Breaking news from The Post:
Mueller seeks to question Trump about Flynn and Comey departures
Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is seeking to question President Trump in the coming weeks about his decisions to oust national security adviser Michael Flynn and FBI Director James B. Comey, according to two people familiar with his plans.
Mueller’s interest in the events that led Trump to push out Flynn and Comey indicates that his investigation is intensifying its focus on possible efforts by the president or others to obstruct or blunt the special counsel’s probe…
People close to Trump have tried to warn him for months that Mueller is a “killer,” in the words of one associate, noting that the special counsel has shown interest in the president’s actions.
Roger Stone, a longtime informal adviser to Trump, said he should try to avoid an interview at all costs, saying agreeing to such a session would be a “suicide mission.”
“I find it to be a death wish. Why would you walk into a perjury trap?” Stone said. “The president would be very poorly advised to give Mueller an interview.”
There have been tantalizing bits of evidence for months now that Mueller is looking at the question of whether Trump tried to obstruct justice — as well there should be since shart-fer-brains confessed as much to Lester Holt in front of a camera crew.
Here’s hoping Preznit Oppositional Defiance Disorder disregards the warnings of advisers and attorneys and decides to rely on his own superior genes and very good brain to shield himself from legal peril.
A promising interview strategy might be to give Trump openings to throw his co-conspirators under the bus, knowing that Trump would pounce on those opportunities like they were a leggy Miss Norway carrying TWO buckets of KFC, then haul the co-conspirators out from the undercarriage and persuade them to flip on Trump.
Honestly, I try not to get too excited about developments in the Mueller probe and am fully prepared to be disappointed if it all comes to naught. But how sweet it would be if Trump’s big fat mouth and compulsion to point fingers at everyone else brought him down.
Open thread!
Tom Levenson
Also curious to know what the KKKeebler one said to Mr. Mueller in his hours-long conversation.
stinger
LOLOL
SenyorDave
Shitgibbon to hit the fan?
Please tell us that you planned this headline from day one with the shitgibbon nickname. Because it all makes sense now. If the FTFNYT printed that headline I could almost forgive them.
Chyron HR
Well, but Two Scoops Don can just tell the truth, right? Because he’s innocent, right?
Corner Stone
@Tom Levenson:
IMO, he toed the company line.
p.a.
Fingers crossed. But how does this work given the Mueller Probe-PossumDoJ-Rethug Congress nexus. Should we hope this drags out to 1/2019 and a possibility of at least one Dem chamber?
Sarah in Kingston
Can he refuse to go?
Mary G
Reposting this from the last thread, because I keep killing them, apparently.
Some good news: Chicago Tribune confirms that Tammy Duckworth is going to be the first senator to give birth while in office. She and her husband expect their second daughter in April; she had her first daughter in 2014 while running for the senate. (I wonder if the racist/sexist who was her opponent knew?) She’s over 50 and has had a miscarriage and a lot of tries at fertility treatments, so I’m glad this last one worked.
What a badass! Luv her.
New: I am ridiculously happy when Benjamin Wittes from Lawfare sets off his baby cannon, and he did it for this article, so I think Twitler’s getting boxed in. I’ve decided to assume that he’s going to finish the next three years of his term, to keep from being disappointed and to keep myself in #resistance mode. Mueller netting him would be wonderful, but since the solutions are all political and Republicans have gone into full-on “he could shoot a man on 5th Ave. and we would be very concerned, but it would be a witchhunt by the Democrats if he had any trouble about it” mode, impeachment is a pipe dream.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
I really wish this whole thing would end tomorrow. This is just so debasing and harmful to the country. The guy is so clearly unfit for any office, and he needs to go, and boy, I mean like now. I know Mueller isn’t going to hurry things, and he wants to get everything right, but, dear God, this shit needs to be over.
Corner Stone
I don’t see how you say no? If he tries, it doesn’t go to Congress for enforcement, it goes to the courts. Even if there’s a delay, it still seems like it would be enforced at some point.
Anonymous At Work
@Tom Levenson: Mueller went in there with a set list of questions, all of which he had documented proof as to the true answer. I think Round 1 was about perjury/lying to FBI, Round 2 will be “Who is the weakest link/most afraid of being in federal prison?” and Round 3 will be follow-up to develop further rounds of questioning.
Anonymous At Work
@Corner Stone: That’s called a perjury trap. Company Line blew up when Papadopolous flipped and the earth where it stood was salted when Flynn flipped later.
Yarrow
Tick tock, motherfuckers.
Corner Stone
@Anonymous At Work: Sessions isn’t giving up his AG post. They are going to have to take it from him.
Betty Cracker
@Mary G: One Duckworth anecdote that makes me love her: As you no doubt know, Duckworth lost both legs when her helo was shot down in Iraq. She was spotted wearing a t-shirt that says, “Thank God he’s an ass man.” Haha! And of course my admiration for her grew when she called Trump “Cadet Bone Spurs” on the Senate floor last week.
NotMax
Dolt 45’s “best people” will, dollars to donuts, demand a list of the questions in advance.
ruemara
I literally wouldn’t have a second thought about tripping the man if he were at the edge of a cliff.
My bad, wrong thread.
John
@SenyorDave:
Shitgibbon was part of a colorful term used by a British citizen during the protests against Trump in Scotland. The full phrase was “tiny fingered, Cheeto-faced, ferret wearing shitgibbon”. See this article for more information.
On topic: Agreeing to an interview with Mueller would be stupid as fuck. Therefore, I expect Trump will demand an interview.
Frankensteinbeck
@Chyron HR:
Yeah, that quote really sounds like a confession. I’m not sure which is worse, that he’s worried about being caught lying about something specific, or if there’s just so much being hidden he thinks any fishing trip would be a disaster.
Boatboy_srq
@Mary G: This is one of the very few moments when the US’ total lack of legislated maternity leave seems worthwhile. Any other nation would have her out of office for months if not years.
Amir Khalid
@Tom Levenson:
I like to say: Der Müller Gottes mahlt langsam, doch er mahlt außerordentlich klein. A lot of people’s lawyers would also like to know, I bet. They must hate that Mueller runs such a tight ship, and only lets stuff leak when it’s to his team’s advantage.
jl
The front post asks a good question: why doesn’t Mueller team just watch the Holt interview? Trump can testify in his defense at the trial, right?
Edit: Holt looks a little surprised and maybe disappointed in the interview. Holt must have thought he’d have to drag it out of Trump, but Trump just tosses it in Holt’s lap.
MattF
Does Trump have any real-life experience with prosecutors? He evidently regards lawyers as good for threatening (ex-) clients and contractors– and not so much as protection from legal perils. Not to mention Trump’s little generic problem with telling the truth.
In fact, strange but true, I agree with Roger Stone. Trump attempting to ‘deal’ with Mueller in any sense other than staying as far away as physically possible would be extraordinarily ill-advised.
Corner Stone
@ruemara:
I don’t know. It seems highly apropos for basically any non-gardening thread here at BJ.
Mike in DC
I really want Bobby Three Sticks to expand the obstruction investigation to include a few members of Congress. I wonder if a few subpoenas might nip that interference shit in the bud…
geg6
@John:
Yup, I can totally see him thinking he can go in and huff and puff and bully Mueller and gang and definitely he thinks he’s smarter than all of them put together.
patrick II
I note that Stone acknowledges Trump ‘s talking to Mueller is a perjury trap. A group of people innocent of a crime and all telling the truth don’t have that problem.
.
Steve in the ATL
@Corner Stone: if he says no, there is no practical way to force him. There are some perks to being POTUS.
Boatboy_srq
@Chyron HR: Isn’t it, um, illuminating that they expect such an interview to produce something incriminating, and try to get ahead of that inevitability in this way?
And of course Ken Starr would NEVAH have been so underhanded as to try to catch his target out in such a manner.
I can’t decide what’s funnier: the all-but-admission of guilt, or the pretense that Dems do this while GOPers do not.
Corner Stone
@Amir Khalid:
I haven’t seen anything yet that could be tied back to a Mueller Team leak.
stinger
@ruemara: It works here quite well!
Elmo
@Corner Stone: Who’s going to enforce it? The US Marshals work for the Justice Department.
Boatboy_srq
@Corner Stone: Lord Dampnut really does need to give Kreacher clothing and get it over with.
ruemara
@Corner Stone: Culpable deniability is real
clay
@John: Are the Scots the world’s best group of insult-flingers? I’m sure they have a lot of competition, but they’re certainly semi-finalists.
Lapassionara
@Corner Stone: I’ve read on Twitter that Mueller does not have the same legal powers that Starr had, so he may not be able to compel Trump to sit for an interview.
OTOH, there is evidence that campaign funds were used for the Stormy Daniels payment. Hmmmm.
Boatboy_srq
@MattF: Chris Christie.
So, yeah, not so much, really.
MattF
@clay: Scots spend those long, dark winters thinking up new insults.
Amir Khalid
@patrick II:
I wonder if Roger Stone realises that statements like his effectively concede that Trump is guilty of something.
Mary G
@Betty Cracker: I kind of want her to run for President in 2020. I know Hillary had to go with the “we go high” strategy, but having someone in the mix who will give Twitler as good as he gets would be awesome.
Corner Stone
@Elmo: Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens.
Boatboy_srq
@clay: Scottish insults sound better; German ones look better on paper; French and Italian ones are so lush they can make you thank the source for them; Cantonese and Mandarin ones can assault your entire family all the way back to Adam on one line.
Ahmurrrrkkkans are so unimaginative.
Yarrow
Winning!
TriassicSands
Trump is the smartest human being ever to walk the Earth. He must accept the interview invitation and humiliate Mueller with his brilliance. Mueller doesn’t stand a chance — Trump is the foremost authority on virtually everything, so Mueller will be begging for mercy after five minutes.
Do, Donald, take the interview. You’ll show that imposter what a real “killer” is. And please, make sure the interview is recorded so you can put the video on YouTube and show the world how you crushed Mueller. Please. Please. Pretty please.
Amir Khalid
@Corner Stone:
Now that’s what I call mad leaking skillz.
mai naem mobile
Fuck this interview. The question on top of everybody’s mind is how Kate McKinnon is going to pull off a Mueller talking to Sessions skit.
Frankensteinbeck
@Elmo:
So far, they’ve continued doing the will of the courts. There was only one incident early on that even looked like they might not, and it turned out more that they didn’t understand their situation and were waiting to act.
schrodingers_cat
@Yarrow: BS bros and Warren were against TPP too. These uber lefties are not much better than the R morons.
tobie
I hope Mueller surprises us and indicts Trump & Co not just for obstruction but also for conspiring with a hostile nation. Republicans will howl if the indictment is just for the “cover-up” claiming poor Donnie was framed and it’s not fair for him to suffer when there is no underlying crime. Let’s have charges for both the crime and the coverup. That’s my prayer.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
@Boatboy_srq:
I have a hard time understanding why they’re all so open about how Dear Leader would pretty much inevitably lie under oath if he talks to Mueller. It seems intensely stupid. I know the 32% who would gladly eat Trump’s shit if he told them it was ice cream will somehow just choose not to see this acknowledgement, but everybody else is going to see this for the admission that it is.
I find this whole thing to be beyond belief and beyond any fathoming. I mean, yeah, I guess that a party could find a way to hold on to power when the country is split 55-45% against it; maybe even if it’s split 60-40% against it. But there just isn’t any way to hang on when two thirds of the whole fucking country is against it, even with the Senate, with a gerrymandered House, with the electoral college, with packed courts, with all the legs up they have. Sooner or later, they’re either going to lose control or they’ll have to just dump all pretense and throw out all democratic government and bring in the tanks and declare martial law. And as awful as the Republicans are, I haven’t seen any sign of that kind of shit. Do they really think they can hang on forever? Why are they doing this?
mai naem mobile
So I was watching a Mink repeat this weekend. It was one where Monk helps out his childhood crush figure out who killed hwr housekeeper. The scene has Natalie going through Monk’s school yearbook with the rows of head pics. They show the row of names with Monk. Anyhow, the guy’s name right above Monk is Robert Mueller. I am taking this as a sign that Mueller is going catch Dolt45 cleanly and have him going off to prison for a long time.
Mike in DC
https://www.buzzfeed.com/amphtml/stevenperlberg/reporter-young-turks-for-racial-discrimination?__twitter_impression=true
Color me unsurprised.
tobie
@Yarrow: I’ll never forgive the left for hammering the Obama administration about TPP. The usual complaint is that the agreement put decision-making in the hands of a multinational panel and not the member states. Funny thing, though, is that this is true of every international agreement from the Paris Climate Accord to the Iran deal. It only became unacceptable with TPP. Warren’s demagoguery on international trade agreements really turned me off to her.
clay
@Yarrow: Our next President will have to beg the TPP partners to allow us to participate — and they’ll get to dictate the terms.
catclub
@Corner Stone:
The key is to follow the rule some guy on the internet tells you: never talk to the police.
Trump says he is happy to have an interview. Then never says one word. What can Mueller do?
It also avoids the perjury trap.
Normal people would be appalled, but with Trump, we are beyond that.
Frankensteinbeck
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
Eh. Roger Stone is insane. Less ‘stupid’ in the conventional sense, even, but operating in a fantasy world where not only basic facts, but cause and affect don’t work like they do in reality.
Yarrow
Total shocker.
Betty Cracker
@Mary G: Unfortunately, I don’t think she’s eligible since she was born in Thailand.
WaterGirl
@Mary G: What article? Was there a link I missed?
SFAW
@Elmo:
What about the Marshal of the Supreme Court?
Anonymous At Work
@Corner Stone: If Sessions sticks to Company Line, he’ll get indicted for perjury/lying to FBI and have to step down. If Sessions throws Trump under the bus, Mueller will leave him in place until he gets Trump on the record and uses Sessions’ testimony to set up Trump. Sessions stays AG longer if he throws Trump under than if he takes a bullet for him. So, is Sessions more loyal to Trump or more loyal to neo-Confederacy/Jim Crow?
jl
@Boatboy_srq: It might as simple as an attempt to hold on to as much of the base as possible by saying it wasn’t fair to Trump, and just a bunch of tricky BS to gin up some charges up over nothing, except smarty pants questions that no human being, not even a world historical very stable genius, could answer.
Betty Cracker
@schrodingers_cat: There were legit concerns about the TPP, but they seem quaint in retrospect.
SFAW
@Corner Stone:
And Shitgibbon, thinking he’s the bestest most awesomest at everything, will prove he’s a faster draw.
Mary G
@WaterGirl: It’s the one Betty linked to at the top, sorry I didn’t make that clearer.
catclub
@Mike in DC:
the general protection of legislators in the constitution would apply.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
My opinion on this is that they do believe they can hang on and brazen this out. They think the US will perpetually be the sole superpower and all nations will bow to our will forever and ever amen. They don’t see us a legitimate opposition and likely never will. The GOP thinks it can insulate itself from all challenges to its power. They made the grave miscalculation that the current norms (rule of law, peaceful and democratic transfer of power, etc) will always protect them from violent blowback.
This is laughable. The same forces that shaped French society 250 years ago still exist and are still in play. If enough the population hates your guts and desperately wants change, they’ll fight for it. The trouble is always what happens afterwards.
Yarrow
@schrodingers_cat: No surprise there.
@tobie: Yep. And a lot of the TPP was our own security and maintaining our influence in Asia. Guess that doesn’t matter to people like that.
@clay: Exactly. We will get much worse terms.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
@Betty Cracker: She was born an American citizen, though. That’s enough.
JPL
but Does it even matter anymore?
ruemara
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): They don’t think they will face any consequences. They believe that they can stack the deck & the elections so we keep losing. They also believe that IF they lose this next round of elections, Democrats will not go full truth & reconciliation and prosecute them for corruption & treason. When have the republicans truly ever faced consequences in 20th century history? I’m fine with their arrogance continuing unabated. It means that they feel comfortable. Comfortable people (note the American left the past 30 years) don’t really protect themselves on all sides.
catclub
@tobie:
I would guess this blog was around 95-5 against TPP when it was being discussed, and Hillary had said she would drop it. I don’t always like my own memory – but there it is.
John Revolta
@Boatboy_srq: The old saying is, an Irishman can tell you to go to Hell in such a way that you’ll actually look forward to the trip.
randy khan
Stone, for once, is not blowing smoke. For Trump, a perjury trap is basically any interview under oath.
It’s a tricky problem for the Trump team in a lot of respects. Talking to Mueller is really unlikely to go well. Not talking to Mueller, however, creates a completely different set of issues.
Brachiator
@Yarrow:
But…but…Trump is The Deal Maker Supreme. How could something like this happen without his knowledge and approval? Anyway, it probably would have been bad for America. Details to follow, inevitably, on Fox News.
p.a.
Everyone but Ivanka knows trump will stab them in the back, and everyone including Ivanka knows he’s so stupid he’ll do it to anyone including his prescious self without recognizing what he’s done. Sleep tight fothermuckers.
Corner Stone
@Anonymous At Work: He only stays AG if Trump stays POS. If he dimes out Trump, he is going to be removed. If he cooperates he will eventually be removed. If he holds tight to Trump’s leg for as long as possible he may be able to ride this whole thing out.
He has no chance without Trump in office. He’s been in power so long he may actually believe he can beat the rap.
JMG
@Betty Cracker: No, if her parents were citizens, that does not make her ineligible for the Presidency.
WaterGirl
@Steve in the ATL: President Clinton was forced to testify under oath while he was president. Preet and his guest said on a recent podcast that Mueller would first request an interview but if the answer is no, he could be compelled to testify before the grand jury.
germy
WaPo
H.E.Wolf
@Amir Khalid:
Ich liebe dich for that wonderful pun!
tobie
@catclub: Yes, I recall engaging in a quite a bit of verbal sparring regarding TPP, which always struck me as a rather good deal for the US. Hillary said she would renegotiate certain terms but never said she would shelve it. I guess she thought that if she gave in to some of her opponents demands, his supporters would warm up to her. Didn’t happen.
For those interested, there’s a really good report written for the Congressional Research Service that I think also calls into question some of the truisms spouted about NAFTA.
Adria McDowell
@Mary G: “sets off his baby cannon….”
Not gonna lie, that phrase can be interpreted in soooo many ways. Hahaha!
Amaranthine RBG
Serious question here: Is Pence preferable?
Patricia Kayden
@ruemara: Tripping him at the edge of the cliff and throwing large stones down on him to make sure. I think we can say that of many in this regime. And they would have no problem doing the same to most of us.
@TriassicSands: I don’t think Trump has any choice but to submit to being questioned by Mueller. Trump is so cocky that his mouth will get him into trouble. That along with the fact that he’s as dumb as dirt. Mueller is going to have fun with him.
ruemara
@germy: I’ve been tickled by that all morning. I love the analysis, but I think it’s wrong. The republicans started signaling they weren’t really going to do anything with DACA, so Schumer said fine, no wall.
@Amaranthine RBG: We already have Pence. Part of the Veep deal was more power than ever for a vp. He’s driving a lot of the non-immigrant domestic policy. Plus, he is heavily incriminated as he handled the transition and was involved in with some of these funny Russian meetings. This will be a group impeachment.
WaterGirl
@Mary G: Oh, I thought you were talking about a Lawfare article written by Benjamin Wittes. I must be slow on the uptake today.
catclub
OT: where is Adam Silverman when this stuff comes up?
this seems like a big deal: Turkey attacking the Kurds in Syria
zhena gogolia
@Chyron HR:
Yeah. A “perjury trap” sounds like something that honest people don’t really think about. This all smacks of the trial of Tim Heidecker.
WaterGirl
@ruemara: Yep. My thoughts exactly.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
Serious question: would a presidential signature under duress for a bill or an executive order still be considered legal?
schrodingers_cat
@Betty Cracker: In a globalized world taking your ball and going home is not going to address any of those concerns and neither is bleating neo-liberal after every sentence.
Patricia Kayden
@Amaranthine RBG: Pence can be brought down by Mueller’s investigation as well given his “vetting” of Flynn for the NSA position despite Flynn’s Russian connections. That should be the goal if Democrats get enough Senators in November to impeach Trump. Get rid of them both.
Amaranthine RBG
@ruemara:
I’m all for mass impeachment, but President Ryan doesn’t warm my heart.
Millard Filmore
@Amaranthine RBG:
There is serious doubt that Pence is clean enough to survive the collapse of Trump.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@tobie:
Neoliberal shills
/Wilmer, DR Jill Stein
Yarrow
WaterGirl
It’s a lot shorter to say Trump is a total fucking liar. I cannot fathom how they can say things like “lack pf precision in his speech” and “penchant for “hyperbole” with a straight face.
Amaranthine RBG
@zhena gogolia:
Really. I haven’t set foot within a mile of Russian collusion or obstruction of justice or anything but if Bobby Three Sticks called me up for a chat, I would give him the name of my lawyer and hang up.
Only a complete idiot willingly sits down to talk to federal prosecutors.
Amaranthine RBG
@Millard Filmore: I confess I’m not as well informed as others, but from everything I have heard Pence was sort of on the periphery, esp. compared to Flynn/Manafort/Jared/Trump’s spawn/etc.
Not that I am saying he is innocent of anything, but he has been in politics for a while so I would think he would be more, um, circumspect.
catclub
@germy:
I think Schumer was trying to make foggy promises between authorization and appropriation concerning the wall. Trump would not know the difference,
but only one of them means real money. Just my theory.. I also have one on the dinosaurs.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
I feel ya, but Hillary seemed to get zero credit for agreeing to revisit the TPP, so I’m not sure I would trust the anti-trade cohort again.
jl
@WaterGirl: A world historical very stable genius who can’t talk so good? Innocent sacrifice, slaughtered by Deep State, perhaps shifty smartass ***, or maybe ******, or *****, lawyers out to get him, but a genius smarter than everyone else in human history put together, nevertheless.
ruemara
@Amaranthine RBG: Dude or Ma’am, he’s involved too. The full scope is breathtaking and involves leadership in both Houses. Say bye-bye to most of them. That’s why so many are jumping ship to spend time with their families.Depending on how far down the trail goes, you could be looking at Orrin Hatch or if he retires… Tillerson or Mattis.
jl
@Amaranthine RBG: I don’t think Pence was on the periphery of the cover up. He was right in the middle, an eager helping hand. Too bad he just can’t remember anything now. A real shame.
Baud
@WaterGirl: Did the Post hire a reporter from the New York Times?
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
@Amaranthine RBG:
Meet Donald Trump.
Mike in DC
@Amaranthine RBG: Any scenario where Trump is ousted is also one where the GOP has just suffered severe and lasting damage, so yes, a weakened Pence is preferable to an unchecked Trump.
Chyron HR
@catclub:
Well, yeah, Hillary agreed to everything the left demanded so that they would vote for her, and in response folks like Arby’s shat themselves, squealed “WHICH HILLARY!!!!”, and voluntarily surrendered the country to nazis in order to save it from the ‘neoliberals’.
Betty Cracker
@Amaranthine RBG: Preferably they both walk the plank, but yeah, I’d rather have Pence at the helm than Trump. Pence is awful in a more conventional way.
Baud
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): Hillary did it because she had nothing to be afraid of. Trump, however, is a coward and has legitimate reasons to hide what he has done. They only way he’ll meet with Mueller is if he’s convinced he’s Jack Nicholson and didn’t watch the very end of A Few Good Men.
Amaranthine RBG
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
I can totally see that happening: “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear what you are all saying about not talking to Mueller, and that is, like, a good rule for most people. But, most people don’t have my negotiating skills, so …”
Amaranthine RBG
@Betty Cracker: I’m worried that Pence would be more effective than Trump. Prolly less likely to start a global thermonuclear war (but with his “left behind” Christian fundamentalism, who knows?) Anyway, cart/horse and all that.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I certainly hope not, though it does sound like it.
Amaranthine RBG
@ruemara: Wow – I hope you’re right.
ruemara
Did I stutter? You already have Pence, so stop fretting about it. that deal wasn’t Kasich specific. It was because no republican with a hope of holding office if he lost, wanted trump taint on themselves.
Yarrow
@Amaranthine RBG:
In politics for awhile and more circumspect like Sessions is, you mean? Don’t be fooled; Pence is in this Russian stuff up to his eyeballs.
Amaranthine RBG
@ruemara:
Trump taint?
Phrasing, people – some of us are still eating lunch.
ruemara
@Amaranthine RBG: Trying to keep everyone on their diets, sorry
Adria McDowell
@ruemara: Holy shit- why are we so full of baby cannons and Trump
taint (EW!) today?!
Since the GOP love to tout the whole “if you are innocent, you have nothing to worry about,” then the same would have to apply to Cadet Bone Spurs, no?
Adam L Silverman
@Tom Levenson: If you read the article closely, on of the things that Mueller is looking for in regard to the President is his pressuring Sessions to either unrecuse himself or to quit so he can be replaced. Apparently Mueller is looking for an ongoing pattern of behavior not just in regard to the firing of Flynn and then the attempt to suborn and ultimately fire Comey, but in regard to the Special Counsel’s investigation and the counterintelligence investigation he inherited when he was appointed. I’m speculating, but with the leaks, 24 hours apart, that Sessions, in an attempt to curry favor with the President, pressured Wray to clean house and that Wray threatened to resign, as well as the ongoing tweeting about McCabe, that Wray and McCabe have either already been interviewed or will be interviewed. Rosenstein as well.
Betty Cracker
@ruemara: Yeah, from a pure policy perspective, we already have Pence. Pence might be slightly less proactively racist and xenophobic if left to his own devices (he probably wouldn’t employ a Gorka or Miller — milquetoast Reince would have been more his speed), and he might be somewhat less openly corrupt and nepotistic.
Hildebrand
@Betty Cracker: Pence is also the most boring human being on the planet. Couple that with the fact most people develop a rather quick disliking for Pence (I mean, hells-bells, even Indiana was about to turf him out because he was such an unlikable asshole), and President Pence would essentially sit in the Oval by himself counting the days until he starts to collect his federal pension.
Baud
@Hildebrand: Yep. He’s doesn’t have Trump’s cult of personality.
Adria McDowell
Fuck every Hispanic/Latino that voted for Cadet Bone Spurs ir any Republican ever:
https://mobile.twitter.com/FLImmigrant/status/954771543535611904
Aimai
@germy: there is a very good episode of NUMB3RS about the game theory of negotiations. Schumer was right to offer trump something for daca, and right to start again with a blank page when trump blew up the deal. People who are upset by the horsetrading (he shouldn’t have offered trump the wall money) or confused by schumer refusing to include previous agreements in new negotiatiins do not understand just how good schumer is at playing the wesk hand he and nancy pelosi have in the current multi player, dishonest negotiator, system we have.
Ocotillo
Roger Stone, how the hell did Hillary not have him killed years ago?
WaterGirl
@Aimai: Completely agree.
Alos, still irritated that they took NUMB3RS off the air and kept on some lesser show that was cheaper to shoot. The details may be wrong, but it was something like that. Just one more way that we know it’s all about the benjamins.
Baud
@Aimai:
@WaterGirl:
I loved that show!
Jeffro
1) I know Mueller is trying to be calm and deliberate about it but Trumpov’s obstruction of justice is even more obvious than my receding hairline . And I am damn near bald
2) Nickel bet that hints of Trumpov’s money laundering – actual evidence, stuff that will rattle his cage – starts to leak, then drip, then rain, then pour leading up to this interview
3) It sure looks like the actions of an innocent man doesn’t it ?? A “mix of written and in person testimony”? LOL
germy
joel hanes
@tobie:
I’ll never forgive the left for hammering the Obama administration about TPP.
Big fan of the US Digital Millenium Copyright Act ?
The intellectual property defense provisions of the TPP included similar stuff.
That’s overreach.
About the rest of the proposed Pact, I know little.
Adam L Silverman
@MattF: I lived there for three years. That’s not what they do during those long dark, cold, damp winters. Buuhleeve me!
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman: in other words Mueller wants so much evidence of obstruction ( and there certainly is plenty of it ) that all but the most thick headed Republicans (but I repeat myself) understand what they must do here
Adam L Silverman
@Boatboy_srq:
I may resemble this remark.
Jeffro
@Corner Stone: and why would an innocent man go to the courts asking not to have to talk about his innocence ??
Shana
@clay:
pluky
@Betty Cracker: Doesn’t matter. Dad was a US citizen and she’s resided in the States for the requisite number of years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammy_Duckworth
Edited to remove unnecessary snark.
tobie
@joel hanes: We’ve disagreed on this before. Intellectual property theft is a real problem for the US with a number of its trading partners in Asia. TPP was an attempt to regulate that.
Adam L Silverman
@SFAW: And the Eagles of Justice winging down Pennsylvania Avenue to fetch the 46th President of the United States: Orin Hatch!//
Adam L Silverman
@Anonymous At Work:
Adam L Silverman
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): We’ll have to consult Stephen Miller for a final ruling on this matter.//
Ruckus
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
What we have to accomplish as a political party is to convince at least our side that not all politicians are scum, liars and theives, that some actually are good humans. Don’t think it’s possible to convince anyone that any republican politicians are, for obvious reasons.
Adam L Silverman
@randy khan: Here you go:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/trump-is-going-to-be-deposed-but-not-that-way-louise-mensch/550073/
Much more at the link.
joel hanes
@tobie:
I work for a company that lives and breathes IP, and that has suffered egregious IP theft by a far-eastern company.
I agree that IP theft is an enormous problem, and that the TPP provisions were an attempt to deal with it.
In the 19th century, calomel was employed to deal with fever or constipation.
It was worse than the diseases it was intended to cure.
The DMCA is similar.
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: Some of the RUMINT on the nat-sec social media is that Sessions cut himself a deal shortly after Mueller was appointed. It is sheer speculation.
Adam L Silverman
@Amaranthine RBG: Mother approved!
KithKanan
@Aimai: Some of us are angry and irrational. Trump’s election hit me harder than 9/11, and I feel more enmity toward him and his voters.
I’d rather make the Republicans take a mile by force than give an inch to them willingly.
Rationally, that’s no way to run a government, but emotionally… every time D’s cooperate on anything it feels like a fresh punch to the gut and brings back the rage and trauma of election night.
Chyron HR
@Adam L Silverman:
Yeah, but her speech transcripts.
Adam L Silverman
@ruemara: Also, Manafort basically manipulated the President into picking him as VP. The question is why?
Adam L Silverman
@catclub: I talked about it the other night when someone asked me about it right after it happened.
tobie
@joel hanes: I’ll take your word for it regarding the DMCA…but I still don’t think that means we should have walked away from TPP, which is what the people shouting “No TPP” at the convention in 2016 were proposing. Negotiate better terms but recognize that in a globalized world you cannot go it alone and that trade is not a zero-sum gain.
Adam L Silverman
@Amaranthine RBG: The VP ran the transition. We now have multiple pieces of overlapping information indicating he was warned about Flynn. We have this from Congressman Lewis’s letter to him. We have it from Chris Christie who preceded him running the transition.
joel hanes
@tobie:
I still don’t think that means we should have walked away from TPP
Please to notice that I have never advocated doing so.
But I thought, and still think, that the IP provisions as drafted were, on the whole, a bad thing, and have repeatedly said so. That’s my only claim.
Amaranthine RBG
@Adam L Silverman:
Understood. I am just weighing that against the things we know about Manafort/Uday/etc. attending that meeting/exchanging emails.
I haven’t seen anything that puts Pence on the hook in any way other than for his titular role and – for me anyway – that doesn’t rustle me jimmies.
rikyrah
@Yarrow:
This never fails to make me smile ?
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman: Sessions has seemed a little too clumsy for that to be the case, IMO. I still believe, a)Sessions believes his power and position can help him, and b)without Trump in power Sessions is done, period.
I think Sessions is going to do his damndest to walk the finest line he possibly can.
Adam L Silverman
@Jeffro: Apparently. But there seem to be three tracks to the investigation:
1) The counterintelligence track that Mueller inherited when he was appointed.
2) A series of related and interlinked financial crimes that based on open source reporting seem to tie into the counterintelligence probe as one of the means of influence.
3) A series of obstructions of justice related to suborn and then fire Comey and repeatedly inappropriately interfere with operations and investigations at DOJ and FBI in order to stop, or at least muck up, tracks 1 and 2.
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: I was just reporting it. I have no way to confirm or deny it. And while I would expect Sessions to be cunning enough to try to protect himself by selling everyone else, I’m not sure he’s smart enough to do it.
ruemara
@Adam L Silverman: I say, based on the currently released info, Russia’s been very cozy with the hard right for much longer than we thought. It’s now rolled back to NRA 2015, so I’m gonna use my analyzing skills & go with pre-CU possibly with outreach after the Obama win but before the actual investiture.
Adam L Silverman
@ruemara: As I’ve written here repeatedly, front page and comments, penetration at all levels.
SiubhanDuinne
@Lapassionara:
Might there be any New York State connection here? I know Cohen set up an LLC in Delaware as a shell for paying off Stormy, but maybe if the check were cut from, say, a Trump Tower address, Schneiderman might have something to say about it.
trollhattan
“Omar comin’. Omar comin’. Omar comin’.”
Sounds more ominous than “Bobby Three-Sticks comin’.”
boatboy_srq
@Adam L Silverman: You’re in Genesis? Well, I never…
boatboy_srq
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): @jl: I’d go simpler than that. If not projection per se, it’s the complete dissociation of what could well happen to Lord Dampnut, and what has happened to Hastert, DeLay and others, and what the GOTea has done to the Clintons, Obama and every other Dem leader since JFK. The presumption that Dem = guilty and GOPer = persecuted innocent is remarkable in its consistency. What astounds me is the presumption that lawbreaking and counterpatriotism is perfectly OK as long as it’s them doing it.
eemom
@boatboy_srq:
Idiot lefties who love to sheep bleat the threadbare, moronic “IOKIYAR” perhaps have something to do with that.
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman: yes – and may he thoroughly pursue all three avenues
SiubhanDuinne
@Yarrow:
Vindicates all that work my colleagues and I did in 2012-13, explaining TPP to every member of Congress (and/or their senior staffers) and urging them to allow Canada in as a participant. For those who may not know, Canada wasn’t included originally and we pretty much had to beg to be let in to the TPP talks. How the times have changed, to be sure!
(#StillGladToBeRetired)
boatboy_srq
@eemom: Cart and horse, eemom. The truism wouldn’t exist if the GOTea didn’t have a history of doing precisely this. Doesn’t make it any less unfathomable, though.
Villago Delenda Est
@eemom: Because the vermin of the Village live and breathe IOKIYAR.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
While we all follow Mueller with bated breath, do any of our legal minds know what’s going on in the other investigations? I know New York had a grand jury investigation that was cooperating closely with Mueller, right? But pursuing their own set of state criminal charges? And weren’t there a couple of other states with grand jury investigations?
Also, what happened to the emoluments trial? Last I heard (over the summer), there was some sort of lawsuit which was designed to cause an investigation into all of [—]’s violations of the Emoluments Clause, and that was supposed to kick off in October 2017. Is that ongoing? Is there going to be a list?
I know trying to list all of the crimes of this administration is a huge task. But sooner or later, we have to have that list. America needs to know the entire truth about how bad these people are.
Lapassionara
@SiubhanDuinne: Wouldn’t that be nice. The doc I saw was Delaware related, but who knows. I know the thread is dead, but keep the faith
SiubhanDuinne
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
Oh, thank you for getting it right!
My own pet peeves shift somewhat with the changing winds, but among the constants are “baited breath,” “bellweather,” and “tinker’s damn.” Every one of those makes my teeth curl.
Vhh
@Patricia Kayden: Removal from office requires 67 votes. The Dems have only a faint chance of even getting 51-52. My guess is that for 15+ GOPers to flip would require evidence of out and out Russian direct bribery of Trump. And Trump would not resign without a pardon because of legal risk. I suspect that best one can hope for is an emasculated, demented, ignored Trump tweeting in the wind until 2020. That might suit the Dems just fine–a 2018 wave followed by a 2020 tsunami. But lots can change…..
Miss Bianca
@Amaranthine RBG:
We *are* talking about President Trump, right?
El Caganer
So perhaps we will be fortunate enough in a few years to enjoy the History Channel special, “Jeff Sessions, The Gnome of Leavenworth.”
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: Care to enlighten us, Dr. Silverman? ; )
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: It involves tartan and haggis. I can say no more.
eemom
@boatboy_srq:
But my POINT, as I’ve said many times before, is that repeating that moronic meme like it’s some brilliant newly discovered snark accomplishes nothing….except, again, to make the idiot repeater feel like they’re some kind of cool sighing cynic. Perhaps the energy could instead be spent calling out the hypocrisy, every time it occurs.
Omnes Omnibus
@boatboy_srq: I think it was only briefly – after Gabriel left but before they decided that Collins would sing.
PJ
@joel hanes: The major problem of the DMCA is that it gave tech companies (Google being the prime offender) free reign to profit from copyright infringement while absolving them of almost all responsibility for it.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: Imagine my best George Takei imitation: “Oh, myyyyyy….”!
ETA: Is this one of those occasions where you’ll have to look demure and say, “I’m told I had a very good time”?
Miss Bianca
@SiubhanDuinne: Why “tinker’s damn”? Is it supposed to be “tinker’s dam”, or something?
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: Here you go.
NotMax
@Miss Bianca
Dam is correct. It served the purpose of a dam to keep the solder (or other metals) used for repair from being wasted and flowing where unwanted. Made of clay for one use, thence broken up and pieces discarded after use.
Tehanu
@catclub:
Well, sure, that’s what he’d do if (a) he had any sense and (b) he had at least enough sense to listen to his lawyers and (c) he weren’t a loudmouthed, bragging idiot who can’t keep from blathering about how great he is. Since none of those is true, I see no reason to suppose he’d keep his big fat stupid mouth shut.