Trump, July 2017: Tweet more

I wish I could believe the Russia probe will bring down Trump but my gut tells me it won't. There'll be a few slapped wrists and if there's any jail threat for Trump's inner circle it'll be pardons all round.

Don Jr is a complete moron, even more so than his Dad, and this fact ironically helps him. If he really was a Machiavellian master manipulator it would look so much worse for him than just being the moron he is. He clearly has no understanding of why his Russian meeting might have been wrong, and in this case ignorance probably is a defence in the court of popular opinion

did pat r. ask trump any good bibley questions? what he thinks of two corinthians, or whether baruch should be canon?

 "Nothing beats the Bible, not even The Art of the Deal. Not even close." 

This Magnitsky stuff and laundering case dismissal is really just staggering. Increasingly it feels like the place where the most variables converge. This from before revelation that Natalia Whatsitskova argued for the defense:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-13/u-s-reaches-5-9-million-deal-in-russian-fraud-laundering-case

Prevezon pays US government ~6 million and:

"This settlement is nothing short of a victory for Prevezon," Faith Gay, a lawyer for the company, said in a phone interview. "It’s almost an apology by the government."

Sometimes I wish I could be a lawyer and get paid enormous sums to say shit like this, too. Then I come to my senses.

The Magnitsky / Prevezon stuff is central to this story, though Veselnitskaya's involvement in lobbying / working for them has been known for some time:

https://www.rferl.org/a/rinat-akmetshin-russia-gun-for-hire-washington-lobbying-magnitsky-browder/27863265.html

The settlement looks kind of suspicious in the light of the discussions but it was commended by Bill Browder, the driving force behind the Magnitsky act, at the time.

Trump said he spent the first 20 or 25 minutes of his more than two-hour meeting with Putin last Friday in Germany on the election meddling subject.

"I said, did you do it? And he said no, I did not. Absolutely not. I then asked him a second time in a totally different way. He said absolutely not," Trump said.

So asking him the question the second time took - what - 19 or 24 minutes?

Makes sense when you consider Trump's method for lie detection

https://media2.giphy.com/media/9RUq0WWIytqCI/giphy.gif

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BoP-NtoIUAAm75E.jpg

i doubt putin's kgb training covered the eventuality of being interrogated by a sponge-brained septuagenarian so yeah he def folded like a deck of cards

Ma-aarge, I think we can trust the President of Russia

http://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/msnbc-host-chris-hayes-provides-evidence-that-foul-play-is-afoot-in-donald-trump-jr-email-chain/news-story/2173368facac0e3f2475c9601a844a68

Why, how civic-minded.

Jared Kushner has added over 100 names to his foreign contacts https://t.co/3mVpWHHbft
Note penalty on SF-86: pic.twitter.com/92qskgaEqm

— Mark Elliott (@markmobility) July 13, 2017

Interesting Chris Hayes analysis. I assume that's just the sort of thing and investigator would notice, but who knows, right?

Fun times!

The hunt is on for the Don Jr. leaker. But every WH aide & admin ally seems to have a different theory. @swin24 + me https://t.co/yu1lugJike

— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) July 13, 2017

When asked if the president was still hissing at the TV this week over the televised Trump Jr. coverage, one White House official confirmed that the president was still taking out his Russia-related frustrations on an inanimate object while bitterly watching the news.

“Yes,” the aide replied. “Very much…Growling.”

thought he didn't have time to watch the news

Only watches when he's turned werewolf apparently

old but first time i saw it

"Because I hate the Motherfucker, how's that?"

Patti LuPone has no chill when talking about Trump and I love it!!! pic.twitter.com/PzR1EciN6l

— Naomi (@NotADayGoesBy_) June 14, 2017

OOOOH

incredible that after all this Don Jr. still has no clue what he did wrong and still laments the fact that he didn't get that sweet Hillary dirt he was promised

the thing about that is he never had get the dirt . All he had to do was promise some reimbursement that gave the green light for wiki leaks or whatever to disseminate the info. The russians were smart enough not to trust this bumbling idiot with anything.

I'm finding it difficult to find previous comment on Chris Wray on the search engine here.
Is he thought of as ok? Or is that moot in a Trump nominee.

the dems seem to like him enough i guess

His law firm represents Rosneft and Gazprom, two of Russia’s largest state-controlled oil companies. I'd think Trump could have found someone without those ties, but I should just give up thinking this administration has any concerns about the optics of anything. Beyond that, I don't know either. I watched part of his hearing, he seems okay enough.

because he's a Trump nominee it's safe to assume a) he's horrible/incompetent and b) he will get confirmed

Sessions definitely lied on his security clearance:

Aaand the DOJ has released a single page of Sessions' SF86. Box checked "no" on q about having contact w/foreign government in last 7 years. pic.twitter.com/5fI016nuH8

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) July 13, 2017

Did you say 7 years? Oh, I thought you meant 7 days! My bad.

if only there were consequences for that

It would've really sucked for Sessions if there were still rules or punishments meted out when those rules are broken. Whew!

I guess these white boxes are going to be the new standard for redaction style in opaque governance?

Like, seriously, just shred the goddamn regulations once you've made clear your intention to not enforce them. What's even the fucking point.

rules for thee but not for me

I wonder how much McConnell is hanging Cruz out to dry by letting him get this amendment on. He's an oily motherfucker, can totally see him setting Cruz up as the guy that tanked any chance of its passage.

giving a sick, screaming baby whiskey

nominate for the next thread title

also Patty LuPone is a goddess

rules for thee but not for me

― Shanty Brunch (stevie), Thursday, July 13, 2017 10:40 AM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

from Joe Carducci's Enter Naomi: SST and All That, the phrase that probably best defines the Trump era:

the word "Fascismo," one of the old SST buzzwords,
generally used as a begrudging compliment, coined by Mugger or maybe
Chuck Biscuits, derived from the Dukowski maxim, "Anarchy for me,
Fascism for you."

oh man that is so otm

Are security clearances just a formality now or something?

yeah i picked one up the other day

BREAKING: Senate Judiciary Committee chairman says he is asking Donald Trump Jr. to testify; will subpoena if necessary.

— The Associated Press (@AP) July 13, 2017

Do you know who my dad is?

Yam and Macron visited Napoleon's tomb [yr joke here]

Trump's going to finally figure out how to draw attention away from his hands

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/e1/46/98/e1469814ba7e883e85ebed69bbdc56c0.jpg

http://wallaroundtrump.com/wep/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/trumpolean-md.jpg

It's still incredible to me how brazenly ineffective the Democrats are at being an opposition pic.twitter.com/jzh52EZEBA

— Luke Savage (@LukewSavage) July 13, 2017

TBF, owning Trump & co. as hard as they own themselves would be quite a feat. And even their self-owns don't seem to amount to a hill of beans.

It's like planning some sweet revenge on a shitty neighbor who first burns his own house down and then takes advantage of your awestruck amazement at his self-inflicted comeuppance to sneak in your back door and take your house from you.

Schumer and Pelosi have pulled p much every obstructionist trick there is and kept their caucuses voting together consistently.

maybe Tim Kaine shd tell people that "bipartisanship" would be a disaster

fat lot of good the procedural lockstep is worth if they keep backing loser policies

After declaring remarks off the record, Trump asked @maggieNYT why she didn't publish them, per pool report pic.twitter.com/e8EqKiUEiY

— Michael Calderone (@mlcalderone) July 13, 2017