[News] Trump, Russia, and the 2016 Election

All news related to Donald Trump's alleged ties to Russia and to the Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election. New details should be cited to reputable sources.

Gremlin wrote:

To make up for my skimming, a follow-up story:

CNN: Amid renewed scrutiny, Erik Prince to host fundraiser for Russia-friendly congressman

Oh my god, Oliver North is attending. You really couldn't make this stuff up.

Jolly Bill wrote:
Gremlin wrote:

To make up for my skimming, a follow-up story:

CNN: Amid renewed scrutiny, Erik Prince to host fundraiser for Russia-friendly congressman

Oh my god, Oliver North is attending. You really couldn't make this stuff up.

I guess now we know who got that gold.

Yucker Carlson's web site Daily Caller just published an article by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska calling the Russia investigation "fake news".

https://archive.is/j7q92

When I realized I'd typoed Tucker's name, I corrected it, and then decided I liked the typo better.

Deripaska is the guy that Manafort met with for "private briefings"... which were probably not sex-related but when you put "private briefings" in quotes, you can't help but think it's innuendo.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...

Tucker Carlson is a hack but he seemed to have some sense and intellect.
It is as if every R except David Frum has turned into Glenn Beck.
Like you have no choice, if you want to be a Republican you have to assume
and consume the loco.

Or all of Fox News is in on it as well?

fangblackbone wrote:

Tucker Carlson is a hack but he seemed to have some sense and intellect.
It is as if every R except David Frum has turned into Glenn Beck.
Like you have no choice, if you want to be a Republican you have to assume
and consume the loco.

Jennifer Rubin is still a staunch NeverTrumper and not completely insane. Still wrong about nearly everything, but not a traitor.

Mixolyde wrote:
fangblackbone wrote:

Tucker Carlson is a hack but he seemed to have some sense and intellect.
It is as if every R except David Frum has turned into Glenn Beck.
Like you have no choice, if you want to be a Republican you have to assume
and consume the loco.

Jennifer Rubin is still a staunch NeverTrumper and not completely insane. Still wrong about nearly everything, but not a traitor.

Plus Rick Wilson.

fangblackbone wrote:

Tucker Carlson is a hack but he seemed to have some sense and intellect.
It is as if every R except David Frum has turned into Glenn Beck.
Like you have no choice, if you want to be a Republican you have to assume
and consume the loco.

David Frum is a Jew. He knows the history.

Nunberg's spent the past seven hours or so in front of a grand jury. Wonder how his day is going.

OG_slinger wrote:

Nunberg's spent the past seven hours or so in front of a grand jury. Wonder how his day is going.

Depends. Do you think he drank heavily before arriving?

IMAGE(https://scontent.fphl2-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/29104278_10212507388334768_7103500578883516542_n.jpg?oh=07f3bc602d6b30d336293d34b2b1ef89&oe=5B45C67F)

*allergic

IMAGE(https://i.imgflip.com/268gbe.jpg)

Now in news that should shock no one....

GOP finds no collusion

(CNN)Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee announced Monday they found no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia and that they are shutting down their yearlong investigation.
The committee's Republicans are also disagreeing with the intelligence community's assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin was trying to help the Trump campaign over Hillary Clinton, a notion that aligns with President Donald Trump's viewpoint on election meddling.

I'm sure the deranged cheeto will be talking about this forever.

JC wrote:

Now in news that should shock no one....

GOP finds no collusion

(CNN)Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee announced Monday they found no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia and that they are shutting down their yearlong investigation.
The committee's Republicans are also disagreeing with the intelligence community's assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin was trying to help the Trump campaign over Hillary Clinton, a notion that aligns with President Donald Trump's viewpoint on election meddling.

I'm sure the deranged cheeto will be talking about this forever.

If the other two investigations manage to prove collusion, I wonder if the willful negligence of the republicans on the HIC can be considered treason. I guess it depends if any of them are actually on someone's payroll.

aaaaaaaand apparently the minority wasn't informed until this afternoon. Yet there are 150 pages ready to go out in the morning.

Ok great.

Nunes is going to go to jail for his crooked behavior.

Hockosi wrote:

Nunes is going to go to jail for his crooked behavior.

That would require someone in congress with a spine...

He must not be a history buff:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterg...

edit: Though the fact that they only served 18 months at most is a bit disturbing. Still the idea of Nunes trying to survive even a couple of days in jail is wickedly amusing.

JC wrote:

Now in news that should shock no one....

GOP finds no collusion

(CNN)Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee announced Monday they found no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia and that they are shutting down their yearlong investigation.
The committee's Republicans are also disagreeing with the intelligence community's assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin was trying to help the Trump campaign over Hillary Clinton, a notion that aligns with President Donald Trump's viewpoint on election meddling.

I'm sure the deranged cheeto will be talking about this forever.

Bad enough they announced the "no collusion!" before finishing, they also went with the laughable "Russians weren't trying to help Trump."

"Bottom line: Russians did commit active measures against our elections in '16, and we think they'll do that in the future," Conaway said. "It's clear they sowed discord in our elections. ... But we couldn't establish the same conclusions the CIA did that they specifically wanted to help Trump."
"Bottom line: Russians did commit active measures against our elections in '16, and we think they'll do that in the future," Conaway said. "It's clear they sowed discord in our elections. ... But we couldn't establish the same conclusions the CIA did that they specifically wanted to help Trump."

Well, technically, that doesn't necessarily sound wrong. They might not have helped Trump because they wanted to help Trump, but because they wanted to destroy the US. But they still helped Trump.

"Depends on what the definition is is"

Words the Republican Party hasn't let Democrats live down decades later.

Hockosi wrote:

Nunes is going to go to jail for his crooked behavior.

I wish I could believe this.

ranalin wrote:
Hockosi wrote:

Nunes is going to go to jail for his crooked behavior.

That would require someone in congress with a spine...

It won't be congress. It will be Mueller.

To be clear. These people are corrupt, but they are completely incompetent. The GOP right now is trying to hijack our government with some of the dumbest mother ****ers around. These people are spineless, unqualified, and ignorant. They don't stand a chance against one of nations top lawyers and his dream team. These people are criminal, they are stupid enough to think they can make it all right by doing more wrong. They are going to be horribly unhappy with how this ends up. You mess with the bull, you get the horns.

I sincerely hope that you are right and that there will be consequences for those who have committed crimes.

Because there sure haven't been so far. And probably won't until the circumstances on the ground shift. Which is bad enough for a democracy that's supposed to run on rule of law.

Gremlin wrote:

I sincerely hope that you are right and that there will be consequences for those who have committed crimes.

Because there sure haven't been so far. And probably won't until the circumstances on the ground shift. Which is bad enough for a democracy that's supposed to run on rule of law.

The rule of law includes due process. We don't just want these people to do down, we want it to be as through as possible. Investigating and charging a sitting president should be a very high bar to clear. And that takes time to have all the ducks in the row.

The very nature of how dishonest and biased the House Investigation has been is why Mueller needs to do this as thoroughly, and slowly, as possible. While the Republicans continue to bait the investigations with claims that nothing has been proven over and over, the last thing we want is any way for Republicans to claim a rush to judgement.

We all discussed early on in this about how long the Watergate actually took to play out. Honestly, this is playing out quicker than I imagined. One thing I think Mueller has been doing is leaking just enough, as well as charging just enough people, to keep the public thinking about this. He's showing progress.

It would be a lie if anyone claims to know how this will all play out, but I will say that I'm still very comfortable that Mueller will bring charges against Trump and many in his administration. Of course, how that will play out is even in question. These are not normal times, and there is at least 30% of the nation that will call bullsh*t on Mueller.

But yeah, we really need the Democrats to take care of the midterms. Hopefully Democrats can pause squabbles over policy long enough to take the House and Senate. I'm much less comfortable that this is going to happen. I think when push comes to shove, if Mueller brings charges, Democrats and enough Republicans will act, but that is one giant variable I would love to avoid.

Republicans won’t act. They can’t be trusted. They’d put the pedal to the medal for a permanent 1-Party state if they thought they could get away with it.

I hope it turns out at least as well as Watergate. From which, in hindsight, a pitiful few saw jail time and Nixon walked away with a pardon. Which postponed the nation's reckoning, hid how Nixon treacherously sabotaged the peace talks and extended the Vietnam war so he could use it to win an election, and papered over things just enough for the cracks to keep spreading until we got to where we are today.

Still, there are worse outcomes. Probably the pessimism of reading too much history: I know it can get much, much worse. As long as we avoid genocide, dictatorship, coups, world wars, and pandemics we'll still be mostly within operating parameters.

Gremlin wrote:

I hope it turns out at least as well as Watergate. From which, in hindsight, a pitiful few saw jail time and Nixon walked away with a pardon. Which postponed the nation's reckoning, hid how Nixon treacherously sabotaged the peace talks and extended the Vietnam war so he could use it to win an election, and papered over things just enough for the cracks to keep spreading until we got to where we are today.

Still, there are worse outcomes. Probably the pessimism of reading too much history: I know it can get much, much worse. As long as we avoid genocide, dictatorship, coups, world wars, and pandemics we'll still be mostly within operating parameters.

That's a good perspective. It definitely could be worse. We are not yet putting Muslim citizens in concentration camps like we did to Japanese-Americans during WW II, though the immigrant camps in Arizona come close.

That said, while hyper-partisan political fighting is at a level not seen in 50 years, where the parties do agree concerns me more for our long-term future. The damage to our privacy and dignity by the Patriot Act, the TSA, and NSA surveillance on domestic citizens, to name a few, are downward trends that would continue even if Clinton were president. Perhaps the chaos of Trump's presidency will cause us to re-evaluate who we want to be as a country and reject the FUD both parties spew at us. Trying to be optimistic.

JeffreyLSmith wrote:
Gremlin wrote:

I hope it turns out at least as well as Watergate. From which, in hindsight, a pitiful few saw jail time and Nixon walked away with a pardon. Which postponed the nation's reckoning, hid how Nixon treacherously sabotaged the peace talks and extended the Vietnam war so he could use it to win an election, and papered over things just enough for the cracks to keep spreading until we got to where we are today.

Still, there are worse outcomes. Probably the pessimism of reading too much history: I know it can get much, much worse. As long as we avoid genocide, dictatorship, coups, world wars, and pandemics we'll still be mostly within operating parameters.

That's a good perspective. It definitely could be worse. We are not yet putting Muslim citizens in concentration camps like we did to Japanese-Americans during WW II, though the immigrant camps in Arizona come close.

That said, while hyper-partisan political fighting is at a level not seen in 50 years, where the parties do agree concerns me more for our long-term future. The damage to our privacy and dignity by the Patriot Act, the TSA, and NSA surveillance on domestic citizens, to name a few, are downward trends that would continue even if Clinton were president. Perhaps the chaos of Trump's presidency will cause us to re-evaluate who we want to be as a country and reject the FUD both parties spew at us. Trying to be optimistic.

Yeah. There’s a reason I no longer create police state threads. I assume we’ve largely lost the surveillance/ privacy battle and now we have bigger fish to fry.