
Pence Plays Statesman While Trump Tweets Angrily from a Florida Retirement Resort
At a time when Trump is increasingly paranoid about Mike Pence's loyalty, Pence chose not just to confront Putin about his tampering in the 2016 election, but brag about it.

Turkey Bowl Trash Talk 2018
Happy Thanksgiving to one and all, and we here give thanks for you joining with us and participating here. There are not many real remnants of the old blogosphere and commentary community left these days, and it still flourishes here, thanks…
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emptywheel2018-11-22 11:30:542018-11-22 11:33:17Giving Thanks
Big Dick Toilets and Sasquatch Dolls: Matt Whitaker's Qualifications To Be Dog-Catcher
This will be a running post of the many reasons why Matt Whitaker is not qualified to be Acting Attorney General.

It Is Objectively False that Trump Provided Unprecedented Cooperation; Stop Parroting Rudy Claiming He Did
The emphasis on Trump's submission of his open book test to Mueller should be on the President's claim to Executive Privilege even before he took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. Yet because so many journalists simply parroted Rudy Giuliani's claims that Trump offered unprecedented cooperation, the emphasis has been the opposite.

Trump Refuses to Answer Why He Ordered Mike Flynn to Placate the Russians on Sanctions
Not only is Trump trying to avoid providing sworn testimony about one key event in this investigation -- his order to placate the Russians on sanctions -- but there are other hints that Whitaker has started his work to undermine the Mueller investigation.

Leo's Lane: Balls and Strikes versus Checks and Balances
The George Conway group, Checks and Balances, seems to be partly an effort to get Leonard Leo back into his court-packing lane.

James Baker Channels a Road Map He and Comey and Andrew McCabe Might Navigate
Some weeks ago, I used the Watergate Road Map to draw parallels to the investigation of Trump. Former FBI General Counsel James Baker did the same today.

Mueller Says He Still Exercises the Full Authority of a US Attorney
Mueller's supplemental brief in the Andrew Millar subpoena challenge is the first opportunity he's had to lay out how he thinks his authority has changed under Whitaker. He says it hasn't. Just as importantly, he says that Whitaker's appointment doesn't change things that already happened.

Time Machine: 2011 to 2012 WikiLeaks Is not 2018 WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks seems to have a lot staked on making a defense of Assange's 2011 activities. Which suggests they're a lot less confident they can defend his 2016 and 2017 activities.

After a Year of Page Views for Credulous Reports Trump Wanted to Do Mueller Interview, NYT Gets Page Views Admitting He Won't
NYT has gotten loads of page views for stories over the last 11 months reporting on the theatrical show Trump and his lawyers made of wanting to cooperate with Mueller. Now they believe Trump has reversed the stance he really had all along.

A Day after Maria Butina Argues Influence Operations Shouldn't Be Charged as Spying, Plea Negotiations Start
Just before Maria Butina and the government took a break from her prosecution to conduct plea negotiations, she argued (again) that influence operations shouldn't be charged under 18 USC 951, the foreign agent statute.

Route 66 Trash Talk
Time for some sports trash talk, so let's get hip to that California trip.
California is still burning. The death toll is now officially at 71 and the number additionally classified as missing is up to 1,011. This is an immense disaster,…

The Theory of Prosecution You Love for Julian Assange May Look Different When Applied to Jason Leopold
In the wake of confirmation that Julian Assange has been charged, a lot of Assange haters are rooting for a theory of prosecution that might pose grave risk to Jason Leopold and other journalists.

The Invisible Game of Chicken: The Things the People Claiming to Understand the Manafort Extension Don't Know (Nor Do I)
I don't know what the delay in the Manafort status report is. But there's a whole lot more going on than just the possibility of some indictments.

On Rick Gates' Expansive Cooperation
Rick Gates' cooperation probably parallels, but is more expansive than, Sam Patten's. So it's no surprise he's now cooperating in "several" investigations.

Trump Appointee Dabney Friedrich Continues to Trounce the Trolls' Hopes of Discrediting Mueller
Dabney Friedrich, the Trump appointee presiding over the Concord Management challenge to its indictment, just released her opinion rejecting their attempt to argue they can't be indicted for conspiring to illegally tamper in our elections. The…

What OLC Says Happened with Matt Whitaker's Appointment
There are a number of legal problems with the OLC memo defending the appointment of Matt Whitaker. But the memo is as interesting for what it claims about what happened last week.

First Steps Towards Change
Democrats must govern aggressively.

The InfoWars Embed in the CNN First Amendment Lawsuit
While I'm happy CNN Is suing the White House for revoking Jim Acosta's press hard pass, I'm not a fan of how they've argued the case, as it seems to argue for a privilege, not a right.
