Good Friday morning
Here is what’s on the president’s agenda today:
- The president meets with the secretary of State
- President Trump meets with the National Security Council regarding election
IMPORTANT: Remains of US war dead retrieved from North Korea, White House says
Cohen says Trump knew about Trump Tower meeting with RUSSIANS
What kind of lawyer is (was) Michael Cohen? He sure seems like a jackass. Cohen is prepared to testify that Trump knew about the famous meeting between Fusion GPS client and RUSSIAN Natalia Veselnitskaya and Jared Kushner, Don Trump Jr., and Paul Manafort in June of 2016. Trump denied having knowledge of the meeting.
CNN and NBC News reported on Thursday night that Cohen has no evidence that Trump had advance knowledge of the meeting, but is willing to testify about it under oath to the special counsel Robert Mueller.
Oh ok, he is willing to testify to that without evidence. Does this guy have a shred of credibility? Who would believe a lawyer who surreptitiously records his clients?
Cohen reportedly did not mention this new claim when he testified to two Congressional committees in 2017, according to CNN. Additionally, a person familiar with Cohen’s House Intelligence Committee testimony told CNN that Cohen said nothing at the time about whether or not Trump knew of the 2016 meeting.
Gimme a break. The meeting in question lasted 20 minutes and Fusion GPS client Veselitskaya offered no “dirt” to the campaign but instead spoke about the Magnitsky Act. Now “suddenly” Cohen remembers Trump was told about this meeting. Silly stuff.
Related:
A ‘Significant’ Witness in the Michael Cohen Probe Has Been Revealed
Mueller investigating Trump tweets
At this point in the game if you think this investigation is about Trump-RUSSIA collusion, you must be an idiot. It’s clear that President Trump and those in his orbit are being subjected to a forensic examination of their lives in order to obstruct Trump’s presidency, as punishment to those who have supported him, and to dissuade others from working for him.
Mueller is now looking at Trump’s tweets about recused, crippled Attorney General Jeff Sessions and fired Director of the FBI and Twitter personality James Comey.
Mueller is investigating whether the tweets and statements — including those from spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders — constitute attempts to obstruct the probe by intimidating witnesses.
The special counsel is also scrutinizing other actions taken by the president, including his private conversations with Comey, Sessions and other administration officials about the Russia inquiry, misleading statements from the White House, vituperative public attacks on key figures in the case and whether he offered pardons to potential witnesses.
Mueller’s team told Trump’s lawyers they were probing the tweets under a wide-ranging obstruction-of-justice law that was strengthened after the Enron scandal, three sources told the Times.
Fox News’s Andrew Napolitano says of the tweets: “Mueller knows that those tweets are a treasure trove and a window into Trump’s thinking.”
“Did the president send messages to people of threats, or rewards, via his tweets? People who he knew or expected would be interviewed by Bob Mueller?” Napolitano asked. “And if he did, was he engaging in witness tampering?”
If there was obstruction of justice, what is the “justice”? What crime was Trump trying to cover up? We have no information about any the crime the president was trying to cover up.
Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani said: “If you’re going to obstruct justice, you do it quietly and secretly, not in public” about Mueller’s interest in the president’s tweets.
Related:
Here’s How Mueller Could Bring Witness Tampering Charges Based on Trump’s Tweets
Former Bernie Sanders consultant assisting Mueller investigation
Rosenstein impeachment put on hold
The House is out for the rest of the summer and there was no vote yesterday on the articles of impeachment filed against Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan says he doesn’t support impeaching Rosenstein, while Rep. Steve Scalise does.
“If you look at what Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan and Devin Nunes have been doing, they’ve been fighting to get more information from the Justice Department,” Scalise said on “America’s Newsroom.” “Frankly, it is mind-boggling that Justice won’t comply. They ought to want to work with us to root out the bad apples, and if putting impeachment on the table as one more tool gets them to finally comply with the subpoenas from Congress, we need to make sure that they do their job and they comply and they show the American people exactly what’s going on.”
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has come out supporting Rosenstein. “My deputy Rod Rosenstein is highly capable. I have the highest confidence in him,” Sessions said during a news conference in Boston. Right, this clown signed a FISA full of unsubstantiated lies.
“What I would like Congress to do is to focus on some of the legal challenges that are out there. We need Congress to deal with the immigration question,” said Sessions, a former Alabama senator. “There are loopholes in our laws that are being exploited. We need to get them focused and we are pleading with them to do so. Our job and our enforcement officers’ jobs are far more difficult than they need to be. Common sense legislation can make a big difference. That is where I’d like to see them focus their time.”
Related:
FreedomWorks pledges to spend half a million dollars to elect Jordan as Speaker
Historical picture of the day: (I love this picture!)
Expert sharpshooter and performer Annie Oakley comes out of retirement to practice for the Fred Stone Circus and Motor Hippodrome at the Mineola Fair Grounds, Long Island, N.Y., on July 27, 1922. Oakley performed in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show from 1885 to 1902. (AP Photo)
Other morsels:
Twitter says it doesn’t ‘shadow ban’ after Trump tweet
Most children, parents separated at U.S.-Mexican border reunited: court filing
Pennsylvania transgender bathroom case splits U.S. appeals court
Betsy DeVos’ family boat untied from dock, causing up to $10K in damages, police say
Meghan McCain: ‘Republicans are not welcome’ in New York City
ACLU spending money in a federal election for the first time in history to oppose one candidate
Peter Thiel Compares Hillary Clinton To A ‘Mean Grandmother’
Democratic Virginia Goes After Rural School District’s Plan To Arm Teachers
HARD NOPE The fight over cultured meat is heating up, and Big Meat is demanding that Trump intervene
Sessions says he should have handled ‘Lock her up!’ chant differently
Trump Admin Loses Another Round in Court Over Census Citizenship Question
WAT? Zoo accused of painting donkeys to look like zebras
Coca-Cola is raising soda prices; CEO says consumers likely to feel effect
Eric Church says NRA is to blame for Las Vegas festival mass shooting
White House disputes that CNN’s Kaitlan Collins was ‘banned’
And that’s all I’ve got, now go beat back the angry mob!
Join the conversation as a VIP Member