Robert Mueller, Former F.B.I. Director, Is Named Special Counsel for Russia Investigation

#grayhat

 

I applaud you for summing up your views so succinctly and accurately. A lot of the rest of us, however, are interested in having our chief law enforcement agency investigate just how and to what extent a foreign power meddled in our election, as well as which Americans, if any, were compromised in this process.

Based purely on his history, starting with valor in Vietnam and moving forward under a number of very different presidents, I have more trust in Mueller than you do. He seems motivated primarily by a love of country versus any political agenda.

 

you know that van der Zwaan was an attorney for an elite international law firm, no?

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/20/politics/robert-mueller-rick-gates/index.html
VdZ worked in the London office of international law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate Meagher & Flom for a decade. in ~ 2012, The firm worked on a report on behalf of the Ukrainian government that critics said sought to justify the false imprisonment of Ukraine's former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko.

Manafort / Gates were also working on behalf of Tymoshenko's rivals, including ousted president Yanukovych. According to prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, VdZ leaked the report and talking points from the law firm — which was supposed to be independent in the matter — to Gates.

When VdZ was questioned by Mueller's team in November, he claimed that his last communication with Gates was an "innocuous" text message in mid-August 2016, according to court documents. But, according to federal prosecutors, VdZ spoke with both Gates and Person A in September 2016 regarding the Tymoshenko report, surreptitiously recorded encyrpted calls and deleted the email in question.​

despite his legal expertise, he opted to lie to the FBI

 

Mueller applying the pressure on Manafort...

New charges filed in Manafort-Gates case
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/21/paul-manafort-rick-gates-new-charges-criminal-case-419685

and...

Mueller asking if Manafort promised banker White House job in return for loans
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/do...romised-banker-white-house-job-return-n849916

 

Aren't you a little concerned that the President has surrounded himself with criminals and scumbags?

There is a clear pattern here. At the highest levels of the White House, the President has allowed a criminal culture to exist.

 

If nothing else, it looks like Mueller has a significant case against Manafort involving bank fraud and money laundering around the Russian-backed PM that the US sided against. Getting a conviction just on Manafort would probably not be enough to make us feel like we got our money's worth with all this special prosecutor bs, but it would be significantly more than nothing.

 

"lock her up!"

 

Are you seriously, in watching the operation of our government -- this government -- worried about the cost of "this special prosecutor bs." When compared to the cost of a massive tax cut or increases in military spending (or trips to gold resorts even).

The indictments of Russia and Russian orgs is significant as well, just in underlining the problem and exactly how the attack worked (or is still working). Even if it just forced social media companies to refine their MO, it would be worth a tremendous amount of money. And Twitter has started booting Russian bots, to any sane person's delight. Not clear that happens as quickly without the probe.

 

No. I was actually thinking more about the emotional toll of having a multi-year special prosecutor investigation of your president that finally concludes that he didn't do anything wrong -- the premise that underlies the hypothetical that we get a prosecution of Manafort and nothing else. I don't think Mueller is a waste of time or of resources, but I do think I (and many other citizens) will be very disappointed to go so far down this road and find nothing. Which is why I wanted to point out that Manafort isn't nothing. It's less than I expect, but nevertheless a good collar.

 

Due to the nature of Mueller's investigation running a tighter ship than Mike Pence's anus, with no leaks, do you know something that we don't?

Just yesterday Lawyer Alex Van Der Zwaan was charged. Who the **** guessed that? Not a single person outside that investigation had any clue or heads up.

Let's stop pretending we know more than we know.

 

I am betting it goes higher than Manafort, possibly as high as Don Jr or Jared.

 

Apparently, I'm not expressing myself well. I was proposing and assessing a hypothetical situation. I seem to have failed to adequately communicate that.

 

I would say we could accept that apology... but no.

 

I wonder how far the public would be with the Russian interference if not for Muller's investigation (which wasn't started based on that, but Trump's apparent obstruction of justice) and Trump's and team reactions? GOP congressional oversight - nope. Our Intel speaking up - nope. Press - very possible, but they are slow and have no direct insight, but lack of credibility to the general public. For just that itself, even if Trump turns out to be a "victim" (of his own weakness), Mueller's investigation is more than worthy already in my book.

 

I'll go out on a limb here, JuanValdez....

...and say that when you mention this "special prosecutor bs", you're just euphemizing the tragedy of having to defend the legitimacy of our electoral process (which has been undeniably compromised by the effects of unlimited and uncategorized amounts of capital---to what extent or end is as yet to be fully determined) to the interminable extent that it seems Robert Mueller must.

We shouldn't, as a nation, have to harangue over how much or precisely what kind of influence any foreign country has over our election processes...and we most certainly shouldn't have the persons most closely responsible for affecting that haranguing discounting any findings and minimizing this necessity, out of what amounts to spite. It is unseemly and embarrassing to all of us, to put it mildly.

(One of the more uncomfortable revelations is that we are easier to fool or manipulate into our own undoing than we would like to believe.)

But we do have to do this...and if that turns out to be the worst thing about all of this--having to sift through all manner of sewage to get at some semblance of truth--then we're all luckier than we deserve.

Donald Trump himself should be the last person who in any way wants to see this investigation upended, inconclusive, or less-than-thorough...if for no other reason than to solidify and thereby validate the results of his election. I know most of the American creed lies in the idea of possession being 9/10 of the law...and he does have possession of the Presidency, and spares little in the way of expense or effort to remind us...that is the only "mandate" that matters it seems, in the end...

There is very little, in my estimation, that is hypothetical about what we are witnessing currently with all this. These are the results of a great many actions that have converged here and now into this moment.

I will also assume, again, that your tone is one of frustration that all of this may not beget anything more that a glorified exposition of a condition most of us are already keenly aware of, but are a bit too ensconced in narrow-mindedness to have paid attention to.

Somebody should be held to account for what has resulted in Donald Trump being elected (duly or otherwise) as President of the United States, especially because of how poorly he comports himself or how dysfunctional his presidency is...because we like to tell ourselves that, by and large, we are a better nation than this.

Wanna know what I'm doing...I mean right at this moment...?

...getting my popcorn ready.

I mean really...who could have thought that Donald Trump would do anything other than put on some interesting viewing just because of something as silly as an election...?

It's all kinds of dangerous no doubt...and it is a lot like watching a train wreck in slow motion...

And for the record, you get to be as cynical as the rest of us.

 

I will be very pleased and relieved if the Buffoon-in-Chief is exonerated. At least we'll finally know he is just an incompetent buffoon in over his head and not a treasonous Putin lap dog. However, based on recent disclosures, I'm not optimistic that everyone in his orbit will be exonerated but hey, fingers crossed.

 

The investigation circling back to Manafort is the most interesting aspect so far of the investigation. I think most assumed he was the low hanging fruit criminal you make an example of early in the prosecution so everyone knows you are not playing.

However it seems like there is something really really sinister that he is a key witness in that the key plea witnesses opened their eyes to in order to pursue more charges where they thought well maybe now he’ll cooperate with us ...(which would be incredible given he would seem to have little reason to talk with all the charges he has). If Mueller thinks Manafort will all the sudden talk now there must be something pretty big uncovered.

My guess is Mansfort is the key to unlocking a direct link to Russian money entering the Trump campaign. If Russia financially backed Trump in any way, that’s worse than the made up term “collusion”... that’s basically putting Trump on Putin’s payroll.

But again ... that’s just a guess as to why we are coming back to Manafort at this phase.

 

Another trump campaign adviser will plea, flip on Manafort (and trump?)...



Fmr. Trump Aide: Donald Trump "Screws Everyone"
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/fmr-trump-aide-donald-trump-171005456.html

 

Also another tidbit from this week that has been looked over-

The most recent indictment of the Dutch lawyer is another piece that corroborates more of the Dossier which names some the same figures in it. I think its laughable now to sit here and say that the Dossier is somehow this Democratic hit job. This is what raw intelligence looks like folks. That's how these things work. Intelligence gathers raw information from sources, and sends as much as they can to the Feds who then pursue the leads with an investigation & ultimately prosecution.