US Politics

[bustamente]

Again remember that this POS enabled Trump no mater what he says now, he knew the truth would eventually come out and he would look like another Trump bootlicker which he was. He needs to be held responsible for what he did re the Mueller report.

 

[Wideleft]

 

 

[iHeart]

Oh the dominos today

https://deadline.com/2022/08/trump-wants-mcconnell-replaced-1235099811/

http://www.cnn.com/2022/08/24/us/uvalde-school-police-pete-arredondo/index.html he's been fired

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/24/politics/idaho-abortion-ban-doj/index.html the ban was just blocked before it was to take effect

Edited August 25, 2022 by iHeart

[Wideleft]

A brilliant, no BS thread.

 

 

[HardCoreBlue]

10 minutes ago, Wideleft said:

A brilliant, no BS thread.

 

 

'If you repeat a lie long enough, it becomes Republican policy'.

Gold.

[Tracker]

2 hours ago, HardCoreBlue said:

'If you repeat a lie long enough, it becomes Republican policy'.

Gold.

This is almost a direct quote from Goebbels. But then, the current GOP is almost a copy of the Nazi party.

Legal experts say Bill Barr 'should be disciplined' following release of 'garbage' Justice Department memo
   
Legal experts are reviewing a legal memo that served as the basis for Attorney General Bill Barr deciding to not charge then-President Donald Trump with obstruction of justice, and they are calling it “garbage,” “disingenuous,” a “total whitewash,” and “ass-covering.”

The memo, published Wednesday afternoon by The New York Times, is dated March 24, 2019.

“For the reasons stated below,” it reads in part, “we conclude that the evidence described in Volume II of the Report is not, in our judgment, sufficient to support a conclusion beyond a reasonable doubt that the President violated the obstruction-of-justice statutes. In addition, we believe that certain of the conduct examined by the Special Counsel could not, as a matter of law, support an obstruction charge under the circumstances. Accordingly, were there no constitutional barrier, we would recommend, under the Principles of Federal Prosecution, that you decline to commence such a prosecution.”

Norm Eisen, a well-known Harvard-educated attorney, former U.S. Ambassador, senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, and a CNN legal analyst calls the legal memo “garbage.”

“No wonder a series of judges have slammed Barr for dishonesty in connection with all this,” Eisen writes. “It’s garbage. Anyone else woulda been prosecuted. Barr should be disciplined.”

Attorney Andrew Weissman calls the memo “disingenuous” and a “total whitewash.”

He adds: “note no discussion of Barr telling Special Counsel Mueller that he should make the decision whether Trump obstructed justice. Why? Because new DOJ memo reveals they thought Mueller Report could be read to say he did obstruct! So Barr should say the opposite.”

CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig calls the memo “ass-covering.”

“To recap,” he writes, detailing these bullet points:
“Mueller failed by refusing to state a conclusion,”

“Barr publicly distorted Mueller’s findings,”

“DOJ drafted this flimsy, ass-covering memo,”

“Barr misled a federal court about this bogus memo,”

“Garland appealed on Barr’s behalf, and lost.”

[Tracker]

CALM BEFORE THE STORM? Eight Sources Say Feds Are Not Done With Matt Gaetz


When Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) beat his primary challenger Tuesday, he delivered a speech to family and friends predicting an easy repeat victory in November that would allow him to remain with “Republicans with a will to fight and a backbone.” There was, predictably, no mention of the underage sex trafficking investigation that could one day be catastrophic to his political career.

That federal probe that generated national attention for a few weeks last year has since quieted down. But it’s not over.

Eight people with direct knowledge of the probe confirmed to The Daily Beast that the case is still unfolding—albeit at a methodical pace—as federal prosecutors work their way across a number of spokes of possible criminality. While each zone has its own sets of witnesses, subjects, and targets, all of it spirals out from one man: a crooked local tax official and Gaetz’s former “wingman,” Joel Greenberg.

Lyle Mazin, a criminal defense attorney who represents a witness in the case, told The Daily Beast that the quiet should not be misconstrued as reluctance on the part of Roger Handberg, a federal prosecutor who led the local team conducting the investigation and now leads the Florida Middle District U.S. Attorney’s Office.

“He’s methodical. He doesn’t let anything go,” Mazin said. “If you’re going after a monster, you have to get it right—especially when you have a bunch of Trump supporters who’ll come after you.”

No one who spoke to The Daily Beast believes that the Gaetz probe was closed, and defense attorneys for witnesses and subjects who have recently enjoyed a quiet season said they expect to hear from prosecutors again. Some have struck agreements for advance notice of charging decisions.

A Gaetz spokeswoman did not return a request for comment. Gaetz flatly denies all allegations of wrongdoing.

A lawyer for one person already charged in the case told The Daily Beast that, in his experience, the prosecutors have “always been tight on the timeline.”

“They only strike when the case is tightly built, unfortunately,” this lawyer said.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/eight-sources-say-feds-are-not-done-with-matt-gaetz?ref=home

[HardCoreBlue]

23 minutes ago, Tracker said:

CALM BEFORE THE STORM? Eight Sources Say Feds Are Not Done With Matt Gaetz


When Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) beat his primary challenger Tuesday, he delivered a speech to family and friends predicting an easy repeat victory in November that would allow him to remain with “Republicans with a will to fight and a backbone.” There was, predictably, no mention of the underage sex trafficking investigation that could one day be catastrophic to his political career.

That federal probe that generated national attention for a few weeks last year has since quieted down. But it’s not over.

Eight people with direct knowledge of the probe confirmed to The Daily Beast that the case is still unfolding—albeit at a methodical pace—as federal prosecutors work their way across a number of spokes of possible criminality. While each zone has its own sets of witnesses, subjects, and targets, all of it spirals out from one man: a crooked local tax official and Gaetz’s former “wingman,” Joel Greenberg.

Lyle Mazin, a criminal defense attorney who represents a witness in the case, told The Daily Beast that the quiet should not be misconstrued as reluctance on the part of Roger Handberg, a federal prosecutor who led the local team conducting the investigation and now leads the Florida Middle District U.S. Attorney’s Office.

“He’s methodical. He doesn’t let anything go,” Mazin said. “If you’re going after a monster, you have to get it right—especially when you have a bunch of Trump supporters who’ll come after you.”

No one who spoke to The Daily Beast believes that the Gaetz probe was closed, and defense attorneys for witnesses and subjects who have recently enjoyed a quiet season said they expect to hear from prosecutors again. Some have struck agreements for advance notice of charging decisions.

A Gaetz spokeswoman did not return a request for comment. Gaetz flatly denies all allegations of wrongdoing.

A lawyer for one person already charged in the case told The Daily Beast that, in his experience, the prosecutors have “always been tight on the timeline.”

“They only strike when the case is tightly built, unfortunately,” this lawyer said.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/eight-sources-say-feds-are-not-done-with-matt-gaetz?ref=home

I get it, I think I'm smart enough to know building a case takes intelligence and thoroughness but I'm getting really tired hearing legal people say things like this over and over and over and over again:

“He’s methodical. He doesn’t let anything go,” Mazin said. “If you’re going after a monster, you have to get it right—especially when you have a bunch of Trump supporters who’ll come after you.”

I think a lot of us know, regardless of your vocation, one wants to get things right the first time but puleease stop with the it's all very complicated and complex you average people wouldn't understand patronizing undertones.

FFS I wish I had this out in my line of work before moving a file ahead..

 

 

[Tracker]

Nicolle Wallace sounds the alarm: 'Scariest thing I've heard on this program in a long time'
   
MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace confessed that one of the stories she was covering was "the scariest thing I’ve heard on this program in a long time."

In a recent report by Washington Post reporter Aaron Davis, it was revealed that allies of former President Donald Trump copied files from Georgia's electronic voting systems and then shared them with Trump's lawyers and other election deniers.

https://www.alternet.org/2022/08/nicolle-wallace-sounds-alarm-scariest/

[bustamente]

All these Repugnant representatives scoffing at Biden and his 10k debt forgiveness when many had their ppp loans forgiven, nasty bunch of hypocrites 

[HardCoreBlue]

6 minutes ago, bustamente said:

All these Repugnant representatives scoffing at Biden and his 10k debt forgiveness when many had their ppp loans forgiven, nasty bunch of hypocrites 

The White House twitter handle is lighting them up. Lol. But it still won’t matter to the poor knuckle dragger who idolizes these imbeciles because he thinks they are good at owning the libs.

[iHeart]

If only it were that easy

 

[JCon]

5 minutes ago, iHeart said:

If only it were that easy

 

This is always the most foolish suggestion. Yes, if Trump himself, appointed the judges, you would look seriously hard at their backgrounds and make a case. 

However, in the US, the President nominates the candidate but they have to be confirmed by the House. 

All three were confirmed. All three are horrible human beings, corrupt to the core, but all were confirmed by the Senate. 

That's why the President can't simply appoint judges or secretaries. That's part of the separation of powers and oversight. 

[iHeart]

1 minute ago, JCon said:

This is always the most foolish suggestion. Yes, if Trump himself, appointed the judges, you would look seriously hard at their backgrounds and make a case. 

However, in the US, the President nominates the candidate but they have to be confirmed by the House. 

All three were confirmed. All three are horrible human beings, corrupt to the core, but all were confirmed by the Senate. 

That's why the President can't simply appoint judges or secretaries. That's part of the separation of powers and oversight. 

it's times like this I wish the public would vote on it rather that let the senate do that, if they did Roe V Wade would still be a thing

[JCon]

1 minute ago, iHeart said:

it's times like this I wish the public would vote on it rather that let the senate do that, if they did Roe V Wade would still be a thing

No, you don't. They vote for judges and sheriffs down south and it's a disaster. They make decisions based on popularity rather than in sound interpretation of the law. 

And, no, you don't want to put human rights on a ballot. You really don't want that, I assure you because making progress is extraordinarily difficult. Roe v Wade doesn't exist if it's a vote. Public opinion changes so slowly on these things and abortion may never have been legal. 

You have to hire/appoint the best qualified people you can who can interpret the law, the intention, along with constitution, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and apply it appropriately.  It's a crazy difficult thing to do. 

[bustamente]

If I'm one of Trump's lawyers I'm thinking of jumping ship, (a) cause they got him dead to rights and (b) he ain't going to pay you, and (c) do you really want to be associated with a pos loser and stain your career.

[HardCoreBlue]

On 2022-08-19 at 5:51 PM, bustamente said:

Just a reminder that one of Trump's biggest enablers was his AG

 

Bill Barr is one of the many perfect examples of how easily it is for certain people to freely lie, cheat, steal, break the law etc etc etc, throw other people under the bus to cover for their own misdeeds, make millions and millions of dollars grifting away, be given many different social platforms to spew their nonsense and let the internet enable their dirty work all while enjoying walking around free as a bird looking happily at their bank account balance. 

[Mark F]

 

ecil

Edited August 26, 2022 by Mark F

[Tracker]

Seen enough': Experts predict Donald Trump 'will be indicted' after release of 'pulverizing' affidavit
   
Legal experts are going through the FBI’s redacted affidavit used to obtain the “search and seize” warrant to enter Mar-a-Lago three weeks ago and remove presidential records, including documents classified and the highest levels, believed to have been stored there by Donald Trump.

It appears the general consensus from legal experts is this document is damning for the former president, both on the volume of documents he allegedly unlawfully held, and on the nature of the documents: not only classified but classified at some of the highest levels, and so dangerous if they were given to America’s adversaries that, as the affidavit states, “lives can be at risk.”

Attorney David Laufman, a former Chief of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section (CES) in the National Security Division at the Department of Justice (DOJ), called the volume of evidence the FBI and DOJ has “pulverizing” in an appearance Friday on MSNBC, and that Trump should expect to get a target letter.

“If I were President Trump and his attorneys, I’d be fearful of getting what’s called a ‘target letter’ in the not too distant future,” Laufman said. “It’s pretty clear to me that the government had a pulverizing amount of information that more than exceeded the standard of probable cause, and that they are all in.”

“They are all in building a prosecutable case for a violation under the Espionage Act, Section 793 E, for willful retention of classified information in an unauthorized place, and more than that, extrapolating from redactions [in the affidavit] after a section where they describe Kash Patel, trying to claim that President Trump declassified all this stuff. It’s a lot of redactions, and I’m guessing that’s where they are just knocking down piece by piece. The notion that this stuff was declassified, as you pointed out, in your intro, we’re talking about a holy of holies of sensitive intelligence, information, human, FISA. There wasn’t even any mention of Special Access Program material. He’s in deep jeopardy.”

On Twitter Laufman added, “In real estate, it’s about ‘location, location, location.’ When it comes to unlawful retention of classified docs, it’s all about ‘willfulness, willfulness, willfulness.’ And looks like the government has that evidence in abundance.”

Attorney and senior lecturer at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, CNN commentator and former FBI agent Asha Rangappa observes: “The extent of what has been compromised in our intelligence gathering capabilities is going to be staggering.”

Elliot Williams, a former deputy assistant attorney general at DOJ and an assistant director at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement tweeted: “The law says a ‘TOP SECRET’ document is one that would cause ‘exceptionally grave damage to the national security’ if released.”

“HE HAD AT LEAST 25 OF THOSE IN HIS HOUSE,” Williams stressed.

Former FBI Special Agent Clint Watts on MSNBC raised the issue that the large number of classified documents were not secured, and anyone with a cell phone could have taken photos of them and distributed them. It’s unknown if that has happened, hen says the affidavit suggests.

Top national security lawyer Brad Moss concludes, “I have seen enough, folks. Donald Trump will be indicted in the classified documents matter. I’m placing my marker.”

https://www.alternet.org/2022/08/will-be-indicted-pulverizing-affidavit/

[HardCoreBlue]

43 minutes ago, Tracker said:

Seen enough': Experts predict Donald Trump 'will be indicted' after release of 'pulverizing' affidavit
   
Legal experts are going through the FBI’s redacted affidavit used to obtain the “search and seize” warrant to enter Mar-a-Lago three weeks ago and remove presidential records, including documents classified and the highest levels, believed to have been stored there by Donald Trump.

It appears the general consensus from legal experts is this document is damning for the former president, both on the volume of documents he allegedly unlawfully held, and on the nature of the documents: not only classified but classified at some of the highest levels, and so dangerous if they were given to America’s adversaries that, as the affidavit states, “lives can be at risk.”

Attorney David Laufman, a former Chief of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section (CES) in the National Security Division at the Department of Justice (DOJ), called the volume of evidence the FBI and DOJ has “pulverizing” in an appearance Friday on MSNBC, and that Trump should expect to get a target letter.

“If I were President Trump and his attorneys, I’d be fearful of getting what’s called a ‘target letter’ in the not too distant future,” Laufman said. “It’s pretty clear to me that the government had a pulverizing amount of information that more than exceeded the standard of probable cause, and that they are all in.”

“They are all in building a prosecutable case for a violation under the Espionage Act, Section 793 E, for willful retention of classified information in an unauthorized place, and more than that, extrapolating from redactions [in the affidavit] after a section where they describe Kash Patel, trying to claim that President Trump declassified all this stuff. It’s a lot of redactions, and I’m guessing that’s where they are just knocking down piece by piece. The notion that this stuff was declassified, as you pointed out, in your intro, we’re talking about a holy of holies of sensitive intelligence, information, human, FISA. There wasn’t even any mention of Special Access Program material. He’s in deep jeopardy.”

On Twitter Laufman added, “In real estate, it’s about ‘location, location, location.’ When it comes to unlawful retention of classified docs, it’s all about ‘willfulness, willfulness, willfulness.’ And looks like the government has that evidence in abundance.”

Attorney and senior lecturer at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, CNN commentator and former FBI agent Asha Rangappa observes: “The extent of what has been compromised in our intelligence gathering capabilities is going to be staggering.”

Elliot Williams, a former deputy assistant attorney general at DOJ and an assistant director at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement tweeted: “The law says a ‘TOP SECRET’ document is one that would cause ‘exceptionally grave damage to the national security’ if released.”

“HE HAD AT LEAST 25 OF THOSE IN HIS HOUSE,” Williams stressed.

Former FBI Special Agent Clint Watts on MSNBC raised the issue that the large number of classified documents were not secured, and anyone with a cell phone could have taken photos of them and distributed them. It’s unknown if that has happened, hen says the affidavit suggests.

Top national security lawyer Brad Moss concludes, “I have seen enough, folks. Donald Trump will be indicted in the classified documents matter. I’m placing my marker.”

https://www.alternet.org/2022/08/will-be-indicted-pulverizing-affidavit/

Pulverizing? Okay that caught my attention creeping thru the white noise. This man and his enablers need to be disintegrated. 

[bustamente]

The classified top secret files have Trump's sharpie all over them. His final excuse will be you can't indict me cause I'm an imbecile and can't read.

[Tracker]

1 minute ago, HardCoreBlue said:

Pulverizing? Okay that caught my attention creeping thru the white noise. This man and his enablers need to be disintegrated. 

As much as I would like to see Donald J. Trump and his co-conspirators swing for all this, having his sycophants watch him fade away behind bars for the next decade or so while his toadies fight it out for control of the wreckage would be a much better outcome for America.

[Mark F]

 

good thing Americans dont do embarrassment at all, cause this is spectacular intelligence  failure..

good simple explanation  https://theconversation.com/us

"The affidavit reveals that some of the documents stored at Mar-a-Lago were marked HCS, indicating they were intelligence derived from clandestine human sources – or what we would think of as secret intelligence information provided by undercover agents or sources within foreign governments. If the identity of agents or sources is revealed, their intelligence value is compromised and, even, their lives may be at risk.

There were also documents marked FISA, meaning they were collected under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, documents marked NOFORN, meaning that the information cannot be released in any form to a foreign government, as well as documents marked SI, meaning they were derived from monitoring foreign governments’ communications."

Kept in an unsecured closet, and in a drawer in his room.

He is unfathomably stupid.

Americans elected evil Homer Simpson.

I cant quit trump. 😩

Edited August 27, 2022 by Mark F

[Tracker]

13 hours ago, Mark F said:

 

good thing Americans dont do embarrassment at all, cause this is spectacular intelligence  failure..

good simple explanation  https://theconversation.com/us

"The affidavit reveals that some of the documents stored at Mar-a-Lago were marked HCS, indicating they were intelligence derived from clandestine human sources – or what we would think of as secret intelligence information provided by undercover agents or sources within foreign governments. If the identity of agents or sources is revealed, their intelligence value is compromised and, even, their lives may be at risk.

There were also documents marked FISA, meaning they were collected under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, documents marked NOFORN, meaning that the information cannot be released in any form to a foreign government, as well as documents marked SI, meaning they were derived from monitoring foreign governments’ communications."

Kept in an unsecured closet, and in a drawer in his room.

He is unfathomably stupid.

Americans elected evil Homer Simpson.

I cant quit trump. 😩

Trump has gotten his way for so long and so often through lies and threats that he appears to be now dissociated from reality, which means he sees himself as omniscient and omnipotent- beyond criticism or the laws which, in his view, apply to everyone else but not him. He appears to be sadistic and incapable of forming emotional attachments- a perfect description of a psychopath.  

[Mark F]

31 minutes ago, Tracker said:

dissociated from reality,

yeah.  completely. 

also. I think he has brain damage. Could be senility, drugs, strokes, post covid, lifelong untreated psychiatric disorder, lifelong unpunished crime,  Poorly educated, 

but he has brain damage.

 

Edited August 27, 2022 by Mark F