Manafort Virginia trial begins today

Paul Manafort faces a litany of charges related to financial crimes and money laundering in Virginia.

These alleged financial crimes are quite spectacular and could end up sending Manafort to prison for the rest of his life. But in a sense, they’re a sideshow. What’s really looming over all this is Mueller’s larger investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia.

The first set of charges, which Mueller calls “the tax scheme,” relate to Manafort’s flush years, when the Ukrainian money was pouring in to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. Mueller says Manafort set up a complex web of offshore shell companies.

[...]

All this violated the law in two ways, Mueller says: [...] False income tax returns (5 counts) [and] [f]ailure to report foreign bank or financial assets (four counts).

[...]

Next, there’s a second set of charges that Mueller calls “the financial institution scheme.” Mueller says that after Yanukovych was deposed and the Ukrainian money stopped pouring in, Manafort was desperate for cash, and made a series of fraudulent declarations to banks to try to get hefty mortgage loans.

[...]

All the charges here are either bank fraud (four counts) or bank fraud conspiracy (five counts).

[...]

Manafort is something of a legendary figure in Republican operative circles; you can think of his career in three major phases:

1) Decades of Republican campaign and lobbying work: Manafort rose to fame in the party through his work for Ford’s 1976 and Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaigns. After Reagan won, Manafort decided to cash in by starting a lobbying, consulting, and PR firm (alongside his campaign colleague Roger Stone).

The firm became infamous for representing controversial authoritarian regimes or opposition leaders abroad — clients like President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines and guerrilla leader Jonas Savimbi of Angola. Manafort also occasionally jumped back into US politics, such as to manage the Republican convention in 1996.

2) The Ukraine period: By around 2004, Manafort sought even grander paydays abroad, by advising fantastically rich oligarchs in the former Soviet Union on how to master tumultuous democratic politics. He advised a Russian billionaire, Oleg Deripaska, but eventually his efforts focused on Ukraine — where he landed a hefty contract to advise the country’s pro-Russian political party [and its leader Viktor Yanukovych].

[...]

Once Yanukovych was in office, Manafort became an enormously influential adviser to the regime [...] (Mueller claims Manafort earned more than $60 million in these years.)

[...]

3) The Trump campaign and afterward: [...] Trump needed someone with the expertise on party and convention rules who could lock down delegates for him. And two longtime Manafort associates who had Trump’s ear — Roger Stone, and wealthy real estate investor Tom Barrack — pitched Manafort for the job.

[...]

The Virginia trial is expected to last about two to three weeks.

[...]

Mueller has indicted him on another seven charges in Washington, DC, for a trial scheduled to start after this one concludes, in September. In general, the DC trial will focus more on Manafort’s actual work for Ukraine, rather than his finances. The charges include conspiracy to defraud the United States and making false Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) statements.

Additionally, just last month, Mueller brought two new charges related to attempted witness tampering. He said that earlier this year, Manafort and a Russian associate contacted witnesses and urged them to give a false story.

[...]

By February of this year, Mueller was ready to file those tax and bank fraud charges. But there was a catch. The law required some of those counts to be charged where Manafort actually lived (Alexandria, Virginia) — unless Manafort specifically gave Mueller permission to charge him in DC.

[...]

On the one hand, it’s easier and less expensive for the defendant to just prepare for one trial rather than two. Also, two separate trials would give the prosecution two separate opportunities, before different judges and different juries, to convict [Manafort] — making it less likely a lucky break would get him off the hook entirely.

On the other hand, DC’s population is far more liberal and far more nonwhite than that of the Eastern District of Virginia — meaning Manafort likely thought he had a better chance of an acquittal in the latter venue. Furthermore, the specific charges that would be brought against him in Virginia likely played into his thinking. As compared to the DC charges, there are more of them, they’re generally viewed as tougher to beat, and they would mean a longer prison sentence — so why not get them before a Virginia jury rather than a DC one?

  Vox

And, why two trials?

Mueller originally indicted Manafort in Washington last October. But for unclear reasons, he wasn’t ready to bring the tax and bank fraud charges against Manafort at that time.

[...]

His team hoped that of the two trials, the Washington one would be first, since those charges were filed months earlier. But as Josh Gerstein has written, this Virginia district is known as a “rocket docket” for its speed in bringing cases to trial. So here we are.

None of these many, many charges against Manafort have anything to do with the Russian government interfering in the 2016 election, the main thing Mueller is investigating.

My guess would be that Mueller will bring charges against Manafort relating to the Russian collusion investigation after his already scheduled trials - or at some point in the future.  On the other hand, we don't know that Manafort hasn't already flipped regarding those dealings in exchange for not being charged. People keep saying that the fact Manafort is going to trial is proof he hasn't flipped. I don't think that's necessarily true.

The most common proposed explanation is that Mueller believes Manafort has important information for the collusion probe — and that he’s brought so many other charges against Manafort to put pressure on him, in hopes he’ll “flip” and spill what he knows.

[...]

First, he attended Donald Trump Jr.’s infamous Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer and other Russia-tied figures in June 2016. Attendees have claimed that even though the meeting was set up with the promise of dirt on Hillary Clinton from the Russian government, nothing much of importance happened there.

Second, there’s a set of surreptitious contacts Manafort had with two Russian nationals during the campaign. There’s the aforementioned oligarch and former client he was indebted to, Oleg Deripaska. Then there’s Konstantin Kilimnik, a former employee of Manafort’s who worked with him in Ukraine, and who Mueller has said is tied to Russian intelligence. (Kilimnik was indicted alongside Manafort for alleged witness tampering in June, but he remains in Russia and likely won’t face trial.)

[...]

Mueller has made clear that he was specifically investigating Manafort for collusion-related crimes, as he revealed in a court filing.

[...]

[G]iven how Mueller charged Rick Gates with past Ukraine-related crimes and withdrew nearly all of those charges as soon as he agreed to cooperate, it would make sense if he’s pursuing a similar strategy with Manafort. If he is, though, it hasn’t worked.

We don't know that. The money laundering and bank fraud charges may not have been a part of the deal if he flipped. Or maybe they were back at the beginning, and like the revocation of his privilege to remain out of jail, they were withdrawn when he failed to cooperate. Doesn't mean he hasn't chosen to cooperate on the Russia investigation since then.

On the other hand, he's got the Russian mob to worry about. A death sentence may well look worse to him than a life in prison one.  So maybe he'll never admit guilt to anything he gets charged with. And, Manafort may well be expecting a pardon, but knowing Trump, I'd say if things get any hairier (and maybe they're already there), instead of a pardon, they'll scapegoat Manafort and try to blame everything on him.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Still trying to be Michelle Obama

And looking ridiculous doing it.

Wanna bet she never wore those clothes before in her life?  And she never will again.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Regarding the goal posts

Chuck Rosenberg, a former FBI chief of staff under former director James Comey, on Monday said collusion is “ absolutely a crime,” a day after President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani said it was not a crime.

“Collusion is a crime,” said Rosenberg, who once headed the Drug Enforcement Administration. “We just happen to call it something else, we call it conspiracy, but it is absolutely a crime.”

“You probably won’t find the crime bank heist in the criminal code but bank robbery is a crime too and so I am sort of perplexed that it has come down to synonyms,” Rosenberg said.

  The Hill

Nah. He's not really surprised.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Who needs a Congress?

The Department of Defense is reportedly planning to create a new Space Operations Force in upcoming months at the direction of President Trump, despite lacking congressional approval for the new military service branch.

Defense One reports that the Pentagon has laid out its plan to create the new Space Force in a 14-page report that will be given to lawmakers later this week.

[...]

"The Department of Defense is establishing a Space Force to protect our economy through deterrence of malicious activities, ensure our space systems meet national security requirements and provide vital capabilities to joint and coalition forces across the spectrum of conflict,” the draft report reads, according to Defense One.

[...]

The House Armed Services Committee last year attempted but failed to establish in the annual defense policy bill a separate space corps within the Air Force. Air Force leaders, Defense Secretary James Mattis and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford all opposed it.

[...]

Defense One also reports that defense officials are drafting a legislative plan for Congress to pass next year as part of Trump's 2020 budget proposal. The Pentagon will start working on the space force before official approval from lawmakers, however.

  The Hill

Where's that money coming from?

Not that the Republican Congress wouldn't approve it, but the precedent being set is just another bad turn Americans will have to try to get back to the Constitution.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Michigan declares emergency over drinking water supply

No, not for Flint

Michigan officials have declared a state of emergency after a city’s drinking water supply was found to be tainted with a harmful nonstick chemical.

Lt. Gov. Brian Calley (R) made the declaration Sunday, days after the discovery of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the water supply for Parchment and Cooper Township, near Kalamazoo.

“This declaration will allow the state to supply additional resources to help with response efforts and ensure the health and safety of residents in Parchment and Cooper Township,” Calley said in a statement. He is acting as governor while Gov. Rick Snyder (R) is out of state.

  The Hill

Let me guess:  The area is mostly white.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Contrarian in Chief

It's just so hard to keep up.  The Koch Brothers are now the good guys????









How'd you make them richer?  Or, more importantly, why?

"A puppet for no one."

Charles Koch said on Sunday that his network would be more aggressive in going after Republicans who have not adhered to fiscally conservative principles.

“I regret some of the [lawmakers] we have supported,” Koch told a small group of reporters in a rare interview. "We’re gonna more directly deal with that and hold people accountable."

Koch also said he’s hopeful his network can support more Democrats going forward.

  The Hill

UPDATE:

We're not done with Rudy; Sorry

When news of the memo became public in the New York Times, the White House denied Comey's account.

"While the president has repeatedly expressed his view that General Flynn is a decent man who served and protected our country, the president has never asked Mr. Comey or anyone else to end any investigation, including any investigation involving General Flynn," according to the statement. "The president has the utmost respect for our law enforcement agencies, and all investigations. This is not a truthful or accurate portrayal of the conversation between the president and Mr. Comey."

As of a January 2018 memo sent to Mueller from then-Trump lawyer John Dowd, this remained the position of Trump's lawyers, who reprinted the statement, as to what happened that day.

[...]

President Donald Trump's lead outside lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, on Monday morning appeared to acknowledge that Trump asked then-FBI Director James Comey to cut short any investigation into Trump's recently resigned national security adviser, Michael Flynn.

Of Trump's comments to Comey about Flynn, Giuliani said on Fox & Friends, "He asked him to exercise his prosecutorial discretion because he was a good man with a great war record."

Specifically, Giuliani said, "He had a right to say to Comey, 'Give Flynn a break.'"

  Buzzfeed

So, Comey wasn't lying, eh? 

Rudy and Trump are so, so guilty

And if Rudy keeps going on TV, the Mueller investigation will never end.

Today, on Fox and CNN, Rudy blew out another tire.

Cohen is now reportedly willing to tell prosecutors that Trump knew about, and approved, the [Junior Trump Tower] meeting ahead of time.

[...]

“Cohen is alleging that the meeting took place. We are making it clear that the President was not at that meeting. Cohen doesn’t even allege that. To cut it off.”

  TPM

No one said he was. This is an odd thing to have to make clear.

On the same day of the dirt meeting, Giuliani said Monday, Cohen (or someone speaking to reporters on his behalf) has claimed “that he was in President Trump’s office, Donald Trump Jr. walked in and told him about the Russian meeting.”

“That is categorically untrue,” Giuliani said. “Did not happen. Two witnesses demonstrate that. He has talked about this endlessly on those 183 unique recordings and he never mentions it at all.”

[...]

Giuliani added on Fox News: “So the public record contains a leak by Cohen that he was present at a meeting in which Donald Jr. came in and informed the President. We deny that happened. We say it didn’t happen and if it had happened, it would’ve been mentioned a long time ago on the various hours of tapes that we have.”

So who are the witnesses that Junior didn't come in to telll Trump about the meeting when Cohen was in the room?

The two witnesses, [Giuliani] told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota Monday morning, are the President and his son.

No comment necessary.

Giuliani told Fox News that he and Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow had heard from reporters who’d been told about another meeting “in which they [Don Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, and ‘possibly others’], out of the presence of the President, discussed the meeting with the Russians.”

He categorically denied that the un-reported meeting he’d just brought up had ever happened.

[...]

Giuliani later said that the supposed meeting he’d heard about from reporters had happened “three days before” the Russian dirt meeting.

[...]

He added later, “The second meeting was brought to my attention through Jay Sekulow. Both of us dealt with it with two different reporters, essentially the same information, about this meeting that took place three days earlier [that is, three days before the dirt meeting] with a whole group of people.”

He continued: “Everyone of those people says it didn’t happen. And why do I mention it? Because first of all, I thought it was going to come out, and second, my experience is that when you have something like this floating around, it comes out. And I don’t want it to come out and be un-rebutted when it originally comes out.”

So, this is a pre-buttal, I guess.

“When I thought that it was going to be published,” Giuliani said, “I wanted to get out in front of it.”

But he didn't deny it originally. That only happened after he decided it wasn't going to be published. What he told CNN was it wasn't about Clinton dirt - and that it was before the Tower meeting.

Rudy Giuliani told CNN that two days before the Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer to get “dirt” on Hillary Clinton there was a planning meeting to prepare that meeting. It included Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates and others.

  Political Wire

President Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani says key players from the infamous Trump Tower meeting in June 2016 attended another meeting days before but it was on an unrelated subject and the president wasn't there.

Giuliani gave several confusing answers about the meeting in morning TV interviews – then called in to 'Fox and Friends' to try to clean up any misconceptions about it.

[...]

'That's a real meeting on another provable subject in which he was not participating,' he told CNN's 'New Day.'

[...]

He also appeared to confirm the meeting happened when he said: 'And this meeting that Cohen's talking about took place before the meeting with the Russians.'

[...]

The head-spinning commentary about a Trump Tower meeting that happened as well as two other meetings that he said didn't happen came on a day when Giuliani also said colluding with Russia may not even be a crime.

The comment raised a possible new legal defense even as he lowers the bar following a series of emphatic denials by Trump that there was no collusion.

[...]

'So I said today that there was no collusion therefore – and that collusion also is no crime. I've been saying that from the very beginning,' he [said].

It's a very, very familiar lawyers argument that the alternative, my client didn't do it and even if he did it, it's not a crime. And I have said that over and over again – collusion is not a crime. The only crime there is hacking and it's ridiculous to think that the president hacked. Now why do I say that? I say that to attack the legitimacy of the investigation,' Giuliani said.

[...]

On Fox, Trump said of the meeting before the meeting with Russians: 'We checked with their lawyers, the ones we could check with, which were four of the six. That meeting never-ever took place. It didn't happen. It's a figment of [Choen's] imagination or he's lying. The only meeting they found for that day that included any of these people is a meeting about the Hispanic judge that the president had criticized back around that time. So that hopefully sets the record straight.'

  Daily Mail

But of course it doesn't. Was there a meeting or not? I'm gonna say yes. And it was not about what Trump said about the Hispanic judge. Why would the Trump Tower meeting people be concerned about that and hold a meeting on it?

Giuliani took to the airwaves Monday morning to keep up the president's attacks on Mueller, who is heading the Russia probe, and faulted him for failing to publicly buttress Trump's position regarding a leaked recording of a tape between Trump and his longtime lawyer Michael Cohen discussing a payment involving a former Playboy playmate.

'When you're getting beaten up by all kinds of anonymous tweets coming from (Cohen lawyer) Lanny Davis and Cohen, and you put out something like that, you have every right to say you explain it, Mueller, stand up and be a man,' Giuliani told CNN's 'New Day.'

1) Why would Mueller be responsible for publicly backing Trump's statements?

Host Alisyn Camerota asked why it was up to Mueller to support the president's tweet.

'Because he has the conflict, not the president,' said Giuliani.

Did she just let that go? How is that an answer?

2) "Anonymous" tweets "coming from Lanny Davis and Cohen"? How does that work?

Giuliani also taunted Mueller in an interview with Axios published Monday.

'Why don't you write a report and show us what you have, because they don't have a goddamn thing,' Giuliani said.

Dear Rudy: the report comes at the end. And, since they already have several guilty pleas, several more indictments, and a couple of trials, I think we have to admit they do have something.

But he claimed Trump still has a 'soft spot' for Michael Cohen, who Giuliani has been branding as a liar amid signals he may cooperate with Mueller.

Perhaps that line was the whole point: Don't spill any more beans, Michael. The president might want to pardon you.

Giuliani is a hot mess. Here's the Fox call-in.



 ...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:





UPDATE:  7/31:

The Saudis played him like a fiddle

So easy to do such a narcissist.

Saudi Arabia and other key Arab countries have told the Trump administration they won’t be able to support its plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace if it doesn’t include a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem.

[...]

The Saudi position was expressed by King Salman during a number of recent communications with senior U.S. officials, as well as in conversations with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and other Arab leaders in the region. It contradicts many media reports over the past year about a Saudi willingness to adopt Trump’s peace plan even if it is unacceptable to the Palestinians.

  Haaretz

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Russia divested of US Treasury securities

A US Treasury report released on July 18 shows that Russian holdings of Treasury securities declined by 84 per cent between March and May, down to just $14.9 billion from March holdings of $96.1 billion.

The report was issued quietly amid the controversy surrounding President Donald Trump's July 16 meeting with Russian President Valdimir Putin in Helsinki, dropping Russia from the list of major Treasuries holders without comment.

  Daily Mail

Hmmmmm.

But yields quickly stabilized, indicating that any Russian bond dumping had little effect on the overall market or the US government's cost of borrowing.

Still doesn't explain why they sold so much. Nor why the US Treasury waited until two days after Trump's Helsinki meeting with Putin to report the sale.

Investors are mystified by the move, which reduced Russia's Treasury holdings to levels lower than those of Kazakhstan, Peru or Colombia at the end of May, according to government data.

Some are speculating that Russia was reacting to US sanctions, in a possible preemptive move to divest assets before they could be seized.

Russia's financial sector, including some top state banks, are essentially barred from US capital markets by the sanctions.

A new round of sanctions took effect in April, targeting 24 Russian oligarchs and 12 related companies, in response to accusations of 'worldwide malign activity' by the Russian government.

That doesn't explain March. What did they know about sanctions in March and May that they didn't know earlier? And even if it is related to sanctions, it still doesn't explain the delayed report.

It's also possibly that Russia has moved its Treasury holdings offshore.

Preparing for what?

The third possibility is that Russia predicted a move in the market, and hoped to take advantage. If so, such a market move has yet to materialize.

The fourth possibility is that something was arranged with the Trump cabal.

'The market now has the answer to what would happen to Treasuries if a major holder decided to sell everything,' Ian Lyngen at BMO Capital Markets jokingly told Chappatta. The answer, in this case: essentially nothing.

China remains by far the largest holder of US Treasury securities, holding $1.18 trillion at the end of May. Japan is second, with $1.06 trillion.

Yeah, and $80 billion is a far cry from $1 trillion, so I wouldn't count on a similar percentage sale of Chinese or Japanese holdings not producing any effect.

This also points up something I heard a while back on NPR about Trump bowing to Putin and Russia as being so important: the Russian economy is very small compared to other trading partners like China and Japan. Why so determined not to rock the boat with Russia?

Yes, I think we all know the answer to that: it's personal, for Trump's benefit, not our country's.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

The moving goal posts

The moving goal posts was a favorite Bush II ploy.  Trump is perfecting it, possibly because he has so many more ridiculous or outrageous incidents to defend.

If we go all the way back to the first explanations about Junior's meeting we have this list:

1.  There were no Russian agents
2.  There were Russian agents, but they discussed adoption
3.  There were Russian agents, and they discussed getting dirt on Hillary, but Trump didn't know about the meeting before hand
4.  There were Russian agents, and they discussed getting dirt on Hillary, Trump knew about the meeting before hand, but he wasn't there, but he didn't do the hacking - or pay for it  - himself, and anyway, collusion is not a crime



And after that:  he's the president; you can't do anything about it now.  Shut down the government!

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

Looks like they've already used that one:



UPDATE7/31:

Dangerous Don the Demagogue

While our elected officials and much of the news media have avoided the topic of Trump’s mental health, it is clear that our adversaries have carefully studied his psychological weaknesses and determined how to use them to their advantage, as we saw during his negotiations with Putin and Kim Jong Un. Ironically, our own intelligence community does just this sort of analysis about foreign leaders.

Trump’s grip on reality will likely continue to diminish as he faces increasing criticism, accusations, threats of impeachment and potential criminal indictments. We can expect him to become more desperate, more extreme in his comments, more violent in his threats, and more reckless and destructive in his actions. His latest extreme threat to Iran is one example, and he is likely to return to similar threats to North Korea if he feels that Kim Jong Un is making him look weak and unsuccessful.

So how can we hold onto our own mental health in the face of the danger Trump poses? First, don’t use logic or rationality to try to understand or counter Trump’s statements and behaviors. He is driven not by reason but by negative emotions that are infectious. Trump thrives on creating fear and sowing confusion. He lies without guilt. Don’t match his emotion with your own.

[...]

Challenge every day the natural inclination to feel overwhelmed, fatigued or numb in the face of Trump’s behavior. This is what people with his psychological inclinations count on. Trump is aware that whatever he says repeatedly—no matter how outrageous—many people are more likely to believe, or at least to stop resisting.

  Bandy Lee & Tony Schwartz @ Politico

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Bandy X. Lee is assistant clinical professor in law and psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine and a project leader for the World Health Organization.

Tony Schwartz is the chief executive of The Energy Project and the co-author of The Art of the Deal.

National monuments "sham" review

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke just got caught red-handed. Now there’s proof that his review of national monuments was a sham.

New records show Zinke and the Trump administration concealed documents from the public that emphasized the value of protecting Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments. Trump then slashed more than 2 million acres from them.

[...]

And we only know this because Interior officials, responding to public records requests, accidentally released thousands of pages of unredacted emails and other documents.

[...]

They show Zinke’s team dismissed data from his own Bureau of Land Management staff showing that monument protections had safeguarded archeological treasures and boosted tourism. Zinke ignored science, economics and millions of public comments on his way to implementing the largest rollback of public lands protections in the nation’s history.

The internal documents confirm that the true motivation behind Trump and Zinke’s unrelenting attacks on public lands is to reward mining, logging, fossil-fuel and livestock interests.

We knew from previous internal emails that oil and gas exploration was behind their decision to shrink Bears Ears. Others documents show uranium mining interests were involved, too.

[...]

The fix was in. The results of Zinke’s monument “review” were decided before it began.

  The Hill

What a surprise.

In April, President Trump signed an executive order instructing Zinke to review 27 national monuments established over 21 years, arguing that his predecessors had overstepped their authority in placing these large sites off limits to development.

[...]

On July 3, 2017, Nikki Moore, an official at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), wrote to colleagues about five draft economic reports on sites under scrutiny, noting that each contains a paragraph about “our ability to estimate the value of energy and/or minerals forgone as a result of the designations.” That reference to each site’s energy potential was redacted on grounds that it could “reveal strategy about the [national monument] review process.”

[...]

Aaron Weiss, a spokesman for the advocacy group Center for Western Priorities, said in an email that the “botched document dump reveals what we’ve suspected all along: Secretary Zinke ignored clear warnings from his own staff that shrinking national monuments would put sacred archaeological and cultural sites at risk.”

[...]

The inadvertently released documents show that department officials dismissed some evidence that contradicted the administration’s push to revise national monument designations, which are made under the 1906 American Antiquities Act. Estimates of increased tourism revenue, analyses showing that existing restrictions had not hurt fishing operators and agency reports finding that less vandalism occurred as a result of monument designations were all set aside.

  WaPo

Make America Great Again - back to 1905.

Department officials also redacted the BLM’s assessment that “it is unlikely” that the Obama administration’s establishment of the 1.3 million-acre Bears Ears National Monument “has impacted timber production,” because those activities were allowed to continue.

[...]

On Sept. 11, 2017, Randal Bowman, the lead staff member for the review, suggested deleting language that said most fishing vessels near the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument “generated 5% or less of their annual landings from within the monument” because it “undercuts the case for the ban being harmful.”

[...]

“Trying to hide those warnings from the public months later is disgraceful and possibly illegal,” Weiss added.

Everything about this administration is disgraceful and possibly illegal.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Russia, Russia, Russia

Maybe it's Rupert Murdoch who has hijacked the presidency.

President Trump reportedly schedules last-minute meetings with White House officials based on “whatever he saw on ‘Fox and Friends.’ ”

[...]

“He comes down for the day, and whatever he saw on 'Fox and Friends,' he schedules meetings based on that,” the unidentified source told the news outlet. “If it’s Iran, it’s ‘Get John Bolton down here!’ … If he’s seen something on TV or [was] talking to [Fox News host Sean] Hannity the night before, he’s got lots of flexibility to do whatever he wants to do.”

[...]

One White House aide told Politico that [Chief of Staff John] Kelly has failed in his attempts to stop Trump from making impromptu decisions about meetings, including those centered on attendees and topics of discussion.

[...]

[Trump] once praised the show for being named the “most influential” on television, a title given to the hosts by a media website because it is known that Trump watches it.

Earlier this year, he booked himself for a phone interview on the show.

  The Hill

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

You can practically smell the desperation

Citizen!  You do not want to interfere in the deliberations of your government.  Your government is only doing what is best for you.  Do not ask.  Go back to work.  Go back to your lives.



If there's any selling out to be done, he'll be the one to do it.





What this country needs is more Fox News!



In other words...






He turned him down?  If there was an offer - and that's a big if, even though we know he spoke with Mueller in those days - I think it would be a given that it was the other way around.  Mueller may well have known he was going to be special prosecutor when they talked - and Trump may have known that, too.  That would be an awesome factoid if it turned out Trump talked to Mueller to try to sway him on the investigation (and it would be just like Trump to do that).  Obstruction of justice at the source. All we know for certain is that Trump lies constantly.

NYT publisher has to correct the tweet

Trump is like any other narcissist:  he only hears what he wants to hear.  When people try to steer him away from his harmful statements and behavior, he doesn't pick up on it.  Subtlety is lost on him.  That's why he has so much trouble with foreign leaders - he is incapable of diplomacy because he is so totally crass.  And narcissistic.

Also: Gaslighter in Chief.

So, nice try Sulzberger, but, no cigar.  You're wasting your breath.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Only the best people

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 11/16:  Trump has announced his nomination of  Wheeler as EPA administrator.

Linocln's poll numbers

This is the second time he's tweeted about having better poll numbers than Lincoln.  Don't know where he's getting Lincoln's poll numbers, as I don't believe they were polling back then.  Maybe he's talking about a Trump family poll that rated presidents.

And...there's something wrong allright.

Enemy of the People

How is he going to "shut down" government?  This man is dangerous.  Great people?  We've seen who he thinks are "the best" people.  We don't need more mobsters and kleptos.



He's the one who morphed it!  He's the enemy of the people. And he needs to be shut down.

The Avenatti-Giuliani Twitter feud just went blister hot

Buckle up buttercup.  Haven't heard that one in a long time.

Also, Rudy: Cohen didn't have any credibility to destroy.  The tapes are, surreptitiously recorded or not, evidence.  And Mueller has them.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

We don't need no steenkeen election security

The White House statement released after Friday's meeting lacked details of any new security efforts.

"The President’s discussion with his NSC addressed threats posed to our elections from malign foreign actors, efforts underway to provide cybersecurity assistance to state and local authorities, and actions to investigate, prosecute, and hold accountable those who illegally attempt to interfere in our political and electoral processes," the White House statement said. "The Trump Administration will continue to provide the support necessary to the owners of elections systems — state and local governments — to secure their elections."

[...]

After nearly two years of calling Russian election interference a hoax and its investigation a witch hunt, President Donald Trump on Friday presided over the first National Security Council meeting devoted to defending American democracy from foreign manipulation.

"The President has made it clear that his administration will not tolerate foreign interference in our elections from any nation state or other malicious actors," the White House said in a statement afterward.

But current and former officials tell NBC News that 19 months into his presidency, there is no coherent Trump administration strategy to combat foreign election interference — and no single person or agency in charge.

[...]

To be sure, individual government agencies have responded in various ways. The Department of Homeland Security is working with states to improve cyber security in voting systems. The FBI created a "foreign influence task force," and the Justice Department announced a new policy his month to inform the public about bots and trolls on social media. The National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command are coordinating to counter Russian influence in cyberspace, the general in charge of those agencies has said.

But even members of Trump's national security cabinet have acknowledged the need for a central, unifying effort — one that experts say is missing. Senior officials have also admitted that the government has failed to take steps necessary to give the Russians second thoughts about intervening in American politics.

[...]

If any evidence was needed that the Russians haven't been deterred, a Democratic senator, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, said Thursday she was the target of an unsuccessful Russian hacking attempt. A Microsoft official says that company has also observed attempted Russian hacks against two other unnamed candidates.

[...]

Last week, House Republicans voted down a proposal by Democrats to increase election funding to states by $380 million.

  NBC

Of course they did.

The White House eliminated the job of cyber security coordinator on the National Security Council.

!

Actually, we may never have had any real election security.  Certainly at least since the introduction of electronic voting machines.  On the other hand - who was it who said, "It's not who votes that counts, but who counts the votes."

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Trump's lawyers are awfully quiet

Except for Rudy, of course. And Rudy is standing in as deep shit as Trump is. Rudy, however, has more to lose. He's not president. He may get a pardon, but only for federal charges. And only if Trump is still president when he goes on trial. This is all in a world that finally rights itself, of course, and we have no guarantee that's going to happen in our lifetimes.

On Thursday, a court in Kazakhstan launched preliminary hearings of a corruption case against the former mayor of the Kazakh city of Almaty, Viktor Khrapunov, and his wife Leila Khrapunova, a couple with deep ties to the Trump Organization.

The former mayor and his wife have been accused of a wide array of crimes, including money laundering embezzlement, abuse of office, fraud and the creation of an organized crime group. They are currently living in Switzerland, but are being tried in absentia. The couple claims that the charges against them are politically motivated.

Reports and court documents have demonstrated that the couple has deep ties to Trump associates, including Trump’s current lawyer, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and former Trump adviser Felix Sater. They have also been accused of using purchases in a Manhattan Trump tower to launder stolen money.

[...]

Giuliani’s former law firm, Bracewell & Giuliani, opened an office in Kazakhstan in 2007, the same year the pair moved to Switzerland. The law firm was allegedly used to raise funds for Guliani’s 2008 run for president.

  Newsweek

An office in Kazakstan. Is that a bit unusual for a US law firm?

The couple’s son Ilyas Khrapunov is wanted in Ukraine for allegedly orchestrating a hack of the computer systems of a law firm representing the Kazakh bank BTA Bank. The bank’s former chairman, Mukhtar Ablyazov, who is also Olyas Khrapunov’s father-in-law, has been accused by his former employer of embezzling billions of dollars of assets.

[...]

It is unclear if Trump or his associates knew about the origins of the funds when the purchases of the Trump tower condo were made.

Perhaps not specifically. But Trump and his associates knew the kinds of people they were entangled with, and these are the kinds of people who were pointed toward Trump's buildings because of their nefarious dealings. These are the people the likes of whom the Trump cabal - which includes Rudy - have been involved with for years. I have a feeling we'll find lots more stories like this when Mueller is done.

This wouldn’t have been the first time, however, that BTA Bank funds were directed toward Trump-affiliated projects.

Indeed not.

In 2005, the bank set up a fund to assist development projects in the country of Georgia, including a planned Trump hotel that was never built.

Wonder what happened to that money?

Also, speaking of Rudy, he's got no cover now for the bullshit he's spinning.

 ...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

The resistance

In a 58-page opinion, Judge Harry Leinenweber rebuked Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Trump administration’s efforts taken to penalize sanctuary cities, CNN reported.

Leinenweber moved to strike down the underlying law, known as Section 1373, which mandates that local governments share the immigration status of individuals with the federal government.

The ruling from Leinenweber, an appointee of former President Reagan, currently only applies to Chicago, though the judge reportedly said he intends for the ruling to be applied across the country.

  The Hill

Something seems odd

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Like father, like son

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

This is religion in America

Caveat:  There should be no such thing as a National Prayer Breakfast.  Church and State separation, people.

Lobbyists say the annual National Prayer Breakfast has become even more of a coveted invitation in the Trump era.

[...]

With a lineup of prayer meetings, humanitarian forums and religious panels, the National Prayer Breakfast has long brought together people from all over the world for an agenda built around the teachings of Jesus.

  NYT

This already reminds me of the story of Jesus upending the tables of the "money changers" in the Temple. Too bad he's not around today.

But there on the guest list in recent years was Maria Butina, looking to meet high-level American officials and advance the interests of the Russian state, and Yulia Tymoshenko, a Ukranian opposition leader, seeking a few minutes with President Trump to burnish her credentials as a presidential prospect back home.

America for sale. Which reminds me of the recently adopted Trump slogan: "America is open for business."

[T]he annual event has become an international influence-peddling bazaar, where foreign dignitaries, religious leaders, diplomats and lobbyists jockey for access to the highest reaches of American power.

The subculture around the breakfast was thrust into the spotlight last week with the indictment of Ms. Butina, who was charged with conspiring to act as a Russian agent. Her goals, prosecutors said, included gaining access to the breakfast “to establish a back channel of communication” between influential Russians and Americans “to promote the political interests of the Russian Federation.”

A coup of sorts.

Ahead of Mr. Trump’s first appearance at the breakfast last year, some of the people said, foreign politicians clamored for tickets, with some offering to pay steep fees to get into the event and the myriad gatherings on its sidelines. One lobbyist, Herman J. Cohen, offered what he billed as an exclusive invitation to last year’s breakfast, and three days of meetings around it, to an African leader for $220,000.

America is open for business.

Mr. Cohen, a former assistant secretary of state under President George H.W. Bush, said that Mr. Déby did not take up the offer. But he said that lobbyists have long brokered access to the breakfast, and opportunities surrounding it, for their foreign clients, often as part of a larger package of services.

[...]

Held every year at the Washington Hilton, the prayer breakfast festivities span several days during the first week of February, with the American president appearing at a ceremonial breakfast on Thursday.

Wait a minute. The venue hasn't yet been changed to the Trump Hotel?

The days are packed with programming, after which guests head to private suites with names like the Africa room and the Middle East room, or to fancier hotels in nearby Georgetown, where they mingle late into the night — praying, sharing business cards and sometimes draining expensive bottles of cognac.

Praying and preying.

A favorite activity is an annual midnight tour of the Capitol, hosted by a former congressman.

I heard they had midnight tours in Reagan's days, too.

With its relative lack of diplomatic protocols and press coverage, the prayer breakfast setting is ideal for foreign figures who might not otherwise be able to easily get face time with top American officials, because of unsavory reputations or a lack of an official government perch, according to lobbyists who help arrange such trips. They also contend that it is easier to secure visas when the breakfast is listed as a destination.

Hmmm. Why should that be? Unless the breakfast was intended for just such a workaround.

“Because our focus is on relationships, reconciliation and unity, even those who may attend with ulterior motives are often moved in a positive and transformative manner,” said A. Larry Ross, spokesman for The Fellowship, the faith-based nonprofit that facilitates the organization of the breakfast each year.

Sure they are. Sure they are.

“While we try not to question attendees’ motives, we certainly discourage anyone from using the National Prayer Breakfast for personal, financial or geopolitical gain.”

How? And has it ever worked? Never mind. I think I know the answer.

Leaders and insiders of the Fellowship say they hope that shared spirituality around Jesus can help to build bridges of understanding across divides, be they religious, cultural or political, and cite that mission as a reason controversial guests have been invited in the past.

Then they're full of shit. Shared spirituality around Jesus is completely divisive. It cuts out people of religions other than Christianity and people of no religion.

The Fellowship, for instance, helped facilitate a meeting between President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mr. Kagame of Rwanda at the breakfast in 2001, before their peace accord the next year.

Which need not have had anything to do with Jesus.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Russia opens a new case connected to the Magnitsky Act

The timing of this coming after that Helsinki embarrassment is no coincidence.  However, I don't have a good handle on the message here and will be interested in seeing how other people interpret this.  It makes the need to know what Trump offered Putin all the more urgent.  After all, he publicly said he thought Putin's "offer" in regard to the collusion charges and the Magnitsky Act was "interesting" and "fascinating". 

Impeach Trump now before things get even worse.

So what about Trump's brag on high economic growth?

Is it true? Welll, yeeeeessssssss, but....



If you made any money selling soybeans, you might want to bank it and hunker down.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

Some more points here.

Oh, for god's sake

"We had an audience of steel workers.  Some of the roughest, toughest people you've ever seen.  And half of 'em had tears coming down their face."

Sure.  Sure they did.

And what does this mean?

"We have also liberated millions of Americans from the crushing burdens of Obamacare. The cruel individual mandate penalty is gone. That's where you pay a lot of money for the privilege of not having to buy bad health care and pay for it. It's gone."

So people were (or now are?) having to pay a lot of money to NOT buy bad health care? And pay for it? Sarah, we're going to need a translation.

How about this one:

"You're gonna have great health care at a much lower price. It will cost the United States nothing. Nothing. Think of that. Will cost us nothing."

Because the United States isn't buying health care. U.S. citizens, however, ARE. It's costing us something. He just said it would be lower. But not nothing.

"And that's Secretary Acosta. Secretary Azar is coming out with another healthcare plan. Somehwat different. Result: the same. Much less expensive health care at a much lower price. It will cost our country nothing."

Uh-huh. Less expensive generally does translate to lower price. But, which health care plan is which and what do they entail? One is from Secretary Acosta and one is from Secretary Azar? Acosta is Secretary of Labor - what has he to do with health care? Azar is Secretary of Health and Human Services.



Sarah will tell us what it meant after they've all had a chance to think about it.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Trump Junior's girlfriend got booted from Fox

(Yes, Junior is not yet divorced, but he has been dating ex-Fox host Kimberly Guilfoyle for some time.)

For nearly two years — even once rumors eventually kicked up that she might join the Trump administration — Guilfoyle said that, as a single mother, she had to think of her son’s financial future and couldn’t afford to leave the high-paying gig [as a Fox News host], multiple sources told HuffPost.

[...]

Guilfoyle’s departure was initially billed as her decision. However, as HuffPost first reported last week, multiple sources said she did not leave the network voluntarily. They said Guilfoyle was informed her time at Fox News was up following a human resources investigation into allegations of inappropriate behavior including sexual misconduct, and that her lawyers had been involved since the spring. Sources also said that despite being told she would have to leave by July, Guilfoyle repeatedly attempted to delay her exit and tried to have her allies appeal to Rupert Murdoch, the executive chairman of 21st Century Fox, the parent company of Fox News, to let her stay at the network.

[...]

Multiple sources told HuffPost that Guilfoyle’s exit from Fox News, where she had worked since 2006, came after her alleged inappropriate workplace behavior could no longer be tolerated by the network.

  HuffPo

A woman fired for sexual misconduct at Fox? What did she do? Turn down some man's advances?

Six sources said Guilfoyle’s behavior included showing personal photographs of male genitalia to colleagues (and identifying whose genitals they were), regularly discussing sexual matters at work and engaging in emotionally abusive behavior toward hair and makeup artists and support staff.

Sounds like the perfect match for Junior.

Sources said HR warned Guilfoyle about her behavior several times, including a stern warning from Kevin Lord, the head of Fox News HR, in the fall of 2017.

[...]

According to two sources, the network told Guilfoyle she was being given time to find a new job that she could announce before leaving.

How appropriate that she got a job on a Trump SuperPAC.

Hours after HuffPost published its report that Guilfoyle’s departure was not voluntary, her attorneys from the law firm Clare Locke LLP sent a threatening legal notice to HuffPost and this reporter, claiming the story was false and defamatory and that failure to retract it would constitute evidence of “actual malice.”

Ah, the old Trump tactic: shut up or we'll sue you.

For many years, Guilfoyle was close to her Fox News colleague Eric Bolling, who was pushed out of the network after HuffPost reported that he sent unsolicited lewd photos to female colleagues. They shared a young female assistant [...]

What do you mean, "shared"?

[...] who, according to three sources, was deeply unhappy at work and was desperate to get out from under what she described to sources as Guilfoyle’s emotionally abusive behavior and attempts to involve her in her personal sexual matters by regularly sharing details about her sex life.

Could I be catty for a minute? There is no way this woman did not have facial reconstruction on her cheekbones, some lip injections, and perhaps some surgery on her eyes. Like so many plastic surgeries, this one did the victim no favors. The only way this is a good look is if she had been in a serious car wreck with extensive injuries to her face.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Too late

Two contractors working at Illinois’s Granite City Works steel plant were hospitalized Thursday and treated for carbon monoxide exposure, U.S. Steel said.

The incident occurred just hours after President Trump toured the facility and gave remarks to steelworkers, according to St. Louis’s KMOV.

Ten other workers were reportedly given health evaluations on-site but were not taken to the hospital.

[...]

KMOV reported that the hospitalized contractors were working on the facility’s blast furnace “A,” which is currently offline. The company hopes to reopen blast furnace A by October.

  

Are they sure it wasn't a reaction to Trump?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Will Wisconsin actually get shed of the scourge?

Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) is trailing Democratic challenger Tony Evers by 13 points in the upcoming Wisconsin gubernatorial race, according to a new poll released Thursday.

Of the registered voters surveyed in the NBC News/Marist poll, 41 percent backed Walker in the race, compared to the 54 percent who supported Evers.

  The Hill

The Russians must already be working for the Democrats, yeah?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Threatening Iran - the follow up

The head of Iran's Quds Forces responded to President Donald Trump's threats in a speech on Thursday, saying if the US started a war Iran would "destroy all that you possess".

Major-General Qassem Suleimani - commander of the special forces of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard - warned the United States not to start a conflict, replying to comments made by Trump earlier this week in which he threatened Iran.

"You will start this war but we will be the ones to impose its end."

  alJazeera

While he's posted over a dozen tweets since then, none have even hinted at saber rattling back at Iran. Not quite the same as trading insults with North Korea.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

A very interesting proposal

No, I'm not talking about the one where Putin told Trump he'd like to get his hands on Bill Browder. This one:

[S]peaking to reporters in South Africa, where he was attending a summit of BRICS nations, Putin said another meeting with Trump was still on the agenda. “Regarding our meetings, I understand very well what President Trump said. He has a desire to have further meetings,” Putin said. “I am ready for that. We need for the appropriate conditions to exist, to be created, including in our countries,” Putin told a news conference. “We are ready for such meetings. We are ready to invite President Trump to Moscow. Be my guest. He has such an invitation, I told him that.”

  Reuters

So, Putin won't come to Trump. Trump must come to Putin.

Referring to the proposal for a meeting in the United States, Putin said: “I am ready to go to Washington. I repeat once again, if the right conditions for work are created.”

And what are those?

Putin said that, in the meantime, it was possible that he and Trump would meet on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Argentina in November, or at another international event.

I'd say that's a given. Without any Americans present, of course. As always.

“Despite the difficulties, in this particular case difficulties linked to the internal political situation in the United States, life goes on and our contacts continue.”

Behind all our backs.

He said the international deal on Iran’s nuclear program, from which Trump has withdrawn, was also an area that needed U.S.-Russian dialogue.

“It’s a subject for debate and negotiations. How can you have these if they don’t exist? There are some things you can’t do over the phone.”

Yes, like signing business deals for a Trump Tower in Moscow.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

"He is open to visiting Moscow upon receiving a formal invitation," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.

Sanders added that "Trump looks forward to having President Putin to Washington after the first of the year."

  The Hill

The other pee tape: He peed his pants in excitement when Putin offered a Moscow meeting.