The Russia Investigations and other Trump-related cases

[yovargas]

[RoseMorninStar]

Now, why would she admit that? That seems odd.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

At least in part because pretty irrefutable evidence has come out proving that she is.

I don't think it was posted here, but a couple of weeks ago she was saying that she had never been contacted by Mueller's office, and implied that that was proof that they weren't really trying to prove collusion. I do wonder why they have not tried to interview her (if in fact she was telling the truth). Maybe because they are convinced that she would not tell them anything regardless of whether there is anything to tell.

[Cenedril_Gildinaur]

That's just typical of our ignorant, impulsive, incurious, amoral, narcissistic, and deeply stupid president.

He's the reincarnation of Woodrow Wilson?

[Frelga]

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status ... 6374678528

Trump now claims that Natalia Veselnitskaya is only saying she's an "informant" with ties to the Kremlin because Putin realized how hard Trump has been on Russia and he wants to make the U.S. more chaotic. (via Fox) https://t.co/NiZKeigPpO

[River]

So he's saying she's kompromat...

This is probably why campaign officials and candidates are supposed to be careful about this. Veselnitskaya may or may not be telling the truth about her relationship with the Kremlin. But just the fact the meeting happened and she's now making claims is a problem.

[Frelga]

I tried to parse that statement logically but sparked out. If she's saying she is an agent of the Kremlin because Putin wants her to, doesn't that mean that she is, in fact, an agent of the Kremlin?

[RoseMorninStar]

Has there ever been a time that no matter what closet was opened so many Russians fell out? Not that I recall.
Not that anyone in the Trump campaign can recall either.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

More Stormy weather for the president, as Michael "I love to see myself on TV" Avenatti has filed a new lawsuit against Trump on behalf of his client/meal ticket, Stephanie Clifford aka "Stormy Daniels" aka "Peggy Peterson" aka "PP" alleging defamation in response to Trump's tweet calling the release of a sketch that is supposed to be of a man who threatened her a "total con job".

[River]

I'm not sure what's more hilarious, the whole porn-star situation Trump's got himself in or your post.

[RoseMorninStar]

I realize Avenatti is obnoxious and has an inflated ego, and that he is perhaps the type of lawyer who 'gives lawyers a bad name' but I cannot help but wonder if that is the type of lawyer Stormy Daniels would need in this type of case. She is a porn star. Trump has a way of chewing people up and spitting them out. He truly enjoys destroying people.

I've had limited experience with lawyers but I've had a poor (not horrible) experience and a good one. I would consider a 'bad' lawyer to be one who doesn't fight/work for the client/is in it only for the money/is lazy/sloppy/doesn't follow through or utilizes less than legal/ethical practices, etc.. like Michael Cohen.

I wonder if there is some method to the madness. These are bizarre times we are living in.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Here are the questions that Mueller reportedly wants to ask Trump:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... ar-AAwzFqt

[yovargas]

Is that normal? Seems weird to tell the lawyers the questions before you do the interview.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

yov, no it is very un-normal. Those questions were actually written by Trump's legal team based on their conversations with Mueller's team, which is even more unusual. Of course, if there ever is an interview, it will be the follow up questions that really will matter.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Trump tweeted this morning about how "disgraceful" it was that the questions for leaked, but it was almost certainly someone connected to his legal team that leaked them, not Mueller's office (ETA: the Times only said that they were provided by someone "outside Trump's legal team". And he tweeted that none of them had to do with the "false crime" of collusion, and yet numerous questions relate to connections between the Trump campaign (and others like Stone who were loosely connected to the campaign) and the Russians regarding the interference with the election.

ETA: From Politico:

Other legal veterans said investigators and Trump’s lawyers appear to be engaged in a public, high-stakes showdown over the issue of an interview.
“The most likely explanation is that they are trying to justify Trump’s decision not to be interviewed, by demonstrating how broad the questions are,” Elizabeth de la Vega, a former federal prosecutor, said of the questions’ release, which she said had the fingerprints of a source sympathetic to the president’s arguments.
“It’s a risky strategy, because these questions tell a powerful story about the case, even without answers by Trump,” she added. “Trump will never answer these questions, but that is not a problem for the Mueller investigation. They already know the answers.”

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/ ... ler-561692

That sounds about right to me.

[RoseMorninStar]

I've often thought Trump is likely his own biggest leaker. He loves to play the victim and he loves to use (whatever) as ammunition to rile up his base and gain sympathy. It's what narcissists do when cornered.

From what I understand, these questions are really just springboard topics and the real questions come once the answer is given(?) and that they are likely prepared for possible lies compared to the testimony of others.

[Frelga]

If this were a movie, the Republicans would be maneuvering to push the Democrats into starting the impeachment proceedings before the 2018 midterms. That would probably incense their base enough to sink the potential Democratic gains, leaving Republicans in control of Congress and with President Pence who is much more in line with their purposes.

In real life, I've no idea what's going on.

[River]

Those questions were actually written by Trump's legal team based on their conversations with Mueller's team, which is even more unusual.

I completely missed that detail. For some reason, I thought Trump's team had a list provided by Mueller and it got out. But that puts a different, maybe even more self-destructive spin on things.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

To be clearer, they appear to be the notes of Trump's legal team based on their conversations with Mueller's team of the questions that they (Trump's lawyers) gather would be asked in an interview. Which makes it even more unlikely that the leak would have come from Mueller's office.

[RoseMorninStar]

Which is extremely interesting because the list of questions is certainly being used to publically blame the media and Mueller's office, which seems intentional 'play the victim role for sympathy' to me.