Merged All things Trump + Russia

[LSSBB]

Eh, the Enquirer may be in Trump's pocket, but that doesn't mean he's behind this story.

Yeah, but he might get his news from it.

 

[varwoche]

Before I go digging up opinion polls, please let me know what you're looking for. I get the feeling that I'm about to go on a snipe hunt.

Good idea.

Nice to see you back.

 

[phiwum]

Yeah, but he might get his news from it.

Might? Gotta be near top of his list.

 

[Stacko]

More unusual goings on from Nunes.

Hours before the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee announced his shocking claims about surveillance of the*Trump transition team on Wednesday morning, he practically disappeared.

Rep. Devin Nunes was traveling with a senior committee staffer in an Uber on Tuesday evening when he received a communication on his phone, three committee officials and a former national security official with ties to the committee told The Daily Beast. After the message, Nunes left the car abruptly, leaving his own staffer in the dark about his whereabouts.

By the next morning, Nunes hastily announced a press conference. His own aides, up to the most senior level, did not know what their boss planned to say next. Nunes’ choice to keep senior staff out of the loop was highly unusual.

 

[The Don]

More unusual goings on from Nunes.

If the White House really was the source of the information, I would expect that to be leaked in the not-too-distant future.

One of the things that President Trump and his closest advisors seem to have failed to grasp is that an unhappy ship is a leaky ship. Their attempts to sideline senior colleagues and administrators will only make this situation worse.

 

[TraneWreck]

Good idea.

Nice to see you back.

Thanks. I always enjoy this forum. Glad to be back.

 

[Minoosh]

Trump associates might have been under surveillance for a deal that has nothing to do with Russia - but something to do with Azerbaijan and Iran.

Donald Trump's worst deal

You can't tell this story in 140 characters.

ETA:

Hours before the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee announced his shocking claims about surveillance of the Trump transition team on Wednesday morning, he practically disappeared.

Now if he actually disappeared, that would be even more interesting!

 

[Stacko]

Another connection surfaces.

Marc E. Kasowitz is representing OJSC Sberbank of Russia, which is accused in US federal court of conspiring with granite company executives — including Russia’s former minister of economy and trade — in what the plaintiffs say amounts to a “textbook case of Russian corporate raiding.”

Kasowitz has served as an attorney for Trump for more than 15 years. He did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

In 2001, Kasowitz’s firm represented the Trump Organization during a bond restructuring for his Atlantic City casinos. In 2006, he filed a $5 billion defamation lawsuit against the author of a book about Trump. And twice last year, Kasowitz threatened the New York Times after it published three pages of tax returns and a story about women who claim the president sexually assaulted them.

In December, Trump named another partner at Kasowitz’s firm, David Friedman, to serve as the ambassador to Israel. In a contentious vote earlier this month, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the nomination, which now awaits a full vote in the Senate

 

[Stacko]

So Maria Zakharova, Director of the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, gave as presser and uh...

As I said, such cases in our relations with the US Department of State have become a bad tradition over the past few years. So, I can say in response to your question that we will make the date and format of contacts between the Russian and US foreign ministers public after we coordinate them. We won’t keep them quiet. At this point, I don’t have any information I can share with you. I can say that this visit and such contacts are possible in principle, but it would be premature to talk about timeframes.

Also, I would like to say that if the practice of leaking information that concerns not just the United States but also Russia, which has become a tradition in Washington in the past few years, continues, there will come a day when the media will publish leaks about the things that Washington asked us to keep secret, for example, things that happened during President Obama’s terms in office. Believe me, this could be very interesting information.

Our American colleagues must decide if they respect the diplomatic procedure, if they keep their word on the arrangements made between us, primarily arrangements made at their own request, or we create a few very nice surprises for each other.

That's a curious threat.

 

[wareyin]

So Maria Zakharova, Director of the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, gave as presser and uh...



That's a curious threat.

Yeah, threatening a party who has been openly hostile to Obama with the threat of going public about something bad about Obama? That sounds like enticement, not a threat!

 

[Stacko]

Yeah, threatening a party who has been openly hostile to Obama with the threat of going public about something bad about Obama? That sounds like enticement, not a threat!

Equal chance it's BS.

 

[wareyin]

Equal chance it's BS.

True, but it does have the effect of making it look like Obama was making secret deals with them, whether or not they go public with anything. It sure is not going to make the folks leaking information (who I assume are mostly/all Republicans) suddenly clam up about anything, though.

 

[Childlike Empress]

Oops he did it again...

Why isn't the House Intelligence Committee looking into the Bill & Hillary deal that allowed big Uranium to go to Russia, Russian speech.... ...money to Bill, the Hillary Russian "reset," praise of Russia by Hillary, or Podesta Russian Company. Trump Russia story is a hoax. #MAGA!

That man is a Tru Playa!

 

[Cain]

Oops he did it again...

He must think Americans are stupid, and to that I say, "well played."

 

[Belz...]

Oops he did it again...

That man is a Tru Playa!

I think the word you were looking for was "cheater".

 

[quadraginta]

Eh, the Enquirer may be in Trump's pocket, but that doesn't mean he's behind this story.

He could have gotten the British to plant the story for him.

 

[quadraginta]

More unusual goings on from Nunes.

Hours before the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee announced his shocking claims about surveillance of the*Trump transition team on Wednesday morning, he practically disappeared.

Rep. Devin Nunes was traveling with a senior committee staffer in an Uber on Tuesday evening when he received a communication on his phone, three committee officials and a former national security official with ties to the committee told The Daily Beast. After the message, Nunes left the car abruptly, leaving his own staffer in the dark about his whereabouts.

By the next morning, Nunes hastily announced a press conference. His own aides, up to the most senior level, did not know what their boss planned to say next. Nunes’ choice to keep senior staff out of the loop was highly unusual.

Am I the only one that finds it just a tad odd that a senior Congressman was cruising DC in an Uber in the first place, much less suddenly jumping out of it and abandoning his staffer without explanation after a mysterious phone call?

Combine this with the guy briefing the President and the press on vague allegations without ever even sharing his info with the committee in charge of investigating exactly those claims.

It's almost like he's decompensating. Starting to have a panic breakdown.

I'm a bit worried for him.

 

[BobTheCoward]

I feel embarrassed for the people over at Democratic underground. They are posting so many theories and speculative chain of events it is starting to feel like a fan fiction forum. There is responsible examination of events, and then there is pure speculation.

 

[Firestone]

I feel embarrassed for the people over at Democratic underground. They are posting so many theories and speculative chain of events it is starting to feel like a fan fiction forum. There is responsible examination of events, and then there is pure speculation.

Yes.

It is not only embarrassing, it may be counterproductive.

An op-ed in the NYT dated march/25th: Don’t Fight Their Lies With Lies of Your Own

To be sure, the 2016 election was unimaginable, and the particulars of Russian meddling deserve further scrutiny. But we seem to have fallen into a trap: The unimaginable, happening out in the open day after day, not only continues to dull our defenses but also creates a need to see a conspiracy big enough, a secret terrible enough to explain how this can be happening to our country.
...
Out in the open is Mr. Trump’s contempt for the news media. The secret, it is said, is that the president is always hiding something, using Twitter to distract us from whatever the truly important issue is — as though, if we could only regain our focus long enough to locate that important issue, reality would feel solid again. In fact, Mr. Trump is waging an open and public war on journalism. His lies, his insults and his use of Twitter to communicate falsehoods are the truly important issue: They are the force destroying the public sphere.

The bad news is that Mr. Trump is succeeding. Fraudulent news stories, which used to be largely a right-wing phenomenon, are becoming increasingly popular among those who oppose the president. (I prefer not to add to the appeal of such stories by citing them, but an example is the string of widely shared items that purported to link every death of a more-or-less prominent Russian man to Russian interference in the election.) Each story dangles the promise of a secret that can explain the unimaginable. Each story comes with the ready justification that desperate times call for outrageous claims. But each story deals yet another blow to our fact-based reality, destroying the very fabric of politics that Mr. Trump so clearly disdains.

 

[Hlafordlaes]

I feel embarrassed for the people over at Democratic underground. They are posting so many theories and speculative chain of events it is starting to feel like a fan fiction forum. There is responsible examination of events, and then there is pure speculation.

Yes. Perhaps it is indeed best for Nunes to step down and allow due diligence to proceed. Cover-ups and silence in the face of probable cause leads to a dangerous vacuum. When is the next public hearing in the Senate, and what is on the agenda? Will the questions be softball or hardball? Will they focus on those who blow whistles, or those who blow up the system? This is the issue for those concerned about fact.