Share this page!

Seth Abramson Profile picture
Twitter logo
16 Apr, 7 tweets, 2 min read
Here's what gets me about calling the Kilimnik story today "breaking news." We knew a year ago that Kilimnik was an *active* intel agent when Manafort met with him—so how is it breaking news today that Kilimnik gave what Manafort gave him to "Russian intelligence"? See the issue?
(PS) We also knew Kilimnik's bosses—the men he was acting as an agent for in 2016—are top Kremlin agents, and we know Kilimnik has been hiding in a Russian intelligence compound since he was indicted. But it's *big news* today that he was in touch with Russian intelligence? What?
(PS2) This was a way for major media to admit that certain of us were right about collusion way back in 2017 while maintaining the illusion that the excellent journalism conducted back then was actually premature, and we only just "found out" about collusion today. It's nonsense.
(PS3) As a result—the theory goes—there needn't be apologies for 4 years of risible hitpieces casting those of us doing better journalism than many at major media outlets as cranks or conspiracy theorists or fabulists. Soap scum of this sort was published as recently as February.
(PS4) Meanwhile, actual irresponsible cranks like Greenwald and Taibbi and Pool and Maté, who just had their faces pushed into a toilet today by further proof that they lied about the Trump-Russia scandal for 4 years, decided to spend today writing about Russian bounties. So sad.
(PS5) Saying that you were right to doubt the Russian bounty story on the day it's confirmed you had every single aspect of the Trump-Russia scandal wrong is like congratulating yourself for doing a laundry on a day that you hit and killed a man with your car and then drove away.
(PS6) And keep in mind that the same cranks who got the Trump-Russia story wrong have nothing to say about the January 6 insurrection, even as those of us who got the Trump-Russia story *right* are telling anyone who'll listen that *all* the evidence points to Trump coordination.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Seth Abramson

Seth Abramson Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @SethAbramson

Seth Abramson Profile picture
16 Apr
It's time for Americans to fully wake up to what happened on January 6, 2021.

THE WASHINGTON POST: "As the Capitol was overrun, armed supporters of President Donald Trump were waiting across the Potomac in Virginia for orders to bring guns into the fray." washingtonpost.com/local/legal-is…
When people ask me why so much of my writing is focused on the insurrection, it's because I know from hundreds of hours of research that we only narrowly escaped the beginning of a second civil war on that day, with Trump thereafter invoking the Insurrection Act to stay in power.
What we saw on our television screens January 6 was not the worst-case scenario. It was the best-case scenario. It is only through a series of incredibly lucky coincidences that all the chaos and failures of that day did not produce something significantly worse than what we saw.
Read 11 tweets
Seth Abramson Profile picture
16 Apr
It's hard not to watch the tragic video of 13 year-old Adam Toledo being shot and not feel like he was going to be shot no matter what. He was ordered to show his hands and as soon as he complied—with empty hands—he was shot. That means the order he was given was merely a ritual.
Cops are trained to give orders that—if complied with—make themselves and others safer. This officer appears to have given an order that was meaningless—as a lack of compliance with it could have led to deadly force but compliance with it was *also* going to lead to deadly force.
While running from police is a bad idea, and running from police with a deadly weapon is an even worse idea, (a) doing so is *not* a death sentence in the United States—by law—and (b) policing only *works* if suspects are allowed to surrender when they're clearly trying to do so.
Read 5 tweets
Seth Abramson Profile picture
15 Apr
When Kim Potter goes on trial, one thing we'll see is that her first failure was as a training officer. Wright should've been brought to the back of the vehicle and the driver's door closed pre-cuffing. The trainee muffed the cuffing—and as Potter interceded all hell broke loose.
If Wright is brought to the rear of the vehicle; if his door is closed to block his access to the vehicle; if the trainee is able to open his cuffs in a professional way; either Wright has no means to get back in the vehicle or Potter has more time to think before interceding.
As an attorney I think people need to understand that Potter may not be convicted. Our criminal justice system does not have an ideal statute for the sort of situation that appears to have led to Wright's death. But either way Potter will be sued into oblivion for Wrongful Death.
Read 5 tweets
Seth Abramson Profile picture
13 Apr
Being a cop is one of the hardest jobs in America. That said, when a 26-year vet pulls a Glock instead of a Tazer and kills a 20 year-old, they should expect a wrongful death suit and criminal charges.

As to jail, a no-prior-record Neg Hom can lead to no or minimal imprisonment.
(PS) I don't know enough about this case to say if this would be a suspended/deferred sentence Neg Hom or one with incarceration. I'm just noting that—civilian or cop—if this was negligence with no prior record it would in *some* instances *not* result in immediate incarceration.
(PS2) I'm just trying to let folks know what my experience working in 3 jurisdictions has taught me as to Neg Hom cases. Certainly, the facts could emerge in a way that a low prison sentence would be warranted. As to the pension issue, I've no expertise on how any of that works.
Read 5 tweets
Seth Abramson Profile picture
11 Apr
(PROOF) In this essay on the preposterous misuse of the phrase "cancel culture" in America, I locate such a discrete ecosystem—capable of systematically issuing permanent excommunications—in just one place: Trump's GOP. I hope you'll read on and retweet. sethabramson.substack.com/p/the-gop-is-c…
Man, I *really* would like to hear the argument *against* the GOP being a quintessential "cancel culture" (using that phrase extremely narrowly and carefully, as I do in the article at PROOF). It has every possible component of the only phenomenon we could denote via that phrase.
(PS) For those happy to see the link to a Community clip at the end of this essay on Trump, but frustrated that that clip is missing a *key moment* in the meme it generated, here you go (WARNING: spoiler for an old but *impossibly perfect* network show):
Read 4 tweets
Seth Abramson Profile picture
5 Apr
Here's the timeline DeSantis now gives us:

12/7: Publix gives DeSantis PAC $50,000.
12/15(~): Florida gets vaccines.
12/15-12/30(~): DeSantis not ready to give Publix vax deal.
12/31: Publix gives DeSantis PAC another $50,000.
1/1-1/4: DeSantis decides to give Publix vax deal.
DeSantis admits CVS *and* Walgreens were *already* handling vaccines in mid-December, but *he* asked them to focus on long-term care facilities only—taking them out of the running against Publix for handling general vaccine distribution. I don't see how this looks better for him.
DeSantis was in regular contact with Trump during this period. Trump had *one concern*: funding his January 6 events. During the same 72-hour period Publix paid DeSantis $50,000, it appears the Publix heiress paid Trump's Stop the Steal agents $300,000 so he could hold his event.
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @SethAbramson has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @SethAbramson!

Read all threads by @SethAbramson