Cont: Mueller Investigation pt3

[portlandatheist]

Nah, this is definitely a popcorn night. More to come though so keep buying kernels in bulk.

Might as well add some champagne to that shopping list, it could come in handy.

 

[Vixen]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if there was no confidentiality agreement, then they are within their rights to share information and shouldn't be punished for doing so.

Information between lawyers is 'privileged' as a matter of course (i.e., 'without prejudice' and cannot be used in court). A 'confidentiality agreement' is not needed.

 

[The Big Dog]

Information between lawyers is 'privileged' as a matter of course (i.e., 'without prejudice' and cannot be used in court). A 'confidentiality agreement' is not needed.

That is, of course, not correct.

 

[Vixen]

That is, of course, not correct.

...because..?

 

[The Big Dog]

...because..?

because why would it be? It is not attorney client, so exactly what privilege were you thinking of?

(and the less said about "without prejudice" the better)

 

[applecorped]

Welcome to dashed hopes, volume eight

 

[Vixen]

Jon Sopell Sky News reporter is tearing his hair out that Trump is not shy about verbally bashing foreign leaders (May, Macron, et al) yet never utters a bad word against Putin.

This was a news item tonight about Trump postponing his visit to Putin coincidentally just as Cohen 'fessed up to lying to Congress.

 

[Vixen]

Jon Sopell Sky News reporter is tearing his hair out that Trump is not shy about verbally bashing foreign leaders (May, Macron, et al) yet never utters a bad word against Putin.

This was a news item tonight about Trump postponing his visit to Putin coincidentally just as Cohen 'fessed up to lying to Congress.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

Republicans in congress may claim they don't like what Trump is doing, but that does not mean that they 1) don't approve of his actions in private, or 2) care enough to actually act against him.

Even such notable critics as Flake ended up voting along party lines for various Trump nominees, as well as for things like the tax bill. If he were really turning on Trump, he'd actually tell the rest of the republicans "I ain't doing nothin' to advance the Republican agenda until Stubby McBonespurs is evicted".

The article I posted was about the Senate voting against Trump. It seems that there are lines.

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

Senate committees investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 election are combing through witness testimony for possible misleading or untruthful statements, according to three people familiar with the effort.

The review of testimony to Senate intelligence and judiciary committees comes as President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty Thursday to a charge brought by special counsel Robert Mueller that he lied to Congress to cover up efforts during the presidential campaign to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.

The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, said Thursday that the committee had made multiple criminal referrals to Mueller, but added "we're not going to talk about any individuals."

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said the intelligence committee "made referrals where appropriate. I am very glad the special counsel is pursuing those who mislead members of congress."

The committee's chairman, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., had a stern warning Thursday for witnesses appearing before Congress.

"This is a reason people shouldn't lie when they're in front of a congressional investigation," Burr said.

Linky.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

Put away the popcorn: Trump’s Recall of Moscow Deal Matches Cohen’s, President’s Lawyers Say.

And Trump's lawyers always tell the truth.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

Bingo, it appears that Cohen now indeed has his timeline correct.

You understand that what Cohen said to Congress was good for Trump, and that what Cohen is saying now is bad for him, right?

 

[CapelDodger]

...

Plus, there is the chance that if a solid case is built by Mueller, then Trump may face prosecution when his term ends (assuming he doesn't die from a KFC-induced heart attack), either at the federal level, or at the state level (not necessarily from the Russian-associated crimes, but from other types of fraud that might have been revealed during the investigation.) Yeah, it would be better to have him charged sooner than later, but even delayed justice is better than nothing.

Plus, the whole thing's ruining Trump's life. It's consuming him and his presidency. I'm far from alone in finding that very gratifying.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

Also, if Giuliani is now saying that Trump and Cohen's account of the Trump Tower Moscow deal are the same, then why did both Giuliani and Trump call Cohen a liar when Cohen plead guilty? Did Trump's recollection slip their minds?

 

[The Big Dog]

You understand that what Cohen said to Congress was good for Trump, and that what Cohen is saying now is bad for him, right?

You understand that both were and are now almost completely irrelevant, right?

I get the hyperventilating by the Leftists, but lets not lose sight of the big picture here.

 

[CapelDodger]

If you are right, then a second civil war is only a matter of time, regardless of what happens with Trump.

There's the possibillity of secession without civil war.

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

Again so? The only people who can do anything are the Senate, who won't because of a Republican majority, the SCOTUS, who won't because of a Republican majority, and the American electorate who won't because the .0000000000008% who even bother to show up are so entrenched in their partisan tribalism that a standing President from their party could eat a live baby during the State of the Union speech and they'd still vote for him because sure he eats babies but whatabout when the other side did this...

Right now every Trumper, if they are even deigning to care about this, is having the same thought. "Yeah I guess this is bad I suppose, but if it kept Hillary out of office it's acceptable."

Politics has become total war, where everything you do to beat "the other side" is justified.

Trumps already done stuff he could have gotten impeached for. How is this different?

This isn't cynicism or realism. It is just a distorted view of the situation. It's just a bunch of all-or-nothing and catastrophizing. Look at how the votes and public opinion changed over time for Watergate.

The idea that the voting public is set is a particularly weird idea, given we just went from electing Obama twice to Trump.

 

[CapelDodger]

Linky.

One can hear the shrieks of "perjury trap!" already. The conditioning is already in place : where we hear "perjury", Trumpists hear "perjury trap!".

 

[Segnosaur]

Republicans in congress may claim they don't like what Trump is doing, but that does not mean that they 1) don't approve of his actions in private, or 2) care enough to actually act against him.

Even such notable critics as Flake ended up voting along party lines for various Trump nominees, as well as for things like the tax bill. If he were really turning on Trump, he'd actually tell the rest of the republicans "I ain't doing nothin' to advance the Republican agenda until Stubby McBonespurs is evicted".

The article I posted was about the Senate voting against Trump. It seems that there are lines.

You mean about the Senate voting against supporting Saudi Arabia due to Khashoggi?

I think we've seen this before... when congress passed a bill sanctioning Russia for election interference, and then the Trump sprung into action and did... nothing. Well, they did eventually impose sanctioning, but did so after missing several deadlines.

I suspect that any actions against Saudi Arabia will follow a similar pattern, with congress passing a law, Trump ignoring it and/or missing deadlines to act, and congress ignoring the delays.

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

President Donald Trump’s company planned to give a $50 million penthouse at Trump Tower Moscow to Russian President Vladimir Putin as the company negotiated the luxury real estate development during the 2016 campaign, according to four people, one of them the originator of the plan.

Two US law enforcement officials told BuzzFeed News that Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer at the time, discussed the idea with a representative of Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s press secretary.

The Trump Tower Moscow plan is at the heart of a new plea agreement by Cohen, who led the negotiations to bring a gleaming, 100-story building to the Russian capital. Cohen acknowledged in court that he lied to Congress about the plan in order to protect Trump and his presidential campaign.

...

The two men worked furiously behind the scenes into the summer of 2016 to get the Moscow deal finished – despite public claims that the development was canned in January, before Trump won the Republican nomination. Sater told BuzzFeed News today that he and Cohen thought giving the Trump Tower’s most luxurious apartment, a $50 million penthouse, to Putin would entice other wealthy buyers to purchase their own. “In Russia, the oligarchs would bend over backwards to live in the same building as Vladimir Putin,” Sater told BuzzFeed News. “My idea was to give a $50 million penthouse to Putin and charge $250 million more for the rest of the units. All the oligarchs would line up to live in the same building as Putin.” A second source confirmed the plan.

Linky.