Wouldn't be the first of Manafort's clients to do that, would he?

If he does then Mueller's replacement and the inevitable congressional hearings when the Democrats come back into power (remember Benghazi!!!) will go for the jugular - prison time.

Yes, sir. And at some point, Trump plays the "dementia card" he has up his sleeve, and the New York AG is prepared to make Benedict Donald's life a living hell regardless. :)

A. When Melania runs away.

I think neilm proposes very plausible scenarios driving Trump to resign, but I think the timeline will drag out towards the midterms, when (and if) the Republican Party, and perhaps more importantly, when Donors to the Republican Party, feel Trump has outlived his usefulness.

Trump has been on the brink of disaster for much of his adult life and is used to mental stress. He tends to play all his cards, even if his hand is poor. Then he folds, and pretends he has won. See comment 11.

To neilm's list of resignation prods I would add the Corrupt Foreign
Practices Act (easy to prosecute) and criminal tax evasion (which has no statute of limitations AND would impact his children).

It's amusing to think Trump might defect.....visit a foreign country, and never go back to Air Force 1. Hole up in an embassy and make his way to Moscow to build a Trump Tower in sight of Red Square. That would be, excuse the pun, rich! : ). Let Putin put up with him...and vice versa.

I think so too. I think Trump may well have been more useful-idiot than mastermind re: Russian activities, but I think he's knee-deep in financial crimes going back a long time.

I've thought that might be the best resolution in terms of his removal -- sparing us the impeachment (which he richly deserves but which Repubs don't want to do). Hopefully it would limit violence on the part of his nutcase followers. But I hope every other guilty bigwig is still pursued: Pence, Bannon, Priebus, Sessions, Ryan, McConnell, Rohrbacher, etc. either by/through Mueller or by Dems after 2018. Because, in a lot of ways, they're worse. Trump is a criminal but, until they helped him, he didn't hold political power. They helped him, even to the point of committing or covering up crimes themselves and these guys aren't idiots, don't have Alzheimers, know what the laws are, etc. Trump has always been a symptom of Republican rot, not a cause.

I think there is a good chance that the resignation offer will be made to cut off the investigation - this will be spun as "for the good of the country" etc. and will only be available if 45 doesn't panic and fire Mueller. If he does then Mueller's replacement and the inevitable congressional hearings when the Democrats come back into power (remember Benghazi!!!) will go for the jugular - prison time.

There are a couple of illegal activities that I'm sure are under investigation:

1. If the illegal hack of the DNC emails and subsequent release via Wikileaks involved Americans, even in the role of coordinating the timing of the release, then those Americans are in trouble

2. If there was a concerted attempt by a foreign power create a quid-pro-quo with a candidate or his or her senior staff, then the Americans involved are in trouble. For example, if a member of the election committee set up meetings with Russian government representatives and agreed that if the Russians unleashed their troll army to influence the election and in return Russia would get sanctions relief, then there is a crime.

Given that 45 himself asked the Russians to hack and release Hillary's emails, and the number of lies we already know about 45's team meeting with Russian agents, there is plenty of smoke to check out.

I don't know any more about who did what than anybody does, but ya all gotta remember, it isn't even illegal to get dirt on your political enemies from the Ruskies, or actually for that matter, anybody else!!

You may have to eat your words. Mueller is a Republican and none of them have looked good during this orange atrocity.

That's always in the back of my mind -- hoping Mueller is the exception. Because, yes, repubs as a group and individually have almost universally failed us, and are still failing us.

New Yorkers who have followed Trump over the decades know something important about the man. He will bully and delay right up to the brink, but once cornered, he folds faster than Suprman on laundry day. A vital part of his "art of the deal."

There is speculation that Papadop was wired by Mueller's team. That is apparently standard operating procedure of the FBI....the whole White House Magazine may "brew up" which could pose a serous risk of Constitutional Collateral Damage (CCD) should Trump pull the red "Fire Mueller" lever. Rumor has it that Trump's lawyers have attached a "DO NOT PULL!!!" tag to the lever, but Trump doesn't read well or follow instructions.

All this would be amusing if I didn't live in the USA.

I think I'll wander over to the Trump Tweet Archive and check our the latest Crooked Hillary Smoke Screen.

You may have to eat your words. Mueller is a Republican and none of them have looked good during this orange atrocity.

http://www.chrisweigant.com/2017/10/27/ftp459/#comment-110010

More tomorrow, I promise!

:-)

-CW

http://www.chrisweigant.com/2017/10/30/apocalyptic-nightmares-for-right-and-left/#comment-110007

more in a bit...

-CW

-CW

That's how I feel -- we're only halfway through the first reel, really.

Can't wait to see the plot twists in the second reel!

:-)

-CW

You know I'm right.