“If there is nothing to hide why is Trump trying to stop this investigation?” — Jill Wine-Banks, former assistant Watergate Special Prosecutor (MSNBC 4/10/2018)
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are treating Michael Cohen like he’s a lawyer for the mob, according to seasoned white collar defense attorneys describing the April 9 raid.
Overlooked: U.S District judge Gerhard Gesell ruled firing Archibald Cox illegal absent finding of cause, forcing Nixon to replace him.
“Impeachment is only a charge. Then try it before the Republican Senate, which will probably stay Republican, with Chief Justice Roberts as the judge and win it there, declare victory — Robert Bennet, former federal prosecutor, Bill Clinton’s lawyer.
it’s been a month since even (of all people) “Gowdy tells Trump and his lawyers to leave Mueller alone: If you’re innocent, ‘act like it'”…. this was said on faux news at that.
how many republicans DOES it take to screw in a president?
in reality, no longer a joke
As Trump fumes, senators craft a bill to protect Mueller
[….]
Republican Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Democratic Sens. Chris Coons of Delaware and Cory Booker of New Jersey plan to introduce legislation Wednesday that would give any special counsel a 10-day window in which he or she could seek expedited judicial review of a firing, according to two people familiar with the legislation. They were not authorized to discuss the bill ahead of its release and requested anonymity.
The legislation, which combines two bipartisan bills introduced last summer, signals escalating concerns in Congress as Trump has fumed about a Monday FBI raid of the office of his personal attorney, Michael Cohen. Trump has privately pondered firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and publicly criticized Mueller and his Russia probe.
[…]
It’s unclear if it could ever become law. Such legislation is unlikely to move through the House, and many Republicans in the Senate still expressed confidence Tuesday that Trump would not fire the special counsel.
“I don’t think he’s going to be removed,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “I think he’ll be allowed to finish his job.”
Still, senators have publicly and privately let the White House know that firing Mueller would be a mistake, said the No. 2 Republican, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas.
“There would be serious repercussions,” said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. “I’ve shared with the president what a massive mistake it would be for him to do this. I’ve done that in person.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said Tuesday on Fox Business News: “It would be suicide for the president to want to talk about firing Mueller. The less the president said on this whole thing, the better off he would be, the stronger his presidency would be.”
[….continues…]
Typo or omission?
”…why in is…”
Mueller seems pretty by-the-book, so do you think Deputy Dog Rosenstein could find probable cause? Sessions can’t fire him, right? So, that leaves Rosenstein or his replacement…or Sessions’ replacement.
It would look like obstruction if he gets rid of either of them, only to fire Mueller in some trumped-up violation.
46 on in the on-deck circle.
Why is Trumpsky telegraphing military intentions to Putin? Didn’t he say he would not telegraph info to the enemy during one of the debates? Oh, right. He and Putin are on the same side…and it ain’t America’s side.
Ryan ain’t running.
pogo, ryan not running signals something. take your pick:
a) he knows the big blue wave is for real, coming and he can’t surf
b) he’s about to allow his anti-trump colleagues to have their say and vote
c) his sugar daddies have found other playmates more to their liking
d) he’s been made an offer he can’t resist
e) all the above
or (f) ryan is about to tell nunes where to go with his cockamamie idea
newsweek via msn: Devin Nunes Threatens to Impeach Rod Rosenstein
The top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee says he is prepared to impeach the head of the FBI and Deputy Attorney General if he doesn’t get a two-page document he says prompted the Russia investigation.
“Just the fact that they’re not giving this to us tells me there’s something wrong here,” California Republican Rep. Devin Nunes told Fox News host Laura Ingraham on the The Ingraham Angle Tuesday night.
“I can tell you that we’re not just going to hold in contempt, we will have a plan to hold in contempt and to impeach,” Nunes told Ingraham, who asked what his committee would do to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein if they don’t bow to his demand.
[…continues…]
Ryan bombs in the House
Trump threatens bombs in Syria
Wall Street bombs on news of both
Interesting day so far.
and speaking of the raid,
a tiny tidbit from the ny times:
Geoffrey Berman, the interim United States attorney for Southern District of New York, which oversaw the raids, has been recused from the case, according to one person with knowledge with the matter. The precise reason was not clear, but under Justice Department guidelines, a United States attorney must report any issue that could require recusal “as a result of an actual or apparent conflict of interest.”
Mr. Berman, who worked as a volunteer lawyer on Mr. Trump’s campaign, was the choice of Donald F. McGahn II, the White House counsel, to be the United States attorney in New York, according to a person with direct knowledge of the appointment.
Craig writes — Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are treating Michael Cohen like he’s a lawyer for the mob —
Leaks from Sunday’s comey interview?
Comey compares Trump to mob boss
good to hear Albright last night get big applause on Colbert show
should underscore her call at 6:59 “…to actually listen to people you disagree with in a civil way…to really recognize what democracy’s about….”
How many of these Republicans leaving/not seeking reelection in 2018 are actually lining up the backrooms to run for President in 2020? The Old Guard GOP wants its Party back.
Good Bye Paul Ryan you are a stupid loser –going to work for the Koch Bros now?
Quitter – chicken sh-t
afraid to stand up to Triump
steve scalise or skittles mccarthy? Both men friends to the trumpence junta and able to fend-off the impeachment.
Scalise said in an interview that he would not challenge McCarthy for speaker … while McCarthy said he’s focused solely on keeping the House in November and pursuing President Donald Trump’s agenda.”
I endorse kc’s 10:43 comment about Ryan.
bw,
Maureen dowd beat comey to the punch with her NYT headline last june:
Comey and Trump, the G-Man vs. the Mob Boss
and Krauthammer before that in may
told “Special Report with Bret Baier” viewers Friday that President Trump’s Twitter threat, aimed at recently-fired FBI Director James Comey, did not sound Presidential.
“That’s unpresidential, which is kind of a nice way of saying that that sounds more like a mafia boss than the President of a free republic,” said Krauthammer.
also winsap with moyers wrote Comey Got in the Face of Trump’s ‘Godfather’ Fantasy
The testimony of the fired FBI director revealed a president who sees himself more crime boss than chief executive.
Last May, 2017? ryan cleans-up mccarthy joke —
Their two highest-ranking members on Wednesday walked into a firestorm of their own making, negotiating the latest Republican headache after The Washington Post reported that Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the majority leader, said in a private session last year that President Trump, then a candidate, could be receiving payments from President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin immediately intervened during the meeting and brought the conversation to a halt, according to a June recording reviewed by The Post, swearing his colleagues to secrecy amid laughter.
2020, here we come:
John Kasich
Jeff Flake
…. Paul Ryan…. ?
Patd…tri-state crime family, aka the kushners, cements the mob family with a marriage to the kingpin’s daughter. I am sure the fbi has a ‘mob app,’ which tracks all of these players and their positions.
Meanwhile, heard Ryan Crocker on npr this morning compare the Syria situation to August 1914.
Stuff that makes you think.
Quitter…. chickenshit…
hell… the entire gop is spineless and dickless….
how could the twit be anything else given his gangster guru
politico:
‘He Brutalized For You’
How Joseph McCarthy henchman Roy Cohn became Donald Trump’s
mentor.
Roy Cohn, the lurking legal hit man for red-baiting Sen. Joe McCarthy, whose reign of televised intimidation in the 1950s has become synonymous with demagoguery, fear-mongering and character assassination. In the formative years of Donald Trump’s career, when he went from a rich kid working for his real estate-developing father to a top-line dealmaker in his own right, Cohn was one of the most powerful influences and helpful contacts in Trump’s life.
Over a 13-year-period, ending shortly before Cohn’s death in 1986, Cohn brought his say-anything, win-at-all-costs style to all of Trump’s most notable legal and business deals. Interviews with people who knew both men at the time say the relationship ran deeper than that—that Cohn’s philosophy shaped the real estate mogul’s worldview and the belligerent public persona visible in Trump’s presidential campaign.
“Something Cohn had, Donald liked,” Susan Bell, Cohn’s longtime secretary, said this week when I asked her about the relationship between her old boss and Trump.
KGC – so right about not missing Paul Ryan. Way to get through your childhood on Social Security survivor benefits, and then grow up to try and cut the program for others. I had to play Scandal’s “Goodbye to you” when I heard the news.
Speaking of music, the most interesting news to me outside of politics the last few days was Lindsey Buckingham seemingly getting kicked out of Fleetwood Mac’s latest tour. I guess all the bands trade talent, since Tom Petty’s and Crowded House’s guitarists are the replacements…
Things are going just like xi wanted and putin planned it. emperor xi’s hands are clean and the bad guys are setting-up the us of aa. While russia, turkey and iran did set the syria trap? Things may go the same way in n.korea. Chinese finger traps laid for a dotard.
I had to play Scandal’s “Goodbye to you” when I heard the news. what a great idea
Dave, I remember the first album cover of buckingham nicks…I sure wish I still had the lp…the cover was revolutionary for its time.
Pat, I pick (D), cash in his rewards for passing corporate tax cuts.
little man from justice on at 1:30pm MDT in Las Cruces. Protests planned and yesterday, my brother’s neighborhood was canvassed by dems alerting them to the visit and asking neighbors to join the protests. Organizing a blue wave!
I think he is quitting because Nancy P is going to be president when we dump the Trump-Pence Junta — they both must go
I doubt if he is ditching nicotine for cannabis any time soon, but boehner is evolving?
Boehner, who served as Speaker from 2011 until his resignation from Congress in 2015, was appointed to the board of advisers at Acreage Holdings, a multi-state cannabis business that aims to “make cannabis available to any patient who can benefit from safe and reliable access.”
His decision to join the board is a marked shift — in 2009, Boehner said he was “unalterably opposed” to legalization, according to Bloomberg.
Although most old timers think of cannabis as smoke only…there is one product that should be available to all citizens. The thc/cbd pain stick. Just like the old deodorant stick containers of old? The new medicine is applied to aching muscles with amazing results. If you are in a state where it is legal? Try it. Many states do sell the cbd cream alone as it doesn’t contain any psychoactive thc, so it is available to the general public. The cbd cream alone is also effective, but the thc works in tandem to really relieve pain. Should be an otc product sold everywhere.
KGC, she does deserve to be the first woman president.
When people attack Nancy P – they are attacking among other things abortion rights, gay rights, civil rights and income equality so when people are willing to let that roll – you are saying you support the Republican version (SFB) of life in America —
San Francisco values are human rights values and attacking Nancy P is attacking human rights.
The most annoying thing about all these cable shows is the failure of the hosts to ask the obvious follow-up questions when their guests are clearly liars.
So I heard some lame gooper from Kansas trotting out the Nancy P trope and how they all love Paul and he really does want to be home with his teenage kids (LOL)
and lied about the race in Pa — the guy is not a Republican and once again trying to make it about Nancy P — so Dems should not fold on Nancy because it means they are afraid of standing up for human rights
She got healthcare passed — these are the things the Republicans don’t like and Democrats should turn this on them
Well, wouldn’t that just take a bite out of RX drug profits? As long as folks aren’t inhaling smoke, that sounds like an excellent product.
Even Yertle is pro-hemp (textiles and the like).
crackers – That’s like saying that if you don’t back the current prez of the US, you are un-American. It’s the same kind of argument the GOP makes.
Pelosi is not the only one who has fought for those issues.
sj- Add to the 2020 list, Nikki Hayley.
not surprising the station is Sinclair group… surprised tho’ they dumped the guy so quick
the guardian:
A conservative commentator who sent a tweet saying he would use “a hot poker” to sexually assault an outspoken 17-year-old survivor of the Florida high school shooting has resigned from a St Louis TV station and been taken off the radio after several advertisers withdrew from his shows.
KDNL-TV accepted Jamie Allman’s resignation and canceled The Allman Report, according to a brief statement from the Sinclair Broadcast Group, which operates the TV station. Before the show’s launch in January 2015, KDNL-TV touted it as a nontraditional newscast with a conservative spin.
[….]
Several businesses pulled advertising from Allman’s shows after he sent the 26 March tweet targeting David Hogg, who has strongly advocated for stricter gun control since 17 people were killed in the 14 February mass shooting at his school in Parkland, Florida.
In the tweet, Allman wrote: “I’ve been hanging out getting ready to ram a hot poker up David Hogg’s ass tomorrow.”
Allman’s Twitter account was “locked” shortly after he sent the tweet, restricting access to his account, but a screenshot of it has been widely circulated on social media.
[…continues…]
speaking of Sinclair group,
also from the guardian:
Sinclair chairman broke restraining order and allegedly threatened neighbor
David D Smith, 67, whose company owns many local TV stations, is in dispute with neighbors in two states: ‘We wish he’d just go away’
Pence will have to go, too.
Manafort picked him.
Why?
Bloomberg:
Mueller Seeks Subpoenas for 35 Witnesses for Manafort Trial
U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller asked a judge in Alexandria, Virginia, to issue 35 sets of subpoenas to witnesses for a trial set to begin on July 10. That’s when President Donald Trump’s former campaign Chairman Paul Manafort is set to go on trial on tax and bank fraud charges.
Mueller asked for blank subpoenas, with names to be filled in later.
The line Republican assholes use to attack Leader Pelosi is “Do you want HER controlling your life?” The answer is yes to anyone who understands about healthcare, public education and the role of government in everyone’s life. So slink off and abandon the fight for what you allegedly believe in because you don’t have the guts to stand up for these values in a public fight. It isn’t the Democratic Party that lack leadership and are wimps – it is the so-called Democratic voter who shrinks from any criticism and turns into Uriah Heap at the drop if an insult. I certainly don’t want Kevin McCarthy or Steve Scalise in charge of any thing but Goopers. I don’t want them any where near my life.
No one is suggesting she is the only one – just pointing out how the Goopers portray her
She least of all would claim that
That big, Dem tent seems to have a pretty narrow opening if being “all in” for Pelosi is a requirement for entry.
Things have changed & the young folks are gonna be taking things to a new level as more of them reach voting age.
Ah, thanks.
Well, the GOP is driving away younger voters and the old, Fox Noise viewers are dying off…so I do think that our country will be in good hands as soon as Trumpence is ousted & November rolls around.
Why don’t you like her?
I have no sympathy for the Republicans they did this to themselves. So the Paul Ryan lore is that he is going to be living and working in Janesville so he can spend time with his kids.
We will be checking back next year this time to see how that is working out. Janesville is not a great job market.
just heard on cnn april ryan tell blitzer she was getting death threats for asking about trump considering resignation, something her sources have told her about. here’s what she asked yesterday:
Paul Ryan’s wife has a little money and she used to be a tax lawyer/lobbyist so maybe he will be a househusband
allegedly she was an Obama voter – maybe she is the reason he is leaving
About two weeks ago lyin’ pol ryan announced that he was running again. It took only two weeks for Randy Bryce and Robert Mueller III to destroy the ryan campaign. For one thing, Bryce is more popular in ryan’s district than ryan is. Second, Mueller’s raid on the home and office of the former trump lawyer made it absolutely clear that trump will not be the ripofflican candidate in 2020. ryan says he wants to spend more time with his family, campaigning for the job behind the big desk in the Oval Office.
In his entire tour of duty as Speaker of the House, ryan will have gotten only one piece of major legislation passed – the infamous WELFARE FOR B!LL!ONA!RE$ Tax Act. If the guy couldn’t manage the House ripper Caucus, how do you think he’ll manage a few million Federal employees, relations with NATO, and the pool of piranhas that is the Middle East, russia, commie China, and noKorea ???
looks like the R-word is about as verboten as the I-word considering what’s happening to april
buckle seat belt time, rough road ahead
reuters;
[…]
Two U.S. government sources told Reuters the United States still did not have 100 percent solid evidence of what nerve agent was used in Syria and where it came from. However, there is some evidence it was sprayed from helicopters, they said.
In Moscow, the head of a Russian parliamentary defense committee, Vladimir Shamanov, said Russia was in direct contact with the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff about the situation.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based war monitor, said pro-government forces were emptying main airports and military air bases. The Syrian military has also been repositioning some air assets to avoid the fallout from possible missile strikes, U.S. officials told Reuters.
The Russian military said it had observed movements of U.S. Navy forces in the Gulf. Any U.S. strike would probably involve the navy, given the risk to aircraft from Russian and Syrian air defenses. A U.S. guided-missile destroyer, the USS Donald Cook, is in the Mediterranean.
[….]
The BBC reported later that May was ready to give the go-ahead for Britain to take part in military action. She would not seek approval from parliament, the BBC said, despite calls from the opposition Labour Party for parliament to be given a say.
Oil prices jumped to their highest level in more than three years on Wednesday after Trump’s warning, and U.S. stock index futures fell sharply due to alarm about a possible Russian-U.S. conflict over Syria.
[….]
With tensions growing, however, European air traffic control agency Eurocontrol warned airlines to exercise caution in the eastern Mediterranean due to the possible launch of air strikes into Syria over the next 72 hours.
Eurocontrol said air-to-ground and cruise missiles could be used within that period and there could be intermittent disruptions of radio navigation equipment.
[….]
Israel held top-level security consultations on Wednesday on the possibility it could be targeted by Syria or Iran if the United States strikes Syrian government forces.
[…continues…]
Well, for me, I like Nancy but I don’t think an 80 year old is what we’re looking for as the banner carrier for the dem party against SFB or whoever runs when he decides this isn’t as much fun as he thought it would be.
“Israel held top-level security consultations on Wednesday on the possibility it could be targeted by Syria or Iran if the United States strikes Syrian government forces.”
..Those you think are your friends may be your enemies…
ryan had to take a swipe at babyboomer entitlements as the door hits him on the way out. Thanks for the debt, paul.
As for Nancy P., better for her to be interim potus after impeachment. We still need a surfacing young jackass for 2020, but I can see her fulfilling a gerald ford role.
trump telegraphing to putin we are using smart bombs in syria so putie knows how to prepare. Meanwhile, junta generals deny we have made any decisions. Now who is in charge? trump pretending he is tough on russia as he is cornered by Mr. Mueller.
Another day of office life in the cube farm – noise, bad perfume/aftershave, food smells of something aromatic and meaty – at 10 in the morning, complaints, people popping in to say “HI” to Gale (not me), a line of people wanting to talk to me, the people I want to talk to were in D.C., and a general bah humbug. Enough to make me want to have a bowl of Kimchijjae for lunch in there tomorrow. That gets most of the people gagging and leaving me alone. A couple others want to bring their chopsticks and spoons over to share.
Ryan will go down as one of the worst Speakers. He was weak, ineffective and generally not worth the time to talk about him. He is another chunk of what happens when people associate themselves with SFB. They start out good. Then there is a little bit of supporting the orange blob. Then SFB makes a trap and they are forced to go along with him. SFB maybe low intelligence, but he has learned how to trap people and make them go with him. Then they are run through the mill and out they come. Totally damaged, no credibility left, no way for them to get a job or as most of them find out, they need a lawyer.
Trying to remember back a year or so, I think many Trail Mix hands did use mob references to the SFB Organization and campaign. That SDNY is using the mob tactics on Cohen is a good sign that not all was pretty in the organization. Although the Russian mob lived in the towers and bought properties from SFB, that is no reason to think they could have anything to do with him.
“Nice & new & smart.” How we want our next prez…soon!
Ryan touched his nose when he told the reporter that the fact he might not be Speaker after the mid-terms didn’t factor into his decision.
Touching the nose is a classic sign of a lie…unless you are a sociopath.
So, at least he’s just a liar.
Nunes & Gowdy, Putin’s waterboys.
Pat
Crap, your 3:40 post reminded me, this shit is starting to get personal, my nephew is stationed on the east coast and back on a ship. F##king assholes.
Jack