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The Robert Mueller Investigation


Hugo Stiglitz

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The President is still subject to bribery laws. There are a number of official acts that appear to have been quid pro quo for money. Let’s hold off on being really deferential to prior DOJ policy here. We, as a country, have never dealt with this level of corruption 

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I agree that any POTUS probably should not be able to be indicted while in office.  
Mueller should complete his investigation and give the results to congress and let them decide if the POTUS should be removed from office.  
After trump is out of office,  he should be subject to the same standards as anyone else. 


I’m sure you’d share this same sentiment about Benghazi if Clinton was in office.
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2 minutes ago, Tuco said:

Speaking of Preet, looks like he considering making a bid for NY State AG.  Which, considering the speculation on whether some in the Trump world would get charged with state crimes, could be an interesting twist.  From a practical standpoint, does that make sense?  I assume he knows federal law much better than state law, but does that matter?

 

AG is a highly "executive" office.  So his practical bona fides as a lawyer are not so relevant, more his "big picture" stuff.  I suppose he could get elected, but not so sure about his name recognition outside NYC.  Plus, New York state politics are not far removed from from Boss Tweed and the Tammany Hall machine.  I'm not sure he's "paid his dues" within the state political apparatus.  Maybe they take him as some sort of "rock star," but I think his rock star status exists to a limited audience.  Plus, he still needs to answer for going light on Wall Street.

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22 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

I don't find that persuasive.  It's not the availability of impeachment that makes an indictment feasible/not feasible.  It's the nature of the office and separation of powers.  The President is the embodiment of the executive branch.  In addition to the practical, structural arguments concerning discharge of his duties while under indictment, the judicial branch, followed by executive officers, are the least responsive to the will of the people and I think it is at least theoretically hazardous, from a separation of powers perspective, to permit the judicial branch, through indictment, to operate on a sitting President.  Because the legislative branch implements impeachment (and it is the only thing that actually provides for removal from office**), and the legislative branch is more theoretically responsive to the will of the people, it should be the only remedy for Presidential malfeasance.

 

Also, I thnk the Supreme Court probably fucked up when they let private civil proceedings go forward against Clinton.  A much better solution would be to toll statutes of limitation, both civil and criminal, until the President is out of office.

 

**Theoretically, one could indict, try and convict a sitting President without his removal from office, leaving him to carry out his executive duties from prison or house arrest or some such.

Games of brinksmanship like this, along with political cowardice on the part of Congress, can be how "the rule of law" dies.

Folks forget that "the law" is -- in the end -- what certain people SAY it is.

The President says, effectively, "I can break any law I want, fuck you, you can't touch me."  For example, imagine a scenario where the president has underage girls delivered to him in the White House, and he rapes and murders them (yes, I'm suggesting an extreme hypothetical to make a point).  THEN, imagine that his political party controls Congress, and the base that supports that political party is convinced that the accusations are a lie, a conspiracy, or what have you -- the point being that internal polling tells that party that if they vote to impeach and convict the President, their base will punish them.  So...they do nothing.  The rapes and murders continue, and the President continues to say "see, you can't touch me!"

All it takes is a decision by a prosecutor and a judge to say "like hell we can't."  And if the courts are disgusted enough by the President's actions and arrogance, they'll indict him, try him, and convict him.  Which, I AGREE, would be a very bad outcome for our system of government.

But that's the kind of crisis you can end up in when you have (1) an executive flouting the law, and saying "So what?  What are ya gonna do about it?", and (2) a Congress that has completely abdicated its authority as a co-equal branch of the government with powers of impeachment.

My prediction (again, freely concede that it is speculative, as none of us have all the facts yet) remains the same:

(1) Mueller's report is going to reveal material criminal activity on the part of the POTUS

(2) Congress either fails to impeach or fails to convict, because the GOP will NOT turn on Trump because it would cost the loyalty of the base

(3) I don't know WHAT the fuck happens next, when you have what amounts to a proven criminal sitting in the White House, who is effectively "above the law" because his party controls the only apparatus that can remove him.  But I assure, you, whatever happens....is bad.

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2 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Games of brinksmanship like this, along with political cowardice on the part of Congress, can be how "the rule of law" dies.

Folks forget that "the law" is -- in the end -- what certain people SAY it is.

The President says, effectively, "I can break any law I want, fuck you, you can't touch me."  For example, imagine a scenario where the president has underage girls delivered to him in the White House, and he rapes and murders them (yes, I'm suggesting an extreme hypothetical to make a point).  THEN, imagine that his political party controls Congress, and the base that supports that political party is convinced that the accusations are a lie, a conspiracy, or what have you -- the point being that internal polling tells that party that if they vote to impeach and convict the President, their base will punish them.  So...they do nothing.  The rapes and murders continue, and the President continues to say "see, you can't touch me!"

All it takes is a decision by a prosecutor and a judge to say "like hell we can't."  And if the courts are disgusted enough by the President's actions and arrogance, they'll indict him, try him, and convict him.  Which, I AGREE, would be a very bad outcome for our system of government.

But that's the kind of crisis you can end up in when you have (1) an executive flouting the law, and saying "So what?  What are ya gonna do about it?", and (2) a Congress that has completely abdicated its authority as a co-equal branch of the government with powers of impeachment.

My prediction (again, freely concede that it is speculative, as none of us have all the facts yet) remains the same:

(1) Mueller's report is going to reveal material criminal activity on the part of the POTUS

(2) Congress either fails to impeach or fails to convict, because the GOP will NOT turn on Trump because it would cost the loyalty of the base

(3) I don't know WHAT the fuck happens next, when you have what amounts to a proven criminal sitting in the White House, who is effectively "above the law" because his party controls the only apparatus that can remove him.  But I assure, you, whatever happens....is bad.

I mean, yeah, we're kind of fucked either way.

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6 minutes ago, Tuco said:

I get that from a letter-of-the-law standpoint, but if you were in the Supreme Court, would you actually rule that way?  From a practical standpoint, I don't believe the President could execute his duties from a prison cell.  I don't think he could effectively negotiate treaties or hold meetings with his cabinet.  I don't think he could secure, in a normal prison setting. 

i would hope the president would be removed through impeachment/conviction at that point.

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Just now, Longhorn94 said:

i would hope the president would be removed through impeachment/conviction at that point.

See my post above.  Your "hope" is where the whole thing breaks down.

To analogize it to something more technical, having the person who occupies the highest office in the land, charged with faithfully executing the laws, openly flouting and BREAKING those laws...is a total system failure.  There's no program that can really handle that in an ordinary way.  The only mechanism that can handle it is a complete reboot -- impeachment.

A lawbreaking executive is a legal problem so huge that it can't be solved by a "legal" mechanism -- it can only be solved by a political mechanism.  

Impeachment is the "failsafe" mechanism for our system of government, but understand that when we get to a point where we need to trigger that option....we're out of options.  If the "failsafe" doesn't work....we crash.  And based on the current dynamic of the party in charge and the nature of their supporters, I'm betting that the failsafe....fails.

tumblr_olqxhfHFH31rlb7pso1_500.gif

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Which means they have the indictments and will serve them the day he leaves office. Hopefully, just as he's boarding AF-1 for the last time.


Which means they don’t have shit on trump. If they did they would let the whole world know.


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1 minute ago, Brisketexan said:

See my post above.  Your "hope" is where the whole thing breaks down.

To analogize it to something more technical, having the person who occupies the highest office in the land, charged with faithfully executing the laws, openly flouting and BREAKING those laws...is a total system failure.  There's no program that can really handle that in an ordinary way.  The only mechanism that can handle it is a complete reboot -- impeachment.

A lawbreaking executive is a legal problem so huge that it can't be solved by a "legal" mechanism -- it can only be solved by a political mechanism.  

Impeachment is the "failsafe" mechanism for our system of government, but understand that when we get to a point where we need to trigger that option....we're out of options.  If the "failsafe" doesn't work....we crash.  And based on the current dynamic of the party in charge and the nature of their supporters, I'm betting that the failsafe....fails.

tumblr_olqxhfHFH31rlb7pso1_500.gif

agreed and thats where our votes come into play this Fall to hopefully allow that failsafe to work.

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1 minute ago, Longhorn94 said:

agreed and thats where our votes come into play this Fall to hopefully allow that failsafe to work.

That's right.  And I think the House can be flipped.  But without the Senate to convict....I'm just afraid even a very positive 2018 midterm election outcome won't be enough.

Our future will depend on the political courage of a handful of GOP Senators.  Every now and then, the fate of the Republic rests in the hands of just a few people.  I expect that this will be one of those times.  Our fate will depend on their courage and integrity.  Because of that...I don't like our chances.

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11 minutes ago, Stros said:

 


Which means they don’t have shit on trump. If they did they would let the whole world know.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

For the millionth time - they will complete the investigation before tipping their hand.

I know willful ignorance is kinda your thing, but please try harder to not be obtuse.

Edited by VRHorn
spelling is hard.
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4 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

That's right.  And I think the House can be flipped.  But without the Senate to convict....I'm just afraid even a very positive 2018 midterm election outcome won't be enough.

Our future will depend on the political courage of a handful of GOP Senators.  Every now and then, the fate of the Republic rests in the hands of just a few people.  I expect that this will be one of those times.  Our fate will depend on their courage and integrity.  Because of that...I don't like our chances.

at the very least, if the House flips, Trump's agenda is done. next, if he is impeached by the House, he is done as a one term president. if the senate remains republican and refuses to remove, then they will run the risk of finding the same fate as their Republican brothers and sisters in the House. my hope, i know there is that word again, is that the 2018 is a wake up call to the Republicans in the Senate and after he is impeached, they act out of self preservation to remove Trump. 

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12 minutes ago, Stros said:

 


Which means they don’t have shit on trump. If they did they would let the whole world know.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Nice job quoting Rudy. Did that make you feel like you were thinking for yourself?

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14 minutes ago, Longhorn94 said:

hopefully Congress changes hands this Fall and we dont have to worry about it anymore.

Can you imagine Trump with a Democratically controlled Congress?

I want the House to change hands, because they start the impeachment process. If Democrats control both houses and remove him, I'm afraid the witch hunt claims will rise to a whole new level and we will become an even more divided nation.

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4 minutes ago, Nolacycling said:

I want the House to change hands, because they start the impeachment process. If Democrats control both houses and remove him, I'm afraid the witch hunt claims will rise to a whole new level and we will become an even more divided nation.

If you don't think this ends in something that approaches civil war, you're not thinking hard enough.  I don't know that it's an outcome which should be overly weighted in the calculus, either.  The other option might just come down to authoritarianism, and that's worse.

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2 minutes ago, Nolacycling said:

I want the House to change hands, because they start the impeachment process. If Democrats control both houses and remove him, I'm afraid the witch hunt claims will rise to a whole new level and we will become an even more divided nation.

Which is why, in the end, Nixon should get credit for one thing -- just one thing -- choosing to resign instead of forcing the impeachment process to run its course.

In the present case, the best thing to happen would be for leaders of the Senate to approach Trump, tell him that they have counted votes and he will be convicted (this is what happened with Nixon), and Trump resigns.

The problem is, we all know that Trump will NEVER resign.  He could be informed that EVERY Senator is going to vote to convict, and he will not resign.  Trump will prove, in his final act of defiance, that he doesn't even have the dignity or concern for the country that fucking Nixon had.

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What is the difference in the House and Senate Intelligence committees and how they operate? I watcheD Schiff last night and it seemed to be a more controlled and in-depth process of gathering information. He kept mentioning bipartisanship, whereas the House committee was driven by Nunes and a Republican movement to support the DOTUS no matter what. 

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2 minutes ago, Nolacycling said:

What is the difference in the House and Senate Intelligence committees and how they operate? I watcheD Schiff last night and it seemed to be a more controlled and in-depth process of gathering information. He kept mentioning bipartisanship, whereas the House committee was driven by Nunes and a Republican movement to support the DOTUS no matter what. 

Schiff is the minority chair for the House.

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Leadership was the difference.  Burr is an adult who ran the Senate's investigation in a fair manner and appears to be genuinely interested in the truth.  Nunes' #1 priority was protecting Trump and Ryan let him get away with it.  Schiff is in the House and is the ranking minority member of the HIC.  If the Dems win the House back in the midterms, he will be the chairman.

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13 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Which is why, in the end, Nixon should get credit for one thing -- just one thing -- choosing to resign instead of forcing the impeachment process to run its course.

In the present case, the best thing to happen would be for leaders of the Senate to approach Trump, tell him that they have counted votes and he will be convicted (this is what happened with Nixon), and Trump resigns.

The problem is, we all know that Trump will NEVER resign.  He could be informed that EVERY Senator is going to vote to convict, and he will not resign.  Trump will prove, in his final act of defiance, that he doesn't even have the dignity or concern for the country that fucking Nixon had.

I believe he will resign. Whatever means they use to convince him, either taking a financial hit or jail time, he will get out. It'll be like the lawyers we have on here that say if a settlement is made in a case and guilt is not acknowledged than nobod is guilty and that's the way he will spin it..

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48 minutes ago, High Plains Drifter said:

Which means they have the indictments and will serve them the day he leaves office. Hopefully, just as he's boarding AF-1 for the last time.

I think it's much more likely that operation Crossfire Hurricane goes down in history as a coup attempt on the President of the United States.

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21 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

The problem is, we all know that Trump will NEVER resign.  He could be informed that EVERY Senator is going to vote to convict, and he will not resign.  Trump will prove, in his final act of defiance, that he doesn't even have the dignity or concern for the country that fucking Nixon had.

That's possible. Another possibility is that he'll find a way to spin a resignation as an "eff you" to the "deep state." For instance, "I resign in protest. And I'll be fine, because there was NO COLLUSION. It's the American people that will suffer, believe me, because I've done more for them than ANY OTHER PRESIDENT. Sad!"

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4 minutes ago, ndawg said:

That's possible. Another possibility is that he'll find a way to spin a resignation as an "eff you" to the "deep state." For instance, "I resign in protest. And I'll be fine, because there was NO COLLUSION. It's the American people that will suffer, believe me, because I've done more for them than ANY OTHER PRESIDENT. Sad!"

I think this is the most likely outcome.  He'll keep his base and start the cable news network that he wanted to start all along, but this pesky being president thing got in the way.

Edit: assuming he's not in jail, of course.

Edited by Biff Tannen
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8 minutes ago, Amobie said:

I think it's much more likely that operation Crossfire Hurricane goes down in history as a coup attempt on the President of the United States.

Yep, that's clearly the case.

I mean, it's just not POSSIBLE that the US authorities, on being provided information from a long-standing trusted ally that a foreign adversary was somehow involved with the campaign of a current candidate for POTUS, would conclude "hmmmm....maybe we oughta find out what our ally has learned, to see if there's an issue there."

Nope.  Clearly, it was a Hillary-Obama-sinister nekkid dancers at Bohemian Grove conspiracy to commit a coup against someone who few believed would even be elected.  Yep, your explanation makes MUCH more sense.

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Guiliani is bullshitting about the no-indictment decision. He knows Mueller cannot publicly respond, and he's clearly reading between the lines and tea leaves anyway. 

There is so much more to come out. An indictment will be absolutely required. Also - more babe payoff news to drop as well. An avalanche more of damning criminal slime is poised for public reveal. 

One or two major transgressions a day. These guys are filthy.

Edited by sugar
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Not sure if it has been discussed, but Goldstone tried to set up another meeting between the Trumps and Veselnitskaya in November, after the election.  Kaveladze served as the go between Goldstone and Veselnitskaya.  Goldstone indicated he would have to talk to Don and Rhona to confirm the meeting.  Rhona, I assume, is Rhona Graff, Donald Trump Sr.'s long time assistant.  Goldstone frequently communicates with her as a surrogate for Trump.  Trump certainly knew about this meeting. (Exhibit 18 from Ike)

Rhona sent Veselnitskaya's lobbying information (about Magnistky) to Steve Bannon in November.  (Exhibit 14 from Ike)

 

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They want to and will probably fire Mueller. They're laying the groundwork with office spy, SAR leak, investigation costs, deep state witch-hunt and indictment/subpoena overreach stories to fire him.

This is a scumbag dictatorship. He must be prosecuted. They'll double down and steal house & Senate seats with more Russian collusion to shield him from impeachment. Then they'll fanagle a pardon at the end of the rainbow.

He MUST be prosecuted while in office, by the entirety of the FBI. The FBI and the DOJ should gear up for war.  

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I want the House to change hands, because they start the impeachment process. If Democrats control both houses and remove him, I'm afraid the witch hunt claims will rise to a whole new level and we will become an even more divided nation.


It doesn't matter if the dems take the senate. You need 2/3 of the senate to convict which the dems won't have. And the GOP senators won't vote to convict even if there's video of Putin handing Trump gold bars while trump is peeing on child prostitutes.
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1 hour ago, Tuco said:

Because there is other evidence around this meeting.  Some of it we know, some of it we don't.

We know that the top members of the Trump campaign met with what they understood to be representatives from the Russian government, with the expressed purpose of receiving "dirt" on Hillary Clinton.  Included in this meeting were, 1) the lawyer representing Prevezon in their case against SDNY and Preet Bharara, 2) her associate who has bragged about his ties to Russian intelligence, who has testified that he has the ability to do tasks which law firms cannot, and who has been implicated in sworn testimony in two hacking for smear campaigns, 3) a lawyer acting on the behalf of Russian oligarchs and Trump associate, the Agalorovs.  We know that within two weeks of the meeting, hackers associated with Russian intelligence released hacked information from the DNC in order to damage Clinton's campaign.  And, from the released testimony about recovered emails, we know that the Prevezon lawyer and the Agalorov attorney expressed surprise and confusion that President Elect Trump would initially retain Preet Bharara, and then suggested that it might just mean Trump is deciding whether to crush him or not.  We know that Trump personally reached out to Bharara on multiple occasions, and fired him (with dozens of other district attorneys) the day after Bharara responded that he did not feel direct interaction with the President was appropriate.  We know that that the Prevezon case was settled shortly after in a manner which the Prevezon lawyer not only found acceptable, but lauded as an apology from the US government. 

Is that enough to send people to prison?  Probably not.  But it's a shit load of dots which I expect to be connected with additional evidence.

Tuco (and the others)- Pretty much everything you said above is accurate.  And, it is the reason that there needed to be an investigation.  The initial email from Goldstone sounded quite suspicious.  

But you keep ignoring the most obvious point, they have been doing investigations and they (the SIC- which I have been reading lately on here is both bi-partisan and professional) interviewed, under oath and penalty of perjury, all of the participants in the meeting.  They answered all of the questions independent of each other and they all gave the same basic story.  The exact same story that they have given publicly.  Now I know the absolute crazies believe that they are all in cahoots and lying, but that is silly.  They have emails and texts and all other correspondence form these actors from before and after the meeting.  Read their testimony.  

There is a reason that none of the usual crazies (Hugo, triple etc.) are commenting on this.  It is because this was not an anonymous leaker in a news article.  It was not the wild speculation of a blogger/twitterer.  It is the actual transcript of the testimonies of the parties involved.  These are the actual facts and the actual evidence we have.  This is, for almost the first time, actual factual evidence.  And if any of you are being even remotely honest, you will agree that the likelihood that mueller can make any kind of collusion/conspiracy case out of this particular meeting is virtually nil.  

You still have lots of other angles to speculate on to get trump.  But this meeting was one of the biggest arrows in everyone's quiver.  And it is DOA for practical purposes.  This does not mean Trump is completely exonerated at all.  There is still lots of stuff to investigate.  But this single particular line, is dead.

 

As for your particular interest in the lawyer and Ike and Preet, there certainly does not seem to be anything weird in it to me.  The lawyers were heavily involved in the Prezevon case that Preet was heading.  Obviously a change in the lead prosecutor in the middle to end of the case would be a big deal.  Typically, all of the US attorneys get summarily fired by the incoming Potus's.  Clinton, Bush, Obama etc.  Occasionally there is one or two left over.  It was unusual that Trump wanted to initially keep Preet and then unusual when he left.  It is not the least bit unusual for some of the parties involved (including the lawyers and business executives) to speculate on what the implications for the case would be.  It would be weird if they did not speculate on it.

Settling cases days before trial is hardly unusual.  Preet himself congratulated his replacement for the settlement.

You posted a statement by the lawyers for Prezevon who liked the settlement.  Here is what the US had to say said about the settlement:

""Under the terms of this settlement, the defendants have agreed to pay not just what we alleged flowed to them from the Russian treasury fraud, but three times that amount, and roughly 10 times the money we alleged could be traced directly into US accounts and real estate," acting Manhattan US Attorney Joon H. Kim said."

"

A letter filed on December 12 and signed by Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd said that prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York had no contact with President Donald Trump, his administration’s personnel, his relatives, or his campaign officials regarding the case, known informally as Prevezon.

"The decision to settle was made by career… prosecutors based on the merits and on a conclusion that the proposed settlement represented a highly favorable resolution of the case for the United States," said the letter, which was stamped November 9.

 

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3 minutes ago, lemonlime said:

 


It doesn't matter if the dems take the senate. You need 2/3 of the senate to convict which the dems won't have. And the GOP senators won't vote to convict even if there's video of Putin handing Trump gold bars while trump is peeing on child prostitutes.

 

I actually think they can get 10 with Romney and Sasse leading the way. 

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4 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

God damn the stupid burns so much.

That investigation is only now starting thanks to the work of Nunes..  What if the name of the intelligence asset the FBI planted into the Trump campaign turns out to be the reason for the FISA warrant?

 

 

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