Tag Archives: Donald Trump

Mueller, Manafort and Gates: where’s the beef?

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So: where is the beef?

First, from the BBC.com:

Ex-Trump aide Manafort charged with US tax fraud over Ukraine work

Donald Trump’s former presidential campaign manager, Paul Manafort, has been charged with conspiring to defraud the US in his dealings with Ukraine.

The 12 charges brought against Mr Manafort and one of his business associates, Rick Gates, include conspiracy to launder money.

They stem from an inquiry into alleged Russian meddling in the US election.

It has emerged that another adviser to Mr Trump admitted this month to lying about his links to Russia.

George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to making false statements to FBI agents about his dealings with an unnamed overseas academic who allegedly informed him that the Russians possessed “dirt” on Mr Trump’s presidential opponent, Hillary Clinton.

Even the BBC admits:

The charges against Mr Manafort and Mr Gates do not relate to Mr Trump’s campaign but to the alleged concealment of payments from the pair’s Ukrainian business dealings up to 2016.

The BBC also states:

The good news for Mr Trump is these charges stem from Mr Manafort’s past business dealings, not his campaign efforts. He is being accused of working for years for pro-Russian Ukrainian politicians and laundering millions in subsequent payments.

It certainly makes Mr Trump’s decision to cut Mr Manafort loose last August after details emerged of his Ukrainian ties seem a wise one.

Perhaps at this point I should have Captain Obvious step in and say: “Russia is not Ukraine. They are two separate countries, not particularly in love with each other.”

Odd how the American Media Maggots neglect that aspect of the charges.

Some NewsWeasels have declared the charges involving Manafort and Gates as an “opening salvo” by Special Prosecutor Mueller — he of the spic-and-span background.

Oh wait. Perhaps not so spic-and-span? From the WashingtonExaminer.com:

Peter King wants Robert Mueller to answer Congress’ questions about 2009 uranium deal

by Kyle Feldscher

New York Rep. Peter King wants special counsel Robert Mueller to come to Congress to explain why the FBI didn’t sound the alarm louder about a deal to sell a company in control of uranium reserves to a Russian company.

King said Sunday on Fox News that Mueller, who was FBI director from 2001-2013, has some questions to answer about the deal that saw a Russian state-controlled company buy Uranium One, a company that controlled 20 percent of American uranium reserves.

The deal had to be approved by nine American government agencies, including Hillary Clinton’s State Department, and went through in 2009.

Uh-oh. That was under Mr Spic-and-Span’s tenure. What did he know and when did he know it? Was he complicit in that approval?

“Bob Mueller should come forward to the Congress and explain how he addresses [the deal] because it’s not only a question whether or not the Clintons, what involvement they had with uranium,” King said, “but it’s also the fact he was head of the FBI at a time we’ve been told an investigation is being conducted by the FBI as to bribery and collusion involving the Russians and yet, this was approved the Cabinet and the treasury secretary, secretary of state and the president.”

“Did the FBI notify the administration the Obama administration at the time this investigation was ongoing and all of the allegations are being made and, if so what was done and if they didn’t, why not?”

Unpaid advisor to the Trump campaign, George Popdopoulos, was arrested in July, we now find, for lying to the FBI.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former campaign adviser to President Donald Trump has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russians, special counsel Robert Mueller said Monday, while Trump’s former campaign manager and that official’s business partner pleaded not guilty to felony charges of conspiracy against the United States and other counts.

We are told that Popadopoulos pleaded guilty and is “cooperating.” My first two thoughts? 1. Leverage, and 2. Wire.

During the daily press briefing, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders downplayed Papadopoulos’ role in the campaign, saying it was “extremely limited.”

“He was not paid by the campaign,” Sanders said, adding later: “Any actions that he took would have been on his own.”

Allahpundit of HotAir.com concurred with some of my thoughts.

According to the plea agreement, Papadopoulos was arrested on July 27 and signed his deal with the feds on October 5, although not until this morning was that publicly known. The court had sealed the files related to the case. How come?

So that’s why Mueller wanted to keep Papadopoulos’s arrest a secret. Papadopoulos may have been secretly working for the feds for the past three months, since his arrest, to gather evidence on suspects in related Russiagate matters in hopes of leniency. He was a perfect guy to try to recruit for that — young, in over his head, outside the Trump inner circle and therefore owing little loyalty to the administration. Mueller may have scared him senseless with threats of a long prison sentence for lying to the FBI and the promise of much reduced charges if he played ball. Possibly he enlisted Papadopoulos to reach out to some of the major players in Russiagate and get them on record confessing to … what, exactly? The problem with using Papadopoulos is that presumably he wasn’t a big enough cheese to make a guy like Manafort comfortable with discussing campaign secrets with him in the course of a “normal” conversation between them. He was a low-level guy.

As I said, 1. Leverage, and 2. Wire.

Monday’s revelations weren’t just of concern to Republicans. Demorats are hustling as well. Tony Podesta, brother of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta (complicit in the Hillary email scandal) was shitting Twinkies on Monday. From FoxNews.com:

Brother of Clinton campaign chair steps down from lobbying firm amid reports of scrutiny from special counsel

Tony Podesta, founder of the Podesta Group and brother of former Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, is resigning from his lobbying company.

Podesta and his lobbying firm were subjects of a federal investigation led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

The Podesta Group was one of several firms that worked on a campaign called the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine. The campaign was led by Paul Manafort and promoted Ukraine’s image in the West.

Uh-oh.

That said, all of this may be moot if a certain “fruit of the poisonous tree” doctrine is found to apply. Jerome Corsi writes:

FBI RELIANCE ON DISCREDITED FUSION GPS “RUSSIA DOSSIER” THREATENS MANAFORT PROSECUTION

by Jerome Corsi

FBI illegally obtained FISA wiretapping of Manafort based on dossier

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Special Counselor Robert Mueller’s case is in danger of being thrown out of court when the FBI is forced to admit FISA court authority to conduct electronic surveillance on former Trump campaign Paul Manafort was based on the fraudulent Fusion GPS “Russia dossier” that the FBI, the Clinton campaign, and the Democratic National Committee paid to be produced.

On Sept. 19, 2017, CNN reported that U.S. investigators conducted electronic surveillance on Manafort both before and after the election under a FISA court warrant.

The CNN article cites only unnamed sources, strongly suggesting the leak was based on an illegal leak to the press that could end up being traced back to the FBI, to Mueller’s Special Counselor office, or to both.

In other words, a case based on bullshite becomes bullshite.

The FBI and/or Mueller may have compromised their entire investigation of Paul Manafort by either using the fraudulent “Russia dossier” paid for in part by the FBI, or by illegally leaking information derived from the FISA-authorized electronic surveillance to CNN and other mainstream media publications known to be partisan “Never Trump” mouthpieces.

CNN reported the secret FISA warrant was obtained after Manafort became the subject of the FBI investigation that began as early as 2014 under then FBI Director James Comey, and centered upon work Manafort conducted consulting with Ukraine.

Further, will Mueller focus any aspect of his investigation on the clear felony charges that could be applied to those persons who leaked grand jury material?

From TheGatewayPundit.com:

Trey Gowdy: Mueller Team ‘Violated the Law’ Leaking Charges in Trump-Russia Investigation

by Joshua Caplan

Congressman and House Oversight Committee chair Trey Gowdy (R-SC) told “Fox News Sunday,” that Mueller’s team broke the law by leaking news of upcoming charges to CNN. Gowdy warned Mueller about leaking details of the investigation to the press.

Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, the leader of the House’s top investigative committee, slammed special counsel Robert Mueller  on Sunday for allowing the news media to learn that he and his legal team now have charges in their Russia investigation.

“In the only conversation I’ve had with Robert Mueller, I stressed to him the importance of cutting out the leaks,” Gowdy, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, told “Fox News Sunday.” “It’s kind of ironic that the people charged with investigating the law and the violations of the law would violate the law.”

On Friday night, CNN reported that Mueller’s team has filed the first charges in the case with a federal grand jury.

“Make no mistake, disclosing grand jury material is a violation of the law. Somebody violated their oath of secrecy,” Gowdy, a South Carolina lawmaker and former federal prosecutor, also told Fox News on Sunday.

Is the real story everything but the charges so far?

Let’s be honest. Mueller doesn’t give one shite about Manafort and Ukraine. He wants one thing: he wants Manafort and Gates and Papadopoulos to sing like birds. To me, it’s clear that Mueller got a tune out of Papadopoulos.

I don’t think he got much more than a goldfinch fart out of Manafort or Gates. Hence the charges.

Unfortunately for Mueller, their days of wearing wires are over. But perhaps this will encourage any number of individuals in DC to suck it up like buttercups and take massive gulps of STFU.

That rhymes.

“Round and round and round it goes; where it stops, nobody knows.”

BZ

 

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Mueller’s Manic Monday

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Here’s what happened.

Things were not going well for the DNC, the Demorats, Hillary, Bill, Obama, Holder, Lynch, DWS, Geithner, et al, so a few panicky phone calls were made. They went something like this:

“Bobby Three Sticks, dude, can’t you kick this shit into high gear? We’re getting killed by the dossier thing and the Uranium One thing. How about some charges? The threat of some charges? We don’t care if you really do indict a ham sandwich as long as it’s a Republican ham sandwich. Hell, indict a Republican hamster. You just gotta help us out here; we need a diversion and we need it now.”

With that in mind, Mueller’s first overt act was on Friday when this was leaked to CNN.

A federal grand jury in Washington, DC, on Friday approved the first charges in the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller, according to sources briefed on the matter.

The charges are still sealed under orders from a federal judge. Plans were prepared Friday for anyone charged to be taken into custody as soon as Monday, the sources said. It is unclear what the charges are.

A spokesman for the special counsel’s office declined to comment.

Pure coincidence. “Leaked to CNN”? Pure coincidence as well. Not like it’s branding or anything.

Five names have been thrown out, meat for the political wolves. Manafort, Flynn, Page, Kushner or Trump Jr.

Guesses as to which one?

Whatever charges are leveled will prove to be peripheral and not directly linked to Russian collusion influencing Trump or the election. Likely, I’m guessing — as with most anyone and everyone in DC — charges will be on the order of attempting some kind of coverup/lying or cash for personal gain. In Manafort’s case, wire transfers.

Mueller will do what the feds do customarily: break one person in order to get to another higher up the food chain. Leverage.

What kind of leverage is there truly?

We’ll see.

In the meantime, just when the investigations into Republicans and Russia began, the guilty parties have turned out increasingly to be Demorats.

How sad.

BZ

 

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Why DC has turned to shite

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I’ve said it for over six months and, despite that, some elements of the media are just now beginning to catch up. And that is this.

The Demorats, the DNC, Leftists and the American Media Maggots themselves have not been able to psychologically migrate from November 8th, 2016 to November 9th, 2016.

As in: Hillary Rodham Clinton should be president and we — all of us — cannot possibly believe that the man with the dead orange cat on his head is in charge of anything at all.

From the WashingtonFreeBeacon.com:

The One Sentence That Explains Washington Dysfunction

by Matthew Continetti

The other day Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania explained why Republicans are having such trouble with health care. Speaking at a town hall during the July 4 recess, Toomey said, “I didn’t expect Donald Trump to win. I think most of my colleagues didn’t. So we didn’t expect to be in this situation.”

No kidding. I too can report that, from June 16, 2015, to November 8, 2016, the feeling among the elected officials, party functionaries, consultants, strategists, and journalists in our nation’s capital was that Donald J. Trump stood no chance of becoming president of the United States. And because the political elite held this view with such self-assurance, with all the egotism and snobbery and moral puffery and snarkiness that distinguishes itself as a class, it did not spend more than a second, if that, thinking through the possible consequences of a Trump victory.

I repeat, at the risk of being repetitive, live and direct from the Department of Redundancy Dept., what I’ve said for at least nine months. Absolutely no one was prepared for or anticipated Donald Trump to win.

“I didn’t expect Donald Trump to win. I think most of my colleagues didn’t. So we didn’t expect to be in this situation.”

Please allow me to translate EstabliHack GOP Speak for you: “we didn’t expect Donald Trump to win so we essentially prepared nothing, thinking we’d be riding on more of the standard ‘talk much/do little’ strategy so customary with Establishment Republicans.”

That also accounts, you see, for the GOP having no cogent, conservative, logical alternative to ObamaKare prepared on paper though all of the candidates swore — as did the entire GOP itself — to repeal and replace the ACA.

Just as the Demorats were convinced Hillary Clinton would clap her canky little ankles up the White House steps, so were the Republicans convinced that Meb Bushney or Lindike Grahabee would settle a derriere behind the Resolution desk.

Not so, boys and girls, not so.

Further, all the oinking DC piglets lining up at the trough on both sides of the aisle have had their muzzles occasionally pulled from the DC nipple in a most disconcerting fashion and they are anything but pleased. The man with the dead orange cat on his head has most certainly upset the proverbial apple cart and, frankly, couldn’t care less who is affected, donk or phant.

This accounts for the true underminers on both sides to have wound up and pitched their most hellish opposition to damn near everything Trump has wanted to do. Internal squabbles Inside Power don’t help, either.

Despite all of this ridiculous shite President Trump has managed to do just a bit of politicking and directing which has resulted in any number of corporations deciding to stay stateside, a nice stock market, an uptick in jobs, an accountable VA, an exquisite Supreme Court selection, a reduction in illegal immigration from Mexico, an increase in deportations, the curtains finally having been pulled back on the American Media Maggots, an improvement in military and national confidence and the wholesale elimination of any number of executive orders penned by one Barack Hussein Obama.

All in six months.

Then there’s this: the absolute stark explosion of raving moonbattery from the Demorats and Leftists.

Why stop there? Pelosi so perfectly typifies and embodies the current status of the Demorats today: disjointed, stuttering, rambling, going nowhere and accomplishing nothing yet making a loud noise doing so. The abject moonbattery is quite delicious.

To that I can only add that I’ll gladly do for the Demorats what I’ve offered to do for the American Media Maggots: pleasantly allow them to commit seppuku. I’ll cheerfully be their second as well and suggest lovingly where and how to make that second very important sword cut.

Impeachment for Trump? Hardly. All the Demorats are doing is, thankfully, unraveling and unfocusing. 2018 is starting to look better and better.

Bravo, Demorats and GOP EstabliHacks.

We see you.

BZ

 

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Say “uncle” and you’ll get your way, Trump

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This is now, quite apparently, what we’ve come down to in the United States.

We all know about Fake News courtesy of Leftist “journalistas.” There is now, courtesy of Leftist judges and attorneys, Fake Law.

I can’t believe I’m reading the article correctly but, sadly, I am indeed. From Breitbart.com:

Neal Katyal at 9th Circuit: If Trump Says ‘Islam Is Peace’ He Can Have a Travel Ban

by Ian Mason

Neal Katyal made oral arguments for maintaining the injunction against President Donald Trump’s executive order banning migrants from certain Muslim-majority countries Monday before the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

“He could say, like President Bush did right after September 11th, ‘The face of Terror is not the true face of Islam, that’s not what Islam is about, Islam is Peace.’ Instead, we get ‘Islam hates us’,” Katyal told the bench, answering Clinton-appointed Judge Richard Paez’s question on what, if anything, Trump could do to make the executive order acceptable.

Really? All President Trump has to do, according to Katyal, is cry “uncle” and all is forgiven? Really?

Katyal, former President Barack Obama’s one-time acting Solicitor General, has taken on the representation of the plaintiffs who stopped the executive order’s implementation in March when a federal court in Hawaii ruled in their favor. The Justice Department has appealed the case to the Ninth Circuit, seeking to vacate that injunction.

Do you believe Katyal will actually relent and back off the lawsuit if President Trump but says the “magic words”?

Me neither.

The most controversial element of Obama-appointed district court Judge Derrick Watson’s ruling was its justification of the injunction based not on the text or effect of the executive order, but on statements President Trump made during the 2016 campaign.

Precisely. Fake Law. Predicated not upon the documents in front of the court, but on mostly everything but.

According to that ruling, speaking about a “Muslim ban” and speaking negatively about the religion’s relationship with the West meant that the plaintiffs had a high enough likelihood of proving a violation of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause to block the order. This is true even though the actual order does not take any action based on people being Muslim because, “[A] reasonable, objective observer—enlightened by the specific historical context, contemporaneous public statements, and specific sequence of events leading to its issuance—would conclude that the Executive Order was issued with a purpose to disfavor a particular religion[.]”

Meaning, again, that the issue was not what was immured on paper but what was said in the ether and not supported by paper. A logical question was then asked.

The argumentation led naturally to the question of what, if anything, could be done to save such a facially neutral order. “Does that mean that the President is forever barred from issuing an executive order along these lines?” Judge Paez asked Katyal. “What does he have to do to issue an executive order that, in your view, might pass constitutional muster?”

What indeed? Twenty-three Hail Marys? Genuflect towards Mecca? Tap a wrist? Provide evidence of stigmata?

Trump might gain more power to issue executive order if he “disavows,” Katyal argued. “One example would be what Judge Hawkins said about disavowing formally the stuff before.”

You can’t make this stuff up. But wait, there’s more. Let’s just excise whatever unappetizing elements actually exist within Islam, shall we?

In addition to suggesting Trump could save his order by telling the country “Islam is peace,” Katyal also recommended removing references, in the text of the order, to the unsavory elements of Islamic society. “It could eliminate the text which refers to honor killings,” he told the court.

Of course. Let’s just eliminate those niggling little female genital mutilation issues, the misogynist issues, the beheading issues, the Borg issues, the bacha bazi issues, the pedophilia of Islam, the internal combustion of Islam.

By the way, who is Neal Katyal? He’s the man who said this about Neil Gorsuch at Gorsuch’s hearing:

He’s also the man with the god-like endless CV. Superbly humble.

Katyal is the recipient of the very highest award given to a civilian by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Edmund Randolph Award, which the Attorney General presented to him in 2011. The Chief Justice of the United States appointed him in 2011 to the Advisory Committee on Federal Appellate Rules, and again in 2014. Additionally, he was named as One of the 40 Most Influential Lawyers of the Last Decade Nationwide by National Law Journal (2010); One of the 90 Greatest Washington Lawyers Over the Last 30 Years by Legal Times (2008); Lawyer of the Year by Lawyers USA (2006); Runner-Up for Lawyer of the Year by National Law Journal (2006); One of the Top 50 Litigators Nationwide 45 Years Old or Younger by American Lawyer (2007); and one of the top 500 lawyers in the country by LawDragon Magazine for each of the last ten years. He also won the National Law Journal’s pro bono award.

And there you have it. The insanity gene.

BZ

 

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BZ’s Berserk Bobcat Saloon, “The Aftermath,” Thursday, May 4th, 2017

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My thanks to the SHR Media Network for allowing me to broadcast in their studio and over their air twice weekly, Tuesdays and Thursdays, as well as appear on the Sack Heads Radio Show™ each Wednesday evening.

This was BZ’s third night running the new SHR laptop, bristling as it does with a full 16 gigs of buttery RAM goodness and a nice sound card. Once again, like Tuesday, BZ discovered that Windows 10 wanted to update right in the middle of the show. Uh, no. Learned that lesson.

Tonight in the Saloon we discussed:

  • “I know a dead parrot when I see one, and I’m looking at one right now”;
  • Happy Stories: CNN’s Wolf Blitzer shuts down Diane Feinstein when he doesn’t get the answer he wants from her;
  • Senator Ted Cruz chats with former temp AG Sally Yates, fired by Trump;
  • 8 USC 1182: it exists, get over it;
  • Thousands flee Cook County because of Chicago violence;
  • I was vastly wrong: NYPD has 34,000 officers, not 24,000;
  • Pat Dollard was busy; we’re hoping for another appearance shortly;
  • Obama says: you need to eat a bug;
  • What is “anthropogenic”?
  • Scientists: you need to eat insects to stop “global warming”;
  • Memorial Day represents nothing but US oppression around the globe;
  • Obama’s rampant hypocrisy: $400,000 speeches & $3.26 million dollar cash grab;
  • Obama’s private jet and 14-vehicle convoy to Milan’s Globalist Food Control meet;
  • I tell you about the Religious Left: it takes faith to believe in global warming;
  • Al Gore only wants $15 trillion dollars from every nation and tax payer;
  • Elizabeth “Fauxcahontas” Warren thinks Obama might be just a bit hypocritical;
  • Bernie Sanders thinks Obama might be just a bit hypocritical;
  • Bill Maher thinks Obama might be just a bit hypocritical;
  • The sky began falling this past Tuesday;
  • An in-depth analysis of the firing of James Comey by President Donald Trump.

Listen to “BZ’s Berserk Bobcat Saloon, “The Aftermath,” Thursday, May 11th, 2017″ on Spreaker.

Please join me, the Bloviating Zeppelin (on Twitter @BZep and on Gab.ai @BZep), every Tuesday and Thursday night on the SHR Media Network from 11 PM to 1 AM Eastern and 8 PM to 10 PM Pacific, at the Berserk Bobcat Saloon — where the speech is free but the drinks are not.

As ever, thank you so kindly for listening, commenting, and interacting in the chat room or listening via podcast. With luck all screens will be functioning next week. Shaun said so. Heh. Perhaps, if I speak soothing words, I’ll have the live feed on YouTube up and running. No promises yet. Besides, after last Wednesday on Sack Heads, why would you want to look at my ugly mug?

Want to listen to all the Berserk Bobcat Saloon archives in podcast? Go here.

BZ

 

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