???: DNI Ratcliffe has declassified a Russian intelligence assessment — which Ratcliffe says could be false or exaggerated — to suggest Clinton hatched a plan to pin Russian hacking onto Trump.
I'm still wrapping my head around the idea that DNI just publicly released what it acknowledges in untested 2016 Russian intelligence chatter to raise derogatory questions about Hillary Clinton — which of course was Russia's goal when it was doing the chattering.
The substance aside: It's more evidence that Durham is not preparing to bring charges related to any of this. Anything is possible, but it would be extraordinary for Durham to allow evidence like this to go onto the public record if he was preparing related indictments.
NEWS from @AndrewDesiderio: Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Intel Committee had previously rejected the information just declassified by DNI Ratcliffe, characterizing it as Russian disinformation.
@AndrewDesiderio When you have to issue a statement clarifying that you didn't just publicly disseminate Russian disinformation because your first statement made it sound like you did just publicly disseminate Russian disinformation >>>
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1) Donald Trump could win by losing because in this case losing his most extreme argument means further delay of trial — and for Trump, delay is almost as good as an outright win
2) The conservatives on the court contorted themselves to avoid discussing the specific case in front of them — Donald Trump’s attempt to subvert the 2020 election. They talked about FDR, Nixon and future presidents. But they rarely engaged w the present.
BREAKING: Arizona prosecutors have charged 11 fake electors for their roles in efforts to subvert the 2020 election. mcusercontent.com/cc1fad182b6d6f…
There are *seven* additional people charged in this indictment who have not yet been served. So their names remain redacted. mcusercontent.com/cc1fad182b6d6f…
There's some wild stuff in this newly unsealed (but heavily redacted) FBI interview from a high-level Trump-world person related to the classified docs investigation.
And while the interview is primarily about the docs investigation, this person apparently witnessed Jeff Clark hand Trump the letter about Georgia electors: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
This person has a very low opinion of "person 24," who apparently tried to overplay a relationship with Trump and pushed the post-hoc claims that Trump had "declassified everything." storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
JUST IN: The DC Circuit has upheld the conviction of former Ron/Rand Paul aide Jesse BENTON for orchestrating an illegal payment from a Russian national to the Trump campaign and RNC. documentcloud.org/documents/2455…
Trump had previously pardoned Benton for *other* campaign finance crimes. The story of this particular contribution is really incredible. the Russian, Roman Vasilenko, really wanted to meet Oprah, Stephen Seagal or Jimmy Carter. documentcloud.org/documents/2455…
Forget the experts: Prosecutors and Trump defense lawyers have already told us what they think is necessary in four different Trump cases. And the questions they want(ed) to ask range from pointed and political to philosophical and a bit odd.
At bottom there are five clear categories aimed at delving into jurors’ minds:
-Opinions about Trump, the man and his presidency
-Views about Trump’s criminal cases
-Political views/activity
-News consumption
-Wildcards aimed at unearthing hidden biases