The Russia Investigations and other Trump-related cases

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Go listen to the most uplifting, joyful music that you can think of!

[Primula Baggins]

Very good idea!

*puts on Haydn's Creation*

*sits back to listen to chaos and darkness become light and humanity*

[River]

Some commentary on why they came in armed for Stone's arrest (emphasis mine):

Law enforcement simply does not hand a summons to someone who threatens to kill a witness and trust that person to act responsibly with it. No conscientious prosecutor would think a summons appropriate there, or think that a threat to kill a witness is simply what targets of grand jury investigations routinely do.

The witness tampering alleged here is more than just someone asking another, “pretty please,” to lie. Rather, it includes a death threat against a witness: “Prepare to die [expletive].”

Was Stone kidding? Maybe. Was it hyperbole? Perhaps. He can explain that after his arrest.

Take home: if you don't want to be treated like a potentially violent criminal, don't get caught threatening violence.

[Frelga]

Stone also threatened Credico's fluffy therapy dog.

[River]

Yeah, that was just a whole new level of WTFery. I think we're all safer once that guy is off the streets.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

He has a tattoo of Richard Nixon on his back. I'm mean, really.

[Frelga]

Meanwhile, I'm quite impressed with Colorado Senator Michael Bennet.
https://twitter.com/briantylercohen/sta ... 4436883456

Obviously, I agree with what he is saying, but apart from that, I don't recall any politician orate at such a masterful level.

[River]

Bennet's generally quiet and not at all flashy. But he was basically channeling the wrath of Colorado right there and then. No one really talks about that shutdown in 2013 but we remember it. The flood waters had actually receded a month before but we were grappling with a huge mess. Clean-up had barely gotten going. Lyons and Jamestown had almost been quite literally washed off the map and people were just getting their relief claims and disaster loans made and processed. At that point, I'm not there was even a way for the mitigation crews to even get into Estes Park. There were dump sites all over Boulder for carpet and moldy drywall. You don't get over a natural disaster like that in a month. You don't even get over it in a year. On this day in 2019 I can point to a place in Longmont that's still not quite finished. A federal shutdown at the time just felt like a huge **** you. If Udall had reminded people during his 2014 campaign that Cory Gardner just sat back silently during that shutdown, when his district was one of the ones most affected by that flood, I suspect Udall would have been able to keep his job.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Stone is already hinting at making a deal.

https://www.politico.com/amp/story/2019 ... mp-1128615

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[Primula Baggins]

Bennet's generally quiet and not at all flashy. But he was basically channeling the wrath of Colorado right there and then. No one really talks about that shutdown in 2013 but we remember it. The flood waters had actually receded a month before but we were grappling with a huge mess. Clean-up had barely gotten going. Lyons and Jamestown had almost been quite literally washed off the map and people were just getting their relief claims and disaster loans made and processed. At that point, I'm not there was even a way for the mitigation crews to even get into Estes Park. There were dump sites all over Boulder for carpet and moldy drywall. You don't get over a natural disaster like that in a month. You don't even get over it in a year. On this day in 2019 I can point to a place in Longmont that's still not quite finished. A federal shutdown at the time just felt like a huge **** you. If Udall had reminded people during his 2014 campaign that Cory Gardner just sat back silently during that shutdown, when his district was one of the ones most affected by that flood, I suspect Udall would have been able to keep his job.

It is so cool to see a legislator actually represent the people who elected him.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Acting AG Whitaker: Mueller investigation 'close to being completed'

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[Voronwë the Faithful]

Michael Cohen has agreed to testify -- behind close doors -- to the House Intelligence Committee, on February 8. Apparently, his testimony before the House Oversight Committee on February 7 may be back on. It is unclear whether this testimony will still be public or will also be behind close doors. And he is also scheduled to testify behind closed doors to the Senate Intelligence Committee, on February 12.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

This is the best, most comprehensive article I have seen arguing that Mueller and his team is preparing to make a big splash. It might be completely off-base, but he makes a good case.

Mueller closes the circle of Russian collusion on Trump

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[Primula Baggins]

Only partway through, but holy crap.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Yesterday it came out that the Senate Intelligence Committee had received evidence that the mysterious phone call that Donald Trump, Jr. made around the time of his infamous Trump Tower meeting to get dirt on the Clinton campaign to blocked telephone number were not to his father. So it was all just innocent right? Just phone calls to family friends and business associates.

Well, not so fast. It turns out that one of the blocked numbers belonged to Howard Lorber "a longtime point of contact in Trump’s ambitions to build a tower in Moscow."

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/amp/2019 ... orber.html

Hmmmmm! This Moscow Trump Tower issue keeps coming up more and more. It is very telling that the one thing that the special counsel team chose to charge Michael Cohen with lying about was about the Moscow Trump Tower. So did that come up at the infamous June 2016 meeting in some way as a possible quid pro quo for cooperating with the Russians, and then Donald Jr. called Lorber to discuss it with him? We probably will never know, but I certainly would not be at all surprised. Of course, who knows what the special counsel team knows?

Time will tell!

[Primula Baggins]

This whole thing—I can’t remember being so full of suspense about a political issue.

But I also can’t remember any time when the stakes were so high. And I lived through Watergate as an interested tween with politically aware parents.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I'm cautiously pessimistic. While I think it is abundantly clear that there was extensive coordination between Russia, WikiLeaks, and the Trump campaign (including the candidate himself) I'm not convinced that there will be sufficient hard evidence. For instance, Stone acknowledges that he had numerous late night phone conversations with Mr. Trump during the time period the Stone was publicly talking about Wikileaks but he and Mr. Trump both deny they ever spoke about Wikileaks. How likely is that? But there is no paper trail or other proof of it. But we'll see. Most likely there will be things in Mueller's report that will be a total surprise. If we ever get to see it!

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[Dave_LF]

Apologies for lowering the tone, but you've all seen this by now, right?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ihvgfU_g7LI

[Voronwë the Faithful]

You know it funny, but I've seen lots of people raving over this Randy Rainbow video, but I liked it a lot less than some of his previous ones that I've seen. There must be something about it that I just don't get.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I feel like a bit of a broken record, but this could turn out to be biggest news yet, or it could turn out to be nothing.

House intelligence chair announces sweeping investigation into Trump's finances and Russia