Month: April 2021

Categories
Russia U.S. Senate

GOP Sen. Ron Johnson Forced To Admit He Knew He Was Promoting Russian Propaganda

Even though he was warned by the FBI in August of last year that he was being used as a tool of Russian disinformation activities meant to spread lies about President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, Sen. Ron Johnson says he didn’t take that warning seriously because he thought he was being misled by federal authorities.

 

In other words, according to a new report from the Washington Post, Johnson knew he was serving as an agent of Vladimir Putin, but he chose not to listen to counterintelligence officials working for the top law-enforcement agency in the United States:

“The FBI last summer also gave what is known as a defensive briefing to Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who ahead of the election used his perch as chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to investigate Biden’s dealings with Ukraine while he was vice president and his son Hunter Biden held a lucrative seat on the board of a Ukrainian energy company.”

Despite that briefing from the FBI, Johnson was forced to admit that he did indeed willingly work as an asset for Russia, insisting that he didn’t see the warning from federal agents as being genuine:

“Regarding reports that I received an FBI briefing warning me that I was a target of Russian disinformation, I can confirm I received such a briefing in August of 2020. I asked the briefers what specific evidence they had regarding this warning, and they could not provide me anything other than the generalized warning. Without specific information, I felt the briefing was completely useless and unnecessary (since I was fully aware of the dangers of Russian disinformation).

“Because there was no substance to the briefing, and because it followed the production and leaking of a false intelligence product by Democrat leaders, I suspected that the briefing was being given to be used at some future date for the purpose that it is now being used: to offer the biased media an opportunity to falsely accuse me of being a tool of Russia despite warnings.”

So Johnson was warned, but he chose to ignore that warning and spread lies directly from Russian intelligence just so he could help keep Donald Trump in the White House. How’s that for loyalty to country?

Sen. Johnson, like so many in the GOP, doesn’t give a damn about the national security of the United States. They’re far too busy trying to get in good with the Russians and be a part of the Traitor’s Club.

Ron Johnson is up for reelection next year. He needs to be sent packing.

 

Categories
Corruption Crime Donald Trump The Trump Adminstration

Roger Stone Told Matt Gaetz He Could Get Trump To Pardon Him For $250K: Report

The scandal surrounding Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) took another wild turn Thursday evening when The Daily Beast released a report suggesting that Roger Stone –who has been a close friend and adviser to Donald Trump for decades — told Gaetz that he could convince the former president to grant him a presidential pardon if the congressman could round up a cool $250,000:

In late 2020, Greenberg was out of jail and in communication with Stone. A series of private messages between the two—also recently obtained by The Daily Beast—shows a number of exchanges between Greenberg and Stone conducted over the encrypted messaging app Signal, with communications set to disappear. However, Greenberg appears to have taken screenshots of a number of their conversations.

“’If I get you $250k in Bitcoin would that help or is this not a financial matter,’ Greenberg wrote to Stone.

“’I understand all of this and have taken it into consideration,’ Stone replied. ‘I will know more in the next 24 hours I cannot push too hard because of the nonsense surrounding pardons.’

“’I hope you are prepared to wire me $250,000 because I am feeling confident,’ Stone wrote to Greenberg on Jan. 13.”

Stone, you may recall, was pardoned by Trump in December of last year. Stone had been convicted of making false statements, obstruction, and witness tampering.

And now it seems that was also eager to help Gaetz and Greenberg get pardons for their alleged crimes, which include sexually trafficking a minor girl across state lines.

Once Stone received the 250K, he suggested that he’d be able to acquire a pardon for Gaetz and Greenberg, writing:

“Your thing is being looked at and I will have an answer by Saturday as to whether you have a viable shot for justice and how to go about it.”

Stone maintains he never tried to buy a pardon for Gaetz :

“I made no formal or informal effort in regard to a pardon for Mr. Greenberg. I recall requesting a document explaining his prosecution The [sic] details of which I was unfamiliar with.”

If it can be proven that Stone did try to use money to obtain a pardon from Trump, there are any number of federal crimes that he, Gaetz, Greenberg, and even Trump can be charged with.

Gaetz, in the meantime, has bigger worries, such as potentially being hit with a life sentence if he’s convicted of sexual trafficking.

 

Categories
Congress GOP WTF?!

Suspected Sex Offender Matt Gaetz Gets Destroyed For Tweeting Out A List Of The ‘Best’ High Schools

For some reason known only to him, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) — who is currently embroiled in a scandal in which he allegedly transported an underage girl across state lines — decided he’d tweet out a list of the Florida high schools considered to be the “best.”

And you thought only the Trump spawn and their father could be so self-unaware, but it turns out that Gaetz is also too damn stupid to realize when saying nothing is the best course of action.

It didn’t take long before social media lit up with reminders of the crimes Congressman Gaetz may have taken part in and how every parent should keep their children as far away from the Florida Republican as possible:

Later today, maybe Matt can share a list of his favorite places to take a date when she isn’t yet old enough to drive.

Categories
Social Media U.S. Senate

Ted Cruz Picked A Twitter Fight With Trevor Noah – That Was A BIG Mistake

There are few people in this country who are as widely disliked as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who has also been called the most hated man in the U.S. Senate.

Despite this knowledge, Cruz seems determined to pick fights with those who can easily make him look like the moronic troglodyte that he is and reinforce his own pathetic ineptitude when it comes to debating.

For example, Ted ran across a clip of “The Daily Show” and saw host Trevor Noah commenting on some of the results from the 2020 Census. Noah zinged Cruz with this line:

“Aside from New York getting screwed, the big news out of the census is that America’s population grew at the slowest rate since the 1930s. Basically, immigration is down and the birth rate is falling, primarily due to this photo.”

Cue a photo of Ted Cruz.

Clearly, Noah is making a joke. That’s kind of his job. But Cruz got his feelings hurt and tweeted a response that came across as pure asshole:

As you’d expect, Noah was equal to the challenge, and he fired off this retort:

Cruz should have left well enough alone. But he just couldn’t:

That’s when former host Jon Stewart joined the fray:

Noah then finished off the Texas Republican:

Game, set, and match, Trevor Noah, with an assist by Jon Stewart.

At last report, Ted Cruz was seen slithering out of his Senate office and heading to the nearest international airport. He was said to be carrying a box of tissues.

 

Categories
Donald Trump The Trump Adminstration

Trump Messed Up Some Of His Pardons – And The Recipients Can Still Be Prosecuted

In the final days of his administration, Donald Trump handed out 74 pardons and commuted the sentences of 70 others who had been convicted and sentenced to federal prison.

NBC News notes that many of those who received pardons from Trump were close friends, former associates, or people he believed would somehow endear him to the rich assholes he’s known to hang out with at Mar-a-Lago:

“A list of 143 people included his former chief strategist and longtime ally Steve Bannon as well as his former top fundraiser Elliott Broidy. Then, with less than an hour to go before President-elect Joe Biden was set to be sworn in, Trump granted one last pardon: to Albert J. Pirro, Jr., the ex-husband of Fox News host and longtime ally Jeanine Pirro.”

But some of those pardons were so narrowly constructed and written that they leave the recipients open to prosecution by the Justice Department and Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Former Mueller investigation chief prosecutor Andrew Weissmann spelled out the mistakes Trump made in the pardons of two individuals, longtime Trump friend and confidant Roger Stone and Trump’s 2016 campaign manager, Paul Manafort, in an article he wrote for Just Security:

“The pardon for Paul Manafort (on Dec. 23, 2020), is illustrative. By its own terms, the pardon covers only the crimes “for his conviction” on specific charges and not any other crimes (charged or uncharged). Specifically, the pardon is solely for the crimes of conviction — eight in the Eastern District of Virginia and two in the District of Columbia. That leaves numerous crimes as to which Manafort can still be prosecuted, as in Virginia there were 10 hung counts. In Washington, the situation is even more wide open. In that district, Manafort pleaded to a superseding information containing two conspiracy charges, while the entire underlying indictment — containing numerous crimes from money laundering, to witness tampering, to violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act — now remains open to prosecution as there was no conviction for those charges.”

And then we have Roger Stone and a rouges gallery of other criminals:

“Manafort is not the only example of narrow Trump pardons that may be rectified by the incoming Attorney General. The same narrow pardons were provided to Special Counsel Office defendants Roger Stone (Dec. 23, 2020), George Papadopoulos (Dec. 22, 2020), and Alex van den Zwaan (Dec. 22, 2020), as well as the myriad other felons who received pardons or commutations on December 22 and 23, 2020. As noted, these defendants include murderers, corrupt politicians and law enforcement officers, and Philip Esformes, the single largest health care fraudster in history. These windows of opportunity are due in significant part to a practice followed by prosecutors’ offices across the country: permitting defendants to plead to some, but not all, of their crimes. That feature of these cases should now redound to the benefit of the government, as it may now permit the Department to see that justice is done.”

All of these people can be tried and convicted once again, and this time they won’t be getting a presidential pardon, so they’ll have to serve all of their sentences without the promise of a get-out-of-jail free card waiting for them if they agree to not testify against Trump.

As with everything he does, Donald Trump failed. He wanted to provide protection to those who didn’t testify against him, but all he did was make it more likely they’ll wind up in prison for much longer than they anticipated.