Trump's former doctor gets raided by Trump's former bodyguard. Feels "raped."

Courtesy of NBC News:  

In February 2017, a top White House aide who was Trump's longtime personal bodyguard, along with the top lawyer at the Trump Organization and a third man, showed up at the office of Trump's New York doctor without notice and took all the president's medical records. 

The incident, which Dr. Harold Bornstein described as a "raid," took place two days after Bornstein told a newspaper that he had prescribed a hair growth medicine for the president for years. 

In an exclusive interview in his Park Avenue office, Bornstein told NBC News that he felt "raped, frightened and sad" when Keith Schiller and another "large man" came to his office to collect the president's records on the morning of Feb. 3, 2017. At the time, Schiller, who had long worked as Trump's bodyguard, was serving as director of Oval Office operations at the White House. 

"They must have been here for 25 or 30 minutes. It created a lot of chaos," Bornstein said, who described the incident as frightening.

According to Bornstein Trump cut ties with him after he blabbed to the press about Trump taking Propecia, which is a drug to prevent hair loss.

Too bad he wasn't on a medication to prevent asshole-itis.

According to Dr. Feelgood, the thugs made off with all of Trump's records, lab results, and charts.

Even the ones under his many aliases.

That's right, Trump even uses aliases when he visits his own doctor.

Apparently Bornstein also told the papers that he wanted to be the White House physician, but when Trump heard about it he had his long time assistant call to deliver the bad news:

"So you wanted to be the White House doctor? Forget it, you're out.' " 

Oh these people are ice cold. 

White House officials claim that chief of staff John Kelly presents himself as a savior and calls Trump an "idiot" behind his back.

What an idiot.

Courtesy of NBC News:  

White House chief of staff John Kelly has eroded morale in the West Wing in recent months with comments to aides that include insulting the president's intelligence and casting himself as the savior of the country, according to eight current and former White House officials. 

The officials said Kelly portrays himself to Trump administration aides as the lone bulwark against catastrophe, curbing the erratic urges of a president who has a questionable grasp on policy issues and the functions of government. He has referred to Trump as "an idiot" multiple times to underscore his point, according to four officials who say they've witnessed the comments.

Officials said Kelly's public image as a retired four-star general instilling discipline on a chaotic White House and an impulsive president belies what they describe as the undisciplined and indiscreet approach he's employed as chief of staff. The private manner aides describe may shed new light on why Kelly now finds himself — just nine months into the job — grappling with diminished influence and a drumbeat of questions about how long he'll remain at the White House. 

"He says stuff you can't believe," said one senior White House official. "He'll say it and you think, 'That is not what you should be saying.'"

Of course since this story broke earlier today Kelly has issued a statement pushing back on the allegations:  
“I am committed to our President, his agenda, and our country. This is another pathetic attempt to smear people close to President Trump and distract from the administration’s many successes.”

Yeah, okay.

This is not the first time that we have heard that there is tension between Trump and his chief of staff, and apparently Kelly has been greatly marginalized as of late.

And also according to NBC News Kelly's negative remarks about the president are not the only thing that puts his job in jeopardy:

Current and former White House officials said Kelly has at times made remarks that have rattled female staffers. Kelly has told aides multiple times that women are more emotional than men, including at least once in front of the president, four current and former officials said. 

And during a firestorm in February over accusations of domestic abuse against then-White House staff secretary Rob Porter, Kelly wondered aloud how much more Porter would have to endure before his honor could be restored, according to three officials who were present for the comments. He also questioned why Porter's ex-wives wouldn't just move on based on the information he said he had about his marriages, the officials said. 

Some current and former White House officials said they expect Kelly to leave by July, his one-year mark. But others say it's anyone's guess. What's clear is both Trump and Kelly seem to have tired of each other. 

Move over Rex Tillerson it looks like you are about to have a little company in the "We Just Got Shitcanned Hotel."

Trump's approval numbers take another dip.

That's fake news! It's only accurate when the numbers go up.

Courtesy of The Hill: 

President Trump’s job approval rating slipped 4 points in a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. 

Thirty-nine percent of respondents now approve of the job the president is doing, compared to 57 percent who disapprove. 

Trump's support fell among Republicans, whites, men, independents, women and Democrats. He gained support with voters between 18 and 34 years old. 

One month ago, Trump’s job approval stood at 43 percent in the poll.

I am not really sure how much faith we should put into these polls.

Personally I cannot even fathom how anybody continues to support this orange tinted clown, but clearly there are still many who do.

When his numbers went up recently I felt like I was having an out of body experience, because it felt like almost half of the country were completely unaware that he might be impeached or criminally indicted at any minute.

Can hardly wait to see the response from these dimwits when that day finally arrives.

Let's end our day with SNL's brilliant cold open from last night.

That...that was great!

"I got a whole hard drive that's just labeled 'Yikes!'"

Just seeing Ben Stiller and Robert DeNiro back together was worth the price of admission.

Just to be clear Rod Rosenstein STILL has a target on his back.

Courtesy of The Hill: 

The White House is building a case to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal that said allies are being told to attack Rosenstein on television. 

The idea is to launch attacks on Rosenstein, the Justice Department official overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election meddling, in a way that avoids making it appear that Trump is meddling in the probe. 

One person who spoke to the president this week told The Wall Street Journal that Rosenstein’s ouster is “a matter of when, not if.”

For his part Rosenstein seems to be at peace with the possibility.

Courtesy of NBC News:  

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has struck a stoic and righteous tone in private conversations he has had this week about the fate of his job as President Donald Trump has launched public criticism against him and considered firing him, according to three sources who have spoken to Rosenstein. 

In those conversations, he has repeated the phrase, "Here I stand," a reference to Martin Luther's famous quote, "Here I stand, I can do no other." Coincidentally, former FBI Director James Comey, whom Rosenstein fired, repeated the same phrase to President George W. Bush in a conversation that has been widely reported and that Comey describes in his forthcoming book. 

One source who spoke to Rosenstein said he seemed fully aware he may soon lose his job and was at peace with the possibility, confident he had done his job with integrity.

Rosenstein might be all Zen about losing his job, but that does not include everybody else.

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

If President Donald Trump fires Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein or any other officials involved in the Russia investigation, he faces the prospect of hundreds of thousands of activists immediately turning out to protest all over the country. 

A coalition of grassroots activists, unions, policy organizations and good governance groups have, for months, been plotting to quickly and forcefully respond to any perceived interference with the investigation. And with Trump increasingly vocal about his displeasure with the inquiry, these organizers say they’re stepping up their efforts. 

The coalition, calling its would-be gatherings “Nobody Is Above The Law” protests, released “red lines” that it said the president or his administration would have to cross to trigger the protests. These include firing any of the investigators or their supervisors, pardoning key witnesses or otherwise interfering with the investigation. 

However I seriously doubt that this will deter Trump, who seems absolutely determined to do something to interfere in this Mueller probe.  

So apparently Donald Trump's lawyer likes to tape conversations. Things that make you go, "Hmmm."

Courtesy of WaPo: 

President Trump’s personal attorney Michael D. Cohen sometimes taped conversations with associates, according to three people familiar with his practice, and allies of the president are worried that the recordings were seized by federal investigators in a raid of Cohen’s office and residences this week. 

Cohen, who served for a decade as a lawyer at the Trump Organization and is a close confidant of Trump, was known to store the conversations using digital files and then replay them for colleagues, according to people who have interacted with him. 

“We heard he had some proclivity to make tapes,” said one Trump adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. “Now we are wondering, who did he tape? Did he store those someplace where they were actually seized? . . . Did they find his recordings?” 

Cohen did not respond to requests for comment. Stephen Ryan, an attorney for Cohen, declined to comment. A White House spokeswoman referred a request for comment to Cohen and his attorney.

HOLY.....SHIT!!!

Now this may turn out to be nothing, many things do.

But HOLY SHIT!!!!

If in fact Cohen taped conversations he had with Trump, with Stormy Daniels' former attorney, with other women that he has paid off in the past, and those recordings are now in the possession of Robert Mueller, that raid of Cohen's office and home may prove to be the most devastating thing that has happened to Donald Trump yet.

Have I said HOLY SHIT yet?

Which may be why Trump is no longer interested in voluntarily sitting down to talk with Robert Mueller.

Courtesy of NBC News:  

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s office and President Donald Trump’s legal team are now proceeding with strategies that presume a presidential interview will likely not take place as part of the Russia investigation, after months of talks between the two sides collapsed earlier this week, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. 

On Monday Trump’s lawyers were discussing a possible interview with Mueller's team and had begun to hash out the final sticking points, including the timing, scope and length, according to people familiar with the discussions. One person familiar with the strategy said the president’s lawyers had sought over the weekend to expand his legal team to include individuals who would prepare him for an interview. Another person familiar with the matter, however, said preparations had not yet gone that far. 

But the prospects for a presidential interview drastically dimmed once the FBI raided the home, office and hotel room of Trump’s long-time personal lawyer, Michael Cohen on Monday, these people said. The president criticized the raid as out of bounds in Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion with Trump aides.

A TOTAL WITCH HUNT!!!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 10, 2018

Yeah I think the only thing that Donald Trump wants to do right now, is to flee the country.

Sadly he is now the most famous man in the world, so there ain't nowhere for him to go. 

Stormy Daniels fully cooperating with federal investigators, while the Summer Zervos defamation case pushes forward. Update!

Stormy Daniels is cooperating with federal investigators probing 2016 non-disclosure agreement and $130,000 payment she received from Pres. Trump’s longtime personal attorney. https://t.co/gJagoFny4S - @NBCInvestigates

— NBC News (@NBCNews) April 10, 2018

Courtesy of NBC News: 

Adult film actress Stormy Daniels is cooperating with federal investigators looking into a $130,000 payment she received from President Donald Trump's personal attorney, multiple sources familiar with the proceedings told NBC News. 

The cooperation is in connection with a broader federal probe of the attorney, Michael Cohen, which triggered a raid on his office and hotel room on Monday.

Oh I bet Daniels is cooperating, and probably with a giant smile on her face.

It should also be noted that the investigation is focused on just on the $130,000 dollar payment to Daniels, but also the payoff that Playmate Karen McDougal received.

Courtesy of the Daily Beast:  

The FBI agents who raided Michael Cohen’s office were reportedly looking for “records about payments to two women who claim they had affairs with Mr. Trump,” and materials related to the "National Enquirer’s role in silencing" former Playboy model Karen McDougal, according to The New York Times. The raid—which sought materials related to Cohen’s $130,000 payout to Stormy Daniels and the $150,000 payment made to McDougal from the parent company of the Enquirer—was carried out by the public corruption unit of the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan. 

Ans while all of this is going on Summer Zervos is attempting to move forward with HER defamation lawsuit.

Courtesy of CNN: 

The lawyer representing former "Apprentice" contestant Summer Zervos in her defamation lawsuit against President Donald Trump filed a memorandum opposing Trump's attempt to have the case temporarily suspended until his appeal, which is pending, has been decided. 

In one of the exhibits attached to Tuesday's filing, Zervos details the harassment and threats she received after Trump denied her claims that he sexually assaulted her. 

"Immediately after he made each derogatory statement, I would get calls and people coming to my restaurant threatening me or my business," said Zervos, who runs a restaurant in California. 

"They would shout 'lying c--t' or 'lying b--tch' into the phone and say I should die, or say that they would drive us out of business," she said. "Several customers told me specifically that they would no longer come to my restaurant because I had lied. Other people called and placed fake take-out orders to hurt my business. I worried constantly for my safety, the safety of my family and the people I work with." 

"Because I'm a Republican and small-business owner and live among many supporters of Defendant [Trump], it was especially bad," Zervos said.

You know Donald Trump can fire Mueller, and bomb Syria until the cows come home, but clearly that is not going to make any of this go away.

Update: We are now learning that during that FBI raids of Cohen's office and residence, that they were also searching for evidence linking back to the Access Hollywood tape.

Courtesy of the NYT: 

The F.B.I. agents who raided the office and hotel of President Trump’s lawyer on Monday were seeking all records related to the “Access Hollywood” tape in which Mr. Trump was heard making vulgar comments about women, according to three people who have been briefed on the contents of a federal search warrant. 

The search warrant also sought evidence of whether the lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, tried to suppress damaging information about Mr. Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. 

It is not clear what role, if any, Mr. Cohen played regarding the tape, which was made public a month before the election. But the fact that the agents were seeking documents related to the tape reveals a new front in the investigation into Mr. Cohen that is being led by the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan.

Well isn't THAT interesting?

FBI raids Donald Trump's lawyer, Michael, Cohen's, office.

Wait, where are they?

Courtesy of the New York Times:

The F.B.I. on Monday raided the office of President Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, seizing records related to several topics including payments to a pornographic-film actress. 

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan obtained the search warrant after receiving a referral from the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, according to Mr. Cohen’s lawyer, who called the search “completely inappropriate and unnecessary.” The search does not appear to be directly related to Mr. Mueller’s investigation, but likely resulted from information he had uncovered and gave to prosecutors in New York. 

“Today the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York executed a series of search warrants and seized the privileged communications between my client, Michael Cohen, and his clients,” said Stephen Ryan, his lawyer. “I have been advised by federal prosecutors that the New York action is, in part, a referral by the Office of Special Counsel, Robert Mueller.”

Mr. Cohen plays a role in aspects of the special counsel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. He also recently said he paid $130,000 to a pornographic-film actress, Stephanie Clifford, who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump. Ms. Clifford is known as Stormy Daniels.

Here is more from NBC News:

The FBI on Monday raided the office of Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, seeking information about a $130,000 payment the attorney made to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election, sources said. 

Several law enforcement officials confirmed the search of Cohen's office was not the work of Mueller's prosecutors. It involves a matter that the Mueller team came across, concluded did not fall under their mandate and passed on to the U.S. Attorney's office in New York. 

Legal sources familiar with the nature of the search said it involved the $130,000 payment to Daniels, who alleges that she had an affair with Trump. The sources did not say whether it might have also involved other matters. 

So the Mueller team found some incriminating information about this payoff to Stormy Daniels during their investigation of Trump and his associates, decided it did not fit comfortably with the focus of their investigation so they handed it off to the New York Attorney General, who was convinced that the evidence was sufficiently concerning enough to get a warrant to raid Cohen's office.

And that is not all. According to Vanity Fair the FBI also raided Cohen's hotel room.

And whatever is in that office clearly has Trump concerned.

Trump has been watching TV reports of the FBI raiding Cohen's office, per @jeffzeleny.

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) April 9, 2018

And here is how Trump responded publicly to questions about the raid.

Trump comments responding to Cohen Raid pic.twitter.com/vNhZGsqCv5

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) April 9, 2018

Did I not say earlier that today was going to be stressful for Donald Trump?

That might have been an understatement.

Now the question is will this be the thing that freaks Trump out so much that he finally fires Rod Rosenstein and starts working to close down the Mueller investigation?

Donald Trump finally admits he does not care about America. Okay it was Alec Baldwin playing Donald Trump, but it certainly had the ring of truth didn't it?

I am absolutely convinced that this is almost exactly how Trump's mind works.

I don't think that Baldwin was so much playing a part as he was channeling the actual subconscious of Tangerine Hitler.

And I would bet my house that a number of the people who work closely with him have heard him mutter “I don’t care about America. This whole four-year presidency is a cash grab,” more than a few times under his breath.

Bet my house.

P.S. This segment does not really have anything to do with Donald Trump or politics, but it was by far my favorite bit from last night.,

I present to you Black Jeopardy, featuring the Black Panther.

I have seen this three times now, and it never fails to crack me up. 

The lawyer for Stormy Daniels wants to depose Donald Trump. More popcorn?

Michael Avenatti: “The other side is attempting to force this case into a private arbitration hidden from the public... In order for the judge to determine that, we are arguing that under the law we're entitled to the deposition.” (CBS) pic.twitter.com/qki66cgQE9

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 28, 2018

Courtesy of NBC News: 

The lawyer for adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who says she had sex with Donald Trump in 2006, has filed a motion in federal court asking for permission to depose the president and his lawyer, Michael Cohen. 

The move comes amid a lawsuit against Trump, alleging that he never signed a nondisclosure agreement that his lawyer had arranged with Daniels, and just days after a revealing interview on CBS' "60 Minutes" in which she detailed an alleged affair with the married mogul and claimed she was threatened in 2011 if she went public. 

The request was filed late Tuesday in a Los Angeles court and will be heard on April 30, Daniels' lawyer, Michael Avenatti, tweeted Wednesday morning.

Boy if Trump had any lawyers left they would be freaking out about now.

Especially since Trump, as pointed out over at NPR, is notorious for coming to depositions unprepared, and for not following his lawyer's advice: 

Records of President Trump's past depositions show a familiar pattern of boasting, sometimes battling opponents and giving little deference to factual details — pitfalls that could all come into play in various legal cases before too long.

In deposition transcripts over the years, Trump comes across as uninterested in details, unfamiliar with legal documents and occasionally impatient. One theme that emerges is preparation. Baum, in the 2016 session, asked Trump what he did to prepare. 

Baum: What did you do to prepare for the case today, for the deposition? 

Trump: I would say virtually nothing. I — I spoke with my counsel for a short period of time. I just arrived here, and we proceeded to the deposition. 

Baum: Thank you. So you didn't look at any documents or...

Trump: No, I didn't. 

Baum: ...anything.

I CANNOT even begin to imagine how badly Trump might screw up this deposition.

All I know for certain is that I do not want to miss it when it happens. 

Facebook stocks plunge as the FTC launches investigation into data sharing practices. Update!

Courtesy of NBC News: 

Shares of Facebook cratered as much as 6 percent Monday after the Federal Trade Commission announced it is investigating the company's data practices in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica leak of 50 million users' information. 

"The FTC takes very seriously recent press reports raising substantial concerns about the privacy practices of Facebook. Today, the FTC is confirming that it has an open non-public investigation into these practices," the agency said in a statement. 

The FTC declined to confirm last week that it was investigating Facebook, including whether it violated a consent decree the tech company signed with the agency in 2011. 

The decree required that Facebook notify users and receive explicit permission before sharing personal data beyond their specified privacy settings. 

A violation of the consent decree could carry a penalty of $40,000 per violation.

Well we all know that they certainly violated that consent decree, and at $40,000 a pop that might well bankrupt Facebook.

But before you feel too bad for this multi billion dollar company, perhaps you ought to read this article from a guy who found out that Facebook had collected every phone number in his contact list:

This is not the most startling example of Facebook's data collection. At least one user has reported that all of his text messages from an Android phone have somehow ended up being stored by Mark Zuckerberg's company. 

Even if Facebook users agree to share this data, their friends whose numbers or text messages are being collected almost certainly have not. And even if those people have never joined Facebook - or have decided to delete their accounts - it looks as though some of their data will stay with the social network as long as the people who provided it remain.

And if you are now wondering how that kind of data could be misused, well this next article gives a pretty good example.

Courtesy of Fortune: 

Cambridge Analytica isn’t the only entity using Facebook data for its own ends. 

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has relied on Facebook data to find and track immigrants suspected of being in the U.S. illegally, according to a new report by The Intercept. 

The report tells of one instance in which ICE used backend Facebook data to determine when the account of the person in question was accessed, as well as the IP addresses corresponding to each login. The agents reportedly combined this data with other routinely used records, such as phone records, to pinpoint his location.

This is all perfectly legal, and of course most of us are probably okay with law enforcement using these techniques to catch the bad guys, but under the Trump Administration the label "bad guys" could now pertain to people who just a year ago were considered upstanding members of the community.

Update: Zuckerberg has now agreed to testify before Congress.

I hope they hold his damn feet to the fire.

Number of Maryland school shooting deaths rise to two after teenage girl taken off life support.

Courtesy of NBC News: 

The teenage girl who was shot by an ex-boyfriend inside their Maryland high school died late Thursday after she was removed from life support, the sheriff's office said Friday. 

Jaelyn Willey died at 11:34 p.m. ET just hours after her mother said the 16-year-old was brain dead and that there was "no life left in her." 

"My daughter was hurt by a boy who shot her in the head ... and took everything from our lives, " Melissa Willey said at a news conference. "She will not make it."

The teen was shot Tuesday by 17-year-old Austin Rollins at Great Mills High School in St. Mary’s County.

This young lady was apparently the main target for this gunman, as she had recently ended a relationship with him.

The teenage gunman shot her and anther student, before being gunned down by a school resource officer.

So what should have been a momentary teenage heartbreak, ended with the completely unnecessary deaths of two young people who would still be alive in a country where guns were not so readily available.

Guns do not protect life, guns take life.

Period.

It appears that Stormy Daniels has reinforcements.

Courtesy of  NBC News:

Adult film actress Stormy Daniels underwent a polygraph exam in 2011 about her relationship with Donald Trump, and the examiner found there was a more than 99 percent probability she told the truth when she said they had unprotected sex in 2006, according to a copy of the report obtained by NBC News Tuesday. 

Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, took the lie detector test at the request of a magazine that interviewed her in 2011, but didn’t publish the content at the time. 

The report is accompanied by a sworn declaration from the examiner, signed on Monday, March 19, 2018, attesting to the polygraph report’s authenticity. Details of the report were first published by The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

Now that by itself is pretty unfortunate news for a certain tangerine teapot tyrant.

However it was only the beginning of the shitty Trump news for today.

Courtesy of the New York Times:

A former Playboy model who claimed she had an affair with Donald J. Trump sued on Tuesday to be released from a 2016 legal agreement requiring her silence, becoming the second woman this month to challenge Trump allies’ efforts during the presidential campaign to bury stories about extramarital relationships.

The model, Karen McDougal, is suing the company that owns The National Enquirer, American Media Inc., which paid her $150,000 and whose chief executive is a friend of President Trump’s. The other woman, the adult entertainment star Stephanie Clifford, better known as Stormy Daniels, was paid $130,000 to stay quiet by the president’s personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen. She filed suit earlier this month.

Ms. McDougal, in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims that Mr. Cohen was secretly involved in her talks with A.M.I., and that the media company and her lawyer at the time misled her about the deal. She also asserts that after she spoke with The New Yorker last month after it obtained notes she kept on Mr. Trump, A.M.I. warned that “any further disclosures would breach Karen’s contract” and “cause considerable monetary damages.”

Kinda feels a little coordinated doesn't it?

Well if it is that is a damn smart play.  After all there is strength in numbers.

And speaking of numbers, they are continuing to grow.

Courtesy of Bloomberg:

President Donald Trump can’t avoid a former "Apprentice" contestant’s defamation lawsuit and may be forced to respond under oath to allegations of sexual assault and his treatment of women. 

Summer Zervos, a contender on The Apprentice in 2005, sued Trump in January 2017 alleging he “ambushed” her on more than one occasion starting in 2007, kissing her, touching her breast and pressing his genitals against her. On Tuesday, New York State Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Schecter denied the president’s request to throw out the lawsuit or delay it until he leaves office.

"No one is above the law," Schecter wrote in an 18-page decision. “Nothing in the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution even suggests that the president cannot be called to account before a state court for wrongful conduct that bears no relationship to any federal executive responsibility.” 

The ruling could subject Trump to extremely broad questions about this case and similar ones, and he might be forced to testify under oath and provide documents, said Naomi Mezey, a professor at Georgetown Law School and an expert on civil procedure.

Damn! I almost forgot about Zervos.

And if SHE can get Trump to testify under oath, that means that his other accusers might be able to do the same. 

 Remember it only took one intern, with one stained dressed, to get Bill Clinton impeached.

By the time this is over there could be over a dozen women, with a whole closet full of DNA stained clothing to bring to the courtroom.

New NBC poll shows that Democrats have a 10 point lead going into 2018, while Donald Trump's numbers have ticked up four points. Wait, what?

Courtesy of NBC News:  

Democrats enjoy a 10-point advantage over Republicans in congressional preference for the 2018 midterm elections, even as President Donald Trump's job approval rating has ticked up, the latest national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds. 

Fifty percent of registered voters say they prefer a Democratic-controlled Congress, while 40 percent want a GOP-controlled one. 

That double-digit lead — typically a sign of strong Democratic performance for the upcoming election — is up from the party's 6-point edge in January's NBC/WSJ poll, which was 49 percent to 43 percent, though the change is within the poll's margin of error.

That falls in line with other polling that shows the Democrats with a substantial lead going into the 2018 election.

But then there is this: 

Meanwhile, the NBC/WSJ polls finds that Trump's approval rating stands at 43 percent among all Americans — up four points from January. 

Fifty-three percent of adults say they disapprove of the president’s job, down from 57 percent two months ago. 

The improvement for Trump comes from Republican respondents (who went from 78 percent approve in January to 84 percent this month), white men (52 percent to 59 percent) and independents (33 percent to 45 percent).

Man am I embarrassed to be a white man some days.

I am trying to work it out in my head exactly what Trump has done in the last month or so that could have improved his image even by four points.

Could it be his blatant attacks on our Justice Department?

The constant turnover in his White House?

Or was it the fact that he has definitely been outed as banging a porn star right after his wife gave birth to his last child, and his attempts to keep her quiet?

Yeah, I simply don't get it.

But who cares? Because once we get enough Democrats into office we can shut his ass down hard!

Stormy Daniels is willing to give back the $130,000 in order to tell her story.

Courtesy of NBC News:  

Adult film star Stormy Daniels is offering to give back the $130,000 she was paid for her silence so she can speak freely about President Donald Trump and release any text messages, photos and videos she might have. 

The actress, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, made the offer Monday in a letter to Trump's private attorney Michael Cohen, who brokered a nondisclosure agreement with her shortly before the presidential election. 

The letter is also being sent to Lawrence Rosen, an attorney who has identified himself as representing Mr. Cohen, and to EC LLC, a company Cohen formed in connection to the agreement and payment made to Clifford in October 2016.

The letter says the money would be wired to an account designated by Trump by Friday. In return, Clifford would be allowed to "speak openly and freely about her prior relationship with the president and the attempts to silence her and use and publish and text messages, photos and videos relating to the President that she may have in her possession, all without fear of retribution or legal liability," the letter says. 

“This has never been about the money," Clifford's lawyer, Michael Avenatti, told NBC News on Monday. 

"It has always been about Ms. Clifford being allowed to tell the truth. The American people should be permitted to judge for themselves who is shooting straight with them and who is misleading them. Our offer seeks to allow this to happen."

Oh damn, Stormy Daniels is playing hardball here. 

She knows she stands to make significantly more in a tell all book, and possible movie rights (And not just porno movie rights), than she will if she stays quiet.

I have also heard from her attorney that there are several people willing to pay the million dollar fine for breaking her non-disclosure agreement if she talks.

Apparently Trump and his attorneys managed to temporarily kill that 60 Minutes interview, but it does not appear that they are going to be able to keep this woman quiet for much longer.

Whatever story she has to tell it MUST be damn good.

Quatari officials have evidence that Jared Kushner is compromised by the Saudis but did not tell Robert Mueller for fear of damaging relationship with Trump Administration.

Courtesy of NBC News: 

Qatari officials gathered evidence of what they claim is illicit influence by the United Arab Emirates on Jared Kushner and other Trump associates, including details of secret meetings, but decided not to give the information to Special Counsel Robert Mueller for fear of harming relations with the Trump administration, say three sources familiar with the Qatari discussions. 

Lebanese-American businessman George Nader and Republican donor Elliott Broidy, who participated in the meetings, have both been the focus of news reports in recent days about their connections to the UAE and Trump associates.

.........

Qatari officials believe the meetings — as well as fallout from Qatari business dealings with Kushner — may have influenced President Trump's public endorsement of a blockade of Qatar by its neighbors that began last year. 

A Qatari delegation came to Washington in late January and early February and met with Trump officials to discuss shared national security interests. Despite Trump's endorsement of the blockade in June, the Qataris felt the meetings with top advisers had been productive and decided against reaching out to Mueller in order to preserve the relationship, according to people familiar with the internal Qatari deliberations. 

A spokesperson for the Qatari embassy in Washington said in a statement last week that Qatar won't be providing materials to the Mueller investigation. 

The Qataris also met with FBI Director Chris Wray while they were in Washington, but never shared their information about the UAE's alleged influence on the administration.

Fear of sharing intelligence vital to an ongoing investigation, because it is assumed the American government will retaliate against you.

THAT is how America's relationship with other countries is damaged beyond repair.

By the way this means that Donald Trump clearly knows that his son-in-law is compromised, and yet he continues to let him sit in on classified briefings, and even put him in charge of solving the crisis in the Middle East.

And Trump had the gall to accuse Hillary Clinton of being careless with classified materials.

Putin says that he does not care if Russians hacked the US election, and suggests that they might have been Jews or that they were paid by Americans.

Courtesy of NBC News:  

Russian President Vladimir Putin has told NBC News that he "couldn't care less" if Russian citizens tried to interfere in the 2016 American presidential election because, he claims, they were not connected to the Kremlin. 

In an exclusive and at-times combative interview with NBC's Megyn Kelly, Putin again denied the charge by U.S. intelligence services that he ordered meddling in the November 2016 vote that put Donald Trump in the White House. 

"Why have you decided the Russian authorities, myself included, gave anybody permission to do this?" asked Putin, who will probably be returned as president in the March 18 elections.

"So what if they're Russians?" Putin said of the people named in last month's indictment. "There are 146 million Russians. So what? ... I don't care. I couldn't care less. ... They do not represent the interests of the Russian state." 

Putin even suggested that Jews or other ethnic groups had been involved in the meddling. 

"Maybe they're not even Russians," he said. "Maybe they're Ukrainians, Tatars, Jews, just with Russian citizenship. Even that needs to be checked. Maybe they have dual citizenship. Or maybe a green card. Maybe it was the Americans who paid them for this work. How do you know? I don't know.

Putin also claimed that he had seen no evidence that the Russians actually did any of the hacking, which is odd because you would think he would be eager to read the updates they sent him on their progress.

I do not know why NBC allows Megyn Kelly, a former operative from Fox News, to even interview this guy when they know he is simply going to lie his ass off?

The only person that I want to hear interviewing Vladimir Putin is Robert Mueller.

Under oath if at all possible.

There is at least one positive outcome from all of this. At least now Kelly realizes that Trump is likely compromised by Putin.

Courtesy of The Hill:  

“I would not say that Putin likes Trump,” she said. “I did not glean that at all from him. I did glean that perhaps he has something on Donald Trump." 

“I think there’s a very good chance Putin knows some things about Donald Trump that Mr. Trump does not want repeated publicly,” she added.

Gee, no shit.

Man shoots and kills himself outside of White House. Don't get too excited, it wasn't him.

BREAKING: Secret Service personnel are responding to reports of a person who allegedly suffered a self-inflicted gun shot wound along the north fence line of @WhiteHouse.

— U.S. Secret Service (@SecretService) March 3, 2018

Courtesy of NBC News:  

The Secret Service said Saturday afternoon that it was responding to reports of a man who "allegedly suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound" along the White House's north lawn fence. 

The security agency said that medical personnel had been called to respond to the male victim, but he was declared dead at the scene. His body remained there as of 2:15 p.m, according to the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department. 

"The subject approached the vicinity of the North White House fence line and removed a concealed handgun and fired several rounds, none of which appear at this time to have been directed towards the White House," the Secret Service said in a statement. 

The agency said they had identified the shooter but were withholding his name until they could notify next of kin. The Metropolitan Police Department will lead an investigation into the shooting with the support of the Secret Service. 

The agency alerted the public to the incident following reports of a lock down at the White House. They added that there were no other reported injuries relating to the incident.

If you were like me you probably heard this story and for just one second you actually had hope.

But no it wasn't Donald Trump, it was just some poor bastard tired of living in Donald Trump's America.

I think we all know that Donald Trump's life will not end with a bullet, it will end when he reaches down to pick up a Chicken McNugget and the exertion causes his heart to explode.

And for those who may have actually worried about Trump's life, put your mind at ease. He was almost a thousand miles away in Mar-a-Lago avoiding the possibility of having to do his job, as usual.

To be honest I really do not want any harm to befall Donald Trump.

I would much rather have him hale and hearty when they drag him away in handcuffs.

I also think that we should mourn the fact that yet another life has been taken by the very constitutional right that so many conservatives want to convince us exists solely to protect us.

Robert Mueller now asking witnesses if Trump knew about Russian hacking before it was publicly known.

Courtesy of NBC News:

Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is asking witnesses pointed questions about whether Donald Trump was aware that Democratic emails had been stolen before that was publicly known, and whether he was involved in their strategic release, according to multiple people familiar with the probe. 

Mueller's investigators have asked witnesses whether Trump was aware of plans for WikiLeaks to publish the emails. They have also asked about the relationship between GOP operative Roger Stone and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, and why Trump took policy positions favorable to Russia. 

The line of questioning suggests the special counsel, who is tasked with examining whether there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election, is looking into possible coordination between WikiLeaks and Trump associates in disseminating the emails, which U.S. intelligence officials say were stolen by Russia.

Trump has repeatedly denied any collusion and has described the special counsel's investigation as "illegal" and a "witch hunt."

"Witch hunt" my ass.

In one line of questioning, investigators have focused on Trump's public comments in July 2016 asking Russia to find emails that were deleted by his then-opponent Hillary Clinton from a private server she maintained while secretary of state. The comments came at a news conference on July 27, 2016, just days after WikiLeaks began publishing the Democratic National Committee emails. "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing," Trump said. 

Witnesses have been asked whether Trump himself knew then that Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta, whose emails were released several months later, had already been targeted. They were also asked if Trump was advised to make the statement about Clinton's emails from someone outside his campaign, and if the witnesses had reason to believe Trump tried to coordinate the release of the DNC emails to do the most damage to Clinton, the people familiar with the matter said.

If it can be determined that Trump knew that the Russians had hacked the DNC and John Podesta's email account before he made these remarks, then there is your evidence of collusion right there.

Keep in mind that Papadopoulos told an Australian diplomat that the Russians had "dirt" on Hillary back in May 2016. 

 About a month after Trump made the remarks above  Guccifer 2.0 started posting those DCCC documents and by the beginning of October Wikileaks was disseminating the Podesta emails.

And Trump was pimping Wikileaks the entire time.

There is also this from CNN:

Investigators for special counsel Robert Mueller have recently been asking witnesses about Donald Trump's business activities in Russia prior to the 2016 presidential campaign as he considered a run for president, according to three people familiar with the matter. 

Questions to some witnesses during wide-ranging interviews included the timing of Trump's decision to seek the presidency, potentially compromising information the Russians may have had about him, and why efforts to brand a Trump Tower in Moscow fell through, two sources said. 

The lines of inquiry indicate Mueller's team is reaching beyond the campaign to explore how the Russians might have sought to influence Trump at a time when he was discussing deals in Moscow and contemplating a presidential run. 

I was not sure he could pull it off, but it appears that Mueller might actually be able to prove collusion after all. 

It appears that Steve Bannon already sang like a little birdie to Robert Mueller.

Courtesy of NBC News:  

Steve Bannon, who served as President Donald Trump’s chief strategist, was interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller over multiple days this week, NBC News has learned from two sources familiar with the proceedings. 

Bannon spent a total of some 20 hours in conversations with the team led by Mueller, who is investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia as well as other issues that have arisen around the probe.

20 hours huh? Multiple days huh?

Well somebody sure had a lot to say.

But I'll tell you who he does not have much to say to, the House Intelligence Committee.

.@RepAdamSchiff on Steve Bannon: "I think the next step for the Congress to take is to initiate contempt proceedings." pic.twitter.com/4wn7KMo5u1

— CSPAN (@cspan) February 15, 2018

I feel bad for Adam Schiff, but with Devin Nunes on his committee you really can't blame Bannon for refusing to cooperate.

I think Bannon knows that this is just a dog and pony show, and that the REAL investigation is being conducted by Mueller and his team.