Friday, November 30, 2018

THE WALLS ARE CLOSING IN


Michael Cohen closes a plea deal -- and it's a disaster for Trump

https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/11/29/cohens-testimony-implicates-trump-and-his-spawn/
Cohen continued to pursue a Trump Tower Moscow deal for far longer than he testified he did, and briefed “family” on it, which presumably includes Don Jr (who therefore lied to Congress about it) . . . The plans continued after the campaign got information about emails and were specifically structured around Trump getting the nomination; they ended when the DNC hack was reported . . . Cohen was in direct communication with Dmitry Peskov’s office; and Putin’s office contacted Felix Sater. 

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/michael-cohen-plea-draws-mueller-closer-trump
Cohen also worked with the office of Dmitry Peskov, President Putin’s spokesman and top deputy, to try to hammer out the details of the project. . . .

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/29/michael-cohen-robert-mueller-investigation-1028881
Felix Sater, a Russian immigrant and a former broker for the Trump Organization, pitched a real estate deal in Russia to Cohen in 2015, arguing that it would help get Trump elected president, according to emails the Trump Organization provided last year to the House Intelligence Committee.  “Buddy our boy can become President of the USA and we can engineer it,” Sater wrote in an email to Cohen dated Nov. 3, 2015. “I will get all of Putins team to buy in on this, I will manage this process.”  While Trump signed a “letter of intent” to pursue the project, Cohen told Congress that it never went anywhere and that he discussed it with Trump only three times. . . . Contrary to Cohen’s claim that the Trump Organization had abandoned the potential deal by January 2016, Cohen and Sater were still talking about getting Russian government approval for the project “as late as approximately June 2016.” Cohen discussed the project with Trump more than the three times he’d claimed and also briefed Trump family members on the project.  On May 4, 2016, weeks before Trump clinched the Republican nomination, Sater asked Cohen when Trump would be able to come to Russia . . .Trump has said repeatedly that he has no business ties to Russia. “I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA - NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!”

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/11/trump-tower-moscow-deal-denials-business-with-russia.html
Trump Denied Having Any Business Dealings With Russia a Bunch of Times

https://crooksandliars.com/2018/11/cnn-felix-saters-emails-tie-trump-tower
Felix Sater's Emails Tie Trump Tower Moscow To Russian Election Interference

https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/29/a-direct-connection-between-trump-and-putin/
“The new guilty plea firmly—and dramatically—shifts the narrative and timeline of the Russia investigation, establishing that while pursuing the White House, Donald Trump was also pursuing personal business deals with a foreign adversary that, according to Mueller’s earlier indictments, engaged in a multifaceted, complex, expensive, and long-running criminal conspiracy to help deliver Trump to the presidency.” “The guilty plea—which, like every step of the Mueller investigation took even close watchers by surprise with its timing and rich level of detail—draws a direct connection between Donald Trump’s business deals and Russian president Vladimir Putin.”

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-planned-to-give-putin-the-penthouse-in-trump-tower-moscow-9f135e87f356/
President Donald Trump’s company planned to give Russian President Vladimir Putin the penthouse in its proposed Trump Tower Moscow development . . . Cohen and former Trump Organization broker Felix Sater planned to give Putin himself the top spot in their planned development. Some of the people Cohen negotiated the Moscow deal with were also involved in or knew of Russia’s 2016 effort to interfere in the U.S. presidential election, two FBI agents told BuzzFeed News earlier this year. “In Russia, the oligarchs would bend over backwards to live in the same building as Vladimir Putin,” Sater told BuzzFeed News. “My idea was to give a $50 million penthouse to Putin and charge $250 million more for the rest of the units. All the oligarchs would line up to live in the same building as Putin.” . . .

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/11/former-trump-aide-michael-cohen-admits-lying-congress/577003/
Dan Goldman, a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York where he focused on organized crime, said he believes that the plea agreement is “a prelude to forthcoming indictments and other investigative steps. Before using information from a cooperating witness, prosecutors generally like to ‘lock in’ the witness through a guilty plea,” Goldman said. “So I would expect more to come arising out of, at least in part, Michael Cohen’s cooperation.” It isn’t just Trump who may be in legal danger now that Cohen is cooperating—it’s also his family members . . .

More: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/11/29/18117945/michael-cohen-mueller-trump-russia-plea
6 takeaways from Michael Cohen’s new plea deal with Mueller
 
https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/29/trumps-moscow-deal-died-on-same-day-as-hacking-story/
Michael Cohen’s plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller indicates the the last known discussion about the Trump Tower Moscow deal was “on or about June 14” . . .  “Why is that date significant? It happens to be the day The Washington Post broke a big story that Russia had hacked the Democratic National Committee.”

https://www.vox.com/2018/11/29/18118275/michael-cohen-plea-deal-donald-trump-jr-testimony
Michael Cohen’s plea agreement is bad news for Donald Trump Jr.

https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/29/cohen-has-the-goods-on-trump/
Cohen ‘Has the Goods’ On Trump

https://thinkprogress.org/donald-trump-russia-investigation-robert-mueller-michael-cohen-trump-tower-moscow-russia-2016-election-227e4d3d2d07/
Cohen’s guilty plea could be the ‘beginning of the end of the Trump presidency’
 
Was this the perjury trap everyone feared for Trump?

https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2018/11/how-many-quid-pro-quos-are-there.html
“The fear in Trumpworld is that Mueller may have laid a perjury trap for the president, the former staffer said. Mueller waited until after Trump submitted written answers under oath to the special counsel’s office—some of which reportedly included responses to questions about Trump Tower Moscow—before revealing the evidence prosecutors had gathered to secure Cohen’s plea.” Said the source: “Trump was totally caught off guard . . . .”

Trump lashes out, and tries to change the subject

https://www.politico.com/video/2018/11/29/trump-michael-cohen-is-a-weak-person-and-not-a-very-smart-person-067530
Trump: Michael Cohen is "a weak person and not a very smart person"  

https://www.thedailybeast.com/rudy-giuliani-tries-to-distance-trump-from-trump-tower-moscow-this-was-cohens-deal
"This was Cohen's deal"

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/i-wasnt-trying-to-hide-anything-trump-defensive-on-potential-moscow-project
President Donald Trump on Thursday argued that he “wasn’t trying to hide anything” while exploring a real estate deal in Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign — the same deal about which his former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to lying to Congress. Trump repeatedly claimed as a candidate and as President that he has no business ties to Russia. “I have nothing to do with Russia,” Trump said during the campaign.  

https://crooksandliars.com/2018/11/trump-im-allowed-run-business-and-campaign
We know when he says things like, "Just because I was running for president doesn't mean that I'm not allowed to do business," he's wrong. HE knows he's wrong. That is why he lied about it, insisting repeatedly throughout the campaign that he had no business ties to Russia. We know when he says things like, "We had a position to do the deal, possibly, I decided not to do it," he's lying. He stated no fewer than FIVE TIMES in less than 2 minutes' time that HE decided not to do the Moscow deal. . . . And he wants you to be SURE to note that "There would be nothing wrong if I DID do it," meaning the deal in Moscow. 

More: https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2018/11/i-could-actually-run-my-business-and.html

https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/29/trump-said-to-be-spooked-and-distracted/
President Trump was “spooked” and “completely distracted” on his flight to Agentina as aides tried to prepare him for the G20 summit . . . A source added that the President was “in a terrible mood” on the flight.

Trump's kids are in the crosshairs

https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/29/mueller-turns-focus-to-trumps-children/

Suddenly Trump's G-20 meeting with Putin gets cancelled. Coincidence?

Trump Cancels Meeting With Putin at G-20 Amid New Mueller Revelations and Ukraine Crisis

Congressional leaders of both parties want to know who lied to their committees

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/29/senate-confirms-farr-judicial-nominee-1027236
Senate Scours Testimony for Misleading Statements

https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/29/quote-of-the-day-2106/
“We believe other witnesses were untruthful before our committee. We want to share those transcripts with Mr. Mueller.”  
          — Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA)

More: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/29/warner-cohen-senate-intel-committee-1027763

In other Russia news . . .

The C words

https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/29/collusion-is-back/
Collusion Is Back  . . . “After a slowdown before the midterm elections, the Trump-Russia saga has reached a new crescendo, with Democrats pointing to what they call new evidence of collaboration between the 2016 Trump campaign and Moscow — even as President Trump added legal weight to his denials,” Politico reports. “A dizzying flurry of headlines, leaks and legal action over the past several days have shined new light on contacts between Trump associates and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who in 2016 released Hillary Clinton campaign emails that U.S. officials say were stolen by Russian operatives.” “Democrats say they strengthen the case — widely dismissed by Republicans — that the Trump campaign was aware of or even helped to coordinate the email dumps.” 

[NB: And the other C word: conspiracy.] 

More: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/11/russia-mueller-2016-election-roger-stone-trump-clinton-wikileaks.html
Mueller’s Newest Filings Point to Trump’s Associates Breaking Election Law

Waiting for the phrase "unindicted co-conspirator"

https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/29/mueller-closes-in-on-trump/
“In two major developments this week, President Trump has been labeled in the parlance of criminal investigations as a major subject of interest, complete with an opaque legal code name: Individual 1”

More: https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2018/11/how-many-quid-pro-quos-are-there.html 

Obstruction

https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/29/trump-continues-his-intervention-in-the-mueller-probe/

So now we know Paul Manafort lied to Mueller -- but here's the interesting question: how did Mueller know he was lying?

https://crooksandliars.com/2018/11/re-us-v-manafort-now-what

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/11/russia-mueller-2016-election-paul-manafort-trump-rudy-giuliani.html
 
Jerome Corsi is at the heart of it all

https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/29/corsi-admits-he-tried-to-get-hacked-emails/
“In a blockbuster interview, key Mueller witness and Roger Stone associate Jerome Corsi admits to MSNBC that he lied to Congress, that he tried to get stolen Clinton emails back to the Trump campaign in 2016, that he ‘absolutely’ intended to help the Trump campaign by doing so, that he told Roger Stone about John Podesta’s emails and that his lawyers are still communicating with Trump’s legal team ‘as if’ there is a joint legal defense.” 

More: https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/29/everything-adds-up/
“The thing about stories built on actual facts, as Mueller’s will be, is that they tend to be powerful and command attention because they add up. People like solid crime stories. And so even now, even amid all the current racket, at least one such story is emerging loud and clear: the bridge that connects the Trump campaign to the trove of Democratic emails stolen by the Russians and publicized by WikiLeaks to sabotage the Clinton campaign.” “Two of the biggest sources for this story are Stone and Corsi themselves. The more they try to portray their WikiLeaks ties as innocent — Corsi even gave a blabby interview to the less-than-friendly outlet of MSNBC on Wednesday — the more they poke holes in their own flimsy cover stories and incriminate the president. Not for nothing did Trump promote WikiLeaks’ email cache at least 164 times in the last month of the 2016 campaign. Everything adds up. . . . . It also adds up that Trump remains in the panic that has consumed him since he returned from his calamitous trip to rainy Paris nearly three weeks ago. He just keeps tweeting maniacally about his innocence and Mueller’s ‘witch hunt’ even as heads to the G20 meeting in Buenos Aires. Meanwhile, Mueller’s tale of his collusion with Russia gains traction by the moment.”

Trump's nonsensical claims about how much the Mueller investigation is costing. Two days ago it was $30 million. Now suddenly it is $40 million

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2018/11/29/we-dont-need-fact-checkers-for-these-trump-lies/

More: http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trumps-misguided-crusade-against-the-cost-the-mueller-investigation 

https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/29/mueller-probe-hasnt-cost-taxpayers-anything/
Mueller Probe Hasn’t Cost Taxpayers Anything

The things Trump thinks you can get thrown in jail for

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/29/trump-rosenstein-belongs-in-jail-1026104
Trump: Rosenstein belongs in jail because 'he never should have picked a special counsel'

Trump tax lawyer's office raided by FBI

https://www.vox.com/2018/11/29/18118393/ed-burke-fbi-raid-trump-lawyer

Oh, by the way: https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2018/11/they-knew-he-was-snake-before-they-let.html
A friend of Donald Trump’s recently approached him to suggest that he will eventually have to release his tax returns, as every presidential nominee has for decades... “What will you do if the returns come out as part of an October surprise?” Trump was asked. Trump pondered the question and replied, “I’ll say they aren’t mine.”

James Comey wants his congressional testimony to be in public. The Republicans don't

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/comey-sues-to-block-house-subpoena-seeking-his-closed-door-testimony


Trump really does want a "Space Force"

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/29/space-force-military-branch-999528

Vote suppressing judicial nominee loses key GOP support

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/tim-scott-announces-opposition-to-trump-judicial-nominee-thomas-farr

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/29/senate-confirms-farr-judicial-nominee-1027236

Jeff Flake is blocking other nominees over the refusal to have a senate vote on protecting Mueller

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/senate-judiciary-committee-cancels-votes-on-judges-as-flake-refuses-to-back-down

The number of uninsured children starts to rise again -- and the Repubs are still out to destroy Obamacare

Trump Appeals More to Men Who Are Sexually Insecure

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sharing its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com) with others via email or social media. Thanks for helping to spread the word!

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Thursday, November 29, 2018

A JOINT VENTURE

So if Trump is totally innocent and has nothing to hide, why does he have joint defense agreements with these crooks?

Manafort’s Cooperation with Trump Could Be Obstruction

https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/28/manafort-lied-about-business-dealings-to-mueller/
Manafort Lied About Business Dealings to Mueller

More indications about a Corsi/Stone/Trump link

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1815652
Corsi had floated the idea that he didn't actually have inside knowledge about the cache of emails WikiLeaks was about to publish in October 2016 from Clinton campaign chair John Podesta. Instead, he just made an exceedingly great educated guess. "I connect the dots. I didn't need any source to tell me” . . . But within hours of that interview, NBC revealed newly drafted court documents from Robert Mueller outlining emails Corsi sent to Stone indicating he did have inside knowledge.      "Word is friend in embassy plans 2 more dumps," Corsi wrote on Aug. 2, 2016, referring to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, according to the draft court papers. "One shortly after I'm back. 2nd in Oct. Impact planned to be very damaging." . . . [read on]

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2018/11/28/what-youre-not-being-told-about-the-stone-corsi-emails
What You’re Not Being Told About the Stone-Corsi Emails  

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1815817
Remember when Roger Stone once claimed his ONLY 2016 campaign contact was Donald Trump?

https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/28/trumps-late-night-calls-to-roger-stone-under-scrutiny/
Trump’s Late Night Calls to Roger Stone Under Scrutiny

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/11/roger-stone-trump-phone-wikileaks-corsi-assange-emails-collusion.html
Roger Stone Spoke to Trump on the Phone the Day After He Got Info WikiLeaks Campaign Email Dumps Were Coming
 
More: https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2018/11/trump-knew-of-course-he-knew-and.html

https://www.thedailybeast.com/jerome-corsi-told-roger-stone-wikileaks-had-dirt-on-hillarys-health-then-the-attacks-started

Was the Guardian story about meetings between Manafort and Assange a false plant?

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/11/28/paul-manafort-julian-assange-222694
 
Trump is still dangling a possible pardon in front of Manafort

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/28/trump-pardon-manafort-1025795
President Donald Trump won't rule out a pardon for his embattled former campaign chairman Paul Manafort . . . "It was never discussed, but I wouldn’t take it off the table," Trump told The Post regarding a presidential pardon. "Why would I take it off the table?”
 
https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2018/11/president-soprano.html
He can't stop obstructing justice. . . 
 
The things Trump says he didn't know anything about
 
https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/28/mueller-asked-trump-about-rnc-platform-change/
“The list of questions special counsel Robert Mueller submitted to President Donald Trump included a query about a controversial change to the Republican party’s convention platform in June 2016 regarding the U.S. providing arms to Ukraine,” ABC News reports. “Sources tell ABC News the president told Mueller he was not aware of the platform change to the best of his recollection.”

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1815797
CNN is reporting that, according to their sources, Donald Trump’s written response to special counsel Robert Mueller denied that Trump had any knowledge about two critical areas. Trump claimed that he didn’t know about the infamous Trump Tower meeting between his campaign team and Russian operatives. He also denied that Roger Stone had provided him with any knowledge of the  information provided by Russia to WikiLeaks.

https://www.salon.com/2018/11/28/cnn-finds-clues-for-trumps-wikileaks-obsession-from-mueller-document_partner/
Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani is now saying the president “does not recall” whether he discussed Wikileaks with Manafort or advisor Roger Stone.
 
[NB: These are almost certainly lies. Can Mueller prove they are lies? https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/11/28/trumps-two-denials-could-provide-the-excuse-for-mueller-to-demand-an-interview/]
 
Why Trump should be worried

https://www.salon.com/2018/11/28/msnbc-legal-analyst-explains-how-mueller-outsmarted-trump_partner/
Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani has signaled that the White House will claim executive privilege to prevent Mueller’s final report from public release, but Cevallos said the special counsel could reveal some of his strongest evidence at Manafort’s sentencing. “At some point, Manafort will be sentenced, and at that point there will be a prolonged hearing where there will be witnesses called and information revealed and we will learn that information,” Cevallos said. “Because the sentencing will be open to the public and people will be able to hear what exactly Manafort did and did not do.” . . .


https://www.axios.com/mueller-investigation-endgame-acceleration-manafort-1a590656-cbe9-487f-ad57-181c53122a1b.html
Evidence is mounting that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is moving toward further indictments — and perhaps some big ones

Trump slams Mueller for three straight days, accuses EVERYONE of treason

https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/28/trump-slams-mueller-for-third-straight-day/
“President Trump compared the prosecutions of Robert Mueller to those in the McCarthy era on Wednesday . . .” In a morning tweet, Trump also claimed that “major players” under investigation have “intimated” that Mueller’s team “is viciously telling witnesses to lie about facts & they will get relief.”

More: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/28/trump-rosenstein-treason-meme-1023315
Trump appears to accuse Rosenstein of treason in tweeted meme

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/11/trump-retweets-fan-meme-treason-clinton-obama.html
Trump Retweets Fan Account Meme Implying Obama, Clintons Should Be Tried for Treason

Trump thinks he can win a fight with Congressional Dems over investigations

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/trump-threat-declassify-docs-dems 

He just says s--t

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-wall-is-a-total-winner
Trump: ‘I Don’t Do Anything For Political Gain’ But ‘Politically Speaking, The Wall Is A Total Winner’

How long will it take for this nation to regain its reputation after years of Stephen Miller immigration policies?

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/11/trump-asylum-seekers-stuck-mexico-plan.html
Trump Is Attempting to Prevent Most Asylum-Seekers From Having Access to Legal Representation

Trump keeps attacking the Fed for not doing what he wants. The Fed doesn't care

https://slate.com/business/2018/11/trumps-rant-fed-reserve-jerome-powell-explained.html
Trump’s Nearly Incomprehensible Rant About the Fed

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/28/powell-fed-rate-hike-campaign-992897
Powell defends Fed rate hikes amid Trump onslaught

Does Trump know who Mike Pompeo just hired as a senior adviser?

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/27/trump-pompeo-state-department-aide-1021516
Mary Kissel often took a dim view of President Donald Trump’s foreign policy. As a Wall Street Journal editorial writer, she tweeted about his “frightening ignorance,” criticized his approach on Syria and China, and said Putin “scored a great propaganda victory” at the Helsinki summit in July. And Trump swatted back. After Kissel said in a March 2016 appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that Trump has “no principles, he has no policies,” the president counter punched on Twitter. “Major loser!” then-candidate Trump wrote, adding that Kissel had “no clue!”  . . . “We could not be more thrilled to have her on board,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a Nov. 15 statement announcing her arrival. It is unclear whether the president — if he is even aware of Kissel’s arrival — feels the same way. . . .  “Trump would lose his mind if he knew about this,” a former administration official who has witnessed Trump react to past criticism told POLITICO. . .

We're going to see more of this, I predict

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/senate-advances-yemen-bill
Senators are sending a strong signal that they want to punish Saudi Arabia for its role in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, voting to move forward with legislation that would end U.S. involvement with a Saudi-led war in Yemen. The 63-37 vote was to consider a bipartisan resolution to halt U.S. support for the war, a rebuke to Saudi Arabia and President Donald Trump’s administration, which had issued a veto threat.  . . .

More: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/28/pompeo-khashoggi-saudi-crown-prince-1023850

In other news . . .

Poor little rich girl

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1815759
Ivanka denies Daddy authorized ‘lethal force’ at the border—until she’s shown the video

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/28/ivanka-trump-emails-clinton-difference-1023312
Ivanka Trump says 'no equivalency' between her personal email use and Clinton's

Jared Kushner wants to EXPAND his influence in the White House

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/27/jared-kushner-white-house-policy-1019697

Here's one of the few Trump cabinet members we hadn't heard any scandals about. Well, that's over now

https://www.salon.com/2018/11/28/trumps-labor-secretary-alexander-acosta-cut-a-secret-deal-with-a-billionaire-pedophile/
Labor Secretary R. Alexander Acosta reportedly helped Jeffrey Epstein, a billionaire pedophile who has been found guilty of abusing more than 80 women, cut a secret non-prosecution agreement that shut down a federal investigation into a trans-Atlantic sex trafficking . . . 

Looks like Nancy Pelosi will become Speaker -- but should she delegate the role of Democratic spokesperson?

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/11/28/18116056/nancy-pelosi-speaker-election-critics 

Stacey Abrams may have lost the battle, but could win the war

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2018/11/28/stacey-abrams-follows-through-with-federal-lawsuit-on-voter-suppression/
Stacey Abrams Follows Through With Federal Lawsuit on Voter Suppression 

Trump's great victory in the Senate is a net gain of . . . one seat

https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/28/all-that-for-just-one-senate-seat/ 

The Republican senate just keeps approving extremist judges

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/28/senate-vote-trump-jude-nominee-1023362
The Senate on Wednesday advanced a controversial Trump judicial nominee who has faced strong criticism over his record on voting rights. . . .

Now this: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/28/mueller-bill-senate-mcconnell-1023314
Republicans block Mueller protection bill from Senate floor vote 

CNN juxtaposes a "fact box" with Colonel Sanders' press briefing

https://crooksandliars.com/2018/11/cnn-introduces-facts-first-box-troll-sarah


***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sharing its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com) with others via email or social media. Thanks for helping to spread the word!

I don’t get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don’t run ads, etc.). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a “mission,” it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

COMING ATTRACTIONS

A big day for developments in the Russia probe

Report: Manafort met with Assange multiple times

https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2018/11/guardian-report-manafort-met-with-assange-three-times/
Guardian Report: Manafort Met With Assange Three Times

Everyone denies it: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/giuliani-calls-guardian-report-unequivocally-fake-news
 

Manafort met with the leader of Ecuador (which was sheltering Assange)

https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/27/mueller-probes-manaforts-meeting-with-ecuadorian-president/
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team has been investigating a meeting between former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno in Quito in 2017 and has specifically asked if WikiLeaks or its founder, Julian Assange, were discussed in the meeting, CNN reports.  Earlier Tuesday, The Guardian reported that Manafort secretly met several times with Assange inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Manafort denies the meetings ever happened.

What did Manafort lie about, and why did he do it?

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1815508

More: https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-worst-thing-manafort-could-do-is-lie-to-mueller-so-why-did-he-do-it
The Worst Thing Manafort Could Do Is Lie to Mueller. So Why Did He Do It? 

https://www.salon.com/2018/11/28/five-possible-reasons-paul-manafort-lied-to-robert-mueller_partner/
Why did former Trump campaign boss Paul Manafort lie to prosecutors after striking a plea deal?
 
Jerome Corsi lies some more -- but we have emails!
 
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/corsi-claims-secret-joint-defense-agreement-with-trump
Corsi Claims Secret Joint Defense Agreement With Trump, Report Says

https://crooksandliars.com/2018/11/uh-oh-emails-prove-corsi-and-stone-knew
There is an email trail showing that Corsi knew ahead of the dump what was in the hacked cache. . . .  Corsi told investigators that an associate, identified by Corsi as Stone, asked him in the summer of 2016 to get in touch with an organization, identified by Corsi as WikiLeaks, about unreleased materials relevant to the presidential campaign, the draft court papers say. "Get to (Assange) [a]t Ecuadorian Embassy in London and get the pending (WikiLeaks) emails," read the email to Corsi dated July 25, 2016, according to the draft court documents. Corsi said he declined the request and made clear to Stone that an attempt to contact WikiLeaks could put them in investigators' crosshairs, according to the draft court documents. But Mueller's team said that was a lie. Instead of turning down the request, Corsi in fact passed it along to a person in London, according to the draft court documents. Corsi said that person was conservative author Ted Malloch. Eight days later, Corsi sent the email to Stone saying that WikiLeaks possessed information that would be damaging to Hillary Clinton's campaign and planned to release it in October. . . "Word is friend in embassy plans 2 more dumps," Corsi wrote on Aug. 2, 2016, referring to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, according to the draft court papers. "One shortly after I'm back. 2nd in Oct. Impact planned to be very damaging."

More: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/11/jerome-corsi-emails-roger-stone-wikileaks-mueller.html

https://www.vox.com/2018/11/27/18115445/mueller-corsi-trump-russia-roger-stone
It’s quite rare that we get to see an internal document from special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe before Mueller wants us to. But on Tuesday, conservative commentator Jerome Corsi decided to give us a glimpse — of a draft document outlining a potential criminal charge against Corsi himself. . . . And it’s a fascinating read, because it gives us a glimpse into Mueller’s thinking about a part of the probe that hasn’t resulted in any charges yet: Trump associates’ contacts with WikiLeaks.. . . [read on]

Trump is freaking out, and Manafort's lawyers are worried 

https://www.salon.com/2018/11/27/trump-is-panicked-because-robert-mueller-has-turned-on-paul-manafort/
Trump is panicked because Robert Mueller has turned on Paul Manafort

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trumps-latest-tantrum-suggests-mueller-making-him-nervous
Trump’s latest tantrum suggests Mueller is making him nervous 

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/mueller-wouldnt-accuse-manafort-of-lying-without-major-proof
Mueller Wouldn’t Accuse Manafort Of Lying Without Major Proof, Experts Say 

More: https://www.thedailybeast.com/manaforts-lawyers-look-nervous-veteran-prosecutors-and-lawyers-say
A new court filing indicates there may be tension between Paul Manafort and his lawyers . . . 

https://www.salon.com/2018/11/27/this-reporter-argues-that-trump-used-manafort-as-a-mole-inside-muellers-investigation_partner/
Marcy Wheeler: “Trump was happy to have Manafort serve as a mole in Mueller’s investigation” 

https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/27/manaforts-lawyer-repeatedly-briefed-trumps-lawyers/
“A lawyer for Paul Manafort, the president’s onetime campaign chairman, repeatedly briefed President Trump’s lawyers on his client’s discussions with federal investigators after Mr. Manafort agreed to cooperate with the special counsel,” the New York Times reports. “The arrangement was highly unusual and inflamed tensions with the special counsel’s office when prosecutors discovered it after Mr. Manafort began cooperating two months ago… Some legal experts speculated that it was a bid by Mr. Manafort for a presidential pardon even as he worked with the special counsel, Robert Mueller, in hopes of a lighter sentence.”

An overview of the Russia news of the day. And what a day!

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/11/27/18114355/manafort-assange-mueller-corsi-trump-russia

More: https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/27/the-mueller-report-may-come-in-parts/
The ‘Mueller Report’ May Come In Parts 

James Comey thinks Acting AG Matt Whitaker knows better than to obstruct the Mueller probe

https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/27/extra-bonus-quote-of-the-day-452/
“He may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer, but he can see his future and knows that if he acted in an extralegal way, he would go down in history for the wrong reasons. I’m sure he doesn’t want that.”
 
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-tear-gas-very-safe-adults-with-kids-grabbers

More: https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2018/11/raw-data-illegal-immigration-continues-to-decline/
Illegal Immigration Continues to Decline . . .  We now have a full decade of decline following the peak year of 2007. . . .

Trump declares war against General Motors

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/11/trump-threatens-gm-cut-electric-vehicle-subsidies.html

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/11/27/18115014/trump-gm-subsidies-tweet-kudlow-mary-barra

First Mexico was going to pay for The Wall™.  Then Trump was going to force Congress to pay for it. Now Trump says he will find "another way"

https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/27/trump-mulls-plan-b-if-congress-rejects-border-wall/

More: https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/27/trump-tells-lawnakers-he-wont-back-down-on-wall/
“President Trump told House Republican leaders on Tuesday that Congress must accede to his demand to include $5 billion for a southern border wall in a hefty year-end spending bill, intensifying a fight over one of his signature campaign promises that could lead to a partial government shutdown next week”  

[NB: Trump keeps blaming the Democrats, because. . . of course. But it's the Republicans he can't get on board. How nice if one of the last acts of the GOP's control over government is a shutdown.]

Trump's superficial view of the economy is remarkable for someone who is supposedly a high-powered businessman. He liked to brag about the rising stock market as a measure of the health of the economy (it isn't). He liked to brag about dropping unemployment numbers as proof that companies were creating more and better jobs (they weren't). When the Fed raised interest rates to cool down inflation, he could only see it in terms of lowering the metrics HE wanted to brag about

https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/27/trump-slams-fed-chair-for-market-declines/
“President Trump placed responsibility for recent stock market declines and this week’s General Motors plant closures and layoffs on the Federal Reserve during an interview Tuesday, shirking any personal blame for cracks in the economy and declaring that he is ‘not even a little bit happy’ with his hand-selected central bank chairman . . .Trump complained at length about Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell, whom he nominated earlier this year. When asked about declines on Wall Street and GM’s announcement that it was laying off 15 percent of its workforce, Trump responded by criticizing higher interest rates and other Fed policies, though he insisted that he is not worried about a recession.”

Said Trump: “I’m doing deals, and I’m not being accommodated by the Fed. They’re making a mistake because I have a gut, and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else’s brain can ever tell me.

Trump keeps telling us how smart he is (pssst! hey buddy, really smart people don't do that)

https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/27/trump-says-hes-not-a-believer-in-climate-change/
Trump Says He’s Not a ‘Believer’ In Climate Change . . .  “One of the problems that a lot of people like myself, we have very high levels of intelligence but we’re not necessarily such believers.”

https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2018/11/president-trump-i-happen-to-be-tariff.html
President Trump: I happen to be a tariff person because I’m a smart person, OK?

More: https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/27/trump-says-hes-far-greater-than-reagan/
President Trump claims in a new book that he is “far greater than Ronald Reagan”  . . . “The amazing thing is that you have certain people who are conservative Republicans that if my name weren’t Trump, if it were John Smith, they would say I’m the greatest president in history and I blow Ronald Reagan away.”

Trump's latest interviews show just how "smart" he is

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2018/11/27/the-white-house-wants-allies-in-oversight-positions/

https://www.vox.com/2018/11/27/18115395/trumps-washington-post-interview-gut

https://www.vox.com/2018/11/27/18114141/trump-wall-street-journal-interview

In other news . . . 

One of the primary authors of the climate change report demolishes the Trump admin's responses to it 

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1815601
[T]he president then said that he “didn’t believe” the report. But climate science isn’t a religion: it’s real, whether we believe in it or not. If our decisions are not based in reality, we are the ones who will suffer the consequences. . . 
 
Proof that there are still parts of the country where anyone with an "R' next to their name will win 

https://crooksandliars.com/2018/11/racist-cindy-hyde-smith-wins-mississippi
Racist Cindy Hyde-Smith Wins Mississippi Runoff

John Bolton tried to explain the U.S. position on the Khashoggi murder. It did not go well

https://thinkprogress.org/john-bolton-donald-trump-saudi-arabia-jamal-khashoggi-arabic-9e33cc32f1df/

Nothing to hide? https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1815573
White House blocks CIA from briefing Senate on murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi

Trump wants allies as ranking members of key House investigative committees

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2018/11/27/the-white-house-wants-allies-in-oversight-positions/

The NRA is losing members

https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/27/nra-lost-55-million-in-income/

Why does Trump need a state-run news network when he has Fox and Sinclair?

https://www.vox.com/videos/2018/11/27/18113442/fox-news-breaking-rules-journalism-campaign-gop-hannity
Fox News keeps breaking its own rules

https://thinkprogress.org/sinclair-migrant-caravan-tear-gas-93cfc3f5d754/
New Sinclair ‘must-run’ segment says migrant children are attempting ‘invasion’

Bonus item: Trevor Noah on climate change, and Trump's ignorance

https://crooksandliars.com/2018/11/daily-show-looks-climate-change-report

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