Technically, Alan Dershowitz isn’t Donald Trump’s lawyer. So his arguments don’t have any legal implications. But it is striking this his argument in this video clip – bananas on several other fronts – is directly incriminating on the campaign finance front. Specifically, he is saying that payments would need to be made to effect the outcome of the election.
Dershowitz: They knew a lot of people were going to come forward at the end of the campaign demanding money. So it made sense to set up a corporation to handle all the payments. “That happens all the time.” pic.twitter.com/j9EkT8sGJ4
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) July 25, 2018
As the news of “the tape” was breaking last night, I tuned in to Laura Ingraham’s show on Fox (don’t mention it) to see what Alan Dershowitz and the President’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani were saying about the new information. Below is a selection of clips that show the comical mix of nonsense and special pleading from these friends of the President. Read More
Tonight, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp won a primary run-off to become GOP nominee to be the next Governor of Georgia. Kemp enjoyed the staunch backing of President Trump.
But there’s another part of Kemp’s story. In August 2016, as Obama administration officials were trying to enlist the support of state election officials to counter unfolding Russian election interference and efforts to hack into state election systems, Kemp was an outspoken hold out, attacking the initiative an assault on state’s rights. Read More
If you’re trying to make sense of just what Vladimir Putin has on Donald Trump, do not miss this interview with retired CIA Clandestine Service Officer John Sipher.
John Brennan: “Well yes, I — as a young analyst, I wouldn’t have had direct interaction with Andropov, but I have studied Russian intelligence activities over the years, and have seen it — again, manifest in many different of our counterintelligence cases, and — and how they have been able to get people, including inside of CIA, to become treasonous. And frequently, individuals who go along that treasonous path do not even realize they’re along that path until it gets to be a bit too late. And that’s why, again, my — my radar goes up early when I see certain things that — I know what the Russians are trying to do, and I don’t know whether or not the targets of their efforts are as mindful of the Russian intentions as they need to be.”
Today we are kicking off a ten part series on voting rights and democracy that will run through the November election. Please take a moment to read my introduction. Why we’re doing it, why it matters, what we’ll include.
As I mentioned yesterday, the biggest impact of the Helsinki Summit is a lot of the serious people, the big wigs, starting to think, “yeah, Putin must have something over Trump. Something just does not add up about any of this.” Even President Trump’s intel chief Dan Coats seemed to be feeling the ground moving under his feet yesterday. Read More
Confused about the ridiculously open and apparent Russian influence scheme allegedly targeting the NRA and conservative Republicans? We sort it out for you in this handy chart.