Paul Manafort has just been indicted by a grand jury in the City of New York!
Here’s the indictment from the City of New York. None of these charges are subject to a presidential pardon! And the prison Manafort would serve his time in if convicted of these charges in the City of New York is not Club Fed! I would also expect that similar cases will be brought against Manafort in DC. And this could also be the case for others like LTG (ret) Flynn, Roger Stone, etc.
One final item, despite what Manafort’s attorney just said that there was no collusion, Judge Jackson made clear today in court, as a finding of fact, during the sentencing that Manafort did indeed conspire with Russian intelligence during the 2016 campaign on behalf of the President. And that Manafort lied about it.
Judge said she has reviewed documents about a key Aug. 2, 2016, meeting between Manafort, his right-hand-man Rick Gates, and a business associate the FBI linked to Russian intelligence. The judge said the special counsel proved that M gave "intentionally false testimony"abt it.
— Carrie Johnson (@johnson_carrie) March 13, 2019
Open thread.
Baud
Cyrus Vance gets a chance to redeem himself.
Renie
Hopefully we will see some justice and Manafort dies in prison
trollhattan
“You can collude, you can run, you can get your lyin’ ass pardoned, but you can’t hide.”
Kinda convenient, Trump basing his criminal enterprise in New York and not, say, Oklahoma. Wonder if he’s rethinking all that now?
Baud
DC is irrelevant because of its non-state status. I think Prez can pardon for DC, and double jeopardy might attach as well.
Mike in DC
Better start squealing, Paulie Ostrich Jacket. No pardon will save you from this.
Adam L Silverman
@Baud: Makes you wonder if he’s revisiting the case against Jr and Ivanka.
Mike in DC
@Baud:
He wasn’t charged with mortgage fraud in federal court.
Baud
@Adam L Silverman: Wasn’t that a while ago. SOL problems? If not, I hope so. That would be sweet.
rikyrah
Now, THIS, makes me happy!!
YEEESSSSSSSS!!!
Plato
Third trial is the charm.
Alain the site fixer
I moved ads around as per John, sorry if the accidental video ad being up top for a few moments caused any issues, I dragged the wrong ad up and once I did, the cache took a bit to reflect that change and the same time to reflect my almost-instant correction.
Cheers to the investigators and good guys working hard in New York. I expect this caught Trump by surprise and I’d like to think he is freaking out, seeing this hint of his own fate. No matter how powerful he is, he cannot stop states, or other countries for that matter, from doing what they want – they have agency. Some of his associates are falling and there are so many crimes he’s committed in Trump Tower (for decades!) that he’s royally fucked.
Ok, back to work for me.
Baud
I love it when federalism works for our side.
Adam L Silverman
@Baud: DC is not irrelevant, the DC AG is equivalent to a city/county prosecutor. And these state and municipal prosectors are coordinating to make sure they don’t all charge the same thing and create double jeopardy problems.
Adam L Silverman
@Baud: It was. I don’t know if it is now past the statute of limitations. But if you think either Jr or Ivanka stopped committing white collar crimes in the meantime, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
Baud
@Adam L Silverman: Sure, there may be new crimes. You said “revisiting” so I thought you were referring to the past crime that Vance took a pass on.
Adam L Silverman
@Baud: I am curious if he is doing so. I don’t know that he is, have not seen anything that indicating that he is. But given no one likes bad press, it wouldn’t surprise me if he doesn’t have a team taking a look.
JPL
How much time if this case goes to trial is he likely to receive?
Baud
@Adam L Silverman: DC has this weird relationship between the local prosecutors and the US Attorneys for DC. I’m not sure how they would normally handle something like this, much less how they will do so in this corrupt administration.
glory b
rickyrah, now wish for me to win the lottery (see thread below)!
Baud
@Adam L Silverman: I think the scandal with Vance broke before there was a chance for a viable challenger to develop in the election. I hope he’s feeling the heat to get himself right before the next time he has to face the voters.
TaMara (HFG)
But no collusion, amirite?
rikyrah
@glory b:
LOL
dr. bloor
@JPL: Given that the wear and tear of one year in the NYS system equals about five years at a Club Fed, we’re functionally talking a few centuries, I’d guess.
Adam L Silverman
@TaMara (HFG): See the tweet about Judge Jackson’s statement during sentencing.
LAO
@Baud: You are correct.
Adam L Silverman
@dr. bloor: The last thing Manafort wants is to be subject to the New York penal system. Right now his attorney is most likely on the phone with Emmitt Flood begging him to make sure the President doesn’t pardon Manafort. Because as soon as it looks like he’ll not be subject to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Vance is going to demand he be held pre trial as both a flight risk and because he has a Federal court documented history of witness tampering and intimidation. And in order to keep him safe in the New York prison system, he’ll have to be held in solitary. And this won’t be the suite of two rooms with a private shower and toilet and one room for a work space that he had in Federal pretrial detention.
Just Chuck
@Adam L Silverman:
Actually, they do.
tokyokie
@Mike in DC:
Or as I like to put it, sing, or Sing Sing.
Adam L Silverman
What did Amir Khalid know and when did he know it?
raven
@Adam L Silverman: Attica, Attica. . . .
Just Chuck
@tokyokie: I dunno, if he talks, he might find his lunch tray has more than the usual level of polonium in it.
Anonymous At Work
Weren’t there charges that could be brought in Illinois and California as well? Or am I thinking of Cohen? Hard to keep track of the pending legal charges for Trump’s senior campaign staff…
LAO
@JPL: Based on my super quick review of the indictment, the most serious crime he’s charged with is a B felony. A non-violent B Felony has a sentencing range of 1-3 years. This, of course doesn’t address whether a court could impose consecutive rather than concurrent sentences on multiple charges.
Baud
@Adam L Silverman: When the call it the Trump Justice Department, they’re referring not just to the appointees but also to the workload.
Amir Khalid
@Adam L Silverman:
I never knew the guy. He just fetched the teh tarik.
rikyrah
White House weighs a deal to rescue Trump’s emergency declaration
03/13/19 11:20 AM
By Steve Benen
With bipartisan support, the House passed a measure a couple of weeks ago to block Donald Trump’s emergency declaration, in which he granted himself the power to redirect funds to border barriers, in defiance of Congress and public will. Over the next day or two, the Republican-led Senate will vote on the same bill.
On the surface, the outcome seemed obvious. Several GOP senators have already stated publicly that they will vote for the measure, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) conceded to reporters last week that it will pass. Though proponents of the bill only need four Republican votes, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) suggested last week the total could be as high as 10.
A lot can happen in a week, though.
………………
The basic contours of the deal are as follows: if enough Senate Republicans agree to defeat the pending resolution, the White House will agree to changes to the National Emergencies Act – the law that Trump appears to have abused through his emergency declaration, and the law that empowers Congress to block the presidential effort.
Though the details of the changes aren’t yet available, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is reportedly taking the lead on revising the National Emergencies Act so as to limit presidential power going forward.
And if that doesn’t sound to you like an especially good deal, your instincts are sound.
For one thing, we have no idea if Trump would agree to limit his own power. There have been other instances in which Pence has tried to negotiate on behalf of the White House, only to have the president reject the terms his own vice president offered lawmakers.
For another, even if Republicans agreed to change the National Emergencies Act, it wouldn’t be retroactive. In other words, Trump’s recent gambit would be unaffected by the proposed “fix,” leaving GOP senators opposed to his policy with nothing but tepid assurances about the future.
Complicating matters, if Senate Republicans and the White House struck a deal to amend the National Emergencies Act, those changes would still have to be approved by the Democratic-led House – and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who is not a party to this week’s negotiations, announced this morning that her chamber will not approve the Republicans’ solution.
“The House will not take up this legislation to give President Trump a pass,” Pelosi said in a written statement.
raven
@Anonymous At Work: Joliet is a nice joint, ask Jake. . .
LAO
@Adam L Silverman: and there’s another concern. The federal Bureau of Prisons will NOT credit time spent in state custody towards a federal sentence.
dr. bloor
@tokyokie: Sing Sing is too temperate for Paulie. He’s going to love Clinton in February.
cwmoss
@Adam L Silverman: I’m not an expert (although IAAL), but I think there are some fairly subtle double jeopardy issues where a federal pardon might preclude some state prosecutions. I expect we’ll see some commentary about this in the coming days from folks more knowledgeable than me.
trollhattan
@Adam L Silverman:
Such as holding him in Rikers after arraignment? The mind boggles.
Baud
@dr. bloor:
I didn’t know even she had a private dungeon next to her private server, but I like the idea of locking the whole Trump cartel up in it.
raven
@cwmoss: Yea, like Guliani,
SFAW
@Baud:
Sorry, but that’s on a par with “James Comey gets a chance to redeem himself.”
Well, except that Comey (probably) wasn’t bribed to help Shitgibbon. Wait … did I say “bribed”? I guess I should have said “looked the other way in exchange for getting a big campaign donation from Shitgibbon,” which is TOTALLY OK and on the up-and-up.
Anonymous At Work
@Adam L Silverman: Also, Manafort owes $6 million in restitution and the Feds have seized his assets, so he’ll have to pay it back by selling things at market-rate (not at vory-rates). If I were a vengeful Russian oligarch needing to prove I was ruthless, or be killed, I’d put out a contract on Manafort.
rikyrah
@Adam L Silverman:
Throw his azz right on in there.
dr. bloor
@Baud: Oy. Try the waitress, tip the veal…
Aaron
I was going to say that poetic justice is funny, but this is not poetic justice. It is actual justice. And also kinda poetic.
Also agreeing with Adam in comment 26: if he is pardoned, NYAG will argue he is a flight risk, has intimidated and tampered with witnesses and needs to be held ‘no bail’.
Also: ha ha!
/imagine gif of nelson muntz pointing here.
Baud
@SFAW: I hear you. But the immediate concern is getting him to prosecute now.
raven
@cwmoss: Supreme Court justices defend ‘double jeopardy’ exception that allows federal and state prosecutions
cwmoss
@Amir Khalid: At least it wasn’t kopi luwak
David Anderson
IANAL but the thing that leaped out at me was 8 counts of falsifying business records — now who else has been falsifying business records — why JUNIOR as Executive #2 to pay off Cohen for paying off Stormy. The hush money payments were being laundered as legal payments through the Trump Organization….
Amir Khalid
@cwmoss:
That’s from Indonesia, not here, and they export it all to the west for sale to gullible coffee snobs.
Anonymous At Work
@David Anderson: IAL (but not practicing). MY amateur take is that Mueller will seek Trump-family indictments before wrapping and that Jr., Jared, and Ivanka are on the chopping block. Eric and Tiff do not seem to be. Melania, ironically, might be with the NYAG over her company’s (companies’?) role in the inauguration.
After that, and a very brief window for any of them to roll on Donnie, Mueller will wrap.
But right now, I suspect Mueller is folding the lies and obstructions into the known evidence and process maps, preparing for a new round.
cwmoss
@raven: Right on, and thanks for the link!
KSinMA
@dr. bloor: Surely they have a few nice cells at Sing Sing reserved for people like Manafort?
cwmoss
@Amir Khalid: Ha! That must be why I even know about it, being up here in the PNW, ground zero for coffee snobbery!
MattF
@Anonymous At Work: I would expect Trump to pardon his spawn. Family first!
Wayne Marks
@raven: Nope. Not Attica. More likely Dannemora. Its much harder for Trump flunkies to get to. Plus, even if he broke out (nearly impossible) and made it to the Canadian border, everyone on the planet could recognize the schnook. He’s toast.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Amir Khalid:
A likely story, “Mr. Khalid”, if that even is your real name ; p
Mike in NC
So, a pretty good Wednesday so far. Warming up here; 74 on Thursday and 77 on Friday. It could only be more pleasant if more indictments drop. Chickens are coming home to roost for the Trump Crime Cabal.
kindness
How long before Trump claims he should be able to over-rule state courts now?
3 – 2 – 1 ….
Aaron
@Baud: I think that was a reference to Clinton Correctional Facility, not putting hillary in jail.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_Correctional_Facility
JPL
@Mike in NC: Germy (I think) already linked to an article where the chickens killed a fox, so the trump clan should be easy.
Adam L Silverman
@cwmoss: @raven:
ruemara
I want them to get the judge that gave my dumb kid brother several years for possession for his dumbass self allowing his friend to put an empty gun in his trunk. If he hadn’t had a clean record & parents with the resources to pony up a hefty bail, he wouldn’t have gotten the reduction to just probation. No crime committed, in fact, it came out because he had to call the cops for his worthless ex-gf’s ex threatening him, but, he also stupidly allowed them to search his car for no particular reason.
rikyrah
This is so cute ?
https://twitter.com/HillaryPix/status/1105657970463895553
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Adam L Silverman:
but bribing your way into collage is an entirely different matter…
Adam L Silverman
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Apparently.
Sean
@Mike in DC: nope – NY double jeopardy law only applies when Fed and State charges overlap. This is new.
terraformer
I’m no fan of Manafort, but I’d love, absolutely LOVE to see a post like this one, wherein “Paul Manafort” is replaced with “Donald J. Trump.” Now that would be a cause for celebration.
Kay
This should just be the start of the “crackdown on white collar crime”.
It would be popular! It’s not Left/Right either, within the Democratic Party. Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren agree!
Come on Democrats- this is a beautiful issue for you. It’s even better because the whole Trump Administration are criminals!
Donald Trump will be out there defending white collar criminals with his ancient, corrupt gargoyle-looking lawyers and liberals can be the law ‘n order sticklers.
WaterGirl
@ruemara: I’m sorry, rue. These things are maddening to all of us, but I imagine it’s rage-inducing for anyone who has had to live with inequities like this — on the side without the privilege. Hugs.
Immanentize
@LAO: LAO!!!
WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?
Missed you….
SFAW
@Baud:
I don’t disagree.
As I am with Comey, I’m appreciative when I see/hear him do something to try to mete out appropriate punishment for the Traitor-in-Chief, but redemption is not on the table.
If Vance had just made an “error in judgment” because he just had a brainfart, that’s one thing. But doing it to get some $$$ from Deadbeat Dickless Donnie — well, that’s somewhat different.
Kay
My favorite part of white collar crime sentencing is the plea for their families. Go to any county or city court and look at the families. They literally rip infants away from their mothers, to imprison the mother on a misdemeanor.
These people believe their families are better than your family. Literally worth more.
JPL
737 Max grounded
The 8 and 9 according to trump.
WaterGirl
@Kay: How much did he care about his wife when he was making her sleep with other men?
Or do I have the wrong piece of shit in Trump’s orbit? So hard to keep all the sordid details straight.
debit
@JPL: He sounded like he was reading a hostage statement.
AThornton
So what? He’s got enough money and contacts to walk.
He’ll get 6 months suspended and 30 hours of community service as a first time offender.
LAO
@Immanentize: thanks. Taking some time off from practicing and apparently, everything else too.
How are you doing?
rikyrah
Lawrence O’Donnell (@Lawrence) Tweeted:
The Ryan 2024 presidential campaign is underway. This is exactly what Nixon did in 1964 with Barry Goldwater. Nixon expected Goldwater to lose to LBJ (as did everyone) & Nixon wanted to position himself as the inheritor of Goldwater’s right wing base 4 years later. It worked. https://t.co/5ZNxqpCQ4E https://twitter.com/Lawrence/status/1105882343535980544?s=17
debit
@WaterGirl: No, you have the right piece of shit. He liked watching her get gang banged against her will.
WaterGirl
@debit: Thanks for the confirmation. I clearly understated the situation.
I wonder if his kids got to speak at his sentencing hearing. No love lost there, as I recall. Imagine finding out that your dad did that to your mom.
JPL
@debit: At this point he might be.
JPL
@rikyrah: It’s time to take him down now then. I’m still pissed that Obama called him a deep thinker or something like that.
SiubhanDuinne
.
Gin & Tonic
@JPL: Leading from behind.
debit
@WaterGirl: It’s even worse. She had a head injury from a horse back accident and suffered enough damage to make her ability to actually consent highly questionable. I hope he suffers and dies in prison.
Adam L Silverman
@Kay: @WaterGirl: @debit: I don’t think he really cares all that much about his wife. The behavior described below, which is sourced to his daughters’ text message conversations with each other, occurred after Manafort’s wife suffered her head injury and resulting neurological issues.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/women-who-stray/201807/the-politics-cuckolding
rikyrah
OK,
This was funny as phuck.
Leo’s ever-growing age-gap: Incredible graph shows that 44-year-old DiCaprio has still NEVER dated a woman over the age of 25
A groundbreaking graph shows that Leonardo DiCaprio hasn’t dated a woman over the age of 25
By DAILYMAIL.COM REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 17:16 EDT, 12 March 2019 | UPDATED: 06:22 EDT, 13 March 2019
Lenoardi DiCaprio has long been one of Hollywood’s most eligible and enviable bachelors.
But it seems he has a penchant for younger women, according to data analysis of his ex-girlfriends and former flames.
One Reddit user carefully studied DiCaprio, 44, and his long list of lovers and concluded that he refuses to date woman over the age of 25, barely more than half of the Oscar-winner’s age.
rikyrah
Well well well
CNN: An attorney who said he was speaking with President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani reassured Michael Cohen in an April 2018 email that Cohen could “sleep well tonight” because he had “friends in high places.” https://t.co/Fm3LsB9v5f via @GloriaBorger @jeremyherb
— Evan Rosenfeld (@Evan_Rosenfeld) March 13, 2019
Kay
@Adam L Silverman:
Gross. He shouldn’t be her “sole caretaker” then, either. If she’s somehow impaired he’ll exploit that.
They should hire a decent human being to take care of her.
MagdaInBlack
@Adam L Silverman:
Thank You
I was just getting ready to comment what a crock his “caregiver” story is .
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: That is funny! Unless you’re the one who was with him for years and then got dumped when you turned 25.
JPL
@Gin & Tonic: MABA
Mike in DC
@rikyrah: The flip side of 50 will be a little bit rough for him.
Martin
@Kay: See the admissions cheating news for further evidence.
Immanentize
@LAO: I’m OK. Down in Texas with the Immp for spring break. I wanted to hear what you were thinking on so many occasions. That said, taking a break is a really excellent thing.
Martin
@WaterGirl: Poor Gisele had to settle for marrying Tom Brady and having what appears to be a pretty wonderful family.
Immanentize
@rikyrah: DiCaprio is breaking the time honored French rule of “half plus seven.” Bad Leo!
Kdaug
They stood there laughing
They’re not laughing anymore
And the walls came down
https://youtu.be/NCOxG1chTes
rikyrah
Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) Tweeted:
This is a good piece from @jonathanchait. As he notes, Trump’s conservative populism has turned out to be fraudulent. Trump has not been able to implement it, and in many areas, he’s defaulted to Paul Ryan/GOP style plutocracy:
https://t.co/DcjwH0KiHo https://twitter.com/ThePlumLineGS/status/1105878196208234497?s=17
rikyrah
Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) Tweeted:
@jonathanchait In sum, Trumpist conservative populism is a fusion of Ryan/GOP plutocracy in some areas with genuine nativist/xenophobic/fake economic nationalism in other areas.
Critically, it has proven to be a catastrophe on *both* fronts. https://twitter.com/ThePlumLineGS/status/1105880533916139520?s=17
trollhattan
@MagdaInBlack:
Scaregiver.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@AThornton:
Can we please not do that?
WaterGirl
@Martin: Thanks for that. I had no idea who any of those women were.
Good for her. Living well is the best revenge.
West of the Rockies
In case it hasn’t been said yet about today’s legal proceedings for Sweet Paulie Pureheart… Whomp-whomp.
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
Slow news day.
Mike in DC
@Immanentize: Michael Douglas is 25 years older than his wife, and married her when he was 55 and she was 30. And THAT was considered ridiculous. Leo is going to be a walking punchine on late night shows and award shows if he keeps this up.
patrick II
Did jeopardy attack when 10 of the charges against manafort resulted in a hung jury? If not, may he be tried for those in New York state when the crimes were committed in york?
J R in WV
@LAO:
Good to see you back, hope you’re doing well. Taking a break is usually a good thing.
Mandalay
@Kay:
The problem is that those in charge of the problem don’t see a problem, or if they do, they have a vested interest in not addressing it.
It’s like asking members of Congress to stop taking needless and absurd “fact finding missions” overseas that are obviously junkets. Cracking down on that would be popular with the public as well, but I’m not holding my breath for Congress to address it, or white collar crime.
PJ
@Mike in DC: @Immanentize: @Martin: @rikyrah: You might want to take what you read about celebrities with a large grain of salt, particularly when it’s coming from the celebrities or their publicists or the journalists and paparazzi that depend on them for their livings.
Adam L Silverman
@Martin: Trump still wants Brady to marry Ivanka.
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-jokes-jared-kushner-size-compared-to-tom-brady-2019-3
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: Given that Ryan’s agenda is corporatism, which is a type of fascism, and the President’s is the most extreme form of fascism, racialized fascism, this is not surprising.
Aleta
One ruling that relates to the Judge’s sentencing below the guidelines (not the only thing)
Andrew Prokop @awprokop
More here.
JerryRich
@rikyrah:
Who cares about this, and why?
Tim C.
@trollhattan: One of the interesting geographic features of the Republican party is that while it’s voters might mostly be rural bumpkin bigots, it’s elites seem to be from places those bumpkins hate….
Brachiator
@Mike in DC:
I rather liked this comment about another celebrity pairing.
ETA: Got moderated. Trying the revised standard version of comments.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@JerryRich: I care because it lightens my mood to be petty sometimes and because rikrah shared it.
chopper
trump always has an option of commuting his sentence to time served, which would keep the conviction and end any possible double jeopardy issues. and keep manafort’s 5th amendment rights as well.
of course, the NY DA brought up mortgage fraud related charges which avoid that.
Aleta
@Immanentize: When I saw him in This Boy’s Life w/ Ellen Barkin (her teen son) I thought wow, what incredible talent. I liked him the best then, and expected more, though he’s still good.
Barbara
Just a little update on Brexit . . .
I wish I could say that I fully understand what is going on but it sounds kind of crazy. Because, whether they say it or not, if there is no deal and March 29 rolls around without further action the UK will leave and there will be no deal.
R-Jud
@Barbara: Here’s how I see it:
Tonight the HoC was to vote on a motion proposed by Theresa May’s people ruling out a no-deal Brexit under certain specified circumstances. A few amendments were tabled. One is called the Spelman Amendment. The HoC already approved the Spelman Amendment in January as part of the Withdrawal Agreement. Spelman basically says that the UK cannot leave the EU without an agreement in place.
The Withdrawal Agreement went down in flames, twice. So ahead of today’s vote, the Spelman Amendment was proposed again as part of this new no-deal Brexit prevention bill.
The HoC voted to approve Spelman. They also just voted to approve the no-deal Brexit motion. So I *think* this means the HoC has just said if there’s no withdrawal agreement in place, we don’t Brexit. This will infuriate various factions within the Tory party for various reasons. It is also probably not binding in law, as it’s a motion, not a bill.
May is on my TV now talking about another vote tomorrow on an Article 50 extension. That has to be agreed to by the rest of the EU, which isn’t guaranteed.
What tonight’s vote means in principle is that Parliament agrees we cannot crash out in a fortnight. What this means in actual practice, I have no idea. Time to drink some (French) wine.
rikyrah
@Immanentize:
Hope that you and Little Imma are having a great trip :)
WaterGirl
@Adam L Silverman: Sadly, if Trump wants Ivanka to marry Brady, I suspect that means that Trump sees himself in Brady. “If I can’t have her anymore, then the newer me can.”
rikyrah
@Mike in DC:
Even then, Douglas had a long first marriage. Leo’s never been married.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: I laugh (in a good way) every time I see you call him that. If we fast forward 10 years or so, are you still going to be calling the Immp “Little Imma” when he’s nearly 30? :-)
rikyrah
@Barbara:
I find the entire situation CRAZY AS HELL.
rikyrah
@WaterGirl:
Probably :)
Miss Bianca
@rikyrah: thank you, I really needed that right now.
Miss Bianca
@Kay: And given that Manafort’s idea of “caregiving” to his wife seems to include forcing her to have sex with strangers for his delectation, I hope the judge was *super* unimpressed by that particular argument.
@WaterGirl: Jinx!
Ruckus
@dr. bloor:
Once met a man who had served 30 yrs in a NYS prison. He didn’t seem at all willing to get in any way, out of any possible line. It was obvious that those 30 yrs had taken a lot/most of the life out of him
Gin & Tonic
@R-Jud:
Isn’t Farage busy trying to ratfuck that?
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl: Oh gross! It’s even more disgusting when it’s written out! ?
Barbara
@WaterGirl: You know, Gisele might have something to say about all of this!
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato: Sorry about that. (I notice that you didn’t say you thought I was wrong.)
Brachiator
@R-Jud:
Thanks for the summary.
It amazes me that there is this flurry of confusing actions as they get closer to the deadline.
WaterGirl
@Barbara: You do make a good point!
Steeplejack
@Amir Khalid:
Well played.
zhena gogolia
@Barbara:
Yeah, like he’d go for Ivanka if he could have Gisele.
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl:
How could you be when he said he had sex in common with his daughter? Oh god! ?
Brachiator
@Ruckus:
I once noticed the same defeat in a man who had been married for 30 years.
It’s a joke…
Ruckus
@Brachiator:
Not as much of a joke as you may have intended. Granddad was pretty old fashioned in his relationship concepts and he was born in 1890. Bet he went his entire life thinking grandma bought his BS. But she didn’t buy it for a minute, she just let him think that.
Procopius
@Anonymous At Work: Judge Jackson, in addition to the jail time, also imposed a restitution order, I think for $24 million. On top of that, the Special Counsel has just imposed (I didn’t know he had the authority to do that) a restitution order for another $34 million. I think Mr. Manafort is going to have a hard life even if he survives prison. His daughters no longer have to worry about “blood money” supporting their comfortable life styles.
Procopius
@Kay: I agree with you, but the Republicans (with plenty of support from Democrats) have gutted the IRS to the point where they don’t have the resources any more to prosecute tax evasion, and the Justice Department has never replaced the investigators and prosecutors they diverted to “anti-terrorist” activities in 2002. Also, unless Bernie wins the Presidency (which I don’t think the Centrists will allow), I don’t see any Democrat, especially Harris the Cop, rebuilding the machinery to threaten their biggest donors.