Here’s an excerpt from a Yahoo News piece published earlier today:
As described by sources familiar with various aspects of the investigation, the Mueller probe is fast approaching a critical crossroads. The president’s lawyers, Ty Cobb and John Dowd, are pressing Mueller to wind down the investigation and exonerate their client, which they have assured the president will happen by early next year.
But the sources familiar with the probe say that such a rapid conclusion is — as one put it — “fanciful.” Mueller and his team, they say, are pursuing new leads, interrogating new witnesses and collecting a mountain of new evidence, including subpoenaed bank records and thousands of emails from the campaign and the Trump transition.
In just the last few weeks, his prosecutors have begun questioning Republican National Committee staffers about the party digital operation that worked with the Trump campaign to target voters in key swing states. They are seeking to determine if the joint effort was related to the activities of Russian trolls and bots aimed at influencing the American electorate, according to two of the sources.
In what is potentially another ominous sign for the White House, the lawyer for Jared Kushner, the president’s son in law and senior adviser who was in charge of the campaign’s digital operation, recently began searching for a crisis public relations firm to handle press inquiries — a step frequently taken by people who believe they may be facing criminal charges. (Kushner has denied all wrongdoing, and his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, has said he is cooperating with the Mueller investigation.)
If this is accurate, I hope it also means the investigators are looking into House and Senate campaign shenanigans too. We know Rep. Brian Mast’s campaign consultant admitted working with a hacker the intelligence services identify as a Russian agent to target ad buys. The NYT ran a story about a year ago on other House races that were targeted, but the issue has received almost no attention since then.
Given that Trump refuses to hold Russia accountable for the 2016 meddling and is actively undermining the FBI’s investigation, we’ll be sitting ducks next year — unless the investigation turns up some bombshells on the congressional side that are more difficult to shove down the memory hole. The Trump campaign is the center ring in the circus, but it’s only one of three.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
Sucks to be them.
A Ghost to Most
So, what will Rump do when he finally realizes the jig is up?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant):Yes, this is the first time I ever heard the accused felt they had the right to dictate how long the police invisigation went.
rp
[greenwald] Why is the media obsessing over the Russia investigation??!?!!? [/greenwald]
Teddys Person
@Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant): I am gobsmacked daily by reports of the efforts people around Dolt45 have to go to to protect him from reality and/or stroke his ego. I too would like a group of associates whose only job seems to be making sure I don’t get upset and feel good about myself. Are these types of people found at Sycophants R Us?
mai naem mobile
So does this mean Jared might be looking at 25 to life in hard time???? (Rubs my hands in gleeful anticipation) Also will the Mercers get sucked in along with Reince?
cope
I read this article during my morning romp through the internet in search of rays of hope.
I have to work hard to keep my expectations realistic but, for the first time in over a year, it seems like the chip-chip-chip process is actually beginning to yield results. I’m not celebrating anything yet but I’m almost starting to feel hopeful.
feebog
This is where the rubber meets the road. Who knows what information Mueller already has in his possession? Did the Trump campaign coordinate with Russian intelligence agencies to target specific areas in WI, MI and PA? It would be irresponsible not to speculate.
Another Scott
Wonkette – More indictments possible for Manafort, also too.
It’s going to be a long while yet before Mueller wraps up his investigation. 2018 should be very interesting…
Cheers,
Scott.
Greenergood
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a14500412/boundary-waters-mining-trump-epa/
From the esteemed Charlie Pierce:
last paragraphs:
“This, from The Washington Post, is the statement released last December by the Obama administration when it rejected Twin Metals’ attempt to renew the leases.
“The Boundary Waters is a natural treasure, special to the 150,000 who canoe, fish, and recreate there each year, and is the economic life blood to local business that depend on a pristine natural resource,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a joint statement with Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. “I have asked Interior to take a time out, conduct a careful environmental analysis and engage the public on whether future mining should be authorized on any federal land next door to the Boundary Waters.”
And here, from The Chicago Tribune, is a curious factoid of a kind that we’re also all coming to regard as business as usual.
The decision, made public Friday in an Interior Department legal decision, marks a win for the Chilean mining firm belonging to the family of billionaire Andronico Luksic, who rents a home to Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, in Washington.
Jared’s landlord. These people never cease to amaze and astound.”
Sheesh ,,,
Adam L Silverman
As I wrote on the front page last December, my biggest fear was that both sides had actually been compromised. Largely through the cyber war. And that by releasing almost none of the GOP material, save about a half dozen emails from Senator Graham’s campaign, this provided significant leverage over the GOP and likely the organizations set up to support them. Shortly after I started drafting that post, the news broke that this had indeed happened. Since then, as I suspected in several of the maskirovka series posts, there was just too much Russian oligarch money and involvement with a wide range of GOP and GOP supporting organizations. From Dmitry Firtash being one of the owners of Cambridge Analytica to Len Blavatnik – the Ukrainian born, American citizen oligarch close to Putin – provinding $7.35 million in funding to a SuperPAC supporting the President’s campaign, as well as PACs supporting Senators McConnell, McCain, Rubio, Graham, and Governors Walker and Kasich. Blavatnik is partners with Viktor Vekelsberg, as well as being close with Oleg Deripaska. Vekelsberg is the majority stakeholder in the Bank of Cypress.
Again: penetration at all levels.
Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)
@Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant): Would a good lawyer even do that? How on earth could they know? I mean, if Trump were pleading down a speeding ticket in traffic court I could see them having a timeline — but this?
Just drawing on my years as a legal secretary* working with attorneys who were careful as hell about what they said.
*where the most important thing I learned was that if you need to understand the law or what a judge might do, and you’re not a lawyer, find someone who is. Don’t try to guess.
beergoggles
I’m honestly OK with any Democrats hiring hackers to bypass our voting system because history has shown that only winning matters.
Just don’t be stupid and get caught.
James E. Powell
They’d like to do more stories on that, but how can they justify devoting resources and space to that when there are still so many Trump supporters who have yet to be interviewed?
germy
Here’s the transcript. And why people aren’t talking about this all day/every day is beyond me.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/apps/g/page/national/read-the-transcript-of-the-conversation-among-gop-leaders-obtained-by-the-post/2209/?tid=a_inl
?BillinGlendaleCA
@James E. Powell: I’m sure if they get bored with that, there’s always Hillary’s emails, the Clinton Foundation or Uranium One.
Bill Arnold
@Greenergood:
“These people” are not used to sunlight. :-)
Sab
@Greenergood: I bet most of the folks in business around Boundary Waters voted for Trump.
Heywood J.
But what do the 1,597 left-behind mouth-breathers in Pig’s Taint, Kintucky think about all this? That’s the important thing.
Bobby Thomson
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): all white collar lawyers get asked, “so, when are they going to wrap this up?” The good ones (people like Bob Bennett) throw ice water on that kind of thinking.
Mike in NC
Today’s Washington Post has an article by Jonathan Capehart entitled “Yet another press safari into ‘Trump Country’ ” and he’s as fed up with the media’s obsession over Trump supporters as are the rest of us.
germy
The good doctor weighs in.
Downpuppy
I thought Yahoo only posted other orgs news. Nice to see they hired Isikoff & are doing something.
The Moar You Know
That’s paydirt right there. A little surprised they haven’t looked at it sooner, but there may be legal reasons I am not privy to. But if Russia tampered with this election (and I know damn well they did, they’re still spewing their disinfo on this very blog as of this week) that’s where all the evidence will be. And it won’t just be Trump who has a problem at that point. In fact, there may be quite a few Republicans who are in a lot more trouble than Trump could ever be.
Betty Cracker
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): My guess is the lawyers are desperate to manage Trump’s self-incriminating outbursts on Twitter and elsewhere, so they’re making shit up to placate him. It’s not a great strategy, but when the client is a nuclear-armed narcissist with the introspection of a two-year-old, there aren’t many great strategies (other than running like a scalded dog).
Eme
@beergoggles:
I’m not sure it matters even if you’re caught. Apparently we have no mechanism available to reverse a fraudulent election even if it’s proven to be fraudulent.
Quinerly
Well, this seems important….https://www.buzzfeed.com/chrishamby/fbi-software-contains-russian-made-code-that-could-open-a?utm_term=.rqnEbKm1w#.vpw8LXDvA
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
@Mike in NC:
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
@germy: Stooge sez what?
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
@A Ghost to Most: I still think he’s going to end up resigning. I don’t know what he’s going to do then. I think he’d be in some deep trouble if he sticks around here. I guess Pence would pardon him, but as 800,000,000 have noted many times, he can’t pardon state crimes, and state attorney generals aren’t about to let this weasel slip away after all this shit. I’d guess he’d scurry off to some nice spot without any extradition, though not Russia. I can’t believe even Trump would be stupid enough to put his life in Putin’s hands, though maybe I’m wrong about that. You’ll never lose betting on Trump’s stupidity, after all.
Gravenstone
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: I imagine that happens all the time. But this is one of the few occasions where the primary target of the investigation is of high enough profile for their desires to be publicly noted.
germy
Another county heard from:
Mnemosyne
@germy:
Putin’s fangirl says what?
Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)
@Betty Cracker: Yeah, I’m seriously wondering why they didn’t just opt for the scalded dog strategy. Just for their own sanity.
Gravenstone
@mai naem mobile: If this spirals out into what we all likely expect it could, this would ideally lead to the dismantling of the entire Republican apparatus. One hopes RICO charges are soon to follow as the full depths of their complicity become clear.
Heywood J.
@Mike in NC: Well, that’s a start. Still a fair distance away from, I dunno, actually talking to a few folks in the majority, but who knows, maybe the mediots will make it a new year’s resolution.
The other, more recent one that confounds me is the collective puzzling over whether Prince Harry is allowed to invite (or not) whoever he wants to his own wedding. There seems to be some concern amongst the ministers that not inviting Emperor Snowflake might cause a problem. Really? They’re afraid he might be a dick?
This is why the world is being held hostage by a four-year-old having a violent tantrum in the cereal aisle at the Piggly Wiggly. Everyone’s afraid of pissing him off, so all he understands is that there are never any consequences or accountability for bad behavior. I thought our limey friends had stiffer spines than all that.
germy
@Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant): @Mnemosyne:
I’ve searched and I’ve searched, but none of these folks (dr. stein, GG, etc.) have tweeted a word about the Russian election, and the candidate who wanted to run against vlad being booted off.
Mnemosyne
@germy:
I have no idea who that is, and I’m slightly worried about you. I’m not sure that the Twitter feeds you’re following are good for your mental health. ?
Mnemosyne
@Heywood J.:
We’re just lucky he doesn’t literally have the ability to wish people into the cornfield. Small blessings, I guess.
MisterForkbeard
@germy: Jill Stein: at this point, its hard think to think of someone more obviously bought off.
But then, that’s been obvious for a long time.
Yarrow
They’re all traitors. Tick tock, motherfuckers. Interesting that this story came out now. Mueller runs a very tight ship and I doubt this story getting out is unintentional. Wonder what the reason is.
The Moar You Know
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: You need to spend some time in white collar criminal/civil court. They ALL think they can dictate terms. It would be fucking hilarious save that frequently, it’s a tactic that works.
germy
@Mnemosyne: She writes for the New Republic.
Heywood J.
@Mnemosyne: Lol, I do like the possibility of Pence or Priebus being turned into a jack-in-the-box, though.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
@Mnemosyne: Heh. Great minds and what not.
Gravenstone
@germy: Paulie knew, because Paulie was one of the recipients of that money was well.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
@germy: And you won’t.
Heywood J.
@Yarrow: I hope you’re right. I believe that Mueller has assembled a crack team of the highest skills and integrity, but the slow purge of the FBI and the chipping away (however false it is) of the credibility of a few peripheral players makes it more of a race against the clock now.
On the one hand, if you come at the king, you’d best not miss; on the other, if you take forever to line up your shot, you never get to take the shot. And it doesn’t help that one party is in active collusion with the whole traitorous operation. Congressional Democrats had better get ready to fight hard.
Mnemosyne
@germy:
Isn’t the New Republic run by apologists for Russia?
The Moar You Know
@Eme: The Feds don’t, my state doesn’t, can’t find a state that does, hell, even my local city doesn’t have such laws. I understand the reluctance. EVERY election will go to court. Dogcatcher to POTUS. And courts are partisan. Cure might be worse than the disease. Might not. But I can see the obvious upside to such laws, and the not-quite-as-obvious downside.
germy
@Mnemosyne: I thought that was The Nation.
Ruckus
@The Moar You Know:
In court yes. There the judge has to balance the possible guilt, the courts time, etc. This is of course still a criminal investigation, not yet a trial. Not only is numbnuts not used to this, I don’t think his attorney really is either.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@germy: Funny that.
germy
@Gravenstone:
I’ve always suspected that and I wonder if Mueller’s investigation will go that far. I mean, does he really want to take down the entire republican party? Maybe I’m being cynical here, but Mueller’s an establishment republican. I imagine him stopping at a certain point.
Ruckus
@The Moar You Know
Of course a parliamentary system generally has mechanisms for this, at least in a general or roundabout way. Most democracies don’t.
Yarrow
@Heywood J.:
Agreed. It think Mueller knows how much of a crisis this is for the country. He’s doing it right and minding the clock as well. It’s really bigger than just us. Our allies have a stake in it as well.
Yarrow
@germy: The thing that calls itself the Republican party is a subsidiary of the Kremlin. Mueller knows. His loyalty is to the country not the party. If his ostensible party has become the party of treason, he will not hesitate to take them down.
germy
@Yarrow: good.
Mnemosyne
@The Moar You Know:
In CA, you could probably run a successful recall campaign based on proof of fraud if the fraudster refused to resign. But not every state has a recall option.
Eme
@Ruckus:
True. I’ve always thought that parliamentary systems were more responsive to the population, more actually “democratic.” Always thought they’re better, actually. Maybe somebody will talk me down.
But we’re stuck with what we have. Literally, at the moment. No matter that what we currently have is actively working to destroy the entire nation, not just the government.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@germy: Bingo
different-church-lady
@Mike in NC: “Bugs under microscopes: how can we stop looking?”
different-church-lady
The thing that continues to amaze me is that the Russians seem to have better insight into what motivates us psychologically than our own political professionals.
Miss Bianca
@different-church-lady: I second that emotion.
Or would that be ‘sensation’? Don’t want to open up another anxious v. eager thing here.
different-church-lady
@Miss Bianca: “Notion” perhaps. Linguistically accurate, and rhymes with the original lyric.
different-church-lady
@MisterForkbeard:
No, I get the sense she does it for free.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
but, but…… there’s no collusion!11
/msm
randy khan
Has anybody else noticed that the reports about what Trump’s lawyers are telling him about the timing of the end of the investigation basically always are somewhere between one and two months from the time of the report? It sort of reminds me of the Friedman Unit.
bystander
@different-church-lady: As Dr. Barry Commoner observed, “There is no such thing as a free lunch.” Stein does it to satisfy her ego and need to feel important. She’s ended up looking as egomaniacal as twitler and completely compromised by Putin.
different-church-lady
@bystander: This is sort of off-topic, but I just now realized something very obvious: damn near everyone in this society has gone bugfuck insane, and the Russians figured it out before the rest of us, and merely leveraged it.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Hillary explained this 7 months ago at the Recode convention. I was wondering if they would ever get to this
From 19:00 to 25:00
https://youtu.be/KgdJlzuaJ6k?t=1140
Mnemosyne
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
She needed a dude to explain it right afterwards using the same words. Some people are like dogs, they can’t comprehend the audio frequency at which women speak. //
JR
@germy: who is Sarah Jones?
Mnemosyne
@different-church-lady:
Fix’d. In Alabama, Black voters turned out in droves to say, “Hell, no, we don’t want a child molester representing our state,” while a majority of white voters voted for the child molester.
It pains me to realize that my (white) people have lost their fucking minds, but they have.
Mnemosyne
@JR:
Asked and answered. New Republic writer.
Matt
@different-church-lady:
So much this. The propaganda posts aimed at GOP voters weren’t anything new, just the same bog-standard RW Noize Machine stuff.
different-church-lady
@Mnemosyne: Wait, women have language now?
@Mnemosyne: Ah, thank you.
different-church-lady
@Matt: Yeah, but it’s like they figured out how to make an electoral lens out of it.
rikyrah
The data has always led to Kushner and the Mercers.
Robert Sneddon
@Eme:
The US Constitution enshrines land as an important part of the Republic’s representation system, an 18th century propertarian concept that has not worn well in the last hundred years and more. For example 30% of the voting population of the US selects 70% of the Senate on the basis that rocks and trees require representation in government.
The US had a chance, at the end of the Second Treasonous Slaveholders Rebellion to sit down and craft a governmental system that took cognizance of railways, telegraphs, industrialisation and urbanisation instead of the stoop-labour slave-powered rural economy which is all the Founding Fathers had known and could envisage but sadly they didn’t.
beergoggles
@Eme: Yeah but these are Democrats, there will be a circular firing squad to force them into resigning.