Show notes
We finally have the facts. The two year long investigation, lead by Robert Mueller, into whether or not the 2016 Donald Trump for President campaign worked with members of the Russian government to steal and release Democratic Party emails is now complete. In this episode, after reading every word of the 448 page report, Jen breaks what the facts indicate Donald Trump did and did not do so that we can all be "in the know" for the Congressional battles with the President that are sure to come. Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Click here to contribute monthly or a lump sum via PayPal Click here to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank's online bill pay function to mail contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North, Number 4576, Crestview, FL 32536 Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Official Mueller Report Jen Briney's highlighted version Interactive Mueller Report from The New York Times Justice Department's pdf version Additional Reading Article: Roger Stone/ Mueller Report: 448 pages with 900 redactions by Elaine Godfrey, The Atlantic, May 1, 2019. Document: Official Mueller Report U.S. Department of Justice, March 2019. Document: Interactive NYT Mueller report New York Times, March 2019. Article: Taibbi: As Mueller Probe Ends,New Russiagate Myth Begins by Matt Taibbi, RollingStone, March 25, 2019. Article: Cohen Hired IT Firm to Rig Early CNBC, Drudge Polls to Favor Trump by Michael Rothfeld, Rob Barry and Joe Palazzolo, Washington Post, January 17, 2019. Article: Trump Dodges Question on Fox News if He's a Russian Asset by Audrey McNamara, The Daily Beast, January 13, 2019. Article: Trump is Compromised by Russia by Michele Goldberg, NY Times, November 29, 2018. Article: Text with Roger Stone's name (Volume II, pg 128), by Marisa Schultz and Nikki Schwab, New York Post, November 28, 2018. Article: Roger Stone Associate says He won't agree to Plea Deal by Sara Murray and Eli Watkins, CNN, November 26, 2018. Article: 14 States Forgo Paper Ballots, Despite Security Warnings by Gopal Ratnam, Government Technology, October 31, 2018. Article: Will Trump be Meeting his Russian Counterpart or Handler? by Jonathon Chait, NY Intelligencer, July 2018. Transcript: Remarks by President Trump in Press Gaggle The White House, June 15, 2018. Article: Rudy Giulani says Mueller Probe might Get Cleaned up with Presidential Pardons by Chris Somerfeldt, NY Daily News, June 15, 2018 Article: Michael Cohen has said he would take a bullet for Trump by Honorable Maggie Haberman, Sharon LaFriere and Danny Hakim, NY Times, April 20, 2018. Article: Russians Turned Away at Seattle Consulate After Trump announces Closure by Evan Bush, Christine Clarridge, Dominic Gates and Hal Bernton, The Seattle Times, March, 26 2018. Article: It's Official: Russiagate is this Generation's WMD by Matt Taibbi, Substack, March 23, 2018. Article: Russian Tweets used as sources for Partisan Opinion study by Josephine Lukito and Chris Wells, Columbia Journalism Review, March 8, 2018. Article: Cable News Ad Revenue up 25 Percent by Joe Concha, The Hill, February 23, 2018. Document: Transcript of December 13, 2017 Rosenstein hearing by Committee of the Judiciary House of Representative U.S. Congress, December 13, 2017. Article: In Retaliations, US Orders Russian to Close Consulate in San Francisco by Mark Landler and Gardiner Harris, NY Times, August, 31 2017. Article: Excerpts from Interview with Trump by Stephen Crowley, NY Times, July 19, 2017. Document: Transcript of June 8, 2017 Comey hearing by Select Committee on Intelligence U.S. Senate, June 8, 2017. Article: Comey, Mueller and the Showdown at John Ashcroft's Hospital Bed by Colleen Shalby, LA Times, May 17, 2017. Document: Statement from Press Secretary regarding James Comey's Testimony White House U.S. Press Secretary, May 9, 2017. Article: Sessions Met with Russian Ambassador During Trumps Presidential Campaign by Adam Entous, Ellen Naskashima and Greg Miller, The Washington Post, March 1, 2017 Article: National Security Advisor Flynn Discussed Sanctions with Russian Ambassador Despite Denials by Greg Miller, Adam Entous and Ellen Nakashima Washington Post, February 9, 2017. Document: Steele Dossier Confidential, by Mark Schoofs, BuzzFeed, October 19, 2016. Article: Wiki Leaks to Publish More Hilary Emails by Mark Tran, The Guardian, June 12, 2016. Article: Panel Told of a Sickbed Face-Off by Richard Schmitt, LA Times, May 16, 2007. Resources Press Gaggle Transcript: Remarks by President Trump in Press Gaggle, June 15, 2018 Hearing Transcript: Oversight Hearing with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, December 13, 2017 Hearing Transcript: Open Hearing with Former FBI Director James Comey, June 8, 2017 Report: Steele Dossier, Company Intelligence Report 2016/080 Statement Transcript: Statement from the Press Secretary, May 9, 2017 Visual Resources Sound Clip Sources Hearing: Michael Cohen Testimony Before House Oversight Committee, C-SPAN, February 27, 2019. Sound Clips: 33:31 Michael Cohen: You need to know that Mr. Trump's personal lawyers reviewed and edited my statement to Congress about the timing of the Moscow Tower negotiations before I gave it. 33:44 Michael Cohen: To be clear, Mr. Trump knew of and directed the Trump Moscow negotiations throughout the campaign and lied about it. He lied about it because he never expected to win. He also lied about it because he stood to make hundreds of millions of dollars on the Moscow real estate project. 39:21 Michael Cohen: Donald Trump is a man who ran for office to make his brand great, not to make our country great. He had no desire or intention to lead this nation, only to market himself and to build his wealth and power. Mr. Trump would often say this campaign was going to be greatest infomercial in political history. He never expected to win the primary. He never expected to win the general election. The campaign, for him, was always a marketing opportunity. 43:50 Michael Cohen: Mr. Trump directed me to find a straw man to purchase a portrait of him that was being auctioned off at an art Hampton's event. The objective was to ensure that this portrait, which was going to be auctioned last, would go for the highest price of any portrait that afternoon. The portrait was purchased by the fake bidder for $60,000. Mr. Trump directed the Trump Foundation, which is supposed to be a charitable organization, to repay the fake bidder, despite keeping the art for himself. 48:50 Michael Cohen: When I say con man, I'm talking about a man who declares himself brilliant, but directed me to threaten his high school, his colleges, and the College Board to never release his grades or SAT scores. 53:09 Michael Cohen: Mr. Trump had frequently told me and others that his son Don Jr had the worst judgment of anyone in the world. 55:31 Michael Cohen: And by coming today, I have caused my family to be the target of personal scurrilous attacks by the president and his lawyer trying to intimidate me from appearing before this panel. 56:30 Michael Cohen: And I hope this committee and all members of Congress on both sides of the aisle make it clear that as a nation, we should not tolerate attempts to intimidate witnesses before Congress and attacks on family are out of bounds and not acceptable. 2:10:30 Michael Cohen: And when Mr. Trump turned around early in the campaign and said, I can shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and get away with it, I want to be very clear. He's not joking. He's telling you the truth. You don't know him. I do. I sat next to this man for 10 years and I watched his back. 2:11:13 Michael Cohen: And when he goes on Twitter and he starts bringing in my in-laws, my parents, my wife, what does he think is going to happen? He's causing... He's sending out the same message that he can do whatever he wants. This is his country. He's becoming an autocrat and hopefully something bad will happen to me or my children and my wife so that I will not be here and testify. That's what his hope was. To intimidate me. 2:11:46 Rep. Jim Cooper (TN): Have you ever seen Mr. Trump personally threaten people with physical harm? Michael Cohen: No. He would use others. 2:12:00 Michael Cohen: Everybody's job at the Trump organization is to protect Mr. Trump 2:12:07 Michael Cohen: Every day. Most of us knew we were coming in and we were going to lie for him on something, and that became the norm, and that's exactly what's happening right now in, in this country. That's exactly what's happening here in government. 4:10:30 Rep. Brenda Lawrence (MI): Mr Cohen, why do you feel or believe that the president is repeatedly attacking you? You are stating that you feel intimidated asking us to protect you following your cooperation with law enforcement. Michael Cohen: When you have access to 60 plus million people that follow you on social media and you have the ability within which to spark some action by individuals that follow and follow him and from his own words that he can walk down Fifth Avenue, shoot someone and get away with it. It's never comfortable when the President of the United States… Rep. Brenda Lawrence (MI): What do you think he can do to you? Michael Cohen: A lot. And it's not just him, it's those people that follow him in his rhetoric. Rep. Brenda Lawrence (MI): What is a lot? Michael Cohen: I don't know. I don't walk with my wife. If we go to a restaurant or we go somewhere, I don't walk with my children. I make them go before me because I have fear and it's the same fear that I had before when he initially decided to drop that tweet in my cell phone. I receive some, and I'm sure you, you'll understand. I received some tweets. I received some Facebook messenger, all sorts of social media attacks upon me, whether it's the private direct message that I've had to turn over to secret service because they are the most vile, disgusting statements that anyone can ever receive. And when it starts to affect your children, that's when it really affects you. Interview: Trump joins Judge Jeanine for a phone interview to give an update on where Washington is at with the border crisis, Fox News, January 12, 2019. Sound Clip: 15:00 President Donald Trump: Look, I was a client of his, and you know, you're supposed to have lawyer-client privilege, but it doesn't matter because I'm a very honest person, frankly, but he's in trouble on some loans and fraud and taxi cabs and stuff that I know nothing about and in order to get a sentence reduced, he says, "I have an idea, I'll give you some information on the president." Well, there is no information, but he should give information, maybe on his father in law because that's the one that people want to look at because where does that money? That's the money in the family. And I guess he didn't want to talk about his father in law. He's trying to get his sentence reduced. Press Conference: President Trump Accuses Personal Lawyer Michael Cohen of Lying, C-SPAN, November 29, 2018. Sound Clip: 1:00 President Donald Trump: He was convicted of various things unrelated to us. He was given a fairly long jail sentence and he's a weak person. And by being weak, unlike other people that you watch - he is a weak person. And what he's trying to do is get a reduced sentence. So he's lying about a project that everybody knew about. Interview: Interview with Ainsley Earhardt on Fox & Friends, YouTube, August 23, 2018. Sound Clips: Ainsley Earhardt:What grade do you give yourself so far? President Donald Trump: So, I give myself an A+. Ainsley Earhardt: Will you fire Sessions? President Donald Trump: I'll tell you what, as I've said, I wanted to stay uninvolved, but when everybody sees what's going on in the Justice Department - I put "Justice" now in quotes - It's a very, very sad day. Jeff Sessions recused himself, which he shouldn't have done, or he should have told me. Even my enemies say that Jeff sessions should have told you that he was going to recuse himself and then you wouldn't have put him in. He took the job and then he said, "I'm going to recuse myself." I said, "What kind of a man is this?" And by the way, he was on the campaign and you know, the only reason I gave him the job, because I felt loyalty. He was an original supporter. President Donald Trump: He makes a better deal when he uses me, like everybody else, and one of the reasons I respect Paul Manafort so much is he went through that trial... You know, they make up stories. People make up stories. This whole thing about flipping, they call it, I know all about flipping. For 30, 40 years, I've been watching flippers. Everything's wonderful, and then they get 10 years in jail and they flip on whoever the next highest one is, or as high as you can go. It almost ought to be outlawed. It's not fair. Press Briefing: President Trump Remarks on John Brennan and Mueller Probe, C-SPAN, August 17, 2018. Sound Clip: President Donald Trump: I think the whole Manafort trial is very sad when you look at what's going on there. I think it's a very sad day for our country. He worked for me for a very short period of time. But you know what, he happens to be a very good person. And I think it's very sad what they've done to Paul Manafort. News Report: State of the Union with Jake Tapper, CNN, YouTube, June 17, 2018. Transcript 9:30 Jake Tapper: How do you respond to critics who say you discussing it on TV, you discussing it with the New York Daily News, President Trump tweeting, that you're sending a signal to defendants in a criminal prosecution that a pardon is out there. It might be on its way. Some people think that this is the president and you suggesting that - signaling really, - don't cooperate with prosecutors because the pardon is there if you'll just hold on. Rudy Giuliani: Jake, I don't think that's the interpretation. It's certainly not intended that way. What it should be... I'll tell you what I clearly mean. What I mean is you're not going to get a pardon just because you're involved in this investigation. You probably have a higher burden if you're involved in this investigation as compared to the others who get pardons but you're certainly not excluded from it if, in fact, the president and his advisors, not me, come to the conclusion that you've been treated unfairly. Press Conference: President Trump gives off-the-cuff news conference on White House lawn, CNBC, June 15, 2018. Transcript Sound Clips: 6:30 Reporter: So there's some high-profile court cases going on. You've got a former campaign manager, your former lawyer. They're all dealing with legal troubles. Are you paying close attention — President Donald Trump: Well, I feel badly about a lot of them, because I think a lot of it is very unfair. I mean, I look at some of them where they go back 12 years. Like Manafort has nothing to do with our campaign. But I feel so — I tell you, I feel a little badly about it. They went back 12 years to get things that he did 12 years ago? 8:50 Reporter: Is he still your lawyer? President Donald Trump: No, he's not my lawyer anymore. But I always liked Michael, and he's a good person. And I think he's been — Reporter: Are you worried he will cooperate? President Donald Trump: Excuse me, do you mind if I talk? Reporter: I just want to know if you…
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