Wednesday, June 6th. The 74th anniversary of D-Day.
THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION
In November 2015, Ivanka Trump told Cohen to speak with Klokov, according to the four sources. Cohen had at least one phone conversation with the weightlifter, they said. It is not known what the men discussed over the phone, but they exchanged a string of emails that are now being examined by congressional investigators and federal agents probing Russia’s election meddling.
In one of those emails, Klokov told Cohen that he could arrange a meeting between Donald Trump and Putin to help pave the way for the tower. Later, Cohen sent an email refusing that offer and saying that the Trump Organization already had an agreement in place. He said he was cutting off future communication with Klokov. Copying Ivanka Trump, the Russian responded in a final brusque message, in which he questioned Cohen’s authority to make decisions for the Trump Organization. Frustrated by the exchange, Ivanka Trump questioned Cohen’s refusal to continue communicating with Klokov, according to one of the sources.
It looks like Ivanka’s weightlifter friend is either a “Friend of Putin”, or yanking their chain. If Cohen thought the latter, it looks like Kremlin Barbie didn’t buy his assessment. Cohen is a bullshitting sleaze ball, so judging other bullshitters is in his skillset. I think she got played, and showed that, once again, the Trump family was desperate to work with Putin and Russia for personal gains, and Putin saw them as a way to help him.
This also establishes that at least 2 of the grown children have ties to “Friends of Putin.” Plus, Eric bragged about getting a buttload of funding from Russia.
- Mueller team zeroes in on encrypted apps as witness turn in phones
- Mueller asks witnesses to hand over their personal phones: report | TheHill
If apps like Signal and WhatsApp are so secure, how can they tell who else in your contact lists has the apps installed?
Not as secure as you’d think.
- Manafort Likely To Go To Jail On Friday, Former U.S. Attorney Predicts
- The Astonishing Tale of the Man Mueller Calls ‘Person A’
Konstantin Killimnik, also known as Kostya from the GRU.
- Ivanka Trump connected Cohen with Russian offering to help facilitate Moscow Trump Tower
- Ivanka Trump Reportedly Told Cohen to Contact Russian Olympian Who Wanted Trump-Putin Meeting
- What’s the real reason Jared Kushner lost his security clearance? | Spectator USA
- A Lawyer Who Admitted Lying To The Special Counsel’s Office Was Just Sentenced To One Month In Jail
Alex Van Der Zwaan is back in the Netherlands. He’s out of prison, and ICE made sure he was handed over to Dutch authorities.
- What Paul Manafort’s Boneheaded Mistakes Reveal About Trump’s Legal Vulnerabilities
- Lawyer to ex-Trump campaign aide Manafort taps ethics adviser | Reuters
Bruce Baldinger, the lawyer who worked with Paul Manafort on several of his alleged money laundering related real estate deals, retained Mark Garfinkle as his personal legal representative.
MAGA: Make Attorneys Get Attorneys
CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA AND FACEBOOK
- Cambridge Analytica Director Met With Julian Assange to ‘Discuss’ U.S. Election
- Cambridge Analytica director ‘met Assange to discuss US election’
A Cambridge Analytica director apparently visited Julian Assange in February last year and told friends it was to discuss what happened during the US election, the Guardian has learned.
Brittany Kaiser, a director at the firm until earlier this year, also claimed to have channelled cryptocurrency payments and donations to WikiLeaks. This information has been passed to congressional and parliamentary inquiries in the UK and US.
Cambridge Analytica targeted the ads that appeared on social media, and paid Julian Assange in BitCoin with money gained from donations from the Mercers and various Republican politicians and their related PAC’s, like Ted Cruz, Steve Bolton, and Donald Trump. These payments were for services rendered while Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway were on the CA Board of Directors.
If you thought the Cambridge Analytica saga was over with the company’s shut down and filing for bankruptcy, you were definitely wrong. According to The Financial Times, the company’s former CEO Alexander Nix has been accused of stealing $8 million dollars from Cambridge Analytica before its demise.
The theft reportedly occurred after journalists started digging into Cambridge Analytica and Facebook, but before the company shut down for good. Investors want to rebrand and relaunch the firm, but The Financial Times reports that Nix has refused to return the money.
Despite its shutdown, Cambridge Analytica is still facing investigations from the FBI and DOJ about its financial practices, as well as the firm’s misuse of Facebook users’ personal data. The UK is also looking into the firm; Nix is supposed to appear in front of Parliament for a second time today.
Investors who backed a rebranding of Cambridge Analytica are in a stand-off with former chief executive Alexander Nix after he allegedly withdrew more than $8m from the scandal-hit data company shortly before it collapsed.
Several people involved in the dispute told the Financial Times the withdrawal came shortly after Mr Nix learned British media was reporting on allegations about his company’s role in a massive leak of Facebook user data in March. Mr Nix did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
According to these people, the investors are pressing Mr Nix to repay the money to Cambridge Analytica employees and investors.
They said Emerdata, a company set up last year to acquire and rebrand Cambridge Analytica, and a related company, SCL Group, had raised $19m from powerful international investors in January to expand the company’s services and bid for more commercial work.
The money ran out quickly, the people said, because of outstanding bills to advertisers and other suppliers, and because of the alleged withdrawal by Mr Nix. According to some of the people, Mr Nix has indicated that he intends to repay part of the money. One person added that Mr Nix said the withdrawal was made in exchange for unbooked services.
Bankruptcy filings in New York show that Cambridge Analytica received an $8.8m loan from Emerdata before it entered administration, though it is not clear what the loan was intended for. Documents show the debt is classified as an unsecured “non-priority” loan that might not have to be returned.
Now we’re getting to the “Evil Eats Itself” phase of the program. Alexander Nix either robbed them blind or is the scapegoat. They’re going to turn on each other to avoid life sentences and death penalties. Shit’s gonna get crazy.
COHEN: COLLUDING WITH … EVERYONE
- Stormy Daniels Says Her Former Lawyer Colluded With Michael Cohen
- Renato Mariotti: Keith Davidson is Screwed
- Stormy Daniels lawsuit: My old lawyer was a ‘puppet’ for Trump, Cohen
The filing in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday alleges that Beverly Hills lawyer Keith Davidson “hatched a plan” and “colluded” with Trump attorney Michael Cohen to get the adult film actress to go on Fox News a few months ago and falsely deny she had an affair with Trump more than a decade ago.
Want to read Cohen’s Text Messages to Keith Davidson? Here’s the PDF
These are damning AF. They show a pattern of Davidson and Cohen communicating, likely working together, and doing so with the knowledge of other people. The last text in the document took place while Cohen was briefing the First Lady about what was going on. Depending on what Cohen told her, she could be a witness, if not a co-conspirator in these actions.
And it’s not like this took place back in 2016. These texts took place mostly from Daily Check-In 01/17/2018 to Daily Check-In 03/02/2018. From the time InTouch Magazine announced they were going to release their interview with Stormy Daniels to the day she hired Michael Avenatti and details of her story and the payment process became public knowledge.
From the outside looking in, the best case scenario for Keith Davidson is disbarment.
IMMIGRATION
- Border arrests exceed 50,000 in May for third consecutive month in a blow to Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration
- Taking Migrant Children From Parents Is Illegal, U.N. Tells U.S.
- Federal judge rules against Trump administration in Philadelphia sanctuary city case
PUERTO RICO
COLD WAR 2.0
- Gorka: Hannity and I Are Going to Trump’s North Korea Summit
- Dennis Rodman will be in Singapore for Trump-Kim summit
- Giuliani: Kim Jong-un ‘begged’ for summit to take place – BBC News
- Amnesty International report finds US guilty of war crimes in Syria
- US defends Trump’s man in Berlin: ‘Americans have the right to free speech’ – POLITICO
- Experts warn massive malware network linked to Russia is more widespread
- The West Still Isn’t Prepared to Stop Russia Meddling in Our Elections
Dennis Rodman, Sean Hannity, and Sebastian Gorka. A former basketball player, a fake journalist and real creep, and a fake doctor and real nazi.
The simulation is in QA mode.
SCOTT PRUITT AND THE EPA
- Emails: Pruitt told staffer to handle another personal chore
- Ethics, schmethics, America really needs to know why Scott Pruitt wanted a used Trump hotel mattress
- Judge orders EPA to disclose any science backing up Pruitt’s climate claims
- Government Accountability Office Investigating Pruitt’s EPA for Alleged Partisan Propaganda
- Corruption allegations against EPA’s Pruitt reach farcical level
- Two Senior EPA Aides Quit
DID PAUL RYAN GROW A SPINE?
- Paul Ryan agrees that the FBI didn’t really spy on the Trump campaign
- House Speaker Paul D. Ryan breaks with President Trump, says he sees ‘no evidence’ to claims FBI spied on president’s campaign
- Paul Ryan: Gowdy’s statement contradicting Trump on spying claims is ‘accurate’
- Speaker Paul Ryan Says Trump Shouldn’t Pardon Himself: ‘No One Is Above The Law’
- Asha Rangappa on Paul Ryan
- Speaker Ryan Dismisses Trump’s Charges of a Spy in his Campaign – The New York Times
I’m still waiting for Paul Ryan to slink away and collapse like the invertebrate he is, but he may have finally reached the No Fucks to Give/Pushed Too Far line. A lot of people are having their Waylon Smithers moment.
WHITE HOUSE CHAOS
- ‘So unfair, and vicious’: Trump lashes out at the media for reporting on his wife
- AP sources: Mulvaney disbands consumer advisory board
NEW YORK (AP) — Members of a group of outside experts required by law to meet twice a year with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau say the group has been dissolved by CFPB head Mick Mulvaney.
It’s the latest pro-industry action by the Trump administration since it took over the bureau seven months ago.
Mulvaney, acting director of the CFPB, told the 25 members of the Consumer Advisory Board on Wednesday morning that they will be replaced and the board will be reconstituted, according to two of the members. These people requested anonymity since the announcement was not official yet.
Under the law that created the CFPB, the CAB is required to meet twice a year, but meetings were repeatedly cancelled since Mulvaney came to CFPB.
- No, Sarah Sanders, reporters aren’t trying to ‘tear’ you down. They want you to do your job.
- Betsy DeVos Says School Safety Commission Won’t Study the Role of Guns in School Safety – Mother Jones
- Steve Mnuchin Blacked Out Schedule on Days of Controversial Trips
TRADE AND TARIFFS
- Conservative Koch Groups Plan Pro-Trade Blitz, as the Issue Splits Republicans – The New York Times
- Congressional Dems take Trump to court over foreign favors
- Trump’s steel tariffs will cost 400,000 Americans jobs, a new estimate says
- Blue collar betrayal: Carrier worker feels ‘forgotten’ by Trump
- World Bank warns Trump tariffs could trigger 2008-level financial crisis
- GOP Senators Want To Limit Trump’s Power On Trade
- After Michael Cohen debacle, shareholders hope AT&T will be more transparent about political spending
- Trump tries to kill bill blocking his tariffs
- Trump invokes War of 1812 in testy call with Trudeau over tariffs
#NEVERAGAIN
An ‘F’ from the NRA is a badge of honor. It means you put the lives and safety of children above the profits of gun manufacturers.
- Policy – March For Our Lives
- Head of Illinois NRA affiliate accidentally admits gun restrictions stop mass shootings – ThinkProgress
ELECTION 2018
- ‘Printing error’ leaves almost 200,000 voters off L.A. rosters
- Trump and women continue to shape the coming midterm campaign
- It Looks Like America Is Finally Going To Have A Native American Congresswoman
- Democrats flip Missouri State Senate seat
- Roy Moore’s wife, Kayla Moore, loses bid for state Republican Executive Committee
- Democrats win state Senate seat in Missouri, their 42nd red-to-blue flip of the cycle
- California Voters Remove Aaron Persky, the Judge Who Gave a 6-Month Sentence for Sexual Assault
- Lawsuit says Iowa’s voter ID law violates state constitution
- California Judge Will Lose His Job Over 6-Month Sentence in Stanford Sexual Assault Case
- Judge who sentenced swimmer recalled amid #MeToo movement
- “Medicare for All” is a winner in Democratic primaries
- AL Sheriff Who Pocketed $750k In Inmate Food Funds Defeated In Primary
- 50 Years After 1968, Can the Young Change Politics? A Striking New Poll Says Yes
- Democrats Breathe Sigh Of Relief After Tuesday’s Primaries
- Democrats appear to avoid lockouts in southern California races
- Democrats Avoid A Nightmare In California
- Last night proved Democrats are not in disarray
- California’s primary results suggest Democrats are on track for a House majority
So many good stories, but here’s the deal with California. They operate in an Open Primary format. Everyone from all parties run on the same ballot, but the two top vote getters face each other in the General Election. What often happens is that the top two finalists are from the same party. If the Democrats have any chance of taking the House this fall, they needed a contestant in all 53 congressional races in California.
And for the first time in a long time, they have it. All 53 races have at least 1 Democrat running in November.
THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE
- Giuliani says Mueller’s team is trying to frame Trump
- The Latest Attack on Free Speech in the Israel-Palestine Debate
- Latest Trump attack on Russian investigation comes directly from conspiracy websites
- Van Jones: It’s ‘beyond insulting’ for Trump to lecture us about patriotism
- Donald Trump is running a disinformation campaign against the Eagles to push his culture war
- LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry say whichever team wins NBA Finals will boycott Trump White House visit
- NBA commissioner encourages players to keep “speaking out for their values”
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
- Murder with Impunity: Where killings go unsolved
- It’s not just Alice Marie Johnson: Over 2,000 federal prisoners are serving life sentences for nonviolent drug crimes
- Soldier, charged with driving on drugs, appears to have been tweeting from stolen military vehicle
- The policing of black Americans is racial harassment funded by the state
- Steve Penny, Former USA Gymnastics official, invokes 5th Amendment at congressional hearing – CNNPolitics
- E-Mails Show FCC Made Up DDOS Attack To Downplay The ‘John Oliver Effect’
IS THIS THE REAL LIFE? IS THIS JUST FANTASY?
- Trump commutes life sentence of woman whose case was championed by Kim Kardashian
- Kim Kardashian celebrates Trump’s move to commute woman’s sentence
GOP: THE “HOW DO YOU FUCK THAT UP?” EDITION
A Georgia Congressman tweeted and deleted a D-Day blunder.
Rep. Drew Ferguson, who is running for reelection in Georgia’s Third District, marked the 74th anniversary of the allied invasion of Normandy with an image of soldiers for Nazi Germany and a tank with the Iron Cross, a symbol of the German military.
The tweet also featured a quote from Harry Truman, who was not yet president on June 6, 1944.
The tweet, from Ferguson’s campaign Twitter page, was posted to his campaign twitter at 9:57 am and deleted within an hour, but not before users spotted it and mocked it online.
“The problem is that it is an amazingly stupid mistake to make, and should have been caught by any kid nearby who has played Call of Duty for more than five minutes,” one Twitter user said.
- Watch Extremely Patriotic Guy Donald Trump Forget The Words To ‘God Bless America’
- Trump to sign veterans heath bill as White House works against plan to fund it
GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD
- Ted Cruz Said He ‘Never Studied’ the Pardon Power. But in 2015 He Wrote About the Pardon Power.
- GOP Senate report says Obama officials gave Iran access to U.S. financial system
- DOJ watchdog finds Comey defied authority as FBI director, sources say
The draft of Horowitz’s wide-ranging report specifically called out Comey for ignoring objections from the Justice Department when he disclosed in a letter to Congress just days before the 2016 presidential election that FBI agents had reopened the Clinton probe, according to sources. Clinton has said that letter doomed her campaign.
OP-ED PIECES
- The rise of the snowflake conservative
- It’s time for NFL owners to stand up for their kneeling players
- Sen. Merkley right to investigate secret jails for migrant children [Editorial]
RUMOR MILL
- Roxydavis99: Stay Positive
- Eric Garland: Mueller’s Got This
- Manafort, Trump’s unpaid Pollster and others. – Mad Dog PAC
That’s it for today. I added a new section today for Op-Ed pieces. Sometimes I get caught up with all of the different stories, and the opinion pieces get swept up in the net. I think you deserve transparency in knowing when a story isn’t news, but just an opinion about it or a spin on it. I admit I won’t always catch it, but I’ll do my best.
Like I’ve said before, we’re in the desperation hour, where a lot of shit flies against the wall, seeing what sticks. In the next 3-10 days, Paul Manafort will either have been sent to jail and charged with even more crimes, or would be at least in the process of striking a deal with Mueller against Donald Trump and Mike Pence.
Shit, I just realized something. June 15th. That’s the deadline for both Cohen’s team to have their privilege review completed, and Paul Manafort’s main hearing date for these witness tampering claims. That’s also the Friday of the week of the planned Singapore Summit with North Korea.
The next week is gonna be nuts. Welcome aboard the Crazy Train.
Thank you, and have a good one.
“Without Journalists, it’s all just propaganda.”
– Katy Tur
None of this is Normal 
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