And Paul Manafort remains in a lot of Trouble…It’s been a week since our last posting on TheVORACS, so there’s plenty of good info to cover in all 3 parts. We’ll get to the headlines on Paul Manafort a little further below, but first our commentary is on Trump being in a lot of trouble! Starting in January, the forces of special counsel & Dem House investigative committees can team up, helping to reveal the truth. If there is a criminal enterprise operating out of the White House, as reams of circumstantial evidence suggest, it could soon rid America of an administration proven to lack the legitimacy to hold office. The constitutional rule of law may leave our country with no choice but to take the appropriate measures in dealing with substantive evidence of high crimes & misdemeanors.
The preservation of our democratic republic might even convince a sizable percentage within the GOP to put partisan politics aside in order to do the right thing, even the required thing. When that time comes, it will be interesting to see who in the GOP opts to protect the constitutional rule of law & democracy itself, & who is willing to undermine our democracy by taking the side of corruption & lawlessness. Trump’s only strategy is to now discredit Mueller (even calling him rogue) to keep his base on his side, so GOP senators won’t be so inclined to convict when fearful of their base. As that incriminating evidence is increasingly exposed to Congress & the public, expect the tide to turn against the prez as we could become flooded with disclosures of multiple criminal activities. It’s then GOP congresspeople may be forced to do the right thing based on the preponderance of evidence. See these excerpts from mueller-investigation-and-blue-house-could-doom-trump:
On May 17, 1973, Senator Sam Ervin Jr. opened Senate hearings into the Watergate affair. “It is the constitutional duty of this committee,” he said, to expeditiously investigate allegations that American democracy “has been subverted and its foundations shaken.” Ervin, a Democrat, did not mince words in characterizing the gravity of the accusations leveled against Richard Nixon’s campaign and administration. At stake were “the workings of the democratic process under which we operate in a nation that still is the last, best hope of mankind.” President Nixon started in a relatively weak position. His misdeeds came to light during a period of opposition-party control, with Democrats able and willing to wield Congress’s investigative powers to the fullest. Prior to the hearings, Nixon enjoyed approval ratings: in the mid-50s among all Americans and well over 80 percent among Republicans. By August 1973, the Watergate hearings had dragged them down to just 31 percent nationally and a paltry 58 percent among co-partisans. On August 9, 1974, with bipartisan articles of impeachment hanging over him, Nixon resigned.
President Donald Trump has thus far had a very different experience. For the past two years, Republican control of Congress has protected him from the public exposure Nixon and his staff had to endure. Now that the Democrats have taken back the House, the Trump administration will face a challenge from which it has been immune thus far: a far-reaching, aggressive, and highly public investigation of the kind that brought down Nixon. Trump’s approval ratings stand at 40 percent overall and 89 percent among Republicans. In September 2017, we wrote, “It is tough for a special prosecutor alone to bring down an administration. That feat is more readily accomplished in the court of public opinion, where an opposition-led Congress can rain hellfire and brimstone upon a troubled presidency.” We believe our argument will soon be proved correct; hellfire and brimstone are imminent. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation has picked off a few campaign aides and charged Russian operatives, but it has yet to breach the inner sanctum of the Oval Office. If Mueller follows existing Department of Justice precedent, Trump will remain safe from indictment. A Democrat-controlled Congress, however, will show no such restraint when it comes to the president and those closest to him.
Democratic control will bring two new advantages in the war on Trump. First, congressional committees hold an arsenal of investigative tools that can be called on with only majority-party assent. Chief among them is Congress’s subpoena power—its ability to compel the production of documents or the sworn testimony of witnesses in furtherance of a congressional investigation. That power can be exercised to produce anything from Trump’s much-discussed but as yet unseen tax returns to public testimony from his senior staff and family members (especially those who fit both descriptions). Moreover, due to a 2015 rule change pushed through by House Republicans, most House committees can now issue subpoenas on the authority of the chairperson alone, including three of the committees most likely to go after Trump: Oversight, Intelligence, and Foreign Affairs.
Second, Congress has the power to draw the results of any investigation into the harsh light of public scrutiny. The Watergate hearings were instrumental in bringing down Nixon because they forced Republicans to contend with damning testimony from the president’s closest aides, broadcast in prime time. Only once his approval among Republicans sank into the 50s were GOP congressmen willing to join the impeachment effort. Removing Trump from office before his term expires would require a similar loss of intraparty support. Since Democrats today don’t control the Senate—let alone hold the two-thirds majority required for conviction on House impeachment charges—it’s all the more important for them to erode the president’s base of support before attempting impeachment. Republicans’ impeachment of Bill Clinton increased his approval rating as those on the left rallied around him. Today, Democrats would do well to keep their fingers off the trigger until the president’s approval has begun to crumble.
If Congress and Mueller can cooperate, though, both stand to gain from parallel investigations. As the Watergate Special Prosecution Force put it in its final report, “In the end, the continuation of public hearings through the summer of 1973 … brought to public attention testimony relating to alleged White House involvement in the Watergate cover-up and other crimes and thereby helped create for the Special Prosecutor’s investigation a base of public and congressional support.” Whatever risks the Mueller investigation does pose for the president, history suggests that they will be magnified by a Democrat-controlled House. Although the Watergate Special Prosecution Force never indicted Nixon, its findings were transmitted to the House via a grand-jury report that provided much of the basis for the Judiciary Committee’s articles of impeachment.
Lots of Informative Articles on Mueller Investigation
I don’t usually include statements by Alan Dershowitz because I’m always so amazed somebody so smart can so often say such dumb things, as he always seems to be auditioning for a spot on Trump’s legal team. But even he is admitting the final Mueller report will be greatly damaging to the prez. For other interesting reports on how the probe is going, check out this list of live links here:
In written questions, Mueller asked Trump about the hacking of DNC’s emails & Trump Tower meeting: https://www.businessinsider.com/mueller-asked-trump-dnc-hack-trump-tower-meeting-collusion-2018-11
With more questions from Mueller likely to come: https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/21/politics/rudy-giuliani-robert-mueller/index.html
The authoritarian goal of weaponizing the intelligence community to go after political opponents: https://www.mediaite.com/tv/cnns-toobin-goes-off-over-trump-wanting-clinton-comey-prosecuted-what-happens-in-authoritarian-countries/
Infringing on the independence of the Justice Dept. is so un-American, it’s a direct threat to our democracy: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/11/trump-reportedly-wanted-prosecute-hillary-and-comey/576460/
Dems look to follow the money: https://www.thedailybeast.com/house-intelligence-panel-hiring-money-laundering-sleuths?ref=home
Dems & even a few in the GOP looking to investigate the family criminal enterprise: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/it’s-not-just-trump-in-house-democrats’-cross-hairs-his-family-is-too/ar-BBQ5lNb?ocid=spartandhp
We’re witnessing the stunning demise of a president in real time: https://www.salon.com/2018/11/21/the-decline-and-fall-of-donald-trump-opening-chapter_partner/
To coin a phrase from a beer commercial, it’s Mueller Time!: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/21/1814533/–Mueller-Time-coming-soon-to-a-theater-near-you
All things considered, the Mueller probe has been remarkably productive while moving at lightning speed: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/25/robert-mueller-donald-trump-russia-investigation
Things are heating up & Mueller no doubt planned ahead: https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/417804-after-midterms-mueller-prepares-blockbuster-moves
Has been dodging testifying in person for nearly a year: https://www.apnews.com/51e0159165044ea7bdec860c0baae089
Has already violated the rule of law & committed impeachable offenses: https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a25250046/donald-trump-james-comey-hillary-clinton-saudi-arabia/
We may have reached the point of no return with the House subpoena cannon pointed straight at the cronies protecting Trump: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/25/donald-trump-democrats-subpoenas-house
We’d need to have solid evidence first: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/26/nadler-evidence-impeachable-offense-trump-1014702
Criminal liability also likely coming from shining light on the Trump Foundation: https://www.inquisitr.com/5177801/trump-foundation-lawsuit-criminally-vulnerable/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=yahoo&utm_campaign=homepage
In a poll 76% say Mueller should be allowed to finish his work, with 90% saying his report should be made public: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2018/11/27/manaforts-plea-deal-collapse-isnt-the-biggest-development-in-muellers-probe/?utm_term=.5eb1846b83b5
Mueller works in stealth silence behind the scenes, a man defined by integrity & heroism as opposed to the embarrassment inside the White House:
Here are other important findings on the Russia probe if you’d like to search for the articles:
washingtonpost/could-robert-mueller-be-about-tell-us-something-big
usatoday/democrats-start-impeachment-process-check-trump-corruption
politico/mueller-vote-lameduck
nymag/trump-does-not-understand-what-special-counsel-means
washingtonpost/life-immitates-melodrama-especially-in-the-trump-era
washingtonpost/the-list-of-trump-associates-indicted-convicted-or-pleading-guilty-could-be-about-to-grow-longer
Paul Manafort Updates
The latest hot headlines are all about Paul Manafort. Mueller has withdrawn his plea agreement due to the chronic lying coming from Paul Manafort, plus there’s a bombshell report on Manafort connections & several meetings before & during the presidential campaign with Julian Assange of WikiLeaks. Just for a perspective, WikiLeaks was Russia’s connection which leaked all those emails during the 2016 campaign damaging to the Hillary campaign.
With Paul Manafort & Jerome Corsi both refusing to cooperate fully with Mueller, that might indicate they got wind of the President intending to pardon them. It’d be easy to leak that info to them, since their legal teams have a joint defense agreement with Trump’s legal team. And with Matthew Whitaker installed as acting AG, there’s hope within Trump world he could somehow derail the Mueller probe.
For a Trump campaign chairman who was counted on to be a key witness, this looks to be a setback for Mueller’s team & could prompt the investigation to drag on longer. On the other hand, maybe they have already gathered enough facts to know Paul Manafort was lying. If Manafort is holding out for a pardon, that strategy might blow up if the courts deny a presidential pardon based on deeming Trump is a co-conspirator, plus state charges against Manafort would be beyond the reach of a pardon. And when Mueller reports to the court on the nature of Manafort’s lies, it could provide a window into other crimes by other campaign staff members that may have been committed.
These as yet unconfirmed reports indicate Paul Manafort has long had connections with Assange of WikiLeaks. Might that be why Trump hired Manafort? And if so, that signals coordination between the Trump campaign & the Russians with WikiLeaks used as their intermediary. Stay tuned for more VORACS updates on Friday, since this story might be confirmed this week, & it would be a major bombshell on the Russian scandal. It could be the trail to proving collusion!
Here is the link where all the excitement is about: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/27/manafort-held-secret-talks-with-assange-in-ecuadorian-embassy. Since we have plenty of links on these Paul Manafort stories & don’t want to exceed our limit on live links, you can look these up:
theguardian/paul-manafort-plea-deal-russia-investigation-mueller-lies
msn/manafort-breached-plea-deal-by-repeatedly-lying-mueller-says
salon/trump-is-panicked-because-robert-mueller-has-turned-on-paul-manafort
salon/this-reporter-argues-that-trump-used-manafort-as-a-mole-inside-muellers-investigation
washingtonpost/mueller-says-manafort-lied-after-pleading-guilty-should-be-sentenced-immediately
usatoday/mueller-manafort-lied-repeatedly-fbi-violation-plea-deal
thehill/manafort-violates-plea-agreement
thedailybeast/mueller-manafort-violated-plea-agreement-lied-to-russia-probe-investigators
npr/special-counsel-says-paul-manafort-breached-plea-deal-lied-to-fbi
dailykos/Manafort-s-screwed-Trump-s-implicated-and-parts-of-Mueller-s-investigation-may-become-public
time/robert-mueller-accusing-paul-manafort-lying
investigaterussia/hes-lying
nytimes/manafort-trump-trial
esquire/paul-manafort-lie-robert-mueller-plea-deal
thehill/mueller-probing-2017-meeting-between-manafort-ecuadorian-president
huffingtonpost/paul-manafort-talks-with-julian-assange
slate/manafort-wikileaks-assange-meeting-mueller
motherjones/bombshell-report-paul-manafort-met-secretly-with-wikileaks-julian-assange
washingtonpost/its-a-big-day-for-collusion-no-wonder-trump-is-raging
washingtonpost/timeline-what-it-would-mean-if-manafort-assange-met
thehill/manafort-held-secret-talks-with-assange-in-ecuadorian-embassy
thedailybeast/paul-manafort-held-secret-meetings-with-julian-assange-before-wikileaks-email-dump-report
inquisitr/paul-manafort-and-wikileaks-julian-assange-secretly-met-at-ecuadorian-embassy
inquisitr/paul-manafort-wikileaks-assange-collusion
thinkprogress/manafort-assange-meeting
dailykos/Here-s-what-Paul-Manafort-was-lying-about-and-it-s-the-missing-piece-between-Moscow-and-Trump
dailykos/Carl-Bernstein-Mueller-has-been-on-the-Manafort-Wikileaks-trail-for-more-than-a-year
dailykos/Manafort-plea-deal-may-have-started-as-a-set-up-for-Robert-Mueller-and-ended-as-a-trap-for-Trump
dailykos/Trump-freaks-and-attacks-Mueller-today-because-the-ammo-dump-may-get-lit-in-TrumpRussia
investigaterussia/did-manafort-meet-assange
Corsi
Crackpot conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi appears to have previously committed perjury over statements concerning his advance knowledge of the WikiLeaks email dump, but has stated a firm reluctance to accept a plea deal. If Corsi were ever to flip, he may be in position to know the extent Roger Stone & others in the Trump campaign, including Trump himself, may have known of these WikiLeaks dumps coming during the campaign & whether they assisted in the coordination. Here are the most pertinent articles on Corsi if you want to search for them, plus we just got late word Corsi is being indicted:
theatlantic/roger-stone-associate-in-mueller-crosshairs-over-wikileaks-ties
msn/mueller-has-emails-from-stone-pal-corsi-about-wikileaks-dem-email-dump
slate/jerome-corsi-trump-joint-defense-agreement-mueller-immunity-deal
Exposing Whitaker
An acting AG who’s corrupt through & through, I encourage people to search any of the article titles below. Become thoroughly acquainted with the real Matthew Whitaker, someone so completely unqualified & compromised to be our nation’s top law enforcement official, it’s literally a joke!
His cable TV comments exposed his true intentions: huffingtonpost/acting-attorney-general-matt-whitaker-critiqued-the-mueller-investigation-on-cnn
Should make for an interesting testimony: msn/schiff-we-are-going-to-bring-whitaker-before-the-congress
Typical of fascist regimes, locking up political opponents: nymag/trump-hired-matt-whitaker-to-lock-up-hillary-clinton
Another article on the mission to lock her up: salon/did-donald-trump-hire-matt-whitaker-as-acting-attorney-general-to-prosecute-hillary-clinton
So many reasons why Whitaker is so unqualified: yahoo/5-reasons-why-matthew-whitaker
The opposition mounts: businessinsider/15-attorneys-general-oppose-matthew-whitaker-in-amicus-brief
Various lawsuits against the acting AG: thehill/dems-vs-trump-breaking-down-the-lawsuits-against-whitaker
We should suspect he’s hiding something or soon will be: thehill/schiff-whitaker-not-telling-congress-his-intentions-on-mueller
Not particularly bright: thehill/comey-matt-whitaker-may-not-be-the-sharpest-knife-in-our-drawer
We had already learned of the scam business Whitaker was involved with that authorities shut down, including the masculine toilet: motherjones/the-acting-attorney-general-helped-an-alleged-scam-company-hawk-bizarre-products
The unconstitutional end around, installing an AG not confirmed by Senate: washingtonpost/we-need-an-attorney-general-vetted-by-the-senate–not-matthew-whitaker
High Court should steer clear for now: politico/doj-supreme-court-whitaker
He’s in position to do a tremendous amount of damage: newsmax/whitaker-mueller-trump-russia
A couple articles on violating the Hatch Act:
newsweek/acting-attorney-general-matthew-whitaker-hatch
thehill/federal-investigators-probing-possible-whitaker-hatch-act-violations
Several articles on Whitaker doctoring his financial forms to disguise large shady payments he pocketed:
huffingtonpost/matthew-whitaker-finances-attorney-general
businessinsider/ap-right-leaning-nonprofit-paid-whitaker-nearly-1-million
politico/whitaker-12-million-conservative-nonprofit
salon/matt-whitaker-was-paid-1-2-million-by-right-wing-group-before-becoming-trumps-attorney-general
dailykos/Matt-Whitaker-got-1-2-from-a-nonprofit-that-seems-to-have-existed-solely-to-promote-himself
investigaterussia/whitakers-financial-disclosure-raises-questions
msn/conservative-nonprofit-with-obscure-roots-and-undisclosed-funders-paid-matthew-whitaker-dollar12-million
washingtonpost/we-dont-know-who-was-paying-matthew-whitaker-and-thats-a-problem
Clueless Clown is No Laughing Matter
As revealed inside donald-trump-preening-clueless-clown, foreign leaders view Trump as a laughingstock easily swayed by flattery. When Trump champions his America first posture, his total misinterpretation of our role/status in the world could have the exact opposite effect of what he seeks to achieve. See the entire article posted below from trumps-america-first-means-americans-lose which highlights Trump’s MAGA pledge could end up dissolving America’s greatness, causing disastrous ramifications on freedom & human rights/values throughout the world:
“THE WORLD is a very dangerous place!” Thus President Trump begins the statement in which he seeks to justify accepting what he had previously called unacceptable: the state-sponsored murder of Jamal Khashoggi. He is right: The world is dangerous and always has been. But his craven capitulation to Mr. Khashoggi’s murderers will make the world more dangerous, not less. This is not a case in which tender concern for human rights must be weighed against U.S. strategic goals. On the contrary, what Mr. Trump presents as hardheaded realism is, in fact, a grave attack on U.S. national interests. We say this not simply because Mr. Trump’s justifications are factually fraudulent. He wildly inflates the amount of business Saudi Arabia has sent America’s way. He falls for royal flattery and fatuously allows himself to be lied to. He fails to see that Saudi Arabia is far more dependent on the United States than the reverse. He neglects the plain fact that every major action taken by the reckless crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, even before this murder, has harmed U.S. interests: his disastrous war in Yemen, which has redounded to Iran’s benefit; his failed effort to subjugate the small neighboring nation of Qatar, a U.S. ally; and his bizarre kidnapping of the Lebanese prime minister, also a U.S. ally.
No, Mr. Trump’s strategic blindness runs far deeper than just misreading this alliance. He is also undermining the basic understanding that has worked to the United States’ advantage since World War II under presidents both Republican and Democratic. Those leaders all accepted that, with less than 5 percent of global population but more than 20 percent of the global economy, the United States, more than any other nation, depends on and benefits from predictable rules. It needs a world where business executives can go forth and come home without fear of kidnapping, where ships can ply the oceans without armed escorts, where contracts are honored and disputes fairly adjudicated. It needs a world where journalists can report and inform Americans on the true conditions on the ground. Previous presidents understood that the way to achieve such a world was to enlist allies who would live by the United States’ rules in return for protection — safe in knowledge that the United States would not use its preeminence to squeeze them for every last dollar. They would go along because the United States stood not just for itself but for rules that benefited everyone and for values they cherished, as well: freedom, human dignity, the rule of law. By championing good — albeit imperfectly and inconsistently — the United States did well.
Now comes Mr. Trump, in all his obtuseness, to announce that this has been a sucker’s game. He will squeeze every other country as hard as he can. He cares not a fig for American values. He will no longer pledge U.S. forces to maintain world order. And if he can sell one or two more fighter jets, who cares if a journalist is murdered? The result will be not only moral abdication but diminished prosperity, too. No corner of the world will be safe — not Salisbury, England, where Russian President Vladimir Putin feels liberated to send his agents with poisonous weapons; not Thailand, from where China feels free to kidnap a Swedish citizen; not Istanbul, where Saudi Arabia will defile what should be the sanctuary of a diplomatic compound with the premeditated murder and dismemberment of a respected journalist. Anti-Americanism will grow as people overseas see the United States wielding power for purely selfish motives. Nations will find alternatives to the U.S. dollar rather than accepting it as international currency. And, as the United States pulls back from support of democracy, stability and development, pirates will reclaim the sea lanes; poverty and mass migration will rise; and terrorism and extremism will follow.
What Mr. Trump proposes, in short, is to destroy the American brand, and the Khashoggi case crystallizes the danger. The post-truth approach he has brought to domestic governing — lying about everything from crowd sizes to climate change — he now introduces to foreign affairs. “Maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!” he writes, with respect to the crown prince’s knowledge of the plot. “That being said, we may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi.” But the facts are knowable and mostly known. A truly hardheaded president, mindful of U.S. interests, would insist on accountability for those who planned and committed the murder. He would understand that the U.S.-Saudi relationship, which is indeed important, cannot and does not depend on any single person. He would understand that U.S. standing in the world — and, therefore, U.S. influence and prosperity — will dwindle if the United States offers no objection to the murder of a peaceful, 59-year-old resident of Northern Virginia who was trying to bring a bit of light into a confusing world. This president does not understand any of that. It falls to Congress, therefore, to decide. It can follow Mr. Trump down the path of phony realism, and decline; or it can take a stand to help defend American values — and interests.
New Arms Race
With a president who doesn’t know what he’s doing & with no understanding of the consequences of his actions, another example how his cluelessness could lead to disaster are in this opening to trump-who-loves-nukes-and-hates-treaties-is-putting-us-on-the-road-to-the-apocalypse:
Every so often, critics of President Donald J. Trump wonder aloud and in print about the danger posed by putting nuclear weapons in the hands of a man who is so impulsive and vindictive. Those same fingers punching out storms on Twitter could, theoretically at least, press the button that brings on an apocalypse. Because of a number of failsafes that prospect, for now, is remote. There is no threat that could prompt such an action, and not likely to be one. But Trump policy, deliberately and methodically, is laying the groundwork for a new arms race that will set the stage for greater nuclear tensions than we have seen since the height of the Cold War.
Having pledged in October to pull the United States out of a 1987 treaty limiting intermediate range nuclear missiles, Trump now has a new target in sight. The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty is a 2011 accord between the United States and Russia that caps the two countries’ overall nuclear arsenals, including the most powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles and similar submarine-launched ballistic missiles. New START is set to expire in February 2021 unless Washington and Moscow agree to extend it. But every expert The Daily Beast surveyed warned that Trump is likely to kill the treaty, either through quiet neglect or by declaring it un-American and refusing to negotiate its extension. Ending the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty would be bad, experts said. But ending New START could be catastrophic, they stressed. “The collapse of the U.S.-Russia arms control architecture would mean Russian nuclear forces were unconstrained, our ability to verify what Russia is doing would be curtailed and the incentives to engage in costly nuclear competition would be magnified,” Kingston Reif, a policy director at the Arms Control Association in Washington, D.C., told The Daily Beast.
More Foreign Dangers
When Trump consistently disparages NATO & excuses Russia no matter what they do, it helps embolden Russia to commit such illegal international acts (see their attacks on Ukrainian ships in the articles). Plus Russia would know to what extent Trump coordinated with them during our presidential campaign, so reasoning Mueller & a Dem House may be about to reveal the facts of what actually happened, Russia feels an urgency to make aggressive moves now before Trump is permanently tarnished &/or banished from office:
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/11/nikki-haley-russia-ukraine/576670/
https://www.vox.com/world/2018/11/26/18112426/russia-ukraine-ships-kerch-strait-azov-sea-trump-putin
Recent Comments