RUSH: Michael Cohen has begged a federal judge for mercy after his guilty plea. I should tell you, Paul Sperry, who writes for the New York Post and Real Clear Politics, took a look. He did a deep dive into Cohen's plea that has been publicized by Mueller. We'll link to it at RushLimbaugh.com. I'd have to read the whole thing to you, basically get in the weeds, but his conclusion is that this plea deal actually exonerates Trump, but that that's not the way Mueller is gonna end up reporting this.

Now, Rudy Giuliani is out joining the criticism of Mueller because it's apparent from Jerome Corsi and Manafort that what Mueller is doing, which we discussed last week, is trying to force people to say what Mueller wants them to say. He's trying to force people to lie in order to make the case that Mueller wants to make. And Giuliani is now calling Mueller out on this as well. So Cohen apparently has done this. Cohen has apparently told Mueller what he wants to hear about some things, particularly his Trump Tower meeting.

And again, folks, I can't stress enough here, this is so crucial and so important to illustrate how actually literally bogus all of this is. The original Russian collusion story that the media and the deep state reported for now two years is that the Russians and Trump got together and conspired - they really want to use conspiracy instead of collusion, but they don't dare. And they haven't needed to. Collusion people are interpreting it to meet conspiracy anyway. See, conspiracy is a crime. Collusion isn't. And that's why they have to be very careful in not using the word "conspiracy" 'cause there isn't any crime here.

They have literally created the impression in nearly half this country's population that the Russians tampered with votes and that Trump was aware of it and agreed to let them do it in order to benefit from it, i.e., being elected president, Hillary losing. This is what they made the American people think the Mueller investigation is.

What does it really mean to have a government shutdown? It means that the federal government does not perform its first duty of securing our nation. Our government shutdown continues as the unelected federal judiciary continues its bloodless coup against our national sovereignty, history, and tradition, and the legislative and executive branches do nothing to stop it.

Any federal court can now declare that freedom of speech and religion don't exist for Americans, yet there is a First Amendment right to immigrate and to help other people illegally violate our sovereignty. Any federal court can say that states and even the federal government can't ban sanctuary cities, but they are free to clamp down on gun rights of Americans. Our Constitution is twisted beyond recognition, yet we are told this is the law of the land. How much longer can we survive under the Orwellian legal profession? Moreover, if we keep agreeing to such a system, then even a border wall won't help, because judges are erasing the recognition of the border altogether.

Because illegals are now considered a special protected class, courts are violating settled law by granting them citizen constitutional rights and even super-rights that citizens don't have. Here's the latest example:

The US may be preparing to torpedo the New START deal with Russia, which limits the number of nuclear weapons each country can have, in its latest escalation over a Russian missile "violating" the INF arms treaty, Moscow says.

The suspicion was voiced by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in response to remarks by US Joint Chief of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, who said the New START treaty may be affected by the current quarrel, between the two countries, over another key agreement, the INF Treaty.

New START was signed in 2010 by then-presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama. It set limits on how many nuclear warheads, and means for their delivery, each country can possess. It replaced an earlier agreement signed by US and USSR and is due to expire in 2021, with an option of a five-year extension.

The INF in turn was agreed in late years of the Cold War and banned a certain class of weapons - land-based ballistic and cruise missiles if intermediate range - to reduce tension in Europe. The mass deployment of such missiles by NATO nations and the Warsaw Pact Organization on the continent was deemed too risky, since it made the possibility of a nuclear war by mistake too likely.

"I have seen the statement that if the INF no longer exists, then the New START will be put in question," Lavrov told journalists on Friday. It seems that the ground is being laid to eventually scrap this document too.

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, a staunchly Catholic conservative career politician, has been elected as the successor to Angela Merkel as leader of Germany's Christian Democrats.

Kramp-Karrenbauer won by just 25 votes following a nail-biting second round run-off against her main opponent, the multi-millionaire businessman, Friedrich Merz.

Wiping away tears, Kramp-Karrenbauer said she would accept the post, and thanked the party for its support and trust in her, insisting she would give new impetus to the party as it seeks to claw back the millions of voters it has lost to rightwing populists and the Greens in recent years.

"We should harness the boost this competition has given us, and use it to propel the party's success," she said.

The leader of the "Fatherland" party Tymoshenko, within the framework of her visit to the US, met the special representative of US State department concerning Ukraine Kurt Volker. The politician Oleg Tsarev explained why Tymoshenko went to the US precisely now:

"On the one hand, everything for Tymoshenko is good: she has an excellent approval rating, she is supported by oligarchs, she is in 'contact' with Avakov and even with Lutsenko - practically the entire environment of Poroshenko communicates with Tymoshenko just in case. There is a budget for her electoral campaign, there are necessary structures, there is Kolomoisky's support, and closer towards the elections other oligarchs with high probability will also provide her with media resources. The only problem for Tymoshenko is the United States.

"According to my colleagues, at this present moment Tymoshenko has a certain agreement with Merkel and Macron, but she has no agreement with the leadership of the US. She held some meetings with Trump, but thus the US still doesn't want to place a stake on her, as they consider her to be too independent.

"It is for the same reason that America still hasn't made a decision on who to support at presidential elections in Ukraine. Therefore now, having solved all internal problems in Ukraine, Tymoshenko went to the US. Despite having the No. 1 approval rating in Ukraine, she understands that the opinion of the US will be defining. The US will determine who the president will be, and not the residents of Ukraine.

Lebanese Ambassador to the United Nations Amal Mudallali sent a letter to the UN Security Council accusing Israel of hacking into the country's telephone network in order to warn residents of southern Lebanon of the threat caused by Hezbollah's efforts to dig tunnels on border with Israel.

"Lebanon condemns in the strongest possible terms the political and diplomatic campaign being waged by Israel against Lebanon, which it fears is a prelude to the launch of further attacks", Mudallali's letter read, as quoted by The Times of Israel.

Earlier this week, Israel allegedly hacked into the Lebanese national communications network and warned residents of the village of Kfar Kila of bombings on Lebanese territories to destroy the tunnels, stressing that their lives were in danger.

"That campaign is being accompanied by a number of extremely serious acts, of which the most recent is that Israel has breached the Lebanese communications grid by hacking into the telephone network and sending recorded messages to peaceable civilian inhabitants of the southern part of the village of Kafr Killa warning them of imminent explosions to take place on Lebanese territory that might put their lives at risk", the letter said.

According to Mudallali, such Israeli actions constitute a violation of Lebanon's sovereignty.

Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno said on Thursday that there was a "path" for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to leave the South American country's London embassy, where he has lived for six years under asylum, if he so chooses.

Assange has claimed that Ecuador is seeking to end his asylum and hand him over to the United States, where prosecutors are preparing to pursue a criminal case against him. Wikileaks has released thousands of classified U.S. military documents, among other disclosures.

"There is a path for Mr. Assange to take the decision to exit into near freedom," Moreno said in a local radio interview.

He noted that Assange still faces jail time in the United Kingdom for violating bail terms when he sought asylum to avoid being extradited to Sweden, where authorities wanted to question him as part of a sexual assault investigation. The investigation was later dropped, but Great Britain says he will be arrested if leaves the embassy.

Moreno said the sentence for skipping bail would be "not long." The UK has told Ecuador that his jail time would not exceed six months and that he would not face extradition if he left the embassy. Assange insists British authorities will hand him over to the United States.

"I do not like the presence of Mr. Assange in the Ecuadorean embassy, but we have been respectful of his human rights and with that respect in mind we think that six years is too long for someone to remain nearly incarcerated in an embassy," Moreno said.

The Trump administration is blocking a $500 million arms deal between Israel and Croatia, for the sale of 12 U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets refurbished and upgraded by Israel, Israeli officials tell me.

Why it matters: The U.S. was also fighting for the Croatia tender, and U.S. officials claimed Israel was being dishonest and trying to profit off the back of the U.S., according to the Israeli officials. This is a very rare standoff after two years of incredibly close relations between Israel and the Trump administration, especially when it comes to military and defense cooperation.

The latest: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised the issue with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during their meeting in Brussels on Monday, according to Israeli officials who said Pompeo told Netanyahu he was not against the deal but Secretary of Defense James Mattis was blocking it.

The US-propelled draft resolution targeting Palestinian Hamas has failed to pass a two-thirds majority threshold at the UN General Assembly vote in what is seen is a major upset for the outgoing US envoy to the UN Nikki Hailey.

The resolution garnered 87 votes in favor and 57 against, thus falling short of securing a required two-thirds majority for the motion to pass. Thirty-six member-states abstained from the vote.

The resolution should have condemned Hamas, which has been in control of the Gaza Strip from 2007 to 2014 and again since 2016. The document was in the works for several days, as Haley was seeking to reconcile the text with the EU and major Arab nations, the US allies.

The final draft denounces Hamas "for repeatedly firing rockets into Israel and for inciting violence, thereby putting civilians at risk," demands it and other militant groups, such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad "cease all provocative actions and violent activity," including "airborne incendiary devices."

The United Russia party has adopted a new set of ethic rules for its members. Now, they are obliged to publicly respond to accusations of wrongdoings and immediately resign from the party if the allegations stand true.

The new ethic rules were unveiled amid a convention of the party on Friday. While "most of the party's members already stick to rules of ethics" State Duma's deputy Andrey Krasov said, the set of rules targets certain individuals who "might tarnish the image of the whole United Russia party with their actions and statement."

From now on, the party's members are obliged to treat citizens with respect, support them and try to assist them in solving their problems. They should also refrain from "actions and statements that may lead to the infringement of human rights and freedoms, stand responsible for their remarks," as well as try and be "modest" in public.

Members of the United Russian, accused of wrongdoings should publicly - and legally - respond to the allegations to clear their names, and resign immediately if the allegations actually hold water.