Trump, July 2017: Tweet more

this will only become truly fun when
a) trump, still in office as POTUS, pardons his son and others

seems unlikely that any trial would conclude while Trump is still in office but idk

how do you not just let the NYT publish the story and then claim the story was fake like you always do

Quite remarkable how much all of this, at every level, orbits the 2013 Miss Universe pageant.

it's also illegal to solicit contributions/information

not exactly:

First, a reframing of the way we think of collusion. Collusion actually is a political term; there's no line in the criminal code that says you go to jail for colluding with a foreign adversary.

But you can go to jail for conspiring with a foreign adversary to influence or undermine an election, and Jacobovitz thinks what Trump Jr. did, as documented by emails he himself shared on Twitter, could rise to that level.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/07/11/donald-trump-jr-may-have-just-crossed-the-legal-line-on-collusion/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_fix-930am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.6f7997994209

I mean, Don Jr would have to be some kind of a total moron to not think of that

https://www.vox.com/world/2017/7/10/15950590/donald-trump-jr-new-york-times-illegal

hmm, pre-emptive pardons are possible, wtf: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2008/07/preemptive_presidential_pardons.html

I think we're just splitting hairs on legal language

xp

as of yet there's no evidence that they actually received any information

nope, trump jr revealed that as well.

The next day, after The Times informed him that it was preparing an article that would say that the meeting also involved a discussion about potentially compromising material on Mrs. Clinton, he issued another statement: “I was asked to have a meeting by an acquaintance I knew from the 2013 Miss Universe pageant with an individual who I was told might have information helpful to the campaign. I was not told her name prior to the meeting. I asked Jared and Paul to attend, but told them nothing of the substance,” he said. “After pleasantries were exchanged, the woman stated that she had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Ms. Clinton. Her statements were vague, ambiguous and made no sense. No details or supporting information was provided or even offered. It quickly became clear that she had no meaningful information. She then changed subjects and began discussing the adoption of Russian children and mentioned the Magnitsky Act. It became clear to me that this was the true agenda all along and that the claims of potentially helpful information were a pretext for the meeting.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/11/us/politics/trump-russia-email-clinton.html

maybe it's different statutes in the two articles? i can't read the WaPo piece xp

"can the President pardon himself" is a question we may unfortunately be faced with

I think Don Jr. might be pardoning in his pants right now.

Honestly, thing about the pardon speculation is that it doesn't fit. The whole idea in Trumpland is to always attack and everything, yes? Pardons would be a massive concession and admission.

xpost
i guess there's also the "No details or supporting information was provided or even offered. Her statements were vague, ambiguous and made no sense. " part of his explanation.

but how many "statements" could she make saying that she HAD information while still revealing absolutely zero information?

i can't read the WaPo piece xp

use incognito mode on Chrome or the equivalent on other browsers

relevant

http://electionlawblog.org/?p=93740

Honestly, thing about the pardon speculation is that it doesn't fit. The whole idea in Trumpland is to always attack and everything, yes? Pardons would be a massive concession and admission.

i'd agree except that another part of Trumpland is to exploit every option that's legally provided, and then shrug and tell supporters "it's not dumb, it's smart" or whatever as an explanation.

Observed elsewhere: given all that is already in the public record, imagine what Mueller et al. have seen that we haven't.

yeah that's what the vox piece was saying too xxp

One of the very few times I've ever seen Trump drop the mask and give this chagrinned "ok, fine, guilty as charged" face was in this interview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYoOPgeTMQc

xxpost Yes, that suddenly dawned on me while discussing this with my gf last night. We only know what's been leaked to the media (or scanned and tweeted)!!!

I voted for @POTUS last Nov. & want him & USA to succeed, but that meeting, given that email chain just released, is a big no-no.

— Lee Zeldin (@leezeldin) July 11, 2017

Naughty Trump! Don't make me get the spray bottle!

When even GOP congressmen think you made a no-no, there's a boo-boo on the Presidency

“This is sum of all fears stuff. It’s what we’ve all been dreading,” said one White House official who is now exploring the possibility of retaining an attorney, a step described as purely precautionary.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-aides-freaking-out-over-don-jrs-russia-email-the-sum-of-all-fears

god, i hope any of this translates to sustained legislative/election losses for the republicans

Honestly, thing about the pardon speculation is that it doesn't fit. The whole idea in Trumpland is to always attack and everything, yes? Pardons would be a massive concession and admission.

i'd agree except that another part of Trumpland is to exploit every option that's legally provided, and then shrug and tell supporters "it's not dumb, it's smart" or whatever as an explanation.

― Karl Malone, Tuesday, July 11, 2017 1:25 PM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah a pardon in Trumpland doesn't seem to far afield from paying out millions to settle lawsuits

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/oh-boy-3

Philip Bump at the Post just flagged this Trump speech from June 7th, four days after Don Goldstone’s first contact with Don Jr and two days before the meeting at Trump Tower on June 9th.

Trump promises big news about Hillary Clinton’s crimes in a speech on “probably” June 13th.”

The video is set to start at the key moment. If that doesn’t work, jump forward to the 7:00 minute timestamp.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFIZ80Oqxxo

Congressional Republicans have had about a zillion golden opportunities to distance themselves from this sexist, unprincipled bigot and the fact that they haven't, even now, needs to be rubbed in their faces until they lose their seats, and probably beyond that as well

Yeah a pardon in Trumpland doesn't seem to far afield from paying out millions to settle lawsuits

Problem though: that's the kind of thing that gets handled away from TV cameras (when possible), stays buried, "it's just business." Sleazy but happens all the time.

...and you can't exactly bury this, in comparison.

the typical Trump voter at 1:21

https://youtu.be/wqIsx0ngCuU?t=1m21s

He'll probably be able to "bury" it w/ his base by the same combination of ranting and illogic that have let him skate so far. It's just something we'll have to live with—that the best case scenario is public humiliation in the eyes of 60% of the population. God help us.

I saw a woman at the airport wearing a neon pink "RUSSIA" hat, which looked to be brand new. This is where we're going.

Meantime!

WOW --> McConnell announces "the Senate will delay the start of the August recess until the third week of August.”

— Alex Moe (@AlexNBCNews) July 11, 2017

ouchsies

doesn't that just mean they're setting aside more time to pass some form of the repeal bill?

https://www.nplainfield.org/cms/lib/NJ01000402/Centricity/Domain/673/8122011_83722_0.jpg

It could also be a measure of isolation, for a lot of these guys returning to their districts has been hell.

doesn't that just mean they're setting aside more time to pass some form of the repeal bill?

yes. this is not good

Well duh.

Dems have been declaring the repeal dead for two months, which gives me a certain-doom vibe

it's clear McConnell's at the "let's throw anything at the wall" stage what with letting Cruz and Graham loose

But just minutes before McConnell’s announcement, veteran lawmakers were waving away the idea of canceling recess as an impossibility.

“That’s not gonna happen,” Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) told reporters, laughing. “It’s hard enough to get members here on a Friday.”

blunt is a low-key candidate for dumbest person in the entire world

Dems have been declaring the repeal dead for two months, which gives me a certain-doom vibe

the truth is no bill is dead until power changes hands, ie the mid-terms

http://media.vanityfair.com/photos/5707c9081b83b2c22f99f140/master/pass/t-bill-clinton-the-comeback-id-july-2008.jpg

From his AMA in progress:

Last year you did a Q&A here
in it, you were asked by /u/T0M1N4T0RZ:
Could you see gerrymandering having an effect on the upcoming elections, whether for state positions like governor or even for POTUS?
to which you replied:

Absolutely: Democrats won 1.4 million more votes than Republicans, in the aggregate, in all 2012 House elections. But Republicans retained the House 234-201. It was the first time since 1972 that the party with the most votes did not take over the chamber, and it is largely because of the redistricting firewall the Republicans built themselves. So in 2016, it is looking like a Democratic year again -- but there is zero real chance that the Ds will take back the House, despite the fact that they seem likely to get more votes. The GOP drew these lines to withstand most any landslide, using very complicated algorithims, lots of voting data and demographic detail, and incredibly powerful computing technology. But when -- two elections in a row -- the party with the most votes does not get the most seats, something is broken. When our democratic institutions cease to be responsive to the popular will, they are not effective, let alone democratic.
A year on - has anything surprised you?

daviddaley1 David Daley, Author - "Ratf**ked" 8 minutes ago
Hi everyone. It is great to be back, and I'll answer as many of these great questions as I can.
What has surprised me is this: How confident Democrats and many media analysts are that the Ds can take back the House next year, and how little attention gets paid to the very serious structural issues that Democrats face. They need to take back two dozen seats, and it's hard for me to see where exactly they come from. Democrats have not turned a "Red" seat "Blue" this decade on these maps in PA, MI, NC, WI or OH. That's a 49-20 GOP edge in purplish swing states. It's hard to see many legitimate targets in those states in 2018.
There is a very real chance that Ds get more votes than Rs in 2018 for the House, but Rs keep the chamber. If that happens, Ds would have more votes for the White House, Senate, and House -- and control of none. So I guess what surprises me is how we're not seriously talking about how we fix our democracy.

I can't wait for Donald Trump not to know the difference between the debt and the deficit

One thing someone brought up -- is this legally different from Hillary paying Steele, a British citizen, from doing opposition research on Trump?

The bill will be dead in september, when the budget reconciliation thingy stops working. Then GOP has to decide if they want to do health care or tax cuts next year, and they're not going to choose health care. Canceling recess is bad, really bad, and it does increase the chances of a bill passing, but it's also a desperate move. They're flailing. And they might still pass something, people are often more dangerous when backed into a corner, but they don't have a plan, they don't have a bill, and they don't know what they are doing.

I'm still waiting for Dean Heller and Susan Collins to name their price.