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Remember all the faux outrage over Bill Clinton and Loretta Lynch on that airport tarmac in Colorado?

As it was merely faux outrage, it’s totally gone. Just like Orin Hatch recently complained the Dems are being so mean to Brett Kavanaugh. 

“Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Republican from Utah, is fed up with Democrats’ argument that they won’t have enough documents to make a decision about Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh.”

“Standing alongside a handful of other Republican senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Hatch, a typically mild-mannered member of the chamber, called the partisan efforts “dumbass” on Thursday as he begged members to come together in what has become one of the most divisive Supreme Court nominations in recent memory.”

“I want to really compliment the Democrats who have stood up and are willing to stand up for Judge Kavanaugh,” Hatch said. “We can’t keep going down this partisan, picky, stupid, dumbass road that has happened around here for so long. I am sick and tired of it to be honest with you and I’m tired of the partisanship.”

“Democrats have charged Republicans are withholding vital documents from Kavanaugh’s time as a staff secretary in the Bush administration. Republicans, meanwhile, in a display that included stacked boxes in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room, have argued the documents they are asking for go far enough in helping Democrats make a determination about Kavanaugh.”

“Frankly, we didn’t treat their candidates for these positions, the way they are treating ours. I would like to see us hopefully break through and change that,” Hatch said.

Frankly wow-talk about short term memory loss. . I mean, it’s true Republicans didn’t demand Merrick Garland’s actual documents-they simply refused to meet with him at all. But this demonstrates yet again-if you still needed evidence-of just how shamelessly cynical the GOP actually is but then a party willing to defend collusion with Russia is pretty cynical.

https://lastmenandovermen.com/2018/08/02/watergate-2-0-is-about-the-moral-and-intellectual-bankruptcy-of-the-modern-republican-party/

So-yes-it’s total hypocrisy for the GOP after all the phony alarmism over the tarmac meeting-in his book even Comey admits there was nothing there, though he did say that after he saw how over the top the Fox News coverage of it was, it gave him another reason to do his indefensible press conference; yes Comey’s logic is pretty hazy here as it was on most decisions he made on Emailgate-but have nothing to offer but crickets about Trump and Hicks lovefest above Air Force One.

In any case, Trump continues his modus operandi of committing crimes or impeachable offenses in plain sight under the theory that it’s the best way to hide them. So yesterday he blatantly engaged in witness tampering for all the world to see by having Hope Hicks-his Rose Woods who knows where all the bodies are buried from the campaign, or at least her notes/emails do-travel with him on Air Force One to a campaign stop in Ohio. 

Former White House communications director Hope Hicks was seen boarding Air Force One on Saturday.”

“A White House pool report stated that Hicks was among those who boarded the plane in Morristown Municipal Airport in New Jersey to travel with President Trump for Saturday evening’s campaign rally in Ohio.”

“It’s unclear why Hicks was on the plane, or if she was meeting with the president.”

“Hicks briefly spoke with media traveling with the president off the record after Trump’s rally, according to a later pool report.”

As for what constitutes witness tampering, it’s pretty simple:

And yes, witness tampering is a felony. Note that based on Abramson’s breakdown what she was there to speak to Trump about is immaterial. I don’t get the part in the piece about ‘it’s unclear if she was meeting with the President’ her being on the plane with him is meeting with the ‘President.’

When Hicks left the Russia White House in February, you suspect-though this is not the reason she gave-she wanted to avoid getting herself into any more trouble. The announcement of her departure correlated to right after her admission before Congress that her job for the faux ‘President’ required her to sometimes tell ‘white lies.’

“Hicks faced scrutiny reportedly saying during her testimony before the House Intelligence Committee that her job occasionally meant she had to tell “white lies,” as well as for her relationship with former White House staff secretary Rob Porter.

“Porter resigned after his ex-wives said he was abusive toward them, and a photo of one wife’s bruised face was made public.”

“Hicks, who was dating Porter at the time, reportedly helped craft the initial public statements supporting the aide.”

I mean the amount of times that she had to tell ‘white lies’ for so-called President Trump is too numerous to count. Just recently, Michael Cohen’s release of his tape with Trump on the payment to Karen McDougal put the lie to the categorical denials that Trump knew anything about any of it at the time.

Indeed, by the time Hicks left the Russia White House it was clear that the illegitimate ‘President’ had put her in a very precarious position, as he ignored the bright line on discussing Russia with her. 

“President Donald Trump’s lawyers have urged him not to discuss details of the unfolding Russia investigation with anyone outside his legal team, warning of a conversational “bright line” that could put aides and associates in legal jeopardy, according to current and former Trump aides.”

“But Trump often ignores that legal advice in the presence of senior aides — including his departing confidante and White House communications director, Hope Hicks.”

“I think the president has put her in a very precarious position,” a senior Trump administration official said in a recent interview.

“Hicks is not alone. Current and former Trump aides describe a president who often fails to observe boundaries about the Russia probe and who calls staffers into his office and raises the subject without warning.”

Speaking of which, the story out today is about how Trump is privately worried about Don Jr’ s possible legal exposure.

UPDATE:

Well, that settles it-illegitimate ‘President Trump’ would never say something that wasn’t true so that’s that.

But how much has Trump discussed Russia with Jr? You would probably extrapolate a great deal, and if so, every conversation between them that mentions ‘that Russia hoax’ is more legal exposure for both of them-witness tampering.

The family that colludes together also obstructs together…

Anyway back to the not so hopeful Hope Hicks. Not so hopeful because of how much trouble Trump got her into on a daily basis while she was there.

Hicks in particular, Trump told her, could be “on both sides of the [bright] line.” As one of his longest-serving and most trusted aides, Hicks may have been subjected to an unwelcome amount of legally relevant comments from the president.

“Speaking freely about an ongoing investigation is a major mistake, say veteran defense attorneys with White House experience.”

“Every defense lawyer will advise his client don’t talk to people about the facts of the case. But when you work for the president and the president is not only constantly talking, but tweeting, I’m sure that’s doubly difficult,” said William Jeffress, a Washington attorney who represented former President Richard M. Nixon after his resignation and I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, former senior aide under President George W. Bush.

Yup-this is advice from Nixon and Scooter Libby’s attorney…

There’d be a lot more hope for Hope Hicks if Trump wasn’t so hopelessly lacking in either knowledge nor concern for what his actions to do others. I am quite hopeful about the possibilities for a name like Hope Hicks-aka Rose Woods 2.0

Digression over.

That concept is not lost on White House officials. “People are afraid to talk to each other,” Anthony Scaramucci, who served a very brief stint as White House communications director before Hicks, told CNN on Thursday.

“But there is little they can do about a president both consumed with allegations against him and resistant to advice about what subjects he should avoid discussing.”

“The problem is especially acute for Hicks and other aides subjected to Trump’s venting, given special counsel Robert Mueller’s known interest in whether Trump has sought to obstruct justice from within the White House.”

“Hicks’ exit from the White House in the coming weeks will hardly immunize her from legal headaches. But it will spare her from “learning more things on the inside that could potentially lead to a second or third visit to the special counsel’s office and higher legal bills,” as one former Trump aide put it.”

Spared until her field trip on Air Force One yesterday.

“Part of the problem in this White House is you have, every day, people who engage in matters concerning this investigation,” the source said. “That is problematic, because not only does it distract from the work that taxpayers are paying them to do, but it also — in certain instances — can make them witnesses or potentially targets of the investigation. That’s really dangerous.”

No doubt Hicks is a very valuable witness:

“Hicks, by virtue of her longtime close relationship with Trump, has already become a significant figure in the multiple probes into Russian election meddling and alleged Kremlin influence over Trump’s campaign. She met in December with special counsel Robert Mueller and spent nearly nine hours testifying before the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday. Hicks also has appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee.”

“Hicks is known to have been present or involved in several key episodes of interest to federal Russia investigators. Mueller has questioned her about a meeting on Air Force One as Trump returned from a July trip to Europe, in which Trump, his aides and family members crafted a misleading statement about a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting organized by his son, Donald Trump Jr., with a Russian lawyer offering dirt on Hillary Clinton.”

“She was also with Trump in March 2016 when he first announced that Carter Page and George Papadopoulos were joining his campaign’s foreign policy team; both men have since become focal points of the current Mueller and congressional investigations.”

Papadopoulos, is the ‘coffee boy’ whose disturbing conversation with Australia’s top diplomat precipitated the start of the Russia investigation-Trump and the GOP always falsely claim it was Carter Page and the Steele dossier. But Hope was present with Trump as he announced both-on the same day.

She was also on an email chain-as were Manafort and Bannon-when Page asked about his invitation to what has become an infamous speech in Moscow.

“Hicks was on email chains involving Page as he ran an invitation to speak in Moscow up the campaign’s chain of command. She fielded media inquiries for Paul Manafort, who at the time served as campaign chairman, about his ties to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian aluminum magnate and ally to Russian President Vladimir Putin.”

Of course, she’s in just about all the scandalous email chains during her tenure with Trump over two and a half years first on the campaign and later in the WH.

She was also there for the Comey firing:

“Serving in Trump’s White House inner circle also meant Hicks was with the president in Bedminster, New Jersey, during an early May 2017 weekend when he decided to fire FBI Director James Comey — a move that triggered Mueller’s investigation and has put Trump under the special counsel’s scrutiny for potential obstruction of justice.”

“The Washington Post reported last fall that Hicks was also with the president in the Oval Office a day before Comey’s ouster, during a discussion about a letter drafted by aide Stephen Miller that spelled out the president’s reasons for firing the FBI chief. She was the only Trump aide present during a July interview Trump gave The New York Times in which he described his anger that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had recused himself from the Russia probe — another potential component of an obstruction of justice case.”

“Still, the timing of her exit announcement — the day after her House testimony, during which she reportedly acknowledged telling small lies to cover for the president — stirred suspicion.”

“Even after she surrenders her White House badge, Hicks might not be finished speaking to federal investigators. Former senior White House aides Reince Priebus, Steve Bannon and Sean Spicer have all met with Mueller’s team since their White House departures. And Mark Corallo, a former spokesman for Trump’s legal team, met with Mueller last month.”

“It’s so easy to get caught up in these things, even if you have nothing substantive to do with decisions,” said Adam Goldberg, a Bill Clinton White House lawyer who handled crisis communications during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

And now, Hicks has now given Mueller something else to question her about.

UPDATE: What does the Mueller Report say about witness tampering in general-is there anything about Hicks in particular?

 

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