Federal judge to Paul Manafort's lawyer “I don’t really understand what is left of your case.”

Courtesy of Reuters:

A federal judge tore into all of the legal arguments that a lawyer for President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort made on Wednesday in his long-shot civil case to convince her that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation has run amok and should be reined in.

“I don’t really understand what is left of your case,” U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson said to Kevin Downing, Manafort’s attorney, after peppering him with a lengthy series of questions. 

Manafort filed a civil lawsuit on Jan. 3 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the Justice Department official who appointed the special counsel, in a key legal test of how far Mueller’s mandate extends. 

Jackson did not say when she might rule on the civil case, which the Justice Department is seeking to dismiss.

Manafort's accusation that the Mueller investigation had gone off the rails in its investigation of his past interactions with Ukraine and Russia, was essentially undermined by the revelation that Rod Rosenstein specifically directed Mueller to do just that: 

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told special counsel Robert Mueller in a classified August 2, 2017, memo that he should investigate allegations that President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was "colluding with Russian government officials" to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, prosecutors in the Russia probe revealed late Monday night. 

Mueller was also empowered by Rosenstein to investigate Manafort's payments from Ukrainian politicians, a cornerstone of the Trump adviser's decades-long lobbying career that has resulted in several financial criminal charges so far.

That does not leave Manafort a legal leg to stand on here, which is essentially what this judge is explaining to his lawyers.

All Paul Manafort has to do to make much of this go away is to flip and start voluntarily cooperating with the Mueller investigators.

The fact that he will not do that makes me think that there is more here than simply defending his former boss.

It is SUCH a bad idea to lie to Robert Mueller.

Courtesy of CNN: 

A Dutch lawyer tied to former Trump deputy campaign chairman Rick Gates who admitted to lying to special counsel Robert Mueller's team was sentenced Tuesday to 30 days in prison and ordered to pay a $20,000 fine. 

Alex van der Zwaan is the first person to be sentenced in Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. 

He pleaded guilty to lying to Mueller's team in February and faced up to six months in prison. 

Earlier Tuesday, Van der Zwaan's attorneys begged for no jail time for their client, who mostly sat with pursed lips, slouched at the defense table. 

He did say a few sentences of contrition that he read from a paper. 

"What I did was wrong," he uttered. He also apologized. 

Van der Zwaan covered up his discussions with Gates and a business associate based in Ukraine in September 2016, while the Trump campaign operation was in full swing. He also admitted to lying to investigators about his failure to turn over email communications to the special counsel's office and to his law firm as it cooperated with Mueller on its investigation of Gates' and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's foreign lobbying.

This is the FIRST guy to be sentenced, but I am guessing he is far from the LAST guy to be sentenced.

I wonder who else might soon be a bunk mate of his?

Robert Mueller hands out new tax and bank fraud charges to Paul Manafort and Rick Gates. Update!

Courtesy of Bloomberg:  

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his onetime deputy, Rick Gates, were indicted on tax and bank fraud charges as U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller mounted a fresh attack to strengthen his legal pressure against the men. Mueller used a new 32-count indictment in Alexandria, Virginia, to raise the legal stakes against the duo, who were initially indicted on Oct. 27 in Washington on charges of laundering millions of dollars and failing to register as foreign agents for their political consulting work over a decade in Ukraine.

The second indictment complicates the legal defense for both men and appears to signal that plea negotiations have been fruitless. Gates had been weighing a guilty plea, according to several reports. Mueller, who is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, has charged a total of 19 people and picked up the tempo of his public actions in recent days. 

“Manafort and Gates generated tens of millions of dollars in income as a result of their Ukraine work,” the new indictment said. “From approximately 2006 through the present, Manafort and Gates engaged in a scheme to hide income from United States authorities, while enjoying the use of the money.” 

The men are accused of filing false tax returns in each year from 2010 to 2014, and of conspiring to defraud three banks of more than $22 million through loans secured by Manafort’s properties. At one bank, a conspirator helped in the fraud, the indictment said. It also charged that as their political consulting income dwindled in Ukraine in 2014 and 2015, Manafort and Gates defrauded banks to allow Manafort “to have the benefits of liquid income without paying taxes on it.”

Apparently part of the evidence used against these two idiots is an email of Manafort asking Gates to convert a fraudulent document from a word file to a pdf.

Y'all I'm dying, Manafort created an incriminating paper trail because he needed someone to help him convert a Word doc to PDF. pic.twitter.com/CTE4oV7zj0

— Susan Simpson (@TheViewFromLL2) February 22, 2018

Pair of real geniuses here.

Speaking of geniuses this kind of makes me wonder just HOW MUCH incriminating evidence that Mueller has compiled to use in this investigation.

I mean he started out with indictments against Manafort and Gates accusing them of conspiracy, and when they failed to cooperate he simply indicts them on tax and bank fraud charges like it's nothing.

One has to wonder what else he has in the chamber if Manafort continues to hold out on him?

(You can read these new indictments here.)

Update: Well that was quick.

Gates has now agreed to plead guilty.

Courtesy of NBC News:

Former campaign aide Rick Gates has agreed to plead guilty, becoming the third associate of President Donald Trump to make a deal with special counsel Robert Mueller, a source familiar with the proceedings told NBC News. 

Gates, who was indicted with former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort in October on conspiracy and other charges related to their lobbying work in Ukraine, is expected to appear in federal court in Washington on Friday to enter the plea. 

The development comes a day after Mueller filed a new 32-count indictment against Gates and Manafort, hitting them with new charges of tax and bank fraud. It also follows a guilty plea by a Russia-linked lawyer who admitted he lied to investigators about his contacts with Gates.

And the dominoes just keep right on falling.

I think that once Mueller convinces Manafort to flip, that it is game over.

Update 2: Damn! Manafort just doubled down on his innocence.

NEW / Paul Manafort says Rick Gates did not have the “strength to continue the battle to prove our innocence” —> pic.twitter.com/2N3sDIDaqp

— Hallie Jackson (@HallieJackson) February 23, 2018

Okay somebody has definitely been offered a presidential pardon.

Robert Mueller abruptly reverses decision to support bail for Paul Manafort after learning of planned op-ed co-written with man who has ties to Russian intelligence.

Courtesy of Business Insider:

Special counsel Robert Mueller has abruptly reversed course on a bail agreement his office struck with Paul Manafort's legal team last week that would have allowed him to be released from GPS monitoring. 

Manafort evidently failed to tell the government that he was ghost-writing a draft op-ed about his work in Ukraine as late as November 30. He was working on it with his longtime protege Konstantin Kilimnik, who is believed to have ties to Russian intelligence, according to the special counsel's court filing. 

The government said that the court had initially "admonished" Manafort's lawyer for making public statements to the press about the case and on November 8 had barred both "the parties and counsel from making statements that could interfere with" a fair trial. 

"Even if the ghostwritten op-ed were entirely accurate, fair, and balanced, it would be a violation of this Court’s November 8 Order if it had been publish," the government argued. "The editorial clearly was undertaken to influence the public's opinion of defendant Manafort, or else there would be no reason to seek its publication." 

The filing continued: "Because Manafort has now taken actions that reflect an intention to violate or circumvent the court's existing orders ... the government submits that the proposed bail package is insufficiently reasonable to assure his appearance as required. The government's prior general consent to the bail package presupposed that Manafort was complying with the Court's existing orders."

It has been clear to me for months now that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is not fucking around here. 

Apparently Manafort did not get that memo and did not understand that Mueller would drop the hammer on him if he even pushed a pinky over the line.

One thing I can say with some confidence is that this is definitely going to send a chill down the spine of everybody already targeted by the Mueller team, as well as those who believe their number will come up at any time.

If I were Jarred Kushner, Donald Trump Jr., or even Trump himself, I would probably have to sleep with the night light on tonight.

Rachel Maddow does a deep dive into Russian interference around the world.

I wanted to share this with you this morning because when I watched it last night I was blown away by how clearly Maddow ties all of the threads together.

Maddow connects the dots between the invasion of Ukraine and the Facebook ads which caused such divisiveness in 2016, to Russia's long term goal of disrupting democracy around the world.

Facebook clearly has a lot to answer for, and in response to these reports they may be forced to significantly alter their business model.

Now I know that there is at least one of you who will be unable to follow Rachel as she uses multi syllable grown up words and uses hand gestures while making a point.

For you there are handy subtitles included to help you understand what Maddow is saying.

If you still find yourself confused then I guess you can always turn your TV to Fox News and let that ignorance wash over you cleansing your palate.

But for the rest of us, pay very close attention to what she is saying. And then spread it far and wide.

Donald Trump Jr. agrees to sit down for a transcribed interview with the Senate judiciary committee as Robert Mueller subpoenas former lawyer and spokesperson for Paul Manafort.

 Courtesy of CNN:

President Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., has agreed to sit down for a transcribed interview with the Senate judiciary committee, as investigators continue to dig into his attendance at a 2016 meeting where he was promised Russian dirt on the Clinton campaign. 

After weeks of discussions, Trump Jr. has agreed on a date to be interviewed by the panel in private, according to Taylor Foy, spokesman for committee Chairman Chuck Grassley. Trump Jr. will be interviewed by senior committee staff, and senators will be invited to attend, Foy said.

This is the closest that any of these investigations have reached into the Trump family, so you know this has to be giving Trump Sr. the night sweats.

In other news also courtesy of CNN: 

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has issued subpoenas to a former lawyer for Paul Manafort and to Manafort's current spokesman, an aggressive tactic that suggests an effort to add pressure on the former Trump campaign chairman. 

The subpoenas seeking documents and testimony were sent to Melissa Laurenza, an attorney with the Akin Gump law firm who until recently represented Manafort, and to Jason Maloni, who is Manafort's spokesman, according to people familiar with the matter. 

Manafort is under investigation for possible tax and financial crimes, according to US officials briefed on the investigation. The allegations under investigation largely center on Manafort's work for the former ruling party in Ukraine, which was ousted amid street protests over its pro-Russian policies.

It's unclear what specific information the Mueller investigators believe Laurenza and Maloni may have. But issuing subpoenas to a lawyer of someone under investigation is unusual, in part because it raises potential attorney-client privilege issues that prosecutors tend to try to avoid. Maloni, as a public relations representative, doesn't have the same attorney-client privilege protections.

I have to imagine that every time there is a new announcement like the two above that Donald Trump's orange tinted asshole just clamps down a little bit harder. 

Special Counsel Robert Mueller applies increasing pressure on Paul Manafort.

Courtesy of the Miami Herald:  

Paul Manafort’s place in the crosshairs of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into the Kremlin’s attempts to sway the 2016 presidential election seems to be growing more uncomfortable. 

Two sources familiar with the inquiry tell McClatchy that investigators are working to confirm information indicating that Manafort and the consulting firms he led earned between $80 million and $100 million over a decade from pro-Moscow Ukrainian and Russian clients. 

Mueller’s expanded focus on Manafort’s complicated financial picture is zeroing in on whether he may have evaded taxes or engaged in any money laundering schemes, the sources say, and the hunt for his financial records through a labyrinth of offshore bank and business accounts has become an important prong of the investigation. 

Given his pro-Kremlin connections and his closeness to the campaign, Manafort was uniquely positioned to play a role in any collusion between the campaign and operatives working on behalf of the Russian government to help elect Trump. 

Whether Manafort can be squeezed depends in part on whether he failed to report foreign income and overseas bank accounts annually to the Internal Revenue Service as required by law. The volume of money said to be involved and the time elapsed could put him at significant risk.

The IRS is involved? Well Manafort is screwed now.

There is some evidence that Manafort is already cooperating with the investigators, but whether he has flipped or not the existence of this increasingly bad information now being leaked to the press means that he may have little choice but to cooperate or face a rather lengthy prison term. 

All in all this should have Trump shitting bricks.

Investigators now have their first still living witness to the Russian hacking.

Courtesy of the New York Times:

It is the first known instance of a living witness emerging from the arid mass of technical detail that has so far shaped the investigation into the election hacking and the heated debate it has stirred. The Ukrainian police declined to divulge the man’s name or other details, other than that he is living in Ukraine and has not been arrested. 

There is no evidence that Profexer worked, at least knowingly, for Russia’s intelligence services, but his malware apparently did. 

That a hacking operation that Washington is convinced was orchestrated by Moscow would obtain malware from a source in Ukraine — perhaps the Kremlin’s most bitter enemy — sheds considerable light on the Russian security services’ modus operandi in what Western intelligence agencies say is their clandestine cyberwar against the United States and Europe. 

It does not suggest a compact team of government employees who write all their own code and carry out attacks during office hours in Moscow or St. Petersburg, but rather a far looser enterprise that draws on talent and hacking tools wherever they can be found. 

Also emerging from Ukraine is a sharper picture of what the United States believes is a Russian government hacking group known as Advanced Persistent Threat 28 or Fancy Bear. It is this group, which American intelligence agencies believe is operated by Russian military intelligence, that has been blamed, along with a second Russian outfit known as Cozy Bear, for the D.N.C. intrusion. 

Rather than training, arming and deploying hackers to carry out a specific mission like just another military unit, Fancy Bear and its twin Cozy Bear have operated more as centers for organization and financing; much of the hard work like coding is outsourced to private and often crime-tainted vendors.

This more or less explains why security experts originally thought Ukraine was involved in the hacking of the DNC.

This Profexer has turned himself into the police in Ukraine and is cooperating fully.

His information is important because he is perhaps the only person who has had direct contact with the Russian hackers who is not either imprisoned or dead.

Twitler attacks Jeff Sessions again, defends Jared Kushner, and tries to start an investigation directed at Hillary Clinton.

Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump campaign - "quietly working to boost Clinton." So where is the investigation A.G. @seanhannity

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2017

This accusation about the Ukrainians helping the Clinton campaign is hogwash.

There is NO comparison between the information about Paul Manafort, and the Russians hacking our election.  (You can read more about it here.)

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes (where are E-mails & DNC server) & Intel leakers!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2017

To be clear this is the president directing his justice department to restart an investigation for purely political reasons.

Problem is that the acting head of the FBI & the person in charge of the Hillary investigation, Andrew McCabe, got $700,000 from H for wife!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2017

And this is him accusing the acting head of the FBI of accepting bribes.

Minutes later Trump turned his attention to Obamacare.

Big day for HealthCare. After 7 years of talking, we will soon see whether or not Republicans are willing to step up to the plate!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2017

ObamaCare is torturing the American People.The Democrats have fooled the people long enough. Repeal or Repeal & Replace! I have pen in hand.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2017

So great that John McCain is coming back to vote. Brave - American hero! Thank you John.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2017

Yes the man who is fighting brain cancer with the help of some of the best medical coverage on the planet, is coming back to deny similar care for millions of Americans.

What a hero.

Now on to Jared Kushner.

Jared Kushner did very well yesterday in proving he did not collude with the Russians. Witch Hunt. Next up, 11 year old Barron Trump!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2017

It appears that Trump is also convinced that his trust fund son-in-law was able to talk his way out of further investigation. Really don't think that is the case.

And you know what, maybe Barron should start getting his paperwork in order.

I don't trust ANYBODY in this family.

So to sum up, this morning Donald Trump accused the Clinton campaign of colluding with Ukraine, accused Jeff Sessions of being ineffectual at his job, accused an acting FBI director of accepting bribes, and tried to restart an investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails.

What did the leader of your country do today? 

Yet another member of Donald Trump's campaign has registered as a foreign agent.

Courtesy of AP:

President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman is registering as a foreign agent. 

Paul Manafort's spokesman says he was in talks with the government about registering before the 2016 election and is now "taking appropriate steps" in response to "formal guidance" from the government. 

The spokesman says Manafort's lobbying work was not conducted on behalf of the Russian government and began before Manafort started working with the Trump campaign. 

It's unclear whether Trump was aware that Manafort was in talks with the government about registering before he hired him.

Probably not, I am fairly certain that Trump was not aware of much during the campaign outside of poll numbers and crowd reactions.

You may remember that Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn had previously registered as a foreign agent for Turkey.

Now having one member of your campaign or administration register as a foreign agent is odd enough, but to have two?

And if that was not enough, we are also learning that Paul Manafort received money from Trump associates on the day that he stepped down as the campaign manager:

Aug. 19 was an eventful day for Paul Manafort. 

That morning, he stepped down from guiding Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign, after a brief tenure during which Mr. Trump won the Republican nomination, Democrats’ emails were hacked and the campaign’s contacts with Russia came under scrutiny. Dogged by revelations about past financial dealings in Ukraine, Mr. Manafort retreated from public view. 

But behind the scenes, he was busy with other matters. Papers were recorded that same day creating a shell company controlled by Mr. Manafort that soon received $13 million in loans from two businesses with ties to Mr. Trump, including one that partners with a Ukrainian-born billionaire and another led by a Trump economic adviser. They were among $20 million in loans secured by properties belonging to Mr. Manafort and his wife. 

The purpose of the loans is unstated in public records, although at least some of them appear to be part of an effort by Mr. Manafort to stave off a personal financial crisis stemming from failed investments with his son-in-law.

So to sum up, Paul Manafort was working as a foreign agent for Ukraine during his time as Trump's campaign manager,  he received at least 1.2 million in secret payments from Ukraine before coming to work for Trump's campaign, and then received around 13 million "in loans" after he was forced to leave that campaign when his ties to Russia and Ukraine were made public.

But hey, no reason to be suspicious. Right?

Another Russian critic of Vladimir Putin has been murdered.

Courtesy of the Independent:

A former Russian MP has been shot and killed in the centre of the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, in what the Ukrainian president described as an "act of state terrorism" by Russia. 

Denis Voronenkov, who testified to Ukrainian investigators and criticsed Moscow's illegal annexation of Crimea, was shot dead by an unidentified gunman near the entrance of an upscale hotel. 

The attacker also wounded Mr Voronenkov's bodyguard, who fired back and wounded the gunman. 

Both were hospitalized but Ukrainian media cited hospital doctors later in the day as saying the gunman had died. 

This, THIS, is who the FBI now has information that Donald Trump and his associates were colluding with.

And if you do not think that Trump would like to do this same thing to his critics here in America, well then you have not been paying attention.

Former Trump National Security pick, scandalized by charges of plagiarism, will now lobby for powerful Ukrainian oligarch.

Courtesy of the Daily Beast:  

A would-be Trump White House appointee who withdrew in the face of plagiarism allegations is now lobbying on behalf of a Ukrainian oligarch who has recently advocated greater concessions to the Russian government, according to newly filed documents. 

Monica Crowley told the Justice Department's National Security Division that she will represent billionaire Victor Pinchuk in discussions with U.S. government officials “and other policy makers” regarding “issues of concern to Mr. Pinchuk.” 

Crowley, a Fox News contributor, was in line for a senior post at the White House National Security Council until reports from CNN and Politico reported that she had plagiarized large portions of her 2012 book What the (Bleep) Just Happened and her Columbia University Ph.D. dissertation.

Now isn't THAT interesting?

By the way Pinchuk, the Ukrainian oligarch Crowley would be lobbying for, has demonstrated pro-Russian sentiments and has written a column suggesting that Ukraine abandon plans to join the EU and instead acquiesce to Russia's intervention.

But of course you probably already assumed as much.

I swear, they are not even trying to hide this shit anymore.

Rachel Maddow finds new pieces to make sense of that Russian dossier puzzle.

I am watching Rachel carefully right now because she seems to be perhaps the most visible and well known journalist actively working to put all of this together.

Hopefully if she continues down this road she WILL eventually put it all together, and even perhaps get an interview with Christopher Steele himself.

Donald Trump's lawyer, and other behind the scenes conspirators, slipped Mike Flynn a plan to lift sanctions against Russia before he was fired.

Trump and his attorney, Michael Cohen.

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

A week before Michael T. Flynn resigned as national security adviser, a sealed proposal was hand-delivered to his office, outlining a way for President Trump to lift sanctions against Russia. 

Mr. Flynn is gone, having been caught lying about his own discussion of sanctions with the Russian ambassador. But the proposal, a peace plan for Ukraine and Russia, remains, along with those pushing it: Michael D. Cohen, the president’s personal lawyer, who delivered the document; Felix H. Sater, a business associate who helped Mr. Trump scout deals in Russia; and a Ukrainian lawmaker trying to rise in a political opposition movement shaped in part by Mr. Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort. 

At a time when Mr. Trump’s ties to Russia, and the people connected to him, are under heightened scrutiny — with investigations by American intelligence agencies, the F.B.I. and Congress — some of his associates remain willing and eager to wade into Russia-related efforts behind the scenes. 

You might remember that Michael Cohen was featured prominently in the famous dossier put together by the former MI-6 agent.

And now here he is again mentioned in a article about pushing a policy that would benefit Russia.

And exactly HOW did Cohen and his cohorts plan to provide an incentive to get Americans to go along with the idea of removing sanctions against a country that just hacked our election?

By convincing Russia to pull out of Ukraine.

And how would they do that?

By first removing the current anti-Russian leader of Ukraine, and replacing him with a more pro-Russia leader:

But the proposal contains more than just a peace plan. Andrii V. Artemenko, the Ukrainian lawmaker, who sees himself as a Trump-style leader of a future Ukraine, claims to have evidence — “names of companies, wire transfers” — showing corruption by the Ukrainian president, Petro O. Poroshenko, that could help oust him. And Mr. Artemenko said he had received encouragement for his plans from top aides to Mr. Putin. 

“A lot of people will call me a Russian agent, a U.S. agent, a C.I.A. agent,” Mr. Artemenko said. “But how can you find a good solution between our countries if we do not talk?”

So if Trump facilitates, or at least ignores, a plan to overthrow the Ukrainian government, then Russia will pull their troops out of the area, and that will give Trump the ammunition he needs to justify removing those irritating sanctions against Russia and make his boyfriend Vladimir Putin very happy with him.

Okay so HOW exactly did this Artemenko fellow get his hands on this supposedly career ending information?

Well how does Russia typically get dirt on their political adversaries?

By hacking I would assume.

So this could yet be another case of Trump associates promoting the idea of using hacked information to destroy a political career so that they can manipulate a situation to favor their agenda.

Gee, where have we seen that before?

For his part Michael Cohen is doing damage control and has changed a key part of the story.

Courtesy of WaPo: 

Cohen, speaking with The Post on Sunday, acknowledged that the meeting took place and that he had left with the peace proposal in hand. 

But Cohen said he did not take the envelope to the White House and did not discuss it with anyone. He called suggestions to the contrary “fake news.” 

“I acknowledge that the brief meeting took place, but emphatically deny discussing this topic or delivering any documents to the White House and/or General Flynn,” Cohen said. He said he told the Ukrainian official that he could send the proposal to Flynn by writing him at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

I am not too sure how that really exonerates Cohen, but for their part the Times is standing by their initial reporting.

Gee who to believe. The slimy attorney for one of the most duplicitous human beings on the planet, or the New York Times?

Yep, that's a tough one alright.

John McCain throws down the gauntlet for Donald Trump to do something about the Russian attacks against Ukrainian forces.

Here is John McCain's letter to Trump from McCain's website: 

Dear President Trump, 

In the first of what will be many tests for your new administration, Russia and its proxy forces launched attacks against Ukrainian forces this week, killing at least seven Ukrainian soldiers and wounding dozens more. That this surge of attacks began the day after he talked with you by phone is a clear indication that Vladimir Putin is moving quickly to test you as commander-in-chief. America’s response will have lasting consequences. 

Vladimir Putin’s violent campaign to destabilize and dismember the sovereign nation of Ukraine will not stop unless and until he meets a strong and determined response. Therefore, in light of the latest Russian attacks and the prospect of future aggression against Ukraine, I urge you to exercise the authority given to you by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 to provide defensive lethal assistance to Ukraine to defend its territory against further violations by Russia and its separatist proxies. At the same time, so long as Russia continues to occupy Crimea and destabilize Ukraine, I implore you to maintain current sanctions against Russia. And based on Russia’s attempted interference in our elections, I urge you to expand current sanctions against Russia. 

Ukrainians are not asking Americans to do their fighting. Nearly 10,000 Ukrainians have died to protect their homeland and many more are serving and have sacrificed for the cause of a free and united Ukraine. But America does have a proud history of helping free people to defend themselves. We should do so once more by giving our Ukrainian friends the assistance they need and deserve. Failing to do so now not only risks Ukraine’s sovereignty, but the further erosion of American credibility. 

Sincerely, 

John McCain

This is awesome, because it puts Trump between a rock and a hard place.

On the one hand this is a very important test for Trump's leadership, and an opportunity to show that toughness that he is always bragging about. 

On the other hand he is Vladimir Putin's bitch and I think we know that when Putin helped him it was with the understanding that he would allow Russia to do whatever the hell it wanted.

So what will it be Donnie?

Do nothing and confirm to the world that you are only president due to Russian interference?

Or do something, and risk that pee tape suddenly showing up in every journalist's inbox?

Paul Manafort leaves Trump campaign amid reports of his ties to pro-Russian group in Ukraine.

Courtesy of Politico: 

Paul Manafort on Friday resigned as Donald Trump’s campaign chairman, after the Republican presidential nominee earlier this week announced a new leadership structure for his campaign. 

“This morning Paul Manafort offered, and I accepted, his resignation from the campaign. I am very appreciative for his great work in helping to get us where we are today, and in particular his work guiding us through the delegate and convention process. Paul is a true professional and I wish him the greatest success," Trump said in a statement. 

The Trump campaign is trying to spin this as nothing more than a change of direction, however that does not pass the smell test.

Just yesterday this new information was reported concerning Manafort's ties to a pro-Russia group in Ukraine:

A firm run by Donald Trump's campaign chairman directly orchestrated a covert Washington lobbying operation on behalf of Ukraine's ruling political party, attempting to sway American public opinion in favor of the country's pro-Russian government, emails obtained by The Associated Press show. Paul Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates, never disclosed their work as foreign agents as required under federal law. 

The lobbying included attempts to gain positive press coverage of Ukrainian officials in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press. Another goal: undercutting American public sympathy for the imprisoned rival of Ukraine's then-president. At the time, European and American leaders were pressuring Ukraine to free her. 

Gates personally directed the work of two prominent Washington lobbying firms in the matter, the emails show. He worked for Manafort's political consulting firm at the time. 

Manafort and Gates' activities carry outsized importance, since they have steered Trump's campaign since April. The pair also played a formative role building out Trump's campaign operation after pushing out an early rival. Trump shook up his campaign's organization again this week, but Manafort and Gates retain their titles and much of their influence. The new disclosures about their work come as Trump faces criticism for his friendly overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Damn! Can this plot get any thicker?

Right now I have a vision of Vladimir Putin slamming his fist down on a giant oaken desk and muttering "Curses, foiled again!" in his thick Russian accent.

Guess whose campaign manager may have taken secret payments from a pro-Russian group in Ukraine. Did I make that too easy? Update!

Courtesy of the BBC:

The New York Times article says Mr Manafort and his business played a key role in advising Ukraine's former pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled after an uprising in November 2013. 

It said Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau had discovered the listed payments in the ledgers of Mr Yanukovych's then governing Party of the Regions - allegedly part of "an illegal off-the-books system". 

The bureau is also investigating business deals worth millions of dollars put together with the help of Mr Manafort's business.

However, the bureau is yet to determine if Mr Manafort actually received any of the $12.7m. 

The Times quoted Mr Manafort's lawyer, Richard Hibey, as saying his client had not done so. 

"It is difficult to respect any kind of allegation of the sort being made here to smear someone when there is no proof and we deny there ever could be such proof."

You know I'm no lawyer but it would seem to me that listed payments in a ledger, constitutes at least some kind of proof.

As you might imagine the Clinton team is demanding that the Trump campaign come clean with all of their ties to Russia.

Here is how Howard Dean responded to the news.

The Smoking gun. Ukranian files show Trump-Manafort-Yanukovich-Putin connection. Trump is a national security risk. https://t.co/XHicRbnLa4

— Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) August 15, 2016

I am not sure that this can be categorized as a "smoking gun" until there is proof that Manafort took those payments.

But I think we're all pretty sure that he did.

Gee I wonder what's next?

My money's on a Vladimir Putin/Donald Trump sex tape.

Though I am really, really hoping that's not it. 

Update: Sorry I was wrong about the sex tape, the next thing is that Trump's daughter Ivanka is vacationing with Putin's girlfriend.

Courtesy of Gawker:

This weekend, Ivanka Trump and Wendi Deng Murdoch went “sight seeing” in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Deng Murdoch, Rupert Murdoch’s ex-wife, is reportedly dating Vladimir Putin.

Does WTF even cover this anymore?

Donald Trump claims that Putin will not go into the Ukraine when in fact he already has, then decides to go on Twitter and make it even worse.

This is what I know about international affairs. 

Courtesy of CNN:

Donald Trump said Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin won't make a military move into Ukraine -- even though Putin already has done just that, seizing the country's Crimean Peninsula. 

"He's not going into Ukraine, OK, just so you understand. He's not going to go into Ukraine, all right? You can mark it down. You can put it down. You can take it anywhere you want," Trump said in an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos on "This Week." 

"Well, he's already there, isn't he?" Stephanopoulos responded, in a reference to Crimea, which Putin took from Ukraine in early 2014. 

Trump said: "OK -- well, he's there in a certain way. But I'm not there. You have Obama there. And frankly, that whole part of the world is a mess under Obama with all the strength that you're talking about and all of the power of NATO and all of this. In the meantime, he's going away. He takes Crimea."

I have no idea what he was even trying to say there.

After several news outlets reported on his ignorance, and he was mocked mercilessly on the internet, Trump turned to Twitter.

When I said in an interview that Putin is "not going into Ukraine, you can mark it down," I am saying if I am President. Already in Crimea!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2016

So with all of the Obama tough talk on Russia and the Ukraine, they have already taken Crimea and continue to push. That's what I said!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2016

Actually no that is not even close to what he said.

What he said was "He's not going into the Ukraine, OK just so you understand. He's not going to go into Ukraine, all right? You can mark it down."

ABC did not even have to "mark it down" because Stephanopoulis already knew just like every informed individual, that Russia has already invaded the Ukraine.

Trump is a laughingstock not, just in America, but all over the world.

Ukrainian Rabbi calls antisemitic leaflets a hoax.

Courtesy of the Jerusalem Post:

A Ukrainian rabbi whose congregation was the target of an anti-Semitic leaflet that drew global media interest and condemnation from the US government believes it was a hoax and wants to put the matter to rest. 

On Monday evening, as Jews left a synagogue after a Passover service, masked men handed out fliers purported to be from pro-Russian separatists who seized the regional authority building in Donetsk and styled themselves as its government. 

In an echo of the Holocaust which devastated Ukraine's Jews, it ordered all Jews to register with them or face deportation. 

Denis Pushilin, head of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic, said it was a fake, presumably by supporters of the Ukrainian government, that was meant to discredit his movement. 

Pinchas Vishedski, chief rabbi of the Donetsk area's 15,000 Jews, told Reuters on Saturday that while it was initially shocking, he was now satisfied it was a political hoax - "a crude provocation" - though its authorship was still unclear.

This is why you wait to get all of the information before you make some ignorant statement about something that is way above your pay grade. 

You would think that a professional troll might recognize when somebody else is trolling another group hoping to cause some friction.

Okay who pulled Secessionist Barbie's string? Update!

Courtesy of Facebook, a place to share your family's photos, look up old friends, and rant incoherently about things you don't understand:

Thank you, Jake Tapper (Oooh, SOMEBODY has a crush.), for covering this shocking story about anti-Semitic propaganda distributed by pro-Russian militants in Ukraine demanding Jews “register” their religion and property. Our U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine confirmed the story.  (Yes he did.) The rest of the media must pursue this story and demand answers from the Obama administration as to what our President’s intention now is in light of this atrocious development that harkens back to frightening times for Jews. (Yes Obama must protect the Jews, so that Palin can meet Jesus during the End Times.)

Our government’s priorities are so skewed. The Middle East is a tinderbox; Russia flagrantly invades a sovereign nation, and we just draw more invisible red lines daring bad guys not to cross; we’re fed dishonest domestic denials as we discover our own government is spying on and harassing innocent U.S. citizens; our porous national borders are ignored (Actually illegal border crossings are at their lowest in 40 years.) while clueless politicians excitedly plan welcoming parties and more rewards for illegal foreigners to simply step right on over those borders; Democrats boast about our fake and jobless economic recovery (Actually the economy is poised for its best performance since the recession of 2008. You know, the one caused by the REPUBLICAN President.), etc., etc. Yet the top priority of the President (he who is the face of the Democrat Party) and his bureaucrats seems to focus on heavy handedly lassoing Nevada cows to stick it to an American rancher. (Did you all see those pictures of President Obama roping cattle in Nevada? It was awesome! Also imaginary.) Meanwhile, the President’s minion, the most powerful man in the U.S. Senate who hails from the great state of Nevada, calls patriotic Americans “terrorists” as we try to get facts on the Bundy ranch cows and controversy in his state. (Yeah how crazy is it to call men who bring semi-automatic weapons to a stand off and then threaten federal officers with violence domestic terrorists?) Really? Prioritize much, Democrats?

There is zero, and I mean zero, evidence that President Obama has had any input into the situation down in Nevada, and it is insane to suggest that every action by the government is personally directed by the White House.

As for the situation in the Ukraine, Joe Biden is headed there later this month, the President is working with NATO to formulate a solution, and together they are increasing the severity of the sanctions against Russia.

The President has resisted calls to provide weapons to the Ukrainians because he feels that would increase the possibility of violence and provide Putin with an excuse to send in more military. 

Not an unreasonable assumption.

But hey how could Palin possibly understand any of this?

After all she gets all of her information from Fox News, Twitter, and Right Wing talk radio.

However perhaps it would be best if Palin stuck to things that she knows.

For instance of President Obama ever needs information on how to increase his bust size using a bicycle pump, beat a mammal into submission and prop it on his head, or raise a family of dipshits and substance abusers, then she should be the first person he calls.

On everything else, not so much.

Update: It turns out that those Ukrainian letters may be a hoax.