
Super Bowl LIV: Who Will Party With The Lombardi
Who will win the Super Bowl on Groundhog Day?

Methinks Joshua Schulte Doth Protest Too Much over Anonymous
Amid a provocative discussion about how much of expert witness Paul Rosenzweig's Powerpoint presentation can be used at the Joshua Schulte trial, his lawyers again launched an objection to mentioning Anonymous that seems totally out of proportion to the damage that such mentions might do at trial.

Mike Flynn Seizes the Rope to Hang Himself With: Pick Your Perjury
Even if Bill Barr orders his subordinates to take a fall on their response to Mike Flynn's motion to withdraw his guilty plea, nothing can change the fact that Mike Flynn has already made statements under oath that conflict.

Hitting the Oscillator: Today's Senate Vote on Witnesses [UPDATE-5]
The output hits the fan today as the Senate votes on whether to call and hear witnesses. But this may also be the entire enchilada shoved into the blades of the rotator -- they may vote on conviction and acquittal. This is an open thread.

The Manafort Link Sets the Fruman-Parnas Timeline Back -- But the Manafort Timeline Is Earlier Too
The Paul Manafort story goes back to before the time he needed to invent a story to justify a pardon.

Mike Flynn Seizes the Rope to Hang Himself With: Flynn's Motion to Dismiss Carter Page's Non-Existent Plea
In addition to moving to withdraw his plea, Mike Flynn also moved to have it dismissed, based largely off of claims about injuries to Carter Page.

Pat Cipollone Believes the Golden Rule Is for Chumps
Among the alarming answers from the President's lawyers last night, Pat Philbin said it was okay for the President to accept dirt from a foreign country, and Alan Dershowitz argued it was okay for the President to incapacitate Democratic voters if he believes his reelection is best for the country.

Mike Flynn Seizes the Rope to Hang Himself With: Probation for Petraeus
I predict the three memos submitted in Mike Flynn's sentencing today will fulfill a prediction his former lawyer, Rob Kelner made, if Mike Flynn ever pulled such a funny trick. It amounts to Mike Flynn grasping the rope to hang himself with.

SDNY Prosecutors Protect Trump's Privacy to Enter into a Joint Defense Agreement with the Russian Mob
A privilege battle has erupted in the Ukrainian Grifter's case, with Lev Parnas trying to release more damning information on Trump and Rudy and SDNY putting up Igor Fruman to object, both in his own interest, and for the interest of those he's in a Joint Defense Agreement.

John Lewis Was Not Always Old
John Lewis has been a fighter his whole life long. He is the last living member of the Big Six, the speakers at the 1963 March on Washington for civil rights, and now is a senior member of Congress fighting pancreatic cancer. But it's important to remember that John Lewis was not always old.

Joshua Schulte Wanted to Include Instructions to Contact WikiLeaks in a Pro Se Motion
In a last ditch effort to exclude information from Joshua Schulte's notebooks from his trial that starts next week, his lawyers provide evidence he was trying to leak classified information in pro se motions.
![[Photo: Emily Morter via Unsplash]](https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Question_EmilyMorter-Unsplash-495x400.jpg)
Three Things: Odd, Odder, Oddities
Just a few oddities as the White House presents its counter arguments to impeachment. This is an open thread.

The Whack-a-Mole Cover Story: Bill Barr's Knowing Complicity Moved a Month Earlier
We have known since Mick Mulvaney's presser that there was a tie between Trump's demands for dirt from Ukraine and the John Durham investigation. But John Bolton's story moves the date when Bill Barr should have known that a month earlier.

Charles Cooper's Letter about Pre-Publication Review Discounts Any Executive Privilege Claims
In December, Bolton lawyer Charles Cooper made an argument that will make it harder for his client to avoid testifying, anywhere, going forward.

Mueller's 302s: The Apparent Referral of Rick Gerson's 302s May Be as Interesting as Kushner's
Putting together the various claims DOJ has made about what Mueller 302s they've released shows some of the methods they're using to hide damning information.

Dick Cheney's Apprentice Strikes
John Bolton lacks moral courage. But he learned the fine art of bureaucratic murder from the master, Dick Cheney.

RIP Kobe
You probably know by now that Kobe Bryant has died in a tragic helicopter crash. Even more sadly, it appears his teen daughter did as well and they were on the way to some kind of basketball event with another parent and daughter, and, of course,…

Propaganda and Flattery: Jack Posobiec Parrots Adam Schiff's Case for Impeachment
After listening to the recording of Lev Parnas getting Trump to call for Marie Yovanovitch's ouster last night, Jack Posobiec declared Parnas a "spy." That puts him in agreement with an argument that House Impeachment Manager Adam Schiff made Friday: that Trump can be made to undermine the national security of the United States with little more than flattery and propaganda.

The Significance of the Trump-Firing-Masha Recording
Lev Parnas admitted last night he has always had the damning video of Trump ordering Marie Yovanovitch to be fired, sitting in his iCloud account.

Mike Pompeo Can Find Proof that Obama Addressed Ukrainian Corruption in Trump's Joint Defense Agreement
Mike Pompeo claimed today that, "The previous administration did nothing to take down corruption in Ukraine." He need look no further than President Trump's Joint Defense Agreement to find proof he's wrong.