EXCLUSIVE: Lawyers for @realDonaldTrump sending a cease-and-desist letter to former Sr adviser Steve Bannon tonight, arguing he has violated an NDA with his comments in new Wolff book. @washingtonpost
— Carol Leonnig (@CarolLeonnig) January 4, 2018
Last for a few hours, anyways. I’m up way past my bedtime, and (not) looking forward to a long evening of shoveling heavy wet snow. BUT!…
Hard to square this with "Wolff made it up." https://t.co/9uPJHFUKvj
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) January 4, 2018
you can't cease and desist making comments you already made, at length, to the author of a book that's coming out in a few days
— Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) January 4, 2018
Truth is a defense to a defamation claim. So… Suing Bannon would require #Trump be deposed-interviewed by Bannon atty under penalty of perjury. https://t.co/KVv0ZB9YzZ
— Maya Wiley (@mayawiley) January 4, 2018
I predict this is the start of a battle to determine what's more powerful in the Trump era: raging internet troll campaigns, or litigation funded by a vindictive billionaire? https://t.co/EP5Pdd0K8u
— Tina Nguyen (@tina_nguyen) January 4, 2018
We may all end up having to thank Steve Bannon, for the entertainment, & because it’s possible he gets Trump so obsessed w him that it distracts Trump from starting a war w North Korea pic.twitter.com/S0tr1aRz38
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) January 4, 2018
You don't have to pick sides in Trump vs. Bannon. It's like you don't need to root for fireworks, you just enjoy the beautiful destruction.
— Schooley (@Rschooley) January 3, 2018
Quinerly
Cease and desist letter to Wolff and publisher.
MomSense
The snow has started much earlier than expected. After some of the wind storms we have had this year, I’m worried more trees will come down especially if the snow is heavy and wet.
I’m laughing my ass off at Dolt45s best people. The problem is that our country didn’t need gallows humor. We needed a government of serious, sober, competent, fair, and ethical public servants.
MattF
Do you think Trump has noticed that his lawyers are lying to him? A successful con artist has to be able to tell when he’s being lied to– but maybe Trump has lost that.
Quinerly
Cease and desist letter to Wolff and publisher: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-attorney-sends-letter-author-book-demanding-cease/story?id=52134956
Omnes Omnibus
@Quinerly: I wish with all my might that Trump files a defamation suit against Wolff.
Villago Delenda Est
By all means, Donald, try to use the courts to bully your way out of this one. It will not work. Bannon has the high ground, and you are truly fucked.
Gin & Tonic
@Quinerly: Hey, a billable hour is a billable hour, amirite?
ThresherK
@MomSense: I noticed barely a thing when I looked out at 4am. In central CT we’re getting it now; the cats pestered us awake at 9am.
We haven’t unpacked a lot of things from the move yet, but I have enough of my XC ski clothing at hand, and we live a half mile from a railtrail. Hmmmm….
ChrisS
@Gin & Tonic:
I’d ask for a sizable retainer up front from the grifter president.
laura
So much glorious hate reading to do today….if I didn’t have to work.
Cermet
Like all lying buffoons, the orange fart cloud will scream he will sue and no such thing will ever occur. Be a great follow up question by reporters about his suit for a few months demonstrating what a dick-less coward the small handed fart cloud really is … .
Quinerly
@Omnes Omnibus: Seems to be going in that direction. Did you read the letter?
eric
@Omnes Omnibus: I have never seen it, but I wonder if you are allowed to file a declaratory judgment action for a finding that you did not defame someone.
Mr. Bannon, please note that I have handled defamation matters for more legitimate publications than Brietbart.
ETA: you would likely lose anti-SLAAP rights, so that is a disincentive, but in this case….
ChrisS
@Quinerly: Re: the cease and desist letter to the publishers … Trump is also asking for a copy of the book.
Complete amateur hour with these guys …
Sondra Fabe
Here we go. The book was all the rage yesterday on every MSNBC cable news show all day and all night. In fact on the first shows I watched in the early afternoon they talked so much about Steve Bannon or the Bannon book I thought he wrote it. It wasn’t until later that I found out it was written by Michael Wolff.
For people who don’t consume news like we do it’s going to take a little time before it seeps into the public discourse like fracking waste seeps into the drinking water in Appalachia. When the taps are turned on a stream of fire flows out of the faucet instead of water.
The book isn’t out yet and already it’s going to be a best seller that some people will want to believe and other will want to burn.
Because Wolff either has an eidetic memory and doesn’t need to take notes or he just makes shit up and calls it a recreation…so there is that.
kindness
I see popcorn futures are up.
Ruckus
@MattF:
All things considered, he’s not that successful.
Measure him around what he could have been against what he is. Sure he’s president, but that wasn’t actually a con, at least not in the traditional sense of con. He did it for the sucking up, that he’s ripping us off for what is let’s face it chump change, is icing, not the prize. It’s his gross stupidity and vindictiveness which is screwing the federal government along with his hangers on. Sure cutting his taxes is nice but he’s not capable of planning that. He may have been at one time but not now.
scav
More Cease and Desist letters with steely glares — followed by tweetstorms if history serves. Problem solved, right? Let’s throw gasoline on all the fires, domestic and international! Noo one will notice!
SiubhanDuinne
@Anne Laurie TOP:
SHE WALKS BY DAY [ominous theremin music]
MomSense
@ThresherK:
It should be great XC skiing today. I’m thinking of going snowshoeing if we don’t have a total whiteout.
ChrisS
@Sondra Fabe:Because Wolff either has an eidetic memory and doesn’t need to take notes or he just makes shit up and calls it a recreation…so there is that.
Michael Wolff Recorded Interviews For ‘Fire And Fury,’ Including Taping Steve Bannon.
“The author of a new book that’s loaded with explosive anecdotes of a disorganized and chaotic White House is backed up by “dozens of hours” of audio recordings of senior staff, according to a report.”
He could still be making some shit up, but the fact that no one has denied anything specifically … well, it leads me to believe that there is a lot of truth here.
WaterGirl
@MomSense: Maybe you can console yourself with the thought that the weakest trees have already fallen from the previous wind storms this year?
burnspbesq
@Gin & Tonic:
True, but you get dinged if you can’t collect for it.
The Management Dashboard knows all.
dmsilev
@Quinerly: Good luck with that. Since copies of the book are apparently already out in the wild, that seems …difficult.
hilts
You’re giving Trump too much credit, seems to me the lawyer is more akin to George Costanza in terms of mental capacity.
Calouste
@ChrisS: Also that the shitgibbon started by attacking Bannon, not Wolff.
dmsilev
@Villago Delenda Est:
Probably the only time in the history of history itself that this statement is true.
Doug R
This speaks to the whole thing about NDAs-how can they be constitutional?
And if they cover up a crime, how are they not proof of RICO?
hilts
@ChrisS:
While I’m glad this book is clearly pissing off Trump, whenever I’ve seen Michael Wolff on tv, he’s always come across as an obnoxious douchebag.
eric
@Doug R: I would wager a shiny nickel that neither Trump nor the Campaign paid Bannon, but rather the Mercers took care of that.
Quinerly
@ChrisS: Looks like they are blindsided by a guy with a tape recorder that they gave a sofa to to hang out on just outside the Oval Office. Yes, I’m a bit obsessed with the sofa aspect…I’m on BOOK overload but all the insider pundits are talking about being in the WH over the last few months and seeing Wolff lounging about in place on a sofa in the middle of all the chaos that they haven’t been able to report on because they weren’t on the record like apparently sofa lounging Wolff was. Jeez, what a run on sentence on my part.? Apologies….
scav
@hilts: So? Maybe the shining knight only comes in afterwards to clean up the battlefield wherein the shitmonkey tribe self-organized a canabalism orgy with spotlights and an imax film crew.
germy
I clicked on the hollywood reporter site to read the wolff article and was interrupted by a full page ad for the upcoming animated film “Boss Baby”
Enhanced Voting Techniques
More evidence for “Trump is an idiot” That book is toxic Trump because it’s Reality TV and Trump is a Reality TV star, so Trump is lashing out, keeping the book current. And yes, Trump is lashing out at a professional Intertubes Troll.
Yarrow
@eric: Apparently the Mercers are disenchanted with Bannon and have cut him off.
Quinerly
@germy: Hollywood Reporter piece is KILLER.
Roger Moore
@hilts:
Lionel Hutz, Esq.
eric
@Yarrow: yes, but if no trump no pay then, then no consideration for any NDA executed then (even if it were somehow enforceable)
(PS it is thundering in Boston while snowing…)
Waldo
@ThresherK: Let me know how the skiing goes. I’m always looking for good (free) places to XC ski in CT.
randy khan
@Quinerly:
It seems really unlikely that Trump would file a defamation suit, particularly if Wolff really has tapes. The risk of having to let Wolff’s lawyers question Trump in a deposition is just too high (and even if the deposition were sealed, (a) it would leak very quickly; and (b) it seems likely a news organization could get the court to release it).
Mike in DC
@MattF:
Do you think Trump’s lawyers have also noticed that their client is lying to them?
Scamp Dog
@Gin & Tonic: …as long as you’re confident the client will actually pay you.
Quinerly
@randy khan: In a normal world, yes. Up is down and down is up.
randy khan
In a fight between Bannon and Trump, I’m totally rooting for (and expecting) injuries.
As for the cease and desist letter to Wolff, since there’s already a big excerpt that’s been published, in practice I think that ship has sailed. (I’m kind of wondering if the lawyers sent a retraction demand to the magazine.)
Yarrow
@eric: True enough. And thunder snow! Is Jim Cantore from the Weather Channel nearby? He loves that stuff.
randy khan
@Quinerly:
And there’s always Trump’s Razor and its corollaries.
catclub
But is the vindictive billionaire Trump or Mercer? and is the Troll trump or Bannon?
eric
@Mike in DC: ummm, not likely
catclub
@Quinerly: The best part of the C&D letter: “please send us a copy of your book.”
lollipopguild
We have plenty of lawyers ready to go at my law firm of Ketchem, Cheatem and Screwem.
eric
By the way, if you want to lose close to three hours of your life, some beautiful person has spliced together every Omar scene in The Wire into one video. God is Good.
Bobby Thomson
@Doug R:
In a private setting, they clearly are. You are not allowed to say anything you want without any legal consequences. You can’t defame. You can’t defraud. You can’t solicit crimes. And a private employer can require you to keep the company’s secrets confidential.
When the government is the one enforcing confidentiality, that should be subject to legal requirements (e.g., classification), not private ordering. I don’t see how any NDA with Bannon is enforceable under these circumstances. It seems void as against public policy.
john (not mccain)
I’ve had my money on “apoplexy” as my Trump solution since the beginning. I’m still very confident in that bet.
Waldo
@Quinerly:
Yeah, as bad as I thought Team Trump would be, the level of dysfunction Wolff describes is truly staggering.
Mnemosyne
@Sondra Fabe:
In addition to Wolffe apparently having tapes, we already know from the Clinton years that a book doesn’t have to be true to be damaging. Sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander, etc.
The fact that Trump is issuing official White House press releases to denounce Bannon says to me that there’s at least a grain of truth in there somewhere. They seem so panicked about the few things that have been released so far that it makes me wonder what theyre afraid might be in the book. ?
Bobby Thomson
@randy khan: not a defamation suit, a breach of contract suit. Truth is not a defense to a breach of an NDA.
catclub
@eric:
The weird thing about the mention of the NDA was that they claimed it was from the Trump Organization – not the Trump Campaign that Bannon headed.
Did Bannon still get paid by the Trump Org?
Roger Moore
@Doug R:
Freedom to contract. Conservatives will tell you it’s a vital constitutional right that justifies overturning all kinds of laws like minimum wage and child labor. I’m not sure how you can get there with strict constructionism, since freedom to contract isn’t spelled out as an explicit right in the Constitution, but there you go.
catclub
@randy khan:
ummm, No outtakes from The Apprentice have leaked. Cast iron control in that case.
Quinerly
@Waldo: Bear with me, I’m on overload so can’t do the exact quote justice…but this AM someone was saying throw out the sinking Titanic and rearranging the deck chairs metaphors. This is the Titanic and the passengers and crew are eating each other.?
germy
Quinerly
@Waldo: And they let The Wolff in.?
Barbara
@ChrisS:
I can believe that many people don’t remember saying specific things, or thinking that those things were taken out of context (of course they would be) but I can’t believe that a reputable publisher would bring the book out if Wolff could not substantiate his quotes, either with thorough notes or recordings.
Mike J
@catclub:
That may be the smartest thing they did. They didn’t want the publisher saying the government had demanded a pre-release copy so they could exercise prior restraint. Really the only thing Trump’s lawyers could legally do is ask, so they did.
randy khan
@Bobby Thomson:
There’s no breach of contract claim against Wolff – he didn’t sign the NDA. And the cease and desist letter to Wolff is all about defamation.
randy khan
@catclub:
That’s because Burnett, for whatever reason, didn’t want the tapes to leak, and he has control over them. There will be a lot of people with copies of the deposition transcript and/or video.
d58826
Totally OT but twitter is reporting that DOJ is looking into Hillary’s e=mails again. They are so concerned about whiter any classified information was improperly handled. Now IIRC there were some documents that were classified after the fact and a couple that involved some minor scheduling issues that were classified at the time.
Whatever, all of the documents are at least 6 years old. Yet the same DOJ and Gooper committees that are so concerned about these old e-mails are totally indifferent to the Russians trolling the 2016 election and probably the upcoming elections as well.
Barbara
@hilts:
For some time now it has seemed obvious to me that the only people capable of dealing head on with Trump are obnoxious douchebags. Most people (certainly most newspapers) don’t want to dive into the gutter and fight fire with fire. They want to make sense of things and they don’t want to believe that the president is not just an asshole but a malevolent idiot. Giving Trump even a smidgen of the benefit of the doubt gives Trump the clear advantage in dealing with the media. Only someone who revels in flinging shit gets him to show who he really is in ways that cannot be polished as something that is “strategic” or “canny” or “authentic” or all the other nonsense that has been written about Trump.
Mike J
@john (not mccain): Katherine Ryan has a bit about how Meliana’s mistake was getting a guy too young. You want one where one line of coke and a vigorous hand job means you get to spend Christmas alone on a yacht.
TS
@ChrisS:
From my side of the world the news reports Tony Blair has denied what it said about him in the book
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-05/tony-blair-denies-warning-donald-trump-of-british-spies/9305134
Not that I’ve ever considered Tony Blair’s view on anything since he stood alongside Bush and those WMD & it’s the only denial I’ve seen related to the book.
Mike in DC
@catclub:
A Democratic controlled congressional oversight committee, say one investigating Trump’s sexual misconduct, could subpoena those tapes, and I’m not sure that there’s much Burnett or the custodian could do about it.
Quinerly
McConnell is all in Team Trump: http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/367376-mcconnell-told-trump-the-white-house-reaction-on-bannon-was-perfect-report
randy khan
@Mike in DC:
Yep.
Barbara
@TS: I assume that Wolff did not talk to Blair, but to someone else who told him what Blair had told them.
Roger Moore
@Bobby Thomson:
But NDAs are only enforceable against the person who signed them. You can’t go after a third party who was given the information covered by the NDA, only against the person who violated them. Unless Trump somehow got Wolff to sign a NDA- and that seems implausible at best- then the most any NDA will let him do is to punish whomever on his staff talked; it won’t let him block publication of Wolff’s book.
Mnemosyne
@TS:
I haven’t seen the excerpt — does Wolffe say that Blair personally told him that, or did someone at the White House say Blair said thar?
TS
@Barbara: That seems most likely & who knows why Blair thought he had to say anything. He said enough when PM to damage himself forever.
Obvious Russian Troll
@catclub: Mercer is the vindictive billionaire. Trump is just vindictive.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Sondra Fabe:
Indeed, But then again Trump’s base are the kind of rubes who suck up gossip.
Bobby Thomson
@randy khan: I haven’t read the letter and probably should, but I assume they would have threatened a claim for tortious interference.
hueyplong
I am struggling with the issue of whether a Blair denial makes the allegation more or less likely to be true.
On another point, if the cease and desist letter to Wolff/publisher doesn’t mention a NDA signed by Wolff, then you can bet there ain’t one. And if there ain’t, the Trumpies can pound sand.
Barbara
@Roger Moore: But even WITH an NDA, if Trump actually permitted people to talk to Wolff he would be subject to a defense that they had permission to discuss the campaign and other matters with Wolff. Plus, with regard to any matter that Trump has talked about in public, e.g., where the information has been released through other means than Wolff, people could defend their own comments as not actually disclosing any information that was actually confidential. Even if this does not vitiate the terms of the NDA, it makes sustaining damages unlikely if the information is already out there. It’s actually really hard to enforce a broad NDA, and that’s before you get to whether it’s enforceable at all against a federal employee engaged in public affairs. Normally, the ONLY enforceable restraint on government information, broadly speaking, is FOIA. Trump has been able to rely on NDAs not because they are enforceable but because of the unequal resources and bargaining power between himself and his employees. Once that is taken away, he’s like the homeless people living across the street from the WH in Lafayette Square flailing their arms and screaming about how unfair the world is to them, with a lot more cause for their distress than he has ever had.
TS
@Mnemosyne: I’ve only seen the news report I quoted. It says this
Blair says “This story is a complete fabrication, I mean literally from beginning to end. I’ve never had such conversation in the White House, outside of the White House, with Jared Kushner, with anybody else,”
There has to be someone in the WH that Blair, at one time or another, has had a conversation with – I doubt this story was 100% fabrication.
Roger Moore
@Quinerly:
Two points:
1) Sucking up to the dear leader isn’t great proof that you’re all in; it just shows you know how to deal with a narcissist.
2) It should have been obvious that McConnell was all in long before this. Remember, his wife is a member of Trump’s cabinet.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@Obvious Russian Troll: Ooh. Subtle burn.
Quinerly
OT…Repug just picked in that tied VA state house race.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 1/3/18
Rosenstein, McCabe meet with Ryan on Nunes, Russia investigation
Rachel Maddow reports on a trip by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Andrew McCabe to the office of House Speaker Paul Ryan to discuss the Trump Russia investigation and House Intel chair Devin Nunes.
Barbara
@hueyplong: Don’t struggle. Blair is so deluded about so many things that there is no answer. Nothing he says matters anymore. And that is a good thing.
Bobby Thomson
@Bobby Thomson: and now having read the letter, I see they do indeed threaten counts for tortious interference with contractual relations and inducement of breach.
Calouste
The cease and desist order is a brilliant move… for the publisher. Now they can advertise the book with “The book the White House doesn’t want you to read!”
rikyrah
Those whining about Wolff’s ‘ journalistic integrity’ are mad:
1. Because Wolff got there first
2. Because Halpern is out..Wolff’s book will probably get the mini-series treatment.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@hilts:
Well that explains Wolff’s access to the Trump administration.
Bobby Thomson
@Barbara: oh, he has no damages action. The most he could hope for is an injunction and the Supreme Court has roundly rejected prior restraint.*
*Not really.
rikyrah
Anything he said about his employ in the White House, isn’t covered by NDA..
BECAUSE HIS SALARY WAS BEING PAID FOR BY THE TAXPAYERS.
PHUCK OUTTA HERE with the NDA
…………………………………………………………………………
TRUMP VS. BANNON — THIS IS WAR
Can you argue violation of non-disclosure statement if you also argue book is incorrect?
President Donald Trump’s lawyer sent former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon a ‘cease and desist’ letter on Wednesday, accusing him of violating an agreement signed during the 2016 campaign that prevented him from disclosing confidential information or disparaging Trump and his family.
The letter comes after excerpts of a forthcoming book by journalist Michael Wolff revealed that Bannon criticized Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., and son-in-law, Jared Kushner. According to the excerpts, Bannon referred to a 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with Russian operatives arranged by Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. and son-in-law Jared Kushner as ‘treasonous’ and ‘unpatriotic.’ The White House disavowed the book, and Trump bashed Bannon in a forceful statement earlier Wednesday.
The White House can’t argue simultaneously that the book is completely incorrect and Bannon violated a non-disclosure agreement. If he violated a non-disclosure agreement then something he said was right.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2018/01/04/what-a-day-lawsuit-threats-flying-bannon-trump-relationship-set-aflame-mercers-kick-bannon-to-the-curb-thr-running-another-wolff-excerpt-today-bday-david-kihara-234712
WaterGirl
@Mike J: That’s so crass, which makes it a perfect fit for a conversation about Donald Trump.
TS
@Quinerly:
Just saw that, so disappointing – will never understand how so many are still voting for republicans – it must be chiseled in their brains at birth
MattF
@Quinerly: Yes, but… it’s not going to affect control of the VA House. Dem candidate will ask for a recount, which can’t be completed until after VA House convenes and elects Speaker. This would have happened even if the Democrat won the drawing.
Barbara
@Bobby Thomson: Tortious interference? So, the story is, Trump lets Wolff, a known provocative journalist, roam the halls of the WH, talking to whoever and recording them, and then, when he publishes something they don’t like, they threaten him with inducing others to violate an NDA that he wasn’t subject to directly, and that he was never told about? What did Trump think Wolff was doing or was going to do? He knew the point of Wolff’s exercise was to publish comments about Trump and his campaign. I would say that there is a great big fat waiver defense here — that if you want someone to observe an NDA you make them aware if at the time of the comments.
WaterGirl
Do we know what came of the meeting between Rosenstein and Paul Ryan last night?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@d58826:
Meanwhile, Trump is allowing some dude to crash on the Oval Office couch and take what ever notes he wants.
danielx
@kindness:
Great minds, etc…..really wish I could keep up on this today..
Barbara
@MattF: Yes, it’s disappointing, but the odds were already stacked in favor of Republicans maintaining de facto control of the HOD. Their margin is so thin even if they retain this level of control that individual legislators can start getting picked off for various things. And they can see which way the wind is blowing. Their determination to continue being RWNJs is going to be reduced, especially for those now very few reps who are from urban and suburban areas of Norfolk, NOVA, Richmond, etc. Don’t get too disappointed. McAuliffe thought picking up 6 or at most 8 new seats would have been a tremendous victory. Picking up 15 exceeded their wildest dreams.
randy khan
@Bobby Thomson:
But they also claim defamation, so The Donald still would be on the hook for a deposition.
Quinerly
New York Daily News cover. Cuck Fight! https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5a4ddeb2e4b025f99e1feb25
mai naem mobile
Goddamned Republican won the draw in the Virginia seat. The ballot shouldn’t have even counted . I bet the idiot elections idiot was paid off to call in abut the ballot.
ThresherK
@Ruckus: I still say that a win-win would have been offering Trump, failed USFL owner (and part USFL-destroyer) an NFL franchise in exchange for Hillary becoming president. Really, would anyone care who owns the Bengals, Browns, Rams, Jets or Colts?
(I don’t know how legal it is, but the country’s halfway down the cliff after busting through the “legal niceties” guardrail already. It could be done.)
Turner Hedenkoff
@Roger Moore: He’s got Chiles, Frito & Zuckerkorn on speed dial.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 1/3/18
Blumenthal: Make Trump Jr, Fusion GPS testimony transcript public
Senator Richard Blumenthal talks with Rachel Maddow about the growing pressure on Senate Judiciary chair Chuck Grassley to release the Fusion GPS testimony transcript to the public, as well as that of Donald Trump Jr.
Quinerly
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Back with the sofa/couch reference. Still makes me laugh. I can so see it.
randy khan
@TS:
Don’t be disappointed – be happy about the 15 seats the Dems gained even without this one. If you’d told me before the election that the House of Delegates would end up 51-49, I’d have been thrilled. Actually, I am thrilled.
And it’s not over yet, since she’s going to ask for a second recount, which appears to be allowed under the law after a winner is chosen by drawing lots. (Although we’ll see if the courts agree with that.)
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Quinerly:
hmmm
I imagine Turtle sees a fight between Bannon and Trump as perfect.
Gelfling 545
@Villago Delenda Est: A sentence I would never have imagined could be uttered: Bannon has the high ground.
Villago Delenda Est
@Barbara: Donald’s entire legal team is made up of Matt Groening legal characters.
Quinerly
@MattF: Thanks!
Bobby Thomson
@Barbara: they may have, or they may argue that because Trump’s NDAs are legendary that Wolffe was on constructive notice. I agree that none of their arguments are persuasive, especially after Trump gets done undermining them – which he always does.
Quinerly
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: See “Cuck Fight” cover.?
Brachiator
What craziness. According to one story, Bannon is finding that he was just the flavor-of-the month, not the prophet of the alt-right. These fools love Trump. Not so much hangers-on and disciples. Trump has got his little cult-of-personality thing done with his supporters.
Bannon thought himself to be an anarcho-right-wing revolutionary. Now he’s just another shill who’s been kicked to the curb.
Yarrow
@WaterGirl: No, and we won’t find out from Rosenstein’s side, at least. Adam Silverman suggested it was probably for Rosenstein to tell Ryan he needs to get Nunes and others under control. It was the polite conversation. If that doesn’t work we can expect leaks to provide more incentive.
Gelfling 545
@ChrisS: The sad fact is that nothing he said is too outlandish to be true in the Trump regime.
Villago Delenda Est
@Yarrow: I think that Adam’s take is precisely what went down…that Ryan had better get Nunes under control or face his own investigation.
Elizabelle
Hello all. Wow, is it going to be fun to read about the Wolff disclosures. Although am kinda maintaining a Trump moratorium from overseas. No magazine covers with Trump, or Kardashians. Most refreshing.
Barbara
@Bobby Thomson: I really, really, want to see the legal citation in support of the argument that you induced a breach of an agreement you have never seen because “You should have known there was an NDA.” Seriously, a person can waive an NDA. By letting Wolff in Wolff was just as entitled to think that Trump had waived whatever NDA existed. I know I shouldn’t take them seriously, but Gimminy Christmas, this is so embarrassing they really should have a better strategy, like shrugging their shoulders and noting that Wolff is a known fabulist and the WH has better things to do than clean up his trash.
Nora
@Barbara: @Barbara: If there were anyone competent in the White House, they would certainly give this a pass, but we know Trump is physically incapable of letting an insult or a perceived disrespect pass without response. Jeez, most elementary school kids learn not to respond to EVERYTHING.
Gelfling 545
@eric: ohoh! Bad sign. Here in Buffalo thunder + snow = historic blizzard.
Villago Delenda Est
@Gelfling 545: Not just your everyday blizzard!
Patricia Kayden
@laura: You’re not snowed in like the rest of us East Coasters? The snow is still coming down here in Southern Maryland. Beautiful.
schrodingers_cat
Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell and all the R elders need to pay for foisting this monstrosity on this country and the world.
WaterGirl
@Yarrow: Thanks! I thought for sure we would hear something. Hope springs eternal.
Chip Daniels
I gotta say- I think this is the first time I have ever seen the phrase “golden showers” printed in Newsweek.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 1/3/18
Trump disregard for DoJ independence taints attorney appointment
Barbara McQuade, former U.S. attorney, talks with Rachel Maddow about why it’s important for the Justice Department to maintain an ethical distance from the presidency.
Doug R
@Quinerly:
So Donner party then?
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 1/3/18
Book suggests new aspects of potential Trump obstruction case
Rachel Maddow highlights excerpts in the new Michael Wolff book, Fire and Fury, that add details and possible new avenues of inquiry for potential obstruction of justice cases against the Trump team.
bemused
@MomSense:
Any truly competent people with experience and expertise to qualify for WH positions would have been summarily rejected by trump and company plus trump team didn’t waste time gutting departments of career gov’t people who have served many administrations.
What a chaotic cabal of dysfunctional dunces this bunch is.
rikyrah
@schrodingers_cat:
As a poster here is fond of saying..
WIPE THEM OUT…ALL OF THEM
schrodingers_cat
OT
Hindi movie star, Anushka Sharma married the captain of the Indian cricket team, Virat Kohli recently.
Read on the Indian Twitter
So will Anuska let Virat play after marriage ( female sports figures/ actors are routinely asked this question by the Indian media)
Some funny answers
1. Perhaps, till they have a baby
2. Only if he promises to not play in shorts.
CarolDuhart2
@ThresherK: He wouldn’t have been able to come up with the financing.
Quinerly
@Doug R: “The Donald party.”?
Villago Delenda Est
@rikyrah: Donald: “Ethics? Schmethics!”
Amir Khalid
@randy khan:
This is a new one on me. I had never heard of election rules, anywhere on the planet let alone in America, which in the event of a tied vote allowed the winner to be picked at random.
schrodingers_cat
@Amir Khalid: Totally, banana republic territory.
rikyrah
House Republicans call for Jeff Sessions’ ouster as AG
01/04/18 10:10 AM—UPDATED 01/04/18 10:21 AM
By Steve Benen
………………….
And yet, the discussion continues. The Washington Examiner today published an opinion piece from House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) and former House Freedom Caucus Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) – two of Congress’ most far-right members – calling for Sessions’ ouster.
…………………………….
In all likelihood, the attorney general will ignore the appeal from Meadows and Jordan, but it’s important to understand the point of their piece.
As the seriousness of Donald Trump’s Russia scandal grows, many of the president’s most reflexively partisan allies are rushing to undermine and discredit the investigation and those leading it. This is why, for example, we saw one far-right congressman tell MSNBC last week he wants to see the Justice Department and the FBI “purged” of potential Trump detractors.
With this in mind, Meadows and Jordan aren’t hoping to replace Sessions because they’re dissatisfied with his job performance; they want him gone so that a new attorney general can take office, assume oversight of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation (which Sessions has recused himself from), and shield the White House from any further consequences.
In other words, this is the latest step in the campaign to obstruct the Russia scandal investigation, which the bulk of the Meadows/Jordan piece is devoted to criticizing.
For many GOP lawmakers, the campaign to protect Trump has effectively no limits.
Yarrow
@WaterGirl: We’ve heard almost nothing from Mueller’s investigation. That’s a good thing. I expect it to stay that way. Any leaks about that meeting will come from Ryan’s office or those he fills in on the meeting.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 1/3/18
Trump dumps failed election commission after challenges, lawsuits
Rachel Maddow reports on the unceremonious end to Donald Trump’s controversial Presidential Advisory Committee on Election Integrity.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Brachiator: As Adam said, Bannon’s a true beliver in his own kind of crazy. The article points out Bannon and the racists right split long before
Look at it from Bannon’s point of view’; the alt-right twats are politically toxic and inept, Trump is a dead man walking due to his own idiocy, so of course Bannon is distancing himself from both of them. Bannon is really after leadership of the Tea Party.
JMG
The problem is there’s probably nobody Trump could get confirmed as AG who wouldn’t have to swear to continue the investigation, and in the meantime, Rosenstein would be acting AG. Meadows and Jordan are very stupid men in addition to being fascist lunatics. Never get lost in their districts — most voters probably unable to give directions to their own homes.
Barbara
@Amir Khalid: I have heard of it in local elections, but not for this level of government office. What you have to understand is that nearly any process — for instance, letting the state Senate decide — would have favored Republicans.
MomSense
@WaterGirl:
I hope so. It’s so sad to see ancient pine trees on the ground like giants were playing pick up sticks.
@bemused:
There are so many issues that we should be/could be dealing with. On Christmas we were talking about how our economy is based on ever increasing consumption far beyond what our planet can support. We should be talking about how we transition to and construct an economy that isn’t based on consumption. That’s just one issue out of many that are completely neglected while we are forced to watch the worst reality show ever.
Amir Khalid
@schrodingers_cat:
Weird. I presume that the captain of India plays his cricket for a living, like all players at that level. Nobody in England ever asked Posh Spice if she was going to let David Beckham keep playing football after their wedding.
Quinerly
This TPM piece is worth a peek: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/taking-stock-of-another-manic-trump-morning
schrodingers_cat
@Amir Khalid: The woman who tweeted that was being sarcastic, of course! Because these type of questions are the ones successful women in India get after they get married. But men are never asked these insulting questions.
schrodingers_cat
Why does Bannon wear multiple button down shirts at the same time. It looks totally weird.
Yarrow
@schrodingers_cat: Kind of like how Hillary Clinton hould take up knitting but no one ever said that to Mitt Romney, John McCain, John Kerry, Al Gore, Bob Dole, etc.
schrodingers_cat
@Yarrow: Indeed! The sexism in India is the sexism in the United States ^ 10.
Cheap Jim, formerly known as Cheap Jim
Shouldn’t that be “J. Cheever Loophole”? Maybe not; Loophole was successful in the end.
MomSense
@schrodingers_cat:
He’s weird. The creep factor is strong with that guy.
AnotherBruce
@Quinerly: Here is a quote from the Hollywood Reporter piece.
“Indeed, the plan was to have all interviewers going forward provide the questions.”
This explains the FNYT recent fluff interview with Trump.
Robert Sneddon
@Amir Khalid: sometimes after a General election here in the UK there’s a seat where, after several recounts, the two leading contenders toss a coin if a winner can’t be clearly determined by the paper ballot count. It happens more often in council elections but there are a lot more seats up for grabs and a smaller voting pool for each seat so actual dead heats happen.
MomSense
@Yarrow:
Also, dis the knitters at your peril. Apparently the youngs at Vanity Fair don’t know that knitters always win. The IOC came after us and learned quickly what a yuuge mistake that was.
schrodingers_cat
@AnotherBruce: A gossip writer does better than preeminent journalists in the nation’s most preeminent newspaper. Sad.
VOR
@Calouste: Re: Cease and Desist. I once saw a presentation by someone who did Marketing in the early days for Red Bull. They were ordered by some government agency to publish a disclaimer on the cans. They asked if there was a limit to how large the disclaimer could be, how bright the colors, etc…
catclub
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Yeah, but do they read BOOKS?
schrodingers_cat
@catclub: National Inquirer assures them that T Jr is going to win the war against FBI and the “deep state”, for his old man, President Doll Hair.
Was in the grocery store yesterday, to prepare for the great blizzard of 2018.
Peale
@Roger Moore: yep. I’m fine with Trump suing half his own cabinet. Aren’t you?
Barbara
@schrodingers_cat: The problem here is that the NYT has “standards” but it misapplies the term such that it can’t bring itself to state the unvarnished truth about a person who has no standards, let alone a person like the president. You saw this in the piece it published on the Neo-Nazi next door. It seems to believe that its own ethos of not rolling around in the mud means that it can’t forthrightly show when others are rolling around in the mud. Thus: No. Mud. Ever. This means it can’t accurately report on depraved public officials. Whereas, TMZ and the rest crave scoops of celebrities behaving badly and have the opposite tendency, to blow up depraved or stupid behavior out of all proportion. But they don’t have to do even that with someone like Paris Hilton or Lindsey Logan, and certainly not Donald Trump. The truth is so outrageous that it’s all they need. In this case, that makes them more not less accurate than the NYT.
AnotherBruce
I wonder who would pose that question to the FNYT? Did you provide Donald Trump with the questions before you conducted the interview? I think this falls into the category of Nagahappen.
B.B.A.
@VOR: On a trip to Canada a few years back, I was amused to see a “Red Bull gives you wings” commercial with a disclaimer “Doesn’t actually give you wings, but does increase energy” or something like that.
O. Felix Culpa
@TS:
Assumes brains not in evidence.
schrodingers_cat
@Barbara: Vichy Times has no standards as they demonstrated during 2016. They are Nazi enablers, polite Nazi enablers.
Another Scott
@d58826: No time to look, but I remember Sessions or someone claiming that one of the “classified” e-mails on Hillary’s server was a list like this:
ja;sjdlakjsd;a . as;dfja;sdjf;
(a) lkja;sdljf;lja sdf
(b) la;sljd; asdjf; asdj
(c) lkja;lsjdflj;a ;kja;s
(d) lkja;sldkjf;ljka;
(Supposedly) One of the ways that classified information is supposed to be marked is via “(c)”. So a list with lettered sub-bullets with parentheses is “classified information” under this rule.
:-/
All this stuff with Hillary’s e-mails is all nonsense, of course, but it’s a shiny object to distract from Donnie and the Russians.
Cheers,
Scott.
cain
Apparently, Trump is trying to stop publication of the book. Nobody can claim this is fake news anymore given actions by the President. But here’s even a better way to twist the knife. On Reddit, someone discussed selling audio books with Hillary doing the reading peppered with comments “like what the fuck? Can you believe this shit?” Fucking Democrats can sell that shit and make a ton of money while humiliating Trump and Republicans. We need this kind of bold stuff, we can throw caution to the winds…
Quinerly
@AnotherBruce: Saw that earlier. I’m not as critical of that last NYT interview as some. Trump sounded like a rambling fool.
efgoldman
@eric:
Our local (Providence) TV weather guys are anticipating thundersnow with great glee, but we haven’t had any, yet.
Momsense and anyone else who’s planning to go out and ski or snowshoe: It’s going to be coming down 2-3″ / hour this afternoon, with gale force winds and basically zero visibility. Please reconsider.
Anne Laurie: Aren’t you and spousal unit getting old to shovel this much snow? [Takes one….]
Captain C
@Doug R: A Donner Party on the Titanic mashup.
mike in dc
@Doug R: More like The Walking Dead happening on the Titanic.
Quinerly
OT…here’s a headline for you: http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/367326-chelsea-clinton-denies-worshipping-satan
efgoldman
@lollipopguild:
Opposing counsel from Dewey Cheatem & Howe.
Sergio Lopez-Luna
@hilts: iT’S Charles Harder, the guy who brought down Gawker, with Peter Thiel financing him
catclub
Somebody else noticed this:
Yellowdog
@Doug R: The Donner Party at least waited until their fellow travellers were dead. The backbiting may be literal with this crew.
ThresherK
@CarolDuhart2: He never pays with his own money, granted. But (I hate to say this) a win-win and the grift of all time: Isn’t there a little part of “Pay him to go away” which is tempting?
Imagine a 16-y.o. son driving his parents’ car into the ground until they promise to buy him one. By the time the little shit is 16, his flaws probably aren’t being corrected.
Captain C
@schrodingers_cat: They’ve been garbage on politics since at least Whitewater.
Another Scott
@rikyrah: Yup. It’s pretty transparent what that piece is about. Especially when they say the bit (roughly) – “There’s absolutely no evidence of collusion….”
Cheers,
Scott.
mike in dc
@catclub: Neurological exam, including fMRI, stat.
randy khan
@Amir Khalid:
It’s actually in election laws all across the country, and it happens with some regularity, particularly in elections with low turnout.
это курам на смех
@efgoldman: With support from the law firm of Hungadunga, Hungadunga, Hungadunga & McCormack.
bemused
@MomSense:
Issues too numerous to list. GOP and trump ignore and deliberately refuse to address everything that would help Americans and the country thrive.
J R in WV
That Hollywood reporter story is important!
The next to last sentence says that Trump didn’t recognize and friends while at Mara a Lago… when that happened to my Grandfather he had a huge stroke a few weeks later. Never recovered.
Barbara
@catclub: The last time I had a close visit with my great aunt she asked me the same cycle of questions over and over again. Cognitive decline is a hard thing to watch.
Yarrow
@catclub: I really hope after all the breathless discussion of the salacious details calms down a bit that the issue of his cognitive decline being very noticeable to friends and colleagues gets more notice. It’s a very serious issue.
Ksmiami
@rikyrah: that’s how this ends I think. We can’t go on as a country when half the ppl are flat earthers
Barbara
@Yarrow: The Hollywood Reporter article, which everyone should read, should be more than enough to get the conversation started. Repetitive conversation and not recognizing people that you haven’t seen in a while are associated with steep decline in cognitive function.
Amir Khalid
@randy khan:
But this was not a particularly low-turnout election, as I recall.
mr_gravity
For everything Hair Furror has ever said, thought, or tweeted there is an equal and opposite statement, thought, or tweet.
The GOP is as incapable of grasping this simple truth as they are unable to step away in order to avoid being repeatedly smacked in the face by it.
Daily.
JoeyJoeJoe Junior Shabadoo
@Robert Sneddon: in Arizona, I believe, the tiebreaker is or was drawing cards, and high card wins.
Bill Arnold
@catclub:
Just since I don’t see a link, here’s a scan of the reported NDA that campaign people were alleged to have been required to sign (July 13, 2016):
Here Is The Confidentiality Agreement Signed By A Former Trump Campaign Adviser
My favorite is that it applies “during the term of your service and at all times thereafter”, i.e. to the end of time. I’ve signed a couple of NDAs and they had no such language (i.e. were time-limited), but would like a lawyer to opine about whether this is usual or unusual.
ruemara
@schrodingers_cat: I hope she makes those comments.
Annie
@TS:
How would Tony Blair even know about it? He was out of office in 2016.
Mnemosyne
@Quinerly:
I hope the actual quote from her is, “Are you fucking kidding me with this bullshit?”
trnc
@Roger Moore:
You’re assuming arguments are being made in good faith, but they want what they want. Ever hear a republican talk about the militia in the constitution outside of the 2nd amendment?
SgrAstar
@Sondra Fabe: Wolff says he has tapes, many hours of tapes. I am hoping that’s true.
Miss Bianca
@eric: Omar and Stringer, the absolute killer duo of that show – in every sense of that word.
Brachiator
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I think that Bannon is too full of himself. The Tea Party is too fractious to be controlled by a political irregular like Bannon, or anyone else. They were never really a real party in the first place.
catclub
@J R in WV:
I am still amazed he has any friends. Acquaintances, yes.
J R in WV
@Barbara:
Well put, Barbara, the Times’s reluctance to roll in mud makes it impossible for them to even admit that mud exists, yea verily, without mud’s existence, no one can roll in it~!!
Not even the pigs, who love cool mud on a hot summer afternoon!!
ETA: So the Times’s standards make it impossible for them to report on Republican ethical violations at all, much less honestly !!!