Russiagate

[billvon 2,402]

And now Spicer is losing it over Russiagate:
==============================
Sean Spicer loses his cool: ‘Stop shaking your head’
By Aaron Blake March 28 at 2:39 PM
WaPo

White House press secretary Sean Spicer finally seemed to reach a breaking point Tuesday when it comes to questions about President Trump and Russia.

Spicer got testy in an exchange with American Urban Radio Networks reporter April Ryan after Ryan announced a premise that Spicer disagreed with: that the White House has a Russia issue to deal with. By the end, Spicer accused Ryan of pushing her own agenda and even instructed her not to shake her head at him.

. . . .

After some more back-and-forth, Spicer again spotted Ryan shaking her head and told her, “Please, stop shaking your head again.”

This is hardly the first time a White House press briefing has featured a pitched battled between reporters and Spicer. And Spicer hasn't been afraid to accuse reporters, including CNN's Jim Acosta and ABC's Jonathan Karl, of pushing their own agendas — especially on issues like Russia.


But the exchange with Ryan sure seemed to venture into different territory. Instructing her to stop shaking her head came off as demeaning, and a number of White House reporters took issue with it on social media.

What's even more puzzling about it is that Spicer continues to point to the lack of evidence of collusion while ignoring the fact that the FBI is investigating possible ties between Trump and Russia. The idea that an FBI investigation involving the administration doesn't amount to a hill of beans just doesn't make much sense. Yet the mere premise that Russia is an issue for the White House seemed to set Spicer off.
=============

[TriGirl 268]

billvon

And now Spicer is losing it over Russiagate:
==============================
Sean Spicer loses his cool: ‘Stop shaking your head’
By Aaron Blake March 28 at 2:39 PM
WaPo

White House press secretary Sean Spicer finally seemed to reach a breaking point Tuesday when it comes to questions about President Trump and Russia.

Spicer got testy in an exchange with American Urban Radio Networks reporter April Ryan after Ryan announced a premise that Spicer disagreed with: that the White House has a Russia issue to deal with. By the end, Spicer accused Ryan of pushing her own agenda and even instructed her not to shake her head at him.

. . . .

And the sad thing about the whole exchange is that the reporter was trying to ask him where the WH wanted to redirect its communication plan -- with these issues dominating the news cycle, what plan did they have to get beyond these issues? She was trying to give him an opportunity to focus on something else, and how were they going to get the focus onto the things he thinks matters, instead of the Russia connections. Instead, he focused on the Russia connections.

See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus

Shut Up & Jump!

[Stumpy 256]

TriGirl

***And now Spicer is losing it over Russiagate:
==============================
Sean Spicer loses his cool: ‘Stop shaking your head’
By Aaron Blake March 28 at 2:39 PM
WaPo

White House press secretary Sean Spicer finally seemed to reach a breaking point Tuesday when it comes to questions about President Trump and Russia.

Spicer got testy in an exchange with American Urban Radio Networks reporter April Ryan after Ryan announced a premise that Spicer disagreed with: that the White House has a Russia issue to deal with. By the end, Spicer accused Ryan of pushing her own agenda and even instructed her not to shake her head at him.

. . . .

And the sad thing about the whole exchange is that the reporter was trying to ask him where the WH wanted to redirect its communication plan -- with these issues dominating the news cycle, what plan did they have to get beyond these issues? She was trying to give him an opportunity to focus on something else, and how were they going to get the focus onto the things he thinks matters, instead of the Russia connections. Instead, he focused on the Russia connections.

It has echoes of "don't mention the war!"

Basil Spicer

Never try to eat more than you can lift

[ryoder 1,390]

Stumpy

It has echoes of "don't mention the war!"

Basil Spicer

"You started it!"

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[billvon 2,402]

Looks like those 'leaks' Trump has been tweeting over have been coming from . . . his own office. It's a great strategy - leak a false story, become indignant over it, then when there's no evidence to be found, claim that the leak itself is the problem!

Of course, that only works if you don't get caught.
==============================================
2 White House Officials Helped Give Nunes Intelligence Reports

By MATTHEW ROSENBERG, MAGGIE HABERMAN and ADAM GOLDMAN
MARCH 30, 2017

WASHINGTON — A pair of White House officials played a role in providing Representative Devin Nunes of California, a Republican and the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, with the intelligence reports that showed that President Trump and his associates were incidentally swept up in foreign surveillance by American spy agencies.

The revelation that White House officials assisted in the disclosure of the intelligence reports — which Mr. Nunes then discussed with President Trump — is likely to fuel criticism that the intelligence chairman has been too eager to do the bidding of the Trump administration while his committee is supposed to be conducting an independent investigation of Russia’s meddling in the last presidential election.

Mr. Nunes has also been faulted by his congressional colleagues for sharing the information with President Trump before consulting with other members of the intelligence committee.
===============================================

[billvon 2,402]

More bad news for Trump today as the players start lawyering up:
=======================================
Mike Flynn Offers to Testify in Exchange for Immunity
Former national security adviser tells FBI, the House and Senate intelligence committees he’s willing to be interviewed in exchange for deal, officials say
By Shane Harris, Carol E. Lee and Julian E. Barnes

Updated March 30, 2017 6:41 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON—Mike Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, has told the Federal Bureau of Investigation and congressional officials investigating the Trump campaign’s potential ties to Russia that he is willing to be interviewed in exchange for a grant of immunity from prosecution, according to officials with knowledge of the matter.

As an adviser to Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign, and later one of Mr. Trump’s top aides in the White House, Mr. Flynn was privy to some of the most sensitive foreign-policy deliberations of the new administration and was directly involved in discussions about the possible lifting of sanctions on Russia imposed by the Obama administration.
========================================

Even as we speak, I bet Nunes is trying his best to lose that email. "What? Flynn offered to testify? Hmm, I must not have gotten that email. Oh well."

[ryoder 1,390]

billvon

Mike Flynn Offers to Testify in Exchange for Immunity
Former national security adviser tells FBI, the House and Senate intelligence committees he’s willing to be interviewed in exchange for deal, officials say

Immunity, eh?
Let's hear from an expert on what it means to take an immunity deal: https://www.facebook.com/TheHill/videos/10154710971379087/

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[ScottishJohn 25]

Flynn released a statement on Thursday through his lawyer declaring that he had a story to tell – but was first seeking “assurances against unfair prosecution”.

Is this assurance against ALL prosecution or just UNFAIR prosecution.

Who decides if a prosecution is fair or unfair ?

----------------------------------------------------------------------
If you think my attitude stinks you should smell my fingers

[SkyDekker 1,128]

ScottishJohn

Flynn released a statement on Thursday through his lawyer declaring that he had a story to tell – but was first seeking “assurances against unfair prosecution”.

Is this assurance against ALL prosecution or just UNFAIR prosecution.

Who decides if a prosecution is fair or unfair ?

Judge or jury of course.

If you are found guilty it was an unfair prosecution. If you are acquitted it was fair prosecution.

[billvon 2,402]

An hour ago, Sen. Angus King (I-ME) said there was "no doubt whatsoever that the Russians were behind the effort to interfere with our election" during his testimony.

[ryoder 1,390]

If we ever thought the GOP'ers didn't put party before country,Rep Ted Yoho just cleared that up: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/ted-yoho-misspoke-devin-nunes-works-for-the-president-236705

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[ryoder 1,390]

Roger Stone went on Bill Maher's show last night.
Maher wasn't exactly gentile with him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dag6L7tnCEo

And at the end I was astonished at the issue they agreed on.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[billvon 2,402]

Today's revelation for Trump supporters to deny:
=======================
A Former Trump Adviser Met With A Russian Spy

Carter Page told BuzzFeed News that he had been in contact with at least one Russian spy working undercover out of Moscow’s UN office in 2013.
Posted on April 3, 2017, at 3:39 p.m.
Ali Watkins/Buzzfeed

NEW YORK — A former campaign adviser for Donald Trump met with and passed documents to a Russian intelligence operative in New York City in 2013.

The adviser, Carter Page, met with a Russian intelligence operative named Victor Podobnyy, who was later charged by the US government alongside two others for acting as unregistered agents of a foreign government. The charges, filed in January 2015, came after federal investigators busted a Russian spy ring that was seeking information on US sanctions as well as efforts to develop alternative energy. Page is an energy consultant.

A court filing by the US government contains a transcript of a recorded conversation in which Podobnyy speaks with one of the other men busted in the spy ring, Igor Sporyshev, about trying to recruit someone identified as “Male-1.” BuzzFeed News has confirmed that “Male-1” is Page.

The revelation of Page’s connection to Russian intelligence — which occurred more than three years before his association with Trump — is the most clearly documented contact to date between Russian intelligence and someone in Trump’s orbit. It comes as federal investigators probe whether Trump’s campaign-era associates — including Page — had any inappropriate contact with Russian officials or intelligence operatives during the course of the election. Page has volunteered to help Senate investigators in their inquiry.
========================

[ryoder 1,390]

Nunes steps aside: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/nunes-to-step-aside-from-russia-probe-236951

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[gowlerk 1,915]

ryoder

Nunes steps aside: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/nunes-to-step-aside-from-russia-probe-236951

Maybe now he can concentrate on setting up a diversionary "Rice" probe.

Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

[billvon 2,402]

>Nunes steps aside

More details on that:
================================
Devin Nunes to Step Aside From House Russia Investigation

By EMMARIE HUETTEMAN and MARK MAZZETTI
APRIL 6, 2017
NYT

WASHINGTON — Representative Devin Nunes, the embattled California Republican who is chairman of the Intelligence Committee, announced on Thursday he would step aside from leading his committee’s investigation into Russia’s efforts to disrupt last year’s presidential election.

His announcement was made on the same morning that the House Committee on Ethics said Mr. Nunes was under investigation because of public reports that he “may have made unauthorized disclosures of classified information.”

The congressman has been under growing criticism for his handling of the Russian inquiry. Many on Capitol Hill have said he is too eager to do the White House’s bidding and cannot be an impartial investigator into questions about any role President Trump’s associates may have had in last year’s Russian campaign to disrupt the election.. . .

Mr. Nunes came under fire last month after he announced that he believed Mr. Trump or members of his transition team may have been “incidentally” caught up in foreign surveillance by American spy agencies. He cited “dozens” of intelligence reports he described as classified, which The New York Times later revealed had been provided to him by White House officials.
==============================

[brenthutch 384]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3uQglOt7M3g

[normiss 622]

Russia story that Trump calls a “HOAX!” has now brought down his National Security Adviser, House intel chair, and Trump’s campaign manager, and it's only getting started.

[billvon 2,402]

The CIA knew well before the election that Russia was trying to meddle:
====================
C.I.A. Had Evidence of Russian Effort to Help Trump Earlier Than Believed

By ERIC LICHTBLAU
APRIL 6, 2017

WASHINGTON — The C.I.A. told senior lawmakers in classified briefings last summer that it had information indicating that Russia was working to help elect Donald J. Trump president, a finding that did not emerge publicly until after Mr. Trump’s victory months later, former government officials say.

The briefings indicate that intelligence officials had evidence of Russia’s intentions to help Mr. Trump much earlier in the presidential campaign than previously thought. The briefings also reveal a critical split last summer between the C.I.A. and counterparts at the F.B.I., where a number of senior officials continued to believe through last fall that Russia’s cyberattacks were aimed only at disrupting America’s political system, and not at getting Mr. Trump elected, according to interviews.

The former officials said that in late August — 10 weeks before the election — John O. Brennan, then the C.I.A. director, was so concerned about increasing evidence of Russia’s election meddling that he began a series of urgent, individual briefings for eight top members of Congress, some of them on secure phone lines while they were on their summer break.

It is unclear what new intelligence might have prompted the classified briefings. But with concerns growing both internally and publicly at the time about a significant Russian breach of the Democratic National Committee, the C.I.A. began seeing signs of possible connections to the Trump campaign, the officials said. By the final weeks of the campaign, Congress and the intelligence agencies were racing to understand the scope of the Russia threat.

In an Aug. 25 briefing for Harry Reid, then the top Democrat in the Senate, Mr. Brennan indicated that Russia’s hackings appeared aimed at helping Mr. Trump win the November election, according to two former officials with knowledge of the briefing.

The officials said Mr. Brennan also indicated that unnamed advisers to Mr. Trump might be working with the Russians to interfere in the election.
=====================================

[brenthutch 384]

Looks like Trump just tossed a few cruise missiles at his overlord's ally.

[gowlerk 1,915]

Nothing like a little military action to unify the populace.

Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

[billvon 2,402]

>Looks like Trump just tossed a few cruise missiles at his overlord's ally.

See if you can guess what left wing loon tweeted this:

"What will we get for bombing Syria besides more debt and a possible long term conflict?"

[headoverheels 291]

brenthutch

Looks like Trump just tossed a few cruise missiles at his overlord's ally.

Just an expected Trump action -- he often reverses himself multiple times in one paragraph, so no surprise that he does it over a day or two. What a loser.

[brenthutch 384]

gowlerk

Nothing like a little military action to unify the populace.

He learned that from Bill Clinton. Who could forget Operation Desert Foxy Lady.

[gowlerk 1,915]

brenthutch

***Nothing like a little military action to unify the populace.

He learned that from Bill Clinton. Who could forget Operation Desert Foxy Lady.


I don't remember it. But you're right. It's a very old trick. And I'm guessing the action you are talking about occurred at the height of the Lewinsky scandal.

Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.