Until the laughing, heart-eyed, and sunglass-wearing smiley faces make it onto plates, you can design, mock up, and pre-order your future plate through the plate customization company Personalised Plates Queensland (PPQ).
You have to include three letters and two numbers in your plate combo, and you only get one emoji. The emoji choices are:
The plates cost $336 ($A475) each, and could look something like this:
Get creative.
Image: PPq / screengrab
In the U.S., plates will stay emotionless — for now. A California DMV spokesperson said, “It would require legislation for California to start offering emojis on license plates.” In other words, don’t hold your breath.
But digital license plate company Reviver Auto is more optimistic about emoji-decorated plates making it to America.
Reviver CEO Neville Boston said in a phone call, “I think that’d be interesting to do with the plates as a way of personalizing them.”
Using the digital ink LTE-connected plates, which are available in California and Michigan and soon Arizona, Boston sees a possible emoji-filled future, “with the way [Reviver] technology is it can happen sooner than later.” Already custom and charity plates are available through the digital platform.
Boston says he sees little pushback in the coming years as long as law enforcement can clearly read the plate number. “First and foremost you got to make sure they’re readable,” he stressed multiple times.
Beyond that, it’s “an opportunity to be creative,” he said. So creative that the Australian license plate company is running a contest for the best emoji use. Winner gets an iPhone XS Max and an emoji merchandise pack worth $1,419 (A$2,000) .
Meanwhile, everyone outside Australia keen for an emoji plate will have to be patient.
In the leadup to the first of this season’s two (three? four??) men’s basketball matchups between Duke and North Carolina, one of the biggest stories making its rounds on social media was the Super Bowl-level ticket prices just to get into Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Between the decades-old rivalry and the limited seating capacity, it’s one of the hottest tickets every year. But this time, people were paying several thousands of dollars on the secondary market for the chance to watch Zion Williamson.
He lasted 30 seconds before leaving the game with a severity-to-be-determined knee injury when his foot ripped through his shoe. Williamson did not return, and North Carolina cruised to an 88-72 victory.
And the student-athlete who everyone was paying to see?
He received zero of those dollars.
Before we get into asking the inescapable question of whether Williamson should ever play another unpaid second for Duke, can we talk about the absurdity of this injury for a second?
Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised because this is the same man-child who dented a basketball with his fingers during that epic comeback against Louisville, who gained 100 pounds in two years and who we’ve been waiting all season with bated breath to watch shatter a backboard. Feats of near-impossible strength are just sort of his thing.
But planting so hard that you destroy a shoe is incomprehensible. Even the greatest, strongest basketball players roll an ankle from time to time, but not Zion. Evidently, his calves, ankle tendons and countless lower-leg ligaments are stronger than leather.
Unbelievable stuff, and a testament to why he’s going to be the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NBA draft no matter how bad the knee injury ends up being. Given the amount of success Blake Griffin, Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid have had in spite of major injuries before their professional careers even began, this isn’t going to scare NBA teams away from Williamson.
Which brings us back to something Scottie Pippen and Tracy McGrady discussed on ESPN’s The Jump on January 16: Why keep playing and risk a major injury?
Rachel Nichols @Rachel__Nichols
Tracy McGrady and @ScottiePippen don’t agree on whether Zion Williamson is the best player on his Duke team – but regardless, they both think he should stop playing NCAA ball right now, to eliminate the risk of injury before the draft. https://t.co/7Egu42FjfJ
Over the past few years, this has predominantly been a college football discussion surrounding players sitting out meaningless bowl games to avoid injury before the combine, but get ready for it to become a talking point on the hardwood.
Frankly, it’s surprising that we hadn’t already been having that debate, since Simmons and Markelle Fultz spent the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons, respectively, risking injury for teams that missed the NCAA tournament. We also saw Michael Porter Jr. return to a bubble-y Missouri team for the SEC tournament following a four-month absence due to back surgery.
At least Williamson had been having fun as the big man on campus for the favorites to win the national championship.
And here’s a key counterpoint to consider: If Williamson is going to be the No. 1 pick no matter what the MRI says, what was he risking by playing?
The argument makes sense for a guy like Harry Giles who had multiple major surgeries before he even got to college. He ran the risk of plummeting in draft boards by showing NBA teams that he no longer possessed the skill set everyone fell in love with early in his high school career.
But good luck trying to convince one of the best in the world to stop doing what he loves because he might suffer an injury that won’t cost him any money.
Hell, if anything, Zion’s impending shoe deal just became even more lucrative, because the jokes about constructing a shoe that even he can’t break will be a marketing gold mine.
Williamson’s situation is unique, of course. A lot of high school phenoms actually are risking injury that could cause a significant future pay cut, and they’re doing so in exchange for little more than a free education that some abandon before the end of two semesters.
Former Louisville Cardinal Donovan Mitchell offered his thoughts on the situation on Twitter:
Donovan Mitchell @spidadmitchell
Again let’s remember all the money that went into this game…. and these players get none of it…. and now Zion gets hurt… something has to change @NCAA
He was referring to Williamson’s injury, but it’s more interesting to consider guys like Darius Garland and Bol Bol, neither of whom made it through nonconference play before suffering season-ending injuries.
Both of those one-and-done freshmen are still projected lottery picks, but they probably won’t go as high as they would have without the injuries. Both guys might have been top-10 picks straight out of high school if they had been allowed to go that route, but now they’ve each lost a year of their playing careers while acquiring injury question marks.
It will be interesting to see if any / how many top recruits are willing to take up the NBA on its G League offering of $125,000 for what is essentially one year of predraft NBA training instead of the one-and-done approach to college.
That doesn’t apply to Williamson, but this latest in the rash of injuries to top prospects might be the catalyst that drives the conversation forward this offseason.
So should Williamson ever play again for the Blue Devils?
That’s up to him, his family and Duke’s doctors.
Even if it’s a minor injury and he’d rather play it safe and sit out the rest of the season, power to him. It might upset his teammates a bit, but they’ll understand, and he doesn’t owe college basketball anything more than what he has already given it.
If he is willing and able to return, though, that’s awesome. College basketball fans around the country will welcome him back with loving arms.
Just make sure to get him some better kicks next time.
Kerry Miller covers men’s college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter:@kerrancejames.
Duke Blue Devils star Zion Williamson has been diagnosed with a mild knee sprain after leaving Wednesday’s 88-72 loss to the North Carolina Tar Heels in the opening minute.
SportsCenter @SportsCenter
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski says that Zion Williamson has a mild knee sprain and that his knee is stable. More details will be available tomorrow. https://t.co/eHN9gSbE7p
“We’re very concerned about Zion,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said after the game, per Duke Basketball. “It’s a mild knee sprain. We will know about length of time tomorrow. It’s stable. Obviously it has an impact. You lose the National Player of the Year on the first play.”
Sports Illustrated‘s Ben Golliver relayed more from Coach K:
Ben Golliver @BenGolliver
Coach K on Zion Williamson (knee sprain): “We have to come up with a game plan based on Zion not playing and hopefully he’ll be back playing some time in the near future.” https://t.co/BEYbAOYuFj
Williamson was injured just 33 seconds into the game after going down while blowing out his left shoe:
This was not the first time Williamson has had to exit a game early. An eye injury caused the freshman to miss the second half of a game against Florida State, where he reportedly dealt with double vision, per Tashan Reed of The Athletic.
He has otherwise been able to stay healthy this season and more than lived up to the massive expectations placed upon him entering the year.
Williamson was nearly a household name before he even stepped on campus at Durham thanks to his highlight-reel dunks throughout his high school career. Once he got to college, he showed he is much more than a few viral plays.
The forward is currently averaging 22.4 points and 9.2 rebounds per game this season, also making impressive plays on the defensive end of the court.
On a team that is loaded with McDonald’s All-Americans and 5-star recruits, Williamson is the main attraction.
Unfortunately, the latest injury could cause problems for the Blue Devils because of the lack of depth in the rotation.
RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish will be able to handle the scoring load, but there will be pressure on Javin DeLaurier and Jack White to pick up the slack in the frontcourt while Williamson is out.
Shenzhen, China – Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) has arrived in China where he will meet President Xi Jinping in hopes of bolstering an image tarnished internationally over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey last year.
The two-day visit in Beijing is expected to focus on energy deals for resource-hungry China and regional economic agreements that align with Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative [BRI], Xi’s signature infrastructure initiative spanning across Southeast, South and Central Asia to the Horn of Africa.
“The leadership in Riyadh and Beijing probably realise the strategic importance of their relationship on the energy front and most recent attempts have been driving it toward cooperation in other areas,” Ayham Kamel, Middle East and North Africa expert with the Eurasia Group, told Al Jazeera.
China is Saudi Arabia‘s largest trading partner, with total bilateral trade in goods standing at $63.3bn last year. In 2017, during the last major state visit to Beijing by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, the two sides inked deals worth around $65bn, mostly related to energy and technology.
“[MBS] is looking for building greater confidence with the Chinese leadership, demonstrating that he has options beyond the West, and showcasing that he remains the heart of the leadership circle and the next king of Saudi Arabia,” Kamel said.
Besides an audience with Xi, the crown prince will meet with Vice Premier of the State Council, Han Zheng, who will chair a China-Saudi High-level Joint Committee meeting where the deals will likely be hashed out.
Zhu Weilie, director of the China-Arab Cooperation Forum Research Center, when contacted by Al Jazeera referred to his comments published in the Shanghai Observer earlier this week in which he stated he believed “development of the economic zone along the Red Sea coast and cooperation on energy” will be the main focus of the talks beginning on Thursday.
The zone launched by MBS in 2017 under the acronym NEOM is expected to see around $500bn in investments by Riyadh upon completion.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) meets his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif in Beijing [How Hwee Young/Pool via Reuters]
Iran competition
With China the third and final leg of an Asia tour that saw the crown prince attempt to sidestep friction during high-level meetings in Pakistan and India over a major suicide attack in Indian administered-Kashmir, getting down to business should be a welcome change for MBS.
Yet Beijing is also attempting a balancing act of its own, having just hosted Mohammad Javad Zarif, the foreign minister of Iran – Saudi Arabia’s regional rival – on Tuesday. At the same time, one of the crown jewels of its BRI programme – Gwadar Port in the Pakistani province of Balochistan – sits at the fulcrum.
In Pakistan, MBS pledged $10bn in investments for a refinery and petrochemical complex at Gwadar, which lies at the heart of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor – a connection of roads, rail and other infrastructure linking to the port and a major part of Beijing’s and Islamabad’s BRI relationship.
“The port of Gwadar is strategically very important to China as a way to circumvent the Straits of Malacca and the Chinese are not crazy about others in that pond, particularly others that may have a different agenda,” James M. Dorsey, a senior fellow at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, told Al Jazeera.
Dorsey said Riyadh may see Balochistan as “an investment target or a place where it could destabilise Iran from” but it is unclear how much China wants Saudi Arabia to take on leading role considering the sensitivities in Iran.
Geng Shuang, China’s ministry of foreign affairs spokesperson, said on Tuesday that the Chinese government was “pleased” by the Saudi investment in Pakistan and further “welcomes” the participation of “third parties” in the economic corridor.
“They are walking a tightrope between Saudi Arabia and Iran,” Dorsey said of China. “How long they will be able to do that is a question.”
Kamel said “Iran might sense some anxiety as Riyadh attempts to narrow and curtail Tehran’s partnerships in the East and West” but added that Saudi Arabia’s focus is much wider than just its regional foe.
INSIDE STORY: Will Saudi be held to account for Khashoggi’s murder? (25:41)
Uighur issue
One issue unlikely to come up however, at least not publicly, is China’s treatment of Uighur and other Muslim minorities in its northwestern region of Xinjiang, where it is alleged that an estimated one million people have been detained and sent to “concentration camps” against their will – a charge denied by Beijing which says these are “voluntary” vocational training facilities.
“Saudi Arabia’s silence has been deafening on this,” Dorsey said. “Public pressure is very regulated in Saudi Arabia. We don’t even know if it exists in regards to the Uighurs.”
On February 10, the Turkish government under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the detentions “a great shame for humanity” and decried the “torture and political brainwashing” alleged to be occurring in them.
“Turkey’s president was responding to public pressure,” Dorsey said. “[MBS] doesn’t have quite that degree of pressure.”
According to Kamel, “the Uighur issue can be viewed as a strategic lever and important issue for Turkey but Saudi Arabia does not particularly care about this group given its geopolitical competition with Ankara.”
Chas Freeman, a former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said the crown prince’s visit serves many purpose, including advances Riyadh’s goal of diversifying away from over-reliance on the United States and offering competition to Iran, which is also wooing China.
“It shows that, despite his tarnished reputation in the West, his power is respected in the East,” Freeman said. “It courts what is clearly the market of the future for Saudi Arabia.”
For China, a robust relationship with Saudi Arabia opens a market for its increasingly advanced armaments, construction and telecommunications industries and secures an important source of energy imports,” added Freeman.
“It shows that, despite Chinese suppression of Islam in Xinjiang and elsewhere, China can sustain mutually advantageous relationships with a leading Muslim country.”
Samsung’s Galaxy Fold is a $1,980 folding smartphone which expands from a 4.6-inch phone to a 7.3-inch tablet. The Galaxy Fold has six cameras: three on the back, two inside, and one on the front when it’s folded. It also has high-end specs, with 12GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and dual batteries to power its big screen.
The No. 8 North Carolina Tar Heels kept bragging rights in college basketball’s biggest rivalry.
After winning two of last season’s three matchups against the Duke Blue Devils, North Carolina walked into Cameron Indoor Stadium on Wednesday and left with a critical 88-72 road victory over the No. 1 team in the nation. The Tar Heels improved to 11-2 in the ACC, while the Blue Devils had their nine-game winning streak come to an end while falling to 11-2 in the league as well.
Duke lost Zion Williamson to a knee injury in the first minute of the game and didn’t have the firepower without its star to counter the visitors. Luke Maye(30points and 15rebounds) and Cameron Johnson(26points, sevenboards and four assists) spearheaded the winning effort for North Carolina.
RJ Barrett (33points, 13rebounds and fourassists) and Cam Reddish (27points) were forced into primary roles without Williamson, but they were the only Blue Devils to score more than six.
Prognosis on Zion’s Knee Will Determine National Champion
It takes something extreme to overshadow the result of one of sports’ most heated rivalries, but that’s exactly what happened Wednesday.
Williamson wasruled outfor the remainder of the game after he suffered a knee injury in the opening minute. The injury occurred when his shoe ripped after he planted his left foot, and he immediately grabbed the back of his knee:
The Blue Devils appeared shell-shocked in the immediate aftermath and found themselves down 10 points at halftime and as many as 22 in the second half.
It was no surprise Duke struggled without Williamson, as he is one of the sport’s top prospects in years and is averaging 22.4 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game while shooting a blistering 68.3 percent from the field. He will likely be the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NBA draft and has the talent to become a franchise cornerstone for a decade or more.
Williamson is also the primary reason the Blue Devils are surefire national championship threats.
It is impossible for collegiate defenders to stop him one-on-one, which leads to consistent double-teams and openings for Reddish and Barrett. On defense, Williamson covers for others’ mistakes with his ability to both protect the rim and soar out to send perimeter shots into the stands.
The freshman’s head-turning block on a corner three during Duke’s victory over Virginia earlier this month stunned the college basketball world and underscored his ability to single-handedly alter an opposing offensive set.
He likely would have been the one to guard Maye on Wednesday, but in his absence, the senior exploded against smaller defenders and provided a blueprint for opponents with talented frontcourts to exploit a Williamson-less defense. North Carolina’s ball-handlers also consistently attacked the rim without the big man in the way.
That type of two-way impact has resulted in Duke being No. 1 overall, No. 2 offensively and No. 5 defensively in Ken Pomeroy’s pace-adjustedrankings. Virginia is the only other team in the top five on both ends of the floor.
If Williamson eventually returns and leads the way with Barrett and Reddish around him, Duke is the clear-cut favorite to cut down the nets in April. However, his absence ripples through the entire roster and makes the Blue Devils far too top-heavy on offense and vulnerable against bigs like Maye and dribble penetration on defense.
Without Williamson, Barrett and Reddish are the only two Duke players who average more than 8.7 points. Tre Jones is the only other one who checks in at more than 5.7 per game.
That is not nearly enough offensive depth to win six straight pressure-packed games in the NCAA tournament, as defenses can swarm Barrett and Reddish and take away Duke’s primary options. That is far more difficult to do with three potential top-five picks on the floor at once, especially when one of them is as talented as Williamson.
It is not hyperbole to say college basketball’s national championship rests on Williamson’s injury prognosis.
What’s Next?
Both teams are in action on Saturday, with Duke at Syracuse and North Carolina hosting Florida State.
Thisarticle will be updated to provide more information soon.
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It was easy to miss amid all the foldable phone hype, but Samsung revealed its latest smartwatch Wednesday at its Unpacked event: the $199 Galaxy Watch Active.
But just because it didn’t have much time in the spotlight doesn’t mean the Galaxy Watch Active isn’t worth checking out. While Samsung’s prior smartwatches have tended to be massive, its latest wearable is much more subtle — and one I’m much more likely to want to actually wear.
Meet the Galaxy Watch Active
A followup to last year’s Galaxy Watch, the first thing you’ll notice about the Galaxy Watch Active is that it’s not nearly as bulky as the relatively massive Galaxy Watch.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch Active is slim enough for smaller wrists.
Image: karissa bell / mashable
With a 40mm case and no rotating bezel, it’s noticeably slimmer — a welcome change for those of us with smaller wrists (or, really, anyone who appreciates a lower profile watch).
And at $199, the Galaxy Watch Active is a much more affordable option than the Galaxy Watch, which started at $375 last year.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch Active has two side buttons instead of a rotating bezel.
Image: karissa bell / mashable
The back of the Galaxy Watch Active.
Image: Karissa bell / mashable
It comes in four different colors: silver, black, sea green, and rose gold (it’s about time Samsung hopped on the rose gold train) and ships with multi-colored bands that are very similar to Apple’s sport bands for the Apple Watch.
The bands are similar to Apple’s sport bands for Apple Watch.
Image: karissa bell / mashable
I only wore the Galaxy Watch Active for a few minutes, but I was impressed by how light it was. And it was at least as comfortable as any Apple Watch I’ve worn.
Navigating apps without a rotating bezel.
Image: karisa bell / mashable
Besides the size, one of the biggest changes with the Galaxy Watch Active is that it doesn’t have a rotating bezel. Instead, you navigate the watch’s menus by swiping left or right.
That rose gold.
Image: karissa bell / mashable
There are also two side buttons that let you launch and close apps. It might take a little getting used to if you’re used to the rotating bezel UI, but I didn’t find it very complicated.
You can wirelessly charge the Galaxy Watch Active with the S10.
Image: karissa bell / mashable
The Galaxy Watch Active charges wirelessly. And, like Samsung’s newly-announced Galaxy Buds, you’re able to charge it with your phone if you have one of the new Galaxy S10 phones. This feature seemed a little finicky in my demos, but I could easily see how it’d be helpful to get a little bit of extra battery life if you’re in a pinch.
Health and fitness first
Like its name suggests, the Galaxy Watch Active is meant to put health and fitness features front and center.
Samsung’s health app.
Image: karissa bell / mashable
While the company hasn’t matched Apple’s advanced heart-rate monitoring features, Samsung has added a new blood pressure-monitoring feature via an app called My BP Lab. The app, which will be available in the U.S., UK, Australia, Singapore, Canada, and Germany. This wasn’t available to try out on the demo models I took a look at, but hopefully it will be ready when we’re able to do a full review.
I did, however, get to briefly try out Samsung’s guided breathing app, which is meant to help you relax through deep breathing, similar to Fitbit’s “relax” feature.
Samsung’s guided breathing app for the Galaxy Watch Active.
Image: karissa bell / mashable
On the fitness side, the Galaxy Watch Active has the ability to automatically track certain types of workouts, along with usual step-counting and third-party exercise apps.
We’ll have more on all of this when we’re able to do a full review, but the Galaxy Watch Active manages to squeeze a lot into a pretty compelling package.
While you won’t get the fancier features of Samsung’s larger (and pricier) watches, the Galaxy Watch Active is an approachable smartwatch that will appeal to fitness enthusiasts.
The Duke Blue Devils freshman gave fans at Cameron Indoor Stadium a scare during the opening minute of Wednesday’s game against the North Carolina Tar Heels when he went down with an apparent leg injury after his left shoe ripped as he planted with the ball.
Even Los Angeles Lakers All-Star LeBron James weighed in on the setback:
LeBron James @KingJames
Hope young fella is ok! Literally blew thru his .
He headed toward the bench under his own power, which was a relief for Duke fans counting on him to parlay his immense talent into a national championship run. The likely No. 1 pick in the upcoming 2019 NBA draft then went back to the locker room for further examination.
ESPN’s Maria Taylor said during the broadcast Williamson was testing the injury after his father came back to the locker room:
College GameDay @CollegeGameDay
Zion Williamson went back to the locker room and has yet to return to the court, per @MariaTaylor. () https://t.co/tP31BJ9UG3
Jeff Goodman of Stadium noted assistant coach “Nolan Smith just came back to the bench from the locker room and shook his head when asked question from assistant Jon Scheyer. Just a guess—but don’t think we’ll be seeing Zion again tonight.”
“He’s a tremendous man and tremendous person who really respects this country and respects the justice system. So that’ll be totally up to him,” President Donald Trump said of his new Attorney General Bill Barr (pictured). | Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
The president’s efforts to play nice with the new attorney general stand in contrast to his ever-growing list of grievances, which piled up on Twitter again this week.
Facing the possible completion of a special counsel investigation that could upend his presidency, Donald Trump is lashing out at everything and everybody — except his new attorney general, Bill Barr.
Trump, who publicly filleted Jeff Sessions for more than a year, has adopted a noticeably friendly tone toward Barr, even as the newly sworn-in attorney general prepares to face the biggest test of his career: the culmination of Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. The approach comes as Trump’s inner circle is signaling that they believe the special counsel has essentially completed his work.
Story Continued Below
“He’s a tremendous man and tremendous person who really respects this country and respects the justice system. So that’ll be totally up to him,” Trump said in the Oval Office Wednesday when asked about a new CNN report that Barr is preparing to announce the completion of Mueller’s work as soon as next week.
Last week, at the close of meandering remarks in the Rose Garden, Trump similarly praised Barr. “I want to wish our attorney general great luck and speed — and enjoy your life,” the president declared.
And notably, Trump didn’t take the bait when Barr praised outgoing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein just one day after Trump debased Rosenstein, accusing him of being part of a rogue, lawless group within the Justice Department.
The president’s efforts to play nice with Barr stand in contrast to his ever-growing list of grievances, which piled up on Twitter again this week. Trump called The New York Times the “ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE,” he picked a fight with The Washington Post’s fact checker, he called on California to return federal money it spent on the state’s high-speed rail network and he bashed the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. On Wednesday, he called former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe “a poor man’s J. Edgar Hoover,” referring to the controversial first FBI director, in the latest escalation of his offensive against McCabe, whose book has yielded wall-to-wall cable news coverage.
“I think Andrew McCabe has made a fool out of himself over the last couple of days,” Trump said.
A number of reports have also detailed Trump’s mounting frustrations with intelligence chief Dan Coats following a congressional appearance in which Coats countered Trump’s frequent boasts about North Korean negotiations and defeating ISIS.
Trump has been obsessing over the Mueller investigation in public and in private since it began in May 2017, and he has grown sensitive to any implication that he could be implicated in the special counsel’s final report. The president’s lawyers have also been clamoring for the Mueller investigation to end for as long as there’s been a Mueller investigation, with the White House and the president’s personal lawyers incorrectly predicting its conclusion on numerous occasions.
They’re hoping this time is different.
“As far as I can tell the investigation is over,” Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani told POLITICO last Friday. “They’ve gotten everything they’re going to get. There’s nothing hanging out there that is big where they haven’t gotten the information, gotten the answers, gotten the documents. We satisfied the document requests a long time ago. It’s all there for them to make a decision.”
As for Mueller’s timing, Giuliani said he didn’t want to ascribe any significance to Barr’s arrival and the larger transition in leadership atop DOJ as Rosenstein readies to leave the government in March.
“You can’t read anything into that other than the fact that I think it will run its course and they’ll present whatever they have to the Justice Department,” Giuliani said.
Mueller’s office and DOJ declined to comment on the timing of the probe.
Under the Clinton-era DOJ guidelines Mueller is operating from, the special counsel must submit a report to the attorney general when his probe is complete spelling out who he’s prosecuted and who he declined to prosecute.
As Trump noted on Wednesday, it’s the attorney general’s decision from there as to what he wants to make public. Barr said during his Senate confirmation hearing that he would likely allow a summary but not the entire report. He added that he would make his version as thorough as possible under the law but would not commit to sharing Mueller’s report in its entirety.
That hasn’t stopped Trump from combatting the probe at almost every turn. A Tuesday New York Times report detailed two years of presidential efforts to “defang” the various investigations encircling him. In one noticeable instance, Trump leaned on acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to put a Trump-appointed official in charge of a New York-based federal investigation into hush money payments made during the campaign to women who claimed to have had sex with Trump.
The story set Trump off.
“The Press has never been more dishonest than it is today. Stories are written that have absolutely no basis in fact. The writers don’t even call asking for verification. They are totally out of control,” Trump wrote on Twitter Wednesday. The Times says its reporters gave the White House five days to respond to its story.
Trump has continued to unleash a torrent of disdain toward Mueller and his investigation, which he portrays as a partisan character assassination. “The Mueller investigation is totally conflicted, illegal and rigged! Should never have been allowed to begin, except for the Collusion and many crimes committed by the Democrats. Witch Hunt!” Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday.
But inside the White House, many staffers have grown numb to the flood of Mueller-related news, believing that they have little choice but to ignore the ever-present headlines and cable news chyrons and focus on their jobs.
Speculation over when Mueller will finish his report into Russian interference in the 2016 election has only increased as hints of an upcoming conclusion have surfaced recently. Late last month, the acting attorney general at the time, Matthew Whitaker, told reporters that the investigation would come to a close soon. CNN reported Wednesday that the finished report could be announced as early as next week. Trump will be in Vietnam next week for a second summit with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un.
Trump officials aren’t sure what will happen after Mueller notifies Barr that his work is done. While there have been more than 20 other special counsels in the post-Watergate era, no one has been assigned the job of investigating a president and his winning campaign for everything from collusion with a foreign power to obstruction of justice in a bid to halt the underlying investigation.
Aides acknowledge the handoff is uncharted territory, and it’s far from clear how the sequence will play out to notify Trump, his legal team and its staff when the probe is finished.
The attorney general could conceivably notify anyone from senior White House aides — chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, White House counsel Pat Cipollone or his deputy, Emmet Flood — or the president himself. Giuliani said it’s possible Mueller could turn in his findings without getting any heads up.
“I don’t expect to be notified when they do whatever they have to do with the Justice Department,” he said. “I expect to be notified either when the DOJ makes their decision or when the DOJ wants to publish something so we can look it over to see if we have executive privilege issues.”
People close to the president have begun privately wondering how long Barr can stay in Trump’s good graces, especially if sensitive details of the Mueller report are leaked to the press.
Barr has made it clear that he wants to be independent from the White House. During his confirmation hearing, Barr said he would allow Mueller to complete his work and said he wouldn’t follow through with a directive to fire Mueller without cause.
It’s also not clear that Mueller is indeed on the cusp of closing up shop on his probe that has snagged guilty pleas from former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates; former national security adviser Michael Flynn; and former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen. Most recently, Mueller brought charges against longtime Trump associate Roger Stone, with a high-profile criminal trial in Washington, D.C., possible later this summer or fall.
Mueller has taken steps to hand off some of his caseload to federal prosecutors. But there are other competing signs that suggest the special counsel still has work to do: Mueller’s office has confirmed it’s locked in a mysterious Supreme Court battle over a subpoena involving a company owned by a foreign country; FBI agents collected reams of evidence and potential leads when it executed a search warrant on Stone’s home and office late last month; and multiple congressional committees have referred interview transcripts to the special counsel for review for potential perjury charges.
“When it comes to all things Mueller, the number of experts on tasseography is stunning,” said Gene Rossi, a former federal prosecutor from Virginia.
“I thought the once popular practice of reading tea leaves ended after the Victorian Era,” he added. “For me, I like to flip a coin for the answer to whether Mueller is ending. At least I have a fifty percent chance of being correct. My coin tells me that Mueller is far from done.”
A pilot in Perth, Australia flew his plane to spell out the words “I’m bored,” as per a FlightAware map tracking the journey. Of course, he also drew two dicks in the sky.
The Diamond Star plane left Parafield Airport at 8:53 a.m. local time, and took quite the extended route before landing at the same airport three hours later.
As reported by PerthNow, the pilot in question is thought to be a newly-qualified instructor, and was tasked with breaking in the plane’s engine so that it could be used as an instructional aircraft.
A FlightAware spokesperson told Gizmodo that it is “fairly common for pilots to get creative and trace words or other images in the sky while they fly.”
By Sasha Lekach
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