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You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Trump Crime Cartel Open Thread: Roger Stone Not *Yet* in Jail

Trump Crime Cartel Open Thread: Roger Stone Not *Yet* in Jail

by Anne Laurie|  February 21, 20196:30 pm| 159 Comments

This post is in: Activist Judges!, Grifters Gonna Grift, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Trump Crime Cartel, Assholes, Just Shut the Fuck Up

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ROGER DE-STONED send tweet https://t.co/wEN8cw2Umd

— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) February 21, 2019

Expert observers give it a week, allowing for scheduling delays. Because, paraphrasing comedian Ron White, Stone has the right to remain silent, but does he have the ability?

… At a hearing on Thursday, Stone took the witness stand to apologize for his Instagram post that took aim at Amy Berman Jackson, the federal judge assigned to his case.

Donald Trump’s former confidant suggested he was broke and stressed, which led him to post the photo on Monday and a rant that called his case a “fix” and special counsel Robert Mueller a “Deep State hitman.”

“How hard was it to come up with a photograph that doesn’t have crosshairs in the corner?” Jackson asked…

During the hearing, Stone deflected blame for the post at every opportunity. He said that he didn’t believe the image he posted next to Jackson’s head was crosshairs. He also named Gateway Pundit reporter Jacob Engels as his aide, claiming that Engels may have had his phone at some point.

“My house is like a headquarters. I have many volunteers,” he said, naming Engels and Proud Boys street gang leader Enrique Tarrio among his volunteers. “I’m sorry I don’t recall the others.”…

Buzzfeed:

Stone will remain free pending his trial, but US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson warned that any violation of her new gag order would land Stone behind bars. Stone was getting a second chance, the judge said, but unlike in baseball, there would not be a third one. Stone will be allowed to solicit donations for his legal defense fund and assert that he’s innocent, but that’s it, the judge said…

The judge issued the new gag order after Stone took the stand Thursday to apologize for the post and defend himself. He repeatedly used the words “stupid” and “egregious” to describe his decision to post the photo and said it was the result of the “extreme stress” he was under. But he also continued to insist he didn’t see the image in the photo as crosshairs at the time he posted it — he said it was the logo of an organization that had posted the image, and he thought it was an occult or Celtic symbol…

Jackson asked Stone if anyone was paying him to talk about his case. He said no, but that he was struggling to make money for basic living expenses, noting he couldn’t tap his legal defense fund for that. The judge noted that Stone had told the pretrial services office he was earning $47,000 per month.

The judge also noted that Stone had been accused of threatening witnesses in the case against him, but she said the recent events indicated that those pending charges hadn’t “chastened” him from going on the attack.

“What concerns me is the fact that he chose to use his public platform and chose to express himself in a manner that can incite others that feel less constrained,” the judge said, adding that one didn’t need to look beyond today’s headlines to know that was a problem. Multiple news outlets have reported since last night about allegations that a coast guard officer was plotting a white supremacist terror attack…

Jackson said Stone couldn’t seem to keep the narrative of what happened straight, and that as someone whose life’s work involved communications, Stone understood the power of words and symbols.

“There is nothing ambiguous about crosshairs,” she said….

If you’re Roger Stone, being told you can’t talk to the media is probably a worse punishment than being sent to jail. https://t.co/7KBiR8cXK3

— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) February 21, 2019

This is the kind of mewling for sympathy that Stone would ridicule in a heartbeat if it were anyone but himself. https://t.co/R0XdnI0DLJ

— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) February 21, 2019

Lawyer twitter: Was the decision to have Roger Stone take the stand today:

— emptywheel (@emptywheel) February 21, 2019

mmm I kinda said this last week but it's official now Roger Stone has been given a legally binding order to shut the fuck up. Savor it. SAVOR THE SILENCE https://t.co/dqXlSAW0rG

— Zeddy (@Zeddary) February 21, 2019

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Reader Interactions

159Comments

  1. 1.

    debbie

    February 21, 2019 at 6:32 pm

    Whomp whomp.

  2. 2.

    MJS

    February 21, 2019 at 6:37 pm

    Why the second chance, especially given that he lied his ass off under questioning? Hopefully somebody goads him into saying something soon, like tonight.

  3. 3.

    Brachiator

    February 21, 2019 at 6:37 pm

    JUDGE: “No, Mr. Stone, I’m not giving you another chance.” Modifying conditions, says Stone cannot speak publicly about the case.

    Sounds like an outtake from the movie Goldfinger.

    But this Stone guy is such an ass. Good to see him slapped down.

  4. 4.

    japa21

    February 21, 2019 at 6:38 pm

    Stone took the witness stand to apologize for his Instagram post that took aim at Amy Berman Jackson, the federal judge assigned to his case.

    Interesting phrasing.

  5. 5.

    satby

    February 21, 2019 at 6:38 pm

    He should be in jail. A less well known defendant would be for that stunt.

  6. 6.

    ruemara

    February 21, 2019 at 6:38 pm

    grrrr. The fucking privilege.

  7. 7.

    satby

    February 21, 2019 at 6:43 pm

    The entire country is going to need Thorazine added to the water supply like fluoride at the rate the rage addiction is spreading: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/relatives-identify-new-york-mother-of-six-killed-when-driver-allegedly-plowed-into-her-family/ar-BBTUNfF?ocid=AMZN#

  8. 8.

    geg6

    February 21, 2019 at 6:43 pm

    @debbie:

    Made me LOL. Fuck that bullet headed creep, Stone. LOL!

    And who is the idiot lawyer he’s paying who let him get on the stand? Damn, what a boneheaded move.

  9. 9.

    NotMax

    February 21, 2019 at 6:44 pm

    naming Engels and Proud Boys street gang leader Enrique Tarrio among his volunteers. “I’m sorry I don’t recall the others.”…

    A whole new category for attorneys to exploit: anti-character witnesses.

    “If as they say you’re known by the company you keep, then your company is bankrupt.”

    ;)

  10. 10.

    greengoblin

    February 21, 2019 at 6:46 pm

    What does it take to get a rich white guy thrown in jail?

  11. 11.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 21, 2019 at 6:50 pm

    I give 48 hours before he violates the order. By Monday he’ll be back in court and on his way to jail for pre-trial detention.

  12. 12.

    Roger Moore

    February 21, 2019 at 6:50 pm

    @MJS:

    Why the second chance, especially given that he lied his ass off under questioning?

    He needs to be given enough rope to hang himself. It’s an inherent problem with dealing with politically sensitive cases. If she just shuts him down, all his friends will scream bloody murder, and he’ll whine about it on appeal. If she starts with a weak order that he then proceeds to violate, he loses his grounds for complaint.

  13. 13.

    Gelfling 545

    February 21, 2019 at 6:51 pm

    @greengoblin: Being a Democrat might help.

  14. 14.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 21, 2019 at 6:52 pm

    @satby: This is a result of New York’s strict firearms laws. In Florida or Georgia or Texas or Arizona or Arizona this guy would have just gunned the family down.//

  15. 15.

    Raven

    February 21, 2019 at 6:52 pm

    @greengoblin: he’s broke

  16. 16.

    A Ghost To Most

    February 21, 2019 at 6:56 pm

    To my Republican colleagues: When the president attacked the independence of the Justice Department by intervening in a case in which he is implicated, you did not speak out. When he attacked the press as the enemy of the people, you again were silent. When he targeted the judiciary, labeling judges and decisions he didn’t like as illegitimate, we heard not a word. And now he comes for Congress, the first branch of government, seeking to strip it of its greatest power, that of the purse.

    Many of you have acknowledged your deep misgivings about the president in quiet conversations over the past two years. You have bemoaned his lack of decency, character and integrity. You have deplored his fundamental inability to tell the truth. But for reasons that are all too easy to comprehend, you have chosen to keep your misgivings and your rising alarm private.

    That must end. The time for silent disagreement is over. You must speak out.

    Adam Schiff calls out Rs in WaPo column.

  17. 17.

    japa21

    February 21, 2019 at 6:57 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Another reason why gun laws are stupid. If people can’t get guns they’ll just find another way to inflict mayhem.//

  18. 18.

    satby

    February 21, 2019 at 6:57 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: and the snark tags probably don’t even belong on that comment because it’s true.

  19. 19.

    Duane

    February 21, 2019 at 6:58 pm

    @Roger Moore: Or stuff a gag order in his fat mouth and light it on fire. Maybe then he’ll get it thru his misshapen empty skull to STFU.

  20. 20.

    japa21

    February 21, 2019 at 6:58 pm

    @A Ghost To Most: Love Schiff. That was extremely, and civilly, stated. I could not have been as restrained.

  21. 21.

    Yarrow

    February 21, 2019 at 6:58 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    He needs to be given enough rope to hang himself. It’s an inherent problem with dealing with politically sensitive cases. If she just shuts him down, all his friends will scream bloody murder, and he’ll whine about it on appeal. If she starts with a weak order that he then proceeds to violate, he loses his grounds for complaint.

    Yep. This. I think it’ll be later than Monday but probably by the end of next week or early the following week he’ll be in jail.

  22. 22.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 21, 2019 at 6:59 pm

    @Raven: He’s not broke. He perjured himself.

    Another thing of note while we wait: Stone told the pretrial services office that he earns $47,000 per month

    — Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) February 21, 2019

  23. 23.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 21, 2019 at 7:00 pm

    @satby: I went back and added them because this is both terrible and tragic and I wanted to make sure people knew I was being a smartass. And the guy who killed this woman deserves never to see the light of day again.

  24. 24.

    PST

    February 21, 2019 at 7:06 pm

    I am disgusted by Stone’s claim that he thought the crosshairs were a Celtic cross or occult symbol or something. It is impossible to go to the sites where that photo came from and see the graphic as anything but targeting the subject. Someone can claim that this is only metaphorical, not an invitation to shoot, but they are crosshairs and nothing else. The interrelated sites carrying the photo in question are filthy Russian troll sewers with every tall tail and conspiracy theory known to politics. This whole episode creeps me out a little more than it might otherwise because I knew Judge Jackson very slightly as a student long ago, and I knew Judge Joan Lefkow slightly as a fellow parent at my son’s school many years later. She was the federal judge in Chicago who was threatened by a white nationalist and whose husband and mother were later murdered by a different litigant. The growing climate of violent political rhetoric has real consequences.

  25. 25.

    Roger Moore

    February 21, 2019 at 7:10 pm

    @Yarrow:

    I think it’ll be later than Monday but probably by the end of next week or early the following week he’ll be in jail.

    And if he does manage to keep his trap shut, then he didn’t actually need to be in jail in the first place. Not to be a scold, but Stone’s case is being handled the right way. If there’s a problem, it’s that people who aren’t well connected are treated too harshly, not that Stone is being treated too leniently.

  26. 26.

    FlipYrWhig

    February 21, 2019 at 7:11 pm

    I can’t believe Stone didn’t use the tactic pioneered by Sarah Palin after the Gabby Giffords shooting: LOL LIBTARD THEY WERE SURVEYOR’S SYMBOLS!

  27. 27.

    Chip Daniels

    February 21, 2019 at 7:11 pm

    @Brachiator:

    Sounds like an outtake from the movie Goldfinger.

    “Do you expect me not to talk?”

    “No, Mr. Stone, I expect you to land in jail!”

  28. 28.

    Gozer

    February 21, 2019 at 7:30 pm

    The judge noted that Stone had told the pretrial services office he was earning $47,000 per month.

    For some reason this is the most offensive for me.

  29. 29.

    Steve in the ATL

    February 21, 2019 at 7:31 pm

    @geg6:

    And who is the idiot lawyer he’s paying who let him get on the stand? Damn, what a boneheaded move.

    At first blush, yes. But if you’re the lawyer, and you know that your client is a pathological liar, do you want to make representations to the court about your client’s words and actions, or let your nutball client hang himself? Lawyers don’t want to get disbarred!

  30. 30.

    debbie

    February 21, 2019 at 7:32 pm

    @A Ghost To Most:

    Grassley and a couple others say they want Mueller’s report to be released to the public. I can’t wait to see how they dance their way out off that one.

  31. 31.

    Steve in the ATL

    February 21, 2019 at 7:35 pm

    @NotMax:

    anti-character witnesses

    Ha! I have an arbitration coming up…must work that in somehow….

  32. 32.

    zhena gogolia

    February 21, 2019 at 7:38 pm

    McCabe is on with Judy Woodruff. He’s pretty impressive.

  33. 33.

    Steve in the ATL

    February 21, 2019 at 7:39 pm

    @greengoblin:

    What does it take to get a rich white guy thrown in jail?

    Ripping off other rich white guys. See: Madoff, Bernie.

  34. 34.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    February 21, 2019 at 7:42 pm

    @debbie: you win the internets.

  35. 35.

    PsiFighter37

    February 21, 2019 at 7:43 pm

    Dude’s going to end up in jail…no way can Stone keep his mouth shut.

  36. 36.

    Roger Moore

    February 21, 2019 at 7:43 pm

    @debbie:

    Grassley and a couple others say they want Mueller’s report to be released to the public. I can’t wait to see how they dance their way out off that one.

    As long as Mueller’s report is given to Congress, some version of it (possibly redacted to protect sources and methods) will be released to the public. Each House publishes its own record, and members can add things like the Mueller report to it. Anything added to the Congressional Record will be published unless the House whose record it is makes a deliberate decision to keep it secret. As long as the House Democrats want the report to be published, there’s nothing the Republicans can do to stop them.

  37. 37.

    schrodingers_cat

    February 21, 2019 at 7:43 pm

    When is Manafort going to be sentenced?

  38. 38.

    plato

    February 21, 2019 at 7:48 pm

    I wonder how all the alt right tough guys are handling watching an alpha like Roger Stone beg for forgiveness and declare his own stupidity.— Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) February 21, 2019

    The only upside to this shitshow.

  39. 39.

    SenyorDave

    February 21, 2019 at 7:49 pm

    @A Ghost To Most: Adam Schiff calls out Rs in WaPo column.

    Crickets chirping, tumbleweeds rolling…

    I’ll be happy as hell if I am wrong about this

  40. 40.

    cmorenc

    February 21, 2019 at 7:50 pm

    As an expert in assholery, Stone should not be excused by pleading lack of awareness that he was acting like an asshole.

  41. 41.

    sukabi

    February 21, 2019 at 7:51 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: midnight tonight and his tweeter will do him in….probably in response to something drumpf tweets.

  42. 42.

    Mike in NC

    February 21, 2019 at 7:51 pm

    Stone could work on his memoirs in prison. He and his buddy Trump are both yoooouge fans of a certain Austrian fellow who did that.

  43. 43.

    plato

    February 21, 2019 at 7:51 pm

    Every whistleblower is being charged for exposing crimes that actually led to convictions yet Trump and his whole criminal Russian mafia cabal walks around free continuing to commit crimes https://t.co/X5dMTxewrA— Olga Lautman (@olgaNYC1211) February 21, 2019

  44. 44.

    MisterForkbeard

    February 21, 2019 at 7:52 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: That would fix his “living expenses” problem. Everyone wins!

  45. 45.

    MisterForkbeard

    February 21, 2019 at 7:54 pm

    @debbie: I think we might end up in a situation where Mueller basically say “Lots of bad stuff happened but I can’t indict the President for Obstruction and I can’t literally prove everything else” and then files a congressional report that amounts to “We didn’t find enough to charge people that aren’t already charged.”

    Grassley would LOVE that kind of report.

  46. 46.

    danielx

    February 21, 2019 at 7:55 pm

    Can’t claim credit but don’t remember where I read it:

    FBI agent: “You have the right to remain silent.”

    Stone: “You can’t make me.”

  47. 47.

    Gelfling 545

    February 21, 2019 at 7:57 pm

    @PST: We were told in 2008 that they were “surveyor’s marks”.

  48. 48.

    JGabriel

    February 21, 2019 at 8:05 pm

    Stone: “I have acute financial stress. My consulting business has dried up. I have exhausted my savings. I have been treated for the emotional stress …

    “I have allergies! I have a skin condition!”

  49. 49.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    February 21, 2019 at 8:06 pm

    His living expenses are more than $47K/month? These guys are unbelievable, Literally

  50. 50.

    plato

    February 21, 2019 at 8:07 pm

    Just so we’re all clear:- A prosecutor cut a deal with a billionaire pedophile that included immunity for any potential co-conspirators- Trump is a potential co-conspirator- Trump put the prosecutor in his Cabinet— Ed Overbeek ? (@EdOverbeek) November 29, 2018

  51. 51.

    Uncle Cosmo

    February 21, 2019 at 8:07 pm

    @debbie: Probably hoping to pollute the jury pool.

  52. 52.

    JGabriel

    February 21, 2019 at 8:07 pm

    @japa21:

    Stone took the witness stand to apologize for his Instagram post that took aim at Amy Berman Jackson, the federal judge assigned to his case.

    Interesting phrasing.

    The only word it’s missing is “literal”.

  53. 53.

    patrick II

    February 21, 2019 at 8:10 pm

    I am watching Melber take McCabe over the coals right now about the fb I and Comey. Glad to see it.

  54. 54.

    Roger Moore

    February 21, 2019 at 8:11 pm

    @MisterForkbeard:

    “We didn’t find enough to charge people that aren’t already charged.”

    My understanding is that there are still a bunch of indictments under seal, so “people that aren’t already charged” is a different list from “people whose charges we know about”.

  55. 55.

    Uncle Cosmo

    February 21, 2019 at 8:13 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: Wouldn’t a more accurate characterization :^p be “lack-of-character witnesses”? Or “bad-character witnesses”?

  56. 56.

    plato

    February 21, 2019 at 8:14 pm

    Residents of another Manhattan building have voted to remove the Trump name.For the second time in four months, the name “Trump Place" will come down from a New York building facade, after condo owners at 120 Riverside Blvd. voted to remove the name. https://t.co/0tTl2yLjUC— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 21, 2019

    wtf, trump place does even mean? It’s like their be best stupid slogan.

  57. 57.

    Steve in the ATL

    February 21, 2019 at 8:15 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    His living expenses are more than $47K/month?

    Maybe he has a kid in college

  58. 58.

    debbie

    February 21, 2019 at 8:16 pm

    @MisterForkbeard:

    I wouldn’t. ?

  59. 59.

    JGabriel

    February 21, 2019 at 8:27 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    When is Manafort going to be sentenced?

    Soon. Mueller has already filed a sentencing recommendation with Judge Ellis.

    According to Politico, Manafort’s sentencing is scheduled for March 8.

  60. 60.

    chopper

    February 21, 2019 at 8:28 pm

    @plato:

    better’n “Le Trump Dump”.

  61. 61.

    Villago Delenda Est

    February 21, 2019 at 8:30 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: Well played.

  62. 62.

    SFAW

    February 21, 2019 at 8:32 pm

    @JGabriel:

    “I have allergies! I have a skin condition!”

    And bone spurs?

  63. 63.

    JGabriel

    February 21, 2019 at 8:35 pm

    @SFAW: Heh.

  64. 64.

    chopper

    February 21, 2019 at 8:35 pm

    @chopper:

    yep.

  65. 65.

    oldgold

    February 21, 2019 at 8:35 pm

    @satby:

    I agree.

    This execrable miscreant’s well earned notoriety spared him from being summarily incarcerated.

  66. 66.

    The Midnight Lurker

    February 21, 2019 at 8:37 pm

    Stone: “That’s not a swastika, your honor! It’s a headless stickman running really fast from FAKE NEWS!”

    Judge: “Oh, yeah… I’ll be seeing you again.”

  67. 67.

    Yarrow

    February 21, 2019 at 8:38 pm

    So have we seen this article? Has a lot of big names in it

    (CNN)Federal prosecutors have charged an analyst with the Internal Revenue Service with illegally disclosing confidential reports about Michael Cohen’s bank records that revealed that President Donald Trump’s former lawyer had sought to profit from his proximity to the White House, according to a complaint unsealed on Thursday.

    The analyst, John C. Fry, was charged with the unauthorized disclosure of a document called a suspicious activity report, which banks file when they review transactions that raise red flags.
    …
    Fry, an investigative analyst with the IRS’s law enforcement arm, is accused of turning over the reports in the spring of 2018 to an attorney, Michael Avenatti, and of confirming confidential banking information in them to a reporter for The New Yorker, according to the complaint, which was filed under seal earlier this month.

    More:

    About 20 minutes after Fry began accessing the reports, he placed two calls to a number associated with Avenatti, the complaint says, and shortly thereafter, Fry attempted to access two other Cohen-connected suspicious activity reports that the system told him were “unavailable.”

    According to the complaint, several days later Fry again called Avenatti, and Avenatti subsequently “used his public Twitter account to circulate a dossier releasing confidential banking information related to Cohen and his company Essential Consultants.”

    Fry also called a reporter at The New Yorker, who isn’t named in the complaint but, based on the description of the reporter’s work, appears to be Ronan Farrow. After weeks of WhatsApp messages between Fry and the reporter, Farrow published a story that quoted a “law enforcement officer” responsible for the leak of Cohen’s banking information as saying he did so because he became alarmed that he was unable to find two of the reports on Cohen.

    Avenatti, Cohen, Farrow. Sheesh. Tangled web. Farrow is listed as Reporter-1 in the indictment, which may not be good for him.

  68. 68.

    sdhays

    February 21, 2019 at 8:49 pm

    @plato: I listened to the beginning of the Snooze Hour tonight, and this didn’t even make it into their news summary. The top story: Smollett.

    I’m not saying that it’s not a significant story (if it’s true, it’s almost worse than if he had actually been attacked because his lies will make law enforcement even more wary or dismissive of actual victims), but the Secretary of Labor being guilty of protecting the architect and ringleader of an international sex trafficking ring seems at least as significant.

  69. 69.

    Kay

    February 21, 2019 at 8:51 pm

    The Epstein opinion is so sad. At every turn, prosecutors were protecting Epstein. They really betrayed those girls.

    I will include our standard language regarding resolving all criminal liability and I
    will mention ‘co-conspirators,’ but I would prefer not to highlight for the judge all
    of the other crimes and all of the other persons that we could charge. Also, we do not
    have the power to bind Immigration . . . there is no plan to try to proceed on any
    immigration charges against either Ms. [co-conspirator] or Ms. [coconspirator]

    They’re way more worried about the full scope of Epstein’s crimes being covered by the press than they are about the 14 year old girls he victimized. It’s just appalling.

    33 pages of federal prosecutors working as hard as they can with Epstein’s lawyers, to protect Epstein. It sickens me how they repeatedly refer to “the girls” – not in the context of victims but instead in the context of how the girls might get in the way of this shitty, corrupt, joke of a deal they’re crafting per Epstein’s lawyers instructions.

  70. 70.

    Roger Moore

    February 21, 2019 at 8:53 pm

    @Yarrow:

    Farrow is listed as Reporter-1 in the indictment, which may not be good for him.

    As I understand it, Farrow is likely to be in the clear. Reporters are allowed to accept information from people who broke the law to get it; they just aren’t allowed to ask people to break the law to get them that information. From what you posted there, it sounds as if Fry accessed the information before he contacted Farrow, so it’s hard to see how Farrow could be guilty of soliciting his illegal behavior.

  71. 71.

    Gwangung

    February 21, 2019 at 8:58 pm

    If this is true, this amuses me:

    https://twitter.com/johnmdonnelly/status/1098742034524004352?s=21

  72. 72.

    Patricia Kayden

    February 21, 2019 at 9:03 pm

    So bummed that Stone wasn’t thrown in jail. Oh well. It will happen.

  73. 73.

    Yarrow

    February 21, 2019 at 9:03 pm

    @Roger Moore: He could have paid for the information. The PDF of the indictment is here. Forgot to mention that Palantir (Peter Thiel’s company) is also mentioned.

  74. 74.

    Mary G

    February 21, 2019 at 9:03 pm

    @Roger Moore: Ronan Farrow getting arrested would backfire on the administration in a major way. His fans are legion among abuse victims and reporters admire his ability to get the women to talk.

  75. 75.

    plato

    February 21, 2019 at 9:03 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    Reporters are allowed to accept information from people who broke the law to get it; they just aren’t allowed to ask people to break the law to get them that information.

    All the while the white collar criminals continue to break the law and get away with it most of the time.

  76. 76.

    Kay

    February 21, 2019 at 9:07 pm

    The Office also stated, “On an ‘avoid the press’ note, I believe that Mr. Epstein’s airplane was
    in Miami on the day of the [co-conspirator] telephone call. If he was in Miami-Dade County at the
    time, then I can file the charge in the District Court in Miami, which will hopefully cut the press
    coverage significantly.”

    So incredibly eager to assist Mr. Epstein. God forbid he should be inconvenienced even slightly by “press coverage” relating to the fact that he was trafficking 14 year old girls for a decade.

    The FBI would send the girls letters, telling them to “be patient”, that the investigation and prosecution were proceeding, and they had already made the non prosecution agreement.

  77. 77.

    cain

    February 21, 2019 at 9:08 pm

    @JGabriel:
    Fuck this guy. How many people have this? How many are incarcerated and not even be able to pay their goddam bail money and have to stay in jail? His privilege is off the scales.

  78. 78.

    Baud

    February 21, 2019 at 9:09 pm

    @Roger Moore: That was always the debate with Greenwald, whether he crossed that line.

  79. 79.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    February 21, 2019 at 9:10 pm

    @Kay: That’s seriously fucked up.

  80. 80.

    Baud

    February 21, 2019 at 9:10 pm

    @Kay: Given how much Trump hates child trafficking, I’m sure he’ll be right on this.

  81. 81.

    Mary G

    February 21, 2019 at 9:14 pm

    Adam alert!

    Joe lives near the Air Force base where my boyfriend is stationed. I've never met Joe, but my partner and I are arranging a huge group of military guys to go surprise Joe with a salute and happy birthday next weekend. Please consider sending Joe a card! #ThursdayThoughts pic.twitter.com/FMgLls6nmp— Kendally Brown (@kendallybrown) February 21, 2019

    WWII veteran turning 100 on March 2 would like to receive 100 birthday cards.

  82. 82.

    Cacti

    February 21, 2019 at 9:15 pm

    @Baud:

    That was always the debate with Greenwald, whether he crossed that line.

    Between Russia apologist vs. actual Kremlin asset?

  83. 83.

    sdhays

    February 21, 2019 at 9:17 pm

    @Baud: If this was the TV drama that no one would have ever allowed to be made because it’s so poorly written, he would be on track to survive his Senate impeachment trial, only to be implicated following the collapse of the Epstein coverup just before the vote.

    Unfortunately, that’s not at all implausible in this reality.

  84. 84.

    Baud

    February 21, 2019 at 9:17 pm

    @Cacti:

    Whether he solicited Snowden, but that too.

  85. 85.

    Kay

    February 21, 2019 at 9:17 pm

    @Baud:

    Ken Starr is in there. Maybe they were unduly impressed by Epstein’s big shot lawyers. “Maybe”. Definitely.

    Conservatives used to call him “Judge Starr” during the Clinton witch hunt(s) as if that made him more credible. “Oh, okay. Sorry. JUDGE Starr is dusting the Whitewater files for Hillary Clinton’s fingerprints. Excuse my impertinence, m’Lord”

  86. 86.

    RAVEN

    February 21, 2019 at 9:18 pm

    @Mary G: I think Adam posted that a while back.

  87. 87.

    Baud

    February 21, 2019 at 9:20 pm

    @Kay:

    Ken Starr really has fathered a lot of the current crop of conservative legal hotshots. He doesn’t get enough derision.

  88. 88.

    Yarrow

    February 21, 2019 at 9:24 pm

    @RAVEN: The last one Adam posted was for a WWII veteran in Oklahoma. I remember because I looked up the location. This one is Wichita Falls, TX.

    @Baud: Who is the “he” in your sentence?

  89. 89.

    Baud

    February 21, 2019 at 9:27 pm

    @Yarrow: Greenwald.

  90. 90.

    Yarrow

    February 21, 2019 at 9:28 pm

    Have to say, Avenatti boosting Farrow doesn’t give me confidence that Farrow did nothing wrong. Avenatti is a creep.

    Neither I nor R. Farrow did anything wrong or illegal with the financial info relating to Cohen’s crimes (the courts have found that the BSA does not apply – see below). And if we did (we didn’t), then every reporter in America would be jailed and unable to do their job.— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) February 21, 2019

  91. 91.

    Kay

    February 21, 2019 at 9:28 pm

    This is for my friend eemom. It’s a Twitter fight between Glenn Greenwald and emptywheel.

    @emptywheel
    7h7 hours ago
    More emptywheel Retweeted Glenn Greenwald
    Mueller charged, indicted, prosecuted the campaign manager that conspired w/RU before, during, & after campaign, & got judge to agree that included stuff material to the campaign.
    (Never mind that GG gets the mandate hilariously wrong).

    @emptywheel
    Glenn:
    You ARE aware that Manafort’s own lawyer confirmed some of the most damning parts of the August 2 meeting, right? Or is that one of the vast majority of details that you choose not to see?

    emptywheel won, if we’re keeping score and we most certainly are. I think eemom will enjoy it.

  92. 92.

    Steve in the ATL

    February 21, 2019 at 9:31 pm

    @Kay: I have more respect for Brenda Starr, and I *hate* non-funny comics. Yes, that includes Family Circus, Beetle Bailey, and Hagar the Horrible. All of whom I respect more than that asshole.

  93. 93.

    Jay

    February 21, 2019 at 9:33 pm

    @Yarrow:

    Starr.

    He festered a two geration crop of scummy ReThug lawyers.

  94. 94.

    West of the Rockies

    February 21, 2019 at 9:34 pm

    Oh, Rachel…
    “We begin our reporting tonight…
    … In 1988.”

  95. 95.

    raven

    February 21, 2019 at 9:37 pm

    @Yarrow: Ah, sorry

  96. 96.

    plato

    February 21, 2019 at 9:37 pm

    Some stupid teevee actor’s stupid stunt has been the bbc’s fp news for hours now. Murkan journos can relax, bbc got this journalism thingy down to a pat.

  97. 97.

    Plato

    February 21, 2019 at 9:41 pm

    Some stupid teevee actor’s stupid stunt has been the bbc’s fp news for hours now. Murkan journos can relax, bbc got this journalism thingy down to the pat.

  98. 98.

    Yarrow

    February 21, 2019 at 9:42 pm

    @Baud: Thanks.

  99. 99.

    Yarrow

    February 21, 2019 at 9:44 pm

    @raven: It’s great there are so many of them! May they all get their many birthday cards.

  100. 100.

    Steeplejack

    February 21, 2019 at 9:45 pm

    @West of the Rockies:

    @Zeddary has a funny take on it. Although it looks like this story is a real story.

    Rachel: 'first we go back to 1988' pic.twitter.com/dn1CY1KUgX

    — Zeddy (@Zeddary) February 22, 2019

  101. 101.

    JaySinWA

    February 21, 2019 at 9:46 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: Can a lawyer actually stop a client from testifying? I doubt anyone could stop Roger to STFU when he has a platform to perform on.

  102. 102.

    Jackie

    February 21, 2019 at 9:46 pm

    @West of the Rockies: I’m actually watching that segment. Former disgraced VP Agnew begging the then Saudi Prince for a 3 million dollar loan – secretly.

  103. 103.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    February 21, 2019 at 9:48 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: Ringo feels left out, Steve.

  104. 104.

    Yarrow

    February 21, 2019 at 9:49 pm

    @Mary G: Here’s a follow up tweet with the actual address written out.

    For those using a screen reader, the sign Joe is holding says:

    I'm a WWII veteran who will be turning 100 on March 2, 2019. I would like to receive 100 birthday cards. Send to:

    Joe Cuba
    918 Midwestern Pkwy.
    Wichita Falls, TX 76302
    — Kendally Brown (@kendallybrown) February 21, 2019

  105. 105.

    Barbara

    February 21, 2019 at 9:51 pm

    @JaySinWA: No. If a defendant wants to take the stand you have to let him.

  106. 106.

    West of the Rockies

    February 21, 2019 at 10:00 pm

    @Jackie:

    It actually was a compelling story.

  107. 107.

    West of the Rockies

    February 21, 2019 at 10:01 pm

    @Steeplejack:

    ?

  108. 108.

    Steve in the ATL

    February 21, 2019 at 10:04 pm

    @JaySinWA: what Babs said. With a chronic liar for a client, the lawyer would rather let the client hang himself than risk getting sanctioned.

  109. 109.

    JaySinWA

    February 21, 2019 at 10:06 pm

    @Barbara: Thanks, I thought so, and agree with Steve that it is in a lawyer’s best interest to let a client misrepresent himself, himself.

  110. 110.

    Steve in the ATL

    February 21, 2019 at 10:07 pm

    @Steeplejack: since you asked, here is my playlist for tonight. Skews a little newer, and mellower, than our recent musical threads:

    “Twisterella” Ride
    “The Concept” Teenage Fanclub
    “Valerie Loves Me” Material Issue (whom I often think is Game Theory)
    “What a Time to Be Alive” Superchunk
    “If I Can’t Change Your Mind” Sugar
    “Tiger Lily” Luna (whom I often think is Yo La Tenga)
    “Roadrunner” the Modern Lovers
    “My Future in Barcelona” Guided By Voices
    “Corona” Minutemen
    “Range Life” Pavement
    “Time to Atone” the Chills
    “Jailbait” Alex Chilton

  111. 111.

    rikyrah

    February 21, 2019 at 10:07 pm

    Throw that muthaphucka in jail ?

  112. 112.

    Yarrow

    February 21, 2019 at 10:12 pm

    But of course. It’s Keith Ablow if anyone was wondering.

    The worst people: @FoxNews "psychiatrist" who diagnosed Obama as a "sociopath," and spread the lie that mass shooters are autistic, sued for beating and sexually abusing multiple female patients. https://t.co/b0sntc4wEz— Steve Silberman (@stevesilberman) February 22, 2019

    He always creeped me out.

  113. 113.

    Gin & Tonic

    February 21, 2019 at 10:14 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: I wonder what it says that I don’t recognize a single one of those.

  114. 114.

    Steve in the ATL

    February 21, 2019 at 10:14 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: you’re either old or young!

  115. 115.

    Steve in the ATL

    February 21, 2019 at 10:16 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: you really don’t know who Alex Chilton was?

    If Omnes were here tonight, he’d tell you that children by the millions screamed for Alex Chilton, but you probably aren’t a dna of the Replacements either.

  116. 116.

    Gin & Tonic

    February 21, 2019 at 10:20 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: Did he publish all those auto repair manuals, back in the day when you could repair your own car?

    I guess that demonstrates my answer to your previous comment.

  117. 117.

    Amir Khalid

    February 21, 2019 at 10:20 pm

    @Gozer:
    Stone might have US$47,000 in monthly income, but really, how much of it is honestly earned?

  118. 118.

    Yarrow

    February 21, 2019 at 10:20 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: You don’t know “Roadrunner” by the Modern Lovers? It’s a classic.

  119. 119.

    Steeplejack

    February 21, 2019 at 10:21 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Thanks, will check it out. Much of it is unknown to me. One poignant moment of my family weekend in Las Vegas came when I found myself telling Bro’ Man (eight years my junior) that my encyclopedic knowledge of popular music petered out sometime in the mid-’90s.

    Speaking of Yo La Tengo, I particularly like their cover of “Here Comes My Baby.”

    Tonight I was listening to Gerry Mulligan’s Night Lights. This is your grandfather’s jazz! But nice for a late night as your vital essence slowly trickles away.

  120. 120.

    Jackie

    February 21, 2019 at 10:21 pm

    @West of the Rockies: I remember those years: Can a sitting VP be indicted? I’m sure VP Pence’s seat is feeling toasty.

  121. 121.

    Yarrow

    February 21, 2019 at 10:22 pm

    @Amir Khalid: All the lawyers here could spend hours parsing “honestly” and “earned.”

  122. 122.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 21, 2019 at 10:24 pm

    @Mary G: Front paged!

  123. 123.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 21, 2019 at 10:25 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: It has been a rather long time since I listened to Superchunk.

    @Steve in the ATL: I would indeed.

  124. 124.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 21, 2019 at 10:25 pm

    @RAVEN: Different guy.

  125. 125.

    Barbara

    February 21, 2019 at 10:25 pm

    @JaySinWA: Well, technically it would be improper to counsel a client to do something that is better for you than them, but so long as you honestly advise them of what you think is best for them, you have to let them make the final decision. In a situation like Stone’s, as bad as he was, the lawyers probably understood that it was imperative that the judge be able to evaluate his demeanor, for good or bad.

  126. 126.

    plato

    February 21, 2019 at 10:25 pm

    @Yarrow:

    sexually abusing multiple female patients.

    Continuing the pox news station tradition.

  127. 127.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 21, 2019 at 10:26 pm

    @West of the Rockies: B. C.

  128. 128.

    Gin & Tonic

    February 21, 2019 at 10:33 pm

    @Steeplejack:

    Tonight I was listening to Gerry Mulligan’s Night Lights.

    Now that’s more like it. Interesting album – maybe not innovative in terms of composition so much, but the instrumentation was unconventional: front line of bari sax, flugelhorn and valve trombone.

  129. 129.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 21, 2019 at 10:33 pm

    One of Bernie’s catspaws makes her move!

    Two big takeaways: one, Nomiki is a flaky grifter. And two, if I was a NYC voter, I wouldn't vote for someone who, at 35, seems to barely have ever followed through on anything or kept a job for very long.https://t.co/JMoBFq4wVg

    — Gary Legum (@GaryLegum) February 22, 2019

  130. 130.

    Gin & Tonic

    February 21, 2019 at 10:35 pm

    @Yarrow: I don’t know much popular music of the last 30 years or so.

  131. 131.

    Amir Khalid

    February 21, 2019 at 10:38 pm

    @Jackie:
    There is no Constitutional impediment to indicting a sitting President, only a DoJ policy to refrain from it lest government be disrupted. I presume the situation regarding a VP is about the same.

  132. 132.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 21, 2019 at 10:38 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: That’s okay. The Modern Lovers were an early ’70s band.

  133. 133.

    Steeplejack

    February 21, 2019 at 10:41 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    And the arrangements are neat and crisp. Hints of citrus and piñon.

  134. 134.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 21, 2019 at 10:41 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Actually the DOJ policy, based on an OLC memo, was actually the justification for why it was okay to indict the Vice President, in that case Agnew.

  135. 135.

    Steve in the ATL

    February 21, 2019 at 10:43 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: and yet “Pablo Picasso” was a staple of college radio in the ‘80’s.

  136. 136.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 21, 2019 at 10:45 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: That’s because no one called Pablo Picasso an asshole.

  137. 137.

    JaySinWA

    February 21, 2019 at 10:46 pm

    @Barbara: Agreed, I didn’t mean to imply that they encouraged him, just that they made it clear that they would not misrepresent his actions or beliefs, and could not stop him from testi-lying.

  138. 138.

    Steve in the ATL

    February 21, 2019 at 10:52 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    @Steve in the ATL: I would indeed

    Consequently, Omnes Omnibus was never called an asshole.

    Haha, j/k!

  139. 139.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 21, 2019 at 10:54 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: Well, not in New York.

  140. 140.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    February 21, 2019 at 11:00 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Should I do so here, in order that you may sense hostility from me? Happy to oblige.

  141. 141.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 21, 2019 at 11:02 pm

    @Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho: I don’t know. Calling me an asshole is pretty derivative.

  142. 142.

    Adam L Silverman

    February 21, 2019 at 11:03 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Also, around here, Tuesday.

  143. 143.

    chopper

    February 21, 2019 at 11:04 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Material Issue

    *swoon*

  144. 144.

    Ruckus

    February 21, 2019 at 11:08 pm

    @Gozer:
    It’s offensive on at least two levels.
    First that someone/anyone would pay this asswipe $47,000/month. And second that he’s been getting this much and he goes through that much in a month that after a rather short time he’s broke. Because that’s $564,000/year in income and he’s broke? He expected to live forever being this much of a jackass? I’m actually amazed that someone hasn’t capped his ass before now.

  145. 145.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)

    February 21, 2019 at 11:22 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: get him a ticket for an airplane; he doesn’t have time for a fast train.

  146. 146.

    prostratedragon

    February 21, 2019 at 11:23 pm

    @Patricia Kayden: Fly fishing.

    “The Trout,” Schubert, Fischer-Dieskau, Moore

    Won’t bother me none when this trout is landed.

  147. 147.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 21, 2019 at 11:27 pm

    @a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio): Won’t you tell your dad to get off my back.

  148. 148.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    February 21, 2019 at 11:27 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Would fils de pute be less so? Or should I just go with dipweed? It’s so hard to gauge what’s derivative these days.

  149. 149.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 21, 2019 at 11:30 pm

    @Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho: I guess you just have to go with what moves you.

  150. 150.

    Mnemosyne

    February 21, 2019 at 11:58 pm

    @Kay:

    People online keep insisting that the conspiracy theory about Hillary Clinton and the Denocrats running an international pedophile ring was completely made up out of whole cloth as a joke, but this Epstein case with Trump as a co-conspirator is making that claim seem … implausible. Because it’s awfully fucking coincidental that Hillary would just happen to be accused of the exact thing that it turns out Trump actually did.

  151. 151.

    Yarrow

    February 22, 2019 at 12:01 am

    @Mnemosyne: It’s always projections with them. Always. The “lock her up,” the Clinton foundation alleged corruption, the pedophilia claims. Every accusation was a confession. Also, “cuck” wasn’t picked by accident.

  152. 152.

    Mnemosyne

    February 22, 2019 at 12:08 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Not like you.

    (Just continuing the lyric.)

  153. 153.

    Yarrow

    February 22, 2019 at 12:09 am

    Seems like if we’re going to talk music today we should have something from The Monkees. RIP Peter Tork. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvqeSJlgaNk

  154. 154.

    NotMax

    February 22, 2019 at 12:25 am

    @Jackie

    *cough* Aaron Burr *cough.

    Precedent exists.

  155. 155.

    Captain C

    February 22, 2019 at 12:35 am

    @Ruckus: Sex clubs, rent boys, and Nixon tats don’t pay for themselves.

  156. 156.

    Yarrow

    February 22, 2019 at 12:39 am

    @Captain C: And whatever he’s taking–growth hormone? testosterone?

  157. 157.

    Sister Golden Bear

    February 22, 2019 at 1:29 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Well he was only 5’3″
    But girls could not resist his stare

  158. 158.

    Van Buren

    February 22, 2019 at 5:46 am

    @Mike in NC: Marco Polo wasn’t Austrian.
    Oh, wait…

  159. 159.

    Barry

    February 22, 2019 at 6:09 am

    @MJS: “Why the second chance, especially given that he lied his ass off under questioning? Hopefully somebody goads him into saying something soon, like tonight.”

    Despite what the judge said, she *did* give him a second chance.

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