Thursday, February 7, 2019
THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION
Manafort
- Read: Transcript of closed-door Manafort hearing
- Manafort kept working in Ukraine after Mueller indictment, transcript shows – According to prosecutors, Paul Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik had a discussion that referenced a “backdoor.”
- Shimon Prokupecz: From the transcript: Rick Gates was the cooperator who told the Special Counsel’s Office about Paul Manafort disclosing 2016 presidential campaign polling data to his Russian associate Konstantin Kilimnik, Weissmann told the judge.
- Angry White House Staffer: Translation: Gates has been singing like a canary. I’m going to read through the full doc as soon as I get a moment, but if you don’t remember the backstory: Trump campaign shared *internal* polling material with Killimnik. Killimnik was also in DC for the inauguration. 👀
- Tim Hogan: I may have missed something in the case but I find it odd they held a sealed hearing on Monday and releasing a redacted transcript so soon. Link to transcript THREAD
I may have missed something in the case but I find it odd they held a sealed hearing on Monday and releasing a redacted transcript so soon. Link to transcript
One thing I didn’t know was Manafort testified for two days before the grand jury. See Monday’s transcript: Pages 23-24.
Spot the Issue: What grand jury? Don’t think it could be Stone’s. But the issue is they would not have unsealed it if that grand jury had not handed down an indictment. It would violate Rule 6(e). Look;s like it’s
#MuellerTime.This says “Espionage” to me.
- Manafort’s Transcript from Monday
- PostimusMaximus: So skimming through the Manafort transcript and Manafort’s attempts to reach out to Trump are talked about quite a few times, even if Trump’s name is redacted.
- Scott Stedman: August 2: Gates and Manafort meet with Kilimnik, share polling data. Kilimnik is the go-between for Manafort-Deripaska. August 3: Don Jr, Erik Prince, George Nader meet Joel Zamel to discuss a social media manipulation effort to help Trump. Deripaska previously hired Zamel. August 4: Deripaska’s plane (carrying Kilimnik), lands in Moscow after making a quick trip to NY. August 5: Deripaska and Russian Deputy PM Prikhodko secretly meet on a yacht in Norway and are recorded discussing US-Russia relations. These are probably the most important 96 hours in the Mueller investigation.
- Much Has Been Confirmed in Dossier at Heart of Donald Trump Scandal – SPIEGEL ONLINE
- Sergei Millian, identified as an unwitting source for the Steele dossier, sought proximity to Trump’s world in 2016
- Boyfriend of admitted Russian agent charged with fraud
- “I was on the Watergate committee. Don’t hide Mueller’s report from the people.”
- Democratic Senators Renew Call for Deutsche Bank Probe at Banking Committee
- Dems ready to issue subpoena for phone records linked to Trump Tower meeting
- House Democrats take 1st step to obtain Trump’s tax returns
- Republicans begging top Democrat to drop quest for Trump’s tax returns
COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS
Bezos’s Pecker vs. Pecker
HOLY COW. In a medium post,
@JeffBezos says that David Pecker and AMI threatened to release embarrassing photos unless Bezos agreed to stop investigating them and released a statement saying he didn’t have anything on them! He included emails in the post.2. Jeff Bezos, the wealthiest man in the world (who happens to be CEO of the 2nd most valuable company in the world), published an email from a top AMI exec noting that they had Bezos’ dick pics and threatening to publish them. I will never get over this.
3. I mean the fact that David Pecker and AMI were attempting to blackmail the richest man in the world while they are cooperating with the US Attorney on the Trump investigation is something else. I mean….I will truly never get over this post.
4. Congratulations
@Medium5. Oh Boy
6.
7. A reminder that
@lachlan and@swin24 broke the story last week that Bezos had launched a private investigation into how his texts to Lauren Sanchez leaked. That investigation led to all of this…
- Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos accuses National Enquirer parent company of ‘extortion’ over ‘intimate texts’ and photos
- If AMI’s Jeff Bezos Shakedown Was Criminal, They Can Kiss Their Non-Prosecution Agreement Goodbye
- Jeff Bezos essentially accused the National Enquirer of having a political motive for exposing his affair, and insinuated a Trump connection
- Renato Mariotti: THREAD: Did the National Enquirer and its parent company commit a crime or otherwise break the law in its recent actions towards Jeff Bezos?
- Thread by @renato_mariotti: “THREAD: Did the National Enquirer and its parent company commit a crime or otherwise break the law in its recent actions towards Jeff Bezos? […]”
- Maxwell Strachan: Remarkable: Jeff Bezos publishes “the precise details” of AMI’s “extortionate proposal” to him, including emails from Chief Content Officer Dylan Howard. THREAD
- Thread by @maxwellstrachan: “Remarkable: Jeff Bezos publishes “the precise details” of AMI’s “extortionate proposal” to him, including emails from Chief Content Officer […]”
- Maggie Haberman: The news is also that Pecker, who has had relationships with both Trump and Jared Kushner, is having this sent as he is also a witness receiving immunity in a federal case.
- Crime A Day: 18 USC §875(d) makes it a federal crime to try to extort someone by sending them an interstate communication threatening to injure their reputation.
- Pope Hat: I think @renato_mariotti is right that it’s very tricky to prosecute AMI for extortion for this, though we can certainly hope that all of their lawyers trip and fall eye-first onto an ice pick. But, I mean, in any decent society, AMI’s lawyers would be shunned, their faces spat in, every back turned to them.
Scumbags gonna scumbag.
Last summer, it came out that AMI, the publisher of the National Enquirer, and its chairman David Pecker were granted immunity from federal prosecution for their assistance in the Michael Cohen case. AMI performed a catch and kill on Karen McDougal’s story, and they coordinated this with Trump through Cohen. They were granted immunity. Part of that deal includes them not engaging in any other illegal activity, or else they could risk losing their deal.
Enter Jeff Bezos.
For those not aware, Bezos is the founder/chairman/CEO/first employee of Amazon and is currently the richest person in the world. He owns the Washington Post and bought Whole Foods with a spare $15 billion he had lying around. I still think he made a screw up on Alexa and tried to order groceries from Whole Foods, but Alexa heard it as “Okay, buying Whole Foods.” By the time he went to cancel the purchase, it already cleared the bank.
WaPo is supposedly doing an in-depth piece on the National Enquirer, Saudi Arabia, and how it all ties back to Trump and Kushner. This may or may not include hard evidence of Jamal Khashoggi’s death. At some point during this investigation, Jeff Bezos’s personal text messages and pictures ended up in the possession of the National Enquirer. They ran with some of this information, and threatened Bezos that if he didn’t call of the investigators, they’d release his “below the belt selfies.”
In other words, they said “Tell the world we did nothing wrong, or we publish your dick pics.”
There’s a long list of things I’d rather do than try to extort and blackmail the world’s richest man with an IDGAF attitude, and that list would be even longer if I was involved in an immunity deal with the Federal Government. Apparently David Pecker doesn’t agree with me.
Neither does Jeff Bezos. The mother fucker wrote an essay on Medium explaining everything, telling how AMI and the National Enquirer tried to extort him, and then he PUBLISHED THE GODDAMNED EMAILS FROM AMI’S LEGAL TEAM! Including the one that said that AMI would keep the pics and release them if he ever said that there was some shady shit going on between the National Enquirer and the Saudis ever again.
I don’t know what’s going to happen from here on out, but one thing I truly enjoy is that the lawyers for AMI found out about this letter when the press reached them for comment AFTER it was published. That’s some scorched earth shit right there.
Full disclosure, I subscribe to the Washington Post. It’s free for a while for new subscribers with Amazon Prime, and $3 a month after the trial.
- “I Am Disgusted”: Behind the Scenes of Trump’s Increasingly Scrutinized $107 Million Inauguration
- Inaugural probe puts spotlight on prolific Democratic donor who rapidly remade himself into a major Trump booster
SHUTDOWN & IMMIGRATION
- Meet Victorina Morales, an Undocumented Immigrant Who Spent Five Years as Trump’s Housekeeper
- Report: Missing Migrant Children Being Funneled Through Christian Adoption Agency
- Democrats push for body cameras on all immigration, border cops
- National Butterfly Center to File Restraining Order to Stop Border Wall Construction
- Trump looking at new ways to build wall without Congress, Mulvaney says
- As border wall construction moves ahead in Texas, judge rules feds can survey church’s land
- City Council In Arizona Town Unanimously Agree To Have Razor Wire Removed From Border Wall, Will Request Federal Government Take It Down
- Congressional negotiators narrow differences to border barriers, detention beds
- Congressional negotiators seek contours of border deal as shutdown looms
- Cost of border deployments could approach $1 billion by end of fiscal year
- President Trump’s fantastical human-trafficking claims
- Rocky restart after government shutdown: Many workers still haven’t received back pay
- Three Trump Officials Were Warned Family Separation Would Be Illegal and Scar Children
TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET A.K.A INDIVIDUAL-1
- Trump Will Have His Yearly Physical on Friday, Without Dr. Ronny Jackson
- Trump’s claim that Republicans never investigated Obama is ludicrous
- Yes, President Trump, Congress also investigated Barack Obama
- ‘Unlimited Presidential Harassment’: Trump lashes out again at Democrats for stepped-up oversight
- Dan Rather: So apparently Google translate now handles Trumpanese. I typed in “presidential harassment” and it came back as “Constitutional oversight.” Then I went to a thesaurus and typed in “hypocrisy,” and it came up as Benghazi. Who knew?
- Trump Explodes as Democrats Close In on His Business
- Trump furious after Schiff hires former NSC aides to help oversee his administration
- Trump had worst monthly approval rating of his presidency in January: poll
- Trump is skipping intel briefings, contradicting top officials
- Trump says Democrats investigating him is ‘Presidential Harassment’ He’s called for at least 18 investigations of his opponents.
- Trump says one of America’s greatest accomplishments is the ‘abolition of civil rights’ at National Prayer Breakfast
TRAITOR TOTS
Whitaker
- Caroline Orr: #BREAKING: Per @CNN, acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker says he won’t appear at Friday’s hearing unless he gets assurance, in writing, that he will not be served with the subpoena the House Judiciary Committee prepared in advance in case he tries to dodge questions.
- House Judiciary Committee Grants Nadler Authority To Subpoena Whitaker
- Whitaker agrees to testify before Congress after saying he wouldn’t if under subpoena threat
- Whitaker says he won’t testify unless Democrats drop their subpoena threat
- Why is Matthew Whitaker panic-stricken about testifying before Congress?
- Acting U.S. Attorney General Whitaker will testify before House panel on Friday
How many gallons of flop sweat will come from his head?
- Mick Mulvaney says ‘nobody cares’ about the deficit. He used to. A lot.
- A Justice Dept. discipline office with limited reach to probe handling of controversial child sex abuse case
CONGRESS
- NRA Chief Wayne LaPierre Targeted in Congressional Inquiry
- NRA Chief Wayne LaPierre Targeted in Congressional Inquiry into Illegal Campaign Coordination
- Pelosi Statement on Nomination of David Malpass as World Bank President – Speaker Nancy Pelosi
- Pelosi warns Trump about making ‘threats’ against Congress
- Pelosi: ‘The President Should Not Bring Threats To The Floor Of The House’
- Pelosi: Americans ‘overwhelmingly’ want to see Trump’s tax returns
- AOC: Earlier today we had our second Oversight hearing of the 116th Congress. It was about voting rights and the role of money in politics. I asked the expert witnesses to indulge me in a small game. Here’s what happened ⬇️
FIGHTING BACK
- O.J. Simpson has some advice for President Trump
- O.J. Simpson’s advice to Roger Stone: ‘Man up’ and ‘stop crying’
- Countercheckist: “When asked if he thought Trump would be impeached, Simpson said he might “if he keeps hanging around with people like that guy, that Roger Stone.” When OJ Simpson thinks YOU’RE a bad influence…
- Dan Rather: So apparently Google translate now handles Trumpanese. I typed in “presidential harassment” and it came back as “Constitutional oversight.” Then I went to a thesaurus and typed in “hypocrisy,” and it came up as Benghazi. Who knew?
RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM
- ‘Digital Blackface’: Pro-Trump Trolls Are Impersonating Black People on Twitter
- ‘Haute Couture Blackface’: Gucci apologizes and pulls ‘racist’ sweater
- ‘It’s a sickness’: How our culture recognizes blackface is racist — but won’t stop doing it
- ‘Savage gang’: Despite Trump’s relentless rhetoric, MS-13 murders are down
VIRGINIA/RACE RELATIONS
- Virginia Gov. Northam, isolated, gets space to ponder his fate as Democrats absorb scandals
- Crisis Management 101: How Virginia’s top three Democrats dug themselves deeper holes
- On a political roll, Virginia Democrats now awash in scandal
- Virginia’s descent from darling to dumpster fire leaves residents reeling
- Cindy McCain Apologizes for Making Up a Race-Based Human Trafficking Story That Was a Whole-Ass Lie
- After new document is revealed, Warren struggles with questions of identity
- House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s family benefited from U.S. program for minorities based on disputed ancestry
SCOTUS & COURTS/#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS
- U.S. Supreme Court blocks Louisiana law that would require abortion providers to have admitting privileges
- Supreme Court halts Louisiana abortion restrictions
- Supreme Court says Louisiana cannot enforce a restrictive abortion law that is similar to Texas law it struck down in 2016
- Brett Kavanaugh Just Declared War on Roe v. Wade
- Late-term abortions challenge both sides
- Tough questions — and answers — on ‘late-term’ abortions, the law and the women who get them
- Tekashi69’s Ex-Girlfriend Sara Molina: He Beat Me So Badly ‘I Could Barely Open My Eyes’
COLD WAR 2.0
- Federal MPs’ computer network hacked in possible foreign government attack
- 911corlebra777: UPDATE ; Australian Parliament’s classified internal cyber network has been hacked by what the Australian Signals Directorate is now calling a “State based Actor”.Australia has national elections in May #China
- Tensions escalate over delivery of humanitarian aid to Venezuela
#NEVERAGAIN
- The House Had Its First Gun Hearing in Years. The Parents of Parkland Victims Refused to Let the GOP Lie.
- Parkland dad says he interrupted GOP rep at gun hearing to ‘let the nation know he’s wrong’
- NRA Chief Wayne LaPierre Targeted in Congressional Inquiry
- NRA Chief Wayne LaPierre Targeted in Congressional Inquiry into Illegal Campaign Coordination
- CAUGHT ON VIDEO: Man Shoots School Bus Driver On I-35W In Minneapolis
- Shannon Watts: Nah. The greatest cruelty in the world is to ignore research-proven solutions to gun violence while children die needlessly.
- A police chief demands Congress act on guns: ‘Doing nothing is not acceptable’
FIXING THE INTERNET
- Skype can now blur your background, so no one can tell your life is a disaster
- Spotify’s podcast acquisitions will bring a lot of money into a tiny industry
- Wyden pitches jail time, billions in fines for online privacy violators with ‘Do Not Track’ bill
- Senators Ask the FCC to Investigate Wireless Carrier Throttling
KHASHOGGI & SAUDI ARABIA
- Saudi Arabia ‘curtailed and undermined’ investigation into Khashoggi’s killing, U.N. expert says
- Year Before Killing, Saudi Prince Told Aide He Would Use ‘a Bullet’ on Jamal Khashoggi
THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE
WHITE HOUSE CHAOS
TRADE WAR, HEALTH CARE, & ECONOMY
- ‘Outrageous!’: Despite $21 Billion Giveaway From GOP Tax Scam, Big Banks Cut Jobs and Slashed Lending – “This is the GOP tax cut in action: screwing over working families and handing out tax breaks to large banks and corporations.”
- An Inheritance Tax Is Democrats’ Best Weapon Against Trump’s Oligarchy
- Are Republicans the Party of No Ideas on Health Care?
- Billionaires Flooded Republicans’ Coffers Just Before the Tax Cuts Passed
- Billionaires take more than they make
- Billionaires who hate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s 70% tax on the super-rich are adamant it will hurt the economy — but history suggests otherwise
- Denver teachers threaten to strike Monday after state refuses to intervene in labor dispute
- Farmer bankruptcies swell to decade high in Farm Belt
- Trump metals tariffs will cost Ford $1 billion in profits, CEO says
- The parking lot suicides
GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
- Workers found a suitcase next to a quiet Connecticut road. A woman’s body was inside.
- Police relaunch search for ‘the Doodler,’ a serial killer who sketched his victims first
- A Florida politician allegedly made a habit of licking men’s faces. She has now resigned.
ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduces legislation for a 10-year Green New Deal plan to turn the US carbon neutral
- Adam Schiff: The threat of climate change is urgent and existential. But it’s not too late to save our planet. We need to marshal all our resources and American ingenuity against the devastating effects of climate change. That’s why I’m proud to support the #GreenNewDeal.
- Ways to help kids cope with — and help combat — climate change
- Data Shows Young People Really, Really Want A Green New Deal
- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Releases Green New Deal Outline
- Rogue Senior White House Advisor: Honestly, you can have your political differences with @AOC, but mocking big ideas is the least American thing ever. This country was built on big ideas, but nowadays all we have are insecure, tiny men whose first & last response is always “no.”
- ‘Everything is not going to be okay’: How to live with constant reminders that the Earth is in trouble
- ‘We have one reef’: Key West bans popular sunscreens to help keep coral alive
- Undeniable warming: The planet’s hottest five years on record in five images
- Vaccinations jump 500% in antivax hotspot amid measles outbreak
- Wildfires, hurricanes and other extreme weather cost the nation 247 lives, nearly $100 billion in damage during 2018
- Justice Department sues Philadelphia over supervised injection facility that aims to prevent fatal drug overdoses
- Dads are happier than moms. Science wants to know why, and so do I.
- Trump pledged to “defeat AIDs” in his SOTU. He’s tried to cut millions from the programs that fight it.
- ‘Potentially crippling’ snowfall is forecast for Seattle on Friday and into Saturday, and more may follow
ELECTIONS
- Inaccurate claims of noncitizen voting in Texas reflect a growing trend in Republican states
- Bought and Paid For: We Are Well and Truly Done With Susan Collins
IN OTHER NEWS…
- Frank Robinson, barrier-breaking Hall of Fame baseball player and manager, dies at 83
- John Dingell, longest-serving member of Congress in U.S. history, dies at 92
RUMOR MILL
- Geokelly: This nugget from my guy: Santorum did want the picture of him and Red Syphilis scrubbed from the net (Hat tip @DerekTodorojo, the dumbest man on the net, and possibly the funniest) because Santorum slipped her his dicksky. Factsky. Also 98% sure Santorum has sealed indictment
- Pinche Pi: 🤗 (Pic of Rick Santorum and Maria Butina)
- Ming: Has Hannity been arrested yet?
- Countercheckist: Bye Mikey Jr. You should’ve stuck to golf course management.
- Ming: McConnells face at SOTU looked like a ‘man’ that knew his party was doomed and hadn’t told the other members yet,, much as they didnt tell rank and file of email hack either …
- Daily News Dump – Feb 7 – Angry Staffer
- Ming: When Gaetz get the needle Ming hope it not botched and leave him in persistent vegetative state.
- Geokelly: I bet you Matt Gaetz will sob in front of the judge like the little pussy he is when he gets convicted. He needs to reminded at that point how he used his position to bully private citizens. And after that, he can drop dead in the most painful way possible
- Ming: Will you be surprised to learn that the policy wonk ryan didn’t do much policy because he was being a treason wonk?
- Lincoln’s Bible: I don’t suppose anyone will ever look into whose money Epstein was “managing” all those years…
- PostimusMaximus: So skimming through the Manafort transcript and Manafort’s attempts to reach out to Trump are talked about quite a few times, even if Trump’s name is redacted.
- Ricky Davila: In case you missed it, another sealed case, 19-cr-35, was filed in D.C. yesterday. Add that to the 4 filed last Thursday, we have things to look forward to. Be on the lookout. 👀
That’s it for Thursday. I’m wrapping things up a little early on some sections. I didn’t get a chance to read the Manafort stuff, and I’m running behind on a few other things.
Whitaker testifies on Friday before Congress. And there’s some even weirder shit with Bezos. Supposedly his mistress had connections to people in Trumpworld, including Roger Stone.
WHY THE FUCK DOES EVERYTHING HAVE TO INTERCONNECT?! CAN’T WE HAVE ONE GODDAMNED PILE OF CRAZINESS THAT ISN’T TIED TO EVERYTHING ELSE LIKE SOME FUCKED UP GAME OF SIX DEGREES OF KEVIN BACON?
Sorry about that. I should calm down more. It’s not healthy for my Caps Lock key.
Thank you, and have a good one.
“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”
– Katy Tur
None of this is Normal 