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Mueller Monday: We have Frog Marches!!!

Posted: October 30, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: morning reads |35 Comments

Good Morning from my mechanic’s waiting room were I am–naturally–waiting for the mighty mustang. It’s been collllldddd here–well for here–and she just didn’t turn over Thursday night. So, AAA put a new battery in on Friday. Still nothing. So, now we’re here.

Meanwhile,  those of you that had Manafort in Special Counsel Indictment have won!  But, wait! We have bonuses!

Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III on Monday revealed charges against three former Trump campaign officials — former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, his longtime business partner Rick Gates and former Trump foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos — marking the first criminal allegations to come from probes into possible Russian influence in U.S. political affairs.

Papadopoulos pleaded guilty earlier this month to making a false statement to FBI investigators who asked about his contacts with a foreigner connected to Russian officials, and the agreement was unsealed Monday. The foreigner was described as a London-based professor and Papadopoulos claimed the professor introduced him to Putin’s niece and the Russian ambassador in London, according to the indictment.

Manafort and Gates were charged in a 12-count indictment with conspiracy to launder money, making false statements and other charges stemming from probes into possible Russian influence in U.S. political affairs.

Manafort and Gates are expected to make their first court appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson at 1:30 p.m. The special counsel revealed Papadopoulos’s plea shortly after the indictment was unsealed. He has been cooperating with investigators for months, according to a court filing.

 

Well, this is getting interesting.

Paul Manafort was in the room when Donald Trump Jr. met with a Russian lawyer hoping for dirt on Hillary Clinton. One month later, he reportedly sent an email to a Russian billionaire offering private briefings on the campaign. Before he even signed on with Trump, the FBI was reportedly secretly monitoring his calls.

Why it matters: Now, he has surrendered to authorities and been charged with 12 counts in the first indictments of Robert Mueller’s Russia probe

So, he was in the room with the Trumplings.  I’d say we’ve got a few cooked gooses in the West Wing.  This is probably the most interesting thing from Matt Apuuzo at the NYT.

A professor with close ties to the Russian government told an adviser to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in April 2016 that Moscow had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails,” according to court documents unsealed Monday.

The adviser, George Papadopoulos, has pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about that conversation. The plea represents the most explicit evidence connecting the Trump campaign to the Russian government’s meddling in last year’s election.

Mr. Papadopoulos repeatedly tried to arrange a meeting between the Trump campaign and Russian government officials, court records show. Attempts to reach Mr. Papadopoulos were not successful.

The adviser, George Papadopoulos, has pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about that conversation. The plea represents the most explicit evidence connecting the Trump campaign to the Russian government’s meddling in last year’s election.

Mr. Papadopoulos repeatedly tried to arrange a meeting between the Trump campaign and Russian government officials, court records show. Attempts to reach Mr. Papadopoulos were not successful.

Let’s watch this again and again and again (h/t to BB).

https://twitter.com/AgentHades/status/924112609409875969

 

What’s next?

 

So, I have to make this short but post and celebrate away!!!

35 Comments on “Mueller Monday: We have Frog Marches!!!”

  1. dakinikat says:
    October 30, 2017 at 11:04 am

    http://thelensnola.org/2017/10/30/how-airbnb-is-pushing-locals-out-of-new-orleans-coolest-neighborhoods/

    Invariably, someone brings up the anatomically-shaped balloons.

    About a year ago, a bachelorette party from Texas rented a house through Airbnb on Ursulines Avenue in Treme, a residential neighborhood close to the bars and restaurants of the French Quarter.

    The women tied inflatables shaped like penises to the front of the house, perhaps not realizing that the neighbors ― families and other longtime residents ― might mind.

    “My oldest son woke up and there was an inflatable dildo taped to the house next door and I was like, ‘We’re out of here,’” said Christian Rhodes, a 36-year-old lawyer whose clients include the Greater New Orleans Hotel & Lodging Association and Uber.

    He sold his house last year. “I’m not explaining to a 6-year-old what an inflatable dildo is.”

    The balloon incident was when Janice Coatney realized her neighborhood had changed. She works at a nearby medical center and lives across the street from the house in question with her husband and teenage son.

    “Before Airbnb, you had neighbors you could depend on. They looked out for you. If you went out of town, they’d get your mail, your paper,” Coatney said, standing on her front stoop on a typically stifling day in August, an anti-Airbnb signed taped to her window. “You just had more of a neighborly neighborhood.”

    As if on cue, an Uber pulled up to a house across the street. A middle-aged passenger stepped from the vehicle and rolled his suitcase up to the front door, punched a code into a keypad and disappeared inside ― another temporary resident arriving at a short-term rental.

    • Enheduanna says:
      October 30, 2017 at 1:51 pm

      That’s heartbreaking in a lot of ways. What makes NOLA special is being driven out. It’s like my childhood hometown – it’s now nothing but high-rise timeshares blocking out the view of the ocean. The very thing that makes an island special.

  2. dakinikat says:
    October 30, 2017 at 11:10 am

  3. NW Luna says:
    October 30, 2017 at 11:39 am

    Before he even signed on with Trump, the FBI was reportedly secretly monitoring his calls.

    Fuuuuckkkkk. But Comey had to make a statement about Hillary in October last year.

    I’ll be looking forward to more perp walks, especially one with the Caligua Clown from the White House.

    • dakinikat says:
      October 30, 2017 at 11:42 am

      That had to be the case. The Patriot Act lets them do that if you’re in cahoots with a hostile foreign government.

      • NW Luna says:
        October 30, 2017 at 12:46 pm

        I meant I was still stewing that Comey felt the possibility of a few emails from Weiner being on Hillary’s server outweighed the reality of the Trump campaign mucking around with Russians to influence the election.

        • Enheduanna says:
          October 30, 2017 at 1:58 pm

          Comey violated the Hatch Act by doing what he did. His very reasoning for doing what he did is the definition of a violation. Pesky laws like that are only for the little people I guess.

  4. bostonboomer says:
    October 30, 2017 at 11:43 am

    This is huge! It’s so much more than I expected. In the Papadopoluos indictment, it says that he informed a senior member of Trump campaign in April, 2016 that Russia had hundreds of emails to share with them. That was before we knew the DNC and Podesta had been hacked.

    Papadopoulos was told to work with the Russians and even go to Russia for a meeting. Papadopoulos revealed his Russia connections in a meeting where Trump was present. Also present: Jeff Sessions! I’m going to put up some tweets with excerpts from the Papadopoulos indictment. He has been cooperating with Mueller since July!

  5. bostonboomer says:
    October 30, 2017 at 11:48 am

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  6. bostonboomer says:
    October 30, 2017 at 11:54 am

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    • Enheduanna says:
      October 30, 2017 at 12:42 pm

      The whole Papadopoulos story was completely off my radar and so is a big (and welcome) surprise.

      I knew these clowns were so inept they’d quickly get caught. I hope he’s out before New Year’s.

      • NW Luna says:
        October 30, 2017 at 12:48 pm

        In which case we’ll have the most wonderful New Year!

        Waiting is such hard work.

        • quixote says:
          October 30, 2017 at 3:12 pm

          A bit of gallows humor to help you wait:

          Once the Mango Moron is out, we get Not-My-President-Either-At-All-In-Any-Way Pence.

          If Mueller is clear on how much Pence (was he campaign chair before being veep-in-waiting?), CC and/or veep, has to have known and colluded with the rest of them, then

          We get Paul “ZOMG! Railroad those tax cuts through NOW” Ryan.

          The only two bits of really good news that could come out of this are 1) enough of the everything-is-fine voters decide it really is not and Congress totally turns over in 2018.

          And 2) the Dump’s decisions are declared illegitimate since he was an illegitimate Prez and Gorsuck is thrown out.

          But I’m betting there’s no way to fix any of the criminality since the Founding Dads apparently couldn’t conceive of a criminal takeover and we couldn’t possibly do anything they hadn’t thought of (except a criminal takeover).

          All that gloomy Slavic grumbling aside though, yes, it is nice to see some kind of halt being called to the avalanche of garbage.

          • NW Luna says:
            October 30, 2017 at 3:47 pm

            Manafort picked Pence. I sure hope Mueller’s got the dirt on Pence also. The only way I want this drawn out for another year is if Dems take the House in 2018.

      • dakinikat says:
        October 30, 2017 at 7:11 pm

        This most delightful thing is that he was out with a microphone chatted up people for quite a few months … this should prove quite interesting.

  7. bostonboomer says:
    October 30, 2017 at 11:56 am

    Something else for Trump to melt down about:

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  8. NW Luna says:
    October 30, 2017 at 12:17 pm

    • Enheduanna says:
      October 30, 2017 at 2:12 pm

      WOW! I will have to make this a daily stop. Fabulous! Now I know what to do with my huge collection of vintage crocheted potholders….lol

      Thank you for this link Luna!

  9. Pat Johnson says:
    October 30, 2017 at 12:34 pm

    Are we getting closer to actually seeing those “under audit” tax forms?

    This is where the Trump involvement comes to light. Shame on the Republican leadership for not demanding their release during the campaign.

    Money laundering is just the tip of the iceberg. Proceeds from lifting of those pesky sanctions would have saved a lot of their Russian debts.

    • joanelle says:
      October 30, 2017 at 5:20 pm

      No Pat, they should have demanded them before they accepted his candidacy, he was no more a republican than Bernie was a Democrat. Two goofballs were allowed to screw with our election

  10. bostonboomer says:
    October 30, 2017 at 1:27 pm

    Bail is $5 million for Gates, $10M for Manafort. Gates only has a public defender.

    • bostonboomer says:
      October 30, 2017 at 2:15 pm

      They can’t leave their homes except to go to court. Wow.

      • Enheduanna says:
        October 30, 2017 at 3:00 pm

        Is allowing them to be at home at all (plus avoid the whole “perp walk” scenario) one of the things in exchange for the goods on tRump? I hope so.

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