When it was first discovered Tuesday that Robert Mueller had filed a motion (full pdf below) to grant limited immunity to five witnesses; and simultaneously seal the court records -protecting them- therein; the benefactors of that immunity request were predictably expected to include: Tony Podesta, and/or John Podesta, and/or Kimberley Fritts and/or Rick Gates; in exchange for their testimony against Paul Manafort.

The reason is simple, Paul Manafort was a business associate working with Tony Podesta lobbying on behalf of Ukraine; Kimberley Fritts was Podesta’s CEO. Paul Manafort was not a registered lobbyist, violating FARA rules; however, neither was Tony or John Podesta. Manafort and the Podesta brothers were all guilty of the same crime.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller only prosecuted Paul Manafort, he did not prosecute Tony Podesta. That is an example of bias…. but wait, it gets worse. According to the motion, Tony Podesta was refusing to give testimony to Mueller and invoking his fifth amendment privilege against self-incrimination. So what does Mueller do?

Well, according to Tucker Carlson exclusive reporting tonight, Robert Mueller is giving Tony Podesta immunity…. yeah, go figure.

For more, and some links, go to link.

Link

Of course Podesta gets immunity from Mueller, he's a fellow democrat.

This should get ugly very fast.

https://www.washingtonexaminer...paul-manafort-report

Tony Podesta, founder of the now-shuttered Podesta Group and brother to former Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, has been offered immunity by special counsel Robert Mueller to testify against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, according to a report.

Fox News' Tucker Carlson announced on his show Thursday evening that two separate sources confirmed the offer.

"In other words, for a near identical crime , Bill and Hillary's friend could escape and emerge completely unscathed while Paul Manafort may rot in jail. Only one of them made the mistake of chairing Donald Trump's presidential campaign," Carlson said.

Podesta resigned from his lobbying company in October in response to an investigation of the firm by Mueller. The firm was closed by the end of 2017.

At the time of Podesta's resignation, a Podesta Group spokesman said the firm was "cooperating fully with the special counsel's office and has taken every possible step to provide documentation that confirms timely compliance. In all of our client engagements, the Podesta Group conducts due diligence and consults with appropriate legal experts to ensure compliance with disclosure regulations at all times — and we did so in this case."

Manafort and Podesta's firms worked together in a public relations campaign for the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine nonprofit, which was believed to be backed by the pro-Russian and oligarch-funded Ukrainian political group Party of Regions. Sources who spoke with NBC News in October said the Podesta Group became of significant interest because it may have violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act. FARA states Americans who lobby for foreign governments, leaders, or political parties must disclose their activities with the Justice Department.

Manafort, currently in jail awaiting trial, faces charges related to money laundering, failing to register as a foreign agent, and tampering with government witnesses, as part of special counsel Mueller's Russia inquiry.

I sure wish The Donald would shut this shit down yesterday.

quote:

Originally posted by TigerDore:
Of course Podesta gets immunity from Mueller, he's a fellow democrat.

Just a coincidence don't you know.We have been down this immunity thing before.


Partisan fireworks over Clinton aides' immunity deals

https://www.politico.com/story...deal-reaction-228596

Republicans say the agreements raise troubling new questions. Democrats say the GOP is just making 'political hay.

The revelation that several Hillary Clinton staffers received partial immunity in the FBI email probe set off another round of partisan fireworks on Friday: Republicans said they're increasingly convinced the Justice Department mishandled the investigation and Democrats accused the GOP of stoking the issue for maximum political damage in the heat of the presidential campaign.

Oversight Committee Republicans seethed after the disclosure that Clinton’s lawyer Cheryl Mills was granted protection from prosecution for turning over to the FBI the laptop she used while helping sort Clinton’s "work-related” emails from her “personal messages.” The work messages were slated to be made public, while the personal ones were deleted. Also receiving legal protection was Heather Samuelson, a Clinton campaign staffer-turned-legal assistant who made the initial determination on how to categorize the emails.

“If the FBI wanted any other American’s laptops, they’d just go get them — they wouldn’t get an immunity deal,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), an oversight panel member, said in a phone interview. “But everyone associated with the Clinton gets a different set of standards applied to them… It’s the strangest stuff I have ever seen.”

Republicans were also incensed that the immunity deals, which now cover five Clinton staffers at the heart of the controversy, did not require witnesses to cooperate with Congress, sources who reviewed them told POLITICO. Such agreements sometimes include language forcing the recipients to answer other investigative entities, but the Justice deals did not.
Cheryl Mills, a longtime Clinton aide, received an immunity deal from the Justice Department during the investigation of Hillary Clinton's emails.

Top Clinton aide Cheryl Mills granted partial immunity in email investigation

By JOSH GERSTEIN and NICK GASS

Republicans have been trying to question several of those protected individuals, including: Clinton’s top IT staffer Bryan Pagliano, who set up the server; Platte River Networks engineer Paul Combetta, who erased Clinton’s email archive days after news of her email use became public; and John Bentel, a tech staffer at the State Department who told his subordinates never to speak of Clinton’s email when they raised concerns.

This latest email flare-up comes at an inopportune time for Clinton, just days before her first debate against Donald Trump. Republicans said the timing of the immunity news was not intentional; they only learned on Friday of the arrangements with Mills, Samuelson and Bentel and almost immediately disclosed them to the AP, which first reported the story. Regardless, Clinton has been unable to shake the email controversy even after the FBI decided against recommending charges against her in July.

“Of course, Republicans are trying to make political hay out of this, but the facts are that Ms. Mills cooperated fully with the Justice Department and Congress, the FBI concluded that there was no basis for any criminal prosecution,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, in a statement. “Republicans will stop at nothing to tear apart the FBI’s independent investigation to try to damage Secretary Clinton’s presidential campaign.”

Democrats also blasted Oversight for failing to make clear earlier Friday that Mills’ and Sameuelson’s immunity was only “partial,” meaning it only protected them from any criminal charges that might have arisen from scopes of their laptops — not their statements to the FBI.
Cheryl Mills was granted protection from prosecution for turning over to the FBI the laptop she used while helping sort Hillary Clinton’s emails.

Cheryl Mills was granted protection from prosecution for turning over to the FBI the laptop she used while helping sort Hillary Clinton’s emails. | Getty

“Republicans are in a frenzy that is disorganized, frenetic, and lurching from point to disjointed point with no actual substantive goal or plan,” said one Democratic source on the panel.

On Tuesday night, in a classified room in the Capitol, a group of Republicans and Democrats on the Oversight Committee met with Justice Department congressional liaison Peter Kadzik to discuss document requests. Republicans had called the hearing because they felt the FBI was not being forthcoming in their request for a full, un-redacted copy of the agency's Clinton investigative report.

Immunity also came up. Republicans wanted to know who else beside Pagliano and Combetta had received legal protection and who approved the agreements. Lawmakers also asked whether the deals required the recipients to still cooperate with other investigative entities.

Kadzik wouldn’t say. A Democratic source said he could not answer the questions because Republicans had only asked for the information a few hours earlier in a letter to the Justice Department, and the answers weren't fully researched.

Kadzik's refusal to answer fully did not go over well with Republicans, and the meeting deteriorated from there, said one GOP source in the room. One Republican threatened to make Kadzik testify in a public setting, should he fail to get them the information, in effect daring him to say that Congress wasn’t entitled to it.

It never came to that. On Thursday morning, Justice delivered the immunity agreements for Pagliano and Combetta. The other three were provided on Friday morning.

Republicans said the findings raised more troubling questions about the Justice Department's actions.

“Immunity deals should not be a requirement for cooperating with the FBI," Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said in a statement, adding that the agreements were handed out "like candy."

Republicans say they have several questions for FBI director James Comey at a hearing next week. For one: how was Mills — a witness to Clinton's actions, and whose own conduct came under scrutiny — able to also represent Clinton as her lawyer during the FBI's interview of the former secretary of State? And why did Justice grant immunity to so many people?

Mills "got an immunity agreement," Jordan said, and still "got to sit in on (Clinton's) interview when she was being interviewed by the FBI… It just raises a lot of questions."

Several people Republicans have tried to talk to about the Clinton email matter have refused to cooperate. On Thursday, the panel held Pagliano in contempt of Congress for refusing to show up to a hearing despite a subpoena. His lawyer said he would not answer questions.

That's the most infuriating thing I've read all day.

Why do Democrats always get off easy... and Republicans face the worse possible consequences?


I'm really getting sick of Democrats not being prosecuted. Hillary has probably run the biggest, most extensive, most damaging to our country, criminal enterprise of our generation... and she will probably die with her ill-gotten gains without serving a day in prison.

So far I've only seen this reported by Tucker Carlson. A lot of other places are reporting that Carlson said it.

One would think Carlson wouldn't run w this story unless it was solid. The names were supposed to remain under seal.

I would think this makes Rosenstein et al dirty enough to justify firing them all. Trump would be within his bounds. Don’t let this opportunity go by.

Time for legislation to prevent these Liberals from granting immunity to friends.

How many Hillary and Obama friends have been granted immunity now by the Comey and Muller gang?

The Democrats have so very corrupted our legal system, this is maddening.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
I sure wish The Donald would shut this shit down yesterday.

This. De-classify the whole damn thing and let the sunlight disinfect everything.

As long as there is a coward as AG and a tyrant who thinks he runs the secret police as the deputy AG stuff like this will continue to happen.

There will be NO justice as long as those two continue to hold their jobs. It's that simple.

???

adding: there are two trials . looks like the first list of 5 granted immunity are for the Virginia trial.

Tucker Carlson maintaining Podesta granted immunity for the Wash DC trial re FARA.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politic...al/story?id=56761562

A federal judge on Monday approved Paul Manafort’s request to delay his trial start date, giving attorneys for both Manafort and the special counsel Robert Mueller until July 31 to prepare. The trial had been scheduled to begin on Wednesday.

Judge T.S. Ellis also approved special counsel Robert Mueller’s request to offer immunity to five witnesses expected to testify at the trial of Manafort

Within hours of Ellis’ ruling, the names of those witnesses were unsealed:

Dennis Raico,
Cindy Laporta,
Conor O’Brien,
Donna Duggan, and
James Brennan

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx


http://www.foxnews.com/politic...t-paul-manafort.html

After the requests were unsealed, Carlson tweeted: "Our sources maintain that Tony Podesta has been offered immunity to testify in Paul Manafort’s criminal trial in D.C. regarding criminal FARA violations. The witness list released today surrounds Manafort’s VA trial which mainly involves tax violations."

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III pushed Manafort's Virginia trial back until July 31 to give Manafort's lawyers more time to review thousands of pages of data and documents turned over by Mueller's office in the last several weeks.

So it ain't the Podesta bitches?

Not sure yet, but might be the 5 just named are for VA trial re tax violations, while Podesta is for DC trial on FARA

It was going to be Tony Podesta.
Mueller really didn't need him, just wanted to give him immunity as a sneaky payoff.

Carlson outed it and they left Tony Podesta without the deal.

Tucker was set-up like a bowlin'pin.

see above posts re two trials

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
see above posts re two trials

The judge in VA wouldn’t be giving immunity to someone who was’t testifying in that case.

quote:

The judge in VA wouldn’t be giving immunity to someone who was’t testifying in that case.

agreed

The pdf in your original OP references the VA trial. Those names have been released. No Podesta.

From the Fox report, Tucker Carlson is saying the Podesta immunity will come from the DC trial.

Confusing situation.

Expect Tucker Carlson will be addressing tonight.