Keep BS Alive! In Which We Exhort People To Take A Breath...

The Mueller indictments and criminal information have set the mediasphere on fire! So much so that oxygen-deprived commentators are, well, losing track of some key plot points. We get to Lawfare later but let's start with Joe Uchill of The Hill, who gets this splashy headline:

Timeline: Campaign knew Russia had Clinton emails months before Trump 'joke'

Hmm. "Campaign"? One out-of-the-loop nobody in London got a mention from The Professor, a guy with some Russian contacts. Nothing in the affidavit or stipulation indicate George P passed this along. So who is "the campaign"? [Do let me add: my primary criticism of the Uchill piece applies equally to the Scott Shane effort at the failing NY Times.]

As to "knew" - well, George P claims he thought the Professor was BSing. Hillary's secret server and email travails had been in the news for over a year at that point and the possibility of classified info being hacked had been prominent in March and April of 2016. Maybe The Professor read the papers? Maybe he really was BSing and George P nailed it? Again, nothing in the stipulation indicates that George P followed up on 'the dirt', or that "the dirt" was even an agenda item rather than just a surprise suggestion from The Professor.

But Joe Uchill really loses the plot in his main story:

Months before candidate Donald Trump asked Russia to “find” Hillary Clinton's missing private server emails — a statement the campaign later called a joke — a Russian operative told a campaign aide "the Russians had emails of Clinton," according to a plea agreement released Monday. 

...

In the context of the timeline of events, Papadopoulos was told of Russian hacking before the rest of the country, and weeks before the Trump campaign made its first denial of Russian involvement in the election. 

We are then presented with a timeline of the DNC and Podesta hacks, and so what? If The Professor was referencing Hillary's server, We the People still don't know if the Russians hacked that. What we do know is that no one needed to be a Russian insider to speculate that the Russians had hacked Hillary's server - that was a public worry. If The Professor had mentioned the DNC or Podesta, OK, that would have been deeply troubling. But he didn't.

If The Professor was just BSing about Hillary's emails based on what he read in the news (or passing along a Russian contact's BS) and got lucky when the DNC emails were released, well, good guess. He should spend more time buying Lotto tickets.

Or if The Professor had early word of the Podesta and DNC hacks and simplified everything as dirt on Hillary, well, again, so what? Maybe George P took this seriously and followed up but nothing released confirms that.

Should George P have gone to the FBI with this hot tip? Please - sort of like Team Hillary went to the FBI as the Steele dossier came together. George P may have simply not believed it. I have one Russian friend (OK, small sample size) and there is no conspiracy theory so outlandish he won't nibble on it. You think there are Americans who don't trust the government and don't trust the media? Go to Russia. The Professor undoubtedly heard all sorts of outlandish stuff  from his Russian buddies and may have passed some along. Turned out to be true-ish, but who knew?

Meanwhile, over at the invaluable Lawfare, Susan Hennessey and Benjamin Wittes provide a quick take on Monday's action. My quibble points revolve around these passages:

The second big takeaway is even starker: A member of President Trump’s campaign team admits that he was working with people he knew to be tied to the Russian government to “arrange a meeting between the Campaign and the Russian government officials” and to obtain “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of thousands of hacked emails—and that he lied about these activities to the FBI. He briefed President Trump on at least some of them.

"Working to... obtain dirt"? No evidence that the offer of dirt was incidental and a surprise or that there was follow-up.

His [George P] guilty plea is for lying to FBI investigators in a Jan. 27, 2017, interview regarding his conduct and contacts. As we’ve discussed in the past, it isn’t uncommon for false statements to the FBI to be prosecuted under 18 U.S.C. § 1001 offenses in these sorts of cases. Proving that someone is lying is often easier than proving that the underlying offense violates the law. Here, for example, Papadopoulos’s underlying activity—working with Russian government officials to obtain “dirt” on Clinton and set up a Putin-Trump meeting—may have been legal, if wholly disreputable. Lying about it, however, is a crime. 

Same objection. Bonus objection - the dirt is only mentioned in a conversation with The Professor, who is neither a Russian nor an official.

That said, the Papadopoulos stipulation offers a stunningly frank, if probably incomplete, account of what occurred during the spring of 2016 in the Trump campaign. To wit, during that period, Trump campaign officials were actively working to set up a meeting with Russian officials or representatives. And from a very early point in the campaign, those meetings were explicitly about obtaining hacked, incriminating emails.

Similar objection. Based on the released info, only George P knew about the email offer and no meeting was "explicitly" about that (Teh George P follow-up emails after the fateful breakfast meeting were still about a Trump meeting with Putin). Maybe Mueller is playing it close to the vest or maybe he is delivering drama-provoking over-charges. Time will tell! From the stipulation:

Next:

It isn’t clear which emails the various parties might have been discussing here. There are, after all, the hacked emails of the Democratic National Committee, which first became public on June 14, 2016, though the breach had occurred more than a year earlier. There are the hacked emails of Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta, abreach that occurred on March 19, 2016, but that did not become public until Oct. 9, 2016. There are also the purported 30,000 emails from Hillary Clinton’s time at the State Department, a matter dating to 2015, which may not have ever been hacked but which Trump campaign folks clearly believed had been. There is also possibly some other category of alleged emails that wasn’t a matter of public discussion. But it’s clear that Trump campaign officials were after emails and, well, let’s just say they didn’t go to the FBI when they found themselves in conversations with Russian officials about them.

Good point about the range of emails on the menu. Again, it is not at all clear anyone was after any emails.

The stipulation also contains some rather damaging information about President Trump himself. Papadopoulos says he attended a “national security” meeting on March 31, 2016, at which Trump himself was present, along with his other foreign policy advisers. In that meeting, Papadopoulos told the group that he had connections to arrange a meeting between Trump and Russian President Putin. This means that Trump either knew or should have known about his campaign’s effort to interface with Russia, even as news of various criminal hacking and attempts to interfere with the U.S. election were becoming public.

For heaven's sake! Trump has been to Russia a million times and has more connection there than this nobody from nowhere. Meanwhile, as to "news of various criminal hacking and attempts to interfere with the U.S. election were becoming public", which is it? If the email hacking was public (seems early to me for the DNC/Podesta stuff) then why are we sure The Professor was not just following the news? Or if it was still secret, why would Trump know about it?

But that’s about the only good news in the indictment for the president. Because Manafort is alleged to have lied about his foreign-agent status and made false statements into this year. In other words, at the same time Papadopoulos admits he was working Russian government officials for Clinton emails and for a Trump-Putin meeting, Manafort was allegedly still laundering the money he had obtained by illegally representing one of Putin’s allied strongmen.

I'm a broken record, but... The Professor was not a Russian official and George P doesn't admit to "working" with anyone to obtain emails.

Since you ask, The Professor is described in the affidavit (but not the stipulation) as a 'citizen of a country in the Mediterranean'. Page 4:

My betting pool - he is Cypriot. Cyprus, Russian oligarchs, money laundering - c'mon. [OK, maybe Malta? The Professor is IDed as Joseph Misfud.]

Well. Lawfare normally does fabulous work but this time they seem to be making assumptions not supported by the facts in evidence.

Comments

[henry]

Much ado about nothing.

[narciso]

No mifsud is a classically maltese name, at least two soccer stars have it, now malta as we know is tied to the panama papers, but it was mostly contingent on whatever was happening in Libya.

A hAaretz piece suggests another angle, papafop was partial to the Israeli settlers and that lies to the big natural gas find.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

If their hyperventilations were not pixie dust induced Dick Cheney would still be languishing in Leavenworth while songbird Libby flew free.

[narciso]

No they don't tm, their previous outing was to impugn a dead man for collusion with general flynn.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

There's a problem with "reality based" politics when you concoct alternate realities.
When other people investigate and can't see your castles in the clouds you get ticked off and build bigger castles because "reality based" doesn’t mean what the rest of the world thinks it means.
We are talking about people who have swallowed whole the idea there is no objective truth or reality, let's not forget.

[narciso]

Mifsud lives in London, how many Russians you think he runs into as head of the diplomatic academy, the fracking king of ny state, Mr blavatnik is one of volodya's four horseman and a donor to schneiderman, Obama and a passel of top men

[windansea]

aA member of President Trump’s campaign team admits that he was working with people he knew to be tied to the Russian government

Uh huh, and Hillary's lawyer paid Steele to work with Russians for dirt on Trump.

[Captain Hate]

Weren't we just ridiculing Wittes for something daft recently?

[narciso]

As for the question of why work with the podesta s, who was in power then, he did subsequently work with vin Weber, who is the cat who is very quiet for a long while. As I pointed podesta is turning the reigns to a long time gopher, Kimberly fritts tied to jeb.

[narciso]

And you fuse the threads, Kmiec trying to recover back the rest of his dignity after slobbering all over Obama, was until recently ambassador to malta.

[Sue]

I wonder what POTUS will do if Donald Trump, Jr. is indicted? Or Jared Kushner? Things will get very interesting if they indeed go after his family.

[narciso]

Yes wittes was the conduit for the six foot high invsible rabbit memos from comey

https://audioboom.com/posts/6438018-the-steele-dossier-is-unlikely-fiction-paulr_gregory-hooverinst

[derwill]

Isn't Weber a big NeverTrumper? And this Kimberly Fritts working for Jeb and then going to work for the Podestas . . . ? They're all just one big happy swampy family, aren't they?

This has been the biggest eye-openet to me--that they're all denizens of the swamp, practically every last one of them and regardless of what party they pretend to belong to. I had no appreciation for just how vast and deep the swamp went.

It's all rather depressing because the task of draining it seems insurmountable.

[rich]

>>>Weren't we just ridiculing Wittes for something daft recently?

Posted by: Captain Hate | October 31, 2017 at 11:00 AM<<<

He is Comey's bestie and Comey had shared his penthouse forum letters with him. IIRC there is someone else over there that had some sort of minor role in one of the never Trump stories as well (think it may have been the Trump Tower server story).

[narciso]

This is why I called it a,minefield with razor wire. So we see that skadden arps whose senior partners are Greg craig and pat Fitzgerald was up to their Kessler in the ukraine.

[glasater]

Judgen Nap was just on Varney's show saying Tony Podesta's attorney(s) have received notice from Mueller asking for papers.

[Captain Hate]

Nobody thought it would be easy, derwill. In the words of John Reese, you take down an army one soldier at a time.

[rich]

>>>Ta-Nehisi Coates Schools John Kelly On History Of Civil War And ‘Compromise'<<<

only a social justice warrior could come up with such a ridiculous headline.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Sue,

Options:

Full-scale investigation of Clinton Foundation and Haiti, including the funding of Chelsea's wedding.

Open court trial of Benghazi terrorist

Release of classified papers of dealings with Morsi, Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, and Obama (plus Hillary)

I could go on. I don't think they want to go down that path, since the President loves his family and would hit back twice as hard.

[Sue]

I can't quite bring my thoughts full circle with this so I'm going to lay it out here and let y'all do it for me. They were investigating Manafort in 2014 and came up empty. Had to stop. Started back up after the dossier and was listening in on his phone conversations after he was part of Trump's team. Correct?

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Sue,

I believe that is correct.

[narciso]

Yes Matt ya it, for? Gchq (hello) contractor, who alleged a conspiracy with Jeff Smith, with general Flynn, the former is conveniently dead.

[Sue]

If TPodesta was tied up with Manafort in all of this, did he and Manafort just get caught up in a web that was being spun by the JPodesta to snare Trump?

[Threadkiller]

I think so, Sue.

[rich]

>>>They were investigating Manafort in 2014 and came up empty. Had to stop. Started back up after the dossier and was listening in on his phone conversations after he was part of Trump's team. Correct?

Posted by: Sue | October 31, 2017 at 11:27 AM<<<

I think it was earlier-2012 that some wire transfers got flagged-but that looks about right.

[Sue]

How freaking sweet would it be if JPodesta is responsible for putting TPodesta in legal jeopardy?

[Threadkiller]

Nobody thought it would be easy, derwill.

Except for Elmer Fudd. He should have been done with swamp by now. :-)

[joan]

Okay, OL, which word didn't belong in the Fox headline about nuclear and tunnels and people injured in NK?

"injured" ?

[rich]

more like the FBI and Obama Administration. I think John Podesta is too dumb to understand what was going on.

(I think I'm too dumb to understand it either).

[Threadkiller]

"feared."

[Sue]

So the only way they could get Manafort was through a fake dossier? I'm going to say Manafort's lawyer isn't worried about jurisdiction but will fight tooth and nail over fruit of the poison tree. If they couldn't nail him without the bogus dossier paid for by the DNC and Hillary, and a SWAT raid on a warrant obtained using that dossier, holy cow. He may walk.

[Sue]

Rich,

Someone at the DNC and Hillary campaign paid for it. Maybe at the urging of Obama and the FBI but someone, JPodesta being my guess, authorized the payment.

[narciso]

They though they had the infinity stone, and couldn't be touched, but podesta and Weber actually did the work of lobbying for ukraine.

[Sue]

Even better. They thought the dossier would sink Trump's campaign so they never thought it would be used against them. Hillary would be president. McCain took it to the FBI. This is getting sweeter and sweeter. Talk about shooting your own self.

[Porchlight]

They were investigating Manafort in 2014 and came up empty.

Did they come up empty? They didn't charge him, but is that the same thing?

[derwill]

Sue, I don't think they came up empty, so much as what they were finding was starting to get uncomfortably close to the Podesta Group, so they stopped looking.

The modus operandi of Obama's DOJ seems to have been to shut down any FBI investigation the minute it became inconvenient to the swamp.

[narciso]

You think it would be easy to raze the swamp on which of the nine realms, now it does seem like of sheepdogs pup are lying down on the job.

[Sue]

They lost their wiretap, IIRC. And did not have enough to charge him until after the raid, obtained through the FISA warrant, obtained with the dossier. Correct?

[Porchlight]

I think John Podesta may have vaguely instructed Elias to vaguely do what was necessary to obtain whatever. If you know what I mean. These people are pretty good about keeping their fingerprints off things.

[Porchlight]

Yes, good point. If they had anything on him they wouldn't have needed the dossier for the FISA warrant.

Maybe they used what they had for the first FISA application that was rejected. Not enough. So, enter the dossier for FISA attempt #2.

[narciso]

Which department was in charge of foreign registrations, that was Boerne the recently department us atty from alexandria.

[derwill]

--and a SWAT raid on a warrant obtained using that dossier, holy cow.--

They used the fake dossier to get the warrant? I didn't know that-and holy cow is right.

Because by the time the raid took place the dossier had been publicly debunked--it was common knowledge everywhere that it was fake. So no way could they claim they were using the dossier to get the warrant in good faith.

[joan]

Oh, TK, of course! Funny. Don't know why I didn't pick up "feared."

[Porchlight]

dossier ----> FISA warrant is the speculation, derwill. I don't know if we have confirmation.

[joan]

I chose 'injured' because I thought they were 'dead.'

[henry]

in cased we missed anyone... efemall.

[James D.]

>>>Ta-Nehisi Coates Schools John Kelly On History Of Civil War And ‘Compromise'<<<

Why anyone cares what Tennis Coatrack has to say is beyond me.

[Clarice Feldman]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/21/us/politics/law-firm-faces-questions-for-ukraine-work-with-manafort.html?_r=0

[James D.]

So no way could they claim they were using the dossier to get the warrant in good faith.

Nothing that Mueller has done comes within a thousand miles of "good faith."

[rich]

beyond me too James D. welcome back.

[Threadkiller]

I thought Manafort and Flynn's got themselves red flagged the summer before the dossier was handed over to the Feds.

Then Manafort lied to the DOJ. Then he got raided.

[joan]

On PapadopoulousRex becoming a 'campaign' 'advisor' -- would he have documents appointing him as an advisor? How does one become a campaign advisor -- show up and someone already advising says, 'here, you go out and man the telephones?'

How can he claim that he talked or conferred with candidate Trump? How long did he confer?

I tried to read the charge and stipulation but my husband keeps asking me questions and the dog keeps barking. And, I've been up since 3.30 a.m. and am tired.

[Captain Haiku]

Tired mountain is now
Dead, but Rocket Man will claim
Pining for fjords

[derwill]

Oh, thanks, Porch. There's so much sleazy deep state stuff getting uncovered I can't keep up with it any more.

I'm with Henry. Let's just effmall.

[henry]

joan, apparently Mueller has emails from the Trump campaign (they turned GP in).

[rich]

Posted by: Porchlight | October 31, 2017 at 11:46 AM

I suspect the first FISA application was the Trump Tower server; the second was the Russian lawyer and Page's trip to Russia (which was concurrent with the events in the GP plea); the third laundered the dossier information. Surprised that Carter Page wasn't in yesterday's round up.

[maryrose]

Sue:
I totally believe Manafort will walk because fruit of the poison dossier tree and getting a FISA warrant based on crap information.
Poetic justice that the means to entrap President Trump and Manafort will be used instead to free Manafort.

[Threadkiller]

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4807750/madagascar-plague-spreading-relatives-dancing-corpses/

Another reason to not send away your paycheck when you see a commercial that shows a fly on a kid's eyeball in far away lands.

[joan]

Thanks, henry.

[Threadkiller]

I don't think the dossier had anything to do with Manafort getting snagged and indicted.

The timeline doesn't suggest it.

[maryrose]

Porch:
Correct on all counts.
Great posting!

[Appalled]

Coates believes the USA's founding documents and subsequent actions are all about keeping the black man down. I don't agree with Kelly about compromise, but Coates is hardly the guy I would cite in taking him down, given his own expressed interpretation of US History.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--Uh huh, and Hillary's lawyer paid Steele to work with Russians for dirt on Trump.--

Well, technically she paid Steele to work with Russians to make up dirt on Trump.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Ti Na Na Coates couldn't school Lil Abner.

[exdemocrat]

all cultures are equal, TK

[James D.]

Well then, took, everyone who lies to the DoJ should get a SWAT team raid not just people who happen to have worked with someone the Special Prosecutor doesn’t like.

Or nobody gets that treatment. One or the other.

[exdemocrat]

..she paid for lies about trump sourced through the Kremlin

[narciso]

The playbook they are using is old it goes back to 1980, some say 1968, they just swap out older pieces like Casey for general Flynn say. Their random scandal generator works much faster now

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Manafort going to work for Trump is why he's indicted.
He stepped into a cyclone not knowing how hard it would blow, but seemingly knowing the Feds were after him.
Not smart.

[maryrose]

Podesta is protecting his business.
Why can’t Manafort gift his home to a relative?

[maryrose]

Iggy:
So true.

[narciso]

The civil war cost 6 million lives in today's numbers, the economic costs incalculable, it had a positive result in emancipation and reconstruction but much like the first world war, it sowed the seeds for the next round of ayrige.

[Threadkiller]

If Manafort robbed a bank, shouldn't his wife be able to keep the money?

It is hard to believe that you just made a "fruit of the poisonous tree" argument moments ago.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

President on meeting with busines and association leaders, now. Boy, he is in his element.

Most interesting is he invites, right off the bat, Tom Donohoe of the C of C to speak, who is very enthusiastic. Looks like old Tom has bent the knee.

Makes the point while he is in Asia that cabinet members will be fanning out across the country and talking to the regional press, which he says is "often more reliable than the national." HA!

I hope I can find a video of this. It was quite good.

[Threadkiller]

I wonder if Jindal wants the death-dancers in his 100%, exdem.

[Captain Hate]

Why anyone cares what Tennis Coatrack has to say is beyond me.

He knows the pussyboys and mincemeats will never call him out on his bullshit.

[Buford Gooch]

Ig, they are the "alternate reality based community".

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

The reason The Swamp is so hard to drain is because many drainers mistakenly think the drainees are The Swamp.
The drainees are just the cotton mouths, gators, copperheads and mosquitoes that live and breed...and guard...The Swamp.
The Great Dismal Swamp is the boundless sea of state they swim in.
Scott Pruitt and Trump seem to be the two most cognizant of where the weak spots are and that to the extent one can bypass the drainees, that much easier is it to breach the dykes.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump 2h2 hours ago

The biggest story yesterday, the one that has the Dems in a dither, is Podesta running from his firm. What he know about Crooked Dems is....

...earth shattering. He and his brother could Drain The Swamp, which would be yet another campaign promise fulfilled. Fake News weak!
==================================

This got immediately written up by the UK Daily Mail (good old David Martusko):

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5036105/Trump-Podesta-resignation-earth-shattering-Democrats.html

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/10/30/statement-president-donald-j-trump-apprehension-mustafa-al-imam-his?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=wh_20171030_na
============

President Trump tweeted this link and although I posted it yesterday, am including it again.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--Podesta is protecting his business.
Why can’t Manafort gift his home to a relative?--

maryrose, it is generally illegal to attempt any property or asset transfer in an attempt to avoid a debt, judgment or bankruptcy claim or even an anticipated one, regardless of whether the asset was acquired with ill gotten gains or legitimately.

[anonamom]

Let's just exchange some recipes and let this crap sort itself all out.

Fruitcake, anyone?

(Yes, I know carbs kill--but tradition is tradition!)

[Captain Hate]

Most interesting is he invites, right off the bat, Tom Donohoe of the C of C to speak, who is very enthusiastic. Looks like old Tom has bent the knee.

He must've felt the gelding shears graze his sack. Bow to Zod, Tom! Don't worry, your cronies will still make oodles of jack; they'll just have to do it honestly. Adam Smith would be so proud.

[Captain Hate]

Fruitcake, anyone?

This is where we part ways, a-mom.

[sbw]

Need help narcisolating a word: ayrige

rage?

[joan]

I keep worrying about Papodoupolus because I remember watching television and Butterfield's testimony and how that seemingly innocuous man's testimony doomed Nixon.

And, I'm not going to try and learn or memorize Papoudopolus's last name. :)

This is an interesting article.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2017/10/31/papadopoulos_bit_player_at_center_stage_in_russia_probe_135404.html

[Ralph L]

a statement the campaign later called a joke
The ridiculous reaction of the political world to an obvious joke was my first inkling that Trump was not even close to what they all said he was. Should have known better to trust them at all.

[Captain Hate]

Why can’t Manafort gift his home to a relative?

Your reputation for unalloyed goodness just took a torpedo shot.

[derwill]

Manafort is a lever.

If you believe Mueller wears a black hat, then Manafort is supposed to be the lever that can be used to prove that Trump "colluded" with the Russians. If the investigation ends soon, as the WH said yesterday, that that means Manafort had nothing concrete to give up, and they'll have to be content with tarring Trump with implied guilt by association, but nothing more.

If you believe Mueller wears a white hat, then Manafort will be the lever that will be used to break open the Podesta Group, and that could lead to the Uranium One scandal because at the same time that the Podesta Group was lobbying for the Russian backed Ukraine faction they were also lobbying for Uranium One. If the reports are true that Mueller has subpoenaed the Podesta Group's papers then that would lend credence to this theory.

Regardless, that Manafort became a lever for Mueller in the first place seems to be his own damn fault for playing hanky panky with overseas income and the IRS.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Well, you take one nutjob Comey, add a dash of Spacey, a pinch of GHWB, a soupcon of Weinstein, a taste of Weiner and place it all in a long greased Hillary, pop it in the oven for 10 to 20 at 666 degrees and voila; you got yourself a Beltway fruitcake.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article181797151.html

This is an article thanking President Trump for the help in Puerto Rico and extolling the work of FEMA with details.

It is written by the lieutenant Governor of Puerto Rico, and President Trump thanked him on Twitter and provided the link.

[matt, deplore me if you must]

I am just enjoying watching Hollywierd destroy itself. The revelations are breaking daily; Spacey just gave a huge black eye to the gay community; collateral damage.

The predations of those with an ounce of power of those without is pathetic to watch. And the squirming of the "feminist" Left is just going to drive any hetero further and further away.

Hate speech and oppression are now the hallmarks of the Left.

To even watch the MSCCP and Communist News Network is to watch the greatest contortionists ever. The efforts to turn these jokes of indictments into capital cases is truly ludicrous, all the while avoiding the serious questions of graft, conspiracy, and half a dozen major felonies by a whole raft of Democrats. If we're lucky and justice wins out, they will have to name a new wing at Leavenworth for these bastards.

The WSJ seems like a very lonely alternative to the narrative, though, on many days.

[anon ( AKA common man )]

Fruitcake, anyone?

Well I do have a door that wants to naturally swing shut, so I could use a heavy dense item, so yeah thanks...

[Ralph L]

Nothing against maryrose, but why is everyone making "gift" into a verb lately? It's even more annoying than "going forward" and "very unique."

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

joan,
You need to remind yourself from the start there was an actual crime that occurred and an actual coverup so that Butterfield could harm Nixon.
There is no shred of evidence anything illegal occurred in the 2016 election [except for the Dems] nor that there has been any cover-up.
Kinda limits what Papadopolous can do to anyone except himself.

[Ralph L]

Anon, does your door swing both ways?

[mad jack]

Captain, that's more poetic than your haiku's!

[anon ( AKA common man )]

Ralph

Are you a Kevin Spacey fanboy?

[Ralph L]

On TV, rich men hid stuff in their wives' names long before they get in trouble. In VA, both spouses are automatically on a deed.

[mad jack]

I'm referencing your Donohoe shot. Nice.