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US Politics: The Ides of Mueller


Paladin of Ice

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We're on page 20 of the old thread and I've always wanted to start one of these threads. Please continue.

Picking up from the last page: Mueller subpoenas record from the Trump Organization directly regarding various issues, including Russia.

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The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has subpoenaed the Trump Organization to turn over documents, including some related to Russia, according to two people briefed on the matter. The order is the first known instance of the special counsel demanding records directly related to President Trump’s businesses, bringing the investigation closer to the president.

The breadth of the subpoena was not clear, nor was it clear why Mr. Mueller issued it instead of simply asking for the documents from the company, an umbrella organization that oversees Mr. Trump’s business ventures. In the subpoena, delivered in recent weeks, Mr. Mueller ordered the Trump Organization to hand over all records related to Russia and other topics he is investigating, the people said.

The subpoena is the latest indication that the investigation, which Mr. Trump’s lawyers once regularly assured him would be completed by now, will drag on for at least several more months. Word of the subpoena comes as Mr. Mueller appears to be broadening his investigation to examine the role foreign money may have played in funding Mr. Trump’s political activities. In recent weeks, Mr. Mueller’s investigators have questioned witnesses, including an adviser to the United Arab Emirates, about the flow of Emirati money into the United States.

The Trump Organization has typically complied with requests from congressional investigators for documents for their own inquiries into Russian election interference, and there was no indication the company planned to fight Mr. Mueller’s order.

“Since July 2017, we have advised the public that the Trump Organization is fully cooperative with all investigations, including the special counsel, and is responding to their requests,” said Alan S. Futerfas, a lawyer representing the Trump Organization. “This is old news and our assistance and cooperation with the various investigations remains the same today.”

...

Mr. Mueller could run afoul of a line the president has warned him not to cross. Though it is not clear how much of the subpoena is related to Mr. Trump’s business beyond ties to Russia, Mr. Trump said in an interview with The New York Times in July that the special counsel would be crossing a “red line” if he looked into his family’s finances beyond any relationship with Russia. The president declined to say how he would respond if he concluded that the special counsel had crossed that line.

A month before Mr. Trump spoke of his red line, the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, threatened to quit after Mr. Trump asked him to have Mr. Mueller fired because the president believed he had conflict-of-interest issues that precluded him from running the special counsel investigation.

Mr. Mueller was appointed in May to investigate whether Mr. Trump’s campaign colluded with the Russians to influence the 2016 presidential election and any other matters that may arise from the inquiry. He is also examining whether the president has tried to obstruct the investigation.

Mr. Trump’s lawyers are in negotiations with Mr. Mueller’s office about whether and how to allow his investigators to interview the president. Mr. Mueller’s office has shared topics it wants to discuss with the president, according to two people familiar with the talks. The lawyers have advised Mr. Trump to refuse an interview but the president wants to do it, as he believes he has done nothing wrong and can easily answer investigators’ questions.

At the same time, Mr. Trump is considering whether to bring on a new lawyer to help represent him in the special counsel’s investigation. Last week, Mr. Trump spoke with Emmet Flood, a longtime Washington lawyer who represented former President Bill Clinton during the impeachment process, about coming into the White House to deal with the inquiry.

 

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Unfortunately looks like Trump is going to have some new ammo for the fake news fire.

https://www.propublica.org/article/cia-cables-detail-its-new-deputy-directors-role-in-torture

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On Feb. 22, 2017, ProPublica published a story that inaccurately described Gina Haspel’s role in the treatment of Abu Zubaydah, a suspected al-Qaida leader who was imprisoned by the CIA at a secret “black site” in Thailand in 2002.

The story said that Haspel, a career CIA officer who President Trump has nominated to be the next director of central intelligence, oversaw the clandestine base where Zubaydah was subjected to waterboarding and other coercive interrogation methods that are widely seen as torture. The story also said she mocked the prisoner’s suffering in a private conversation. Neither of these assertions is correct and we retract them. It is now clear that Haspel did not take charge of the base until after the interrogation of Zubaydah ended.

 

This is the primary source reporters have been relying on when talking about Gina Haspel.

On the plus side, it does mean that the nominee to be CIA Director was not directly overseeing torture operations; so that's nice.

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Trumps want for a death penalty for drug dealers will be another way the gov kills people of color. Think of every bullshit possession charge that gets jacked up to possession with intent to sell. That will be a death sentence if this passes. And we know cops fuck with people of color more and give them harsher charges.

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30 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

The WAPO is reporting tonight that Trump has made the decision today that H.R. McMaster is going to suffer the Ides of March. He just hasn't decided who will replace him.

Another adult in the room gone.

CBS think has a story saying that some White House insiders think it's going to be a full-on purge. McMaster, John Kelly, VA head David Schulkin, and several other Cabinet heads may all be on the chopping block.

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A shake-up that some at the White House are preemptively calling a purge is coming. It could take down a chief of staff, a national security adviser, and up to three Cabinet secretaries, reports CBS News chief White House correspondent Major Garrett. It all depends on President Trump's volatile mood and available, willing replacements.

"We're coming back and doing it more so than we've ever done before. We're setting records," Mr. Trump said Wednesday in St. Louis, touting what he called record-setting economic progress.

But the turnover of top aides at his White House has also made history. So far, in the 14 months of his presidency, more than 20 senior administration staffers have either been fired, resigned or reassigned. 

The next to go could be National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster, expected to be replaced by former Bush administration official and frequent Fox News analyst John Bolton. Bolton is a hawk on Iran and North Korea, like new secretary of state nominee and current CIA chief Mike Pompeo.

The man brought in last summer to impose order in the White House, chief of staff John Kelly, may also be on the way out, according to congressional and administration sources. 

And Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin could be forced out, with Energy Secretary Rick Perry in line to replace him.

In February, the VA inspector general determined Shulkin used taxpayer dollars on a lavish trip to Europe for his wife. Mr. Trump joked about firing Shulkin last summer.

"It will be properly implemented, right David? It better be David, or [mouths "you're fired"]. We'll never have to use those words on our David," Mr. Trump said.

Sources said secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson is also in jeopardy, after purchasing a $31,000 dining room set for his office. The order was eventually canceled.

If Kelly and McMaster go, I wonder if old "Mad Dog" Mattis tells Trump where to stick it. Imagine how sad Trump will be if no one in the military wants to put up with his shit.

I've been warning everyone I know from the start not to expect an impeachment to go through and to be prepared for at least 4 years of Trump, but what a strange twist it'll be if Agent Orange has a breakdown that takes him out of the White House before his term is up.

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12 minutes ago, Sword of Doom said:

Trumps want for a death penalty for drug dealers will be another way the gov kills people of color. Think of every bullshit possession charge that gets jacked up to possession with intent to sell. That will be a death sentence if this passes. And we know cops fuck with people of color more and give them harsher charges.

Drug dealers come in all varieties Doom. What do you think should be done with Drug dealers in general  ?  They do sell  illicit harmful substances ruin and take lives. What do you think is a just punishment for anyone who engages in this sort of activity ? 

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Stormy's lawyer, Michael Avenatti, was just on CNN right now saying they have been approached by six more women who have stories "very similar'" to Daniels' tale. Anderson Cooper asked if any of them have NDAs, and he said at least 2 of them do, though he has not seen the documents yet. To be fair, he said his firm has not had an opportunity yet to do extensive research on their stories, the women have approached his firm since the publicity over Stormy Daniels.

He also said, in response to Michael Cohen's threat to extract a million dollars from Ms. Daniels for every time she has spoken about Trump, that he was positive no court in California will uphold that term of the agreement.

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12 minutes ago, GAROVORKIN said:

Drug dealers come in all varieties Doom. What do you think should be done with Drug dealers in general  ?  They do sell  illicit harmful substances ruin and take lives. What do you think is a just punishment for anyone who engages in this sort of activity ? 

Are you shitting me?

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21 minutes ago, GAROVORKIN said:

Drug dealers come in all varieties Doom. What do you think should be done with Drug dealers in general  ?  They do sell  illicit harmful substances ruin and take lives. What do you think is a just punishment for anyone who engages in this sort of activity ? 

lol

 

you aren't even trying anymore. you used to at least be interesting. 

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46 minutes ago, Sword of Doom said:

Trumps want for a death penalty for drug dealers will be another way the gov kills people of color. Think of every bullshit possession charge that gets jacked up to possession with intent to sell. That will be a death sentence if this passes. And we know cops fuck with people of color more and give them harsher charges.

Yup.

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2 hours ago, Sword of Doom said:

Trumps want for a death penalty for drug dealers will be another way the gov kills people of color. Think of every bullshit possession charge that gets jacked up to possession with intent to sell. That will be a death sentence if this passes. And we know cops fuck with people of color more and give them harsher charges.

Trump just wants it because he loves authoritarianism and fascism. He's all about just shooting "criminals" in the streets. It's part of his appeal to his base.

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You know I posted about the story about Trump bragging at a fund-raiser he lied to Trudeau in a meeting with him.

The White House is now saying it was actually on a phone call. And Sarah Sanders says but of course Canada has a trade deficit with the US, even while the 500 page trade summary signed by Trump a couple of weeks ago says Canada and Great Britain are the only countries with which the US has a trade surplus.

But...a senior Canadian journalist, using his contacts with the Liberal government, says 5 people told him no one can remember any such conversation happening.

So...you brag you lied at a meeting.

...the meeting was actually a phone call.

...the conversation actually never happened.

Of course, he also talked about bowling balls. And Sanders says everyone knows the story was a joke, just an illustration of trade barriers other countries put up to prevent goods entering their countries. I guess that means he just wanted to put down a young, happy, good-lucking opponent? Before a public audience? It reminded me of his speech in Pennsylvania, where he said Lamb was just a little younger than him but he was better looking.

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