Althouse: The NYT "Daily" podcast traps Jerry Nadler into an implicit confession that his investigation into Trump is biased and political.

March 12, 2019

The NYT "Daily" podcast traps Jerry Nadler into an implicit confession that his investigation into Trump is biased and political.

I'm listening to today's episode of the NYT "Daily" podcast, which is the 3rd part in a series about what to expect from the Mueller report. It's an interview with Representative Jerry Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which is investigating President Trump and where an effort to impeach Trump would begin.

The NYT interviewer is the host of the "Daily" podcast, Michael Barbaro, and, at about 8 minutes into the conversation, he traps Nadler with this stunning question: "You said that you believed the President obstructed justice, and I wonder why you would... say that publicly before the release of the Mueller report? What's the value in doing that? Does it not kind of inherently portray whatever investigation..."

Those 2 ellipses are places where Nadler interrupts. On the second interruption, I believe Barbaro was about to say that the Judiciary Committee is going to look political and biased.

Nadler, seems to anticipate that accusation, and he says says, "Well, I believe in answering questions honestly. I was asked a question." There follows a snorty little laugh. The laugh might mean: Hey, it's your fault, Barbaro, for asking me. Or it might mean: Oh, I get how you boxed me in, Barbaro, you rascal.

Barbaro observes that when Nadler was asked if he thought Trump was guilty of obstruction of justice, he could have just said "Let's wait until the Mueller report comes out." That wouldn't have been dishonest. Nadler responds, "Well, maybe I should have." Which I interpret to mean: Yeah, I wish I'd thought of that.

Listen for yourself, and check my interpretation. Don't miss the snorty little laugh after he asserts "I believe in answering questions honestly." To my ear, it's creepy and villainous.

63 comments:

Michael K said...: Nadler gave the game away when he accidentally said "Steal the election."

“Before you impeach somebody, you have to persuade the American public that it ought to happen. You have to persuade enough of the opposition party voters or the Trump voters that you are not just trying to … that you’re not just trying to steal the last ele — to reverse the results of the last election,” he corrected himself.; 3/12/19, 9:38 AM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: I don't get the problem. I don't think that there is any public evidence of obstruction of justice, and I don't think there will be any in the Mueller report, because obstruction of justice did not occur.

But if someone does believe that there is already public evidence of obstruction of justice, why would they need to wait for the Mueller report to say so?; 3/12/19, 9:39 AM
Nonapod said...: snorty little creepy villainous

All good descriptors for old `Nads.

Anyone with half a brain who is being remotely honest knows full well the whole bloody thing is purely political at this point. It's about depressing Trumps approval among his base obviously. Impeachment may not be possible realistically, but they're hoping the can still bring him down enough so they can get one of these hot new socialists in for 2020.; 3/12/19, 9:42 AM
Bob Boyd said...: Don't miss the snorty little laugh after he asserts "I believe in answering questions honestly."

Nadler couldn't say it with a straight face.; 3/12/19, 9:42 AM
Sally327 said...: I don't think he really needed to be "trapped" into an admission that the goal is to get rid of Trump, which some might considered biased and political but only, of course, in a good way. It's not like the questioner was all that smooth.

If Trump gets impeached at least that would be via a lawful, constitutional process whatever the motives might be. Sometimes I wonder what the Democrats would do to get their way if they could actually control those with guns in this country. They've got the lawyers and the money, they just don't have the guns.; 3/12/19, 9:46 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: “Creepy and villainous” describes an awful lot of the cast of DC Follies but Nadler is an especially greasy and unctuous player on that stage.; 3/12/19, 9:46 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: The whole Democrat playbook was/is to endlessly investigate Trump and his allies to: (1) hound him out of office, (2) impeach him or (3) politically damage his reelection chances in 2020.

But there's no underlying crimes. For Nancy and the few sane Dems, the sickening realization is that Mueller has nothing on Trump, because there's nothing to get. Nailing Manafort for stuff unrelated to the campaign, nailing Flynn and Papadopoulos for process crimes, nailing 13 Russan internet trolls who will never set foot into a US courtroom, are simply Plans B, C, D, when you miss the original Plan A.

So, if the economy stays solid enabling Trump to squeak by with another win, it's gonna be fun to call out the Dems for their ridiculous over-reaching that inadvertently helped push Trump to victory.; 3/12/19, 9:47 AM
gahrie said...: You know what is creepy and villainous? Lying about rape to keep a man off of the Supreme Court. You know what else is creepy and villainous? Disrespecting a young boy, invading his personal space, and then accusing him of doing that to you on the internet.; 3/12/19, 9:50 AM
glenn said...: It’s creepy and villainous because Jerry Nadler is a creepy little villain. Too bad the Times isn’t a real newspaper or guys like Jerr would have a lot of trouble getting elected in the first place.; 3/12/19, 9:54 AM
Gk1 said...: Trump is truly blessed to have dumbfucks like Schiff and Nadler running their "investigations" Its become clear from what I see on the cable shows they can't think on their feet and are easy prey if the media just does the absolute minimal of following up with a real question.; 3/12/19, 9:57 AM
Unknown said...: Fat Jerry is a ton of fun; 3/12/19, 10:00 AM
Michael Fitzgerald said...: "it's creepy and villainous"
Althouse will occasionally bump her nose up against the nature of Democrat party members, and a cruelly neutral observation might escape that could lead the observer to think, By Jove, I think she's got it...; 3/12/19, 10:02 AM
Otto said...: Like newman on the seinfeld show. In fact he is physically (obese) similar to newman; 3/12/19, 10:02 AM
Fernandinande said...: If "nadler" is not a dirty word, it should be.; 3/12/19, 10:03 AM
SDaly said...: Trump is truly blessed to have dumbfucks like Schiff and Nadler running their "investigations" Its become clear from what I see on the cable shows they can't think on their feet and are easy prey if the media just does the absolute minimal of following up with a real question.

Then Schiff and Nadler are completely safe.; 3/12/19, 10:06 AM
Bob Boyd said...: Scott Adams has taken to calling Nadler "Old Nads".; 3/12/19, 10:07 AM
JMS said...: Yes, it was clear from Face the Nation Sunday that the democrats have a new narrative--and the networks, the NYT, WaPo and Time are happily going along. Democrats aren’t talking about collusion anymore; it’s obstruction of justice now. And there’s this, from Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor, in the Mar. 11 issue of Time:

“…The word collusion appears nowhere in the order authorizing Mueller’s investigation. There is not even a relevant crime called ‘collusion.’ What Mueller is tasked with is investigating ‘any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with’ the Trump campaign. If ‘links and/or coordination’ also don’t sound like crimes, that’s because they aren’t. While Mueller is directed to charge and prosecute crimes he discovers, his is primarily a counterintelligence investigation — not a criminal one — the purpose of which is to identify threats to our national security, potentially including the President of the United States and his associates….. As the Mueller investigation ends and, ideally, becomes public, it is an opportunity to refocus on what has actually happened: Trump campaign officials have committed crimes, the President has obstructed justice in plain sight, and Trump has been implicated in breaking campaign-finance law. At last, we can address reality instead of what may be fantasy.”

http://time.com/5540879/trump-mueller-report-investigation-collusion/; 3/12/19, 10:09 AM
Otto said...: I read that Mueller is going to indict Trump family members and even the president .; 3/12/19, 10:23 AM
tcrosse said...: i read that Snow White was awakened from her long slumber by a kiss from Prince Charming.; 3/12/19, 10:26 AM
jaydub said...: There is no one in any leadership position in the Democrat party that believes Trump colluded with Russia to affect the 2016 election. That's just the angle they were given to use against him by the Clinton campaign with the Steele report. Just as the senior counter intelligence investigator for the FBI knew there was "no there there" before he joined the Mueller investigation, every other person involved knew there was nothing there because they knew it had all been made up for purposes of political opposition. The intent of the Democrats was to "resist" Trump in every way possible, to deny him appointees to his cabinet departments, to slander and fight him at home and abroad, and to make governing impossible. Nadler was a part of this, and he knows that Mueller is going to find nothing, hence he needs to come up with some new angles to keep the disruption going through the next election. None of this is going to change until the day Trump leaves office, whenever that may be. The Democrats are not the loyal opposition of former days, and it's disingenuous to think of anything the Democrats are doing is being done in good faith. They are hyper partisans who are willing to severely damage the country for political purposes. I sort of resent your linking these articles and setting them up for discussion as if the Democrats were operating in anything other than sedition mode. You are smarter than that.; 3/12/19, 10:34 AM
Anonymous said...: I can hear Nadler's cheering section now: "Go Nads!"

(I was once on a softball team called The Nads.); 3/12/19, 10:37 AM
narayanan said...: St. Louis said...

I can hear Nadler's cheering section now: "Go Nads!"

(I was once on a softball team called The Nads.)

"Nads can't see his Go-Nads" FIFY; 3/12/19, 10:42 AM
Seeing Red said...: It’s Nadler. He lies. Always has.; 3/12/19, 10:45 AM
Francisco D said...: Chuckles is really becoming tiresome.

Drago is waiting to deliver the usually well deserved punishment.

However, I am finding it all increasingly meaningless and boring.; 3/12/19, 10:45 AM
Skeptical Voter said...: Oh come on Chuckles. Nadler is the sort of mindless ideologue moron who gives all the other ideologues a bad name. I think it is accurate to repeat that Nadler said Trump "obstructed justice when he said that the Mueller investigation by saying it was a witch hunt". In fact Nadler said that such obstruction of justice occurred 1,100 times.

Well first of all, expressing an opinion that the Mueller investigation was a "witch hunt" does not constitute obstruction of justice. Team Mueller kept right on plowing away and Trump's expression of opinion mattered not a fig to them, nor did it hinder the team's effort. So saying that Trump did that 1,100 times means that Nads was wrong --1,100 times. I'd say that achieving that goal in just a few words is an impressive stat--for a moron.

It's pointless to think about this clown and call him Nads---when what you really want is for Nads to go away. He comes from a safe district in New York City, and like herpes he will never go away.; 3/12/19, 10:47 AM
Seeing Red said...: “Monstrous” lies.

I didn’t have sex with that woman.

Obamacare was not only a lie it cost Us tens of billions or more.; 3/12/19, 10:48 AM
Mike Sylwester said...: Mueller vs Barr, and the battle to indict Trump

[quote]

... Several sources tell Cockburn that the Special Counsel has indeed completed his report. It is said to recommend indicting three of President Trump’s children – Don junior, Ivanka and Eric – as well as his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The Attorney General, William Barr, is said to have ‘silently assented’ to this.

It’s also claimed that Mueller wants President Trump himself to be indicted. Barr is said to oppose this. The two men met on Friday but apparently could not agree and this was the reason for the delay in any announcement from the DoJ. At least this is what the sources say. ...

If this is really the debate going on in the Attorney General’s office, it’s no wonder there’s a delay. As one veteran of Washington tells Cockburn: ‘There is a strange silence around town. Like the weird calm before a major hurricane.’ Weather reports – like journalists’ predictions – are notoriously unreliable but there’s still reason to think that the coming weeks will be a testing time in the history of the Republic.

[end quote]

I assume that President Trump is getting ready to declassify documents massively. He will be able to drag the US Intelligence Community through the mud during the next two years, showing how the RussiaGate hoax was concocted and developed in order to prevent and frustrate his Presidency.

Robert "The FBI Whitewasher" Mueller is such a despicable person that he indeed might recklessly poison our country's political situation for the next decade.; 3/12/19, 11:05 AM
nob490 said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/12/19, 11:10 AM
Mike Sylwester said...: Chuck at 10:27 AM
I am glad that all of the investigations are ongoing and being conducted by credible, capable, lawyers with expertise in public corruption.

Donald Trump won the Presidential election in 2016. Let him govern.

Don't begin setting bad precedents. Do you really want our political system to work like this for the indefinite future?

Do you think that the vicious, personal harassment that you advocate now will not be applied similarly to future Presidents? Is this your idea of how transfers of Presidential power should be accepted and respected?

Do you think that the Clinton family -- including Chelsea -- should be subjected likewise to relentless, endless persecution?

Trump serves a mere four years -- more than half-way done now -- and then he has to run for re-election. In the meantime, respect your elected President.; 3/12/19, 11:13 AM
hiawatha biscayne said...: Jerry "the nads" Nadler - I remember seeing him on tv a couple years back. He looked like he weighed about 600 pounds. I can't remember seeing a fat person who was so fat they looked like they were in danger of exploding. Guy had to have had a 50" shirt collar. At least. He's still fat, but someone must've only let him have water and air for the past year.; 3/12/19, 11:13 AM
tommyesq said...: It seems to me that Nadler was saying that, when he made the "evidence of obstruction of justice" statement, it was in response to a question that he had been asked, not to say that it was in response to questions Barbaro was asking during the podcast. Also, he did not say that he believed Trump obstructed justice, only that there was evidence to suggest that Trump had done so.

This is not to say that Nadler's intentions are pure, or that he has not already made up his mind on the issue, but it seems to be trying to squeeze too much out of what was actually said.; 3/12/19, 11:24 AM
tommyesq said...: Barbaro is the one who stated that Nadler had said that he believed that Trump obstructed justice, not Nadler - although in listening again, Nadler seems more to be trying to clarify his previous statement as opposed to deny having said it. Would prefer to see the transcript of the prior question and answer in which Nadler made the statement.; 3/12/19, 11:27 AM
Chuck said...: Seeing Red said...
“Monstrous” lies.

I didn’t have sex with that woman.
"Did you know about the $130,000 payment, to Stormy Daniels?" "No." "Do you know where the money came from?" "No; you'll have to ask Michael."

Obamacare was not only a lie it cost Us tens of billions or more.
“We’re going to have insurance for everybody... There was a philosophy in some circles that if you can’t pay for it, you don’t get it. That’s not going to happen with us.”
“I was the first & only potential GOP candidate to state there will be no cuts to Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid”
“I am going to take care of everybody … Everybody’s going to be taken care of much better than they’re taken care of now.”
“Make no mistake about it... make no mistake. I think most importantly, yes, premiums will be coming down. Yes, deductibles will be coming down.”
"I know that we're all going to make a deal on healthcare; that's such an easy one. So I have no doubt that that's going to happen very quickly. I think it will, actually; I think it's going to happen. Because we've all been promising, Democrat, Republican; we've all been promising that to the American people. So I think a lot of good things are going to be happening.
"Nobody knew health care could be so complicated."; 3/12/19, 11:32 AM
Michael K said...: nailing 13 Russian internet trolls who will never set foot into a US courtroom,

There is an interesting connection between this and The Skripal poisoning in Britain.

the reason why the Kremlin had to deal with Skripal was much more serious than the World Cup and Putin's guaranteed re-election combined.

It had to be so serious that two GRU colonels — Alexander Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin — were sent to Salisbury (perhaps they also had accomplices). Mishkin is a military doctor who knew perfectly well that the A-234 substance given to him was a unitary (that is, ready-to-use) chemical weapon (as opposed to its binary version, better known as "Novichok").

At the time when Pablo Miller was recruiting spies for Great Britain, Christopher Steele was the head of MI6 in Moscow. After returning to London and retiring in 2009, Christopher Steele founded private intelligence corporation "Orbis Business Intelligence." Allegedly, Pablo Miller, a former recruiter, curator, and now one of Skripal's friends and neighbors, got a job at Orbis.

Therefore, when Christopher Steele received an order for fabrication of the "dossier" on Trump, the fate of an unsuspecting and innocent Skripal was sealed.

Interesting theory,; 3/12/19, 11:40 AM
Seeing Red said...: I didn’t have sex with that woman.
"Did you know about the $130,000 payment, to Stormy Daniels?" "No." "Do you know where the money came from?" "No; you'll have to ask Michael."

Was he president? Was it in MY OFFICE?

That situation was truly between Trump and Melanie. Private life.; 3/12/19, 11:46 AM
Earnest Prole said...: Accusing a politician of being political and biased is like accusing water of being wet.; 3/12/19, 11:51 AM
Seeing Red said...: You actually believe politicians about SS Medicare and Medicaid not being touched? Lololol

I’m from Illinois Chuck. Look up what happened to the chairman of Ways and Means Rostenkowski in the 80s. He had elderly as hood ornaments.

Lockbox!; 3/12/19, 11:52 AM
Seeing Red said...: Via Insty:

...TDIP was founded on Jan. 31, 2017, by Daniel Jones, a consultant who worked for Feinstein, a California Democrat, when she controlled the Senate Intelligence Committee. Jones has disclosed to the FBI that he hired Fusion GPS and Steele, the author of the anti-Trump dossier, to continue an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.”...

What did Diane know and when did she know it?; 3/12/19, 11:57 AM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: "Those 2 ellipses are places where Nadler interrupts."

Now Althouse is offering "ellipses" as evidence, definitely a sign of advanced TDDS.; 3/12/19, 11:59 AM
Mike Sylwester said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/12/19, 12:11 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: Michael K at 11:40 AM
Alexander Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin — were sent to Salisbury

Craig Murray has written an interesting article about this trip to Salisbury.

Murray argues that Chepiga and Miskhkin told the truth about their trip's purpose, which indeed was to see the sights at Salisbury and at Stonehenge. As they said, their trip really was disrupted by a large snowstorm.

Read the readers' comments that follow Murray's article. There is interesting speculation that Chepiga and Mishkin were homosexual lovers who went on the trip to spend time secretly together.

In general, Murray's blog provides a lot of information and criticism about the Britain's official story about the Skripal incident.; 3/12/19, 12:13 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: Chuck at 10:27 AM
I also think that "there is some evidence that Trump committed obstruction."

The context was that the FBI was investigating the Russia-related activities of four people associated with the Trump campaign:

* George Papadopoulos

* Carter Page

* Michael Flynn

* Paul Manafort

Although this investigation began three or more years ago, none of these four people have been charged with any Russia-related activities.

These investigations were concocted in order to give Trump-haters in the FBI plausible justifications to collect all past, present and future communications with the Trump campaign. The Trump-haters in the FBI intended to use information from those communications to cause trouble for Trump and his campaign.

Because of the concocted investigation of those four people, Jess Sessions was compelled to recuse himself from the FBI's continuing "investigation".

There never has been any real evidence that those four were involved with Russians in any improper manner. All the "evidence" was concocted.

------

For example, George Papadopoulos, a consultant specializing in eastern-Mediterranean petroleum issues, was set up by the FBI to become a supposed expert on Russian meddling in the US election. Papadopoulos was invited to meet with Joseph Mifsud, who mentioned that Russian Intelligence had dirt on Hillary Clinton. Then Papadopoulos was invited to meet with Alexander Downer, who asked him whether he had heard about the Russians having any dirt on Clinton.

That is one example from this FBI "investigation" that Sessions had to recuse himself from. This is the "investigation" that Trump supposedly obstructed.

This all is being covered up by Robert "The FBI Whitewasher" Mueller.

======

Instead of investigating this FBI abuse of power, however, many people prefer to investigate Trump's business activities that happened ten or more years ago.

I myself prefer that the public be informed about how this RussiaGate hoax was concocted and developed within the FBI and the rest of the US Intelligence Community. I think that that information is much more important.; 3/12/19, 12:34 PM
tim maguire said...: Sally327 said...Sometimes I wonder what the Democrats would do to get their way if they could actually control those with guns in this country. They've got the lawyers and the money, they just don't have the guns.

Many of them seem to think the military will act as their guns.; 3/12/19, 12:35 PM
Charlie Currie said...: Rep. Doug Collins has just released the transcripts of Lisa Page's congressional testimony.; 3/12/19, 12:41 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: I don't find the story that the AG has approved Mueller indicting Trump's oldest three children, plus Kushner, to be credible. The reports appear to be third level hearsay - essentially from people who weren't in the room maybe hearing something from someone in the room, who heard something from someone at the table. Why would the newly confirmed AG approve that? After all, the Obama White House told AG Lynch that Crooked Hillary was innocent, and Lynch, and her trusty hatchet lady DAG Sally Yate,s proceeded to deny the FBI any DoJ tools that they might need to investigate Clinton, including access to a grand jury and obtaining search warrants. Indicting the three kids plus the son in law, without a lot more evidence of collusion than they have dug up so far, would cross a major line. AG Barr is supposed to be a smart guy. That wouldn't be smart. And ask yourself why Mueller and hit coterie of rabid Dem partisan prosecutors would have not taken these indictments to the pliable and likely compromised Rosenstein, but rather sat on them until AG Barr has been confirmed, and Rosenstein removed from overseeing the case. This theory essentially requires that the AG is planning on going to open war with his boss shortly after having been confirmed. Which are the reasons that I don't find the rumor credible, but rather probably the grasping of straws as the Mueller investigation shuts down without having really come that close to Darth Trump.; 3/12/19, 12:41 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: Bruce, I hope you are right.

If, however, Mueller indicts President Trump's children, then I look forward to a massive declassification of documents and to DOJ/FBI being dragged through the mud for the next two years. We will learn a lot about how the RussiaGate hoax was concocted and developed.

Some people might think that Robert "The FBI Whitewasher" Mueller would not want to open that can of worms, but I think he is despicable enough to do so.; 3/12/19, 12:50 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: If Robert "The FBI Whitewasher" Mueller indicts President Trump's children and then Trump retaliates by declassifying documents massively about the RussiaGate hoax, then I hope the public eventually will obtain some insights about the FBI's collection of Trump-related communications of George Papadopoulos, Carter Page, Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort.

I want to know about the communications that the FBI collected and studied.

* Whose communications (beyond those four people) were collected?

* Who in the FBI collected and studied those communications?

* Did those FBI officials have strong opinions about Trump?

* What did those FBI officials do with those communications?

* Are those four people's communication still being collected?

* If not, then when the collection of their communications end?

We have not yet begun to even scratch the surface of this abusive, partisan collection of communications of US citizens for political purposes.

======

Instead, though, many people prefer to investigate endlessly Trump's business activities that happened many years ago.; 3/12/19, 12:59 PM
Bob Boyd said...: I think Pelosi and Schiff saying they won't impeach unless it's something very serious is just a way to portray themselves as reasonable and moderate and to be able, when the time comes, to claim that whatever they have is very serious.; 3/12/19, 1:35 PM
nob490 said...: Chuck, do you really believe that Trump is a criminal? Really? You may think him unqualified, or incompetent, and that's fine. But he has not lied any more "monstrously" than any other president (except for Jimmy Carter, perhaps).

Why not just admit that you don't like him, and leave off with the criminality stuff until it is proven. It is tiresome.

It's like the doomsday people who keep moving the end of the world date.; 3/12/19, 1:36 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: "If, however, Mueller indicts President Trump's children, then I look forward to a massive declassification of documents and to DOJ/FBI being dragged through the mud for the next two years. We will learn a lot about how the RussiaGate hoax was concocted and developed."

I agree. Trump has essentially said that, while he has every legal right to declassify everything whenever he wants, tactically he thinks that it is better to hold his fire at the present time, saving it for a time when he needs it. Mueller's problem here is that the pass off from the DoJ and FBI to his investigation was not clean. Part of this is that a couple of his investigators were involved with Steele starting in probably August of 2016, several months before the election. Lead prosecutor Andrew Weissman, who was then working for (then) AAG/ADAG Bruce Ohr in Organized Crimes, met with Steele, as well as Simpson, when Ohr was serving as a conduit between them and the FBI, and those contacts continued even after they moved to the Mueller investigation team. But by then, Fusion GPS was also being funded, to a tune of better than $2 million by shady billionaire Dem activists. Mueller, if he were really smart, and wanted his investigation to appear legitimate, would have tried hard to separate his investigation from Steele and Fusion. He didn't, which means that if Trump declassifies everything, and the coordination between Clinton and the FBI against Trump becomes undeniablely obvious, Mueller's investigation will also be severely tarnished.

Thinking about these connections, I was thinking that maybe, just maybe, the reason that Mueller/Weissman invaded Cohen's office and blew attorney/client privilege sky high, involved the disclosure in the Steele Dossier that Cohen had traveled to Prague to meet with the Russians for Trump, or some such thing. Turns out that this wasn't explosive evidence that Trump was colluding with the Russians, but rather implicated Fusion with probably having had illegal access to FISA Title VII searching of NSA databases, where it is likely that it was a different Michael Cohen who went to Prague. Even recently we have heard from those trying to destroy Trump that Cohen had gone to Prague, when there is still no evidence that he ever did, and evidence that he did not. My guess is that that was the reason for the extremely risky invasion of Cohen's office, to find the smoking gun that showed him going to Prague, thus corroborating, and no longer discrediting, the Steele Dossier. Mueller's investigators found no such evidence, but plenty of other incriminating evidence, enough to get Cohen convicted.; 3/12/19, 1:38 PM
Chuck said...: nob490 said...
Chuck, do you really believe that Trump is a criminal? Really? You may think him unqualified, or incompetent, and that's fine. But he has not lied any more "monstrously" than any other president (except for Jimmy Carter, perhaps).

Why not just admit that you don't like him, and leave off with the criminality stuff until it is proven. It is tiresome.

It's like the doomsday people who keep moving the end of the world date.

Huh?!?!

What I wrote earlier on this page was that, " I know that I do not have enough evidence to make a presumption or a judgment about Trump's guilt, or whether he should be charged, or whether he should be impeached or removed."

So I didn't say that I believed that Trump was a criminal. I said I did not have enough evidence to make that presumption. How did you get that so perfectly wrong?

As for Trump's lies compared to other presidents, I say to you respectfully that we won't sway each other and a side-debate on that will be too long and too involved. I'd be happy to have that argument with you, but this is not the place.

As for you asking me to admit that I don't like Trump; done! I don't like Trump. I hate Trump personally, and I wish him a speedy, bad end in public life. I am glad that he's been there to nominate a bunch of really great federal judges. But that's about all. I think he's done lasting damage to the Republican Party and I look forward to getting back to the hard work of repairing the Trump damage.

As for criminal procedure, Trump MUST enjoy, as a matter of law, a presumption of innocence. Like any other person, if and when they are criminally accused. That is the law, and it doesn't change for Donald Trump.

And as a matter of politics, I will be horrified if anyone tries to go after Trump on criminal charges that are anything less than a slam-dunk. I don't want a "Martyr Trump." Many times on Althouse comments pages, I have written that I only want Trump to be charged with crimes wherein the evidence is so strong that Sean Hannity will have to admit Trump's guilt.

Moreover, I have never seen much evidence that leads me to any strong belief that Donald Trump somehow "colluded" with Russians to win the 2016 election. It may have happened; but I have real doubts and I have seen almost no supporting evidence of anything that we could call "collusion."

But my gut tells me that Trump is guilty of a bunch of other crap. Bank fraud, insurance fraud, tax fraud, election law violations, etc., etc. Again, however; I await real evidence. I am not presuming Trump's guilt. I am only rooting for the investigations themselves.; 3/12/19, 2:09 PM
Earnest Prole said...: I don't find the story that the AG has approved Mueller indicting Trump's oldest three children, plus Kushner, to be credible.

My thoughts as well. I’ve seen nothing implicating Ivanka in anything.; 3/12/19, 2:20 PM
nob490 said...: Chuck -- well, you are right, you didn't say that you thought he was a criminal. I was wrong. Perhaps it is your open rooting for something criminal to be found against him that had me confused.

And I agree that neither of us will be swayed -- I don't think anyone ever has been, on any blog in the 30 years since Al Gore invented the internet.; 3/12/19, 2:24 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: "Moreover, I have never seen much evidence that leads me to any strong belief that Donald Trump somehow "colluded" with Russians to win the 2016 election. It may have happened; but I have real doubts and I have seen almost no supporting evidence of anything that we could call "collusion."

Interesting article suggesting that it was the Clinton campaign that was colluding with Russian intelligence, as well as British intelligence (plus CIA, etc) to defeat Trump, and that Mueller's indictment of Russian programmers triggered the assassination attempt on a former Russian spy now living in the UK, and his daughter, in order to divert attention from their role in helping to fabricate the fake Steele Dossier. See:
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/03/the_trump_dossier_and_the_poisoning_of_sergei_skripal.html

"But my gut tells me that Trump is guilty of a bunch of other crap. Bank fraud, insurance fraud, tax fraud, election law violations, etc., etc. Again, however; I await real evidence. I am not presuming Trump's guilt. I am only rooting for the investigations themselves."

But were you as zeleous in your beliefs that Obama and Crooked Hillary probably were a lot more blatant in their election law violations, and that the Clintons very likely engaged in massive charity fraud, as well as selling American foreign policy for cash?; 3/12/19, 2:27 PM
Chuck said...: This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.; 3/12/19, 2:48 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: From the Daily Caller: DARK MONEY ORG GAVE $2 MILLION TO GROUP WORKING WITH FUSION GPS, STEELE

*A dark money group based in California contributed $2 million to The Democracy Integrity Project, the organization that has contracted with Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele to investigate President Donald Trump.
*The Democracy Integrity Project’s founder, a former staffer for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, has acknowledged to the FBI that the group provides information to the press, lawmakers and investigators.
*Fund for a Better Future is the second Democracy Project donor to have been identified. George Soros gave $1 million to the group.

A dark money group with links to several high-profile liberal activists contributed $2 million to The Democracy Integrity Project, an organization founded by a former Dianne Feinstein staffer that has contracted with Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele to investigate President Donald Trump.

Notably, the relation between the Mueller team and Fusion/Steele continued well into the time when the "research" was being funded by Soros, et al.; 3/12/19, 2:59 PM
CWJ said...: "That is a singularly useless attack on me."

I agree. ... Mostly because what you quoted isn't an attack. It's a question regarding illegality, and a reasonable one at that. It has nothing to do with for whom you voted or supported.; 3/12/19, 3:08 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: My own comment at 12:34 PM
For example, George Papadopoulos, a consultant specializing in eastern-Mediterranean petroleum issues, was set up by the FBI to become a supposed expert on Russian meddling in the US election. Papadopoulos was invited to meet with Joseph Mifsud, who mentioned that Russian Intelligence had dirt on Hillary Clinton. Then Papadopoulos was invited to meet with Alexander Downer, who asked him whether he had heard about the Russians having any dirt on Clinton.

Let's start by revealing who initiated the persecution of Papadopoulos. Who told him to travel to Rome to meet with Mifsud.

He says he was told to go there by Arvinder Sambei, the FBI's legal counsel in the United Kingdom. Is that true?; 3/12/19, 3:33 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: he's known as "Nadless" by his colleagues; 3/12/19, 3:53 PM
Gospace said...: Mike Sylwester said...
Mueller vs Barr, and the battle to indict Trump

[quote]

... Several sources tell Cockburn that the Special Counsel has indeed completed his report. It is said to recommend indicting three of President Trump’s children – Don junior, Ivanka and Eric – as well as his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The Attorney General, William Barr, is said to have ‘silently assented’ to this.

I don't think the Democrats understand just what a shitstorm will be unleashed if Trump or any of his family members are indicted for anything NOT directly related to what Mueller was tasked to investigate- Russian collusion.

It would be far easier for him to say of any matters he may have uncovered the other famous saying: No reasonable prosecutor.....; 3/12/19, 4:23 PM
narciso said...: facebook blocked chuck ross for pointing that out,

the thing about the two 'in bruges' shooters, is they are supposed to be spetznaz, and they fail to kill the main target, and just incidental people in the area,; 3/12/19, 5:57 PM
narciso said...: the bigger one, looks like jon Favreau, the director of iron man, steve McIntyre, is particular scathing about that whole affair,; 3/12/19, 6:00 PM
Unknown said...: "communications" are continuously collected and archived raw 24/7 365 ...
https://themarketswork dot com/2018/04/05/the-uncovering-mike-rogers-investigation-section-702-fisa-abuse-the-fbi/; 3/13/19, 12:50 AM