Indictment-O-Rama, Act 3: Cohen Up the River

[Hindsight was 2020]

https://mobile.twitter.com/JesseRodriguez/status/1227336813712461825
This is getting bad

[Frodo]

How long before Trump's stench filters down into every level of government and into every aspect of our lives?  That would be quite a legacy that those who support him will be leaving to posterity, who will rightfully curse their memory. 

[GP270watch]

Prosecutors resign from Roger Stone’s case after DOJ interference in sentencing

[emailking]

3 prosecutors have resigned now, or at least from the case.

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/BradMossEsq/status/1227361082953605124

[Vaccinated Russian Bear]

3 prosecutors have resigned now, or at least from the case.

DEEP STATE!

DRAIN THE SWAMP!

[Hindsight was 2020]

3 prosecutors have resigned now, or at least from the case.

DEEP STATE!

DRAIN THE SWAMP!

You are the swamp dingus

[Progressive Pessimist]

I'm almost to the point of forgetting what the definition of "justice" even is. Is it just a girl's name now?

[GeorgiaModerate]

Trump's philosophy (borrowed from the character of Death in the Discworld books):

There is no justice.  There is just ME.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/hsu_spencer/status/1227454136955887616

It's a tossup whether Dictator Donald and his enablers are dropping her because she'd be asked incriminating  questions, might give incriminating answers, or because she failed some double-secret loyalty test. (Like not being an old white male criminal.)

Also, could a mod please pin this thread again? Looks like we may be talking about it a lot in coming days.

[Hindsight was 2020]

https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1227561237782855680

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1227561237782855680

Demented Dictator Don is well on his way to making us into Russia II - The Sequel. Government of the criminals, by the criminals, and for the criminals. (That the criminals are mostly traitors, and often stupid and/or ignorant too, does not make it any better.)

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/1227607514423971841

[Vaccinated Russian Bear]

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/11/roger-stone-trump-democrats-114104
Democrats struggle to counter Trump's Roger Stone intervention
Lawmakers offered scattershot options to confront Trump's attacks on prosecutors who recommended a stiff sentence for Stone.

With impeachment no longer in their arsenal, Democrats are coming to terms with a new reality: they have few, if any, weapons to take on an emboldened President Donald Trump as he openly settles scores with his political adversaries and continues breaching the wall between the Justice Department and Oval Office.

Democrats vented outrage Tuesday over Trump's attack on his own DOJ prosecutors and his demand of a lighter sentence for longtime ally Roger Stone. One after another, top Democrats in the House and Senate said Trump's 2 a.m. Twitter intervention further erodes the rule of law.

“Coupled with the president’s blatant retaliation against those who helped expose his wrongdoing, the Trump administration poses the gravest threat to the rule of law in America in a generation,” said House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, the lead prosecutor in Trump's impeachment trial.

Yet so far, Democrats are offering an unsettled array of responses that a post-impeachment Congress can make to rein in Trump or highlight alleged transgressions by the president.

Some are calling for new investigations and attempts at traditional congressional oversight. Others are suggesting that Democrats could withhold appropriations from key agencies to get answers to their investigative inquiries. Others say DOJ watchdogs should investigate and others still say any response to Trump's behavior is now up to voters in the November elections.

In other words, lawmakers are still struggling with how to approach post-impeachment conduct by Trump after an all-consuming trial failed to remove the president from office.

Hahaha, Democrats and their media were crying a wolf since Trump won, lying about Russia Hoax and starting divisive Impeachment Garbage.

Consequence: no one gives a damn what the boy who cried a wolf Democrats & MSM are whining about now. Zero credibility.

[Penn_Quaker_Girl]

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/11/roger-stone-trump-democrats-114104
Democrats struggle to counter Trump's Roger Stone intervention
Lawmakers offered scattershot options to confront Trump's attacks on prosecutors who recommended a stiff sentence for Stone.

With impeachment no longer in their arsenal, Democrats are coming to terms with a new reality: they have few, if any, weapons to take on an emboldened President Donald Trump as he openly settles scores with his political adversaries and continues breaching the wall between the Justice Department and Oval Office.

Democrats vented outrage Tuesday over Trump's attack on his own DOJ prosecutors and his demand of a lighter sentence for longtime ally Roger Stone. One after another, top Democrats in the House and Senate said Trump's 2 a.m. Twitter intervention further erodes the rule of law.

“Coupled with the president’s blatant retaliation against those who helped expose his wrongdoing, the Trump administration poses the gravest threat to the rule of law in America in a generation,” said House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, the lead prosecutor in Trump's impeachment trial.

Yet so far, Democrats are offering an unsettled array of responses that a post-impeachment Congress can make to rein in Trump or highlight alleged transgressions by the president.

Some are calling for new investigations and attempts at traditional congressional oversight. Others are suggesting that Democrats could withhold appropriations from key agencies to get answers to their investigative inquiries. Others say DOJ watchdogs should investigate and others still say any response to Trump's behavior is now up to voters in the November elections.

In other words, lawmakers are still struggling with how to approach post-impeachment conduct by Trump after an all-consuming trial failed to remove the president from office.

Hahaha, Democrats and their media were crying a wolf since Trump won, lying about Russia Hoax and starting divisive Impeachment Garbage.

Consequence: no one gives a damn what the boy who cried a wolf Democrats & MSM are whining about now. Zero credibility.

This is definitely more pointed a statement than I usually make, but I've heard just as much whining from Trump supporters across his Presidency as I have from non-Trump-supporters.  

Democrats need to learn to pick and choose their battles, but let's not pretend that the partisan divide is entirely their doing. 

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Speaking of partisan divides,  I had temporarily forgotten that there is always a tweet:

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/874608587473080320
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1227561237782855680

I suppose it's time to #LockHimUp, then.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

More background from Maggie Wheeler on the withdrawal of Jessie Liu's nomination to Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes: The Slow Firing of Robert Mueller‘s Replacement.

Then, on January 6, Trump nominated Jessie Liu, then the US Attorney for DC, to be Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes, basically the person who oversees the process of tracking criminal flows of finance. She won’t get that position — her nomination was pulled yesterday in advance of a Thursday confirmation hearing. But her nomination gave Barr the excuse to install a trusted aide, Timothy Shea, at US Attorney for DC last Thursday, the day after the impeachment vote and in advance of the now-delayed Stone sentencing.

The article is well worth a read and paints an informative picture of a complex scenario as Trump and his lackeys and enablers keep dancing around just how damning the Russia investigation (and the Trump campaign conspiracy it investigated) really is.

[Progressive Pessimist]

https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/1227607514423971841

And that had long-term negative impact on Clinton.

More evidence of the unfair double standard we are living with.

[Obama-Biden Democrat]

Trump is going to jail fam.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1227740992373170176


The Republican position is that whistleblowers who are protected by law and whose complaints have been demonstrated to be true in sworn testimony to the United States Congress need to have their identities revealed, but "senior Justice department officials" can lie anonymously with impunity.

[emailking]

If it's on background they can't reveal the identity, lie or not. No one will be a source for them ever again.

[Penn_Quaker_Girl]

https://mobile.twitter.com/evanmcmurry/status/1228061600218861568

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Everyone is focusing on the wrong part of William Barr’s interview

The fact is that, even if Barr made this decision before Trump’s tweets and Trump never directly requested the action — even if there is no relation between what happened and what Trump has said — this is still highly problematic. It’s the president’s most senior political appointee in the Justice Department personally intervening in an unorthodox manner in the case of perhaps Trump’s longest-serving political ally. It’s precisely the kind of case in which you would want to make sure you try doubly hard to avoid even the appearance of political influence of any kind — whether that influence emanated from Trump or not. Instead, Barr decided this was a situation he needed to get involved in.

And to be clear, Barr confirmed in the interview that he was personally responsible for the decision, which is as significant a revelation as anything else.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

DC federal court chief judge: 'Public criticism or pressure is not a factor' after Trump ripped proposed sentence for Roger Stone

"The Judges of this Court base their sentencing decisions on careful consideration of the actual record in the case before them; the applicable sentencing guidelines and statutory factors; the submissions of the parties, the Probation Office and victims; and their own judgment and experience," said DC District Court Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell. "Public criticism or pressure is not a factor."

The problem here is that the Judge's claim is tainted, as is Stone's sentencing. "The submissions of the parties" now have the appearance of corruption, even if Barr is telling the truth (hahahahaha, yeah, right). The prosecution, the DoJ, changed its recommended sentence shortly after Trump's tweet. There's no way on Earth that will ever look innocent. In his quest to protect himself by removing pressure from one of his co-conspirators, Mr. Trump has irrevocably tainted his Department of "Justice".

[Sir Mohamed]

Mr. Trump has a message for his lapdog at Justice Dept:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1228311415192215553