In an attachment to a court filing (in a case in D.C. federal court where the press wants access to certain government records), the DOJ filed a brief which conveniently had, as an attachment, a summary of all the criminal charges filed to date in the Mueller investigation. 56% of Americans, according to recent poll, think Mueller has not found … Read More
Breaking: Trump Cancels North Korea Summit
I had it a feeling it wouldn’t happen. These summits take months of pre-preparations by lower level ACTUAL negotiators. None of this was done. There wasn’t even an agenda. Although, I don’t think that is why Trump is cancelling. Perhaps the stated reason is the actual reasoning — a bit of posturing. On some level though, he must know he … Read More
Judge Rules That Trump Cannot Block his Twitter Feed
This case requires us to consider whether a public official may, consistent with the First Amendment, “block” a person from his Twitter account in response to the political views that person has expressed, and whether the analysis differs because that public official is the President of the United States. The answer to both questions is no. It is sort of … Read More
Spygate: The New Faux Counterscandal
SPYGATE! This Trump tweet this morning (he had at least nine, following what was being said on Fox & Friends) started it: This tweet sums it up: A year of faux Russia investigation scandals: -“Wiretapp” -Unmasking -Mueller “conflicted” -Mueller attorneys are Dems -Strzok’s “secret society” -FISA application & Steele -“Spygate” — Justin Miller (@justinjm1) May 23, 2018 There is no … Read More
The Horrible Things The Trump Administration Is Doing That Are Unrelated To Scandals
Sometimes, you forget that these people are just plain evil: The Trump administration is moving to reverse Obama-era rules barring hunters on some public lands in Alaska from baiting brown bears with bacon and doughnuts and using spotlights to shoot mother black bears and cubs hibernating in their dens. The National Park Service issued a notice Monday of its intent … Read More
How To Message The Trump-Russia Scandal
Having written about The Navigator last month, I am glad to see that the second issue deals with how to talk about the Mueller scandal. Some quick takeaways: A majority of Americans — 59 percent — say that Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia and the 2016 campaign has not yet uncovered evidence of any crimes, even though in reality, Mueller … Read More
Adam Serwer: It’s One Scandal
The Atlantic: There are not many Trump scandals. There is one Trump scandal. Singular: the corruption of the American government by the president and his associates, who are using their official power for personal and financial gain rather than for the welfare of the American people, and their attempts to shield that corruption from political consequences, public scrutiny, or legal … Read More
It’s Time To Stop Taking Giuliani Seriously
That’s the title of a Washington Post editorial by Jennifer Rubin, and yes, I agree: President Trump’s TV lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani declared on Sunday that the special counsel plans to wrap up the obstruction-of-justice inquiry into his client by Sept. 1. The press treated this as true, or possibly true, when it is obviously another ludicrous Giuliani utterance (e.g. … Read More
Was The Actual Collusion With The Saudis?
Remember Devin Nunes fake scandal about “unmasking” that caused him to do his “midnight run” to the White House? What people forget that the subject he was so concerned about was that Obama’s National Security Advisor, Susan Rice, and unmasked intelligence data and discovered that Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan had a secret meeting with Flynn, Kushner, and Bannon in NY. That … Read More
Why Did He Release This Email Admitting To Collusion?
Interesting: Released in a tranche of documents by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday morning, the release of this email in particular is likely to further ignite already-existing inquiries into the younger Trump’s knowledge of alleged Russian collusion with the Trump 2016 campaign during the presidential election held that same year. The sender of the email in question is redacted. … Read More
Trump To Instruct The FBI/DOJ To Investigate The Mueller Investigation
On Sunday, Trump’s simmering anger over Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s year-old Russia probe spilled over into a series of well-worn recriminations in several tweets, including that the investigation was politically motivated and had its roots in the administration of his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama. Read Sunday AM tweets from @realDonaldTrump: they are a portrait of a man alone, paranoid, isolated, … Read More
Loose Ends From A Crazy News Day
Yesterday was one of those crazy Trump news days. Big story followed big story. But what was odd was a lot of it was retrospective. Things that happened in the investigation that we are NOW just learning. It clearly got under Trump’s nerves, as shown by his tweets this morning. It is a little silly for him to say that. … Read More
Senate Intelligence Committee — In A Bipartisan Statement — Show Up The House Intel GOP
Picture says it all: Unlike the GOP majority in House Intelligence Committee, the Senate Intelligence Committee states clearly that it agrees with the Intelligence Community Assessment — Russia attempted to interfere with the 2016 election, and Putin ordered it.
Trump Discloses Financials
As I wrote about yesterday, Trump was to disclose his financial liabilities, and there was an open question as to whether he would admit his payments to Cohen as a liability, and how much was paid. Today the public got its answer, sort of. I will attach only the page dealing with financial liabilities. See there at the bottom? He is … Read More
Ice Cube, 3-On-3 Basketball, and The OTHER “Trump Tower Meeting”
Given the congressional testimony and exhibits that were released by the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning, we probably know as much as we can about the infamous June 2016 in Trump Tower between Don Trump Jr, Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, and a bunch of Russians. But there is another Trump Tower meeting drawing interest. The genesis of it is confusing … Read More