Mueller investigation

[Underseer]

Devin Nunes: give me money so that I can obstruct justice!

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nunes-trump-russia-fundraising-doj_us_5afddaf7e4b06a3fb50efb5f

Can we just admit that the system of checks and balances doesn't exist anymore in America?

Party before country.

Sigh.

 

[ZiprHead]

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/missing-files-motivated-the-leak-of-michael-cohens-financial-records

The report also refers to two previous suspicious-activity reports, or sars, that the bank had filed, which documented even larger flows of questionable money into Cohen’s account. Those two reports detail more than three million dollars in additional transactions—triple the amount in the report released last week. Which individuals or corporations were involved remains a mystery. But, according to the official who leaked the report, these sars were absent from the database maintained by the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or fincen. The official, who has spent a career in law enforcement, told me, “I have never seen something pulled off the system. . . . That system is a safeguard for the bank. It’s a stockpile of information. When something’s not there that should be, I immediately became concerned.” The official added, “That’s why I came forward.”

 

[Underseer]

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/missing-files-motivated-the-leak-of-michael-cohens-financial-records

The report also refers to two previous suspicious-activity reports, or sars, that the bank had filed, which documented even larger flows of questionable money into Cohen’s account. Those two reports detail more than three million dollars in additional transactions—triple the amount in the report released last week. Which individuals or corporations were involved remains a mystery. But, according to the official who leaked the report, these sars were absent from the database maintained by the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or fincen. The official, who has spent a career in law enforcement, told me, “I have never seen something pulled off the system. . . . That system is a safeguard for the bank. It’s a stockpile of information. When something’s not there that should be, I immediately became concerned.” The official added, “That’s why I came forward.”

Yup. The Trump administration is deleting incriminating evidence from at least one law enforcement database.

This is a new low, even by conservative/libertarian standards. Party before country!

 

[Underseer]

I posted a link to the same article two pages back.

So far, none of Trump's usual Defenders around here have a expressed problem with what Trump did.

Personally, I think they are waiting for FOX News or Rush Limbaugh to tell them what to think about this. I'm expecting a "both sides" excuse or perhaps a "fake news" denial.

 

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Devin Nunes: give me money so that I can obstruct justice!

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nunes-trump-russia-fundraising-doj_us_5afddaf7e4b06a3fb50efb5f

Can we just admit that the system of checks and balances doesn't exist anymore in America?

Party before country.

Sigh.

What’s truly remarkable about that piece is this sentence:

“When Barack Obama’s Department of Justice and the F.B.I. used Hillary Clinton’s patently false opposition research to justify a warrant to spy on associates of the Trump campaign, I exposed the scandal and brought it to the attention of the entire nation,” Nunes wrote.

It’s a confession. Every carefully chosen phrase is a talking point, not a revelation of some objectively established truth. These are truly despicable, deeply immoral pieces of shit that everyone should be stoning to death in the public square on a daily basis. Instead, they’re running the country (into the ground).

And the most maddening thing is, of course, that they’ve all been equally carefully programmed to believe that what Nunes is saying is in fact the objectively established truth. It’s literally mind boggling. Now more than ever I feel like an alien species that get trapped on this planet of shaved monkeys that are tens of thousands of years (if not hundreds of thousands) more primitive than the rest of us and we’re just watching them all laugh and masturbate and throw their feces at each other, which only causes them to laugh and masturbate and throw their feces more furiously.

 

[ZiprHead]

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/missing-files-motivated-the-leak-of-michael-cohens-financial-records

The report also refers to two previous suspicious-activity reports, or sars, that the bank had filed, which documented even larger flows of questionable money into Cohen’s account. Those two reports detail more than three million dollars in additional transactions—triple the amount in the report released last week. Which individuals or corporations were involved remains a mystery. But, according to the official who leaked the report, these sars were absent from the database maintained by the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or fincen. The official, who has spent a career in law enforcement, told me, “I have never seen something pulled off the system. . . . That system is a safeguard for the bank. It’s a stockpile of information. When something’s not there that should be, I immediately became concerned.” The official added, “That’s why I came forward.”

Yup. The Trump administration is deleting incriminating evidence from at least one law enforcement database.

This is a new low, even by conservative/libertarian standards. Party before country!

The Justice department said this morning that the reports have not been removed or deleted. They have restricted access to them.

 

[Elixir]

I posted a link to the same article two pages back.

So far, none of Trump's usual Defenders around here have a expressed problem with what Trump did.

Personally, I think they are waiting for FOX News or Rush Limbaugh to tell them what to think about this. I'm expecting a "both sides" excuse or perhaps a "fake news" denial.

It's worse than even Trump says when he states that he could shoot someone in the middle of 5th Avenue and not lose a single vote. Now it's to the point where he could shoot someone in the middle of 5th Avenue in broad daylight and cameras running, Faux Nooz could tell them he didn't do it, and they'd believe he didn't do it.

 

[Copernicus]

Yup. The Trump administration is deleting incriminating evidence from at least one law enforcement database.

This is a new low, even by conservative/libertarian standards. Party before country!

The Justice department said this morning that the reports have not been removed or deleted. They have restricted access to them.

The problem is that we have no information on who in the Justice Department wanted access to those reports restricted. It is possible that Mueller wanted them restricted in order to protect it from being leaked prematurely, and he had the power to do that. As the head of an active criminal investigation involving those records, he should also be able to access the restricted records, even though they aren't available to everyone with a clearance. Avenatti has already shown his willingness to leak information that he deems will help his client. Mueller's and Avenatti's interests don't align, so that could be what underlies the intrigue here.

 

[Angry Floof]

Yup. The Trump administration is deleting incriminating evidence from at least one law enforcement database.

This is a new low, even by conservative/libertarian standards. Party before country!

The Justice department said this morning that the reports have not been removed or deleted. They have restricted access to them.

The problem is that we have no information on who in the Justice Department wanted access to those reports restricted. It is possible that Mueller wanted them restricted in order to protect it from being leaked prematurely, and he had the power to do that. As the head of an active criminal investigation involving those records, he should also be able to access the restricted records, even though they aren't available to everyone with a clearance. Avenatti has already shown his willingness to leak information that he deems will help his client. Mueller's and Avenatti's interests don't align, so that could be what underlies the intrigue here.

I think the main thing that underlies the intrigue is ignorance of the system and processes. When I first read the article about the leaker fearing foul play, I was also suspicious and went immediately to the possibility of someone at the Treasury tampering with the records. I've since been set straight about how those records are stored and accessed, and the explanation that access was restricted simply due to case sensitivity makes sense. Of course I'm open to new information but at the moment, I feel pretty confident that nothing suspicious is going on with the records, and if so, there is too much interest in this case for any foul play to go unexposed.

 

[braces_for_impact]

Remeber back in several threads on several pages where I explained why this investigation will take so long? It's because every time they explore an avenue, it branches into 4 separate lines of inquiry, easily.

 

[Angry Floof]

Remeber back in several threads on several pages where I explained why this investigation will take so long? It's because every time they explore an avenue, it branches into 4 separate lines of inquiry, easily.

These lowlifes really need to stop leaving trails everywhere for Mueller to pick up.

 

[braces_for_impact]

Remeber back in several threads on several pages where I explained why this investigation will take so long? It's because every time they explore an avenue, it branches into 4 separate lines of inquiry, easily.

These lowlifes really need to stop leaving trails everywhere for Mueller to pick up.

It's not that they're just criminals, or corrupt, it's that they're blatant and really, really bad at it too.

 

[ZiprHead]

That's why it's stupid watergate.


Something Bill Maher brought up on his show last night. What if Mueller subpoenas Trump and Trump refuses to go? The Supreme Court may rule that he has to go, but what if he still refuses?

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Remeber back in several threads on several pages where I explained why this investigation will take so long? It's because every time they explore an avenue, it branches into 4 separate lines of inquiry, easily.

It's a whole spider web of dirty deeds.

 

[Koyaanisqatsi]

That's why it's stupid watergate.


Something Bill Maher brought up on his show last night. What if Mueller subpoenas Trump and Trump refuses to go? The Supreme Court may rule that he has to go, but what if he still refuses?

Then everything shifts into Constitutional crisis mode, but at that point it’s like Cosby’s case shifting from “did he or didn’t he” to “he did, now he’s trying every legal trick to get out of it.”

For the core nazis (the 10-15% terrorists that will always support him), that won’t make any difference, but for the rest of the somewhat more sane republican voters, it would be nearly impossible for them to keep buying the lie that he’s innocent and it’s all a “witch hunt” if he refused the subpoena and triggered a crisis. What justification could he possibly give that wouldn’t also reveal his guilt? If it’s a witch hunt, then he has no reason to hide and every reason to set the record straight (on the record).

 

[ZiprHead]

That's why it's stupid watergate.


Something Bill Maher brought up on his show last night. What if Mueller subpoenas Trump and Trump refuses to go? The Supreme Court may rule that he has to go, but what if he still refuses?

Then everything shifts into Constitutional crisis mode, but at that point it’s like Cosby’s case shifting from “did he or didn’t he” to “he did, now he’s trying every legal trick to get out of it.”

For the core nazis (the 10-15% terrorists that will always support him), that won’t make any difference, but for the rest of the somewhat more sane republican voters, it would be nearly impossible for them to keep buying the lie that he’s innocent and it’s all a “witch hunt” if he refused the subpoena and triggered a crisis. What justification could he possibly give that wouldn’t also reveal his guilt? If it’s a witch hunt, then he has no reason to hide and every reason to set the record straight (on the record).

The thing is that if bone spurs refuses to go, no one has the power to make him go. Anyone else can be prosecuted for contempt but not the president. He can flout any law or court order with impunity until the congress impeaches and convicts him.

 

[Koyaanisqatsi]

The thing is that if bone spurs refuses to go, no one has the power to make him go. Anyone else can be prosecuted for contempt but not the president. He can flout any law or court order with impunity until the congress impeaches and convicts him.

Legally, yes. In the court of public opinion—where voters have influence—not so much. It’s all about threshold. As I said, nothing will ever change the minds of the core nazis, but they make up only about 10-15%, which is, again, the normal radical fringe component. We have the same percentage on the left.

What matters is the swing. Well, what matters is the Republicans cheat because they have to, but that’s a different matter. In regard to Trump refusing to answer a subpeona—particularly in light of all of the convictions so far and his constant dismissal of this as nothing but a witch hunt and how he has repeatedly said (bragged) that he’d answer any questions and was looking forward to it, etc—that’s going to impact a good ten percent of mainstream Republicans at the very least, which in turn could be all that’s necessary for us to retake the House, if not the Senate.

The fact that Republicans in the Senate just turned against Trump in regard to Net Neutrality is also a good litmus test.

There actually are sane republicans out in the world, they just keep quiet about it until it comes time to vote (or not vote, as the case may be).

 

[Opoponax]

A POTUS' refusal to comply with a subpoena might be the greatest test of the Constitution in U.S. history.

All complexities aside, the question of whether the law applies to a sitting President would have to be decided by SCOTUS. There appears to be two basic choices.

Choice A: the law does apply, and Trump could be arrested for contempt. It is indeed difficult to imagine this happening though. SCOTUS would eventually have to hold a hearing on whether the proposed arrest warrant as issued by a lower court was valid. If SCOTUS did uphold the validity of the warrant then by whom would it be executed? The FBI? What would the Secret Service do? But however that would/wouldn't work, if Trump was found in contempt, but no arrest warrant issued, then we're basically onto the next, even more bizarre choice.

Choice B: the law does not apply to the POTUS and we have what amounts to a kind of de facto dictatorship--one in which the laws of the nation are unenforceable against anyone holding that position. By extension, anyone acting on unlawful orders would necessarily have to be free from punishment because the argument can be made that a law-free President can no longer give an unlawful order, thereby making the actions of the person carrying out the order lawful.

I would like to see a subpoena issued with a hard compliance date. Let's get this shit overwith and see if Gilead was just fiction or an instruction manual.

 

[Underseer]

Remeber back in several threads on several pages where I explained why this investigation will take so long? It's because every time they explore an avenue, it branches into 4 separate lines of inquiry, easily.

These lowlifes really need to stop leaving trails everywhere for Mueller to pick up.

That's just what "they" want you to think! This "evidence" is obviously the product of a conspiracy! How else do you explain the FBI enforcing the law? [/Conservolibertarian]

 

[Underseer]

A POTUS' refusal to comply with a subpoena might be the greatest test of the Constitution in U.S. history.

All complexities aside, the question of whether the law applies to a sitting President would have to be decided by SCOTUS. There appears to be two basic choices.

Choice A: the law does apply, and Trump could be arrested for contempt. It is indeed difficult to imagine this happening though. SCOTUS would eventually have to hold a hearing on whether the proposed arrest warrant as issued by a lower court was valid. If SCOTUS did uphold the validity of the warrant then by whom would it be executed? The FBI? What would the Secret Service do? But however that would/wouldn't work, if Trump was found in contempt, but no arrest warrant issued, then we're basically onto the next, even more bizarre choice.

Choice B: the law does not apply to the POTUS and we have what amounts to a kind of de facto dictatorship--one in which the laws of the nation are unenforceable against anyone holding that position. By extension, anyone acting on unlawful orders would necessarily have to be free from punishment because the argument can be made that a law-free President can no longer give an unlawful order, thereby making the actions of the person carrying out the order lawful.

I would like to see a subpoena issued with a hard compliance date. Let's get this shit overwith and see if Gilead was just fiction or an instruction manual.

No law was broken! Fake news! Uranium one! Deep state! No collusion!!!!