Do you want to hear a really scary statistic?
According to a recent survey by Navigator Research 59% of Americans are unaware of the fact that the Mueller investigation has already uncovered evidence of crimes.
For those of you who, like our friend EOS, “deal in facts,” here are the cold, hard facts that 41% of us already know.
As of today, the Mueller investigation has already obtained 5 guilty pleas and 17 criminal indictments… Here, from Vox, are just a few of the highlights.
Michael Flynn, former national security adviser and a key Trump campaign surrogate, pleaded guilty to making false statements to federal investigators in December.
Rick Gates, a top aide on the Trump campaign and a longtime business partner of Paul Manafort, pleaded guilty to false statements and one count of conspiracy.
George Papadopoulos, a foreign policy adviser on the campaign, pleaded guilty to false statements.
Alexander van der Zwaan, a London-based Dutch attorney, pleaded guilty to making false statements about his contacts with Gates and an unnamed Ukrainian.
13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies have been indicted on conspiracy charges, and some on identity theft charges, related to Russian social media and hacking efforts.
Richard Pinedo, a California resident, has pleaded guilty to an identity theft charge related to the Russian indictments.
Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign chair, is facing two separate indictments — one in DC about conspiracy, money laundering, false statements, and failure to disclose foreign assets; and one in Virginia about tax, financial, and bank fraud charges.
And, from what we hear, the impanelled grand juries are nowhere near done.
In spite of this, however, Donald Trump, with the support of the Republican propaganda machine at Fox, and his co-consipirtors in Congress, continues to push a false narrative, telling the American people that the Mueller investigation is a “witch hunt,” as we saw yesterday in this tweet, where he suggests that poor, innocent patriots are being dragged through the mud, not because they committed treasonous acts and lied to federal investigators, but because a secret pro-Obama sect within the government, called the “deep state,” is hell bent on keeping the current administration from “making America great again.”
And here’s the really insidious part… This whole deep state, pro-Democrat conspiracy is being led by lifelong Republicans appointed to office by Donald Trump!
Donald Trump appointed FBI Director Christopher Wray, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coates, and Deputy Attorney General for the United States Department of Justice Rod Rosenstein. And Rosenstein, in turn, appointed special prosecutor Robert Mueller, the former FBI Director who was first appointed to public office by Ronald Reagan, and served with distinction under both George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.
But yet here we are… being subjected on a daily basis to things like this.
So we find ourselves in this upside down world, where people who have been fed a constant media diet of lies from the far right for decades actually believe the the Mueller probe, which has 5 guilty pleas and 17 criminal indictments already, is “fake,” while the Benghazi investigation, which yielded absolutely no evidence of crimes, and cost the American taxpayers several times more, is real. And, in a world where the far, far right is debating the existence of a child sex dungeon operated by Hillary Clinton beneath D.C.’s Comet Pizza, we actually view them as the “sane” ones. That’s how far the bar has dropped in our lifetimes.
So, if you have a moment, please remind everyone you know that the Mueller investigation, as of today, has yielded 8 indictments covering 19 individuals and 3 businesses, 5 guilty pleas, 2 criminal cases headed to trial, and 1 one individual already serving a prison sentence. And additional indictments are expected in the near future.
I wouldn’t have thought a post like this would be necessary, but the polling says different. As the current resident of the White House would say, “Sad.”
16 Comments
What you call crimes, I call patriotism. Putin has our interests at heart more that any Democrat in Congress.
Flynn lied to Trump and he lied to investigators. Trump fired him but the FBI has dropped charges. Gates lied to investigators about his business dealings prior to joining the campaign. Manafort was charged with alleged crimes that occurred before he joined the campaign. Papadopoulos lied about what he told a woman in a bar. 13 Russian nationals were charged with making Facebook posts which they were not aware was illegal.
Trump’s son-in-law got his security clearance after prolonged discussions with investigators. Still no evidence has been revealed that Trump colluded with Russia to steal the election. The investigation is wrapping up.
But, substantial evidence, and a money trail, that revealed Clinton’s campaign colluded with foreigners to impact the election. And the blood of four Americans is on Clinton’s hands for which see responded angrily, “What difference does it make?”
Who’s being fed a false narrative? I have never believed for one second that Libyans charged the embassy because of a crummy 13 minute You Tube video. Their lies are too ludicrous and transparent.
Investors did not “drop charges” against Flynn. He took a plea deal. There’s a world of difference.
Investigators. Sorry.
I’m not sure what your point is, other than ignorant people in a democracy may make consequential choices that are contrary to what you would prefer.
Trump to Sessions this morning.
“….There are lots of really good lawyers in the country, he could have picked somebody else!” And I wish I did!”
You are correct anonymous. He plead guilty and the charges have not been dropped yet. His lawyer has filed a motion to have them dropped and it seems that a Supreme Court precedent would require they be dropped. Flynn had been talking off the record about security measures and was not made aware by Strzok, who did the interview, that he was the subject of a legal interrogation and that he had the right to legal representation. But that has yet to happen and I was wrong. You were right to call me out on that.
“Sometimes molten materials solidify underground to produce igneous rock and sometimes the molten materials are exuded from a volcanic eruption and form igneous rock on the surface when it cools. Both have the same starting material. Solidifying the material does not change the radioactive decay rates of the isotopes or increase or decrease the isotopic content. How is it that a rock has a different age than its components? Why wouldn’t the age of the magma be the same in the molten form as it is when it hardens? Stupid Hick, I’m looking for something a little more in depth than Wikipedia and hoping you could elaborate.”
There’s a potassium isotope (K-40) which decays to an argon isotope (Ar-40). When lava is molten it drives off the argon. When it cools, Ar-40 can accumulate again, as K-40 decays. Measuring the ratio of those isotopes in a lava field is what enables estimation of when the lava cooled. Here’s a wikipedia page to explain:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%E2%80%93Ar_dating
I guess Wikipedia is as deep as I can handle. Thanks stupid hick. That makes sense.
“So, if you have a moment, please remind everyone you know that the Mueller investigation, as of today, has yielded 8 indictments…”
has anyone done this yet? anxious to hear how it went, what approach u took etc. let’s get those phone trees and chain emails a rockin’ folks i know u can do it!
I can’t believe that 59% of Americans are conspiracy theorists who think this investigation is an Obama orchestrated deep state hitjob against Trump. Some significant percentage have to just not read the news, right?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/05/15/how-america-viewed-the-watergate-scandal-as-it-was-unfolding/?utm_term=.6173942f6943
It’s not a matter of belief. It’s a matter of identity. Think Michigan vs OSU, but bigger. It’s just what people tend to do, especially if they have no personal connection to the outside tribe.
This is how far through the looking glass we’ve come….
Giuliani on getting booed by Yankees crowd: “They boo you when they love you” http://hill.cm/6gVhmWD
The far right quit caring about truth and facts a long time ago. They’ve been preparing their crew for a civil war mentally and materialy. Whether this was intentional or by accident I’ll leave to future historians. But what other reasons for, or outcome of, would you expect from saturating the civilian market with AR15s? Libs and Progressives: get used to the idea that we may have to shoot back against people who no longer have the skills or interest in participating in peaceful democratic society.
Liberals are stuck in a Catch-22 on gun control, escalating Pootins destabilization influence, and the core ideology of non-violent politics. Yeah, civil wars are stupid, but losing one should it happen is not an option. So yeah talk about facts and truth to the ignorant, but talk to people you trust about the skills you’ll need should the trump crew turn out to be the actual zombie apocalypse.
I missed this in 2017, but potentially useful and definitely funny guide to trying to connect with trumpies before TSHTF.
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/a-guide-for-talking-to-a-trump-supporter-with-loving-empathy