Obstruction of justice in plain sight: Hope Hicks fails to answer questions at direction of the White House

Prior to her testimony on Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee, the White House asserted that former aide Hope Hicks has “absolute immunity” from being compelled by Congress to testify about her time working in the Trump administration. White House says Hope Hicks ‘immune’ from compelled congressional testimony: White House counsel Pat Cipollone sent a … Read more

There are no principled Republicans in Congress today

When a helicopter crashes onto a building anywhere else in the country, it is a news story on your local television news. But when it happens in New York City, where all the major television networks but CNN are headquartered, that local news story becomes the only news story the television networks want to cover. … Read more

Prominent GOP attorneys make the case for Trump’s impeachment

Hundreds of former federal prosecutors have opined in a letter that Mueller laid out sufficient evidence in his report to make an obstruction case. [It now totals 1,005 former prosecutors, and increases every day.] Republicans for the Rule of Law and Protect Democracy have released a new video of prominent Republican attorneys this week arguing that President … Read more

It’s Mueller Time!

Investigative reporter Michael Isikoff reports that Mueller is preparing endgame for Russia investigation:

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s prosecutors have told defense lawyers in recent weeks that they are “tying up loose ends” in their investigation, providing the clearest clues yet that the long-running probe into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election may be coming to its climax, potentially in the next few weeks, according to multiple sources close to the matter.

The new information about the state of Mueller’s investigation comes during a pivotal week when the special counsel’s prosecutors are planning to file memos about three of their most high profile defendants — former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen.

A Flynn sentencing memo is due Tuesday, and memos about Manafort and Cohen are slated for Friday. All three documents are expected to yield significant new details on what cooperation the three of them provided to the Russia investigation.

There has been much speculation that Mueller might file his memo in Manafort’s case under seal in order to prevent public disclosure of the additional crimes his office believes Manafort committed when he allegedly lied to prosecutors and broke a plea deal after agreeing to cooperate.

But Peter Carr, spokesman for the special counsel, confirmed to Yahoo News on Monday that the Manafort memo “will be public,” although he added there could be some portions that are redacted or filed as a sealed addendum. The Manafort memo has been requested by the federal judge in his case so that prosecutors could, for the first time, spell out what matters they believe Manafort has lied to them about.

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