Updated Day 550

mkiser · Siteleaf · commit 359ecdfb3a31 · 2018-07-23T13:14:15.000-07:00
diff --git a/_posts/2018-07-23-day-550.markdown b/_posts/2018-07-23-day-550.markdown
@@ -31,6 +31,10 @@ image: "/uploads/550.jpg"
 
 6/ **A federal judge granted immunity to five witnesses expected to testify in the Paul Manafort trial**. Judge T.S. Ellis granted Robert Mueller's request and ordered that the names of those five prospective witnesses be made public. Judge Ellis also ordered Mueller to provide Manafort's attorneys with the names of the 30 prospective witnesses for the trial, which is scheduled to begin this week. ([ABC News](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/judge-grants-immunity-mueller-witnesses-manafort-seeks-trial/story?id=56761562) / [CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/23/five-witnesses-given-immunity-in-paul-manafort-case.html) / [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/23/politics/manafort-witnesses-immunity/index.html))
 
+TK/ **Russia's foreign minister told Mike Pompeo that the charges against Maria Butina were "fabricated" and she should be released**. Butina was [charged](https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2018/07/16/day-543/#5-the-justice-department-charged-a-r) in federal court last week and accused of acting as a Russian agent "for the purpose of advancing the interests of the Russian federation." Butina told the Senate Intelligence Committee in April that she received financial support from Konstantin Nikolaev, a Russian billionaire "with deep ties to the Russian Presidential Administration." Nikolaev has never met Trump, but his son, who is studying in the U.S., volunteered for Trump's 2016 campaign and was spotted at the Trump International Hotel in Washington during Trump's inauguration. ([New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/21/world/europe/butina-russia-pompeo.html) / [Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/russian-billionaire-with-us-investments-backed-alleged-agent-maria-butina-according-to-a-person-familiar-with-her-senate-testimony/2018/07/22/dcaa7f48-8c58-11e8-a345-a1bf7847b375_story.html))
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+* **The Senate Intelligence Committee requested financial transactions on Maria Butina and Alexander Torshin** that banks deemed to be "suspicious" or "derogatory." ([BuzzFeed News](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emmaloop/senate-committee-was-probing-alleged-russian-agents))
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 7/ **In an all-caps tweet, Trump threatened Iran with "CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED."** The tweet was in response to a speech by President Hassan Rouhani, who warned the U.S. that any conflict with Iran would result in the "mother of all wars." Trump responded in kind, informing Rouhani to "NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN" and to "BE CAUTIOUS!" ([New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/22/world/middleeast/trump-threatens-iran-twitter.html))
 
 {% twitter https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1021234525626609666 %}
@@ -45,11 +49,21 @@ poll/ **50% of Americans disapprove of Trump's handling of his meeting with Puti
 
 ## Notables.
 
-1. **Brett Kavanaugh suggested several years ago that the unanimous SCOTUS decision that forced Richard Nixon to turn over the Watergate tapes may have been wrongly decided.** In a 1999 transcript, Kavanaugh asked, "Should *U.S. v. Nixon* be overruled on the ground that the case was a nonjusticiable intrabranch dispute? Maybe so." He also said, "*Nixon* took away the power of the president to control information in the executive branch by holding that the courts had power and jurisdiction to order the president to disclose information in response to a subpoena sought by a subordinate executive branch official." ([Associated Press](https://www.apnews.com/3ea406469d344dd8b2527aed92da6365/High-court-nominee-gets-started-answering-questions))
+1. **Trump suggested that there could be consequences for Michael Cohen for [recording](https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2018/07/20/day-547/#1-michael-cohen-recorded-a-conversat) a discussion they had** two months before the 2016 election about paying a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with him. Trump [tweeted](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1020642287725043712) that it's "inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client," calling it both "totally unheard of and perhaps illegal." New York state law allows one party to a conversation to tape it without the other knowing. Trump added: "The good news is that your favorite president did nothing wrong!"([New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/21/us/politics/trump-signals-consequences-for-michael-cohen-over-secret-recording.html))
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+2. **Trump's lawyers, however, waived his attorney-client privilege regarding the taped conversation he had with Michael Cohen** in September 2016  in which they discussed payments to an ex-Playboy model. The government now has access to it as part of New York's probe into Cohen. ([CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/21/politics/trump-cohen-recording-privilege/index.html))
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+3. **At least 12 audio tapes from Cohen were released to federal investigators and prosecutors**. The tapes were seized by the FBI in the raids on Cohen's home and office in April. The Justice Department is considering whether the payments to Karen McDougal violated federal campaign finance laws. ([The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/23/michael-cohen-trump-tapes-latest-news-audio-files-payments) / [The Hill](http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/398409-federal-prosecutors-received-12-audio-tapes-seized-from-cohen))
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+4. **Robert Mueller wants to subpoena Kristin Davis**, a former prostitution mogul who went to prison after being tied to former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer. Davis ran for New York governor in 2010 and her campaign manager was Andrew Miller, who was subpoenaed by Mueller a month ago. Roger Stone worked for her campaign pro bono. Miller is a former Stone aide. ([TMZ](https://www.tmz.com/2018/07/20/manhattan-madam-kristin-davis-subpoenaed-robert-mueller-trump/) / [New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/21/nyregion/manhattan-madam-kristin-davis-mueller.html))
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+5. **Brett Kavanaugh suggested several years ago that the unanimous SCOTUS decision that forced Richard Nixon to turn over the Watergate tapes may have been wrongly decided.** In a 1999 transcript, Kavanaugh asked, "Should *U.S. v. Nixon* be overruled on the ground that the case was a nonjusticiable intrabranch dispute? Maybe so." He also said, "*Nixon* took away the power of the president to control information in the executive branch by holding that the courts had power and jurisdiction to order the president to disclose information in response to a subpoena sought by a subordinate executive branch official." ([Associated Press](https://www.apnews.com/3ea406469d344dd8b2527aed92da6365/High-court-nominee-gets-started-answering-questions))
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+6. **GOP lawmaker Jason Spencer screamed the n-word multiple times, portrayed a racist caricature of a Chinese tourist in order to take up-skirt photos of a suspected terrorist's burka, and threatened to cut off the penises of suspected terrorists during the latest episode of Sacha Baron Cohen's "Who Is America?"** In a post-credits scene titled, "A Message to Terrorists from Rep. Jason Spencer," the Republican state representative from Georgia yelled into the camera: "All you damn sand-n\*ggers over in the Middle East, we are tired of you coming to America and we are tired of you trying to threaten us." He continued, wielding a knife in front of a green screen: "We will cut off your dick, you understand? We will take your dick and we will shove it in your mouth." He then takes a bite out of a large sausage and asks, "How are you going to rape children and women without a dick?" ([Daily Beast](https://www.thedailybeast.com/gop-lawmaker-jason-spencer-strips-screams-n-word-on-sacha-baron-cohens-who-is-america))
 
-2. **GOP lawmaker Jason Spencer screamed the n-word multiple times, portrayed a racist caricature of a Chinese tourist in order to take up-skirt photos of a suspected terrorist's burka, and threatened to cut off the penises of suspected terrorists during the latest episode of Sacha Baron Cohen's "Who Is America?"** In a post-credits scene titled, "A Message to Terrorists from Rep. Jason Spencer," the Republican state representative from Georgia yelled into the camera: "All you damn sand-n\*ggers over in the Middle East, we are tired of you coming to America and we are tired of you trying to threaten us." He continued, wielding a knife in front of a green screen: "We will cut off your dick, you understand? We will take your dick and we will shove it in your mouth." He then takes a bite out of a large sausage and asks, "How are you going to rape children and women without a dick?" ([Daily Beast](https://www.thedailybeast.com/gop-lawmaker-jason-spencer-strips-screams-n-word-on-sacha-baron-cohens-who-is-america))
+7. **John Kelly signed off on an effort to remove three officials who were loyal to Scott Pruitt** after the EPA secretary resigned earlier this month. The White House removed the trio, in what one administration official described as a "purge." ([Daily Beast](https://www.thedailybeast.com/john-kelly-signed-off-on-a-purge-of-scott-pruitt-loyalists-from-epa))
 
-3. **John Kelly signed off on an effort to remove three officials who were loyal to Scott Pruitt** after the EPA secretary resigned earlier this month. The White House removed the trio, in what one administration official described as a "purge." ([Daily Beast](https://www.thedailybeast.com/john-kelly-signed-off-on-a-purge-of-scott-pruitt-loyalists-from-epa))
+8. **Trump is considering revoking the security clearances of James Comey, former CIA Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and other Obama-era national security officials who have criticized him**. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump believed that the former officials "politicized" their positions by accusing him of inappropriate contact with Russia. ([Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-23/trump-weighs-revoking-security-clearances-for-comey-brennan) / [Politico](https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/23/white-house-trump-considering-revoking-clearances-from-former-cia-fbi-chiefs-735968))
 
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