White House will not confirm whether lawyer Michael Cohen still represents Trump
White House says Trump believes he has the power to fire Special Counsel Mueller
Asked if Pruitt would be in trouble if it were proven that he lied to Fox News, Sarah Sanders says, "The president would expect all members of his Cabinet to be honest and certainly open with the public."
Sanders wouldn't/couldn't explain how a properly-executed search of Cohens premises is an "attack on our country," won't say if Trump remains willing to talk w/Mueller - refers all further Qs to DoJ
Sanders says Trump and people "in the legal community" believe Trump has the power to fire Mueller. She suggests, though doesn't explicitly say, he believes he could fire Mueller himself, without getting Rosenstein to do so.
White House says encouraged by Chinese President Xi's words on trade but wants to see concrete actions
White House will not confirm whether lawyer Michael Cohen still represents Trump
as to this question, I think Cohen was out the minute the FBI raided his house...they were saying last night that it immediately created a conflict of interest. Now...did he resign? should he resign or quit? there's a lot of muddy water there....
He’s Sitting There Bitching and Moaning’’: Inside Trumpworld, Allies Fear the Boss Could Go Postal and Fire Mueller
Trump’s friends say the president is “dry tinder” awaiting a match. Meanwhile, his latest hires are already creating new management nightmares for John Kelly.
As a not-attorney, may I ask the attorneys here to go a little more in-depth on this? I've been googling because it seems like breaking privilege is just well-nigh impossible in most cases. And to do this for the attorney of a sitting president, no less. Am I right to assume that in order for a judge to sign the warrant: A) there is already *significant* evidence of extremely high-level crime and B) the evidence sought is merely confirmatory, not speculative?
Is the actual process to get a judge to sign off on a warrant for attorney-client documentation different from a standard warrant? What additional steps are involved?
This isn't my area of expertise, but from what I understand, to get a normal warrant, you only need to show probable cause, ie. that it's probably likely that the person has evidence pertaining to a crime. To search attorney-client communications, you need a lot more than "probably" and it probably helps to show that the info in the attorney's possession is not available anywhere else and is likely to be destroyed if it's not obtained ASAP.
So they probably had enough evidence to put him away for something. It would not surprise me if they also had evidence that his criminal conduct was ongoing.
The standard for a warrant for an attorney’s office is still probable cause. IMO what is more important is the layers of internal review that a warrant for a lawyer has to go through at DOJ. Generally to seek a warrant you just have to get your supervisor’s sign off after they review the affidavit (although precise policies and procedures can vary among US Attorneys offices). For an attorney, you have to get that AND approval from a special unit at Main Justice AND at least one high level approval like the US Attorney. Given the case and players, I would not be surprised if they got additional high level approvals just to make sure nothing was at all questionable. They knew what the fallout would be and everyone still was on board. IMO They would have been very unlikely to seek this warrant in this case unless they had a very solid basis given that fallout.
I just keep picturing the chaos at Patton Boggs or whatever it is called now, when the FBI rolled on it to execute the warrant. It would have been amazing to see it happen in real time.
Apparently, Cohen is no longer affiliated with the firm. LOL.
Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is examining a series of previously unreported meetings that took place in 2017 in the Seychelles, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, as part of its broader investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, according to two sources briefed on the investigation.
The sources said several of those meetings took place around the same time as another meeting in the Seychelles between Erik Prince, founder of the security company Blackwater, Kirill Dmitriev, the director of one of Russia's sovereign wealth funds, and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the effective ruler of the United Arab Emirates (also known as "MBZ"). Details of that earlier meeting were first reported by the Washington Post last year.
The sources requested to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
The inquiry into the meetings in the Seychelles suggests there is growing interest on the Mueller team in whether foreign financing, specifically from Gulf states, has influenced President Trump and his administration.
As a not-attorney, may I ask the attorneys here to go a little more in-depth on this? I've been googling because it seems like breaking privilege is just well-nigh impossible in most cases. And to do this for the attorney of a sitting president, no less. Am I right to assume that in order for a judge to sign the warrant: A) there is already *significant* evidence of extremely high-level crime and B) the evidence sought is merely confirmatory, not speculative?
Is the actual process to get a judge to sign off on a warrant for attorney-client documentation different from a standard warrant? What additional steps are involved?
This isn't my area of expertise, but from what I understand, to get a normal warrant, you only need to show probable cause, ie. that it's probably likely that the person has evidence pertaining to a crime. To search attorney-client communications, you need a lot more than "probably" and it probably helps to show that the info in the attorney's possession is not available anywhere else and is likely to be destroyed if it's not obtained ASAP.
So they probably had enough evidence to put him away for something. It would not surprise me if they also had evidence that his criminal conduct was ongoing.
Right. You need a high burden of prove that a crime has been committed, the only way to "prove" is with those confidential documents and that there is a high level of non- compliance or potential destruction of documents if so requested or subpoenaed by the DA. This just a summary.
They got something and if they are requesting those documents that puts Trump right in the middle. Remember the requested documents are between Trump and Cohen. 10 bucks one of the documents shows Trump was aware or requested Cohen to pay off Stormy which he just denied publicly on the plane last week. That will probably be the first thing that comes out. Drip, Drip, drip.
I am truly concerned by the upcoming lashing of Trump and what he will do as a distraction. Fuck many.
I also hope Pence and Ryan go down. Who is after Ryan for President?
As a sharply partisan Republican member of Congress, CIA Director Mike Pompeo tormented former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over her response to the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, which Pompeo called “morally reprehensible.” He also once liked a tweet that branded her successor, John Kerry, a “traitor.”
But now that Pompeo faces a tough confirmation process to become secretary of state himself, he has reached out to Clinton and Kerry, as well as every other living occupant of the office, to ask for guidance. Clinton, for one, has been willing to help.
As a sharply partisan Republican member of Congress, CIA Director Mike Pompeo tormented former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over her response to the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, which Pompeo called “morally reprehensible.” He also once liked a tweet that branded her successor, John Kerry, a “traitor.”
But now that Pompeo faces a tough confirmation process to become secretary of state himself, he has reached out to Clinton and Kerry, as well as every other living occupant of the office, to ask for guidance. Clinton, for one, has been willing to help.
Post by WanderingWinoZ on Apr 10, 2018 15:41:04 GMT -5
have we ever confirmed that Trump uses email or text messages? We know he can barely operate twitter.... Is there likely to be this "smoking gun" that implicates Trump in this evidence? Or is it more like: bodyguard email to Cohen that says Trump want you to take care of Stormy or Cohen emailing/texting with others about hush money or threats??
Federal probe into Trump’s lawyer seeks records about two women who alleged affairs with the president
Federal prosecutors investigating President Trump’s personal attorney, Michael D. Cohen, are seeking records related to two women who received payments in 2016 after alleging affairs with Trump years ago — adult-film star Stormy Daniels and ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal, according to a person familiar with the matter.
As a sharply partisan Republican member of Congress, CIA Director Mike Pompeo tormented former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over her response to the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, which Pompeo called “morally reprehensible.” He also once liked a tweet that branded her successor, John Kerry, a “traitor.”
But now that Pompeo faces a tough confirmation process to become secretary of state himself, he has reached out to Clinton and Kerry, as well as every other living occupant of the office, to ask for guidance. Clinton, for one, has been willing to help.
She is a better person than I am.
And I have to say I am glad of that. She's putting country ahead of feelings towards vile assholes.
God, it must have taken all her strength not to be all "New phone. Who's this?"
As a sharply partisan Republican member of Congress, CIA Director Mike Pompeo tormented former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over her response to the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, which Pompeo called “morally reprehensible.” He also once liked a tweet that branded her successor, John Kerry, a “traitor.”
But now that Pompeo faces a tough confirmation process to become secretary of state himself, he has reached out to Clinton and Kerry, as well as every other living occupant of the office, to ask for guidance. Clinton, for one, has been willing to help.
She is a better person than I am.
And I have to say I am glad of that. She's putting country ahead of feelings towards vile assholes.
This isn't my area of expertise, but from what I understand, to get a normal warrant, you only need to show probable cause, ie. that it's probably likely that the person has evidence pertaining to a crime. To search attorney-client communications, you need a lot more than "probably" and it probably helps to show that the info in the attorney's possession is not available anywhere else and is likely to be destroyed if it's not obtained ASAP.
So they probably had enough evidence to put him away for something. It would not surprise me if they also had evidence that his criminal conduct was ongoing.
Right. You need a high burden of prove that a crime has been committed, the only way to "prove" is with those confidential documents and that there is a high level of non- compliance or potential destruction of documents if so requested or subpoenaed by the DA. This just a summary.
They got something and if they are requesting those documents that puts Trump right in the middle. Remember the requested documents are between Trump and Cohen. 10 bucks one of the documents shows Trump was aware or requested Cohen to pay off Stormy which he just denied publicly on the plane last week. That will probably be the first thing that comes out. Drip, Drip, drip.
I am truly concerned by the upcoming lashing of Trump and what he will do as a distraction. Fuck many.
I also hope Pence and Ryan go down. Who is after Ryan for President?
Orrin Hatch as President Pro Tempore of the Senate. No better imo. Then Secretary of State (who the fuck is our current SoS anyway? lol.), then Secretary of the Treasury. President Mnuchin? Hellno. First Lady Louise Linton? Then we have SecDef Mattis, AG (The Keebler Elf), Interior (Zinke), Agriculture (Purdue), Commerce (Wilbuuuuur Ross), Labor (Alex Acosta), HHS (Alex Azar), HUD (Dr. Poverbs), Transportation (Chao is ineligible because she's naturalized but normally this would be next), Energy (Perry), Education (or lacka - DeVox), VA (Robert Wilkie), Homeland Security (Kjiersten Nielsen)
I wanted to type it all out because OMG, how many do we have to arrest or kill off to get someone that's not totally horrible or terrifying? Anybody know who comes after Homeland Security?
ETA: My fingers cringed at typing out that list. And then reading it. And re-reading it.
Right. You need a high burden of prove that a crime has been committed, the only way to "prove" is with those confidential documents and that there is a high level of non- compliance or potential destruction of documents if so requested or subpoenaed by the DA. This just a summary.
They got something and if they are requesting those documents that puts Trump right in the middle. Remember the requested documents are between Trump and Cohen. 10 bucks one of the documents shows Trump was aware or requested Cohen to pay off Stormy which he just denied publicly on the plane last week. That will probably be the first thing that comes out. Drip, Drip, drip.
I am truly concerned by the upcoming lashing of Trump and what he will do as a distraction. Fuck many.
I also hope Pence and Ryan go down. Who is after Ryan for President?
Orrin Hatch as President Pro Tempore of the Senate. No better imo. Then Secretary of State (who the fuck is our current SoS anyway? lol.), then Secretary of the Treasury. President Mnuchin? Hellno. First Lady Louise Linton? Then we have SecDef Mattis, AG (The Keebler Elf), Interior (Zinke), Agriculture (Purdue), Commerce (Wilbuuuuur Ross), Labor (Alex Acosta), HHS (Alex Azar), HUD (Dr. Poverbs), Transportation (Chao is ineligible because she's naturalized but normally this would be next), Energy (Perry), Education (or lacka - DeVox), VA (Robert Wilkie), Homeland Security (Kjiersten Nielsen)
I wanted to type it all out because OMG, how many do we have to arrest or kill off to get someone that's not totally horrible or terrifying? Anybody know who comes after Homeland Security?
ETA: My fingers cringed at typing out that list. And then reading it. And re-reading it.
Typing that out is scary as shit. We are major fucked. Right?
Orrin Hatch as President Pro Tempore of the Senate. No better imo. Then Secretary of State (who the fuck is our current SoS anyway? lol.), then Secretary of the Treasury. President Mnuchin? Hellno. First Lady Louise Linton? Then we have SecDef Mattis, AG (The Keebler Elf), Interior (Zinke), Agriculture (Purdue), Commerce (Wilbuuuuur Ross), Labor (Alex Acosta), HHS (Alex Azar), HUD (Dr. Poverbs), Transportation (Chao is ineligible because she's naturalized but normally this would be next), Energy (Perry), Education (or lacka - DeVox), VA (Robert Wilkie), Homeland Security (Kjiersten Nielsen)
I wanted to type it all out because OMG, how many do we have to arrest or kill off to get someone that's not totally horrible or terrifying? Anybody know who comes after Homeland Security?
ETA: My fingers cringed at typing out that list. And then reading it. And re-reading it.
Typing that out is scary as shit. We are major fucked. Right?
Unless we take the House and Senate and this happens in 2019. That would make the D Speaker of the House President .
Point being Nov. 2018 is going to be very important
Right. You need a high burden of prove that a crime has been committed, the only way to "prove" is with those confidential documents and that there is a high level of non- compliance or potential destruction of documents if so requested or subpoenaed by the DA. This just a summary.
They got something and if they are requesting those documents that puts Trump right in the middle. Remember the requested documents are between Trump and Cohen. 10 bucks one of the documents shows Trump was aware or requested Cohen to pay off Stormy which he just denied publicly on the plane last week. That will probably be the first thing that comes out. Drip, Drip, drip.
I am truly concerned by the upcoming lashing of Trump and what he will do as a distraction. Fuck many.
I also hope Pence and Ryan go down. Who is after Ryan for President?
Orrin Hatch as President Pro Tempore of the Senate. No better imo. Then Secretary of State (who the fuck is our current SoS anyway? lol.), then Secretary of the Treasury. President Mnuchin? Hellno. First Lady Louise Linton? Then we have SecDef Mattis, AG (The Keebler Elf), Interior (Zinke), Agriculture (Purdue), Commerce (Wilbuuuuur Ross), Labor (Alex Acosta), HHS (Alex Azar), HUD (Dr. Poverbs), Transportation (Chao is ineligible because she's naturalized but normally this would be next), Energy (Perry), Education (or lacka - DeVox), VA (Robert Wilkie), Homeland Security (Kjiersten Nielsen)
I wanted to type it all out because OMG, how many do we have to arrest or kill off to get someone that's not totally horrible or terrifying? Anybody know who comes after Homeland Security?
ETA: My fingers cringed at typing out that list. And then reading it. And re-reading it.
So we almost want it to go into midterms in hopes of a blue wave so that a democrat is Speaker and gets it. Except the amount of irreparable damage that could be done in the meantime.
Orrin Hatch as President Pro Tempore of the Senate. No better imo. Then Secretary of State (who the fuck is our current SoS anyway? lol.), then Secretary of the Treasury. President Mnuchin? Hellno. First Lady Louise Linton? Then we have SecDef Mattis, AG (The Keebler Elf), Interior (Zinke), Agriculture (Purdue), Commerce (Wilbuuuuur Ross), Labor (Alex Acosta), HHS (Alex Azar), HUD (Dr. Poverbs), Transportation (Chao is ineligible because she's naturalized but normally this would be next), Energy (Perry), Education (or lacka - DeVox), VA (Robert Wilkie), Homeland Security (Kjiersten Nielsen)
The concluding paragraph is especially comforting:
"One former adviser said that people had become conditioned to wait until Mr. Trump had raised an issue at least three times before acting on it. The president’s diatribes about Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Mr. Rosenstein and the existence of the special counsel have, for most of the White House aides, become a dependable part of the fabric of life working for this president."
Post by Miss Phryne Fisher on Apr 10, 2018 18:25:36 GMT -5
I know. Lets go with the Spiro Agnew option. Pence resigns in disgrace for...reasons? Trump (big petty-as-fuck baby), because Paul Ryan didn't support him or say he liked his tie or some shit, chooses Hillary Clinton to be his replacement. Or Barack Obama (even better). Hell, even fucking Bernard. Jesse Ventura would even be better qualified, and I hate that guy. Then he immediately resigns to avoid jail time. Goes to live in Russia while his children are led away in handcuffs. Russia bans Twitter. We all win.
I know, I know. Just let me have my fantasy. That list is going to give me nightmares.
I know. Lets go with the Spiro Agnew option. Pence resigns in disgrace for...reasons? Trump (big petty-as-fuck baby), because Paul Ryan didn't support him or say he liked his tie or some shit, chooses Hillary Clinton to be his replacement. Or Barack Obama (even better). Hell, even fucking Bernard. Jesse Ventura would even be better qualified, and I hate that guy. Then he immediately resigns to avoid jail time. Goes to live in Russia while his children are led away in handcuffs. Russia bans Twitter. We all win.
I know, I know. Just let me have my fantasy. That list is going to give me nightmares.
I like this better than the "who do we hope is the designated survivor?" Because with this list I don't hold a lot of hope for a Kiefer Sutherland rescue.
Post by seeyalater52 on Apr 10, 2018 19:28:17 GMT -5
Well, fuck. Just got an email with the text of a new executive order directing federal agencies to report to the president current work requirements for public assistance programs and how they can be strengthened to prevent “able bodied adults” who aren’t working from receiving benefits.
Post by seeyalater52 on Apr 10, 2018 19:33:08 GMT -5
I mean I guess the one small silver lining is that I thought the email was going to be notice that the public charge rule finally dropped, and it wasn’t?
Well, fuck. Just got an email with the text of a new executive order directing federal agencies to report to the president current work requirements for public assistance programs and how they can be strengthened to prevent “able bodied adults” who aren’t working from receiving benefits.
Goody. There goes my fucking evening.
Ugh, gross. A question, when they refer to "able bodied adults" does that include mental illness/ intellectual disabilities as well, or only physical disabilities? I have many patients in that category and I wonder how this would affect them.
Can someone explain to me McConnell’s refusal to act on a bill that would prevent Trump from firing Mueller. His excuse is that he doesn’t think Mueller is in trouble, but if he’s clean and as committed to the country as he says, what harm does it do? What’s he afraid of?