Daily Check-In 11/20/2017

Monday, a day for idiots.

DONNIE JR. MET WITH ALEXANDER TORSHIN AT NRA EVENT IN MAY 2016, AROUND SAME TIME JARED TRIED TO SET UP A BACKCHANNEL WITH HIM

Donald Trump, Jr. met with Alexander Torshin, a senior Russian Banker with ties to Organized Crime and the Russian Government, at an NRA event in May 2016.  This was after Torshin approached members of the campaign as an emissary of the Russian government, and after Jared Kushner proposed his own backchannel meeting with Russia, but weeks before the June 9 Trump Tower Meeting.

I’m losing track of all of the Russian contacts that the Trump children had when they were working with the campaign.  They had more contact with Russians than the Germans did in Leningrad.

Did they put an ad in the Moscow version of Backpage.com looking for “Russians willing to help my daddy win the presidency?”

 

FOX NEWS PREVENTED REPORTER FROM COVERING RUSSIAN CONNECTIONS

Interesting things happen when investigating sexual harassment charges in court.  Jessica Gollohor, a former Fox News correspondent, testified today in the UK that she was told by her bosses at Fox that she wasn’t allowed to investigate Trump’s connections with Russia, even if she paid her own way.

Fox hasn’t just avoided looking into the largest story of this generation, they’ve worked with the White House to distract from it.  Trump isn’t in the White House with Fox News spreading propaganda.

 

McMASTER REPORTEDLY CALLS TRUMP AN IDIOT, RIGHT WING TROLLS PUSH FOR FIRING, SIMILAR TO EVENTS FROM AUGUST

This is another weird one. Supposedly, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster called Trump an idiot at a private function.

It’s not weird that he’d say that, but out of character that he’d do that in public.  McMaster has been one of the “calming” voices in the White House, and doesn’t suffer fools.

After this story broke, Natasha Bertrand reposted this story from August.  He’s been a target of the far right for a while, so it surprise me at all to see a bunch of trolls come out and push a bunch of #FireMcMaster trends.

 

TRUMP CALLS NORTH KOREA A TERROR STATE

Trump called North Korea a terror state today.  I’d say this was something other than a distraction if I honestly thought so, but I don’t.  I don’t put it past Trump to try to start World War III to avoid jail time.

 

ROMAN ABROMOVICH, ROBERT MERCER’S YACHTS MOOR OFF FLORIDA COAST DAYS BEFORE TRUMP GOES TO MAR-A-LAGO FOR THANKSGIVING BREAK

What does a Russian Oligarch, a Billionaire, and a second rate faux-luxury golf course and resort have in common?

Trump Thanksgiving Week Vacation.

Roman Abramovich, owner of many things Russian and Chelsea Football Club in the Premiere League, docked his $400 million yacht off the coast of Florida this past weekend.  Not more than a mile away, Robert Mercer parked his $75 million yacht.

 

BILL BROWDER ACCUSED OF MURDERS IN RUSSIA AFTER HE WAS BANNED FROM COUNTRY

It’s pretty obvious at this point that Vladimir Putin hates Bill Browder, but his latest attempt to discredit him is actually funny.

So, Bill was kicked out of Russia in 2005, after being a pain in the ass for the Oligarchs. He hasn’t been allowed in Russia since then, and if he does show up, he’ll be set up for a show trial, then sent to a prison where he’ll be tortured to death.  There are dozens of trumped up charges against him citing fraud, corruption, and several other white collar crimes.

Now, Putin’s trying to pin some unsolved murders on him.  Not just any murders, but ones performed by the Russian Mafia against whistleblowers and corrupt officials.

These murders took place from 2006 to 2008, a few years AFTER he was kicked out of Russia and robbed of several hundred million dollars.

 

TURKEY INVESTIGATES PREET BHARA, OTHER US ATTORNEYS

Turkey doesn’t like Preet. They’ve started an investigation into him on some corruption charges after he prosecuted a Turkish National for money laundering.

That national is reportedly cooperating with Robert Mueller in the Trump Investigation, and can deliver Mike Flynn’s head on a silver plate.

But, congratulations to Preet Bhara, on being investigated in Turkey for corruption charges.  At this point, it’s a badge of honor to speak out against a tyrant like Erdogan.  Considering he’s already banned from Russia, and likely Turkey, he might have to settle for Disney World for vacation.

 

TRUMP’S FIRST MOSCOW VISIT

Here’s a piece from Politico about Trump’s first trip to Moscow in 1987.

During the Cold War.

There’s a lot of juicy pieces in this story, but the short version is he had some help, likely unwittingly at first, from the KGB.  They wouldn’t have signed off on just any American celebrity coming to visit.

 

TRUMP TO SHUT DOWN CHARITABLE ORGANIZATION.

Trump is trying to shut down his charitable organization. This is the same organization that has been under investigation for over a year for several acts of self-dealing and alleged fraud.  They can’t officially shut down until after the New York State Attorney General is done with his investigation.  Considering that Attorney General Schneiderman is working closely with Mueller’s team on some pardon-proof charges, I don’t think that’ll happen soon.

 

WRAP-UP

That’s it for today.  I’m not sure how this week is going to go.  It’s a short week with a holiday, so traditionally nothing happens.  That said, we’ll probably get something big dropped on Friday in an attempt to bury the lede.

There’s been talk for the last month that Flynn has flipped, or there’s at least an offer on the table, but he has to act soon.  If he doesn’t, him and his son are in for a bad time.

Another piece of info I’m following up on involves Indictment (A) and Indictment (B) on Manafort and Gates.  Maybe I read something wrong, but those two were supposedly arrested on charges in Indictment (B), and Indictment (A) is still sealed.  That raises several questions about what could be in (A), and if this is the practice for everyone at this stage.  Think about it, Mueller has to deal with the chance of everyone being pardoned, and having to take this fight to overturn those to the Supreme Court.  While that fight is going on, these people will flee the country and go to ground to avoid justice. However, if everyone has a Non-Russia related indictment, it makes it hard for Trump to pardon them for those crimes without it coming off as an abuse of power, which is another series of crimes.  So, everyone gets arrested under their Indictment (B)’s, and once Trump is effectively neutered, and the investigation is getting closer to the end, the (A)’s drop. The Indictment (A) series is the Russia related stuff, where some of the capital crimes are located, like espionage and conspiracy to commit treason.  Yes, I used the T word.  We’re going to have to get used to it over the next few months.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur