The New York Times (yes, I know) has quite a scoop from Michael Schmidt. The scoop is in the details – the overall story is that Trump thought that as President he would be capo di tutti capi. In that position, then, it makes sense that his Attorney General would be his consigliere. That was the role he understood Robert Kennedy to have played for his brother John and Eric Holder for Barack Obama.
Except it doesn’t work that way, and the lawyers around Trump were smart enough to recognize that. Nonetheless, Trump insisted on firing James Comey for his unwillingness to clear Trump publicly of any wrongdoing relative to Russian interference in the election. That couldn’t be the official reason, of course, so Trump demanded that Ron Rosenstein come up with a reason. Schmidt seems not to have seen the letter Trump drafted on Comey’s firing, which was modified for public release. We don’t know who put in the reasons about Comey interfering in the Clinton email investigation.
Trump did not want Sessions to recuse himself from the Russia investigation, which he’s said publicly. Donald McGahn, the White House lawyer, went to Sessions to urge him not to recuse. Lawyers in the Justice Department convinced him he should.
There’s a fair bit of chatter in the article about the Mueller investigation, more than I recall seeing elsewhere. The sources are identified as
The accounts of the episodes are based on documents reviewed by The Times, as well as interviews with White House officials and others briefed on the investigation.
“Others briefed on the investigation” could include lots of people. It’s been a long day for me, and I’m not even going to try to guess, but you certainly may.
Lots of interesting tidbits, although less salacious than Wolff’s book, which I see is supposed to be out tomorrow. Trump’s people wanted a copy, and this seems to be the way the publisher wanted to oblige.
In other news, James Fallows says “It’s Been an Open Secret All Along.”
The scandal of Michael Wolff’s new book isn’t its salacious details—it’s that everyone in Washington has known its key themes, and refused to act.
Read them both.
A tweet I saw earlier today, or maybe yesterday, said that all the next Democratic candidate for president needs to do to win the campaign it to say “I am a normal human being. I promise to be president in a way that does not require your 24/7/365 attention and concern.”
And open thread!
Baud
I can’t believe Trump wasn’t primarily concerned about how Comey handled the investigation into Hillary’s emails.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Hey, if it’s boring they want, it’s boring we got!
We could run Chuck Rosenberg, Rachel Maddow’s guest tonight, who I swear was the model for the lawyer the Bluths hired in between Barry Zuckerkorn and Bob Loblaw. This guy’s a human glacier.
ETA: Wayne Jarvis.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Didn’t Al Gore try that?
Patricia Kayden
So are we still expecting Trump to pivot?
Baud
@Patricia Kayden: SOTU is coming up. It’s possible.
Adam L Silverman
And this happened too!
http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/04/politics/trump-organization-documents-robert-mueller-russia-investigators/index.html
More at the link.
Adam L Silverman
@Baud: Earth tones! Have you forgotten the earth tones! My G-d man, what’s wrong with you?
Mary G
Hoocoodanode.
Quinerly
Thanks for this post. Isn’t Schmidt the journalist who interviewed Trump at Trump’s golf club? That “softball” reporting that some were harping about?
Adam L Silverman
@Mary G: Messianic Jew.
Villago Delenda Est
This is essentially giving away to any investigator where to look for damaging information. He’s as guilty as sin.
LOCK HIM UP!
Villago Delenda Est
@Baud: Some total blockhead like Van Jones will probably say it, again.
Adam L Silverman
@Villago Delenda Est: He may have run the largest money laundry in history. Which, I suppose, will make him happy because it was the biggest and most successful.
Quinerly
@Adam L Silverman: Thanks for posting this. Stepped away from another all consuming day and missed this.
rk
I’m most interested in finding out if Trump talked about Putin with Wolff or if Wolff has an idea of what Putin has on Trump. Also what went on between Trump and Putin when they talked without the press present(though I doubt if Wolff would know)
I cannot believe he spent over a year with the Trump team and none of these idiots found it odd. According to the amazon blurb for the book he did over 200 interviews!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Rachel Maddow’s edumacation is way more fancier than mine, but I think she is abusing the word “salacious”. The news that trump wore make up to his own NYE party and didn’t recognize old friends is sensational, I wouldn’t call it salacious
Mike in DC
@Villago Delenda Est: Everything back to 2013 falls within the federal statute of limitations.
NotMax
Someone in the White House sphere of effluence will get a bonus for finding an insignificant boo-boo in the book, which will then be blown up out of all proportion by the noise machine.
“Right here on page 191, it says the restaurant is on Kosciuszko Avenue. If you look at this enlarged printout of their own web page, they’re located on Kosciuszko Street. Therefore, the entire book is trash, no one should believe a single word in it, and libraries are hereby put on notice to shelve it in the fiction section.”
It’s what they do.
Adam L Silverman
@Villago Delenda Est: What’s the over under who goes full rabid at the SOTU? A Stephen Miller drafter screed that winds him up to go off script and let it all hang out.
Bobby Thomson
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: the Billy Bush video was salacious, not this.
Adam L Silverman
@Quinerly: You’re welcome. And, again, my sincerest condolences. I’m sure you gave Ivan a great home.
clay
FRom the NYT story:
This is the first I’ve seen that Sessions actually submitted a resignation. I wonder why Trump refused it?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Bobby Thomson: It’s become the designated TeeVee-friendly way of referring to the pee tape. It’s now being used, and not just by Maddow, to mean “anything trump doesn’t want people to hear or talk about”
Adam L Silverman
@rk: Since Putin’s not been in the White House, my guess is Wolff doesn’t have that stuff.
Bobby Thomson
It’s also interesting that whenever someone comments that the real scandal is that hundreds of people in the MSM already knew all this stuff but tried to pretend it didn’t exist, the beltway types accuse them of exaggerating while everyone else says, “yeah, good point.”
Adam L Silverman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I have three more advanced degrees than she does and you are correct. She, of course, has millions of dollars more than I do. You may make your own determination of our relative utility.
TS
The NYT always seems to come up with issues against trump when someone else is in the limelight – on their own, they just bow down to the president*. Would this have come out if not for Wolff’s book?
Jay S
@Adam L Silverman: I was going to suggest that they might go old school with a written SOTU, but on reflection, perhaps they will cobble together a video like they did for this morning.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
Does Donald Tяump have anything but bad days any longer? It’s hard to see how.
Lyrebird
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Agreed, I wouldn’t either. And fwiw her degrees are all from more prestigious schools than mine (ETA than mine are), but I do (at least per Wikipedia) have more of them. (Sigh. Like they do me so much good.)
Tom Levenson
@Adam L Silverman: AKA Christian. Or Christianist.
Ran into one at Masada in Nov. who self identified as a “fulfilled Jew.” Was deeply unimpressed.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Jews for Jesus?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Adam L Silverman: OTOH, she just confirmed you were right and I was wrong about Papa Kushner whispering darkly for Jared to flip on the Vulgarian. Apparently Charlie encouraged the kids to encourage the Beast to get rid of that troublesome Comey, because he didn’t want anyone sniffing around Kushner Inc. Maybe he misses prison.
Adam L Silverman
@clay: It was reported back over the summer. My understanding is that he refused because Senator Grassley had made it clear that the Judiciary Committee would not take up a nomination for a successor to AG Sessions. Once a member of the World’s Greatest Deliberative Country Club, always a member of the World’s Greatest Deliberative Country Club.
Lyrebird
As usual,
@Adam L Silverman‘s there first with the riposte, pbbbt!
I hear ya, I hear ya!
Mnemosyne
@Bobby Thomson:
Hell, I knew this stuff and I’m 3,000 miles away from the beltway.
It’s nice to have the chapter and verse spelled out for us, but let’s not fucking pretend like any of this is a surprise.
Adam L Silverman
@Tom Levenson: They are what they are. And what they are are deeply confused.
Gravenstone
@Jay S: I want to see them stitch something together digitally, syllable by syllable and frame by frame from recordings during the campaign and this first disastrous year in office. It would be fucking psychedelic.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Yes and no. There are technically two distinct groups: the Jews for Jesus and the Messianic Jews. Both are actually fronts for different evangelical denominations attempts to convert Jews. In reality they are functionally the same thing. A lot of these nuts overlap with the fundamentalist Mormons like the Bundys, as well as the militia and patriot movements. One of these guys was at Malhuer where he did a daily shofar (ram’s horn) blowing to help sanctify the efforts there. Apparently he has an entire shofar blowing ministry focusing on sanctifying the actions of the self proclaimed “patriots”.
Tom Levenson
Not so much confused as desperately eager for both redemption and special snowflake status.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: How fun.
Mnemosyne
@TS:
One does wonder, doesn’t one? That makes it seem like an editorial or publisher problem if reporters have anti-Trump stories in the can that don’t run until the NYT needs to polish their credentials.
They’re going to try and pretend Wolff didn’t give them a bloody nose today, but don’t you believe them.
Adam L Silverman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Papa is almost as dumb as his son.
Jay S
@Adam L Silverman: Hey, I once listened to a group of Jews for Jesus when I was a teen. They seemed pretty sure they had all the answers. No confusion. Of course their answers didn’t make much sense to me, but I was raised Lutheran, so what do I know.
Cheryl Rofer
@Quinerly: Yes, the same Michael Schmidt. Speculation is that some of this article came from that. “White House official,” hm?
Adam L Silverman
@Lyrebird: It is what it is.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Most fun you can have with a ram’s horn while wearing clothes… Or something.
Adam L Silverman
@Jay S: They have the courage of the conviction of the true believer. A lot of certainty, not a lot of introspection.
schrodingers_cat
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: What is salacious is the way he ogles his daughter.
Cacti
The courtiers of the New York Times know better than anyone that he’s a moron, due to geographic proximity.
But they’ve been content to grade him on the mediocre white man’s curve. They did the same for Dubya.
Lyrebird
@Adam L Silverman: Yep. And I shouldn’t complain. I consider my doctorate to be my Equity (as in Actors’ Equity) card. I just means I am eligible to work.
FWIW, although I wish I could reach as many people as Rachel Maddow does, I have learned from teaching that I do not actually want to be recognized in public.
Jay S
@Cacti: That gentleman’s C anti no curve.
Starfish
Cheryl, why do you think “others briefed” would be a long list of people? That is the attorney of someone involved in the matter.
Frankensteinbeck
@clay:
No way. Trump went on TV grumbling about how if Sessions had any decency he’d quit his job, and nothing happened. Whatever’s going on there, it ain’t that Sessions offered to quit and Trump refused. It might have been Sessions handing in the ‘resignation’ along with an ‘if you accept this, you’re fucked’ speech. Trump would be too cowardly to contest that, but would whine a lot.
Jay S
@Frankensteinbeck: Yeah, if there was a resignation letter, it probably had unacceptable language. Of course what is unacceptable to Trump could be just about anything.
Mnemosyne
@Tom Levenson:
I usually refer to them as “Cosplaying as Jewish,” but I’m a goy.
Adam L Silverman
@Lyrebird: It is what it is.
Cheryl Rofer
@Starfish: It’s at least two, and many people have been interviewed. Lots of people possible, could be as few as two.
TS
@Mnemosyne: Lawrence just had someone on talking about how “everyone said they knew all this – yet no-one else reported it”. The media elected trump and are keeping him in power. All Wolff had to do was say something nice about trump – once – and he got free reign of the white house. So much for Maggie wanting to keep her access.
Suzanne
I’ve ordered two copies of the book. Very excited.
My in-laws leave tomorrow. Very VERY excited.
Jeffro
@clay: @Adam L Silverman: @Frankensteinbeck: @Jay S:
Sessions is a cowardly little weasel at most times, but considering all of the Russia-related shenanigans he was in on/knew of, him offering his resignation to Trumpov is him essentially saying, “Given all your unhappiness with me, here you are, Mr. Trump…just be sure you want this. I mean, I get that you’re all pissy about the recusal but hey you decide if you want me in or out, knowing what I know.”
The funny thing is, I don’t see how Sessions’ recusal saves him in any way in the long run. He’ll go down with the USS Trumptanic just like the rest (albeit without an obstruction charge, unlike most of them)
Jay S
@TS: He didn’t write something nice about Trump, but the article had a tough guy image photo and a narrative that Trump’s ego translated into something positive for him.
Millard Filmore
@Adam L Silverman:
Someday I would like to know where he fits into the Hall Of Fame of launderers. Who was the biggest? In the top 100, where does he land? Stuff like that.
Ken
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
I know someone with progressive dementia, and she’s quite happy most of the time.
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: My guess is they are the President’s attorneys. They recently had a meeting with Mueller for an update and my understanding, from what little reporting there is, is that they didn’t hear what they wanted to hear.
Adam L Silverman
The freude is a schadenning!
Jay S
@Jeffro: That kind of supports the idea that Sessions may have actually flipped early. There’s been a lot of speculation about his recusal, because Comey was so sure he could make him do it.
mainmata
@Adam L Silverman: Oh I’m pretty sure the FBI sailed past that red line a while ago. I understood that Felix Sater was cooperating and I’m sure they have access to lots of other financial information if only through AG Schneidermann of NY.
TS
@Jay S: I admit I haven’t seen the article – but trump obviously liked it – and here we are now. I’m wondering what the security service thought about this guy hanging about the white house gossiping to whoever wandered by.
Ken
@Adam L Silverman:
Do you mean “successful” in the sense that a person who jumps off a fifty-story building is “flying” until that ugly moment they hit the ground?
Frankensteinbeck
@Jay S: and @Jeffro:
Yeah, I’m convinced Sessions flipped first. He’s the smartest person on Trump’s staff, with the possible exception of the generals. He may not be a super genius, but he’s bright enough to see the writing on the wall early and make damn sure that he was the one person who was absolutely not going to jail.
NotMax
@Ken
Give the man a kewpie doll. You’ve just succinctly shorthanded every Wilmerbro.
:)
Quinerly
@Cheryl Rofer: Yep. I have my issues with the NYT. But I give credit where credit is due.
Adam L Silverman
@Ken: Like everything else successful is relative. It was successful until it wasn’t.
Jay S
@Adam L Silverman: Are they transforming the girlfriend rumors into Stockholm syndrome?
Patricia Kayden
@Baud: I so wish that Democrats would skip that farce. There is no reason to treat Ttump like a president. Let him ramble to his fellow Republicans.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Even those nice Canadians want in on the schadenfreude
Patricia Kayden
@Adam L Silverman: So? Was she forced at gunpoint to take that job? Is someone forcing her to keep lying for Trump?
Yarrow
@Frankensteinbeck: Sessions may still go to jail. He will get consideration at sentencing for his cooperation.
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman: Isn’t therapy a must just for the simple act of having dated Corey Lewandowski?? Or would that be therapy and a stroll through the nearest decontamination chamber?
Adam L Silverman
Meanwhile on Fox News:
Also, this Judicial Watch tool must have had the worst plastic surgeon do the work on his face.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
uh oh…. tonight’s cheeseburgers must be keeping him up late
well, one of them’s about to get very rich, I do believe
Jeffro
@mainmata:
I think you’re right. I thought I saw something a week or two ago that noted Mueller could well have gotten account records from Deutsche Bank, and then required DB to keep quiet about it to the accounts’ owners?
Quinerly
@Adam L Silverman:Her plumage is famous and sought after. Some say it’s the best!
Yarrow
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I heard on the radio that they pulled the publication date forward to “Friday.” I guess that’s tomorrow? It was supposed to be Monday.
lamh36
made the mistake of catching a bit of Chuckles and MTP and he and some “Dem strategic” (the one what looks like Maddow, but isn’t Maddow?) and George Will talking bout “Dems can’t go to far w/the insanity” things.
The only voice of reason was Gene Robinson, who was like…wait a minute, this isn’t about just anyone’s sanity…but the sanity of the man with his finger on the button!!!
And have ALL our lives in his possibly crazy hands!
Jay S
@Patricia Kayden: It seems family and friends see her as a victim of the Trump cult. No agency to see here, move along.
Adam L Silverman
@Frankensteinbeck: You’re not the only one.
Adam L Silverman
@Jay S: I have no idea.
Cheryl Rofer
Trump is tweeting:
Kramerbooks in DC says they will have it on sale at midnight!
Quinerly
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Just a guy lounging around on a couch, outside the Oval Office, with a tape recorder with a visitors badge. Nothing more.
Steve in the ATL
@Adam L Silverman:
I was going to say that you are more useful in a dark alley late at night, but then Rachel is pretty butch.
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman: #2 story on FN dot com is DOJ looking in to Clinton Foundation “pay to play” allegations. Good luck with that, DOJ!
#4 story is about Rahm Emmanuel somehow forcing black Chicagoans to move out of the city? (according to a pro-Trump Kennedy – yes those Kennedys – nephew).
They always manage to keep a few truly horrible crime stories up in their top 10 as well…just to keep the general fear quotient up at all times, I’m sure. Makes people more receptive to their BS.
Adam L Silverman
@Patricia Kayden: I have no idea. But what exactly is she going to do? She’s in her late 20s and was working as a temp assigned to Ivanka’s company when she was made the comm’s director, aka steamer of the President’s pants, for the campaign. She’s got a bachelor’s degree, no real marketable skills, and now she’s associated with this insanity.
Right now she’s making $179K a year with full Federal benefits and holds civilian rank equivalent to a 3 star general officer/flag officer.
Adam L Silverman
@Jeffro: Definitely the latter. But the heart wants what the heart wants.
Immanentize
@Adam L Silverman:
Bar Kokhba was a Messianic Jew This guy is a “born again christian.” Culturally
Jewish in earlier years, this guy has taken Jesus H. Christ as his personal savior. The Moores probably still think of him as “that Jew.”
Adam L Silverman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Then we need a Special Counsel to investigate how he was given access to the White House, specifically and especially the West Wing. Apparently he was not there on a press badge.
Immanentize
@Adam L Silverman: Splitters!
MisterForkbeard
@Adam L Silverman: Yeah. I’d love to see what Trump’s explanation for Wolf’s presence was, if Trump didn’t authorize it.
Immanentize
@Millard Filmore:
I still vote of BCCI as the biggest all time money laundering outfit.
But the CIA had their back….
catclub
@Adam L Silverman:
this is really strange to me. Trump shows the letter where Sessions has resigned. Now we need a new Atty general. What does Grassley do?
Throw a fit? Kneecap the present admin? I do not see it.
J R in WV
@Adam L Silverman:
Being Swiss (1/4) I got to listen to albums with those giant Alpine horns on the ridges of the Alps. There are similar horns in the Tibetian tradition. Those kind of compress, being cones inside cones, I’ve seen them for sale in NYC, not cheap.
I want a shofar ram’s horn… now hard are they to acquire? Amazon… right? Or eBay. It wouldn’t be heretical for a goy to play one late at night in the deep woods, would it?
I played Sousaphone in marching band, I still have the lungs of a 30 y o. according to the annual physical.
Tom Q
@lamh36: That was Amy Walter, who’s not a Dem — she’s on Charlie Cook’s team, and is a champion both-sides-er.
Amir Khalid
@Villago Delenda Est:
{Stage whisper.) Shh. Don’t tell him that.
Lyrebird
@Jeffro: You’re probably just being humorous, but I figure her role working every day to add a patina of competence to this malicious and criminal maladministration is the biggest cause for her to need decontamination. She can join Sessions and the others doing community service forEVER, preferably with horrible struggles to get back on the voter rolls after they’ve completed their sentences.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Eh, she made her choice. Fuck her.*
*Did I come off as insensitive? Oh, well.
Immanentize
@J R in WV: Yes, maybe, but can you blow the Horn of Helm Hammerhand in the deep?
Lyrebird
@J R in WV:
I am not an expert, but go right ahead! Might find a better selection at something like judaica dot com… Actually, if you get the hang of playing the thing, you might make some folks really happy offering to play at New Year’s (Rosh Hashanah) at a dwindling congregation.
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: Yep. And bookstore’s in DC are staying open till 1 AM so they can start selling copies at midnight.
Adam L Silverman
@Immanentize:
Not exactly, but I’m not doing a deep dive on this at this hour.
Adam L Silverman
@catclub: Senators protect other senators. Even when they’ve moved on. Unless they’re named Clinton or Obama.
Adam L Silverman
@J R in WV: They aren’t very hard. I would recommend a Judaica store. If there’s a synagogue anywhere near you, then I’d check with their gift store. What you really want are one of the really big ones. Sometimes referred to as a Yemenite or Mizrahi (Jewish Arab) shofar:
https://www.myshofar.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/6/6/668_img_2447_1_1.jpg
You can find Judaica stores on line that sell them.
Immanentize
@Adam L Silverman:
I totally agree — sleep beckons. But someday, I would love to hear your thoughts. And maybe I’ll share a few about Josephus…
Adam L Silverman
@J R in WV:
In a large jar, floating in preservative solution, in the basement, on the shelf with the other body parts.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m not defending her.
Steve in the ATL
@Adam L Silverman: well played
Manyakitty
@Adam L Silverman: What’s above a PhD?
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: I was using your comment as a stepping stone.
NotMax
@Manyakitty
In some cases, the fast food menu board.
Lyrebird
@Manyakitty: I’d guess he just means than if one is inventorying advanced degrees (incl MA MPhil MBA PhD what have you), he has that many more of them. Like I have one or two more master’s degrees than she does, but the same number of doctorates.
Lyrebird
@NotMax: Also well played!
Adam L Silverman
@Immanentize: Language. Children on the west coast are still up and could be reading!
Adam L Silverman
@Manyakitty: @Lyrebird: is correct.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Tracking.
Semi break
From last night’s Syria mortar comment: apparently the mortar attack last night did the same amount of damage that the President’s missile attack did back last Spring.
Manyakitty
@Immanentize: Oh, that Josephus. Way to muddy an issue, eh?
Immanentize
@Adam L Silverman:
:~)
Manyakitty
@NotMax: D’oh! I walked right into that!
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: If you want damage, call for tube artillery.*
*Gun snob.
Manyakitty
@Lyrebird: I kinda figured that and was attempting a joke, but it was weak at best. ?
J R in WV
@Immanentize:
I think I can play it, if you can find it !
@Adam L Silverman:
Thanks for the tips!
Manyakitty
@Adam L Silverman: Yeah, see #129.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Tracking.
Adam L Silverman
@J R in WV: Email me off line if you’re serious. I’m sure I can get the folks at my Mom’s synagogue to order one for you.
Adam L Silverman
@Manyakitty: Success or failure is often a matter of degree.
sigaba
@Jay S: There are only two religions: those who were raised something, and those who resent being raised something.
Manyakitty
@Adam L Silverman: Oy.
Steve in the ATL
@Manyakitty:
JD
Adam L Silverman
@Steve in the ATL: nope
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Do you get to call yourself Esquire? I didn’t think so.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: Lawyer joke, Adam. Stevo over in the ATL is a real cut up. Keep it up Steve, you’ll be headlining in the Catskills in no time.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: No, nor do I want to.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: Isn’t a JD the same as a LLB but with MD envy?
Omnes Omnibus
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I don’t understand the question,
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: Heh.
Steve in the ATL
@?BillinGlendaleCA: LLB is decades out of date and was lower than JD.
Do you know many MDs? Almost all boring assholes (except of course for the ones who post here, and Dr. Freschi). No envy on the JD side.
Adam L Silverman
@?BillinGlendaleCA: It was Bachelor of Law until the mid 70s when the ABA lobbied for a change since it was an additional, professional degree done post-graduate. But because they already had a Master of Law/Master of Legal Letters and a Doctor of Law/Doctor of Legal Letters, they couldn’t really go with either of those. So someone came up with juris doctor even though it isn’t an actual doctorate.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Steve in the ATL: I do know some MD’s; some are boring assholes, some not. I also know many more lawyers(I used to do litigation computer support); they can also be boring assholes, though some are not.
Yes a LLB is a degree that has be deprecated, however a LLM is a higher degree than a JD*.
*Generally folk who pursue a LLM already have a JD.
ETA: I would classify you and most of your fellow counsel here as not boring and sometime humorous.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: It has a D. You may see your PhD as different, but we (JD, MD, DDS, and PhD) have doctorates. How come the MDs and the dentists get good reservations at restaurants?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: I didn’t realize that UCLA offered an undergraduate law degree until I read the Mayor Tom had a LLB from UCLA.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: They tip better.
Steve in the ATL
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I would have settled for “occasionally”!
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: He factored me in.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Steve in the ATL: Oh, you’re a riot; but law of averages and all…
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I have no idea why plumbers are given better reservations.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: No all that much, there are other lawyers that comment here.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: Have you seen what they charge? And if there’s a backup in the kitchen, can’t hurt.
Kayla Rudbek
@Adam L Silverman: SJD is the lawyer equivalent to a PhD IIRC. LLM is a master of laws done after the JD (generally by people who either want to specialize in something like tax law, and/or to get a better law school on the resume/CV). I already have plenty of degrees, and the only way I’m going back for any more is if my employer pays for it. And since the funding for that varies, I’m not going back for a PhD in chemistry…
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Never fuck with plumbers. Just don’t. One will regret it. Profoundly.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: Yup. Those folk know their shit(and your’s).
Captain C
@catclub: He does the same thing they did to Merrick Garland. “Nope, no hearings scheduled.”
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Kayla Rudbek: Though a SJ is much different than a SJD.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: No argument here.
??? Martin
Well, it’s all unraveled now. There are so many threads for reporters and investigators to pull on that whatever collective self-interest the WH staff previously had is long gone. The WH will go full-bore lord of the flies now. Trump will be uncontainable. Whatever notions the GOP had about containing this shitshow will quickly go out the window.
Honestly, as rapidly as Trumps world is likely to collapse around him, I won’t be surprised if they carry him out of there.
??? Martin
@Adam L Silverman: $179K seems like a lot of money until you see what your team of criminal attorneys are charging you.
fuckwit
THEY KNEW HE WAS A SNAKE BEFORE THEY TOOK HIM IN.