NY Times reporter: Trump tweet is 'four-alarm fire' of obstruction

Trump touched off a firestorm Monday when he suggested the Justice Department shouldn’t be prosecuting corrupt Republicans right before the midterm elections.

“Two long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department,” Trump wrote. “Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff[.]”

Reps. Chris Collins and Duncan Hunter were both indicted last month — Collins on charges of insider trading, and Hunter for using campaign money to fund personal expenses like family vacations.

On Tuesday morning’s edition of CNN’s “New Day,” New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman called Trump’s statement “shocking” and “scary,” and noted that Republicans would be “racing to call a hearing” if President Obama had said such a thing.

“We spend a lot of time on faux four-alarm fires,” Haberman said. “This is a real four-alarm fire.”

Haberman also pointed out that Trump, as usual, didn’t have his facts straight.

“He tries to suggest these are long-running Obama cases,” Haberman said, but pointed out that “one of them involves a call taken at the White House last year.”

Collins is accused of making an illegal tip-off to his son while attending a congressional picnic at the White House last June, during a phone call that was apparently caught on video.

Trump’s tweet alarmed many commentators. CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin called the statement “impeachable,” and even Fox News legal analyst Andrew Napolitano noted that it gives “fodder” to Robert Mueller’s obstruction investigation.

Trump has a long history of using his Twitter feed to both commit, and admit to, obstruction of justice, but this latest iteration is one of his worst yet.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.