren't Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon arrested for their tapings?

I believe the president has the power to declassify things as they see fit, through whatever means they like. It came up a while ago when Trump revealed classified information to the Russian ambassador just to try impressing him during a meeting.

There's a difference between recording things as part of record keeping and doing it secretly in order to blackmail/cover your own ass later.

True, but that's all a part of what makes this so gloriously messy.

So, when a former federal prosecutor comments on a president's tweet, I tend to pay attention.



I doubt if Preet uses the term "incriminating" lightly.

My honest guess is that Trump is doing everything he can to build feelings of party over country, to get them feeling like the rule of law doesn't matter, because Trump knows he is very guilty. He knows the truth will eventually come out, that he committed a lot of crimes, so he wants to create an atmosphere which excuses and covers for criminals like himself.

So Trump couldn't handle a mock interview with Mueller's team. CNN: Bob Woodward: Trump's aides stole his papers 'to protect the country'.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/04/politics/bob-woodward-book-donald-trump-fear/index.html

*ahem*

https://wordforge.net/index.php?thr...cy-in-a-prolonged-“nervous-breakdown”.116378/

Wow, not surprising but still a shock to hear. Trump's own lawyers went to Mueller and said Trump can't possibly testify because the man is a pathological liar who is incapable of telling the truth? I believe it but it is still scary to hear.

This should surprise no one. He says whatever pops into his head that he thinks will sound good in the moment, and doesn't really care if it's true. He's lived his entire life without having to be accountable to any other person, and that's one of the results. He literally can't help it.

This part is relevant to this thread.

This will be interesting.

Y'know, there's a way to avoid perjury.

It's called "not lying."

The fact that nobody around Trump believes he's capable of this speaks volumes.

Okay, I think Trump's starting to crack if he thinks this will have an impact on Mueller, or anyone not batshit.

Giuliani says Trump will not answer any questions related to obstruction. http://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...uction-questions-from-mueller-are-a-no-go?amp