One down… many to go
.@PeteWilliamsNBC just reported on MSNBC that Alexander van der Zwaan has just been sentenced to 30 days in jail and a $20,000 fine for lying to Mueller's investigators. van der Zwaan is the first person to be sentenced in the Mueller probe.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 3, 2018
I will defer to Adam and Cheryl for analysis.
Open Thread
LAO
I’m surprised, he was facing 0-6 months. I expected no jail time. Also, no “good time” credit for sentences 12 months or less, so he’ll do the full 30 days. Probably in a pre-trial detention facility.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
A short stay… nonetheless, I hope it stings and is humiliating.
raven
90 days or 90 dollars!
I ain’t got 90 dollars!
90 days!
Brachiator
So, 30 days in the hole. Seems like small potatoes, but hopefully a good start.
@LAO:
This lends some good perspective on the sentencing. Thank you.
cain
Meanwhile a woman in Texas gets 5 years in prison for attempting to vote because she was a felon and hadn’t quite completed her sentencing or whatever. WTF.
rikyrah
@cain:
I know…but, she’s the wrong complexion.
JMG
He must have spilled his guts but good to get off with the plea he did.
LAO
This is very good thread explaining the sentence:
Washburn
@rikyrah:
Was she wearing a $35,000 watch when she was in Court? Because that helps, too.
Barbara
@LAO: So this really does depend on a number of factors. The fact that the prosecutor asked for jail time means that he was more likely than not to get at least some jail time. I believe the prosecutor stressed that there had been minimal cooperation, and that probably factored into the judge’s reasoning — that there has to be some penalty for refusing to cooperate.
LAO
@JMG: Not really. 18 USC 1001 has a sentencing range of 0 to 6 months. He’s going to be deported after serving the sentence, which includes 2 months of supervised release and then banned from re-entering the US. I handled a number of 1001 prosecutions (and I am hardly Clarice Darrow) and all my clients avoided jail.
Thoroughly Pizzled
The jailtime is proof that it’s a hoax. Hillary thinks of everything.
Frankensteinbeck
@LAO:
Deported after also changes the context significantly, but in ways we can’t know without being there.
tobie
This bugs me. Martha Stewart did more time for a lesser crime.
Barbara
@LAO: I am not a criminal attorney but I have helped people in what you would call mitigating the ancillary consequences of a felony conviction and this was the charge for at least one of them. The prosecutors agreed not to seek jail time as part of the plea deal and cooperation was also part of the deal. My understanding is that Zwaan refused to cooperate, so not a part of the plea.
rikyrah
Huge coalition now challenging Trump’s plan to rig 2020 Census:
States: CA, NY, CT, DE, IL, IA, MA, MD, MN, NJ, NM, NC, OR, PA, RI, VT, WA, VA + DC
Cities: Chicago, NYC, Philly, Providence, SF, Seattle, 1,400 mayors
Civil rights groups: @naacphttps://t.co/Zl3dhMGlRJ
— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) April 3, 2018
LAO
@Barbara: Zwaan didn’t cooperate. I also note, that the government did not ask for jail time, rather at sentencing it “took no position” on the sentence. That’s fairly common when the guidelines level is 0 to 6 months. I really am surprised he received any jail time at all, it is very unusual for a first time offender in a 1001 prosecution.
rikyrah
Interior Moderates Park Pricing After Outrage From Pretty Much Everyone
By Kate Riga | April 3, 2018 11:46 am
After receiving intense backlash from hundreds of thousands of outdoorsy Americans, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is moderating his idea to exorbitantly raise entrance fees at the most highly visited national parks, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.
Over the month-long public comment period, the Washington Post reported that the National Park Service website was flooded with outraged comments from people irate over the proposed hike of entry fees from $25 to $70 at several popular parks.
According to the Washington Post, a price raise is still on the table, but one small enough to avoid driving the incensed masses away from what could be a record-breaking year for visits.
rikyrah
Report: Pruitt Used Loophole To Give Two Top Aides Huge Raises
By Matt Shuham | April 3, 2018 10:58 am
After the White House rejected a request to grant significant raises to two of his top aides last month, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt used a loophole in a law meant to ease the hiring of environmental experts to give the staffers raises himself, the Atlantic reported Tuesday.
The raises went to Pruitt’s senior counsel Sarah Greenwalt and EPA scheduling director Millan Hupp, the Atlantic reported. Their pay increased from $107,435 to $164,200 and $86,460 to $114,590, respectively. Both staffers had worked for Pruitt when he was Oklahoma attorney general.
The Safe Drinking Water Act allows Pruitt to hire up to 30 people without White House or congressional approval. But instead of using that authority to hire environmental experts needed in certain understaffed offices at the agency, the Atlantic reported, Pruitt used it to give Greenwalt and Hupp the increased salaries he’d wanted — after the White House had rejected his request for the raises, according to unnamed sources familiar with those aspects of the story.
sherparick
Lock them all up. People ask me why I hate Trump so much. An easy answer, because he is a fascist monster and enabling and turning millions of my fellow Americans fascist monsters. And I hate Rupert Murdoch, David Smith, Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, Ann Coulter and the whole crew of ugly, loathsome fascist monsters for doing things like this young boys and girls
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2018/04/horror-trumps-america.
I also hate the destruction and poisoning of the Environment led by Trump and Pruitt. God, what monsters. Every day, another monstrosity.
And I hate the FNYT and rest of the Village Media who spent 18 months going on and on about Emails!!!
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@JMG:
I figured that it would be difficult to care for an inmate with no innards, as they were all spilled out on Mueller’s conference table.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@rikyrah:
I want to see Pruitt’s smug ass kicked to the streets in disgrace and ruin.
rikyrah
What say you, Bernie?
There are like 10 Black and 10 Hispanic people in the entire state.
But, this doesn’t shock me.
………………………………………..
Study finds discrimination in VT traffic stops
BURLINGTON, Vt. (NEWS10) – According to a study from the University
of Vermont, black and Hispanic drivers in Vermont are more likely than
white motorists to be searched by police during traffic stops.
Vermont Public Radio reports the study found that black and Hispanic drivers in
the state are as much as four times more likely to be searched, even
though they are less likely to be found with contraband.
Colchester Police Chief Jennifer Morrison says many departments are addressing implicit bias with training.
eclare
@rikyrah: Sure have been a lot of leaks about Pruitt in the past several days…
LAO
@JMG: He didn’t cooperate. It was a standard 1001 plea.
trollhattan
@rikyrah:
He’s so fabulously corrupt I expect Donny to give him a little pinch on the cheek for doing it so well. All while conspiring to slowly kill and maim millions, slowly, while speeding up extinctions. Nice work if you can get it.
JMG
@LAO: Cooperation often determines what one pleads to.
Corner Stone
Jesus Christ. Why are they just letting Trump blatantly lie like this on TV, over and over? This is horrific.
LAO
@JMG: but, if he were cooperating, he wouldn’t have been sentenced until the end of the Mueller investigation/and related prosecutions, so that he could receive the benefit of his cooperation.
Yutsano
@Barbara: @LAO: Minor nitpick: his surname is van der Zwaan. Think vanden Heuvel. I know I know Dutch naming conventions are weird but even our enemies deserve the respect of their names.
Except Dolt45. Fuck that guy. Not literally.
Gin & Tonic
@rikyrah: One part of life where it helps to be an Old. Last year I bought a pass that gets me into all the National Parks and related areas for the rest of my life. It cost me a whopping $10.
Brachiator
@tobie: This bugs me. Martha Stewart did more time for a lesser crime.
raven
@Gin & Tonic: I wonder if scanning it into my iPhone wallet will work?
Corner Stone
@eclare: I liked the one about J Kelly considering the firing of Pruitt the best.
ding7777
@tobie: That was my thoughts, too
Corner Stone
I firmly believe Gen Mattis has had all the mirrors in his house removed or covered. Because I don’t believe he can stand to look at himself any longer.
Corner Stone
Yutsano
@Corner Stone: This isn’t even a drip. This is a passive-aggressive “Get the fuck out the door so I don’t have to worry about firing you” selective leaking. And the gossipers in the press are eagerly lapping it up because Just Click Baby.
Kay
I was hoping for one of the Mercers but I suppose I’ll take this Dutch fellow.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Corner Stone:
Trump has American blood on his hands and all he can give a shit about is own ego. Nothing is ever his fault. What a piece of shit.
Amir Khalid
@Corner Stone:
I thought you only did that if you couldn’t be seen in a mirror, and didn’t want your visitors to notice.
JGabriel
Should have been 6 months (at least), not 30 days.
Brachiator
@Corner Stone:
There are not enough words to describe what a despicable piece of crap Trump is.
Yutsano
@Amir Khalid: It’s also a tradition in Jewish households when mourning a deceased loved one. Although I don’t think that’s the angle CS is going for here.
Steve in the ATL
@Amir Khalid: btw, if you aspire to be a teenaged American boy, you need to learn these songs:
Smoke on the water
Iron man
Sweet home Alabama
Freebird
Stairway to heaven
You’re welcome.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
My god
Steve in the ATL
@Corner Stone: @Amir Khalid: @Yutsano: isn’t it also a custom for the home of the virgin who is going to sacrificed in a Santeria ritual?
Um, so I’ve heard. I’m totally episcopalian.
LAO
@JGabriel: I don’t know about that. I think that we have all lost sight of the fact that van der Zwaan was a fact witness, not a target of the Mueller investigation. Personally, I think that 18 USC 1001 is a terrible statute open to a great deal of abuse by the federal prosecutors.
Gelfling 545
@tobie: But she lacked thst all important Y chromosome. And apparently is quite an uppity woman. Her sentence has always bugged me. What men have received the same for similar -or worse- offenses?
LAO
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
They will praise him too because they figured out that he’s a sucker for ass-kissers. Not that it was hard to figure out.
Corner Stone
@Amir Khalid: If you had seen the look on Mattis’ face as he sat beside Trump and heard him spewing the most non-sensical, buffoonish lies and ego inflators….
Calouste
Read a profile of van der Zwaan in the Dutch news. His father is Dutch, but his mother is Russian and they were connected to the Russian oligarchs even before he married the daughter of one. They also interviewed a few of his university classmates and surprise surprise, they remember him as being racist as fuck.
Corner Stone
@Brachiator: Speaking of YouTube TV, does yours self pause very often? And when you try to access the Live menu guide first thing in the morning do you have to click a few different other things before YT TV will successfully load the channel guide?
I am using it through Apple TV so I’m trying to determine where the problem may lie.
Corner Stone
@Calouste: VDZ also doesn’t seem too bright either, as he continues to lie to the FBI and now the court.
Yarrow
@Kay: Mueller is rolling them up like the mob. Start with the little guys and keep moving inwards until you get to the big fish. Tick tock, motherfuckers.
RobertDSC-iPhone 6
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
I would rather he be locked in his soundproof booth and set on fire.
smintheus
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Nixon had the same pathological need to be praised (though not to the same degree) and surrounded by yes-men. It did not end well for him.
Corner Stone
@Steve in the ATL:
You’re totally Episcopalian just like you’re totally in the ATL.
LAO
Well this is disturbing but, who knows if it is true:
smintheus
@Calouste: Do you have a link for that?
Kay
@Yarrow:
Oh, I hope. But none of us really know what the mysterious Mueller is up to. There’s only one existing photograph of him! It’s always the same one :)
I do like that about him, though, I must say. His professionalism. I just loathed Starr with all that sanctimonious scolding. Just shut up, you clown.
JPL
@Yarrow: I hope you are right, because after listening to the asshole one tends to despair.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kay: if he weren’t the only president we’ve got, it would be comical to watch how clueless he is about how easy it is to manipulate him
trollhattan
@LAO:
is this why we’re leaving Syria?
smintheus
@LAO: Why isn’t Trump calling out the National Guard to protect our schools from killers armed with semi-automatic rifles?
Eisenhower called out the guard to protect schoolkids in Little Rock from goons who were far less well armed. If the US cannot afford to use the Guard to protect all our schools permanently, then just maybe we need to legislate a different solution to the epidemic of school violence.
Yutsano
@LAO: Yeah. That’ll go over well with the libertarian type cattle ranchers and Native tribes along the border. Not to mention Mexico would be JUST FINE with a huge military presence sitting right along its northern border.
There are 10,000 other ways this is stupid, but in order for Dolt45 to realize just how stupid he would have to think outside his narcissistic shell for more than 10 seconds.
zhena gogolia
@Yarrow:
I’m sorry, but the tick isn’t tocking fast enough. He’s destroying the country and consolidating tyrannical power.
Barbara
@LAO: Where is he going to get the troops? Where are they going to stay?
psycholinguist
@tobie: I was thinking the same damn thing. She got 5 or six months jail time, two years probation, etc. for lying (and she always maintained her innocence). Maybe that was the difference, didn’t this guy plead guilty?
bystander
I believe the judge said she felt compelled to sentence him because of the seriousitude of his crime and because she couldn’t give him community service. In fact she also noted his lack of remorse and failure to do any community service pending his sentencing. So he could have beat the jail time but somebody’s ego got a little too big.
I’m guessing twitler will get really hinkey after this.
d58826
@LAO: Isn’t there a ban on using federal troops in a policing role, except in a state of emergency. I think it’s call Posse Commatus?
Brachiator
@Corner Stone:
I have not had any of the problems you describe. I typically use YouTube TV via an app on my Android phone, an Android tablet, a Chromebook and a Windows 10 laptop.
Yutsano
@Barbara: See your mistake is thinking they’re actual individuals. To the current occupant of the Oval Office the military is a munch of toys he moves on a board and watches them shoot and blow stuff up and stuff. He couldn’t give two shits about the logistics.
It almost makes me wonder if we might even get a test of the Third Amendment here.
LAO
@tobie: @psycholinguist: Defendants’ who plead guilty and spare the government the expense of trial, generally receive lesser sentences for the same offense. (For the record, MS was convicted of 4 counts, which include obstruction of justice and lying to federal agents.) Defense attorneys refer to this as the “trial tax.”
Ruckus
@LAO:
Isn’t there an act of some sort that restricts use of the military within the borders of the US? Which is why we have the National Guard.
LAO
@d58826: I don’t know — but maybe the 2d Amendment types can form militia’s and expel the army from our borders.
Gravenstone
@LAO: I’m sure the troops will be ever so grateful to get to patrol the US desert rather than the Iraqi or Afghan ones.
Brachiator
@LAO:
Wait. What? WTF? A CNN story with video of Trump saying this.
I’m sure the representatives of the Baltic states were delighted to hear Trump go into this crap during their luncheon.
So, is this just a crazy ass idea that he has uttered? How can he turn this into an actual deployment?
Yarrow
@Kay: It’s possible to see where Mueller is heading by who he’s added to his team. Info has also come out about who he has interviewed. Indictments against several people add more info. If you look at what he did with earlier cases, like the mob, you can see how he’s approaching this.
@JPL: I don’t listen to him. He makes my stomach turn.
@zhena gogolia: I hear you. People are getting hurt every day. It’s awful. The traitors will pay, though. I have confidence in the outcome.
Calouste
@smintheus: Link, but it is in Dutch.
eclare
@d58826: Yes, something like that. It applies to domestic activities, but I’m not sure if border policing falls under “domestic”.
Jeffro
Remember, we have already gotten reports that Trumpov plans to go with 110% culture war (bashing brown folks, bashing the media) from here on out. He’s got nothing left to run on but purely stoking his base and ranting. It’s his brand, after all…
Despite that, I still think this piece is mis-titled: “Welcome to the Branding Presidency”
It’s not “welcome to the branding presidency” – he has always been about his stupid, worthless, scummy brand – white trash’s idea of what “rich” looks like. What it is, is, “Welcome to the Beginning of the End”.
Waratah
When I first read this post my first thought was Mueller was sending a warning shot. Now after reading the comments. I am not sure.
Amir Khalid
@Steve in the ATL:
I like those suggestions. Thanks.
rikyrah
@Corner Stone:
UH HUH
UH HUH
Told you they were trying and continue to kill these American Citizens
…………………………………..
rikyrah
@Kay:
When they get the Mercers, the charges are going to be far more serious.
rikyrah
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
His voters will NEVER be forgiven.
NEVER.
satby
@Gin & Tonic: I sent away for that pass last year. Still haven’t received it. I assume I never will.
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone:
Its a day ending in Y in the Darkest timeline.
rikyrah
@Yarrow:
Ahhhhhhh…
Makes me smile- everytime.
laura
@Steve in the ATL: plus Paradise City!
smintheus
@Calouste: Thanks. So his father-in-law is the infamous Russian oligarch German Khan, fingered in the Steele Dossier and a capo in Alfa Bank. Khan has opined in the past that the Godfather films are his personal “manual for life”.
Who could have predicted that VDZ would be involved with Trump?
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone: Trump has developed the new GOP Katrina Response.
Which boils down to: “Fuck those people!”
Our media is complicit in this crime.
Cheryl Rofer
Trump press conference with leaders of Baltic States starting now, if you want to watch.
d58826
@eclare: Just saw an update about when all those kids crossed the border. Obama deployed the National Guard but used them to fill administrative back office type roles. That freed up personnel in the civilian police agencies that normally perform these border control functions
smintheus
@Calouste: The commentary there by Carol van Buren is astonishing. VDZ comes across as a monster:
His parting words from law school to classmates: ‘Bye Losers. I’m going to be someone really big and you should watch out for me in the news.’
jimmiraybob
A song for Zwaan….
– Humble Pie (you should update with a video clip …. and keep the clip handy for future developments)
Corner Stone
@Cheryl Rofer: Who let Ethel Merman into this press conference?
TenguPhule
@Cheryl Rofer:
What could possibly go wrong?
Jager
@LAO: About 12% of active duty personnel are Hispanic, they’ll enjoy border duty maybe even less than than their white and black counterparts. What a shit assignment.
Cheryl Rofer
@Corner Stone: Bad joke.
The Very Reverend Crimson Fire of Compassion
@Steve in the ATL: No human sacrifice in Santeria. You’re thinking of Christianity, which, as I recall, is kind of built around it.
TenguPhule
@Gravenstone:
Scorpions, Rattlesnakes and Heatstroke, oh my!
TenguPhule
@Brachiator:
Oh joy, we’re arming a border with a FRIENDLY neighbor.
I’m sure nothing can go wrong go wrong.
Gerald
@Brachiator: His complexion provided his protection!
Humpt …
Jager
@TenguPhule: Guess what he’s saying is those lazy US Border Patrol people aren’t up to the job. Just wait until the engineers start building a temporary base on some Texas rancher’s land, that’ll be fun to watch.
d58826
MAJOR OUCH – Katy Tur just said that she was impressed with the preparation and knowledge leaders of the Baltic states and at the same time amazed at the poor performance of Der Fuhrer. And how the Baltic leaders all re-affirmed Nato’s article 5 commitment.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Brachiator:
Doesn’t the Posse Comitatus Act prohibit this?
TenguPhule
@Jager:
Wishful thinking.
More like extended deployments from Fort Hood in camo tents on public desert or wasteland.
Because Trump will always pick the option that makes everything worse.
Barbara
@smintheus:
It’s still sinking in: The son-in-law of a Russian oligarch was somehow involved (not directly or obviously, but somehow) in work done by Skadden Arps that was supposed to be an independent assessment of the Ukraine’s prosecution of Yulia Timochenko. Yeah, I don’t think that report has a lot of credibility.
Doug R
@LAO:
When asked to produce emails, he tried to delete them.
Corner Stone
@d58826: It was truly a bizarre event. Even applied to Trumpian standards, this one was whiplash.
Gin & Tonic
@Barbara:
Please don’t write “the Ukraine.” It’s just “Ukraine.”
Gin & Tonic
@d58826: Of course they reaffirmed Article V. It’s the only thing keeping them independent. The border between Russia and Estonia is just a line on a map. In the real world it’s just flat farmland; no natural border at all.
Barbara
@LAO: Well, it’s certainly a handy statute when they might go after more serious counts but are willing to plead down. While I might agree with you, if you read the TPM description of van der Zwaan’s interactions with Mueller, he specifically lied about having communications with someone (another oligarch most likely) and specifically withheld emails that would have contradicted his statements. When his lawyers sent him to Washington to “correct” the record, Mueller’s team confronted him with the emails that he had not produced to show him that they knew he had been lying. So I would say that these particular false statements were a lot more deliberate and calculated to deceive the prosecutor than you might typically find in the average false statement prosecution.
glory b
@Brachiator: Actually, I remember reading an article where some of the inmates who did time with her were interviewed. The reporters were ready for snark, but it turned out that they really liked her.
The poncho she wore when she left was crocheted for her by her cellmate.
Cheryl Rofer
@Gin & Tonic: Well, there is a nice big lake for Estonia. It helped Alexander Nevsky turn back the German crusaders. But for Latvia and Lithuania, yes, no natural border.
LAO
@Barbara: The simple fact that a criminal statue can operate as a “handy tool” for a prosecutor should be enough to disqualify it’s use. I’m not suggesting that van der Zwann didn’t deserve to be prosecuted, I just despise criminal statutes that give prosecutors a significant amount of leeway and is arbitrarily applied. It’s par for the course, to receive on the eve of trial, reams of interviews of government witnesses who admit during the course of their cooperation to lying to prosecutors and federal prosecutors. None of them are prosecuted under 1001 or lose their cooperation agreements.
Brachiator
@glory b:
Yep. I was mostly serious when I noted that she dealt with her imprisonment like a boss.
I did not know this. Interesting tidbit.
Barbara
@LAO: Well, I didn’t mean it was handy just for prosecutors as I have had several clients who avoided jail by being able to plead to 1001, mostly when sentencing guidelines were not optional. Prosecutors have too much discretion, but lying to the government in official proceedings should be illegal. I think the former is a much bigger issue than the application of this particular statute.
LAO
@Barbara:
I don’t mean to pick a fight with you but the statute doesn’t require “official proceedings”. All that you need to do, is lie to an agent in an interview.
Years ago, I represented a total douche who ran away to Costa Rica after he plead guilty but prior to sentencing. The government knew he had absconded to Costa Rica, when the FBI went to his home to speak to his wife. She knew he had fled country (I think she drove him to the airport) but told the agents she didn’t know he had left the country. This poor woman lost her home (used to secure the bond) and was prosecuted for lying to federal agents. When my client was eventually returned to the US, the Judge really lit into him about his wife was now a convicted felon as a result of his actions. The government was pissed at my client (they were equally pissed at me and my boss) and they used the statute to fuck over this poor woman. I don’t like this statute even though I do recognize it can be used to the benefit of some defendants in plea negotiations.
Gin & Tonic
@LAO:
Oh, come on. Nobody believes that. You’re both lawyers – it’s what you do.
NotMax
@Gin & Tonic
Price jumped from $10 for the seniors’ lifetime pass to $80 last autumn.
Gin & Tonic
@NotMax: I know. Good thing I bought mine before that.
Mandalay
@Gin & Tonic:
It’s actually very odd to read them having a civilized and rational discussion, completely devoid of snark, strawmen, feigned misunderstanding and insults.
The poor souls are obviously clueless how the internet is supposed to function.
Mezz
@LAO: Telling the truth hurts and it is hard sometimes. Knowing you’ve betrayed someone is a bitter, bitter pill. I’m not exclaiming that what happened to this woman is fair, and certainly I am not reveling in her misery. But most people (trying really hard not to write “Good people”) know when they have to do the right thing, and do it. And I’m sorry if you’re stupid enough to lie to the FBI…
LAO
@Mezz: You are certainly entitled to your opinion and I hope you are never put in the position by someone you love that tests whether or not you are a good person.
catclub
@rikyrah:
all those states probably ARE in the Electoral vote coalition ( do not remember the real name) to award their electoral votes to the winner of the popular nationwide vote ( when enough states == 270 electoral votes)
Am surprised to see NC there. Maybe the NC AG is a democrat?
Barbara
@LAO: It’s a broad statute. I tell people to assume that when you are asked questions there is a good chance they already know the answer and are just seeing if you will cede them count one.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@catclub: Governor and AG. And Governor Cooper is the former AG.