First a reminder from the Daily Beast → Mueller Is Done, but the Trump Investigations Are Just Heating Up
Congress can go further than he could against the president. Meanwhile, prosecutors are digging into him in New York and associates like Roger Stone elsewhere. This isn't over.
These cases will continue, as will any cases that they spawn. It may be a long time before the work of Mueller is really complete.
and this reminder (more on this in the next section):
Oh heck, one more preview of the next section:
***this part by Jeremy Moses***
Meditations on Mueller:
where there’s smoke there’s usually fire, and there was a lot of smoke here: the indictments, the expanding investigation, the arrests, the massively redacted (but what we saw was tantalizing) sentencing memos, trump’s wild flailing and acting like the definition of guilty as f*ck. So when we consider Mueller’s report and what is here, we have a couple possibilities. The first is that we are not, in fact, crazy: Where there’s smoke there’s fire, and that peering under all of those redactions, and seeing the whole of Mueller’s investigation— which we only ever saw a small percentage of before— will lead to something good, whatever the final outcome. That’s one possibility. Or, you know, none of that could be true; it could well be that all of the redactions, all of the hundreds of pages of documentation, all of the tens and tens of hours of secret interviews with those in trump’s circle who mysteriously kept getting called back for more— all of that could be in the service of declaring trump innocent, an angel, and the world champion of not being guilty (the length and volume of those materials was necessary for the increasingly hysterical hyperbole). So yeah, that’s also possible. I guess. But what is more likely?
Even as we know all this, though, it might be hard to avoid feelings of seemingly inexplicable disappointment. I think that’s because of some unshakable human psychology: When Mueller was still at work, all of the possibilities were abstract. That meant that our minds were free to jump in and run away with them, letting them lead us wherever we wanted; only our imagination was limiting us. Now, though, we don’t have that luxury; however great the outcome, it will still be clearly defined with a finite ending, however happy. That’s the sort of thing that can’t help but feel like a letdown. And yet I’m looking at the CNN headlines, a trump friendly “serious” news source if ever there was one. I’m seeing things like “Mueller Report is just the Start of a New Russia Showdown,” “Even if there is not Legal Liability for Trump or his Family, the Report could still Inflict Significant Political Damage,” and “The Last Week of the Trump Presidency as we Know It.” So take heart friends, to paraphrase the fantastic Oldhippiedude, let’s not be “Debbie Downers, Gloomy Guses, and Panicky Peters.” We’re in this together. We’ve got this.
***next part by slideman ***
If I may be so bold as to channel OHD for a moment — people relax! We have no idea what is in the Mueller Report and where it will lead. Stop with The Sky is Falling diaries!
Back to me now — JIminy Freaking Christmas! Given the diaries I have read since yesterday, and some of the comments I have read in other diaries, you would think that ALL IS LOST, and Donnie has been completely exonerated, and reelected in a landslide! Just relax, take a deep breath, and see where the process goes and what happens next before panicking!
So just relax and realize that regardless of the outcome of this report, as GNR says, focus on 2020! We still have a lot of work to do! And realize that our 2018 strategy CAN AND WILL work in 2020, despite Donnie’s efforts! And also realize how much damage there is to the Republican brand now!
Have a drink later today and chill!
*** back to GoodNewsRoundup’s Writing ****
Today’s GNR is dedicated to our beloved OldHippieDude and his road to recovery. He’ll be back to us as soon as he is up to it. In the meantime, a box of rain will see you through.
Still a Lot of Justice To Come
So HUGE day yesterday with the report being submitted to Barr. Lots we still don’t know.
I know it was disappointing to learn that there are no more indictments to come from Mueller. And watching people on the far right celebrate is nauseating.
But please remember these investigations are continuing elsewhere too:
Indictments (and information) may come from many of those places.
and this:
And this:
Prosecutors advise Gates not to cooperate with House probe yet
Former Trump campaign adviser Rick Gates — a central cooperating witness for special counsel Robert Mueller — has been advised by prosecutors not to cooperate with the House Judiciary Committee's broad investigation of President Donald Trump, his lawyer told lawmakers in a recent letter obtained Wednesday by POLITICO.
But Gates' lawyer, Thomas Green, left open the possibility of assisting the panel "in the coming months."
That means there are still threads being taken by areas close to Gates.
and this:
and this puzzling but promising info:
hmmm……
and this:
Subpoenas, sentencings and Stone: What will become of the special counsel’s unfinished business?
That may not, however, be the end of the matter. Mueller’s grand jury in Washington, D.C., the legally independent body that issued the subpoenas, had its term extended in January for up to six months, just before its initial 18-month term was set to expire. Another part of the Justice Department, such as the department’s foreign influence unit or the prosecutors who take over Stone’s case, could seek to step in and begin working with the grand jury to obtain the witnesses’ testimony.
In addition, two former federal prosecutors agreed that the Justice Department would likely be loath to see recalcitrant witnesses come away with such an easy victory.
“I think some other unit within the Justice Department will likely see it through, either [the U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C.] or maybe DOJ national security,” said Harry Sandick, a former prosecutor with the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office. “It would set a bad precedent for Mueller to let witnesses defeat a subpoena through delay.”
“I think that somebody will carry on the litigation because the grand jury is still in session until June,” said Elizabeth de la Vega, a former organized crime prosecutor, agreeing.
And IF the report doesn’t contain damning info AND IF none of the other investigations that have come from this come to anything, we still have this → Democrats will direct FBI, White House counsel to preserve records shared with Mueller
The Democratic chairs of the six House committees investigating potential abuse of power by President Trump and his campaign’s business and alleged foreign ties will ask several executive branch agencies to preserve information they provided to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III as he investigated Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, according to congressional aides familiar with the plan.
The six House leaders and their Senate Democratic counterparts have signed a letter that will be sent to the Department of Justice, FBI and White House Counsel’s Office, among other agencies, shortly after Mueller submits his report to Attorney General William P. Barr, signaling the investigation’s conclusion.
So yah, this all feels a bit anticlimactic, but it isn’t over.
Robert Mueller Has Delivered a Report to the Attorney General. What’s Next?
If there is evidence of what Democrats deem impeachable offenses, Pelosi and other House leaders will come under pressure to begin impeachment proceedings immediately.
and this:
The Mueller report will be released, one way or the other
If Mueller’s work is truly done, there are good reasons to conclude that Mueller has passed along, or will before exiting the building, a far more detailed report to Barr.
First, and crucially, Mueller’s core mission is defined as conducting a counterintelligence investigation that we know began in early 2017, including any links or coordination between the Russian government and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. That’s his first job; prosecuting the guilty comes second.
Any adequate report of Mueller’s investigation, therefore, should include far more than just who he decided to prosecute or not, as mentioned in the regulations.
Mueller’s deputy Andrew Weissmann provided a confirmation of this focus in a closed-door hearing in the Paul Manafort case. Weissmann told the judge that an August 2016 meeting between Manafort, Trump’s campaign chairman, and Russian operative Konstantin Kilimnik “goes, I think, very much to the heart of what the special counsel’s office is investigating.”
That admission clearly is a reminder that Mueller’s focus has been on the possible links between the Trump campaign and Russia, a subject both far larger and fundamentally different from identifying criminal violations.
In his confirmation hearing, Barr pledged to provide transparency to the extent permitted by law. His letter Friday suggests that he will do so with respect to Mueller’s main prosecutorial decisions. The more important topic to which we will now move is the wealth of information Mueller developed in his counterintelligence investigation.
and this:
and don’t forget this:
and this:
and this:
So still a lot of info to come in. And if Mueller doesn’t save us?
But that doesn’t matter. Because this time, we save ourselves. There is no hero in this story. There are millions of heros— stuffing envelopes, writing postcards, marching, donating, and giving our time and energy. WE are the grownups. WE are the heros. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
And really, what matters is 2020 2020 2020 and then 2020.
Justice will come for these men in one form or another. I have no doubt about that.
What is important now is that we show the will of the people to bring this country back to our core values. We WILL do that with our hard work and dedication in 2020. Just like we did in 2018.
Before we move on to the next section: Remember, you are the song that the morning brings.
Democrats are amazing
House Dems to take up gender pay gap, domestic violence laws
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer on Monday formally rolled out the party’s agenda for the next month, eyeing high-profile votes on the gender pay gap, net neutrality and domestic violence laws.
None of the bills — which have few GOP cosponsors — are expected to make it through the Republican-controlled Senate, at least without substantial revisions. But it’s an aggressive agenda to cap off Democrats’ first 100 days in the majority, as Hoyer laid out in a letter to members, obtained by POLITICO.
Cummings demands docs on Kushner's alleged use of encrypted app for official business
House Democrats are raising new concerns about what they say is recently revealed information from Jared Kushner’s attorney indicating that the senior White House aide has been relying on encrypted messaging service WhatsApp and his personal email account to conduct official business.
Cummings, who now leads the Oversight Committee, says in a new letter to White House counsel Pat Cipollone that Lowell confirmed to the two lawmakers that Kushner “continues to use” WhatsApp to conduct White House business. Cummings also indicated that Lowell told them he was unsure whether Kushner had ever used WhatsApp to transmit classified information.
House Judiciary Committee Planning Hearing on the Rise of White Nationalism
Days after the massacre in New Zealand, lawmakers are looking for more information from federal agencies on what’s being done to confront the threat.
We’ve come a long way since our powerless first two years of this nightmare. Well the first days are the hardest days, don't you worry any more, Cause when life looks like easy street, there is danger at your door.
Good News for 2020
Wisconsin swing voters tire of Trump
Voters who supported Barack Obama in 2012 and then Donald Trump in 2016 are sick of Trump, saying in a focus group here that they're getting tired of his "lies" and the way he treats people.
Why it matters: Trump barely won Wisconsin, where he got roughly 22,000 more votes than Hillary Clinton, and these swing voters were decisive. If he's losing them, it will be harder to win the state again with just his base supporters.
What Ariana Grande’s ‘Sweetener’ tour has to do with the 2020 election
The “thank u, next” singer is turning her ongoing “Sweetener” tour into a voter-registration drive, partnering with the nonprofit organization HeadCount to get concertgoers to complete the paperwork that makes them eligible to cast ballots in the 2020 presidential race. The campaign, dubbed #thankunextgen (get it?), is already claiming success. “I see it. I like it. I VOTED. I got it,” read a sign at the organization’s booth, per a pic posted to Twitter. (That’s a play on Grande’s hit “7 Rings,” for the uninitiated.)
House Dems haul in record donations for February
The campaign arm of House Democrats said it raised $11.6 million last month, more than in any previous February.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) said $4.6 million of that total came from grass-roots donors, including $3 million through online donations.
The average online donation during February was $18.
“Democrats across America aren’t wasting a second to protect and expand our new majority,” DCCC Chairwoman Cheri Bustos (Ill.) said in a statement
And we WILL do all we can for 2020 because it costs a lot to win, and even more to lose
Other Good News
Americans Are Divided by Their Views on Race, Not Race Itself
The country is not divided by racial conflict, but by conflict over racial ideology. This is a crucial difference — and it is also grounds for optimism.
Liberal whites — not minorities — are setting the tone on these issues.
Since 2012, white liberals have moved considerably left on questions related to race, reflecting both a campus- and online-driven cultural awakening that has accelerated in response to Mr. Trump. On the American National Election Study’s scale measuring how respondents feel about a group — white liberals are warmer toward minorities than their own racial group.
The share of white liberals who say racial prejudice is the main reason blacks cannot get ahead has jumped substantially since 2014.
What this all shows is that America isn’t racially divided, it’s divided by racial ideology. And that’s a good thing for the country’s unity, because ideological differences, however lamentable, are less polarizing than racial conflict, in which whole communities mobilize against an enemy. A mix of races are found in each racial ideology, preventing tribe and creed from pushing in the same direction, which might lead to civil conflict. This raises the hope that American political elites can one day heal the country’s divisions.
Betsy DeVos strikes out — in court
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ attempts to swiftly roll back major Obama-era policies at her agency are hitting a roadblock: federal courts.
Judges have rebuffed DeVos’ attempts to change Obama policies dealing with everything from student loan forgiveness to mandatory arbitration agreements to racial disparities in special education programs.
As a result, the Education Department is being forced to carry out Obama-era policies that the Trump administration had been fighting to stop — stymying DeVos’ efforts to quickly impose a conservative imprint on federal education policy over the past two years.
and finally: Ripple. I have my path. And you have your path. But here we are together, filling one another’s lives with our imperfect but beautiful songs as we all make our way through this great journey. If I knew the way, I would take you all home. As is, I can just share my song and hold yours close to my heart ❤️ ✊ ❤️
Proud, lucky, and blessed to be this with all of you
Happy weekend everyone!