True Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Investigation of Donald Trump

<br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1599861436i/30094202.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>Author Jeffrey Toobin</b><br><br>Jeffrey Toobin is an American lawyer, author and legal analyst who frequently discusses political issues on CNN news. In this book Toobin presents a step-by-step analysis of the Mueller probe and the impeachment hearings that followed President Trump's election in 2016.<br><br>The Trump drama starts well before 2016, when (then) candidate Trump is alleged to have colluded with Russia to sway the election. <br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1599861436i/30094203.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>President Donald Trump</b><br><br>Russia's assistance to Trump was a multi-pronged effort including: manipulation of social media, including Facebook, by the Russian 'Internet Research Agency'; hacking Democratic emails and disseminating them via Wikileaks; and meeting with members of Trumps re-election team, including Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner.<br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1599861436i/30094204.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>Donald Trump Jr.</b><br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1599861436i/30094205.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>Jared Kushner</b><br><br>In Toobin's view, FBI Director James Comey helped elect Trump as well, because of his ham-handed management of various email disclosures. Toobin views Comey as a showboat whose 'foolish actions before the election - putting himself in the limelight - essentially sabotaged Hillary Clinton.' Though Comey claims it was his duty, Toobin thinks the FBI director was keeping on the right side of the Republican Party, for job security. <br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1599861436i/30094206.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>James Comey</b><br><br>In any case, Trump's election came back to bite Comey in the butt because the Russia probe - which began right after the election - infuriated Trump. Trump tried to wheedle and bully Comey into quashing the Russia inquiry, and when Comey demurred, he was fired. Toobin writes, "It may be an overstatement, though not much of one, to say that James Comey was responsible for both the election of Donald Trump and the appointment of Robert Mueller.”<br><br>Trump's increasingly strident efforts to stop the Russia probe eventually led to the appointment of Robert Mueller as Special Counsel. Mueller's brief was to investigate Trump's alleged collusion with Russia and Trump's obstruction of justice during the subsequent investigation. <br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1599861436i/30094209.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>Robert Mueller</b><br><br>Unfortunately for the American public, Mueller was too cautious, and his probe too narrow, to do the job properly. Mueller recalled Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, who was fired by obstructionist President Nixon, and Whitewater Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, who spent eight years trying to pin something - ANYTHING - on then President Clinton. Not wanting to join the ranks of the ignominious, Mueller determined that his investigation would be quick, efficient, and focused.<br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1599861436i/30094208.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>Archibald Cox</b><br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1599861436i/30094212.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>Kenneth Starr</b><br><br>Toobin thinks Mueller should have pushed harder to interview the president; probed Trump's financial ties to Russia; and examined Trump's personal finances and tax returns. These avenues were blocked by the president's associates, and Mueller didn't force the issue. Thus Mueller and his prosecutors could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump's team coordinated with Russia - though campaign manager Paul Manafort and advisor George Papadopoulos were VERY cozy with Russians. <br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1599861436i/30094216.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>Paul Manafort</b><br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1599861436i/30094213.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>George Papadopoulos</b><br><br>Toobin observes, “Certainly, Mueller found abundant evidence that Trump and his campaign wanted to collude and conspire with Russia, but they hadn’t been able to close the deal.”<br><br>Trump's obstruction of justice was more 'provable.' For one thing, White House counsel Don McGahn testified that Trump asked him to fire Mueller. Toobin writes, “Mueller had uncovered extensive evidence that Trump committed the crime of obstruction of justice—repeatedly. The Mueller Report spelled it out clearly. Trump told Comey to lay off Michael Flynn; when Comey didn’t, Trump fired Comey. Trump tried to undermine Mueller, and then he ordered McGahn to oust the prosecutor; then Trump told McGahn to lie about it. These were illegal acts—in conception and execution. These were crimes, even if Mueller stopped short of saying that they were.”<br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1599861436i/30094211.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>Don McGahn</b><br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1599861436i/30094207.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>Michael Flynn</b><br><br>In the end, the Mueller Report stated that Trump did wrong, but didn't say Trump should be prosecuted. This allowed the president and his allies, especially Attorney General William Barr, to misrepresent the Mueller Report findings and say Trump was exonerated. According to Toobin, all this "placed Trump effectively above the law."<br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1599861436i/30094214.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>William Barr</b><br><br>Thus the president went right on lying. Toobin observes, “Trump had been lying for his entire adult life, and far from being brought down by this pervasive dishonesty, he had been elected president of the United States. Why change what was working so well?" Toobin is more scathing when he talks about "the magnitude of [Trump's] flaws, of his narcissism, sociopathy, and ignorance. Trump’s only concern was his feral self-interest, his only belief was that those around him existed to serve him.”<br><br>Trump's arrogance increased following the Mueller Report, and - encouraged by his lawyer/advisor Rudy Giuliani - Trump tried to coerce the Ukraine into saying it would investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter. <br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1599861436i/30094210.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>Rudy Giuliani</b><br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1599861436i/30094218.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>Joe Biden and his son Hunter</b><br><br>Toobin notes, “It was the job of Trump’s lawyer to tell him not to do it. But that’s not what Giuliani did. To the contrary, Trump sent Giuliani to Ukraine, and he went. Together, the two men didn’t just advocate for collusion with Ukraine; they executed it.”<br><br>Trump and Giuliani's Ukraine shenanigans led a whistle-blower to report that Trump threatened to withhold military aid unless Ukraine President Zelensky besmirched the Bidens. Eventually, according to Toobin, “The White House released the military aid to Ukraine after allegations of the link to the Biden investigation became public. In other words, the Trump administration released the aid only because it was caught linking the aid to the quest for political dirt.” <br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1599861626i/30094222.png" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><b>Ukraine President Zelensky</b><br><br>These bombshell revelations resulted in Trump's impeachment, but (of course) the majority Republican Senate didn't convict him.<br><br>Toobin's book can be seen as a warning that Trump's narcissistic self-interest will continue as long as he is in office. Toobin writes, "“From the day [Trump] declared his candidacy, through the Russia scandal and his endless solicitude toward Vladimir Putin, and on into his cruel manipulation of the struggling democracy in Ukraine, Trump didn’t give a shit about anyone or anything but himself.” <br><br>Further proof of Trump's overwhelming egocentricity can be seen in his reaction to the coronavirus pandemic. Toobin observes, "Trump responded to the coronavirus with the same belligerent dishonesty that characterized his treatment of Mueller and impeachment. In the critical early days of the pandemic, when it might have been contained, he behaved with characteristic self-obsession, preferring to hound his enemies on Twitter rather than to learn the facts about the virus and protect the American people.<br><br>America will need a lot of 'fixing' when Trump is gone.<br><br>I think Toobin's book, which is a detailed overview of the Mueller investigation and the impeachment hearings, will be a good resource for future scholars of this era.<br><br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1599861436ra/30094215.gif" alt="" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>You can follow my reviews at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com/">https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot....</a>

The best overview of what became a comedy of errors in failing to bring a criminal to justice.

True Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Investigation of Donald Trump<br />by Jeffrey Toobin<br />This is a very thoroughly researched book that describes the Trump campaign before the 2016 election and follows events up to the present day. It covers all the main crimes, events, main characters that has made the headlines and how the last four years has been in the spotlight, pure chaos! I had this book on hold from the library for a long time so I wanted to read it but at the same time I am so done with all of this! It was good to review an know that for the next four years that we won't have a president acting like this! The summary of this book was brilliant! It brought the sum of the last four years together in a cohesive few paragraphs. That is the only way the last four years will ever be called cohesive! <br />Informative book! I forgot some of the crimes and strange behavior from the dark side because there is just so much of it! <br />Definitely worth the read even if it's to say goodbye and good riddance!

A memorialization of President Trump's most serious mistakes. This is a book written for historians. It is a valiant effort at objective recordation of what happened. The detail and backgrounds of various participants was a valuable contribution to history. Most of this book is review if one has been following the news. <br />Mr. Toobin's conclusion that President Trump did not conspire with the Russians in the 2016 election is representative of what bothers me when I see him on CNN. HIs attempts to be objective or impartial cloud his judgment. The truth is the evidence which has, as of yet, been adduced does not support a conclusion of a conspiracy. To conclude there was no conspiracy is simply an effort by a well meaning journalist to sound impartial. The author's criticisms of Robert Mueller are sound but likewise do not go far enough for a truly objective view of how the investigation should be judged. He likewise makes the same error in concluding the Ukraine affair was not criminal behavior by the President. Jurisprudence must not belie common sense.<br />Why Mr. Toobin chose to land on these conclusions is baffling other than an attempt to buy some credibility from the Trump supportiing public/historians. <br />Mr. Toobin is intelligent, articulate, precise and honest. He is a shining example of what journalists should be. I am grateful for his writing this tome for and on behalf of history, but alas, as us all, he is a human and therefore imperfect.

Jeffrey Toobin is a legal analyst for CNN who wrote “The Nine” and “The Oath” two books about the Supreme Court I greatly enjoyed. This book is a look at our 45th President and the investigations that have been swirling around him while in office. <br /><br />The book felt like a letdown. This is definitely a case where my subjective opinion is overriding the quality of the book, I’m burnt out on impeachment and Tumps blatant lies. My expectations for what this book would bring and what it actually contained were way off. But part of it is that, outside the last chapter or two, I’m not sure anything new was said here. The book strikes a decidedly negative tone, where Toobin never misses a chance to be critical. Toobin’s legal background helps him stay a bit more neutral than some who write about the president. Which avoids some of the more screeching criticisms that can happen when talking about Trump. And while the wholistic view is damning, Im frankly just tired of the hand wringing. For all Toobins legal knowledge, this book felt like a long form NYT article condemning the president, not a comprehensive view of presidential legalities which is partially what I hoped for. <br /><br />One of the things that really stands out in this work is the desperate scrabbling that people around Trump seem to engage in. So many appear to be down-on-their-luck grifters. Hucksters and con-men twirling financial, professional, legal, and political plates desperately, terrified that they will all come crashing down. Trump is their last stop. If Giuliani seems wide-eyed and frantic, it’s because he knows that one misstep can send himself hurtling back into relative obscurity. He feeds upon notoriety like a plant feeds upon light. Manafort is essentially a professional criminal who crawled out from whatever hole he was under to try and skim off some sweet foreign lobbying money. Cohen is a legal fixer with easily corrupted morals. Banning was noticeably absent but he fits the same mold. <br /><br />One of the last chapters (35 I think) about the coronavirus was a good look at how the executive branch has failed us during this time. It was fresh and well written. I think a big part is that I haven’t read a dozen case studies about the US coronavirus response yet. So I think it was a good example of what this book should have been if I wasn’t so inundated with a million hot takes of everything from “kids in cages” to “where’s the wall Donnie?” It cut through the nonsense quite well. And I think that’s what this book probably is best at. It will be a good reference to future generations of what the fuck has been happening the past four years. It’s all a bit surreal.

I couldn't wait for each next chapter. But since I read it while it was being written, I sometimes had to wait for Jeff to finish the next chapter. Seriously, even if you think you know this story or heard enough at the time, don't miss this legal thriller which will appear on August 4, 2020.

Jeffrey Toobin's books are the perfect ones to explain legalese for the layperson. His OJ Simpson one is far and away the best out of that sordid saga. His Bill Clinton one took a clearheaded look at impeachment. I wanted to read his explanation of the 2000 election recount but I just haven't had the heart for it.<br /><br />This one doesn't disappoint either. In fact, save for the fact that it ends at the same time the coronavirus pandemic began, I would say this is the ideal read for folks in the future trying to understand how Donald Trump got away with it. Toobin goes into the intricacies of the Mueller investigation, especially the drawbacks of Mueller idolizing the law to the point where he basically removes himself from casting judgment. Toobin has a healthy respect for Mueller but he's not above commenting on the foolish nature of Mueller's approach. It's probably about as inside baseball as we're going to get from the notoriously tightlipped Mueller team and you can slowly see democracy slip away with every poor decision he makes.<br /><br />The book was also helpful in that Toobin takes a measured but honest look at the absurd corruption of the Trump regime. He keeps his prose sparse and his surprises to a minimum but he makes sure to highlight everything that is a "Big Freaking Deal." It's a story he's equipped to tell and it's a shame he has to tell it. Such is the world we live in. It happened here. And here's how it happened. 

I wasn't sure I wanted to revisit the Mueller investigation and the impeachment. But Toobin organizes everything well and is his usual acerbic self. If he thinks Sarah Huckabee Sanders is a liar, he calls her a liar, but only after explaining why he thinks that. If he thinks William Barr is a toady, he calls him a toady, but only after explaining what Barr did to merit that label. In case you think this is entirely one-sided, he also has some harsh words for Mueller, Schiff, Comey, and others. He's a reporter at the <i>New Yorker,</i> and I guess that means he doesn't have to care if somebody gets mad at him and won't return his calls or cooperate with the magazine he works for. Also, he's had a long career as a lawyer, which has led him to believe that the most important thing a lawyer can do for his or her client is to say no to that client. Lots of lawyers don't do that, especially when the client in question is president of the United States.<br /><br />I don't always read the acknowledgments at the end of a book, but I was impressed that Toobin thanked not only all the people you would expect him to thank, but also the people who work on the publishing house presses, deliver mail, deliver food, and work in grocery stores. He doesn't get into the difficulties of publishing a book during a pandemic, but I can imagine.

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The blueprint for Trump's trial, once he's out of office.