Remember when Donald Trump and his team exercised great caution when it came to Special Counsel Robert Mueller? The presidential offensive began gradually, but it keeps reaching new levels. The Associated Press had this report this morning from Tel Aviv, Israel.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Wednesday that special counsel Robert Mueller’s team is trying to frame President Donald Trump. […]
“There are a group of 13 highly partisan Democrats who make up the Mueller team, excluding him, and are trying very, very hard to frame him to get him in trouble when he hasn’t done anything wrong,” said Giuliani, who has been serving as Trump’s lawyer amid the Russia scandal.
It’s an unusual dynamic: a high-profile lawyer for the sitting president of the United States traveled to foreign soil and accused American law enforcement of serious wrongdoing. He offered no proof.
But even putting that aside, I’d love to hear more from Giuliani about what he thinks “frame” means.
Ordinarily, when someone is framed, there’s some kind of scheme intended to make an innocent person look guilty. The scheme might involve planting evidence, manufacturing illegitimate proof, and/or convincing witnesses to lie in order to secure a conviction. Is this really what Giuliani thinks the Justice Department is doing to Trump? Are we actually supposed to believe Mueller and his team are “trying very, very hard to frame” the president? Is it Giuliani’s contention that Trump may look guilty, but that’s only because he’s been framed?
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past." Recommended
