Clown Car II: Revenge of the Clowns

[hobbsyoyo]

First charges in the Russian investigation, and it is Paul Manafort and chum.
So, is this bringing in the little people in the hope they will squeal on the big people? Getting them on tax avoidance seems pretty much the anti-mob playbook.

To me it's a bad sign. If they don't have enough evidence to bring some sort of collusion charges (I'm not actually sure what they would charge someone who did this with) then I don't think we have a hope of Trump going down over this. Trump will just go back on the campaign trail and proclaim "I think Manafort will be just fine" like he did with Arpaio and Manafort and Gates will rightly take that as their queue to shut up in exchange for a presidential pardon.

 

[Samson]

My HOPE is that this is a case of getting them in and hoping they will squeal. Would you trust Trump to pardon you, if you are facing many years inside?

It sounds like George Papadopoulos has taken the plea bargain:

George Papadopolous has pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI, the federal special counsel just announced.

Papadopolous, who was a foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign team, pleaded guilty in a case that has just been unsealed now.

[EDIT] Carissa Hessick, a law professor at the University of North Carolina, notes that since Manafort will have a mountain of legal fees to pay, the seizure of his properties will heap pressure on him to co-operate with government investigations.

[EDIT2] Fixed surname in my bit (thanks K)

 

[Kyriakos]

"George" is likely the most common name here (along with Dimitris), and "Papadopoulos" is massively the most common surname, btw

Nice that the BBC, "the largest news organization in the world" doesn't bother to check if it misspells a surname. 'Papadopolous' (sic)

 

[Lexicus]

Hottest of takes on today's indictments, spotted in the Facebook comments on an Intercept article

 

[Synobun]

That isn't even a coherent claim.

 

[Sommerswerd]

"George" is likely the most common name here (along with Dimitris), and "Papadopoulos" is massively the most common surname, btw

Nice that the BBC, "the largest news organization in the world" doesn't bother to check if it misspells a surname. 'Papadopolous' (sic)

Greek names are freaking Epic, I don't care who you are....

 

[cardgame]

Count 1. Conspiracy against the United States.
Count 2. Conspiracy to launder money.
Counts 3. through 6. Failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts for calendar years 2011-2014.
Counts 7. through 9. Failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts for calendar years 2011-2013.
Count 10. Unregistered agent of a foreign principal.
Count 11. False and misleading FARA statements.
Count 12. False statements.

Let this sentence sink in. The Republican Party presidential campaign manager has been arrested for conspiracy against the United States.

 

[Lexicus]

Count 1. Conspiracy against the United States.
Count 2. Conspiracy to launder money.
Counts 3. through 6. Failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts for calendar years 2011-2014.
Counts 7. through 9. Failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts for calendar years 2011-2013.
Count 10. Unregistered agent of a foreign principal.
Count 11. False and misleading FARA statements.
Count 12. False statements.

Let this sentence sink in. The Republican Party presidential campaign manager has been arrested for conspiracy against the United States.

It has nthing to do with are president,,,, who Libs want to take down!

 

[Cutlass]

First charges in the Russian investigation, and it is Paul Manafort and chum.



So, is this bringing in the little people in the hope they will squeal on the big people? Getting them on tax avoidance seems pretty much the anti-mob playbook.

Manafort is the low hanging fruit. Gotta start somewhere.

 

[Cutlass]

"[During the campaign] at least 16 women accused the president of sexually harassing them... Last week...the president called these accusations 'fake news.' Is the official White House position that all these women are lying?"
-- CBS News reporter Jacqueline Alemany

"Yeah, we've been clear on that from the beginning..."
-- WH press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders

 

[Sommerswerd]

Papadopoulos has apparently been cooperating for some time now, prior to the charges being announced... I'd assume (hope) helping the FBI incriminate others in the administration.

 

[metalhead]

Many people are saying he was wearing a wire.

In a normal administration, it's very bad to have everyone walking on eggshells not knowing who they can trust. In a paranoid cult of incompetence, it's almost unimaginable that people can even cope with this. How many other "proactive cooperants" are there?

Mueller has to be closing in. The signal is clear - help us now, or find yourself the recipient of a double-digit claim indictment and the possibility of spending the rest of your life in prison. Paging Michael Flynn!!

 

[Gori the Grey]

Papadopoulos has apparently been cooperating for some time now, prior to the charges being announced... I'd assume (hope) helping the FBI incriminate others in the administration.

Many people are saying he was wearing a wire.

How many other "proactive cooperants" are there?

Paging Michael Flynn!!

Yeah, I learned that this phrase "proactive cooperation" is a term of art for someone who does more than just give you information from the past, but who helps you gather information going forward.

And remember, Flynn's already on record saying he "has a story to tell."

 

[Kyriakos]

Many people are saying he was wearing a wire.

In a normal administration, it's very bad to have everyone walking on eggshells not knowing who they can trust. In a paranoid cult of incompetence, it's almost unimaginable that people can even cope with this. How many other "proactive cooperants" are there?

Mueller has to be closing in. The signal is clear - help us now, or find yourself the recipient of a double-digit claim indictment and the possibility of spending the rest of your life in prison. Paging Michael Flynn!!

Just imagine how you would react to some republican using the exact same sentences, just with altered names cause they'd be raving about some supposed nearly reached 'finish him!' political hit on a dem president.
Polarization in the US won't lead to better things- that much should be beyond just highly obvious.

 

[Lexicus]

Just imagine how you would react to some republican using the exact same sentences, just with altered names cause they'd be raving about some supposed nearly reached 'finish him!' political hit on a dem president.
Polarization in the US won't lead to better things- that much should be beyond just highly obvious.

You act like Republicans weren't doing this for eight years straight under Obama.

 

[Kyriakos]

You act like Republicans weren't doing this for eight years straight under Obama.

OF COURSE they were.
Yet they are supposed to be the (even more) loony party.

 

[Lexicus]

OF COURSE they were.
Yet they are supposed to be the (even more) loony party.

I dunno, maybe there is some disconnect here? In my view, it wasn't the ranting against Obama that made them loony, it was the fact that the ranting was totally divorced from factual reality. Do you believe that metalhead's comments were divorced from factual reality as well? Or are you just ignoring factual reality in order to make a "both sides"-type point?

 

[Kyriakos]

I just fear that this kind of spiral of ever-increasing polarization can only reach entropy if major divisions take place, and i doubt those will benefit the US.

Let alone that it may just happen that some world war may prove useful to prevent that.

 

[metalhead]

The equivocation is absurd. I would have zero problem with an obviously treasonous Democratic president being investigated. I also would not have a problem with criminal elements in that administration being indicted.

It's a weird world we live in, where someone can say, "Yeah, but imagine if they were indicting Democratic criminals," as if that's a valid gotcha.

 

[Lexicus]

I just fear that this kind of spiral of ever-increasing polarization can only reach entropy if major divisions take place, and i doubt those will benefit the US.

So what do you recommend? That Mueller cancel his investigation, or that we stop talking about it on the internet?