Mugwump wrote:

Surprise Outcomes to the Mueller Probe
Jeff Sessions was in such frequent contact with Sergey Kislyak that they would often both fall asleep while FaceTiming.

By Yoni Brenner

You forgot the link, Mugger; I think this is what you intended to post (and, yes, it's quite funny):

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/ … ller-probe

Last edited by Emmeran (2017-07-09 20:09:52)

Arguments for the existence of the "Piss Tape"

I WANT TO BELIEVE.

Is that the Bannon painting above? The horse is facing the wrong way.

Last edited by Smudge (2017-07-12 02:30:21)

Congress starts to make it's move

Not that it's going to get them anywhere now but a House Democrat files article of impeachment against Trump and, therefore, the first shot has been fired.

This makes for some fascinating reading...

The Big Trumpers Still Don’t Get The Trouble They’re In

choad wrote:

It was immediately clear to a blind man these assclowns would flame out sooner than later but this level of stoopidity is breathtaking...

http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/07/12/doj … -trump-jr/

Oh, Jesus, that stinks. There's another avenue into an obstruction charge, and another angry super-prosecutor, Preet Bharara, who Trump probably shouldn't have messed with. These guys almost seem like they want to get caught. We're coupling the most corrupt regime of my lifetime with the most inept. It's not a good combination for those who want to stay out of prison.

Should we start a betting pool and see who can come the closest to guessing when Trump goes down?

PS - Preet Bharara, the former prosecutor for Manhattan's Southern District, who Trump fired -- right after promising he was going to keep him on, it the character from the TV series Billions that  Paul Giamatti's Chuck Rhoades is based on. Giamatti even looks like Preet.

JetRx wrote:

Smudge wrote:

choad wrote:

It was immediately clear to a blind man these assclowns would flame out sooner than later but this level of stoopidity is breathtaking...

http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/07/12/doj … -trump-jr/

Oh, Jesus, that stinks. There's another avenue into an obstruction charge, and another angry super-prosecutor, Preet Bharara, who Trump probably shouldn't have messed with. These guys almost seem like they want to get caught. We're coupling the most corrupt regime of my lifetime with the most inept. It's not a good combination for those who want to stay out of prison.

Should we start a betting pool and see who can come the closest to guessing when Trump goes down?

PS - Preet Bharara, the former prosecutor for Manhattan's Southern District, who Trump fired -- right after promising he was going to keep him on, it the character from the TV series Billions that  Paul Giamatti's Chuck Rhoades is based on. Giamatti even looks like Preet.

Preet Bharara took Easy Street (going after insider trading) on his way to being monikered as "Sheriff of Wall Street". 
Not that insider trading isn't despicable.  However, leaving Banksters responsible for '08 "free to go" w/ bonuses in tact, IMO = unforgivable for EVERYONE involved.   
Most likely knew he'd be "Spitzer'd" if that line were crossed.

In his defense, I don't believe that was his decision to make. I think the President and Attorney General determine broad strategy.

Have you watched "Billions"? It gets into this stuff in some detail (and it's a great show as well).

Emmeran wrote:

[That answers the question of why would a POTUS call a regional AG and fire him

Exactly. You don't need to be Preet Bharara to connect those dots.

Johnny_Rotten wrote:

Charming. What a way to talk to the citizens from the highest office in the land.

‘Watch Your Back , Bitch’

It's like some sort of Nixonian fantasy conjured by the ghost of Hunter Thompson.

Well he apparently does intend to apologize.

Jared Kushner is the guy Trump has appointed to run the country (and solve the Middle East Crisis in his spare time). But he's become a central focus of the investigation into the Trump Campaign's collusion with the Russian Government.

The prudent thing for the Trump to do at this point would be to fire Kushner, but the guy's married to Ivanka. So this single scandal has the potential to not only bring down the presidency, but it could also rip the Trump family to shreds. There's a reason most companies have polices to prevent nepotism.

...Already a “person of interest” in the special counsel’s probe on multiple fronts, federal investigators are now looking into Kushner’s attendance at a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with the lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, who was one of more than 100 foreign contacts disclosed in three separate revisions to his security clearance forms. They’re also probing whether the Trump campaign’s digital operation, which Kushner oversaw, coordinated with Russia to guide fake news stories to key districts in swing states...

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/pressur … eral-probe

Last edited by Smudge (2017-07-14 18:44:38)

(^^^...Yup; I "borrowed" that hashtag)

'Pence Can Eat My Asshole': America's Letters to Trump's Election Fraud Panel



http://gizmodo.com/pence-can-eat-my-ass … 1796922681

Trump is holding out for the pumpkin coach; Theresa May is thinking "Let's smuggle him in under the floorboards." At this point it's hard to see a compromise position, but it's early days.

LOL - an actual Trumpgret

choad wrote:

https://cruelery.com/sidepic/matt.taibbi.png

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/ne … in-w492290

Sooner than later, you don't get copied into the loop without complicity in the frauds you report and Matt Taibbi is no different, though still worth reading.

Taibbi is an idiot on this one.  Cuz you know I don't speak German or Japanese if you ask the people I do business with in Bavaria and Tokyo.  Since when is playing dumb not one of the most basic business or espionage skills.  So sure Matt, billions of dollars at stake and they're sending nobodies who can't speak english to fix the problem, yup this is what the Chess Masters of the world do.  Oh yeah and Russian translators are just translators.

Matt is too rich these days to actually say anything useful, his pieces sound puffy and bloated lately.  As much as I despised McCain I'm going to miss his Bullshit Sniffing ability.

Auto-edited on 2020-08-02 to update URLs

Spicer OUT!

Yet and then Shouty Spice is gone.

Emmeran wrote:

Yet and then Shouty Spice is gone.

LOL. Shouty Spice. I hadn't heard that one.

Smudge wrote:

Baywolfe wrote:

I'm hoping he fires Mueller and then grants immunity to himself, thereby triggering double impeachment proceedings.

Are you really so sure Republicans in the house won't just roll over and let him get away with it? They haven't shown much backbone yet. I mean, would you want to gamble your future health and well being on Paul Ryan suddenly finding his missing integrity?

Sure?  No, I'm not sure about much of anything beyond mathematics and empirical science.  Impeachment would almost certainly come from Democrats, moderate Republicans, and those that want to get re-elected themselves.  All the people that watch Fox News continually call our President an ass-clown (and rightfully so) will begin to demand it.  Assuming that somebody in his own party doesn't shoot the President first.

Tweet of the week:  Nothing like the stench of Trump's morning vowel movements.

Trump is the rich spoiled brat antagonist from Caddy Shack.  That being said you have to realize that although he's smart and canny he also doesn't think like normal people.  Worst of all he grossly underestimated Putin (Putin is probably the best long game strategist we've seen in a century).

I'd also give you good odd's that the RNC is the source of his leak problem, it's already known that they are his obstruction problem.  The democrats aren't his problem, it's the republicans and Russia - he just doesn't seem to want to admit any of that.

Baywolfe wrote:

I'm wondering if Rex Tillerson hasn't been in touch with the military on not immediately responding to the President, if he orders the White House surrounded by troops and tanks, they way Kissinger did during the final days of Nixon.

Exactly; quiet conversations in dark rooms where everyone can claim after the fact that they never happened.

I certainly hope so. Trump could go all "Jack D. Ripper" on us.

This is the clearest messaging I've seen yet on the subject. Republicans in Congress are drawing a red line for Trump; go after Mueller and all bets are off. So if, as seems likely, the goal of attacking Sessions is to ultimately bring in a new AG who will shut down Mueller's investigation -- it won't work. Mueller's investigation will proceed regardless, but Trump might not survive long enough to see the end of it if he tries to crush the Special Counsel. Whatever Trump is hiding is going to come out. He should count on it and expect it.

My hunch is that Trump will try to fire Mueller in spite of the warnings because whatever Mueller is going to discover will end the Trump Presidency regardless. In Trump's view, better to have a fighting chance, and at least go down punching. I think he'll try to bluster his way through by appealing directly to his base, claiming that his presidency is being stolen. But that's just conjecture on my part, based on watching Trump's moves. I could be reading it wrong.


Capitol Hill throws up red flags as Trump moves on Sessions and possibly Mueller


Attorney General Jeff Sessions, right, is greeted by Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Richard Burr (R-N.C.), center, and Vice Chair Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) before he testifies in June.

A bevy of congressional Republicans are warning President Trump not to move against Attorney General Jeff Sessions in what many fear could be a prelude to the dismissal of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who is probing Trump’s ties to Russia.

Trump’s public criticism of Sessions has mounted in recent days, starting with a tweet Saturday morning asking why Sessions and Mueller have not investigated alleged “crimes” by former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and by former FBI director James B. Comey, and culminating in a tweet early Tuesday accusing Sessions of taking “a VERY weak position” on investigating Clinton and leakers of intelligence secrets.

The attack Tuesday prompted an outpouring of support for Sessions among his former colleagues in the Senate, where he served for 20 years before resigning to become attorney general, and left scores of other Republicans aghast at Trump’s willingness to attack one of his most loyal campaign supporters.

“I don’t think it helps to throw your own people under the bus,” said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.). “If you think you need to make a change, call him in, have the discussion, make the change. But I don’t think these sorts of public floggings are very helpful.”

Those standing up for Sessions on Tuesday included some of Trump’s most loyal supporters on the political right who fear the loss of a trusted ally on immigration and law-and-order issues.

“Jeff Sessions is far and away the best possible person to be our attorney general in the United States of America,” said Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), an outspoken Trump supporter. “There is no one who could replace him who would follow through and finish out the Trump agenda.”

Were Sessions to be cashiered, King said, “this would be an amputation of his own immigration and rule-of-law agenda that would be a massive disappointment to the conservatives of America.”

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chairman of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus and a lawmaker with a direct line into Trump’s inner circle, said the president’s criticism of Sessions “shows the growing frustration of this whole Russia thing.”

“The president knows he’s innocent and doesn’t have people defending him,” he said. “I do think the attorney general has been very loyal.”

Numerous senators issued statements Tuesday testifying to Sessions’s personal qualities, including some Democrats who have fiercely attacked his policies.

“Jeff Sessions is a man of integrity, loyalty, and extraordinary character,” said Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.). “I join the people of Alabama in giving Jeff Sessions my deep respect and unwavering support.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters Sessions “is doing a fine job” and that he “made the right decision to recuse himself” from the Russia probe.

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) called Sessions “a man of deep conviction and principle who believes in the rule of law” and “always has the best interests of our country at heart,” while Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) called him “a rock-solid conservative” and called Trump’s tweets “highly inappropriate.”

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) marveled on the Senate floor Tuesday at Trump’s willingness to attack one of his most loyal supporters.

“This is the first person who stuck his neck out for Donald Trump, who was with him through thick and thin,” he said. “And now, even if the president has disagreements with him — which I think are ill-founded, self-centered and wrong — you don’t ridicule him in public. Someone who is your close friend? That speaks to character.”

Schumer raised openly what many Republicans fear privately — that Sessions’s dismissal would be a first step toward Mueller’s firing. Sessions has recused himself from Russia-related matters because of the meetings he had taken with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and could not dismiss Mueller, but his successor would not be so constrained.

“Many Americans must be wondering if the president is trying to pry open the office of attorney general to appoint someone during the August recess who will fire Special Counsel Mueller and shut down the Russia investigation,” he said.

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) declined Tuesday to make a definitive statement regarding Sessions, telling reporters, “It’s up to the president to decide what his personnel decision is and any possible fallout that comes from that.”

But he avoided making a direct statement on Mueller’s future a day after defending the special counsel in a Wisconsin radio interview. Asked about an investigation that is “becoming an obvious witch hunt” on WISN-AM, Ryan moved to rebut that Trump-inspired line of attack.

“Remember, Bob Mueller is a Republican who was appointed by a Republican, who served in a Republican administration, and crossed over and stayed on until his term ended,” he said. “I don’t think many people are saying Bob Mueller is a person who is a biased and partisan. He’s sort of really anything but.”

Other House members warned Tuesday that a move against Mueller could represent a turning point for rank-and-file Republicans who have endured various Trump controversies in hopes of passing a conservative legislative agenda.

“The special counsel’s different,” said Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.). “Not letting that investigation go forward after we all said, ‘Let’s let the investigation go forward,’ would probably be problematic — I guess that would be the best way to say it.”

Cole said firing Mueller “would be a huge mistake” and offered some unsolicited advice: “Don’t throw a hand grenade down here on Capitol Hill and think you’re not going to get some splinters yourself.”

“These investigations are going to happen,” he added. “They’re in motion in the Senate, they’re in motion in the House, and they’re in motion by the special counsel. And if you think you’re going to avoid them, you’re making a mistake, in my view. You would be creating a new issue, and you would be confirming the worst suspicions of your enemies and raise doubt among your friends.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpos … story.html