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In a joint statement, panel Chairman Chuck Grassley and ranking member Dianne Feinstein said, “(W)e will not issue subpoenas for them tonight requiring their presence at Wednesday’s hearing but reserve the right to do so in the future.”
The committee has issued a subpoena for Glenn Simpson, the co-founder of Fusion GPS, the political firm that compiled a dossier at the center of the federal Russia probe.

Attorneys for Simpson say he will not accept the committee’s invitation to testify Wednesday.

Grassley and Feinstein said in their statement: “Glenn Simpson, through his attorney, has declined to voluntarily attend Wednesday’s Judiciary Committee hearing regarding compliance with the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Therefore, a subpoena has been issued to compel his attendance. Simpson’s attorney has asserted that his client will invoke his Fifth Amendment rights in response to the subpoena.”

The subpoena was served by email Friday afternoon.

Also on Friday, the House intelligence committee announced it will interview Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner on Tuesday as part of its probe into Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election. Kushner is being interviewed by the Senate Intelligence Committee on Monday.

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SPEN, Colo. — Two former senior Obama administration intelligence officials on Friday expressed anger at President Trump’s statements disparaging the intelligence community and disbelief at his embrace of Russia.

In remarkably strong terms and in their first extensive remarks on the topic since leaving office on Jan. 20, former CIA director John Brennan and former director of national intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. let loose on Trump, who before taking office had compared his intelligence community to Nazi Germany.

“That was a terrible, insulting affront” to the rank and file — “completely inappropriate, over-the-top,” Clapper said at the Aspen Security Forum. He said he could not let that pass and had called Trump to register his displeasure.

This is my favorite part of the story.

At the end of their panel discussion, Clapper and Brennan received a standing ovation.

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As described in the article, it’s a contingent liability (for Kushner). It only becomes an obligation in certain circumstances (presumably including failure to pay by the actual obligor, which will likely be a special purpose vehicle which owns the property).

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Yeah, listening to the repeats just reminds me that Tom has been dead for years, which puts a damper on the whole thing.

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  1. A few thoughts on Senate Judiciary’s agreement to interview Paul Manafort & Don Trump Jr. next week instead of public hearing testimony
  2. CNN reports on the deal here 2/ [Trump Jr. and Manafort reach deal with Senate panel to avoid public hearing]
  3. There is lots of appetite for Manafort & Trump Jr public testimony but private interviews are better from an investigative standpoint
  4. It is unclear from reporting but these may be transcribed interviews. They were our bread & butter investigative tools in the House.
  5. The Committee extracted interviews under subpoena threat; gets documents, interviews, avoids Fifth assertions & keeps subpoena leverage
  6. Manafort & Don Jr nonpublic interviews are still regulated by false statements & congressional obstruction statutes, ie, a crime to lie
  7. In my experience on the Hill, one thing Chuck Grassley will not tolerate is challenge to his oversight prerogatives.
  8. Also, it is telling that Sen. Feinstein signed on to the agreement. Dems on staff see this agreement as a benefit rather than snow job.
  9. Senate Judiciary can/will still have a public hearing later on, but it will be informed by the info due to Manafort/Trump Jr. agreement
  10. This creates perjury trap exposure for Trump Jr. & Manafort vis-a-vis the Mueller, Senate & House Intel investigations & future hearings
  11. A (transcribed) interview is a MUCH better format for obtaining information than a hearing. No Member grandstanding, no 5-min rounds
  12. Comey & Yates hearings were bombshell but Congressional hearings tend to be better at presenting information than ferreting it out.
  13. In all, Senate Judiciary has a good deal on PM & DJTJr: trade time for info & voluntariness w/o sacrificing legal power or next moves
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LawNewz: What The Heck? Man Who Runs Firm Behind Trump-Russia Dossier to Plead the Fifth

Here’s a story that has gone completely under the radar, and raises some serious questions that the mainstream media largely seems to have ignored. Glenn Simpson, the co-founder of Fusion GPS, whose firm commissioned the salacious and mostly unsubstantiated Russia Trump dossier, plans to plead the Fifth after being subpoenaed by U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary.

According to documents obtained by LawNewz, attorneys for Fusion GPS’ Simpson sent a letter to Chairman Chuck Grassley expressing concern over the direction that the hearing was taking. The letter stated that Simpson would not voluntarily show up at the hearing due to a pre-planned vacation, and if subpoenaed he would exercise his First and Fifth Amendment rights not to testify before the committee examining the influence of foreign lobbying in the 2016 election.

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This is by Jennifer Rubin

In light of news reports that President Trump’s team is scouring the record for conflicts of interest on special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s team (the essence of chutzpah) and contemplating pardons (of aides and/or himself), it is worth considering how this may all play out.

We offer several scenarios:

  1. Trump orders Attorney General Jeff Sessions to fire Mueller. Sessions quits, as does Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein and Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand. Eventually someone agrees to fire Mueller. Republicans either will not pursue impeachment or are obliged to begin impeachment hearings but refuse to vote out articles of impeachment. In 2018, Democrats sweep to victory in the House and gain a seat or two in the Senate. Trump cannot be removed (two-thirds of the Senate is required for removal), but his presidency is in tatters. Some aides or ex-aides face criminal prosecution. LESSON: Republicans’ failure to stand up to Trump early dooms his presidency and crashes the GOP.

  2. Trump orders Attorney General Jeff Sessions to fire Mueller. Sessions quits, as does Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein and Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand. Eventually someone agrees to fire Mueller. Republicans, together with Democrats, pass by a veto-proof majority an independent prosecutor statute. Before impeachment proceedings can finish, Democrats sweep to victory in 2018 in the House and gain a seat or two in the Senate. Trump cannot be removed, but his presidency is in tatters. Some aides or ex-aides face criminal prosecution. LESSON: Fire Mueller, and Congress will hire him back.

  3. Republicans join Democrats in warning Trump not to fire Mueller. Mueller remains and keeps digging. Mueller subpoenas damaging documents; Trump refuses to comply. A court orders him to comply. He doesn’t. We have a full-blown constitutional crisis. LESSON: Congress cannot delegate all responsibility to Mueller. It must conduct a parallel investigation and, if need be, commence impeachment proceedings.

  4. Republicans join Democrats in warning Trump not to fire Mueller. Mueller remains and keeps digging. Mueller subpoenas damaging documents; Trump refuses to comply. A court orders him to comply. He declares this a witch hunt, an attack on his family (or whatever). Then he resigns, claiming he has already made America great. He tells the country that Vice President Pence will carry on in his place. LESSON: Congress must protect Mueller and preserve the possibility that Trump may be forced to resign.

  5. Republicans join Democrats in warning Trump not to fire Mueller. Mueller subpoenas damaging documents. Trump complies. The evidence of collusion and/or obstruction is overwhelming. Mueller recommends prosecution or impeachment. The GOP turns on Trump, who is impeached and removed (with the GOP by that time possibly in the minority in one or both houses). LESSON: Congress must protect Mueller and pay the price for failure to oppose Trump’s nomination and election.

Is there a sixth scenario in which Mueller exonerates Trump? That’s the least likely outcome after Trump has fired former FBI director James B. Comey and threatened the special counsel. Why would he do those things unless there was something really, really bad to find? And if there is something bad, Mueller will find it. You can understand then why Trump sounds frantic. In no scenario does Trump’s presidency recover.

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Scenario 6: Trump fires Mueller, GOP Congress is “very concerned”. 2018 sees the GOP keep their majority, because Americans are stupid and/or not allowed to vote.

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Sadly, this is just as realistic as the other scenarios. I can see the Rs losing seats but still holding onto the House. It’s unlikely they lose the Senate since a lopsided number of Democrats are up for re-election. And I expect to see more measures enacted to suppress voting.

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I’ve actually suspected that he makes threats at the drop of a hat regardless of how bad something actually is. If nothing is there and therefore nothing comes of it, his stature (in his own mind) increases because he thinks people see him getting off scott free as a sign of power and influence.

That said, I think there’s likely something bad to be found (well, more than already has come to light)

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Scenario 7: Someone gets to Mueller (or has done already a long time ago), Mueller goes through the motions, indicts Manafort and Flynn, and that’s that. Trump trumpets his triumph and plays golf until finally someone shoots him, but the GOP stays in power through Pence.

All the previous scenarios assume Mueller is a sincere and objective agent of justice. Not sure why this should be an article of faith.

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There’s really no reason to think he’s not.

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Then you haven’t been paying a bit of attention. It isn’t an article of faith.

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There’s really no reason to think he’s not.

Then you haven’t been paying a bit of attention. It isn’t an article of faith.

Give me some help here, is he or isn’t he?

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So far he’s given every indication of being sincere and objective. I think the burden of proof might need to come from someone trying to saying otherwise.

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The legal team of prosecutors and investigators he’s assembled is about as elite as it comes in that field. These are not people who are setting careers aside for a year or more and potentially risking their career reputations to engage in a snipe hunt.

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The way I figure it. Mueller is Lawful Good (maybe he has slipped on occasion and every once in a while and does something neutral.) Trump is Chaotic Evil (or at the very least selfish).

I have to believe that LGs just love bringing to CE to justice! But they probably will stick to the law, and not cut many corners.