Friday, June 22nd
THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team is seeking to prevent the defense for Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman, from arguing to jurors that he was targeted for prosecution because of his role in Donald Trump’s presidential bid.
In a court filing on Friday, prosecutors asked a federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia, to bar any selective prosecution claims during Manafort’s looming trial on tax evasion, bank fraud and other charges.
“Manafort should … be precluded from arguing that he has been singled out for prosecution because of his position in the campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump, or otherwise asserting that he has been selectively prosecuted by the Special Counsel’s Office,” Mueller’s team wrote.
Prosecutors noted that Manafort never filed a legal motion asking for the case to be dismissed on selective-prosecution grounds.
“Courts have consistently held that claims of selective (or vindictive) prosecution must be presented to the court before trial and cannot be argued to the jury,” the government filing said. “The government’s reasons for initiating a prosecution have nothing to do with whether the evidence at trial proves the elements of the charged offenses, which is the sole question that the jury must answer.”
- Judge denies Manafort attempt to dismiss money laundering charge
- Inside the Ukraine peace plan in Mueller probe: More authors, earlier drafting than believed
- The emerging alliance between Putin and Trump’s God squad
- Reality Winner, accused of leak on Russian election hacking, to plead guilty
- CNN Poll: Americans think Russia investigation is serious and should continue
- Obama cyber chief confirms ‘stand down’ order against Russian cyberattacks in summer 2016
- Britain Has a Russia Collusion Scandal Now. It Looks Exactly Like Trump’s.
- House Judiciary chairman subpoenas Peter Strzok to be deposed
- Special Counsel Seeks to Bar Vindictive Prosecution Claim
- How Did Trump and Clinton Pal Jeffrey Epstein Escape #MeToo?
- There’s nearly a Nixon ’74 level of public support for impeaching Trump
- Key Democrat: Trump advisers ‘lied through their teeth’ when testifying about Russia contacts
COHEN
Comedian Tom Arnold said Friday that he and President Trump’s former, longtime personal lawyer are teaming up to “take down” the president.
Arnold tweeted a photo with Michael Cohen on Thursday with the caption, “I Love New York,” which Cohen retweeted without comment.
Arnold then told NBC News that he met with Cohen as part of a show he is working on for Vice, in which he searches for incriminating videos of the president.
“This dude has all the tapes–this dude has everything,” Arnold told NBC News. “I say to Michael, ‘Guess what? We’re taking Trump down together,’ and he’s so tired he’s like, ‘OK,’ and his wife is like, ‘OK, f— Trump.’”
The idea for the Vice program followed the leak of the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape during the 2016 campaign, in which Trump bragged about grabbing women “by the p—-.” The show will feature Arnold’s hunt for other unflattering video and audio footage of the president.
During the presidential campaign, National Enquirer executives sent digital copies of the tabloid’s articles and cover images related to Donald Trump and his political opponents to Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen in advance of publication, according to three people with knowledge of the matter — an unusual practice that speaks to the close relationship between Trump and David Pecker, chief executive of American Media Inc., the Enquirer’s parent company.
Although the company strongly denies ever sharing such material before publication, these three individuals say the sharing of material continued after Trump took office.
“Since Trump’s become president and even before, [Pecker] openly just has been willing to turn the magazine and the cover over to the Trump machine,” said one of the people with knowledge of the practice.
During the campaign, “if it was a story specifically about Trump, then it was sent over to Michael, and as long as there were no objections from him, the story could be published,” this person added.
WASHINGTON — When the National Enquirerreported without proof in March 2016 that Sen. Ted Cruz had been caught cheating with five mistresses, Cruz blamed the “tabloid smear” on “Donald Trump and his henchmen.”
When the supermarket tabloid asserted two months later that Cruz’s dad took part in a conspiracy to assassinate John F. Kennedy — based on an exceedingly creative interpretation of a decades-old photo of a man who vaguely looked like the elder Cruz handing out pamphlets with Lee Harvey Oswald — Trump gleefully spread the claim to discredit his GOP presidential rival.
On Friday, The Washington Post reported that throughout the 2016 campaign, executives from the Enquirer sent copies of its articles about Trump and his opponents — including Cruz — to Trump attorney Michael Cohen for approval before publication.
- ‘Trump Is Going to Quit’: Tom Arnold Comes Away from Cohen Meeting Believing the End Is Near
- The National Enquirer reportedly sent stories about Trump to his lawyer for approval before publication
- Tom Arnold tweets picture with Michael Cohen, says he ‘has all the tapes’
- Trump’s Michael Cohen problem just keeps looking more ominous
IMMIGRATION
- ‘What was her first choice? A jacket that says womp womp?’ Late-night comics bash Melania Trump
- US court documents reveal: Immigrant children tied down, hooded, beaten, stripped and drugged
- Of Course Trump Backed Down on Family Separations
- Migrant children: Separated from his mother, 7-year-old boy is one of first to be reunited
- Jim Carrey: What our leaders have in common
- Jim Carrey: Smile for me
- ‘These aren’t our kids’: Fox & Friends defends Trump by dehumanizing immigrants
- Protesters Blast Audio of Crying Immigrant Kids at DHS Sec Kirstjen Nielsen’s Home
- MSNBC’s Deutsch equates Trump voters to Nazi guards: ‘If you vote for Trump, you’re the bad guy’
- UN says Trump separation of migrant children with parents ‘may amount to torture’, in damning condemnation
- Laura Ingraham Faces Ad Drops On Her Show After ‘Summer Camp’ Comment
- In reversal, Trump suddenly calls on lawmakers to stall immigration action until after midterms
- Stephen Miller called ‘fascist’ by protester at Mexican restaurant
- Sinclair Pushed Must-Run Segment Downplaying Family Separations
- Gov. Cuomo: “HHS won’t tell us” location of migrant children
- Trump Kills Off House Immigration Bill He Had Vowed to Support ‘1,000%’
- Protesters wake Kirstjen Nielsen with audio of detained children outside her house
- Paul Krugman: “The Trump administration has been terrorizing families and children, abandoning all norms of human decency, in response to an immigration crisis that doesn’t even exist.”
- Reps. Ted Lieu and Karen Handel argue over audio of immigrant children played on House floor
- Two Boys Sue the U.S. Government for Separating Them From Their Fathers
- Fox & Friends Co-Host Brian Kilmeade On Migrant Children: ‘These Aren’t Our Kids’
- Trump attacks ‘phony stories of sadness and grief’ in separation crisis
- Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) plays audio from detention center on House floor.
- Father of little Honduran girl on Time cover says she was not taken from her mother
- Finance Democrats Demand Plan to Reunite Children Separated from Their Parents at the Border
- Report: Maine Democrat running for US Senate arrested in Texas
- Fox’s Rivera: Our network was ‘too slow to recognize the hideous nature’ of child-parent separation policy
- Lawyers searching for migrants’ children encounter ‘a total labyrinth’
- The House Floor Just Broke Into Chaos After Congressman Tries to Play Audio of Detained Children
- We Reimagined Trump’s ‘Zero Tolerance’ as a 1940s Propaganda Film
- Trump created the immigration crisis out of sheer ignorance and cruelty
- The Absurdity of Kirstjen Nielsen and Stephen Miller Eating at Mexican Restaurants During an Immigration Crisis
- The Outsourced System Making Big Bucks off of “Zero Tolerance”
- Trump Holds ‘Permanent Separation’ Event Amid Family Separation Crisis
- The Washington Post: Trump says Republicans are ‘wasting their time’ trying to pass immigration bills before November elections
- The Washington Post: The crying Honduran girl on the cover of Time was not separated from her mother, father says
- Separated families: Why it’s so difficult to reunite migrant parents with their children – The Washington Post
- Sanders: ‘Hypocrite’ Trump rants against undocumented immigrants, but hires them at his properties
- Harris Says Trump Guilty of `Crimes Against Humanity’ on Border
- Here’s a list of organizations that are mobilizing to help immigrant children separated from their families
- Alyssa Milano joining forces with Michael Avenatti
COLD WAR 2.0
- Obama cyber chief confirms ‘stand down’ order against Russian cyberattacks in summer 2016
- President Trump and Putin plan to meet in mid-July – CNNPolitics
- Trump Re-Affirms North Korean Nuclear Threat After Saying It Was Gone
- Britain Has a Russia Collusion Scandal Now. It Looks Exactly Like Trump’s.
- Suspected Chinese lasers target US aircraft over the Pacific, US military source says
- UK should cancel Donald Trump visit, says Jeremy Corbyn
ANTWON ROSE
- Protestors Shut Down Major Pittsburgh Parkway For 5 Hours Following Police Killing Of Teenage Boy, Antwon Rose
- Antwon Rose, unarmed teen shot and killed by East Pittsburgh police, remembered as ‘a true joy’
THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE
- CNN Poll: Americans think Russia investigation is serious and should continue
- Your rage at Trump is justified: Don’t let scolds like the New York Times shame you for it
- Trump Autographed Photos of Murdered Family Members
- Demagogues and charlatans are stoking fear, says Joe Biden
- Fox News Is The Worst It’s Ever Been Right Now
- This Nation Is Beginning to Realize the Full Extent of What It Did to Itself in November 2016
- ‘These aren’t our kids’: Fox & Friends defends Trump by dehumanizing immigrants
- Fox & Friends Co-Host Brian Kilmeade On Migrant Children: ‘These Aren’t Our Kids’
- We Reimagined Trump’s ‘Zero Tolerance’ as a 1940s Propaganda Film
- Jim Carrey: What our leaders have in common
- Jim Carrey: Smile for me
WHITE HOUSE CHAOS
- AP-NORC Poll: Americans say no to presidential self-pardons
- Support For Donald Trump’s Impeachment Is Higher Than His Approval Rating, Poll Indicates
- Poll: 42 percent of Americans support impeaching Trump
- 6 months in, GOP tax bill an utter flop
- From ‘I Alone Can Fix It’ to ‘Congress Must Fix It’ to… ‘This Is a Waste of Time’
- But His Emails: Scott Pruitt’s Correspondence Is Nowhere To Be Found
- Watchdog groups press embattled EPA chief Pruitt for transparency on legal defense fund
- Wilbur Ross’s Financial Shenanigans Should Be a Massive Scandal
GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD
George Will, a longtime political commentator and staunch defender of the conservative movement, made a dramatic exit from the Republican Party Friday, citing the party’s support for Donald Trump in the upcoming 2020 presidential election.
In a speech at a luncheon held by the Federalist Society, Will urged other conservatives not to support Trump as the GOP nominee. “This is not my party,” Will said the speech, noting that while it’s a little too late to find a replacement for him on the ticket, conservatives can “grit their teeth for four years” after making sure that Trump loses.
Will mentioned that he had switched his voter registration from Republican to “unaffiliated” in the state of Maryland. He told the Washington Post, where he writes a column, that he made the change several weeks ago, after House Speaker Paul Ryan endorsed Trump for the 2020 election.
- Dem lawmaker: GOP deliberately increased deficits through tax cuts in order to cut social programs
- Big Cable unplugs Cali’s draft net neutrality protections yet AGAIN
- GOP nominee who railed against diversity also called Kwanzaa ‘phony,’ made anti-Muslim comments
- Amid worries of Nazi sympathizers on the town council, Leith, North Dakota, moves to dissolve
SCOTUS DECISIONS
- The Washington Post: Supreme Court says government needed warrant to search cellphone tower records
- In Major Privacy Win, Supreme Court Rules Police Need Warrant To Track Your Cellphone
U.N. POVERTY REPORT
- America’s poor becoming more destitute under Trump, UN report says
- UN condemns Trump administration for exacerbating US poverty levels
ECONOMY
- China is slamming the US with $34 billion in tariffs. Here are the states that will be hurt the most.
- BMW and Audi Dealers Brace for ‘Scary,’ ‘Tragic’ Trump Tariffs
- Trump threatens 20% tariff on all car imports from the EU
- Dear Europe, if you want stop Trump, sanction his companies
- Young Americans are waking up to their grim financial future
ELECTION 2018 AND BEYOND
- Donald Trump May Not Be on the 2020 Election Ballot in Some States Unless He Releases His Tax Returns
- A third of Maryland Democrats don’t even want to bother appealing to Trump voters
- Voting machine vendor treated election officials to trips to Vegas, elsewhere
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
- Jogger accidentally crosses U.S. border from B.C., gets detained for 2 weeks by authorities
- At Vatican trial, former diplomat admits to viewing and sharing child pornography while stationed in D.C.
IN OTHER NEWS…
- Delta is banning pit bull service dogs. That might not be legal.
- Normalisation of ‘plus-size’ risks hidden danger of obesity, study finds
- House approves massive opioids legislation
RUMOR MILL
That’s it for Friday. Yes, I know it’s Tuesday when I posted this, and that I added absolutely zero wit, snark, or depth to any stories. I’m going to post an update in a few minutes explaining why, and why I won’t be as regular with my updates for the next couple weeks.
It’s a good reason. I’ll also explain why I’ve been so cagey recently.
Thank you, and have a good one.
“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”
– Katy Tur
None of this is Normal 
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