Merged All things Trump + Russia

[trustbutverify]

2016 partial timeline, draft:

March 19| Podesta email hacked
April 19| DCLeaks.com registered
May 3| Trump becomes presumptive nominee
June 3| Goldstone contacts Trump Jr. to setup meeting
June 8| Trump posts link to DCLeaks
June 9| Trump Jr, Kushner, Manafort meet with Russian operative
June 12| Assange announces Clinton emails
June 27| Hacked emails posted to DCLeaks
July 11| Trump/Manafort nix pro-Ukranian plank in GOP platform

I hope you aren't implying these events are related in any way.

 

[Stacko]

That's not the best part. Calling what's happening "transparency" is the hilarious part. "I applaud my hellspawn for his transparency. Making several contradictory statements about a highly suspect meeting months after the meeting took place and months after going on CNN to ridicule the very idea of Russians attempting to influence the election is exactly the kind of irreproachable behavior we encourage in my administration."

To be fair, the emails at the very least contain a confession that top level Trump campaign officials knew that Russia was interfering to help the Trump campaign and they at best did nothing.

 

[NoahFence]

I hope you aren't implying these events are related in any way.

DCleaks.com is a plumbing service, amirite?

 

[Babbylonian]

To be fair, the emails at the very least contain a confession that top level Trump campaign officials knew that Russia was interfering to help the Trump campaign and they at best did nothing.

The bottom line is that the only things truly transparent here are the lies and the incompetence. It's particularly incompetent for the occupant of the Oval Office to make any statement on this at all. I'd be willing to bet money that its lawyers advised against doing so since making any defense at all of its son here does no real good for the hellspawn and can only do harm to its own case.

 

[Civet]

I'm not up on every detail of this. Does it still look like Pres. Trump and his main man Bannon are personally distanced from the most incriminating stuff?

 

[mgidm86]

June 9 Trump Jr, Kushner, Manafort meet with Russian operative

Do we know this to be true? Was the lawyer an official representative of the Kremlin? There seems to be doubt about this. Seems like the only thing that could get Trump out of hot water is if she were not, unless it is illegal to receive election help from a citizen of another country.

I have seen it asserted on BBCs website that she was an official government "something", but I see denials too.

Is this, or will it be, the main point of contention?

 

[The Great Zaganza]

I'm not up on every detail of this. Does it still look like Pres. Trump and his main man Bannon are personally distanced from the most incriminating stuff?

What?
Kushner and Donald Jr. aren't close enough to Trump?

 

[Childlike Empress]

Do we know this to be true? Was the lawyer an official representative of the Kremlin? There seems to be doubt about this. Seems like the only thing that could get Trump out of hot water is if she were not, unless it is illegal to receive election help from a citizen of another country.

I have seen it asserted on BBCs website that she was an official government "something", but I see denials too.

Is this, or will it be, the main point of contention?

Do you know Leonid Bershidsky? He's a rabid Putin hater but even he doesn't want to be seen smoking the latest nothing crack pipe. Here's his Bloomberg piece on the woman: Trump's low-level Russia connection

 

[Babbylonian]

I'm not up on every detail of this. Does it still look like Pres. Trump and his main man Bannon are personally distanced from the most incriminating stuff?

Bannon is probably too xenophobic to be significantly involved. The beast itself? Well, ****, we've got its eldest son and its top aide/son-in-law at the most recently discussed meeting, and I don't know if I can credit them with discretion/intelligence enough to have insulated the current occupant of the Oval Office by not discussing the meeting with it.

But, no, I don't think we've seen the proverbial smoking gun that directly incriminates the beast.

ETA: We probably won't see direct incrimination until somebody under investigation rolls over.

 

[BillC]

Do any of them distinguish lies from truth, or is that totally irrelevant in their world view?

I think it is. Trump Snr lies like a child caught with chocolate around his face: "Nope, I never stole the cake".

 

[Stacko]

McConnell ran interference for Trump during the campaign to stop Obama from warning the country about Russian intervention in the election on Trump's behalf. What did McConnell know and when did he know it?

 

[skyeagle409]

I think it is. Trump Snr lies like a child caught with chocolate around his face: "Nope, I never stole the cake".

Trump just borrowed the cake to cover his face in order to hide the words: "Stupid" written on his forehead.

 

[Civet]

What?
Kushner and Donald Jr. aren't close enough to Trump?

Close enough to convince me, sure, but I'm heavily biased against Trump. I could possibly be convinced by seeing it written on a bathroom wall. I think a very direct connection would be necessary to convince most Trump supporters. One step removed isn't good enough.

 

[Civet]

Bannon is probably too xenophobic to be significantly involved. The beast itself? Well, ****, we've got its eldest son and its top aide/son-in-law at the most recently discussed meeting, and I don't know if I can credit them with discretion/intelligence enough to have insulated the current occupant of the Oval Office by not discussing the meeting with it.

But, no, I don't think we've seen the proverbial smoking gun that directly incriminates the beast.

ETA: We probably won't see direct incrimination until somebody under investigation rolls over.

That all sounds about right to me. I guess someone might be stupid enough to get caught saying something on a hidden mike or something like that. Since we now know that Junior was sloppy enough to write things he shouldn't in emails it's possible that he's written something implicating his father that might leak at some point.

 

[CapelDodger]

I have seen it asserted on BBCs website that she was an official government "something" ...

What I see on the BBC website is :

"Ms Veselnitskaya, who has been linked to the Russian government ..."

which is not an assertion that she is an official government "something". What did you see?

More to the point is that Donald Jr was told she was a Russian government "something" and doesn't seem to have questioned it.

 

[timhau]

Do we know this to be true? Was the lawyer an official representative of the Kremlin? There seems to be doubt about this. Seems like the only thing that could get Trump out of hot water is if she were not, unless it is illegal to receive election help from a citizen of another country.

I have seen it asserted on BBCs website that she was an official government "something", but I see denials too.

Is this, or will it be, the main point of contention?

Wasn't she billed as as official representative to Trump Jr.? That should make it a big deal politically, even if legally the case turns out to be analogous to getting off a drug possession charge because the dealer sold you laundry detergent.

 

[Beelzebuddy]

Frankly, I'm a little surprised that there are still emails at all. I'd have figured the first few weeks in the WH would have resembled an industrial shredding operation, with any current subpoena truthfully answered with "nope sorry all gone kthxbai."

 

[Belz...]

Frankly, I'm a little surprised that there are still emails at all. I'd have figured the first few weeks in the WH would have resembled an industrial shredding operation, with any current subpoena truthfully answered with "nope sorry all gone kthxbai."

Crooks never think they can get caught.

 

[Stacko]

What I see on the BBC website is :

which is not an assertion that she is an official government "something". What did you see?

More to the point is that Donald Jr was told she was a Russian government "something" and doesn't seem to have questioned it.

Her job appears to be a lobbyist focused on getting the Magnitsky Act repealed. There's a very limited group of people affected by it that are nearly all connected to Putin. Russia banned US adoptions in response to the act which is how she can claim to want to talk about adoptions.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I'm not up on every detail of this. Does it still look like Pres. Trump and his main man Bannon are personally distanced from the most incriminating stuff?

Bannon, maybe, Trump, not so much.