ALL GOD'S CHILDREN GOT SHOES
And they’re beginning to drop. Before noon today:
· The FBI seized files from Strategic Campaign Group, Republican campaign consultants in Annapolis MD. I’m guessing this has to do with money laundering (Russian money going into Republican coffers), but we’ll see.
· Acting FBI Director McCabe told a Senate committee that he and the entire FBI admired James Comey (contrary to Team Trump’s assertions); refused to confirm Trump’s claim that he wasn’t under investigation; called the investigation into Russian election interference “major” (again contradicting the White House line) and promised to tell Congress if the White House tried to interfere in the investigation. Today, FBI agents were replacing their web photos with photos of James Comey, a practice ordinarily reserved for mourning the death of an agent.
· Trump made (further) fools of all his flacks when he admitted on NBC this morning that he’d intended to fire Comey no matter what Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein wrote as justification. That eviscerates his stated rationale for the firing, and opens him up to charges of obstruction of justice. Not only that, but the bizarre paragraph in his letter of dismissal, claiming that Comey had three times assured Trump that he wasn’t under investigation, may have amounted to a waiver of executive privilege with regard to the Comey firing. Spicer, Sanders, and Conway are being paid to sacrifice their reputations by repeating Trump’s lies. But Trump’s inability to stick to an alibi for even 48 hours ought to serve as a warning to people like Mike Pence and congressional Republicans who trot out dutifully to parrot talking points that evaporate before their very eyes. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Everything Trump touches turns to shit.
Meanwhile, Louise Mensch, whose conspiracy theories are looking better every day, outlined the RICO case against Reince Priebus and Paul Ryan. She says that the FBI has audio tape of Reince Priebus at a secret meeting with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, agreeing to accept laundered Russian money into the campaign. She says the FBI also has tape of Paul Ryan acknowledging that he was aware of this scheme. I know this sounds preposterous. But is there anything about this scandal that doesn’t sound preposterous?
RICO is the Racketeer and Corrupt Organizations Act, although you could be forgiven if you called it the Republican and Corrupt Organizations Act.
Can’t tell the players without a scorecard? Here are a couple of links that should help.
http://m.dailykos.com/story/2017/4/2/1649582/-Part-II-of-Compilation-of-Trump-s-Russian-Connections