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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Late Night Open Thread: Mueller Trial, Day One

Late Night Open Thread: Mueller Trial, Day One

by Anne Laurie|  August 1, 20181:27 am| 40 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Foreign Affairs, Open Threads, Russiagate, Trump Crime Cartel

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Breaking via @TheTerminal, a first glimpse at the Manafort defense:

*MANAFORT'S LAWYER BLAMES RICK GATES FOR TAX CRIMES

*GATES ACCUSED BY MANAFORT'S LAWYER OF EMBEZZLING

*GATES HAD 'HAND IN THE COOKIE JAR,' DEFENSE LAWYER SAYS pic.twitter.com/UlRLUdQtuk

— David S. Joachim (@davidjoachim) July 31, 2018

Per TPM:

… The opening day of trial took off like a shot, with jury selection done by early afternoon, opening statements over in an hour and the first witness called and cross examined, all before 6 p.m. ET.

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis made a point to move the proceedings along as quickly as possible, appearing frustrated with the lawyers if it seemed that they were taking too long…

During his testimony, Devine revealed that he earned $500,000 as part of a 2009 consulting agreement for his work on Viktor Yanukovych’s 2010 presidential run in Ukraine. Devine also revealed that he earned an additional $100,000 after Yanukovych won the election in 2010. Devine said that his firm was paid by Manafort’s company via wire transfer but that he was unsure whether it was from a foreign bank account…

Extremely comprehensive coverage at the link below:

The government just called its first witness of the Manafort trial: Tad Devine, who you probably know from his work with Bernie Sanders. We're still tracking developments live here. https://t.co/NdbTEqUqxq

— Matt Zapotosky (@mattzap) July 31, 2018

Tad Devine is currently describing the organization of Manafort's foreign political consulting operation, and how it included Manafort, Rick Gates and Konstantin Kilimnik. Prosecutors are questioning him, and the defense attorneys will have a chance to cross-examine him later.

— Shimon Prokupecz (@ShimonPro) July 31, 2018

Paul better really hope they don't have rebuttal evidence that Manafort had anything to do with the rock-throwing mob Yanukovych's party organized against US Marines in 2006. https://t.co/3DllMyI3Xj

— zeddy (@Zeddary) July 31, 2018


Yeah, that’s what Yanukovych told the Ukrainian people, too, right up until he emptied the treasury & ran home to Putin in the middle of the night….

— Melissa Jo Peltier (@MelissaJPeltier) July 31, 2018

'sorry bro but crimes were the only way they'd pay me' https://t.co/MsOA6s0w7o

— zeddy (@Zeddary) July 31, 2018

Totally right except his indicted co-conspirator is a Russian dude hiding in Russia publicly accused of being in the Russian GRU. And they're jointly accused of trying to cover up a $60 million scheme to prop up a Putin-backed puppet regime in Ukraine. https://t.co/jFLw32wwSI

— zeddy (@Zeddary) July 31, 2018

“You can’t overstate the importance that Paul Manafort had in securing the Republican nomination for Donald Trump… Trump had just lost in Wisconsin and his shaky operation had no organizational apparatus." – @Elise_Jordan w/ @NicolleDWallace pic.twitter.com/mkPWa34zxW

— Deadline White House (@DeadlineWH) July 31, 2018

The government has released the exhibits admitted into evidence today— they intend to do so at the end of each court day, per Mueller spox Peter Carr https://t.co/frpvPqOhCO

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) July 31, 2018

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Reader Interactions

40Comments

  1. 1.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 1, 2018 at 1:32 am

    Tickety-tock and whatnot, as they say.

  2. 2.

    Chetan Murthy

    August 1, 2018 at 1:33 am

    OT, gonna post this, even though off-topic, b/c “nice time”: Colbert: Accountability Is Meaningless Unless It’s For Everybody

    Warms my heart to hear him say this. if you click thru, listen thru to the end.

  3. 3.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    August 1, 2018 at 1:43 am

    Renato Mariotti
    @renato_mariotti
    THREAD: What can we make of the first day of the Manafort trial?
    8:45 PM · Jul 31, 2018

    https://mobile.twitter.com/renato_mariotti/status/1024456060940300289

  4. 4.

    SenyorDave

    August 1, 2018 at 2:14 am

    I have this feeling that we are truly living an alternate reality. At this point there is no possible reason that a person could support and BELIEVE Trump unless you buy into his fake news 100%. And 40% of the population approves of his job. If he is president one year from now I have to think we have failed as a nation.

  5. 5.

    Platonailedit

    August 1, 2018 at 2:34 am

    @The Ancient Randonneur: Thanks. Nice to hear from a professional for a change. Though his take that the criminal thug is likely to get less than 10 years is a bummer.

  6. 6.

    Sister Golden Bear

    August 1, 2018 at 2:35 am

    Checking in, as requested in a thread downstairs….

    Little harder posting than expected due to the time difference here in Thailand.

    First couple days after being released from the hospital have been tough. Not quite enough painkillers— long story — which has taken longer to resolve because it’s been a four-day holiday weekend here. So dilation has been an extra pain.

    But had an official check up and apparently I’m healing well. Was judged healthy enough to be invited to a field trip today to the surgeon’s beachhouse (mansion). Had some lunch and waiting for a Thai massage later on. If nothing else, it’s a nice psychological break from being stuck around the hotel recovering.

    BTW, for those who want to know more (including TMI details, I’ve been blogging at the site linked to my nym).

  7. 7.

    West of the Rockies

    August 1, 2018 at 2:39 am

    @SenyorDave:

    I often feel similarly…

    The people who still support this disgrace of a human being are some mix of the following:

    Mentally incompetent, willfully ignorant, genuinely stupid, racist, bigoted, greedy, and/or so utterly invested that they refuse to see they were duped, refuse to admit they were wrong.

    It’s quite disheartening.

  8. 8.

    Ladyraxterinok

    August 1, 2018 at 2:51 am

    @West of the Rockies: Or, like a person I know, will never, ever vóte for or believe a democrat.

  9. 9.

    clay

    August 1, 2018 at 2:54 am

    Who’s actually leading the prosecution? Is Mueller himself in court?

  10. 10.

    M. Bouffant

    August 1, 2018 at 3:03 am

    @SenyorDave: We have failed as a species.

  11. 11.

    M. Bouffant

    August 1, 2018 at 3:08 am

    So. If Tad Devine worked for Manafort, propping up Yanukovych, can we assume that the Sanders campaign was a Russian operation as well?

  12. 12.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    August 1, 2018 at 3:25 am

    @M. Bouffant: That would seem to a logical conclusion.

  13. 13.

    Platonailedit

    August 1, 2018 at 3:26 am

    Trump is headed to Tampa for one of his toxic rallies.Expect him to say inflammatory and terrible thingsAnd lie.While you'll want to react…DON'T FORGET HIS CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN'S TRIAL STARTS THE SAME DAY.He's trying to eat the news cycle.Don't let him.#ManafortTrial— Steve Marmel (@Marmel) July 30, 2018

  14. 14.

    hervevillechaizelounge

    August 1, 2018 at 3:35 am

    @M. Bouffant:

    If Tad Devine worked for Manafort, propping up Yanukovych, can we assume that the Sanders campaign was a Russian operation as well?

    Sorry, our media only projectile vomits both-sides talking points; there are never any conclusions drawn or investigations conducted. Whichever pundit shouts the loudest wins.

    I was watching a Watergate documentary last night (my personal pornography) and Bernstein mentioned “triangulating” information—the current press won’t even draw the most obvious conclusion unless they can spin it into a both-sides narrative.

    I’m glad journalists get showered with hate at Trump rallies; let them reap the ignorance and vapidity they’ve sown.

  15. 15.

    Amir Khalid

    August 1, 2018 at 4:17 am

    Chris Cillizza maintains at the CNN site that Trump and Giuliani are in a PR battle with Robert Mueller, not a legal one. Cillizza argues that they will win this battle, because (1) they are saying many many words in public, laying out the case for Trump’s innocence not-guilt; and (2) cleverly pushing the buttons on Trump’s fan base, whereas Mueller is (1) silent, ceding to them the war of words; (2) not convinced he has authority to prosecute POTUS; and (3) has no fan base.
    I leave analysis of Cillizza’s claim to the experts among the jackals.

  16. 16.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 1, 2018 at 4:24 am

    Damn. Just realised I haven’t slept since July.

  17. 17.

    Amir Khalid

    August 1, 2018 at 4:28 am

    @West of the Rockies:
    I think you left out “spiteful”.

  18. 18.

    Cermet

    August 1, 2018 at 4:36 am

    Remember Jackals, there are two sides on the opinion of criminal justice in this country: liberal where we believe the system needs to work to its end before we pass judgement and Conservative where if you are charged then you are guilty unless one is a white male who is wealthy enough to have “Plausible deniability” in which case, you are of course, falsely charged and innocent.

  19. 19.

    Ruckus

    August 1, 2018 at 4:45 am

    @Amir Khalid:
    Well Chris, shitgibbon and rude may be in a PR campaign, but that really only works in elections. In a court PR is most likely less than useless. Especially if the PR geniuses are the ones here. What their PR campaign seems to be doing is pissing off more and more people as the days go by. That’s not in their favor. And their stupidity is just getting them in more jeopardy, simply because they are sooooo good at it.

  20. 20.

    Cermet

    August 1, 2018 at 4:47 am

    @SenyorDave: what part of electing ray-gun by union democrats doesn’t make you realize we ‘failed as a nation’ long ago and this is just the obvious result? That LBJ didn’t call out the treason of Nixon and Kissinger was certainly a missed opportunity to have head off the failure.

  21. 21.

    Joey Maloney

    August 1, 2018 at 4:48 am

    @SenyorDave: You’re a lot more generous than I am. I came to that conclusion on 9 Nov 2016.

  22. 22.

    joel hanes

    August 1, 2018 at 4:49 am

    Begun the Trump wars have.

  23. 23.

    joel hanes

    August 1, 2018 at 4:52 am

    I’m on firefox 61.0.1 on Win 10
    After I post a comment, the next thing I see is a black-dominated version of what I suppose is the mobile site.
    If I refresh, I get back to the desktop computer version

  24. 24.

    joel hanes

    August 1, 2018 at 4:57 am

    @SenyorDave:

    Much of real-world politics is accurately depicted in the waterhole conflict scenes in the first half hour of 2001, A Space Odyssey. The utterances achieve their desired effect without any claims to truth, or indeed without any semantic content at all.

  25. 25.

    joel hanes

    August 1, 2018 at 5:00 am

    @Cermet:

    ray-gun

    I like the cut of your jib. Newsletter, etc.

  26. 26.

    TS (the original)

    August 1, 2018 at 5:05 am

    @SenyorDave: When Billy Bush was fired – and Donald trump was elected – that was failure as a country.

  27. 27.

    SFAW

    August 1, 2018 at 5:26 am

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Damn. Just realised I haven’t slept since July.

    I saw you in that X-Files episode. The makeup job was really good — you looked just like Tony Todd.

  28. 28.

    Platonailedit

    August 1, 2018 at 5:27 am

    @TS (the original):

    Devolution of gop mirrors that of us of a.

  29. 29.

    Montanareddog

    August 1, 2018 at 5:36 am

    Devine said that his firm was paid by Manafort’s company via wire transfer but that he was unsure whether it was from a foreign bank account…

    I am surprised at and unnerved by this answer. It is not clear from the quote if the question was put by the prosecution or the defense. But, Mueller’s team would surely have been able to find this out. And it seems like an important point whether Manafort was paying his minions from foreign or domestic funds.

  30. 30.

    Anne Laurie

    August 1, 2018 at 6:31 am

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Damn. Just realised I haven’t slept since July.

    And here I was thinking that was just me (and the Spousal Unit, although not for the same reasons)…

  31. 31.

    satby

    August 1, 2018 at 6:38 am

    @Montanareddog: Mueller certainly knows. Devine probably knows but thinks testifying that he’s unsure will help him in some way. Nope.

  32. 32.

    Anne Laurie

    August 1, 2018 at 6:38 am

    @Montanareddog:

    I am surprised at and unnerved by this answer. It is not clear from the quote if the question was put by the prosecution or the defense. But, Mueller’s team would surely have been able to find this out. And it seems like an important point whether Manafort was paying his minions from foreign or domestic funds.

    I believe this falls under the old legal proverb ‘Never ask a question where you don’t already know the answer.’

    From everything we’ve been told, by experts, Mueller most surely knows what account Manafort used to pay Devine. Asking the question on the record, however, means Devine has to admit or pretend he didn’t know. If this turns out to be true, Devine was… not paying enough attention to his bookkeeping, which is a mistake for a cross-national political professional. But if it turns out Mueller already has evidence that Devine did know, well…

  33. 33.

    Platonailedit

    August 1, 2018 at 6:41 am

    @Anne Laurie:

    More than a half mil appeared in your account dropped there by magic elves? Of course, fucker devine is lying.

  34. 34.

    NYCMT

    August 1, 2018 at 7:09 am

    @Montanareddog: I wouldn’t worry about the wire transfer question. There will be a forensic examiner who will testify to the origin of the transfer later.

  35. 35.

    A Ghost To Most

    August 1, 2018 at 7:21 am

    @Amir Khalid:
    Everything is a political horse race to Chinchilla. He’s nothing but a tout.

  36. 36.

    Bobby Thomson

    August 1, 2018 at 7:47 am

    @Amir Khalid: the grain of truth is that because of presidential immunity, this is a PR battle for impeachment votes. Cillizza is assuming, and not without cause, that masses will respond to repeated themes better than the facts and logic relevant in court. Putting out a marker that Mueller will fail is both lazy CW at this point and costless. If Mueller succeeds, most people will be so relieved they won’t care what predictions were made. If he fails, Cillizza can claim prescience.

  37. 37.

    dimmsdale

    August 1, 2018 at 8:04 am

    @M. Bouffant: Not too long ago, when Marcy Wheeler broke the news about her outing a duplicitous source to the FBI, she in effect warned not to expect heroes, as the Mueller investigation unwinds. I’m doubtful that the GRU is so dumb that they didn’t realize the value of reeling in Democrats as well as Repubs. I’m steeling myself for what I think is an inevitable bombshell of bad news about one, or several, of our guys. I hope I’m wrong, but every time I read a comment like yours I go “Hmmmmm.” Fingers crossed!!

  38. 38.

    Just One More Canuck

    August 1, 2018 at 8:19 am

    CNN just had a discussion of day 1 of the trial, including the ostrich coat. That brought to mind the classic Monty Burns song, “See My Vest”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyWVaZsUQjc

  39. 39.

    MomSense

    August 1, 2018 at 10:24 am

    @M. Bouffant:

    Sanders admitted in a television interview, after the inauguration of shit for brains, that of course he knew that his campaign was benefiting from Russian meddling.

  40. 40.

    hugely

    August 1, 2018 at 2:47 pm

    @dimmsdale:

    I’m steeling myself for what I think is an inevitable bombshell of bad news about one, or several, of our guys.

    St Bernard is NOT one of ours

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