Donald Trump offered Julian Assange a pardon if he would say Russia was not involved in leaking Democratic party emails, a court in London has been told.
The extraordinary claim was made at Westminster magistrates court before the opening next week of Assange’s legal battle to block attempts to extradite him to the US.
Dana Rohrabacher supposedly passed the message to Assange, so who knows what really happened.
waspuppet
I guarantee yesterday’s pardons were all bought. Maybe they weren’t paid for in advance; that might be a little much even for the Senate GOP. But mysteriously funded Super PACs will soon be formed.
JPL
@waspuppet: Some were paid for in advance, including the fundraiser last weekend.
hueyplong
@waspuppet: Makes sense. Pardoned people so far have either been rich or have been the types upon whom fundraising could be based.
As for any Barr “dispute” with Trump, I’ll believe it when I learn that FoxNews has denounced Barr and called for his firing. Anything short of that and the “disagreement” is fake.
MattF
Getting Trump, Assange, and Rohrabacher into a single corrupt bargain is quite a feat. But… where’s Vladimir?
JPL
Dana Rohrabacher has some explaining to do.
Gin & Tonic
Huh. Seems as if Trump is sensitive about claims that he won because of the Russians.
Mr. Longform
Remember when the reaction to such a rumor would be “that’s crazy, bonkers, impossible, unbelievable” and not – complete acceptance of the absolute probability, except that it’s likely even worse in reality.
Jeffro
@Gin & Tonic: it’s almost like there’s a ‘there’ there, isn’t it?
Baud
Why wouldn’t Assange take that deal?
Betty Cracker
Which set of liars to believe? ?
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: Because his life has been single-mindedly devoted to the pursuit of transparency and truth?
Baud
@Gin & Tonic: Only possible explanation.
Argiope
@Gin & Tonic: hahahahaha I almost just fell off the PT ball I use as an office chair.
waspuppet
@Mr. Longform: Just for the sake of objective reality, I do like to mention once in a while that the first reaction of the Trumpites to accusations in 2017 was that there was no contact between the Trump campaign and any Russians. At all. Whatsoever.
Duane
The pardons are such an inside job Trumpov will get away the blatant crimes, as long as people don’t talk. At this point who’s gonna do that. Shitpile mobster conmen, (thanks Mr. Moshpotato), the whole lot of them.
scav
If American™® Troops are now available (only) to the highest bidder, why not American ™® Justice?! All Hail the MAGAnificence of the Commander-in-Chief and Law-Enforcement-Officer-in-Chief (position also only available to the highest qualified† bidder!
† no bonus points awarded for obvious necessary qualifications.
JPL
The lead of the story should be, not one trump supporter cared.
Jeffro
@scav:
that’s not a bad campaign bat to whack trumpov with: “are we selling EVERYTHING now because of you? Our military, our justice system…?”
Bruce K
@Baud: Would you trust Trump to honor any bargain he could skate out of?
bemused
The mob party of trump and hanger ons do nothing all day, every day but double deal and commit crimes and must dream up more plots in their sleep. It’s mindblowing how much effort and time they put into being duplicitous and corrupt.
Baud
@Bruce K:
I would want the pardon in hand, but I guess Trump knows he can’t trust Assange either.
patrick II
Up to this point, Assange has assiduously denied Russian involvement in Wikileaks. Why the change? Because whatever causes chaos in the U.S. is the goal.
MattF
@patrick II: The trick is that Trump will issue a pardon while Putin drinks a glass of water. Very impressive!
germy
(Larry Klayman for the defense)
germy
The Moar You Know
Asswipe Assange wouldn’t ever take that deal because it would:
hells littlest angel
Trump just does whatever it takes — theft, bribery, extortion, fraud — to fight corruption.
patrick II
If Assange’s lawyer can be believed, it indicates that Trump knows of Russian involvement. If we are to make sense of Trump’s actions towards Stone, it is to keep him quiet about Russian involvement. Those, and about a thousand indicators, including taking payoffs, …er, investment money, from Russia, deference to Putin, shows Trump knows about and acts on his knowledge of Russian involvement in the 2016 election.
At the same time, he actually believes there is a server secretly flown to Ukraine and hidden by the Ukrainians that show they are the ones who interfered in the 2016 elections.
Both things cannot be true, yet Trump “knows” both things and acts upon that knowledge, offering pardons or a reduced sentence in one reality while threatening the Ukrainian president to give up the server in the other reality. The man is not sane.
JPL
trump doesn’t know Dana and it’s another DNC lie.
germy
germy
kindness
I am shocked! Shocked I tell you to see gambling going on in Trump’s casino.
And just like all Trump’s casinos we will all be bankrupt (both morally and fiscally) by the time Trump is finished with us.
Jay
@bemused:
guess you havn’t followed along with the Concentration Camps, the EPA, hundreds of Judges appointed for life, thousands of other laws and regulations removed and Administrations weakened or broken and staffed with Winger ReThugs.
in 3 1/2 years the Trumpists of the Third Reich have dismantled much of “the system” it took rational Americans 80 years to build, in fits and starts.
JPL
@germy: hmmm When the WH said that he barely knew Dana, I assumed that it meant it was true.
Roger Moore
@germy:
Someone is desperate for some media attention.
Gin & Tonic
@germy: Now who says Trump doesn’t get any exercise? He must have arms like Dwayne Johnson from tossing all these guys under the bus.
Jay
@scav:
Dump and the Turd Reich signaled with the pardons, that it’s a Fire Sale, everything must go before January 2nd, 2021. Make your offer now.
SiubhanDuinne
Assange is an Australian citizen. I didn’t know the POTUS could pardon foreign nationals.
Gin & Tonic
@Roger Moore: I’m not even going to Google it, but in what universe does Zimmerman have standing for this action?
Jay
@Roger Moore:
who bankrolls Klayman?
Brachiator
A talk radio host, discussing the recent shower of pardons and Trump’s interference in DOJ prosecutions made the claim, “well, he’s the president and ultimately in charge of the justice department, so he can do anything he wants.”
So, conservative-friendly media may be pushing the idea that there is no such thing as abuse of power, as long as the president is a Republican white guy.
Doesn’t even matter if judges and career prosecutors protest or resign. What do they know? They probably went to elitist colleges anyway, so their opinions don’t matter.
Kent
Citizenship has nothing to do with pardons. Non-citizens can be convicted of Federal crimes in the US and Trump has pardon power over all US Federal crimes, but not state/local crimes or obviously, crimes in other countries. Assange has been indicted on a 17-part count Federal indictment of violations of the Espionage Act, but has not yet been tried or convicted.
I’m not sure if Trump can prospectively pardon Assange for a crime for which he has not yet been convicted. I suppose it is possible, others would have to weigh in.
Gin & Tonic
@Brachiator:
As opposed to William Barr, who went to [checks notes] The Horace Mann School and Columbia University, both beacons of the American heartland.
Roger Moore
@SiubhanDuinne:
He’s allowed to pardon anyone for a crime against the United States. It’s potentially valuable for him to be able to pardon foreign nationals as part of his foreign policy job; you never know when a strategic pardon or two might be just the thing to get somebody to the negotiating table.
frosty
I’m so old that I remember from the distant past that the founders considered abuse of the pardon power an impeachable offense. Who was it back then? Arpaio?
Roger Moore
@Kent:
Presidents certainly can pardon people for crimes for which they have not yet been convicted or even charged. Two obvious examples are Ford pardoning Nixon and Carter pardoning the Vietnam War draft dodgers. In the latter case, the President not only pardoned people who hadn’t been charged prospectively, he did it as a blanket action without specifying who exactly the pardon applied to.
Jay
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
germy
@Roger Moore:
I read somewhere last month he was suing Trayvon’s mother. I can’t remember why. It must not have gone very far. I believe Klayman was involved in that one, too.
catclub
Ford pardoned Nixon for just that.
glory b
Open thread so:
Briahna Grey, Sanders campaign spokesperson said he will not release any more medical records, why is no one talking about Mike Bloomberg’s heart attacks (he has had a stent, but no heart attacks) and equates questions about Bernie’s health to BIRTHERISM!
Jay
zhena gogolia
@glory b:
I saw that.
Baud
@glory b:
Does he have a black heart?
glory b
@Baud: Lol, I guess he does.
Roger Moore
@glory b:
This is an obvious consequence of staffing his campaign with a bunch of the biggest pro-Bernie trolls from the internet.
ETA: And yeah, I’m not seeing how asking for more details about a heart attack the campaign tried unsuccessfully to cover up is at all like claiming somebody was born in another country after they voluntarily released their birth certificate.
trollhattan
@hueyplong:
As a reality check this seems like a good one. Tucker and Shaun go after Barr, then and only then he’s outta there.
All else is kabuki.
MisterForkbeard
@Roger Moore: Every once in a while I ask myself “is being blatantly disingenuous and completely ridiculous just how you win elections now?”
Because that’s basically what the entire Bernie campaign is about, so far as I can tell. Freak out about M4A and people who say it can’t be done for a literal year before quietly admitting that of course it can’t be done!
This isn’t to say many of his supporters are acting in good faith, but the campaign itself is kind of a crapfest of bad people.
glory b
@Roger Moore: One can only assume that’s whatever is in his medical records is worse than keeping up this charade.
Jay
@germy:
he, is sueing the family, the prosecution and others. It was filed Dec.4th, so it hasn’t even come before a Judge yet for review or challange. The goal is not to win millions, but instead, use paper terrorism to disrupt the lives and add burdensome costs to the lives of those sued.
@Gin & Tonic:
you don’t need “standing” to file a nusiance suit, just money and either time or a lawyer. “Standing” is what is determined, by a Judge, if the Defence challenges.
who is bankrolling Larry Klayman?
trollhattan
@Jay:
Do states with strong SLAPP laws offer any protection
BTW, Devin Nunes’ lawyer, Stephen Biss, is a real piece of work WRT nuisance suits.
germy
@Jay:
I honestly don’t know. Do you have any ideas?
Brachiator
@Gin & Tonic:
RE: They probably went to elitist colleges anyway
I never said that the dopes making these claims were logical or consistent. ;)
trollhattan
@Brachiator:
If only he had gone to the Michael Mann School, Barr would be tooling around Biscayne Bay in a cigarette boat filled with babes and wearing a pink suit, “pal.”
JPL
@Roger Moore: Makes one thing that releasing the medical record will hurt him.
Tonight he’ll say he will and then he won’t.
Jay
@trollhattan:
only once it reaches a preliminary hearing, what anti SLAP laws provide mostly, is a “harassment” defence early on in the hearings process and punitive costs for bringing a SLAP lawsuit.
You still need lawyers, depositions and hearings in many cases, but in the most obvious cases, you will sit infront of a Judge, twice, once at the preliminary hearing where the SLAP is dismissed, the second, where costs are heard, awarded and fines levied.
And as ususal, the qualities of the involved lawyers on both sides, the strength or weakness of the laws, and the qualities of the Judge, are all huge factors.
Oops, three or more times, you will also need various levels of Court Orders to collect your costs.
Roger Moore
@MisterForkbeard:
Which honestly is the thing that scares me the most about Bernie as a candidate. Yeah, he’s not actually a Democrat, he has no history of substantial legislative accomplishment, and he spends all his time making unrealistic promises. Those are all the kinds of things any politician might do. But the way he staffs his campaign is a preview of the way he’d staff his administration, and it would be an absolute fucking nightmare.
trollhattan
@JPL:
“I would release my medical records, except I’m being audited so cannot while that process is ongoing.”
Baud
If only Bernie’s medical records had given a Wall Street Speech….
schrodingers_cat
@Roger Moore: Yes his promises and his people are giving me a pause.
trollhattan
@Jay:
Thanks.
So the dual boat anchors of expense and time are yours to grab for at least the first phases. Just great.
Nelle
Okay. Putin runs Trump and the Republicans. He may be running Sanders, even if Sanders is naive and unaware. Is he really running the whole show, left to right? Last spring, I was so heartened with the slate running for the Democratic nomination – with the exception of Tulsi and Bernie. There were some I was excited about, some less so. And now this?
At this house, we aren’t taking the foot off the pedal for Warren (and we keep opening the wallet. But sheesh.
glory b
@Roger Moore: Remember, a number of Bernie’s top staffers still proudly exclaim about voting for Jill Stein in the 2016 general.
If this isn’t him rubbing our noses in it, I don’t know what is.
sdhays
@waspuppet:
Haha, you kill me!
The Moar You Know
@Gin & Tonic: It’s a widely held belief that you need either “standing” or “valid cause” to file a lawsuit. You need neither. You can sue anyone for anything
ETA: someone above called it “paper terrorism”. Pretty much it.
Mnemosyne
@The Moar You Know:
I think it’s much more this. The only deal a mobster makes is one where you’re in just as deep as he is so you can’t turn on him later.
Ruckus
@hells littlest angel:
That belongs on trump’s gravestone.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Kent:
Ford pardoned Nixon for crimes he’d not even been charged with.
trnc
@download my app in the app store mistermix
Can’t believe you didn’t go with “Selling Pardons By The Pound” for the title.
Immanentize
@The Moar You Know: That depends a little on the State — many states now have anti-SLAPP (strategic litigation against public participation) which can cost the filer a bunch of Benjamin’s. Some places call these strike suits — to cause the opponent hassles, money or embarrassment. Yes, they can still file, but it is really not cost free. Of course Nunez started filing suits in Virginia (no anti-SLAPP laws) from California (strong anti-SLAPP State.)
Jay
@The Moar You Know:
say my nym, say my nym, say my nym,….????
Roger Moore
@Immanentize:
It’s very telling that Nunez sued his hometown paper in another state. It’s obvious he knows he has no case and would be shot down in short order if he tried this in California. Of course he also expects to be able to use his nuisance lawsuits as a fundraising opportunity, not just a means of harassing his enemies, so being able to drag them out as long as possible is desirable for more than one reason.
J R in WV
@SiubhanDuinne:
He can, for crimes committed against America, like stealing computerized data from an American server. It is Donald’s justice dept seeking Assange’s extradition from GB to the US, after all.
artem1s
this is good news…
https://nyti.ms/2SBySdkf
in the past ‘considering resignation’ usually means a not-firing/resignation is imminent. Is Donnie stupid enough to not-fire the primary thing standing between him and certain jail time? Yes, I think he is!
Roger Moore
@artem1s:
I will believe Bill Barr is considering resigning when he has submitted his resignation. I’ll believe it’s a matter of principle when he stands up and forthrightly proclaims exactly what principle of his forced him to resign. Until then, this is just another lame attempt for one of Trump’s lackeys to distance himself from his own actions as a lackey.
CliosFanBoy
voted Warren today, absentee in the Virginia primary. Go Professor Warren!!!!
Jay
@artem1s:
don’t count on it, it’s just another diversion.
CliosFanBoy
@Jay: lots of suckers on email lists.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@glory b: I’m Shocked! I’m Shocked!
It’s not like Bernie to be so incompetent to panic on national tee vee and create a scandal by hiding records (like his tax returns) and equating a heart attack to naked racism.
Next he’ll say something stoopid, like a woman can win and then call the person a liar…
…oh wait.
jc
How do the Dems run against Trump? When they go low, we try to stay positive. Then they go lower, and we shake our heads in disbelief. Then they go lower, and we stare in disbelief. Then they go lower, and we wonder WTF is it with this guy?
I think the Republicans will be bringing an assault weapon to this gun fight 2020. Dems can’t come armed with sternly-worded letters of disapproval.
Baud
@jc: Impressive collection of cliches in one comment.
Immanentize
Oh crappadoodle. The header drop down ads are baaaaackkk
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
Is a lazy minion lackeydaisical?
The Moar You Know
@artem1s: Absolute bullshit. This is a fucking shit-poor kabuki one act play for the most gullible of rubes. Barr is not going anywhere and is perfectly happy with the current state of affairs, as is his employer.
When Hannity starts complaining about Barr, that’s when you’ll know something legit is up.