The Swamp

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 10:19 am**

While I'm sure it started on Jan. 20, this shows that the law-breaking started -- at a minimum -- on the fourth day of Trump's presidency.

https://twitter.com/sarahcwestwood/stat ... 9331921921

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 10:24 am**

So assuming this is as big as it feels, what's step 2 in Trump's attempt to destabilize everything after he fires Mueller?

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 10:26 am**

LOCK. HIM. UP.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 10:27 am**

mister d wrote:So assuming this is as big as it feels, what's step 2 in Trump's attempt to destabilize everything after he fires Mueller?

Attack North Korea.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 10:29 am**

Remember when stuff like that was as close to a 0% chance as possible and it could be joked about?

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 10:30 am**

brian wrote:
mister d wrote:So assuming this is as big as it feels, what's step 2 in Trump's attempt to destabilize everything after he fires Mueller?

Attack North Korea.

Would you trust him to nuke the right Korea if he can't get the British PM correct?

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 10:39 am**

"I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go."

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 10:41 am**

Baloney wrote:
brian wrote:
mister d wrote:So assuming this is as big as it feels, what's step 2 in Trump's attempt to destabilize everything after he fires Mueller?

Attack North Korea.

Would you trust him to nuke the right Korea if he can't get the British PM correct?

I'd like to think that they've built a special room for Donald Trump, right down to including actors playing the part of generals, majors, lieutenants, technicians and desk jockeys to simulate a war effort. Right there with big screens to display all the trajectories ala War Games.

"Sir, should we nuke North Korea?"

"YES!"

And then have it all play out. Then rush him to the bunker underneath the White House, cuz you know, gotta protect the president.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 10:49 am**

Johnnie wrote:LOCK. HIM. UP.

Fuck yes. Happy Happy Happy Day.

And if he's flipping, Kushner and Trump Jr can't be far behind.

It can't be a coincidence that this plea was made public right after Mueller interviewed Kushner about Flynn. Talk about an Obstruction trap.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 10:50 am**

EnochRoot wrote:
Baloney wrote:
brian wrote:
mister d wrote:So assuming this is as big as it feels, what's step 2 in Trump's attempt to destabilize everything after he fires Mueller?

Attack North Korea.

Would you trust him to nuke the right Korea if he can't get the British PM correct?

I'd like to think that they've built a special room for Donald Trump, right down to including actors playing the part of generals, majors, lieutenants, technicians and desk jockeys to simulate a war effort. Right there with big screens to display all the trajectories ala War Games.

"Sir, should we nuke North Korea?"

"YES!"

And then have it all play out. Then rush him to the bunker underneath the White House, cuz you know, gotta protect the president.

Oh, that is a beautiful idea. Have him stashed away in an underground bunker living the Truman Show. Fuck it, let's take it up a step and televise it, we can all enjoy watching him living in a bunker thinking the world blew up.

As for the Flynn stuff, I think it's an enormous sign that that Flynn pled guilty to the least serious charge possible. He could be charged with failing to declare he was working as an agent of Turkey (while acting as NSA), they could get him on conspiracy to kidnap charges based on his accepting money to lobby for the extradition of a guy Turkey wanted, collusion with Russia, amongst many other potential charges. It's almost certain he pled guilty to the least serious crime, and prosecutors are holding off on more serious charges because Flynn agreed to cooperate to get a bigger fish.

LOCK. HIM. UP! This is one fucker I feel zero guilt about my schadenfreude.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 10:51 am**

mister d wrote:So assuming this is as big as it feels, what's step 2 in Trump's attempt to destabilize everything after he fires Mueller?

Tweeting anti-Muslim hate videos. Or maybe falsely accusing a media critic of murder. Or falsely inciting hatred of immigrants by accusing an illegal immigrant of violent crimes he was not guilty of.

But probably not. No President would ever do something like that.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 10:59 am**

The Sybian wrote:
EnochRoot wrote:
Baloney wrote:
brian wrote:
mister d wrote:So assuming this is as big as it feels, what's step 2 in Trump's attempt to destabilize everything after he fires Mueller?

Attack North Korea.

Would you trust him to nuke the right Korea if he can't get the British PM correct?

I'd like to think that they've built a special room for Donald Trump, right down to including actors playing the part of generals, majors, lieutenants, technicians and desk jockeys to simulate a war effort. Right there with big screens to display all the trajectories ala War Games.

"Sir, should we nuke North Korea?"

"YES!"

And then have it all play out. Then rush him to the bunker underneath the White House, cuz you know, gotta protect the president.

Oh, that is a beautiful idea. Have him stashed away in an underground bunker living the Truman Show. Fuck it, let's take it up a step and televise it, we can all enjoy watching him living in a bunker thinking the world blew up.

As for the Flynn stuff, I think it's an enormous sign that that Flynn pled guilty to the least serious charge possible. He could be charged with failing to declare he was working as an agent of Turkey (while acting as NSA), they could get him on conspiracy to kidnap charges based on his accepting money to lobby for the extradition of a guy Turkey wanted, collusion with Russia, amongst many other potential charges. It's almost certain he pled guilty to the least serious crime, and prosecutors are holding off on more serious charges because Flynn agreed to cooperate to get a bigger fish.

LOCK. HIM. UP! This is one fucker I feel zero guilt about my schadenfreude.

Wait and see on this. I'm as excited as the next guy that you're right, but it could be all they've got so far.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 11:00 am**

I know you're a lawyer so you know more about this shit than me, but that seems pretty unlikely.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 11:05 am**

I'd say it's likely, but still no guarantee.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 11:06 am**

https://www.vox.com/2017/12/1/16706534/ ... arged-deal

Man... It's been a shitty week... This sure is a nice way to cap things off. Sometimes I forget how much is out there, tying things together and pointing to SERIOUS problems for Trump. This article is a very good overview of how fucked the WH is if Flynn has direct knowledge of collusion.

ETA - It's not the collusion that makes Flynn dangerous, it's the obstruction stuff.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 11:10 am**

govmentchedda wrote:I'd say it's likely, but still no guarantee.

Can you think of a reason why Flynn would plead guilty right off the bat if he didn't have a deal?

And if Flynn has a deal with Mueller, doesn't that mean Flynn is flipping? Is there another reason why Mueller would make a deal that didn't involve cooperation against others?

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 11:16 am**

I think there's a tiny percentage chance that this is all they have on him now. This could be all that they feel they'd ever have on him.

Again, I think that chance is quite small. However, with something this important, I've decided to not count my chickens before they hatch.

Really looking forward to the next Stay Tuned with Preet. I bet he does an emergency pod today.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 11:23 am**

The Sybian wrote:
EnochRoot wrote:
Baloney wrote:
brian wrote:
mister d wrote:So assuming this is as big as it feels, what's step 2 in Trump's attempt to destabilize everything after he fires Mueller?

Attack North Korea.

Would you trust him to nuke the right Korea if he can't get the British PM correct?

I'd like to think that they've built a special room for Donald Trump, right down to including actors playing the part of generals, majors, lieutenants, technicians and desk jockeys to simulate a war effort. Right there with big screens to display all the trajectories ala War Games.

"Sir, should we nuke North Korea?"

"YES!"

And then have it all play out. Then rush him to the bunker underneath the White House, cuz you know, gotta protect the president.

Oh, that is a beautiful idea. Have him stashed away in an underground bunker living the Truman Show. Fuck it, let's take it up a step and televise it, we can all enjoy watching him living in a bunker thinking the world blew up.

[...]

Think about it. They could mock up a version of Google Earth.

"SIR! While Twitter is still inoperable, Google has cooperated and lifted their blurring of North Korea. You can survey the damage on your computer."

"YES!"

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 11:29 am**

https://twitter.com/thedailybeast/statu ... 0997800960

https://i.imgur.com/Yixr3jv.gif

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 11:33 am**

https://twitter.com/joyindc/status/9366 ... arged-deal

I mean, if Trump directed Flynn to contact the Russians during the campaign that's pretty much game over, right?

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 11:33 am**

The best part about Flynn flipping is that he's such a dishonest scumbag, he'll squeal on Trump even if Trump wasn't actually involved.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 11:38 am**

Was coming to post the same ABC report.

The FUCKING AMAZING thing about all of this is that there's no credible way for Trump to discredit Flynn. He's on the record dozens of times talking about what a great guy he is, even after he fired him.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 11:41 am**

Nonlinear FC wrote:Was coming to post the same ABC report.

The FUCKING AMAZING thing about all of this is that there's no credible way for Trump to discredit Flynn. He's on the record dozens of times talking about what a great guy he is, even after he fired him.

Which, in hindsight, can be seen as sucking up to Flynn to hope he didn't turn.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 11:43 am**

A_B wrote:
Nonlinear FC wrote:Was coming to post the same ABC report.

The FUCKING AMAZING thing about all of this is that there's no credible way for Trump to discredit Flynn. He's on the record dozens of times talking about what a great guy he is, even after he fired him.

Which, in hindsight, can be seen as sucking up to Flynn to hope he didn't turn.

No doubt. He probably thought Flynn would be loyal. Not sure Trump even yet realizes that this is the big-time and people aren't going to do 20 years in prison to protect him.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 11:43 am**

This feels like magical Christmasland right now.

And one other thing that absolutely sticks in my craw with Flynn...he's a retired 3 star general. He's a person that I am, by design, having to look up to and follow orders from and trust.

This mother fucker is a near literal modern day Benedict Arnold. Disgusting. Could've had a very nice life on his retired pay and worked anywhere, but he chose this life instead. Fucking nuts.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 11:45 am**

Benedict Arnold was awesome until he wasn't.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 11:46 am**

Johnnie wrote:This feels like magical Christmasland right now.

And one other thing that absolutely sticks in my craw with Flynn...he's a retired 3 star general. He's a person that I am, by design, having to look up to and follow orders from and trust.

This mother fucker is a near literal modern day Benedict Arnold. Disgusting. Could've had a very nice life on his retired pay and worked anywhere, but he chose this life instead. Fucking nuts.

Money is a hell of a drug.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 11:52 am**

Nonlinear FC wrote:Was coming to post the same ABC report.

The FUCKING AMAZING thing about all of this is that there's no credible way for Trump to discredit Flynn. He's on the record dozens of times talking about what a great guy he is, even after he fired him.

Here's where I'll be the wet blanket (again). No one else is reporting what ABC has reported. Others are reporting that Flynn will say that he was directed by Trump transition team officials to contact the Russians - after the election.

That would still be illegal, apparently, but in my mind, not that big of a deal. By December, Trump had been elected. He was going to be sworn in within a few weeks. If he initiated contacts with the Russians on December 20 instead of waiting until January 20, meh. That seems like a technicality rather than conspiring with foreign agents to win an election.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 12:09 pm**

Yeah, it's good to be circumspect about all of this. I'm not giddy, by any stretch.

But like I said before, all this tax cut bullshit and Moore being up in AL is just depressing.

While you're right that we don't really know how deep the Flynn stuff actually is, there's zero percent chance this is anything but trouble for Trump and Co. Might not be the homerun we're looking for, but at a minimum this (combined with previous pleas) is rounding into a shit sandwich for the WH.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 12:10 pm**

I agree with Steve...unless there is an actual tape from pre-election day 2016 of Trump on the phone with Putin saying "help me win this election" I'm afraid this will be a lot of buildup with no payoff. There will be enough doubt and spin to keep Trump afloat.

Which is a shame since this is probably the most corrupt administration since Harding.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 12:14 pm**

Nonlinear FC wrote:While you're right that we don't really know how deep the Flynn stuff actually is, there's zero percent chance this is anything but trouble for Trump and Co. Might not be the homerun we're looking for, but at a minimum this (combined with previous pleas) is rounding into a shit sandwich for the WH.

Oh hell yes. I doubt Mueller would let Flynn plead to a single false-statement count if the best Flynn could give Mueller was contact with the Russians after the election. There will be more.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 12:14 pm**

https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/93 ... ty-plea%2F

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 12:17 pm**

Steve of phpBB wrote:
Nonlinear FC wrote:While you're right that we don't really know how deep the Flynn stuff actually is, there's zero percent chance this is anything but trouble for Trump and Co. Might not be the homerun we're looking for, but at a minimum this (combined with previous pleas) is rounding into a shit sandwich for the WH.

Oh hell yes. I doubt Mueller would let Flynn plead to a single false-statement count if the best Flynn could give Mueller was contact with the Russians after the election. There will be more.

Don't forget Flynn also probably (in fact very likely) flipped on other people in the Trump White House as well, including some that might have even more incriminating evidence against Trump. So this isn't the end of the marathon, it's just the beginning.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 12:23 pm**

Yeah, and don't forget Ivana and Jared pushed hard for Flynn to be in the NSA chair. And it sure seems like Junior was running around quite a bit on the Russian angle.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 12:27 pm**

A_B wrote:Benedict Arnold was awesome until he wasn't.

Treasons Greetings!

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 12:27 pm**

brian wrote:
Johnnie wrote:This feels like magical Christmasland right now.

And one other thing that absolutely sticks in my craw with Flynn...he's a retired 3 star general. He's a person that I am, by design, having to look up to and follow orders from and trust.

This mother fucker is a near literal modern day Benedict Arnold. Disgusting. Could've had a very nice life on his retired pay and worked anywhere, but he chose this life instead. Fucking nuts.

Money is a hell of a drug.

I can't find it but Josh Marshall made a pretty convincing case that Flynn is in some kind of deep shit that required him to come up with a ton of $ very quickly. If he wasn't, he could easily coast on military benefits and get very lucrative consulting gigs as many ex-government security experts do, and probably make just as much as all his shady shit, but of course over a longer stretch of time. He needed money so bad that he was literally plotting felonies on US soil (the kidnapping thing).

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 12:51 pm**

Tax bill passing in case anyone was feeling any sort of good.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 1:06 pm**

https://twitter.com/nxthompson/status/9 ... 8960986112

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 1:19 pm**

I don't care if it is 20 years from now with Trump long dead, I don't feel like this whole thing is going to be really be over until the pee tape is released.

Posted: **Fri Dec 01, 2017 2:17 pm**

Senator Richard Blumenthal sent Pence a letter regarding Flynn. It's spicy.

PDF alert...

https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/imo/m ... letter.pdf

The Swamp

The Indictment Thread (Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part II)

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