ChiGoose

Hey, if they didn’t want to be investigated for trying to work with Russia, they shouldn’t have spent all that time trying to work with Russia.

The Trump campaign definitely did. That has been proven again and again (and ignored again and again).

So you don’t believe that Russia tried to interfere in 2016? Or do you not believe the Trump campaign welcomed that help?

Of course there were flaws. There are flaws in any investigation and the IG report covered the flaws in the Russia investigation. But what both the IG report and Durham show, the investigation itself was properly predicated and was not a conspiracy aimed at Trump.

Turns out that the obvious thing was obvious. Durham’s investigation shows that Barr was wrong about the origins of the Russia investigation. Barr Pressed Durham to Find Flaws in the Russia Investigation. It Didn’t Go Well. “Interviews by The Times with more than a dozen current and former officials have revealed an array of previously unreported episodes that show how the Durham inquiry became roiled by internal dissent and ethical disputes as it went unsuccessfully down one path after another even as Mr. Trump and Mr. Barr promoted a misleading narrative of its progress. Mr. Barr and Mr. Durham never disclosed that their inquiry expanded in the fall of 2019, based on a tip from Italian officials, to include a criminal investigation into suspicious financial dealings related to Mr. Trump. The specifics of the tip and how they handled the investigation remain unclear, but Mr. Durham brought no charges over it. Mr. Durham used Russian intelligence memos — suspected by other U.S. officials of containing disinformation — to gain access to emails of an aide to George Soros, the financier and philanthropist who is a favorite target of the American right and Russian state media. Mr. Durham used grand jury powers to keep pursuing the emails even after a judge twice rejected his request for access to them. The emails yielded no evidence that Mr. Durham has cited in any case he pursued. There were deeper internal fractures on the Durham team than previously known. The publicly unexplained resignation in 2020 of his No. 2 and longtime aide, Nora R. Dannehy, was the culmination of a series of disputes between them over prosecutorial ethics. A year later, two more prosecutors strongly objected to plans to indict a lawyer with ties to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign based on evidence they warned was too flimsy, and one left the team in protest of Mr. Durham’s decision to proceed anyway. (A jury swiftly acquitted the lawyer.)”

Just straight up admitting that they make ***** up because they know people will eat up scandalous lies over boring truths.

It’s amazing to me that people are still debating this. If you believe either: -Russia did not try to influence the 2016 election; or - The Trump campaign did not attempt to work with Russians to win the election; then you’re just ignorant. It’s not even worth debating because at this point, it’s like arguing with someone who says the sky is green.

There was a really good discussion on this in the most recent Serious Trouble podcast Their takeaway is that Baldwin’s liability for pulling the trigger stems from his dumb media tour and talking to the cops without a lawyer. He is now on the record stating that he’s had firearms training, knows never to point a gun at someone unless you’re going to shoot it, and that he never pulled the trigger. If the government can show that the gun only fired because he did indeed pull the trigger (which seems likely) they can introduce his other statements to the jury to show that he knew what would happen if he pulled the trigger but pulled it anyway. They can also likely introduce evidence that there was no actual reason to pull the trigger either. Slam dunk conviction. Had Baldwin been smart by shutting up and lawyering up, his defense team could pin the negligence on the armorer, stating that Baldwin was following the rules and expected that the armorer had done their job. It wouldn’t guarantee acquittal on that charge but it would have made it far more likely than the reality he’s currently facing.

The new line is that Hamlin actually died because of the vaccine and now they’re using a body double. Very smart people we are dealing with here.

Awesome!

Looks like Baldwin may have incriminated himself when talking to police. I still think the charge for pulling the trigger is weaksauce but maybe prosecutors are using it as a bargaining chip for a plea deal. Alec Baldwin Didn’t Have to Talk to the Police. Neither Do You. Remember kids, don’t talk to the cops without an attorney.

Makes sense. If you don’t believe in Jewish Space Lasers, what use are you?

It’s a bit different here. If the armorer on a movie set says the gun is safe to use, I would think an actor should think it is safe to use.

It really isn't. That's what the whole revolution was about and why Putin was pissed at them.

I am honestly very surprised that Baldwin was charged for pulling the trigger. I had assumed that he was being charged because, as the producer of the movie, he failed to maintain a safe work environment. Gotta imagine he has a good chance at getting off on the first charge should it go to trial. Wouldn’t be surprised at a conviction on the latter.

Nobody can guarantee that. But Ukraine was moving towards democracy and away from autocracy. Which is why the 2014 invasion happened. Supporting them is supporting a hope for a democratic future. Opposing them is supporting a slide back to autocracy. Plus, supporting them also greatly harms one of our most significant adversaries. So, bonus!

Too bad. All the cool kids have classified documents. Everyone’s doing it.

Ah. That's stupid.

Yeah, the government has a history of over classification. Are you saying that this is intentional to drive the news cycle or something? I honestly don't understand what you're trying to say.

Ah ok. You just want to jump down the conspiracy rabbit hole. Go ahead, I guess. Maybe the documents show that the Deep State was partnering with the Lizard People in a secret war against the ancient aliens for possession of the world's adrenochrome supply. Or maybe people are sloppy, document controls are failing, and things are inadvertently ending up where they shouldn't be.

Just what's been publicly reported at this point. Classified Documents Found at Pence’s Indiana Home "In a Jan. 18 letter to the National Archives, Pence lawyer Greg Jacob wrote that what appeared to be “a small number” of documents with classified markings were found at Pence’s Indiana home. The documents were “inadvertently boxed” and sent to Pence’s home after he left office in January 2021, Jacob wrote. “Vice President Pence was unaware of the existence of sensitive or classified documents at his personal residence. Vice President Pence understands the high importance of protecting sensitive and classified information and stands ready and willing to cooperate fully with the National Archives and any appropriate inquiry,” Jacob wrote." That's pretty much a textbook response and exactly how someone should handle this. The DoJ still needs to investigate how these documents got there, but I would be surprised if Pence took them intentionally.

Whatever controls for principles handling classified documents exist, they appear to be woefully inadequate. Still early, but has there been any evidence this was intentional? I haven't seen any. Also, good on Pence for initiating the search on his own just to be safe in the wake of the Biden document scandal.

That’s a good question for the special counsel. If I had to guess, the documents were accidentally packed with his things when leaving the White House. It seems the controls around this transition are broken since Trump was able to do it too. Do you think this was all intentional and he had been getting away with it so much that he suddenly decided he wanted to get in trouble so he went public?

WTF are you even talking about? He handed the documents over to the DoJ; searched his properties and found more documents and handed them over; voluntarily had the DoJ come in and search to ensure they got everything. Sure, his public messaging hasn’t been good but his actions are what you would expect for someone who was cooperating. BTW: the only reason Trump is in any trouble is because he’s an idiot. If he just did what Biden is doing, he’d be in the same position as Biden in not catching a charge.

I think it’s more likely that the spillage was accidental and only recently discovered than Biden taking them intentionally and then suddenly deciding he wanted to get in trouble and telling on himself.