Tag: Confirmation

Daily Check-In 04/09/2018

Monday April 9th and the weekend.

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION: FBI RAIDS COHEN’S HOME, OFFICE, HOTEL.

Yeah, that happened.

Southern District New York, operating under a referral from Robert Mueller’s team, executed multiple search warrants against the President’s longtime lawyer Michael Cohen, at multiple locations, at the same time. This included seizing tax documents, campaign records, communications with his client Donald Trump, contracts, bank records, and other information related to several legal matters, including Stormy Daniels.

I hate to sound hyperbolic, but this is huge. The prosecutors were able to convince a judge of the following…

  • Cohen had information vital to the investigations.
  • Communication between Trump and Cohen was not covered completely under Attorney-Client privilege.
  • That information likely includes criminal activity.
  • If served with a subpoena, Cohen would not cooperate.
  • Cohen would likely move to destroy evidence.
  • Cohen’s behavior was so bad, a judge decided that several no-knock raids executed at the same time was the least intrusive method of obtaining this information.
  • The information on file was so atrocious that the judge ordered these actions, despite Cohen being the personal attorney of the President of the United States.
  • The prosecutors and judge feel that there is enough information to refer to Stormywatch as a criminal matter.

Yes, that’s right.  Trump attorney Cohen is being investigated for possible bank fraud, campaign finance violations, according to a person familiar with the case.  One of these matters is the Stormy Daniels payoff.  They’re also looking into a Ukrainian’s $150,000 Payment for a Trump Appearance.

Investigators subpoenaed the Trump Organization this year for an array of records about business with foreign nationals. In response, the company handed over documents about a $150,000 donation that the Ukrainian billionaire, Victor Pinchuk, made in September 2015 to the Donald J. Trump Foundation in exchange for a 20-minute appearance by Mr. Trump that month through a video link to a conference in Kiev.

$150,000 for a 20 minute speech?  From a man who has donated millions to the Clinton Foundation for years, and was accused, by Trump supporters no less, of paying for access?

Remember, everything they do is projection.  Every attack against an opponent is designed to distract.  That’s gonna make Pizzagate look pretty fucking awkward.

But aside from the why, what, where, and how, it’s who.  More precisely, who is the SDNY, and why did Mueller refer Cohen’s case to him?  This article explains Why Robert Mueller Handed Off the Michael Cohen Raid.  There are several reasons why Mueller handed this off to Geoffrey Berman, but the biggest reason is to use SDNY as a clean team, or taint team.

Ok, short version of a clean team.  Because they’re seizing documents related to conversations between an attorney and their client, the investigators have to go through them with a fine toothed comb.  If they found something that wasn’t covered by the warrant but was criminal, it would be inadmissible in court.  So, they have another group of people go through all of the correspondence to see what’s covered by the warrant and what’s not.  This way, the clean team can then forward on what’s covered, and leave the rest behind.

Cohen’s office in 30 Rock belongs to Squire Patton Boggs.  They also represent Gazprom, SCL, and Cambridge Analytica.  Well, used to be his office.  He got shitcanned via press statement.

By the way, Michael Cohen is a Deputy Finance Chair for the Republican Party.  They’ve wasted no time scrubbing his profile from their page.

 

 

RUSSIAN ECONOMY TAKES A HIT

 

CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA AND FACEBOOK

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

 

TRUMP HATES BROWN PEOPLE

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

STORMYWATCH, FROM THE STORMCENTER 6000 METEOROPORNOLOGICAL CENTER

 

SAY GOODBYE TO THE ECONOMY

 

TRUMP TOWER FIRE

 

RED STATE TEACHER STRIKE

 

CAN WE GET BACK TO POLITICS?

 

RUMOR MILL:  WAG THE DOG, AND AN EVIDENCE BURNING PARTY

This is the first time I’ve ever put WaPo in the Rumor Mill, but given the rest of the news, a few voices on Reddit were talking about Trump using Syria as a distraction from the news of Cohen’s raid, sort of a Wag the Dog scenario.

Wag The Dog was a movie about a White House Official that hires a Hollywood Producer to make a war to distract the country from a sex scandal.

I don’t think this will happen, but I wanted to mention what I was seeing.  None of the main Rumor Mill voices were talking about this being a possible scenario, so take it as it is.

 

That’s it for today.  If the week starts off with Cohen’s shit getting seized by the FBI, then we’re looking forward to a crazy week.  Real fucking crazy.

Time to grab on and hold tight.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daily Check-In 04/06/2018

Friday April 6th

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

The following is a comment from Reddit user /u/CitCeasar.  Here’s the permalink.

Earlier this week, CNN broke the story that Mueller had stopped several oligarchs asking questions about Russian money being funneled to the campaign or inauguration. That story indicates that Mueller and his team were focused on two methods to accomplish this:

  1. One area under scrutiny, sources say, is investments Russians made in companies or think tanks that have political action committees that donated to the campaign.
  2. Another theory Mueller’s office is pursuing, sources said, is whether wealthy Russians used straw donors — Americans with citizenship — as a vessel through which they could pump money into the campaign and inauguration fund.

Previous stories from the Dallas Morning News have also raised questions about straw donors. One of these stories, “How Putin’s oligarchs funneled millions into GOP campaigns”, focused on several specific people:

  • Len Blavatnik, a dual U.S.-U.K. citizen and one of the largest donors to GOP political action committees in the 2015-16 election cycle. […] Data from the Federal Election Commission show that Blavatnik’s campaign contributions dating back to 2009-10 were fairly balanced across party lines and relatively modest for a billionaire. […] In 2015-16, everything changed. Blavatnik’s political contributions soared and made a hard right turn as he pumped $6.35 million into GOP political action committees, with millions of dollars going to top Republican leaders including Sens. Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham.
  • Andrew Intrater, according to Mother Jones, is Vekselberg’s cousin. He is also chief executive of Columbus Nova, Renova’s U.S. investment arm located in New York. (FEC records list his employer as Renova US Management LLC.). Intrater had no significant history of political contributions prior to the 2016 elections. But in January 2017 he contributed $250,000 to Trump’s Inaugural Committee. His six-figure gift bought him special access to a dinner billed as “an intimate policy discussion with select cabinet appointees,” according to a brochure obtained by the Center for Public Integrity.
  • Alexander Shustorovich, chief executive of IMG Artists, attempted to give the Republican Party $250,000 in 2000 to support the George W. Bush presidential campaign, but his money was rejected because of his ties to the Russian government, according to Quartz. So why didn’t the Trump team reject Shustorovich’s $1 million check to Trump’s Inaugural Committee?
  • Simon Kukes is an oil magnate who has something in common with Intrater. From 1998 to 2003, he worked for Vekselberg and Blavatnik as chief executive of TNK. Redacted CIA documents released in 2003 under the Freedom of Information Act said “TNK president Kukes said that he bribed local officials.” The CIA confirmed the authenticity of the reports to The Guardian newspaper but would not comment further. In 2016, Kukes contributed a total of $283,000, much of it to the Trump Victory Fund. He had no significant donor history before last year’s election.

Another name worth looking at is Timothy Kasbe, who was discussed in the Washington Post’s story about well-connected Russians who attended the Trump inauguration.

Prior to donating $150,000.00 to the Trump inauguration, Kasbe had no prior history of political contributions/donations. Kasbe was also an executive at a Russian-based jean company at the time he made the donation. Kasbe then left the country to take a job in New Zealand shortly after the inauguration.

Why was he covered in the WaPo story? It’s because he was the one who invited Alexey Repik, one of the wealthy Russians with rumored ties to the FSB who attended the inauguration. Kasbe told the WaPo that the Repiks were “family friends from California,” while Repik said “they had met months earlier during a tour of Silicon Valley companies for Russian business executives that Kasbe helped host on behalf of a headhunting firm.”

Repik had access to some major players during his inauguration visit. He attended various events where he met President Trump, Mike Pence, Reince Priebus, Rex Tillerson, and Mike Pompeo, posting some of these encounters on a public Facebook post and discussing others with the WaPo.

How did Repik get access to these power players? Well, Kasbe’s inauguration donation would have provided some access. However, it appears Kasbe told the New Zealand Herald that the event where Repik met President Trump was unrelated to his inauguration tickets/donations.

Who invited Repik to that event? According to Repik’s own Facebook post, it was Reince Priebus.

 

George Nader has given information to Mueller’s team at least 7 times so far; 3 interviews and 4 grand jury appearances.  This is on top of the documents he provided to the team.

If the warrants against the five phones are “not the subject of either of the current prosecutions involving Manafort,” then they would seem to not be connected to the crimes arising out of the Ukrainian imbroglio, which is the subject of his current prosecutions. By process of elimination, they are related to either a potential collusion case against Manafort, or additional targets. If there are additional targets, though, they would have to be connected in some way to Mueller’s wider mandate to investigate Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and/or the Trump campaign’s potential cooperation with that interference and links to Russia.

In other words, Mueller appears to be going after someone for collusion using the Manafort connection.

Legal analyst Renato Mariotti observed on Twitter that this new warrant could very well mean that Mueller is seeking “historical cell site information” for Manafort’s old phones, which would mean he’s trying to track the timing of Manafort’s previous movements. Again, this all came soon after Gates began cooperating with the investigation. Gates has already plead guilty and confessed to lying in February to the FBI about his knowledge of a meeting between Manafort, Mercury Public Affairs lobbyist and former Congressman Vin Weber, and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher at the Capitol Hill Club in 2013. (Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy was recorded in 2016 saying that he—“swear to God”—believed Rohrabacher was on Putin’s payroll, which his staff first denied and then argued was “clearly an attempt at humor.”)

By the way, here’s a link to the Mueller filing re: Manafort search warrants. Enjoy.  Here is also the  Manafort Motion Bill of Particulars – Mad Dog PAC, courtesy of Spicy Mic.

 

Here are the Russians people and entities that were hit with the sanction hammer:

  • Andrey Akimov
  • Vladimir Bogdanov
  • Oleg Deripaska
  • Alexey Dyumin
  • Mikhail Fradkov
  • Oleg Govuron
  • Sergei Fursenko
  • Alexander Torshin
  • Viktor Veksleberg
  • Suleiman Kerimov
  • Vladimir Kolokoltsev
  • Konstantin Kosachev
  • Miguel Jose Leone Martinez
  • Alexey Miller
  • Nikolai Patrushev
  • Jesus Perez Alvear
  • Vladislav Reznik
  • Igor Rotenberg
  • Kirill Shamalov
  • Evgeny Shkolov
  • Andrei Skoch
  • Timur Valiulin
  • Alexander Zhorov
  • Viktor Zolotov
  • AgroHolding Kuban
  • Basic Element Limited
  • B-Finance Ltd.
  • EN+ Group PLC
  • JSC EuroSibEnergo
  • GAZGroup
  • Gazprom Burenie, 0 0 0
  • Ladoga Menedzhment, 0 0 0
  • NPV Engineering Open Joint Stock Company
  • Renova Group

Full list Here.

Joseph Schmitz, former Inspector General at the Pentagon, used to work with Blackwater.  Just like George Nader.

Gee, I wonder how Mueller found out about this guy.

 

CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA AND FACEBOOK

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

When Geraldo Rivera is calling something bullshit, it’s bullshit.

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

THAT’S KIND OF A WAR CRIME…

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS:  TRUMP IS A THIN SKINNED PANSY AND PRUITT IS STILL EMPLOYED?

 

RED STATE TEACHER STRIKES

 

SAY GOODBYE TO THE ECONOMY

 

STORMYWATCH, FROM THE STORMCENTER 6000 METEOROPORNOLOGICAL CENTER

 

CAN WE GET BACK TO POLITICS?

Here’s part of his press statement

Since being elected to Congress in 2010, I’ve worked to make government more efficient and responsive, cut government spending, repeal Obamacare, protect life and reduce the debt. Locally, I’ve worked tirelessly to get federal funding for the widening and deepening project at the Port of Corpus Christi and help our other area ports and military facilities. I’ve also been extremely successful in working with our communities on recovering from Hurricane Harvey. Most importantly, I’ve been able to help countless people, especially veterans with their problems with the federal government.

“While I planned on serving out the remainder of my term in Congress, I know in my heart it’s time for me to move along and look for new ways to serve.

 

 

RUMOR MILL: DARK MONEY

I’m beginning to think that Spicy Mic had the day off from work today, and spent a lot of it doing research.

Below is a link to a tweet about dark money ties from Viktor Vekselberg to Len Blavatnik.  From Len to the GOP, as Len is an American citizen.

 

That’s it for today.  In the future, I’ll do a run-through of all the recently sanctioned Russians and their companies.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 04/05/2018

Thursday, April 5th.

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

As Manafort’s first trial date approaches, we’ll hear more and more about all of his attempts to kill this investigation, followed by the inevitable smackdown delivered by Mueller.

 

CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA AND FACEBOOK

Robert Mercer is literally the Far Right-Wing version of the boogeyman they claim George Soros to be.  Mercer is literally evil.  And he knows he’s screwed.

Remember back last year (Daily Check-In 11/2/2017) that Robert Mercer stepped down from his business ventures and shifted everything over to his daughters, just a few days after Manafort and Gates were first charged?  He knows that soon, the knives will be out for him, and there will be no quarter given to him or his family for their attack on democracy itself.

Also, if anyone reading this owns Facebook stock, I recommend selling it off.  I don’t usually advise a sell-off when a company gets bad news, but this is “destruction of a business model” bad news.

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

Their proposed merger to Tribune MUST be stopped.

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS: SCOTT PRUITT MAKES CASE FOR MOST CORRUPT TRUMP OFFICIAL

Scott Pruitt has passed from normally corrupt to criminally corrupt in a matter of days.  I am honestly surprised that in a cabinet with Wilbur Ross, Betsy DeVos, and Steve Mnuchin, that Scott Pruitt is the most corrupt.

Now that I’ve said this, let’s see how long it takes before we find out that Linda McMahon runs a sweatshop full of slaves to make WWE’s merchandise.  (Please don’t be true).

 

SAY GOODBYE TO THE ECONOMY

Trump is about to lose his support on Wall Street.  They are greedy AF, but their greed can be counted on.  As long as they can continue to make money, they’re okay with other problems.  But fuck with their bottom line, and they’ll end you.

 

STORMYWATCH, FROM THE STORMCENTER 6000 METEOROPORNOLOGICAL CENTER

Just when I thought that this couldn’t get stupider, Trump says, to the press, that he didn’t know that his lawyer paid off Stormy Daniels.

If he’s telling the truth, then Cohen can say goodbye to his legal license.

If Trump’s lying, then Cohen and Trump are in even bigger legal trouble.

The only workable defense at this point for Cohen would be if, IF, he had previous authorization to work on similar cases, then he might be able to operate without Trump’s know-how on each and every case.  Problem is, that raises a bigger question…

How many women has Cohen worked to fix?

 

AND NOW, THE WEATHER (CLIMATE)

When it comes to climate change, one argument I’ve heard from conservatives is always the “scientists can’t agree.”

Here’s an analogy that might help…

Playoff hockey starts in a week.  Two fans of the Pittsburgh Penguins are arguing with each other about whether Phil Kessel should be on a power play line with Evgeni Malkin or Sydney Crosby, or a super line with both.  The fans argue the pros and cons of all of the options, then finish this with a good old fashion “Fuck the Flyers!”  Someone who doesn’t follow hockey hears this and assumes that hockey doesn’t exist.

That is “scientists can’t agree” argument.  They are the spectator watching the argument.

 

RED STATE TEACHER STRIKES

 

TRUMP HATES BROWN PEOPLE

 

CAN WE GET BACK TO POLITICS?

 

RUMOR MILL:  CREDULITY ABOUT THE DAILY MAIL

There are a few media organizations that, despite being big names, don’t have a sterling reputation.  One of those is the Daily Mail.

The Daily Mail is a British tabloid newspaper, about a step or two above the National Enquirer in legitimacy, but a few rungs below The Onion for satire.  Political reporting isn’t

So, when they release a story that says the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia was bragging about using U.S. Intelligence given to him by Jared Kushner to go after his enemies, I take it with a grain of salt.

Don’t get me wrong, from everything I’ve seen about their meeting and the timing of MSB going after his enemies, it makes sense.  I’m just skeptical about this story coming from the Daily Mail.  But, then again, like one of my old coaches used to say “Even a blind squirrel finds a nut from time to time.”

If this story gets picked up by other outlets, I’ll gladly admit that the Daily Mail broke the story first.

 

That’s it for today.  Well, yesterday.  I needed to get some sleep.  Last night was the first time I had more than 5 hours of sleep on a weeknight in a few weeks.

As far as Friday is concerned, I hope to start that article right after this one is published.  I have a few big things going on tonight, but worst case scenario, I’ll publish something Saturday morning.

This weekend is a big one for wrestling fans and in honor of that, my weekend post will be about WWE Hall of Famer Donald Trump, and how he is the ultimate heel, (bad guy), and why and how his presidency could work as a great angle (story).

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

 

Daily Check-In 04/04/2018

Wednesday, April 4th.  This post will be very light on the writing.  I’m getting a late start tonight.  I’m hoping this doesn’t become a pattern, but sometimes life happens.

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION: MUELLER STOPPING SUBJECTS IN AIRPORTS

One argument I ran into on Reddit about this was someone saying that Trump and Pence would recreate history, a la Nixon and Ford.

This assumes that Pence would give Trump a pardon, he isn’t neutered in the process, and that he’s still VP when this goes down.

I’m having a hard time nailing down Pence’s loyalty, but he doesn’t strike me as willing to sacrifice himself to save Trump, especially if Trump is looking down the barrel of serious charges against the state.

Next, the political costs would be too great for Mike to pardon Trump, or anyone in the administration. Commutation of some sentences might be acceptable for a few people, but assuming the worst, pardoning people charged with Conspiracy Against The United States, Espionage, and Treason would destroy his presidency.

Plus, Pence was the head of the Trump Transition Team, the same group that Mike Flynn was working for when Flynn was caught on tape with the Russian Ambassador. Pence’s only defense at this point is that he didn’t know what his subordinates were doing. If even one of the cooperating witnesses fingered Pence, he’s done for. Remember, there is no constitutional protection guarantee for a Vice President. Spiro Agnew was indicted while in office and forced to resign.

The last option of Pence leaving office before Trump is far-fetched, but goes to show how screwed up things are. The fact that this is even a possibility that must be entertained is absurd. But, here we are.

Mueller’s team is having the FBI stop people of interest as they cross through customs, where there’s a bit of a no man’s land of legal rights.  They’re stopping these people, interviewing them, digging into their connections to Trump and American politics, and either making copies of their electronic devices or seizing them outright.

The article doesn’t name the oligarchs, but there’s some info in the Rumor Mill.

Roger Stone appeared on the InfoWars radio show the same day he sent an email claiming he dined with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange — and he predicted “devastating” upcoming disclosures about the Clinton Foundation.

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA AND FACEBOOK

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS: McMASTER RESISGNS, PRUITT MAKES CASE FOR MOST CORRUPT CABINET OFFICIAL

 

IMMIGRATION: TRUMP HATES BROWN PEOPLE

 

SAY GOODBYE TO THE ECONOMY

 

RED STATE TEACHER STRIKES

 

CAN WE GET BACK TO POLITICS?

 

RUMOR MILL:  WHO WAS STOPPED AT THE AIRPORT?

From the thread…

Oleg Deripaska’s M-SAWO 2/28/18 Moscow-Teterboro. Something is happening in NY… Vekselberg’s P4-MIS flew from Thailand, Abramov’s D-ALEX from Moscow to Newark, Abramovich’s LX-GVI from LA to Teterboro and Blavatnik’s N671LE from Europe to Teterboro, all on the same day, 2/28🤨

We already know Oleg Deripaska, but who are the others?

Viktor Vekselberg, owner and president of Renova Group, personally worth $13.6 billion.

Alexander Abramov, owner of Russia’s largest steel producer, personally worth $4.3 billion.

Roman Abramovich, owner of Millhouse LLC investment company and Chelsea Football Club, personally worth $10.8 billion

Len Blavatnik, founder of Access Industries, Russian-born American and British citizen, major philanthropist, personally worth $21.2 billion.

So, we have 4 billionaires landing in New Jersey.  3 in Teterboro right outside of New York, and 1 in Newark, all on the same day, all on a Wednesday.

Why?  What happened that day?

Daily Check-In 02/28/2018 saw Paul Manafort appear in court, and several stories aired about Russian trips during the campaign.  Daily Check-In 03/01/2018 let it out that Mueller was looking to indict the Russian hackers at Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear, working for the GRU.

I’m not exactly sure why they met in New York (maybe they had Hamilton tickets?), but it sounds like Mueller’s team was waiting for them.

Remember, this is all rumor and supposition, but if these four met for some nefarious reason, and used their cell phones or laptops to communicate, getting stopped in customs  by the FBI makes for a very bad day.  It’s like going through a DUI checkpoint followed by a colonoscopy. No matter how it goes, it ends with a sore ass.

 

 

That’s it for today.  Like I said, it’s late, and I’m tired.  Let’s see how Thursday goes.  I might be offline for most of Friday night, but I’ll try to gather some stories earlier in the day.  I don’t like to talk about personal details here, but I might be unable to write that night.  I’ll see what happens.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur