***Official Political Discussion Thread***

[aepps20]

California is a LIB disaster.

 

[rexanglorum]

California is a LIB disaster.

You're just jelly because a California Sheriff is even more murderous than you.



Your move Sheriff Clarke. Time to make a few people just plain disappear at that Milwaukee jail.


Also, Kern County got oil, it's the next best thing to coal. It also has empty fields full of oil derricks as far as the ye can see. It's also home of the next US House Leader Kevin McCarthy. Cali is winning, even if the coastal counties are kale strewn hellholes.

 

[IATT]

 

[Cashflow]

I’m curious to see whether or not all future Presidents will find a way to profit from the office WHILE in office rather than waiting until their terms are up.

It this the new normal

 

[Belgium]

I have to say it does feel nice to know it can in fact get worse than our political corruption. Whenever the next scandal arises with one of our politicians skimming money off non-profits or getting paid royally in "consulting fees" for simply showing up to a board meeting of a large corporation, or even never show up at all but still get paid, I know that none of them could top Pruitt's tenure even if they tried.

Note that this Morocco trip has also drawn scrutiny due to its connection to energy lobbyist Steven Hart, the husband of the lobbyist whose home Pruitt was living in. During this trip, Pruitt promoted importing liquefied natural gas into the Moroccan economy. The sole exporter of liquefied natural gas in the US is Cheniere Energy, which was a client of Steven Hart's firm at the time.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/lobbyi...-earns-40000-from-moroccan-government-report/
Lobbyist helped arrange Scott Pruitt Morocco trip, now earns $40,000 from Moroccan government: Report
The lobbyist who helped arrange embattled Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Scott Pruitt's pricey government trip to Morocco last year now has a $40,000-a-month contract to lobby for the Moroccan government, according to the Washington Post.

The Post reports the trip cost $100,000 -- far more than the $40,000 the EPA initially claimed it cost -- and, citing four individuals familiar with the preparations for the trip, said lobbyist and longtime Pruitt friend Richard Smotkin was intricately involved in the planning of the December 2017 trip. According to federal records first reported by the Post, Smotkin was contracted to lobby for the Moroccan government in April, in an agreement retroactive to January 1 of this year that pays $40,000 a month for 12 months, or $480,000 in total.

Smotkin registered as a foreign agent on April 13, with the "Embassy of Morocco" listed as the foreign principal he will be working for, according to federal records. Smotkin listed his expected political activity as executing a "PR campaign." The Post reported Smotkin attended some of the events on the Morocco trip, and served as a liaison of sorts for much of the trip.

Asked if the EPA had any additional comment about Smotkin, a spokesman to the EPA referred CBS News to a statement Pruitt gave at the time of the trip in December.

"These meetings allowed us to directly convey our priorities and best practices with Moroccan leaders, as well as identify opportunities for continued cooperation, as our two countries further talks around the Environmental Work Plan. We are committed to working closely with countries like Morocco to enhance environmental stewardship around the world," Pruitt said in a statement at the time.

Pruitt's Morocco trip entailed encouraging the North African country to import liquefied natural gas from the U.S., activities that were questioned when Pruitt was grilled on Capitol Hill last week. The purpose of Pruitt's trip to Morocco has also been questioned because Cheniere Energy, currently the sole exporter of liquefied natural gas from the continental U.S., is a lobbying client of the then-firm of Steven Hart. Hart's wife, Vicki Hart, co-owned the condo where Pruitt stayed for more than five months last year for $50 a night, another Pruitt controversy that has garnered attention.

Mr. Trump has continued to approve of Pruitt's job in office, even as the criticisms of Pruitt's conduct continue. Amid the controversies, Pruitt confirmed the resignations of two top EPA officials this week -- the head of Pruitt's security detail, and a senior adviser. Albert "Kell" Kelly has resigned as a senior adviser at the EPA running Pruitt's Superfund task force, as has Nino Perrotta, head of Pruitt's highly scrutinized, around-the-clock security detail. Perrotta had planned to retire this summer.

 

[IATT]

What was it they were saying about not needing to protect mueller, again?

 

[Belgium]

Don't worry, Dapper Don has the best lawyers helping him out.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...to-lack-security-clearance-amid-mueller-talks
Trump Lawyers Said to Lack Security Clearance Amid Mueller Talks
Donald Trump’s current team of lawyers lacks the security clearances needed to discuss sensitive issues related to a possible presidential interview with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Trump’s former lead lawyer John Dowd had been the only member of the president’s personal legal team with a security clearance, the people said. When Dowd quit in March over disagreements with Trump on legal strategy, Jay Sekulow became the lead lawyer on the investigation and is still waiting for his clearance.

The lack of security clearances could further complicate already sensitive talks with Mueller’s team. Prosecutors for Mueller made clear to Trump’s lawyers before Dowd left the legal team that the special counsel would consider a subpoena compelling the president to testify before a grand jury if he refuses to participate in a voluntary interview, Dowd told Bloomberg News.

Mueller believes he has legal standing to subpoena a sitting president, even though such a move has never been fully tested, according to the two current U.S. officials. Unlike an interview, Trump couldn’t bring his lawyers into a grand jury room.

If Trump agrees to an interview, the topics that could require security clearance for the president’s lawyers include a meeting he had with Russian officials the day after the president fired FBI Director James Comey. That was on a list of more than 40 potential questions that Trump’s legal team compiled based on their discussions with Mueller.

The leak of the questions, which were reported by the New York Times, could disrupt the negotiations over a Trump interview, which have been going on since last year. Several Trump advisers and associates, including his former lawyer Dowd, are said to be opposed to having Trump meet with the special counsel.

Sekulow has continued talking with Mueller’s team since Dowd’s departure. Trump’s newest lawyer, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, joined in a session last week. The lawyers have been trying to negotiate ways to narrow the scope of a possible interview, which Mueller requested at the end of last year.

Ty Cobb, the White House lawyer handling requests from Mueller, has a security clearance. But Cobb’s role is to represent the office of the presidency, not Trump personally, and he hasn’t been directly involved in discussions with Mueller about an interview.

Mueller is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, whether anyone close to Trump colluded in it and whether Trump obstructed justice by firing Comey.

Trump’s legal team is well-aware Mueller could issue a subpoena, a possibility they have calculated in their strategy on negotiating an interview, according to people familiar with the team’s thinking. They have discussed a possible defense against a subpoena, including citing a 1990s ruling involving President Bill Clinton that set a standard for when a president can invoke executive privilege.

Trump and his aides took comfort in recent assurances provided by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that the president isn’t a target of the Mueller investigation or of a separate probe into Trump’s longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, according to people familiar with the matter.

But the questions published on Monday make clear that Mueller is still examining the president’s conduct.

In response to publication of the questions, Trump wrote on Twitter that “it would be very hard to obstruct justice for a crime that never happened” and that Mueller was investigating a “made up, phony crime.”

It’s common practice for prosecutors to inform defense attorneys about the subjects they plan to pursue during a voluntary interview and for defense lawyers to try to limit the extent of questioning, said Harry Sandick, a former prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

“You always try to negotiate down to make it easier for your client,” said Sandick, now a partner with Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP in New York. “Whether it’s a good idea for President Trump depends entirely on whether he can give truthful answers to the questions listed without incriminating himself.”

From the start, Trump’s legal team has been out-manned by Mueller’s. While Mueller had a team of more than a dozen seasoned prosecutors at the prime of their careers, Trump’s team was led by Dowd, who had decades of experience with large-scale investigations but was in solo practice and nearing retirement. Sekulow brought a background in constitutional law but had no experience with a major criminal probe. Neither had the resources of a major law firm to draw on.

Sekulow struggled to find another lawyer with experience in white-collar investigations to help after several high-profile lawyers turned down the work because of conflicts of interest or concerns about the negative publicity that could come from being involved.

About a month after Dowd’s departure, Sekulow said Giuliani would be joining the legal team, along with Florida-based white-collar defense lawyers Martin and Jane Raskin. Giuliani and the Raskins didn’t respond to a request for comment on whether they have also sought security clearance.

 

[IATT]

 

[rillo561]

Why would you turn over documents while there's still a pending investigation going? The desperation.

 

[elpablo21]

 

[Belgium]

A little cooperation would be nice
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/...column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
Ukraine, Seeking U.S. Missiles, Halted Cooperation With Mueller Investigation

In the United States, Paul J. Manafort is facing prosecution on charges of money laundering and financial fraudstemming from his decade of work for a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine.

But in Ukraine, where officials are wary of offending President Trump, four meandering cases that involve Mr. Manafort, Mr. Trump’s former campaign chairman, have been effectively frozen by Ukraine’s chief prosecutor.

The cases are just too sensitive for a government deeply reliant on United States financial and military aid, and keenly aware of Mr. Trump’s distaste for the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, into possible collusion between Russia and his campaign, some lawmakers say.

The decision to halt the investigations by an anticorruption prosecutor was handed down at a delicate moment for Ukraine, as the Trump administration was finalizing plans to sell the country sophisticated anti-tank missiles, called Javelins.

The State Department issued an export license for the missiles on Dec. 22, and on March 2 the Pentagon announced final approval for the sale of 210 Javelins and 35 launching units. The order to halt investigations into Mr. Manafort came in early April.

The new government established a special prosecutor to pursue corruption in the former administration. By late last year, the prosecutor, Serhiy Horbatyuk, had opened about 3,000 cases, including four related to Mr. Manafort’s consulting for the former president and his political party.

The order issued in April isolated these four investigations. The cases were not closed, the prosecutor general’s office said in a statement, but the order blocked Mr. Horbatyuk from issuing subpoenas for evidence or interviewing witnesses.

“We have no authority to continue our investigation,” Mr. Horbatyuk said in an interview.

One inquiry dealt with possible money laundering in a single $750,000 payment to Mr. Manafort from a Ukrainian shell company. The payment formed one part of the multimillion dollar transfers to Mr. Manafort from politicians in Ukraine that underpin indictments filed by Mr. Mueller in federal court in Washington and Virginia. Before the case was frozen, prosecutors had subpoenaed records from Ukrainian banks.

Another concerned a former chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament’s foreign relations committee, Vitaly Kalyuzhny, who had signed nine of 22 entries designated for Mr. Manafort in a secret ledger of political payoffs uncovered after the 2014 revolution. The ledger showed payouts totaling $12.5 million for Mr. Manafort.

The handwritten accounting document, called in Ukraine the Black Ledger, is an evidential linchpin for investigating corruption in the former government. Mr. Manafort denied receiving under-the-table payments from the party and his spokesman said the ledger might be a forgery.

The other two cases looked at Skadden Arps, which wrote a report with Mr. Manafort’s participation that was widely seen as whitewashing the politically motivated arrest and imprisonment of Mr. Yanukovych’s principal rival, Yulia V. Tymoshenko.

Two months before Ukraine’s government froze the cases, Mr. Horbatyuk reached out to Mr. Mueller’s office with a formal offer to cooperate by sharing evidence and leads. Mr. Horbatyuk said that he sent a letter in January and did not receive a reply, but that the offer was now moot, since he has lost the authority to investigate.

But entries in the ledger appear to bolster Mr. Mueller’s money laundering and tax evasion case against Mr. Manafort, said Serhiy Leshchenko, a lawmaker who has closely followed the investigation. They indicate, for example, payments from Ukraine to a Cypriot company, Global Highway Limited, that was also named in an indictment Mr. Mueller filed in federal court in Virginia this year. The company covered hundreds of thousands of dollars of Mr. Manafort’s bills at a high-end men’s clothing store and antique shop in New York.

In another move seeming to hinder Mr. Mueller’s investigation, Ukrainian law enforcement allowed a potential witness to possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to leave for Russia, putting him out of reach for questioning.


The special counsel’s office has identified the man, Konstantin V. Kilimnik, Mr. Manafort’s former office manager in Kiev, as tied to a Russian intelligence agency. Mr. Kilimnik was also under investigation in Ukraine over espionage, but no charges were filed before he left the country, sometime after June. During the 2016 campaign, Mr. Kilimnik met twice with Mr. Manafort. In December, a court filing in the United States said Mr. Kilimnik was “currently based in Russia.”

But in the United States, Mr. Mueller’s office appears still keenly interested in Mr. Manafort’s ties to Russia. Among the questions Mr. Mueller would like to ask Mr. Trump, according to a list provided to the president’s lawyers, was: “What knowledge did you have of any outreach by your campaign, including by Paul Manafort, to Russia about potential assistance to the campaign?”

In Kiev, the missile sale was seen as a political victory for Mr. Poroshenko, indicating American backing for his government in the war in eastern Ukraine against Russia-backed separatists and against the threat of a wider Russian intervention in the country. After Ukraine announced on April 30 that it had received the missiles, Mr. Poroshenko posted on Facebook that “the long-awaited weapon arrived in the Ukrainian Army.”

Apart from the missiles, the Ukrainian government is propped up with about $600 million in bilateral aid from the United States annually. Mr. Poroshenko’s office did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

David Sakvarelidze, a former deputy prosecutor general who is now in the political opposition, said he did not believe that the general prosecutor had coordinated with anybody in the United States on the decision to suspend the investigations in Ukraine, or that there had been a quid pro quo for the missile sale.

Ukrainian politicians, he said, concluded on their own that any help prosecuting Mr. Manafort could bring down Mr. Trump’s wrath.

“Can you imagine,” Mr. Sakvarelidze said, “that Trump writes on Twitter, ‘The United States isn’t going to support any corrupt post-Soviet leaders, including in Ukraine.’ That would be the end of him.”
for Russia, putting him out of reach for questioning.

Last summer, another member of Parliament, Andrey L. Derkach, initiated an investigation into leaks to the news media about Mr. Manafort’s dealings from Ukrainian law enforcement, saying they put at risk vital American aid to Ukraine. He has openly opposed any Ukrainian role in aiding the special counsel’s investigation.

Ukraine, Mr. Derkach said in an interview, would be taking grave risks if it assisted in what he called a politicized investigation in the United States. In Ukraine, he said, “everybody is afraid of this case.”

 

[elpablo21]

 

[deleted]

I’m curious to see whether or not all future Presidents will find a way to profit from the office WHILE in office rather than waiting until their terms are up.

It this the new normal

I can only hope that future presidents will have more integrity

But who knows

 

[Nike Jordan]

 

[IATT]

 

[fargin]

So proud.

 

[IATT]

 

[Belgium]

As always, Trump reverse predicted this would happen.

 

[boris]

Ah, yes. He's just retiring in the middle of all this.

 

[IATT]

 

[Belgium]

Excerpt:
In the subpoena issued Wednesday, Ms. Wang asked M.G.M. to turn over all documents, video or audio that feature Ms. Zervos or Mr. Trump talking about Ms. Zervos. The subpoena also seeks any recording in which Mr. Trump speaks of women “in any sexual or inappropriate manner.”
The hotel subpoena seeks records of any stay by Mr. Trump from 2005 through 2009 as well as documents related to his longtime bodyguard, Keith Schiller; his longtime assistant, Rhona Graff; or Ms. Zervos.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/nyregion/summer-zervos-trump-apprentice.html
Summer Zervos, Trump Accuser, Subpoenas ‘The Apprentice’ Recordings

Summer Zervos, a former contestant on “The Apprentice” who accused President Trump of sexual assault, is seeking records to prove that he defamed her by calling her a liar.

A lawyer for Ms. Zervos, who is suing Mr. Trump for defamation in New York, said on Wednesday that subpoenas had been issued both to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which owns archives of the reality show, and to the Beverly Hills Hotel, where Ms. Zervos says he groped her in 2007.

“We’re gathering evidence that we believe will prove that the defendant lied when he falsely denigrated Ms. Zervos and when he denied sexually assaulting her,” said the lawyer, Mariann Wang of Cuti Hecker Wang.

Ms. Zervos, a Republican, was among the more than 10 women who came forward during the 2016 presidential campaign to accuse Mr. Trump of inappropriate sexual contact. He denied all of their claims.

Ms. Zervos publicly revealed her account during an emotional news conference just weeks before the November election, accusing Mr. Trump of forcibly kissing her at meetings in New York and California as she sought his mentorship after her run on “The Apprentice,” in which contestants vied to work for Mr. Trump. During one encounter at a bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2007, she said, Mr. Trump made repeated advances and grabbed her breasts.

“You do not have the right to treat women as sexual objects just because you are a star,” she said at the news conference, borrowing a phrase he used in the “Access Hollywood” tape, in which he could be heard making vulgar comments about women. After that recording was leaked late in the campaign, many speculated that recordings from “The Apprentice” would show the same.

In the subpoena issued Wednesday, Ms. Wang asked M.G.M. to turn over all documents, video or audio that feature Ms. Zervos or Mr. Trump talking about Ms. Zervos. The subpoena also seeks any recording in which Mr. Trump speaks of women “in any sexual or inappropriate manner.”

The hotel subpoena seeks records of any stay by Mr. Trump from 2005 through 2009 as well as documents related to his longtime bodyguard, Keith Schiller; his longtime assistant, Rhona Graff; or Ms. Zervos.

Ms. Zervos first filed the lawsuit early last year after Mr. Trump denied her account and accused her of lying. Neither M.G.M. nor the hotel immediately responded to requests for comment.

In March, a New York State judge ruled that Ms. Zervos’s defamation suit could proceed over the objections of the president’s lawyer, Marc E. Kasowitz, who had argued that the New York State Supreme Court, where the case was filed, lacked jurisdiction over a sitting president under the supremacy clause of the United States Constitution.

“No one is above the law,” Justice Jennifer Schecter of State Supreme Court in Manhattan wrote in the decision. “It is settled that the president of the United States has no immunity and is ‘subject to the laws’ for purely private acts.”

Mr. Trump’s team has since appealed for a stay in the case.

On Monday, another woman, the pornographic film actress Stephanie Clifford, filed a separate defamation suit against Mr. Trump, with whom she says she had a consensual affair.

Ms. Clifford, known by the stage name Stormy Daniels, said Mr. Trump defamed her when he suggested that she had concocted a story about being threatened by a man in 2011 who told her to “leave Trump alone”after she sold her story of the affair to a publisher.

 

[aepps20]

Another DEVASTATING WEEK FOR LIBS and it's only Wednesday. As many of you know, I would love for our PRESIDENT ELECT to make a run in 2020, 2028 and 2032 but LIBS are losers and HATE WINNING. Barson with his right mindset was my initial choice in 2020. Specifically a Barson/Steven Harvey ticket. When Steven went back on his words about Flint, Betsy Bae became the next logical step as Barson's running mate. As Lib CONJECTURE AND INNUENDO started to ramp up and Candy Carson hurt Barson by ordering expensive furniture, I shifted my focus to AMERICA'S SHERIFF ELECT as I think he has the right combination of #SmashMouthPolitics to destroy Lib CONJECTURE. After consulting with my fellow COAL GANG members, my pick for 2020 is none other than............











Kanye Omari West. Mr. WEST has made great strides in moving past his LIB past which is a story I can relate to. His devotion to our president elect is second only to Coal gang members. I was on the fence until he mentioned that slavery was a choice which is right. Slavery and the wrong mindset have hurt us more than Obummer which is saying a lot. West/Clark 2020.

 

[IATT]

 

[Sharpshoeter13]

That's obstruction, dumb***

 

[noskey]

Trill Stein out here playing 14D Candy Crush on libs and telling them what's what. They come after "Russia" docs, Jilly hits them with a mean euro step and says "No, lib. You may not!" What a TRUE MERICAN PATRIOT if I've ever seen one. Once the President West ticket sweeps the nation winning 43% of the popular vote and cementing himself as the 2ND GREATEST PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CANDIDATE OF ALL TIME (behind Papa Vlad's deft mind), I propose Jillenstine be made our Secretary of State, and our full time Russian ambassador, AND our Supreme Court Overlord to watch lib conjecture and strike them down when they act up. "No, lib. You may not!"

#MAKEMERICAYEAGAIN #WESTCLARKE2020MACAAMEN #THOUGHTSANDPRAYERSFORLIBBYDESTRUCTION