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Russia, the U.S.A., and the White House Administration


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https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/24/politics/michael-cohen-subpoenaed-senate-intelligence-committee/index.html

 

The Senate Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed Cohen, compelling him testify regardless of his concerns.

 

http://fortune.com/2019/01/25/roger-stone-arrested-mueller-probe/?xid=gn_editorspicks

 

Roger Stone has now been arrested as well, and is facing one count of obstruction, five counts of false statements, and one count of witness tampering. In particular, the indictment focuses on his contacts with Wikileaks and Julian Assange, and it mentions that "a senior Trump Campaign official was directed to contact Stone", referring to Stephen Bannon. Important choice of words is that Bannon was directed to do so.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/13/politics/paul-manafort-robert-mueller/index.html

 

Judge Amy Berman Jackson rules that Paul Manafort intentionally lied to the FBI, and as such, she has voided his plea deal. The special counsel's office is now free from any contractual obligations, such as supporting a reduced sentence, meaning Manafort can be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

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https://www.salon.com/2019/02/13/did-the-senate-find-no-direct-evidence-of-collusion-that-doesnt-mean-what-trump-wants-it-to/

 

Acting Senators are disputing the NBC report as misleading, or at least the headline, as well as disagreeing with Burr's comments, given that evidence has indeed come up of conspiracy. I mostly love the comment that nobody was going to find a letter signed in blood saying "Let's collude!" No, you're not going to get a full-fledged confession, but when several of Trump's associates have been indicted, arrested, and even sentenced, to claim that there is no evidence or collusion or conspiracy displays a willful ignorance of the facts.

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https://www.salon.com/2019/02/13/did-the-senate-find-no-direct-evidence-of-collusion-that-doesnt-mean-what-trump-wants-it-to/

 

Acting Senators are disputing the NBC report as misleading, or at least the headline, as well as disagreeing with Burr's comments, given that evidence has indeed come up of conspiracy. I mostly love the comment that nobody was going to find a letter signed in blood saying "Let's collude!" No, you're not going to get a full-fledged confession, but when several of Trump's associates have been indicted, arrested, and even sentenced, to claim that there is no evidence or collusion or conspiracy displays a willful ignorance of the facts.

but none of them on russian collusion charges?

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Manafort and Gates both pled guilty to conspiracies both against and to defraud the United States, which are the legal terms that would accurately describe Russian collusion. Claiming that none of them were charged for Russian collusion is false.

Manafort and Gates pled guilty to money laundering they did in 2014 and before. Was Trump running for President and employing them before that?

 

Also it was with Ukrainians, not Russians. 

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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/23/former-trump-campaign-official-rick-gates-pleads-guilty-on-two-counts.html

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/31/former-manafort-associate-is-charged-with-failing-to-register-as-a-foreign-agent-805566

 

The contacts with Ukrainians were apparently still meant to on behalf of Russia, and Paul Manafort's lies were about his contacts were with Konstantin Kilimnik, an alleged Russian spy who has been charged with obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

 

So, Manafort and an Russian operative were both faced with collective charges. While the charges do predate that campaign, Gates and Manafort maintained contact during the Trump campaign, and even into his inauguration, which seems to be one of Mueller's next targets.

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https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/judge-says-paul-manafort-gave-false-statements-investigators-protect-russian-n972381

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/02/paul-manafort-life-sentence-robert-mueller

 

The special counsel recommends 20-24 years in prison to Paul Manafort for intentionally making misleading statements about his contact with a Russian political consultant with alleged ties to Russian intelligence. Manafort's statements constitute obstructing an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, where Manafort operated as Trump's campaign manager at the same time that he maintained his contacts with Kilimnik, who Manafort spoke with about giving private briefings to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripraska.

 

I think this should be more than enough to show that at least some collusion was present during the campaign.

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https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/roger-stone-judge-crosshairs-796184/

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/19/judge-could-revoke-roger-stones-bond-because-of-crosshair-instagram.html

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/19/politics/roger-stone-gag-order/index.html

 

Roger Stone posted an image on Instagram with Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who will be presiding over his case as well, juxtaposed against the crosshairs of a rifle. Jackson had already placed a gag order on him, and although Stone issued an apology for the post, he has been ordered to appear in court, as the post could mean the conditions of his release could either be modified or outright revoked.

 

So Stone is already being charged with witness intimidation, and he responds by allowing the judge to be intimidated. Supposedly it was a volunteer who posted the image, and not Stone himself, but this was a completely idiotic decision.

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https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2019-02-21/trump-confidant-roger-stone-in-court-after-instagram-post

 

ABJ has given Stone a full gag order preventing him from discussing the case online. At most, he will be allowed to publicly solicit money for his defense fund. When Stone begged for a second chance, he was told that this is his second chance, and that there will not be a third.

 

Incidentally, Stone claims that the crosshairs were a Celtic Cross. This seems to have been true... because it has been appropriated as a white supremacist symbol, and his source was a conspiracy website.

 

https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/1098674914767355904

https://twitter.com/AaronBlake/status/1098674912938610688

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https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/roger-stone-proud-boys-volunteers-mueller-instagram

 

Members of the white nationalist Proud Boys, an alt-right movement, have been acting as volunteers for Roger Stone and posting online on his behalf. It should be noted that the gag order extends to any of Stone's volunteers or surrogates, so statements by the hate group would likely violate that order.

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-cohen-trump-criminal-conduct-in-office-wsj-report-2019-2

 

Michael Cohen, who has now been disbarred, will testify to Congress tomorrow and accuse Trump of crimes committed while in office. Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz responded by publicly committed witness intimidation against Cohen.

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https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-judiciary-committee-launches-investigation-potential-trump-abuses-n978966
 
The House Judiciary Committee is preparing for an investigation into Trump's abuses of power.

Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said the requests issued to 81 individuals and entities would help the committee probe three main topics: obstruction of justice, including the potential interference by the president into criminal investigations; public corruption, including violations of the emoluments clause; and abuses of power, including attacks on the free press, the judiciary and law enforcement agencies.

 

Given how Gary Cohn may or may not have been ordered by Trump to block the AT&T/Time Warner merger specifically because of his animosity towards CNN, that strengthens the case for holding Trump accountable of attacks on the free press. There's a good chance that this could lead to impeachment, though Jerry Nadler stressed that the inquiry should be pursued for its own sake, rather than necessarily as the first step to impeachment.

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/04/robert-mueller-notifies-judge-that-roger-stone-shared-instagram-image.html

 

Robert Mueller has reported to Amy Berman Jackson that Roger Stone has potentially used Instagram yet again to violate his gag order.

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https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20190307/manafort-will-learn-prison-fate-today-as-russia-mysteries-linger
 
Paul Manafort, who "admitted running a secret, decade-long lobbying campaign to benefit pro-Kremlin politicians in Ukraine, and conspiring with Kilimnik to tamper with witnesses" will be sentenced today. Prosecutors recommend 19-25 years, which will likely be an effective life sentence.

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https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20190307/manafort-will-learn-prison-fate-today-as-russia-mysteries-linger

 

Paul Manafort, who "admitted running a secret, decade-long lobbying campaign to benefit pro-Kremlin politicians in Ukraine, and conspiring with Kilimnik to tamper with witnesses" will be sentenced today. Prosecutors recommend 19-25 years, which will likely be an effective life sentence.

BREAKING - Prosecutors had recommended 19-24 years in prison for Manafort; Judge Ellis opted instead to sentence him to 47 months, just short of 4 years.

 

Get funked

 

D1GS4RQXQAIlJ70.jpg

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Or Manafort could face a tough sentence because Jackson isn't a pushover like Ellis. It's not always about Obama. I don't think a criminal being properly sentenced should be about your "side" or mine.

Tony Podesta and Manafort worked hand in glove in all this. One a democrat, one a republican. Mueller let one get immunity. It's a scam and Judge Ellis knows it

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Winter, your arguments lately have been especially guilty of simply complaining about Democrats being Democrats, and basically offering nothing else insightful beyond that. We get it, you hate the party, but try to form competent and constructive arguments beyond that.

 

Mueller granted Podesta immunity specifically because he agreed to testify against Manafort, while Mueller has only recently been pushing for a heavier sentence against Manafort specifically because Manafort refused to cooperate, and will blame everybody except himself. He has violated his plea deal, and Ellis is a hypocrite when he's given much harsher sentences to other people for similar crimes as Manafort.

 

This was poor judgment on Ellis' part, and Manafort should have received a harsher sentence for his crimes and be held to the same standard that Ellis has applied to other convictions. Going "Get funked" just because think this "owns the libs" is simply childish and petty.

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Winter, your arguments lately have been especially guilty of simply complaining about Democrats being Democrats, and basically offering nothing else insightful beyond that. We get it, you hate the party, but try to form competent and constructive arguments beyond that.

 

Mueller granted Podesta immunity specifically because he agreed to testify against Manafort, while Mueller has only recently been pushing for a heavier sentence against Manafort specifically because Manafort refused to cooperate, and will blame everybody except himself. He has violated his plea deal, and Ellis is a hypocrite when he's given much harsher sentences to other people for similar crimes as Manafort.

 

This was poor judgment on Ellis' part, and Manafort should have received a harsher sentence for his crimes and be held to the same standard that Ellis has applied to other convictions. Going "Get funked" just because think this "owns the libs" is simply childish and petty.

Why did Muller not go after Podesta instead of Manafort given they were working together on the laundering?

 

Could it be the political party

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Why did Muller not go after Podesta instead of Manafort given they were working together on the laundering?

 

Could it be the political party

 

 

 

Winter, your arguments lately have been especially guilty of simply complaining about Democrats being Democrats, and basically offering nothing else insightful beyond that. We get it, you hate the party, but try to form competent and constructive arguments beyond that.

 

Mueller granted Podesta immunity specifically because he agreed to testify against Manafort, while Mueller has only recently been pushing for a heavier sentence against Manafort specifically because Manafort refused to cooperate, and will blame everybody except himself. He has violated his plea deal, and Ellis is a hypocrite when he's given much harsher sentences to other people for similar crimes as Manafort.

 

This was poor judgment on Ellis' part, and Manafort should have received a harsher sentence for his crimes and be held to the same standard that Ellis has applied to other convictions. Going "Get funked" just because think this "owns the libs" is simply childish and petty.

 

Emphasis mine.

 

Mueller investigated both, one cooperated and one did not. You could argue Podesta deserved more, but cooperation tends to lead to a lighter punishment than violating a plea deal.

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Guess who granted immunity to the individuals that Mueller requested? Judge T.S. Ellis. And none of them were Podesta.
 
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/07/tucker-carlson-tony-podesta-manafort-immunity-not-disclosed-by-mueller.html
 
My apologies for replying without verifying at first. The point stands that Mueller was granting immunity specifically for testifying against Manafort.  The article does mention that Carlson was referring to the D.C. case, not Virginia, but that seems like he was backpedaling.
 
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/01/tony-podesta-under-investigation-following-special-counsel-referral.html
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/31/politics/mueller-investigation-foreign-agent-referrals-new-york/index.html
 
By the way, federal prosecutors started investigating Tony Podesta specifically because Mueller referred him to them. Curiously, I cannot find any source confirming that Podesta did in fact receive immunity in the D.C. case. Perhaps you have such a source?

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