But not by Trump:
A significant business partner of Michael D. Cohen, President Trump’s personal lawyer, has quietly agreed to cooperate with the government as a potential witness, a development that could be used as leverage to pressure Mr. Cohen to work with the special counsel examining Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Under the agreement, the partner, Evgeny A. Freidman, a Russian immigrant who is known as the Taxi King, will avoid jail time, and will assist government prosecutors in state or federal investigations, according to a person briefed on the matter.
Somewhat related:
Perhaps due to the swampy weather in DC lately. ? There’s a sinkhole in the North Lawn of the White House. ? @MarkWalzCNN pic.twitter.com/m5AeDRDsvn
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) May 22, 2018
Look mom! A metaphor!
Corner Stone
It’s too bad SNL has wrapped for the season. Ben Stiller as Cohen has a mountain of work ahead of him.
Corner Stone
If shit hadn’t gotten real for Cohen before, it just did.
PaulW
I live in Florida, sinkholes are nothing to laugh at. they can swallow up entire buildings full of people who are corrupt, sleazy bastards who do not deserve or sympathy or me… mercy… uh…. um…
(keep growing, sinkhole, keep growing)
Fair Economist
Isn’t there a word for an actual naturally occurring thing which serves as a metaphor? Seems like there is but I can’t think of it.
oatler.
St Petersberg was built on a swamp…
Doug R
The Marilyn Monroe tunnel subsidence?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
he’s avoiding a lot of jail time…
O, Lordy, I hope there are tapes
Omnes Omnibus
@Doug R:
debbie
@Corner Stone:
They may or may not run a second season of “Weekend Update Summer Edition.”
WereBear
@oatler.: So was DC.
Jeffro
DEEPSTATEDEEPSTATELORETTALYNCHTARMACCOMEYHUMASTROZEKBRENNANNOPUPPETNOPUPPETYOURETHEPUPPET!!!!!
See no evil, hear no evil, actively embrace and protect evil.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@PaulW: It is by the West Wing, but on the on the north side; the Oval’s on the south side.
ETA: They recently did a lot of major construction over there whose purpose was very secret, might account for the sink hole.
WereBear
100 YEARS?
Oh boy. I should calm down now.
Juice Box
Is it a sinkhole or the Hellmouth?
Michael Bersin
The Missouri House Special Investigative Committee on Oversight charged with investigating Governor Eric Greitens (r) is reading transcripts of depositions into the record via live stream today. It’s been going on for hours.
Missouri House Special Investigative Committee on Oversight – transcript of witness deposition – on Koster and Greitens
“The witness testified in a deposition that she cut the hair of both Chris Koster (D) and Eric Greitens (r) [both of the major candidate for governor in 2016] as her clients before the election. After the election, while she was cutting Chris Koster’s hair he told her in November of 2016 that he knew about her relationship [affair] with Greitens before the election.
Chris Koster didn’t use that information before the election. You think it would have changed the outcome?”
If this was a freakin’ movie script no one would believe it.
jl
Not nearly big enough. Whatever loser low energy demons from the underwold built it obviously bought WH doc’s BS on Trump’s weight. Never get him that way.
kindness
I saw elsewhere:
There goes Melania’s escape tunnel.
Anne Laurie
artem1s
heh, couldn’t be the weather. Obviously it was caused by Ritalin or teh Gheys or abortion. Jeebus couldn’t possibly be angry about anything in the WH. FFS
MomSense
@Michael Bersin:
Wait, what???
rikyrah
8years of 44-NO SINKHOLE.
I’m just saying?
Sloane Ranger
Not sure if it’s been mentioned but Raw Story is quoting an article in the LA Times that Michael Avenatti’s law firm has been hit with a $10 million bankruptcy judgement. Avenatti has called it fake news.
Anyone know any more about this?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
So I noticed that the father of the Sante Fe murdering psycho has pulled out the bully card and scribbled an ace of spades on it.
We now have a genuine internet conundrum – the “protect all the bullied because they may snap” club vs #metoo.
I’d just like people to pull their heads from their collective asses, quit trying to build utopian social orders from philosophy books and try to live and interact pragmatically, recognizing that people always make mistakes, making blindly following some rigid ethical path pointless.
Don’t steal shit, don’t grab asses that don’t want to be grabbed, clean up after yourself, don’t be an asshole, mind your own business on other people’s enjoyment of consensual tingly stuff, make amends as you screw up and try to kick in and be a contributing, productive member of your community to the best extent you can.
It’s not that hard.
JPL
@MomSense: He probably didn’t have proof. In GA Cagle had an ethics complaint about an affair with his campaign manager years ago. A secretary walked in and his campaign manager at the time was under the desk. She said she was tying his shoes
Jay
I believe the only way to save Hawaii is to sacrifice a sitting president to the angry Volcano.
dmsilev
@JPL:
Sounds plausible.
TenguPhule
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
It is for Republicans. That goes against all of their basic instincts and indoctrination.
MomSense
@JPL:
It’s still wild.
TenguPhule
With the repeal of yet another portion of Dodd Frank, I predict the day of a coming financial crisis just got that much closer to reality.
Omnes Omnibus
@dmsilev: Even if he was wearing loafers?
Ocotillo
Trump didn’t drain any swamp, he just made it into a cesspool.
TenguPhule
WASF.
Baud
Interesting that this story leaks the day after DOJ caves to Trump’s latest obstruction.
TenguPhule
@Baud:
Mueller firing a shot across the bow of Rosenstein, you think?
“I know you know I know.”
Baud
@Jay: If you were an angry God, would you appreciate Trump as a sacrifice?
Baud
@TenguPhule: It would be irresponsible not to speculate.
Mike in NC
Taxi King is what, the 5233rd Russian found with ties to the Trump campaign?
jl
Some more interesting news. Might pep up Wilbur a little bit. Or make him peptic.
@davidjoachim
” SCOOP: Mueller’s team has asked about flows of money into the Cyprus bank account of a company that specialized in social-media manipulation and whose founder reportedly met with Don Jr. in Aug 2016, person familiar says https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-22/mueller-targeted-flows-of-money-to-israeli-social-media-company … ”
https://twitter.com/davidjoachim/status/998998752898711553
Found via Josh Marshall’s twitter.
Brachiator
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
How does this work? I got bullied, so I killed a girl that refused to go out with me?
Bullshit.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Only one way to find out.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus: For science!
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Brachiator:
He should be facing charges himself, but probably won’t. I wonder if anyone has suggested this to him? Would love to see the asshole blow up in reponse.
maya
Yeah, well, just like in The Great Escape she came up 20′ short of the fence. Back to the cooler, Melanie
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Baud:
If I was an angry God I would’ve erased people like Trump from reality already. Why bother with some stupid sacrifice if you’re omnipotent?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@TenguPhule:
He’s not wrong, at least as to himself. He always emerges close to whole, but all his prior investors/wives/customers/lenders have to contend with the smoldering wreckage of his mediocrity and shitty decisions.
The only deals he’s actually good at are the ones where he’s wrecked shit and is seeking directions to the nearest off ramp while threatening the losers with even worse wreckage if they hold him to account.
He’s the perfect white businessman – stupid, venal, corrupt. The apex of white male civilization…
JPL
@MomSense: At the time he was running for Gov against Deal, and I guess she and another female had to be separated because they were both having affairs with him, but not the secretary who caught her tying his shoes. .
.
he dropped out of the Gov race but ran for Lt. Gov the reason he dropped out of the gov race was because of back issues.
dexwood
@Baud:
Tainted offerings.
TenguPhule
@Baud:
That would require we do it at least twice.
Mary G
@Sloane Ranger: Details on this Bloomberg article. Looks like a former colleague or employee felt he was stiffed, Avenatti filed bankruptcy to stay out of arbitration (alleged by the plaintiff). They settled for $4.9 million in December, and the agreement said Avenatti would make a first payment of $2 million by May 14. He didn’t come up with it.
Oops.
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
Apparently the incels have decided that the girls and women who refuse to date them no matter how much the incels harass them are actually bullying them by refusing.
Because in White Broflake World, it’s always someone else’s fault if you don’t get exactly what you want exactly when you want it.
Steve in the ATL
@Mnemosyne: regardless of what Avenatti did or didn’t do, trump is still a sleazy conman who committed treason.
Bex
@JPL: Is that what the kids are calling it these days?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Steve in the ATL: yeah I don’t know what Avenatti’s deal is, if he’s after money, politics or both, but he’s effective on TV. His predictions seem to keep coming true, and I suspect he’ll land on his feet.
Omnes Omnibus
@TenguPhule: Pence.
TenguPhule
@Omnes Omnibus: A controlled double blind study!
Mnemosyne
@Steve in the ATL:
I think you meant to click on Mary G’s reply button. I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed.
Michael Bersin
@MomSense:
Yep.
You could go to the Missouri House web site and listen to the (now) hours long live stream of the investigative committee reading the hundreds of pages of deposition transcripts into the record. It’s bizarre beyond belief. Warning: not family friendly.
TenguPhule
@Michael Bersin:
I believe it!
Peale
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: um no. If the kid was being bullied (and who says he wasn’t?) no one in the anti-bullying movement would say “take matters into your own hands and seek revenge”. That’s not what anti-bullying is about. “learn to fight back violently” also not anti-bullying.
Honestly, the kid committed first degree murder and “was bullied” isn’t much of a defense.
Another Scott
@?BillinGlendaleCA: There’s been a huge amount of rain in the area recently, also too. We’ve gotten about a foot in the last week or two – it’s been very wet.
Cheers,
Scott.
Michael Bersin
@TenguPhule:
The committee just adjourned for the day. That’s seven hours of my life I won’t get back spent listening to deposition transcripts of an attorney cross examining the witness being read into the record. The most bizarre part was the extensive badgering about “Fifty Shades of Grey”. I kid you not.
AnotherBruce
That sinkhole is the yawning mouth of hell. GO Satan!
AnotherBruce
@Mnemosyne: @Jay: Volcanos only take virgins. Trump is so impure, he might set off a worldwide burning dumpster reaction.
Bookeater (formerly JosieJ)
@AnotherBruce: I kinda think he has already.
NatashaWhilk
@Fair Economist: Pathetic fallacy? I’m not sure whether that quite fits, but seems close.