Finally some good news: William Barr’s efforts to cockblock the results of the Mueller report are doomed to failure, if this is any indication. You recall how Michael Flynn pleaded guilty in December, 2017, to lying to the FBI about his conversations with Sergei Kislylak? Thursday, U.S. District Judge, Emmet G. Sullivan ordered the government to post a transcript of a phone call Flynn had with the Russian ambassador in late 2016, to a court website by May 31. This was the call that was intercepted by U.S. intelligence, which was a red flag “about Russians’ secret and frequent contact with Trump allies and advisers during the campaign and before his inauguration.” Oh, yeah, deals were being done, and this is what William Barr was trying to keep redacted and under wraps.
Judge Sullivan also ordered the transcript of a November 2017 voice mail, between Trump’s attorney, then John Dowd, and Flynn’s attorney, John Kelner, mentioning Trump’s “fondness for Flynn at a time when Flynn was considering cooperating with federal investigators.” Read: “Now, Mikey, boy, Daddy Trump has pardon power, don’t you forget.” This is a key area where the issue of obstruction of justice on Trump’s part was first raised. Washington Post:
The Mueller team analyzed the Dowd call to Kelner and other allies’ outreach to Flynn for possible obstruction of justice, but ultimately determined the evidence of Trump’s intent was “inconclusive.” Mueller’s team noted its inquiry was hampered because much of the conduct involved Trump’s legal team, and concerns about attorney-client privilege limited the special counsel’s investigation.
Mueller’s team noted in particular that, in November 2017 — after Flynn withdrew from his joint defense agreement with the president — Trump’s “personal counsel,” who was Dowd, left a voice mail for Kelner that urged him to give a “heads up” if they had anything that implicated the president. He added: “Remember what we’ve always said about the President and his feelings toward Flynn.” In a later call, Kelner repeated that he could not share information with Dowd, and Dowd grew indignant and said he believed the president would be very displeased, the report said.
Trump seemed particularly eager to convey his affection for Flynn after Flynn left the White House in the wake of reports about his calls with Kislyak. Former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and the former deputy national security adviser K.T. McFarland told investigators Trump asked them to reach out to Flynn to check on him and tell him to stay strong, according to Mueller’s report.
Now here’s more good news. Judge Sullivan also ordered that Barr’s still-redacted portions of the Mueller report that relate to Flynn be given to the court and made available to the public.
So, it goes without saying, that the infant in the Oval Office heard all this and started screaming on Twitter at four o’clock in the morning.
My Campaign for President was conclusively spied on. Nothing like this has ever happened in American Politics. A really bad situation. TREASON means long jail sentences, and this was TREASON!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 17, 2019
I can’t decide which is worse, Trump’s stupidity or his arrogance. Right now I’d say it’s even money. If he had the least clue about how national security works, he would know that the intelligence agencies in this country keep an eye on everything — nobody was “spying” on him. Satellites are in the sky, surveillance mechanisms are in place, and if your associates are making frequent, secret contacts with the Kremlin, it’s going to get picked up in the normal course of events. Once again I flinch, that simple lay people like the yous and mes know this stuff and the sitting *resident does not.
2019: The President of the United States is demanding long jail sentences for FBI officials who investigated threats from a hostile foreign adversary
— Josh Campbell (@joshscampbell) May 17, 2019
Thank you, Josh Campbell, for bottom lining it. Campbell is a former FBI agent, who teaches national security at USC. This is as simple as it gets. The men and women of the FBI, and other intelligence agencies, were simply doing the jobs they are paid to do, to protect our nation. And this cretinous conman, who has bought his way in and out of everything his entire life, including the Oval Office, has the temerity to issue threats of this nature.
And the threats would be a joke — but for the fact that Trump has finally found his Roy Cohn surrogate, the “killer” lawyer he begged for in vain these past few years, in William Barr.
“Treason” is defined very narrowly in the Constitution, so his tweet is meaningless legally. But the message is clear nonetheless.
Barr is not only failing to stand up to this dangerous rhetoric—he’s stoking it.
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) May 17, 2019
William Barr has embarked on an interesting path. He started out as the new John Mitchell, rapidly progressed to the new Roy Cohn and now it appears he’s headed straight for Benedict Arnold.
I wish I knew what the consequences will be for Barr, when he refuses this judge’s request, because he will. Are there any lawyers in the house?? This makes me think that Mueller was waiting for this. Someone smarter than me will weigh in, I hope.
Just remember these assholes come election day.
“We” will. It’s what to do about the people living in the alternate universe of Fox News. That’s who I’m worried about.
Well, as long as they stay in their ‘alternate universe’ we can just turn the channel, I mean seriously, beyond the lunatics who the hell watches those cackling idiots anyway? And once our celebrity mobster is OUT, we will have the last laugh on those cackles.
I think we’re going to find out who is influenced by Fox drivel. I don’t take it for granted that we’ll get rid of Trump. I was too psychically scared by his election to just believe it’s a done deal in 2020. It won’t be over until it’s over — and then i will crack open a bottle of fine champagne and dance in the streets. I’m in California, and if you don’t think there won’t be dancing in the streets, you don’t know how much we hate Trump’s guts.
I’m down here in Florida, a ‘red’ state in more ways than one!
HA! Yes, GOP red has taken on a new meaning with Putin the power behind the throne.
You are surrounded by IDIOTS
There are way too many idiots in this country right now, that’s a fact. But let me give you some hope: the politics of the day are so bad, that a lot of detail is filtering down to the non-political people. I know people who are not interested in politics, neighbors, etc. Even people who don’t usually care about what goes on in Washington are talking to one another about the sorry state of affairs we’re in. This is a good sign. If these people are getting the sad and sorry truth, it means that the situation is so alarming that the truth is going everywhere.
If and I say IF the electorate is waking up, then Trump will be toast. A comatose electorate (and Russian bots) elected Trump, but an awake electorate will get rid of him. Or, so I hope.
6 months or so ago, I was talking to a guy at work about the dotard, he says, he’s such an asshole, we agreed, then he says I voted for him anyway. Ok, leave me alone.
See, this is my point. A lot of people voted for Trump and didn’t realize it was one dimension away from putting a gun to one’s head and pulling the trigger. If we’re that stupid in this country, maybe we deserve to go under. I’m beside myself.
I know what you are saying, I’ve been pissed off for three years, I don’t think I can stand it much longer ….I am shocked by the ignorant people that love Trump, are they really that stupid ?
Yes, they are. They buy the disinformation on Fox News. I have personally spoken to people who appreciate that Trump “got rid of MS-13.” When did that happen? It did not, but Fox News said it did. And I spoke to a young guy who said that Trump got rid of ISIS — or some bullshit. Point being, these great “achievements” of Trump’s are not known by either the main stream media nor the other media outlets of the world — not to mention the Department of Defense.
Disinformation is the root of all evil in this era of Trump.
I’m down here in Texas, and believe me, there are a lot of progressives here who want to see the end of trump, and the end of repub rule in this state!
I don’t doubt that for a minute. Question is, are there any independents you can sway, or Democrats that you can get to the polls in 2020? That’s the only answer.
I’ve had the champagne chilling for over 2 years, now. In Northern California. All my state and federal repcritters are Democrats. Yes, there will be dancing in the streets!
California will go nuts. So will New York. Mark my words, Times Square will erupt like no New Year’s Eve you’ve ever seen. L.A. and San Francisco will also be huge celebrations. And don’t forget Blue Hawaii, either.
Dancing in the streets, champagne, and fireworks! We should have fireworks! A minority of Americans are influenced by faux noise. A minority of Americans support tRump. A minority of Americans voted for the orange pustule. It was a Russian based coup that overturned our election in 2016. We need to remember that a majority of Americans did the right thing, it was dirty tricks, treasonous treachery and probably lots of money that overturned the legitimate results. More people see the truth now, so more will vote against tRump. But the repugs are busy behind the scenes working to undermine our government and election systems, with help, of course, from their good friends and financiers, the Russians (and maybe the Saudi’s). It’s going to be a close call, but we HAVE to get it right this time or there won’t be another chance. Too much evil shit going down these days. Maybe need that champagne now.
You’re absolutely right that we cannot screw up 2020. No infighting amongst Democrats. If Biden is the front runner, which is the case as we speak — terrific. I know there are people with a “progressive” agenda that don’t want Uncle Joe because he’s an old white guy, bla bla. The way I see it, we can shelve the progressive agenda, or any agenda, if we don’t get the White House back in 2020. I see this election as an existential one, truly I do.
The repugs won’t be happy until we’ve regressed to the Dark Ages. In just two years they’ve damaged so much, and in just the last two weeks, they’ve gone nuts! It’s hard to imagine democracy making it for another year and a half of this nonsense, let alone another four years. No way!
My prediction is that this mis-administration is going to reach a tipping point, for lack of a better phrase, within the next month or so. The effects of the trade war with China will be felt in about a month, from what I have read; plus, Donald Junior will be testifying sometime in June; God only knows what’s going on with the 20 ongoing investigations with the Trump family, but they’re not going away; Jared Kushner is supposed to come up with a “solution” to both immigration and the Middle East; and last but not least, this nutty Alabama abortion law is at issue. And all the while we’re looking at the 2020 election. I think June is going to be a wild month.
Jared Kushner and peace in the Middle East, what a hell of an oxymoron.
Barr can only “refuse” to do so much. He’s great at stalling, he’s obviously great at mischaracterizing things — Mueller said that — and he’s great at redacting. But he’s not above the law, anymore than Trump is.
Barr will go the way of Roy Cohn. He’ll pull every dirty trick in the book but at the end of the day it won’t work — I hope.
BTW, Mae, I didn’t have a chance to get back to you last night in the other thread, but my mother got pregnant with me when she was 43. It is too old to have kids. I got mocked by other kids who thought she was my grandmother. Now, this is back in the late fifties, early sixties, and people do have children later in life, nowadays. But it was a drag to never have known young parents, and I never knew my grandparents because they were all dead. One grandmother met me as a baby but I don’t remember it. That left a big hole in my life, grandparents are important to a child’s development.
For me, it was for health reasons. I am horrified to think I could have been forced to have that baby. We are teetering on the edge.
Health reasons or choice, it would have been a valid decision. I’m totally pro choice. There are too many people in this world, myself included, unplanned for and who were born into a very dysfunctional situation, where having a kid was not a great idea.
I never wanted children. Bad health was reason number two, I should have said. To force a 43 year old woman, who does not want children, who has health issues, to give birth, is beyond the pale.
And you know they would, with these insane new laws. Truth be known, if I was of reproductive age and living in one of these insane states, Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, I would seriously consider a full hysterectomy. I just couldn’t live with a sword like that hanging over my head. And think of it this way, all women of reproductive age alive right now have lived with Roe v. Wade being the law of the land. They don’t remember the back street abortions or babies born out of wedlock that I remember as a young girl. A woman “getting in trouble” as the euphemism went back in the day, was a damn serious matter.
My OB-GYN told me that if I thought I was pregnant, ro ever wanted to become pregnant, that I should come in and talk with him first. Apparently the odds would have been worse for me than for most (DES kid).
That has to be taken into consideration. Life isn’t a level playing field. And this insane law sure as hell isn’t leveling the field out, it’s setting fire to it.
My father’s mother was 46 when her last kid was born. Granted, it was a surprise – it was more than five years after the previous one – but not impossible.
My mother didn’t think she could have any more kids when she got pregnant with me. She had been pregnant with my brother five years before I was conceived and he was stillborn. She was 43 when she conceived me, and had gone through an early menopause. She was three or four months pregnant and went to the doctor to see why she was having a sudden weight gain. This is more common than one might think.
Hmm…it’s the first time I’ve ever stopped to ponder the grammar of “cock block”. Is it cock block, cock-block or cockblock? I’d go with the hyphen, until it’s officially authorized as a single word by a reputable dictionary, which it probably should be given its prevalence.
I suppose I landed on that topic because the president seems actually medically insane, and I don’t know what to say about that.
Thanks, Rory, I’ll edit it. I don’t use the word very often, and never have used it in print, but it seems particularly appropriate here. That’s just how down and dirty it all is.
The Russians don’t have to change votes or voter roles by much. They can go into counties with high levels of support for Trump or any Republican and just change enough to avoid suspicion. One vote may make the difference. One more vote than your opponent and you win. Of course they would have to go for no recount amounts but that too would be unnoticable. States with near 50-50 voters are most vulnerable. It’s winner take all. Dems lost by something like 70,000 votes in three states in 2016. And in Florida Gillam and Nelson were leading in quality polls until election day when they both barely lost. I for one am suspicious about those races.
You would be a fool if you weren’t suspicious. The Russian bots put a new spin on elections. When I saw the comments on Facebook that were supposedly generated by the neighbors, but were in fact generated by the Russians (with the full compliance of Kellyanne, Parscale, all of them) it blew my mind. Psychological warfare in elections is nothing new, mud always gets slung — but psychological warfare waged by cybernetic means is something else altogether and here we are.
Just remember that Traitor Trump and his traitorous criminal cronies ALWAYS accuse others of what they are guilty of! ALWAYS!!
You’ll get no argument here. I can’t believe the level of projection those people engage in. I didn’t know it existed, pre-Trump.
Once that idiot traffic cone woke up in the White House, like any stupid sociopath his self-aggrandizement ballooned to stratospheric proportions. Any action counter to his own best interests is, in effect, an attack on a sovereign power, i.e. Idiot-Traffic-Cone-Land, and if it comes from within ITCL, of necessity it’s treasonous. What the idiot traffic cone is incapable of understanding is that for once in his life, he’s answerable to someone besides Fred–that would be you, me, and the rest of of America–and it scares the shit out of him.
Good! Let’s scare him some more!!