Mega-Thread: Mueller investigation

[Mormolyce]

"One of the ways in which the scandals around President Trump have come to resemble a mob movie, other than the nature of the crimes themselves, is that nobody involved is putting up much of a pretense that Trump is innocent. Asked today by Katy Tur if “there’s any chance [Michael Cohen] would end up cooperating, flipping,” Anthony Scaramucci said no, because Cohen ‘is a very loyal person.”

One way in which it's different is that people are actually loyal to the real mob.

He's not even good at being a criminal.

[Felya]

Cohen dropped the dafimation lawsuit he has going against Buzzfeed and Fusion GPS over contents of the dossier.

Cohen drops libel suits against BuzzFeed, Fusion GPS

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/...lawsuit-537327

”The decision to voluntarily discontinue these cases was a difficult one," Cohen's attorney David Schwartz said. "We believe the defendants defamed my client, and vindicating Mr. Cohen’s rights was — and still remains — important. But given the events that have unfolded, and the time, attention, and resources needed to prosecute these matters, we have dismissed the matters, despite their merits."

The dossier claims that Cohen met with Russian operatives somewhere in Europe, including Prague, to attend a meeting to “clean up the mess” created by public disclosures of other Trump associates’ reported ties to Russia.

[Ripster42]

So... who’s Muller’s equivalent to Quark? Popadopalous? :P

Cohen. Quark is shady and greedy. So is cohen. Papadoc was just an idiot who rolled immediately.

[Belize]

Cohen dropped the dafimation lawsuit he has going against Buzzfeed and Fusion GPS over contents of the dossier.

Cohen drops libel suits against BuzzFeed, Fusion GPS

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/...lawsuit-537327

'Shit, you guys found out it was real"

[Felya]

'Shit, you guys found out it was real"

I don’t understand... do these people know about netmeeting or Skype? You have to fly to Europe to talk to them face to face? If only they knew about Skype, there would be no meeting with Trump jr and no Cohen flying to Europe...

[Ripster42]

I don’t understand... do these people know about netmeeting or Skype? You have to fly to Europe to talk to them face to face? If only they knew about Skype, there would be no meeting with Trump jr and no Cohen flying to Europe...

If I had to guess, they're not willing to discuss the things they're discussing except face to face for fear of the communication being intercepted.

[cubby]

"I know he has a long history of promising things that he couldn't provide, shafting people who work for him, cheating on at least two probably three of his wives, changing his mind about policy because of the last person he talked to, and refuting the What He Meant Was squad, but when promised me something, this time, it'll be different!"

It's like a dystopia Charlie Brown episode. This time Lucy won't pull it away.

[Kujako]

It's like a dystopia Charlie Brown episode. This time Lucy won't pull it away.

"So its the apocalypse Charlie Brown!"

[Dougie Cooper]

Somehow mentioning sexual identity in a positive light results in a thread lock, but frequent transphobia doesn't warrant so much as an infraction.

I'm glad at least to know that I'm not the only one who notices it. This is why I mostly lurk though rather than trying to post. Dealing with that crap is exhausting.

Sorry, not meaning to derail the thread.

[cubby]

I don’t understand... do these people know about netmeeting or Skype? You have to fly to Europe to talk to them face to face? If only they knew about Skype, there would be no meeting with Trump jr and no Cohen flying to Europe...

It continues to blow me away how stupid these guys are - if they were smart, and continued their level of corruption, we'd likely never find out. Or at least never pick up such a blatant trail.

It's like if Romney all of a sudden said, "Yep, I'm the Head Master of the Illuminati*", I could believe it, because he's smart enough to get away with shady shit.

*(using Illuminati as a silly example, NOT espousing conspiracy theories)

[Breccia]

As Paul Manafort and his ankle bracelet celebrate their six month anniversary, yet another bail reduction attempt fails.

At one point in his nearly six-month-long quest to shed his GPS ankle device and other restrictions, like on his travel, Manafort had his physician write a letter to the judge pleading for leniency, saying the defendant’s health was at stake, according to the judge.

"While he's subject to home confinement, he's not confined to his couch, and I believe he has plenty of opportunity to exercise," the judge sarcastically said in a January status hearing.

[Antiganon]

So a showdown is on the way.

The House Judiciary Committee is moving to subpoena the Comey memos.

Agreeing to do so, hands the GOP evidence in the Mueller investigation, which could very easily be Nunes'd over to Trump.

Failing to do so, even if it falls under legitimate reasons such as "it's evidence in an ongoing investigation", could lead to a move against Rosenstein.

Please let Nunes live on as a verb, replacing "narc".

20 years from now, teenagers doing drugs, one of them tells a parent: "Hey man, why did you have to Nunes on me?"

[draynay]

I'm glad at least to know that I'm not the only one who notices it. This is why I mostly lurk though rather than trying to post. Dealing with that crap is exhausting.

Sorry, not meaning to derail the thread.

This thread can survive almost anything.

[cubby]

So a showdown is on the way.

The House Judiciary Committee is moving to subpoena the Comey memos.

Agreeing to do so, hands the GOP evidence in the Mueller investigation, which could very easily be Nunes'd over to Trump.

Failing to do so, even if it falls under legitimate reasons such as "it's evidence in an ongoing investigation", could lead to a move against Rosenstein.

This might be their strategy, what you're suggesting - either bolster the move against Rosenstein or get inside info from Mueller to Trump. But who cares? Mueller would eventually give that info over in a full prosecution - and even having Trump's team receive it months early wouldn't change a lot, down the road. Obviously it would give Trump a heads up as to what he could be facing, but again, so what? Trump would eventually know anyway - and the Comey memo's aren't really the good stuff. IIRC, they just add to the strength of the Obstruction charge.

Granted - I could be missing something. And of course we don't know what all is in the Comey memos.

[Felya]

If I had to guess, they're not willing to discuss the things they're discussing except face to face for fear of the communication being intercepted.

Yeah, I am just guessing it would leave less of paper trail.

[Breccia]

But who cares?

I think you're missing how powerful a defense it can be to know when/how your enemy is going to attack. Anyone who knows how The Battle Of New Orleans went down knows that you can turn even an empty field into an impassible "Stone Wall" if you think your foe will come through there in a couple weeks.

It's the same reason Cohen wants to see the list of all the things the FBI took: he needs to know what the FBI has over him, so he can start crafting a defense based on that. Anything from a heads-up to other involved people, to crafting a lie ("I've never even been to Prague!") to destroying remaining evidence, depending on how illegal he wants to get.

There's a reason the Russian bank that was pinging Trump Tower during the election stopped within 24 hours of the story about it going public.

The Comey memos contain what Trump said to Comey. If Trump doesn't remember what that was -- and yeah, the odds are pretty high on that one -- he'd need a reminder to get to his What He Meant Was team to try to talk his way out of it.

"Where I grew up, 'absolut loyalty' is a drink made from vodka, Earl Grey syrup, and red wine vinegar, I was asking Comey for a drink"
"You don't drink, Mr. Trump"
"Bigly."

[cubby]

I think you're missing how powerful a defense it can be to know when/how your enemy is going to attack. Anyone who knows how The Battle Of New Orleans went down knows that you can turn even an empty field into an impassible "Stone Wall" if you think your foe will come through there in a couple weeks.

It's the same reason Cohen wants to see the list of all the things the FBI took: he needs to know what the FBI has over him, so he can start crafting a defense based on that. Anything from a heads-up to other involved people, to crafting a lie ("I've never even been to Prague!") to destroying remaining evidence, depending on how illegal he wants to get.

There's a reason the Russian bank that was pinging Trump Tower during the election stopped within 24 hours of the story about it going public.

The Comey memos contain what Trump said to Comey. If Trump doesn't remember what that was -- and yeah, the odds are pretty high on that one -- he'd need a reminder to get to his What He Meant Was team to try to talk his way out of it.

"Where I grew up, 'absolut loyalty' is a drink made from vodka, Earl Grey syrup, and red wine vinegar, I was asking Comey for a drink"
"You don't drink, Mr. Trump"
"Bigly."

I was thinking more along the lines of an actual trial defense - where the prosecution has to show all it's cards regardless. However, the What He Meant Was team would definitely benefit from early knowledge of the Comey Memos. And that could prevent Articles from moving forward smoothly.

[Shadowferal]

Cohen dropped the dafimation lawsuit he has going against Buzzfeed and Fusion GPS over contents of the dossier. Cohen drops libel suits against BuzzFeed, Fusion GPS https://www.politico.com/story/2018/...lawsuit-537327

Effort to avoid personal disclosure?
Too little, too late I'd say.

[Breccia]

Effort to avoid personal disclosure?

I talked about this in another thread, but, it's possible he's so hip-deep in shit that he's just dropping this because he has more important things to do. Like, you know, avoid going to jail.

[Deja Thoris]

http://thehill.com/homenews/administ...ump-legal-team

Another legal titan joins team Trump /s