SWEET! A beautiful weekend Fuck You Very Much to Trump, Putin, and Assange! HAHAHAHAHAHA!
And a civil suit keeps the matter going no matter what Trump and the GOPigs try to do the criminal probes. And thereâs no ducking being deposed in a civil suit, either. HAHAHAHA â Merry Christmas in April, Fat Boy!
If itâs what this article says it is, âI love it!â
Iâm not totally sure the DNC has standing to claim damages on these theories, but itâs an interesting idea.
Plus, weâll get to see what lawyers are willing to represent all these defendants. That could be even more interesting!
I got to the Comey memos late. Posted on 2 other threads. Reposting here. Sorry if this feels like thread jacking.
Iâve read the Comey memos a few times. Here are my thoughts:
As expected, this was another self-own by the GOP that one could see coming miles away. Though it is often tiresome to watch Comey feel the need to put himself into situations where he projects his inner struggle to find the line among virtue, self-righteousness and hypocritical, self-serving arrogance, he is an honest and a first rate witness. The GOP just made Trump look more and more guilty. Itâs Russia, Russia, Russia; hookers, hookers, hookers; McCabe, McCabe, McCabe; Hillary, Hillary, Hillary.
More than that, these memos wipe away the notion that Trump isnât aware, doesnât know what heâs doing and isnât intelligent. Trump comes across here as menacing, manipulative, calculating, obsessed with sexual violence, motivated by a desire to punish and imprison those that threaten him, and above all, purposeful. In each meeting, Trump conveys a clear purpose hidden beneath the cacophony of thoughts that fly out of his mouth without a filter. He is much more, as Iâve long assumed, like a Tony Soprano style mob boss.
Meeting 1 - 1/6/17, Trump Tower
This is the meeting where Trump gets a security briefing with Clapper, Comey and others, and then Comey, at Clapperâs instruction, has a private sidebar with Trump.
Trump initially seems pleased to have a one on one with Comey. It was his way of thanking him for the help resulting from his various intrusions into the campaign. Trump sees Comey as useful because he always thought that HRC shouldâve been indicted and yet Comey came around to bail him out at the end (we know whyâactually Rudy knows why). As the end result worked out for Trump, he feels that Comey is a man he can work with and use his independence to his advantage in the way that Cheney used Powell to sell and prosecute the Iraq War. Comey will be a company guy; Trump will run the Company; and Trump will force Comey to do what he wants.
But then Comey blindsides Trump about the pee pee tape and the Steele Dossier. Trumpâs obsession with âprostitutesâ and his defensive/denialist tactics quickly emerge to challenge not only this accusation, but also the sexual harassment accusations. Itâs also important to note that Trump embeds lies in every one of his topics of conversations and in his alibis. Lies to him are just currency to fill dead air time and to provide justifications to his backers and dead ends to investigators. It is a practiced craft on Trumpâs part. Here, we have the ridiculous lie that he never stayed overnight in Moscow (he stayed for at least 1 night).
Per the Corn/Isikoff book, Trump felt vulnerable and blindsided by this meeting and thought it was a set up by Obama/Clapper and Comey to blackmail him. Comeyâs explanations that they were trying to protect him from blackmail and from the Russians as the incoming POTUS are valid, but thatâs not how Trump sees it. In this case, I think Trump is right and Comey was naive.
Trump didnât care if Buzzfeed had the Dossier and released it. He had survived tons of personal scandal. He had an ongoing trial for rape of a minor all through the campaign and the Media didnât care (emails are MSM catnip). What he cared about was that the FBI had looked into the pee pee tape/Russia matter. You can see Trump grasping right away (and correctly I might add) that Comey wouldnât have that meeting with Trump if it were idle rumor. He knows that the FBI is having that meeting with Trump in that particular situation because the FBI is looking into the matter. Itâs also about consciousness of guilt because Trump knows what he did that summer, and the summer before that, and the one before thatâŚetc. So, in this case, I think Trump demonstrates his wily nature and that he is a step or two ahead of Comey. His fear after this meeting is rationally based.
Meeting 2 - 1/28/17, Dinner at WH Green Room
This is the meeting where Trump invited Comey to dinner at the WH, 4 days after Flynn messed up his FBI interview, and 1-2 days after Sally Yates informed the WH that Flynn was âcompromisedâ by the Russians.
Comey describes a chaotic âjigsaw puzzleâ conversation with Trump with certain themes that Trump kept returning to. This is Trump at his most manipulative and controlling. He dominates the conversation, the topics and puts you on the defensive until he sees that he has softened you up to get to his main points and asks. In my view, Trump had 4 purposes in this meeting (based on my read of what Comey describes):
(1) Continue to reiterate his defense to allegations of sexual misconduct, and general misconduct against him.
IMHO, Trump believes the FBI is investigating him on all of these fronts + Russia. He knows that Flynn has been interviewed. He revisits every detail of the sexual harassment allegations against him. He brings up the âgolden showers thingâ. He reiterates his defense to it, but Trumpâs real purpose is to assess whether Comey is hiding something about whether the FBI is investigating it. This is where Trump asks Comey to investigate the âpee pee tapeâ story to prove itâs a lie. What Trump really means by that is he wants to know who the sources were so that he can have them punished or refer them to Vladimir to be âtaken care ofâ. Comey explains to Trump how proving that something didnât happen is a near impossibility and it would look bad if the FBI appeared to be investigating him, but Trump is not convinced. Here, where Comey (based on his interviews) immediately realized that Trump is morally suspect, he doesnât seem to get how Trump is manipulating him. This portion of the conversation by Trump is obstruction of justice.
(2) Demand a loyalty oath from Comey and suggest to him that the job might not be his for long should be not agree to act on Trumpâs terms.
Unlike the first conversation, Trump essentially starts out by saying that Comeyâs job, while nominally his, may not be for long as many want his job. He gently suggests that Comey may want to walk away âafter all that he has been throughâ in the prior year. Trump is basically interviewing Comey to figure out what he wants to do. He peppers in compliments from Mattis and Sessions to keep the tone light, but Trump is clearly probing here. Itâs at this point that Trump tells Comey twice about a loyalty oath. What I gathered from this is that Trump doesnât trust Comey and while he feels his supposed âindependenceâ can be useful, the fact that Comey blindsided him on the Russia/Steele thing may mean he is more trouble than he is worth. It also canât be separated from the fact that Flynn was interviewed a few days earlier and that Trump by this time (by way of McGahn) now knows the interview didnât go well. Trump will need a show of loyalty, in terms of a pledge + concrete action. The action he wants is on the Flynn investigation.
(3) Revisit the HRC email investigation for the purpose of identifying his enemies list to punish (HRC, Holder, McCabe).
There is a lengthy recounting of the email investigation. Trump looks at each Comey intrusion as an important inflection point in the campaign. It demonstrates his command of detail, his understanding of politics, and how much he saw the email investigation as key to defeating Hillary. But Trump isnât looking at the email investigation as a historian or to reminisce about the campaign. Heâs looking to find enemies to punish who might have it out for him (i.e., who might be investigating him for his connections to Russia). He centers on McCabe a few times, and Trumpâs early obsession with him is revealed. This will help McCabeâs case against Trump should he file a civil suit. He asks about HRC, Lynch and Holder, for a reason. He wants to know whom to go after. In Holderâs case, he views him as a loyal friend to Obama and admires it. Comey, in a case of unctuous foolishness, volunteers opinions on Holder and Lynch that frankly tell us what an arrogant shithead he can be.
(4) Probe the Flynn investigation and get a safe distance from it.
This is the first instance where we can confirm that Trump did in fact bring up the topic of Michael Flynn in this meeting. So all this stuff about loyalty oaths was not disconnected from Flynn. It was deeply connected to it. Here Trump approaches the topic in a gingerly way, as he knows that Flynn had a bad interview with the FBI and is looking to get some distance to throw Flynn under the bus. Trump goes off on Flynn for not telling him that Putin had called 6 days prior and then bringing it up in a toast of Theresa May, and pivots to say that Flynn has âjudgmentâ issues. What I really think Trump is getting at is that Flynn had poor judgment to get caught and he is preparing to throw him under the bus if Comey canât bail him out.
But I see what Trump is doing here; he brought up Flynn like planting a seed. He wanted to see if Comey would put two and two together:" loyalty + Flynn + RussiaâŚmake it happen and weâve got a deal. Fail to do what I want and there will be trouble."
Meeting 3 - 2/8/17, WH Meet and Greet with Priebus and later Priebus/Trump
This meeting is all new information to my knowledge. Comey has an awkward casual conversation with Flynn before he is escorted to Priebusâ office. Comey offers a pretty stupid legal opinion on the Trump travel ban. He thinks its facially valid but hasnât studied the matter and isnât aware of other considerations (like the INA and the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment?!!). So why even volunteer an opinion if youâre no better educated on the topic than a lay person!!? These types of things make Comeyâs personality grating to the casual observer. Itâs the type of attitude that got him and the country into trouble in 2016: stepping out of his lane, thinking he can freestyle or riff, when he has to just shut up and do his job.
But Priebus, who I also think was softening Comey up and isnât as ignorant as he came across to Comey, gets to his point as to how the Steele Dossier claims ended up in the intel report. Although a lot of text is blacked out, Priebus appears to be making the now familiar GOP complaint that the Steele Dossier is not a US intel source document, it was done by a paid private investigator, and is therefore suspect. Comey reminds Priebus that US intelligence had corroborated a lot of it and had its own independent sources. In this conversation we see the roots of the entire Congressional GOP attempt to thwart the investigation by making the Steele Dossier itself suspect. Priebus is also concerned about leaks.
But the big bombshell here is that Priebus asks âDo you have a FISA order on Mike Flynn?â It appears that Comey answered âyesâ but then tried to educate Priebus on the right way to make such inquiries. (As an aside, this is another example of Comey trying to ingratiate himself to the WH in a way that he probably shouldnât have).
How did Priebus know to ask about a FISA warrant? Was Priebus worried that multiple people were at Mar a Lago conversing contemporaneously with Flynn on 12/29/16 as he talked to Kislyak about how to respond to Obamaâs sanctions? (violation of the Logan Act and a loose thread which could unravel the entire conspiracy). Priebus wasnât really asking about Flynn, but about who was on the other end of the line with Flynn. If Flynn had a FISA warrant, the Feds would not only be able to capture any conversation with Kislyak, they would also be able to capture conversations Flynn had with Trumpâs inner circle. Thatâs what Priebus is getting at. Heâs trying to figure out whether throwing Flynn under the bus is a plausible strategy to end the controversy or whether it will balloon into something bigger. This should tell us that the key players in the WH had collectively conspired with Flynn to undermine the Obama sanctions and now they were working for angles to avoid getting caught for it.
Priebus then also delves into the email investigation. This looks to me to be an obsession of Trumpâs which Priebus feels compelled to raise with Comey on the bossâ orders. The purpose here, in my view, is to assess Comey and also assess whether there are enemies within current FBI/DOJ and former that Trump can target as a political response to any inquiry made against him.
Trump is a straight up thug.
Priebus then takes Comey to meet Trump (again). Trump goes into detail on the email investigation, again focusing on McCabe (Trump suspects McCabe of being against him and a likely leader within the FBI to investigate Trump). He again brings up the âgolden showers thingâ and continues the lie that he didnât stay overnight in Russia (an impossibility frankly). This is also the conversation where Trump reveals that Putin told him âwe have some of the most beautiful hookers in the world.â. Was that comment made in 2013? Or Recently? We donât know, but Trump mentioned it. Heâs obsessed with sexual depravity and getting caught for it.
The conversation ended on the Russians wanting an apology from Bill OâReilly for some critical commentary of Putin, and the interesting part is that Trump asks Comey about an answer he gave to a question from Bill O about respecting Putin. Part of it is blacked out but Comey states that Trump shouldnât have made a reference to Putin being a killer as a good or morally equivalent thing to the US because âwe arenât the kind of killers Putin isâ. Trump notices that Comey is criticizing him.
Meeting 4 - 2/14/17, Oval Office Meeting
This is the now infamous meeting which started out as a briefing on homeland security threats and then Trump excused everyone else to talk to Comey separately.
Here, Trump avoids the pleasantries and the jigsaw puzzle of stream of consciousness thoughts and bullshit to get right to the point: he 'wanted to âtalk about Mike Flynn.â. The memo describes the now familiar story of Trump asking Comey âI hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.â What appears new to me are Trumpâs exact words as quoted by Comey, â'to letting Flynn goâ. Thatâs the first that I can recall where Trump directly made his request without qualifiers. He asked the FBI director âto let Flynn goâ. He asked him to end the investigation and let Flynn skate (and let himself skate). Trump is obsessed with turning the Russia investigation into a dead end trail or a letter stuck at the dead letter office.
This conversation, like others, focuses a lot on leakers: those who leaked contents of his private conversations with world leaders, and Comey and Trump share some jocular banter about the value of âputting a head on a pike as a messageâ, and Trump responds about putting reporters in jail. Comey again attempts to ingratiate himself to Trump with âlocker room talkâ type stuff, but Trump knows no boundaries. Trump, ironically, mentions jailing Judy Miller (who protected Scooter Libby whom he just pardoned) as an example of what he wanted to see. Comey tried to draw a distinction between leakers and the press, but itâs lost on Trump. Trump wants Sessions and Comey to focus on leakers. In Trumpâs mind, that means going after the free press and putting them in jail.
Meeting 5 - 3/1/17, Phone Conversation
Trump does a check in call and Comey expresses his support of Sessionsâ speech on violent crime. Suggests that Comey come by and say hello the next time he is at the WH. I interpret the follow-up as Trump trying to get another opportunity to probe Comey to see if Flynn is being investigated and whether it is ballooning into something bigger.
Meeting 6 - 3/30/17, Phone Conversation
Trump calls Comey again for an 11 minute conversation. The context here is that 10 days prior, Comey had announced to the world that there was a FBI investigation into the Trump campaignâs potential connections to and coordination with Russia. Here, Trump plainly tells Comey that the âRussia businessâ was hurting his ability to run the country and then goes through his various alibis, embedded with lies and politically useful prop justifications, about how he is not involved with Russia: no money, or hookers (what about the blow?), and that he intends to bring a personal lawsuit against Christopher Steele (didnât happen and the one that Cohen brought against Buzzfeed for leaking the Steele Dossier is now dropped). Trump also claims that he has talked to everyone who traveled with him in Russia and has confirmed that âhe didnât do anything etcâ. This is Trump covering his bases and coaching potential witnesses. Comey reminded Trump that Trump himself wasnât being investigated personally and that he had told the Congressional leadership the same thing. Trump seizes on that information and wants to get that out and wants Comey to find a way to do it.
Here, others at the FBI questioned Comeyâs decision to tell Trump that he wasnât being investigated because obviously he was going to be at some point given the information that they already had. Comey got himself into some trouble here by offering Trump this as a type of pacifier.
He again asks Comey to âlift the cloudâ of Russia. He wanted to know who in Congress was pushing for this information. He also made a reference to Sergei Millian (one of the 5 sources of the Steele Dossier who knew Jared Kushner personally). Itâs in this context that Trump states that if there was âsome satelliteâ that did something it would be good to find out, but that he hadnât done anything wrong. Here, Trump is thinking about getting other to take the fall for the âRussia collusionâ matter. Trump also revisits McCabe, this time in a convoluted way.
What we see here is that Trump views the Russia investigation as threatening to him and links that investigation to his own personal conflicts (bribes, emoluments, investments, and of course, Russian prostitutes and other forms of blackmail).
Meeting 7 - 4/11/17, Phone Conversation
Trump calls again to follow-up on whether Comey could make a public statement that Trump himself is not under investigation. Comey tells Trump that he had passed the request to the acting Attorney General (Dana BoenteâŚpost Sessions recusal) but that he had not heard back. Here, I commend Boente for not getting caught up in either Comeyâs or Trumpâs circle of bullshit. It was inappropriate for Trump to make these requests and would only cause trouble to indulge them. He simply sat on the request. Comey referred Trump to tell McGahn to call Boente to figure that out. (no indication that happened).
Trump then makes an odd statement, âBecause I have been very loyal to you, very loyal, we had that thing, you know.â Comey is confused by what Trump meant with the words âthat thingâ. In my view, it meant that Trump felt like he couldâve fired Comey but was willing to keep him on as long as he saw a way to end the Russia investigation. Thatâs what the loyalty oath demand was all about. The job was conditional on loyalty. Loyalty needed to be demonstrated. The way Trump wanted loyalty demonstrated was in shutting down the Russia inquiry. In fact, that is/was Trumpâs only criteria for a FBI director: end the Russia investigation, and protect Trump from inquiry.
In sum, these memos prove that Comey has been telling the truth and there are no inconsistencies about his recollection of his discussions with Trump. The memos themselves, however, provide a lot more context of Trumpâs criminal intent. His entire purpose is to quash attempts to scrutinize his conduct. These memos show intentional behavior that is corrupt.I would think Muellerâs prosecutors would be able to make a case of this. I think the Grand Jury would want to indict Trump based on the profile drawn from these memos.
Good job GOP. This might end up being a bigger self own than the Nunes memo.
Trump goes bonkers when anyone hints he won the election for reasons other than his sheer genius, brilliant business acumen and force of will. Heâll gag on this like Gefilte fish left out in the sun.
Man, thatâs brilliant.
Is Avenatti part of the legal crew?
At a minimum, though, it puts the spotlight precisely where it should be â on the GOP and Trump conspiring with foreign agents to steal the election. Because thatâs what keeps getting lost in all all the media babble â this was about rigging and stealing an election.
âPresident Trump is not a named defendant in the lawsuit, but his son Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner, longtime ally Roger StoneâŚâ
So itâs about to be Roger Stoneâs time in the barrel.
And the only thing that could make it even more Schadenfreudelicious?
Is if Rudy Giulianiâs in there with him.
Wow, really was not expecting this development! Iâm not seeing a downside to this. Anyone else?
please multiply my âlikeâ by 1,000.
Why did the House Stupidity Committee want these memos released? And how did they get leaked?
There were moments when GOP leadership could have coalesced around an alternative to Trump and steered the nomination to another candidate. Iâm not saying it would have been easy, nor that they could have assuredly pulled it off. But they could have sure as hell made a much more concerted effort to do it.
Itâs so very rich the clusterfuck they find themselves living in.
Devin Nunes left them in a booth at a DC Panera.
Incoming stories about drump being unhinged and mad regarding this.
The complaint is that these named defendants conspired to illegally hack the DNC emails. Why would the DNC not have standing?
Iâd say more of a Vincent âthe Chinâ Gigante type: Acts like a madman to escape punishment.