The Russia Investigations and other Trump-related cases

[RoseMorninStar]

https://twitter.com/ZekeJMiller/status/ ... 2127895552

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani said the November midterm elections will be about "impeachment or no impeachment."

I'm confused. Whose side is Giuliani trying to help here?

I am sure those two addled minds (Trump & Giuliani) believe this is a rally cry to their base to come out in droves to support Trump. I honestly cannot see how someone who is not brainwashed can't see a huge problem with this administration.

[Griffon64]

Their minds aren't addled. They're pretty sharp because they know exactly that: this is how they galvanize the Trump base and push back against any Democratic inroads in the mid-terms.

The tendency of swaths of liberals to pooh-pooh conservatives and treat them like dumb children certainly helped create the Trump administration. And continuing down that path will help cement it. The Trump administration has figured out that liberals do half their work for them. They can just say things that makes liberals hysterical and boom! liberals do all the hard work of whipping up the Republican base.

Honestly, at this point Trump can sign the US over to Russia and his base will love it ( simply because it made liberals mad ).

[Frelga]

That seems... counterproductive?

[River]

Well given that the troll faction has apparently taken over the GOP, nothing that makes the target groups angry is counter-productive. Absolutely nothing. They're like toddlers: any attention is good attention. It makes them feel important and powerful. What we really need is some group with the oomph to send the troll faction to its room until it is ready to calm down and behave. Doesn't have to be Democrats. In fact, it would be useful if some non-troll Republicans actually did more than shake their heads. Unless they're actually complicit?

[RoseMorninStar]

Griffy, sadly you are likely correct. They (Trump/Giuliani) are cunning and calculating but there is something else.. it is something I've witnessed in other narcissists: that rules do not apply to them. Ever. They are above the law. Laws are for other people. Stupid people. Trump once said something to the effect that he didn't pay taxes because he was 'smart' (implying that paying taxes was for fools, not the likes of HIM) Some people admire that, perhaps because they would like to be able to get away with similar behavior/lawlessness. I'm not sure cunning/conning is the same thing as (what I would consider) 'smart'. I would say, true to Trump form, that he operates from something visceral rather than intellect. A different sort of knowledge and it works very well for him, as it does many narcissists.

I don't (at least I didn't) consider myself a liberal. I have always considered myself somewhere in the middle of the road. I feel like the 'right' has moved so far it has left me in the dust. Certain issues are important to me (like environmental issues, which USED to be a conservative issue). So many things seem to have flipped from what my experiences were decades ago.

River, I agree. Traditional conservatives need to stand up to their traditional values. Complicit indeed. Hypocritical, certainly.

Has anyone heard of the 'Q-anon' group? The world has gone mad.

[Frelga]

Colbert asks the real question.

After seeing all of Manafort's expensive jackets, I don’t know if he’s guilty but more importantly, WHERE ARE HIS PANTS?!

[Frelga]

https://twitter.com/GeoffRBennett/statu ... 8851596296

Rick Gates has taken the stand in the Manafort case.

Prosecutor Uzo Asonye asked, "Were you involved in any criminal activity with Mr. Manafort?" Gates answered, "Yes."

"Did you commit any crimes with Mr. Manafort?" Asonye said.

"Yes," said Gates.

h/t@CharlieGileNBC

Was that supposed to happen?

[River]

Depends on who you ask...

Apparently Gates also, at the prosecutor's behest, dug into the details of his plea deal and admitted to embezzling from one of Manafort's undisclosed foreign accounts. It's the slimeball who flipped vs. the slimeball who didn't.

[RoseMorninStar]

MAGA Mobsters Are Governing America.

[River]

So today Cohen made a plea deal and implicated the President in the process. Among the things he plead guilty to were campaign finance violations in relation to hush money payments made to McDougal and Daniels. He told the court he committed his crimes at the direction of a candidate for federal office. There is no known cooperation agreement. Though now that Cohen's more or less declared Trump to be an unindicted co-conspirator I'm not sure one could claim that Cohen's keeping his mouth shut.

The Cohen criminal case is ancillary to L'Affaire Russe - Mueller's team found something and referred it to the SDNY. So, though people get it conflated with the Russia investigation, it's more relevant to the Stormy Daniels civil suit.

I do not, of course, expect this current Congress to do a damn thing to hold the President accountable for his criminal activity.

[yovargas]

"Undocumented immigrants commit crimes at a considerably lower rate than the election campaign staff of Donald J. Trump."

-My brother

[Dave_LF]

Burned!

[River]

"Undocumented immigrants commit crimes at a considerably lower rate than the election campaign staff of Donald J. Trump."

-My brother

Ah but something something not real crimes something something who understands laws anyway something.

[Dave_LF]

From Facebook: The only person Trump ever hired who was actually qualified for their job was Stormy Daniels.

[RoseMorninStar]

From Facebook: The only person Trump ever hired who was actually qualified for their job was Stormy Daniels.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Manafort has reportedly reached a plea deal to avoid trial on the remaining charges. It is not clear whether the deal requires that he cooperate with the investigation.

We should know tomorrow, if there is in fact a deal.

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[Voronwë the Faithful]

Manafort's plea deal does include a cooperation agreement "including in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election."

https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/14/politics ... index.html

It is unclear, of course, what if anything Manafort will tell prosecutors about what Mr. Trump or anyone else knew about coordination with Russian interference in the 2016 election. We could look back at today as the watershed moment in the downfall of Mr. Trump's presidency. Or maybe it doesn't mean much. Only time will tell.

ETA: There is some suggestion that he as already provided information.

This is big:

Cooperation agmt includes:
-interviews & briefings with the special counsel
- turning over documents
- testifying in other proceedings

Also, Manafort has waived right to have lawyers representing him present at any interviews.

Latest: Paul Manafort has agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department and has already proffered information to the government, Prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said in court.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... jReAQRWrv0

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Rudy Giuliani put out a statement saying "Once again an investigation has concluded with a plea having nothing to do with President Trump or the Trump campaign. The reason: the President did nothing wrong and Paul Manafort will tell the truth.” Ten minutes later, he issued a "correction" that amended it to say "Once again an investigation has concluded with a plea having nothing to do with President Trump or the Trump campaign. The reason: the President did nothing wrong.” I guess he decided that Manafort was going to tell the "truth" after all.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

On the flip side, here is Andrew McCarthy of the National Review arguing that the plea agreement won't affect the president.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/09/ ... ilty-plea/

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[Primula Baggins]

Other than really really upsetting him, which is never good.