The Vanishing Witch Hunt: Why Trump Has Been Scared Off of His Fetish with Mueller’s Russia Probe

For most of the past two years Donald Trump has been bellowing like a banshee stuck in a time loop that made him repeat the same tedious whining continuously: witch hunt, Witch Hunt, WITCH HUNT! It’s been a mantra that he hopes the recitation of which will cause his recurring nightmares of treason and prison to subside. But despite his commitment to constant verbal regurgitation of the phrase, he has not found any comfort or relief.

Donald Trump, Witch Hunt

Trump is a trembling wreck whose every public comment is drenched with the fear that consumes him. He is a non-stop fountain of complaints, criticisms, and most of all, whining (Although he also brags about being the “most fabulous whiner”). But there has been a curious change in his recent behavior.

Taking a look back at Trump’s Twitter feed reveals something that requires some explanation. Back in May, Trump tweeted twenty times about what calls the “Witch Hunt.” Of course, he’s referring to the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller of his unsavory connections to Russia, obstruction of justice, and other assorted crimes. Mueller has already found numerous “witches” who have been indicted, convicted, and/or pleaded guilty. Trump’s tweets continued in June with twenty-seven more. Then there were twenty in July and twenty-five August.

However, that was the end of the Witch Hunt Tweetstorming. In September Trump tweeted about the Witch Hunt only five times. And in October it was down to one single Witch Hunt tweet. And that one was more about his dissatisfaction with his own Justice Department than with Mueller’s Russia probe. What could have caused this frightened retreat from a refrain that he was singing so incessantly

Well, Politico is now reporting a possible cause of Trump’s backing off his Witch Hunt obsession. And it’s a blockbuster, if true. They are asserting that Mueller may have already subpoenaed Trump to appear before a Grand Jury:

“Since mid-August, [Mueller] may have been locked in proceedings with Trump and his lawyers over a grand jury subpoena – in secret litigation that could tell us by December whether the president will testify before Mueller’s grand jury.”

“We know that on August 16th (the day after Giuliani said he was almost finished with his memorandum, remember), a sealed grand jury case was initiated in the D.C. federal district court before Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell. We know that on September 19, Chief Judge Howell issued a ruling and 5 days later one of the parties appealed to the D.C. Circuit. And thanks to Politico’s reporting, we know that the special counsel’s office is involved (because the reporter overheard a conversation in the clerk’s office). We can further deduce that the special counsel prevailed in the district court below, and that the presumptive grand jury witness has frantically appealed that order and sought special treatment from the judges of the D.C. Circuit.”

The circumstances surrounding these events suggest that a particularly important witness is the subject of thest court proceedings. Whether or not it is Trump it’s too soon to confirm. But it is more than speculation. And the timing coincides with Trump’s reduced Witch Hunt tweeting. That would make sense because if negotiations like this were taking place, even Trump wouldn’t be stupid enough to foul it up with deranged outbursts on Twitter. Would he?

Plus there’s another peculiar affair that was reported on Tuesday. Some nefarious pro-Trump shills appear to be trying to smear Mueller with phony charges of sexual misconduct. But it’s blowing up in their faces. Note also that Trump’s attorneys, Rudy Giuliani and Jay Sekulow, have been mysteriously out of the public eye. And if Giuliani isn’t shoving his way in front of a TV camera, something serious has to be going on.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Time will tell if this story pans out. And the period following the midterm election would be the perfect time for these legal disclosures to take place. Mueller, the consummate professional, would not have interfered with the election within the sixty days that is traditionally a quiet period for these sort of proceedings. But after the election he’s free to make whatever disclosures are appropriate. And that is probably what is giving Trump the frights this Halloween.

Stephen Colbert did a pretty good (and funny) summary of Wohl’s incompetent role in this:

Trump Implores His Deplorables to Vote for Republicans to Defend ‘Everything We Hold Sacred’

The confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the newly “Supine” Court represents just how dangerous Donald Trump’s rule of ignorance and hostility can and will continue to be. Along with his accomplices in the Republican controlled Congress, America is becoming more divided and less free. And given the opportunity to demonstrate leadership by uniting the nation after his ill gotten victory, Trump chose rub salt in nation’s wounds.

Donald Trump Messiah

Immediately following the Senate’s confirmation vote, Trump boarded Air Force One, headed for yet another of his cult rallies, this time in Kansas. It’s what he promised Sean Hannity he would do a couple of months ago, despite railing against such flagrant and wasteful abuse of the taxpayer when President Obama did it:

Trump told Hannity that “I am going to work very hard. I’ll go six or seven days a week when we’re sixty days out.” Of course Trump has never worked hard in his life, and he isn’t starting now. While he has been doing a lot of these cult rallies, it’s been nowhere near six or seven days a week. But they have all been nearly identical presentations of Trump’s “Golden Shower of Hits,” including “Build the Wall,” “Lock Her Up,” and the epic “Witch Hunt.” They have been so tediously repetitive that even Fox News has cut back on airing them live. But that’s probably just to protect him from the increasingly embarrassing and stupid things he says. Plus, their regular cast of sycophants do a better job of fluffing him than he does.

At the Kansas “Take our Country Back – to 1860” revival meeting, Trump did his best to alienate everyone in the nation that isn’t sufficiently worshipful of him. In particular, the opponents of Kavanaugh’s confirmation who are mostly women who are sick and tired of being abused and ignored, and the men who care about them. He told his dimwitted disciples that Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, and the other women who came forward, were liars and that the Democrats in the Senate who supported them were bent on destroying the country. He also maligned protesters as an “angry mob” of professionals who were paid by George Soros. And as a bonus treat for this news cycle, Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, called Soros the Anti-Christ.

As if all of that deranged babbling weren’t enough crackpottery for one evening, Trump also unleashed a brief sermonette on the assholiness of his perversion of Republican Party politics. He ragaled his glassy-eyed followers with this divine declaration (video below):

“You have the power, with your vote, to defend your family, your community, your country – and everything we hold sacred and righteous and true. Loyal citizens like you helped build this country and together we are taking back our country. Returning power to every day great American patriots.”

In that pious pontification Trump clearly established his intent to sanctify the mission he believes he’s on. Now voting Republican isn’t merely an expression of preference for a set of political ideas. It’s the defense of your family and country. It’s a “sacred and righteous” obligation by all God-fearing patriots. And anyone not complying is in league with Satan.

This is a demagogic tactic that has been a favorite of dictators throughout history. They insist that supporting them isn’t a personal choice, but a demand by the Lord Almighty. And woe be unto anyone who defies these commandments. The fact that Trump issues these maniacal screeds is reason enough to be worried. But what’s worse is that there are Americans who buy into it like the “good Nazis” of the 1930’s and 1940’s. And those of us who still value little things like logic, reason, and liberty, must not allow them to prevail.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Trump Lawyer Rudy Giuliani Says George Soros is the Anti-Christ, Freeze His Assets

If you’re looking for more evidence of the civil libertarian bona fides of Donald Trump and his inner circle, you’re going to be looking for a long time. The brazen affinity that Trump has for totalitarian rule, however, just keeps being reaffirmed by his tweets and his sycophants. On Friday Trump-fluffer Sean Hannity proposed a prohibition on citizens access to their representatives in Congress. And today the devolution of American democracy continues courtesy of Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani.

Rudy Giuliani

The saga of Giuliani’s gaffe prone advocacy of his presidential client is filled to the brim with embarrassing episodes that frequently incriminate Trump. Giuliani is the one who said on national television that Trump paid hush money to Stormy Daniels while Trump was denying it. And he once implied that the reason Trump can’t interview with special prosecutor Robert Mueller is that he’s either a liar or a mental defective. With friends like Rudy, who needs enemas?

Which brings us to Saturday morning’s Twitter romp with Rudy. In an attempt to shore up the hostility of the Trump Brigades, Giuliani retweeted the comments of a random Twidiot who had a perverse notion of how to combat anyone who protests against Dear Leader Trump: “Follow the money. I think Soros is the anti-Christ! He must go! Freeze his assets & I bet the protests stop.”

Let this sink in. Giuliani, a lawyer and former U.S. Attorney, thinks it’s acceptable to seize the assets of a private citizen who has done nothing illegal. He thinks that someone who donates money to legitimate non-profits and educational/activist organizations can have his funds confiscated only because they were given to groups that Giuliani opposes. So this is the President’s personal attorney who is advocating the sort of oppressive behavior of outright tyrants.

What’s more, Giuliani is promoting the lie that Soros is funding citizens engaging lawful protests. There is zero evidence of that, and it wouldn’t be illegal if he were. If Giuliani wants to support legislation to prohibit such funding, he would find significant support from progressives who are troubled by the financial gifts of the Koch brothers to right-wing people and issues. But that isn’t Giuliani’s goal. He wants to silence only the progressive voices in America.

Giuliani is not alone in attacking Soros. He has long been a regarded by the right as the supervillain behind everything that is wrong with America. Never mind that he is the model of the capitalist dream, a man who rose up from a childhood under Nazi occupation, to become one of America’s wealthiest citizens. That’s why he was recently attacked by Sen. Chuck Grassley, who charged him with backing Brett Kavanaugh’s protesters; and by Rep. Louie Gohmert who gave out a “Heil Soros” on Fox News; and by Trump himself in tweet that lashed out at him with no support for his claims.

And let’s not forget the part about the “Anti-Christ.” Of all the comments that Giulian might find to retweet, he picks one that calls a Holocaust survivor a name that’s akin to “Christ killer” and foreshadows the end of civilization. It’s a full blown dog whistle, nay fog horn, of the anti-Semitism and bigotry that is rampant throughout the Cult of Trump. And Trump’s glassy-eyed disciples will will eat it up like they do all the other racist tropes that spew from Trump and his shills.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Wannabe Dictator Trump’s New Attack on Kavanaugh Accusers: ‘Look Into the Lawyers’

Trump has made it a priority in his administration to assault the institutions that comprise most of what best defines America. Most notably, the media which he repeatedly refers to in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people” (which has not worked out very well for him). But he is also a devout foe of academia, science, the arts, intelligence, and even religion when it doesn’t serve his purposes. But no institution has taken more of the brunt of Trump’s animus than the law.

Donald Trump

In the past short but unbearable two years, Trump has expressed his disdain for the agencies of the government that draft, maintain, and implement the law. He rages against Congress for not bowing down to his authority and passing his favorite legislative initiatives like funding the border wall. He regards the FBI as beholden to secretive, subversive, “Deep State” forces intent on destroying his presidency. He puts more faith in the words of Vladimir Putin than he does in his own intelligence professionals with regard to whether Russia unlawfully interfered with the 2016 (and 2018) election.

Perhaps the most battered victim in the field of law enforcement is the Department of Justice itself. Trump has relentlessly pummeled his own attorney general, Jeff Sessions, with withering insults and open disrespect. He recently stated that “I have no attorney general.” And of course, he fired his director of the FBI, James Comey, and replaced him with Christopher Wray, who then became the new designated butt of Trump’s malice. And Trump’s hatred for the FBI and the DoJ goes even deeper to lower level officials like Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, and Bruce Ohr.

Now in the midst of a melodrame involving his morally flawed Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, Trump is becoming more desperate and more disparaging. With the number of accusers coming forward with tales of sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh growing, Trump has segued from attacking the accusers themselves to attacking their legal representation (video below):

“These are highly unsubstantiated statements from people represented by lawyers. You should look into the lawyers, their representation.”

That’s a disturbing outburst from a president of what is supposed to be a free democracy. Trump explicitly makes known his suspicion of “people represented by lawyers.” Which is pretty funny considering that he is represented by an army of them. But on the other tiny hand, it’s also understandable in that his long-time personal attorney, Michael Cohen, is now cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller, and providing testimony that is likely damaging to Trump. Another factor driving Trump’s dislike of lawyers could be concluded just by looking at who his lawyers are (I’m looking at you Rudy Giuliani).

What’s more, Trump’s admonition to – the media? – that they “should look into the lawyers,” portends the sort of government heavy-handedness that is characteristic of totalitarian regimes. And it may even be a bit of an anti-Semitic dog whistle to his base that automatically assumes an evil undercurrent to their imagined Jewish domination of the law (and banking, and Hollywood, and whatever else their rancid imaginations dream up). That’s especially suspicious since Michael Bromwich (a Jewish lawyer who also represents Andrew McCabe) just joined the legal team representing Christine Blasey Ford.

What exactly does Trump hope to achieve with an examination of the lawyers representing Kavanaugh’s accusers? Does he think they will be exposed as collaborators in the Deep State? Will he discover some cabal of commie subversives? Maybe he thinks they’re all ambulance chasing money grubbers. Does he hope that when “looked at” they will run for cover and leave their clients without a defense?

Trump is obviously afraid of lawyers. He frequently threatens to sue anyone that looks at him funny. But he eventually skulks away in cowardice and disgrace. He has suffered numerous defeats at the hands of lawyers representing those he has harmed in business. For instance, earlier this year he was ordered to pay $25 million to the defrauded students of Trump University.

The most visible legal opponent of Trump, Stormy Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti, scares Trump so badly that he has never tweeted about him even once. And Trump still has more than a dozen other women who have made charges of sexual harassment and assault against him, and may file lawsuits of their own. So maybe Trump’s proposal to have the lawyers looked into is just his latest attempt to silence and/or bully them. Yeah, that’ll work.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Rudy Giuliani is Right: In Donald Trump’s World ‘Truth Isn’t Truth’ (See Fox News)

Just when you think you can’t find another bizarre event that needs to be describe with the preface “Just when you think…” Donald Trump or one of his surrogates/sycophants steps up to provide more blithering idiocy than you previously imagined possible.

Donald Trump

Among the lunatic ramblings of this Sunday morning, one stands out for its sheer boldness in denying reality (video below). Trump’s TV lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, told Chuck Todd on Meet the Press that “Truth isn’t truth.” This flustered Todd who collapsed in laughter and noted accurately that Giuliani’s latest bumbling would lead to some “bad memes.”

But this has been the standard operating theme of the Republican Party for decades. It has only been ratcheted up to the nth degree by Trump, who’s connection to reality is considerably less than reliable. The Washington Post has documented more than 4,200 lies and misstatements by Trump. That cannot happen accidently. It is the result of a determined campaign of disinformation and political gaslighting. And Trump has explicitly confessed to telling whoppers when it’s in his own interest to do so. A few weeks ago he told his glassy-eyed cult followers that “what you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.” He’s convinced them that they can’t believe their own eyes and ears – only him.

Giuliani trotted this tripe to justify not allowing Trump to be interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller. He said that such a meeting would be a “perjury trap.: But then Giuliani went on to demonstrate that he doesn’t know what a perjury trap is. He claimed that if Trump said that he didn’t tell James Comey to drop the Russia investigation, but Comey said that Trump did say that, Trump could be charged with perjury. That’s not rue. All that is is testimony by two different witnesses and doesn’t prove that either is lying. There would have to be further evidence that revealed that Trump gave a deliberately false statement before perjury could be alleged. Simple disagreement doesn’t meet that standard.

But Giuliani doesn’t care about standards, or ethics, or, as we now know, truth. Nor does Trump. And if you need further proof that these cretins reside in a world where lies take precedent over facts, just watch about ten minutes of Fox News, the lyingest “news” network on television and Trump’s most trusted advisors.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Goebbels Would Be Proud: Trump’s Legal Team to Guest Host Sean Hannity’s Radio Show

For Donald Trump’s congregation of cult disciples, seeing his chief defenders on television everyday may not be enough to pacify them. They need to have a near constant flow of Trump-splaining to ease their diseased consciences and strengthen their confidence that their Dear Leader is actually innocent of the crimes he is so obviously guilty of.

Fox News Sean Hannity

Stepping up to provide the Deplorables with their dose of “Trump is a victim of the Deep State” propaganda is, not surprisingly, Sean Hannity of Fox News. Although he already hosts Trump’s lawyers, Rudy Giuliani and Jay Sekulow, on his Fox program so frequently you might have assumed they were members of the cast, he is now going a step further:

That’s right, Donald Trump’s actual attorneys will be taking over the Sean Hannity Trump-Fluffing Radio Extravaganza for the day, presumably while Hannity off at Mar-a-Lago polishing Trump’s – let’s say ring. This is an unheard of capitulation to a political leader who is under investigation by his own Justice Department for alleged conspiracy with Russia to interfere with an election, obstruction of justice, and other assorted financial corruption charges.

For the legal team of an embattled president to appear on a program like this nearly every day is bad enough. In fact, just a few days ago Hannity interviewed Giuliani in one of the most ludicrous displays of sycophancy ever broadcast on TV. But to be handed the entire program to spew their lie-riddled defense of a treasonous president blows up any facade of legal propriety or ethics.

By making Giuliani and Sekulow the guest hosts of his program, Hannity is demonstrating, once again, that he is utterly unfit to host a program on any TV network with the word “news” in its name. If Fox News were a legitimate news enterprise they would cancel Hannity immediately. Lucky for them, they have never been able to claim believably that they are legitimate by any stretch of the imagination.

The radio stations that broadcast this flagrant attempt to poison the jury pool need to know that they are complicit in an act of pure state-sponsored propaganda. It’s the sort of thing that Goebbels would have taken great pride in producing. It requires the audacity of a totalitarian dictator who has no fear that anyone will challenge his omnipotent authority. And, sadly, it is not an unexpected occurrence by one of this administration’s most loyal bootlickers.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Trump-Fluffing Fox News Shill Sean Hannity Weaves Bizarre Anti-Mueller Tales with Rudy Giuliani

On Wednesday Donald Trump accomplished a previously unheard of achievement. He tweeted twelve times without once mentioning anything about the “hoax” probe by special counsel Robert Mueller. Instead he was focused on how many election he won on Tuesday (yes, he thinks he was the winner), despite it being a night of primaries. That’s okay though, because he still has Sean Hannity to man the “witch hunt” front.

Rudy Giuliani

On Wednesday’s episode of the Mighty Trump Ninja Defenders Hour (video below), Hannity slow-danced with Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani to the haunting refrains of the score to The Desperate Hours. The two jumped right into the segment with wild-eyed exclamations of corruption on the part of the Justice Department and condemnations of international super-villain, Hillary Clinton. The first words out of Giuliani’s mouth were:

“What do we need to know that this is a totally illegitimate investigation based on a dossier that was paid for by Hillary Clinton and the Democrats? Probably the biggest illegality so far. The biggest collusion so far. Completely made up. That led to nothing except several fraudulent FISA wires. And now we have Mueller who doesn’t seem to care that he’s sitting on top of a totally illegitimate investigation.”

Literally everything in that fantastical assessment was untrue with the possible exception of “and now we have Mueller.” If anything, these flagrant lies will end likely blow up in Trump’s face. The dossier was not the foundation of the investigation. Clinton didn’t pay for it. It wasn’t illegal or collusive. It surely wasn’t made up. Many parts of it have been confirmed, and nothing in it has been proved false. The FISA “wires” (presumably he meant warrants) were all issued by separate judges appointed by Ronald Reagan. And the allegedly illegitimate investigation has already produced dozens of indictments and five guilty pleas.

Hannity, naturally, concurred with Giuliani, saying that the dossier was “designed to misinform the American people…to influence the election” Which is curious considering that it was never meant to be seen by the American people. It was only after Buzzfeed got ahold of a copy and published it in January of 2017, after the election, that its contents were known to the public. Hannity, earlier in the program, gave his own assessment of the Mueller probe in a deranged diatribe that packed every wingnut cliche into one frantic run-on sentence:

“Like there’s truth in that phony, unverified, uncorroborated, debunked dossier that the Clinton campaign used to smear then-candidate Donald Trump, the same Russian lies that were used before the election as the foundation for the Mueller witch hunt and the op-research used to mislead the FISA court on four – not one – but four seperate occasions so the government literally can spy on an opposition party candidate and a Trump campaign associate.”

And … breathe. Once again, a loco-spiel that’s entirely devoid of facts. Then they spoke for a while about how Trump ought not to sit for an interview with Mueller because he can’t be trusted not to lie or accidently confess. What they continue to forget is that a perjury trap can be defeated by simply telling the truth. Giuliani mocked the notion of Trump being interviewed by saying “What? Do you think we’re fools?” Let’s just leave that one alone, and move on to the best part of the segment where Hannity makes a startling revelation:

Hannity: My sources are telling me that when the American people get to the bottom of all of this, it will shock the heart, the soul, and the mind of any fair-minded American.
Giuliani: I think it’s gonna lead to some very strict, very big reforms, just like Watergate.

So Hannity has a source with inside knowledge of the private thoughts of – all of the America people? Wow, that’s a pretty good source. And thanks to Hannity we now know just how we will all feel when we get to the bottom of all of this. Feel better now? And Giuliani’s response was equally as mind-boggling. By predicting that there will be Watergate-like reforms, he’s essentially conceding that the President committed Watergate-like crimes. No wonder he doesn’t want Trump to be interviewed by Mueller.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

By Rudy Giuliani’s Own Standard Donald Trump is Guilty of Obstruction of Justice

It just keeps getting easier and easier to catch Donald Trump and his Merry Band of Incompetents in lies or other nefarious activities that reflect their dishonor and deceit. And the blunder by Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, on Thursday is just the latest example of this phenomenon.

Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump

If Saturday Night Live wanted to create a satirical character whose practice of the law incriminated his client more often than not, they would only need to transcribe Giuliani’s comments verbatim. In this episode, Giuliani attempted to clean up a Trump tweet that appeared to most people as an obvious effort to obstruct justice with regard to the special counsel probe of Robert Mueller. Trump tweeted:

That sure looks like Trump is directing his Attorney General to halt the investigation into Trump’s collusion with Russia. But Giuliani has an alternative interpretation of the tweet that makes it completely innocent. He told CNN’s Dana Bash that Trump was just “expressing his opinion on his favored medium for asserting his First Amendment right of free speech. He said ‘should’ not ‘must.'”

So the use of the word “should” absolves Trump of any culpability for comments that seem to be giving Sessions a direct order. But if your boss told you that you should stop working on a “terrible” project “right now,” would you think he was just expressing an opinion and ignore him? Not if you wanted to keep your job, you wouldn’t. But if Giuliani is so fixated on the words “should” and “must,” then he might want to refer back to this tweet by Trump in April:

That satisfies the Giuliani standard of saying “must” in order for the directive to be considered obstruction of justice. So we all owe Rudy our thanks for making the legal argument so clear and applicable to his client. Now we just need to wait and see how he and/or Trump try to spin this into something that means the opposite of what it obviously means.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Trump’s Response to Mueller’s Indictment of 12 Russians Further Implies His Consciousness of Guilt

The breaking news this Friday morning is on a scale that is rarely seen in modern politics and crime. The Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein, announced the indictment of twelve Russian intelligence operatives for illegally hacking into the accounts of members of the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton’s campaign for president. These are not some anonymous “dark web” patsies, but actual agents of Russia’s GRU spy agency.

Donald Trump

Naturally, Fox News has played down the story by airing short reports at the top of the hour and ignoring it thereafter. Other cable news networks are doing the deep dive into the many sordid details. And Fox is also leaping to the defense of Donald Trump by highlighting remarks that Rosenstein made regarding the allegations that are not asserting any complicity by Americans or vote total changes. What they are forgetting is that there are only no such allegations YET. This is not over by a long shot.

The response from the White White was astonishingly tone deaf. They issued a brief statement that was entirely defensive, as if the only consideration was how this affected the probe into Trump’s criminal collusion with Russia. It read:

As Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said today:

– There is no allegation in this indictment that Americans knew that they were corresponding with Russians.
– There is no allegation in this indictment that any American citizen committed a crime.
– There is no allegation that the conspiracy changed the vote count or affected any election result.

Today’s charges include no allegations of knowing involvement by anyone on the campaign and no allegations that the alleged hacking affected the election result. This is consistent with what we have been saying all along.

It’s clear that Trump doesn’t care at all about the attack on America’s democratic system. He doesn’t say one word about the atrocity that is alleged in the indictments. And of course, he doesn’t criticize his friend (boss) Vladimir Putin. He doesn’t make even the most timid condemnation of Russia for their actions. He just whines that nothing in the indictments accuses him of anything. And, as noted above, that is only for the time being. Neither Rosenstain nor special counsel Robert Mueller said anything about there not being any further indictments. And the investigation is still in progress.

Along with Fox News and the Republican echo chamber’s ludicrous efforts to spin this as vindication for Trump, his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, is asserting that these indictments are “good News,” and suggest that they prove that “Trump is completely innocent.” Which they most certainly do not do. Giuliani is also saying that Thursday’s congressional inquisition of Peter Strzok makes it less likely that Trump will ever interview with Mueller. Gee, ya think? Trump never intended to interview with Mueller.

You can count on Fox News to fiercely continue defending Trump and to make these cries of absolution for at least the remainder of the day. It remains to be seen how long they will have this sort of wiggle room to avoid the increasingly obvious evidence of Trump’s treasonous guilt. But these new charges are an indication that Mueller is getting closer to the completion of his investigation. It isn’t surprising that no Americans were included in this set of indictments. The primary targets are always held in confidence until the end. Stay tuned.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Awkward: Giuliani Implies that Mueller Has ‘Uncovered Something’ that Proves Trump is Guilty

There has been talk in recent days about the peculiar disappearance of Donald Trump’s lead Russia attorney, Rudy Giuliani. After a flurry of embarrassing media appearances a few weeks ago, Giuliani has been uncharacteristically quiet. Perhaps he’s still confused about the ongoing investigation that he said was “essentially over” a couple of months ago. He laughably told Fox News that Mueller and company are “just in denial.” But as of Friday afternoon, the cause for worry was relieved when the New York Times released a new interview.

Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump

Let’s just set aside Rudy’s choice of the allegedly failing New York Times as the platform for his latest public pronouncements. After all, there’s nothing unusual about the President’s lawyer fraternizing with “the enemy of the American people” is there? And on Saturday morning Trump tweeted his baseless prediction that the Times was going out of business. Nevertheless, Giuliani saw fit to call the Times when he wanted to unveil some new PR bullcrap. He told the Times that he was issuing new demands that must be met before Trump would interview with special counsel Robert Mueller:

“If they can come to us and show us the basis and that it’s legitimate and that they have uncovered something, we can go from there and assess their objectivity,”

In other words, if Mueller has the goods on us, we’ll talk. If we’ve successfully hidden our crimes, screw you. Notice that Giuliani isn’t saying that there is nothing to be uncovered. He’s saying that any evidence of crimes that might be uncovered would determine whether Trump would be deposed. That’s about as close as you can get to an admission that incriminating information exists without just pleading guilty. But the Trump camp doesn’t want to show their dirty hands unless the prosecutors already have them nailed.

Even with this new position regarding Trump’s reluctance to come clean, Giuliani betrayed his own bad faith negotiating by conceding that Mueller was unlikely to agree to the interview demands. So Giuliani is just throwing more obstacles in the path of justice, and he’s doing it deliberately. And according to the Times, this obstruction doesn’t stop there:

“The president’s lawyers want Mr. Mueller to explain how the Justice Department gave him the authority to investigate possible obstruction of justice by the president in what began as a counterintelligence investigation into Russia’s election meddling. […]

“The lawyers also want evidence that the special counsel exhausted every other investigative measure before asking the president to answer questions, and that he is the only person who could provide them with the information they are seeking.”

With regard to the explanation for Mueller’s authority to investigate obstruction of justice, Giuliani could have answered that question by simply reading the Justice Department’s order appointing Mueller. It explicitly grants him investigative authority over the Russian meddling affair and any matters that arose from it. And the demand that all other sources of evidence be exhausted before Trump will talk is just plain loony. It’s like saying that the ringleader of a bank robbery will only testify if prosecutors already know everything. Trump is the ringleader, and his testimony is relevant regardless of what other evidence has been obtained. But then, his avoidance (fear) of testifying is relevant in its own way.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

The bottom line here is that Giuliani is just engaging in obvious delaying tactics that have no legal basis. He actually admits it by conceding that the special counsel will reject his impotent demands. It’s a strategy that betrays Trump’s consciousness of guilt. This is not the behavior of someone who is confidant of his innocence. And by floating the existence of evidence that has yet to be uncovered, Giuliani is once again doing harm to his own client. Nice work, Rudy.