Russiagate

[SkyDekker 1,122]

My biggest takeway from this is that the Trump campaign clearly wasn't surprised that Russia was going to be helping them.

How does one not react when you get an email indicating a foreign (enemy) government is offering to help you?

[wolfriverjoe 1,340]

SkyDekker

My biggest takeway from this is that the Trump campaign clearly wasn't surprised that Russia was going to be helping them.

How does one not react when you get an email indicating a foreign (enemy) government is offering to help you?

Well, you see it as "going to be helping."

How about "They were already helping, but this was an 'extra' bit of assistance"?

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[ryoder 1,384]

Stumpy

That well known liberal Charles Krauthammer gave a pretty damning judgement of Don Jr.

Video here: http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/07/11/donald-trump-jr-russian-lawyer-meeting-charles-krauthammer-incompetence-defense-hannity

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

[jakee 1,254]

ryoder

***That well known liberal Charles Krauthammer gave a pretty damning judgement of Don Jr.

Video here: http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/07/11/donald-trump-jr-russian-lawyer-meeting-charles-krauthammer-incompetence-defense-hannity

Two things strike from that video - the first is Krathammer's statement (mirroring Rush's stance here) that he defended Trump against the Russia investigation because until now "there was no 'there' there" to which you obviously reply "and this is why we needed the investigation!"

The second is the Fox host's desperation to push the Trump Jr line of "but there wasn't any info so there isn't any problem". To get to which point you have to ignore the months of lies, denial and coverup about the meeting, ignore the intent and willingness of Trump Jr to use the promised information, accept the assertion of Trump Jr that there was no information despite the fact that you know he's lied about everything else connected with the meeting until publically proven otherwise, and ignore the fact that acting on a conspiracy to do illegal things is a crime even if you are unsuccessful at completing the intended illegal acts.

As an attorney was interviewed in Rolling Stone [paraphrasing] "If this wasn't the President's son the FBI would be raiding his house already."

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[billvon 2,400]

>And anybody who tries to spin this as anything other than exactly what it looks
>like is going to lose all of their credibility.

With that in mind it's interesting to watch how the pro-Trump media sources reacted.

The funniest one by far was the FOX News panel discussion that was going on while the emails were being released. Julie Banderas, John McCormack and Betsy Woodruff were talking about the most recent revelations, using standard right wing talking points - the NYT has been "beaten down" by Trump Jr's release, Clinton did it first, the released email "gets him out of this mess" etc.

But then they actually read the email on the air.

==========
Taking a deeper look at this email, it might not look so good for Donald Trump Jr. First of all, the Times now has the email to Donald Trump Jr. offering Russia aid and in the email, they basically say they want to incriminate Hillary — nothing wrong with that if he wants to meet with someone who has damaging information on a political rival, nothing wrong with that — a hostile foreign government having information, that wants to help a political campaign, yes, there’s a problem with that. Here is Donald Trump, Jr.,’s reply and I’m quoting out of his email that he in fact just posted on Twitter, quote: ‘If it’s what you say, I love it.’”
==========

And you could see them all wilt.

FOX News then went silent on the topic for a while, while they tried to figure out how to spin it. They couldn't figure out a way - so they started reporting on it, while weaving in plenty of pro-Trump stories like the debunked "Comey leaked classified information" story.

Breitbart reacted predictably. Matthew Boyle of Breitbart posted "I mean I don't take this as a smoking gun at all. This is silly."

Sean Hannity asked "If Donald Trump himself was colluding with Vladimir Putin and the Russians, why would he need his son to act as an intermediary?" (Answer - that assumes Trump is competent; a poor assumption at best.)

A lot of people simply denied the story - even though the claims came from Donald Jr's own tweets. "As suspected the lying NY Times fabricated another fake story!" "And just like that, another blockbuster from the NYTimes (Don Jr Story) ends up being pure bulls**t."

The most consistent angle was to attack the media who was reporting this. Marsha Blackburn attacked the press (including, presumably, FOX) saying they should ignore this story and "focus on what Congress and the administration is doing to create jobs and provide health care.” (Which is apparently nothing; they are all too busy defending Trump Jr, attacking Clinton and Obama and bailing on the latest Trumpcare plan.)

And Alex Jones gets top honors for the most absurd claim, which is that Trump Jr was "doing his job" by "trying to find Russian spies." (Perhaps they will later find out that he was doing an even better job finding illegal prostitutes and/or drug dealers.)

To their credit, even some pro-Trump media sources couldn't take it any more. Raheem Kassam from Breitbart London said "So like, this is straight up collusion. Right?" Other comments from that office were "Wow" and "???????".

[billvon 2,400]

And this from Rep. Ted Yoho:“I probably would have done the same thing… it’s opposition research.”

Good to know, Ted, good to know. Might want to keep him away from any foreign agents with bags of money in the future.

[jakee 1,254]

billvon

And this from Rep. Ted Yoho:“I probably would have done the same thing… it’s opposition research.”

Good to know, Ted, good to know. Might want to keep him away from any foreign agents with bags of money in the future.

Orrin Hatch said "I think this is overblown. Donald Trump Jr is a very fine young guy. He’s smart. He’s decent. He’s honorable.”

Would Hatch have taken the meeting? "No! Noooooo."

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[billvon 2,400]

And today a new front opens in the investigation:

====================
Trump-Russia investigators probe Jared Kushner-run digital operation

By Peter Stone and Greg Gordon
McClatchy Washington Bureau
July 12 2017

Investigators at the House and Senate Intelligence committees and the Justice Department are examining whether the Trump campaign’s digital operation – overseen by Jared Kushner – helped guide Russia’s sophisticated voter targeting and fake news attacks on Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Congressional and Justice Department investigators are focusing on whether Trump’s campaign pointed Russian cyber operatives to certain voting jurisdictions in key states – areas where Trump’s digital team and Republican operatives were spotting unexpected weakness in voter support for Hillary Clinton, according to several people familiar with the parallel inquiries.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article160803619.html#storylink=cpy
====================

Quick, Mr. President! Tweet about how Clinton cheated on a high school chemistry test!

[jakee 1,254]

"Jared Kushner tried and failed to secure a $500m loan from one of Qatar's richest businessmen, before pushing his father-in-law to toe a hard line with the country, it has been alleged.

This intersection between Mr Kushner’s real estate dealings and his father-in-law’s international issues highlights the difficulties of an administration besiged with an unprecedented number of conflicts of interest."

Someone remind me why anyone ever thought that if this guy was running things in the Whitehouse he'd at least be keeping them out of trouble?

Shows just how low the 'at least he's better than Bannon' bar really was!

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[kallend 1,623]

Interesting stuff from the FBI director nomination hearing.

news.google.com/news/video/2i46xUjKZ94/dOtMMLto28qIe6M_24DrgGydy2K3M?hl=en&ned=us

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[yoink 321]

kallend

Interesting stuff from the FBI director nomination hearing.

news.google.com/news/video/2i46xUjKZ94/dOtMMLto28qIe6M_24DrgGydy2K3M?hl=en&ned=us

Mr Wray looks decidedly ill at ease in all of that interview and seems to be being (to use a rush-ism) led around by the nose by Senator Graham.

I don't know if it's the seeming unpreparedness of Mr Wray or the extremely leading way the senator is facilitating the interview, but something about the whole thing makes me quite uncomfortable.

[normiss 622]

Mike Pence, Jan 2017, on Face the Nation:
Q: Did any Trump campaign member have contact with the Russians?
Pence: "Of course not."

LIAR!

[billvon 2,400]

>LIAR!

That's politically incorrect, and will attract the righteous wrath of all Trump supporters. The more approved method of saying that is "he was employing an alternative fact."

[normiss 622]

That's quite accurate and funnier than it should be. Sad.

[billvon 2,400]

In the midst of these new revelations about the Trump administration's collusions with Russia, keep in mind this exchange from 2016 between Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy:
======================
Ryan: The Russians hacked the DNC…
McCarthy: …to get oppo [opposition intelligence]
Ryan: …on Trump and like delivered it to…to who?
McCarthy: There's … there's two people, I think, Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump… [laughter]… swear to God.
Ryan: This is an off the record…[laughter]…NO LEAKS…[laughter]…all right?!
==========================
https://www.washingtonpost.com/apps/g/page/national/read-the-transcript-of-the-conversation-among-gop-leaders-obtained-by-the-post/2209/

Also keep in mind that both denied the conversation happened. Until the transcript was released, at which point they claimed they were "just joking."

[gowlerk 1,912]

I just heard that Trump is now saying that his son is a victim of the greatest witch hunt in political history. True, since Trump is the greatest witch in political history.

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

[billvon 2,400]

>I just heard that Trump is now saying that his son is a victim of the greatest
>witch hunt in political history.

Of course! I mean, Julius Caesar's assassination over a false belief that he wanted to dissolve the senate? Big deal. They are hurting Trump's feelings far more than they ever hurt Caesar.

McCarthyism? That was all totally true, and not a witch hunt at all. I bet Lucille Ball _was_ really a secret Communist agent. And Burgess Meredith? Sure, he played the Penguin - but he was really the Mole. Probably.

The accusations that Christine O’Donnell was an actual witch? Not a witch hunt at all.

Birtherism? Not a witch hunt at all! Trump never even mentioned witches when he was accusing Obama of being born in Kenya.

[SkyDekker 1,122]

I am waiting for Rush or Ron to claim that Obama illegally snuck this lawyer into the country to entrap Trump.

[billvon 2,400]

Investigation uncovering more interesting material:

==========================
Russian Officials Overheard Discussing Trump Associates Before Campaign Began

U.S. intelligence starting in the spring of 2015 detected conversations in which Russian government officials discussed meetings with Trump associates

Shane Harris
Wall Street Journal
July 12 2017

U.S. intelligence agencies starting in the spring of 2015 detected conversations in which Russian government officials discussed associates of Donald Trump, several months before he declared his candidacy for president, according to current and former U.S. officials.

In some cases, the Russians in the overheard conversations talked about meetings held outside the U.S. involving Russian government officials and Trump business associates or advisers, these people said. . . .

Then, in the spring of 2016, U.S. intelligence officials’ suspicions about Russian meddling in the election grew after their counterparts in Europe warned that Russian money might be flowing into the presidential election, according to officials with knowledge of the warning. It remains unknown if or whether those funds were funneled to a particular campaign or to others to spend it on behalf of candidates.
===============

[SkyDekker 1,122]

How about this one:

The Russian lawyer Jr met with was defending her clients against money laundering charges pressed by Preet Bharara. Two months after Trump fired Preet Bharara, they settled their case, without admitting guilt, for a fraction of what they should have paid.

Favour returned?

[billvon 2,400]

SkyDekker

The Russian lawyer Jr met with was defending her clients against money laundering charges pressed by Preet Bharara. Two months after Trump fired Preet Bharara, they settled their case, without admitting guilt, for a fraction of what they should have paid.

Hey, you gotta pay to play.

[yoink 321]

billvon

\
U.S. intelligence agencies starting in the spring of 2015 detected conversations in which Russian government officials discussed associates of Donald Trump, several months before he declared his candidacy for president, according to current and former U.S. officials.

To shortcut both rush and Trump himself:

"Why didn't OBAMA do something about this? SETUP! #whichhunt"

[kallend 1,623]

Interesting that the Trump camp is resurrecting the proven LIE that Hillary Clinton sold 20% of US uranium stockpile to Russia. The meme is all over Facebook today.

Desperate times for the Trumps.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[billvon 2,400]

Not that interesting. 69% of the statements he's made over the past six years are false per Politifact. To put it another way, anything he says is far more likely to be false than true.

[gowlerk 1,912]

Trevor Noah:

Quote

"It's no longer, 'was there collusion?' But instead, 'how much collusion was there? And all because of his own son," he said.

And what I just can't understand is this: Why did the Trump people outsource their "opposition research" to Russia? What's wrong with good old fashioned American opposition research?

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