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You are here: Home / Politics / America / Breaking News: LTG Flynn’s Sentencing Is????

Breaking News: LTG Flynn’s Sentencing Is????

by Adam L Silverman|  December 18, 20181:10 pm| 251 Comments

This post is in: America, Crazification Factor, Criminal Justice, Domestic Politics, Election 2016, Foreign Affairs, Open Threads, Politics, Popular Culture, Post-racial America, Silverman on Security, Clown car, Not Normal

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FLYNN LAWYER NOW SEEKS TO DELAY SENTENCING.

— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) December 18, 2018

Wants a sentencing delay to get the "last modicum" of cooperation benefit from EDVA case.

— Andrew Prokop (@awprokop) December 18, 2018

A status report on whether Flynn is ready for sentencing will be due by March 13 at noon

— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) December 18, 2018

This morning’s sentencing hearing are not going well for LTG Flynn or his lawyers. Judge Sullivan, a jurist whose rise to the Federal bench would be impossible in today’s politics, is not amused!

Not that this should matter but Judge Sullivan was first appointed to judicial positions by President Reagan and then President George H.W. Bush.

He was later made into a federal judge by President Bill Clinton.

A liberal Deep State mole he is not.

— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) December 18, 2018

Judge Sullivan started off displeased and moved to furious over the course of the morning’s hearing.

Judge requires Flynn to answer questions under oath, saying, "Mr. Flynn's brieifng concerned the court, as it raised issues that may affect or call into question his guilty plea, or at the very least his acceptance of responsibility….

— Spencer Hsu (@hsu_spencer) December 18, 2018

Sullivan reminded Flynn that lying while under oath could get him into “more trouble,” then asked Flynn at the time of the Jan. 24, 2017, interview, “Were you not aware that lying to FBI investigators was a crime

“I was aware,”Flynn said..

— Spencer Hsu (@hsu_spencer) December 18, 2018

Kelner also answered in the negative when asked by Sullivan if he contended that Flynn's rights were violated by the fact that no lawyer was present, that Flynn may have been dissuaded from a having lawyer present, at the Jan. 24, 2017 FBI interview…

— Spencer Hsu (@hsu_spencer) December 18, 2018

Judge Sullivan: Is Mr. Flynn still cooperating?

Gov: It “remains a possibility” that he’s still cooperating.

— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) December 18, 2018

Judge Sullivan: So Flynn could’ve also been charged in that indictment unsealed in Virginia yesterday, right? Gov: Yes.

Judge Sullivan: “Exposure to Mr. Flynn would have been significant?” Gov: Yes.

— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) December 18, 2018

Judge Sullivan to Michael Flynn: “Arguably, you sold your country out."

— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) December 18, 2018

Judge Sullivan: “I’m not hiding my disgust, my distain for this criminal offense.”

Says he can’t guarantee he’s going to avoid incarceration. Gives Flynn yet another opportunity to speak with his lawyers.

— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) December 18, 2018

Judge Sullivan even asked the government whether Flynn could have been charged with treason for interfering in Russian sanctions imposed by Obama administration. Government didn’t want to go there.

— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) December 18, 2018

Also, Eli Lake is still an idiot and a useless idiot to boot:

Michael Flynn is Owed an Apology https://t.co/Gb9ZFzB0s2

— Eli Lake (@EliLake) December 18, 2018

Don’t lie to the FBI, its rude and upsets their feelings. Don’t have your lawyers play silly semantic games in their sentencing recommendation memos, its rude and upsets the judge’s feelings.

On their very best day, the very best federal judge is still that kid who might wish you away into the cornfield at any second https://t.co/vaNco3UD0P

— NotOutlandishHat (@Popehat) December 18, 2018

I seriously hope that this train wreck wasn't a complete surprise to General Flynn — that SOMEBODY warned him that it might go this way, and that the signs were that the judge was mad. A client getting blindsided because nobody told him the truth is unacceptable.

— NotOutlandishHat (@Popehat) December 18, 2018

Unfortunately we are now doomed to three more months and dozens more posts at The Federalist; hot takes by Flynn’s conspiratorial minded supporters led by Flynn Jr, who is also a useless idiot; and Fox News hosts and commentators, like the Blue Footed Booby of Budapest (also a useless idiot) asking if Flynn was set up, if he actually committed a crime, if this is not part of the actual “real” investigation that will bring down the Deep State and the global pedophile ring they’re running.

Now we will get months more of pieces at @FDRLST and broadcasts by Hannity and Pirro about how Flynn will take down the Mueller probe at his final FINAL sentencing hearing

— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) December 18, 2018

Open thread!

Update at 1:15 PM

If anyone is interested, I’ve uploaded the Flynn 302s, which the Special Counsel’s Office released with redactions last night.

Flynn 302

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Previous Post: « Flynn Sentencing at 11 AM (Open Thread)
Next Post: Hey, Thanks, Kevin! »

Reader Interactions

251Comments

  1. 1.

    Platonailedit

    December 18, 2018 at 1:14 pm

    So, will the ‘treasonous’ fucker squeal more now to Mueller to get another get out of jail free card?

  2. 2.

    Turner Hedenkoff

    December 18, 2018 at 1:16 pm

    Someone got video of the judge somehow.

  3. 3.

    Cheryl Rofer

    December 18, 2018 at 1:16 pm

    It is hard to mess up a recommendation of no prison time from Mueller, but it is doable.

    — Ari Melber (@AriMelber) December 18, 2018

  4. 4.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 1:16 pm

    Just did an update with the Flynn 302 that the Special Counsel’s Office released last night.

  5. 5.

    Quaker in a Basement

    December 18, 2018 at 1:17 pm

    “Wait, judge! Don’t send me up! I can still sing a couple more verses yet!”

  6. 6.

    LAO

    December 18, 2018 at 1:17 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: that may be my favorite take. Really really really bad lawyering here.

  7. 7.

    Platonailedit

    December 18, 2018 at 1:21 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: LOL. His legal team too clever by half. And it’s clear now they weren’t that clevah to begin with.

  8. 8.

    Platonailedit

    December 18, 2018 at 1:24 pm

    Fucking traitors all.

  9. 9.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    December 18, 2018 at 1:25 pm

    He was later made into a federal judge by President Bill Clinton.

    A liberal Deep State mole he is not.

    Doesn’t matter to the Trumpenproletariate. Anyone who speaks out agianst the Supreme Leader is an enemy of the state who should be tortured in Gitmo forever and ever amen.

  10. 10.

    Gelfling 545

    December 18, 2018 at 1:26 pm

    I find myself wondering whether this was essentially a try out of a hopeful strategy for the multiple Trump related indictments. “ We were all just so clueless.” Now that it’s failed miserably they may have to resort to other tactics. Though not necessarily, given whom we’re speaking of.

  11. 11.

    Platonailedit

    December 18, 2018 at 1:26 pm

    bbc – fuck brexit, today we are covering only trump, the troglodyte and his team treason.

  12. 12.

    Fleeting Expletive

    December 18, 2018 at 1:27 pm

    Very slow in getting all the threads read. I just wanna tell NotMaxthat Corner Gas is just outstanding. Wish I had Amazon Prime so I could watch it. Both Dolly Parton and Rue McLanahan appeared as guest stars. Thank you for reminding me.

  13. 13.

    Cheryl Rofer

    December 18, 2018 at 1:27 pm

    The lawyers don’t look too pleased.

    Michael Flynn leaves a DC courthouse amid competing chants of "Lock him up!" and "USA!" after a judge delayed his sentencing for lying to the FBI. https://t.co/63ZRtxtp8i pic.twitter.com/31CgfljOTu

    — ABC News (@ABC) December 18, 2018

  14. 14.

    donnah

    December 18, 2018 at 1:27 pm

    Judge Sullivan also mentioned Treason, which shows where his state of mind is.

    And the Trump Foundation has been dissolved under the state prosecutors supervising the process. Fines, restitution all under consideration,

    Trickle trickle trickle

  15. 15.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    December 18, 2018 at 1:28 pm

    I still can’t believe that Flynn’s lawyers thought claiming ignorance of the law re: lying to federal investigators was a winning argument. Or were they just that desperate?

  16. 16.

    Gelfling 545

    December 18, 2018 at 1:29 pm

    @Platonailedit: Though no doubt still costing a sum beyond the dreams of avarice.

  17. 17.

    Platonailedit

    December 18, 2018 at 1:29 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: Who gives a shit about Trumpenproletariate and their ‘thoughts’ ? The law doesn’t. Mueller doesn’t.

  18. 18.

    piratedan

    December 18, 2018 at 1:29 pm

    i guess in my mind I am still confused…. and part of that is the way that the Trump team apparently plays any particular angle for all its worth…

    these charges are against Flynn for working with the Turks against American Best Interests, correct? the plea agreement covers these specific crimes… I guess my take based on what else has been revealed and alluded to in the threads and the tweets, what if the judge thinks that these aren’t the only crimes committed? is Flynn accused of additional crimes that could still be tried later (like Manafort?)?

    I guess my question comes down to, are the Turks the only country that Flynn sold us out to? Russia? Saudi Arabia?

  19. 19.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 1:32 pm

    Apparently you can arrest a sitting president!

    While people are debating if the president can be indicted, the WaPo notes that Grant got arrested for speeding on his horse as president — got booked and posted bail. https://t.co/bHlmPOkHVQ

    — andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) December 17, 2018

  20. 20.

    Miss Bianca

    December 18, 2018 at 1:34 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: I know, that’s the part that continues r to astound me. It’s like they’ve confused the court of Trumpite Public Opinion with he court of, you know, actual federal court.

  21. 21.

    germy

    December 18, 2018 at 1:34 pm

    The chants of “USA! USA!” while Flynn exits the courtroom: Are they from the pro-Flynn spectators, or are they from patriots?

  22. 22.

    Platonailedit

    December 18, 2018 at 1:34 pm

    Chalk it up to not a good day for magats aka gun humpers.

    JUST IN: The Justice Department has amended the regulations of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to clarify that bump-stock-type devices are "machine guns" and are illegal.— NPR Politics (@nprpolitics) December 18, 2018

    JUST IN: The Justice Department has amended the regulations of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to clarify that bump-stock-type devices are "machine guns" and are illegal.— NPR Politics (@nprpolitics) December 18, 2018

    When it rains, it fucking pours.

  23. 23.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 1:35 pm

    @piratedan: Judge Sullivan knows they’re not. He’s read the unredacted 302s, which he required the Special Counsel’s Office to file with his court over a week a ago under seal. One of the key unanswered questions here is that if Flynn is only being charged, pleading to, and being sentenced for his work for the Turks, why did he lie about the Russia stuff?

  24. 24.

    Luthe

    December 18, 2018 at 1:35 pm

    This guy is the Treason Groundhog: he saw his shadow and now we have twelve more weeks of stupid.

  25. 25.

    Miss Bianca

    December 18, 2018 at 1:36 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: But only if he’s actually sitting on a horse!

    Thank you, I can see myself out now.

  26. 26.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    December 18, 2018 at 1:36 pm

    @Platonailedit:
    I agree, they don’t matter now. But long term they will be a problem, especially if the GOP continues to double down on authoritarianism and retains control of the Senate, where they can appoint as many far-right reactionary judges that they want. Then, the law as we know it today will cease to exist and we will be no different than Hungary, Poland, or even…Russia.

  27. 27.

    Cheryl Rofer

    December 18, 2018 at 1:38 pm

    Pulling a couple of my comments from the last thread to agree with Adam here:

    Don’t forget, there are chunks of documents we haven’t seen yet – redacted in the documents that are out, and possibly others under seal. I think that material is a subtext for what is going on here. The judge knows what is in that material, and so do Flynn and his lawyers.

    The way I read this is that Flynn’s statement pissed off the judge, who then gave some careful thought to those redacted chunks. His scolding of Flynn was intended to remind Flynn of all the things he hasn’t cooperated on. Also, don’t forget that what Flynn actually did in his interactions with Russia and others, including Middle Eastern actors, is still not fully known. That could be what the judge was implying in his “treason” question. That implied that Flynn could be in a boatload more trouble and could get an ugly sentence today anyway.

  28. 28.

    Platonailedit

    December 18, 2018 at 1:39 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: Hopefully today’s events may end up proving your dire predictions wrong. Fingers crossed.

  29. 29.

    Miss Bianca

    December 18, 2018 at 1:39 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: Ah…that was..strangely satisfying. As ye sow, so shall ye reap, Flynn…

  30. 30.

    Kay

    December 18, 2018 at 1:39 pm

    @donnah:

    Trip Gabriel
    ‏@tripgabriel
    56m56 minutes ago
    More Trip Gabriel Retweeted David Fahrenthold
    “The largest donation in the foundation’s history — a $264,231 gift to the Central Park Conservancy in 1989 — appeared to benefit Trump’s business: It paid to restore a fountain outside Trump’s Plaza Hotel….”

    I love the giant-size check part of this sleazy Trump scam. “I hand this check to YOU and then you return the money TO ME”

  31. 31.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 1:40 pm

    @Miss Bianca: He was galloping in a cantering only zone!

  32. 32.

    Marcopolo

    December 18, 2018 at 1:40 pm

    This many comments in & no one’s gone there so I will:

    LOCK HIM UP

    Really just agreeing with the judge at this point. Btw, my two cents is the judge, who like Mueller, knows a lot more than the rest of us, knows about some seriously appalling stuff

  33. 33.

    Platonailedit

    December 18, 2018 at 1:43 pm

    @Kay: I wish these infos were available and were prosecuted pre 2016.

  34. 34.

    captnkurt

    December 18, 2018 at 1:43 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Sure, Grant was arrested, but what about the horse he rode in on?

  35. 35.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    December 18, 2018 at 1:44 pm

    @Platonailedit:
    I hope so too.

    For what’s it’s worth, I’m hopeful Trump and the GOP can be beaten as well. 2018 proved that. And anyway, not to invoke American exceptionalism, but I doubt such a regime would last long anyway. Russia had been under various authoritarian regimes for hundreds of years. Generally speaking, Americans have not. Even if not everyone enjoyed the same level of freedom, all Americans still yearned for it.

  36. 36.

    Cheryl Rofer

    December 18, 2018 at 1:44 pm

    In hindsight, Michael Flynn should not have claimed to be "Q" in his sentencing memo.

    — Scott Shapiro (@scottjshapiro) December 18, 2018

  37. 37.

    Miss Bianca

    December 18, 2018 at 1:44 pm

    @germy: I see what you did there…

  38. 38.

    Doug R

    December 18, 2018 at 1:45 pm

    @Fleeting Expletive: If you like Corner Gas, check out the band episode’s guest
    Tryouts

  39. 39.

    Kay

    December 18, 2018 at 1:45 pm

    Evan Pérez
    ‏Verified account
    @evanperez
    44m44 minutes ago
    More
    Judge Sullivan takes a shot at the David Petraeus sentence for misdemeanor after sharing classified info with unauthorized person. Judge says he doesn’t agree w light treatment of Petraeus. Kelner had raised Petraeus for comparison to Flynn case.

    Our past coddling of white collar criminals is coming back to bite us. Judge did not care for that deal either.

    I’m up for a massive crackdown on white collar crime. One of those “panics” except for rich and powerful defendants.

    We might need a new agency. Think ICE, but for prestigious lawbreakers. I would lit-erally volunteer for that job.

  40. 40.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 1:45 pm

    @captnkurt: No animals were harmed in the creation of this historic example…

  41. 41.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    December 18, 2018 at 1:45 pm

    @Miss Bianca:
    I don’t know if they were just desperate or if it was some kind of play so Flynn could have a wingnut welfare gig after this.

  42. 42.

    zhena gogolia

    December 18, 2018 at 1:46 pm

    @germy:

    My guess is they’re from traitors, because they’re trying to drown out “Lock Him Up.”

  43. 43.

    JPL

    December 18, 2018 at 1:46 pm

    @Kay: but the Clinton Foundation.
    I’m sure the NYTimes will give the Trump foundation as much coverage as they did the Clinton’s

  44. 44.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 18, 2018 at 1:47 pm

    @Miss Bianca: I know it’s old hat by now, but the dimwits chanting “USA!” while the guy is being prosecuted for whoring himself to the Russians and the Turks….

    They ain’t never gonna get less dumberer

  45. 45.

    germy

    December 18, 2018 at 1:48 pm

    @Kay:

    I’m up for a massive crackdown on white collar crime.

    Yes. Stop them before they have a chance to win the presidency.

    If PEETUS had been held accountable in NY for all the nonsense he was up to, he never would have made it to Iowa.

  46. 46.

    Mike in NC

    December 18, 2018 at 1:48 pm

    We’ll find out if Trump can be indicted while seated on his gold-plated golf cart.

  47. 47.

    Mart

    December 18, 2018 at 1:48 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: I cannot see how Fox and gang could still play the – he did not know lying to the FBI was wrong card; but since it never made a bit of sense in the first place, I cannot see them stopping it.

  48. 48.

    Platonailedit

    December 18, 2018 at 1:49 pm

    @Kay:

    Our past coddling of white collar criminals is coming back to bite us. Judge did not care for that deal either.

    I’m up for a massive crackdown on white collar crime. One of those “panics” except for rich and powerful defendants.

    We might need a new agency. Think ICE, but for prestigious lawbreakers. I would lit-erally volunteer for that job.

    All this. Most of this started with how the white collar criminals got away with it all so easily.

  49. 49.

    piratedan

    December 18, 2018 at 1:49 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: so this is like the judge is saying… the Special Prosecutor Mueller and his team indicated that I should go easy on you because of what is coming down the pipe but I personally don’t condone high ranking officers in our Military performing Treason, so give me a reason why I shouldn’t have you imprisioned for a lifetime, you treasonous SOB?

  50. 50.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    December 18, 2018 at 1:49 pm

    @germy:
    Wasn’t Bikers for Trump there outside the courthouse? That’s probably them. I remember at some campaign event here in Ohio, Pence was speaking and a few protesters showed up trying to ask him questions/shame him for the family separations policy. All the supporters (old and white) started chanting “USA!USA!” in unison to drown them out. It was the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

  51. 51.

    Ella in New Mexico

    December 18, 2018 at 1:50 pm

    Unfortunately we are now doomed to three more months and dozens more posts at The Federalists; hot takes by Flynn’s conspiratorial minded supporters led by Flynn Jr, who is also a useless idiot; and Fox News hosts and commentators, like the Blue Footed Booby of Budapest (also a useless idiot) asking if Flynn was set up, if he actually committed a crime, if this is not part of the actual “real” investigation that will bring down the Deep State and the global pedophile ring they’re running.

    Which has been going on already for months.

    And yet, we had this glorious day in which a Federal Judge bitch slapped Mike Flynn’s fucking traitorous face with a dead fish wearing a “Lock Her Up” t-shirt…and almost threw his ass in the can despite OSC’s plea deal.

    So, as far as I’m concerned tell Trump, Guiliani, and all the above: BRING IT ON, BITCHES.

  52. 52.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 1:52 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: Every southern state was a soft authoritarian government through to the end of Jim Crow. Several have been working hard to go back to that. White, Christian Americans are perfectly fine with soft authoritarianism as long as it isn’t personally effecting them.

  53. 53.

    hueyplong

    December 18, 2018 at 1:52 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: Totally agree that aspects of today’s back and forth that seem weird to us are probably logical to anyone who has read the redacted portions.

    Judge’s Andy Griffith comment about not taking his questions too seriously might be “walkback” of fact that they got into redacted topics.

    Upshot we know is that “entrapment” is not a real issue outside of Fox news and Trump’s Twitter.

  54. 54.

    Kay

    December 18, 2018 at 1:53 pm

    @germy:

    So true. Manafort too. He’s a career criminal and he almost made it to retirement.

    A person could run for President on that- call it “draining the swamp” except not be a liar. I’m a bad person so if I were the candidate I would assemble an actual team of crime-fighters, with a logo and things. We might love that, in the public! Our Heroes, forensic accountants.

    Think how much ill-gotten gains they could seize. It pays for itself!

  55. 55.

    Roger Moore

    December 18, 2018 at 1:55 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I know it’s old hat by now, but the dimwits chanting “USA!” while the guy is being prosecuted for whoring himself to the Russians and the Turks….

    They’re only chanting “USA!” because they have the dim sense that chanting “White Power!” wouldn’t win them public sympathy.

  56. 56.

    p.a.

    December 18, 2018 at 1:55 pm

    So the judge thinks Flynn can sing some more, and if Flynn runs out of lyrics maybe he can scat, just as an object lesson.

    Why is the judge going places Mueller didn’t feel the need to?

  57. 57.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 1:55 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: Both. The primary audience was the President. The secondary audience is the extreme, conspiracy minded base that Flynn Jr. is a member of. The signaling to the latter was in hopes of preserving LTG Flynn’s reputation with them so he can hit the speaking circuit and make some money when this is over. He’s toxic in the defense and intel consulting and contracting world. He can’t hold a clearance. This is the only way for him to make money.

  58. 58.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    December 18, 2018 at 1:55 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Well, I did say “generally” speaking. But point taken.

  59. 59.

    MattF

    December 18, 2018 at 1:58 pm

    And, bear in mind that Obama advised Trump not to hire Flynn. One doesn’t have to wonder what Trump saw in Flynn.

  60. 60.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 18, 2018 at 1:58 pm

    @p.a.: Why is the judge going places Mueller didn’t feel the need to?

    optimistically: Mueller has testimony and documentation from Gates and Cohen that’s better than Flynn’s testimony?

  61. 61.

    VeniceRiley

    December 18, 2018 at 1:59 pm

    Now he’s available to testify for Adam Schiff and Nancy SMASH.
    Flynn … so close to blowing his nojailtime deal. What a fool. Ever the RWNJ, I predict a future of Fox news or Fox whatever-web-sub show.

  62. 62.

    scav

    December 18, 2018 at 2:00 pm

    @hueyplong: That’s certainly the interpretation of the “walkback’ I assumed. Quick flash of the dagger under the coat.

    Now, as to whether it was intentional or not … I’m open.

  63. 63.

    Mart

    December 18, 2018 at 2:00 pm

    @Kay:

    Think how much ill-gotten gains they could seize. It pays for itself!

    The Mueller probe has spent about $25M while collecting $48M. “They” say for every $1 the IRS spends on enforcement they get $4 back.

  64. 64.

    rumpole

    December 18, 2018 at 2:00 pm

    A few things to note:
    1. Practice tip: When Bobby-Three-Sticks says “you shouldn’t get jail time” in a sentencing memo — the right response in yours is “we agree.” Then a signature block. That’s it.
    2. Sullivan is the wrong kind of judge to piss off. He was a DC superior court judge, and has seen a lot of folks doing a lot of time for far less serious crimes. When he said “crimes against the flag,” he means it. Letting someone like Flynn walk burns him. Flynn’s tactic could not have been worse.
    3. The recess (and the delay) was so that the judge could calm down, not so the defendant can cooprerate. I’ve seen Sullivan when he gets mad, and you don’t want to be on the wrong side. He’s not going to like letting Flynn walk, but at the same time will not want to undercut Muller’s ability to deliver leniency in exchange for cooperation.
    3. My suspicion is that defense counsel is going to go along with whatever Muller wants. Odds of Flynn walking (especially if he provides additional help to the SC) are still pretty good. But he’s walking on the razor’s edge.

  65. 65.

    Miss Bianca

    December 18, 2018 at 2:01 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Heh, indeed.

    Meanwhile, on a more serious note…Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ, I started reading that 302, and have had to stop during the FIRST PARAGRAPH to cool off, because WHAT THE FUCK was Flynn doing at a “leadership development course” at the FUCKING *GRU*?!?!

  66. 66.

    Platonailedit

    December 18, 2018 at 2:02 pm

    Well, will today’s developments shut down the morons like papadapullos or whatever fuck his name is?

  67. 67.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 2:03 pm

    @Mart: They won’t. Judge Napolitano and former Federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy will keep setting the hosts and other guests straight, Shep Smith will report on this accurately, and it won’t make a dent. A Blonde with Two Boobs on a Sofa Show, both the weekday and weekend crews; The Swanson Trust Fund Hour of White Supremacist Glower Power Hour; Ranting and Raving with the Laangeyland Meathead; The Legal Screech Conspiracy Early Bird Cocktail Hour from Westchester, NY; the My Dentures Don’t Fit, My Hair Dye Looks Ridiculous, and I Stopped Making Sense Two Years Before CNN Fired me in the 00s Business Roundup; and the I Like to Show off My Cleavage at White Tie Formal Charity Dinners Financial Report will continue to do what they’ve been doing.

    For those who have not been following along at home, in order, that’s Fox and Friends, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, Lou Dobbs, and Maria Bartiromo.

  68. 68.

    James E Powell

    December 18, 2018 at 2:04 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    As I fly around the internet I’m seeing RW spins that make it seem that this is all good news – for Michael Flynn!

    Example: Yahoo! News (don’t shame me) had a headline like “Flynn sentencing delayed; judge expresses doubts”

    I’m guessing they have confidence that they can say just about anything and their base will believe it.

  69. 69.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 2:05 pm

    @piratedan: That, but within the context of and enflamed by, the sentencing memo his lawyers submitted that basically stated the FBI set him up, he wasn’t guilty, and this is all a conspiracy to get him and the President.

  70. 70.

    MattF

    December 18, 2018 at 2:05 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Pretty scary. Is it something in the water?

  71. 71.

    Roger Moore

    December 18, 2018 at 2:07 pm

    @MattF:

    One doesn’t have to wonder what Trump saw in Flynn.

    Obama told him not to hire him. What better recommendation could he have?

  72. 72.

    hueyplong

    December 18, 2018 at 2:08 pm

    Do I correctly assume prosecutor had nothing to say and mumbled as non-responsively as possible when asked any question after the blowup?

  73. 73.

    Platonailedit

    December 18, 2018 at 2:09 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    For those who have not been following along at home, in order, that’s Fox and Friends, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, Lou Dobbs, and Maria Bartiromo.
    Reply

    Ever so helpful.

    Seriously, without that cliff notes, I would not have gotten single one right. Well, may be the first one.

  74. 74.

    Roger Moore

    December 18, 2018 at 2:09 pm

    @Platonailedit:

    Well, will today’s developments shut down the morons like papadapullos or whatever fuck his name is?

    No. SATSQ.

  75. 75.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 2:11 pm

    @Miss Bianca: That is the question…

  76. 76.

    piratedan

    December 18, 2018 at 2:12 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: gotcha… because his lawyers worked with him to submit that fairy tale, the judge is extra special pissed and while he doesn’t want to undermine what Mueller has on, the antics of Flynn and his special crew of legal beagles made the judge want to say “fuck that, you’re off to jail me bucko” and if he could have done so, he’d have consigned the legal team street cleaning duty with toothbrushes….

    Makes me think that there are actually judges who take this shit seriously, nice to see one pop up here!

  77. 77.

    trollhattan

    December 18, 2018 at 2:13 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:
    That is hilarious! And so very U.S. Grant.

    No wonder the Secret Service kept Biden and his Trans AmCorvette inside the residence grounds.

  78. 78.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 2:13 pm

    @Platonailedit: Unfortunately no.

  79. 79.

    JPL

    December 18, 2018 at 2:14 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Maria Bartiromo lost the little respect I had for her when she was drooling all over Palin. She went to far as to praise Sarah for her intellect. No one does that.

  80. 80.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 2:15 pm

    @James E Powell: There’s going to be a lot of willfully ignoring of what Judge Sullivan is expressing doubts over. As in ignoring that Judge Sullivan is expressing doubts that Flynn committed, perhaps, treason, which is punishable not by probation, but by a short drop and a sudden stop.

  81. 81.

    Just One More Canuck

    December 18, 2018 at 2:15 pm

    @Doug R: Colin James was in the same episode

  82. 82.

    Mandalay

    December 18, 2018 at 2:16 pm

    Notwithstanding what Flynn and Judge Sullivan said in court this morning, Sarah Huckabee Sanders is continuing to insist that Flynn was “ambushed” by the FBI.

    I just don’t understand what she thinks this approach achieves. She’s essentially saying that Flynn is lying when he admitted to knowing that lying to the FBI was a crime.

  83. 83.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 2:16 pm

    @MattF: Paid propagandists will deliver propaganda. This is what Rupert wants, so it’s what is done.

  84. 84.

    Gin & Tonic

    December 18, 2018 at 2:16 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I should probably hang my head in shame that I didn’t need the scorecard to tell the players.

  85. 85.

    Luthe

    December 18, 2018 at 2:17 pm

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

    Wasn’t Bikers for Trump there outside the courthouse? That’s probably them.

    Hoverounds do not count as motorcycles.

  86. 86.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 2:18 pm

    @piratedan: Most Federal judges take this stuff seriously. Some of the apparatchiks that McConnell has jammed through may not, but we won’t know that for years. And, in most cases, not at all as they’re not on District Courts where these types of crimes are prosecuted.

  87. 87.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 2:20 pm

    @trollhattan: But it goes beyond that. It’s a great story. The officer who arrested him was African American. He’d fought at the Battle of the Crater. He was a freed slave. And he arrested his former commanding general, who was at that time the President of the United States, for speeding.

  88. 88.

    japa21

    December 18, 2018 at 2:20 pm

    Flynn was the first National Security expert to endorse Trump. One wonders why he did and at whose direction.

  89. 89.

    Kay

    December 18, 2018 at 2:20 pm

    Kimberley Strassel
    ‏Verified account
    @KimStrassel
    Follow Follow @KimStrassel
    More
    That Judge Sullivan asked Flynn if he wanted to withdraw his plea means Judge was at least open to the idea of gov. misconduct. But once Flynn said no, Sullivan really had nowhere to go. Flynn’s decision to stick w/ this deal is still separate from question of gov actions.

    The grifters do this because they have to keep the rubes on the hook. “It could have happened! What I said could have possibly been true!”

    It’s such a weird career, Right wing grifter. Must be soul-killing.

  90. 90.

    Yutsano

    December 18, 2018 at 2:21 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Wait…you’re kidding…they couldn’t possibly have been that stupid.

    Maybe Flynn is going for incompetent legal advice on appeal?

  91. 91.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 2:23 pm

    @Mandalay: It keeps the President from screaming at her when she finishes the press briefing.

  92. 92.

    lurker dean

    December 18, 2018 at 2:23 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: bravo, lol!

    speaking of the swanson trust fund white supremacist, if any of you folks are on twitter, help @slpng_giants put pressure on tucker’s advertisers. that fucker said immigrants are dirty, and then doubled down. it’s incredible that many of his advertisers (including bayer, which has it’s own sordid history with nazi germany) are sticking by him.

  93. 93.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 2:25 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: I would think so.

  94. 94.

    trollhattan

    December 18, 2018 at 2:25 pm

    @Miss Bianca:
    Again and again my mind’s eye recalls the infamous photo of Flynn and Jill fucking Stein at Vlad’s dinner table. And don’t they seem to be enjoying themselves. Where is the ambiguity here?

  95. 95.

    Barbara

    December 18, 2018 at 2:26 pm

    @rumpole: Flynn engaged in, at the very least, a form of treachery against the USG as it was then constituted, as well as a number of other really pernicious actions that subverted the course of justice and good government, and he is being charged with a single count of 1001 and recommended for NO JAIL TIME and they think this is UNFAIR. All these people wringing their hands and screeching about unfairness appear to have no concept of the range of defendants and criminal actions a judge passes sentence on. This was an outright gift to Flynn.

  96. 96.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 18, 2018 at 2:26 pm

    @Kay:

    Richard M. Nixon @ dick_nixon
    Richard M. Nixon Retweeted Kimberley Strassel
    You’re here for analysis and we do our best to live up to that. But this woman is an idiot. That’s all there is.

  97. 97.

    rikyrah

    December 18, 2018 at 2:26 pm

    @donnah:

    Judge Sullivan also mentioned Treason, which shows where his state of mind is.

    TREASON!!!

    YES YES YES YES YES YES

  98. 98.

    Sloane Ranger

    December 18, 2018 at 2:26 pm

    O/T but SHS has just said that all Govt Departments have been told to check down the backs of sofas and armchairs for money that can be used to help fund the wall.

    Did I hear right that, when challenged, she added that this was NOT using taxpayers money to pay for the wall as this was money that had already been budgeted to the Department concerned?

    If so, does the White House’s Press Spokesperson actually understand anything about how Govt Departments are funded?

  99. 99.

    trollhattan

    December 18, 2018 at 2:27 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Wowzers.

  100. 100.

    Betty Cracker

    December 18, 2018 at 2:27 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: LMAO!

  101. 101.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 2:28 pm

    @Yutsano: His counsel isn’t. But Flynn is neither a very deep critical and/or strategic thinker. And attorneys, to a very large extent, are required to follow the instructions of their client provided those instructions are not illegal. Unless you’re Michael Cohen, then illegal instructions are okay because that’s what he’s getting paid to execute for his clients.

  102. 102.

    Barbara

    December 18, 2018 at 2:28 pm

    @Miss Bianca: It only got worse. I mean, during the course of the interview, the interviewers bring up other conversations, and for one, Flynn thanks them profusely for reminding him about one that slipped his mind. And they went on and asked him three different times about the conversation he lied about and gave him multiple instances to come clean and “remember” that one too. When someone asks you about something in great detail there is no point in lying because they already know the answer. Lying is just handing them Count 1 of the indictment.

  103. 103.

    JanieM

    December 18, 2018 at 2:31 pm

    @Mandalay: If you were the audience she’s playing to, you’d understand better. ;-)

  104. 104.

    Doug R

    December 18, 2018 at 2:32 pm

    @Just One More Canuck: Second clip

  105. 105.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 2:32 pm

    @Sloane Ranger: They may have been asked to do so, but that money can only be repurposed with congressional approval. Congressional approval will not be forthcoming.

  106. 106.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    December 18, 2018 at 2:32 pm

    @Sloane Ranger:
    She’s lying and trying to muddy the issue by implying that the wall isn’t going to result in new taxes or something.

    ETA: Adam’s answer above is better than mine

  107. 107.

    piratedan

    December 18, 2018 at 2:32 pm

    and in not really unexpected news…. Martha McSally has been appointed to the Senate by Gov. Ducey to finish out the term that the late Senator McCain was elected to… So now we understand why Martha didn’t go full metal wingnut with her election defeat to Sinema.

    Now to get someone to run against her in 2020… since she’s already been rejected statewide once, maybe we can do it again!

  108. 108.

    Ruviana

    December 18, 2018 at 2:32 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I am ashamed that I recognized all these people. So I feel Gin & Tonic’s pain.

  109. 109.

    Frankensteinbeck

    December 18, 2018 at 2:33 pm

    This delay until March 13 sounds like a threat. Sullivan wants Flynn to know that he had better cooperate but good with the rest of Mueller’s investigation, or he’ll get the maximum sentence Sullivan can throw at him.

  110. 110.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 2:33 pm

    @trollhattan: Wowzers is just that he survived the Battle of the Crater! That officer’s story/history is why Lincoln fought the Civil War.

  111. 111.

    Doug R

    December 18, 2018 at 2:34 pm

    @Luthe:

    Wasn’t Bikers for Trump there outside the courthouse? That’s probably them.

    Hoverounds do not count as motorcycles.

    To your Rascals!

  112. 112.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 2:35 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Thank you, thank you very much!

  113. 113.

    Martin

    December 18, 2018 at 2:36 pm

    @James E Powell:

    Example: Yahoo! News (don’t shame me) had a headline like “Flynn sentencing delayed; judge expresses doubts”

    Uh huh. The judge doubts that Flynn shouldn’t be executed instead.

    Not that the judge would sentence that, but the judge went to treason, not the OSC.

  114. 114.

    Mandalay

    December 18, 2018 at 2:37 pm

    @Kay:

    I’m up for a massive crackdown on white collar crime.

    Me too. Let’s start with Wilbur Ross.

    The Democrats will be forming plenty of committees to investigate Republican shenanigans. I hope they find time for one to look at Ross’s blatantly illegal conduct.

    I wish Henry Waxman was still around. He’d be the ideal person to skewer that crook.

  115. 115.

    Betty Cracker

    December 18, 2018 at 2:37 pm

    @piratedan: Yeah, I guess we all knew that was coming. Still, it seems like an odd choice, appointing someone the voters just rejected!

  116. 116.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 2:38 pm

    @Ruviana: Both you and G&T will be contacted about the Balloon Juice Remedial Reeducation Camp Program.//

  117. 117.

    Stuart Frasier

    December 18, 2018 at 2:38 pm

    @piratedan:
    Grant Woods, the former Republican AG (and McCain COS), has switched parties. He was a Sinema supporter and is considering a Senate run. Hardly a raging liberal, but could be the right candidate for the state.

  118. 118.

    rikyrah

    December 18, 2018 at 2:38 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Every southern state was a soft authoritarian government through to the end of Jim Crow. Several have been working hard to go back to that. White, Christian Americans are perfectly fine with soft authoritarianism as long as it isn’t personally effecting them.

    You ain’t never lied

  119. 119.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 2:39 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: It was more Flynn’s attorneys playing for time. Hoping that Judge Sullivan will cool off towards their client by then.

  120. 120.

    Miss Bianca

    December 18, 2018 at 2:39 pm

    @Barbara:

    he is being charged with a single count of 1001 and recommended for NO JAIL TIME and they think this is UNFAIR. All these people wringing their hands and screeching about unfairness appear to have no concept of the range of defendants and criminal actions a judge passes sentence on. This was an outright gift to Flynn.

    This, this right here. The creamy and delicious blend of arrogance and cluelessness that is the hallmark of the privileged white male white collar criminal, with a little light treason thrown in for spice.

  121. 121.

    Annie

    December 18, 2018 at 2:39 pm

    @Yutsano:

    What appeal? If you plead guilty and get the sentence agreed to in a plea agreement there are no issues you can raise in an appeal. To win on appeal you have to demonstrate that there was a legal error that affected the result of your case. But if you admit guilt, usually required for a guilty plea, there’s no error that affects the result.

    Also, at least in California where I’ve worked in criminal appeals, a plea deal can include a waiver of any rights to appeal.

  122. 122.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 2:40 pm

    @Mandalay: Congresswoman Waters will be dealing with Secretary Ross.

  123. 123.

    Ruviana

    December 18, 2018 at 2:40 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Lol! I am exfiltrating now!

  124. 124.

    sherparick

    December 18, 2018 at 2:40 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Maybe by the end of Jim Crow they were “soft” authoritarian, but it sure did not look that way on the Edmund Pettus bridge on Bloody Sunday. And it was a ferocious use of violence from reconstruction onwards. Also, before and during the Civil War the South had become a one-party totalitarian state in order to sustain slavery.

  125. 125.

    Sloane Ranger

    December 18, 2018 at 2:41 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    Thanks. I thought that was the case. Shows their desperation.

  126. 126.

    Martin

    December 18, 2018 at 2:41 pm

    @japa21:

    Flynn was the first National Security expert to endorse Trump. One wonders why he did and at whose direction.

    Could simply be that he’s a fucking idiot. Or that he’s a morally bankrupt grifter. Or both.

    Not to suggest that he’s not exceptionally competent at the thing that elevated his career, but it’s possible he Peter Principled his way into the stratosphere.

  127. 127.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 2:41 pm

    @rikyrah: I try not too.

  128. 128.

    Librarian

    December 18, 2018 at 2:42 pm

    @Kay: Kim Strassel is a special kind of stupid.

  129. 129.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 2:42 pm

    @rikyrah: Or, in the case of poorer white, Christians, it is effecting others even worse than them.

  130. 130.

    Ruviana

    December 18, 2018 at 2:42 pm

    @Annie: I think there was a waiver of right to appeal in Flynn’s agreement.

  131. 131.

    Frankensteinbeck

    December 18, 2018 at 2:43 pm

    @Betty Cracker:
    For once, this does seem reasonable to me. Assuming you’re going to appoint a Republican at all, when a second position opens up, giving it to the runner-up in a close contest for the first position is logical enough.

  132. 132.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 2:43 pm

    @Annie: The plea deals offered by the Special Counsel’s Office come with appeal waivers.

  133. 133.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 2:45 pm

    @sherparick: I used soft as the modifier as the authoritarianism only fully applied to African Americans and those identified as mixed race of partial African American descent. It partially applied, at different times and in different places, to Catholics, both white and ethnic, as well as Jews.

  134. 134.

    WaterGirl

    December 18, 2018 at 2:47 pm

    @Miss Bianca:

    WHAT THE FUCK was Flynn doing at a “leadership development course” at the FUCKING *GRU*?!?!

    And that’s the part that was left unredacted!

  135. 135.

    Frankensteinbeck

    December 18, 2018 at 2:48 pm

    @Miss Bianca:

    WHAT THE FUCK was Flynn doing at a “leadership development course” at the FUCKING *GRU*?!?!

    Committing treason, according to Judge Sullivan.

  136. 136.

    Bobby Thomson

    December 18, 2018 at 2:49 pm

    @Annie: post conviction habeas petition on grounds of ineffective assistance. In all seriousness, it doesn’t look like his attorneys are representing his interests.

  137. 137.

    clay

    December 18, 2018 at 2:52 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Also, from what I recall, Grant took responsibility and willingly allowed himself to be arrested!

  138. 138.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 2:53 pm

    @clay: He did.

  139. 139.

    catclub

    December 18, 2018 at 2:53 pm

    @Martin: or he could have had a grudge against the people who fired him for being a little too wacky for his final Government job in the mIlitary.

  140. 140.

    catclub

    December 18, 2018 at 2:54 pm

    @rikyrah: well, it affects them, but in a way they like.

  141. 141.

    LAO

    December 18, 2018 at 2:54 pm

    @Bobby Thomson: 18 USC 2255

  142. 142.

    chris

    December 18, 2018 at 2:54 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: The USA! chanters. AKA Real Americans.

  143. 143.

    catclub

    December 18, 2018 at 2:55 pm

    @Stuart Frasier: I sure hope he bases his campaign posters on the painting ‘American Gothic’

  144. 144.

    James E Powell

    December 18, 2018 at 2:55 pm

    @rikyrah:

    Their defense will be that it isn’t really treason when the president is black, just as collusion with a foreign power to turn an election isn’t wrong when you’re saving the country from that wicked woman.

  145. 145.

    Emma

    December 18, 2018 at 2:56 pm

    @Kay:

    It’s such a weird career, Right wing grifter. Must be soul-killing.

    Assumes a object not in evidence. They sold their soul to the lowest bidder a long while ago.

  146. 146.

    clay

    December 18, 2018 at 2:56 pm

    @Mandalay:

    Sarah Huckabee Sanders is continuing to insist that Flynn was “ambushed” by the FBI.

    I just don’t understand what she thinks this approach achieves. She’s essentially saying that Flynn is lying when he admitted to knowing that lying to the FBI was a crime.

    It’s such bullcrap. Someone please remind SHS that the “official” reason that Trump fired Flynn was because he “lied to the Vice-President”. And then ask her how it’s consistent to fire him for lying to officials, and claim that he shouldn’t get in trouble for lying to officials!

  147. 147.

    Bobby Thomson

    December 18, 2018 at 2:56 pm

    @LAO: AEDPA’s a kick in the teeth, but he conceivably could ask for a COA.

    ETA: disregard. I don’t think he can receive a death sentence.

  148. 148.

    Annie

    December 18, 2018 at 2:57 pm

    @Bobby Thomson:

    Flynn can certainly attempt that but he’d have to either get new lawyers, for obvious reasons, or write the petition himself (good luck with that). Also you can’t just claim ineffective assistance of counsel, you have to have evidence that the attorneys screwed up. That can be done, for example, with a declaration from an alibi witness the attorney did not call at a trial. But it’s all a whole lot harder after a guilty plea, and the chance of success is not high.

  149. 149.

    catclub

    December 18, 2018 at 2:57 pm

    @WaterGirl: Come on, I bet you forgot about people doing ‘freelance double agent’ work?

  150. 150.

    Frankensteinbeck

    December 18, 2018 at 2:58 pm

    @chris:
    They sure look economically anxious.

    @James E Powell:
    Truth. To a white supremacist, IE any Republican, these acts are saving the day with clever plans, not cheating. Certainly not treason, since it’s specifically acting in the defense of America (white people) in their darkest hour.

  151. 151.

    NotMax

    December 18, 2018 at 2:59 pm

    @Fleeting Expletive

    Up to the penultimate episode of season one and both thumbs way up on the series. Was an avid watcher of Little Mosque on the Prairie, so it comfortably fits right into my dry comedy wheelhouse. Personally surprised had never heard of it before.

  152. 152.

    LAO

    December 18, 2018 at 3:00 pm

    @Annie: My favorite part of a 2255 petition is that the first step is the district court that sentenced you. Yeah, not going to happen.

  153. 153.

    catclub

    December 18, 2018 at 3:01 pm

    I hope that Zinke and Pruitt and who else? get investigated for the next 4 years for crimes they did while cabinet secretaries.
    Looking forward is no fun at all.

  154. 154.

    ET

    December 18, 2018 at 3:01 pm

    I can see that the judge mad at Flynn for what brought hive before the bench, and I assume also his lawyers for maybe not being as clear (or seeming as clear) about risks for their client but is the judge also made at the government lawyers? I am a bit confused.

  155. 155.

    WaterGirl

    December 18, 2018 at 3:01 pm

    @catclub: I am essentially a freelancer, why haven’t I ever considered being a double agent? The road not taken…

  156. 156.

    Roger Moore

    December 18, 2018 at 3:09 pm

    @catclub:

    I hope that Zinke and Pruitt and who else? get investigated for the next 4 years for crimes they did while cabinet secretaries.

    I’m looking forward to Ross being investigated for what he was doing before being nominated. He appears to have run a Russian money laundry in Cyprus, which is something that really deserves some scrutiny.

  157. 157.

    Fair Economist

    December 18, 2018 at 3:11 pm

    @Miss Bianca:

    I started reading that 302, and have had to stop during the FIRST PARAGRAPH to cool off, because WHAT THE FUCK was Flynn doing at a “leadership development course” at the FUCKING *GRU*?!?!

    Starts off with a bang! What great writing!

    Wait, it’s nonfiction?! Oh ****…

  158. 158.

    Gelfling 545

    December 18, 2018 at 3:12 pm

    @Miss Bianca: As my father was wont to say, the kind of guys who could screw up a free lunch.

  159. 159.

    Chip Daniels

    December 18, 2018 at 3:18 pm

    I know sometimes it seems tempting to look at the firehose of confusion and crap spewing out of this administration and think there must be some sort of deep Machiavellian machinations going on, but really, the more rational explanation always seems to be that these are not very bright guys. And things got out of hand.

  160. 160.

    Jeffro

    December 18, 2018 at 3:20 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    For those who have not been following along at home, in order, that’s Fox and Friends, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, Lou Dobbs, and Maria Bartiromo.

    Dang it, I was batting a thousand until the last one.

    Your Carlson and Pirro ones are pretty inspired, Adam!

  161. 161.

    dmsilev

    December 18, 2018 at 3:21 pm

    Via TPM. “Dems Reject Trump’s New Demand Of $1B Immigration ‘Slush Fund’ To Avert Shutdown”. The amount of money that Trump is asking for The Wall keeps getting smaller and smaller (was $25 billion, then $5 billion, now $1 billion) and he keeps getting told no. Looks like a nice exponential decay; by next summer, the ask will be down to $59 plus a couple of surplus bricks from the local Home Depot.

    Behold the almighty Dealmaker at work.

  162. 162.

    trollhattan

    December 18, 2018 at 3:22 pm

    Surprising approximately nobody.

    Russian social media propaganda targeted Robert Mueller. The Washington Post is reporting that the Russian campaign to interfere in American politics extended beyond the 2016 election and went after the lead figure tasked with dealing with the problem, special counsel Robert Mueller. The finding is based on a leaked report prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee.
    “The Russian operatives unloaded on Mueller through fake accounts on Facebook, Twitter and beyond, falsely claiming that the former FBI director was corrupt and that the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election were crackpot conspiracies,” the newspaper notes. “One post on Instagram—which emerged as an especially potent weapon in the Russian social media arsenal—claimed that Mueller had worked in the past with ‘radical Islamic groups.’”

    A strategy practically guaranteed to make Mueller back down.

  163. 163.

    Jeffro

    December 18, 2018 at 3:25 pm

    @catclub:

    I hope that Zinke and Pruitt and who else? get investigated for the next 4 years for crimes they did while cabinet secretaries.
    Looking forward is no fun at all.

    Aw, looking forward is ok…it’s “looking forward, not back” that’s unacceptable. We’re smart people, we Dems and our representatives in Congress. We can walk and chew gum and look forward AND MOST DEFINITELY look back! =)

  164. 164.

    Gin & Tonic

    December 18, 2018 at 3:27 pm

    @trollhattan: Going way out on a limb here, but I don’t think Robert Mueller spends a lot of time on Instagram.

  165. 165.

    trollhattan

    December 18, 2018 at 3:28 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:
    Mueller has been hanging out with the mean girls and surely knows it’s Snapchat or go home.

  166. 166.

    Baud

    December 18, 2018 at 3:32 pm

    Can’t wait for Trump’s sentencing.

  167. 167.

    Annie

    December 18, 2018 at 3:33 pm

    Also, can someone explain to BigCrimeHat that an attorney can explain something to a client verbally until the attorney can’t breathe, and in writing til the paralegal’s printer blows up from printing the letters, and Client can STILL be so deep in the river Denial that they won’t believe it? And I speak as someone who’s been present at meetings like that.

  168. 168.

    catclub

    December 18, 2018 at 3:33 pm

    @WaterGirl: freelancing double agents get killed by both sides.

  169. 169.

    Frankensteinbeck

    December 18, 2018 at 3:35 pm

    @dmsilev:

    Behold the almighty Dealmaker at work.

    I was assured when the Stimulus was passed that this is how you negotiate.

  170. 170.

    Baud

    December 18, 2018 at 3:37 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: Ha!

  171. 171.

    Mary G

    December 18, 2018 at 3:42 pm

    Penny Marshall has died. I loved “A League of Their Own” and “Big.” RIP.

  172. 172.

    zhena gogolia

    December 18, 2018 at 3:43 pm

    @rumpole:

    I hope you have some nice Chateau Thames Embankment to enjoy this evening.

  173. 173.

    dmsilev

    December 18, 2018 at 3:43 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: I remember that. Shockingly, reality tends to be more complex.

  174. 174.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    December 18, 2018 at 3:44 pm

    @Mary G: She was 75 which looks younger and younger to me.

  175. 175.

    Phylllis

    December 18, 2018 at 3:45 pm

    @Chip Daniels:

    these are not very bright guys. And things got out of hand.

    That movie is the gift that keeps on giving.

  176. 176.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    December 18, 2018 at 3:47 pm

    A video of Lin-Manuel Miranda playing with puppies while he answers interview questions. You’re welcome.

  177. 177.

    catclub

    December 18, 2018 at 3:48 pm

    @p.a.:

    Why is the judge going places Mueller didn’t feel the need to?

    Judge feels he is being handed something that is not his work product, and might even be a prima donna in his own court, will be second fiddle if he just accepts it and moves on.
    But this way he is the center of attention for a while.

  178. 178.

    catclub

    December 18, 2018 at 3:49 pm

    @Roger Moore: me too on Ross. he seems very dirty – like Trump! Like Manafort!

    Why do these people risk LOTS of attention?

  179. 179.

    zhena gogolia

    December 18, 2018 at 3:51 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I’m saving that for later!

  180. 180.

    Keith P.

    December 18, 2018 at 3:52 pm

    I’ve uploaded the Flynn 302s

    Amazingly, that is the same name as my talking car!

  181. 181.

    chopper

    December 18, 2018 at 3:52 pm

    @dmsilev:

    “would you believe…$25 and a basket of curly fries?”

  182. 182.

    gwangung

    December 18, 2018 at 3:55 pm

    @Mary G: A terribly underrated director (a woman, at that).

  183. 183.

    JPL

    December 18, 2018 at 3:55 pm

    @Baud: It will be the first time he completed a sentence.

    must thank twitter!

  184. 184.

    Mart

    December 18, 2018 at 3:56 pm

    @clay:

    Someone please remind SHS that the “official” reason that Trump fired Flynn was because he “lied to the Vice-President”. And then ask her how it’s consistent to fire him for lying to officials, and claim that he shouldn’t get in trouble for lying to officials!

    And we get to pay her to lie to us.

  185. 185.

    Baud

    December 18, 2018 at 3:57 pm

    @JPL: Twitter is the reason we’re in this mess.

  186. 186.

    JPL

    December 18, 2018 at 3:57 pm

    @Jeffro: What about Tom Price? He’s returned home now and is working on Brian Kemp’s transition team. ugh

  187. 187.

    Villago Delenda Est

    December 18, 2018 at 4:02 pm

    Sullivan dropped a hint to the Department of the Army with the comments about payments from Turkey.

  188. 188.

    JPL

    December 18, 2018 at 4:05 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: If he lost his retirement, it would be his own fault.

  189. 189.

    JaySinWA

    December 18, 2018 at 4:06 pm

    @Annie: I am pretty sure I’ve read Popehat describing having clients like that.

  190. 190.

    MoxieM

    December 18, 2018 at 4:07 pm

    I like Blue-footed Boobys. They’re good dancers. They don’t deserve the ignominy of being grouped with this bunch of lying losers.

  191. 191.

    SFAW

    December 18, 2018 at 4:08 pm

    @catclub:

    I hope that Zinke and Pruitt and who else?

    Let’s hope “who else” is Wil-burrrr. [You’re probably not old enough to remember Mr. Ed.]

  192. 192.

    Barbara

    December 18, 2018 at 4:11 pm

    @Annie: Yes, he could waive appeal and someone commented that he had waived his right to appeal any sentence within the guidelines, but if the judge deviated from the guidelines he could appeal on grounds that the judge’s statements on the record appeared to indicate that he was being sentenced for something he never pleaded guilty to, e.g., treason. Judges are not totally unaccountable for sentencing errors.

  193. 193.

    Ruckus

    December 18, 2018 at 4:15 pm

    @Luthe:
    Some have 3 wheels. With a motor.
    Most places in the world, that makes them motorcycles. Rather slow ones, but still.

  194. 194.

    Death Panel Truck

    December 18, 2018 at 4:16 pm

    Is there some reason you refuse to tuck long posts under the fold like other front pagers do, or do you think your posts are just too goddamn important for that?

  195. 195.

    Ruckus

    December 18, 2018 at 4:18 pm

    @Kay:
    Isn’t one of the first requirements that they have no soul in the first place?

  196. 196.

    germy

    December 18, 2018 at 4:21 pm

    “Trump may emerge as a brazen grifter who, by aspiring to the White House like a wizened, soiled version of Icarus, flew beyond the boundaries of his own luck and abilities and delivered his business, children and well-being into the hands of prosecutors.” https://t.co/fEvtyTgqYx

    — Tim O'Brien (@TimOBrien) December 17, 2018

  197. 197.

    Yarrow

    December 18, 2018 at 4:21 pm

    So busy today. Can’t believe I’m missing all the fun. Love seeing that the judge used the word treason. Yes!

    Also, RIP Penny Marshall. Loved many of her films. She was a trailblazer as a successful woman director.

  198. 198.

    NotMax

    December 18, 2018 at 4:22 pm

    @SFAW

    Trivia: the voice of Ed.

    “You betchum, Red Ryder” still dragged out of mothballs for use by yours truly from time to time.

    Let’s hope “who else” is

    All of ’em, Katie.

  199. 199.

    Yutsano

    December 18, 2018 at 4:25 pm

    @Yarrow: I loved and respected her work as a director. But she’ll always be Laverne to me.

  200. 200.

    eclare

    December 18, 2018 at 4:27 pm

    @Yutsano: “Betty, please pick up your hash browns….”

  201. 201.

    JaySinWA

    December 18, 2018 at 4:27 pm

    I predicted that the delay would be spun as the judge talking Flynn out of pleading guilty (because of course he isn’t but is being blackmailed into it doncha know) and got the guvment to back away from that treason nonsense, but they need time to prove (insert legal nonsense here). So this is a big win and the next move to exposing that Hillary masterminded this. //

  202. 202.

    Ruckus

    December 18, 2018 at 4:27 pm

    @Ruviana:
    I recognized most of them, and do not watch faux news.
    I do like Adam’s descriptions, right on point.

  203. 203.

    Mart

    December 18, 2018 at 4:30 pm

    @Death Panel Truck: A bad day at work?

  204. 204.

    Yarrow

    December 18, 2018 at 4:34 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: UCMJ should still apply, no?

  205. 205.

    Mary G

    December 18, 2018 at 4:35 pm

    @catclub: All of ’em, Katie.

    You got there first, and I missed it.

  206. 206.

    jl

    December 18, 2018 at 4:44 pm

    I dunno. Most of the time, when the law comes to talk with me special, it’s just idle chit chat. How am I supposed to know when I’m not supposed to have fun and BS them? I remember when a cop stopped me for not really stopping at a stop sign on a foggy night. If he had explained to me, seriously and slowly, and read me my rights, that I was supposed to be serious, I would have acted all serious and said the intersection was very confusing, and it was foggy, and I did in fact stop, but not really in the right place.

    But I snarked around and got a ticket. I guess I can appeal it? Was very unfair to me. I’ll write that nice Mr. Trump for a pardon. Wasn’t a federal ticket, but unified executive!

  207. 207.

    Gin & Tonic

    December 18, 2018 at 4:48 pm

    @Death Panel Truck: For you.

  208. 208.

    WaterGirl

    December 18, 2018 at 4:50 pm

    @catclub: hmmm, I might have to reconsider that position.

  209. 209.

    Mike in NC

    December 18, 2018 at 4:51 pm

    @germy: That was a good piece. After 1/3/19 I’m going to be hoping for two scoops of Schadenfreude served nightly.

  210. 210.

    SFAW

    December 18, 2018 at 4:55 pm

    @jl:
    Nicely done.

  211. 211.

    catclub

    December 18, 2018 at 4:55 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: yeah, when there are 200 responses and nothing of your complaint, maybe it is just you (i.e DPT).

  212. 212.

    tobie

    December 18, 2018 at 4:56 pm

    @Yarrow: Just read Penny Marshall’s obit at the LA Times. 75 is too young to die. I had not realized how prolific Marshall had been as a director. Godspeed, Penny Laverne.

  213. 213.

    Yarrow

    December 18, 2018 at 4:57 pm

    Nevada will become the first state to have a majority female Legislature. https://t.co/7xxRc7yf3T— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 18, 2018

  214. 214.

    dimmsdale

    December 18, 2018 at 4:58 pm

    @Fleeting Expletive: haven’t read the entire thread yet, so don’t know if anyone else responded, but a good bit of the series is on YouTube (very low-res. but it’s there). Also, your public library?

  215. 215.

    Wapiti

    December 18, 2018 at 5:00 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I saw “In the Heights” this last week, at the Seattle Rep theater. What a great show.

  216. 216.

    GxB

    December 18, 2018 at 5:00 pm

    @Chip Daniels: Well that, and nobody since Nixon has ever gotten ultimately burned for clearly breaking the law (provided you’re GOP). I think that’s why Gorka, Stone, and Mannafort et al. remain such supernova sized bell-ends – the law don’t apply to us, we’re not the little people.

  217. 217.

    SFAW

    December 18, 2018 at 5:01 pm

    @Yarrow:

    Nevada will become the first state to have a majority female Legislature

    Uh-oh. They better get someone to mansplain to the little ladies re: “how a bill becomes law” and so forth, or things will grind to a halt

  218. 218.

    gwangung

    December 18, 2018 at 5:03 pm

    @Wapiti:

    Yup.

    Not bad for a graduate thesis, eh?

    (Blows my mind. First show you wrote professionally and it wins a Tony? And you did it with someone who then went on to win a Pulitzer? Where do you go from there?)

  219. 219.

    trollhattan

    December 18, 2018 at 5:05 pm

    @Yarrow:
    Amazing, did not know that. Beginning to think Nevada wrenched itself to the forever blue category in November. Quite an achievement if so.

  220. 220.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    December 18, 2018 at 5:06 pm

    @Wapiti: The man is a genius.

  221. 221.

    Yarrow

    December 18, 2018 at 5:08 pm

    @trollhattan: I think the Harry Reid machine in Nevada is still working pretty well. I’m happy to see a legislature become majority female. I welcome our female rulers. They’ll get shit done.

  222. 222.

    A Ghost To Most

    December 18, 2018 at 5:10 pm

    @jl:

    The rain was drivin’ but the Caddy kept on burnin’ rubber
    We kept on drivin’ till we ran into some fog cover
    We couldn’t see a thing somehow we just kept on goin’
    We kept on drivin’ all night long and then into the mornin’fog.
    It finally lifted when we looked to see where we was at
    We’re starin’ at a Colorado state policeman trooper cat

    “Get Out of Denver”

  223. 223.

    Schlemazel

    December 18, 2018 at 5:14 pm

    220+ comments so I am too lazy to see if this has been mentioned but FAUX News and wingnut twitter is ablaze with the news that the judge delayed to sentencing so that they can look into the FBIs behavior

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

  224. 224.

    Schlemazel

    December 18, 2018 at 5:17 pm

    @Mart:
    reads more like methane poisoning

  225. 225.

    Jeffro

    December 18, 2018 at 5:21 pm

    @japa21:

    Flynn was the first National Security expert to endorse Trump. One wonders why he did and at whose direction.

    Flynn to his Russian handler: “I know Trumpov’s an idiot, but let’s use this clown to really go nuts on terrorists and solve this problem once and for all!”
    Handler: “…and REALLY show Obama who was right, right General? Also here’s a big fat check for your speaking engagement at GRU”
    Flynn: “Thanks! This is going to work out well.”

  226. 226.

    A Ghost To Most

    December 18, 2018 at 5:23 pm

    @JPL: Something to look forward to. A general’s pension is not insubstantial.

  227. 227.

    dimmsdale

    December 18, 2018 at 5:28 pm

    @JPL: Bartiromo was (still is?) a so-called ‘business anchor’ who was interviewing a Dem congressman about Social Security one time; he wanted to save it from some Republican congress or other, and was explaining how important it was, and she asked him (you can see she thought it was a real ‘gotcha’ question too) “If social security is so great, how come YOU’RE not on it?”

    All that empty-headed, overcompensated fountain of Fox puke knows, is what she reads on the teleprompter or what her equally dim producer whispers into her earpiece.

  228. 228.

    chopper

    December 18, 2018 at 5:30 pm

    @Wapiti:

    i was there friday as well. was great.

  229. 229.

    TS (the original)

    December 18, 2018 at 5:32 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    money can only be repurposed with congressional approval.

    And trump/Sanders would take any notice of this? All that money not spent on releasing govt employees from their student dept could be used for the wall!

    So many inquiries about money – just one more to add to the list.

  230. 230.

    zhena gogolia

    December 18, 2018 at 5:34 pm

    @gwangung:

    Ahem — undergraduate.

  231. 231.

    zhena gogolia

    December 18, 2018 at 5:34 pm

    @gwangung:

    What do you mean “with someone”? He won the Pulitzer himself.

  232. 232.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 18, 2018 at 5:37 pm

    what’s the joke about show runners, new writers and this season going too far?

    David Fahrenthold @ Fahrenthold
    UPDATE: NY AG says that realDonaldTrump’s Fdn will have to sell off its 3 physical possessions, including a Tim Tebow-signed helmet, and 2 paintings of Trump himself.
    Trump paid $42K for them, using foundation $.
    Now says they’re worth $975 combined.

    I almost feel sorry for Tebow for getting caught up in this

  233. 233.

    MomSense

    December 18, 2018 at 5:39 pm

    @dimmsdale:

    That happened on Morning Joe only it was about Medicare and the Congressman was Anthony Weiner.

    Just a reminder that the crimes Flynn has pleaded guilty to include kidknapping and extrajudicial extradition to a certain death. If the prosecution is willing to let this slide, the crimes of the targets must be fucking off the charts serious.

  234. 234.

    Panurge

    December 18, 2018 at 5:39 pm

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

    It was a bit creepy when I first saw it at the Lake Placid Olympics. “Mindless flag-waving is back!”

  235. 235.

    Yutsano

    December 18, 2018 at 5:41 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I almost feel sorry for Tebow for getting caught up in this

    Let us never speak of this again…

  236. 236.

    Jeffro

    December 18, 2018 at 5:45 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Might have to see about buying one of those paintings…I bet I could make a mint selling cheap beers and then letting folks shower it with their, um, thoughts…

  237. 237.

    SFAW

    December 18, 2018 at 5:50 pm

    @Jeffro:

    I bet I could make a mint selling cheap beers and then letting folks shower it with their, um, thoughts…

    That there idea is pure gold …

    … en

  238. 238.

    Gin & Tonic

    December 18, 2018 at 5:51 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Trump paid $42K for them, using foundation $.
    Now says they’re worth $975 combined.

    Sounds like what he’s doing with my 401(k)

  239. 239.

    gwangung

    December 18, 2018 at 5:52 pm

    @zhena gogolia: He won it for Hamilton….the writer for In the Heights, Quiara Alegría Hudes, won one for Water by the Spoonful.. Like I said, blows my mind. (My friend could only manage an Obie for his undergrad play).

  240. 240.

    TomatoQueen

    December 18, 2018 at 5:55 pm

    OT: my WaPo alerter says the DC Council has approved sportsball gambling for the District, 11-3, and Mayor Muriel supports. Same council has destroyed the livable-wage-for-tipped-employees ballot initiative from last year, which was strongly supported in the district by all right-thinking persons. Capitalists & restaurateurs not so much, Muriel waffled.

  241. 241.

    Miss Bianca

    December 18, 2018 at 6:13 pm

    @Mary G: aw, no! : (

  242. 242.

    sm*t cl*de

    December 18, 2018 at 6:16 pm

    @Barbara:

    When someone asks you about something in great detail there is no point in lying because they already know the answer. Lying is just handing them Count 1 of the indictment.

    The favourite Fox line at the moment seems to be “Since FBI knew the truth, Flynn was only attempting to mislead them. Since they weren’t fooled, what harm did he do?”
    “Attempted murder!” Now, honestly, what is that? Do they give a Nobel Prize for attempted chemistry? Do they?

  243. 243.

    debbie

    December 18, 2018 at 6:20 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Didn’t I hear that Trump and kids are barred forever from sitting on nonprofit boards?

  244. 244.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    December 18, 2018 at 6:26 pm

    Have they gone there with “It’s only treason” yet? You know they will.

    And soon

    “It was only cannibalism. And she was dead at that point anyway…”

  245. 245.

    Bill Arnold

    December 18, 2018 at 6:27 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Both you and G&T will be contacted about the Balloon Juice Remedial Reeducation Camp Program.

    I knew most of them without watching Fox. Couldn’t remember Maria’s surname. And was unsure about SHannity/TuckerC.

  246. 246.

    sm*t cl*de

    December 18, 2018 at 6:32 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Have they gone there with “It’s only treason” yet?

    If you can’t sell out your country on the open market, it literally has no value.
    These anti-treason people are saying that American citizenship is worthless!!

  247. 247.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    December 18, 2018 at 7:32 pm

    @sm*t cl*de:

    If you can’t sell out your country on the open market, it literally has no value.
    These anti-treason people are saying that American citizenship is worthless!!

    What is this, communism that you can’t shop your country around?

    Followed by;

    “Well it’s only against the law because they made it illegal”

  248. 248.

    J R in WV

    December 18, 2018 at 7:49 pm

    @p.a.:

    Why is the judge going places Mueller didn’t feel the need to?

    Perhaps this particular judge doesn’t have the global perspective that Mr Mueller currently has, along with his team. No one outside the SCO actually knows everything that the SCO knows. Including the judge.

    If Traitor Flynn has actually provided information linking Trump and other members of his crime family to treason, then I’m inclined to let Flynn go with just a reduction in rank from Lt Gen to 2nd Lt, and a commensurate change in pension from $250,000/year to … what would a 2nd Lt get as a pension? Not nearly as much, I’m sure.

  249. 249.

    JustRuss

    December 18, 2018 at 7:53 pm

    @Death Panel Truck: Salty, but a fair question.

  250. 250.

    Villago Delenda Est

    December 18, 2018 at 7:54 pm

    @Yarrow: Retirees are still subject to the UCMJ. Furthermore, he was briefed on foreign payments when he retired, as in he must have DA approval for them. Judge Sullivan was shooting across the bow with that one.

  251. 251.

    Barbara

    December 18, 2018 at 8:20 pm

    @sm*t cl*de: The harm is that he forced them to prove that he was lying, which among other things might have forced them to reveal evidence and compromise their investigation. Even people who force the government to prove its case by going to trial, which is their right, get dinged in sentencing.

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