Tag: Crime

Daily Check-In 04/13/2018

Friday, April 13th.  Bad day to be a Knights Templar.

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION:  COHEN WAS IN PRAGUE, ROSENSTEIN AT PEACE, COHEN UNDER SURVEILLANCE FOR MONTHS, TRUMP CALLED COHEN BEFORE HEARING

Mueller’s team had a busy day.  First, let’s recap what we know…

Mueller interviewed Boente, and Trump’s backing out.  But Mueller doesn’t need

Remember in the Steele Dossier when Michael Cohen went to Prague, or somewhere in Central Europe?  Mueller has proof that Cohen was there.  This directly ties Michael Cohen, the personal lawyer for the President of the United States, to a mission from before the election in which he was acting on orders from Trump to coordinate treasonous activities with a rogue hostile state in Russia.

Robert Mueller has the receipts.  Literally.

Of course, no matter what happens, as soon as the Steele Dossier is mentioned, people ask “what about the pee pee tape?” Wait for it.  While it’s flying around the Twitterverse, we’ll probably see it after Cohen realizes how ultimately fucked he truly is.

The 12-page  document, which appears to have been signed by Broidy, outlines his role as providing “political advocacy” on behalf of a now sanctioned Russian bank, VTB.

The deal was  apparently  dated June 12, 2014, just weeks before VTB Bank was blacklisted by the United States and European Union as a key Kremlin asset following Russia’s invasion of Crimea. Russian President Vladimir Putin is guest of honour at VTB Bank’s investor conference every year.

The document raises serious questions about whether Broidy is in breach of the US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), a law that has gained prominence following the investigation of special counsel Robert Mueller into foreign meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his aide Rick Gates have both been charged as a result of their work in Ukraine.

What is it with all of these high level Republicans stewarding Russian assets?

Elliot Broidy, first introduced on Daily Check-In 03/05/2018, was knee-deep in Thailand and the Middle East, joins Paul Manafort as “People Ukraine want to put in the stretching rack.”

He’s dirty AF, but don’t worry, his day gets worse.  Much worse.  Check out the GOP section for how he’s fucked.

Pun Jar total is $14.  You’ll see why.

 

Comey’s press tour begins, and the attacks against him have begun

Comey writes that Obama sat alone with him in the Oval Office in late November and told him I picked you to be FBI director because of your integrity and your ability. I want you to know that nothing — nothing — has happened in the last year to change my view.”

On the verge of tears, Comey told Obama, “Boy, were those words I needed to hear . . . . I’m just trying to do the right thing.”

“I know,” Obama said. “I know.”

Comey’s book will take a lot of the focus next week, and rightly so.  Expect some weird shit.

 

Cohen’s New York Shit List

Interesting thing about the hearing was that a lawyer hired by Trump on Wednesday night was at this hearing.  There was no mention that I saw of other clients’ sending an attorney to the hearing to fight for protecting the attorney-client privilege.

Oh, and Cohen set up a hush money payment?  I’ll have more details below in the GOP section.

Rosenstein

Ever work a job where you know you’re getting fired?  Eventually, a calmness overtakes you.  No matter what you do, you know you’re gone, so you might as well do what you need to do, and pull the Halide switch on the way out.

How are they going to make the case to fire him?  Leave it to Dipshit Cowpoke Devin Nunes (House Intelligence), Bob Goodlatte (House Judiciary), and Trey Gowdy (House Ethics).

IMG_6002

So, while the President is under investigation, the heads of the three largest committees in the House, two of which have announced their retirements, are demanding evidence from an ongoing criminal investigation in which at least one of the three is a known accomplice to the target subject of said investigation?

That’s how they plan on getting rid of Rosenstein.  He can either hand over evidence to the committee heads who will give that shit immediately to Trump, or ignore it and watch as they hold him in Contempt of Congress, then Trump uses that as an excuse to fire him.

But, in the few minutes since I typed those paragraphs, I realized something…Trump is calling the shots, and he’s not aware of what Rosenstein knows.  He thinks that all they have is Comey’s memo’s, because that’s all he hears.  He wants the memos so he can attack Comey with his own notes, but Trump doesn’t realize that Mueller and Rosenstein have a fuckton of evidence against Trump, not just the memos.  So, giving them the memos might not be terrible.  Bad, but not case-destroying.

Besides, Nunes is an idiot.  He’s setting himself up for an indictment of Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice.  Not that he hasn’t sealed that shit before, but Rosenstein can use this as a trap.  He gives them the information they ask for, but not the actual info. He gives them a canary in the coal mine.  Nunes takes this, gives it to Trump, and ipso facto, proof that Nunes et al obstructed justice.

Or, Rosenstein could drop some indictments on Monday.  Especially against some Russian hackers and their American coconspirators.

 

Trump’s Anger

News flash, overgrown toddler has temper tantrum.

 

Ready to act

Be ready, and stay frosty.

 

COLD WAR 2.0:  AIR STRIKES IN SYRIA, THE PROXY WAR HEATS UP

Like I said on Daily Check-In 04/09/2018, we have a Wag the Dog scenario.  However, France and Britain also took part in the strikes as well.  Let’s see if these attacks are one-off’s, or if this is the beginning of a war.

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

Sources familiar with the situation told the Wall Street Journal that the White House has been urging Trump’s allies to lash out at Rosenstein, so that if Trump moves to fire him it won’t look like an effort to interfere in the Russia investigation.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is what we call a criminal conspiracy.  No if’s, ands, or but’s about it.

 

CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA AND FACEBOOK

 

SCOOTER LIBBY PARDONED

 

GOP:  THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

Michael Cohen is one of the Deputy Finance Chairs of the Republican National Committee.  His shit was raided and seized by the FBI on Monday.  One of the things they found evidence of was Cohen setting up a hush money payment between a Playboy Model and Elliot Broidy.  Cohen facilitated a payment late last year between Broidy, a 60 year old married man, and a model that he knocked up and urged to get an abortion.  She was paid $1.6 million in quarterly payments over 2 years, starting last December.

Elliot Broidy resigned earlier today, but there are three things that make this a big story in my mind.

  1. The FBI was on this for months, and knew about this a long time ago.
  2. The fact that the Right Wing isn’t tearing their hair out about this man paying for an abortion screams of hypocrisy. The “Pro-Life Party” is suddenly silent.
  3. If the FBI was on this for months, there’s a very good chance that the money either came from, or at least passed through, the Republican Party.  That is a severe violation of probably a half a dozen campaign finance laws, money laundering, wire fraud, and bank fraud at least.

 

RNC Finance Committee Members:

  • Steve Wynn – Chair – Resigns amid sexual assault allegations
  • Michael Cohen – Deputy Chair – Under criminal investigation for bank fraud, wire fraud and campaign finance violations
  • Elliot  Broidy -Deputy Chair – Resigns for paying $1.6M to a playboy bunny to cover up an affair and under criminal investigation in Ukraine for financial crimes

 

BLUE WAVE

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

 

#NEVERAGAIN

Too bad, I really liked the local hardware store that Ace bought out and franchised a few years ago.

SAY GOODBYE TO THE ECONOMY

 

RED STATE TEACHER STRIKES

 

CLIMATE CH..CH..CH..CHANGES

 

STORMYWATCH, FROM THE STORMCENTER 6000 METEOROPORNOLOGICAL CENTER

 

CAN WE GET BACK TO POLITICS?

 

RUMOR MILL

 

That’s it for today.  There was so much shit, I need to do a quick breakdown…

Mueller has proof that Michael Cohen was in Prague, directly on orders from Trump, to work with the Russians.

Michael Cohen organized a payoff between Elliot Broidy, who’s now under investigation in Ukraine for his ties to a Russian bank under sanctions, and a Playboy model he impregnated and urged to get an abortion.  The likelihood that this money came from the RNC is pretty damn high.

The FBI Investigation into Michael Cohen was separate from Robert Mueller’s work, but they are cooperating with each other.

Trump pardoned Scooter Libby as a “fuck you” to James Comey, whose book comes out next week.

Rosenstein knows he’s probably getting fired, and has a plan, as do thousands if not millions of Americans.

Trump is coordinating with Fox News and other Right Wing Media to create a message to push for Mueller’s and Rosenstein’s firings.

The United States, Great Britain, and France launched an air strike against Assad-held positions in Syria that are points of their chemical weapons infrastructure.

Climate change is fucking our shit up.

Kids keep finding guns school bathrooms because people are stupid.

Trump can’t win a trade war with China because a trade war is a stupid idea.

Instead, he’ll try to start a real one to distract from how much of a criminal scumbag he is.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

 

Unfinished Business

Last week on Daily Check-In 03/12/2018, the Republicans of the House Intelligence Committee ended their investigation into the Russian Interference in the 2016 election, saying that they found “no evidence of collusion” between the Russians and Donald Trump’s campaign.

The Democrats on the committed called Bullshit.

On Tuesday, Daily Check-In 03/13/2018, the Democrats on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), a.k.a. the House Intelligence Committee, released a 21 page memo describing everything the Republicans either refused to investigate, actively interfered with, or purposely stonewalled.  While in any normal universe, this would be front page news for a week and a half, it wasn’t even in the top 10 stories of the week.  Fuck, it wouldn’t even qualify as Top 5 of the weekend.

As I promised multiple times this week, here’s a breakdown of the Status of the Russian Investigation.

 

BREAKDOWN

  • Appendix A:  Lines of inquiry that the Republicans shot down.
  • Appendix B:  A list of more than 30 key witnesses that they didn’t interview
  • Appendix C:  More than 20 entities that they haven’t request information from yet.
  • Appendix D:  More than 15 people and entities that blew off the committee in one way, shape, or form.

 

APPENDIX A: UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

The Democrats feel there are unanswered questions concerning the following areas that the Republicans either wouldn’t follow up on, or refused to dig into.

  • Hacking and dissemination of campaign emails.
  • Campaign knowledge of the hack.
  • Russia’s intermediaries.
  • Elections security.
  • Social media campaign.
  • Financial leverage.
  • Money laundering and foreign payments.
  • Post-election efforts and Obstruction of Justice.

 

APPENDIX B: KEY WITNESSES THE MAJORITY REFUSED TO INTERVIEW

Here’s a list of witness that the Republicans on the HPSCI flat out refused to interview.

  • Reince Preibus, Former RNC Head and White House Chief of Staff.
  • Stephen Miller, Speechwriter and Policy Advisor, likely knew about the June 9 meeting.
  • Kathleen (KT) McFarland, Member of the Trump Transition Team and Flynn’s Deputy National Security Advisor.  She was the go-between for the Transition Team and Mike Flynn when Flynn was on the phone with Sergei Kislyak.
  • Sean Spicer, Former White House Press Secretary.
  • Kellyanne Conway, White House Communications Advisor.  Worked with Peter Smith on his attempts to get HRC’s emails.
  • Tera Dahl, Diplomatic Outreach Coordinator.  What did she know about Page and Papadopoulos?
  • Daniel Scavino, Jr., Trump’s Social Media Director.
  • Joseph “Keith” Kellogg Jr., National Security Council and original member of the Trump Foreign Policy Team, along with Page and Papadopoulos.
  • Joseph E. Schmitz, member of the Trump Foreign Policy Team.
  • Sam Nunberg, former member of the Trump Campaign, student of Steve Bannon and Roger Stone.  Recently testified before Mueller’s grand jury.
  • George Nader, adviser to the Emirati Crown Prince and Erik Prince.  Recently became a cooperating witness.
  • Marshall Billingsea, member of the Trump Transition Team who expressed worries about Flynn’s Russian contacts.
  • Federal Bureau of Investigations staffers, past and present.
  • Dimitri Simes, CEO of Center for the National Interest, the Conservative Think Tank that hosted the Mayflower Meeting.
  • Clea Mitchell, former attorney for the NRA.  Introduced in Daily Check-In 03/15/2018.
  • Maria Butina, Alexaner Torshin’s protegé, started the Russian group “Right to Bear Arms”.
  • Johnny Yenason, member of RtBA, worked with Maria Butina and Alexander Torhsin.
  • Sergei Millian, Check Out Daily Check-In 11/17/2017 for his background.  He was supposedly a source in the Steele Dossier and was a Russian contact with George Papadopoulos back in April 2016.
  • Natalia Veselnitskaya, Russian Attorney and Spy from the June 9 Trump Tower Meeting.
  • Roman Beniaminov, was at the June 9 meeting.
  • Bijan Kian, worked with Flynn Intel Group and Turkey.  Daily Check-In 11/22/2017 has a link to him being a person of interest for Robert Mueller.
  • Simona Mangiante, George Papadopoulos’s wife.  She claims to know what he was up to.
  • John Szobocsan, worked with Peter Smith.
  • Allen Garten, counsel for Trump Organization who likely knows abut the June 9 meeting.
  • Alan Weisselberg, CFO of Trump Organization.
  • Mark Corallo, former White House Counsel, quit over the cover-up of the June 9 meeting.
  • Duetsche Bank, Trump’s ATM and chosen bank for Russians looking to launder money to the west.
  • Trump Campaign Digital Operation, like Avi Berkowitz and Theresa Hong.
  • Cambridge Analytica, including Rebekha Mercer, Alex Taylar, and Julian Wheatland.
  • Darren Blanton, worked with Steve Bannon.
  • Jon Iadonisi, did social media work for the Trump Campaign, as well work for Flynn and Turkey.
  • Aaron Nevins, blogger who messaged Guccifer 2.0 (Russian Government Hackers) and received stolen mails from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
  • National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS).
  • CrowdStrike, specifically the two employees who supported the DNC and interfaced with the FBI.

 

APPENDIX C:  DOCUMENT REQUESTS

The following entities have documents that the Democrats would like to see, but the Republicans declined to ask for.

  • Duetsche Bank
  • General Services Administration (GSA)
  • Snapchat
  • Imgur
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google
  • Kushner Companies and Observer Media
  • Bayrock Group
  • Estate of Peter Smith
  • KLS Research, LLC
  • Colt Ventures
  • VizSense Inc. and White Canvas Group
  • Russian-American Chamber of Commerce in the USA
  • DMP International LLC
  • Cendyn
  • Bridges LLC
  • Right to Bear Arms
  • Center for Political Affairs
  • Ritz Carlton
  • Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
  • ACU Strategic Partners

 

APPENDIX D:  COMPULSORY PROCESS

The following people and/or entities pulled everything from telling the HPSCI to fuck off to declining to work with them.  The Democrats want to force them to cooperate, which is well within their power.  The Republicans didn’t feel like it.

  • Donald Trump, Jr.
  • Michael Cohen
  • Jared Kushner
  • Corey Lewandowski
  • Stephen Bannon
  • Hope Hicks
  • Jeff Sessions
  • Erik Prince
  • Randolph “Randy” Credico.  Daily Check-In 12/13/2017 has Roger Stone outing him as his go-between with Julian Assange.
  • Lee Stranahan.  Employed by Sputnik.
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Apple
  • White House
  • Phone and other communications records.

 

CONCLUSION

Assuming the contents of this letter are true, then the Republican decision to end the investigation into an attack on the United States is either the grossest act of partisan in modern history, a coordinated effort with the White House to end the investigation prematurely, an act of sabotage to protect themselves from from uncovering uncomfortable truths, or all of the above.

Not only does this letter tell us what the Democrats wanted to investigate, but also what they will likely investigate if and when they come to power in the House.  The kind of obstruction at play here only lasts as long as the Republicans stay in power.  The Democrats would restart these investigations within 48 hours of obtaining a majority in the House.

Yet another reason to vote this November.

Daily Check-In 03/15/2018

Thursday, March 15th.  Beware the Ides of March.

 

MUELLER SUBPOENAS TRUMP ORGANIZATION, DEMANDING DOCUMENTS ABOUT RUSSIA

Yesterday, there was talk about Trump trying to pull an end-around to fire Special Counselor Robert Mueller.  Today, this was leaked to the press.

WASHINGTON — The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has subpoenaed the Trump Organization to turn over documents, including some related to Russia, according to two people briefed on the matter. The order is the first known time that the special counsel demanded documents directly related to President Trump’s businesses, bringing the investigation closer to the president.

The breadth of the subpoena was not clear, nor was it clear why Mr. Mueller issued it instead of simply asking for the documents from the company, an umbrella organization that oversees Mr. Trump’s business ventures. In the subpoena, delivered in recent weeks, Mr. Mueller ordered the Trump Organization to hand over all documents related to Russia and other topics he is investigating, the people said.

The subpoena is the latest indication that the investigation, which Mr. Trump’s lawyers once regularly assured him would be completed by now, will drag on for at least several more months. Word of the subpoena comes as Mr. Mueller appears to be broadening his investigation to examine the role foreign money may have played in funding Mr. Trump’s political activities. In recent weeks, Mr. Mueller’s investigators have questioned witnesses, including an adviser to the United Arab Emirates, about the flow of Emirati money into the United States.

Here’s a few reasons why Mueller decided go ahead with a subpoena against Trump Organization.

  • Trump has a history of destroying documents and evidence.  Just look at Daily Check-In 02/27/2018 with their behavior in Panama for recent evidence.
  • Mueller already has this information from Duetsche Bank, like from Daily Check-In 01/19/2018.
  • Mueller’s looking for what they don’t hand over, or what they change.
  • Mueller’s telling the country, “We coming.”
  • Mueller is telling Trump “You want to fire me?  I fucking dare you.”

The New York Times reports that this was served within the past few weeks.  If that’s the case, looking back at a tweet from February 27th, Trump’s “WITCH HUNT!” seemed a little weird, but there was chatter about something happening that day. Daily Check-In 02/27/2018 has a screenshot of the tweet in question.  Look for the Chessmaster Gary Kasparov.

At the time, I wasn’t sure what caused it, but chatter was that something had spooked Trump.  Claude’s tweet about Rick Gates delivering Trump seemed to just hang out there, but that with this story makes perfect sense.

Let me paint the picture…

Rick Gates has his Queen for a Day interview, and tells Mueller’s team everything he knows.  And I mean EVERYTHING.  Rick Gates knows how Trump Org works, how they work, who they work with, what they did, and when things happened.  Rick was the go-between for Paul Manafort and Donald Trump after Manafort left.  Rick Gates also worked with the Paul’s ties in Russia, Roger Stone’s connections, and Trump’s family.  Rick Gates gives Robert Mueller Trump on a silver platter.

Rick’s information corroborates information that Mueller already has on hand, but provides enough probable cause to go after Trump Org for specific documents.  Mueller’s team takes this and they serve Trump’s business with a subpoena.

Likely not the first one, either.  A few months back, Daily Check-In 8/16/2017 and Daily Check-In 8/15/2017, I reported about a rumor from Pesach Pace about Mueller serving Trump with two subpoenas.  This was before I tracked every story with a source or a screenshot, and Pace was new to me as a source.

This time it’s different.  Rick Gates delivered Donald Trump’s head on a silver platter.  Any attempts now made by Trump to get out of this just make it more painful for him.

 

U.S., FRANCE AND GERMANY JOIN BRITAIN, SAY RUSSIA LIKELY RESPONSIBLE FOR EX-SPY’S POISONING , TREASURY DEPARTMENT LEVIES SANCTIONS AGAINST INDICTED RUSSIANS , RUSSIAN HACKERS ATTACKING U.S. POWER GRID AND AVIATION, FBI WARNS

I’m lumping all three of these big stories together as one, because they are one.

They tell the story about how the NATO-RUSSO war starts.  Years from now, we’ll ask “How did the war between the West and Russia start?” and we’ll point to this week as a possible starting point.  I would say it started with the rise of Putin in 1999, or Putin’s seizure of Hermitage Capital’s assets which led to Bill Browder’s tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky’s ultimate demise, or the 2014 invasion of Crimea, or the 2016 Presidential Election.  But those will be the precursor events, like the Treaty of Versailles, the Beer Hall Rebellion, or Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement of Hitler were precursors of World War 2.

Russia’s attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter on British soil with a chemical weapon of mass destruction feels like the straw that broke the camel’s back.  Great Britain, France, and even the feckless United States with Trump as President are repudiating the Russians.  France is joining the sanctions against Russia.  Australia will announce something soon.

The scariest part of all of this was an announcement from the Department of Homeland Security with proof that the Russians have penetrated critical infrastructure systems like the water system, power grid, and nuclear power plants, in the United States and Europe.

These actions are an Act of War.

The United States will be slow to react, as we’re dealing with removing the Russian Agents from our government.  We’ll be late to the party, but we’ll be there.

 

McMASTER TO BE REMOVED AS NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER

This story is hitting the rounds.  Trump’s having another one of his tantrums and wants to do what he wants, but the adults in the room are stopping him for now.

If McMaster does leave, it will be through a promotion appointment to General.  That’s 4-star General, or O-10, per The Federal Pay website.  It’s the highest rank available in peacetime.  The salary is $15,583/month, or $186,996/year.

The reason for this is that they want to prove that not everyone’s reputation is destroyed for having worked in the White House.

This move might get delayed due to it leaking out, but it’s likely to happen before too long.

 

TRUMP CABINET MEMBERS ACCUSED OF LIVING LARGE AT TAXPAYER EXPENSE

Out of the Cabinet Members, it’s easier to say who isn’t under investigation for or accused of abusing their position.  Here’s all of the Cabinet-Level people from the original list that aren’t either thieves, crooks, liars, bigots, or morally corrupted, that I know of.

  • Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis
  • Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Purdue

That’s it.  Maybe we could include Alex Azar from HHS, but he’s not an original choice.

Everyone else is Dirty AF.  Even when including Cabinet-Level positions, I can only add a handful of names, and even those are more “haven’t heard anything YET” than they’re clean as a whistle.

 

KIDS WHO WALKED OUT SEE THEIR GENERATION AS THE ONE ‘GETTING THINGS DONE’ ON THE GUN DEBATE

I grew up in the Pre-Columbine world.  School shootings happened, but they were few and far between, and either occurred because some crazy kid got his hands on daddy’s hunting rifle, or some little gang-banger brought a handgun to school to settle a score.  I didn’t have to deal with lockdown drills, or metal detectors in school, or armed guards patrolling the hallways looking for some menial violation to report to justify their existence.

So, when I saw the #walkupnotout hashtag and meme, I damn near lost my shit.

This meme is an attempt to blame students for being shot at, by saying that the shooters are doing this because they were bullied so bad, they had no other choice but to murder their classmates, and if only those kids had listened to them, they’d be alive today.

Not only does this mentality completely ignore that Parkland, Sandy Hook, and many other schools were shot up by non-students, but the logic they use is nothing more than victim blaming.

You know, like blaming a rape victim for dressing too provocatively or nor accepting the advances of the creepy guy at the bar who wouldn’t leave them alone.  Oh, if only she went on a date with the creepy guy, he wouldn’t have raped her.

This meme is like blaming the shopkeeper for getting shot by thug who din’t get hired to be the cashier because they can’t count.

Besides, this meme completely avoids talking about guns, because admitting that guns are the problem scares them.

The children are taking the lead because their parents, their politicians, failed them.  We failed to protect them.  Now, we’re trying to blame them for our failures.

We’re telling our children that not only are we not going to do anything to protect them, but that it’s their fault that they’re being killed because they weren’t nice enough to their fellow students, as though walking up to and hugging someone with an AR-15 in the middle of a shooting is the smart thing to do.

The children are taking the lead because we failed them.  There’s still time to make it right.

 

STORMY WATCH, FROM THE STORMCENTER 6000 METEOROPORNOLOGICAL CENTER

 

PA-18: LAMB, SACCONE TO RUN IN DIFFERENT DISTRICTS THIS FALL

It’s all over but the crying.  Conor Lamb has basically won, but it sounds like the NRCC is trying for a recount.

Recount Request

PA law doesn’t have automatic recounts for congressional districts, and a request for a recount requires at least three voters who experienced some difficulties from voting to file a lawsuit.  The NRCC is going on a fishing expedition.

As far as this fall for the midterms, with the redistricting, both Lamb and Saccone will be in different districts.  PA-18 will be Pittsburgh and Southern Allegheny County, which will likely be left to Mike Doyle.  Lamb will run in PA-17, which is Beaver County and the rest of Allegheny County.  Rick Saccone will run for the new PA-14, which is Greene, Fayette, Washington, and most of Westmoreland counties.

 

FORMER NRA LAWYER EXPOSED CONCERNS OF RUSSIAN CONNECTIONS

Cleta Mitchell is listed in the Minority Status Report that I’ll talk about over the weekend.

Cleta Mitchell: Ms. Mitchell, a partner at the law firm Foley & Lardner LLP, conducted work for the National Rifle Association (NRA) and may be able to clarify for the Committee any Russian-related approaches to and interaction with the organization and persons of interest to the Committee during the 2016 election.

 

SPEED ROUND!

2 “Good Guys” with Guns Accidentally Fired them in Schools on Tuesday

Trump’s lawyer in Mueller probe, John Dowd, cited for Trump campaign contribution above the legal max

Could California Effectively Restore Net Neutrality for the Entire Country?

Trump boasted to donors about making up facts during talks with Trudeau: report

Ex-GOP lawmaker: It ‘sucks’ Trump doesn’t care that Russia attacked us

Senate passes rollback of Dodd-Frank banking rules put in place after 2008 financial crisis

Barron Trump’s school signs open letter asking his dad to act on gun violence, oppose arming teachers

US diplomats confused, told not to tweet or post on Tillerson’s firing

Trump, Who Talks About Executing Drug Dealers, Vouched For Two of Them He asked a judge to show mercy to the boss of a group smuggling cocaine into middle America who Trump deemed ‘a credit to the community.’

Possible Russian trolls try to register for Texas Democratic convention

Eryn Gilchrist Is Challenging The Maine Republican Who Insulted Emma González

George Nader convicted of pedophilia in Prague

HOUSE DEMOCRATS SAY A WHISTLEBLOWER HAS PROOF STATE DEPT. IS TARGETING CAREER EMPLOYEES WHO DON’T SUPPORT PRESIDENT TRUMP

Ukrainian activists being censored by Facebook through Russian Trolls

 

RUMOR MILL:  DONNIE JR. GETTING DIVORCED AND THE THREE GENERALS

Vanessa Trump is divorcing Donald Trump, Jr.  Rumor has it that she found out he was fucking a bunch of Russian hookers.  Another rumor says that they’re trying to use this as a method of moving assets to avoid having them seized.  Last one is that she’s getting out while the getting’s good.

One last thing about McMaster.  He’s one of the Three Generals that Trump surrounded himself with due to his fetish with power.  The Three Generals, meanwhile, are loyal to the Republic, not Trump.

McMaster, Kelly, and Mattis.  They’ve put up with the unbearable to protect this country and to keep Trump at bay.  When they leave, it’s end game.  I don’t know what that entails exactly, but the three of them don’t leave their positions until Trump is out.  Hell, I’ve made the case a few times before about how Mattis could even become President.  I am not a fan of a General becoming President, especially without an election.  But, if it’s a stewardship role, where he serves for the remainder of the term while we as a country unfuck ourselves from the Russian mess, I’d be open to see how he does.

 

That’s it for today.  I’ve got a feeling that Friday is going to be nuts.  I wouldn’t be surprised if some indictments are unsealed tomorrow.  If that happens, I’d expect that to happen by 11AM EST.  Which means, of course, 5:59 PM EST will see a fuckton of activity.

Such is life.

Thank you, and a have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 03/09/2018

Friday, March 9th.

 

NUNBERG ARRIVES BEFORE GRAND JURY, QUESTIONED FOR MORE THAN 6 HOURS

Sam Nunberg testified before the Special Counselor’s Grand Jury today for more than 6 hours.  Unlike Monday, he appeared sober, calm, and not the least bit insane.

The more I think about Sam, the more I think his little outbursts were an attempt to send a message.  What that message is, and who the recipient was is up for debate.

6 hours.  That’s a lot of questions to answer.

 

GEORGE NADER AND DISMISSED CHILD PORN CHARGES FROM 1985

Back in 1985, George was busted coming in to the country with “inappropriate pictures of naked boys” from one of his trips to the Middle East.  His house was searched, but the search warrant’s language was too vague, and evidence acquired during the raid was disallowed in his trial.

I don’t know how this is going to play into the whole mess.  Trump’s team might try to use this to attack George’s character, but if that’s the case, how does that explain a decades worth of contact?

Andrew Laufer (@lauferlaw) said to keep an eye on this, as this will come back up.  He’s one of the lawyers I follow on Twitter, and was digging into the Jane Doe Lawsuit I briefly mentioned on Daily Check-In 10/16/2017.  I’ll go into more details about that when that comes back around.

 

TRUMP INVITED PUTIN TO MISS UNIVERSE 2013 PAGEANT WITH HANDWRITTEN LETTER

Bobby Three Sticks has a letter that Trump wrote a postscript to Putin, damn near begging him to show up to the pageant.

How in the Crystal Pepsi Flavored Fuck did Robert Mueller get his hands on this letter?

This went from Trump’s team to Putin’s team.  There’s a VERY short list of people who would have access to that.  Figure that maybe they made a copy of the original and kept it on file somewhere, only a handful of people would know where it was and where to look.  There is the possibility that they have a scanned copy, since Trump is a luddite.  That’s the most likely explanation.

This letter establishes a pattern of behavior and motive to work with Putin.  It was the first public overture from Trump to Putin.

One last thing I find weird about this is the postscript says that Trump looks forward to seeing the “beautiful” women.  I might be reading a little too much into this (I know, I know, I’m writing a blog about conspiracy theories, but still) but I think this was Trump’s attempt not only at making sure that Putin would come, but also making sure that Trump’s desires for women would be met.  Putin saw this, and decided to supply Trump with what he asked for…women.  Okay, women might be a little generous since the rumors were that they were VERY young looking.  The Steele Dossier mentions Trump’s use of the sex industry in St. Petersburg and Moscow, as well as several items of sexual kompromat, including the Golden Shower tape that allegedly was created after the Miss Universe Pageant.

I’m wondering if Putin took this letter, and decided to use it, and Trump, to his advantage.

 

TRUMP’S LAWYERS TO PROPOSE ALLOWING INTERVIEW IN EXCHANGE FOR END TO INVESTIGATION

I highly doubt that Mueller would ever accept that, but if he did, I’d laugh my ass off if he finished the interview with the words “I promised to finish the investigation phase of your client.  I’m done with the investigating phase, now I begin the prosecuting phase.  Mr. President, we are indicting you on the following charges….” and then Mueller unrolls an old scroll that’s 90 feet long, and a staffer is writing new charges on the last few feet while Robert’s reading it.

 

TRUMP MET MARIA BUTINA WEEKS AFTER STARTING CAMPAIGN, TALKED ABOUT REMOVING RUSSIAN SANCTIONS

Maria Butina is Alexander Torshin’s protege, and was at a campaign rally where she asked Trump about “damaging” U.S. sanctions on Russia.  After rambling for a minute or two, he said he’d get rid of them, because he’s friends with Putin.

Here’s the YouTube clip.

 

TRUMP ONCE AGAIN CONTEMPLATING A ‘FULL RESET’

He’s tried to reset more times than an old Nintendo.  So far he’s removed the staff, tapped on it, blew on it, and slapped it.  What he should try to is hold it by his tiny little hands until it catches, then slam it down and start playing.

 

SCOPE OF INVESTIGATION AND CRIMINALITY GREATER THAN JUST RUSSIA

It still comes back to Russia, but let’s not forget China, Israel, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.  They’re his playmates in TreasonFest.

 

STORMY WATCH

From the WaPo story:

Common Cause‘s Paul Ryan (himself a former lawyer with the Campaign Legal Center) noted on Twitter that the use of Trump Organization resources likely violates 11 CFR 114.2(f). That reads, with our added emphasis:

“Corporations and labor organizations (including officers, directors or other representatives acting as agents of corporations and labor organizations) are prohibited from facilitating the making of contributions to candidates or political committees, other than to the separate segregated funds of the corporations and labor organizations. Facilitation means using corporate or labor organization resources or facilities to engage in fundraising activities in connection with any federal election …”

“The use of the Trump Organization email is evidence that Cohen’s services were, at least in part, being paid for by the Trump Organization,” Noble said in an email. “That would be an illegal corporate contribution to the campaign even if the company did not pay the $130,000.”

Michael Cohen has got to be one of the worst lawyers alive.  At least, not in the respectable sense of the word.   He’s like the Dollar Store version of Saul Goodman; he does the illegal shit that his clients shouldn’t do.

Also, in that ABC article, it says that Rosen is the lawyer in this case for BOTH Cohen and Trump.  If Cohen acted on his own, how can the lawyer represent them both in this case?  The only way this ends without hurting Trump is if Cohen gets run over, and that would be a major ethics problem for his lawyer.

 

FLORIDA GOVERNOR SIGNS NEW GUN LAW

This raises the age of long rifle purchases in Florida to 21, adds a 3 day waiting period, and allows for some teachers and school employees to conceal carry.

It took about 20 minutes for the NRA to file a lawsuit against this law.  I haven’t read their lawsuit, but I’d put $20 down that they’re not suing to keep teachers from carrying guns.

 

EXCERPT FROM NEW BOOK ‘RUSSIAN ROULETTE’ SHOWS SOME OF HOW OBAMA AND STAFF REACTED

This book comes out on Tuesday.  Looks like it’s getting added to the Audible queue.

 

ALMOST 200 BRITISH ARMED FORCES CONVERGE ON SKRIPAL’S WIFE, SON GRAVE SITES

Sergei’s son’s death is now being treated as suspicious. Possibly a homicide.

 

JOHN SCHINDLER WITH BACKGROUND ON SKRIPAL AND OTHER RUSSIAN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS IN THE WEST

This isn’t the first time that Russians have assassinated people on foreign soil, and unfortunately it won’t be the last time.

 

WHAT A COINKIDINK… TRUMP AND PUTIN USE SAME TALKING POINTS ABOUT RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE

Gee, could it be because Putin’s writing them for Trump?

 

REPUBLICANS PREPARE FOR POSSIBLE LOSS IN LAMB-SACCONE RACE

This is a beautiful thing.

PA-18 is so heavily gerrymandered to support Republican voters, the Democrats didn’t even run against Tim Murphy the last couple elections.  Trump won this district by 20 points.  In a normal time, this wouldn’t even be a contest.

In 2018, things are different.  Not only are people sick and tired of Trump’s crap and the sniveling nature of the sycophants that call themselves the Republican Party, but the times are changing.

The fact that Conor Lamb is doing as well as he is, and that the Republicans have funneled so much money in to the district is already a moral victory for Lamb.  But if he can pull off an actual win, it should be an interesting election season.

 

COUNTRY STARS STARTING TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST TRUMP

When Country Music is catching up, shit’s about to get real.

Country Music is a very conservative form of music, playing to a very conservative crowd.  I’m not going to get into a debate about the merits of different types of country music, or different artists, or that modern country is just catching up to pop music from the 1990’s, or that Stadium Country is Mad Libs sung by men who have never worked a day in their life.

 

SPEED ROUND!

REDDIT STILL HOSTS AND LINKS TO RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA

REDDIT FINANCIAL TIES CONNECT COMPANY INVESTORS TO TRUMP ALLIES

JOHN ASHCROFT REGISTERS AS FOREIGN AGENT FOR QATAR

KUSHNER TIES TO MOJAVE WATER PROJECT GO THROUGH APOLLO MANAGEMENT

 SENATOR WARREN GOING AFTER HIS LOAN CONNECTIONS

$139,000 FOR SOME FUCKING DOORS?!

FED CHAIR SAYS STUDENT LOAN DEBT SHOULD BE DISCHARGEABLE THROUGH BANKRUPTCY

FCC COMMISIONER BROKE LAWS BY ENDORSING TRUMP

FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO PANAMA ON WHY HE COULD NO LONGER SERVE DONALD TRUMP

5 ILLEGAL VOTERS…OUT OF 1.3 MILLION

IDAHO NOT ALLOWED TO SELL BAD HEALTH INSURANCE PLANS

PHARMA BRO GETS 7 YEARS IN PRISON FOR FRAUD

 

RUMOR MILL:  CLAUDE GETS DDOS’ed

Claude Taylor’s Political Action Committee MadDogPac, is under attack by the NRA.  They’ve been battling each other the last few days, but now someone **cough**NRA friendly hackers**cough** have DDoS’ed his website, MadDogPac.com.  The store’s still up for now.

MadDogPacDDoSed

 

That’s it for today.  It’s going to be a busy weekend for me IRL, but hopefully I’ll get a story or two done on Sunday.  One thing I’ve been thinking about is filling out some of the descriptions in the Rumor Mill. Either that, or talk about Three Stooges Syndrome.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur