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Ex-FBI Director Mueller appointed DOJ Special Counsel

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  • http://thehill.com/homenews/administ...asonous-report

    ROFLMAO, the hilarity. what happened to deep state, lolol.

    Former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon reportedly called the 2016 meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a group of Russians "treasonous."

    According to a new book seen by the Guardian, Bannon said the meeting that occurred during the 2016 presidential race was "treasonous" and "unpatriotic."

    “They’re going to crack Don Junior like an egg on national TV," Bannon reportedly told author Michael Wolff, referring to the investigation into the Russian election interference.
    There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov

    Comment


    • Originally posted by snapper View Post
      Can you prove that Muscovites were payed by Steele? No evidence of that so stop claiming it. Trump owes them money - he was bankrupt in 2008 and they bought him.

      He was a Muscovite money laundering operation - simple.

      I don't know if you are familiar with the definition of the word 'hypocrite'?

      because you, asking for facts and proof while having none to back up any of your outlandish claims is pretty amusing.

      facts, if you want them, please provide them.

      Comment


      • I've yet to see any evidence of money laundering with regards to Trump, but that being said, I think what snapper is referring primarily to is regarding Trump's dealings with the Bayrock Group, formerly based out of the 24th floor of Trump Tower, as well as the Sapir Organization, and other US-based Russian entities.

        Whether or not Trump has done anything illicit with regards to his financial dealings with these people has yet to be established, that being said, the Bayrock Group and other entities are a bunch of super-shady Russians piping in tons of money from the motherland to invest in real estate projects here in the US. For US authorities to prove their money is from illicit/corrupt origins, they would likely need the full and honest cooperation of the Russian government and its law enforcement. Which is doubtful, given that Russia is a corrupt, oligarchical mafia state.

        From a strictly Russian perspective, these people operating US-based Russian companies are engaged in corruption, evading taxes, laundering money, etc., and turning it into nice, clean, legal skyscrapers and resorts in Western countries... if the Russian government chose to consider it that way. Which it doesn't. Because they're in on it. Unless you're one of those oligarchs who ends up pissing off Putin.

        I don't think anybody can earnestly argue that the billions of dollars pouring into New York, London, and other cities across the globe from Russia is of clean, licit origin, but as long as everything is done legally as to the how and from the time the money enters the US, there isn't much US authorities who actually cared could do, except be suspicious. At the end of the day, for all anybody cares, it's just foreign direct investment.

        Donald Trump Jr. did say on Sept 15 2008: "In terms of high-end product influx into the United States, Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets; say in Dubai, and certainly with our project in SoHo and anywhere in New York. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.”
        Last edited by Ironduke; 04 Jan 18,, 02:24.
        "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

        Comment


        • Bannon seems to agree with the money laundering side: "You realise where this is going,” he is quoted as saying. “This is all about money laundering. Mueller chose [senior prosecutor Andrew] Weissmann first and he is a money-laundering guy. Their path to fucking Trump goes right through Paul Manafort, Don Jr and Jared Kushner … It’s as plain as a hair on your face."

          https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...-michael-wolff

          Comment


          • Originally posted by zraver View Post
            Trump has never personally filed bankruptcy. Companies have done so 4 times, all four as chapter 11 re-organisations not chapter 13 liquidations.
            Just alot of his businesses - even a casino rofl! Why do you think Mueller sub poena'd Deutsche Bank, who have already been fined for Muscovite money laundering?

            Comment


            • Trump Breaks With Bannon, Saying He Has ‘Lost His Mind’

              WASHINGTON — President Trump essentially excommunicated his onetime chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, from his political circle on Wednesday, excoriating him as a self-promoting exaggerator who had “very little to do with our historic victory” and has now “lost his mind.”

              In a written statement brimming with anger and resentment, Mr. Trump fired back at Mr. Bannon, who had made caustic comments about the president and his family to the author of a new book about the Trump White House. While Mr. Bannon had remained in touch with Mr. Trump even after being pushed out of the White House last summer, the two now appear to have reached a breaking point.

              “Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency,” Mr. Trump said in the statement. “When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.”

              Mr. Trump berated Mr. Bannon for the loss of a Senate seat in Alabama and said the former adviser did not represent his base but was “only in it for himself.” Rather than supporting the president’s agenda to “make America great again,” Mr. Bannon was “simply seeking to burn it all down,” Mr. Trump said.

              “Steve pretends to be at war with the media, which he calls the opposition party, yet he spent his time at the White House leaking false information to the media to make himself seem far more important than he was,” he added. “It is the only thing he does well. Steve was rarely in a one-on-one meeting with me and only pretends to have had influence to fool a few people with no access and no clue, whom he helped write phony books.”
              https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/03/u...ww.nytimes.com

              From the Guardian:
              Bannon also speculated that Trump Jr had involved his father in the meeting. “The chance that Don Jr did not walk these jumos up to his father’s office on the twenty-sixth floor is zero.”
              First we had "no fuzz" from Comey, but what the hell is a jumo?
              Last edited by Ironduke; 03 Jan 18,, 23:05.
              "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

              Comment


              • Manafort sues DOJ, Mueller over Russia probe authority

                (CNN) Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman indicted on money laundering and other charges, filed a lawsuit challenging the broad authority of special counsel Robert Mueller and alleging the Justice Department violated the law in appointing Mueller.

                The suit brought Wednesday in US District Court in Washington, where Manafort and another former Trump campaign aide are charged, challenges Mueller's decision to charge Manafort with alleged crimes that they say have nothing to do with the 2016 campaign, but rather relate to lucrative lobbying work Manafort and his deputy did for a former Russia-friendly government in Ukraine. That work ended in 2014, the suit says. Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates deny the allegations in the charges.

                The legal action represents a new tack in a broader effort by supporters of the President to push back on the special counsel. Some Republicans have begun publicly calling for Mueller's probe to be shut down. Manafort's attorneys have echoed the President's criticism that Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election is pursuing crimes that never happened.

                The Manafort lawsuit alleges Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Mueller have unlawfully exceeded the authorities allowed under the law governing special counsel appointments. The lawsuit contends that the order Rosenstein signed to appoint Mueller "exceeds the scope of Mr. Rosenstein's authority to appoint special counsel as well as specific restrictions on the scope of such appointments."

                A DOJ spokesperson responded with a statement, saying: "The lawsuit is frivolous but the defendant is entitled to file whatever he wants."

                The lawsuit also includes new information on the scope of Mueller's probe: In August, the Mueller prosecutors issued more than 100 subpoenas related to Manafort, the lawsuit alleges.

                Some of those subpoenas seek records from as early as 2005. In August, a prosecutor from Mueller's office told Manafort that he'd be prosecuted for alleged crimes dating back to 2010, the complaint says. When Manafort's lawyers asked Rosenstein in fall 2017 for clarification on whether Mueller's team had the go-ahead to broaden the investigation into earlier years, they heard nothing back, the complaint says. Manafort's indictment includes actions he took from 2006 to 2014[...]
                More: https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/03/polit...ity/index.html

                Paul Manafort files lawsuit against Justice Department, Mueller

                [...] If the court won't strike down his appointment, Manafort's lawsuit suggests several other options, including setting aside Mueller’s indictments, declaring that he doesn’t have the authority to investigate business dealings that aren’t part of his original mandate, stopping him from investigating matters beyond the scope of the original appointment, or “any other relief as may be just and proper.”

                “The principle that government must be both limited in power and accountable to the people lies at the core of our constitutional traditions. That principle must be zealously guarded against creeping incursions,” Manafort attorneys Kevin Downing and Thomas Zehnle wrote in the lawsuit, which was filed in the same venue — the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia — overseeing Mueller’s criminal case against both Manafort and former Trump 2016 campaign aide Rick Gates[...]
                More: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/...mueller-322285
                Last edited by Ironduke; 04 Jan 18,, 01:26.
                "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

                Comment


                • Originally posted by snapper View Post
                  Bannon seems to agree with the money laundering side: "You realise where this is going,” he is quoted as saying. “This is all about money laundering. Mueller chose [senior prosecutor Andrew] Weissmann first and he is a money-laundering guy. Their path to fucking Trump goes right through Paul Manafort, Don Jr and Jared Kushner … It’s as plain as a hair on your face."

                  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...-michael-wolff
                  He hasn't said anything (yet) that hasn't been previously speculated or reported on. It's definitely been a sit back with a box of popcorn and watch kind of day though, like some kind of cross between House of Cards and Trailer Park Boys.
                  "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by bfng3569 View Post
                    I don't know if you are familiar with the definition of the word 'hypocrite'?

                    because you, asking for facts and proof while having none to back up any of your outlandish claims is pretty amusing.

                    facts, if you want them, please provide them.
                    Please explain how I am a hypocrite. Did you hear about Flynn - who took Muscovite money, and Manafort (who also took Muscovite money) being charged? Trump was laundering dirty Muscovite money for years; the house in Florida, Bayrock and many other scams. Take his testimony from 2007: "It's ridiculous that I wouldn't be investing in Russia," Trump said in that deposition. "Russia is one of the hottest places in the world for investment" and compare it with "I have no business in Russia" lies and then tell me who is the hypocrite and the liar.

                    https://www.bloomberg.com/view/artic...als-at-bayrock

                    Comment


                    • The Republicans’ Fake Investigations

                      By GLENN R. SIMPSON and PETER FRITSCHJAN. 2, 2018

                      A generation ago, Republicans sought to protect President Richard Nixon by urging the Senate Watergate committee to look at supposed wrongdoing by Democrats in previous elections. The committee chairman, Sam Ervin, a Democrat, said that would be “as foolish as the man who went bear hunting and stopped to chase rabbits.”

                      Today, amid a growing criminal inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, congressional Republicans are again chasing rabbits. We know because we’re their favorite quarry.

                      In the year since the publication of the so-called Steele dossier — the collection of intelligence reports we commissioned about Donald Trump’s ties to Russia — the president has repeatedly attacked us on Twitter. His allies in Congress have dug through our bank records and sought to tarnish our firm to punish us for highlighting his links to Russia. Conservative news outlets and even our former employer, The Wall Street Journal, have spun a succession of mendacious conspiracy theories about our motives and backers.

                      We are happy to correct the record. In fact, we already have.

                      Three congressional committees have heard over 21 hours of testimony from our firm, Fusion GPS. In those sessions, we toppled the far right’s conspiracy theories and explained how The Washington Free Beacon and the Clinton campaign — the Republican and Democratic funders of our Trump research — separately came to hire us in the first place.

                      We walked investigators through our yearlong effort to decipher Mr. Trump’s complex business past, of which the Steele dossier is but one chapter. And we handed over our relevant bank records — while drawing the line at a fishing expedition for the records of companies we work for that have nothing to do with the Trump case.

                      Republicans have refused to release full transcripts of our firm’s testimony, even as they selectively leak details to media outlets on the far right. It’s time to share what our company told investigators.

                      We don’t believe the Steele dossier was the trigger for the F.B.I.’s investigation into Russian meddling. As we told the Senate Judiciary Committee in August, our sources said the dossier was taken so seriously because it corroborated reports the bureau had received from other sources, including one inside the Trump camp.

                      The intelligence committees have known for months that credible allegations of collusion between the Trump camp and Russia were pouring in from independent sources during the campaign. Yet lawmakers in the thrall of the president continue to wage a cynical campaign to portray us as the unwitting victims of Kremlin disinformation.

                      We suggested investigators look into the bank records of Deutsche Bank and others that were funding Mr. Trump’s businesses. Congress appears uninterested in that tip: Reportedly, ours are the only bank records the House Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed.

                      We told Congress that from Manhattan to Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., and from Toronto to Panama, we found widespread evidence that Mr. Trump and his organization had worked with a wide array of dubious Russians in arrangements that often raised questions about money laundering. Likewise, those deals don’t seem to interest Congress.

                      We explained how, from our past journalistic work in Europe, we were deeply familiar with the political operative Paul Manafort’s coziness with Moscow and his financial ties to Russian oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin.

                      Finally, we debunked the biggest canard being pushed by the president’s men — the notion that we somehow knew of the June 9, 2016, meeting in Trump Tower between some Russians and the Trump brain trust. We first learned of that meeting from news reports last year — and the committees know it. They also know that these Russians were unaware of the former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele’s work for us and were not sources for his reports.

                      Yes, we hired Mr. Steele, a highly respected Russia expert. But we did so without informing him whom we were working for and gave him no specific marching orders beyond this basic question: Why did Mr. Trump repeatedly seek to do deals in a notoriously corrupt police state that most serious investors shun?

                      What came back shocked us. Mr. Steele’s sources in Russia (who were not paid) reported on an extensive — and now confirmed — effort by the Kremlin to help elect Mr. Trump president. Mr. Steele saw this as a crime in progress and decided he needed to report it to the F.B.I.

                      We did not discuss that decision with our clients, or anyone else. Instead, we deferred to Mr. Steele, a trusted friend and intelligence professional with a long history of working with law enforcement. We did not speak to the F.B.I. and haven’t since.

                      After the election, Mr. Steele decided to share his intelligence with Senator John McCain via an emissary. We helped him do that. The goal was to alert the United States national security community to an attack on our country by a hostile foreign power. We did not, however, share the dossier with BuzzFeed, which to our dismay published it last January.

                      We’re extremely proud of our work to highlight Mr. Trump’s Russia ties. To have done so is our right under the First Amendment.

                      It is time to stop chasing rabbits. The public still has much to learn about a man with the most troubling business past of any United States president. Congress should release transcripts of our firm’s testimony, so that the American people can learn the truth about our work and most important, what happened to our democracy.

                      Glenn R. Simpson and Peter Fritsch, both former journalists, are the founders of the research firm Fusion GPS. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/02/o...usion-gps.html
                      Trust me?
                      I'm an economist!

                      Comment


                      • Originally posted by snapper View Post
                        Please explain how I am a hypocrite. Did you hear about Flynn - who took Muscovite money, and Manafort (who also took Muscovite money) being charged? Trump was laundering dirty Muscovite money for years; the house in Florida, Bayrock and many other scams. Take his testimony from 2007: "It's ridiculous that I wouldn't be investing in Russia," Trump said in that deposition. "Russia is one of the hottest places in the world for investment" and compare it with "I have no business in Russia" lies and then tell me who is the hypocrite and the liar.

                        https://www.bloomberg.com/view/artic...als-at-bayrock
                        Ya, still looking for actual facts to support all you claims, not inuendo, what ifs or conspiracy theories.

                        Comment


                        • Why so many of those on the right are upset with the attack on Trump.

                          1. A) a highly visible one time presumptive future president and her inner circle and leading figures of a previous administration are treated with kid gloves in a way that completely deviates from past FBI and DOJ protocols. This despite massive evidence of crimes, corruption and national security risks. Lies to the FBI are routine and not prosecuted, immunity handed out like candy.

                          2. B) Almost the exact same team of FBI agents goes after a newly elected president and his inner circle in a way more befitting a mafioso crime boss.

                          Its a two tiered justice system. Either judge Trump by the Hillary standard, or reopen the Hillary case and use the Trump standard.

                          Comment


                          • or, rather, the right is upset that this investigation is finding a significant level of wrongdoing by Trump associates and that ultimately the investigation may directly target the President himself.

                            if you recall when Mueller was first appointed, the GOP was falling over itself to say what a wonderful choice he was. I wonder what changed.
                            There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov

                            Comment


                            • Exceeding implied mandate.
                              "The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions but by iron and blood"-Otto Von Bismarck

                              Comment


                              • ^ not really, that is more of what TRUMP'S been banging on about.

                                the rest of the right is talking about Mueller's supposed bias and disputing Mueller's evidence (ie the Steele dossier). as a line of attack this makes more sense because the actual indictments are very much focused on the campaign/Russia, not, say, on Trump Hotel financial shenanigans.
                                There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov

                                Comment

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