# 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:** 346
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6903 "2018-08-28T23:17:56Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > The jokes just write themselves… and no one followed the mob jargon of “flipping” and “rats” with “Trump’s Pecker singing to Feds”. ---
**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:** [August 29, 2018, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6904 "2018-08-29T00:13:21Z")
Trump Learns Pecker Unreliable, Goes Soft and Flips. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2018, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6905 "2018-08-29T00:23:55Z")
Leaking Pecker irritates Trump Pecker retains evidence of porn star encounter ---
**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:** [August 29, 2018, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6906 "2018-08-29T00:49:05Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Leaking Pecker irritates Trump > > Pecker retains evidence of porn star encounter Ok, those are both great. 😃 So does anyone think Trump will fire Sessions and/or pardon Manafort before the mid-terms? After? Any effect on the Mueller probe (besides more obstruction charges)? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2018, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6907 "2018-08-29T14:08:37Z")
I think MSNBC nailed it best with their crawl “TRUMP WORRIED ABOUT PECKER LEAKING”. ---
**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:** [August 29, 2018, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6908 "2018-08-29T16:04:24Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > I think MSNBC nailed it best with their crawl “TRUMP WORRIED ABOUT PECKER LEAKING”. They have products for that. You can order them from amazon–very discreet. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2018, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6909 "2018-08-29T16:10:24Z")
White House Counsel Don McGahn is [fired](https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/29/politics/don-mcgahn-brett-kavanaugh-donald-trump-tweet/index.html). Not surprising, given that he seems to have basically set up his own exit in the media last week. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2018, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6910 "2018-08-29T16:15:20Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > White House Counsel Don McGahn is [fired](https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/29/politics/don-mcgahn-brett-kavanaugh-donald-trump-tweet/index.html). Not surprising, given that he seems to have basically set up his own exit in the media last week. That story doesn’t say he was fired, it says he will be leaving sometime in the autumn. ---
**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:** [August 29, 2018, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6911 "2018-08-29T16:42:59Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > [The Judges of the Federal District Court Acted to Appoint Geoffrey Berman as US Attorney for SDNY](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/25/nyregion/geoffrey-berman-us-attorney-manhattan.html) (New York Times). > > The reason this matters is because Berman was one of Trump’s hand-picked, privately interviewed US attorney nominees then appointed by AG Jeff Sessions. But Berman recused himself from having any involvement with the Michael Cohen case. Before Trump had a chance to appoint a different interim US attorney prior to the 120-day expiration date – one that may have meddled more in the Cohen investigation – the judges acted to put the recused Berman in place unless/until Trump can get a new nominee confirmed by the Senate. > > I am not particularly a Berman fan, but during this critical period, the SDNY case against Cohen is safer for the action of the judges. And I doubt Berman will serve much past 2020 in any event. Berman is the guy who commanded the no-knock warrant against Michael Cohen, top soldier in the Trump crime family, right? Can someone explain why Trump appointed this guy? Didn’t he have some chauffeur or sycophant he could have appointed instead? Is it that this billionaire, smartest and best-connected stable genius in the galaxy, just had no lawyer friends he could trust? Or was he just too stupid to realize that if you’re a top Manhattan criminal and given the chance to appoint a top Manhattan crime-fighter, you should jump at the chance? ---
**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:** [August 31, 2018, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6912 "2018-08-31T05:44:56Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > I’d say the majority of Trumpists are irredeemable, but Trumpists were never a majority to begin with. I’m not suffering from delusions; I know that the most committed Trump voters will never abandon him, but it’s entirely possible that enough do abandon him to make a political difference. Just dampening their enthusiasm can do damage at the ballot box. > > Obviously there’s a long way to go yet. I’m still the same old pessimistic asahi that I’ve always been, but I don’t think yesterday’s events were insignificant. Rickjay, you were right - as usual. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2018, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6913 "2018-08-31T11:57:02Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > That story doesn’t say he was fired, it says he will be leaving sometime in the autumn. That was the official WH line, then President PeePee’s tiny little fingers typed this and posted it to Twitter > “The Rigged Russia Witch Hunt did not come into play, even a little bit, with respect to my decision on Don McGahn”. Thus exposing the lie that McGahn decided to leave on his own. ---
**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:** [August 31, 2018, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6914 "2018-08-31T12:11:32Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > That was the official WH line, then President PeePee’s tiny little fingers typed this and posted it to Twitter > > [https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1035154621357064192](https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1035154621357064192) > > “The Rigged Russia Witch Hunt did not come into play, even a little bit, with respect to my decision on Don McGahn”. > > Thus exposing the lie that McGahn decided to leave on his own. This kind of thing is why Mueller needs to subpoena thump: he cannot keep his yap shut. If he knows something (or thinks he knows it), he will just urp it out without a second thought. He probably sees that as \*winning \*a discussion. If Mueller started to question him, he would not be able to keep from spilling all the beans just to prove that he knows more shit than anyone else. I think in some backward Bizarro world, he would see this as _beating Mueller at his own game_, or some twisted variation of that. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2018, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6915 "2018-08-31T12:14:25Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > That was the official WH line, then President PeePee’s tiny little fingers typed this and posted it to Twitter > > [https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1035154621357064192](https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1035154621357064192) > > “The Rigged Russia Witch Hunt did not come into play, even a little bit, with respect to my decision on Don McGahn”. > > Thus exposing the lie that McGahn decided to leave on his own. I’m surprised he didn’t fire Hope Hicks via tweet when she announced that she was leaving months ago. “You can’t quit, you’re fired!” ---
**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:** [August 31, 2018, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6916 "2018-08-31T13:14:34Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > That was the official WH line, then President PeePee’s tiny little fingers typed this and posted it to Twitter > > [https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1035154621357064192](https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1035154621357064192) > > “The Rigged Russia Witch Hunt did not come into play, even a little bit, with respect to my decision on Don McGahn”. > > Thus exposing the lie that McGahn decided to leave on his own. That’s indeterminate. It’s very possible that Trump was lying in his tweet. That would be my guess. There had been stories in the media about how McGahn was thinking of leaving after the Kavanagh vote. And it’s unusual for someone being fired to be notified of this months in advance. Trump likes to be seen as a guy in charge of things and who fires people, not as someone who people quit on. It would make sense if he would try to portray it that way even if it wasn’t true. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2018, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6917 "2018-08-31T13:39:45Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > That’s indeterminate. It’s very possible that Trump was lying in his tweet. That would be my guess. > > There had been stories in the media about how McGahn was thinking of leaving after the Kavanagh vote. And it’s unusual for someone being fired to be notified of this months in advance. > > Trump likes to be seen as a guy in charge of things and who fires people, not as someone who people quit on. It would make sense if he would try to portray it that way even if it wasn’t true. You can certainly decide to not believe the [NY Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/29/us/politics/don-mcgahn-white-house-counsel-trump.html), but there are other reports with the same story. > [@New York Times](#): > > President Trump surprised Donald F. McGahn II, the White House counsel, on Wednesday by abruptly announcing that Mr. McGahn will be leaving his job this fall, effectively forcing the long-anticipated exit of a top adviser who has cooperated extensively in the investigation into Russian election interference. He may have been planning on leaving any way and Trump just forced the timeline, but it is still a heck of a way to run a railroad. Similar to firing Comey and Comey finding out by watching the news. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2018, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6918 "2018-08-31T14:08:24Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > That’s indeterminate. It’s very possible that Trump was lying in his tweet. That would be my guess. “The “president” tweeted: Is it something we can believe or not? The fucker lies so much, you can never tell.” His deplorables lap this shit up. ---
**Author:** ![Ambrosio\_Spinola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de0a6/32.png) [@Ambrosio\_Spinola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambrosio_Spinola)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2018, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6919 "2018-08-31T15:00:46Z")
Guilty plea expected this morning from [W. Samuel Patten](https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/31/politics/w-samuel-patten-plea-russia-ukraine/index.html), an associate of Paul Manafort’s who was apparently acting as an unregistered foreign agent for Ukraine. The matter is currently being handled by the US Attorney’s office out of DC but the charges were originally referred by Mueller’s team. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2018, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6920 "2018-08-31T16:13:26Z")
Tons of info in [this AP story on Bruce Ohr](https://apnews.com/4ac772445073491aa7d3ca9e558e0144/AP-sources:-Lawyer-was-told-Russia-had-'Trump-over-a-barrel'), including repeated clarification of the timeline of when the FBI got involved and why: [AP sources: Lawyer was told Russia had ‘Trump over a barrel’](https://apnews.com/4ac772445073491aa7d3ca9e558e0144/AP-sources:-Lawyer-was-told-Russia-had-'Trump-over-a-barrel'). > [@](#): > > Trump and some of his supporters in Congress have also accused the FBI of launching the entire Russia counterintelligence investigation based on the dossier. But memos authored by Republicans and Democrats and declassified this year show the probe was triggered by information the U.S. government received earlier about the Russian contacts of then-Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, George Papadopoulos. > > The FBI’s investigation was already under way by the time it received Steele’s dossier, and Ohr was not the original source of information from it. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2018, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6921 "2018-08-31T16:45:40Z")
It never ceases to amaze me how much the Republican response to the investigation depends on discrediting the Steele dossier…it’s such a slender, shaky reed. In a rational universe people would realize that such potentially explosive information needs to be investigated regardless of who paid for the research. ---
**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:** [August 31, 2018, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6922 "2018-08-31T17:52:38Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > It never ceases to amaze me how much the Republican response to the investigation depends on discrediting the Steele dossier…it’s such a slender, shaky reed. In a rational universe people would realize that such potentially explosive information needs to be investigated regardless of who paid for the research. But, but, the Deep State made all that stuff up. At least that’s what my sister-in-law thinks. Just like they made up thousands of documents to frame Manafort and millions of documents to frame Cohen. What I don’t get is that if they are that good, why Trump is president? And she has no answer for that. Witch hunt! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093.md?page=345) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093.md?page=347)