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You are here: Home / Open Threads / New Indictments Against Manafort And Gates

New Indictments Against Manafort And Gates

by Cheryl Rofer|  February 22, 20185:14 pm| 106 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Russiagate, All we want is life beyond the thunderdome

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Here’s the red meat for you to chew on.

A summary – not sure if this is going to be readable, but worth a try.

NEW: Here are all 32 new charges Mueller brought against MANAFORT and GATES pic.twitter.com/horISUm6f4

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) February 22, 2018

Pretty curious decision by Gates not to take a deal with this on the way and little ability to pay his lawyers. Good time to ask the WH whether there have been any discussions of pardons with him or Manafort. https://t.co/BywHcQ6mYV

— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) February 22, 2018

And Gates fired his lawyer. Again.

NEW: Gates' new lawyer is Barry Pollack of Miller Chevalier (Kevin Downing's old firm) https://t.co/XYNDIMDVYU

— Betsy Woodruff (@woodruffbets) February 22, 2018

So it looks like whatever plea deal was made with Gates is falling apart. Meanwhile, the judge rejected Manafort’s latest offer of bail.

 

And open thread!

 

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Reader Interactions

106Comments

  1. 1.

    Corner Stone

    February 22, 2018 at 5:15 pm

    *Slips into a warm soapy hot tub*
    Ahhhhhh…..

  2. 2.

    Jeffro

    February 22, 2018 at 5:16 pm

    Gates is gonna be upset when Orangemandias yanks those pardons on the advice of his lawyers…but by then, it’ll be too late. Poor Rick Gates!

  3. 3.

    LAO

    February 22, 2018 at 5:17 pm

    And, the governor of Missouri has been indicted for revenge porn. What a weird day.

    ETA: https://twitter.com/rxpatrick/status/966795751216091136

  4. 4.

    Bobby Thomson

    February 22, 2018 at 5:18 pm

    If Tom Green wasn’t getting paid and the client was rejecting his advice, this may have been a case of the lawyer firing the client, or at least a mutual parting of ways – but other than noisy withdrawals (when the lawyer knows the client is continuing to break the law), lawyers are generally ethically prohibited from talking trash about former clients.

  5. 5.

    Corner Stone

    February 22, 2018 at 5:19 pm

    Matthew Miller
    ✔
    @matthewamiller

    Pretty curious decision by Gates not to take a deal with this on the way and little ability to pay his lawyers. Good time to ask the WH whether there have been any discussions of pardons with him or Manafort.

    Why wouldn’t Gates just say, “You got me, dog. Clear me of anything I confess to and I will give you bank account numbers and transaction dates.” ?
    They can’t possibly think Trump will pardon them and remove protection from being in contempt of court when they refuse to answer. Or maybe Vladdy sent them a dead canary in the mail?

  6. 6.

    MJS

    February 22, 2018 at 5:19 pm

    It is a little disconcerting that the Gates plea deal, and subsequent cooperation, hasn’t happened yet. But maybe Gates is pushing for too much, and Mueller’s all, “Nah, I got enough without you. See you in court.”

  7. 7.

    Cheryl Rofer

    February 22, 2018 at 5:19 pm

    Here’s the story on the Missouri governor.

  8. 8.

    schrodingers_cat

    February 22, 2018 at 5:20 pm

    @LAO: Party of family values, FTW.

  9. 9.

    Corner Stone

    February 22, 2018 at 5:20 pm

    @LAO: I love that first comment, “Thoughts and prayers.” HA!

  10. 10.

    Stan

    February 22, 2018 at 5:21 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    Why wouldn’t Gates just say, “You got me, dog. Clear me of anything I confess to and I will give you bank account numbers and transaction dates.” ?

    Because he would find himself falling out of a tenth-floor Russian window….

  11. 11.

    Cheryl Rofer

    February 22, 2018 at 5:21 pm

    FOR PLANNING PURPOSES ONLY: Governor Greitens will not be able to attend the @NatlGovsAssoc meetings in Washington, DC this weekend due to an unforeseen scheduling conflict.

    — Josh Schwerin (@JoshSchwerin) February 22, 2018

  12. 12.

    LAO

    February 22, 2018 at 5:21 pm

    @Corner Stone: FWIW, there are simply people in this world who are incapable of admitting guilt and walking themselves into a jail cell. Who knows what Gates is thinking.

  13. 13.

    Corner Stone

    February 22, 2018 at 5:23 pm

    @MJS: ISTM that Mueller already has Manafort staked naked over a fireant hill. And is just about to start pouring honey all over him.
    I don’t know why Gates is delaying just giving it aaallll up and begging for mercy.

  14. 14.

    LAO

    February 22, 2018 at 5:23 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: thanks Cheryl. Hard to link on cellphone.

  15. 15.

    NotMax

    February 22, 2018 at 5:24 pm

    Oh waiter, a large helping of schadenfreude soufflé, please.

  16. 16.

    Duane

    February 22, 2018 at 5:26 pm

    If Manafort doesn’t like his house arrest, let him trade it for a twenty pound ball and chain.

  17. 17.

    JPL

    February 22, 2018 at 5:27 pm

    So many questions and I guess it will be awhile before we know the outcome. Manafort wanted Pence as VP, and I can’t figure that one out. Is it because Putin hates the gays and his values aligned with Pence?

  18. 18.

    Mike J

    February 22, 2018 at 5:28 pm

    A bunch of tax evasion charges, just like they got Capone on.

  19. 19.

    Major Major Major Major

    February 22, 2018 at 5:29 pm

    Ah, delightful. This seems like the easiest prisoner’s dilemma in the world to me, but then again, these people are mostly idiots.

  20. 20.

    Duane

    February 22, 2018 at 5:29 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: Greiten’s. A certifiable sociopath. Ever see his campaign ad with rifle? Not enough bad things can happen to that jackass.

  21. 21.

    JPL

    February 22, 2018 at 5:30 pm

    @Corner Stone: Me too!

  22. 22.

    Davebo

    February 22, 2018 at 5:30 pm

    @Corner Stone: By the looks of that new indictment The Mule© already has bank account numbers and dates.

  23. 23.

    hedgehog the occasional commenter

    February 22, 2018 at 5:32 pm

    It’s not Jared, but I’ll take it. Margarita in the offing after work :)

  24. 24.

    MJS

    February 22, 2018 at 5:32 pm

    @JPL: Because Pence is stupid and doesn’t care who knows it. He happily claims ignorance of anything and everything.

  25. 25.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    February 22, 2018 at 5:32 pm

    So would Trump have to pardon each charge? lol

  26. 26.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    February 22, 2018 at 5:34 pm

    Friend of mine posits that the only way Manafort lives beyond the end of the year is to enter protective custody.

  27. 27.

    Corner Stone

    February 22, 2018 at 5:35 pm

    @Davebo: That was actually my point. Gates should have sweat flopped himself on the floor in front Mueller and sang his guts out. If he was ever going to, that seems long past now.

  28. 28.

    Mike J

    February 22, 2018 at 5:35 pm

    Scott Dworkin @funder 23m
    Today’s indictment of Manafort and Gates includes 32 new charges against them for hiding $75,000,000 in offshore accounts, laundering over $30,000,000, filing false tax returns, committing bank fraud & submitting doctored financial statements. Lock them up! #TrumpColluded

  29. 29.

    JPL

    February 22, 2018 at 5:36 pm

    @MJS: Oh, a puppet.

  30. 30.

    JPL

    February 22, 2018 at 5:38 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: There was a show on years ago called In Plain Sight about witness protection. Albuquerque is not a bad place.

  31. 31.

    different-church-lady

    February 22, 2018 at 5:40 pm

    Cheese nothinburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger, cheese nothingburger!

  32. 32.

    NotMax

    February 22, 2018 at 5:40 pm

    Note to self:

    Never challenge Mueller to a game of Jenga.

  33. 33.

    Calouste

    February 22, 2018 at 5:42 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Protective custody under 24 hour suicide watch. Looks like he won’t have a penny left against his name by the time the IRS is done with him.

  34. 34.

    Duane

    February 22, 2018 at 5:43 pm

    @Mike J: Trump hires the best people. HAHAHA!

  35. 35.

    Bobby Thomson

    February 22, 2018 at 5:44 pm

    Well, this indictment certainly alleges that Manafort and Gates were very naughty and fabricated a lot of profit & loss statements they gave to banks, but it’s unclear that any of this links to the Trump campaign or Trump White House.

    But this is why Trump doesn’t want Mueller in his finances. Odds are very good that even without looking at Russia, Trump has several federal felonies in there. Organized crime has always been a big part of the Trump brand. His grandfather earned the family fortune selling drugs and prostitution.

  36. 36.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    February 22, 2018 at 5:44 pm

    It didn’t matter. When I was broke
    I just went out and robbed some
    more. We ran everything. We paid
    off lawyers. We paid off cops.
    Everybody had their hands out. And
    now it’s all over.

  37. 37.

    Cheryl Rofer

    February 22, 2018 at 5:46 pm

    I’ve paged through the indictment. A few things stand out to IANAL me.

    1) Tax fraud and bank fraud. Time-tested ways to get people you can’t get in other ways.
    2) Mueller has the receipts. Down to $10,000 transactions. I’m glad some people are good at this accounting stuff. Also, where did they get all this?
    3) Like the indictments of the Russians, this document has a nice narrative section. Part of what Mueller is doing is telling us the story of what happened.

  38. 38.

    jl

    February 22, 2018 at 5:47 pm

    Since open thread, I’ll mention that I think the national GOP and their corrupt backers are now acting like the CA GOP did right before their crack-up. They’ve reached the point of bizarre, toxic, nasty, (edit: and infantile, I forgot infantile) acting out in public.

    I remember CA GOPers just acting like nasty obviously dishonest and bad faith raving loons in interviews, and in public meetings and public interactions with reporters and constituents. I don’t want to get my hopes up that they will keep it up to the point that they regularly get dismissed by reporters and interviewers on air, or that the voters will reject them like they were rejected in California. But, wow, to me, it is almost like a replay.

  39. 39.

    Bobby Thomson

    February 22, 2018 at 5:48 pm

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: egg noodles and ketchup, man.

  40. 40.

    Cheryl Rofer

    February 22, 2018 at 5:48 pm

    The access Mueller has to documents is amazing.

    If I Did It, Okay Yes I Did It, by Paul Manafort https://t.co/1uBEuePReT

    — Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) February 22, 2018

  41. 41.

    Bobby Thomson

    February 22, 2018 at 5:49 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    where did they get all this?

    Email never forgets.

  42. 42.

    Cheryl Rofer

    February 22, 2018 at 5:49 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: Sorry, that should be

    New Manafort indictment includes some emails he sent laying out his bank fraud plan. https://t.co/QPd4vqIxgX pic.twitter.com/rrrucluZe7

    — Will Sommer (@willsommer) February 22, 2018

  43. 43.

    Cheryl Rofer

    February 22, 2018 at 5:50 pm

    The lawyer thing is getting very weird.

    JUST IN (and contra Daily Beast): Tom Green just entered an appearance in the DC case as Rick Gates' lawyer. Green then filed a notice Gates does not oppose his other lawyers withdrawing from the case. pic.twitter.com/LZmnVRyb0M

    — Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) February 22, 2018

  44. 44.

    eric

    February 22, 2018 at 5:54 pm

    @Mike J: So, not just prison time, but restitution? so much for the family home.

  45. 45.

    Davebo

    February 22, 2018 at 5:54 pm

    @Corner Stone: What if he did? And Mueller replied “Sorry kid, I already know more than you do?”.

  46. 46.

    NotMax

    February 22, 2018 at 5:57 pm

    Once I ran a campaign, I made it hum
    Though ’twas knee-deep in slime
    Once I had a fortune, now it’s done
    Comrade, can you spare a dime?

  47. 47.

    Bobby Thomson

    February 22, 2018 at 5:57 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: you can say that again. I don’t see a time stamp on Green’s appearance so it’s unclear when he made it, or if the right hand knows what the left one is doing.

  48. 48.

    Calouste

    February 22, 2018 at 5:57 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: First you establish that these guys are fraudsters. Then you establish that these guys took money from the Russians. Lastly you establish what they gave the Russians in return.

    We want to see the third but we’re only still at the first.

  49. 49.

    Major Major Major Major

    February 22, 2018 at 5:58 pm

    @different-church-lady: nothingpepsi, nothingpepsi, nothingpepsi!

  50. 50.

    Wapiti

    February 22, 2018 at 5:58 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: I wonder if Manafort’s troubles could be expanded to conspiracy troubles for the son-in-law. January 2016 is probably within statute of limitations?

  51. 51.

    rikyrah

    February 22, 2018 at 5:58 pm

    Put the screws to those muthaphuckas??

  52. 52.

    eric

    February 22, 2018 at 5:59 pm

    @eric: allow me to add, that if these guys wanted to protect their families’ lifestyles, they had better start singing. All of their assets are likely the fruit of ill-gotten gains.

  53. 53.

    No Drought No More

    February 22, 2018 at 5:59 pm

    If what the Americans are being forced into living through today* was an episode of Law & Order, this is the part of the show where Ben Stone or Jack McCoy would say to a colleague: “let’s see what he has to say after after a few days at Rikers”.

    *(According to Gerald Ford, Nixon put Americans through “a long national nightmare”. Trump, on the other hand, is date raping the entire country, while congressional republicans cheer)..

  54. 54.

    rikyrah

    February 22, 2018 at 6:00 pm

    @Corner Stone: ?????

  55. 55.

    Bobby Thomson

    February 22, 2018 at 6:00 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: nothingchips, nothingchips, nothingchips!

  56. 56.

    eric

    February 22, 2018 at 6:02 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: nothingnocokepepsi, nothingnocokepepsi, nothingnocokepepsi!

  57. 57.

    patrick II

    February 22, 2018 at 6:04 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    His face is too well known for protective custody.

  58. 58.

    danielx

    February 22, 2018 at 6:05 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    Why wouldn’t Gates just say, “You got me, dog. Clear me of anything I confess to and I will give you bank account numbers and transaction dates.” ?

    If he was going to go to jail no matter what, he might have decided to bank on a pardon…

  59. 59.

    Schlemazel

    February 22, 2018 at 6:05 pm

    Stuck in Raleigh tonight. Interesting bit of news. A white guy was just convicted for shooting a black guy and claiming self defense. That is a rarity anywhere but in the South . . . Wow

  60. 60.

    Calouste

    February 22, 2018 at 6:08 pm

    @danielx: I don’t think a pardon for bank fraud is going to go down well. Not with the public, and not with the banks.

  61. 61.

    Gravenstone

    February 22, 2018 at 6:08 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: Guessing that wasn’t the daughter who notably accused daddy of ‘having blood on his hands’. That’s a hell of a family dynamic.

  62. 62.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    February 22, 2018 at 6:08 pm

    @Bobby Thomson:

    Only way to see time stamps is by looking at the PACER history screen for the whole docketed I remember. Left my laptop at work, and I hate doing PACER on my phone.

  63. 63.

    PaulWartenberg

    February 22, 2018 at 6:09 pm

    @LAO:
    BWHAHAHAHAHAHA

  64. 64.

    Corner Stone

    February 22, 2018 at 6:10 pm

    @Davebo: Locking in Manafort may have been worth it, based on what Gates can nail down. The goal is obviously Manafort to get to Trump Org. I am not Mueller but I doubt he refuses new arrows when available.

  65. 65.

    PaulWartenberg

    February 22, 2018 at 6:11 pm

    So Gates’ deal fell through by the looks of it, so Mueller drops these indictments to remind Gates just how deep a freaking hole he’s fallen into.

    Sadly for us, this means it’ll take longer for more potent revelations of wrong-doing to see the light of day… unless Mueller’s next move is to drop the hammer on the trumpkins for their 2016 outreach efforts to get the Russians to deal with them…

  66. 66.

    Cheryl Rofer

    February 22, 2018 at 6:12 pm

    @patrick II: Some people in the witness protection program have had plastic surgery.

    Edited for clarity.

  67. 67.

    Bobby Thomson

    February 22, 2018 at 6:12 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: a reporter talked to Green, he confirmed he’s been retained, he says the Daily Beast report that he was fired is bullshit. Someone likely inferred that when the indictment came down instead of an information.

  68. 68.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    February 22, 2018 at 6:13 pm

    @Mike J:

    Hiding $75 million and laundering $30 million? If they’re doing those numbers, imagine the numbers for Trump and family.

  69. 69.

    Corner Stone

    February 22, 2018 at 6:14 pm

    @danielx: Trump isn’t going to pardon him.

  70. 70.

    Fair Economist

    February 22, 2018 at 6:14 pm

    @Mike J:

    A bunch of tax evasion charges, just like they got Capone on.

    It’s a lot more than that – also money laundering AND bank fraud. Plus the sums are enormous. I’m kind of wondering what Manafort did with all that money, since at the end he was committing bank fraud to pay bills.

  71. 71.

    Cheryl Rofer

    February 22, 2018 at 6:14 pm

    When it was believed Gates had flipped, some people were speculating that there were no more Prisoner’s Dilemma chits left for Manafort. His prospects may now have brightened.

  72. 72.

    germy

    February 22, 2018 at 6:18 pm

    BREAKING: First National Bank dumps NRA, will no longer issue NRA Visa card https://t.co/8mZYlXwT3v pic.twitter.com/FgXUgKX344

    — Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) February 22, 2018

  73. 73.

    Bobby Thomson

    February 22, 2018 at 6:18 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: the hustle never ends, though.

  74. 74.

    Major Major Major Major

    February 22, 2018 at 6:21 pm

    @eric: I imagine from now on when I see ‘nothingburger’ I’ll think “this whole thing is a real nothingnocokepepsi.”

  75. 75.

    Aleta

    February 22, 2018 at 6:22 pm

    Could it be that, for the new charges they are withholding a plea offer, in order to make Gates to give up better information?

    Or maybe the administration offered to pay legal fees for him, new lawyer is their choice, and Barry Pollack told Gates his chances are better than he’d been told previously. ‘So don’t cooperate any more. If we need to we can bargain with them later.’ Leaving him under admin. influence.

    @Bobby Thomson: ETA Or never mind.

  76. 76.

    Baud

    February 22, 2018 at 6:22 pm

    And Hillary still walks free…

  77. 77.

    germy

    February 22, 2018 at 6:23 pm

    Think the indictment against Paul Manafort and Rick Gates is unrelated to Trump?

    The second half of their alleged financial scheme was carried out entirely during their time working for the Trump campaign. pic.twitter.com/dvC4l7RL3e

    — Caroline O. (@RVAwonk) February 22, 2018

  78. 78.

    Aleta

    February 22, 2018 at 6:25 pm

    @germy: wow, good. Wonder what Fed Ex will do.

  79. 79.

    hugely

    February 22, 2018 at 6:25 pm

    @Fair Economist: that wasnt his money, is my take. It seems an awful lot for a political consultant to have but IANAR

  80. 80.

    Ruckus

    February 22, 2018 at 6:25 pm

    @MJS:
    It’s easy to say you don’t know something when really you know nothing. And it’s the truth in dense’s case, he is really, really dumb.

  81. 81.

    Mnemosyne

    February 22, 2018 at 6:26 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    No Coke, Pepsi!

  82. 82.

    Fair Economist

    February 22, 2018 at 6:26 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    1) Tax fraud and bank fraud. Time-tested ways to get people you can’t get in other ways.

    These charges are a huge financial fraud case for an individual/partnership. Even if there were no political implications and no other crimes this would be big news. The amounts, and ill will, far exceed those for famous cases like Leona Helmsley, Martha Stewart, Pete Rose, and Wesley Snipes.

  83. 83.

    Roger Moore

    February 22, 2018 at 6:27 pm

    @Fair Economist:

    I’m kind of wondering what Manafort did with all that money, since at the end he was committing bank fraud to pay bills.

    My guess is that a lot of that money was never his. The money laundering might well have been done on the behalf of others, and I would guess that a lot of the income was business income that paid for things like bribes that he couldn’t declare on his taxes. The only way to avoid being buried in taxes was to lie about the money.

  84. 84.

    AnneWith

    February 22, 2018 at 6:28 pm

    @Schlemazel:

    Not only that, the jury took less than two hours to convict.

    This case did make the national news: the guy who shot did so from inside his garage.

    Copley called 911 on Aug. 7 from his home on Singleleaf Lane and told a dispatcher that he was “locked and loaded” and on his way to “secure” his neighborhood from what he called a “bunch of hoodlums.” He can be heard saying “I’m going to kill ’em” before the dispatcher came on the line.

  85. 85.

    wjs

    February 22, 2018 at 6:30 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: his son in law dropped a dime on him, or the government has all of his emails. Wow.

  86. 86.

    Fair Economist

    February 22, 2018 at 6:31 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    My guess is that a lot of that money was never his. The money laundering might well have been done on the behalf of others, and I would guess that a lot of the income was business income that paid for things like bribes that he couldn’t declare on his taxes.

    Seems very plausible, and in that case the strings go out to a lot of other underworld and/or political figures, with a lot of implications for a lot of important people.

    Manafort may be willing to go to jail to avoid a polonium cocktail, but if Mueller has his emails, and secret financial records seized in that raid, will Manafort’s silence protect his co-conspirators?

  87. 87.

    ByRookorbyCrook

    February 22, 2018 at 6:32 pm

    These indictments and the whole evolving case against Manafort and Gates is a giant message to Trump and his cronies. We have the receipts. We have the accounts. We will nail you and take all of your ill-gotten gains. Manafort is the shadow play to uncover the conscience of the king. Lord Smallgloves is going to crack under the constant barrage of financial revelations. Do they think J. Kush is going to have covered his tracks any better than Manafort? Don Jr.?
    In the end, these are telegraphed moves that are detached from the election fraud case. It is gripping drama, but the consequences of this conspiracy are being waged on the most desperate while we wait for the denouement.

  88. 88.

    Jay

    February 22, 2018 at 6:37 pm

    @Aleta:

    I would guess that the Plea Deal fell through from Gates not being willing to offer up “everything”, just “somethings” and the new indictment’s are Meuller’s putting the screws on harder and letting Gates know, that the Investigation knows a lot more than Gates was willing to offer.

  89. 89.

    Fair Economist

    February 22, 2018 at 6:38 pm

    This all backs up a common inference:

    Manafort has a lot of connections to Trump. Past business connections, office in Trump Tower, etc. It’s very likely Trump has been involved in some of this dirty stuff. But there’s nothing in *these* allegations even particularly pointing at Trump.

    The inference is that Mueller is going to establish an enormous case involving all kinds of fraud and malfeasance with no connection to Trump, giving Trump no good excuse for pardons. Only after he’s proven a huge and vile criminal conspiracy will he connect it to Trump.

  90. 90.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    February 22, 2018 at 6:43 pm

    @Baud: Email server mismanagement is consequence free.

  91. 91.

    danielx

    February 22, 2018 at 6:58 pm

    @Calouste:

    Trying to recall when Trump ever has cared about what went down well with anybody.

  92. 92.

    Feebog

    February 22, 2018 at 7:20 pm

    @Jay:

    I think you are exactly right. Negotiations reached a certain point, broke down and this is Mueller’s response. Talk about putting the squeeze on.

  93. 93.

    WaterGirl

    February 22, 2018 at 7:33 pm

    @JPL: I loved that show. Haven’t seen either of the main characters in anything since, either, and I liked both of them.

  94. 94.

    SiubhanDuinne

    February 22, 2018 at 7:35 pm

    @ByRookorbyCrook:

    This is going to make such a GREAT OPERA!!

  95. 95.

    Sherparick

    February 22, 2018 at 7:38 pm

    @LAO: What a great day for CPAC to celebrate the U.S. as a Kleptocratic Christianist Kakistocracy.

  96. 96.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    February 22, 2018 at 7:58 pm

    @Schlemazel: Oh great Ghu. Is that what they were seating jurors for when I was called up for jury duty? No wonder they called up 280 jurors and had another 200 on standby.

  97. 97.

    Amir Khalid

    February 22, 2018 at 8:18 pm

    Ich wiederhole: Der Müller Gottes mahlt langsam, er mahlt aber außerordentlich fein.

    Resistance is futile. Manafort and Gates are being assimilated. Others will be too. When Mueller finally moves on Trump himself, there shall be no possibility of escape. This is good news.

  98. 98.

    efgoldman

    February 22, 2018 at 9:17 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    This is going to make such a GREAT OPERA!!

    We going to exhume Puccini? Because the modern Nixon in China idiom won’t do.

  99. 99.

    Chet Murthy

    February 22, 2018 at 9:41 pm

    Today the penny finally dropped for me, as I was reading Cheryl’s post. Maybe I’m wrong — and would love to be enlightened.

    Mueller has all the receipts, but some of them are going to be inadmissible (b/c sources&methods, also maybe some of the sigint isn’t admissible?). So he’s using those to force co-operation. When he’s lied-to, he knows it (b/c he can check the receipts). And if Dampnut pardons people, it changes NOTHING b/c he can STILL ask these jokers the same questions, and AGAIN check the receipts.

    This is all a way of (heh) laundering the inadmissible back into admissibility.

    I’m not complaining. Just wondering if this is right. B/c geez, the leaks seem like far, far, far too much and too detailed info, to have been acquired via processes that are all admissible in court. I mean …. just too much detail. But heh, just fine for “the Internet vacuum cleaner” operated by the NSA.

  100. 100.

    Cheryl Rofer

    February 22, 2018 at 10:01 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeRwBiu4wfQ

  101. 101.

    Corner Stone

    February 22, 2018 at 10:02 pm

    @Chet Murthy: Narrator voice: Enter Hope Hicks.

  102. 102.

    Cheryl Rofer

    February 22, 2018 at 10:02 pm

    @Chet Murthy: I think that some of this is coming from SIGINT and some from HUMINT. But there sure is a lot of it.

  103. 103.

    Ken

    February 22, 2018 at 10:41 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    This is going to make such a GREAT OPERA!!

    Tragic, or comic?

  104. 104.

    jonas

    February 22, 2018 at 11:27 pm

    @ByRookorbyCrook: This sounds about right. Step 1. Show that Russia had set up a major program going to hack election and make Trump president. Indict people involved. Step 2. Show that Trump surrounded himself with a bunch of very shady, corrupt people with ties to Russia. Indict people involved. Step. 3. Connect more dots…

  105. 105.

    Bruce K

    February 23, 2018 at 1:51 am

    I’d say it’s even odds or better that Mueller’s team has told at least one of those chowderheads: “If you get a presidential pardon from Mr. Trump, I’ll simply give my entire file on you to Mr. Schneiderman here – you remember him, he’s the New York State Attorney General – and you will die in Sing Sing.”

  106. 106.

    SgrAstar

    February 23, 2018 at 2:02 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: you’re right! I hope John Adams is already working on it.

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