It’s About Russia, Stupid

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Robert Mueller’s Congressional hearings today should not be all about Donald Trump. He is only going to say so much about that, but me thinks he’s got a hell of a lot to say about Russia. Hijacking our elections is a bigger threat than idiot Trump.

The Mueller investigation’s detailed and phenomenal findings about Russia’s attack on our Democracy is the fucking point. Trump denies that and thus indicts himself.

It is up to the American people to dump Trump next year. Congress needs to focus on stopping the sabotage of our elections. Questioning Mueller about that will get him talking.

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61 thoughts on “It’s About Russia, Stupid”

  1. NY Times:  Best of Late Night

    “It’s the Super Bowl of things on C-Span at 8:30 in the morning.” — STEPHEN COLBERT

    “Or as President Trump is calling it, ‘Narc Week.’” — JIMMY FALLON

     

  2. I expect the Mueller hearing to devolve into a shouting match with the republicans screaming and yelling about white power conspiracies in the FBI and how SFB is our dear leader being attacked by Democrats.  Russian fingers in US politics must be exposed. 

  3. The gru and the B!LL!ON bots. The russians hacking and the wikileakers distributing. The trump tower meeting and the actual purpose, plus who knew about it ahead of time and who covered up ? What was flynn supposed to provide for putin ? What was papadoupolis’ role ? What was manafort’s role ? What was gate’s role ? What was jr’s role ? What was jared’s role ? What was big trump’s role ? What was pence’s role ? What was the nra’s role ? What was the rnc’s role ? What was the purpose of sharing campaign polling data with russian spies ? Did melania have a role ? Did her parents have a role ?
    Mr Chairman, is my time up . . . I just have a few more questions . . . . 

  5. cliff note version by lizzie condenses  448 pages into 2 sentences

    @ewarren
     

     

    The Mueller report lays out facts showing that a hostile foreign government attacked our 2016 election to help Donald Trump and Donald Trump welcomed that help. Once elected, Donald Trump obstructed the investigation into that attack.

     

  8. slate:

    On the eve of Robert Mueller’s congressional testimony, President Trump took a moment to remind everyone of his reckless disregard for anything that isn’t his and anyone that isn’t Trump himself. During an 80-minute speech to young people at the uber-friendly Turning Point USA Teen Student Action Summit in Washington Tuesday, Trump casually told the young conservatives in the crowd that the Constitution gives him, as president, the power to do whatever he wants.

     

    “Then, I have an Article II, where I have to the right to do whatever I want as president,” Trump said. “But I don’t even talk about that.” This is, of course, not true. The larger context of the quote is that Trump was—or appeared to be because who ever knows really—saying that he had the constitutional executive authority to fire Robert Mueller if he had wanted to. Article II of the Constitution grants the president executive authority and outlines certain congressional powers, but stops well short of, you know, empowering the president to do whatever he or she wants. Obviously. That’s not how laws work or how constitutions work, but it is how Trump thinks and talks. The problem is when the thinking and talking makes its way into doing.

    [continues]

  9. add the “I can do anything I want” to this from today’s

    Washington examiner:  ‘Dangerous to an unprecedented degree’: Psychiatrists warn Congress that Trump incites violence

    Mental health experts warned in an online event meant to convince Congress and the public Tuesday that President Trump incited his followers to violence, with one psychiatrist comparing Trump’s rallies to those of Adolf Hitler.

     

     

    The experts, four psychiatrists and one clinical psychologist, presented their positions alongside a mental health analysis of special counsel Robert Mueller’s 448-page report, in which they concluded Trump does not have the sound mental capacity to function in his role as president.

     

    Dr. James Merikangas, a psychiatrist from George Washington University, said the chanting at Trump’s rallies were reminiscent of “Nuremberg rallies that Adolf Hilter had.” He did not cite specific examples, but Trump rally-goers have chanted “lock her up” about Hillary Clinton and recently chanted “send her back” of Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who was born in Somalia.

    “We believe he is a danger to the public,” Merikangas said of Trump.

     

    Another panelist, Dr. James Gilligan, a psychiatrist from New York University, called Trump “dangerous to an unprecedented degree in our history.” He urged voters to remove Trump from office during the 2020 election if members of Congress didn’t do so beforehand.

     

    “What we are seeing is how he has succeeded in stimulating racial prejudice and a fear and hatred of immigrants, foreigners … What I’m alarmed by is the effect he is having on the public,” Gilligan said.

    The online event took place a day before Mueller is expected to testify in front of the House’s Judiciary and Intelligence committees about Russian election interference and whether Trump obstructed justice.
    Part of the event’s purpose was for panelists to provide questions they thought lawmakers should ask Mueller, including: “Given the president’s many traits that are commonly shared with violent individuals, did you not consider it prudent to recommend a violence risk assessment?” and, “As a prosecutor, do you see a nexus between the president’s hate speech and danger to others as targets of his rhetoric?”
    Dr. Bandy Lee, the leader of the panel and a psychiatrist at Yale School of Medicine, argued that mental capacity was even more important than the criminal investigation members of Congress would be after in the hearings because it “needs immediate intervention.” She recommended that Congress consider canceling the August recess to deal with the issue.
    “This is what we believe is the most urgent issue of our time,” she said.

     

    [continues]

  12. Craig….   absolutely it’s about the Russians!  And the gop has become Russian ass lickers!

  14. BB, re: your comments re Sagan yesterday, I think you’re right about that.  too much ground to make up when he starts his sprints.  But for him the good thing is that his points lead is so lopsided I can’t see him losing the green jersey.  Today he saw his 93 point lead over then 2nd place Cobrelli increase to 106 as Cobrelli dropped to 3rd and saw his 100 point lead over 4th place Viviani drop to 85 as Viviani moved up to 2nd.  So his points lead only dropped by 8.  
     
    Gotta say, Nadler rocked in his 5 minutes.  Did exactly what they should be doing- reference the report, get Mueller to confirm.

  15. Mixed at the moment.  

    Big one:  DID NOT EXONERATE of charges that would have been charged if not President. 

    GOP side:  Collusion is “largely” synonymous with Conspiracy.  So no collusion/conspiracy proven.

     

  16. Sensenbrenner tried to muddy the waters by ignoring simply investigative fact.  Just because you aren’t charged does not mean you are innocent.  That is for others to proceed based on evidence discovered during the investigation. 

  17. Potentially subject to indictment (for obstruction) after leaving office.

    Gomert is going to have a stroke.  

    Found evidence of obstruction of justice.

  21. jaime44 – Yes!  I am a fan of champagne.  One of the casualties of the Bush Depression was liquor stores having to sell off stock at huge discounts.  I was buying great champagnes at almost seventy percent discounts.  Cash does make sales happen.  Most of the buys were fifty percent but the higher priced bottles seemed to have the better discounts.
     
    I love France.  The scenery rivals anywhere on Earth.

  23. jamie44 – Buck is a very far right guy.  However he put that away when he prosecuted a murder of a transgender woman with all the power of his office.  It was very strange to see someone like him do this, but he was successful and the guy was put away for life.

  28. Clearly,Mr Mueller is at the end of his career as a public servant. Not because of lack of desire or commitment, but because he must get the rest that he deserves. I was embarrassed for him.

  29. kudos to dems on their self-discipline.  rare show of not show-boating at a hearing.

    as for the gopers?  see below

     

     

     

  30. I suggest a RICO indictment against the entire repug Party, fox, breitbart, the enquirer group, and trumpco.

  31. 1. Put them all in cages at G’tmo and carpet bomb the place with napalm and white phosphorus.
    2. Invite king kim to talks in the South. Put him in a cage and ship him to G’tmo.
    3. Neutron bomb putin’s oligarch convention.
     

  32. I have no idea what or why people ar saying Mueller has slipped and is now mentally deficient.  WTF
    that is just a pile of poop

  34. 4. Neutron bomb Riyadh
    5. Ditto Pyonyang
    There, I just got rid of more than half the world’s problems in 6 moves. 

  39. I’ve just made the scene……caught the last rep questioner then a recess….I like mueller, and trust his judgement. 
    He knows that today is his walk on the moon. 

  42. What he’s been under the lights since 8:30 AM EDT and if it were me I’d be forgetting more than one word

  44. Although not able to watch the show, I do sneak a peek at the twitter feed.  So far it looks like the usual idiots, in the hearing and the media, are pushing the meme that Mueller is done tuckered out and the greedy old perverts are running all over the Dems and Mueller.  I tend to think the Dems got a few good sound bites and a hit or two on the SFB groupies.

  46. Ms Jamie,
    Yes, the critters wouldn’t deserve it – except for mosquitos and ticks. But the rippers, russkies, and king kim are rapidly destroying critters, so I figure that it’d be an environmental wash.
    Yours,
    X, the best damn dick tater you’ll ever have.

  48. Mr Mueller was hitting on all eight this afternoon. He came close to saying, “The Devil made me do it.” SFB is wiping his brow with pages from Truman’s Sears Catalogue.

  49. Truman’s Sears Catalogue? Yeah, His mother-in-law left it in Blair House after they stayed there during the major White House renovation during 1949-52. Frugal bunch.

  50. Flatus, I’m thinking the term for that is local cooling.  We’re experiencing a bit of it here today – ambient temp – 79, feels like 80.  A welcome respite from the 90s.
    IMHO what I’ve seen of Mueller is pretty good for a 74 year old who’s testifying about a 448 page report.  
    KC, no, it’s not bad to hope Gohmert has a stroke.  I’m not even sure it’s bad to pray for that.

  53. Take away from today: Donald Trump is an ignorant, arrogant, sleaze bag, conman, and crook. Unfortunately we can’t charge him now. Choices: Impeach the bastard or vote him out in 2020 and hope he doesn’t destroy the country before then.

  58. And in TDF news – even with a 30 rider breakaway that finished 20 minutes ahead of the peloton, there were no changes in the top 12 and aside from 2 riders sliding into the 20 minute window behind Alaphilippe, nothing of note happened today with respect to standings.  The next 3 days are going to be BRUTAL.  Look for changes in the overall standings.
     
    Excellent article at NYT by Noah Bookbinder, Executive Director of CREW.
     

    As devastating as Robert Mueller’s report was for the president, his testimony on Wednesday — coming after months of the president’s efforts to deny the report’s realities and shut down all attempts at oversight or accountability — is worse.
     
    From the outset, Mr. Mueller, the former special counsel, was predictably cautious and restrained, and he said very little that went beyond what was in his report. But his plain-spoken answers illuminated for Congress — and millions of Americans watching at home — the case against the president.
     
    Several episodes stand out, all of which Democrats highlighted in their questions to Mr. Mueller at the morning hearing before the House Judiciary Committee.
     
    First, there was President Trump’s June 2017 direction to the White House counsel, Don McGahn, to fire the special counsel in the wake of news reports that he was investigating the president for obstruction of justice — and Mr. Trump’s later insistence that Mr. McGahn create a false internal memorandum that would contradict reporting about this order.
     
    Then there was President Trump’s instructions, in summer 2017, to his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, who was then a private citizen, to direct Attorney General Jeff Sessions to limit Mr. Mueller’s investigation with the intent to, as stated in the report, “prevent further investigative scrutiny of the president and his campaign’s conduct.”
     
    Democrats also noted Mr. Trump’s repeated instructions that Mr. Sessions “unrecuse” himself from running the investigation, which Mr. Mueller said in the report lead to a “reasonable inference” that the president wanted his attorney general to act as a shield from the investigation.
     
    And finally, Mr. Mueller described how Mr. Trump sought, in part through his private attorneys, to influence the cooperation and testimony of several possible witnesses, including his former campaign manager Paul Manafort and his former lawyer Michael Cohen, by making public and private threats, and by floating the possibility of pardons.
     
    These facts, starkly affirmed on Wednesday by Mr. Mueller after months of mischaracterization of his report by the president and others, are catastrophic.
     
    Despite Mr. Mueller’s unwillingness to speculate on hypotheticals, and his adherence to the Justice Department policy against indicting a sitting president, these facts, which he also outlined in depth in his report, make clear that were Mr. Trump an ordinary person, he would have been indicted on multiple counts of obstruction of justice, as more than a thousand former federal prosecutors, free of those limitations, have observed.

    Republicans did their best, during their own questions, to muddy these facts by attacking Mr. Mueller’s credibility. And of course from the beginning, Mr. Mueller was limited by a finding by the Office of Legal Counsel that a sitting president could not be indicted. And yet there is no doubt, after Wednesday, that Mr. Mueller found substantial evidence of serious and repeated criminal activity by the president. Inaction is not an option. So what next?

    [Continues, but that pretty much says it all]

    Indeed, what next? And the RW idjits over at WaPo are following the SFB blather about the hearings being a disaster.  As an old budd of mine used to say, “Au contraire, Pierre.”

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