US Politics, June 2018: This is a total goat rodeo.

B-but I'm sure Trump extracted a loyalty pledge from him! What is this world coming to when the living embodiment of chaos can no longer trust his underlings.

can a legal expert tell me if it's good or not when all your lawyers abandon the case

I think it's a good thing when they realize how watertight a case you have and they pass because they're so sick of winning.

btw when we're discussing "alternate realities", here's a good one

https://www.thecut.com/2018/06/melania-trumps-disappearance-is-right-out-of-hitchcock.html

Proposed by Senators Tim Kaine and Bob Corker, its radicalism approaches that of a constitutional amendment. Their new AUMF would subvert an article at the core of the Constitution, gutting a vital protection against tyranny devised by the Framers. It would authorize multiple existing wars without even debating them individually. It would empower Trump and his successors to unilaterally wage war in new countries, expand their ability to indefinitely detain prisoners without charges, and empower them to unilaterally kill individuals even inside the United States.

In opposition, the ACLU has declared, “It would be hard to overstate the depth and breadth of the dangers to the Constitution, civil liberties, and human rights that the Corker-Kaine AUMF would cause … The Corker-Kaine AUMF would cause colossal harm to the Constitution’s checks and balances, would jeopardize civil liberties and human rights at home and abroad, would lead to a broad expansion of war without meaningful oversight, and would represent a sharp break from adherence to international law, including the United Nations Charter.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/06/congress-may-declare-the-forever-war/562175/?utm_source=atlfb

this would make Kaine a better veep for trump than Pence

perpetual war is as bipartisan as shit

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/robert-mueller-files-request-for-150-blank-subpoenas-in-paul-manafort-case

I was surprised Sanford had hung on this long tbh, after that whole stupid Argentina thing

TIP: Two Republican insiders just told me that GOP Rep Nunes, GOP Rep Rohrabacher and Sean Hannity are currently under criminal investigation by the Federal Gov’t.

— Scott Dworkin (@funder) June 13, 2018

xposts i'm no legal pro, but cohen agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors seems likes a pretttttty big deal

p obvious what Nunes and Rohrabacher have been engaged in, not so sure about Hannity. must be related to the Cohen thing.

Meh. Cohen accomplished exactly nothing for most of his clients; in that regard one could be forgiven for thinking he won't be of much help to the prosecutors either.

though I guess you might wanna take that with a grain of salt

Meh. Cohen accomplished exactly nothing for most of his clients; in that regard one could be forgiven for thinking he won't be of much help to the prosecutors either.

of course, his clients couldn't threaten him with prison time for doing a bad job, so he might try a little harder for the prosecutors

Could you get Hannity on obstruction if he calls on witnesses to destroy their phones?

I don't think so

should i poll the AUMF story just to make sure "shrug" wins?

sadly, the only people in congress who seem to care about AUMFs are the people trying to destroy them

I would so have loved a Kaine primary fight.

https://www.vox.com/2018/6/12/17455922/wisconsin-special-elections-results-june

Pimp wins GOP primary: https://www.yahoo.com/news/legal-pimp-defeats-nevada-lawmaker-070355548.html

Corker-Kaine needs to die a death ... here's Paul Ryan, Bernie Sanders, a FOX commentator, an ACLU guy, and several others all coming down on the same side of the AUMF question:

https://www.c-span.org/video/?446614-1/constitutional-experts-testify-war-powers-hearing

by Paul Ryan I assume you mean Rand Paul lol

Meantime

NEW: Per @KatyTurNBC, Michael Cohen has received word from federal prosecutors that they are preparing paperwork to arrest him.

— Caroline O. (@RVAwonk) June 13, 2018

lol yes we would not see Paul Ryan on that panel ... war powers stuff seems like Rand Paul's one good issue

I was briefly very confused

rand paul is piling up brush along the canada and mexico borders right now

brush = dead emigrants

The reason great dealmakers do not OPENLY celebrate a deal, especially one that is not complete, is that it shows weakness to the other side

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 25, 2013

Trump.........otm????

good thing he hasn't been then

Please tell us more things that distinguish you from great dealmakers, Don.

I was trying to figure out why word of Cohen's flipping/imminent arrest would be getting leaked to the press (probably by Cohen himself, cuz why would the attorney's office announce they're about to arrest someone?) and WaPo's Waldman has an explanation that makes a lot of sense:

we should consider one more possibility: that Cohen fed the story of his possible flip to the press in order to convince President Trump to pardon him.

can you pardon someone before the full charges have been announced?

yes

Lemme tell you a little story 'bout a guy named Dick.

this crew merits the most cynical interpretation always, and then try to imagine something more evil on top of that.

but only federal crimes, I think?

xp

yea I don't think there's anything Trump can do about Cohen right now

well he could always have him assassinated

hillary would have known what to do

she would've locked herself up!

Ingraham has turned on Pruitt. probably means something but she seems like a canary in the dumbass goldmine sometimes, so maybe more will join her

'probably means nothing', i meant

yea I don't think there's anything Trump can do about Cohen right now

as noted by YMP, Ford pardoned Nixon before he was charged with anything. it can be done. but only if Cohen's looking at federal charges - if there's state charges I don't think Trump can do anything about those. Correct me if I'm wrong, fine legal minds of ILX.

Nope.

my vague understanding is that mueller is well aware of this and is arranging state charges wherever possible?

^^^

otm

Meantime

BREAKING: Republican Senator Inofe says EPA's Pruitt may need to leave his post. Inhofe represents Oklahoma, where Pruitt was state attorney general.

— Mike Dorning (@MikeDorning) June 13, 2018

lol