December 6, 2017

"I think that this is another example of the media going too far too fast."

Said Sarah Sanders, stepping on the Bloomberg news report, which said:
Special prosecutor Robert Mueller zeroed in on President Donald Trump’s business dealings with Deutsche Bank AG as his investigation into alleged Russian meddling in U.S. elections widens. Mueller issued a subpoena to Germany’s largest lender several weeks ago forcing the bank to submit documents on its relationship with Trump and his family, according to a person briefed on the matter, who asked not to be identified because the action has not been announced.
Ah, yes... the person briefed on the matter, who asked not to be identified — that guy. What clicks — what hopeful yearning clicks — he brought to Bloomberg.

According to Sanders, Jay Sekulow, a member of the president's legal team, has stated "that the news reports that the special counsel had subpoenaed financial records relating to the president are completely false, no subpoena has been issued or received" and "we've confirmed this with the bank and other sources."

87 comments:

Michael K said...

Hope springs eternal and it is important to step on the Strzok stories.

rehajm said...

If not now at what point to we stop identifying the journolists that deal in this shit as journalists?

Luke Lea said...

Not what the Financial Times is reporting: Deutsche Bank sends Trump financial details to Mueller investigation

https://goo.gl/4wsELR

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Someone is lying. We all know the Corrupt D-hack press would never lie for their d-hack hive minds and the big butt hurt Hillary-lost and you're gonna pay cuz it's illegal to talk to Russians and beat Hillary campaign.
no way.

Sebastian said...

The game is still Get Trump.

Jersey Fled said...

Looks more and more like the colussion angle isn't going anywhere. Now they are just throwing spaghetti against the wall.

traditionalguy said...

Sarah Sanders should be Time's Person of the year. She displays amazing patience in the middle of a storm of challenges from a gaggle of trained, under cover political operatives.

John henry said...

In the USA in most contracts, the bank is required to advise tje client of the subpoena.

Further, they are required to allow the client to fight the subpoena before complying with it.

Does that apply to a contract with a German bank?

John Henry

Birches said...

Has the press thought that maybe, just maybe, these anonymous sources are playing them for fools?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

It's illegal to beat a Clinton.

tim in vermont said...

Not just illegal, but immoral!

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Because Trump reneged on his promise to release his tax returns, quelle surprise, a majority of people will be OK with finding out about his finances in this manner. He lied directly to the American public.

CWJ said...

"...as his investigation into alleged Russian meddling in U.S. elections widens."

There's got to be a pony in there somewhere.

Michael K said...

Hope springs eternal in ARM's little brain.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Not so little that I haven't saved enough for retirement.

tim in vermont said...

Yeah, the end justifies the means, whatever the cost to the rule of law, or to or republic.

If you like your plan was a far bigger lie, and I remember how much it bothered Democrats.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

I thought with those FISA warrants the bank isn’t allowed to tell its customer it received a warrant.

Bruce Hayden said...

Reposting from a thread yesterday concerning subpoenaing Trump's bank records:

I thought that was a bridge too far. Mueller would be making it obvious that he was doubling down and shifting from an investigation of Russian meddling (by Trump - since Clinton meddling is apparently just fine) into an impeachment witch hunt, which is well outside his mandate. Mueller may be Deep State, bu he isn’t stupid. That would be going to war with his boss, and likely wouldn’t end well for him. So far, as long as it hasn’t gotten personal, Trump seems content to mostly let the investigation play out. But going after him, or his family (including Kushner) would be personal, and, I think, guaranteed of a quick brutal response. If the Bank subpoena story had been true, I figured that Mueller was admitting that he couldn’t find anything against trump, and wanted to go out in a blaze of glory. Luckily, he doesn’t seem to be that self destructive.

tim in vermont said...

More political abuse of the Patriot Act by Democrats.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Nothing you say changes the fact that Trump lied about releasing his taxes. We currently have a president whose personal finances are so sketchy that he is afraid to release any details of them. Yes, we should know if his business is funded by Russian money funeled through the Deutsche Bank.

tim in vermont said...

There is a guy in this Starbucks I recognize from cable New somewhere. His laptop has a RESIST sticker,and Facts Matter. Come on guy, it's one or the other!

tim in vermont said...

We should also know if there is a flying spaghetti monster with a cloaking device orbiting our planet. Let's go fishing without evidence their too!

Of course deleting 30K emails from a time that person was taking tens of millions of dollars from Putin cronies? No indication of sketchiness, she should be POTUS dammit!

Carter Wood said...

From Global Handelsblatt, the English-language version of the German business publication:

Yes, Deutsche Bank did get a subpoena from Mueller
Donald Trump’s lawyer denies that US special counsel Robert Mueller subpoenaed Deutsche Bank. We stand by our story – which never said Mr. Trump’s own records were requested.
By
Handelsblatt Staff
Published on
December 6, 2017 1:42 pm

In a way, the hoopla that sprung up on Tuesday is rather surprising. For months, observers have been expecting FBI special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating alleged links between Donald Trump and Russia, to subpoena Deutsche Bank for documents relating to the US president or his inner circle. On Tuesday, Handelsblatt reported the subpoena had in fact been issued weeks ago...

To be clear, we never wrote that Mr. Mueller had definitely subpoenaed financial records relating to the president. To quote our own story: “It remains unclear whether Mr. Mueller requested information on President Trump’s own business dealings with Deutsche Bank or on those of people close to him.”




Michael K said...

ARM seems to think he is qualified to give investment advice.

What is going on with you ?

Get your own blog "Socialist investment advice."

Third try.

Fourth try

Fifth try

Fabi said...

Quit being a pussy, ARM.

Darrell said...

NBC was making a point this morning of saying that there are super-secret subpoenas that can't be acknowledged by the receiver--even when asked about it. So that means somebody is in big trouble for that Carter Wood comment.

Bruce Hayden said...

Keeps getting worse:

Jeannie Rhee, who was hired by Mueller last summer to work on the probe, was the personal attorney of Ben Rhodes and also represented the Clinton Foundation, Ingraham revealed. "This information will put further pressure on Special Prosecutor Bob Mueller to resign."

Rhee is the third member of the Mueller team this week who has been shown to be brazenly partisan. Two other members of the team have been revealed as highly questionable hires in recent days as well — Peter Strzok, an anti-Trumper who helped exonerate Hillary Clinton, and Andrew Weissmann, an unscrupulous prosecutor who told outgoing acting Attorney General Sally Yates in an email that he was "proud" of her for defying President Trump's travel ban.


I don't think that they get it. They should though - they are all attorneys and had the same ethics class as every other atty has had to take. It is called the "Appearance of Impropriety". They live and work in DC though where Crooked Hillary won overwhelmingly. Worse though, they work for the DoJ, where roughly 99% of employee contributions went to her. No one probably thought about these apparent conflicts of interest because most everyone in the building thought just the same way, and those few who didn't, knew to keep their mouths shut. No doubt it is hard keeping the first blight org pictures of the President unmolested, and the topics around the water cooler very likely revolve around slamming their boss, and glorying in the Resistance. They likely didn't even think about the Appearance of Impropriety. The question maybe should have been whether they could have staffed Mueller's investigation with unbiased experienced attorneys in the first place. This is the center of the swamp, made worse by eight years of litmus test hiring of attornies by the Obama Administration.

This could be hidden better when the investigation had the semblance of being about crimes that occurred before the investigation (which ignores the process crime convictions that they have gotten), and about Russian involvement in our election (carefully ignoring who paid for the Steele Dossier). But it seems to have moved from criminal to political, and putting a bunch of hyper partisan DoJ and FBI people on what seems to be becoming a political witch hunt is just not going to fly with the half the country that elected Trump and a Republican Congress.

tim in vermont said...

Socialist investment advice is too easy. Don't worry about retirement, then when SS gets in trouble, means test it so that the suckers who did save don't get any, effectively seizing their retirement savings.

Darrell said...

Send Robert Mueller to cut the ribbon on the new US embassy in Jerusalem.

robother said...

Everyone on these Special Prosecutor teams wants to be Deep Throat. I get the impression DC parking garages must be entirely taken up with cars from Mueller's staff and journalists scribbling down their every word.

tim in vermont said...

This could easily be about Fusion, given what we know so far.

Michael said...

Actually a rather clever head fake by Bloomberg which knows a shit lot more about business than Mueller but which is giving him a head's up on another collusion angle. The DB loans to Trump entities may (or may not) have been sold on to Russian investors who would have a say in the event of default. Very thin soup but the crazed left is thirsty for whatever they can get in these last days of their witch hunt.

tim in vermont said...

I sure wish I could remember who that reporter is. Since I am not that far from Mar a Lago, he may be around because of that.

Michael said...

ARM
Explain how Russia might "funnel" money to Trump via Deutsch Bank. Moron.

The DB loans were real estate loans either on-book or securitized. DB does not act as intermediary in the way you imply.

Bruce Hayden said...

Interesting, on my iPad, with the Conflicting Edits error, I can back up a page, the go forward, and I get a message about resubmitting the post, I answer "yes", and, voilà, it posts. Still, I am copying my longer comments before posting, JIC.

mockturtle said...

Sarah appeared to have a bad cold during yesterday's presser but nevertheless, she persisted. She is a terrific press secretary and brooks no nonsense from the press corps. And almost never smiles. I like that. The Washington press corps is nothing to smile at. Laugh out loud, perhaps...

Michael K said...

Now there is a report that DB did get a subpoena but it was not for Trump.

Maybe more Manafort ?

Darrell said...

Now there is a report that DB did get a subpoena but it was not for Trump.
It was for Kaiser Wilhelm II.
Mueller has lost it.

Dude1394 said...

So in less than 5 days, we have had MAJOR BREAKING fake news rocketing around the democrat-media party. It spends the day raping trump and then quietly slinks back into the alley to come out and rape him again the next day or so.

Waiting to rape him again with another fake news announcement.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Front page news, back page retractions. And they wonder why only drooling fools believe them.

Mike Sylwester said...

The leaker is Robert "The FBI White-Washer" Mueller himself.

When Mueller was the Director of the FBI as it investigated the anthrax poisoning, the FBI leaked to favored journalists (prominently Nicholas Kristof) that the FBI was making great progress in pinning the crime on Steven Hatfill.

One of the purposes of the FBI's leaks at that time was to reassure the public that the FBI's investigation was making some progress. The same rationale applies now. Mueller wants to reassure the public that his bogus "investigation" of RussiaGate is making some progress.

That's why Mueller's entire investigative staff is a leak-machine. Mueller wants the public to be well-informed about his progress.

Mueller believes in the effectiveness of leaking to favored journalists. Mueller was the mentor of "Crazy Comey the Leaker", who obviously adopted Mueller's reasoning and methods.

buwaya said...

I suspect this all is to prevent a speculative explosion in equities markets. Threatening Trump, or making it appear so, has become a reliable way to reign in "exuberance".

I think there is reason to investigate Janet Yellen.

AlbertAnonymous said...

I don't understand. The MSM plays it right down the middle, just reporting facts, no agenda. It's constitutionally required, this free and fair press we have. How could they get anything wrong?

SHS, just like Trump, total blowhard with the Fake News distractions....

They must be scared they're about to go down.

Drago said...

Birches: "Has the press thought that maybe, just maybe, these anonymous sources are playing them for fools?"

Nonsense.

The media, the dems and deep staters (but I repeat myself) know perfectly well how many false stories they are putting out there.

They know that the later corrections will never see much light of day and the intent is to create the illusion of a tidal wave of actual criminality to justify the intended impeachment activities should the dems take the house.

Witness ARM on this thread, talking about "sketchy" finances, though with no details...as always. The accusation IS the point.

Remember, Romney didn't pay taxes for 10 years!! "Someone" told Harry Reid that!

ARM is our Harry Reid.

narciso said...

Who is the largest shareholder in Deutsche bank that would be hna a Chinese company, who was another significant investor prince talal, they are major players re turkey, where they broke sanctions on Iran, contributors to the Atlantic council, which funds crowdstrike and of course to Hillary foundation themselves, and of course they have also been in partnership with wilmer cutler.

narciso said...

Yrs the Yahoo portal has al green, of his coke addicted accuser fame, with a headline about impeachment charges

tim in vermont said...

The Midyear team [Investigation of security 'matter' involving Hillary's email server] included two dozen investigators led by a senior analyst and by an experienced F.B.I. supervisor, Peter Strzok, a former Army officer who had worked on some of the most secretive investigations in recent years involving Russian and Chinese espionage.

And we have Mueller's investigators mixed up in Uraniam One! More likely than not, anyway. How would you describe the breakup of a Russian spy ring that had gotten close to Hillary that was on a mission to get Uranium One approved?

Yancey Ward said...

Don't you have the right to fight a subpoena? If so, then Trump's lawyers would likely know if the story were true.

Leland said...

So in less than 5 days, we have had MAJOR BREAKING fake news rocketing around the democrat-media party.

Uh huh, its almost like they didn't want any opportunity for Republicans to remind their base about keeping the promise to pass the Tax Bill. So put out a fake story and suck up all the oxygen. It's almost a shame in all their hurry, they failed to identify some of the risks.

Bad Lieutenant said...

AReasonableMan said...
Because Trump reneged on his promise to release his tax returns, quelle surprise,

Which deadline did he miss? Yesterday was after the election, today is after the election, tomorrow will be after the election. Looks like he's right on schedule.

a majority of people will be OK with finding out about his finances in this manner. He lied directly to the American public.
12/6/17, 8:27 AM

Since you lie here on Althouse's blog more or less every day, doubtless we will all be OK with Google de-anonymizing you and spilling out your life history here.

Oh, and, nothing wrong will be found anyway. Could you please cry the mint-julep tears this time, we're tired of the whine flavor.

tim in vermont said...

Now there is a report that DB did get a subpoena but it was not for Trump.

Maybe more Manafort ?


Or Fusion GPS. The demand for their financial records came out around that time. This means nothing right now until more facts come to light.

tim in vermont said...

It's like the old joke about why the symbol for the French is a rooster. "They always crow too early, while knee deep in bullshit."

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Nothing you say changes the fact that Trump lied about releasing his taxes.

Because facts don't matter to you, as has been liberally established on this blog. As a corollary, nothing you say changes the fact that Trump did not lie about releasing his taxes. As the unreliable Politifact has reported, "as soon as the audit is finished it will be released." Of course in their analysis they never determine IF the IRS audit is completed or not. Some go on for years. And it is kind of weird that Obama's IRS would audit Trump every year for eight years of Obama's term, but that's what the IRS confirmed.

Of course ARM cares not if the IRS abuses the rights of Americans. So long as the right people are harmed. Anyway, try again ARM. Try to reason away the truth that the IRS was out of control and Trump has always cited an ongoing audit as the reason for the delay. So where is The Lie, ARM? Where? What factual discrepancy do you cite?

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

The audit excuse has gotten a little old, don't you think. He can release the tax forms if he wants. Clearly he is afraid to do what every other presidential candidate did. Reasonable people might question why that is.

Darrell said...

Reasonable people might. But how does that explain ARM's query?

Darrell said...

Maddow released one of Trump's tax returns--does that count? Maybe Hillary can release one that shows the $145 million Russian Uranium 1 bribe.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Clearly he is afraid to do what every other presidential candidate did.

Pretty sure that George Washington didn't. Probably not even FDR. Your good friend Richard Nixon started that one, I think. So what else can we learn from your role model?

brylun said...

ARM quotes on this thread:
1. "Because Trump ... lied directly to the American public." [falsehood]
2. "Not so little that I haven't saved enough for retirement." [ad hominem]
3. "Trump lied about releasing his taxes." [falsehood]
4. "The audit excuse has gotten a little old... ." [admission of falsehood in 1&3 above]

ARM, don't you have any dignity?

cubanbob said...

AReasonableMan said...
The audit excuse has gotten a little old, don't you think. He can release the tax forms if he wants. Clearly he is afraid to do what every other presidential candidate did. Reasonable people might question why that is."

First we are still waiting for John Kerry to release his discharge papers. Second Obama still hasn't released his college application and transcript. The Clinton's, God only knows what they are hiding but never mind that, lets jump on Trump who has no legal obligation to release his tax returns and if there was anything fishy Lois Lerner would have nailed his ass long ago. That is the job of the IRS in case you may not have known.

tim in vermont said...

Reasonable people might question why that is.

Reasonable people might wonder why this probe is looking at the transition, and not the campaign. Reasonable people might wonder who the fuck it was using Samantha Powers' name to unmask American citizens caught up in NSA surveillance, since Powers denies it. There are lots of issues "reasonable people" might be interested in. But for some reason, our partisan friend is only interested in one kind of issue, a fishing expedition against Trump.

Reasonable people might even take note of the fact that the subpoena wasn't even directed at Trump.

John Pickering said...

Here's a good example of Ann displaying her shrewd analysis of how journalism works. At least five publications have reported the Mueller DBK subpoenas, citing sources. That's how journalists find out the news, Ann: they have sources in a position to know what they're talking about, but their identities aren't revealed for a variety of reasons, including not being authorized to talk to the press. On the other hand we have Trump's lawyer. Ann evidently thinks that Jay Sekulow can give a call over to Deutsche Bank and be assured that the reporting is false. It's too bad that Deutsche Bank hasn't denied the story itself. Sad!

tim in vermont said...

It's too bad that Deutsche Bank hasn't denied the story itself. Sad!

They sort of have. Read the thread.

narciso said...

Actually Deutsche bank did, look they just paid a legendary bribe. I mean fine to justice, look at some of their counterparties you think they want further scrutiny.

brylun said...

John Pickering: "That's how journalists find out the news... ."

NYT Nov. 30: White House Plans Tillerson Ouster From State Dept., to Be Replaced by Pompeo.

brylun said...

John Pickering, have you ever heard of "clickbait?"

Birkel said...

If Leftist Collectivists really want a thing to be true, it is more likely to actually be true.

Q.E.D.

/sarc

Michael said...

narcisco

LOL. Do you know what a counterparty is?

Birkel said...

John Pickering,
If the five outlets are reporting a giant game of telephone via a Journ-O-List so that one anonymous source is behind all the rumor mongering, I assume your belief in the truth of these lies will not be diminished.

Transparency is for other people, not the MSM.

Original Mike said...

"Reasonable people might question why that is."

Watching the ongoing witch hunts, it doesn't require much imagination to understand why he wouldn't want to voluntarily submit to more of the same.

Reasonable people aren't very smart.

Birkel said...

Michael,

Do you know what a Chicago-style government shakedown is?

Darrell said...

The only original story in the last month was the one about Ivanka plagiarizing herself. And that's only because Tweeters jumped on it so fast.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

"Ann evidently thinks that Jay Sekulow can give a call over to Deutsche Bank and be assured that the reporting is false. It's too bad that Deutsche Bank hasn't denied the story itself. Sad!"

He's the President of the United States and a billionaire in his own right, so if that is indeed Althouse's assumption, it's a pretty safe one. You seem to have little understanding of the imperatives of money and power.

James L. Salmon said...

A Reasonable Man said ...

Nothing you say changes the fact that Trump lied about releasing his taxes. We currently have a president whose personal finances are so sketchy that he is afraid to release any details of them. Yes, we should know if his business is funded by Russian money funeled through the Deutsche Bank.

But a REALLY Reasonable Man might say ...

Nothing you say changes the fact that HILLARY lied about EVERYTHING. THE DEMS FIELDED A CANDIDATE FOR president whose personal finances are AND WERE so sketchy that SHE is afraid to release any details of them. Yes, we should know if SHE is funded by Russian money funneled through the CLINTON FOUNDATION.

Michael K said...

" It's too bad that Deutsche Bank hasn't denied the story itself. Sad!"

The lefty authority doesn't mention that DB has denied the a subpoena for Trump's records has been received.

Nice work lefty. Are you taking over for Inga ?

Comanche Voter said...

Mueller and his team stink like a fresh wind off a pig farm sewage lagoon.

Bruce Hayden said...

Powerline:
WHAT SHOULD BE DONE ABOUT MUELLER’S BIASED STAFF?
Are there any liberal Washington D.C. lawyers who don’t despise President Trump. Yeah, I’m sure there are some. I’m just not acquainted with them. In fact, every liberal I know in Washington (lawyer or not) hates or strongly dislikes Trump. Nor are they shy about saying so.

That’s a problem because Robert Mueller’s team is full of liberal lawyers from Washington (or who have spent considerable time here). We know they are liberal because they contributed to the campaigns of Hillary Clinton and/or Barack Obama. Conceivably some contributed to Hillary not because they are liberal but because they can’t stand Trump. If so, that raises the problem of anti-Trump bias even more acutely.

It happens that Andrew Weissmann, Mueller’s right-hand man, revealed his membership in the anti-Trump resistance in an email to Sally Yates, then the lead resister. It also happens that Peter Strzok, then a member Mueller’s team, revealed his anti-Trump animus in email exchanges with his lover Lisa Page. Page was also a member of Mueller’s team and likely shared Strzok’s view of Trump.

Weissmann and Strzok are surely the tip of the iceberg. In a town where many conservatives consider Trump hateful and/or corrupt, we can be certain that anti-Trump bias runs deep among Mueller’s Clinton and Obama supporting staffers.

A biased criminal investigation of anyone is unacceptable. A biased criminal investigation of the U.S. president is intolerable.

How often do we hear that only banana republics investigate political losers (e.g., Mrs. Clinton)? I’m pretty sure I’ve said it myself.

We investigate political winners because it’s important to ensure that those who hold office don’t abuse the public trust. But to conduct ideologically biased investigations of political winners that place them in jeopardy of being removed from office is most assuredly the stuff of banana republics.

What to do? I concur with a friend who says that Rod Rosenstein should direct Mueller to fire everyone on his staff who has made a political contribution or otherwise could be reasonably thought to be a partisan. If Mueller refuses, as he certainly would, Rosenstein should fire Mueller.

Michael said...

Birkel

No, not as it could possibly pertain to the topic at hand . Perhaps you will fill me in.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Every time someone brings up Clinton in a discussion of Trump you know that they have no rational argument, just partisan animus.

mockturtle said...

And we know, ARM, that you are notably devoid of any partisan animus.

Darrell said...

Every time ARM opens his mouth, he shows partisan animus. Just to be clear.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

AReasonableMan said...Because Trump reneged on his promise to release his tax returns, quelle surprise, a majority of people will be OK with finding out about his finances in this manner. He lied directly to the American public.

"A winning politician lied so lots of us are OK with an unaccountable part of the State using State law enforcement power to "get" that politician."
Yeah, that standard can't possibly come back and bite you in the ass!
You "deep state" supporters have got to be either the most myopic or the most cynical people I've ever come across. Maybe both.
Either you can't see how destroying norms and restrictions on your own power will one day harm you (and how anyone can fail to grasp that AFTER the Trump win is beyond me) or you've all decided "everything's rigged, and there is no such thing as law/rule of law anyway so we might as well do whatever it takes to get ahead now."
It really is something to behold.

Earnest Prole said...

As I've said before, if a corrupt prosecutor can't wander through Trump's finances and find hundreds of "crimes," he belongs in another line of work.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

ARM still covering for the forcible rapist, I see. Surprising!

Bad Lieutenant said...

AReasonableMan said...
Every time I post, you know that I have no rational argument, just partisan animus.


FIFY

Michael K said...

"Because Trump reneged on his promise to release his tax returns,"

I don;t recall that. I do recall something about releasing them when the audits are done. I was audited for ten years a=straight and my income was a small fraction to Trumps.

Investment advisor ARM knows better, of course.

Didn't ARM's favorite TV host, Mad Cow get a hold of an old tax return and he had paid $37 million in taxes ?

Kevin said...

What clicks — what hopeful yearning clicks — he brought to Bloomberg.

What comments -- what hopeful yearning comments -- he brought to Althouse's blog.

Kevin said...

It is called the "Appearance of Impropriety".

They were assured the evidence would be so vast, the opponent so clownishly incompetent, and the nation so eternally grateful, that appearances would be so easily branded as partisan sour grapes.