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pbmus
pbmus's Journal
pbmus's Journal
July 29, 2019
The Con will always do what he wants, he don't need no badges...
https://twitter.com/bobbychesney/status/1155907127560605697
July 27, 2019
Another senate seat I am contributing to...
https://twitter.com/shuttlecdrkelly/status/1155221485402767360
July 27, 2019
Interesting question....
https://twitter.com/patricklsimpson/status/1155217040132726784
July 27, 2019
Moscow's youth are tired of Putin's corruption...
https://twitter.com/ap/status/1155202095156465666
July 27, 2019
How to stay high and dry...
https://twitter.com/marijuanaposts/status/1155003136135684096
July 27, 2019
WTF...shouldn't he be in isolation under suicide watch...??
https://twitter.com/icx01x/status/1154369705609715712
July 27, 2019
And some know where Pluto is....
https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1154915693114089472
July 27, 2019
BREAKING NEWS THREAD) A historic legal analysis published by @Slate confirms what this feed assertsthe Mueller Report FOUND a criminal conspiracy between Trump's campaign and the Kremlin but declined to charge it. Please RETWEET this thread explaining this explosive revelation.
mentions 1/ As law professor @jedshug explains on @Slate, federal law doesn't require an explicit agreement between parties for the criminal statute prohibiting coordination between campaigns and foreign nationals to be violated. Paul Manafort committed this crime.
Slate's Trumpcast
@realTrumpcast
Reflecting on the inspirational @RepAdamSchiff and what Mueller is really saying in his volumes, @page88 and @jedshug do a testimony debrief. https://megaphone.link/SLT9531042070
Megaphone (formerly Panoply Media) ?@MegaphonePods
159
12:00 AM - Jul 26, 2019
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mentions 2/ The Mueller Report erroneously proceeded under an interpretation of federal law that no independent legal experts have agreed with: that a criminal conspiracy to violate election law requires an explicit agreement. But whether this "error" was indeed an *accident* is in doubt.
mentions 3/ The evidence of the Mueller Report, criminal investigative SOPs, and major-media reporting establishes that the original intent of the special counsel's office was to charge Paul Manafort with conspiracy with Russiaand that Trump knew this and sought to obstruct this finding.
mentions 4/ NBC News reported in January 2018 that Donald Trump privately believed Paul Manafort could incriminate him in a federal crimebut that by January 2018, information had reached him (privately) that had convinced him that Manafort would not in fact do so.
Trump is convinced he'll beat Mueller, confidants say
Ahead of his first State of the Union address, Donald Trump is telling friends and aides that things are going great for him.
https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/2018-state-of-the-union-address/state-donald-trump-he-thinks-it-couldn-t-be-better-n842501
mentions 5/ The Mueller Report clearly establishes that Trump received the private intelligence that Paul Manafort would not incriminate him in a conspiracyby refusing to cooperate with federal law enforcement, *not* because Manafort *couldn't* incriminate himfrom Manafort's legal team.
mentions 6/ Criminal investigative SOPs (standard operating procedures) establish why Trump believed federal law enforcement would seek to have Manafort incriminate him: because investigators do not cut deals with a national campaign manager *without* seeking to indict someone higher up.
mentions 7/ When the special counsel's office charged Manafort with offenses that could put him in federal prison for 20 yearsand then entered into a cooperation deal with himthe only person above him in the campaign hierarchy for him to "flip" on was the presidential candidate himself.
mentions 8/ The legal analysis published digitally by @Slate confirms the uncharged offense on Manafort would have been a federal criminalelectionconspiracy with individuals he knew from his work on behalf of the Kremlin were Kremlin agents. This is the "flip" Trump was terrified about.
mentions 9/ The Mueller Report establishes that Manafort had been a paid Kremlin agent, via Oleg Deripaskawho says he "does not separate himself" or his interests from those of the Kremlinsince the year Manafort moved into Trump Tower (2006), and that he remained so during the campaign.
mentions 10/ Manafort's work for the Kremlinonce thought to have ended in the early 2010sin fact continued in and past his work as Trump's campaign manager. Mueller's report and testimony establishes that Manafort anticipated both loan forgiveness and cash from the Kremlin for his work.
mentions 11/ Mueller's report and testimony establishes Manafort as a Kremlin agent in 2016 and afterfederal law establishes he was in a criminal conspiracy with the Kremlin based upon his agreement to coordinate with and provide proprietary data/intelligence to the Kremlin mid-campaign.
mentions 12/ That Donald Trump thought Mueller would indict him if Manafort flipped means that Trump had knowledge of the criminal conspiracy Mueller opted not to charge Manafort witha decision Mueller made so Manafort would flip on Trump. Trump's criminal obstruction prevented any flip.
mentions 13/ The Mueller Report outlines how Trumpthrough a joint defense agreement with Manafort and his lawyers acting as intermediariesmade it absolutely clear to Manafort that he would be "taken care of" if he refused to "flip" on his former boss. The obstruction hid the conspiracy.
mentions 14/ For those who haven't read Vol. 1 of the Mueller Report, I'll now briefly summarize the federal criminal election conspiracy Mueller chose not to indict Manafort for because of a) him thinking Manafort would flip on Trump, b) an "error" of law by the special counsel's office.
mentions 15/ I put "error" in quotes advisedly. Mueller cut a cooperation deal with Manafort because his office *knew* the federal criminal statutes governing US election law do not require "explicit" coordination; that Manafort had violated these laws; and that he could "flip" on Trump.
mentions 16/ There was no reason for Mueller to cut a deal with Manafortor for his office to represent to federal courts that the lies Manafort told the SCO that mattered were the lies hiding this conspiracyif the feds did not believe Manafort had committed an election conspiracy crime.
mentions 17/ Here's what Trump's campaign manager did: within days of his hire by Trump he contacted a known Kremlin agentKilimnik, who Manafort knew to be a Kremlin agent both through direct contact with him and his (Manafort's) other deputy, Gatesto seek compensation from the Kremlin.
mentions 18/ That compensationMueller's report and testimony confirmswas in the form of both loan forgiveness and direct payment from Kremlin agents. In recompense, as a quid pro quo that was either implicit or explicit (federal law criminalizes either), Manafort would aid the Kremlin.
mentions 19/ Manafort thereafteralmost immediatelydid at least 3 things:
1. He directed his deputy Gates to *regularly* provide proprietary internal polling data to the Kremlin that would allow the Kremlin to better direct its domestic disinformation campaign (a crime) against America.
mentions 20/
2. Paul Manafort offered Kremlin agents internal campaign intelligence assessments about Trump's campaign tactics and strategy, the better to convince the Kremlin that Trump had a chance of winning and that its pro-Trump hacking and disinformation campaigns should continue.
mentions 21/
3. Paul Manafort initiated an 18-month negotiation with Kremlin agents (beginning August 2, 2016 and continuing into '18) with the goal of the negotiations being to promise Putin sanctions relief in exchange for pre-election assistance toand post-election comity withTrump.
mentions 22/ The Mueller Report and major-media reporting establishes that Trump was in regular contact with Manafort about his campaign from the day he was hired and about *sanctions* both before and after his fake "firing" in August 2016. And we know that the "firing" was indeed fake.
mentions 23/ The Mueller Report and major-media reporting establishes that Trump remained in regular contact with Manafort on the subject of sanctions after his "firing" in mid-August 2016; indeed, eyewitnesses say Manafort basically continued advising Trump exactly as he had done before.
mentions 24/ Immediately upon his "firing," Manafort went on a cruise with one of Trump's two best friends, Thomas Barrack (the other is Howard Lorber) during which cruise Barrack orchestrated payment to Manafort of millions and millions of dollars via sources tied to the Trump campaign.
mentions 25/ This cruise remains under federal probeand Gates remains a federal cooperating witness despite the filing of the Mueller Report because Gates is now the lone witness who can testify to what Manafort and Trump did, who knew of it, and Trump's efforts to sway him via Manafort.
mentions 26/ Mueller's testimony indicates the question of collusion (whether a person is compromised by a foreign power due to implicit or express coordination) is now in the hands of the FBI's counterintel division, whichwith Manafort's prison sentenceexplains the lack of new charges.
mentions 27/ Mueller testified he wanted to move quickly to file a report; the implication is he didn't want to interfere with the 2020 electiongiven that he'd been investigating the many insidious ways the Russians had done just that in '16. He knew counterintelligence work was ongoing.
mentions 28/ Mueller knew Trump had successfully obstructed justice to keep Manafort from cooperating; Manafort was in prison and going nowhere; Gates remained a cooperating witness; counterintelligence investigators were looking more explicitly at collusion and are continuing their work.
mentions 29/
There is no legal or factual basis to say Manafort was *not* in a criminal election conspiracy with the Kremlin.
There is no legal or factual basis to say Trump did *not* know Manafort could incriminate him or that he did *not* take steps to obstruct/tamper with Manafort.
mentions 30/ Given Mueller's testimony, his report, major-media reports, and investigative SOPs, there are *no facts* and is *no law* on the other side of what this thread explains: a conspiracy occurred; Mueller wanted to charge it; he knew Trump knew of it; Trump obstructed that charge.
mentions 31/ The only question that remains is why the special counsel's office misstated federal election law and withheld charging Manafort with the conspiracy they believed he'd engaged inand whose revelation they knew Trump had obstructed. But the fact of ongoing CI work explains it.
mentions 32/ To explain: we learned yesterday a shocking factthat Mueller didn't subpoena Trump *though he knew he could* because he felt he had enough evidence of corrupt intent *and* needed to bring *his* part of the Trump-Russia case to an expeditious end. He testified to all of this.
mentions 33/ The Manafort situation was identical: Mueller's work confirms he knew a crime had occurredhence the Manafort cooperation dealand Manafort could flip on the only man higher than him (Trump). But charging a crime in light of Trump's obstruction would've taken monthsor years.
mentions 34/ With Vol. 2 (obstruction), Mueller relented on actions he knew he could take because he felt he had enough evidence. With Vol. 1 (conspiracy), Mueller relented on actions he knew he could take because an ongoing counterintelligence investigation would achieve the same result.
mentions 35/ Legal experts should feel free to check the legal analysis of @jedshug and the investigative, factual, and Mueller Report analyses I've provided here and elsewhere. They are correct: a conspiracy occurred; the evidence indicates Trump knew of it and obstructed its disclosure.
mentions 36/ Moreover, additional evidence comes from the mouths of the men themselves: Trump told friends Manafort could incriminate him; Manafort told Gates Trump was tampering with him; Kilimnik and other witnesses confirm Manafort committed election conspiracy crimes with the Kremlin.
mentions 37/ Still other witnessesincluding one Manafort family member and Trump's best friend Barrackconfirm how close Manafort and Trump were, what the men discussed and how frequently and when, and the fact that work was indeed being done to compensate Manafort even post-"firing."
mentions 38/ If you wonder why this legal and investigative analysis didn't come together until Mueller's testimony, it's because many of us were waiting for several revelations that came during his testimony which are *central* to this thread. 15 of them are here:
Unroll available on Thread Reader
Seth Abramson
✔
@SethAbramson
(THREAD) Far and away the worst take on Mueller's testimony is that we learned nothing new from it. In fact, the *new* facts we learned were jaw-dropping. This thread focuses *only* on 10 new things we now know. I hope you'll RETWEET this for anyone you think might be interested.
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mentions 39/ One other thing we learned by Mueller's testimonythough I've been saying it here for 2 yearsis that this is the most complicated federal criminal investigation of our lifetimes. No one person can have full mastery over its contours. So it's no surprise no one in media does.
mentions 40/ We often ignore legal/investigative experts to listen to what media tells us. Media didn't follow the facts or law laid out here so it has reportedand will keep reportingno conspiracy occurred. But lawyers and investigators should feel free to check the work done here. /end
mentions PS/ Many reading this may now say, "What now? Manafort committed a federal election crime and conspiracy with Kremlin agents, all the evidence says Trump knew of it, Mueller knew Trump knew of it, and Trump committed crimes to block Manafort from revealing it"so what comes next?
mentions PS2/ First, the fight to get Congressional (and eventually partial public) access to the FBI counterintelligence case file, findings, and report began only *yesterday*. The Congresspeople *leading* that fight know federal law, and do not disagree with the analysis in this thread.
mentions PS3/ Second, now that Mueller's testimonysee my link to my prior tweet earlier in this threadhas revealed at least five new pieces of information that allow the understanding I've laid out here to crystallize, a public information campaign must begin in D.C. *and* social media.
mentions PS4/ Anyone on social media can nowin good faithsay the following:
1. Manafort criminally conspired with the Kremlin during the '16 presidential election.
2. The special counsel's office believed this and it acted accordingly.
3. Trump believed this and he acted accordingly.
mentions PS5/ And one can then add this addendum:
4. The FBI Counterintelligence Division is now conducting an investigation into collusion between Trump and foreign powersincluding Russiathat is far larger in scope than Mueller's work and has Rick Gates as a key witness on conspiracy.
mentions NOTE/ I do not seek or desire for anyone reading this to "take my word for it." Read the Mueller Report; read the transcript of Mueller's testimony; read the relevant federal election laws; confirm my major-media references; look up why/when federal cooperation deals are offered.
mentions CREDIT/ Thanks to Virginia Heffernan (@page88) for interviewing @jedshug for @Slate and letting the professor clearly and in some detailand at some lengthoutline these harrowing facts/realities. Again, here's the link to the relevant digital publication:
Slate's Trumpcast
@realTrumpcast
Reflecting on the inspirational @RepAdamSchiff and what Mueller is really saying in his volumes, @page88 and @jedshug do a testimony debrief. https://megaphone.link/SLT9531042070
Megaphone (formerly Panoply Media) ?@MegaphonePods
159
12:00 AM - Jul 26, 2019
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mentions LEGAL NOTE/ The Mueller Report, as to conspiracy, said only that it couldn't establish it beyond a reasonable doubt *as of the time of the report* but that additional informationyes, the report says thiscould change that analysis. Then we learned the CI probe was still ongoing.
mentions LEGAL NOTE 2/ So if you post my synopsis and someone says, "But Mueller said there was no conspiracy!", tell them the following: no, that's not what the report says. At all. It says it couldn't be established beyond a reasonable doubt *in part due to Trump-connected impediments*.
mentions LEGAL NOTE 3/ Direct anyone contesting this finding to pg. 10 of Vol. 1 of Mueller's reportand Mueller's testimonywhich establishes (a) the long list of impediments the special counsel facedmost of them linked to Trump's campand (b) that new evidence can/will change matters.
mentions CREDIT 2/ I want to further credit @page88 (from @Slate) with a piece of analysis that I've heard nowhere else but is 100% accurate: the evidence that Paul Manafort remained a Kremlin agent in '16 is so overwhelming that Trump's ties to *Manafort* needed to be fully investigated.
mentions CREDIT 3/ While I've written of Manafort's lengthy history with both the Kremlin and Trump in both of my books and have long considered him a Kremlin agent, now that Mueller says Manafort expected payment post-campaign it *does* mean the Trump-Manafort linkage is its own scandal.
mentions LEGAL NOTE 4/ Understand, too, that Mueller's legal determination that the OLC opinion was binding on him meant that even if he'd charged Manafort with a new crime that would take 6 months to a year to try and Manafort had flipped on Trump after, he *still* couldn't indict Trump.
mentions LEGAL NOTE 5/ Meanwhile, the counterintelligence probe Mueller deferred to covered the same events/witnesses Mueller's office had dealt with *and* more; had a lower standard of proof (preponderance of the evidence); could look at collusion; and could report to Congress if needed.
mentions CONCLUSION/ So if you wonder why Trump just gave Barr power to disclose classified intel to Trump transition official Nunesand why Trump may be trying to make Nunes the Director of National Intelligencethat's why. The threat to him has moved there, so he needs Barr/Nunes on it.
Seth Abramson....
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1154793167960629251.htmlBREAKING NEWS THREAD) A historic legal analysis published by @Slate confirms what this feed assertsthe Mueller Report FOUND a criminal conspiracy between Trump's campaign and the Kremlin but declined to charge it. Please RETWEET this thread explaining this explosive revelation.
mentions 1/ As law professor @jedshug explains on @Slate, federal law doesn't require an explicit agreement between parties for the criminal statute prohibiting coordination between campaigns and foreign nationals to be violated. Paul Manafort committed this crime.
Slate's Trumpcast
@realTrumpcast
Reflecting on the inspirational @RepAdamSchiff and what Mueller is really saying in his volumes, @page88 and @jedshug do a testimony debrief. https://megaphone.link/SLT9531042070
Megaphone (formerly Panoply Media) ?@MegaphonePods
159
12:00 AM - Jul 26, 2019
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82 people are talking about this
mentions 2/ The Mueller Report erroneously proceeded under an interpretation of federal law that no independent legal experts have agreed with: that a criminal conspiracy to violate election law requires an explicit agreement. But whether this "error" was indeed an *accident* is in doubt.
mentions 3/ The evidence of the Mueller Report, criminal investigative SOPs, and major-media reporting establishes that the original intent of the special counsel's office was to charge Paul Manafort with conspiracy with Russiaand that Trump knew this and sought to obstruct this finding.
mentions 4/ NBC News reported in January 2018 that Donald Trump privately believed Paul Manafort could incriminate him in a federal crimebut that by January 2018, information had reached him (privately) that had convinced him that Manafort would not in fact do so.
Trump is convinced he'll beat Mueller, confidants say
Ahead of his first State of the Union address, Donald Trump is telling friends and aides that things are going great for him.
https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/2018-state-of-the-union-address/state-donald-trump-he-thinks-it-couldn-t-be-better-n842501
mentions 5/ The Mueller Report clearly establishes that Trump received the private intelligence that Paul Manafort would not incriminate him in a conspiracyby refusing to cooperate with federal law enforcement, *not* because Manafort *couldn't* incriminate himfrom Manafort's legal team.
mentions 6/ Criminal investigative SOPs (standard operating procedures) establish why Trump believed federal law enforcement would seek to have Manafort incriminate him: because investigators do not cut deals with a national campaign manager *without* seeking to indict someone higher up.
mentions 7/ When the special counsel's office charged Manafort with offenses that could put him in federal prison for 20 yearsand then entered into a cooperation deal with himthe only person above him in the campaign hierarchy for him to "flip" on was the presidential candidate himself.
mentions 8/ The legal analysis published digitally by @Slate confirms the uncharged offense on Manafort would have been a federal criminalelectionconspiracy with individuals he knew from his work on behalf of the Kremlin were Kremlin agents. This is the "flip" Trump was terrified about.
mentions 9/ The Mueller Report establishes that Manafort had been a paid Kremlin agent, via Oleg Deripaskawho says he "does not separate himself" or his interests from those of the Kremlinsince the year Manafort moved into Trump Tower (2006), and that he remained so during the campaign.
mentions 10/ Manafort's work for the Kremlinonce thought to have ended in the early 2010sin fact continued in and past his work as Trump's campaign manager. Mueller's report and testimony establishes that Manafort anticipated both loan forgiveness and cash from the Kremlin for his work.
mentions 11/ Mueller's report and testimony establishes Manafort as a Kremlin agent in 2016 and afterfederal law establishes he was in a criminal conspiracy with the Kremlin based upon his agreement to coordinate with and provide proprietary data/intelligence to the Kremlin mid-campaign.
mentions 12/ That Donald Trump thought Mueller would indict him if Manafort flipped means that Trump had knowledge of the criminal conspiracy Mueller opted not to charge Manafort witha decision Mueller made so Manafort would flip on Trump. Trump's criminal obstruction prevented any flip.
mentions 13/ The Mueller Report outlines how Trumpthrough a joint defense agreement with Manafort and his lawyers acting as intermediariesmade it absolutely clear to Manafort that he would be "taken care of" if he refused to "flip" on his former boss. The obstruction hid the conspiracy.
mentions 14/ For those who haven't read Vol. 1 of the Mueller Report, I'll now briefly summarize the federal criminal election conspiracy Mueller chose not to indict Manafort for because of a) him thinking Manafort would flip on Trump, b) an "error" of law by the special counsel's office.
mentions 15/ I put "error" in quotes advisedly. Mueller cut a cooperation deal with Manafort because his office *knew* the federal criminal statutes governing US election law do not require "explicit" coordination; that Manafort had violated these laws; and that he could "flip" on Trump.
mentions 16/ There was no reason for Mueller to cut a deal with Manafortor for his office to represent to federal courts that the lies Manafort told the SCO that mattered were the lies hiding this conspiracyif the feds did not believe Manafort had committed an election conspiracy crime.
mentions 17/ Here's what Trump's campaign manager did: within days of his hire by Trump he contacted a known Kremlin agentKilimnik, who Manafort knew to be a Kremlin agent both through direct contact with him and his (Manafort's) other deputy, Gatesto seek compensation from the Kremlin.
mentions 18/ That compensationMueller's report and testimony confirmswas in the form of both loan forgiveness and direct payment from Kremlin agents. In recompense, as a quid pro quo that was either implicit or explicit (federal law criminalizes either), Manafort would aid the Kremlin.
mentions 19/ Manafort thereafteralmost immediatelydid at least 3 things:
1. He directed his deputy Gates to *regularly* provide proprietary internal polling data to the Kremlin that would allow the Kremlin to better direct its domestic disinformation campaign (a crime) against America.
mentions 20/
2. Paul Manafort offered Kremlin agents internal campaign intelligence assessments about Trump's campaign tactics and strategy, the better to convince the Kremlin that Trump had a chance of winning and that its pro-Trump hacking and disinformation campaigns should continue.
mentions 21/
3. Paul Manafort initiated an 18-month negotiation with Kremlin agents (beginning August 2, 2016 and continuing into '18) with the goal of the negotiations being to promise Putin sanctions relief in exchange for pre-election assistance toand post-election comity withTrump.
mentions 22/ The Mueller Report and major-media reporting establishes that Trump was in regular contact with Manafort about his campaign from the day he was hired and about *sanctions* both before and after his fake "firing" in August 2016. And we know that the "firing" was indeed fake.
mentions 23/ The Mueller Report and major-media reporting establishes that Trump remained in regular contact with Manafort on the subject of sanctions after his "firing" in mid-August 2016; indeed, eyewitnesses say Manafort basically continued advising Trump exactly as he had done before.
mentions 24/ Immediately upon his "firing," Manafort went on a cruise with one of Trump's two best friends, Thomas Barrack (the other is Howard Lorber) during which cruise Barrack orchestrated payment to Manafort of millions and millions of dollars via sources tied to the Trump campaign.
mentions 25/ This cruise remains under federal probeand Gates remains a federal cooperating witness despite the filing of the Mueller Report because Gates is now the lone witness who can testify to what Manafort and Trump did, who knew of it, and Trump's efforts to sway him via Manafort.
mentions 26/ Mueller's testimony indicates the question of collusion (whether a person is compromised by a foreign power due to implicit or express coordination) is now in the hands of the FBI's counterintel division, whichwith Manafort's prison sentenceexplains the lack of new charges.
mentions 27/ Mueller testified he wanted to move quickly to file a report; the implication is he didn't want to interfere with the 2020 electiongiven that he'd been investigating the many insidious ways the Russians had done just that in '16. He knew counterintelligence work was ongoing.
mentions 28/ Mueller knew Trump had successfully obstructed justice to keep Manafort from cooperating; Manafort was in prison and going nowhere; Gates remained a cooperating witness; counterintelligence investigators were looking more explicitly at collusion and are continuing their work.
mentions 29/
There is no legal or factual basis to say Manafort was *not* in a criminal election conspiracy with the Kremlin.
There is no legal or factual basis to say Trump did *not* know Manafort could incriminate him or that he did *not* take steps to obstruct/tamper with Manafort.
mentions 30/ Given Mueller's testimony, his report, major-media reports, and investigative SOPs, there are *no facts* and is *no law* on the other side of what this thread explains: a conspiracy occurred; Mueller wanted to charge it; he knew Trump knew of it; Trump obstructed that charge.
mentions 31/ The only question that remains is why the special counsel's office misstated federal election law and withheld charging Manafort with the conspiracy they believed he'd engaged inand whose revelation they knew Trump had obstructed. But the fact of ongoing CI work explains it.
mentions 32/ To explain: we learned yesterday a shocking factthat Mueller didn't subpoena Trump *though he knew he could* because he felt he had enough evidence of corrupt intent *and* needed to bring *his* part of the Trump-Russia case to an expeditious end. He testified to all of this.
mentions 33/ The Manafort situation was identical: Mueller's work confirms he knew a crime had occurredhence the Manafort cooperation dealand Manafort could flip on the only man higher than him (Trump). But charging a crime in light of Trump's obstruction would've taken monthsor years.
mentions 34/ With Vol. 2 (obstruction), Mueller relented on actions he knew he could take because he felt he had enough evidence. With Vol. 1 (conspiracy), Mueller relented on actions he knew he could take because an ongoing counterintelligence investigation would achieve the same result.
mentions 35/ Legal experts should feel free to check the legal analysis of @jedshug and the investigative, factual, and Mueller Report analyses I've provided here and elsewhere. They are correct: a conspiracy occurred; the evidence indicates Trump knew of it and obstructed its disclosure.
mentions 36/ Moreover, additional evidence comes from the mouths of the men themselves: Trump told friends Manafort could incriminate him; Manafort told Gates Trump was tampering with him; Kilimnik and other witnesses confirm Manafort committed election conspiracy crimes with the Kremlin.
mentions 37/ Still other witnessesincluding one Manafort family member and Trump's best friend Barrackconfirm how close Manafort and Trump were, what the men discussed and how frequently and when, and the fact that work was indeed being done to compensate Manafort even post-"firing."
mentions 38/ If you wonder why this legal and investigative analysis didn't come together until Mueller's testimony, it's because many of us were waiting for several revelations that came during his testimony which are *central* to this thread. 15 of them are here:
Unroll available on Thread Reader
Seth Abramson
✔
@SethAbramson
(THREAD) Far and away the worst take on Mueller's testimony is that we learned nothing new from it. In fact, the *new* facts we learned were jaw-dropping. This thread focuses *only* on 10 new things we now know. I hope you'll RETWEET this for anyone you think might be interested.
View image on Twitter
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12:19 PM - Jul 25, 2019
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mentions 39/ One other thing we learned by Mueller's testimonythough I've been saying it here for 2 yearsis that this is the most complicated federal criminal investigation of our lifetimes. No one person can have full mastery over its contours. So it's no surprise no one in media does.
mentions 40/ We often ignore legal/investigative experts to listen to what media tells us. Media didn't follow the facts or law laid out here so it has reportedand will keep reportingno conspiracy occurred. But lawyers and investigators should feel free to check the work done here. /end
mentions PS/ Many reading this may now say, "What now? Manafort committed a federal election crime and conspiracy with Kremlin agents, all the evidence says Trump knew of it, Mueller knew Trump knew of it, and Trump committed crimes to block Manafort from revealing it"so what comes next?
mentions PS2/ First, the fight to get Congressional (and eventually partial public) access to the FBI counterintelligence case file, findings, and report began only *yesterday*. The Congresspeople *leading* that fight know federal law, and do not disagree with the analysis in this thread.
mentions PS3/ Second, now that Mueller's testimonysee my link to my prior tweet earlier in this threadhas revealed at least five new pieces of information that allow the understanding I've laid out here to crystallize, a public information campaign must begin in D.C. *and* social media.
mentions PS4/ Anyone on social media can nowin good faithsay the following:
1. Manafort criminally conspired with the Kremlin during the '16 presidential election.
2. The special counsel's office believed this and it acted accordingly.
3. Trump believed this and he acted accordingly.
mentions PS5/ And one can then add this addendum:
4. The FBI Counterintelligence Division is now conducting an investigation into collusion between Trump and foreign powersincluding Russiathat is far larger in scope than Mueller's work and has Rick Gates as a key witness on conspiracy.
mentions NOTE/ I do not seek or desire for anyone reading this to "take my word for it." Read the Mueller Report; read the transcript of Mueller's testimony; read the relevant federal election laws; confirm my major-media references; look up why/when federal cooperation deals are offered.
mentions CREDIT/ Thanks to Virginia Heffernan (@page88) for interviewing @jedshug for @Slate and letting the professor clearly and in some detailand at some lengthoutline these harrowing facts/realities. Again, here's the link to the relevant digital publication:
Slate's Trumpcast
@realTrumpcast
Reflecting on the inspirational @RepAdamSchiff and what Mueller is really saying in his volumes, @page88 and @jedshug do a testimony debrief. https://megaphone.link/SLT9531042070
Megaphone (formerly Panoply Media) ?@MegaphonePods
159
12:00 AM - Jul 26, 2019
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82 people are talking about this
mentions LEGAL NOTE/ The Mueller Report, as to conspiracy, said only that it couldn't establish it beyond a reasonable doubt *as of the time of the report* but that additional informationyes, the report says thiscould change that analysis. Then we learned the CI probe was still ongoing.
mentions LEGAL NOTE 2/ So if you post my synopsis and someone says, "But Mueller said there was no conspiracy!", tell them the following: no, that's not what the report says. At all. It says it couldn't be established beyond a reasonable doubt *in part due to Trump-connected impediments*.
mentions LEGAL NOTE 3/ Direct anyone contesting this finding to pg. 10 of Vol. 1 of Mueller's reportand Mueller's testimonywhich establishes (a) the long list of impediments the special counsel facedmost of them linked to Trump's campand (b) that new evidence can/will change matters.
mentions CREDIT 2/ I want to further credit @page88 (from @Slate) with a piece of analysis that I've heard nowhere else but is 100% accurate: the evidence that Paul Manafort remained a Kremlin agent in '16 is so overwhelming that Trump's ties to *Manafort* needed to be fully investigated.
mentions CREDIT 3/ While I've written of Manafort's lengthy history with both the Kremlin and Trump in both of my books and have long considered him a Kremlin agent, now that Mueller says Manafort expected payment post-campaign it *does* mean the Trump-Manafort linkage is its own scandal.
mentions LEGAL NOTE 4/ Understand, too, that Mueller's legal determination that the OLC opinion was binding on him meant that even if he'd charged Manafort with a new crime that would take 6 months to a year to try and Manafort had flipped on Trump after, he *still* couldn't indict Trump.
mentions LEGAL NOTE 5/ Meanwhile, the counterintelligence probe Mueller deferred to covered the same events/witnesses Mueller's office had dealt with *and* more; had a lower standard of proof (preponderance of the evidence); could look at collusion; and could report to Congress if needed.
mentions CONCLUSION/ So if you wonder why Trump just gave Barr power to disclose classified intel to Trump transition official Nunesand why Trump may be trying to make Nunes the Director of National Intelligencethat's why. The threat to him has moved there, so he needs Barr/Nunes on it.
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