Another Jeff Carlson article based upon Congressional transcripts. Worth a read.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/exclusive-doj-prevented-fbi-from-pursuing-gross-negligence-charges-against-clinton_2815097.html

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The Justice Department (DOJ), under then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch, decided to set an unusually high threshold for prosecution of Clinton, effectively ensuring from the outset that she would not be charged.

In order for Clinton to be prosecuted, the DOJ required the FBI to establish evidence of intent -- even though the gross negligence statute explicitly does not require this......

Rep. Ratcliffe: Okay. So let me if I can, I know I'm testing your memory, but when you say advice you got from the Department, you're making it sound like it was the Department that told you: You're not going to charge gross negligence because we're the prosecutors and we're telling you we're not going to --
Ms. Page: That is correct.
Rep. Ratcliffe: -- bring a case based on that.
.....

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So the DOJ informed the FBI that they would not prosecute Clinton for 'gross negligence' for handling classified materials via her unsecured server unless there was proof of intent that she set up the server to handle classified materials...an oxymoron situation if there ever was one. How convenient.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5750738-Sentencing-Memorandum.html

Page 13.

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...Indeed, while Mr. Manafort is the only person who has ever been charged with FARA-based money laundering, the approach utilized here could be applied to every FARA prosecution....

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/21/politics/senate-trump-russia-david-geovanis-intl/index.html

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The Senate Intelligence Committee, which is probing allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 elections, has been keen to speak with David Geovanis for several months, the sources say.

Geovanis helped organize a 1996 trip to Moscow by Trump, who was in the early stages of pursuing what would become a long-held goal of building a Trump Tower in the Russian capital, according to multiple media reports at the time.

Years later, Geovanis worked for the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, whose ties to Trump's 2016 campaign chairman Paul Manafort have also been of interest to investigators......

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So a number of questions come to mind. Since Geovanis was identified in the Shearer dossier, he must have provided info of some sort. Was any of this info subsequently used in the Carter Page FISA application/renewals? Was Geovanis ever placed under electronic surveillance as part of the Trump Campaign investigation or any investigation into Oleg Deripaska? Did Geovanis ever have any association with Felix Sater? There is also a good possibility that Geovanis had a relationship with Michael Caputo while the latter resided in Moscow in the 90s.
If you think 1996 is grasping for straws, CNN in the linked article shows individuals traveling with Trump in 1996 were playing roles in his 2016 Campaign, one even possibly peripherally involved in the Trump Tower Meeting with Trump Jr. It's rather amazing to see how far CNN goes in investigating minutia on Trump & weaving it into an elaborate conspiracy story.

not a surprise, Andrew Miller's challenge to Mueller authority failed.

https://www.axios.com/michael-cohen-house-oversight-testimony-donald-trump-43d15703-c5b5-4364-9ecc-1585a62e8a82.html

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The big picture: Cohen is set to accuse Trump of criminal misconduct linked to reimbursements Cohen received in 2017 for hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels regarding her alleged affair with Trump toward the end of the 2016 campaign, as first reported by the Wall Street Journal. The source said Cohen will describe "in granular detail" the scheme to pay off Daniels, which Cohen is set to say was orchestrated by Trump.
The state of play: Cohen and his legal team are expected to provide the committee with a slide containing several of Trump's private financial statements, which they claim reveals how Trump inflated his assets for business and personal reasons. The source said the statements -- which were not provided to Axios -- will show Trump's assets, liabilities and net worth, but cannot be independently verified without Trump's tax returns.

• Cohen will also explain how long Trump remained involved in discussions regarding a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. He's also expected to detail the conversations he had with Trump about the project. His prior false statements about the project to the Senate Intelligence Committee are the source of his guilty plea in the Mueller investigation.
• If asked about the bombshell BuzzFeed News article -- later disputed by special counsel Robert Mueller's office -- that alleged Trump directed Cohen to lie about the extent of the Moscow project, the source said Cohen will explain that Trump never speaks in direct language: "It's always code words."
• Lanny Davis, Cohen's attorney, declined to discuss details about Cohen's testimony.

.....

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Ho-hum. Trump's tax returns again. Never mind that Lanny David is Cohen's lawyer.

blindey said:

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Barr is Rosenstein's boss. He can't come out and bash the guy publicly unless he's prepared to hand in his resignation.

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Isn't he resigning? Who asked him to stay on? Was it Barr?

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Ho-hum. Trump's tax returns again. Never mind that Lanny David is Cohen's lawyer.

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Cohen has a deal with the Democrats to give them ammo so they can go after Trump's businesses and taxes, claiming that they have to after Cohen gave them evidence (as meaninless as it is) of a crime.

Hell, they're talking impeachment for public statements if they can prove they weren't 100% accurate.

But it just proves that Russia, Russia, Russia is dead.

drcrinum said:

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Quote:

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... they claim reveals how Trump inflated his assets for business and personal reasons. The source said the statements -- which were not provided to Axios -- will show Trump's assets, liabilities and net worth, but cannot be independently verified without Trump's tax returns.

• ...

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Ho-hum. Trump's tax returns again. Never mind that Lanny David is Cohen's lawyer.

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How can his tax returns show "assets, liabilities, and net worth"? Am I missing something? I'm no real estate magnate, but you certainly cannot discern those things from my returns.

Now a mortgage application, that's a different story.

Outcome from the Lynch-Clinton tarmac meeting?

But 'we' knew that a long time ago.

Cohen has been saying he's never been for quite some time

BMX Bandit said:

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Cohen has been saying he's never been for quite some time

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Yet McClatchy reported that he was in Prague after all of this was understood.

BMX Bandit said:

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Cohen has been saying he's never been for quite some time

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Several leftist shills on this site continue to proclaim that nothing in the dossier has been debunked. Oops.

https://consortiumnews.com/2019/02/13/the-real-motive-behind-the-fbi-plan-to-investigate-trump-as-a-russian-agent/

Interesting read. The fallacy of 'either wittingly or unwittingly'.

drcrinum said:

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https://consortiumnews.com/2019/02/13/the-real-motive-behind-the-fbi-plan-to-investigate-trump-as-a-russian-agent/

Interesting read. The fallacy of 'either wittingly or unwittingly'.

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From the article:

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A CNN article about the immediate aftermath of the Comey firing reported that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and senior FBI officials "viewed Trump as a leader who needed to be reined in, according to two sources describing the sentiment of the time."

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After the election, I said on this board that I voted for Trump because the media and administrative agencies would be a check on his administration but would help Clinton do just about whatever she wanted. Seems like I might have been on to something.

I would say not just a check but an outright onslaught - often against the rule of law.

Putin is laughing his ass off watching our so called leaders in Washington degenerate into political fighting like spoiled children. There is no sense of proportionality as shown yesterday in the Cohen hearing.

oysterbayAG said:

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Putin is laughing his ass off watching our so called leaders in Washington degenerate into political fighting like spoiled children. There is no sense of proportionality as shown yesterday in the Cohen hearing.

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No freaking doubt! He wanted to sow discontent. He didn't care who won. The Democrats and Never Trumpers have given Putin success beyond his wildest dreams.

https://dailycaller.com/2019/02/28/judge-overrules-steele-deposition/

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Judge Orders Release Of Christopher Steele Deposition

A federal judge in Florida on Thursday ordered the release of depositions given by former British spy Christopher Steele and a longtime associate of late Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain in a lawsuit filed against BuzzFeed regarding Steele's anti-Trump dossier.

U.S. District Court Judge Ursula Ungaro overruled requests by Steele and David Kramer, the former McCain associate, to keep depositions they gave in the BuzzFeed lawsuit under seal. Ungaro dismissed a lawsuit filed against BuzzFeed on Dec. 19, 2018, by Aleksej Gubarev, a Russian businessman accused in the dossier of using his companies to hack into DNC computers.

The depositions by Steele and Kramer, a former Department of State official, are likely to shed light on how the dossier was compiled and disseminated to U.S. government officials and the press. Ungaro ordered the documents' release for March 14......

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This may provide some interesting details.

Looks like March 14th may be an interesting day...the Ides of March -1.

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Can a "client" sue "their attorney" for malpractice when said "attorney" is volunteering advice and not being paid? Like Lanny Davis, for example?

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Yes

If you were getting banned wouldn't that already have happened? Keep faith

Tucker Carlson demolishes the Dems over the Cohen hearings this evening. First 10 minutes of the above video. Entertaining.

During the above segment, Carlson mentioned that Cohen was shopping a book deal about Trump just before the FBI raided his home (new info to me) & even had a tentative deal until the raid. Trump was touted as Mr. Wonderful in the book deal...read about it in the Daily Mail story below, published just today:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6757251/Michael-Cohen-pitched-book-claiming-Trump-not-liar.html

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EXCLUSIVE: 'Crazy, Dumb, Paranoid, Liar' - these things have been said about my boss...NONE of it is true!' Inside Michael Cohen's '$750,000' book deal and how he pitched the proposal praising Trump just weeks before the FBI raided his office

• Michael Cohen has turned on Trump now, but just weeks before the FBI raided the office of the president's longtime personal attorney he pitched a book proposal
• Cohen wanted to paint Trump in a positive light, starting off the proposal by saying the president is not 'crazy, dumb, paranoid, in over his head, or a liar'
• He promised chapters on both first lady Melania Trump and Trump's children, as well as 'the unfortunate saga' of Stormy Daniels
• He sent his book to several potential publishers, and one, Hachette, reportedly was willing to pay him $750,000 for his words
• In the proposal, Cohen said his most important job in his role as special counsel to the Trump Organization was 'looking out for Mr. Trump and his family'
• The now-disbarred attorney said his role mostly took place behind the scenes
• The 52-year-old writes: 'No issue was too big, too sticky or too oddball for me to tackle. I saw it all, handled it all. And still do'
• In a testimony to Congress on Wednesday, Cohen admitted to working out hush money payments for Trump, who he now accuses of being a racist and a conman
• The deal with Hachette's imprint Center Street eventually fell apart after Cohen was charged with the crimes that will now land him in prison for three years
• Cohen also told Congress he would not rule out accepting TV, movie or book deals ...

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Your contributions and humor will be missed, but I don't blame you for taking a break for your sanity.

https://amgreatness.com/2019/02/28/where-is-house-ethics-probe-into-adam-schiff/

Dems believe that ethics only apply to Reps, not to themselves...Dems don't adhere to any moral principles. If you don't understand this, then you don't know anything about the art of political foolery: "Accuse your enemy (opponent) of what you are doing,..." (Quotation from Karl Marx). A variation of the latter can be found in Alinsky's Rules for Radicals: "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules."

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1101341356050530304.html

Good read.

summary of that is what several pundits have said for many months now:

"Trump has nothing to fear from Mueller. Its SDNY where he may have problems."

ccatag said:

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aggiehawg said:

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As my parting post on this thread, ponder this for a long time. Can a "client" sue "their attorney" for malpractice when said "attorney" is volunteering advice and not being paid? Like Lanny Davis, for example?

It's not like Lanny was working for Legal Aid and was assigned Cohen as a "client."

Cohen is facing several new charges which will extend his prison time. Think Lanny GAS? Nope. Cohen was his useful idiot.

Carry on. I'll keep tabs and wish you luck.

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I'm not sure what happened with you but I have seen posters attack you personally so I am guessing something happened relating to this. Like so many others that have posted and supported (starred) their appreciation and admiration for you and your contributions on this board, I feel very much the same way and hope you stay. On the other hand I completely understand needing to step away from things and specifically TexAgs and/or the Politics board, in particular. Taking a break from it all can be a very good thing, especially if you are one of the warriors and constantly dealing with attacks.

Just wanted to chime in and let you know from me how highly regarded I consider you. If I may ask would you consider just one thing, - make an exception for this one thread only. Just this one. You are among friends here. We'll look out for you and take care of you and come to the defense of you here. You have made such a huge difference in this important thread. We need you here.

Thank you so much. You've made a big difference for others and I want you to know that.

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Amen!

drcrinum said:

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https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1070970370243551232.html

This is a fascinating semi-biography on Felix Sater, long but factual with multiple references. He is obviously an important character in the background during Donald Trump's life in the 21st Century -- many business deals. Sater is/was definitely a significant FBI/CIA asset and worked under Loretta Lynch's purview for many years; his court records are still sealed despite many legal attempts to unseal them...because of ongoing FBI/CIA activities. Was Sater involved in the BURYAKOV Case along with Carter Page & possibly even Trump? Sater definitely was a close associate of Michael Cohen & worked on the Moscow Hotel Project that figures in the Dossier. Was he just a plant to spy on Trump during Spygate or were there more devious plans afloat -- we don't know...yet.
If you are really into SpyGate, you should read this.

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I posted the above threadreader on Felix Sater back in early December. Now that he is scheduled to testify before Congress on March 14th, you may find it useful to read this thread in order to understand the directions taken during the testimony. I find it fascinating that not only was Sater a definite CIA/FBI asset under direction of Loretta Lynch, he has strong ties to Trump & Cohen, plus he most likely was involved in the Buryakov case with Carter Page (also Bill Priestap). It's a long read with some secondary articles.

Sater has a Twitter account (@felixsater); he doesn't tweet very much, but looking at his tweets/retweets is interesting. He mingles with high rollers -- even has pictures posted of him with Bill Clinton, with Rod Stewart, with Fran Tarkenton, with Victoria Bechkam, with Newt Gingrich, with Rachel Maddow, with Caitlyn Jenner, with Gloria Allred -- all in 2018. Considers himself a patriot for serving his country & admired the elder Bush President. Found the below reference to a 4-member panel discussion on "Trump, Inc." at the 2018 New Yorker Festival where Michael Avenatti was one of the participants. Here is the short bio posted for Sater's participation:

https://festival.newyorker.com/event/trump-inc/

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Felix Sater was born in Moscow and grew up in Brooklyn. He has been a real-estate developer and a confidant to Donald Trump, and he founded Bayrock, a real-estate firm that developed the Trump SoHo hotel and other Trump projects. At Trump's request, he guided Ivanka and Donald, Jr., on a visit to Moscow. Earlier in his life, he was a successful Wall Street executive who was recruited by the C.I.A. and the D.I.A. for national-security work in multiple countries. He spent a year in prison, was implicated in a federal complaint for taking part in a Wall Street pump-and-dump scam, became a coperator with the F.B.I., helped hunt Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, went undercover in Cyprus and Istanbul as part of an operation to catch Russian and Ukrainian cybercriminals, and much more.

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