# 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:** 223
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4442 "2018-05-05T00:52:29Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > Nonsense, and we need to get over this. Everybody gets things wrong sometimes, especially fairly subtle distinctions like tapping vs. monitoring. Correcting the story when they find out they were wrong reflects _well_ on NBC news, and is what sets it apart from the likes of Fox, and for that matter the GOP. I saw a woman on Fox today talking about what a terrible, awful thing NBC did and she stated “Fox never gets something wrong and has to take it back.” And she is absolutely right. They never have to take it back. ---
**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:** [May 5, 2018, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4443 "2018-05-05T01:10:44Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Are you under the delusion that Kim Jong Un will give up his nuclear weapons? Some very bad shit is going to hit the fan in the Koreas, probably before the end of the year. Plus,\*\* Trump is going to get very little done with a Democratic House.\*\* True, but oppositions typically work for a president pretty well. If the Democrats win with a slight majority and then decide to impeach the president, it could completely backfire. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4444 "2018-05-05T01:12:41Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Not only do I know, I just looked up the dictionary definition to confirm, and then asked Jeeves. > > Implicit in your comment that NBC News (or perhaps the libtard lamestream news media in general; you weren’t specific) tends to get stories wrong “in one direction” is there is some underlying bias that drives these “mistakes.” I thought perhaps you might offer some other examples to support your claim, but now realize my folly in **stepping into the morass of an actual conversation with you.** It won’t happen again. > [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > Good idea. Stick to jokes. _WHAT did he JUST SAY??_ Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4445 "2018-05-05T02:25:45Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > His poll numbers are increasing. He’s got a rocking economy and he’s on the cusp of a once seemingly impossible peace in North Korea. A 43% approval rating or not, he’s getting pretty close to being teflon Don. His trade war with China is going to be bloody (on both sides). There is plenty to criticize China for on the trade front, but a trade war is not the right tool to use. American farmers are going to get reamed, Boeing, Microsoft and WalMart shoppers. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4446 "2018-05-05T02:45:30Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Bullshit. There’s a reason we frown on nepotism, so that staff rise and fall on their own merits. If Ivanka did something wrong, she shouldn’t be treated differently than anyone else just because her daddy wants to date her. The Base all salivate over Ivanka as much as Dad does, and are under the impression that he will eventually send her out into Deplorable-land to have sex with all of them. Most of them have Google-imaged her. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4447 "2018-05-05T02:52:17Z")
…and her modeling shots look a LOT like the calendars on the walls of the local garage. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4448 "2018-05-05T03:13:49Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > The Base all salivate over Ivanka as much as Dad does, and are under the impression that he will eventually send her out into Deplorable-land to have sex with all of them. Most of them have Google-imaged her. :smack: And here I was always thinking that they supported him with the expectation that he’d give them some of his money… ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4449 "2018-05-05T03:24:12Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > :smack: And here I was always thinking that they supported him with the expectation that he’d give them some of his money… Haven’t you heard? He’s not really rich. In NYC, he’s just doing fairly well. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4450 "2018-05-05T11:53:09Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > The Base all salivate over Ivanka as much as Dad does, and are under the impression that he will eventually send her out into Deplorable-land to have sex with all of them. Most of them have Google-imaged her. Well, this would certainly guarantee his re-election in 2020. Don’t think the Dems can beat that (as it were). ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4451 "2018-05-05T15:17:28Z")
It sounds like the judge in the Manafort case had harsh words for the prosecution yesterday, and Fox News is orgasmic about it. What exactly transpired? ---
**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:** [May 5, 2018, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4452 "2018-05-05T15:36:28Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Are you under the delusion that Kim Jong Un will give up his nuclear weapons? Some very bad shit is going to hit the fan in the Koreas, probably before the end of the year. Plus, Trump is going to get very little done with a Democratic House. No, I don’t think he’ll ultimately give up his weapons, but he might agree to at least consider it over the long term, with a more meaningful concession in the interim, and Trump just might accept a short-term truce as part of a longer and broader framework because he would probably feel compelled to claim a victory that makes him more presidential and his party more competent on the world stage heading into mid-terms. This might also be Kim’s thought process and it would be pretty shrewd if it were. Kim might actually want to help Trump at this early stage in the process because he realizes he’s got a rare opportunity to meet with an American president who’s willing to sit down and speak with him over the objections of decades-old experts in the national security and diplomatic corps. He also has a rare opportunity to take advantage of an American president’s abject ignorance. It’s not clear exactly what is going to happen in the Koreas immediately. Things were dicey a few months ago but Kim’s playing a diplomatic game now, which means that whatever disaster happens won’t happen just yet. John Bolton scares the piss out of me - he has absolutely no compunctions about having another major war, and worse, he has scores to settle with his critics about the first mess he helped create in Iraq. But it’s not yet clear whether Kim is going to try and play Trump for a fool from the first meeting, or if he’ll make him wait a while before realizing he’s getting suckered. Trump seems to be kind of his own Sec of State and National Security Advisor to some degree, but there’s the danger that Trump gets played like a fiddle, wakes up with a bad hangover, and wants a piece of Kim’s fat ass - and that’s when he could fly off the handle. ---
**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:** [May 5, 2018, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4453 "2018-05-05T15:42:43Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > His trade war with China is going to be bloody (on both sides). > > There is plenty to criticize China for on the trade front, but a trade war is not the right tool to use. American farmers are going to get reamed, Boeing, Microsoft and WalMart shoppers. I doubt that there’s going to be a full-on trade war; rather, he will probably continue to play a game of economic chicken and walk away with one or two relatively minor concessions from Beijing before beating up on another target, like Mexico. That said, I would agree that the economic uncertainty his behavior and rhetoric creates could potentially backfire. He has inherited an economic situation that most presidents would dream of - he would be wise not to do anything that could be perceived as screwing it up. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4454 "2018-05-05T19:35:57Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > All I was saying was that it’s a black-and-white factual matter where the evidence is likely to be pretty clear, and when it becomes apparent that it was one and not the other then NBC would be compelled to retract. But there are many other cases where the issues are more complex and the evidence more ambiguous, and even if it becomes apparent that the sources for the original story are a lot shakier than originally assumed, it’s far easier for the media entity to dig in and stand behind the story. @ **Mr. Phipps** — One reason nuance and subtleties may be hard to discuss in this forum is the worry that we’re not all inhabiting the same reality. One poster thinks he’s discussing conditions on Earth but that another’s observations come from Uranus. Therefore please give us a glimpse of your reality by answering this question: _Compare the journalistic integrity of NBC and FoxNews._ If you feel incompetent to do this because you never watch Fox, then your homework assignment is clear. There are threads right here at SDMB discussing Fox. Report back _after_ you’ve attended to this. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4455 "2018-05-05T21:51:18Z")
No sir! I won’t have it! Send that pristine and unsullied mind to be dipped in blazing bullshit? Have a care! ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4456 "2018-05-06T15:11:40Z")
A NYTimes profile of Michael Cohen and his business dealings since he was young. His Uncle Morty was a fixer for the Mafia, who also participated in shady real estate deals. Then Cohen married into a Ukranian criminal family which is how he got into Taxi medallions. Man, just slimy to the bone: [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/05/business/michael-cohen-lawyer-trump.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/05/business/michael-cohen-lawyer-trump.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news) ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4457 "2018-05-06T15:59:04Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > A NYTimes profile of Michael Cohen and his business dealings since he was young. His Uncle Morty was a fixer for the Mafia, who also participated in shady real estate deals. Then Cohen married into a Ukranian criminal family which is how he got into Taxi medallions. > > Man, just slimy to the bone: [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/05/business/michael-cohen-lawyer-trump.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/05/business/michael-cohen-lawyer-trump.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news) Like Trump, he has always thought that’s just business. They may not know what crooks they are. No excuse. ---
**Author:** ![computergeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@computergeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/computergeek)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4458 "2018-05-06T17:02:58Z")
> **[As the ‘King of Debt,’ Trump borrowed to build his empire. Then he began...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/as-the-king-of-debt-trump-borrowed-to-build-his-empire-then-he-began-spending-hundreds-of-millions-in-cash/2018/05/05/28fe54b4-44c4-11e8-8569-26fda6b404c7_story.html?utm_term=.bfccff922d15)** > > The reversal in strategy is unusual for the real estate industry. The Washington Post’s above article from yesterday talks about Trump in the past being the “King of Debt”, but at some point, the business started paying all cash for deals. They seem to be suggesting “money laundering” without coming out and saying it ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4459 "2018-05-07T02:49:49Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > See post #4420. It wasn’t about this one story, it’s about a tendency. And that tendency is exactly what my post attempted to explain as basically inherent in the nature of news reporting in general. Did you not get that? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4460 "2018-05-07T05:28:54Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > It sounds like the judge in the Manafort case had harsh words for the prosecution yesterday, and Fox News is orgasmic about it. What exactly transpired? The judge asked why Manafort was being prosecuted as part of the Russia investigation, and not spun off to a different prosecutor/court like the Cohen affair. From what I read the prosecutor replied that there was a connection - which is interesting. ---
**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:** [May 7, 2018, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/4461 "2018-05-07T10:37:28Z")
> [@computergeek](#): > > [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/as-the-king-of-debt-trump-borrowed-to-build-his-empire-then-he-began-spending-hundreds-of-millions-in-cash/2018/05/05/28fe54b4-44c4-11e8-8569-26fda6b404c7\_story.html?utm\_term=.bfccff922d15](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/as-the-king-of-debt-trump-borrowed-to-build-his-empire-then-he-began-spending-hundreds-of-millions-in-cash/2018/05/05/28fe54b4-44c4-11e8-8569-26fda6b404c7_story.html?utm_term=.bfccff922d15) > > The Washington Post’s above article from yesterday talks about Trump in the past being the “King of Debt”, but at some point, the business started paying all cash for deals. They seem to be suggesting “money laundering” without coming out and saying it One has to wonder how those larger purchases were transacted - which accounts the money came out of and so forth. I’ve long suspected that the real fear that Trump has is Mueller finding out that he’s a fake billionaire. But I’m curious: if Russian oligarchs and Putin did, in fact, decide to invest in Trump, the political movement, when was that decision made? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093.md?page=222) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093.md?page=224)