I try not to OD on Mueller porn but sometimes it just feels so right:
The F.B.I. on Monday raided the office of President Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, seizing records related to several topics including payments to a pornographic-film actress.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan obtained the search warrant after receiving a referral from the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, according to Mr. Cohen’s lawyer, who called the search “completely inappropriate and unnecessary.” The search does not appear to be directly related to Mr. Mueller’s investigation, but likely resulted from information he had uncovered and gave to prosecutors in New York.
Jeffro
I just saw that…they’re probably looking around for Cohen’s IOU from “David Dennison”…
LAO
What just happened. Why am I not in my office? Curse you legal gods!
Corner Stone
“For goodness sake, this is all unnecessary. Just listen to Trump and he will tell you exactly how guilty Mr. Cohen is.”
Booger
I need a cigarette after that.
smintheus
Tax fraud can get you sent away for a long time, even if you’re the head of an organized criminal conspiracy.
Corner Stone
Mr. Cohen to the Reception Area please! Mr. Cohen to the front! Sir, your bus is here.
oatler.
Mercer, Kochs, et al are gonna try like hell to keep Trump from testifying. He’s literally tying the hanging rope and bragging about it.
Corner Stone
Another person who is dirty AF who probably could have gone the rest of his life getting away with it. But, nope. Trump got him nailed with the spotlight.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
They’ll need a priv team since I (going out on a limb here) suspect that there will be communication with Cheeto Mussolini among the seized materials. This is gonna be lit af!
Sadly, I’m swamped in on a matter at work, so I’ll be in withdrawal.
rikyrah
SHYT.JUST.GOT.REAL
for Cohen.
efgoldman
@LAO:
You expecting a call from someone looking to hire a criminal defense lawyer?
Brachiator
Check the weather. A Twitter storm is brewing.
LAO
@Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho: you are correct. No limb to worry about.
schrodingers_cat
I want to know why Flight 93 election’s erudite bigot resigned today. Does anyone know?
Alex Smith
Pretty fucking delicious.
sukabi
This is one of the payoffs to Mr. Avenatti’s constant baiting of Drumpf and Cohen. ????????
Betty Cracker
There’s also this:
The Trump Org’s legal team tried to pressure Panama’s president to intervene in a judicial matter before the Panamanian courts to benefit Trump’s business. They invoked US-Panama treaties and everything. How is this not blatantly illegal?
LAO
@efgoldman: no. But I must obsessively follow story. ?
Gin & Tonic
@LAO: What’s a “priv team”?
aarrgghh
did the odds on cohen’s gamble for a pardon just get a little steeper … ?
Betty Cracker
@schrodingers_cat: Ooo, hadn’t heard about that. Link?
The Dangerman
I don’t know how this is good news; seems to me this will tie things up in Attorney/Client privilege issues for years.
ETA: Assuming Cohen did more than the Porn Star stuff.
GregB
We can assume the timing and severity for the retaliation against Syria will be expedited to to cover tonights news cycle.
David Anderson
@Gin & Tonic: Privilege Team — identify what documents are privileged communications and what documents are viewable. The PT hands off the work product to the investigators so there is less contamination of evidence.
Paul W.
Jesus, this is all happening so quick. And there’s still 7 months before the election.
sukabi
@aarrgghh: haven’t you heard? He’s just a coffee boy, wouldn’t recognize him if he was standing 2 feet away.
dmsilev
Jeez. Looks like I picked the wrong day to try and do some actual work.
Mary G
@schrodingers_cat: Pure unsubstantiated rumor on Twitter it was to get in before being fired. I doubt Bolton lets anyone speak much for him, especially since Twitler grades on TV performance.
LAO
@Gin & Tonic: privilege team, prosecutors who are unconnected to the actual case whose job is to screen materials that are privileged to ensure those materials remain privileged and out of the hands of the trial prosecutors
schrodingers_cat
@Betty Cracker:Story from The Guardian.
sdhays
@The Dangerman: Attorney-client privilege doesn’t cover facilitating and participating in crimes. There’s a lot to suggest that Cohen has been an important money laundering conduit for Preznit Spanky…
germy
“Says who?”
“Says who?”
– Michael Cohen
Mary G
Doug!
@schrodingers_cat:
He was about to get fired. (Not for doing anything wrong.)
germy
rikyrah
@Mary G:
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HAHA
Corner Stone
@Mary G:
More like a clear indication in the low character level scum Trump is himself, and who he has chosen to surround himself with. His entire life. I’m waiting for Roger Stone’s time in the barrel.
Washburn
The New York Times doing some more important reporting today.
Gin & Tonic
@Mary G: This. I can’t help wondering how many people, in the quiet dark of their own bedroom, sit there saying “Fuck you, Donnie, why’d you have to actually run?”
Jeffro
C’mon, Twitler, help your man out! Nothing like a good social media barrage to help defend this oh-so-innocent (and charming!) fella. Says me. :)
raven
Xin Loi motherfucker.
Axe Diesel Palin
T-Bone Walker – Call It Stormy Monday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQEEWC4ZxYQ
efgoldman
@Washburn:
Must be a mistake. Some editor is out the door.
raven
@Washburn: Oh, but we don’t like the Times. . . .
Adam L Silverman
@LAO: From the reporting I’ve seen: The FBI, not the Special Counsel’s Office, has executed a search warrant and raided Michael Cohen’s office. They are looking for, among other things, materials pertaining to paying Stormy Daniels. The reporting I’ve seen so far indicate this is not specifically related to Mueller’s probe. Rather, he handed stuff he found off to regular DOJ/FBI to execute on.
germy
@Gin & Tonic: I wonder if drumf says that to his mirror?
He really blew it for himself, his family and his “friends” when he won.
It would have been so great for him as a martyr/loser who could spend eight years heckling President Hillary from the comfort of TrumpTV.
The Dangerman
@rikyrah:
That’s what amazes me. Trump obviously has a thing for banging porn stars and playmates; how did he expect to keep that a secret and be President? NDA’s and 130K payoffs ain’t gonna do it.
aarrgghh
sukabi @ 26:
don’t think coffee boy’s gonna cut it this time. try mailman’s godson …
Jeffro
@rikyrah: @Corner Stone: follow-on tweet from Maloy:
WIN
Skepticat
@Betty Cracker:
And how and when has that ever made an iota of difference to tRump?
SiubhanDuinne
Here’s some O/T happy news: Senator Tammy Duckworth gave birth to a baby girl today.
https://www.thecut.com/2018/04/senator-tammy-duckworth-gives-birth-to-baby-girl.html
Congratulations to the senator and her family, and a big welcome to you, little one! We’ll do our best to leave you a good, decent country and a peaceful, healthy planet.
Chyron HR
@Washburn:
Shouldn’t you be staking out Ralph Northam’s office with a sniper rifle to put an end to his terrible non-Bernie Blueness?
randy khan
Another example of the principle that nobody should want to be Donald Trump’s lawyer.
By the way, the comments on the article are as fascinating as you might guess. I think the best is the one that says that Mueller has violated the limits on his authority and that he should be jailed for – seriously – “violation of due process.” But in any case, it’s an excellent mix of trolls, stupid people, and bots.
germy
Stormy’s lawyer:
Jay
@The Dangerman:
As Dirk Diggler, oops, Daniel Dennison, oops, Treason Tribble noted, he had nothing to do with Cohen, the NDA or the payment,
So, no Lawyer Client Privledge would apply, because Cohen’s not his lawyer and Treason Tribble’s not Cohen’s client.
LMFAO
Adam L Silverman
@schrodingers_cat: He was going to be fired if he had not resigned.
He had no business being on the National Security Staff, but was one of the Flynn-stones. My guess is that Bolton doesn’t like him from when they both served in the Bush 43 administration or Kelly finally got around to heaving him over the side.
LAO
@Adam L Silverman: regular SDNY, good enough for me!
Mary G
@germy: I didn’t watch any of the speeches election night, but I imagined all the people at Trump’s party clapping and laughing while inside they were going “oh shit, oh shit, we are fucked.”
He would have been so much happier lobbing tweets at Hillary all day long and ranting on his own show about just how crooked and lazy she was.
Adam L Silverman
@Betty Cracker: It is going to be a major problem provided it doesn’t get lost in the Monday breaking news dumps.
Baud
@Mary G: That would have made me happier too.
schrodingers_cat
@Doug!: Hating on immigrants and Muslims not good enough to be in the WH, any more?
JohnO
@The Dangerman:
It all makes a lot more sense if you stipulate that The Boy King didn’t really expect to win or consider the consequences of winning.
Mary G
Simon spitting fire today:
Washburn
@raven:
Yeah, you’re probably right. The Republic would probably be better off without the NYT, so why pay for a subscription anyway?
You can get all the news you need from TPM and Buzzfeed ….
raven
@Adam L Silverman: Time for a big ass missile launch!
J.
@Betty Cracker: Of course it’s illegal! Just as his still running his hotel in DC is illegal (emoluments) and probably a half dozen or more things Trump and his organized crime family have done. But who is going to stop him, Congress? Not happening. At least not now. Even if Mueller waves proof that Trump did all sorts of illegal stuff, what’s Congress going to do?
Here is my dream scenario: The Democrats take back the House and Senate in November and they impeach Trump and Pence–and then the Speaker of the House, who would now be a Democrat, becomes President.
ruemara
@Washburn: uh, Buzzfeed has done some amazing reporting this year. You know, it could be that multiple outlets are the best choices for information.
Roger Moore
@Corner Stone:
And here are the goons who will throw you under it.
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
@dmsilev:
Looks like I picked the right day to have a snotmonster of a cold and have to call in sick, so I have nothing I need to – or can – do except lie here feeling sorry for myself and enjoying the shitshow.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
I see reports Cohen’s home was searched as well.
ETA: Oh, AND a hotel room.
patrick II
For me this is like hearing a Beatle song, and thinking I haven’t heard that in a while — that is just about my all time favorite Beatle song. That lasts until the next Beatle song I hear and I go — no, no this one is just about my all time favorite beatle song.
It’s similar today with Cohen — I’m thinking this is just about the most obnoxious Trump guy I’d like to see in jail someday, but then I think of Flynn, Manafort, etc. I just can’t decide which of these I will enjoy the most — aside from seeing the short fingered vulgarian himself in an orange body suit of course.
Mnemosyne
@schrodingers_cat:
Hating Muslims and immigrants was just the prerequisite to getting hired. Now the circular firing squad begins.
germy
Adam L Silverman
@Betty Cracker: So there are two issues here. The first is an emoluments clause issue pertaining to the President. Normally/during normal times this would lead to a couple of congressional investigations at the least. What I think is going to happen here is that Mueller’s financial crimes investigators will look at it and then hand it off to the appropriate folks at DOJ/FBI main. And remember, the Trump Organization’s Special Counsel is Michael Cohen. So that may have gone into the raid today.
Washburn
@Mary G:
I would imagine that Cohen has had a folder of documents (the letters, the incorporation papers of the shell corporation, the wire transfers, etc.) sitting on his desk for a while now just waiting for this day to come.
When Trump said the other day that he didn’t know about the payment, that sealed Cohen’s fate.
Question: Is a $130K in kind contribution to a presidential campaign that is not disclosed in felony territory?
Mary G
@SiubhanDuinne: I love Tammy.
Politico says:
Now if we can just find and elect 20+ more women like her, Kamala, Elizabeth, Patty, DiFi and many more, the Senate will reflect the whole of Americans and this country will be in great shape.
Adam L Silverman
Obligatory!
Washburn
@ruemara:
Agreed – everybody but the NYT. They need to be wiped from the face of the earth for their many sins against moderate democrat orthodoxy!
No Drought No More
Everyone loves to see any loud mouthed big shot get theirs. But it’s always a bit more special when it happens to a swaggering big shot from NYC. For the same reason, I suppose, that John Lennon was talking about when he compared NYC to ancient Rome, or why there is definitely such a thing as Yankee mystique in pinstripes. Lucky for Mueller Inc. Trump has no praetorian guard at his command. Lucky for witnesses, too. Instead, he’s essentially surrounded by cops 24 hour a day, one of whom might arrest his ass one of these days. Which is to say, Trump is in protective custody already, and don’t think it hasn’t occurred to him, too.
Kay
Ha ha. Whatever comes of it it will scare the shit out of the fake tough guys in the Trump Administration.
We’ll see less swaggering and proud, belligerent lying the more they see of law enforcement.
This isn’t like threatening Daniels in a supermarket parking lot or stiffing some poor contractor and putting him out of business. This is the real world.
Delightful. I hope they’re frantically huddling as we speak.
Corner Stone
@Jeffro:
Lord Axelrod, is that you?
Corner Stone
Bret Stephens staying true to himself and dropping the stupidest takes possible about this on Nicolle’s MSNBC show.
Adam L Silverman
Is it normal for residents of NY City to also maintain a hotel room at a fancy hotel in NY City?
Mnemosyne
@Washburn:
Don’t you have some pro-NRA propaganda you need to spew, ARGB?
I'll be Frank
@J.: That’s a great plan, but what do we do to get rid of Gorsuch?
Kay
What a shame that no one had the balls to go after these people prior to this point. They could have stopped Trump in NYC had anyone ever held him to account, for anything, in his decades running a criminal enterprise there.
Cowards.
Jay
@Washburn:
But her Emails!
And of course, the Miller/CBW/Iraq War nonapology,
Just to name a few.
Kay
Which one of the President’s goons threatened Daniels in a parking lot? Someone should go to jail for that. Cohen is too much of a chicken shit so it must have been some other criminal associate of the President.
Jay
@Kay:
https://wonkette.com/632357/stormy-daniels-woody-harrelsons-dad-and-jfks-murderrrr-walk-into-a-blog-post
kindness
Oh those FBI raids are going to leave a mark (probably shitstains).
No doubt the twitter will be hot in the coming days.
Washburn
@Kay:
Daniel’s atty says he is going to be releasing a sketch.
This is going to be the most massive internet man hunt in history!
Roger Moore
@Adam L Silverman:
I would think it’s fairly standard among the mistress-having set.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@Washburn: So “progressive” Democrats are cool with the NYT’s pro-Republican political slant, and their syncophantic coverage of Trump? If so, why?
Mnemosyne
@Roger Moore:
Or someone whose wife booted him out.
MisterForkbeard
@Mary G: There’s some very good pictures of Trump and his immediate family when the ‘Win’ was announced. The people around him are hugely celebrating. The kids are pretty happy, but not ecstatic. Trump looks miserable.
@J.: This gets brought up whenever this scenario is floated, but:
1) Even if we sweep ALL Senate seats, we don’t have enough votes in the Senate to convict Trump. The only way this happens is if Republicans are so cowed by massive losses that they turn on him, but that’s pretty unlikely.
2) There’s no way that both Trump and Pence get removed. Pence IS guilty, but he’s managed to keep his name out of most of it. Meanwhile, even in the case of Republicans voting against Trump, they won’t do so to Pence when they can even vaguely plausibly do so and when that means they’ll retain the Presidency.
patroclus
This is good for several reasons. First, the A/C issues will likely lead to delays as those issues are fought over and I want it delayed until after the mid-terms. Second, it means that the SDNY is involved and not just Mueller which lessens Trump’s ability to pull a Saturday Night Massacre and fire everyone. Third, while it probably relates to Stormy Daniels and the sex stuff, it might also involve all sorts of business deals and financial manipulations and Russia ties which opens up other real criminal investigatory stuff regarding Russia, other real estate shenanigans and tax records. There’s a LOT of corruption there and Cohen is in the middle of it. And, as Avenatti has said, a LOT is on Cohen’s plate and if he’s criminally involved, he can be squeezed. Fourth, this gives added credibility to all the investigations and, hence, Mueller. Fifth, even Fox has been covering this and Bret Stephens sounds like he’s turning on Trump and thus more peeling away of conservative support for Trump. (Every little bit helps). And finally, any Syrian counter-strike will have Wag the Dog implications.
Of course it might all mean nothing, but it would be irresponsible not to speculate. I mean, we’re all Baader-Meinhof now.
Kay
The best part of the Trump scandals is no one in political media ever knows anything about them.
We get endless analysis of the President by tens of people who claim to have inside information into that White House but they never know SHIT about anything important.
They’re always a day late and a dollar short.
The fact is we know NOTHING about this President, or his family, or his associates because the 150 people who are investigating them are the only people who know anything and they apparently aren’t saying. We find out the same time our billion dollar political media find out, and the same way- we see the search.
Why don’t all these supposed “Trump Whisperers” know anything? They spend 24/7 covering this President and he STILL seems to completely snow them about anything true or real or important that is happening in that White House.
dmsilev
@Roger Moore: Or the lawyer-to-mistress-having set.
Mary G
Bloomberg says that Mueller went to Rod Rosenstein to ask about Cohen, and Rosenstein said that the NY office should handle it.
Adam L Silverman
@LAO: I think what most forget is that Cohen really wasn’t the President’s personal or even business lawyer. Rather, Cohen bills himself as the Trump Organization “Special Counsel”, whatever that means in terms of the business. What he really had was an office to sell apartments and units in the President’s properties, both built and branded, as well as to pursue deals, both built and branded, on behalf of the Trump Organization. The only legal work he appears to have done is the NDAs and payoffs to multiple women who the President is alleged to have had affairs with and whose abortions he is alleged to have paid for. Breaching what little privilege exists here shouldn’t be too hard.
Washburn
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:
For a publication that some people said was “all in” for Trump, they seem to break a number of stories that do not portray Trump in the most positive light.
Probably some 12 dimensional chess they’re playing …
jl
A hard question to figure: what is the exact mix of stupid, nuts and evil in the Trumpsters?
Their behavior in Stormygate, even getting into the unethical and bogus NDA in the first place, indicates a lot of stupid and nuts, but so many evil impulses involved its hard to say.
But today, Trump said that farmers would forgive him if they have to do their patriotic duty and take a big financial hit because of his nincompoop improvised, and dingbat tariff and trade war BS. Coming from farm families on both sides, I can tell that is mega stupid and mega nuts. Some elderly bigot white dude on social security and medicare might forgive a lot, farmers will forgive almost nothing. So that settles it. The evil will have to filter through galaxy sized, and very dense, clouds of nuts and stupid, to really have an independent impact on the course of events.
Not very comforting since those alone could get us all ruined or dead before this toxic nutcase dolt is out of office.
Adam L Silverman
@raven: This might actually make it less likely. A response now will look like it is a calculated wag the dog/divert attention action not an actual response to a war crime.
Washburn
@Roger Moore:
They have apartments. Maybe he lives there. Always has fresh linens and all that …
different-church-lady
Real: shit just got it.
germy
@Mary G:
I thought the NY office was in the pro-drumpf camp.
MisterForkbeard
@ruemara: Don’t. His regular troll thing is to come in here whenever the NYT is mentioned and start complaining because people here are pissed that the NYT props up Trump and wholeheartedly attempted to wreck Hillary’s campaign without cause and without similar attention on Trump’s campaign.
The NYT can be valuable, and it can ALSO be a fucking awful newspaper at times. I’m not giving them a subscription until they pull their heads out of their asses (as is the case with many others here), but this guy wants to pretend that it’s the sole focus of everyone here and we’re completely unreasonable about it. For some reason.
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
There, I fixed it for this thread.
Mnemosyne
@Kay:
It came out recently that Trump calls Maggie Haberman almost every day. The NYT thinks that having Trump lie directly to their reporters is “access” that they want to keep. God forbid they should cut off that access by not taking those calls anymore.
Roger Moore
@patroclus:
The news reports so far have indicated this goes well beyond the Stormy Daniels business. In fact, Cohen’s people are pitching a stink about it, claiming the FBI has seized a bunch of privileged communications with his clients. Since Cohen himself has said Trump knew nothing about the payoff, those privileged communications must be about something other than the porn actress payoff.
Adam L Silverman
@Kay: Avenatti has a forensic sketch of the assailant. He’s supposed to release it this week. Between now and Thursday. My guess is its a law enforcement friend of Schiller’s who lives in Vegas. Schiller is the President’s hitter.
Jay
@MisterForkbeard:
Meuller’s working his way up, so probably just after Jarvanka’s arrest, will be Pence’s turn. Treason Twitler will be last.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@jl: When someone loses a farm, the bank takes your job and your house at the same moment. That’s damn hard to forgive.
raven
@MisterForkbeard: Well it IS a constant theme.
trollhattan
@Axe Diesel Palin:
Let’s hope for Team Trump, “Tuesday’s just as bad and Wednesday’s worse…”
Roger Moore
@Kay:
This is the problem with spending all your time cultivating sources in the White House. You can get some information that’s otherwise impossible to get that way, but you’re going to wind up being little but a stenographer unless you do some investigation yourself.
Quinerly
@Adam L Silverman: Apparently Cohen was having some work done at his house, hence the hotel room. His wife was at the hotel when the search was conducted, according to MSNBC.
Mnemosyne
@Adam L Silverman:
I will never forgive the assholes who insisted that Bill Clinton striking at Osama bin Laden was just “wagging the dog” to avoid talking about Monica Lewinsky.
In hell, they should all get to be on the top floors of the World Trade Center watching the planes approach over and over again, forever.
Washburn
Heh: Trump watching it all on the teevee …https://twitter.com/stevebruskCNN/status/983444351660560384
trollhattan
@Mnemosyne:
Figured it was something like that. “We’ll sell our souls, well, rent them actually to keep an open line.” Is Maggie in on the joke?
Adam L Silverman
@Kay:
zhena gogolia
@patrick II:
Good analogy!
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
The FBI is trying to save the American farmer from the trade war with China by sending popcorn futures through the roof.
(((CassandraLeo)))
@Jay: Clouds and shadows over the Clinton Foundation. Despite its being one of the most transparent, accountable charities in existence. And many other similar stories.
The FTFNYT has been one of the most consistent sources of CDS in history apart from Faux News, Sinclair, etc. And the FTFNYT has influence among people who’d never think to listen to “right-wing media”, but because the FTFNYT is subtler about its biases, people don’t notice. And the FTFNYT also has influence among people who don’t even read it (or newspapers in general) because a large portion of national news coverage takes its cues from the FTFNYT‘s coverage.
This isn’t to say that it hasn’t also broken some important stories. But there are other sources without such mixed records, including, yes, BuzzFeed. There are so many better news sources out there; if you’re going to pay for news (and you should), don’t give your money to one of the chief ratfuckers of 2016. WaPo, the Grauniad, some reputable local paper, and at least one or two good smaller sources (I recommend something like Mother Jones or ProPublica) all deserve your subscription money more.
ruemara
@MisterForkbeard: I have no idea who that is and frankly, his response meets my criteria for “too stupid to be responded to.”
Adam L Silverman
@germy: That’s the FBI Field Office, not the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
zhena gogolia
@Adam L Silverman:
Thanks, I needed that!
Millard Filmore
@aarrgghh:
(making this reply before reading the rest of the thread) At comment #42 over at democraticunderground.com says:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210468916#post42
Is that comment too good to be true?
Mnemosyne
@raven:
The NYT got scooped by the frickin’ Hollywood Reporter.
At best, they’re running to catch up when it comes to Trump.
Roger Moore
@Adam L Silverman:
I get the feeling Trump was the kind of guy who believes any discussion with a lawyer is privileged, whether or not it has anything to do with the law.
trollhattan
@Adam L Silverman:
“Note to self: do not swipe right on the mug book pics.”
Jay
@MisterForkbeard:
There is, several times a week, a reason to read the FTFNYT, specific articles only and of course, Krugman,
But there’s no reason to buy the paper.
raven
@Mnemosyne: see
MisterForkbeard
@raven: Yes. It does not mean that the commentariat doesn’t recognize that the NYT also does some decent reporting sometimes. But it’s good to point out how awfully they fuck up, and how repeated it is. They’re not “liberal” in any sense of the word.
Washburn
Some schadenfreude from a website that shall not be named:
Adam L Silverman
@Mnemosyne: Yep, apparently he calls her, someone at WaPo (probably Costa), and at other outlets (most likely Swann at Axios) and speaks to them and they cite him as a senior administration official.
Mnemosyne
@ruemara:
He’s ARGB under a new nym, if that helps.
Adam L Silverman
@Quinerly: So the FBI has seized his wife as evidence? Cool!//
Mary G
@jl:
100% of all of ’em, Katie.
raven
@MisterForkbeard: Well shut my mouth!
Mnemosyne
@Adam L Silverman:
I really feel like Avenatti takes this whole Trump vs Daniels thing really personally. I’m not sure why, but I like it.
Adam L Silverman
@Millard Filmore: This is a DOJ/FBI action through the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. The President can with no ifs, ands, and/or buts pardon Cohen for anything from this. If NY State AG Schneiderman brings parallel charges, then the President cannot pardon Cohen regarding those.
MisterForkbeard
@Washburn: For someone as compromised as Trump, hearing “The FBI raided my lawyer” has to be pretty bone chilling.
Adam L Silverman
@Roger Moore: He learned that from Roy Cohn. We’ll see how well that plays with the Special Counsel and the DOJ.
JMG
The best detail about the raid is that outside the front of the hotel, the sidewalk was swarming with paparazzi because it’s where UFC jackass Conor McGregor is staying. The dull looking FBI agents in dull suits waltzed passed them unnoticed. Nose for news!
zhena gogolia
@Washburn:
Okay, you keep at it, so let me explain a few things. I have had a subscription to the New York Times for many years, and I still have it (print and online). There are quite a few excellent journalists and writers working for them, and much in the newspaper is of great interest. It is still the most full-service national newspaper we have. But, unfortunately, the paper seems to often feel the need to appease the Republican side of things, presumably because they are constantly being called liberal so they are trying to defuse that impression by publishing 3000 stories in which some kid uproots himself from his Dumbo apartment and treks out to East B–mf–k, MO, to talk to Trump voters. A more cynical view has it that all their paymasters care about is Wall Street and tax cuts, so they can’t be too hard on Republicans. So quite a few people have become so disgusted that they refuse to read the NYT because of its sometimes slanted political coverage and its terrible stable of conservative op-ed writers. Others of us have decided that there is still enough of interest in the paper to keep our subscriptions. Others read NYT articles when they are of particular interest. Does that help?
Roger Moore
@MisterForkbeard:
There are other news sources that do a good job of reporting without having their political news dominated by malignant Clinton Derangement Syndrome. I’d rather give my money to those other sources rather than FTFNYT.
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman:
Still not sure how Schiller was never brought up on charges of assault.
jl
Is Cohen out in front of the place they’re raiding, and yelling ‘SezHoo!?” I’ll check for a youtube clip later.
zhena gogolia
@different-church-lady:
Is that a quotation from Bad Boys II?
(((CassandraLeo)))
@Mnemosyne: well, she is his client, but I also think there’s more than a touch of David vs. Goliath here given that she’s a private citizen and Trump is the president* of the united states (he doesn’t get capital letters, and the asterisk is for the popular vote loss). Avenatti appears to have sympathies for the underdog. Which I appreciate.
MisterForkbeard
@raven: No offense intended to you. Apologies if it came off harsh.
@(((CassandraLeo))): This is mostly how I’d describe it as well. Other news sources (including Buzzfeed, which has been awful but has turned into an actual journalistic organization – or at least part of it) have been doing valuable things too. The NYT does good work sometimes too, but they also do BAD work. Repeatedly, on constant themes which all tend to be anti-Democrat/pro-Both-Sides. And because they have a lot of credibility, those ‘bad’ stories have outsized influence.
@Washburn: That is a special kind of delusional. Wow.
Which reminds me, I have an update on my nephew I should post in an OT later.
Kay
@Adam L Silverman:
i really like him just as an advocate. I have no idea if he’s a “skilled lawyer” but he is a good advocate. He works for HER. He’s not confused about his role. In her corner. These are some powerful people, too and they have a lot of very wealthy friends and…shady associates, to say the least. I just get no sense of fear from him at all.
That’s all anyone really wants when they’re up against power. They want someone on their side.
germy
@MisterForkbeard:
On one of the village gabfests (it might have been the PBS snoozehour) a “representative” of Cohen was a guest. The interviewer didn’t find it odd at all that drumpf’s lawyers need lawyers to defend them.
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: He’s part of the brotherhood. So…
father pusbucket
RAAAAID!!
MisterForkbeard
@Mnemosyne: He is? Wow, okay. That explains a fair bit – the trolling, the NYT obsession *and* his occasional useful comment.
ARBG, about where in the country are you located? In all seriousness, I’d love for you to show up to one of our meetups.
Adam L Silverman
@Kay: My understanding is he’s a very good attorney.
jl
@(((CassandraLeo))): Avanatti may be a very talented and very competent lawyer who is among the first of that type of lawyer, to see what kind of BS lawyered up goon-squat of fraud and extortion the Trump organization has been running under cover of law for many years. And he may be seeing an amazing case of a lifetime.
I have to wonder how many other good and very competent lawyers may be soon be seeing similar things the Trumpsters have left scattered in their wake over the years.
mai naem mobile
Am I the only one if the NY FBI office was involved in the execution of the search and if they were will they somehow manage to protect Dolt45 and SezHoo however much they can?
Fair Economist
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):
Sounds like they had info about a hiding spot.
JPL
The raid was performed by the SDNY, and not Mueller’s office. For the legal eagles, does this mean even if Mueller is gone, that investigation continues?
Gelfling 545
@Corner Stone: So he is indeed perhaps “draining the swamp” by sheer inadvertence?
Mnemosyne
@(((CassandraLeo))):
My theory (and it’s solely a theory) is that he’s pissed off at Cohen the crooked lawyer, who appears to have been coercing people to sign bad agreements by teaming up with another crooked lawyer who pretends to be the plaintiff’s attorney while secretly working for Cohen.
I could see that being the kind of thing that would piss off a tough but ethical lawyer.
(((CassandraLeo)))
@jl: Given the large number of NDAs Trump has allegedly left in his wake throughout the years, I’m kinda guessing there will be rather a lot of them.
@mai naem mobile: Nope. I’m worried about that too.
@Mnemosyne: Good call. I bet that’s a contributing factor, also, too.
Washburn
@zhena gogolia:
I’m sorry, such balanced appraisals have no place on the internet.
jl
@JPL: IANAL, but seems to me that administrative X-night massacre that would be required to make it go away is an order of magnitude larger that trying to fire Mueller.
Edit: unless of course, commenter above speculating the SDNY is corrupt from top to bottom is correct. But that would be a huge coverup that would be hard to maintain. And Avanatti might be right that the pressure on Cohen would be unbearable if he is to be the fall guy. And looks like too late to cover up Cohen’s legal misdeeds.
Roger Moore
@germy:
Making Attorneys Get Attorneys. #MAGA
Just one more canuck
@Mary G: theres a character in one of Mordecai Richler’s books who says on his deathbed, “If God exists, I’m fucked”
germy
Meanwhile…
Washburn
@Kay:
He came up through one of the premier plaintiff’s side litigation firms in LA. Unlike virtually every corrupt hanger on and medieval scholar that is filling out Trump’s team, he knows how to work up a case and try it. Pretty good at working the PR machine, too.
mai naem mobile
@Kay: I looked him up. He was the top grad in his graduating class at GW Law School. He may not be David Boies but he’s plenty smart.
Yarrow
Wow. I’m busy all day, can’t follow any news and this happens. And just when my stockpile of popcorn is getting low. Dang it.
(((CassandraLeo)))
@jl: AFAIK, if these are state-level charges (and I’m not actually sure whether they are), Trump can do literally jack and shit about them. It’s entirely in the hands of Schneiderman, Cuomo, et al.
Frankensteinbeck
@zhena gogolia:
Don’t bother. This poster is a troll, in the truest ‘just wants to start a fight and is not interested in honest debate’ sense. I’ve tested it.
Fair Economist
@JMG:
Funnier that you think because I’ve seen a squad of FBI agents and they did stand out if you paid just a little attention. They look like bouncers in nice matching suits but they act like people who give orders and in groups they are noticeable.
MisterForkbeard
@mai naem mobile: Adam’s been over this, but it’s a different office. US Attorney’s office vs. NY FBI Field office.
SiubhanDuinne
@patrick II:
No love for Jared?
Lyrebird
@raven: @Adam L Silverman:
re: missile launches,
I admit I’m wondering if we’ll soon see a post from Adam about the Syrian-American advocate turning directly to address the Prez* through the Fox News camera, asking for more of those.
May You Live In Interesting Times they say?
(((CassandraLeo)))
@germy: Does he not understand the optics of this or does he just not care? Or both?
(Put another way, stupid/ignorant, evil, or both?)
jl
@(((CassandraLeo))): A lot of Cohen’s exposure, and if he had a corrupt deal with Stormy’s ex-lawyer, his as well, are state level issues that will be impossible to cover-up at the federal level.
Millard Filmore
@Adam L Silverman: From all of your informative postings in this blog, that’s what I figured. DU is great for breaking news, but its comments don’t measure up to what can be found here.
Thanks.
(((CassandraLeo)))
@jl: Thank you. I think this may please me almost as much as any other aspect of today’s news dump.
germy
@mai naem mobile:
(wikipedia)
efgoldman
@Adam L Silverman:
In a non-Weasel Face hotel, no less!
MattF
@Adam L Silverman: I think the word for Cohen is ‘fixer’. Think ‘Michael Clayton’, but not like Clooney.
efgoldman
@Adam L Silverman:
Weasel Face never considers implications or consequences. They’re not part of a four year old’s world view.
Frankensteinbeck
@efgoldman:
Moot. Trump has long since abandoned attempts to be military to make himself look good. Too chickenshit.
MattF
People have various opinions about the NYT, but the lede to today’s Trump/Daniels opinion piece is classic:
germy
LG&M comment:
Ruckus
@(((CassandraLeo))):
All of the above and probably a lot more that we wouldn’t imagine even on a bad acid trip.
Mary G
Cohen didn’t get a great legal education. From techdirt:
Other people on twitter call it the worst law school in America. So it’s a David and Goliath situation in the other direction, too. He probably knows 5% of the law Avenatti and Mueller do. As illustrated by his once asserting that a husband can’t legally rape his wife in defense of Twitler against Ivana’s now redacted accusation.
MattF
@germy: And when your lawyer’s lawyer needs a lawyer, it’s time to back away slowly and then run.
JPL
@efgoldman: I read that his house is being remodeled ..
JMG
@Fair Economist: If you’re looking for a UFC fighter and his entourage, seeing a suit makes your eyes go elsewhere.
WereBear
@Kay: Part of the erosion of all our institutions. Cutting the government budget overwhelms law enforcement, too.
different-church-lady
@germy: The lawyer of the enemy of the lawyer of my enemy is the my friend of the lawyer of my… aww, screw it.
Ruckus
@MattF:
At that point I thought it was best to turn yourself in so that it has some chance of not getting any worse.
BillinGlendaleCA
OT: It’s hot AF here.
Adam L Silverman
@JPL: Yes.
Washburn
@Mary G:
“didn’t get a great legal education” may win the understatement of the year prize …
les
@Washburn:
Rampant stupidity doesn’t reflect well on Wilmer, me lad.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: So take off all your clothes.
Kay
@mai naem mobile:
Thanks. I like lawyers who take sides and he has definitely done that. Whatever else happens from here she was well-represented and I must admit I get a huge kick out out of the fact that the big, coddled soft BABY in the White House is not. Wouldn’t have predicted the side with all the money and clout would end up with such low quality hires, but they did and depending on what the search is about it may be too late to fix that.
Trump hires bad people. It’s a constant.
Adam L Silverman
@Lyrebird: I don’t watch Fox, so who was the advocate?
different-church-lady
@Washburn:
whitehouse.gov?
Mary G
Oliver Willis has one of his story tweet threads going, it’s a hoot:
MattF
@Kay: Trump’s inability to hire competent people is a real weakness. He wants his Cabinet to look and sound like Fox and Friends. And, it pretty much does.
Baud
@Mary G: Haha. That’s great.
J. Adams Jefferson
@aarrgghh:
Just checking in, started scrolling, don’t know if this has been observed.
Mueller did not execute these warrants, but made referral to Southern District of NY.
Ineligible for Presidential pardon.
Do you hear screws turning, is that just tick-tock?
MattF
@J. Adams Jefferson: It’s been rumored for some time that Mueller would do that– now he has.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Nobody wants to see that, including the dogs.
Quinerly
Meanwhile, Stormy was in the St. Louis area over the weekend. Love this piece: https://m.riverfronttimes.com/artsblog/2018/04/09/stormy-daniels-did-st-louis-and-it-was-magnificent
Baud
@J. Adams Jefferson:
Um….no.
Washburn
@different-church-lady:
heh.
I read a number of RWNJ websites and 5 years ago, it was something of a rarity to see the conspiracy theory stuff make it to the “mainstream”.
Now it’s pretty commonplace.
As the saying goes, SAD!
debbie
@Brachiator:
Two hours later and still nothing. Kelly must have locked it up.
rp
@J. Adams Jefferson: Why would that make Cohen ineligible for a pardon?
germy
WH Official: “Trump has been watching TV reports of FBI raiding his lawyer’s office.
– CNN chyron
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
https://youtu.be/GeZZr_p6vB8
Ruckus
@Kay:
drumpf is fucking cheap, all he is willing to pay for is cheap. And I’d bet that because he’s cheap and that’s well known, so he doesn’t get to chose from the best.
sdhays
Question for Preznit Spanky: What do you call a “witch hunt” that finds actual witches?
J.
@MisterForkbeard: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. But a girl can dream. :-)
Ruckus
@MattF:
Maybe it’s not that he’s cheap. Maybe it’s that he doesn’t want anyone to upstage him in any way. So he has to hire people farther down the scale than him in every way. And a snail couldn’t limbo under that bar.
ETA Of course it could easily be both.
Quinerly
Great piece: https://www.popehat.com/2018/04/09/the-search-of-trump-lawyer-michael-cohens-office-what-we-can-infer-immediately/
Adam L Silverman
@J. Adams Jefferson: @MattF: Again: this was handed off, on Deputy AG Rosenstein’s instructions, to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Or the Southern District or SDNY for short. It is a Federal warrant and is a federal investigation. My guess is that NY State AG Schneiderman will ask to be read onto the investigation in case there are NY state violations he wishes to either prosecute or to be prepared to follow up on if the Feds drop parts or all of this investigation. Or if they plead Cohen out.
J. Adams Jefferson
@Adam L Silverman:
Okay, okay, I’m catching up.
germy
This old tweet has aged well.
LAO
I just got home, have I missed anything?
BillinGlendaleCA
@germy: Storm’s a brewing…
debbie
@Adam L Silverman:
The very same FBI that Trump is constantly berating for being crooked? Sweet!
Corner Stone
@Baud: It is getting too hot. I wanna take my clothes off.
Uh, wait. I did that hours ago. And it’s actually unseasonably cool here at the moment.
JPL
Washington Post
Legal Eagles, can state charges be brought also.
GregB
Possible bank and wire fraud for Cohen.
Enjoy the future Mr. Cohen.
Baud
@germy: Hahaha. He really did represent Trump well.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Just heard the breaking news on MSNBC, they’re reporting bank and wire fraud charges (among others) against Cohen, and my first thoughts were “pardon” and “Schneiderman”
PJ
@zhena gogolia: No “kid” reporter from the Times could afford an apartment in Dumbo. It is now some of the most expensive real estate in Brooklyn (I know, hard to believe if you were there in the 80s or 90s).
Matt McIrvin
Gah, Washington Post is calling Dennis Kucinich “the future of politics” because he embodies “the current populist moment, when left/right distinctions are becoming obsolete.” I think that would have sounded like it made sense about 12 or 16 months ago.
Baud
@JPL: Possibly for the bank fraud, less likely for the campaign finance violation.
Jay
@Ruckus:
He’s also a sociopathic liar,
He also won’t listen or take advice,
He also won’t shut up.
As a “Client”, those are much worse traits than being “cheap”.
Quinerly
@GregB: and campaign finance violations.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin: The future of politics is old white male has-beens?
Vhh
Trumpov threw Cohen under the bus. Now, will Mike return the favor? Note that Cohen’s father in law is a Moscow real estate oligarch.
Corner Stone
@Ruckus:
He hired a fucking campaign manager who said he wasn’t looking for a paid job!
Uncle Cosmo
@Mnemosyne: So Washboard is really I’maRantin’POS 2.0? As they say in SE Asia, Hu Nu?
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: Trump and Bernie, QED.
lamh36
So, is Micheal Cohen really gonna fall on his sword for Donald Trump!!!!
Mike J
@Adam L Silverman: Does he live in NY or just use the hotel as a pied-à-terre and go back to CT or someplace on the weekends?
Corner Stone
@sdhays:
A really successful one?
MisterForkbeard
@sdhays: Witch Finding. Go read “Good Omens”, by Pratchett and Gaiman. :)
MattF
@Ruckus: I guess Trump simply sees Cabinet members as the hired help– lickspittles who will do as he says. I have a suspicion that Bolton won’t fit that mould (he’s more of a Cheney type), but we shall see.
Washburn
@JPL:
Yeah, when your “client” goes in front of reporters and says that he has no knowledge of the $130K payment you made on his behalf to shut somebody up days before an election, that pretty much puts a bow on the crime of undisclosed in-kind campaign contribution. I mean, if there is no reasonable expectation of it ever being repaid, that is pretty much the definition of a contribution …
I don’t know whether any state law charges lie, but it seems to me that this would have been a very easy warrant to secure, even though it was of an attorney’s office/house/etc.
MisterForkbeard
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: They’re not reporting charges, right? Everything else I’ve heard is that they’re reporting an investigation with an eye towards those charges.
Corner Stone
Trumpler speaking about the new level of unfairness of the Cohen raid.
lamh36
Chump tape on Cohen raid…seems he pisses on Mueller, Sessions, and FBI…lol
debbie
@Matt McIrvin:
That is just pathetic.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Looks like I overstated the case. IANAL, so I’m not clear on the difference, but yeah, I think it’s always best to go with the less dramatic version, and this is all still reports, i.e. rumors.
but damn me I do love some of the dramatic reporting: “kicked in the doors”. I hope that’s true
Betty Cracker
Trump is conflating an investigation of his shady-ass campaign and minions with “an attack on our country.” Buckle up, folks.
germy
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
That’s some real Louis XIV shit right there.
geg6
@Adam L Silverman:
It’s not Costa. It’s some other guy that is always on Morning Joe. Can’t remember his name, but it’s definitely not Costa.
MattF
@germy: There’s some very funny stuff in that thread.
Annie
@(((CassandraLeo))):
I’ve worked for lawyers for 30+ years. Many of them end up totally believing in their cases and clients, sometimes even when they shouldn’t. And all of them sound, in public, as if they do totally believe in their cases and clients. This may or may not mean anything at all about the actual merits of the case.
lamh36
debbie
@Betty Cracker:
I think what Trump’s really ticked off about is that Cohen didn’t rent a hotel room at a Trump property.
Baud
@debbie: Ha!
MattF
@debbie: I think Cohen has dealt with lots of unmentionable situations, and now the FBI knows about them.
Cermet
@Betty Cracker: Maybe he will order an air strike on Mueller’s office. I’d love to see the look on Kelly’s face when he hears this order – lol.
tobie
@Matt McIrvin: Man o man, the press’ fawning over populism is just stomach-churning. Mother Jones had a similarly fawning piece about Ben Jealous, who’s running for Governor in Maryland. Evidently he calls it like it is, according to the article, whenever he attacks neoliberalism. WTF. Sigh.
dmsilev
@Betty Cracker: I Am The State sounded better in the original French.
germy
@tobie: Meanwhile…
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/andrew-wheeler-epa-vote_us_5ac80acce4b0337ad1e82bab
I think this is what Ben Jealous is talking about.
debbie
Yeah, right, better not hold your collective breath, farmers:
debbie
@MattF:
“Fixer” now has an icky ring to it, doesn’t it?
Corner Stone
@germy: No reason for either of them to do this. None. Will not net them one single vote.
TenguPhule
@Betty Cracker:
Congress refuses to impeach him.
Ergo, its legal until that changes.
Adam L Silverman
@Betty Cracker: The Trump Doctrine. “I will be treated fairly or else!”
Corner Stone
My God but Trump sounds so fucking stupid. Not Breaking News but he sounds dumb and defensive and just fucking stupid.
TenguPhule
@Baud:
You apologize to Louis XIV right now.
Bnad
@Washburn: I really wonder if the full 40% of Trump approvers believe all this sh*t.
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
Not even or else at this point. Its morphed into “I am Trump, fuck you!”
Baud
@germy: Almost certainly not just them.
TenguPhule
@(((CassandraLeo))):
Yes.
TenguPhule
@germy:
Someone explain to me again how these enablers are better for us then Republicans?
Baud
@TenguPhule: Your kidding, right?
Ruckus
@Jay:
Well if we want to list all his attributes, we are going to need to bring in a hell of lot more pixels.
Lyrebird
@Adam L Silverman:
Hi, here’s the RawStory link where I read about it:
ETA: Sorry not to link before! It was ironic to have this pop up today, or a sign of desperate times, after various discussions about how Fox News is the best (only?) way to appeal to the CinC.
TenguPhule
@GregB:
Trump will decide to bomb Yemen in retaliation for Syria.
It’s not like the GOP hasn’t done this play before.
I'll be Frank
@LAO: Not much new. The President is still corrupt, several contributors have taken there clothes off, several contributors are convinced that Washburn is ARBG. Everyone remains concerned that the Orange S-G will ruin everything with pardons, except for the folks who think the State of NY AG has standing to act. It’s a good thread, well worth the read.
Betty Cracker
@TenguPhule: She’s not my senator, so I don’t know her record all that well, but I think she stayed on board to keep the GOP from gutting the ACA. A Republican would not have done that, and it came within a whisker (remember McCain’s late night dramatics?) of going down the tubes. Blue Dogs irritate the shit out of me too but they are necessary in some places because the alternative is a million times worse.
Calouste
@Matt McIrvin: Kucinich is 71. The only future he is is future business for the undertaker.
TenguPhule
@Baud:
I’m rather tired of all these own goals being scored on us by our conservative Democrats who inevitably enable the corrupt fuckers in the spirit of “bipartisanship”. The Republicans demand and get straight party line votes when they’re in opposition, is it too much to ask for a little more cracking from our Senate minority whip?
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
@TenguPhule: DO YOU CAUCUS BRO ?
VeniceRiley
Avenatti may find himself heading up a class action suit.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: Sounds kinda kinky.
TenguPhule
@Betty Cracker: What drives me crazy is how badly behaved they can get away with simply because they cross the very low bar of “will occasionally vote with fellow Democrats and not with Republicans when a gun is held to their head”.
randy khan
@lamh36:
There’s kind of an interesting problem here. To the extent that Cohen was acting as Trump’s lawyer, he actually can’t tell Mueller and company about it. The exception, more or less, is if he and Trump were involved together in a crime. So long as it was within the scope of the lawyer-client relationship, Trump literally could have told Cohen that Trump had killed someone on Fifth Avenue and stuffed the body down the sewer, and Cohen can’t tell prosecutors about it. (Now if Trump had called Cohen to get his help in disposing of the body, that would be a different story.) And the privilege belongs to Trump personally, so unless he waives it, any information that’s privileged is unusable. That makes it harder for Cohen to flip.
Baud
@TenguPhule:
This is your question.
Your response doesn’t answer whether you were serious.
Kathleen
@Adam L Silverman: The HandMag’s Tale is lauded as a “great reporter” by her peers when all she does is take dictation. Sounds like a pretty cushy gig to me.
MisterForkbeard
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: Right? Simple answers, stupid question.
Ruckus
@MattF:
Bullies always need an enforcer. GWB had Chaney, drumpf has Bolton.
sdhays
@MisterForkbeard: I saw that at the library and made a note to read it, but I had forgotten. Thanks for the reminder!
randy khan
@TenguPhule:
Absent two Republicans to vote against the guy, their votes literally don’t matter here. They’re both from states where the voters are heavily invested in fossil fuels, and while voting for him may not help them, voting against him almost certainly will hurt them. So, no, if I’m Schumer and the Dem whips, I don’t push them on this one unless by some miracle two Republicans flip.
The thing that matters above everything else is getting a majority. Having a majority means that the Dems control what gets to the floor, including all nominations. Sacrificing two Senators who actually do vote the right way the majority of the time, often under serious pressure not to do so, would be a mistake.
MisterForkbeard
@sdhays: The BBC is doing a 6-episode TV show of it, if you want to wait for that. Probably early 2019, but it’s got some very good actors in and has new material written by Gaiman in it.
Washburn
@Bnad:
I really haven’t seen much softening of support for Trump among those vocal enough to blab about it on RWNJ sites.
Anecdotal of course.
Ruckus
@debbie:
I’m pretty sure that article doesn’t rise to the level of pathetic. Not sure what’s below that but I’d bet it involves the word bullshit.
Jay
@TenguPhule:
You arn’t going to get any Senator from North Dakota or West Virginia to vote against a Coal Lobbiest.
sdhays
@MisterForkbeard: Sounds awesome! I’ll try to read it first, though.
Patricia Kayden
@oatler.: Mueller has the power to subpoena Trump. There is no way to avoid testifying for his lying behind.
Ruckus
@Betty Cracker:
No kidding.
I am having trouble finding the words, other than he’s a fucking asswipe deluxe. Like the most deluxe asswipe the world has ever seen. And there is a lot of both historical and current day competition for worlds most deluxe asswipe.
les
@TenguPhule:
Well, yeah. What you seemingly prefer not to hear is that the alternative is never vote with Dems, on any matter, gun or no gun. And if there’s a majority of one with Heitkamp, it’s Pelosi at the gavel, it’s Dem committee chairs, it’s a new game. So ’til SoDak changes totally, your bitchin’ ain’t helpin’.
Jay
@randy khan:
Dirk Diggler, oops, David Dennison, oops, Treason Tribble said the other day, it wasn’t his NDA, wasn’t his money, Cohen wasn’t acting as his lawyer,
So Lawyer Client privledge wouldn’t apply.
les
@les: All of which would be true except for the “she’s a senator” thing. Old memory. Point stands.
Ruckus
@Corner Stone:
Always nice to see people play up their strengths. drumpf sure is.
I remember when it was said that anyone could grow up to be president. Hell this asswipe made it without any of that growing up part.
Corner Stone
@randy khan: Disagree with this. Manchin and Heitster are not going to gain a single vote by approving any Trump nominee. We need to be fair about our situations but at the same time need to hard press the R’s into the defensive position. This gives them all a pass.
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
Let me just insert a plug for the satirical novel the Trump Administration deserves:
The Deepest State, born on Twitter, and so possibly familiar to some of you already.
Some samples:
J R in WV
@MisterForkbeard:
“Pence IS guilty, but he’s managed to keep his name out of most of it.”
And how does keeping his name out of the media, somewhat, make any difference to the criminal complaints and indictments? I imagine Mr. Muelller will release Pence’s indictments well before Mr Trump goes down.
TenguPhule
@les: The Pruitt vote was shit. Any conservative voter who made that a condition of voting D was literally never gonna vote D in the first place.
Mnemosyne
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Meanwhile, it’s snowing in Chicago.
Climate change? What’s that?
Gerald
@smintheus: Ahhhhh ….Yeah! …. Mr Capone!
Gerald
The WH and the POTUS have saying “You have to ask Michael Cohen!”
Well … ahhh … he’s being asked … errrah … by the FBeye!
And they LOOKING at a whole bunch of shit!
Bank fraud
Campaign finance laws
Influence quid pro quo loans
Various NDA with porn stars and playboy models
Possible sexual assult victims
Russian monkey bizness
Felix “not the cat” Slater a known Russian association
Money laundering
Can WE say … RICO?
You might not know this … Mr Cohen HAS snitched before!
Errrahhh …its not a stretch to think he might start warming up his vocal chords … real soon!
’cause … well … he’s already used that home equity loan … and that bumping noise you heard last week … WAS the bus rolling over him!
Those popcorn shares are growing in value each and every day!
Corner Stone
@TenguPhule: No reason whatsoever to vote for pruitt. The man sued the EPA a dozen times. He was demonstrably corrupt and beholden to extraction industry lobbyists.
Don’t tell me any bullshit about inoculating against a voter who might find a No a turnoff.