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

[Superdude]

@wolfpup

So Cohen might have been doing other slimy things? Say it ain’t so!

At risk of being repetitive with something I posted in another thread, Cohen was a graduate of Western Michigan University Cooley Law School. The law website Above the Law rated it the worst law school in America; it’s been sued for fraud and misrepresentation by its students; the vast majority of its students are part-time; around three-quarters of its graduates can’t get a job, and nearly half can’t even pass the bar exam; it’s been sanctioned by the American Bar Association for lax admission standards, and “law professor David Frakt described Cooley’s 2015 entering class as ‘statistically the worst entering class of law students in the history of American legal education at an ABA-Accredited law school’.”

And so a shining example of his distinguished boss’s edict that “I have the best people.”

There’s an “Above the Law” website/Steven Seagal movie joke in there somewhere, but I don’t feel like finding it.

[SaneBill]

@running_coach

Liebrary.

Well, I’ll be damned. This was my first thought, but I rejected it immediately because it seemed too obvious to really be funny, but now seeing it written it actually works.

[Fiveyearlurker]

@Rick_Kitchen

One of the things the FBI was looking for in Cohen’s files involves New York Taxi medallions. Apparently not involving Trump.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/10/politics/michael-cohen-taxi-medallion-donald-trump/index.html

Which he would have continued to get away with if not for his association with Trump. I’m hoping that sticks in his craw a bit.

[ElvisL1ves]

@Fiveyearlurker

Which he would have continued to get away with if not for his association with Trump.

And those meddling kids.

Cohen’s law firm, Squire Patton Boggs, also represents Cambridge Analytica and Gazprom. Just so you know.

[Defensive_Indifference]

James Comey sat down with George Stephanopoulos for five hours of interviews, some of which will air in an hour-long ABC News special this Sunday. After that, Comey will spend the next two weeks making appearances on various news programs and one appearance on Fox. A good time will be had by all, except for members of the Trump administration.

Comey sat down with Stephanopoulos for 5-hour interview

Speaking of the Trump administration, Axios reports that admin insiders describe a White House in complete chaos, with no one knowing what Trump will do next, and no one bothering to come up with a strategy for responding to Comey, because they know Trump will shit all over the strategy anyway. Admin sources describe Trump as having reached a “breaking point”, and they hope Trump’s lawyers can dissuade him from firing Mueller. They note however, that Trump has become irritated with one of his lawyers (McGahn), so there’s not much hope there.

Inside the West Wing: Trump at “breaking point” on Mueller

And Rachel Maddow reported on handwritten notes allegedly from former acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente that, if authentic, provide contemporaneous evidence backing Comey’s allegations that Trump pressured him to drop the Russia investigation.
(from the Politico cite above)

Happy Wednesday!!

[Aspenglow]

@ganthet

The big complication here, aside from how far Mueller’s investigation and ultimate report is from being completed, is that Sessions still has a lot of strong support from the Senate Republicans whom he was colleagues with not too long ago. Firing Sessions without now or in the near future without some obvious cause that is not a transparent pretense is going to cause a lot of waves and would likely throw a wrench into any confirmation hearings of a successor. Even when a successor was ready and waiting, as has been the case for SecState and CIA director, Senate scheduling has shown that a month or more may go by between nomination and confirmation hearings, let alone a final vote on a successor’s nomination. As the recent developments have shown, a lot can happen in a month.

I agree it would create some chaos if Trump fires Sessions, though I don’t think the Senate has maintained their loyalty to Sessions as much as the first time Trump threatened to fire him. Still, probably easier to go after Rosenstein.

Also agree that absent some obvious cause, Trump’s intent is clear – but when hasn’t it been, really? How does anyone look at everything that has occurred and not understand that his plain intent is to stop the Russia probe, and specifically as it relates to him? And what has Congress done in response? (Rhetorical question, obviously.) I think Trump is willing to dare them to do something.

I keep hearing that the most likely method Trump could use to get rid of Mueller is to repeal the regulation to which you referred. However, this would also come with political fallout and would not be quick. I don’t think that’s for Trump. He wants an immediate – if even illegal – remedy. His MO is to never do the deed himself. He’s too much of a coward, and he prefers the tiny fig leaf (matches his tiny hands) of being able to say that he didn’t actually commit the act.

As for the confirmation process, Bolton hasn’t yet been confirmed, but he’s already fired Bossert. I don’t think the confirmation process means much at all under this administration.

[Fear_Itself]

Bolton doesn’t have to be confirmed.

[Aspenglow]

@Fear_Itself

Bolton doesn’t have to be confirmed.

You’re right. I thought I’d read he needed to be, but it was probably something to do with his confirmation hearings as UN Ambassador. Thanks for the correction.

[Rick_Kitchen]

Mueller has asked for subpoenas for 35 people to testify in the Manafort trial. The names of whom he wants subpoenas have not been released.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/mueller-asks-judge-to-issue-35-subpoenas-for-manafort-trial-in-virginia

[voltaire]

@ganthet

The big complication here, aside from how far Mueller’s investigation and ultimate report is from being completed, is that Sessions still has a lot of strong support from the Senate Republicans whom he was colleagues with not too long ago. Firing Sessions without now or in the near future without some obvious cause that is not a transparent pretense is going to cause a lot of waves and would likely throw a wrench into any confirmation hearings of a successor. Even when a successor was ready and waiting, as has been the case for SecState and CIA director, Senate scheduling has shown that a month or more may go by between nomination and confirmation hearings, let alone a final vote on a successor’s nomination. As the recent developments have shown, a lot can happen in a month.

Yeah, seeing as how Sessions’ vacated AL Senate seat eventually ended up being held by a Democrat, I don’t think the Senate Republicans are in much mood to accommodate his ouster as AG in order to help Trump out again. They want him right where he is until 2020, when they can bring him back to try to get rid of Doug Jones.

Take a second, and soak in the schadenfreude about how that’s gotta sting those Senate Repubs - losing that super-safe Senate seat in AL, and then Trump wanting to cast aside Sessions just like he does his debts and his wives.

[Gorsnak]

Recently released video reveals Trump’s legal strategy wrt the Mueller investigation.

[asahi]

@voltaire

Yeah, seeing as how Sessions’ vacated AL Senate seat eventually ended up being held by a Democrat, I don’t think the Senate Republicans are in much mood to accommodate his ouster as AG in order to help Trump out again. They want him right where he is until 2020, when they can bring him back to try to get rid of Doug Jones.

Take a second, and soak in the schadenfreude about how that’s gotta sting those Senate Repubs - losing that super-safe Senate seat in AL, and then Trump wanting to cast aside Sessions just like he does his debts and his wives.

The Republican Senators are terrified at the thought of losing Sessions, and with good reason. Once Sessions’ hands are off the reins of federal power, it’s Mueller time. One federal attorney, talking about matters of federal criminal law, with essentially another federal attorney, about what he observed of his former boss’s behavior with respect to Mueller’s investigation.

[EddyTeddyFreddy]

@SaneBill

Well, I’ll be damned. This was my first thought, but I rejected it immediately because it seemed too obvious to really be funny, but now seeing it written it actually works.

Not to mention, some people actually pronounce it “LI-berry”.

[SaneBill]

@EddyTeddyFreddy

Not to mention, some people actually pronounce it “LI-berry”.

Leigh-bury
WHO are these people ?

[snfaulkner]

@SaneBill

Leigh-bury
WHO are these people ?

They probably all have crayons jammed up their noses and lodged in their brains. They probably also say tomorree.

[Gyrate]

@Gorsnak

Recently released video reveals Trump’s legal strategy wrt the Mueller investigation.

I was expecting “Yakity Sax”.

[SteveG1]

@Chronos

Isn’t it the Press Secretary’s job to pass on messages given to her by the President himself?

(unless you were referring to some other coked-up lackey, of course)

More likely, between her and her predecessor “Spicey”, it goes like this

Ask a question…
She lies
Ask again, or someone else asks
She doubles down and insults the questioner

Next day Trump does the exact opposite, pulling the rug out from under her

She lies again

Ad infinitum

[SteveG1]

@ElvisL1ves

And those meddling kids.

Cohen’s law firm, Squire Patton Boggs, also represents Cambridge Analytica and Gazprom. Just so you know.

It is ALL connected.

[EddyTeddyFreddy]

@snfaulkner

They probably all have crayons jammed up their noses and lodged in their brains. They probably also say tomorree.

They also say “Feb-YOO-ary”.

[wonky]

@EddyTeddyFreddy

They also say “Feb-YOO-ary”.

I don’t even know how I say that stupid word. There are letters there that make my head hurt.