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solarbirdLOTS today. I'm including all of Trump's treason activities in here as well, since they're part of - core to, really - the way fascists operate. And the way he operates himself, of course.
And there's lively news coming out tonight, including a Friday Night Massacre, where Barr dumped a US attorney and said he'd resigned (he says he hasn't), and Buzzfeed has less-redacted Muller report where we find out Trump sure did lie to the investigation, he sure did. Of course they knew; of course they were collaborating with the Russians, through Wikileaks.
And that's not even all! Buckle up kids, it's a ride.
----- 1 -----
John Bolton betrayed his country
Opinion by Elie Honig
Updated 10:32 PM ET, Wed June 17, 2020
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/17/opinions/boltons-staggering-profile-in-cowardice-honig/index.html
(CNN)John Bolton has offered the nation a staggering profile in cowardice. He has left no doubt about his own monumental betrayal of his country.
By his own belated admission, Bolton directly witnessed not one but multiple acts that could have been cited in the impeachment of President Donald Trump. But Bolton did nothing about it while he held a powerful post in the Trump administration. And he stayed quiet and took cover when Congress and the nation pleaded with him to speak out during the impeachment process. Yet now that he has entered book promo mode, Bolton suddenly has summoned the spine that he was sorely missing back when it would have made an actual difference.
Bolton had ample opportunity to speak up throughout the monthslong impeachment of Trump over the Ukraine scandal. House investigators first asked that he appear to give voluntary testimony; Bolton was a no-show. Bolton then retained counsel, who requested a subpoena and promised to go to the courts for adjudication.
Investigators decided not to issue a subpoena and spend months bogged down in court. Bolton later claimed he would testify in the Senate, if subpoenaed. But Senate Republicans — quite likely fearful of what Bolton might say — voted not to hear any witnesses at all.
Let's be clear: Throughout the legal and political machinations, Bolton remained entirely free to speak out publicly. But he decided to remain quiet — until now.
----- 2 -----
Trump calls for 'new justices' on Supreme Court after unfavorable rulings
By Brett Samuels
06/18/20
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/503413-trump-calls-for-new-justices-on-supreme-court-after-unfavorable
President Trump on Thursday escalated his criticism of the Supreme Court after a pair of rulings this week against his administration, calling for new justices to be appointed and pledging to release a new list of potential nominees ahead of November's presidential election.
"The recent Supreme Court decisions, not only on DACA, Sanctuary Cities, Census, and others, tell you only one thing, we need NEW JUSTICES of the Supreme Court," Trump tweeted just hours after the court ruled against his move to rescind deportation protections for young undocumented immigrants.
----- 3 -----
New Trump Appointee to Foreign Aid Agency Has Denounced Liberal Democracy and “Our Homo-Empire”
Merritt Corrigan, USAID’s new deputy White House liaison, has condemned the “tyrannical LGBT agenda” and celebrated Hungary’s right-wing prime minister as “the shining champion of Western civilization.”
by Yeganeh Torbati June 5, 6 a.m. EDT
https://www.propublica.org/article/new-trump-appointee-to-foreign-aid-agency-has-denounced-liberal-democracy-and-our-homo-empire#962572
A new Trump appointee to the United States’ foreign aid agency has a history of online posts denouncing liberal democracy and has said that the country is in the clutches of a “homo-empire” that pushes a “tyrannical LGBT agenda.”
In one post, Merritt Corrigan, who recently took up a position as deputy White House liaison at the U.S. Agency for International Development, wrote: “Liberal democracy is little more than a front for the war being waged against us by those who fundamentally despise not only our way of life, but life itself.”
Corrigan’s new position in the Trump administration, confirmed by two officials, has not been previously reported.
Corrigan previously worked for the Hungarian Embassy in the United States and tweeted that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is “the shining champion of Western civilization,” Politico reported last year. An embassy spokesman, Béla Gedeon, said Corrigan left her position there in mid-April.
Orban, a far-right politician, has cracked down on civil society, academic freedom and other liberties. USAID has recently partnered with Hungary to help Christians in Iraq, a pairing that some career USAID officials said they found unsettling.
Asked about Corrigan’s writing, acting USAID spokesperson Pooja Jhunjhunwala said the agency has a “zero-tolerance policy of any form of discrimination or harassment based on gender, race, sexual orientation, religion or any other possible distinguishing characteristic that can define any of us.”
“All employees are held to the highest of standards and are expected to treat one another with dignity and respect. Period,” she said. “This includes political appointees, civil servants, foreign service officers and contractors.”
Corrigan did not respond to emails asking about her past comments.
Politico reported last year that Corrigan wrote on her Twitter account that “our homo-empire couldn’t tolerate even one commercial enterprise not in full submission to the tyrannical LGBT agenda.” Corrigan’s Twitter account is now private.
In October, Corrigan wrote an op-ed in The Conservative Woman, a London publication, decrying “the false song of feminism” and calling for women to take up traditional roles of mother, wife and homemaker.
“A woman today is expected by society to come to marriage and motherhood in physical and spiritual decline, if ever,” she wrote. “This is the life women have been offered by those who would rather us toil away as isolated economic units for faceless corporations, far from the natural pleasures of the domestic, far from the guardianship of a loving husband, and far from the life-giving experience of motherhood.”
----- 4 -----
From the Northwest to the White House: The fascists are here
We've failed to warn against fascism in the past. Let's not make that mistake again.
by Knute Berger
June 9, 2020
https://crosscut.com/2020/06/northwest-white-house-fascists-are-here
At noon today I am giving a talk, sponsored by Seattle Holocaust Center for Humanity, on a series of stories I’ve done since 2015 about the roots of fascism in the Pacific Northwest.
I’ve focused on the 1930s and early 1940s in the run up to World War II. At that time, representatives of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich were stationed in Seattle and other American cities, spreading Nazi propaganda, organizing German Clubs, gathering intelligence, encouraging groups like the German-American Bund to promote the will of the Fatherland and socializing with the city’s civic elite. Hate in the region didn’t start then. But before the war, there were many sympathizers of what was euphemistically called the “New Germany.”
These Nazis weren’t alone in their sympathies. A former Hollywood script writer named William Dudley Pelley had a near-death vision in the late 1920s. He met Jesus and decided his destiny was to be the self-anointed “American Hitler” and founder of the equivalent to the paramilitary Nazi brownshirts in this country called the Silver Legion, better known generally as the Silver Shirts. He moved his movement’s headquarters temporarily to Seattle in 1936, while he ran for president on the fascist “Christian Party” ticket. The party had a full statewide slate on the Washington ballot, from governor on down. Its candidates lost bigtime, but at the party's peak the Silver Shirts nationally had 15,000 to 20,000 followers among the white middle class.
Here, Pelley's ardent fans built him a log cabin lodge in Redmond, where he could gather with his followers, relax and proselytize. He recruited a number of Washingtonians into his organization, including his new second-in-command, a Seattle café owner named Roy Zachary, who became his “field marshal” and was charged with spreading a message nationwide of white supremacism, hate, anti-Semitism and violence. Zachary infamously urged the murder of President Franklin D. Roosevelt; he claimed Roosevelt was secretly Jewish. Pelley later said that if he’d been elected in 1936, he would have implemented Hitler’s plan in America.
We beat the Nazis in the war, and Pelley went to prison for sedition, eventually giving up politics entirely. But he left a legacy still felt in this region and across the country. False anti-Semitic memes that he invented, including the idea that Benjamin Franklin wanted to expel Jewish people from America, still surface. Osama bin Laden even referred to that one in 2002.
----- 5 -----
Trump now undeniably a ‘fascist’ after George Floyd response, say longtime sceptics
Reluctant critics finally relent as president delights in calling in the troops
by Jennifer Szalai
17 June 2020
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/trump-fascist-critics-twitter-police-protest-crackdown-national-guard-a9568236.html
As police officers across the country deployed brutal tactics in response to protests over the killing of George Floyd, the former secretary of labour Robert Reich announced that his old vocabulary — crowded already with harsh words for Donald Trump — was making way for a new addition.
“I have held off using the f word for three and a half years, but there is no longer any honest alternative,” Mr Reich tweeted. “Trump is a fascist, and he is promoting fascism in America.”
Mr Reich wasn’t alone. Until last week, journalist Masha Gessen was also a sceptic. Mr Gessen had just published Surviving Autocracy, a book which lists “fascism” among the words that get thrown about in the American political conversation without sufficient precision. The day after the book’s publication date, Mr Gessen wrote a short essay for The New Yorker commenting on what it meant when the president — enamoured already of military parades and masked men in combat attire — told governors to crack down on protesters.
“Whether or not he is capable of grasping the concept,” Mr Gessen wrote, “Trump is performing fascism.”
It was a notable turn. The word fascism is so loaded that even some of the president’s most vociferous detractors had long been reluctant to use it.
----- 6 -----
Trump Says That If Campaign’s Effort To Block Voting By Mail Expansions Fail, His Reelection Is ‘At Risk’
By Kate Riga
June 19, 2020
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-vote-by-mail-reelection-risk
President Donald Trump was candid Thursday in his concern that if his campaign is unsuccessful in its multi-lawsuit attempt to block states’ expansion of voting by mail, his reelection will be “at risk.”
“My biggest risk is that we don’t win lawsuits,” Trump said during an interview with Politico. “We have many lawsuits going all over. And if we don’t win those lawsuits, I think — I think it puts the election at risk.”
Trump has become increasingly frank about his belief that the more people are able to vote, the better that is for Democrats — specifically, the better that is for Joe Biden.
During a Fox News interview in April, Trump didn’t even attempt to mask his disdain for House Democrats’ attempt to package election assistance with coronavirus relief legislation.
“The things they had in there were crazy,” he said then. “They had things, levels of voting that if you’d ever agreed to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.”
And his campaign has put its money where its mouth is.
----- 7 -----
Eλf Sternberg
twitter.com/elfsternberg
19 June 2020
https://twitter.com/elfsternberg/status/1274035046765060096
[THREAD]
Judge Lamberth at the Bolton book hearing: "Is the United States claiming that portions of the book are classified?"
DOJ laywer: "I'm unaware of that claim."
[NEXT]
Judge: "If the book has already been sent to reviewers and journalists, how does the DOJ propose preventing its publication?"
DOJ lawyer: "It's up to John Bolton to figure that out."
[NEXT]
Judge: "How often does an administration official intervene after the NSC process of prepublication review has cleared a book?"
DOJ lawyer: "I don't have any statistics on that."
[NEXT]
The DOJ lawyer is now arguing that not only did the book need National Security Council review to ensure no state secrets were published, but that also needed Donald Trump's personal permission.
Yeah, that ain't gonna fly.
[THREAD CONTINUES AT UPPER LINK]
[SEE ALSO:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/live-blog/doj-and-john-bolton-go-to-court
]
----- 8 -----
Far-right Proud Boys launch dating site to help members ‘repopulate the West’
The violence-prone group is struggling with love.
Jun 19, 2020
Zachary Petrizzo
https://www.dailydot.com/debug/proud-boys-dating-site/
[EDITOR'S NOTE: They aren't "violence-prone." They are an explicitly violent rightist street gang specifically formed to enact political change through violence. Those were the words of the founder. That's what it's for.]
Members of the far-right men’s organization the Proud Boys, who bill themselves as a “pro-West fraternal organization,” appear to be on the hunt for long-lasting love.
With the help of the internet they are seeking companionship for their lonely members.
The group, which was founded by Gavin McInnes in 2016, launched a dating questionnaire to connect the group’s violence-prone members with women seeking a relationship.
On the encrypted messaging app, Telegram, widely used by far-right personalities booted from Twitter, the Proud Boys have used it to solicit photos from women, while specifically encouraging admirers to send naked photos.
“We’ve been asked by many women to start a Proud Boys dating site. If you are one of these women and would like to meet Proud Boys in your area … send nudes, boring pics,” the newly published questionnaire on their website states.
It’s quite the change from the organizational by-law implemented in late 2018, that places restrictions on wanking.
----- 9 -----
Two Whistleblowers Come Forward And Will Testify Against William Barr
Tue, Jun 16th, 2020
by Jason Easley
https://www.politicususa.com/2020/06/16/barr-whistleblowers-testify.html
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) announced that two whistleblowers would be testifying against William Barr.
Nadler’s office announced in a statement provided to PoliticusUSA, “House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) issued two subpoenas for testimony from two Department of Justice whistleblowers. These individuals—John W. Elias and Aaron S.J. Zelinsky—are prepared to describe the unprecedented politicization of the Department under President Trump and Attorney General William Barr. Mr. Elias and Mr. Zelinsky will be joined by former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Donald Ayer in a hearing before the Committee on June 24, 2020.”
Chairman Nadler said:
The Attorney General—who cites his busy schedule as a basis for refusing to appear before the House Judiciary Committee but has made time for multiple television interviews—may have abdicated his responsibility to Congress, but the brave men and women of our civil service have not. The Committee welcomes the testimony of current and former Department officials who will speak to the lasting damage the President and the Attorney General have inflicted on the Department of Justice.
Two of the witnesses scheduled to testify, Aaron Zelinsky and John Elias, are dedicated public servants currently employed by the Department. Mr. Zelinsky can speak to the Department’s handling of the sentencing of Roger Stone and Mr. Elias can speak to improperly motivated activity by the Antitrust Division.
Barr has been acting as Trump’s personal lawyer since he became Attorney General. Barr has interfered in the Roger Stone case, dropped the prosecution of Mike Flynn even after Flynn confessed twice to lying to the FBI, and personally taken over overseeing, and shutting down, any federal investigations that involve Donald Trump, his family, or his businesses.
----- 10 -----
A 17-Year-Old Who Organized A BLM Protest Had A Burning Cross Placed In His Yard, Cops Said
The FBI and Virginia police are looking for those responsible. Under state law, they could face up to five years in prison.
Ellie Hall BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on June 16, 2020,
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ellievhall/cross-burning-fire-virginia-black-lives-matter-teen
Virginia police and federal authorities are investigating after a burning cross was placed in the yard of a teenager hours after he organized and marched in his small town's first Black Lives Matter protest.
In a statement, the Marion Police Department said that officers were called to investigate an "intense fire" outside a local home at approximately 12:43 a.m. on Sunday. After extinguishing the fire, police said, they observed wood "that appeared to be in the shape of a cross" leaning against a burnt barrel.
The house where the fire was set is the home of Travon Brown, 17, one of the organizers of a protest against racial injustice and police brutality that was held in Marion on Saturday. He lives with his mother, Briggette Thomas, and his 16-year old sister.
"The Town of Marion Police Department is absolutely committed to ensuring that people of color in our community are safe," Chief of Police John Clair said Monday. "Our department, along with Smyth County Sheriff's Office and federal authorities, will conduct and full and thorough investigation."
----- 11 -----
Oakland police remove effigy, flag found beside Lake Merritt
FBI, OPD launch new investigation a day after ropes removed from park
By George Kelly
Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: June 18, 2020 at 1:58 p.m. | UPDATED: June 19, 2020 at 5:25 a.m.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/06/18/oakland-police-remove-effigy-flag-found-beside-lake-merritt/
Oakland police shared images of an effigy found hanging from a tree Thursday, June 18, 2020 in the 2100 block of Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland, Calif. (Courtesy Oakland Police Department)
OAKLAND — A day after multiple ropes described as nooses were taken down from trees in a Lake Merritt park, police removed an effigy and American flag discovered on a lakeside tree Thursday.
At 8:20 a.m., police said someone called them to report a fake body hanging from a noose on a tree in the 2100 block of Lakeshore Avenue, and added they had taken it down.
When officers and a supervisor arrived at the scene, they found “material stuffed in the shape of a human body with a rope tied around the torso and neck, laying on the ground next to a tree with an American flag lying next to it,” police said.
Police notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and both agencies will work together on the Thursday incident, as well as Tuesday and Wednesday’s removal of ropes from Lakeside Park trees as hate crimes.
In a tweet Thursday afternoon, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf called the effigy “a deliberate and vile attempt to traumatize and divide Oaklanders.”
“We are in a raw and outraged moment as a city and a country right now,” Schaaf said in part. “I ask Oaklanders to be vigilant and build your own conscious of the trauma caused by symbols of racial violence.”
City Councilmember Nikki Fortunato Bas, whose district includes the effigy location, also weighed in, calling this week’s reports of nooses and effigies “unacceptable.”
“All of us must stand up against hate-based violence & shameful symbols of our country’s racist history,” Fortunato Bas said on social media. “Hate crimes are domestic terrorism meant to incite fear, divide our communities, target Black people.”
----- 12 -----
Bolton Book Confirms Most Serious Allegations in Trump Impeachment on Ukraine Quid Pro Quo
by Ryan Goodman
June 19, 2020
https://www.justsecurity.org/70937/bolton-book-confirms-most-serious-allegations-in-trump-impeachment-on-ukraine-quid-pro-quo/
John Bolton’s book may inform a segment of the American public that the House impeachment managers were not able to reach. The book, which has been obtained by Just Security, disparages the Democrats’ handling of the impeachment process, in prose that will likely further burnish Bolton’s credentials as a conservative stalwart. But when it turns to the substance of the matter, President Donald Trump’s former national security advisor is not just in line with Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Ca). Bolton’s book confirms the most essential and damning parts of the impeachment case against the president.
Bolton’s account may become even more salient as the country heads toward elections in November, both in the race for the White House and Congress. Details in the book puncture Trump’s narrative — which the president repeatedly hammers on the campaign trail — that the Ukraine allegations were a hoax by people out to get him. Bolton’s account also may play havoc with any continuing plans by Attorney General William Barr or Rudy Giuliani to try to connect corruption in Ukraine to falsely implicate Joe Biden.
Bolton’s account might also put some Senate Republicans in a politically awkward position. During the impeachment trial, several of them said there was insufficient evidence to support the House impeachment managers’ allegations while, at the same time, they voted to block any witnesses from appearing. They took those steps despite 75 percent of the American public saying witnesses should be allowed to testify, and John Bolton’s statement that he would testify if only the Chamber would send him a subpoena. He promised not to fight it in the courts.
----- 13 -----
Barr forces out powerful US attorney in New York who investigated Trump associates
By Kara Scannell, Evan Perez and Erica Orden, CNN
Updated 11:11 PM ET, Fri June 19, 2020
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/19/politics/southern-district-of-new-york-geoffrey-berman-jay-clayton/index.html
Washington (CNN) Geoffrey Berman, the powerful US attorney for the Southern District of New York who has investigated a number of powerful associates with connections to President Donald Trump, was forced out of his position Friday, two sources tell CNN.
In a late night press release announcing Berman's departure, the Justice Department said Trump intends to nominate Jay Clayton, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, who has never been a prosecutor.
A Justice Department official told CNN that Berman was offered other positions at Justice, including the head of the civil division, where assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt abruptly announced his departure this week. Berman declined.
A second source with knowledge of the matter said Berman was asked to resign and refused.
Berman's unexpected exit is likely to draw scrutiny inside the US attorney's office and among career prosecutors. He had been the US attorney for Manhattan since 2018, and under his leadership, his office prosecuted Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen, is investigating top Trump confidante Rudy Giuliani and indicted the former New York mayor's associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman.
----- 14 ----
erica orden
twitter.com/eorden
19 June 2020
https://twitter.com/eorden/status/1274178463881146370
[THREAD]
NEW: Geoff Berman statement:
“I learned in a press release from the Attorney General tonight that I was ‘stepping down’ as United States Attorney. I have not resigned, and have no intention of resigning, my position"
[IMAGE OF STATEMENT]
[TRANSCRIPTION BY EDITOR:
STATEMENT OF U.S. ATTORNEY GEOFFREY S. BERMAN ON
ANNOUNCEMENT BY ATTORNEY GENERAL BARR
"I learned in a press release from the Artorney General tonight that I was 'stepping down' as United States Attorney. I have not resigned, and have no intention of resigning, my position, to which I was appointed by the Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. I will step down when a presidentially appointed nominee is confirmed by the Senate. Until then, our investigations will move forward without delay or interruption. I cherish every day that I work with the men and women of this Office to pursue justice without fear or favor - and intend to ensure that this Office's important cases continue unimpeded."
]
[NEXT]
More from Geoff Berman:
"I will step down when a presidentially appointed nominee is confirmed by the Senate. Until then, our investigations will move forward without delay or interruption."
----- 15 -----
Roger Stone Told Trump In Advance WikiLeaks Would Release Documents Harmful To Clinton Campaign, Aides Claimed
Newly unredacted portions of the Mueller report show that Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, and Michael Cohen told investigators Stone had promised the campaign damaging revelations by WikiLeaks. The information was released following a lawsuit by BuzzFeed News.
Jason Leopold, Anthony Cormier, and Ken Bensinger
BuzzFeed News
Posted on June 19, 2020
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonleopold/roger-stone-warned-trump-wikileaks-clinton-dump
Donald Trump was told in advance that Wikileaks would be releasing documents embarrassing to the Clinton campaign and subsequently informed advisors that he expected more releases would be coming, according to newly unredacted portions of special counsel Robert Mueller's report into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.
In July 2016, political consultant Roger Stone told Trump as well as several campaign advisors that he had spoken with Julian Assange and that WikiLeaks would be publishing the documents in a matter of days. Stone told the then-candidate via speakerphone that he "did not know what the content of the materials was," according to the newly unveiled portions of the report, and Trump responded "oh good, alright" upon hearing the news. WikiLeaks published a trove of some 20,000 emails hacked from the Democratic National Committee on July 22 of that year.
Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen told federal investigators that he overheard the phone call between Stone and Trump. Agents were also told by former campaign officials Paul Manafort and Rick Gates that Stone had spoken several times in early June of something “big” coming from WikiLeaks. Assange first mentioned having emails related to Clinton on June 12.
The new revelations are the strongest indication to date that Trump and his closest advisors were aware of outside efforts to hurt Clinton’s electoral chances, and that Stone played a direct role in communicating that situation to the Trump campaign. Trump has publicly denied being aware of any information being relayed between WikiLeaks and his advisors.
...
The newly unredacted portions of the Mueller report also show that after the initial dump by WikiLeaks, Trump personally asked Manafort to keep in touch with Stone, who in turn told the then-campaign chairman to keep him “apprised of any developments with WikiLeaks.” Investigators were also told by Gates that Trump had multiple phone conversations with Stone during the campaign and that, following one call held en route to LaGuardia airport, “Trump told Gates that more releases of damaging information would be coming.”
In written testimony to Mueller’s team in November 2018, Trump denied being aware of any communications between Stone, Manafort, Gates, or Donald Trump Jr and WikiLeaks or Assange. Yet according to the newly public portions of the Special Counsel’s report, “Trump knew that Manafort and Gates had asked Stone to find out what other damaging information about Clinton WikiLeaks possessed, and that Stone's claimed connection to WikiLeaks was common knowledge within the Campaign."
...
Large portions of Mueller’s 448-report that relate to Stone have been hidden behind vast swaths of black ink since it was released more than a year ago. The veil of secrecy was lifted by the Justice Department Friday in response to a lawsuit filed by BuzzFeed News and the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) that challenged the legality of the redactions.
The Justice Department blacked out sections pertaining to Stone arguing they contained information that could interfere with its prosecution of the longtime political operative and informal Trump advisor.
Stone was ultimately convicted by a jury last November of seven felonies, including lying to investigators and witness tampering. But after he was sentenced in February, closing his case, the Justice Department did not move to release a version of the Mueller report with the Stone narrative restored. That prompted BuzzFeed News and EPIC to file a court motion seeking to compel the government to do so.
And there's lively news coming out tonight, including a Friday Night Massacre, where Barr dumped a US attorney and said he'd resigned (he says he hasn't), and Buzzfeed has less-redacted Muller report where we find out Trump sure did lie to the investigation, he sure did. Of course they knew; of course they were collaborating with the Russians, through Wikileaks.
And that's not even all! Buckle up kids, it's a ride.
- John Bolton betrayed his country
- Trump calls for 'new justices' on Supreme Court after unfavorable rulings
- New Trump Appointee to Foreign Aid Agency Has Denounced Liberal Democracy and “Our Homo-Empire”
- From the Northwest to the White House: The fascists are here
- Trump now undeniably a ‘fascist’ after George Floyd response, say longtime sceptics
- Trump Says That If Campaign’s Effort To Block Voting By Mail Expansions Fail, His Reelection Is ‘At Risk’
- THREAD: DOJ argument to block Bolton book
- Far-right Proud Boys launch dating site to help members ‘repopulate the West’
- Two Whistleblowers Come Forward And Will Testify Against William Barr
- A 17-Year-Old Who Organized A BLM Protest Had A Burning Cross Placed In His Yard, Cops Said
- Oakland police remove effigy, flag found beside Lake Merritt
- Bolton Book Confirms Most Serious Allegations in Trump Impeachment on Ukraine Quid Pro Quo
- Barr forces out powerful US attorney in New York who investigated Trump associates
- US atty. Geoff Berman: "I have not resigned, and have no intention of resigning, my position"
- Roger Stone Told Trump In Advance WikiLeaks Would Release Documents Harmful To Clinton Campaign, Aides Claimed
----- 1 -----
John Bolton betrayed his country
Opinion by Elie Honig
Updated 10:32 PM ET, Wed June 17, 2020
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/17/opinions/boltons-staggering-profile-in-cowardice-honig/index.html
(CNN)John Bolton has offered the nation a staggering profile in cowardice. He has left no doubt about his own monumental betrayal of his country.
By his own belated admission, Bolton directly witnessed not one but multiple acts that could have been cited in the impeachment of President Donald Trump. But Bolton did nothing about it while he held a powerful post in the Trump administration. And he stayed quiet and took cover when Congress and the nation pleaded with him to speak out during the impeachment process. Yet now that he has entered book promo mode, Bolton suddenly has summoned the spine that he was sorely missing back when it would have made an actual difference.
Bolton had ample opportunity to speak up throughout the monthslong impeachment of Trump over the Ukraine scandal. House investigators first asked that he appear to give voluntary testimony; Bolton was a no-show. Bolton then retained counsel, who requested a subpoena and promised to go to the courts for adjudication.
Investigators decided not to issue a subpoena and spend months bogged down in court. Bolton later claimed he would testify in the Senate, if subpoenaed. But Senate Republicans — quite likely fearful of what Bolton might say — voted not to hear any witnesses at all.
Let's be clear: Throughout the legal and political machinations, Bolton remained entirely free to speak out publicly. But he decided to remain quiet — until now.
----- 2 -----
Trump calls for 'new justices' on Supreme Court after unfavorable rulings
By Brett Samuels
06/18/20
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/503413-trump-calls-for-new-justices-on-supreme-court-after-unfavorable
President Trump on Thursday escalated his criticism of the Supreme Court after a pair of rulings this week against his administration, calling for new justices to be appointed and pledging to release a new list of potential nominees ahead of November's presidential election.
"The recent Supreme Court decisions, not only on DACA, Sanctuary Cities, Census, and others, tell you only one thing, we need NEW JUSTICES of the Supreme Court," Trump tweeted just hours after the court ruled against his move to rescind deportation protections for young undocumented immigrants.
----- 3 -----
New Trump Appointee to Foreign Aid Agency Has Denounced Liberal Democracy and “Our Homo-Empire”
Merritt Corrigan, USAID’s new deputy White House liaison, has condemned the “tyrannical LGBT agenda” and celebrated Hungary’s right-wing prime minister as “the shining champion of Western civilization.”
by Yeganeh Torbati June 5, 6 a.m. EDT
https://www.propublica.org/article/new-trump-appointee-to-foreign-aid-agency-has-denounced-liberal-democracy-and-our-homo-empire#962572
A new Trump appointee to the United States’ foreign aid agency has a history of online posts denouncing liberal democracy and has said that the country is in the clutches of a “homo-empire” that pushes a “tyrannical LGBT agenda.”
In one post, Merritt Corrigan, who recently took up a position as deputy White House liaison at the U.S. Agency for International Development, wrote: “Liberal democracy is little more than a front for the war being waged against us by those who fundamentally despise not only our way of life, but life itself.”
Corrigan’s new position in the Trump administration, confirmed by two officials, has not been previously reported.
Corrigan previously worked for the Hungarian Embassy in the United States and tweeted that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is “the shining champion of Western civilization,” Politico reported last year. An embassy spokesman, Béla Gedeon, said Corrigan left her position there in mid-April.
Orban, a far-right politician, has cracked down on civil society, academic freedom and other liberties. USAID has recently partnered with Hungary to help Christians in Iraq, a pairing that some career USAID officials said they found unsettling.
Asked about Corrigan’s writing, acting USAID spokesperson Pooja Jhunjhunwala said the agency has a “zero-tolerance policy of any form of discrimination or harassment based on gender, race, sexual orientation, religion or any other possible distinguishing characteristic that can define any of us.”
“All employees are held to the highest of standards and are expected to treat one another with dignity and respect. Period,” she said. “This includes political appointees, civil servants, foreign service officers and contractors.”
Corrigan did not respond to emails asking about her past comments.
Politico reported last year that Corrigan wrote on her Twitter account that “our homo-empire couldn’t tolerate even one commercial enterprise not in full submission to the tyrannical LGBT agenda.” Corrigan’s Twitter account is now private.
In October, Corrigan wrote an op-ed in The Conservative Woman, a London publication, decrying “the false song of feminism” and calling for women to take up traditional roles of mother, wife and homemaker.
“A woman today is expected by society to come to marriage and motherhood in physical and spiritual decline, if ever,” she wrote. “This is the life women have been offered by those who would rather us toil away as isolated economic units for faceless corporations, far from the natural pleasures of the domestic, far from the guardianship of a loving husband, and far from the life-giving experience of motherhood.”
----- 4 -----
From the Northwest to the White House: The fascists are here
We've failed to warn against fascism in the past. Let's not make that mistake again.
by Knute Berger
June 9, 2020
https://crosscut.com/2020/06/northwest-white-house-fascists-are-here
At noon today I am giving a talk, sponsored by Seattle Holocaust Center for Humanity, on a series of stories I’ve done since 2015 about the roots of fascism in the Pacific Northwest.
I’ve focused on the 1930s and early 1940s in the run up to World War II. At that time, representatives of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich were stationed in Seattle and other American cities, spreading Nazi propaganda, organizing German Clubs, gathering intelligence, encouraging groups like the German-American Bund to promote the will of the Fatherland and socializing with the city’s civic elite. Hate in the region didn’t start then. But before the war, there were many sympathizers of what was euphemistically called the “New Germany.”
These Nazis weren’t alone in their sympathies. A former Hollywood script writer named William Dudley Pelley had a near-death vision in the late 1920s. He met Jesus and decided his destiny was to be the self-anointed “American Hitler” and founder of the equivalent to the paramilitary Nazi brownshirts in this country called the Silver Legion, better known generally as the Silver Shirts. He moved his movement’s headquarters temporarily to Seattle in 1936, while he ran for president on the fascist “Christian Party” ticket. The party had a full statewide slate on the Washington ballot, from governor on down. Its candidates lost bigtime, but at the party's peak the Silver Shirts nationally had 15,000 to 20,000 followers among the white middle class.
Here, Pelley's ardent fans built him a log cabin lodge in Redmond, where he could gather with his followers, relax and proselytize. He recruited a number of Washingtonians into his organization, including his new second-in-command, a Seattle café owner named Roy Zachary, who became his “field marshal” and was charged with spreading a message nationwide of white supremacism, hate, anti-Semitism and violence. Zachary infamously urged the murder of President Franklin D. Roosevelt; he claimed Roosevelt was secretly Jewish. Pelley later said that if he’d been elected in 1936, he would have implemented Hitler’s plan in America.
We beat the Nazis in the war, and Pelley went to prison for sedition, eventually giving up politics entirely. But he left a legacy still felt in this region and across the country. False anti-Semitic memes that he invented, including the idea that Benjamin Franklin wanted to expel Jewish people from America, still surface. Osama bin Laden even referred to that one in 2002.
----- 5 -----
Trump now undeniably a ‘fascist’ after George Floyd response, say longtime sceptics
Reluctant critics finally relent as president delights in calling in the troops
by Jennifer Szalai
17 June 2020
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/trump-fascist-critics-twitter-police-protest-crackdown-national-guard-a9568236.html
As police officers across the country deployed brutal tactics in response to protests over the killing of George Floyd, the former secretary of labour Robert Reich announced that his old vocabulary — crowded already with harsh words for Donald Trump — was making way for a new addition.
“I have held off using the f word for three and a half years, but there is no longer any honest alternative,” Mr Reich tweeted. “Trump is a fascist, and he is promoting fascism in America.”
Mr Reich wasn’t alone. Until last week, journalist Masha Gessen was also a sceptic. Mr Gessen had just published Surviving Autocracy, a book which lists “fascism” among the words that get thrown about in the American political conversation without sufficient precision. The day after the book’s publication date, Mr Gessen wrote a short essay for The New Yorker commenting on what it meant when the president — enamoured already of military parades and masked men in combat attire — told governors to crack down on protesters.
“Whether or not he is capable of grasping the concept,” Mr Gessen wrote, “Trump is performing fascism.”
It was a notable turn. The word fascism is so loaded that even some of the president’s most vociferous detractors had long been reluctant to use it.
----- 6 -----
Trump Says That If Campaign’s Effort To Block Voting By Mail Expansions Fail, His Reelection Is ‘At Risk’
By Kate Riga
June 19, 2020
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-vote-by-mail-reelection-risk
President Donald Trump was candid Thursday in his concern that if his campaign is unsuccessful in its multi-lawsuit attempt to block states’ expansion of voting by mail, his reelection will be “at risk.”
“My biggest risk is that we don’t win lawsuits,” Trump said during an interview with Politico. “We have many lawsuits going all over. And if we don’t win those lawsuits, I think — I think it puts the election at risk.”
Trump has become increasingly frank about his belief that the more people are able to vote, the better that is for Democrats — specifically, the better that is for Joe Biden.
During a Fox News interview in April, Trump didn’t even attempt to mask his disdain for House Democrats’ attempt to package election assistance with coronavirus relief legislation.
“The things they had in there were crazy,” he said then. “They had things, levels of voting that if you’d ever agreed to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.”
And his campaign has put its money where its mouth is.
----- 7 -----
Eλf Sternberg
twitter.com/elfsternberg
19 June 2020
https://twitter.com/elfsternberg/status/1274035046765060096
[THREAD]
Judge Lamberth at the Bolton book hearing: "Is the United States claiming that portions of the book are classified?"
DOJ laywer: "I'm unaware of that claim."
[NEXT]
Judge: "If the book has already been sent to reviewers and journalists, how does the DOJ propose preventing its publication?"
DOJ lawyer: "It's up to John Bolton to figure that out."
[NEXT]
Judge: "How often does an administration official intervene after the NSC process of prepublication review has cleared a book?"
DOJ lawyer: "I don't have any statistics on that."
[NEXT]
The DOJ lawyer is now arguing that not only did the book need National Security Council review to ensure no state secrets were published, but that also needed Donald Trump's personal permission.
Yeah, that ain't gonna fly.
[THREAD CONTINUES AT UPPER LINK]
[SEE ALSO:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/live-blog/doj-and-john-bolton-go-to-court
]
----- 8 -----
Far-right Proud Boys launch dating site to help members ‘repopulate the West’
The violence-prone group is struggling with love.
Jun 19, 2020
Zachary Petrizzo
https://www.dailydot.com/debug/proud-boys-dating-site/
[EDITOR'S NOTE: They aren't "violence-prone." They are an explicitly violent rightist street gang specifically formed to enact political change through violence. Those were the words of the founder. That's what it's for.]
Members of the far-right men’s organization the Proud Boys, who bill themselves as a “pro-West fraternal organization,” appear to be on the hunt for long-lasting love.
With the help of the internet they are seeking companionship for their lonely members.
The group, which was founded by Gavin McInnes in 2016, launched a dating questionnaire to connect the group’s violence-prone members with women seeking a relationship.
On the encrypted messaging app, Telegram, widely used by far-right personalities booted from Twitter, the Proud Boys have used it to solicit photos from women, while specifically encouraging admirers to send naked photos.
“We’ve been asked by many women to start a Proud Boys dating site. If you are one of these women and would like to meet Proud Boys in your area … send nudes, boring pics,” the newly published questionnaire on their website states.
It’s quite the change from the organizational by-law implemented in late 2018, that places restrictions on wanking.
----- 9 -----
Two Whistleblowers Come Forward And Will Testify Against William Barr
Tue, Jun 16th, 2020
by Jason Easley
https://www.politicususa.com/2020/06/16/barr-whistleblowers-testify.html
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) announced that two whistleblowers would be testifying against William Barr.
Nadler’s office announced in a statement provided to PoliticusUSA, “House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) issued two subpoenas for testimony from two Department of Justice whistleblowers. These individuals—John W. Elias and Aaron S.J. Zelinsky—are prepared to describe the unprecedented politicization of the Department under President Trump and Attorney General William Barr. Mr. Elias and Mr. Zelinsky will be joined by former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Donald Ayer in a hearing before the Committee on June 24, 2020.”
Chairman Nadler said:
The Attorney General—who cites his busy schedule as a basis for refusing to appear before the House Judiciary Committee but has made time for multiple television interviews—may have abdicated his responsibility to Congress, but the brave men and women of our civil service have not. The Committee welcomes the testimony of current and former Department officials who will speak to the lasting damage the President and the Attorney General have inflicted on the Department of Justice.
Two of the witnesses scheduled to testify, Aaron Zelinsky and John Elias, are dedicated public servants currently employed by the Department. Mr. Zelinsky can speak to the Department’s handling of the sentencing of Roger Stone and Mr. Elias can speak to improperly motivated activity by the Antitrust Division.
Barr has been acting as Trump’s personal lawyer since he became Attorney General. Barr has interfered in the Roger Stone case, dropped the prosecution of Mike Flynn even after Flynn confessed twice to lying to the FBI, and personally taken over overseeing, and shutting down, any federal investigations that involve Donald Trump, his family, or his businesses.
----- 10 -----
A 17-Year-Old Who Organized A BLM Protest Had A Burning Cross Placed In His Yard, Cops Said
The FBI and Virginia police are looking for those responsible. Under state law, they could face up to five years in prison.
Ellie Hall BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on June 16, 2020,
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ellievhall/cross-burning-fire-virginia-black-lives-matter-teen
Virginia police and federal authorities are investigating after a burning cross was placed in the yard of a teenager hours after he organized and marched in his small town's first Black Lives Matter protest.
In a statement, the Marion Police Department said that officers were called to investigate an "intense fire" outside a local home at approximately 12:43 a.m. on Sunday. After extinguishing the fire, police said, they observed wood "that appeared to be in the shape of a cross" leaning against a burnt barrel.
The house where the fire was set is the home of Travon Brown, 17, one of the organizers of a protest against racial injustice and police brutality that was held in Marion on Saturday. He lives with his mother, Briggette Thomas, and his 16-year old sister.
"The Town of Marion Police Department is absolutely committed to ensuring that people of color in our community are safe," Chief of Police John Clair said Monday. "Our department, along with Smyth County Sheriff's Office and federal authorities, will conduct and full and thorough investigation."
----- 11 -----
Oakland police remove effigy, flag found beside Lake Merritt
FBI, OPD launch new investigation a day after ropes removed from park
By George Kelly
Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: June 18, 2020 at 1:58 p.m. | UPDATED: June 19, 2020 at 5:25 a.m.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/06/18/oakland-police-remove-effigy-flag-found-beside-lake-merritt/
Oakland police shared images of an effigy found hanging from a tree Thursday, June 18, 2020 in the 2100 block of Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland, Calif. (Courtesy Oakland Police Department)
OAKLAND — A day after multiple ropes described as nooses were taken down from trees in a Lake Merritt park, police removed an effigy and American flag discovered on a lakeside tree Thursday.
At 8:20 a.m., police said someone called them to report a fake body hanging from a noose on a tree in the 2100 block of Lakeshore Avenue, and added they had taken it down.
When officers and a supervisor arrived at the scene, they found “material stuffed in the shape of a human body with a rope tied around the torso and neck, laying on the ground next to a tree with an American flag lying next to it,” police said.
Police notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and both agencies will work together on the Thursday incident, as well as Tuesday and Wednesday’s removal of ropes from Lakeside Park trees as hate crimes.
In a tweet Thursday afternoon, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf called the effigy “a deliberate and vile attempt to traumatize and divide Oaklanders.”
“We are in a raw and outraged moment as a city and a country right now,” Schaaf said in part. “I ask Oaklanders to be vigilant and build your own conscious of the trauma caused by symbols of racial violence.”
City Councilmember Nikki Fortunato Bas, whose district includes the effigy location, also weighed in, calling this week’s reports of nooses and effigies “unacceptable.”
“All of us must stand up against hate-based violence & shameful symbols of our country’s racist history,” Fortunato Bas said on social media. “Hate crimes are domestic terrorism meant to incite fear, divide our communities, target Black people.”
----- 12 -----
Bolton Book Confirms Most Serious Allegations in Trump Impeachment on Ukraine Quid Pro Quo
by Ryan Goodman
June 19, 2020
https://www.justsecurity.org/70937/bolton-book-confirms-most-serious-allegations-in-trump-impeachment-on-ukraine-quid-pro-quo/
John Bolton’s book may inform a segment of the American public that the House impeachment managers were not able to reach. The book, which has been obtained by Just Security, disparages the Democrats’ handling of the impeachment process, in prose that will likely further burnish Bolton’s credentials as a conservative stalwart. But when it turns to the substance of the matter, President Donald Trump’s former national security advisor is not just in line with Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Ca). Bolton’s book confirms the most essential and damning parts of the impeachment case against the president.
Bolton’s account may become even more salient as the country heads toward elections in November, both in the race for the White House and Congress. Details in the book puncture Trump’s narrative — which the president repeatedly hammers on the campaign trail — that the Ukraine allegations were a hoax by people out to get him. Bolton’s account also may play havoc with any continuing plans by Attorney General William Barr or Rudy Giuliani to try to connect corruption in Ukraine to falsely implicate Joe Biden.
Bolton’s account might also put some Senate Republicans in a politically awkward position. During the impeachment trial, several of them said there was insufficient evidence to support the House impeachment managers’ allegations while, at the same time, they voted to block any witnesses from appearing. They took those steps despite 75 percent of the American public saying witnesses should be allowed to testify, and John Bolton’s statement that he would testify if only the Chamber would send him a subpoena. He promised not to fight it in the courts.
----- 13 -----
Barr forces out powerful US attorney in New York who investigated Trump associates
By Kara Scannell, Evan Perez and Erica Orden, CNN
Updated 11:11 PM ET, Fri June 19, 2020
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/19/politics/southern-district-of-new-york-geoffrey-berman-jay-clayton/index.html
Washington (CNN) Geoffrey Berman, the powerful US attorney for the Southern District of New York who has investigated a number of powerful associates with connections to President Donald Trump, was forced out of his position Friday, two sources tell CNN.
In a late night press release announcing Berman's departure, the Justice Department said Trump intends to nominate Jay Clayton, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, who has never been a prosecutor.
A Justice Department official told CNN that Berman was offered other positions at Justice, including the head of the civil division, where assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt abruptly announced his departure this week. Berman declined.
A second source with knowledge of the matter said Berman was asked to resign and refused.
Berman's unexpected exit is likely to draw scrutiny inside the US attorney's office and among career prosecutors. He had been the US attorney for Manhattan since 2018, and under his leadership, his office prosecuted Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen, is investigating top Trump confidante Rudy Giuliani and indicted the former New York mayor's associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman.
----- 14 ----
erica orden
twitter.com/eorden
19 June 2020
https://twitter.com/eorden/status/1274178463881146370
[THREAD]
NEW: Geoff Berman statement:
“I learned in a press release from the Attorney General tonight that I was ‘stepping down’ as United States Attorney. I have not resigned, and have no intention of resigning, my position"
[IMAGE OF STATEMENT]
[TRANSCRIPTION BY EDITOR:
STATEMENT OF U.S. ATTORNEY GEOFFREY S. BERMAN ON
ANNOUNCEMENT BY ATTORNEY GENERAL BARR
"I learned in a press release from the Artorney General tonight that I was 'stepping down' as United States Attorney. I have not resigned, and have no intention of resigning, my position, to which I was appointed by the Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. I will step down when a presidentially appointed nominee is confirmed by the Senate. Until then, our investigations will move forward without delay or interruption. I cherish every day that I work with the men and women of this Office to pursue justice without fear or favor - and intend to ensure that this Office's important cases continue unimpeded."
]
[NEXT]
More from Geoff Berman:
"I will step down when a presidentially appointed nominee is confirmed by the Senate. Until then, our investigations will move forward without delay or interruption."
----- 15 -----
Roger Stone Told Trump In Advance WikiLeaks Would Release Documents Harmful To Clinton Campaign, Aides Claimed
Newly unredacted portions of the Mueller report show that Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, and Michael Cohen told investigators Stone had promised the campaign damaging revelations by WikiLeaks. The information was released following a lawsuit by BuzzFeed News.
Jason Leopold, Anthony Cormier, and Ken Bensinger
BuzzFeed News
Posted on June 19, 2020
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonleopold/roger-stone-warned-trump-wikileaks-clinton-dump
Donald Trump was told in advance that Wikileaks would be releasing documents embarrassing to the Clinton campaign and subsequently informed advisors that he expected more releases would be coming, according to newly unredacted portions of special counsel Robert Mueller's report into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.
In July 2016, political consultant Roger Stone told Trump as well as several campaign advisors that he had spoken with Julian Assange and that WikiLeaks would be publishing the documents in a matter of days. Stone told the then-candidate via speakerphone that he "did not know what the content of the materials was," according to the newly unveiled portions of the report, and Trump responded "oh good, alright" upon hearing the news. WikiLeaks published a trove of some 20,000 emails hacked from the Democratic National Committee on July 22 of that year.
Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen told federal investigators that he overheard the phone call between Stone and Trump. Agents were also told by former campaign officials Paul Manafort and Rick Gates that Stone had spoken several times in early June of something “big” coming from WikiLeaks. Assange first mentioned having emails related to Clinton on June 12.
The new revelations are the strongest indication to date that Trump and his closest advisors were aware of outside efforts to hurt Clinton’s electoral chances, and that Stone played a direct role in communicating that situation to the Trump campaign. Trump has publicly denied being aware of any information being relayed between WikiLeaks and his advisors.
...
The newly unredacted portions of the Mueller report also show that after the initial dump by WikiLeaks, Trump personally asked Manafort to keep in touch with Stone, who in turn told the then-campaign chairman to keep him “apprised of any developments with WikiLeaks.” Investigators were also told by Gates that Trump had multiple phone conversations with Stone during the campaign and that, following one call held en route to LaGuardia airport, “Trump told Gates that more releases of damaging information would be coming.”
In written testimony to Mueller’s team in November 2018, Trump denied being aware of any communications between Stone, Manafort, Gates, or Donald Trump Jr and WikiLeaks or Assange. Yet according to the newly public portions of the Special Counsel’s report, “Trump knew that Manafort and Gates had asked Stone to find out what other damaging information about Clinton WikiLeaks possessed, and that Stone's claimed connection to WikiLeaks was common knowledge within the Campaign."
...
Large portions of Mueller’s 448-report that relate to Stone have been hidden behind vast swaths of black ink since it was released more than a year ago. The veil of secrecy was lifted by the Justice Department Friday in response to a lawsuit filed by BuzzFeed News and the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) that challenged the legality of the redactions.
The Justice Department blacked out sections pertaining to Stone arguing they contained information that could interfere with its prosecution of the longtime political operative and informal Trump advisor.
Stone was ultimately convicted by a jury last November of seven felonies, including lying to investigators and witness tampering. But after he was sentenced in February, closing his case, the Justice Department did not move to release a version of the Mueller report with the Stone narrative restored. That prompted BuzzFeed News and EPIC to file a court motion seeking to compel the government to do so.
