The talking heads on MSNBC are having quite the day. Indeed, a hurricane of breaking political news has left the network's entire staff breathless and a tad dizzy.
For a long while this morning the whole Brett Kavanaugh business took a back seat to Rod Rosenstein's mysterious and ominous visit to the White House. Reports came fast and furious that Rosenstein, who is overseeing Robert Mueller's investigation into the Trump campaign's Russian connection, would resign, or be forced to resign. Or, he would be given a chance to resign, but refuse, forcing Don Trump to fire him barely over a month prior to the mid term elections.
Speculation ran to a fever pitch as the caffeine kicked in. With Trump in New York at the U.N. preparing to insult both friends and enemies alike and AG Jeff Sessions also out of town, everyone figured the dirty work would fall to White House Chief of Staff, John Kelly.
Rumors were rife. Most said after the sacking the White House would appoint Sessions' Chief of Staff, Matthew Whitaker to Rosenstein's job, but he wouldn't have anything to do with Mueller's investigation. The task would fall to current Solicitor General, Noel Francisco who had limited criminal experience during his tenure at the firm, Jones Day Law.
However, there was a snag with that particular scenario. Jones Day Law's foremost client is Donald Trump's campaign organization. They are representing it in the matter of--that's right--Mueller v. Trump and just about every corrupt son of a bitch ever associated with him. According to White House insiders, because there could be a conflict of interest, Francisco won't be allowed to supervise Mueller's investigation unless they issue him a waiver to do so. Knowing this outfit, presumably such a waiver would come only after El Don receives a loyalty oath from Mr. Francisco and a steadfast promise to can, Mueller--then afterward swear to God, not to mention congress, Trump never ordered him to do it.
By lunch, Central Time, the whole storm had been put on hold until Thursday, when, according to Press Secretary, Sarah Sanders, Trump would meet with Rosenstein face to face. Sanders' statement added that the decision had been agreed to after Rosenstein and Trump had talked at length on the phone. Further muddying reality, Kelly made a big show of shaking Rosenstein's hand in front of the media before the Assistant AG left the White House, still, officially, on the job.
Today's entire hallucinogenic episode was triggered by a recent New York Times story. The Times piece claimed in February last year, Rosenstein suggested to other DOJ employees he should wear a wire while meeting with the president in order to gather enough evidence to invoke the 25th amendment to the constitution. You know, the one which authorizes congress to remove a sitting Chief Executive because he is either physically incapable, or just too fucking nuts to perform the duties of the office.
Rosenstein adamantly denies he ever suggested such a thing. An unnamed Justice Department official was quoted as saying Rosenstein did make the statement, but he was being sarcastic at the time. In other words, it was a joke.
Meanwhile a second woman has come forward saying Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh used to get a little weird and dangerous after jumping whole heartedly into a keg of beer.
First there was Dr. Christine Blasey Ford who accused Kavanaugh of attempted rape 30 plus years ago when both of them were in high school. According to Ford, during a night of partying at a house somewhere, Kavanaugh held her down on a bed, put his hand over her mouth in order to stifle her screams, then attempted to rip her clothes off.
Now, The New Yorker's Ronan Farrow reports while in college, during another besotted evening, Kavanaugh whipped it out and pushed himself into the face of fellow student, Deborah Ramirez. Ms. Ramirez admits she was also three sheets to the wind, but claims she didn't want anything to do with Kavanaugh, or his penis and was able to fight him off. She stated Kavanaugh was accompanied by a friend wielding a dildo who thought the entire scene was hilarious.
Kavanaugh and several of his buddies denied both incidents, but, in Ms. Ford's case, it's documented she began telling people about the alleged attack years ago, before Kavanaugh was even known to Trump. The story of Ramirez's ordeal also, uncorroborated by eye witnesses--at least ones willing to talk--began to spread through the dorms at Yale immediately after it happened in the 1980s.
Never one to be left out when it comes to lurid sexual misbehavior we are now hearing from attorney, Michael Avenatti, who represents porn diva, Stormy Daniels. Avenatti issued a statement which says he has a credible information from yet a third, although anonymous woman, Kavanaugh and his pal, Mark Judge were a couple of wild and crazy guys in college--that they both used to plot to get women so drunk and incapacitated they wouldn't resist what is known in the industry as a gangbang.
According to Ms. Ramirez, Judge was the person armed with the dildo, cheering Kavanaugh on in her room that awful night in New Haven. She says he ran into the hall and yelled to everyone present Ol' Brett had just shoved his cock into her face.
Through all this The Big Orange Guy is standing by his man. According to Don Trump, "I am with him all the way. He is an outstanding person, a fine man with an unblemished past. There is a chance that this could be one of the single most unfair, unjust things to happen to a candidate for anything. For people to come out of the woodwork from 36 years ago, and 30 years ago and never mentioned it. All of a sudden it happens. It's all political."
Additionally, a number of GOP senators are saying the accusations are nothing more than Democratic attempts to assassinate the character of Brett Kavanaugh.
For those wondering, the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault compiled statistics which show somewhere between 65% to 83% of all American women who have been raped don't report the crime to police. One of the leading reasons is, "fear of reprisal."
It is currently being reported Christine Blasey Ford has been forced to shut off her phone and move to another location because of the number of death threats she has received since going public with her story.
Honestly, given who she is up against, it isn't a surprise.
9-24-18
Strange days, indeed.
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