It appears there was a reason for the former president’s unhinged rant of yesterday suggesting that members of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign had spied on him and that “in a stronger period of time in our country, this crime would have been punishable by death.”
The "death to Hillary" business is even more alarming than it seems. John Durham, the Connecticut US Attorney made a Special Attorney by AG BArr back in 2020 to investigate the investigators of Trump has finally issued his report, and he claims that a company that was "associated" with the 2016 Clinton campaign tried to "hack" into Alfa Bank to find evidence of Trump's collusion with Putin. The Right is now claiming the Clinton campaign "spied on" Trump's campaign. And of course Fatso Fatass is using this as the "shiny object" to distract people from the really bad news about Mazars cooperating with the NYAG and NYCDA.
If Trump can't get any further loans, and if the close to a billion in debt he has outstanding gets called, he ends up "wearing a barrel" with even Mar A Lardo taken from him. He really is standing on the precipice, and this is the stuff likely to take him down, not all the treason.
So, no wonder he's pointing at Hillary and screaming and yelling his fat ass off.
Trump's squeals will be from the excruciating psychic pain of being metaphorically stripped naked and exposed to the world as a pathetic fraud. That is what malignant narcissists fear the most.
Michael, he's not 'metaphorically' stripped naked. Trump is literally stark naked and as Hugh added, going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. His squeals echo throughout the land.
If DOJ pursues him only for mishandling and destroying official documents, he will be barred from holding office ever again. Of course, I'd prefer that he be tried for treason, but we've all learned that where TFG's involved, we must have lower expectations.
The Emperor has no clothes. Reminds me of that Danny Kaye song in the Hans Christian Andersen movie from the 50s. “The king is in the all together, the alltogether, as naked as the day that he was born”. He has been parading around basking in delusional flattery for a lifetime. Jig is up
Bullies and psychopaths project their rage onto others They become as vicious as trapped rats lashing out wildly at anyone. DT learned this from his mentor bully Roy Cohen. His niece exposed the pathological relationship with T Sr and his indulged and bullied upbringing. Chickens coming home to roost.
The death to Hillary rants from others in support of Trump are very serious. He is looking for a scape goat for all of his pain and The core of his base would love to take her down. As everyone laughs and jokes about the emperor having no cloths, they will not hear the the very serious transition from chants of "lock her up" to the terrifying shrieks of "death to Hillary". We have seen what his pumped up hoards are capable of.
I don't think he is capable of being humiliated and feeling it. His instant reaction to negative emotions is to slam back and deflect. Once his head "understands" it's not him, he's back to his version of healthy.
Greg Olear writes some compelling information about how tRump is a Soviet (and I use the term intentionally) pawn. He's also a malignant narcissist. I believe he'll self destruct before there is any hope of accountability (read: prosecution).
Trump's son openly admitted to a reporter that "they got all the money they needed from Russia" in buying two Scottish Golf Courses.
So, EVEN when one's blood relative openly admits to a reporter, who then publishes the fact that Trump was laundering Russian money into Golf courses, Trump is not charged or otherwise bothered by the law.
In fact, he became President of these United States with a great following of LOVE among LAW ENFORCEMENT people.
I can only speak for the local level of law enforcement, and tell you that you're not wrong about 2/3 of the rank and file (in my admittedly small, and unscientific statistical sample). There was an "R" after his name in the ballot. I must have had a dozen friends say that they "held their nose and voted for him" who had quit holding their noses and voted for him in 2020.
Ugh! People became blind and deaf when it came to TFG. They still are. They don’t realize that they have been given a huge cup of bullshit to drink. Led like sheep, by their noses, to a cliff.
I've always believed that he's been programmed and supported by Putin. He is just not bright enough to have done all of his destruction by himself. I'm also hopeful that the intense pressures coming at him from all sides will end up destroying him. Let's hope.
Al Capone was sent to jail for tax evasion. I enjoyed reading into Wiki's introduction: "Donald Trump was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Covid pandemic era as the co-founder and boss of a large part of the Republican Party. His seven-year reign as a crime boss ended when he went to prison at the age of 75." .... just dreaming, Mike.
Mike, please let us dance in expectation of him being paraded naked in the street before you rain on our parade. I do fear you are correct but let us dance a bit.
You are most likely right Mike. But we all do enjoy seeing the legal pile on. Think trump is sweating any of this?
Once again the pattern continues. When the law gets too close people like trump and jordan start screeching and the rest like hawley keep their mouths shut. (Except for Hawley obstructing critical appointees).
and I never say this but here goes. These are really dark times.
Mike, You got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning; you're also making up things. I never wrote that he was going to jail. Trump will be stark naked in a barrel falling into Niagara Falls. Got the picture now?
Fern! Actually, I did not understand the reference to naked in a barrel and thought it meant jail. I did not think about him naked in a barrel going over Niagra Falls. My apology.
Agree that, come what may, he ain't going to jail. All of Mike's reasons are still there because enough people in NY's government and real estate communities went along with not doing anything ... and today want to avoid being considered his accomplices. Also, fear of the civil strife his present-day extremist supporters would cause if he were indicted protects him. But eventually, they will find another leader as the defeated former president rots away on whatever corner of Mar-a-Lago remains after his lenders call in his IOU's. He might pitch a tent there, if zoning permits it.
You're correct. In my real estate brokerage years, I was appalled at the lack of principle, as brokers frantically lapped up the gains from foreign investors buying Trump properties.
Mar-a-Lago was built by Marjorie Merriweather Post, heiress to the Post Cereal fortune, a century ago. On her death, she left it as a historic landmark to the US gov't which couldn't afford to maintain it, gave it back, and it fell into the hands of the defeated former president during the 1980's. Over the years, he managed to get the place licensed as a private club and catering joint as a way of maintaining it. The Town of Palm Beach went along with it since it was a landmark and not doing so would have resulted in its destruction. Contrary to the nearby City of West Palm Beach, a very urban place, the Town of Palm Beach is inhabited by unbelievably wealthy people. The defeated former president never was accepted by them as more than the owner of a catering establishment. Many of the uber-wealthy of Palm Beach donate generously locally to museums, hospitals, concert halls, the opera, theatre and numerous charities. The defeated former president was never counted among them. I suspect most, including the Koch's, would be glad to see him go.
Agree ... No tents permitted. Ultimately, the place will be torn down and divided into generously-sized individual lots selling for twenty or thirty million dollars each. The estate of the defeated former president will need the money to pay off their creditors.
Heck, I believe. Channel surfing one day, I "accidentally" stopped at PBS where some nicely dressed church lady was instructing viewers to "Ask for 3 Signs and a Miracle every week." Ya right. Guess What! It works! Don't know for sure if there is a God or a Devil, but I am pretty sure there is "The Great Irish Tea Party in the Sky" where my female relatives in the Great Beyond humor me. They always were a witty bunch, so I must be very careful what I ask for! Fun! And always wonder-full.
Trump offers to pay these people off and when he doesn't come through, they can not complain because of their wrongdoings. People have lost their sense of right and wrong. Trumps accountants can only work with the numbers trump gives them.
Sophia, if you’re bringing GOD and the DEVIL into this conversation, then that means, I, too, will have to PRAY. All those TFG followers must be in church today.
somewhere in these comments, you mentioned Deutshe Bank and trump. I have always found it suspect that Kennedy, whose son worked for that bank, resigned from SCOTUS in order to give the fEDERALIST cabal another seat on the court!
TC, If the Clinton campaign actually did it, it would be just “opposition research.” You can be sure Jabba was doing the same thing. He accused President Obama of wiring his apartment, later disproven by the FBI. I think he is just a paranoid narcissist who discovered that he could use his fantasies to distract people and harm his ‘enemies.’ I am loathe to bring it up, but his vivid tweets were an obvious manifestation of his very sick and terrified little mind....
More “opposition research” should have been done on his evil arse. Any presidential candidate should undergo a psychological evaluation as well as one hell of a background check. His evil was well known. BTW, Fox needs to go if we are to remain a country.
When I cancelled my Cable TV subscription, I was asked why I was cancelling and said I no longer wished to support media that pushed lies and disinformation, namely Fox News. I got no pushback from the otherwise very marketing savvy young woman employee. I could hope that was a sign that she had heard the same complaint pretty often recently but I won’t hold my breath….
Trump is a master at triggering his base and grifting them for more money and bringing up Clinton does the trick every time. Except now as he grows more desperate it has gone from lock her up to execute her.
I am also so sad to see the national pastime of hating Secretary of State Clinton. And when you try to nail people down on the exact reason there is none. I always hesitate to pull the misogynist card but it is no secret this Country is hardest on strong women in politics. Look at what has been done to Vice President Harris by the Republicans and the media.
How convenient for the fascists that they are attacking Marc Elias with Durham’s report. Just the person who is enemy #1 of the current gerryrigged-mandering, anti voting rights meffers at this moment. How I despise them
Alpha Bank was trying to communicate with TFG’s servers throughout 2016. This happened after Jared Kushner had discussed opening a back channel communications with the Russian Ambassador, even suggesting using the Russian Embassy lines. ( but the idiots could not figure out the Alpha Bank digital outreach!!!)
Another article in the NYT, 2/14/22, (Did [TFG] Mislead Accountants?) reports the Manhattan DA, Cyrus Vance's, questioning of Wreck's outside accountant before a Grand Jury & coordination with Letitia James' investigation likely to support deposition subpoena of Wreck & related perps.
His screams are to his cult, expect worse than we have seen before as Rupert amplifies them. Now, I’m waiting for Rupert to back off, but he apparently still thinks the money is on chump…
I hope Hillary has security. How many people have said that the malignant narcissist will stop at NOTHING. The hate he inspires surrounds us all. And Rupert blasts the lies at 90 decibels with no blowback
I believe he has a bunch of loans that are coming due in less than a year. He is frantic to shill for as much cash as his benighted-yet-deplorable followers are willing to throw at him, since that is his only significant source of income these days. He has consistently used his "campaign" funds as a personal piggy bank, a situation that continues unabated because he refuses to file appropriate financial statements regarding campaign contributions (and gets away with it). Most of his real estate holdings are either in bankruptcy or near it, which is why he is selling them off (like the one in DC where he extorted money from anyone who wanted to tug the forelock to him) to private investment firms who don't have to disclose the under-the-table deals, only the sales price. Like all gangsters, the illegal activities in which he has engaged are not going to get him in the long run: his financial mismanagement will. That was already in the works before he ran for POTUS--and perhaps was a reason why he ran? Because he figured he would have absolute immunity thereafter? He might finally get the financial reckoning he has deserved for 40 years, but don't expect to see him in an orange jumpsuit any time soon.
Good comment. Everything he has tried since he ran through the $400+ million Daddy dumped in his diaper he did with OPM (other people's money). Even the donations from his gullible supporters may not be enough if all those loans get called in all at once. Wouldn't the evidence of fraud that Mazars just provided be all the banks need to do it?
I think the presidency was the ultimate gambit for Trump. He is “ protected” from prosecution and can use the office and campaign to fill his pockets with funds, broaden his brand, and employ his children.
Because he feeds their amygdalae. He stokes it with fear and hatred of anyone who is not "like" them, and gives them a feeling of being in a club which feeds their base tribal beliefs that only people like them are deserving.
Isn’t this some good news to wake up to. It seems that the house of cards is trembling in the karmic 💨 wind. We are going to get to have a front row seat, with all that we have been put through since 2016, finally this wildly out of balance world 🌎 that we have all been passengers on, will find it’s equalligburium once again, and maybe we can get back to fine tuning the adjustments that we need to put in place, to make this a better world for our children and grandchildren and their grandchildren. I guess we just needed to trust that this finely balanced universe that we are part of would in the end self correct. I know we still have some wobbling to get through but after what we have experienced this will be the easy part.
Like Capone, it mattered that he get taken down for his public crimes, but failing that, having him come down at all is still the point imo. Take away his ability to borrow money. Neat and tidy
Once every six months or two I take a deep-ish dive into Fox news on the app. There’s an impulse behind it as a rule. Yesterday I was curious to see if they would at some point run a story about Mazars/Trump. I didn’t expect it at the top, but I wondered if it would run above MOM THINKS DEMONS IN THE HOUSE LOCKS CHILDREN IN CUPBOARD.
Not surprisingly I guess, the Trump/Mazar story not only didn’t run above “MOM THINKS …”, it didn’t appear at all.
At first I was cynically amused. Then I stopped and thought a moment, and realized that this is the *only* news for millions of people. That was a jaw-tightening moment, but beyond that there was what Fox had focused on. And it was the Durham Report. I hadn’t even thought about the Durham Report for months and months. It certainly wasn’t in any of the other media I read/watched yesterday. But here was an article talking about absolute proof that HRC had spied on the Trump campaign consistently in 2016.
To be totally honest, it sounded rational and reasonably (maybe) well supported. Of course some of it was scorched earth stuff in there to appeal to the mouth breathers among us. But a couple of stories were written in a straight-up “This is the news” way. And of course(!) the phrase “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire” leapt into my head.
So I thought I’d check in here this morning. Thus I must thank you for your summation, debunking it. This, along with the fact that there is nothing about it from our teacher here, nor the mainstream media has brought me tumbling back to earth.
But the larger lesson for me is that America is now two solitudes, each shouting past the other. It is very, very dangerous.
The reason there was Roger Ailes and Rupert in the first place. Deliberate, not only division, but a significantly propagandized portion of the population.
Jim Jordan Appears To Embrace Trump's Call To Execute Hillary Clinton Campaign Aides.
Too bad the media is giving him a break and saying he "appears" to agree. These are some really really scary things to be saying.
"Donald Trump is calling for the execution of some who worked on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign ― and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) seems to be on board.
“We’ve never seen anything like this in history,” Jordan said on “Fox & Friends” on Sunday. “So, President Trump’s statement yesterday, I think is right on target.”
Trump and Jordan were referencing a Feb. 11 filing by Justice Department special counsel John Durham reported by Fox News that claims the Clinton campaign paid a tech company to “infiltrate” Trump Tower servers looking for links between Trump and Russia.
“In a stronger period of time in our country, this crime would have been punishable by death,” Trump said in a statement.
Jordan, a staunch Trump supporter, appears to agree.
As Mediaite notes, the Fox News hosts didn’t specifically mention Trump’s call for execution during the interview. Jordan, however, shared a link to the Fox News story, which included the full statement from Trump.
Fox “journalists” have blood on their hands already, so do chump’s “lawmaking” co-conspirators. Time to lock all their arses up. It’s illegal to incite violence. At least that’s what it said on a test that I used to administer. Guess that would be a wrong answer these days…
Actually, it was the failure to report income from his illegal activities that got him thrown in the slammer. What is the saying? History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce. I think—hope—we’re into farce now.
If trump does go to jail and mar-a-lago is confiscated by the government, they could repurpose the luxury club. Maybe Stormy Daniels and other women he's shafted could use trump's bedroom as a vacation retreat. trump's office at m-a-l could be used by Black Lives Matter as a recruitment center. The club's kitchen and dining rooms could be used to feed the homeless. There are many possibilities.
I like Mar-a-lago converted into apartments for the people and families who had been homeless. The grounds as gardens and playing fields for young and old What do you think, Heydon?
Yes, that sounds good, Fern. And the library could be used to educate the public about all the illegal things the trump empire has done.
As an addendum, I believe trump, Ivanka, and Jared should serve their jail time in Guantanamo. There, for an hour a day, they could leave their cells and mix with the general population.
Yeah. I also thought about that after I wrote it. But, on further consideration, I thought of the value of the double entendre. I decided it was an added...bonus. I know, I know, but sometimes I just think in puns.
It could replace the traditional presidential library, hope it would have a place where one could throw stones at his fat arse. And yes, this old fattie favors that truth in packaging term.
If I’m not mistaken I believe Ivana owns 1/2 of MAL.For all we know he may not even own it ? Forbes said he’s lost “ Billions “ since CoVid.George Conway would know about Trump Tower as he and Kellyanne own an Apt. there. The Republicans are paying his Lawyers. And I’m sure he gets paid to spew is Toxic Tongue at Rally’s . Wonder if he would let his kids go down for him ? Sick,Sick if he does .I hope Alex Vindman gets him.
Someone should make a video with Fred Trump calling TFG a LOSER, then put it on a massive video display and have it circling back and forth in front of Mar-A-Lago.
However, it is a fact that the Hillary campaign DID initiate and fund the Steele Dossier, then, when it was produced it was made public, even though, at the time, and, even today, there was/is no independent corroboration of its claims. Now, I figure most of what is in that report is probably true, however, corroboration is key to actual truth and there was and remains none.
It is further a fact, TC, that, upon receipt of the Steele Dossier (from the Hillary campaign) the FBI began an investigation and, at that moment, Hillary was Secretary of State of the USA.
So, a member of the US government funded a report that was given to the FBI and the FBI began an investigation.
Now, maybe the word "spying" on Trump is too strong here? Maybe the words should be more professional like: Investigating Trump's past interactions with Russian Oligarchs and potential money laundering?
But, indeed, it WAS Hillary's campaign that got it started TC. And, she was a member of the US government at the time.
Was all of that appropriate? Well, if you despise Trump, absolutely. But, what if our government members routinely initiate investigations on all of us based on unconfirmed data???
The Clinton campaign did not “initiate” the Steele Dossier It was commissioned by a GOP candidate who dropped out of the primary and with a half completed report the firm doing the opposition research shopped it to Clinton Campaign
There’s New Yorker article on Steele thats interesting. I’ll find the link
And further, it wasn’t the Clinton campaign who took the Steele dossier to the FBI, it was the author. I get so tired of how people even on “our side” have been influenced by the years of maligning Hillary Clinton by the right. Object to her policies - great! But for the love of God, stop blaming her for things she did not do.
Sure. I believe that Steele was hired by Fusion GPS which then generated a liason with the law firm that supported Hillary's campaign and generated a bunch of information and that......
Hillary never knew anything at all about it and was surprised when the FBI walked into her office and told her they just go a report from her law firm.
Sure. I believe that.
Sort of like I once believed: "Ah wont you t listen a mea. Ah did NOHT haeve sexuel relations with THAT WOMAN. Ah WONT TO SAIY it Agin......
It is interesting because all of the information that have was gleaned from the NY Times over a long period of them writing details about this.
So, this article makes the claim that Hillary was never even aware of Fusion GPS role in working for her by investigating Trump.
Although that claim is made, I find it almost impossible to buy in given all the other stuff I have read.
But, in today's world, it is, in fact, sometimes really hard to sort the truth because: Many of our leaders are heavily invested in generating false information.
The FBI investigation began long before the Steele dossier showed up. It started when trump campaign members showed up during routine monitoring of our Russian government opponents.
It’s your interpretation and conclusions, Mike, that seems odd to me. Not the facts.
Telling another commentator that Mr. Trump is not going to jail and no charges.
Not even the point of the letter. The point are the truths that are emerging and Mr. Trump’s heightened hysteria. And the conclusion in Professor Richardson’s summary final paragraph.
“The normalization of violence as part of the mainstream Republican Party is cause for concern.”
They’ve seemed to have brought back the gallows into full view. And Rep Jim Jordan, currently a sitting member in Congress, is of more concern than discussing Hilary Clinton’s motives. They are threatening death to any that oppose them. Or get too close to their muck.
Let's see... One Party is canoodling with foreign governments seeking illegal assistance and funding. the other is trying to investigate said canoodling. Which is closer to treason? (Lawyerly opinion: Neither of these acts actually amounts to treason. Treason is giving aid and comfort to an enemy of the US, not being antagonistic to Donald Trump.)
But her emails. The info in Steele rightly went to the FBI. Of course the pee pee tapes were the things zeroed in on when the report was made public. The Steele Dossier is a ship that has sailed.
Witness what is happening on this thread. It's in Trump's playbook to finger point when he's on the hot seat and place the spotlight on someone else. It's still working.
So many shocking things it’s hard to keep up. Also wondered what the NYT’s complicity was with their 10/31/2016 headline that no connection had been found between Russia and the Trump campaign when that’s not at all what the article said.
I'm convinced that they say this to inspire a demented lone wolf. Let's hope the FBI is on high alert, not just for wannabe executioners looking for right-wing hero worship but organized violence meant to trigger something much, much larger. The trucker convoys look to be a fuse.
Because if the FBI took digital threats to women seriously we would have no Steve Bannon after he fomented the harassments of Anita Sarkeesian and Brianna Wu (GamerGate), and without Steve Bannon there's no Trump. Heck, if fomenting violence against women were as serious as fomenting violence against men in those same positions the Violence Against Women Act would be bipartisan legislation and have gotten passed and Roger Stone would still be in prison (b/c threatening a judge would be the standard instead of threatening a woman who happened to be judging his case).
The accountant takes information and massages it according to accounting rules. if the information is false it is a job similar to an editor who improves a work of fiction. It remains fiction. Do not feel sorry for the banks. These loans improved their balance sheets so their stock goes up. These loans gave big bonuses to the executives involved. These loans were given to a bankrupt known liar and fraudster. The only loss is long term to the bank shareholders, maybe. If we were serious about protecting the public and investors, then we would punish personally the accountants for not verifying information provided. and we would punish personally the bank executives who approve these loans. but that is obviously a fantasy as remember corporations are exempt from criminal charges for their decision makers. anyone remember Enron and its accountants?
Great stuff, Lola. What amazes me is that the banks trusted Trump's numbers when considering making him loans and did not do independent appraisals. That's on them.
I wonder if Deutsche Bank had lots of dark money laundered through Moldova Malta and Ukraine they they needed to “invest”? Read Putin’s People by Catherine Belton. Follow the rubles from their source in the collapsed USSR. Generations of hard working Soviet workers created great wealth only to be looted by the oligarchs and their enabling American and European business partners in “Londongrad” and other so called financial centers. Corruption breeds corruption in lightly regulated neoliberal capitalism. We are now reaping the bitter harvest of Trump and Brexit.
Lola Eons ago I was personally responsible for rating the credit of countries and companies worldwide. What was clear was ‘when the money was running,’ banks were often cavalier about documentation. They made money by lending money and the lenders looked askance at bank credit departments whose assessments of credit concern often were quietly filed. [I got extensive details of the merry-jig-of-compliance when I meet with Citibank’s credit EVP.]
When the stuff hits the fan, bankers are shocked rpt shocked. (While the banker-mortgage-mills in the early 2000s were extremely profitable, the top banks expressed no knowledge that they were shoveling s++t. Only one banker went to jail over this calumny, and he was a low-ranking guy in the processing department.
Deutsche Bank knew that they were dealing with ART OF THE DEAL Trump whose sleazy track record prompted all major NYC banks, except a greedy Deutsche, to blackball him.
The major accounting firms certify corporate financial statements and, when necessary, include a letter underscoring their concerns. For The Trump Organization Trump selected Mazar, a little-known Long Island accounting firm. Mazar obediently accepted figures provided by Trump and included their own statement that they were simply reporting Trump figures, not certifying them.
Now the legal issue is whether Trump is guilty of civil and or criminal fraud for his funny figures.
Mazars USA is the US arm of a very large French accounting firm. Per Wikipedia: "the Praxity alliance
With head offices in France, Mazars has a network of correspondent partners and joint ventures in a further 21 countries and is a founding member of the Praxity alliance, a network of independent firms." Mazars bought the Weiser accounting firm in 2010, per the Mazars USA website.
Tom Thanks for your update on Mazars. I had accepted the media impression that Mazars was a small Long Island-based accounting firm. It seems that a number of green-eye-shaded folks must be nervous now that Mazars is in the public spot light. Not a good image for a ‘reputable’ accounting firm. firm.
Ashley Shhhh! I am slipping out 'secrets' surreptitiously. When I told the Bank of England that I would not permit them to issue British bonds on the New York financial market, I then carefully scurried out amidst a host of yeomen with fearsome pikes. I also vividly remember what happened after I got on the Nixon White House Enemies List.
I can't see how the accountants can get out of any legal issues here. Isn't the reason we pay them the big bucks is their assurance that what they sign off on is correct? How, after all this time, can they say oops, and have no responsibility?
It looks to me like the difference between a review and an audit. In my experience as a client, a review means the accountant takes information provided by the client and provides a report saying that the information has been read and organized in accordance with standard accounting principles. In an audit, an accounting team actually goes into a business and goes through files to corroborate the numbers provided by the client. It's the same process as the IRS auditing a tax return, and it's more expensive and time-consuming than a review. I can't see the Trump org shelling out the money for an audit to ferret out information they don't want to provide lenders.
Good points, thanks for your insight. Your last sentence is spot-on in my opinion "I can't see the Trump org shelling out the money for an audit to ferret out information they don't want to provide lenders."
You make a good point. Let me extend it a bit. In a "review", the accountant IS obligated to ask questions of the client about the numbers before issuing his/her report. They are not, however, required to verify the numbers through any added analysis or third-party evidence. In a "compilation", they take the numbers at face value, and disclaim ANY opinion about their accuracy or veracity in their compilation report cover letter. They ARE supposed to state, however, that the figures have been compiled and presented in accordance with GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). That puts them on the hook with respect to Donny's crimes.
The Enron scandal caused the death of the accounting firm involved - Arthur Andersen & Co. One of America's eight largest accounting & consulting firms - dead in under a year.
The Enron- killing of Arthur Anderson [the court reversed the ruling after the fact] was part of the reduction of the “Big Eight” to four or less.Now the SEC is more circumspect to killing accounting firms. Moreover, Mazar is a little fish and, from what I read, did nothing patently illegal, though it wiggled like a frightened eel.
"The normalization of violence as part of the mainstream Republican Party is cause for concern." That understated ending of today's letter rattles the windows like thunder. Ominous and foreboding. Eventually talk alone won't satisfy them.
Death threats by the Republicans- especially by Trump and Jordan- should be taken very seriously- just the threat is ominous even if not acted on. And given the absence of moral boundaries by Republican apologists for the insurrection, we should assume that these threats will be acted upon.
Richard, thank you for your moderating the tone of this thread. We are dealing with profoundly unscrupulous people who have been cornered; as the wild ranting continues, they are capable of great destruction. They have zero compunction and will stop at nothing. This has gone way beyond politics.
Yes. So far beyond politics. I have to keep telling my high schooler, studying American Government, that it wasn’t always like “this”. “This” is so far beyond the pale that it’s translucent.
Anne-Louise, well now I’m not going to sleep. I just pray that Speaker Pelosi is posing the same question to the Capitol Police. Boebert and MTG are scary certifiable, no kidding around about that.
She did have an opponent. She pretty much ruined his life before he dropped out of the race. This article is from the WaPo. A very disturbing insight as to how far this wack job will go to get what she wants. https://wapo.st/3HQYjyP
I voted in TX yesterday. Lots of repubs running unopposed. One thing repubs have, well two things: seemingly unlimited money for lying political ads, and plenty of bat-Schitt crazy cultists candidates.
Talk leads to action…remember how talk radio inflamed Timothy Mcveigh?? This scares the CRAP out of me, but if every single media mouthpiece and every Dem candidate don’t make misinformation, inciting insurrection and violence and oAth breaking an issue, no one will pay any attention until there is a morgue full of corpses.
I agree, Sally. The sooner the better. And what should we do about Marjorie Taylor Greene, liar, Covid super spreader,and gun nut, who harassed Hogg a few years ago in Washington? The cult of disrespect gets ever more dishonest and violent. Silent Republican legislators—that is your legacy.
They. Don't. Care. They are like the bully in the schoolyard. It's only when someone stands up to them that they (might) stop. By the way, if anyone missed Nancy Pelosi's words on messaging:
I sent the link to one of my senators and plan to write a letter to the Editor of my local newspaper, again! We must speak up and drown out, or at least equal, the crazies.
As each day passes, TFGs statements are increasingly about events which are fading into the past. Their historical context does not lessen their seriousness with respect to his reckless disregard for the truth, but they cast him as increasingly irrelevant the longer he spouts off about alleged grievances in the prior decade. The wheels of justice grind along slowly, even as current events begin to thankfully occupy the center of our public discourse again. These blatant, childish attempts to distract the public matter less and less as the civil and criminal law systems march resolutely towards bringing charges against this white collar crime syndicate. For him, the punishment worse than death will be when no one pays a bit of attention when he speaks. May that day come soon...
Bingo, but he invests a ton of money as do a legion of other billionaires. They are betting on chump. As of now, the Repub ads on tv are running longer than the shows being broadcast.
Most Americans appear to live in abject fear of violence, as witnessed by an arming populace. Every jackass now lives in such fear for his life that he carries armament everywhere, in classrooms, even to church and, in some states, into courtrooms. That this fear is artificially stoked by right-wing racism and hypocritical conservative jingoism escapes most: the perception of irony is not America’s strength. But the republican policy of spreading fear and guns is, as you note, a real cause for concern. Keep it up.
Hoping not Everybody. I wouldn’t have a gun in my house or anywhere near me, but I noticed in my red neck town a loose flyer on the ground advertising not the NRA, but “Gun Owners of California” with website and official info. If they only want to scare us, well , mission accomplished.
I remember Ms. Cortez Ocasio getting this story out in the first place when it was her turn to question Mr. Cohen in a Congressional hearing back when the evil clown was still in office. Cohen made a comment about the evil clown giving different values for the same properties depending on who they were being reported to and for what purpose. She slowed him down and had him spell this out by asking him to respond to a series of very detailed questions. He seemed to enjoy doing so. Gotta love that woman.
I remember that day. I thought it could be a turning point. The slow grind of Justice. What’s astonishing to me is how Cohen served time and TFG slithered away. Again.
The threat of violence informs us how threatened tfg really is. He will keep making these threats in an attempt to build leverage.” Stop the “witch-hunt”, and he will agree to shut up. But we know it’s not a witch hunt, it’s a legal investigation into possible fraud.
Why 2011? Why not 2007-2010? Isn’t that the biggest loan from Deutsche bank? didn’t tfg completely default on those loan? Weren’t those from “DB private banking”… Russian Oligarch investments?
A Trump Fantasy. Our TV whack-box hoax is a comedic lying moron - hiding his transcripts, lying to the IRS, and to all citizens, with the idiots in MSM utterly mesmerized, feeding unvaccinated White Trash America.
Professor Richardson notes that Trump grabbed one sentence out of Mazars' statement to claim it renders investigations into his finances as moot. But surely the financial statements and his loans and his tax documents belie that assertion. This is much the same as when he used Barr to spin the Mueller Report on Russian interference and claimed "there was no collusion" since Mueller didn't go so far as to pin any specific crime on Trump. Nevertheless there was much in the report that could be used in that way, and may still be used by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
I may be mistaken, but I believe the phrase "we have not concluded that the various financial statements, as a whole, contain material discrepancies" is what an accountant says when they double-check all of the numbers, and they find they didn't make any math errors. A "discrepancy" occurs in double-entry bookkeeping when one column doesn't total to the same value as the other column.
That doesn't mean that both columns aren't complete fabrications. And the fact that there are no math errors, and yet the reports are judged "unreliable" could only be taken to mean -- as George Conway explained -- that the client supplying the figures in the first place was making them up. The client says they received money to ship steel girders, but there were no steel girders at all. They say they lost a million dollars on a bad investment, but there is no record of the investment.
Grabbing one sentence out of a multi page document is just perfect for dumbed-down twitters and faux news worshippers in the Cult of Stupidity. tfg-manbaby answered all of Mueller’s questions by basically saying he could not recall. That should be cause for some time in the pen. And Barr belongs in there with him.
Mazars said they were not asserting that the ten years of financial statements as a whole were materially false. This amounts to a ‘no comment’ in that regard, which is evidence of nothing at all. They did say that the statements are unreliable. In other words, any specific element in the statements may or may not be true…
The normalization of violence in Republican rhetoric seems to already have predictable consequences.
Two stories currently running in the Guardian back-to-back;
One about Jordan’s death rant, the other about a lone gunman shooting up a Democratic campaign office in Kentucky. Credit to the Guardian for putting these stories next to each other thus making the obvious connection.
"We don't know if we are dealing with someone who has mental issues or is venomous". That strikes me as quite a telling statement in the PD's press release.
As I continue to read this fiction known as The Rain and Pain of the Republic that Could Have Been Mine I now note the beleaguered protagonist, tfg, just put a hit out on The Smart Woman, and Gymn the White Shirt just volunteered to handle the wet work. What next will come in this dramcomedy? The supposed heirs will turn out to be spawn of The Accountants?
I think that when this nightmare is past, more books on the subject will be written by students of abnormal psychiatry than by historians and political scientists.
In review, story selection favors the left but is generally factual.
The Guardian holds a left-leaning editorial bias and sometimes relies on sources that have failed fact checks. Further, while The Guardian has failed several fact checks, they also produce an incredible amount of content; therefore, most stories are accurate, but the reader must beware and hence why we assign them a Mixed rating for factual reporting.
𝙁𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙁𝙖𝙘𝙩 𝘾𝙝𝙚𝙘𝙠𝙨
• Is everything you think you know about depression wrong? – False
• Firms bidding for government contracts asked if they back Brexit. – False
• The proportion of lung cancer cases only diagnosed after a visit to an A&E ranges from 15% in Guildford and Waverley in Surrey to 56% in Tower Hamlets and Manchester. – Inaccurate
• Private renting is making millions of people ill. – False
• The number of vegans in the U.K. has risen from half a million in 2016 to 3.5 million today. – False
• New legislation introduced to change laws on workplace rights. – False
• The justice budget has fallen by 40% since 2010. – False
• “The proportion of people with a job who live in poverty went up for the third consecutive year in 2018 to a record high” – False
• “The number of children needing foster care has risen by 44% during the coronavirus pandemic, creating a “state of emergency,” a children’s charity said.” – False
• 915 children admitted with malnutrition in Cambridge hospitals between 2015 and 2020. There were 656 similar admissions at Newcastle hospitals and 656 at the Royal Free London hospitals. – False
Thanks to Nevoustrumpezpas who brought up the Mueller Report in an earlier comment, I found this recent opinion piece in the Washington Post. It’s gifted so all can read it. Please think about spreading the word. 🙏🏼
Opinion: Yes or no on Mueller report criminal charges? Don’t let Trump just run out the clock. By Randall D Eliason
Agreed. “A decision not to prosecute Trump for obstruction may be defensible. But if that’s the decision, the Justice Department should defend it. It shouldn’t leave the country wondering whether it just ducked the issue by allowing Trump to run out the clock.”
Mueller's problem was in the document that created his position. I thought Mueller was clear in his report that he was not permitted him to make make a finding that a crime may have been committed. He very cleverly indicated that this was in fact his conclusion. The media criticized him for not stating the bold conclusion but failed to realize that he had tried to pass the baton to them so they could go where he could not.
Hallelujah! Thank you, Letitia! That is the most positive news I've heard in beginning to get justice for the trump Crime Family. Letitia has gathered up some ammo and is ready to bring them in. That damning letter from his accountants is just perfect. Now let the forensic accountants review every financial transaction he and his family made before, during, and after the trump presidency. Now we have hope.
Clearly Trump will incite violence in a desperate attempt to protect himself from prosecution. The scary thing about that is that there are about 20 million Americans who are willing to follow his command.
Damning with feint praise, President Biden called 34-year-old Peter Doocy, a Fox Fix infantile reporter, a stupid son-of-a-bitch. What will he call Tucker the Preppy Dandy from St. George’s School, home of the infamous coach molesting boys in Tucker’s locker room?
The "death to Hillary" business is even more alarming than it seems. John Durham, the Connecticut US Attorney made a Special Attorney by AG BArr back in 2020 to investigate the investigators of Trump has finally issued his report, and he claims that a company that was "associated" with the 2016 Clinton campaign tried to "hack" into Alfa Bank to find evidence of Trump's collusion with Putin. The Right is now claiming the Clinton campaign "spied on" Trump's campaign. And of course Fatso Fatass is using this as the "shiny object" to distract people from the really bad news about Mazars cooperating with the NYAG and NYCDA.
If Trump can't get any further loans, and if the close to a billion in debt he has outstanding gets called, he ends up "wearing a barrel" with even Mar A Lardo taken from him. He really is standing on the precipice, and this is the stuff likely to take him down, not all the treason.
So, no wonder he's pointing at Hillary and screaming and yelling his fat ass off.
I like seeing him in a barrel as a big naked baby squealing his head off. Thanks, TC.
Trump's squeals will be from the excruciating psychic pain of being metaphorically stripped naked and exposed to the world as a pathetic fraud. That is what malignant narcissists fear the most.
Michael, he's not 'metaphorically' stripped naked. Trump is literally stark naked and as Hugh added, going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. His squeals echo throughout the land.
The Emperor without his clothes. I want to see it ruled that he may NEVER hold any office ever again.
Yes, Sally, I’ll settle for only that if I have to. But we must have THAT. The Orange Demon must never again get his hands on such power.
If DOJ pursues him only for mishandling and destroying official documents, he will be barred from holding office ever again. Of course, I'd prefer that he be tried for treason, but we've all learned that where TFG's involved, we must have lower expectations.
Get him anyway we can.
EVER
The Emperor has no clothes. Reminds me of that Danny Kaye song in the Hans Christian Andersen movie from the 50s. “The king is in the all together, the alltogether, as naked as the day that he was born”. He has been parading around basking in delusional flattery for a lifetime. Jig is up
Bullies and psychopaths project their rage onto others They become as vicious as trapped rats lashing out wildly at anyone. DT learned this from his mentor bully Roy Cohen. His niece exposed the pathological relationship with T Sr and his indulged and bullied upbringing. Chickens coming home to roost.
The death to Hillary rants from others in support of Trump are very serious. He is looking for a scape goat for all of his pain and The core of his base would love to take her down. As everyone laughs and jokes about the emperor having no cloths, they will not hear the the very serious transition from chants of "lock her up" to the terrifying shrieks of "death to Hillary". We have seen what his pumped up hoards are capable of.
❤️ pm, you have stated what has been the trajectory and T's goal all along.
'rats' that is!!
A fraud and a LOSER.
LOSER will hurt as much as anything
More than a fraud, what Mr. Trump and most other sociopaths fear the most is to be branded a L-O-S-E-R.
That's what his niece has been saying for years.
Although you do have to remember that she has a personal bone to pick with him - the inheritance issue.
True, but she has made many I think valid points about his psychological impairments.
Don''t forget-she has the training as a psychologist to back up her belief.
Donald tRump will be Al Caponed, and, like that lizard, serve his term in jail (although Al only did 7 years of 15. Think NY should go for 30.)
I don't think he is capable of being humiliated and feeling it. His instant reaction to negative emotions is to slam back and deflect. Once his head "understands" it's not him, he's back to his version of healthy.
Fern, one of the very best predictors of the future is the past.
Trump has been a well known crook in NY City his entire adult life, and, has had accounting firms lying for him his entire life and.....
Trump has never been charged with a single crime, in fact, the NY DA was never interested until AFTER he moved to Florida.
Trump was operating as a criminal and everyone knew it for 35 years.
So, given that history, what do you predict for Trump's future??
Also, WHY was Trump never charged even though the NY Post routinely wrote articles about his law breaking???
Because, all those reasons are still there.
Trump is not going to jail Fern. He has not even been charged with anything.
Greg Olear writes some compelling information about how tRump is a Soviet (and I use the term intentionally) pawn. He's also a malignant narcissist. I believe he'll self destruct before there is any hope of accountability (read: prosecution).
Trump's son openly admitted to a reporter that "they got all the money they needed from Russia" in buying two Scottish Golf Courses.
So, EVEN when one's blood relative openly admits to a reporter, who then publishes the fact that Trump was laundering Russian money into Golf courses, Trump is not charged or otherwise bothered by the law.
In fact, he became President of these United States with a great following of LOVE among LAW ENFORCEMENT people.
I can only speak for the local level of law enforcement, and tell you that you're not wrong about 2/3 of the rank and file (in my admittedly small, and unscientific statistical sample). There was an "R" after his name in the ballot. I must have had a dozen friends say that they "held their nose and voted for him" who had quit holding their noses and voted for him in 2020.
Ugh! People became blind and deaf when it came to TFG. They still are. They don’t realize that they have been given a huge cup of bullshit to drink. Led like sheep, by their noses, to a cliff.
It’s all so tribal and macho and white, and that power is slip slip slipping away from them because of it.
Yep. Trump, the law and order President.
Now the word most appropriate for that?
Guffaw.
I've always believed that he's been programmed and supported by Putin. He is just not bright enough to have done all of his destruction by himself. I'm also hopeful that the intense pressures coming at him from all sides will end up destroying him. Let's hope.
Manchurian candidate?
Well, Trump is too unpredictable to be a reliable Manchurian candidate.
However, if he can concentrate long enough for Putin to tell him what to do, then, yes.
Al Capone was sent to jail for tax evasion. I enjoyed reading into Wiki's introduction: "Donald Trump was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Covid pandemic era as the co-founder and boss of a large part of the Republican Party. His seven-year reign as a crime boss ended when he went to prison at the age of 75." .... just dreaming, Mike.
Sweet dreams are made of this...
I know the song...
This one will! tRump will be Al Caponed!
Mike, please let us dance in expectation of him being paraded naked in the street before you rain on our parade. I do fear you are correct but let us dance a bit.
Sharon. My apology. My kids say I am always the guy bringing a suitcase full of reality to an otherwise good party.
My cross to bear also.
You are most likely right Mike. But we all do enjoy seeing the legal pile on. Think trump is sweating any of this?
Once again the pattern continues. When the law gets too close people like trump and jordan start screeching and the rest like hawley keep their mouths shut. (Except for Hawley obstructing critical appointees).
and I never say this but here goes. These are really dark times.
"Think trump is sweating any of this?"
No, I think Trump acts as if he is invincible to the law. Because, he has every reason and data set supporting that approach.
Mike, You got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning; you're also making up things. I never wrote that he was going to jail. Trump will be stark naked in a barrel falling into Niagara Falls. Got the picture now?
Fern! Actually, I did not understand the reference to naked in a barrel and thought it meant jail. I did not think about him naked in a barrel going over Niagra Falls. My apology.
So, isn't this the best punishment? Think of the photos we will treasure and pass on!
Eeuuuww!! Thanks Fern.
🎯
Agree that, come what may, he ain't going to jail. All of Mike's reasons are still there because enough people in NY's government and real estate communities went along with not doing anything ... and today want to avoid being considered his accomplices. Also, fear of the civil strife his present-day extremist supporters would cause if he were indicted protects him. But eventually, they will find another leader as the defeated former president rots away on whatever corner of Mar-a-Lago remains after his lenders call in his IOU's. He might pitch a tent there, if zoning permits it.
You're correct. In my real estate brokerage years, I was appalled at the lack of principle, as brokers frantically lapped up the gains from foreign investors buying Trump properties.
Well, Mar a Lago was built although the city had said it could not be built!
Mar-a-Lago was built by Marjorie Merriweather Post, heiress to the Post Cereal fortune, a century ago. On her death, she left it as a historic landmark to the US gov't which couldn't afford to maintain it, gave it back, and it fell into the hands of the defeated former president during the 1980's. Over the years, he managed to get the place licensed as a private club and catering joint as a way of maintaining it. The Town of Palm Beach went along with it since it was a landmark and not doing so would have resulted in its destruction. Contrary to the nearby City of West Palm Beach, a very urban place, the Town of Palm Beach is inhabited by unbelievably wealthy people. The defeated former president never was accepted by them as more than the owner of a catering establishment. Many of the uber-wealthy of Palm Beach donate generously locally to museums, hospitals, concert halls, the opera, theatre and numerous charities. The defeated former president was never counted among them. I suspect most, including the Koch's, would be glad to see him go.
Yes.
Given the neighborhood, I expect there are rules against pitching tents.
Agree ... No tents permitted. Ultimately, the place will be torn down and divided into generously-sized individual lots selling for twenty or thirty million dollars each. The estate of the defeated former president will need the money to pay off their creditors.
I fear this is true. The underlying corruption hasn't changed, really, at all. Trump can take too many other well heeled crooks with him.
Our prisons have plenty of room for all of them and if not we can always build more.
Trump has been an open, blatant crook his entire life and always untouchable.
Several writers suggest tRump has been protected over the decades as an informant for the FBI. I'm thinking he is done informing.
…finished, caput!
Always loved the sound of that word: ca-put!
Mafia in New York, but ya, MISinformed.
🤨🧐🤐🙄🤨
I hope your prayers work. I'd love to be wrong.
I totally agree!!! We may yet see the entire Trump family in orange jumpsuits 🤗
Sophia, I assume your prayers are Greek Orthodox ones. :-)
My wife is Greek. She is not sure about her prayers and Trump. He seems invincible to all potential threats.
Al Capone and John , the Teflon Don, Gotti also seemed invincible.
Heck, I believe. Channel surfing one day, I "accidentally" stopped at PBS where some nicely dressed church lady was instructing viewers to "Ask for 3 Signs and a Miracle every week." Ya right. Guess What! It works! Don't know for sure if there is a God or a Devil, but I am pretty sure there is "The Great Irish Tea Party in the Sky" where my female relatives in the Great Beyond humor me. They always were a witty bunch, so I must be very careful what I ask for! Fun! And always wonder-full.
Sophia, very good. Cancer free is very good and your ask your mother to send prayers. :-)
YES! tRump shall be Al Caponed!!
Therer’s such a delicious double entendre in Al Caponed — we all know what a capon is, right?
LOVE IT!
😂
I hope you are right!!!
Waiting…
Trump offers to pay these people off and when he doesn't come through, they can not complain because of their wrongdoings. People have lost their sense of right and wrong. Trumps accountants can only work with the numbers trump gives them.
Sophia, if you’re bringing GOD and the DEVIL into this conversation, then that means, I, too, will have to PRAY. All those TFG followers must be in church today.
As he goes over the Niagra falls.
That's absolutely in the right direction. Thank you, Hugh!
Add the tiny hands flailing about....
👐
"I could stand naked in a barrel on Fifth Avenue and not lose a single vote." Maybe. But I'd love to see it anyway.
🤣😂
That’s a good
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Fern, that is quite the visual😎. My eyes! My eyes!
Eye bleach is on aisle 5 with the other cleaning supplies.
I was looking for brain bleach, but eye bleach will do. Thanks, Ally! 😂
Haha!
Thanks for the info, lol
some things can not be unseen, lol
😀
And ‘Wig-Be-Gone ‘ ! No make up, no guy girdle or elevator shoes.
somewhere in these comments, you mentioned Deutshe Bank and trump. I have always found it suspect that Kennedy, whose son worked for that bank, resigned from SCOTUS in order to give the fEDERALIST cabal another seat on the court!
Nothing Surprises me.
Something very fishy in Deutsche-mark.
Or Depends...
I wish I'd read your visualization before going to sleep last night. I would have had better dreams. Still good to think about over morning coffee
Yes….that mental picture made me smile.
A great visual!
Perfect! I am sure he will get out of it as he always seems to do!
TC, If the Clinton campaign actually did it, it would be just “opposition research.” You can be sure Jabba was doing the same thing. He accused President Obama of wiring his apartment, later disproven by the FBI. I think he is just a paranoid narcissist who discovered that he could use his fantasies to distract people and harm his ‘enemies.’ I am loathe to bring it up, but his vivid tweets were an obvious manifestation of his very sick and terrified little mind....
More “opposition research” should have been done on his evil arse. Any presidential candidate should undergo a psychological evaluation as well as one hell of a background check. His evil was well known. BTW, Fox needs to go if we are to remain a country.
When I cancelled my Cable TV subscription, I was asked why I was cancelling and said I no longer wished to support media that pushed lies and disinformation, namely Fox News. I got no pushback from the otherwise very marketing savvy young woman employee. I could hope that was a sign that she had heard the same complaint pretty often recently but I won’t hold my breath….
Sorry, ‘more’ would not matter given his recorded comments on how to get your way with women which were published well before the election!
and during the Presidential Debates he said paying taxes was for suckers
And he bragged he didn’t “pay taxes” because “I’m smart.”
Who knew that his evil was such a draw. I should have, but I was still thinking that we weren’t that stupid. Wish I had been right…
Trump is a master at triggering his base and grifting them for more money and bringing up Clinton does the trick every time. Except now as he grows more desperate it has gone from lock her up to execute her.
The reward she gets for being a competent public servant. You HRC haters can just skip over me this time please
I am also so sad to see the national pastime of hating Secretary of State Clinton. And when you try to nail people down on the exact reason there is none. I always hesitate to pull the misogynist card but it is no secret this Country is hardest on strong women in politics. Look at what has been done to Vice President Harris by the Republicans and the media.
Double this, I know it’s just misogyny in the “friends” who denigrate strong women every chance they get. Women are as bad as men…
Unfortunately this is true.
Yes indeed
And I wouldn’t trust Durham any further than I could throw Barr.
A low bar indeed. (sorry)
😁😂
I was thinking along the same lines.
Such a low bar to set.
How convenient for the fascists that they are attacking Marc Elias with Durham’s report. Just the person who is enemy #1 of the current gerryrigged-mandering, anti voting rights meffers at this moment. How I despise them
There is an excellent article in the Times about the Durham filing. It’s actually Trump that had too much exposure to the Russians. Surprise!
Alpha Bank was trying to communicate with TFG’s servers throughout 2016. This happened after Jared Kushner had discussed opening a back channel communications with the Russian Ambassador, even suggesting using the Russian Embassy lines. ( but the idiots could not figure out the Alpha Bank digital outreach!!!)
Another article in the NYT, 2/14/22, (Did [TFG] Mislead Accountants?) reports the Manhattan DA, Cyrus Vance's, questioning of Wreck's outside accountant before a Grand Jury & coordination with Letitia James' investigation likely to support deposition subpoena of Wreck & related perps.
My shocked face: 😑
Link?
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/14/us/politics/durham-sussmann-trump-russia.html?searchResultPosition=1
"So, no wonder he's pointing at Hillary and screaming and yelling his fat ass off."
An insult to fat asses everywhere...
He certainly is.
His screams are to his cult, expect worse than we have seen before as Rupert amplifies them. Now, I’m waiting for Rupert to back off, but he apparently still thinks the money is on chump…
I hope Hillary has security. How many people have said that the malignant narcissist will stop at NOTHING. The hate he inspires surrounds us all. And Rupert blasts the lies at 90 decibels with no blowback
I believe he has a bunch of loans that are coming due in less than a year. He is frantic to shill for as much cash as his benighted-yet-deplorable followers are willing to throw at him, since that is his only significant source of income these days. He has consistently used his "campaign" funds as a personal piggy bank, a situation that continues unabated because he refuses to file appropriate financial statements regarding campaign contributions (and gets away with it). Most of his real estate holdings are either in bankruptcy or near it, which is why he is selling them off (like the one in DC where he extorted money from anyone who wanted to tug the forelock to him) to private investment firms who don't have to disclose the under-the-table deals, only the sales price. Like all gangsters, the illegal activities in which he has engaged are not going to get him in the long run: his financial mismanagement will. That was already in the works before he ran for POTUS--and perhaps was a reason why he ran? Because he figured he would have absolute immunity thereafter? He might finally get the financial reckoning he has deserved for 40 years, but don't expect to see him in an orange jumpsuit any time soon.
And running for president allowed him to gather money from Russian oligarchs, as well as laundering their linen.
Yes! And still does. Campaigning protects him and is more lucrative in his case than outright stealing.
Good comment. Everything he has tried since he ran through the $400+ million Daddy dumped in his diaper he did with OPM (other people's money). Even the donations from his gullible supporters may not be enough if all those loans get called in all at once. Wouldn't the evidence of fraud that Mazars just provided be all the banks need to do it?
I think the presidency was the ultimate gambit for Trump. He is “ protected” from prosecution and can use the office and campaign to fill his pockets with funds, broaden his brand, and employ his children.
Protected during the presidency, but no longer. He shall be Al Caponed.
Because he feeds their amygdalae. He stokes it with fear and hatred of anyone who is not "like" them, and gives them a feeling of being in a club which feeds their base tribal beliefs that only people like them are deserving.
“God” told them to?
I agree.
You make great points, but the fat shaming detracts from them. They could have been made - and more eloquently - without.
Agreed.
Isn’t this some good news to wake up to. It seems that the house of cards is trembling in the karmic 💨 wind. We are going to get to have a front row seat, with all that we have been put through since 2016, finally this wildly out of balance world 🌎 that we have all been passengers on, will find it’s equalligburium once again, and maybe we can get back to fine tuning the adjustments that we need to put in place, to make this a better world for our children and grandchildren and their grandchildren. I guess we just needed to trust that this finely balanced universe that we are part of would in the end self correct. I know we still have some wobbling to get through but after what we have experienced this will be the easy part.
'...trembling in the karmic...' Oh, Dick, you soothsaying poet, piloting us with trust and balance. Bravo!
Trust yes, but collective HOPE and more HOPE!
And...a sign or two that Putin is also faltering. House of Cards, indeed! Birds of a Feather, et al.
Like Capone, it mattered that he get taken down for his public crimes, but failing that, having him come down at all is still the point imo. Take away his ability to borrow money. Neat and tidy
Add that the banks will come forward asking for repayment.
Tragically, there are 10’s of millions of people who are eager to give him $10 or $20 a piece to ‘defend ‘ himself! Who needs banks!
As well as the Republican Party.
Jordan, as crazy as tfg, needs to join him in a padded cell.
Once every six months or two I take a deep-ish dive into Fox news on the app. There’s an impulse behind it as a rule. Yesterday I was curious to see if they would at some point run a story about Mazars/Trump. I didn’t expect it at the top, but I wondered if it would run above MOM THINKS DEMONS IN THE HOUSE LOCKS CHILDREN IN CUPBOARD.
Not surprisingly I guess, the Trump/Mazar story not only didn’t run above “MOM THINKS …”, it didn’t appear at all.
At first I was cynically amused. Then I stopped and thought a moment, and realized that this is the *only* news for millions of people. That was a jaw-tightening moment, but beyond that there was what Fox had focused on. And it was the Durham Report. I hadn’t even thought about the Durham Report for months and months. It certainly wasn’t in any of the other media I read/watched yesterday. But here was an article talking about absolute proof that HRC had spied on the Trump campaign consistently in 2016.
To be totally honest, it sounded rational and reasonably (maybe) well supported. Of course some of it was scorched earth stuff in there to appeal to the mouth breathers among us. But a couple of stories were written in a straight-up “This is the news” way. And of course(!) the phrase “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire” leapt into my head.
So I thought I’d check in here this morning. Thus I must thank you for your summation, debunking it. This, along with the fact that there is nothing about it from our teacher here, nor the mainstream media has brought me tumbling back to earth.
But the larger lesson for me is that America is now two solitudes, each shouting past the other. It is very, very dangerous.
But the larger point remains
The Dems need to bring back the Fairness Doctrine.
Fox News needs to go over Niagra Falls naked in a barrell too.
With all of them naked and squeezed into the barrel.
The reason there was Roger Ailes and Rupert in the first place. Deliberate, not only division, but a significantly propagandized portion of the population.
and in Canada. Can you hear them?
Thank you for this very much.
"HuffPost
Jim Jordan Appears To Embrace Trump's Call To Execute Hillary Clinton Campaign Aides.
Too bad the media is giving him a break and saying he "appears" to agree. These are some really really scary things to be saying.
"Donald Trump is calling for the execution of some who worked on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign ― and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) seems to be on board.
“We’ve never seen anything like this in history,” Jordan said on “Fox & Friends” on Sunday. “So, President Trump’s statement yesterday, I think is right on target.”
Trump and Jordan were referencing a Feb. 11 filing by Justice Department special counsel John Durham reported by Fox News that claims the Clinton campaign paid a tech company to “infiltrate” Trump Tower servers looking for links between Trump and Russia.
“In a stronger period of time in our country, this crime would have been punishable by death,” Trump said in a statement.
Jordan, a staunch Trump supporter, appears to agree.
As Mediaite notes, the Fox News hosts didn’t specifically mention Trump’s call for execution during the interview. Jordan, however, shared a link to the Fox News story, which included the full statement from Trump.
Fox “journalists” have blood on their hands already, so do chump’s “lawmaking” co-conspirators. Time to lock all their arses up. It’s illegal to incite violence. At least that’s what it said on a test that I used to administer. Guess that would be a wrong answer these days…
Like Al Capone, the murders did not put him in prison, the Illegal $$$ deals did!
Actually, it was the failure to report income from his illegal activities that got him thrown in the slammer. What is the saying? History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce. I think—hope—we’re into farce now.
If trump does go to jail and mar-a-lago is confiscated by the government, they could repurpose the luxury club. Maybe Stormy Daniels and other women he's shafted could use trump's bedroom as a vacation retreat. trump's office at m-a-l could be used by Black Lives Matter as a recruitment center. The club's kitchen and dining rooms could be used to feed the homeless. There are many possibilities.
I like Mar-a-lago converted into apartments for the people and families who had been homeless. The grounds as gardens and playing fields for young and old What do you think, Heydon?
Yes, that sounds good, Fern. And the library could be used to educate the public about all the illegal things the trump empire has done.
As an addendum, I believe trump, Ivanka, and Jared should serve their jail time in Guantanamo. There, for an hour a day, they could leave their cells and mix with the general population.
Heydon, I second your directive. Yet, another addendum, Donnie Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle and Eric to Guantanamo as well. Cheers!
As an alternative, they could staff the ‘lago apartments, serve the tenants!?! Unstopping toilets seems fitting.
I just had the strange thought that Mar-a-Lago could be where his Presidential Library of Crimes gets located.
Yes, Roland!!
Yesss❣️
❤️
'he's shafted'!??? given his alleged minimal anatomical deficiency, was you use of the word shafted a pun!
Yeah. I also thought about that after I wrote it. But, on further consideration, I thought of the value of the double entendre. I decided it was an added...bonus. I know, I know, but sometimes I just think in puns.
It could replace the traditional presidential library, hope it would have a place where one could throw stones at his fat arse. And yes, this old fattie favors that truth in packaging term.
If I’m not mistaken I believe Ivana owns 1/2 of MAL.For all we know he may not even own it ? Forbes said he’s lost “ Billions “ since CoVid.George Conway would know about Trump Tower as he and Kellyanne own an Apt. there. The Republicans are paying his Lawyers. And I’m sure he gets paid to spew is Toxic Tongue at Rally’s . Wonder if he would let his kids go down for him ? Sick,Sick if he does .I hope Alex Vindman gets him.
Someone should make a video with Fred Trump calling TFG a LOSER, then put it on a massive video display and have it circling back and forth in front of Mar-A-Lago.
TC. I am no fan of Trump, indeed, despise him.
However, it is a fact that the Hillary campaign DID initiate and fund the Steele Dossier, then, when it was produced it was made public, even though, at the time, and, even today, there was/is no independent corroboration of its claims. Now, I figure most of what is in that report is probably true, however, corroboration is key to actual truth and there was and remains none.
It is further a fact, TC, that, upon receipt of the Steele Dossier (from the Hillary campaign) the FBI began an investigation and, at that moment, Hillary was Secretary of State of the USA.
So, a member of the US government funded a report that was given to the FBI and the FBI began an investigation.
Now, maybe the word "spying" on Trump is too strong here? Maybe the words should be more professional like: Investigating Trump's past interactions with Russian Oligarchs and potential money laundering?
But, indeed, it WAS Hillary's campaign that got it started TC. And, she was a member of the US government at the time.
Was all of that appropriate? Well, if you despise Trump, absolutely. But, what if our government members routinely initiate investigations on all of us based on unconfirmed data???
Well, that would be like the old USSR right?
The Clinton campaign did not “initiate” the Steele Dossier It was commissioned by a GOP candidate who dropped out of the primary and with a half completed report the firm doing the opposition research shopped it to Clinton Campaign
There’s New Yorker article on Steele thats interesting. I’ll find the link
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-inside-story-of-christopher-steeles-trump-dossier
And further, it wasn’t the Clinton campaign who took the Steele dossier to the FBI, it was the author. I get so tired of how people even on “our side” have been influenced by the years of maligning Hillary Clinton by the right. Object to her policies - great! But for the love of God, stop blaming her for things she did not do.
Me too, KR!!
OK.
Sure. I believe that Steele was hired by Fusion GPS which then generated a liason with the law firm that supported Hillary's campaign and generated a bunch of information and that......
Hillary never knew anything at all about it and was surprised when the FBI walked into her office and told her they just go a report from her law firm.
Sure. I believe that.
Sort of like I once believed: "Ah wont you t listen a mea. Ah did NOHT haeve sexuel relations with THAT WOMAN. Ah WONT TO SAIY it Agin......
:-)
Damn Mike, are people still hanging Hillary for Bill's crimes? Thought that was Ken Starr's forte
Thank you. I was searching for the resource to refute this oft repeated false claim that the Clinton campaign initiated the Steele dossier.
So sick of hearing that, Tis true that a lie travels at Mach speed while the truth limps along like a crippled duck
I always wondered how this got lost. The Clinton campaign didn't go out annoying for this product. It was brought to their door.
Thank you, I thought I had heard it was initially commissioned by a Repub.
OK, I did read this article.
It is interesting because all of the information that have was gleaned from the NY Times over a long period of them writing details about this.
So, this article makes the claim that Hillary was never even aware of Fusion GPS role in working for her by investigating Trump.
Although that claim is made, I find it almost impossible to buy in given all the other stuff I have read.
But, in today's world, it is, in fact, sometimes really hard to sort the truth because: Many of our leaders are heavily invested in generating false information.
Many
Oops…Mea culpa…I did not read ahead!
The FBI investigation began long before the Steele dossier showed up. It started when trump campaign members showed up during routine monitoring of our Russian government opponents.
Was Hillary born in Kenya also? ; )
Naw. She says she was born in Scranton. I don't honestly know.
Everything I wrote is provable fact, it is not hyberbole. Like being born in Kenya was.
It’s your interpretation and conclusions, Mike, that seems odd to me. Not the facts.
Telling another commentator that Mr. Trump is not going to jail and no charges.
Not even the point of the letter. The point are the truths that are emerging and Mr. Trump’s heightened hysteria. And the conclusion in Professor Richardson’s summary final paragraph.
“The normalization of violence as part of the mainstream Republican Party is cause for concern.”
They’ve seemed to have brought back the gallows into full view. And Rep Jim Jordan, currently a sitting member in Congress, is of more concern than discussing Hilary Clinton’s motives. They are threatening death to any that oppose them. Or get too close to their muck.
Let's see... One Party is canoodling with foreign governments seeking illegal assistance and funding. the other is trying to investigate said canoodling. Which is closer to treason? (Lawyerly opinion: Neither of these acts actually amounts to treason. Treason is giving aid and comfort to an enemy of the US, not being antagonistic to Donald Trump.)
Exactly. And execution for being antagonistic to the defeated former president..........go figure.........on Putin.
Christine, it is indeed worrisome. No doubt.
... Golden Rule applies ... they must have a death wish ....
But her emails. The info in Steele rightly went to the FBI. Of course the pee pee tapes were the things zeroed in on when the report was made public. The Steele Dossier is a ship that has sailed.
Not fact this time, Mike. You’re wrong on this one.
I could be. But, I gleaned the information I have from the NY times. Maybe that is a problem now too.
Probably, hahaha
Witness what is happening on this thread. It's in Trump's playbook to finger point when he's on the hot seat and place the spotlight on someone else. It's still working.
I wish he was on a hot seat, right on his toilets, where they are wired to give him a good jolt!
When the dossier became public, I noted that if Russians identified in it started dying, it would be proof enough. They did.
So many shocking things it’s hard to keep up. Also wondered what the NYT’s complicity was with their 10/31/2016 headline that no connection had been found between Russia and the Trump campaign when that’s not at all what the article said.
Sorry, other gop presidential candidates initially contacted Steele for info on dirty Don!
how does "death to Hillary" talk not become an incitement of violence? A felony?
I'm convinced that they say this to inspire a demented lone wolf. Let's hope the FBI is on high alert, not just for wannabe executioners looking for right-wing hero worship but organized violence meant to trigger something much, much larger. The trucker convoys look to be a fuse.
I think you're right. It's pretty much how he managed to inspire 1/6, only in that case it was a whole pack, not just a lone wolf.
Maybe “death to Hillary” is a type of religious expression — you know — something similar to “death to America”.
Please give due respect to irony of the above statement.
Because if the FBI took digital threats to women seriously we would have no Steve Bannon after he fomented the harassments of Anita Sarkeesian and Brianna Wu (GamerGate), and without Steve Bannon there's no Trump. Heck, if fomenting violence against women were as serious as fomenting violence against men in those same positions the Violence Against Women Act would be bipartisan legislation and have gotten passed and Roger Stone would still be in prison (b/c threatening a judge would be the standard instead of threatening a woman who happened to be judging his case).
🏆🏆
Because the people who are speaking it are wealthy white collar white folk. Plain and simple.
On my mind too
The accountant takes information and massages it according to accounting rules. if the information is false it is a job similar to an editor who improves a work of fiction. It remains fiction. Do not feel sorry for the banks. These loans improved their balance sheets so their stock goes up. These loans gave big bonuses to the executives involved. These loans were given to a bankrupt known liar and fraudster. The only loss is long term to the bank shareholders, maybe. If we were serious about protecting the public and investors, then we would punish personally the accountants for not verifying information provided. and we would punish personally the bank executives who approve these loans. but that is obviously a fantasy as remember corporations are exempt from criminal charges for their decision makers. anyone remember Enron and its accountants?
Lola, you just gave us a college seminar in banking. No wonder I don’t trust ‘em. Thank you.
Great stuff, Lola. What amazes me is that the banks trusted Trump's numbers when considering making him loans and did not do independent appraisals. That's on them.
In terms of money "donations" the financial services lobby is larger than all other lobbying groups combined.
I wonder if Deutsche Bank had lots of dark money laundered through Moldova Malta and Ukraine they they needed to “invest”? Read Putin’s People by Catherine Belton. Follow the rubles from their source in the collapsed USSR. Generations of hard working Soviet workers created great wealth only to be looted by the oligarchs and their enabling American and European business partners in “Londongrad” and other so called financial centers. Corruption breeds corruption in lightly regulated neoliberal capitalism. We are now reaping the bitter harvest of Trump and Brexit.
O yes, Ukraine has had lots of corruption. I think Biden told them to clean it up.
Lola Eons ago I was personally responsible for rating the credit of countries and companies worldwide. What was clear was ‘when the money was running,’ banks were often cavalier about documentation. They made money by lending money and the lenders looked askance at bank credit departments whose assessments of credit concern often were quietly filed. [I got extensive details of the merry-jig-of-compliance when I meet with Citibank’s credit EVP.]
When the stuff hits the fan, bankers are shocked rpt shocked. (While the banker-mortgage-mills in the early 2000s were extremely profitable, the top banks expressed no knowledge that they were shoveling s++t. Only one banker went to jail over this calumny, and he was a low-ranking guy in the processing department.
Deutsche Bank knew that they were dealing with ART OF THE DEAL Trump whose sleazy track record prompted all major NYC banks, except a greedy Deutsche, to blackball him.
The major accounting firms certify corporate financial statements and, when necessary, include a letter underscoring their concerns. For The Trump Organization Trump selected Mazar, a little-known Long Island accounting firm. Mazar obediently accepted figures provided by Trump and included their own statement that they were simply reporting Trump figures, not certifying them.
Now the legal issue is whether Trump is guilty of civil and or criminal fraud for his funny figures.
Mazars USA is the US arm of a very large French accounting firm. Per Wikipedia: "the Praxity alliance
With head offices in France, Mazars has a network of correspondent partners and joint ventures in a further 21 countries and is a founding member of the Praxity alliance, a network of independent firms." Mazars bought the Weiser accounting firm in 2010, per the Mazars USA website.
Tom Thanks for your update on Mazars. I had accepted the media impression that Mazars was a small Long Island-based accounting firm. It seems that a number of green-eye-shaded folks must be nervous now that Mazars is in the public spot light. Not a good image for a ‘reputable’ accounting firm. firm.
The secrets you could tell!! I need no knowledge of the skeletons.
Ashley Shhhh! I am slipping out 'secrets' surreptitiously. When I told the Bank of England that I would not permit them to issue British bonds on the New York financial market, I then carefully scurried out amidst a host of yeomen with fearsome pikes. I also vividly remember what happened after I got on the Nixon White House Enemies List.
I can't see how the accountants can get out of any legal issues here. Isn't the reason we pay them the big bucks is their assurance that what they sign off on is correct? How, after all this time, can they say oops, and have no responsibility?
It looks to me like the difference between a review and an audit. In my experience as a client, a review means the accountant takes information provided by the client and provides a report saying that the information has been read and organized in accordance with standard accounting principles. In an audit, an accounting team actually goes into a business and goes through files to corroborate the numbers provided by the client. It's the same process as the IRS auditing a tax return, and it's more expensive and time-consuming than a review. I can't see the Trump org shelling out the money for an audit to ferret out information they don't want to provide lenders.
Good points, thanks for your insight. Your last sentence is spot-on in my opinion "I can't see the Trump org shelling out the money for an audit to ferret out information they don't want to provide lenders."
You make a good point. Let me extend it a bit. In a "review", the accountant IS obligated to ask questions of the client about the numbers before issuing his/her report. They are not, however, required to verify the numbers through any added analysis or third-party evidence. In a "compilation", they take the numbers at face value, and disclaim ANY opinion about their accuracy or veracity in their compilation report cover letter. They ARE supposed to state, however, that the figures have been compiled and presented in accordance with GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). That puts them on the hook with respect to Donny's crimes.
The Enron scandal caused the death of the accounting firm involved - Arthur Andersen & Co. One of America's eight largest accounting & consulting firms - dead in under a year.
Tom
The Enron- killing of Arthur Anderson [the court reversed the ruling after the fact] was part of the reduction of the “Big Eight” to four or less.Now the SEC is more circumspect to killing accounting firms. Moreover, Mazar is a little fish and, from what I read, did nothing patently illegal, though it wiggled like a frightened eel.
"The normalization of violence as part of the mainstream Republican Party is cause for concern." That understated ending of today's letter rattles the windows like thunder. Ominous and foreboding. Eventually talk alone won't satisfy them.
Death threats by the Republicans- especially by Trump and Jordan- should be taken very seriously- just the threat is ominous even if not acted on. And given the absence of moral boundaries by Republican apologists for the insurrection, we should assume that these threats will be acted upon.
Richard, thank you for your moderating the tone of this thread. We are dealing with profoundly unscrupulous people who have been cornered; as the wild ranting continues, they are capable of great destruction. They have zero compunction and will stop at nothing. This has gone way beyond politics.
Yes. So far beyond politics. I have to keep telling my high schooler, studying American Government, that it wasn’t always like “this”. “This” is so far beyond the pale that it’s translucent.
The Secret Service paid a visit to Ted Nugent a few years ago. The threats stopped
The threats are like invitations, just like the invitation to come to Washington on 1/6. They are real, not just chatter.
Is Mrs Boebert still carrying her Glock into Congress?
Anne-Louise, well now I’m not going to sleep. I just pray that Speaker Pelosi is posing the same question to the Capitol Police. Boebert and MTG are scary certifiable, no kidding around about that.
I always wondered how a total fuckup like MTG got elected and then I read she ran unopposed. They said it was a close race.
She better be careful, or the Gazpacho will put her in the Goulash!
Very good, Steve! You're quite a geopolitical cook.
😛😂😂
She did have an opponent. She pretty much ruined his life before he dropped out of the race. This article is from the WaPo. A very disturbing insight as to how far this wack job will go to get what she wants. https://wapo.st/3HQYjyP
Unf++kingbelievable
This is a terrifying, tragic story—well written too.
😔
I voted in TX yesterday. Lots of repubs running unopposed. One thing repubs have, well two things: seemingly unlimited money for lying political ads, and plenty of bat-Schitt crazy cultists candidates.
Ha! Joke of the night.
I suppose it was, if she was running against herself. She must have walked it in.
She was elected because 80% of the white peoppe in her district think just like she does. That’s the scary part.
🤣
Even though she voted for herself…
Quite the soloist!
John Wilkes Booth in drag?
Talk leads to action…remember how talk radio inflamed Timothy Mcveigh?? This scares the CRAP out of me, but if every single media mouthpiece and every Dem candidate don’t make misinformation, inciting insurrection and violence and oAth breaking an issue, no one will pay any attention until there is a morgue full of corpses.
Maybe, but seeing David Hogg talk about Parkland on the 4th anniversary, even dead chidren doesn't get action.
ALL lawbreakers MUST be held accountable, no ifs ands or bu(t)ts... oops, excuse me.
I agree, Sally. The sooner the better. And what should we do about Marjorie Taylor Greene, liar, Covid super spreader,and gun nut, who harassed Hogg a few years ago in Washington? The cult of disrespect gets ever more dishonest and violent. Silent Republican legislators—that is your legacy.
They. Don't. Care. They are like the bully in the schoolyard. It's only when someone stands up to them that they (might) stop. By the way, if anyone missed Nancy Pelosi's words on messaging:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/14/democrats-should-follow-nancy-pelosi-on-messaging/
I sent the link to one of my senators and plan to write a letter to the Editor of my local newspaper, again! We must speak up and drown out, or at least equal, the crazies.
And repubs blocked any gun legislation or policies after the tragedy of Sandy Hook. No accountability.
I have lost count of how many deaths since the Black Lives Matter/hold up the Bible march.
So there is a supply of misinformation........but the demand is great.
That's what I am afraid of.
Yes.
Yep, those last thoughts are like the thunder before the storm.
As each day passes, TFGs statements are increasingly about events which are fading into the past. Their historical context does not lessen their seriousness with respect to his reckless disregard for the truth, but they cast him as increasingly irrelevant the longer he spouts off about alleged grievances in the prior decade. The wheels of justice grind along slowly, even as current events begin to thankfully occupy the center of our public discourse again. These blatant, childish attempts to distract the public matter less and less as the civil and criminal law systems march resolutely towards bringing charges against this white collar crime syndicate. For him, the punishment worse than death will be when no one pays a bit of attention when he speaks. May that day come soon...
“increasingly irrelevant”
YES YES YES‼️
But not to his base.
You are so right and they have Rupert to amplify his insanity. When will Rupert say enough…
When it doesn't make him money
Bingo, but he invests a ton of money as do a legion of other billionaires. They are betting on chump. As of now, the Repub ads on tv are running longer than the shows being broadcast.
Most Americans appear to live in abject fear of violence, as witnessed by an arming populace. Every jackass now lives in such fear for his life that he carries armament everywhere, in classrooms, even to church and, in some states, into courtrooms. That this fear is artificially stoked by right-wing racism and hypocritical conservative jingoism escapes most: the perception of irony is not America’s strength. But the republican policy of spreading fear and guns is, as you note, a real cause for concern. Keep it up.
I'm crawling under my bed right now
William, slide over and make some room! There’s too much junk under my bed....
Under the bed! Thats where my button collection, my grandmother’s sheet music and my mini skirt ,crushed velvet, 1969 wedding dress are. Thanks Gus 😻
Please tell me you wore high white boots down the aisle! 👏👏👏
😂😂😅😂😂
Hoping not Everybody. I wouldn’t have a gun in my house or anywhere near me, but I noticed in my red neck town a loose flyer on the ground advertising not the NRA, but “Gun Owners of California” with website and official info. If they only want to scare us, well , mission accomplished.
I remember Ms. Cortez Ocasio getting this story out in the first place when it was her turn to question Mr. Cohen in a Congressional hearing back when the evil clown was still in office. Cohen made a comment about the evil clown giving different values for the same properties depending on who they were being reported to and for what purpose. She slowed him down and had him spell this out by asking him to respond to a series of very detailed questions. He seemed to enjoy doing so. Gotta love that woman.
upstate dog, I watched every minute, and she was great!
Ocasio Cortez
I remember that day. I thought it could be a turning point. The slow grind of Justice. What’s astonishing to me is how Cohen served time and TFG slithered away. Again.
"The normalization of violence as part of the mainstream Republican Party is cause for concern."
Yes. Color me concerned.
The threat of violence informs us how threatened tfg really is. He will keep making these threats in an attempt to build leverage.” Stop the “witch-hunt”, and he will agree to shut up. But we know it’s not a witch hunt, it’s a legal investigation into possible fraud.
Why 2011? Why not 2007-2010? Isn’t that the biggest loan from Deutsche bank? didn’t tfg completely default on those loan? Weren’t those from “DB private banking”… Russian Oligarch investments?
DB private banking for sure. Deutsche Bank, for a total DB.
Possibly they were not producing accounting for him before that.
I thought that might be the understatement of the week.
A Trump Fantasy. Our TV whack-box hoax is a comedic lying moron - hiding his transcripts, lying to the IRS, and to all citizens, with the idiots in MSM utterly mesmerized, feeding unvaccinated White Trash America.
And don’t forget, the shredding and flushing of Executive Office documents…a metaphoric shredding of our democracy.
My sentiments exactly
Professor Richardson notes that Trump grabbed one sentence out of Mazars' statement to claim it renders investigations into his finances as moot. But surely the financial statements and his loans and his tax documents belie that assertion. This is much the same as when he used Barr to spin the Mueller Report on Russian interference and claimed "there was no collusion" since Mueller didn't go so far as to pin any specific crime on Trump. Nevertheless there was much in the report that could be used in that way, and may still be used by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
I may be mistaken, but I believe the phrase "we have not concluded that the various financial statements, as a whole, contain material discrepancies" is what an accountant says when they double-check all of the numbers, and they find they didn't make any math errors. A "discrepancy" occurs in double-entry bookkeeping when one column doesn't total to the same value as the other column.
That doesn't mean that both columns aren't complete fabrications. And the fact that there are no math errors, and yet the reports are judged "unreliable" could only be taken to mean -- as George Conway explained -- that the client supplying the figures in the first place was making them up. The client says they received money to ship steel girders, but there were no steel girders at all. They say they lost a million dollars on a bad investment, but there is no record of the investment.
Oh, I thought it was accountant speak for CYA.
Both and!!
Must be a lot of those “girders” around
Grabbing one sentence out of a multi page document is just perfect for dumbed-down twitters and faux news worshippers in the Cult of Stupidity. tfg-manbaby answered all of Mueller’s questions by basically saying he could not recall. That should be cause for some time in the pen. And Barr belongs in there with him.
And with the Republicans penchant for altering and photocopying text and videos,...........
The Sharpie is swifter than the photocopier.
Propaganda dirty trickster James O’Keefe has a book on the best seller list. Is it a how-to for the evil he is famous for…
Mueller gave us plenty but didn’t finish the job, somebody should…
Mazars said they were not asserting that the ten years of financial statements as a whole were materially false. This amounts to a ‘no comment’ in that regard, which is evidence of nothing at all. They did say that the statements are unreliable. In other words, any specific element in the statements may or may not be true…
🧐🤨
I have stronger, more negative feelings, actually.
The normalization of violence in Republican rhetoric seems to already have predictable consequences.
Two stories currently running in the Guardian back-to-back;
One about Jordan’s death rant, the other about a lone gunman shooting up a Democratic campaign office in Kentucky. Credit to the Guardian for putting these stories next to each other thus making the obvious connection.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/14/us-congressman-jim-jordan-echoes-trump-clinton-aides-executed
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/14/louisville-assassination-attempt-craig-greenbergd-democrat
"We don't know if we are dealing with someone who has mental issues or is venomous". That strikes me as quite a telling statement in the PD's press release.
Indeed! Maybe both. It seems an apt description of a number of Republicans I can think of, especially the one holding court in Mar-a-Lago.
As I continue to read this fiction known as The Rain and Pain of the Republic that Could Have Been Mine I now note the beleaguered protagonist, tfg, just put a hit out on The Smart Woman, and Gymn the White Shirt just volunteered to handle the wet work. What next will come in this dramcomedy? The supposed heirs will turn out to be spawn of The Accountants?
I think that when this nightmare is past, more books on the subject will be written by students of abnormal psychiatry than by historians and political scientists.
Agree 1000%, Ralph.
Will somebody besides the Guardian tell us
Yes, it is fair to be a little skeptical of "The Guardian":
𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹, 𝘄𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝘂𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗟𝗲𝗳𝘁-𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗶𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗳𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗶𝘅𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝘂𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀.
In review, story selection favors the left but is generally factual.
The Guardian holds a left-leaning editorial bias and sometimes relies on sources that have failed fact checks. Further, while The Guardian has failed several fact checks, they also produce an incredible amount of content; therefore, most stories are accurate, but the reader must beware and hence why we assign them a Mixed rating for factual reporting.
𝙁𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙁𝙖𝙘𝙩 𝘾𝙝𝙚𝙘𝙠𝙨
• Is everything you think you know about depression wrong? – False
• Firms bidding for government contracts asked if they back Brexit. – False
• The proportion of lung cancer cases only diagnosed after a visit to an A&E ranges from 15% in Guildford and Waverley in Surrey to 56% in Tower Hamlets and Manchester. – Inaccurate
• Private renting is making millions of people ill. – False
• The number of vegans in the U.K. has risen from half a million in 2016 to 3.5 million today. – False
• New legislation introduced to change laws on workplace rights. – False
• The justice budget has fallen by 40% since 2010. – False
• “The proportion of people with a job who live in poverty went up for the third consecutive year in 2018 to a record high” – False
• “The number of children needing foster care has risen by 44% during the coronavirus pandemic, creating a “state of emergency,” a children’s charity said.” – False
• 915 children admitted with malnutrition in Cambridge hospitals between 2015 and 2020. There were 656 similar admissions at Newcastle hospitals and 656 at the Royal Free London hospitals. – False
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-guardian/
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NYT did tell.
Thanks to Nevoustrumpezpas who brought up the Mueller Report in an earlier comment, I found this recent opinion piece in the Washington Post. It’s gifted so all can read it. Please think about spreading the word. 🙏🏼
Opinion: Yes or no on Mueller report criminal charges? Don’t let Trump just run out the clock. By Randall D Eliason
https://wapo.st/3BnXef6
Agreed. “A decision not to prosecute Trump for obstruction may be defensible. But if that’s the decision, the Justice Department should defend it. It shouldn’t leave the country wondering whether it just ducked the issue by allowing Trump to run out the clock.”
https://www.justice.gov/contact-us
Is a good place to start.
Thank you!
Mueller's problem was in the document that created his position. I thought Mueller was clear in his report that he was not permitted him to make make a finding that a crime may have been committed. He very cleverly indicated that this was in fact his conclusion. The media criticized him for not stating the bold conclusion but failed to realize that he had tried to pass the baton to them so they could go where he could not.
Hallelujah! Thank you, Letitia! That is the most positive news I've heard in beginning to get justice for the trump Crime Family. Letitia has gathered up some ammo and is ready to bring them in. That damning letter from his accountants is just perfect. Now let the forensic accountants review every financial transaction he and his family made before, during, and after the trump presidency. Now we have hope.
Clearly Trump will incite violence in a desperate attempt to protect himself from prosecution. The scary thing about that is that there are about 20 million Americans who are willing to follow his command.
The cult thinks he will rule again and pardons will flow, what’s to lose?
Probably more than 20 million. He got million votes.
74 million votes . . . and only half of the USA voted (155m voters out of 320m people)
20 million - out of an adult population of how many?
Damning with feint praise, President Biden called 34-year-old Peter Doocy, a Fox Fix infantile reporter, a stupid son-of-a-bitch. What will he call Tucker the Preppy Dandy from St. George’s School, home of the infamous coach molesting boys in Tucker’s locker room?
And a stupid SOB he is, Rupert has a stable full of them
HCR just dropped a delicious looking nut. Okay, squirrels go for it!
Fern, I am under a metaphorical tree thoroughly enjoying my metaphorical nut😋😋
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