Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

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

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

Cole is on a roll !

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

So many bastards, so little time.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

T R E 4 5 O N

Consistently wrong since 2002

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

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Because Fuck It Why Not?

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Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, a combative former prosecutor and longtime ally of President Trump, told The Washington Post on Thursday that he has joined the president’s legal team dealing with the ongoing special counsel probe.

“I’m doing it because I hope we can negotiate an end to this for the good of the country and because I have high regard for the president and for Bob Mueller,” Giuliani said in an interview.

Trump counsel Jay Sekulow said Thursday in a statement that Giuliani is joining the team along with two former federal prosecutors, Jane Serene Raskin and Marty Raskin, a couple who jointly run a Florida-based law firm.

What’s the opposite of the dream team? At least this will be entertaining.

Reader Interactions

164Comments

  2. 2.

    Thoughtful David

    Trump couldn’t get a real lawyer who’s not compromised, Giuliani couldn’t get a job because he is. They’re a perfect match.

  4. 4.

    Ruckus

    Entertaining?
    OK watching them fall all over themselves and step on their own genitalia 4 times a minute will be fun. At least no one has to worry about being over matched on this legal team. Wonder who will be the boss? drumpf? Ok now that would be fucking hilarious.

    What is this legal eagle team called, The Mess of Stooges?

  6. 6.

    EL

    I (non lawyer here) was wondering if Trump and Giuliani have to ensure some conversations are “privileged.” I wouldn’t be surprised if Giuliani could be at risk.

  7. 7.

    germy

    Former Trump lawyer and surrogate says Cohen will flip because prison has “racial overtones” and Cohen doesn’t want to be a mans wife. ¯_(ツ)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/MywFNwCkXV
    — Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) April 20, 2018

    The video has to be seen to be believed. It’s strange, and the interviewer pretends it’s just another normal talking head.

  8. 8.

    different-church-lady

    “I’m doing it because I hope we can negotiate an end to this for the good of the country and because I have high regard for the president and for Bob Mueller I’m pretty sure I can trick him into signing an executive order that makes me president,” Giuliani said in an interview.

  9. 9.

    germy

    LG&M comment:

    JMP • 2 hours ago
    What would Trump have in common with a corrupt former Mayor who abused his position for personal gain after taking office by raiding on a wave of racist white resentment at New York’s first black mayor?

  10. 10.

    Ohio Mom

    Who said there are no second acts in America? We seem to be stuck in an endless loop. The same useless, miserable characters keep popping up, they never go away.

  11. 11.

    JPL

    So AP already has the Comey memos, and everyone is surprised that it took so long. Today sucks.

  13. 13.

    Elizabelle

    because I have high regard for the president and for Bob Mueller,” Giuliani said in an interview.

    WRT Mueller: cannot imagine that feeling is mutual.

    I’d like to know what Team Mueller is calling Trump’s brain trust? Vulture Culture?

  17. 17.

    JMG

    @JPL: I wouldn’t be surprised if the Comey memo leak came from the DOJ. Better to put them out there in toto before they are subjected to creative editing by House Judiciary and Intelligence. It’s been reported Mueller had no objection to the memos release. He’s always been a step ahead of the game so far.

  19. 19.

    Adam L Silverman

    @germy: This is the answer you’re looking for:
    http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/wayne-barrett-donald-trump-rudy-giuliani-peas-pod-article-1.2776357

    Rudy and Donald first got together in the late 1980s shortly before Donald became a co-chair of Giuliani’s first fundraiser for his 1989 mayoral campaign, sitting on the Waldorf dais and steering $41,000 to the campaign. A year earlier, Tony Lombardi, the federal agent closest to then-U.S. Attorney Giuliani, opened a probe of Trump’s role in the suspect sale of two Trump Tower apartments to Robert Hopkins, the mob-connected head of the city’s largest gambling ring.

    Trump attended the closing himself and Hopkins arrived with a briefcase loaded with up to $200,000 in cash, a deposit the soon-to-felon counted at the table. Despite Hopkins’ wholesale lack of verifiable income or assets, he got a loan from a Jersey bank that did business with Trump’s casino. A Trump limo delivered the cash to the bank.

    The government subsequently nailed Hopkins’ mortgage broker, Frank LaMagra, on an unrelated charge and he offered to give up Donald, claiming Trump “participated” in the money-laundering — and volunteering to wear a wire on him.

    Instead, Lombardi, who discussed the case with Giuliani personally (and with me for a 1993 Village Voice piece called “The Case of the Missing Case”), went straight to Donald for two hour-long interviews with him. Within weeks of the interviews, Donald announced he’d raise $2 million in a half hour if Rudy ran for mayor. Lamagra got no deal and was convicted, as was his mob associate, Louis (Louie HaHa) Attanasio, who was later also nailed for seven underworld murders. Hopkins was convicted of running his gambling operation partly out of the Trump Tower apartment, where he was arrested.

    Lombardi — who expected a top appointment in a Giuliani mayoralty, conducted several other probes directly tied to Giuliani political opponents, and testified later that “every day I came to work I went to Mr. Giuliani to seek out what duties I needed to perform” — closed the Trump investigation without even giving it a case number. That meant that New Jersey gaming authorities would never know it existed.

    It’s hard to watch Giuliani invoke his 14-year history as a federal prosecutor when he calls for Clinton’s prosecution and square it with the seedy launch of his own relationship with Trump.

    Much more at the link.

  21. 21.

    Sister Golden Bear

    I’m assuming it’ll be a surprise for Lord Tinyfingers that he won’t be able negotiate a settlement like the ones he did with the contactors he strong-armed into taking 5 percent of what they were owed….

    OTOH, maybe they’re hoping Mueller will accept a plea bargain to “a little light treason.”

  22. 22.

    unpopularopinion

    People. We are so f’d. He’s not there to do any legal work. He is there because he has vast amounts of experience lying on tv. He is the PR front to the firing of Meuller that is coming sooner, not later.

  23. 23.

    germy

    @Adam L Silverman:

    he offered to give up Donald, claiming Trump “participated” in the money-laundering — and volunteering to wear a wire on him.

    Ladies and Gentlemen, please rise for the president of the United States.

  25. 25.

    Baud

    Some good news.

    A federal judge has blocked the U.S. government from transferring to another country an American citizen who has been held without charge by the U.S. military in Iraq for more than seven months.

    U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan issued the preliminary injunction Thursday evening, minutes before an 8 p.m. deadline to stop the transfer. The government had provided 72-hour notice, as required by the court, earlier this week that it planned to send the man, whose name has not been made public, to a third country.

  26. 26.

    Elizabelle

    @ 499 on the Lily thread.

    I keep hoping Dance Around in your Bones will show up. Miss her.

  30. 30.

    Elizabelle

    @sukabi:

    for his home and offices orifices.

    I am in an evil mood.

    SO: was Rudy lying low because of the scandal page third divorce? And I kinda think he’s on this team to protect his own interests. He may have been involved in the underlying crimes.

  37. 37.

    Baud

    President Donald Trump will not attend Saturday’s funeral service for former first lady Barbara Bush, the White House said in a statement Thursday, citing the desire to “avoid disruptions” and out of respect for her family and friends.

    “First Lady Melania Trump will attend the memorial service for Barbara Bush this Saturday on behalf of the First Family. To avoid disruptions due to added security, and out of respect for the Bush Family and friends attending the service, President Trump will not attend,” the White House said in a statement.

  40. 40.

    Emma

    So my WTF???!!! streak remains unbroken. Giuliani. Jesus, son of Mary, stepson of Joseph.

  41. 41.

    CarolDuhart2

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): My guess is that he’s a rusty lawyer and hasn’t really practiced law in over 20 years. Not in the lot of research and hardworking part of law, which is what he would need to be even equal to Mueller. Since he’s been mayor, he may have been a name on the letterhead, hired to give prestige and his rolodex to the firm, not actually do any real work.

    Also, negotiate with Mueller? What could he offer that would be enough for him to consider, let alone actually close up his investigations? And I think it’s too late-even if Mueller let Trump off the hook, he already has several prosecutions and a couple of trials scheduled. A deal does not unindict those people or reverse the sentences already granted.

  42. 42.

    PVDMichael

    Oh.. I wish I had the power to control a Russian bot farm to get that creepy Rudy Giuliani-in-drag/Trump video trending.

  45. 45.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud: I’d never expected Trump to attend, and thank dog for that.

    Airwaves gonna be full of praise for the “good type” of Republicans, though.

  49. 49.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TenguPhule: I was just posting the tweet. Moreover, I don’t think this guy was joking. I get the impression he’s an 80 some odd year old bigoted NY attorney.

  51. 51.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TenguPhule: Wayne Barrett did try to push it during the election. But he was also dying. And the news media decided the President’s and his campaign were good for business.

  52. 52.

    germy

    Roger Stone, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, responded to the death of former First Lady Barbara Bush by calling her a “nasty drunk” in an Instagram post.

    “Barbara Bush was a nasty drunk. When it came to drinking she made Betty Ford look like Carrie Nation #blottoBabs,” Stone wrote, hours after the former first lady’s death. “Barbara Bush drank so much booze, if they cremated her … her body would burn for three days.”

    When asked about his divisive statements by TheWrap, Stone doubled down.

    http://www.newsweek.com/trump-adviser-roger-stone-barbara-bush-drunk-893012

  54. 54.

    Feebog

    Ghouliani adds nothing to Trumpov’s legal team. Anybody know anything about the lawyers from Florida added to the team?

  55. 55.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud: At this point, you know they are. They predate Newt Gingrich and the overt nastiness he ushered in.

    I guess that funeral will be a reunion of the old, old guard. Maybe Brent Scowcroft, Bob and Elizabeth Dole — who else is still around? The Quayles, and he is no longer the most odious VP choice to hale from Indiana…

  57. 57.

    germy

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I don’t think this guy was joking.

    He was serious. And his “racial” comment meant basically “Michael doesn’t want to be around a bunch of Blacks.”

  59. 59.

    Captain C

    Interesting that Trump added a man with experience in high-profile organized crime cases to his team. Also, could Giuliani be a stool pigeon? Would that even be remotely legal?

  61. 61.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): @CarolDuhart2: The last one of these he put himself in the middle of, last year, didn’t end very well for his client.
    https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/a-mysterious-case-involving-turkey-iran-and-rudy-giuliani

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/30/nyregion/rudolph-giuliani-reza-zarrab-iran-sanctions-case.html

    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/turkish-gold-trader-reza-zarrab-accused-raping-nyc-cellmate-n827466

    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/turkey-puts-squeeze-u-s-witness-who-implicated-erdogan-n826586

  68. 68.

    Downpuppy

    Given the attempt to use the Bulger saga to smear Mueller with having been in the Justice Department in Boston from 1983-1986, the choice of Trump’s new lawyer is interesting, Her firm bio mentions:

    Ms. Raskin began her legal career with the Boston law firm Bingham, Dana & Gould (the former Bingham McCutcheon). In 1983, she joined the Department of Justice as a trial attorney with the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section’s Boston Strike Force. After three years of investigating and prosecuting major organized crime cases, including the nine-month trial and conviction of the underboss of the New England mafia, Ms. Raskin was appointed Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division in Washington, D.C., where she advised on sensitive cases, policy, and assisted in the supervision of criminal investigations and prosecutions nationwide. She later served as First Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts.

  69. 69.

    lamh36

    @AP
    3m3 minutes ago
    More
    BREAKING: Comey memo: Trump said Vladimir Putin told him, ‘We have some of the most beautiful hookers in the world’

  70. 70.

    germy

    @Adam L Silverman: What’s the deal with Republicans and typos? Everyone from the local idiots who comment on my newspaper websites to the White House and its lawyers… they can’t put four words together without screwing up two of them.

  74. 74.

    TenguPhule

    @lamh36:

    Trump said Vladimir Putin told him, ‘We have some of the most beautiful hookers in the world’

    SMH.

    Once again, this script would be rejected by Hollywood for being too unbelievable.

  75. 75.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Thoughtful David:

    Trump couldn’t get a real lawyer who’s not compromised, Giuliani couldn’t get a job because he is. They’re a perfect match.

    Fucking poetry, that is.

  77. 77.

    TenguPhule

    Donald Trump told former FBI Director James Comey that he had serious concerns about the judgment of his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, according to memos maintained by Comey and obtained by The Associated Press.

    The 15 pages of documents contain new details about a series of interactions that Comey had with Trump in the weeks before his May 2017 firing. Those encounters include a White House dinner at which Comey says Trump asked him for his loyalty, and a meeting the following month in which he says the president asked him to end an investigation into Flynn.

    According to one memo, Trump complained about Flynn at a private January 2017 dinner with Comey, saying “the guy has serious judgment issues.” He then blamed Flynn for a delay in returning the congratulatory call of an international leader.

    Fiction: “I give up, Reality. Ewe win.”

  78. 78.

    jl

    ” At least this will be entertaining. ”
    I for one, am tired of being entertained.

    RG had some inside pipeline to FBI leaks and outside (and very partisan) influence on SDNY FBI office, and hacked emails, during the election. So, is Rudi doing this to help Trump, or get next to Mueller to put in a good word and see whether he needs get working quick on a deal, but for himself? I think that is a fair and interesting question.

    Edit: could be planning on being a clever spy into Mueller and other probes too.

  79. 79.

    germy

    The courts.

    "Judge James Ho has been a federal judge for only a few months. Until Wednesday, he had never handed down a judicial opinion in his life. But the Trump appointee’s first opinion, calling for a sweeping assault on campaign contribution limits, is a doozy" https://t.co/DN9ybMBjsX— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) April 19, 2018

  80. 80.

    Mnemosyne

    @germy:

    It’s one of the ways they show their contempt for us plebes, who have to worry about stupid shit like typos in order to be heard.

  82. 82.

    Adam L Silverman

    @raven: Was it prefaced by a 40 minute deep dive into the origin of the name James and how it can be shortened to Jim?

  86. 86.

    JPL

    Comey just threw a lifeline to McCabe.. He didn’t have to talk to him, but would have expected him to.

  90. 90.

    efgoldman

    @Just One More Canuck:

    “negotiate”? WTF?

    I said in an earlier thread: I’m sure NounVerb911 bullshitted Weasel Face that he can fix things with his New York friends.
    He can’t but that’s what he bullshitted.

    I’m thinking Weasel Face (or somebody) must have written a lot of certified checks.

  91. 91.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Just had a squint at Facebook, and it seems I have a bunch of relatives who equate FOX News, CNN, and MSNBC.

    I’m trying not to engage, but it’s really, really hard, y’all.

  92. 92.

    Anne Laurie

    ETA: Rudy needs the money — presumably delivered to an account his about-to-be ex-wife #3 can’t access. Of course Trump won’t pay him, but I’m guessing Rudy figures he’ll bill the RNC ‘Friends of the President’…

  93. 93.

    jl

    @TenguPhule: Never forget the ‘nuts’ element in the Trump mess, in addition to corruption, selfishness, ignorance and malevolence. I noticed a sequence of truly insane, incoherent, and out-of-it tweets on his foreign trade policy, and was going to post them here with a comment, but the situation is just too depressing right now. If I remember I’ll do it later.

  96. 96.

    Elizabelle

    ‘We have some of the most beautiful hookers in the world’

    Said V. Putin to B. Obama never.

  97. 97.

    jl

    @germy:
    ” The video has to be seen to be believed. It’s strange, and the interviewer pretends it’s just another normal talking head. ”

    It is very weird to see Trumpster surrogates talking like they are in scenes from Goodfellas kibbitzing on which of the mobsters are going to rat out, or hold strong, or do hard time. But the corporate news actors sit there and feel they have to pretend nothing unusual is going on.

  102. 102.

    Anotherlurker

    For a good picture of what Rudy G. is, a preening, inflated, Narcissistic Blowhard, please read Wayne Barrette and Dan Collins (Rolling Stone investigatitive journalists) book: “The Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giulianni and 9/11”.
    Very enlightening and infuriating.
    Rudy, the tough Prosecutor, could not even sight an Emergency Response Control Center properly. Instead of the hardened realestate of the Brooklyn Metroplex, he had to locate it on the 7th floor of 7 WTC. Ground Zero. The dust covered mayor should be a symbol of failure, in the service of greed, instead of the “hero” he keeps telling everyone he is.
    Plenty more pictures painted by Barrett and Collins, in the book, show a self promoting asshole who knows who to tongue bathe.
    There is much more. Sadly, old news. But it gives a good picture of the asshole and his motivation

  103. 103.

    JPL

    So Trump never spoke to Putin except for that time Putin bragged about beautiful hookers.

  104. 104.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Elizabelle: I don’t believe trump and Putin ever spoke before the election. I’ve got the Corn/Issikoff audiobook, and I’ve gotten away from it for about a week as I’ve been busy, but I know Putin blew him off during the whole Miss Universe thing

    (Maddow digging in on Rudi. Good)

  107. 107.

    Elizabelle

    Interesting. Comey commissioned an investigation into leaks from the FBI to Giuliani — how Rudy got advance word — but doesn’t know the outcome because he was fired before he heard the results.

    Mr. Wray? Is that investigation complete yet?

  109. 109.

    Jay S

    @Baud: Yep if Rudi could negotiate Trumps exit without getting anyone killed, it would probably be for the best.

  114. 114.

    Eljai

    @raven: It started out slowly for me because Comey kept responding that he couldn’t answer specific questions. But I could see what she was trying to get at. Now it’s riveting.

  115. 115.

    JPL

    So the Nunes’ group thinks that releasing the memos was a good idea, because Comey hadn’t written scathing memos like this about Obama.
    Well I say DUH wtf

  117. 117.

    Bupalos

    I haven’t read thrPugh to see if this has been grokked yet, but the obvious play here is that Giuliani is coming in with this “I like both sides , that’s why I must mediate” thing strictly so that 6-12 days from now he can render judgement for trump, as an “impartial party.” That is 105% of the deal here.

  118. 118.

    jl

    @JPL: I’ve read some of the Comey memos. They are only scathing because of what Trump said. So, did Trump actually say them or not? Did Obama ever say anything like that, or not? Seems pretty simple to me.

    Anyway, the GOP Congressional weasels and malfeasants have to say something. They are steamed that they didn’t get them first and issue dishonest extracts in order to do a smear job.

  121. 121.

    BroD

    Rudy’s the designated driver for the get-away car. Plus, he knows a guy who knows a guy if you get my drift.

  122. 122.

    jl

    Rudy is desperate because the Baud 2020! turned him down for campaign legal work? My new favorite theory.

  124. 124.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Rachel Maddow says she had one conversation with trump. I wonder when that was? I’m guessing either before or early in his campaign. Sounds like a story worth telling.

  126. 126.

    Elizabelle

    @NotMax:

    Rudolph the brown-nosed splaindeer.

    Love it.

    Guys: can you remember other cases/scandals where the legal help ended up getting indicted too? Watergate and John Dean, but what else ?? Does that happen much in real-life mob and RICO cases?

  127. 127.

    Gravenstone

    @JPL: and a reminder that Comey long ago explained that those contemporaneous memos about Trump were as a result of his talking one on one with Trump. A situation Obama didn’t put him in.

  129. 129.

    Elizabelle

    Kevin Drum blogpost title:

    Rudy Is Back in the Saddle

    *snort* Thinking Aerosmith here.

  130. 130.

    jl

    @Gravenstone: Thanks for the reminder. I had forgotten that previous presidents didn’t force themselves into inappropriate situations so they could say self-incriminating shit. Even Dub had more sense than that.

    Edit: All the Trumpsters have is ‘Sezhooo?” and “obvious Deep State conspiracy”. Which thankfully is BS now dismissed by at least 2/3 of the country, and signs that it is wearing thin with at least some of the rest.

  131. 131.

    debbie

    Andy Borowitz on FB:

    Trump Hires Only Lawyer in U.S. with Fewer Clients Than Michael Cohen

  132. 132.

    Adam L Silverman

  133. 133.

    Millard Filmore

    @germy:

    But if you don’t like big money in politics, then you should oppose big government in our lives.

    Yeah, that’s the ticket. Government is too big. End the interference in commerce … abolish the corporate veil and other laws that sloppy business owners can hide behind.

  136. 136.

    J R in WV

    @TenguPhule:

    @Adam L Silverman: I thought there was general consensus that Prison Rape Jokes are considered uncool here?

    That’s not a joke, Tengu… it’s a quote. From a participant.

  137. 137.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @ brianbeutler 5m5 minutes ago
    It remains … interesting … that Trump lied to Comey as to his whereabouts on the night he allegedly asked the prostitutes to pee on his bed.

    Trump says he didn’t stay overnight in Moscow. He did. (Beutler is a Pee-Liever)

  138. 138.

    Adam L Silverman

    @debbie: Potentially complicates and/or taints a future criminal prosecution arising from the special counsel’s investigation. According to the reporting Mueller was consulted and indicated he had no issues with them being handed over to Congress. This seems to indicate he doesn’t need them to make whatever cases he expects to make.

  139. 139.

    Mike J

    @debbie: I expected them to trickle out stuff out of context. My guess is that somebody hostile to house Republicans leaked the whole thing preëmptively.

  140. 140.

    Timurid

    @TenguPhule:

    Because the MSM was tanking harder than Heinz Guderian.
    The immolation of Trump would have been epic, and the press could have played it as white knight guardians of the Republic or as if-it-bleeds-it-leads ghouls… and made a killing either way. But they decided to leave all that money on the table. Their approach to Trump during the election, transition and his Presidency has not been indignation, alarm or voyeurism. It’s been ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. You don’t sell papers or get clicks with ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. But ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it is, at the cost of untold revenue… in an era where competition for media and advertising revenue has never been fiercer. The only thing that explains that is a political agenda. And that agenda is authoritarianism and white supremacy.

  141. 141.

    jl

    @J R in WV: Truly amazing. That clip is one, just one, of the things on my mind, when I commented above that Trumpsters are talking like mobsters out of Goodfellas on who is loyal, who needs to get whacked to keep things quiet, who will get hard time and is critical.

    If they can talk like that, I don’t know why the news actors on TV can say “WTF? GTFOH! So, Trump is guilty as hell, you saying that or just saying?”

  144. 144.

    jl

    @Timurid: ¯|_(ツ)_/¯ was better from corporate profit and PR perspective. Cult of balance.

    I’ve wondered a few times whether Trumpsters in particular, and GOP base in general, are particularly prized viewers because those chumps will buy anything. Don’t want to piss them off. More affluent ones buy fancy new cars and RVs and vacays, while those lower down on the food chain good for credit repair, cheap used care loans, adult diapers, and pain meds, etc.

  145. 145.

    Sebastian

    Giuliani is the conduit to rogue FBI elements. They want to torpedo the investigation from inside.

    H/t Sarah Kendzior

  147. 147.

    jl

    @Sebastian:
    ” Giuliani is the conduit to rogue FBI elements. They want to torpedo the investigation from inside. ”

    Also plausible. Wonder why Giuliani is saying goofy shit that puts him in the national spot light and warn off Mueller from doing anything that laying a trap to lure RG into incriminating himself, so he can file some more charges? Shouldn’t he take a lower profile if that is what is up? He should get a secret agent to do it.

    Kind of pointless to try to figure out what crazy people think they are doing, unless you have a reliable and very specific diagnosis.

  149. 149.

    gwangung

    @Sebastian: That may be the intent, but how likely is that going to be in reality? The NY FBI were rogues with respect to Clinton, but after the way Trump is treating the FBI and CIA, I’m not so certain they’ll give G-boy all that much.

  151. 151.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @gwangung: another possibility:

    Jennifer Rubin @ JRubinBlogger
    This is a fraud. And here Trump is the mark for a change

    watching trump’s other old/new lawyer, this guy @Adam L Silverman: , on the O’Donnell show, and it’s a chestnut from just about every TV show about lawyers I”ve ever seen: The once brilliant lawyer who was mentor to one of the leads comes out of retirement, everyone is prepared to be dazzled by his gray eminence, and it turns out his marbles don’t roll so smooth no more

  152. 152.

    Sm*t Cl*de

    @germy:

    the interviewer pretends it’s just another normal talking head.

    IKR? Goldberg looks like his lower jawbone has been removed and replaced by one that’s two sizes too small.

  153. 153.

    jl

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I can think of many reasonable standards by which Trump, as president, has been defrauded by almost everyone he’s appointed or chosen to work with.

    So, I guess that theory is as good as any of the others.

  155. 155.

    jonas

    What happened to that medievalist-lawyer guy from Georgia? Hard to keep track these days…

  158. 158.

    jonas

    @Regine Touchon: Rudy’s not there to provide legal expertise. He’s been brought on to provide sound bites on Fox News about how Grand Inquisitor Torquemueller is persecuting the poor, innocent Trump, who wouldn’t fuck, er, harm a fly.

  159. 159.

    Another Scott

    FTFNYT from 2016, on why Rudy wouldn’t be a good pick for Secretary of State(!):

    […]

    Records show Mr. Giuliani has had ties dating to at least 2004 to TriGlobal, a company that has provided image consulting to Russian oligarchs and clients with deep Kremlin ties. They have included Transneft, Russia’s state-owned oil pipeline giant, which is the target of Western sanctions imposed after President Vladimir V. Putin annexed Crimea and began meddling in Ukraine.

    TriGlobal’s advisory board includes Ara Abramyan, listed on the company’s website as a “very close Advisor to the Russian Government’s inner circle including the President and the Prime Minister.” The company’s founding partners are Andrey Drobyshev, who claims to have strong relations with regional and municipal governments in Russia, and Vitaly Pruss, whose website profile says that he has focused on “international image development and PR for Russian & Ukrainian companies” and that from 2008 to 2011, he worked “closely with Giuliani Partners LLC.”

    Jeffrey Berman, one of TriGlobal’s managing partners, is also vice president of Berman Enterprises, a family-run company that worked with Giuliani Partners in 2008 to form a commercial and residential real estate investment vehicle called the Berman Opportunity Fund. Its purpose was to target foreign investors looking to take advantage of the weak dollar through real estate investments in New York and Washington.

    Few public details are available about Mr. Giuliani’s role in the real estate venture, and Mr. Berman did not return a call for comment. But some of Mr. Giuliani’s work for TriGlobal, which has offices in Moscow and Kiev, Ukraine, is featured on the company’s website.

    In 2004, for instance, the company arranged to have Mr. Giuliani come to Moscow to meet with the foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, as well as other prominent Russian politicians and business executives. That year, Mr. Giuliani visited Magnitogorsk, Russia, “for a series of meetings with Viktor Rashnikov,” a Russian billionaire who is the chairman of the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works.

    […]

    Rudy’s up to his neck in the Russia stuff, and potentially shady [(cough) money laundering (cough)] real estate deals, also too.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  160. 160.

    jonas

    @gwangung: That’s my sense, too. The “rogue” elements in the NY office were more out to get HRC than they were providing cover for Trump at all costs. Like Comey, the vast majority of these guys are right-wing Republicans, but I think once it was clear that Trump was willing to throw the FBI and the entire rest of the IC under the bus to cover his ass in the Russia investigation and whatever other criminal chicanery he’s been up to for decades, I’m sure their enthusiasm for the Anti-Clinton cooled considerably. Giuliani is a self-serving ass who’s only on board so he can go on Hannity and bullshit for Trump (while billing for it), not to provide serious legal counsel.

  162. 162.

    mainmata

    @lollipopguild: Giuliani’s connection to this imbroglio is his relationship with the NY branch of the FBI and how he got them to force Comey’s hand into re-opening the email investigation by leaking news of Weiner’s cellphone to JasonintheHouse. Typical Giuliani rtfcking.

  163. 163.

    Aleta

    “I’m doing it because I hope we can negotiate an end to this for the good of the country and because I have high regard for the president and for Bob Mueller” Donald’s about to tip over the outhouse and the bosses are as nervous as the flies.”

  164. 164.

    Amir Khalid

    I missed a whole day of the intertubes bcause of a bad modem. Came back just a few minutes ago to the very sad news about dear Lily, and to this rather less sad item about Giuliani. Needless to say, there is some serious shared delusion/desperation going on in Trumpland if they think Rudy G is going to talk Mueller out of anything.

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