Tag: Politics

Daily Check-In 12/19/2018

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

Deripaska Sanctions

From Mnuchin’s Treasury Dept letter to lift sanctions on Deripaska’s firms. Note here who is taking over his En+: 1) VTB Bank. The sanctioned Russian bank for Ukraine conspiracy, linked to Trump Tower Moscow financing. 2) Glencore. The co-buyer, along with Qatar, of Rosneft.

2/ No, I’m not making this up, Trump’s Treasury is trolling us by approving of Deripaska’s assets going to VTB and Glencore. The sanctioned VTB Bank was supposed to finance Trump Tower Moscow. “Sater emailed Cohen that VTB Bank would fund the project.”

Trump Tower Moscow, and Michael Cohen’s lies about it, explained Everything you need to know about Trump’s efforts to do business in Russia. vox.com       

3/ And Glencore? Seriously? Glencore is being investigated for money laundering, and has been doing big business with Deripaska for years:

Glencore hit with US subpoena over alleged money laundering Shares in world’s biggest mining firm fall as it faces potential investigation theguardian.com       

4/ And yes, it’s that Glencore, the Swiss energy firm based on the Isle of Jersey, the deregulated Cayman Islands of Europe, that teamed up with Qatar to buy Rosneft from Russia in Dec. 2016, consistent with Steele Dossier:

Russia/Qatar/Trump Timeline I have produced a Google Doc timeline, based on publicly available reports and documents, of the alleged bribery scheme between Russia and Trump associat… shugerblog.com          

 

Syria Withdrawl

“It is premature for the President to declare a sweeping victory against ISIS when, just a few weeks ago, our military led more than 250 coalition-conducted airstrikes against targets in Iraq and Syria.  All Americans should be concerned that this hasty announcement was made on the day after sentencing in criminal proceedings began against the President’s former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, who admitted that he was a registered foreign agent for a country with clear interests in the Syrian conflict.

“We must also ask why the President did not make this decision in the context of advancing peace negotiations.  The deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Syria remains a stain on the conscience of the world.  Syrian families caught in the middle of this conflict continue to endure heartbreaking horrors every day.

“When we take the gavel, our Democratic Majority will uphold the Congress’ constitutional oversight responsibilities to ensure that the President’s decisions advance our national security interests, not his personal or political objectives.  The American people deserve a smart, strong and strategic Syria policy that keeps America safe, protects our interests and advances peace in the region.”

A day after a judge asks prosecutors whether or not Michael Flynn committed treason, Donald Trump’s administration pulls two crazy stunts that independently make no sense but when combined point to one outcome.

Trump is compromised and working for Russia.

Pulling out of Syria in a hurry only benefits one party: Putin’s Russia.  It creates chaos among our allies, strengthens our enemies, and leaves the region in chaos.

As far as removing sanctions on Rusal and Deripaska…

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!!

This mother fucker is intimately tied into an attack on America, and instead of punishing him, his companies, his family, and everyone who’s ever looked at him, we’re letting him do business in this country?

Oleg should be on the receiving end of asset forfeiture procedures and a loooooooooooong prison sentence, not getting allowed back into the American business world.

 

As I mentioned yesterday, the letter of intent helps illustrate how deep Trump is involved personally.  (Daily Check-In 12/18/2018)  This letter surfacing showing that he intended to work with VTB, who is part of the Rusal Shell Game mentioned above, only paints the picture to the world that Trump knew and the Russians have him in their pocket.

The Trump campaign funneled money to ad buyers alleged to have facilitated illegal coordination between the campaign and the NRA by routing funds through a secretive LLC that appears to be little more than a shell company, an investigation by the Center for Responsive Politics has found.

While the Trump campaign stopped reporting payments to ad buyers alleged to have facilitated illegal coordination between the campaign and the NRA after the 2016 election cycle, Trump’s 2020 campaign has continued to deploy the same individuals working for the firms at the center of the controversy through payments to Harris Sikes Media LLC — a low-profile limited-liability company operating with no website or public-facing facade whatsoever.

Facing the illegal coordination allegations are National Media, Red Eagle Media Group and American Media & Advocacy Group (AMAG), closely tied consultancies that share staff, resources and adjacent storefronts in Alexandria, Va.

CRP’s analysis of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) records found that Trump campaign political ad disclosures on file with stations across the country have continued to include signatures and names of individuals working for National Media, despite no mention of National Media or its known affiliates on any FCC or Federal Election Commission (FEC) disclosures. Those individual ad buyers’ names have simultaneously continued to be included in ad documents for the National Rifle Association (NRA) and America First, but with the ad buyers’ affiliation listed as National Media or one of its affiliates.

Jesus fucking Christ on a cracker, could the corruption be any more blatant?  We talked about this two weeks ago on Daily Check-In 12/06/2018.  Now, it looks like the Trump 2020 campaign is doing the EXACT SAME ILLEGAL SHIT WITH THE EXACT SAME PEOPLE.

This pisses me off.  I could use some good news.

 

There’s some good news.  And this puts Devin Nunes in a losing position.

If  the Intel Committee votes against releasing the testimony to Mueller now, it will only be along partisan lines, and will be reversed in a couple weeks when the Democrats take over the House.  If they vote for releasing the testimony, they draw the ire of the TrumpFox crowd.  Either way, Mueller will get his hands on that testimony, whether it be now or a couple weeks from now.

 

 

 

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a defamation lawsuit against BuzzFeed News over the publication of a dossier in January 2017 that alleged several years of links between Russia and then–president-elect Donald Trump.

A Cypriot businessman, Aleksej Gubarev, was named in the dossier, and his name wasn’t redacted in the version originally published by BuzzFeed. Gubarev sued shortly after the article came out, claiming he was defamed by having his name included.

US District Judge Ursula Ungaro in Florida found that BuzzFeed News was shieldedagainst defamation claims because the dossier was the subject of official proceedings — both Trump and then-president Barack Obama had been briefed on it, according to reporting at the time, and the FBI investigated allegations in the documents. The judge concluded that BuzzFeed News was protected by what’s known as the “fair report” privilege.

Ungaro also found that the BuzzFeed News article was “fair and true” because it just reproduced the dossier — it didn’t express any opinions about it.

 

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET A.K.A. INDIVIDUAL-1

 

TRAITOR TOTS

 

FIGHTING BACK

 

KHASHOGGI & SAUDI ARABIA

 

SCOTUS & COURTS

 

IMMIGRATION

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

TRADE WAR AND ECONOMY

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

 

PRIESTS & RELIGION

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

 

CONGRESS

 

ELECTIONS

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

 

RUMOR MILL

 

 

That’s it for Wednesday.  It’s a little light on the content.  I need at least one night a week with more than 4 hours of sleep to recharge.  I was completely exhausted from everything going on this time of year, and needed a few hours to recuperate.

Speaking of time off, this Holiday season I’m cutting down on the Daily posts next week.  I’ll make a post for this Friday and the weekend, but Monday through Wednesday will be in one post.  Depending on what happens, I might change that plan.  I would like to do some essays during that time if possible.  I have a few ideas floating around.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 12/18/2018

Tuesday, December 18, 2018

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

Trump Signed Moscow Project Letter

(CNN)A newly obtained document shows President Donald Trump signed a letter of intent to move forward with negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Russia, despite his attorney Rudy Giuliani claiming on Sunday the document was never signed.

CNN’s Chris Cuomo obtained a copy of the signed letter of intent that set the stage for negotiations for Trump condominiums, a hotel and commercial property in the heart of Moscow. The letter is dated October 28, 2015, and bears the President’s signature.

When asked on Sunday about the letter, Giuliani incorrectly told CNN’s Dana Bash that it had not been signed.

“It was a real estate project. There was a letter of intent to go forward, but no one signed it,” Giuliani told Bash.

The non-binding document is also signed by Andrey Rozov, owner of I.C. Expert Investment Co., the Russian firm that would have been responsible for developing the property.

This story came in late Tuesday, after everything else was planned for this post.  But this could be pretty damn big for one of two reasons.

First, if this is accurate, it shows that Trump is directly implicated in the cover-up of collusion and lying to the American people.

Second, if this isn’t accurate, it pretty much blows up CNN and their reporting from here on out.

I’m waiting for confirmation on either front, but I’m leaning towards the first.  CNN has broken a lot of stuff, and this is likely from Cohen’s team directly or some inside source at SDNY.

The funniest part about this is his signature is easily proven.  Trump writes with a Sharpie.  That’s like a pair of house robbers leaving a “calling card” of flooding the house.  Easy to trace and stupid as shit.

 

Flynn Sentencing

Now, here’s what should be the biggest story of the month, in any normal universe.  The former National Security Advisor to the President of the United States shows up for sentencing on a guilty plea. His lawyers ask for no jail time, the prosecutors ask for no jail time, and everything goes to shit.

After the stunt Flynn’s lawyers pulled last week with his “But I was entrapped” scheme (Daily Check-In 12/14/2018) and Mueller’s team releasing the sort-of-full 302 form (Daily Check-In 12/17/2018), the judge wasn’t hearing any of it.  Judge Sullivan tore Flynn a new asshole.  He laid into him like Flynn owed him money, then proceeded to ask the prosecutors what other crimes they were thought about charging him with.  Things went off the rails when the judge asked “Could he have been charged with treason?”

Damn, son.  Everyone in the courtroom was caught off guard, and more than a few people’s heartbeats spiked on that point.  One of them was Brandon Van Grack.  He hesitated, hemmed and hawed, then answered with a non-answer.  While nearly everyone is freaking out about the question, it’s the answer that made me lose my shit in a glorious, uproarious laughter.

Why?  Because lawyers are not allowed to lie in court, he didn’t have an answer for this question at the ready, and was trying to pull together an answer at the last second that tried to push this away.  He didn’t say yes, but he also didn’t say no. That is huge.

Mueller’s team won’t show their whole hand, but if they hadn’t discussed charging Flynn for treason, all they would have had to say was “No, your honor”, and leave it at that.  The judge would have asked another question, and that would be that.  But he didn’t deny it.  Van Grack can’t say yes without tipping off everyone that treason is on the menu, but he can’t lie, so he’s looking for a non-answer answer.

It’s sort of like this; Yesterday I gave an example of burying the lede in a story in which one spouse was accused of burning down their workplace.  Let’s say that couple is back, and the husband asks the wife questions like “Did you set the fire? Did the building burn? Was there anyone in there?” and as she’s expecting those answers, he asks her an unexpected question like “I mean, it’s not like your boss was running a drug smuggling operation out of the basement, right?” And the wife pauses because her boss was running drugs out of the basement, but no one outside of the office knew.  The husband stumbled on a completely unknown fact that changes EVERYTHING.

That’s what happened with Flynn.  After a short recess, and the judge basically telling Flynn that he was so pissed that he was going to send his ass to jail if he didn’t ask for an extension, Flynn asked for an extension.  They’ll be back on March 13th.

Also, the judge completely shredded Flynn’s argument like it was made of tissue paper.

 

Unknown vs Mueller

NEW: Remember that mystery grand jury subpoena case argued last week in the DC Circuit? A decision is out, and it’s public, sort of — it’s about a company (unnamed) owned by a country (unnamed). Court upheld the denial of a motion to quash the subpoena

There is *no* reference in today’s judgment to Mueller’s office. But there’s no reference at all to who is prosecuting this case, so we don’t have any new, concrete info on that front

One thing we learned is that the judge found the company in contempt for failing to comply with the grand jury subpoena, and imposed a daily $ penalty — the DC Circuit said that was okay, although how that gets enforced “is a separate question for a later day”

We’ve got new information on the secret case.  Turns out it wasn’t a person fighting a subpoena, but a company.  And said company argued that complying with this subpoena would violate the laws of their home country, which also owns the company.  The court said tough shit, pony up.

Instead of guessing who the person was, let’s guess the company.  Turns out, this is a lot harder than it sounds.

We’re dealing with a company owned by a country, and they’re involved in the Mueller Investigation.  The most obvious suspects are either Russian companies like Rosneft, Alfa Bank, or RT, or Qatari like the Qatar Investment Authority.  But if we’re casting a wide net, it could be any of a couple dozen companies from countries like Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iran, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Netherlands, Panama, Venezuela, Zaire, Thailand, and The Philippines.

It’s beyond fucked that that this hypercorrupt Rube Goldberg machine has so many moving parts that I’m having a hard time picking a continent, let alone a company.

 

Disinformation Campaign

It’s “uncanny” how Team Trump and Russia use the exact same methods, tools, messages, people, equipment, and bots.  Funny how that works.

 

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

Trump Foundation Go Bye-Bye!

The Trump Foundation is being forcibly dissolved by the state of New York, and it’s few assets are being disbursed.

Tell me again which candidate had the charity they used as a slush fund?

 

“Enquiring” Minds Want To Know

Most likely the criminal behavior includes taking foreign money, bribery, and other white collar fraud.  But, there’s a part of me that hopes that it’s REALLY nasty.  Like ******************** with a *************** while a ***************** and ****************.  That would be fucked up.

 

Incoming

I’ll talk about this a little in the Coda.

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET A.K.A. INDIVIDUAL-1

 

Shutdown

 

TRAITOR TOTS

 

 

 

Dershowitz

I just had a super interesting exchange with Alan Dershowitz via text messages. After calling his office today and letting his asst. know I had some research questions for him, he called my cell. He didn’t want to set a time to talk, so we went back and forth on texts. 1/

It should be noted that ANY time, Alan could have just blocked my number. For example, once asked him about his curious stance that “lying to the FBI is not in fact a crime,” he could’ve just said fuck off, blocked me, and that would’ve been it. That’s not what happened. 2/

When I asked him to defend his position that false statements to the FBI did not in fact violate Section 1001 of the US Code, he told me to read his OpEd in . I did. It answered little. I told him so. He asked me to Cute [sic] cases contradicting him. I named 5. 3/

He started, for some reason, attacking Hillary Clinton, and claimed the FBI can’t ask questions for the sole purpose of catching someone in a lie. I asked how he knew that was their sole purpose. He gave many answers, all of which amounted to “I just do.” 4/

I asked, even if his “gut” was correct (odd legal standard), wouldn’t an effort by a hostile power to compromise our National Security Advisor be an “extraordinary circumstance,” which he said would be an exception? I asked several more times. He never answered the question. 5/

Again, he attacked Clinton. He’s obsessed w her. He asked what I thought of the Clintons. I told him I thought Bill should’ve resigned (still do), and that if Hillz were caught knowingly lying to the FBI, she deserved what Flynn got. He simply pretended I didn’t say that. 6/

I then asked him if he was ever paid for anything by Trump. He took a LONG time to answer. He said he had never been paid by Trump. I said I hope that’s true, and admitted to being skeptical. Alan Dershowitz then called me a bigot – more specifically an anti-Semite. 7/

It was CLEAR from go that I had an agenda. At any point, he could’ve disengaged. He did not. IMHO, bc hubris. Yet, in light of news that wrote anti-FBI OpEds in w/o disclosing his work for Trump, when I asked if he did too, Alan told me I hate Jews. 8/

His defense of Making False Statements are not well founded, nor supported by case law. His proof they “entrapped” Flynn are based on his gut. EVEN IF his loophole were acceptable, he NEVER answered if an all-out effort to compromise the US NSA would be an exception. Why? 9/

I’m not a lawyer. I’m a college drop out. But Dershowitz did reply to more of my questions about all this, in one text exchange, than in all his TV appearances. And in doing so, Alan exposed a defensiveness that is, well, curious. , , … your move. Fin.

 

 

FIGHTING BACK

 

RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM

 

SCOTUS & COURTS

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

 

IMMIGRATION

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

I am obsessed with the ever-shifting conspiracy theory being created in real time to discredit the Mueller investigation, by Nunes, Meadows, K Strassel, Mollie Hemingway, et al. 1) What’s the theory called? (eg, “QAnon.”) 2) Who’s got a good rundown of the state of play?

Like all conspiracy theories, it:

A) Seeks evidence to prove an unshakeable point of faith (in this case, NO COLLUSION!)

B) Ignores/dismisses all contrary evidence

C) Makes ample use of “poisoned trees.” If one element can be discredited, then the whole thing is invalid.

D) If any contrary witness makes a minor mistake of fact or ethics, then anything from that person is discredited.

E) Anybody attacking the conspiracy theory is part of the conspiracy (Cabal of FBI/CIA/Dems/Liberal Media!)

F) Memory-holes any prior claims if discredited

I have been fascinated by conspiracy theories since researching/writing a play about Holocaust denial, which is a prime example of all the above. The irony here is that these conspiracy theories are protecting an actual conspiracy.

As if in answer to my plea, Ben Weingarten of the Federalist provides a nifty little primer. Doesn’t hit all the points – no “dirty dossier” — but lots of them.

 

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

 

TRADE WAR AND ECONOMY

 

STUDENT ISSUES

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

 

CONGRESS

 

ELECTIONS

 

THINKING AHEAD

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

Penny Marshall

 

RUMOR MILL

 

That’s it for Tuesday.  Also known as “What the fuck just happened?” Day.

Over the last couple days, I’ve heard a rumblings about a possible soft landing for Trump et. al.  It goes along the lines of Trump’s team and Mueller’s team striking a deal where Trump gets to resign and Mueller doesn’t go after him or his family, and they get to keep their assets.  Think less Nixon and more Spiro T. Agnew.

Agnew was Nixon’s VP until late 1973 when he abruptly resigned and pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges to avoid jail time.  Agnew was caught up in a bribery and extortion racket that swallowed up Maryland politics.  While Watergate was going full speed ahead, Agnew was looking at hard time for accepting bribes while in office as Baltimore Mayor, Maryland Governor, and even in the White House.  The AG made a deal with Agnew’s team; resign in 24 hours with a guilty plea to a felony, and they won’t come after him for restitution or jail time.

I’m not buying it.  Not for a second.

First, it doesn’t match with any of the previous information that I’ve heard or seen over the past two years.  While quitting when the going gets tough matches Trump’s personality, the only way a deal helps him is if there’s absolutely no way that anyone comes after him.  If he thinks for a moment that New York will come for his ass on Enterprise Corruption charges (they most likely will), any deal he strikes with Mueller only helps him with one jurisdiction.

Second, Trump isn’t Agnew.  Trump isn’t Nixon.  Not even close.  They were criminals, but they didn’t coordinate with a foreign government to swing an election.  Ok, maybe Nixon with Vietnam, but that’s another story.  Nixon didn’t work with the VC for over a year as part of a quid pro quo.  Nixon didn’t commit enough crimes to fill a Felony A Day Daily Calendar.  Trump is a traitor to the United States, and doesn’t deserve a soft landing.

Finally, I’m not buying it where it’s in the best interest of the country to let a traitor and his traitorous friends and family walk away. There needs to be an example set.  One that will last hundreds of years, that some favors come with too high a cost.  He needs to stand trial for his crimes.  And so do his accomplices.  Letting a traitor walk away from justice sends a message to the future that the laws don’t matter if you’re rich.

That is the wrong message to send to our children, grandchildren, and progeny.  We must tell them that the fundamental truth of a democratic society still stands, and will stand.

No one is above the law.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 12/17/2018

Monday, December 17, 2018

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

Flynn’s Buddies Get Indicted

Posted by

u/RELEASE_PEE-PEE_TAPE

MOD8 hours ago

Grand Jury Indicts Turkish National Who Directed and Paid Michael Flynn in Anti-Gülen Influence Campaign

DOJ Announcement:

An indictment was unsealed today charging Bijan Rafiekian, aka Bijan Kian, 66, of San Juan Capistrano, California, and Kamil Ekim Alptekin, 41, of Istanbul, and a Turkish national, with conspiracy, acting in the United States as illegal agents of the government of Turkey, and making false statements to the FBI.

According to allegations in the indictment, the two men were involved in a conspiracy to covertly influence U.S. politicians and public opinion against a Turkish citizen living in the United States whose extradition had been requested by the Government of Turkey. The plot included using a company founded by Rafiekian and a person referred to as “Person A” in the indictment [Michael Flynn]. The company, referred to as “Company A” in the indictment [Flynn Intel Group], provided services based upon Person A’s national security expertise.

Flynn’s March 2017 FARA Filings:

News Coverage:

Prior Coverage:

Remember when Mike Flynn was accused of organizing an attempted kidnapping of a Turkish cleric?  Or the time Mike Flynn attended a breakfast with Devin Nunes and senior diplomats from Turkey?  Or the about-face that Flynn took in relations to Turkey after they paid his company $600,000?

Bijan Kian, the second in command of Flynn Intel Group, was involved in all of that. He worked as an unregistered lobbyist for Turkey, in violation of FARA guidelines.  On Monday, he and Kamil Alptekin were indicted on charges of not registering as a foreign agent.  But that’s not all of it.

There’s a thing in journalism called “burying the lede.”  This is when the main point of the story is lost deep in the weeds.  Like, if your spouse comes home and tells you about their day and they start with lunch, how their boss is a jerk, their coworkers are mean, and the building burned down and they’re the prime suspect.  That last part is the most important thing they said, but they buried it at the end.

The lede in this story isn’t that Bijan Kian worked with Mike Flynn to take Turkish money, but both Bijan and Mike Flynn worked on the Trump Transition Team WHILE TAKING MONEY FROM TURKEY UNDER THE TABLE.  They were crafting national security for years to come while taking Erdogan’s blood money.

Putting another country’s interests above your own while leading major government initiatives.  Sounds pretty damn close to treason.

 

Flynn

This is just beautiful.  After Flynn tried to pull “But I was entrapped when I lied to the Feds” last week (Daily Check-In 12/14/2018), the judge felt that cherrypicking from the 302 was a chickenshit move by his legal team, and ordered Mueller’s team to release a redacted version of the 302 form.  The FD-302 form is the form that an FBI Agent fills out immediately after interviewing someone.  Here, we can see Flynn lying, and that the focus of his lies wasn’t so much to protect himself but to shield Trump from Russian connections.

Shit’s about to get interesting.

 

Disinformation

Gee, it’s almost like I’ve been talking about this for a year and a half.  Oh, wait, I HAVE.

One new development is how they’re moving the goalposts after this report.  We’ve gone from “There was no interference” to “No coordinated interference” to “there was only a little interference, but it didn’t make a difference”.  Watch out for this thread in the coming days, with talking heads saying things like “there wasn’t any vote totals changed” and “how many people really get their news from Reddit or Facebook?”  This is a deflection from the point that people were marketed to and thus changed their voting choice.

 

How Many?

Investigations by the Special Counsel

  1. The Russian Government’s Election Attack
  2. WikiLeaks
  3. Middle Eastern Influence
  4. Paul Manafort’s Activity
  5. The Trump Tower Moscow Project
  6. Other Campaign and Transition Contacts With Russia
  7. Obstruction of Justice

Investigations by the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York

  1. Campaign Conspiracy and the Trump Organization’s Finances
  2. Inauguration Funding
  3. Trump SuperPAC Funding
  4. Foreign Lobbying

Investigations by the US Attorney for the District of Columbia

  1. Maria Butina and the NRA

Investigations by the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia

  1. Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova
  2. Turkish Influence

Investigations by New York City, New York State, & Other State Attorneys General

  1. Tax Case
  2. The Trump Foundation
  3. Emoluments Lawsuit

7+4+1+2+3 = 17.  17 investigations.

 

Comey

 

 

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET A.K.A. INDIVIDUAL-1

Mob Talk

 

Shutdown

 

 

TRAITOR TOTS

 

FIGHTING BACK

 

RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM

 

KHASHOGGI & SAUDI ARABIA

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

 

IMMIGRATION

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

 

TRADE WAR AND ECONOMY

 

STUDENT ISSUES

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

 

PRIESTS & RELIGION

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

 

CONGRESS

 

ELECTIONS

 

THINKING AHEAD

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

 

RUMOR MILL

 

That’s it for Monday.  The week is looking like it’s going to be a weird one.  A spoiler for Tuesday, there’s some weird shit happening at Flynn’s sentencing.

Before I wrap it up for the day, I’m going to update The Indicted to include Bijan and Kamil.  Something to keep in mind with them; they’re indicted, but Flynn isn’t.  That tells me two things:

  1. He’s cooperating against them and several others to avoid this fate.
  2. If he fucks around, “Person 1” will become Michael Flynn in a New York Minute.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 12/14/2018

Friday, December 14, 2018 and the weekend.

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

Manafort

From the Vox article:

Last Friday, special counsel Robert Mueller alleged in court filings that Manafort told“multiple discernible lies” to FBI agents and prosecutors, in violation of the cooperation agreement between Manafort and the special counsel’s office. Among those, Mueller charged, were lies by Manafort to investigators that he had not been in contact with anyone in the White House.

“After signing the plea agreement, Manafort stated he had no direct or indirect communications with anyone in the administration while they were in the administration,” the special counsel said in a court pleading, “and that he never asked anyone to try and communicate a message to anyone in the administration on any subject.” Citing text messages, Manafort’s electronic records, and witness interviews, the special counsel wrote: “The evidence demonstrates that Manafort lied about his contacts.”

Manafort advised Trump to attack the Russian Investigation in three different ways:

  1. Attack the FBI.
  2. Attack the DNC.
  3. Attack Clinton and the Steele Dossier.

Trump followed this playbook to a T.

 

Senate Report on Disinformation

There will be more on this in Monday’s post.

 

Cohen

 

Flynn

 

Butina

THREAD: Some thoughts on Butina from a CI perspective and the bad choices she has made:

Mueller’s investigation is clearly not typical but in a normal situation, I would expect that the FBI would have offered Butina a chance to work for the U.S. government (I.e., be a double agent), and have a chance for leniency, maybe even live in the States.

Not sure if this was offered in this case and she declined, or if they just decided to prosecute, but either way, the decision to prosecute would have not been taken lightly, since it puts the FBI’s cards on the table. I wrote about that here

The decision to go this route shows that Mueller’s team believes the public interest in outing Butina and/or stopping her activities were much more important than continuing to keep tabs on Butina’s — and thus the Russians’ — activities

Note that in 2010, the spies were charged, but swapped for our spies in Russia before they could cooperate/provide more info. Not here. I’m curious whether this was offered to Russia, and they disowned her/left her out to dry, or it was not even an option

The part that puzzles me is how she expects this to work out for her. She is going to burn Russia’s operation, and then after she serves time is going to be deported. Pooty won’t be happy…not sure what kind of life she’ll have there, or how long it will last

Unless her “tasking” was that if she got caught, she was free to rat out whomever she needed to…but that would be weird for a spy. Curious for thoughts from @john_sipher, @StevenLHall1, @CIAspygirland others

In any case, as I noted before, I am 99% certain that she would have been under FISA surveillance for some period of time, which means that anyone she was in communication with is now captured in FBI intel. Sucks to be them.

That’s it — I’ll just end by saying she is charged with Conspiracy Against the United States so anyone who was working with her is a part of the conspiracy. May the odds be ever in their favor.

 

Someone vs. Mueller

 

Papadopoulos

 

Abandonment

 

Giuliani

 

Congressional Questions

 

 

 

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

Cohen,  AMI, All That, Then Some, and a Bag of Chips

Why?  According to Tom Arnold:

 

Inauguration

 

On a scale of 1-10, how screwed is Trump?

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET A.K.A. INDIVIDUAL-1

 

TRAITOR TOTS

Zinke Quits

 

Acosta

 

 

FIGHTING BACK

 

RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM

 

KHASHOGGI & SAUDI ARABIA

 

SCOTUS & COURTS

Reed O’Connor, the judge who just ruled against the ACA, has a long history of ruling against anything with the words Obama attached to it He ruled against the interpretation of Title IX that allowed transgender students to use the bathroom of the sex they identified as (Thread)

(2) In 2016 he issued an injunction against Obamacare because he said gender inclusion guidance within the law violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Just 2 months ago, O’Connor ruled that the Indian Child Welfare Act was unconstitutional.

(3) When the right moans about activist judges, just remember there is definitely a “both sides” to this issue. Conservative judges like O’Connor ignore the law of the land and legislate from the bench. And their decision create chaos and undermine equality in this country.

 

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

 

IMMIGRATION

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

#NEVERAGAIN

Every year, I reject this cynical, hopeless, inaccurate tweet. So much has happened since .

.@MomsDemandwas formed the day after and we’ve helped pass background checks in eight states, bringing the total to 20. Over 50% of Americans now live in states requiring a background check on every gun sale.

We’ve also worked hard to pass laws in 28 states – red and blue – that keep guns away from domestic abusers. Just a couple of months ago, we passed one in Pennsylvania. We won’t rest until every state protects women and children – the main victims – from domestic gun violence.

We’ve passed bills to strengthen our background check system, gun owner training requirements, Red Flag Laws, bump stock prohibitions, safe gun storage requirements, and on and on.

In fact, 2018 was our strongest year yet: we helped pass stronger gun laws in 20 states – nine of which were signed into law by Republican governors.

And don’t forget defense. We’ve killed killed thousands of @NRA-supported bills to force guns on campus and in K-12 schools, to expand Stand Your Ground, and to dismantle permitting systems. @MomsDemandhas a 90% track record each year of beating back bad bills across the US.

Not to mention the fact that we’ve prevented the @NRAfrom passing their two priority pieces of federal legislation since 2016: concealed carry reciprocity and deregulating silencers. Despite the fact that there was a Republican President and Congress.

And we’re changing our culture by working with companies like Trader Joes, Target, Starbucks, Dicks, Walmart and Chipotle to have reasonable gun policies. This year, @TOMSjoined the movement and is already helping to grow support for gun safety.

We’re also teaching Americans about responsible gun storage to help protect children from unintentional shootings and gun suicide through http://besmartforkids.org . We’ve given thousands of presentations and partnered with the PTA and other organizations. #BeSmart

Six years ago, after the horrific, senseless, preventable shooting at #SandyHook, @MomsDemandbegan fiercely and fearlessly taking on the most powerful lobby this nation has ever seen – and we are winning. We have become the David to the @NRA’s Goliath.

That work is paying off. In the midterms, 3,000 Democrat and Republican candidates wanted our gun sense distinction. Of the 196 candidates @everytownendorsed, 150 won. And we didn’t just outspend the @NRA, our hundreds of thousands of volunteers outmaneuvered them on the ground.

Nearly 100 Americans are shot and killed every day, and hundreds more are injured. This is a crisis no other developed nation faces. Stopping gun violence in our urban centers and in rural outposts, and everywhere in between, has become @MomsDemand‘s mission.

From suicides to domestic gun violence to police shootings to shootings motivated by hate – it is all gun violence and we can make it stop. Mothers won’t allow the senseless deaths of Americans – including the 26 educators and elementary students at #SandyHook– to be in vain.

@MomsDemand, the grassroots arms of @Everytown, is fiercely and fearlessly taking on the most powerful lobby this nation has ever seen – and we are winning. Don’t let anyone tell you that’s not true. Be angry, but stay hopeful.#SandyHook

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

 

TRADE WAR AND ECONOMY

 

STUDENT ISSUES

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

 

PRIESTS & RELIGION

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

 

CONGRESS

 

ELECTIONS

 

Wisconsin

 

Florida

 

THINKING AHEAD

 

RUMOR MILL

 

That’s it for the last few days.  This weekend was busy, and will be so throughout the holidays.  I might take a couple days off as we approach the New Year.

Monday will bring some more indictments on the eve of Flynn’s sentencing, as well as the list of the 17 known investigations into TrumpWorld.  17.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur