Russian Connection 4: Do Not Congratulate

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[fraurosena]

3 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

I guess he's realizing he might not be the "best" negotiator ever: "Trump sours on talking with Mueller after FBI raid of lawyer’s office"

  Reveal hidden contents

The FBI seizure of records from President Trump’s personal attorney last week deeply rattled the president — souring him on his long-stated preference to sit down for an interview with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and prompting him to renew efforts to hire more legal firepower, people familiar with the discussions said.

Trump, who had previously expressed a desire to submit to a special counsel interview, changed his mind following the April 9 raid of lawyer Michael Cohen’s office, home and hotel room and is now leaning against an interview, according to two people familiar with his turnabout.

The president’s lawyers are still open to talks with Mueller’s office about the possibility and advisers caution that the president frequently changes his mind, but his legal team now sees a Mueller sit-down as less likely. 

Trump was infuriated by the seizure of possibly sensitive correspondence involving work that Cohen — his close friend, consigliere and personal “fixer” — was doing on his behalf and believed Mueller’s team was operating in bad faith, two people familiar with the president’s frustration said.

Trump was so upset, in fact, that he had trouble concentrating on plans that were laid out for him that day by his national security team about potential options for targeted missile strikes on Syria, and told aides he was cool to the idea of doing an interview, said two people familiar with his comments, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

After last month’s resignation of attorney John Dowd, the president’s legal team consists primarily of Ty Cobb, the White House lawyer dealing with the investigation, and Jay Sekulow, Trump’s personal attorney on the Russia matter. Trump and his advisers expect the legal team may expand in size as early as the end of this week, according to one person familiar with the discussions.

Both Sekulow and Cobb declined to comment Tuesday.

Trump’s team has reached out to Robert C. Bonner, a former federal judge and former member of President George W. Bush’s administration, about representing Trump, two people familiar with the outreach said. Bonner is a former Customs and Border Protection commissioner and is credited with ushering in a more consolidated government approach to securing America’s borders in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Unlike other lawyers the Trump team has approached, Bonner retired from his role as a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in 2008 and thus does not have to worry about potential objections from law partners that might prevent him from taking the job. 

Bonner declined to comment about his status as a potential candidate to represent Trump.

 On the day that news of the Cohen raid broke last week, Sekulow and other Trump advisers were in a preparatory session for a scheduled meeting that afternoon at the special counsel’s office to negotiate final terms for a possible interview with the president.

Sekulow and Cobb had been proponents of having Trump sit down for a limited interview with Mueller’s team on four predetermined topics in hopes of speeding up the conclusion of the probe into the president’s actions.

But the raid alarmed and angered Trump and led to a tense afternoon meeting between Trump advisers and Mueller’s team, according to one person familiar with the talks. The president viewed the raid on his personal attorney as a breach of his team’s cordial working relationship with Mueller’s investigators and swiftly turned on them, another person said. 

“That greatly diminished the trust the team had,” the first person familiar with the president’s reaction to the raid said.

Mark Corallo, a former spokesman for Trump’s legal team, said that unexpected raids like the one executed against Cohen “are generally reserved for mafia dons and drug kingpins.”

“It is not every day that you see no-knock search warrants authorized by a federal judge on a lawyer and a law firm in white-collar matters,” Corallo said. “I don’t know how serious it is for President Trump, but it is very serious for Michael Cohen.”

Mueller’s team had made no prior mention of federal investigators’ focus on Cohen, which they would not be expected to divulge before a pending raid. The special counsel’s office had privately referred their investigative findings about Cohen to the U.S. attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York.

That office conducted the raids last Monday, following several months of investigating Cohen for possible bank fraud, wire fraud and campaign finance violations, according to people familiar with the probe. A search warrant indicated the probe is focused on Cohen’s role in tamping down possible negative publicity for Trump during the campaign and payments that were made during the campaign to women who claimed to have affairs with Trump.

In recent days, Trump has grown increasingly agitated, railing against members of his beleaguered team, said someone familiar with the situation. The president has also been personally involved in the hunt for new members of the legal team, making phone calls to potential additions, this person said. 

There is a growing sense that Trump’s lawyers are not prepared for the rigors and challenges still to come in the Mueller probe, although James Schultz, a former Trump administration lawyer who now works at the law firm Cozen O’Connor, rejected that notion.

“I haven’t seen any indication they are overwhelmed by work,” Schultz said. “They don’t seem overwhelmed to me.”

Within Trump’s orbit, the concern surrounding the raid targeting his lawyer is largely focused on what remains unknown about the dealings of Cohen, whose reputation was for handling Trump’s dirty work. One White House aide described Trump as angry at the what appeared to him to be a violation of attorney-client privilege.

Trump’s legal team has struggled for weeks to bring additional lawyers into their ranks. 

One outside adviser, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said Trump is upset that he hasn’t been able to attract top-notch lawyers, but he has long struggled in business to attract good lawyers because he underpays and sometimes pays late. He is also a difficult client, the adviser added.

New York litigator Marc Kasowitz, who has helped Trump in a series of business disputes and was the original leader of the president’s Russia legal defense, is still involved with Trump’s team and has been helping in the search for new lawyers, two people familiar with the situation said. 

Corallo said that while he believes the president deserves top-notch representation, he also understands the particular challenges facing Trump. 

“I think the president of the United States — no matter what you think of him — deserves the best legal talent he can get, and I think a lot of the big law firms have not covered themselves in glory saying no the president,” he said. “Now on the other hand, I do understand why a lot of high-profile lawyers don’t want to take the case.”

Legal struggles have dogged Trump’s presidency. The Trump campaign paid $4 million between January 2017 and March 31, 2018, in legal consulting fees to 13 law firms and Trump Corp., a company run by Trump’s two older sons. The bulk of the fees — about $2.7 million — have gone to Jones Day, a law firm representing the campaign in investigations by Mueller and several congressional committees into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The reelection campaigns of sitting presidents typically would spend less in attorneys fees in a nonpresidential cycle, hiring one or two law firms for ongoing campaign finance compliance needs, said Brett Kappel, a Washington campaign finance lawyer. Issues that arise over campaign finance or personnel matters typically are resolved within a year or less, Kappel said. 

 Since January 2017, however, the president’s 2020 campaign has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars each on law firms representing the president’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., Cohen and the president in the special counsel investigation, as well as a new legal challenge from an adult-film star, Federal Election Commission records show.

Though the expenditures are notably high, there is nothing illegal about the use of campaign funds. Under federal election laws, campaigns can pay for any expenses that relate to their candidacy or activities that occurred while holding elected office. 

 

Never for one second was he ever planning on really sitting down with Mueller. He’s all bluster and bluff, make-believing he will do things, but when reality comes knocking he will always seek a way to back out. Cohen’s raid was the perfect excuse (in his eyes) to bow out of that interview.

Being the dumb dipshit that he is, he doesn’t realize just how guilty and afaid it makes him look. Not only does it damage his ‘best negotiator ever’ image, it also obliterates his mr. Tough Guy persona. He’s just a weak, sniveling little blowhard bully who knows his whole criminal empire is about to crumble down around him.

[GreyhoundFan]

Nikki isn't taking it laying down: "Haley says ‘I don’t get confused’ after White House official suggests she misunderstood Russia sanctions"

Spoiler

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley rejected a White House official’s suggestion Tuesday that she had bungled an announcement of new Russia sanctions out of “confusion.”

“With all due respect, I don’t get confused,” Haley told Fox News host Dana Perino. Perino read the quote on the air Tuesday as she discussed the fallout from Haley’s remarks about forthcoming sanctions that the White House later said were announced in error.

Haley’s office confirmed the quote but did not elaborate. Haley has been otherwise silent about the unusual dust-up over her remarks Sunday, in which she had described specific economic sanctions against Russia that she said were coming the following day.

The Washington Post reported Monday, citing several people familiar with the matter, that President Trump had become upset about public discussion of new sanctions after Haley spoke on CBS’s “Face The Nation.” Trump told aides that he was not ready to impose the new penalties, and the White House decided to characterize Haley’s remarks as an error, The Post reported.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow was asked about the episode during a briefing Tuesday about Trump’s meeting in Florida with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Is there confusion inside the administration about new Russia sanctions, a reporter asked Kudlow.

“No. I think the issue here is we have a set of sanctions, and additional sanctions are under consideration but not been determined,” Kudlow said.

Haley, he added, “got ahead of the curve. She’s done a great job. She’s a very effective ambassador. There might have been some momentary confusion about that.”

Kudlow added that “we have had sanctions. Additional sanctions are under consideration but not implemented, and that’s all.”

The Associated Press later reported, citing an administration official, that Kudlow had called Haley to apologize.

Despite White house compliments about Haley’s job performance, the episode marked an awkward dressing down of a prominent Cabinet member who speaks to Trump often.

Haley has great license to speak freely at the United Nations and frequently represents the administration on television, as she did Sunday to discuss the U.S. and allied airstrikes in Syria.

The new Russia sanctions were related to Russian companies judged to support the Syrian chemical weapons industry, Haley had said.

Trump on Monday put the brakes on that preliminary plan, which the Kremlin had denounced as “international economic raiding.”

Administration officials said the economic sanctions were under serious consideration, along with other measures that could be taken against Russia, but said Trump had not given final authorization to implement them. Administration officials said Monday it was unlikely Trump would approve any additional sanctions without another triggering event by Russia, describing the strategy as being in a holding pattern.

Some time after Haley’s comments on CBS, the Trump administration notified the Russian Embassy in Washington that the sanctions were not, in fact, coming, a Russian Foreign Ministry official said Monday.

The Trump team decided to publicly characterize Haley’s announcement as a misstatement. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Monday, “We are considering additional sanctions on Russia and a decision will be made in the near future.”

Asked Monday morning why it had taken 24 hours for the administration to walk back Haley’s comments, one White House official said only that there had been confusion internally about what the plan was.

 

[onekidanddone]

27 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Nikki isn't taking it laying down:

She needs to keep up with TT's twitter feed. Her pink slip is forthcoming 

[GreyhoundFan]

[fraurosena]

Wouldn't it be great if Schneiderman's proposal was accepted into state law?

New York Attorney General Seeks Power to Bypass Presidential Pardons

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Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman of New York is moving to change New York state law so that he and other local prosecutors would have the power to bring criminal charges against aides to President Trump who have been pardoned, according to a letter Mr. Schneiderman sent to the governor and state lawmakers on Wednesday.

The move, if approved by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the Legislature, would serve notice that the legal troubles of the president and his aides may continue without the efforts of Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Under the plan, Mr. Schneiderman, a Democrat, seeks to exempt New York’s double jeopardy law from cases involving presidential pardons, according to the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times. The current law and the concept of double jeopardy in general mean that a person cannot be tried for the same crime twice.

Right now, New York state law prevents people from being prosecuted more than once for crimes related to the same act, even if the original prosecution was in federal court. There are already a number of exceptions to the law, and the letter says that Mr. Schneiderman is proposing to add a new one that could be used if federal pardons are issued.

Mr. Trump and Mr. Schneiderman have a contentious past. Mr. Schneiderman led a three-year investigation of Trump University that resulted in Mr. Trump paying a $25 million settlement. For his part, the president has dubbed Mr. Schneiderman “the nation’s worst AG.” He has also called him “dopey,” a “lightweight” and a “total loser,” and even tweeted about his eyelashes.

While Mr. Schneiderman’s jurisdiction does not encompass many of the areas being investigated by Mr. Mueller, a president has no authority to commute sentences or pardon offenses at the state level. That leaves convictions obtained by the state attorney general’s office or any other local prosecutor outside the president’s ability to intervene. The proposal would be structured so that it would not affect people who sought clemency after long jail sentences, an aide to Mr. Schneiderman said.

If the proposed law is passed, anyone indicted on state charges after being convicted in federal court and then pardoned would likely challenge the state law in court. But Mr. Schneiderman wrote in the letter that he and his advisers were confident the legislation would withstand any constitutional scrutiny.

Even though New York is a reliably blue state, Mr. Schneiderman’s proposal is hardly a foregone conclusion, given the narrow political divide in the State Senate.

“We are disturbed by reports that the president is considering pardons of individuals who may have committed serious federal financial, tax, and other crimes — acts that may also violate New York law,” Mr. Schneiderman said in a statement provided by his office. We must ensure that if the president, or any president, issues such pardons, we can use the full force of New York’s laws to bring such individuals to justice.”

The White House had no immediate response.

The president has openly discussed his pardon powers, and reportedly even asked his aides whether he could pardon himself, though one of his lawyers denied it.

[link to Schneiderman's letter]

While all agree the U.S. President has the complete power to pardon,” he tweeted last year, “why think of that when only crime so far is LEAKS against us.”

Just last week, when lawyers for Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, who is himself the subject of a criminal investigation apparently unrelated to Mr. Mueller’s probe, were in court clashing with prosecutors over a search warrant, Mr. Trump pardoned former Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby Jr.

Mr. Schneiderman’s move has the potential to set off a battle in the State Senate, where Republicans have narrowly controlled the chamber through alliances with Democrats. Earlier this month, though, most Democrats in the chamber ended a long-running feud, which has left a degree of doubt over long-term control of the body. An April 24 special election in Westchester County could determine who will lead the chamber.

The measure would likely be supported by Mr. Cuomo, who is tacking left in the face of a primary challenge from Cynthia Nixon, the actress and activist. The state’s Assembly has long been a bulwark of liberal ideals.

Mr. Schneiderman’s move is likely to inflame allies of Mr. Trump, who see Mr. Schneiderman as an opportunist bent on making political hay by antagonizing the president, and whom they see as unlikely to treat Mr. Trump fairly.

This is hardly the first time Mr. Schneiderman has challenged Mr. Trump.

A month before the 2016 election, his office ordered Mr. Trump’s foundation to stop raising money in New York amid scrutiny over Mr. Trump’s claims about charitable giving. The $25 million settlement over Trump University came little more than a week after the election. Mr. Schneiderman called the settlement “a stunning reversal by Donald Trump and a major victory for the over 6,000 victims of his fraudulent university.”

The attorney general’s office has also investigated Mr. Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul J. Manafort, who was indicted on federal charges last year, though he deferred his inquiry amid the federal investigation.

The Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution has a double jeopardy clause that says “nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.” But that applies to multiple prosecutions of the same federal offense.

The states are almost evenly split between those that have additional double jeopardy protections at the state level and those that do not, giving a measure of viability to Mr. Schneiderman’s effort. And Mr. Schneiderman has successfully backed changes to the double jeopardy law before. In 2011, the state closed what was known as the “Helmsley loophole,” named for the headline-grabbing hotelier Leona Helmsley, allowing it to prosecute tax cheats who had already been prosecuted federally.

“New York’s statutory protections could result in the unintended and unjust consequence of insulating someone pardoned for serious federal crimes from subsequent prosecution for state crimes,” Mr. Schneiderman writes in his letter, “even if that person was never tried or convicted in federal court, and never served a single day in federal prison.”

Whether Mr. Schneiderman’s office would even seek to become involved in a criminal prosecution of Mr. Trump or his aides remains to be seen. But his move only adds to Mr. Trump’s legal problems.

Several of Mr. Trump’s former aides have pleaded guilty in Mr. Mueller’s inquiry, including Rick Gates, a former campaign adviser, and Michael Flynn, Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser. Earlier this month, the Southern District of New York, an office of the Justice Department outside of Mr. Mueller’s, revealed it was investigating Mr. Cohen.

Mr. Trump has made his feelings about these investigations plain in a recent tweet that said, simply, “A TOTAL WITCH HUNT!!!”

 

[GreyhoundFan]

This is from February, but I don't remember seeing any discussion about it. McTurtle took $2.5 million from an oligarch connected to the Kremlin: "Mitch McConnell Refuses to Protect Mueller, Then a Russian-Connected Money Trail Shows Up"

Spoiler

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has already arrested a few of Trump’s former campaign advisers and guilty pleas have already been given by some. Several Republicans in Congress  – who had Trump’s back all this time – are suddenly missing and seem at peace with letting Trump ride this out alone.

Senate Majoirty Leader Mitch McConnell, however, appears to be panicking and refuses to do anything to protect Robert Mueller from being undermined by Trump and the White House. He’s pretty much saying Mueller doesn’t need protecting.

Several Senators on both sides of the aisle are trying to protect Robert Mueller and allow him to do his job. They know if they try to fire Mueller, they only make themselves look guilty.

This appears to be the driving force between those trying to shield Mueller, but McConnell doesn’t seem to be on board with that plan.

CNN’s Manu Raju tweeted that “McConnell does not commit to making floor time for bills to protect special counsel.”

Don’t forget, Mitch McConnell received millions in Russian-connected funds last election season.

Dallas News points out in an article called ‘GOP campaigns took $7.35 million from oligarch linked to Russia‘ :

During the 2015-2016 election season, Ukrainian-born billionaire Leonard “Len” Blavatnik contributed $6.35 million to leading Republican candidates and incumbent senators. Mitch McConnell was the top recipient of Blavatnik’s donations, collecting $2.5 million for his GOP Senate Leadership Fund under the names of two of Blavatnik’s holding companies, Access Industries and AI Altep Holdings, according to Federal Election Commission documents and OpenSecrets.org.

Was there anything illegal about these contributions? No, because the donor has dual citizenship, but there’s plenty suspicious about it.

McConnell received $2.5 million in donations from a Kremlin-connected oligarch in a year that he wasn’t even up for re-election. Putin’s connection with McConnell has yet to be uncovered, but with the shocking twists and turns this investigation has taken thus far, nothing will surprise me.

 

[fraurosena]

2 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

This is from February, but I don't remember seeing any discussion about it. McTurtle took $2.5 million from an oligarch connected to the Kremlin: "Mitch McConnell Refuses to Protect Mueller, Then a Russian-Connected Money Trail Shows Up"

  Hide contents

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has already arrested a few of Trump’s former campaign advisers and guilty pleas have already been given by some. Several Republicans in Congress  – who had Trump’s back all this time – are suddenly missing and seem at peace with letting Trump ride this out alone.

Senate Majoirty Leader Mitch McConnell, however, appears to be panicking and refuses to do anything to protect Robert Mueller from being undermined by Trump and the White House. He’s pretty much saying Mueller doesn’t need protecting.

Several Senators on both sides of the aisle are trying to protect Robert Mueller and allow him to do his job. They know if they try to fire Mueller, they only make themselves look guilty.

This appears to be the driving force between those trying to shield Mueller, but McConnell doesn’t seem to be on board with that plan.

CNN’s Manu Raju tweeted that “McConnell does not commit to making floor time for bills to protect special counsel.”

Don’t forget, Mitch McConnell received millions in Russian-connected funds last election season.

Dallas News points out in an article called ‘GOP campaigns took $7.35 million from oligarch linked to Russia‘ :

During the 2015-2016 election season, Ukrainian-born billionaire Leonard “Len” Blavatnik contributed $6.35 million to leading Republican candidates and incumbent senators. Mitch McConnell was the top recipient of Blavatnik’s donations, collecting $2.5 million for his GOP Senate Leadership Fund under the names of two of Blavatnik’s holding companies, Access Industries and AI Altep Holdings, according to Federal Election Commission documents and OpenSecrets.org.

Was there anything illegal about these contributions? No, because the donor has dual citizenship, but there’s plenty suspicious about it.

McConnell received $2.5 million in donations from a Kremlin-connected oligarch in a year that he wasn’t even up for re-election. Putin’s connection with McConnell has yet to be uncovered, but with the shocking twists and turns this investigation has taken thus far, nothing will surprise me.

 

Yeah. All of us here in the politics threads on FJ can collectively shout: We told you so!

Of course he's on the take from the Russians. Nothing else would explain his actions. Everyone in the GOP who's defending and covering for the presidunce (I'm particularly looking at you, Nunes) is in some way, shape or form connected to the Russians. They're all corrupt, and they're all committing treason, selling out the country to the Russians, just to stay in power.

 

[AnywhereButHere]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/giuliani-says-he-is-joining-trumps-legal-team-to-negotiate-an-end-to-mueller-probe/2018/04/19/b175fc10-4411-11e8-8569-26fda6b404c7_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.ad0a0b29807e

Quote

Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, a combative former prosecutor and longtime ally of President Trump, told The Washington Post on Thursday that he has joined the president’s legal team dealing with the ongoing special counsel probe.

“I’m doing it because I hope we can negotiate an end to this for the good of the country and because I have high regard for the president and for Bob Mueller,” Giuliani said in an interview.

Giuliani, who joins a legal team that has struggled to recruit new members to its ranks, said he has been speaking with Trump for weeks about joining the group of legal advisers. He said he would work alongside Trump’s current attorneys, Jay Sekulow and Ty Cobb, who focus on the federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. He also said he will soon take a leave from his law firm, Greenberg Traurig.

Giuliani said he formalized his decision in recent days, including over dinner last week at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Oh god. Just what this whole farce needs is Guiliani.

[fraurosena]

9 minutes ago, AnywhereButHere said:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/giuliani-says-he-is-joining-trumps-legal-team-to-negotiate-an-end-to-mueller-probe/2018/04/19/b175fc10-4411-11e8-8569-26fda6b404c7_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.ad0a0b29807e

Oh god. Just what this whole farce needs is Guiliani.

Seth Abramson seems to think so at least. 

Here's more on what Seth thinks about Guiliani:

And it's not only Seth. Josh Marshall also pointed out the problem with Giuliani:

 

[AnywhereButHere]

It's insane. His whole legal team (hell, his whole administration) is a clown car of the most corrupt, inept, bottom-dwelling, swamp creatures in existence. Who will tumble out (or in) next!

[fraurosena]

Turns out you won’t have to wait long for the answer, @AnywhereButHere. What do you think, is Hannity secretly a lawyer too?

 

[AnywhereButHere]

@fraurosena He could be, since in Trumpland, he wouldn’t actually need a law degree on his CV. He’d just need to have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express. Apparently, it worked for the assclown-in-chief.  

Spoiler

 

 

[onekidanddone]

1 hour ago, AnywhereButHere said:

Oh god. Just what this whole farce needs is Guiliani.

Maybe he is kissing up to get Rosenstein's job, or when Sessions trips (woops) under the Trump bus, Rudy can be the next AG

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 Who knows, Kremlin might be right about this. 

 

DC man yells at the TV and believes he had a conversation

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Friday News dump: 

 

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In case you thought he's  just a sex fiend, don't worry, he's also a corrupt colluder

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Lavrov seems to imply he doubts whether Trump can be taken seriously but he is not gonna let Trump get away with forget-it

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Everyone is Emin's friend

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This WH is a giant flightless flustercuck. 

 

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