Comrade Trump

[creekster]

ok buddy.

I miss the days I was your bro.

[falafel]

Major!

A one time primary aide to the POTUS refuses to answer a voluntary call to testify so a subpoena is issued. I don't know, OG, isn't that pretty much how most litigation goes? Just in one of my little cases I have a witness who won't talk to me so guess what is out for service? I will wait to see if it is a MAJOR development until I get his testimony.

When a subpoena is issued in these circumstances, what is the penalty for non-compliance? Same as any other subpoena? Contempt?

[creekster]

When a subpoena is issued in these circumstances, what is the penalty for non-compliance? Same as any other subpoena? Contempt?

Contempt of congress, I believe. But I think it rarely happens and I also think it is justice that has to prosecute, which might be a little tricky here.

[Jeff Lebowski]

lol. ok, creek.

One of his jobs is to police frank. Apparently.

[creekster]

One of his jobs is to police frank. Apparently.

ANd is one of your jobs to police me? Apparently?

[Jeff Lebowski]

ANd is one of your jobs to police me? Apparently?

Sadly, you can't stage manage a grizzly bear.

[creekster]

Sadly, you can't stage manage a grizzly bear.

It's not a bear, either.

[frank ryan]

Steve Bannon Will Tell All to Robert Mueller, Source Says

Trump’s one-time chief strategist and current frenemy may have been tight lipped with Congress. He won’t be that way with the special counsel.

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon broke some bad news to House investigators on Tuesday, announcing that the White House has invoked executive privilege to keep him from answering many of their questions.

But executive privilege—the president’s right to keep certain information from the public so he can have frank conversations with aides—will not keep Steve Bannon from sharing information with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team, according to a person familiar with the situation.

“Mueller will hear everything Bannon has to say,” said the source, who is familiar with Bannon’s thinking.

During a closed-door hearing before the House intelligence committee today, Bannon reportedly told lawmakers that President Donald Trump has invoked broad executive privilege for the purposes of Congressional inquiries. Because of that, Bannon refused to answer committee members’ questions about what happened during the presidential transition and in the White House.

This sweeping understanding of privilege will not impact what Bannon tells Mueller’s team, according to our source. (To be sure, Bannon isn't known for being predictable, and it's possible his team may still look for ways to dodge Mueller's queries.)

But it means he isn’t answering many of Congress’s questions. A source familiar with Bannon’s interview told The Daily Beast that despite the subpoena—issued by Devin Nunes, the typically Trump-friendly chairman of the committee—Bannon refused to answer questions about events that happened after Election Day.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/steve-...er-source-says

[Uncle Ted]

[B]Steve Bannon Will Tell All to Robert Mueller, Source Says

https://www.thedailybeast.com/steve-...er-source-says

Yeah, congress couldn't get him to talk... but the FBI has ways to get it out of him!

[frank ryan]

Investigators Are Scrutinizing Newly Uncovered Payments By The Russian Embassy

The transactions reveal:

One of the people at the center of the investigation, the former Russian ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak, received $120,000 ten days after the election of Donald Trump. Bankers flagged it to the US government as suspicious in part because the transaction, marked payroll, didn’t fit prior pay patterns.

Five days after Trump’s inauguration, someone attempted to withdraw $150,000 cash from the embassy’s account — but the embassy’s bank blocked it. Bank employees reported the attempted transaction to the US government because it was abnormal activity for that account.

From March 8 to April 7, 2014, bankers flagged nearly 30 checks for a total of about $370,000 to embassy employees, who cashed the checks as soon as they received them, making it virtually impossible to trace where the money went. Bank officials noted that the employees had not received similar payments in the past, and that the transactions surrounded the date of a critical referendum on whether parts of Crimea should secede from Ukraine and join Russia — one of Vladimir Putin’s top foreign policy concerns and a flash point with the West.

Over five years, the Russian Cultural Centre — an arm of the government that sponsors classes and performances and is based in Washington, DC — sent $325,000 in checks that banking officials flagged as suspicious. The amounts were not consistent with normal payroll checks and some of the transactions fell below the $10,000 threshold that triggers a notice to the US government.

The Russian Embassy in Washington, DC, sent more than $2.4 million to small home-improvement companies controlled by a Russian immigrant living not far from there. Between 2013 and March 2017, that contractor’s various companies received about 600 such payments, earmarked for construction jobs at Russian diplomatic compounds. Bankers told the Treasury they did not think those transactions were related to the election but red-flagged them because the businesses seemed too small to have carried out major work on the embassy and because the money was cashed quickly or wired to other accounts.

Each of these transactions sparked a “suspicious activity report” sent to the US Treasury’s financial crimes unit by Citibank, which handles accounts of the Russian Embassy. By law, bankers must alert the government to transactions that bear hallmarks of money laundering or other financial misconduct. Such reports can support investigations and intelligence gathering — but by themselves they are not evidence of a crime, and many suspicious activity reports are filed on transactions that are perfectly legal. Intelligence and diplomatic sources who reviewed the transactions for BuzzFeed News said there could be justifiable uses for the money, such as travel, bonuses, or pension payouts.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/jasonleopol...NV#.yh3mZqalvG

[frank ryan]

FBI investigating whether Russian money went to NRA to help Trump

The FBI is investigating whether a top Russian banker with ties to the Kremlin illegally funneled money to the National Rifle Association to help Donald Trump win the presidency, two sources familiar with the matter have told McClatchy.

FBI counterintelligence investigators have focused on the activities of Alexander Torshin, the deputy governor of Russia’s central bank who is known for his close relationships with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and the NRA, the sources said.

It is illegal to use foreign money to influence federal elections.

It’s unclear how long the Torshin inquiry has been ongoing, but the news comes as Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s sweeping investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election, including whether the Kremlin colluded with Trump’s campaign, has been heating up.

All of the sources spoke on condition of anonymity because Mueller’s investigation is confidential and mostly involves classified information.

http://amp.mcclatchydc.com/news/nati...mpression=true

[myboynoah]

FBI investigating whether Russian money went to NRA to help Trump




http://amp.mcclatchydc.com/news/nati...mpression=true

Stupid Russians. How are they going to invade against our fully armed populace? They didn't think this one through too well.

[BlueK]

Stupid Russians. How are they going to invade against our fully armed populace? They didn't think this one through too well.

Their training and weapons are still better than your 65 year old next door neighbor with his hunting rifle?

[Uncle Ted]

Stupid Russians. How are they going to invade against our fully armed populace? They didn't think this one through too well.

[Uncle Ted]

Their training and weapons are still better than your 65 year old next door neighbor with his hunting rifle?

My neighbors have some pretty awesome stuff... like night vision goggles, suppressors, etc. One even has a full-automatic gun license. Of course, they all justify it with the fact they need to for the war against feral hogs that are invading Texas.