3376

Of course he fucking did. Sigh.

I’m sorry, guys. For a state the size of Utah, we sure punch above our weight in terms of douchebaggery.

3377

You also have people like Evan McMullin.

That’s better than most states manage.

3378

That’s Evan “Mormon Dreamboat” McMullin to you, gentile.

3379

I’m thankful that, as an Illinoisan, most of our douchebaggery is at the state and governor level.

But we do that oh so well.

3380

I’m so very annoyed that the outstate rednecks and exurban “I got mine, everyone else can fucking burn” assholes in Minnesota have gerrymandered themselves a state legislature. I don’t even like Governor Dayton that much, but he’s the last damn bulwark between us and madness so yup.

3381

Hell, we don’t even have that in Illinois, I’m talking straight up crooked as hell corrupt. The primary retirement path for former governors is federal prison.

Blago was the biggest sleazy douche of all, but Ryan got his too. Though we have a few special federal reps, like Jesse Jackson Jr, Aaron Schock, Dennis Hastert are among our more famous luminaries. And don’t forget Reagan was born in Illinois.

Ok so currently our douchebaggery is relegated to the state level.

3382

Heh, this LtCol I used to support had to have the flag for his retirement ceremony from Boehner’s office (this was 5-6 years ago). I asked him if it came with a free check from the tobacco industry. He wasn’t pleased.

3383

The special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election is interviewing senior intelligence officials as part of a widening probe that now includes an examination of whether President Trump attempted to obstruct justice, officials said.
[…]
Five people briefed on the requests, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said Daniel Coats, the current director of national intelligence, Mike Rogers, head of the National Security Agency, and Rogers’s recently departed deputy, Richard Ledgett, agreed to be interviewed by Mueller’s investigators as early as this week. The investigation has been cloaked in secrecy, and it is unclear how many others have been questioned by the FBI.
[…]
The officials said Coats, Rogers and Ledgett would appear voluntarily, though it remains unclear whether they will describe in full their conversations with Trump and other top officials or will be directed by the White House to invoke executive privilege. It is doubtful the White House could ultimately use executive privilege to try to block them from speaking to Mueller’s investigators. Experts point out that the Supreme Court ruled during the Watergate scandal that officials cannot use privilege to withhold evidence in criminal prosecutions.

3384

StephenColbertEatingPopcorn.gif

3385

“Zero to Obstruction in Five Months” as Josh Marshall put it.

In some ways Trumpstruction is a lot like Watergate: a bunch of various misdeeds by underlings culminating with obstruction of justice by the President becoming the most salient charge. But, oh the difference in the time scale!

With Watergate it took two years to slowly build a case and establish reasons for an obstruction charge. With Trump he’s basically already Tweeted “I’m as guilty as hell” for the world to see; if the 1974 Congress were sitting now, Articles of Impeachment would already have been drafted.

But instead the modern GOP is in charge, so it will take two years and an election - at least - for anything with a chance of directly affecting Trump to start brewing.

3386

Recall that Nixon was actually really popular when the Watergate stuff started. His approval rating was around 62% in 1973 when stuff started to hit the fan.

Trump is already below 40%. Congress is going to have a hard time continuing to defend a guy who the public hates.

3387

Polls are fake news! The election proved that!

3388

Also brown people don’t count and half the women, after you remove all those, Trump is all wins.

3389

Marshall:

One key point I draw from this is that it was clear to people at the DOJ and FBI almost from the beginning that this was a potential case of obstruction of justice. That makes me consider who then was in place to make such a decision. Once James Comey was fired, the acting Director of the FBI was Andrew McCabe, who remains in that role. If my surmise about the chronology is correct, Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein remained in charge of the Russia probe. Thus I think he would have been acting in Attorney General Sessions’ stead to make the decision to authorize such a probe.

This last point isn’t crystal clear to me since this would not necessarily have been considered part of the Russia investigation. In any case, you do not begin such an investigation of a sitting President except at the very highest level. That decision apparently came quickly. We can note here that soon after Comey’s firing Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein made statements suggesting that he may have been a witness to something that could be construed as a crime. If my memory serves, McCabe did as well. They are the two logical people to have signed off on an investigation at that point.

What were they going on?

3390

From the WaPo White House Bureau Chief on potential RNC/Trump “talking points” following today’s WaPo scoop:

3391

https://www.wsj.com/articles/mueller-probe-examining-whether-donald-trump-obstructed-justice-1497490897

The special counsel also plans to interview Rick Ledgett, who recently retired as the deputy director of the NSA, the person added.

While Mr. Ledgett was still in office, he wrote a memo documenting a phone call that Mr. Rogers had with Mr. Trump, according to people familiar with the matter. During the call, the president questioned the veracity of the intelligence community’s judgment that Russia had interfered with the election and tried to persuade Mr. Rogers to say there was no evidence of collusion between his campaign and Russian officials, they said.

This may be why Coats and Rogers refused to testify on anything Trump said to them.

3392

NY Times: Mueller Seeks to Talk to Intelligence Officials, Hinting at Inquiry of Trump

Mr. Mueller wants to question Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence; Adm. Michael S. Rogers, the head of the National Security Agency; and Richard Ledgett, the former N.S.A. deputy director.

None of the men were involved with Mr. Trump’s campaign. But recent news reports have raised questions about whether Mr. Trump requested their help in trying to get James B. Comey, then the F.B.I. director, to end an investigation into the president’s former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn. Last week, Mr. Coats and Admiral Rogers declined to answer questions before Congress about the matter.

Mr. Mueller’s office has also asked the N.S.A. for any documents or notes related to the agency’s interactions with the White House as part of the Russia investigation, according to an intelligence official.
[…]
A former senior official said Mr. Mueller’s investigation was looking at money laundering by Trump associates. The suspicion is that any cooperation with Russian officials would most likely have been in exchange for some kind of financial payoff, and that there would have been an effort to hide the payments, probably by routing them through offshore banking centers.

3393

Those RNC talking points make my head hurt.

3395

Same - it reads like an essay outline from a 2nd grader who didn’t do their homework.

3396

I like that it goes right back to Clinton. She really is their boogeyman.