Now that Trump has flashed a NY Mafia pal (murderer Sammy Gravano of the Gambino family) to threaten Judge Engoron, is it finally time to mention that Trump's NY mob ties also touch his "friendly" Judge Aileen Cannon? Her husband worked for John Rosatti of the Colombo family. 1/
Trump palled around with Colombo buddies John Rosatti & John Staluppi in the 1980s - Staluppi went into business with Trump in 1988. Cannon's husband worked for Rosatti later, 2011-14; could be legit. She's not required to recuse - but she should have. 2/ web.archive.org/web/2021072621…
Federal rules don't force a judge to recuse when a defendant is a former business partner of their spouse's ex-Mafia employer. But it looks unseemly. And when Cannon keeps granting Trump nonsensical delays on his case, we have to talk about it. 3/
Cannon's husband Josh Lorence seems to agree it looks unseemly, since he wiped his LinkedIn in 2022 when Cannon first got a high-profile Trump case. He was a senior exec at Rosatti's BurgerFi, a hamburger businesses oddly with branches in Saudi Arabia. 4/
Soon after the deal with Trump, Rosatti and Staluppi got mixed up in the bloody Colombo civil war that started in 1991 after boss Carmine Persico was jailed. John Rosatti, who supported rival Victor Orena, supposedly ordered a key hit on Persico's guy. 5/ caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-2nd-c…
Smartly, Staluppi and Rosatti switched sides halfway through - they picked the winners. Note how they provide cars & helicopters to other mobsters - that was their semi-legit business. Staluppi would fly Trump's friends out to his Atlantic City casinos. 6/ thesmokinggun.com/file/mafia-sol…
None of this has to mean Aileen Cannon is corrupt, but a reasonable judge would have recused. It's unseemly that the first criminal trial of a former US president has to mean thinking about Carmine "the Snake" Persico and Gregory "Grim Reaper" Scarpa. 7/ nypost.com/2011/01/30/the…
These stories are old, but still relevant. Like Trump, wise guys Rosatti and Staluppi left New York for Palm Beach. Rosatti started BurgerFi; Staluppi bought a strip club; both sail luxury mega-yachts - and both are still part of Donald Trump's world. 8/ robertstolpe.net/Showboats-Rend…
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Let’s talk about Graham Platner’s Big Lie. In 2009, at the height of the Gulf War, the Marines barred him from active duty. Platner claims it was his forearm tattoos. But his one forbidden tattoo was the Nazi symbol on his chest. He left the Marines rather than give it up. 1/
This thread is not about whether Platner is a Nazi. It’s about how he lies like a toddler when he’s cornered. And that’s enough. He’s not electable, and Susan Collins knows it. You can too, if you can read this thread, or this 18-page document. 2/ docs.google.com/document/d/1fN…
Back to 2009: Platner had finished 4 years active duty and enrolled in college, but quickly dropped out and wanted to go back to war. The Gulf War was raging; the Marines were so shorthanded they were recalling servicemen to duty. But they didn’t want Platner. 3/
Dec. 18, 2020 was the decision point that set the Capitol attack in motion. Around midnight, Flynn and Byrne were kicked out of the White House. At 1:42 AM Trump sent the first message about Jan 6 instead. But Jan 6 failed, and now Trump is desperate. 2/
Flynn and Byrne, the two key men Trump has asked to help him steal the 2026 election, were both compromised by Russian agents. Flynn dined in Moscow with Putin. Byrne was seduced by Russian agent Maria Butina. And now they want to steal your vote. 3/
WaPo reports: Trump put his receptionist Chamberlain Harris on the arts commission reviewing his ballroom. They omit: in 2021 Harris helped Trump move classified docs to Mar-a-Lago, kept some on her laptop. And once that went public, she wiped a 2019 trip to Russia off her CV. 1/
Chamberlain Harris had a fast rise: from VP of her college TPUSA chapter, then a summer trip to Russia, then into the White House in just a few months. A bit over a year later, she was Trump's trusted helper who helped him pack up classified material. 2/ theguardian.com/us-news/2023/f…
Her career trajectory - TPUSA right to the West Wing - wouldn't be surprising in DC, except for how she started scrubbing her LinkedIn when the publicity over Trump's classified documents grab began. The first thing to go was the trip to Russia. Then the entire LinkedIn. 3/
Alex Pretti's killers are identified by ProPublica. The man who shot Pretti in the back ("A4") is Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa. The man who instigated the confrontation ("A1") is CBP officer Raymundo Gutierrez. Not new hires: 8 & 12 years service. 1/
ProPublica is terse about the sourcing but says "government documents" - likely a leak. Public video, public outrage, and news coverage all encourage leaks. Now the next step is obtaining the footage from the bodycam that Gutierrez ("A1") was wearing. 2/ propublica.org/article/alex-p…
A pushback on this statement by @davidmcswane. Sure, it's hard to sort out what agent did what in the chaos, but many people have done it: this account, CNN, NYT, WaPo. Just be methodical, label & describe them, and work frame by frame. People need to see the full story. 3/
The Epstein files show his wild geopolitical schemes, but realize: he was a huckster who conned his way up; his friends called him dumb. He may have been a tool. @TVolscho digs up early details: Epstein lied to get a Dalton job, got fired mid-semester since he couldn't teach. 1/
The Epstein files show him reaching out to Putin in 2013 to suggest tearing up the world's financial system. But a friend said that Epstein couldn't understand the talk at his science dinners, so would blurt out "what does that got to do with pussy". 2/ motherjones.com/criminal-justi…
As Epstein's emails show the extent of his ties to global elites, we have to manage the contradictions. Epstein curated his image, working the press. He was a genius at the con. But he was not likely the creator of all the schemes he pitched. Who was? 3/ substack.com/home/post/p-18…
New video implies one of Alex Pretti's shooters wore a bodycam that day - and shows his face.
Two agents at Pretti's murder - "A1" (NS-919), the instigator who fired at his prone body, & "A12" (NS-909) - are now seen earlier attacking another observer. The bodycam is clear. 1/
There is no suggestion that agents have changed their identifier numbers. The details of A1 / NS-919's vest match on both days, though it's seen more clearly in the new video. build. His build is the same. The new video also shows his face, partially. 2/
The new video is now linked in the summary document covered in this thread. (See Tweet 2 for link to Google Doc.) 3/