Fucking PT Barnum stenographers. “The greatest show on earth”.

…As it was “generally understood,” Barnum wrote in the book, the term humbug “consists in putting on glittering appearances—outside show—novel expedients, by which to suddenly arrest public attention, and attract the public eye and ear.” And Barnum wanted to make it clear such a practice was justified. “[T]here are various trades and occupations which need only notoriety to insure success,” he claimed, concluding no harm, no foul, so long as at the end of the day customers felt like they got their money’s worth…“Contrary to popular belief,” as Boorstin wrote, “Barnum’s great discovery was not how easy it was to deceive the public, but rather, how much the public enjoyed being deceived….But if you’re looking clear eyed at Barnum, an undeniable fact of his biography is his role marketing racism to the masses. “He had these new ways of making racism seem fun and for people to engage in activities that degraded a racially subjected person in ways that were intimate and funny and surprising and novel,” says Reiss. “That’s part of his legacy, that’s part of what he left us, just as he also left us some really great jokes and circus acts and this kind of charming, wise-cracking ‘America’s uncle’ reputation. This is equally a part of his legacy.” https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-pt-barnum-greatest-humbug-them-all-180967634/

President Donald Trump on Tuesday, November 20, submitted written answers to questions from special counsel Robert Mueller related to the investigation of possible collusion between Trump associates and Russians.  On that day, one of Trump’s lawyers, Rudy Guiliani, provided a statement to the press saying that “… much of what has been asked raised serious constitutional issues and was beyond the scope of a legitimate inquiry.”  CNN reported the event in more detail stating, “Trump and his legal team balked at some of the questions from Mueller that covered the presidential transition and Trump’s time in the White House, believing those could be off limits due to executive privilege”.
Assuming CNN’s statement is correct, then Donald Trump is claiming executive privilege to avoid answering Mueller’s questions about events occurring during the presidential transition period, which is the time between election day, November 8, 2016, and inauguration day, January 20, 2017.  During this period many events happened that relate to the topic of Trump’s collusion with Russia, including Michael Flynn’s discussions of dropping sanctions with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in return for Trump receiving a 19.5% commission of $500 million dollars from Russia for the sale of Rosneft stock to Qatar. 
The interesting thing about Trump’s claim of executive privilege for events happening during the transition period is that he was not the president at this time.  The Constitution only recognizes one president of the United States at any time, who during the Trump transition period, was Barack Obama.  During this time Trump was only an American citizen just like every other American citizen, who had no special privileges according to the Constitution.  Trump’s assertion of executive privilege during this time period implies that he believes he was in a special position equivalent to the president of the United States.  This is precisely what made him feel that his collusion with Russia was legitimate; namely, that he could negotiate sanction relief with Russia in return for a commission on the sale of Rosneft stock.  He felt that in this negotiation he was equal to Obama, or even superior Obama, because he had been elected president and would become the acting president for the next four years.  He believed that his presidency started on November 8, 2016, and not on January 20, 2017.  But the Constitution is clear that the president of the United States remains the only president of the United States until the new president is sworn in on inauguration day following an election. In the meantime, there is no other president.  So no other United States citizen can claim executive privilege during this time.

[02-JUN-2022 — This “Concerned Citizen” subsequently published comments under different usernames “Minnesota Faqs” and “MinnesotaFaqs” exhibiting similar witting/unwitting lack of knowledge. /~Rayne]

It seems to me that the linchpin of this entire investigation now rests in what powers Whitaker is able to assume.  The OLC has determined that Whitaker’s appointment as Acting AG is legal. This is a big deal since it’s a credible contradiction to the Katyal/Conway argument and now stands as the official DOJ view. As such, if the Supreme Court wishes to and can avoid wading into this political minefield, the default opinion will be that of the OLC.  If Whitaker is legally appointed as Acting AG, then I hear others saying he might still not be in charge of the Mueller investigation – though I’m not clear why or how that would be absent a decision by Whitaker to recuse himself. ( Chance of that? Zero. ) Are there legal grounds other than recusal whereby Whitaker could not assume full authority over the investigation? If not, I have to assume he will not be shy about forcefully asserting himself. He won’t want to commit a crime, but anything short of that…  And if Mueller is a loyal soldier, which I’ve read this brilliant ex-marine has always been, then I think it’s likely that he will feel obliged to accept any legal prosecutorial decisions made by his duly appointed boss even if he and his team strongly disagree. Adding this all up, I think it’s more than likely a done deal that there will be no presidential subpoena and no follow-up to the inadequate answers I assume Trump provided to the open book test. It galls me if this is so, but I really think that’s the way it is. As for Whitaker’s ability and willingness to interfere with any sealed or future indictments – I have no idea. But I have to assume he will do everything humanly possible to keep Jr. safe. Stone’s a big boy, and loyal, so he needs less protection before getting a down the road pardon. This is how it looks to me. Hope I’m wrong.

The press can choose to continue to be complicit or band together and
a) not cover ‘press conferences’ or presidential utterance live. Edit ‘em for facts.
b) coordinate questioning when in front of Sarah and Pres. Let next chosen reporter follow up on previous unanswered questions. Give your time to a reporter who has a better line of inquiry. Cooperate !