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The Mistaken Presumptions of Virtually All Discussions of a Future Trump Prosecution

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emptywheel
Virtually every consideration of whether Joe Biden's DOJ should prosecute Trump gets a key detail wrong: If you want to imagine whether Biden would prosecute Trump, you have to consider the possibility that he would prosecute Trump for crimes Bill Barr investigated. 
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Republicans Push to Punish Eric Swalwell because He Didn't Sell Out the Country Like They Did

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emptywheel
The GOP is claiming that Eric Swalwell should be removed from the House Intelligence Committee because he cooperated with the FBI and cut off all further contact when he was warned he was being cultivated by a Chinese spy. I can only assume they're angry he didn't obstruct their investigation.
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Steve Bannon Hires a Pardon Broker (and Rudy Giuliani Lawyer) to Replace His Competent Lawyer

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emptywheel
Steve Bannon just hired a guy who was already investigated for brokering Trump pardons to represent him in his fraud prosecution in Southern District of New York. Which may not work out how he'd like it to.
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Joshua Schulte Undermines the WikiLeaks Claim to Publish "Whistleblowers"

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emptywheel
WikiLeaks boosters like to claim that the organization serves whistleblowers. In the case of Joshua Schulte, it instead provided an easy way for a disgruntled spook to burn the CIA down and excuse his actions by claiming to be a whistleblower.
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In His Mike Flynn Opinion, Emmet Sullivan Made a Finding of Fact Against Billy Barr's New Reality

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emptywheel
Among the things Judge Sullivan did in his order mooting the case against Flynn before him was to hold as judicial fact that Bill Barr's new reality is false.
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Before He Mooted DOJ's Motions in the Mike Flynn Case, Emmet Sullivan Treated DOJ's Authentication as Official

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emptywheel
Judge Sullivan made an interesting tactical move just before he mooted any DOJ interest in his docket. He expunged stuff that Sidney Powell submitted to his docket that DOJ didn't authenticate. But he did not do so for DOJ filings submitted that they stopped short of authenticating.
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Judge Sullivan Calls Bullshit on DOJ's Pretextual Reasons for Blowing Up the Mike Flynn Prosecution

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emptywheel
In Judge Emmet Sullivan's opinion dismissing the Mike Flynn case, Sullivan has laid a record out that almost certainly cannot be challenged. He has used the mootness of the question as a shield to lay out two key judgments: that he could decide, and that he could have decided against the government.
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Judge Sullivan Uses Mike Flynn Dismissal to Emphasize His Own Authority

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emptywheel
In dismissing Mike Flynn's prosecution, Emmet Sullivan emphasized Flynn's guilt and his own authority.
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He Slipped The Surly Bonds Of Earth: RIP Chuck Yeager

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bmaz
Chuck Yeager has slipped the surly bonds of earth, and danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings for the last time. RIP.
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The Intercept's Silence about Edward Snowden's Inclusion in Julian Assange's Charges

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emptywheel
All The Intercept coverage of the Julian Assange extradition since a superseding indictment included Snowden's flight has remained silent about that fact. That silence seems unsupportable both from a journalistic and an ethical perspective.
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On Nappies and Law Enforcement Spying

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emptywheel
Everything in the public record suggests the really intrusive surveillance that Julian Assange was subjected to in the Ecuadorian Embassy was part of the many criminal investigations of him--investigations that mostly weren't for anything to do with journalism.
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20 Months: A Comparison of the Mueller and Durham Investigations

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emptywheel
In 20 months, John Durham has charged one person and had his top investigator quit due to improper political pressure. In 20 months, the Mueller investigation charged 33 people and 3 corporations and paid for their entire investigation.
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John Durham and the First Fight over a Doctored MemCon of Trump's Meetings with Russia

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emptywheel
Among the very last documents released via FOIA from the Mueller investigation deals with the complex issues surrounding Trump's efforts to cover up that he shared highly classified information with Russia.
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America The Can-Do Nation

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Ed Walker
We have a long history of working to solve our problems. We are the Can-Do Nation!
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Failsons and Kraken Conspiracies: Three Mike Flynn Hypotheticals Trump May Have Tried to Preemptively Pardon

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emptywheel
There are three easily foreseeable circumstances where Mike Flynn may try to claim that Trump's pardon covers future actions.
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The Clinesmith Sentencing Memos: Politically Biased Data In, Politically Biased Data Out

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emptywheel
John Durham's prosecutors continue to prove in court filings that they don't understand key details about what they're investigating.
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John Durham Has Unaltered Copies of the Documents that Got Altered in the Flynn Docket

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emptywheel
Bill Barr could come to regret his neat effort to place a ticking time bomb inside the Joe Biden DOJ, because John Durham has evidence in hand that Bill Barr's DOJ tampered with documents. I've been thinking ... There's something that doesn't…
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A Mike Pence Pardon of Trump for Flynn's Pardon Would Obstruct the Mueller Investigation

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emptywheel
Mike Pence would own Trump's obstruction of the Mueller investigation if he were to pardon Trump for Trump's pardon of Flynn. That makes his silence about the topic all the more interesting.
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The Facts "Known to" the Mueller Investigation: Judge Sullivan Should Demand the December 22, 2016 Flynn Transcript

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emptywheel
I wrote up four things that, if I were Judge Emmet Sullivan presiding over the Mike Flynn case, I would do: Make Trump name Flynn’s crimes Establish a record about whether Flynn or Sidney Powell traded electoral assistance for this…
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The Last Trickle of the Mueller 302s before the Biden Storm

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emptywheel
It appears a small side investigation within the larger Mueller investigation pertained to how the MemCon from Trump's May 2017 meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov got leaked to the press.
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