STORMIE DANIELS

[c_hawkbob]

Those questions came from Trump's own legal team. Put together from notes taken at a meeting with Mueller's team. They are intended to seem open ended and dangerous to answer as they are intended to dissuade the President from ever voluntarily meeting with Mueller.

Everybody keeps referring to them as though they are some sort of revelation when in fact they are a bit of a friendly fire ruse trying to protect Trump from himself.

[Aseahawkfan]

It would be dumb of Trump to voluntarily speak to Mueller given the ability of lawyers take even the smallest question answered even slightly incorrect and turn it into something far worse. Trump's already not the most exacting speaker. He has never been under fire from lawyers and FBI people with the entire world press watching. He won't be able to use his salesman talk. He'll have to be very careful and precise and I'm not sure he's capable due to the hair-trigger temper.

They'll never prove treason on Trump regardless of whether they attempt to change the Constitution as c-bob seems to be implying they will (which I think is wishful thinking). So far they have nearly nothing illegal since it has already been clearly stated that a presidential candidate or politician can meet with a foreign power to discuss intelligence useful in defeating your opponent. If that were a crime, Hilary would be under investigation right now for meeting with Christopher Steele. I"m about 99.9% certain that meetings with foreign intelligence people offering dirt on their opponents happens every election.

So from all the meetings we've been hearing about, they have to prove compensation exchange for help during the election for something after the election. I imagine that will be a bribery charge of some kind. There will likely be some kind of procedural charges. I could see them finding tax evasion charges or some kind of bookkeeping procedural procedure charge. Then the election law violations with the women and possibly with what Russia did if for compensation.

I'm thinking the more likely charges if they should occur would be bribery. procedural, tax and business law violations, and election law violations. Mueller will have to be careful what he charges Trump with for a variety of reasons because there are powerful Democrats and Republican Trump haters that will be just as dirty as Trump. If Mueller charges Trump with crimes that they themselves are committing, then they won't want that. I know people like to think law enforcement is not political, but if you believe that I have a bridge to sell you in San Francisco.

This game is very careful. Mueller can't cut off foreign interference in our elections unless he finds a level that won't involve other powerful members of our government in both parties. Both Democrats and Republicans are heavily connected to foreign nations that assist in their elections with information, monetary support, and the like. I'm fairly certain Mueller knows what not to be go after and what to go after. He's being watched very closely by both parties. So many skeletons in Washington DC no one wants dug up. Mueller has to find the right skeleton to dig up and go after Trump with it.

So if we're tossing bets out there, I"m putting money on bribery if they prove exchange of compensation, conspiracy charges (not treason, but very close to same thing), election law violations, business and tax law violations. It will be from that group. I think at the end of the day, they'll get him for election law, procedural, and tax law violations if they get too deeply into his books. They have to be very careful about searching his books because if they do this due to the Russian investigation and find nothing relating to Russia, not sure if the evidence will be admissible and it will look like targeting.

[RiverDog]

It would be dumb of Trump to voluntarily speak to Mueller given the ability of lawyers take even the smallest question answered even slightly incorrect and turn it into something far worse. Trump's already not the most exacting speaker. He has never been under fire from lawyers and FBI people with the entire world press watching. He won't be able to use his salesman talk. He'll have to be very careful and precise and I'm not sure he's capable due to the hair-trigger temper.

There is a very good reason for Trump to speak with Mueller, and that's to win the court of public opinion. He does not want to be seen as being afraid of Mueller or made to look like he's hiding something. And don't underestimate Trump. Yes, he's a babbling idiot when it comes to his mindless tweets and taunts, but he has had to testify in court before on several occasions related to his business ventures. He's not a Bambi in the Woods when it comes to being grilled by lawyers.

[Seahawks4Ever]

The "Russia Thing" and the Stormy Clifford or is it Stephanie Daniels or, NO! It IS Stormy Daniels! Any way, they are TWO different problems.

First, the bimbo eruption; Nuisance law suit should be thrown out for lack of merit.

Secondly, that Russia Thing; It will ALL end at PAUL MANAFORT. It will end there because that is where this investigation should end there because the "collusion" started there.

Paul Manafort owed various Russian Oligarchs hundreds if not billions of dollars and he saw that being the Trump Campaign Chairman he could parlay that connection into paying off ALL of his debts. Manafort then started up a process where he could sell off any and all DATA he could sell to his Russian/Soviet Spy Master/Controller and possibly become an Oligarch (of Putin's of course) himself.

That meeting between Manafort, Gates, Kushner, and Donald Trump Jr. and the Russian spies was t and/or hack otally put together by Gates at the behest of Paul Manafort. Jared Kushner when he figured what it was about went exit, stage left. Donald Jr. quickly looking down at his hands noticed he was holding a bag. Jr. put the bag down and got out of there leaving Manafort and Gates to do the business that they were there to do.

It was RIGHT AFTER THAT the F.B.I. dropped by the official head quarters of the Trump for President at Trump Tower and warned them that Russians were trying to either hack or even physically penetrate the presidential campaigns of both the democrats and republicans. It is said that TRUMP PANIKED and like is ALWAYS said, it wasn't the underlying crime it was the cover up.

Trump should just stop trying to obstruct justice and stop trying to destroy the F.B.I. and the Justice Dept. and running "bull-headed" straight in to a Constitutional confrontation. Let the Mueller Investigation finish up nailing Manafort to the wall and the "Russia Thing" should be all wrapped up before the 2018 fall elections.

[burrrton]

Those questions came from Trump's own legal team. Put together from notes taken at a meeting with Mueller's team.

You have a link? That's literally the first I've heard of that, but like I said, I'm only going on the little I've read on legal beagle blogs.

[burrrton]

There is a very good reason for Trump to speak with Mueller, and that's to win the court of public opinion.

We've disagreed on this, but I will say one thing: there seem to be more people 'swayable' to Trump than I thought when we argued previously, so it appears there's more merit to this than I admitted.

I'll ask you to imagine, though, how small a misstatement would have to be, or simply a statement that could be painted a different way, for mushroom clouds of shat to rise over every MSM headquarters across the country. I think it would dominate every news cycle for a period that could be measured in geologic time, and there'd be reporters naming their children "Impeach".

Eh, you may be right, though. I'm having trouble caring anymore.

[RiverDog]

We've disagreed on this, but I will say one thing: there seem to be more people 'swayable' to Trump than I thought when we argued previously, so it appears there's more merit to this than I admitted.

I'll ask you to imagine, though, how small a misstatement would have to be, or simply a statement that could be painted a different way, for mushroom clouds of shat to rise over every MSM headquarters across the country. I think it would dominate every news cycle for a period that could be measured in geologic time, and there'd be reporters naming their children "Impeach".

Eh, you may be right, though. I'm having trouble caring anymore.

I didn't necessarily say that he should sit down with Mueller and answer his questions. I said that there are some very good reasons why he should. I also pointed out that Trump does have some experience on the witness stand.

Trump doesn't have to answer all the questions. He could refuse to answer the more ambigious ones or simply say "I don't know" or "I forgot". There's like 50 questions that Mueller has proposed. If Trump answered 30 of them, it would put the ball back into Mueller's court on the remaining 20 or so and would make him look unreasonable if he issued a supoena in order to get him to answer all of them.

[burrrton]

If Trump answered 30 of them, it would put the ball back into Mueller's court on the remaining 20 or so and would make him look unreasonable if he issued a supoena in order to get him to answer all of them.

See, I don't think so- I think every headline the next day would be "TRUMP REFUSES TO ANSWER FORTY PERCENT OF QUESTIONS".

[c_hawkbob]

Those questions came from Trump's own legal team. Put together from notes taken at a meeting with Mueller's team.

You have a link? That's literally the first I've heard of that, but like I said, I'm only going on the little I've read on legal beagle blogs.

It was a discussion on NPR radio between a NY Times reporter, a woman from Fox and Friends and a couple former presidential counsels (Bush and Clinton IIRC).

[RiverDog]

See, I don't think so- I think every headline the next day would be "TRUMP REFUSES TO ANSWER FORTY PERCENT OF QUESTIONS".

And the next morning, Trump would be on Twitter, delaring it fake news.

If there is one good thing I can say about DJT (and there are damn few of them), it's that he's not driven by media opinion like a lot of pols on both sides of the aisle are. He should not be scared of what the media, in particular the liberal media, might think of his performance.

[Aseahawkfan]

There is a very good reason for Trump to speak with Mueller, and that's to win the court of public opinion. He does not want to be seen as being afraid of Mueller or made to look like he's hiding something. And don't underestimate Trump. Yes, he's a babbling idiot when it comes to his mindless tweets and taunts, but he has had to testify in court before on several occasions related to his business ventures. He's not a Bambi in the Woods when it comes to being grilled by lawyers.

You may be right. I forgot he has been in court more than a few times, but not to this level. We'll see what they find first, what they do with it next, and what Trump does to fight it in the end game.

[Aseahawkfan]

The "Russia Thing" and the Stormy Clifford or is it Stephanie Daniels or, NO! It IS Stormy Daniels! Any way, they are TWO different problems.

First, the bimbo eruption; Nuisance law suit should be thrown out for lack of merit.

Secondly, that Russia Thing; It will ALL end at PAUL MANAFORT. It will end there because that is where this investigation should end there because the "collusion" started there.

Paul Manafort owed various Russian Oligarchs hundreds if not billions of dollars and he saw that being the Trump Campaign Chairman he could parlay that connection into paying off ALL of his debts. Manafort then started up a process where he could sell off any and all DATA he could sell to his Russian/Soviet Spy Master/Controller and possibly become an Oligarch (of Putin's of course) himself.

That meeting between Manafort, Gates, Kushner, and Donald Trump Jr. and the Russian spies was t and/or hack otally put together by Gates at the behest of Paul Manafort. Jared Kushner when he figured what it was about went exit, stage left. Donald Jr. quickly looking down at his hands noticed he was holding a bag. Jr. put the bag down and got out of there leaving Manafort and Gates to do the business that they were there to do.

It was RIGHT AFTER THAT the F.B.I. dropped by the official head quarters of the Trump for President at Trump Tower and warned them that Russians were trying to either hack or even physically penetrate the presidential campaigns of both the democrats and republicans. It is said that TRUMP PANIKED and like is ALWAYS said, it wasn't the underlying crime it was the cover up.

Trump should just stop trying to obstruct justice and stop trying to destroy the F.B.I. and the Justice Dept. and running "bull-headed" straight in to a Constitutional confrontation. Let the Mueller Investigation finish up nailing Manafort to the wall and the "Russia Thing" should be all wrapped up before the 2018 fall elections.

Wow. This is one of the most rational speculations I've seen you make. You may be right too. Time will tell.

[Aseahawkfan]

Eh, you may be right, though. I'm having trouble caring anymore.

This is where I'm at. At this point this is more of a running joke.

The strange thing though is between all the lies he's actually kept quite a few of his campaign promises. He promised to pass tax reform. He did it. He promised to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and he did. He promised to go after immigration and he is trying his best. He promised to build a wall and he's trying his best. He took us out of the Iran Deal so few people liked. He bombed the s*** out of Syria's chemical weapon plants. He has been hard on China, North Korea, and all our other trading partners including Canada and Mexico to obtain a better deal for American workers and let certain regimes know that America will not sit quiet doing nothing. For all the BS with Trump, he really is trying to make some pretty dramatic changes that might help the nation.

And the liberal media won't give him even an ounce of credit for it. And the Democrats are praying that none of it works because if they bounce Donald out of office with anything less than a Watergate Scandal while the economy is booming and our enemies are afraid to challenge the angry loon in the White House, their strategy will likely backfire in a spectacular fashion.

[burrrton]

It was a discussion on NPR radio between a NY Times reporter, a woman from Fox and Friends and a couple former presidential counsels (Bush and Clinton IIRC).

Randos on NPR?

I don't know if it's SOP for a special prosecutor to take his official list of questions from the witness, but in this case, I'm going to wait for confirmation**.

** I could see the witness' legal team vetting, but providing the questions?? That sounds plausible to you?

[burrrton]

And the liberal media won't give him even an ounce of credit for it.

That's my point to RD. I don't know which of his decisions are going to work and which aren't (although I have my opinions), but I can say with confidence it doesn't matter to half this country, including almost literally everyone in the MSM. They're going to freak out regardless, and the last 1.5 years have borne that out.

[RiverDog]

That's my point to RD. I don't know which of his decisions are going to work and which aren't (although I have my opinions), but I can say with confidence it doesn't matter to half this country, including almost literally everyone in the MSM. They're going to freak out regardless, and the last 1.5 years have borne that out.

Which illustrates my point. If the liberal media won't give him any credit no matter what he does, then why should he give a rusty F what they say? The liberal media isn't who he should be playing to. He should be playing to his base, or at least not very far from it, those who put him in office.

[RiverDog]

Randos on NPR?

I don't know if it's SOP for a special prosecutor to take his official list of questions from the witness, but in this case, I'm going to wait for confirmation**.

** I could see the witness' legal team vetting, but providing the questions?? That sounds plausible to you?

Here's what ABC News (and "multiple sources") said about the origination of the questions:

The questions were developed in part by Trump’s legal team after they recently met with investigators from Mueller’s office, multiple sources familiar with the list told ABC News. They are a result of the ongoing negotiations between Trump’s lawyers and the special counsel and based on four topic areas Mueller is interested in probing, the sources said.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-c ... d=54851793

But the part about them being developed to by Trump's legal team as a way to keep him from meeting with Mueller is pure speculation.

[c_hawkbob]

As with a murder case, the first thing you ask yourself when trying to determing the source of a leak is: who benefits?

It could reasonably be argued that Trump as an individual doesn't benefit as it is widely reported that he wants the public eye on the good things that are happening during his administration instead of the Mueller probe and Stormy Daniels all the time.

It doesn't benefit the Mueller team because it provides a disincentive for Trump to ever sit down for a one on one with Mueller unless forced to. Besides, Mueller has been tight as a drum, his MO is not to disclose a thing until he does so in court.

Not agreeing to a Q&A session with Mueller is exactly what Trump's own legal team legal team has been advising him, they are the sole beneficiary of this leak.

[RiverDog]

As with a murder case, the first thing you ask yourself when trying to determing the source of a leak is: who benefits?

It could reasonably be argued that Trump as an individual doesn't benefit as it is widely reported that he wants the public eye on the good things that are happening during his administration instead of the Mueller probe and Stormy Daniels all the time.

It doesn't benefit the Mueller team because it provides a disincentive for Trump to ever sit down for a one on one with Mueller unless forced to. Besides, Mueller has been tight as a drum, his MO is not to disclose a thing until he does so in court. ly

Not agreeing to a Q&A session with Mueller is exactly what Trump's own legal team legal team has been advising him, they are the sole beneficiary of this leak.

You are assuming that the leak was intentional. It could very well have been inadvertent, committed by someone that simply can't keep a secret. Both teams have multiple members on them, and they don't necessarily need a motive to leak information. It happens all the time, even amongst very loyal, inner circle members of an organization.

Additionally, Mueller's team has been accused of leaking information in the past, so they are not necessarily as pure as the wind driven snow:

Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, the leader of the House’s top investigative committee, slammed special counsel Robert Mueller on Sunday for allowing the news media to learn that he and his legal team now have charges in their Russia investigation.

“In the only conversation I’ve had with Robert Mueller, I stressed to him the importance of cutting out the leaks,” Gowdy, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, told “Fox News Sunday.” “It’s kind of ironic that the people charged with investigating the law and the violations of the law would violate the law.”


The leak could have originated from anyone with inside access to the negotiations.

[c_hawkbob]

You are assuming that the leak was intentional

You're right I am, just as you're assuming it's not. And i think my assumption is the more likely of the two possibilities.

[burrrton]

He should be playing to his base, or at least not very far from it, those who put him in office.

You're suggesting he walk into a perjury trap (at least on some level) to play to a population that doesn't give a rip what he does, and in fact probably delights in him giving Mueller the finger.

[burrrton]

The questions were developed in part by Trump’s legal team after they recently met with investigators from Mueller’s office, multiple sources familiar with the list told ABC News. They are a result of the ongoing negotiations between Trump’s lawyers and the special counsel and based on four topic areas Mueller is interested in probing, the sources said.

That makes more sense.

[RiverDog]

You're right I am, just as you're assuming it's not. And i think my assumption is the more likely of the two possibilities.

I'm not assuming anything. All I did was point out that there are other possibilities than the one you're suggesting. Personally, I wouldn't want bet on any of them as being the actual source.

Do you remember "Deep Throat" of Watergate fame? I don't know if they ever figured out who he/she was and why they were spilling the beans on Nixon.

[Seahawks4Ever]

I bet Trump wishes he had hired Avenatti himself LOL. Go get 'em Mike!