A Thread for the Mueller Investigation Results and Outcomes (Part 1)

[iiandyiiii]

@VinylTurnip

I just read some comments on a Fox News article, and I hate to tell you this, but we’ve got it all wrong.

This is still a nothingburger and has nothing to do with Trump. Mueller, a Democrat shill, is grasping at straws, and not only should be fired but brought up on charges himself. There’s nothing wrong or illegal about contacting a foreign government to try to get dirt on your opponent. Hillary did the same thing, and she should be indicted for it. This is all just a ploy to divert attention from the real scandal, which is Hillary personally selling uranium to the Russians.

Boy, now do I feel embarrassed.

Yesterday I learned that the imminent indictment would be for Hillary Clinton. What will they teach us next?

[The_King_of_Soup]

@mhendo

Right, but that doesn’t really negate Bricker’s point.

He simply noted that the dossier was “prepared by a foreign citizen and used by the Clinton campaign against Trump,” which is true, even if the dossier was not originally prepared for the Clinton campaign.

I haven’t seen the arguments that he’s referring to, where some Dopers allegedly claimed that “any time a foreign citizen contributed valuable information to a campaign, this was illegal.” But if some people did say this, and if they truly believe that foreign citizens contributing information to a campaign is illegal, then that argument should still apply in this case, even if the document wasn’t prepared at the explicit request of the Clinton campaign.

I’d be interested to see the claims that he’s talking about, though.

The Clinton campaign paid an American law firm (Perkins-Cole), which hired an American research firm (Fusion GPS) to research the Trump campaign, particularly (as it turned out) its violations of laws prohibiting certain types of collusion with foreign agencies. Fusion GPS employed at least one foreign national (Steele) who worked on this assignment. There is nothing even remotely illegal, immoral, or wrong here, except as the information gathered may prove highly illicit activities on the part of Republican operatives, up to and including Trump, his associates and appointees, and various elected Republicans who conspired to cover up Russian cash infusions and disinformation campaigns to influence opinion and elections in their favor.

[GrandWino]

@jsgoddess

Yeah, I can’t follow the declaration that Trump knew about Papadopoulos on March 31.

I don’t have time to dig through the current threads, but Seth Abramson has posted a bunch of these long threads backed up with publicly known reporting. I believe his assuredness on Trump knowing on 3/31 has to do w/ the meeting that Papa was at, where he told Trump and team that he had connections to Russia.
This article has info on that meeting date. Here:

But the Papadopoulos plea shows that Sessions — then acting as Trump’s top foreign policy adviser — was in a March 31, 2016, meeting with Trump at which Papadopoulos explained “he had connections that could help arrange a meeting between then-candidate Trump and President Putin.” It also shows that Papadopoulos kept a number of campaign officials in the loop on his efforts to set up a meeting between Trump and Putin, though they secretly determined that the meeting “should be someone low level in the campaign so as not to send any signal,” itself a sign the campaign was trying to hide its efforts to make nice with the Russians.

[Tee]

@VinylTurnip

I just read some comments on a Fox News article, and I hate to tell you this, but we’ve got it all wrong.

This is still a nothingburger and has nothing to do with Trump. Mueller, a Democrat shill, is grasping at straws, and not only should be fired but brought up on charges himself. There’s nothing wrong or illegal about contacting a foreign government to try to get dirt on your opponent. Hillary did the same thing, and she should be indicted for it. This is all just a ploy to divert attention from the real scandal, which is Hillary personally selling uranium to the Russians.

Boy, now do I feel embarrassed.

About an hour ago I was listening to Ann Coulter and Howie Carr saying these same things on his Boston radio show. I noticed they both lacked the usual tone of withering condescension though.

[BigAppleBucky]

@Euphonious_Polemic

This.

Trump will stay as long as the political enablers keep him there. And while he’s there, he’ll inflict whatever damage on the country he feels like.

DJ Trump before family
Family before friends
Friends before rich members of the Party
Rich members of the party before any other members
Party before country

My view of his heirarchy:

Trump HIMSELF
Trump Assets
Trump Family
Rich Friends
Other Kleptocrats and Russians
Sycophants
Rich members of the party
Congress Critters who toe the line
Other GOP Congress Critters
Anyone who might help HIMSELF
Everything else

[2nd_Law]

When do we find out how much Manaforte’s bail is set at?

[ElvisL1ves]

Radio sez $10 million.

[JohnT]

Government sets bail at $10M for Manafort, $5M for Gates. Also, house arrest for both.

[ThelmaLou]

In today’s *Atlantic *online… I like the sound of this:

Robert Mueller Is Just Getting Started

With the release of his first indictments and a surprise plea deal on Monday morning, Special Counsel Robert Mueller sketched a partial outline of his team’s investigation into Russian electoral meddling and took control of a news narrative that had been increasingly dominated by his conservative critics.

Legal experts said the court filings indicate Mueller is running a serious, deliberative, and far-sighted inquiry. “I would say this is High-Level Special Counsel Investigation 101,” said Richard Ben-Veniste, a member of the Watergate special-prosecutor task force. “Mueller is operating by the book.”…

[wonky]

@jsgoddess

Yeah, I can’t follow the declaration that Trump knew about Papadopoulos on March 31.

Nevermind. I see it now.

[wonky]

@GrandWino

I don’t have time to dig through the current threads, but Seth Abramson has posted a bunch of these long threads backed up with publicly known reporting. I believe his assuredness on Trump knowing on 3/31 has to do w/ the meeting that Papa was at, where he told Trump and team that he had connections to Russia.
This article has info on that meeting date. Here:

Thanks for pointing this out. I saw a reference to that a few minutes ago but I should have read the thread before commenting.

[Fiveyearlurker]

@Happy_Lendervedder

My favorite from that Tweet series:

“102/ I want to make a perhaps obvious point: were Trump not a narcissist, we might expect him to resign the presidency this week. He’s done.”

Is this a true statement? In a normal presidency would we be expecting a resignation?

[wonky]

@Fiveyearlurker

“102/ I want to make a perhaps obvious point: were Trump not a narcissist, we might expect him to resign the presidency this week. He’s done.”

Is this a true statement? In a normal presidency would we be expecting a resignation?

I don’t think so. Considering we’ve had 45 presidents, one resignation, and half a dozen? ginormous scandals.

[Sunny_Daze]

I think in a “normal” presidency, he wouldn’t even be president. Since he is, I think it’ll have to get to the point where he is actively damaging the party, and he’ll be pressured to resign. If he won’t do it, he’ll be impeached.

[ElvisL1ves]

@jsgoddess

I don’t think so. Considering we’ve had 45 presidents, one resignation, and half a dozen? ginormous scandals.

But indictments, or even something close? Every time that’s happened, it’s forced a resignation.

[scr4]

@JohnT

Government sets bail at $10M for Manafort, $5M for Gates. Also, house arrest for both.

Does that mean paying $10M to get upgraded from jail to house arrest?

[cmyk]

@scr4

Does that mean paying $10M to get upgraded from jail to house arrest?

I’m guessing $10M not to wear an electronic ankle bracelet.

[Wesley_Clark]

Has anyone noticed Murdoch’s media empires getting more and more desperate to turn the public against Mueller and encourage Trump to abuse his pardon powers? The wall street journal is as bad as any conservative conspiracy theory site now that these indictments are out.

Does Murdoch’s media empire have something to do with all this? Why are they so desperate?

[Wesley_Clark]

@jsgoddess

Interesting take on the Manafort/Papadopoulos news from Seth Abramson: Thread by @SethAbramson on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App

Thank you for that, that was very informative (I’ll need to read it several times though).

One thing that confused me is when Abramson said this

49/ Months ago I said “Phase 3” of Mueller’s probe would begin in November of 2017. It instead began October 30, 2017. (Pretty darn close.)

50/ I’ve also said that Phase 3—in which Trump co-conspirators are indicted—would last 2 to 5 months. So that’s what we’re in for right now.

His use of ‘phase 3’ was confusing to me, so I researched it. I think he was referencing this thread he made in August.

Seth Abramson

(4) Phase 3, which we will get to, is the issuance of many “true bills” (indictments) against minor figures in the probe and Trump aides.

[kaylasdad99]

@Lord_Feldon

There’s another one.

On October 5th, George Papadopolous pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI.

@Happy_Lendervedder

Wait, Webster’s dad? I don’t believe it! I don’t *want *to believe it! That poor little Webster’s already been through so much.

I thought Webster’s dad was named Mongo…