USA: Trump Presidency Under Fire: Grounds for impeachment if Trump lied - by Lois Beckett about trying to fire Mueller – Ken Starr

If Donald Trump lied to the American people when he called reports he tried to fire Robert Mueller “fake news”, that would be grounds for impeachment, the independent counsel who investigated the Clinton White House said on Sunday.

Ken Starr, who used Bill Clinton’s false statements about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky as grounds for impeachment, told ABC’s This Week: “Lying to the American people is a serious issue that has to be explored. I take lying to the American people very, very seriously, mso absolutely.”

Starr said: “That is something Bob Mueller should look at.”

Mueller, the special counsel, is investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, including alleged collusion between Russian officials and Trump aides, and numerous instances of possible obstruction of justice by the president.

The New York Times and others reported this week that in June 2017, Trump ordered White House counsel Donald McGahn to fire Mueller. McGahn reportedly said he would resign rather than carry our the order, which he said would have a devastating effect on Trump’s presidency.

Trump publicly dismissed the Times report, calling it “fake news”. Since June, the president has repeatedly denied publicly that he was considering firing Mueller.

White House officials have also repeatedly claimed the president has not discussed firing him.

Read more: Grounds for impeachment if Trump lied about trying to fire Mueller – Ken Starr | US news | The Guardian

US and Russian Relations: Does Trump know Putin? “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”

Donald Trump with Vladimir Putin "he never met"

The Washington post reported that in a recent tweet , President Trump repeated his claim that he doesn’t “know Vladimir Putin,” an argument he’s made ever since closeness to Russia and his presidentcy became a political liability. On the other hand, back when knowing world leaders was an asset, though, Trump bragged about his relationship with Putin.

The Washington Post gave a  chronology of what Donald said about his relationship with Putin in a variety of interviews since 2013, which shows quite some alarming flip-flop answers by the US President. 

June 2013: “Will he become my new best friend?
November 2013: “I do have a relationship”
March 2014: “Putin even sent me a present” 
May 2014: “I spoke … with President Putin”
November 2015: “I got to know him very well”
July 2016 - "the big switch": Trump denies knowing Putin in a number of documented interviews  as he states: “I don’t know who Putin is - I have nothing to do with Putin. I’ve never spoken to him. I don’t know anything about him other than he will respect me. He said one nice thing about me. He said I’m a genius. I said thank you very much to the newspaper, and that was the end of it. I never met Putin.”
February 2017: “I don’t know Putin”

Maybe the famous line from the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, when an officer of the palace guard says: “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”, after the ghost of the dead king appears, walking over the palace walls, fits this situation best? 

Bottom Line: Why is President Trump lying about his personal connections in Russia?  

EU-Digest