Russiagate Revived, Hope is Gone!

A long and varied lot:

Former Attorney General Says FBI ‘Very Irresponsible’ on FISA Application

Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey said the FBI’s apparent failure to completely disclose the anti-Trump dossier’s role in seeking surveillance warrants was “very irresponsible,” speaking during an interview Tuesday on “The Laura Ingraham Show.”
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“I think it’s important … for us to find out what that application, what that FISA application warrant on Carter Page actually said,” Mukasey, a member of former President George W. Bush’s administration and former U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York, told host Laura Ingraham.

“The money claim against [Page] was that he met with two people named [Igor] Sechin and [Igor] Divyekin who were actually big shots. He denies that meeting,” Mukasey continued. “The claim that he also went to Russia in July 2016, nobody denies that, it was disclosed. He denies meeting with these hot shots. And we need to know whether there’s anything other than that that was used to get the warrant on him.”

 AG Sessions: DOJ Inspector General Will Investigate FISA Abuse Allegations

"We believe the Department of Justice must adhere to the high standards in the FISA court and, yes, it will be investigated. And I think that’s just the appropriate thing," Sessions said, referring to the secret court created by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. "The inspector general will take that as one of the matters they’ll deal with," he added.

Adhere implies that they stuck to them in the past, a statement without much basis. The Donald was not impressed:

Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse. Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey etc. Isn’t the I.G. an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 28, 2018

The IG, Michael Horowitz, is “an Obama guy,” having been appointed Inspector General in 2012, but before that he was a Bush guy. Dubya appointed him to the U.S. Sentencing Commission in 2003. Trey Gowdy, who’s taken to defending Bob Mueller’s integrity lately as it’s come under fire from the right, is out with a statement this morning defending Horowitz as a straight shooter as well . . .

Well, the Bushes aren't exactly Donald's buddies either. Schiff Losing the Memo Wars

Meanwhile Mueller keeps grinding:  Hmm: Mueller Drops 22 Charges Against Gates; Manafort Trial Scheduled

In other words, Mueller is following through on the terms of the plea deal, sooner rather than later. That indicates that Gates has continued to cooperate and that Mueller believes he will in the future. Mueller has the option of refiling these charges if Gates reneges on his end of the plea deal, of course, a point that Gates’ attorneys no doubt have emphasized with him. Gates no doubt will want to cooperate as fully as possible to mitigate his final sentence or perhaps get it suspended altogether.

Does this mean anything else, though? So far, the only indictment Mueller has through Gates is on Paul Manafort, his former business partner. Gates held various positions in the Trump campaign and transition, but so far Mueller hasn’t produced any indictments for other officials than Manafort, whose indictment has nothing to do with the campaign. If Mueller’s already dropping the charges on Gates, does it mean that another indictment might be soon in the offing? Or does it mean that Gates’ testimony is really all about nailing Manafort, whom the Department of Justice could have indicted in 2015?

Mueller may still have some surprises up his sleeve, but at the moment, this looks like Option 2. Mueller appears to be aiming at cleaning up the old FBI operation aimed at Viktor Yanukovych’s kleptocracy in Ukraine. The lack of follow-up under Loretta Lynch on that probe should be raising other questions, too, especially when it became apparent that Manafort was moving back into domestic politics. Did the FBI warn Trump about Manafort and Gates in 2016? That’s a question that might produce some interesting answers — and other questions.

Manafort appeared in court for another arraignment this morning, during which the court set a trial date for September 17th. It’s not unusual for these trials to get postponed as both sides maneuver, but it certainly appears that Mueller’s ready to go to court with what he has. And what he has doesn’t contain anything on the 2016 campaign, at least not at this point.

Mueller Risk Index Warns of Market Declines as Probe Continues The Mueller Risk Index?

As Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election meddling unfolds, investors should expect stocks to fall on major developments, according to a new index aimed at tracking political risks from the probe.

The Mueller Risk Index “suggests that increased risk associated with the Mueller investigation (and by extension, the increased risk of impeachment) may hurt stocks but help the dollar,” according to GeoQuant, the New York-based analytics firm behind the index, which it released Monday.
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“To the extent politics and the Mueller investigation impact the market, we should expect an expanding scope or more big-bang developments in the investigation would not be received well by the market,” Rosenberg said in an interview.

Eric Trump: ‘I Wish Obama Would Have’ Addressed Russian Meddling. Remember, he said the American election system was too robust to be affected, at least until his side lost. Now: U.S. intel: Russia compromised seven states prior to 2016 election But no actual votes were affected.

Bernie Sanders struggles to address Russian support after Mueller indictment He always did like Russia better when it was a murderous communist dictatorship and not a murderous crony capitalist dictatorship.

Sanders, however, has yet to give a clear response on whether he and his campaign were aware of, or took action to address, the interference -- like Russian bot social media accounts allegedly supporting his campaign. Instead, Sanders, I-Vt., has tried to shift the scrutiny toward Clinton’s campaign for not doing more to prevent Russian meddling.

“The real question to be asked is what was the Clinton campaign [doing about Russian interference]? They had more information about this than we did,” Sanders said in an interview last week with Vermont Public Radio. “They were supporting my campaign? No. They were attacking Hillary Clinton’s campaign and using my supporters against Hillary Clinton.”

On Russia, Americans Trust Mueller More Than Trump We'll see, I suppose.

Why Did The FBI Let A Congressional Hacking Suspect Leave The Country? Short answer? Because it was a Democratic scandal. How To Reform Federal Intelligence And Law Enforcement Agencies. It's a long article, read it all. But a short answer would be to fire 50% of the personnel to put the fear of god into the rest.

And of course the big news from yesterday. I had a couple of Hope Hicks articles in the queue; Next Up In House Russia Probe Parade: Hope Hicks. Hope Hicks 'admits she tells LIES for Trump' during NINE-HOUR grilling from lawmakers - but insists she has always told the truth about matters in the Russia probe, but then she went and resigned. Hope is gone!

"The White House announced she was leaving a day after Hicks, 29, spent nine hours in a closed hearing of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee on its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election," Reuters reports.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Hicks’ decision to leave was not related to her appearance before the panel. Lawmakers said Hicks, Trump’s spokeswoman during the election campaign, declined to answer questions about the administration but she did answer every question asked about her time with the campaign, and the transition months between the November election and the January 2017 inauguration.

More at Hot Air: Hope Hicks To Resign As White House Communications Director; Update: Nudged Out By Kelly?

Anyway, let’s play “Why now?” Theory one, the mercurial-boss explanation: Trump’s been understandably annoyed with her lately for not protecting his interests by pushing her ex-boyfriend, Rob Porter, out the door before he became a political liability for the White House. He was also allegedly annoyed that Hicks didn’t sniff out Michael Wolff’s ulterior motives in kissing up to Trump and the White House before she granted him access to the West Wing. Maybe POTUS finally decided she wasn’t cut out for the job and pushed her towards the exit, allowing her to “resign” rather than be fired. That’s hard to believe, though, since Trump is reluctant to force out anyone, let alone a loyalist like Hicks whom he allegedly views as a second daughter. (I meant third daughter. Sorry, Tiffany!) He wouldn’t fire her.

Theory two, the prosaic explanation: She’s genuinely burned out and tired of being in the media spotlight. Despite her looks and PR training, Hicks is famously camera-shy. (Well, microphone-shy.) Maybe she’s weary of being in the eye of the Trump hurricane, particularly given the chaotic nature of this White House’s press operations. Would you want to wake up every morning wondering what sort of insane tweet you’ll need to spin that day? Would you want to wake up to headlines in international papers that your new boyfriend may or may not have punched his first wife in the face? She’s tired of the drama, understandably. Except … Trump’s entire world is drama and Hicks has operated in it for years. She’s always been so loyal to POTUS that it’s hard to imagine her cutting ties from him. Perhaps she’s off to work in some arm of Trump’s company again?

Theory three, the Rachel Brand explanation: Someone offered her a “dream job” and she couldn’t say no. Hicks would be a glamorous addition to any company, especially one that’s eager for an “in” inside the West Wing. But since she never sits for interviews and the White House comms department is a mess trying to keep up with its loose-cannon boss, on what basis would a corporation hire her and put her in charge of a major PR operation? Part of the fascination with Hicks is that she’s such an enigma. Companies typically don’t like enigmas in important roles.

Theory four, the Russiagate explanation: She testified before the House Intel Committee for hours yesterday, as noted above in the excerpt, and has been interviewed by Mueller’s team. She could be in some legal jeopardy based on her role in spinning (or trying to cover up?) Don Jr’s 2016 meeting with the Russian lawyer to try to obtain Clinton dirt. She reportedly admitted to the committee that she’s told white lies for Trump before. Maybe she’s preparing to roll over and air all of the Trump family’s dirty laundry for Mueller and wants to get out of the White House before the final betrayal is revealed

Or maybe not:

C’mon. Hicks would never betray Trump. I think.

Theory five, the “petty personal drama” explanation: Trump seems to be gearing up to bring back a bunch of old hands from his campaign. Yesterday Gabriel Sherman identified Anthony Scaramucci, David Bossie, and Corey Lewandowski (who allegedly dated Hicks during the campaign) as possible returnees. Jason Miller, who was initially named White House comms director during the transition period before resigning over his own scandal, has also been talked about recently as a possible new hire. Maybe Hicks, for reasons of her own, doesn’t want to relive the 2016 campaign operation again and decided to bail now before POTUS gets the band back together.

I didn’t see this coming. Piece forthcoming from @politico WH crew, but three sources tell us John Kelly preferred Hope Hicks not run the comms shop. He has an internal favorite to replace her but was looking at external candidates a couple of wks ago.

John Kelly must have a *lot* of faith in his job security to be taking on Javanka and Hope Hicks at the same time. Those are the cronies di tutti cronies. Either he knows for some reason that Trump won’t fire him even if he comes after family or, more likely, he’s made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t care if Trump fires him and POTUS is momentarily without leverage over him.

Whew!