âHe began by joking that I was getting more publicity than heâ
This is where Comey committed the cardinal sin.
The âgolden showers thing,â eh?
Yeah, that totally never happened. The fact that he even said âgolden showersâ isnât a tell. Not at all. Nope. Never happened. Totally never happened.
By the way, can you please do an investigation to prove it never happened?
Christ. Iâm glad I just got reading glasses. These scans are terrible.
Yeah, I think this will definitely help the Republican sycophants.
Right?? That was exactly my first thought. What a bunch of stupids they are.
Time from provision by FBI to Congress to leak: 8.4 seconds.
Oh dear lord, Iâm too tired tonight! Going to need the Josh synapsis 
Donald seems like such an upfront and nice guy. ~cough, gag, gasp~
So Iâm sure both sides will spin the contents to validate their respective POV. Of more interest to me anyway is the question of whether or not DOJ hung on to them until the last moment realizing it likely would be a big dud for the obstructioning treasonweasels like the Nunes memo.
Too tired tonight, but I look forward to going through them at my leisure tomorrow. Great work, TPM.
Somewhat OT but what the hell.
Re Joshâs post about why Cohen may not be counting on a pardon from Dear Leader, how about this possibility: Cohen knows what is in his files that the Feds now have, and knows that once that all comes out, his buddy Donny probably will no longer be in a position to pardon him.
2/8/17 - Priebus âDo you have a FISA order on Mike Flynn?â
HrmmâŚ
Edit to add:
The answer is redacted but it seems likely the answer was âyesâ. So they found out Flynn was being recorded and fired him 5 days later. There appeared to be consternation about Flynnâs judgement, probably because his overtures to Kislyak had been exposed, and the FISA warrant made Flynnâs presence untenable.
Of course we all know it was the imaginary fib to Mike Pence that was the true infraction.
Leâs see â 01/28/17, bottom of p.3, Drumpf ventures that, âhe has serious reservations about Mike Flynnâs judgement.â
Whyâs that? According to the account on p.4, it was because ***** had been the first to call Drumpf to congratulate him on his inauguration and Flynn had arranged for another call in six days . Drumpf didnât even learn of it until four dayâs later, while he was toasting Teresa May and praising her for being the first to call.
ETA: Coincidentally, âPutinâ fits in that space and seems in keeping with Trumpâs characterization of the caller. Iâd imagine this kinda exercise goes some way towards explaining why evidence in an ongoing investigation didnât used to be released.
Rachel just asked Comey about that. He said he answered the question, then tried to explain to Priebus how communications between the WH and the FBI are supposed to work. But Priebus didnât seem to get the point.
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Congratulations to TPM and Josh on this scoop, which I will now read.
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The main point, in broader terms, is that this leak was presumably designed to save Rosenstein. The GOP has been demanding him to do something he canât doâdisclose to them the Comey memos even though theyâre evidence in an ongoing investigation and subject to DOJ rules of nondisclosureâand to sanction him for failing to do it, thereby giving Trump a pretext for replacing him. Now that the Comey memos have been leaked, thereâs no need for Rosenstein to produce them, or no harm if he does. Theyâll have to come up with another reason to sanction him. Foiled again.
Update: I got this wrong. The memos were leaked after DOJ produced them to Congress. See @ghost comment for the right facts.
"I said I was eager to find leakers and would like to nail one to the door as a message. I said something about it being difficult and he replied that we need to go after the reporters, and referred to the fact that 10 or 15 years ago we put them in jail to find out what they know, and it worked. He mentioned Judy Miller by name.
I explained that I was a fan of pursuing leaks aggressively but that going after reporters was tricky, for legal reasons and because DOJ tends to approach it conservatively. He replied by telling me to talk to âSessionsâ and see what we can do about being more aggressive."
Multiple conversations and he raises the subject himself and tries to explain the impossibility that such a tape could exist.
The fucking thing is real. No doubt whatsoever.
Wait, I thought âgolden showersâ involving peeing on someone. Who alleged that?
Although we have mostly suspected the tapes had to have something more than âsome women peeing on a bed while Trump looked onâ, because honestly that doesnât really seem important enough to care about, considering other stuff that came out about Trump.
But them peeing on Trump would be be Bad. Not particularly because itâs worse in any sense, but because a) Trump would think it would make him look weak, and b) Trumpâs supporters would, indeed, think it made him look weak.
And before anyone says âBut heâs a germophobeââŚI remind everyone of the popular misconception that urine is sterile. Some germophobes have a problem with urine, some do not. (Urine is not, in fact, technically sterile, although itâs got such a different pH from your mouth that drinking it is unlikely to infect you with anything. Stuff that can live in urine generally cannot live in your mouth.)
tRump: âBecause I have been very loyal to you, very loyal, we had that thing, you know.â
Whereâd he learn to talk that?
âThat thingâ > âOur thing.â >âCosa nostra.â
It all reads as Comey has related. Is it going to change any cult memberâs minds? Nope.
Meanwhile Meuller and crew are following the money and digging through Cohenâs dirty laundry, and thatâs where the real âthingâ is lurking.
Whatâs @antisachetdethe doing tomorrow?