Follow the timeline…
Trump says he's written answers to Mueller questions, isn't 'agitated' by probehttps://t.co/EunErb2w93
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) November 16, 2018
It took a long time to draw all those pictures and the crayons kept breaking.
— M Nadal (@mcmnadal) November 18, 2018
This is false. A team of his lawyers are writing them. https://t.co/6zbRbAz8ck
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 16, 2018
At one level, this seems ridiculous.
At another, I bet this is how he got through Wharton. https://t.co/ZlxnIfnMS3
— emptywheel (@emptywheel) November 17, 2018
Today:
Trump claims he, not his lawyers, is answering Mueller's Qs about collusion, but adds he's not answering questions about obstruction b/c "there was no obstruction of justice…I think they probably agree w/me"
Trump says he doesn't plan to cooperate w/Mueller beyond his answers. pic.twitter.com/7PT8GIUuWz
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 18, 2018
A few thoughts on this, assuming all the facts in this story are accurate (as they are based on comments from the president's lawyers, that is not a given): https://t.co/WbodAH1da8
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) November 18, 2018
(2) It is significant that, at least according to this story, they appear to be answering questions only on the Russia side, not the obstruction side. If that's correct, it leaves Mueller with an interesting choice on obstruction: whether to pursue answers further or not. pic.twitter.com/G1bATpNSAu
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) November 18, 2018
…rumors about Don Jr., and apparently dormant (at least in public) investigative arenas that keep reemerging (Peter Smith, George Nader, etc.).
Here is a good general piece of advice: Take anyone who confidently tells you what's up with Mueller as a blowhard. Nobody knows.
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) November 18, 2018
(7) So here's my bottom line: there are limited tea leaves to read, and I don't trust anyone other than Bob Mueller to tell us what's up with the Mueller investigation.
I also trust Mueller to tell us when he's got a problem.— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) November 18, 2018
After a year of claiming he was eager to sit with Mueller, Trump now says he probably won't. Trump allies believe that Whitaker is unlikely to sign off on a subpoena https://t.co/vXAwppZg7c
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 18, 2018
If he’s scared enough — or if Javanka can’t stop him — once Mueller releases his findings, Trump will demand a sit-down, in the (grossly mistaken) belief that he can bullshit Mueller the same way he’s lied through so many other embarrassing / criminal deeds. He may even demand the interview be televised, just like that Lester Holt special!
WALLACE: Is that your final position, that there’s going to be no sit-down interview and nothing written or in person on obstruction?
TRUMP: I would say probably. Probably. I mean, I can change my mind, but probably.— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) November 18, 2018
Corner Stone
So Dumbass Ben Wittes is telling us that he has no idea what is happening but he trusts Mueller either way. That’s genius, man. Genius.
Mike in NC
Exactly how many lawyers work for the Fat Bastard?
Adam L Silverman
Maybe if the Special Counsel offered to bring his own rake?
Gin & Tonic
I want indictments. I want people to have their Thanksgiving be utterly unbearable.
sukabi
@Corner Stone: bothsides for the win?
Corner Stone
@Gin & Tonic: I don’t want “people” to have indictments. Nobody gives a shit if it’s 30 Russians or a dozen Papapapadapalousesess. The indictments have to be hard core and on point, or who gives a fuck.
Adam L Silverman
@Mike in NC: The question isn’t how many lawyers work for the President in regard to the Special Counsel’s investigation. The question is how many competent lawyers work for the President in regard to the Special Counsel’s investigation. And that answer is just one: Emmet Flood.
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: That’s Papadopouli.
oldgold
Trump should have been subpoenaed long ago to testify before the Grand Jury.
Gin & Tonic
@Corner Stone: I meant people with a one-syllable surname,
Corner Stone
@oldgold: Nobody cares what Trump says. That’s just a waste of time and Mueller has done way more than enough of that.
Corner Stone
@Gin & Tonic: I’ll take four Trump’s and a Kushner, please.
zhena gogolia
HE DID NOT GO TO WHARTON
Mnemosyne
@Gin & Tonic:
Hey, if there are indictments, my Thanksgiving is going to be fantastic!
zhena gogolia
zhena gogolia
It’s so misleading to say “he got through Wharton.” He did not get an MBA from Wharton Business School, which is what most people mean by “getting through Wharton.”
Redshift
@zhena gogolia: Actually, he did go to Wharton, but as an undergraduate transfer student, not the Wharton MBA program.
Yarrow
Possibly related, this was in the FT today:
Corner Stone
@Yarrow:
Denmark. Is there nothing those scamps won’t get up to?
debbie
@zhena gogolia:
Because if I ever start speaking to my brothers again, I will want to use this information. Where did you get it from?
Yarrow
@Corner Stone: Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: This is what happens when you run a two plus year counterintelligence investigation that includes the FINCEN folks. Mueller has the entire network mapped. He and his team know who every node is, what every link is that connects the nodes, the directions of influence, who is a bridging node, who is a connecting node. As much as we want to see indictments, as much as we want to see the constitutional crisis to end and the rule of law to prevail, this is the whole point of what the Special Counsel’s investigation has been about. Because by doing this, he’ll be able to both bring those to justice that he can and make it so that this attack cannot be repeated.
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: Too many prune danish.
Mary G
@Corner Stone: I love the baby cannons, but Wittes isn’t trustworthy. He spoke highly of Brett Kavanaugh and then took it back, so he’s easily fooled by an appearance of brains and respectability.
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: Yep. Our longer term security depends on this investigation being done right.
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: It is being done right.
Mary G
@Adam L Silverman: Per Axios, Leonard Leo’s getting a bit defensive and testy. Good!
Mr. Kellyanne’s quite the character.
Corner Stone
@Mary G: Dumbass Wittes is also a close friend and defender of James “Jimmy Boy” Comey.
jl
Does Trump have a dog? He should get a dog. A dog could eat the answers.
Maybe Melania has a dog. I’d guess it would be a little dog. Melania’s dog could eat them. Probably too small to eat them, or even chew them much beyond a little bit out of the corner, but doesn’t make and difference.
jl
@Adam L Silverman: If the money laundering operation has to do with Trump and therefore got uncovered in the Mueller investigation, it seems very odd that they would do it in a Baltic country, or if the arrangement predates Trump presidency, let it continue.
Trump apparently is a client of several authoritarian regimes around the world, but Russia is the biggest and the first one that raised suspicions. And that relationship must raise alarm bells in the Baltics, so I imagine their intelligence communities would be very interested in any clues to funny business that could hamper Trump.
But, then, I just remembered Trump isn’t really sure where the Baltic countries are, or the difference between them and the Balkans.
encephalopath
So Trump is going to sign a statement affirming that the answers written by his lawyers to Mueller’s questions are true and correct.
At some point he is going to get asked those same questions in person, possibly under oath. And Trump being Trump, he will have no idea what was in the written statement to Mueller. He will either develop a Reagan-like inability to remember anything at all or he will give answers in direct contradiction to the written statements that he claimed were true and correct.
Eventually these written answers to Mueller’s questions are going to bite Trump in the ass. It’s just a matter of time.
Chetan Murthy
@debbie: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-donald-trump-tells-about-donald-trump/2016/01/28/b7cead16-c46e-11e5-9693-933a4d31bcc8_story.html?utm_term=.5fbf53fb983b
Yarrow
@Mary G: George and Kellyanne are playing bothsides very effectively. She’s Trump, he’s NeverTrump so no matter how things shake out one of them has a job in the conservative world. These people’s loyalty is to themselves, not the country or the greater good or anything like that.
Mnemosyne
@encephalopath:
He’s going to say under oath that he doesn’t remember anything and didn’t understand what his lawyers put in front of him. That’s what he always says once he’s actually put under oath.
Jay
@jl:
The Trumps, per NY state laws, are not allowed to have pets.
Jay
@jl:
There’s a bunch of East Bloc countries who’s financial laws didn’t keep pace with the post Glasnost looting of Russia,
Like London.
Chetan Murthy
@Mnemosyne:
And that would be the moment when Michael-Che-as-Lester-Hold says “that’s it, we got him, right?” *sigh* “No, nothing matters anymore”.
lgerard
Finns are getting a good laugh out of trump
https://twitter.com/pyryluminen/status/1064269170253152258
Chetan Murthy
@Jay:
Burnspbesq
@Corner Stone:
Fuck you. Wittes is so much smarter and more accomplished than you, the difference is hard to measure. But if you insist, go right on being dumb as a box of rocks, you ignorant piece of shit.
Bruce K
@Adam L Silverman: No, that’s the Latin pluralization. The Greek pluralization of “Papadopoulos” or “Papadopoulou” is “Papadopoulous”.
Platonailedit
The totus thug will gishgallop his way out of any subpoenas and hearings just like he has been doing his entire corrupt life. Mueller cannot and will not be allowed to beat the equally venal political and judicial systems.
prostratedragon
Evoked by word that Elizabeth Cheney has decided to lead a robust and aggressive counterattack to the Democratic Blue Wave election results, but perhaps more generally applicable.
Chetan Murthy
@Burnspbesq: With respect,
(a) Wittes seems remarkably credulous when it comes to his GrOPer brethren, until he is violently disabused. No bullshit detector at all. Or perhaps, he doesn’t -want- to detect bullshit. Either way, not great evidence for his trustworthiness.
(b) He’s a member of the Hoover Institution. Another black mark.
(c) And as far as his being smarter ….. well, one thing I’ve learned, is that a lot of the commenters here are pretty smart, have done some pretty amazing things in their careers, and, well, it’s just not clear he’s really smarter. But setting that aside, I’d be happy to have a dick-measuring contest with Mr. Wittes anytime, me in my field, him in his.
OK. So now I’ll be charitable. It seems to me that Wittes is a pre-2016 GrOPer. He doesn’t sign up for the white supremacy, but he signs up for much of the rest of GrOPer policy, and specifically he’s there for all the “national security” stuff. As is par for the course for GrOPers, he at least initially abides by St. Ronnie’s Law (“Thou shalt speak no ill of a fellow GrOPer”). But (and this is a point in his favor) he is willing to be convinced that taht fellow GrOPer is actually evil.
All of this means that anything Wittes says, needs to be taken with a grain of salt, and evaluated carefully. The fact that he said it doesn’t give anywhere near the kind of -weight- that (conservative intellectuals like) Ornstein and Mann, or (not conservative, but smart) Mearsheimer and Walt would command merely by speaking.
And finally, let’s look at the thread. It begins with “A few thoughts on this, assuming all the facts in this story are accurate (as they are based on comments from the president’s lawyers, that is not a given):”. Could one *imagine* a less-believable way to start a thread than “let’s assume that known liar with every incentive to lie, cheat, obfuscate, and (did I mention?) lie, is telling the truth and proceed from there”.
Honestly, *to me* what Wittes writes seems reasonable, and I think he might even be correct. But this doesn’t change the fact that he’s shown himself to be lacking trustworthiness. Like Akhil Reed Amar, Lisa Blatt (?) and some others, there’s sufficient evidence that they’re *hacks* that skeptical consumers will “verify, then given credence”, not even “trust, but verify”.. And for sure not “trust”.
sm*t cl*de
@lgerard:
https://pictures.abebooks.com/isbn/9780312625443-us.jpg
jc
Gawd, what a fraud he is. All you nice white suburban and rural folks who voted for this horse shit presidency and continue to support it, we’re not going to forget what you’ve done to this country.
JAFD
@debbie: I am a Penn BA, a few years after our leader. Have written essay on my experience, not sure if posted on bj.
If not will post next week, not gonna tpey onefinger on smartfone
NobodySpecial
@Chetan Murthy: I’m sure Wittes hangs his MENSA membership above his entryway in his house, to let us know how smart he is.
Ken
@Mary G: Does the Federalist Society actually believe that the founders, having just broken away from George III, intended that the President be a kind of god-emperor? Or is that only Republican Presidents?
Bobby Thomson
@Chetan Murthy: Amar isn’t a fraud. He just has a nose for publicity and the typical blind spots when it comes to giving references for former students.
Bobby Thomson
@sm*t cl*de: you keep spamming that illustration, but you’re a special kind of troll if you think the fact that rakes exist in FInland means Trump has a clue.
ETA: apologies – but that illustrator died in 2001, making it impossible it is a current reaction.
debbie
@Chetan Murthy:
Thanks!
debbie
@JAFD:
Thanks, but please focus on your recovery.
JGabriel
Aaron Rupar via Anne Laurie @ Top:
So, essentially, Trump is asserting his fifth amendment right to not answer self-incriminating questions – without admitting he’s doing that – on questions about obstruction.
That should be the talking point: Trump is taking the fifth on obstruction.
JGabriel
jl:
We won’t know for sure until all the information comes out, IF it comes out, but my guess would be that the Russian money-laundering operation that went through Estonia and Denmark wasn’t about Trump, so much as it was a criminal enterprise that Trump (among others – I’m looking at you Deutsche Bank and Morgan Chase) benefited from.
gratuitous
So this week the story is that Trump, and Trump alone, is the author of his written answers to Mueller’s questions. So when those answers start going south (you know they will), there will suddenly be a plethora of authors and nobody will know just who wrote what, and it’s fake news and taken out of context and Trump is holding back the real answers because witch hunt.
BC in Illinois
@Ken:
Ahhhh…. this happened also under Bush the Lesser. When a Republican is in office, the Federalist Society re-makes itself into the Monarchist Society.
Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot
@Ken:
I guarantee the Federalist Society does believe that the President is very much like an elected king. They are, like any good modern movement conservatives, essentially monarchists. And in the way our Constitution grants powers to the presidency they are not entirely wrong about that (also add to that the fact that Congress has allowed the executive branch vast discretion in war-making and other foreign policy matters).
Our sainted Founding Fathers seriously considered having an American King, before deciding on an elected presiding executive instead (which the Constitution that they wrote provides king-like powers to while in office akin to the powers the British king had at that time under Parliament — as seen, for example, in the fact that the Constitution only explicitly puts a sitting president “under the law” via impeachment).