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You are here: Home / Politics / America / Friday Night News Dump: Mueller Has a Sealed Indictment

Friday Night News Dump: Mueller Has a Sealed Indictment

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CNN has the details (h/t Thru the Looking Glass):

Washington (CNN)A federal grand jury in Washington, DC, on Friday approved the first charges in the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller, according to sources briefed on the matter.

The charges are still sealed under orders from a federal judge. Plans were prepared Friday for anyone charged to be taken into custody as soon as Monday, the sources said. It is unclear what the charges are.

A spokesman for the special counsel’s office declined to comment.

Under the regulations governing special counsel investigations, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who has oversight over the Russia investigation, would have been made aware of any charges before they were taken before the grand jury for approval, according to people familiar with the matter.

On Friday, top lawyers who are helping to lead the Mueller probe, including veteran prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, were seen entering the court room at the DC federal court where the grand jury meets to hear testimony in the Russia investigation.

Reporters present saw a flurry of activity at the grand jury room, but officials made no announcements.

More details at the link. And now we know why the GOP disinformation campaign was kicked into high gear this week.
Stay frosty!

Reader Interactions

296Comments

  5. 5.

    Trentrunner

    Pretty sure Mueller is indicting Hillary for treason and for having a uterus.

    This is Trump’s Amerikkka, after all.

    Honestly, it’s Manafort.

    Would LOVE it if was Don Jr. Or Ivanka.

  6. 6.

    Corner Stone

    The sealed charges are for the cactus plant in the West Wing that should be getting more sunshine, but shit happens and all that.

  10. 10.

    Corner Stone

    I am not believing any part of this until Bri-Wi breaks in to take over coverage. It just ain’t shit until then.

  11. 11.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    I am very confident that Flynn and Manafort are givens… I hope this is just the start.

  13. 13.

    Corner Stone

    Uh-oh. Chris Hayes is going full Maddow on this breaking news. Nobody goes Full Maddow. It’s not a good look.

  15. 15.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    What’d be really, really nice would be to have the State of NY start dropping charges simultaneously, just to take the pardon option away from Trump…

    Is that possible? Two different entities coordinating on something like this? Kinda like a pincers movement?

  22. 22.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @Cheryl Rofer: Flynn and Manafort are definitely the early favorites…

    Let’s not overlook Carter page while we’re at it…

    What are the odds on a trifecta?

    Nothing in the CNN article said they were only grabbing one person…

  23. 23.

    Adam L Silverman

    @amygdala: Remember the little prince and prince are offline through tomorrow night because of the Jewish sabbath. So the question is who is with him? Is he going to have his nightly phone call with Hannity? Will he chat with Stone? Who is going to wind him up since no one is around to calm him down.

  24. 24.

    LAO

    I should add that sealing an indictment pending arrest, is typical and normal in the federal system.

  26. 26.

    Corner Stone

    @Baud: Wouldn’t Ivanka break the back of this whole thing? It would send nut bag into full on nut job status. He would start blabbing non-stop. Take her out and into handcuffs and this all ends in 48 hours.

  38. 38.

    Anonymous At Work

    @Trentrunner: Manafort is my guess, but Flynn’s second on the list. And this is BAD news because it means one of them isn’t playing ball and has to be imprisoned and have money taken from them to get cooperation.

  42. 42.

    jl

    I wonder if Putin is in on the rumor loop. I read he had a public tantrum a few days ago on the horrible domestic interference that is keeping Trump from implementing various great and noble plans.

  43. 43.

    ArchTeryx

    @Adam L Silverman: Not to derail the thread but Tim Curry played the character as a flamboyant anime villain. Skarsgard played Pennywise as an avatar of Cthulhu (since It is basically a Great Old One). There wasn’t anything remotely human about him, and he played the Uncanny Valley for all it was worth.

  45. 45.

    JPL

    My guess is Don Jr. and Trump will fire Mueller tomorrow. I’m batting 0%, but my luck could change anytime now.

  47. 47.

    mai naem mobile

    I think it’s Flynn. He seemed to be up to his neck in a lot of shit and the Woolsey story came out today.

  48. 48.

    Adam L Silverman

    Mariotti is only about 2 tweets in, but you’ll want to give this a read:

  49. 49.

    David Anderson

    @Cheryl Rofer: stone, manafort, assange, plus a couple of ppl in the fringes.

    All are told that there is one golden ticket so squeal like a pig boy

  53. 53.

    Trentrunner

    Can someone tell us what Fox News is covering right now? We promise to pay for your full Silkwood after…

  61. 61.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Anonymous At Work: May just mean one of them waiting to long to try to cut a deal/accept a deal. Don’t forget that no one has heard much from either Giuliani or Stone in a while. Also, if you really wanted to freak out the President you’d indict Pence. I sincerely doubt Mother would even care enough to make bail.

  62. 62.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @Manyakitty: Nothing in that CNN article says it’s only going to be ONE person…

    As increasingly serious and seriouser this whole mess has looked week after week, I’m kinda surprised no one’s fallen out of a 40th floor window yet… or stepped in front of a bus… or gargled w/ a Glock…

  65. 65.

    hilts

    Fusion GPS and the Washington Free Beacon: A note to our readers

    All of the work that Fusion GPS provided to the Free Beacon was based on public sources, and none of the work product that the Free Beacon received appears in the Steele dossier. The Free Beacon had no knowledge of or connection to the Steele dossier, did not pay for the dossier, and never had contact with, knowledge of, or provided payment for any work performed by Christopher Steele.

    Representatives of the Free Beacon approached the House Intelligence Committee today and offered to answer what questions we can in their ongoing probe of Fusion GPS and the Steele dossier. But to be clear: We stand by our reporting, and we do not apologize for our methods. We consider it our duty to report verifiable information, not falsehoods or slander, and we believe that commitment has been well demonstrated by the quality of the journalism that we produce. The First Amendment guarantees our right to engage in news-gathering as we see fit, and we intend to continue doing just that as we have since the day we launched this project.

    http://freebeacon.com/uncategorized/fusion-gps-washington-free-beacon

  66. 66.

    mike in dc

    Sealed implies a possible flight risk. Could be a name hitherto unpublicized. Or Manafort or Flynn.

  68. 68.

    jl

    @debbie: One of the Trumpsters on the panel said that their work has completely stopped because of all the lawsuits and investigations into their BS. I hope that state of affairs continues for a while.

  70. 70.

    Adam L Silverman

    All of the speculation is fun, but we won’t really know until the Marshal of the Supreme Court finishes setting up the gallows for the summary execution on Monday.

  71. 71.

    NotMax

    It’s all speculation at the moment.

    Adam, might you be working on a post about the broadening internecine battles/forays/campaigns in Iraq (I hesitate to use the term civil war as don’t see it as concisely applicable – yet), now encroaching upon and within undisputed areas of autonomous Kurdistan?

  73. 73.

    Bobby Thomson

    Having lived through one Fitzmas when it wasn’t yet apparent that no one had any respect for the rule of law, I expect literally nothing to come from this. It’s a small fish who will be pardoned, after which some Republicans will make Very Serious Speeches and then do fuck all.

  77. 77.

    Gvg

    Ahh a whole weekend for Trump to stew and make mistakes like try to pardon people revealing whose guilty or fire Mueller or just say too much as admissible evidence.

    I sure hope it’s something substantial. Congress should raise the debt limit because they are going to be too distracted later.

  81. 81.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @Adam L Silverman: So no way to coordinate, just to make sure Trump can’t pardon everyone carte blanche? (I’m not a lawyer… I just like to pretend I am from time to time)…

    And while we’re at it, perhaps it’s time to bring back the rack & the iron maiden, ya know, to help people find their tongues…

  82. 82.

    amygdala

    @Baud: Mariotti is worth the effort to read his threads. He’s aghast at the situation the country is in, and explains legal concepts clearly. And he just threw his hat in the ring yesterday for Illinois AG, so that he can push back against the current administration.

  88. 88.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Cheryl Rofer: Manafort is going to be desperate to prevent being extradited to Ukraine, we’re he has a 9mm welcome party waiting to be scheduled. Flynn is desperate to not have his rank reduced to colonel or below and have his retirement jeopardized so his wife isn’t on the street while he’s in prison. There’s a lot of soft spots that Mueller can squeeze to induce pain.

  90. 90.

    TS

    @Anonymous At Work:

    Manafort is my guess, but Flynn’s second on the list. And this is BAD news because it means one of them isn’t playing ball and has to be imprisoned and have money taken from them to get cooperation.

    Given the investigation includes Russia and Putin – playing ball could have a number of personal safety issues.

  91. 91.

    gene108

    @LAO:

    Indicted defendants flip every day. Don’t give up hope.

    What’s to stop Trump from pardoning anyone involved? Fox News et. al. will do anything to cover for Trump and make sure his base still backs him, so the political damage maybe less than expected.

  94. 94.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Trentrunner: Pirro is guest hosting for Hannity. She’s covering how much trouble Clinton is in in regard to the Fusion GPS oppo research. Dobbs over on Fox Business has a special segment going about dinosaurs.

  95. 95.

    TenguPhule

    Will save the celebrations for after any actual arrests are made.

    Sorry, burned too many times before.

  96. 96.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @Adam L Silverman:

    until the Marshall of the Supreme Court finishes setting up the gallows for the summary execution on Monday.

    Ooooooooh… gallows?

    That’s even better than the rack…

    Hopefully they’ll set ’em up on the National Mall… right at the base of the Washington Monument…

    Trump will finally draw the size of crowd he’s wanted all along…

  101. 101.

    Millard Filmore

    @Adam L Silverman:

    No, Federal first, then state. It has been reported that Mueller has already been coordinating with Schiederman just in case.

    Is that a hard and fast rule? I was hoping that Trump would be neutralized first to preempt a blizzard of pardons. Not that it matters now that all this is in motion.

  104. 104.

    LAO

    @gene108: Well, nobody can really answer that question. Only time will tell. Personally, I think granting pardons on investigations into his administration may lay the groundwork for an obstruction charge.

  105. 105.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Serious question, will the indictment come as a surprise to the subject of same, or are they given a bit of a heads-up with time to hide the silver and call their lawyers?

  106. 106.

    Millard Filmore

    @JPL:

    My guess is Don Jr. and Trump will fire Mueller tomorrow. I’m batting 0%, but my luck could change anytime now.

    Since the legal paperwork is already in motion, can the firing of Mueller stop the process?

  109. 109.

    Ruckus

    Why are so many of you thinking only one person?
    This is a big deal, I doubt that only one is on the first list. I’d say 3-5. At least. No one is alone in this bullshit, no reason to hold back to sweat one at a time.

  110. 110.

    John Revolta

    “You! Army guy! Tell ’em to start warming up Air Force One and point it towards Moscow!!1!!11!”

  113. 113.

    Gravenstone

    @Wapiti: Saw speculation a few days ago that Priebus had definitely flipped. No real need to arrest a cooperative witness.

  114. 114.

    TenguPhule

    @Baud:

    Why would Mueller do this on a Friday night?

    To see which way the roaches start running over the weekend?

  116. 116.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    A whole bunch of middle-aged Russian men have run into awkward circumstances.

    Indeed they have… the last count I had was nine… I’m rather surprised that no one on this side of the Atlantic met a similar fate… yet…

  117. 117.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Cheryl Rofer: And by run you mean fallen out of windows, been impaled, been poisoned, been beaten, been stabbed, been shot, been dismembered. All in the worst cases of suicide and death by natural causes the local officials had ever seen!

  120. 120.

    LAO

    @Gravenstone: cooperators are in fact always arrested and plead guilty in the feds. The indictment wouldn’t be leaked though and all the related documents would remain sealed until the targets were arrested.

  123. 123.

    LAO

    @Ruckus: innocent people lawyer up every day. not saying that applies to these folks but, you know.

    ETA: I think I misread your comment, so feel free to ignore the snark.

  126. 126.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Thru the Looking Glass…: The general rule (tradition? Legal Fleagles help me out!) is that Federal charges are always brought first. That Mueller and Schneiderman have consulted with each other, and that Schneiderman has not been shy about letting it known he’s conducting his own investigations, is intended to signal to White House Counsel McGahn and the pardon office at DOJ that pardons he would 1) be pointless as Schneiderman is set to pick up the slack if necessary and 2) would definitely indicate that illegal activity had occurred.

  127. 127.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    Maybe Trump will stroke out when he hears about this?

    I suspect Manafort. Seems like a safe bet.

  128. 128.

    Adam L Silverman

    @LAO: It was belt high over the fat part of the plate. Not swinging at it would have been a crime.

  129. 129.

    raven

    @lgerard: I don’t know what you are getting at?

    Michael Thomas Flynn (born December 1958) is a retired United States Army Lieutenant General, who served in the Army for 33 years until 2014.

  130. 130.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @Adam L Silverman:

    The weekend is young!

    Ya know… that was my thought too… what do we have between now and Monday morning, 60 hours?

    An awful lot can happen in two & a half days…

  134. 134.

    TenguPhule

    @Thru the Looking Glass…:

    An awful lot can happen in two & a half days…

    Yeah, plenty of time for Trump to order a strike on North Korea or Iran.

    /I wish I could say that in sarcasm. But he’s stupid and crazy enough to do it.

  135. 135.

    Ohio Mom

    When this is all done, I’m coming back to this thread and seeing who predicted correctly. So I can hang on their words ever after. Since they have proven themselves extremely perceptive.

  136. 136.

    NotMax

    @Adam L. Silverman

    Yes, please. What’s unfolding now with heavy military armaments beyond disputed areas such as Kirkuk is tres troubling. Seems Abadi is feeling his (Iran grown) oats now and heading into a bridge too far mode, to the point of abrogating Iraq’s constitution. Also flouting stances made publicly by both al-Sistani and al-Sadr.

  139. 139.

    lgerard

    @raven:

    He retired from active service, but he is still part of the military and is being paid by the military.

    Accepting payments from a foreign government.without permission is strictly verboten.

  147. 147.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @Adam L Silverman:

    And by run you mean fallen out of windows, been impaled, been poisoned, been beaten, been stabbed, been shot, been dismembered. All in the worst cases of suicide and death by natural causes the local officials had ever seen!

    But… what about suicide by leap from the back of a moving train?

    Suicide by race, by color, by occupation, by sex, by seasons of the year, by time of day. Suicide, how committed: by poison, by firearms, by drowning, by leaps. Suicide by poison, subdivided by *types* of poison, such as corrosive, irritant, systemic, gaseous, narcotic, alkaloid, protein, and so forth; suicide by leaps, subdivided by leaps from high places, under the wheels of trains, under the wheels of trucks, under the feet of horses, from *steamboats*. But, Mr. Norton, of all the cases on record, there’s not one single case of suicide by leap from the rear end of a moving train.

  149. 149.

    Feathers

    @Adam L Silverman: If I were writing the script, the low speed chase would be Ivanka walking to the White House in the middle of the night with helicopters overhead and mobs of reporters following after her. Possibly tugging a reluctant child along behind her.

  150. 150.

    TenguPhule

    @Roger Moore:

    I don’t know about that, but don’t be surprised if some people get 9mm aneurisms.

    Worse cases of suicide ever seen by the GOP.

  151. 151.

    Gravenstone

    @LAO: That’s more what I meant. That if he was cooperating, his indictment wouldn’t be made into a circus like this. More in line with a gentleman’s agreement.

  153. 153.

    LAO

    @Adam L Silverman: I should have put it in quotes, I meant to distinguish violent crime or organized crime investigations, where the feds don’t reach out to defense attorneys or subpoena documents from the subjects. The indictment won’t be a surprise to the target.

  154. 154.

    Ruckus

    @LAO:
    This is what I always thought. They cooperated by admitting that they were involved and asking for leniency. But to give them that, they’d had to have been charged and arrested. Besides as I said up thread, their safety may hinge on them not being on the street.

  156. 156.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NotMax: As long as al Sistani stays quiet, Abadi can and will do whatever he likes. al Sistani, in my opinion, has become like the Japanese emperor in the 19th Century: a voice too pure to be spoken.

  162. 162.

    Adam L Silverman

    @LAO: It was reported about 6 weeks ago that Mueller’s folks told Manafort when they did the no knock that they were going to indict him.

  163. 163.

    Ruckus

    @LAO:
    I may not have stated it very well. All of the known suspects have been questioned, I’d bet rather extensively, and all of them would have lawyered up, none of them are in my economic bracket where a lawyer is a massive expense. Of course they need a far better lawyer than I might ever have any need for. I hope the expense doesn’t get them anywhere.

  164. 164.

    CaseyL

    Manafort – because of the evidentiary raid on his house. SFAIK, that’s the only raid Mueller has ordered.

  168. 168.

    MazeDancer

    “Taken into custody”

    Truly beautiful phrase.

    Sealed indictment means someone is going to get perp walked by Monday AM. Unless singing commences.

    Wonder what Fox & Friends will feature Monday?

  172. 172.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Thru the Looking Glass…:

    Ya know… that was my thought too… what do we have between now and Monday morning, 60 hours?

    An awful lot can happen in two & a half days…

    Bomb bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran!

    Or… “Fuck it! This is all Vlad’s fault! Well he can get a nuclear missile rammed up his ass! Kelly, get me the football! If I can’t win nobody can!

  175. 175.

    Adam L Silverman

    @SiubhanDuinne: I’ve edited your comment. Whatever you were trying to link to was a dead link, but it had captured the reply button. I think, however, that you were looking for this:

  176. 176.

    JPL

    So far CNN is the only channel reporting this as fact. Every one else is saying if the report by CNN is true. I sure hope that CNN has valid sources.

    Trump could have set them up.

  181. 181.

    Anne Laurie

    I’d like it to be Roger Stone, if only since he’s popped up again this week on the JFK conspiracy “news” reports.

    Well, TBH, I’d really like it to be Jared Kushner, picked up for discussing an attempt to flee the country without breaking the Sabbath. But I don’t think J-Kush is smart enough to understand how much trouble he’s about to be in, so that’s not likely.

  188. 188.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Manyakitty: Basically he’s a professional informant. It’s why one of the attorneys Mueller brought on board was the guy who handled him in/for the Eastern District of NY.

  189. 189.

    Lizzy L

    Manafort AND Flynn, because why not. And I too would dearly love to see Roger Stone go down, but I do not think he’ll be among the first. I’m also holding out hope that somewhere down the line, Rudi Giuliani will be indicted. Please.

    Edited to ask: has there been any news from/about efgoldman?

  194. 194.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: Or…

    “Fuck it! This is all Vlad’s fault! Well he can get a nuclear missile rammed up his ass! Kelly, get me the football! If I can’t win nobody can!

    We can always hope he decides to flee the country… perhaps he’ll tell his pilot to head for St Petersburg and the man will think he’s talking about the one in Florida…

  195. 195.

    Wilson Heath

    Now I understand why the x-mas season barf already started this year.

    It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas . . .

  199. 199.

    Corner Stone

    I hope I see you on your way down
    I hope you break every bone
    I hope it kills you on your way down
    I hope you die alone

    All of your hate and all of your lies
    Will it be worth it?
    When all of your friends
    Refuse to be allies…
    Will it be worth it?

  203. 203.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Gallows humor. I mean, if Trump’s goose was really cooked and he had mentally degenerated to supervillain-level insanity I could see him trying to pull something like that. And then the Generals heroically tackle him in the Oval Office and “accidentally” crack his skull open on a corner of the desk. Pence resigns due to “ill-health” and the People are so grateful we throw out the constitution. Kelly, Mattis, and McMaster form a triumvirate to peacefully rule over America and protect “traditional values”. Co-Emporer Kelly particularly talks about the “white man’s burden” and our need to self-lessly bring human rights to the dusky savages of Africa. America took over the world, spread freedom to everyone, and eventually created a post-scarcity society.

    The end.

    And I have no idea what I just wrote. Total crack. Derp.

  204. 204.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NotMax: Hadn’t seen Sistani’s statement. When I looked about a week or so ago he hadn’t yet said anything. As for the comment, I’d seen that report.

  206. 206.

    Bill Arnold

    Going with Flynn and Stone. Bannon[1] would be too much to ask for.
    (Just going with the ones I like least, i.e. “rankest-first”)
    [1] Looks like he lives in a white van with no windows in the back, AND fiercely, intelligently evil, in some value systems.

  207. 207.

    Ohio Mom

    @HeleninEire: I’ve been looking for you because of what you said the other day about your sister and the bc pills she was, and then wasn’t taking but will probably start taking again.

    I know you said your mom died of breast cancer but if that is the only breast cancer in your family, there is not much risk for your sister. Most of the time, breast cancer is not genetic, it is just bad luck.

    The big exception is if the BRCA genes were in your family tree, and then there’d be breast, ovarian, prostrate and pancreatic cancers among family members, and then taking bc pills would indeed be risky.

    But if this remains a concern of yours, and your sister would allow it, she could just make sure she has regular mammograms — that is, increased surveillance.

    I double-checked this on my favorite breast cancer site, breastcancer.org

    Sign me,
    An Amazon

  210. 210.

    raven

    @Adam L Silverman:

    efgoldman
    October 25, 2017 at 10:04 am
    OT
    I’ll try to post this another time or two
    I am going to be admitted to the hospital later today.
    I have lost all the considerable gains I made, and then some.
    I know the best jackals in jackalhood will worry

  212. 212.

    Roger Moore

    I’ll suggest Sessions as the dark horse candidate. We know he’s involved in both the Russia business and the obstruction of justice that got Mueller involved in the first place. He’s also an obvious candidate for a perjury charge over his Congressional testimony.

  215. 215.

    Corner Stone

    This reporting is all deza. It’s obvious Natasha Bertrand and Vyeessel NYEETS Skuyuh are sisters. They have been gaming us this whole time.

  219. 219.

    Adam L Silverman

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: It is interesting that by late this afternoon reporters on the various shows were talking about people speculating that the President had early onset Alzheimers. Here’s one example, you want to watch from the 10:18 mark:

  220. 220.

    Ohio Mom

    @Adam L Silverman: efg reported that he’d developed open sores on his legs that were very painful, he’d fell a few times and Mrs efg couldn’t get him up and they had to do the 911 thing, he lost all the progress that he had made in PT, like being able to walk without a walker and being able to drive…a little while later, he said he was going to the hospital.

    I imagine lots of us would do something — send cards, flowers, whatever. If someone knew his real ID.

  222. 222.

    Jeffro

    @rikyrah: dear god, I haven’t asked for much lately, or ever really, but if you’re there and want to really, truly make your presence known…have Bob Mueller frog-march the Mercers out in public by FBI agents for their treason and then also please can I have a pony? kthxbai

  228. 228.

    NotMax

    Trivia learned today:

    Orson Welles (!) was put forth as a possible candidate for Congress. He declined to run.

    Joseph McCarthy won that election.

  229. 229.

    Bill Arnold

    @Thru the Looking Glass…:

    I’m kinda surprised no one’s fallen out of a 40th floor window yet… or stepped in front of a bus… or gargled w/ a Glock…

    The Russians have way overplayed the whole heart-attack-with-concurrent-head-trauma thing, and defenestration, and poisoning, and a few other approaches. At this point, any more deaths of people involved in the Russia investigation would be de-facto extremely suspicious.
    The guilty should of course be extremely worried.

  231. 231.

    HeleninEire

    @Ohio Mom: Thanks for this. Cancer does run in my family. My Aunt died of breast cancer at age 36. One of my cousins had it too, but she survived. My brother died of pancreatic cancer at 45.

    Interestingly, both me and Mary tested negative for BRCA1 and 2. My older sister does not want to get tested. I got the test at Memorial Sloan Kettering and the genetic counselor said that even though I was negative there is just too much cancer in my family; it has to be genetic. They just haven’t isolated the gene yet.

  234. 234.

    James E. Powell

    I can never feel optimistic about investigations into Republican misconduct. In the same way that the Village press/media can take routine acts by the Clintons and make them seem like a combination of the Corleones and the Peróns, they can take blatant corruption and criminality by Republicans and bury it under a pile of “both sides” and “some say” bullshit.

  236. 236.

    Jackie

    If it’s a Federal Indictment, Trump can pardon, correct? Does this mean we’re hoping a State indictment is also in the wings?

  237. 237.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Major Major Major Major:
    I guess It’s supposed to be a parody of people’s high hopes being placed in people like Kelly when in reality they’re scumbags too. Reminds me of Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron a little. When I wrote it I was just writing crack without much thought put into it. I even changed tenses once.

  238. 238.

    Ohio Mom

    @HeleninEire: You are very, very well-informed — most people aren’t. I can’t even begin on the dumb stuff I was told so my first instinct is to assume others don’t know. But you do.

    I was glad to hear that your conference call went well and that everyone is working together. Hoping it works out well and you can stay in your beloved Ireland.

  240. 240.

    p.a.

    Podesta, in the cloakroom, with an unencrypted Toughbook.

    But seriously, hope the indictment(s) are for whoever pukes up cohorts easiest. Manafort the chalk?

  245. 245.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Emma:
    I don’t know. It kind of just came to me. It started as the Generals being some kind of Deus EX Machina that people, the media wanted them to be to prevent a nuclear war and then went from there.

  246. 246.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @Bill Arnold:

    At this point, any more deaths of people involved in the Russia investigation would be de-facto extremely suspicious.

    And it would also make sure some keep quiet… might also loosen some tongues too, come to think of it…

    The guilty should of course be extremely worried.

    This qualifies as an exceptional understatement…

  249. 249.

    Mary G

    I know efg’s daughter’s twitter handle, but just by coincidence from when she was on Jeopardy and I follow her boss, or ex-boss, not sure which. Feels like doxxing to tweet to her, no?

  252. 252.

    Shrillhouse

    It’s gonna be Melania.

    She’s gonna tottaly rock the perp walk in strappy heels and those aviator shades!

  255. 255.

    Jeffro

    @Adam L Silverman: Hey GOP – there’s a reason why Trumpov “can’t. quit. talking. about Russia” and it’s not entirely due to the fact that he’s an addled narcissist…let’s drill down, shall we? Geez, these people…

  256. 256.

    mai naem mobile

    Ugh. I hope efg is doing okay. I know he’s on dialysis so he’s pretty much guaranteed a minimum 3 day stay in the hospital.

    Also, did Betty from the USVI ever check in?

  259. 259.

    Corner Stone

    @Shrillhouse: That would be done in private. She’s been a covert handler for decades now so her situation would be a prisoner exchange under the radar.

  266. 266.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Lizzy L: I’ve sent a couple of emails. I think the email he uses to post here is a dummy email. But I’ve pinged the other front pagers (on a Friday night at 10:30 PM EDT…) and I emailed SD directly. If/when I hear anything back I’ll post something.

  268. 268.

    Anne Laurie

    Any lawyers want to speculate on the chance this is Paul Manafort, asking Mueller to indite him as a personal defense against Putin’s goons?

    “What else could I do, fellas? He was about to throw me under the jail!”

    I mean, if Manafort’s in federal custody, it looks a lot more suspicious if he has one of those infamous tripped-in-the-bathroom fatal “accidents”…

  273. 273.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Prediction: Melania indicted by the fashion police for wearing fuck me pumps to a flood zone.

  275. 275.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @Anne Laurie:

    I mean, if Manafort’s in federal custody, it looks a lot more suspicious if he has one of those infamous tripped-in-the-bathroom fatal “accidents”…

    Right… somehow, whilst shaving w/ an electric razor, he manages to cut his own throat ear to ear, and in his haste to grab a styptic pencil, slips on a bar of soap, grabs a plugged in toaster, and falls into a full bath tub, w/ the resultant muscle spams from the electrical shock tossing him right out the window of his 40th floor condominium…

    Clearly an accidental death…

  276. 276.

    Kay

    Kyle Griffin‏Verified account @kylegriffin1 17m17 minutes ago
    Reuters, citing a source briefed on the matter, matches CNN report: First charges filed in Mueller’s Russia probe

    Good. I wanted a second.

  279. 279.

    ProfDamatu

    @HeleninEire: Not to intrude, as a newbie to this board, but as a BRCA2 carrier who had breast cancer…it’s possible that you tested negative for the BRCA mutations known to cause cancer, but there might be a variation of unknown significance. Some of those are nothing, but some later become associated with cancer. An aunt, mother, and cousin with breast cancer and a brother with pancreatic cancer is a pattern that definitely sounds suspicious for a BRCA2 problem (as you know, but others may not, it’s BRCA2 that’s associated with pancreatic cancer). There are also several other genes associated with breast cancer, though I can’t recall off the top of my head if any are also associated with pancreatic cancer, so it might be worth looking into getting tested for those if you haven’t been already. (I had the entire panel run on me, because when I was initially diagnosed I didn’t have my full family history that was highly suggestive of a BRCA problem in hand, but it was my second cancer in three years, following on my lymphoma diagnosis, so naturally they were suspicious!)

    My understanding is also that with the BRCA mutations, family history is something of a guide to what individual carriers might expect. In my case, for example, it was my paternal aunt who was first found to have a BRCA2 mutation, and I was the second; tracing back through the family tree, there are three more women and at least two men who definitely have or had the mutation. Result: Five women who all developed breast cancer by age 40; of those, two died from it (back in the 1940s) and three are still alive. No ovarian cancer despite two of the breast cancer women having their ovaries for at least 20 years post-breast cancer; no prostate or pancreatic cancer at all.

    As far as the birth control pills thing goes – there’s a lot of debate, but it’s not necessarily as much of a risk as you might think. Though it’s just anecdotal, I took birth control pills for over 15 years…but my cancer was triple-negative, so there’s almost certainly no connection. In fact, I’ve been allowed to take low-dose estrogen replacement, as I’m still several years shy of the average age at menopause. The breast cancers caused by BRCA1 mutations tend to be triple negative, so hormonal medications shouldn’t encourage most that might get started to grow. BRCA2-associated cancers tend to be ER/PR positive, so there’s more concern there (my cancer was unusual in that respect). But on the other hand, BRCA women in general are frequently given the option of taking oral contraceptives to decrease their risk of ovarian cancer, if they’re not done having kids or are not ready to have their ovaries and tubes removed. I believe the thinking there is that the increase in breast cancer risk may not be all that great, such that it’s worth it for the substantial risk reduction you get in ovarian cancer risk, especially because it’s much, much easier to catch breast cancer at an early stage. Of course all treatment/prophylaxis decisions are highly personal; just wanted to provide another perspective.

  282. 282.

    m0nty

    James Rosen‏ @JamesRosenTV 1 hour ago
    Attorney for @PaulManafort tells me neither he nor his colleagues have received any word of their client being indicted. cc @realDonaldTrump

    So that (presumably) rules him out.

  284. 284.

    Ohio Mom

    @ProfDamatu: Wow, that was very informative. After my BRCA tests came back negative, I stopped reading up on that aspect of breast cancer.

    Hope you will keep commenting.

  285. 285.

    Gerald Parks

    Isn’t the Dotard scheduled to be out of the country this week? Asia … isn’t it?
    Bet this is a short trip! With lots and lots of tweets!

  286. 286.

    J R in WV

    Wow.

    Kinda reminds me of The Saturday Night Massacre when Nixon fired everyone in charge at the Dept of Justice until he ran into someone willing to fire the Special Prosecutor – Robert Bork!!! Back then, news moved at a snail’s pace over dedicated phone lines connected to banks of teletype machines, with big boxes of fanfold paper running through to have news typed at 55 words a minute.

    We (wife and I) both worked at the local newspaper, so after the work party started to break up, we went by and watched and listened to the only 5-bell stories come of the wire in our life of working at the paper. Obviously in 1962 and 63 there were 5 bell stories for the Cuban missile crisis and the J F Kennedy assassination, but we were kids then.

    We were adults working in the news biz for the Saturday Night Massacre, and it was amazing. Of course, it wasn’t a perfect happy ending, because Nixon got pardoned by Ford, and never stood trial for his obstruction and conspiracy. I think pardons ought to require indictment, trial or guilty plea in order to have something for which one may accept a pardon. But I’m hard core about the public trust!

    My money is half a dozen middle managers get popped, you all have named them already, pretending like only one or two will go down at first. And maybe you’re right, maybe it will be released one a day for weeks, at least a couple…

    Have a nice weekend, all. Hoping EFG is doing better, I know everyone is.

  288. 288.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Jackie:

    If it’s a Federal Indictment, Trump can pardon, correct? Does this mean we’re hoping a State indictment is also in the wings?

    The courts made it clear that pardons aren’t the same as exoneration. So if there are state laws broken,…

  289. 289.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Out of curiousity, isn’t there some kind of unspoken spy rule that they don’t assassinate foreign nationals in their own country? Something like the country were it happens will just go ape on the citizens of the country that did it when it happens or something?

  293. 293.

    Ruckus

    @HeleninEire:
    Two in my immediate family had BC, one died from it, one lived decades without recurrence. Go out one more level of family and there is another with BC. She lived a long time with it but it finally got her as well. On the other side grandfather died of what I was told was massive cancer. No one would tell me what, didn’t want to scare someone who might have been able to do something about it. I’ve had cancer, still waiting for results to see how they think I’m doing.
    Some of us just have all the fun.

  294. 294.

    Millard Filmore

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Speaking of which, given Sessions loosening of the civil forfeiture rules, can Mueller just seize Trump Tower?

    What will he seize? The debts?

    Are you still a billionaire if you are a billion in debt?

  296. 296.

    Anne Laurie

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Out of curiousity, isn’t there some kind of unspoken spy rule that they don’t assassinate foreign nationals in their own country?

    Yeah, but Putin kinda figures he’s half-way to owning America already — he might be tempted to order an assassination or two, if he figured it was just those inconvenient individuals keeping him from claiming full possession.

    (Of course, the way Americans think, any such actions would be the surest way of guaranteeing that all points of the political spectrum would un-splinter to reject Putinism… )

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