If anyone has "Prime" access to TalkingPointMemo.com (Josh Marshall) can you comment on this?

[hlthe2b]

Is there something to this? (it seems a little ominous, but I can't see the entire article)

Pay Very Close Attention To This (Prime Beta - Subscription Required)
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/prime-beta/pay-very-close-attention-to-this

I’ve mentioned a few times that something does not seem quite right about Simona Mangiante, the wife of George Papadopoulos, a central figure in the Mueller probe as we currently understand it. It was a report about Papadopoulos’s drunken admissions about conversations with an alleged Russian intelligence asset named Joseph Mifsud that triggered the original Russian collusion probe. He pled to one charge of lying to government investigators late last year and became a cooperating witness. But a couple months ago, his wife, Mangiante began a press tour denying or appearing to recant on his behalf most of what he’d admitted to in his plea agreement. She made various claims that lined up with the general Fox News “deep state” conspiracy theories advanced by various Trump apologists.

Last night Mangiante went on Twitter and ask for a lawyer to come forward to take over her husband’s defense.

[PJMcK]

1. Here ya go

Four paragraphs outline Josh's speculation about what is going on with Papadopoulos's marriage/legal problems.

One obvious option is that he hopes to get a pardon. Perhaps he thinks that becoming another witness (in the informal sense) to the Deep State conspiracy or spygate or whatever else will curry favor with Trump and that will earn him a pardon. Maybe. But at least on its own this seems pretty far fetched. The Trump Team has made pretty clear that they see Papadopoulos as meaningless – just a nominal staffer that had little to do with the campaign. Possibly they’ve simply convinced themselves of this. This one is basically a “who knows?”. But since Trump has repeatedly hinted that pardons might be used it’s a possibility.

Another possibility is that things haven’t gone according to plan. Maybe Papadopoulos didn’t fully come clean with prosecutors and maybe he got caught. That would be a big problem. So possibly he got caught lying and he’s in trouble. Or maybe he got caught lying and now he’s being forced to come clean but for whatever reason doesn’t want to or cannot.

This is admittedly all pretty far-fetched. I have no evidence that anything like that has happened. But I’m trying to think of any sets of facts that can make sense of this behavior. And this is one of the very few that can do that.

That brings us to the third possibility, which is likely inclusive of the first two. To put it baldly, there’s been endless suspicion both among journalists and law enforcement that Simona Mangiante herself may herself be tied to Russian intelligence. (I got into some of the theories here.) Remember, Mangiante herself worked for that Maltese Professor, the reputed Russian intelligence asset Joseph Mifsud, who got Papadopoulos into this mess in the first place. And they didn’t become a couple when George and Jospeh were having their meetings. She reached out to him some time later over Linkedin. They then started dating. This spring they got married. It all strains belief a bit. Can she have gone rogue in some way or be trying to push him in some direction that is clearly not in his interest? Again, these are far-fetched speculations. But they are among the few that can make any sense of the current situation.

[hlthe2b]

2. Fascinating... Thanks, PJMck! I wish I could extend another subscription to Josh, but....

(at least I don't block his ads...LOL)

[PJMcK]

5. Anytime! (n/t)

[saidsimplesimon]

3. sorry, anyone who hitched their

stars to IT, is lost in space.

[Louis1895]

4. Another article:

http://observer.com/2018/08/george-simona-papadopoulos-look-to-exit-mueller-plea-deal-sue-government/

Interesting that his sentencing is coming up on September 7. Also his GoFundMe page was a flop.

[hlthe2b]

6. Interesting... I liked this paragraph:

A pro-bono lawyer would provide life support to the couple’s bank account: As of writing this article, the couple’s campaign for legal fees has raised only $490 of its $75,000 goal. By contrast, former FBI agent Peter Strzok—who investigated the question of collusion until he was fired by the bureau this week—raised $418,872 through a GoFundMe page established just two days ago.

LOL

[3Hotdogs]

7. Me thinks there aught'a be a statue to George.

Ancient Greeks gave us the idea of democracy. The tradition carried on to where the contribution of a contemporary Greek, George Papadopoulos, may have saved the American democratic experiment from a fascist Trump dictatorship.


Brilliant work, George.

[Snotcicles]

8. Their going to mess around and blowup that plea deal. Maybe that's the plan. nt

[hedda_foil]

9. I've thought for a few months that Simona is the little dweeb's handler whether he knows it or not.

[hlthe2b]

10. yeah.. their entire relationship/meeting,etc. is a little too "coincidental"