Not true. Their relationship dates back to the 1980s, when Trump hired Manafort as a lobbyist on gambling and real-estate issues. Since 2006, Manafort has owned a condo in Trump Tower. (Now it’s part of his bail deal.) The two met frequently and spoke in out-of-the-way corridors, according to Manafort’s daughters and others who were familiar with their habits. They have known each other well for a very long time.
His lawyers gotta be freaking out about this. As his buddy Roger Stone said the other day, talking to Mueller would be walking into an obvious perjury trap. Seems DJT’s over-sized ego won’t let him back down.
I await the results of such an interview with glee.
Since the only way Trump would be testifying “under oath” would be in front of a grand jury, attorney Ty Cobb walked back that particular episode of Trump oral diarrhea tout de suite. He’s already made a public statement that Trump was speaking “in a hurry” to the press and misstated what he actually meant, that negotiations for the interview are still underway.
Doesn’t matter, though. If Trump lies to the FBI during his interview, no matter how informal, it’s still a felony. Ask Mike Flynn.
We’ll have fun when we finally learn what a train wreck this interview is sure to be.
What? I thought the tape would be rolling and Mueller would say something like “anything you say can and will be used against you in court” and “it is a felony to lie to me”. Is that materially different than being under oath?
I would prefer that he be brought into the grand jury and face the questions with no lawyers by his side.
I have to wonder why Ty Cobb and the rest are even representing a man that they know damn well is going to stiff them for payment. What’s in it for them?
That’s right, and I knew that at one point. What’s funny is that I was reading about him last night because of the court filing snafu and the article mentioned he didn’t really know Trump and that didn’t some right to me so I checked his Wikipedia page and it says the same thing.
Just remember it was crazy spun-up Trump that made that statement.
The reporters were assembled in John Kelly’s office for an immigration briefing. Trump is annoyed with Kelly this week because he’s stealing his crazy.
So Trump escaped the day care center and showed up at the briefing… surprise surprise!! Then he started babbling about no collusion except Hillary, yada yada yada. And of course HE’S going to testify under oath… because Hillary didn’t. And HIS testimony is going to be much more…oathworthy? than Hillary’s. Then at the last minute you could see a spark of sanity ignite and he invoked the weasel stuff about his lawyers.
But part of me thinks he wants to get Mueller in a room alone because he thinks he can glad-hand him into “letting this Russia thing go” . Maybe he’ll invite Mueller to dinner alone. Because these guys don’t learn and do the same stupid stuff over and over. Because this is Stupid Watergate.
That was my thought when I heard the story. He probably figures he’ll be able to rope-a-dope Mueller and derail the whole investigation. Dunning-Kruger’s a bitch, ain’t it?
Heh. Trump’s lawyers will let him answer three questions in an interview with Mueller:
“What is your name? What is your quest? What is your favorite color?”
If that ends with Trump being flung into an abyss, I’m OK with it.
How about just a quarry?
No, it isn’t. The result of lying under oath and lying to the FBI without an oath administered are the same: A potential felony charge, conviction and sentence. Trump is just showboating for his base when he tries to draw the Hillary distinction. They’ll buy it.
I do believe Mueller will insist on video tape for the interview. We all know the reason why.
Ty Cobb joined the team at the recommendation of John Dowd, who has represented Trump for years and years as one of his personal henchmen. According to Wiki’s page on Cobb, he has said he joined the team because “it was an impossible task with a deadline.” Also that he “has rocks in his head and steel balls.” I’ll agree with the rocks in his head part.
It’s very hard to keep it all straight, isn’t it? Without Steven Harper’s voluminous, well-sourced timeline, which I’ve cited many times, I’d struggle a lot more than I do.
For anyone who thinks they know a lot about the Trump/Russia mess but hasn’t reviewed the timeline, I’d suggest you know a lot less than you realize. I don’t know how anyone can give that thing a good, honest squiz and not at least have a strong suspicion that Trump and his team conspired to steal the election in exchange for lifting Russian sanctions and turning a blind eye to their annexation of Crimea and invasion of Eastern Ukraine. The course of conduct is simply overwhelming.
No, in certain cases and with the approval of the AUSA handling the case, FBI agents may administer an oath to subjects of an investigation who are being interviewed. I don’t know if that was done in Mike Flynn’s case, but it’s usually a factor in deciding whether to charge under Section 1001.
The Miranda waiver would not be read to President Trump in any case, as any interview would not fit the twofold test for Miranda: custodial interrogation.
Yeah, but her e-mails.
Thanks for that. I wasn’t aware FBI investigators could administer oaths.
My understanding is that no oath was administered to Flynn and he was not Mirandized. He lied during a discussion that occurred with his consent in his office in the White House two days after he was made National Security Advisor, and this discussion was the basis for the charge to which he pleaded for lying to the FBI.
Amazing story about how the Dutch helped us with the Russian hacks. Turns out, the Dutch had already hacked Cozy Bear’s network and were even able to watch the hackers on CCTV.
Great catch and what a story!
I read some time ago that the FBI had lots of intelligence from a variety of sources, including Dutch, Australian, British and German agencies, long before the Steele dossier was given to them. The information they had predated Mueller’s appointment. This article clarifies a lot of what the Dutch passed along.
This verifiable fact is what proves the lie Republicans keep trying to push about the role the dossier played in obtaining FISA warrants. The FBI never needed the dossier to obtain the warrants.
And now we learn that Trump first attempted to fire Mueller last June, and only backed off when Don McGahn threatened to quit. (New York Times)
Not really a surprise.
Guess who tried to fire Mueller back in June (you’ll probably get his one right)! The White House counsel refused to carry out the order and threatened to resign. I think I may have heard this song before.
Trump has declared it “fake news,” which of course equates to a sworn affidavit that it happened exactly as reported.