The Morning Briefing: Paul Manafort Owns an Ostrich Jacket and Much, Much More

Good Thursday morning.

Here is what’s on the president’s agenda today:

The president receives his intelligence briefing
President Trump meets with Senator David Perdue
The president participates in a roundtable with supporters in Wilkes-Barre, Penn.
President Trump hosts the Make America Great Again Rally

Today’s Morning Briefing is sponsored by Paul Manafort’s ostrich jacket

So apparently Paul Manafort owns an ostrich jacket. Is this criminal? No, but it’s not as ugly as the python jacket. There sure is lots of media interest in the ostrich jacket.

THIS IS THE PYTHON JACKET. This photo, introduced into evidence on Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2018, during the second day of the fraud trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort in federal court in Alexandria, Va., shows clothing owned by Manafort. (Department of Justice via AP)

It looks like there might be some forged invoices from Manafort’s company, we learned yesterday.

After rummaging through multiple government exhibits submitted and allowed into evidence, jurors and judge alike were treated to an apparently forged invoice for the bespoke men’s fashion brand.

The first page of said invoice was a jumble of Cyrillic no one attempted to make sense of in the courtroom. On the second page, was an admittedly poor attempt to imitate Alan Couture’s standard form for billing purposes.

Three obvious stand-outs here were noted and confirmed by the judge, the prosecution and the witness himself: (1) the company’s name was misspelled and off by one letter–instead of “Alan Couture” the form read “Alan Corture”; (2) the company’s zip code was wrong; and (3) Katzman had no recollection of the purported client. He said, “[We’ve] never had a client named ‘Global Endeavor.’”

The trial will continue today, so stay tuned for the latest gossip about a trial that has nothing to do with RUSSIA collusion and everything to do with unfortunate fashion choices.

Mueller wants to ask Trump about obstruction of justice

According to ABC News sources, special counsel Robert Mueller wants to chat with President Trump about obstruction of justice. Mueller would like to have his questions answered both orally and in written form. DON’T DO IT, IT’S A TRAP.

According to sources familiar with the President’s reaction Wednesday morning, that was the genesis for his early morning tweet storm. Trump took to twitter in one of his strongest attacks against the federal probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, saying: “This is a terrible situation and Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further. Bob Mueller is totally conflicted, and his 17 Angry Democrats that are doing his dirty work are a disgrace to USA!”

Giuliani to Mueller: Put up or shut up

That’s not how it works: Dem lawmaker warns Trump: ‘Fire Mueller and we fire you’

Watchdog Files Suit Against DOJ Seeking Comey’s Personal Emails

Look at this totally impartial civil servant: Ex-CIA chief calls on Congress to denounce Trump’s ‘blatant effort to obstruct justice’

[Alleged] Sexual harassment happenings: Les Moonves edition

Some developments on the [alleged] sexual harassment scandal facing CBS bigwig and member of the cultural elite Les Moonves:

Today, he was suspended from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts’ Board of Councilors, and Deadline reports that he will exit the Commission on Eliminating Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality in the Workplace. Moonves had been CBS’s representative on the Anita Hill-lead Commission, and in a letter obtained by Deadline, Hill informed members that Moonves is stepping down and will be replaced by another representative from his company.

CBS has hired two law firms to investigate the allegations against Moonves. The embattled entertainment exec is still planning to participate in the company’s earnings conference call with Wall Street analysts today. Last week, six women accused Moonves of various and sundry actions in an explosive report by Ronan Farrow in The New Yorker.

Nicole Kidman reportedly playing Gretchen Carlson in Fox News harassment film

Why do Trump supporters dislike the media?

Gee, I don’t know.

Benny Johnson over at The Daily Caller has collected some Twitter valentines from Jim Acosta & Co. supporters. Acosta is still smarting from the treatment he received from the great unwashed Trump rally attendees earlier this week, where he was taunted and called names for being a stand-up, honest reporter on a credible cable news network.

Celebrated composer Christopher O’Riley, who is a regular on PBS and NPR, literally called for the enforced slaughter of Trump supporters. “Calling them Deplorables is euphemizing them. Maybe better to euthanize?” the verified twitter user quipped.

Other verified handles of celebrities and reporters were just as vulgar, likening the Trump supporters to Nazis, KKK members, white trash and Hitler while speculating the crowd will eventually commit murder. Others said the Trump supporters made them “ashamed” of America.

All for supporting the president. Who are the unhinged lunatics, remind me?

Related:

I think the NYT has this backward: Crowds, Stoked by Trump’s Rhetoric, Increase Their Ire Toward the Press

Jim Acosta Fires Back At Sean Hannity, Calls Him ‘A Propagandist For Profit’

Your Daily WTFs:

U.S. lawsuit over underfilled Junior Mints boxes is thrown out

‘Rat lungworm’ explained: What to know about the parasitic roundworm

McDonald’s serves pregnant Canadian cleaning fluid latte

Historical picture of the day: