Trey "Benghazi" Gowdy just admitted that "Congress has proven itself incapable of conducting serious investigations.

Rep. Trey Gowdy, who chaired the House Select Committee on Benghazi, on @FaceTheNation: "Congress has proven itself incapable of conducting serious investigations." pic.twitter.com/Jw5odiMPkV

— Axios (@axios) April 1, 2018

I was thinking this might have been an April Fool's joke, but it appears he was serious.

I really do not like agreeing with Trey Gowdy on ANYTHING, but he is not wrong here.

Congress has wasted millions and millions of taxpayer dollars investigating Right Wing conspiracies, like the supposed IRS anti-conservative practices, Fast and Furious, Benghazi, and of course Hillary's e-mails.

None of those panned out, and in most cases were determined to be ridiculous by most people before the investigation was even launched.

So yes, Congress should simply get out of the investigation game and turn their attention to something they do well.

Just as soon as we determine what that might be.

So what is going on with Paul Manafort and Rick Gates? Well as it turns out quite a bit.

Courtesy of Politico:

Though it is a virtual given that Gates will sell out his business partner and Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, less understood is the direct threat Gates could pose to President Donald Trump.

While Gates now wears a GPS monitor around his ankle, in 2016 he wore a Secret Service lapel pin that gave him easy access to Trump on the campaign trail and at Trump Tower. 

“He saw everything,” said a Republican consultant who worked with Gates during the campaign. The consultant called Gates one of the “top five” insiders whom Mueller could have tapped as a cooperative government witness. One defense attorney in the case said Gates’ plea has triggered palpable alarm in Trump world.

Manafort may have struck a larger public profile, but Gates spent more time in Trump’s orbit. Manafort left the Trump campaign under a cloud of scandal in mid-August 2016. Gates, his right-hand man, stayed on through the election before assisting the Trump inauguration and Trump’s early presidency. 

Worst of all for the White House, Gates lacks hard-wired loyalty. He is not family, like Trump’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., or his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Nor is he among true Trump believers like Corey Lewandowski and Brad Parscale. 

“Let’s be honest, Don Jr. is not ratting out his dad. Gates is different,” said Paul Rosenzweig, who served as a senior counsel to Whitewater independent counsel Ken Starr.

Yeah, while we are all distracted by the Stormy Daniels' three ring circus, the truly damaging evidence to the Trump presidency might be filling the notebooks of Mueller's investigators as we speak.

As for Paul Manafort well he is still trying to get the case against him dismissed.

Courtesy of Axios:

Paul Manafort's legal team has filed a motion to dismiss the indictment, filed in Virginia, brought against him by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, which includes three charges for tax fraud from 2010 to 2014, failing to file reports from his foreign bank accounts, and bank fraud related to various property loans in the U.S.

This follows a nearly identical motion to dismiss his team filed on March 14, which dealt with the charges brought against him in D.C. 

Manafort's legal team argues that the charges do not “arise directly from” the Special Counsel’s investigation. His team argues that they cover things Manafort disclosed to the DOJ himself in 2014. They also write that Mueller's team acted outside of its authority, “without the discipline of limits on the public resources they consume," according to the document.

This will likely be just as unsuccessful as the last one, but it shows that Paul Manafort has a lot to hide and that he is desperate to keep it hidden from Mueller's team.

There is a lot of speculation as to what Manafort is guarding to aggressively, but there might have been a hint revealed just recently.

This new Mueller filing says Trump’s campaign chair *and* deputy campaign manager *knew* their associate was a former Russian intelligence officer. As they say in court, Um. https://t.co/oPyGU1Fnl7

— Ari Melber (@AriMelber) March 28, 2018

Well now, isn't THAT interesting?

Cambridge Analytica boss caught on camera offering to hire sex workers and offer bribes to compromise politicians.

Courtesy of Buzzfeed: 

The boss of Cambridge Analytica, the analytics firm at the centre of an international storm over the misuse of Facebook user data, has been caught on camera bragging about how the company could blackmail political candidates with sex workers, and telling a prospective client that it has been secretly operating around the world to campaign in elections. 

In an undercover operation by Britain's Channel 4 News, CEO Alexander Nix and two other high-ranking Cambridge Analytica staff took meetings with a reporter posing as a fixer who wanted the data firm's help getting candidates elected in Sri Lanka. 

On Monday evening, Channel 4 broadcast undercover footage from four meetings across three months, with Nix telling the reporter that one of the services of Cambridge Analytica could be to “send some girls around to the candidate’s house”, adding that Ukrainian girls “are very beautiful, I find that works very well”. 

Nix also told the undercover reporter: “We’ll offer a large amount of money to the candidate, to finance his campaign in exchange for land, for instance. We’ll have the whole thing recorded. We’ll blank out the face of our guy and we post it on the internet.”

Representatives of the company also offered to spread fake news about political opponents in order to help sway the elections.

Well gee, no wonder the Trump campaign wanted to work with these guys, they were singing the same tune.

This is what the whistle blower who outed the company's Facebook data mining operation said about this video:   

Wiley couldn’t speak as to how this relates to the firm’s work for the Trump campaign, but he went on to say “there is a perverse company culture inside of Cambridge Analytica, and as the undercover shows, they’re willing to go to extreme lengths to service their clients, and they’ll do anything that helps, whether it’s legal or not.”

Do we really believe that the Trump campaign did not utilize that skills set?

We also learned yesterday that before they started using their possibly illegal tactics to help Donald Trump, that Cambridge Analytica worked for Ted Cruz.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

Before they ran shady data operations for Donald Trump’s campaign, Cambridge Analytica worked for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) during his presidential bid. Now, the Texas Republican is under fire for hiring the group amid reports that they improperly used Facebook data. 

The Dallas Morning News reported Monday that the Cruz campaign kept Cambridge Analytica on retainer six months after initial reports of the firm using illicitly-sourced Facebook data surfaced in 2015 — a fact the Texas Democratic Party touted in a news release published on Monday. 

“Ted Cruz will stop at nothing to weasel his way into power, even if it means weaponizing stolen information to manipulate people to like him,” Manny Garcia, the deputy executive director of the Texas Democratic Party, said in a press release. “Cruz’s campaign exploited personal information to create psychological profiles on millions of Americans. All to keep lining the pockets of Cruz’s billionaire super PAC donors — like Robert Mercer, who funded this propaganda machine.”

Color me unsurprised that Cruz would resort to tactics like this, nice to see that it might end up biting him in the ass and costing him this election.

Oh, one more thing.

I appears that Cambridge Anaylytica currently has a contract with our State Department: 

Strategic Communications Laboratories, best known for its work with its offshoot and collaborator Cambridge Analytica, appears to have an open contract with the State Department. DefenseOne first noted the contract on a government contracts database, where it is listed as still open.

Well, I ma going to have to take a really hot shower after this post to get the sleaze off. 

Axios gets its hands on Robert Mueller's hit list, and it's a doozy.

Yep, I'm still coming.

Courtesy of Axios:  

What Mueller is asking for: Mueller is subpoenaing all communications — meaning emails, texts, handwritten notes, etc. — that this witness sent and received regarding the following people: 

1. Carter Page 
2. Corey Lewandowski 
3. Donald J. Trump 
4. Hope Hicks 
5. Keith Schiller 
6. Michael Cohen 
7. Paul Manafort 
8. Rick Gates 
9. Roger Stone 
10. Steve Bannon 

The subpoena asks for all communications from November 1, 2015, to the present. Notably, Trump announced his campaign for president five months earlier — on June 16, 2015.

Ga-damn! Mueller is definitely not fooling around.

Take a look at how many of those on this list are no longer workign in the White House, and how many never even made it that far.

And you KNOW that Mueller has already gained access to these records from Rick Gates, Steve Bannon, and Carter Page.

I heard on cable new this morning that it appears Mueller is approaching this much the same way he did while investigating organized crime families.

Seems appropriate.

By the way it is clearly getting to Trump, who tweeted this out this morning.

Why did the Obama Administration start an investigation into the Trump Campaign (with zero proof of wrongdoing) long before the Election in November? Wanted to discredit so Crooked H would win. Unprecedented. Bigger than Watergate! Plus, Obama did NOTHING about Russian meddling.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 5, 2018

Not only is that completely inaccurate but it also indicates that Trump is freaking the hell out.

Donald Trump would like his personal pilot to head the FAA. Why? Because he's his personal pilot, that's why.

Courtesy of Axios: 

The president’s personal pilot is on the administration's short list to head the Federal Aviation Administration. Trump has told a host of administration officials and associates that he wants John Dunkin — his longtime personal pilot, who flew him around the country on Trump Force One during the campaign — to helm the agency, which has a budget in the billions and which oversees all civil aviation in the United States. 

What I'm hearing: One industry insider equated this to the Seinfeld episode when Cosmo Kramer used his golf caddy as a jury consultant. A senior administration official told me that comparison is completely unfair. The source confirmed Trump recommended Dunkin and that he’s sat for an interview for the post. That source said he was impressive. 

“He’s on the list because he's the president’s pilot, but if he gets the job it won't be because he's the president's pilot,” the source said. 

In response to my questions for this story, another administration source stressed that while no decision has been made, Dunkin has the appropriate experience to get the job. 

“John Dunkin isn’t just a pilot," the administration official told me. "He’s managed airline and corporate flight departments, certified airlines from start-up under FAA regulations, and oversaw the Trump presidential campaign’s air fleet, which included managing all aviation transportation for travel to 203 cities in 43 states over the course of 21 months.”

You know it is typical for presidents to hand out some cushy jobs to their friends and supporters.

But typically these are relegated to ambassadorships in some faraway land that nobody really cares about.

They are NOT given jobs that are as vitally important as heading up the FAA.

Next up expect Trump to appoint his landscaper to head the Parks and Recreation Department.

So wait, WHAT almost happened with the nuclear football?

Courtesy of Axios:  

On Thursday Nov. 9, when President Trump and his team visited Beijing's Great Hall of the People, Chief of Staff John Kelly and a U.S. Secret Service agent skirmished with Chinese security officials over the nuclear football. 

I've spoken to five sources familiar with the events. Here's what happened, as they describe it: 

When the U.S. military aide carrying the nuclear football entered the Great Hall, Chinese security officials blocked his entry. (The official who carries the nuclear football is supposed to stay close to the president at all times, along with a doctor.) 

A U.S. official hurried into the adjoining room and told Kelly what was happening. Kelly rushed over and told the U.S. officials to keep walking — "We're moving in," he said — and the Americans all started moving. 

Then there was a commotion. A Chinese security official grabbed Kelly, and Kelly shoved the man’s hand off of his body. Then a U.S. Secret Service agent grabbed the Chinese security official and tackled him to the ground. 

The whole scuffle was over in a flash, and the U.S. officials told about the incident were asked to keep quiet about it. Trump's team followed the normal security procedure to brief the Chinese before their visit to Beijing, according to a person familiar with the trip — but somebody at the Chinese end either didn't get the memo or decided to mess with the Americans anyway.

The article goes on to state that at no time did the Chinese have the nuclear football in their possession, but I do not take a whole lot of comfort in that.

It sounds to me like the Trump Administration barely avoided yet another foreign relations nightmare.

This is what happens when a puppet of the Kremlin fills his cabinet with the modern version of the Keystone Kops.

All I have to say is that we NEVER heard stories like this during the Obama Administration.

In what has to be the least shocking revelation of all, we now learn that Donald Trump deplores the #MeToo movement.

Courtesy of Axios:  

Trump tells friends that he deplores the #MeToo movement and believes it unfairly exposes CEOs to lawsuits from their female employees. The fact that women frequently face sexual predation in the workplace doesn’t impact his view on this.

This is the strongest indicator yet that Trump will reflexively defend his male allies from any and all accusations, even when he thinks those accusations are true.

Well of course Trump hates the #MeToo movement.

They were formed specifically because of him, and clearly he is at the top of their list of targets.

And according to Steve Bannon the movement will likely take Trump down.

Damn, one can only hope.

It does not appear that Rob Porter and White House chief of staff John Kelly have the same story about Porter's resignation.

Courtesy of Axios:  

White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter is telling associates that some senior White House officials strongly encouraged him to "stay and fight," and claims he "never misrepresented anything" to Chief of Staff John Kelly. 

Why it matters: This White House has a culture problem, starting at the top. The natural instinct is to defend/deny and show scant, if any, concern for the women alleging misconduct and harm. And when the going gets tough internally, the other natural instinct is to blame everyone but yourself. 

It should be noted that Trump himself offered this reaction when asked about Porter's resignation:  

"I found out about it recently and I was surprised by it," Trump said. "We certainly wish him well. It's obviously a very tough time for him. He did a very good job while he was in the White House." 

"We hope that he will have a wonderful career," Trump added. 

Trump said "it was very sad when we heard about it." 

Trump focused on Porter's denial of the allegations that he struck his two-ex-wives while they were married. "He says he's innocent, and I think you have to remember that," Trump said. 

"He said very strongly yesterday that he's innocent, but you'll have to talk to him about that."

So essentially Trump was insinuating that the women were liars, and seems very defensive about losing Porter.

But that is NOT the story that Kelly wants told about his reaction:

According to the member of Congress, giving the most detailed Kelly version of events so far: 

In Kelly’s telling, Porter misrepresented to him that the Daily Mail story would be about a messy marriage and divorce, with allegations of verbal and emotional abuse. 

Kelly specifically asked Porter about physical abuse of both ex-wives and girlfriends, and Porter denied that. 

Upon Porter’s denials, Kelly allowed the White House press team to write a statement giving a wholehearted endorsement of Porter as a man of great integrity. (This was Kelly’s initial statement.) 

Kelly is telling associates that only when the Daily Mail story published online on Tuesday night did he learn the real story. 

Kelly says he immediately took action: he confronted Porter, told him he had to resign, then called President Trump to inform him of his decision. This is what Kelly means when he tells colleagues he acted quickly and settled the matter within 40 minutes.

However it should be remembered that this was what Kelly said right after the story of Porter's spousal abuse became public:

"Rob Porter is a man of true integrity and honor and I can't say enough good things about him … I am proud to serve alongside him."

That does not sound like a man who "acted quickly" when he learned that his trusted subordinate had a history of beating the shit out of the women in his life.

By the way even some of Kelly's White House aides are calling bullshit on his version of events.

This Trump White House is almost literally bulging with habitual liars so it is almost impossible to discern who might be telling the truth at any given time.

But in this case I am thinking that Kelly is simply in CYA mode right now, and is lying his ass off to keep his job.

Top White House aide resigns after his two ex-wives come forward with allegations of physical abuse. #MeToo

Senior White House aide Rob Porter physically assaulted two ex-wives, they tell @theintercept. Full story to come in the morning.

His first wife, Colbie Holderness, provided these photos from a vacation they took together in Florence, Italy: pic.twitter.com/tl3TbyGA8Y

— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) February 7, 2018

Courtesy of Politico: 

White House staff secretary Rob Porter, a mostly unknown but deeply influential aide who spends almost every day by President Donald Trump’s side, said Wednesday he plans to resign following abuse allegations from his ex-wives. 

In a pair of reports published by the Daily Mail, Porter’s two ex-wives detailed episodes of verbal and physical abuse. The Daily Mail published a copy of a protective order obtained by Porter’s second wife in 2010, and later published photographs of Porter’s first wife with a black eye she said came from Porter punching her. 

“These outrageous allegations are simply false. I took the photos given to the media nearly 15 years ago and the reality behind them is nowhere close to what is being described,” Porter said in a statement on Wednesday announcing his plans to leave the White House. “I have been transparent and truthful about these vile claims, but I will not further engage publicly with a coordinated smear campaign.” 

Porter said he would delay his departure “to ensure a smooth transition.”

Axios has more:

Porter's first wife, Colbie Holderness, alleged in an interview published Wednesday by the Daily Mail that he kicked her on their honeymoon, progressing to choking and punching her in the face. She provided pictures that were published with the story. 

Porter's second wife, Jennifer Willoughy, told the Daily Mail earlier this week that he pulled her naked from the shower shortly after their first anniversary, and that he was verbally abusive. The Daily Mail also obtained a police complaint from 2010 of Porter allegedly punching the glass on a door at their home, which led to her filing a temporary protective order. 

Willoughy told the Daily Mail that the FBI had interviewed her, along with Holderness. The Daily Mail claimed sources told them that Porter's "dark past" was the reason for his failure to secure security clearances.

Apparently White House chief of staff john Kelly wanted Porter to "stay and fight" and had this to say about him when this news broke:  

"Rob Porter is a man of true integrity and honor and I can't say enough good things about him. He is a friend, a confidante and a trusted professional. I am proud to serve alongside him," Kelly said in a statement.

Yeah a man of true integrity, you know when he's not beating the shit out of one of his wives that is.

By the way guess who Porter has been sleeping with lately.

That's right, Hope Hicks.

Damn, does this girl have seriously bad taste in men!

By the way now that the #MeToo movement has reached this far into the White House, how much longer do we think it will be before it comes for Donald Trump?

Weren't impressed by that last memo? Well Devin Nunes has at least five more he is going to release so there!

No I was just kidding. This next memo, THAT'S going to be the juicy one.

Courtesy of Axios:

"The memo" — which pitted the Justice Department against the White House and brought ugly partisan sniping into stark relief — is only the beginning. Republican sources close to Devin Nunes tell me he's assured them there's much more to come. 

The House Intelligence chair and his team have told members and associates they've found other examples of politically motivated "wrongdoing" across various agencies, including the FBI, the broader Justice Department, and the State Department. 

What we're hearing: Republicans close to Nunes say there could be as many as five additional memos or reports of "wrongdoing." But a source on the House Intelligence Committee tells me there's no current plan to use the same extraordinary and highly controversial process they just went through, with a vote and ultimately a presidential approval to declassify sensitive information. 

A Republican member briefed on Nunes' investigations told me: "There are several areas of concern where federal agencies used government resources to try to create a narrative and influence the election. Some have suggested coordination with Hillary Clinton operatives, [Sidney] Blumenthal and [Cody] Shearer, to back up the false narrative."

Yes let's all assume that this first memo was just an opening salvo that all the REALLY troubling stuff will be in the fourth or fifth memo that he sends out to the news agencies.

You know, because that makes all kinds of sense.

I think that Devin Nunes is currently the most pathetic and desperate character in Washington DC, well aside from Donald Trump himself that is.

I cannot imagine that anybody, except perhaps Sean Hannity and the folks at Fox and Friends, would even bother to report on any additional memos of disappointment from this idiot.

What a shit show.

The Trump team would like to do a federal takeover of our cell phones to "protect" us against the Chinese. Uh, no.

Oh I'll keep your phones safe alright, you can trust me.

Courtesy of Axios:  

Trump national security officials are considering an unprecedented federal takeover of a portion of the nation’s mobile network to guard against China, according to sensitive documents obtained by Axios. 

Why it matters: We’ve got our hands on a PowerPoint deck and a memo — both produced by a senior National Security Council official — which were presented recently to senior officials at other agencies in the Trump administration. 

The main points: The documents say America needs a centralized nationwide 5G network within three years. There'll be a fierce debate inside the Trump administration — and an outcry from the industry — over the next 6-8 months over how such a network is built and paid for. 

The proposal apparently offers two different plans for protecting cell phones, one involves nationalizing the industry, while the others has the cell phone companies competing with each other to provide safe, hack resistant 5G network.

However sources say option number two is really not the goal as the administration sees only a government controlled network as being "safe."

It seems clear to me that the choices are really to risk the possibility that the Chinese might hack our phones, or hand our service over to the Trump Administration and insure that the Russians will definitely hack our phones.

Keep in mind that this guy does NOT work for us.

Just take a moment to imagine the incredible Right Wing backlash that would have occurred if President Obama had even suggested something remotely similar to this.

They would STILL be screaming about it.

The Koch brothers are planning to throw massive amounts of money at the 2018 midterms.

Courtesy of Axios:

The Koch network will spend 60% more on the 2018 cycle than it did on the 2016 presidential election, the largest midterm investment it's ever had, Tim Phillips of Americans for Prosperity told reporters Saturday. This includes up to $20 million on “communicating the benefits of tax reform," along with other policy and politics efforts. The network spent about $250 million on policy and politics in the 2016 cycle.

I would REALLY like to say this won't work because Americans are too smart to be manipulated by money and advertising, but we all now know, without a shadow of a doubt, that that is simply not true. 

This most certainly WILL have an effect, so it is up to all of us to focus on strong grassroots organizing and a huge get out the vote campaign.

Right now these elections are ours to lose.

Let's not give these assholes the satisfaction.

Even Fox News cannot buy that Secretary of Homeland Security, who was in the room when Trump made that "sh*thole" comment, can't remember it.

DHS Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen was in the room, but says can't recall whether Trump made "shithole countries" remark pic.twitter.com/lLbijwmlep

— Axios (@axios) January 14, 2018

What kind of language was being bandied about in that room for "shithole" to not catch your attention, and sear itself into your memory?

This is the person responsible for responding to actionable intelligence that suggests a terrorist attack.

You would think that somebody like this would constantly pay close attention to conversations happening around her, in all circumstances.

Well perhaps her hearing and memory fail when it has anything to do with controversial comments made by her boss.

Or maybe since she is part of Trump's Administration she is simply following the "Lie About Everything" rule book. 

Donald Trump frees up more time in his daily schedule to watch TV.

Courtesy of Axios:  

Trump's days in the Oval Office are relatively short – from around 11am to 6pm, then he's back to the residence. During that time he usually has a meeting or two, but spends a good deal of time making phone calls and watching cable news in the dining room adjoining the Oval. Then he's back to the residence for more phone calls and more TV. 

Take these random examples from this week's real schedule: 

• On Tuesday, Trump has his first meeting of the day with Chief of Staff John Kelly at 11am. He then has "Executive Time" for an hour followed by an hour lunch in the private dining room. Then it's another 1 hour 15 minutes of "Executive Time" followed by a 45 minute meeting with National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster. Then another 15 minutes of "Executive Time" before Trump takes his last meeting of the day — a 3:45pm meeting with the head of Presidential Personnel Johnny DeStefano — before ending his official day at 4:15pm. 
• Other days are fairly similar, unless the president is traveling, in which case the days run longer. On Wednesday this week, for example, the president meets at 11am for his intelligence briefing, then has "Executive Time" until a 2pm meeting with the Norwegian Prime Minister. His last official duty: a video recording with Hope Hicks at 4pm. 
• On Thursday, the president has an especially light schedule: "Policy Time" at 11am, then "Executive Time" at 12pm, then lunch for an hour, then more "Executive Time" from 1:30pm. 

Trump's schedule wasn't always like this. In the earliest days of the Trump administration it began earlier and ended later. Trump would have breakfast meetings (e.g. hosting business leaders in the Roosevelt Room). He didn't like the longer official schedule and pushed for later starts. The morning intelligence briefing ended up settling around 10:30am. 

Aides say Trump is always doing something — he's a whirl of activity and some aides wish he would sleep more — but his time in the residence is unstructured and undisciplined. He's calling people, watching TV, tweeting, and generally taking the same loose, improvisational approach to being president that he took to running the Trump Organization for so many years. Old habits die hard.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders of course pushed back on this:  

“The time in the morning is a mix of residence time and Oval Office time but he always has calls with staff, Hill members, cabinet members and foreign leaders during this time,” Sanders said in a statement to Axios. “The President is one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen and puts in long hours and long days nearly every day of the week all year long. It has been noted by reporters many times that they wish he would slow down because they sometimes have trouble keeping up with him.”

I'm sorry but at this point I just reject out of hand anything that this White House says. 

You just cannot listen to them lie to you day after day, and then take a denial like this seriously.

I absolutely think the Axios report is accurate, and it fits in well with everything we know about this fat, lazy, phony.

Steve Bannon begins to backpedal.

Courtesy of Axios: 

Battered by the backlash from Michael Wolff's book, Steve Bannon is trying to make amends with the Trump family, providing a statement to Axios that expresses "regret" to President Trump and praises his son, Donald Trump Jr. 

"Donald Trump, Jr. is both a patriot and a good man. He has been relentless in his advocacy for his father and the agenda that has helped turn our country around." 

"My support is also unwavering for the president and his agenda — as I have shown daily in my national radio broadcasts, on the pages of Breitbart News and in speeches and appearances from Tokyo and Hong Kong to Arizona and Alabama." 

"President Trump was the only candidate that could have taken on and defeated the Clinton apparatus. I am the only person to date to conduct a global effort to preach the message of Trump and Trumpism; and remain ready to stand in the breech for this president's efforts to make America great again." 

"My comments about the meeting with Russian nationals came from my life experiences as a Naval officer stationed aboard a destroyer whose main mission was to hunt Soviet submarines to my time at the Pentagon during the Reagan years when our focus was the defeat of 'the evil empire' and to making films about Reagan's war against the Soviets and Hillary Clinton's involvement in selling uranium to them." 

"My comments were aimed at Paul Manafort, a seasoned campaign professional with experience and knowledge of how the Russians operate. He should have known they are duplicitous, cunning and not our friends. To reiterate, those comments were not aimed at Don Jr." 

"Everything I have to say about the ridiculous nature of the Russian 'collusion' investigation I said on my 60 Minutes interview. There was no collusion and the investigation is a witch hunt." 

"I regret that my delay in responding to the inaccurate reporting regarding Don Jr has diverted attention from the president's historical accomplishments in the first year of his presidency."

And they call liberals "cucks."

The reason for this is obvious. It's money.

As you may have heard the Mercer family, which had been funding Bannon and Breitbart, decided to stick with Trump on this matter.

Courtesy of WaPo: 

“I support President Trump and the platform upon which he was elected,” Mercer said. “My family and I have not communicated with Steve Bannon in many months and have provided no financial support to his political agenda, nor do we support his recent actions and statements.”

That statement came from Rebekah Mercer, who was Bannon's "sugar mama," and without whom he is really nothing but a badly dressed, racist, political hack.

So we are left to ask, which Steven Bannon is the truth telling Steve Bannon?

The guy in the Trump White House talking shit when he believed his job was secure, and that he and Trump were joined at the hip?

Or the Steve Bannon under constant fire from former friends and colleagues, who may now find himself jobless and potentially penniless?

Trump lawyers send cease and desist order to Steve Bannon to keep him from making disparaging remarks that are already in a book by Michael Wolff. Seems a little late to me.

No, no, no, no. no. no!

Courtesy of ABC News: 

The letter comes after excerpts from a forthcoming book by journalist Michael Wolff were made public Wednesday, causing a stir. 

Trump attorney Charles J. Harder of the firm Harder Mirell & Abrams LLP, said in a statement, "This law firm represents President Donald J. Trump and Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. On behalf of our clients, legal notice was issued today to Stephen K. Bannon, that his actions of communicating with author Michael Wolff regarding an upcoming book give rise to numerous legal claims including defamation by libel and slander, and breach of his written confidentiality and non-disparagement agreement with our clients. Legal action is imminent." 

In the letter to Bannon, Harder, writes, "You [Bannon] have breached the Agreement by, among other things, communicating with author Michael Wolff about Mr. Trump, his family members, and the Company, disclosing Confidential Information to Mr. Wolff, and making disparaging statements and in some cases outright defamatory statements to Mr. Wolff about Mr. Trump, his family members, and the Company, knowing that they would be included in Mr. Wolff’s book and publicity surrounding the marketing and sale of his book."

You know a confidentiality agreement may work for keeping things quiet during a campaign, but when Bannon worked in the White House he was then employed by the American people, not Donald J. Trump.  So he was no longer bound by an NDA he may have signed in years past.

And if he sent a letter like this to Bannon, did he also send one to his daughter?

Courtesy of the New York Post:

Daughter Ivanka Trump often makes fun of her dad’s comb-over to friends and delights in explaining how the crazy coiffure comes together, according to “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.” 

“She often described the mechanics behind it to friends: an absolutely clean pate — a contained island after scalp-reduction ­surgery — surrounded by a furry circle of hair around the sides and front, from which all ends are drawn up to meet in the center and then swept back and secured by a stiffening spray,” journalist Michael Wolff writes in the book, out Jan. 9. 

“The color, she would point out to comical effect, was from a product called Just for Men — the longer it was left on, the darker it got. Impatience resulted in Trump’s orange-blond hair color.”

Oh that's going to leave a mark.

Apparently at least one of Trump's attorneys realized that you cannot stop a book by attacking its sources.

NEW this am: Trump attorneys send cease-and-desist letter this morning to Wolff and book publisher @HenryHolt demanding they stop publication and issue an apology to @realDonaldTrump for defamatory statements made thus far.

— Carol Leonnig (@CarolLeonnig) January 4, 2018

Okay let's all hold our breath waiting for this to happen.

And if Trump's attorneys want to pursue this line of attack they may want to keep this in mind:

Michael Wolff has tapes to back up quotes in his incendiary book — dozens of hours of them. 

Among the sources he taped, I'm told, are Bannon and former White House deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh. 

I imagine that Wolff and his publishers are desperate for Trump to try and sue them, as that will ensure that this book is a bestseller. 

No the time to stop this book was while Michael Wolff was wandering the White House gathering the information, not after huge chunks have already been leaked to the media.

I can hardly wait to buy my copy.

The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee says the evidence he has seen makes the Russia investigation "the most important thing" he will ever work on.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

The ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee suggested he’s seen damning evidence in the investigation of Russian campaign interference — but he hinted special counsel Robert Mueller had even more proof. 

Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said he’s more convinced than ever that the investigation is crucial to preserving U.S. democracy, according to Axios. 

The Virginia Democrat told the website that, “based on witness testimony and documents that he has seen behind closed doors, the Russia probe is ‘the most important thing I will ever work on.'” 

But Warner said the special counsel investigation had likely uncovered even more conclusive evidence linking the Trump campaign to Russian interference. 

“I feel that more strongly today than even a year ago, and we don’t even have near the tools that Robert Muller has in his investigation,” Warner said.

I happened to watch a little Fox News yesterday and was immediately struck by the immense effort they are putting into downplaying this investigation, and poo pooing the idea that Trump would have any reason to have Robert Mueller fired.

There was a whole panel present and they all mocked the idea that there was anything to this investigation, or that Trump would ever do anything silly like undermine the Special Counsel or start firing people to protect himself, almost as if they had never heard of James Comey.

To me it smacked of a desperate attempt to tamp down fears, and to lull the viewers into a false sense of security before Trump launched his own Saturday Night Massacre.

The noose is getting tight, I cannot imagine that Trump does not have some trick up his sleeve.

Nor can I imagine that Robert Mueller is not prepared for it.

Robert Mueller obtained thousands of Trump transition team emails during the summer and the Trump folks had no idea he had them.

Courtesy of Axios: 

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has obtained “many tens of thousands" of Trump transition emails, including emails of Jared Kushner, transition team sources tell Axios. 

Trump officials discovered Mueller had the emails when his prosecutors used them as the basis for questions to witnesses, the sources said. 

The emails include 12 accounts, one of which contains about 7,000 emails, the sources said. 

The accounts include the team's political leadership and the foreign-policy team, the sources said. 

Why it matters: 

The transition emails are said to include sensitive exchanges on matters that include potential appointments, gossip about the views of particular senators involved in the confirmation process, speculation about vulnerabilities of Trump nominees, strategizing about press statements, and policy planning on everything from war to taxes. 

“Mueller is using the emails to confirm things, and get new leads," a transition source told me.

Mueller apparently circumvented the transition team by going to the government agency that hosted their email system.

Apparently the transition team had been sifting through their own emails all of this time in preparation for a subpoena from Mueller, and taking out the ones they considered privileged or sensitive.

However unbeknownst to them Mueller has already had the emails in his possession since the summer and has been using them to crosscheck against testimony from Trump folks who have come in for questioning.

If you think that might panic the Trump team, well you are certainly right about that.

Courtesy of Politico: 

A lawyer for President Donald Trump’s transition team is accusing special counsel Robert Mueller of unlawfully obtaining tens of thousands of private emails during its investigation into Russian meddling in last year’s presidential election. 

Kory Langhofer, an Arizona-based attorney representing Trump for America, spelled out the complaint in a seven-page letter sent Saturday to the main House and Senate oversight committees where he raises potential violations of attorney-client privilege and the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unlawful search and seizure. 

Mueller’s office got the records earlier this summer from the General Services Administration, the government agency charged with holding all transition materials, even while it was “aware that the GSA did not own or control the records in question,” Langhofer wrote. 

The Trump attorney also argued that Mueller’s office has “extensively used the materials in question” during its investigation even though its prosecutors were aware some of the materials were subject to claims of attorney-client privilege and other protections.

That accusation received a response from a Mueller spokesman:  

Mueller spokesman Peter Carr defended the special counsel’s work in a statement issued just past midnight on Sunday, several hours after this story first posted. “When we have obtained emails in the course of our ongoing criminal investigation, we have secured either the account owner’s consent or appropriate criminal process,” he said.

Now I am not a lawyer but I am pretty sure that translates into "Boo hoo, you lose." 

Do not forget that Mueller's team is made up of top prosecutors who know full well what they can legally do to obtain information, and this is perfectly legal.

Now Trump's lawyers are of course going to challenge this and attack the Mueller folks for outsmarting them, but essentially, and remember I am not a lawyer, the Trump folks are fucked.

One of the guys behind "pizza-gate" tries to accuse Senator Chuck Schumer of sexual misconduct using a forged document.

Wait, what did they day I did?

Courtesy of he Daily Beast:  

A forged document accusing the top Democrat in the Senate of sexual harassment copied language verbatim from a real sexual-harassment complaint filed against Rep. John Conyers. 

On Tuesday afternoon, right-wing social media personalities Charles Johnson and Mike Cernovich boasted of obtaining a document that would put a senator out of a job. 

“Michael Cernovich & I are going to end the career of a U.S. Senator,” Johnson posted on Facebook on Monday. 

The senator was Minority Leader Charles Schumer of New York, Axios first reported. 

But the document was fake. A copy of the document, obtained by The Daily Beast, purports to be draft lawsuit complaint against Schumer by a former staffer. It accuses him of sexual harassment. Schumer’s office told The Daily Beast the document and her signature are forgeries. Schumer’s office said the senator was not in Washington, D.C. or the United States during several dates in the document when he is said to have harassed the staffer. 

“The document is a forged document and every allegation is false,” Schumer spokesperson Matt House told The Daily Beast. “We have turned it over to the Capitol Police and asked them to investigate and pursue criminal charges because it is clear the law has been broken. We believe the individual responsible for forging the document should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law to prevent other malicious actors from doing the same.” 

The former staffer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, confirmed the document was a forgery.

This Mike Cernovich guy is the same asshole who claimed that coded messages in John Podesta's hacked emails showed that Hillary Clinton and other prominent Democrats were involved in a child sex ring in a DC pizza joint.

Currently Cernovich is trying to save face by claiming that he was duped by whoever was shopping this around, but the forgery should have been fairly obvious to anybody who was utilizing critical thinking skills.

The genius who forged the sexual-harassment complaint against Chuck Schumer literally copied-and-pasted from John Conyers complaint https://t.co/1HlHd8xdQS pic.twitter.com/2KhiAEgu4E

— Justin Miller (@justinjm1) December 13, 2017

Look we need to listen to women reporting on sexual harassment, even if the person being accused is one of our guys, or even a personal hero.

However we also have to maintain a certain amount of healthy skepticism because this #MeToo movement is a powerful tool, and clearly folks with a partisan agenda can use it to attack and even defeat those who they perceive as enemies of their cause.

And by the way this goes for both sides.

Even if we REALLY want to believe that somebody we dislike did something terrible, we still need to pay attention to the evidence and let THAT dictate their guilt or innocence.

Donald Trump promises to pay $430,000 for legal costs incurred by White House staff and campaign associates due to Russia probe.

Courtesy of Axios:

President Trump has promised to spend at least $430,000 of his own money to defray legal costs incurred by campaign associates and White House staff due to the Russia investigations, a White House official tells Axios. 

What we know: The Republican National Committee has paid roughly $430,000 to lawyers representing the president and his eldest son, Don Jr. A White House official told me Trump will not be reimbursing the RNC for these costs. However, the White House official says he has pledged to spend the same amount, from his personal finances, "to defray the costs of legal fees for his associates, including former and current White House aides."

According to the article this $430,000 will only pay a fraction of the legal bills, though Trump has hinted he might pay more in the future. 

It also states that Trump will NOT be paying Michael Flynn's legal bills, and Flynn would not accept it if he offered, however there is no real indication whose bills Trump will pay and when he will pay them.

It should be noted that this is how mob bosses control their people. By offering to pay their legal fees if picked up by the cops so long as they keep their mouths shut.