Mueller Cartoons

After Cohen plea deal, Giuliani questions ethics, tactics of Mueller’s Russia investigation

President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani took to the airwaves Sunday to question the ethics and tactics of special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian interference in the presidential election and possible coordination with the Trump campaign.
“This isn’t a search for the truth. It’s a witch hunt,” Giuliani told host John Catsimatidis in an interview with AM 970 in New York. “This is what is wrong with these special prosecutors and independent counsels. They think they are God.”
Giuliani added: “They seem to want to prosecute people at any cost, including the cost of ethical behavior and the rights of people.”

President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani, far left, is questioning the ethics and tactics of special counsel Robert Mueller, second from right, who is investigating Russian interference in the presidential election and possible coordination with the Trump campaign, in light of the surprise plea agreement Thursday with Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer. (AP, File)

Giuliani accused Mueller of crossing boundaries for the purpose of “intimidating” Trump’s allies into saying “what he believes (is) his version of the truth,” in light of the surprise plea agreement Thursday with Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer.
Cohen confessed in his guilty plea that he lied to Congress about a Moscow real estate deal he pursued on Trump’s behalf during the heat of the 2016 Republican campaign. He said he lied to be consistent with Trump’s “political messaging.”
Cohen said he discussed the proposal with Trump on multiple occasions and with members of the president’s family, according to documents filed by Mueller.
There is no clear link in the court filings between Cohen’s statements and Mueller’s central question of whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. And, nothing said in court on Thursday, or in associated court filings, addressed whether Trump or his aides had directed Cohen to mislead Congress.
Still, the case underscored how Trump’s business entity, the Trump Organization, was negotiating business in Moscow well beyond the point that had been previously acknowledged, and that associates of the president were mining Russian connections during the race.
“They obviously exerted a lot of pressure on him. Mr. Cohen unfortunately has a history of significant lies in the past,” Giuliani added in the interview Sunday.
Giuliani previously had said that Trump’s business organization voluntarily gave Mueller the documents cited in the guilty plea “because there was nothing to hide.”
Trump on Thursday called Cohen a “weak person,” who was lying to get a lighter sentence, and stressed that the real estate deal at issue was never a secret and never executed.
“There would be nothing wrong if I did do it,” Trump said of pursuing the project. “I was running my business while I was campaigning. There was a good chance that I wouldn’t have won, in which case I would have gone back into the business, and why should I lose lots of opportunities?”
He said the primary reason he didn’t pursue it was “I was focused on running for president.”
Cohen is the first person charged by Mueller with lying to Congress, an indication the special counsel is prepared to treat that offense as seriously as lying to federal agents and a warning shot to dozens of others who have appeared before lawmakers.
DEMOCRAT BLAMES TRUMP FOR GM PLANT SHUTDOWNS
Cohen told two congressional committees last year that the talks about the tower project ended in January 2016, a lie he said was an act of loyalty to Trump. In fact, the negotiations continued until June 2016, Cohen acknowledged.
Speaking of Mueller's team, Giuliani said: “They want (Manafort) to give certain forms of evidence that would implicate the president in things that Mr. Manafort says are untrue.”
“And they are pressuring him, and creating a real risk that the man might commit perjury,” he said to Catsimatidis. “This kind of pressure can create the risk of tainted testimony.”

Springsteen says Trump is headed for second term, says democrats don’t speak same language

Bruce Springsteen-- the famous liberal rocker-- believes that President Donald Trump is headed for a second term at the White House.
In a Sunday interview with the British newspaper, The Sunday Times, the 69-year-old singer-songwriter said he hasn’t seen a democratic contender who could effectively win over blue-collar voters by speaking Trump’s language.
“I don’t see anyone out there at the moment … the man who can beat Trump, or the woman who can beat Trump,” Spring told the paper. “You need someone who can speak some of the same language [as Trump] … and the Democrats don’t have an obvious, effective presidential candidate.”
Springsteen expressed his disappointment that there wasn’t a stronger “blue wave” during the November midterms.
“I’d like to have seen a much more full-throated [rejection] of the past two years,” he said. “The country is very divided right now — there are a lot of people drinking the snake oil. So it’s a very difficult time here in the States.”
Springsteen’s comments come less than a week after an interview with Esquire in which he called the president a “deeply damaged at his core” and “dangerous.”
Trump “has no interest in united the country, really, and actually has an interest in doing the opposite and dividing us, which he does on an almost daily basis,” Springsteen told the magazine. “So that’s simply a crime against humanity, as far as I’m concerned.”
When asked by The Times if he’d consider running for president, Springsteen replied. “[N]ot in any way, in any form. I’d be terrible.”

Trump announces Chinese rollback of auto tariffs

President Donald Trump meets with China's President Xi Jinping during their bilateral meeting at the G20 Summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (AP)

President Donald Trump on Sunday announced that China had agreed to rollback its tariffs on American automobiles below 40 percent.
“China has agreed to reduce and remove tariffs on cars coming into China from the U.S. Currently the tariff is 40%,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
The announcement comes a day after Trump sat down with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 Summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina for negotiation talks and dinner.
Earlier this year, China’s tariff’s on U.S. imported automobiles stood at 15 percent from 25 percent, Politico reported. It then raised tariff rates to 40 percent amid the escalating trade war with the U.S.
The two leaders reportedly agreed on a 90-day cease-fire, during which Trump will delay the scheduled U.S. tariff increase while the world’s two most-powerful economies negotiate over the administration’s complaints that China systematically steals trade secrets and forces the U.S. to hand over sensitive technology as the price of admission to the vast Chinese market.
In return, China agreed to buy what the White House called a “not yet agreed upon, but very substantial” amount of U.S. products to help narrow America’s gaping trade deficit with China.
The timetable for China’s lowering of tariffs below 40 percent remains unclear.

3 charged, including exec with past ties to Clintons, in alleged scheme to defraud Pentagon

Three Northern Virginia men --including one who reportedly celebrated New Year's Eve in 1999 with the Clintons-- were charged last week for their alleged roles in a scheme to defraud the Pentagon after receiving an $8 billion contract in 2012 to provide food and supplies to troops in Afghanistan, the Department of Justice announced.
Federal prosecutors said the three—all executives connected to Anham FZCO, a defense contractor based in the United Arab Emirates--- knowingly gave false estimates of completion dates for a warehouse intended to provide supplies for troops in Afghanistan in order to win contracts. They allegedly provided "misleading photographs" to show that the project was further along than it was.
"Specifically, the indictment alleges that, in February of 2012, the defendants and others caused Anham employees to transport construction equipment and materials to the proposed site of one of the warehouse complexes to create the false appearance of an active construction site," a Department of Justice statement read.
The company won the contract in 2011 to build warehouses at Bagram Air Field, but as the deadline approached, prosecutors said one warehouse was a concrete slab in the ground, and construction did not yet start on the second one, Stars and Stripes reported.
Abdul Huda Farouki, 75, the former Anham CEO; his brother Mazen Farouki, 73; and Salah Maarouf, 71, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to eight counts each of fraud and violating sanctions against Iran, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday. The men were charged in Washington, D.C.
Abdul Huda Farouki and his wife were Washington socialites and donated to the Clinton family charity, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Washington Post reported that the former CEO celebrated New Year's Eve with the Clintons in 1999 and was invited to a state dinner. The report pointed to a Bloomberg article that cited a government audit that found that Anham overbilled the Pentagon $4.4 million.
The Journal first reported on the company allegedly moving equipment in a military contract through Iran, a possible violation of sanctions. The government said that the former CEO fired off an email to a senior defense official that "falsely claimed" senior management at the company were unaware of the transshipments.
The company has denied all charges. Anham reportedly said it helped the U.S. save $1.4 billion by reducing prices. The company echoed the not guilty pleas and said it is confident the defendants would be exonerated.
"ANHAM continues to cooperate with the Justice Department. Nevertheless, the company continues to believe that the purported violations are without legal merit," the company said in a statement on its website, the paper reported.
Their next hearing is Dec. 6.

United Nations Cartoons

UN to Vote on U.S. Measure Condemning Hamas

Over a thousand people of more than 80 organizations coming from all across Europe took part in a demonstration outside the UNHRC HQ in Place de la Nation in Geneva. The protesters called for the exposure and condemnation of the UNHRC’s hypocrisy and anti-Israel bias toward Israel.

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 10:11 AM PT — Sat. Dec. 1, 2018

The UN is scheduled to vote on a U.S. resolution condemning the Palestinian Hamas terror movement.
Reports out of Israel say the vote will come Thursday after all 28 EU Nations said they would back the U.S. draft.
The resolution condemns the Islamic terrorist group for firing rockets into Israel and is demanding an end to the ongoing violence.
The measure was previously championed by outgoing UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, and would mark the first time the UN has taken a stance against Hamas.
The U.S. had initially hoped for a Monday vote, but the Palestinians had pushed for a delay.

Trump, Putin had 'informal' meeting at G20, White House says

Russia's President Vladimir Putin, left, watches President Donald Trump, right, walk past him as they gather for the group photo at the start of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Associated Press)

President Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin had an “informal” conversation at the Group of 20 Summit in Buenos Aires on Friday, the White House said.
“As is typical at multilateral events, President Trump and the First Lady had a number of informal conversations with world leaders at the dinner last night, including President Putin,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement Saturday, according to the Hill.
Trump had previously canceled a more formal meeting with the Russian leader, citing recent territorial disputes between Russia and Ukraine.
"Based on the fact that the ships and sailors have not been returned to Ukraine from Russia, I have decided it would be best for all parties concerned to cancel my previously scheduled meeting" with Putin, Trump wrote on Twitter on Thursday.
Russia recently seized three Ukrainian naval vessels and detained its sailors, as the neighboring countries continue to clash.
Ukraine says the sailors were taken in international waters, while Russia argues the ships violated its borders.
“I answered his questions about the incident in the Black Sea,” Putin told reporters. “He has his position. I have my own. We stayed in our own positions.”
Western leaders banded together at the summit to denounce Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
Trump appeared to avoid Putin for most of the day Friday, breezing past him as world leaders stood for a photo.
"If the domestic situation and the pressure from Russophobes like Ukraine and its sponsors prevent the U.S. president from developing normal ties with the Russian president ... we will wait for another chance," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, adding "love can't be forced."
Trump also met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, where they agreed to a 90-day truce in a bid to work out U.S. and China's trade differences.