News Round-Up: January 28, 2019

Some news items you might have missed:

• I just came across InstaHunk Thara (above), who basically has it ALL going on. #woof

• Speaking to Rolling Stone, Oscar winner Michael Caine calls his same-sex kiss with Christopher Reeve in the film Deathtrap "a bit of a disaster."

• Longtime Donald Trump confidant, Roger Stone, told reporters the FBI stormed his house "with greater force than was used to take down bin Laden." Note - Bin Laden was shot in the head and dropped in the ocean. I don't think the two experiences are comparable...

• Acting attorney general Matthew G. Whitaker told reporters today that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation is nearing the end.

• A guy goes on Jeopardy, wins almost $100K and wins hearts by blithely mentioning his husband in passing.

• I've been meaning to post this for days: a dad and son, both dressed as Frozen's Elsa, dance to "Let It Go." The video was captioned, "Mom is gone, no stress."

The dad told CBS News, "It’s important to teach children you can do whatever you want to do. It’s important to embarrass yourself and let go."

New From Randy Rainbow "The Donald Trump Cellblock Tango (Part One)"

Randy Rainbow's satirical take on 'The Cellblock Tango'

Squee!!! It's always a good Monday when we start out with new material from satirist Randy Rainbow.

Randy's take on the Kander and Ebb show-stopper "Cellblock Tango" from Chicago the Musical is pure lyric wizardry.

I don't want to give away any of the jokes, so hit the play button below and enjoy.

Happy Monday!

SNL Cold Open: Steve Martin Guests As Newly-Indicted Roger Stone

SNL's cold open recapped the week's biggest political stories including Donald Trump's failure to get even one dollar for his beloved border wall before ending the longest government shutdown in history.

From the YouTube description: Tucker Carlson (Alex Moffat), Jeannine Pirro (Cecily Strong), Ann Coulter (Heidi Gardner), Wilbur Ross (Kate McKinnon) talk about the government shutdown and Roger Stone (Steve Martin) stops by to talk about his arrest.

Riffing on his recent gaffe wondering why furloughed government workers were struggling to make ends meet during the shutdown, McKinnon's Ross says, “I simply meant that there are other ways of getting money - like, they could have liquidated some of their stocks or sold one of their paintings.”

“Even if they sold a lesser Picasso, that’s still going to get you through a week or two of yacht maintenance,” McKinnon as Ross said. “We all have to make sacrifices in times of hardship. For example, instead of going out to dinner you could open a restaurant in your house, or, for a period of time, you could have your horses attend public school.”

And Martin was spot on as Roger Stone mocking the political operative for being a “broke… feeble old man” who is drowning in legal fees and can’t get anyone to buy his books (“because they’re bad!”).

“Just tell people how they can donate money to help you,” Carlson says.

“I set up a donation pageant based on a phrase people have been yelling at me: ‘Hey, Roger, go fund yourself!’” says Martin's Stone.

Watch the clip below.

Trump Adviser, Roger Stone, Arrested On 7 Counts

Roger Stone

Roger Stone, a longtime close adviser to Donald Trump, was arrested shortly after 6am this morning at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on multiple charges stemming from the ongoing investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

From The New York Times:

In an indictment unsealed on Friday, the special counsel disclosed evidence that a top campaign official in 2016 dispatched Roger J. Stone, a longtime adviser to President Trump, to get information from WikiLeaks about the thousands of hacked Democratic emails. The effort began well after it was widely reported that Russian intelligence operatives were behind the theft, which was part of Moscow’s broad campaign to sabotage the 2016 president election.

The indictment makes no mention of whether Mr. Trump played a role in the coordination, though Mr. Mueller did leave a curious clue about how high in the campaign the effort reached.: A senior campaign official “was directed” by an unnamed person to contact Mr. Stone about additional WikiLeaks releases that might damage the Clinton campaign, according to the court document.

Mr. Stone was charged with seven counts, including obstruction of an official proceeding, making false statements and witness tampering.

You can read the full indictment here.

A reporter from CNN, David Shortell, had been staking out Stone's house due to recent activity by the Special Counsel investigation.

According to neighbors, CNN has had a truck out in front of Stone's house Thursday-Saturday since the midterm elections.

And last week, the investigation was negotiating an appearance by Jerome Corsi's stepson. His legal team was told to pick a day for grand jury testimony "just not Friday."

Donald Trump took to Twitter angry that CNN was there to capture the early morning arrest. The Trumpster alleged the Special Counsel's office had tipped off the media so they could embarrass Stone.

CNN’s ability to capture the arrest of Roger Stone was the result of determined reporting and interpreting clues revealed in the course of events. That’s called journalism. #FactsFirst https://t.co/71zu7RylxX

— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) January 25, 2019

As Stone left his indictment hearing, he struck a Nixon-like pose. Reminding the American people of a disgraced president who lied would seem to be an 'interesting' strategy.

pic.twitter.com/OnXCDlcyIK

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) January 25, 2019

As he comes down the steps for his post-indictment hearing news conference, Roger Stone, who was a Nixon campaign aide, strikes the Nixon double V pose. pic.twitter.com/5sWXvthvLs

— NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) January 25, 2019

Roger Stone tries to speak over chants of “Lock him up!” pic.twitter.com/Kxdo7KnDuO

— Greg Hogben (@MyDaughtersArmy) January 25, 2019

Ruh Roh - Trump Ally Roger Stone Invokes His 5th Amendment Rights

Roger Stone

MSNBC is reporting that Roger Stone, longtime ally of Donald Trump, has invoked his Fifth Amendment right to decline to testify and provide documents to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

In the letter dated December 3, Grant Smith, Stone's attorney, wrote, “Mr. Stone’s invocation of his Fifth Amendment privilege must be understood by all to be the assertion of a Constitutional right by an innocent citizen who denounces secrecy.”

While I'm certain the Trumpster will appreciate the loyalty, there was a time when Trump had a certain public opinion on folks who 'take the 5th.'

TRUMP in September 2016: "The mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?" pic.twitter.com/xuta4kGVuz

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 25, 2018

Just an editorial point re Roger Stone.

This is a man who maintains LBJ ordered the killing of JFK, & the Bush family peddled in drug running & pedophilia.

Mueller's greatest task, & ours, may be whether to believe anything he says.

Oh, and innocent people don't plead the 5th.

— David Jolly (@DavidJollyFL) December 4, 2018

If Senate Judiciary Comm subpoenas Stone, he can't invoke 5th to refuse to appear. He can only invoke it in response to Qs as each is asked. And he can't refuse to produce documents unless merely having them is incriminating (e.g. if stolen or classified). https://t.co/UcRHPKeqk4

— Lia Matera (@liamatera) December 5, 2018

“The mob takes the Fifth. If you're innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” —Trump, Sept. 2016

Roger Stone pleads the 5th- December 2018

— Donald J. Trump (@AKADonaldTrump) December 4, 2018

Special Counsel Has Emails Between Trump Allies Discussing WikiLeaks Emails Before They Happened

Donald Trump

Special Counsel Robert Mueller apparently has email correspondence between Trump ally Roger Stone and InfoWars' Jerome Corsi discussing the release of DNC emails by WikiLeaks before it happened.

From NBC News:

Two months before WikiLeaks released emails stolen from the Clinton campaign, right-wing conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi sent an email to former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone anticipating the document dump, according to draft court papers obtained by NBC News.

"Word is friend in embassy plans 2 more dumps," Corsi wrote on Aug. 2, 2016, referring to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, according to the draft court papers. "One shortly after I'm back. 2nd in Oct. Impact planned to be very damaging."

The email was revealed in a draft court document, known as a statement of the offense, sent to Corsi by special counsel Robert Mueller's office. Mueller also sent Corsi a draft plea agreement stipulating that the special counsel would not oppose Corsi requesting a sentence of probation if he agreed to plead guilty to one count of lying to federal investigators.

As NBC News reported on Monday, Corsi said he has rejected the deal. He has described Mueller's team as "thugs" and insisted that he did not "intentionally lie" about his communications related to WikiLeaks.

NBC News goes on to note that Corsi SCRUBBED his computer between Jan. 13, 2017, and March 1, 2017, deleting all email correspondence that predated Oct. 11, 2016, including the messages from Stone about WikiLeaks.

With WikiLeaks, Manafort, Roger Stone and Jerome Corsi all in the news over the last 24 hours, here's a timeline of what went down when it came to Russia, WikiLeaks and the 2016 campaign: pic.twitter.com/gTMXCQaMkq

— Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) November 27, 2018

By August 2, 2016, Corsi was emailing Stone to predict that WikiLeaks had more document dumps in the works. Stone has said he spoke with Trump the following day, August 3.https://t.co/Ly2V6KXXMi

— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) November 27, 2018

Corsi denies all of this saying it was all an educated guess.

"Why did I think they were coming out in October? Because I said to myself if I had these emails I'd use them as the October surprise," Corsi told NBC News on Tuesday. "And why did I think they would come out serially, drip by drip? Because Assange is very strategic. He understands the news cycle."

Earlier today, The Guardian reported that former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort met with WikiLeaks' Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London right before he took over the Trump campaign.

Report: Trump Adviser Boasted Of Dinner With WikiLeaks Founder Same Day He Foretold Of "Devastating" Email Leaks

Roger Stone

Remember - the Special Counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election is looking into whether ANYONE from Team Trump colluded with Russian actors to affect the election.

Roger Stone, longtime adviser to Donald Trump foreshadowed upcoming WikiLeaks disclosure on Alex Jones' "InforWars" show the same day he emailed Trump adviser Sam Nunberg that he had had dinner with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

You see where this is going, right?

From CNN:

On the August 4, 2016, InfoWars show, Stone described the soon-to-appear WikiLeaks disclosures. He also mentioned that he spoke with then-Republican nominee Donald Trump on August 3 -- the day before the interview. InfoWars is a fringe media outlet run by Alex Jones, who is known for spreading conspiracy theories.

Stone wrote to former Trump adviser Sam Nunberg on August 4, 2016, that he had dinner with Assange the night before, according to a source familiar with the email exchange. The email was first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Monday. The Journal also reported that special counsel Robert Mueller is examining the exchange.

Stone has said the email about the dinner was sent in jest and that he has never met or spoken with Assange.

Roger Stone, on the day he sent an email claiming he dined with Julian Assange, also predicted that “devastating” WikiLeaks documents about the Clinton Foundation would be disclosed https://t.co/NuEgXWMcUh pic.twitter.com/0KX5KA750M

— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) April 4, 2018

That email Stone says he sent in "jest," acting like a big man, is exactly what's jacking him up right now.

Trump has said repeatedly that "there was no collusion."

It's very possible Trump didn't know his advisers were in contact with foreign actors interfering in the election. But that doesn't mean someone in his camp wasn't "colluding."

EXCLUSIVE: Roger Stone's email to Sam Nunberg saying he dined with @JulianAssange pic.twitter.com/bBYY9CPcWe

— Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst) April 4, 2018

Report: Trump Adviser Roger Stone Bragged He Knew About WikiLeaks Hack In Advance

Roger Stone

Longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone has vehemently denied having any contact with WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange or prior notice of the document dumps by WikiLeaks that occurred during the 2016 presidential election.

Today, The Washington Post is reporting that Stone told two friends, Sam Nunberg and another associate, that he had learned from Julian Assange that Wikileaks had obtained emails that would torment the Clinton campaign months before the email hack was made public.

In the spring of 2016, longtime political operative Roger Stone had a phone conversation that would later seem prophetic, according to the person on the other end of the line.

Stone, an informal adviser to then-candidate Donald Trump, said he had learned from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange that his organization had obtained emails that would torment senior Democrats such as John Podesta, then campaign chairman for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

The conversation occurred before it was publicly known that hackers had obtained the emails of Podesta and of the Democratic National Committee, documents that WikiLeaks released in late July and October. The U.S. intelligence community later concluded the hackers were working for Russia.

The person, who spoke to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing federal investigation into Russian campaign interference, is one of two Stone associates who say Stone claimed to have had contact with Assange in 2016.

The second, former Trump adviser Sam Nunberg, said in an interview Monday that Stone told him that he had met with Assange — a conversation Nunberg said investigators for special counsel Robert S. Mueller III recently asked him to describe.

Meanwhile, the Republican-led House Intelligence Committee announced it was closing it's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election just yesterday.

Hmm...

Wow, what a coincidence that the House GOP’s perfunctory declaration the the Team Trump didn’t collide w/Russia comes out hours before the WashPost reports Roger Stone, Trump’s longtime political adviser, told two people he talked w/Assange before the Podesta emails were released

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) March 13, 2018

This is extremely serious if proven, as it speaks directly to the deliberate collusion question. If Stone was aware of Russian hacking/Wikileaks documents, it’s hard to imagine he didn’t tell people in Trump world. And there’s a lot of evidence Stone knew. https://t.co/t8PWYIGsuk

— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) March 13, 2018

If it's not immediately obvious, this is 'collusion'. Straight up dirty tricks, to traffic in hacked material from a foreign source to influence an election. Roger Stone was an advisor to Donald's campaign. https://t.co/OmK26dhiJ1

— Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) March 13, 2018

Former Trump Aide Sam Nunberg Thinks Special Counsel May Have "Something" On Trump

Former top Trump aide Sam Nunberg says he will defy a Mueller subpoena and not show up for grand jury testimony because it's a pain to pull together the information Special Counsel Robert Mueller has requested.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Nunberg said he was asked to come to appear before the grand jury on Friday.

He also admitted he was asked for any communications related to President Trump and nine other people, including departing White House communications director Hope Hicks, former White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon, Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone.

"I shouldn't have to spend that much time," said Nunberg. "I shouldn't have to go to a grand jury. I'm spending a lot of money on legal fees. A lot of other people are. And granted, Donald Trump caused this because he's an idiot."

Nunberg told several reporters this afternoon that he believes Mueller thinks Roger Stone (Nunberg's mentor) colluded with Julian Assange of WikiLeaks. I'm guessing that is in reference to WikiLeaks release of emails from the DNC.

“They want me to testify against Roger,” Nunberg said. “They want me to say that Roger was going around telling people he was colluding with Julian Assange.”

MSNBC's Katy Tur directly asked him, "Do you think that they [meaning Mueller] have something on the president?"

Nunberg's response: "I think they may. I think he may have done something during the election."

He told CNN's Gloria Borger, "Mueller thinks that trump is the Manchurian Candidate, and I will tell you I disagree with that."

As I write this, Nunberg - giving yet another interview on TV - just told CNN's Jake Tapper, "I'm not cooperating. Arrest me."

Nunberg also told Tapper he believes Trump knew about the Trump Tower meeting Donald Trump Jr. had with Russians in June of 2016.

This was truly a stunning series of interviews.

One, you don't just say "no" to the Special Counsel.

Two, you don't give three wild and wooly, lengthy interviews live on CNN and MSNBC. A smart man would just shut up.

Watch several of Nunberg's moments on TV today below.

On MSNBC, Former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg says he won't cooperate w/Mueller

"I'm 1st person to go out here & say I'm not cooperating. B/c it's absolutely ridiculous what they want from me. Should I spend 80 hours going over e-mails?..it would be funny if they arrested me" pic.twitter.com/U1yqW7yXbv

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 5, 2018

Nunberg argues that Russian agents hacking Hillary Clinton's emails was "fine" because "she should have protected her e-mails."

(FACT CHECK -- the emails that were hacked and released by WikiLeaks weren't Hillary's, but were the DNC's and John Podesta's.) pic.twitter.com/j89SRZQIGI

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 5, 2018

KATY TUR: "Do you think that they [i.e., Mueller] have something on the president?

NUNBERG: "I think they may... I think he may have done something during the election. But I don't know that for sure." pic.twitter.com/RWkKZwJFw9

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 5, 2018

NUNBERG on why he's not cooperating: "I shouldn't have to spend that much time. I shouldn't have to go to a grand jury. I'm spending a lot of money on legal fees. A lot of other people are. And granted, Donald Trump caused this because he's an idiot." #ItDontWorkLikeThat pic.twitter.com/o2Q8xSHH8X

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 5, 2018

Former Trump aide Sam Nunberg on the special counsel’s investigation: “They know something on [Donald Trump] … I don’t know what it is, and perhaps I’m wrong, but he did something.” https://t.co/aNSV4yxfEY pic.twitter.com/NgGvSfYAIk

— CNN (@CNN) March 5, 2018

Ex-Trump aide Nunberg says he believes Trump knew about the Don Jr-Russian meeting at Trump Tower a week before it happened in June 2016, says he doesn't understand why Trump is trying to hide it. https://t.co/M3beEVW3Zo

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 5, 2018

"Collusion" is a word @realDonaldTrump wants to disappear but today, on live TV, fmr. Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg claimed:
1- Trump "may very well" have done "something" with Russia during election
2- Carter Page colluded with Russians
3- Mueller believes Roger Stone colluded

— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) March 5, 2018

And now Sam Nunberg joins Jake Tapper. pic.twitter.com/Vgv0HkW9dB

— Rex Huppke (@RexHuppke) March 5, 2018

Carter Page: "Nobody is better at going on national TV and incriminating themselves than I am."

Sam Nunburg: "Hold my beer." https://t.co/rNkwmtQOkj

— Daniel Kelly (@dkellyChi) March 5, 2018

House Intel Chairman: I've Never Heard Of Trump Associates Roger Stone Or Carter Page

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes told reporters today he had never heard of Trump associates Roger Stone or Carter Page.

Rather stunning that the man looking into the allegations of Trump collusion with Russian interference could state with a straight face he had never heard of these characters who have been in the news so much in the past months.

Here's the video: House Intel Chmn Nunes tells @DavidCornDC he's never heard of Carter Page or Roger Stone —via @MSNBC pic.twitter.com/y3wJeOoHUt

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 20, 2017