September 28, 2018: Jamal Khashoggi Visits Saudi Consulate in Istanbul

 

9/28/18: Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist, who writes for the Washington Post and a permanent resident in the United States, walks into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. He is there to pick up documents needed so he can marry his fiancée. 

Saudi officials tell him to return on October 2. The paperwork he requires will be completed and ready at that time. 

(So will be a team of assassin, armed with a bone saw. See: 10/15/18.)

Mr. Khashoggi - when government silence the press, 

freedom dies.

October 15, 2018: "Detective Donald" Hard at Work on His Next Case

 

10/15/18: Detective Donald is hard at work. This is the same Detective Donald who once grilled Vladimir Putin. “Did you interfere in the U.S. election?” he demanded. I think he shined a bright light in Putin’s face. 

“No, Detective Don! I did not,” Vladimir said. 

“Okay, I believe you.” 

____________________ 

A journalist walks into a Saudi consulate and never walks out.

____________________ 

 

Later, Kim Jong-un promised to get rid of all his nuclear weapons. Don was on it like a cat on a three-legged mouse. “North Korea is going to hand over all its nuclear weapons to me,” he announced. 

North Korea didn’t even had over one. 

This was the great Detective Don doing what he does best. Who, for instance, can forget his big case from 2011, when he promised to get the goods on President Obama? He would show the people their president was not a real American! 

After five years, he “cracked the case.” “Okay, he was,” Don admitted. You could even read that story on Fox “Never Fake” News.

 

* 

NOW DETECTIVE DON is on the case again. Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi-born journalist, permanent resident of the United States, and reporter for the Washington Post, walks into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. You can watch him enter on surveillance cameras. No one sees him leave. 

The Turkish government claims it has evidence Khashoggi was murdered and dismembered, and his body parts removed from the consulate in diplomatic pouches. Detective Don calls King Salman of Saudi Arabia. He grills the poor royal, just like he grilled Vlad in Helsinki this summer. This is the most feared grilling any dictator or potentate can face. 

“Did you do it?” Don demands. 

“No. Never!!!” King Salman swears. 

Detective Don tells reporters the king “vehemently” denies having Khashoggi, a frequent critic of the royal family, murdered. Don posits the theory that the journalist might have been killed by “rogue actors.”

 

Naturally, Detective Don has several theories to work through. It might have been Hillary. It might have been Obama. It might have been that “400-pound guy sitting on his couch,” who might have hacked the 2016 election. That guy might have hoisted himself off his couch, jumped on a plane to Turkey, and slipped past security cameras. He entered the Saudi consulate. He killed the journalist. No one saw him do it. No one heard the victim scream. He grabbed the body and ran down the street, although no security footage shows a 400-pound guy lugging a corpse out of the building. 

Anyway, enough about that! Don’t forget, the Saudi’s buy U.S. weapons! Detective Don has already made it clear. He doesn’t care who they murder, and he doesn’t like journalists at all.

 

*

Another rally - this time in Montana.

DID WE MENTION, Trump once said Obama should not be campaigning while people were recovering from Super Storm Sandy in 2012. 

We did (See: 10/11/18, 10/12/18 and 10/13/18, too.) 

Trump is scheduled to campaign Thursday in Missoula, Montana, on Friday in Mesa, Arizona and on Saturday in Elko, Nevada.  

That makes six days of hypocrisy in a little more than a week. Even by Trumpian standards, that is a lot.

October 16, 2018: "Detective Don" Is on the Case of the Murdered Journalist

 

10/16/18: Detective Donald is leaving no pebble unturned in his investigation of the disappearance of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. First, he sends Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Riyadh, to meet with King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – the latter suspected by most of the world to have ordered the killing. Pompeo spends most of his time on camera seated beside the prince, grinning like some rube who just met a Victoria’s Secret model. 

____________________ 

In Saudi Arabia, all newspapers are “pro-government.” It’s as if all American media outlets were Fox News.

____________________ 

 

Well, Detective Don can’t be fooled. He’s famous for cracking the Putin case and proving NO COLLUSION! 

He calls the Crown Prince on the phone. The Crown Prince says he didn’t have anything to do with the alleged killing. Detective Don, who has the resources of the entire American intelligence-gathering community at his beck and call, seems satisfied. In other words, it’s time to tweet! 

 

Unfortunately, Detective Don can’t get a moment’s rest. Reporters at assorted “Fake News” outlets go digging for evidence and uncover details that the government of Saudi Arabia would like to keep buried. 

Sorry, poor word choice. 

Don decides he must comment publicly. It’s sad that people are blaming the Saudis, just because a journalist walked into their consulate two weeks ago and has not been seen since. “Here we go again with, you know, you’re guilty until proven innocent [emphasis added],” Detective Don grouses. “I don’t like. We just went through that with Justice Kavanaugh and he was innocent all the way as far as I’m concerned. So we have to find out what happened.” (See: 9/30-10/2/18.)

 

Okay, what do we know? On one side, King Salman and the Crown Prince deny any involvement in whatever happened. And you can’t fool Don. He believes them. “Innocent until proven guilty” has always been his mantra – which is why he enjoys it when crowds at rallies shout, “Lock him/her up!” in reference to rival politicians who have never been tried or sentenced. 

We know Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate on September 28 to get documents necessary to marry his fiancée. Officials told him to return October 2 to pick up paperwork. Khashoggi did. That’s the last time he was seen. The Saudis denied any knowledge of what might have happened. They insisted he left the consulate of his own free will, soon after. Maybe he tripped over a rosebush after leaving. 

The Turkish government wasn’t buying. They announced they had proof Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate and his body sliced up like flank steak. 

The Turks produced video of two Saudi planes landing in Istanbul on the day Khashoggi disappeared. Fifteen Saudis debark. They include “Saudi special forces officers, intelligence officials, national guards and a forensics expert.” They head for the consulate. Who knows? Maybe they are going to try to catch some “rogue actors” who might want to harm the journalist. (See: 10/15/18.) 

The Turks provide evidence to show that the same 15 Saudis depart later that day, but fly in two directions, one plane landing in Dubai and then flying on to Riyadh. The other goes by way of Cairo, then to Riyadh. 

Remember: We don’t want to think these people are “guilty until proven innocent!” Still, there are reports that Khashoggi managed to record his interrogation and murder on an Apple watch he owned. 

On October 9, The New York Times runs a story, citing an unnamed Turkish official. Khashoggi was killed and cut up within two hours of arrival at the consulate. “It’s like Pulp Fiction, he says.” The Times notes that Saudi officials, including the Crown Prince, insist the reporter left the building shortly after arrival. He was just happy to have those marriage documents. 

Oh, boy! Next, the honeymoon!

 

On October 10, Sabah, a Turkish paper, posts airport and customs videos and photos of all fifteen Saudis entering the country. One is a forensic doctor who specializes in autopsies. Among other items in his baggage he’s carrying a bone saw. 

Caught with their thawbs half down, the Saudis do some serious alibiing. First, they claim the consulate cameras, which show Khashoggi entering, are a “live feed” and don’t record. Robert W. Jordan, a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia under President George W. Bush, takes a giant step down the “guilty until proven innocent” road. “Their explanation that their closed-circuit TV is only a live feed and not recording makes no sense at all and would be absurd in terms of security tradecraft.” It is “95 percent certain” that the Saudis bumped off the reporter, he says. 

On October 16, with Detective Don already swallowing Saudi excuses, and Pompeo having enjoyed a grinfest with the Crown Prince, the Washington Post starts to pin down the roles of the fifteen Saudi travelers and their ties to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Khalid Aedh Alotaibi is a member of the Saudi Royal Guard. He often flies to the United States when the Crown Prince or other members of the royal family come for a visit. Seven others appear to have identified themselves on social media as Saudi security agents. Several appear to be members of the Royal Guard or employees of the Royal Palace. Naif Hassan S. Alarifi and Saif Saad Q. Alqahtani are reportedly “even closer to the royal family, specifically as employees of the ‘Crown Prince office.’”

King Salman, left.

 

For some odd reason, and despite repeated requests from the Post, the Saudi Embassy in Washington declines to comment. The fifteen men have been described in pro-government Saudi newspapers as “tourists.” 

In Saudi Arabia, all newspapers are “pro-government.” It’s as if all American media outlets were Fox News. 

Journalists keep digging. Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, another member of the alleged hit squad, shows up in photos on numerous occasions, getting off planes with the Crown Prince, walking behind the Crown Prince, hanging around as the Crown Prince talks to a lady in Houston or shakes hands in Boston. 

Finally, the Post explains:  

Among the most prominent names on the Saudi team list is Salah Muhammed al-Tubaigy, a forensic expert known for pioneering rapid and mobile autopsies, who flew into Istanbul shortly after Khashoggi entered the Saudi Consulate and flew out nine hours later, Turkish officials say.

 

In closing, reporters note: “Tubaigy has not responded to email and phone messages left at three numbers associated with the profile he had set up on an Arabic subscription phone app.” 

When we take all this evidence together, we can see exactly why Detective Don is so ready to accept the Saudi’s explanation when they say they had nothing to do with the killing. If there was a killing, that is. 

So far, the Saudis haven’t admitted there was.

October 17, 2018: The President Continues to Express Doubt about Saudi Involvement in Killing of Journalist

 

10/17/18: The president continues to express doubts about involvement of the Saudi royals in the apparent killing of Jamal Khashoggi. Trump says he’d like the Turks to turn over any audio or video evidence of his murder, “if it exists.” 

____________________ 

“Whether Mr. Khashoggi was killed before his fingers were removed and his body dismembered could not be determined.” 

The New York Times

____________________ 

 

The New York Times does what Trump should be doing, but is too lazy to do, and continues digging for facts. A top Turkish official describes for the paper what happened when Khashoggi entered the consulate: “Mr. Khashoggi was dead within minutes, beheaded, dismembered, his fingers severed, and within two hours the killers were gone.” 

Turkish officials allege that an assassination squad was waiting inside the consulate when Khashoggi entered around 1:15 p.m. He was shown to the office of the Saudi consul, Mohammad al-Otaibi, and immediately grabbed. The beating and torture began almost at once and his fingers were hacked off. “Whether Mr. Khashoggi was killed before his fingers were removed and his body dismembered could not be determined,” the Times notes. Otaibi did object, perhaps to all the gore, or to the victim’s screaming. “Do this outside,” he told the killers. “You will put me in trouble.” 

“If you want to live when you come back to Arabia, shut up,” one of the agents replied. 

Considering what al-Otaibi was witnessing, you assume it was a warning he’d heed. 

The Turks insist they have proof Khashoggi’s corpse was cut in pieces. This would be gruesome work even for hardened assassins. If it turned the agents’ stomachs, the doctor who accompanied the team had some friendly advice. 

Listen to music he suggested. Then “he donned headphones himself,” started up his saw, and set to work.

Maybe music would help.

October 21, 2018: Trump Doesn't Care about a Murder, if the Murderers Buy Enough U.S. Goods

 

10/21/18: Slowly but surely it dawns on the president. The Saudis have been lying about Jamal Khashoggi. He wasn’t killed by “rogue actors” as Trump originally posited. Saudi statements on Saturday weren’t really “a good first step,” as the president had indicated. 

Saudi oil has long been an interest in U.S. foreign policy.

____________________ 

Am I the only one who thinks that sounds like the logic Siemens applied when the company decided to build the gas chambers needed for the Holocaust?

____________________ 

 

Asked then if he believed the Saudi claim that Khashoggi died in a fist fight, Mr. Trump replied, “I do. I do. Again, it’s early. We haven’t finished our review, our investigation. But I think it’s a very important first step.” 

By Sunday, pretty much everyone else insists Saudi explanations are ridiculous. “They would have been better off saying that Colonel Mustard did it in the library with the candlestick,” one observer insists. 

On Fox News, even Newt Gingrich argues Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman can’t be allowed to get away with murder. “First of all, their explanation is insultingly stupid,” he tells Fox News host Chris Wallace. “The idea that this guy walked in the room with 15 security people, got in a fight, and was accidentally killed, and then they happened to have apparently an ability to dismember him and get rid of him that happened to be there?” 

Who could possibly fall for anything so insultingly stupid? 

Trump!

 

Amid a storm of criticism of the Saudis and himself, President Dimwit admits there has been “deception” in the matter. 

Nevertheless, he continues to insist the U.S. shouldn’t be too hard on Saudi Arabia, just because they murdered a journalist and cut off his head. Hey, the Saudis are going to buy a whole bunch of U.S. weapons! (Am I the only one who thinks that sounds like the logic Siemens applied when the company decided to build the gas chambers needed to keep the Holocaust going?) 

Well, Trump is all about jobs, jobs, jobs, and not paying any taxes on the profits he makes from the jobs, jobs, jobs he creates with his companies. 

Last March, he said new Saudi business with the U.S. would create 40,000 jobs here in the U.S. On October 13 he upped that number “slightly,” to 450,000. Four days later the number jumped to 500,000. On Friday, at lunchtime, the number jumped again to 600,000. By the time the president digested his peanut butter and jelly sandwich, he was claiming the actual number was “over a million jobs total.” You almost got the idea he was making it all up.

 

* 

SUNDAY MORNING, Carl Bernstein weighs in on Trump and his penchant for ignoring facts and realities. In an interview on CNN, Bernstein cites Nixon’s lying during Watergate. Trump is different: 

We have had presidents in the past who have lied, there’s no question about that, but what we have never had is a president of the United States who uses lying and untruth as a basic method to promote his policies, his beliefs and his way of approaching the American people and engaging in the world.

October 24, 2018: A Savage Murder Strikes President as a "Bad Deal."

 

10/24/18: If you missed it, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, usually referred to by his initials M.B.S., continues to deny involvement in what the president of Turkey has called the “savage murder” of Jamal Khashoggi. 

____________________ 

“Where it should have stopped is at the deal standpoint.” 

President Trump

____________________ 

 

To prove that he had no role and doesn’t control everything that happens in Saudi Arabia, M.B.S. was filmed offering condolences and shaking hands with Salah Khashoggi, the victim’s son. The son looks “pained” in the film clip, The New York Times notes, but has no choice but to shake the prince’s red hand. He’s forbidden from leaving the kingdom right now. 

Critics say M.B.S. now stands for “Mr. Bone Saw.” 

Diplomacy, as I constantly repeat, can be a bitch. So, it’s not clear what the U.S. should do to punish the Saudis for this heinous murder. This much is clear. Trump often sounds like a blathering idiot. 

First, he complained because people were blaming M.B.S. for the crime without all the facts available, “guilty until proven innocent,” as he put it.

 

Later President Trump said that Saudi explanations for what happened to Khashoggi were “credible.” 

Now he says the Saudis are guilty of the “worst cover-up ever.” In an Oval Office talk with reporters he describes the murder like a business deal gone sour. “They had a very bad original concept,” he says of the Saudis, “it was carried out poorly, and the cover-up was one of the worst in the history of cover-ups…Bad deal; should never have been thought of. Somebody really messed up. And they had the worst cover-up ever. And where it should have stopped is at the deal standpoint.” 

Yes, Mr. Trump, murder is a bad deal. And you, sir, sound like a clueless, heartless, soulless ghoul.

One kind of bone saw used by doctors.

November 22, 2018: The President Kisses Up to Prince Mohammed bin Salman - And Says He's Thankful for...Himself

 

11/22/18: While most Americans spend the holiday dumping gravy over their mashed potatoes and stuffing, some are trying to choke down Trump’s explanation for how he intends to address the Saudi murder of Jamal Khashoggi. 

____________________ 

On this Thanksgiving Day, Trump is thankful for himself.

____________________ 

 

According to multiple news organizations, the C.I.A. has concluded that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing. An intercepted phone call is said to provide one link. A brother of the prince contacts Khashoggi and tells him to go to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. 

A hit squad lies in wait. 

According to one U.S. official, the C.I.A. has little doubt the Crown Prince had a hand in the planning. “The accepted position is that there is no way this happened without him being aware or involved.” 

A newspaper with close ties to the Turkish government also reports that a recording from a C.I.A. wiretap captures the Crown Prince ordering agents to get rid of Khashoggi as soon as possible. 

 

Historians will try to distill the Trump Doctrine. 

So, what will Trump do? Khashoggi was a permanent resident of the United States and has children who are U.S. citizens. 

Historians will likely hark back to this and similar moments and try to distill the “Trump Doctrine.” They will place this president in historical perspective, and if our nation is still free, they will cringe. 

Unless others stand up to Trump, unless institutions like an independent judiciary hold, this will be the moment America begins stumbling into authoritarianism. The history books will record that under our current president the nation ceased to be a beacon of hope for the rest of the world. America – flaws and all – will have abdicated its role as a defender of democracy and democratic institutions, a bulwark against injustice and the model for a society based on the rule of law. The United States, under Trump, will stand with Russia and Putin, with the Philippines and Rodrigo Duterte, with Saudi Arabia and Mohammed bin Salman. 

The U.S. will oppose a free press and support the murderers. 

Under the “Trump Doctrine,” the essence of our foreign policy will be this: America is on the make. Profit trumps all. It’s the philosophy that gave us Trump University, brought to the world stage.

 

The president decides to issue a statement outlining the new Trump Doctrine. Clearly, he wrote it himself, complete with his trademark exclamation points. It’s imbecilic from first to last. We provide it in full: 

The world is a very dangerous place! 

The country of Iran, as an example, is responsible for a bloody proxy war against Saudi Arabia in Yemen, trying to destabilize Iraq’s fragile attempt at democracy, supporting the terror group Hezbollah in Lebanon, propping up dictator Bashar Assad in Syria (who has killed millions of his own citizens), and much more. Likewise, the Iranians have killed many Americans and other innocent people throughout the Middle East. Iran states openly, and with great force, “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!” Iran is considered “the world’s leading sponsor of terror.”

 

On the other hand, Saudi Arabia would gladly withdraw from Yemen if the Iranians would agree to leave. They would immediately provide desperately needed humanitarian assistance. Additionally, Saudi Arabia has agreed to spend billions of dollars in leading the fight against Radical Islamic Terrorism.

 

After my heavily negotiated trip to Saudi Arabia last year, the Kingdom agreed to spend and invest $450 billion in the United States. This is a record amount of money. It will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, tremendous economic development, and much additional wealth for the United States. Of the $450 billion, $110 billion will be spent on the purchase of military equipment from Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and many other great U.S. defense contractors. If we foolishly cancel these contracts, Russia and China would be the enormous beneficiaries - and very happy to acquire all of this newfound business. It would be a wonderful gift to them directly from the United States!

 

The crime against Jamal Khashoggi was a terrible one, and one that our country does not condone. Indeed, we have taken strong action against those already known to have participated in the murder. After great independent research, we now know many details of this horrible crime. We have already sanctioned 17 Saudis known to have been involved in the murder of Mr. Khashoggi, and the disposal of his body.

 

Representatives of Saudi Arabia say that Jamal Khashoggi was an “enemy of the state” and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, but my decision is in no way based on that – this is an unacceptable and horrible crime. King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman vigorously deny any knowledge of the planning or execution of the murder [emphasis added throughout] of Mr. Khashoggi. Our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event – maybe he did and maybe he didn’t! 

(My god, the C.I.A. says he did. You’re the president; you must make up your mind.)

 

That being said, we may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi. In any case, our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They have been a great ally in our very important fight against Iran. The United States intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia to ensure the interests of our country, Israel and all other partners in the region. It is our paramount goal to fully eliminate the threat of terrorism throughout the world!

 

I understand there are members of Congress who, for political or other reasons, would like to go in a different direction - and they are free to do so. I will consider whatever ideas are presented to me, but only if they are consistent with the absolute security and safety of America. After the United States, Saudi Arabia is the largest oil producing nation in the world. They have worked closely with us and have been very responsive to my requests to keeping oil prices at reasonable levels – so important for the world. As President of the United States I intend to ensure that, in a very dangerous world, America is pursuing its national interests and vigorously contesting countries that wish to do us harm. Very simply it is called America First!

 

Sen. Rand Paul, to cite just one example, is horrified by the president’s feckless response. “I’m pretty sure this statement is Saudi Arabia First, not America First,” he says.  

(The blogger is reminded of the time Trump said he believed Putin, not U.S. intelligence.)

 

* 

IN KEEPING WITH A Thanksgiving tradition, the president takes time out of his day to speak with service members around the world. During a teleconference with the troops Trump makes a fool of himself again. 

Rather than stick with the basics: thank them for their service, ask how they’re doing spending the holiday away from home, tell them he knows their families must miss them, Trump turns to his favorite subject. 

Himself. 

 

Fighting to keep unemployment low and stocks high. 

“We’re doing well at home. The economy is doing really great. When you come back, you are going to see with the jobs and companies coming back into our country and the stock market just hit a record high,” Trump tells our men and women wearing the uniform overseas. 

He’s plunked down at Mar-a-Lago and reading from a prepared script because he’s not really interested in what the troops might say. He’s only interested in talking about how great he is. “Unemployment is the lowest it’s been in 17 years,” he adds. “So you’re fighting for something real, you’re fighting for something good.” 

Did this idiot just tell our soldiers, sailors, Marines, and air crews they’re risking their lives to bring down unemployment? 

Good god.

 

Reporters watching the president work the phones, eventually have a chance to ask Mr. Trump a few questions. Who does he blame for the Khashoggi killing? 

He actually replies, “Maybe the world should be held accountable because the world is a vicious place.” 

If that doesn’t sound moronic enough, he adds: “So I hate the crime and I hate what is done and I hate the cover-up. And I will tell you this, the Crown Prince hates it more than I do.” 

You really can’t make this dumb shit up; but reporters ask the president, who is celebrating with his family at his ritzy private club, what he’s thankful for on this day. 

It’s probably the easiest question in the world to answer without sounding like a complete ass. 

The president blows it.

 

He says he’s thankful for his “great family [which is fine] and for having made a tremendous difference in this country [which is Trump bragging about himself, which for Trump is almost a fulltime job]. “I made a tremendous difference in this country,” he continues. “This country is so much stronger now than it was when I took office and you wouldn’t believe it and when you see it, we’ve gotten so much stronger people don’t even believe it.” 

On this Thanksgiving Day, Trump is thankful for himself.

Jamal Khashoggi.

BLOGGER’S NOTE (4/1/19): Under Saudi law, if a criminal will pay “blood money,” acceptable to a victim’s family, that criminal’s punishment is forgiven. Khashoggi’s two sons and two daughters realize they will never get full justice; and accept monthly five-figure payments, and homes in Jiddah, worth $4 million each. Only one of the children plans to live in Saudi Arabia. 

The other three will sell their homes. 

Saudi Arabia is hoping to buy silence on the world stage – and since no one is going to hold the Crown Prince accountable, they have little real choice.

December 4, 2018: Good Conservative "Values" on Display

 

12/4/18:  A man has got to tweet; and Trump has got to tweet stupid sh*t. Tuesday, he refers to himself as “Tariff Man” on Twitter. Investors, already skeptical of his claim that he has struck an “incredible” tariff deal at the G-20 Summit with China, react like an attractive young woman stuck alone in a room with the Pussy-Grabber-in-Chief. The Dow plunges 800 points.

 

* 

C.I.A. DIRECTOR Gina Haspel heads to Capitol Hill to brief a group of U.S. senators.

What Haspel says behind closed doors leaves them fuming. 

____________________ 

“If he were in front of a jury, he would be convicted of murder in about 30 minutes.” 

Sen. Bob Corker

____________________ 

 

The tweeting “Tariff Man” has insisted evidence is not clear. Maybe Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. Maybe he didn’t. How should he know? He’s just the president. 

The senators who listen to Haspel have no misgivings. Sen. Bob Corker tells reporters after the meeting there can be no doubt the prince “ordered, monitored, the killing” of the father of four. “If he were in front of a jury, he would be convicted of murder in about 30 minutes.” 

A visibly angry Sen. Lindsey Graham seconds that assessment. “There’s not a smoking gun,” he fumes, “there’s a smoking saw.”  

“You have to be willfully blind,” Graham continues, “not to come to the conclusion that this was orchestrated and organized by people under the command of MBS and that he was intrinsically involved in the demise of Mr. Khashoggi.”

 

* 

WELL, AT LAST! Republicans finally uncover the kind of massive voter fraud the president has been railing about for years. The election in North Carolina’s Ninth Congressional District was rigged. 

By Republicans! 

An “independent contractor” working for the campaign of Mark Harris, the GOP candidate, helped Harris beat Democratic opponent Dan McCready by 905 votes. Then evidence of widespread fraud surfaced. Absentee ballots had been sent to hundreds of individuals who never requested them. Workers paid by a convicted felon went door-to-door and collected completed ballots. If you are asking yourself, “Hey, isn’t that illegal?” you are not the first to ask. 

That is, in fact, flagrantly illegal. 

Citing, “claims of numerous irregularities and concerted fraudulent activities related to absentee mail ballots,” the State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement refused to certify the results in the Ninth District.

 

The testimony of Stacy Holcomb, a Ninth District voter, is typical. “A woman wearing a Mark Harris t-shirt came by his apartment asking if he wanted to cast an absentee ballot by mail,” reporters explained. “He accepted her help getting a ballot and gave the woman the marked, sealed ballot after it arrived.” 

Who hatched this scheme? That would be the convicted felon, Leslie McCrae Dowless.

An article in the Charlotte Observer provides the requisite background: 

Leslie McCrae Dowless was convicted of felony fraud in 1992 in Iredell County, according to court records. Dowless and his wife were accused of taking out an insurance policy on a dead man [emphasis added] and collecting nearly $165,000 from his death, according to a 1991 Fayetteville Observer article. He served more than six months of a two-year prison sentence, according to court records.

Dowless, now 62, was convicted of felony perjury in 1990, according to court records.

 

No one knows – but a new election may result. 

 

The GOP still has Rep. Chris Collins. 

Well, at least the GOP can still count on Chris Collins to uphold conservative values! Rep. Collins recently eked out a narrow win in New York’s Twenty-Seventh Congressional District. The incumbent defeated his challenger by 2,560 votes, in an election where roughly 277,000 were cast. 

Now Collins needs at least one more vote, a jury holdout, since he’s under indictment on charges of insider trading.

 

* 

OTHER THAN COLLINS’ VICTORY, is there any other good news for Team Trump? Yes and no. 

Former Team Trump member and leader of “Lock her up!” chants, General Michael T. Flynn appears in court Tuesday. Special Counsel Mueller recommends 0 days behind bars for Flynn. 

Cue the chant from the Oval Office, “Don’t lock him up!” It’s party time for Trump and all his aides and Don Jr. 

Or not.

 

General Flynn is likely to avoid spending time in jail not because he’s innocent but because he quickly plead guilty and began cooperating with the investigation. We now learn that he has talked with Mueller’s team on nineteen occasions. “Given the defendant’s substantial assistance and other considerations set forth below,” the court filing reads, “a sentence at the low end of the guideline range – including a sentence that does not impose a term of incarceration – is appropriate and warranted.” 

On Fox News, Trump’s cheerleaders insist this proves Mueller and his team are coming up empty-handed and Trump should be re-elected in 2020, even if he loses the popular vote by twenty-six million. Lou Dobbs demands that President Obama produce his birth certificate, Harvard transcripts, hat, pants, and shoe sizes. Tucker Carlson spends an entire show looking perplexed. Liberals, he says, don’t you hate them! 

In reality, the folks in the White House must be sweating. No one knows what Flynn told Mueller during those meetings. Jared Kushner has reason to worry. What did Flynn tell investigators about the secret meeting he and Flynn held with a Russian banker in December 2016? Manafort has already been cooked in court. Now the leftovers of his life may end up microwaved for dessert. 

 

Multiple false statements on multiple occasions. 

We already knew that Flynn and his son flew to Russia in December 2015 and stayed in a luxury hotel for several days, at Russian expense. We know General Flynn plunked down beside Vladimir Putin at dinner and then gave a speech for which he was handsomely paid ($45,000). So: What did Flynn tell Mueller and his team about efforts inside the Trump campaign in 2016, including offers to end crippling financial sanctions, to curry favor with the Russians? 

And did he finger the president? 

How bad could Flynn be for Trump and his gang? First, we have long known that he plead guilty to one charge of lying to the F.B.I. The sentencing document notes, “As described in the Statement of Offense, the defendant made multiple false statements, to multiple Department of Justice (“DOJ”) entities, on multiple occasions.” 

That means there was plenty Flynn felt he needed to lie about. And Flynn was President Trump’s boy. 

Secondly, anyone who has ever watched an episode of CSI: Miami, or CSI: Jaywalking Unit, knows criminal investigators work their way up, trying to turn small fish against big fish before the small fish are eaten.

 

A heavily redacted supplemental document leaves court reporters, pundits and ordinary Americans guessing. On Page One we learn, “The defendant has assisted with several ongoing investigations [emphasis added], a criminal investigation [REDACTED].” Flynn has “provided documents and communications” that have to do with “links or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald J. Trump” [REDACTED]. 

On Page Two we learn that Flynn has provided “substantial assistance,” but that some of the benefits “may not be fully realized at this time because the investigations in which he has provided assistance are ongoing.” 

 

Black lines in a court document, spell trouble for White House. 

An entire section of the document is [REDACTED] including the name of the investigation itself. 

On Page Four, prosecutors note that “several senior members” of the Trump transition team repeated false statements Flynn made about contacts with Russia. “The defendant also provided useful information concerning” [REDACTED]. And another full page is reduced to heavy black lines. 

Black lines in a court filing mean black days and nights of doubt and confusion in the White House.