Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

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

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

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

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

This blog will pay for itself.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

You are here: Home / Politics / America / Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein Press Conference

Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein Press Conference

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Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein is scheduled to hold a press conference regarding a law enforcement announcement today at 11:45 AM EDT

While there is no actual leak as to what the announcement will be, as BettyC noted from from former Obama Administration DOJ appointee Eric Columbus’s tweet, the last time he did this was to announce indictments that resulted from the Special Counsel’s investigation.

Here’s the live feed:

Update at 11:50 AM EDT:

Update at 12:10 PM EDT

Based on listening to NBC’s Pete Williams doing his spot in the background while waiting for the press conference to start, the embargo on the DOJ announcement has been lifted and:

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

236Comments

  2. 2.

    Paul W.

    I’m legit scared he is just going to step down and a Friday massacre is going to occur.

  3. 3.

    JGabriel

    Does anyone else think it’s … interesting … that Rosenstein scheduled this announcement to take place while Trump is out of the country?

  4. 4.

    The Dangerman

    It’s 8:30a PDST. A little early for it, but the champagne is getting chilled. OJ is running low, so Mimosas are out. Crud.

  6. 6.

    jacy

    @JGabriel:

    That was my first thought. But I hate reading tea leaves lately — everything is so fucked up that I don’t trust anything. (BTW, that’s how narcissists get you — they do things that don’t make sense, and are even sometimes not in their best interest, for reasons you can’t grasp, so you always feel off-balance. You feel like you’re going crazy.)

  7. 7.

    The Dangerman

    @JGabriel:

    interesting … that Rosenstein scheduled this announcement to take place while Trump is out of the country?

    As I said downstairs, it’s interesting to me this happens before Trump meets Putin for some 1 on 1 time. Just thinking WAY outside the box, could Putin get indicted? We indicted Marcos, I think, and, for sure, the Panama Dude (sorry, first cuppa Joe this end).

  8. 8.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    I do recall one other such announcement that was completely unrelated to Russia and the campaign.

  11. 11.

    Manyakitty

    Listening to the live DOJ setup, and someone said that it’s definitely Mueller-related, but he’s not sure about anything else.

  13. 13.

    zhena gogolia

    My prayer is that this is something that will cause the cancellation of the Putin meeting. But I think I’m being over-optimistic (not usually a failing of mine).

  15. 15.

    japa21

    I doubt it will be Mueller related (I would love to be proven wrong).

    ETA: Manyakitty indicates I may be wrong.

  19. 19.

    LAO

    CNN: Prosecutors from Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel’s Office & the Justice Department’s National Security Division visited the courtroom of a federal magistrate judge in DC at 11:30 a.m. to return a grand jury indictment.— erica orden (@eorden) July 13, 2018

    I must KNOW. lololololol

  20. 20.

    JPL

    @LAO: Some type of indictment, they think. He’s not here yet. Rosenstein was at the courthouse earlier.

    lol I’m a tad slow this morning.

  22. 22.

    JGabriel

    @jacy:

    That was my first thought. But I hate reading tea leaves lately — everything is so fucked up that I don’t trust anything.

    I can relate. No tea leaf reading here, though. It may well be just a coincidence, though I don’t suppose any of us will be surprised if, after the announcement, we all have that feeling of, “Oh, so that’s why …”

    @The Dangerman:

    As I said downstairs, it’s interesting to me this happens before Trump meets Putin for some 1 on 1 time.

    Ah. I haven’t read the comment thread downstairs. Just checked in a few minutes ago.

    @Yarrow:

    Not just interesting. Done on purpose.

    I hope so.

  28. 28.

    JGabriel

    @JPL:

    My feeling is that he just welcomes Benczkowski aboard.

    I suspect that would be handled as an internal DOJ staff meeting rather than a press conference.

  29. 29.

    Brachiator

    Press conference just as Trump is meeting the Queen. Interesting juxtaposition. And MSNBC was showing London protests split with Windsor Castle. Trump Trifecta.

  33. 33.

    hueyplong

    I’d laugh myself into a coma if it were a Republican officeholder.

    But I’ll take pretty much any Republican. The more surprising the better.

  36. 36.

    narya

    C’mon, baby; today’s my birthday and some nice fresh indictments would be a lovely gift . . . for the rest of the world, too. Happy to share.

  37. 37.

    Yarrow

    They’re showing the Queen at the moment. I’d bet Rosenstein will wait until moments after that meeting happens and then give the press conference.

  40. 40.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Baud: Or that call that people who are flight risks have been taken into custody in regard to the reported indictment.

  44. 44.

    JPL

    @narya: Happy Birthday! I’m celebrating mine tomorrow, even though it’s still a few days off. For my celebration we are going to early vote, and then lunch.

  50. 50.

    The Dangerman

    @hueyplong:

    I’d laugh myself into a coma if it were a Republican officeholder.

    Any Republican gets great glee; for me, coma from laughing would be Hannity (recall, he had some sort of relationship with Cohen).

  51. 51.

    chopper

    he’s gonna get up there and instead spend 10 minutes explaining the proper spelling and pronunciation of “Strzok”.

  53. 53.

    narya

    Thank you, jackals! I’m not much of a commenter, but I love reading y’all. This site and Pierce (and Colbert) are my go-to sites; I have to limit myself to avoid cranial explosion.

  55. 55.

    Adam L Silverman

    They’re handing out embargoed press releases not to be announced until the DAG makes his announcement. They will be followed by an announcement from the Office of Special Counsel.

  56. 56.

    Brachiator

    Interesting background info. Two minute embargoed news release.

    Might get a hint from the audio feed, reaction to the info as people read it.

    Oh, my.

  57. 57.

    JGabriel

    @chopper:

    he’s gonna get up there and instead spend 10 minutes explaining the proper spelling and pronunciation of “Strzok”.

    Well, that would be anti-climactic.

  59. 59.

    Mezz

    Speculation in last minute – just saw the feed report they are handing out an embargoed release.

    I think this may indicate a lot of what Mueller has in store for Trump. If it’s an indictment of Cohen or anybody major, it would seem like a shot across Trump’s bow, but more importantly unnerve him and unsettle him as he walks off to meet his big buddy Putin.

    Please, however, let’s start getting this over. It’s going to take our lifetimes to clean the fucking mess up; may as well get on with it.

  61. 61.

    germy

    There seems to be a … quickening… among the gathered journalists, so maybe Rod will be showing up soon.

  62. 62.

    Adam L Silverman

    And the President just pulled up and got out of his security vehicle at Windsor to meet the Queen. This is gonna get ugly!

  66. 66.

    JTL

    So did the live feed just catch a reporter saying out loud what was in the “embargoed announcement”?

    12 Russian security officers indicted?

  68. 68.

    Mezz

    F * * K

    Indictments of Russians. Whoopteeefucking-doo.
    They can’t be prosecuted, and all normal people already know this.

  70. 70.

    JPL

    12 more russians indicted, but there is a lot of over talk, so I can’t be sure. Putin must be happy.

  73. 73.

    JGabriel

    @Adam L Silverman:

    And the President just pulled up and got out of his security vehicle at Windsor to meet the Queen. This is gonna get ugly!

    Given that news of Trump undermining May came out while they were eating dinner together, how karmic would it be if news that undermines Trump came out while he was meeting the Queen?

  78. 78.

    japa21

    If it is indictments of Russians, it does put more pressure on Trump, or makes his weak response to Russian meddling and any Putin denials more suspect.

  79. 79.

    Adam L Silverman

    They just lifted the embargo. From what I can tell from the fact that Pete Williams is very loud, they’ve indicted 12 Russian Intel officers for hacking the DNC, etc and then stealing the info that Putin used against HRC and the Democrats and on behalf of the President.

  80. 80.

    hueyplong

    Trump to media in half an hour: “But Master, err, Putin might deny these 12 Russians did anything. It just goes to show the WITCH HUNT is out of control. No collusion! No collusion. In any event, I wasn’t indicted so I’m cleared. Shut it down.”

  82. 82.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @The Dangerman: and, for sure, the Panama Dude (sorry, first cuppa Joe this end).

    Nobody forgets… La Piña!

    Manuel Noriega was popularly mocked in his country with the nickname “The Pineapple” and “Pineapple Face”. I think because of his severe acne. IIRC there were plenty of images of Noriega-Pineapple posters that we saw at the time.

    If Trump is indicted for treason, do the British police get to lock him up pending extradition? That would be cool. I’d be happy to chip in on a GoFundMe for the airfare for an extraordinary rendition in the baggage compartment of anybody’s least favorite airline, if needed.

  84. 84.

    Adam L Silverman

  85. 85.

    LAO

    @Mezz: Well, it’s a connect the dots kind of thing. We may all “know” that Russian Intelligence was behind the DNC hack and subsequent release of those emails and information but prosecutors need to actually establish it. So, while disappointing, this indictment marks a very important step in this investigation.

  87. 87.

    Kay

    @JPL:

    It’s important as far as link in the chain, though. They can’t just SAY Russia interfered. They have to show how. They have to show everything- each step, each link. The DNC hack was direct Russian interference in the election. That’s much easier to nail down than “social media manipulation” or whatever. US mainstream political media used the fruits of that attack so go after Clinton. They targeted ONE US political Party because they wanted Trump to win. But they can’t just go into court and say “obviously- this is what happened”

  90. 90.

    Kay

    @Adam L Silverman:

    The DNC hack is essential because it wasn’t used by some mysterious Russian bot to influence the election. It was used by US political media to influence the election. It was their most successful tactic. Direct. Right into the bloodstream.

  91. 91.

    Adam L Silverman

    Just updated up top:

  93. 93.

    JGabriel

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    Manuel Noriega was popularly mocked in his country with the nickname “The Pineapple” and “Pineapple Face”. I think because of his severe acne.

    Close, it was because of the acne scars, pits, and pockmarks on Noriega’s face.

  95. 95.

    Spanky

    The real thing that’ll piss Trump off is that the announcement took press cycles away from his meeting with the Queen.

  97. 97.

    Gin & Tonic

    @chopper:

    he’s gonna get up there and instead spend 10 minutes explaining the proper spelling and pronunciation of “Strzok”.

    That would be delightful, and necessary.

  102. 102.

    Kay

    I love the Mueller indictments for the simple reason that we get reliable, factual information from them.

    And we really do deserve to know what happened in our election. We should know that.

    I find it enormously comforting that this one process works. We can still do that. We can still seat a grand jury and bring indictments and we can read those indictments.

  104. 104.

    Baud

    I’ll be curious to learn how Mueller and the Grand Jury identified the people involved. I can only hope they have a lot of inside information that we have no idea about.

  105. 105.

    Manyakitty

    This builds the connection with Roger Stone, who talked about his contacts with G2.

  108. 108.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Russian agents hacked a state election board and stole the information of 500,000 ( think he said) individuals

  111. 111.

    Ruckus

    @narya:
    Happy B Day!
    Mine was yesterday, 69. Some have seemed short, some seemed to drag on for ever. Life sure is different at this juncture than 60 years ago.

  112. 112.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Did anything work better than the DNC hacks? Huge success for Russia. Blanket mainstream media coverage at the height of the election. A direct hit.

  113. 113.

    LAO

    There is, literally, always a tweet:

    The new joke in town is that Russia leaked the disastrous DNC e-mails, which should never have been written (stupid), because Putin likes me— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2016

  117. 117.

    dmsilev

    @Adam L Silverman:

    As long as the ravens don’t leave because he scared them off, Britain will survive the day…

    Is Trump’s ego big enough to create a black hole and thus cause the Sun to set on the British Empire?

  122. 122.

    Platonailedit

    How this indictment of 12 russians different for the earlier indicted russians? More direct links to the traitor’s campaign?

  125. 125.

    Kay

    @LAO:

    This line of thought has always been interesting, because no one knows if they hacked the RNC or the Trump campaign. We know they didn’t release the information to US media, but that’s not the same thing.

  126. 126.

    LAO

    hmm. Very interesting:

    Interesting — this indictment is being transferred from Mueller to the National Security Division of DOJ. This means it's another thing you can't disrupt by firing Mueller.— Josh Barro (@jbarro) July 13, 2018

  128. 128.

    jacy

    @Adam L Silverman:

    The thing that jumped out to me was that there is another party “not named in the indictment” that coordinated the timing of the leaks. I think that’s the bombshell. That will get them scrambling.

  129. 129.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mezz: I’ll do a separate post on this in a bit, but here’s why you’re wrong:
    1) As someone who’s taught how to do network based targeting, if I was working for Mueller, I’d hold off on the American (and British) indictments on this stuff as long as possible as I want to see what the American side of the network started to do beginning once this indictment was announced.
    2) And that includes Rosenstein’s statement that no Americans are indicted here and this indictment and announcement says nothing about involvement of Americans, but that the investigation is ongoing.
    3) That’s intended to get the too cute by 1/2 guys like Stone or Parscale or Don Jr or Giuliani to do something really stupid in response.

  130. 130.

    Immanentize

    @Baud:

    I can only hope they have a lot of inside information that we have no idea about.

    I am sure of it. And the indictments means that the intelligence communities are allowing it to be used in the open, in court. That means Mueller has many sources that include hard evidence, rather than intel that might be suppressed in court

  131. 131.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Platonailedit: more direct links to GRU/Putin, harder to write off as independent Russian actors, is my sense, but I don’t have the info off the top of my head

  135. 135.

    Immanentize

    @jacy: Stone? Guilliani? Both?

    ETA I guess Stone because of all the attention on his aids, drivers, etc.

  137. 137.

    LAO

    @Kay: I personally believe that the Russians hacked the RNC and Trump Campaign. It hasn’t been in their interest to release the information (yet).

  139. 139.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    It was more than that. The released information was protrayed as damning- secretive, dishonest and malicious. Ordinary campaign communications were portrayed as somehow unsavory, like a “campaign” itself is a kind of plot.

    It was a perfect fit for how media were portraying Clinton anyway and it was also a perfect fit for Lefty Clinton opponents, who are always looking for a cohesive conspiracy to silence them.

    Just a wild success, on every level. And we did it to ourselves! Can’t blame Cambridge Analytica for this- it was front and center in the NYTimes and CNN. They ALL bit, and they bit hard.

  141. 141.

    Citizen_X

    @Adam L Silverman:

    That’s intended to get the too cute by 1/2 guys like Stone or Parscale or Don Jr or Giuliani to do something really stupid in response.

    And that train is never late.

  142. 142.

    Brachiator

    BBC breaking news. Police report they believe they found the bottle that was a source of the poison that killed the woman and made her partner ill (Dawn and Charlie). Wonder if they will be able to connect this to the Russians.

  143. 143.

    jacy

    @Immanentize:

    I think there’s got to be some reason Stone hasn’t been interviewed by Mueller’s team yet. I saw a list of the parties who had not been interviewed yet, and it was a small group. I just want them all to go down.

  145. 145.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Meanwhile, Scotland Yard has found the Novichok bottle

    And Arms Control Wonk and his posse have identified a North Korean uranium enrichment site.

  146. 146.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Adam L Silverman: nice of you to share the entire image as a string, but I’m sure a link would work fine for those sad few who can’t read base64.

  147. 147.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Apologies for being somewhat absent, but I am heavily involved with activities around tomorrow night’s Santa Fe premiere of “Dr. Atomic.” I’ll have more on that in a bit.

  149. 149.

    Kay

    @LAO:

    I think Trump has information on Dershowitz. Dershowitz was mentioned in a underage sex scandal, part of which was conducted in or around Trump properties. He denies and sued to stop his name being tied to it, but he was at least tangentially connected to it.

    The more they screech about sex trafficking the more I’m convinced they’re doing some of it. Cohen is all mobbed up and Trump is a money launderer. I don’t think they can avoid that trade. These are some sleazy fucking people we’re dealing with here. It’s in a whole different category than Watergate. It’s organized crime.

  150. 150.

    Ruckus

    @Immanentize:
    I’d bet the Intel sources were used to develop the sources that could be used in court. I’d also bet that some of the useable sources will end up being intel sources that didn’t mind being outed, given the situation.

  151. 151.

    JPL

    @LAO: I thought it was announced that the RNC was hacked, but there wasn’t much coverage of it at the time. Since they are all trumpists now, I assume that is what Putin wants.

  153. 153.

    The Dangerman

    Seems to me the key allegation was the Russians DID talk to unnamed Americans though the latter may have been unwitting. Yeah, right. If I was one of those “unwitting” people, I’d be thinking of a nice vacation to a country without extradition back to the US.

  154. 154.

    D58826

    Are any of these folks in the US or somewhere that they can be extradited? It’s nice to see that they are being charged. It would be even better to see them in a super max cell

  157. 157.

    Yarrow

    @LAO: They said they were hacked and then quickly shut that conversation down. Today media didn’t follow up.

    @JPL: You are correct.

  158. 158.

    Kay

    @LAO:

    The original allegations were made in 2014, as part of a lawsuit filed by lawyers Brad Edwards and Paul Cassell on behalf of women who said they were sex trafficked as minors by the financier Jeffrey Epstein— a former Dershowitz client.

    The Epstein crimes were just wild and he had some very fancy friends who were all in or around Trump, Florida.

    Something happened to cause the entire fever swamp to start accusing Hillary Clinton of sex trafficking minors. That didn’t just spring up out of thin air and it was ALL OVER the place. The far Right are completely insane on sex trafficking. They’re actually discrediting the legitimate issue because they’ve fucked it all up with the Bilderburgs and the Rothschilds or whatever. Fever swamp stuff.

  159. 159.

    Cheryl Rofer

    With this and the previous indictments of Russians, Mueller is developing the case for conspiracy against the United States. First he is establishing that there is a conspiracy. He will list the American conspirators later, although it’s obvious from this set of indictments that Roger Stone will be one of them.

  160. 160.

    Ruckus

    @Yarrow:
    You just have to combine a few words out of this comment, and it’s perfect.
    “Tick Fucking Tock, Motherfuckers!”

  163. 163.

    Yarrow

    @Kay:

    The more they screech about sex trafficking the more I’m convinced they’re doing some of it. Cohen is all mobbed up and Trump is a money launderer. I don’t think they can avoid that trade. These are some sleazy fucking people we’re dealing with here. It’s in a whole different category than Watergate. It’s organized crime.

    Yes to sex trafficking. Wait until the Trump Models story finally breaks though. Of COURSE it’s organized crime. It’s been obvious for years. Watergate is like a kid stealing another kid’s cookie at a kindergarten lunch table compared to this.

  164. 164.

    The Dangerman

    @JPL:

    The “unwitting” one sounds like Carter Page.

    I recall plural “unwittings” in the announcement. Page, Junior, Kushner, Stone. Take your pick. Maybe all.

    There was a single unnamed conduit that is almost surely Wikileaks.

  166. 166.

    dexwood

    @Cheryl Rofer:
    Break a leg. I read an article about that in the Albuquerque Urinal. Not an opera guy, but that sounds pretty good and the Santa Fe Opera is a spectacular place.
    ETA will you be tailgating?

  167. 167.

    Yarrow

    @Adam L Silverman:

    3) That’s intended to get the too cute by 1/2 guys like Stone or Parscale or Don Jr or Giuliani to do something really stupid in response.

    Yep. Those guys are so dumb. Wonder what they’ll do.

  168. 168.

    Kay

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    The horrible part about court cases is one has to show every….single…thing :)

    There’s no “as we all know there was Russian interference in the election” although that would be way more efficient. Because we do all know that.

  169. 169.

    LAO

    @Kay: Personally, I don’t think that Trump has anything on Dershowitz — I think Alan Dershowitz is an ass, But I’ve always thought that. He reminds me of my dad, he’s gotten crazier as he’s aged.

    I also don’t think the the “sex trafficking” thing is at all a real thing — (not that sex trafficking doesn’t happen but until I see actual proof that the US government is actively involved, I’m not willing to become a leftwing Pizzagate conspiracy monger) Trump and Cohen are awful enough without these groundless accusations.

    I don’t mean to sound harsh, I just think that all of this “child sex trafficking thing” is crazy.

  171. 171.

    Duane

    Sean Hannity needs to be fired. He pimped Putin’s hacked info to millions of Americans by his work with Assange and Wikileaks. Hannity knew who he was in bed with and didn’t give a damn. Great American my ass. Great American traitor, to be precise.
    If Trump doesn’t cancel his Putin, throw his ass in jail.

  172. 172.

    The Moar You Know

    The thing that jumped out to me was that there is another party “not named in the indictment” that coordinated the timing of the leaks. I think that’s the bombshell. That will get them scrambling.

    @jacy: Priebus or someone at the RNC. Team Trump would have just dumped it all at once, because they can’t handle anything properly.

  173. 173.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    After skimming through the indictment some of the granularity is breathtaking. I think US citizens involved in this are in very deep shit. Maybe I’m reading too much into it but damn that have a lot of detail on these Russians.

  177. 177.

    Ruckus

    @Kay:
    Can you imagine the indictments from here on out? We seem to be getting closer to the top and I doubt the next round will be as limited as these are. The round after that? Maybe that will be the gander’s good.

  178. 178.

    JGabriel

    @The Dangerman:

    I recall plural “unwittings” in the announcement. Page, Junior, Kushner, Stone. Take your pick. Maybe all.

    To be fair, there is a difference between unwitting and witless. Personally, I’d drop Page, Junior, Kushner, and Stone, all in the witless category.

  180. 180.

    Platonailedit

    @LAO:

    Given the thug’s mob connections and the beauty pageants front, I can certainly believe that the scum is somehow involved in it.

  181. 181.

    Kay

    @MomSense:

    I think the Trump Family’s main source of revenue may be money laundering. It’s not milder than we think. It’s worse than we think. The country is being run by members of organized crime. I woulkd be suprised if they somehow managed to avoid sex (and labor) traficking of human beings. It’s not like it hasn’t happened before! DeLay was implicated in labor trafficking- remember those fucking compounds on the Mariana Islands? Sex trafficking is a just a subset of the wildly popular labor trafficking they were involved in way back in 2004.

    The paths of retired Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) and disgraced lobbyist Jack Ambramoff intersect not just in Washington, D.C., but in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a chain of 17 small islands in the North Pacific.

    These are bad people. Scary bad. Dangerous people.

  186. 186.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Betty Cracker: now we just need to search known RNC correspondence for somebody who doesn’t capitalize anything, use the word ‘you’, or use plural possessive apostrophes.

  188. 188.

    tobie

    @Mezz: We’d all love to see Jared cuffed but the timing of the announcements is significant. It’s a warning to Trump: Putin is the enemy of America; he attacked this country. If Trump sides with Putin, he’s siding with the enemy. Indeed he himself becomes an enemy of democracy (small-d).

  192. 192.

    Patricia Kayden

    @ruemara: The Brits don’t want him as evidenced by the massive protests. He can go to Russia or perhaps Netanyahu will take him in.

  193. 193.

    Yarrow

    @Kay: It’s not worse than I think. They are terrible, terrible people. There is no way they aren’t also involved in sex trafficking.

  194. 194.

    Jay

    @LAO:

    Yup, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they also have copies of the 20,000,000 Chimpy McStagger Administration emails as well.

  195. 195.

    Yarrow

    @Patricia Kayden: He can’t go to Russia because who’s going to fly him there? Air Force One pilots won’t fly him there if it’s obvious he’s going to defect. They are patriots, even if the person they fly around is a traitor.

  196. 196.

    dexwood

    @Cheryl Rofer:
    Enjoy! The tailgating before the performance is a blast ( no pun intended ). It’s a great people watching and socializing opportunity.

  199. 199.

    jacy

    On MSNBC, they’re making a point about the indictment mentioning a specific date for a spearfishing campaign on the DNC by Russians as being the exact date that Trump told the Russians to hack Hillary’s emails. Some are saying that’s significant. I don’t know how much message-sending the indictments do, but that sort of seems pointed.

  200. 200.

    Kay

    @Yarrow:

    The President was backstage leering at teenage contestants. This disgusting 70 year old man think that’s acceptable. Sex trafficking wouldn’t phase him a bit.

  201. 201.

    GregB

    This is the weekend of the full unmasking of Trump and the Republicans.

    Starting with the thumb in the eyes NATO meetings….then the Republican hatchet attack on Strozk…..Trump then kneecaps May and fluffs Brexit traitor Boris….now the indictments on Russians and finally Trump’s submission to Putin……

  202. 202.

    Yarrow

    @Kay: He’s nothing but projection, as many Republicans and far right types are. They tell us who they are. We should believe them. Of course Trump is involved with young girls and sex trafficking. He’s a disgusting, horrible person.

  203. 203.

    piratedan

    yup, while this set of indictments doesn’t put someone like McConnell’s head on a pike, it goes ahead and puts to rest that fairy tale that this was the work of some nefarious “hackers” looking to scramble the new world order, this shows a planned coordinated attack on our political process by members of a foreign power. So all of that bullshit when Trump calls out to “Russia” to get those elusive E-Mails of HRC that were so damning because of their very existence (not because there was actually any fucking thing in them, thanks for that crackerjack reporting MSM!) that once they were released there would be no other choice other than to indict Clinton for all of her nefarious crimes that never fucking existed. So a great scam where the maguffin was actually the clue in and of itself which signified nothing but the biases of those looking to iconify somethings existence, it could just as easily been a missing shoe for all anyone over in the GOP side of things cared.

    I know its slow and painstaking, and frustrating, but if this is the means that need to be taken to unravel this travesty, well then so be it.

  205. 205.

    mike in dc

    So, the conspiracy question still not resolved. The question is whether there will be indictments answering it, and if so, when will they start to happen? Stone, Parscale and DJTJ still look like possible indictment targets, though the latter would be pretty much a dead on indicator regarding his father’s involvement.

  206. 206.

    Yarrow

    @LAO: Out of curiosity, why do you think at this point it’s nuts to believe he’s not involved in sex trafficking?

  207. 207.

    Zinsky

    We have to find the courage, as a nation, to send Donald Trump and most of his adult children, to the gallows…

  210. 210.

    prostratedragon

    @Cheryl Rofer: Now that gives me a shiver!

    In any case, would one expect a President to go on with a summit with Putin as if nothing had happened after this?

  211. 211.

    Ruckus

    @LAO:
    My point on this would be, how could you be surprised by anything about drumpf, except anything good? It doesn’t seem like drumpf wouldn’t do anything involving money to be made that isn’t in some way shady. I’d say that there isn’t much of anything not shady that he’d be involved in, not given his father or his own history.

  213. 213.

    hueyplong

    @Elizabelle: I’m gonna be kind of annoyed if one of the guards slips McConnell a cyanide capsule to allow him to cheat the gallows.

    More seriously, today’s news makes me slightly more confident that we’ll eventually learn the details of the story even if the perps get off.

    The least we should be accorded is the knowledge of who should swing.

  214. 214.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Kay: Actually it was at an Epstein property or properties. And both are connected to Epstein and his parties.

  215. 215.

    Brachiator

    @Yarrow:

    Out of curiosity, why do you think at this point it’s nuts to believe he’s not involved in sex trafficking?

    You keep talking about what is believable. This is not the same thing as what there is evidence of. Or what is provable.

  216. 216.

    LAO

    @Yarrow: I’m not naive, I’ve spent over 20 years as a criminal defense attorney (a number of those years as a mob lawyer), it is inconceivable to me that Trump and his enablers are actively members of an organization that is engaging in the sexual exploitation and trafficking of children. And I know some people believe that the policy — separating children from their parent is “proof” of the sex trafficking — I don;t agree, Tthat argument lacks actual proof. It is more likely to me that the child separation policy is a cruel, poorly thought out attempt to hurt those that wish to enter the US — to make it painful for the parents, rather than a desire to “steal the children for sexual exploitation.” But I also believe that the children who fall through the cracks as a result of this policy are at great risk of sexual exploitation. It just wasn’t the object of the plan.

    I find it difficult to answer your question because the other side of the position is just very crazy to me.

  218. 218.

    Manyakitty

    @LAO: I don’t think the US Gov is involved in human/sex trafficking directly, but I think trump almost certainly was, and if there’s any truth to the $50k adoptions via Bethany Ministries, Betsy DeVos’s family is now.

  220. 220.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Kay

    : I woulkd be suprised if they somehow managed to avoid sex (and labor) traficking of human beings.

    Remember Trump Escort Agency?

  222. 222.

    Yarrow

    @Brachiator: I used LAO’s framing in asking the question. The use of “believe” was in LAO’s original statement.

    @LAO: I don’t think it’s necessarily very young children, like three year olds, as is happening with the children separated from parents at the border. My understanding of it is it’s young girls, and possibly young boys, who were being trafficked via the Trump Models organization. Probably age 10 or so and up. They are still children but around and past puberty.

    I don’t know if you saw this 2016 article.

    Both confirmed that Trump, as I’ve reported, used to host parties in suites at the Plaza Hotel when he owned it, where young women and girls were introduced to older, richer men. This is hardly aberrant behavior in the modeling business. Indeed, it is standard operating procedure.

    But both men also put Donald Trump in the room with cocaine, very young women and underage girls, and rich, old men there to—pardon my language, but if the Times can say pussy on its front page, I can say this—fuck them.

    He eventually started Trump Models. Easier to hide bringing in girls that way.

  223. 223.

    JGabriel

    @LAO:

    … it is inconceivable to me that Trump and his enablers are actively members of an organization that is engaging in the sexual exploitation and trafficking of children.

    Currently, I would tend to agree.

    But the past is another matter: Trump was close with Epstein (by Trump standards of closeness, anyway) at the time when Epstein was recruiting/soliciting underage women to attend his parties and “entertain” his guests. Furthermore, rumors that Trump’s modeling agency was involved in trafficking didn’t just start as a result of the political campaign, they were prevalent all the way back when Trump first started the agency.

    Trump has always been a scumbag, and everyone in NYC knew it.

  224. 224.

    sgrAstar

    @Cheryl Rofer: cool, Cheryl! I’m coming to see that production in a couple of weeks. I saw the opera during its opening run in SF and thought it was incredible. It will be so special to see it performed in the environs of Los Alamos.

  225. 225.

    JGabriel

    @Yarrow:

    Watergate is like a kid stealing another kid’s cookie at a kindergarten lunch table compared to this.

    I’ve been saying all along that when Nixon wanted to steal information from the DNC, at least he had the decency to hire American instead of outsourcing it to Soviet intelligence agencies.

  226. 226.

    lollipopguild

    @JGabriel: Back in Nixon’s time the Russians were the enemy, now they are the role models for trump and the GOP, times change, evil does not change. Rust does not sleep, neither does evil.

  227. 227.

    LAO

    @Yarrow: @JGabriel: Both of you raise related points and I appreciate the discussion. I agree with both of you (and I’m sure most of the commentators here) that Trump is a scumbag of the highest order — or should it be lowest order? I’m so wrapped up is the “technical” legal definition of sex trafficking that I was missing the point of everyone’s arguments. Trump is a vile, vile disgrace of a human being — on that I think we can all agree.

  228. 228.

    Yarrow

    @LAO: I think it will come out that what Trump’s Trump Models company was doing will meet the legal definition of sex trafficking or at lest human trafficking.

  229. 229.

    Duane

    @ruemara: Let Scotland Yard go to Trumps golf course, arrest him, and hand him over to Mueller himself. Sounds about right.

  230. 230.

    Ruckus

    @LAO:
    We all know he’s scum, I’d much rather walk barefoot in a stable than within a hundred miles of drumpf, while I’m wearing a spacesuit. I can wash the horseshit off my feet but there’s nothing that can wash off the stench of drumpf.

  231. 231.

    Duane

    @The Dangerman: Hannity had Assange and Wikileaks up his ass during the campaign. Nothing but Putin’s water boy. Traitorous bastard belongs in jail. Manafort’s prison cell has plenty of room.

  232. 232.

    Brachiator

    @Yarrow:

    I used LAO’s framing in asking the question. The use of “believe” was in LAO’s original statement.

    Ah, OK. So, here is the bottom line, I think, based on your own framing.

    I think it will come out that what Trump’s Trump Models company was doing will meet the legal definition of sex trafficking or at lest human trafficking.

    Apart from what you think or hope, right now, there is not any actual evidence of sex trafficking.

  233. 233.

    laura

    @Ruckus: Happy Birthday, and many happy returns Ruckus. From the Sacto BinG meet up, i see you’re in my hometown of Santa Rosa.
    Life long SR, or transplant?

  234. 234.

    Mnemosyne

    @LAO:

    I think that the majority of the “trafficking” that is happening with the refugee children is going to be basically fraudulent or at best grey-market adoptions by fundamentalist Christians. They’re already going to developing countries and participating in questionable adoptions to “save” the kids, so I think that’s what the plan was once the children were separated from their parents. Get them into the foster care system, declare them orphans because their parents can’t be located, and facilitate their adoption by fundies.

    Some of those kids will end up being sexually trafficked. Many more of them will end up being sexually and/or physically abused in their new “homes,” but they will not have been adopted for that purpose — it’s just what happens in those fucked-up fundie homes.

  235. 235.

    J R in WV

    @Yarrow:

    Yes to sex trafficking. Wait until the Trump Models story finally breaks though. Of COURSE it’s organized crime. It’s been obvious for years. Watergate is like a kid stealing another kid’s cookie at a kindergarten lunch table compared to this.

    Watergate was super un-organized crime, that’s why they got caught taping open the locks on the doors at the Watergate Building, and then conspiring to cover up the original crime.

    Unorganized, disorganized.

  236. 236.

    Ruckus

    @laura:
    Here dog sitting for a long time friend. Lived in Novato for 6 yrs so not exactly a resident or a transplant at this point but am looking to retire up around these parts.

Comments are closed.