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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Because the prosecutors were telling him that tossing him in jail would make things harder for the overall investigation. He was telling everyone present that if they proceeded with sentencing immediately, he'd be forced to give a punishment harsh enough that it would make other people less likely to cooperate.
Edited by Gilphon on Dec 18th 2018 at 8:21:19 AM
A procrastination in of itself
I’m just in shock at the fact that a judge is bringing up the idea of treason charges, sure it requires a relatively open definition of treason, but that’s a can of worms that is now open.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
Queen of Good Things, Honest
That struck me back when Mueller first issued his controversial sentencing recommendation. If people saw Flynn walk after turning state's evidence, it would encourage others to come forward in the hopes of a similar treatment. Flynn's case does not exist in a vacuum.
Instead, the judge opted to treat Flynn as contentiously as he deserved and, in doing so, has sent a message to others saying that there is no value in rolling over on Trump. In fact, if cooperating with Mueller isn't going to save them from prison and may even get them pegged for treason, then they might just be better off shutting the f*ck up and holding out for a pardon.
Letting the small fish go in exchange for nailing the big fish doesn't really work out so well when you eat the first small fish in front of the rest of the school. The point is to make cooperating look like an attractive option so that more people will do it.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Dec 18th 2018 at 6:29:12 AM
My Tumblr. Currently liveblogging Haruhi Suzumiya and revisiting Danganronpa V3.
A procrastination in of itself
We haven’t seen the end of it yet, Flynn may avoid jail time if he continues to cooperate and helps actively to dig up more information.
The message here seems to be that just telling what you known isn’t enough when such serious crimes have been commited, you have to go above and beyond if you want any hope at being free after doing such things.
Flynn also in part did this to himself, the message is also that any attempt to dodge responsibility or so much as question doing exactly what the special counsel says will get you smacked down hard.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
Servant of the Omnissiah
Flynn's the biggest fish there is other than Trump's immediate family. Everyone else, excluding Manafort and Cohen, are small fry. And those two have already squealed enough that Mueller probably wont care if no one else comes forward.
I think by this point, Mueller's got everything he needs to take Trump down, even if everyone else clams up. Flynn getting railed probably won't make that much of an impact long term.
Still, I hope Trump doesn't get impeached. I want him and the GOP to lose the next election fair and square. It'll be a humiliation for them that'll be far more effective than impeachment, which might seem like a backdoor takedown, and create more problems than it solves.
Of course, if it turns out he's unwittingly (or knowingly) damaged the United States by colluding with the Russians, I'll retract this statement and hope he gets impeached and shot for it.
However, I think Trump is just going to get nailed for graft and financial misdeeds, rather than colluding with a hostile foreign power. Call me an optimist or deluded, if you wish.
This is mostly because the thought that America, which I've looked up to as an exemplar of virtue in an otherwise bleak and vicious world, would willingly elect a man who sabotaged his own country is simply too depressing to contemplate.
I hold the secrets of the machine.
https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2018/12/18/day-698/
2/ Michael Flynn agreed to delay his sentencing after U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan told Trump's former national security adviser "you sold your country out," and because of that, "I cannot assure you, if you proceed today, you will not receive a sentence of incarceration." Robert Mueller recommended that Flynn serve no jail time for his crimes because of the "substantial help" he provided to the special counsel and other investigations. Flynn was supposed to be sentenced today for lying to the FBI and acting as an unregistered agent for Turkey. The judge also asked the special counsel's office whether Flynn could be charged with "treason" after he acted as "an unregistered agent of a foreign country, while serving as the national security adviser to the president of the United States." Flynn's sentencing has been delayed until March 13th and will allow him to continue cooperating with the Russia investigation. Sullivan's last words to the court were: "Happy holidays." (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Buzz Feed News)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/18/politics/michael-flynn-sentencing-mueller-russia-probe/index.html
Mueller released a memo from 2017 that summarizes Michael Flynn's contemporaneous interview with the FBI. The interview was the catalyst that led to the high-profile case against Trump's former national security adviser and felon. According to the memo, Flynn lied during the interview about his contact with then-Russian ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 presidential transition period. The memo includes clear examples of Flynn lying and claiming that he never made any policy requests of Russia as FBI agents prod him to provide fuller descriptions of his calls. (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/17/politics/mueller-memo-michael-flynn-interview/index.html
Flynn Intel Group co-founder Bijan Rafiekian, also known as Bijan Kian, pleaded not guilty after being charged with conspiracy and acting as an agent of a foreign government. (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/18/politics/bijan-kian-michael-flynn-plea/index.html
3/ Hours earlier, Trump wished Flynn – a confessed felon – "good luck" ahead of his sentencing hearing. "Will be interesting to see what he has to say," Trump tweeted, "despite tremendous pressure being put on him, about Russian Collusion in our great and, obviously, highly successful political campaign." Flynn will be the highest-ranking Trump administration aide to be sentenced as part of Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. (New York Times / CNBC)
Giuliani: Trump is negotiating with Mueller over whether or not to provide more written answers to the special counsel's questions. "We might agree," Giuliani said. If they do agree, he continued, Trump might provide "a few more answers. … Or we might not." (Axios)
Giuliani: Trump discussed a proposed Trump Tower in Moscow with Michael Cohen later than previously known. Trump previously claimed that discussions about the project ended in January 2016, but Giuliani indicated that the conversations could have been in June or July of 2016. (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/16/politics/rudy-giuliani-trump-tower/index.html
4/ The Russian disinformation campaign also targeted Mueller by falsely claiming that he was corrupt and that Russian interference in the 2016 election was just conspiracy theories. Russian operatives went after Mueller and his team via fake social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms. They also claimed that Mueller had a history of working with "radical Islamic groups." (Washington Post)
5/ Roger Stone admitted to spreading lies via Info Wars and will be required to make a public apology in order to avoid paying fines in a now-settled defamation lawsuit against him. Stone will be forced to run apology ads in national newspapers and post on social media apologizing for defaming a Chinese businessman who is a vocal critic of Beijing. The settlement also requires Stone to publish a retraction of all the lies he posted on social media. If Stone refuses to apologize, he will be forced to pay $100 million in damages to Guo Wengui. In a text message, Stone said his behavior was "irresponsible" and said that "I am solely responsible for fulfilling the terms of the settlement." (Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/roger-stone-admits-spreading-lies-on-infowars-11545093097
Stone took a lie detector test in an attempt to prove he did not conspire with Russia during Trump's 2016 campaign. The results were "inconclusive." (WSVN 7)
6/ Trump may back down on his demand for $5 billion from Congress for a wall on the border with Mexico in the year-end spending bill, easing concerns of a Christmas government shutdown that would begin at midnight Friday. "We have other ways that we can get to that $5 billion that we'll work with Congress," Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, adding that the Trump administration could support $1.6 billion in border security funding proposed by Senate Democrats, as long as it can "couple that with other funding resources" to get to $5 billion. The $1.6 billion offered by Democrats prohibits the money to be used on a wall. Mitch Mc Connell, however, proposed an appropriations bill that would allocate the $1.6 billion for border security, plus about $1 billion for Trump to spend as he saw fit on immigration, which a Senate Democratic aide described as a $1 billion "slush fund." (New York Times / CNBC / Politico / Washington Post)
Notables.
Trump's 2020 reelection campaign will merge with the Republican National Committee into a single entity under the banner of "Trump Victory." The two teams will also share office space. The goal of the merger is to create a single, streamlined organization that will combine field and fundraising programs. Formally tying Trump's reelection campaign to the RNC will make it harder for primary challenge. (Politico)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/18/trump-machine-swallows-rnc-1067875
The Trump administration announced a second and final round of roughly $4.9 billion in direct trade aide payments to farmers and ranchers who have been hurt by Trump's trade wars with various countries around the globe, including China. The effort is the latest attempt by Trump to ease the burden placed on U.S. farmers and ranchers who have been hurt by retaliatory tariffs as a result of Trump's trade ongoing disputes. The latest round of payments brings the total direct payment spending to nearly $9.6 billion. (Politico)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/17/trump-farmers-trade-relief-usda-1067716
The Trump administration banned bump stocks, which allow semi-automatic weapons to fire rapidly like automatic firearms. (Associated Press / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
https://www.apnews.com/6c1af80fb290472c89fb930e223505af
A federal school safety report downplayed the role of guns in school violence and instead focused on rescinding Obama-era disciplinary policies, improving mental health services, and training school personnel in the use of firearms. The commission on school safety consists of four cabinet officials and is led by Education Secretary Betsy De Vos. (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/us/politics/trump-administration-school-safety-report.html
Trump ordered the creation of "Space Command" to "integrate space capabilities across all branches of the military." The move is a precursor to the creation of a Space Force, a proposed sixth branch of the military. (CNN / NPR)
Ethics complaints against Brett Kavanaugh were dismissed because they were filed under a federal law that does not apply to Supreme Court justices. (ABC News)
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/ethics-complaints-kavanaugh-dismissed-59891174
The chance of recession in the next 12 months rose to 23% – the highest level of the Trump presidency. (CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/18/cnbc-fed-survey-chance-of-recession-rises-to-23percent.html
She/her
Shocking to who?!?!?!?!?
We’ve known most of this for literal decades, oh my god. Our media failed us SO BADLY in 2015-2016.
Servant of the Omnissiah
I think the only good thing being done so far is the Space Force thing. He might be a moron, but this is arguably one of the better ideas he's had.
I hold the secrets of the machine.
Queen of Good Things, Honest
Keep in mind that Trump and the GOP winning the next election is a possibility on the table, though. "Trump is taken down by impeachment" versus "Trump is taken down by election" is not a binary choice. "Trump is not taken down" is always a possible outcome too.
If Trump doesn't get impeached, he and the GOP can even spin that against the Democrats. Expect 2020 to be full of talking points about how the Dems spent four years trying to pin crimes on Trump and never found a goddamn thing.
After all: in the eyes of the public, if he's not prosecuted, then he's innocent. If we tell the public that Trump has not committed any offense egregious enough to warrant impeachment, then we effectively absolve him of all wrongdoing. And then this whole investigation backfires on us as a complete waste of taxpayer money and time.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Dec 18th 2018 at 7:06:18 AM
My Tumblr. Currently liveblogging Haruhi Suzumiya and revisiting Danganronpa V3.
From what I understand, what the judge was doing, was basically shutting down any idea that he was “entrapped into lying by the FBI or something like that.
He was lying, he knew he was lying, and he wasn't entrapped by the FBI. MAG Aland has been pushing a massive mound of crap for months.
Hannity, Pirro, et al have spent months building Sullivan up as the epitome of a just and fair judge, thinking that he was going to blow the FBI "scandal" wide open. Instead, this:
"You were an unregistered agent of a foreign country while serving as the National Security Adviser to the president!
"Arguably, this undermines everything this flag over here stands for! Arguably, you sold your country out!"
The right-wing effort to portray Sullivan as the guy who was going to use the Flynn case to blow the lid off FBI malfeasance has been going on since at least February. Not looking so hot right now.
The expectations game: Jeanine Pirro was predicting on Saturday that Sullivan was going to bust open the FBI scandal and vacate Flynn's sentence. Instead, Flynn got bawled out by the judge and asked for more time to cooperate with Mueller rather than face jail time.
Edited by megaeliz on Dec 18th 2018 at 9:16:05 AM
@Tobias Drake: On the point of "if he's not prosecuted, he's innocent", I'd argue that's not necessarily how it works.
An easy way to ruin someone's reputation is what I call "Suspicion by Accusation". Just make a ton of accusations against somebody and even if nothing comes of any of them, having accusations of having committed crimes can make them appear suspicious.
For example, a person who had been accused of 3 murders and 2 rapes is going to seem very suspicious to the public, even if each and every accusation proved completely baseless.
In fact, Hillary Clinton is a great example of this tactic in action. She's been ''accused' of many terrible things, which hurts her reputation.
Edited by Protagonist506 on Dec 18th 2018 at 6:13:03 AM
"Any campaign world where an orc samurai can leap off a landcruiser to fight a herd of Bulbasaurs will always have my vote of confidence"
She/her
You’re forgetting about bias on behalf of Trump supporters. One unsubstantiated accusation against, say, Stacey Abrams? SHE’S THE DEVIL.
80 substantiated accusations against Trump? Liars are out to get him.
Edited by wisewillow on Dec 18th 2018 at 9:14:01 AM
The Mystery Mueller Courtroom Mayham last week, just got even more interesting.
There is *no* reference in today's judgment to Mueller's office. But there's no reference at all to who is prosecuting this case, so we don't have any new, concrete info on that front.
One thing we learned is that the judge found the company in contempt for failing to comply with the grand jury subpoena, and imposed a daily $ penalty — the DC Circuit said that was okay, although how that gets enforced "is a separate question for a later day"
We can rule out Deutsche Bank, since they are publically held, and have already complied with Supoenas. It’s probably not a Russian Bank, either, since they don’t comply with US Subpoenas anyway.
Edited by megaeliz on Dec 18th 2018 at 9:39:40 AM
No, no, and fuck no.
It is a tribe idea and adds nothing except additional administrative bloat to a segment of warfare that is next to non existent and is 100% manageable by existing branches, for no reason other then to stroke ego and sound cool.
Cyber warfare is a needed branch, space force is not.
What are fox, breitbart, and tabloids.
Edited by Imca on Dec 18th 2018 at 7:12:42 AM
The Space Force thing may sound like a good idea... but how is it actually enforceable? For now, all it's good for is Dragon Ball Z references
I liked it better when Questionable Casting was called WTH Casting Agency
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
*scratches his head* And it can't be Cambridge Analytica either, because that's owned by the Mercers, right?
Could it be Rosneft? Otherwise I'm at a loss, there aren't many companies owned by countries that are currently in legal trouble, or could be, and would be this high profile...
What about this Russian Bank..alphabank? That one is more or less owned by the Russian government I think….
I remember hearing Neil deGrasse Tyson talk about this one before - a lot of what constitutes a "Space Force" already exists, albeit as part of another branch. So it really would mostly be some shuffling around.
In itself, creating a new branch to exclusively deal with space matters is not a stupid idea - as long as it also included things like asteroid defense etc.
The idea isn't stupid, the guy proposing it is. While there's some legitimate use to such a branch - again, dealing with debris and asteroids - Trump probably wants to use it to grab space resources and fight Space Mexicans or some other stupid nonsense.
Edited by DrunkenNordmann on Dec 19th 2018 at 12:06:45 PM
Welcome to Estalia, gentlemen.
Trumps wants it because it sounds cool. Or what would sound cool to someone of his level of maturity. It could be a good idea, but in the kind of boring ways Trump and by extent his base would actually dislike (sciency stuff and not shooting nukes from space ships).
Edited by StarOutlaw on Dec 19th 2018 at 8:25:17 AM
Queen of Good Things, Honest
80 substantiated accusations against Trump? Liars are out to get him.
This. At a larger level, there is a Patriarchal bias to automatically believe any accusation against a woman and disbelieve any accusation against a man. It's not just limited to Trump supporters.
Like it or not, the Mueller Investigation is going to wind up being the true test of Trump's innocence or guilt in the eyes of the nation. If it closes without any legal action taken against Trump himself, then the public will remember it as having been proven a meaningless Witch Hunt after all.
Trump needs to be impeached, even if only to assert to the nation that he really did commit an impeachable offense and that this wasn't just a politically-motivated smear job the whole time.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Dec 19th 2018 at 8:25:28 AM
My Tumblr. Currently liveblogging Haruhi Suzumiya and revisiting Danganronpa V3.
Is it true that Trump is relenting on the border wall (not for good, just for now) so the government doesn't shut down?
Senate Passes Bipartisan Criminal Justice Bill
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/us/politics/senate-criminal-justice-bill.html
The Senate has agreed to a funding bill till February that has no money for Trump's wall.
The White House has indicated Trump will agree to it, and they've been telling everyone that they'll figure out alternative ways to fund his wall.
Edited by Parable on Dec 19th 2018 at 7:51:44 AM
"The Wall's totally happening, guys! We swear! Please don't leave us!"
I don't really see any reason to believe that this is true, the Judge was very clearly hostile to Flynn and thus the idea that he would express his contempt as a means to encourage Flynn to avoid jail makes zero sense.
Why would he offer that mercy? The judge clearly believes that Flynn committed a serious crime and should face consequences for it.
Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Dec 18th 2018 at 8:17:30 AM
"Sandwiches are probably easier to fix than the actual problems" -Hylarn