Cont: All things Trump + Russia Part 3

[logger]

LOL, it depends: When not informing the FBI about a lot of stuff gets added to a lot of other circumstantial evidence of conspiracy and knowledge of guilt, I'd be very worried if I were a Trumper. I don't suppose it would do any good, though, so I guess it is best that you're not.

I will be amazed if he remains to be president. If that happens it will be like Election Day Times ten. I can’t imagine what the left will do if they aren’t able to get this guy. The dismantling your party has suffered will still take a long time to recover from. Give this guy two more, maybe six more years....

 

[WilliamSeger]

Agents? Aren’t you assigning something to them Flynn may not have known. It’s common practice for an incoming administration to meet with leaders of foreign countries. It’s truly a dishonest strategy to somehow infer that it was illegal.

No, it is NOT "common practice" to go ahead with secret discussions with agents of a foreign power and to try to establish further unmonitored backchannels with them right after the FBI has told you that they are trying to infiltrate your operation! What I infer from that is that for some strange reason, TrumpCo didn't mind being infiltrated. But yes, what I infer from their attempts to cover it all up is that someone needs to go to jail.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

I just like the idea that perhaps Flynn didn't know that the Russian ambassador to the US was an agent for the Russian government.

And the question remains - if these meetings weren't illegal, why bother to lie about them? Why lie to the FBI about it and thereby risk gaol time?

 

[logger]

No, it is NOT "common practice" to go ahead with secret discussions with agents of a foreign power and to try to establish further unmonitored backchannels with them right after the FBI has told you that they are trying to infiltrate your operation! What I infer from that is that for some strange reason, TrumpCo didn't mind being infiltrated. But yes, what I infer from their attempts to cover it all up is that someone needs to go to jail.

Ahh, yes it is. And who says it was done in secret? Are they suppose to announce every meeting so the left can vote on it. And who says they were worried about being infiltrated? What the Russians did was completely insignificant to our elections.

Cover it up? Don’t you think they should first go after the Dems for actually colluding with Russians by hiring a firm to get dirt on Trump? Your sides position is as ridiculous as it is WEAK!

 

[logger]

I just like the idea that perhaps Flynn didn't know that the Russian ambassador to the US was an agent for the Russian government.

Because he was meeting with an ambassador. Do you know what that is?

And the question remains - if these meetings weren't illegal, why bother to lie about them? Why lie to the FBI about it and thereby risk gaol time?

Word is he didn’t lie about them.

Gaol time.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

Because he was meeting with an ambassador. Do you know what that is?

Yes, thanks.

Word is he didn’t lie about them.

I'm sure it is, from certain sources.

Gaol time.

No, it looks like Flynn has avoided that by cooperating.

 

[jimbob]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...russian-mma-fighter-with-links-to-trump-cohen

A Russian mixed martial arts fighter who has connections with Donald Trump, the president’s personal attorney Michael Cohen and Russian president Vladimir Putin was questioned this week by the FBI, his manager confirmed on Saturday.

It's getting farcical

 

[logger]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...russian-mma-fighter-with-links-to-trump-cohen



It's getting farcical

Agreed, Trump had a stake in a company that this guy fought in, Cohen was the COO. Putin went to see him fight several times. There it is Russian Collusion. Lol

Stay tuned for the Seth Abramson tweets.

 

[WilliamSeger]

Ahh, yes it is.

Name one other president who did it.

And who says it was done in secret?

Do you have a dictionary? They not only didn't tell the FBI; they lied about it, knowing the risks of doing so.

What the Russians did was completely insignificant to our elections.

Probably not true and not really relevant to anything except Trump's enormous ego problems, which we are all now forced to suffer through. If TrumpCo gave up significant concessions in return for what they expected to be significant, election-altering dirt, then they're going down.

Cover it up? Don’t you think they should first go after the Dems for actually colluding with Russians by hiring a firm to get dirt on Trump? Your sides position is as ridiculous as it is WEAK!

LOL, no, because calling that perfectly legal oppo research "colluding with Russians" is idiotic, and so is comparing it in any way to exchanging sanctions relief for stolen documents. You don't seem to have a very good grasp of the legal issues here.

 

[Slings and Arrows]

It's getting farcical

Initially, the FBI was investigating allegations of Russian prostitutes suspected of wetting the bed. Then they turned their attention to the Stormy Daniels "Make America Horny Again" show. Now they're questioning a punch-drunk Russian martial arts fighter -- hey, maybe this guy has some dirt on Trump.


It's getting hard to tell if the FBI actually does any real work at all, or if they are just moonlighting for the supermarket tabloids.

 

[Cl1mh4224rd]

It's getting hard to tell if the FBI actually does any real work at all, or if they are just moonlighting for the supermarket tabloids.

I like this attitude. It makes the FBI's job easier when people underestimate them.

 

[Aridas]

I don’t think you are understanding the coverup going on. The whole top leadership of the FBI is gone. And many of them seem to be under investigation. It isn’t serious to suggest the investigation wasn’t complete. What you’re saying is if they keep looking they may find a speeding ticket or even a fraudulent tax return or bad business deal, but they sure as hell aren’t finding Trump/Russian Collusion.

If the House Republicans are trying to declare "No Collusion!" without even touching obvious central targets like Flynn, Manafort, Gates, and Papadopoulos, before getting to a number of other important people and entities, that's a pretty damning thing. When the Republicans gave absurd and unprecedented leeway to a bunch of other important people to flat out refuse to answer a bunch of relevant questions, that's also a pretty damning thing. When the chosen lines of questioning for the Republicans frequently tended to be obviously focused on trying to find anything that they could use to discredit the investigation, rather than actually investigating, that's a pretty big red flag, too. Sadly, there's more, but it really, really isn't serious to argue that the investigation was done in good faith on the Republican side, with due diligence, is complete, or that looking further is about speeding tickets and fraudulent tax returns.

To go further, that's totally separate from any misdeeds that the FBI leadership may or may not have engaged in. There's a good chance that there were notable misdeeds occurring in the FBI, sure, but that's rather irrelevant to the matter that was actually at hand, which has far more to do with the actual behavior of the House Republicans than the specific material in question.

The FBI says Flynn didn’t lie.

Err... No. The report looks like it was that the FBI interviewers didn't think he was lying when they were interviewing him. That has a significantly different meaning than you're trying to take from it and doesn't even remotely contradict Flynn's later admission that he did lie.

 

[logger]

If the House Republicans are trying to declare "No Collusion!" without even touching obvious central targets like Flynn, Manafort, Gates, and Papadopoulos, before getting to a number of other important people and entities, that's a pretty damning thing. When the Republicans gave absurd and unprecedented leeway to a bunch of other important people to flat out refuse to answer a bunch of relevant questions, that's also a pretty damning thing. When the chosen lines of questioning for the Republicans frequently tended to be obviously focused on trying to find anything that they could use to discredit the investigation, rather than actually investigating, that's a pretty big red flag, too. Sadly, there's more, but it really, really isn't serious to argue that the investigation was done in good faith on the Republican side, with due diligence, is complete, or that looking further is about speeding tickets and fraudulent tax returns.

It’s a completed investigation. The Dems didn’t come up with anything either. Your bias is showing just like the rest of the left.

To go further, that's totally separate from any misdeeds that the FBI leadership may or may not have engaged in. There's a good chance that there were notable misdeeds occurring in the FBI, sure, but that's rather irrelevant to the matter that was actually at fhand, which has far more to do with the actual behavior of the House Republicans than the specific material in question.

What behavior of the republicans? Because they controlled the investigation so the Dems couldn’t make it into a circus?
The misdeeds of the FBI might kill their whole case against Manafort and it’s a very good chance Flynn will reverse his plea or charges could be dropped.

Err... No. The report looks like it was that the FBI interviewers didn't think he was lying when they were interviewing him. That has a significantly different meaning than you're trying to take from it and doesn't even remotely contradict Flynn's later admission that he did lie.

Err.... it’s a huge problem that a man has plead guilty to a non crime. You can hand wave it away but that isn’t finidhed yet.

 

[logger]

Name one other president who did it.

Every previous president.

Do you have a dictionary? They not only didn't tell the FBI; they lied about it, knowing the risks of doing so.

Didn’t tell them about what?

Probably not true and not really relevant to anything except Trump's enormous ego problems, which we are all now forced to suffer through. If TrumpCo gave up significant concessions in return for what they expected to be significant, election-altering dirt, then they're going down.

Ah yes, the great “if”
They had no reason to do it, the emails were already coming out.

LOL, no, because calling that perfectly legal oppo research "colluding with Russians" is idiotic, and so is comparing it in any way to exchanging sanctions relief for stolen documents. You don't seem to have a very good grasp of the legal issues here.

Paying Russian agents to manufacture fake dirt on Trump, then bringing it back to the IC to investigate with government resources, compromising the entire leadership? Yeah nothing wrong with that. Lol

 

[beren]

Initially, the FBI was investigating allegations of Russian prostitutes suspected of wetting the bed.

Lie #1.

Then they turned their attention to the Stormy Daniels "Make America Horny Again" show.

Lie #2

Now they're questioning a punch-drunk Russian martial arts fighter -- hey, maybe this guy has some dirt on Trump.

Not sure if true or not. Have seen no evidence that he is punchdruk.

It's getting hard to tell if the FBI actually does any real work at all, or if they are just moonlighting for the supermarket tabloids.

Lie #3

 

[Aridas]

It’s a completed investigation.

It's an ended "investigation."

The Dems didn’t come up with anything either. Your bias is showing just like the rest of the left.

As has been noted repeatedly, the HPSCI not interviewing obvious key players, refusing to get important information, and allowing the ones that they did interview to refuse to answer a lot of important questions on really, really shoddy and unprecedented grounds will tend to strongly interfere with data collection. The point isn't about the conclusion, after all, it's about the constant and blatant shenanigans being employed by the Republicans that render the findings obviously incomplete.

What behavior of the republicans?

Too busy not paying attention even to the examples that were just stated?

Because they controlled the investigation so the Dems couldn’t make it into a circus?

No. But you knew that. As it was, Nunes and the Republicans did far more to make it a circus than the Dems.

The misdeeds of the FBI might kill their whole case against Manafort and it’s a very good chance Flynn will reverse his plea or charges could be dropped.

Man, your wishful thinking is so very, very baseless. It's impressive, in a way.

Err.... it’s a huge problem that a man has plead guilty to a non crime. You can hand wave it away but that isn’t finidhed yet.

It would be, if it were true. Unfortunately for you, the basis for your thoughts seems to be entirely based on wishful thinking and purposeful attempts to wildly misrepresent facts.

 

[logger]

As has been noted repeatedly, the HPSCI not interviewing obvious key players, refusing to get important information, and allowing the ones that they did interview to refuse to answer a lot of important questions on really, really shoddy and unprecedented grounds will tend to strongly interfere with data collection. The point isn't about the conclusion, after all, it's about the constant and blatant shenanigans being employed by the Republicans that render the findings obviously incomplete.
Too busy not paying attention even to the examples that were just stated?

Could you be a bit more specific on those stated examples?

No. But you knew that. As it was, Nunes and the Republicans did far more to make it a circus than the Dems.

No, it was the Dems who showed up in the clown car.

Man, your wishful thinking is so very, very baseless. It's impressive, in a way.
It would be, if it were true. Unfortunately for you, the basis for your thoughts seems to be entirely based on wishful thinking and purposeful attempts to wildly misrepresent facts.

Funny, I felt the same way about your thinking. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

 

[Aridas]

Could you be a bit more specific on those stated examples?

Like I was when I specifically stated that Flynn, Manafort, Gates, and Papadopoulos were ignored by the HPSCI? Do you need the absurdity of accepting the refusal to answer on the basis of executive privilege when executive privilege had not been invoked and likely wouldn't validly apply anyways further explained to you, to begin to address another?

No, it was the Dems who showed up in the clown car.

Even if they did, that doesn't change the fact that the Republicans went out of their way to upstage them. Either way, rather than showing up in a clown car, the Dems had far, far more than enough to qualify as having reasonable basis to push for an investigation. Which is what they actually did.

Funny, I felt the same way about your thinking. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Yeah... those pesky facts about what was actually said and the like, why would you care about them?

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Meanwhile, under the radar (temporarily, hopefully): HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE REPORT RECOMMENDS REPEALING LAW THAT EXPERTS SAY TRUMP CAMPAIGN VIOLATED

House investigators have released a highly anticipated report on Russia’s election interference. Among the recommendations in the report, the lawmakers called for the repeal of a federal statute barring private citizens from negotiating with foreign countries for the United States without authorization.

Friday’s report by the House Intelligence Committee came almost two months after the panel said it had finished its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and possible links to political campaigns. Investigators found no evidence that President Donald Trump’s campaign coordinated with Russia, the report said, a finding that the president was quick to point out on Twitter on Friday.

The report also called for Congress to repeal the Logan Act, a statute that says private citizens cannot negotiate with foreign countries on behalf of the U.S. unless they are authorized to do so.

Imagine that, repeal the law that the Trump campaign broke when they got the help of Russia to get Trump elected.

It would appear the GOP is all in with Putin.

 

[Hellbound]

It would appear the GOP is all in with Putin.

Putin on the Ritz.