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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
I mean, baby steps. It's pretty significant in that, for better or worse, it shows that Trump can cave to pressure. It might also indicate a rift between Trump and his Russian overlords considering, compared to the sanctions, there was relatively little pressure on him to do this.
If we are stuck with Trump, then I'd at least prefer him to on occasion be able to act as not-a-puppet for Putin.
Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.Mueller probe witness secretly backed UAE agenda in Congress
George Nader, an adviser to the UAE who is now a witness in the U.S. special counsel investigation into foreign meddling in American politics, wired $2.5 million to the Trump fundraiser, Elliott Broidy, through a company in Canada, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. They said Nader paid the money to Broidy to bankroll an effort to persuade the U.S. to take a hard line against Qatar, a long-time American ally but now a bitter adversary of the UAE.
A month after he received the money, Broidy sponsored a conference on Qatar’s alleged ties to Islamic extremism. During the event, Republican Congressman Ed Royce of California, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, announced he was introducing legislation that would brand Qatar as a terrorist-supporting state.
In July 2017, two months after Royce introduced the bill, Broidy gave the California congressman $5,400 in campaign gifts — the maximum allowed by law. The donations were part of just under $600,000 that Broidy has given to GOP members of Congress and Republican political committees since he began the push for the legislation fingering Qatar, according to an AP analysis of campaign finance disclosure records.
Broidy said in a statement to AP that he has been outspoken for years about militant groups, including Hamas.
“I’ve both raised money for, and contributed my own money to, efforts by think tanks to bring the facts into the open, since Qatar is spreading millions of dollars around Washington to whitewash its image as a terror-sponsoring state,” he said. “I’ve also spoken to like-minded members of Congress, like Royce, about how to make sure Qatar’s lobbying money does not blind lawmakers to the facts about its record in supporting terrorist groups.”
While Washington is awash with political donations from all manner of interest groups and individuals, there are strict restrictions on foreign donations for political activity. Agents of foreign governments are also required to register before lobbying so that there is a public record of foreign influence.
Cory Fritz, a spokesman for Royce, said that his boss had long criticized the “destabilizing role of extremist elements in Qatar.” He pointed to comments to that effect going back to 2014. “Any attempts to influence these longstanding views would have been unsuccessful,” he said.
In October, Broidy also raised the issue of Qatar at the White House in meetings with Trump and senior aides.
The details of Broidy’s advocacy on U.S. legislation have not been previously reported. The AP found no evidence that Broidy used Nader’s funds for the campaign donations or broke any laws. At the time of the advocacy work, his company, Circinus, did not have business with the UAE, but was awarded a more than $200 million contract in January.
The sanctions bill was approved by Royce’s committee in late 2017. It remains alive in the House of Representatives, awaiting a review by the House Financial Services Committee.
This investigation will go down in history, for exposing more corruption than we ever thought possible, and it's not going to end any time soon.
edited 26th Mar '18 8:01:45 AM by megaeliz
That Trump and ilk are accepting campaign kickbacks in exchange for supporting these Middle East power plays are honestly the more damaging sins, in my mind. We’ll be paying for those sins far sooner than Trump’s Russian collusion, which is more isolated from the foreign policy establishment.
edited 26th Mar '18 8:33:28 AM by CrimsonZephyr
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."Thread
from Renato Mariotti about The NY Times article I posted earlier.
2/ First, conversations between Trump and Ty Cobb (and other lawyers employed by the White House) can be obtained by Mueller in discovery under existing case law. So important strategic issues personal to Trump, like whether to sit for an interview, can’t be discussed with Cobb.
3/ In fact, the article notes that Trump fired Dowd *because* he disagreed with Dowd’s advice to refuse to be interviewed. Dowd correctly pointed out that there is significant downside to an interview with Mueller. Most people in Trump’s position would take the Fifth.
4/ That brings us to the second reason why this matters so much—Sekulow has no experience handling federal criminal investigations. Asking him to quarterback the defense to this important investigation would be like asking a neurologist to be your heart surgeon.
5/ Sekulow isn’t equipped to advise Trump as to the investigation. Cobb has the right experience to do it, but because he’s employed by the White House, Trump can’t reveal as much to him as he would to Sekulow.
6/ This increases the possibility that Trump will mismanage how he responds to the investigation. Perhaps he will sit for an interview that most experienced criminal defense attorneys would work hard to avoid. /end
ADDENDUM: As @maggieNYT notes, Trump also receives advice from Kasowitz. He also lacks experience with federal criminal investigations, which pose different issues than he’s used to seeing in civil litigation.
edited 26th Mar '18 8:38:07 AM by megaeliz
It should not come as any great surprise that Trump's as bad at retaining competent legal counsel as he is bad at everything else.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Speaking of which, I double checked and was right about something (might have been covered in the news as well). So besides Michael Cohen paying off Stormy being a campaign finance violation if not reimbursed, it's also seemingly against attorney rules of professional conduct. Which granted, are mostly advisory and he probably wouldn't even get sanctioned if reported, but still unethical.
So basically, there's a provision in various rules that attorneys are not supposed to engage in financial transactions that could impact their representation of a client or even make them materially adverse. This pretty much is intended to tell defense attorneys not to agree to post bail for clients, but Cohen's behavior seems to be the same thing. Because part of the consideration is that if a client didn't pay back the attorney, the attorney might have an incentive to deliberately botch their case.
And also that the person would lose representation if their lawyer ended up suing them to be reimbursed, as well as general issues with an attorney having any financial stake in the litigation other than the normal fees from the their client/attorney fees from the opposing party if they win..
edited 26th Mar '18 9:43:27 AM by Hodor2
A man as sleazy as Trump must have had dozens of such encounters, but with untold women who don’t already have a public profile.
With a predatory Congress looking to impeach, possibly. Our current one, though...
edited 26th Mar '18 10:04:44 AM by CrimsonZephyr
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."![]()
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interestingly, along with the infamous "Pee-Pee Tape", the Dossier also alleges at least one other separate "Sex Party" (their words) incident
, but all the people involved were either paid off or Coerced into silence.
edited 26th Mar '18 10:33:31 AM by megaeliz
Once we get Trump out, I would love to see real actions taken against the of the Russian Oligarchs themselves. Start really cracking down on their money laundering networks and defunding the Kremlin's proxies.
Does anyone have any ideas for how this could be done?
edited 26th Mar '18 10:49:53 AM by megaeliz
A few repeats, but otherwise today's https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2018/03/26/day-431/
1/ Trump won't hire two attorneys who were supposed to join his legal team after all. The appointments were announced last week, but Trump's personal attorney, Jay Sekulow, said in a statement that "conflicts prevent Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing from joining the president’s special counsel legal team." He added: "Those conflicts do not prevent them from assisting the president in other legal matters." (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/25/us/politics/trump-digenova-toensing.html
2/ Trump's personal legal team is down to one member as he struggles to find lawyers willing to represent him. Jay Sekulow is the only personal lawyer for Trump working full time on Robert Mueller's investigation. He is assisted by Ty Cobb, a White House lawyer paid by taxpayers to represent the institution of the presidency rather than Trump personally. John Dowd, who had been leading the Russia inquiry, resigned last week after strategy disputes with Trump, while Marc Kasowitz's role has been reduced after a series of clashes with Trump over the summer. Emmet Flood, the lawyer who represented Bill Clinton during his impeachment process, said he will not represent Trump if Kasowitz has any role on the team, and another, Theodore Olson, declined to represent Trump. (New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ Trump expects to "make one or two major changes to his government very soon," according to Trump's friend Christopher Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax. "He told me he thinks the White House is operating like a smooth machine – his words," said Ruddy, and that Trump is "perplexed by all these reports that there’s chaos at the White House or mass staff changes." (ABC News)
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-make-major-government-presidents-friend/story?id=53993032
4/ Stormy Daniels said she was threatened to not speak about her affair with Trump, Daniels told Anderson Cooper during her 60 Minutes interview. She also discussed statements and denials she previously made about the affair. After the interview aired, Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen sent Daniels a "cease and desist" letter, demanding that she stop speaking out about her relationship with Trump. (CBS News / Reuters)
5/ A government watchdog group accused Cambridge Analytica of violating federal election laws in a pair of legal complaints filed with the Federal Election Commission and the Department of Justice. The laws prohibit foreigners from participating directly or indirectly in the decision-making process of U.S. political campaigns. Cambridge Analytica sent dozens of non-U.S. citizens to provide campaign strategy and messaging advice to Republican candidates in 2014. (ABC News / Washington Post)
6/ The Federal Trade Commission confirmed that it's opened a non-public investigation into Facebook for its user privacy practices. Shares of Facebook fell as much as 6% after the FTC announced it is investigating the company's data practices in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica leak of 50 million users' information. (Axios / CNBC)
poll/ 69% of Americans support tougher gun control laws, up from 55% when the question was first asked in October of 2013. While 60% believe that making it harder to legally obtain a gun would result in fewer mass shootings, 42% expect elected officials to take action. (Associated Press)
https://apnews.com/6bff3d106aa245d3b774868503e81289
Notables.
The U.S. will expel 60 Russian diplomats in response to the poisoning of a former Russian spy on British soil. The Russian consulate in Seattle will also be closed as part of the response. (NBC News)
Hundreds of thousands of people joined the Parkland survivors in Washington to March For Their Lives while Trump spent the day at the Trump International Golf Club. The White House released a statement saying, "We applaud the many courageous young Americans exercising their First Amendment rights today." Thousands more rallied at about 800 sister marches around the country and abroad, where students, like those in the capital, called for gun control and pledged to exercise their political power in the midterm elections this fall. (New York Times)
An NRA representative to the Parkland students: "No one would know your names" if a gunman hadn't killed three staff members and 14 students. The comment came on the eve of the March For Our Lives protest. (Washington Post)
Rick Santorum said kids calling for stricter gun control measures should take CPR classes instead of protesting. "How about kids instead of looking to someone else to solve their problem," Santorum said, "do something about maybe taking CPR classes or trying to deal with situations that when there is a violent shooter that you can actually respond to that." (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/25/politics/rick-santorum-guns-cnntv/index.html
Trump issued orders to ban transgender troops who require surgery or medical treatment from serving in the military except in select cases. LGBT advocates called the decision "appalling, reckless and unpatriotic." (Politico)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/23/trump-transgender-troops-ban-483434
edited 26th Mar '18 10:51:14 AM by sgamer82
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There isn’t really any monolithic “Russian Oligarchs” that can be taken down as a whole. It would have to be a combination of individual sanctions, and tighter restrictions on banks and shady real estate. They usually run their money to the US through one of the two, real estate being the big one.
One of the reasons Trump is considered to be caught up in all this is because of the money that flows into his real estate holdings from Russia. The suggestion is that it’s being used to launder dirty money, or move money illegally to the US. There’s also the fact that US banks would not do business with him, so he had to go elsewhere for cash infusions.
edited 26th Mar '18 11:04:52 AM by archonspeaks
They should have sent a poet.Doing that wouldn’t nessecarily defund the Russian government. The oligarchs are important for their wider economy, but as was mentioned in this thread before their two main sources of income are oil and gas and arms. Both are extremely lucrative and difficult to fully shut down without a level of cooperation from the international community we probably won’t get.
Shutting out the oligarchs as best we can and increasing sanctions would be a good start and would hurt them, but it wouldn’t fully sink them. What we really need is a better partner in the Kremlin than Putin.
edited 26th Mar '18 11:24:19 AM by archonspeaks
They should have sent a poet.@archonspeaks- That's interesting that you can get disbarred for that. It's kind of a funny ethical rule given the stereotype of greedy lawyers, that you could get in trouble for paying money on your client's behalf. So, in that sense, it doesn't seem that bad as breaches of ethical rules go.
At the same time though, I'd expect a lawyer like Cohen, who has many years of practice, to know better. And the circumstances aren't understandable/sympathetic the way it would be if a newly minted public defender was posting bail for a client. Like the whole thing smells of corruption.

Joining Allies, Trump Orders Expulsion of 60 Russians Over Poison Attack in Britain
Poland, Italy, Denmark, Canada and Germany also announced plans on Monday to expel Russians from their countries in solidarity with the United Kingdom, which previously expelled 23 Russian diplomats after the poisoning.
The American expulsion order, announced by administration officials, includes 12 people identified as Russian intelligence officers who have been stationed at the United Nations in New York, and also closes the Russian consulate in Seattle. The Russians and their families have seven days to leave the United States, according to officials.
The expulsions are the toughest action taken against the Kremlin by President Trump, who has been criticized for not being firm enough with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. The officials said the action was a coordinated effort with other allies. Poland announced it will expel the Russian ambassador and several other diplomats in response to the poisoning. And Germany announced plans to expel four Russian diplomats within the next week.
In a call with reporters, senior White House officials said that the move was to root out Russians actively engaging in intelligence operations against the country, and to show that the United States would stand with NATO allies. The officials said that the closure of the consulate in Seattle was ordered because of its proximity to a U.S. naval base.
“Today’s actions make the United States safer by reducing Russia’s ability to spy on Americans and to conduct covert operations that threaten America’s national security,” the White House said in a statement.
The Kremlin has maintained that it had nothing to do with the poisoning.
While the right thing to do, but on it's own, it's still largely symbolic, and doesn't solve the larger crisis.
edited 26th Mar '18 7:35:41 AM by megaeliz