Another excellent Jeremy Scahill podcast

"Jeremy Scahill talks about how economic sanctions are a mass-killing weapon intentionally aimed at the most vulnerable. Indian historian and journalist Vijay Prashad discusses the state of imperialism in the world, the battle for Venezuela, India’s upcoming election, and the history of U.S. dirty operations across the globe. As right-wing media and politicians have gone berserk over the FBI raid on the home of Trump crony Roger Stone, whistleblower Reality Winner remains behind bars. The Intercept’s Peter Maass discusses the hypocrisy surrounding the two cases."

Listen

The number of FBI agents to make an arrest (and search) at Roger Stone's house

[T]he more law enforcement personnel that are present, the more quickly and efficiently a home can be searched. Two dozen agents can finish their work and leave the neighborhood more quickly than two agents. Agents in the FBI are highly trained, and many will have specific skills and assigned duties at an arrest and search scenario. Remember, the FBI had two warrants that morning—one for Stone’s arrest and one to search his home—both authorized by a federal judge who found the government met the requisite Fourth Amendment probable cause standard. Having two warrants to execute, in and of itself, requires more agents.

Generally, the FBI would bring an entry team, an arrest team, a perimeter security team and an evidence response team. The entry team is usually the smallest, at around three to four agents, and the evidence response team the largest, perhaps with 10 to 12 agents and personnel. The entry team would approach the house and enter it, and then secure it so it is safe for others to go in. The security team, of six to eight agents, would ensure that bystanders could not approach, for their own safety and the safety of the agents inside the home. While the arrest team of maybe five to six agents was doing its work, the evidence response team would be responsible for collecting and processing evidence from the home, pursuant to the court-authorized warrant, and would likely include a photographer and a computer forensic expert or two.

Throw in a small team to transport Stone to the courthouse, an on-scene supervisor and, possibly, a public affairs officer, and that could add up to more than two dozen FBI personnel at and around Stone’s home.

The FBI would likely have coordinated with local police on the search, and that local department might help block streets and control traffic. So add in some additional cars and officers. Because the Stone home backs to water, it is possible that local police officers were there on a boat.

  Lawfare Blog

So, stop whinging about it, Stone fans.

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

Lindsey is needing some more attention

Is there anyone on the planet who could not answer those questions for him?  Come on. Even he knows the answers.  

Do you suppose Lindsey is going to stage a primary challenge against Trump?  He's ranting on about something every time we think he's  settled down.

Or is he just excitable because he's been taking Russia-tainted money from the NRA?*

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

UPDATE:

Are they double-teaming Wray?



It's unbelievable and disgusting that these people are covering for Roger Stone.





*UPDATE 2/4:  It's more than that; he's taken some money directly from Kremlin-connected donors.

And April Ryan is already on Trump's shit list for being a black woman

CNN political analyst April Ryan on Monday dropped some tantalizing hints about Roger Stone’s arrest last week, reluctantly offering a few details about a meeting Stone had held the night before at his house.

“Just hours prior to the raid, Roger Stone had a gathering at his home with very influential people,” Ryan said.

“‘Influential people’? Are you going to leave it at that?” asked host Brianna Keilar. “What kinds of people?”

“I had to fight just to get that one,” replied Ryan before dishing. “Close to the president. He had a gathering at his home hours prior to, and a source that was — one of the sources said, ‘you know, it’s interesting, the FBI was probably watching us when we were in that home.'”

  Raw Story

They knew it was coming. But maybe Stone really did think they'd let him turn himself in.

Apparently, he needed a reminder to keep his trap shut.  Who thinks he wasn't told he'd be getting a pardon?

Another bit for Mueller's team.  If it was close enough to the arrest time that one of the sources thinks the FBI was watching them, and if they indeed were, everyone in that room is now on Mueller's list of folks to interview.  That could be a serious problem for both Stone and Trump.  And, if the FBI didn't see those people, they'll surely be investigating to find out who they were.  Thanks, April.  Get ready for a nasty Trump tweet.

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

Fall asleep under the sun lamp, Roger?

Sad!

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

Does he not know there's video?

I must have missed the part in those busts where they knocked on the door and asked them to get dressed before cuffing them.

Also, when he was busted, he said the FBI agents were very courteous and treated him very well.

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

UPDATE:






It's quite possible, and even likely, that Venn diagram is a single, shaded circle.

As I wrote in my book Everything Trump Touches Dies, Stone’s outsize image and reputation were his primary product, not elections or campaign work. As the famous (and sometimes infamous) Ray Harding, then chairman of New York’s Liberal Party, once told me in the late '90s, “The only two people who believe Roger Stone’s bullshit are Roger Stone and that fucking moron Trump.”

  The Daily Beast

What about that raid on Stone's NY apartment?

Mr. Stone’s early-morning arrest at his Florida home unsurprisingly dominated coverage, but reports also noted that federal agents were “seen carting hard drives and other evidence from Mr. Stone’s apartment in Harlem, and his recording studio in South Florida was also raided.” The F.B.I., in other words, was executing search warrants, not just arrest warrants. Even the timing and manner of Mr. Stone’s arrest — at the absolute earliest moment allowed under federal rules of criminal procedure without persuading a judge to authorize an exceptional nighttime raid — suggests a concern with preventing destruction of evidence: Otherwise it would make little sense to send a dozen agents to arrest a man in his 60s before sunrise.

[...]

[A]s the indictment also makes clear, the special counsel has already managed to get its hands on plenty of Mr. Stone’s communications by other means — but one seeming exception jumps out. In a text exchange between Mr. Stone and a “supporter involved with the Trump Campaign,” Mr. Mueller pointedly quotes Mr. Stone’s request to “talk on a secure line — got WhatsApp?” There the direct quotes abruptly end, and the indictment instead paraphrases what Mr. Stone “subsequently told the supporter.” Though it’s not directly relevant to his alleged false statements, the special counsel is taking pains to establish that Mr. Stone made a habit of moving sensitive conversations to encrypted messaging platforms like WhatsApp — meaning that, unlike ordinary emails, the messages could not be obtained directly from the service provider.

The clear implication is that any truly incriminating communications would have been conducted in encrypted form — and thus could be obtained only directly from Mr. Stone’s own phones and laptops.

[...]

Of course, Mr. Mueller is likely interested in his communications with Trump campaign officials, but the detailed charges filed against the Russian hackers alleged to have broken into the Democratic National Committee’s servers also show the special counsel’s keen interest in Mr. Stone’s communications with the hacker “Guccifer 2.0,” an identity said to have been used as a front for the Russian intruders. By Mr. Stone’s own admission, he had a brief exchange with “Guccifer” via private Twitter messages. On Mr. Stone’s account, Guccifer enthusiastically offered his assistance — at the same time we now know Mr. Stone was vigorously pursuing advance knowledge of what other embarrassing material stolen from Mr. Trump’s opponents might soon be released — and Mr. Stone failed to even dignify the offer with a reply. With no easy way of getting hold of “Guccifer’s” cellphone, searching Mr. Stone’s devices might be the only reliable way for the special counsel to discover whether the conversation in fact continued on a more “secure line.”

[...]

Digital forensics takes time, and a single device could easily hold many thousands of messages to sift through. And if this really is the first time Mr. Mueller’s office is seeing the most sensitive communications from a key figure like Mr. Stone, it’s likely they’ll come away with new leads to follow and new questions to pose to other witnesses.

  NYT

Trapped in a never-ending nightmare.

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

Trump team leaking again

CNN doesn't say it was the Trump team, of course, but I have no doubt it was.

President Donald Trump told special counsel Robert Mueller in writing that Roger Stone did not tell him about WikiLeaks, nor was he told about the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between his son, campaign officials and a Russian lawyer promising dirt on Hillary Clinton, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

One source described the President's answers without providing any direct quotes and said the President made clear he was answering to the best of his recollection.

  CNN

In other words: prove it. And when they do, it will be, "I forgot." So he might not be charged with lying to investigators, but I'm guessing there's taped or documentary evidence that he was told about everything, and perhaps even directed it to be done.

The President's lawyers previously told CNN the answers would match his public statements. Still, these written answers could be subject to criminal charges if false.

I think that's a questionable conclusion. "To the best of his recollection" might clear him. It worked for Reagan in the Iran-Contra hearings. (At which point, Reagan should have been impeached for not having a good enough memory to function as President.)

"It's well-documented how frequently he says or tweets false things, and there's no criminal exposure for that," said CNN legal analyst Carrie Cordero. "The difference is, if he lies in his statement to federal investigators, he is potentially exposing himself to criminal liability, assuming he attested to the accuracy of the information."

Which, apparently, he didn't. I.E. "to the best of his recollection." I know that's standard for legal purposes, but I don't know how or whether strong evidence negating the claims can be used against the caveat. I've seen attorneys and prosecutors say intent is hard to prove. I would think memory would be even harder. Maybe reasonable doubt comes in there somewhere. Some charges require a preponderance of the evidence to convict, and some reasonable doubt. I don't expect Trump to be indicted, but if it happens, I certainly wouldn't look for a charge of lying to the investigators.

I also expect, in the end, Junior will take the blame, and do any jail time like a true mafia lieutenant. I expect that's part of the reason for his divorce. Getting ready to do jail time, and parking his fortune in a trust for his kids, or in their names, to keep the government from getting it.

And I could be wrong about everything.

Is Dumping Don going to cut Roger loose?

Stone's negligible value to Mueller

That sounds right.  Sone is a total sleazeball jackoff, and he'll say anything.  No better than Rudy would be.  Or Trump himself.

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

Next?

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

Because Alex Jones wasn't enough

And who thought Stone was smarter than the other nitwits in this circus?

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

Quick, usurp the airwaves

This Roger Stone thing, along with the news of LaGuardia  shutting down, are not good to have on the front pages.



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

CNN forced to defend its coverage of the Stone arrest

Not that Trumpanzees will believe it.

The rare, dramatic video from CNN Friday capturing the early morning FBI raid of longtime Donald Trump confidante Roger Stone's Florida home was the product of good instincts, some key clues, more than a year of observing comings [and goings] at the DC federal courthouse and the special counsel's office -- and a little luck on the timing.

CNN producer David Shortell and photojournalist Gilbert De La Rosa were [...] there staking out Stone because there was just enough evidence lurking in the special counsel's activity over the past week that CNN's team covering the Mueller investigation placed a bet that Stone could be arrested as early as Friday.

Stone's possible indictment has been looming for months now.

[...]

The first clue that the indictment was imminent came last week from CNN's Sara Murray, who was reporting on the upcoming grand jury appearance of Jerome Corsi's stepson. As the stepson's legal team negotiated a date for testimony, they were told to pick any day but Friday -- an indication Mueller's team expected to be busy Friday.

[...]

Now, one plausible explanation was the fact there was already one event on the books for Friday -- a Paul Manafort court hearing -- but Mueller had convened the grand jury on previous days where court hearings were scheduled or other major court filing activity occurred in the special counsel's open cases.

And Mueller's grand jury nearly always meets on Fridays -- moving to a different day was unusual. In fact, CNN's Katelyn Polantz and Laura Robinson observed that the last time the grand jury convened on a Thursday, Russian officials were indicted by Mueller the next day.

More clues emerged at court on Thursday morning.

At the DC federal courthouse Thursday, Robinson spotted at least two prosecutors, Andrew Goldstein and Aaron Zelinsky, visiting with the grand jury. They stayed convened for more than an hour after Corsi's stepson Andrew Stettner testified to the grand jury.

[...]

With all those clues, it was decided to send Shortell from Washington to Florida to stake out Stone's house Friday morning, just in case the clues did add up to something.

[...]

Shortell and DeLaRosa arrived at Stone's home at 5 a.m., and the Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, house was totally dark.

[...]

As of Thursday night, neither Stone nor his attorney believed he would be arrested on Friday morning. They also were convinced that Stone would have an opportunity to turn himself in, rather than an unexpected pre-dawn arrest at home.

[...]

For roughly an hour, it wasn't clear whether the stakeout would turn out to be a bust. But then just after 6 a.m., a number of law enforcement vehicles with lights flashing but no sirens pulled in front of Stone's home on a darkened street.

About a dozen officers with heavy weapons and tactical vests fanned out across Stone's lawn. Law enforcement shined a flashlight into Stone's front door, and one officer rapped against it, shouting "FBI. Open the door." The agent shouted seconds later: "FBI. Warrant."

For roughly an hour, it wasn't clear whether the stakeout would turn out to be a bust. But then just after 6 a.m., a number of law enforcement vehicles with lights flashing but no sirens pulled in front of Stone's home on a darkened street. About a dozen officers with heavy weapons and tactical vests fanned out across Stone's lawn. Law enforcement shined a flashlight into Stone's front door, and one officer rapped against it, shouting "FBI. Open the door." The agent shouted seconds later: "FBI. Warrant."

[...]

Stone's attorney, Grant Smith, first learned the FBI had raided Stone's home when CNN called Smith early Friday to say it appeared his client had been arrested and to ask for comment.

  CNN

Good work on CNN's part. Any major news organization could have done the same.

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

UPDATE:



No shit.

UPDATE:

Why so many agents with guns?



Also...

He got the courtesy of a knock.  Unlike so many harmless pot smokers.

That's American justice for you

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

They may have begged for the privilege

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

Judge Jackson draws the Stone case

Stone calls in to Infowars - the right wing nutjob radio show -- and I do mean "show"

Let's see what he says in court filings, though.



I'm very skeptical.

UPDATE:



Alex Jones, because that's where all the Trumpanazee nutjobs - people who would be most likely to contribute to Stone's pocketbook - go for information.  He's just going to soak them.  He's not going to fight.

UPDATE:

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

FBI also raided Stone's New York apartment

Kristin Davis, also known as the “Manhattan Madam,” told CNN that authorities also searched a New York duplex that she shares with Stone.

She told the network that she has recently moved out of the residence and wasn’t there when the FBI arrived.

  The Hill

Roger released on bond

Roger Stone appeared disheveled, wearing jeans and a polo and fully shackled when he made a brief court appearance Friday in federal court in Florida, CNN reported.

According to CNN reporter Nick Valencia, Stone is being released with a $250,000 bond: he doesn’t have to pay the money so long as he makes all of his court appearances.

The appearance reportedly lasted no longer than 10 minutes. Stone managed to avoid cameras on his way into the courthouse.

  TPM

The CNN video embedded in this article indicates that Stone's travel is restricted to the Eastern District of DC and Virginia, the Eastern District of New York, and South Florida (where he was arrested).

I'm guessing the travel to DC, Virginia and New York have to do with other related cases in which he might be called upon for testimony.

This is what Stone was saying in December:

“I put my faith in God. I put my faith in this president and in my family. I've done nothing wrong and I'll fight to the bitter end to prove it,” Stone said.

Something he predicts the president will do as well.

“My concern is that he has timid advisors who are ill-suited for what is going to be a brawling fight ahead,” Stone predicted.

[...]

“I had no advance notice of the content or the source of the WikiLeaks documents,” Stone said. “I am not going to bear false witness against the president. I'm not going to lie to avoid some trumped up charges against me."

  NBC

It appears Mueller has the receipts to prove otherwise. Let's see what he says about it after being arrested. This may well be "the bitter end."



We'll see.



I don't know.  Constant lying doesn't make you good at it.

UPDATE:



Let's see what he says in court filings, though.



I'm very skeptical.

UPDATE:



Alex Jones, because that's where all the Trumpanzee nutjobs - people who would be most likely to contribute to Stone's pocketbook - go for information.  He's just going to soak them.  He's not going to fight.

UPDATE: