I don't think you need a FISA warrant to wiretap foreign communications e.g. Kislyak calling home to Russia is going to have the NSA listening in with or without a warrant. They were likely already listening in on Kislyak because he's assumed to be a spy, and they picked up Flynn talking to him. Once your surveillance of foreign nationals picks up a US citizen, the legal hurdles start, but as far as I understand it they can listen in on foreign nationals making overseas calls to other foreign nationals all day long if they want.

According to the Post, "The FBI routinely obtains FISA warrants to monitor the communications of foreign diplomats in the United States, including the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak." - Basically, because he's thought to be an intelligence agent, it's pretty easy to get a judge to agree to a warrant targeting him to see what Americans he communicates with as those Americans could be Russian agents.

I also agree more with G&T that obstruction of justice, at least to the level the Trump appears to be engaging in it, should qualify as an impeachable offense. What if he starts publicly directing the DOJ to investigate and file charges against Democratic candidates in the run up to 2018, or his challenger in 2020?

My question in reply is - should Bill Clinton have been convicted and removed in 1998? Because the standard you just set out says yes. I think it needs to be higher than that.

John Schindler

@20committee

Much easier for Mueller to prove obstruction than collusion; latter is proven by highly classified evidence that's difficult to get in court

Tifwiw

My question in reply is - should Bill Clinton have been convicted and removed in 1998? Because the standard you just set out says yes. I think it needs to be higher than that.

 

How is that the same standard? Their actions are significantly different.

Mueller just abruptly reversed course on his bail agreement with Manafort

 

Manafort failed to tell the government that he was ghost-writing a draft op-ed about his work with Ukraine as late as November 30, Mueller's team said.

 

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessin...-russia-2017-12

 

Trump is looking at plans for a global network of private spies

 

https://mobile.twitter.com/vicenews/status/...015490399711232

 

Hmm, this reminds me of something...

Trump's financial records subpoenaed

 

https://twitter.com/guardian/status/9380046...src=twsrc%5Etfw

Trump is looking at plans for a global network of private spies

 

https://mobile.twitter.com/vicenews/status/...015490399711232

 

Hmm, this reminds me of something...

What?

It’s been reported that Pence sent Trump a letter saying he needed time to decide whether he could stay with the campaign. But in fact, according to several Republicans familiar with the situation, he wasn’t just thinking about dropping out—he was contemplating a coup. Within hours of The Post’s bombshell, Pence made it clear to the Republican National Committee that he was ready to take Trump’s place as the party’s nominee. Such a move just four weeks before Election Day would have been unprecedented—but the situation seemed dire enough to call for radical action.

 

Already, Reince Priebus’s office was being flooded with panicked calls from GOP officials and donors urging the RNC chairman to get rid of Trump by whatever means necessary. One Republican senator called on the party to engage emergency protocols to nominate a new candidate. RNC lawyers huddled to explore an obscure legal mechanism by which they might force Trump off the ticket. Meanwhile, a small group of billionaires was trying to put together money for a “buyout”—even going so far as to ask a Trump associate how much money the candidate would require to walk away from the race. According to someone with knowledge of the talks, they were given an answer of $800 million. (It’s unclear whether Trump was aware of this discussion or whether the offer was actually made.) Republican donors and party leaders began buzzing about making Pence the nominee and drafting Condoleezza Rice as his running mate

 

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archiv...e-pence/546569/

The Trump administration is proposing a rule that would effectively allow restaurant owners to steal tips from servers:

 

Today the Trump administration took their first major step towards allowing employers to legally take tips earned by the workers they employ. The Department of Labor released a proposed rule rescinding portions of its tip regulations, including current restrictions on “tip pooling”—which would mean that, for example, restaurants would be able to pool the tips servers receive and share them with untipped employees such as cooks and dishwashers. But, crucially, the rule doesn’t actually require that employers distribute pooled tips to workers. Under the administration’s proposed rule, as long as the tipped workers earn minimum wage, the employer can legally pocket those tips.

 

And what we know for sure is that, often, they will do just that. Recent research suggests that the total wages stolen from workers due to minimum wage violations exceeds $15 billion each year, and workers in restaurants and bars are much more likely to suffer minimum wage violations than workers in other industries. With that much illegal wage theft currently taking place, it seems obvious that when employers can legally pocket the tips earned by their employees, many will do so.

 

 

Fun thing I learned recently: it's generally legal for management to keep anything left in tip jars on the counter, and they usually do.

 

The Trump administration is proposing a rule that would effectively allow restaurant owners to steal tips from servers:

 

 

 

 

Fun thing I learned recently: it's generally legal for management to keep anything left in tip jars on the counter, and they usually do.

It's trickle down. They take the tips, therefore making more money, which they will pass down to their employees. Very simple. MAGA.

What?

Really?

 

Schutzstaffel

 

Really?

 

Schutzstaffel

They weren't spies. That was the Abwehr.

Oh I was thinking of Cheney's separate intel shop he set up to fabricate and disseminate "evidence" about Saddam's WMD programs.

Trump's financial records subpoenaed

 

https://twitter.com/guardian/status/9380046...src=twsrc%5Etfw

 

Oh boy. Didn't Donnie say to not go there?

 

Oh boy. Didn't Donnie say to not go there?

Not just his, but his family’s as well

 

Oh boy. Didn't Donnie say to not go there?

 

I don't doubt he said this but, he told Mueller specifically?

Oh I was thinking of Cheney's separate intel shop he set up to fabricate and disseminate "evidence" about Saddam's WMD programs.

That was through the "Defense Intelligence Agency" I believe, not a private organization either.

I don't doubt he said this but, he told Mueller specifically?

Article from July

 

https://www.google.com/amp/thehill.com/home...es-beyond%3famp

 

Article from July

 

https://www.google.com/amp/thehill.com/home...es-beyond%3famp

 

Oh man, Trump really thinks he is a god or something?

At this point I think Trump is going to really consider getting rid of Mueller. Over the last year its become clear that his supporters really dont care if he broke the law or not.

Oh man, Trump really thinks he is a god or something?

Well, yeah. He did invent Christmas after all.

 

At this point I think Trump is going to really consider getting rid of Mueller. Over the last year its become clear that his supporters really dont care if he broke the law or not.

 

He was absolutely right when he said he could shoot someone on 5th Ave and get away with it.

 

I don't have a whole lot of hope of Congress doing anything to protect the integrity of Mueller's investigation, either. They'll say they're doing their own "investigations" which have largely been fruitless shams to this point and that's good enough. We'll know we're in a full-blown authoritarian state at that point.

He was absolutely right when he said he could shoot someone on 5th Ave and get away with it.

 

I don't have a whole lot of hope of Congress doing anything to protect the integrity of Mueller's investigation, either. They'll say they're doing their own "investigations" which have largely been fruitless shams to this point and that's good enough. We'll know we're in a full-blown authoritarian state at that point.

 

I felt when Trump was elected that Congress even the Republicans would be a nice check and balance. The partisanism of government has now ended the system of checks and balances and we get what we had in the tax bill where there really is little governing any longer. It is just taking what you want.

 

I know I guess i was naive and a hopeless romantic.

 

I understand it has been like this for a while but I felt there were some republicans that had a spine, I guess not.

I felt when Trump was elected that Congress even the Republicans would be a nice check and balance. The partisanism of government has now ended the system of checks and balances and we get what we had in the tax bill where there really is little governing any longer. It is just taking what you want.

 

I know I guess i was naive and a hopeless romantic.

 

I understand it has been like this for a while but I felt there were some republicans that had a spine, I guess not.

 

They will pay dearly for their mistake. Politicians before Trump was elected, were savvy and subtle in their ways to screw over people. They are trying to do it now too by saying bs like you will save 4k on your taxes which is false. With Trump, they are openly saying things like this tax plan benefits the rich, the estate tax repeal only benefits the rich, and if you didn't drink booze and buy hookers, you could be rich too.

 

These politicians have never tasted what it means to be poor and they will absolutely get people out of their homes to vote in the upcoming elections. Generally, people are happy with some crumbs but when you take those crumbs away, they will become desperate.