Connect with us

News

Roger Stone Trial Could Rain Fresh Bombshells on the President: Jurors ‘Told Case Has Something to Do With Trump’

Published

on

Brzezinski gobsmacked by the investigations swirling around the president

MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski was left momentarily speechless by a breakneck segment updating various investigations of President Donald Trump’s dealings that are not currently part of the House impeachment inquiry.

Contributor Donny Deutsch told the “Morning Joe” host about his visit Monday to former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, who’s currently serving a three-year prison term for campaign finance violations and other crimes related to his work for the president.

“You know, seeing Michael is, first of all, very sad,” Deutsch said. “You know, what also — he said one thing yesterday. He said, ‘You know, people ask me why’d you do what you do?’ And he goes, ‘I don’t know,’ and, to me, the interesting thing is, I wonder if years from now Mike Pompeo, various Republican senators are going to be saying the same thing.”

Deutsch said the president’s former attorney should serve as a cautionary tale to Trump apologists.

“He’s in jail, and Donald Trump and everybody else still runs free,” Deutsch said. “His days are — it’s not hard time, but he’s bored, he’s lonely, he’s frustrated (and) isolated. It is really depressing when you go up there.”

Trump associate Roger Stone goes to trial starting Tuesday in federal court on charges that he obstructed a congressional investigation into Russian hackers helped the president win the 2016 election, and Politico reporter Josh Gerstein offered a preview of what to expect.

“Well, I think (Trump is) certainly going to be referred to,” Gerstein said. “Jurors are being told that this case has something do with Trump. We expect some testimony, at least, on the Roger Stone front about a conversation that took place with Rick Gates and somebody on the phone in the back of a limo with then-candidate Trump, where he was told in advance about the planned release of some of these Clinton or Democratic emails.”

“So we do expect the president’s name to be invoked at the trial,” Gerstein added, “whether it’s something that he’ll have to pay a political price for, you know, six months from now or a year from now, I think we’ll have to wait and see.”

Trump’s current attorney, Rudy Giuliani, is reportedly under investigation for his role in the Ukraine scandal, and his indicted associate Lev Parnas has indicated he would cooperate with investigators.

“It’s not good news for Giuliani or the president,” Gerstein said. “Parnas is making this kind of outreach to Capitol Hill and saying, ‘Look, I’m willing to work with you guys.’ I have to say, though, it’s a little murky to me how we get from him being interested in cooperating to actually cooperating.”

But he said the change in strategy is certainly noteworthy.

“The shift in strategy is probably more notable than any chance that Parnas is going to start singing soon,” Gerstein said. “If he wants to sing, it’s best to sing to the federal prosecutors before he tries to work something out on Capitol Hill.”

Brzezinski was gobsmacked by the investigations swirling around the president.

“Oh my goodness,” she said. “You look at this all, look at what we just talked about in the past six minutes, all these moving parts, from his tax returns, Michael Cohen, Lev Parnas, Roger Stone, Karen McDougal, Stormy Daniels, possible payments that are campaign finance violations and the growing mountain of evidence surrounding the Ukraine scandal, and you’ve got this president and his Fox News hosts talking about one thing, the whistleblower, and you get a sense that that seems unbelievably silly and deflecting.”

 

 

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

Trump Appears to Think Jeb Bush Was President: ‘He Got Us Into the Middle East’

Published

14 hours ago

on

September 25, 2023

By

During a rally in South Carolina on Monday, Donald Trump appeared to confuse former Florida GOP Governor Jeb Bush with his brother, former President George W. Bush, while bragging to supporters how he beat him.

Jeb Bush, who was largely considered to be the default Republican Party nominee for the 2016 presidential election when he launched his campaign, dropped out in February of 2016 after the South Carolina primary.

“When I come here, everyone thought Bush was going to win,” Trump said, before claiming he was “up by about 50 points” over Bush. “They thought Bush because Bush was supposedly a military person.”

“You know what he was…He got us into the Middle East,” Trump claimed, wrongly. “How did that work out?”

READ MORE: ‘Isn’t Glock a Good Gun?’ Trump Asks Before Saying He Is Buying One – Campaign Forced to Deny He Did

“But they also thought that Bush might win. Jeb. Remember Jeb? He used the word ‘Jeb,’ he didn’t use the word ‘Bush,’ I said, ‘You mean he’s ashamed of the last name?’ and then they immediately started using the name Bush,” Trump claimed.

The ex-president went on to continue denigrating Jeb Bush, accusing him of bringing his mother to campaign with him.

“Remember,” Trump said, “he brought his mother, his wonderful mother who’s 94 years old and it was pouring and they’re wheeling her around and it’s raining and horrible. I said, ‘Who would do that your mother, 94 years old. How desperate are you to win?”

Media Matters’ Craig Harrington, commenting on Trump’s latest gaffe, observed: “In the past two weeks, Donald Trump has:

– Warned that Joe Biden might start ‘World War 2’
– Confused his 2016 election opponent (Hillary Clinton) with former President Barack Obama
– Confused his 2016 primary opponent (Jeb Bush) with former President George W. Bush.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Careening’ Toward ‘Risk of Political Violence’: Experts Sound Alarm After Trump Floats Executing His Former General

Continue Reading

News

Fulton County Judge in Trump Case Orders Jurors’ Identities and Images Must Be Protected

Published

15 hours ago

on

September 25, 2023

By

The Fulton County Superior Court judge presiding over Georgia’s RICO, conspiracy, and election interference case against Donald Trump on Monday afternoon ordered the identities and images of all jurors and prospective jurors to remain secret, ordering they may only be referred to by a number.

“No person shall videotape, photograph, draw in a realistic or otherwise identifiable manner, or otherwise record images, statements, or conversations of jurors/prospective jurors in any manner” that would violate a Superior Court rule, Judge Scott McAfee ordered, “except that the jury foreperson’s announcement of the verdict or questions to the judge may be audio recorded.”

“Jurors or prospective jurors shall be identified by number only in court filings or in open court,” he added.

READ MORE: ‘Careening’ Toward ‘Risk of Political Violence’: Experts Sound Alarm After Trump Floats Executing His Former General

Judge McAfee also ordered no juror’s or prospective juror’s identity, “including names, addresses, telephone numbers, or identifying employment information” may be revealed.

MSNBC’s Katie Phang posted the order, and added: “Another important part of the Order: no responses from juror questionnaires or notes about jury selection shall be disclosed, unless permitted by the Court.”

Judge McAfee’s order comes after Donald Trump’s weekend of attacks on his former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley. Trump strongly suggested he should be executed for treason. Trump also strongly suggested he would target Comcast, NBC News, and MSNBC if he wins the 2024 presidential election.

Responding to the news, MSNBC’s Medhi Hasan observed, “We have just normalized the fact that the former president, and GOP presidential frontrunner, is basically a mob boss.”

 

Continue Reading

News

‘Isn’t Glock a Good Gun?’ Trump Asks Before Saying He Is Buying One – Campaign Forced to Deny He Did

Published

16 hours ago

on

September 25, 2023

By

During a photo shoot at a South Carolina gun shop, Donald Trump posed with and then said he wanted to buy a Glock, asking if it is “a good gun.”

Some say it might be illegal to sell a gun to anyone under criminal indictment, and if he took the gun with him that too might be illegal. It was not clear if, despite saying he would, he actually bought the firearm. The Trump campaign initially said he had, although later backtracked on its claim, and deleted the social media post saying he had.

In the photo op (video below,) Trump posed with several people, including the Republican Attorney General of South Carolina, Alan Wilson, who has held that elected position since 2011.

“Trump’s spokesman announced that Trump bought a Glock today in South Carolina. He even posted video,” wrote former Chicago Tribune editor Mark Jacob. “If Trump took the gun with him, that’s a federal crime since he’s under indictment. There’s also a law against selling a gun to someone under federal indictment like Trump.”

READ MORE: ‘Poof’: White House Mocks Stunned Fox News Host as GOP’s Impeachment Case Evaporates on Live Air

Reuters’ crime and justice reporter Brad Heath posted the federal laws that might apply, as well as Trump’s campaign spokesperson’s clip of the ex-president’s remarks, and his spokesperson saying, “President Trump purchases a @GLOCKInc in South Carolina!”

CNN analyst Stephen Gutowski, who writes about gun policy, added, “It would be a crime for him to actually buy this gun because he’s under felony indictment. Did he actually go through with this purchase?”

“People under felony indictments can’t ‘receive’ new firearms. That also means you can’t buy them,” he also wrote.

MSNBC anchor and legal contributor Katie Phang wrote, “I don’t know if he actually bought the gun. At least it didn’t happen in this video. Also, the Attorney General of South Carolina is in this video. Is he watching Trump commit a crime?”

But some pointed to a federal judge in Texas’ ruling from last year. Reuters reported, a “federal law prohibiting people under felony indictment from buying firearms is unconstitutional.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

 

 

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.