I'll be on @maddow @MSNBC at 9pm-ish on today's breaking Qatar/Trump Tower/Russia news. I've had to update this #SteeleDossier timeline 4 times today. Is Qatar turning on Cohen. Will they turn on Trump? shugerblog.com/2018/05/14/rus…
Tonight's story: Qataris say Michael Cohen tried to shake them down for millions in Trump Tower 12/12/16: "Kuwaiti source claimed Al-Rumaihi told him that Cohen tried to get the money during a meeting which also included Flynn." He claims he refused... dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5…
1) Let's take this single source story with a grain of salt. 2) Even without this story, what are Qatari officials doing at Trump Tower 4 days after buying Rosneft, and then lending Kushner $184 million a year later? See timeline for all the Russia-Trump-Kushner contacts Dec'16.
3) These stories taken together (Cohen, Vekselberg, Flynn, Kushner...) show a comically sloppy/clumsy conspiracy. Sometimes I wonder if it's too obvious to be plausible. But it seems obvious only in hindsight through Steele Dossier. They had no idea Dossier would blow cover...
4) My theory: After Dossier published, I think Qatar tried to back out. But "Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in." Kushner allegdly turned up pressure on Qatar in April 2017 with a shockingly risky Gulf crisis. Not enough attention to this near-war event...
5) But why didn't Russians, Trump, and Kushner slow down and try to hide it better?
Incompetence? Desperation? Overconfidence bred by years of impunity?
It seems like these characters got away w/ corruption for so long in Russia and NYC, brazenness was secret of their success.
Incompetence? Desperation? Overconfidence bred by years of impunity?
It seems like these characters got away w/ corruption for so long in Russia and NYC, brazenness was secret of their success.
