Tag Archives: Manafort

The Bewitching Hour Approaches the White House

A Blue Wave Comes in January–Mueller Too?

The Democrats have won 40 House Seats in the next Congress–meaning they will have a 235 to 200 majority. It won’t be pretty for Trump. Investigations will ensue. Agency heads, cabinet officials and others will be called to testify. All those people who weren’t subpoenaed by Devin Numbnuts (Trump co-conspirator and chair of the House Intelligence Committee) or were allowed to not answer pertinent questions will have to answer in the Democratically controlled House.

But what of Mueller? Will more indictments come from Mueller in December? More in January? A report to Congress? Yes, it could all happen. On Friday comes the sentencing memo for double-flipper Manafort. The prevailing opinion is that this will be a public document detailing all of Manafort’s misdeeds.  Meanwhile, Trump is once again publicly adding fuel to obstruction fire–all but admitting that he has dangled a pardon for Manafort in exchange for info on what Mueller is up to.

But is all the chagrin and worries advanced about the duplicitous behavior of Manafort, his lawyers and Trump’s half-assed legal team (calling them JV would be overstating their legal acumen) warranted? How much would Mueller’s team have let Manafort in on during their hours together? Not much, in my opinion. As tight-lipped as the Mueller team has been with news media, Congress and everybody else, why the hell would Manafort be trusted with intimate details of what others had testified to–or what evidence Mueller had???

Continue reading The Bewitching Hour Approaches the White House

Is It Mueller Time Yet?

If not now, when! Well, it might take some more indictments. We can hope and pray that the conspiracy (NOT collusion, for non-lawyers) counts are forthcoming by September–avoiding the midterm hiatus.

Meanwhile, at one and the same time,  these TWO things happened.

  1. Trump says AG Sessions should end the probe
  2. His attorneys say Trump is still considering sitting down with Mueller for a Q & A

Seems a little dissonant, doesn’t it? Well, what else should we expect from Trumpworld. Here’s the tweet, from Wednesday, August 1, that you’ve all seen, or heard unless you live off the grid.

This is a terrible situation and Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further. Bob Mueller is totally conflicted, and his 17 Angry Democrats that are doing his dirty work are a disgrace to USA!

Various media reports attribute the tweet to receipt of Mueller’s recent offer to provide some written questions in advance of the live interview and a reduced number of questions in the latter. However, obstruction of justice would still be part of the meeting. Not good, says Rudy, No-No.

The second item comes from the NY Times, very close in time to the Mueller offer and Trump’s tweet. I, for one, usually assume the New York Times reporters know of what they speak. One might be forgiven for doubting their report—but from what we know about Trump’s ego and (very mistaken belief) that he is a great dealmaker, they are likely quite correct.

Mr. Trump has told advisers he is eager to meet with investigators to clear himself of wrongdoing, the people said. In effect, he believes he can convince the investigators for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, of his belief that their own inquiry is a “witch hunt.”  See the full Times story here.

Seriously? Trump is going to win over Mueller?

Of course, Trump IS narcissistic and delusional. He also  has this transitory memory about his own opinions–moment by moment. Remember when the sexist perspective about the changeability of women’s minds? Well, one might be excused from thinking that Trump must have some gender dysphoria (if the sexist perspective were true, instead of simply a male bias LOL).

Speaking of his “attorneys,” Giuliani is working for free—well, you get what you paid for the saying goes; Jay Sekulow may be a small step up in legal acumen from Michael Cohen (who graduated from Cooley Law School? , while Sekulow graduated from Mercer University, tied for 128th law school in the US, behind such big name universities as Mississippi, Idaho, Louisville, Montana, etc.)

But back to Mueller time. Fear and loathing are growing in the White House as trials, blowback from his behavior, bad economic moves and general incompetence is constantly reported on by all but Trump TV (AKA Fox News). Like what? Oh, you know, don’t you?

  • Blowing up the Iran deal because it was so bad and then saying he was available for a meeting with Iran’s President Rouhani—with no preconditions (of course, because HE could strike a better deal. LOLLLLLLLLL!
  • Meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un one on one AFTER blowing up the Iran deal—which famously led to Trump’s announcement that North Korea no longer posed a nuclear threat (except satellite photos show they are still working on their ICBMs)
  • Meeting with his boss, Vladimir Putin (one on one) for two hours or more and virtually genuflecting by words) to Putin (at the subsequent Helsinki press conference
  • The tariffs he has imposed are already costing jobs and substantial lost revenues to American workers and companies—but then Trump doesn’t really understand economics or international trade (too bad his daughter is Ivanka and not Clarissa)
  • Michael Cohen may spill the beans that Trump not only knew about but approved the June 2016 meeting with the Russians (can you say conspiracy?)
  • The zero tolerance policy that Americans and the world regard as extraordinarily cruel and barbaric
  • The Manafort trial–NO COLLUSION! Says Trump—of course not, this is the tax evasion and bank fraud case (all Rick Gates fault, Manafort lawyer’s opening sayswhat, Gates filed Manafort’s taxes, bought all those suits and the ostrich jacket for his boss, opened all those bank accounts in Cyprus in Manafort’s name? Seriously?)
  • That’s just SOME of the recent stuff—Mueller IS closing in and Trump is FREAKY FRAID!

So, which will come first—Mueller’s report recommending impeachment or the Ultimate Trump Tantrum? What might that be, you ask. Well, I’ll save that satirical prognostication for another post. Feel free to offer YOUR guesses. With Trump, anything may be possible—mooning America from the White House balcony, perhaps, as his end draws near. Yes, pun intended. Don’t expect Trump to go out smiling with the two handed victory wave from Marine One like Nixon did.

Trump Is Crazier than Kim

Yes, it’s official–to me at least. That Trump is the scarier guy than Kim Jung Un. But before we get onto that topic, note that we’ll also be talking about the totally unrelated pardon proffer today. A proffer that may already have been made.

First, North Korea. Could Kim and Trump be brothers of another mother? They seem so much alike in the way they saturate the media with their bombastic excursions into idiotic promises of consequences. If it weren’t so serious, one could compare their rants to WWE, or whatever the wrestling consortium goes by today. What if, stop and think about it—Kim thinks Trump is crazy enough to do what he says he will? Is it possible that this might actually work to scare off Kim from shooting missiles or artillery at us or South Korea? Wouldn’t want to bet the lives of everyone on the Korean peninsula and nearby countries. Not to mention Guam, etc. Still, I believe it’s possible. If somebody ever does a remake of “The Shining,” perhaps Trumpy could play the lead nutjob.

The more cautious and sensible route seems invoking Article 25, Section 4, of the US Constitution to remove Trump for being unfit to perform the duties of President. While the section doesn’t spill out all the possible details, being not one or two—but several sandwiches short of a picnic ought to be enough to get him removed. We can at least hope that sane military officers would resist a preemptive strike on North Korea. But why take that chance? Let’s start the ball rolling to get Trump out and committed to an institution where he can get the help he needs.

Onto the pardon prospects. Manafort, following the FBI raid on his home, has new lawyers. One specializes in the kind of financial crimes he might be charged with. The other has escaped the attention of most commentators—other than Rachel Maddow. She noted the other night that Manafort now has a lawyer who managed to get a pardon of an ex-CIA official from George H. W. Bush for a crime that would have had him serving serious time for various felonies. Maddow didn’t speculate, but here’s my take:

Special Counsel Robert Muller wants to flip either Michael Flynn or Paul Manafort—maybe both. In exchange for implicating Trumpty Dumpty, they could get off with light sentences (or none) for the various serious offenses both will face accusations of. But rather than ANY sentence, why not make Trump an offer (through each other’s attorneys) that they won’t rat him out if makes a binding agreement to pardon them? Why else would Manafort have hired Richard Hibey—the lawyer who got Clair George the pardon from Bush? Trump has already been investigating the prospect of pardons. Likely with good reason.