Trump dictated son’s misleading statement on meeting with Russian lawyer
The Washington Post: “Flying home from Germany on July 8 aboard Air Force One, Trump personally dictated a statement in which Trump Jr. said that he and the Russian lawyer had “primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children” when they met in June 2016. … The claims were later shown to be misleading.”
Legal-dictionary: “Federal obstruction of justice statutes have been used to prosecute government officials who have sought to prevent the disclosure of damaging information.”
from that wapo article craig linked:
Trump Jr. did not respond to requests for comment. His attorney, Alan Futerfas, told The Post that he and his client “were fully prepared and absolutely prepared to make a fulsome statement” about the meeting, what led up to it and what was discussed.
Asked about Trump intervening, Futerfas said, “I have no evidence to support that theory.” He described the process of drafting a statement as “a communal situation that involved communications people and various lawyers.”
was this statement on purpose and a not so clever way of throwing a few more people under the Obstruction Of Justice bus: “a communal situation that involved communications people and various lawyers.”
and
what’s the timeline of this airplane “communal situation” in conjunction with the prez declaring he didn’t know about Russian mtg and had only just heard about it?
psst, gen Kelly, wh is still leaking…. time to call in the plumbers?
The confirmation of SFB involved in SFB jr explanations of a meeting with the FSB/SVR is very nice as a way of wrapping a normal day in the dirty WH. What it does state in H1 Bold is the first day of the general’s take over that nobody is that concerned about being quiet. Does the latest CoS have enough power to control the dairy barn floor? I do not think so. Maybe for a couple of days there might be some respect, but there is no way he will last. Pedosta offered the unasked for advice of “don’t take the job”.
ms petri outdoes herself with
Am I my Mooch’s keeper?
Scaramucci had at one point described [his relationship to Reince Priebus] as that of “brothers.” Later, he clarified that they were like Cain and Abel, two biblical brothers whose tumultuous relationship ended in tragedy. Cain murdered Abel before he was punished by God and condemned to a life of wandering.
— The Washington Post
Anthony Scaramucci has been cast out.
Reince Priebus’s blood cries out from the soil.
And also, and perhaps more pressingly, the blood of Steve Bannon’s ego cries out from the soil.
And now the curse of President Trump has fallen upon Scaramucci, and he has been made a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. He is of no further use to Jared nor unto Ivanka, and so his iniquities cry out against him, and his loyalty is regarded not at all. And also the general, John Kelly, did not like his deeds, not one bit, and John Kelly has big braids on his shoulders and his burnt offerings to the homeland have received Trump’s favor.
So he has been cursed forth from Trump’s presence and he must wander the earth and lament until the end of his days.
He was escorted from the White House grounds, crying piteously to his maker, “Do not cast me out! For I have sold my business and destroyed my relationships, and if I must be hidden from your face, I must surely die.”
“Ye must go forth,” said Trump, “for I found your comments inappropriate and wish John Kelly to start with a clean slate and a team of his own choosing.”
“How can these things be?” Scaramucci inquired, though definitely not in those exact words, but of course I cannot print the exact words. “This cannot come to pass, for surely what I said, though vivid, was no worse than what thou thyself didst say, o Lord, and I seek only to do thy will and to slay all those who would oppose thee.”
But Trump did cast him out and did curse him, thusly, saying that when he tills the soil of Wall Street it shall no longer yield to him its strength, and his own home shall know him not, nor shall his son know him, (though some of this may be upon his head, as he responded (according to Page 6) to news of the baby’s birth by texting “Congratulations! I will pray for our son” and surprisingly this was not received with gladness.)
And so he cried out to Trump and said “My punishment is greater than I can bear! Today you have driven me away from the White House, and I shall be hidden from your face, I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may slay me.”
And Trump said to him, “Not so! I shall put upon thee a mark, the best mark, a mark that shall increase thy value sevenfold, the mark of Trump, and you shall bear it all your days, that none shall slay thee, but equally none shall hire thee.”
[….she has him wander the wilderness for a few paragraphs and concludes….]
Trump had created his world in seven days and in only three he had destroyed it, utterly. He had banished from his presence the one man on earth for whom the thought of having no interactions with Donald Trump in the course of a given day was a horrible curse and not an undreamed-of happiness. The one man for whom Hell was the absence of Trump, he had doomed unto Hell. He had cast Mooch into the outer darkness to wander for the rest of his days. Unless there is another shake-up, of course.
Patd – Ms. Petri is getting a lot of praise for her works. If you follow her on twitter you can see her working through various drafts of sentences. But, the completion of a column is only in the WashPost.
The sanctions against Russia are helpful to Putin: increases his popularity at home & gives a big anti-American wave to ride through his next “re-election.” His relationship with #45 is like a bizarro darkside Lend/Lease.
All lies.
Meanwhile Vice President Pence visits Montenegro, which borders Serbia, which contains Sarajevo, which is where Franz Ferdinand & Sophie met up with destiny, which brought forth the guns of August.
Allies.
sjwny, and per last night comments by pogo & bb,
wouldn’t be surprised if only for sake of distraction the prez pocket vetoes the Russia sanctions bill. unless bill not presented yet, time (sans sundays) looks like he could tho’ if it has been.
but according to newsweek
possibility is “to simply to delay sending the bill back to the White House until they return in September,” Farber says. “That would definitely work because the 10-day clock doesn’t start running until the bill is ‘presented’ to the president. If the president does try to use a pocket veto, I think members of the House and Senate will be quite angry, and they may respond by just passing the bill again and forcing Trump to sign it or veto it.
Signature and ratification does not equal implementation. There is precedent for a U.S. president to sign a bill but block elements of it from being put into practice.
sjwny – one of the Finnish pundits made note that Putin visited Finland and tried to get one of his friends to win the Finnish presidency. Veep Pence visits the Baltic states and tries to get Putin to love trump.
https://youtu.be/PmtjvxlEVi0
Published on Aug 1, 2017
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., says his party is in denial about the president, an argument he lays out in his book ‘Conscience of a Conservative.’ Sen. Flake joins Morning Joe to discuss Trump and GOP.
How Trump driving the false statement put his son in jeopardy is what really flabbergasts me about this story. Only an idiot ignoring his lawyers would do this, which is strong evidence that it was Trump.
#45 doesn’t care what anyone thinks. He has his own agenda, reality. This is how he rolls. He operates by muddying the waters because it is effective & stymies those who play by the rules.
It is obvious his allegiance is to Ivanka & her husband. The other children never seemed to matter much. They are the Champale to Ivanka’s Veuve.
patd,
I am a shirttail relative of Senator Flake’s through my vast Mormon family branches. If anyone claims LDS heritage from Box Elder, Utah or Snowflake, Arizona, we meet up somewhere on the family tree 😉
Humor interlude — pranksters fooling the fools.
Last week perry was pranked by ruskie radio.
As if the family of Seth Rich haven’t suffered enough? This is top story trending on google. WH link in Seth Rich conspiracy.
trump most likely listened-in on the russian/clinton dirt meeting at trump tower. He alone thought of the clever adoption cover story. He has his tiny hands in everything — his obsession with hands continues —
“We will handle North Korea. We are gonna be able to handle them. It will be handled. We handle everything,”
Holy pocket veto…sanctions bill sits at man of action oval office desk for four days…pence says trump will sign…when mike?
usnews:
Sen Lindsey Graham on Tuesday described as “disturbing” the revelation that President Donald Trump personally crafted a statement downplaying his son’s meeting with a Russian lawyer in June 2016.
The South Carolina Republican said Trump erred in trying to protect his son by getting involved in writing a statement that was later found to be misleading about the nature of the meeting.
“If that’s true then that was a bad decision by the president which will make us ask more questions,” Graham said on NBC’s “Today” show in response to a report in The Washington Post on Monday. “When you get caught in a lie about one thing, it makes it hard to just say ‘let the other stuff go.'”
[….]
Graham, who is one of the members of Trump’s party most willing to criticize the president over his campaign’s connections to Russia and his apparent warmth toward Russia President Vladimir Putin, said Trump Jr. should have known better than to meet with Veselnitskaya.
PG still doesn’t understand that government is not like a business
sen graham also said on today show:
“He put his son in jeopardy. We have to wonder what Don Jr.’s team will tell you about what he did. If you didn’t know about the email, the statement may have fooled you. If you know about the email, it’s a misleading statement.”
well, Lindsey, not only did he put his son in jeopardy, but also any taxpayer paid staff aboard that airplane who helped the prez craft the statement. remember don jr’s lawyer Futerfas said re the drafting of it was “a communal situation that involved communications people and various lawyers.”
The Condom is a lawyer
kgc, you mean this ms condom?
Kellyanne Conway, the next White House communications director?
Peter Principle in action
I view Trump’s drafting of the message as his way of accepting responsibility for his family’s supportive actions. I would be inclined to go easy on the kids provided they, with total candor in isolation of one another while sworn, told all. As incentive I would tell them that by telling all promptly, they would be working to bring the episode to a close. I would give them 14-minutes to accept my offer.
keith in his unique way bids bye bye to Anthony. he also noted the twit said when talking to new CoS Kelly “see you in the board room”…. after 6 months you’d think he would know it’s called the cabinet, not the board.
Published on Jul 31, 2017
The chaos comes at you quick, right? Anthony Scaramucci, “The Mooch,” is out. Who will be in?
Happy 98th Birthday, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who decades ago wrote:
“Pity the nation whose people are sheep,
and whose shepherds mislead them.
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced,
and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.
Pity the nation that raises not its voice,
except to praise conquerors and acclaim the bully as hero
and aims to rule the world with force and by torture.
Pity the nation that knows no other language but its own
and no other culture but its own.
Pity the nation whose breath is money
and sleeps the sleep of the too well fed.
Pity the nation — oh, pity the people who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away.
My country, tears of thee, sweet land of liberty.”
― Lawrence Ferlinghetti
meanwhile back at the courthouse.
from the hill:
“Fox News was working with the Trump administration to disseminate fake news in order to distract the public from Russia’s alleged attempts to influence our Country’s presidential election,” states the lawsuit filed by Rod Wheeler, a former Washington, D.C., homicide detective who investigated Rich’s murder.
The complaint was filed by Douglas Wigdor on behalf of Wheeler. Wigdor serves as legal counsel for several cases alleging discrimination or harassment by Fox News executives.
[….]
Wheeler’s lawsuit names Fox on-air guest Ed Butowsky and reporter Malia Zimmerman, saying they “fabricated two quotations and attributed them to Mr. Wheeler.”
Butowsky, a wealth manager and Trump supporter, periodically appears on the network as a guest to provide financial analysis. Zimmerman is a Fox News investigative reporter.
The lawsuit cites a text message from Butowsky to Wheeler that states the president “wants the article out immediately.”
“Not to add any more pressure but the president just read the article. He wants the article out immediately. It’s now all up to you. But don’t feel the pressure,” the text of the message in the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit argues that Trump wanted the story because it established that Seth Rich provided WikiLeaks with the DNC emails, which would shift the blame from Russia.
“[Wheeler] was subsequently forced to correct the false record, and, as a result, lost all credibility in the eyes of the public,” the lawsuit states.
Wheeler, a Fox News contributor, seeks damages for mental anguish and emotional distress and lost earnings at his private investigation firm.
PG is spinning out of control. I think he will spin away
“lost her cool” is an understatement…. rabid roid raging about the Clintons colluding with russia more like it starting at 1:49 in on video
from raw story
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders lost her cool on Tuesday when reporters confronted her about President Donald Trump’s role in covering up his son’s meeting with Russians.
[….]
“I think what the bigger question is, everybody wants to try to make this some story about misleading,” she said. “The only thing I’ve seen misleading is a year’s worth of stories that have been fueling a false narrative about this Russia collusion based on a phony scandal based on anonymous sources.”
“You guys are focused on a meeting that Don Jr. had of no consequence when the Democrats actually colluded with a foreign government,” Sanders declared. “And if you want to talk further about a relationship with Russia, look no further than the Clintons as we’ve said time and time again.”
Interesting take on Senator Graham in HuffPo, Mr Crawford. I don’t know if he has a chance at the Presidency, but do appreciate him speaking out against #45 while other colleagues duck & cover.
Heard a funny line the other day about why the majority of Republicans enable the President through their silence: “Would you risk the wrath of an angry tweet?”
Democracy in limbo over 140 characters or less.
wow speaking of spinning out of control
she’s a big ole southern gal and big loser like her dad
patd,
The esteemed Press Secretary had that bit practiced, just waiting for her cue. I give her good marks for remembering all that malarkey, but her delivery was stilted & telegraphed these were memorized lines.
The Press should just show up one afternoon & say nothing, ask no questions. Sit & stare.
Everyday we are played.
Rambling thoughts from a place near Despair.
What is Trump capable of doing if he is legally or politically cornered? It may depend upon how rational he is, or how often he experiences periods of lucidity. Why would John Kelly accept the WH job after twice reportedly turning it down? Does he see himself as a savior, assuming command at a crucial moment, a la Alex Haig? That these are now reasonable questions is evidence of how low we have politically descended in six months. (Is it only that long?)
I remember well the Watergate hearings. A working number of Republicans and Democrats put partisanship aside to seek justice by revealing the truth. There is no such center now, on either side of the aisle. Hence we drift in a slow spiral downward. We may assume that there will become a momentum changer at some point, changing the trajectory.
But what if there is not?
CajunJoe, my answer: We might one day be nostalgic for the good ole days of simple despair.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders thought bubble at her Press Bluffing today: “I’m melting!”
Maybe the strategy is to break so many laws, the investigators’ work will never be finished. Seems to be working, so far!
Although I work hard to avoid the WH press coverage of the WH briefing, every now and then I accidentally see a bit of it. What I see is a woman in a position due to either her father or SFB trying to get favor from the other, who has a bit of a monotone voice carefully trying to learn how to pivot. And, none of it is working out for her. Does she plan a future in politics? If so I think some time on the front lines and away from this WH would be better. Does she plan a future in federal policy? Same.
Bink, so far Mueller has been mute. Don’t expect that to continue indefinitely. ONE problem of SFB & SFBJr is that they don’t seem to understand that lying about SFBJr’s (as a part of the SDFB campaign) attempted collusion with a Russian lawyer with reported ties to the Kremlin just might be relevant to an investigation into obstructing an investigation into ties between the Russian Government and the SFB campaign. Even if the discussion was mostly about adoption and the Magninski (shoot me if I misspelled the name) Act, the intent was to get damaging opint on Clinton from a foreign individual, who happened to be Russian.
Vlad kicks out U.S. embassy from Russia and goes fishing. https://twitter.com/dimsmirnov175/status/892420104843087872
Oh, and I forgot to mention that conventional wisdom is that intent is the most difficult element to prove of almost every crime.
A parallel is this – If you mean to shoot a gun and it hits and kills a human, it is murder rather than manslaughter. If you didn’t intend to shoot the gun, but you did, and it hits and kills a human, it is manslaughter. Intent doesn’t have to be intent to cause the result that comes from your efforts.
Looks like Trump atty Sekulow next sucker to take the fall for spreading the president’s lies.
Wonder if it occurs to Trump he’s surrounded by leakers who work/worked for him because he’s a jack-ass boss they actually despise.
Taking bets: Trump let’s Russia sanctions become law without his signature to impress his patron Putin, who doesn’t even take his call.
Craig – I too am wondering if this latest, within the last twenty-four hours, revelation regarding only one of the known SFB SFBjr Russian, SVR/FSB, episodes is going to have a few attorney’s bailing for cover.
Mueller thought bubble: “I could indict this fool if he would just stop committing more crimes I then have to investigate.”
BlueB, nobody should go to work for this WH without legal-fees insurance. But the premiums must be astronomical.
If Sekulow has any kind of a brain, he will not remain with drumpf for any length of time. He should be on the road doing whatever the hell he does that makes him lots of money from clients who aren’t quite as dishonest drumpf. I know this may sound strange, but the one thing all lawyers wish to have when he or she goes into court is credibility with the court. Sekulow would have absolutely zero credibility in any court.
I heard 11 grand juries being presently seated by Mueller…..
New twist on a famous phrase: When did the President lie and what did he do about it?
John Kelly thought bubble: “I’d rather go back to Iraq.”
Sergei Leonidovich Magnitsky (Russian: Серге́й Леони́дович Магни́тский; 8 April 1972 – 16 November 2009) was a Russian lawyer and auditor whose arrest and subsequent death in custody generated international media attention and triggered both official and unofficial inquiries into allegations of fraud, theft and human rights violations in Russia.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Magnitsky
Behind the scenes of the Special Investigators’ office, Saturday 7Pm:
“Hey, thanks for all your hard work, lately. I heard your taking tomorrow off.”
“Yeah, I haven’t seen my family all week, we are going to spend the day at the lake, it should be nice.”
“Um, you might want to tell them you won’t be able to make it.”
“What? Why?!”
“The President just tweeted.”
“Noooooooo!”
Cuff ‘im, Danno ! – Steve McGarret
Take ’em away, Sergeant – Inspector Lestrad
Clean up the bodies, Chester – Marshal Dillon