Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Earlier today Donald Trump gave a speech at the Turning Point conference where he said, “I have an Article II where I have the right to do whatever I want as president.” But what was this all about? What was the context?

It turns out that Trump was freewheeling about the Mueller report, telling the rapt audience that Mueller interviewed 500 people, issued 2,500 subpoenas, etc:

They did everything. The collusion, no collusion, they have no collusion. Then I have an Article II where I have the right to do whatever I want as president, but I don’t even talk about that. Because they did a report, and there was no obstruction. After looking at it—our great attorney general read it, he’s a total professional—he said there’s nothing here, there’s no obstruction.

So what was Trump talking about? As always, there’s no telling, really, but I assume he was referring to the fact that he’s allowed to fire executive branch officers if he wants to. In other words, firing James Comey was within his Article II powers, so it can’t represent obstruction of justice. Likewise, he could have fired Mueller if he’d wanted to.

That’s my best guess, anyway.

WE'LL BE BLUNT:

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate