F'dup Chapters in American History(The Trump Years) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Part 25

[Dr Lee]

looks like the Doctor is getting a bit noisy.... wonder if Trumpy will employ a Putin tactic and have him whacked?

 

[mclay18]

Nah, he'll just scream and throw his toys around, as usual, followed by a Tweet along the lines of "FAKE! I DID NOT DICTATE THAT LETTER!"

 

[Marvolo]

Trump: "I don't know this Bornstein guy. Never seen him. He may or may not have been in the white house. But I never met him."

 

[squeekness]

Nah, he'll just scream and throw his toys around, as usual, followed by a Tweet along the lines of "FAKE! I DID NOT DICTATE THAT LETTER!"

Does it even matter? One look at Trump's morbid obesity pretty much proves the letter was a lie from the jump. Only a fool would have believed it.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Trump Lawyers Said to Lack Security Clearance Amid Mueller Talks

Donald Trump’s current team of lawyers lacks the security clearances needed to discuss sensitive issues related to a possible presidential interview with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Trump’s former lead lawyer John Dowd had been the only member of the president’s personal legal team with a security clearance, the people said. When Dowd quit in March over disagreements with Trump on legal strategy, Jay Sekulow became the lead lawyer on the investigation and is still waiting for his clearance.

The lack of security clearances could further complicate already sensitive talks with Mueller’s team. Prosecutors for Mueller made clear to Trump’s lawyers before Dowd left the legal team that the special counsel would consider a subpoena compelling the president to testify before a grand jury if he refuses to participate in a voluntary interview, Dowd told Bloomberg News.

Mueller believes he has legal standing to subpoena a sitting president, even though such a move has never been fully tested, according to the two current U.S. officials. Unlike an interview, Trump couldn’t bring his lawyers into a grand jury room.

Jay Sekulow is a Christian Wingnut Welfare clown, and has been for decades.

Sekulow's alma mater? Pat Robertson's "Regent University." Another grad? Michele Bachmann.

 

[Quasar]

It's Wednesday. We should be getting that Dennis Miller scathing rebuttal to Michelle Wolf any minute now...

 

[mclay18]

Ty Cobb out, Clinton impeachment lawyer Emmet Flood in

http://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...ton-impeachment-lawyer-to-replace-retiring-wh

Trump's end is rapidly approaching. Mueller must have several smoking guns on him now.

 

[galmorzu]

It sounds like we’re coming up to the end here with Mueller, especially with it sounding like he’s really ready to sit down with Trump now. But with that said, and everything going on from Trump just today, I have a really bad feeling it’s going to start getting really ugly really fast. There’s no more putting the endgame off until later, and his back is more and more to the wall.

My worry is if he goes nuclear and just starts firing people in a panic to end this thing if there will actually be any safeguards or repercussions.

 

[Boom]

So I take it the bipartisan bill to create safeguards for Mueller didn't pass on the Senate floor?

 

[Sithborg]

Pretty certain McConnell didn't put it on the floor.

 

[MaceB]

It sounds like we’re coming up to the end here with Mueller, especially with it sounding like he’s really ready to sit down with Trump now. But with that said, and everything going on from Trump just today, I have a really bad feeling it’s going to start getting really ugly really fast. There’s no more putting the endgame off until later, and his back is more and more to the wall.

My worry is if he goes nuclear and just starts firing people in a panic to end this thing if there will actually be any safeguards or repercussions.

Even if Mueller subpoenas President Trump today... that just means it'll filter up through the courts, and wouldn't be approved til like August or September at best. After that.... they talk... but then it's way too close to the midterms for the DOJ to drop the bomb..

So honestly, this isn't even close to the end. Maybe if Trump agreed to talk to Mueller, it could be over in a few months... but probably not even then.

 

[squeekness]

I didn't hear about it making it to the floor either.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Did Trump Bribe Ukraine to Stop Cooperating With Mueller?

In December, the administration allowed the sale of anti-tank missiles to Ukraine. Supporters of the administration held up the sale as evidence that Trump could not have colluded with Russia — here he was, arming Russia’s enemy. “The year that began with the narrative of Trump-Russia collusion is ending with an unexpected plot twist — the Trump administration is confronting and cracking down on Russia,” reported Fox News. The Wall Street Journal editorial page mocked “people who say President Trump colluded with Mr. Putin to win the election and wants to appease him now.” Skeptics merely saw the sale as evidence that the foreign policy bureaucracy operated at some distance from Trump’s whims.

Today’s New York Times suggests a darker interpretation altogether. In response to the missile sale, Ukrainian officials have frozen out the Mueller investigation. Ukraine’s government had previously cooperated eagerly to expose the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia — providing, among other importance evidence, ledgers detailing payments to Paul Manafort by the Russian-backed Ukrainian party he had advised.

Now Ukraine is withholding cooperation from Mueller, and Ukrainian officials are not even hiding the fact that they’re doing so because of the missile sale. “In every possible way, we will avoid irritating the top American officials,” one Ukrainian lawmaker says. “We shouldn’t spoil relations with the administration.”

It is of course possible that Ukraine reached this decision on its own, completely independent of any suggestion from Washington. It is far more likely that somebody in the administration proposed a quid pro quo, and Ukraine quite rationally decided it would rather have weapons to defend itself against the next Russian aggression than participate in an investigation that the president of the United States regards as a mortal threat.

 

[Sithborg]

So, some of Cohen's past clients staged car crashes to cheat insurance companies.

 

[squeekness]

Outstanding.

 

[Sithborg]

Just further examples of what kind of lawyer Cohen is.

 

[Schlosser85]

So after all this denying, Giuliani tells Hannity that Trump repaid Cohen the $130,000?

 

[Sithborg]

Must have been recently. Cohen was whining about it until legal stuff started getting serious.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Did Giuliani admit that Trump launder money?

 

[Lighthouse]

OMG that Giuliani interview!

 

[MaceB]

I think this might be what it looks like when your lies start to catch up with you, and you've cornered yourself into a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation.

 

[Sithborg]

The hell is Rudy on? Is this what happens when he veers off 9/11?

 

[squeekness]

So after all this denying, Giuliani tells Hannity that Trump repaid Cohen the $130,000?

Is this an attempt to deflect the idea Cohen used campaign money?

 

[Lighthouse]

This is the stupidest team ever assembled.

 

[Sithborg]

Is this an attempt to deflect the idea Cohen used campaign money?

Not exactly, since he said it was over months, which could have been away around the limits.

EDIT: Rudy is saying it was Trump's personal money, which, considering what he considers his, could still be campaign money.