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?
https://twitter.com/JoshuaHol/status/925028467753832448
So, I have to make this short but post and celebrate away!!!
Comments
35 responses to “Mueller Monday: We have Frog Marches!!!”
http://thelensnola.org/2017/10/30/how-airbnb-is-pushing-locals-out-of-new-orleans-coolest-neighborhoods/
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.
https://twitter.com/ericgarland/status/924791634532929537
“However he doesn’t hold a grudge against anyone”……bwahahahaha
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.
That had to be the case. The Patriot Act lets them do that if you’re in cahoots with a hostile foreign government.
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.
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.
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!
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Here’s the indictment:
https://static01.nyt.com/packages/pdf/politics/2017/statement_of_the_offense.filed_.pdf
Waiting eagerly for Sessions to get hauled off….
Oh yeah!!!
https://twitter.com/ericgarland/status/925057310585745409
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Click on the small print to read more on Twitter.
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
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.
In which case we’ll have the most wonderful New Year!
Waiting is such hard work.
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.
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.
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.
Something else for Trump to melt down about:
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
LOL. Another tantrum going on in the WH!
New holiday!! #Arrestivus for the best of US
“Arrestivus” – {snort} Good one Dak…
I hadn’t seen this! Yay!
https://twitter.com/womensart1/status/924902605582716928
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!
Yes, and show us when you do!
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.
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
Bail is $5 million for Gates, $10M for Manafort. Gates only has a public defender.
They can’t leave their homes except to go to court. Wow.
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.