A mood of fateful anticipation is cloaking Washington, with possible arrests imminent after the federal grand jury in the Russia investigation approved its first charges.From The Atlantic:
By taking one or more people into custody, a prospect first reported by CNN Friday, Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller would create a new, perilous reality for the White House, reflecting the gravity of the investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election and alleged collusion by President Donald Trump's associates.
Washington is waking up on Monday waiting to see who will be arrested. Multiple news outlets reported Friday night that Special Counsel Robert Mueller obtained a sealed indictment from a federal grand jury in the nation’s capital—the first one of the Russia investigation. But like so many other aspects of Mueller’s probe, the who, when, and why are still a mystery.Of course, our friends on the right want nothing more than to talk about their latest Benghazi "scandal" - Uranium One.
Luckily, yesterday Joy Reid did something so few TV journalists do. She actively challenged a republican talking head (in this case Jen Kerns of the Washington Examiner) on with actual stubborn facts. Take a look:
Crooks and Liars has a transcript:
REID: I want to ask you a couple fact-based questions. Who got the money when the Canadian company was sold to the Russian company? The Uranium One? Who received the money?On the other hand, some Trump-connected folks might be arrested today.
KERNS: I presume the company.
REID: Yes. Okay, second question. Who approved the sale? Because when any sort of uranium or any company sells that type product, and by the way the uranium that's mined is mined right, is for nuclear power. It's not for nuclear bombs. Right? But when that happens there is an organization called CFIUS that approves it. Do you know what CFIUS that stands for?
KERNS: Yes. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
REID: How many people sit on the committee?
KERNS: Nine members.
REID: How many have to approve a deal like this?
KERNS: All nine of them.
REID: All nine.
KERNS: Absolutely.
REID: How many approved this deal?
KERNS: All nine of them.
REID: Did Hillary Clinton sit personally on that deal?
KERNS: No, but she pushed for it.
REID: Hold on. Who is the person who donated to Hillary Clinton who is related to and had an investment in uranium one? What is that person's name? Do you remember their name?
KERNS: They are board members of Uranium One donated up to I think it's a $143 million... to the Clinton Foundation.
REID: Did he own any assets in Uranium One at the time Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State?
KERNS: You know, I don't know that, but here's what I would...
REID: He did not. Sold them. (crosstalk)
KERNS: Here's what i would like to know.
REID: He sold them years before. So what you're talking about is a deal that nine members approved unanimously. None of them was Hillary Clinton. You have a donor who separately gave Hillary Clinton donations at a time when she was not Secretary of State. The two things cross in the night.
They have no relation to each other. The members of CFIUS have been very clear Hillary Clinton had nothing to do with that approving that deal. She would have had to strong arm eight people in order to get them to unanimously approve the deal and also the President of the United States would intervene if they saw any problems.
The CFIUS people say now that if that deal came before them today they would still approve it unanimously. There's actually nothing about the deal that's controversial. The only reason we're talking about it is because per your admission, which I think is very honest, the RNC would like us to be talking about this now.
It's Manafort.
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