User-Supported News Commentary Hosted by Craig Crawford
Do The Mueller
My Christmas present to husband David, a full Mueller: dark suit and signature white shirt, thin black tie, sealed indictments in hand.
Author: craigcrawford
Trail Mix Host. Lapsed journalist, author & retired pundit happily promoting nothing but the truth for Social Security checks.
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ny times:Obstruction Inquiry Shows Trump’s Struggle to Keep Grip on Russia Investigation
President Trump gave firm instructions in March to the White House’s top lawyer: stop the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, from recusing himself in the Justice Department’s investigation into whether Mr. Trump’s associates had helped a Russian campaign to disrupt the 2016 election. Public pressure was building for Mr. Sessions, who had been a senior member of the Trump campaign, to step aside. But the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, carried out the president’s orders and lobbied Mr. Sessions to remain in charge of the inquiry, according to two people with knowledge of the episode. Mr. McGahn was unsuccessful, and the president erupted in anger in front of numerous White House officials, saying he needed his attorney general to protect him. Mr. Trump said he had expected his top law enforcement official to safeguard him the way he believed Robert F. Kennedy, as attorney general, had done for his brother John F. Kennedy and Eric H. Holder Jr. had for Barack Obama. Mr. Trump then asked, “Where’s my Roy Cohn?” He was referring to his former personal lawyer and fixer, who had been Senator Joseph R. former personal lawyer and fixer, who had been Senator Joseph R. McCarthy’s top aide during the investigations into communist activity in the 1950s and died in 1986.
The lobbying of Mr. Sessions is one of several previously unreported episodes that the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has learned about as he investigates whether Mr. Trump obstructed the F.B.I.’s Russia inquiry. The events occurred during a two-month period — from when Mr. Sessions recused himself in March until the appointment of Mr. Mueller in May — when Mr. Trump believed he was losing control over the investigation.
Wow David… you look like a man from U.N.C.L.E… very suave!
We got a foot of snow… normal winter stuff. The coast of Massachusetts got hammered because they had astronomical higher than normal tides. The ocean waves breached sea walls and sea water mixed with the snow. I’m sure it’s all frozen solid with our cold temps. Tomorrow is supposed to be really effing cold… once again… thank god for wood stoves.
Meanwhile still blinkin’ cold in Knobite Corner. Some say the world will end in fire/Some say in ice. . .I should think fire, probably, but am inclining to ice.
the atlantic: It’s Been an Open Secret All Along The scandal of Michael Wolff’s new book isn’t its salacious details—it’s that everyone in Washington has known its key themes, and refused to act. [….]
….Who and what Trump is has been an open secret.
It was because of this open secret that nearly 11 million more Americans voted against Trump last year than for him, including the three million more who voted for Hillary Clinton. (The rest were for Gary Johnson, who got nearly 4.5 million; Jill Stein, with nearly 1.5 million; Evan McMullin, with about 700,000; and a million-plus write-ins.) It was because of this open secret that virtually every journalistic endorsement in the country went against him, including from publications (like The Dallas Morning News or The Arizona Republic) that are ordinarily rock-ribbed Republican, and others (like USA Today) that had not offered endorsements before or (like The Atlantic) generally did so only once per century. It was because of this that his party’s previous nominee, Mitt Romney, publicly denounced him—and that most of the political establishment, Democratic and Republican alike, assumed that no person like him could ever reach the White House.
(The shared certainty that Trump would fall short, which Wolff demonstrates extended to every part of the Trump campaign as well, may explain one of the major journalistic failures of the campaign: the disproportionate harping on Hillary Clinton’s email “problems,” as if this objectively third-tier failing were on a par with Trump’s grossly disqualifying traits. Most of the press assumed she would soon be in office; this was a warm-up for the kind of inspection real presidents should be prepared to undergo.) *** Who is also in on this open secret? Virtually everyone in a position to do something about it, which at the moment means members of the Republican majority in Congress.
They know what is wrong with Donald Trump. They know why it’s dangerous. They understand—or most of them do—the damage he can do to a system of governance that relies to a surprising degree on norms rather than rules, and whose vulnerability has been newly exposed. They know—or should—about the ways Trump’s vanity and avarice are harming American interests relative to competitors like Russia and China, and partners and allies in North America, Europe, and the Pacific.
They know. They could do something: hearings, investigations, demands for financial or health documents, subpoenas. Even the tool they used against the 42nd president, for failings one percent as grave as those of the 45th: impeachment.
They know. They could act. And they don’t. The failure of responsibility starts with Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, but it doesn’t end with them. Every member of a bloc-voting majority shares responsibility for not acting on their version of the open secret. “Independent” Republicans like Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski share it. “Thoughtful” ones, like Ben Sasse and Jeff Flake. Those (in addition to Flake) who have nothing to lose electorally, from Bob Corker to Orrin Hatch. When they vote as a majority against strong investigations, against subpoenas, against requirements for financial disclosure, and most of all against protecting Robert Mueller and his investigation, they share complicity in the open secret.
(The shared certainty that Trump would fall short, which Wolff demonstrates extended to every part of the Trump campaign as well, may explain one of the major journalistic failures of the campaign: the disproportionate harping on Hillary Clinton’s email “problems,” as if this objectively third-tier failing were on a par with Trump’s grossly disqualifying traits. Most of the press assumed she would soon be in office; this was a warm-up for the kind of inspection real presidents should be prepared to undergo.) *** Who is also in on this open secret? Virtually everyone in a position to do something about it, which at the moment means members of the Republican majority in Congress.
They know what is wrong with Donald Trump. They know why it’s dangerous. They understand—or most of them do—the damage he can do to a system of governance that relies to a surprising degree on norms rather than rules, and whose vulnerability has been newly exposed. They know—or should—about the ways Trump’s vanity and avarice are harming American interests relative to competitors like Russia and China, and partners and allies in North America, Europe, and the Pacific.
They know. They could do something: hearings, investigations, demands for financial or health documents, subpoenas. Even the tool they used against the 42nd president, for failings one percent as grave as those of the 45th: impeachment.
They know. They could act. And they don’t. The failure of responsibility starts with Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, but it doesn’t end with them. Every member of a bloc-voting majority shares responsibility for not acting on their version of the open secret. “Independent” Republicans like Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski share it. “Thoughtful” ones, like Ben Sasse and Jeff Flake. Those (in addition to Flake) who have nothing to lose electorally, from Bob Corker to Orrin Hatch. When they vote as a majority against strong investigations, against subpoenas, against requirements for financial disclosure, and most of all against protecting Robert Mueller and his investigation, they share complicity in the open secret.
We are watching the political equivalent of the Weinstein board paying off the objects of his abuse. We are watching Fox pay out its tens of millions to O’Reilly’s victims. But we’re watching it in real time, with the secret shared worldwide, and the stakes immeasurably higher.
We are watching the political equivalent of the Weinstein board paying off the objects of his abuse. We are watching Fox pay out its tens of millions to O’Reilly’s victims. But we’re watching it in real time, with the secret shared worldwide, and the stakes immeasurably higher.
nbc news: ‘Fire and Fury’ author Wolff calls Trump least credible person who has ever walked on earth
[….]
“I will tell you the one description that everyone gave, everyone has in common. They all say he is like a child,” Wolff explained. “And what they mean by that is he has a need for immediate gratification, it is all about him.”
Wolff added that “100 percent of the people around” Trump — “senior advisers, family members, every single one of them, questions his intelligence and fitness for office.”
the hill:Bharara: If NYT story on Sessions is true, ‘he must go now’
Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Friday that if a recent New York Times report that Attorney General Jeff Sessions sought negative press coverage of former FBI Director James Comey is true, he must be ousted from the Justice Department.
“If true-emphasis on IF- Sessions must go. Now,” Bharara, a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, who was fired by Trump in March wrote on Twitter.
@PreetBharara
If true-emphasis on IF- Sessions must go. Now. “The attorney general wanted one negative article a day in the news media about Mr. Comey, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting.”https://nyti.ms/2EWB9qz
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice Is also great
And would suffice.
Wolff’s book may be his usual hodgepodge of not quite substantiated comments and exaggerations, but Donald Trump has his work cut out to prove it fake. He regularly does so much to prove it is true.
Ryan was complicit cuz it made him so close to being POTUS, he can taste it.
Yes, Mueller needs to hurry up, but do we end with Pence? Is he gone, too? Is it Lyin’ Ryan time?
If Donny gets served anywhere close to Easter (or on Good Friday) many in his base will see a comparison. Donny will play the victim card better than the ex-half-gov-of-AK ever did. He will paint himself as the biggest victim in the history of the world.
daveb – You clean up real nice, not that I’ve ever seen you look like piker.
The white shadow pence is losing some long time staffers for the new year.
CNN has learned that long-time senior staffers Mark Paoletta and Daris Meeks are leaving Pence’s office. The announcement was made by chief of staff Nick Ayers in a staff meeting at the beginning of the week.
Paoletta and Meeks’ departures follow two other top Pence aides who have left the Office of the Vice President: chief of staff Josh Pitcock and press secretary Marc Lotter. The vice president’s staff is considerably smaller than the West Wing, making the departures a more notable shift at the beginning of the new year.
Not only did Paoletta work on the Trump transition, but he also served as an outside counsel for Pence when he was a congressman.
One source added that Meeks helped on the Trump-Pence campaign in the summer of 2016, and also on the Trump transition. Meeks’ departure is also notable because he is a longtime-Pence aide.
Forgot to mention in passing that David is one fine looking man even when disguised as a “man in black”.
For those interested in body language and how to read micro expressions, this blog is a must read as it analyzes various political events and personages with video examples.
the simpsons doing mueller
No Mueller suit is complete without sealed indictments…says more than a pocket scarf. You are stunning, Dave!
ny times: Obstruction Inquiry Shows Trump’s Struggle to Keep Grip on Russia Investigation
President Trump gave firm instructions in March to the White House’s top lawyer: stop the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, from recusing himself in the Justice Department’s investigation into whether Mr. Trump’s associates had helped a Russian campaign to disrupt the 2016 election.
Public pressure was building for Mr. Sessions, who had been a senior member of the Trump campaign, to step aside. But the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, carried out the president’s orders and lobbied Mr. Sessions to remain in charge of the inquiry, according to two people with knowledge of the episode.
Mr. McGahn was unsuccessful, and the president erupted in anger in front of numerous White House officials, saying he needed his attorney general to protect him. Mr. Trump said he had expected his top law enforcement official to safeguard him the way he believed Robert F. Kennedy, as attorney general, had done for his brother John F. Kennedy and Eric H. Holder Jr. had for Barack Obama.
Mr. Trump then asked, “Where’s my Roy Cohn?” He was referring to his former personal lawyer and fixer, who had been Senator Joseph R. former personal lawyer and fixer, who had been Senator Joseph R. McCarthy’s top aide during the investigations into communist activity in the 1950s and died in 1986.
The lobbying of Mr. Sessions is one of several previously unreported episodes that the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has learned about as he investigates whether Mr. Trump obstructed the F.B.I.’s Russia inquiry. The events occurred during a two-month period — from when Mr. Sessions recused himself in March until the appointment of Mr. Mueller in May — when Mr. Trump believed he was losing control over the investigation.
[….continues…]
Perfect gift.
LOL. Cease and desist!! Oh, OK. But wait, how about this – we’ll release it 4 days early.
Wolff on Today said he felt like he should askwhere to send SFB’s box of chocolates.
This Isn’t playing well for the SFB administration or the idiot in chief. A shame isn’t it?
BWAHAHAHAHAH
Wow David… you look like a man from U.N.C.L.E… very suave!
We got a foot of snow… normal winter stuff. The coast of Massachusetts got hammered because they had astronomical higher than normal tides. The ocean waves breached sea walls and sea water mixed with the snow. I’m sure it’s all frozen solid with our cold temps. Tomorrow is supposed to be really effing cold… once again… thank god for wood stoves.
Court dates TBA. Tres chic, non? Love it!
Meanwhile still blinkin’ cold in Knobite Corner. Some say the world will end in fire/Some say in ice. . .I should think fire, probably, but am inclining to ice.
the atlantic:
It’s Been an Open Secret All Along
The scandal of Michael Wolff’s new book isn’t its salacious details—it’s that everyone in Washington has known its key themes, and refused to act.
[….]
….Who and what Trump is has been an open secret.
It was because of this open secret that nearly 11 million more Americans voted against Trump last year than for him, including the three million more who voted for Hillary Clinton. (The rest were for Gary Johnson, who got nearly 4.5 million; Jill Stein, with nearly 1.5 million; Evan McMullin, with about 700,000; and a million-plus write-ins.) It was because of this open secret that virtually every journalistic endorsement in the country went against him, including from publications (like The Dallas Morning News or The Arizona Republic) that are ordinarily rock-ribbed Republican, and others (like USA Today) that had not offered endorsements before or (like The Atlantic) generally did so only once per century. It was because of this that his party’s previous nominee, Mitt Romney, publicly denounced him—and that most of the political establishment, Democratic and Republican alike, assumed that no person like him could ever reach the White House.
(The shared certainty that Trump would fall short, which Wolff demonstrates extended to every part of the Trump campaign as well, may explain one of the major journalistic failures of the campaign: the disproportionate harping on Hillary Clinton’s email “problems,” as if this objectively third-tier failing were on a par with Trump’s grossly disqualifying traits. Most of the press assumed she would soon be in office; this was a warm-up for the kind of inspection real presidents should be prepared to undergo.)
***
Who is also in on this open secret? Virtually everyone in a position to do something about it, which at the moment means members of the Republican majority in Congress.
They know what is wrong with Donald Trump. They know why it’s dangerous. They understand—or most of them do—the damage he can do to a system of governance that relies to a surprising degree on norms rather than rules, and whose vulnerability has been newly exposed. They know—or should—about the ways Trump’s vanity and avarice are harming American interests relative to competitors like Russia and China, and partners and allies in North America, Europe, and the Pacific.
They know. They could do something: hearings, investigations, demands for financial or health documents, subpoenas. Even the tool they used against the 42nd president, for failings one percent as grave as those of the 45th: impeachment.
They know. They could act. And they don’t. The failure of responsibility starts with Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, but it doesn’t end with them. Every member of a bloc-voting majority shares responsibility for not acting on their version of the open secret. “Independent” Republicans like Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski share it. “Thoughtful” ones, like Ben Sasse and Jeff Flake. Those (in addition to Flake) who have nothing to lose electorally, from Bob Corker to Orrin Hatch. When they vote as a majority against strong investigations, against subpoenas, against requirements for financial disclosure, and most of all against protecting Robert Mueller and his investigation, they share complicity in the open secret.
(The shared certainty that Trump would fall short, which Wolff demonstrates extended to every part of the Trump campaign as well, may explain one of the major journalistic failures of the campaign: the disproportionate harping on Hillary Clinton’s email “problems,” as if this objectively third-tier failing were on a par with Trump’s grossly disqualifying traits. Most of the press assumed she would soon be in office; this was a warm-up for the kind of inspection real presidents should be prepared to undergo.)
***
Who is also in on this open secret? Virtually everyone in a position to do something about it, which at the moment means members of the Republican majority in Congress.
They know what is wrong with Donald Trump. They know why it’s dangerous. They understand—or most of them do—the damage he can do to a system of governance that relies to a surprising degree on norms rather than rules, and whose vulnerability has been newly exposed. They know—or should—about the ways Trump’s vanity and avarice are harming American interests relative to competitors like Russia and China, and partners and allies in North America, Europe, and the Pacific.
They know. They could do something: hearings, investigations, demands for financial or health documents, subpoenas. Even the tool they used against the 42nd president, for failings one percent as grave as those of the 45th: impeachment.
They know. They could act. And they don’t. The failure of responsibility starts with Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, but it doesn’t end with them. Every member of a bloc-voting majority shares responsibility for not acting on their version of the open secret. “Independent” Republicans like Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski share it. “Thoughtful” ones, like Ben Sasse and Jeff Flake. Those (in addition to Flake) who have nothing to lose electorally, from Bob Corker to Orrin Hatch. When they vote as a majority against strong investigations, against subpoenas, against requirements for financial disclosure, and most of all against protecting Robert Mueller and his investigation, they share complicity in the open secret.
We are watching the political equivalent of the Weinstein board paying off the objects of his abuse. We are watching Fox pay out its tens of millions to O’Reilly’s victims. But we’re watching it in real time, with the secret shared worldwide, and the stakes immeasurably higher.
repeating above conclusion for emphasis:
We are watching the political equivalent of the Weinstein board paying off the objects of his abuse. We are watching Fox pay out its tens of millions to O’Reilly’s victims. But we’re watching it in real time, with the secret shared worldwide, and the stakes immeasurably higher.
nbc news: ‘Fire and Fury’ author Wolff calls Trump least credible person who has ever walked on earth
[….]
“I will tell you the one description that everyone gave, everyone has in common. They all say he is like a child,” Wolff explained. “And what they mean by that is he has a need for immediate gratification, it is all about him.”
Wolff added that “100 percent of the people around” Trump — “senior advisers, family members, every single one of them, questions his intelligence and fitness for office.”
[….continues…]
the hill: Bharara: If NYT story on Sessions is true, ‘he must go now’
Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Friday that if a recent New York Times report that Attorney General Jeff Sessions sought negative press coverage of former FBI Director James Comey is true, he must be ousted from the Justice Department.
“If true-emphasis on IF- Sessions must go. Now,” Bharara, a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, who was fired by Trump in March wrote on Twitter.
@PreetBharara
If true-emphasis on IF- Sessions must go. Now. “The attorney general wanted one negative article a day in the news media about Mr. Comey, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting.”https://nyti.ms/2EWB9qz
1:14 AM – Jan 5, 2018
[,,,,continues…]
All I can say is Hurry Bobby Three Sticks, Please Hurry!
In an odd way SFB is bringing North and South Korea together.
SFB is like Tony Soprano
Robert Frost
Fire And Ice
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice Is also great
And would suffice.
Ladye Faire reminded me of the poem, so thought I would put up the whole thing.
Wolff’s book may be his usual hodgepodge of not quite substantiated comments and exaggerations, but Donald Trump has his work cut out to prove it fake. He regularly does so much to prove it is true.
He says there are tapes.
Ryan was complicit cuz it made him so close to being POTUS, he can taste it.
Yes, Mueller needs to hurry up, but do we end with Pence? Is he gone, too? Is it Lyin’ Ryan time?
If Donny gets served anywhere close to Easter (or on Good Friday) many in his base will see a comparison. Donny will play the victim card better than the ex-half-gov-of-AK ever did. He will paint himself as the biggest victim in the history of the world.
daveb – You clean up real nice, not that I’ve ever seen you look like piker.
Hope all is well for those on the East Coast.
crackers – I hope Wolff has copies distributed amongst folks, ready to be deployed if anyone comes after him legally or in any other way.
Clap for the Wolff-man, we’re gonna rate your recordings high…to paraphrase an old song.
Anybody seen Mike Pence? Maybe he’s in witness protection running an Idaho sub shop, pasting the walls with copies of the 25th Amendment.
the look in Mueller’s eye reminds me of Toby’s…
“don’t even think of messing with the mass of goodies I’ve collected”
Other WH missing persons in this meltdown: Kellyanne Conway, John Kelly. Last seen running for their lives across Lafayette Park
good catch, Patd. I’ve long thought Toby is channeling Mueller.
LOL. Yes aside from SFB’s tweets and Suckabee’s prevarications, the silence is deafening.
WH banning personal smart phones might be too little, too late. Flynn, Papadopoulos recordings already on Mueller’s playlist?
The white shadow pence is losing some long time staffers for the new year.
CNN has learned that long-time senior staffers Mark Paoletta and Daris Meeks are leaving Pence’s office. The announcement was made by chief of staff Nick Ayers in a staff meeting at the beginning of the week.
Paoletta and Meeks’ departures follow two other top Pence aides who have left the Office of the Vice President: chief of staff Josh Pitcock and press secretary Marc Lotter. The vice president’s staff is considerably smaller than the West Wing, making the departures a more notable shift at the beginning of the new year.
Not only did Paoletta work on the Trump transition, but he also served as an outside counsel for Pence when he was a congressman.
One source added that Meeks helped on the Trump-Pence campaign in the summer of 2016, and also on the Trump transition. Meeks’ departure is also notable because he is a longtime-Pence aide.
DaveB looking suave- good genes, clean living or a Picture of Dorian Gray thing going on?
Thanks Wino/Renee/Blue/SJWNY – just doing my best so that the Mueller look has a chance to catch on at the runways in Paris and Milan!
Forgot to mention in passing that David is one fine looking man even when disguised as a “man in black”.
For those interested in body language and how to read micro expressions, this blog is a must read as it analyzes various political events and personages with video examples.
Body Language Success & Emotional Intelligence