Daily Check-In 11/29/2017

Wednesday. But I’m writing this on Thursday.

Jared Kushner Met With Mueller’s Team About Flynn

It is being reported that earlier this month, Jared Kushner met with the Special Counselor’s team for about 90 minutes. The main focus of the interview was Mike Flynn, and most of the questions looked to see if Jared knew anything that might exonerate him over the December meeting in Trump Tower.

I wonder if this evidence would be presented to a Grand Jury.

Mike Flynn Grand Jury Postponed

Well, this is getting interesting. Mueller suspended a Grand Jury looking into Mike Flynn, immediately after rumors of a plea deal break.

The only reasons to do that are if they are no longer required because there is no more investigation, or so much new evidence came in that the investigators need time to parse through it all.

Either way, it doesn’t look good for Trump.

Donnie Jr. Testified Before House Intelligence Committee Behind Closed Doors

This testimony is mostly about unanswered questions from the June 9 meeting, as well as his links to Julian Assange. Hopefully we’ll get a transcript soon.

Maryland and DC AG’s Get Subpoena Power in Trump Emoluments Lawsuit

This is for one of the three emoluments lawsuits against Trump. Or is it four? I’m losing count.

Reza Zarrab used Rudy Giuliani to negotiate extradition deal

Rudy was Reza’s lawyer when he was first arrested and extradited to the United States. They attempted to negotiate a deal with Turkey for a deal that would send him there.

Reza Zarrab is a money launderer who pled guilty to violating sanctions with Iran, and has ties to Mike Flynn.

Trump Retweeted Anti-Muslim Videos from Britain First, a Right-Wing Fascist Party who Loves Putin

In today’s Outrage Du Jour, Trump retweeted racist videos against Muslims from Britain First, a political party in the U.K. that is extremely racist and fascist.

Of course, last year they posted several articles about how great Vladimir Putin’s regime is, and how great he is.

Those posts were removed from the site recently, but are still available to be seen, if one knows where to look.

Trump is Delusional

It’s an opinion piece, but as more and more people recognize it, the scarier things will feel.

Hatch Act Violation Case Opened Against Kellyanne Conway

The Cryptkeeper’s Wife is under investigation for campaigning for a political candidate from an official position in the White House.

Hopefully this ends poorly for her.

Nearly Half a Million Pro-Repeal FCC Comments Came From Russian Emails

More evidence of Russians screwing with our freedom.

People are getting Robocalled about Derogatory Posts Against Trump

This one is a little creepy, and more aggravating than anything else.

That’s it for today. Things are ramping up in the Russian Investigation, even if it doesn’t look like it. We’re now getting confirmation from the MSM of the Special Counselor and Congress talking to family members. In seven months, there are three confirmed arrests, a plea deal that likely produced at least four indictments, and another plea deal in the works.

Justice is slow, but will be served.

Thank you, and have a good one.

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 11/28/2017

Tuesday’s News, on Wednesday.

TRUMP TRIED TO LIFT RUSSIAN SANCTIONS BACK IN JANUARY

The Economist wrote a good piece on how White House staffers leaked Trump’s intentions to remove Russian sanctions to members of Congress. This panic led the Senate staffers to craft a law preventing Trump from doing that, pretty much the only piece of bipartisan legislation passed this year.

LEAKED BANK DOCUMENTS CONNECT JARED KUSHNER TO RUSSIAN BANKS

Jared Kushner is in the Paradise Papers. One of his startups, which he didn’t include in his security clearance background check, has ties to a Russian bank under sanctions with the United States.

Funny how he only forgot the incriminating pieces from his SF-86.

MUELLER TO INTERVIEW WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL McGAHN

Don McGahn is the White House Counselor who spoke to Sally Yates about Mike Flynn, and gave notes on Comey’s firing letter. He is in it up to his neck.

REZA ZARRAB PLEADS GUILTY TO VIOLATING IRAN SANCTIONS

Reza was the money launderer that Turkey wanted Mike Flynn to release from US custody. He has been seen working with Mueller’s team, and this could be part of a plea deal.

MUELLER POSSIBLY INVESTIGATING FLYNN’S TIME AT DIA

BuzzFeed filed a Freedom of Information Act request for details on Mike Flynn’s time at the DIA. The response they received was … interesting.

They couldn’t release the requested info because it was involved in an ongoing criminal investigation.

Not something one would expect from an HR file.

MANAFORT ASSOCIATES MEET WITH MANHATTAN DA

Between 10 and 20 business associates of Paul Manafort were formally interviewed by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance.

Expect to see state charges levied at every player in the game, especially Paul Manafort. Remember, Presidential Pardons don’t work on state charges.

TRUMP, SLAVE LABOR, AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Trump was involved in a lawsuit where he used Polish immigrants making less than half of minimum wage sued over unsafe working conditions in the workplace. That was during the construction of Trump Tower.

RUSSIA POSSIBLY BEHIND CUBA SONIC ATTACKS

This has been a pretty weird story from the start, but it finally looks like there is some tangible evidence behind the Russians being the ones that attacked US Diplomats in Cuba.

That’s it for today. One little piece from the Rumor Mill. According to Countercheckist, FEATHERS14 and 15 are airborne. I still haven’t decoded the other ops with certainty, but I think 11 was George Papadopoulos, 12 was Manafort and Gates, and 13 is Flynn. Keep an eye out for some big news in the coming weeks.

Thank you, and have a good one.

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 11/27/2017

It’s Monday, even though I’m writing this on Tuesday. I’m working with a new schedule, so my normal pattern of writing before going to sleep might not be tenable for the next few weeks. I’ll do what I can, since we’re getting close to some craziness about to drop.

FBI DID NOT INFORM TARGETS OF RUSSIAN HACKING ATTACKS

This came out on Sunday from the AP. Out of the 80 targets that the AP contacted, only 2 were previously told of the hacking attempts by the FBI. The rest found out from the AP.

PROJECT VERITAS TRIED TO SCREW WITH THE WASHINGTON POST. IT DID NOT GO WELL

James O’Keefe is a lying sack of shit, a corrupt gun for hire whose lies have lead directly to innocent people dying violent, needless deaths.

Recently, his group Project Veritas attempted to discredit the Washington Post, sexual abuse victims, and decency in general by trying to show that the media is biased against Roy Moore.

This plan blew up in their face.

WaPo received a random tip from someone claiming to have some dirt on Roy Moore. When the Post did their research, it turned out that the woman, Jaime Phillips, was a paid operative of O’Keefe’s.

The Post confronted her with the evidence, including her GoFundMe page looking for money to move to New York to fight the evil media, called bullshit on every part of her story, and recorded her recording the interview. Then, they followed her to PV HQ, confronted O’Keefe, and recorded that as well.

Oh, by the way, Trump has donated to O’Keefe and PV before. They were involved in several ploys during the 2016 election, so there is a good chance that he is on Mueller’s radar.

FLYNN’S LAWYERS MEET WITH SPECIAL COUNSELOR TEAM

Nothing rings in the holidays like watching Mike Flynn’s legal team meeting with the Special Counselor’s team in front of the press.

JAMES WOOLSEY MEETS TRUMP AT MAR-A-LAGO FOR DINNER

James Woolsey is a former CIA Director, and was a witness to the September 2016 meeting where Mike Flynn conspired with the Turks to kidnap a cleric. James was interviewed by the Special Counselor, and supposedly testified before a grand jury.

Last week, Trump invited him to dinner in Florida. They talked for over an hour.

I wonder, what are the odds that Woolsey was wearing a wire?

JOHN CONYERS AND HIS RUSSIAN TIES

Here’s an article from John Schindler going into John Conyers past with the Russians.

SPOILER: The KGB is involved.

LITHUANIA ADOPTS MAGNITSKY ACT

Lithuania voter unanimously to enact their version of the Magnitsky Act, and have proposed several names for their list.

The list of countries cracking down on human rights violators grows by the day.

KOCH BROTHERS BACKED COMPANY TO BUY TIME MAGAZINE

Meredith Media, the publishers of Family Circle and Sports Illustrated, agreed to purchase Time, Inc., the parent organization of Time Magazine. Meredith is partly owned by the Koch Brothers.

Get ready for Ayn Rand to be named Person of the Year.

IN OTHER NEWS…

Trump makes racial slurs against Native Americans while at an event honoring the Navajo Code Talkers of WWII.

Bulk of FCC comments in favor of repealing net neutrality are fake.

WRAP-UP

That’s it for now. Once I figure out a format and schedule, I’ll work with that until the new year. This might also force me to write structured articles more often.

Let’s see how it goes.

Thank you, and have a good one.

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

-Katy Tur

Flipping Flynn

This past Thursday, while most of America was eating turkey or trying to get a jump start on their Holiday shopping, The New York Times released a whopper of a story about Mike Flynn, the former head of the DIA, and short tenured National Security Advisor to Donald Trump.

The story released by The Grey Lady contained some juicy details, but the crux of the story is that Flynn’s legal team is no longer sharing information about Mueller’s investigation with Donald Trump’s legal team.

This might not sound like a big deal, and a little bit too much of insider gossip, but this could be the beginning of the end for Donald Trump’s presidency.

Let me break this down, point by point.

Before I get lost down a rabbit hole, there’s this little matter of sharing information between legal teams.  Depending on who gets asked, there could be some laws getting bent, but the general consensus is that if two or more parties are targets of the same investigation, and they have legal counsel, they can share information between them.  This becomes vital in cases where the investigators keep everything under wraps, and every sliver of information is worth its weight in gold.  If Trump’s lawyers hear something about the investigation, or get asked questions about Flynn, or Kushner, Donnie, or Mike Pence, it would be considered a courtesy to give those legal teams a heads up, so they know what kind of questions to expect.

So, what does it mean when one legal team stops sharing information?  And what can we glean from this story?

Normally, there are three reasons why a legal team might stop sharing information.  First, what they’re sharing is illegal and/or unethical and could place their clients in jeopardy, or they are no longer on the same side of the investigation.  Considering they were previously sharing info, and that they aren’t exactly the pillars of ethical behavior, the likely answer is that Flynn is no longer on the same side of the investigation as Trump.

Well, what does that mean?

That means exactly what I said.  They’re no longer on the same side.  Either one of their investigations took a turn down a dark path, or one of them isn’t being investigated anymore.  Let me work both of those scenarios.

In the first case, where an investigation into one party takes a turn, then it wouldn’t make sense for the teams to share information, as that could cause more legal problems than it would solve.  Let’s say, during Flynn’s questioning, the FBI asked him about a bunch of missing Russians that disappeared after visiting one of Trump’s properties.  People kept disappearing, until one day, a bunch of bodies washed up along the Atlantic City coast.  They ask Flynn what he knew, but all of this is a shock, and has nothing to do with the previous investigation, it’s just something that washed up.  If Flynn tells Trump about this line of questioning, he could be considered an accessory after the fact.  Telling Trump would be a very bad idea for Flynn.

The second case is that one of them isn’t being investigated anymore.  While this is a slight possibility, it’s as slight as the Cleveland Browns winning the Super Bowl, after being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.  Sure, there are some technicalities, and if a few teams died in plane crashes, then they might be given a pass to the playoffs, but it’s not happening.

There are two sides to the Mueller Probe; those that worked with Trump, and those investigating the Trump Team.  If Flynn is no longer on the Trump Team, the only team left is the Investigators.

But does that necessarily mean that Flynn is working with Mueller?  Not really, but it’s very likely.

Back in the Spring, when Russia was just starting to hit the Main Stream Media, Mike Flynn offered to testify before the Senate, the House, and the FBI, in exchange for immunity.  All three of them said no.

Over the past several months, more and more information has come out about Mike Flynn, and all of the shady business he’s involved with.  He’s been caught in multiple phone calls with the Russian Ambassador, received money from Russia and Turkey for lobbying on their behalf, was in a meeting in December 2016 in Trump Tower working on a back channel connection to Russia using their diplomatic connections, he lobbied on behalf of Kaspersky AFTER working as the head of the DIA when they announced to the rest of the IC that Kaspersky is an arm of Russian Intelligence, he lied on his security clearance background check and renewal, solicited stolen emails from the HRC campaign, and asked others to do the same, didn’t register as a foreign agent under FARA, he shot down a program to arm Kurdish rebels against ISIS because Turkey didn’t like it, and he’s been connected to several meetings with Turkish officials discussing the release of a known money launder, attempted to negotiate several deals to build nuclear power plants in the Middle East on behalf of Russian companies, and the kidnapping and extradition of a political opponent of the Turkish President.  There’s also rumors that he leaked classified information to Erdogan which allowed him to circumvent the attempted coup against him.

This doesn’t include him “lying to the Vice President”, which was the excuse used to fire him 18 days after the White House was informed of his likely compromised position.

That gigantic pile of accusations includes the following crimes:

  • Corruption
  • Abuse of Power
  • Perjury
  • Money Laundering
  • Conspiracy to Commit Kidnapping
  • Violations of the Logan Act
  • Failure to Register as a Foreign Agent
  • Violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice
  • Conspiracy to Commit Election Fraud
  • Conspiracy Against the United States
  • Conspiracy to Benefit from Hacking
  • Accepting Campaign Gifts and Donations from a Foreign Power
  • Bribery
  • Conspiracy to Commit Espionage
  • Espionage
  • Conspiracy to Commit Sedition
  • Sedition
  • Recruiting for Service Against the United States
  • Conspiracy to Commit Treason
  • Misprision of Treason
  • Treason

The crimes in italics carry a penalty of life in prison.  Those in bold are capital offenses, and in the United States, carry the death penalty.

Did I mention that his son, Michael Flynn, Jr., was involved in almost all of those alleged crimes as well?

See, Mike Flynn brought his son along with him everywhere after he was fired from his job at the DIA.  Both Mike Flynn’s started the Flynn Intelligence Group, a lobbying firm to take advantage of his previous experience.  There, he worked with many people across the world, including Russians, Iranians, Syrians, and Turks.  Both Flynn’s were involved in everything from accepting bribes to giving away state secrets.

Junior is in a world of hurt, and will receive the same punishment as his father.

And that is how Mueller flipped, or will flip, Flynn.  By using his son as leverage, Mueller will get Mike Flynn to spill his guts on everyone and everything.  If Flynn cooperates, then Junior doesn’t die a traitors death.  Senior is still screwed, but if he hand delivers Trump and Pence, he might get life in prison instead of the death penalty.

According to the rumors that I’ve heard for the last few months, a deal has been on and off a few times, but has been pulled by Mueller’s team when Junior goes and does something stupid.  Senior then has to beg harder and give up more.

As big of a fish as Mike Flynn is, there are a few more that are bigger that he worked with throughout the campaign, transition, and into the White House.  Flynn worked with Manafort on several money deals.  He worked with Jared Kushner, and likely Ivanka Trump, on setting up the December 2016 Trump Tower meeting.  He worked with Steve Bannon and the Mercers on Cambridge Analytica.  Flynn worked with Mike Pence on the Transition Team.

And, don’t forget, but Mike Flynn was on the “Very Short List” to be Donald Trump’s Vice President.  Yep, the man that Donald Trump asked the FBI Director to “let him go” was originally considered for the position of Vice President.  Even with all of his various ties to Russia and Turkey.

By the way, the reason Flynn ended up as National Security Advisor in the White House is funny.  Trump originally wanted him to head the CIA, but that position would require Senate confirmation, which they felt Flynn wouldn’t get.

Flynn can take down everyone, but if I were a betting man, my guess is that he is used to take down Jared Kushner next.  Flynn WAS in Trump’s inner circle.  Jared IS Trump’s inner circle.

Flynn can take down Mike Pence, Jared can take down Donald Trump.