CNN is reporting that unknown attorneys argued yesterday in a locked courtroom before a three judge federal appeals court panel over a challenged subpoena to Mueller’s grand jury.  This is the third such hearing, but this time, the entire fifth floor of the courthouse was cleared of all press and observers but for a few judiciary clerks.  The lawyers, who remain unidentified, arrived and left the courthouse under cover.  About 10 minutes after the hubbub on the fifth floor ceased, a black car carrying two of the Mueller team were seen entering the building where Mueller’s team resides.

Very interesting.  With all the secrecy, this witness is clearly highly placed.  My guess it’s a Trump family member; Jr.? Ivanka? Kushner?  This will make a great study in governance after this is all over.

This week, New York Times columnist Charles Blow wrote a depressing, but I believe accurate opinion piece about how Trump will respond to Mueller’s report on the Russia investigation.  It ain’t pretty.  Blow compares Trump to Nixon, pointing out their difference in response to unassailable facts.  When Nixon was facing an actual impeachment vote, he resigned a crawled back under his rock at San Clemency.  Blow says that Trump will NEVER yield, even after an unlikely vote for impeachment.

His point here is that the end of the Mueller investigation isn’t the end of a long nightmare, but actually only the beginning.  Even in the face of incontrovertible evidence, Trump will admit nothing. He’ll attack on Twitter. Trump’s network of propaganda outlets, lead by Fox Noise, will spin the findings at hypersonic speeds to twist up the finding to assert that negatives are positives, red is blue, the sky is green, the sun rises in the west, and that Trump is a “victim” of a smear campaign.

Blow describes the looming constitutional crisis as the  “country’s crucible” that will test the very strength of our constitutional form of government.  Trump won’t go down without taking the country with him.  That is darkness that is no less threatening than the Great Depression, the rise of fascism in Europe in the 1930s, and the Great Recession.  And, it could start any day.

Sleep tight…

Robert Mueller’s investigation team made a filing today asking the judge in Paul Manafort’s criminal trial to prepare to sentence him because he’s been lying to the FBI since his plea deal.  Imagine it – you’re 69 years old and facing spending the rest of your life in prison, have already been convicted on 8 felony counts and have pleaded guilty to 2 other counts.  What person in their right mind would lie to the FBI when the result would be the rest of your natural life in prison?  Answer: One who has been assured of a federal pardon if he protected the President of the United States.

Look – Either Manafort has lost his mind and WANTS to die in prison, or he’s falling on his sword because he’s going to be given a get out of jail free card.  Oh, one other possibility comes to mind – the Russians are threatening a member of his family if he talks, so he may actually be falling on his sword to protect his family.

Sounds like a mafia movie, doesn’t it?

File under You Can’t Make This Up:

It started a few days ago in RW Nutjob Land (I never link to RW Nutjob sites, so you’ll have to find it yourself), but this story has legs and deserves covering.  This story is about Tad Devine who was…wait for it…Bernie Sanders chief strategist during the 2016 election.  Devine is a long-time advisor and strategist for Democratic candidates, even being senior advisor to both Al Gore and John Kerry for their presidential runs.  He’s also been an international political consultant, (and this is where it gets weird), he partnered with Paul Manafort to advise Viktor Yanukovych, the Russian backed strongman who is now in exile in Russia after being removed from power in 2014 for corruption and suppression of protests and the press.

What’s really bad for Devine (and us) is that Mueller’s most recent indictment contains many exhibits of communication between Devine and Manafort, and even Russian-born Konstantin Kilimnik, who is under indictment by Mueller.  This association feeds the rumors that Sanders was part of a vast conspiracy by the Russians to get Hillary.  No one knows yet if that storyline is true, but it damn sure looks bad;  it’s unknown if the Russians had some inroad into Sanders campaign, but there is certainly a possible onramp.  This one will be interesting to follow.

There is a place for anger, and THIS is it.

On Monday, while French kissing Putin on global television, Trump announced that Putin had proposed “an incredible idea” to him during their private session to address Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.  We now know what that “incredible idea” was, and I had to read it twice to believe it; the story was confirmed by Aunt Lydia Sarah Sanders yesterday in the first WH daily briefing held in two weeks.  The “idea”?  For Trump to allow Russian intelligence to question 11 American citizens, including former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, and businessman Bill Browder, whose attorney was murdered in a Russian prison.

This “incredible idea” cynical demand is nothing more than Putin’s chess move against legitimate indictments of Russian intelligence officials for hacking DNC servers and conducting cyber war against the United States.  Bill Browder has been a thorn in Putin’s side for years for pointing out the corruption in his regime.  The murdered attorney, Sergei Magnitsky, had been arrested for uncovering massive corruption in Russia which lead to hundreds of millions of dollars of laundered money being deposited in banks in the US and around the world.  The law passed in his name froze those assets and banned a number of Russian government officials and oligarchs from entering the US.  Putin and his gang hate that law, and have been trying to undermine it since its adoption.  Don’t forget that the meeting with Russian agents at Trump tower in the summer of 2016 was an effort to get the Magnitsky Act repealed.

The shocking thing about the current chapter in this entire sordid story of the love affair between Trump and his handler is that, instead of categorically condemning this demand, the White House IS ACTUALLY ENTERTAINING IT.  Are you kidding me?  And, of course, the invertebrates in Congress are responding as you would expect, mealy mouthed and cowering in the corner, terrified of Trump’s Twitterfingers.

There is a place for anger, and this is it.

UPDATE:  File this under “No Shit” – Saying he’s considering allowing Russian intelligence to interrogate former US ambassador Michael McFaul and others caused HUGE blowback yesterday and today around the world (especially from McFaul himself).  The invertebrates in Congress were actually able to pull themselves far enough vertical to raise their hands and were preparing a resolution condemning the idea when Aunt Lydia Sarah Sanders announced that Trump “disagrees” with the notion of handing Americans over to Putin’s Gulag.  Apparently, the WH now agrees that allowing US citizens to be interrogated by Russian intelligence is not a great idea.  To that we say, NO SHIT.

Today, Trump announced he is pushing the G7 to re-admit Russia to the group of allies.  Russia was expelled after Putin lead the military intervention in Ukraine and annexed Crimea in 2014.  Trump has already estranged the US from the G6 by imposing tariffs and poking the other countries in the eye.  Now, in a blatantly pro-Putin move, he has urged the group readmit Russia.  Just another outrage – it must by Friday.