Tuesday, February 19, 2019
THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION
Saudi Nuclear Deal
Several current and former Trump administration appointees promoted sales of nuclear power plants to Saudi Arabia despite repeated objections from members of the National Security Council and other senior White House officials, according to a new report from congressional Democrats.
The officials who objected included White House lawyers and H.R. McMaster, then the chief of the National Security Council. They called for a halt in the nuclear sales discussions in 2017, citing potential conflicts of interest, national security risks and legal hurdles.
Yet the effort to promote nuclear sales persisted, led by retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who served briefly as President Trump’s national security adviser, and more recently by Energy Secretary Rick Perry. The possible nuclear power sale was discussed in the Oval Office as recently as last week.
Details about these internal White House battles are contained in a 24-page report released Tuesday morning by Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee. The report is based on documents obtained by the committee and the account of unnamed whistleblowers inside the White House who said they were distressed at the continual effort to sell the power plants.
Committee Republicans said Tuesday they were not included in the drafting of the detailed report and had not received a copy until Monday night. They said they had not had a chance to fully assess it.
The report includes a wide range of allegations and suggests the involvement of a long list of high-profile people in Trump’s orbit.
Neither the White House nor individuals named in the report immediately responded to requests for comment Tuesday.
The Cummings report notes that one of the power plant manufacturers that could benefit from a nuclear deal, Westinghouse Electric, is a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management, the company that provided financial relief to the family of Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and adviser. Brookfield Asset Management took a 99-year lease on the family’s deeply indebted New York City property at 666 Fifth Avenue.
“Multiple whistleblowers came forward to warn about efforts inside the White House to rush the transfer of highly sensitive U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia in potential violation of the Atomic Energy Act and without review by Congress as required by law — efforts that may be ongoing to this day,” the report says.
The whistleblowers also “warned about a working environment inside the White House marked by chaos, dysfunction and backbiting. They noted that White House political appointees repeatedly ignored directives from top ethics advisers who repeatedly — but unsuccessfully — “ordered senior White House officials to halt their efforts.”
The Oversight Committee report, which focuses on the first three months of the Trump presidency, may have special relevance this week as Kushner begins a trip to the Middle East.
This is part of what’s being called the Grand Bargain Theory. Even though the primary focus of the investigation is Russia and their efforts to attack America, they weren’t alone. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the partners in this mess.
One thing to keep in mind with this conspiracy is that not everyone involved had the same goals. KSA wants to build their own nuclear weapons. Russia wants to get rid of sanctions and the Magnitsky Act. Israel wants to keep Iran out of power in the Middle East. The Billionaire Class wants to recolonize the Middle East. (Why else did Tom Barrack name his project company Colony?) Criminal organizations want to have a place to easily launder and spend their money, and China wants to be the big player in the world.
The Saudi Nuclear Plants are just a part of this. KSA gets the tech they want to strike Tehran, the Russians get a crapton of money through building the plants, Qatar makes money through Brookfield and Westinghouse, and the U.S. makes money by providing security for the plants, and people like Erik Prince make money hand over fist providing the mercenaries for the project.
This is big. Like Andre the Giant riding an elephant big. Not only did several whistleblowers come forward about this, and that it helps illuminate why Trump has been so friendly to MBS, but now we know that the House Oversight Committee has opened an investigation into this.
- Multiple Whistleblowers Raise Concerns about White House Transferring Sensitive U.S. Nuclear Technology to Saudi Arabia
- Former Trump Adviser Pushed Saudi Nuclear-Plant Plan, Report Says
- Top Trump Advisers Are Still Plotting a Dubious Nuclear Deal With the Saudis, Lawmakers Warn
- Trump appointees promoted nuclear sales to Saudi Arabia over senior officials’ objections, according to report from House Democrats
- House Opens Inquiry Into Proposed U.S. Nuclear Venture in Saudi Arabia
- Tea Pain: Ooooeee! This is a nasty one, folks! Trump was goin’ to use the U.S. military to safeguard the sites while Russia supplied components and construction.
Flynn
- Michael Flynn under investigation for plan to give Saudi Arabia nuclear technology
- White House lawyers reportedly wrote a memo on all the falsehoods the administration told about the Michael Flynn firing
Remember, Michael Flynn spent a long time working on the Saudi Nuke Deal. He’d been involved in this plan since before he was working with Turkey.
McCabe
- Andrew McCabe Couldn’t Believe the Things Trump Said About Putin
- CNN legal analysts call McCabe and Comey ‘patriotic’ for questioning whether Trump is a ‘Russian asset’
- National Security Expert Warns There’s ‘A Chance That Vladimir Putin Is Controlling’ Trump’s White House
- Andrew McCabe: We Told Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan About the FBI Counterintelligence Investigation into Trump
- McCabe says he told “Gang of 8” about FBI Trump probe without objection
- McCabe: ‘I think it’s possible’ Trump is a Russian asset
- McCabe: Mueller Is Investigating Trump and Co. Like They Are a ‘Cartel or an Organized-Crime Family’
- McCabe: No one in Gang of Eight objected to counterintelligence investigation of Trump
- Andrew McCabe’s Warning to Trump: Mueller Won’t Be Intimidated
- Joe Walsh: Are we now so f***ing desensitized to all things Trump that this mind-blowing news that top FBI & DOJ officials actually believed the newly-elected President might’ve been working for Russia is just ho-hum, no big deal? Bullshit. It is a big deal. It’s unprecedented. It’s scary.
- Opinion | Andrew McCabe is sounding the alarm about Trump. America should listen.
- Natasha Bertrand: And here is what McCabe says about this in the book: “Now that the Gang of Eight was a crowd of two dozen in the room, I thought, the chance of this not getting back to the president was basically zero. Then Devin Nunes walked in, and the chance was less than zero.”
- Renato Mariotti: Behind closed doors, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell did not object when they learned almost two years ago that the FBI was investigating whether Trump was compromised. How do you square that with their public silence and tacit approval of Trump’s attacks on the FBI and DOJ?
- Laura Jarrett: McCabe confirms for first time to @SavannahGuthrie on Today that the FBI informed the Gang 8 in May 2017 the FBI had opened a counterintelligence investigation into Trump and “no one objected. Not on legal grounds, not on constitutional grounds, and not based on the facts.” In his book, McCabe briefly explains that he informed lawmakers about the case files opened on 4 individuals connected to the Trump campaign, and then “told them of additional steps we had taken. No one interrupted. No one pushed back. The mood in the room was sober.”
Okay, there’s a lot to unpack here, but the biggest piece of news coming out from this today is that while serving as Acting FBI Director after James Comey’s firing, Andrew McCabe briefed the Gang of 8 on Trump’s Counterintelligence Investigation.
The Gang of 8 are the Senate Majority Leader, Senate Minority Leader, Speaker of the House, House Minority Leader, and the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Intelligence Committee. Here’s who we know that were in the room:
- Mitch McConnell
- Paul Ryan
- Nancy Pelosi
- Chuck Schumer
- Devin Nunes
- Adam Schiff
- Richard Burr
- Mark Warner
I’ve gone into extensive detail about McConnell, Ryan, and Nunes helping Trump pull off attacking the United States, and I’ve also talked about this meeting or a meeting like this before, but here’s confirmation that this meeting took place, the Republican leadership knew, and that all of their actions they’ve taken to attack the FBI are not based in fact. All of the maneuvers and tricks the Republicans have pulled in the last two years have been to derail an investigation that they were briefed on during its infancy, so all of the cries about it being unfair or a witch hunt are not only bullshit, but known bullshit.
McCabe wanted to keep news of this from getting to Trump, but as soon as he saw Devin Nunes walk in, he knew that the chance of that was less than zero. Nunes was Trump’s mole in the House, and did everything he could over the last two years to trip up and derail any investigation into Trump.
Roger Stone
- Judge Orders Hearing On Stone Gag Order After His Instagram Post
- Judge orders Stone to appear in court after he shared photo of her with crosshairs
- Reckless Even By Roger Stone Standards | Never gratuitously annoy the person who is deciding how long you’ll spend in federal prison.
- Federal Judge says Roger Stone Faces Jail Time Over Instagram posts
- Ming: Who’s got Rog goes to jail in the office pool?
- Countercheckist: Well, I see Roger is cruising towards starting his lifetime stay behind bars early. Just wait until his future fellow inmates get a load of his Nixon tattoo…
- Angry White House Staffer: That took less time than I expected. Guy who says dumb shit for a living finally said dumb shit to the wrong person.
- Kyle Griffin: Judge Amy Berman Jackson has scheduled a hearing for Thursday in the Roger Stone case to discuss “why the media contact order entered in this case and/or his conditions of release should not be modified or revoked in light of the posts on his Instagram account.” @NBCNews
- John Schindler: Has Roger Stone made any not-very-subtle online death threats against any Federal judges today? It’s still early, just asking.
- Spicy Mic: JUST IN…Minute Order Stone is SCREWED as expected a Show Cause Thots & Pears Roger
That happened faster than I expected. Roger has a court date on Thursday. His best case scenario is a complete and total gag order from the judge without jail time. I’m expecting him to have his bail revoked and be remanded to prison.
Rosenstein and Rosen
- Trump nominates Jeffrey Rosen for deputy attorney general
- Trump puts new attorney general in awkward place by berating Justice Dept.
I hope to have more information on this over the next few days.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI developed a backup plan to protect evidence in its Russia investigation soon after the firing of FBI Director James Comey in the event that other senior officials were dismissed as well, according to a person with knowledge of the discussions.
The plan was crafted in the chaotic days after Comey was fired, when the FBI began investigating whether President Donald Trump had obstructed justice and whether he might be, wittingly or not, in league with the Russians.
The goal was to ensure that the information collected under the investigations, which included probes of Trump associates and possible coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign, would survive the firings or reassignments of top law enforcement officials. Those officials included special counsel Robert Mueller, who was appointed eight days after Trump fired Comey in May 2017.
…
“I wanted to make sure that our case was on solid ground and if somebody came in behind me and closed it and tried to walk away from it, they would not be able to do that without creating a record of why they made that decision.”
It’ll be a long time before we find out the details of this plan, but I have a feeling this will be covered in history books of the future. The Comey Firing and the days immediately following were the catalyst for the Special Counselor’s investigation, and everything that’s happened since.
COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS
- Intimidation, Pressure and Humiliation: Inside Trump’s Two-Year War on the Investigations Encircling Him
- Senator Richard Blumenthal: Stunning report from @nytimes. Ordering McGahn to fire Mueller, floating pardons, & now asking Whitaker to replace the head of SDNY criminal probe: Individual-1 seems deeply afraid of investigations encircling his company, foundation, campaign, inauguration, transition, & admin. Trump’s disturbing pattern of pressuring law enforcement officers to make these investigations go away to cover-up his own possible criminal wrongdoing is an attack on our country’s law enforcement & makes a strong case for obstruction of justice.
- Tea Pain: Turns out Matt Whitaker was exactly what we thought he was all along. A trained weasel. A sweaty, trained weasel.
- NYT: Trump asked Whitaker if he could put prosecutor in charge of Cohen probe
- NYT bombshell outlines Trump’s efforts to obstruct investigations
- Report: Trump asked Whitaker to appoint ally to lead Cohen probe
- Report: Trump Tried to Muzzle Investigation into His Porno Payoffs
- Trump asked for recused official to lead investigation into hush payments: report
- Legal Experts on Latest Bombshell: ‘No Innocent Explanation’ If Trump Tried to Put Loyalist in Charge of Cohen Probe
- Fox’s Judge Napolitano: Trump’s Call to Whitaker Sure Looks Like ‘Attempted Obstruction’ of Justice
- A bombshell new report about Trump’s interference with federal investigations ‘raises serious questions’ about whether Matthew Whitaker misled Congress, aides say
- Michael Cohen to give America a ‘chilling’ peek into Trump Tower, says lawyer
Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker was unequivocal when he told lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee that he did not discuss any investigations with President Donald Trump.
“At no time has the White House asked for, nor have I provided, any promises or commitments concerning the special counsel [Robert Mueller’s] investigation or any other investigation,” Whitaker said while testifying about his oversight of the Justice Department earlier this month.
But a bombshell report from The New York Times published on Tuesday raises questions about whether Whitaker was entirely forthcoming when he denied having any conversations with the president about ongoing investigations into him.
According to The Times, as federal prosecutors in New York investigated Trump’s role in several hush-money payments during the 2016 campaign to women who say they had affairs with him, Trump called Whitaker in an effort to exert control over the probe.
During the call, Trump reportedly asked Whitaker whether Geoffrey Berman, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, could be put in charge of the rapidly expanding investigation. Berman is an ally of Trump and has recused himself from the investigation because of his ties to the president.
It’s unclear what Whitaker did after the phone call, but there is no indication that he took any concrete steps to exert control over the investigation. But The Times reported that he did tell associates at the Justice Department that the Manhattan US attorney’s office needed “adult supervision.”
“Adult supervision”? That’s rich, coming from Mr. Big Dick Toilet Scammer. Also, nice way to lie to Congress. Ask Roger Stone how well that worked out for him.
If someone asks for an example of Obstruction of Justice, tell them the tale of the President who tried to get his buddy to take over an investigation into his other buddy. And if Trump was asking this of Whitaker, it’s a godddamned certainty that he did this with Sessions, too. How many times did he ask Comey to make the the Flynn investigation “go away”?
EMERGENCIES, SHUTDOWN & IMMIGRATION
- Emergency powers helped Hitler’s rise. Germany has avoided them ever since.
- More Than 60 Percent of Americans Disapprove of Trump’s National Emergency Declaration | The American people have spoken.
- The public sees through Trump’s national emergency lies. A new poll confirms it.
TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET A.K.A. INDIVIDUAL-1
- Trump Has Publicly Attacked the Russia Investigation More Than 1,100 Times
- Trump: I’m in no hurry to see North Korea denuclearize
TRAITOR TOTS
- Emails reveal coordination between Chao, McConnell offices
- They All Know How Bad It Is. They Do Nothing.
FIGHTING BACK
- Joe Walsh: I don’t want a President who trusts the head of Russia more than he trusts our own Intelligence community.
- James Comey: “Every time you assault and stereotype a person, you’ve ripped the social fabric. Every time you see that person deeply and make him or her feel known, you’ve woven it.” David Brooks (2/18 NY Times) is right that we all need to be weavers if we are to heal our beloved country.
- MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace To Trump Defenders: Time To ‘Get Off The Titanic’ | A former CIA chief of staff tells her that Putin’s alleged advice to Trump on North Korea’s capabilities would have been aimed at undermining U.S. missile defense.
- Trump comes in last in expert presidential rankings survey
- Trump must be removed with 25th amendment because he is ‘not well at all mentally’, former White House ethics chief says
CONGRESS
RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM
- The chairman of the far-right Proud Boys sat behind Trump at his latest speech
- The Proud Boys’ new leader was sitting right behind Trump at his Miami rally
COLD WAR 2.0
- Nancy Pelosi defies Trump by leading pro-Nato delegation on Brussels trip
- Politico: Nancy Pelosi to Europe: Trump is not the boss.
#NEVERAGAIN
- From July 2015: How the National Rifle Association helped get Bernie Sanders elected
- Shannon Watts: The issue of gun violence prevention – the one issue on which Bernie Sanders has historically sided with lobbyists and not with Democrats – does not get a mention in Sanders’ campaign launch video.
- Shannon Watts: It is fair to ask Bernie Sanders why gun violence prevention isn’t one of these priorities given that Americans have made it a major voting priority.
- Father spinning gun on finger accidentally shoots self at daughter’s birthday party
- Eric Swalwell: Next week the House will vote to pass background checks on ALL gun purchases. Then it goes to the Senate, where we will really need you to be loud, to get it to @realDonaldTrump’s desk. You ready to say #EnoughIsEnough? Let’s do this. #HR8
THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE
- CNN Can’t Stop Pandering to the People Who Despise It Most. The network hires longtime GOP operative Sarah Isgur to help “coordinate political coverage for the 2020 campaign.”
- CNN hired a GOP operative with no journalism experience to run its 2020 coverage
- CNN Just Set the New Standard for Corporate Media’s Chickensh*t Catering to Republicans
- CNN to host Bernie Sanders at 2020 town hall
- The White House says Pence was greeted with applause after mentioning Trump in a speech. He wasn’t.
TRADE WAR, HEALTH CARE, AND ECONOMY
- Socialism is gaining in popularity, and today’s capitalism is to blame
- I owe how much? Americans are shocked by the impact of Trump’s tax law
- Americans shocked by impact of new tax law: “My jaw hit the floor”
- Democrats Want to Tax the Wealthy. Many Voters Agree.
GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD
- Andrew McCabe: We Told Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan About the FBI Counterintelligence Investigation into Trump
- McCabe says he told “Gang of 8” about FBI Trump probe without objection
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE
- Talks Break Down Between California, U.S. on Car Mileage, Sources Say
- Green New Deal is a viable and necessary option
- Massive restoration of world’s forests would cancel out a decade of CO2 emissions, analysis suggests
ELECTIONS
- Stacey Abrams: ‘Real national emergency’ is voter suppression
- Republican campaign paid for ‘coordinated, unlawful’ absentee ballot scheme in NC 9th District election, investigators said
- Former Lawmaker Defeated by Ocasio-Cortez Joins Washington Lobbying Firm
THINKING AHEAD
Bernie Sanders
- Sen. Bernie Sanders, Democrats’ 2016 runner-up, to make another presidential bid
- CNN to host Bernie Sanders at 2020 town hall
- Bernie Sanders Bests Kamala Harris’ First-Day Donor Total in Four Hours
- Bernie Sanders Enters 2020 Presidential Campaign, No Longer An Underdog
- Bernie Sanders Launches 2020 Presidential Bid, Fires Opening Salvo At Trump: ‘He Is A Pathological Liar…A Racist, A Sexist, A Homophobe’
- Bernie Sanders’s 2020 policy agenda: Medicare for All; action on climate change; $15 an hour minimum wage
- Bernie Sanders Raises Over $3.3 Million From 120,000 Small Donors in Just 10 Hours
- Bernie Sanders’s 2020 policy agenda: Medicare for All; action on climate change; $15 an hour minimum wage
- Rick Wilson: RIP my TL but Bernie Sanders is Trump Reelection Insurance. “The solution to Trumpism is a crusty 80 year old professor of socialist poetry from Bennington Community College,” said no one, ever. Why not just declare the Sanders- Gabbard ticket now and bring the doom early?
- Greg Olear: Bernie supporter bot calls mobbed-up Russian oligarchs “most vulnerable citizens of another state.” The piece cited is BS, by the way, because Bernie CONTINUED to vote with the mobbed-up Russian oligarchs, and does so to this day.
- Shannon Watts: The issue of gun violence prevention – the one issue on which Bernie Sanders has historically sided with lobbyists and not with Democrats – does not get a mention in Sanders’ campaign launch video.
- Shannon Watts: It is fair to ask Bernie Sanders why gun violence prevention isn’t one of these priorities given that Americans have made it a major voting priority.
- From July 2015: How the National Rifle Association helped get Bernie Sanders elected
- PostimusMaximus: On Bernie : Of course we knew he was going to run. Russia will use that to play up the DNC divide yet again. Trump will also play to that, Tulsi probably will, hopefully no other Dems do.
Fuck. Bernie. Sanders. Need a reminder why? Trump vs. Bernie is a good place to start, but since then the Independent senator voted against the Global Magnitsky Act and enacting sanctions against Russia. He also readily accepts money from the NRA, and his online presence is fueled by Russian bots.
IN OTHER NEWS…
RUMOR MILL
- Tea Pain: Pete Williams is no slouch of a reporter. What do you folks think of this reportin’?
- Mike Walker: Pete Williams on MSNBC says the Mueller report may go to DOJ as early as next week
- Tea Pain: We’re hearin’ reports of Mueller droppin’ his report soon, but at the same time, we see him still hot on the trail of the Russian conspiracy. Tea suspects Mueller may be close to droppin’ an “interim report” on Trump’s obstruction while he presses on with conspiracy.
- Ming: Ming guarantee that coward Rubio new shit would hit fan this week and is why he timed his Colombia junket.
- Louise Mensch: Jeremy Corbyn is a Russian asset. Just making sure everyone in America knows it. Stands with Putin and Maduro against the people of Venezuela
- Ming: Ming sense that “a time and place of our choosing” is quickly approaching. ❤
- Geo Kelly: Prediction: Putin will not live to see 2020. The cost of his op against the free world is beginning to be way more than the oligarchs wanted to pay. And Putins assets will be arrested and/or disgraced by then,which will almost completely destroy his Intel ops.
- Ming: Has butterbeans indictment been unsealed yet?
That’s it for Tuesday. Damn, that’s a lot of shit. And it will keep accelerating over the next couple months. Especially now that the Saudi Nuclear Deal is out in the public eye.
Like I said yesterday (Daily Check-In 02/18/2019) I think I’ll start working on the Grand Bargain page. I should also update the Russian Hypothesis as well.
Thank you, and have a good one.
“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”
– Katy Tur
None of this is Normal 