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Title : The parable of the little bird: Cohen, Flynn, Manafort...
link : The parable of the little bird: Cohen, Flynn, Manafort...
The parable of the little bird: Cohen, Flynn, Manafort...
A single juror. Shortly after the Manafort verdict came down, a journalist on CNN declared that a lone juror was the holdout vis-a-vis the deadlocked charges. Making a mental note of the claim but not the name of the journalist, I waited for verification. Now we have it.
Paula Duncan said a lone juror could not come to a guilty verdict on 10 charges, ultimately leading T.S. Ellis III to declare a mistrial on 10 of Manafort's 18 counts.
“Certainly Mr. Manafort got caught breaking the law, but he wouldn’t have gotten caught if they weren’t after President Trump," Duncan said, referencing Mueller's probe, which she described as a "witch hunt to try to find Russian collusion."Duncan herself may well be the holdout. How the hell did prosecutors allow this Fox-addled conspiratard on the jury? Perhaps Team Mueller wanted her there, for reasons explained in the previous post.
Have you ever heard the parable about the little bird trapped in cow dung? If you've seen the films Savage Messiah or My Name is Nobody, you know the story. The moral of the fable: It's not always your enemy who throws you into the shit, and it's not always your friend who pulls you out. But when you're in deep shit, keep your mouth shut.
That lone juror (Duncan?) tried to pull Paul Manafort out of the shit. Now he can be tried on the same charges (or similar ones) in a state court, where the power of the pardon can't protect Manafort.
Something similar seems to have occurred in the Michael Cohen case. We -- well, I -- have learned a lot about Barbara Underwood since the previous post. One excellent source of information is the Rachel Maddow segment embedded above.
Although we don't yet have the full picture, we have a clearer idea -- thanks to Rachel -- as to how Michael Cohen was (probably) turned. Underwood mounted a state-level case against Cohen's partner in the Taxi medallion scam, which too many people had forgotten about. The partner, Gene Friedman ("The Taxi King") faced massive charges that would have put him away for life. Nearly all of those charges went poof after the King cut a plea deal.
Obviously, he ratted out Cohen. More likely, he ratted out Cohen's wife Laura, who was in on the medallion scheme and whose parents -- surprise, surprise -- own a unit in Trump Tower. (Laura is Ukrainian, and quite lovely. I'm starting to think that there are no non-beautiful Ukrainian females.) Although the Laura Cohen angle doesn't figure into Maddow's reportage, we all recall the times Michael Cohen said that his family was his first priority.
In short: Underwood lets Friedman skate in exchange for dirt on Michael and Laura; not wanting to see his wife in legal jeopardy, Michael slowly and reluctantly flips on Trump.
Can I prove this scenario? Not completely. But right now, it's the only narrative that makes sense. Cohen is a little bird in deep shit who is being forced to squawk.
Flynn. We have a one-page status report on the Flynn case. Basically, Mueller says that Flynn is not yet ready for a sentencing hearing at this time. Here's what Marcy Wheeler has to say about that:
While they’re continuing the sentencing process again (meaning he’s still cooperating), they’re asking for a status report on September 17, the same 27 days away as Manafort’s next trial.Marcy is usually right, except when it comes to the Steele dossier. But I just took a peek at Junior's twitter feed, which is still a toxic waste dump. If ever Michael Flynn Sr. truly turns on Trump, the dump will suddenly become less toxic.
That suggests they may be done with whatever they need Flynn to do in the near future.
I suspect that Flynn Sr is pulling a Papadopoulos: He went through a period of faux cooperation in order to gain insight into the probe (with intelligence reports sent directly to Team Trump). Mueller will get fed up; Flynn will be convicted, and then Trump will hand out a pardon. Why does Mueller want one more month? Obviously, he hopes to apply enough heat to enforce real cooperation.
Maybe it'll happen, but I don't think it will. As head of the DIA, Flynn was apparently compromised by a female Russian agent in what I consider an "intellectual" honeytrap. (I used that term because actual sex probably was not involved.) That relationship, I strongly suspect, is the real reason why Flynn lost his job. If I'm right, he surely would not want this story made public.
A limited Pecker hang out. This WP story offers some grounds for hope.
“The Cohen information vindicates what we said from Day 1: AMI is a corporate shill posing as a media organization,” said Peter Stris, the attorney who represented McDougal in her lawsuit against AMI this year. “It worked secretly with Michael Cohen to illegally silence Karen McDougal on Trump’s behalf. And that should deeply trouble all Americans, regardless of their politics.”I want to learn more about the smear-stories the Enquirer spread about Hillary. And then I want to see AMI sued out of existence.
The Washington Post has reported that National Enquirer executives sent digital copies of the tabloid’s articles and cover images related to Donald Trump and his political opponents to Cohen in advance of publication, citing the accounts of three people with knowledge of the matter. In April, Howard denied that the tabloid did so or that Trump had influence over the Enquirer’s coverage.
Good Christ, I still can't get my mind around this situation: The National Enquirer helped to elect a notoriously gauche blowhard best-known for reality shows and teevee wrestling. The sheer lumpenprole-ness of it all! Are there really that many meth-addled hillbillies in this country?
Tom Arnold on pee-pee-gate. Speaking of lumpenprole entertainments: I don't know what you think about Scott Dworkin -- hell, I dunno what I think about Dworkin -- but you have to admit that this headline is an eyeball-scorcher:
Tom Arnold just revealed he knows who sent Russian hookers to Trump’s Moscow hotel room during Miss Universe – Part 2 of 3Anything to this? Dunno. Haven't listened to the interview yet. If there's truly a there there, I'll come back and let you know.
Finally, note the irony: This country teems with millions of fools and rubes who bought into the Big Lie that the Clinton Foundation is some kind of slush fund. It is, in fact, one of the most honest and effective charities in the history of the world. Nobody has brought suit against this Foundation -- not a private party, not the federal government and not the government of any state.
Think about it. Republicans picked by Donald Trump run the DOJ and the FBI, and they see no case to be made against the Clinton Foundation.
But Trump's crooked foundation is now headed into serious trouble, thanks to the laudable Barbara Underwood. Rachel Maddow details some of the issues in the clip embedded above.
Trump tweeted about the case when it first came to light in June:
....Schneiderman, who ran the Clinton campaign in New York, never had the guts to bring this ridiculous case, which lingered in their office for almost 2 years. Now he resigned his office in disgrace, and his disciples brought it when we would not settle.What we have here is yet another variant of the "little bird" story. Schneiderman obviously disliked Trump -- but getting rid of the guy didn't exactly pull Trump out of the shit, did it?
When this nightmare is finally over, I hope that a much better artist than I creates a public statue of Barbara Underwood.
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