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.
Platonailedit
So, will the ‘treasonous’ fucker squeal more now to Mueller to get another get out of jail free card?
Turner Hedenkoff
Someone got video of the judge somehow.
Cheryl Rofer
Adam L Silverman
Just did an update with the Flynn 302 that the Special Counsel’s Office released last night.
Quaker in a Basement
“Wait, judge! Don’t send me up! I can still sing a couple more verses yet!”
LAO
@Cheryl Rofer: that may be my favorite take. Really really really bad lawyering here.
Platonailedit
@Cheryl Rofer: LOL. His legal team too clever by half. And it’s clear now they weren’t that clevah to begin with.
Platonailedit
Fucking traitors all.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
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.
Gelfling 545
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.
Platonailedit
bbc – fuck brexit, today we are covering only trump, the troglodyte and his team treason.
Fleeting Expletive
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.
Cheryl Rofer
The lawyers don’t look too pleased.
donnah
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
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
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?
Gelfling 545
@Platonailedit: Though no doubt still costing a sum beyond the dreams of avarice.
Platonailedit
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Who gives a shit about Trumpenproletariate and their ‘thoughts’ ? The law doesn’t. Mueller doesn’t.
piratedan
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?
Adam L Silverman
Apparently you can arrest a sitting president!
Miss Bianca
@??? 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.
germy
The chants of “USA! USA!” while Flynn exits the courtroom: Are they from the pro-Flynn spectators, or are they from patriots?
Platonailedit
Chalk it up to not a good day for magats aka gun humpers.
When it rains, it fucking pours.
Adam L Silverman
@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?
Luthe
This guy is the Treason Groundhog: he saw his shadow and now we have twelve more weeks of stupid.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: But only if he’s actually sitting on a horse!
Thank you, I can see myself out now.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@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.
Cheryl Rofer
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.
Platonailedit
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Hopefully today’s events may end up proving your dire predictions wrong. Fingers crossed.
Miss Bianca
@Cheryl Rofer: Ah…that was..strangely satisfying. As ye sow, so shall ye reap, Flynn…
Kay
@donnah:
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”
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: He was galloping in a cantering only zone!
Marcopolo
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
Platonailedit
@Kay: I wish these infos were available and were prosecuted pre 2016.
captnkurt
@Adam L Silverman: Sure, Grant was arrested, but what about the horse he rode in on?
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@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.
Cheryl Rofer
Miss Bianca
@germy: I see what you did there…
Doug R
@Fleeting Expletive: If you like Corner Gas, check out the band episode’s guest
Tryouts
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.
Adam L Silverman
@captnkurt: No animals were harmed in the creation of this historic example…
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@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.
zhena gogolia
@germy:
My guess is they’re from traitors, because they’re trying to drown out “Lock Him Up.”
JPL
@Kay: but the Clinton Foundation.
I’m sure the NYTimes will give the Trump foundation as much coverage as they did the Clinton’s
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@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
germy
@Kay:
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.
Mike in NC
We’ll find out if Trump can be indicted while seated on his gold-plated golf cart.
Mart
@??? 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.
Platonailedit
@Kay:
All this. Most of this started with how the white collar criminals got away with it all so easily.
piratedan
@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?
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@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.
Ella in New Mexico
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.
Adam L Silverman
@??? 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.
hueyplong
@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.
Kay
@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!
Roger Moore
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
They’re only chanting “USA!” because they have the dim sense that chanting “White Power!” wouldn’t win them public sympathy.
p.a.
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?
Adam L Silverman
@??? 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.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Adam L Silverman:
Well, I did say “generally” speaking. But point taken.
MattF
And, bear in mind that Obama advised Trump not to hire Flynn. One doesn’t have to wonder what Trump saw in Flynn.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
optimistically: Mueller has testimony and documentation from Gates and Cohen that’s better than Flynn’s testimony?
VeniceRiley
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.
scav
@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.
Mart
@Kay:
The Mueller probe has spent about $25M while collecting $48M. “They” say for every $1 the IRS spends on enforcement they get $4 back.
rumpole
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.
Miss Bianca
@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*?!?!
Platonailedit
Well, will today’s developments shut down the morons like papadapullos or whatever fuck his name is?
Adam L Silverman
@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.
James E Powell
@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.
Adam L Silverman
@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.
MattF
@Adam L Silverman: Pretty scary. Is it something in the water?
Roger Moore
@MattF:
Obama told him not to hire him. What better recommendation could he have?
hueyplong
Do I correctly assume prosecutor had nothing to say and mumbled as non-responsively as possible when asked any question after the blowup?
Platonailedit
@Adam L Silverman:
Ever so helpful.
Seriously, without that cliff notes, I would not have gotten single one right. Well, may be the first one.
Roger Moore
@Platonailedit:
No. SATSQ.
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: That is the question…
piratedan
@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!
trollhattan
@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.Adam L Silverman
@Platonailedit: Unfortunately no.
JPL
@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.
Adam L Silverman
@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.
Just One More Canuck
@Doug R: Colin James was in the same episode
Mandalay
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.
Adam L Silverman
@MattF: Paid propagandists will deliver propaganda. This is what Rupert wants, so it’s what is done.
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: I should probably hang my head in shame that I didn’t need the scorecard to tell the players.
Luthe
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Hoverounds do not count as motorcycles.
Adam L Silverman
@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.
Adam L Silverman
@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.
japa21
Flynn was the first National Security expert to endorse Trump. One wonders why he did and at whose direction.
Kay
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.
Yutsano
@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?
Adam L Silverman
@Mandalay: It keeps the President from screaming at her when she finishes the press briefing.
lurker dean
@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.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: I would think so.
trollhattan
@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?
Barbara
@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.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kay:
rikyrah
@donnah:
TREASON!!!
YES YES YES YES YES YES
Sloane Ranger
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?
trollhattan
@Adam L Silverman:
Wowzers.
Betty Cracker
@Adam L Silverman: LMAO!
Adam L Silverman
@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.
Barbara
@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.
JanieM
@Mandalay: If you were the audience she’s playing to, you’d understand better. ;-)
Doug R
@Just One More Canuck: Second clip
Adam L Silverman
@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.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@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
piratedan
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!
Ruviana
@Adam L Silverman: I am ashamed that I recognized all these people. So I feel Gin & Tonic’s pain.
Frankensteinbeck
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.
Adam L Silverman
@trollhattan: Wowzers is just that he survived the Battle of the Crater! That officer’s story/history is why Lincoln fought the Civil War.
Doug R
@Luthe:
To your Rascals!
Adam L Silverman
@Betty Cracker: Thank you, thank you very much!
Martin
@James E Powell:
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.
Mandalay
@Kay:
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.
Betty Cracker
@piratedan: Yeah, I guess we all knew that was coming. Still, it seems like an odd choice, appointing someone the voters just rejected!
Adam L Silverman
@Ruviana: Both you and G&T will be contacted about the Balloon Juice Remedial Reeducation Camp Program.//
Stuart Frasier
@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.
rikyrah
@Adam L Silverman:
You ain’t never lied
Adam L Silverman
@Frankensteinbeck: It was more Flynn’s attorneys playing for time. Hoping that Judge Sullivan will cool off towards their client by then.
Miss Bianca
@Barbara:
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.
Annie
@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.
Adam L Silverman
@Mandalay: Congresswoman Waters will be dealing with Secretary Ross.
Ruviana
@Adam L Silverman: Lol! I am exfiltrating now!
sherparick
@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.
Sloane Ranger
@Adam L Silverman: @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Thanks. I thought that was the case. Shows their desperation.
Martin
@japa21:
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.
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: I try not too.
Librarian
@Kay: Kim Strassel is a special kind of stupid.
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: Or, in the case of poorer white, Christians, it is effecting others even worse than them.
Ruviana
@Annie: I think there was a waiver of right to appeal in Flynn’s agreement.
Frankensteinbeck
@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.
Adam L Silverman
@Annie: The plea deals offered by the Special Counsel’s Office come with appeal waivers.
Adam L Silverman
@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.
WaterGirl
@Miss Bianca:
And that’s the part that was left unredacted!
Frankensteinbeck
@Miss Bianca:
Committing treason, according to Judge Sullivan.
Bobby Thomson
@Annie: post conviction habeas petition on grounds of ineffective assistance. In all seriousness, it doesn’t look like his attorneys are representing his interests.
clay
@Adam L Silverman: Also, from what I recall, Grant took responsibility and willingly allowed himself to be arrested!
Adam L Silverman
@clay: He did.
catclub
@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.
catclub
@rikyrah: well, it affects them, but in a way they like.
LAO
@Bobby Thomson: 18 USC 2255
chris
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: The USA! chanters. AKA Real Americans.
catclub
@Stuart Frasier: I sure hope he bases his campaign posters on the painting ‘American Gothic’
James E Powell
@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.
Emma
@Kay:
Assumes a object not in evidence. They sold their soul to the lowest bidder a long while ago.
clay
@Mandalay:
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!
Bobby Thomson
@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.
Annie
@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.
catclub
@WaterGirl: Come on, I bet you forgot about people doing ‘freelance double agent’ work?
Frankensteinbeck
@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.
NotMax
@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.
LAO
@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.
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.
ET
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.
WaterGirl
@catclub: I am essentially a freelancer, why haven’t I ever considered being a double agent? The road not taken…
Roger Moore
@catclub:
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.
Fair Economist
@Miss Bianca:
Starts off with a bang! What great writing!
Wait, it’s nonfiction?! Oh ****…
Gelfling 545
@Miss Bianca: As my father was wont to say, the kind of guys who could screw up a free lunch.
Chip Daniels
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.
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman:
Dang it, I was batting a thousand until the last one.
Your Carlson and Pirro ones are pretty inspired, Adam!
dmsilev
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.
trollhattan
Surprising approximately nobody.
A strategy practically guaranteed to make Mueller back down.
Jeffro
@catclub:
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! =)
Gin & Tonic
@trollhattan: Going way out on a limb here, but I don’t think Robert Mueller spends a lot of time on Instagram.
trollhattan
@Gin & Tonic:
Mueller has been hanging out with the mean girls and surely knows it’s Snapchat or go home.
Baud
Can’t wait for Trump’s sentencing.
Annie
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.
catclub
@WaterGirl: freelancing double agents get killed by both sides.
Frankensteinbeck
@dmsilev:
I was assured when the Stimulus was passed that this is how you negotiate.
Baud
@Frankensteinbeck: Ha!
Mary G
Penny Marshall has died. I loved “A League of Their Own” and “Big.” RIP.
zhena gogolia
@rumpole:
I hope you have some nice Chateau Thames Embankment to enjoy this evening.
dmsilev
@Frankensteinbeck: I remember that. Shockingly, reality tends to be more complex.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Mary G: She was 75 which looks younger and younger to me.
Phylllis
@Chip Daniels:
That movie is the gift that keeps on giving.
Dorothy A. Winsor
A video of Lin-Manuel Miranda playing with puppies while he answers interview questions. You’re welcome.
catclub
@p.a.:
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.
catclub
@Roger Moore: me too on Ross. he seems very dirty – like Trump! Like Manafort!
Why do these people risk LOTS of attention?
zhena gogolia
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I’m saving that for later!
Keith P.
Amazingly, that is the same name as my talking car!
chopper
@dmsilev:
“would you believe…$25 and a basket of curly fries?”
gwangung
@Mary G: A terribly underrated director (a woman, at that).
JPL
@Baud: It will be the first time he completed a sentence.
must thank twitter!
Mart
@clay:
And we get to pay her to lie to us.
Baud
@JPL: Twitter is the reason we’re in this mess.
JPL
@Jeffro: What about Tom Price? He’s returned home now and is working on Brian Kemp’s transition team. ugh
Villago Delenda Est
Sullivan dropped a hint to the Department of the Army with the comments about payments from Turkey.
JPL
@Villago Delenda Est: If he lost his retirement, it would be his own fault.
JaySinWA
@Annie: I am pretty sure I’ve read Popehat describing having clients like that.
MoxieM
I like Blue-footed Boobys. They’re good dancers. They don’t deserve the ignominy of being grouped with this bunch of lying losers.
SFAW
@catclub:
Let’s hope “who else” is Wil-burrrr. [You’re probably not old enough to remember Mr. Ed.]
Barbara
@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.
Ruckus
@Luthe:
Some have 3 wheels. With a motor.
Most places in the world, that makes them motorcycles. Rather slow ones, but still.
Death Panel Truck
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?
Ruckus
@Kay:
Isn’t one of the first requirements that they have no soul in the first place?
germy
Yarrow
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.
NotMax
@SFAW
Trivia: the voice of Ed.
“You betchum, Red Ryder” still dragged out of mothballs for use by yours truly from time to time.
All of ’em, Katie.
Yutsano
@Yarrow: I loved and respected her work as a director. But she’ll always be Laverne to me.
eclare
@Yutsano: “Betty, please pick up your hash browns….”
JaySinWA
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. //
Ruckus
@Ruviana:
I recognized most of them, and do not watch faux news.
I do like Adam’s descriptions, right on point.
Mart
@Death Panel Truck: A bad day at work?
Yarrow
@Villago Delenda Est: UCMJ should still apply, no?
Mary G
@catclub: All of ’em, Katie.
You got there first, and I missed it.
jl
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!
Gin & Tonic
@Death Panel Truck: For you.
WaterGirl
@catclub: hmmm, I might have to reconsider that position.
Mike in NC
@germy: That was a good piece. After 1/3/19 I’m going to be hoping for two scoops of Schadenfreude served nightly.
SFAW
@jl:
Nicely done.
catclub
@Gin & Tonic: yeah, when there are 200 responses and nothing of your complaint, maybe it is just you (i.e DPT).
tobie
@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.
Yarrow
dimmsdale
@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?
Wapiti
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I saw “In the Heights” this last week, at the Seattle Rep theater. What a great show.
GxB
@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.
SFAW
@Yarrow:
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
gwangung
@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?)
trollhattan
@Yarrow:
Amazing, did not know that. Beginning to think Nevada wrenched itself to the forever blue category in November. Quite an achievement if so.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Wapiti: The man is a genius.
Yarrow
@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.
A Ghost To Most
@jl:
“Get Out of Denver”
Schlemazel
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
Schlemazel
@Mart:
reads more like methane poisoning
Jeffro
@japa21:
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.”
A Ghost To Most
@JPL: Something to look forward to. A general’s pension is not insubstantial.
dimmsdale
@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.
chopper
@Wapiti:
i was there friday as well. was great.
TS (the original)
@Adam L Silverman:
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.
zhena gogolia
@gwangung:
Ahem — undergraduate.
zhena gogolia
@gwangung:
What do you mean “with someone”? He won the Pulitzer himself.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
what’s the joke about show runners, new writers and this season going too far?
I almost feel sorry for Tebow for getting caught up in this
MomSense
@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.
Panurge
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
It was a bit creepy when I first saw it at the Lake Placid Olympics. “Mindless flag-waving is back!”
Yutsano
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Let us never speak of this again…
Jeffro
@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…
SFAW
@Jeffro:
That there idea is pure gold …
… en
Gin & Tonic
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Sounds like what he’s doing with my 401(k)
gwangung
@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).
TomatoQueen
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.
Miss Bianca
@Mary G: aw, no! : (
sm*t cl*de
@Barbara:
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?
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Didn’t I hear that Trump and kids are barred forever from sitting on nonprofit boards?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
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…”
Bill Arnold
@Adam L Silverman:
I knew most of them without watching Fox. Couldn’t remember Maria’s surname. And was unsure about SHannity/TuckerC.
sm*t cl*de
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
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!!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@sm*t cl*de:
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”
J R in WV
@p.a.:
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.
JustRuss
@Death Panel Truck: Salty, but a fair question.
Villago Delenda Est
@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.
Barbara
@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.