pic.twitter.com/YGSjuaXenv — Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 23, 2019 Recall that the president told @JudgeJeanine last weekend that media and prosecutors ought to be looking into Cohen's family, suggesting a look at private citizens. One in a series of suggestions that Cohen family be pursued that POTUS has made. — Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 23, 2019 Reporting by @KatyTurNBC just on … Read More
Trump May Be At His Wit’s End With Rudy
Gabriel Sherman in Vanity Fair: Every time Rudy Giuliani opens his mouth in front of a reporter, something bad seems to happen. Donald Trump’s beleaguered lawyer has, over the past few weeks, given one disastrous interview after another. The latest fiasco came Monday, when Giuliani participated in a rambling Q&A with The New Yorker’s Isaac Chotiner. After telling Chotiner he only had a moment before he took a shower, Giuliani unspooled a … Read More
Nothing Is Real (And Nothing To Get Hung About)
This weekend saw the entire country come to terms with the new media, social media, and what is real. It started off with a bombshell to quelch a previous bombshell. Friday evening, special counsel spokesman Peter Carr issued a rare statement rejecting the central claim in a BuzzFeed article, that Mueller has corroborating evidence (including testimony from Cohen) indicating Trump directed Cohen … Read More
What’s The Deal With Cohen’s Father In Law?
This is the third time Trump mentioned Cohen’s father-in-law. The first was in tweet from December 18, then and interview w/ @JudgeJeanine, and this morning. It’s important. There is one thing that Cohen fears more than the prosecutors — it’s the Russian mob. That’s why he didn’t do a plea deal with the SDNY — because he would have to … Read More
“If You Lie, If You Lie Even A Little…”
Thoughts on last night’s Buzzfeed bombshell (1) “Cautiously optimistic” is the optimal response. No other news outlet has confirmed it through their own sources. On the other hand, the Buzzfeed reporters (Anthony Cormier and Jason Leopold) have had Trump-Russia scoops before which panned out as true, way before other news organizations. “I am rock solid. My sourcing on this goes … Read More
Breaking: Trump Suborned Perjury According To Buzzfeed Report
A bombshell from Buzzfeed, which, if true, is grounds for impeachment: President Donald Trump directed his longtime attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, according to two federal law enforcement officials involved in an investigation of the matter. Trump also supported a plan, set up by Cohen, to visit Russia during … Read More
The Sound Of Goalposts Moving Again
Rudy Giuliani on Cuomo last night: Rudy Guiliani to @ChrisCuomo tonight: “I never said there was no collusion between the campaign or between people in the campaign… I have not. I said” no collision with, “the President of the United States.” pic.twitter.com/Smb0OuNzL9 — andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) January 17, 2019 According to Giuliani, what Trump meant in the sixty tweets in which he’s … Read More
Inspector General Finds That General Services Administration Ignored Emoluments Clause
Full findings here: Key conclusions:
Update On Nastya Rybka
About a year ago, I pointed to a curious story about Nastya Rybka, a Russian escort and sex trainer being held in Thailand and being charged with prostitution and related offenses. She had made curious claims about Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska (having spent time on his yacht) and the whole Trump-Russia connection. Deripaska is an ex-business associate of former Trump … Read More
Exhausting Futility Continues
Shutdown Day Number 23 and there is no sign of movement. Trump apparently has little to do but tweet all day — childish attacks on Elizabeth Warren (racist attacks there) and on Jeff Bezo’s personal life. But that is kind of the point that Trump wants to make — he’s ready to work on a deal and Dems are off … Read More
Breaking: Mystery Foreign Company Gets No Help From SCOTUS
A few weeks ago, there was a super-secret hearing in DC Court regarding a subpeona issued to an unknown foreign company from the Mueller investigation. The company was fighting the subpoena. This just happened: "(Bloomberg)—The U.S. Supreme Court refused to shield a mystery company from having to provide information in what’s believed to be the criminal investigation being conducted by … Read More
This Sounds Like Collusion
Ooops! Due to a redaction error by Manafort’s attorneys, we just learned that: 1) Paul Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik, who has been tied to Russian intelligence, met in Madrid during the campaign; 2) Manafort shared 2016 polling data with Kilimnik; and 3) They discussed a “Ukrainian peace plan.” Here is the filing in question. You can copy (Ctrl-C) the redacted … Read More
Cohen, Who Claims To Never Have Been To Prague, Was In Prague It Seems
This story right now is a little under the radar, but McClatchy has the scoop: A mobile phone traced to President Donald Trump’s former lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen briefly sent signals ricocheting off cell towers in the Prague area in late summer 2016, at the height of the presidential campaign, leaving an electronic record to support claims that Cohen … Read More
The Treasury Department Did WHAT?!?
Buzzfeed has a scoop: US Treasury Department officials used a Gmail back channel with the Russian government as the Kremlin sought sensitive financial information on its enemies in America and across the globe, according to documents reviewed by BuzzFeed News. The extraordinary unofficial line of communication arose in the final year of the Obama administration — in the midst of what … Read More
The Barr Memo
Trump’s pick for the Attorney General (to replace Jeff Sessions) is William Barr, who previously served as Attorney General under President George H.W. Bush. In June 2018, Barr sent the Justice Department an unsolicited memo questioning the appropriateness of an obstruction probe special counsel Robert Mueller is said to be conducting of certain Trump actions in the White House. Barr in … Read More