Discussion: Manafort Lawyer Grills Gates On Multiple Affairs After Gates Cops To Only One

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That’s an interesting concept. How many affairs does it take to make you bad?

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For Trumper’s,the more affairs the more badder you are.

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All misdeeds are judged by those of the king. At any moment the ā€œbadā€ number of affairs is the king’s count plus one.

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One more than the other party involved.

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That’s not the point.

Asked whether Gates told the special counsel about four extramarital affairs, the prosecutors quickly objected on the basis of relevance.

Downing hinted that he wanted to get at the prosecution’s questioning of Gates about what would happen to his plea deal if he lied from the witness stand.

It’s about fidelity, but not the marital kind.

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Saw this on Digby

On MSNBC this morning former DOJ official Chuck Rosenberg characterized prosecuting cases before the judge in the Manafort case as torture. This was not because the judge is unfair or won’t come to the right conclusion but because he has an obnoxious personality. In other words nobody should assume that Mueller is in trouble because of this judge’s anatics. He always does this.

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Ellis is a joke! He is getting a pass for some strange reason. It is NOT the judges job to try the case. He called the prosecutors on relevance when he was clearly wrong and now he does not rule from the bench in something that is clearly irrelevat. It would not be surprising if he is disciplned by the bar for his conduct. He clearly should be for his treatment of the prosecutors.

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Meh…a grazing blow to the cuirass, but it should only leave a scratch.

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They didn’t really hurt the prosecution’s case. It is much bigger and deeper than Gates.

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The more affairs the more Mulligans

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I heard a former prosecutor on NPR saying Ellis is an ā€œactiveā€ judge and that it can be a problem if his chiding/taunting colors the jury’s thinking towards ā€œthe prosecution isn’t fighting fair.ā€

The guest also said the government case is mainly the paper trail and Rick Gates doesn’t need to be a choir boy to convince the jury.

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I’m sure that Ellis cut off the defense attorney and chimed in with ā€œAdultery is not a crime!ā€, yes?

Similar to his comment that having a lot of money isn’t a crime, right?

Once again, people who know they can’t be fired, act like it.

Time to get rid of lifetime appointments on the federal bench. 10 year terms, with the opportunity to be reappointed, or retention elections, or something to instill some accountability.

The guard rails in our criminal justice seem to be mostly imaginary.

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Multiple affairs are now a bad thing to Republicans?

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You mean good badder, right?

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Is the trial about adultery? Funny, I thought it was financial shenanigans, not extramarital. Weren’t there so e pretty unsavory stories about Manafort as well?

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Yeah, that’s sick!

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He’s a low performer. His was with women of consenting age. No underage boys or girls, no porn stars, playmates or prostitutes.

It’s like he’s not even trying to compete with his fellow Republicans.

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It seems to me most of the questioning from the defense has the sole purpose of muddying the water and confusing the jury. There is reportedly so much documentary evidence that oral testimony is all but irrelevant.

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The defense is trying to malign Gates. Whoopdie doo. He’s a shit bird, we all get it. Is there any real chance jurors will be swayed by the thought he’s a truly despicable shit bird as opposed to run of the mill shit bird?

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