I'll concede that Papadopoulos was a "young, low level volunteer"

[JohnnyRingo]

But considering he's taken on the role of a "proactive" source of information and testimony, it seems his sense of volunteerism is boundless. Needless to say, he's not volunteering info on those perched beneath him on the campaign ladder and the White House knows it.

Since Mueller did such an airtight job of containing leaks, it's now unknown to Trump who he can trust, even with the vague promise of pardons. I imagine anyone sharing his DNA may be safe from actual prison time, but what about his son-in-law? Can he be so sure Trump wouldn't toss his stinking carcass under the bus to protect immediate family like Don Jr?

The Donald now has to feel akin to a Mafia Don with a federal prosecutor breathing down his neck. He has to wonder who's wearing a wire and who's working with Mueller, compiling a solid case against him for treason or the shady money deals Trump knows exists.

This could consume The Don's future days and sleepless nights as he tightens his circle of confidants to hapless stooges, blood relatives, and potential fall guys, so yeah, I'll go with "young low level volunteer" until the inevitable next shoe drops.

[True Dough]

1. Sleepless nights for Donny?

I look forward to the incomprehensible "Covfefe" tweets!

[onenote]

2. While not a volunteer, you know who else was a young White House staffer?

John Dean.

[avebury]

3. Nobody is safe from jail time if it turns out that any

Last edited Tue Oct 31, 2017, 02:45 PM - Edit history (1)

state can successfully prosecute any of them on state charges. Trump's pardons won't work there.

[marylandblue]

5. Trump is not safe from state tax evasion charges.

Mueller can only know about Manafort's tax evasion through tax returns. Which means he also has Trump's tax returns.

[treestar]

6. He was high enough to be pictured at a conference table

That does not happen for coffee-providers.

[LonePirate]

7. Its interesting how this low level volunteer reported directly to Jeff Sessions.

I’ll bet the AG has been shitting bricks since he found out that GP has been singing to Mueller for over three months now. I wonder how naughty that little elf has been.

[JohnnyRingo]

9. That would be particularly sweet for me.

I have such disdain for Jefferson B Sessions that I was shocked when he was nominated for AG. I've known for years that he was so much the racist homophobic liar that I just assumed he was already drummed out of office. I guess that's still a working campaign platform in Arkansas.

My greatest hope now is that, at the very least, his self centered decision to accept that post leads to permanent exclusion from public service. Perhaps after his stint at license plate production he can get a gig giving paid legal advice to Nazis and the Klan. If he isn't disbarred anyway.

[klook]

13. FYI - Sessions is from Alabama, not Arkansas.

I'd love to see him go down, too, but we're stuck with speculation at this point. I look forward to continuing arrests, indictments, and news from the investigation -- and further ruination of the Republican brand.

[underpants]

11. They may have thought they created distance or a buffer

by his only being on the campaign for a short time (but the meeting photo is pretty damning). George may have been an operative that they stupidly thought couldn't be connected back to the campaign.

[GeorgeGist]

8. Imagine the Whoppers Donnie is concocting ...

he tells the Bigglyest lies.

[Freethinker65]

10. Low enough to keep the higher-ups hands clean?

High enough to trust with being an intermediary with foreign powers wishing to undermine our nation’s democracy?

That is what the higher ups planned. But their clueless leader just could not keep his mouth shut; had to blab about getting super secret info on his opponent; had to lie about when/if he had that information, had to make Junior lie about a “Russian adoptions” meeting, too oblivious to consider that there might be a trail left behind. Sessions is only slightly less oblivious than Trump.

[underpants]

12. Expanding in post # 11

11. They may have thought they created distance or a buffer by his only being on the campaign for a short time (but the meeting photo is pretty damning). George may have been an operative that they stupidly thought couldn't be connected back to the campaign.

This was really stupid. YOU don't go to the meeting (ala Jr. Jared and Manafort) you get someone else to take care of it. They get someone to go for them. This muddies the water of exactly which bucket of money the end guy got paid from.

Let's look at the DNC side. Stay with me on this I'm not saying they paid but just using it as an example. The DNC had a law firm that did a lot of work for them, Perkins Coie (PC), they paid Fusion GPS (we've been told) who then paid Orbis. Which bucket did Orbis get paid from? Gee hard to say really.

On another note - I wouldn't bank on Trump protecting Jr. first. By all accounts he likes Jared more. As I've said a couple of times - if Trump was in JAWS, he'd have been straight up to the crows nest hoping the shark got full on the others.