Trump Retribution Phase | BOLTON INDICTED

[nycfan]

—> https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy...e?st=FQ9sdD&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

“… Shapley has told people that he is going to replace Guy Ficco, the chief of the investigative unit, who has been at the agency for decades, and that Shapley has been putting together a list of donors and groups he believes IRS investigators should look at. Among those on the list are the billionaire Democratic donor George Soros and his affiliated groups, according to a senior IRS official and another person briefed on the list. It couldn’t be determined upon what grounds Shapley would seek to begin such an investigation.

The effort within the IRS coincides with a larger administration effort to probe left-leaning groups for helping to finance organizations that the president says are creating anarchy in Democratic-led cities. Trump has directed Bessent, who is also acting IRS commissioner, to identify financial networks that the president says are fomenting political violence. Democrats say the effort is politically motivated and not based on real evidence.

“Scott will do that. That’s easy for Scott,” Trump said during a recent cabinet meeting about Bessent’s helping with the investigation.…”

“…
Shapley and those close to him are also proposing changes to the rules on how IRS criminal probes are conducted, according to people familiar with the matter. Attorneys from the IRS chief counsel’s office typically work with IRS-CI agents as they move through investigations, particularly for steps such as search warrants and bringing a case to the Justice Department for potential prosecutions. The Internal Revenue Manual, the agency’s procedure handbook, spells out the involvement of chief-counsel lawyers and the CI chief in criminal cases. It includes extra steps for sensitive cases, such as those involving federal elected officials and tax-exempt groups.

Shapley wants to change the manual so that the chief-counsel lawyers have less of a role, these people explained.

Some senior IRS criminal tax attorneys are already voicing concern about the methods of investigators while Trump encourages his administration to target donors and nonprofit groups, according to people familiar with the matter. Some of the criminal tax attorneys have privately argued against moving ahead with at least one case, with the argument it is vindictive prosecution and seems politically motivated.

Shapley has previously complained about the IRS criminal-tax attorneys’ work with IRS-CI agents. Criminal-tax counsel “is not a respected organization within IRS CI,” Shapley said in a 2023 congressional hearing about the Hunter Biden probe.…”

——
Much like the stories about Hegseth sidelining lawyers at the Pentagon, now the IRS is going to do the same.

 

[superrific]

Remember this. Do it to them back 10x. It is the only way to teach the billionaire class that they cannot put themselves above the law or direct the law for their own private purposes. Maybe when their lawlessness boomerangs on them, they will understand life in a democracy. Hopefully for them, it won't come too late, as it did for the Russian sub captain in Hunt For Red October. And FYI the line I'm thinking of is "you've destroyed us." (I think that's it). As in, financial empires being destroyed. Not people killed.

This is imperative or we will be dealing with fascism the rest of our lives.

 

[pspsps]

Is this lawfare? And is that essentially the weaponization of the justice department?

 

[StrangePackage]

No. This is fascism.

 

[nycfan]

“…
Shapley and those close to him are also proposing changes to the rules on how IRS criminal probes are conducted, according to people familiar with the matter. Attorneys from the IRS chief counsel’s office typically work with IRS-CI agents as they move through investigations, particularly for steps such as search warrants and bringing a case to the Justice Department for potential prosecutions. The Internal Revenue Manual, the agency’s procedure handbook, spells out the involvement of chief-counsel lawyers and the CI chief in criminal cases. It includes extra steps for sensitive cases, such as those involving federal elected officials and tax-exempt groups.

Shapley wants to change the manual so that the chief-counsel lawyers have less of a role, these people explained.

Some senior IRS criminal tax attorneys are already voicing concern about the methods of investigators while Trump encourages his administration to target donors and nonprofit groups, according to people familiar with the matter. Some of the criminal tax attorneys have privately argued against moving ahead with at least one case, with the argument it is vindictive prosecution and seems politically motivated.

Shapley has previously complained about the IRS criminal-tax attorneys’ work with IRS-CI agents. Criminal-tax counsel “is not a respected organization within IRS CI,” Shapley said in a 2023 congressional hearing about the Hunter Biden probe.…”

——
Much like the stories about Hegseth sidelining lawyers at the Pentagon, now the IRS is going to do the same.

 

[NOVAHEEL13]

Remember this. Do it to them back 10x. It is the only way to teach the billionaire class that they cannot put themselves above the law or direct the law for their own private purposes. Maybe when their lawlessness boomerangs on them, they will understand life in a democracy. Hopefully for them, it won't come too late, as it did for the Russian sub captain in Hunt For Red October. And FYI the line I'm thinking of is "you've destroyed us." (I think that's it). As in, financial empires being destroyed. Not people killed.

This is imperative or we will be dealing with fascism the rest of our lives.

The line is "You arrogant ass, you killed us!" said to Capt. Tupolev after he removed the safety feature on the 2nd torpedo he fired at Red October because Ramius turned Red October into the path of the first torpedo and closed the distance before it had the chance to arm itself and it broke up against the hull. The 2nd torpedo missed RO because of counter measures and then honed in on Capt Tupolev's boat.

Probably more than you needed to know about the scene but both the movie and novel are on my top 20 lists respectively.

 

[superrific]

The line is "You arrogant ass, you killed us!" said to Capt. Tupolev after he removed the safety feature on the 2nd torpedo he fired at Red October because Ramius turned Red October into the path of the first torpedo and closed the distance before it had the chance to arm itself and it broke up against the hull. The 2nd torpedo missed RO because of counter measures and then honed in on Capt Tupolev's boat.

Probably more than you needed to know about the scene but both the movie and novel are on my top 20 lists respectively.

Oh, I got the quote wrong. The thing that always bugged me is that the torpedo would have killed them anyway regardless of whether the safety had been on (indeed, the counter measures), so the whole thing about the safety feature was pointless.

 

[nycfan]

 

[nycfan]

“… Bolton is accused of using his private AOL email account to transmitclassified information and record diary-like notes of his daily activities and assessments throughout his time in President Trump’s first administration, sources told The Post in August.

The account was hacked by an unidentified foreign entity at some point, according to a probable cause warrant unsealed last month — meaning some of the secret information may have ended up in the hands of foreign governments or other bad actors….”

 

[gtyellowjacket]

“… Bolton is accused of using his private AOL email account to transmitclassified information and record diary-like notes of his daily activities and assessments throughout his time in President Trump’s first administration, sources told The Post in August.

The account was hacked by an unidentified foreign entity at some point, according to a probable cause warrant unsealed last month — meaning some of the secret information may have ended up in the hands of foreign governments or other bad actors….”

Yeah. He should be nailed to the wall for that if true.

Congress needs to come up with a fix for this. And it's a bit of their own making. For various really good reasons, we should want people in the executive branch to have some privacy on their internal communications. And there are very good reasons why those communications shouldn't be all that private. But all of these administration officials know that communications that go through a government network could be on display in a congressional hearing. Any email or text could be taken out of context and ruin a career.

It's all these officials are coming up with less than ideal workarounds including Hillary with her email server in the bathroom, Bolton using technology from the '90s, Donald Trump Jr with his WhatsApp and now Hegseth with his telegram groups including freaking journalists. I'm sure there are literally hundreds if not thousands of others.

So the fix needs to be come down hard on everyone, which is ripe for political hi jinx or come up with effective privacy guard rails that avoid the perceived need for these workarounds.

 

[nycfan]

 

[nycfan]

 

[Calheel]

“… Bolton is accused of using his private AOL email account to transmitclassified information and record diary-like notes of his daily activities and assessments throughout his time in President Trump’s first administration, sources told The Post in August.

The account was hacked by an unidentified foreign entity at some point, according to a probable cause warrant unsealed last month — meaning some of the secret information may have ended up in the hands of foreign governments or other bad actors….”

He should be prosecuted for using an AOL email account just on principle.

 

[Molotov Mocktail]

He should be prosecuted for using an AOL email account just on principle.

“You’ve got indictments”

 

[nycfan]

“You’ve got indictments”

A guy who my husband knew in NYC in the 90s got indicted and convicted in a high profile criminal case in NYC that involved in part some early online kinky sex communications. The headline of the NY Post front page coverage of the jury verdict was “Jury to Oliver: You’ve Got Jail!”

 

[nycfan]

 

[nycfan]

 

[nycfan]

 

[ChapelHillSooner]

This admin is following the same pattern with all of this.

1. Claim that your opponent has weaponized the executive branch.

For the IRS case, it was the IRS targeting controversy.

For the DOJ, it was the investigations into real and serious criminal acts by Donald Trump.

2. When in power, engage in blatant targeting of political opponents.

#1 makes it almost impossible to make a valid argument against #2. The fact that one is legitimate and the other not will be lost on half the population.


Also, I will add that it is almost impossible to not indict someone as I've learned in my ongoing grand jury service.

 

[nycfan]

Retribution aside, it does sound like Bolton is facing a considerably more serious case than Comey and James. Like maybe cop a plea serious.