, , ,

How DOJ Worked Overtime to Avoid Connecting the Dots in the Whistleblower Complaint

62 Comments
/
/
emptywheel
Criminal Division head Brian Benczkowski is scrambling to claim he didn't know that Rudy Giuliani was a suspected criminal when he took a meeting with him to discuss an accused criminal he represents. If that's true, though, it's a confession that he didn't investigate the whistleblower complaint, which would have made clear Trump, too, was involved in those suspected crimes.
Read more →
, , ,

Rudy's Disinformation Campaign Ties Directly with Key Milestones in the Mueller Investigation

145 Comments
/
/
emptywheel
In addition to all the circumstantial evidence suggesting the Ukraine scandal is just a continuation of the efforts Paul Manafort made to get Trump elected, there are two temporal connections between the Mueller investigation and the effort to sow disinformation in time for 2020.
Read more →
, ,

The Guy Who Defended Roger Stone's Campaign Finance Shenanigans Did Not Testify to the Grand Jury

28 Comments
/
/
emptywheel
There are lots of possible reasons to explain why Don McGahn never testified before the Grand Jury, most non-incriminating. But it's also possible he refused to testify regarding the campaign-finance work he did for Roger Stone and others.
Read more →
,

BREAKING! George Papadopoulos Says FBI Should Have Surveilled Him MORE Than They Did

29 Comments
/
/
emptywheel
After complaining for years that the FBI surveilled him too much, George Papadopoulos is now complaining that they didn't surveil him enough.
Read more →
, ,

Krewe du Boo Trash Talk

97 Comments
/
/
bmaz
Okay, another late start to Trash. Now if you have not heard, there is some bad bongos in Nawlins. The Hard Rock Hotel (not just a restaurant, this thing was to be huge), has collapsed in what will be an insanely huge liability claim for about…
Read more →
, ,

Will Fox News Ask Its Commentators to Disclose Their Mobbed Up Clients?

54 Comments
/
/
emptywheel
Given Fox News' past standards on the significance of lawyers' clients, Joe DiGenova and Victoria Toensing should really be disclosing that one of their clients has a tie to the Russian mob.
Read more →
,

The Parnas Family Wire Transfers Released In The Pues Lawsuit Reveal More Than You Think

41 Comments
/
/
Jim White
Was Victor Imber paid just over $3500 by Svetlana Parnas for the use of his address in the scam to swap Global Energy Producers for Aaron Investments I, LLC in the large contribution to America First Action PAC in May of 2018?
Read more →
,

A World We Built to Burn

20 Comments
/
/
Quinn Norton
It's the windy end of a hot summer in California right now, and everything wants to burn. This year, like every year, fall winds jostle and tug a dry landscape of golden grasses and scrubland up against forests whose floors are piled with…
Read more →
,

Surveillance Reform Can No Longer Ignore EO 12333

6 Comments
/
/
emptywheel
Yesterday, a bunch of civil liberties groups issued a letter calling for FISA 702 reform as part of the Section 215 reauthorization this year. I agree that the reauthorization this year should address the problems with 702 that weren't addressed…
Read more →
, , ,

Mick Mulvaney Confesses OMB and DOD Are Withholding Evidence of a Crime from Congress

160 Comments
/
/
emptywheel
Amid all the other crazy disclosures in his press conference today, Mick Mulvaney admitted that the White House didn't have a very very good reason to ignore the will of Congress in releasing security funds to Ukraine. Yet, OMB and DOD are refusing to tell Congress why it did so, in clear violation of the law.
Read more →

Sorting Out The Timeline For Lev Parnas And Program Trading Corp.

19 Comments
/
/
Jim White
Florida and FINRA records indicate Lev Parnas joined Program Trading Corp. late in 1998, rather than at its founding in 1992 as suggested in a previous post.
Read more →
, , ,

Gordon Sondland's Statement Protects, Does Not Break with, Trump

61 Comments
/
/
emptywheel
The press seems to have fallen for Gordon Sondland's bullshit claim he has broken with Trump about a quid pro quo. In reality, his prepared statement goes to some lengths to protect Trump.
Read more →

Rest in Power: Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (1951 - 2019)

43 Comments
/
/
Rayne
Cummings' passing is a huge loss for his district, his state, and our country.
Read more →
,

The Frothy Right Gets More Excited about an Eight Year Old Phone than Contemporaneous Metadata

76 Comments
/
/
emptywheel
Sidney Powell and Bill Barr have gotten the frothy right more worked up about an 8 year old phone than they have ever been about metadata contemporaneous to Russia's efforts to sway the 2016 elections.
Read more →

On the Potential Viability of Foreign Agent Charges for Rudy Giuliani

40 Comments
/
/
emptywheel
Yes, there are a lot of reasons it might be hard to charge Rudy Giuliani for FARA violations. But given the charges already shown, conspiracy charges--potentially quite ugly ones--may well be easier to charge.
Read more →
,

Lev Parnas Had A Remarkable Start On His Path To Fraud Guarantee

48 Comments
/
/
Jim White
It's almost as if Lev Parnas was a "made man" at 23 (or 26, see update) with experience in real estate, shipping and securities, all enterprises known to be favored by those laundering cash coming out of the former Soviet Union.
Read more →
, ,

The Significance of Fiona Hill's Testimony: "Whatever Drug Deal Sondland and Mulvaney Are Cooking Up"

92 Comments
/
/
emptywheel
Among the things yesterday's Fiona Hill testimony will do is force John Bolton to shit or get off the pot.
Read more →
, , ,

The Criminal Investigation into Paul Manafort Was (and May Still be) Ongoing--and Likely Pertains to Trump's Ukraine Extortion

89 Comments
/
/
emptywheel
Documents from the filings and hearings on Manafort's breach of his plea deal suggest a real continuity between his efforts to implement a plan Konstantin Kilimnik presented to him on August 2, 2016 and the influence operations of Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman.
Read more →

A Meditation: Who Are You?

122 Comments
/
/
Rayne
Me, typing away at my keyboard and you reading these pixels means neither of us are in the streets, fighting to preserve what’s left of our democracy. Who are we?
Read more →