[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.

Justice Dept. Is Said to Open Criminal Inquiry Into Its Own Russia Investigation

Trump is so obsessed with proving no one helped him in 2016 he has the DOJ criminally investigating itself. And Barr is happy to go along with it.

The fact that it makes Trump happy is just a coincidence. Russia wants sanctions relief and this gang won’t stop until they get it.

So it looks to me like Gabbard is effectively ending her political career. And appears to have successfully auditioned for the longterm role of “Democrat” that Fox News can pull out of the woodworks whenever they want to sell the narrative that the current D’s are so extreme and unhinged that former Democrats are turning against them.

gewy wrote:

So it looks to me like Gabbard is effectively ending her political career. And appears to have successfully auditioned for the longterm role of “Democrat” that Fox News can pull out of the woodworks whenever they want to sell the narrative that the current D’s are so extreme and unhinged that former Democrats are turning against them.

Yarp. Though it seems like this is a preemptive flounce, since her opponent in the primary has a ton of institutional and financial support.

Michael Flynn's now claiming that he was a victim of "a plot to set up an innocent man" that was executed by "the Director of the FBI, and a group of his close associates." He wants all charges (that he pled guilty to) dropped because of "outrageous government conduct," which is apparently unspecified secret exculpatory information the government has, but won't turn over to Flynn's lawyer.

Also, that f*cker pled guilty 11 months ago and still hasn't been sentenced yet.

so... that negates his plea deal right? He's basically going all in on the Emperor Trump scenario.

Might be a good plan. The DOJ works for Trump now.

thrawn82 wrote:

so... that negates his plea deal right? He's basically going all in on the Emperor Trump scenario.

Isn’t it more a fact than scenario right now. It might change, but only more reason for Flynn to move fast.

OG_slinger wrote:

Michael Flynn's now claiming that he was a victim of "a plot to set up an innocent man" that was executed by "the Director of the FBI, and a group of his close associates." He wants all charges (that he pled guilty to) dropped because of "outrageous government conduct," which is apparently unspecified secret exculpatory information the government has, but won't turn over to Flynn's lawyer.

Also, that f*cker pled guilty 11 months ago and still hasn't been sentenced yet.

Hold up. So the claim here is two-fold, correct? On the one hand, sneaky FBI people entrapped Flynn into lying and pleading guilty, and on the other, the government has exculpatory evidence that they are withholding as evidenced by the fact that they aren’t producing it. Is that actually what’s going on here?

Justice Dept. watchdog won’t let witnesses give written feedback on report about FBI’s Russia probe, sparking fears of inaccuracy

Or, the alternative headline "The DOJ IG investigation into the FBI not following established procedures isn't following procedures and is being overseen by the guy who's been criss-crossing the world in recent month to prove that Ukraine--not Russia--was behind the 2016 election interference"

WaPo wrote:

The Justice Department inspector general’s office has told witnesses who are set to review draft sections of its long-awaited report on the FBI investigation of President Trump’s 2016 campaign that they will not be allowed to submit written feedback — one in a series of unusual restrictions that some fear could make the final document less accurate, people familiar with the matter said.

As is the case in most inspector general probes, witnesses are being invited to review draft sections of the report and offer comments and corrections, the people said. But — unlike most cases — they are being told those comments must be conveyed only verbally, the people said.

Even though Attorney General William P. Barr and other officials have been working in recent weeks to determine what should be redacted from the report as classified or private information, people familiar with the process said that the entire draft document is marked “Top Secret,” so anyone who discusses its contents outside a secure government room could be committing a crime.

Witnesses, they said, are being asked to review their sections in a secure area, after signing nondisclosure agreements, according to people familiar with the matter. The witnesses have also been told they will not be allowed to remove any notes they make about the document, the people said.

The moves have left some witnesses concerned that their objections might not be recorded precisely and incorporated into the inspector general’s findings, the people said. The witnesses, they said, are also concerned that the process gives the inspector general complete control in characterizing any comments witnesses make — and leaves witnesses with no ability to create a paper trail that might help them show their words were captured inaccurately.

Not the least bit concerning that the Justice Department has become a private arm of the White House whose sole function is to protect the President.

Welcome to 8 months ago...

So basically we are 100% getting a completely fictitious report that will establish that the Ukraine not Russia interfered in the 2016 election on the behalf of the Democratic Party to fix the election and only the heroic efforts of true Patriots (white people) saved the country from Crooked Hillary and the illegitimate Democratic Party. It will further infer but with zero specifics that the FBI under now removed elements was working to undermine Trump.

At best it’s laughed off at worst it sets in motion the wheels to ensure no matter what happens the 2020 election won’t remove Trump.

We'll get a report that'll basically says that the pre-Barr DOJ and FBI was full of Deep State actors and that the FBI misled a FISA court using the unproven evidence from the Steele Dossier to get a warrant to electronically monitor Carter Page, who was then the foreign-policy advisor to Trump's campaign. Page was the initial thread that the FBI pulled that linked Trump to the Russians.

I'm sure Barr will make sure the IG report says the FBI acted inappropriately and aggressively and that there was no link to Russia so Trump can crow 'no collusion' again. Because the Steele Report will likely get mentioned, Trump will also claim that Democrats were out to frame him.

Is it time for a "Trump, Russia, and the 2020 Election" thread? NYT: Russia Backs Trump’s Re-election, and He Fears Democrats Will Exploit Its Support:

WASHINGTON — Intelligence officials warned House lawmakers last week that Russia was interfering in the 2020 campaign to try to get President Trump re-elected, five people familiar with the matter said, a disclosure to Congress that angered Mr. Trump, who complained that Democrats would use it against him.

The day after the Feb. 13 briefing to lawmakers, Mr. Trump berated Joseph Maguire, the outgoing acting director of national intelligence, for allowing it to take place, people familiar with the exchange said. Mr. Trump cited the presence in the briefing of Representative Adam B. Schiff, the California Democrat who led the impeachment proceedings against him, as a particular irritant.

During the briefing to the House Intelligence Committee, Mr. Trump’s allies challenged the conclusions, arguing that he has been tough on Russia and strengthened European security. Some intelligence officials viewed the briefing as a tactical error, saying that had the official who delivered the conclusion spoken less pointedly or left it out, they would have avoided angering the Republicans.

That intelligence official, Shelby Pierson, is an aide to Mr. Maguire who has a reputation of delivering intelligence in somewhat blunt terms. The president announced on Wednesday that he was replacing Mr. Maguire with Richard Grenell, the ambassador to Germany and long an aggressively vocal Trump supporter.

Remember when Mueller was going to save the republic? "Mueller time"? What a joke.

Justice Department drops case against ex-Trump adviser Michael Flynn

So corrupt.

And the people don't care.

JLS wrote:

So corrupt.

And the people don't care.

5% of the people are protesting in the streets to open Olive Garden.

20% would probably protest in the streets if we weren't worried about getting ourselves or someone else killed.

Everyone else either doesn't care or is trying to not get killed by the pandemic.

Please. A miniscule fraction of a percent are protesting in the streets.

Bingo. Hundreds protesting in streets. Hundreds of Millions practicing responsible social distancing.

The DOJ motion to dismiss admits that Flynn lied to the FBI but now argues his lies weren't "material" to the investigation. The Russia investigation, where Flynn lied about talking to a Russian ambassador.

This decision was made by a Trump appointee who was tasked directly by Barr to "review" the case, where "review" means "torpedo".

Jonman wrote:

Please. A miniscule fraction of a percent are protesting in the streets.

Oh, I'm sure my percentages are way off.

SallyNasty wrote:

Bingo. Hundreds protesting in streets. Hundreds of Millions practicing responsible social distancing.

And the news covering it equally to be "fair". They're so useless.

I have to stop reading the news. It just turns me into a ball of spitting rage.

Rallick wrote:

I have to stop reading the news. It just turns me into a ball of spitting rage.

You can see how once you have a corrupt and authoritarian regime installed people just throw up their hands and pay attention to what they can control locally.

Russians, for example, definitely protest and fight back against Putin, but they also just move on with their lives at a certain point. Maybe we'll have to learn to do the same.

Stele wrote:
SallyNasty wrote:

Bingo. Hundreds protesting in streets. Hundreds of Millions practicing responsible social distancing.

And the news covering it equally to be "fair". They're so useless.

The signature circumstance of our time is that the ways that people perceive what is going on in our world are out of alignment. That's what contributes to the sense of unreality: the politicians and the media are treating things as business as usual while democracy is disassembled in front of our eyes. We're in the middle of a global pandemic and the media is trying to do the same horse-race coverage.

The virus doesn't care about what you think about it.

That's why the past four years have felt so insane: Trump, in particular, is prone to breaking things and then acting like it's normal, and our entire system goes along with it because it turns out that we're not a nation of laws. We're more like a nation of consensus reality, and it turns out if you have sufficient political gravity (for example, because you have an unshakable racist base) you can just ignore the law.

At this point the courts will be far right-wing Republican for a generation; only far right-wing interpretations of the laws will be acceptable. The Democratic party strategy of bipartisanship mean, in practice, that they'll spend a lot of energy and give up a lot of political capital trying to come to a compromise...and then whatever concessions the Democratic politicians negotiate will be stripped out or obliviated by the courts and executive failure to enforce them.

Today, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Bridgegate wasn't illegal. The DOJ decided they don't feel like prosecuting someone who has already plead guilty.

All governments rely on the consent of the governed. Democracies do this by achieving sufficient consensus. Fascism does this by killing the people who don't consent. (It doesn't have to be direct: disease is a typical way to conduct genocide. It doesn't have to be planned or competent, it just has to suppress dissent.)

An election, even a massive wave election, can't fix this. A wave election plus a massive project of reform might mitigate some of the damage, but far too many politicians seem to be under the impression that the post-Trump world will return to "normal".

Gremlin wrote:

An election, even a massive wave election, can't fix this. A wave election plus a massive project of reform might mitigate some of the damage, but far too many politicians seem to be under the impression that the post-Trump world will return to "normal".

"Hey, Jack. We're going to go back to having a democracy. No more malarkey".

Gremlin wrote:

The signature circumstance of our time is that the ways that people perceive what is going on in our world are out of alignment. That's what contributes to the sense of unreality: the politicians and the media are treating things as business as usual while democracy is disassembled in front of our eyes. We're in the middle of a global pandemic and the media is trying to do the same horse-race coverage.

It’s because politicians on both sides of the aisle as well as the larger media conglomerates all share class interests and have enough wealth that they are largely isolated from the problems that the average American has. Politics is professional wrestling to them, the outcome of elections only change talking points and tone, and while they hear us screaming at them that it is literally a matter of life and death, they lack the context to truly understand what most people are going through. That’s how you get Pelosi on national tv cracking jokes about staying home and showing off her special freezer drawer filled with a dozen different types of ice cream while tens of thousands of people are dying everyday.

Gremlin wrote:

An election, even a massive wave election, can't fix this. A wave election plus a massive project of reform might mitigate some of the damage, but far too many politicians seem to be under the impression that the post-Trump world will return to "normal".

It’s not just politicians though. We, as human beings, are short sighted. Let’s say Democrats take over both houses and the White House in the next election. There are way too many people that will consider it, “mission accomplished” and sign off, when in fact it’s just the start. It’s impossible to make any progress when the ”other” party spends the majority of their time undoing what the last party did as soon as they come into power. Sadly, this seems to be what’s actually driving the election cycles. It would be great if everyone would work towards the betterment of everyone else. Republicans only seem to be interested in increasing their wealth on the backs of others.

JC wrote:
Gremlin wrote:

An election, even a massive wave election, can't fix this. A wave election plus a massive project of reform might mitigate some of the damage, but far too many politicians seem to be under the impression that the post-Trump world will return to "normal".

It’s not just politicians though. We, as human beings, are short sighted. Let’s say Democrats take over both houses and the White House in the next election. There are way too many people that will consider it, “mission accomplished” and sign off, when in fact it’s just the start. It’s impossible to make any progress when the ”other” party spends the majority of their time undoing what the last party did as soon as they come into power. Sadly, this seems to be what’s actually driving the election cycles. It would be great if everyone would work towards the betterment of everyone else. Republicans only seem to be interested in increasing their wealth on the backs of others.

Indeed. There are a lot of those people who think getting rid of “bad orange man” is all we need to do.