A lot of news has broken this week, including today. I would argue that everyone take a deep breath and a step back and focus on which bits of the breaking news contain the really important information. I would argue that the really important domestic/American news to have come out so far this week, other than Speaker Ryan calling it quits, is that Michael Cohen is alleged to (may have?) been taping his phone conversations for several years.
From The Washington Post:
President Trump’s personal attorney Michael D. Cohen sometimes taped conversations with associates, according to three people familiar with his practice, and allies of the president are worried that the recordings were seized by federal investigators in a raid of Cohen’s office and residences this week.
Cohen, who served for a decade as a lawyer at the Trump Organization and is a close confidant of Trump’s, was known to store the conversations using digital files and then replay them for colleagues, according to people who have interacted with him.
“We heard he had some proclivity to make tapes,” said one Trump adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. “Now we are wondering, who did he tape? Did he store those someplace where they were actually seized? . . . Did they find his recordings?”
On Monday, FBI agents seized Cohen’s computers and phones as they executed a search warrant that sought, among other records, all communications between the lawyer and Trump and campaign aides about “potential sources of negative publicity” in the lead-up to the 2016 election, The Washington Post reported.
It is unknown whether Cohen taped conversations between himself and Trump. But two people familiar with Cohen’s practices said he recorded both business and political conversations. One associate said Trump knew of Cohen’s practice because the attorney would often play him recordings Cohen had made of his conversations with other top Trump advisers.
“It was his standard practice to do it,” this person said.
Legal experts said Cohen’s taped conversations would be viewed by prosecutors as highly valuable.
“If you are looking for evidence, you can’t do any better than people talking on tape,” said Nick Akerman, a former Watergate prosecutor.
Such recordings “would be considered a gold mine,” said Stephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University who specializes in legal ethics.
“The significance is 9.5 to 10 on a 10-point scale,” he added, noting that investigators know “that when people speak on the phone, they are not guarded. They don’t imagine that the conversation will surface.”
Federal investigators would not automatically get access to any tapes that might have been seized in the raids. First, the recordings would be reviewed by a separate Justice Department team and possibly by a federal judge. The review is designed to protect lawyer-client privilege and to be sure that the conversations turned over are within the terms of the search warrant, legal experts said.
Getting these recordings is among the the most important things, if not the real prize, that was being sought in the raids on Cohen’s office, home office, and the hotel suite where he is staying while his home is being renovated. The President actually sent a real attorney – as in an attorney that know what she’s doing, not attorneys like Michael Cohen – to Federal Court this morning to argue the President has a personal interest in what was seized pursuant to the search warrant that was executed on Monday. And there was a scramble to hire this new attorney – she was only retained two days ago.
For those concerned with potential breaking news regarding Deputy AG Rosenstein, here’s a good primer from Lawfare.
Stay frosty!
Open thread.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
Call it the plaid news cycle
Anyone see Horowitz on Twitter this week
TaMara (HFG)
In other words…TaMara, calm the fuck down. I hear you Adam, I hear you. ;-)
Adam L Silverman
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): Someone needs to explain to him that regardless of where his ancestors came from, because he’s (nominally) Jewish, in the US he’s not white. Or, rather, he’s only white on sufferance.
cmorenc
FoxNews’s headline focus on Comey book (I kid you not) is on his “crypic” comment about Loretta Lynch and Hillary’s emails. The rest of the articles at the site are along the lines of “nothing worthwhile to see here about Trump”.
Gozer
Tick, tock…etc.
FlyingToaster
This is a Gish Gallop presidential administration. I feel like I’m getting whiplash from all the shit raining down.
I think that I’m not going to be online Sun-Tue (well, maybe late at night in the hotel room), just to detox from all of this nonsense.
gene108
It’s so nice out today, in NJ, I don’t want to work…
How to look busy as the seconds tick down to quitting time…
The Moar You Know
Frankly, the rise of CNN in the 1990s made this good advice then and now. Many people are aware that the 24/7 news cycle allows them to bury many misdeeds, because nobody can, or would want to, try and process all the “news”.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
Roger Moore
“Is you taking notes on a criminal fucking conspiracy? What the fuck is you thinking?“
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
schrodingers_cat
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: And then what? How does this help him politically?
Roger Moore
@FlyingToaster:
It’s not a Gish Gallop; it’s a Gish Marathon.
germy
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: For some reason I thought Elliott Broidy was another alias of the president’s.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
@schrodingers_cat: I report, you decide …. to stay frosty or not.
schrodingers_cat
@gene108: Lucky, cloudy skies here. I am tired of winter.
Corner Stone
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: I always wonder how they come up with these amounts. How do you settle on a price for a 10 month affair or a one-night stand? What is a termination worth between a married man and his lover?
I guess it’s like any other service rendered but for most goods/products/projects etc, there is an inherent value that is somewhat knowable.
schrodingers_cat
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: I’d rather be warm and toasty and not frosty.
Roger Moore
@schrodingers_cat:
Then he finds some mook who’s willing to fire Mueller and all his problems are over, of course.
hedgehog mobile
Not even 1 pm in Denver. Need booze.
schrodingers_cat
@Roger Moore: How so? His problems are going to multiply if he does that. It also makes him look guilty as hell.
I know you are snarking but everyone here is freaking out. What then, is he going to jail everyone in the opposition and Jeff Bezos too?
ETA: Indira Gandhi try to do this in the 1970s in India, she was far more powerful and gutsy and popular than doll hair but even she couldn’t pull it off.
Corner Stone
@schrodingers_cat: I am tightly clinging to the dying gasps of coolness here. Because then comes the all-mug, all the time.
raven
They start throwing nukes around none of this shit means nuthin.
Mary G
Somebody has had enough:
I know she probably didn’t write it herself, but I have never seen anything like this tone from her operation ever. Her brand has been compromise and cooperation even in the face of the most ridiculous Republicans forever. Maybe it’s due to worry about reelection, but as someone who’s been begging her to go to the mattresses for so long, I am cheering.
eclare
@Roger Moore: Ah, the classics….Glad Trump didn’t have someone as competent as Stringer Bell
rikyrah
@Roger Moore:
Ah yes, a Wire reference…..
tobie
@Mary G: From Feinstein, those are indeed fighting words. Good for her.
schrodingers_cat
@Corner Stone: Muggy here only begins late July and early August. I am still wearing a winter coat in April.
rikyrah
I am so tickled by
THAT THERE ARE TAPES!!!
HILARIOUS
Adam L Silverman
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: And that the attorney named Davidson once again made an appearance here. Specifically, Davidson, as was the case with MacDougal and with Daniels, was the middle person and that Cohen told Broidy he’d handle things because he’d worked with Davidson on this before. This is something that deserves a lot more light focused on it.
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: I am sure there are children out of wedlock too. Party of personal responsibility.
efgoldman
@eclare:
Didn’t he end up dead, anyway?
Spanky
Beautiful weather today and tomorrow here in DC. Tomorrow’s another March for Science! Odds are good that it gets transmogrified into something … bigger.
scav
Well, presumably all these loose — in private hands — recordings of conversations with Trump advisors are judged as profoundly different from emails on private servers by the usual suspects. And, if any 18 — or choose a number — minute gaps show up that will not at all be interesting according to the similar sources. I can’t decide if I’m simply spiritually nauseated by living here any more of if my body is somehow spontaneously rejecting whatever physical remnents of confidence I had in the bulk of my co-citizens.
ChrisS
I wonder if this common knowledge that Cohen recorded meetings made its way to the special investigator’s office who then promptly found a way to obtain said recordings.
Adam L Silverman
@scav: Did you say emails? We’ve got you covered!
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/04/scott-pruitt-has-at-least-four-official-email-addresses-senators-say/
Much more at the link!
kindness
Trump is going to fire Mueller. Not directly. Apparently today Trump will fire Rosenstein and the replacement will fire Mueller.
This is the worst historical drama I’ve ever watched.
tobie
TPM and NYT have the DOJ’s IG report. It’s dated Feb 2018. No recommendation for firing is made in the report. The matter is referred to the FBI. The IG determined that McCabe demonstrated four instances of “lack of candor,” three under oath, most relating to McCabe’s communication with the WSJ regarding the Clinton Foundation. I’m not sure whether “lack of candor” means not forthcoming, misleading, or giving false testimony.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Roger Moore:
Snark, I know. But if he does this he automatically ensures that not only does he hand control of the House over to the Democrats but perhaps even the Senate by razor thin margins. He’s going to regret this.
eclare
@efgoldman: Just in case someone hasn’t watched, not spoiling!
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@kindness:
Mueller has civil service protections. He can’t be fired without cause. Holding the president accountable isn’t considered cause for firing I’m sure.
efgoldman
@kindness:
As we’ve said many times, if you submitted it as a screenplay or novel outline, it would be flatly rejected as not credible.
trollhattan
@TaMara (HFG):
I’ve been reading “Trex and the Crater of Doom.” Sometimes the sky really is falling.
schrodingers_cat
Firing Mueller does not make T not guilty. He is in hot water.
Spanky
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: There you go assuming fair, un-hacked elections again! When will you ever learn?
Has anyone thought to ask the Republican Secretaries of State how their hardening of the election systems is going?
Adam L Silverman
@tobie: Accusations of lack of candor are a major disciplinary issue at the FBI. Usually when they’re made the accused has a chance to refute them through an internal process that will either clear that person or lead to their termination.
Feebog
@Mary G:
It’s a response to the most recent DeLeon ad which portrays her as squishy on Trump. Not impressed with any of my choices for Senator. DiFi is just too old for another six year term and DeLeon just comes across as a dipshit.
scav
@Adam L Silverman: I thought I was supposed to stay frosty, not indulge in more auto-immune induced nausea! Or, have I been profoundly confused about your wishes for a good long time? But, whheeeeeee!
Roger Moore
@schrodingers_cat:
You know that, and I know that, but I’m very worried that Trump doesn’t know that. And I’m worried in at least the back of my mind that enough of the media will go along with whatever Trump does that him firing Mueller and shutting down the investigation won’t actually blow up in his face.
That outcome- Trump shuts Mueller down and the media just treats it as Trump being Trump- is the worst possible for two reasons:
1) The investigation is shut down and the evidence is destroyed.
2) Trump decides he can ignore everyone telling him that he shouldn’t do X, Y, or Z because it will blow up in his face, and goes on to do something even more damaging.
I realize I’m listening to my fear when I say this, but the possibility it might happen is freaking me and a lot of other people out.
efgoldman
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
Nope. He regrets nothing. He’s never wrong. He’s always right. It’s never his fault. He’s four years old.
low-tech cyclist
Poor Michael Cohen. Nixon resigned just before he turned 8. If he’d been a little older, he’d have remembered what a bad idea it can be to have audio recordings of all your dealings if your dealings are legally questionable.
Lemme pull out that world’s smallest violin for Mr. Not-Quite-Old-Enough-To-Remember-Watergate. :D
Spanky
Also too, the stock market is doing it’s roller coaster thingy again. I guess maybe because they don’t know what the hell the Administration is going to do next?
My totally unqualified market advice: hang on for the ride.
scav
@trollhattan: “Trex and the Crater of Doom”! Those illustrations are Stellar! I should never have purged that book from my library in a moment of weakness.
schrodingers_cat
@Roger Moore: Stop. Freaking out is not going to change the outcome. Its up to us to not let him get away this.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Spanky:
Irrelevant in the long term. No one will believe the results if the House doesn’t flip. As I’ve said here many times, history shows that the President’s party gets hammered in mid-term elections. If that fails to happen then we know something is wrong. The results will need to be contested by not just the Democratic party but all of us well. The GOP has no legitimacy.
Princess
Rod Blagojevich, convicted governor of Illinois, can confirm the value to the prosecution of conversations on tape.
The Moar You Know
@low-tech cyclist: He and I are the same age. We all knew what happened to Nixon and why. Everyone my age got that lesson in why taping your awful deeds is a bad idea. I can only assume he made and kept these recordings because he is a monumental idiot.
trollhattan
@Feebog:
I do not like it not one bit. Was really hoping for a DiFi retirement and the CA Dem A-list competing for the seat. Instead we have at best the A-minus list competing for governor and no relevant challenger for the senate seat (given it’s basically impossible for DiFi to lose).
Hrrrmph.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
@Adam L Silverman: No one gives a shit, he’s a white male Republican. It is pretty clear that as a group they can do whatever they damn well please and the rest of us can fuck right off !
Dave
@schrodingers_cat: Yep he’s already waited too long. If he wanted any chance of that working it needed to happen early and suddenly now after everything that’s come out and midterms in November? It’s too late. He has the instincts of an autocrat but is too cowardly to really succeed. Which may or may not be reassuring depending on how you look at it.
T S
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Look, I’m going to volunteer and hope for the best this Fall, but this certainty about the better outcome is going to give you a real sad if it doesn’t come through. We might end up with close to a 50/50 split, but if it doesn’t go all the way over, we have 2 more awful damn years to ride out with full GOP control. I’m not giving up, I’m bracing for the worst.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Roger Moore:
Then we have to be the ones who will make it blow up in his face.
efgoldman
@Roger Moore:
I would bet real money that Mueller’s folks are sharing prosecutable info with the NY AG.
Roger Moore
@Adam L Silverman:
Davidson’s ethics desperately need investigating. He’s not representing his clients’ best interests, and he deserves to lose his bar license. IANAL so I don’t know if there’s a criminal case against him, but that sure as hell can’t be ethical.
schrodingers_cat
I am distracting myself by listening to another great score from Amit Trivedi, Udta Punjab* (Flying Punjab/ High Punjab) about the drug problem in the land of 5 rivers.
Hass Nach Le is soothing while
Udta Punjab is hard hitting and edgy lyrics by Varun Grover
This 2016 movie got in hot water with the censor board.
celticdragonchick
@low-tech cyclist:
He is a fixer and a mob style enforcer. Tape recordings are for blackmail. He never expected Trump to win.
celticdragonchick
@Roger Moore:
Exactly. He sabotages his clients.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@T S:
That’s great but see my comment at 55.
SiubhanDuinne
@low-tech cyclist:
? <— Actual size
tobie
@Adam L Silverman: I’m sure McCabe’s lawyers will question whether McCabe was given adequate opportunity to address these charges.
I don’t know why but I feel for McCabe…when you’re put under glass bowl for months, bullied by the President, etc. you’re bound to be suspicious of anyone sent to question you and you make mistakes. I’ve seen no indication that IG Horowitz understood just how political his mission was, and anyone this blind to how his report would or could be used is complicit with the Trump administration.
schrodingers_cat
@Dave: To really brazen out he has to be able silence all opposition and get away with it. That’s truly a tall order. Our side is fired up. He is not Bush II after the September attacks.
The ceiling of his approval is 40%
Cheryl Rofer
I am preparing a talk for next Thursday. It’s going well, and I should have most of it done by tonight so I can add in bits through the next few days.
I was thinking of making a post with highlights from 40,000 feet early in the week, but we can see how that has gone.
Roger Moore
@kindness:
Yeah. History is always slower and more boring when you’re living through it rather than watching the condensed version.
khead
@gene108:
So, yeah, I’m a dumbass. Planned a trip with my wife to Cape May LAST Friday and we froze our asses off. Would love to be there today.
trollhattan
Since it’s a Friday open thread, can I get a “Holy fucking shit!” from the assembled multitude?
The grownups are failing the Parkland kids at every imaginable level.
Spanky
@Roger Moore: I don’t think anyone here feels bored.
Possum Queen up! Can’t get audio here at work. I’ll just wait for the barrage of commentary …
Kelly
I’m sure the news will get crazier than this before November. I first paid attention to the news at around age 12 with civil rights protests, war protests, assassinations, riots burning cities. By the time Watergate showed up it just seemed like more of the same.
As far as out current events go I’ll steal GW Bush’s line This is some weird shit.
Rainy with temps in the 40’s here in the western Cascade foothills. Classic April weather. Just a bit to warm to ski up on the passes, just bit to cold for river trips here. I think Adam’s advice about pacing myself put on my rain gear and go for a nice walk.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
efgoldman
@trollhattan:
Time for young David to hire a really aggressive lawyer who starts suing the ass off the assholes for slander.
Mary G
@Feebog: @trollhattan: I agree. DiFi is due to retire and while I don’t know much about DeLeon, what I’ve heard sounds like he’s not ready. It seems like a lot of good Democratic candidates have convinced themselves that they can make a credible run for president against Trump and don’t want to bother to run for Senate or governor. It’s idiotic. I’m looking at you, Garcetti.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:
Sometimes I fear that people are going to die before this gets any better. Things like this cause this fear.
Spanky
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: ” … to the surprise of no one.” David Frum did not add.
Adam L Silverman
@Roger Moore: I think investigation is going to find that Davidson really works with Cohen and Pecker at AMI, not for his identified clients like MacDougal and Daniels on these issues. He’s in a lot of trouble.
raven
trollhattan
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:
Trump sure has the ability to turn their rock-solid convictions into squishy inconveniences. It’s still instructive how easily he sliced through the hundred-candidate Republican field.
raven
@Adam L Silverman: A pecker checker!
MJS
@khead: I would love to go to the beach this weekend. Love Avalon.
schrodingers_cat
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: Hypocrites R Us.
Adam L Silverman
@tobie: My understanding is that IG Horowitz plays everything straight. He’s a career guy, not a political appointee (though some of those have been career guys and gals that also play things straight too). As for McCabe, there are civil service limitations in place for FBI personnel given the nature of their work, but I expect there will be a challenge to the when and how of his termination.
Spanky
… and no one cares outside of the RNC Thunderdome.
efgoldman
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:
Apparently the Conservadictionary doesn’t have an entry for “hypocrisy”
I never thought I’d hate anyone like I hate those fuckers.
Adam L Silverman
@schrodingers_cat: It is also very difficult to stop the signal in the US. We can’t even stop the bogus signals – whether from bots and trolls or of zombie ideas. The US is probably not a good place to test the various theories of how a largely free and open state and society, no matter how flawed, can be quickly turned into an authoritarian state and society.
Brachiator
@efgoldman:
Trump channeling Edith Piaf: I REGRET NOTHING
celticdragonchick
@trollhattan:
Rod Dreher called David Hogg “a little creep” and ” a skinny Robespierre”.
Always projection.
Calouste
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: Evangelism is all about beliefs, not deeds. If you’re “in”, all your sins, past, present, and future, are forgiven.
trollhattan
@efgoldman:
Yup. Kid has a high-strength steel spine, that’s for sure.
From the same paper, an article on the Parkland kids making the best of their new mandated clear backpacks.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Adam L Silverman:
I agree. Maybe I’m naive, but I just can’t believe it’s that easy. Our democratic tradition is too ingrained.
trollhattan
@celticdragonchick:
I hope he writes a book and uses a collection of these for his jacket blurbs. Gold, Jerry, pure gold.”
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: Good luck on the lecture prep!
? Martin
@trollhattan:
They’re aware of that.
schrodingers_cat
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: It won’t be easy. Paul Ryan knows it too. That’s why he is not running again.
trollhattan
Meanwhile, in Vladlandia.
rikyrah
@tobie:
They produced a report that didn’t have firing McCabe as a suggestion IN the report?
sigaba
All these guys do seem to be of a piece — Comey, Rosenstein, McCabe. It’s not enough to actually be clean, everybody’s got to KNOW how clean you are and how dirty everyone else is, even if that means occasionally leaking or throwing elections for the sake of your image as square-jawed untouchable G-man.
Adam L Silverman
@trollhattan: Methinks Mr. Alder is 1) not going to be on the Parkland Education Advisory Board for long and 2) his sit down with Hogg’s father, FBI Supervisory Special Agent (retired) Hogg, is not going to be pleasant…
Adam L Silverman
@raven: Well played!
Adam L Silverman
@celticdragonchick: Doesn’t Dreher usually look one or two missed meals away from being malnourished? I haven’t gone looking for a pic of him recently, but I have this impression he’s kind of scrawny.
Ladyraxterinok
What is with GOPers making and keeping recotdings of conversations? The Nixon WH tapes and now this possibility.
The Nixon tapes marked the end of any defense.
I was on an nearly empty bus with my toddler son. We were making a long, slow round trip through our small IA town. The driver was listening to the House proceedings on his radio, loud enuff that I could hear too. And then came the testimony that there were tapes. Stunned disbelief!
schrodingers_cat
@Adam L Silverman: The last photo I saw of him was with a beard looking like a bum, who scares away small children.
Aleta
SiubhanDuinne
Elliott Broidy has resigned as Deputy Chair of the RNC Finance committee.
Wynn, Cohen, now Broidy. What is it with that committee?
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@schrodingers_cat:
Yup. Co-signed
tobie
@Adam L Silverman: That’s my point. “Playing it straight” and “just following orders” is inherently political in extraordinary times like these. Sessions commissioned Horowitz to investigate the FBI’s handling of l’affaire Clinton not because he wanted the DOJ and FBI to think about how they could do their job better in the future but to call into question the integrity of any FBI investigation and especially any investigation of Trump. Horowitz is now a weapon in their campaign against the FBI. Trump and Sessions now have the capacity to say, “Even straight shooters like IG Horowitz have shown just how thoroughly politicized the FBI is. We therefore can’t place trust in anything the FBI finds or any testimony Comey or McCabe might give.” The strategy is as plain as day.
celticdragonchick
@Adam L Silverman:
Yep…which is strange for someone so hung up on food p*rn whenever he is in France and showing off the restaurant or café he is having mussels and Bordeaux at.
schrodingers_cat
@SiubhanDuinne: Rascally No Good Conmen.
MattF
@Ladyraxterinok: My recollection is that LBJ recorded conversations, but the key error is recording all conversations by default.
efgoldman
@sigaba:
He’ll be out of work for maybe five minutes, until some big rainmaker firms in NYC and DC come calling.
NY Robbin
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: Of course not. As long as the menzz are controlling the process.
MattF
@SiubhanDuinne: Well, there’s Republicans and there’s money. A volatile combination.
Aleta
tobie
@sigaba:
This. Amen.
Yutsano
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: Frum needs to name names. No more hiding their shit under the veil of “anonymity”. They need to be dragged into the sunlight so we can evaluate their words ourselves.
Vhh
DOJ just announced that Cohen is under criminal investigation. Trump fring Rosenstein, who approved the raid, would thus seem to be obstruction. What say the lawyers?
Aleta
efgoldman
@Ladyraxterinok:
LBJ, and I think JFK, also taped in the oval office. Tricksie’s had material importance to prosecution.
MattF
@Aleta: Surely Trump doesn’t need a lawyer. When you’re a stable genius, you can figure out anything.
celticdragonchick
@celticdragonchick: @schrodingers_cat:
Who said children don’t need a seedy looking pseudo academic to tell them their teleology is disordered and their parents should raise them in an intentional BENEDICT OPTION community to make sure they do not succumb to emotivism?
tobie
@Aleta: Did he have emails with Hope Hicks and/or Trump’s other long time assistant (whose name I can’t remember)? Trump doesn’t do email but his staff does.
Aleta
Renato Mariotti
@renato_mariotti
Aleta
@tobie: huh, good question.
Jay S
@Roger Moore: If the smoking gun story is to be believed, it looks like cases for extortion by Davidson might be viable. http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/investigation/keith-davidson-profile-907453
trollhattan
Always interesting to read that “one-party consent” for recording is legal in places. California requires two-party consent.
Roger Moore
@SiubhanDuinne:
They’re Republicans’ Republicans, i.e. the worst of the worst.
efgoldman
@MattF:
Yup. Writing his own legal briefs….
…in crayon.
ETA: He probably makes sure that he has at least the 64-color box
SC54HI
Broidy is not just another innocent Republican having affairs & siring out of wedlock children.
There is a Nader nexus here.
Baud
@tobie: Privilege doesn’t extend to assistants, I believe.
tobie
@Aleta: Hopefully this will all come out. Cohen might have emailed with lots of people–Donnie Jr, Jarvanka, Hicks, Lewandowski etc.–and I imagine Twitler would be terrified for that stuff to come out. We’ll see. The raid on Cohen clearly has taken Trump’s panic to a new level.
Rob in CT
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:
Authoritarians. It’s what they do.
Baud
@efgoldman:
You hope that’s Burnt Sienna.
Aleta
Informative thread about Rosenstein
https://twitter.com/renato_mariotti/status/984841284409069569
germy
Frosty.
Central Planning
So we made it to 4pm. I don’t see anything about anybody being fired.
Ladyraxterinok
In the early days, Hitler kept making military moves his generals warned him against. Many of his moves were successful. He then decided he knew better than any general and proceeded to ignore them.
Baud
@germy: Great. No reason to fire anybody then.
Roger Moore
@tobie:
I’m not a lawyer so don’t take my word for it, but ISTR that communications through a third party would not be privileged. Once you start sharing it, it’s too late to say it’s super secret.
tobie
@germy: My gosh…he’s completely lost his shit.
sukabi
@Roger Moore: wouldn’t a lawyer playing recordings of his clients to not involved persons negate any attorney/client privilege? If not, then it seems it should at the very least get his ass hauled in front of the bar for sanctions or disbarrment.
efgoldman
@Central Planning:
Weekends bring a 24-hour tweetstorm.
But first the fucking sniveling coward has to find someone to do it.
ETA: Also, he’s staying in DC, not going to Mal-a-Loco, which increase the agita.
Shana
@Roger Moore: I dunno, whatever I am it’s not “bored.”
Leto
@germy:
Finkle is Einhorn?
James E. Powell
@Adam L Silverman:
You’re right of course. And I also want to thank you and the rest of the FP Crew for keeping track and breaking down all this mishegas. I stopped watching the news in the summer of ’16 and am rarely able to read the news without going into an apoplectic rage. You guys are keeping me sane.
Baud
@efgoldman:
He’s probably also asking the potential replacement if he’ll fire Mueller and can’t get a straight “yes” answer since that would be obstruction.
sukabi
@Central Planning: the day is still young, it’s 1pm on the west coast, and Twitter does most of his ‘work’ after 6pm, depending on what his ‘advisors’ at FOX tell him to do.
germy
@tobie:
The “Feigelein” scene from Downfall.
SFAW
@germy:
Good Christ, he’s like a parody of himself. When I first read that, I thought it was someone play-acting at foaming-at-the-mouth. Then I saw the “author.”
But I am warmed by the thought that Congress will rein him in.
ETA: And, despite the Befehl you gave, Steiner ain’t coming.
ARoomWithAMoose
@Aleta: Hmm… So a fixer/bagman/thug doesnt get to claim client attourney privledge. Who knew?
efgoldman
@Leto:
We are all Spartacus
Central Planning
@efgoldman: Maybe they meant 24 instead of 2-4
@sukabi: That’s true, I don’t think they specified a timezone
Cheryl Rofer
Calouste
@germy: Smells like… impotent rage.
Baud
@Central Planning:
And they are consummate liars.
sukabi
@Calouste: might be festering guilt.
Mnemosyne
@Feebog:
In my dream election, DiFi would retire and Adam Schiff would take her place. Sigh.
Cheryl Rofer
The lawyers on my Twitter feed are saying that this is not a good idea, usually in more colorful language.
Trump Called Michael Cohen as Their Lawyers Went to Court Over Seized Trump Documents
Gin & Tonic
@Aleta: Got a place to eat tonight?
Gelfling 545
@tobie: Giving false testimony would be somewhat more that “lack of cando” so doubtful.
randy khan
@efgoldman:
Doris Kearns Goodwin has a great story about LBJ, Nixon and tapes. It goes something like this:
She was working with LBJ on his biography when some Nixon White House staffer came to the LBJ Ranch for some reason. Johnson was talking with the guy about working his memoirs and how much the tapes he had made were helping him, then said “You tell Nixon he should tape everything for his memoirs.”
Corner Stone
@Leto: Einhorn *is* Finkle!!
Gin & Tonic
@Cheryl Rofer: Makes me think of Casey Stengel’s line about the 1962 Mets.
muddy
@Adam L Silverman: It’s like the gun show loophole for FOIA.
? Martin
@SiubhanDuinne: Well, to be fair, you probably do want a republican running that committee, so you should probably expect that sort of thing.
GregB
Good God! Trump is losing has his fucking mind.
Hold on to hats.
GregB
Sorryfor the misspelling.
ruemara
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): Saw, responded too and had a drink.
Do you think if Trump had a heart attack from all this, they’d just prop him up and keep trucking until they couldn’t hide he was a bucket kicked?
Aleta
@Gin & Tonic: Thanks for asking. Got asked where I’d like to to go and blanked out. Would welcome a couple of mid-range ideas if you have time.
VeniceRiley
@Feebog: I’m with DiFi for the reason she has the gravitas and influence we really need right now. Also I don’t like what went down at CalDems meeting. Guh. Wilmerites will be the death of us, with their shenanigans.
Baud
@? Martin: Win!
efgoldman
@Cheryl Rofer:
Their hope, I guess, is to get it before the right conservative judge who will ignore the law. Also delay, delay, obfuscate, delay some more.
sukabi
@SiubhanDuinne: why do I suddenly have the lyrics “oooo, oooo, oooo, oooo, take the money and run”, stuck in my head?
Mnemosyne
@Aleta:
IANAL, but even I know that when a judge starts asking a lawyer about something the lawyer should/should not do “as an officer of the court,” said lawyer should kiss his/her ass goodbye.
The Pale Scot
@eclare:
They’re all akin to Bubbles’ white doper friend.
In the land of the one celled brain, the brain with 2 neurons is king
Gin & Tonic
@Aleta: I’d suggest Broadway Bistro. Essentially modern American, fairly limited menu but good choices. Not in the heart of downtown, so you can park a car if you’re driving there. I also like Nick’s a bit further out Broadway, but it’s a little pricier, and you may need a reservation for Friday night. If you’re on the east side, Chez Pascal is great, but it’s more like $30 entrees. Not sure what “mid-range” means to you.
Corner Stone
@GregB: Don’t you mean:
Hold on to your butts
eclare
@The Pale Scot: Great analogy!
The Pale Scot
@tobie:
I always took “lack of candor” as meaning just giving a dry recitation of facts, with no interpretation or comments about them. “lack of candor” doesn’t mean lying like a mother fucker
Aleta
@Gin & Tonic: Thanks. Perfect. I was thinking under 40, and 30 is better. At this point would rather go drink gin martinis though. But they are wine people which is OK too.
Fair Economist
@Feebog: De Leon has been leading the CA State Senate, which has been doing pretty well legislatively, so he can get good stuff done. Before that, he was appropriations chair, so he is a serious policy guy.
Roger Moore
@ruemara:
Yes. I don’t think they could keep the secret for very long, but they would definitely try. There’s a lot of looting they have left to do.
efgoldman
@Roger Moore:
Sample twit to look for: “kmvvweivj efgf,fvkefwerofggkrewb zuhuhfdvevw qqmc isjcj auoshc liar liar liar…”
Matt
@trollhattan:
I don’t even get how the “the Parkland kids are Nazis” thing is supposed to work as an attack – surely that should mean the wingnuts are ON THEIR SIDE…
TenguPhule
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:
And for anyone who claimed abortion would be the breaking point of the Republican faithful.
You were wrong.
Roger Moore
@efgoldman:
It will have to be something less intelligible than the infamous covfefe tweet.
TenguPhule
@schrodingers_cat:
Its all fun and games in the tropics until suddenly the heat spikes to 90 and no breeze.
TenguPhule
@schrodingers_cat:
Then we learn rule of law is over in America. After that, nobody truly knows.
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
How was the secret part determined?
BroD
I took a deep breath and wrote my congressman (Elijah Cummings) and Senators (figure it out ;~) saying (something like) we need Congress to hold the line if the Sh*t hits the fan.
Adam L Silverman
@tobie: Actually the IG investigation was started by Comey. The IG is also looking into the NY Field Office’s alleged leaking.
Annie
@Mary G:
Wow. Totally agree. I have never heard anything like this from DiFi. She’s always been so devoted to decorum, from her that’s the equivalent of jumping up and down and screaming.
Fair Economist
@SiubhanDuinne:
And the refrain: Can you imagine what it would be like if three top officials of the DNC Finance committee resigned because of charges of rape, sexual harrassment, and money laundering to cover it up?
Adam L Silverman
@TenguPhule: As in they’re not on the global address list (GAL) and not given to anyone but a small group of people.
Citizen Alan
@TenguPhule:
Honestly I don’t think evangelicals have a problem at all with abortion for the right sort of women. They just don’t think women should be free to have abortions when they want to because they want women to be effectively enslaved by men. A powerful rich man paying for the abortion of a mistress or prostitute doesn’t interfere with that goal at all.
John Fremont
@TenguPhule: Yep. The response will be something like the bumper sticker I used to see, “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.”
Mnemosyne
@TenguPhule:
It might be the breaking point for a Republican woman if she had one after publicly declaring herself “pro-life.” It’s never going to damage any Republican men, though, because they can say that her immoral actions are not their fault and this is why we need to ban abortion.
debbie
@TenguPhule:
Evangelicals will say it wasn’t a real life because she isn’t a real Christian woman.
Chris Johnson
@SiubhanDuinne: Follow the money. The RNC Finance committee is in charge of taking the money from Russia in order to beat Hillary Clinton.
Procopius
I mostly ignore “breaking news.” It seems like 95% of it is either hypotheticals, speculation, of fantasy. For example the alleged chemical attack in Syria — reported by the White Helmets, a propaganda organization that is known to stage disaster videos to promote themselves and funded by MI6 and the CIA. No other evidence offered. Speculation that the raids on Cohen have something to do with the Stormy Daniels affair. Possible, but money laundering is much more likely, or violations of campaign contribution laws yet those possibilities are not mentioned. Trump’s announcement that he’s going to mount another wave of cruise missiles. Now he’s saying, “Nyah, nyah, I didn’t say when, wait for it, sucka,” and SecDef Mattis is saying we need to take a more measured approach and gather some evidence (he just admitted in February they still have no evidence from the two previous alleged incidents). There’s nothing I can do about any of it anyway, so I might as well wait until there’s a chance in a calmer time somebody might actually find a true story.
Procopius
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: Imminent. Yeah, right. They’ve been saying that for over a year. What does that have to do with when my pot roast is done, or whether or not I need a haircut? Why should I care about it anyway? There’s nothing I can do about it, before or after it happens, if it ever does.
Procopius
@kindness:
I imagine sometime today Trump will drink a glass of water. That seems a lot more probable that firing Rosenstein, so why don’t we see it reported in the same breathless tone of absolute certainty?