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You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / Pecker Grabs Prick By the Pussy

Pecker Grabs Prick By the Pussy

by John Cole|  August 23, 20183:30 pm| 163 Comments

This post is in: Dolt 45, "Lock Her Up!!"

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True loyalty, like respect, is earned and no one should be forced to be loyal to a crime boss:

As Robert Mueller’s siege closes in on Donald Trump, the president has been left to wonder which of his staff and closest allies will, after all, stay loyal. On Tuesday, Michael Cohen completed his operatic turn against his former boss when he stood in federal court and pleaded guilty to eight felonies that included making hush-money payments at Trump’s direction to women Trump allegedly had sex with. The admission effectively made Trump an unindicted co-conspirator in a federal crime.

Cohen’s stunning admission came just days after The New York Times reported that White House counsel Don McGahn provided 30 hours of testimony to Mueller’s investigators. McGahn’s extensive cooperation with Mueller rattled the West Wing to the core at a time when aides were struggling to contain the fallout from former Apprentice star Omarosa Manigault Newman’s scathing White House memoir.

And now Trump’s most powerful media ally next to Fox News has broken with him. According to two sources briefed on the Cohen investigation, prosecutors granted immunity to David Pecker, chairman of The National Enquirer publisher American Media Inc., and A.M.I.’s chief content officer, Dylan Howard, so they would describe Trump’s involvement in Cohen’s payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal during the 2016 campaign. The Wall Street Journal first reported Pecker’s cooperation on Wednesday night. (Pecker and Howard did not respond to multiple requests for comment. A spokesperson for the Southern District of New York declined to comment.)

Delicious. With a name like that Trump should have realized he was going to get fucked.

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163Comments

  1. 1.

    HeleninEire

    August 23, 2018 at 3:33 pm

    Best. Title. Ever. Take a bow John Cole.

  2. 2.

    feebog

    August 23, 2018 at 3:34 pm

    Tick tock Motherfucker.

  3. 3.

    John Revolta

    August 23, 2018 at 3:39 pm

    When you’ve lost your Pecker……………………………

  4. 4.

    Calouste

    August 23, 2018 at 3:40 pm

    I think the shitgibbon could have gotten away with issuing blanket pardons for everyone involved from the very beginning, for the minor players like Papadopoulos and van der Zwaan, and that people like Cohen and Pecker wouldn’t have turned.

    But as it is clear that you can’t expect anything from the shitgibbon, even to his henchmen who had their heads up their asses, everyone is going to look out for number one.

  5. 5.

    Martin

    August 23, 2018 at 3:42 pm

    I am taking particular joy from the prospect of Walt, Larry and Igner getting hauled in by the NY AG, with no prospect for daddy to pardon them. I have no expectation that Trump will go to prison, but Ivanka in an orange jumpsuit would break him, and I’ll settle for that.

  6. 6.

    MisterForkbeard

    August 23, 2018 at 3:43 pm

    Delicious. With a name like that Trump should have realized he was going to get fucked.

    Cole, was this supposed to be outside of the blockquotes?

    @Calouste: Agreed, I think Trump and the Republicans would have stood for that, especially in the beginning of his administration when the media was still refusing to call Trump a liar or admit Russian interference. It would have been a rough 3 days until the next Trump Scandal blew it off the radar, but worth it in the long run.

  7. 7.

    MisterForkbeard

    August 23, 2018 at 3:45 pm

    @Martin: Eh. Trump is no “Mom”, though. She’s ruthlessly and evilly competent. Also not convinced he actually cares that much about Ivanka except in the “She’s hot AND a great ornament!” sense.

  8. 8.

    Millard Filmore

    August 23, 2018 at 3:45 pm

    prosecutors granted immunity to David Pecker, chairman of The National Enquirer publisher American Media Inc., and A.M.I.’s chief content officer, Dylan Howard

    Don’t the prosecutors already have all the information related to Cohen? I don’t see the advantage of immunity for stale information … so what ELSE will they spill?

  9. 9.

    MisterForkbeard

    August 23, 2018 at 3:51 pm

    @Millard Filmore: There’s value in confirmation of Cohen’s testimony, is the thing. He’s (rightly) looked at as uncredible, and anything that isn’t directly backed up by recordings or other evidence (like Trump’s signature or a mail to Cohen) would benefit significantly from corroboration. Especially from outlets known to be very Trump-friendly.

  10. 10.

    jl

    August 23, 2018 at 3:52 pm

    @Calouste: Well, Trump could have been a successful president, and probably even get his approval ratings above 50 percent, if he had even thought of doing a lick of actual work, and keeping some of his more populist campaign promises. For example if he had paid attention to what GOP was doing with the tax heist bill, and forced them to throw a few large bread crumbs to middle and working class, the prospects of getting the current expansion though 2020 might have been pretty good. Then, I think your plan might have had a good chance. It would have been a sugar high, but that realization could have been postponed with careful policy.

    But, it’s Trump. I think even Trump had a dim sense that he had to change his behavior to boost his popularity after the election. Hence his repeated promises to be ‘more presidential’ and assurances that a lot of his schtick was just to get the GOP nomination. But that was a swindle too, either consciously or unconsciously. Trump bragged that he could (paraphrase) ‘be whatever he wanted to be very easily’, but, unlike some other presidents, that is completely beyond him.

  11. 11.

    pk

    August 23, 2018 at 3:53 pm

    Was Omarosa just last week? It seems a million years ago.
    I’m sure Trump has probably made deals with Sean Hannity as well. Some sort of payment (shady real estate deals?) for favorable coverage. Otherwise it makes no sense for Hannity to be involved with Cohen.

  12. 12.

    trollhattan

    August 23, 2018 at 3:55 pm

    In which I must now praise Steven Tyler.

    Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler has sent yet another cease-and-desist letter to President Donald Trump, this time for use of the band’s 1993 hit “Livin’ on the Edge” without the songwriter’s written consent.

    Tyler’s legal team sent the request to Trump following the use of the song at a rally held at West Virginia’s Charleston Civic Center on Tuesday night. The president spoke about topics such as immigration, trade and Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation at the event.
    The letter, obtained by Variety, cited Section 43 of the Lanham Act in making the argument that “without our client’s permission, Mr. Trump is falsely implying that our client, once again, endorses his campaign and/or his presidency, as evidenced by actual confusion seen from the reactions of our client’s fans all over social media.”

  13. 13.

    texasboyshaun

    August 23, 2018 at 3:56 pm

    @pk: I’m so old I remember when Omarosa got fired from the WH.

  14. 14.

    Mike in NC

    August 23, 2018 at 3:57 pm

    Will probably finish up reading “Everything Trump Touches Dies” this afternoon. At the end of the day, Rick Wilson will still be a right-wing asshole, but I do enjoy the brutal treatment he gives to each and every slimy creature on Team Trump.

  15. 15.

    Calouste

    August 23, 2018 at 3:59 pm

    @pk: Don’t worry, Omarosa will be back. She’s probably negotiating with Mueller which tapes they want as evidence and which tapes she can use to get back on TV.

  16. 16.

    Bill Arnold

    August 23, 2018 at 4:02 pm

    Have to admit some surprise at this one. Thought Pecker was irrationally loyal. When were the first public hints that he had turned?

    Since The Onion is trying to keep up and surprisingly, often succeeding, here’s one of a few entries from today:
    Sen. Hatch Says Trump Allegations Not Serious Enough That Scales Should Fall From Eyes Revealing What Madness We Have Begotten

    WASHINGTON—In the wake of Paul Manafort’s conviction and Michael Cohen’s guilty plea, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) told reporters Thursday that the mounting allegations against President Trump are not yet serious enough to make the scales fall from the eyes of Republicans and allow them to behold the sheer shrieking madness they have begotten. “Simply put, there is at present insufficient evidence against the Trump administration to justify the tearing of blindfolds from Republican eyes at this point, and therefore, we remain safe from gazing in horror at the maelstrom of sheer insanity that we ourselves have loosed upon the world,” said Hatch, claiming it would be woefully premature for Congress to commit themselves to any course of action in which they might glimpse the unveiled face of the ravening madness vomited into existence by them and them alone.

  17. 17.

    Millard Filmore

    August 23, 2018 at 4:04 pm

    @MisterForkbeard: Right, that I understand. My assumption is that Cohen’s records and recordings is better evidence than a backup witness. IANAL but if that is all they want from Pecker, they gave away immunity much too cheaply.

  18. 18.

    L85NJGT

    August 23, 2018 at 4:05 pm

    Follow the money.

  19. 19.

    Rob in CT

    August 23, 2018 at 4:05 pm

    Oh Bravo, Cole.

  20. 20.

    BlueDWarrior

    August 23, 2018 at 4:07 pm

    @Bill Arnold: As much as I love the snark, there is a lot of truth to that. A lot of Republican office-holders and voters have basically gone into full blown denial and are trying to pretend they aren’t living in the world we are actually living in.

    The problem for the office holders is that they have to constantly interact with reality, and eventually have to bend to it. The voters can sequester themselves in a bubble for the rest of their lucid days if they really wanted to.

  21. 21.

    Mary G

    August 23, 2018 at 4:07 pm

    I’m wondering if there aren’t multiple women going back years that got paid off through Cohen and Pecker, It’s not Russiagate, but he’d look bad.

  22. 22.

    Mnemosyne

    August 23, 2018 at 4:07 pm

    @feebog:

    The Trumpistas didn’t realize that the ticking sound was coming from this classic character.

    (This is a funnier clip than the one I used yesterday.)

  23. 23.

    Mnemosyne

    August 23, 2018 at 4:09 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Dammit! Still having the 404 problem when I try to code links. Here’s the naked link:

    https://youtu.be/EyzayhRXrcM

  24. 24.

    sukabi

    August 23, 2018 at 4:10 pm

    @Calouste: she’s probably got quite the database set up… catalogued by date, media type, persons involved and subject. She’ll be back with an appropriately enticing clip, she’s not done with the spotlight by any means.

  25. 25.

    hilts

    August 23, 2018 at 4:11 pm

    Given the fact that the Rethuglican members of Congress won’t do a goddamn thing to hold Trump accountable for the crimes he’s committed, my only hope is that Trump will be plagued by extended bouts of diarrhea, constipation, and migraine headaches to make him feel as miserable as possible.

  26. 26.

    Jamey

    August 23, 2018 at 4:12 pm

    “…then they came for the actual Fake News
    And there was no one left to speak for me.”

  27. 27.

    JR

    August 23, 2018 at 4:13 pm

    @Millard Filmore: We’re talking about a major criminal investigation into the President of the United States. This isn’t some regional mafia don. You need every piece of evidence, every cooperating witness, everything you can get.

  28. 28.

    germy

    August 23, 2018 at 4:15 pm

    Maine’s Top Court Orders GOP Governor to Stop Ignoring Voters and Expand Medicaid

    Maine’s fiery right-wing governor has vowed to go to jail before allowing a Medicaid expansion. He may get his wish.

  29. 29.

    James E Powell

    August 23, 2018 at 4:16 pm

    Immunity might be to avoid the “Mueller is going after the press!” complaint and I am inferring that the possible crimes Pecker and Howard may have committed are trivial when compared with those on which Mueller is most focused.

  30. 30.

    germy

    August 23, 2018 at 4:17 pm

    But the more plausible scenario is that Trump, even if he has to be pushed kicking-and-screaming by Ivanka and the possible jailbirds Donald Jr. and Jared, gets out of Dodge. As with Nixon, his administration is most likely not to end with impeachment but with a self-pitying and self-justifying resignation in which Trump lashes out against both Republicans and Democrats, declares another ersatz “win,” and flees.

    Frank Rich

  31. 31.

    The Moar You Know

    August 23, 2018 at 4:17 pm

    My assumption is that Cohen’s records and recordings is better evidence than a backup witness.

    @Millard Filmore: In a strictly legal sense, yes.

    But Mueller is looking to take this to a jury.

    If I have one guy testifying, hey, that’s just one guy.
    Two guys, that’s harder to deny.
    Ten guys, you gotta be in serious, conscious denial to ignore ten folks all testifying to the same thing.

    Mueller knows he is coming at the king and best not miss. I do hope he is sharing all this, and all the non-public domain evidence with as many state AGs as he can, because I suspect Sessions is gone the day after the midterms and Rosenstein and Mueller will be fired the same day. I have no doubt he will do it if he can, and it looks like the Senate is going to take away Session’s lifeline. I HOPE I AM 100% WRONG ABOUT THIS.

  32. 32.

    Wapiti

    August 23, 2018 at 4:19 pm

    @Millard Filmore: I’d offer that going after Pecker and his tabloid empire might be laudable, but there’s likely better targets for government prosecution. Why go after a target that can claim credible First Amendment protections for much of its actions? Better to use it to provide credibility to Cohen-related evidence, because that dude has less credibility than Gates.

  33. 33.

    James E Powell

    August 23, 2018 at 4:21 pm

    @BlueDWarrior:

    A lot of Republican office-holders and voters have basically gone into full blown denial and are trying to pretend they aren’t living in the world we are actually living in.

    I’m confident that when it all comes crashing down that the press/media will let both Republicans and their votes off the hook for the Trump disaster. After all, the press/media is complicit in bringing this about and making it worse. I’m base this prediction on the ease with which every single asshole who supported the Great Iraq Invasion & Occupation totally skated on any responsibility for anything, including murder & torture.

    Are the Democrats going to let them get away with it? Are we going to let the Democrats let the Republicans get away with it?

  34. 34.

    trollhattan

    August 23, 2018 at 4:23 pm

    While the Trump maladministration gathers its mockery harvest they continue doing actual harm.

    On July 1, the US Environmental Protection Agency issued a “significant new use rule,” which invites manufacturers to petition the EPA to seek approval of any new asbestos product on a case-by-case basis.

    The rule says that the EPA will evaluate new asbestos products as “new use” if they’ve determined they aren’t currently being manufactured. The categories the EPA says it will consider as new uses include “adhesives, sealants, and roof and non-roof coatings; arc chutes; beater-add gaskets; extruded sealant tape and other tape; filler for acetylene cylinders; high-grade electrical paper; millboard; missile liner; pipeline wrap; reinforced plastics; roofing felt; separators in fuel cells and batteries; vinyl-asbestos floor tile; and any other building material (other than cement).”

    Many of these are the same products that the EPA considers “legacy” uses. Earlier this year, in response to an Obama-era push to reevaluate harmful substances, the Trump administration weakened the way it evaluates chemicals for harm, declaring that asbestos used in floor tile, roofing, car brakes, batteries, and a range of other places would be considered “legacy” applications and beyond the scope of asbestos’s risk evaluation.

    So while new products in those categories might be reviewed for approval, they won’t be studied in deciding whether asbestos is truly harmful enough to ban, or whether to impose laws about asbestos already in homes, businesses and schools. (The government also decided not to consider asbestos disposal sites to be a source of health hazard.)

    Just ducky.

  35. 35.

    ET

    August 23, 2018 at 4:23 pm

    Like attracts like. tRump surrounds himself with people who are like him, think they are like him, and those who want to be like him. But in reality they are all there to be used by him – its just that some are more powerful than others. tRump is a transactional/situational sort of guy and so are the people who hang with him. Loyalty is built over time and while he may know people for years, it is hard to have true loyalty when both sides are that way. I know he thinks highly of himself (and his judgement) and that he has zero self awareness. That just means he may really think he surrounds himself with the very best people because the best attracts the best.

    Also, for tRump loyalty is a one way street that he just forgets doesn’t work the way he thinks it does all the time.

  36. 36.

    oatler.

    August 23, 2018 at 4:24 pm

    @HeleninEire:Outclasses the NY Post’s “Headless Body…” headline by a mile.

  37. 37.

    NotMax

    August 23, 2018 at 4:26 pm

    Pecker Shtups Putz.

  38. 38.

    psycholinguist

    August 23, 2018 at 4:27 pm

    To clarify, this is still the southern NY district and not Muller’s investigation offering the immunity, correct? Muller was smart as hell to farm this out, it seems, because Trump can’t touch these guys can he?

  39. 39.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    August 23, 2018 at 4:29 pm

    People who routinely treat everybody like shit don’t get any loyalty when things get bad. Too bad, so sad he didn’t learn this earlier in his life, but my guess is that he’ll be learning this with a vengeance from here on out.

  40. 40.

    trollhattan

    August 23, 2018 at 4:29 pm

    @germy:
    A draft Trump resignation speech is being tested by Frank Luntz. Here’s a practice video.

  41. 41.

    A Ghost To Most

    August 23, 2018 at 4:29 pm

    @germy: Shitler doesn’t strike me as the resigning type. More like “After me, the deluge”.

  42. 42.

    cain

    August 23, 2018 at 4:31 pm

    @BlueDWarrior:

    The problem for the office holders is that they have to constantly interact with reality, and eventually have to bend to it. The voters can sequester themselves in a bubble for the rest of their lucid days if they really wanted to.

    They could ask Fox News to stop fucking their constituent’s mind? Sorry, wasn’t attempting to make people laugh.

  43. 43.

    HeleninEire

    August 23, 2018 at 4:32 pm

    Is LAO here? I ask because all of this immunity and reduced to 5 year sentences thing is kinda freaking me out. I get the whole pyramid thing where you work your way up to the king.

    But it seems to me that Cohen was way close. Way closer to Trump to make a good deal.

    I understand why it has to be done. But damn. Where do the snitching deals stop? Please tell me that his kids will NOT get a deal.

  44. 44.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    August 23, 2018 at 4:32 pm

    @germy:
    Who the hell does he think he is ignoring the explicit wishes of the voters of his state? He’s the Governor of Maine not it’s dictator.

  45. 45.

    rikyrah

    August 23, 2018 at 4:33 pm

    Pecker Grabs Prick By the Pussy

    BWA HA HA HAH A HA HA H HA HA

  46. 46.

    cain

    August 23, 2018 at 4:34 pm

    @A Ghost To Most:

    @germy: Shitler doesn’t strike me as the resigning type. More like “After me, the deluge”.

    I’m sure that he’ll attempt to use the secret service as his own personal army and fight everyone else. I can see him hold up in the white house surrounded at all sides. Meanwhile Republicans are yelling at everyone else to “Let Trump Live!” Forced to hole up in their own office with only their twitter feed for comfort, and amazon prime now for food.

  47. 47.

    HeleninEire

    August 23, 2018 at 4:36 pm

    @rikyrah: RIGHT????? That’s what I said!! LO to the fucking L.

  48. 48.

    Anotherlurker

    August 23, 2018 at 4:36 pm

    @Martin: Wonderful reference to Futurama!

  49. 49.

    Martin

    August 23, 2018 at 4:36 pm

    @Millard Filmore: That’s my sense too. This is not a 1-off from Pecker/AMI. They’ve done this for decades. If AMI is turning over records, they’re going to discover other felonies in the course of that review. Those may involve Trump, and they may involve others.

  50. 50.

    Martin

    August 23, 2018 at 4:38 pm

    @Anotherlurker: Trumps kids always remind me of this.

    We’re business executives!

  51. 51.

    Mandalay

    August 23, 2018 at 4:39 pm

    @Martin:

    I have no expectation that Trump will go to prison, but Ivanka in an orange jumpsuit would break him…

    I could not disagree more. People should stop thinking of Trump as an incompetent doofus who sends out tweets and used to be a reality TV host. He is evil and ruthless, and an enemy of the United States, and he’d worry about Ivanka going to prison for about 3 minutes. Besides, she probably started losing her allure when she turned 16, and I think she would end up in some tragic accident if her testimony might send him to prison.

    Trump never attacks his wife or Ivanka, but that is not because he cares about them – it’s because of all the dirt they have on him that would destroy him far more effectively than anything Mueller can offer.

  52. 52.

    Ian G.

    August 23, 2018 at 4:41 pm

    The rats are really deserting the sinking ship now. I love it.

  53. 53.

    MomSense

    August 23, 2018 at 4:42 pm

    I’m glad all of this corruption and criminality is finally coming out but I’m also furious that it had to get to this.

    It’s clear that prosecutors must be wearing blinders to have let all of this money laundering, bank fraud, and tax fraud go on all these years.

    And I’m especially furious that the media did not pursue any of this. It was barely concealed, if at all.

    So much suffering and madness. We the people were failed by so many institutions before the election. And now, every damned day the Republican Congress fails to act on their obligation to protect our constitution. It’s appalling that journalists are not following them 24/7. I’m so mad that this disaster has been inflicted on us so needlessly.

  54. 54.

    Brachiator

    August 23, 2018 at 4:43 pm

    @jl: @jl:

    Well, Trump could have been a successful president, and probably even get his approval ratings above 50 percent, if he had even thought of doing a lick of actual work, and keeping some of his more populist campaign promises.

    The Trump we got was always the Trump we were going to get. Resentment and an unrealistic faith in his own magnificence drove him to run for president and defines him. His populism was nothing more than a grifter’s sham. For example, he promised to repeal and replace Obamacare, but never had a hint of an idea of what to actually do about it.

    Trump heartily approved the tax cuts because he could see how it could help him. And that’s where he stopped.

    And Trump always was and always will be a racist. So if you are suggesting that he could have been a successful Klansman of a president if he threw middle class white people a few bones, I’m not seeing an alternate reality to be happy about.

    Also, I think today a new round of China tariffs go into effect, leading to the inevitable response by China. His belief that he can strong arm his way to prosperity is another simple-minded fantasy that is going to lead to all kinds of nasty, unexpected outcomes.

  55. 55.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    August 23, 2018 at 4:44 pm

    @Mandalay:

    Trump never attacks his wife or Ivanka, but that is not because he cares about them – it’s because of all the dirt they have on him that would destroy him far more effectively than anything Mueller can offer.

    lt’s always pissed me off that Trump is apparantly not stupid/addled enough to go Leeroy Jenkins and basically blow himself up by having a true, psychotic meltdown by attacking someone like Melania in a tweet or speech. He always seems to be able weasel out of all the consequences of his actions too.

  56. 56.

    Yarrow

    August 23, 2018 at 4:47 pm

    Loyalty only goes one way for Trump. Seems like a few of his gang have figured that out.

    prosecutors granted immunity to David Pecker, chairman of The National Enquirer publisher American Media Inc., and A.M.I.’s chief content officer, Dylan Howard, so they would describe Trump’s involvement in Cohen’s payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal during the 2016 campaign.

    Rick Wilson says that his limited research in 2016 turned up twelve women that had been paid by Trump to keep them quiet. Can’t wait for that news to drop.

    @feebog: Indeed.

  57. 57.

    J R in WV

    August 23, 2018 at 4:50 pm

    @Millard Filmore:

    …if that is all they want from Pecker, they gave away immunity much too cheaply.

    Ah, but we don’t know what Pecker has told them, nor what potential punishment Pecker has agreed to accept. What is he immure from, and what is he not immune from? All we have is gossip, so far.

  58. 58.

    Millard Filmore

    August 23, 2018 at 4:51 pm

    @Martin: That makes sense now. I forgot that the world does not revolve around Trump.

  59. 59.

    Ben Cisco

    August 23, 2018 at 4:52 pm

    Pecker Grabs Prick By the Pussy

    That’s museum quality, Cole. Well done.

  60. 60.

    Ian G.

    August 23, 2018 at 4:52 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    Give him time. It’s clear he’s getting more desperate and pathological as the walls close in on him.

  61. 61.

    Mary Green

    August 23, 2018 at 4:53 pm

    @trollhattan: And asbestos is mostly made in Russia, where one company has already put Twitler’s face on their packaging. True, not even the Onion thought of it.

    @cain: I imagine his Secret Service agents are thoroughly sick of him by now, and would gladly hand him over if Mueller came calling with a warrant, but he won’t. Unfortunately. What I’m afraid of is a resignation orchestrated by the Koch Brothers in a deal where he goes quietly in exchange for a compound on an island somewhere and a ton of cash and Pence pardons everyone. Then we’re fucked.

  62. 62.

    Brachiator

    August 23, 2018 at 4:56 pm

    @germy:

    Maine’s fiery right-wing governor has vowed to go to jail before allowing a Medicaid expansion

    What is the deal with this guy?

    Also, I recently listened to a BBC news story about Maine fisher folk who were being hit hard by Trump’s tariffs. A good chunk of the lobster catch used to go to China, and the 25% tariff is killing them. Some of the lobster fisher folk wised up, but a few who were interviewed still refused to hold Trump accountable in any way.

    It will be interesting to see how many true believers peel away as more court cases and other actions mount.

  63. 63.

    Thom Rogers

    August 23, 2018 at 4:57 pm

    We’ve come full circle from the debate moment with Trump and Marco Rubio. We’re once again talking about Trump’s Pecker.

  64. 64.

    rikyrah

    August 23, 2018 at 4:57 pm

    @L85NJGT:

    YEP…we got this far by following the money

  65. 65.

    JMG

    August 23, 2018 at 4:57 pm

    @HeleninEire: The federal guideline for Cohen’s sentence calls for between 50-65 months. That’s a long time in jail, especially if you’re not young, which he isn’t.

  66. 66.

    Wakeshift

    August 23, 2018 at 4:59 pm

    Really interesting skirmish playing out in, of all places, ads on YouTube.
    Last couple days I started seeing “Do you support the President?” Ads/surveys on various videos, all labeled as paid for by his campaign and the RNC. One was yes/no, and the other was basically good/better/best. Lol at that…

    Today, there was a full length high-quality ad from “Republicans for the Rule of Law” urging support for the Independent Counsel and trashing (in true TDS style) the idea that this is a Witch Hunt.

    Anyone else seen this? Know anything about this group?
    I jumped instantly into wild speculation mode; but mostly I think it signals major turning point in the fracturing of the Rs.
    Rooting for injuries indeed!

    *btw- avid lurker here; 3rd post ever and first of any substance

  67. 67.

    MattF

    August 23, 2018 at 5:00 pm

    Pleased to read that the Manafort jury was thwarted from unanimity by a single juror.

  68. 68.

    catclub

    August 23, 2018 at 5:01 pm

    @Yarrow:

    Rick Wilson says that his limited research in 2016 turned up twelve women that had been paid by Trump to keep them quiet

    Broidy’ taking the fall and givinga $1M+ bribe is another.

  69. 69.

    LAO

    August 23, 2018 at 5:02 pm

    @HeleninEire: Waves Hello — the immunity will never end!!!!! (I’m tired, my brains not working.)

    @JMG: I thought they stipulated (as is the norm) to a sentencing range of 46-57 months or maybe it was 51-63 months? I’m finding it hard to keep up with the federal criminal news.

  70. 70.

    Ian G.

    August 23, 2018 at 5:03 pm

    @Wakeshift: neocons like to form “independent” groups like that, often for Likud advocacy. They to a person despise Trump. Wouldn’t be surprised if Bill Kristol or John Podhoretz had something to do with it.

  71. 71.

    catclub

    August 23, 2018 at 5:03 pm

    @JMG: T

    hat’s a long time in jail, especially if you’re not young, which he isn’t.

    Hold your horses there, he is younger than I am, so he must be young.

  72. 72.

    Rommie

    August 23, 2018 at 5:03 pm

    Is Tiffany going to be the only Trump to get out of this with clean cuff-links? It seems that way.

  73. 73.

    p.a.

    August 23, 2018 at 5:04 pm

    If we were on another planet viewing this the internal dynamics would be fascinating and not sickening. You know now that the tax giveaway is law no one in the Rethug non-candidate establishment cares if trump strokes out; they’re wishing for it. Pence and Jeff can carry out the Xtianist/racist agenda better with the incompetent fart cloud gone gone gone. Congressional rethugs, IDK. Their only hope may be donnie sticking around to energize the racist electoral rump and enough stupid people to, with the help of suppression, caging etc, eeke out a majority.

  74. 74.

    Brachiator

    August 23, 2018 at 5:05 pm

    According to two sources briefed on the Cohen investigation, prosecutors granted immunity to David Pecker, chairman of The National Enquirer publisher American Media Inc., and A.M.I.’s chief content officer, Dylan Howard, so they would describe Trump’s involvement in Cohen’s payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal during the 2016 campaign.

    This is a bit surprising. The National Enquirer has been a strong Trump supporter. And I think that he was also part of the NDA Two Step, where the Enquirer would promise an exclusive book deal to a Trump mistress, while the NDA prevented them from going anywhere else or even talking about the bad deal that they had been stuck with.

  75. 75.

    LAO

    August 23, 2018 at 5:06 pm

    @JMG: Although — it’s up to the Judge. There are very little guarantees in the feds as to the sentence you can receive as a defendant. Judge could go lower or higher. Pauley is not a pushover.

  76. 76.

    HeleninEire

    August 23, 2018 at 5:07 pm

    @JMG: Yeah. 50 months is a little more than 4 years. 65 is 5 and a half years. I do not care hold old he is. He will either rot in prison or not. His age should not determine that.

  77. 77.

    Mary Green

    August 23, 2018 at 5:07 pm

    California FTW:

    A bill requiring California prosecutors to erase or reduce tens of thousands of marijuana criminal convictions was approved by the state Legislature on Wednesday. Now it waits for @JerryBrownGov's signature. https://t.co/pjDzTsAaQx— NBC Bay Area (@nbcbayarea) August 22, 2018

    They’ll be homeless, but they’ll be free.

  78. 78.

    blackcatsrule+2

    August 23, 2018 at 5:10 pm

    @germy: He’s not fiery. (I realize this is not your wording). He’s a semi-literate, rude buffoon (and I’m being exceedingly polite and restrained here) who thinks he can play with the big boys who are actually laughing at this backwater rube from a half-assed state. The only good thing this asshole ever did was give me the push I needed to move back to civilization.

  79. 79.

    LAO

    August 23, 2018 at 5:11 pm

    @HeleninEire: If Cohen gets jail time, he’s be camp eligible — which in the overall scheme of things, is fairly easy time.

  80. 80.

    Mandalay

    August 23, 2018 at 5:12 pm

    @MomSense:

    It’s clear that prosecutors must be wearing blinders to have let all of this money laundering, bank fraud, and tax fraud go on all these years.

    Indeed. Adam Davidson, who is one of the few reporters who truly digs into the minutiae of Trump’s corrupt business dealings, alleges that a high level decision was made to largely ignore money laundering in New York because clamping down on it “would devastate the New York economy”!

    Listen to this excellent podcast discussion “Taking Trump’s corruption seriously” with Ezra Klein at around 23:55 for more.

  81. 81.

    HeleninEire

    August 23, 2018 at 5:12 pm

    @LAO: Hi hun. Rest your brain. Its after 10 here. I’m going to sleep soon. I’ll be here for one more drink. But don’t feel obligated.

  82. 82.

    trollhattan

    August 23, 2018 at 5:13 pm

    Heh.

    The Onion
    ‏
    Trump Boys Frantically Burning Stacks Of Printed-Out Emails To Eliminate Paper Trail https://trib.al/W0gyDnd

    @DonaldJTrumpJr: “We gotta type up copies of our texts so we can print them out and burn those, too—you can’t be too careful with the witch hunt.”

  83. 83.

    LAO

    August 23, 2018 at 5:14 pm

    @HeleninEire: I got some work done today — nobody was more shocked that I was. Have a great night. Look forward to a meet up next time you’re in NYC.

  84. 84.

    Wakeshift

    August 23, 2018 at 5:16 pm

    @Ian G.:
    Yeah, that’s what it looks like. Just wondering how widespread this is and how much traction it will get.
    Feels like a PR firm’s damage-control campaign to salvage or rehab the R “brand”.

    Basically what’s been predicted here since (seemingly) forever: “those criminals over there were never really Repubs; we never liked or supported them; we’re still the responsible grownups…”

    No f’n way we let that happen

  85. 85.

    Mary Green

    August 23, 2018 at 5:16 pm

    An amazing photo spread shows how the National Enquirer covered Hillary Clinton's campaign. From @jackshafer last year on Trump's "mouthpiece" https://t.co/LVQiODXefN pic.twitter.com/BuNhuEZWQA— Heather Timmons (@HeathaT) August 23, 2018

  86. 86.

    Mary Green

    August 23, 2018 at 5:18 pm

    @Mary Green: Meant to type that those headlines are part of the reason Pecker needs immunity – “Hillary Gains 103 Pounds” is so whacko that it might pass the Times/Sullivan test.

  87. 87.

    Bill Arnold

    August 23, 2018 at 5:18 pm

    @MattF:

    Pleased to read that the Manafort jury was thwarted from unanimity by a single juror.

    Manafort Juror: One ‘Holdout’ Kept Him From Being Convicted on All Counts
    The juror who leaked, Paula Duncan, a MAGA-hat wearing Trump supporter, was one of the ones convinced he was guilty on all counts:

    Late on Wednesday night, Fox News aired a lengthy interview with Paula Duncan, the first juror in Paul Manafort’s trial to go public. Duncan, 52, identified herself as a strong supporter of President Trump, saying she kept a Make America Great Again hat in the backseat of her car as she drove to the trial, and plans to vote for Trump again in 2020. However, Duncan said she became convinced that Manafort was guilty on all 18 counts of bank and tax fraud, and almost the entire jury agreed; she revealed that the jury deadlocked on ten of the counts due to a single juror.

  88. 88.

    MattF

    August 23, 2018 at 5:19 pm

    @LAO: So, five years of raking sand traps in Fort Walton Beach? Sounds a lot like his old job.

  89. 89.

    HeleninEire

    August 23, 2018 at 5:21 pm

    @LAO: November for election day. See you then.

  90. 90.

    catclub

    August 23, 2018 at 5:24 pm

    @Wakeshift:

    Feels like a PR firm’s damage-control campaign to salvage or rehab the R “brand”.

    It is a VERY robust brand if they will still hold the senate at the end of this year. Does it really need salvaging in that case? Trump could easily get
    two more SC nominations through that senate…. if Thomas retires and RBG dies.

    Just a little happy thought.

  91. 91.

    Mike in NC

    August 23, 2018 at 5:25 pm

    @catclub: Wilson added that Cohen had an office in Trump Tower specifically dedicated to payment of hush money and arranging for abortions. Hope to see more on that.

  92. 92.

    catclub

    August 23, 2018 at 5:25 pm

    @Bill Arnold: it should motivate the prosecutors to try again.

  93. 93.

    zhena gogolia

    August 23, 2018 at 5:27 pm

    @Mary Green:

    That is amazing.

  94. 94.

    Roger Moore

    August 23, 2018 at 5:28 pm

    @Rommie:

    Is Tiffany going to be the only Trump to get out of this with clean cuff-links?

    They’re going to have a hard time pinning any of it on Barron.

  95. 95.

    trollhattan

    August 23, 2018 at 5:30 pm

    @Mary Green:
    They’ll probably say “It’s when she hired that small intern.”

  96. 96.

    trollhattan

    August 23, 2018 at 5:31 pm

    @Roger Moore:
    No way, not with all his cybers hijinks. Barron’s goin’ down.

  97. 97.

    cmorenc

    August 23, 2018 at 5:34 pm

    @pk:

    Was Omarosa just last week? It seems a million years ago.

    Oh, Omarosa isn’t nearly done dripping toxic waste on Trump’s head – she’ll time her releases to spoil any gaps in the toxic news cycles where Trump might otherwise have a chance to change the narrative to more favorable territory. Omarosa is a jilted woman eager to wreak vengeance on the cad Trump for discarding her from the White House staff, who has positioned herself well to do so because she’s just as coldly ruthless a sociopath as Trump is, but perhaps better at cold calculation and preparation as her former mentor.

  98. 98.

    catclub

    August 23, 2018 at 5:37 pm

    so: Who thinks Michael Cohen DID go to Prague in 2016 and Mueller wants to ask him about it? It is one of the few items in the Steele Dossier not yet completely confirmed.

    Also, what else does Cohen know about Trump’s efforts to build in Moscow in 2012-13?

  99. 99.

    MisterForkbeard

    August 23, 2018 at 5:37 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    He always seems to be able weasel out of all the consequences of his actions too.

    This is what happens when you have Giuliani (then Trump’s state AG) working to keep Trump safe, and then now an entire political party devoted to his protection. Because letting him face consequences would be admitting they made a mistake, and they can’t have that.

  100. 100.

    MisterForkbeard

    August 23, 2018 at 5:38 pm

    @JMG: Only 65 months? There’s a max of 65 years or so, right? The recommendation is… 8% of that? Surprising.

  101. 101.

    catclub

    August 23, 2018 at 5:39 pm

    @cmorenc:

    because she’s just as coldly ruthless a sociopath as Trump is,

    Wilbur Ross has so far dodged the spotlight, but is a thief in the Trump mold, and also, like Trump, was desperate to get listed in Forbes list of Billionaires

  102. 102.

    Doug R

    August 23, 2018 at 5:41 pm

    Pecker avoids stiff sentence, spills all.

  103. 103.

    p.a.

    August 23, 2018 at 5:44 pm

    @Mike in NC: arranging for abortions. Hope to see more on that.

    Surprising given his germophobia; one would think he’d have a full body suit.

  104. 104.

    MisterForkbeard

    August 23, 2018 at 5:46 pm

    @Mary Green: The real lesson from that article is less about “Enquirer tried to hose Hillary” it’s that “Enquirer was consistently behind Trump”. They spend a lot of time on Hillary, but they also show how all the Trump coverage was universally positive and ridiculous – and that it attacked all of Trump’s political rivals during the Primary.

    They put their thumbs on the scale as much as they should, and they had an existing financial relationship with Trump. I’d say it’s shameful, but… it’s the National Enquirer.

  105. 105.

    bemused

    August 23, 2018 at 5:47 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    They all want to be dictators.

  106. 106.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    August 23, 2018 at 5:49 pm

    @cain: I am predicting Trump will do something like this even if his term ends normally. The man is a narcissistic, amoral a-hole. One key difference between Trump and Nixon was Nixon did give a shit about the country were Trump sold the country out for a hand full of electoral votes. There is going to be no Nixon resignation deal were Trump gets to go in to hiding just to let the country mellow out and no graceful last fight on the presidential helicopter at Trump’s successor’s inauguration. Trump will do anything to hang on to power and if he can’t have it, Trump will take a crap over the presidency just to pretend to himself he didn’t want it. Think Hitler ordering the Germans to destroy Germany at the end of WWII because they let Hitler down.

  107. 107.

    Mary G

    August 23, 2018 at 5:52 pm

    Short Twitter thread illustrating a lazy reporter’s work:

    Haberman, just now pic.twitter.com/VC2rrlvOA9— Will Stancil (@whstancil) August 23, 2018

  108. 108.

    Gelfling 545

    August 23, 2018 at 5:54 pm

    @J R in WV: I imagine there are financial/tax angles.

  109. 109.

    Yarrow

    August 23, 2018 at 5:56 pm

    @Mary G: Wow. That is something. You know she’s such a lazy reporter and Trump toady but seeing it all lined up is something else.

  110. 110.

    Duncan Dougnut

    August 23, 2018 at 5:57 pm

    @MomSense: Boy oh boy, I could not agree more. Well stated, Momsense.

  111. 111.

    Gelfling 545

    August 23, 2018 at 5:58 pm

    @catclub: A mere slip of a lad!

  112. 112.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    August 23, 2018 at 5:58 pm

    @catclub:
    You’re just a ray of sunshine aren’t you? You know as well as I do that more D seats than R seats are up this year.

  113. 113.

    Baud

    August 23, 2018 at 5:59 pm

    @Mary G: Well, he should be in isolation.

  114. 114.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    August 23, 2018 at 6:00 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Think Hitler ordering the Germans to destroy Germany at the end of WWII because they let Hitler down.

    Is that a reference to the Nazi doomsday device?

  115. 115.

    JPL

    August 23, 2018 at 6:01 pm

    First they came for Weiner and I said nothing, and then they came for Pecker.

  116. 116.

    MattF

    August 23, 2018 at 6:02 pm

    @Mary G: So, Trump’s… like… isolated? What she means is– no more Cohen, no more Hicks, no more Lewandowski, no more Ailes. Only a crowd of lickspittle journalists. Poor Donnie!

  117. 117.

    trollhattan

    August 23, 2018 at 6:04 pm

    @Mary G:
    Have particle physicists ever defined or measured the Haberman state?

  118. 118.

    J R in WV

    August 23, 2018 at 6:07 pm

    Over and over again,

    Increasingly Isolated…

    Trump is more alone. Wow, what a series of stupid on Haberman’s part. For months, the same phrase, increasingly isolated…

    She should have never gone for this high level of play if she wasn’t capable of playing at this level, which she obviously is not. She has ruined her chances for a career past Trump, just as Judith Miller ruined her career past Bush the Shrub.

  119. 119.

    MisterForkbeard

    August 23, 2018 at 6:08 pm

    @trollhattan: This is the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle all over again. It’s inherently impossible to state with confidence both Maggie’s position AND movement.

    Oh wait, it IS possible. She’s shilling for Trump for access and uncreative enough to say the same thing over and over again.

  120. 120.

    trollhattan

    August 23, 2018 at 6:09 pm

    @J R in WV:
    What I wouldn’t give to reanimate H.S Thompson and put him on the White House beat.

    “So mister president, can we talk a little about all that tail you were getting?”

  121. 121.

    Duncan Dougnut

    August 23, 2018 at 6:11 pm

    @catclub: A reminder to all: It doesn’t have to be Prague, nor even the Czech Republic. The dossier was intelligence data.

    Likelihood that a meeting occurred overseas for the stated topic: High.
    Likelihood that all details of meeting were correctly spelled out in the dossier: Low(er).

    Don’t play the rethuglicans game. Don’t get hung up on the details. Cohen attended a meeting with a hostile power to get that power’s help for his client’s presidential campaign. Completely illegal and possibly treasonous. I don’t care if it was Russia (likely) or NK or China. I don’t care if the meeting was in Berlin or Prague or Peoria. The meeting, and similar actions, make this an illegitimate presidency, with all decisions/nominations/etc. therefore questionable. Certainly no further executive actions should be allowed until after the many issues arising from this are resolved.

  122. 122.

    Mary G

    August 23, 2018 at 6:20 pm

    We’re looking at months of this stuff, apparently:

    “Mr. Pecker does not appreciate all the childish jokes about his name.” – AMI spokesperson Fanny Goblincock— Michael McKean (@MJMcKean) August 23, 2018

  123. 123.

    efgoldman

    August 23, 2018 at 6:21 pm

    @trollhattan:

    What I wouldn’t give to reanimate H.S Thompson

    And/or the great Molly Ivins!

  124. 124.

    Duncan Dougnut

    August 23, 2018 at 6:22 pm

    @Duncan Dougnut: Sorry, that came out as condescending — didn’t mean it that way.

  125. 125.

    Gelfling 545

    August 23, 2018 at 6:24 pm

    By the way that headline should be enshrined in a manuscript with illuminated initials and gold margins.

  126. 126.

    Jeffro

    August 23, 2018 at 6:24 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: I can see that, but I think the GOP is going to get shellacked in the midterms, and the charges are going to continue to rain down for the rest of trumpov’s term.

    Once out of office, he can be prosecuted just like any other racketeer. And while he can try to pardon himself and all of his associates before he leaves office, nothing will save them from state charges, and nothing will change them from future charges, including a RICO prosecution.

    And assuming that the Republican Party even exists in 2024, much less wins the presidency, they would know that the key to a sure defeat in the next election would be a ford style pardon

  127. 127.

    dww44

    August 23, 2018 at 6:25 pm

    I know this is O/T but an AJC news bulletin just informed me that Reality Winner has just been sentenced to 5 plus years in prison, to be reduced by the 1 year time already served. She apologized for her actions in releasing info about Russian interference in 2016 election.

    Then, the Randolph County Georgia Attorney just announced the firing of the elections consultant they had hired in April who had the brilliant idea of reducing the voting precincts from 9 by 7 to 2. The vote on that matter happens tomorrow. but the whole article is worth a read.

    Guess who recommended the hiring of that consultant to the county commissioners, none other than the current SOS and GOP candidate for governor, Brian Kemp. The consultant has/had made a $250.00 contribution to Kemp’s campaign. There are petitions circulating which demand that Kemp step down as SOS ahead of the election. Which he has thus far refused to do, unlike any recent predecessors in the job who decided to run for higher office..

  128. 128.

    zhena gogolia

    August 23, 2018 at 6:25 pm

    @catclub:

    I’m as sure he went to Prague as that there were Warsaw Pact tanks on Vaclavské namestí twenty years ago this week.

  129. 129.

    jl

    August 23, 2018 at 6:26 pm

    @The Moar You Know: Unbelievable behavior from Senate GOP. If Democrats can effectively use that, I think could help with getting back Senate.

    I think, though, that Sessions will put up a fight and not go quietly, though he won’t be able to stop being fired if Trump really wants to go there. But I expect Sessions to do everything he can to prevent it. Sessions isn’t a good guy, and his motives are just as bad as Trump’s .

    But, much more than other early Trump supporters, Sessions calculated that he could get some important, though horrible, work done under a Trump administration, and that was more important than a crumb bum like Trump. That is why Sessions can;t be shamed or insulted or humiliated into resigning quietly: he has a mission to accomplish and doesn’t give one tiny rat’ turd about what Trump says. If Trump goes but Sessions could stay under Pence, that would suite Sessions just fine, as long as Pence let’s him continue his dirty work.

  130. 130.

    dww44

    August 23, 2018 at 6:27 pm

    @dww44: Edit function not available, so need to also note that Kemp not only recommended the consultant but recommended the reduction/consolidation of voting precincts.

  131. 131.

    zhena gogolia

    August 23, 2018 at 6:27 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    I mean Václavské námêstí and the mark over the e is wrong but close enough

  132. 132.

    EthylEster

    August 23, 2018 at 6:28 pm

    OT but…..why does the Unqualified Offerings blog roll link go to https://www.youngleadersschool.com/about-us/ ?

    It used to link to Unqualified Offerings, a blog by a slightly righty academic in physics IIRC. One of those libertarian types.

  133. 133.

    Martin

    August 23, 2018 at 6:29 pm

    @trollhattan:

    What I wouldn’t give to reanimate H.S Thompson and put him on the White House beat.

    Be prepared to do it twice. As soon as you tell him Donald Trump is president, he’ll instantly die again.

  134. 134.

    EthylEster

    August 23, 2018 at 6:29 pm

    @The Moar You Know:

    Mueller knows he is coming at the king and best not miss

    I miss Omar.

  135. 135.

    Mary G

    August 23, 2018 at 6:30 pm

    @dww44: Turns out this is the latest voter suppression scheme, and is being implemented under the radar all over the country:

    3. An election consultant in Randolph County, GA is claiming the polls are not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. He is using the ADA (one civil rights law) as a pretext to violate the VRA (another civil rights law) https://t.co/5Lxd3jdL50— Kira Lerner (@kira_lerner) August 22, 2018

    4. The consultant is not the first to come up with this deceptive tactic. Under Trump, the Justice Department has ramped up its ADA-enforcement actions against counties it claims have non-compliant polling locations https://t.co/5Lxd3jdL50— Kira Lerner (@kira_lerner) August 22, 2018

    5. And guess what? Most of the jurisdictions the DOJ is targeting have significant minority populations https://t.co/5Lxd3jdL50 pic.twitter.com/DNz12ixo0d— Kira Lerner (@kira_lerner) August 22, 2018

    This makes me furious – fix the buildings to be ADA compliant – the law has been in effect for 28 years!

  136. 136.

    Mary G

    August 23, 2018 at 6:32 pm

    If you live in Texas, be aware:

    New: Millions of Texas voter records have leaked online, thanks to an unprotected server. https://t.co/MjJbGhUgdY— Zack Whittaker (@zackwhittaker) August 23, 2018

  137. 137.

    debbie

    August 23, 2018 at 6:34 pm

    @Mary G:

    The more, the merrier. Let them all stroke out.

  138. 138.

    Martin

    August 23, 2018 at 6:35 pm

    @Mary G: You know, I’m pretty sure at this point it’s faster and easier for Texas young people to sql inject their votes into the Registrar database than to jump through the hoops of getting the appropriate ID and finding transportation to the polls.

  139. 139.

    debbie

    August 23, 2018 at 6:37 pm

    @Mary G:

    That top tweet isn’t wrong. For years and years, The Donald was an amusing, naughty boy. He was the Id of the Upper Crust, the Juicy Bit on Page Six.

  140. 140.

    Mary G

    August 23, 2018 at 6:37 pm

    @Mary G: Per Tech Crunch article, apparently firm that left millions of Texas voter data on an unsecured server without even a password appears to be affiliated with Republicans. Here’s most of the article:

    TechCrunch obtained a copy of the file, which was first found by a New Zealand-based data breach hunter who goes by the pseudonym Flash Gordon. It’s not clear who owned the server where the exposed file was found, but an analysis of the data reveals that it was likely originally compiled by Data Trust, a Republican-focused data analytics firm created by the GOP to provide campaigns with voter data.

    Chris Vickery, director of cyber risk research at security firm UpGuard, analyzed a portion of the data. (It was Vickery who found a larger trove of 198 million voter records last year exposed by a similar data firm Deep Root Analytics, which sourced much of its data from Data Trust.)

    A spokesperson for Data Trust declined to comment on the record.

    The file — close to 16 gigabytes in size — contained dozens of fields, including personal information like a voter’s name, address, gender and several years’ worth of voting history, including primaries and presidential elections.

    Granted, much of that data is public. According to The Texas Tribune, that kind of voter data in Texas is already obtainable for a fee, but information relating to individuals’ political affiliations and party memberships is not. Sam Taylor, communications director for the Texas secretary of state, told TechCrunch in an email that certain data points — like Social Security numbers — are also excluded, and the voter data cannot be used for commercial purposes, like advertising.

    But data-driven political firms like Data Trust use the data for political purposes, specializing in supplementing those voter profiles with information that might help a campaign to flip a person who might not vote for a Republican candidate at the ballot box.

    That’s where this file fills in the gaps with dozens of other fields, which can be used by campaigns to position their political messaging.

    For example, the data includes fields that might score an individual’s believed views on immigration, hunting, abortion rights, government spending and views on the Second Amendment.

    Other fields were more relevant to the recent 2016 presidential election, in which the data predictively scored individuals on if they “trust” or have “no trust” for then-Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

    The data also includes additional personal information, such as a person’s phone numbers and their ethnicity and race.

  141. 141.

    sukabi

    August 23, 2018 at 6:38 pm

    Pecker kept the receipts…in a safe, for leverage. And if he’s been granted immunity Mueller has them.??????????????

  142. 142.

    WaterGirl

    August 23, 2018 at 6:40 pm

    @JPL: ha ha ha ha ha

  143. 143.

    jl

    August 23, 2018 at 6:41 pm

    Not sure if this bit has been posted. I didn’t see it in the link at top of the post. Also in the story is a bit of Cohen/Trump phone conversation about fact that a corporation would have stashed the dirt in a safe (from which I conclude that Trump is really really dumb and has zero self-discipline, but we knew that already).

    National Enquirer’s Safe Held Damaging Trump Stories
    The National Enquirer kept a safe containing documents on hush money payments and other damaging stories it killed as part of its cozy relationship with Donald Trump leading up to the 2016 presidential election, people familiar with the arrangement told The Associated Press.
    https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/ap-national-enquirers-safe-held-damaging-trump-stories

  144. 144.

    jl

    August 23, 2018 at 6:44 pm

    @sukabi: Darn, just beat to the punch. I always type too damn much.

  145. 145.

    TS (the original)

    August 23, 2018 at 6:44 pm

    @pk:

    Otherwise it makes no sense for Hannity to be involved with Cohen.

    Seeing this one go down with the president* will involve much more popcorn. They really didn’t want him to win.

  146. 146.

    evodevo

    August 23, 2018 at 6:47 pm

    @zhena gogolia: I’m confused … you mean Fifty years ago? I was a senior in college and I remember following it on the news …

  147. 147.

    Platonailedit

    August 23, 2018 at 6:47 pm

    @Mary G:

    The best reply.

    I hereby nominate the state of Trumpian isolation to be a "Haberman state." We can measure presidential anxiety frequency in "Haberman states per Friedman unit."

    #PaperOfRecord— Very Stable Genius (@pools_of_ink) August 23, 2018

  148. 148.

    sukabi

    August 23, 2018 at 6:49 pm

    The headline I want to see is “Trump Goes Down After Pecker’s Dick Move “

  149. 149.

    jl

    August 23, 2018 at 6:50 pm

    @TS (the original): Probably so. Corporations and hyper wealthy play a very long game and could have waited another four years to hit the jackpot. And the long con media gravy train would have been fun and very profitable for a little while longer under an HRC administration.

  150. 150.

    chopper

    August 23, 2018 at 7:02 pm

    @Brachiator:

    it’s not too surprising once you remembers that this involves an illegal campaign contribution and pecker was part of it. if i were him and i knew mueller was on the case i’d be waving the white flag too.

  151. 151.

    hitchhiker

    August 23, 2018 at 7:10 pm

    I was encouraged by that juror. She’s whack, because she loves Trump. She wanted Manafort to be innocent, but she was persuaded by the evidence that he absolutely committed those crimes.

    I can’t understand a person who can comprehend evidence but still doesn’t see what a vicious conman Trump is — but I have to think it means in the end she’ll be just as able to evaluate the evidence against him as she was to evaluate it against Manafort.

    And we know that Mueller will bring all the receipts.

  152. 152.

    Calouste

    August 23, 2018 at 7:12 pm

    @jl: A lot of the hyper wealthy (Koch, Adelson, Murdoch, etc) are so old that their mortality rates over 4 years are visible with the naked eye. Even without glasses.

    Can’t play the long game if you’re running out of time in this mortal realm.

  153. 153.

    Platonailedit

    August 23, 2018 at 7:13 pm

    @Brachiator: NDA’s? Really?

  154. 154.

    Duane

    August 23, 2018 at 7:28 pm

    Is David Pecker now or ever a member of the RNC because he would fit right in with that bunch. You know, a goood person.

  155. 155.

    zhena gogolia

    August 23, 2018 at 8:01 pm

    @evodevo:

    OMG, of course, 50 years ago. Didn’t do my math.

  156. 156.

    zhena gogolia

    August 23, 2018 at 8:04 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    I was too focused on my Czech diacritics.

  157. 157.

    Citizen Alan

    August 23, 2018 at 8:07 pm

    @jl:

    No. You forget that if Hillary had been allowed to a point scalia’s replacement, or hell if the GOP had responded to her winning by just letting Merrick Garland through, it would have ushered in a golden age of liberal jurisprudence that would have lasted for at least a generation. There was no price too high to pay to keep the US Judiciary in conservative hands.

  158. 158.

    Amir Khalid

    August 23, 2018 at 8:27 pm

    @Mary G:
    I suggest he change his name. Maybe to Johnson.

  159. 159.

    WaterGirl

    August 23, 2018 at 8:35 pm

    @Amir Khalid: I went to high school with a guy named Joe Kotek. He was constantly ribbed about his name. Senior year, when he turned 18 and could legally change his name, the running joke was that he was going to change it to Tampon.

  160. 160.

    WaterGirl

    August 23, 2018 at 8:35 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Richard Pecker, my friends call me Dick.

  161. 161.

    WaterGirl

    August 23, 2018 at 8:36 pm

    My laptop battery is at 27%. Wondering if I should take that as a sign that it’s time to close up for the night.

  162. 162.

    catclub

    August 23, 2018 at 8:37 pm

    @Duncan Dougnut: No problem. I agree. I think they are very specifically saying “I did not go to Prague” because they met in a suburb of Prague.

  163. 163.

    rikyrah

    August 23, 2018 at 10:23 pm

    @catclub:
    Totally believe that he went to Prague

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