US Politics: What Price Loyalty?

[Jace, Extat]

5 minutes ago, Mudguard said:

If the warrant to search Michael Cohen doesn't go beyond the hush payments, I'm not sure it's going to have much effect on Trump.  Maybe Cohen gets punished, but I doubt anything will happen to Trump.  John Edwards was indicted and tried, but found not guilty, of campaign finance charges for money spent to hide his mistress during his 2008 campaign. 

Since Mueller passed this off, the issues with Cohen don't appear to be related to Mueller's case on collusion with Russia or obstruction of justice, which means it's unlikely that they are looking for documents related to money laundering for the Russians.  Russian money laundering would provide a motive for the case on collusion, so Mueller wouldn't have passed it off if they were looking for this.

I'm not sure how much fishing the FBI can do while they are searching Cohen's documents and computer files.  Specifically, I don't know if the FBI can use a search warrant for looking for evidence of hush payments as a pretext to look for evidence of money laundering or other crimes.  If the warrant isn't rock solid, or if the FBI agents overstep the bounds of the warrant or violate attorney-client privilege, it's possible that they could taint any other evidence of crimes that they uncover and render that evidence unusable at trial.  Cohen is likely a vast mine of information, but they have to be very careful with how they go about extracting that information.

Umm, the Trump brand is built on money laundering. Attorney-Client privilege does not protect you from committing crimes with your lawyer, and if Cohen is as stupid as Trump makes himself out to be I'm going to imagine there's more than a lil' hush monies in those email archives.

These taxi medallions sound like they were specifically made to be used for the same purpose too.

 

[Fez]

6 minutes ago, Durckad said:

Considering the way things are going, maybe Trump asks Greitens to resign and then promptly hires him to be a part of his administration. Maybe as, oh, Secretary of the Sleaze or something.

Every once and a while, Trump decides to hold other people to much higher ethical standards than himself and he doesn't let it go. For instance, there was a lot of talk during the transition that the reason he disliked Christie so much was because he disliked the way Christie threw an aide under the bus for bridgegate rather than owning up to it. And apparently he really was upset with Tom Price for his corruption.

On the other hand, he's seemingly been fine with other cabinet members' corruption, campaigned for Roy Moore, doesn't believe the Rob Porter allegations, etc. So there's really no telling when he'll decide to go against someone.

[Fragile Bird]

As you may have heard, the RNC has launched a website called Lyin' Comey to attack him, as his book gets launched on Sunday and he starts his book tour across the US.

It is truly hilarious to see a Republican website quoting HRC and Maxine Waters for support.

https://www.lyincomey.com/

[Jace, Extat]

2 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

As you may have heard, the RNC has launched a website called Lyin' Comey to attack him, as his book gets launched on Sunday and he starts his book tour across the US.

It is truly hilarious to see a Republican website quoting HRC and Maxine Waters for support.

https://www.lyincomey.com/

I don't often quote that sack of shit Truman, but when I do it's to convey my delight at watching two shitty entities beat the fuck out of each other.

[Morpheus]

Trump is a pathological liar and has massive ego and sense of entitlement, I think it is possible that he may truly believe bad things are not bad when he does them. Also, his sense of ethics is tied up with a person’s utility. Price was seen as ineffective so his corruption ended his career, Pruitt, who makes Price look like a small time grifter, has been very good for the fossil fuel industry at the EPA, he gets a pass.

[Fragile Bird]

One of the stories in Comey's book is that after he was fired, John Kelly called him and was so upset he was thinking of resigning because he couldn't stomach working for a man who has no honor.

I wonder how that story is going over in the WH?

 

[Larry of the Lawn]

2 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

.

I wonder how that story is going over in the WH?

 

Fake news from a fired loser, probs

[Prince of the North]

5 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

One of the stories in Comey's book is that after he was fired, John Kelly called him and was so upset he was thinking of resigning because he couldn't stomach working for a man who has no honor.

I wonder how that story is going over in the WH?

 

Kelly will just have to take a page out of Trump's book: "Fake News!!!"  It'll be interesting if anyone has the opportunity to stick a microphone in Kelly's face and ask him about it.

ETA: Ninja'd! 

[Fragile Bird]

"Has vision of 'Mama Mia' being remade as a Trump bio-pic"

"Meryl Streep as the housekeeper"

"Ivanka Trump as the daughter"

"Three potential fathers, all Donald Trump clones"

[Shryke]

7 hours ago, Fez said:

I didn't read that as the member saying he was on judiciary, just that he was talking about the folks who were on it. However, I think we can narrow it down a lot in other ways.

First up, he mentions Pelosi's changes to the congressional cafeteria and his extreme dislike of them. Those changes were enacted when she became Speaker in 2007 and reversed after Republicans took the majority in 2011, so I think we can narrow it down to members elected prior to 2006 (there's a chance he was a congressional staffer at that point, but I can't think of any Republican members right now who were previously staffers). That narrows it down to 57 names.

Next, we know it's a man. 52 names.

Can I just say that this is my favourite bit of this entire interesting analysis?

[Paladin of Ice]

24 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

One of the stories in Comey's book is that after he was fired, John Kelly called him and was so upset he was thinking of resigning because he couldn't stomach working for a man who has no honor.

I wonder how that story is going over in the WH?

 

Kelly is already said to be on the outs with Trump. Agent Orange got tired of being told no and someone else being credited as "The adult in the room", so from all indications Trump is sidelining Kelly and acting on his own worst instincts again, except when someone manages to restrain him or convince him otherwise.

No biggie though, because Trump knows better than the generals. 

[Durckad]

1 hour ago, Fez said:

Every once and a while, Trump decides to hold other people to much higher ethical standards than himself and he doesn't let it go. For instance, there was a lot of talk during the transition that the reason he disliked Christie so much was because he disliked the way Christie threw an aide under the bus for bridgegate rather than owning up to it. And apparently he really was upset with Tom Price for his corruption.

On the other hand, he's seemingly been fine with other cabinet members' corruption, campaigned for Roy Moore, doesn't believe the Rob Porter allegations, etc. So there's really no telling when he'll decide to go against someone.

It's almost like Trump is not 100% rational or consistent pretty much all of the time. Shocking, I know.

[Mudguard]

Rod Rosenstein is likely going to be fired before Mueller completes his report.  Trump needs a stooge in place so that Mueller's report is never released to the public, and Rosenstein hasn't shown the kind of loyalty Trump demands from his stooges.  Since the sit down interview with Trump doesn't look like it's going to happen, Mueller can wrap up his report relatively soon.  This explains the massive increase in Rosenstein bashing by Trump surrogates in the media recently.  They are giving Trump cover for the imminent firing of Rosenstein.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

29 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

One of the stories in Comey's book is that after he was fired, John Kelly called him and was so upset he was thinking of resigning because he couldn't stomach working for a man who has no honor.

I wonder how that story is going over in the WH?

 

There's a few gems that have come out:

Quote

In his memoir, Comey paints a devastating portrait of a president who built “a cocoon of alternative reality that he was busily wrapping around all of us.” Comey describes Trump as a congenital liar and unethical leader, devoid of human emotion and driven by personal ego.

 

Quote

Interacting with Trump, Comey writes, gave him “flashbacks to my earlier career as a prosecutor against the Mob. The silent circle of assent. The boss in complete control. The loyalty oaths. The us-versus-them worldview. The lying about all things, large and small, in service to some code of loyalty that put the organization above morality and above the truth.”

 

Quote

Trump offered varying explanations to convince Comey it was not true. “I’m a germaphobe,” Trump told him in a follow-up call on Jan. 11, 2017, according to Comey’s account. “There’s no way I would let people pee on each other around me. No way.” Later, the president asked what could be done to “lift the cloud” because it was so painful for first lady Melania Trump.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/james-comeys-memoir-trump-fixates-on-proving-lewd-dossier-allegations-false/2018/04/12/64493866-3ce2-11e8-974f-aacd97698cef_story.html?utm_term=.b2c3dbc8b2b4

If the pee tape was so painful for her, imagine how she's feeling about everything else. I wouldn't be shocked if the Trumps are the first First Coup[le to get divorced while in the WH. 

[Jace, Extat]

1 minute ago, Tywin et al. said:

There's a few gems that have come out:

 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/james-comeys-memoir-trump-fixates-on-proving-lewd-dossier-allegations-false/2018/04/12/64493866-3ce2-11e8-974f-aacd97698cef_story.html?utm_term=.b2c3dbc8b2b4

If the pee tape was so painful for her, imagine how she's feeling about everything else. I wouldn't be shocked if the Trumps are the first First Coup[le to get divorced while in the WH. 

"The Prime Minister sends his compliments, and Hitler has invaded Russia."

[Gone and Quite Forgotten]

2 hours ago, Pony Queen Jace said:

I actually would be astounded if Trumpy didn't have a nasty attraction to Latina or Black women.

And I mean nasty in the way he treats the engagements, of course. Because it's his racism that probably turns him on.

I generally prefer to think of Trump as a nonsexual entity, because contemplating what turns him on feels kind of like staring into the oozing pustules of the abyss. That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a highly sexual component to his infatuation with power, control, and authoritarianism. And I'm sure any attraction he might have to women of color, especially one who worked for him, would probably play into that.

Somebody should really point out to Trump's base, btw, that of the last two presidents, the one with six children from four different women is the white guy. Well...white-ish.

[Fragile Bird]

Lol, Wolf Blitzer is talking to Stormy's lawyer about Cohen saying he will invoke the 5th amendment in their case, and Avenatti is pointing out how Trump has repeatedly said anyone who pleads the fifth is doing it because they're guilty.

I am imagining Comey meeting with Trump.

C:  Mr. President, our democracy is under attack and...

T:  I did not grope that woman in the airplane

C:  We need to take action to defend...

T:  Do I look like I need to go to a hooker?

C:  The Russians interfered with....

T:  I'm a germaphobe!

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

28 minutes ago, Mudguard said:

Rod Rosenstein is likely going to be fired before Mueller completes his report.  Trump needs a stooge in place so that Mueller's report is never released to the public, and Rosenstein hasn't shown the kind of loyalty Trump demands from his stooges.  Since the sit down interview with Trump doesn't look like it's going to happen, Mueller can wrap up his report relatively soon.  This explains the massive increase in Rosenstein bashing by Trump surrogates in the media recently.  They are giving Trump cover for the imminent firing of Rosenstein.

Few things here. First, it's unlikely the report will ever be released to the public, regardless of what happens. Mueller reports it to Rosenstein, and then Rosenstein can report part or all of it to Congress and make a recommendation if he so chooses. Or he can put it in a desk drawer and never look at it again. The only thing he can't do as far as I know is destroy it. There's a mechanism Congress has to get the report from Rosenstein or his replacement, but I forget how it works and it's not a slam dunk process as far as I can tell. 

People have been talking about bringing in someone to end the investigation. That's not the smart play. If it's that bad, you bring in a stooge who dramatically shrinks the scope of what Mueller can investigate and then you bury the report for as long as you can.

Second, what makes you think this will be wrapped up anytime soon? Mueller can't force Trump to do an interview with him, but he can for him to testify in front of a grand jury. And that could honestly be more dangerous for Trump. Furthermore, many of the main actors in this affair still haven't had interviews. I see no reason to believe this is going to be over anytime soon based on the arguments above. There's still a lot to look at and I'm sure there will be a fight in Congress over how much they get to see. 

On an unrelated note, can the president apply retroactive executive privileges? I honestly don't recall ever reading about that.

[Jace, Extat]

10 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

Lol, Wolf Blitzer is talking to Stormy's lawyer about Cohen saying he will invoke the 5th amendment in their case, and Avenatti is pointing out how Trump has repeatedly said anyone who pleads the fifth is doing it because they're guilty.

I am imagining Comey meeting with Trump.

C:  Mr. President, our democracy is under attack and...

T:  I did not grope that woman in the airplane

C:  We need to take action to defend...

T:  Do I look like I need to go to a hooker?

C:  The Russians interfered with....

T:  I'm a germaphobe!

I love my Wolfie. He was totally stonefaced with Avanati, which is his standard modus operandi, but there was something particularly cold in his sign off with the lawyer.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

44 minutes ago, Paladin of Ice said:

No biggie though, because Trump knows better than the generals. 

He also knows more about taxes than anyone. Same goes for trade, economics, real estate and really any applicable word he knows. Clearly no human has ever been a greater, bigger, better and more beautiful polymath than our Dear Leader.