Julian Assange will become a key factor in the Trump saga. As soon as he gets off the plane, accompanied by US Marshals, he will become an object of attention by Roger Stone’s prosecutors, Donald Trump’s defenders, and by House Democrats in hearings that may lead to impeachment proceedings.
Assange knows who spoke with him on behalf of the Trump campaign, and he knows what was said. He also knows what he did to help Trump squeak across the finish line in 2016. We’ll call these items “the beans.”
Stone is presently charged with obstruction of justice, making false statements, and witness tampering. Some of this revolves around connections between Stone and Assange. Therefore Assange’s testimony will be sought. Whatever he says will also figure in what the House decides to do.
So I’ll make a few more predictions:
1) Prosecutors will offer Assange lenient treatment if he spills the beans.
2) Trump, directly or through intermediaries, will make it known that Assange will get lenient treatment (perhaps a commutation or pardon) if he inserts a cork and no beans get spilled.
3) There will be something of a bidding war for Assange’s beans. Whether it makes it to Sotheby’s or only to Ebay remains to be seen.
4) Either way, there will be a stop at the House for testimony, and there, Assange will cite his 5th Amendment rights and remain mute as a moose, whilst his lawyers (and perhaps he himself) negotiate the bidding war.
A few more things to keep in mind:
Assange is clearly a Cluster-B Personality, narcissistic type, with antisocial (sociopathic) features, and he has at least partially decompensated (poo-smearing is prima facie evidence of the latter). Stone is also a Cluster-B, primarily antisocial type, with narcissistic features. And Trump, as we all well know, is a Cluster-B, malignant narcissistic type, with antisocial features.
We can call this “the Cluster-B clusterf***.” Cluster-Bs are known for pathological lying, but some are better at it than others. When dealing with a trio of liars, who do you believe?
But there will be documentary evidence, from FBI’s in-depth perusal of Stone’s personal devices. And, I have to believe that GCHQ cryptanalysts have been hard at work on Assange’s personal devices since he was dragged out of the Ecuadorian consulate. NSA and FBI will also get Assange’s devices in due course. There’ll be plenty of beans to go around.
So now we have the classic Prisoner’s Dilemma, in a most concrete sense. Who among them will “rat out” (to use Trump’s immortal phrase) one or both of the others first? Keep in mind that whoever “rats” first, gets the best deal.
Julian Assange, kingmaker for the Kremlin, will be a pawn in this game.
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One more thing: Notice the timing of Assange’s extraction from the Ecuadoran embassy, relative to the timing of the wrap-up of the Mueller investigation and the delayed release of the Mueller report.
There are plenty of hardworking people at the agencies, here and in the UK, who are committed to a “rule-of-law society,” and who routinely talk to each other across the pond.
Meanwhile Trump has predictably been saying that now the investigation is over and he’s been cleared.
Perfect timing indeed.
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All of this will make for much merriment in these pages as it unfolds. But it shouldn’t diminish by one microgram, our primary means of recourse and our primary duty, which is to GOTV as if our lives depend on it. Register new voters, help them get their papers, volunteer for campaigns, donate to campaigns, knock on doors, make phone calls, write postcards, and monitor polling places: do not stop until the last vote is in. There’s enough to do that everyone can do something.
What we need next year isn’t a squeaker, but a huge honking victory that absolutely and utterly repudiates The Regime and all of the forces that put The Regime in power. That part is up to us, and that will not change. So enjoy the fireworks, but stay on the task. 2020 here we come!
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Rules of the road dep’t: In all of the stories I publish, fierce criticism is always welcome, but pre-emptive defeatism and emotional-warfare sniping such as “nothing is going to happen” or “nothing is going to change” should be considered threadjacking and “being a d*ck," and should be flagged, especially in early comments. Sh*tting on Democratic candidates and office-holders, ditto. The entire point of being on DK is the commitment to activism and solidarity, and to doing progressive politics on behalf of our country, the world at-large, and the biosphere on which we all depend.