The Strange Case of Paul Manafort’s Cooperation … with Donald Trump
Paul Manafort got a deal to be a cooperator — but as the New York Times revealed the night before last, his cooperation was not with Robert Mueller, but Donald Trump:
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 the special counsel’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.
Rudolph W. Giuliani, one of the president’s personal lawyers, acknowledged the arrangement on Tuesday and defended it as a source of valuable insights into the special counsel’s inquiry and where it was headed. Such information could help shape a legal defense strategy, and it also appeared to give Mr. Trump and his legal advisers ammunition in their public relations campaign against Mr. Mueller’s office.
Prosecutors have now accused Manafort of repeatedly lying to them, and one wonders why someone in such dire circumstances would lie. I’m joking of course. The motive is clear. It rhymes with “harden” and begins with a “p.”
Manafort and Trump had operated under a joint defense agreement, but any privilege under that agreement could not exist once Manafort was facially cooperating, and Mueller can now seek to discover the substance of the conversations between Manafort’s and Trump’s lawyers.
Trump seems to be taking this all in stride, retweeting this delightful meme:
— The Trump Train 🚂🇺🇸 (@The_Trump_Train) November 28, 2018
This is the calm and unflappable Donald Trump we’ve all come to know and love. Note the presence of Rod Rosenstein in the picture. If you think Trump didn’t notice this, think again:
It was no accident that President Trump Wednesday retweeted an image of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein locked up.
When asked during an interview with The Post: “Why do you think he belongs behind bars?” Trump responded: “He should have never picked a Special Counsel.”
The Trump presidency: a constant exercise in seeing whether the last bizarre stunt can be topped. So far, the answer is always “yes.” How long can that go on?
[Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.]
And the guardian had walk back the story like Michael Jackson re Wikileaks,
Narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 7:24 amTrump giving obama a pardon would be priceless.
mg (ef2c8e) — 11/29/2018 @ 7:33 amrosenstein’s a deeply corrupt person but Bobby Mueller’s even more scummy than Rod is
the fbi and the doj are just hopelessly tainted and illegitimate enterprises anymore
now that we have a real attorney general there’s maybe a glimmer of hope
but it’s pretty faint
happyfeet (d13f58) — 11/29/2018 @ 7:33 amSince Narciso #1 didn’t provide a link, I will:
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/11/the-guardian-paul-manafort-julian-assange
I think narc’s referring to some “alleged” language being in the current version of the Guardian’s reporting, that wasn’t in the first version. If that counts as a moonwalk, it must be one from MJ’s later days. But the substance of the comment — nobody has verified the Guardian story yet — is quite correct.
Appalled (d07ae6) — 11/29/2018 @ 7:34 amManafort is of minor consequence to the Mueller political team. Michael Cohen, the “fixer,” is much more interesting. Of course, none of the dirt will have anything to do with Russia.
AZ Bob (885937) — 11/29/2018 @ 7:35 amHillary can have a special prosecutor loaded with her people some of who bent over backward to prevent her from being indicted, an appointment that was clearly unethically If not illegally sought but it’s all good
Narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 7:36 amI’d love to see the kinds of things Mueller’s team was trying to get Manafort (and Stone/Corsi) to sign off on.
Ingot9455 (fb3b09) — 11/29/2018 @ 7:38 amExcept Cohen just pleaded guilty to lying about Trump Tower Moscow, and the fact that he was working on TTM until June 2016.
Plus, Trump just changed his TTM story from “I had nothing to do with Russia” to “just because I was running for president I was still free to do business in Russia”. This, of course, is exactly the opposite of what he’s been saying for 3 years.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (68437d) — 11/29/2018 @ 7:41 amWell there is no evidence just like the Prague story its from the fusion GPS bag of tricks just like secret agent Carter page has been allowed to roam free for 2 1/2 year the fisa warrant was on him.
Narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 7:41 amLanny Davis atty for firtash does his job, just not for any other client.
Narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 7:44 amPaul Manafort has been grasping at a lot of straws that turned out to be anchors. Beginning with getting involved with the Trump campaign, and reaching the nadir when he used NSA-monitored texts to get witnesses abroad to lie for him which cost him his release on bail. Just between us, I don’t think he’s all that smart.
nk (dbc370) — 11/29/2018 @ 7:49 amThe point was he joined the trump campaign, Podesta took the money from the Ukrainians stiffed them and yet has not been prosecuted neither has Weber, in fact their cases are buried in ny with khuzaimi
Narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 7:52 amEverybody in Hillary’s inner circle gets immunize Obama has Yates do a back stop to prevent Comey from being fired all hands are on deck to investigate trump, it doesn’t matter whi ths
Narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 7:58 amOf course, none of the dirt will have anything to do with Russia.
I should have been more careful. The Cohen dirt won’t have anything to do with stealing the election from Hillary by secret collusion with Putin, which was the reason for the Mueller political investigation in the first place.
Give me the man and I’ll give you the crime. And I’m sure Cohen can provide a lot of leads.
AZ Bob (885937) — 11/29/2018 @ 7:59 amWho is the attorney general is because he has no say, only Hillary people are hired some of whom have previously been reprimanded for abuses of power
Narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 8:00 amTrump pardoning the pant suit queen would really be priceless.
mg (ebf6c2) — 11/29/2018 @ 8:06 amThe beto level slobbering most recently with gq re Mueller that never examine his conduct from Boston to bcci to anthrax to AIPAC etc etc.
Narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 8:08 amPardon me, no pardon me, please pard
mg (ebf6c2) — 11/29/2018 @ 8:13 amThe special counsel is the pardon for Hillary, that’s why flake is collaborating with the bearded marxist as he probably did to get blonde lesbian witch elected.
Narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 8:16 amClassy.
Dave (1bb933) — 11/29/2018 @ 8:31 amThat’s what who she is, coincidentally the Taliban she respects so would send her twice,
Narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 8:34 amMueller seems bummed that all the shady lawyers aren’t exclusively on his team.
Munroe (27e7c6) — 11/29/2018 @ 8:51 amAlderman burke is going down, comments nk urban.
Narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 8:54 amNaw Cohen never brought a building down to the fiundations.
Narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 8:56 amLike weissman did to Arthur Anderson, he was subsequently reversed on appeal.
Narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 8:58 amspeaking of sleazy fbi-style corruption
happyfeet (d13f58) — 11/29/2018 @ 9:04 amI think Roman emperors had shorter terms of office.
Narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 9:09 amI’m not sure if this link will get thru moderation – but after observing the system of “justice” we currently employ, a scorched earth policy works for me.
https://www.popehat.com/2013/12/23/burn-the-fucking-system-to-the-ground/
Nuke it from orbit, it’s the only way to be sure.
bendover (eedbbe) — 11/29/2018 @ 9:19 amWe know Alderman Burke very well. His life story is the life story of the Daley Machine. It would take several books to write it all. A couple of highlights:
nk (dbc370) — 11/29/2018 @ 9:23 am— His daddy was a powerful confrere of Old Boss Mayor Daley. When it was time for young Eddie to go to law school, daddy made him a City of Chicago policeman. For three (or four) years he got paid to sit in a secluded corner of the precinct station and do his homework and rest for his classes. His law firm handles property tax appeals in Cook County and is very successful at it. Guess why.
— His wife is a judge. Previously in the Appellate Court, now on the Supreme Court. She got there the Chicago way. She was appointed to fill a midterm vacancy and then only had to stand for uncontested (Yes or No) retention which is 99% certain. Not contested election. But you gots to knows the right peoples to have that done for you.
So everyone in cook county is having a maalox moment.
Narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 9:26 amI have worked for four government agencies. I found them all to be corrupt, inefficient, and wasteful. After exposing wrongdoing in the last two — I was fired from both on fabricated charges. Then they filled another 10 page malicious complaint with the State of Tennessee — which took years and my life savings to clear my name. All the charges were found to be false. All I got was apologies from State paid attorneys — and the member of the Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners!
That was only the being of their retaliation. For the next 20 years, they targeted all my businesses and business relations. They surveilled my computers and phones. However, the most egregious things was that they harmed, killed, and stole under false pretenses over 140 Thoroughbred horses. I document their crimes and filed numerous complaints with law enforcement – all the way up to the WH. Anyone who tell you that the FBI and DOJ are not corrupt is part of the corruption!!
BOTH SIDES OF THE POLITICAL DUOPOLY ARE CORRUPT!
GOVERNMENT INVESTIGATIONS ARE PRIMARILY USED TO FLUSH OUT LEAKERS, WHISTLEBLOWERS AND ANYONE THAT THEY PERCEIVE AS A THREAT TO THEIR COVERT CRIME SCHEMES.
Forty years of fighting corrupt government officials – and being continually and maliciously targeted by corrupt government officials — has taught me that — “There are many well-orchestrated government crime schemes. Corrupt members of the Shadow Government rarely suffer real or just consequences. Routinely, those that threaten to expose government wrongdoing (whistleblowers and leakers) are investigated and maliciously prosecuted.”
If anyone who has worked for the government tells you that the government is not corrupt, then they are either — unprincipled enablers who want to keep their jobs; incompetent, unwittingly, and ignorant; or, they are active participants in their government agency’s wrongdoing!
Those that stand up to government wrongdoing are usually investigated — often by biased and corrupt government officials. Good and just government employees are often investigated and maliciously prosecuted on fabricated charges. The real reason for the investigation is to weed out any government employs that are not willing to play their roles in government wrongdoing.
Paul E. Truitt, DVM (b3c4f7) — 11/29/2018 @ 9:43 am@30
Fool me once…
Matador (39e0cd) — 11/29/2018 @ 9:49 amThe Beginning: Russian Collusion…TREASON!!! ELEVENTY!!!
The End: an elderly man (who believes the Moon landing was faked) forgets he’d forwarded an email in 2016, admits it when reminded/asked about it – he’d already voluntarily turned over his laptop, PW, all accounts – so let’s charge him with perjury.
Colonel Haiku (697687) — 11/29/2018 @ 10:11 amIf Bob Mueller is a manifestation of the Rule of Law, then there is no justice.
Colonel Haiku (697687) — 11/29/2018 @ 10:13 am“I don’t recall”, guys, “I don’t recall”! Don’t be shy to say “I don’t recall”! Hillary used it 39 times with the FBI in the email investigation, but it was not the first time. This is from Whitewater. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWQureIC1QM
nk (dbc370) — 11/29/2018 @ 10:18 am20… Some hate it when some reps of the protected class are taken to task…
Colonel Haiku (697687) — 11/29/2018 @ 10:32 ammueller’s done a lot to educate people on what a piss-ant and petty operation the fbi and the doj are running
these are clearly corrupt and unserious organizations what only serve to dispense joke justice at the whims of easily offended deep state trash like rod rosenstein
happyfeet (d13f58) — 11/29/2018 @ 10:36 amAbout damn time for Burke, they’re running out of et-Nik holdouts to map into his SW side ward. Just as well to use this to get the City Council down from 50 to 46 or 44 when you account for the black population decline.
urbanleftbehind (5e7f00) — 11/29/2018 @ 10:39 am‘Member when they stole that black lady’s baby, urbanleftbehind?
nk (dbc370) — 11/29/2018 @ 10:41 amMr. Litman has a good analogy.
This is also relevant.
Paul Montagu (8afb2a) — 11/29/2018 @ 11:12 amThe only thing that’s in jeopardy is Manafort’s plea deal. Everybody else he talked to is in no more trouble than CBS 60 Minutes was when Stormy Daniels talked to them in contravention of her NDA with Cohen. Yes, they can be made to testify about any conversations Manafort had with them in any proceeding (I imagine his sentencing hearing) involving Manafort. So what?
nk (dbc370) — 11/29/2018 @ 11:20 amPS. I don’t know if there are special rules for federal Special Counsels with Special Counsel-friendly judges, but in Illinois it is unethical for a prosecutor to advise a witness not to talk to the attorneys for the defendant. Prosecutors do not own witnesses.
nk (dbc370) — 11/29/2018 @ 11:27 amno the lie was based on the bogus fusion gps rumor floated to the guardian, where they didn’t bother to ask whether there was any evidence, say passport or guest book, the first was easy property of the april 2017 raid, nor video camera footage,
narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 11:31 amAlso regarding Manafort, The Guardian changed the meeting between Manafort and Assange to “apparently”, but they didn’t change their story about Manafort being at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on three occasions. So why would a political operative who worked with Putin’s pet oligarchs like Deripaska and Putin’s stooges like Yanukovych have reason to go to the backwater embassy of a third-rate nation in South America? Given its occupant, the question practically answers itself.
Paul Montagu (8afb2a) — 11/29/2018 @ 11:38 amIt’s also fair to say that Wikileaks serves as a conduit for Putin. If there is collusion between Putin and Trump, it would be by the Wikileaks and Stone/Corsi conduits.
this is just more evidence that dirty bob mueller is NOT living his best life
and that’s sad
happyfeet (d13f58) — 11/29/2018 @ 11:42 amthe atlantic speaking of conspiracy theories, yes Assange compromised diplomatic communication (manning) signals intelligence (snowden) the post the times the guardian, they couldn’t get enough there wasn’t a source or method, they didn’t publish, without a care in the world, at the time of the alleged first contact, the us govt had retained manafort’s employer deripaska, to search for Robert levinson, this is why he had retained adam waldman, who had contacts with the foreign ministry, this is who mark warner, used as a back channel to Christopher steele,
narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 11:46 amBreaking: Boom.
Federal agents raid office of lawyer who previously did tax work for Trump
Tillman (61f3c8) — 11/29/2018 @ 11:48 amMueller’s networth is 18 million, I guess for the grandson of the founder of the Lackawanna railroad and the the son of a dupont exec, he hasn’t made out too badly representing flexible financed Mexican banks and apple and facebook, (could there be a conflict here, nah)
narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 11:50 amand Pritzker, and durbin and donner and blitzen, who didn’t ed burke represent,
narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 11:52 amAfter that news, that sound you’re hearing is Donnie Boy having to run to the nearest restroom to change his Depends.
Tillman (61f3c8) — 11/29/2018 @ 11:57 amTrump Train has Cohen caboose; ‘Donfucius’ say lawyer who takie bullet up front now shoot me in back.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 11/29/2018 @ 12:03 pmBurke’s office has done property tax work for tens of thousands of people. That’s what they do. And they’re very successful at it, because Burke is a big wheel in the Chicago Machine and the Cook County Assessor and the Cook County Board of Appeals are put into office by the Chicago Machine.
nk (dbc370) — 11/29/2018 @ 12:04 pmbreaking news they just caught two ms 13 gang members at the border. it was the two girls seen running barefoot from the rear gas. their wearing diapers gave them away!
lany (f0330d) — 11/29/2018 @ 12:08 pm‘The Delightful Meme.’ Back in the day, it was just called, ‘The Enemies List.’
History rhymes.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 11/29/2018 @ 12:08 pmWill jb be going for the buffet line twice now.
Narciso (766551) — 11/29/2018 @ 12:25 pmThe list composed by John dean, tell us another uncle disco.
Narciso (766551) — 11/29/2018 @ 12:28 pmApparently Pat is REALLY ANGRY that attorney-client privilege is a thing that still exists, and that attornies can talk to other attornies of people not actually subject to an investigation whenever they want.
Well, maybe not THIS Special Counsel:
“Techno Fog
@Techno_Fog
Follow Follow @Techno_Fog
More
On the subject of spying, maybe Mueller should indict himself for allowing his subordinates to falsify national security letters to illegally spy on Americans.”
“Techno Fog
“Techno Fog
@Techno_Fog
Jul 13
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This all relates to a 2010 OIG report on the FBI’s use of obtaining phone records.
Finding: Mueller’ FBI abused its authority by improperly obtaining reporters’ phone billing records without the required Attorney General approval.”
@Techno_Fog
Jul 13
More
Mueller’s FBI was also lying to the FISA courts – in sworn declarations – about how it obtained information through national security letters or grand jury subpoenas.”
https://twitter.com/Techno_Fog/status/1017984748961050624
Let’s remember: Mueller’s tactics as a prosecutor have always been the same: giving immunity to people who don’t deserve it (like that Asimov fellow), suborning perjury via the plea bargain process, forcing process crimes within the investigation, and oftentimes outright paying for testimony.
Today we also find that Pedo Epstein apparently got off with a light 19year sentence for the low, low price of two executives at the company that he was the biggest investor in, though to be fair Mueller got MUCH better deals for his pedophiles.
Give me Trump over these hypocrites yesterday, today, and forever.
Izzet (b5d0bd) — 11/29/2018 @ 12:29 pmfast eddie’s house takes up 6 lots
he had the alley rerouted
(house with tennis court)
happyfeet (d13f58) — 11/29/2018 @ 12:52 pmI see that all of a sudden someone is taking lying to Congress serioisly. Who knew?
AZ Bob (b80b29) — 11/29/2018 @ 12:54 pmPardon me, boy; is that the Trumpalooza Choo-Choo;
DCSCA (797bc0) — 11/29/2018 @ 12:56 pmTrack 23; ride home to Clemency.
Fast Eddie’s house is in prime HDO alumni territory nowadays.
urbanleftbehind (5e7f00) — 11/29/2018 @ 1:00 pmoops my bad
tennis court house belongs to eddie vrdolyak
same idea – check his wikipedia
happyfeet (d13f58) — 11/29/2018 @ 1:19 pmhttps://chicago.suntimes.com/news/the-snowplows-hit-ald-burkes-street-five-times/
there’s where burke lives
happyfeet (d13f58) — 11/29/2018 @ 1:20 pmI admit I don’ understand Twitter, but “The Trump Train” is a fanboy account. Where is the retweet by Trump?
Kevin M (a57144) — 11/29/2018 @ 1:28 pmI see that all of a sudden someone is taking lying to Congress seriously. Who knew?
More so in the months to come.
Kevin M (a57144) — 11/29/2018 @ 1:34 pmI agree with Trump that Rosenstein is a horribly conflicted player in this drama – Trump should immediately fire whoever appointed Rosenstein Deputy AG. While he’s at it, Trump should clean house by firing whoever it was that appointed that terrible loser Jeff Sessions, whoever hired Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen, and whoever it was that decided leaving an idiot in charge of making these sorts of decisions was a smart move.
Jerryskids (702a61) — 11/29/2018 @ 1:41 pmvery funny he was told that Rosenstein was a standup guy, he wasn’t told he had signed off on the fisa warrant, that was based on the bogus dossier, or the fact he had shut down the investigation into uranium one,
narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 1:44 pmIf only we could get back to honest presidents…..
Obama takes credit for US fuel boom he not only had nothing to do with, but actually worked to supress
https://dailycaller.com/2018/11/29/shell-oil-president-obama-fuel-production/
harkin (05cfd8) — 11/29/2018 @ 2:19 pmi love President Trump and if he wants to pardon Mr. Manafort then I think that would be an impressive gesture of magnanimity
we should celebrate this when it happens
but not before cause we don’t wanna jinx it
happyfeet (d13f58) — 11/29/2018 @ 2:33 pm@68. No statesmen or patriots in Congress these days, Mr. Feet; happy endings make for great ratings. Stay-tuned for the finale: everybody’s gonna beat the rap.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 11/29/2018 @ 2:48 pmit’s almost as if she’s intent on sabotaging it:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/11/29/hundred-tory-mps-denounce-theresa-mays-brexit-deal-worth-uk/
narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 3:15 pmit’s funny how fitz never got around to him, and of course holder and lynch wouldn’t appoint a special counsel:
https://libertyunyielding.com/2018/11/29/obama-america-has-a-great-smugness-about-wealth-status/
narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 3:20 pmPiano ManMueller ManIt’s 6AM on a Saturday
The Feebs hit teh door bustin’ in
There’s an old man layin’ down next to her
Makin’ love in his dream as he grins
“Hey old man can you recall a memory…
An email back in 2016…
We’re reachin’ for straws but it gives us no pause
That by now the slim pickins are lean”
La la la, di da da
La la, di da da da dum
Give us a break, you’re the Mueller Man
Colonel Haiku (697687) — 11/29/2018 @ 3:30 pmA traveshamockery
Well, we’ve all had our fill of the time you have killed
Lock you up and throw ‘way the key
No statesmen or patriots in Congress these days
but we got rid of dirty hateful Mia Love and her vicious hateful politics of hate
that’s not nothing
happyfeet (d13f58) — 11/29/2018 @ 3:47 pmMore Trump sleaze during the 2016 campaign:
To my best recollection, it remains true that Trump has not exclusively said one critical thing of Putin since he went down his golden escalator.
Paul Montagu (8afb2a) — 11/29/2018 @ 3:51 pmugh dirty amoral flake-licker Tim Scott found a 27 year old memo
look at him go
wtf is wrong with these preening narcissists
happyfeet (d13f58) — 11/29/2018 @ 3:51 pmAll sorts of crimes, e.g., criminal leaking of classified info against the administration, lying to the FISA court, all sorts of crap like this that aren’t even being looked at. How about we deal with actual crimes and have Mueller start investigating them?
Is that too much to expect? Wake the fvck up and smell the catfood, America.
Colonel Haiku (697687) — 11/29/2018 @ 3:53 pmSpeculation and ongoing horseschiff from the Derp State and their clueless lackeys.
Colonel Haiku (697687) — 11/29/2018 @ 3:54 pmHow about we make Trump and Mueller marry each other — shotgun optional — and send them both to live on an island in the Keys where they can squabble with each other to their hearts’ content and leave the rest of us alone?
nk (dbc370) — 11/29/2018 @ 3:56 pmsince he went down his golden escalator
he also has one that goes up you know
which is good for in case of he forgets his keys
happyfeet (d13f58) — 11/29/2018 @ 3:57 pmhappyfeet and Mia Love can visit them so they don’t get too lonely.
nk (dbc370) — 11/29/2018 @ 3:57 pmWill she change her name to Mia Feet or you to Happy Love, happyfeet?
nk (dbc370) — 11/29/2018 @ 3:59 pmi’m so done with her cause i just got sick of her attitude
you know how sometimes you’re just done with somebody
it’s cause she’s a toxic personality i think
and that’s all on her
happyfeet (d13f58) — 11/29/2018 @ 4:04 pmAnd, evergreen… when you fuel up as gas prices drop… https://static.pjmedia.com/instapundit/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/sunkingobama-466×600.jpg
Colonel Haiku (697687) — 11/29/2018 @ 4:07 pmMore Trump sleaze during the 2016 campaign:
Paul Montagu (8afb2a) — 11/29/2018 @ 3:51 pm
“Two US law enforcement officials told BuzzFeed News”
Sounds like more law enforcement sleaze to me.
“The plan never went anywhere because the tower deal ultimately fizzled, and it is not clear whether Trump knew of the intention to give away the penthouse.”
Details, details. This being BuzzFeed, I wonder if golden showers were part of the negotiations. And, the deal for the Russian-sourced dossier didn’t fizzle, but that’s a whataboutism I guess — this being about Trump, not about Russian interference in an election.
Munroe (2673ab) — 11/29/2018 @ 4:10 pm“All sorts of crimes, e.g., criminal leaking of classified info against the administration, lying to the FISA court, all sorts of crap like this that aren’t even being looked at. How about we deal with actual crimes and have Mueller start investigating them?”
There’s no Congressional cover for investigating actual crimes, a man like Mueller can only exist because Congress and the various intel agencies (who either keep information away from Congress or hide it at Congress’s bequest in exchange for yearly funding) allow him to exist. When you hide monumental screw-ups there’s nothing like a WAR HERO!!! to offer your excuses, like he’s talking about a failure in a Daring Sooper Sekrit Raid By Are Boys rather than Yet Another Black Project That Wasted Taxpayer Dollars.
There is no one righteous, not even one, but ‘authoritarian personalities’, ‘evil dictators’, ‘strongmen’ (as opposed to the weakmen the bureaucrats and money men would like in power), and various flavors of ‘toxic masculinity’ can shamelessly burn out some sections of the Swamp pretty good if popular feeling is aligned sharply enough on their side. They’ll have to worry about a lot more than bad photoshop then.
Mueller is flailing very publicly and very foolishly, the only TRUST THE PLAN Qtards talking about the piles of sealed indictments are all on the Left at the moment.
Izzet (00e23d) — 11/29/2018 @ 4:15 pmAnd someone should tell Corsi that he’ll have a better chance at getting NASA arrested for the fake moon landings than getting Mueller arrested for, uh…something.
Paul Montagu (8afb2a) — 11/29/2018 @ 4:18 pmDid we slip into Central City’s earth two, I suspect that sometimes, gas prices are low, jobs are on the move, except where mary’ fumbles’ barra, chose to ex out some factories, but we’re focused with this garbage,
narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 4:18 pmThe sleaze I’m seeing is that a person was trying to work a billion-dollar real estate deal–via his authorized agent, Cohen–with a foreign head of state while running for president. This is hardly different than Hillary’s foundation getting millions from Saudi Arabia and other nations while Secretary of State.
Paul Montagu (8afb2a) — 11/29/2018 @ 4:28 pm“The sleaze I’m seeing is that a person was trying to work a billion-dollar real estate deal–via his authorized agent, Cohen–with a foreign head of state while running for president.”
Paul Montagu (8afb2a) — 11/29/2018 @ 4:28 pm
What person? Does the sleazy report say that?
Sleazy leaks are the sort of sleaze you don’t want to see as sleaze. Got it.
Munroe (822f40) — 11/29/2018 @ 4:43 pmThis is hardly different than Hillary’s foundation getting millions from Saudi Arabia and other nations while Secretary of State.
If “hardly” means “entirely”. Trump was not holding a Position of Profit or Trust under the United States at the time. Whatsername was.
nk (dbc370) — 11/29/2018 @ 4:44 pmSomehow, it seems that the Rosenstein-Mueller Coup Train is not proceeding as initially planned.
askeptic (8d10f9) — 11/29/2018 @ 4:54 pmKen White on Cohen’s deal:
The Mueller team is disciplined, and it means all these leaks are coming from somewhere else. This isn’t the first surprise move by Mueller.
In other words, this is a backdoor way for Mueller to get the information into the public sphere in the event Lapdog Whitaker buries the Special Counsel report.
Yup.
Paul Montagu (8afb2a) — 11/29/2018 @ 4:55 pmIf you’re not seeing the conflict of interest going on here, then I can’t help you.
Paul Montagu (8afb2a) — 11/29/2018 @ 4:57 pmCohen is an a$$hole. He might go to prison for it. We already know that.
nk (dbc370) — 11/29/2018 @ 4:58 pmMore on Trump’s conflict of interest from Lawfare:
Actually, it did get worse with the news of the offer of the $50 million penthouse gift to Putin. Trump not only lies about everything, he is corrupt and a corrupter.
Paul Montagu (8afb2a) — 11/29/2018 @ 5:05 pm90… there you go again, making me laugh…
Colonel Haiku (697687) — 11/29/2018 @ 5:20 pmHold everyone accountable for lying to officials.
Or no one. The highly selective nature of this is apauling.
Colonel Haiku (697687) — 11/29/2018 @ 5:22 pmMore takeaways on Cohen, this time from Mr. French:
Paul Montagu (8afb2a) — 11/29/2018 @ 5:23 pmPun intended.
Colonel Haiku (697687) — 11/29/2018 @ 5:23 pmCute. Look at that cloud!
Paul Montagu (8afb2a) — 11/29/2018 @ 5:24 pmhttps://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/parody/images/e/ed/Sebastian-cabot-checkmate-2.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150916131014
Colonel Haiku (697687) — 11/29/2018 @ 5:26 pm90… there you go again, making me laugh…
I hope you don’t find it “totally unacceptable”, Haiku. Snorfle. Some internet personality who calls himself Lawfare had his sensibiwities offended and ours should be too.
nk (dbc370) — 11/29/2018 @ 5:27 pmMr French… hahahaha haha… HA!
Colonel Haiku (697687) — 11/29/2018 @ 5:27 pmMore on Ed Burke. https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/ed-burke-fbi-federal-agents-city-hall-council/ The FBI raided his Aldermanic offices, not his law offices. So much for Da Trump Connection.
nk (dbc370) — 11/29/2018 @ 5:41 pmLike Emily litella said, never mind.
Narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 5:44 pmAnd in Neil de grasse Tyson news…
Narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 5:47 pm“First, it was wholly unacceptable for the Trump team to pursue a significant business relationship with our chief geopolitical foe”
looooooooooooool, maybe you should have asked John Derbyshire about who the US’s ‘chief geopolitical foe’ is before you fired him, I hear he’s married to one of their refugees.
“Many of Trump’s defenders have concluded that he’s done nothing wrong and that the special counsel’s office is engaged in a “witch hunt” well before the facts are out”
‘Cohen’s plea-bargain induced ‘admission’ to a known corrupt CIA-linked prosecutor two years after the fact’ is not ‘the facts’.
“In effect, Cohen admitted in court on Thursday that even as Russian operatives were hacking Democratic emails and getting ready to dump emails through Wikileaks, even as Trump was publicly praising Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, even as the Trump Tower meeting involving Donald Trump Jr. took place in the summer of 2016, the Trump Organization—with Trump and his family very much in the know”
“Michael Cohen and Felix Sater are handling this, and it never went anywhere beyond ‘hey we’re negotiating here, could you maybe not echo all the KILL PUTIN REGIME CHANGE NOW rhetoric going around the crazy Democrats with a history of highly well-known foreign collusion, slush funds, and obstruction of justice for their rank incompetence?'”
Let’s just say that Trump seems to have found more…flexibility in dealing with Putin after the election and the deal fell through.
Izzet (cb5d31) — 11/29/2018 @ 6:09 pmWell 14 years ago, Mueller was obstructing the work of company interrogators the ones that prevented the library tower to be a smoking run. He was also part of that bizarre tantrum over stellar wind on the eve of the Madrid train bombing
Narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 6:17 pmOh really now:
https://mobile.twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1068265582850727936
Narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 6:29 pmIn pursuing Trump Tower Moscow while a candidate, Trump prioritized his own personal greed over the interests of the United States, going so far as tacitly having his authorized agent offer a bribe to a foreign head of state with a $50 million penthouse, a foreign head of state who has been consistently hostile to our interests for years. I’m not a lawyer, so I won’t comment on the legality, but if any other person pulled a conflict of interest like this, he’d be called unpatriotic and anti-American.
Paul Montagu (8afb2a) — 11/29/2018 @ 6:35 pmThere is a new post about Cohen’s plea. Comment about that there.
Patterico (115b1f) — 11/29/2018 @ 6:36 pmWhen I first read about Dezinformatsiya, the name of an actual department in the KGB, I also read a little about their tactics. Their most successful one was to plant a story with a friendly or gullible outlet and then have it picked up by other, major, outlets, with wider circulation.
Now, it is common journalistic practice. A blatant example: Stormy Daniels talked to The Daily Beast. Only The Daily Beast. The story appeared in NYT and WaPo, among others, quoting The Daily Beast and only The Daily Beast. “Marketplace of ideas” my big fat liberal Warren Court!
nk (dbc370) — 11/29/2018 @ 6:41 pmThat the journolist Iran echo chamber fusion GPS way of doing things
Narciso (d1f714) — 11/29/2018 @ 6:44 pmJohn James, Carol Swain, Vernon Robinson, and Jamiel Shaw Sr. would have done the same thing Christy doll version of Graham/Gowdy did.
urbanleftbehind (5e7f00) — 11/29/2018 @ 6:51 pm58. AZ Bob (b80b29) — 11/29/2018 @ 12:54 pm
The problem is that thsi could be very misleading. People could be fooled into thinking this was a natural outgrowth of the lying itself. They are going after lying in very very politically related investigations where Democrats are trying to get Republicans convicted.
The only other times they go after perjury is when somebody wins a case by lying (and not even then) — that’s why Bill Clinton settled his lawsuit with Paula Jones even though he could win on a technically (wrong tort) and had always known that (he needed a publicly presentable excuse for a legal defense fund)
But after that, Bill Clinton needed to lose the Paula Jones case. He knew DOJ policy.
Sammy Finkelman (102c75) — 11/30/2018 @ 9:08 amI think I figured out what’s going on with Paul Manafort. Manafort knows nothing against trump.
But there’s another thing:
If Paul Manafort were to tell the truth he’d have to admit he was trying to work as a spy for Russia within the Trump campaign, and a possible Trump Administration. In other words he was double crossing Trump and and was very unloyal to him personally. If Trump knew it, that would kill any possibility of a sentence commutation (possibly when Trump was leaaving office) But otherwise Trump was amenbable to the argument that Manafort was being pursued because of his connection to him (DOJ had had a case against him but dropped it because it was too much work)
Sammy Finkelman (102c75) — 11/30/2018 @ 9:19 am