Russian Connection 4: Do Not Congratulate

[AmazonGrace]

Gop wants to harass the investigators

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/06/25/republicans-ask-rosenstein-for-names-everyone-working-on-mueller-probe.html

[GreyhoundFan]

Methinks Pavel is finding life behind bars a little too real: "Ex-Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort seeks release from jail as he awaits trial"

Spoiler

Paul Manafort has appealed a federal judge’s order jailing him as he awaits trial on charges by the special counsel that he ran a secret lobbying campaign for Ukraine.

Attorneys for President Trump’s former campaign chairman, who is being held at a Virginia jail, gave notice of the appeal in court filings Monday afternoon.

“Defendant Paul J. Manafort, Jr. hereby appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from this Court’s order . . . granting the government’s motion to revoke Defendant’s pretrial release and denying Defendant’s motion to stay the order of detention pending appeal,” attorneys Kevin M. Downing, Thomas E. Zehnle and Richard Westling wrote.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson on June 15 revoked Manafort’s release under electronic monitoring after prosecutors alleged he tried to sway the testimony of potential witnesses in the case.

Manafort had been under home detention since he was charged Oct. 27 in what prosecutors allege is a broad conspiracy to launder more than $30 million over a decade of undisclosed lobbying for a pro-Russian former politician and party in Ukraine.

Manafort, 69, has pleaded not guilty to those charges in the District, as well as to related tax and bank fraud in federal court in Alexandria.

The latest tampering charges, filed on June 8, revolve around allegations that Manafort and Ukraine business manager Konstantin Kilimnik tried to persuade two potential witnesses to falsely tell investigators their Ukraine lobbying effort did not include activity in the United States.

“You have abused the trust placed in you six months ago,” Jackson told Manafort after a hearing in which she concluded he violated bail terms and failed to show that he would not breach them again. “The government motion will be granted, and the defendant will be detained.”

Manafort has been held at the Northern Neck Regional Jail in Warsaw, Va., about 90 miles southeast of Washington.

Manafort’s legal team also is trying to fight Berman Jackson’s dismissal of his civil suit challenging the scope of the special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.

The judge had ruled in April that Manafort may not use a lawsuit to thwart his prosecution.

In the April 27 ruling, Jackson denied Manafort’s attempt to bar the special counsel from bringing future charges against him, citing the “sound and well-established principle” that potential defendants cannot “circumvent federal criminal procedure,” which allows for defendants to bring such proceedings within criminal cases.

Manafort faces trial in Alexandria in July on tax- and bank-fraud charges, and in Washington in September over allegations of secret lobbying.

 

[AmazonGrace]

How convenient 

 

[AmazonGrace]

You all gotta watch this.

Seriously. You gotta watch this.

[AmazonGrace]

The guy Trump hardly knows is going to trial: 

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[Cartmann99]

9 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

 

From the article:

Quote

Shortly thereafter, a trio of bikini-clad beauty pageant contestants—presumably competing in Miss Universe, where Agalarov and Trump developed a fast friendship in 2013—join the pair, jumping on the hotel bed in a joyful pillow fight. 

The first time I watched this scene, I thought the feathers flying around were  gold confetti. Reading about a certain salacious allegation has obviously had an effect on my mind. 

[AmazonGrace]

I can't decide if Emin is a huge troll, desperately sad because he's in love with Trump and he doesn't love him back or if the video is a threat from Putin to deliver or else.

[Cartmann99]

12 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

I can't decide if Emin is a huge troll, desperately sad because he's in love with Trump and he doesn't love him back or if the video is a threat from Putin to deliver or else.

Don't forget the money angle. He's getting lots of attention for the type of song you get stuck listening to when they put you on hold:

Your call is very important to us! *Emin's song* Did you know we have new product/service XYZ? *Emin's song* Have you visited our website? *Emin's song* All of our agents are busy helping other customers, please continue to hold. *Emin's song* Please like us on Facebook! *Emin's song* The wait time is now 649296794 minutes, please hold. *Emin's song* This call is being monitored, so please stop asking us to perform impossible sexual acts upon ourselves. *Emin's song*

[AmazonGrace]

 

[AmazonGrace]

 Putin and Trump are going to meet in Helsinki with the president of Finland Sauli Niinistö. You may remember him from the White House presser in which Trump couldn't tell reporters apart and had to be told that there are several female journalists in Finland. His wife had a baby recently. Also his dog is a little famous. 

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

 

[AmazonGrace]

 sorry for flooding the thread but what does Roger Stone do  that he needs aides?

 

[AmazonGrace]

Also it was the largest inauguration ever because it had the most Russian oligarchs. 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

11 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

 

Goodlatte is an ass. Thankfully, he's not running for re-election in November. I won't shed a tear to see him out of congress.

[AmazonGrace]

 

[Howl]

This was not a significant thing at the time but kinda funny. A Scaramucci or two ago,  when Mark Sanford lost his South Carolina primary to a Trump humper, Trump got confused at a rally. 

Quote

"I've never liked [Sanford] too much. I wasn't a big fan. The Tallahassee trail — must be a beautiful place."

Someone tweeted that the Tallahassee Trail was the escape route taken by those fleeing the Bowling Green Massacre. 

Yeah, the response is funny but also emblematic of so much of the insanity that is now the new normal.  Our country has been rocking along for awhile now, and even though we are ostensibly a government of check and balances, there is simply no way to control a president who is careening around with zero boundaries and a Congress with zero will to reign him in and a judicial branch under attack by both, as evidenced by yesterday's Congressional hearing with Rod Rosenstein in the hot seat.  

[AmazonGrace]

Rachel talking a bit about GOP attacks against Rosenstein and Mueller at first and then about Russians who inexplicably attended Trump inaugural events.

 

Chris Hayes talking about Manafort's finances and debt to Deripaska

[Howl]

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[AmazonGrace]

I wish the Bundy sketch guy was attending these trials

Anyway now we know one reason why reporters are the enemy of the people. AP reporters tipped FBI off to Manafort's storage locker.

[AmazonGrace]

The summit is going to be a disaster 

 

[Howl]

Excellent tweet-thread posted by Garry Kasparov. 

Crux posts from this thread to understand what will happen when Trump and Putin meet, but click on the tweet above to read the whole thing; it's an eye-opener. 

 

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[AmazonGrace]