# A Thread for the Mueller Investigation Results and Outcomes (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 28, 2017, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093 "2017-10-28T20:14:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 203
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4042 "2018-04-18T18:20:15Z")
[Apparently Hannity has links to two other Trump attorneys who have been frequent guests on his show.](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/18/603471930/besides-cohen-other-trump-connected-attorneys-linked-to-sean-hannity) Sorry if this is in the wrong thread. I can’t keep track of where Hannity stuff is supposed to go anymore. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4043 "2018-04-18T19:48:36Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > In other news, FUCK Mitch McConnell. In a just world, that complicit jellybag would be ziplined into a blast furnace with a meat hook through his wattle. I like that. Make it so, Number One. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4044 "2018-04-18T19:51:41Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > The Hannity scandal only fuels my suspicion that the marriage between the American right wing and Putin’s Russia is much wider and more complex than we have imagined. We’re viewing collusion as if it were an uneasy, temporary alliance between Putin and Trump’s campaign. I’m afraid it’s probably a lot more than that, and that much of the Republican party have been involved with Putin’s Russia for some time. The NRA and other right wing political organizations have clearly been infiltrated and influenced by Russian interests to no small degree. > > But clearly, the Senate and House Republicans want to see this investigation die. The GOP is now Trump’s party and nobody dares to do anything other than make weak statements predicting political turmoil if Trump fires Mueller. It’s going to happen, though: Trump is going to fire Rosenstein and/or Sessions, and then he will move on Mueller, most likely claiming that the FBI’s involvement with Cohen is proof that Mueller’s investigation has become personal and political and unfair and gone well beyond investigations into collusion. I have to wonder, how many Repub Senators and “Representatives” and other “patriots” are secretly on Putin’s payroll. Seriously. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4045 "2018-04-18T19:59:34Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > I have to wonder, how many Repub Senators and “Representatives” and other “patriots” are secretly on Putin’s payroll. Seriously. Payroll directly? Not that many, I would guess. Receive financing supporting their businesses or home life from russian financial institutions, probably more than we like to think. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4046 "2018-04-18T20:00:11Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > I have to wonder, how many Repub Senators and “Representatives” and other “patriots” are secretly on Putin’s payroll. Seriously. With [the NRA-Russia connection](https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/16/nra-russia-election-donations-fec-investigation-468661)… this could be a question even Sarah Palin can answer (“All of them!”). ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4047 "2018-04-18T20:22:55Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Payroll directly? Not that many, I would guess. Even his Republican colleagues think Dana Rohrabacher is getting paid by Putin. > **[House majority leader to colleagues in 2016: ‘I think Putin pays’ Trump](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/house-majority-leader-to-colleagues-in-2016-i-think-putin-pays-trump/2017/05/17/515f6f8a-3aff-11e7-8854-21f359183e8c_story.html)** > > Speaker Ryan responded: ‘What’s said in the family stays in the family.’ GOP leaders now cast the exchange as ‘an attempt at humor.’ ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4048 "2018-04-18T20:24:39Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > In other news, FUCK Mitch McConnell. In a just world, that complicit jellybag would be ziplined into a blast furnace with a meat hook through his wattle. This post and the several posts responding to it brought to mind a discussion in a thread a few years ago. My position in that thread was that posters routinely wished horrible fates and tortures on politicians and celebrities that they found odious, in a semi-humorous and hyperbolic manner with little negative reaction. Many other posters - who maintained they strongly objected to this on moral grounds - vehemently denied that this was the case, and demanded cites etc. At the time, I didn’t have any, but this would seem to fit the bill. (Discussion starts [here](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=18555792#post18555792).) ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4049 "2018-04-18T20:51:08Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > This post and the several posts responding to it brought to mind a discussion in a thread a few years ago. My position in that thread was that posters routinely wished horrible fates and tortures on politicians and celebrities that they found odious, in a semi-humorous and hyperbolic manner with little negative reaction. Many other posters - who maintained they strongly objected to this on moral grounds - vehemently denied that this was the case, and demanded cites etc. At the time, I didn’t have any, but this would seem to fit the bill. (Discussion starts [here](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=18555792#post18555792).) Is your question how multiple people can have multiple opinions, or is it a more basic, what is hoo-man, style inquiry? ---
**Author:** ![Sinaptics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Sinaptics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinaptics)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4050 "2018-04-18T20:56:19Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > This post and the several posts responding to it brought to mind a discussion in a thread a few years ago. My position in that thread was that posters routinely wished horrible fates and tortures on politicians and celebrities that they found odious, in a semi-humorous and hyperbolic manner with little negative reaction. Many other posters - who maintained they strongly objected to this on moral grounds - vehemently denied that this was the case, and demanded cites etc. At the time, I didn’t have any, but this would seem to fit the bill. (Discussion starts [here](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=18555792#post18555792).) I’m pretty progressive and that visual gave me pause and also made me wonder how that doesn’t break the rule against wishing harm/death on people. For the record, I don’t think either party has a majority share on people who wish harm on their political counterparts. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4051 "2018-04-18T20:58:04Z")
> [@Sinaptics](#): > > I’m pretty progressive and that visual gave me pause and also made me wonder how that doesn’t break the rule against wishing harm/death on people. Because there is no such rule (it’s directed at other _posters_.) ---
**Author:** ![Sinaptics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Sinaptics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinaptics)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4052 "2018-04-18T21:03:34Z")
> [@andros](#): > > Because there is no such rule (it’s directed at other _posters_.) Ah, well that explains that. I think McConnell is a disgusting excuse for a human being. OG only knows where that man’s ethical line is at, but skewering him through the head and tossing him into a fire is a little violent and generally not pleasant imagery. I’d much rather he be stripped of possessions and forced to live off welfare. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4053 "2018-04-18T21:09:19Z")
> [@andros](#): > > Because there is no such rule (it’s directed at other _posters_.) In advertising, there is a term called “puffery”. It means that you can lie, as long as no reasonable person would believe you. It’s why Jimmy Johns has delivery commercials where they are getting to your door before you are off the phone. That’s unreasonable. If they said “5 minutes”, well, that’s fast, but that’s not unreasonable, and would be false advertising. Wishing someone to be raped to death, or raped at all, as it was in the thread that F’in-P linked to, is not puffery. That’s something that actually happens to people in real life, probably happening to many people right this very instant. Attaching a complicit jelly bag to a meat hook using the waddle, and ziplining it into a blast furnace is something that is pretty damn rare, if a thing at all. It is not a real threat, not one to be take seriously, in the same way that rape, or being murdered by your rapist, is. This has been another episode of: “Do I really have to fucking explain this?” ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4054 "2018-04-18T21:19:16Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > In advertising, there is a term called “puffery”. It means that you can lie, as long as no reasonable person would believe you. > > It’s why Jimmy Johns has delivery commercials where they are getting to your door before you are off the phone. That’s unreasonable. If they said “5 minutes”, well, that’s fast, but that’s not unreasonable, and would be false advertising. > > Wishing someone to be raped to death, or raped at all, as it was in the thread that F’in-P linked to, is not puffery. That’s something that actually happens to people in real life, probably happening to many people right this very instant. > > Attaching a complicit jelly bag to a meat hook using the waddle, and ziplining it into a blast furnace is something that is pretty damn rare, if a thing at all. It is not a real threat, not one to be take seriously, in the same way that rape, or being murdered by your rapist, is. > > This has been another episode of: “Do I really have to fucking explain this?” I don’t disagree. If you were to direct even such an obviously OTT comment toward another Doper, however, you would be modded within an inch of your posting privileges. . ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4055 "2018-04-18T21:23:37Z")
> [@andros](#): > > I don’t disagree. > > If you were to direct even such an obviously OTT comment toward another Doper, however, you would be modded within an inch of your posting privileges. > . Or several feet past. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4056 "2018-04-18T21:28:21Z")
McConnell just said he’s not going to introduce bills to protect Mueller. > **[Opinion | Mitch McConnell is inviting a constitutional crisis](https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2018/04/18/mitch-mcconnell-is-inviting-a-constitutional-crisis/?utm_term=.13d73b14cb1b)** > > The Senate's Republican leadership is rolling the dice. Well gee, I wonder how Trump will interpret this news. Looks to me like the chances of Trump firing Mueller just went up to about 98% ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4057 "2018-04-18T21:45:51Z")
[This](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-new-york-pardons/new-york-attorney-general-wants-power-to-bypass-trump-pardons-idUSKBN1HP31C) is interesting. > [@](#): > > NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York’s attorney general on Wednesday asked Governor Andrew Cuomo and state legislators to give him and other local prosecutors power to bring criminal charges against people pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump. I hope he is successful. The presidential pardon power was never intended to be used as a bribe. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4058 "2018-04-18T21:46:03Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > McConnell just said he’s not going to introduce bills to protect Mueller. > … What this thread needs is for someone to say something cartoonishly over the top and descriptively violent and twisted about that traitor fucking bastard! ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4059 "2018-04-18T22:00:54Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > What this thread needs is for someone to say something cartoonishly over the top and descriptively violent and twisted about that traitor fucking bastard! [I hope he drives with his arm out the window.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=20910627) ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4060 "2018-04-18T22:09:00Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Bizzare: > WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh received copies of an email sent by the Commander of the Major Crimes divison of the Pittsburgh PD, sent earlier today, asking the force to be ready for protests on Thursday following the firing of Mueller: > [x.com](https://twitter.com/MCipriani_WTAE/status/986631272515751937?s=19) That’s concerning. But I’d be more concerned if it were credibly reported that law enforcement around the nation was warned to be on high alert during the Barbara Bush funeral services. The Obamas, the Clintons, and Melania are to attend. Neither Donald nor Ivanka is expected to attend. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2018, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4061 "2018-04-18T23:10:27Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > [I hope he drives with his arm out the window.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=20910627) Well played sir. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093.md?page=202) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093.md?page=204)