Trump sued me for libel in 2006 for a biography I wrote, "TrumpNation," alleging that the book misrepresented his business record and understated his wealth. Trump lost the suit in 2011, but during the litigation my lawyers deposed him under oath for two days in 2007. We had the opportunity to ask Trump about his business and banking practices, his taxes, his personal finances and his professional relationships.
Trump's attorney then was Marc Kasowitz, who also briefly represented the president when the Justice Department investigation first got rolling in Washington. My attorney was Mary Jo White, a former federal prosecutor steeped in many of the same legal traditions and courtroom experiences as Mueller. It didn't go well for the future president.
Hammered by White and her deputies, Trump ultimately had to admit 30 times that he had lied over the years about all sorts of stuff: how much of a big Manhattan real estate project he owned; the price of one of his golf club memberships; the size of the Trump Organization; his wealth; his speaking fees; how many condos he had sold; his debts, and whether he borrowed money from his family to avoid going personally bankrupt. He also lied during the deposition about his business dealings with career criminals.
Trump's poor performance stemmed in part from the fact that he was being interrogated by shrewd attorneys wielding his own business and financial records against him. But there were lots of other things that went wrong as well.
Trump is impatient and has never been an avid or dedicated reader. That’s OK if you’d rather play golf, but it’s not OK when you need to absorb abundant or complex details. Lawyers typically prepare binders full of documents for their clients to pore over prior to a deposition, hoping to steel them for an intense grilling. My lawyers did that prior to my own deposition in the Trump lawsuit. But Trump didn’t appear to be well prepared when we deposed him, a weakness that my lawyers exploited (and that Mueller surely would as well).
This is why Trump's lawyers, and friends are in a panic over Trump suggesting that he is "looking forward" to being interviewed by Robert Mueller.
It would appear that Trump's overwhelming arrogance and exaggerated confidence in his own intellect have convinced him that he is Mueller's equal.
That is clearly not true.
And I can hardly wait to see what happens when Trump comes to that realization as well.
Because guaranteed it will either be during, or immediately after his interview.
Pre-post update: About an hour before this was to post I learned that Trump's attorney John Dowd is now saying that, despite what Trump may have said, no decision has yet been reached on whether he will voluntarily agree to an interview.
Sounds like the lawyers are perfectly aware that once Trump sits down with Mueller it is game over.
We are DEFINITELY going to need more popcorn.
Trump will use the "tax return" defense, in that case, the IRS is continually auditing him, so he can't release them. In the case of Mueller he will say "I wanted to do it, but my attorney's wont' let me". Think Curly of the Three Stooges, "let me at 'em".
ReplyDeleteIf Trump refuses to meet under oath for questioning by Mueller and his team, Mueller has one card left to play.
DeleteHe will then subpoena Trump and will force him to appear in front of a grand jury for questioning.
Either way, Trump is in really big trouble legally, and most likely for obstruction of justice, especially as Mueller has copies of all the memos FBI director Comey kept from before he was fired.
Even if Mueller has 100% proof of obstruction or conspiracy with Russians, I'm betting Paul Ryan will drag his feet for at least another year.
Republicans don't give a damn about Trump's crime, if they can get at least one more Supreme court Justics, and try to gut Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security
Mueller already has Donald's tax returns.
DeleteWhen Drumpf says he's looking forward to testifying under oath before special counsel Robert Mueller, surely you don't need Google Translate to tell you he means "he will never, ever. ever, never, ever, never testify under oath because he will never, ever. ever, never, ever, never testify at all".
ReplyDeleteI'll bet you a brand new shiny Bobby Jindal commemorative New Orleans public transit token Drumpf'll say he WANTS to testify more than anything in the world, but those gosh dern lawyers of his won't let him.
Word!
If or when he is charged with crimes Trump will have to speak under oath.
DeleteThe interview currently being considered precedes any possible charges by a bigly amount. Mueller can't file charges.
DeleteSOME people say Mueller will ultimately present a plausible case for collusions and/or obstruction and maybe some money laundering to sweeten the pot. The Drumpfified GOP will thank Mueller for his service, file his report away under 'Basura' and get on with the important work of turning this country into an isolated, mean-spirited, hard right wing authoritarian theocracy.
And then they'll convene a blue ribbon investigation into the Clinton's Whitewater Land Deal scandal which many leading insane conservatives believe wasn't thoroughly investigated in the 90's or 00's.
#covfefe
@ 5:58
DeleteBULL! He can NOT be forced to testify against himself, so all he has to do is refuse to testify if a criminal case is brought against him..
Leland.
DeleteActually I think he can be compelled to testify, he just can't be compelled to answer.
The question is, is Trump smart enough to take the 5th every time he is asked a question? I'm thinking he might be able to keep it up for a while, but his ego will get in the way and eventually he will want to explain or defend himself.
That is when Mueller will get him.
But, to what end? Ryan won't allow the House to impeach Trump so Mueller can't do anything while Trump is president.
Now, should the Democrats take the House and the Senate in 2018, that's a whole other ballgame.
'When mouth-breathers like Hannity and Pirro throw this stuff up on television, it doesn’t surprise me. But when you’ve got people like Mark Meadows, United States senators like Ron Johnson, who should know better, perpetuating this idea as Sen. Johnson said, that there’s corruption at the top of the FBI based on a memo that, having read it, you would hope that whoever wrote that was a couple of whiskeys into the bag. That memo, of course, being based on intelligence that none of these people have reviewed, it’s astonishing. What they’ve done is traded their integrity, senators and congressmen have traded their integrity and historical legacy for a momentary sugar high of supporting a president who would not support them in any instance whatsoever. It’s astonishing to watch.'
ReplyDeletehttp://www.politicususa.com/2018/01/25/dem-congressman-says-gop-colleagues-mustve-drunk-writing-phony-fbi-memo.html
http://www.politicususa.com/2018/01/25/ari-melber-great-point-trumps-ego-will-lead-demise.html
"rump, he’s calling the shots.”"
Before every meeting in Davos, Trump asking every world leader to say "3 or 4 things they love about him" & refusing to start until they do.
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/RogueSNRadvisor/status/956653801309577216
Didn't he arrive a few days late? CBC has been reporting the deals Trudeau's has been making for Canada for a few days already,did traitor trump think they were all going to wait for him?
Delete6:01: yes, he arrived the day before the last day of the meeting. Just like a TV diva who would arrive ate in order to have the most attention.
DeleteAlso: I believe the tweet is satire. Nobody in the world except our a$$-licking GOP Congress and his closest 'advisors' would do something like that. The others would just laugh at him and mock him. Openly.
The NY Times is saying that Trump wanted Mueller fired last June but Don McGahn threatened to quit, In a few minutes Rachel will breathlessly PhDsplain the implications of this while waving her arms around, blinking nonstop and giggling like she's getting ready for a date with a lesbian Playboy playmate.
ReplyDeleteTHAT^all sounds GOOD to me, you go girl!
Delete4:54
DeleteYour characterizations are typical of RTW fools like you. They have nothing to do with reality because reality eludes you. Poor dimbulb.
@4:54 - You aren't describing RM. You are giving the shit in your head a voice. Because, face it, that is all there is.
DeleteDr. Rachel Maddow is the very best journalist out there. She runs circles around everyone else. Smart, factual and has a terrific sense of humor.
DeleteDon't miss her folks - you'll learn something that is for sure. Facts and history!!
Some one envious of RM.
DeleteCommenter is too stooopid to get DR. RM's content, let alone her humor.
Delete"President Donald Trump told White House council Don McGahn to fire Robert Mueller — but McGahn said he’d quit."
ReplyDeleteIf there was such a thing as Deep State or Secret Society, Trump would be a rotting corpse by now.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the NY FBI office and Giuliani plotting against Hillary.
DeleteTick fuckin' tock. Pound sand all you traitors.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.volkskrant.nl/media/dutch-agencies-provide-crucial-intel-about-russia-s-interference-in-us-elections~a4561913/amp
Thank God for Allies.
GeorgiaPeach
Of course he isn't going to voluntarily testify, the only people that believe that are his moronic supporters.
ReplyDeleteHow long will it take for his attorneys to teach him : i take the fifth.
They'll never teach him.
DeleteHe can do it for a while, but his ego will eventually trip him up. He'll forget, get bored or want to explain or defend himself. That's when Mueller will have him.
But so what? Unless Paul Ryan is willing to impeach him, we'll have to wait until the Democrats control both House and Senate.
THIS is what the Trump era has brought out of the sewers.
ReplyDeleteRepublican candidate for Senate from Missouri, Courtland Sykes, was asked about his views on women's rights.
He posted a statement on Facebook that included hopes for the daughters he plans to have someday (assuming his girlfriend isn't too busy making sure he can “come home to a home cooked dinner every night at six”).
He said he doesn't want them to become “career obsessed banshees who forgo home life and children and the happiness of family to become nail-biting manophobic hell-bent feminist she devils who shriek from the top of a thousand tall buildings they are [SIC] think they could have leaped in a single bound — had men not been ‘suppressing them.’ It’s just nuts.”
He sounds nice.
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/01/gop-senate-candidate-flips-womens-rights-want-come-home-cooked-dinner-every-night/
I hope there is a woman running against him that will win.
DeleteFalse Flag~all Doomed!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.buzzfeed.com/mbvd/the-hawaii-employee-who-sent-the-false-missile-alert-is?utm_term=.erKzKoAgb#.oleAEWe3o
"A facsimile of what the operator saw at work was released by Hawaii's Emergency Management Agency, showing that the employee used a button on a drop-down menu with about five options to accidentally send the message. The employee clicked a link titled "PACOM (CDW)," instead of the correct "DRILL-PACOM (DEMO)."
He also had to confirm his choice before sending it, according to agency officials.
While the investigation is underway, the employee was reassigned within Hawaii's emergency operations center and does not have access to the warning system, Rapoza told BuzzFeed News after the incident.
The employee has received "dozens of death threats," Hawaii Emergency Management Agency Executive Director Toby Clairmont told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser last week. Threats have also been made against the employee's family.
But Clairmont also suggested that the incident could be more than just a case of someone pressing the wrong button, telling the Star-Advertiser that "it's not as easy saying it was one person doing this."
A total of four people were on duty that Saturday morning, he said, and the employee who sent the alert is both a 10-year veteran of the agency and
"very well-trained and seasoned.""
http://www.politicususa.com/2018/01/25/house-republican-predicts-democrats-will-win-house-impeach-trump-year.html
ReplyDeleteBailing...Chum
'Republicans were in a rush to pass their tax cuts for the rich bill because they know what’s coming. '
White House Spent Months Denying That Trump Considered Firing Mueller
ReplyDeleteBut The New York Times reports that Trump tried to fire the special counsel in June.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/white-house-denials-trump-mueller-firing_us_5a6a8f2fe4b01fbbefb06191
http://www.politicususa.com/2018/01/25/lawrence-odonnell-can-barely-contain-joy-describes-mueller-knowing-trump-tried-fire.html
http://www.politicususa.com/2018/01/25/rachel-maddow-ridicules-trump-trying-fire-mueller-golf-dispute.html
http://www.politicususa.com/2018/01/25/trump-tried-robert-mueller-fired-last-summer.html
https://www.inquisitr.com/4755396/as-gop-fbi-secret-society-conspiracy-theory-crumbles-republican-congressmen-become-twitter-punchlines/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+google%2FyDYq+%28The+Inquisitr+-+News%29&utm_content=Yahoo+Search+Results
ReplyDelete"When Donald Trump asked New York’s Guggenheim Museum if he could borrow a Van Gogh to place in the private living quarters of the White House, museum officials said no.
ReplyDeleteHowever, they did offer a fitting alternative: A solid gold toilet.
The Washington Post reported that the bizarre offer came up because White House decorators had hoped to cheer up the private living areas by displaying “Landscape With Snow,” an 1888 oil painting by Van Gogh.
This isn’t unusual. Other presidents have decorated their private spaces with classic works of art borrowed from great museum collections.
What is unusual is how museum curator Nancy Spector responded to the request.
First, she told the decorators that the painting is “prohibited from travel except for the rarest of occasions,” but was on its way to be exhibited at the Guggenheim’s museum in Bilbao, Spain.
Then after being exhibited, there, the plan was to return it to New York “for the foreseeable future.”
But Spector did offer an alternative she considered suitable: An interactive work titled “America” that is basically an 18-karat, fully functioning, solid gold toilet."
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-guggenheim-gold-toilet_us_5a6a4182e4b01fbbefb013a7?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
"The generous offer was made in September, but the Trump White House has yet to respond to it or to media inquiries about it.
The work is the creation of contemporary artist Maurizio Cattelan, and satirizes America’s love of excess wealth."
Trump tried to fire Mueller in June.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-tried-firing-robert-mueller-report_us_5a6a820ee4b0ddb658c508ad?section=us_politics
The White House spent months denying it.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/white-house-denials-trump-mueller-firing_us_5a6a8f2fe4b01fbbefb06191?section=us_politics
Sean Hannity had to take it back in the middle of his show.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sean-hannity-reality-check-live-tv_us_5a6aad11e4b01fbbefb06a85?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
"Earlier in his show, Hannity blasted a report that said President Donald Trump had tried to fire special counsel Robert Mueller last year and accused the Times of “trying to distract you.”
“Our sources, and I’ve checked in with many of them, they’re not confirming that tonight,” he said. “And how many times has the New York Times and others gotten it wrong?”
By the end of the show, he was forced to admit that Fox News had confirmed the Times report.
His response?
First he said the president has the right to “raise those questions” about conflicts of interest without actually addressing Trump’s reported attempt to fire Mueller, promising to deal with it tomorrow.
Then, the man who had earlier in the show accused the Times of distraction quickly switched to footage of a police chase and car crash. "
Letter to Donald Trump,
ReplyDeleteI am 42 years old. I've voted democrat in all but 1 election in my lifetime thus far. I own a gun. I am vegan for health reasons. My husband's job is classified as blue collar. We belong to a country club. Our 4 kids have a mixtures of solid careers, with 2 choosing against matriculating at a 4-year university.
I feel I am a good mixture of stereotypes of both parties.
Last week, I began twice-weekly therapy sessions for personal maintenance. I have never pursued therapeutic services before now.
I am writing this to say every human on earth could benefit from therapy and it is not a sign of weakness. I know you feel like you're perfect already, but I, along with many others, beg of you: consider it.
It's never too late. We won't judge you or hate on you for it. WE ARE BEGGING YOU.
Nice try, Ma'am, but I have to say Humpty Trumpty could not possibly consider your request because he is too far gone into his own world of delusion. I would be willing to bet he won't consider there is anything wrong with him even after he is convicted of all sorts of crimes - assuming Ryan allows Mueller's report to be even read.
DeleteTrump is incapable of self-reflection.
DeleteWithout it, therapy would be useless.
Congratulations to you and yours.
But Trump is, will be and always has been a lost cause.
Glad yes men are turning evidence everyday.
ReplyDeleteYep, getting notice by FBI bank account locks, suveillenced, ... hard to deal with a little less freedom while the one they are covering is stupid as sh@t sitting talking about press in another country...
He who must not be named just sounds like a retard...
His lawyers have already tried and failed at the written responses.
ReplyDeleteNow they are probably grilling him on how to take the 5th. (No Donald, you're not going to be forced to drink alcohol. It's one of the amendments. To the Constitution.)
They are *really* going to try to exempt Donald from taking any sort of oath, not that that will save him. If he lies, he's toast.
Problem is that the dullard doesn't recognize his own lies. He believes everything he says, even when given evidence to the contrary.
He'll never be able to read any prep material given to him because he doesn't have the comprehension or reading levels to understand, let alone retain it.
He has really poor retention. He can't remember squat about anything that isn't important to him and so much just isn't important to him. They should ask him when his birthday is. He'll probably get that wrong too.
While I'm sure his lawyers will try everything they can to get him to refuse to testify, Dotard's own ego will do him in. He'll insist he'll do it because he said he would. He won't prepare, not that he can. In the end he'll commit perjury with lies on top of lies. He's toast.
Mueller wouldn't even be requesting this unless he had ALL of his ducks lined up neatly waiting for the beheading.
My only question is, what's the point? Ryan and the House aren't going to impeach him no matter what the outcome. Neither will McConnell and if forced, all of the Republicans will band together to protect their puppet criminal.
Mueller can investigate and he can provide all the evidence he wants but he can't actually do anything. As long as Twitler is in the White House.
Now on the state level, that is an entirely different thing if they can get him for money laundering or something.
But I don't think Mueller has the power to indict a sitting president. That's for Congress. And we know how likely it is that *this* Congress does anything.
So, boys and girls, better get those Democratic majorities in both the House and the Senate or all Mueller has done is provide a delicious sideshow and gotten the nation's hopes up.
An investigation to nowhere.