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All things Trump + Russia Part 4

Trump doesn't even like stenographers at his meetings. There was an article about it recently with an ex-stenographer. IIRC, it was said that Trump doesn't want to be reminded of what people actually said, he wants to remember whatever he thinks was said.

But the thing here for me is that if there really is a Russian recording, and if Trump really did do or say anything he shouldn't have (which, let's be honest, he probably did), then whether or not Putin had Kompromat on Trump before the meeting is moot, because he does now.
 
I think that perhaps an interesting question is why Putin allowed a US translator to be there, if anything compromising was said. Putin speaks English - allegedly well enough to correct translators. So it doesn't seem that one was actually needed in order to communicate.
 
Squeegee Beckenheim said:
Trump doesn't even like stenographers at his meetings. There was an article about it recently with an ex-stenographer. IIRC, it was said that Trump doesn't want to be reminded of what people actually said, he wants to remember whatever he thinks was said.

But the thing here for me is that if there really is a Russian recording, and if Trump really did do or say anything he shouldn't have (which, let's be honest, he probably did), then whether or not Putin had Kompromat on Trump before the meeting is moot, because he does now.
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Here's the article:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/17/opinion/trump-recording-press-news.html
 
The Don said:
And was this the old, pro-Russia, Ukraine leadership ?
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no.
It was basically a bribe to get a private meeting and public handshake with Trump to send a signal to Moscow that Ukraine was under Trump's protection.
In hindsight, it was money down the swamp.
 
Squeegee Beckenheim said:
I think that perhaps an interesting question is why Putin allowed a US translator to be there, if anything compromising was said. Putin speaks English - allegedly well enough to correct translators. So it doesn't seem that one was actually needed in order to communicate.
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No, but using one makes them work on an equal footing, while still giving him the advantage of understanding everything said in the room.
 
timhau said:
No, but using one makes them work on an equal footing, while still giving him the advantage of understanding everything said in the room.
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But it also means that there's someone loyal to the US who understands everything that was said in the room. If Trump is truly under Putin's thumb, you'd have thought he'd want the meeting to remain as private as possible, at least from people on the US' side.
 
Squeegee Beckenheim said:
But it also means that there's someone loyal to the US who understands everything that was said in the room. If Trump is truly under Putin's thumb, you'd have thought he'd want the meeting to remain as private as possible, at least from people on the US' side.
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Assumes facts not in evidence. Who picked Trump's translator?
 
rwguinn said:
Assumes facts not in evidence. Who picked Trump's translator?
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I've been thinking much the same thing. I think that it's quite worth asking the person to recount the meeting for the sake of things like understanding what agreements Trump's choosing to make that are absolutely required for things to function, but not to give undue trust to what's said. I would suggest demanding that Congress pointedly craft a law disallowing this from being doable in the future, either way.
 
Squeegee Beckenheim said:
I think that perhaps an interesting question is why Putin allowed a US translator to be there, if anything compromising was said. Putin speaks English - allegedly well enough to correct translators. So it doesn't seem that one was actually needed in order to communicate.
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Maybe he needed someone who spoke trumpeese to translate it into English?
 
The Don said:
Of course who knows what President Trump agreed to in the meeting. There is no objective impartial record and President Trump has already demonstrated that his memory of events is quite malleable.
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Actually, the referendum was raised in the later meeting with Pompeo and others present. Whether it was also raised in the earlier meeting remains, of course, a mystery.
 
rwguinn said:
Assumes facts not in evidence. Who picked Trump's translator?
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Long-time State Dept. employee. But, interestingly, some translators say that they concentrate so much on translating the words at the moment that have limited memory of the conversation.
“Do you really believe a person who has worked that hard, that intensely in that sort of way for so long, can really remember every detail of what she has done?” she said. “You’re listening, you’re writing, you’re figuring out how to render it in the other language, you’re repeating it.”
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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/...column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

The real issue is that even in a private meeting or phone call, there is customarily a notetaker documenting the conversation. What is Trump's protection that Putin couldn't make a false claim? Maybe Trump feels that any lie Putin tells couldn't be as damaging as the recorded truth.
 
Bob001 said:
Long-time State Dept. employee. But, interestingly, some translators say that they concentrate so much on translating the words at the moment that have limited memory of the conversation.https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/...column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

The real issue is that even in a private meeting or phone call, there is customarily a notetaker documenting the conversation. What is Trump's protection that Putin couldn't make a false claim? Maybe Trump feels that any lie Putin tells couldn't be as damaging as the recorded truth.
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I can actually get on board with that. Unless something so outrageous was said that it struck home, you do tend to concentrate on the job at hand.
 
The Don said:
I hope that the US recorded it too. Were President Trump and the translator patted down and/or searched electronically for devices ? Even if there was no way to transmit our of the room, I hope one of them was wearing a recording device.
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If Trump's sugardaddy Putin told him not to bring any recording devices, Trump wouldn't have the guts to try and sneak something in.

Putin, OTOH, would.
 
Squeegee Beckenheim said:
I think that perhaps an interesting question is why Putin allowed a US translator to be there, if anything compromising was said. Putin speaks English - allegedly well enough to correct translators. So it doesn't seem that one was actually needed in order to communicate.
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it's not exacty a new gimmick. Charles De Gaulle spoke English quite fluently but still preferred to use a translator on most occasions because he felt it gave him a psychological advantage.
 
dudalb said:
it's not exacty a new gimmick. Charles De Gaulle spoke English quite fluently but still preferred to use a translator on most occasions because he felt it gave him a psychological advantage.
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That I get. The question is why a US translator, rather than a Russian translator.
 
Squeegee Beckenheim said:
That I get. The question is why a US translator, rather than a Russian translator.
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They both had their own translators. You may recall a kerfuffle when Trump met Putin at a conference with only a Russian translator, no Americans present at all. At least he didn't make that mistake this time.
Gross, a translator for the State Department, can be seen sitting near Trump in images of the Helsinki, Finland meeting. Putin also had an interpreter at the meeting.
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http://www.businessinsider.com/meet...r-for-the-trump-putin-helsinki-meeting-2018-7
 
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