Since the national consensus on the report by Special Consul Robert Mueller was that it cleared President Trump of charges he colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election, the liberals at MSNBC have decided to focus on another charge: whether Trump tried to block the investigation of himself.
One example of this tactic comes from MSNBC's The Beat host Ari Melber, who on Monday claimed that there is “substantial evidence against Trump regarding the crime of obstruction of justice” and compared the situation to the scary movie When a Stranger Calls.
Melber described the report as presenting “a serious problem for President Trump and the nation” because “there is substantial criminal evidence” against the GOP official that is “not conjecture, and it’s not opinion.”
To explain the situation to his viewers, the MSNBC anchor compared it with When a Stranger Calls, a film with a “scary part” in which we learn that “the calls were coming from inside the house.”
“Mueller’s obstruction evidence is coming from inside the White House,” he then stated before briefly turning his attention to “three incriminating topics.”
The first was protecting Michael Flynn from indictment even though Trump knew his demand that the FBI stop probing the national security advisor “was wrong” and was proof that the President “had criminal intent” when making the request, which “was not a proper exercise of his power.”
Melber stated that the second crime was “pressuring [former Attorney General] Jeff Sessions improperly,” and Mueller documented “Trump demanding aides help him to take back over the Russia probe” and “evidence that Trump had criminal intent” when doing so.
Finally, the host claimed that “the most obvious evidence of the President potentially committing the crime of obstruction was trying to oust Mueller” and “kneecap” him before covering that up.
The former lawyer added that “this is the part that has gotten a lot of attention” and stated:
The stories are raw because Trump’s own aides knew nothing ends a presidency like a massacre. [H]is own aides ... believed Trump’s attempt to oust Mueller was a high crime that could end his presidency, that it was crazy, that it was worth resigning over.
At that point, “Trump’s order to fire Mueller was still secret, so nobody really knew what would come next; think about that. It was obviously an intense and scary time to the people involved.”
“Trump’s own lawyer not only defied the President’s order,” Melber continued, “but next he called his lawyer because he knew he was risking going to jail for that potential crime if he wasn’t careful.”
Later Melber concluded (click expand):
That’s some of the best evidence of criminal obstruction a prosecutor can get. Now lawyers can legally know about it and represent a past crime. They cannot legally help you with a future crime that would make them criminal conspirators, not lawyers, and that’s exactly what Mueller is busting Trump on. McGahn saying no, I won’t help with a new crime. Also, I have to quit. Now there are crimes and then there are high crimes. Reckless driving is a real crime, but few people think it’s impeachable for a president. But multiple Trump aides, according to Mueller tell Trump that his order was actually a potential high crime. Chris Christie in the Mueller report warning Trump that ousting Mueller would lead Republicans in Congress to abandon him. And Trump covering up his effort to oust Mueller because he knew that the order was improper. What you’re looking at right here is Mueller nailing the coffin with Donald Trump’s own criminal intent, his, quote, "awareness that the direction to oust Mueller was improper." That is what obstruction of justice looks like when all the evidence is in.
Of course, the fact that a host on MSNBC would make an obvious effort to continue attacks on a Republican President should come as no surprise. We’ll soon learn whether Melber was correct in his accusations.
