Trump Says Has Power to Pardon Himself; Critics Disagree

WASHINGTON — 

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said he had committed no wrongdoing but has the "absolute" power to pardon himself, echoing an sweeping argument put forth by his lawyers amid the U.S. special counsel's investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.

In the memo to U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, which was sent in January and reported on by the New York Times on Saturday, Trump's lawyers argued the president could not have obstructed the investigation, given the powers granted to him by the U.S. Constitution.

One of Trump's lawyers on Sunday also spoke of Trump's broad claim to power, saying the president probably could pardon himself but was unlikely to do so.

"As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong?" Trump said in a Twitter post on Monday, reiterating his claim that the Russia investigation was a "witch hunt."

"The appointment of the Special Counsel is totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL," Trump said in another post.

Several pardons already issued by Trump also have raised questions about his use of the presidential pardon power. Last week he pardoned Dinesh D'Souza, a conservative pundit convicted of campaign finance crimes, and last year he pardoned former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, who campaigned for Trump before being convicted in a case regarding racial profiling.

Critics say Trump has undermined the rule of law with pardons based on political considerations.

The rebukes came again on Monday as several Democratic lawmakers pushed back against Trump's claim and noted that Mueller's investigation has already led to multiple indictments, including against several Trump aides who have pleaded guilty.

"You're not a king"

"You can’t pardon yourself," Democratic U.S. Representative Ted Deutch said in response to Trump on Twitter. "Let me remind you of something, we don’t live in a monarchy and you are not a king."

Harvard Law School constitutional law professor Laurence Tribe called Trump's position "ludicrous" and "legal fantasy."

Trump first opened the door to what he said was his "complete power to pardon" last July in a series of tweets that appeared to be in response to a report that Trump and his legal team had examined presidential powers to pardon Trump aides, family members and possibly even himself.

On a Sunday, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani told on ABC's "This Week" program it was an "open question" as to whether the president could pardon himself but that Trump "has no intention" of doing so. Giuliani said the U.S. Constitution, which gives a president the authority to issue pardons, "doesn't say he can't."

The 20-page letter from Trump's lawyers to Mueller in January came in response to repeated requests by the special counsel's office asking to interview Trump, according to the Times.

Russia has denied U.S. intelligence agencies' assessment that Moscow sought to interfere with the 2016 U.S. election to boost Donald Trump's prospects of becoming president. Trump has also said there was no collusion by his campaign.

Some of Mueller's actions remain under seal but so far five people have pleaded guilty, including former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and longtime Manafort business partner Rick Gates.

Mueller's team has also charged 13 Russians and three Russian companies as well as Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort, who has not pleaded guilty.

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US Supreme Court Hands Narrow Win to Baker Over Gay Couple Dispute

WASHINGTON — 

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a narrow victory to a Christian baker from Colorado who refused for religious reasons to make a wedding cake for a gay couple.

The justices, in a 7-2 decision, faulted the Colorado Civil Rights Commission's handling of the claims brought against Jack Phillips, saying it had showed a hostility to religion.

The commission said Phillips violated the Colorado anti-discrimination law that bars businesses from refusing service based on race, sex, marital status or sexual orientation by rebuffing gay couple David Mullins and Charlie Craig in 2012.

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Trump Acclaims 500th Day in Office

WASHINGTON — 

U.S. President Donald Trump acclaimed his 500th day in office Monday, declaring that "many believe" he has accomplished more than any other American president.

Trump cited tax cuts enacted last year, advances for the U.S. military, lower crime and illegal immigration, stronger borders and a growing economy as among his successes.

Now in his 17th month in the White House, Trump remains a divisive figure in the U.S., with a composite of national polls showing voters disapprove of his performance by a 52.8 to 44.4 percent margin. He is facing the continuing year-long probe by special counsel Robert Mueller into links between his 2016 campaign and Russia and whether he obstructed justice to thwart the investigation, with Trump often and vocally rejecting accusations of collusion with Moscow and obstruction.

In one new Twitter comment, he said, "As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong?"

The real-estate mogul turned Republican politician retains wide popularity among Republican voters who made him the country's 45th president. Independent voters, and especially Democrats, are continuing to voice opposition to his presidency, polling shows.

After a protracted legislative battle in the Republican-controlled Congress, Trump won tax cut legislation without a single Democratic vote. He narrowly failed, however, to upend national health care policies championed by his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, but has chiseled away at the health insurance law through administrative actions.

In his assessment of his first 500 days, Trump said he nearly repealed the health law "except for one person," an allusion to the vote against the overhaul by a frequent Trump critic, Republican Senator John McCain.

Trump noted the mandate to buy insurance has been repealed, claimed that "drug prices are coming down" and that he has signed legislation to give terminally ill patients the "right to try" experimental drugs that have yet to win regulatory approval.

Trump won Senate confirmation for his lifetime Supreme Court appointment of conservative jurist Neil Gorsuch and also approval of other conservative judges to sit on lower courts, nominations that could affect legal rulings for decades, long after Trump is out of office. He has already declared he intends to seek another four-year term in the 2020 election.

His administration has also adopted wide changes, or won congressional approval, to ease government regulation of banks, energy companies, for-profit schools, and other corporate interests.

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Giuliani: Trump Lawyers Leaning to Not Letting Him Testify in Russia Probe

WASHINGTON — 

U.S. President Donald Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani says it is an "open question" whether Trump will answer questions from prosecutors investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election, but that his legal team is leaning to not allowing him to be interviewed.

Trump has long said he wants to answer questions from special counsel Robert Mueller, but on Sunday Giuliani told ABC News, "It's beginning to get resolved" to not permitting the U.S. leader to sit for questioning. Giuliani has suggested Trump could be caught in a perjury trap, and charged with lying under oath, a criminal offense.

Giuliani, a former New York City mayor, said Trump's legal team might allow an interview if it is "brief, to the point," but are "leaning to not."

Trump lawyers contended in a 20-page letter to Mueller in January, before Giuliani joined the president's legal team, that he cannot be compelled to testify through a subpoena and argued he could not have obstructed justice by firing FBI director James Comey when he was leading the Russia investigation because as president he has unlimited power to terminate the investigation.

Giuliani called the letter, first disclosed Saturday by The New York Times, "very, very persuasive," but said Trump's lawyers would contest in court any attempt to subpoena Trump to answer questions.

Giuliani said Trump's lawyers would tell Mueller's team that "you've got everything you need, 1.4 million documents, 28 witnesses" to conclude its investigation.

"So we'll say, 'Come on, own up and make your decision," Giuliani said. Adding, Trump "believes he's telling the truth. He is telling the truth" that there was no collusion with Russia to help him win and that he did not obstruct justice.

The Trump lawyer said "at best there was ambiguity" whether Trump obstructed justice in his dismissal of Comey in May 2017, which then led Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, over Trump's objections, to name Mueller to lead the probe.

Within days of ousting Comey, Trump said that when he dismissed him he was thinking of "this Russia thing," because he thought it was a made-up excuse by Democrats looking for a reason for Trump's upset win over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Last week, Trump said that was not the reason, but offered no other explanation.

Giuliani said Trump, who has pardoned notable conservative figures who have been convicted of crimes, has "no intention of pardoning himself," but added that "it would be an open question" whether he could do so, acknowledging there would be a political firestorm in the United States if he did.

Giuliani said he believes Mueller will conclude the investigation by September 1, "so we can get this long nightmare over for the American people."

Long-standing Justice Department rules have concluded that a sitting president cannot be indicted for criminal wrongdoing. But Mueller could lay out his findings in a report that could eventually be turned over to Congress, where lawmakers could, if they decided there was wrongdoing by Trump, pursue his impeachment.

Trump in recent days has contended that the Federal Bureau of Investigation planted a "spy" in his campaign, although there is no evidence that the investigative agency embedded anyone in the Trump operations ahead of the November 2016 vote. But an FBI informant, Stefan Halper, an American-born professor at Britain's University of Cambridge, reported to the FBI about conversations he had with three Trump campaign officials as part of its investigation into Russian interference in the election.

A leading Republican lawmaker, Congressman Trey Gowdy, said last week the FBI did nothing wrong, but Giuliani said he has "tremendous suspicion" that the operation was meant to spy on the Trump campaign.

Trump on Sunday offered three more Twitter comments on the election and Mueller investigation.

He quoted conservative Fox News analyst Jesse Watters as saying, “The only thing Trump obstructed was Hillary getting to the White House.” So true!"

Trump also complained about Mueller's indictment of Paul Manafort, for three months his campaign manager in mid-2016, who was charged with criminal offenses linked to his lobbying efforts for Ukraine that predated his involvement with the Trump operations.

"As one of two people left who could become President, why wouldn’t the FBI or Department of “Justice” have told me that they were secretly investigating Paul Manafort (on charges that were 10 years old and had been previously dropped) during my campaign? Should have told me!" Trump said.

"Paul Manafort came into the campaign very late and was with us for a short period of time (he represented Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole & many others over the years), but we should have been told that Comey and the boys were doing a number on him, and he wouldn’t have been hired!" Trump concluded.

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Superfund Chief’s Last Job: Lawyer for Polluter

WASHINGTON — 

A lawyer tapped to lead a task force at the Environmental Protection Agency overseeing cleanups at the nation’s most polluted places worked until recently for a top chemical and plastics manufacturer with a troubled legacy of creating some of those toxic sites.

Steven D. Cook has been named as the new chair of the Superfund Task Force, which EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt created last year to revamp how the agency oversees cleanups at the more than 1,300 toxic sites.

Before beginning work in February as deputy assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Land and Emergency Management, Cook served more than 20 years as in-house corporate counsel for LyondellBasell Industries — one of the world’s largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies.

EPA records show that LyondellBasell and its subsidiaries are listed as being potentially responsible for at least three dozen Superfund polluted sites.

Half of appointees have industry ties

​An analysis by The Associated Press shows that nearly half the political appointees hired at EPA under President Donald Trump have industry ties. Of more than 60 EPA hires tracked by the AP over the last year, about one-third worked as registered lobbyists or lawyers for chemical manufacturers, fossil fuel producers or other EPA-regulated companies.

Trump promised as a presidential candidate to drain the swamp in Washington. An executive order signed two weeks after his inauguration bars former lobbyists and corporate lawyers from participating in any matter they worked on for private clients within two years of going to work for the government.

Following a request by AP, EPA provided a copy of an April 20 memo Cook signed recusing himself from participating in regulatory matters involving LyondellBasell. However, as stated in the letter, Cook can participate in matters affecting his former employer as long as his actions would also impact at least five similarly situated companies.

“All EPA employees receive ethics briefings when they start and continually work with our ethics office regarding any potential conflicts they may encounter while employed here,” said Lincoln Ferguson, an EPA spokesman. “Steven Cook is no different.”

It was not immediately clear whether Cook would be allowed to participate in decisions involving LyondellBasell, anyway. AP reported in March that White House counsel Don McGahn has issued at least 37 ethics waivers to key administration officials, including three working at EPA, that allow them to help regulate the very industries from which they previously collected paychecks even after signing recusals. It was not clear whether Cook was granted a waiver, and Ferguson did not respond to AP’s inquiries on the subject.

LyondellBasell claims

Lyondell Chemical Co., a Houston-based subsidiary of LyondellBasell, agreed to pay $250 million in 2010 to settle environmental claims and provide cleanup funds for 15 properties across the country as part of bankruptcy proceedings.

Another subsidiary of the Dutch chemicals conglomerate, Equistar Chemicals, agreed in 2007 to spend more than $125 million on pollution controls and cleanup costs to address a myriad of air, water and hazardous waste violations at seven petrochemical plants in Texas, Illinois, Iowa and Louisiana. Court filings made as part of the company’s legal settlement with the Justice Department, and EPA listed Cook as the primary contact for Equistar.

LyondellBasell subsidiaries are identified as a responsible party on dozens of Superfund sites. The companies set aside funds for cleanups before emerging from bankruptcy.

“LyondellBasell resolved its Superfund obligations nearly a decade ago,” said Pattie Shieh-Lance, a corporate spokeswoman in Houston. “The company does not currently have any such obligations.”

Replacing Pruitt friend

Cook is taking over as chair of the Superfund Task Force following the resignation of Albert “Kell” Kelly, a longtime friend and business associate of Pruitt’s. AP reported in August that federal banking regulators had banned Kelly, who previously the chairman of Oklahoma-based SpiritBank, from banking for life. Members of Congress had been pressing for details about what led to the banking sanctions against Kelly when he quit his EPA job.

Cook’s appointment to lead the task force was first reported by Bloomberg.

He is currently the top political appointee at EPA’s Land and Emergency Management office, which oversees the agency’s response to chemical spills and oversees management of the Superfund program.

Trump has nominated Peter C. Wright to serve as assistant administrator for Land and Emergency Management, but he has not yet been confirmed to the post by the U.S. Senate. Wright has worked as a corporate lawyer at Dow Chemical Co. since 1999.

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