My friends, there was one man (outside his family) who Trump knew could turn him in for everything. That man was Paul Manafort.
And yesterday he flipped.
It was a good, good, good day for democracy.
Paul Manafort's Cooperation With Mueller Is the Biggest Blow Yet to Trump
The president and his former campaign chairman have spent months sharing information about the Russia investigation. Now Manafort has decided to help the government.
Legal experts characterized Manafort’s move as a significant win for Mueller—and a big setback for Trump. “Manafort’s cooperation is a tremendous achievement for the Mueller investigation—maybe the single biggest development yet,” said Seth Waxman, a former federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C. “Manafort provides Mueller with an insider to the infamous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting and likely many other key moments.”
“This is also incredibly important because if the president were to pardon Manafort under these circumstances, the case against the president for obstruction of justice would be even more compelling,” Waxman said. “In short, this is a huge day for the government.”
There could be another advantage for Mueller, too: “The investigation now gains even more legitimacy in the eyes of the public because, in pleading guilty, Manafort is essentially announcing that Mueller’s investigation is spot-on regarding the crimes he committed,” said Glenn Kirschner, a former federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C. “So this continues to chip away at the witch-hunt argument.”
We already suspected that Manafort had the goods, but this confirms it. Mueller would not have done this if Manafort couldn’t deliver on something BIG:
And Trump reacted in hilarious fashion. First he exhibited faith that Paulie would tell the truth and then realizing what that would mean if Paulie really DOES tell the truth, they walked it right back (hee hee):
I know some people were stressing out that this wasn’t a real cooperation agreement. It is:
What does John Dean (who knows a thing of two about this) think?
And this is more bad news for our friend (not really) Roger Stone:
and yes, this is REALLY bad for Trump:
Trump can start panicking now: Manafort will cooperate with the special counsel
“The relentless Mueller push continues — as does that of the rule of law,” observes former White House ethics counsel Norman Eisen. “The reported cooperation agreement could be devastating to the president — and those around him. Manafort for example could implicate not only the president in the Trump Tower meeting — but also others who were involved such as Don Jr. or [Jared] Kushner. The same is true on the mysterious [RNC] platform change, and indeed on all the possible collision offenses.”
What we will find out in the days and weeks ahead is just how much Manafort knows and how much he can tell us about what Trump knew regarding Russian interference on his behalf. For Republicans who have been carrying water for the president, it might be time to put down the buckets and run for their political lives. Frankly, voting for impeachment and removal might be a good option for Republicans at some point. Before we get there, however, there are the midterms, which are shaping up to be a wipeout for the GOP.
After Getting Flipped By Mueller, Manafort Is Existential Threat to Trump
There’s no other way to put it: the cooperation agreement with the president’s ex-campaign chief is stunning.
now that he has pled guilty and agreed to be sentenced for all of his criminal conduct, Manafort now has to actually cooperate with Mueller. That means, in essence, that Mueller now owns Manafort. Manafort has to do everything Mueller asks: provide information to investigators upon request, testify in the grand jury, turn over documents to Mueller, and testify at trial. If Manafort is truly on board as a cooperator, then Mueller knows, or soon will know, everything Manafort knows. That must be a scary thought for the president.
Indeed, Manafort seems uniquely positioned to deliver extraordinary — perhaps even historic — cooperation. Manafort is situated differently than the other cooperators who have given information to Mueller thus far. Manafort sat in the inner sanctum of Trump world
Manafort’s cooperation could change everything. He had close access to Trump, and his knowledge should go not merely to collateral matters but right to the heart of Russian conspiracy with Trump and his campaign. The closest members of Trump’s inner circle and family now face genuine danger of criminal indictment, and Mueller may even have the evidence to implicate the president in a crime, or at least to make a strong recommendation of impeachment to Congress.
and don’t forget this:
Paul Manafort is the first Trump Tower meeting attendee to flip
Paul Manafort is the first person, as far as we know, who attended the infamous Trump Tower meeting in June 2016 who has agreed to cooperate with Mueller’s probe.
That element of his plea deal might especially trouble the Trump legal defense team.
what else could he tell?
and in case you were worried, many people argue that Trump cannot use a pardon to stop Manafort’s cooperation
Trump and his team have tried to lay the groundwork for pardons to protect him from criminal charges. But can he use the pardon power in that way? Not in our reading of the law. A self-pardon, or a pardon that is self-protective and serves the same purpose as a self-pardon, would be an abuse of power that violates the Constitution and, as such, could warrant impeachment
And they seized Manafort’s assets which are worth a LOT:
Oh, and just as the cherry on top, Michael Cohen Is the Latest Former Trump Ally to Talk to Mueller
In recent weeks, it has also become common knowledge among close friends of Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney, that Cohen is talking to the Mueller team, according to people familiar with the situation.
He had expressed to friends that he was willing to share what he knows, both because he wants to be on the right side of history, and to spare them. As one longtime friend of Cohen’s put it to me, “He doesn’t feel he needs to go out of his way to protect Trump anymore, particularly because Trump has gone out of his way to hurt Michael.” Earlier this week, Cohen and his attorney sat down with New York state tax-department officials, who subpoenaed him last month as part of their inquiry into the Trump Foundation.
According to people close to him, Cohen closely watched the White House’s reaction to his allocution in court last month. He listened as Trump railed against anyone who makes a plea deal, telling Fox News that cooperating with the government “almost ought to be outlawed.” And he has bristled at the feeling that he has taken the fall for a man who has refused to take any responsibility or face any consequence himself. In conversations with Mueller’s team, he is making good on what he told ABC earlier this summer: that his loyalty to Trump is no longer his lodestar.
Justice will be served.
Our Democracy Has A Great Future
In addition to being over the moon about all that good news, I am also ecstatic about the state of our democracy after voting in NYS on Thursday and getting the results yesterday. Why? It is not because my candidates won (most of them didn’t) it is for two reasons. First:
Democratic Insurgents Topple 6 New York Senate Incumbents
Years of anger at a group of Democratic state senators who had collaborated with Republicans boiled over on Thursday, as primary voters ousted nearly all of them in favor of challengers who had called them traitors and sham progressives.
The losses were not only a resounding upset for the members of the Independent Democratic Conference, who outspent their challengers several times over, but also a sign that the progressive fervor sweeping national politics had hobbled New York’s once-mighty Democratic machine, at least on a local level.
This is BIG. Despite being a blue state, NY has had a republican led senate due to those turncoats. We have a good chance to flip that this November which will be great for NYS and for America!
and Second: A record 1,487,000 Dems voted, a three-fold increase over the last two mid-terms.
THREE TIMES the voters on our side!!! I even felt the energy at my little village voting station. Democrats cannot wait to take back our democracy. We are saving our country, y’all and it is EXCITING to be a part of this!
I just couldn’t be happier today ❤️ ☀️ ✊
You know what? There is tons of other good news out there (really!) but I am so happy about Manafort and our democracy that I can’t even bring myself to sit down and write more.
I hope you all don’t mind too much if just this once, I share just the big stories (for me) and then share some of my favorite memes.
I am in a fun sharing kind of mood 😉
If I skipped some good news you want us all to celebrate, please add it in a comment. I’ll be looking for it ❤️
Here we go:
Here are some that help me laugh in these crazy times:
Some on parenting while resisting:
Some that give me inspiration
and finally, one for OldHippieDude
Love to all of you. Happy Weekend! Please stay safe if you are near the storm or, frankly, anywhere else. ❤️ ✊ ❤️