Mueller Investigation

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/405672-dnc-lawyers-papadopoulos-uk-contact-may-be-dead

Is someone killing witnesses?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...o-weigh-plea-deal-to-avoid-new-criminal-trial

Flip, flip, flip, flip...

Perhaps signaling Trump to cough up the pardon already?

IIRC, the second trial is for charges at the state level, where Trump doesn't have the power to pardon.

Trump's attorney flipped a 180 and now claims the hush money contract with Stormy Daniel's is invalid. Trump and his supporters are now desperately hoping this gets Donny out of having to testify under oath.

In other news, the Feds (not sure if it's Mueller's team or another group) have had to 'fess up and say they made a mistake when they claimed Russian agent Maria Butina traded sex for access. This seems to be mixed up in her just sending joke flirty texts to some guys. Doesn't totally undermine the case against her but her lawyers are sure making hay of it. Wonder if Trump will use it as well?

In all fairness, a lot of sincere sexual offers are couched as flirty jokes. Early 20's Ray got a lot of action by "jokingly" suggesting things he was too shy to outright request.

I am leaning towards she did, everyone including her knows she did it, but it is hard to prove in court.

Meh. “I don’t know, maybe”, is about the weakest form of “may have” that can possibly call itself that.

Dems are thinking they may have a path to winning the majority in the Senate though all their stars would have to align.

That would definitely hurt Trump way more than just the Dems taking the house.

they definitely need to hold the momentum BUT

None of the seats they are defending look like slam dunks for the GOP (Indiana being fairly promising for them tho)
Running even or slightly ahead in Nevada, Arizona, Texas and, I believe, Tennessee - and a 3-way non-partisan race in MS where a Te-Party nutter too right wing for even Trump is possibly going to fuck things up for them.

Phil Bredesen (former governor) is a few points ahead of Marsha Blackburn in the polls. While Blackburn has been endorsed by Trump, many of the leading Republican candidates in the state have refused to endorse her. Bredesen's popular here because he helped bring the Titan's to TN. Will it be enough for him to beat her? I don't know.

Manfort has reached a plea deal with Mueller. It is unclear if the plea deal includes cooperation but I would be very surprised if it did. Manafort is still in the defense cooperation agreement with Trump and I am betting this plea deal is only to avoid the millions in expensive of a trial.

It is now quite clear that the deal is a "co-operative agreement" between Manafort and the Mueller team. (You're recollection was wrong of course. This is a federal case for which Trump could conceivably pardon Manafort). I can only assume that Manafort made it worthwhile for Mueller to cut a deal. While this is a separate case from the one that Mueller was already convicted on, I'm quite sure that Mueller has offered to write a very favorable sentencing recommendation to Judge Bull if Manafort really does spill his guts. The state charges had to be the deal breaker/maker. I can imagine one of Mueller's "bad cops" pointing out that Manafort can spend a few years at a Club Fed near him or face the possibility of spending the rest of his life in Sing-Sing, which of course Trump could do nothing about, even if he was so inclined, which I doubt now that Manafort has become a "flipper." The upcoming twitter storm could be quite entertaining, unless Giuliani has a leg-breaker holding on to Trump's funs with orders to break his thumbs if he tries to use it.

According Woodward's book, Trump did not like Manafort at all.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/paul-manafort-plead-guilty-forfeit-assets-special-counsel/story?id=57823235

Well, I am very surprised by that but it is definitely good news for Mueller as now he has an eye witness testifying on what occurred inside the Trump Tower meeting and if Trump Senior met with the Russians. I am guessing he did as that was what Steve Bannon said which pissed Trump off so much he finally fired him.

Meanwhile, Hannity's babbling about how Trump is going to fire Mueller. When was the last time Hannity predicted anything correctly?

Tump Jr and Jerad are now both squarely on the chopping block for both lying to Congress as well as conspiracy against the United States. Assuming the Trump Tower meeting really was collusion.

Oh, I forgot... The money laundering of funds for the campaign. As campaign chairman Manafort just had to know about that. If he really does live up to the plea agreement to cooperate then the NRA and who knows which other right wing groups are now on the chopping block as well.

Can someone with more time make a gif of a pancake being flipped, and when it comes down, it's Manafort's face? That's the picture I feel like posting, but it doesn't exist and I really don't have time to make it. Bonus if Mueller's face adorns the spatula.

Indications are that Manafort has been talking to Mueller's crew for at least a couple of weeks. If that is the case then it's easy to figure that he's been selling his line for all that time before Mueller finally decided it was time to buy it. So now the question would be, just what is it that Manafort told them that made it worthwhile for Mueller to cut a deal? Funny how Fox (and I'm sure the rest of the Right Wing Echo Chamber) are trying to deflect with "...but Hillary, Hillary, Hillary" as if she had never been investigated (remember how Trey Gowdy was going to be the bulldog prosecutor who finally brought her down? ) and the idea that the Steele Dossier hasn't been confirmed? At this point I don't think that Dossier has been introduced as a supporting document, much less evidence to a court or a grand jury. Of course, what the delay may have been for was to allow the Mueller team to investigate and substantiate Manafort's claims about incriminating documents and where bodies (figuratively speaking, of course) are buried. Of course this is all speculation and we'll see if I"m on to something or not.

The asset forfeiture also means that the special counsel's investigation is now a profit center for the federal government (to the tune of $29 million) so arguments to shut it down for fiscal reasons can be safely dismissed.

Unless he's paid off his debts to the Russian mob, Manafort's in serious danger now, and both he and Mueller would have to know that. I wonder if it's a trap to catch some Russian hit man.

I forget... How much taxpayer money did Republicans spend on the 54 failed "investigations" into Hillary's emails which turned up... Absolutely nothing illegal.

Yet Mueller has not only been the single fastest special prosecutor in history, pulling in an impressive number of guilty pleas and grand jury indictments, but also... Turns a profit for taxpayers? It is amazing what a real lawman can do when the subjects are actually guilty.

On a different note, I would be worried if I was a family member of Manafort. Not because of Trump, he is incompetent and politically smells like a dying man at this point, but of Putin as Putin wants to hide things and he has a long track record for assassinating anyone he dislikes.

Don't try to make friends with me.

Don't pretend you didn't play footsie under the table.