What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[Habbaku]

This might be the signal that they're done having them.

[Eddie Teach]

I wonder how much that position pays. 

When is the last time they had a press conference? Will they even bother replacing her?

They've had impromptu ones with Trump himself this week.

[Tonitrus]

[The Brain]

I think some damage might be permanent.  How can foreign governments take any agreement made with the United States seriously after witnessing Trump murder every agreement Obama made?  The problem began with Congress under McConnell refusing to participate in any legitimate legislative efforts which in turn led to Obama passing things via Executive Order.  Now that Executive Order option has made a leap in its powers along with the overall power of the Executive Branch.  The ability of the United States to stand by any agreements made seems to be at the whim of the President and relies on no further Trump types taking office.  I don't like the odds of that.

It's almost as if *gasp* putting a human stool sample in the Oval Office was a poor idea.

[The Minsky Moment]

That wouldn't be collusion.

No but it is a violation of federal election law.

[Admiral Yi]

No but it is a violation of federal election law.

The "accept" part, the "not alert" part, or both?

[The Minsky Moment]

Solicitation is sufficient.

The Mueller report made the point that solicitation or acceptance of oppo "dirt" would, under current case law, constitute a "thing of value" sufficient to trigger criminal liability.  It did go on to question the extent to which a prosecution on such grounds could withstand First Amendment scrutiny, although that law has already been sustained against a similar constitutional challenge.  The main reason Mueller did not prosecute on that ground was because it found the President's people were ignorant of the law - a too dumb to prosecute defense.  But I don't think Trump can credibly claim ignorance of the law over this anymore.

[Razgovory]

Solicitation is sufficient.

The Mueller report made the point that solicitation or acceptance of oppo "dirt" would, under current case law, constitute a "thing of value" sufficient to trigger criminal liability.  It did go on to question the extent to which a prosecution on such grounds could withstand First Amendment scrutiny, although that law has already been sustained against a similar constitutional challenge.  The main reason Mueller did not prosecute on that ground was because it found the President's people were ignorant of the law - a too dumb to prosecute defense.  But I don't think Trump can credibly claim ignorance of the law over this anymore.

How could Manafort be too ignorant to prosecute on that matter?  He was a lobbyist and a political operative for 40 years.  If anyone should know what was legal and what was not, it should be him.

[Razgovory]

I. Heart Huckabee is stepping down as press secretary.

Yeah, well she's fucked.  The Mueller report stated that she confessed to  just making up shit on the spot.  She claims that this is a lie and not what she told Mueller's people.  The Dems are going to get their hands on the interviews sooner or later.  Hell there might be audio.  She will probably want to bail out before that happens rather than be kicked out after that happens.

[The Minsky Moment]

How could Manafort be too ignorant to prosecute on that matter?

I don't know - the report contains one line on this saying that although Manafort is experienced on political campaigns, "the Office has not developed evidence showing that he had relevant knowledge of these issues."  It's inconceivable Manafort didn't know the foreign solicitation rules. For some reason Mueller's team didn't want to bring this charge but I can't figure out why.

[The Minsky Moment]

Yeah, well she's fucked.  The Mueller report stated that she confessed to  just making up shit on the spot.  She claims that this is a lie and not what she told Mueller's people.  The Dems are going to get their hands on the interviews sooner or later.  Hell there might be audio.  She will probably want to bail out before that happens rather than be kicked out after that happens.

The citation is to a Form 302 interview memo.  An FBI agent takes notes and then collates and summarizes the notes into the 302 memo.  It is not a verbatim transcript so Sanders has some wriggle room to claim that the agent misunderstood her statement or transcribed it wrong.  It is very unlikely that happened, but her partisans will believe her.

[Admiral Yi]

Joan, how certain are you about your conclusions?  I've heard many times that "ignorance is no defense," your quote about "relevant knowledge" doesn't specify knowledge about which issues, and Mueller, at least according to the headline summary, exonerated Trump of colluding with Russia, even after he specifically asked them to hack Hilary's server.

[Berkut]

He did not exonerate trump of collusion.

[The Brain]

Is ignorance of the law a defense in the US?

[Tamas]

One thing that hasnt changed under Trump is America's lackluster ability at forging casus belli.

This idiocy with the tankers is even lamer than that poor warship that exploded in Havana conveniently after months of the US gunning for war with Spain.