Wednesday, October 3, 2018

Just a Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Russiagate go Down

Trump to delay Rosenstein meeting until after Kavanaugh process.
President Trump  said Tuesday that he would delay his meeting with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein until after Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation process.

"I don't want to interrupt what's happening with Judge Kavanaugh,” Trump told reporters on the South Lawn Tuesday afternoon.

Trump also said he had spoken with Rosenstein, who The New York Times reported last month had discussed wearing a wire to record Trump as part of a possible effort to seek his removal from office under the 25th Amendment. Rosenstein has said the Times story was false.

Trump was originally supposed to meet with Rosenstein last week to discuss the Times story. The president delayed that meeting so as not to distract from confirmation proceedings of Kavanaugh, who faces allegations of sexual misconduct.
Hell, that could be well into his second term. Either Rosenstein knows where the bodies are buried, or Trump really is in cahoots with him. Possibly both.

Kristin Davis and Roger Stone
Sandra Murray at CNN: Roger Stone built a 'dirty trickster' image. Now Robert Mueller might build a case on it.
Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is combing through Roger Stone's track record as a self-proclaimed "dirty trickster" amid its investigation into whether Stone was involved in Russian efforts to steal and disseminate damaging information about Democrats ahead of the 2016 election.

The questions about Stone's past reveal how prosecutors are trying to establish a pattern of whether Stone has toed -- or even crossed -- the line in his prior political work. The lines of inquiry also raise the possibility that investigators could be readying charges against Stone for crimes unrelated to the Russian hacking.

"Roger has carefully crafted his public image and sometimes that, I think, doesn't work in his favor," said Kristin Davis, a Stone friend who has worked on and off with him for 10 years and recently testified before the grand jury. "He's a victim of his own reputation."

Stone, who says he hasn't been contacted by Mueller's team, has been blunt about the prospect of facing charges.

"It is entirely likely that Mueller is squeezing some of my current or former associates to tell lies about me," Stone said in an interview with The Influential newsletter. "By the same token, Mueller may seek to bring some bogus charge against me to induce me to testify against the President. I am not saying I have any negative information against the President - I'm saying I won't be pressured into making s--- up. This I will not do."
Essentially, Mueller has leaned on anyone associated with Trump to try to get them to confess to something that he can bargain into a charge against Trump, like Cohen, who they made "confess" to the non-crime of making "illegal campaign" contributions to Trump via Stormy Daniels acts of extortion. But there's some evidence that Mueller is wrapping things up: Two prosecutors leaving Mueller team:
Two Justice Department prosecutors assigned to special counsel Robert Mueller's ongoing investigation are leaving the office to return to previous postings.

Peter Carr, a spokesman for the special counsel's office, confirmed in an email to The Hill that Kyle Freeny and Brandon Van Grack are leaving the probe.

The two prosecutors had worked on the criminal cases involving former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Carr added.

Van Grack recently left the probe to return to the agency's national security division, while Freeny will remain on until mid-October before returning to the agency's criminal division.
So apparently they aren't needed to persecute Stone.

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