The Trump Investigation(s) Thread

[Skinypupy]

retard

Seriously? If you're going to talk like him, maybe you should support him.

Dr. Cox is a wise man.

[Octavious]

It's just like Christie and Bridgegate... Everyone knows he was the mastermind behind it, but they never could find the actual direct connection. Trump is the dumber and even meaner version of Christie. I guess being a total asshole is the way to go now.

[Octavious]

retard

Seriously? If you're going to talk like him, maybe you should support him.

Dr. Cox is a wise man.

It's better to use words that Trump wouldn't understand. Anything that has more than one syllable works for the most part.

[LordMortis]

I'm leaning that there was no official collusion. Not sure what I mean by using the term 'official' but I think it will amount to nothing and that the real drama comes from illegal activities pre/post campaign from his organization/campaign.

My assumption is that Official will mean "prosecutable" and that you are correct. OtOH, I think obstruction will be but quite possibly could be a mistake to pursue.

Of course I'm on the outside, speculating like everyone else. All my faith is in Mueller to lay down what's going on and accept his investigation, wherever it leads with the hope being 1) my country isn't FUBAR by 2020 and 2) transparency into the process of a conman and his criminal syndicate ties lays the smack down the hypocrisy and willful ignorance of a section of the voting populace that is way larger than I ever would imagined possible in my country in as recently as 2006 or so.

Trump is a piece of shit, who probably will get away with everything but I hope my nation learns a lesson worth at least portion of what it will cost us.

The good news (or perhaps my delusion. It's often cool to be wrong and learn new stuff, but being wrong about how fucked up my country really is not cool. Not cool at all) is that I have the perception that no matter his support levels, the party of Trump will not turn us in to an authoritarian state before they collapse nor will his support force my country into rapture mode on their hysterical behalf. I'm hopeful we at least begin to pick up pieces on 2018, that not too many more dollars turn into rubles in the next year point five, and that we never stop shining a light on multinational organized crime led by multinational oligarchs in the name of some sort of obscure right to eminent domain distraction.

[GreenGoo]

The more the investigation goes on, the more I feel that he *did* officially collude. Little bits and pieces coming to light paint a pretty damning picture.

Then again he did call on Russian hackers to produce Hillary's emails while he was on national tv, and that was at the exact time evidence suggests Russia was waiting for Drumpf to respond to whether he wanted it done or not.

As far as I'm concerned, those two things together are enough to kick him out of office. That this might lead to his money laundering coming to light is icing.

[Holman]

It's possible that Manafort/Stone/Flynn and whoever else had direct contact with Russians tried to insulate Trump from the actual collusion activity (both to give the candidate deniability and because they know that Tweety McBigmouth can't be trusted with secrets). Maybe Don Jr. and Jared were meant to be looped in only partially, but turned out in the end to be just as leaky and stupid about secrets as Daddy.

Regardless, it's likely that Trump knows at least some of it. Knowing what we know about Trump's narcissism, though, it's not hard to imagine him actually BELIEVING that there was no collusion because collusion would make him look like less of a winner.

All those tweets all-capping "NO COLLUSION" might be Trump reassuring himself most of all.

[Smoove_B]

I still fundamentally believe we are hearing from an individual that never wanted or actually expected to be President. Instead, the plan was to somehow monetize being so close in the last election and set up his knucklehead kids for another generation of shady business dealings. Instead, he's really elected and now has to try and come to terms with the fact that maybe his skeletons shouldn't have been put to review by the federal government.

At this point he's completely surrounded by people telling him everything is fine and he has nothing to worry about - because that's been the story of his business dealings up until now. The magnitude of the current investigation still hasn't quite sunk in yet and the fact that it's been over a year now suggests (to him) that nothing is wrong and he's (once again) in the clear. The idea that anyone would still bring it up enrages him as he's been repeatedly been assured by his handlers that there's nothing to worry about. However, that's about as far from the truth as you could be.

At least, that's what I need to believe.

[Enough]

retard

Seriously? If you're going to talk like him, maybe you should support him.

As someone who spent multiple professional years working with DD folks I agree, but this abrasive comment is not really a teaching moment, heh. Hopefully Roman at least learns that throwing retard around is a great way to lose audience share fast.

[Roman]

retard

Seriously? If you're going to talk like him, maybe you should support him.

As someone who spent multiple professional years working with DD folks I agree, but this abrasive comment is not really a teaching moment, heh. Hopefully Roman at least learns that throwing retard around is a great way to lose audience share fast.

Agreed %110. I was thinking of editing but then the comments would lose continuity and the lesson lost.
Apologies all.

[LordMortis]

Instead, the plan was to somehow monetize being so close in the last election and set up his knucklehead kids for another generation of shady business dealings. Instead, he's really elected and now has to try and come to terms with the fact that maybe his skeletons shouldn't have been put to review by the federal government.

It's the charlatan way. At the end he could say I should have won I was cheated. Look at his oppostion. But instead of scoring political points, he'd take his political capital and monetize it. Use it to protect his shade and direct his influence to for more shade and more money and more influence. I'd say he lost by winning in Tea Party Libertarian fashion but Paul Ryan and Ted Cruz and Mitch McConnel and Rand Paul keep on selling their snake oil after winning and only Ryan seems to be the carpet bagger smart enough to take his donor's money and run now that he's no longer bravely fighting the losing fight of a rigged system but is rather at the head of the rigged system's table with indicator that he ever understood any of the pulleys or levers.

[ImLawBoy]

retard

Seriously? If you're going to talk like him, maybe you should support him.

As someone who spent multiple professional years working with DD folks I agree, but this abrasive comment is not really a teaching moment, heh. Hopefully Roman at least learns that throwing retard around is a great way to lose audience share fast.

You're right - I usually try to do better than that. Sometimes the fire comes out too quickly, though.

Agreed %110. I was thinking of editing but then the comments would lose continuity and the lesson lost.
Apologies all.

Accepted from my end - thank you. And I'll try to wield a smaller stick next time.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

The "evidence" here is pretty flimsy, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if the leak of the Mueller questions came from the White House.

Michael Zeldin, a CNN legal analyst and former assistant to Robert Mueller, said Tuesday he believes President Trump leaked the list of nearly 50 questions the special counsel allegedly wants to ask Trump.

“I think these are notes taken by the recipients of a conversation with Mueller’s office where he outlined broad topics and these guys wrote down questions that they thought these topics may raise,” Zeldin said on CNN's "New Day."

“Because of the way these questions are written ... lawyers wouldn’t write questions this way, in my estimation. Some of the grammar is not even proper," he continued. "So, I don’t see this as a list of written questions that Mueller’s office gave to the president. I think these are more notes that the White House has taken and then they have expanded upon the conversation to write out these as questions.”

[noxiousdog]

Is it Mueller's MO to leak?

[LordMortis]

Is it Mueller's MO to leak?

From what I read, it is Mueller's and was Comey's before him MO to "leak", that they are happy to legally and strategically use information that is not protected or classified anonymously as part of their investigation. They don't consider it leaking.

Can't find what I'm looking for but this is close enough from Comey (not Mueller)

http://thehill.com/policy/national-secu ... -interview

[noxiousdog]

Is it Mueller's MO to leak?

From what I read, it is Mueller's and was Comey's before him MO to "leak", that they are happy to legally and strategically use information that is not protected or classified anonymously as part of their investigation. They don't consider it leaking.

Can't find what I'm looking for but this is close enough from Comey (not Mueller)

http://thehill.com/policy/national-secu ... -interview

Comey obviously would do it as he just wrote a big book leaking all kinds of things.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Is it Mueller's MO to leak?

From what I read, it is Mueller's and was Comey's before him MO to "leak", that they are happy to legally and strategically use information that is not protected or classified anonymously as part of their investigation. They don't consider it leaking.

Can't find what I'm looking for but this is close enough from Comey (not Mueller)

http://thehill.com/policy/national-secu ... -interview

Comey yes, but I've seen nowhere (other than Trump's Twitter) to suggest that Mueller is pro-leaking or even the one sanctioning the leaks that have come out.

[El Guapo]

Is it Mueller's MO to leak?

From what I read, it is Mueller's and was Comey's before him MO to "leak", that they are happy to legally and strategically use information that is not protected or classified anonymously as part of their investigation. They don't consider it leaking.

Can't find what I'm looking for but this is close enough from Comey (not Mueller)

http://thehill.com/policy/national-secu ... -interview

Comey yes, but I've seen nowhere (other than Trump's Twitter) to suggest that Mueller is pro-leaking or even the one sanctioning the leaks that have come out.

Mueller's team is widely viewed as leak-proof, whereas the administration leaks like a sieve. Hell, the White House essentially let Michael Wolff hang around for a year asking people questions and nobody put a stop to it at any point.

Does that prove that Mueller didn't leak this? No. But, if you were putting money on this...

[GreenGoo]

Whether Mueller has leaked in the past, his current investigation seems to be a tight ship, which is all kinds of impressive, given the atmosphere in which he's working.

[El Guapo]

Whether Mueller has leaked in the past, his current investigation seems to be a tight ship, which is all kinds of impressive, given the atmosphere in which he's working.

He has a team of very highly-regarded professionals doing very important work. On top of that, he knows that anything that leaks is another invitation for Trump to try to kill his investigation.

[pr0ner]

Wherein Mr. Fed takes Louise Mensch to task for being an idiot and not helping at all with her Twitter in(s)anity.

[pr0ner]

Also, looks like Michael Flynn is still cooperating with Mueller's investigation:

[Holman]

I think everyone sane abandoned Mensch around April 2017, about six weeks after she appeared.

[pr0ner]

I think everyone sane abandoned Mensch around April 2017, about six weeks after she appeared.

6 people I follow on Twitter still follow her, including people like Gordon Ramsay, Jonathan Frakes, and Mark Hamill. I wouldn't unfollow Ramsay, but would consider unfollowing Frakes or Hamill if I see them retweet/like something of hers.

[Holman]

I think everyone sane abandoned Mensch around April 2017, about six weeks after she appeared.

6 people I follow on Twitter still follow her, including people like Gordon Ramsay, Jonathan Frakes, and Mark Hamill. I wouldn't unfollow Ramsay, but would consider unfollowing Frakes or Hamill if I see them retweet/like something of hers.

A bunch of journos I follow follow her, but I expect they're just keeping tabs on the crazy. They follow Alex Jones for the same reason.

[malchior]

I follow both and other crazies because I find it useful to understand what the fringes are saying. This type of nonsense is often the fuel for the most politically 'active' folks.

[pr0ner]

I tend to find out enough about what Mensch and Jones and Cernovich and Abramson tweet out (though I think I muted Abramson not too long ago) via other people I follow liking/tweeting about them. I don't actually want their tweets showing up in my feed on the regular.

[Blackhawk]

I follow both and other crazies because I find it useful to understand what the fringes are saying. This type of nonsense is often the fuel for the most politically 'active' folks.

The same reason a lot of Trump's followers stick around. Sometimes you just have to stop and stare.

[ImLawBoy]

Also, looks like Michael Flynn is still cooperating with Mueller's investigation:

Popehat did a "mini-splainer" on Twitter on this. Short summary of the mini - this means nothing. He's never had a cooperating client not have sentencing like this delayed, sometimes for 2-3 years. It's just SOP.

[El Guapo]

Mueller raised the possibility of subpoena'ing Trump's testimony at an earlier meeting.

The other key thing is that Mueller did not write the list of questions that has been leaked:

In the wake of the testy March 5 meeting, Mueller’s team agreed to provide the president’s lawyers with more specific information about the subjects that prosecutors wished to discuss with the president. With those details in hand, Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow compiled a list of 49 questions that the team believed the president would be asked, according to three of the four people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk publicly. The New York Times first reported the existence of the list.

So Mueller didn't give the list of questions. Rather, he provided the subjects that he wished to talk about, and using those subjects, Sekulow compiled the list of questions that he thought Trump would be asked.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Which of course means that the "leak" of those questions came from the White House.

[Defiant]

Ukraine, Seeking U.S. Missiles, Halted Cooperation With Mueller Investigation

[LordMortis]

Which of course means that the "leak" of those questions came from the White House.

Wait, so this tweet was directed at the White House?

So disgraceful that the questions concerning the Russian Witch Hunt were “leaked” to the media.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

White House leaks info and then Trump gets to blame it on Mueller to give himself more (fake) reasons to fire Mueller/say the investigation is a farce/biased. Seems like their typical MO.

[El Guapo]

White House leaks info and then Trump gets to blame it on Mueller to give himself more (fake) reasons to fire Mueller/say the investigation is a farce/biased. Seems like their typical MO.

Also, Manafort promptly filed a motion seeking a hearing on the grounds that the leaks are a government effort to undermine his defense.

[LordMortis]

White House leaks info and then Trump gets to blame it on Mueller to give himself more (fake) reasons to fire Mueller/say the investigation is a farce/biased. Seems like their typical MO.

Also, Manafort promptly filed a motion seeking a hearing on the grounds that the leaks are a government effort to undermine his defense.

What the shit? I'm telling you the one thing that set this whole ball of shitgas of fire is the White House directly attacking breaking the investigation in any form. If those two things are true. 1) White House staff directed the "leak" 2) Manafort can use it as legal defense to protect himself and the administration. That one of those tiny cases of "that's it."

As it is very difficult to prove the White House did not provide the NYT with that list, I hope 1) the White House can prove Mueller did or 2) Manafort is SOL because the implication of 3) Obstruction of law being synonomous with the enforcement of law becomes this banana republic. Then it's over. You keep wanting to say "I'm just being hysterical. I'm just being hysterical." But that's end game move. Not a going to the dogs situation.

[milo]

That one of those tiny cases of "that's it."

There's a gif for that: https://m.popkey.co/d367bf/mzWla.gif

[Max Peck]

1) White House staff directed the "leak"

From what I've read today, the leak had to come from the administration. Apparently the list was compiled by Trump's lawyer, not by Mueller's team (according to information leaked by administration insiders).

In the wake of the testy March 5 meeting, Mueller’s team agreed to provide the president’s lawyers with more specific information about the subjects that prosecutors wished to discuss with the president. With those details in hand, Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow compiled a list of 49 questions that the team believed the president would be asked, according to three of the four people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk publicly. The New York Times first reported the existence of the list.

[LordMortis]

March 10

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/10/us/p ... flood.html

President Trump is in discussions with a veteran Washington lawyer who represented Bill Clinton during the impeachment process about joining the White House to help deal with the special counsel inquiry, according to four people familiar with the matter.

March 11

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/sta ... 3067883523
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/sta ... 0222043137

The Failing New York Times purposely wrote a false story stating that I am unhappy with my legal team on the Russia case and am going to add another lawyer to help out. Wrong. I am VERY happy with my lawyers, John Dowd, Ty Cobb and Jay Sekulow. They are doing a great job and........have shown conclusively that there was no Collusion with Russia..just excuse for losing. The only Collusion was that done by the DNC, the Democrats and Crooked Hillary. The writer of the story, Maggie Haberman, a Hillary flunky, knows nothing about me and is not given access.

May 2

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/05 ... -team.html

Emmet Flood, the lawyer who defended former President Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial, has joined President Trump’s in-house legal team, Fox News has learned.

A partner at the law firm Williams & Connolly, the veteran Washington lawyer had reportedly previously turned down the chance to work for Trump.

Here’s a look at four things to know about Flood.

[El Guapo]

Since Ty Cobb is out, and Flood (described in a Post article as a "wartime consigliere", I'm going to raise the "firing Mueller" doomsday clock to 7 minutes to midnight.

[LordMortis]

I'm going to raise the "firing Mueller" doomsday clock to 7 minutes to midnight.

No way. McConnel and Ryan assured me it would never happen. The assured me Trump told them he wouldn't. Heck, Even Fuck-o's legal team, in Ty Cobb, said as recently as March, that he would just quit if Trump tried to fire Mueller.