Trump and Russia

[Tiberius]

This is a real nice run down of Putin's goals in promoting Trump. Just quoted in part. 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/did-putin-get-taken-for-a-ride/2017/11/19/f3f03dd0-cb94-11e7-8321-481fd63f174d_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-f%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.caf4eb99723f

Quote

Goal: Undermine faith in democracy.

Here again, Putin must be pleased. With minimal investment, he influenced voters in ways sufficient to cast doubt on the results of a presidential election. Perhaps more remarkable, the incumbent administration has taken almost no steps to prevent him from interfering again, and the majority party in Congress is ambivalent. So the country may be no better protected in 2018 and 2020.

The president’s former campaign chairman and his deputy are under indictment, a former foreign policy adviser has pleaded guilty, and a special prosecutor is, presumably, just getting started. The president, his attorney general, his former national security adviser, his son-in-law and other advisers all have been caught misinforming or giving incomplete information about their relations with Russia.

 

And if you are thinking, oh, Putin must worry about being caught out? No. The more suspicion falls on the U.S. system, the better it serves his purpose, which is to say: Yes, I may be sleazy and undemocratic, but so are you — only you are more hypocritical.

Meanwhile, the world sees a U.S. president who admires dictators more than democratic leaders. He talks about human rights where convenient (Cuba, Iran, North Korea) and laughs them off elsewhere (Saudi Arabia, the Philippines). As an authoritarian wave washes across the globe, he says: Not our concern.

At home, his government is understaffed, accomplishes little and is proudly underinvesting in research, education and infrastructure — hardly an exemplar for other democracies.

 

 

[K-9]

 

[BringBackOrton]

8 hours ago, K-9 said:

 

Glad to see you getting involved on this side of the board.  Don't always agree with your stuff, but it's usually thoughtful and worth reading.

[K-9]

22 minutes ago, jmc12290 said:

Glad to see you getting involved on this side of the board.  Don't always agree with your stuff, but it's usually thoughtful and worth reading.

Thanks. I really appreciate the sentiment, but with all due respect, this place is a cesspool. That said, there are several posters here who have my respect and I’m always willing to be edified by their contributions. A learning spirit is essential around here. 

[BringBackOrton]

7 hours ago, K-9 said:

Thanks. I really appreciate the sentiment, but with all due respect, this place is a cesspool. That said, there are several posters here who have my respect and I’m always willing to be edified by their contributions. A learning spirit is essential around here. 

[B-Man]

Newly filed court documents confirm that Fusion GPS made payments to three journalists between June 2016 until February 2017.

 

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/fusion-gps-paid-journalists-court-papers-confirm/article/2641454

 

The revelation could be a breakthrough for House Republicans, who are exploring whether Fusion GPS used the dossier, which was later criticized for having inaccurate information on Trump, to feed anti-Trump stories to the press during and after the presidential campaign. The three journalists who were paid by Fusion GPS are known to have reported on "Russia issues relevant to [the committee's] investigation," the House Intelligence Committee said in a court filing.

[Deranged Rhino]

Related:  

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/clintons-link-to-putin-is-the-underreported-dossier-bombshell/2017/10/31/0623f2f4-ba87-11e7-be94-fabb0f1e9ffb_story.html?utm_term=.34497b1875b6

[B-Man]

Court filing yesterday in regards to #FusionGPS from Deputy General Counsel for House Permanent Select Committee on Intel. "12 transactions associated w/ payments to 4 journalists & researchers..12 transactions associated w/ payments from Media Company A." https://www.scribd.com/document/365208275/Declaration-of-Scott-L-Glabe-Deputy-General-Counsel-for-the-House-Permanent-Select-Committee-on-

Edited November 24, 2017 by B-Man

[B-Man]

WERE YOU INFLUENCED BY RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA?

The New York Times tells us, breathlessly: “Were you a victim of Russian propaganda? Facebook will help you find out.”..........................

Hahahahhaha

 

Perhaps the one good thing that will come of Congress’s hectoring of Facebook is that Facebook’s “reach” numbers will be exposed as the fraud on advertisers that, in my opinion, they are.

Meanwhile, if you really want to know whether you have been influenced by Russian propaganda, just ask yourself two questions:

1) Did you support the nuclear freeze movement of the 1980s?

2) Are you opposed to fracking?

If you answered either question Yes, you almost certainly have been influenced by covert Russian propaganda.

 

Edited November 24, 2017 by B-Man

[Tiberius]

Lots of news this week about Trump and Russia, none of it good for the First Puppet

 

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/361680-manafort-flight-records-reveal-numerous-trips-to-russia

 

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort took at least 18 trips to Moscow during his time as a political operative in Ukraine, McClatchy reported Thursday.

Manafort was also in frequent contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s allies for nearly a decade during his time working for pro-Russia political parties in Ukraine, according to the report.

[row_33]

so how many times did Manafort go to Moscow while employed by Trump?

 

[B-Man]

9 minutes ago, row_33 said:

so how many times did Manafort go to Moscow while employed by Trump?

 

 

I am sure that you know the answer to that................................................zero.

 

But a desperate gator will keep throwing squirrels.

 

[Deranged Rhino]

Just now, B-Man said:

 

I am sure that you know the answer to that................................................zero.

 

But a desperate gator will keep throwing squirrels.

 

 

He does so without bothering to read the indictment which lays out a significant timeline and should lead most to ask some basic questions:

 

Who else has PM worked for over his career? 

Who was PM working for during the years cited in the indictment? 

Why is that relevant to Mueller's investigation? 

Has Mueller's investigation expanded from its original scope? 

Why would the expansion go back to a period of time before 45 was a candidate or employing PM?

Who had to step down recently because of ties to both PM and Mueller's investigation?

Why is that relevant? 

Who was Michael Flynn working for during the time frame of PM's indictment?

What was Michael Flynn's position before he joined 45's administration? 

Why is that relevant? 

 

(cue deflections in 3...2...1...)  

 

 

[Deranged Rhino]

Uh-oh... (Archived Washington Post link, no paywall for democracy to die behind)

 

https://archive.is/20171125165839/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/mueller-might-be-the-one-whos-draining-the-swamp/2017/11/24/e1f11ae0-c40b-11e7-84bc-5e285c7f4512_story.html?utm_term=.8dcd20e82f4b

[B-Man]

[Deranged Rhino]

Here's something that's bothered me for awhile: Why would Mueller meet with both the DOJ and Trump days before the special counsel was appointed? I can understand why the DOJ would meet with him if he was being considered for the special counsel position - but why would Trump meet with Mueller in May?

 

Reports at the time said it was because Mueller was on a "secret" short list to be the head of the FBI... which can't be the case considering Mueller cannot legally be considered for the position: 

 

-

President Barack Obama asked Mueller to continue to serve for two more years past the director's normal 10-year term, a move that required Congress to pass special legislation. Congress cited "the critical need for continuity and stability at the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the face of ongoing threats to the United States and leadership transitions at the Federal agencies charged with protecting national security."

   

That law stated that lawmakers had made a one-time exception and made it clear that Mueller "may not serve as Director after September 4, 2013."

 

https://www.npr.org/2017/06/09/532286723/special-counsel-robert-mueller-had-been-on-white-house-short-list-to-run-fbi?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20170609 

 

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/337182-trump-considered-mueller-for-fbi-director-before-he-was-named-special

 

What could they have been discussing? 

 

 

... Oh, does anyone know what branch of service Mueller served in before he became an attorney? 

 

Who else served in that branch in the cabinet? 

 

Who was the only head of the IC Trump retained? What branch does he represent? 

 

Something smells funny... I'm thinking this isn't going to break the way people are expecting:

Edited November 26, 2017 by Deranged Rhino

[B-Man]

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2017/12/today-in-collusion-5.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+powerlineblog%2Flivefeed+(Power+Line)

TODAY IN COLLUSION

Did the Trump campaign “collude” with friends of Vladimir Putin in the presidential campaign of 2016?

I don’t think so, but the Clinton campaign certainly seems to have done so.

 

Yet former FBI Director James Comey engineered the appointment of his good friend Robert Mueller to head a special counsel investigation in “collusion” with the New York Times. We have Comey’s testimony under oath telling the story. There might even have been a law or two that he broke in the process, but I’m pretty sure Comey’s good friend won’t be going there.

 

Today the New York Times returns to the collusion beat in Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo’s “FBI warned Hope Hicks about emails from Russian operatives.” Goldman and Apuzzo report: “F.B.I. officials warned one of President Trump’s top advisers, Hope Hicks, earlier this year about repeated attempts by Russian operatives to make contact with her during the presidential transition, according to people familiar with the events.” But “[t]here is no evidence that Ms. Hicks did anything improper.”

 

{snip}

 

 

As she received additional information from the FBI, Hicks reported her meetings to White House counsel Don McGahn.

 

One has to read nearly to the end of the story to find this (italics supplied for emphasis): “In some ways, the Russian outreach to Ms. Hicks undercuts the idea that the Russian government had established deep ties to the Trump campaign before the election. If it had, Russian officials might have found a better entrèe to the White House than unprompted emails to Ms. Hicks.”

 

 

 

Quite the admission for the NYT.

 

 

.

[Nanker]

Look. Palin saw Russia from her house. FROM HER HOUSE!  So, Trump probably did too. He's got more money than her... more houses too. 

Of course there was collusion. There's always collusions in Manhattan - and in the District too. There's so much auto traffic there it's an accepted fact of life in those towns.

So Trump's guilty, guilty, guilty... at least by association if not by downright lying about not being in a collusion somewhere at some time perhaps even near an embassy. You know how many embassies there are in those two towns. And Russian Jewelry. What's so special about that? [/reporterroserosannadannaforCNN]

[Tiberius]

Quote

 

“I have deep respect for the career Foreign and Civil Service staff who, despite the stinging disrespect this Administration has shown our profession, continue the struggle to keep our foreign policy on the positive trajectory necessary to avert global disaster in increasingly dangerous times,” Shackelford wrote in her Nov. 7 letter, which is published below. One phrase was redacted on Shackelford’s request.

“With each passing day, however, this task grows more futile, driving the Department’s experienced and talented staff away in ever greater numbers,” she wrote. 

Her former colleagues said her departure — and the sentiments expressed in her letter — reflect a wider exodus of midcareer diplomats who have lost confidence in Tillerson’s management and the Trump administration’s approach toward diplomacy.

“She’s emblematic of what we’re losing across the board,” said one of Shackelford’s former State Department colleagues. “She is the best among us. We should not be losing the best among us. And that should concern people that we are,” the former colleague said.

In her letter, Shackelford said she was leaving with a “heavy heart” as she recognized the potential of the State Department’s mission. She said she was “shocked” when Tillerson appeared to cast doubt on the importance of human rights in remarks to department employees on May 3.

The State Department’s role in internal government debates also had “diminished,” she wrote, with the White House handing over authority to the Pentagon to shape the country’s foreign policy. Meanwhile, unfilled vacancies and proposed budget and staffing cuts had left the department adrift, with weakened influence inside the administration and on the ground, she wrote.

 

Trump's Christmas present to Putin 

 

http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/12/09/u-s-diplomat-resigns-warning-of-state-departments-diminished-role-diplomacy-national-security-tillerson-africa-somalia-south-sudan/

[Deranged Rhino]

CIA v DIA. 

 

Not russia v America.