Official Specializing In Fraud, Foreign Bribery Joins Mueller Team

As Donald Trump panders to his racist, Christofascist base, his approval rating has fallen to 33% which more or less corresponds to the percentage of Americans who see themselves as evangelical/fundamentalist Christians?  A coincidence?  I think not, especially since the majority of the Trump supporting "family values" hate groups have strong ties to white Supremacy.  Here in Virginia, if one traces back the roots of The Family Foundation, you find the supporters of "Massive Resistance" who closed public schools rather than integrate.  The irony, of course is that these people who feign piety and religiosity are supporting a man devoid of morality and decency.  Worse yet, he may be an outright criminal.  Hopefully, we will soon find out more on this later issue as special prosecutor Robert Mueller adds Greg Andres, who served as deputy assistant attorney general in the criminal division, overseeing the fraud unit and program that targeted illegal foreign bribery, to his staff.   A piece in Talking Points Memo looks at the development:

A former Justice Department official specializing in fraud and illegal foreign bribery cases has become the sixteenth lawyer on the special counsel team investigating into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, Reuters reported Tuesday. 

Josh Stueve, a spokesperson for special counsel Robert Mueller, confirmed the hiring of attorney Greg Andres to Reuters.

During his two-year tenure at the DOJ, Andres served as deputy assistant attorney general in the criminal division, overseeing the fraud unit and program that targeted illegal foreign bribery. Prior to joining to DOJ in 2010, he was chief of the criminal division in the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn, where he prosecuted several members of the Bonanno organized crime family.

Andres will add his expertise to a team with years of experience in national security, money laundering, cybercrime, and public corruption cases.

As for Trump's collapsing poll numbers, Talking Points Memo has this:

Just 33 percent of Americans approve of President Donald Trump nationwide, the lowest approval numbers that have been seen since his inauguration, according to a new Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday. Sixty-one percent of American voters disapprove of Trump, according to the poll. White men were the most split on their opinions about the President, with 47 percent approving of Trump and 48 percent disapproving. Republicans are still standing by their party’s pick, though, with 76 percent of those who identify with the GOP saying they’re happy with Trump. Even Trump’s main base of supporters — white people with no college degree — are losing faith in the President. They disapprove of his job performance 50 percent to 43 percent.

The majority of the registered voters surveyed said the President is not levelheaded — 71 to 26 percent — and 54 percent indicated they were embarrassed, not proud, that Trump is President.

Sixty-two percent of those surveyed said he is not honest; 63 percent said he does not have good leadership skills; and 59 percent said he does no care about average Americans. Multiple intelligence agencies have confirmed that Russia interfered with the 2016 election, and 63 percent of those interviewed believe it happened, while 58 percent think the President was involved.

This weekend the husband and I head to London for a week - the Ralph Northam campaign staffer living with us will watch the house and babysit the dogs - and I will be inclined to find a shirt to wear that says "Not My President" or "Don't Blame Me, I voted for Hillary."