Trumpwatch: Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere

[lionheart]

Let's hope he is done soon.

That's funny. Trumpism reminds me of the scene from the Lord of the Rings movie where the hobbits hide in the roots of a tree to escape the Nazgul and all the creepy crawlies surface as the riders approach.
That's the effect he has had.

I don't think this Presidency will be an epic though.

(I may have reached peak geek here).

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump

“This isn’t some game. You are screwing with the work of the president of the United States.” John Dowd, March 2018. With North Korea, China, the Middle East and so much more, there is not much time to be thinking about this, especially since there was no Russian “Collusion.”
11:40 pm · 2 May 2018

I'm glad, at least, that he seems to realise that the Presidency is not a game.

And as of a few hours ago, a group of House Republicans have formally nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. Put together, this is an almighty list of achievements that just don’t go together.

Grant Stern @grantstern
22h22 hours ago
More
THREAD

We are in a Constitutional Crisis right now.

The President is under a criminal obstruction of justice probe for trying to halt the #TrumpRussia investigation.

Congress is harassing the Deputy AG overseeing the investigation.

Trump faces a grand jury subpoena.

I like that allusion, lion. The creepy-crawlies are compelled to emerge from their dark places without any thought of their own - they could be run over by the Dark Riders but it would not matter. They answered a call.

"It's the economy, stupid........."

(And I think ('think') he may now have lost it. Palpably.)

Sorry. I meant 'lost the economy'.

Rudy Giuliani says Trump repaid his lawyer for Stormy Daniels hush money

In Fox News interview, Giuliani says lawyer Michael Cohen was personally reimbursed for $130,000 used to silence porn actor

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/may/02/rudy-giuliani-trump-paid-michael-cohen-stormy-daniels-hush-money

Kyle Griffin
@kylegriffin1
Rudy Giuliani just said on Fox that Trump fired Comey because Comey wouldn't tell Trump that he wasn't a target of the FBI's investigation.

Rachel Maddow MSNBC
@maddow
Oh dear, oh jeez, this is not a good thing for the President’s lawyer to admit...

Manu Raju
@mkraju
Michael Caputo, just interviewed by Bob Mueller’s team, told me: “It’s clear they are still really focused on Russia collusion. ... They know more about the Trump campaign than anyone who ever worked there.” He didn’t want to discuss specifics

He added: ”The Senate and the House are net fishing,” Caputo said. “The special counsel is spearfishing. They know what they are aiming at and are deadly accurate.”

Robert Costa
@costareports
Q: The president’s not angry with you? He was aware you’d bring it up?
A: “Oh, yeah, yeah. Sure, sure. He was well-aware that at some point when I saw the opportunity, I was going to get this over with.”
Q: You spoke about this w/ him in recent days?
A: “Probably 4 or 5 days ago"

Manu Raju
@mkraju
Wow, Giuliani insists his claim that Trump reimbursed Cohen for hush money payment was NOT a mistake; in fact, it was blessed by Trump. This despite WH telling public there was no affair and Trump saying he did not know of any payoff right before election.

Philip Rucker
@PhilipRucker
White House press shop is referring questions about Giuliani’s revelation that Trump repaid Cohen for Stormy Daniels hush money to the president’s outside counsel....who happens to be Giuliani.

Amy Fiscus
@amyfiscus
Ty Cobb has no time for Steve Bannon’s shade. (link: nyti.ms/2FAu660 )

With the picture

A year a go, I was annoyed that I’d volunteered to be a teller at the local elections because the timing of my slot clashed exactly with comey’s first post-firing public testimony, at the senate judiciary committee. Let’s hope nothing quite as dramatic happens today!

Mr. Cobb responded: " I don't pay attention to Steve Bannon. I've seen all his documents."

Ouch!

Best lawyers Pain. He seems to have a lot to say.

Yashar Ali 🐘
‏
Verified account

@yashar

1. On Hannity, Giuliani says that Trump fired Comey because he wouldn't say publicly that he wasn't a target of the investigation. Giuliani added that he thought the Lester Holt interview went well.

1. Giuliani says he wants Trump's answers to Mueller's questions be submitted via audio tape.

1. Giuliani just now: "I know James Comey and I know President Trump....sorry Jim, I know you're a liar..you're a disgraceful liar."

1. Giuliani: "Comey should be prosecuted for leaking confidential FBI information."

Giuliani is referring to Comey giving the unclassified portion of his Trump memos to a friend and former FBI colleague to leak to the NYT

1. Hannity to Giuliani: “Is Robert Mueller setting a perjury trap for the President?”

1. Hannity says he wants the “Hillary standard” for Trump’s potential Mueller interview...”she didn’t have to go under oath.”

One doesn’t need to go under oath to be charged with lying to federal investigators.

1. "I believe that Sessions and Rosenstein should end this investigation, in the interest of justice." - Giuliani just now.

1. Re parameters of Mueller interview, Giuliani says "I'm not going to let Trump be treated worse than Clinton.." and then he adds "or Hillary Clinton"

Giuliani referring to Clinton's interview with the Special Counsel Ken Starr and HRC's interview with FBI agents.

1. Giuliani just now... "I'm sorry Hillary, I know you didn't win...but you're a criminal...you have to go to jail."

10. Hannity quotes Comey saying "Hillary Clinton deeply respects the rule of law..."

Giuliani pauses and says re Comey "this is a very perverted man."

11. Giuliani just now "Sessions shouldn't have appointed Rosenstein"

Not sure of the genesis and how Rosenstein ended up on the list of candidates, but it was Trump as POTUS, not Sessions, that nominated Rosenstein.

12. WOW. Giuliani just said that Trump reimbursed Cohen for the $130,000.

"he didn't know the specifics of it, he knew the general arrangement."

13. Giuliani said this in reference to any potential campaign finance violations - saying that because Trump reimbursed Cohen there wouldn't be an issue. This is all new with respect to a Trump lawyer confirming it on record.

14. Hannity is trying to play cleanup here after Giuliani said this. Trying to get Giuliani to explain it differently and Giuliani says that Cohen paid the $130k and that Trump "reimbursed him over several (sounded like months but can't be sure)."

15. Laura Ingraham is playing the clip right now from Air Force One where Trump says he had no idea about the payment contradicting what Giuliani just said on Hannity.

16. Laura Ingraham just now: They have to clarify this..this is a problem (the contradiction).

17. Giuliani will be on Fox Business with @MariaBartiromo tomorrow morning.

Also White House Deputy Press Secretary @hogangidley45 will be on @ShannonBream's show at 11:00 PM tonight...she will definitely ask him about this Giuliani contradiction.

21. Problem with this is if the feds deem @StormyDaniels payment to be an election related expense, Trump would have still been required to file an in-kind contribution report as part of his FEC campaign filings. He would be required by law to report it.

22. WH Deputy Press Secretary @hogangidley45 says the White House team had no idea what Giuliani was going to discuss on Hannity. When @ShannonBream tried to follow up, Hogan said he had to refer this to outside counsel. "I'm not an attorney, I just work at the White House".

23. Look this payment stuff was going to come out eventually, it's not unreasonable to assume that Giuliani was trying to get ahead of future stories and get this information out already. (Yashar Ali).

This view seems to be supported elsewhere:

Robert Costa
‏
Verified account

@costareports

Giuliani tells me he just spoke w / POTUS. Tonight by phone. President "very pleased," Giuliani says. He says they discussed his revelation of the reimbursements long in advance. Does not expect to be fired. Insists his remarks on FNC were approved by Trump. Story TK.

Trump funneling money thru a law firm in small increments to avoid detection would be legally catastrophic, according to a financial expert I just spoke to.

“If, according to Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Trump through his law firm structured payments to avoid reporting of disbursements $10,000 or greater, it would be against federal law, specifically the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA).”
Thread:
twitter.com/scottmstedman/status/991878441883521024?s=21

According to Rachel Maddow, Michael Roman has just left a position as Director of Special Projects at the WH counsel's office.

He used to be head of the Koch brothers' opposition research group.

More on Roman from a year ago:

You Helped Us Find Hires the White House Never Announced, Including a Koch Brothers Alum
www.propublica.org/article/you-helped-us-find-hires-the-white-house-never-announced
Mike Roman, a longtime Republican opposition researcher who worked for billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch before joining the Trump campaign, is now the White House’s director of special projects and research. He is one of a half-dozen unannounced hires the White House has made since President Trump took office. Roman, who led the Kochs’ surveillance and intelligence-gathering unit before it was disbanded in April 2016...

And from 2015:

THE KOCH MACHINE
The Koch intelligence agency
As the billionaires’ network works to reshape U.S. politics, it keeps a close eye on the left.
www.politico.com/story/2015/11/the-koch-brothers-intelligence-agency-215943
The political network helmed by Charles and David Koch has quietly built a secretive operation that conducts surveillance and intelligence gathering on its liberal opponents, viewing it as a key strategic tool in its efforts to reshape American public life.

The operation, which is little-known even within the Koch network, gathers what Koch insiders refer to as “competitive intelligence” that is used to try to thwart liberal groups and activists, and to identify potential threats to the expansive network.

As a strange aside.

www.theguardian.com/film/2018/may/03/kill-bilbo-weinstein-threatened-to-hire-tarantino-for-lord-of-the-rings

Valid question

Judd Legum
‏*@JuddLegum*
Why did Trump, who claims to be worth 10 BILLION DOLLARS, need to repay a $130,000 loan, as Rudy says, "over a period of several months"?

My head is spinning more than usual this morning. Giuliani is throwing so much shade. He is a v unattractive person. I recoil when I see pics of DJT and pics of Giuliani have much the same impact. 🤯

Comey's not much of a fan either.
' The most dangerous place in New York is between Rudy and a microphone' 😀

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/18/comey-book-rudy-giuliani-534197

My head is spinning too. Even Laura Ingraham (sp?) on Fox found it hard to justify Trump's repayment of $130K. Her head was spinning

Why am I thinking the Koch bros opp research has been used to silence a few people and persuade others to be cheerleaders?

slate.com/culture/2018/05/jimmy-kimmel-talks-to-trumps-doctor-about-the-alleged-raid-on-his-office.html

What an image this conjures.

www.thecut.com/2018/05/james-comey-beyonce-sandcastles-fbi-hearing.html?

Pure speculation here--Guiliani trying to bring Trump down to save himself.

www.palmerreport.com/analysis/real-rudy-giuliani-trump-confessed/9877/