Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates considered military action in the early stages of their ongoing dispute with Qatar before Donald Trump called leaders of both countries and warned them to back off, according to two people familiar with the U.S. president’s discussions.
The Saudis and Emiratis were looking at ways to remove the Qatari regime, which they accused of sponsoring terrorism and cozying up to Iran, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were confidential. Trump told Saudi and U.A.E. leaders that any military action would trigger a crisis across the Middle East that would only benefit Iran, one of the people said.
I'm skeptical. Trump has shown zero ability at long term thinking. Either it didn't happen or he was reading from a script provided by someone else, one of the generals or even Tillerson.
Also Rip, aren't you the one pushing the debunked Uranium One Clinton theory? And a whole shit ton of other ridiculous Clinton conspiracy theories based on tiny coincidences? I would hope even Trump wouldn't base foreign policy on personal finance, but I wouldn't put it past him. The Kushner/Qatar link as at least plausible compared to some of the stuff you've pushed on this forum.
pr0ner wrote: ↑Mon Mar 05, 2018 7:24 pm
So how about that Sam Nunberg?
I can't decide if he's just trying to throw someone else (i.e. Carter Page) under the bus - or he actually has useful information and he wants to "up the price" before ultimately agreeing to some deal with Mueller.
I feel like he might be experiencing a mental break from reality.
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He's a Roger Stone protege, so if there's a scheme here it's Ratfuck Roger's.
Maybe the hope is that Mueller will look cruel (and therefore lose credibility) if he actually arrests and punishes someone who wasn't part of the conspiracy?
Maybe it's pardon bait, in the hope that more will follow?
Given the context, one might guess he looked through the emails that were subpoenaed, found something incriminating about him or Stone or Drumpf, and is terrified of handing it over.
Last edited by Sepiche on Mon Mar 05, 2018 8:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Sepiche wrote: ↑Mon Mar 05, 2018 8:20 pm
My read is something scared Nunberg shitless.
Given the context, one might guess he looked through the emails that were subpoenaed, found something incriminating about him or Stone or Drumpf, and is terrified of handing it over.
I don't know how these things works, but various wonks have been pointing out that Mueller probably already has Nunberg's emails, subpoenaed by other means.
The question is whether Nunberg is losing his shit because he knows this or because he doesn't.
Holman wrote: ↑Mon Mar 05, 2018 8:42 pm
The question is whether Nunberg is losing his shit because he knows this or because he doesn't.
Nunberg knows. He said that judging from the questions that Mueller was asking - Mueller must already have information that he could have only gotten from Roger Stone's emails. (this was in the last hour, interview with Ari Melber)
Holman wrote: ↑Mon Mar 05, 2018 8:42 pm
The question is whether Nunberg is losing his shit because he knows this or because he doesn't.
Nunberg knows. He said that judging from the questions that Mueller was asking - Mueller must already have information that he could have only gotten from Roger Stone's emails. (this was in the last hour, interview with Ari Melber)
I can't rule out he isn't drunk at that point. Also, his world is about to get very dark.
There is a certain logic to it - he *might* be calculating that contempt is better than the alternatives. But he also sounds off his rocker at points so you have to wonder if logic factors in.
One of his in-person interviewers tonight told him that she could clearly smell alcohol on his breath. He denied it, then said something about being on anti-depressants instead, which is just off-track enough to be an admission.
I thought the Ari Melber discussion was interesting because 1) Nunberg doesn't appear drunk to me...at all and 2) he is making some sort of sense throughout. If you start with his stated belief that he thinks he is being used to set up Roger Stone for something. It makes sense. He could be lying about that but it sure doesn't sound like it. What it almost comes down to is he has a grudge (legit or not) against Trump and was fine with burning him...up to the point either himself or Roger were in the crosshairs. Which again makes sense. Still he is doing himself no favors with this weird act. I'm chalking this up as just another wacky day in the national circus.
And of course Mueller almost certainly has those emails anyways. But maybe getting jailed for contempt is better than being thought to betray Stone/Trump by complying?
Ralph-Wiggum wrote: ↑Tue Mar 06, 2018 12:53 am
And of course Mueller almost certainly has those emails anyways. But maybe getting jailed for contempt is better than being thought to betray Stone/Trump by complying?
I think someone mentioned it already but I saw that as his way to a trump pardon.
EDIT: Then again I'm not drunk and/or on antidepressants so i probably don't have nunbergs insight
OR
cry in a corner that the world has come to a point where you have to pay for imaginary shit.
Nunberg sounded desperate. He doesn't have the money to hire lawyers to go through his e-mails for him -- 80 hours worth of work.
So he's looking at all of the personal, unflattering things in the daily back and forth to his friend and mentor -- and realizing this doesn't end well for him. In his mind, Nunberg was "treated poorly" by Trump so Mueller was supposed to go easy on him. But Nunberg was there in the beginning, might be willing to talk, and isn't the smartest guy. So the Feds are squeezing him -- and it's working.
After today's stunt, I expect his lawyers called up and said -- "I'm not going to fire you, but it's time to plead because you're dead meat."
Only the best and brightest.
"A lie can run round the world before the truth has got its boots on." -Terry Pratchett, The Truth "The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to those who think they've found it." -Terry Pratchett, Monstrous Regiment
It sounds more like he is creating some kind of reverse smoke screen to cover for his master, Roger Stone, more than anything. Said Trump is a moron, probably did something wrong, and repeated that Roger Stone is innocent, God, awesome, etc. about 20 times.
Zarathud wrote: ↑Tue Mar 06, 2018 2:55 am
Nunberg sounded desperate. He doesn't have the money to hire lawyers to go through his e-mails for him -- 80 hours worth of work.
So he's looking at all of the personal, unflattering things in the daily back and forth to his friend and mentor -- and realizing this doesn't end well for him. In his mind, Nunberg was "treated poorly" by Trump so Mueller was supposed to go easy on him. But Nunberg was there in the beginning, might be willing to talk, and isn't the smartest guy. So the Feds are squeezing him -- and it's working.
After today's stunt, I expect his lawyers called up and said -- "I'm not going to fire you, but it's time to plead because you're dead meat."
Only the best and brightest.
This seems like the most logical explanation. There's some mix of incriminating and embarrassing content in his e-mails, and hiring lawyers would bankrupt him. As you say he gets desperate and depressed. It seems pretty clear that he was drunk and/or high during the interviews, which presumably is connected to him being desperate and depressed.
It's really hard to know what last night was about. I'm going to go with desperate drinking followed by desperate bid for notoriety succeeded by desperate hangover and desperate remorse.
The strange thing is that Nunberg is a lawyer! He knows exactly why and what legal basis there is for Mueller's request. The whole thing was just so surreal - there are rumors going around that he was drunk during the interviews, but he did not sound intoxicated.
Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions. – G.K. Chesterton
Mr. Mueller appears to be examining the influence of foreign money on Mr. Trump’s political activities and has asked witnesses about the possibility that the adviser, George Nader, funneled money from the Emirates to the president’s political efforts. It is illegal for foreign entities to contribute to campaigns or for Americans to knowingly accept foreign money for political races.
Mr. Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman who advises Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the effective ruler of the Emirates, also attended a January 2017 meeting in the Seychelles that Mr. Mueller’s investigators have examined. The meeting, convened by the crown prince, brought together a Russian investor close to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia with Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater and an informal adviser to Mr. Trump’s team during the presidential transition, according to three people familiar with the meeting.
Mr. Nader’s cooperation in the special counsel’s investigation could prompt new legal risks for the Trump administration, and Mr. Nader’s presence at the Seychelles meeting appears to connect him to the primary focus of Mr. Mueller’s investigation: examining Russian interference during the 2016 presidential campaign.
In his testimony to congress and the FBI, Erik Prince claimed the Seychelles trip had nothing to do with Trump, and he failed to disclose Nader's presence. I think maybe it's about to be Prince's time in the barrel.
For non-colluders, Trump people sometimes seem to lie about some of their Russia connections.
I kid. They've lied about all of them. Dozens of them, repeatedly, until cornered.
Though Putin has allied himself with the deeply conservative Russian Orthodox Church, which has recently promoted anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, hatred of Jews has generally not been a big part of his nationalist playbook. But apparently he’s fine with scapegoating the group, and other minorities, when it suits his political interests.
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