Indictment Eve

I’m writing this on Sunday, October 29th, 2017, at around 8pm EST.

On a Sunday Night.

Normally, on Sunday Night, I would write about one of the hundred or so ideas I’ve got on the list, like about the red herring of voter fraud or life in the echo chamber, but tonight is different.

On Friday, just as I was wrapping up the Daily Check-In 10/27/2017, news came that indictments were coming in from Mueller’s team, and could be executed as early as Monday.

That’s tomorrow.

Tonight is the night before indictments could be served. Indictment Eve.

Quick refresher: an indictment is when a Grand Jury returns a recommendation that there is probable cause that a crime was committed. This recommendation is then given to the prosecutor of the case, usually a District Attorney or Assistant DA, and they’ll coordinate either with Law Enforcement to arrest the target of the indictment, or work with the target themselves to broker a deal, like a plea bargain or become a witness in a larger crime.

There are indictments, as a direct result of the Russian Investigation.

But what’s going to happen? Let me run through a few ideas, about what I think will happen, what won’t happen, and why things are about to get really fucking weird.

OPTION 1: NOTHING HAPPENS TOMORROW

I don’t think this will actually be the case, but I’ve gotten used to disappointment in my life. When my hopes get raised, they have a bad habit of getting crushed.

I’m afraid that this could be a repeat of the Dan Rather Disinformation Op that ended his career at CBS. He had a sure-fire story about how George W. Bush abused the system to avoid going to combat in Vietnam, but it turned out that the story he ran with was a fake. That fake killed any and all chances of anyone else reporting on W’s Vietnam history, even though there was a legit story there.

OPTION 2: ONE OR TWO KNOWN NAMES GET TAGGED

There’s been talk for months about Paul Manafort being indicted, and Mike Flynn was the first name to get everything going with his Turkish and Russian connections. Roger Stone completely lost his shit on Twitter this weekend, resulting in a ban, and Carter Page is the Sheldon Cooper of treason.

In a traditional investigation, arrests would be made of the small fish, and they would be turned to get the bigger fish. While those names are some pretty big fish, they are bass. Mueller wants a whale.

OPTION 3: TRICKLE-DOWN INDICTMENTS

Notice what I said in that last paragraph, “In a traditional investigation.” This is nowhere near traditional. There is a good chance that Donald Trump will try to pardon those around him, try to pardon himself, and fire the team bringing the indictments.

One way to prevent those from happening is to indict Donald Trump right off the bat for Obstruction of Justice. Multiple indictments can be unsealed at different times, but there’s more than enough evidence, just from Open Source Intelligence (OSINT, think the press and what can be Googled), to bring Obstruction charges against him.

Doing this would not only tie his tiny little hands on using pardons, and give Congress a reason to bring Impeachment charges immediately, but any actions taken to fire Mueller would be immediately seen as criminal.

OPTION 4: THE FLOODGATES OPEN

Louise Mensch has a great write-up on many of the actors involved, and what they’re being investigated for. And that’s not even a complete list of all the rumors, whispers, and stories that have floated around that I’ve seen over the last several months. That’s not including staff members who are in hot water like Hope Hicks, Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, or Wilbur Ross, or half the cabinet members who are up to their necks in their own scandals.

Serving indictments to the President, VP, SecState, SecTreasury, Speaker of the House, Senate Majority Leader, two White House staffers that are children of the President, and several staffers and support personnel at once would be completely unprecedented.

Then again, so is a person winning the Presidency with the help of the Russians.

THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND

If anyone takes any unexpected trips or travels this week, Like Jared Kushner taking an unannounced trip to Saudi Arabia, should have an eye kept on it. Might be nothing, but then again, it’s Indictment Eve. The night of the year when emergency trips are made, passports are frozen, and warrants for arrest are made to people leaving their families behind.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there is an early morning raid on Monday. This whole investigation has looked like a crime family going down, not like a bunch of bank executives going down for embezzlement. @lauferlaw and @Alt_Spicerlies brought this idea up a few moments ago, and the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Scooter Libby didn’t get a perp walk, and most of the people arrested in Watergate were given the chance to turn themselves in. I doubt that same courtesy will be given to most of the members from Team Trump.

Also, here’s my weirdest prediction for this whole affair. Someone, I’m not sure but I’m thinking Carter Page or one of Pence’s staffers, will pull an will pull an R. Budd Dwyer at a press conference, and it won’t even be the craziest thing that happens that day.

Don’t be surprised if this whole thing spreads across all of Washington. People all over the place are going down. 2017 has been pretty fucking weird so far, and the people I mentioned above inferred that others might be implicated that we never heard of, especially some Democrats in power.

Finally, expect Trump to try to fire Mueller in some kind of Hail Mary move to save his ass. And it expect it to fail. There are two ways he can try this. The first would be to fire Jeff Sessions as Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein as Deputy Attorney General, Dana Boente, and all the way down to Rachel Brand, or further if she won’t fire Mueller. The second way would be to fire Jeff Sessions, and immediately try naming a current member of the Cabinet to replace him, bypassing the Senate confirmation process. I highlighted that here in Lateral Movement, but I don’t think it would work. Any chance that Trump has of even trying this end around has to be done before the indictments are served. Any actions taken after Monday Morning will likely be interpreted as criminal.

This is a nation of laws, not of men, or wealth, or personality. Laws and Justice. There’s a phrase that I heard a while back, Fiat Justitia Ruat Caellum. It’s Latin for “Let Justice Be Done, Though the Heavens Fall.”

Sounds like someone’s yelling “TIMBER!”

Good night, sleep tight. Take a deep breath, things are about to get really fucking weird.

Keeping Hope Alive

Sometimes, this gets difficult. Really freaking difficult.

Not just the writing, or the research. Not keeping track of all of the things that happened each day.

The hardest thing is keeping hope.

All around us, on the news, on Facebook and Twitter, is nothing but negativity.

Hatred, violence, bigotry, misogyny.

That’s not even counting the incompetence, paranoia, and fear emanating from politics.

The fear that this country, our society, our civilization, might be coming to an end.

But, there is hope.

Everyday, people are out and about doing good deeds, whether or not they’re seen.

More people are speaking out against the hatred and bigotry than ever before.

People are finally bringing truth to power, forcing corruption from it’s safe spaces in the shadows, into the light. Corruption cannot exist in the light.

Dozens of Neo-Nazis show up to a rally, only to be met by THOUSANDS who say NO MORE! NOT HERE! NOT ANYWHERE!

More people are getting involved than ever before to raise their voices against corruption and greed.

And then, there are those in the shadows fighting shadows.

They’re crawling through the muck and the grime to bring those dirty secrets to light. Secrets of grift, corruption, vice, and avarice. Every dirty little secret, they make it their mission to make sure the world knows.

And they make sure that these secrets get out for everyone to see. Whether through their own efforts, or the efforts of journalists, they tell the story.

But it’s not just the bad news that these warriors release. They release good news, too.

They tell people how far along investigations are, who’s being looked at, and who’s in a big world of hurt.

Most of them will never be known. Sometimes, years later, they’re known, but not often. Most of them have too much at risk to tell the world what they did. Even if they are known, they’ll deny it.

These are some of the people I think about when I’m low on hope and optimism. The people risking themselves in this information war, to bring down a corrupt administration, and let justice prevail.

Fiat Justitia Raut Caellum. Let justice be done, though the heavens fall.

This is not a country of political parties, or personalities, or of men, or wealth. This is a nation of laws. Nobody is above the law. Sometimes as Americans, we need to relearn this lesson from time to time.

Winston Churchill once said “Americans will always do the right thing. They’ll just do everything else first.” I honestly believe that. We will do right, we will fix this, and then we will take steps to prevent this from happening again.

That’s what helps drive me, what helps me to keep hope. Because we’re Americans. We’re not going to let this fall apart. We do a lot of stupid shit, but we also can be brilliant at the same time. Sometimes, at the exact same thing.

We’ll get through this. Of that, I can be optimistic.

Obstruction of Justice

Welcome back to Crime Time, where I do my best to explain the various crimes involved in the Russian Investigation.

Today’s crime is a bit nebulous, a little vague as to what it covers, but has quite a bite.

Obstruction of Justice

QUICK OVERVIEW

Obstruction of justice is the impedance of an investigation, or other criminal matter, usually by someone who isn’t directly under investigation at the time.

In English, that means screwing with the cops, lawyers, or judges.

Obstruction of Justice is often tacked on to other charges like bribery, witness tampering, or destruction of evidence.

EXAMPLES

Let’s say Tony, a mafia boss, finds out that his lieutenant Mike is under investigation for running an illegal casino out of his house. If Mike gets busted, not only does Tony lose a revenue source, but he could get implicated as well.

Tony decides to call in a favor owed to him by a local politician. Tony gets the politician to get the District Attorney to not prosecute the case against Mike. Just to be on the safe side, Tony gets Mike to destroy some evidence that could implicate him, and also puts some pressure on a few witnesses.

Tony did quite a few illegal things, but they all fall under Obstruction of Justice.

PENALTIES

Depending on the jurisdiction, jail time and fines. If the person was in a position of public trust, they’ll get removed from that.

FAMOUS EXAMPLE

Richard M. Nixon. When he gave the go-ahead for his staff to cover up the Watergate break-in, Nixon committed Obstruction of Justice.

WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH TRUMP?

On multiple occasions, Trump has attempted to kill the Russian Investigation. He has fired attorneys looking into it, he hired an Attorney General specifically to keep it from getting to him, and has tampered with witnesses and press statements regarding the investigation.

Oh, and he fired the Director of the FBI, gave a false reason for it on paper, then said he did it because of the “Russian thing”, and bragged about it the next day to the Russian Ambassador.

Drip, Drip, Drip

This article is a little change of pace from the normal daily posts, and jumps into the realm of speculation. I’m going to answer a question I’ve seen on Reddit and Twitter several times since this whole mess started.

“If it’s as bad as they’ve said it is, and the spooks knew, why are we just getting a piece or two at a time?”

The first part refers to the theft, espionage, and treason committed by Donald Trump, his staff, campaign, and the Republican Party.

Spooks in that sentence refers to spies, like the CIA, NSA, MI6, FVEY, and every other country in the world.

The last part is about the steady pulse of information and stories coming out about the investigation, like a faucet dripping.

To answer this question, I’d like to War Game out what I think could have happened had we gotten the whole story at once.

For this exercise, just like in Geometry class, we need to state our assumptions.

ASSUMPTIONS

At least 70% of the rumors are true. Trump, his staff, family, and Campaign committed election fraud, espionage, and treason with the Russians reporting to Vladimir Putin.
The Right Wing Media, including Fox News, Breitbart, Daily Caller, snd InfoWars, knowingly spread propaganda originating from Russia.
Russian money was laundered to the Republican National Committee, and that the leaders of the Party assisted in those matters.
Social Media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit not only let Russians use their platforms to spread propaganda and influence the election, but those platforms profited from it.
Intelligence organizations the world wide knew all of the above.
All of the events up to the election are the same.
All events in this War Game are based off of a quick strike hypothesis, in which the Obama government moves fast after the election.
Following Murphy’s Law, several things go wrong. Horrifically wrong, and at the worst time.

WAR GAME TIMELINE

November 8, 2016

Election Day. Even though Donald Trump loses the popular vote by more than 3 million votes, he squeezes out a minuscule margin in three key states to win enough presumptive votes in the electoral college to become the assumed President-Elect.

November 9, 2016

While the MSM starts asking what went wrong, President Obama meets with the National Security Council. They know what they know, and have three choices. They can either act swiftly to stop Trump from becoming President, let jurisprudence take its toll, or let our allies handle Trump.

This is where the War Game diverges from the regular timeline. In this War Game, Obama chooses to remove the Trump threat immediately. Operation: Bystro (fast in Russian) is authorized. Donald Trump will be arrested right away, along with his family members, staff members, Vice President-Elect Mike Pence, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, Jason Chaffetz, several Russians involved that live in the United States, and several people at Fox News like Sean Hannity and Rupert Murdoch, as well as people at Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Breitbart, and other websites. On top of these arrests, several media outlets would close to control panic and the narrative.

It’s decided that since most of the principals will be in Washington the next day, the move will be made when Trump visits the White House.

Several people question the timing of implementing this plan so quickly. If one piece of the operation misses the window, then there could be a disaster.

Still, the administration presses on with Operation: Bystro.

November 10

Trump meets with Obama in the White House. Everything seems like normal, until senior FBI officials walk into the meeting, joined by the head of the Secret Service. The SS Agents are confused as the FBI officials make their way to Trump and arrest him for a whole slew of charges, including espionage.

Across town, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell are picked up from a meeting they were attending. Jeff Sessions is arrested at his office.

In New York, Don Jr. and Eric are in Trump Tower with their families. Paul Manafort is downstairs in his suite.

A ruckus is raised outside as a squad of FBI agents roll up to the building.

Across town, the Fox News HQ is about to get some unexpected visitors.

The plan has kicked off, and not even a half hour in, the first SNAFU occurs. One of Rudy Giuliani’s moles finds out about the plan and informs Rudy, right before being rounded up. Rudy calls a producer at Fox News just minutes before the FBI gets there and breaks the story that Donald Trump has been arrested, and that the rest of the family, and his staff, are wanted. Rudy hops in his car and leaves his place, moments before the G-Men get there.

As Fox News is breaking this story, they go dark. In mid-sentence, they go dark.

Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit are visited by FBI Agents in San Francisco. Their presence is tweeted and retweeted millions of times that day. The three biggest social media sites start acting a little wonky, then go silent.

The White House announces that they will hold a press briefing at 15:00 EST, followed that evening by a national address by President Obama.

Jared and Ivanka are airborne at the time, but they’re alerted to these developments by Rudy. They instruct the pilot to get out of American air space as quickly as possible. The pilot complies.

Mike Flynn and his son are also arrested in New York.

The next disaster of the day occurs at Don Jr.’s arrest. One of his bodyguards opens fire on the FBI agents, and is killed.

Carter Page, thinking he’s some kind of hero, greets the agents coming to arrest him with a shotgun. One agent is hurt, but not killed. Carter is killed in response.

At 15:00, the White House releases a statement, saying that neither the President nor President-Elect will be available for a press statement, and that President Obama will address the nation that night.

As this is going on, a lone reporter from the Washington Post gets a shot of Donald Trump and some of his cronies being escorted into the back of a van, and he’s wearing handcuffs.

Rudy Giuliani is stopped at a traffic stop a trying to get out of New York City. As the NYPD stops him, the FBI show up to apprehend him. This turns into a stand-off between the two law enforcement agencies. A minor scuffle breaks out between them, until senior officers from both sides show up to calm everyone down. They reach an agreement. Rudy will be allowed to be taken home, but he will be under house arrest until the morning, when he’ll be taken out of town.

Jared and Ivanka’s plane deviates from its flight path, and heads for the Caribbean. Air traffic controllers are confused by this move. Eventually, someone from the USIC informs them that the plane is full of fugitives. F-16’s are scrambled from Florida to intercept, but the plane is already within Cuban air space.

In the evening, news of Trump’s arrest hits the news, along with everything going on at Fox News, Facebook, and Twitter. Several people are seen leaving Fox News HQ under arrest, including Sean Hannity.

At night, President Obama addresses the nation. He announces that Donald Trump had been arrested for election fraud, money laundering, RICO, and espionage. He also goes on to indicate that the Russian Government had helped Trump steal the election, and that while they were still investigating whether actual votes were changed, he does admit that voting rolls were hacked, which caused millions of voters to be denied the right to vote. The nation is an in unprecedented constitutional crisis, but America will prevail.

MID-NOVEMBER

The country is dazed as, over the next couple weeks, more and more information comes out about the depths Donald Trump sunk to in order to win the presidency.

The government is shaken, as many members of the House and Senate were arrested for accepting campaign funds from Russia.

Right Wing Media doesn’t know how to react. On the one hand, Trump committed treason. On the other hand, screw Obama and Clinton. Many of the websites, like Breitbart and InfoWars, lose their hosting, but soon come back with Russian domains.

Twitter and Facebook return to semi-normal operations. Fox News remains off the air, as their role in spreading propaganda comes to light.

Alex Jones dies in a standoff with police executing an arrest warrant. After shooting at the police and killing two officers, he eventually takes his own life via shotgun haircut.

LATE NOVEMBER TO MID DECEMBER

Tensions are running high. Protests on both sides get ugly across the country. Violence occurs at one rally in Minneapolis, where Trump supporters attacked HRC supporters that were protesting a recent attack on a mosque. At least once a week, there’s an attack from one side or the other.

Jared and Ivanka show up on Breitbart Russia. They talk about being harassed on the run, and of their heroic escape from Cuba to El Salvador to China to Russia. This is completely made up, but Trump’s supporters eat it up with a spoon. They call on “true patriots to do what must be done.”

DECEMBER 19, 2016

The Electoral College, after being given a classified briefing on the election, vote in favor of Hilary Clinton to become the 45th President of the United States of America. She wins in considerable fashion, pulling in over 350 votes. Out of the remainder, about 40 of them still voted for Donald Trump, 100 abstained, and the rest split between John Kasich, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz. Tim Kaine becomes the Vice President.

LATE DECEMBER TO EARLY JANUARY

Tensions continue to rise throughout the country. Small bands of Trump supporters take up the call to “do what must be done.” Fringe groups on the right and left join together to take a stand against government tyranny.

JANUARY 3, 2017

In the most bizarre Congressional session in history, the Senate convenes and refuses to certify the previous election or the Electoral College counts. This standoff ends with a compromise. HRC will name several key members of the Republican Party to her cabinet, as well as offer amnesty to low-level Republican members of Congress that didn’t knowingly accept money from Russia or aid Trump, in exchange for certifying the election results. Clinton and Obama agree.

JANUARY 20, 2017

Hilary Clinton is sworn in as POTUS. Throughout the day, riots break out across the country. Protests and counter-protests turn violent.

From Russia, the cries for violence and revenge grow louder.

LATE JANUARY TO FEBRUARY

The first series of coordinated attacks takes place in Portland, OR, as white supremacists attack several mosques, temples, and synagogues in a 72 hour period. Similar attacks occur in South Carolina, Alabama, and Pennsylvania.

MARCH 6, 2017

Following repeated calls from Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump through Russian sponsored Breitbart, an assassination attempt is made on HRC. She escapes injured, but lives. The assassin was a male follower of the Alt-Right.

APRIL TO JUNE

The first trials begin in the espionage saga of United States vs Trump. Many staffers turn state evidence to implicate their bosses.

Michael Flynn is found guilty of espionage and sentenced to death.

Paul Manafort is found guilty of many crimes, and is sentenced to a very long stay in Federal prison, pending extradition to Ukraine.

Steve Bannon kills himself in prison awaiting trial.

JUNE 15, 2017

Another assassination attempt is made at Hilary Clinton, but this time she’s not so lucky. She was shot by a young woman who at first was a supporter of Bernie Sanders, but eventually joined Team Trump. This woman will turn out to be a Russian agent provocateur. HRC is shot three times, and spends two weeks in a coma. Tim Kaine becomes the Acting President.

JUNE 30, 2017

HRC is pulled off of life support and dies. Tim Kaine is sworn in as the 46th President of the United States.

SUMMER 2017

Nothing happens in the Congress as half of the House is in legal limbo, awaiting trial for election fraud and campaign finance violations. The Senate is in shambles as well.

Violence spreads across the country, with organized paramilitary groups openly taking part in armed attacks against government officials and buildings. The worst of these attacks takes place in Idaho, where the Governor called in the State Militia to try to keep the peace. It turned into a massacre as State Militia, US Military, and Armed Civilians attacked each other in Boise.

Evidence comes to light that Russia was behind not only Clinton’s assassination, but also the attacks in Boise and elsewhere. Relations with Russia reach an all-time low.

Tim Kaine, in an attempt at trying to heal wounds, nominates Lindsay Graham of South Carolina to be his Vice President.

By the end of Summer, there are an average of 30 Americans killed per week in acts of domestic terrorism. That number only increases as pressure on Russia increases and Trump’s trial gets closer.

CONCLUSION

If we were given all of the information at once, and if the authorities had acted at once, we would be in the middle of a civil war right now.

Some Americans could handle the truth, some of us were paying attention as this unfolded, but most people couldn’t handle it.

Had this unfolded, we’d call it a coup if it took place anywhere else. And rightly so.

This is why we’re getting all of this one piece at a time, like Johnny Cash’s Cadillac.

Thank you, and have a good one.