2018

Friday, February 23rd.

GATES TO PLEAD GUILTY, WILL COOPERATE WITH MUELLER

I’ve talked about this rumor for a while, but if the Washington Post is reporting it, it’s happening. He is pleading guilty to Conspiracy and Lying to the FBI.

Here’s a copy of his plea deal.

Gates, who was once the Deputy Campaign Chairman, worked with the Trump team throughout the campaign, transition, and was Chief of Staff to the Chairman of the Inaugural Committee. He continued to visit the White House through the Summer of 2017.

Over the last couple days, there was some screwiness with his deal, his legal team, and whether he would or wouldn’t cooperate. Manafort, by all accounts, is putting his money on receiving a pardon from President Trump. Gates probably bet on the same hope, right until the 32 charges came in yesterday from EDVA. Whatever deal he was fighting against yesterday looked REAALLL nice all of a sudden.

In his Lying to the FBI charge, the deal says that he lied about a meeting with Manafort, a Lobbyist, and a member of Congress. My first guess is that it was Congressman Dana Rohrabacher of ~~Moscow~~ California.

Rick Gates is looking at 31 counts of white-collar crime. There are enough charges here that if he were convicted, he would grow very old and likely die in prison. His kids won’t know their father. Working with Mueller is his last, best hope to avoid that.

MUELLER’S TEAM HAS INDICTED 19 PEOPLE ON OVER 100 CHARGES

Here’s the list as of 09:30 EST, courtesy of the Washington Post:

The campaign team

Paul Manafort, former Trump campaign chairman. 27 counts in total.

Conspiracy against the United States (1 count, contained in October indictment)
Conspiracy to launder money (1 count, October)
Bank fraud (4 counts, February indictment)
Bank fraud conspiracy (5 counts, February)
Subscribing to false tax returns (5 counts, February)
Making false statements (1 count, October)
Failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts (4 in October, 4 in February)
Unregistered agent of a foreign principal (1 count, October)
False FARA statements (1 count, October)

Rick Gates, former Trump campaign staffer. 31 counts in total.

Conspiracy against the United States (1 count, October)
Conspiracy to launder money (1 count, October)
Bank fraud (4 counts, February)
Bank fraud conspiracy (5 counts, February)
Subscribing to false tax returns (5 counts, February)
Assisting in preparation of false tax documents (5 counts, February)
Subscribing to false amended tax returns (1 count, February)
Making false statements (1 count, October)
Failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts (3 in October, 3 in February)
Unregistered agent of a foreign principal (1 count, October)
False FARA statements (1 count, October)

Michael Flynn, former campaign staffer. 1 charge to which he pleaded guilty.

Making false statements (1 count, December)

George Papadopoulos, former campaign adviser. 1 charge to which he pleaded guilty.

Making false statements (1 count, October)

The Russians

Yevgeniy Prigozhin, controlled Concord Management and Consulting. 1 count in total.

Conspiracy to defraud the United States (1 count, February)

Mikhail Bystrov, general director of Internet Research Agency. 1 count in total.

Conspiracy to defraud the United States (1 count, February)

Mikhail Burchik, executive director of Internet Research Agency. 1 count in total.

Conspiracy to defraud the United States (1 count, February)

Aleksandra Krylova, director of Internet Research Agency. 1 count in total.

Conspiracy to defraud the United States (1 count, February)

Anna Bogacheva, Internet Research Agency employee. 1 count in total.

Conspiracy to defraud the United States (1 count, February)

Sergey Polozov, Internet Research Agency employee. 1 count in total.

Conspiracy to defraud the United States (1 count, February)

Maria Bovda, Internet Research Agency employee. 1 count in total.

Conspiracy to defraud the United States (1 count, February)

Robert Bovda, Internet Research Agency employee. 1 count in total.

Conspiracy to defraud the United States (1 count, February)

Dzheykhun Aslanov, Internet Research Agency employee. 8 counts in total.

Conspiracy to defraud the United States (1 count, February)
Conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud (1 count, February)
Aggravated identity theft (6 counts, February)

Vadim Podkopaev, Internet Research Agency employee. 1 count in total.

Conspiracy to defraud the United States (1 count, February)

Gleb Vasilchenko, Internet Research Agency employee. 8 counts in total.

Conspiracy to defraud the United States. (1 count, February)
Conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud (1 count, February)
Aggravated identity theft (6 counts, February)

Irina Kaverzina, Internet Research Agency employee. 7 counts in total.

Conspiracy to defraud the United States (1 count, February)
Aggravated identity theft (6 counts, February)

Vladimir Venkov, Internet Research Agency employee. 7 counts in total.

Conspiracy to defraud the United States (1 count, February)
Aggravated identity theft (6 counts, February)

The other people

Richard Pinedo, businessman who sold bank account numbers allegedly used by the Russians as part of their efforts. 1 charge to which he pleaded guilty.

Making false statements (1 count, December)

Alex van der Zwaan, attorney who helped develop a report benefiting Manafort’s client in Ukraine. 1 charge to which he pleaded guilty.

Making false statements (1 count, October)

Comparing that information to this chart from Daily Kos, Trump is already well ahead of every President in number of Indictments and fourth in number of convictions with 3.

**Executive Branch Criminal Activities by Presidential Administration**
President	Party	Years in Office	Criminal Indictments	Criminal Convictions	Prison Sentences
Barack Obama	Democratic	8	0	0	0
George W. Bush	Republican	8	16	16	9
Bill Clinton	Democratic	8	2	1	1
George H. W. Bush	Republican	4	1	1	1
Ronald Reagan	Republican	8	26	16	8
Jimmy Carter	Democratic	4	1	0	0
Gerald Ford	Republican	2.4	1	1	1
Richard Nixon	Republican	5.6	76	55	15

5 NEW CHARGES FOR PAUL MANAFORT FROM DC SUPERSEDING INDICTMENT

Here it is. A couple hours after Rick Gates pleaded guilty, a superseding indictment was unsealed against Paul Manafort.

Here’s the new charges:

Conspiracy Against the United States
Conspiracy to Launder Money
Unregistered Agent of a Foreign Principal
False and Misleading FARA Statements
False Statements

MANAFORT LEFT PAPER TRAIL BECAUSE HE COULDN’T CONVERT WORD DOC TO PDF

Why is it that it’s always some tiny, stupid, insignificant little thing that ends up leading investigators to unravel a massive conspiracy?

In this case, Manafort needed help converting a Word file to a PDF. Even though there are literally dozens of ways for someone to do this themselves, Paul either couldn’t or wouldn’t figure it out.

Manafort, who is at or near 70 years old, asked a coconspirator at Lender D (Federal Savings Bank in Chicago, IL) for him to send a file to him in a Word file so that he could doctor it. Manfort then sent this to Rick Gates, who sent back a PDF file. All he had to do was ask for a copy of the Word file, spend 2 minutes doing a Google search, and he could have done the work himself. Instead, his laziness likely cost two people their freedom and is a likely catalyst for them to turn on him.

STEPHEN CALK’S WORK WITH MANAFORT BROUGHT UP IN DIVORCE FILING LAST YEAR

Speaking of Federal Savings Bank, Stephen Calk’s wife/ex-wife to be Donna knew about Paul Manafort and Stephen’s working with him.

I’m wondering how long ago someone from Mueller’s office spoke to Donna.

CONOR LAMB RUNNING NECK AND NECK DESPITE GETTING OUTSPENT 17-1

With redistricting coming up later this year, if Lamb can pull of the upset in PA-18, that would set it up nicely for the future.

The seat Lamb is running for is heavily gerrymandered. It splits parts of the city and closest city suburbs and dilutes their large Democratic influence with voters three counties away in Pennsyltucky. Pennsyltucky is the heavily rural, white, and sparsely populated areas in the state between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. More than half of the state’s population lives in and around those two cities.

If Lamb wins PA-18 in the Special Election, he’ll go into November with a new district, a new map, and a more centralized constituency.

FLORIDA GOVERNOR RICK SCOTT PROPOSES TO RAISE GUN PURCHASE AGE TO 21

Republican Sen. Bill Galvano, the next Senate president from south Tampa, has been working on similar legislation that he planned to present with House and Senate leaders later Friday. Though he has been a supporter of the NRA’s legislative efforts in the past, Galvano said Thursday that the group’s opposition to raising the age for semiautomatic rifle purchases would not change his focus.

“It doesn’t complicate my efforts,” he said after a committee hearing in the Capitol. “I think the desire to act and do something meaningful right now seems to be what’s going to win the day.”

We’re finally starting to see some change. Too bad it took yet another senseless tragedy to get this to happen.

ANOTHER REPORT ABOUT THE FBI INVESTIGATING THE NRA

As I’ve said before and I’ll say again, Fuck the NRA.

This is something I’ve talked about before, but this piece does add some info to the puzzle, like that the NRA spent $55 million in the 2016 campaign, and $30 million of that went to Donald Trump. That $55 million was a record for them.

Alexander Torshin is a Russian Oligarch, a former member of their Parliament, and a Lifetime Member of the NRA.

RNC PAYING RENT FOR AN APARTMENT IN TRUMP TOWER

After the Republican National Committee stopped paying the legal fees for Trump’s family, they immediately started paying Trump for rent on an apartment in Trump Tower, at a rate of $37,500 per month.

Over a year, that comes out to $450,000, being paid to Trump’s company. Smells pretty rotten.

TRUMP SAYS KELLY WILL DECIDE WHAT HAPPENS WITH KUSHNER’S CLEARANCE

This story came out this morning. For the last, well, ever, we’ve been asking how in the Crystal Pepsi Flavored Fuck does Jared Kushner still have a Top Secret clearance?

Remember last week or two weeks ago when John Kelly said that all Interim Security Clearances would be cancelled by today? And how Jared’s camp in the White House felt that this was an attack directed at him?

Well…

TOP JUSTICE DEPT. OFFICIAL ALERTED WHITE HOUSE 2 WEEKS AGO TO ONGOING ISSUES IN KUSHNER’S SECURITY CLEARANCE

Two weeks ago, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein informed the White House that there was a “significant information requiring additional investigation would further delay the security clearance process of senior adviser Jared Kushner, according to three people familiar with the discussion.”

This came directly from Rod. You know, the guy that Bob Mueller reports to for the Russian Investigation? Yeah, that guy.

What happened two weeks ago?

If I could make that last one a big, flashing, obnoxious blinking link, I would.

Two weeks ago, Steve Bannon spent half a week interviewing with Robert Mueller and his team. He told them EVERYTHING. He told them about all of the crazy shit that Jared and Ivanka pulled in the White House. He told Mueller about Kushner’s debts, his habits, his coconspirators, and why he’s accessing so much classified intel.

I finished listening to “Fire & Fury” yesterday. I’ll do a review on it soon, but two things stand out about Steve Bannon; he knows a lot of shit and is a vindictive son of a bitch.

There was a 3-way battle in the White House for who would be the real power behind Donald Trump. Steve Bannon represented the Nationalists, Reince Priebus represented the Republican Party, and Jared Kushner represented… his own self-interests. They all schemed against each other, but eventually Reince and Bannon teamed up against Jarvanka (Jared-Ivanka). Problem was, Trump would not let his kids get fired. The kids were behind firing Comey, the Trump Jr. statement about the June 9th meeting, and the horrendous idea of letting Trump interview Maggie Haberman from the New York Times where he pulled that “red line” bullshit.

Bannon spoke to the author a lot about Kushner, Ivanka, and Hope Hicks. He described Kushner’s very close ties to Israel, money laundering through diamonds, and how screwed his family is on 666 Fifth Avenue. (If that building sounds familiar, I mentioned it on Daily Check-In 10/30/2017.)

If Bannon told this much to a journalist, just imagine what he told to Robert Mueller.

So, what conclusion am I drawing from this?

Steve Bannon told Robert Mueller some shit about Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump that strongly implies that they should never, EEVER, be allowed anywhere near classified intel. Mueller told Rosenstein, and Rosenstein told the White House.

Jared’s gonna have a very rough year.

RUMOR MILL: CALLS FOR UNITY AND THE ONCOMING STORM

This article is already pretty long, and with all the news today, there were two main messages today.

We need to come together as Americans and lovers of Freedom, and resist the calls for divisiveness, since they’re likely coming from our enemies.

A lot of bad people are going to have a very bad time soon. Things are speeding up.

That’s it for today. CNN has a graphical page describing all of the different lawyers on The Justice League. I think I might update my page with any missing attorneys. I like CNN’s look. All I want to say is…

I DID IT FIRST!

Ok, I’m done being petty. I’ll update my version with the new information soon.

I’ll see you next time.

Thank you, and have a good one.

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 02/22/2018

Thursday, February 22nd. I’m spending most of this time talking about the first story, so the rest will get short write-ups today.

MUELLER UNSEALS 32 INDICTMENTS AGAINST MANAFORT, GATES

Jesus Fucking Christ. A superseding indictment from Eastern District of Virginia containing 32 indictments against both Paul Manafort and Rick Gates.

According to the indictment, they laundered $75 million, committed a fuck ton of bank and mortgage fraud, and a shitload of tax evasion.

Here’s a PDF of the indictment.

It’s a pretty long list, so I’ll see you in a couple screens.

Count	Charge	Defendant
1	Subscribing to False United States Individual Income Tax Returns (2010) (26 U.S.C. §7206(1); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Manafort
2	Subscribing to False United States Individual Income Tax Returns (2011) (26 U.S.C. §7206(1); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Manafort
3	Subscribing to False United States Individual Income Tax Returns (2012) (26 U.S.C. §7206(1); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Manafort
4	Subscribing to False United States Individual Income Tax Returns (2013) (26 U.S.C. §7206(1); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Manafort
5	Subscribing to False United States Individual Income Tax Returns (2014) (26 U.S.C. §7206(1); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Manafort
6	Assisting in the Preparation of False United States Individual Income (2010) (26 U.S.C. §7206 (2))	Gates
7	Assisting in the Preparation of False United States Individual Income (2011) (26 U.S.C. §7206 (2))	Gates
8	Assisting in the Preparation of False United States Individual Income (2012) (26 U.S.C. §7206 (2))	Gates
9	Assisting in the Preparation of False United States Individual Income (2013) (26 U.S.C. §7206 (2))	Gates
10	Assisting in the Preparation of False United States Individual Income (2014) (26 U.S.C. §7206 (2))	Gates
11	Failure To File Reports Of Foreign Bank And Financial Accounts (2011) (31 U.S.C. §5314 and §5322(a); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Manafort
12	Failure To File Reports Of Foreign Bank And Financial Accounts (2012) (31 U.S.C. §5314 and §5322(a); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Manafort
13	Failure To File Reports Of Foreign Bank And Financial Accounts (2013) (31 U.S.C. §5314 and §5322(a); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Manafort
14	Failure To File Reports Of Foreign Bank And Financial Accounts (2014) (31 U.S.C. §5314 and §5322(a); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Manafort
15	Subscribing to False United States Individual Income Tax Returns (2010) (26 U.S.C. § 7206(1); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Gates
16	Subscribing to False United States Individual Income Tax Returns (2011) (26 U.S.C. § 7206(1); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Gates
17	Subscribing to False United States Individual Income Tax Returns (2012) (26 U.S.C. § 7206(1); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Gates
18	Subscribing to False United States Individual Income Tax Returns (2013) (26 U.S.C. § 7206(1); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Gates
19	Subscribing to False United States Individual Income Tax Returns (2014) (26 U.S.C. § 7206(1); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Gates
20	Subscribing to a False Amended United States Individual Income Tax Return (2013) (26 U.S.C. §7206(1); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Gates
21	Failure To File Reports Of Foreign Bank And Financial Accounts (2011) (31 U.S.C. §5314 and §5322(a); 18 U.S.C. § 2)	Gates
22	Failure To File Reports Of Foreign Bank And Financial Accounts (2012) (31 U.S.C. §5314 and §5322(a); 18 U.S.C. § 2)	Gates
23	Failure To File Reports Of Foreign Bank And Financial Accounts (2013) (31 U.S.C. §5314 and §5322(a); 18 U.S.C. § 2)	Gates
24	Bank Fraud Conspiracy (Lender B/$3.4 million loan) (18 U.S.C. §1349)	Manafort Gates
25	Bank Fraud (Lender B/$3.4 million loan) (18 U.S.C. §§1344, 2)	Manafort Gates
26	Bank Fraud Conspiracy (Lender C/$1 million loan) (18 U.S.C. §1349)	Manafort Gates
27	Bank Fraud (Lender C/$1 million loan) (18 U.S.C. §1344, 2)	Manafort Gates
28	Bank Fraud Conspiracy (Lender B/$5.5 million loan) (18 U.S.C. §1349)	Manafort Gates
29	Bank Fraud Conspiracy (Lender D/$9.5 million loan) (18 U.S.C. §1349)	Manafort Gates
30	Bank Fraud (Lender D/$9.5 million loan) (18 U.S.C. §§1344, 2)	Manafort Gates
31	Bank Fraud Conspiracy (Lender D/$6.5 million loan) (18 U.S.C. §1349)	Manafort Gates
32	Bank Fraud (Lender D/$6.5 million loan) (18 U.S.C. §§1344, 2)	Manafort Gates

This all started back in Ukraine. They stole a bunch of money while Yakunovich was President, until about 2015. From 2015 until January 2017, they allegedly played a shell game with multiple banks to try to drum up some cash to keep them running until their next scheme takes off. They’re lying to banks, altering profit & loss sheets, lied about their stated incomes, lied about rental properties, and lied about all of this on state, local, and federal taxes.

Notice the dates, 2015 to 2017. This overlaps their time on the Trump Campaign.

I can’t get a credit card increase for $500 without 38 references, and these pricks got millions of loans in a few months.

By the way, Lender D is likely Federal Savings Bank from Chicago, Illinois. I talked about Stephen Calk yesterday in Daily Check-In 02/21/2018. He gave these loans to Manafort in a Quid Pro Quo for a position in the White House, likely the Secretary of the Army. Reportedly, him or someone in his bank is working with Mueller.

But, now the $64,000 question. If Gates flipped, why’s he still getting indicted?

There was some confusion this afternoon about his legal representation. Looks like Tom Green is still his attorney. No, not the Tom Green that had a TV show back on MTV from the late 90’s who had testicular cancer, but the Tom Green who was a lawyer during Watergate.

There’s two hypotheses about this. First, he’s not flipping on Manafort, or he doesn’t have enough new evidence. Second, these indictments include enough criminal activity by both of them together, and they were indicted together.

Either way, this sends a message to Paul Manfort. Deliver Donald Trump or die in prison.

FIRST NATIONAL BANK TO END THEIR NRA VISA CARD

The boycott of the NRA begins.

Time to add Enterprise Holdings to that list. They own Enterprise, National, and Alamo rental car companies.

NRA AT CPAC CONFERENCE IS AN EMBARRASSMENT TO EVERYTHING

Wayne LaPierre went off on everything from blacks to socialism to video games, and blamed all of them for mass shootings.

You know, it’s everyone else’s fault, but his.

Fuck him.

TRUMP CRIES ‘FAKE NEWS’ ON CNN AND NBC SAYING HE’D ARM TEACHERS, THEN SAYS ARMING TEACHERS WOULD ‘SOLVE THE PROBLEM INSTANTLY’

The only reason I’m mentioning a Trump tweet is to illustrate his inability to keep a coherent thought for more than 30 seconds. I’ll address the stupidity of arming teachers in the Rumor Mill section.

MISSIOURI GOVERNOR TAKEN INTO CUSTODY

Republican Governor of Missouri Eric Greitens was indicted and arrested on felony invasion of privacy. He allegedly took pictures of his mistress without her permission as she was bound, gagged, and semi-naked on her bed, then threatened to blackmail her with them if she spoke out about the affair.

TRUMP LEGAL FUND RECIPIENTS UNCLEAR; FLYNN SAYS NO THANKS

This fund is supposed to be for people around Trump that can’t afford their own legal bills, like low-level staffers.

There was an argument making the rounds of the Fringe RWM that the Government doesn’t have a case against Flynn and he should fight it. Flynn said “No Thanks.”

RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER ALEXEI NAVALNY DETAINED IN MOSCOW, AGAIN

Once again, this shows how weak Putin really is. Nalvany is protesting the sham practice known as the 2018 Russian Presidential Election.

PUTIN ALLY SAID TO BE IN TOUCH WITH KREMLIN, ASSAD BEFORE HIS MERCENARIES ATTACKED U.S. TROOPS

In intercepted communications in late January, the oligarch, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, told a senior Syrian official that he had “secured permission” from an unspecified Russian minister to move forward with a “fast and strong” initiative that would take place in early February.

Yevgeniy was indicted last week as the Oligarch in charge of the IRA. His forces attacked U.S. troops in Syria, but were routed when the Americans attacked them from the air.

Yes, Russian mercenaries that report to ‘Putin’s Chef’ attacked American troops.

GUILTY PLEA DOESN’T PROHIBIT CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGE TO CONVICTIONS, SUPREME COURT RULES

This has nothing to do with Russia so far, but I thought it was an interesting ruling.

RUMOR MILL: TEACHERS WITH GUNS AND MANAFORT’S CONNECTIONS

One of the stupidest things I’ve heard come from the NRA “enthusiasts” is that the solution to gun violence and mass shootings is if more “good guys” were armed. Their thinking, if you can call it that, is that more armed people will offset and outshoot the bad people with guns. Their recommendation to stop school shootings is to arm teachers.

Outside of a bad Hollywood movie, this is by far the dumbest, least thought out, and wildly horrible ideas since… well, I one time heard of Orange Juice and Toothpaste flavored potato chips.

Let’s talk first about the realities of gunfights.

Trained professionals who spend years perfecting the art of shooting are not very accurate in live fire situations. The NYPD has an 18% accuracy rate. Soldiers are about the same rate. That means, even in a great situation, 4 out of every 5 bullets will miss its target. In a shooting range, that miss is going to hit a wall, or a dirt mound. In a school, that bullet is flying into a kid.

Next, let’s think about who teachers are. They are overworked, underpaid, and stressed out. In a lot of schools, they move from class to class, and that’s most of their exercise all day. So, on a good day, their nerves are only slightly frayed. Let’s throw guns into that mix, and students who know that they can beat up a teacher to steal their gun, or take it out of an unlocked drawer.

Also, who the fuck’s gonna pay for this? We don’t pay the teachers enough as it is, and a lot of schools have problems paying for essential supplies like pencils and staplers. Who’s gonna pay for range time and ammo?

Finally, teachers know their students. Do you know who the most likely shooters are in a school? Angry boy students. Those boys are either current or former students. This idea of arming teachers implies that they’ll have to shoot and kill people they know. Imagine, for a moment, the kind of mindfuck that puts a person through.

Soldiers train to kill by dehumanizing their enemies. It’s the only way they can get through their tour of duties. Listen to some veterans talk about being in combat, and if they describe fighting at all, they’ll use some pretty denigrating and racist terms to describe who they fought and what they did. Are they racists? No, not really. This is the only way they can sleep at night without ending up a sobbing pile on the floor.

Law Enforcement Officers who fire at and kill people in the line of duty have to go through counseling for the rest of their careers just to cope with what they did. Often times, the dehumanizing traits occur.

Think about that, then think about the people who say that teachers should train with guns, just in case they need to be ready to kill one of their students, a kid they spend months teaching and mentoring.

I wasn’t the only person who thinks that arming teachers is a terrible idea. There are literally ~~dozens hundreds thousands~~ millions of us on Twitter who feel the same way.

Finally, Countercheckist has been rather critical of Bernie Sanders recently. Okay, ever since I started following him. He was one of the first to point out that the same bots that were pushing Trump’s message were also pushing Bernie’s message, and they both seemed to have the same reaction to tales of Russian interference. They blamed Obama.

He’s also shown over time how well connected Paul Manfort is to every single shady mutha fucka that does shady shit. At this point, I’m half expecting to find out that my elementary school bullies were funded by Paul Manafort.

In a tweet earlier today, Countercheckist alluded to ties between Paul and Bernie. I don’t know how, and as much as I’d like to say it ain’t so, at this point I wouldn’t be surprised.

That’s it for today. Keep in mind, it’s not even Friday, and we’ve had 5 days of court activity from Robert Mueller in a row. Manafort is Manafucked.

I have to do the math on this, but there have been over 100 criminal charges filed on 19 people from the Special Counselor’s Office.

And we’re just warming up.

Thank you, and have a good one.

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 02/21/2018

Wednesday, February 21.

NEW SEALED CHARGES FILED BY MUELLER

For the third court day in a row, Special Counselor Robert Mueller and his team have filed new charges in their investigation. This time, I have no clue what the charges are. No one outside of Mueller’s team and the clerk have a clue. And possibly Rick Gates.

Odds are they’re additional charges against Paul Manafort for bank fraud. The details about that in 3, 2, 1…

STEPHEN CALK, FEDERAL SAVINGS BANK OF CHICAGO, GAVE PAUL MANAFORT MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN LOANS IN EXCHANGE FOR WHITE HOUSE POSITION

Yes, Mueller is very interested.

The day that Paul Manafort was fired from the Trump Campaign, he started a company named Sunbreeze LLC. That company then took out a loan against one of his homes. By the end of 2016, Paul had taken out $16 million in loans, all of them signed off on by Stephen Calk.

So, who is Stephen Calk? He was an economic advisor to the Trump Transition Team, and a manager at Federal Savings Bank in Chicago, Illinois. FSB is a smaller bank that usually offers mortgages to veterans.

And he approved loans that totaled more than 25% of his bank’s assets in mortgages to one person.

Why would he approve such a risk for his bank, over the objections of his staff? He reportedly did this for a position in the White House.

This is a simple and elegant solution to a weird problem. How was a little bank in Chicago wrapped up in this mess? Turns out, Manafort played on his desire for power and/or service.

I like simple and elegant solutions.

STUDENTS PROTEST AROUND THE NATION

All across the nations, students left class today to protest against the inaction of our leadership in this country.

They’re taking the lead. I like it.

These children grew up in a world after 9/11, where the U.S. has been at war their whole lives. They grew up on Harry Potter and Hunger Games and Marvel movies believing that one person can make a difference, and now they’re facing down the inept government.

They are an entire generation of Potter’s and Everdeen’s. They are not going away.

EX-WORKERS AT IRA SAY MUELLER INDICTMENTS ARE TRUE

Multiple Russians have gone on the record describing the size and scope of the Internet Research Agency, and the accuracy of Mueller’s indictments.

They are spot on.

It’s almost like someone had high level intelligence and access to the IRA.

KEITH SCHILLER PAID $15K PER MONTH FROM GOP SLUSH FUND

Trump’s former body guard Keith Schiller is getting paid $15k a month by the GOP as a “Security Consultant” for the 2020 campaign.

That’s $180,000 a year.

Keith has been by Trump’s side since the 1990’s, and has often been the one to do Trump’s dirty work, like organizing hookers, threatening litigants, or harassing journalists.

Keith was involved in James Comey’s firing, personally delivering the termination letter to his office in D.C. Of course, Comey was visiting the L.A. field office. Rumor has it that Schiller tried to take Comey’s office computer.

DEVIN NUNES ASKED RUSSIAN BOTS TO HELP MAKE AN ARTICLE DISCREDITING THE RUSSIA INVESTIGATION ‘GO VIRAL’

I covered this before, but Dipshit Cowpoke Devin Nunes actively engaged trolls and bots to push the #Releasethememo hashtag on Twitter.

This doesn’t look good for the head of the House Intelligence Committee.

He’s one of the few people in the world who should have known the scope and extent of Russian activity on Twitter. The Intelligence Community has been on this for a while. Yet, he still engaged with them.

I can only think of three explanations. Either he didn’t know the extent of their activities, he ignored the information, or he was counting on their actions. None of them look good for a member of the GOP Leadership Committee.

RUMOR MILL: THE GREAT BOT PURGE OF FEBRUARY 2018

A funny thing happened on Twitter over the last 24 hours. They decided to purge another set of users that were associated with specific Russian IP addresses which were traced back to Russian Bot and Troll activity.

Alright, real quick about IP addresses…

An IP address, or Internet Protocol address, is a numeric value that corresponds to a specific internet connection. Each and every device on the internet uses them to connect to each other. It makes up the backbone of how the internet works. It’s how you can make a request on a laptop in your house to a website halfway across the world, and have it end up on your laptop, and not your neighbor’s computer.

We generally use IPv4, which uses a format of xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx, where the numbers range from 0-255. Those are the values that a byte can produce. 256 values, or 2^8th power, for each group (called an octet), and four octets.

One thing with IP’s is that they’re region specific. IP’s in the United States start with 10. Asia in the 110’s, Latin America in 180’s. Russia’s in the 80’s and 90’s. These IP addresses are easy to find and trace.

What Twitter did was trace back a large number of troll accounts to a specific set of IP’s, and blocked them.

5,000 accounts and IP’s were blocked. They were controlling millions of bots. Those bots make up a lot of followers for people like Trump or the Alt-Right. Many members of the GOP lost thousands, if not millions of followers.

I only lost 4 followers this time. Most of the robots following me are good old ‘Merican Porn Bots.

Of course, that means I might be on their radar. If anything, I’m a tiny blip. Still, we are in an information war, and information is power.

That’s it for today. I do have a correction to make, though I’m not sure if I said it here.

Alex Vad Der Zwaan pleaded guilty yesterday, and I assumed that he was cooperating with Mueller. According to the court transcripts, he did not enter into a cooperating agreement. That doesn’t he’s not giving them information, but he’s either not doing it willingly, or there is no formal agreement. He could also be keeping quiet.

At some point in the last 24 hours, I said he was cooperating. My bad.

Thank you, and have a good one.

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 02/20/2018

Tuesday February 20th, and a little of what happened over President’s Day weekend.

RICK GATES TO PLEAD GUILTY, COOPERATE WITH MUELLER

This has been covered a few times over the past week or two, but this, combined with the next two stories, is confirmation that Rick Gates flipped like a gymnast. Or one of those snowboarders.

Part of his plea deal is that he has to tell Mueller EVERYTHING.

MANAFORT TO HAVE BAIL REVOKED, NEW BANK FRAUD INDICTMENTS ADDED

One of the things that it looks like Gates told Mueller was about his boss, Paul Manafort.

Manafort is being investigated for even more money laundering, bank fraud, mortgage fraud, and tax evasion.

It looks like Gates gave Mueller proof that Manafort used doctored balance sheets from some of his companies to acquire a mortgage for his home in Fairfax, VA. It’s the same house he put up for bail.

Uh oh.

ALEX VAN DER ZWAAN TO PLEAD GUILTY TO LYING TO THE FBI

Alex Van Der Zwaan, a Dutch lawyer who formerly worked with Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. Up until a few weeks ago, Alex was Rick Gates’s attorney. Alex was busted for lying about a conversation he had with Rick Gates and “Person A” about a Ukrainian case he worked on a few years ago about trying to whitewash corruption. Alex said it didn’t happen, then deleted the emails and a recording of the phone conversation. Alex is highly motivated to cooperate, as his wife is pregnant. His father-in-law is German Khan, founder of Alfa Group/Alfa Bank.

So, let’s break that down.

First, Mueller got Gates to turn on his lawyer. That’s just straight up gansta.

Next, Alex was a lawyer for Skadden, a blue chip law firm that is normally very cautious about who they take on as a client, but worked with Paul Manafort on preparing a report to justify the prosecution and jailing of Yulia Tymoshenko. Tymoshenko was the Prime Minister in Ukraine who ran against Viktor Yanukovich, who was Paul Manafort’s client. This ties back to Ukraine.

Alfa Group has retained Skadden for a few years, and it appears that Alex Van Der Zwaan worked on their account. Another employee of Skadden was Andrea Manafort Shand. If that name looks familiar, it’s Paul’s daughter.

Finally, we have a direct connection to Alfa Bank. Remember the weird network connections between a server in Alfa Bank and Trump Tower? No, okay, quick recap…

Tea Pain broke down the connections a while back but the short, short version is there was a server in Trump Tower that only communicated with two other IP Addresses. Those IP’s are associated with a server at Spectrum Health (a health care company owned by the DeVos family) and a server located in Alfa Bank. Here’s a copy of the network traffic between the Alfa Server and Trump Tower server. Reddit user /u/RyanClinton2017 put together a sobering timeline

The Mayflower hotel meeting was held on April 27, 2016.

The first traffic seen between Alfa and Trump servers was seen on May 6, 2016.

It started out low and slow, see graph here.

The first uptick of traffic is seen on June 2, 2016, the very next day Goldstein sends an email to Don Jr. about Russians having dirt on Hillary.

On June 9, 2016 Don Jr, Manafort and Kushner meet with the Russians at Trump Tower.

On June 10, 2016 another uptick as seen in the graph.

On June 18, 2016 Spectrum joins in and traffic increases and continues to increase through the election.

Now that we’ve built that back up, let’s talk about Alex. Alex is a newlywed to Eva Khan, daughter of German Khan. He’s the founder of Alfa Group/Alfa Bank, and is mentioned on page 25 of The Steele Dossier. He’s very close to Putin, and may be one of the few Oligarchs that can call on more power than Putin.

So, not only is Alex Van Der Zwaan the son-in-law of German Khan (pronounced Herman), but Alex is also the father of his grandchild.

Eva is pregnant, and Alex doesn’t want to miss his child’s birth in prison. The only way he doesn’t miss that is by cooperating, and he can deliver the Skadden law firm, more of Manafort’s associates, the Americans that helped Alfa Group, and possibly even German Khan himself.

STUDENTS TAKING THE LEAD IN FIGHT FOR GUN CONTROL

This is what we need. The next generation grabbing this subject and taking their leadership to task.

March For Our Lives is scheduled for March 24th.

NETENYAHU: AIDE TRIED TO BRIBE JUDGES WIFE, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR TO TESTIFY AGAINST HIM

Benjamin “Bibi” Netenyahu, the embattled Israeli Prime Minister, is not having a good month.

Good.

Bibi was one of the corrupt politicians that benefited from the scourge of vice and corruption around the world that used the Trump’s and Kushner’s, among others, to launder their money. Bibi looked the other way as Israelis broke the law all over the world.

He might be the first world leader to go down, but he won’t be the last.

PENNSYLVANIA GETS A NEW CONGRESSIONAL MAP

Here’s the new map.

NewPA

Compare it to the old map.

OldPA

There’s a special election in March for Tim Murphy’s old district. It’s the middle-red one in the bottom left corner.

BANNON SOLD STAKE IN CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA WHILE IN WHITE HOUSE

Not that this is any surprise, but his ethics finding showed that he didn’t sell his ownership stake in CA until April. This also proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Steve Bannon had his hands in Cambridge Analytica.

DONNIE JR., A TRIP TO INDIA, AND OPEN CORRUPTION

Donnie Jr. is visiting India, and is looking to make “deals” while over there. He’s selling “access” to himself and the White House, as well as apartments.

I’m not sure what I’m more upset about, his brazen lack of decorum to at least hide his corruption, or his blatant stupidity.

MUELLER COMING FOR KUSHNER

Anyone who’s been reading this site for a while knows that Mueller’s coming for Kushner. He’s had Kushner in his sights for a long time, and has him dead to rights on everything from perjury to espionage. We’re left with two big questions.

When, and what for first?

The “when” will likely happen before the Summer begins, if not much sooner. I think he’ll be the first family member indicted. It’ll send a powerful message that Mueller’s coming for the family, while at the same time giving the Redcaps a chance to say “He’s not a Trump, he’s a Kushner.” An hour later, Donnie Jr. will be indicted.

What for first is a good question. There’s a lot that Mueller can tag him for, but as long as Trump’s in the White House, he has to tread carefully at first. I’m not worried about Trump trying to pardon Kushner, so much as expecting him to try, and figuring that Mueller gameplanned for that contingency. But the first crime should be big enough to establish that he’s a criminal, but not directly tied to Russia.

If I had to put money on it, he will be indicted for Obstruction of Justice.

RUMOR MILL: WHO IS PERSON A?

in or about September 2016, he spoke with both Gates and Person A regarding the Report, and surreptitiously recorded the calls

There’s a couple theories floating around who Person A is from Alex’s indictment.

The first, and most obvious, is Paul Manafort.

The next is a known intermediary representing Manafort, possibly his daughter.

The third is a Ukrainian national. While that could be anyone unknown at this point, one name I heard floating around is Konstantin Kilimnik. Konstantin was Manafort’s man in Kiev, and has a background in Russian Intelligence.

There are few people who know. Mueller, Gates, Van Der Zwaan, and whomever Person A is. They know who they are, and other people know.

Not only that, but Mueller knows who they are, and sure as hell has that recording. They caught Alex trying to delete that recording AFTER they interviewed him in November 2017. Damn straight he was under surveillance.

That’s it for today. Things are shaping up quick with Russia. I did not talk about Trump’s tweets, because they are almost always distraction. But, since he spewed a bunch of shit on Twitter, here’s a very brief recap…

He attacked everyone from the FBI to Mueller to Adam Schiff to the kids in Parkland, but not once did Trump attack Putin or Russia. If he wasn’t a Russian Agent, it would seem weird AF.

Expect things to speed up from here on out on the indictment front. There are at least three cooperating witnesses, if not more. George Papadopoulos, Mike Flynn, Richard Pinedo, and Alex Van Der Zwaan have all pleaded guilty so far, with Rick Gates on deck. Each and every one of their deals depend on them helping Mueller, or facing VERY long prison terms. They stay out of jail by flipping on bigger fish. Pretty soon, we’ll be dining on swordfish.

Thank you, and have a good one.

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur