It is important to remember that two days before Rosenstein appointed Mueller, Mueller interviewed for the job of FBI Director (again) to replace Comey. But Trump nixed it saying that he wanted to go with someone new. And I will repeat what I have said several times over the months: One of the biggest reasons why the investigation will go on and is going on forever and a day is simply that Mueller wants to be back working again. If he wrapped up his work this month, then what? He doesn't want to watch Price is Right with Hillary every day. Lest we forget, he isn't going to get Trump on obstruction. As I said he will kneecap Jared for not reporting a loan from DeutchBank and not declaring loans for loans or holdings on condos in Crapistan- or some version thereof. Witch hunt. Gonna need to shut him down at some point because the less he finds the more afield he goes. If the dems wont agree to set a time limit on it, the republicans should just tell them flat out "agree to three more months and that's it" or we will appoint an open ended independent prosecutor for the Clintons and to investigate the FBI." Yup. That will get their attention. The republicans may lose their majority in the house in the fall so they should put independent prosecutors in that will continue on when they are out of power unless the dems want to run into the scorn of covering up for the Clintons. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/03/...eller-investigation-united-arab-emirates.html
He is dancing the Deep State Shuffle, the investigation will last till November where it can be used as political fodder during the mids. It's not about convictions, albeit anyone stupid enough to admit is just trophy material. This is about punishing an outsider, regaining control and making a statement for anyone attempting such insurrection in the future.
This is true in regard to dragging it out until November and the dems making political hay over it- but like everything else in dem village these days- they are deeply, deeply divided on that. A lot of the dems fear that Mueller doesn't have enough to bring trump down and the public doesn't really care about Flynn or Mannafort or Crockodolis etc. but that they will get all tied up in watching it as TV reality program and not pay any attention to the lame-arse dems out there promoting lame-arse issues. And if you go after Trumps family but cant get Trump you run the risk of alienating some people who see what he is doing- trying to compensate for a small dick. The dems who have that fear about meuller unloading at election time have good reason to be fearful. Take daca for example. The DACA executive order expires TOMORROW and no one really gives a fig. The dems used the school shooting and some other issues to whip up another big, big round of hatred against Trump so all of their other issues just fell off the table. Similarly, if Mueller unleashes the full circus right around midterms and can probably get some really good rounds of Trump hatred going and lots of TV drama and people will watch every minute of it. But wont be able to name the person running for congress or senate on the dem ticket in their state or follow all their issues. Whatever. Let em play their cards however they want. They are not that bright.
Yep, that about sums it up. Trump is walking a tightrope. He needs the people behind him to get rid of Mueller, which he must do if he is to have a successful presidency. He seems to have been convinced the way to do that is to try to placate the media and the left and convince them he really is not so terrible. Good luck with that. His alternative is to basically threaten civil war, which is not very appealing either.
The New York Times is now pushing stories from hookers on their front page... how low can they sink. Escort Says Audio Recordings Show Russian Meddling in U.S. Election https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/05/world/asia/nastya-rybka-trump-putin.html A Belarusian escort with close ties to a powerful Russian oligarch said from behind bars in Bangkok on Monday that she had more than 16 hours of audio recordings that could help shed light on Russian meddling in United States elections. The escort, Anastasia Vashukevich, said she would hand over the recordings if the United States granted her asylum. She faces criminal charges and deportation to Belarus after coming under suspicion of working in Thailand without a visa at a sex-training seminar in the city of Pattaya. Ms. Vashukevich, who described herself as close to the Russian aluminum tycoon Oleg V. Deripaska, said that audio recordings she made in August 2016 included discussions he had about the United States presidential election with people she declined to identify. Mr. Deripaska, a billionaire with close ties to Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, also has business ties to Paul J. Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman. Mr. Manafort is under investigation by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel looking into the campaign’s connections to Russia. “If America gives me protection, I will tell everything I know,” Ms. Vashukevich said on Monday. “I am afraid to go back to Russia. Some strange things can happen.” Her assertion could be easy to disregard were it not for a 25-minute video investigation posted last month on YouTube by the Russian opposition figure Aleksei A. Navalny, which relies heavily on videos and photographs from Ms. Vashukevich. She and nine people from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus were arrested late last month in Pattaya, a city about 70 miles south of Bangkok known for its adult entertainment scene. Most of those arrested, including Ms. Vashukevich, 21, who also goes by the name Nastya Rybka, are accused of working without a permit. Some are also accused of not having a valid Thai visa. Ms. Vashukevich and Alexander Kirillov, the organizer of the sex seminar, spoke to three reporters while standing behind bars and a mesh screen during visiting hours at the Immigration Detention Center in Bangkok. Immigration officials stopped the interviews midway and told the reporters to leave the facility. Ms. Vashukevich, wearing a bright green T-shirt with the word “detainee” in Thai, is a long way from the days she spent sailing on a yacht with Mr. Deripaska and his friends, including Sergei E. Prikhodko, a deputy prime minister. According to her version of events, she was working for a modeling agency when she and several other models were sent to spend time on Mr. Deripaska’s yacht. She later posted photographs and videos on social media showing Mr. Deripaska and Mr. Prikhodko together on the yacht. Financial records show that companies controlled by Mr. Manafort owed millions of dollars to Mr. Deripaska. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Mr. Manafort offered to give Mr. Deripaska private briefings on the campaign. Mr. Navalny charged in his video that Mr. Deripaska’s yacht trip was an attempt to bribe Mr. Prikhodko, and that Ms. Vashukevich was one of “several” prostitutes aboard the vessel. In the video, the tycoon and Mr. Prikhodko can be heard discussing Russian-American relations. The video also highlights a book Ms. Vashukevich wrote titled “Who Wants to Seduce a Billionaire.” Russia has tried to block Mr. Navalny’s video, which had nearly 6.4 million views on YouTube as of Monday. A spokesman for Mr. Deripaska has said the allegations of bribery and prostitutes on the yacht were a “hot story that appears far from being the truth.” In the interview at the immigration center on Monday, Ms. Vashukevich said that she had often recorded conversations between Mr. Deripaska and his associates, and that she had 16 to 18 hours of recordings, including conversations about the United States presidential election. “They were discussing elections,” she said. “Deripaska had a plan about elections.” But, she added, “I can’t tell you everything.” Some of the conversations were with three people who spoke English fluently and who she thought were Americans, she said. “It is not only about me,” she said. “It concerns a lot of people in America and other countries.” Ms. Vashukevich and Mr. Kirillov, who also goes by the name Alex Lesley, are prominent on social media and are considered by some to be publicity seekers. Ms. Vashukevich took part in a small protest in Moscow last year defending Harvey Weinstein after he faced numerous accusations of sexual abuse. Standing mostly naked near the American Embassy, she and four other women held signs with slogans such as “Hands Off Harvey” and “Harvey Weinstein Welcome to Russia.” Ms. Vashukevich said she arrived in Thailand on Feb. 16, and that she was only an observer at the sex seminar but did not work at the event. Several attendees said that no sex had been involved, and that the multiday training had focused on improving communication and on perfecting the art of seduction. Those who are taken to the immigration detention center are often on the verge of being deported. But an immigration official said that Ms. Vashukevich and five others taken to the center still faced criminal charges for their part in the seminar. They will be sent back to Pattaya for court proceedings. Ms. Vashukevich described being held in a crowded cell with more than 100 women and only three toilets. She said a Thai official had asked her to sign a paper saying that she believed she would be safe in Russia, but that she had refused. In general, people seeking asylum must apply in the country where they hope to take refuge. A spokeswoman for the American Embassy in Bangkok said she was aware of the arrests but declined to discuss the case or any asylum request. Mr. Kirillov said that he believed publicity would help protect them. “I think the press makes us a little bit safer because if they killed us in the prison, everyone would know,” he said.
Wow, I guess that does it. Trump is so finished now. A woman , who a month before was staging a naked protest outside the US embassy in Moscow in support of Harvey Weinstein, has been sitting on recordings that will no doubt sink the Trump presidency and maybe bring down Putin. She would have mentioned it earlier but she was busy with a sex seminar in Thailand. Eat your heart out, Stormy Daniels.
The left is working itself into a tizzy over the claims from a jailed hooker living in a cage... Here is the CNN top story. Jailed Russian 'sex coaches' offer to trade election info for US asylum https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/05/asia/thailand-sex-guru-deportation-russia-intl/index.ht From behind bars in a sweltering immigration detention center in Bangkok, a self-styled "sex coach" who claims to have detailed insider knowledge of Russian meddling in the US election says she wants to cooperate with US investigators. The catch? She says the US government needs to grant her political asylum. Belarus-born Anastasia Vashukevich claims she has proof of Russian interference in the 2016 US election in the form of more than an hour of audio recordings and photos of meetings. "I am ready to help with an investigation if they help us get out of here," says the petite 21-year old. None of the alleged recordings or photos of those meetings have been made public. 'A plan for the election' Vashukevich's arrival in this Thai detention center is a bizarre and tangled saga. Vashukevich, who also goes by the pseudonym Nastya Rybka, was part of a group led by author and free sex advocate Alexander Kirillov arrested in February in the Thai resort town of Pattaya while running so-called "sex training" sessions. Thai police confirmed they are processing the paperwork for the eventual deportation of Vashukevich and Kirillov on charges relating to visa violations, back to Russia. On Monday CNN met with Vashukevich and Kirillov inside the detention center. The scene was chaotic, loud and miserably hot. Vashukevich spoke through bars within touching distance of Kirillov, who stood barefoot with other male prisoners behind a second row of bars. Vashukevich, who claims to be the former mistress of Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, says she witnessed several meetings in 2016 and 2017 between Deripaska and at least three un-named Americans. Deripaska -- who denies any affair -- is a subject of political intrigue in US political circles, owing to his longstanding relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. "They had a plan for the election," says Vashukevich of the men. When he was confronted by CNN last year, Deripaska called allegations that he may have been a back channel from the Kremlin to the Trump campaign "fake news." Regarding his alleged relationship with Vashukevich, a spokesperson for Deripaska told CNN: "This is clearly an attempt by Anastasia Vashukevitch (aka Nastya Rybka) to politicize the accusations of the Thai police. There have been endless fictitious stories told by her, all serving to distract the public from real violations, including very serious breaches of law of many countries." Vashukevich says she has photos of one of the Americans meeting with Deripaska, as well as more than an hour of audio recordings. But she refuses to name the Americans. Vashukevich and Kirillov told CNN they are afraid to reveal potentially compromising information, in the event they are deported back to Russia. They have made public appeals to the US government to speak to them, but they say so far no US official has visited them in jail. "If I was an ambassador and there was information affecting the country I love and I didn't do anything, it would be very silly," Vashukevich told CNN. 'A matter of life or death' Back outside the detention center, Pavlo Yunko, a Ukrainian-American tourist who says he paid around $400 to attend Vashukevich and Kirillov's week-long "sex training" course, described the predicament now facing the pair as "a matter of life and death." Yunko claims to have been passed a hand-written note from Kirillov shortly after his arrest, which he says he personally delivered to an official at the US Embassy in Bangkok. "We ask you political asylim [sic] and help us and protect us as quickly as possible, because we have very important information for USA and we risk our lives very much," read the note. "We have photo-video-audio of crymes [sic] of Russian government and I give them USA if you help us," he added. Jillian Bonnardeaux, a spokesperson for the US Embassy in Bangkok, told CNN on Monday she was aware of media reports of the arrests and the letter seeking asylum, but referred inquiries to Thai law enforcement. "We refer all inquiries about asylum and asylum procedures to the DHS," Bonnardeaux added, referring to the US Department of Homeland Security. Strange days are these Vashukevich came into the spotlight after publishing footage from social media of a 2016 meeting on a private yacht between Deripaska and Russian deputy prime minister Sergey Prikhodko, during which the two men could be heard discussing Russia's poor relationship with the United States. Deripaska is an ex-business associate of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Manafort, who provided investment and consulting services to Deripaska, worked for the Russian billionaire about a decade ago, according to both men. According to emails described to The Washington Post, Manafort, through an intermediary, offered to provide Deripaska with "private briefings" about the state of the Trump campaign. Speaking to CNN, a spokesperson for Deripaska denied allegations that the billionaire received any communications regarding private briefings. Manafort's spokesman told the Post that any briefing offered on the state of the campaign would have been "routine," but that no briefings took place. While on the way to detention in Thailand, Vashukevich published a video on her Instagram account begging US journalists to help her. "I'm ready to give you all the missing puzzle pieces, support them with videos and audios, regarding the connections of our respected lawmakers with Trump, Manafort and the rest. I know a lot. I'm waiting for your offers and I'm waiting for you in a Thai prison," she said. On Monday, speaking inside the detention center, Kirillov repeated this claim, saying he had seen photos of one of the unnamed Americans meeting with Deripaska. Kirillov claims he tried and failed through a friend to contact the FBI while in Dubai in February. He also says he planned to travel to the US to try to meet with US officials after the week-long "sex training course" he ran in Pattaya. Those plans were foiled when Thai police burst into the last session of the sex course. Free sex advocates The claims made by Vashukevich and Kirillov might not normally hold much water. Both describe themselves as free sex advocates whose Instagram feeds are full of scantily clad photos of themselves cavorting with other half-naked young women. But allegations and revelations of an affair Vashukevich made in her book "Diary of the Seduction of a Billionaire" gained traction thanks to an investigation by the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. In his video, Navalny revealed that the un-named oligarch in the book was Russian industrialist Oleg Deripaska. Navalny highlighted social media posts from Vashukevich showing her next to Deripaska on a yacht alongside the Russian deputy prime minister Sergey Prikhodko. Asked about Navalny's investigation, Vashukevich told CNN "it was all correct." In the Thai jail, Vashukevich and Kirillov looked uncomfortable and desperate. They said conditions were over-crowded and miserable. They relied on food brought in every other day by friends. The lawyer representing them says she was surprised at how long it was taking to deport the jailed "sex coaches." "Normally my clients are deported in one or two days," said Elena Fominykh, a Russian-speaking legal advisor and private investigator based in Bangkok. 'Sexual revolutionary' The arrests of the pair are a worrying turn for a group of Russian-speaking acolytes of Kirillov, author of books "Life Without Panties" and "The Game of Master and Huntress." On Monday, Ukrainian native Maria Skulbeda waited outside the detention center in the sweltering heat in the hopes of arranging an appointment to meet Kirillov and Vashukevich. The 21-year-old Skulbeda described Kirillov as a kind of sexual revolutionary, who teaches his followers a belief system of "freedom, sex and love" that revolves around the art of seduction. "I am an employee, I am a friend, I am a lover," said Skulbeda, of her relationship with Kirillov. Deripaska, she said, was well known within the group to be a target of seduction by Vashukevich. A spokesperson for Deripaska denied claims he was romantically involved with Vashukevich. Now, Skulbeda fears what may happen if her friends are deported to Russia. "First, they are in danger. Second, they have information, and third, we are afraid for their lives."
Critically ill man is former Russian spy 5 minutes ago Share this with Facebook Share this with Twitter Share this with Messenger Share this with Email Share Image copyrightASSOCIATED PRESS Image captionSergei Skripal, pictured here on the day of his sentencing in August 2006, was jailed for 13 years A man who is critically ill after being exposed to an unknown substance in Wiltshire is a Russian national convicted of spying for Britain, the BBC understands. Sergei Skripal, 66, was granted refuge in the UK following a "spy swap" between the US and Russia in 2010. He and a woman, 33, were found unconscious on a bench at a shopping centre in Salisbury on Sunday afternoon. The substance has not been identified. Wiltshire Police are investigating whether a crime has been committed. They said the pair had no visible injuries but had been found unconscious at the Maltings shopping centre. They have declared a "major incident" and multiple agencies are investigating. They said it had not been declared as a counter-terrorism incident, but they were keeping an "open mind". They said officers did not believe there was any risk to the wider public. Col Skripal, who is a retired Russian military intelligence officer, was jailed for 13 years in 2006 for spying for Britain. Sergei Skripal: Who is the former Russian colonel? He was convicted of passing the identities of Russian intelligence agents working undercover in Europe to the UK's Secret Intelligence Service, MI6. Russia said Col Skripal had been paid $100,000 for the information, which he had been supplying from the 1990s. He was one of four prisoners released by Moscow in exchange for 10 US spies in 2010, as part of a swap. Col Skripal was later flown to the UK. He and the woman, who police said were known to each other, are both in intensive care at Salisbury District Hospital. Media captionWitness: "They looked like they'd been taking something quite strong" A number of locations in the city centre were cordoned off and teams in full protective gear used hoses to decontaminate the street. The hospital advised people to attend routine operations and outpatient appointments unless they were contacted. It said its A&E department was open but busy because of the weather. Neighbours at Sergei Skripal's home in Salisbury say police arrived around 17:00 GMT on Sunday and have been there ever since. They said he was friendly and in recent years had lost his wife. Eyewitness Freya Church told the BBC it looked like the two people had taken "something quite strong". She said: "On the bench there was a couple, an older guy and a younger girl. She was sort of leant in on him, it looked like she had passed out maybe. "He was doing some strange hand movements, looking up to the sky... "They looked so out of it I thought even if I did step in I wasn't sure how I could help." Image captionPublic Health England has not confirmed what the substance was Image captionThe hospital's A&E was closed on Monday while two people were treated The BBC's security correspondent Gordon Corera said government officials were not commenting about events in Salisbury. but that the possibility of an unexplained substance being involved will draw comparisons with the 2006 poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko. Mr Litvinenko was a former intelligence officer who, an inquiry later found, was probably killed on the orders of Vladimir Putin. Public Health England said its specialists would be joining a "specially convened group" to consider the incident. What were the charges against Col Skripal? Col Skripal was convicted of "high treason in the form of espionage" by Moscow's military court in August 2006. He was stripped off all his titles and awards. He was alleged by the Russian security service FSB to have begun working for the British secret services while serving in the army in the 1990s. He had been passing information classified as state secrets and been paid for the work by MI6, the FSB claimed. Col Skripal pleaded guilty at his trial and co-operated with investigators, reports said at the time.