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#Mueller

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#Americans quickly forget everything

But there are things that should not be forgotten
like the
'#Mueller Report'

Written by an irreproachable and apolitical person.
(Report who was quickly 'covered' by MAGAs politicians to protect trump)

Only the commitment that the MAGA Republican had
to suffocate the Mueller report is sufficient to demonstrate
that it was the ending of Trump's political future.

Continued thread

Other elite #law firms have been hit w/similar sanctions, leaving them to choose whether to fight the orders or cut a *deal* w/ #Trump to remove the restrictions, even as a judge has already blocked one of the orders because it is likely to be unlawful.

The order said Trump was in part punishing #WilmerHale for the firm’s connections to #Mueller, who led an inquiry that the order described as “one of the most partisan investigations in American history.”

Brits need to read this too!

“KRASNOV: Every American Needs to Understand This”

by Don Knight in The Midnight Manuscripts on Substack

@BBC5Live
@BBCRadio4
@guardian @Independent @thetimes
@UKLabour

“New Allegations Resurface: Was Donald Trump Recruited as a Russian Asset?”

open.substack.com/pub/donovanw

The Midnight Manuscripts · KRASNOV: Every American Needs to Understand ThisBy Don Knight
#Press#US#Russia
Continued thread

#Trump was not explaining why a deal w/ #Russia would advance #America’s interests, or why honoring it would advance Russia’s. He was defending Russia’s integrity by vouching for #Putin’s character.

In recent yrs, the kinship between Trump & Putin has become somewhat unfashionable to point out. After #Mueller disappointed liberals by failing to prove a #criminal #conspiracy btwn the Trump campaign & Russia, conventional wisdom on much of the center & left…came to treat the scandal as overblown.

On December 5, right-wing culture warriors instructed lawmakers attending the
American Legislative Exchange Council’s ( #ALEC )
"States and Nation Policy Summit"
in Washington, D.C.,
on the steps their states can take to upend policies and practices
designed to help address the unfolding climate emergency and diversify workforces.

CRC Advisors Senior Vice President 💥#Mike #Thompson 💥led the workshop
“Battles Won, War Continues:
The Left, ESG and State Policy,”
according to materials obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD).

In 2020, #Greg #Mueller and #Leonard #Leo, who played an integral role in Trump’s effort to pack the federal judiciary with right-wing judges,
founded CRC Advisors
— the group Thompson represents
— to “funnel big money and expertise across the conservative movement.”

Although not as well known as Leo,
Thompson, a member of ALEC’s private sector advisory board,
is an important Christian Right operative
who plays multiple leadership roles in campaigns and communications.

Thompson’s public relations skills were on full display in his remarks
demonizing the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ),
“a global coalition of leading financial institutions committed to accelerating the decarbonization of the economy”
in order to preserve the planet from further destruction.

Thompson argued that large asset managers and banks that participate in GFANZ
— including BlackRock, State Street, Wells Fargo, City Bank, Morgan Stanley, Chase, and Bank of America
— are breaking antitrust law by utilizing sustainable investment strategies.

Thompson provided an example of a lawsuit against BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard
filed last month by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) and 10 other Republican attorneys general
— all active members of the fossil-fuel backed "Republican Attorneys General Association" ( #RAGA )
— alleging that the three companies violated antitrust law in colluding to raise electricity prices through their investments.

“The states have filed an antitrust lawsuit and they detail in it all of the evidence where those three companies were colluding to keep coal in the ground and from coming to market,
thus, driving up the price and violating antitrust law,”
Thompson told workshop participants.

The PR professional neglected to mention that CRC Advisors is a paid consultant of RAGA
or that his boss Leo’s "Concord Fund" has funneled $3.5 million to the pay-to-play group this year
and $20.3 million since the organization was founded in 2014, according to CMD’s analysis of its tax filings.

#Sal #Nuzzo, the first workshop presenter, is executive director of
"Consumers Defense",
the sister organization of Consumers’ Research,
which is a vice-chairman sponsor of ALEC’s summit and a driver of the right-wing’s manufactured crisis around “woke” capitalism.

Nuzzo argued that reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050 through renewable energy production would force Americans to cede
“two-thirds of [the] U.S. electricity generation supply chain to the Communist Party of China.”

He didn’t cite a source for this claim, nor does the group’s website provide any research substantiating it.

Nuzzo also attempted to raise the alarm with lawmakers from states that depend on agriculture
by claiming that the Left has “shifted their attacks and tactics into the agriculture space”
in response to anti-ESG legislation passed over the last three legislative cycles
and has moved to prevent farmers from getting access to loans.

“The [Left’s] coordinated attacks on agriculture are occurring at all levels.
They’re at the producer level.
They’re at the distributor level.
They’re at the consumption and sales level,”
Nuzzo claimed.

“If farming interests cannot get financing, [farmers] cannot operate.”

#Paul #Watkins, founder of "Fusion Law" and both a senior legal fellow at "Consumers’ Research"
and a special counsel with "Heritage Action", made a number of claims in his presentation
based on his belief that diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are discriminatory,
and therefore illegal.

As a member of ALEC’s "Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force", he is involved in drafting and voting on most of the group’s pro-fossil fuel policies alongside lawmakers and polluting industry lobbyists.
exposedbycmd.org/2024/12/07/to

EXPOSEDbyCMD · Top Leonard Leo Lieutenant Leads ALEC Bootcamp Against “Woke” Capitalism - EXPOSEDbyCMDOn December 5, right-wing culture warriors instructed lawmakers attending the American Legislative Exchange Council’s States and Nation Policy Summit in Washington, D.C., on the steps their states can take to upend policies and practices designed to help address the unfolding climate emergency and diversify workforces.
Replied in thread

⬆️ @emptywheel @tobie1 @KathyLK @davetroy

>> By "Garland" you mean, "holy hell I couldn't figure out how to spell Jeffrey Rosen."

No, I really meant #Garland, as in #MerrickGarland (R), appointed by #JoeBiden (D) as US Attorney General in 2021 after #Trump was evicted by the People, and per OLC memo, became eligible for prosecution of potential crimes that #Mueller was neither able to exonerate Trump of nor prosecute him for when Bill Barr & Jeffrey Rosen were in charge

lawfaremedia.org/article/where

DefaultWhere Is the Justice Department on the Trump Obstruction Offenses?Some speculation as the statutes of limitations for offenses described in the Mueller report begin to run down.
Replied in thread

⬆️ @tobie1 @KathyLK @davetroy @emptywheel

>> …start from the bottom and work your way up. And that is what's apparently happened in the Jan 6 investigation, which is why there's a case pending in Judge Chutkan's court.

The case in Judge #Chutkan's court is for the TOP.

In a bottoms-up, collaborators in Congress would come before #Trump.

>> Do you really believe Jack Smith started from scratch rather than inherited an investigation?

He only inherited #Mueller investigation & let evidence rot

Replied in thread

⬆️ @tobie1 @KathyLK @davetroy @emptywheel

>> Garland even let SS texts re Trump/Pence get Epsteined instead of impounding the exec dept property 😡

#Garland also let #Mueller evidence rot and expire instead of prosecuting #Trump for crimes that Mueller had not "exonerated" him for.

Not sure when Garland started J6 investigation but it seems like #J6Committee "jolted" him into action.

Least he could've done is immediately impound SS texts which as Exec branch property didn't require subpoenas.

Replied in thread

⬆️ @GreenFire

>> People blaming #Garland are wrong

#MemoryHoled and #Revisionist IMO

Has anybody heard any explanation about why Garland did not put people on a blanket notice to not destroy evidence related to #Jan6 as soon as he was appointed?

Or why he wasted so much time on "pretty please" in classified docs case, or failed to prosecute it in DC where the crime occurred?

Or let #Mueller evidence rot and expire until they were time-barred for admission?

None of these are 1st Am issues.

Replied in thread

⬆️ @GreenFire @barney

>> Sadly, you either believe that a POTUS is a king or you know you are lying

#POTUS is not king, but the #OLC memo that hamstrung #Mueller came from the executive branch, not from the Constitution. If SOMEONE can make a memo that lets a treasonous attack go unprosecuted, then SOMEONE should be able to rescind that memo — not saying POTUS has to do that

In any case, 1 wk before the most consequential election of our lives is not the best time to call a fellow dem a liar 🙂

Replied in thread

⬆️ @GreenFire @barney

Whole lot of words to defend #MerrickGarland who also scattered evidence collected by #Mueller to the winds, letting them expire due to statute of limitations

If Garland had started prosecuting #Trump on his first days, he would announce that and put all concerned on notice to not destroy evidence. This includes US Secret Service. He would have made some move on Mueller evidence, when the latter said Trump was not exonerated. SOMEONE would change DOJ POLICY on prosecution…

No matter what shenanigans #SCOTUS, #Cannon or #Merchan try to pull, no matter how many delays they allow in order to try to help trump rig the election, #TrumpIsToast. I've been saying this forever, and even though #Mueller turned out to be a pile of shit, #JackSmith is a professional.

Smith and #Chutkin are pushing forward with a winning case. Trump and the GOP have already started #StopTheSteal2, but good luck with that when trump's in court for #1

#Politics

palmerreport.com/analysis/jack

Palmer Report · Jack Smith just dropped a legal bomb on Donald Trump...
Continued thread

#Leonard #Leo’s status as the world’s third most powerful figure soon made him a rich man.

During his time at the Federalist Society,
he had hardly been a pauper,
bringing in around $400,000 a year.

But with six children attending The Heights and Oakcrest, the two Opus Dei schools that charged up to $30,000 tuition annually per student,
and a burgeoning taste for good food and expensive wines,
it didn’t take long to burn through his salary.

But his life had taken a lavish turn after Trump’s victory
and his appointment as an unpaid advisor to the president on judicial appointments.

The dramatic uptick in his personal fortune dovetailed with his joining a for-profit entity called "CRC Advisors", alongside another CIC board member #Greg #Mueller.

Mueller had spearheaded the "National Organization for Marriage" vitriolic public relations strategy,
and #CRC quickly established itself as the go-to advisory firm for the dark-money network of nonprofit entities that Leo had helped set up over the years.

Once again, the Corkery name was all over the money flow.

The majority of CRC’s income came from
👉 "The 85 Fund",
a dark money non-profit that
⚠️ Leo repurposed to fund conservative causes nationwide,
and
💥that fund paid $34 million in fees to his new advisory firm over a single two-year period.

As the money rolled in, Leo began to enjoy some of the same luxuries as the billionaires he had spent years courting.

For most of his three decades in Washington, Leo had led a modest home life,
living for years in a small apartment in the Randolph Towers complex in downtown Arlington,
before moving to a single-story five-bedroom family home in suburban McLean in 2010.

But in the years since 2016, he had spent millions of dollars on two new mansions in Maine,
bought four new cars,
and hired a wine buyer and locker at Morton’s, an upscale steakhouse three blocks from the Catholic Information Center.

It was only a foretaste of what was to come.

➡️ In 2020, Leo stepped back from his duties at the Federalist Society to focus on the
dark-money network he had fostered as a side hustle during his time there.

With him, he took one of the Federalist Society’s biggest donors:
a manufacturing billionaire from Chicago called
#Barre #Seid, who was Jewish by heritage but who shared many of Leo’s conservative views.

🧨Over two decades, Seid had pumped at least $775 million into campaigns for libertarian and conservative causes,
quietly transforming himself into one of the most important donors on the political right.

Almost ninety, Seid had decided to leave his money continuing that work
— and concluded that Leo was the man to oversee that largesse.

🔥Leo had betrayed his bosses, who had tasked him with wooing the billionaire as a potential donor for the Federalist Society.

Instead, Leo had cultivated him for his own network.

Seid signed his business over to Leo, giving him control over a
🔥$1.6 billion war chest and
👉transforming him from a proxy for
dark-money donors into a donor himself.

Things We Knew and

U.S. District Judge #ReggieWalton Walton sharply rebuked Attorney General William Barr’s handling of the special counsel’s Russia report, saying Barr had made “misleading public statements” to spin the investigation’s findings in favor of #Trump showing a “lack of candor.”
. . . issued an order directing the #DOJ to provide him with an unredacted version of the report

From Fresh Air

one.npr.org/?sharedMediaId=120

#DonaldTrump #Mueller #Putin
#Trump #BillBarr #DOJ

NPR One🔊 Listen Now: The Inside Story of Trump, Russia, and the Mueller InvestigationFresh Air on NPR One | 45:24