Individual-1 Implicated in a Felony…Many of us Trump critics have been saying all along Trump (or known as Individual-1 in the Cohen court memos) is facing some serious legal jeopardy & isn’t likely to finish his term.  But our comments were often met with doubt or even derision, dismissed as hyperbole & us never-trumpers just holding a grudge.  But with the latest court filings implicating the prez in a crime, with the likely promise the worst of the evidence is still to come, we can really sense a turning of the tide out in America.  The public is beginning to grasp the enormity of the trouble their president is finding himself in!  They’re more tuned into wanting to know what else is there the investigations might find, so we can conclude whether Trump has committed such offenses that he no longer deserves to hold the office.  Particularly as the support from the GOP base starts eroding away from the prez, only then would his GOP congressional support begin to crumble.

I don’t see much sense in rushing into impeachment if it only goes to die in the Senate.  If we’re going to put the country through such an exercise, we should make it count rather than just doing it for the optics.  And why risk starting a civil war until there’s overwhelming concrete proof?  So let’s let all the investigations play out, from Mueller to the NY probes & House inquiries, collecting all the evidence & looking at it in the aggregate to see the true extent of criminal activities.  When the weight of all Trump’s Russian dealings & financial transactions come to light in painting a clear picture of criminal wrongdoing, at that point it will become time to act.  More on this is in our part 2 commentary.

The path we’re on means it’s likely in 2019 the various crimes will prove so extensive & damning, some GOP members of Congress & a portion of the GOP base will come to realize we must do the right thing, since we can’t allow a criminal enterprise to operate out of the White House.  Looking ahead, impeachment is probable & indictments are possible against Trump.  The rules are vague whether a sitting president can be indicted, but it certainly would not be ethical or viable to let a president remain in office who’s been proven to have committed multiple felonies.  So we’d need enough Americans among the GOP base turn on Trump in disgust over his criminality, which could prompt at least 20 GOP senators to convict in successfully completing impeachment.

The current stance in the Justice Dept. is that a president cannot be indicted, but there’s nothing in the Constitution preventing a president from being indicted, so there is enough wiggle room in such guidelines that I do believe indictments would be valid if the offenses are serious enough.  Or indictments could land the day he leaves office.  If the prez becomes trapped from the heat being turned up by multiple crimes uncovered by the investigations, the Trump legal strategy could be cutting a deal to resign in exchange for saving his adult kids.  Rubin offered a potential strategy where if Trump & Pence are both forced to resign, the prez could resign 10 minutes prior to the VP, so Pence can pardon Trump.  She also mentioned the thought if prosecutors decide not to indict a president, they might indict his corporation.  Whatever the final outcome, the drama is palpable, as we’re watching in real-time history in the making!  Stay tuned & share TheVORACS!

We’ve been tracking for a couple years the many lies told by Trump & his advisers, particularly over all things to do with Russia, which whenever they’re caught in those lies will make up new lies to explain away the old ones.  This ongoing game of subterfuge on the part of Trump world is increasingly being exposed by the actual evidence, which these proven facts are steadily chipping away at the lies, to where Trump’s credibility will become toast even with many in his base.  The craziest among his Trumpeters can’t be swayed, but truth & logic can ultimately win out with the reasonable among the GOP base.  And GOP senators will begin to see the need to get on the right side of history.

Trump & his cronies keep spinning there was no collusion, but from the court documents released last week, it states the Russians sought “political synergy” from which it’s clear team Trump took the bait.  So even the Russians were touting collusion.  Getting to the newsfeeds, which below we have tons of articles since those court documents were released Friday, listen closely as Mueller is trying to tell us something.  The entire article from mueller-is-telling-us-hes-got-trump-on-collusion is posted here & as it says in the last sentence, it’s a scandal unlike any America has ever seen:

For nearly two years, since the U.S. intelligence community released its report on the Russian campaign to assist Donald Trump in the 2016 election, the American people have been seeking an answer as to whether the Trump campaign colluded with its Russian counterpart. In the endless speculation about the direction of the investigation, a common view was that maybe the investigation would never implicate President Trump or find any collusion. But a flurry of recent activity this past week all points in the same direction: Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation will likely implicate the president, his campaign, and his close associates in aiding and abetting a Russian conspiracy against the United States to undermine the 2016 election.

First, Mueller has clearly identified collusion in the efforts of Trump aides and associates to contact WikiLeaks. In a draft plea agreement provided to conservative operative Jerome Corsi, Mueller details how Roger Stone, who the special counsel notes was in frequent contact with Donald Trump and senior campaign officials, directed Corsi to connect with WikiLeaks about the trove of stolen materials it received from Russia. Corsi subsequently communicated WikiLeaks’ release plan back to Stone, and the Trump campaign built its final message around the email release. That is collusion. Second, we now know that Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen and former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn have provided evidence to Mueller related to collusion. In Cohen’s sentencing memo, Mueller said that Cohen provided his office with “useful information” on “Russia-related matters core to its investigation.” One of those central elements, according to the Justice Department: “any links and/or coordination” between the Kremlin and Trump campaign figures. Collusion, in other words. In Flynn’s sentencing memo Mueller said that Flynn’s false statements to the FBI about his calls with the Russian ambassador during the transition were “material” to the investigation into “links or coordination between Russia and individuals associated with the Trump campaign.”

Third, Mueller has found evidence that Trump was compromised by a hostile foreign power during the election. In his plea deal, Cohen revealed that Trump had repeatedly lied to voters about the then-candidate’s financial ties to Russia. While Trump claimed during the campaign to have no business dealings with Russia, he was negotiating a wildly lucrative business deal not simply with Russian businessmen, but also involving with the Kremlin itself. Trump’s team even reportedly tried to bribe Russian President Vladimir Putin by offering him a $50 million penthouse. Worse, Russia not only knew that Trump was lying, but when investigators first started looking into this deal, the Kremlin helped Trump cover up what really happened. That made Trump doubly compromised: first, because he was eager to get the financial payout and second because Russia had evidence he was lying to the American people—evidence they could have held over Trump by threatening to reveal at any time. Since the president’s embarrassing performance at the Helsinki summit with Vladimir Putin—when he kowtowed to a foreign adversary rather than stand up for American interests—there has been open speculation about what leverage the Kremlin has over him. Now we know at least part of the picture, raising the specter of what other information Putin has, and how he is using it to influence Trump’s policy decisions.

Fourth, we know that Trump has engaged in an increasingly brazen attempt to cover up his actions: installing a political crony to head the Department of Justice by potentially illegal means in an effort to shut down the investigation; using his former campaign chairman and convicted criminal Paul Manafort to find out information about Mueller’s investigation; and even appearing to offer Manafort a pardon if he helps him obstruct the Russia probe. These may be components of an obstruction of justice case, but they also provide strongly circumstantial data points as to how serious Trump himself views the allegations of collusion being levelled against him. Lastly, federal prosecutors have told us Trump broke the law to influence the 2016 election by hiding evidence of his affairs. Trump clearly had no qualms about breaking the law to win an election.

In the face of what Mueller has revealed, there is little question where this is going. Mueller may still be only showing us part of his hand, but it’s a damn good hand. He has signalled to us he’s found collusion. He has shown us that the president is compromised. He has told us that he has gathered information important to his investigation about contacts with people in the Trump Organization, the campaign, the transition, and even the White House. That’s everyone Trump has been connected with since he started running. And given all the redacted information in his filings and all that he’s been told by cooperating witnesses, we can be confident that Mueller will show us even more. Mueller is coming. And he is clearly coming for Trump. Not simply for obstructing justice but for conspiring with a hostile foreign power to win an election. This is a scandal unlike any America has ever seen.

Yes, Collusion!

How many times have Trump & his cronies barked out no collusion?  Well, that claim has been shot down many times from the overwhelming amount of circumstantial evidence.  The number of times Trump campaign officials (at least 14 staff members identified so far) were in touch with shady Russians was astonishing, then they kept repeatedly lying about it.  What were they hiding?  As I mentioned & seen in excerpts from trump-felony-michael-cohen-paul-manafort-collusion-payment, “political synergy” is just another term for collusion or conspiracy:

Federal prosecutors released sentencing recommendations for two alleged criminals who worked closely with Donald Trump: his lawyer Michael Cohen, and campaign manager Paul Manafort. They are filled with damning details. But the most important passage by far is this, about Trump’s fixer: “Cohen himself has now admitted, with respect to both payments, he acted in coordination with and at the direction of Individual-1.” The payments in question, as the document explains, concern a payoff to two women who claimed to have affairs with Trump. The payments, according to prosecutors, were intended to influence the campaign, and thereby constituted violations of campaign finance law. They have not formally charged Trump with this crime — it is a sentencing report for Cohen, not Trump — but this is the U.S. Department of Justice calling Trump a criminal. 

There is more. Under normal circumstances, the long list of charges federal prosecutors cited against Michael Cohen would be a political catastrophe for President Trump. One of the president’s closest associates turns out to have allegedly committed a long string of crimes, from tax evasion to making false statements to a financial institution, that would besmirch the good name of the man who worked at his side for years. Of course Trump has no good name. But the fact that he is being called a felon by the United States government is a historic step. And it is likely the first of more to come. The special counsel sentencing recommendation for Cohen also reveals that Russian contact with the Trump campaign began as early as 2015, not the following spring. And Russians promised “political synergy” — which is essentially a synonym for campaign collusion — and “synergy on a government level.” That means a quid pro quo in which Russia would help Trump win the election and Trump, if elected, would give Russia favorable policy. This is the heart of Mueller’s very much ongoing investigation.

Individual-1 article

While prosecutors have stated Individual-1 ordered a crime, it really shouldn’t be surprising, since the prez has demonstrated he’s lawless to his core.  This is the opening to the-utterly-lawless-individual-1:

“Individual-1” has a singular problem: His own Justice Department just said he directed a crime. Late Friday, U.S. prosecutors — ordinary prosecutors, not the ones working for Robert S. Mueller III’s supposed rogue witch hunt — filed papers in court saying President Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen admitted “he acted in coordination with and at the direction of Individual-1.” This means that it is the considered view of Individual-1’s Justice Department that Individual-1 participated in a felony violation of campaign finance law by directing, in order to influence the presidential election, the payoff of two women who alleged affairs with Individual-1. Mueller and his team will decide in the coming months whether to accuse Trump of crimes. But in one sense, these are just details. That Trump is fundamentally lawless can no longer be seriously disputed. His own prosecutors now say he took part in a crime — and his former secretary of state says Trump had little concern about what was legal. “So often,” Rex Tillerson said in a talk Thursday, “the president would say, ‘Here’s what I want you to do, and here’s how I want you to do it.’ And I would have to say to him, ‘Mr. President, I understand what you want to do. But you can’t do it that way. It violates the law.’ ”

His Crimes Exposed not even the Worst Part

Yes, in a Cohen memo Trump was implicated in two felonies, violating campaign finance laws to influence an election.  But as this last paragraph from hush-money-payments-are-sideshow-mueller-just-added-key-pieces-russia-puzzle states, that’s not the worst of what’s in those court documents.  Following the Russian money is where collusion is likely to be unveiled:

But the raging debate about the hush-money payments is something of a sideshow. Although serious, campaign finance violations often are not criminal and certainly are not the key issue here. The key is Russia, and Cohen has joined the ranks of other cooperators providing Mueller with extensive information on those issues. We now know Trump was secretly negotiating a deal with Russia worth hundreds of millions of dollars while running for president and while Russia was actively working to help him get elected. There is mounting evidence of substantial connections among Russia, the Trump campaign, and Trump’s business interests, and of a possible criminal conspiracy to conceal those connections. Each new court filing reveals a few more pieces of the puzzle Mueller has been assembling. The picture that’s emerging suggests that Trump — and the country — have far bigger things to be concerned about than the intricacies of campaign finance law.

The Die is Cast

Chances are it’s now too late for Trump as the available evidence already gathered by Mueller is just too damaging, explained in this ending to latest-filings-show-that-nobody-can-save-trump-now:

Mueller states that Cohen’s cooperation in his investigation was substantial and helpful. But much of what Mueller has to say is vague. For instance: Cohen provided the [special counsel’s office] with useful information concerning certain discrete Russia-related matters core to its investigation that he obtained by virtue of his regular contact with [Trump Organization] executives during the campaign.

What does that refer to? We don’t know. That means that there is more to this story that Mueller has yet to reveal. And he will reveal it. One of the remarkable things about the discussion we’ve been having lately is that the president still seems to think that he can be saved from whatever this investigation uncovers. He just announced that William Barr will be his next attorney general, and the New York Times reported that in private, “Mr. Trump has also repeatedly asked whether the next pick would recuse himself from overseeing the special counsel investigation into whether his campaign conspired with Russia in its interference in the 2016 election.” It’s as though he thinks this investigation is in its early stages and can be quashed by a properly loyal underling.

But at this point it doesn’t matter. It’s far too late. Trump’s former aides have cooperated, they’ve conducted their interviews with the special counsel, they’re being sentenced, the documents have been reviewed, the connections have been traced, and the full picture is soon to be revealed. This scandal can’t be hidden away. Republicans in Congress can’t save Trump, his attorney general can’t save him, and no amount of desperate tweets can save him. Accountability is on its way, and it’s arriving very soon.

We MUST Follow Constitutional Law

What even Trumpeters need to understand is, if we don’t abide by the rule of law, we’re not going to have much of a country left, as seen in this opening to surviving-a-criminal-presidency:

It is very possible that the president of the United States is a criminal. And it is very possible that his criminality aided and abetted his assumption of the position. Let that sink in. It is a profound revelation. Last week, prosecutors made clear in a sentencing memo for Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, that Trump himself had directed Cohen to break campaign finance laws.

Stop there.

Yes, there is still information dribbling out about Trump’s efforts to build a tower in Moscow during the election and about his campaign’s ties with Russians during the campaign. Yes, there is the question of obstruction of justice, which I believe has already been proven by Trump’s own actions in public. Yes, there are all the people in Trump’s circle who have been charged with or have admitted to lying about any number of things, including their contacts with Russians. But beyond all that, we now have an actual, and one assumes provable, crime. A federal crime. And the president is its architect. Trump likes to say on the issue of immigration that if we don’t have a border, we don’t have a country. I say that if we don’t have justice, we also don’t have a country. America is a country of laws, and if we are to believe that, and not allow that to become a perversion, no man or woman can be above the law.

Anything You Want to Know about the Recent Russiagate News can be Found Here

The big court memos released on Friday came just prior to my deadline for submitting my messages before the weekend, so I had about a half-hour to provide comments & gather articles on that breaking news.  Now a few days removed from those headlines, we’ve pulled tons of pertinent articles from the newsfeeds to peruse.  I was planning on limiting the number of articles pulled from the newsfeeds, but the headlines are really heating up over Russiagate, plus our president has just been implicated in a crime. The headlines were churning over the weekend as you’ll see here:

Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle, down the drain: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-weiner-mueller-commentary/commentary-mueller-just-brought-trump-closer-to-prosecution-idUSKBN1O91X8

We cannot allow a criminal to run our country: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/the-presidency-or-prison/ar-BBQMr8w

Tweets show desperation & guilt: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/10/trump-mueller-russia-evidence-collusion

A massive fraud committed against the American people: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/09/donald-trump-michael-cohen-payments-impeachment-jerrold-nadler

We must follow the law to do the right thing: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/09/the-guardian-view-on-donald-trump-the-net-closes

Yes, a real threat for Individual-1: https://www.apnews.com/d57eb7490de3493f93ba78fecd4e4f1c

He should know since he knows what he did: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-concerned-about-being-impeached-sees-it-as-a-real-possibility-source-says/ar-BBQMuhF?ocid=spartandhp

Count me in, I’ve said all along he wouldn’t finish his term: https://www.newsweek.com/lot-republicans-think-trump-wont-finish-term-1251056

Mueller knows: https://www.newsweek.com/mueller-knows-everything-donald-trump-russia-carl-benstein-witness-1252064

Yes, keep remembering, Mueller knows a lot more than we do: https://www.axios.com/trump-russia-mueller-investigation-37608752-bef7-4b25-a7dd-89e3032bec7e.html

Rubin knows the potential impact of the word synergy: https://www.yahoo.com/news/conservative-columnist-thinks-1-word-113138538.html

The key still comes down to collusion: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/12/09/robert-mueller-donald-trump-campaign-russia-collusion-question-column/2237140002/

Although criminality may also be uncovered within the Trump family business: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/09/us/trump-organization-federal-prosecutors.html

Trump says no smocking gun – no collusion.  Really?: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2018/12/10/trumps-latest-rage-tweets-expose-depth-his-own-corruption/?utm_term=.98edc9209c4a

What has he been smocking?  Well, the prez always told us he has the smartest brain using the best words.  Must be so, since he uses words the rest of us aren’t familiar with: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/what-has-the-president-been-smocking/2018/12/10/02e10810-fcbd-11e8-862a-b6a6f3ce8199_story.html?utm_term=.63bb0bcc70de

We just need to learn all the facts: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/12/10/donald-trumps-campaign-dealings-talker/2262694002/

And our democracy is under strain & being put to the test: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/12/10/sentencing-memo-flynn-cohen-manafort-mueller-donald-trump-russia-column/2257509002/

We may see Trump indicted: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/420489-ex-federal-prosecutor-its-clear-trump-will-be-indicted-on-charges-of

And not just Dems are saying it: https://thinkprogress.org/mueller-investigation-sdny-trump-indictments-likely-9cdb6718803f/

Being an unindicted co-conspirator for the federal felony of campaign finance violations may not even be among the top 5 crimes for Trump: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/08/us/politics/trump-mueller-cohen-manafort.html

Russians infiltrated Trump campaign: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/russians-interacted-with-at-least-14-trump-associates-during-the-campaign-and-transition/2018/12/09/71773192-fb13-11e8-8c9a-860ce2a8148f_story.html?utm_term=.9c56df26b22f

Trapped by the Russians, Mueller & other forces: http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/12/commentary-roundup-on-the-cohen-and-manafort-filings.html

Congressional reps warn Trump of big trouble ahead: https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-mueller-investigation-live-president-112014305.html

Headlines to Review Comments/Titles & Google Search the Articles You’d Like to See

My apologies we’re instructed to limit the number of live outbound links from our blog, so this extensive list below has my brief comments followed by the news source & link titles (in bold).  So those news stories which most strike your interest, you could simply copy/paste into a search engine to find the article.  Reviewing just the comments & titles here can provide more info than 10 hours of Fox News, & more accurate info than 1000 hours of Fox evening shows:

Closing in: thehill/press-mueller-closes-in-on-trump

The wolves are circling: theatlantic/robert-muellers-memos-reveal-lies-cohen-and-manafort

Review of last week’s court filings: theguardian/robert-mueller-trump-russia-investigation-cohen-flynn-manafort

Rubin’s observations on court filings: washingtonpost/what-we-learned-friday

Most interesting parts: huffingtonpost/these-are-new-key-pieces-of-information-in-the-russia-investigation

Details from Cohen court documents: businessinsider/what-michael-cohen-told-mueller-about-moscow-trump-tower-talks

Details from Manafort court documents: motherjones/paul-manafort-robert-mueller-lies-breaks-plea-agreement

Details drawn from Flynn’s court documents, & what’s under the black lines are probably the worst parts: businessinsider/mueller-flynn-sentencing-memo-takeaways-implications

The difference between Cohen & Flynn docs: businessinsider/michael-flynn-vs-michael-cohen-sentencing-memos

The biggest take from the Cohen memos: mediaite/fmr-acting-solicitor-general-neal-katyal-the-big-news-tonight-is-prosecutors-saying-trump-committed-a-felony

Pay particular attention to 3 Mueller comments in the Cohen filing which has collusion written all over them: Cohen provided Mueller’s team “with useful information concerning certain discreet Russia-related matters core to its investigation,” & Cohen’s information “has been credible and consistent with other evidence obtained in the ongoing investigation,” plus Cohen’s efforts to seal the Moscow deal “came at a time of sustained efforts by the Russian government to interfere with the U.S. presidential election”: motherjones/this-may-be-the-most-significant-line-in-muellers-michael-cohen-memo

Docs show Manafort, Cohen & Individual-1 are all in trouble: theatlantic/mueller-briefs-bad-news-trump-manafort-and-cohen

What was Manafort hiding?  Is he afraid the Russians would be after him?: politico/mueller-manafort-lied-about-contacts-with-trump-administration-longtime-ukrainian-partner

The Flynn doc may be the most damaging: businessinsider/sen-king-says-mueller-filing-for-flynn-is-the-most-troubling

Why were 14 campaign staff members in touch with shady Russians?: independent/mueller-investigation-trump-russia-collusion-2016-election-transition-putin-kremlin

Or was it 16? investigaterussia/16-and-counting

The timing also looks suspicious: washingtonpost/its-not-just-number-trump-russia-contacts-its-timing

Individual-1 shows us he’s guilty: theatlantic/trump-cant-stop-confessing

Trump family values: vanityfair/the-feds-arent-done-tormenting-the-trump-organization

Trump Org. may be involved with those hush-money payments: thehill/prosecutors-probing-potential-links-between-trump-organization

Another plea deal, this time a Russian spy: vox/maria-butina-plea-deal

Her testimony could implicate the NRA just for starters, as plenty of dirty money went to finance numerous GOP campaigns: slate/maria-butina-guilty-plea-accused-russian-agent

This article says she becomes the first Russian national since the 2016 election to plead guilty to a crime connected to efforts to influence American politics: thedailybeast/maria-butina-pleads-guilty-agrees-to-cooperate-with-us

Trump says those Mueller docs totally clear him.  Yes, & I shot a 62 at Pebble Beach: independent/trump-mueller-court-documents-clear-tweet-cohen-manafort-lies-russia

Another article on that totally bonkers claim from Individual-1: thedailybeast/trump-cohen-sentencing-memo-totally-clears-me

More reports on Individual-1: thinkprogress/donald-trump-robert-mueller-russia-investigation-michael-cohen-paul-manafort-individual-1-special-counsel-2016-election

Prosecutors link Trump directly to a felony: yahoo/prosecutors-illegal-hush-money-paid-trumps-direction

Trump officials in the loop which we know Trump had to know: thedailybeast/mueller-implicates-trump-administration-officials-with-new-filings-against-manafort-and-cohen

Lies, crimes & Russian contacts revealed by the Swamp Chronicles: newyorker/swamp-chronicles/the-michael-cohen-sentencing-memos-are-damning-for-trump

Willing partners: axios/when-russia-approached-trump-officials-michael-cohen-obliged

Trump as Individual-1 ordered the crimes: huffingtonpost/michael-cohen-donald-trump-payments

Yes, it looks ominous for the prez: vox/mueller-michael-cohen-sentencing-memo-russia

Trying to point out to Individual-1 that it’s him who’s Individual-1, the 1 individual being implicated in 2 felonies: huffingtonpost/twitter-trump-individual-1

Exposing Trump is akin to bringing down the Godfather.  Trump runs his operations like a mob boss & a con man: theguardian/robert-mueller-donald-trump-loyalty-organized-crime

Just be patient, that time is coming: huffingtonpost/lawrence-odonnell-donald-trump-impeached

Yes, I know having a criminal for a president is never good, but let’s first put all the cards on the table: mediaite/john-dean-congress-will-have-little-choice-other-than-to-start-impeachment-proceedings-after-cohen-filing

I fully concur: lawandcrime/former-federal-prosecutor-predicts-mueller-investigation-will-bring-down-trump

And I agree: salon/watergate-whistleblower-predicts-trump-will-be-impeached

DOJ calls the prez a felon: nymag/trump-felony-michael-cohen-paul-manafort-collusion-payment

Sure to be a rough 2019: axios/trump-traps-2020-presidential-election

He’s cornered: inquisitr/trump-mueller-bernstein-watergate-impeachment

I think special counsel has a few aces up his sleeve: msn/mueller-flashes-some-cards-in-russia-probe-but-hides-his-hand  

Beginning of the end for Individual-1: nytimes/opinion/trump-collusion-cohen-manafort

Might belong in prison instead of the White House: huffingtonpost/joaquin-castro-donald-trump-impeachment

Caught criminals normally go to jail: slate/rep-schiff-trump-may-face-the-real-prospect-of-jail-time

Offenses already should be (arguably) impeachable, but there’s plenty more we have yet to learn: motherjones/trump-nadler-impeachable-offenses-hush-money

Prez getting desperate, knowing they’re getting ready to lower the boom: reuters/trump-calls-for-end-to-mueller-probe-despite-russian-campaign-bid-findings

Dark clouds gather: apnews/d57eb7490de3493f93ba78fecd4e4f1c_legal-clouds-over-trump

Tightening the screws: nymag/commentary-roundup-on-the-cohen-and-manafort-filings

Speaking truths inside the enemy camp: newshounds/fox_guest_lays_truth_on_trump_apologists_cohen_sentencing_memo_trump_engaged_criminal_conspiracy

Same with this one, Fox viewers must have been stunned: mediaite/fox-news-andrew-mccarthy-its-clear-trump-is-target-of-prosecutors-and-will-be-indicted

Judge N. admits it doesn’t look good: mediaite/judge-napolitano-says-trump-is-as-guilty-as-cohen-its-like-when-you-hire-a-hitman

Another Judge N. take: thehill/fox-news-legal-analyst-cohen-memo-suggests-prosecutors-may-indict

Lots of Russian outreach to Trump: time/michael-cohen-sentencing-memo-russia-mueller

Trump’s Russian business ties go way back: businessinsider/trump-russia-business-financial-ties

And his ties to Russian mafia go way back: vox/trump-mueller-russia-mafia-putin-craig-unger

Campaign finance violations & so many Russian contacts: reuters/u-s-prosecutors-name-trump-in-hush-payments-detail-russian-contacts

Christie says the memos seem to point at corroboration: inquisitr/chris-christie-prosecutors-have-evidence-on-trump-beyond-michael-cohen

Obstruction will also play prominently: nytimes/trump-cohen-manafort-obstruction

They all lied about Russia: washingtonpost/all-the-trumpians-lies-have-one-thing-in-common

Always defer to standard Hillary talking points: dailykos/Trump-Dementia-Says-He-s-Very-Happy-with-the-Latest-Mueller-Filings-But-Blames-Hillary-Clinton

Strategy destined to fail: dailykos/As-infuriating-as-it-is-Trump-s-strategies-won-t-ultimately-work

5 takeaways: buzzfeednews/mueller-russia-investigation-five-big-things

5 more takeaways: washingtonpost/takeaways-michael-cohen-sentencing-filings

5 other takeaways besides the other takeaways: thehill/five-takeaways-from-the-bombshell-cohen-manafort-filings

5 more things to know: yahoo/revelations-russia-probe-five-things-know

5 burning questions: washingtonpost/new-questions-about-trump-michael-cohen-paul-manafort

Even more takeaways: politico/mueller-filings-cohen-manafort-trump-russia

We’ve entered a new phase: thehill/dem-senator-weve-entered-a-new-phase-in-mueller-investigation

Dems sound confident: businessinsider/schiff-nadler-predict-trump-impeachment-and-jail-over-illegal-payments

A dangerous moment for America: salon/mueller-keeps-closing-in-as-trump-rages-on-we-cant-get-complacent

Have our laws been faithfully executed?: salon/robert-mueller-should-charge-trump-with-committing-a-crime-only-a-president-can-commit

Sleaze factor through the roof: salon/bad-guys-sleaze-and-trump 

Shifting stories on paying off his porn star & Playboy playmate mistresses: usatoday/donald-trump-inconsistent-role-michael-cohen-hush-money-stormy-daniels

Rubio warns do not pardon Manafort: usatoday/marco-rubio-warns-against-manafort-pardon

Leave dead bees alone: thehill/cohen-and-manafort-pose-new-problems-for-president-trump

GOP remains delusional & corrupted: esquire/republicans-congress-donald-trump-laws-crimes-kevin-mccarthy

And their excuses are absurd: washingtonpost/all-ludicrous-defenses-republicans-offer-russia-scandal

And corrupt: thinkprogress/trump-republicans-mueller-crimes-arent-crimes-cohen-guilty

Polls show Trump is a clown over Russia: inquisitr/less-than-3-in-10-americans-approve-of-trumps-handling-of-russia-investigation-poll-shows

More polling: thehill/half-of-americans-say-mueller-investigation-will-implicate-trump-in

More dire polling: washingtonpost/trump-slides-new-poll-reality-begins-piercing-bubble

Trump’s best bud also feeling the heat: salon/russia-expert-muellers-probe-is-also-putting-pressure-on-vladimir-putin

Not even remotely comparable to Obama’s situation, as a minor oversight quickly corrected is not the deliberate crime Trump has been implicated in: mediaite/fox-friends-falsely-compares-trump-and-cohens-alleged-campaign-crimes-to-obamas-exact-same-thing

They’re always lying, distorting & painting false equivalencies: dailykos/Get-ready-for-Trump-Fox-News-GOP-s-redefinition-of-the-Democratic-Party-as-a-criminal-organization

The party of Trump is very worried, with good reason: washingtonpost/siege-warfare-republican-anxiety-spikes-as-trump-faces-growing-legal-and-political-perils

Some may be ready to bail: dailykos/The-bottom-is-going-to-fall-out-GOPers-privately-starting-to-disown-Individual-1

It might be funny if crazy claims weren’t so sad: esquire/trump-tweet-totally-clears-the-president

The only strategy they have: dailykos/After-Trump-implicated-in-criminal-acts-White-House-plans-to-weather-charges-by-rallying-his-base

Definitely really bad: dailykos/Bottom-line-Federal-prosecutors-think-the-President-committed-a-felony-in-pursuit-of-his-presidency

Trust me when I say this: dailykos/He-Will-Not-Finish-His-Term

And his future looks dim: mediaite/former-acting-solicitor-general-neal-katyal-trumps-future-looks-like-its-behind-bars

A humorous touch on Individual-1: thedailybeast/snls-weekend-update-trashes-trumps-cohen-defense-youre-not-totally-clear

A timeline on a major scandal: axios/mueller-russia-investigation-timeline-indictments

A review where we stand: apnews/302c67f0edcf47d6bda3a214723e4cda_the-latest-developments-in-trump-related-investigations

This far-left source never holds back: palmerreport/what-if-he-doesnt-know-its-over

James Comey back in the news

The start of the Russia probe by the FBI: usatoday/james-comey-russia-probe-started-4-americans-ties-trump

Trump’s congressional henchmen figure they’re running out of time to protect their corrupt leader, so this hearing had the purpose of trying to smear the DOJ/FBI to discredit the Mueller probe, while they routinely dredge up Hillary as a distraction: theguardian/comey-testifies-at-house-hearing-he-calls-desperate-attack-on-investigators

If anything, the FBI probes favored Trump before the 2016 election, since the investigation against Trump was kept secret, while the news Hillary was being investigated was disclosed to the public just 10 days before the election: businessinsider/comey-anyone-who-thinks-fbi-favored-hillary-clinton-is-smoking-something

Or as Bernie once said, we’re getting sick & tired of hearing about your damn emails.  Maybe they should give it up & investigate Ivanka instead: huffingtonpost/james-comey-hillary-clinton-emails

House GOP members look like fools: slate/house-gop-failed-james-comey-hearing

After Dec 17, House GOP can stop beating a dead horse: theatlantic/comey-testimony-house-judiciary

Yes, somebody else must be elected in 2020 or democracy could be lost for good: businessinsider/james-comey-stop-trump-2020-reelection

Being president might be the only thing saving him, but we can correct that: mediaite/james-comey-if-trump-werent-president-he-would-be-in-serious-jeopardy-of-being-charged

News about Trump’s Chaotic Cabinet

Trump has only one qualification when choosing an AG: motherjones/trumps-pick-for-attorney-general-has-expressed-hostility-to-the-russia-investigation

To get confirmed, he’d better give assurances to let Mueller finish: msn/senators-want-assurances-from-attorney-general-pick-on-fate-of-mueller-probe 

Barr looks to have bought into the prearranged echo-accusations about Hillary they can’t give up: thedailybeast/william-barr-may-let-trump-dodge-russia-probe-by-harping-about-hillary

We already knew this, but good to hear it articulated: motherjones/tillerson-on-trump-we-did-not-have-a-common-value-system

Another Fox talking head but lacks the necessary experience for such a critical position: thehill/heather-nauert-is-the-wrong-choice-for-un-ambassador

Here’s another article on that counterproductive alliance: telegraph/heather-nauerts-promotion-shows-fox-news-has-taken-white-house

The Chief of Staff job that proved impossible: theatlantic/john-kelly-white-house-chief-of-staff-leaving

It’s a dumpster fire: theguardian/john-kelly-donald-trump

This young guy ready to step in….good luck!  And as we’ve seen, working for Trump can be a resume killer: politico/nick-ayers-white-house-trump-john-kelly

Ayers must have heard me, bailing out before he even started: usatoday/nick-ayers-out-chief-staff-pick

Who needs that kind of headache?: thehill/the-memo-ayers-decision-casts-harsh-light-on-trump

Trump won’t listen to anyone (except the sycophants flapping their lips on-air at Fox): theatlantic/who-will-replace-john-kelly-trumps-chief-staff

Ayers may have concluded Trump is doomed: vanityfair/nick-ayers-leaving-white-house

Jumping ship?: newyorker/are-the-rats-preparing-to-jump-off-the-trump-ship

Meadows is totally loony-tunes, sounds perfect for Trump: nymag/white-house-chief-of-staff-selection-could-signal-total-war

The unprecedented level of chaos cannot endure: bloomberg/trump-s-chaos-rises-along-with-impeachment-risk

Here’s a shady-looking relationship, with Jared even reportedly providing advice to the murderous prince how to weather the storm: motherjones/the-new-york-times-just-released-an-eye-opening-report-on-jared-kushners-ongoing-chats-with-the-saudi-crown-prince

A Danger too Horrible to even Think about 

It’s almost too scary to even want to mention, but the scenario spelled out here is our current reality & greatest threat to the entire world.  On our side is a narcissistic/temperamental raging lunatic, who on some of the things he says or does has us legitimately questioning whether he might in fact be a psychopath.  On the Russian side is a calculating president shown to be a ruthless/murderous dictator.  See commentary at the top of part 2 explaining why Putin has always been bitter towards America & out to get us.  As the investigations move ahead steadily revealing the scheme these two seemingly headed to steal our 2016 presidential election, there’s likely a growing tension between the two as their cover is being blown.

But the scariest part about these two unhinged leaders is the thought at a push of a button by either one, life on this Earth could be destroyed within minutes.  We’ve always known that, but with recent circumstances & the more we learn of the personality traits & instability within & between these two presidents, the risks just seem so much more real these days.  And with Trump threatening to pull out of a decades old treaty, a nuclear arms race may resume to make our arsenals even more lethal: trump-ultimatum-sparks-fears-of-new-arms-race.  There are recent indications with some advanced weaponry, the Russians are gaining the upper hand with new missiles, seen inside russia-stealth-fighter-missiles-hypersonic-speed-sound.  Our adversaries should not be allowed to surpass us: new-congress-new-tech-new-approach.  And another threat that should not be overlooked is seen in north-korea-nuclear-weapons-kim-jong-un-trump.  Part 1 has gotten long enough, so see more on this subject carried over into the opening commentary in part 2.