Yesterday Chris Christie -- today, Giuliani and other GOPers: Collusion is not a crime
https://politicalwire.com/2018/07/30/quote-of-the-day-1996/
More: http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/conservatives-start-suggesting-colluding-russia-isnt-so-bad
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/rohrabacher-not-a-person-in-this-town-would-reject-russian-dirt-on-an-opponent
You can bet that Mueller will never use the word "collusion" -- he will charge CONSPIRACIES
https://www.thedailybeast.com/giuliani-knows-collusion-isnt-a-crimebut-conspiracy-is-and-trump-looks-guiltier-now
More goalpost moving: now Giuliani is saying Trump might have known about the Trump Tower meeting, but it's okay because he didn't ATTEND it
https://twitter.com/christinawilkie/status/1023917049096151041
More: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/giuliani-airs-sudden-uncertainty-about-if-trump-knew-about-trump-tower-meeting
In an abrupt departure from his statements just four days ago . . .
This is a bombshell . . . if it's true
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/rudys-big-admission
In a back and forth with CNN’s Alisyn Carmerota, [Giuliani] appears to say that two days before the meeting with the Russian lawyer there was a planning meeting to prepare for that meeting. This prep meeting would have been on June 7th, 2016. Giuliani says that meeting included Don Jr., Jared Kushner, Manafort, Rick Gates and others. . . . If nothing else, it suggests that the Trump team took the planned encounter with the Russian government emissary much more seriously than they’ve suggested to date. And then there’s Rick Gates, Manafort’s deputy. As we know, Gates is now a cooperating witness. Big problem for the Trump Team, if he was at such a planning meeting. . . .
Later, on Fox News, Giuliani walks back his claim about a planning meeting, and confuses the issues so badly that even the friendly interviewers are like, WTF?
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/rudy-i-meant-that-planning-meeting-did-not-happen
Is Giuliani just confused, or intentionally sowing confusion? Either way, he has been blurting out things that aren't even in the public record yet
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/7/30/17630148/giuliani-trump-tower-cohen-mueller-russia
As with all Giuliani's comments, what they tell us is not the truth, but where the Trump team's anxieties lie. You always have to read what he says in reverse
https://crooksandliars.com/2018/07/former-prosecutors-say-when-mueller
Former Prosecutors Say When Mueller Indicts, 'It Will Be A Bombshell'
[NB: Hard to say, but the shape of things is starting to emerge. For all the claims of the two Donalds that the Trump Tower meeting was a "nothingburger" and not very important, a planning meeting beforehand would show that they took it very, very seriously. If they discussed what they expected to get from the Russians, and what they were prepared to offer in return, that is huge. If we find out that Trump was in the loop that is even huger.
It also puts a new spin on Trump's public comments later that he had a Big Announcement coming about Hillary dirt. How did he know that Hillary dirt was coming? And if Rick Gates was there, Mueller has it all. No wonder they are starting to say, Even if collusion happened, it's not a crime.
We are also starting to see Giuliani's role: leak or release damaging information you know is coming out anyway, and then try to pre-spin it to your own purposes.]
See? Practice your new reverse-reading skills with these Giuliani jaw-droppers
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/07/rudy-trump-innocent-because-he-didnt-personally-hack-email.html
[Giuliani] “Colluding [with] Russians . . . I don’t even know if that’s a crime — colluding with Russians. Hacking is the crime. The president didn’t hack! He didn’t pay for the hacking.”
And this: http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/collusion-question-giuliani-isnt-doing-trump-any-favors
The presidential attorney went on to say this morning that Trump “did not participate in any meeting about the Russia transaction,” which is the sort of phrasing that raises eyebrows – because we’ve been told there was no “transaction.”
More from Giuliani
https://politicalwire.com/2018/07/30/trump-preparing-a-counter-report-to-rebut-mueller/
Rudy Giuliani told USA Today that his team is preparing a “counter-report” designed to rebut any accusations that special counsel Robert Mueller makes in his expected report about the Russia investigation. He also said that he believed Mueller’s team is “writing the report as we speak.” “Giuliani said he has no firsthand knowledge of Mueller’s plans, but that he expects the special counsel to file something by Sept. 1, two months ahead of the midterm elections.”
[NB: So, they're preparing the counter-report before knowing what the Mueller report even says. Smart move.]
Chutzpah
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/30/trump-mueller-interview-bad-faith-747723
Giuliani accuses special counsel's office of acting in 'bad faith' over Trump-Mueller interview
Attacks on Cohen and Mueller escalate as the threats get closer and closer to Trump
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/giuliani-pillorying-of-cohen-signals-how-nervous-he-makes-team-trump
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/despite-recent-progress-republicans-press-mueller-wrap-it
More: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1784470
Trump makes one thing 'very clear'—he hates Robert Mueller
Trump says he had a "very nasty business relationship" with Mueller -- without disclosing what it was -- and claims Mueller should disclose his "conflict of interest." Yes, Trump is complaining about other people's conflicts of interest
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-29/giuliani-says-witnesses-contradict-cohen-story-on-russia-meeting
[NB: Is this about that ridiculous dispute over golf club fees?]
In other Russia news . . .
More: http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/conservatives-start-suggesting-colluding-russia-isnt-so-bad
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/rohrabacher-not-a-person-in-this-town-would-reject-russian-dirt-on-an-opponent
You can bet that Mueller will never use the word "collusion" -- he will charge CONSPIRACIES
https://www.thedailybeast.com/giuliani-knows-collusion-isnt-a-crimebut-conspiracy-is-and-trump-looks-guiltier-now
More goalpost moving: now Giuliani is saying Trump might have known about the Trump Tower meeting, but it's okay because he didn't ATTEND it
https://twitter.com/christinawilkie/status/1023917049096151041
More: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/giuliani-airs-sudden-uncertainty-about-if-trump-knew-about-trump-tower-meeting
In an abrupt departure from his statements just four days ago . . .
This is a bombshell . . . if it's true
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/rudys-big-admission
In a back and forth with CNN’s Alisyn Carmerota, [Giuliani] appears to say that two days before the meeting with the Russian lawyer there was a planning meeting to prepare for that meeting. This prep meeting would have been on June 7th, 2016. Giuliani says that meeting included Don Jr., Jared Kushner, Manafort, Rick Gates and others. . . . If nothing else, it suggests that the Trump team took the planned encounter with the Russian government emissary much more seriously than they’ve suggested to date. And then there’s Rick Gates, Manafort’s deputy. As we know, Gates is now a cooperating witness. Big problem for the Trump Team, if he was at such a planning meeting. . . .
Later, on Fox News, Giuliani walks back his claim about a planning meeting, and confuses the issues so badly that even the friendly interviewers are like, WTF?
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/rudy-i-meant-that-planning-meeting-did-not-happen
Is Giuliani just confused, or intentionally sowing confusion? Either way, he has been blurting out things that aren't even in the public record yet
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/7/30/17630148/giuliani-trump-tower-cohen-mueller-russia
As with all Giuliani's comments, what they tell us is not the truth, but where the Trump team's anxieties lie. You always have to read what he says in reverse
https://crooksandliars.com/2018/07/former-prosecutors-say-when-mueller
Former Prosecutors Say When Mueller Indicts, 'It Will Be A Bombshell'
[NB: Hard to say, but the shape of things is starting to emerge. For all the claims of the two Donalds that the Trump Tower meeting was a "nothingburger" and not very important, a planning meeting beforehand would show that they took it very, very seriously. If they discussed what they expected to get from the Russians, and what they were prepared to offer in return, that is huge. If we find out that Trump was in the loop that is even huger.
It also puts a new spin on Trump's public comments later that he had a Big Announcement coming about Hillary dirt. How did he know that Hillary dirt was coming? And if Rick Gates was there, Mueller has it all. No wonder they are starting to say, Even if collusion happened, it's not a crime.
We are also starting to see Giuliani's role: leak or release damaging information you know is coming out anyway, and then try to pre-spin it to your own purposes.]
See? Practice your new reverse-reading skills with these Giuliani jaw-droppers
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/07/rudy-trump-innocent-because-he-didnt-personally-hack-email.html
[Giuliani] “Colluding [with] Russians . . . I don’t even know if that’s a crime — colluding with Russians. Hacking is the crime. The president didn’t hack! He didn’t pay for the hacking.”
And this: http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/collusion-question-giuliani-isnt-doing-trump-any-favors
The presidential attorney went on to say this morning that Trump “did not participate in any meeting about the Russia transaction,” which is the sort of phrasing that raises eyebrows – because we’ve been told there was no “transaction.”
More from Giuliani
https://politicalwire.com/2018/07/30/trump-preparing-a-counter-report-to-rebut-mueller/
Rudy Giuliani told USA Today that his team is preparing a “counter-report” designed to rebut any accusations that special counsel Robert Mueller makes in his expected report about the Russia investigation. He also said that he believed Mueller’s team is “writing the report as we speak.” “Giuliani said he has no firsthand knowledge of Mueller’s plans, but that he expects the special counsel to file something by Sept. 1, two months ahead of the midterm elections.”
[NB: So, they're preparing the counter-report before knowing what the Mueller report even says. Smart move.]
Chutzpah
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/30/trump-mueller-interview-bad-faith-747723
Giuliani accuses special counsel's office of acting in 'bad faith' over Trump-Mueller interview
Attacks on Cohen and Mueller escalate as the threats get closer and closer to Trump
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/giuliani-pillorying-of-cohen-signals-how-nervous-he-makes-team-trump
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/despite-recent-progress-republicans-press-mueller-wrap-it
More: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1784470
Trump makes one thing 'very clear'—he hates Robert Mueller
Trump says he had a "very nasty business relationship" with Mueller -- without disclosing what it was -- and claims Mueller should disclose his "conflict of interest." Yes, Trump is complaining about other people's conflicts of interest
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-29/giuliani-says-witnesses-contradict-cohen-story-on-russia-meeting
[NB: Is this about that ridiculous dispute over golf club fees?]
In other Russia news . . .
Rebecca Solnit explains it all (thanks to RR for the ink)
https://www.facebook.com/rebecca.solnit/posts/10156274078125552
This is the thing that never happened that was a conspiracy theory that was made up by libtards to cover up for HRC's flaws that was a smear against DT who said that there was no collusion and also that he was not told there was collusion, though he did tell us that it was Putin who told him there was no collusion and didn't mention that US intel briefed him on all the details of the collusion that wasn't, which was just a deep state theory though it was also discussed by foreign news organizations, Mother Jones's David Corn, senators on both sides of the divide, and some other very good journalists who were all part of a vast international conspiracy to pretend that Vladimir Putin was an ex-KBG agent who engages in espionage and intervention and that Russia was not a happy place of song, and anyone who didn't think so was anti-Russian, especially the Russian exiles who didn't think so, and now it's Obama's fault for not telling DT about this collusion that doesn't exist, except that insofar as it exists it's a good thing because it got us to this person who's on a leash that seems to extend to the Kremlin, but to say so is McCarthyist, because to oppose this actual protege of McCarthy's actual right-hand man, Roy Cohn, as he crawls toward Putin's oligarchical post-soviet regime is to be anticommunist?
He's screwed
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1784635
Manafort made at least $60 million in Ukraine—much of it unreported—prosecutors say
More: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/07/paul-manaforts-trial-everything-you-need-to-know.html
Paul Manafort’s Trial: Everything You Need to Know
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/07/paul-manaforts-trial-wont-be-all-about-russia/566390/
Paul Manafort’s Trial Won’t Be All About Russia
https://www.thedailybeast.com/paul-manaforts-trial-should-be-a-slam-dunk-for-mueller-but-one-big-thing-could-go-wrong
Paul Manafort’s Trial Should Be a Slam Dunk for Mueller, but One Big Thing Could Go Wrong
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/30/robert-mueller-paul-manafort-trial-749868
Why Mueller needs a win in the Manafort trial
A prediction
https://politicalwire.com/2018/07/30/lawmaker-predicts-indictments-for-trump-jr-and-kushner/
Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) predicted on CNN interview that Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner will both be indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller. Said Cohen: “I think they’re getting closer to knowing that the truth is going to come out that there was activities with the Trump campaign and Russia in releasing those hacks and guiding them to the states and the localities where they came from.” He added: “Some of that was Jared Kushner’s responsibilities, some of it was Donald Jr. I think you’re probably going to see indictments of both of those people.”
[NB: You know from reading PBD that a major dimension of collusion was sharing voter data and other analytics to facilitate targeted Russian social media strategies. These were in Jared and DJ's portfolios. What I want to see is what Trump does if they get indicted. Is that the trigger that sends him on a rampage? Does he realize that he needs to sacrifice himself to save them?]
The Trump admin keeps trying to weaken sanctions
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/mnuchin-eyes-economic-break-politically-important-russian-company
In other news . . .
This story has it backwards. It isn't authoritarians in other societies adopting and changing Trump's expression "fake news" -- it's a direct appropriation of Trump's hostility to a free press or any other institution that can hold him accountable for his lies and misconduct
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/nyt-publisher-trump-proud-of-spreading-term-fake-news-noted-intl-bans-in-convo
At another point, Mr. Trump expressed pride in popularizing the phrase “fake news,” and said other countries had begun banning it. Mr. Sulzberger responded that those countries were dictatorships and that they were not banning “fake news” but rather independent scrutiny of their actions. . .
Well, you know how much he likes superlatives
https://www.salon.com/2018/07/30/donald-trump-may-be-the-worst-liar-in-political-history-and-its-getting-worse/
Donald Trump may be the worst liar in political history: And it’s getting worse
What the Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg can tell us (a lot)
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/allen-weisselberg-involved-trump-foundation-casinos-university-miss-universe
For Trump, it can't just be good economic news -- it has to be the Greatest Economic News Ever
http://prospect.org/article/will-voters-believe-trumps-economic-bluster
More: http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trumps-economic-predictions-arent-just-wrong-theyre-counterproductive
Good to see some workers are making out well after the tax cuts
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/30/eye-popping-payouts-for-ceos-follow-trumps-tax-cuts-747649
‘Eye-popping’ payouts for CEOs . . .
And now Trump wants to cut taxes for them . . . without Congress's approval
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/07/trump-wants-to-unilaterally-give-the-rich-another-tax-cut.html
More threats and bluster from the orange faced monster
https://politicalwire.com/2018/07/30/trump-doubles-down-on-shutdown-threat/
Trump Doubles-Down on Shutdown Threat
Bob Woodward has a new book coming out on Trump. The theme? Governing through fear . . .
https://politicalwire.com/2018/07/30/bob-woodwards-book-on-trump-coming-soon/
Once again we ask, If Obama had said this. . .
https://www.vox.com/2018/7/30/17631422/trump-iran-meeting-preconditions-rouhani
Trump says he’d be willing to meet with Iran’s president with “no preconditions”
You don't have to guess: https://crooksandliars.com/2018/07/trump-channels-obama-says-hed-meet-iran-no
The Trump admin is giving the religious right everything they want
https://crooksandliars.com/2018/07/jeff-sessions-goes-full-handmaids-tale
https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeff-sessions-religious-liberty-task-force-declares-holy-war-on-lgbt-people
More: https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-deal-to-free-a-pastor-in-turkey-falls-apart-and-he-makes-things-worse
Trump’s Deal to Free a Pastor in Turkey Falls Apart — and He Makes Things Worse
The theocrats' embrace of Trump is costing them followers
https://www.salon.com/2018/07/30/evangelicals-embrace-of-donald-trump-may-cost-them-the-future/
Will Trump try to block or delay the Obama Presidential Center?
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/obama-presidential-center-chicago-construction-delay
Notorious RBG says she's good for at least five more years
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/rbg-gives-herself-at-least-five-more-years-on-the-bench
Rand Paul (R-KY) is a big phony -- but you knew that
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/rand-paul-predictably-supporting-kavanaugh
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/kavanaugh-nomination-rand-paul-pulls-rand-paul
Trump is acting like he knows that his presidency might hinge on whether the Dems take the House in the Fall. Impeachment aside, he doesn't want a series of House investigative committees with subpoena power coming after him. Which makes the stakes for us winning all the more important
https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2018/07/fingers-crossed.html
I'm a Mark Warner (D-VA) fan, and would like to see his name getting more coverage among the 2020 hopefuls
https://thinkprogress.org/20-point-plan-for-cracking-down-on-big-tech-14391cabc3ce/
The Vice Chairman for the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), has proposed a sweeping list of options for fighting online disinformation and helping users of platforms like Facebook and Google retain some semblance of privacy over their user data. . . .
I'm not alone: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/08/democratic-donors-push-mark-warner-to-run-in-2020.html
How to talk about racism without calling people racist
https://www.vox.com/identities/2016/11/15/13595508/racism-research-study-trump
Bonus item: Failing Logic 101
https://crooksandliars.com/2018/07/stupidest-man-twitter-links-trump-god
[Bill Mitchell] God favors America. Trump favors America. God favors Trump. [read on!]
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