Daily Check-In 05/02/2018

Daily Check-In

Wednesday May 2nd.

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

Robert Mueller wants to question President Donald Trump about a change to the 2016 Republican Party platform’s language about Ukraine and Russia, rekindling a subject that House Republicans dismissed as a nonstarter.

After news broke Monday night of an effort by conservative House Republicans to draft impeachment papers against Rosenstein, just in case they’re needed, he issued a striking rebuke for a top Justice Department official. He first noted that “nobody has the courage to put their name on” the impeachment document and poked at its authors for leaking word of their efforts.

Then came this: “I think they should understand by now that the Department of Justice is not going to be extorted,” Rosenstein said. “We’re going to do what’s required by the rule of law, and any kind of threats that anybody makes are not going to affect the way we do our job.”

“Extorted.” The guy who is in charge of the scope of the Russia investigation just accused House Republicans of attempted extortion.

Cobb, who served as the White House point person in dealing with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, is stepping down, according to senior administration officials.

He is expected to be replaced by Williams & Connolly partner Emmet T. Flood, a Republican defense lawyer who helped President Bill Clinton during impeachment proceedings and was interviewed by President Trump earlier this year.

“For several weeks, Ty Cobb has been discussing his retirement and last week he let Chief of Staff Kelly know he would retire at the end of this month,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.

 

COHEN

Long before he was a personal attorney to President Donald Trump, Michael Cohen was a personal injury lawyer for clients who reportedly staged car accidents to collect hefty sums from insurance companies and worked for other clients involved in medical insurance schemes.

Cohen, whose office and residence were raided by the FBI as part of an unrelated investigation, has come under fire for his work for Trump over the last decade. But prior to his gaining Trump’s attention, Cohen represented clients who would rent cars and trucks, along with insurance, and careen the vehicles into friends’ cars for a huge payout, according to a Rolling Stone investigation published Tuesday.

For instance, in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn in 1999, the car Tara Pizzingrillo was sitting in was struck by a rental car driven by Brian McFarland. Three years later, Cohen represented Pizzingrillo and filed a complaint seeking $1 million from the rental company’s parent company, ELRAC Inc.

But as that case continued, both McFarland and Pizzingrillo were indicted in a similar scheme involving U-Haul trucks and slamming into other vehicles. Passengers in the struck vehicles would then claim personal injury and seek a payout.

Holy shit, Michael Cohen is a real-life version of Saul Goodman.  The only thing missing from his story is a chemistry teacher making meth out of an RV.

 

STORMYGATE

This story came out at 10PM EST.  Right as I should be finishing up, but this is such a WTAF, that it needs a few paragraphs.

Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City, former U.S. Attorney in SDNY, went on Fox News and shat the bed.

While he was there to talk about the Russian Investigation, and after calling FBI agents “Stormtroopers,” (Nazi, not Imperial), and after attacking James Comey pretty damn hard, Sean Hannity asked Rudy to stay on and answer some questions about Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels.  Rudy said “sure”, and done fucked up.

How bad did he fuck up?  Let me count the ways…

  • Rudy said that Trump reimbursed Michael Cohen for paying Stormy Daniels.
  • Rudy said that Trump paid him back over months.
  • Rudy said that Trump paid Cohen through a law firm.
  • Rudy said that Trump used his own money.
  • Rudy said that Trump can use as much of his own money to pay his campaign as he wants.
  • Rudy said that James Comey was fired because he wouldn’t say that Trump wasn’t a target.

If Rudy had dropped his trousers, shit on the floor, grabbed the shit, smeared it on the wall, and painted a scene of a lynching from 1930’s Alabama while singing some Kanye, then started masturbating furiously over his own painting, he still wouldn’t have fucked up as bad as he did in that interview.

Trump has said repeatedly that he knew nothing about the payment to Stormy Daniels.  Rudy said that was a lie.

Cohen said he wasn’t reimbursed for the payment.  Rudy said he was, and that the money was “shuffled” from Trump to Cohen through a law firm.  The legal term for that is Money Laundering.

Rudy said the payment was made over months.  If it was structured in a way to avoid tax reporting or campaign finance reporting, that’s a felony.

If Trump used his own money, and reimbursed Cohen for this payment, and the payment is an in-kind campaign contribution, and it wasn’t reported, that’s a felony.

If Trump is using campaign as a slush fund, and dumping cash into it willy nilly, he’s got even more legal troubles.

If Trump fired Comey for not clearing him in an investigation, that’s Obstruction of Justice.

Rudy done fucked up.

 

DOCTOR, DOCTOR

What ought to worry Trump is not the shattering of his image as the “healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency”; what should concern him is that Bornstein is suddenly saying unhelpful things in the press — and that could embolden others who feel burned by Trump to do the same.

…

Cohen and Bornstein have similar reasons to feel betrayed by Trump. The Washington Post reported last month that Cohen was, at one point, a leading candidate to become White House counsel and felt wounded by his ultimate rejection.

…

Bornstein reportedly hoped to accompany Trump to the White House, too, but was similarly left behind. He told NBC that early last year, after he disclosed the president’s use of a drug that can be used to treat hair loss and an enlarged prostate, he received an angry phone call from Trump’s longtime assistant. “So you wanted to be the White House doctor? Forget it, you’re out,” she allegedly said.

I didn’t write about this yesterday when this broke yesterday, but here’s the short version…

Dr. Bornstein, the hippy dippy looking doctor that served Trump for 35 years had his office illegally raided by Keith Schiller and a couple others.  They took Trump’s medical records, illegally.

During an interview with NBC News, Bornstein also revealed that Trump dictated the “extremely healthy” letter that sounded like it was written by a six year old with a brain tumor.  That explains a lot…

Trump’s showing that he has no loyalty to his supporters.  Once this sinks in to them, it’s on like Donkey Kong.  Nothing is more dangerous than a wronged fanatic.

 

COLD WAR 2.0

As soon as Ukraine dropped their investigations into Paul Manafort, the Trump Administration changed their minds on selling anti-tank missiles to them.

I wonder, does extorting a foreign nation into dropping an investigation count as Obstruction of Justice?

That’s right baby, the United Kingdom passed the Magnitsky Act, and he’s going to work on getting our cousins down under to join the train.

More good news for Bill, he gets to file another affidavit against the Cypriot Attorney General (or lead attorney) to keep him from cooperating from Russia’s attempts to prosecute Browder.

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA AND FACEBOOK

Beware of Emerdata

  • The power players behind Cambridge Analytica have set up a new company and the daughters of Donald Trump-supporting billionaire Robert Mercer have just joined as directors
  • Rebekah and Jennifer Mercer joined Emerdata on March 16, but it is shrouded in mystery.
  • Alexander Nix, the suspended CEO of Cambridge Analytica, is also a director, as well as other executives from parent firm SCL Group.
  • Emerdata also lists Johnson Chun Shun Ko, a Chinese executive from Frontier Services Group, the military firm chaired by prominent Trump supporter Erik Prince.
  • It isn’t clear what Emerdata does, though the company is listed under “data processing, hosting, and related activities.” It shares an address in Canary Wharf with Cambridge Analytica’s parent, SCL Group.

 

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

“Marco Polo” producer Alexandra Canosa, who hit Weinstein with a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit in December, filed paperwork Monday detailing his alleged sexual impropriety. Weinstein was an executive producer of the Netflix series.

Canosa charges that Weinstein sexually assaulted her on Aug. 12, 2010, in the Tribeca Grand hotel, and that his “misconduct” continued until September 2017 — about one month before bombshell reports detailed numerous allegations against him.

During this period, “Harvey Weinstein constantly threatened Plaintiff and made it clear that if she did not succumb to his demands for sexual contact or if she exposed his unwanted conduct there would be retaliation, including humiliation, the loss of her job and loss of any ability to work in the entertainment business,” she alleges in court papers.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump has again asked a U.S. court to dismiss a suit accusing him of flouting constitutional safeguards against corruption by refusing to separate himself from his business empire while in office, claiming “absolute immunity.”

Absolute immunity?  Are you fucking kidding me?  What’s he going to claim next, that the Frog King of Rigel 6 has bestowed upon him Super Immunity?

Check out Lincoln’s Bible in the Rumor Mill for more ties between Hobby Lobby, Mark Burnett, and ISIS.  Yes, ISIS.

 

GOP:  THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

Vice President Mike Pence is literally praising a convicted felon as a shining example of the “Rule of Law.”  In this case, “Rule of Law” means being a racist prick.  So, by that definition…

The Speaker of the House of Representatives just admitted to using his office to cover up and run interference for President Trump.  Let that sink in.

BLUE WAVE

 

SAY GOODBYE TO THE ECONOMY

Yep, gas prices are rising.  Right after I traded in a Fiat for a Minivan.

PUFF, PUFF, PASS

 

RUMOR MILL

Lincoln’s Bible has done a lot of research into Mark Burnett, Executive Producer for many reality shows, including The Apprentice.  LB’s been on this for a long time, and when tapes from The Apprentice drop, I wouldn’t be surprised if LB’s on the front line of that battle.

 

That’s it for today.  Shit’s getting crazy, yo.  At this point, it looks like Trump thinks he can fight his way out of the investigation.  He’s abandoned all pretense of listening to advice, and will try anything to protect himself.

Rudy’s fuck up throws a wrench in things. What he said will play to the Fox News crowd, but everyone else, including the Federal prosecutors trying the Cohen case, will take this information and run with it.

It feels like something big is coming this week, especially now that we’re getting tons of leaks from and about the Trump legal team.

Hopefully, it’s not too crazy.  I’ve got a ton of things to do.  That being said, get ready for history.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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