It’s different when it’s a Republican president.
It’s like when good old Newt G. was going after Clinton for having an affair, while at the exact same time, he was porking his girlfriend. They have no problem being hypocritical; It’s WHAT THEY DO.
I can only speculate, but part of me thinks he has wanted to shut it down and probably tossed it around for a while, but he has been repeatedly talked out of it by, first of all, his lawyers. Rightly or wrongly, they’re convincing Trump that Mueller’s investigation isn’t going to hit that close to home. I think Trump was buying that one even past the point of Manafort - Trump already suspected he was going down. It hit closer to home when Mueller made Flynn flip like a fuckin pancake – now Trump no longer trusts his lawyers’ advice and he’s probably let them know in no uncertain terms. Hence the chaos of this weekend.
Another reason that Trump hasn’t gone for the kill shot is that he wasn’t sure what kind of DoJ and FBI loyalty he had, and what kind of congressional loyalty he had. He’s still not sure, but there are some things working in his favor.
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It is by now clear that Sessions may actually himself be part of the probe and might have some skin in the game – like the skin of his ass if Mueller’s investigation gets too much momentum. I can’t see General Beauregard allowing a full frontal assault.
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Don’t look now but there might be some major changes in the FBI. Perhaps enough people told Trump that Christopher Wray might be able to come in and do a little house cleaning, which is totally normal during transitions. Added to that is the fact that some of Mueller’s team has now been caught in a compromised position, having an extra marital affair and texting each other about their contempt for Trump.
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Congressional republicans have become more loyal to Trump than they were even just a few months ago. This is Trump’s party, and the change is especially breathtaking in the Senate.
Trump has wanted to nix the investigation for a while, but was talked out of it. Now the time might be approaching to make his move. It might be a week from now or several months from now. But I suspect he’s going to try to cap the investigation. Whether he succeeds, what kind of backlash that creates…it’s anyone’s guess. But he’s a cornered animal right now, and he’s going to come out scratching and biting like he’s got rabies.
Uh oh. Manafort’s bail conditions are going to be re-visited after he violated the court’s order to "“refrain from making statements to the media or in public settings that pose a substantial likelihood of material prejudice to this case.”
It seems Manafort was “ghostwriting an op-ed while out on bail last month with a Russian who has ties to the Russian intelligence service”
Oh dear. I guess he thought that nobody would guess that he was trying to prejudice the case. With help from Russian spys.
Not a big deal though. I’m sure it’s a “nothingburger” for those 30% of the population who effectively think that it’s fine if Russia runs the United States.
There’s no question that the president can obstruct justice, and it’s laughable to think that this president has not done so. But it’s also clear that legal proceedings can’t begin until the president’s out of office first. He probably can pardon himself in advance of any criminal trial before entering private life as well. It sounds wacky but there are reasons the Framers did this. They trusted other institutions would protect us from the worst impulses of a rogue executive.
Just un-fucking believable. And this is bad news for the president because it reinforces the association between Russia and this president. Not that it substantively changes the legal landscape for Trump, but in terms of optics, it pretty much is your smoking gun.
Remember we had a thread about common sense a few weeks ago? Add this to the list of examples I gave.
Shades of It’s not illegal if the President does it"!
Not everybody understands why I consider Ford to be only a little higher than Nixon an the bottom quintile of Presidents. We could have put that notion to rest in 1974 if he hadn’t insisted on issuing that pardon BEFORE letting a trial happen.
Manafort will just get his lawyer to claim that HE was writing the op-ed. Seems that’s the go-to defense at the moment.
IMHO this is making a mountain out of a molehill. The Russian with whom Manafort was allegedly writing this Op-Ed is a long term associate of his, who is alleged to have ties to Russian intelligence. If you’re assuming that Manafort is aware of this guy’s ties to Russian intelligence and abetting it, then he’s been essentially something of a Russian spy himself for 10 years. But if not, then there’s nothing suspicious about a guy collaborating with a long term associate and employee of his. And it’s not like they were engaged in some super-duper secret intelligence-sharing mission here. They were writing a newspaper column, that’s it.
The legal ramifications for Manafort are in that he may be in violation of a gag order. The fact that the guy is a “Russian with ties to Russian intelligence” seems like something thrown in for added effect, but with no real significance in context.
Mueller has subpoenaed Deutsche Bank to get Trump’s personal finances. Deutsche Bank has had some questionable dealings with Trump, so this could get Trump’s dander up a bit.
I can’t wait to hear how Trump isn’t personally under investigation. But, just his past and present business partners, his bank records, his family and all of his associates. But not Trump himself.
Arguably, that information speaks to Manafort’s state of mind.
It seems to show that Manafort’s not concerned about the judge’s orders nor appearances.
Vox has a good summary of Bharara’s podcast. It’s worth listening to (it’s a quick one, maybe only 10-15 minutes). But, he’s suspicious of the idea that this plea indicates that Flynn is currently singing and got a sweetheart deal.
Interestingly, Bharara (among other things) made the exact same point cited above from Andrew McCarthy. Specifically that:
Though, as noted, it apparently varies by office, and it’s possible that Bharara’s office and McCarthy’s shared the same practice, and Mueller might differ.
Also worth noting that:
I’ve noted this earlier (or possibly in the Elections thread). Of course, there are also other possibilities, as Bharara goes on to state. But the certainty with which people have greeted the Flynn deal seems unwarranted.
Yes, he gives this as a possibility, but this is not the possibility that he thinks is going on. He seemed to prefer the idea that Mueller is holding back other charges not necessarily because a sweetheart deal is in place or because there is no evidence of other wrong doing, but because these charges implicate other people and he doesn’t have the full picture yet, or to combat the pardon power.
Perhaps you’ve heard that in the actual podcast, but there’s zero indication of this in the Vox summary.
Along the lines of my prior post on the subject, I don’t think there’s any contradiction at all.
In the one case, Trump was carrying out official Executive Branch function. In the other case, Clinton was acting as a private citizen.
Here we go, folks! Here - we - go. Apparently Mueller has subpoenaed financial records from Deutsche bank. This is THE red line that King Donald does not want crossed for reasons that are probably obvious. If nothing else, he can notice irregularities in his finances, which might tip the team off that there’s dark money coming from somewhere.
The National Weather Service has just issued a severe tweet storm warning in effect until about 12:00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon. Torrential anti-Clinton, Comey, and Obama diatribes are expected, and we advise you all to stay away from windows.
ETA: ninja’d by the lurker.
That certainly seems to be the implication of the vox article and it was the crux of the podcast.
We’re getting closer to the moment of truth. I expect that we’re going to start hearing dueling narratives and attacks on the credibility of Mueller’s team and the federal agencies working with him. This could be the beginning of a battle that determines whether or not we continue to be a democracy in the currently and commonly understood sense.
Is FOX News covering any of this?