Replies to post #294336 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

Trump’s battle to destroy the Mueller investigation is officially doomed-

"MATT WHITAKER - Why Trump Replaced Sessions with the Huckster Acting DOJ Head"

Reckon Waldman has it pretty right. Whitaker was always on shaky ground because of his past and how he
scrambled there. Add, when Trump's "battle to destroy" is doomed Trump's presidency is on the same path.

VIDEO - Opinion | Don't panic about the future of the Mueller investigation — yet
Acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker is more constrained than you might think, says Post
contributor and law expert Randall D. Eliason. (Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post)

By Paul Waldman
Opinion writer
November 16

President Trump’s long struggle to destroy Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into the Russia scandal is officially over.

The president himself might not quite realize it yet, and he probably doesn’t understand why it happened. But he has lost that conflict, and the reason is simple: His attempts to fight Mueller were so ham-handed and so public that it made it impossible for him and his administration to shut Mueller down.

The president is simply incapable of subtlety and judges everything by how it plays out in the media. But in this case, the more attention he drew to his rage at Mueller, the greater the consequences of moving against Mueller became. And now it’s too late.

Look, for example, at the way he handled Attorney General Jeff Sessions. It was precisely because Trump complained publicly so many times that he was livid with Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia probe — which made it clear that he wanted Sessions to oversee it so Sessions could shut it down — that it became impossible to fire Sessions before the midterm elections. Those public statements created a situation where firing Sessions would create a backlash from Republican senators and a huge media scandal, since Trump himself had all but said it would be for the purpose of obstructing justice.

It was July 2017, sixteen months ago, when Trump told the New York Times .. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/19/us/politics/trump-interview-sessions-russia.html .. that if he had known Sessions would recuse himself from the Russia investigation he never never would have hired him. But it was that very statement that made it so much harder to do what what he wanted and fire Sessions. So months passed while Mueller was diligently working away — amassing evidence, turning witnesses and handing down indictments — and Trump could fire Sessions only after the midterms were over.

Then when he finally did it, Trump once again acted without any subtlety or understanding of how his moves would be interpreted publicly, installing Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general likely in no small part because of Whitaker’s apparent hostility to the Mueller investigation. But Whitaker became so controversial so quickly that it’s now impossible for him to fulfill Trump’s wishes without, once again, causing a huge media scandal. Whitaker now seems to feel that his hands are tied on this matter; the AP reports .. https://apnews.com/f46dd617f4644bf181cd98716bc76c75 .. that “Whitaker told Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham in a meeting on Thursday that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation will proceed.”

And now, Republicans in the Senate are pushing the administration .. https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/16/matthew-whitaker-mueller-senate-republicans-995056 .. to find a new attorney general who can be confirmed quickly — which means someone who will pledge in their confirmation hearings not to interfere in the Mueller investigation:

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Even after Trump’s latest attack on Mueller in a flurry of tweets Thursday, most Republicans argue the president will not fire Mueller or derail his investigation because the political consequences would be too great.

But they said that naming an attorney general nominee as soon as possible — specifically one who would vow to preserve the Russia probe — would go a long way in halting legislative momentum to protect Mueller and Democratic messaging that acting attorney general Matt Whitaker will undermine the investigation.

“If we had some confidence that there is somebody nominated that would be confirmed in a reasonable period of time, to me it seems like it would relieve a lot of the controversy,” said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas, who predicted that Whitaker, who was openly critical of the Mueller probe before Trump tapped him for the job, is “not going to be there long.”
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Meanwhile, all indications are that after a long period of silence during the close of the midterm campaign, Mueller is about to do something big, or a series of somethings. Trump’s former factotum Michael Cohen was spotted ..

Michael Cohen arrived in Washington, D.C., Monday morning, accompanied by one of his criminal defense lawyers. He declined to answer questions from @ABC about why he was there. https://t.co/5FvlkEOrn3 pic.twitter.com/kabYoCkVyu

— ABC News (@ABC) November 12, 2018

.. Monday coming to Washington with one of his criminal defense lawyers. Paul Manafort has held multiple meetings .. https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/17/politics/muellers-quiet-period-has-not-been-very-quiet/index.html .. in recent weeks with Mueller’s team. On Wednesday, Mueller asked .. https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000167-141d-def8-a56f-94df212c0001 .. the court to delay sentencing for former Trump aide Rick Gates, saying Gates “continues to cooperate with respect to several ongoing investigations.” Trump’s orbit is reportedly gripped by anxiety .. https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/15/mueller-probe-trump-trump-jr-roger-stone-994382 .. about what’s coming.

When Trump lashes out on Twitter in increasingly hysterical terms as he did Thursday ..

....care how many lives the ruin. These are Angry People, including the highly conflicted Bob Mueller, who worked for Obama for 8 years. They won’t even look at all of the bad acts and crimes on the other side. A TOTAL WITCH HUNT LIKE NO OTHER IN AMERICAN HISTORY!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2018

, it might (as many have speculated .. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/11/trumps-tweets-criticizing-muellers-investigation/575971/ ) suggest that he knows something bad is coming his way. But his anger comes from impotence. If he knew he was about to get his way with Mueller, he wouldn’t be shouting about it on Twitter. It’s the fact that he can’t do anything about it that fills him with rage.

We don’t know how many more Trump aides will wind up serving time behind bars, what Mueller’s final conclusions will be or how much the president himself will be implicated in the scandal. What we do know is that Trump wanted to stop the investigation, and not only has he failed, he has made everything worse for himself.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/11/16/trumps-battle-to-destroy-the-mueller-investigation-is-officially-doomed/?utm_term=.bf4f8387b1f1

[fuagf]

Unlike Richard Nixon, Donald Trump Misconduct Piling Up In Full Public View | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC

"MATT WHITAKER - Why Trump Replaced Sessions with the Huckster Acting DOJ Head"

MSNBC
Published on Nov 28, 2018

Rachel Maddow reviews the many ways that Americans have witnessed Donald Trump attempt to quash or otherwise undercut the special counsel investigation
into his 2016 presidential campaign, unlike Richard Nixon, the full record of whose misdeeds were not publicly known until after his scandal had run its course.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-Bb2R9jncQ

Rachel outlines many of Trump's efforts to hinder or stop the Mueller investigation.

From video:

Top intelligence official told associates Trump asked him if he could intervene with Comey on FBI Russia probe
VIDEO
(Whitney Leaming/The Washington Post)
By Adam Entous June 6, 2017
The nation’s top intelligence official [DNI Daniel Coates] told associates in March that President Trump asked him if he could intervene with then-FBI Director James B. Comey to get the bureau to back off its focus on former national security adviser Michael Flynn in its Russia probe, according to officials.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/top-intelligence-official-told-associates-trump-asked-him-if-he-could-intervene-with-comey-to-get-fbi-to-back-off-flynn/2017/06/06/cc879f14-4ace-11e7-9669-250d0b15f83b_story.html?utm_term=.6e4b18a61be1

Manafort’s Lawyer Said to Brief Trump Attorneys on What He Told Mueller
By Michael S. Schmidt, Sharon LaFraniere and Maggie Haberman
Nov. 27, 2018
WASHINGTON — A lawyer for Paul Manafort, the president’s onetime campaign chairman, repeatedly briefed President Trump’s lawyers on his client’s discussions with federal investigators after Mr. Manafort agreed to cooperate with the special counsel, according to one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers and two other people familiar with the conversations.
[...]
Giuliani, one of the president’s personal lawyers, acknowledged the arrangement on Tuesday and defended it as a source of valuable insights into the special counsel’s inquiry and where it was headed.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/27/us/politics/manafort-lawyer-trump-cooperation.html

--

Fmr. CIA head On Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump & ‘kompromat’ | The Last Word | MSNBC

MSNBC
Published on Nov 30, 2018

Fmr. Acting CIA Director John McLaughlin tells Ari Melber that Cohen's guilty plea reveals Russia's compromising information on
Donald Trump and describes the revelations as "the seeds of blackmail." Malcolm Nance and Ruth Marcus join the discussion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNQ2UPwRnDU

Trump in reply to question re Putin praise, 'He's a top leader unlike what we have.' To the
statement statement that Putin killed journalists Trump said, "our country does killing too."

Referenced in the video:

john mclaughlin
?Verified account @jmclaughlinSAIS

One of the most notable things learned today
is that Russia knew all along when Trump was
lying during the campaign in denying
financial or other dealings with Moscow. The
seeds of blackmail. More to wonder about re
what was said during that private meeting
w/Putin in Helsinki.
7:23 PM - 29 Nov 2018

One of the most notable things learned today is that Russia knew all along when Trump was lying during the campaign in denying financial or other dealings with Moscow. The seeds of blackmail. More to wonder about re what was said during that private meeting w/Putin in Helsinki.

— john mclaughlin (@jmclaughlinSAIS) November 30, 2018

Also in the video Malcolm Nance says foreign spies get their victims through an acronym called MICE: money, ideology,
coercion/co-option, by playing to ego. "Most of the time they don't even know they are committing treason."

When Putin was asked if he had compromising stuff on Trump, he waffled, and didn't say no.

How about that Trump family!

Putin and Saudi crown prince high-five at G20 summit

Guardian News
Published on Nov 30, 2018

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman shared a joke at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, laughing heartily as they took seats next to each other in the main meeting room. Earlier, the Saudi ruler was sidelined during the official 'family photo' of world leaders and other dignitaries, standing at the far edge of the group portrait and ignored. His presence at the international summit has been contentious following the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXiSafSqXAY

That one also posted in reply to

So... the person installed in the oval office by Putin appears to have dementia.
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=145217634