Follow The Money, Deutsche Bank Edition

Reuters is reporting that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has subpoenaed Deutsche Bank for financial transaction records of con artist and sociopath Donald "Rump" Trump and his family. Deutsche Bank is known to have loaned Rump hundreds of millions of dollars in the past, after U.S. banks refused to lend to him as a poor credit risk following multiple bankruptcies.

Deutsche Bank is Germany's largest, and has been linked to Russian organized crime and money laundering schemes. Rump has also declared his finances off limits to Mueller, setting up a likely confrontation.

Stay tuned.

Trump's Failed Game Of Chicken With Mueller

With the news that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian manipulation of the 2016 elections has broadened into obstruction of justice and corrupt financial dealings of the associates of demagogue and pathological liar Donald "Rump" Trump, barely concealed panic has enveloped his White (Supremacist) House staff. Knowing Rump's mental volatility, some of the staff are concerned that, despite strong warnings to leave Mueller in place, he' won't. Said one nervous official about Rump's hints that he may fire Mueller, “I’d be insincere if I said it wasn’t a concern that the president would try to do it anyway.”

In particular, the financial crimes aspect of the broadened investigation may be the key to why Rump has been so recklessly protective of his friends here (Michael Flynn in particular) and in Moscow. Money laundering by Russian oligarchs close to Putin may be the link to the Trump Organization that holds the key to understanding why Rump is so solicitous of the Kremlin. Follow the money, remember?

Rump's failed Mueller gambit?

... The president was pleased by the ambiguity of his position on Mr. Mueller, and thinks the possibility of being fired will focus the veteran prosecutor on delivering what the president desires most: a blanket public exoneration.

Yeah, that'd work with Mueller, you delusional dumbass.

The incomparable Charles P. Pierce sums up Rump's dire predicament in an article today:

"[Mueller] isn't some roofing specialist that you can stiff and then drag through the courts until he can't afford the trip any more. He isn't someone you can scare off with your usual gang of billable-hour button men. He isn't some dingy Russian banker who can float you a loan to tide you over. He is honest and respected and relentless, and the only way you're going to get rid of him is to fire him. In a way, the country is daring you to do that, just to see if you have the stones for what comes next, and (possibly) as the last excuse it needs to insist on a new president. Go ahead. Make our day." (emphasis added)

The lengths to which Rump is protecting his Russian ties are an indication of how compromising -- and probably illegal -- those ties are.

Follow The Money Quote of the Day

"...you can’t work through even part of Trump’s business history without finding numerous ventures that look like they would not survive first contact with real prosecutorial scrutiny. A key element, perhaps the key element, of the counter-intelligence probe is examining the financial ties between Trump, members of his entourage and people from the Russian business and intelligence worlds. So a close examination of those ventures isn’t some fishing expedition. It’s at the heart of the investigation." (emphasis added) -- Josh Marshall, Talking Points Memo, in a compelling look at what investigators may now be looking at: "financial crimes" involving the money trail from Moscow to Putin loyalist and demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump.

As we've noted before here, here and here, at the core of the relationship between Rump and Russia isn't ideology (although Rump admires autocratic kleptocrats, being one himself). It's money, specifically the flow of Russian oligarch and state bank money, mostly laundered, into Trump Organization projects and properties. It was money that he was unable to obtain from U.S. lenders due to his multiple bankruptcies and questionable business practices. The FBI investigators are looking for evidence of "financial crimes" committed not only by members of Rump's campaign, but likely Rump and his family too.

Follow The Money, Trump Golf Courses Edition

While golfing with Putin puppet and sociopath Donald "Rump" Trump and his clueless son Qusay Eric in 2014, golf journalist James Dodson said that Eric Trump bragged that, while American banks wouldn't loan money to them, they were getting large sums of money from Russia to fund their golf courses. According to Dodson's account, Trump the younger told him,

"We have all the funding we need out of Russia....We’ve got some guys that really, really love golf, and they’re really invested in our programs. We just go there all the time." (emphasis added)

Yeah, they "really, really love golf" and useful idiots that they can kompromat when they "go there all the time."  For clean old, no strings attached money from Putin-connected oligarchs and state banks. Also for pee-pee parties with prostitutes, etc.

The extent of Russian money propping up the Trump Organization is the bombshell yet to be exploded. It's why he won't release his tax returns (aside from possible mob business connections in New York City that would be revealed). It's the "hook" the Kremlin has in Rump himself, possibly with some compromising pictures / videos / witnesses to sweeten it. If their loans were called in and the money spigot shut off, the Trump Organization might blow away like Rump's hair in a soft breeze. It's why he selected Kremlin-friendly advisors and continues to avoid any criticism of Russia or Putin. They have him by the wallet and he knows it.