Spanky will never personally answer a single one of these questions. They will give the press plenty of ammunition for Madame Hamhock’s press conferences.
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Guiliani is a likely candidate for leaker, but it could also be someone who wants to make Guiliani look bad. That narrows it down to…ok, that doesn’t narrow it down at all.
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Don’t forget all the foreign powers who have hacked Trump’s phone. Could have been Israel—or North Korea—for all we know.
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Trump’s ego is so large that he may not be able to hold himself back from a Mueller meeting now that these topics are officially out in the open…
Coming soon to Netflix: “Treason in Trump Tower”
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Would Mueller object to televised questioning? Surely the best way for Trump to show he has nothing to hide it to answer all questions in front of the television cameras.
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Well, I did say “some” journalists. Of course, Fox News doesn’t really fall into the category of “journalism”. They are quick to tell you that they are entertainers, not journalists, when their journalistic credentials are questioned. Just as the Republican Party is the political wing of the NRA and Koch Industries, so Fox News in the propaganda arm of the Republican Party. Their aim is to gratify the lusts of their devoted followers (including the pinche pendejo-in-chief). They could get the same rush from reading a Tom Clancy novel – if they could read.
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Thanks for this link…the truth shall set you free.
Oh I would never insinuate such a thing
Journalism and Faux Nooze should never be used in the same sentence.
I just though it amusing to note the Shiny objects and Squirrels! du jour
Why is it disgraceful these questions were leaked? Anyone who has been paying attention could draw up a quite similar list. But, now everyone knows you have the questions in advance, so there would be no surprise gotcha areas of inquiry. So, why not go ahead with an interview with Mueller’s team? Hmmm? Got something to hide?
And if you think there’s no questions in there about Collusion, you are mistaken.
I say, subpoena him. Let him testify before a grand jury. They will be kind of like an audience. No telling what he might say to try to get their approval.
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Robert Mueller’s former assistant explains how grammar errors prove ‘leaked questions’ came from Trump - https://www.rawstory.com/2018/05/robert-muellers-former-assistant-explains-grammar-errors-prove-leaked-questions-came-trump/
Michael Zeldin, who now works as a legal analyst for CNN, told “New Day” that he doesn’t believe these questions came from Mueller.
“We have, this morning, been calling these questions that Mueller propounded, but I don’t believe that that’s actually what these are,” he began. “I think these are notes taken by the recipients of a conversation with Mueller’s office where he outlined broad topics and these guys wrote down questions that they thought these topics may raise.”
He explained that the way the questions are written make it pretty obvious.
“Because of the way these questions are written,” Zeldin explained his methodology. “Lawyers wouldn’t write questions this way, in my estimation. Some of the grammar is not even proper. So, I don’t see this as a list of written questions that Mueller’s office gave to the president. I think these are more notes that the White House has taken and then they have expanded upon the conversation to write out these as questions.”
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I think that the rule you mention doesn’t exist! Certainly not at this early stage. Prosecutors, if they’re conscientious, and certainly when they haven’t yet brought charges, are not looking to nail or corral people. They do ask general questions that are capable of eliciting truthful and exculpatory responses. So I wouldn’t say Mueller’s questions can be characterized as aggressive. Merely professional. It’s not his fault that Trump can’t answer them without digging a hole for himself.
I do offer these observations:
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These are broad, initial questions to get the ball rolling. Mueller would certainly ask narrower follow-up questions. Those questions would be a lot more aggressive and would in effect raise new areas of factual inquiry.
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The leak obviously came from the Trump camp. They’re calculating that it will bolster their witch-hunt claim. I don’t think it will. There are no questions pertaining to the famous imaginary ‘red line’ that Trump drew, ie, questions about his personal finances or even his business practices. I’m not sure what the story is there. No way Mueller is not interested in that stuff. I think it’s probably been punted over to the NY prosecuting authorities to handle, hence the Cohen drama. The fact that Mueller has held back on that front represents a victory of sorts for Trump. Can’t imagine any Democratic president getting away with that.
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It’s going to be very difficult to object to Mueller asking questions about Trump’s knowledge of, and involvement in, Russian contacts when that is his remit. As regards the obstruction stuff, that’s par for the course.
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The only way that leaking this stuff helps Trump is that it might freeze his exposure. Mueller will find it difficult, for example, arrive at inculpatory conclusions about things that he hasn’t specifically put to Trump. Expect cries of “I was never asked about that! I never got the chance to rebut that!” And also: “Those questions were far too vague! How am I supposed to answer them without getting something wrong!”
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It follows that Trump will not cooperate and will not provide written or spoken answers to these questions.
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Trump appears to be in a very difficult position, from a legal point of view, and will have to bluster his way through it. I don’t even think that he needs much legal advice at this point. In fact, the less legal advice he gets, the more room for unconstitutional maneuver he’ll have.
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He uses a cell phone a lot, so less protection, it wouldn’t take a foreign power to hack in.
It could have been a 400 lb guy in the basement.
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What jumped out at me was the bizarre use of quotation marks. Spanky is always random with his use of capitalization and can’t spell, or apparently be taught to spell, words like counsel, but what the hell was with the random quote marks?
He’s probably on his 3rd pair of Depends for the day and it’s not even 8:30AM.
@redpill - I agree, the questions were poorly written, don’t sound like the work of legal experts. Is this another “Rather-ing” in process?
I think we can all agree that, to date, all 'pub efforts to leak info or write memos/reports to help this so-called president have backfired. Bigly.
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tiowally and @nemo
This rule came from Evidence Professor Irving Younger’s classic (and often hilarious) Video and Tape lecture, The Ten Commandments of Cross-Examination.
Younger, who died way too young, included many anecdotes of lawyers having obtained GOLD in their cross examination and then refusing to immediately sit the fuck down and ask no further questions having done so.
Most of them were trying to show how fucking smart or Perry Mason-esque they were. The historical anecdote for this particular commandment was from a Cowboy Wild West Era trial for Mayhem following what was probably a movie type Saloon brawl.
This charge apparently consisted of bodily disfiguring a victim. The schlemiel lawyer had a witness on the stand who admitted that he did not actually see the defendant bite the victim’s nose off. The lawyer did not immediately sit down and say no further questions. He puffed up and asked the question he did not know the answer to “Then how can you say my client bit his nose off?” and the answer was “Because I saw him spit it out.”
Anyway it is most definitely a rule. Really brilliant cross examiners can violate all the rules.
BTW- Chuck Rosenberg on Rachel Maddow last night clarified this was not a list of questions. It was an outline or road map for Trump’s questions. It was transcribed by John Dowd after Mueller’s office accommodated his request for a road map, as a courtesy. And it was leaked to the NYT by someone from within the White House or Trump’s circle.
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So we have our new bombshell of the year scoop. This time it’s from the NYT. NYT has printed a list of 40+ questions that Mueller reportedly wants to ask Trump under oath. From my read of it, Mueller didn’t produce a written list of questions like interrogatories one might see in a civil case. Rather, Trump’s attorneys have transcribed or summarized topic areas and questions that Mueller’s team has discussed with them verbally. Trump has been aware of these questions for several weeks. This would explain a lot of his paranoia and general freak outs.
What’s stunning about this list of questions is that it covers most of the major events and timeline spanning from the Miss Universe Pageant in 2013 all the way to early 2018. Many of the questions are general in nature but the topic areas are very specific. When one reads these questions, one gets the sense of how much evidence Mueller must’ve compiled to be able to ask such direct, probing and potentially incriminating questions of a sitting President. The other thing that comes across is that Trump is guilty; his primary associates and confidants are guilty; and there is no good way for Trump to answer these questions. If he answers them truthfully, he will admit guilt. If he lies, he’s open to charges of false statements, perjury and obstruction of justice. If he refuses to submit to questioning, Mueller will obtain a subpoena and Trump will have to plead the 5th Amendment.
The NYT/WSJ and MSM report that these questions are about obstruction. That is incorrect. These questions are about conspiracy and the cover-up of that conspiracy. The underlying crime is as much a subject of these questions as the obstruction of the investigation into such crimes. But again, Mueller’s questions more or less assume that a crime happened.
So who leaked these questions to the MSM? While many point the finger at Rudy because he’s the obvious sleaze one thinks of in terms of unethical lawyers, I am doubtful he did this. He may have been a conduit or the person who green lit this release, but my guess is that this came from people who learned it from the primary legal team.
The release of these questions does not help Trump. This is the type of thing that changes how the press covers the issue and the intensity level of his most ardent supporters and soft supporters. If the Special Counsel is asking these questions, it’s because he has evidence and knows the answer to these questions. The questions, by their very nature, make Trump look guilty.
I suspect that John Dowd has a role here. He was privy to the information, and is now a witness for the special prosecutor as he had to recuse himself after getting caught shopping pardons to potential witnesses (those questions are part of the 40+ btw). I think he is somehow in the loop of how this got released to the press. Both Cobb and Dowd do not want Trump to testify because they know he’s guilty and is incapable of telling the truth. Trump has fought them because he is desperate to prove to his supporters that he’s not totally full of crap on his #trumprussia excuses.
The questions themselves also indicate a considerable amount of liability risk to Trump associates. Here are a few that stand out to me:
What did you know about phone calls that Mr. Flynn made with the Russian ambassador, Sergey I. Kislyak, in late December 2016?
This question (and the related ones) assume that Mueller knows that the stated cover story–Flynn acted alone and was fired for lying to Mike Pence–is a lie. The question flows from the Flynn Statement of Offense which clearly states that Flynn talked to multiple Trump associates (directly/indirectly) who were at Mar a Lago on 12/29/16 as he tried to figure out what to say to Kislyak about Obama’s post-election sanctions. So, if you’re Donald Trump, Mike Pence, Jared Kushner, Reince Priebus, KT McFarland, and anyone else who was at Mar a Lago or learned about it subsequently, you’re sweating.
What did you know about communication between Roger Stone, his associates, Julian Assange or WikiLeaks?
Donald Trump Jr is sweating this question. This one assumes that Mueller knows Assange talked to Junior and Junior talked to Trump about the use and leaks of stolen emails.
What do you know about a 2017 meeting in Seychelles involving Erik Prince?
This one assumes that Prince is lying. We know Mueller has this info from George Nader. What’s surprising is that the Prince trips tie directly to Trump himself and his own personal knowledge.
What knowledge did you have of any outreach by your campaign, including by Paul Manafort, to Russia about potential assistance to the campaign?
This one embeds new information. The question implies that Paul Manafort did have outreach to Russia about assistance to the campaign. It tells me that Manafort did something to this effect during and after the Trump Tower meeting. It also suggests that the Page and Papadopoulos threads have a role here. In addition, the Manafort link to Kilimnick and Deripaska are important in the timeline. Gates may be paying big dividends.
During a 2013 trip to Russia, what communication and relationships did you have with the Agalarovs and Russian government officials?
This goes right to the genesis of the Trump-Russia partnership at the Miss Universe Pageant. I wonder if Mueller has intel intercepts relating to that event or has eyewitness testimony.
What did you know during the transition about an attempt to establish back-channel communication to Russia, and Jared Kushner’s efforts?
This assumes that Mueller has evidence that Kushner was involved back channel efforts and that there were communications back to Trump. If you’re Jared Kushner, you’re sweating.
These are not the questions you ask of a witness. This is what you ask when you’re close to a target.
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What does it mean that Spanky is not a “target?” Was Mueller’s saying so nuanced?
I am thinking that the Preshitident made that sleazy scumbag Rudy Giuliani his lawyer because he was a Russian operative working for Vladimir Putin. The fake attorney-client privilege might be protecting Rudy from a FBI raid and prosecution. Looks like Rudy is leaking information and I think the hammer is going to come down on him hard.
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Are you suggesting that Rudy did this to serve his own purposes, rather than to aid Trump?
I think that it is possible. The timing of Rudy’s induction into the legal team was very odd. It raises many questions regarding the conspiracy and efforts to subvert the legal process and to undermine law and order.
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Mueller playing 3-D chess
Leaking questions to the press
Donnie rants behind closed doors
'Cause he’s leaking in his drawers
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