Daily Check-In 8/3/2017

Here's a few things…

Donald Trump tweeted this morning his displeasure at deteriorating relations with Russia, and blamed Congress for it.

The President of the United States of America just sided with a foreign power that committed an Act of War against this country, rather than with its duly elected representatives. Let that sink in a bit.

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly told Jeff Sessions that his job as AG was safe, that he wouldn't let the President fire him. He's also reportedly said that any and all talking points have to go through him first. Sounds like he didn't like that whole thing with Steve Miller attacking the Statue of Liberty.

Mattis and McMaster supposedly have a deal in place that at least one of them is in Washington at all times when Trump is traveling. Sort of like a babysitter.

Jared Kushner's company is under investigation for taking part in a bribery scheme from Chinese investors, using the EB-5 visa program for investments. They touted their insider connections with the President to a group of wealthy investors, and offered visas and green cards for investments of at least $500,000.

Trump was reportedly overheard at a golf outing calling the White House a "dump." He then attacked the reporter for Golf Magazine on twitter. He'll attack reporters, but not despots. Don't worry, people are working around the clock to help him relocate to somewhere that isn't so much of a dump, like Leavenworth.

Fox News has been surprisingly quiet about the Seth Rich lawsuit, but Sean Hannity once again attacked Robert Mueller. Rumor has it that Fox News in general, and Sean in particular, are under investigation for their part in spreading propaganda.

Mueller's team wants the phone records of the June 9th meeting. The lawyers on Twitter and Reddit are salivating at this. According to them, they're not asking for unknown information, but watching to see what Team Treason does with the evidence. The leaks come from the defense team, probably as an attempt to bury the co-conspirators.

Donald Trump goes on vacation starting this weekend, until the 20th. Congress will also be on recess during this time as well. The Supreme Court is also on hiatus. Don't expect anything official from Robert Mueller's team during this time. But, expect quite a few stories to come out, especially leaks about new meetings.

Speaking of leaks, transcripts of Trump's phone calls with foreign leaders have leaked to the press. When looking for an apt description of the President's behavior, "whiny little bitch" comes to mind. He's constantly whining, complaining, lying, and just a miserable human being. I feel bad for his translators, having to make sense of his word salad.

The Senate is pushing for a bill that would require a panel of three judges to review any attempt at firing the Special Counselor. Something to keep an eye on during the recess.

I'll update if anything else comes out today.

UPDATED: Mother fucker! Why do I do this post so early in the day?

Around 4:30 PM EST, the Wall Street Journal reported that Robert Mueller's team has empaneled a grand jury specifically for the Trump Campaign's ties to Russia, and any and all ties of possible collusion. Subpoenas have been issued for materials related to this meeting, including phone records.

A grand jury is used to weigh the evidence, issue subpoenas, and, if there is sufficient evidence that a crime took place, issue indictments.

According to this article from WaPo empaneling a grand jury almost always leads to indictments.

The White House has only commented that there is no evidence that the President himself is under investigation.

Also, Carter Page has been under surveillance by the IC since 2014, and was under a FISA warrant last summer when he traveled to Moscow to supposedly broker a deal with Rosneft.

I'll update as needed.