Stone Trial Wraps With Gates Testimony On What Trump Knew About Wikileaks | Talking Points Memo

[george_spiggott]

Wonder how many nano-seconds it’ll be before those voters have their entire lives looked into for anything naughty or that they were a closet liberal or whatever…

Better replace any granite counter-tops, stat!

[tsp]

Спасибо. Мы на этом.

[lastroth]

Graham: “he clearly misremembered”

Kellyanne: “alternative memories”

[george_spiggott]

So would Trump’s answers be hearsay since we know this is not how he talks, this is not how he communicates?
If one is supplying written responses to questions then he was under oath, correct?

Call Trump as a witness to the impeachment hearings to clear all this up.

I’m sure he’s up to the task.

[paul_lukasiak]

and Jerry Nadler is in the corner, doing his happy dance, because he just might be relevant again. Gates had been told not to testify to the Judiciary committee, but Stone is the last stop on his “cooperation tour”…

Between the various court developments (grand jury materials available, McGahn decision due by the end of November, and Gates availability) there will be considerable pressure to “reopen” the whole “Russian interference” investigation with an eye toward impeachment.

But its pretty clear that Pelosi doesn’t want to see this happen — she wants impeachment done with by the end of the year. So this is going to get interesting…

[george_spiggott]

Kellyanne: “alternative memories”

[rickjones]

So would Trump’s answers be hearsay since we know this is not how he talks, this is not how he communicates?
If one is supplying written responses to questions then he was under oath, correct?

Trump would have had to sign the answers attesting to their truthfulness. Whether he did so before a notary after being sworn, I don’t think would matter since it’s a crime to lie to (perjury) or attempt to mislead (obstruction) a federal investigator, which Mueller and his team were.

Pretty sure I’m correct in general, but you lawyer types are encouraged to add to, correct, or clarify.

[johncrandell]

Look at that hairpiece. Look at that sun tan. He’s immitating his hero - Henry IX. The hue of his eyebrows dost give him away.

[djhj]

So, I’m also reading the TPM squib on how Mueller report should have raised these lies by Trump in his written answers. But isn’t it the case that whether T lied there is not something that Mueller would conclude without further questioning Trump? I mean, it’s Gates (and maybe others) v. Trump on that score. So while you and I might as jurors decide that T lied, Meuller wouldn’t conclude that without more - just because of the fallout of that conclusion and its coming in a non-adversarial context (which M’s investigation wasn’t).

[darcy]

He’s such an idiot. If he learned to nuance his lies he might get away with half of them.

[WayOutWest]

And his sartorial limitations do suggest cheapness

[seveneagles]

He goes to so much trouble to look smart, then he grows that stupid beard.

[paulw]

So trump’s defense is ongoing massive memory loss and/or dementia?

[inversion]

Kellyanne: “You Democrats must have ‘great’ memories, and it shows when your lot attack this brilliant president. He had a million things to do on that day, and this foul-up is a honest mistake. So please, for the love of the country, get over it.”

[lastroth]

I thought “get over it” was Mick the Prick’s tag line?

[inversion]

Kellyanne: “I borrowed it from him. He’s busy and though he has other problems, he doesn’t mind me using it.”

[highdesertwizard]

Thoughts from a tpm reader since the days of the single column…

Of course, Josh’s post today about the call to Bolton at home highlighting Trump’s randomly erratic sensitivity to Putin’s interests fits with Nancy Pelosi’s claim that, “all roads lead to Putin”.

There is another event that Josh previously discussed that highlights the same sensitivity and also speaks to the larger open question of “deliverables important to Trump”.

The call to Zelensky took place the day after Mueller testified.

Josh previously highlighted that these two events could be linked. Mueller’s testimony was a critical moment for Trump: It was clear after that there would be no serious repercussions emerging from the Mueller report on Russian election intervention and the obstruction following it.

Josh’s post post later today highlights the failure of the US law enforcement and security communities to address this significant threat from within.

I suggest that Trump felt emboldened to act on his serious objectives because of that failure. After Mueller’s testimony, Trump had not delivered a truly significant strategic, geopolitical deliverable to Putin since his inauguration.

But keeping Javelin rockets out of Ukraine would be a significant deliverable. And he almost succeeded in keeping them out past the September 30th fiscal year end except for Bolton’s reported action to release the funds himself.

And then Bolton was fired…

So at the end of September, Trump had still not delivered a truly significant strategic, geopolitical deliverable to Putin since his inauguration.

And then, in October, US troops exited Syria with Putin and Erdogan meeting a couple weeks later to discuss how to divide up the geography gain without conflict.

For what reason did US troops exit? Because of a conversation with Erdogan and a weekend whim of the President?

[ldcolton]

He probably already did that for nothing.

[dont]

It’s been said before but so many “I can’t/don’t recall(s)” from the man with the world’s best memory.

[mattinpa]

“If you cannot RECALL if you sent a dick pick, you sent a dick pick.”

Seriously. Seems pretty obvious that a stubborn persistence in claiming not to remember things means you think they can’t prove it but they might be able to now or down the road.