The Heart Of Putin-Gate-- Russian Financial Leverage Over Trump-- Was Shut Down By Rod Rosenstein And Never Investigated

Peter Strzok, who led the FBI’s Russia investigation, was a long-time Trump target and, because he was an FBI agent, was unable to respond to Trump or the Trump goons who attacked him mercilessly. The day after tomorrow his book, Compromised: Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump will be released... and he has a lot of responses to Señor Trumpanzee and his goon squad.

Ironically, Strzok didn't look at Trump's campaign as criminal as much as compromised. His initial goal was to find out who in the Trump campaign was working with the Russians to undermine the Clinton campaign. As the investigation got underway, top candidates were various combinations of Paul Manafort, Carter Page George Papadopoulos and Michael Flynn. And if that set of names doesn't spell criminal, you shouldn't be in law enforcement.

Prohibited Acts by Nancy Ohanian

In the book, Strzok wrote that he "hadn’t wanted to investigate the president of the United States" but after Trump was elected the evidence of Trump's collusion with Russia was so massive that it was difficult to avoid not investigating him. With the approval of Andrew McCabe, the FBI's deputy director, Strzok opened a counterintelligence case against Trump, sealing his own fate (and that of McCabe's and much of the FBI leadership's).

Strzok felt then-- and still feels now-- that deep, hidden Russian financial leverage over Trump-- which Rod Rosenstein never allowed Mueller's team to wade into-- was the key to the whole case. Eventually Mueller took over the investigation and Strzok and his team came under his aegis.

AP's Eric Tucker reported that "Trump’s attacks have continued even as two inspector general reports found no evidence Strzok’s work in the investigations were tainted by political bias and multiple probes have affirmed the Russia probe’s validity... 'I deeply regret casually commenting about the things I observed in the headlines and behind the scenes, and I regret how effectively my words were weaponized to harm the Bureau and buttress absurd conspiracy theories about our vital work,' Strzok writes."

Strzok documents pivotal moments during the investigation, recounting for instance how then-national security adviser Michael Flynn “baldly lied” to him and another agent about his Russian contacts even though Flynn had not shown customary signs of deceit agents are trained to look for.

Though Trump supporters contend the interview was designed to get Flynn to lie, Strzok says the FBI actually gave him multiple prompts to refresh his memory. While Attorney General William Barr has said the interview was done without a legitimate purpose, Strzok says it was necessary to better understand the Trump orbit’s ties to Russia and Flynn’s own “hidden negotiation with a foreign power that had just attacked our elections.”

Flynn later pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. Barr’s request to dismiss the case is pending.

Like by Nancy Ohanian

Writing for Politico yesterday, Natasha Bertrand, who has read an advance copy of Strzok's book, reported that "After nearly two years, Mueller released his final report in April 2019. It outlined the Trump’s campaign’s extensive contacts with Kremlin-linked actors before, during, and after the election, and led to dozens of indictments and multiple guilty pleas and convictions, including of Manafort. But the report showed no signs of a holistic examination of Trump’s decades in the business world, including his company’s myriad real estate transactions with several Russians suspected of ties to organized crime and the many opaque deals, masked through shell companies, that helped Trump’s companies stay afloat throughout the years. 'I personally don't see how they could have done [the counterintelligence investigation] because I don't know how you do that without getting tax records, financial records, and doing things that would become public,' Strzok said of Mueller’s team. 'Had they done it, I would have expected to see litigation and screaming from Trump. And the absence of that makes me think it didn’t occur.'"

I sincerely doubt that a Biden Justice Department will consider reopening the case for more than 10 seconds-- even though American democracy absolutely requires it.

Mueller's Live Statement Yesterday Was Aimed At Congress, Especially House Democrats And Their Cowardly Leaders

In a move that perfectly mimics Orwell's Ministry of Truth, the Trumpist Regime has begun calling toxic hydrocarbon pollutants "molecules of freedom." So why should it surprise any one that Señor Trumpanzee himself, moments after watching Mueller give that televised statement above, tweeted/gaslighted something that could have come from an alternative universe?

The case is anything but closed and the Trumpist Regime then almost immediately issued an official press statement from Sister Sarah to further muddy the waters and confuse the already-- and always easily-- confused Trump supporters and media partners:

You watched, I watched, we all watched it. A few moments after Mueller addressed the nation, Briana Urbina, the progressive woman running for the Maryland congressional seat occupied with anti-impeachment coward Steny Hoyer told me that "This congress under Steny Hoyer's 'leadership' is failing to protect the American people and carrying water for Trump every day that we do not initiate impeachment hearings. How do we expect to distinguish ourselves from the Republicans if we do not take bold action to promote the rule of law and preserve our democracy? I am not afraid of the political consequences that impeachment may bring and those who care to seek justice should not let politics from carrying out their constitutional duties as elected members of Congress." Michigan Republican Justin Amash tweeted 7 words to his colleagues on Capitol Hill: "The ball is in our court, Congress." I wonder if the failed Democratic Speaker follows him on Twitter. I doubt it.

Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)-- who many members are hoping runs for Speaker in 2021-- put out a strong and unambiguous statement:

Today, Special Counsel Robert Mueller powerfully stated a key finding of his two-year investigation: “If we had confidence that the President did not commit a crime, we would have said so.” He once again reiterated that he was unable to exonerate the president of committing any crimes. He made it clear that he abided by Department of Justice guidelines that state a sitting President cannot be charged with a crime through an investigation alone, but clearly laid out the evidence for multiple potential obstruction of justice acts by the President. He also made it crystal clear that the responsibility of holding a President to account for any crimes committed must-- according to the Constitution-- fall to Congress.

The Special Counsel’s office did their job; now it’s time for Congress to do our job. We will continue the essential work of oversight with hearings and enforcing subpoenas to get testimony from key witnesses. No one is above the law, and Congress must respond with full force to the President's abuses of power, repeated cover-ups and ongoing obstruction of justice.

In addition, Special Counsel Mueller drew special attention to the critical need to address the report’s conclusions around “multiple, systematic efforts by Russian intelligence to interfere in our election.” We will continue to demand that Congress act in a bipartisan manner to force the President and Republicans in the Senate to immediately attend to this matter. Republicans must decide whether they intend to condone the President’s ongoing refusal to hold Russia to account or protect the integrity of our election process.

Writing for CNN.com, Chris Cillizza took it on himself to translate Mueller's legalese for non-lawyers. He wrote that Mueller "emphasized two things of real importance-- both of which, with a bit of reading between the lines, provided a glimpse into what Mueller really thinks regarding Trump and obstruction. Here they are:

• "If we had had confidence that the President had clearly not committed a crime, we would have said so."
• "Charging the President with a crime was, therefore, not an option we could consider."

[I]t's impossible to dismiss the fact that Mueller called out specifically the report's finding that the President had not been exonerated on obstruction. In fact, Mueller reiterated the fact that, had his office been able to exonerate Trump, they would have done that. And they did not.

...Mueller said flatly Wednesday that the reason that the special counsel's office did not consider charging Trump with obstruction was because it was not an option he was allowed to consider under Justice Department precedent.

...What Mueller was saying Wednesday is actually better understood by what he was not saying-- and what he was not saying was that the President of the United States was an innocent victim in all of this... Mueller didn't say there was no obstruction by the President. Mueller didn't say he wouldn't have charged Trump even without the guiding OLC ruling. And in so doing, he said a whole hell of a lot.

The NY Times headline was more succinct: Mueller, in First Comments on Russia Inquiry, Declines to Clear Trump.

David Frum, like Amash, a Republican who hasn't been amused by Trump's extra-constitutional approach to his duties, reiterated yesterday that the words of the Mueller report themselves are "damning." And what did Mueller say today if not to read the damn report?

“The Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion,” Mueller wrote. This help “favored presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and disparaged presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.”

The Trump campaign “expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts,” and it “welcomed” this help.

There is insufficient evidence to accuse the Trump campaign of criminal conspiracy with its Russian benefactors. However, “the social media campaign and the GRU hacking operations coincided with a series of contacts between Trump Campaign officials and individuals with ties to the Russian government.”

These contacts were covered up by a series of lies, both to the special counsel and to Congress. Lying by the Trump campaign successfully obscured much of what happened in 2016. The special counsel in some cases “was not able to corroborate witness statements through comparison to contemporaneous communications or fully question witnesses about statements that appeared inconsistent with other known facts.” In particular, the investigation never did determine what happened to proprietary Trump-campaign polling data shared with the Russians.

Within hours of the appointment of a special counsel to investigate 2016 events, Trump began defaming him. Trump had already fired the FBI director who investigated these events. His first order to fire the special counsel appointed in the director’s place was issued on June 17, 2017, a month after Mueller’s appointment. That order would be followed by many more. Trump directed his staff to lie about these orders.

Over and above his efforts to fire the special counsel, “the President engaged in a second phase of conduct, involving public attacks on the investigation, non-public efforts to control it, and efforts in both public and private to encourage witnesses not to cooperate with the investigation.”

The subversion of the investigation was brazen. “Many of the President’s acts directed at witnesses, including discouragement of cooperation with the government and suggestions of possible future pardons, occurred in public view.”

Obstruction of justice, though, need not be clandestine to count as a crime. What matters is intent—and that must be judged by Congress, not a special counsel subordinate to the Department of Justice and bound by its rule that a president cannot be indicted.

The full report is rich with details. But that’s the essence. A foreign power interfered in the U.S. election to help the Trump campaign. The Trump campaign welcomed the help and repeatedly lied about it. The lying successfully obscured some questions the investigation sought to answer; in the end, it found insufficient evidence to charge a broader conspiracy. President Trump, in public and in private, worked to stop the investigation.

Those are the facts. What are the remedies? Mueller underscored at his press statement: He did not exonerate the president. Under the Department of Justice rules he was subject to, he lacked the power to act.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration refuses to take steps to secure the next presidential election against the interference that swayed the last. The question of why Russia so strongly wished to help Trump remains as mysterious as ever. In particular, if you wish to understand the breadth and depth of Trump’s Russian business connections before he declared for president in 2015, Mueller’s report will not help you.

Mueller says he can do no more. The rest, Congress, is up to you.

Mike Siegel is the progressive Democrat in TX-10 running for the seat held by Trump enabler Michael McCaul. Siegel didn't beat around the bush after carefully listening to Mueller yesterday. He told us that "Time is of the essence. Congress must fulfill its constitutional duty as a check and balance. Only by honoring the work of the Special Counsel, and beginning an impeachment inquiry, can we we re-assert the rule of law and assure the American people that we have a functioning democracy."

Eva Putzova's opponent is a Blue Dog Democrat who opposes impeachment, "ex"-Republican Tom O'Halleran. Eva's vision is filled with clarity. "There are numerous instances in Mueller’s report," she told me, "that provides evidence that Trump and his cronies tried to obstruct Mueller’s investigation into the Russian military’s interference in the 2016 election. In my view that constitutes 'High Crimes and Misdemeanors' under our constitution and that mandates impeachment. It is time for the House of Representatives to begin with the proceedings."

Even Status Quo Joe, who I would expect to pardon Trump and his spawn if-- God forbid-- he ever gets into the White House, issued an almost, nearly, close to semi-quasi-pro-ish impeachment statement yesterday.

It's Mueller Time... More Or Less

It had to happen sooner or later but a few hours ago Bob Mueller delivered his Putin-Gate report to Trump's handpicked Attorney General, William Barr, "bringing to a close," according to the NY Times, an investigation that "has consumed the nation and cast a shadow over" the fake illegitimate "president" (AKA- Individual One) for nearly two years. "Barr will decide how much of the report to share with Congress and, by extension, the American public. The House voted unanimously in March on a nonbinding resolution to make public the report’s findings, an indication of the deep support within both parties to air whatever evidence prosecutors uncovered. In a letter to the leadership of the House and Senate Judiciary committees, Mr. Barr wrote, 'I may be in a position to advise you of the special counsel’s principal conclusions as soon as this weekend.' ... Even though Mr. Mueller’s report is complete, some aspects of his inquiry remain active and may be overseen by the same prosecutors once they are reassigned to their old jobs within the Justice Department. For instance, recently filed court documents suggest that investigators are still examining why the former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort turned over campaign polling data in 2016 to a Russian associate whom prosecutors said was tied to Russian intelligence." But what we do know is that there will no no more indictments from Mueller and that the investigation ends without Trump sitting down to answer Mueller's questions.

Earlier today, the Daily Beast published a provocative column by Republican Party standup comedian Rick Wilson, Profiles in Chickenshit From the Grand Old Party as Trump Spits on John McCain’s American Greatness. It should help you remember that if we ever get the Mueller report, it should be read as an indictment not just of Trump and his grifter family and his inner circle, but of the whole GOP as well. "Damn near every elected member of the Republican Party failed another easy test this week as Donald Trump lost his grip on reality and spent days attacking the late Sen. John McCain," write Wilson. "They tripped over their own dicks in the face of Trump’s egregious bullying, racing for political cover and sacrificing their few remaining shreds of dignity because they fear this mad president more than they love their own honor. Starting this weekend, Trump has tweeted six days’ worth of escalating insults on Twitter and in person at a rival who died seven months ago. Like I said, it’s an easy test: As elected leaders, as Republicans, as conservatives, as Americans, this was a moment to honor McCain and to call out the president by name for failing to do so. Party loyalty isn’t a suicide pact… or is it?"

Only Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Johnny Isakson (R-GA), neither of whom will ever have to face the voters while Trump is in the White House, passed the low bar test.

Let me help the rest of our supposed leaders. Here’s what you say to Donald Trump as he continues to Ahab McCain’s legacy:

John McCain was an American hero with more courage and decency than you will ever have. You are wrong and your behavior is despicable, Mr. President. For the good of the country, please shut the fuck up.

Too much? Try:

John McCain is a role model and example for every American. His heroism was a service to our country or a light in a dark time and I am honored to follow his example of public service and commitment to the nation before politics, and people before party. You would be best served by shutting the fuck up.

Wilson, apparently doesn't like the 78% of Republican Fox viewers who think Trump is a better president that Abe Lincoln, George Washington and FDR. He advised the GOP senators that "keeping your mouth shut may keep Trump’s vicious, grunting, prole army on your side for now, but you live on in history as cowards so divorced from the American ideal your accomplishments will be lost and your names remembered only as a cautionary tale to others aspiring to lead, and serve."

When David Drucker wrote his Republicans resigned to Trump losing 2020 popular vote about the glories of the electoral college this morning, no one knew that Mueller was poised to release the report today. He wrote that "senior Republicans are resigned to President Trump losing the popular vote in 2020, conceding the limits of the flamboyant incumbent’s political appeal and revealing just how central the Electoral College has become to the party’s White House prospects. Some Republicans say the problem is Trump's populist brand of partisan grievance. It's an attitude tailor-made for the Electoral College in the current era of regionally Balkanized politics, but anathema to attracting a broad, national coalition that can win the most votes, as past presidents did when seeking re-election amid a booming economy. Others argue that neither Trump, nor possibly any Republican, could win the popular vote when most big states are overwhelmingly liberal." He warns that Trump's "team, planning for higher voter turnout in 2020 but privately bracing for a second popular vote defeat, is moving to build on 2016 by going on offense in Democratic-trending battlegrounds that Trump lost to Clinton by surprisingly narrow margins. Some states on this list were targets three years ago. Trump is prepared to commit substantial resources to Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, and Nevada despite 2018 midterm election results suggesting tough sledding there ahead. New Hampshire may also be a target." If Trump's reelection is dependent on Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada and New Hampshire-- or on keeping Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, we can all rest easy tonight, no matter how long it takes for the Mueller report to come out.

How Far Will The Unpopular And Desperate Queens-Born Casino Operator Go To Hold Onto His Power?

I'm going to start with some polling from yesterday. Gallup first. They show Trump sinking below 40%-- 4 points down since the end of February. Republicans like him; everyone else hates him. Now a less known poll from Navigator Research, "a project designed to better understand the American public’s views on issues of the day and help advocates, elected officials, and other interested parties understand the language, imagery and messaging needed to make and win key policy arguments." This particular poll is mostly about Climate Change but they also have some Trump findings: "This month, just 38% believe the president generally does what’s best for the country, a new low and a 6-point decline from December. 62% now tend to say the president puts himself first. Perception of Trump as self-interested has grown more rapidly than overall disapproval. As Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia’s possible involvement winds down, support for the probe has reached an all-time high of 58%."

And that leads right to yesterday's House vote on Jerry Nadler's Resolution 24-- "Expressing the sense of Congress that the report of Special Counsel Mueller should be made available to the public and to Congress." Nadler is the chair of the House Judiciary Committee and is cosponsors included the chairs of 5 other top committees: Maxine Waters (Financial Services), Adam Schiff (Intelligence), Elijah Cummings (Oversight), Eliot Engel (Foreign Affairs), Richard Neil (Way and Means). It passed with 420 votes. Florida Republican Matt Gaetz pulled his head out of Trump's ass long enough to vote "present." He was joined by 3 other Republicans refusing to go on-record favoring the public release of the report.

It also leads to yesterday's Senate vote that Trump lost badly when a large bipartisan majority of senators approved HJ 46, the resolution of disapproval for his phony state of emergency declaration. A dozen Republicans voted with every single Democrat (including right-wingers Sinema and Manchin) against Trump. The Republicans include Lamar Alexander (TN), Roy Blunt (MO), Susan Collins (ME), Mike Lee (UT), Jerry Moran (KS), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Randy Paul (KY), Rob Portman (OH), Mitt Romney (UT), Marco Rubio (FL), Pat Toomey (PA) and Roger Wicker (MS). Publicly Trump says he'll veto it; there are reports that privately, he's furious and looking for revenge.

Thursday morning, rejecting Trump's insistence that he can't be sued in state court, a New York appellate court ruled that Summer Zervos, a former Apprentice contestant, who Trump sexually harassed, can move forward with her defamation suit against Trump now, while he's still "president." In their statement, the justices explained that they "reject defendant President Trump's argument that the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution prevents a New York State court-- and every other state court in the country-- from exercising its authority under its state constitution. Instead, we find that the Supremacy Clause was never intended to deprive a state court of its authority to decide cases and controversies under the state's constitution."

Looking bad for what Spy Magazine editor Graydon Carter long, long ago referred to as a "short fingered vulgarian?" He struck back with a veiled threat that it's unimaginable any legitimate president would have ever uttered, "armed pushback," reported Daniel Dale, "against his political opponents." Breitbart News was interviewing Trump when he stopped attacking Paul Ryan long enough to mention "it would be very bad, very bad" if his supporters in the military, police and a motorcycle group were provoked into getting "tough." Trump was arguing that "the left" plays politics in a "tougher" and more "vicious" manner than the pro-Trump right even though "the tough people" are on Trump’s side.

“I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump-- I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough-- until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad,” Trump said.

...The quote prompted criticism and alarm when The Star tweeted it.

“This is how an authoritarian talks. Happening right in front of us,” Brendan Nyhan, a University of Michigan public policy professor who co-founded an initiative monitoring the state of U.S. democracy, said on Twitter.

“We can’t sugar-coat this. The President of the United States is encouraging the military, police, and bikers to violently attack his critics on the left,” liberal journalist Judd Legum tweeted.

“In which the president of the United States threatens street violence against his political opponents,” the liberal advocacy group Public Citizen tweeted. “What happens if Trump loses in 2020? Is that the ‘certain point?’”

Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, who has been convicted of several crimes, testified to Congress in February: “Given my experience working for Mr. Trump, I fear that if he loses the election in 2020, that there will never be a peaceful transition of power.”

Trump made another veiled suggestion of retribution from the military, police and Bikers for Trump at a midterm campaign rally in Georgia in November. After mocking Antifa protesters as weaklings-- “you see these little arms,” he joked-- he said, “And then you see the clubs in their hands. You know, they’re tough guys, right. Where are the Bikers for Trump? Where are the police? Where are the military? Where are the ICE? Where are the Border Patrol? No. No. We’ve taken a lot. We’ve taken a lot, folks.”

Bikers for Trump, which has more than 300,000 followers on Facebook, is not a criminal biker gang.

Bikers for Trump founder Chris Cox, a chainsaw artist described in one 2017 newspaper profile as “exceedingly polite,” offered in advance of Trump’s inauguration in 2017 to form a “wall of meat” between the president and protesters. He said, though, that he expected a peaceful gathering. While group members have had verbal confrontations with anti-Trump protesters, there have not been reports of major violence.

Trump met with some of the Bikers for Trump at his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey in August. In November, Cox travelled to Florida and made unfounded allegations of election fraud. In December, Cox and his German shepherd stood outside the courthouse where former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn was to be sentenced for lying to the FBI, with Cox telling Mother Jones Magazine he was “here to make sure [Flynn’s] family is not assaulted or intimidated.”

Trump also endorsed violence against protesters at some of his rallies in 2016. At one rally in Iowa, he urged his supporters to beat up anyone getting ready to “throw a tomato,” saying, “Knock the crap out of them…I promise you I will pay for the legal fees.”

The Count Down To Impeachment Has Now Begun

A lot of people I hired to play concerts at Stony Brook died young and not long after they played their shows-- Jim Morrison (27), Jimi Hendrix (27), Janis Joplin (27), Otis Redding (26), Tim Buckley (28). Tim Hardin died in 1980, age 39, still young, still tragic... but at least not right after his concert at my school! Last Thursday on Nicole Sanders' show I held the phone up to me speakers and let her listeners hear at little of "Reason to Believe," my favorite Tim Hardin song. I did it because a member of Congress, in response to me asking about Jerry Nadler having said "I view this president and his conduct as the greatest threat to the democratic system and to the constitutional government since the Civil War, whether it’s threatening the newspapers or threatening the judiciary or calling people who criticize him treasonous," told me to be sure to watch Nadler on Sunday. The implication was that he would announce that the preliminary steps towards impeachment hearings were beginning.

(Unless ABC News has removed it, as they've been doing all day), this is a video of George Stephanopoulos' whole show, but don't worry-- Nadler was the first guest. In the intro-- with Nadler sitting right across from him-- Stephanopoulos used the "I" word. First question: "Did you learn anything from the Michael Cohen hearing this week that would lead you to open an impeachment investigation?" Listen to how Nadler-- no doubt having gone over the wording carefully with Pelosi-- handled the question. He didn't flat out say "yes," as he should have, but gave us plenty of reason to believe.



Stephanopoulos was trying to get him to admit they were beginning the impeachment process. Nadler deftly danced around it, although he said, flatly-- seemingly in contradiction of the bullshit Pelosi has been spouting all year-- that what his committee has to do is not sit around waiting for Mueller. "Crimes and impeachable offenses are two different things. There can be crimes that are impeachable offenses and impeachable offenses that are not crimes. They’re just two different tests. But we have to lay out for the American people and we can’t depend on the Mueller investigation for this. The Mueller investigation, number one, we don’t know when it’s ending despite lots of rumors, number two it’s focused on specific crimes. And we have to focus much more broadly on abuses of power and what I said a moment ago... We are starting this investigation, we will-- tomorrow we will be issuing document requests to over 60 different people and individuals from the White House, to the Department of Justice, Donald Trump Jr., Alan Weisselberg to begin investigations to present the case to the American people about obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power... [W] will be releasing the list tomorrow."

He aded that his committee's investigation will go "far beyond collusion. We’ve seen all the democratic norms that we depend on for democratic government attacked by the administration. We’ve seen attacks on the freedom of the press, the press called the enemy of the people, we’ve seen attacks on the Department of Justice, attacks on the FBI, attacks on-- on judges. All of these are very corrosive to liberty and to the proper functioning of government and to our constitutional system. All this has to be looked at and the facts laid out to the American people." When Stephanopoulos asked him if he thinks Trump obstructed justice, Nadler sad, flatly, "Yes, I do... It’s very clear that the president obstructed justice. It’s very clear-- 1,100 times he referred to the Mueller investigation as a 'witch hunt,' he tried to-- he fired-- he tried to protect Flynn from being investigated by the FBI. He fired Comey in order to stop the 'Russian thing,' as he told NBC News. He-- he’s dangled pardons... he’s intimidated witnesses in public... We have to do the investigations and get all this. We do not now have the evidence all sorted out and everything to do-- to do an impeachment. Before you impeach somebody, you have to persuade the American public that it ought to happen. You have to persuade enough of the-- of the opposition party voters, Trump voters, that you’re not just trying to... We may or may not get there but what we have to do is protect the rule of law."

All the members of the Judiciary Committee I spoke with are eager to get going with this. Ted Lieu was in Selma, Alabama with John Lewis yesterday, but when he got back this morning, he told me that "Unlike last term, the House Judiciary Committee will actually conduct oversight over the Executive Branch. Instead of holding stupid hearings about why Republican legislators don't get enough likes on Facebook, we will be holding hearings on whether any crimes were committed by Executive Branch officials and those within their orbit. We have launched a massive investigation into Trump, his family and his associates. We do not work for Trump. We are part of a separate and coequal branch of government. And we intend to honor our oath of office."

Who Will Go To Prison Sooner, Nunes Or Trumpanzee, Jr.?

Currently, Buddy Carter is in a fierce competition with Louie Gohmert to be recognized as the most clueless member of Congress. Yesterday he told NPR has "every State of the Union that the president has given has gotten better and better" and went on about how he's become one of the great presidents of all times. The "president" has given two of those addresses, but perhaps Carter has dreamed of being at dozens of them. Earl Leroy "Buddy" Carter, a pharmacist, represents the southeast corner of Georgia. In his recent reelection bid, he was trounced in the 2 counties where people graduate high school-- Chatham (Savannah) and Liberty (Hinesville), he just owned all the counties where the average education doesn't go beyond the 4th grade (Glynn, Camden, Bryan Effingham, Ware, Wayne, Pierce, Brantley, McIntosh, Long, Bacon, Charlton, Clinch, Lowndes and Echols).

Luckily, Earl Leroy Carter is not on the Intelligence Committee. Republicans on that committee are Devon Nunes (CA), Mike Conaway (TX), Mike Turner (OH), Brad Wenstrup (OH), Chris Stewart (UT), Rick Crawford (AR), Elise Stefanik (NY), Will Hurd (TX) and John Ratcliffe (TX). Nunes is dumb enough without having to drag Carter into it. How dumb? Dumb enough to be the subject of an investigation by the committee he used to chair! It's hardly news that Nunes routinely obstructed justice and sabotaged his own committee's investigation into Russian interference with the U.S. elections, all that being done to protect Trump. When the new chairman, Adam Schiff announced how the committee would conduct its investigation into Russian interference, there was a special paragraph that has Nunes' name all over it: "Whether any actors-- foreign or domestic-- sought or are seeking to impede, obstruct, and/or mislead authorized investigations into these matters, including those in Congress." That likely also spells trouble for one non-committee member, Dana Rohrabacher, who was defeated for relection in 2018, largely because his constituents came to see him as a Kremlin operative. Mueller has already been investigating both Nunes and Rohrabacher.

Wednesday, in its first act since the Democrats have taken over, the committee voted to send interview transcripts from its Russia investigation-- including the deceitful, sworn testimony from Donald Trump, Jr.-- to Mueller, who could use them to prosecute perjury. Schiff: "The special counsel’s office, the Justice Department and its elements will now have access to those transcripts for any purpose which will facilitate justice."

When Republicans controlled the committee last year, then-Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) ended the panel’s Russia investigation and concluded that there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives.

But Democrats said they would press on with the probe, arguing that key witnesses had not been interviewed. Schiff is reviving the investigation, placing a focus on potential money laundering and pledging to dive into The Trump Organization’s finances, among other issues.

On Wednesday, the committee announced the parameters of its investigation, which Schiff said will “go beyond Russia” and “will allow us to investigate any credible allegation that financial interests or other interests are driving the decision-making of the president or anyone in the administration.”

In a statement, Schiff said House investigators will broaden the scope of the Russia probe by looking into whether Trump or his associates “have sought to influence U.S. government policy in service of foreign interests” and “whether any foreign actor has sought to compromise or holds leverage, financial or otherwise, over Donald Trump, his family, his business, or his associates.”

In response, Trump lashed out at Schiff, accusing the chairman of unfairly singling him out.

“Under what basis would he do that? He has no basis to do that. He’s just a political hack,” Trump said Wednesday from the White House. “He’s trying to build a name for himself. And I think that’s fine because that’s what they do. But there would be no reason to do that. No other politician has to go through that. It’s called presidential harassment. And it’s unfortunate. And it really does hurt our country.”

Trump will, no doubt, soon be learning that Schiff can tweet too. "I can understand why the idea of meaningful oversight terrifies the President. Several of his close associates are going to jail, others await trial, and criminal investigations continue. We’re going to do our job and won’t be distracted or intimidated by threats or attacks."

Which Members Of Congress Will Lead The Impeachment Investigation?

Next stop Moscow?

This morning's little incident with Roger Stone has to serve as a warning that all of this year is going to be a rocky ride in Congress, the media and in our lives. Early this morning, in Florida, there came a knocking on Roger's door. Apparently Bob Mueller took quite literally, Get Me Roger Stone. Thursday, Stone had been indicted by a grand jury on charges brought by Mueller, alleging that "the longtime Donald Trump associate sought stolen emails from WikiLeaks that could damage Trump's opponents while in coordination with senior Trump campaign officials," referring to, at minimum, Steve Bannon. This is likely to eventually all go back to one of the masterminds-- as well as the Daddy Warbucks-- behind Trump's election, neo-fascist billionaire Robert Mercer. And the indictment wasn't just about working with Assange on disseminating the stolen DNC emails, but also lying to Congress to cover it up and witness tampering (radio alk show host Randy Credico). The sordid episode in our country's history reads like a Mafia screenplay.

As far as I can tell so far, Pelosi didn't put any real fire-breathers onto the House Judiciary Committee, the way the GOP did. [The Republicans added just one semi-sane person-- Tom McClintock-- and 4 absolute crackpots, Ben Cline (VA), Kelly Armstrong (ND), Guy Reschenthaler (PA) and Greg Steube (FL) to defend Trump and his criminal regime.] The 9 new Democrats added to the committee are conservative patsy Lou Correa (Blue Dog-CA), Mary Scanlon (PA), Sylvia Garcia (TX), Joe Neguse (CO), Lucy McBath (GA), Greg Stanton (New Dem-AZ), Madeleine Dean (PA), Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (New Dem-FL), and Veronica Escobar (New Dem-TX). Pelosi should have put Rashida Tlaib on it.

Luckily, Ted Lieu (D-CA), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) are all on the committee and all up to the task of making sure Trump is held accountable for his criminal activities. My guess is that Eric Swalwell (D-CA), David Cicilline (D-RI), Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Karen Bass (D-CA) will also turn out to be stars in the impeachment process-- once Pelosi gives Nadler the OK to get the damned show on the road and stop using the ridiculous excuse they're waiting for Bob Mueller.

Mueller works for the Executive Branch-- and is accountable to Trump-- and has no role in impeachment. Impeachment lies strictly with the House and the only thing that is keeping Pelosi from moving forward are her own political calculations. That's pretty outrageous.



These are the two dozen Democrats who will serve on the committee for the 116th Congress:

• Rep. Jerrold Nadler (NY-10), Chair
• Rep. Zoe Lofgren (CA-19)
• Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18)
• Rep. Steve Cohen (TN-9)
• Rep. Hank Johnson (GA-4)
• Rep. Ted Deutch (FL-22)
• Rep. Karen Bass (CA-37)
• Rep. Cedric Richmond (LA-2)
• Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (NY-8)
• Rep. David Cicilline (RI-1)
• Rep. Eric Swalwell (CA-15)
• Rep. Ted Lieu (CA-33)
• Rep. Jamie Raskin (MD-8)
• Rep. Pramila Jayapal (WA-7)
• Rep. Val Demings (FL-10)
• Rep. Lou Correa (CA-46)
• Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-5), Vice Chair
• Rep. Sylvia Garcia (TX-29)
• Rep. Joe Neguse (CO-2)
• Rep. Lucy McBath (GA-6)
• Rep. Greg Stanton (AZ-9)
• Rep. Madeleine Dean (PA-4)
• Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (FL-26)
• Rep. Veronica Escobar (TX-16)

As Alan Grayson, one of the most successful lawyers to have served in Congress in decades, explained recently, "Trump has committed high crimes and misdemeanors, and he is unfit for office. You can’t un-ring those bells. This is why we have impeachment in the Constitution."

Ted Lieu served as an Air Force prosector and he feels the time is right to start the formal investigation now: "It is time, he tweeted last week, "for the House Judiciary Committee to start holding hearings to establish a record of whether @POTUS committed high crimes."

The way this will probably happen is that relevant subcommittee chairs-- guessing again-- Steve Cohen (Constitution subcommittee) and Karen Bass (Crime subcommittee) will begin holding hearings even before the full House votes to establish a separate committee on impeachment within the Judiciary Committee. I can't wait to see that one get going-- and see who winds up on it.

By Lying Day In And Day Out-- On Matters Great And Small-- Trump's Credibility Is Nonexistent Just When He Needs It Most

Pew's new poll released yesterday, was devastating enough before yesterday's smoking gun: Trump Begins Third Year With Low Job Approval and Doubts About His Honesty. 37% approval and 59% disapproval. "A growing share of Americans say they trust what Trump says less than what previous presidents said while they were in office. Nearly six-in-ten (58%) say they trust what Trump says less than previous presidents, up from 54% last June and 51% in February 2017, shortly after he took office. The public also continues to fault the ethical standards of top administration officials. Just 39% rate their ethical standards as excellent or good, while 59% say they are not good or poor."

What smoking gun? Oh yeah... forgive me for brushing by that so quickly. Jason Leopold and Anthony Cormier broke the story at BuzzFeed News: Trump Directed His Attorney Michael Cohen To Lie To Congress About The Moscow Tower Project. Here's the long and short of it: "Trump directed his longtime attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, according to two federal law enforcement officials involved in an investigation of the matter. Trump also supported a plan, set up by Cohen, to visit Russia during the presidential campaign, in order to personally meet President Vladimir Putin and jump-start the tower negotiations. 'Make it happen,' the sources said Trump told Cohen. And even as Trump told the public he had no business deals with Russia, the sources said Trump and his children Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. received regular, detailed updates about the real estate development from Cohen, whom they put in charge of the project. Cohen pleaded guilty in November to lying about the deal in testimony and in a two-page statement to the Senate and House intelligence committees. Special counsel Robert Mueller noted that Cohen’s false claim that the project ended in January 2016 was an attempt to 'minimize links between the Moscow Project and Individual 1'-- widely understood to be Trump-- 'in hopes of limiting the ongoing Russia investigations.' Now the two sources have told BuzzFeed News that Cohen also told the special counsel that after the election, the president personally instructed him to lie-- by claiming that negotiations ended months earlier than they actually did-- in order to obscure Trump’s involvement."



If this report of Trump suborning false testimony-- in other words, broke the law by making one of his employees lie under oath for him-- is confirmed, then Trump committed a felony and must resign or be impeached. That's the smoking gun I was referring to. Let's start with the early morning tweet from Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR):

Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a former state Attorney General, had a similar tweet around the same time:

And then Jerry Nadler, the new chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. A tiny bit of background. When John Conyers announced he was leaving Congress, Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) made a play to vault over the second most senior]member of the committee, Nadler, to claim the chair for herself. (She is next in seniority after Nadler.) Lofgren played the woman card but it didn't work and the Policy and Steering Committee-- probably at Pelosi's urging-- recommended Nadler. The vote was 118-72 in his favor. There was some talk at the time that if the Dems won back control of the House, Nadler would follow Pelosi's instructions to the letter on impeachment talk. So he's completely slow-walked it and talked it down and came up with a bullshit narrative that they have to wait for Mueller. Mueller works for the executive branch and has nothing whatsoever to do with impeachment, even though his investigation will be useful to the committee that's supposed to investigate impeachment: Judiciary.

And it hasn't been just me, urging Nadler to get off his ass. Tom Steyer agrees he's got to go: "On behalf of the nearly 7 million Americans who have joined the Need to Impeach movement, I call on Nancy Pelosi, Jerry Nadler and every Member of Congress to begin impeachment hearings. It’s time for the legislative branch of government to do its constitutional duty." One of the committee members, Ted Lieu (D-CA) tweeted that "it is time for the House Judiciary Committee to start holding hearings to establish a record of whether @POTUS committed high crimes." Another member of the committee, Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told me that "In a courtroom, 'impeachment' means exposing lies and deceptions, so that kind of impeachment hearing starts on day one. As for constitutional impeachment, well, everything in due course." 

Friday morning Trump didn't respond directly, just atypical Giuliani robotic lie--"Any suggestion, from any source, that the President counseled Michael Cohen to lie is categorically false"-- and a bunch of bullshit tweets and a retweet of one of Trump's Fox apologists, even though, if true, the allegations-- and remember, few Americans believe anything Trump says-- constitute both obstruction of justice and suborning perjury. Trump’s instructions to lie were already known to Mueller through testimony from multiple witnesses and through documentation. In fact, Cohen only confirmed information Mueller already had.

By the way, did you watch the Senate confirmation hearings for William Barr? How about these exchanges?

Graham: So if there was some reason to believe that the president tried to coach somebody not to testify or testify falsely, that could be obstruction of justice?

Barr: Yes. Under an obstruction statute, yes.

Klobuchar: You wrote on page one that a president persuading a person to commit perjury would be obstruction. Is that right?

Barr: Yes. Well, you know, any person who persuades another.

Klobuchar: You also said that a president-- or any person-- convincing a witness to change testimony would be obstruction. Is that right?

Barr: Yes.

Klobuchar: And on page two, you said that a president deliberately impairing the integrity or availability of evidence would be obstruction. Is that correct?

Barr: Yes.

There's some chit-chat on Capitol Hill now that Trump wants to withdraw Barr's nomination. Now, that would be funny.

Another Year In Review-- Trump's Residence In Hell Is Just Beginning

The White House announced that Señor Trumpanzee isn't going to his Mar-A-Lago $1,000/guest New Years Eve party tonight. The Palm Beach Post's gossip columnist wrote that "It’s unclear whether Mar-a-Lago will let people wiggle out of their tickets at this late date. But evidently, some club members and guests have no interest in paying extra-high ticket prices if the president will not be in attendance. People were willing to pay for the cachet if partying with the president, a source said. But with President Donald Trump staying in Washington, 'people are bailing,' the source said. 'It’s a lot of money (to spend) without his celebrity.'"

Fitting way to end the year for the chaos-by-design-ridden and most dysfunctional presidency ever. Everything went wrong from the day he somehow managed to slither into the White House with 3 million fewer votes than the least likable nominee the Democrats could field. And it was capped off last month with a giant thumbs down from the voters, as 43 red seats flipped blue, not even counting two districts-- one in Florida and one in North Carolina-- where the election theft was so blatant that there may well be do-overs.

There are several ways to summarize Trump's 2018. Noah did it in 11 consecutive daily posts here at DWT. Sunday at HuffPo Carla Herreria refined it down to 6 "new lows" and Business Insider decided the best way to look at it was by examining all the ongoing investigations and lawsuits in which Trump is a principal wending their ways through the courts and DOJ.

Herreria-- always keeping in mind that for normal people "it is impossible for Trump to get any worse; but, somehow, he always does," began her essay with a timely quote from Karen Tumulty: "With President Trump, there is no bottom... We have a president who is willing to politicize the deaths of two young children to score points against the opposition party. And the most shocking thing about seeing him scrape along a new moral bottom is this: It is no longer shocking at all." Here are 5 more shockers-- besides the dead children exploitation incident-- that she thinks defined Trump's 2018:

• When Trump said he’d defend Saudi Arabia even if the crown prince ordered the murder of a Saudi Washington Post journalist

• When Trump called Hurricane Maria’s death toll "fake news"

Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Roselló commissioned the analysis, which was completed by researchers at George Washington University. The new estimate made Hurricane Maria, at the time, one of the deadliest natural disasters in the history of the U.S.

San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, who became a fierce critic of Trump in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, called the president’s denial “despicable.”

“This is a new low, even for President Trump,” she told CNN. “Now, it is to be expected the president has the ability to make everything about him.”

The New York Times’ editorial board also criticized Trump for shifting the attention on the devastation to his own personal woes: “Democrats don’t need to lift a finger to make him look bad. He is managing that all on his own.”

In the headline of a story covering Trump’s death toll denial, the Rolling Stone made it more concise: “Trump Reaches New Low. Republicans Remain Silent. Rinse, Repeat.”

• When Trump met with Vladimir Putin and publicly defended the Russian president against accusations of meddling in the election

Garry Kasparov, chairman of the Human Rights Foundation and former world chess champion, also said the summit marked “the lowest point in the history of the American presidency.”

In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Kasparov said Trump gave a “Russia First performance” in the high-profile meeting:

Standing next to a dictatorial leader accused by U.S. intelligence and law enforcement of attacking the foundations of American democracy, Trump often appeared confused and incoherent-- and those were his best moments at the podium. The rest of the time he spent praising the KGB dictator to his left and attacking the institutions he swore an oath to defend. It was a Russia First performance, from beginning to end.

• When the Trump administration separated children from their families as part of his zero tolerance crackdown on illegal immigration

• When Trump called Haiti and African nations “shithole countries”

Trump has a reputation for saying shocking things, but when the Washington Post published a report saying that the president had referred to Haiti, El Salvador and African nations as “shithole countries,” it brought his rhetoric to a whole new level of vulgar.

Grace Panetta, writing for Business Insider pointed out that nearly every corner of Trump's political, business, and charitable activities are the subject of some form of investigation as 2018 comes to a close, including a lawsuit accusing him of illegally profiting off his presidency. There are dozens investigations in which Trump faces criminal and/or civil liability involving his campaign and his behavior as "president." She wrote that "The investigation Trump publicly disparages most often as a 'rigged witch hunt' and a 'disgrace' is special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign collaborated with Russia to tilt the race in Trump's favor. But the one that poses the most immediate danger to Trump himself is the campaign finance probe in the Southern District of New York. In that case, federal prosecutors secured a guilty plea from his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen for paying for the silence of women who alleged affairs with Trump, a crime to which prosecutors listed Trump as an unindicted co-conspirator."

Here's her list:

The Trump campaign's knowledge of and possible involvement in Russia's efforts to interfere in the 2016 election.

• In June 2016, Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort convened at Trump Tower to meet with Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Kremlin-linked Russian lobbyist.
◦ Trump Jr. initially said the meeting had nothing to do with the Trump campaign, asserting that Veselnitskaya instead came to lobby against US sanctions on high-level Russian officials.
◦ But he amended his statement after it was reported that he agreed to the meeting after he was offered "dirt" on Clinton by the publicist of Emin Agalarov, the son of a Russian oligarch with ties to Putin. The Washington Post later reported that Trump "dictated" the initially misleading statement his son put out after he was contacted about the story.
◦ Both Trump and Donald Jr. later admitted publicly the meeting was part of an effort to benefit the Trump campaign.
◦ It is illegal under US campaign finance law for campaigns to accept material aid from foreign nationals. Legal experts say that even if Veselnitskaya did not provide the promised "dirt," the laws are written in such a manner that even soliciting or inviting such material is a federal crime.


• Mueller's team is also examining the extent to which people in the Trump campaign were aware of, and collaborated in, WikiLeaks' dissemination of emails hacked from the DNC and Clinton campaign to interfere in the election. Mueller indicted 12 Russian security officers over the hacks in July.
◦ Both Donald Trump Jr. and Trump ally Roger Stone communicated with WikiLeaks and a Russian hacker who went by the name Guccifer 2.0, often tweeting links to hacked data at WikiLeaks' request.
◦ At least 7 of Stone's associates, including people he said served as intermediaries between him and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, have been subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury convened to hear testimony in the Mueller probe.
◦ The special counsel is seeking to determine whether Stone and other officials had advance knowledge of WikiLeaks' document dumps, as some of Stone's tweets suggested.
◦ Mueller has also requested transcripts for Stone's 2017 testimony before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, a sign that could indicate Mueller is looking to indict Stone for lying to Congress about his contacts with WikiLeaks.

The Trump Organization's efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow during the 2016 election, referred to in court filings as the "Moscow Project."

• The Trump Organization reportedly offered Russian President Vladimir Putin a discounted $50 million penthouse in the proposed Trump Tower Moscow. This offer could violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which outlaws US officials from giving foreign governments gifts of monetary value in exchange for something they want.
◦ Businessman Felix Sater told Buzzfeed News that offering Putin a penthouse in the tower was a business tactic intended to raise the property values of the surrounding apartments and make them more attractive prospects for Russian oligarchs.
◦ Experts say, however, that the deal would only violate the FCPA that if the offer for a discounted penthouse was formally lodged to Russian officials in writing, and if it was made in exchange for something like a tax break or a zoning permit, not just as a marketing ploy to raise the property values.


• Trump could also be implicated in his lawyer Michael Cohen's guilty plea to lying to Congress about the timeframe during the 2016 election in which the Trump Organization pursued the Trump Tower Moscow deal.
◦ Special counsel Mueller's sentencing memo for Cohen said that Cohen provided cooperation regarding "the circumstances of preparing his false testimony" and his contacts with White House officials, which experts says could describe a coordinated plot to direct Cohen to make false statements to Congress.
◦ Cohen's lawyer Lanny Davis also told Bloomberg that "Mr. Trump and the White House knew that Michael Cohen would be testifying falsely to Congress and did not tell him not to."

The probe into Trump's alleged obstruction of justice and witness tampering as president.

• Mueller is also investigating whether Trump committed obstruction of justice with his May 2017 firing of FBI Director James Comey, which came after Comey refused to drop the FBI's probe into Michael Flynn's false statements to FBI agents about his contacts with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak.
◦ While the White House claimed Comey was fired over his handling of the probe into Hillary Clinton's emails, Trump later said on national television to NBC host Lester Holt that "this Russia thing" was a factor in his decision.


• In July, the New York Times reported that Mueller is also examining whether Trump tampered with witnesses in the Mueller probe with his private interactions and public tweets slamming former Attorney General Jeff Sessions for not reigning in the Mueller probe, and not investigating Trump's political foes.
◦ Some of the events under scrutiny for possible witness tampering include Trump threatening to fire Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, suggesting Comey himself should be investigated, and attempting to push other senior officials like then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo into pressuring Comey to shut down the FBI's probes of Flynn and of Trump himself.

• The Times later reported in August that former White House counsel Don McGahn-- who was present for many of the events Mueller is examining as part of the obstruction probe-- had voluntarily provided 30 hours of testimony to Mueller.
◦ Some of the other crucial events which McGahn witnessed include the Comey firing, Trump's attempts to force Sessions to oversee the Russia probe, Trump drafting a letter describing his reasons for firing Comey, and Trump's reported attempts to fire Mueller himself.

Violations of federal campaign finance law, including the October 2016 payouts to Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels to which Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to paying.

• On Dec. 12, Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen was sentenced to 36 months in prison after pleading guilty in August to eight federal crimes, including two large payoffs to silence women who claimed to have affairs with Trump, in violation of federal campaign finance laws.
◦ Prosecutors said in their sentencing memo for Cohen that he made the payments "in coordination with and at the direction of" Trump, officially establishing him as an unindicted co-conspirator in the case.
◦ Prosecutors also struck a non-prosecution agreement with American Media Inc., the parent company of the tabloid the National Enquirer, which paid $150,000 to buy the rights to McDougal's story (which the company never published).


• Trump's two main defenses were that he had no knowledge the payments were illegal, and that they were made to protect his businesses and not to influence the election.
◦ The NPA, however, clearly states that AMI "further admitted that its principal purpose in making the payment was to suppress the woman's story so as to prevent it from influencing the election."
◦ NBC and CNN both reported the unnamed Trump campaign official referenced in the NPA as being in the room with Cohen and AMI CEO David Pecker while the deal to purchase McDougal's story was being made, is none other than Trump himself.

• Federal prosecutors in SDNY are also reportedly launching a criminal probe into whether the Trump inaugural committee misspent some of the $107 million it raised, and whether it brokered special access to the administration for top inaugural donors.

The lawsuits against the Trump Organization and Trump Foundation.

• On Dec. 18, Trump agreed to dissolve his charity, the Donald J. Trump Foundation, after a lawsuit from the New York Attorney General's office alleged "persistently illegal conduct." This included unlawful coordination with the 2016 Trump campaign and multiple self-dealing transactions with the Trump Organization.
◦ The suit seeks $2.8 million in restitution and a temporary ban on Trump and his three eldest children from serving on the boards of New York charitable foundations.
◦ The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance is also investigating whether there is enough evidence to refer criminal charges against foundation executives to the AG's office for prosecution.


• Incoming New York Attorney General Letitia James has pledged to also investigate Trump and the Trump Organization on a number of other fronts, including alleged tax evasion and aggressive pursuit of tax breaks.

• Meanwhile, the attorneys general of Maryland and Washington, DC, are in the discovery phase of a lawsuit accusing Trump of violating the foreign and domestic emoluments clauses of the constitution, which prohibits elected officials from personally profiting off their office.
◦ The suit, which is the first-ever emoluments case to go to trial, accuses Trump of illegally making money off his presidency by soliciting business from state and foreign government officials at Trump-owned hotels and restaurants.