OA231: The End of the Beginning (for Trump)

"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." - Winston Churchill.  And yes, today does, in fact, mark the end of the beginning of the Mueller Investigation... and perhaps for Donald Trump.  Why?  You'll just have to listen and find out!

In this super-sized episode, we tackle:

(1) Michael Cohen's just-announced plea to a new count of lying -- this time in connection with his prior testimony before the Senate and House Intelligence Committees investigating Russian interference in the 2016 elections;

(2) A follow-up on Andrew Miller and Concord Management and Consulting, including a fascinating new blog written by Randall Eliason with Yodel Mountain implications;

(3) Paul Manafort's apparent repudiation of his plea deal with Mueller, what that means and when we'll know;

(4) Jerome Corsi's public refusal to plead and cooperate with the Mueller investigation over WikiLeaks and Julian Assange; and

(5) An update in the Brain Frosh

Finally, we end with an all new Thomas Takes The Bar Exam #103 on a property owner who has the rug pulled out from under him due to a new law.   If you'd like to play along with us, just retweet our episode on Twitter or share it on Facebook along with your guess and the #TTTBE hashtag.  We'll release the answer on next Tuesday's episode along with our favorite entry!

Appearances

None!  If you'd like to have either of us as a guest on your show, drop us an email at openarguments@gmail.com.

Show Notes & Links

Click here to read the new Information to which Cohen pled guilty to today. This is the BuzzFeed article on Cohen, Felix Sater, and Trump's efforts to get a building in Moscow over the past 30 years.  Oh, and here's a link to Trump's tweet that he has "ZERO INVESTMENTS IN RUSSIA." We discussed the Andrew Miller lawsuit in OA 229; you'll definitely want to read the two new filings: Silbey's supplemental amicus "letter", and Christenson's... something. You'll definitely want to check out Randall Eliason's blog analyzing the Concord Management and Consulting lawsuit and what it means for 18 U.S.C. § 371 conspiracy charges (of the sort that might be filed against Trump). Here's Manafort's original plea deal, and this is the Joint Status Report filed earlier this week. Oh, and this is Manafort's waiver of his right to appear at the scheduling conference. This is the Marcy Wheeler article we broke down; for the other side, here's the Wall Street Journal report suggesting Manafort lied about non-Trump-related personal business dealings. This is the Guardian article connecting Manafort to Julian Assange and WikiLeaks; here is the fantastic Washington Post article and timeline on what that means if true. Here's Corsi's draft deal with Manafort that he rejected. Finally, we discussed the Brian Frosh lawsuit against Matthew Whitaker in Episode 227; you can now read the amicus brief filed by 15 state attorneys general.  Phew!

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