Thread by @aliasvaughn

1. MAJOR breaking news here from NYT: They have a list of DOZENS of questions Mueller wants to ask Trump. I believe there is NO WAY Mueller leaks this unless his team knows they're NOT going to sit down with Trump. I believe that GJ subpoena is coming.

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2. While there have been negotiations (and I believe those broke down months ago, contrary to reports), I do not believe Mueller was THIS specific with Trump's lawyers. I do believe the leak comes from Mueller's team.

3. I do NOT believe that Giuliani would have such detailed questions and I also do NOT believe WH lawyers would. More importantly, this GRAVELY undermines Trump's position publicly, so they have ZERO to gain from putting this out.

4. The questions are extremely specific and I don't for a sec believe that Mueller just was all "oh hey, here's the list, enjoy so you can figure out how to lie about it meantime" and gave them to Wh lawyers. TOPICS, yes. SPECIFIC questions in such detail, NO WAY.

5. In my opinion the ONLY sensible scenario here is that Mueller knows he is NOT going to interview Trump, and he's going to subpoena him, and this? Turns on PUBLIC pressure big time AND allows reporters to LOOK for things. LOTS of hints in there.

6. Yes I know there's a list of questions compiled by WH lawyers but I absolutely do not believe they would be these many and this specific. IN fact former prosecutor Rosenstein is saying it would be unusual to give lawyers such a list.

7. To be clear: these are NOT the "lawyers compiled" questions, these are the actual questions Mueller wants to ask, per NYT report, and there are DOZENS of them.

8. As @maddow too is saying, and that's been my pick for by far most likely option, Mueller knows he's NOT going to sit with Trump, so he is allowing these to be out. Result: Trump freakout AND major hints being out in public. AND reporters can investigate.

9. Now, on to the questions. This one here implies that Mueller KNOWS Manafort reached out to Russia about assistance to the campaign, for example. Which err... we did NOT know about.

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10. The obstruction questions are many and they range from Flynn (re: reaching out to him about a pardon) to Comey to his treatment of Jeff Sessions, which is particularly interesting, as again that suggests Sessions is NOT a foe for Mueller, but an ally.

11. But the most interesting parts are questions about: ROGER STONE, JARED KUSHNER, FELIX SATER, TRUMP'S TRIP TO MOSCOW for MISS UNIVERSE, AND MICHAEL COHEN.

12. PLS stop telling me "but the lawyers have a list". I KNOW. I still DO NOT think it came from them bc this DAMAGES them, it does NOT help them and YES, I did hear Schmidt on maddow. The fact Sekulow refused to comment further tells me that no, it's not coming from them.

13. "Did you have any meetings with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia during the campaign and did you speak to others about either American sanctions against Russia or meeting with Putin?" This is stunning bc they are NOT going to ask questions they don't KNOW the answers to.

14. So the implication of the Putin question would be "we know you met/didn't meet Putin and whether you wanted to do so, we also know you talked about lifting Russian sanctions AND meeting with Putin. And to whom. Now let's see if you lie."

15. I'm going to focus on Russia first, bc the obstruction questions are more obvious and much more is publicly known about that. So bear with me (And apologies, this is gonna be long).

16. The below questions is NOT just about obstruction. It's also about conspiracy with Russia, bc Flynn was talking to Kislyak to reassure him about sanctions being lifted by Trump, so not to worry about Obama sanctions. Again; Mueller KNOWS the answer. So: yikes.

17. There's another specific question re: the above about Trump's reaction to WaPo report about the REAL nature of Flynn's call to Kislyak (Don't worry, we'll lift questions). meaning: 1) they know trump/Pence lied when they said FLYNN lied 2) this is conspiracy. Do ut des.

18. "What did you think about Mr. Comey’s intelligence briefing on Jan. 6, 2017, about Russian election interference?" Translation: we know you're Putin's little muppet, now let's see how you lie your way out of this and whether you claim "Russia did nothing".

19. "What was your reaction to Mr. Comey’s briefing that day about other intelligence matters?". Translation: So let's go into the Steele dossier. Care to lie to us as much as you lied to Comey re: miss Universe and the rest that's in it?

20. Now for the doozy: "What did you mean when you told Russian diplomats on May 10, 2017, that firing Mr. Comey had taken the pressure off?" It's the IMPLICATION here that is AMAZING. They KNOW that it's TRUE Trump said this to Russians IN THE OVAL OFFICE. This CONFIRMS reports.

21. Again, while this is asking about obstruction re: Comey, it ALSO establishes a specific relationship between Trump and Russians. On a Trump comment that was reported BY PRESS and that this Mueller question confirms as ACCURATE. Buh-bye, Trump "fake news" claims.

22. Just a small detour on obstruction bc there is a specific question about Trump's TWEET on the tapes. In case anyone had doubts that the tweets INCRIMINATE Trump and Mueller sees ALL of them.
"What was the purpose of your May 12, 2017, tweet?"

BELOW is the tweet.

23. Just now on @Lawrence "Can you confirm this did NOT come from Mueller's office?" Answer: "Well what we can say for sourcing is the list of questions was provided to the Times by someone OUTSIDE of Trump's legal team." So bloop, my theory is reinforced.

24. So nope it was NOT Trump's legal team providing this and the reporter REFUSED to confirm that the questions did NOT come from Mueller's team. Again, I believe this is a Mueller-blessed leak.

25. "What did you think and what did you do in reaction to the news of the appointment of the special counsel?" Man, now Mueller is just TROLLING! LOL. Seriously this is amazing, his OWN appointment is part of his investigation!

26. Now for the Trump tower meeting: "When did you become aware of the Trump tower meeting?" Translation: we know Dondon jr. told you everything AND as Schiff revealed in the Dem memo, we know about those pesky phone calls to coordinate. Care to lie about it?

27. AND here we go with the MISS UNIVERSE 2013 trip that is in the Steele dossier, and that Trump repeatedly lied to Comey about. "During a 2013 trip to Russia, what communication and relationships did you have with the Agalarovs and Russian government officials?"

28. The above question causes at least a DOZEN follow up questions that range from "did you tell Russians you were going to run for President?"(yes we know you did) to "did you discuss x and y biz opportunities" to "soooo... about those prostitutes at the hotel..." *sips Martini*

29. "What communication did you have with Michael D. Cohen, Felix Sater and others, including foreign nationals, about Russian real estate developments during the campaign?" This stuff is riveting. "Start talking about Trump Tower Moscow, and Putin yet again owning you, dear."

30. And if it was John Dowd leaking these, I believe, repeat, he did it with Mueller's blessing. Acted as "ally". Bc this plus Trump in VERY bad position publicly AND reveals a LOT of things reporters can now look at. Trump's team is DAMAGED by this.

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31. "What discussions did you have during the campaign regarding any meeting with Mr. Putin? Did you discuss it with others?" Translation: "we know meeting with Putin came up MULTIPLE times and whom you talked to about it. You can sing or you can lie. Which is it gonna be?

32. "What discussions did you have during the campaign regarding Russian sanctions?" Translation: Do ut des, b*tch. Get familiar with Latin. Also? Conspiracy to defraud the US.

33. "What involvement did you have concerning platform changes regarding arming Ukraine?" Transaltion: boy, are you gonna need to learn what do ut des means in Latin. (it's what Americans VERY incorrectly call "quid pro quo" and it's QUI not quid).

34. "During the campaign, what did you know about Russian hacking, use of social media or other acts aimed at the campaign?" Translation: "Well yes, now we're getting to full on conspiracy to steal the election. Maybe you want Parscale, Bannon and Kushner's help here?"

35. @MichaelAvenatti has just said on @Lawrence that "when Cohen flips on Trump, it's not just going to be about Stormy, but about things we have NO idea about yet, and clearly about Ukraine and Russia." And he's been right 100% thus far.

36. Other guest on @Lawrence "Mueller is the closer thing to GOD we'll ever see. He KNOWS ALL! ALL OF IT" 😂😂😂

37. "What did you know about communication between Roger Stone, his associates, Julian Assange or WikiLeaks?" Translation: "Go ahead, say "NOTHING! I KNEW NOTHING" so we can hit you with DMs, emails and CALLS showing the opposite."

38. Oh and yes, I can see Mueller asking this and Trump, the coward he is, would be all "I NEVER said I wanted to fire you! EVAAAH" Mueller: *takes out tape of McGahn's deposition* *writes perjury charge* * writes obstruction charge*

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39. "What did you know during the transition about an attempt to establish back-channel communication to Russia, and Jared Kushner’s efforts?" Translation: "let's move on to your FAMILY, buster, and don't even try to pretend you didn't know. So, who concocted the conspiracy?"

40. "What do you know about a 2017 meeting in Seychelles involving Erik Prince?" Translation "bc see, Dondon,George Nader told us ALL about it. AND he told the GJ, too. So, should we go for the conspiracy OR the perjury charge or both?"

41. "What do you know about a Ukrainian peace proposal provided to Mr. Cohen in 2017?" Translation "as you well know bc you've been freaking out on Twitter (thank you btw) we have Cohen by the nether regions and SDNY has AAAALL of his docs. Even you know you can't lie here."

42. If ppl have forgotten, Cohen "brokered" a peace deal that of course involved lifting RU sanctions, thanks to SATER organizing a meeting with a former Ukrainian lawmaker, who confirmed all of it in interview to CNN. Proposal then ended on Flynn's desk. But, he was fired.

43. This is extremely significant bc it means that Mueller knows ALL that went on there, or he would NOT be asking Trump. The fact he's asking Trump what he knows about it, implies that Trump discussed this with one of the involved people.

44. And this is the bulk of Russia questions. I'd say, chances that Trump would lie? 200% And also, chances that Trump is indicted for multiple crimes? 100%. This is astonishing, in many different ways, for HOW MUCH they want to ask Trump about and why.

45. I believe this HAS been put out with Mueller's blessing (whoever put it out, be it from his team or not, did it with his blessing) bc he knows he's NOT going to interview Trump, this gives reporters a LOT to investigate they didn't previously have, AND then? GJ subpoena.

46. The rest of questions are about the firing of Flynn, Comey AND (interestingly) about Trump's behavior with Sessions and his reaction to the AG's recusal..

47. "What discussions did you have with Reince Priebus in July 2017 about obtaining the Sessions resignation? With whom did you discuss it?" THIS? Is extremely interesting bc it means SESSIONS is not considered a foe. AND they interviewed Priebus, so they'd have notes to compare.

48. "Why did you hold Mr. Sessions’s resignation until May 31, 2017, and with whom did you discuss it?" Wow. This is astounding. They know EXACTLY what went on. Wonder why? BC SESSIONS told them. Bloop!

49. "What did you think and do regarding the recusal of Mr. Sessions?" Translation: "we mean other than the 10k tweets and press reports we've had about it.Bc see, you telling him he should protect you means abuse of power and obstruction".

50. "What is the reason for your continued criticism of Mr. Comey and his former deputy, Andrew G. McCabe?" Boy, this is going to have about 200 follow-up questions. All incriminating Trump for obstruction AND perjury. Mueller's sipping a Martini as I type.

51. I believe I've covered the main points. And now I MUST get at least some sleep (thank God May 1 is a holiday!), but the condensed summary is: "we nailed you, #treasonweasel. Now you can either make it worse for you, or limit damage. Your pick". BOY, is Mueller coming! /END