July 11-14, 2017: With Donald J. Trump Jr. You Get Hair Gel and Russians

 

7/11/17: The President of the United States rises early and starts his day by retweeting two stories from Fox & Friends. Another tweet, lamenting the deaths of 17 servicemen in a plane crash follows. 

The story of the meeting with Donald Jr. and – somebody – about something – is going to be cleared up, he insists: “My son, Donald, will be interviewed by @seanhannity tonight at 10:00 P.M. He is a great person who loves our country!” 

On Hannity, Jr. swears the whole tale has been revealed. Hannity and Jr. trade admiring glances. Both are huge fans of hair gel. The meeting was just Jr. and Jared and Paul and, okay, a Russian lawyer. (See 7/14/17.)

___ 

 

7/12/17: On the way to France for a meeting with President Macron, Trump sits down on Air Force One and chats with reporters. He hasn’t been talking much to the media, probably because when he does they report the stupid crap that spills from his lips like St. Bernard drool.  

__________ 

Beware the flying bales of marijuana.

__________ 

 

Now he explains his plans for the Great Wall of Trump. When the Mexicans pay, he is going to put in a special order. He elaborates: 

One of the things with the wall is you need transparency. You have to be able to see through it.

 

In other words, if you can’t see through that wall—so it could be a steel wall with openings, but you have to have openings because you have to see what’s on the other side of the wall.

 

And I’ll give you an example. As horrible as it sounds, when they throw the large sacks of drugs over, and if you have people on the other side of the wall, you don’t see them—they hit you on the head with 60 pounds of stuff? It’s over. As crazy as that sounds, you need transparency through that wall.

 

Some presidents, like Woodrow Wilson, want to make the world safe for democracy. 

Others want to make Americans safe from flying bales of marijuana.

___ 

 

7/13/17: Glaciers around the world are still melting. Ocean temperatures are still rising. The president is still clueless. 

That is all.

___ 

 

7/14/17: The guest list for the meeting with Donald Jr. and the Russians continues to grow. In an interview with Fox News, where all Trumps go when sad, Jr. forgets who was there. 

Okay, he says. There were two Russians. That’s it. Two! A Russian-American lobbyist named Rinat Akhmetshin is the second. NPR says he has been described “as a Russian ‘gun for hire’ and a former Soviet-era spy and has worked in the West for years as an advocate for Russian interests.” 

Okay. No more Russians! (See: 7/18/17.)

March 9, 2018: Who Would Be Dumb Enough to Believe Trump's Claim?

 

3/9/18: Last week ended on a high note for President Trump. The stock market gained more than 430 points. Now February job numbers are excellent, with 313,000 jobs added to the economy. 

The labor participation rate ticked up 0.3 percent, to 63.0 percent, which also indicates an economy in good health. 

Normally this humble blogger might credit the president for his success. Alas, this humble blogger cannot forget the countless times when Obama was adding jobs and digging the country out of the Great Recession and Citizen Trump liked to claim 93 million Americans lacked jobs. 

That claim was so dumb you had to wonder how anyone could be dumb enough to believe it. 

Oh, yeah, Sean Hannity did, simply jacking it up a little, to 95 million.

Hannity spent four years (or more) cheerleading for Trump.

April 16, 2018: Michael Cohen Had only Three Clients in the Last Year

 

4/16/18: Some days you don’t know whether to be terrified by what Trump is doing or doubled over with laughter. Yesterday, lawyers for the president and lawyers for his lawyer tried to block release of information gathered in the recent F.B.I. raids on Michael Cohen’s home, offices, etc. 

It turns out Cohen has had only three legal clients in the past year. One would be Trump. Second would be Elliott Broidy. Both have been accused of boinking Playmate Bunnies despite the fact they, the boinkers, were married at the time of the Bunny-boinking. The third client turns out to be none other than Sean Hannity, noted pillar of gelled-hair rectitude at Fox News. 

Please, please, let there be another pregnant Bunny.

We don’t know yet, what Cohen might have been doing for Mr. Hannity, what he might have been fixing for the Fox host. Hannity says it was nothing, just a little idle chit and chat. He may be telling the truth. Considering the company he’s keeping, you can’t be blamed if you have a smidge of doubt. 

I, for one, will readily admit I hope it turns out that another Playboy Bunny has been boinked and impregnated. 

By Hannity himself.

 

BLOGGER’S NOTE (6/8/2022): I am sorry to say, in editing my blog four years later, that I did not get my wish.

November 5, 2108: President Trump Appeals to Fear and Paranoia - Sean Hannity Helps Him

 

11/5/18: President Trump’s closing argument to voters before the midterms is a rank appeal to fear and paranoia. “As we speak,” he tells listeners at a series of End Times-themed rallies, “Democrats are openly encouraging millions of illegal aliens to break our laws, violate our borders and overrun our country [emphasis added]. And they want to sign them up for free welfare, free healthcare, free education and most importantly the right to vote. They want them to vote.” 

____________________ 

“All those people in the back are fake news.” 

Sean Hannity

____________________ 

 

“I am asking every citizen, from every party, every background, every race, color and creed,” he bays, “to reject the Democrat politics of anger, division, destruction and to unite behind our proud, noble and righteous destiny as Americans.” 

Joining him on stage are Jeanine Pirro and Sean Hannity, paragons of righteous, unbiased Fox News reporting. 

Hannity stirs the crowd when he points to the back of the auditorium where the biased news people are recording the event. “By the way,” Hannity shouts, “all those people in the back are fake news.” 

The irony is clear, but Trump fans miss it and cheer.

Trump's imaginary illegal immigrant voters are like unicorns.

 

Even Fox News faults Hannity and Pirro for showing up on stage with Trump, while still masquerading as journalists and representing a network that claims to provide “fair and balanced” coverage.  

In a final warning Trump tweet-warns bazillions of illegal immigrants not to show up at the polls and vote. “Law Enforcement,” he says, “has been strongly notified to watch closely for any ILLEGAL VOTING which may take place in Tuesday’s Election (or Early Voting). Anyone caught will be subject to the Maximum Criminal Penalties allowed by law. Thank you!”  

Not a single state election commissioner in 2016 said illegal immigrants showing up to vote was a major problem. 

Most said it was no problem at all.

BLOGGER’S NOTE: I keep checking for evidence of massive voter fraud and never find any. In October 2020, right-wing scaremongers were howling about the case of Larry Wiggins, “a registered Democrat,” who requested an absentee ballot for his wife. 

Who happens to be dead. 

Sean Hannity and others like him were thrilled to have some real voter fraud to talk about to prove …well, nothing much, really. 

As the Palm Beach Post reports, the Heritage Foundation, which keeps a database of voter fraud cases, totals up 30 incidents in Florida. 

Thirty. 

Dating back to all elections since 2000. And in those elections a combined 39.4 million votes have been cast.

February 23, 2019: Cow Farts and a Climate-Denier, Wife of a Coal Barron, Chosen for U.N. Ambassador

 

2/23/19: Another ordinary weekend in Trumpistan, which means extraordinary lunacy on display. 

____________________ 

Almost every scientist in the world knows it’s a serious subject.

____________________ 

 

Cow farts are in the news. “Cow farts” is the new “death panels for granny” phrase which the right will trot out to stupefy the uninformed and banish complex thought from right-wing craniums. After all, you can’t expect Trump fans to read a lengthy NASA report or count all the countries that believe climate change is a threat. You’re not going to hear Sean Hannity talk about the gaping hole in the Thwaites Glacier. You’re going to hear Fox News pundits boil down the Green New Deal to the God-given right of Americans to own flatulent bovines, instead. 

At that point it’s not a serious discussion, whereas almost every scientist in the world knows it’s a serious subject.

Cow farts...really, that's the level of discussion?

 

What we must do is unclear. So, you could discuss detailed scientific reports related to climate change, from NOAA or the Department of Defense. Or you could do what President Trump just did. 

Having nominated Heather Nauert, a former Fox News babe, to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, he was forced to try again after she withdrew from consideration. 

Oh, please, please, tell me there’s an illegal immigrant in her story! Not exactly, but close! Nauert had long employed a nanny who was in the United States legally, but lacked papers required to work. That meant if Nauert filed tax documents the truth would out. So Nauert decided not to file the documents or mention the nanny while serving as spokeswoman for the State Department for two years. 

Once the promotion to ambassador was offered the back taxes were paid, but the damage was done. And there it was again: A Trump official undercutting American wages by hiring immigrant help. 

Just like Trump. 

 

Trump nominates climate change denier as U.N. ambassador. 

So Nauert was out and, ta da! Kelly Knight Craft was in! The new nominee is qualified for the U.N. post based on two criteria. First, she and her husband Joseph Craft III are big donors to the GOP. Second, she’s a climate change denier and Mr. Craft owns a big coal company in Kentucky. Asked in 2017, if she thought climate change was an issue, Ms. Craft did not reply, “Well, yes, because 2017, 2016 and 2015 have been the three hottest years ever recorded.” 

She did not say, “Nearly 200 countries agree climate change is a threat and under this president we are the only nation in the world to withdraw from talks on the issue.” 

Instead, she gave the: my-husband-sells-coal-and-so-I-will-give-you-a-cow-farts-type-of-response. “I believe there are scientists on both sides [emphasis added] that are accurate,” Ms. Craft said. “I think that both sides have their own results, from their studies, and I appreciate and I respect both sides of the science.” 

That is exactly the kind of answer you’d expect from the ill-informed, unqualified-for-her-post-wife of a coal baron. 

Mr. Craft isn’t just a coal baron. He’s a really powerful coal baron. If he cares about the future of the planet, he cares about being rich far more. Last year, he earned $1,361,390 for his work at Alliance Holding GP. He is “a former Chairman and current Board member of the National Coal Council, a Board Member of the National Mining Association, and a Director and current Chairman of American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.” Craft was, until 2012, a billionaire. A divorce from his first wife knocked him off the billionaire pedestal and left him a pauper with a paltry $625 million. You figure he needed the fat tax cuts he got under the Trump Tax Plan. 

You might imagine that this story about Ms. Craft would be the only time you heard about climate deniers all week. With the Trump administration you would be wrong. The New York Times acquired a memo indicating that a Presidential Committee on Climate Security will soon be impaneled, consisting of 12 individuals, including William Happer, who is to head the team. 

As Newsweek explains, Happer is, shall we say, “out there” when it comes to the topic of climate change: 

[The] Princeton physicist is a known climate change denier, who once compared the “demonization of carbon dioxide” to the “demonization of poor Jews under Hitler.”

 

In 2015, Happer made news after undercover members of the environmental campaign group Greenpeace posed as oil company representatives and persuaded him to write a scientific paper, The New York Times reported. He assured them it would be an unpaid “labor of love.”

 

Happer told the Greenpeace members, whom he believed were from an unnamed oil company: “More CO₂ will benefit the world. The only way to limit CO₂ would be to stop using fossil fuels, which I think would be a profoundly immoral and irrational policy.”

February 26, 2019: One Chance in a Million that Climate Change Is Not Human-Caused

 

2/26/19: The president is getting settled in Vietnam, in preparation for the summit with Kim Jong-un.

 

____________________ 

Five-sigma level certainty on climate change.

____________________

  

Meanwhile, scientists report that evidence for man-made global warming has reached a “gold standard” level of certainty. As Reuters explains, scientists, “said confidence that human activities were raising the heat at the Earth’s surface had reached a ‘five-sigma’ level, a statistical gauge meaning there is only a one-in-a-million chance that the signal would appear if there was no warming.” 

So, you can say, like Trump’s new pick for U.N. ambassador, that there is “good science” on both sides of the issue. You have one chance that human-caused climate change is not really occurring. 

And let’s burn more coal! (See: 2/23-24/19.)

 

Or you have 999,999 chances that human-caused climate change is occurring and talking about cow gas means you’re an ignoramus. See, for example: Sean Hannity’s show. Writing in the journal Nature, a U.S.-led team studying the matter warned, “Humanity cannot afford to ignore such clear signals.” 

Benjamin Santer, lead author of Monday’s study at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, said he hoped the findings would win over skeptics and spur action.

 

“The narrative out there that scientists don’t know the cause of climate change is wrong,” he told Reuters. “We do.”

 

It might not be clear what must be done to address the threat, or what sacrifices will be required and by whom. Of this much, scientists are clear. Burning fossil fuels has led to more floods, more droughts, more heat waves, and rising sea levels. 

In this case, experts from the United States, Canada and Scotland studied satellite data in drawing up conclusions. 

For his part, President Trump serves up what precious little he knows in simplistic tweets.

 

In a July 2018 poll, 90 percent of Democrats (going with the 999,999 chances) said they believed there is solid evidence of global climate change. For Republicans (banking on the other chance), it was 50 percent. 

In fact, as recently as 2014, the United States led the world in climate deniers and led by a wide margin.

  

* 

SINCE OUR TOPIC TODAY is lack of understanding, let’s go with what clueless Presidential Assistant Ivanka Trump said during an interview today. 

Asked about her father’s plans for the next two years, she said dad was a genius, whereas Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was a nincompoop, and all wrong with her socialist, handouts-for-all plans for struggling Americans. 

(I am paraphrasing.) 

Referring to the congresswoman, who grew up in a middle class neighborhood in New York City, and worked as a bartender to pay bills after college, Ivanka explained, “I don’t think most Americans, in their heart, want to be given something. I’ve spent a lot of time traveling around this country over the last four years. People want to work for what they get.” 

Just as she did as the struggling daughter of a self-proclaimed billionaire – who then worked her way to the top, and landed a White House position by virtue of her DNA matching her father’s.

March 18, 2019: Congressman Steve King, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck All Predict Civil War

 

3/18/19: Remember how, in 2011, President Obama threatened civil war if he wasn’t re-elected? (See: 3/15/19.) 

Okay, sure. He didn’t. 

What about that time a Democratic congressman said we were headed for war between the states? 

Well, yes, several Democratic lawmakers did say that in 1861.

 

Still, if you know even a modicum of American history you wouldn’t talk glibly about “civil war” coming soon. At a time when the U.S. had a population of 30 million, the American Civil War (1861-1865) left 620,000 dead, making it the bloodiest fight in our nation’s history. 

That would be equal, roughly, to a war costing 6.8 million deaths today. 

And for what would we fight? To protect the president’s tax returns from being exposed to investigators?

 

Rep. Steve King (R-IO) decided to pick up the president’s threatening theme – that he has all the “tough” guys on his team. King decided to post a meme, tagged with the line: “Folks keep talking about another civil war. One side has about 8 trillion bullets while the other side doesn’t know which bathroom to use.” 

The meme shows blue states battling red states, like figures from that game, Rock’em Sock’em Robot,” gone mad.

 

 

Arizona forms the red figure’s head, Texas, the torso, Idaho the left knee. You get the idea. The blue figure’s left arm includes Wisconsin as fist, New Mexico as bicep, and Iowa where the forearm would be. 

That’s how supremely clueless Congressman King from Iowa really is. He puts his own state on the wrong side. (See: 11/3/18 for more King ignorance and racism.)

 

* 

CONGRESSMAN KING isn’t the only one worried about the future of this country. On Sean Hannity’s show, guest Glenn Beck, who has a show, too, warns, “If the Republicans don’t win in this next election, I think we are officially at the end of the country [emphasis added] as we know it. We may not survive even if we win, but we definitely don’t if the Republicans lose with Donald Trump.” 

He goes on to tell Hannity, as both men try to scare their audience, that radicals, anarchists, socialists, and Islamists are all banding together to destroy America. 

The only surprise to this blogger is that neither man thought to include transgender persons who want to destroy America by compromising our bathroom privacy.

 

 

POSTSCRIPT: By the way, fools come in all varieties, from talk show hosts (above) to transgender individuals (below). 

Last week, New York City police arrested Thomas Heard, who identifies as a transgender female and charged her with a pair of hate crimes. Heard, who is African American, is alleged to have confronted a white couple as they were shopping. She announced that she hated white people, then kicked the man and sprayed him with pepper spray, according to police. 

Heard is said to have sprayed a woman in the eyes a day later, but not before asking if she was white.  

She is a suspect in a series of seven other attacks in the same neighborhood.

May 17, 2019: If It Sounds like Witness Tampering...That's Because It Is

 

5/17/19: New court filings related to the case against General Michael Flynn do further damage to President Trump’s claim that he has been totally exonerated by the Mueller Report. 

New documents reveal that Flynn, 

informed the government [investigators] of multiple instances, both before and after his guilty plea, where either he or his attorneys received communications from persons connected to the Administration or Congress [emphasis added, unless otherwise noted] that could have affected both his willingness to cooperate and the completeness of that cooperation.

Trump points at the guy he plans to pardon.

 

____________________ 

“If there’s information that implicates the President.” 

John Dowd, the president’s lawyer

____________________

 

 

Flynn provided a voicemail recording – and that recording was included in the Mueller Report – from John Dowd, a defense lawyer for President Trump. The recording was made on November 22, 2017, just hours after Flynn made it clear he planned to start cooperating with Mueller’s team. 

As with the emails to Don Jr., promising Russian help (see: 5/9/19), try to pick out the subtle hints in what Dowd says: 

I understand your situation, but let me see if I can’t state it in starker terms. … It wouldn’t surprise me if you’ve gone on to make a deal with ... the government. … If … there’s information that implicates the president, then we’ve got a national security issue, … so, you know, … we need some kind of heads up. Um, just for the sake of protecting all our interests if we can. … Remember what we’ve always said about the President and his feelings toward Flynn, and that still remains.…

 

(As the Washington Post explains, “These ellipses and this punctuation are taken directly from the report.”)

 

The next day, Flynn’s lawyer calls Dowd back. The Mueller Report explains: 

According to Flynn’s attorneys, the President’s personal counsel was indignant and vocal in his disagreement [that Flynn was making the right decision to cooperate]. The President’s personal counsel said that he interpreted what they said to him as a reflection of Flynn’s hostility towards the President and that he planned to inform his client of that interpretation. Flynn’s attorneys understood that statement to be an attempt to make them reconsider their position because the President’s personal counsel believed that Flynn would be disturbed to know that such a message would be conveyed to the President.

 

That’s not “Fake News,” either, no matter how many times President Trump wants to say it is. 

It’s reporting.

 

BLOGGER’S NOTE: For additional witness tampering, see Sean Hannity’s texts with Paul Manafort, 6/22/19. 

For John Dowd’s final take on his client, the President of the United States, see: 9/9/10.

June 5, 2019: President Trump Insists President Trump Is Wildly Popular

 

6/5/19: Donald R. Trump has never been good with numbers; but as he wraps up a visit to Britain and Ireland, he’s playing with math again. This time, he’s mad because not everyone loves him. 

 

“I would be up by 25 points.” 

He tweets: 

If the totally Corrupt Media was less corrupt, I would be up by 15 points in the polls based on our tremendous success with the economy, maybe Best Ever! If the Corrup Media was actually fair, I would be up by 25 points. Nevertheless, despite the Fake News, we’re doing great!

 

Let’s ignore the dangerous attacks on the free press and the bumbling spelling. Let’s pretend it’s not pathetic that eighty minutes later, the president repeats the same tweet, so he can fix “corrup.” 

Let’s focus on real numbers. On June 5, the president has an approval rating of less than 44% in an average of all polls. He believes he deserves a 69% approval rating, all due to the economy. 

Kellyanne Conway should probably tug on his sleeve and remind the Orange Buffoon, “Sir, a large part of the reason your approval rating has never been above 46% since you took office, is that you – and I say this with all due respect – are considered an asshole by a large chunk of the U.S. population.” 

“Sir, to be specific,” she should explain, “65 percent of Americans think you are not honest, 67 percent think you are a poor role model for children. And 62 percent of women don’t like you because you’re an unapologetic pussy-grabber.”

 

* 

TRUMP WRAPS UP A BUSY DAY, including a visit to a golf club he owns in Ireland, and a talk with the Irish premier, by catching tape of Fox News and then tweet-raging after Sean Hannity stirs him up. 

According to Hannity, Trump’s performance in Britain was brilliant and the British media are giving him “glowing reviews.” Here at home, Hannity fumes, “MSNBC ramps up hateful coverage.” 

It’s so mean! 

 

Trump: Less popular than a poisoner. 

So, let’s do a bit of fact-checking. Here’s how The Guardian described Trump’s second visit to Great Britain: 

He insulted London’s mayor, abused an American actor on Twitter at 1.20 am, turned Brexit into a threat to the National Health Service, described Meghan Markle as nasty, and behaved as if he was a kingmaker offering audiences to aspirants from the 51st state, and yet to Whitehall’s diplomats Donald Trump’s state visit was by no means the worst in living memory.

 

It may be that the bar had been set vertiginously low, or that Trump, as a repeat visitor, has lost some of his capacity for shock and awe. Somehow, it seemed tame and normalised in comparison with his previous disastrous visit a year ago [emphasis added].

 

Readers reactions are also less than glowing. “That the British state has rolled out the red carpet for Trump in this way is a total disgrace,” said one. “Trump is not leading the free world, the free world is ignoring him on so many levels, from global warming, to trade, to diplomatic policy,” another commented. A third referred to the U.S. president as a “vile creep.” 

Resignedly, one reader admits, “We may have to hold our noses when Trump visits, but he does represent the most powerful and important defensive alliance in the world.” It’s just too bad the president doesn’t agree that NATO is important.  

So, how did ordinary Brits feel about Trump. It turns out, he’s their seventh most popular foreign politician! Millions love Trump! As in enough millions to give Trump a 21% positive rating, vs. 67% negative. 

Only 66% of Brits have a negative opinion of Vladimir Putin, and he tried to poison people on British soil. 

 

POSTSCRIPT: Trump wraps up his second trip to Great Britain and heads home. Business Insider, an American news organization, interviews a dozen Brits in an effort to gather opinion. Save for one young man, who admitted he wasn’t aware Trump had visited, the reaction was universally negative. 

Catherine Philips, 60: “I think he’s appalling. I think he’s a sexist, I think he’s a misogynistic disgrace, really, that brings shame on the US.” 

Nicholas Peters, 22: “I don’t really like Donald Trump, to put it lightly. He doesn’t seem like a very nice person.” 

A young woman named Danielle Barry described the visiting president as someone who had shown “blatant disregard for common, civil, and human rights.” 

Thalia Renucci, 24, says she’s sorry her country’s leaders had to follow protocol and treat Trump with the same respect as any other president. “I really wish he wasn’t here,” she sighed. “I have a lot of friends who are American, a lot of them live here, and they are losing all trust in democracy.” 

June 22, 2019: Text Messages between Sean Hannity and Paul Manafort Point to Plan to Obstruct Justice

 

Sean Hannity speaks at Trump rally.
Behind the scenes he hints at a pardon for a key witness.

 

6/22/19: President Trump would like us to believe that the Mueller Report clears his name and nothing sneaky, involving multiple Russians, followed by repeated attempts to obstruct justice, occurred. 

 

____________________ 

Manafort would have been the critical witness. Keeping him quiet was paramount.

____________________ 

 

It turns out another big name on the right was doing his part to thwart investigators. Namely, that pompous, fake-patriot windbag, Sean Hannity. 

It is well known that Hannity and Trump talk nightly, just before the president shuffles off to bed. That made the Fox News commentator the perfect go-between when Trump wanted to get a message to Paul Manafort, when Manafort was in the crosshairs of federal authorities. 

As the Mueller Report makes clear, Manafort would have been the critical witness if he revealed all he knew. 

Keeping him quite was paramount. 

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson has ordered release of 56 pages of text messages that passed between the two men. What we quickly learn is that Hannity had repeatedly made it clear to Manafort that he had a very good friend in the White House. 

 

A sampling of their messages, with editorial comment:

 

8/9/17 

Hannity: Please know you are in my prayers. 

Manafort: Thank you. I need them. I feel so violated. 

Blogger: Manafort’s home has just been raided. Those dirty rats from the F.B.I.! Just because they have evidence to indicate Manafort might have been working with Russian agents during the 2016 campaign.

 

8/11/17 

Hannity: I am truly frightened the constitution is being shredded, (no 4 th Amendment protections) no equal justice under the law. I am truly frightened for the future of this country we love. God help us and the world if we don’t get this straightened out. I pray that God give you grace and peace in this difficult moment. I sadly know from experience that in times like these friends will abandon you… 

If you just ever want to talk, grab dinner, vent, strategize—whatever, I am here. I know this is very hard. Stand tall and strong. 

Blogger: Hannity is on his side. And he won’t abandon him. And if Hannity is on his side, it is implied that the president is on his side. Let’s “strategize.” Maybe we can obstruct justice. That would be cool.

 

Manafort: I appreciate what you tried to do [on your show]. Mueller is trying to intimidate me. The raid is just one example. I won’t let him succeed but it is very lonely fighting this fight. I feel all alone out there. Except for you and a few others, our side is not engaged. 

Blogger: Can you help me? Can you make sure the president is thinking about ways to save my money-laundering, tax-cheating, witness-tampering ass?

 

Hannity: Call me, text me, email me. Let’s eat talk and anything I can do to help [emphasis added, unless otherwise noted]… I’m not a fair weather friend. 

Blogger: Hannity want’s Manafort to know. He speaks for Trump. He’s in Manafort’s corner.

 

Hannity: Paul, like u, I don’t give a shit about me. I do care about this amazing country that is soooo sooo off course and experience real corruption. And I’m gonna fight for the country I love...Then poor Gen Flynn. What they did to HIM WAS ILLEGAL. 

Blogger: Flynn has been fired for lying to Vice President Pence. Hannity and Manafort are texting at 3 a.m.

 

Hannity: I made more this year than my mom, dad and all their brothers and sisters and my grandparents made combined in their lifetimes. 

Manafort: Your life story, and mine, are the reasons this country was created. 

Blogger: Manafort has been working for pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarchs for a decade. His main guy eventually flees to Russian after the Ukrainian people revolt in protest against massive corruption. Manafort has millions hidden in offshore bank accounts in Cyprus. He’s a tax cheat. 

That’s not why this country was created. 

Several weeks elapse. The “friends” don’t text again till late September.

 

9/26/17 

Hannity: “How are u holding up?” 

Blogger: Hannity wants to remind Manafort, hey, we’re still thinking about you. A pardon might be nice in the end.

 

10/25/17 

Manafort: Thank you for fighting for our country. 

Hannity: I’m sick of these lies. COME ON WITH ME WITH YOUR ATTY BEFORE THEY TRY AND ATTACK U MORE 

Blogger: Hannity wants Manafort to come on his show and he’ll help spread the Manafort version of the truth. 

Hannity really likes this guy who has been a tool of Russian-leaning Ukrainian oligarchs. Manafort was also a founder of a lobbying group that promised to burnish the image of various tyrants and authoritarian governments. He and partner Roger Stone, who also worked for Trump in 2016, acquired a reputation for amorality and questionable ethics. In 1992, The Center for Public Integrity, reporting on their work, listed Manafort and Stone’s group as one of the top five comprising “The Torturers’ Lobby.” 

Manafort and Stone’s firm made at least $3.3 million representing the kinds of governments who torture and kill their own citizens.

 

10/30/17 

Hannity: Hey You OK? 

Manafort: Yes. Rough day but yes. Their [federal prosecutors] case is totally BS. Wrong on law and wrong on facts. 

Blogger: We learn soon the case is strong, the evidence voluminous. Manafort’s own tax accountant will testify against him.

 

11/8/17 

Manafort: I am dealing with this gag order on me and my lawyers. Building a plan B. 

Hannity: Ok. Can we talk tonight? 

Blogger: Hannity seems to be suggesting that the defendant simply ignores the gag order.

 

11/14/17 

Manafort: They are still f’ing with me on bail. Getting close [to being able to come on Hannity’s show]. Once dine then we need to sit and build a plan…Hopefully Sessions moves on new Spec Pros 

Hannity: He has to [do?] it [or?] he is gone…Talked to a friend. 

Blogger: Hang on. The president is going to fire Attorney General Sessions. A new AG will get rid of Robert Mueller. Hold on, Paul, we’re going to rescue your ass. Everyone at Fox News will later argue that Trump never wanted to fire Mueller – which would have been clear evidence that he planned to obstruct justice. 

Here, Hannity seems to know that Trump plans exactly that. 

Manafort: Fingers crossed you are right.

 

11/28/17 

Hannity: Hope you had a great thanksgiving 

Blogger: Hannity is saying, “I am really spending a lot of time caring about you, even though the free press has revealed your meeting with Russian agents in Trump Tower.” 

(It will later be proven that Manafort met secretly with a Russian agent in August 2016, as well.)

 

Manafort: I did. Spent it with my family and my 3 month old grandson…Hope you had a good one. 

Manafort: But I cannot allow them to win. It would empower them to go after DT [Trump] and lots of others. 

Blogger: “I need help,” Manafort means. I have damaging information. I could tell investigators that Trump knew about both my secret meetings with Russians.

 

Hannity: The country can’t allow it. 

Manafort: Plus i plan on helping on the re elect! 

Blogger: Manafort is currently serving seven years in prison. He won’t be out in time to work on the 2020 campaign. 

Or the 2024 campaign, probably.

 

12/7/17 

Manafort: Your monologue was the best summary ever of the case against Mueller and his team 

Hannity: F him 

Blogger: Yeah, “F him.” All Mueller ever did was head the F.B.I. for years and build a reputation for integrity. Also: Mueller is a decorated war hero who was wounded in Vietnam. But Fake-Patriot Sean loves Paul! 

Neither he nor Manafort served this country in uniform.

 

12/25/17 

Hannity: My brother, thinking about you. Merry Christmas and 2018 is the year of exposing the TRUTH!!! 

Manafort: Sean, your ears must have been burning. Just told my relatives who you will not give up ever! Merry Christmas to you and your family. Paul 

Blogger: Trump and Hannity are thinking about Paul. They should have sent him a present. A nice Christmas sweater maybe, the kind that lights up.

 

1/3/18 

Manafort: I told my lawyer that i want him to find a way to give you an interview on this complaint [one of numerous legal moves in the case]. He will need to navigate carefully re not violating the gag order in the criminal case, but i think we can figure that out. He said he will give me a sense tomorrow of how we can do it. 

Hannity: We can tape it. 

Blogger: Anything for you, brother, Hannity agrees. We are on the same side, protecting you…and protecting the president.

 

1/17/18 

Manafort: You were awesome last night.

 

1/24/18 

Manafort: In a fair world you would get a Pulitzer for your incredible reporting. 

Hannity: LOL. I’ll take those assholes going to jail.

 

1/25/18 

Manafort: They [the Mueller team] are running out of time…and have nothing but BS charges on me. They are threatening me with more charges because they realize their case is weak and I am not bending to their pressure. JK threats [threats to indict Jared Kushner] may be another way they are trying to get DT to agree to interview. 

Hannity: He won’t agree. The lawyers will fight tooth and nail. 

Blogger: Trump’s guilty. He can’t testify under oath because he’ll lie so many times, even a crack team of investigators will have a hard time keeping track. You’re guilty, too. We both know it; but we will stymie these guys together. Sean and Paul! Like Batman and Robin, only committing crimes, not stopping them.

 

Hannity: Weissmann [Andrew; one of Mueller’s investigators] is a piece of shit…This is a National fing disgrace. 

Blogger: Sure. Pursuing a tax cheat. What an “fing disgrace.”

 

1/26/18 

Manafort: Great show tonight. This story on Trump wanting to fire Mueller is another OSC [Office of Special Counsel] leak – which is illegal. 

Blogger: The president later denies he ever told the White House Chief Counsel Don McGahn to fire Mueller. McGahn says he did. Someone is lying. 

(It’s Trump.)

 

2/3/2018 

Manafort: …Thank you and God bless you for what you just said about Flynn and me. 

Hannity: Later [on the show] I say charges need to be dropped. 

Manafort: I know they are scared because they have been pressing me and I told them to fuck off. 

Hannity: I’m in campaign war mode every day…I am disgusted at this corruption. It should not happen in the USA I can tell u POTUS is disgusted too 

Blogger: Hint, hint, hint: Trump is on your side, Paul.

 

Manafort: I live in a nightmare every day…But I won’t give in 

Hannity: Flynn agreed to “lying” because they said they would go after his son. 

Blogger: Flynn absolutely lied to Vice President Pence; he also took $530,000 from Turkish interests while working on Trump’s 2016 campaign, which would be an absolute conflict of interest. 

Hannity doesn’t care.

 

2/22/18 

Manafort: The SP [Special Prosecutor] just filed more charges against me. They are BS but it is still depressing…Taxes and bank fraud. Honestly, it’s pure intimidation …[Rick] Gates new lawyer is going to be fine. Gates is in for ling haul 

Hannity: Nobody has any idea what this guy is up to. I keep warning everyone 

Manafort: Gates is totalky united with trump and m 

Hannity: They want Trump BADLY 

Manafort: Yes and they are pummeling me to cave These charges are so crazy. They are meant to destroy me 

Blogger: Gates, Manafort’s business partner for years, cuts a deal and pleads guilty. He later testifies that he and Manafort both knew they were communicating with Russian agents during the 2016 campaign.

 

3/7/18 

Hannity: We r all on the same team [he has just mentioned Roger Stone in another text] 

Manafort: And we will prevail 

Blogger: The message for Manafort: Keep lying, we are Team Liars, you, Stone, the president, and me. I will lie to my viewers. I will tell them I love America when I’m essentially conspiring with felons.

 

3/14/18 

Hannity: Why don’t u get a sweetheart deal like Gates 

Manafort: They would want me to give up Dt [Trump] or family, esp. JK [Kushner]. I would never do that. 

Blogger: Paul to Sean: Tell Trump when you call him tonight. I really need a pardon. Or: I might have to cut a deal.

 

3/23/18 

Manafort: Ok Call me on 917-562-0567

 

4/10/18 

Hannity: Time to say F u and go to war. 

Manafort: Yes 

Hannity: They will get Jared…And try to get Potus to explode…Maximum damage to country. Deep state wins 

Manafort: Sessions is totally worthless…By the way, [Judge Amy Berman] Jackson denied me bail today. Declared most of my hard assets couldn’t be used, all on BS reasons…So I may be stuck if I can’t find 2.5 m. 

Hannity: It’s horrible. Michael [Cohen] is a total mess. 

Manafort: These guys started with me, but Cohen isn’t the end. They are fascists. And true criminals. Sessions needs some balls. 

Blogger: Trump fires Sessions the day after the midterm elections in November. He’s angry because Sessions hasn’t “protected” him. Cohen pleads guilty to eight felonies and says Trump ordered him to commit two.

 

5/4/18: 

Manafort: It was a big day. This judge really came down hard on all the key points on illegal delegation [a judge has expressed concern that the case being built against Manafort is really being built to get at the president], anti DT motives, improper over reach. If he rules correctly everyone benefits from me to DT to JK et all. 

Hannity: Massive. Tune into radio now 

Manafort: Next week I do my motion to tgrow out gag order as violation if my 1^st amend rights. I will win it. Then you are the first appearance I do 

Hannity: I am told DT is pumped 

Manafort: Do you think you can use today to give my defense fund a promote? 

Blogger: Paul really needs cash, or he might have to talk. Trump is pumped because he thinks he might get away with lies and obstruction.

 

5/7/18 

Manafort: S I have a favor to ask. I am going live with both a GoFundMe and Facebook defense fund sight tonight around 7:00pm. Do you think you can do a tweet or a like to the site? 

Hannity: Paul it would be problematic with Fox. I need to get the ok. Hope u understand. 

Blogger: Even Fox News has ethical standards. Hannity has none.

 

5/18/19: 

Hannity: Brought up your case with Rudy [Giuliani] 

Manafort: Rudy seems to get it 

Blogger: Sean wants Manafort to know Trump’s newest lawyer is on his side. Remember, keep your mouth shut if you want a pardon.

 

6/5/18 

Manafort: S I know you know this but for the record: This Mueller claim of jury tampering is a total lie. It is the latest squeeze. Just wanted you to hear it from me. 

Hannity: Ok. Got it. Understand. These real crimes committed and ignored disgust me. Fisa HRC [Hannity believes Hillary Rodham Clinton is a criminal; and the FISA courts were wrong to allow an investigation into conduct by several members of the Trump 2016 campaign.] 

Blogger: On August 8, 2018, a jury finds Manafort guilt on eight felony counts. A lone juror hangs the jury, 11-1 for conviction, on ten more. 

In September, Manafort pleads “guilty to one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice and one count of conspiracy against the U.S.” That gives him ten felonies. He agrees to a plea deal and admits that the other ten felony counts (which resulted in a hung jury) were correct. He says he will cooperate with the Mueller team. 

In November, Mueller accuses Manafort of breaching the plea deal and adds a charge of witness tampering. 

On February 13, 2019, Judge Amy Berman Jackson rules that Manafort did indeed violate his plea agreement. First, he lied about, “interactions with the former Russian intelligence operative Konstantin Kilimnik and Kilimnik’s role in the alleged conspiracy to obstruct justice by trying to influence the testimony of two witnesses in February.” Second, he withheld information that was “pertinent to another Department of Justice investigation.” 

The bromance comes to an end, at least in traceable form. Hannity may have been spooked after Manafort was convicted. 

As far as we know, all text messages cease. 

Kilimnik is charged with felonies of his own – but he evades arrest and absconds to…Russia. Same with the Russian lawyer who met with Manafort, Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner in June 2016 at Trump Tower. 

That lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, also flees to Russia to avoid arrest.

 

BLOGGER’S NOTE: On his way out the door, in the wake of defeat in the November 2020 election, President Trump grants Manafort the pardon that Hannity had hinted repeatedly would be his if he refused to spill the beans.