.
SCOOP: Trump repeatedly pressured Sessions on Mueller investigation. At least four direct conversations… https://t.co/07TqH5ZOua
— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) May 31, 2018
… because his Lord & Master Donald J. Trump has done everything short of calling a press conference to witness him taking a dump on Jeff’s desk, and yet the Malevolent Leprechaun still won’t walk away from a criminal conspiracy that at best is going to soil his reputation for all time.
…The New York Times this week reported on one of these conversations— which occurred at Mar-a-Lago in March 2017 — and said Robert Mueller is investigating it. But Trump’s other direct conversations with Sessions about the subject have not been previously reported.
A source with knowledge of the conversations said they occurred throughout last year, until fairly late in the year — not just in the short period after Sessions recused himself last March…
Trump told Sessions he’d be a “hero” to conservatives if he did the “right thing” and took back control over the Russia investigation, according to two sources with knowledge of their conversations.
Trump also told Sessions he’d be a hero if he investigated Hillary Clinton, according to one of the sources…
Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti opines:
3/ Later we learned that Trump said he wanted an Attorney General who would "protect" him, as he believed Eric Holder did for Obama. We then learned that Trump ordered his White House Counsel to try to stop Sessions from recusing himself: https://t.co/FHCnY6EOf5
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) May 30, 2018
10/ Four months ago, I wrote this article in @POLITICOMag, concluding Mueller would find that Trump obstructed justice. Since then, the evidence has grown stronger. Trump's team should expect a report from Mueller citing the Sessions recusal as evidence. https://t.co/LooNqBjPlj
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) May 30, 2018
….There are lots of really good lawyers in the country, he could have picked somebody else!” And I wish I did!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2018
I assumed this tweet was about Michael Cohen, but no https://t.co/9QcBtzUCP4
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) May 30, 2018
You picked Sessions, you picked Cohen, you picked Giuliani . . . .
. . . did it ever occur to you that the problem isn't with the lawyers?https://t.co/hT2d8seRHD
— KneelBeforeHat (@Popehat) May 30, 2018
“Why do the lawyers I choose for their sycophantic flattery and lapsed ethics keep being so bad at their jobs?”
— Joel Bernstein (@CastIrony) May 30, 2018
Trump pressured the nation's top law enforcement officer to overturn a decision that was required by ethics rules in order to undermine an investigation into himself and his friends. How is that not obstruction of justice? How is it not corrupt? Why aren't Republicans outraged? https://t.co/ZVcVxAWi2U
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) May 31, 2018
Jeffro
Renato, bubbe, they aren’t outraged because we’re talking about Republicans here, m’man!
Party over country, every. fucking. time.
Bobby Thomson
I don’t know why a guy who openly obstructs justice every day and who admitted in a televised interview and to the Russians that he fired Comey to obstruct justice keeps getting accused of firing Comey to obstruct justice. It’s a head scratcher.
p.a.
bigly.
Aleta
HumboldtBlue
I was gonna try and type something profanely funny or drop a link to a hot new vocalist, but I got nuttin.
(I lied, here’s the brilliance of Kendrick Lamar once more.)
I miss peppery lettuce and feigned outrage over exorbitant dinners in New York.
Trump is so toxic we’re gonna end up with Gavin Newsom as governor and I still don’t know what to make of that.
Adam L Silverman
@Bobby Thomson: I think it’s covered in the alt-US Code of Justice.//
jonas
Wow, for someone who’s totally committed no collusion to fix an election, or has absolutely no shady business deals in Russia to hide, this is strange behavior, to say the least.
Ruckus
@HumboldtBlue:
Me either. I’m really not feeling too good about our choices this go round.
Jeffro
@jonas: I know, right? I’m sure that if it were all in the reverse, our friends on the right would understand our reluctance to – even slightly – pressure President Hillary Rodham Clinton to be more forthcoming, or question why she was constantly trying to FUCKING DERAIL THE INVESTIGATION.
Cheryl Rofer
Apparently Trump levied the sanctions because he thought negotiations should go faster toward the outcomes he wanted.
NotMax
Turds of a feather.
opiejeanne
@Cheryl Rofer: I didn’t think he was even talking to the other countries about these supposed trade deals.
He seems to think he was elected Emperor of the world and Things should just Happen when he waves his hand. .
Brachiator
@Cheryl Rofer:
Someone needs to explain what negotiating is to Trump.
Suffragettecity
“It’s not just payback; it’s punishment. It’s never enough to win. There’s never too much blood. There’s never too many guts on the floor. That’s his mentality. If you give him a paper cut he’ll never forget that paper cut.”
— Source who talks frequently to Trump
via Axios
so true
NotMax
@opejeanne
But – but – seventy-five billion people watched the inauguration!
:)
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: It gets worse.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/31/trump-reportedly-said-he-wants-to-stop-german-luxury-car-imports-in-the-us.html
Chet Murthy
@Brachiator: “A Shart is Ideal”.
Geez, yeah. I read _You Can Negotiate Anything_ and shit, even that taught about they guy with the shorter clock …..
Ruckus
@NotMax:
In abject horror?
Among other things he’s terrible at is maths?
Amir Khalid
That Politico headline:
Only “now”? Merely “likely”? Fercrapsake, the guy volunteered a confession on nationwide TV last year! Mueller’s people already know for sure that he did it. They’re taking this long only to ensure that, when they come at him, they don’t miss.
Cheryl Rofer
@Adam L Silverman: I wonder what kind of personal cars he has.
I also wonder if anyone has told him about the Mercedes Benz plant in Alabama and the BMW plant in South Carolina.
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
Read: pisses off Dolt 45.
B.B.A.
@Bobby Thomson: He never actually admitted anything. He blurted out disconnected phrases about the firing and the Russia investigation, but did not say there was any causal link between the two.
And if you think that argument is horseshit, well, I agree, but 60 million Americans and the Congresspeople they inflict on us say otherwise.
Chet Murthy
BTW, he’s blowing up the WTO: Trump’s bonfire of the treaties sweeps towards the WTO
Lots more at the link.
Cheryl Rofer
Huh. There’s also a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga and another Mercedes plant in South Carolina.
TS (the original)
@opiejeanne:
The way the political media and the GOP treat him – he has a right to think this. The more he attacks and insults, the more they say yes sir, yes sir, whatever you say sir. That his media office lie so much for him is unbelievable but the way the WHPC respond is even more disgusting.
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: I think he owns a couple of limousines. He doesn’t drive himself around New York and hasn’t for years. The last one to be publicly written about was a Cadillac, which he actually scammed out of the company. Whether he’s got some luxury cars stashed at Mar a Lago or his other properties, I have no idea. But my understanding is he doesn’t drive himself and hasn’t for a while.
https://jalopnik.com/how-donald-trump-got-cadillac-to-build-him-the-most-opu-1764776150
Much more at the link.
Ilefttxwhenannlost
@Ruckus: do not support Gavin…he doesn’t do anything…as mayor of sf, he took public garbage cans off the street…not garbage just the cans…the gay marriage window was well outside his jurisdiction and that crappy video “it’s gonna happen one way or the other” killed prop 8 no vote and just delayed the issue to the courts…Iowa went with gay marriage rights before ca…he added several $100k salaried jobs to the office…care for cash please…hopefully he’s toast but I have my doubts…too many believe the ken doll image
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: When Mercedes and BMW and VW close down their plants in Alabama and Tennessee and Kentucky in retaliation I’m going to laugh my tuchas off!
NotMax
Have begun watching Dickensian on Amazon Prime.
It’s a clever conceit, creating Earth-Dickens, and obviously a labor of love but some of the fabric is stretched so far as to become threadbare. Supposedly becomes less of a muddle as it goes along.
Aleta
May 31-April 1 1921
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: Yep.
burnspbesq
@HumboldtBlue:
I’m not seeing that as a fait accompli. Show up on Tuesday. Vote for somebody else (FWIW, I’m leaning toward Chiang). See what happens.
patroclus
@Cheryl Rofer: LOL! As if the Canadians, Mexicans, Europeans, Chinese, Koreans or anyone else are ever going to agree with his outrageous demands! Tariffs and duties result in retaliatory tariffs and duties; not capitulation to bullying. I wonder if Trump will ever learn this.
Cheryl Rofer
@patroclus: The problem is that a president has a lot of leeway on tariffs, and the Republican Congress isn’t doing anything. There have been tears and prayers from some congressional Republicans today on Twitter, and I’ve @-tted every one I’ve seen to the appropriate coward, pointing out that they could do something about it.
Ilefttxwhenannlost
@burnspbesq:I like chaing…I think villaragosa has a better shot…don’t like the charter school stuff but as far as I know that’s not statewide issue…city yes…don’t want gavin@burnspbesq:
Peale
@Chet Murthy: “we will participate in this court only if the decisions are guaranteed to be favorable to us”.
I’m looking forward to US MNCs splitting off their foreign ops into independent companies to save themselves.
Cheryl Rofer
The kittehs are chewing on my feet to remind me, in case I’ve forgotten, that it’s late night snack time. So goodnight – I’ll check in tomorrow.
HumboldtBlue
@burnspbesq:
I already mailed my ballot and voted for Chiang as well, but it appears John Cox may be able to hump the Trump train long enough to get second to whomever the Dems nominate. Lot of votes to be counted, though, you’re right.
trollhattan
@Ruckus:
The Newsom-Cox runoff in November will clarify things bigly.
I went with Chiang but with the jungle primary system it’s a throwaway vote. We’d be better off with two Dems in November to suppress the Republican turnout.
Adam L Silverman
@Chet Murthy: @Peale: The Trump Doctrine in action.
burnspbesq
Although if the Devil came to me and said that if I voted for Cox, he would guarantee that Dems would win the seats currently held by Issa, Rohrbacher, Walters, and Royce, I would have to think pretty seriously about that. The damage a Republican governor can do with Democratic super-majorities in both houses of the Legislature is pretty minuscule.
HumboldtBlue
Cox has no chance in the general, he’ll lose to whomever the Dems nominate, it just appears that could be Newsom.
Redshift
Yes, but I suspect he also knows that if he goes along with the obstruction and resigns, he could be in legal jeopardy, and he’s not immune from indictment.
Steeplejack
@Cheryl Rofer:
In the old days when you read this kind of story you mentally filled in “undersecretary of something,” “senior Senate aide,” “retired diplomat,” etc. With Trump you shudder and wonder: “Hannity? Stephen Miller? That golf caddie guy? Random Mar-a-Lago member?”
Yutsano
@Cheryl Rofer: Yup. It’s where my 2016 Passat was made.
Procopius
Oh, come on. Get real. The criminal conspiracies of the Trump gang aren’t what’s going to soil Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III’s reputation for all time. It’s his own long-established bigotry, racism, and corruption of the law. The man is worse even than Rudy Giuliani He will always be remembered as an evil, cruel man. And being hounded by Trump is not expiation of his sins.
danielx
Nope. Never. Not fucking once has Donald Trump considered himself at fault. If he makes a decision, it is a Trump decision, therefore a good – no, brilliantly excellent! – decision by default. If a suboptimal outcome follows it’s because his intentions, and more importantly his interests, were neglected by bungling subordinates.
Sure does seem to have a shit ton of bungling subordinates, though, does he not? For somebody who hires only the best people.
Procopius
@Cheryl Rofer: Oh, good. That will encourage millions of non-Germans (who are outraged for other reasons already) to seek ways to get around the sanctions Trump plans to impose on Iran. Of course, to the extent that the EU complies with the sanctions, China and Russia are going to be able to buy a lot of stuff at lower prices.
NotMax
FYI.
Mercedes-Benz car sales in 2017.
Worldwide: 2,289,344 (+9.9% from 2016)
U.S.: 337,246 (-0.9% from 2016)
Source
Mandalay
@HumboldtBlue: An interview clip with Gavin Newsom:
Why would you give that lawyerly weasel answer if you had absolutely no intention of running? Why wouldn’t you simply say that you definitely will not run for president?
Newsom is as slippery as an eel. I trust him as much as I’d trust Trump if he was stuck in an elevator with Ivanka.
Feebog
@trollhattan:
I also already voted for Chang, but idon’tthink he has a shot at the top two. Don’t know who did his ads but they sucked.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Feebog: Chiang’s ads have really been awful; while they haven’t swayed me, Newsom’s ads have been really good.
Neldob
Party of law and order? Republicans? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Matt McIrvin
Hey, is this California jungle primary system really going to accidentally elect a million Republicans in California and save the House for the Rs, like all these articles say?
Aleta
@Steeplejack: I like the helpful ‘former administration official’ who says “He’s fed up” — “He’s tired of waiting” — They “aren’t ever going to give in to his demands.” wtf
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Matt McIrvin: Might only make things dicey in maybe 3 districts in the OC and northern San Diego County.
Yutsano
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I wonder if it’s going to be as bad as that. The jungle primary here always manages to throw up one candidate on each side except in my district because we have a lot of stupid white people.
lollipopguild
@Aleta: They are not kneeling before Zod!
FlipYrWhig
@Steeplejack:
IMHO “one person familiar with the president’s thinking” is usually the president.
Chet Murthy
@FlipYrWhig: I kinda had he same thought myself.
Waspuppet
I’ll give Sessions this and this only: He knows that knuckling under and obstructing justice for Trump would buy him about 24 hours of peace before Trump would find some other law he wanted him to break, and screaming about firing him for refusing to break it.
The Other Chuck
POTUS might get a better lawyer if he ever, yunno, paid his lawyers.
Stan
Couldn’t we solve this whole German car thing by simply banning them from Fifth avenue on days Trump is in town? It’d be a lot cheaper to just post a cop and let folks know……”do your patriotic duty….when you ride down Fifth avenue in a Mercedes, you ride with Trump”
Captain C
Because it’s part of them winning. They don’t give a fuck about anything else. There aren’t any more ethical Republicans in positions of power. Even if we count John McCain as somewhat ethical, his time is very limited, and the rest of the gang won’t listen to him anyway.
brantl
; What reputation? He’s always been a known putz.