Since Pence probably pays his bills and actually listens to what his lawyer says, it sounds like his counsel is competent.
Cullen, a former Virginia attorney general, served as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia under President George H. W. Bush and worked on President George W. Bush’s legal team during the Florida recount in the 2000 presidential election.
And there’s this:
Kasowitz [Trump’s shyster] has told some White House personnel that they do not need to hire their own lawyers, according to one person familiar with some of the legal discussions that have occurred inside the White House. But Pence’s move to hire an outside attorney could set off a scramble among other West Wing aides — many of whom are already bracing for subpoenas — to do the same, even if only as a protective measure.
Can you imagine the level of desperation necessary to take a White House job under Trump? Ambulance chasers are probably working the list of political appointees as we speak to drum up business.
Eric K
Real easy rule of thumb, if the bosses lawyer says you don’t need your own lawyer – get your own lawyer ASAP
Roger Moore
They’d better demand to be paid in advance.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
when you’re innocent and have nothing to hide you always hire a criminal defense team – amirite.
George Spiggott
There is no need to panic
lamh36
Baud
Lock em up.
Lock em all up.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@lamh36: is it wrong that I really, really want Mr Ivanka to do time?
(not a prison rape joke)
WereBear
Lawyers. Individual lawyers. Next level.
Who will play Prisoner’s Dilemma: Trump Administration?
All of them, Katie.
SiubhanDuinne
Why don’t I find this at all reassuring?
/rhetorical
JPL
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Like father, like son.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
Regarding the initial firing: Somewhat old, but totally predictable coming from “Politico for people who can’t read.”
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: It would only be weird if it actually was a prison rape joke.
H.E.Wolf
@SiubhanDuinne:
OT, a thank-you for your kind comment several days ago. Although I’m rarely online when you’re commenting, I always look forward to reading what you say – so it was a great pleasure to see your note.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): I’ve seen a few already
lamh36
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I can’t stand that every darn picture of him, he’s looking haughty and condescending…
So yeah, I’d love to see that smug mug in prison orange almost as much as Cheeto Prez…
efgoldman
@WereBear:
Has Orange Crushed hired a competent criminal lawyer yet? Because this guy Kasowitz is the one that pounds down non-rich plaintiffs in civil suits to settle for pennies on the dollar, but i wonder if he’s ever dealt with criminal defense against the government, which has essentially unlimited resources.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): I followed the links to find their origin. They come from something called the “Committee For Justice”, which is not surprisingly a a right wing group, and very pro-trump. It does surprise me that it was founded by C Boyden Gray and former Senator Spencer Abraham. I would’ve thought of them as Poppy Bush Republicans
Morzer
@WereBear:
Dial T for Traitor
LurkerNoLonger
The Trump Administration: Putting America Back To Work One Lawyer at A Time.
efgoldman
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):
Yes, I’m sure they’d be arguing exactly the same thing if the president were a Democrat. Out of principle, you know.
Rrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiight!
Morzer
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Poppy Bush may look like a nice old goober now, but he did his share of dirty work back in the day.
MJS
@lamh36: The good part of Kushner going to prison is that it’s quite the downgrade from his current accommodations. I’ll get a kick out of thinking about that. The bad part is he gets the benefit of getting away from his wife and in-laws.
Peking Man
@Roger Moore: I am in Toronto and I am getting an ad from an ambulance chaser in Buffalo!
efgoldman
@Morzer:
He was CIA director for a little while, right?
SiubhanDuinne
@H.E.Wolf:
Thank you so much. That’s very nice of you. (In all honesty, I never know when I’m going to be around to comment, either, so it’s just the luck of the draw.)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Morzer: oh sure, but always with the assumption that the Right Sort of People (“Our” Sort of People) could successfully ride the tiger.
Morzer
@efgoldman:
You can start with his days as a Goldwater Republican who opposed civil rights and go from there. Appointed RNC chair by Nixon, whom he defended stoutly etc etc. There’s a lot more lurking under the surface than people ever believe.
Baud
@efgoldman: By that logic, because Congress has the power of Impeachment, no one can complain about them impeaching Trump.
Morzer
@Baud:
I wonder if Sessions has got around to explaining to Trump that impeachment does not mean being given free peaches for life.
RobertDSC-iPhone 6
@efgoldman:
Yes.
efgoldman
@Baud:
I like your logic. Maybe you ought to run for something.
Baud
@Morzer: Trump doesn’t deserve peaches.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@efgoldman: Tippecanoe and Baud Too
TenguPhule
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
If you’re a POC, damn right.
efgoldman
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Not alliterative enough, sorry.
Maybe Baud should change his name to Todd, or Tom, or Teresa…..
TenguPhule
@Baud:
Convict them.
Convict them all.
lollipopguild
@efgoldman: Tom, Dick or Harry?
feebog
@efgoldman:
I think tRump has already run through all the A and B list D.C criminal lawyers. Most likely they flat turned him down or asked for a massive retainer which the cheap bastard refused to cough up. He obviously does not fully comprehend the danger he is in.
jl
@efgoldman: Baud: cheap peach schapps, he’s really tops. Baud: the best political impeachment for all.
Morzer
@efgoldman:
Mother Baud… hmmm…..
efgoldman
@feebog:
I’m sure he’s got the best people looking for a way to do it on the taxpayers’ dime.
JPL
@feebog: Either the Post or the NYTimes had a story on that. They did turn him down. I
eclare
@Morzer: Hahaha, sitting here literally laughing out loud, because you KNOW he does think that!
lollipopguild
@Morzer: Baud, Baud, Baud of the Jungle strong as he can be………
WereBear
This is really a RICO situation.
Get into confiscation of ill gotten gains.
lawtalkinguy
Might be better if you do not call a lawyer named Kasowitz “shyster”.
Kay
It’s kind of odd how you don’t see or hear about Pence. This is a weirdly… low energy administration. Are we sure he’s showing up for work?
efgoldman
@WereBear:
And if Mueller can’t get them for some reason, New York has a state RICO law, and AG Schneiderman’s grand jury is working away. quietly and without leaks.
JPL
@WereBear: I agree. Trump can’t escape from state law, and Attorneys General Eric Schneiderman will be the one to end our nightmare. Unfortunately, that takes time though.
HinTN
@Morzer: Need spew alert, please.
SiubhanDuinne
@lollipopguild:
Absolutely obligatory. How in the everloving blue-eyed hell did this song ever make it through Code?
HinTN
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: “… and Baudy,too” – to trip off the tongue, you know.
WereBear
@JPL: Let the mills of the gods grind slow. As long as they grind exceedingly fine.
NoraLenderbee
@lawtalkinguy: You’re thinking of “Shylock”. “Shyster” is not a reference to Jews.
Morzer
@lawtalkinguy:
But calling a shyster named Kasowitz a shyster is fine? Just looking for some clarification here. For a friend, natch.
patrick II
Question for lawyers:
Ivanka has spousal privilege with Kushner, but not with her father. If she is in a conversation between her, Donald, and Kushner does she get to keep quiet about what Donald said because the conversation included and might implicate Kushner?
efgoldman
@Kay:
He’s not the sharpest bulb in the drawer, but he’s politician enough to know when to keep his head down.
mike in dc
@WereBear:
The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward “No, fuck youuuuuuuuuuuuu”
joel hanes
@Morzer:
Iran Contra breadcrumbs form a trail that points directly at GHWB; strangely, the trail disappears completely about a mile from his doorstep. It’s as if someone competent covered quietly some tracks very very carefully.
NR
Better call Saul.
TenguPhule
@Kay:
He’s there in the background, shoring up support with various R’s trying to get elected.
Its worrying that the media is paying so little attention to him without IC prompting.
NeenerNeener
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’d kind of like Ivanka to find out if orange is really the new black as well. She’s just as crooked as Daddy and Hubby.
Waratah
I was wondering if Coats, Rodgers and Ledgett would have lawyers when they talk to Special Council?
Mike J
@NR: Sometimes you need a criminal attorney, and sometimes you need a criminal attorney.
Disappointed I couldn’t find video of the West Wing episode Life on Mars with the sawbones/shyster shtick.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@NeenerNeener: works for me! If her fingerprints were on anything, I’m betting that Fredo I and Fredo II are in even deeper. Though I suspect Eric was never put in charge of anything more important than paper clips.
NotMax
@Kay
There’s scary wimmenfolk out there, some with primo office space in the West Wing, don’tcha know.
Steve in the ATL
@H.E.Wolf: @SiubhanDuinne: OMG get a room you two
Patricia Kayden
A need to hire a personal lawyer probably explains why Trump is having difficulty filling hundreds of positions. Who wants to link themselves to such a messy and incompetent administration? Unless one is a Billionaire and doesn’t need to work ever again, of course.
TenguPhule
@Steve in the ATL: We don’t judge people here.
Only Republicans.
Corner Stone
Hmmm, Pence gets a quality lawyer while Trump is stuck with some buffoon. I wonder who told Pence to hire this certain fellow?
Doesn’t Trump have to freaking do whatever he can to fire Mueller right now? It’s all over if he let’s him go another 7+ days.
Corner Stone
Down, down, down! J Kush going down!
Corner Stone
@Steve in the ATL: BLLLAAARRRGGHH!
Patricia Kayden
@lamh36: Mueller appears to be on it. Seems like his investigation is wide enough to catch Trump and his yes men in a whole lot of mess. Hence Trump’s tweetstorm today.
It’s finally dawning on him that he’s about to be scrutinized like he’s never been scrutinized before and it scares the hell out of him. Good.
efgoldman
@TenguPhule:
No it isn’t. It’s normal, even for somebody as attention-grabbing as Biden. VP is always an afterthought until the VP becomes important in context (Agnew=>Ford). In this case, where Coral Cankersore takes up all the space and all the consciousness, its no surprise at all.
On top of that, Dense is as grey and formless a personality as anyone in DC has been. If he were food, he’d be iceberg lettuce.
Corner Stone
@patrick II:
Other questions. If they both go to prison but she doesn’t, who gets the conjugal visit awarded?
NotMax
@efgoldman
Or poi, which is sort’a grayish to begin with.
SiubhanDuinne
@Steve in the ATL:
whut
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone: To Kushner or Donald?
efgoldman
@NotMax:
We don’t have that in New England. On the other hand. we’ve got Boiled Dinner, which is grey, grey, grey.
JPL
@Corner Stone: lol I’m sure someone qualified will answer that question.
TenguPhule
@efgoldman:
This. He’s implicated in the Russia corruption and second in line to the throne. And he’s potentially a major player in how the Senate deals with the AHCA vote. Just because he’s a whitebread shit doesn’t mean he’s not dangerous.
TenguPhule
@NotMax: Poi is purple. Most of the time. And very nutrient rich to boot. It just tastes like Pence looks when fresh.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@SiubhanDuinne:
I just saw Merry Wives of Windsor in Ashland, Oregon. Falstaff was played quite engagingly by a female. It was all very racy and engaging (with multiple songs from the 80s suitably incorporated into the production).
I’ve never seen that musical you linked to, but, yes, those are some lyrics for the 50s!
Yoda Dog
Can we put them all in jail yet? I want to do it tonight. How about tonight, is tonight cool?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Kay: The VP has work? My understanding is that he’s supposed to show up at the Senate for close votes(he’s done that) and check on the president’*s physical health each morning.
patrick II
@Corner Stone:
You seem to be assuming she won’t be jail too.
lollipopguild
@SiubhanDuinne: Especially the part where she sings “I’d like a Dick”.
SFBayAreaGal
@West of the Rockies (been a while): I haven’t been to the Ashland Shakespeare Festival in years. I loved sitting in the outdoor theater watching Shakespeare.
efgoldman
@patrick II:
I assume nossink!
raven
“8:28 p.m. Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Vernan Keenan said the two fugitives wanted for killing to prison guards were captured Thursday night near Shelbyville, Tenn. Keenan said the two had committed a home invasion of an elderly couple and then took their car. The Tennessee Highway Patrol posted a lookout and they were spotted and there was a pursuit. The wrecked, Keenan said. Shots were fired but no one was wounded. Then Tennessee authorities took the two into custody.
“
JPL
@Steve in the ATL: During the General Stuck years, some were accused of the same thing. I still miss him, and his dog.
JPL
@raven: Good. The families of the officers killed might find some peace, but what a tragedy.
Actually, it’s really good news, cuz Handel won’t lead the night news.
Gin & Tonic
@Corner Stone: I’ll believe that when I see it.
NotMax
@TenguPhule
Something about kind’a grayish that was confusing? It’s generally grayish purple (color varies based on type and quality of taro used, also too).
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@SFBayAreaGal:
We got (unseasonably) rained on, but it was fabulous. They’ve added on to the original theatre, making it globe-round with a balcony, but the middle seats are still open-air.
Uncle Cosmo
@Baud: “Trump doesn’t deserve peaches.” Um, along the lines of “eerily prescient”–
From Madman Across the Water (1971)
Major Major Major Major
@efgoldman:
Reminds me of an insult from Bob’s Burgers. “If she was a spice, she’d be flour. If she was a book, she’d be TWO BOOKS!”
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@JPL:
Somehow I missed his passing… he was a good fellow.
Corner Stone
@Gin & Tonic: Don’t make me call the Tone Police on you.
raven
@JPL: I have a lot of nervous friends in south Oconee County too.
SFBayAreaGal
@West of the Rockies (been a while): The last time I was there it still was completely open.
Uncle Cosmo
@TenguPhule: And you get an orange jumpsuit!
And you get an orange jumpsuit!
And you get an orange jumpsuit!
TenguPhule
@NotMax: The lighting in the photo doesn’t help but when you are actually looking at it face to bowl its actually more of a dull purple, it only becomes more towards gray when it dries out.
I should know, I eat the stuff.
ETA: And combined with other foods it does come across a lot more purple in color. Taro malasadas, yum!
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@SFBayAreaGal:
I went there for the first time 40 years ago as a high school student. The magic remains fresh!
Cheryl Rofer
Scumbag Megyn Kelly has an interview with scumbag Alex Jones scheduled for Fathers’ Day, no less. Among Jones’s many accomplishments is spreading the lie that the Newtown massacre was faked. Happy Fathers’ Day. Some of the advertisers have pulled out from the show. And now the worm turns. Apparently Jones recorded the interview too.
Or it may just be publicity for Sunday.
SiubhanDuinne
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
He died — or, at least, his earlier death was confirmed — the same day Tunch was killed. July 13, 2013. A terrible, terrible day. I think a lot of us were expecting the sad news about General Stuck, but Tunch’s death was a sock to the solar plexus and the news about Stuck kind of got lost in the anguish we all felt about the Big Marshmallow Fluff.
NotMax
@TenguPhule
Here on Maui, the more expensive it is the more it leans to the gray.
Corner Stone
@Cheryl Rofer: Nothing like putting him on for Father’s Day after not only the Sandy Hook disgusting theater, but him losing custody of his own kids recently. Because he’s fucking nuts.
Jeffro
@WereBear:
That is, truly, where I hope it’s going…end up squeezing Trumpov so hard that he rolls over on EVERYONE, and is allowed to keep a small apartment in one of NYC’s seediest blocks.
Oh, and I want SCOTUS to overturn the election since it was decided by the attack of a hostile foreign power, aided by treasonous Americans.
raven
@NotMax: Poi Dog Pondering
jl
@Cheryl Rofer: I was curious about what Kelly would do after she left Fox. I figured she had the potential to either be very much better or very much worse than her Fox News act. And, so far…. looks like things heading in the wrong direction.
Cheryl Rofer
@Corner Stone: I think my comment was not clear. Jones is scooping MSNBC on the interview by putting it on now. LOL
trollhattan
@Cheryl Rofer:
Alex Jones interview with the BBC demonstrates exactly how to handle Alex Jones. I’d link but BBC.com seems borked at present. Definitely worth a watch.
jl
@Jeffro:
” Get into confiscation of ill gotten gains. ”
Will there be a class action I can get on board. Get me a Trump steak or bottle of vodka.
Uncle Cosmo
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
But those are just the larval forms of something far more sinister & menacing! Haven’t you ever read Avram Davidson’s “Or All The Seas With Oysters”???
jonas
Well, it’s a sign Pence at least is aware of how deep shit they’re in really is. Trump’s lawyer is used to defending his client from irate Trump U customers and has told everyone not to lawyer up (because he’s thinking in PR terms, and not in legal terms). Pence’s is experienced with defending people up on federal charges. This is going to end so well.
JPL
@Cheryl Rofer: Who knows what NBC was thinking by hiring her. Let’s hire Megyn and she can interview Putin and Jones. The largest problem for them now, is who wants to be interviewed by her. I imagine they are getting lots of no thank you.
Uncle Cosmo
@efgoldman: If he were POTUS, he’d be Warren Gamaliel Harding 2.0. Put their photos side by side & try to tell me they weren’t separated at birth.
TenguPhule
@NotMax: That might explain it then. Here on Oahu its more purple at the supermarket.
Mnemosyne
@lawtalkinguy:
There is apparently a false etymology out there that claims that “shyster” is an anti-Semitic term, but it seems to be from the same type of people who claimed that “picnic” was anti-Black based just on the way they thought the word looked/sounded, not the actual etymology.
Yoda Dog
Oh shit, the irony of Rand Paul “caught stealing”… priceless.
Fuck that guy.
TenguPhule
@jl:
Food poisoning and you can’t even get drunk to lesson the pain?
Corner Stone
@Cheryl Rofer: Your comment was clear. Jones is now trying to stick the knife in the back of Kelly and NBC because he’s afraid of how the taped interview will portray him to his followers.
My point/comment is still the same.
Jeffro
@jl: Let’s get more than gristly steaks or rotgut vodka out of this clown…
Yoda Dog
@Mnemosyne: Happy Birthday.
Another Scott
@efgoldman:
If I had to pick a food, I’d vote for Pence being pink slime myself…
Cheers,
Scott.
Ruckus
@efgoldman:
If he were food, he’d be wilted iceberg lettuce.
FIXT for you.
TenguPhule
@Yoda Dog: Context?
jl
@TenguPhule: @Jeffro: I didn’t say I was going to put that crud inside my body. Trophies! Could get the steak bronzed.
Smiling Mortician
@mike in dc: Stealing.
Corner Stone
@JPL: On a purely superficial level, Kelly has lost whatever Golden Goddess lighting/makeup she had working for her at Fox.
jl
@Cheryl Rofer: Oooooh. OK. Thanks. I’ll suspend judgment on what Kelly is up to, for now.
Kathleen
@lollipopguild: Big Baud. Big Baud. Big Ba-ud. Big Bad Baud (h/t to Jimmy Dean for those of you old enough to remember his monster hit from 1962 I believe).
Major Major Major Major
@Mnemosyne: this is true! It’s Shylock that you shouldn’t call somebody. But if I were a politician I’d try to avoid it.
Every so often somebody says niggardly and gets in trouble.
Kathleen
@Kay: After Mother Pence installs his security patches and restarts him.
Cheryl Rofer
@Corner Stone: If it comes out on Infowars first, that will undercut its credibility with everyone else. Plus mess with NBC, who richly deserve it.
Kathleen
@patrick II:
Ah, hell. Never mind.
TenguPhule
And across the pond Sinn Fein just launched a warning shot across Teresa May’s bow.
Tomorrow promises to require a lot of drinks for me to get through it.
Kathleen
@Mnemosyne: Happy Birthday!
Patricia Kayden
@Cheryl Rofer: White Jesus and White Santa!! Come get your girl!!
Take Greta Van Susteren too!
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule:
Not literally, I hope.
JPL
@TenguPhule: What happened now?
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major: Close enough. Their president Gerry Adams just called her out to her face that the pact she’s trying to make with DUP is a breach of the Good Friday Agreement.
TenguPhule
@JPL:
As warnings go, this was just a few steps down from dropping a horse’s head in her bed.
From the Guardian live coverage page.
Smiling Mortician
@efgoldman: Just taking a moment to say I appreciate the way you use words to express ideas. Carry on.
JPL
@TenguPhule: I’m shocked, just shocked. Who knew that by aligning oneself with wackos, would come to this.
jl
@TenguPhule:
Gerry Adams tells Theresa May DUP deal puts her in breach of Good Friday Agreement’
The Independent
[The Good Friday] ” agreement assigns the British government the role of broker between Irish republicans and unionists, a role that Mr Adams said would be compromised if the government was in some way indebted politically to the DUP….
Northern Ireland voted by a narrow margin to remain in the European Union. The possibility of the re-establishing of a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland as a consequence of the UK’s decision to leave the EU is among the first items UK and EU negotiators have agreed to discuss when talks begin next week. ”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/gerry-adams-sinn-fein-theresa-may-dup-deal-good-friday-agreement-breach-a7792171.html
jl
Cameron and May will go down in the history books (should there be a future history) as doing the UK huge damage. More educated, refined and cultured versions of Dub and Trump.
rikyrah
Pence hired not only a lawyer, but a top shelf problem solver. Once again, for the bleacher seats…
If you are a White House staffer, and not Reince Prebus (who I just know had one pretty much from day one)…
This is the sign..
LAWYER UP
Le Comte de Monte Cristo fka Edmund Dantes
OT – Goddammit, I made a huge mistake. I decided to go to the annual bar association convention this year (glutton for punishment) and made the extreme error of announcing it. I have been cordially invited to stand for election as an exec officer of the Family Law section as a result of my idiot attendance.
The meeting is smack during the middle of happy hour.
Maybe I can feign a substance abuse problem?
TenguPhule
@jl: The irony of May forming a coalition of chaos with a party linked to terrorism in Ireland is astounding, isn’t it?
TenguPhule
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo fka Edmund Dantes:
Once again proving that no good deed goes unpunished.
raven
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo fka Edmund Dantes: Tell em you won’t take a drug test unless it’s a take home!
Aleta
@lamh36: I want him in jail.
Morzer
@Yoda Dog:
That must have been a different Rand Paul. You know, the guy whose father peddled those racist newsletters…
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo fka Edmund Dantes: I’m sorry but that cracks me up. See also raven’s advice above – it’s an option!
Morzer
@JPL:
May or Corbyn. Which endorser of terrorism and bigotry should the UK pick now? Ah, the luxury of choice!
Shana
@JPL: Aside from all the obvious reasons the top lawyers in DC turned him down, there were most likely conflicts with existing clients.
Morzer
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo fka Edmund Dantes:
They made you an offer you can’t refuse, eh?
TenguPhule
@Morzer: And right on time comes the shit on the parade.
rikyrah
Special Counsel is investigating Kushner’s business dealings – says WaPo
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo fka Edmund Dantes: You could tell them you comment here.
Morzer
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Leftist advocate of naked mopping loses unopposed election at legal convention….
efgoldman
@Cheryl Rofer:
Given the ratings of her first two shows vs old (old, old) reliable 60 minutes, she’s not going to be there much longer. Whatever NBC exec that signed off on her salary will likely be gone, too.
Keith P.
The beauty is that all Trump could really try is to offer to pick u everyone’s legal fees, but everyone already knows his word is worth squat on that.
rikyrah
AWE
The DodoVerified account @dodo
This two-legged dog and fluffy chicken are best friends — and they’re teaching kids it’s okay to be different.
https://twitter.com/dodo/status/875367820531335169?
Morzer
@rikyrah:
Let’s see if JarJar blinks.
Major Major Major Major
@Morzer: Bernie’s agenda just can’t win anywhere.
TenguPhule
@Morzer:
Against the mop.
Morzer
@Major Major Major Major:
Party United Mopping Again!
rikyrah
Seth AbramsonVerified account @SethAbramson
BREAKING: More Sessions Perjuries Confirmed; AG Hosted Russia Pipeline Lobbyist and Lied About It (h/t @ericgarland)
Le Comte de Monte Cristo fka Edmund Dantes
@Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho:
I predicted that a guy with my, uh, seasoning would get roped into something involving some committee that will meet several times a year in far flung parts of the state accomplishing nothing.
And I was right! ?
efgoldman
@Jeffro:
Never happen. But as each person start getting questioned, and indictments start coming in, each and every one of them – every single goddamned one, including Daddy – will be racing to see who rolls over on the others, first.
Of course, the king of the turdpile is so delusional, he might not realize it’s happening until it’s way too late.
Patricia Kayden
@TenguPhule: May should step down and let a new leader work things out and call another election in a few months. Not sure what she gets out of staying on and trying to work with such an awful, ultra conservative political party.
Morzer
It does look as if poor confused Jeff Sessions might have been a tad economical with the truth recently:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/15/lobbyist-russian-interests-jeff-sessions-testimony
Gravenstone
@Cheryl Rofer: Probably hearing rattling that NBC will pull the plug on it, given the pushback it’s receiving.
Patricia Kayden
@rikyrah: Sessions lied. What happens next? Feels like everyone associated with this regime had lied about something or the other. Looking forward to some consequences.
Jeffro
@rikyrah:
Between this news and all the talk about ‘financial crimes’, it’s been exciting explaining to my kids how money laundering works, and what the RICO Act is. They’re getting quite an education – thanks GOP!
(I’m actually partially serious…by the time this wraps up, my kids won’t vote for a Republican for dog catcher, ever. They’re further left than I am at this point, and that’s not easy…)
Shana
@efgoldman: @Morzer: My dream is that there’s enough evidence to get both Trump and Pence bounced, we take back the House is 2018 and we end up with President Pelosi. I see no reason the investigation, etc. shouldn’t take that long, although I’m not sure my blood pressure could handle it, and I don’t have blood pressure problems.
Baud
@Shana:
Fixed.
efgoldman
@Uncle Cosmo:
I think of Harding as being larger. Not Taft, by any means, but not as gaunt as Wilson. My memory is wrong. This very early picture is fun.
Mary G
@rikyrah: That chicken is ridiculously cute. It could have a great show on the Cartoon Network.
Immanentize
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo fka Edmund Dantes:
The Sinn Fein asswipes could solve this issue in a fucking nano second by agreeing to take the seats they won (7) in parliment. That would deny May and the Tory gov’t plus even the DUP a legislative majority. But oh no! Jerry Adams cannot participate because, fucking reasons!
And I am IRA POSITIVE! Who wants conflict? All those aged assholes want blood.
Morzer
@Patricia Kayden:
An interview with Megyn Kelly?
Anne Laurie
@TenguPhule:
As any of our Repub legislators would be happy to inform you, it’s not terrorism when a
white manproperly Conservative party member commits it.(Things were so much easier for the Brits before us Irish got retroactively declared “white”.)
Jeffro
@efgoldman:
Ah, come on, a guy can dream, can’t he? Yeah, it probably won’t happen (or will take so long that we’ll be up on 2020 anyway). But still…just picture how the movie version of this ends: SCOTUS invalidates Trumpov’s win as part of an attack by a hostile foreign power, making HRC the 45th president after all and eliminating Orangmandias from the history books (or at least, from any list of actual American presidents).
(And then in the post-credits scene, HIllz is walking through the WH with Kaine and mentions that she just wants to enjoy it for a week, and then she’s gonna step down, to avoid all the turmoil…Kaine gets that do-gooder shocked-but-smiling look on his face…fade to black,)
Watching these crabs go at it in their gold-plated bucket…it’s going to be glorious…
efgoldman
@Ruckus:
I’ll buy that.
Actually, I wouldn’t buy that.
satby
@SiubhanDuinne: It still causes a pang. We were all so worried about Stuck and his beloved Charlie, and then the Tunch post but like a sledgehammer. Horrible day.
And memory of that just underscores how kind it was of greennotGreen and her family to keep us informed and able to send her our suport.
Morzer
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2017/6/15/121125/363
Jeffro
so let’s see, just for today:
– Trumpov definitely under investigation for obstruction of justice (among other things)
– Kushner’s business/finance dealings also being looked at for criminal activity
– Sessions just got busted for perjury, AGAIN
– Pence is lawyering up
Also, Roger Ailes is still dead, Bill-O’s still out of a job, the Aussie PM is making fun of Trumpov behind his back, Trumpov screwed the GOP by calling the AHCA “mean”, and Mueller’s busy hiring the ‘dream team’. Not bad for a Wednesday!
Anne Laurie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Take it from an ex-Michigander: Spencer Abraham is Dick Cheney without the Watergate connections. And I don’t know much about C. Boyden Gray, but let’s be honest: anyone who spent his career as a servant to the Bush crime family differs from the current batch only in degree of ruthlessness.
efgoldman
@jl:
Much better accents, but I wouldn’t mistake it for education, refinement, or culture.
But I’d probably make an exception for W and Carrot Ignoramus. Crude oil straight out of the ground is more refined.
Morzer
@Anne Laurie:
http://www.theonion.com/article/energy-secretary-just-assumed-cabinet-knew-he-did–928
He did indeed put the Dick in Cheney.
Patricia Kayden
@Shana: Pence going down with Trump is a must although Pence would probably lose in 2020 if he had to run against a strong Democrat. I doubt he can work voters up into a frenzy like Trump did during the election cycle.
Aleta
It’s time to tell Trump voters that memorabilia they bought during his campaign will skyrocket 10-100 x in value if Trump is impeached. The shorter his term, the more it will be worth.
trollhattan
@Morzer:
I’m pulling for Sessions to interview with Paula Dean.
Morzer
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-ceos-job-performance-rating-grading-yale-summit-favourability-a7792376.html
Jeffro
@Morzer: The Onion (or maybe Clickhole?) has a funny bit up on FB about President Jeb Bush getting bit by a bat in the WH, with VP Trump responding and trying to kill the bat with a flamethrower, etc.
I half expected the slide show to end with…”Compared to what we’re living through, a bat attack beaten back by a flamethrower doesn’t seem so weird, does it?”
Morzer
@trollhattan:
I’ll contribute some fava beans and a fine Chianti.
efgoldman
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo fka Edmund Dantes:
Does it pay? I have a boring navy blue suit and I think I remember how to tie a tie.
lollipopguild
@Kathleen: I confess that I am old enough to remember it well.
efgoldman
@Shana:
The guy’s spent his whole life in New York, for pity’s sake. He can’t find one of those criminal lawyers who gets the Mafia dons and drug dealers off?
Oh, wait… the actual having to pay them part….
Morzer
http://www.al.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2017/06/kate_mckinnon_takes_on_jeff_se.html
SNL may be off, but Kate McKinnon has thoughts on Jeff And The Perjury Sessions.
jl
@Patricia Kayden:
” Feels like everyone associated with this regime had lied about something or the other. ”
To be fair, everyone associated with every administration has at least mildly lied about something or the other, at one time or another. For example:
“Honey, how does my program look in this budget? Is it OK?”
“Oh, it’s wonderful, Dear.”
But it seems like this administration lies about everything all the time.
For routine things that every administration has to lie at least mildly about, this administration lies in the normal way. But on the extra special things that most other administrations don’t have to lie about, this one puts extra special effort into concocting and then dismembering and scrambling special lies in a very special way that cannot possibly be ignored. Kind of like a drunk guy who lurches into you and burps into your nose. You really can’t pretend it didn’t happen. But then that makes Donnie really upset and angry. So sad.
Edit: things is, what will we tell the children? What about the children? Something like: When two lies can’t be together, but they love each other very very very much and want to get very very close to each other, then they… [working on what happens then], and then, soon, another little baby lie pops out!
Villago Delenda Est
@efgoldman: Total bullshit. Military officers, for example, do not serve “at the pleasure of the president”. If they are removed from a command position, for example, it must be for cause.
Personal loyalty to the chief executive is the mark of a totalitarian regime. Any “constitutional law expert” who argues otherwise is incompetent.
Villago Delenda Est
@jl: This malassstration lies about things they don’t need to lie about. Just because it’s habit, it’s what they do, about everything.
Mary G
trollhattan
“We have an idiot on the program.”
BBC host summarizes Alex Jones visit.
Morzer
@trollhattan:
Vicious degenerate would be more accurate.
efgoldman
@Morzer:
In order for him to get prosecuted for perjured testimony before the senate, doesn’t someone institutionally in the senate itself (a senator, the committee, the leadership) have to make a complaint and referral?
Little chance of that, and as a long-time senator, he knows it.
Quinerly
Remember that PAC Pence formed about a month ago? Any $ he raises through it can be used to pay his legal fees. Big fundraising dinners in the future…I think starting tomorrow night in Indy.
Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire
Couple-a thoughts:
A. I’m actually surprised Dolt 45 hasn’t started handing out pardons yet. I know that means whoever he pardons can be compelled to testify, but with the GOP controlling Congress, I have serious doubts it would happen. Also doesn’t end NYS AG case.
B. On Twitter, the handle Sean Spicer’s Mic has the documents showing someone lodged a complaint with the NY Bar (I think it was NY) against Kasowitz. Basically said he was giving out legal advice in D.C. while not licensed to practice there.
C. The last thing this world needs at the moment is a return of the Troubles.
Kay
This is a good piece:
I actually thought it was Sessions who planted it- so he would appear “independent”. It did seem planted to me, though.
Morzer
@Quinerly:
“And when you only saw one set of footprints, it was then that Putin carried you.”
efgoldman
@Jeffro:
Could be worse. Mueller could be investigating sexual crimes.
I think my daughter was eight when she asked me, over breakfast, “why is everybody mad at this Lorenzo guy” (who was then in the process of destroying the carcass of what had been Eastern Airlines.) and I had to work out how to explain collective bargaining and unions.
I must have done something right. She’s a good liberal and always Democrat.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Jeffro:
and Fox no longer bothering to pretend to be to be “fair and balanced”.
I’m on vacation, in DC as it happens. I mostly can avoid reminders that we’re only a few yards from That Guy in the White House. The main reminder is that the Old Post Office is right around the corner. It is, of course, now a tacky Trump hotel and one of the many sources of Emolument Clause violations.
But on the plus side, there’s a Wall of History in the hotel lobby which includes all the Presidents from the hotel founding (1914) to the present year. And it stops at Obama. That’s really nice to see every morning.
Also we discovered completely by accident that there’s an absolutely fantastic Documentary Film Festival going on at several venues within a couple blocks of our hotel. I’ll also put in a plug for indie comedy Band Aid, which we just saw at one of those venues.
BBA
I still predict this ends with a visibly pale Mueller declaring in a press conference that Donald Trump is without a doubt the most moral and upstanding person in the history of America and could not have possibly committed any wrongdoing, and furthermore nobody even mentioned the word “polonium.”
Omnes Omnibus
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo fka Edmund Dantes: Fool. Fucking fool.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@efgoldman: Maybe Sen. Franken who asked the original question.
GregB
@Mary G:
I thought the GOP hated participation trophies?
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@GregB: they have always loved wingnut welfare.
efgoldman
@Morzer:
Isn’t at least that much all but proven? It’s known he falsified his SF-56, itself a felony.
Unless Flynn is delusional (always a possibility) I’d expect his attorney to be beavering away at a plea deal.
danielx
@feebog:
Why should he? There’s never been a situation he hasn’t been able to weasel his way out of, one way or another. Even during his bankruptcies he came out with his personal assets untouched.
Morzer
At some point in the near future the pressure building up inside Trump to fire Mueller (or order others to fire him) will become irresistible. The big question is what happens next. I think we are heading for an almighty institutional and constitutional mess and I have no idea where it will all end.
amk
@Kay:
time to rename it as the national enquirer times?
Omnes Omnibus
@BBA: Doom porn is tiresome.
danielx
@efgoldman:
If all it took was an individual senator, I am reasonably sure that Al Franken would be jumping up and down with his hand raised saying “Me! me!”.
Timurid
@BBA: Check out that guy’s military record. He won’t be easy to scare…
Jeffro
@efgoldman: On the flip side, since I have been talking about Russian/Trumpov collusion and money laundering, and throwing around names like Manafort and Page and Cohen and Kushner around the house for over a year now…they think I have psychic powers.
As a parent, that’s not a bad thing for your kids to be thinking as they head into their teen years…:)
amk
@BBA: If the guy was ‘given’ polonium, why would he lie in his deathbed?
efgoldman
@Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire:
No reason that Mueller’s office couldn’t compel testimony from pardoned individuals. A few more months of Mueller digging away. and congress becomes irrelevant.
Tee. Also hee.
Uncle Cosmo
@Mnemosyne: I always presumed “shyster” was an anglicization of Scheisster (Which reminds me of the wall-sized painting I saw in a Helsinki contemporary art museum some years back of Hitler as a skinhead. Because down in the corner the artist had helpfully provided a URL: http://www.scheisse.de)
danielx
@Patricia Kayden:
A spot as a commentator on Fox News, where Jefferson Beauregard would fit right in.
Omnes Omnibus
@Uncle Cosmo: You bastard.
jake the antisoshul soshulist
@Uncle Cosmo:
Glad someone is familiar with that story. Have you read Davidson’s “Take Wooden Indians”? That one is really strange.
Uncle Cosmo
@efgoldman: Whoa! WGH looks like he belongs in the chorus for a G&S operetta.
Uncle Cosmo
@Immanentize: Close but no cigarillo. Check your maths. Torys 318 + DUP 10 = 328, which is a 2-seat majority in the 650-member Commons even if Sinn Fein showed up. But keep watching the skies; the next few by-elections could get verrrrrry interesting.
Uncle Cosmo
@Villago Delenda Est: Thuglicans useta accuse Bill Clinton of “never telling the truth when a lie would do,” which is obvious & egregious projection. (Come to think of it they probably accused FDR of the very same thing.)
RandomMonster
@Patricia Kayden:
Pence has all the charisma of a serial killer undertaker. I suspect there are serial killer undertakers with much more charisma.
chopper
@Immanentize:
well swearing allegiance to the queen is a bit of an issue when you’re IRA.
Uncle Cosmo
@amk: Vichy Times. Herrenvoelkischer Beobachter. Pravda-na-Hudson. Ya pays yer money, ya takes yer cherce…
burnspbesq
@efgoldman:
He’s almost certainly going to have to look beyond NYC. The vast majority of good white-collar defense lawyers in the city are alums of the U.S. Attorney’s office, and when he fucked with Bharara, he made enemies of them all.
burnspbesq
@TenguPhule:
Nice, but until Gerry Adams gets over his obsession with not lying about loyalty to the Queen and Sinn Fein occupies its seven seats in Westminster, he’s got no ability to fire for effect.
TenguPhule
@burnspbesq:
He has a nuclear bomb called “The Troubles: Take two” which even the Tories better think long and hard about before they do something that everyone regrets.
No One You Know
@Morzer: This is the second time I’ve heard that Trump’s wife, not his daughter, was the moderating influence.
lawtalkinguy
@NoraLenderbee: @Mnemosyne: I had always understood it to be anti-Semitic. Maybe wrongly so, but once a word develops a connotation, the connotation is there.