Month: August 2018

Daily Check-In 08/20/2018

Monday, August 20th.

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

The Manafort Trial, Day 15

On day 15, the jury stayed a little later, which made everyone trip over themselves in thinking that a verdict was imminent.

Nope.

The jury is still deliberating this case, and will continue on Tuesday.

 

McGahn

Donald Trump has a credibility problem, but so do the media. A case in point is the weekend story that White House counsel Don McGahn has cooperated with special counsel Robert Mueller. Let’s try to navigate through this Beltway Hall of Mirrors.

The thesis of the New York Times story is that Mr. McGahn cooperated in a way that could hurt Donald Trump in order to protect himself and because he doesn’t trust the President. This fits the media narrative that Mr. Trump is covering up his collusion with Russia and his obstruction of justice, and thus Mr. McGahn must be scrambling to save himself.

Yet lost in the resulting tempest is a crucial fact that appears to contradict this spin: Mr. Trump had to waive executive privilege for Mr. McGahn to cooperate with Mr. Mueller.

Mr. McGahn is not Mr. Trump’s personal attorney, so attorney-client privilege isn’t at issue. But as White House counsel Mr. McGahn represents the Presidency. He is a careful enough lawyer to advise Mr. Trump that agreeing to answer Mr. Mueller’s questions would waive executive privilege. And the Times reports that Mr. McGahn’s attorney, William Burck, said on the record that Mr. McGahn cooperated only after Mr. Trump waived any privilege claim.

This in turn meant that Mr. McGahn would have to answer all of Mr. Mueller’s questions. Once privilege is waived, Mr. McGahn couldn’t decide to answer, say, what Mr. Trump told him about Attorney General Jeff Sessions but refuse to discuss the President’s state of mind when he fired James Comey at the FBI. Without invoking privilege there is no legal basis for Mr. McGahn to refuse to answer a question.

This isn’t what you’d expect if Mr. Trump is leading a coverup. Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton fought extensive legal battles with prosecutors over executive privilege. Mr. Clinton invoked privilege to block aides Bruce Lindsey and Sidney Blumenthal from testifying to Ken Starr’s grand jury.Yet when Mr. Trump doesn’t invoke privilege for his White House counsel, he gets no credit.

Could it be that Mr. Trump let Mr. McGahn cooperate with Mr. Mueller because he felt he had nothing to cover up? This is precisely what Mr. Trump tweeted Saturday: “I allowed him and all others to testify – I didn’t have to. I have nothing to hide.”

Because Mr. Trump makes so many false statements, this claim is also assumed to be false—though legal logic and the public evidence suggest that in this case it may be true. Keep in mind that Mr. Trump’s lawyers cooperated extensively with Mr. Mueller for months, turning over tens of thousands of documents—also without claiming executive privilege.

In recent months, as the Mueller probe has dragged on, Mr. Trump has turned to denouncing it as a “witch hunt.” His lawyers now fear that letting the President talk to Mr. Mueller’s team, as Mr. Trump has said he wants to do, could be walking into a perjury trap. This is a rational fear, but the lawyers are still negotiating with Mr. Mueller.

Mr. McGahn has been one of the President’s most effective advisers—notably on judicial nominations. But some in and outside the White House resent his influence and might want to portray him as undermining Mr. Trump. The bottom line is that readers should remain skeptical about what is reported about Mr. Mueller’s probe, waiting to see the evidence he actually produces.

 

Papadopoulos

 

The Russian Escort.  No, the other one.  No, the other other one.

We mentioned her back on Daily Check-In 03/13/2018.  Looks like she’s working on a deal with Oleg Deripaska to get out of jail, and not end up the victim of a Russian Heart Attack.

 

Butina and Bolton

One piece of information that might have fallen through the cracks in the past month was John Bolton working on an Pro-Russian Gun Rights video with none other than Maria Butina. (Daily Check-In 07/16/2018, Daily Check-In 07/18/2018)

That’s right, the National Security Adviser worked with a Russian Spy to create propaganda.  Yet he still has a security clearance?

 

 

RUSSIAN ATTACKS ON THE ELECTION

Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit, which is responsible for the company’s response to email phishing schemes, took the lead role in finding and disabling the sites, and the company is launching an effort to provide expanded cybersecurity protection for campaigns and election agencies that use Microsoft products.

Among those targeted were the Hudson Institute, a conservative Washington think tank active in investigations of corruption in Russia, and the International Republican Institute (IRI), a nonprofit group that promotes democracy worldwide. Three other fake sites were crafted to appear as though they were affiliated with the Senate, and one nonpolitical site spoofed Microsoft’s own online products.

The Senate did not immediately respond to requests for comment late Monday.

This is interesting.  While the first headline makes it sound that the Republicans were attacked, too, it goes deeper than that.

The two organizations are pro-democracy and anti-authoritarian, which means they are anti-Russia.  APT28 attacked anti-Russian organizations.

The hackers successfully infiltrated the election campaign computer of David Min, a Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives who was later defeated in the June primary for California’s 45th Congressional district.

The incident, which has not been previously reported, follows an article in Rolling Stone earlier this week that the FBI has also been investigating a cyber attack against Hans Keirstead, a California Democrat. He was defeated in a primary in the 48th Congressional district, neighboring Min’s.

David Min lost the primary for the 45th Congressional District, in Southern California.  Last week, it was reported that Dr. Hans Keirstead lost his primary for the 48th (Daily Check-In 08/15/2018).

Both men had earned an endorsement from the California Democratic Party.  Both were facing Republican incumbents.

If I had to take a guess, this list of endorsements will contain the names of other people targeted by Russians.

 

COHEN

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET

The executive order to which he referred was promulgated by President Bill Clinton and later amended in 2008. It sets out a process that, if followed by the administration, could take years to play out, Zaid said.

It requires, with a major escape hatch to be sure, that those facing revocation shall be provided, among other things:

A “comprehensive and detailed . . . written explanation” of the decision.

Notice of their right to be represented by a lawyer at their own expense.

The chance to request “any documents” and reports . . . “upon which a denial or revocation is based.”

A “reasonable opportunity to reply in writing, and request a review” of the decision.

A right to appeal to a “high level panel” appointed by the head of the relevant agency, presumably the CIA in Brennan’s case.

An opportunity “to appear personally” and present materials before “an adjudicative or other authority.”

The same process would apply to all those threatened by Trump with security clearance revocation if indeed the president followed through.

But “Trump is unlikely to go down this path because it affords far too much due process for his taste,” as Bradley P. Moss, a partner in Zaid’s firm, wrote in Lawfare in July.

“It would require civil servants at the respective agencies [of those losing their clearances] to sign off on the paperwork. I can say with a reasonable degree of confidence,” Moss wrote, “that those civil servants would not put their names on a document moving to revoke someone’s security clearance for nothing other than bad-mouthing the president on television or writing a book.”

Rather, Moss suggested, the administration would be more likely to invoke a “national security” exception in the executive order that eliminates the appeal process. But, Moss wrote, this would require “current agency heads” to sign off on a bypass of due process. And some might not consent.

Trump would then have to claim the “inherent constitutional authority” to revoke the clearances.

That, he wrote, “has never happened before.”

“If the president were to take this unprecedented exercise of his authority . . . it would set up a serious clash of constitutional questions,” Moss wrote, with an unforeseeable response from the courts.

“As the president would say, we’ll just have to wait and see.”

 

TRAITOR TOTS

Rudy

 

FIGHTING BACK

Brennan

Sacha Baron Cohen

Queen of Soul

Avenatti and Stormy

Captain America

 

 

IMMIGRATION

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

TRADE WAR AND ECONOMY

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

 

SCOTUS

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

Pruitt

Zinke

Melania

 

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

Pedophile Priests

 

 

ENVIRONMENT

 

ELECTION 2018

 

RUMOR MILL

Yes, Donald Trump was a confidential informant for the FBI against the mob.  Even though he was helping the mob.  It gets confusing, but he pointed Federal Investigators, led by Robert Mueller, in the right direction to take them down.

 

That’s it for Monday.  This post was a little lighter because of two reasons.  I’m tired, and Tuesday’s looking to be BIG.  I don’t want to give any spoilers, but as I write this, barricades are being set up around the SDNY courthouse and news crews are showing up.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 08/17/2018

Friday, August 17th, 2018 and the weekend

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

The Manafort Trial

It was a relatively slow day Friday.  The jury has not yet returned a verdict, so they left for the weekend.  It was at this point the screwiness began.

Judge Ellis mentioned that he’s received death threats over this trial, and now has the U.S. Marshall’s Office providing around the clock protection.  He also asked the jury to stay off of social media, but didn’t sequester them.  He did decide to not release the names of the jurors, so at least there’s that.

Of course, the Dotard opened his lardhole and talked about how Manafort was a “good guy” and Manafort’s lawyers thanked him for that comment.  This is borderline jury tampering.

Hopefully the judge in the DC trial will learn from this case.

 

Papadopoulos

Not only did Papadopoulos lie to investigators, the memo says, he lied repeatedly, after the agents informed him that doing so would be a “federal offense” and that the investigation was a matter of great importance. He falsely said “at least a dozen” times that Mifsud told him of Russia’s “dirt” on Clinton in Feb. 27, before he joined the Trump campaign, when in fact Mifsud had reached out to him in March 2016, after he had signed on as a foreign policy adviser to the campaign. (It was, Papadopoulos said, “a very strange coincidence” to be informed of the “dirt” before his association with the campaign.) He also downplayed the extent and subject of his communications with Mifsud and the Russian woman, falsely giving investigators the impression that he did not believe the two to have high-level connections to the Russian government. And when asked if he had met with any Russian nationals—or, amusingly, anyone “with a Russian accent”—he lied and did not tell the FBI of his communications with the Russian close to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Papadopoulos told these lies in a voluntary January 2017 meeting with FBI agents at the Chicago field office, the memo contends. When he met again with the FBI in February 2017, he did not admit that he had misled the agents. Indeed, he sought to further cover his tracks, deactivated his Facebook account—which documented his communications with Mifsud and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs contact—and “obtained a new phone.”

The memo also makes clear that Papadopoulos’s lies were not harmless; they “were intended to harm the investigation, and did so.” Most importantly, his dissembling prevented the FBI from detaining or arresting Mifsud in Washington, D.C., in the winter of 2017. Mifsud subsequently left the United States, according to the memo, and has not returned.

The government has recommended that George Papadopoulos serve 6 months for his reluctance in cooperating with the investigation, and that his lies and actions harmed the investigation.  Good. (Cooperating Witnesses).

This information gives all of us a clue as to what George did, how he was caught, how much he cooperated, and why he’s been acting like he has.

First, it’s time for a mea culpa.  I reported that Papadopoulos was cooperating to large extent based off of the reporting I saw at the time.  That reporting was based off of sources that were either misinformed or exaggerated George’s cooperation.  It’s time to set the record straight.

George Papadopoulos, the former Foreign Policy Adviser to the Trump Presidential Campaign, only cooperated begrudgingly, and only to protect himself.  His assistance was more reluctant that willing.  Even after pleading guilty to lying to the FBI, he’s still trying to play around by withholding information from the FBI, or only trying to confirm information.  His actions also led to “The Professor” Mifsud escaping the country and going to ground in Europe.

I also enjoyed the way the Justice Department called George’s wife a liar.

 

Roger Stone

Why did a super-PAC run by longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone pay nearly $5,000 to the mother of Kristin Davis, the so-called “Manhattan Madam,” in July 2016? This may be a question that special counsel Robert Mueller seeks to answer as he zeroes in on Stone in his ongoing investigation of possible coordination between Trump allies and Russia.

One of the more colorful characters to enter the Trump-Russia scandal, Davis once ran a high-priced prostitution ring and currently splits a two-floor Harlem apartment with Stone, who is the godfather of her son. Last week, Davis appeared before a Washington, DC, grand jury convened by Mueller to answer questions about Stone that she says focused on “whether or not any collusion happened with Russia.”

Over the years, Stone has employed Davis to do web design, schedule his travel, and perform other administrative tasks, but he claims she did not work for him in 2016 and would therefore have no knowledge of any of the subjects Mueller is probing. “She knows of no Russian collusion or WikiLeaks collaboration or any other illegal activity on my part in connection with the presidential election or otherwise,” Stone said in a CNN interview last week. “In the time period that’s most under focus, 2015 and 2016, she was not working for me. She came back to work for me in January of ’17, although I think I paid her in December of 2016.”

…

In the same filings, a California personal injury lawyer, Paul Jensen, said he had established Stop the Steal. Jensen is a longtime Stone associate. In 2007, describing himself as Stone’s lawyer, Jensen released a letter addressed to the FBI in which Stone made a much-cited but never verified claim that he had learned from “a social contact in an adult-themed club” that Spitzer wore knee-length black socks during trysts with prostitutes. The FBI never actually received the letter, the Atlantic reported.

Stop the Steal and the Committee to Restore America’s Greatness were closely connected. In April 2016, Stone’s super-PAC gave Stop the Steal $50,000. On July 12, 2016, Stop the Steal donated $63,000 to Stone’s super-PAC.

The Committee to Restore America’s Greatness ultimately reported raising$587,000 in the 2016 cycle, but the group spent just $16,000 on independent political expenditures, buying two pro-Trump billboards. The super-PAC, however, paid more than $100,000 to Jensen’s law firm, which specializes in personal injury cases, for unspecified “legal and accounting” and “consulting” services. Jensen declined to respond to questions. More than $130,000 wentto Citroen Associates for “voter fraud research and documentation” and “research services consulting.” Florida records indicate that Citroen’s president is John Kakanis, a former driver and social media aide for Stone. Mueller has called Kakanis before the grand jury.

The Committee to Restore America’s Greatness also paid $12,000 to a public relations firm, Drake Ventures, that is run by Stone and was registered by his wife. Stone had previously claimed he would not be paid by the committee. Citroen and Drake Ventures share a mailing address in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with Stone Cold Truth Inc., another Stone business. According to the super-PAC’s FEC filings, the payment to Stone’s PR firm was for “consulting.”

I’m looking forward to reading the Stone Indictment when it comes out.  I think these pieces of information are building to Roger being indicted at first for semi-related sex and financial crimes either at the same time as the Russian actions, or right before.

 

Maria Butina

It’s not known why she was moved, but as it was said when Manafort was moved to that prison, but they do have experience with high-profile prisoners. (Daily Check-In 07/12/2018)

 

Broidy

Elliot Broidy, the former Deputy Finance Chair of the Republican National Committee, is under investigation for his role in trying to end the DOJ’s 1MDB investigation, as well as other various pay to play bribery schemes. ( Daily Check-In 03/05/2018).

Broidy, a former senior member of the Republican Party, resigned from that post after news broke that he was involved in a hush money scheme with Michael Cohen to pay Shera Blanchard  (Daily Check-In 04/16/2018).

 

McGahn

White House Counsel Don McGahn has spent more than 30 hours voluntarily interviewing with Special Counselor Mueller’s team.  That’s a lot of hours, and a lot of talking.

Let me clear something up.  Don McGahn is not Trump’s lawyer, he’s the lawyer for the White House and the Office of the President.  That is a very important distinction.  McGahn’s job is to provide legal guidance for the office and staff, not for the President himself.  McGahn’s work for Trump only extends to his professional role, not past that.  Any talk of McGahn being a “rat” just paints Trump as an even bigger criminal, and will likely be People’s Exhibit 4657986554987.

McGahn has known for a long time that Trump’s lawyers wanted to turn him into a scapegoat.  They basically said as much during their lunch within earshot of the NY Times office (Daily Check-In 9/18/2017).  McGahn also knows a little about history, and knows what happened to Nixon’s White House Counsel.  He does not want to go to prison, especially for this clusterfuck of a White House.

Another thing to note, McGahn’s statements could have been protected by Executive Privilege, but it’s too late for that now.  If Trump tried to exert that now, it would be too late, as everything said for the last YEAR AND A HALF IS ON THE RECORD WITH THE SPECIAL COUNSELOR.

Finally, this story has Maggie in the byline.  The “anonymous source inside the White House” are almost certainly Trump himself.  He calls her up to bitch about what’s going on, she writes it down, works with other journalists to verify or flesh it out into a different story, publish, get bitched at by Trump for “Fake News”, then rinse and repeat.  I’m still not sure whether they have an agreement to hold stories or not, but always question the timing of a Maggie Haberman story, and what else happened that day.  (Daily Check-In 01/25/2018, Daily Check-In 07/26/2018)

 

To be fair, we want the Mueller probe to wrap up because the longer Trump’s in office, the more damage he causes and the longer it will take to fix things.

 

TAPES AND NDA’S

New York Supreme Court Judge Arlene Bluth ruled Thursday that errors in the wording of a nondisclosure agreement between President Donald Trump’s team and a former campaign staffer make it much smaller in scope, thus not preventing the case from going to open court, according to a Thursday Yahoo News report.

The initial lawsuit was filed by Jessica Denson, a former campaign aide who said that she experienced “harassment and sexual discrimination” while working on the 2016 bid. Per Yahoo, she is suing for $25 million for being subjected to “severe and pervasive slander, aggravated harassment, attempted theft, cyberbullying, and sexual discrimination and harassment” at the hands of staffers including Camilo Sandoval, her supervisor then and the current acting chief information officer at the VA.

Campaign lawyers countered by demanding $1.5 million in damages, alleging that she broke the signed agreement by publishing “confidential information and disparaging statements.” They then moved to take the case to private arbitration, claiming that she agreed to that when she signed the contract. As opposed to a normal trial, records from arbitration can be sealed.

Bluth ruled that, due to various wording errors and incorrect phrasing in the NDA, it did not prevent Denson from taking her case public.

This could have far-ranging effects, as the NDA Denson signed seems to be similar to the one Trump uses in the White House and at the Trump Organization, along with his campaign. The ruling could be especially topical, as the Trump administration is currently trying to silence former aide Omarosa Manigault Newman by claiming that she violated the terms of the NDA.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

 

Former White House aide Omarosa Manigault-Newman reportedly states in her book that she was offered a monthly salary of $15,000 for signing a nondisclosure agreement. Finance records obtained by ABC News appear to back this claim.

According to the network, federal election filings show a number of former Trump aides have received monthly payments of around $15,000. The money comes from either the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee, or the America First PAC, but it’s not clear if the payments are in exchange for the former aides’ silence.

Those receiving payments—either directly or through firms they manage—include former director of Oval Office operations Keith Schiller, former personal assistant to the president John McEntee, former digital media director of the Trump campaign Brad Parscale, and former director of advertising for the Trump campaign Gary Coby, ABC reports. The salaries are listed for “security services,” “payroll,” “digital consulting [and] management consulting,” and “media services [and] consulting,” respectively.

Omarosa is angling herself as a whistleblower, which will offer her some legal protections.  Plus, with Judge Bluth’s ruling on the limits of the NDA, things are about to get a whole hell of a lot weirder.

 

COHEN

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET

Security Clearances

 

Military Parade

 

 

 

TRAITOR TOTS

Jim Jordan

The Education Department’s Office for Civil rights is investigating how Ohio State University officials handled complaints against a former university doctor accused of sexually abusing athletes, in a case that’s also drawn allegations that a Republican congressman turned a blind eye as Ohio State wrestling coach.

Multiple former Ohio State wrestlers have accused Rep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican and former Ohio State wrestling coach, of being among the faculty members who ignored inappropriate behavior by the physician, Richard Strauss. Jordan, a leader of the House Freedom Caucus has denied those allegations, saying: “I never knew about any type of abuse … If I did, I would have done something about it.”

The Education Department confirmed the inquiry on Thursday. “I can confirm that in light of recent allegations made by former students concerning sexual abuse by former athletic team doctor Richard Strauss, OCR initiated a directed investigation on August 8, 2018,” Education Department spokeswoman Liz Hill said.

“This new Title IX investigation will examine the University’s handling of reports of sex-based incidents involving Dr. Strauss, including allegations that University employees knew or should have known about the sexual misconduct and allowed the abuse to continue.”

The federal probe was first reported by cleveland.com.

 

Rudy

Now that Rudy’s passed the Orwell Threshold, I would like to remind everyone that he claims that he was married to his cousin for ten years before finding out she was his cousin.

 

Rand Paul

Rand went full Kremlin.  Never go full Kremlin.

 

 

FIGHTING BACK

Brennan and Security Clearances

 

 

IMMIGRATION

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

Alex Jones

 

TRADE WAR AND ECONOMY

 

CORRUPTION, TRUMP STYLE

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

SCOTUS

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

Dave Wasserman, the Cook Political Report’s House analyst, says the most under-covered aspect of 2018 is that “a blue wave is obscuring a red exodus.” Republican House members are retiring at a startling clip —  a trend that senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway told me earlier this year was worrying her more than any other trend affecting the midterms.

43 Republican members of the House are leaving.  43, out of the approximately 220 they currently hold.  That’s 43 races without an incumbent GOP candidate in a midterm election that is shaping up to be one of the most important in history.

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld Texas’ campus carry law, delivering another clear victory to the state in a longshot, long-running lawsuit brought by University of Texas at Austin professors opposed to the law.

In July 2016, three professors claimed that a 2015 state law that allows licensed gun-owners to carry concealed weapons into most public university buildings would have a “chilling effect” on free speech in their classrooms. But a federal district judge threw out their case in July 2017, saying the professors didn’t present any “concrete evidence to substantiate their fears.”

Accepting that logic and advancing it yet further, a three-judge panel on the appeals court this week rebuffed the professors’ free speech claim as well as two other constitutional challenges they had made.

Pedophile Priests

See, it’s not just the Catholics that get handsy, the Mormons do it too!!!!

Seriously, it’s not a matter of one religion over another, it’s a matter of abusing a position of trust and power, and the organized reaction against the victims each system executes to protect one of their own.  The game is the same, only the names are changed.  A priest, bishop, scout master, pastor, or teacher uses their position of power to commit heinous crimes, then the organization attempts to silence or discredit the victim and their support network.  They’ll attack them into silence, shun them from their community, and do everything in their power to keep the crimes secret or make people think it’s all a lie.  That’s why things like the #MeToo movement have taken hold.  We’re reaching a breaking point in our society where the victims of these crimes are getting together to speak out against their abusers.

 

ENVIRONMENT AND SCIENCE

 

ELECTION 2018

O’Rourke said, “Texas is one of the most gerrymandered states in the union.”

There are many ways to analyze this question, and depending on the method, the rankings vary a bit. But studies that look at the intersection of geographical compactness and partisan voting history consistently place Texas between fifth and seventh on the list of most gerrymandered states in the nation. Since O’Rourke called Texas “one of the most” gerrymandered states, such studies support his point.

We rate his statement Mostly True.

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

 

RUMOR MILL

As it turned out, though, Smith was neither a former Delta Force soldier or a malevolent CIA operative. In fact, evidence suggests that the Twitter account beloved by Trump haters was in fact operated by Justin Hendrix, a Seattle gamer who regularly made pro-Trump comments online. (Hendrix didn’t respond to The Daily Beast’s requests for comment. He’s not the same person as NYC Media Lab executive director Justin Hendrix, another prominent figure in anti-Trump Twitter).

The @GuardianRover Twitter account was deleted in early August, after one Twitter user hinted that they were closing in on the identity of the person behind the account. Despite the success of Smith’s Twitter account, cracks regularly appeared in his supposed national security bona fides. He regularly referred to the White House as “Whiskey Hotel,” an official-sounding codename that doesn’t appear to have actually existed before it was coined for a 2009 Call of Duty video game. Smith also promoted the debunked idea that ISIS terrorists used digital bullet holes in Call of Duty to communicate with each other.

I’ll be honest, I followed that account for a while, but as with all of the accounts I follow and report on, I remained skeptical of each one, even the accounts that have a strong correlation like Countercheckist or Louise Mensch.  In fact, it was those two that pointed to @GuardianRover not being what he claimed.  There was enough fighting between them to point to something not adding up.  Also, he came off as a bit of a dick sometimes.

I did a quick search through my archives for any tweets I linked to by him, but I couldn’t find anything.  And by quick search, I mean I spent about a minute or two looking.  Nothing obvious came up, but I’m not ruling anything out.

Once again, and I want to stress this, view everything skeptically and critically.  Even me.  Especially me.  Part of my credibility is that I refuse to make any claims without some type of evidence to back me up, and I also refuse to insist that anyone trust me just because I said so.  It is difficult to earn trust, but easy to lose it, and the fastest way to lose it is to abuse it.  If you trust what I write, it’s because I’ve earned it, not because I said so.

We are in a digital battlefield, and some people will claim to be things they aren’t.  I report on some of that battle.  I feel that it’s important, especially as this war progresses.

 

That’s it for Friday and the weekend.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

 

 

 

Daily Check-In 08/16/2018

Thursday, August 16, 2018.

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

The Manafort Trial

The case is now in the hands of the jury.  There was a bunch of excitement as they sent a note to the judge asking four questions.

The first was about FBAR (Foreign Bank Account Reporting) guidelines, and whether or not the rule is 50% ownership or more than 50% ownership.  Judge Ellis told the jury that along with the requirement for people who own more than 50 percent of a company with foreign bank accounts, a person must file FBARs if he “controls the disposition of money, funds, or other assets held in a financial account by direct communications.”

The second question the jury asked was a clarification of the term “shelf company.”  The judge couldn’t help with that one.

The third question they had was they wanted the definition of reasonable doubt.  Judge Ellis responded that reasonable doubt “is a doubt based on reason,” but added: “The government is not required to prove guilt beyond all possible doubt.”  Think of it like this… if Paul Manafort made a convincing argument that his tax person gave him bad advice on the filing requirements, that could be a reasonable doubt.  If he claimed that it wasn’t him filling out those tax forms, but his evil twin Saul, that’s not a reasonable doubt.  Sure, it is possible his evil twin Saul could forged his signatures and impersonated him, but it’s not reasonable.

Finally, they asked the judge if they could have the evidence list amended with the indictment counts for each, so they could go through it and see which evidence goes to which crime.  The judge said no.

This could take a while.  I don’t know when they’ll reach a verdict or announce that they’re hopelessly deadlocked, but I’ll keep you informed.

 

It really was the Russia investigation all along.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal posted late Wednesday, President Trump once again gave away the ballgame when it comes to his efforts to affect the probe and tear down its leaders (both current and former). He confessed that his true motivation for revoking former CIA director John Brennan’s security clearance was the “rigged witch hunt” that Brennan once “led.”

“I call it the rigged witch hunt; [it] is a sham,” Trump told the Journal’s Peter Nicholas and Michael C. Bender. “And these people led it!”

He added: “So I think it’s something that had to be done.”

You could be forgiven for having flashbacks to Trump’s interview with NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt in the aftermath of his firing last year of James B. Comey as FBI director. Then, as now, the White House offered a series of motivations for the crackdown on a person who was a liability in the Russia probe. Then, as now, it seemed clear what the actual motivation was. And then, as now, Trump appeared to go out and just admit the actual motivation.

There’s this thing called Consciousness of Guilt, when a person who committed a crime commits other actions with the original crime in mind.  When those actions occur and are tied to doing them with the original crime in mind, they’re the actions of a guilty person.

Once again The Dotard says what’s on his mind, and what’s on his mind is Russia.  How he’s going down, how Mueller’s closing in around him, and how everything and everyone around him sees how bad the situation truly is.

Rachel Maddow brought up some great points on her show.  Each and every person on the list of potential security clearance withdraws is a likely witness against Trump.  They’ve seen the classified evidence against him.

However, if they don’t have a clearance, then hypothetically they wouldn’t be allowed to refer to the evidence in the case because it’s too sensitive to view.  If they can’t view it, they can’t testify against Trump.

While it is something to be worried about, there are few flaws with the hypothesis.

First, this assumes that there is no publicly available evidence.  One problem with classified intelligence is that it makes lousy evidence in a court because the source and chain of custody have to be exposed for it to be admissible.  This is why seeing classified intelligence is very rare in a trial.  Why burn an active source when publicly accessible evidence like witness testimony, emails, or phone calls and texts are available that do the same job?

Second, this also assumes that statements, interviews, and testimony before the Grand Jury have not already taken place.  If so, that information is already in the hands of the courts.  Removing a security clearance from someone to harm their testimony after they’ve spoken to the Grand Jury just earns Donald another count of Witness Tampering and Obstruction of Justice.

Third, this also assumes that a collusion story is the first series of charges against Trump to hit.  It won’t.  The first series of charges will be Obstruction-related, mostly covering the cover-up of the Russian investigation since the end of the campaign and the early part of the Trump Administration.  I don’t have any inside sources on this, but if I were building a case to take down the most corrupt American in history, I’d start by removing his supporters, his base, his power, and his ability to protect himself with low-hanging fruit charges.  Then, after it’s shown that he covered up some crimes, I’d go after him for the crimes he covered up.

Still, we need to keep an eye out for this.  I’m hoping this is an angle that’s been wargammed by Mueller’s team as well.

Is it just me or do Trump’s action reek of desperation?  Like, down by 3 touchdowns in the 4th quarter with 3 minutes left to play, throw it up and hope someone catches it desperation.

 

Someone might want to tell George’s wife what would happen to him if he tried to “back out” of his plea deal.

He’s already plead guilty to lying to the FBI, which carries a maximum sentence of 5 years.  They will recommend that he serve all 5 years.  Next, they’d charge him will ALL of the other crimes they have him for, and that he’s admitted to.  Then, after charging him, they will throw the book at him by recommending that he serve the maximum sentence for each and every crime, and that he do it consecutively, not concurrently.  And, they’d also recommend that he should serve that time in the worst prison in the Federal system, with the worst of the worst.

Plus, his testimony and help has already been used and followed up on for other crimes.  Everyone in the campaign will know that he ratted them out.  Russian mobsters and their ilk don’t like rats.

If George listens to his wife, he’ll be lucky to die in jail an old man.  Otherwise, he’ll probably get shanked by the first person he runs into in the prison yard with a vaguely European last name.

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET

The Trump administration has reportedly reversed an Obama-era framework for how and when the US can use cyber attacks against foes. President Trump undid Presidential Policy Directive 20 yesterday according to the Wall Street Journal‘s sources, and with it reversed a classified framework detailing a multi-agency process that must be followed before carrying out an attack.

The directive was put in place to prevent against bungling multi-year cyber-espionage plans that may be in motion, thus having many agencies involved with the planning process of any attack.

“It wasn’t clear what rules the administration is adopting to replace the Obama directive,” WSJ writes. “A number of current US officials confirmed the directive had been replaced but declined to comment further, citing the classified nature of the progress.”

The moves to undo the directive apparently began in April when John Bolton took up the mantle of national security advisor. The previous administration’s cybersecurity coordinator Michael Daniel described the directive to the WSJ as “designed to ensure that all appropriate equities got considered when you thought about doing an offensive cyber operation.”

There’s a worry that the directive was dismantled too quickly, and as a result people are concerned because the Trump administration hasn’t outlined its replacement to those involved. Given this administration’s history of putting laws into place seemingly without considering the consequences, coupled with Trump’s contempt for the intelligence community, the lawmakers’ concerns aren’t unfounded.

Once again, a move that helps no one but America’s enemies, executed by the Russian Agent Orange.

 

Brennan and Security Clearances

When Alexander Bortnikov, the head of Russia’s internal security service, told me during an early August 2016 phone call that Russia wasn’t interfering in our presidential election, I knew he was lying. Over the previous several years I had grown weary of Mr. Bortnikov’s denials of Russia’s perfidy — about its mistreatment of American diplomats and citizens in Moscow, its repeated failure to adhere to cease-fire agreements in Syria and its paramilitary intervention in eastern Ukraine, to name just a few issues.

When I warned Mr. Bortnikov that Russian interference in our election was intolerable and would roil United States-Russia relations for many years, he denied Russian involvement in any election, in America or elsewhere, with a feigned sincerity that I had heard many times before. President Vladimir Putin of Russia reiterated those denials numerous times over the past two years, often to Donald Trump’s seeming approval.

Russian denials are, in a word, hogwash.

Before, during and after its now infamous meddling in our last presidential election, Russia practiced the art of shaping political events abroad through its well-honed active measures program, which employs an array of technical capabilities, information operations and old-fashioned human intelligence spycraft. Electoral politics in Western democracies presents an especially inviting target, as a variety of politicians, political parties, media outlets, think tanks and influencers are readily manipulated, wittingly and unwittingly, or even bought outright by Russian intelligence operatives. The very freedoms and liberties that liberal Western democracies cherish and that autocracies fear have been exploited by Russian intelligence services not only to collect sensitive information but also to distribute propaganda and disinformation, increasingly via the growing number of social media platforms.

Having worked closely with the F.B.I. over many years on counterintelligence investigations, I was well aware of Russia’s ability to work surreptitiously within the United States, cultivating relationships with individuals who wield actual or potential power. Like Mr. Bortnikov, these Russian operatives and agents are well trained in the art of deception. They troll political, business and cultural waters in search of gullible or unprincipled individuals who become pliant in the hands of their Russian puppet masters. Too often, those puppets are found.

In my many conversations with James Comey, the F.B.I. director, in the summer of 2016, we talked about the potential for American citizens, involved in partisan politics or not, to be pawns in Russian hands. We knew that Russian intelligence services would do all they could to achieve their objectives, which the United States intelligence community publicly assessed a few short months later were to undermine public faith in the American democratic process, harm the electability of the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, and show preference for Mr. Trump. We also publicly assessed that Mr. Putin’s intelligence services were following his orders. Director Comey and I, along with the director of the National Security Agency, Adm. Michael Rogers, pledged that our agencies would share, as appropriate, whatever information was collected, especially considering the proven ability of Russian intelligence services to suborn United States citizens.

The already challenging work of the American intelligence and law enforcement communities was made more difficult in late July 2016, however, when Mr. Trump, then a presidential candidate, publicly called upon Russia to find the missing emails of Mrs. Clinton. By issuing such a statement, Mr. Trump was not only encouraging a foreign nation to collect intelligence against a United States citizen, but also openly authorizing his followers to work with our primary global adversary against his political opponent.

Such a public clarion call certainly makes one wonder what Mr. Trump privately encouraged his advisers to do — and what they actually did — to win the election. While I had deep insight into Russian activities during the 2016 election, I now am aware — thanks to the reporting of an open and free press — of many more of the highly suspicious dalliances of some American citizens with people affiliated with the Russian intelligence services.

Mr. Trump’s claims of no collusion are, in a word, hogwash.

The only questions that remain are whether the collusion that took place constituted criminally liable conspiracy, whether obstruction of justice occurred to cover up any collusion or conspiracy, and how many members of “Trump Incorporated” attempted to defraud the government by laundering and concealing the movement of money into their pockets. A jury is about to deliberate bank and tax fraud charges against one of those people, Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s former campaign chairman. And the campaign’s former deputy chairman, Rick Gates, has pleaded guilty to financial fraud and lying to investigators.

Mr. Trump clearly has become more desperate to protect himself and those close to him, which is why he made the politically motivated decision to revoke my security clearance in an attempt to scare into silence others who might dare to challenge him. Now more than ever, it is critically important that the special counsel, Robert Mueller, and his team of investigators be allowed to complete their work without interference — from Mr. Trump or anyone else — so that all Americans can get the answers they so rightly deserve.

 

Check out those tweets above.  How did a pal of Putin know about these ahead of time?

 

The Admiral in charge of Seal Team Six is speaking up against Trump.  That is nuts.

I’m waiting for the inevitable Fox News hitpiece on McRaven.  Not because I want to see it, but they only have one play to run now.  Kiss Trump’s ass at all costs.

 

 

Press

 

Military Parade

The Military Parade is “delayed.”  Good, this whole parade is a stupid idea.  America is the big swinging dick of the world.  When you’ve got the biggest dick, you don’t need to whip it out.  Only the schmuck that’s hung like a snail feels the need to brag about how big their dick is.

That’s enough dick talk.  Time to class it up a bit.

 

THE OMAROSA TAPES

Really?  I said class it up.

So there’s more than 200 tapes of conversations with pretty much everyone, and the one she posted with Lara Trump sounds like it’s either awfully close to a campaign finance violation, or a blatant bribe and hush money attempt.  Probably both.

I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I’m looking forward to the next collection of WTF to come from her.  I’ve questioned her morals, ethics, fashion sense, and whether or not she’s a fire-breathing dragon, but I haven’t questioned her intelligence.  Don’t get me wrong, she’s evil, but she’s also smart enough, evil enough, and vengeful enough to play Trump’s game.

 

TRAITOR TOTS

The Wall Street Journal reported something interesting today about Michael Cohen: back in September 2016, Stormy Daniels’ lawyer contacted him about making a hush money payment to keep Stormy quiet about her affair with Trump. Cohen told him to pound sand.

But a few weeks later, the Access Hollywood “grab ’em by the pussy” tape became public and Stormy’s lawyer decided to give Cohen another call. Sure enough, suddenly he was interested in cutting a deal. This suggests that the $130,000 payment they eventually agreed on wasn’t meant, say, to keep the affair secret from Melania. After all, why would you be indifferent about that in September but suddenly care deeply about it in October? Election law expert Rick Hasen explains what this means:

The Journal reports federal prosecutors view the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape as the “trigger” for Cohen’s payments to Daniels.That’s a big deal. Two important Republican election lawyers have attempted to set a high bar for how to tell when a payment in this context might be campaign-related rather than personal.

Charlie Spies told the Journal in February that the payment to Daniels was “an expense that would exist irrespective of whether Mr. Trump was a candidate and therefore should not be treated as a campaign contribution.” And former Federal Election Commission chair Brad Smith wrote in an April op-ed in the Journal that “FEC regulations explain that the campaign cannot pay expenses that would exist ‘irrespective’ of the campaign, even if it might help win election. At the same time, obligations that would not exist ‘but for’ the campaign must be paid from campaign funds.”

In other words, this is evidence that the $130,000 payment wasn’t“irrespective” of Trump’s campaign. The campaign was in full swing in September and Cohen didn’t care, but as soon as the Access Hollywood tape increased the damage that Stormy Daniels could do, he cared a lot. If a jury agrees, this becomes a serious, full-blown campaign finance violation. And all the evidence suggests that Trump knew about it.

 

FIGHTING BACK

The Press Is Not The Enemy

Those of us who are horrified by the vilification of the news media, those of us who cringe at the sight of angry mobs jeering at the cordoned-off journalists at Trump rallies, far outnumber those who are swept up by this ugly passion. We are still in the majority. But if we are silent, if we don’t speak up, if we don’t raise our voices and say, “This is not America,” it won’t matter that we are in the majority. Silence didn’t create this country; brazen, unwavering commitment did. And one of those commitments was to a free press — one not controlled or hampered by a demagogue who has a good day only when he’s being flattered.

See the bottom of this post for my thoughts on The Press.

 

Security Clearances

 

IMMIGRATION

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

TRADE WAR AND ECONOMY

 

SCOTUS

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

Pedophile Priests

 

ELECTION 2018

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

 

QUEEN OF SOUL

 

RUMOR MILL

 

 

That’s it for Thursday.  As promised, below are my thoughts about The Press.

The Press is not the enemy of the people.  It has many enemies, but the people are not one of them.

The Press is the enemy of the corrupt, the abusive, and the power-hungry.

The Press is the enemy of the status quo that accepts complacency and corruption in their lives.

The Press is the enemy of ignorance.

The Press is the enemy of bigotry, racism, misogyny, and hate.

The Press is the enemy of those that would use the above to distract the otherwise vigilant while they consolidate their power.

The Press is the enemy of the Propagandist, the one who spins a story to meet their goals.

The Press is the enemy of the Liar, who can only exist as long as they control the narrative.

The Press is the enemy of the Criminal, who depends on secrets to thrive.

The Press is the enemy of the Bully, who needs to project an image of toughness.

The Press is the enemy of the Hypocrite, who can’t have anyone know about their past.

The Press is the enemy of the Tyrant, who demands absolute loyalty from all.

In other words…

The Press is the enemy of Donald J. Trump.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 08/15/2018

Wednesday, August 15th.

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

The Manafort Trial

Both the prosecution and defense gave their final arguments on Wednesday.  For the prosecution, they outlined several instances of Manafort’s knowingly breaking the law.  The defense tried to make the claim that Manafort may have been less than forthright or honest, but the government had failed to make their case that what Manafort did was intentionally wrong.  In other words, they tried to blow some smoke up the jury’s ass.

There are two things that people need to remember for this case.

First, this is not a case about collusion, conspiracy, treason, or anything like that.  This is a white collar crime case.

Second, and this was laid out by Greg Andres, but this is actually two cases in one.  This is both a tax avoidance and money laundering case and a bank fraud and wire fraud case.

These cases can be broken down into the “Salad Days” and the “IOU” days.  The Salad Days are when Manafort was working for former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovitch and the Party of Regions.  In those days, he was making money hand over fist, and got used to living the high life.  That case is about him lying about his money, hiding how much he made, burying it in offshore accounts, and avoiding taxes on it.  The IOU days are after Yanukovitch left office in disgrace and Manafort was left owing a lot of money to Oleg Deripaska and the Russian Mafia.  Manafort could no longer afford to live like a prince, so him and Rick Gates came up with some interesting funding methods.  This included a buttload of loans and at least one pay for play scam with a Trump supporter.

The jury begins deliberation on Thursday.  I have no clue how long it will take them to return a verdict.  It could be hours, days, or weeks.  As soon as there’s an update, I’ll post it to this site.

 

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET

Brennan

Remember a few weeks ago when Orange Julius got all butthurt about Former CIA Director John Brennan saying bad things about him and he threatened to take away his security clearance? (Daily Check-In 07/23/2018,Daily Check-In 07/24/2018,Daily Check-In 07/25/2018)  Turns out that Trump did revoke his clearance back on July 26th.  Sarah Hucakbee-Sanders read a statement from Trump describing this action, how John Brennan said mean things about him, and he totally didn’t do this because of Russia.

NARRATOR (V.O.): He did it because of Russia.

I’m not going to talk about how much of a dickbag authoritarian strong man move this is.  It is, but I don’t think that’s the big story here.  There are two elements that deserve a deep dive.

First, the timing.  This statement was dated July 26th.  That was a few weeks ago.  Why wait until now?  Because this is Trump trying to distract from something else.  Could it be the Omarosa Shit Storm?  The N-Word footage about to drop like a Drake mix tape? How about the Manafort Trial?  Or how about his total fuck-you to Congress with his signing state where he’s sucking Putin’s dick… again?  Or, is someone close about to get indicted?  This release is meant to distract from that.

Second, the delivery was interesting.  Wall-eye didn’t mention it off the cuff, or say “We’re pulling the security clearance” or “The White House decided”, but she said this came directly from Trump.  She then read a statement, word for word.

I found that to be very unusual for this group, and it tells me that no one in that building wants anything to do with this.  No one else wants to get wrapped up in this mess.  This is the bridge too far for the staff.  They don’t want to be associated with this clusterfuck.

 

Russia and Crimea

 

Abramovich

 

Random Shit on a Wednesday

 

Dogs

I’m a dog person.  I’ve had a few over my life, and used to volunteer at an animal shelter as a dog walker.  Dogs have an uncanny way of sensing through bullshit and evil.  If my dogs didn’t like you, you weren’t welcome back, because there is something seriously wrong with you if a dog doesn’t like you.

Dogs hate Donald Trump.  That says all anyone needs to know about his character.

According to this site, only 3 presidents before Trump did not have pets at the White House (or Executive Residence).  Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, and Chester A. Arthur.  Just as many presidents had bears as pets.

 

TRAITOR TOTS

Why do I have a feeling Dana Rohrabacher is involved?

WASHINGTON — FBI agents in California and Washington, D.C., have investigated a series of cyberattacks over the past year that targeted a Democratic opponent of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA). Rohrabacher is a 15-term incumbent who is widely seen as the most pro-Russia and pro-Putin member of Congress and is a staunch supporter of President Trump.

The hacking attempts and the FBI’s involvement are described in dozens of emails and forensic records obtained by Rolling Stone.

The target of these attacks, Dr. Hans Keirstead, a stem-cell scientist and the CEO of a biomedical research company, finished third in California’s nonpartisan “top-two” primary on June 5th, falling 125 votes short of advancing to the general election in one of the narrowest margins of any congressional primary this year. He has since endorsed Harley Rouda, the Democrat who finished in second place and will face Rohrabacher in the November election.

Yep.  Not surprised.

 

Rand Paul

I asked the Senator on Twitter what this sound like in the original Russian.  He hasn’t responded yet.

 

FIGHTING BACK

 

IMMIGRATION

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

Alex Jones

 

FCC

 

Roger Stone

 

TRADE WAR AND ECONOMY

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

 

Omarosa

 

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

 

Mob

 

Pedophile Priests

 

ELECTION 2018

 

ENVIRONMENT

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

 

RUMOR MILL

 

That’s it for Wednesday.  We’re still waiting on news about Paul Manafort.  Like I said earlier, this could take hours, days, weeks…

On Thursday, newspapers and journalists around the country are speaking out against Trump’s attacks on the press.  I’m joining the fight, to talk about how important what the press does is for a free society, especially from my point of view as one crazy guy trying to make sense of it all.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

 

 

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