The vibe is so weird today, right? We all binged on cable news last night as we learned more details about the massive FBI raid on Michael Cohen’s home, office and hotel room in New York. I was glued to MSNBC, and I learned some stuff I didn’t know, like Cohen was a shady figure long before he even met Donald Trump. Cohen and his family bought apartments in Trump’s buildings as a way to “get in” with Trump. We also know that the FBI gathered up EVERYTHING. Communications between Cohen and Trump, tax returns, financial documents and more. Someone said that Cohen has been on the FBI’s radar since 2016 (the election year) too. Anyway, how is poor, fat Baby Fists reacting to all of this? Answer: not well.
Sources close to the president say that a political dispute with special counsel Robert Mueller has turned visceral and personal after the feds’ raid on the New York offices of Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer and fixer. One of the sources said: “Mueller’s investigation has been drip, drip. This was a giant leap forward … a personal hit. … They were moving in inches. Today, they moved a mile.”
Until now, when storms hit, Trump could turn to Hope Hicks to explain things to him, suggest wording, simmer him down. With her departure from the White House, we saw the president working out his fury in real time. The source continued: “This is the first crisis post-Hope Hicks. … This was different: I’ve never seen him like this before. … This is the president you’re going to see more of from here on out: unvarnished, untethered.”
Another source close to Trump said: “He takes the Russia stuff as a political hit job. This was a personal affront. This was the red line” of intrusion into personal financial matters.
The president — arms crossed defiantly — held a stunning on-camera venting session during an appearance with his senior military leadership where a potential strike on Syria took second billing to Michael Cohen (“With all of that being said, we are here to discuss Syria tonight”).
The WashPost cites three sources as saying Cohen “is under federal investigation for possible bank fraud, wire fraud and campaign finance violations.”
Be smart: Close aides are recommending against firing Mueller. But that means little these days.
Axios noted the language Trump used in his “10 minute rant” yesterday, and the vibe I’m getting from the reporters who cover Trump on a daily basis is that his mood is notably unhinged. This is not the “normal unhinged” of daily Trump Life. This is a special kind of unhinged when Trump truly understands that the walls are closing in. As I said in the previous post, we need to prepare ourselves for Trump to fire some important people this week. He really might try to fire Bob Mueller today or this week.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
I know this may be an unfair comment, but is there a single picture – just one – in which he looks vaguely presidential? Literally every picture I see of him he looks like an utter embarrassment/buffoon.
My favorite being the trio of doom photo from Saudi Arabia, of course.
He either looks like a three year old toddler who isn’t getting his way or he always seems to be yelling.
Are you referring to the picture where Trump and some other guys all touched a “magic” ball? That one is a classic! 😀
Yes, that very one. I thought it looked like a palantir from lord of the rings heh
I think the press do this on purpose but even on his best day he is not exactly photogenic. I can’t stand to look at my facebook feed because of the constant deluge of his unprofessional and offensive images.
Yesterday he looked like he is scared sh*tless.
No.
No, there isn’t.
The reason he always looks like a petulant, vindictive man-baby threatening to deliberately soil himself if he doesn’t get a second scoop of ice cream, is because he is.
It’s not unfair to question why an American President always looks like an unhinged nut job. It speaks to his temperament.
And now for a palette-cleanser. Here are some snaps of a noble, rational POTUS of sound temperament (who happens to be a fox):
https://media2.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2017_12/1885276/170130-obama-rhk-1943p_e13ac7ec28e19545e45872c078536be1.nbcnews-ux-2880-1000.jpg
https://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1491890/us-president-barack-obama.jpg
https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2017/08/16/104656161-GettyImages-688156110.1910×1000.jpg
https://media2.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2017_12/1885276/170130-obama-rhk-1943p_e13ac7ec28e19545e45872c078536be1.nbcnews-ux-2880-1000.jpg
Thanks for the pics, kitten. Damn, I miss having a real President.
Thank you Kitten. My other favorite pictures of MY POTUS™️ are his buddy pictures with Joe Biden, and any picture of him with children. Also his pictures with Michelle, and with his own children. *sob*
@kitten you’re making me cry with those photos! I miss the Obama’s SO MUCH! I really hope this raid means the end is a hell of a lot closer than expected for that unhinged nutcase. Pence as POTUS is still a terrifying thought, but Trump needs to GO.
I know, guys.
I did a Google search and every pic of him is so…Presidential.
THAT is what I want in a POTUS: someone who can look stern and stately one second and the next second, give a smile that is so big and infectious, it makes you melt inside.
Now we have a cotton candy-haired, orange frump who’s visage oscillates between two modes: *screaming toddler* and *angsty, butthurt teenager*.
*sobs*
I needed this kitten.
We all did.
Trump is having a full meltdown and I’m certain Mueller has contingency plans if fired.
My concern is Pence. But that’s a bridge to cross if we ever get there.
And at his best defenders on their best day hes described as passionate to cover being unhinged. Now he’s freaking out and it’s both painful and glorious.
Painful mostly. I love this country. I’m nationalized. And this is all tragic, but hopefully something will grow from this. Like the movements.
Thank you kitten! I’m not crying, you’re crying…
Someone (here on CB maybe?) said that every photo of Trump sitting down looks like he’s perched on a toilet trying to take care of business, with varying degrees of success. Ever since reading that, I can’t unsee it.
Oh god no.
@Jetlagged that is spot-on! 😂
No because he completely lacks any social grace or dignity. He has no self awareness and he thinks he looks good with his disheveled appearance, ill fitting suits, and poor posture. And no one in his inner circle tells him that he looks horrible.
He just canceled his trip to South America. The reason given is Syria. I’m sure the real reason is that he’s probably scared that the FBI will raid the White House if he isn’t there.
Also, he needs to monitor Fox News.
Just said the same thing on a Politico article. Call BS on his excuse for cancelling the trip. It has been stated that he is making a decision within the next 24 – 48 hours (that was yesterday so down to 24) and he could have easily made the decision and monitored it from South America. Also, last time he bombed Syria he was enjoying the best and biggliest piece of chocolate cake.
There were helicopters, motorcades and extra security all over DC today. I guess a high level meeting really is happening. Hopefully it will take 50 hours and we’ll all get a break from his whining about how unfair it is that someone noticed his crimes.
Exactly. He is feeling the heat.
He also thinks dropping bombs on Syria will hide the Russian news. No bomb will stop that snowball, its too late and he has no idea. Remember….the attacks happened after Trump announced in his typical boisterous manner with no plan he was withdrawing troops. The media should be talking about this more, dropping bombs to “fix” his huge mistake.
Let’s hope Trump will also will cancel his “summit meeting” with North Korea in May so the adults can meet instead. I think there are already plans for China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea to join the talks with North Korea. Who knows what idiot things Trump would do or say. He’s such an ignorant and impulsive toddler. There won’t be any sensible people left to send in his place by then, they’re all so awful.
One question, though – Trump was tethered before?!?!?
Trump has been untethered since he first got publicity in NYC in the 70s. I was a kid and I knew he was a scum. How people got fooled by him, I’ll never get.
I was having fun putting the sound off on his unhinged rant last night and just watching his body language. He is about to blow a gasket – literally. And I kept giggling at how happy Pence looked – he and Mother must be measuring the curtains in the Oval
office today!
He had a fit on that previous trip (East Asia?) because the hotel had CNN but not Fox News. Homeboy is addicted.
The sheer amount of evidence they must have provided to get that warrant… I’m a little giddy!
He’s not going to like dying in prison. Hope Hicks was smart to step away; she may escape indictment and she is certainly in a better position to negotiate a deal.
Hope Hicks is young. She wasn’t going to prison for trump.
Hope Hicks will flip (has flipped?) like Nadia Comenici!
I love that you name-checked Nadia Comenici!
I wonder if Gates dropped the receipts on Cohen? Since it was referred out, I assume this is related to Trump Inc’s money laundering for Russians.
Trump does not seem to understand that attorney/client privilege does not apply to the crimes you and your attorney commit together.
He also doesn’t seem to understand that he and his corrupt cronies are not above the law. He really seems to think that the POTUs position is an immutable one and sadly, the GOP continues to support that very distorted perception.
But seriously, I think he thought that he could just pardon anyone he wants to and stop or block any investigation by firing whomever. Time to shock the old bastard with a dose of reality.
Trump also doesn’t seem to understand that Mueller only sent along evidence of criminal activity that he uncovered to the New York State authorities. He did not order the raid and his investigation is not otherwise involved. And this transfer of the evidence was done as a DoJ decision, meaning Rosenstein. The New York side of the approval was done by a Trump appointee (who will also be on Trump’s hit list if he figures that out).
Plus before anything like this raid happens, there are multiple hoops to jump through and pretty solid cause is required to convince a judge to issue a no-knock warrant. There is a detailed protocol for protecting attorney-client privilege in documents retrieved (they will be examined by people not involved in prosecuting the case), but that does not apply to anything involving criminal activity. So if there is anything in the docs showing plotting and planning and actually doing criminal acts, those docs are no longer subject to those confidentiality rules. I wonder if Trump actually for once knows that and realizes there may be material there incriminating him. This may involve much more than paying off Stormy Daniels, although that payment would also come under the charges of bank fraud, wire fraud, and campaign violations.
Congress really has to act now in order to put real obstacles between the tantrum-prone Toddler-in-Chief and firing Rosenstein and Mueller and trying to stop the investigations. Since Trump is a subject of Mueller’s investigation, he should have absolutely zero authority in that. This should have been established years ago after Nixon.
I have literally no idea how much evidence one needs for a warrant (I sense my Law and Order years don’t give me a lot of factual knowledge), but I am very excited at the excitement of those who do.
@ Beluga :
Re : “The sheer amount of evidence they must have provided to get that warrant… I’m a little giddy!”
As a former lawyer who did some criminal defence work, I am wondering about that too. The FBI hit his office, his house AND his hotel room. Whatever they showed the judge to get that kind of search warrant, it must have been good – as in he’s-about-to-destroy-incriminating-evidence kind of good. This isn’t about lawyer-client privilege as Trump tweets; it is about someone who has committed a crime and who just happens to be a lawyer.
Ah, the wonderful world of white collar crime!
For the Celebitches from the US: What would happen if he does fire Mueller? The investigation ends?
Not a chance. Mueller has it very entrenched. There is no escape for Trump at this point. But does he understand this? I don’t think he does.
Why would he understand though? He’s been allowed to get away with everything else.
Trump may be angry, but he should actually be terrified. Yesterday was probably the most dangerous day of his life, and when he realises that, who know what he’ll do. I wrote below about how unlikely this is to go his way if he tries to get someone to fire Mueller, but as of yesterday he and his family are in serious trouble. He’s not smart. He never faces consequences. Things could get crazy.
Oh I agree BF. I couldn’t agree more.
He can’t fire Mueller. He’d have to fire Mueller’s boss, Rod Rosenstein [sp], and then appoint someone to replace him that would fire Mueller.
ETA: Well, he could fire Mueller but it would basically be an acknowledgement that he is trying to be a dictator.
Does the new person he appoints need an approval process, or can he start work today?
Yes, the deputy AG must be confirmed by the Senate. If Trump fires Rosenstein, the next person in line would be the acting deputy AG until someone is confirmed. Firing Rosenstein would not guarantee an immediate or eventual removal of Mueller and it would create a political fire storm.
Trump could just fire Sessions. The only reason Rosenstein has the responsibility is because Sessions recused himself from all things Russia-related. The new AG would no longer have that restriction.
There is some debate whether there are enough Republican votes to quickly confirm a nominee that would be as controversial as a Sessions or Rosenstein replacement. The special elections have cut into the Republican majority and I think I read that John McCain is home in Arizona undergoing treatment and is unable to cast a vote.
I assume the only reason Sessions is still standing is that he has a lot of support among Republican senators and Trump would pay a huge political price if he fired him.
Since Richard Burr is taking the Russian investigation seriously, the Senate could conceivably delay a nomination until the Select Committee on Intelligence concludes its investigation.
Ohhh ok. Good 🙂
It’s more complicated than that.
First, Trump himself cannot fire Mueller.
Basically, if Trump had someone fire Mueller, the investigation would stay open with the DoJ and a new Special Counsel could be hired.
The complication is that it’s unlikely Rosenstein, the Acting AG (in this scenario, because of Sessions recusing himself) will do this.
So, Trump would need to fire Rosenstein, and keep firing down the chain of command until he finds someone that will do this. That person, the new acting AG relating to Russian matters that Sessions is recused from, would presumably be a big Trump loyalist if he agreed to this, and therefore might put in a useless Trump loving Special Counsel to replace Mueller, sure.
However, that parallel to the Saturday Night Massacre would likely be the final straw for the spineless Republicans who have let this go on so long. Not beginning the process of impeachment after Trump did that? Would basically be a sign the US was on the way to dictatorship.
‘Final straw’ for the republicans? I’ll believe it when I see it – so far they have as a whole not shown signs of giving a shit about people, or y’know, democracy.
Nope. Mueller basically did this investigation in a way that NY State can pick it up if he’s fired and the feds.
Largely though this will be an even bigger constitutional crisis than we have now. Bigger than watergate. It will essentially put the entire admin and republicans in the line of fire (even more than they are currently).
Long story short: there’s a reason they haven’t fired Mueller.
Thanks, Snazzy – I’ve been curious about this, too. Thank you for the replies/info, US Celebitches.
Wow.
@Snazzy the investigation is independent of Mueller so it will continue. Keep in mind Mueller is leading a federal investigation. He met wth New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman shortly after being appointed. Trump is also a subject of NY State investigations.
It’s possible the federal investigation will culminate in a report or series of reports to Congress. Trump is not impervious to state charges and I believe AG Schneiderman has Trump and The Trump Organization in his sights. I believe state charges were always the end game. Trump cannot be pardoned from state charges.
The investigation continues.
And this:
https://act.moveon.org/event/mueller-firing-rapid-response-events/search/
He is very naive to think that if he gets rid of Mueller the cases will be dropped. Mueller has already filed documents in court. That means these cases are active. Very wishful thinking.
Also Chuck Grassley just said he should not fire Mueller or there will be hell to pay.
@ holly hobby : I have been amazed at how Mueller has always been so many steps ahead of Trump so far. I have no doubt that Mueller has carried out the investigation with a fall-back plan for all possibilities, including when, not if, Trump fires him.
I just keep thinking how many Syrians is this man going to have killed just to distract from the investigation. I’m so worried.
Yeah.
God that’s so true. He needs to be drawn and quartered
And a war helps the stock market. It is truly scary.
Totally my thinking as well. I posted on the other Trump thread about how he wants to kill terrorist’s families as well as other civilians. He’s f*cking insane and I’m scared for Syrians right now.
Oh God, good point. Damn.
No words.
Yep, this was my first thought. An untethered and furious Trump is about to discuss what action to take against Syria with the two most hawkish aides (Bolton and Pompeo) since Cheney and Rumsfeld. Bloody terrifying!
no words… i’m from a non western country and it is scary how we are just pawns in the game. bomb here, sanctions there, tariffs here, dump goods there, steal elections here, fund wars there… it’s scary. definitely praying for those people. the powers that be should’ve just let assad have his country and win his war 6 years ago… but randomly drawn lines and power and sh!t. what a mess.
But didn’t this warrant application and warrant come out of SDNY aka Perry Bharara’s old stomping grounds aka not Mueller? I mean it would be naive to think they’re not sharing information but if this is really about Russia then the implication would be that Mueller “suggested” SDNY get the warrant authorized and share info with him, which would imply….what? Jurisdictional issue? Where SDNY has better grounds for getting warrant approved on relevancy and probable cause than Mueller? So it’s tangentially related to Russia but not enough for Mueller to get it, meaning Mueller is using it to rack up relevant conduct in the eventual indictments? Or Mueller is seeking additional people to charge and flip against bigger fish? This is how I’ve seen my counterparts do it in the past but I’m just spinning my wheels in thought here; my Federal Criminal experience is only 6 years so it’s not like I’m long In the tooth.
The Special Counsel could be using the USAO as a sort of “clean team” because of A/C privilege.
Also I know it’s an autocorrect thing but did giggle a bit at “Perry” Bharara! Love me some Preet, do you listen to his podcast?
The information wasn’t directly related to Mueller’s investigation, fell more under the expertise /auspices of the SDNY, who, btw, was hand selected by the Rump after the Rump fired Preet.
There’s a part of me that is enjoying this, obviously. Karma is coming and it’s very well deserved. OTOH, there is a part of me that is very on edge. This guy is a loon and now he’s trapped, and I feel there is no telling what he might do.
I’m both fascinated and frightened. Yet I think he is a scared, spoiled little boy in a senior citizen’s body.
Stormy’s lawyer gave several interviews last night, and one of his talking points was that someone who repeatedly claims to be tough usually isn’t. He was referencing MC, but that may also apply to MC’s client.
“someone who repeatedly claims to be tough usually isn’t.”
IMO, someone who repeatedly claims to be ANYTHING usually isn’t.
drumpf makes superlative claims all the time…”the best, believe me…”
same with people who constantly qualify everything with “I’m a Christian!”…if you have to keep telling me you’re one, it’s because YOU DON’T ACT LIKE ONE.
I’ve never paid much attention to politics, but since Trump came along, I’m addicted. It’s enjoyable watching Trump and Trumpsters looking foolish and watching his team having to scramble to fix his messes after every tweet or speech he gives is hilarious. Scary part is knowing that this unhinged egomaniac might take it too far and leave things unfixable
@ Beth : politics has always fascinated me but Trump and his Entourage take it to a whole new level. I get daily updates from Vanity Fair via The Hive. I recommend it for politics and general Trump insider gossip. I hope it’s okay for me to say that here.
I think you summarized how a lot of us feel, myself included.
I read somewhere it’s not up to the president to fire Bob Mueller. That job falls to the Attorney General with an order from the President and Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation. So that job now falls to deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein who appointed Mueller as Special Counsel when Comey got fired last year. If Rod Rosenstein refuses the order from Trump (and I think he most likely would since he picked Mueller in the first place), it goes down a chain of people. This article explains it well: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-mueller-factbox/factbox-how-might-trump-remove-special-counsel-in-russia-probe-idUSKBN1HH066
So while Trump can give the order, he can’t actually fire Mueller. If he manages to somehow, it would be a gross abuse of power. The best Trump can seem to do is fire and replace people who have the power to fire Mueller. But who knows with this administration.
I bet he regrets listening to complicit barbie and dickless ken re firing Comey. Comey is the linchpin in the whole investigation.
Hope Hicks got the heck out of there because she knows what is coming… And have anybody notice how Ivanka disappeared from photo ops with “daddy”. She was everywhere in the early months of his mandate, overseas trips, seating on G20 meeting like a head of state, supporting Trump on rallies. She’s nowhere to be seen anymore. She’s smart too… and selfish… she’s crab walking on the sidelines and letting Tiffany do the photo ops.
She still does the photo ops. Typically the DM has them. She and her crew just returned from vacation (away from Trump on Easter). According to DM pictures she had on a red dress yesterday. She was/is part of the delegation on her father’s trip this week. Wonder if she will still go.
LOL, you just made me picture Ivanka trying to crabwalk in high heels and stumbling all over the place.
I’d say this is a crazier and more exciting thriller than anything I’ve seen in cinemas, but given that this is real life, real lives, and it’ll tangentially affect me too (armpit of europe though I might live in, our security and trade is highly dependent on good relations with the US), I can just read in horror. I’ve actually begun to hesitate whenever I click a new headline. I get the feeling that Cheeto Benito and his associates and loyalists have done so much damage that even when they’re rooted out, there’ll be a gaping, bleeding hole left behind, and god help the person who’s got to stop that bleeding.
Suppose I’ll take solace in the fact that though amputating a limb is terrible, it’ll heal and the body can still be saved.
On a less weighty (heh) note, how in the world does his make-up artist keep overdoing it with highlighter around his eyes? Do they not see the photos where it looks like he’s wearing a chalky white goddamned zorro mask?
I think he over-spray tans and the white around his eyes is there due to the small goggles one would use for a sun bed!
The headline makes my heart sing. I haven’t read the article and maybe won’t, but I’m just imagining Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins singing a duet with the bird in the window. That’s the image of my happiness.
i think it is masterful how hope hicks created this mythology for herself that she was the great trump pacifier. she is a 29 year old assistant who evidently spent a good deal of her time boning staffers and being embroiled in lover’s quarrels. he was unvarnished and untethered before she was born. he was unvarnished and unteathered while she was on his staff. the fact that she’s gotten credit for anything positive is astounding and i am totally convinced she was maggie haberman’s top background source who unfortunately doubled down and goes all in on her hype.
Oh I know. I rolled my eyes so hard at that part of the article.
The media was in her pockets. She was very close to them. Like there are pictures of her hugging reporters which no one in the press office from other administrations has ever done. Someone on MSNBC’s Nicole Wallace’s Dateline Whitehouse show was pointing this out when Picks stepped down. Nicole Wallace keeps it real! Hope Picks apparently frequently went to the press and bargained with them to put a nicer twist on some reports. She helped keep a lot more of his crazy antics from making it to press. Maggie Harberman was definitely one of Hope’s favorite reporters to leak to.
Did anyone else notice the stories about Vanessa Trump this week and how she divorced Don Junior because her family got a whole bunch of money from “investments”? I think that’s laying the groundwork for explaining her having a bunch of inexplicable funds, which are probably in reality transfered assets she and Donnie Junior are protecting.
My point? I think the whole family sees the show ending and are in “protect the money” mode.
I suspect even Cheetolini is stashing cash and preparing a exit to a nice non-extradition treaty country. I think he’ll do everything possible to avoid jail even if it means leaving the US.
I found that story interesting, too. Especially when this supposed windfall is from her late father, who died before her marriage (12-13 years ago). And her mother is still living!
Even if the couple million he left tripled or quadrupled in value, that’s chump change to people living in high-dollar zip codes.
I heard a theory that Trump is purposely killing the market so that he and his family can short stock before their indictments. Kind of seemed plausible to me. He is extremely dangerous, even on the best day. And with no check and balance, it will continue to be a bumpy ride. But he and his co-conspirators are going down. Interested to see how Mcconnell and Ryan manage to avoid destruction.
Wait… when was he tethered?
I’m not holding any breaths; nor do I want anything bad to happen. BUT. I am still pissed off, daily, at Republicans and voters…anyone wearing his hats and spewing MAGA tripe. I want him unhinged. I want people to see and feel the mess they created. I want every Christian hypocrite, every person who clapped at his pep rallys, every person who said, “Give him a chance,” to eat political excrement while watching our deplorably-appointed feculant douche swirl into his own drain, through sharded pipes and being dumped into an abyss of sewage. Yeah. I know. This past political year has done a number on me, and my temper has lost its way lol.
History won’t be kind to him, nor should it be. Whole libraries of books will be written about him, declaring him by far the worst President ever. But that’s in the future and we still have to live through his insanity, his absolute lack of dignity, his ruining of our State Department, and the damage to the environment. By the time he finally leaves the WH even the curtains may be in tatters.
I’m just praying that he won’t preemptively nuke either NK/Iran/Syria or start WW3 as a distraction. I’m afraid he’s going to take humanity down with him.
What I really wonder is what Republicans in Congress are going to do about him. Realize he’s not going to be able to really execute their agenda? (The reason they’ve been able to stomach Frankenstein’s monster. And then somehow pressure him to resign so they get Pence in there quickly? Wait and see how badly midterms really go? And will Fox News just hold on to the bitter end and defend anything/everything as they have been? Is there any low to which they won’t stoop? (I say “no.”). It’s a scary soap opera!
What WILL happen when he fires Mueller? What will the democrats in Congress Do? What are they allowed to Do? I’ve read many articles that have not been clear on what will happen when he does and I think he will?