March 1, 2019

Paul Manafort wants sentence 'significantly below' guidelines in Virginia

Source: The Washington Post



By Rachel Weiner March 1 at 5:21 PM

Paul Manafort asked a federal judge in Virginia to give him a prison term “significantly below” the 19 to 24 years called for under sentencing guidelines, calling that range “clearly disproportionate to” his crimes of bank and tax fraud.

This is the former Trump campaign chairman’s second bid for leniency as he faces sentencing in two cases prosecuted by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. He is set to be sentenced in Virginia at 3:30 p.m. Thursday.

The cases the “Special Counsel have brought against Mr. Manafort have devastated him personally, professionally, and financially,” his attorneys wrote in a filing Friday.

In Alexandria, Manafort, 69, was found guilty at trial of stashing the money he made as a lobbyist from Ukrainian oligarchs overseas to avoid taxes and then committing bank fraud to keep up a lavish lifestyle when his patrons lost power. Although jurors could not agree on 10 out of 18 charges, Manafort later admitted full culpability while pleading guilty to related crimes in D.C. federal court.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/paul-manafort-wants-sentence-significantly-below-guidelines-in-virginia/2019/03/01/c5f09d5c-3ab6-11e9-a06c-3ec8ed509d15_story.html

March 1, 2019

Nunes: 'I want everything that Mueller did made public'

By CAITLIN OPRYSKO 03/01/2019 10:41 AM EST

House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes called Friday for full transparency from special counsel Robert Mueller if his final report on Russian election interference is made public, demanding that any release include every piece of evidence that Mueller used to compile the report.

The California Republican, in an appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference alongside Tom Fitton, president of the right-wing activist group Judicial Watch, prefaced his proposal by saying he doesn’t believe “Mueller has any report to put out that would be worthwhile, with anything new.”

But, the California Republican said, “If he does put out a report, you're gonna see people claiming, 'Oh we have to have this public, it's got to be made public.' That's fine. But I want everything that Mueller did made public. I want email, I want everybody that they wiretapped, every warrant that they got, every single thing that Mueller used needs to be made public for all of America to see."

He contextualized his argument by saying that he didn’t necessarily disagree with Fitton, who had just told the audience that “this Justice Department has no business writing reports on the president’s conduct as president.”

more
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/01/nunes-mueller-investigation-1197447

March 1, 2019

CNN video from 2016 shows Cohen saying he wanted to come to Washington with Trump

https://twitter.com/MichaelCohen212/status/796744061768073218



The background article about this Tweet:

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/432166-cnn-video-from-2016-shows-cohen-saying-he-wanted-to-come-to-dc-with

March 1, 2019

Saudi Arabia revokes citizenship of Hamza bin Laden

Source: Associated Press



By JON GAMBRELL
46 minutes ago

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia announced Friday it had revoked the citizenship of Hamza bin Laden, the son of the late al-Qaida leader who has become an increasingly prominent figure in the terror network.

Saudi Arabia revoked his citizenship via a royal decree in November, a notice published Friday by the kingdom’s official gazette said.

There was no explanation why the order was only becoming public now. However, the announcement comes after the U.S. government offered a $1 million reward for information leading to his capture as part of its “Rewards for Justice” program.

Bin Laden’s son has emerged as a leader of the al-Qaida terrorist group. His father was killed in a U.S. military raid in Pakistan in May 2011.


Read more: https://apnews.com/2c52afad8fbe433f84f6eafb317c1ade?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP&utm_campaign=SocialFlow

March 1, 2019

Cruz slams Democrats on border wall: They've gone 'bat-crap crazy'

Source: The Hill



BY TAL AXELROD - 03/01/19 10:35 AM EST 192

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) slammed Democrats for their opposition to President Trump’s proposed border wall, saying they’ve gone “bat-crap crazy.”

Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference Friday, Cruz told a rapt crowd that Democrats opposed one of Republicans’ signature immigration platform simply to undermine the White House.

“I think there’s a technical description of what’s going on, it’s that Democrats have gone bat-crap crazy,” he said.

“Now, their position is don’t secure the border at all, let everybody in and have amnesty,” he added. “Here’s their reasoning. Trump wants a wall, we hate Trump, therefore no wall, that’s it.”


Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/432181-cruz-slams-democrats-on-border-wall-theyve-gone-bat-crap-crazy

March 1, 2019

How Mueller Could Add to Trump's Electoral Woes

March 1, 2019 at 9:52 am EST By Taegan Goddard

Charlie Cook: “Trump won the presidency by carrying 30 states that total 306 electoral votes (though two electors cast their ballots for someone else). The election turned on Trump margins of seven-tenths of a point in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and two-tenths of a percent in Michigan. He lost the national popular vote to Hillary Clinton by a touch over 2 points, 46 to 48 percent. While no two elections have precisely the same dynamics, if 2 percentage points were not quite enough for Democrats to win the 270 electoral votes necessary for victory, let’s say that a Democrat needs to win the national vote by 3 points to be reasonably confident of a win. (Keep in mind that the last time there was as big a disparity in the popular and electoral votes was 140 years earlier, when Samuel Tilden won the popular vote while Rutherford B. Hayes prevailed in the Electoral College. But let’s just go with 3 points for this back-of-the-envelope analysis.)”

“Starting off with a base of 35 percent, Trump would need to win at least two-thirds of that 20 percent that is up for grabs in order to get within 3 points of a Democratic opponent and have any realistic chance of winning. That’s a pretty tall order and is likely to hinge on what extent that fifth of the electorate is suffering from Trump fatigue and whether Democrats nominate someone more appealing, or at least more acceptable than the incumbent. That is the group worth watching; those are the people that might be affected one way or another by the big events of the next 20 months—starting with Mueller.”

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https://politicalwire.com/2019/03/01/how-mueller-could-add-to-trumps-electoral-woes/

March 1, 2019

Sally Yates Rails Against Kushner's Security Clearance: We Have 'Lost Our Ability to Be Shocked'

by Pardes Seleh | Mar 1st, 2019, 10:20 am

Former United States Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates decried Jared Kushner‘s security clearance Friday morning as a risk to some of the country’s “most sensitive national security information,” lamenting the lax ability for members of the current administration to receive clearance.

https://twitter.com/SallyQYates/status/1101473943133868035

Four sources for the Times had alleged Trump ordered former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly to give Kushner a top-secret security clearance despite concerns from intelligence and senior administration officials. The story is now trending online, along with the hashtag #FireKushner.

Yates, a holdover from the Obama Administration, was fired by Trump ten days after he came into office, over disputes regarding his travel ban.

https://www.mediaite.com/trump/sally-yates-rails-against-kushners-security-clearance-we-have-lost-our-ability-to-be-shocked/

March 1, 2019

Mika says 'bone-headed' birther Mark Meadows still owes Rashida Tlaib -- and Obama -- an apology

March 1, 2019

Lanny Davis says Cohen's closed-door testimony was "game-changing"

https://twitter.com/TPMLiveWire/status/1101462123329273856

March 1, 2019

Graham On Trump Hush Money: 'People Don't Write Checks' If They Think It's A Crime

Source: Talking Points Memo



By Kate Riga

March 1, 2019 8:57 am

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), one of President Donald Trump’s most stalwart allies, creatively dismissed Michael Cohen’s evidence that Trump signed reimbursement checks for Stormy Daniels’ hush money payments from his personal account, saying that “people don’t write checks if they think they’re involved in a crime.”

“You know, ‘here’s my part in the crime,'” he added.

Cohen testified Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee that Trump reimbursed him for the Daniels’ payment in installments during his presidency.

Watch here via the Hill:

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1101403201935302656

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Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/graham-on-trump-hush-money-people-do-not-write-checks-crime