Scandalrama 7

I pronounce it “SCAN-dull-RAM-uh”, if you were wondering.

It hasn’t been a good week for Team Deep State or its captain, Special Counsel Mueller.  I think it’s reasonable to say that the Trump-Russia Collusion story is in its early death throes.  My own sense, a couple of weeks ago, was that the Cohen raid was a mistake.  An overreach.  It seemed desperate.  Now we see that it really was an attempt to land a blow on Trump for something and that it was a bad look for Mueller.  Since then, it hasn’t gotten better.

The biggest happening on this front was a federal judge rebuking the Special Counsel for basically lying about his entire reason for prosecuting Manafort.

A federal judge expressed deep skepticism Friday of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation in the bank fraud case against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, at one point saying he believes that Mueller’s motivation is to oust President Donald Trump from office.

Although Mueller’s authority has been tested in court before, Friday’s hearing was notable for District Judge T.S. Ellis’ decision to wade into the divisive political debate around the investigation.
“You don’t really care about Mr. Manafort’s bank fraud,” Ellis said to prosecutor Michael Dreeben, at times losing his temper. Ellis said prosecutors were interested in Manafort because of his potential to provide material that would lead to Trump’s “prosecution or impeachment.”

Obvious coup is obvious, it seems.  The judge could easily dismiss the case without prejudice and allow Manafort to have new charges filed by a US Attorney’s Office, but it would still be a humiliating setback for Mueller, who is obviously wasting our time with this neverending investigation.

“Well, what about Cohen?” you may ask.  “He’s sure to flip on Trump!”

Yeah, just like Manafort and Flynn were supposed to, right?  Judge Ellis had something to say on that too.

Under this theory, Mueller isn’t handling the prosecution of Cohen because there’s nothing there that implicates Trump.  It honestly makes sense to me, given that nothing Manafort has been charged with has anything to with Russia or the election.  His proximity to Trump during the campaign itself seems to be the only reason for any of this.

This isn’t Mueller’s only looming potential setback to emerge this week either.

A federal judge has rejected special counsel Robert Mueller’s request to delay the first court hearing in a criminal case charging three Russian companies and 13 Russian citizens with using social media and other means to foment strife among Americans in advance of the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

In a brief order Saturday evening, U.S. District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich offered no explanation for her decision to deny a request prosecutors made Friday to put off the scheduled Wednesday arraignment for Concord Management and Consulting, one of the three firms charged in the case.

And…

The 13 people charged in the high-profile indictment in February are considered unlikely to ever appear in a U.S. court. The three businesses accused of facilitating the alleged Russian troll farm operation — the Internet Research Agency, Concord Management, and Concord Catering — were also expected to simply ignore the American criminal proceedings.

Last month, however, a pair of Washington-area lawyers suddenly surfaced in the case, notifying the court that they represent Concord Management. POLITICO reported at the time that the move appeared to be a bid to force Mueller’s team to turn over relevant evidence to the Russian firm and perhaps even to bait prosecutors into an embarrassing dismissal in order to avoid disclosing sensitive information.

Oh, and sentencing for Flynn was delayed again.  Fantastic timing, given that Congress also released the unredacted Comey testimony which stated that Flynn showed no physical signs of deception during his interview with the FBI following his phone call with Kislayek that wasn’t even illegal or improper in the first place.

Forget everything I said about the likelihood that Trump will just pardon everybody.  He might not even have to bother.  The wheels are coming of off the Mueller probe and I think it’s safe to say that the end is in sight.

I mean, Clapper apparently leaked information to CNN and was rewarded for it with a job.  Lisa Page and one of Comey’s minions resigned from the FBI.  And all eyes are turning to the upcoming OIG report that may expose just how crooked the entire Obama-era DOJ really was.

The Democrats now get to head into the midterms running against a strong economy and maybe even a diplomatic victory in Korea.  What they have to run on is banning the 2nd Amendment (good luck taking Congress on that platform) and impeaching Trump for…what has turned out to be nothing.  Well, not totally nothing.  There have been plenty of crimes, but they were committed by Democrats and their Deep State buddies.

“B-but, what about Stormy Daniels?”  What about her?  Nobody cares that Trump screwed her, aside from CNN.  As mentioned above, if there were anything there that could get Trump in serious trouble, Mueller would be prosecuting him.  Anyway, she’s busy having a feud with Roseanne over whether or not she ever got assfucked on camera.  I’ll leave it to someone else to review her filmography for proof of whether it’s true or not.  I don’t care.

Congress needs to put forward a resolution demanding an end to Mueller’s investigation.  It has gone on for too long, gone too far outside of its boundaries, and (as I’ve repeatedly said) no findings that come of it will have validity anyway.  It’s time for it to end and for Mueller to return to his retirement. No Democrat should even disagree with this.  It has become a national embarrassment and is doing more harm than good even to the cause of Never-Trumpers.

Shut it down.

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18 comments

  1. As long as that weasel shithead Rosenstein is able to continue doing the Deep State’s business by deflecting, obstructing, ignoring any demands put on him by congressional committee’s for documents they have every right to, this is all bluster.

  2. Rosenstein isn’t going to last much longer, I don’t think. The only reason he’s clinging on is because he knows firing him while it still looks like Mueller might turn something up is politically dangerous for Trump.

    Problem is that Mueller is under increasing pressure by Congress to show his hand and it’s pretty clear that it’s empty. I’m still trying to determine whether or not Judge Ellis has mortally wounded the investigation by giving Trump sufficient cover to end the witch hunt by calling it what it is.

  3. Since this is open thread; Santino, is Toronto going to win at least one game?

    Thus far I felt that both Portland and OKC were the year’s biggest disappointments, but the Raptors have just stunk up the joint big time.

    I was on the Philly bandwagon early, but clearly, they are not ready.
    Brad Stevens for coach of they year?
    Although somewhat healthy now, the Warriors gotta win today or it could be trouble. I still think they can beat Houston.
    Warriors/Cavs, the fourth edition……………………..I like it.

  4. Does anyone really believe Trump when he says he did not bang Stormy?

    A great upheaval has been going on of late on some of the right leaning blogs I look at. On one side is the ,”we knew what he was when we voted for him” side who admits that he lies but unlike Clinton, does not lie under oath so it’s no big deal. On the other is the ,”Come on, if he lies about this, what else is he lying about? Since he lies to suit his agenda, can we believe anything that he says?” crowd, who is embarrassed that their colleagues don’t care about rank dishonesty.

    I guess it all depends on whether you think honesty is important or not, it sure as hell is to me.

  5. Does anyone really believe Trump when he says he did not bang Stormy?

    No. The thing is that so long as he does what he was elected to do, I really don’t care. That’s a POV I see from a lot of other Trump voters.

    Seriously, why is CNN bothering with this? Democrats don’t care about a politician committing adultery. Is it about a political candidate insulating its activities by working through a lawyer? Well, they didn’t care when Hillary had Perkins Coie hiring Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele to invent the Russia narrative.

    Republicans, particularly evangelicals, don’t care either. The attitude is that they didn’t elect Trump to be the national pastor. As long as he’s fighting for the political causes they like, they’ll ignore it. Most other Trump-supporting Republicans just see it as another overblown, imaginary scandal to hurt Trump.

    Really, the Democrats shouldn’t have shot their wad on Trump-Russia. Every subsequent scandal is going to be a “boy who cried wolf” scenario from here.

    Why the incessant coverage if nobody actually cares? It’s a mystery to me.

    I guess it all depends on whether you think honesty is important or not, it sure as hell is to me.

    I’m more in the contingent of “We knew he was when we voted for him.” Even if Trump were a perfect Boy Scout–er, Person Scout or whatever they are now–it wouldn’t matter. Romney was as straight-arrow and decent as Trump isn’t and he was still vilified. “The political Left will personally destroy anyone who stands in their way,” so the thinking goes. Why should we react to scandals the Left gins up when we know full well that they don’t really care about the issues?

    Here’s a pro-tip to all Never Trumpers. If you REALLY want something that will hurt Trump and make a dent in his support, start following stories like these:

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/may/05/trump-team-hired-spy-firm-dirty-ops-iran-nuclear-deal

    Aides to Donald Trump, the US president, hired an Israeli private intelligence agency to orchestrate a “dirty ops” campaign against key individuals from the Obama administration who helped negotiate the Iran nuclear deal, the Observer can reveal.

    People in the Trump camp contacted private investigators in May last year to “get dirt” on Ben Rhodes, who had been one of Barack Obama’s top national security advisers, and Colin Kahl, deputy assistant to Obama, as part of an elaborate attempt to discredit the deal.

    This, I do care about. I don’t think Iran is really our problem and have zero interest in having a conflict with it for Israel’s sake.

  6. The desperation and craven pathetic tone here smacks of an inner fear that can’t be covered over by Fox News.

    I’m convinced that not only do most people reading this not believe it, I am almost positive YOU don’t believe it.

    A judge issued, at best, dicta in a Manafort hearing and trumpkin cucks are rejoicing like retards with a cup of ice cream? Lmao!

    Let’s say in your wildest (and unlikely) sweaty palm wet dreams the judge steers completely away from the facts of the case and issues mueller an unfavorable ruling, he’s introduced prejudice with his dictum and it will be appealed. That’s all.

    As for Cohen, how much more uninformed and pathetic could you sound sloshing around with those water buckets? Judge Otero issued Cohen a stay here on his civil arbitration dispute precisely BECAUSE Cohen would like to preserve his right to take the fifth in his criminal indictment in New York.

    I’d go on, but you’d only hunker down in your sweaty palm refuge of denial and cringe inducing deliberate wishful thinking. Just like you still remarkably think there’s some trump majority of voters out there, the house of congress and senate aren’t in jeopardy, and trump isn’t facing any trouble ahead with investigations (criminal and civil), I’ll just leave you to your incoherent babbling on the park bench and let time give you the spanking.

  7. Seriously, why is CNN bothering with this?

    Because they are still butt-hurt over the election.

    Democrats don’t care about a politician committing adultery.

    I gotta say, 99% of this is Trump’s doing. Nobody cares (except Melania) about a 12 year old dalliance, but when you lie about it, when you try to cover it up with hush money, then lie about that, one lie begats another, then another and you paint yourself into the corner.

    Republicans, particularly evangelicals, don’t care either.

    I think they care in that spending all your time answering Stormy questions when you could be touting all your achievements, that limits your effectiveness. And, even though they know he is a sinner, they would like him to sin less.

    Why the incessant coverage if nobody actually cares? It’s a mystery to me.

    Because there is always another election coming. Their job (if they were at all honest with themselves)is to slam the Republicans and aid the Democrats. Keeping things like Stormy, Mueller, Russian Collusion, Cowen, McCabe, and Comey topical aligns perfectly with that mission statement.

    I’m more in the contingent of “We knew he was when we voted for him.”

    I’m in that camp as well but it’s just stupid to keep lying about stuff when everyone knows you are lying. It’s lazy and not smart, and reveals serious character flaws, making you look weak and petty. And it is counter productive to what he wants to accomplish.

  8. Santino, is Toronto going to win at least one game?

    Ah man, this is when I question my sanity for loving sports so much. Thankfully I didn’t catch LeBron’s magic. I chose to stay up super late on my vacation to watch game 1 and 3 quarters of game 2. I gave myself a night off yesterday.

    I’m at a loss for words. I was always knew the road to the east crown would go through Cleveland, but this is capitulation. My guess, Toronto gets blown out of the water tomorrow night. Good thing is I’ll be in transit and will miss it.

    Warriors-Cacs Part IV indeed.

    I recall you are somewhat of a Sharks fan. I’m enjoying Vegas’ run this year. I’d like to see them come out if the West.

  9. Thankfully I didn’t catch LeBron’s magic.

    It was a thing of beauty. This is why we are sports fans. Perfection is the holy grail of achievement, Lebron is the GOAT and it is pure pleasure to watch the best hone his craft. If you remember The Judge’s sports post a few months back, I told you guys that somehow someway he would put this young team on his back and carry them to the championships.

    I’m enjoying Vegas’ run this year.

    I love the Golden Knights. A franchise team that wins it all? The stuff of legends.

  10. A judge issued, at best, dicta in a Manafort hearing and trumpkin cucks are rejoicing like retards with a cup of ice cream? Lmao!

    The judge called out Mueller for clearly working toward the objective of impeaching the president and wrongly recognizing no limits on his own authority. All those imaginary crimes that you think Trump is guilty of that you’ve been expecting Mueller to turn up? Yeah, not going to happen if he has to go outside of his authority from Rosenstein to do it. If you don’t understand how devastating this is to what you want, you’re going to be in for a fun ride.

    Judge Otero issued Cohen a stay here on his civil arbitration dispute precisely BECAUSE Cohen would like to preserve his right to take the fifth in his criminal indictment in New York.

    Who cares about Cohen?

    Just like you still remarkably think there’s some trump majority of voters out there, the house of congress and senate aren’t in jeopardy…

    This isn’t something I’m just making up, unlike you with your incessant predictions of Trump’s imminent demise.

    Even Daily Kos is less optimistic than you are: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/25/1683039/-How-Much-Do-Democrats-Have-to-Win-The-House-Popular-Vote-By-To-Get-A-Majority-In-2018

    40% of voters think that the country is heading in the right direction, indicating that Trump’s losses in the House will likely be minimal. That number is likely to go up over the next few months.

    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/apr/29/democrats-midterm-election-blue-wave-fades-white-h/

    Democrats are even starting to lose Millennials, who have certainly noticed the declining unemployment rate:

    https://thehayride.com/2018/04/new-poll-democrats-losing-support-among-millennials/

    Yeah, in a typical midterm election year, I expect the incumbent party to take losses. However, your favored party is retarded. They’re running nationwide on impeaching Trump and confiscating privately owned firearms. Both of these are likely to boost GOP turnout when they really, really need it to be low.

    Even better, they want to bring back Pelosi as Speaker, which is stupid because now every Democratic House candidate in every county Trump won is going to be running against her as well as the GOP opponent. And we really don’t like her.

    It’s not the same as 2006 when GOP voters stayed home because they didn’t like where things were going. So no, I’m not mired in pessimism about the 2018 midterms.

    What are the Democrats running on this year, honestly? There isn’t an unpopular war to run against, unlike 2006.

    Are they running on voters’ dissatisfaction with Trump? His poll numbers are going up. Is that the best idea?

    Economic growth? Trump and the GOP are doing quite well with on the economy with an 18 year low in unemployment.

    Saving Obamacare? Sure, Democrats can run on bringing back the hated individual mandate. Might as well vow to eliminate Trump’s tax cut too. Why not just run on vowing to increase Americans’ taxes. Brilliant.

    No bullshit. Running on Trump-Russia is all your liberal butt-pals have to run with and you’ve fully invested in it for the past year and a half. It’s a dying narrative. If you want them to keep pushing it, by all means, please do.

    and trump isn’t facing any trouble ahead with investigations (criminal and civil)

    What crime has Trump committed? Since you’re 100% convinced that the GOP is utterly doomed in 2018 by Trump’s crimes to the point that it’s all NeverTrump clowns have to run on, I would imagine you could name one.

  12. Lebron is the GOAT choke artist and it is pure pleasure to watch the best hone his craft.

    Fixed it for ya.

  14. Man tries to take selfie with a bear – https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/05e04d7e-1ae0-3fd5-8a4f-5f8e8aa7578b/ss_man-mauled-to-death-by-bear.html

    It also looks like someone instinctively took pics so that we could enjoy the show. This is Darwin-award level shit.

    Bhatara’s death is Odisha’s third selfie-related fatality since December. A 50-year-old man was crushed to death by a wild elephant while trying to take a selfie with the animal in December, according to local media. Also that month, a youth was crushed to death while taking a selfie, also with an elephant, reports said.

  15. It also looks like someone instinctively took pics so that we could enjoy the show. This is Darwin-award level shit.

    I swear that I know people who are both self-absorbed and naive enough about wild animals to do this.

  16. Good read here. Mark Penn, one of Bill and Hillary Clinton’s pollsters and advisors. He argues that Mueller’s entire investigation is so hopelessly tainted that seeking discovery through the courts would effectively end it.

    http://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/384963-comey-mueller-and-the-poisonous-tree#.WuNlZs8U8ps.twitter

    The best way to end all this is not to fire Mueller and Rosenstein or wait for them to wrap it up but to challenge this entire process in court as irretrievably tainted. If Mueller does not agree to end the investigation in exchange for presidential interrogatories, then it may be time to try to block the whole thing in court, with full discovery into whether its foundation was so corrupted — and the stonewalling actions so blatant — that the doctrine of the fruits of a poisonous tree can be invoked to stop this national distraction.

    It’s from a couple of weeks ago, but I just found it.

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