Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

In my day, never was longer.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Everybody saw this coming.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

The arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend itself. it’s up to us.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / Russiagate Open Thread: This Morning’s Bombshell (So Far)

Russiagate Open Thread: This Morning’s Bombshell (So Far)

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Aboard Air Force One on a flight home from Europe last July, President Trump and his advisers raced to cobble together a news release about a mysterious meeting at Trump Tower the previous summer between Russians and top Trump campaign officials. Rather than acknowledge the meeting’s intended purpose — to obtain political dirt about Hillary Clinton from the Russian government — the statement instead described the meeting as being about an obscure Russian adoption policy.

The statement, released in response to questions from The New York Times about the meeting, has become a focus of the inquiry by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. Prosecutors working for Mr. Mueller in recent months have questioned numerous White House officials about how the release came together — and about how directly Mr. Trump oversaw the process. Mr. Mueller’s team recently notified Mr. Trump’s lawyers that the Air Force One statement is one of about a dozen subjects that prosecutors want to discuss in a face-to-face interview of Mr. Trump that is still being negotiated…

What is already clear is that, as Mr. Trump’s aides and family members tried over 48 hours to manage one of the most consequential crises of the young administration, the situation quickly degenerated into something of a circular firing squad. They protected their own interests, shifted blame and potentially left themselves — and the president — legally vulnerable.

The latest witness to be called for an interview about the episode was Mark Corallo, who served as a spokesman for Mr. Trump’s legal team before resigning in July. Mr. Corallo received an interview request last week from the special counsel and has agreed to the interview, according to three people with knowledge of the request.

Mr. Corallo is planning to tell Mr. Mueller about a previously undisclosed conference call with Mr. Trump and Hope Hicks, the White House communications director, according to the three people. Mr. Corallo planned to tell investigators that Ms. Hicks said during the call that emails written by Donald Trump Jr. before the Trump Tower meeting — in which the younger Mr. Trump said he was eager to receive political dirt about Mrs. Clinton from the Russians — “will never get out.” That left Mr. Corallo with concerns that Ms. Hicks could be contemplating obstructing justice, the people said.

In a statement on Wednesday, a lawyer for Ms. Hicks strongly denied Mr. Corallo’s allegations…


Mark Corallo, if his Wikipedia page is to be believed, has worked with a whole bunch of Repubs whose ethical standards were — how to say this — not of the most savory: Bob Livingston during the Clenis Impeachment, Karl Rove during Plamegate, “long-time friend” Erik Prince of Blackwater notoriety. One would assume he has developed a sensitivity as to when ‘politics as blood sports’ becomes ‘politics as DO YOU WANT TO GO TO JAIL FOREVER!?!

Hope Hicks, on the other hand, grew up in a very tony Connecticut suburb, went to Southern Methodist University to play lacrosse, and worked as a marketing assistant in Ivanka’s company before being reassigned to keep Daddy happy on the Sabbath the Trump presidential campaign. I have no idea whether the recent salacious rumors are true, but as early as June 2016 questions were being raised about her role on the campaign. I hope her parents can find some really good defense lawyers, because I think there’s a metaphorical bus being prepped for her to be thrown under…

Reader Interactions

183Comments

  2. 2.

    bystander

    Meeka just threw Michael Wolff off the show for having besmirched the reputation of Nikki Haley. She and her lover do worse to HRC everyday, but whatever.

  4. 4.

    Ken

    before resigning in July

    This reminds me, has anyone set up a pool on how long before Tillerson leaves?

  6. 6.

    Kay

    The Trump administration’s top public health official bought shares in a tobacco company one month into her leadership of the agency charged with reducing tobacco use — the leading cause of preventable disease and death and an issue she had long championed.
    The stock was one of about a dozen new investments that Brenda Fitzgerald, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, made after she took over the agency’s top job, according to documents obtained by POLITICO. Fitzgerald has since come under congressional scrutiny for slow walking divestment from older holdings that government officials said posed potential conflicts of interest.

    Trump is a corrupt liar so he runs a corrupt organization. It’s inevitable. There are no situations where ethical managers just mysteriously preside over a bunch of corrupt employees. It simply doesn’t work like that. At the top = all down the line.

    It wasn’t a mystery Spiro Agnew had to resign for massive (and unrelated) corruption amidst Watergate. Those two things are related. The whole organization was rotten. There wouldn’t be an Agnew in that position without a Nixon at the top.

    Trump scandal could be Russia or it could be nearly anything else. He’s bad so he hires bad people.

  7. 7.

    NotMax

    In a statement on Wednesday, a lawyer for Ms. Hicks strongly denied Mr. Corallo’s allegations…

    Pricks Nix Hicks Tricks.

  9. 9.

    different-church-lady

    When I was a kid during Watergate, every day I watched something I could not comprehend roll across the TV, but I could tell it was bad.

    And now I’m doing exactly the same thing, except the TV is a computer screen.

  10. 10.

    Kay

    You knew Hope Hicks was eventually gonna enter this drama. She’s so close to all of them there’s just no way she wasn’t involved. It’s nice when the drama follows the story line you expected. We were introduced to her in the 1st chapter and you just knew she was gonna be front and center eventually.

  13. 13.

    JGabriel

    Emptywheel via Anne Laurie @ Top:

    Betcha we learn Hope had reason to believe they could withhold the emails.

    “Devin Nunes on line 1, Ms. Hicks …”

  16. 16.

    Ken

    @different-church-lady:

    When I was a kid during Watergate, every day I watched something I could not comprehend roll across the TV, but I could tell it was bad.

    Same here, although I was fairly young so “bad” = “they pre-empted my cartoons for this”.

  20. 20.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Ken: If Tillerson thinks he can survive the legal storm, Secretary of State is high in the succession line. He may decide to stick around a while to see if he can become CEO again.

  21. 21.

    TS

    @Chyron HR:

    But Dumb Devin’s Moronic Memo is going to flip the tides, r-right?

    That story might last 24 hours once the memo is released. It’s worth more to Nunes and trump if they just say they are going to release it.

  22. 22.

    zhena gogolia

    I keep hearing, the rats are leaving the sinking ship, etc., etc., BUT THEY HAVE THE REINS OF POWER AND THE CONGRESS IS DOING NOTHING ABOUT IT.

  23. 23.

    Amir Khalid

    @TS:

    It’s worth more to Nunes and trump if they just say they are going to release it.

    And how long before they get called on that bluff?

  25. 25.

    MJS

    @TS: You’re right, but Trump and Mines are idiots, so that won’t occur to them. Memo released in 3,2,… (simultaneous to statements indicating Corollo was simply a coffee boy)

    ETA Nunes not Mines.

  26. 26.

    Ohio Mom

    @Baud: There are two things I am always in awe of: Your wit, Baud, and the fact that you are so often the first commenter. Your sense of timing is without peer.

  28. 28.

    TS

    @Amir Khalid:

    And how long before they get called on that bluff?

    Who knows – but that will still be longer than the memo stays at the top of the news. I don’t ever remember having “breaking news” happening with another President at the speed of this one. Even during Watergate there were weeks without “new information” imploding across the screen. If nothing new is reported, trump gets going with lies on twitter to keep things going. We got this one today

    “Thank you for all of the nice compliments and reviews on the State of the Union speech. 45.6 million people watched, the highest number in history.”

    No-where near the highest number in history – the man is a parody of reality.

  30. 30.

    But her emails!!

    @zhena gogolia:

    I keep hearing, the rats are leaving the sinking ship, etc., etc., BUT THEY HAVE THE REINS OF POWER AND THE CONGRESS IS DOING NOTHING ABOUT IT.

    Yeah. I can’t help but think that the rats in this case just have a slightly higher ethical standard, or some line they won’t cross that the rest of the passengers on the USS Shitgibbon don’t have.

  31. 31.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @zhena gogolia: Well, it’s not obscure any more but at the time of the meeting I wonder how many people knew of the Magnitsky Act. I know I had at best a vague idea of it’s existence.

  33. 33.

    zhena gogolia

    Going out of contact for a few days. I hope when I get back DJT is out of the White House. A girl can dream.

  34. 34.

    TS

    @But her emails!!: The people who work for him realize they have to get out – or go down. The Congress critters don’t seem up to realizing that yet – they think they can fool enough of the people all of the time – I hope that doesn’t be seen to be true.

  35. 35.

    Amir Khalid

    @TS:
    I think that if Donald Trump ever tells the truth, the observable universe will consequently implode.

  40. 40.

    zhena gogolia

    @Immanentize:

    Conference in DC. I hope they’re all at Mar-a-Lago.

    ETA: The last conference I went to, in Chicago, there were people marching in the streets against Drumpf. You wouldn’t know it from the news media.

  44. 44.

    kindness

    Obstruction is a big deal for us. For regular folk though, they don’t really know or care to know. That isn’t going to bring down Trump. Now the laundering Russian mob money by selling them condos….that is something even Trump’s base would want to take him down with. I hope Mueller is using magician’s focus on lookey here while the other hand digs through the real estate records.

  45. 45.

    rikyrah

    Note: Corallo was a spokesman for Trump’s legal team. He was not Trump’s attorney.

    Corallo allegedly quit after the infamous flight where Trump dictated Jr’s false statement about the Trump Tower-Russia meeting fearing he was witnessing obstruction of justice. https://t.co/iZkn0C3izw

    — The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) January 31, 2018

    Now, this is someone who worked for the Bush Crime Family and Scooter Libby. He knows crimes when he sees them, and said, ‘I’m out.’

  47. 47.

    rikyrah

    You know, watching the shows reporting on this, watching Whiteness work. The bending over backwards to ‘interpret’ what Hope Hicks said. Giving her the benefit of the doubt. Casting her as ‘naive’ and ‘ignorant’. Watching this knowing full well that nobody non-White would be given this consideration, time and time again.

  48. 48.

    Immanentize

    @rikyrah: I loved the fact that in one of the reports Corallo said that he was amazed they were saying this shit without an attorney on the phone and told Trump and Hicks to call back when they got one on the line. That fellow knows how to do stuff!

  50. 50.

    Immanentize

    @Immanentize: So true. And Hicks seems to be getting the extra special white bimbo chick allowances — “she may be the White House Director of Communications, but we all know she is just skirt and fluff.”

  52. 52.

    different-church-lady

    @rikyrah:

    Now, this is someone who worked for the Bush Crime Family and Scooter Libby. He knows crimes when he sees them, and said, ‘I’m out.’

    I doubt it was mere presence crime that made him flee. He said, “This gang is so bad at crime they’re going to get caught, and I’ve got to get out before they drag me down with them.”

  54. 54.

    different-church-lady

    @kindness:

    Now the laundering Russian mob money by selling them condos….that is something even Trump’s base would want to take him down with.

    Oh you kidder.

  55. 55.

    low-tech cyclist

    @rikyrah:

    Now, this is someone who worked for the Bush Crime Family and Scooter Libby. He knows crimes when he sees them, and said, ‘I’m out.’

    Bingo. If this was too hot for a veteran sleazeball like Corallo, the naifs of the Trump Administration might want to start researching countries with no extradition treaties with the U.S.

  61. 61.

    low-tech cyclist

    @rikyrah:

    You know, watching the shows reporting on this, watching Whiteness work. The bending over backwards to ‘interpret’ what Hope Hicks said. Giving her the benefit of the doubt. Casting her as ‘naive’ and ‘ignorant’. Watching this knowing full well that nobody non-White would be given this consideration, time and time again.

    Hadn’t thought about that (which is part of the privilege of being white), but now that you pointed it out, it’s hard to miss.

  62. 62.

    But her emails!!

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Congressional Republicans have ethical standards? The things I learn here.

    It’s sort of like the serial killers who are appalled by animal cruelty.

  64. 64.

    geg6

    @bystander:

    I saw that and was just gobsmacked. I saw the interview Wolff did with Maher that they referenced. Not for one second did I think he was talking about Nikki Haley. I was absolutely sure he was talking about Hope Hicks. I have no idea where the Nikki Haley stuff is coming from. That was not my take away at all.

  68. 68.

    jacy

    Watching MSNBC in the background, because things seem to be speeding up this morning.

    Thing that has struck me the most is that Stephanie Ruhle is dressed exactly liked Wednesday Addams. Or maybe everything is just so bizarre that my cognitive faculties are on the fritz.

  69. 69.

    But her emails!!

    @geg6: I’m curious about this as well. Haley actually issued a denial, claiming that such an allegation was gross. I’m just curious as to where this allegation came from as I had assumed that Hicks not Haley was the most likely candidate.

  70. 70.

    geg6

    @different-church-lady:

    I was in my mid-teens and was just riveted. I was already interested in politics, so I learned so much because of those hearings. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. My mom was at the start of her journalism career and my dad was a wannabe historian working in a steel mill, so dinner table discussions were all about Watergate.

  72. 72.

    Immanentize

    @But her emails!!: There was an Op Ed in the FTFNYT in which this young writer who has been wrong about everything claimed Wolff was referring to Haley. I read that and thought that was super odd too, but I didn’t watch the Wolff interview so I couldn’t say…

    LINKY

  73. 73.

    MomSense

    @rikyrah:

    You know, watching the shows reporting on this, watching Whiteness work. The bending over backwards to ‘interpret’ what Hope Hicks said. Giving her the benefit of the doubt. Casting her as ‘naive’ and ‘ignorant’. Watching this knowing full well that nobody non-White would be given this consideration, time and time again.

    QFT. The man was running for president FFS. With that decision comes certain responsibilities and one of them is to PREPARE for the job. I’m so sick of people giving the man who told the nation he alone could fix it a pass for not preparing himself or his staff for the responsibilities of the job. Everytime it is implied that he was naive or a political novice, I want to break things.

  74. 74.

    jacy

    @geg6:

    Inorite? My first thought was Hope Hicks. The only thing I heard Wolff say about it was that he thought it was weird that Haley jumped in to vociferously defend against something no one had said. Of course, Wolff plays things too cute by half, but I don’t see where he ever besmeriched Haley, he just set a top to spinning and everybody else went a little mad…..

  76. 76.

    germy

    @geg6: I remember Sam Ervin’s eyebrows dancing up and down. I came to believe the activity of his eyebrows was related to the significance of the testimony.

  78. 78.

    rikyrah

    Somebody here posted that they hoped that Rosenstein was wearing a wire. I do too.

    Trump’s loyalty demands pose key test for Justice Department
    02/01/18 08:00 AM
    By Steve Benen

    When Donald Trump met privately with then-FBI Director James Comey the week after the president’s inauguration, he reportedly told Comey, “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.”

    About four months later, after having fired Comey in the hopes of undermining an ongoing federal investigation, the president met privately with then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. After exchanging pleasantries, Trump had a question for the bureau leader: Whom did he vote for in the 2016 election? (McCabe found the interaction “disturbing.”)

    And six months after that, according to reports from CNN, ABC News, and the New York Times, the Republican president had a related question for Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

  79. 79.

    different-church-lady

    @MomSense:

    I’m so sick of people giving the man who told the nation he alone could fix it a pass for not preparing himself or his staff for the responsibilities of the job.

    A huge number of voters refused to prepare for their job — picking a decent president — so of course they’ll give him a pass: they’re birds of a feather.

  82. 82.

    Emma

    Come on, people! They planted the Haley rumor themselves; that way they could point and yell about nasty lies while keeping the real scandal under wraps. It’s the kind of soapoperish stunt these incompetents would come up with.

  83. 83.

    germy

    @OzarkHillbilly: Good point, but she seems a bit mature for him. I can see him forgiving Hope’s lack of blondness because of her age.

    EDIT: God, looking back at what I just wrote. This administration has changed me, and not for the better

  84. 84.

    TS

    @kindness:

    Now the laundering Russian mob money by selling them condos….that is something even Trump’s base would want to take him down with.

    Given he has taken away their health care, not built the wall, not jailed Hillary & given any spare cash they may have had to the rich, and according to the FYFNYT they still love him, I doubt anything will turn off trump’s base. When a group who believe in the family and in their god accept a man who knows less about religion than a vast majority of Americans, who has been married 3 times, committed adultery many times more & been accused of abusing woman by a large number of same – there is anything he could do – including shooting someone on 5th avenue – that would make his base want to take him down.

    He will only be removed at the ballot box – and the current crop of GOP governors are trying very hard to make that impossible.

  87. 87.

    Dev Null

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I wonder if Nunes realizes that release of this memo could be construed as obstruction of justice?

    I wonder whether the departure of Howdy Gowdy – a prosecutor before he became Howdy Gowdy – is an indication that Howdy Gowdy concurs.

  89. 89.

    sherparick1

    @Kay: This is the second major resignation (within ONE FREAKING YEAR) from HHS (Tom Price being the first), for corruption and ethics violation. In any other administration this would be front page news.

  90. 90.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @rikyrah: Not just white, remember the Clintons are white, it’s white and the right kind of people can never do no wrong.

  92. 92.

    cosima

    When will Hicks’ parents step in and get her a lawyer? She seems young enough (and most likely sheltered & pampered at home) that it seems as though she’d have parents who’d be getting her private counsel — the writing is on the wall, M&M Hicks, your daughter could be looking at jail time… Our oldest is 27, and if she was in the shit like this I’d have drug her out by her hair and hired an attorney for her. How old is she? She doesn’t look over 30.

  94. 94.

    rikyrah

    #Russia’s state TV:
    Chiefs of three Russian intelligence and espionage agencies (SVR, FSB, GRU) quietly traveled to Washington, unbeknownst to the mainstream media. Vyacheslav Nikonov says that info about their travels may have been leaked in retaliation for “The Kremlin List.” pic.twitter.com/sNQsDRK1Pe

    — Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) February 1, 2018

  95. 95.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @TS: His base is just a pack of brainwashed religious cultists who will do what ever the cult leader tell them too and those leaders have pronounced that Jesus has forgiven Trump. I am curious what Trump is giving the religious right to make it so loyal to him.

  96. 96.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @germy: Wait a minute, Haley still has her clothes on, You’re right, definitely not his type.

    ps: writing this stuff about a sitting president knowing full well they could actually be true, and that the real truth is far worse than we can imagine, yeah, things have changed

  97. 97.

    geg6

    @But her emails!!:

    Well, I googled and, apparently, this is something that’s been bubbling around what Wolff said in the Maher interview about hints being in some passage at the end of the book and there is a passage about Haley sucking up to Trump and spending a lot of time with him. And Wolff being an asshole, he has not commented directly that it was her but has not batted down the speculation and even furthered it with coy comments. There’s an article in The Atlantic defending Haley as we speak.

    I still think the Dolt is shtupping Hicks and not Haley. But who the hell knows?

  98. 98.

    JWR

    @geg6:

    I saw the interview Wolff did with Maher that they referenced. Not for one second did I think he was talking about Nikki Haley. I was absolutely sure he was talking about Hope Hicks.

    Exactly what I thought upon reading about that interaction. I haven’t mentioned it before for fear of being called a looney. ;-) (Though at the time, I did put it on my FB page.)

  99. 99.

    clay

    @OzarkHillbilly: Not quite. Wolff said that he thought Trump was having an affair, but never said with whom.

    Others (I forget who) have speculated that it might be Haley — I suppose due to the limited number of halfway attractive women in the Trump administration.

    So Haley’s getting all huffy towards Wolff, even though he’s never made any accusations towards her. Nor, as far as I’m aware, has he even hinted towards her.

  100. 100.

    geg6

    @cosima:

    I’m pretty sure someone mentioned last night that she does have a lawyer.

    I also read a story about Hicks some months ago that talked about her parents. Apparently, they are liberal Dems who are just beside themselves at her situation and wanted her out long ago.

    But she is an adult and they have no power to do anything about it.

  103. 103.

    rikyrah

    They are putting out the fake Nunes Memo.
    And, even the fake Nunes Memo is even MORE fake, because, according to Schiff, Nunes changed the Memo, and it’s not the one that the GOP Members approved of.

    Also, Quigley of Illinois asked Nunes if his staff HAD HELP FROM THE WHITE HOUSE with the Memo, He refused to answer the question.

    So, they will be putting out a faked Memo, USING CLASSIFIED MATERIAL – that the FBI let them see UNDER THE UNDERSTANDING THAT IT WOULD GO NO FURTHER THAN THE COMMITTEE.

    UH HUH
    UH HUH

  105. 105.

    clay

    @geg6: It’s hard to see Trump wanting Cory Lewandowski’s cast-offs, though. Frankly, I’m skeptical of the whole idea of an affair, simply because I don’t think Mr. Fat, Bloated, Cardiac-in-Waiting can get it up without serious medical assistance.

  107. 107.

    NCSteve

    Hope Hicks was interviewed last month. One suspects the gist here is that she’s already lied to Mueller and is thus ready to be flipped in return for a reduced sentence.

    Which has me looking forward to the day, coming soon, when someone asks them “how’s that Hopey Changey thing workin’ for ya?”

  109. 109.

    Amir Khalid

    @cosima:
    I just googled Hope Hicks. She hits the big three-oh this October. So yes: she’s very young, of negligible experience, and not likely to survive the Trump administration snakepit without help.

  110. 110.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @clay: I really don’t know any more than what I have read about it (which has been that it began with him, not whether he actually uttered the words), Admittedly it is not much because #1- I don’t believe it, #2- I don’t care. So I make jokes about it.

  111. 111.

    evap

    @different-church-lady: I was in 8th grade during Watergate and every day for a week in History class we watched the hearings instead of having a normal class. I clearly remember my teacher telling us that although we maybe didn’t really understand what was going on, it was history in the making and we would remember it and talk about it for the rest of our lives. We were all mostly just happy that we didn’t have to do any work for a week…

  113. 113.

    opiejeanne

    @geg6: For all we know it’s some young blonde thing in the secretarial pool, if there is a secretarial pool, someone we’ve never heard of. Maybe several young blonde things.

  115. 115.

    cmorenc

    @Dev Null:

    I wonder whether the departure of Howdy Gowdy – a prosecutor before he became Howdy Gowdy – is an indication that Howdy Gowdy concurs.

    Gowdy is leaving Congress while the window is still wide open for Trump to successfully nominate him for a seat on the federal 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. Depending on the 2018 midterms and the progress of Mueller’s investigation, post-2018 that window may crumble closed if Gowdy stays in Congress. I doubt Gowdy’s leaving because he has any fear his deep-SC house seat is vulnerable in a democratic wave.

  116. 116.

    cosima

    @geg6: Wonder if she has the same counsel as the rest. At 29 I suppose she’s old enough to know what she’s doing and that it is/was wrong, so as far as I’m concerned, let her face the consequences. However, as a mother to a daughter nearly the same age, I’d have to say that the impulse to correct &/or protect your child doesn’t wear off when they hit their mid 20s, and if I were her mother I’d have staged an intervention long ago. Maybe the next time she visits home they can binge-watch Orange is the New Black or something.

  117. 117.

    Humdog

    I think the reason they figured Haley was the affair is that Haley was accused of an affair as governor of South Carolina. An ugly smear that I would vigorously deny, too. I do not believe there is a sexual relationship as Shitstain cannot anymore.

  118. 118.

    JMG

    The Mueller investigation carried to its limits will wreck the administration and badly would the Republican party. Therefore, it will be stopped.
    The Democrats winning either house of Congress in 2018 would do the same. Therefore, that will not be allowed to happen.
    This is a pessimistic message, but this is a battle with people who hate and fear constitutional democracy, and we must be prepared for them to attempt to openly end it.

  119. 119.

    gvg

    @cosima: I think I read she is 27. What’s kind of odd is both her parents seem to be strong democrats with political connections. Family is apparently the source of she will need counseling for trauma. It almost sounds like they can’t accept daughter might not have same values they do. I could do a lot of baseless speculation but I don’t really have anything to go on.

  120. 120.

    Barbara

    @zhena gogolia: Hey, if you are looking for restaurant recommendations: Et Voila is just about my favorite restaurant in DC, it’s out on Macarthur Boulevard. I also like Tosca (if you want quiet) and Central (if you like loud) but of course, we have dozens and dozens. It’s going to be on the cold side here weather wise. I hope you have a good time.

  121. 121.

    MJS

    @clay: The hint Wolff gave is that there is a clue towards the end of the book as to who Trump is having the affair with. Others have noted that Hicks and Haley are mentioned towards the end of the book. But I am in the camp of those who believe that the “affair” amounts to spankings with rolled up magazines, because President Fat Slob is incapable of anything more.

  122. 122.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    You knew Hope Hicks was eventually gonna enter this drama. She’s so close to all of them there’s just no way she wasn’t involved

    Dolt45 doesn’t read emails.
    SHE does.
    SHE reads everything.
    OF.COURSE.SHE’S.UP.TO.HER.NECK.IN.THIS.

  124. 124.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @cosima: Protect, yes (says the father who just returned from a week in NOLA after his son got runover by a truck). Correct, no. At some point one has to let go of one’s children and let them live their lives, consequences be damned. Fortunately for me, both my son’s turned out to be better people than I, so I think they’re safe on that score.

  125. 125.

    Brachiator

    Hope Hicks, on the other hand, grew up in a very tony Connecticut suburb, went to Southern Methodist University to play lacrosse, and worked as a marketing assistant in Ivanka’s company.

    This does not,of course, preclude Hicks from being practiced in the arts of deception. And lacrosse probably has roots in warrior blood sports.

    Some of the most ruthless people I’ve ever known grew up in the toniest of neighborhoods.

  126. 126.

    Barbara

    @rikyrah: As the article noted, lying to the press is not a crime so Trump’s attorneys are using that as an excuse to get out of an interview with Mueller. But here is where it gets tricky: Dictating the false memo could be used to show guilt of other crimes.

    First, it could be seen as “joining the conspiracy” by engaging in a conscious act to further its purpose by covering it up. So if lying to the press is not illegal, if the underlying conduct was espionage or whatever it might have been, actively helping the perpetrators get away with it could potentially be seen as part of the original conspiracy. That conduct might also be ongoing.

    Second, while they might have other evidence that points to Trump being part of the original conspiracy, it might be too circumstantial and susceptible to multiple interpretations, because, IMHO, they probably did try to insulate him from direct engagement. But what happened on AF1 was direct, and it might clarify otherwise ambiguous evidence of Trump’s prior consciousness of and involvement in the conspiracy.

  128. 128.

    Bruce K

    I wonder if the feeling I’m getting reading about this stuff is anything like how Ike felt in December 1944 when he realized what Adolf was doing in the Ardennes…

  130. 130.

    Brachiator

    @JMG:

    The Mueller investigation carried to its limits will wreck the administration and badly wound the Republican party. Therefore, it will be stopped.

    Oh, I believe that the GOP will try to stop the investigation. I don’t know that they will succeed.

    The Republicans wounded themselves by embracing Trump during the primary season. And as a wise man once sang, “it’s too late to stop now.”

  131. 131.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Barbara:

    they probably did try to insulate him from direct engagement.

    Ummm no. These guys are the Keystone Kops of presidential politics. They think, and their behavior thru out their lives confirms, that they can do anything they want and nobody will stop them. My own theory is that the only reason trump wasn’t present for the meeting is because he needed his nappy time.

  132. 132.

    Amir Khalid

    @Humdog:
    We’re all pretty sure already that der Scheißgibbon betrayed his country to win its presidency, and is continuing to betray his country now that he is beholden to the foreign power that helped him. At this point, an extramarital affair would be a comparatively trivial sin and a distraction from the threat he poses to America and the global order.

  134. 134.

    cosima

    @OzarkHillbilly: Yes, we threw our little (big) darling to the wolves when she failed nearly every class in university — she straightened right up having to get students loans & work to make it to the finish line. However, if it were a matter of going to jail, I think we’d step in to help — if I were HH’s parent I’d be saying to her, and myself, ‘there’s no way my daughter is going to jail to cover up for that corrupt old f*ckstick.’

    As someone has pointed out just above, and is something that I’d never thought about before, since the orange fart cloud doesn’t read emails, use the computer, etc., she must be in on every bit of corruption up to her eyeballs. Which means she should go to jail. For a LONG time.

  135. 135.

    raven

    @cosima: The last thing my old man did for me was sign for me to go in the Army on my 17th birthday. It kept me out of jail but it took me a loooong time to get my shit together after that.

  136. 136.

    catclub

    @Amir Khalid:

    And how long before they get called on that bluff?

    Trump has five days to decide, but I bet hey waffle more after that ‘The memo was changed slightly so we have to re-start the clock’

  138. 138.

    PaulWartenberg

    @Baud:

    If Hillary is indeed as crooked and evil as they claim, then that is STILL a great mark in her favor because – compared to these clowns who keep tripping over their own mistakes – she is competent enough to get the job done.

  140. 140.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @cosima:

    However, if it were a matter of going to jail, I think we’d step in to help

    If by help you mean putting up money for a lawyer I agree. Been there, done that. I was speaking more along the lines of your (?) previous (not literal) sentiment of dragging your daughter out of this admin by her hair.

    My sons have made mistakes, ones that I knew were mistakes before they finished telling me what they were going to do. But I never said anything unless they specifically asked.

  141. 141.

    catclub

    @gvg:

    I could do a lot of baseless speculation but I don’t really have anything to go on.

    Isn’t that the best situation for baseless speculation?

  143. 143.

    Barbara

    @OzarkHillbilly: No, I think you are wrong. I think they did not let Trump himself meet with Russians who were part of Putin’s inner circle or known to be part of his intelligence apparatus, or took steps to minimize documentation of such contacts. They might be the Keystone Kops but I suspect they knew enough to know that direct contact would be too compromising.

    P.S. I hope your son is doing better.

  146. 146.

    Calouste

    @PaulWartenberg: I think it’s more the con man strategy. You throw out some outrageous lies to make sure that you still have your hold over your marks. Problem of course is that normally for a con man it doesn’t really matter what the non-marks think.

  147. 147.

    cosima

    @OzarkHillbilly: When it comes to legal stuff I’d definitely be up in her grill, screaming & shouting & telling her that I know best. She’s been with her partner for nearly 8 years, and I cannot stand him, so I am well-versed in stepping back, even when I feel strongly about something, because it’s her life to live. One has to have lines in the sand in that regard though, and violence & jail are mine.

    @raven: Parenting involves a lot of guesswork. Mister & I are engineers specifically because we don’t like grey areas — math doesn’t lie! I’m slightly better at the grey areas of parenting, so mister Cosima pretty much leaves all that to me, or maybe it’s because we have only daughters… We make the best decisions that we can at the time, and hope for the best. I think you seemed to have turned out pretty fabulous, even if it took a little while. I was really stupid until I was 30, and it’s a purely subjective opinion as to whether or not that has changed in the 2 decades since.

  150. 150.

    Amir Khalid

    @schrodingers_cat:
    I agree. A little restraint before the makeup mirror would do wonders for many women’s looks, and often no makeup at all can look amazingly good. (In fact, I find that the latter approach works best for me.)

  151. 151.

    Barry

    @jacy: “Watching MSNBC in the background, because things seem to be speeding up this morning.”

    Hmmmmm. FBI counter strike?

  152. 152.

    WaterGirl

    I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this yet, but I had read months ago that a lot of people communicated with Trump and family by sending email THROUGH Hope Hicks in an effort to not have certain direct communications. If Mueller didn’t know about that before, he surely knows about it now. This revelation from Corallo will certainly remind everyone of that little tidbit.

    I love how this story corroborates something that was clearly in Wolff’s book.

  154. 154.

    WaterGirl

    @OzarkHillbilly: Have you listened to Preet’s podcast about the Magnitsky Act and how it came to be? It’s informative, and absoutely heartbreaking, but it has helped inform the way I view the Russia scandal. It’s worth a listen if you haven’t seen it.

    It’s called The Death of Sergei Magnitsky (with Bill Browder), from Oct 25, 2017.

  157. 157.

    WaterGirl

    @Dev Null: Wasn’t it Gowdy, standing in for Nunes who had recused himself, who was one of only two people who actually got to look at the classified info?

  158. 158.

    MCA1

    @Barbara: I tend to agree with this take. The lot of them – Manafort, Gates, Jr., Kush – were more than willing to break the law, or convinced they weren’t breaking the law, but weren’t bold enough to actually bring the big man into it. So, some of his rage is based on the fact that this was happening just out of his earshot and no one wanted to tell him about it, instead just guiding his actions enough to get him to say things like plead with the Russians to release more of Hillary’s e-mails and stuff.

    Then, when it became clear that his own son and son-in-law were in deep, deep shit here, he stepped in like the narcissistic, overly aggressive moron he is to fix things the only way he knows how: slash and burn and lie and scapegoat and use misinformation and gaslight. All the stuff he learned from his hero, Roy Cohn.

    In the process, he’s obstructed justice about 50 different ways, and probably committed various other felonies, in addition to attempting to basically burn down the entire justice system and FBI in his desperate attempts to keep them boys out of the pokey. Not because he gives a fuck about them personally or as a father, of course, but because their guilt would make him look bad. Which he cannot tolerate for even five seconds without lashing out. So, we have a man putting his own needs ahead of those of the republic to a greater degree than we’ve ever seen before. He will stop at nothing in his quest to help Jr. and Jared avoid justice.

  159. 159.

    catclub

    norm that says the FBI and Department of Justice should act apolitically when it comes to crime … At stake isn’t the reputation of the FBI but the whole principle of depoliticized criminal investigation.

    Undermining this principle, of course, is Trump’s openly declared goal.

    also undermining it is Comey (head of FBI at the time) releasing his letter in late October 2016 in specific opposition to that norm.\
    Also in opposition to formal guidelines of ‘no political investigations/announcements near elections’

  161. 161.

    StringOnAStick

    @Amir Khalid: Thanks for the “no makeup” support; I felt insecure about not using it the first part of my life and now I simply don’t care or bother with it. I had a patient show up late yesterday because “I can’t leave the house without my makeup”; thanks for blowing up my schedule, lady!

    I do find the current heavy, heavy makeup style really off putting.

  162. 162.

    TerryC

    @Humdog: I’m in better shape than Dolt, and a year younger, and based on my experience I wouldn’t count him out. In his condition, he probably can’t do anything like “make love” but he can most likely still get it up and want some on a regular basis.

  166. 166.

    Citizen Alan

    @Kay:

    We were introduced to her in the 1st chapter and you just knew she was gonna be front and center eventually.

    Chekov’s Bimbo?

  167. 167.

    Procopius

    @TS: “The congress critters don’t seem to have realized that yet.” Hmmm. An unprecedented number of congress critters have either announced their retirements or have announced they will not be contesting this election. Seems like something is happening. Probably means an unusually cold winter or something.

  170. 170.

    J R in WV

    @opiejeanne:

    ” Who is Pinch?”

    Probably already answered, but he is the younger newly appointed family member publisher of the FTFNY Times.

    Many suspect the the Times’s coverage of politics over the past 88 years is warped by blackmail or covert political influence.

    Why else would an ostensible good newspaper make such terrible mistakes about certain select globally important issues?

  171. 171.

    Brachiator

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Protect, yes (says the father who just returned from a week in NOLA after his son got runover by a truck). Correct, no. At some point one has to let go of one’s children and let them live their lives, consequences be damned.

    I have a close friend who has exactly the same attitude with respect to her daughters. Fortunately, they have turned out well, and so far have not had major issues (as far as I know) in which they have had to deal with the consequences of their actions.

    I have been prepared to jump in and intervene in situations involving my step son, and my younger brothers and sister, but never really had to do anything major.

  172. 172.

    burnspbesq

    A few years of uninterrupted wall-ball (she would probably be allowed to have a lacrosse stick in her room at a level 1 Federal pen) might allow time for introspection for Ms. Hicks. Throw righty, catch, throw lefty, catch, repeat 1,000 times. Very calming. Good for the soul. I still do it occasionally, 40 years after I last wore pads and a helmet.

    ETA: Mueller is a lax guy (former captain of the Princeton team), but somehow I doubt that Hicks can count on any special consideration based on that.

  173. 173.

    burnspbesq

    @schrodingers_cat:

    why does Hope Hicks slather on so much makeup?

    Because she never knows when she might have to go on live TV (she might get perp-walked out of the West Wing at any time)?

    Or it could be a SMU sorority-girl thing.

  174. 174.

    Brachiator

    @J R in WV:

    Many suspect the the Times’s coverage of politics over the past 88 years is warped by blackmail or covert political influence.

    Why else would an ostensible good newspaper make such terrible mistakes about certain select globally important issues?

    Over 88 years. That would have to be some hellacious family blackmail.

  175. 175.

    Shana

    .@WaterGirl: My understanding was that Trump doesn’t use email at all. EVERYTHING goes through Hope Hicks. I think he mistakenly thinks it gives him legal deniability. IANAL but I don’t think Mueller will fall for that.

  176. 176.

    condorcet runner-up

    @Baud: I know this thread is dead, but seeing that comment right out of the gate made me guffaw. Perfect.

  178. 178.

    Ella in New Mexico

    @rikyrah:

    Watching this knowing full well that nobody non-White would be given this consideration, time and time again.

    I’d have to tecnically disagree-. You need to add “Democrat” to non-White. With heavy emphasis on Democrat and added point for “female”. If you see a person of color is not being given the same chance/excuse as a White person, double check their political affiliation and/or gender.

    Current example: Ben Carson. Wholly unqualified to be HUD Secretary. He should be being investigated right now for bringing in his son to organize a “listening tour”which mainly was attended by his son’s business associates-and then awarding his son and daughter-in-law a giant HUD contract as a result. What are you hearing right now about this? Crickets.

    Past examples: Clarence Thomas, Supreme Court Justice.

    Other examples? see Hillary Rodham Clinton, her entire career. Al Franken : got ZERO backup, despite bullshit accusations and being white and a male—From his own people, at that.

    Today IOKIYAR is the overriding rule, race or gender aside.

  180. 180.

    J R in WV

    @J R in WV:

    I said “Probably already answered, but he is the younger newly appointed family member publisher of the FTFNY Times.” but was wrong, he WAS the publisher but stepped down recently to allow his son to take over.

  181. 181.

    J R in WV

    @Brachiator:

    They published their first flattering review of Adolph Hitler in 1922, so now that I do some math on my Finger-based abacus, closer to 96 years. Maybe it’s more based upon their family values rather than blackmail? How they are raised to adulthood?

    I dunno, it’s very strange.

  182. 182.

    Dan

    @zhena gogolia: I think of it in another way, not quite as positive as “rats jumping from a sinking ship”. My way is that the rats are packed into a fetid swamp, overcrowded and overpopulated, and are jumping ONTO the ship, and that ship is the USA and is foundering with its gunnels awash and doing so more quickly the more rats that are jumping onboard the last safe thing floating in the swamp.

  183. 183.

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

    @JMG:
    How exactly would a Democratic wave be stopped in any plausible way if people are fired up enough to go out and vote? If something hinky happens, people will know and riots will break out. The illegimate Republican stranglehold on government will be ended one way or another. Whether that’s peacefully is up to “them”.

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