Lost in the Sauce. Let's keep track here. Shall we?

Bushay

NHL Expert
Let's start with......

On Friday, the Justice Department released a slightly-less-redacted version of the Mueller report.

Donald Trump was told in advance that Wikileaks would be releasing documents embarrassing to the Clinton campaign and subsequently informed advisors that he expected more releases would be coming… In July 2016, Roger Stone told Trump as well as several campaign advisors that he had spoken with Julian Assange and that WikiLeaks would be publishing the documents in a matter of days.

The newly unredacted portions of the Mueller report also show that after the initial email dump by WikiLeaks, Trump personally asked Manafort to keep in touch with Stone, who in turn told the then-campaign chairman to keep him “apprised of any developments with WikiLeaks.” Investigators were also told by Gates that Trump had multiple phone conversations with Stone during the campaign and that, following one call held en route to LaGuardia airport, “Trump told Gates that more releases of damaging information would be coming.”

Mueller examined whether President Donald Trump lied to him in written answers during the Russia investigation… In written testimony to Mueller’s team in November 2018, Trump denied being aware of any communications between Stone, Manafort, Gates, or Donald Trump Jr and WikiLeaks or Assange. Yet, the newly public portions show that Trump did know about a Stone-Wikileaks connection.

  • Considering the contradictory evidence, the special counsel’s office weighed the possibility that Trump “no longer had clear recollections” of what happened two years earlier, but also wondered whether “the President's conduct could also be viewed as reflecting his awareness that Stone could provide evidence that would run counter to the President's denials and would link the President to Stone's efforts to reach out to WikiLeaks."
More from Bolton
I wrote about the main takeaways from Bolton’s book last week. Since then, we’ve learned a few more details, which I’ll briefly list below. Bolton sat for an ABC interview on Sunday. You can read the transcript here.

In an Axios interview on Friday, Trump said he resisted punishing China for its mass internment of ethnic Uighurs last year for fear of jeopardizing trade talks with Beijing. This confirms a damning claim in Bolton’s book. As NYT writes, it is a blunt admission of Trump’s transactional approach to human rights and willingness to subordinate other U.S. policy priorities to a potential trade deal he considers vital to his re-election.

  • Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “President Trump’s admission that he is looking the other way and enabling one of the worst human rights atrocities of our time in order to ink a trade deal is appalling… Since Day One of his Administration, President Trump has had the tools to hold Chinese officials accountable for these human rights abuses and others including in Hong Kong by deploying sanctions under the 2016 Global Magnitsky Act, yet has refused to do so.”
Bolton said he was worried about leaving Trump alone in a room with Vladimir Putin. “Because I didn't know what he would say,” Bolton continued, “it's certainly not advancing the interests.” (ABC)

Bolton writes that Trump was eager - even desperate - to meet with Putin. Bolton said he saw Trump display “the same fascination with speaking with a leader like Putin that we saw with respect to Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un… The president himself used to comment on how strange it was that in one trip he took to a NATO summit, a summit with Theresa May, the prime minister of Britain, and then Vladimir Putin in Helsinki that he thought the easiest, most pleasant one might be with Vladimir Putin.” z/story?id=71287825))

Trump compared his courtship of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un to dating and “always wanted to be the one who broke up with the girl first,” Bolton told NPR. “[Trump] used that to describe whether he would cancel the summit with Kim Jong-un first or whether we would risk the North Koreans canceling it.” When NPR interviewer Steve Inskeep asked if the president had “a kind of romantic approach to numerous dictators”, Bolton agreed: “Yeah, I think that’s an accurate description.”

Bolton says Trump “directly” told him his goal last year was to link “military assistance and that opportunity to go after Joe Biden.” "It was a trade. It was a trade of an investigation in exchange for the security assistance,” Bolton says. This is the definition of quid pro quo. z/story?id=71287825))

Russia and Putin
To add to what Bolton recounted about Trump and Putin’s relationship (above), former National Security Council member Fiona Hill told The New Yorker about her experiences…

Hill said Trump’s translator for a 2017 meeting with Putin told her that Trump assured the Russian leader that he believed Putin never meddled in the 2016 election. Trump then took the translator’s notes. At the end of the meeting, Putin told Trump, “Let’s talk later.” The two had a private conversation at dinner with only Putin’s translator present.

  • Later that year, Trump and Putin had another unscheduled exchange, at an economic summit in Da Nang, Vietnam. A White House official who accompanied Trump said he overheard the beginning of the conversation, in which Trump engaged in “mundane small talk” with Putin, before he and his foreign counterparts were escorted out of the room. Hill said, “That’s the one meeting where nobody has any clue about what was discussed.”
The Kremlin and White House are reportedly discussing exchanging Paul Whelan for convicted arms dealer “Merchant of Death” Viktor Bout. In 2011, Bout was convicted by a jury in a Manhattan federal court of conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens and officials, delivery of anti-aircraft missiles, and providing aid to a terrorist organization

  • Matthew Miller, who led Attorney General Eric Holder’s communications team, responded: “This would be a real travesty. Bout has the blood of thousands of people on his hands, and his arrest and extradition was a major U.S. accomplishment that some of our allies helped us with at significant cost.”
Top Democrats introduce bill to stop Trump's Germany withdrawal… Sen. Menendez said in a statement that “This drawdown weakens America and Europe. And Vladimir Putin understands and appreciates that better than anyone.” Rep. Engel added: “President Trump has once again made foreign policy decisions based solely on his absurd affection for Vladimir Putin, a murderous dictator who has attacked America and our allies.”

More:

  • US fighter jets intercept 8 Russian warplanes near Alaska for 4th time in a week
  • Researchers uncover six-year Russian misinformation campaign across Facebook and Reddit
 

Bushay

NHL Expert
Congress
Tomorrow, June 24, Mueller prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky and DOJ official John Elias will testify before the House Judiciary Committee about AG Barr’s interference. Zelinsky withdrew from the Roger Stone case when Barr intervened to soften the sentencing recommendation

House Judiciary Chairman Nadler is preparing to subpoena Barr for his testimony on July 2. Nadler is investigating Barr’s involvement in the forced resignation-turned-firing of SDNY prosecutor Berman, as well as the DOJ’s reversal in Michael Flynn’s case.

Both the House Democratic and Senate Republican police reform bills are being brought to the floor this week. McConnell will need seven Democrats to vote in favor of the GOP bill in order to advance the legislation. It is unlikely to be accepted by the House without significant changes.

  • UPDATE: Senate Democrats are indicating that they will block the GOP bill from advancing.
How the two versions compare: The Democratic bill bans chokeholds, while the GOP bill disincentivizes chokehold use (allows it if an officer is “in danger”). Democrats end qualified policing and ban no-knock warrants, but the GOP allow both policies to continue unchanged. Finally, the GOP adds additional funding for police; the Democratic bill does not. (source: MSNBC)

Voting and elections
Kentucky cuts THOUSANDS of polling locations ahead of today’s primary election. The 3,700 voting locations have been reduced to only 170. The biggest cuts per population occurred in counties with the largest black population in the state. This election will determine which Democrat faces Mitch McConnell in November.

  • UPDATE: Fayette County, home of Lexington, seems to have the longest lines this morning. The wait time is reportedly between 1-2 hours and it is now raining on the voters, lines stretching around the block. Linda Blackford, of the Lexington Herald-Leader, is on the scene with updates.
  • UPDATE: Voting is going much smoother in Louisville, where lines are shorter than anticipated.
  • UPDATE: Lexington seemed to be the location with the longest line all day. Reporters on the scene said most voters were in good spirits, though.
  • UPDATE: Polling hours apparently extended and doors reopened in Louisville after officials didn't let people vote who were on the property by the deadline. Some video in this thread - voters banged on the doors to be let in.
  • Op-ed: It is no wonder that a recent study showed that in 2016, residents of entirely black neighborhoods waited 29 percent longer to vote than their counterparts in entirely white neighborhoods. This disparity held up even within the same counties. Far too many election officials accept long lines, election after election, as the “usual.” Others accept long lines in minority communities as a cynical trade-off to ensure that members of their white communities don’t complain. Finally, others seek a partisan advantage.
Meanwhile, though thousands of voters have requested mail-in ballots in an attempt to avoid in-person voting, some have yet to receive them just days before the election date of June 23, when they must be postmarked.

Perhaps indicative of the upcoming troubles in Kentucky, the unemployment line in the state last week was an 8 hour wait from the back of the line. Police turned people away from joining the line eventually, taking their name and number in the hopes of getting a call from a real human to solve the hold/denial of their unemployment application.

A federal judge in Alabama blocked the state from enforcing a trio of restrictions for absentee and curbside voting for the state's July 14 runoff election amid concerns from voters who say they are at a higher risk of severe illness from the coronavirus.

The Texas Democratic Party asked the U.S. Supreme Court to expand access of mail-in ballots to all voters in the state, including those afraid of contracting the coronavirus.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said she plans to sign an executive order that would reinstate the voting rights of Iowans who have completed their felony sentences. It is unclear what form such an order would take.

Iowa Republicans added a last minute voter suppression measure to the state budget in an overnight session. The Republicans added new voter identification requirements for early voting.

Vice President Mike Pence and a half-dozen other senior advisers to President Donald Trump have repeatedly voted by mail… More than three years after leaving the Indiana governor's residence, Pence still lists that as his official residence and votes absentee accordingly (which Trump would define as voter fraud if a Democrat did such a thing).

Immigration news
  • Bolsonaro fraudulently circumvented Trump’s COVID-19 immigration ban to smuggle his scandal-plagued ex-Education Minister into the U.S.
  • Trump let Nigel Farage break coronavirus travel rules “in the national interest” to attend his Tulsa rally. Chairman of the House Homeland Security Cmte. Bennie Thompson requested documents from DHA on its decision to wave the coronavirus travel ban.
  • Trump extended a freeze on green cards for new immigrants and signed an executive order to suspend new H-1B, L-1, J and other temporary work visas for skilled workers, managers and au pairs through the end of the year.
  • Federal court rules that ICE can no longer enter NY courthouses just to arrest alleged undocumented immigrants
  • Authorities transferred hundreds of people between shadowy immigration prisons, ignoring the coronavirus threat. Criminal Alien Requirement, or CAR, prisons are a shadowy network of facilities overseen by the Bureau of Prisons but run entirely by private contractors and used exclusively to house noncitizens serving federal sentences, often for immigration-related offenses.
  • ‘Either he’s dead or he’s been kidnapped’: ICE detainees go ‘missing’ amid coronavirus
  • Why Is the United States Exporting Coronavirus? Holding asylum seekers, immigrants, and others in facilities where the virus easily spreads only to later send them to other nations is a public health hazard — here and abroad.
 

Bushay

NHL Expert
Miscellaneous
News stories that didn’t fit in previous categories.

In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, Trump was asked what crime he thinks Obama committed: “Treason. Treason. It’s treason.” Trump continued by accusing Obama of spying on his campaign and said that he’s looking forward to the Justice Department’s investigation concluding.

The FBI used its most advanced spy plane to watch Black Lives Matter protests and the Department of Homeland Security used aircraft to surveil protests in 15 cities.

  • The Air Force inspector general is investigating the use of military aircraft to monitor protesters during recent unrest across the country, according to an Air Force spokesperson.
A large 'Black Lives Matter' banner draped on the front of the U.S. embassy in Seoul was removed after it was brought to the attention of Trump and Mike Pompeo. A large, multicolored “pride” banner recognizing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people was also removed.

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman’s promotion to full colonel is in jeopardy over what some officials fear could be White House retaliation for his role in last year’s impeachment inquiry. Such promotions are typically signed off on by Army and then Pentagon leaders before moving to the White House and the Senate for a confirmation vote.

  • Multiple government officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to address personnel matters, have voiced concern, however, that the White House could strike Vindman’s name once it is conveyed, effectively sanctioning him for testimony he gave under subpoena to House lawmakers.
Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko denied Sunday that former Vice President Joe Biden ever approached him about Burisma Holdings… “My absolutely clear answer: no, never,” Poroshenko told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.

‘We are facing extermination’: Brazil losing a generation of indigenous leaders to Covid-19. Coronavirus has swept through tribes, killing elders – and inflicting irreparable damage on tribal history, culture and medicine

US Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue ordered environmental rollbacks for the Forest Service, to allow for more grazing, logging and oil development on public lands.

The Arctic Circle Hit 101 degrees (F) on Saturday, its hottest temperature ever. The average high temp for June is 68 degrees (F). This dramatic warming of the Arctic up to triple-digit temperatures was not expected to happen until 2100 from climate change.

The Climate Crisis Is Killing Us, and America’s Premier Public-Health Agency Doesn’t Care… The government spends more on Trump’s trips to Mar-a-Lago than on the CDC’s climate program

Facebook deactivated dozens of ads placed by President Trump’s reelection campaign that included a symbol once used by the Nazis to designate political prisoners in concentration camps.
 

Bushay

NHL Expert
Hearing today: Roger Stone prosecutor recounts Barr's interference

The DC Circuit appeals court just directed the district court judge (Sullivan) to dismiss the prosecution of Michael Flynn, in accordance with DOJ's wishes.

Steve Vladeck" If this survives rehearing by the full Court of Appeals (which is a big if), it’s going to set a precedent for mandamus relief that will cause all kinds of headaches for the government in future cases.​
Barr's influence in the Flynn case will surely come up at the hearing today.

The three-judge panel's 2-1 ruling — authored by Trump-judge Neomi Rao — focused heavily on the "presumption of regularity" that attaches to DOJ actions, and notes that the new evidence submitted by DOJ, which led to the move to dismiss charges, should be treated as good-faith. source

UPDATE 2: DOJ spokesperson - The Attorney General has accepted an invitation to appear before the House Judiciary Committee for a general oversight hearing on July 28th.

WATCH LIVE
Today at 12:00 pm eastern, the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on political interference in the Justice Department. Aaron Zelinsky, a prosecutor on Mueller’s team who withdrew from Roger Stone’s case, will testify alongside career DOJ employee John Elias. Former Deputy AG Donald Ayer and former AG Michael Mukasey are appearing as expert witnesses to provide context and opinion (the latter invited by Republicans).

Chairman Jerry Nadler released the opening statements:

Highlights of opening statements:

Zelinsky

What I saw was the Department of Justice exerting significant pressure on the line prosecutors in the case to obscure the correct Sentencing Guidelines calculation to which Roger Stone was subject – and to water down and in some cases outright distort the events that transpired in his trial and the criminal conduct that gave rise to his conviction. Such pressure resulted in the virtually unprecedented decision to override the original sentencing recommendation in his case and to file a new sentencing memorandum that included statements and assertions at odds with the record and contrary to Department of Justice policy.
What I heard – repeatedly – was that Roger Stone was being treated differently from any other defendant because of his relationship to the President. I was told that the Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Timothy Shea, was receiving heavy pressure from the highest levels of the Department of Justice to cut Stone a break, and that the U.S. Attorney’s sentencing instructions to us were based on political considerations. I was also told that the acting U.S. Attorney was giving Stone such unprecedentedly favorable treatment because he was “afraid of the President.”
...It pains me to describe these events. But as Judge Jackson said in this case, the truth still matters. And so I am here today to tell you the truth.​
Elias

Based on what I have seen, and what my colleagues saw and described to me, I was concerned enough to report certain antitrust investigations launched under Attorney General Barr to the Department of Justice Inspector General. I asked him to investigate whether these matters constituted an abuse of authority, a gross waste of funds, and gross mismanagement.
First, at the direction of Attorney General Barr, the Antitrust Division launched ten full-scale reviews of merger activity taking place in the marijuana, or cannabis, industry. These mergers involve companies with low market shares in a fragmented industry; they do not meet established criteria for antitrust investigations… Rejecting the analysis of career staff, Attorney General Barr ordered the Antitrust Division to issue Second Request subpoenas. The rationale for doing so centered not on an antitrust analysis, but because he did not like the nature of their underlying business.
Second, I will detail an investigation – initiated the day after tweets by President Trump – of an arrangement between the State of California and four automakers on fuel emissions… Ordinarily, decisions of import – here, an investigation of a $630 billion automobile market – take time and care to evaluate, especially when the action would face defenses. Here, in its opening memorandum, staff acknowledged that it had not fully examined the public record.​
Ayer

Clearly, Bill Barr experienced Watergate and its resolution differently than I did. By sometime in the 1980s, if not well before, he had formulated a concept of the presidency that would have cheered Nixon in his heyday. Discounting Levi’s Watergate lesson that public trust depends on having a system of “laws and not men” in which no person is above the law, it is apparent from his advocacy and action when in government that Barr has long believed that the president’s power should be virtually unchecked.
...Even more alarming than this institutionalization of a process to achieve political outcomes in sensitive cases, is the fact that Barr has now clearly signed on as an active participant in the Trump campaign. I mean that in the usual sense – that he is serving as a spokesman and advocate for campaign positions being advanced by the President. It is troubling in general that the nation’s chief law enforcement officer would attempt to double as a campaign spokesman. But here it is far more pernicious, since Barr is also using the Departments litigation and other tools to advance the President’s narrow political interests.​
 

John Kelly

Born Gambler
Staff member
Lost in the sauce.

I've heard the idiom but never used it or really understood it.
 
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Bushay

NHL Expert
Lost in the sauce.

I've heard the idiom but never used it or really understood it.
In this instance it means, one side likes to divert attention off the important stuff. This keeps everything in one place for future reference. And an excellent job by these individuals I might add. They don't like dealing with facts. They are laid out superbly here. I'll be updating this daily. Time bearing.
 
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Bushay

NHL Expert
Can you just imagine the length of the list if the Republicans countered with a list of their own for comparison purposes. I like and respect Fair Warning for his open mindedness, but when he says both sides are crooked.......it isn't even close.
 

John Kelly

Born Gambler
Staff member
In this instance it means, one side likes to divert attention off the important stuff. This keeps everything in one place for future reference. And an excellent job by these individuals I might add. They don't like dealing with facts. They are laid out superbly here. I'll be updating this daily. Time bearing.


Got it.


1593056706988.png
 

Bigrunner

EOG Master
Hearing today: Roger Stone prosecutor recounts Barr's interference

The DC Circuit appeals court just directed the district court judge (Sullivan) to dismiss the prosecution of Michael Flynn, in accordance with DOJ's wishes.

Steve Vladeck" If this survives rehearing by the full Court of Appeals (which is a big if), it’s going to set a precedent for mandamus relief that will cause all kinds of headaches for the government in future cases.​
Barr's influence in the Flynn case will surely come up at the hearing today.

The three-judge panel's 2-1 ruling — authored by Trump-judge Neomi Rao — focused heavily on the "presumption of regularity" that attaches to DOJ actions, and notes that the new evidence submitted by DOJ, which led to the move to dismiss charges, should be treated as good-faith. source

UPDATE 2: DOJ spokesperson - The Attorney General has accepted an invitation to appear before the House Judiciary Committee for a general oversight hearing on July 28th.

WATCH LIVE
Today at 12:00 pm eastern, the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on political interference in the Justice Department. Aaron Zelinsky, a prosecutor on Mueller’s team who withdrew from Roger Stone’s case, will testify alongside career DOJ employee John Elias. Former Deputy AG Donald Ayer and former AG Michael Mukasey are appearing as expert witnesses to provide context and opinion (the latter invited by Republicans).

Chairman Jerry Nadler released the opening statements:

Highlights of opening statements:

Zelinsky

What I saw was the Department of Justice exerting significant pressure on the line prosecutors in the case to obscure the correct Sentencing Guidelines calculation to which Roger Stone was subject – and to water down and in some cases outright distort the events that transpired in his trial and the criminal conduct that gave rise to his conviction. Such pressure resulted in the virtually unprecedented decision to override the original sentencing recommendation in his case and to file a new sentencing memorandum that included statements and assertions at odds with the record and contrary to Department of Justice policy.​
What I heard – repeatedly – was that Roger Stone was being treated differently from any other defendant because of his relationship to the President. I was told that the Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Timothy Shea, was receiving heavy pressure from the highest levels of the Department of Justice to cut Stone a break, and that the U.S. Attorney’s sentencing instructions to us were based on political considerations. I was also told that the acting U.S. Attorney was giving Stone such unprecedentedly favorable treatment because he was “afraid of the President.”​
...It pains me to describe these events. But as Judge Jackson said in this case, the truth still matters. And so I am here today to tell you the truth.​
Elias

Based on what I have seen, and what my colleagues saw and described to me, I was concerned enough to report certain antitrust investigations launched under Attorney General Barr to the Department of Justice Inspector General. I asked him to investigate whether these matters constituted an abuse of authority, a gross waste of funds, and gross mismanagement.​
First, at the direction of Attorney General Barr, the Antitrust Division launched ten full-scale reviews of merger activity taking place in the marijuana, or cannabis, industry. These mergers involve companies with low market shares in a fragmented industry; they do not meet established criteria for antitrust investigations… Rejecting the analysis of career staff, Attorney General Barr ordered the Antitrust Division to issue Second Request subpoenas. The rationale for doing so centered not on an antitrust analysis, but because he did not like the nature of their underlying business.​
Second, I will detail an investigation – initiated the day after tweets by President Trump – of an arrangement between the State of California and four automakers on fuel emissions… Ordinarily, decisions of import – here, an investigation of a $630 billion automobile market – take time and care to evaluate, especially when the action would face defenses. Here, in its opening memorandum, staff acknowledged that it had not fully examined the public record.​
Ayer

Clearly, Bill Barr experienced Watergate and its resolution differently than I did. By sometime in the 1980s, if not well before, he had formulated a concept of the presidency that would have cheered Nixon in his heyday. Discounting Levi’s Watergate lesson that public trust depends on having a system of “laws and not men” in which no person is above the law, it is apparent from his advocacy and action when in government that Barr has long believed that the president’s power should be virtually unchecked.​
...Even more alarming than this institutionalization of a process to achieve political outcomes in sensitive cases, is the fact that Barr has now clearly signed on as an active participant in the Trump campaign. I mean that in the usual sense – that he is serving as a spokesman and advocate for campaign positions being advanced by the President. It is troubling in general that the nation’s chief law enforcement officer would attempt to double as a campaign spokesman. But here it is far more pernicious, since Barr is also using the Departments litigation and other tools to advance the President’s narrow political interests.​

I've been watching the reply of the House Judiciary Oversight of the Justice Department Hearing on C-Span. Its been fascinating. I've never seen such daming testimony as to what I'm seeing against Barr and Trump. I think all that's left is to impeach Barr.
Unfortunately this reply started 3.5 hours ago. Its almost over but its been great and the RepubliCons are losers and its being reflected in the polls. Jim Jordan is the ranking member of this committee and is a corrupt gov. Official that only talks about Lisa Pagr and Peter S.
 

winkyduck

TYVM Morgan William!!!
I've been watching the reply of the House Judiciary Oversight of the Justice Department Hearing on C-Span. Its been fascinating. I've never seen such daming testimony as to what I'm seeing against Barr and Trump. I think all that's left is to impeach Barr.
Unfortunately this reply started 3.5 hours ago. Its almost over but its been great and the RepubliCons are losers and its being reflected in the polls. Jim Jordan is the ranking member of this committee and is a corrupt gov. Official that only talks about Lisa Pagr and Peter S.

100% agree. But just like with Der Fuhrer there is a 0% chance the Senate agrees to do it. The best way to "impeach" Barr happens on Nov 3

VOTE BLUE ON NOV 3 AS IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT..................BECAUSE IT DOES!

Trump - BlueHat.jpg
 

Bushay

NHL Expert
What I enjoy is none of them will show a hint they are nervous he is currently being crushed and actually think he's not only not losing many GOPers, but gaining since the last election. They know the only way he wins is by cheating. And Dems are well aware now of most all their tricks and are monitoring the process as we approach November. Or as I read someone say, the only chance he has is if this defunding of the police gains much more traction. The voting booths and the tricks the GOP has been using to close voting booths in black areas making it often much harder to just get up, get dressed, and head to the polls that day is what concerns me most. Not to mention Ivanka getting the patents on the voting booth machines from China. I don't hear enough about this. How hard would it be for a paid hacker to rig one of these machines to magically switch certain votes while or after they have been cast? If blacks love Trump, why do they try so hard to make it difficult for them to vote? lol. They think we are all stupid.

3-2-1 and someone will be in momentarily to say the same thing was said about Hillary. NIght and day difference. Hillary was hated by many Dem's while you'll have a hard time finding people to say that about creepy Joe.
 

kane

EOG master
if joe wins fla and tex .. say good night Gracie !

If Joe wins Florida, it's pretty much over. I'm not 100% on this, but I think no republican has ever won a presidential election without winning Florida. Trump will win Texas, but just the fact that it's even a thought that Texas could turn blue tells you all you need to know
 

billysink

EOG Dedicated
If Republicans abandon Trump now and he somehow wins, you will see the greatest shit show on the planet.

Personally I would love to see Trump with a four year term during which re election is not his primary concern.

The carnage would be unbelievable.
 

TheGuesser

EOG Dedicated
I expect that the cheating will be so blatant with regards to election day voting, record voter turnout combined with very limited polling access, that there will be civil unrest.

Contested results will delay or nullify the entire proceedings and the entire scenario will resemble an election in Kazakhstan.
I suspect you're right, and Bushay's point about the potential manipulation of voting machines is very real, and very worrisome. These fascists aren't just gonna give up their power in an orderly fashion.
 

winkyduck

TYVM Morgan William!!!
if joe wins fla and tex .. say good night Gracie !

Agree. But as others have pointed out - he is not winning Texass. No way. Florida is very "doable" - Texass is not

I actually think Biden winning is the best thing that could happen to RepubliCONS. Yes - they lose the WH for 4 years but it also means in 2024 they will be able to pick someone to run against the Dem nominee. Biden has already said he is only running for one-term so if he wins in 2024 we could go thru this circus once again. The Reoubs will have 4 years to realize the mistake they made backing Der Fuhrer and can run someone more appealing to the masses.

The Dems will go thru this circus once again of deciding who to run. Maybe. I believe Biden will do his Veep a monster favor. I believe Biden will step aside after about 2.5 years as POTUS. Doing so will allow his Veep to be POTUS and now in 2024 SHE (get ready for that) will be running for re-election, not up for election. By stepping aside AFTER the halfway point in the term, this allows the new POTUS to run for "re-election" 2 more times since she served less than half a term. If he steps aside she will be the Dem nominee and not have to fight off a ton of people to do so.

I do also agree on rampant cheating. Der Fuhrer told students in Phoenix he is worried about a "Crooked Election." THAT IS THE BIGGEST CROCK OF SHIT I HAVE EVER HEARD COMING FROM HIS FAT, UGLY, CRUSTY LIPS! A "Crooked Election" IS THE ONLY WAY HE CAN WIN - AND HE KNOWS IT! If the election is an honest one he will lose - he knows it. Expect all sorts of "Executive Orders" after Labor Day to limit polling options in places he is vulnerable - meaning black communities. Mail in ballots are something he hates - even though he and his family do it and have all of the time. He will say how much fraud there is even though the only cases prosecuted from 2016 were....drumroll please................RepubliCONS. He will get rid of polling places where black and low income people live knowing it will impact Biden the most. We know the Senate will agree to this since #MoscowMitchMcTraitor is as guilty as #IQ45 is with corruption.

Get read for some nasty and "questionable" rulings to come about after Labor Day. 100% of them done to try and help Fearless Leader steal an election he knows he has no shot of winning otherwise.

Trump - MAGA - Biden.jpg
 

winkyduck

TYVM Morgan William!!!
I expect that the cheating will be so blatant with regards to election day voting, record voter turnout combined with very limited polling access, that there will be civil unrest.

Contested results will delay or nullify the entire proceedings and the entire scenario will resemble an election in Kazakhstan.

100% agree. The farce will be when RepubliCONS place the blame everywhere but at themselves

I actually think LOSING the POTUS election would BENEFIT the Repubs more than winning.

IF Der Fuhrer gets re-elected: The next 4 years (if he lasts that long) will be a major shit show. What we are going thru now will seem like prosperity with Dementia Don running the country in his diminished mental capacity. He won't be able to run for re-election (although rest assured he will try and find a way to do so) so he won't care what anyone thinks of him so he will do what he thinks is best and as we have seen - what he thinks is best is done for what he thinks is best for HIMSELF and NO ONE ELSE! By 2024 we will see a repeat of 2008 when the country was so fed up with the GOP after what Bush did the Dems could have run a trained seal and it would have won. If #IQ45 gets 4 more year in 2024 the GOP candidate will be a sacrificial lamb to whoever the Dems run.

If Der Fuhrer does NOT get re-elected: Now the GOP can pick someone more liked than #IQ45. That won;t be hard. They will also be able to attack the Dems on stuff the POTUS did during his/her term. If Biden stays to the end we will have a repeat of 2016 with no party running an incumbent. If Biden steps aside and his Veep takes over, now the Repubs can attack her and her short time in office and ask if people want to vote for someone with as limited experience as she has (unless Kamala Harris - and then in that case attacking her for her very questionable past will be easy).

I think the Repubs are better off having #IQ45 LOSE this year. With one caveat: The Senate. If the GOP loses the Senate, meaning the Dems control all 3, they are fucked. Big time. But if they keep the Senate, meaning repugnant pathetic excuse for a human being, Turkey Neck Foghorn Leghorn #MoscowMitchMcTraitor is still the Senate Maj Leader (if he wins re-election - which he should) then all bets are off. He will be the constant pain in the ass he has always been and will be even more so since he will look at himself as the last line of defense for the party and country. He could fuck things up in 2024 for the Repubs but otherwise the Repubs losing in 2020 is actually something that will benefit them in the long run since it gets them past the "Reign of Error" we have now
 

billysink

EOG Dedicated
Monkey will not stand for this.... should be here shortly. Have fun guys

Minkles is probably in the ER from his self inflicted beating of yesterday.

Flagged to back of line for arguing with triage nurse over proper way to take BP. She musta come at him withe the kiddie cuff and a blue candy.

The blue freaked him out.

Either that or he waiting for a white doctor.
 

Bushay

NHL Expert
Barr tried to undermine Michael Cohen's conviction

More details on the Russia-Taliban story
One American official had told The Times that the intelligence finding that the Russians had offered and paid bounties to Afghan militants and criminals had been briefed at the highest levels of the White House. Another said it was included in the President’s Daily Brief, a written document which draws from spywork… The briefing document is given to the president to read and they serve as the basis for oral briefings to him several times a week.

  • On Saturday, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said Trump and Pence never received a briefing on the subject. On Sunday, the ODNI declined to say whether the intel was included in the daily brief. Critically, the ODNI never said the reports weren’t true.
Trump responded to the reports by casting doubt on the bounties and attacks themselves, targeting the media instead for publishing the intel: “Probably just another phony Times hit job, just like their failed Russia Hoax. Who is their ‘source’?” (tweet)

  • UPDATE: Late last night Trump claimed that American intelligence didn’t find the reports of bounties credible enough to tell him about, tweeting: “Intel just reported to me that they did not find this info credible, and therefore did not report it to me or @VP. Possibly another fabricated Russia Hoax, maybe by the Fake News @nytimesbooks, wanting to make Republicans look bad!!!”
U.S. intelligence officers and Special Operations forces in Afghanistan alerted their superiors as early as January to a suspected Russian plot to pay bounties to the Taliban to kill American troops in Afghanistan.

  • Two officials said the information about the bounty hunting was "well-known" among the intel community in Afghanistan, including the CIA's chief of station and other top officials there, like the military commandos hunting the Taliban. The information was distributed in intelligence reports and highlighted in some of them.
The Russain bounties are believed to have resulted in the deaths of several U.S. service members… The intelligence was passed up from the U.S. Special Operations forces based in Afghanistan and led to a restricted high-level White House meeting in late March.

  • The administration’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, preferred confronting the Russians directly about the matter, while some National Security Council officials in charge of Russia were more dismissive of taking immediate action, the official said.
 

Bushay

NHL Expert
More problematic nominees and undermining of agencies
In a previously undisclosed conference call last year, a senior Justice Department official rejected key aspects of the Trump White House plan to dismantle the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), saying moves to abolish the crucial, little-known agency were unlawful. Those steps and others to undercut OPM could pave the way for installing political cronies throughout the ranks of the nation’s two million federal civil servants and weaken their protections.

  • In April 2019, Steve Engel, the head of the Justice Department’s powerful Office of Legal Counsel, told senior administration lawyers that it would be illegal to carry out a White House blueprint to dismember OPM… That legal “opinion,” as the notes call it, was never shared with a House oversight panel that held two subsequent hearings last year on the White House proposal…
  • Background: “Trump administration plans to dismantle agency overseeing civil service,” CNN, April, 2019
Another aspect of the documents obtained by POGO (above) is the revelation of evidence that White House Advisor James Sherk sought a legal opinion to allow Trump to fire anyone In government… From the earliest days of the administration, officials have sought ways to weaken federal sector unions and reduce the pay, benefits, and workforce protections of federal employees. Many elements of the memo became federal policy nearly unchanged from how Sherk first proposed them.

Trump intends to nominate senior Housing and Urban Development appointee John Gibbs to run OPM. Gibbs is a former conservative commentator who sent tweets during the 2016 election pushing a baseless conspiracy theory alleging that Hillary Clinton had engaged in a Satanic ritual known as "spirit cooking."

The new Trump-appointed CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, Michael Pack, is being sued for the mass firing of top executives and advisory boards of federally funded international broadcasters in what was described as a “Wednesday night massacre.” The lawsuit alleges that Pack violated a clause in federal broadcasting law that protects government-funded news outlets from political interference.

  • Related: The president’s fiscal 2021 budget would eliminate funding for Stars and Stripes, essentially forcing it to cease operation. The Stripes retains editorial independence and is mandated by Congress to be governed by First Amendment principles. It often publishes content meant to hold the Defense Department accountable.
The White House is intensifying an effort to hire Pentagon personnel with an undisputed allegiance to President Trump at a moment when his relationship with Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper has become strained… White House officials are now redoubling efforts as Trump complains to aides that he has never had a defense secretary who is fully aligned with his foreign policy views and accuses Pentagon officials of trying to undermine him

More than 50 advocacy groups are calling on senators to oppose Anthony Tata, President Donald Trump's nominee to be Pentagon policy chief. Tata has been under fire for tweets calling former President Barack Obama "a terrorist leader" and calling Islam "the most oppressive violent religion I know of."

  • KFile revealed that Tata had called Obama “a manchurian candidate” — i.e., a sleeper agent — for “Hamas & Muslim brotherhood.” In other tweets, Tata accused the Obama administration of “sedition and/or treason” and threatened former CIA director John Brennan: “Might be a good time to pick your poison: firing squad, public hanging, life sentence as prison b*tch, or just suck on your pistol. Your call. #Treason #Sedition #crossfirehurricane #Obamagate.”
Trump said he plans to nominate William Perry Pendley to permanently lead the Bureau of Land Management, which has not had a Senate-confirmed chief since Trump took office. Pendley is an anti-environmental extremist who has pushed for the government to sell off millions of federal acres and called climate science “junk science.”

Consumer Product Safety Commission nominee Nancy Beck draws bipartisan opposition from lawmakers over her background in the chemical industry, including relaxing rules on dangerous chemicals linked to serious human health problems. Over 90 scientists are also opposing her nomination.

What is Congress up to?
Three Republican senators - Graham, Cotton, and Blackburn - introduced a bill this week to allow law enforcement access to encrypted digital devices with signed court orders. Democratic Senator Ron Wyden has vociferously spoken out against the bill.

  • Explainer: “The False Promise of ‘Lawful Access’ to Private Data,” The Wired
The Senate Judiciary Cmte. advanced a measure to give the DOJ IG more power to investigate department lawyers, over the objections of AG Barr. Chairman Lindsey Graham tried to water down the bill by giving Barr the ability to veto investigations by the IG, but the committee voted it down. The legislation is now under McConnell’s control.

Senators are pushing U.S. intelligence leaders to publicly testify about global threats before the monthlong August recess, in part to avoid their comments from being politicized during the final stretch of the 2020 campaign.

House approves statehood for DC in 232-180 vote, but it is unlikely to get a vote in the Republican-controlled Senate.

  • Republican Sen. Tom Cotton (Ark.) on D.C. Statehood: "Yes, Wyoming is smaller than Washington by population, but it has three times as many workers in mining, logging and construction, and ten times as many workers in manufacturing. In other words, Wyoming is a well-rounded working-class state… What vital industries would the new state of Washington represent? Lobbying? Bureaucracy? Give me a break. By far, the largest group of workers in the city are bureaucrats & other white-collar professionals.”
  • Mother Jones: It was a startlingly blunt assertion—that Washingtonians should be entitled to fewer rights because they are simply the wrong kind of people… [DC] still has a higher percentage of Black residents than any state. The contention that places with large non-white populations would be too inept—or would lack the proper values—to govern themselves and others has been used to block statehood and home rule repeatedly in the nation’s history.
  • Republican Sen. James Risch (Ida.): If DC and Puerto Rico become states, "I will be the last Republican chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee forever because they will pick up four Democratic seats that will never flip over. ... Republicans will never be in the majority in the United States Senate,” he said.
 

Bushay

NHL Expert
Court cases and rulings
On Thursday, the Trump administration submitted a SCOTUS filing arguing the high court should declare the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA) invalid. The administration, in a case brought by Republican AGs, posits that the individual mandate is unconstitutional and therefore “the entire ACA must fall.”

  • More than 20 million Americans could lose their health coverage and protections for people with preexisting health conditions also would be put at risk if the court agrees with the administration in a case that won’t be heard before the fall.
  • Op-Ed: Overturning the ACA will make COVID-19 much worse
  • Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told CNN’s Jake Tapper that the Trump administration does not have the “exact details” of a health care alternative in case they get their way and the Supreme Court wipes out Obamacare… Republicans have had 10 years to come up with a replacement plan and failed to do so. (video)
A three-judge panel of the DC Appeals Court ordered the dismissal of the case against former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, overruling District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan. The 2-1 ruling was authored by Trump-appointee Neomi Rao, who has repeatedly handed down opinions benefiting Trump and his aides that rely on highly dubious legal reasoning.

  • The case could be heard by the full DC Court of Appeals if either Sullivan or any active DC appellate judge requests it.
  • Further reading: How Michael Flynn’s Defense Team Found Powerful Allies: The lawyer who took on the Flynn case had private calls with President Trump, wrote a secret letter to AG Barr, and months later saw the DOJ drop the case.
District Judge Amy Berman Jackson has ordered Roger Stone to report to prison July 14, denying the two-month delay requested by his lawyers and the DOJ due to the coronavirus. Jackson has also ordered Stone to remain under home confinement until his surrender date.

  • A day after Jackson’s ruling, Trump retweeted a story about a petition for the president to pardon Stone
A Queens County, N.Y., Surrogate’s Court judge on Thursday rejected a request to bar President Trump’s niece, Mary L. Trump, from publishing a tell-all book about the family because the court lacked jurisdiction in the case. Charles Harder, a lawyer for Robert Trump, said he would now file suit in the New York State Supreme Court, which is a lower-level court in the state, in an effort to stop Simon & Schuster from publishing the book on July 28.

  • Mary is a clinical psychologist and reportedly uses her background to dissect “a nightmare of traumas, destructive relationships and a tragic combination of neglect and abuse,” including “the strange and harmful relationship between” her late father and Donald Trump.
A judge has ruled that Rep. Devin Nunes has no right to sue Twitter over statements made by a fake Internet cow, someone parodying his mother, and a Republican strategist.

AG Barr’s interference
Since we had a thread about the hearing on political interference by the AG, I won’t go into details again here. Instead, you can check out this Twitter thread of video highlights and Courthouse News’ summary.

Just as the hearing was getting underway, AG Bill Barr agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee for a "general oversight hearing" on July 28, following Chairman Nadler’s threat of a subpoena. It is not clear why Nadler accepted such a long delay, as his subpoena was for testimony on July 2. Barr isn’t busy, he was just on Ted Cruz’s podcast.

Some House Democrats are pushing to impeach Barr, by Speaker Pelosi stands in their way. Rep. Steve Cohen plans to file a resolution calling for an investigation into whether Barr has committed impeachable conduct. Chairman Nadler has stated his openness to impeaching Barr, as well.

  • Pelosi: “Barr is a mess who’s disgraced the Department of Justice,” she said. “He is contemptible, there’s no question about that. But at this point, let’s solve our problems by going to the polls and voting on Election Day.” (video)
  • Op-Ed by Asha Rangappa: "Put another way, Barr has the potential to inflict more damage on the U.S. than even the president because he can use the levers of justice to stonewall investigations, bury evidence, and provide a veneer of legality to illegal acts."
One day later, the New York Times reported that Barr tried to pressure SDNY to undermine the part of Michael Cohen’s conviction that implicated the President in financial crimes. He went so far as to instruct Justice Department officials to draft a legal memo casting doubt on the legitimacy of Cohen’s conviction.

  • Former DOJ spokesman Matthew Miller: “Why would Barr attack the legal theory underpinning the conviction of someone who had already turned on Trump? Because that same theory would’ve been crucial to charging Trump, his business, and one of his top execs.”
  • Reminder from a 2018 article: Trump pushed then-acting-AG Whitaker on why more wasn’t being done to control the SDNY prosecutors who brought the case against Cohen. The president of the United States, in that moment, was essentially pressuring an acting official whose job hangs on his personal whims to shut down an investigation into himself.
Jay Clayton, Trump’s nominee to take over the Manhattan federal prosecutor’s office after the abrupt dismissal of SDNY U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman, refused to say whether he would recuse himself from pending investigations involving Trump’s interests and associates if confirmed for the post.

Clayton also admitted to playing golf with Trump numerous times, including the day that they agreed he’d be nominated to Berman’s position… Video of the questioning below:

Rep. Katie Porter: Do you think independence from the President is possible if you and the President are golfing buddies?
Clayton: I absolutely do.
Later, Porter: How many times have you and President Trump golfed together?
Clayton: I'm not going to get into— This is, you know, it's...​
 

Bushay

NHL Expert
Voting rights
The Census Bureau said on Tuesday that it had created two new top-level positions and filled them with political appointees from outside the agency, an unprecedented move that revived concerns the national population count has turned increasingly partisan. Critics fear the appointments are another way for Republicans to bend census results to advance their electoral interests.

The Federal Election Commission is losing its short-lived quorum after Caroline Hunter, a longtime Republican commissioner of the FEC and former chair of the agency, is resigning… Her departure from the agency means that the FEC will be unable to make major enforcement actions.

Seven years ago from last Thursday, the Supreme Court gutted the most powerful provision in the Voting Rights Act of 1965, undermining a law regarded as the most effective piece of civil rights legislation in American history. A bill passed by House to restore the VRA has been sitting on Mitch McConnell’s desk for over 200 days.

  • States that previously had to approve voting changes under Voting Rights Act have closed 1,688 polling places since SCOTUS gutted the law (count as of last Fall): 750 in Texas, 320 in Arizona, 214 in Georgia, 126 in Louisiana, 96 in Mississippi, and 72 in Alabama.
  • John Roberts has been trying to weaken Voting Rights Act since he was young lawyer in the Reagan Justice Department. “Violations of [VRA] should not be made too easy to prove" he wrote in 1981.
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) on Tuesday blocked an attempt by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) to push legislation through the Senate that would promote mail-in voting and expand early voting during the COVID-19 pandemic. “There has been a real desire at the federal level to take over the elections process, I don’t think that’s a good idea, and if it was a good idea, it wouldn’t be a good idea six months before the election,” Blunt said.

Despite a surge of absentee voting, consolidating polling locations in the city of Milwaukee reduced turnout by nearly 9 percentage points, disproportionately affecting Black voters. Using the pandemic for reasoning, the number of polling places in Milwaukee City were cut from 182 in 2016 to just five for this year’s primary. In the rest of Wisconsin, the number of polling places dropped by 11 percent.

More articles:

  • Barr claims voting by mail will lead to fraud, 'counterfeiting.' Admits he has zero evidence.
  • The simple reason Trump’s imagined flood of foreign mail-in ballots wouldn’t actually work
  • Michigan launched a pilot program that issues inmates new IDs and registers them to vote as they are released from prison.
  • Lawsuits aim to ease rules limiting Wisconsin college voters
  • Republicans controlling a Georgia House committee approved legislation Wednesday that would prevent election officials from proactively sending mail ballot request forms to voters ahead of an election.
  • Montana commissioner determined that the Montana Republican Party and two minor party qualification committees violated state campaign finance laws in a successful effort to qualify the Green Party of Montana for the primary ballot.
 

Bushay

NHL Expert
Quick reference for the title:

...the New York Times reported that Barr tried to pressure SDNY to undermine the part of Michael Cohen’s conviction that implicated the President in financial crimes. He went so far as to instruct Justice Department officials to draft a legal memo casting doubt on the legitimacy of Cohen’s conviction.
  • Former DOJ spokesman Matthew Miller: “Why would Barr attack the legal theory underpinning the conviction of someone who had already turned on Trump? Because that same theory would’ve been crucial to charging Trump, his business, and one of his top execs.”
  • Reminder from a 2018 article: Trump pushed then-acting-AG Whitaker on why more wasn’t being done to control the SDNY prosecutors who brought the case against Cohen. The president of the United States, in that moment, was essentially pressuring an acting official whose job hangs on his personal whims to shut down an investigation into himself.
 

blueline

EOG Master
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/29/politics/trump-phone-calls-national-security-concerns/index.html

From pandering to Putin to abusing allies and ignoring his own advisers, Trump's phone calls alarm US officials
By Carl Bernstein, CNN

Updated 7:51 PM ET, Mon June 29, 2020



The calls caused former top Trump deputies -- including national security advisers H.R. McMaster and John Bolton, Defense Secretary James Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and White House chief of staff John Kelly, as well as intelligence officials -- to conclude that the President was often "delusional," as two sources put it, in his dealings with foreign leaders. The sources said there was little evidence that the President became more skillful or competent in his telephone conversations with most heads of state over time. Rather, he continued to believe that he could either charm, jawbone or bully almost any foreign leader into capitulating to his will, and often pursued goals more attuned to his own agenda than what many of his senior advisers considered the national interest.
 
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