Russiagate

[kallend 2,106]

  JerryBaumchen

Hi Bill,

  Quote

At that point the only remaining defense for Trump will be "I didn't know anything about what Manafort was doing!"

Actually, I think it will be more like: 'Manafort who?'

That seems to be him MO until he is tripped up.

Jerry Baumchen

Wasn't he the guy who served the coffee?

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[billvon 3,070]

Looks like it's curtains for Corsi.

Background - Jerome Corsi was a close confidante of Roger Stone, a Trump advisor during the campaign. He told the FBI he knew nothing about the Wikileaks email server attack. Then he changed his story, and said he did know, but it was just guesswork. "I connect the dots. I didn't need any source to tell me.”

But Mueller dug into it, and found a few emails that have shown otherwise. From NBC:
=================
Mueller has emails from Stone pal Corsi about WikiLeaks Dem email dump

"Word is (Julian Assange) plans 2 more dumps...Impact planned to be very damaging," Jerome Corsi said in email to Stone, say draft court documents.

Nov. 27, 2018 / 12:57 PM PST
By Anna Schecter

Two months before WikiLeaks released emails stolen from the Clinton campaign, right-wing conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi sent an email to former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone anticipating the document dump, according to draft court papers obtained by NBC News.

"Word is friend in embassy plans 2 more dumps," Corsi wrote on Aug. 2, 2016, referring to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, according to the draft court papers. "One shortly after I'm back. 2nd in Oct. Impact planned to be very damaging."
=================

So it looks like Corsi knew about it in detail. Which means he is yet another person colluding with Assange to obtain the stolen emails and use them for their "very damaging" impact.

And, of course, it means he lied to the FBI about it. LOCK HIM UP!

This will be - what? - the 34th indictment in the Trump-Russia collusion case? Hard to keep track. That's a pretty big "nothingburger."

[rushmc 23]

  billvon

Looks like it's curtains for Corsi.

Background - Jerome Corsi was a close confidante of Roger Stone, a Trump advisor during the campaign. He told the FBI he knew nothing about the Wikileaks email server attack. Then he changed his story, and said he did know, but it was just guesswork. "I connect the dots. I didn't need any source to tell me.”

But Mueller dug into it, and found a few emails that have shown otherwise. From NBC:
=================
Mueller has emails from Stone pal Corsi about WikiLeaks Dem email dump

"Word is (Julian Assange) plans 2 more dumps...Impact planned to be very damaging," Jerome Corsi said in email to Stone, say draft court documents.

Nov. 27, 2018 / 12:57 PM PST
By Anna Schecter

Two months before WikiLeaks released emails stolen from the Clinton campaign, right-wing conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi sent an email to former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone anticipating the document dump, according to draft court papers obtained by NBC News.

"Word is friend in embassy plans 2 more dumps," Corsi wrote on Aug. 2, 2016, referring to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, according to the draft court papers. "One shortly after I'm back. 2nd in Oct. Impact planned to be very damaging."
=================

So it looks like Corsi knew about it in detail. Which means he is yet another person colluding with Assange to obtain the stolen emails and use them for their "very damaging" impact.

And, of course, it means he lied to the FBI about it. LOCK HIM UP!

This will be - what? - the 34th indictment in the Trump-Russia collusion case? Hard to keep track. That's a pretty big "nothingburger."

With so many hook lines and sinkers you must have in your mouth I cant believe you can still post

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[yoink 321]

You post with your mouth?

It’d explain your typing, I suppose.

[normiss 851]

It's clearly not with a brain, because the facts would confuse most people enough to not being able to counter the facts with the foolishness we see here.
I'm unable to understand how at this point, anyone is able to refuse the truth of the facts we're seeing.
Should make it really interesting soon, it's getting beyond juicy.

Here I thought the burger I had for lunch today was good.
This nothing burger is the most amazing burger I've ever seen...and it's not even finished yet.

[billvon 3,070]

No PA's. Your one warning.

[normiss 851]

Saying someone didn't use their brain for a post is a PA?

My apologies, that wasn't my intent.
I didn't realize calling out what looks like a foolish post was a PA.

[ryoder 1,590]

NYT: Michael Cohen Pleads Guilty to Charge in Mueller Inquiry Related to Russia Business Deal
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/29/nyregion/michael-cohen-trump-russia-mueller.html

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[normiss 851]

Deutsche Bank was raided in a money laundering investigation. Trump’s company owes Deutsche Bank $364 million.
Kushner's company owes Deutsche Bank $285 million.
Given the people that have been identified in the Panama Papers investigation, this could make for another juicy burger.

Interesting turn of events either way.

[Phil1111 1,149]

  normiss

Deutsche Bank was raided in a money laundering investigation. Trump’s company owes Deutsche Bank $364 million.
Kushner's company owes Deutsche Bank $285 million.
Given the people that have been identified in the Panama Papers investigation, this could make for another juicy burger.

Interesting turn of events either way.

From the website of Investigative journalists. The web of trump advisors with offshore money dealings and their links:
https://projects.icij.org/paradise-papers/the-influencers/#/

"Within the ICIJ database, Trump’s name appears 3,450 times,"
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trumps-first-appearance-panama-papers-uncovered-722266

[billvon 3,070]

And the latest charge? That's right - another charge of lying to the FBI about Trump's dealings with Russia.

[SkyDekker 1,465]

  ryoder

NYT: Michael Cohen Pleads Guilty to Charge in Mueller Inquiry Related to Russia Business Deal
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/29/nyregion/michael-cohen-trump-russia-mueller.html

Cohen admits he was working on Trump Moscow till August 2017

Trump tweeted in January 2017 he had no business dealings in Russia.

Maybe the President of the United States didn't know Moscow is in Russia?

[billvon 3,070]

  SkyDekker

Cohen admits he was working on Trump Moscow till August 2017
Trump tweeted in January 2017 he had no business dealings in Russia.
Maybe the President of the United States didn't know Moscow is in Russia?

Could explain all his denials.

"There was NO COLLUSION with Russia! The only people I worked with were from the Kremlin."

[normiss 851]

Heather Cox Richardson via Twitter:

This morning, President Trump's fixer and former personal attorney pled guilty to lying to Congress about the timing and extent of President Trump's attempts to build a hotel in Russia. All the people surrounding Trump insisted that the deal had ended in January 2016; in fact, discussions went on at least through the end of the year (the end timing is still not clear). So all Trump's vehement denials over the past two years were lies. His organization DID have connections to Russia, although right now it is only established that those were ties over real estate.

(Remember that Trump wouldn't go two miles to Arlington Cemetery on Veterans Day? Apparently that was the day Cohen was cutting the plea deal with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and Trump was holed up in the White House, fuming.)

But that's not at all the end of the story. Just two days ago, the plea deal between Mueller and Trump's friend and former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, broke down. This is not really a surprise: Manafort has been deeply involved in shady Russian politics for decades, and he has reason to fear polonium tea for himself or his daughters more than life in a fairly cushy prison. But the timing of the breakdown of that deal was huge. The deal broke on the grounds that Manafort was lying to Mueller and Mueller had evidence that he was lying. But, in a highly unusual course of action, Manafort's lawyers were apprising the Trump team of what Manafort was saying.

And on November 20, just before Thanksgiving, Trump provided Mueller with written answers to questions about his team's contact with Russians during the campaign. There had been months of negotiations about whether or not Trump would testify in person, with his lawyers vehemently opposed to that: many people thought that they were afraid Trump would incriminate himself. So they went with written answers, quite possibly based on what Manafort's team told them Manafort was saying to Mueller. But Mueller knew Manafort was lying.

So... Trump's answers might also be lies. In writing. To the Department of Justice (under which the Special Counsel serves). And if Mueller can prove Manafort was lying, he can prove Trump was.

Still not done. (And this is just this week! Sheesh!) This morning, news broke that police raided Deutchebank headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany over allegations of hundreds of millions of dollars of money laundering schemes. Deutchebank was the only bank willing to loan money to Donald Trump after his bankruptcies, to the tune of over a billion dollars, at least $480 million he still owes.

And there is one more interesting tidbit here: Cohen pled guilty of lying to Congress, specifically to the House and Senate intelligence committees. At the time Cohen lied, those committees were controlled by Republicans: North Carolina Senator Richard Burr and California Representative Devin Nunes, the author of the Nunes Memo of February 2018, which argued that the FBI's investigation of the ties between the Trump campaign and Russia were politically motivated. Nunes was also behind the selective release of classified documents to try to bolster that case, and both committees have been criticized for refusing to call witnesses or to follow up on leading information. By choosing this particular charge to stick to Cohen in public, it seems that Mueller is warning Congress folks that if they, too, are unclean, they'd better lawyer up.

[DJL 235]

  billvon

***Cohen admits he was working on Trump Moscow till August 2017
Trump tweeted in January 2017 he had no business dealings in Russia.
Maybe the President of the United States didn't know Moscow is in Russia?

Could explain all his denials.

"There was NO COLLUSION with Russia! The only people I worked with were from the Kremlin."

Trump ran this campaign to raise his clout for the benefit of his businesses so why would he have ever stopped doing it through a campaign he never intended to win.

"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

[billvon 3,070]

>By choosing this particular charge to stick to Cohen in public, it seems that Mueller is
>warning Congress folks that if they, too, are unclean, they'd better lawyer up.

Especially if they had insider info that they were hiding to protect Trump.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy in June 2016, in a conversation he hoped to keep secret: "There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump. Swear to God."

Paul Ryan immediately replied: "No leaks! This is how we know we're a real family here."

[normiss 851]

Comey challenges House GOP subpoena in federal court.

Imagine that, transparency in their attempts to cover-up?

[ryoder 1,590]

The Hill: Federal agents raid office of lawyer who previously did tax work for Trump
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/418928-federal-agents-raid-office-of-tax-firm-that-previously-worked-for

This is not a repeat; It is a different lawyer.
It is not clear if this is even related to the Mueller investigation.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[Phil1111 1,149]

  ryoder

The Hill: Federal agents raid office of lawyer who previously did tax work for Trump
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/418928-federal-agents-raid-office-of-tax-firm-that-previously-worked-for

This is not a repeat; It is a different lawyer.
It is not clear if this is even related to the Mueller investigation.

One should expect a tantrum of tweets this weekend as the man-child digests this new development. Hillary, Comey, Mueller will be the targets of new and old accusations. Of course a judge signed off on the warrants. But for trump, FOX, Marc, Ron, et al, that won't distract from the outrageous narrative and indignation.

The usual cast of trump apologists on FOX will wail about a special council out of control. But wait, Jeff Sessions is still evidently in charge of the special council oversight. Wasn't he appointed by trump!?!?

[billvon 3,070]

Sounds like Trump is now the target of TWO federal investigations.

"Witch hunt!" will have to become "witch hunts!" - and he will have to specify which investigation he is attacking.

[kallend 2,106]

  ryoder

The Hill: Federal agents raid office of lawyer who previously did tax work for Trump
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/418928-federal-agents-raid-office-of-tax-firm-that-previously-worked-for

This is not a repeat; It is a different lawyer.
It is not clear if this is even related to the Mueller investigation.

Ed Burke is as straight as a piggywig's tail. Everyone in Chicago knows that and has done for decades, but these have been local issues. The timing of the raid by the FEDS NOW is just too much of a coincidence.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[ryoder 1,590]

Here is an article suggesting this is related to his activities in Chicago: https://abc7chicago.com/politics/ald-ed-burkes-chicago-offices-raided-by-fbi/4789692/

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[normiss 851]

I sincerely hope by the time all the pieces of evidence are in place and Trump is forced out (in whatever fashion results), that there is also sufficient evidence to take Pence down too.
The upcoming second in line for succession is, IMO, a significantly better option.

[gowlerk 2,249]

  normiss

I sincerely hope by the time all the pieces of evidence are in place and Trump is forced out (in whatever fashion results), that there is also sufficient evidence to take Pence down too.
The upcoming second in line for succession is, IMO, a significantly better option.

The last time a VP was forced from office he was replaced by the House Minority leader. Gerald Ford. I can't imagine both the POTUS and VP being forced out or resigning at the same time.

Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

[billvon 3,070]

Interesting development in Cohen's guilty plea:

=========================
Cohen had previously said that conversations about the possibility of a Trump-named development in Moscow ended in January 2016 -- coinciding with the beginning of the presidential primary season. On Thursday, Cohen admitted he had lied about that timing -- he had multiple conversations about the project until June 2016, briefed members of the Trump family about the progress of those conversations and even agreed to travel to Russia to discuss the project and raise the possibility of Trump doing the same.

Cohen said in court that he made those false statements in order to be consistent with Trump's political messaging and to be loyal to Trump.
==========================

Now we have a close Trump associate who has admitted to covering up Trump's collusion with Russia in order to be "loyal."