Tag: Politics

Daily Check-In 11/27/2018

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

A lawyer for Paul Manafort, the president’s onetime campaign chairman, repeatedly briefed President Trump’s lawyers on his client’s discussions with federal investigators after Mr. Manafort agreed to cooperate with the special counsel, according to one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers and two other people familiar with the conversations.

The arrangement was highly unusual and inflamed tensions with Mr. Mueller’s office when prosecutors discovered it after Mr. Manafort began cooperating two months ago, the people said. Some legal experts speculated that it was a bid by Mr. Manafort for a presidential pardon even as he worked with the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, in hopes of a lighter sentence.

Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort held secret talks with Julian Assange inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, and visited around the time he joined Trump’s campaign, the Guardian has been told.

Sources have said Manafort went to see Assange in 2013, 2015 and in spring 2016 – during the period when he was made a key figure in Trump’s push for the White House.

It is unclear why Manafort would have wanted to see Assange and what was discussed. But the last apparent meeting is likely to come under scrutiny and could interest Robert Mueller, the special prosecutor who is investigating alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

A well-placed source has told the Guardian that Manafort went to see Assange around March 2016. Months later WikiLeaks released a stash of Democratic emails stolen by Russian intelligence officers.

holy hell. Paul Manafort held secret talks w/ Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy in London in late March 2016. The month before (2/29/2016), he reached out to Trump via Tom Barrack to pitch himself as campaign chair. He was hired in March. Unpaid.

2/29/2016: Manafort pitches himself to Trump via Tom Barrack, writing in a memo “I really need to get to Trump.” March 2016: -Manafort meets Barrack at Montage hotel in Beverly Hills; discussed joining Trump campaign -Manafort secretly meets w/Assange -Manafort hired (3/28/2016)

Roger Stone was the one who convinced Trump to hire Paul Manafort. The idea of hiring Manafort to work unpaid? That was Roger Stone’s idea. This took place at some point in March 2016. The same month Manafort met with Julian Assange.

March 2016: Manafort/Assange meet. Also: 3/6: Papadopoulos joins campaign 3/14: Papadopoulos meets Joseph Mifsud 3/21: Trump ID’s Carter Page & Papadopoulos as foreign policy advisers 3/24: Papadopoulos sends email w/ subject line: Meeting w/ Russian Leadership — Including Putin

Caroline Orr Retweeted Caroline Orr

March 2016 (cont) 3/29: Manafort (who is broke & in debt to a bunch of oligarchs) agrees to work unpaid for the Trump campaign 3/31: Trump meets w/ his foreign policy advisers April 2016: -1st unreported contacts between Trump campaign & Russian officials

Caroline Orr added,

March 2016: Manafort/Assange meet. Also: 3/6: Papadopoulos joins campaign 3/14: Papadopoulos meets Joseph Mifsud…

April 2016 (cont): -Early April: Papadopoulos goes to Israel to discuss Russia policy -4/11: Manafort emails Konstantin Kilimnik: “How do we use to get whole? Has OVD operation seen?” (OVD = Oleg Deripaska) -Mifsud intros Papadopoulos to Ivan Timofeev (direct Russia connect.)

 

Ohhhhh@JuddLegumhas a very good brain & an excellent memory Scenario A: Manafort “flipped” to be Trump’s inside eyes & ears Scenario B: Prosecutors had Manafort on the lies they blew up the cooperation agreement Scenario C: A + B = C Scenario D: Manafort hiding something big

Judd LegumVerified account @JuddLegum

News that Manafort lied to Mueller reminds me of this story from last month. Even after the plea, Manafort stayed in touch with…

 

Also alternative scenario: Don McGahn spent 30+ hours with Mueller and @realDonaldTrump -thought- McGahn was “his Roy Cohn” since Michael Cohen flipped too Either way I’m going with A-D Specifically D: Manafort hiding something BIG, all road lead back to Trump Tower

Tertiary scenario: SCO Mueller et al knew Manafort/Trump play. Manafort engaged in witness tampering while on home confinement, he was remanded. SCO purposely fed bad info to Manafort knowing it would go to Trump Trump submits his written answers to SCO = Manafort deal gone

Meaning none of us really know. Anyone who says they have a inside source in Mueller’s team – they are totally lying to you. Mueller doesn’t leak, ever. He only speaks in legal filings. Hence we will know shortly what Manafort lied about So stay skeptical & frosty

Turns out I’m not the only one who’s thinking about the different layers a foot. 1) Flynn & Gates terminated their joint defense agreement with Trump 2) Manafort never did 3) @AshaRangappa_is WAY smarter than I am, so don’t take my word for possible scenarios, listen to her

Ok, let’s take a deep breath.  There’s a lot to unpack with Paul Manafort today.

First, remember yesterday I talked about a rumor floating around about Manafort keeping the joint defense agreement in place and used this to coordinate answers? (Daily Check-In 11/26/2018)

Yeah, that fucking happened.

I’m amazed, actually.  I’m amazed that not only did this hypothesis work out, but that at no point in this process did Manafort, Trump, or any of their lawyers say “Gee, isn’t it ironic, don’t ya think?”  Of course, this isn’t irony, but peculiarity.  At some point, none of these people stopped to ask “Why would Mueller and his team of legal eagles let us keep the defense agreement in place?  They made Rick Gates and Mike Flynn drop out.  Don’t they know that Manafort’s team will brief Trump the first chance they get?  This is either a colossal fuckup or a trap.”  If nobody stopped and said that this whole deal smelled fishy, then they might just be the most self-centered, sociopathic, narcissitic…

Now that I think about it, this makes perfect sense.  It was a well-laid trap, and probably telegraphed from a mile away because of Manafort’s insistence that he be allowed to stay part of the joint defense agreement.  Mueller and his team saw a possible opening, and gave him four things.

  1. A plea deal with enough booby traps in it to make a D&D rogue go nuts.
  2. The false sense that Paulie had outsmarted Mueller.
  3. A canary.  False information that they gave only to Manafort, so they could identify it when it comes around from someone else.
  4. Enough rope to hang himself, Trump, and everyone else involved.

I’d put $10 on Mueller using a canary here.  They briefed Manafort on a specific action they were going to take, or question they needed answered, and suddenly Trump’s team has the exact same info.  Meanwhile, what they told him was an easily provable lie, and Trump puts it down in a sworn statement.

The fucked up thing is, that might not even be the biggest Manafort story of the day.  The Guardian releases a story that Manafort met repeatedly with Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian Embassy, including once in March 2016 AFTER he offered to join the campaign.  Remember, he was brought on at Roger Stone’s insistence.  March 2016 was also after the DNC and Podesta hacks, too.  The GRU had the mails at this point, and were looking for a way to use them.  I don’t know if Assange knew that GRU had them before this meeting with Manafort or not, but he definitely knew after.  Either Manafort told Assange of their existence, or Manafort confirmed their existence with him.

Manafort was neck deep in  Wikileaks and Russia throughout the campaign, but most of it was at a distance, through intermediaries.  This puts Paul in the same room as a cutout for Russian Intelligence.  The same cutout that later passed on stolen information.

This creates a direct line between the hacked emails and Trump knowing about their existence before the June 9 meeting.

Speaking of conspiring with the Russians, here’s Roger and Jerome.  They took over the coordination of releasing the mails when it got too hot for Paul Manafort to do it himself.  That’s the problem with being the campaign chairman for the President: everyone knows your name.

Also, I don’t trust that statement of offense from Corsi.  Something feels off about this.  I don’t trust anything Corsi releases, and this just feels like a plant.  It could be an early draft that somehow made it’s way to Jay Sekulow in a brown envelope, but there’s something fishy about this.

Spicy agrees in this thread.

Take everything coming from Corsi/Rudy/Roger with a salt lick.  We need more than a grain for this shitstorm.

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET

 

TRAITOR TOTS

 

FIGHTING BACK

 

RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM

 

KHASHOGGI & SAUDI ARABIA

 

SCOTUS & COURTS

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

 

IMMIGRATION

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

 

TRADE WAR AND ECONOMY

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

LOOK AT THEIR NAMES. LOOK AT WHERE THEY WERE ARRESTED. 2 International Cybercriminal Rings Dismantled & 8 Defendants Indicted for Causing Tens of Millions of Dollars in Losses in Digital Advertising Fraud Global Botnets Shut Down Following Arrests 1/

Aleksandr Zhukov, Boris Timokhin, Mikhail Andreev, Denis Avdeev, Dmitry Novikov, Sergey Ovsyannikov, Aleksandr Isaev and Yevgeniy Timchenko “Ovsyannikov was arrested last month in Malaysia; Zhukov was arrested earlier this month in Bulgaria; and Timchenko was arrested… 2/

… earlier this month in Estonia, all pursuant to provisional arrest warrants issued at the request of the United States. They await extradition. The remaining defendants are at large.” 3/

WE HAVE LOTS OF FRIENDS WHO HELPED US WITH THIS CASE. 4/

5/ Here’s the indictment, my lovelies:

Shall we read it together? Let’s! ruh roy they used computers in Texas. that’s bad. cuz..even if none of the humans doing the criming are in the US, their crimes now ARE.

They hacked other people’s computers to use them, and some of those computers were in EDNY. That was dumb. because now they are being indicted by EDNY Now look at where they all lived/are from: Russian Federation, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria. Oooh a corporate entity in Scotland

DoJ literally have the instructions the bosses gave to the employees to make the bots more “humanlike” to fool the computers into thinking the traffic was real. .

Lol DoJ has everything on these idiots. . .

Note how the criminals responded to the publication of the paper: they tried to delete evidence of their crimes. ?

We now turn to look at the other scheme: thought they could get away with attacking >1M US computers? nice try, eejits.

. “it’s safe in the cloud” okay, sure Jan.

Read paragraph 41(a). yikes. be glad you’re not that idiot.

The sheer number of victims in this case is astounding. you should seriously read the whole indictment, but I particularly love Count Eight, because of the “Overt Acts” description 🙂

Now we get to see some of the domains they were using 😊 kiss kiss, silly criminals. 😘 you’re toast. 😛

Not certain this is them but… A Mikhail Andreev follows a Boris Timokkin on GitHub. You’re welcome.

🤷‍♀️

wrote about adw0rd and methbot in December 2016

Why include this?  It’s important to not lose faith in the justice system.  Also, bots generating false webtraffic to generate revenue is just one of the tools used by the bad guys in this drama.  They generated millions in fake revenue by having their bots go to their pages and click on their advertisements.  Each time they got a click, the ad company would pay them.

This is one of the big problems with the internet.  An ad based system for revenue can be gamed, and those clicks are also used by companies to sell themselves on how much traffic they get and how popular they are.  The more traffic, the more advertisers will pay for space.

I’m reminded of a story from late 2016 and early 2017, about how Breitbart was one of the 10 most visited sites on the web.  Including porn.  That didn’t make sense to me in the slightest.  How was a relatively obscure news site, barely known by most people, generating so much traffic?  Sure, they had a bunch of clickbait stories, but there’s no logical reason why an Alt-Right news site should get more traffic than PornHub.  A few months later, BB’s traffic dropped like rock.  They went from from a Top 10 site to somewhere in the mid 50’s.  Today, they’re not in the top 68.

Why? Bots.  They allegedly performed fraud by having bots click on stories and generated ad revenue.  This increased traffic which increased revenue which fed into itself.  When they no longer had a need for the increased traffic after the election, the bots stopped.

 

PRIESTS & RELIGION

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

 

CONGRESS

 

ELECTIONS

 

THINKING AHEAD

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

 

RUMOR MILL

1/ What did we learn today? We learned that mueller has evidence that Stone, who was communicating with Trump, asked Corsi to ask WikiLeaks what they had. We also know Corsi sent Malloch (@peterjukes and I were just talking about him) to find out what Wiki fotnfrom GRU.

2/ Then we learned that a week later, Corsi told Stone Wiki had dirt on HRC that they were releasing in October 2016. So we have a direct link between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, and Mueller has proof. (He wouldn’t ask without it)

3/ Then we learned Manafort’s plea agreement blew up because he was feeding intel from the Mueller investigation to Trump. We were wondering why Manafort didn’t signal his plea agreement by ending his Joint Defense Agreement. This is why. Seems like obstruction.

4/ Now we wonder why Stone or Corsi haven’t been indicted. Is Whitaker blocking, or was Mueller delaying the Manafort sentencing filing to wait for Trump’s answers to come in to see if they match? I think both. And if we Stone indictments get blocked,

5/ We could get a full explanation in the Manafort sentencing document likely coming in December. Whitaker can’t block that. And we would eventually learn Whitaker blocked it. More obstruction…

6/ And finally, don’t forget! Was Manafort promised a pardon in exchange for the intel swap? It’s only Tuesday, folks. If you’re not listening, it’s a good time to start! #beans

 

That’s it for Tuesday.  Damn.   This was a bit busy.  I’m sure Wednesday will be a quiet day, right?

Oh, what’s that?  Trump was rage tweeting memes at 2AM about jailing all of his enemies, and a major report came out about how the current Labor Secretary Alex Acosta gave Trump’s pedophile buddy Jeffrey Epstein a sweet deal and screwed over dozens of his victims?  Don’t worry, I’m sure by 5PM we’ll get something even more outrageous.

Like Greg Olear said, this why we don’t get enough sleep and drink too much.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 11/26/2018

Monday, November 26, 2018

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

Manafort Lied

Oh ho ho ho ho. This is a mini-bench-trial of the collusion facts. If the court grants it, we will see the whole show, right here, and IIRC under the clear-and-convincing standard (for violating plea) rather than reasonable doubt.

This kind of tactic only comes from Mueller’s level and caliber. I’ll leave it to the real-named ones to explain why this is so incisive.

Well, no. I won’t. Mueller has proposed a way to put Donald Trump, and the facts about Donald Trump, on trial without the slightest chance of executive privilege being asserted, successfully or unsuccessfully.

And Manafort, thug that he is, fumbled and crimed himself right into this trap. OMFG I’m glad Bobby Three Sticks is on our side.

See, here’s the genius part. In order to decide that Manafort lied, the judge will have to make “findings of fact.” These are binding against anyone who’s in privity with Manafort. As manager of Trump’s campaign, Trump and Manafort are contractually in privity.

The judge, not a jury, will make these findings. So they will be spelled out on the open public record, not hidden in the jury’s black box where they can’t be used. And you can be sure Mueller wouldn’t ask for such a hearing unless he had rock-solid evidence on each Manafort lie.

“But,” you cry. “Can’t Trump just deny everything? He lies all the time!” Ha. Ah ha ha. Oh ho ho hee hee. Sure, but that would WAIVE EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE. Damn, I love ninja lawyers.

Executive privilege can only be used as a shield, not a sword. You can’t poke your head out from behind the privilege, deny that a bunch of stuff happened, then pop back behind it when subpoenaed for all the testimony and evidence and cross-examination that proves you wrong.

So basically, if the judge grants this sentencing hearing under the parameters requested, Trump has little choice but to sit on his hands while the whole case against him is tried in his absence. If he speaks up, he loses any defense to broad document and testimony subpoenas.

How do I know it’s the whole case against Trump that Manafort lied about? Well. WTF else would he lie about?

Well, I can’t say I expected THAT development.  I thought he might try to pull some shit, but I didn’t expect Paul Manafort to come out of the gate on his plea deal lying like a cheap rug.  Then again, he’s a sociopathic asshat, so should I be surprised?

Here’s the quick timeline on Paul Manafort since he was arrested:

  • Paulie gets arrested, pleads not guilty to everything.
  • His co-conspirator Rick Gates is offered a deal, and takes it.
  • Paul tries to ghostwrite an op-ed supporting himself.
  • Paulie gets smacked in court with his Word doc and the edit tracking.
  • While out on bail, Paulie and Kostya get caught tampering with witnesses.
  • Paulie loses his bail and is sent to prison.
  • Paul gets convicted on 8 out of 18 charges in EDVA, with one lone juror being the only reason it wasn’t a clean sweep.
  • Paul pleads guilty to a couple charges in DC as part of a cooperation plea deal with Mueller.
  • Violating this deal will bring the Hammer of Justice down upon him.
  • Paulie proceeds to lie, repeatedly.
  • Mueller rescinds the deal.  Hammer of Justice incoming.

I don’t think there was ever going to be leniency for Paul Manafort, but whatever chance he had at it he pissed away in early 2018 by not taking the deal offered to Gates.  Rick Gates will look at a reduced sentence in Club Fed, if he even serves any time.  Depending on how much he helps the Special Counselor, he might not serve any time.  Instead, Paul fought the first set of tax fraud charges and lost, and he’s looking at a solid ten years behind bars.  Then, he pleads guilty to avoid a FARA trial, but screws that up, too.  Now, he’s looking at… a long fucking time in Maximum Security Prison.  Probably the rest of his life.

And, if he’s banking on a pardon, he’s up shit creek on that, too.  Most of the crimes he was found guilty of have a state equivalent, or a similar charge at the state level in multiple states.  If he’s pardoned by lunch, he’ll be arrested by Virginia by dinner.

There’s still quite a bit we don’t know surrounding the specifics about what he lied about, but there are two prevailing theories.

First, he lied about meetings with Trump, or things he discussed directly with Trump.

Second, he lied to protect the Russian Mob and their assets.

The answer to that question is simple.  Who’s he more loyal to?  Personally, I think he was lying to protect the mob, but given what we know about him, he’d lie about the weather just because he could, so both are likely.

I would like to bring attention to the Emptywheel story and the Shockratees threads, as they bring up an interesting point.  Mueller has to prove that Manafort lied.  He has to prove what he lied about, and how they caught him.  He can prove it in the sentencing document that he submits to the court, and in the evidence he presents to the judge.  Since this is a sentencing hearing and not an actual trial, this finding of facts will be more like a bench trial than a jury trial.  A bench trial is one in which the judge weighs the evidence.  Think of traffic court versus a normal jury trial.  In traffic court, the judge listens to both sides, weighs the evidence, and makes a ruling.  The whole process takes a few minutes, and I walk out several hundred dollars poorer.  What they point out is that Mueller can list ANYTHING HE WANTS TO, UP TO EVERYTHING in that sentencing report, and it will be entered into the court for the judge to rule on its veracity.

Another hypothesis floating around is that Mueller used Manafort to trap him, knowing that he’d pull some shit, and let him think that he was some James Bond super villain.

Now, there’ s some rumors about how he was caught slipping answers to Trump, but I’ll address that in the Rumor Mill.

 

Corsi’s Full of Shit

THREAD: What should we make of Jerome Corsi’s statements rejecting a plea deal he claims he was offered by Mueller?

1/ This morning Corsi, an associate of Roger Stone, claimed that he has rejected a plea deal offered by Mueller’s team, in which he was asked to plead guilty to one count of perjury. Corsi claims that any false statements were due to a faulty memory.

2/ That is a standard defense raised when someone is charged with perjury or making a false statement. Typically when this is is charged, prosecutors have evidence that proves the defendant remembered the truth or that would make it implausible that the defendant forgot.

3/ That’s because they must prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Corsi “knowingly and willfully” made a false statement. Corsi claims *that* is what he is unwilling to admit. The requirement that prosecutors prove a defendant knowingly lied is why perjury can be hard to prove.

4/ If Corsi is telling the truth that he was told he will be charged and that he was offered a plea deal, we can expect Mueller to indict him soon. In this context, Mueller wouldn’t tell Corsi he would be charged if that was not imminent.

5/ Contrary to Corsi’s claims, however, none of this is unusual. Federal prosecutors often pressure potential witnesses to plead guilty if they believe they can prove that the witness committed a crime. Mueller likely believes that Corsi could be a valuable witness against Stone.

6/ If Corsi believes he is not guilty, he shouldn’t plead guilty. But Mueller’s team has either already told Corsi’s attorney the evidence they believe proves his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, or would likely do so if asked. He is taking a big risk by daring Mueller to charge.

7/ No matter what, Corsi has made a major error by discussing all of this publicly. His words can be used against him by Mueller. Corsi should stay silent and let his lawyer negotiate with Mueller’s team privately. None of this helps him legally, but I guess it sells books. /end

I think MSW’s right on the Corsi front.  We haven’t heard shit from anyone but him about this deal he “turned down.”  Corsi has no credibility whatsoever, so anything he says that doesn’t come with “multiple sources” carries as much weight as Stephen Hawking.  And he’s dead.

If this is true, Corsi screwed himself hard.  Then again, I’m skeptical about anything that comes from the mouth of the creator of the Birther movement.

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET

 

TRAITOR TOTS

 

WHITAKER

 

FIGHTING BACK

 

RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM

 

KHASHOGGI & SAUDI ARABIA

 

IMMIGRATION

 

SCOTUS 

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

TRADE WAR, HEALTH CARE, & ECONOMY

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

 

PRIESTS & RELIGION

No, it’s not for child rape this time.  He’s being removed for making roofies…again.

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

 

CONGRESS

 

ELECTIONS

 

THINKING AHEAD

 

RUMOR MILL

 

Mark my words: Trump witness-tampered with Manafort directly/indirectly. Manafort had nothing to lose by cooperating with Mueller—only gain—and Mueller was asking him about Trump, and Manafort lied. So he was expecting a pardon. Which means somebody let him think it could happen.

2/ When all you have to do is *tell the truth*, and if you don’t it could give you *many more years in prison*—to the point of making your sentence a *life sentence*—what would it take to get you to lie? There aren’t many possibilities beyond the promise of a presidential pardon.

3/ And let’s be clear (and I say this from experience): Manafort’s lawyers would’ve *explicitly and repeatedly* told him *not to lie* to Mueller. So Manafort had to be getting entreaties from *other sources* besides his lawyers to make him agree to lie to Mueller about collusion.

This one goes a little deep into the woods, but it’s also one of the rumors picking up steam in the last few hours.  Here’s my Not-A-Lawyer breakdown.

The hypothesis goes that that Mueller knew Manafort was a lying shit from the onset, and that as soon as Manafort signed on to cooperate, something was fishy. Like wharf at high tide fishy.

Ten days ago, Mueller asked for an extension before submitting a report on what Manafort’s done.  At the time, it was assumed that this was because he had some really good shit he was handing over.  In those ten days, Trump’s legal team submitted their answers to their Russian Collusion Take Home Test.  Mueller didn’t want to release his report until after he received the answers from Trump, because he caught Manafort lying, and likely worked with Trump to get their answers to line up.  Trump did this likely as part of a quid pro quo for a pardon.  Manafort helps Trump answer the questions on Russian Collusion, and Trump pardons Manafort.

Meanwhile, Mueller catches them both red handed.

Before I started writing this paragraph, one question vexed me.  How could Manafort and Trump communicate without the whole world knowing about it?  Manafort’s in prison, and all of his phone calls and communication are recorded.  Trump is the President.  If he called from an official line, that would leak in seconds.  If he called from his cell phone, that would leak in minutes.

So how in the fuck did Manafort communicate with Trump?  The Joint Defense Program.  Or Pact.  Or whatever the fuck it’s called.

Supposedly, Manafort never pulled out of the Joint Defense Program that those wrapped up in the Russian Investigation are using.  That’s weird, because Flynn and Gates both pulled out prior to their cooperation agreements.  The Joint Defense Program is like a supercharged Attorney-Client privilege.  However, just like ACP, the JDP has some limits, like it can’t be used to commit crimes.  If Manafort is testifying against Trump or anyone else in this agreement, they would hear about it, and then set up a defense using that information.  Like if someone was preparing for an interview or was providing written answers for the Special Counselor.

Ok, that’s an interesting hypothesis, but how would Mueller’s team know?  They have a mole.  Someone on Trump’s circle knew about Manafort talking with Trump and them sharing answers, and they coordinated this with Mueller.  Mueller then let Manafort build his own trap and snare an Orange Weasel.

 

That’s it for Monday.  Things are crazy, and there’s not enough day to go into detail about everything.  GM’s closing 5 plants because of the tariffs on Chinese Steel, a major border crossing was closed, and Ukraine was attacked by Russia, all while Paulie Walnuts looks at spending the rest of his life in the slammer.

I’m going to update Cooperating Witnesses shortly with Paulie’s info, as well as George going to prison.  He’s sentenced to two weeks, but I won’t be surprised if he gets out a couple days early.

Tuesday’s looking to be interesting.  Guess who visited Stiky Rapey in the Ecuadorian Embassy?  Find out tomorrow.  Here’s a hint.  I talked about this lying mobbed-up shit-faced shitgobbler a lot today.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 11/23/2018

Friday, November 23, 2018.  Including Thanksgiving Thursday and the weekend.

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

But as the Jan. 27, 2018, date neared and Mueller provided the topics he wanted to discuss, Trump’s lawyers balked. Attorney John Dowd then fired off a searing letter disputing Mueller’s authority to question the president. The interview was off.

Notice the date of the scheduled meeting.  January 27th, 2018.  Let’s think back to what happened in the days preceding it.

Daily Check-In 01/25/2018 & Daily Check-In 01/26/2018 had one of the most important stories in the Russian Investigation break, and it was buried by a story from Maggie Haberman that was at least 6 months old.  At first, I thought that story was leaked to Maggie to distract from direct evidence of the Russians interfering in the 2016 election.  Given this new information, I’d like to update my hypothesis to include that the leak was to distract mostly from him and his team bailing on the meeting with Mueller.

Think about it.  His lawyers give a last look at the questions, know that Trump will lie and likely perjure himself, so they cancelled.  Since Trump’e ego is more fragile than a Faberge egg, he had to get the news out there that he was in charge no matter what, before it leaked that his team was afraid to answer some tough questions.  So he calls his frenemy Maggie, and tells her that he can fire Mueller any time he wants, but he doesn’t want to, but he tried back in June, and that’s the story she ran with.

 

Go to jail you traitorous idiot.

 

 

Comey Don’t Play That

 

 

Speculation Time: Anger at Judges

This next part is complete speculation on my part, but I wonder if Trump got a bad ruling against him in an appeals court, and he’s lashing out on Twitter.

Remember over the past few weeks I’ve talked about the secret sealed Mueller Grand Jury Subpoena that’s under challenge before the DC Circuit Court? (Daily Check-In 11/20/2018) Keep that in mind.

Trump’s twitter tirade against judges isn’t new.  He’s a petulant man-child who lashes out when he doesn’t get his way.  He does this with EVERY court case that he loses.  That’s not a surprise.  What’s different this time is that there isn’t an obvious case for him to scream about losing.  Sure, he’s getting his ass handed to him in several other cases, but nothing that would require him to lash out at the entire DC Circuit Court.

Nothing publicly, anyway.

Here’s my speculation; Donald Trump is personally involved in the secret sealed Mueller case 18-3071, and he just received a legal beatdown.  When he asked which judges ruled against him, his lawyers told him which ones, and since at least one of them was an Obama judge.  Tangering Tojo then goes on Twitter, and here we are.

Like I said, that part is pure speculation.

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET

 

TRUMP VS. THE MILITARY

 

TRAITOR TOTS

 

WHITAKER

 

FIGHTING BACK

 

RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM

Extremist gang leader Gavin McInnes claims that he’s “quitting” the Proud Boys, then admits he’s only saying so because his jailed followers might get easier sentences

My favorite part is when Gavin McInnes says the Proud Boys don’t have ties to white supremacists and that journalists got that info from a police report. Dude half your body guards are straight up neo-Nazis, we don’t need police reports to tell us that

Claiming that you’re done inciting violence and committing acts of gang harassment and attacks doesn’t mean you didn’t do all of that

 

KHASHOGGI & SAUDI ARABIA

 

IMMIGRATION

 

SCOTUS 

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

 

COLD WAR 2.0

BREAKING: Ukraine says Russia opens fire on Ukrainian navy ships in Kerch Strait near Crimea, one of them damaged.

Ukraine’s president to convene emergency meeting of the military’s top brass amid Russia tensions near Crimea.

Ukraine says number of boats hit by Russian fire increases to 2, 2 crew members wounded; both vessels seized by Russia.

The spokesman for Ukrainian President Poroshenko says that the leader is convening an emergency meeting of the military’s top brass amid tensions with Russia near the Crimean Peninsula.

The Latest: Ukraine military brass to meet over Russia MOSCOW (AP) — The Latest on Russian-Ukrainian naval tensions near Crimea (all times local): 10:40 p.m. The spokesman for Ukrainian Presid… apnews.com       

Remember when Paul Manafort lobbied on behalf of the Trump campaign to remove a provision from the GOP platform that would have provided lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine? You know, weapons meant to serve as a deterrent to Russian aggression? Now is a good time to remember that

And remember when Trump called on Russia to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails? You know what else he said during the same press conference? That he’d look into recognizing the occupied territory of Crimea as belonging to Russia, not Ukraine. Now is a good time to remember that.

This language that Manafort lobbied to have removed from the GOP platform ahead of the 2016 Republican National Convention also called for greater coordination with NATO to constrain Russian aggression. (Ukraine is not part of NATO).

Not surprisingly, the GOP-led House intel committee dismissed this in its report. But special counsel Mueller didn’t. Per NYT’s list, Mueller planned to ask Trump: “What involvement did you have concerning platform changes regarding arming Ukraine?”

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

Shine

 

 

TRADE WAR, HEALTH CARE, & ECONOMY

 

STUDENT LOANS

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

 

PRIESTS & RELIGION

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

We have an outbreak of E. Coli O157:H7 which makes you vomit blood, have bloody diarrhea, and even pee blood as you lose your kidneys. It’s all because Trump overturned Obama-era rules to test our farm water. Farmers save $12 million so that we pay $108 million in medical costs.

This strain of E. Coli creates a Shiga toxin that stops our cells from producing the proteins they need to live, exactly like how the deadly poison ricin works. Cow don’t have the Shiga toxin receptor in their intestines so they can have E. Coli O157:H7 without any symptoms.

Overuse of antibiotics in our farm animals encourages the growth of this deadly strain of E. Coli over other bacteria, causing these cows to shed huge amounts of it in their feces which then contaminates the water farmers use to water our crops like Romaine lettuce.

We are a first world country yet we don’t have basic food safety because of first world problems like the overuse of antibiotics. So in essence the FDA under Trump encourages the spread of E. Coli O157:H7 in livestock and discourages testing the water contaminated by their feces.

 

CONGRESS

 

ELECTION 2018

 

THINKING AHEAD

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

Thanksgiving

 

 

RUMOR MILL

I am thankful. There is still beauty in the world. There are loved ones. There is kindness. There are delicious flavors and interesting textures. There are dogs. I am thankful. For all of you. The funny creators. The angry warriors. The resolute professionals… /1

2/ The persistent voices for what is true and good to prevail. You are wonderful.

3/ I am thankful. For music. For artistry. For truth. For story. For every crazy asshole who picked up a guitar, a brush, a pen – and knew what to do with it.

4/ I am thankful. For innovation, compassion, conservation, and the amazing warriors who have shown me what is worthy of my fight. There is so much good being done in the world. There is. I am thankful that I still believe in it. I am thankful that you do too. I am thankful.

The Founders warned us about aspiring tyrants using identity politics to destroy our Republic: “The truth unquestionably is, that the only path to a subversion of the republican system of the Country is, by flattering the prejudices of the people… 1

…and exciting their jealousies and apprehensions, to throw affairs into confusion, and bring on civil commotion. Tired at length of anarchy, or want of government, they may take shelter in the arms of monarchy for repose and security… 2

… When a man unprincipled in private life desperate in his fortune, bold in his temper, possessed of considerable talents, having the advantage of military habits—despotic in his ordinary demeanour—known to have scoffed in private at the principles of liberty… 3

—when such a man is seen to mount the hobby horse of popularity—to join in the cry of danger to liberty—to take every opportunity of embarrassing the General Government & bringing it under suspicion—to flatter and fall in with all the non sense of the zealots of the day… 4

—It may justly be suspected that his object is to throw things into confusion that he may “ride the storm and direct the whirlwind.” — Alexander Hamilton, 1792 5/x

That last tweet by Ming was posted a couple hours before the tear gas stories broke, but right after Russia opened fire on Ukranian ships.

 

That’s it for the last few days.  Things were relatively calm before the Russian attack on Ukraine and the U.S. Customs Border Patrol started launching tear gas into a crowd of women and children.  If this is how Sunday rolls, expect the week to be completely nuts.

Coming up over the next few weeks, my posts might be a little irregular.  I start a new shift where I have to be in at 02:FuckingEarly.  Last year at this time of year, I missed a few days, but tried to collect them into larger days.  If that happens again this year, I might just skip and post unsorted news for those days.  Sorting out a couple hundred news stories each day takes about an hour or so.  I might just highlight a few big stories, then put the rest in a pile.  I hope it doesn’t come to that.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

 

 

Daily Check-In 11/21/2018

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

George Papadopoulos is a fucking idiot, part 838

George Papadopoulos’ lawyers jst filed a one paragraph request to delay his surrender date until the court rules on his motion to continue his bail while a challenge to Mueller’s appointment is pending — he’s due to report to the Bureau of Prisons on Monday, 11/26

For background on what’s happening with Papadopoulos, here’s this thread from last week:

George Papadopoulos’s new lawyers seek an order continuing his bail pending the outcome of Andrew Miller’s appeal challenging Mueller’s authority, asserting it could “directly impact the validity of Mr. Papadopoulos’s prosecution and conviction.”

The special counsel’s office is due to respond to Papadopoulos’ motion to continue his bail while the Mueller challenge is pending by 11am this morning. The motion filed this morning is basically just in case the judge doesn’t rule on the bail continuation motion before Monday

Special counsel Mueller’s office is, unsurprisingly, opposed to George Papadopoulos’ motion to delay his prison surrender date (which his Monday)

GOVERNMENT’S RESPONSE TO DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO CONTINUE BAIL

Prosecutors wrote that although Papadopoulos admitted lying to the FBI, after his sentencing hearing “he made a variety of public statements that appear to be inconsistent with his stated acceptance of responsibility”

Special counsel’s office argues Papadopoulos had plenty of time to bring a challenge to Mueller’s appointment, and the fact that someone else is doing it elsewhere is not a reason to upend a case where he got a “favorable” deal and that’s pretty much over

There’s also some footnote action of note from the special counsel’s office, re: Papadopoulos’ tweets after he was sentenced to two weeks in prison

What’s next? The judge didn’t include an opportunity for Papadopoulos to file a reply to the government’s response to his request to delay his surrender date in the briefing schedule, so now we’re just waiting on an order

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

…But, Her Emails!!!

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET

Trump is a Russian asset, a mob money launderer installed by his mob whoremasters to sow chaos and weaken the US & our allies. EVERY SINGLE THING HE’S DONE since taking office is to achieve those purposes—that and to enrich himself personally. [THREAD]

1/ His entire family is part of this. Melania is a fucking crook. Ivanka is a fucking crook. Junior and Gums are fucking crooks. They will all die in prison, except for Kushner, who, if he really *did* trade US intel for money, should be executed for espionage.

2/ Why do you think Trump installs uniquely corrupt & awful people to Cabinet positions? Pruitt, Zinke, Betsy, Rex/Pompeo, Wilbur “Melting Nazi Face” Ross. They are not there to serve us. They are not there to drain the swamp. They are there to BURN THE REPUBLIC DOWN.

3/ Trump steals. He takes taxpayer money—your money and mine—and lines his pockets with it. He exploits his office to make himself richer. This is all he cares about. Why are Republican citizens, you “fiscal conservatives,” not more angry about this? Riddle me THAT, #MAGA.

4/ Matt Whitaker, the human dildo and “acting AG,” was illegally installed to throw a monkey wrench in the Mueller investigation. That’s why they won’t release his financials. He’s fucking bought and sold. He’s going to prison for obstruction.

5/ Kavanaugh was rammed through for similar purposes. He’s compromised, there to rubber-stamp Trump’s autocratic BS, and he should be impeached and removed as soon as Nadler gets the gavel. We never did find out where he got all his money:

6/ Sessions met with Russians multiple times in his role as Trump surrogate and lied about it under oath. Fuck that racist Keebler elf, too. Also Pence. Fuck Mike Pence. Jesus doesn’t love you, Mike. He draws the line at you.

7/ We enjoy mocking Roger Stone, but he is the godfather of ratfuckery. He was careless this time & it will cost him. He’s getting indicted any day now, & he will go to prison w/ his ex-partner Manafort, & he’s old, so he’ll fucking die there. Stone in jail is good for America.

8/ TRUMP AND KUSHNER ALLOWED THEIR SAUDI BENEFACTOR TO BRUTALLY ASSASSINATE A US RESIDENT WHO WROTE FOR THE WASHINGTON POST. Not because of oil. Not because of US policy. Because MbS gave them money.

9/ There is a whitewashing of Michael Cohen happening these days, because he’s cooperating and tweeting normal things. Guess what? He’s a fucking mobster. And he’s a fucking rat.

10/ Whatever the fuck Lindsey Graham did, I hope it was worth it, because he couldn’t be more of a Russian puppet if Putin’s fist was up his ass.

11/ Mitch McConnell is the worst American since the Civil War. I read that his kids hate him. Good. I don’t know if he’ll be scathed by Trump/Russia, but I wish nothing but ill upon him. He is, in no uncertain terms, a traitor to the country. Period.

12/ Sarah Suckupabee Sanders is a joke of a human being. I think she just may be smart enough to realize this. I hope so. I hope she experiences social shunning and shame for the rest of her days.

13/ I haven’t forgotten about Stephen Miller, and everyone else actively involved in separating kids from parents. That’s Nazi shit right there. If you do this, you are a Nazi.

14/ TREASON is the operative word here. Spare me your precious legalese fuckery. I don’t care what the legal definition is. You try to actively destroy my country, you’re guilty of treason. And these Trumpists are ALL guilty of that. From 45 to the asshole who took Acosta’s mic.

You think I’m being hyperbolic? You think I’m using strong words I don’t really mean? Bullshit. The Trumps, all of them, are traitors. They are ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE. And to paraphrase Robert Plant, their time is gonna come. SOON. WE SHALL PREVAIL. [END]

 

 

TRUMP VS THE MILITARY

 

TRAITOR TOTS

WHITAKER

Where did this $904K come from? Donors Trust was used intentionally to conceal the donor. The Mercer family? Kochs? Saudi Arabia? Russia? If the Senate had confirmed him we would know. The House will have to find out in January. This guy could be a mole.

The entire point of Donors Trust is to conceal the identity of the donor. It’s a (unfortunately legal) way to launder charitable contributions. Originally it was used by the Kochs and other Americans. But these days who knows?

FACT? Very low profile. This is a huge amount of money for a group that doesn’t do much. It’s not a large scale active group like Heritage and Fed. Soc. Sounds like a conduit for payoffs.

So the next question becomes, what was he getting paid off for?

 

FIGHTING BACK

 

RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM

 

KHASHOGGI & SAUDI ARABIA

*Deep breaths* It’s easy to get lost in the grief and outrage over Trump siding Saudi regime that thinks nothing of butchering peaceful journalists in consulates. But hope is not all lost. Congress must act, and the American people can still help. Here’s a thread

1. Trump has basically chosen to ignore the CIA’s “high confidence” conclusion that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered ’s murder. As and note, Dem oversight can help flesh out the CIA’s conclusions

2) the Former CIA chief, has said that Congress should move to declassify the CIA intelligence on the Saudis, Mohammed bin Salman, and the murder. Congress must move in that direction.

Congress must investigate Trump’s and Jared Kushner’s financial dealings with Saudi Arabia and Mohammed bin Salman and resulting conflicts of interest. MbS once reportedly bragged about having Kushner “in his pocket”

4) Khalid bin Salman, Saudi Ambassador to D.C. (brother of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman) was named by the CIA in the plot to lure away from Washington. He was part of the cover-up, spreading falsehoods to reporters. He should be formally expelled from Washington.

5) + have now called for Trump to specifically make a determination on whether the administration believes that Mohammed bin Salman was involved in ’s murder, under the Magnitsky Act. Trump has 120 days to reply.

6) Also as reported earlier, Rep. Eliot Engel, the incoming chair of the House Foreign relations committee, may investigate whether the Trump administration went along with the Saudi regime’s attempts to whitewash ’s murder.

7) There is talk that the Saudis may choose a woman ambassador (Princess Reema) to come to Washington. Women shouldn’t be used to whitewash brutality Especially as long as Saudi Arabia is jailing, torturing, + sexually abusing women’s rights activists

8) This tragedy is not just about Jamal , as painful as his murder is. The United States should press Saudi Arabia for the release of jailed reformers. Jamal wrote about many of them. First name: Women’s rights activist Loujain al Hathloul.

9) A big part of Mohammed bin Salman’s expensive charm offensive in the West was his ending the ban on women driving. The West ate it all up. Little did we know, that MbS jailed many of the women who campaigned to drive. Now they are being tortured.

10) 29 year old women’s rights activist Loujain Hathloul was kidnapped from Abu Dhabi in the UAE and transferred to Saudi Arabia where she has been sitting in prison. Americans should press for Loujain’s release, and the release of other women campaigners from Saudi prisons.

And of course, it is time to end U.S. support for Saudi Arabia’s brutal war in Yemen. In the last piece we worked on together while he was alive, called for his country to end Yemen’s “cruel war”

10) The United States and the UK must push for an end to the atrocious war in Yemen. As former Obama WH coordinator for the Middle East Philip Gordon writes,” on almost every measure, Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen has failed.”

11) If the United States can help save the lives of other brave reformers imprisoned and tortured in Saudi Arabia — or if we finally move to help stop the bloodshed in Yemen, the bittersweet truth is will have done more in death than he did in life.

12) And of course, people all around the world can help by reading and sharing Jamal ‘s work at the . Teachers and professors can include his articles in their coursework. You can find his work in English and Arabic here:

Jamal wanted to live in Washington so that he could be free. And for a year, he was. It is why the fight for is global— its about the freedom for peaceful people and journalists to express themselves without fear of imprisonment and death.

*Hops off her soapbox* Thank you for coming to my ThEaD talk.

 

 

SCOTUS 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts is pushing back against President Donald Trump’s description of a judge who ruled against Trump’s new migrant asylum policy as an “Obama judge.”

It’s the first time that the leader of the federal judiciary has offered even a hint of criticism of Trump, who has previously blasted federal judges who ruled against him.

Roberts said Wednesday the U.S. doesn’t have “Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges.” He commented in a statement released by the Supreme Court after a query by The Associated Press.

Roberts said on the day before Thanksgiving that an “independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for.”

Last year, the president used the term a “so-called judge” after the first federal ruling against his travel ban.

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

 

IMMIGRATION

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

TRADE WAR, HEALTH CARE, AND ECONOMY

 

STUDENT LOANS

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

 

PRIESTS & RELIGION

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

 

CONGRESS

 

ELECTION 2018

 

THANKSGIVING

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

 

RUMOR MILL

 

That’s it for Wednesday.  It’s light on the editorializing because I’m running late making Thanksgiving dinner.  Also, don’t expect a Thursday only post.  I’ll likely combine that with Friday’s.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the United States, and a Happy Thursday to those outside the States.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur