Day 778

[matt (Matt Kiser)]

Updated 3/8/2019 2:10 PM PST

1/ Trump claimed that Michael Cohen "directly" asked him for a pardon, was told "NO," and then lied about it last week during his House Oversight and Reform Committee testimony. During the testimony, Cohen stated he "have never asked for, nor would I accept, a pardon from Mr. Trump." Cohen's current lawyer, Lanny Davis, acknowledged that Cohen's previous lawyer discussed the possibilities of a pardon with Rudy Giuliani after the FBI searched Cohen's home and office in April 2018. Davis said that Cohen was open to the "dangled" possibility of a pardon in implicit statements by Trump's team. Cohen replied to Trump in a tweet of his own, calling the assertion "another set of lies." (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / USA Today)

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This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2019/03/08/day-778/

[anneincolo (Anne)]

Oh boy – that last news item. It’s convoluted but it’s a thread worth paying attention to in the Trumpian knot.

Trump watched the Superbowl, this year, with a woman who’s credibly accused of trafficking women for sex. Why is that important? Because it’s not Trump’s only connection to people who’ve made underage girls available for sex (underage girls cannot consent to sex). Jeffery Epstein’s been convicted of it. And during the primary, two women came forward anonymously and accused Trump of raping them at parties at Epstein’s house.

The Miami Herald has been doing good investigative work on Epstein. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article221897990.html

[Keaton_James]

@matt

The House passed a sweeping voting rights, campaign-finance and ethics reform package . The legislation includes expansion of early voting, redistricting reform, making Election Day a federal holiday, automatic voter registration and stricter disclosure rules. The legislation would also require presidential and vice presidential candidates to publicly disclose 10 years of tax returns. Mitch McConnell does not plan to give the bill a vote in the Senate.

Well let’s just put a pin in that because in two years we’ll pass it through a Senate controlled by Democrats and it will be signed into law by a Democratic President.

[Keaton_James]

Did Blackwater’s Erik Prince Lie to Congress About a Trump Tower Meeting? I...

The just-released 2-minute video below will make your day. It captures the moment when Erik Prince, appearing before a live television audience, is caught in a huge, bald-faced lie that could result in perjury charges. I don’t think Prince will still be smirking when he’s indicted – he should ask Cohen if lying to Congress is really just a lark. BTW, you’ve got to admire the interviewer, Mehdi Hasan – he’s fierce.

Mehdi Hasan (mehdirhasan)