I imagine the thing those who believe a president is not above the law should be most concerned about is that, during the two months period that a lame duck Congress is controlled by the Republicans, is that acting AG Whitaker, who has himself called the Mueller probe a "witch hunt", and who has himself suggested that probe could be ground to a halt by simply defunding it, will in fact act to do just that.
I think a couple of things can be said regarding the appointment of Whitaker as acting AG.
One, it would seem clear, especially if Whitaker acts on the things he himself has suggested, that Trump appointed him in order to obstruct justice.
And two, if that is the case, appointing Whitaker as acting AG is a further declaration by Trump that he believes there should be no independence of the Justice department in our system of government. Rather, the AG serves to protect the president and his interests.
The AG owes allegiance to the president, not the Constitution.
Yet, this is the equivalent of saying the president can act outside the law, be above the law, and expect the Justice department to protect him. This is a move toward dictatorial powers. Please educate me, if you can, as to why I should not interpret the appointment of Whitaker in this light.
Before acting AG Whitaker can cripple the Mueller probe during a two month lame duck Congress, he should recuse himself from overseeing the Mueller probe, and Congress should pass some legislation protecting the Mueller probe.
I'm not holding my breath that the above precautions against the president existing outside the law will happen. But the new Congress, the new House, will be able to call Mueller in for hearings, and to ensure that the results of his investigation to date will be made known to the public.
Bottom line here is that it appears that the president is attempting to put himself above and outside the law, by possibly crippling the Mueller probe(don't think for one second that he is not concerned Don Jr. is about to be indicted), and by signaling that he intends to eliminate the independent status of the Department of Justice in our system of government. This is to be expected of an authoritarian, and is an attack on our system of government.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blog...t-hes-still-a-dangerous-authoritarian-madman/
