Сделаем Америку снова великой! Trump - Russia megathread

[kalm]

Just web search "Clinton, Loral".

If Reuters isn't among the first 3 hits, you've got nothing!

[BDKJMU]

Sounds like more fake news originated from WaPo. McMaster says nothing inappropriate discussed with Russians.
http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/05/16/h ... o-russians

Not just Washington Post.

Reuters
New York Times
Wall Street Journal

independently confirmed.

McMaster is spinning it as "souces and methods" weren't disclosed - which, none of the reporting claimed.

I just saw McMaster today in the press conference today state it loud and clear, "The premise of the article is false." I don't take Gen McMaster as the type of guy who spins..

[BDKJMU]

I looked it up; the story has an editor's note stating the correction (see link below). A real news source has a massive amount of facts that need to be checked and cycled through. Sometimes things slip through and they're misworded and/or misreported. Fortunately, real journalists also follow-up and make corrections when it's necessary.

I certainly trust the WaPo (and the NYT, AP, Reuters, etc.) more than most sources of information, and definitely more than internet-only sites who've hired senior "editors" like Milo Yiannopoulos. I don't believe everything that's stated, but the "fake news" sources you've called out have proven reliable enough that if you're not blinded by personal bias, they'll assist in fairly assessing and forming an opinion of a situation.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/na ... 3e5fff83e2

You make it sound so simple and just excuse away their extreme journalistic wrecklessness, and initial hysteria their false article started.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleeta ... erSecurity

Also there's the WaPo's being the original source for the false story last week about the deputy AG.

"Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein: Report about threatening to quit is false

"Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said Thursday he didn't threaten to quit after FBI Director James Comey was fired, contrary to a Wednesday press report.

Rosenstein was asked to respond to the report by Sinclair Broadcast Group's Michelle Macaluso as he was walking out of a meeting with the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

"No, I'm not quitting," he said in a video posted to Twitter.

Macaluso asked again if he threatened to quit, to which he replied, "no."

The Washington Post reported that Rosenstein threatened to resign because of the growing public view that he was the main force behind Comey's ouster....."
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/deput ... le/2622828

[BDKJMU]

The real story isn't what Trump said to the Russians, but the fact that there was a rat in the room who committed a felony by leaking to the Wa Po. How many/who were were people were in the Oval Office at the time? Couldn't have been that many...but obviously at least one too many...

[Skjellyfetti]

Well, according to reports (if they're not FAKE NEWS! LOL!!) the White House went to the intelligence agencies to let them know what Trump exposed.

After Trump's disclosure of the information, which one of the officials described as spontaneous, officials immediately called the CIA and the National Security Agency, both of which have agreements with a number of allied intelligence services around the world, and informed them what had happened.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-t ... SKCN18B2MX

So, more people than the people in the room knew what happened.

Who knows where it came from, but seems like it's either:
1. White House official
2. Intelligence community
3. Russians



And, fwiw (comedy?) Alex Jones and Roger Stone have been pushing McMaster as the leaker:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_W38W2vn2g[/youtube]

[Ibanez]

The real story isn't what Trump said to the Russians, but the fact that there was a rat in the room who committed a felony by leaking to the Wa Po. How many/who were were people were in the Oval Office at the time? Couldn't have been that many...but obviously at least one too many...

It's a felony to say that someone else gave classified information?

[BDKJMU]

The real story isn't what Trump said to the Russians, but the fact that there was a rat in the room who committed a felony by leaking to the Wa Po. How many/who were were people were in the Oval Office at the time? Couldn't have been that many...but obviously at least one too many...

It's a felony to say that someone else gave classified information?

It is a felony to leak classified info to the press.

[Ibanez]

It's a felony to say that someone else gave classified information?

It is a felony to leak classified info to the press.

What classified info was link? Have specifics been reported or is just ISIS activity and bomb making techniques?

[Grizalltheway]

It's a felony to say that someone else gave classified information?

It is a felony to leak classified info to the press.

But saying "person X leaked classified info to the Russians" isn't the same as leaking said classified info to the press. Stop trying to deflect.

[Ibanez]

It is a felony to leak classified info to the press.

But saying "person X leaked classified info to the Russians" isn't the same as leaking said classified info to the press. Stop trying to deflect.

I've got this, WuTang .

[Skjellyfetti]

And, I thought the reports that Trump impulsively passed off highly classified information to Russians during the meeting was "FAKE NEWS!!! SAD!!"

If there was no classified information revealed it's not a felony.

You need to choose... can't have it both ways.

If you think the stories are true - pursue the "leakers" angle.

If you think the stories are bunk - pursue the "FAKE NEWS!!" angle.

[Skjellyfetti]

BOOM!

The Justice Department will appoint former FBI director Robert Mueller as special counsel to take over the Russia investigation.

He will be subject to the the normal Justice Department rules that apply to special counsels. The last special counsel was Patrick Fitzgerald, who was appointed to investigate the leaking of a CIA operative's name.

The appointment was made by Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general.

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/17/justice- ... probe.html

[Skjellyfetti]

Interesting comments by Kevin McCarthy in 2016:

House majority leader to colleagues in 2016: ‘I think Putin pays’ Trump

A month before Donald Trump clinched the Republican nomination, one of his closest allies in Congress — House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy — made a politically explosive assertion in a private conversation on Capitol Hill with his fellow GOP leaders: that Trump could be the beneficiary of payments from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) said, according to a recording of the June 15, 2016 exchange, which was listened to and verified by The Washington Post. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is a Californian Republican known in Congress as a fervent defender of Putin and Russia.

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) immediately interjected, stopping the conversation from further exploring McCarthy’s assertion, and swore the Republicans present to secrecy.

Before the conversation, McCarthy and Ryan had emerged from separate talks at the U.S. Capitol with Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, who had described a Kremlin tactic of financing populist politicians to undercut Eastern European democratic institutions.

News had just broken the day before in The Washington Post that Russian government hackers had penetrated the computer network of the Democratic National Committee, prompting McCarthy to shift the conversation from Russian meddling in Europe to events closer to home.

Some of the lawmakers laughed at McCarthy’s comment. Then McCarthy quickly added: “Swear to God.”

Ryan instructed his Republican lieutenants to keep the conversation private, saying: “No leaks...This is how we know we’re a real family here.”

The remarks remained secret for nearly a year.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/na ... 837948dfd3




Transcript:
https://assets.documentcloud.org/docume ... -among.pdf

[Skjellyfetti]

Stock got crushed today... but, popcorn futures through the roof!

[Ivytalk]

Stock got crushed today... but, popcorn futures through the roof!

Nice schadenfreude, SmellyBelly.

[Skjellyfetti]

Hmmm. Schadenfreude? Doesn't sound very Russian to me.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZERaT4fbwA[/youtube]

[Skjellyfetti]

Former Trump aides Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort have emerged as key figures in the FBI's investigation into Russian campaign interference, which has just been taken over by a special counsel, four law enforcement officials told NBC News.

Officials say multiple grand jury subpoenas and records requests have been issued in connection with the two men during the past six months in the ongoing probe into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russian attempts to influence the election, an inquiry that will now be overseen by former FBI Director Robert Mueller.

The FBI, with the help of the Treasury Department, the CIA and other agencies, is examining evidence of possible contacts, money transfers and business relationships between a variety of Trump associates and Russian officials, the sources say. The investigation goes well beyond Flynn, Manafort and a possible American connection, to include how Russian intelligence services carried out the campaign of fake news and leaking hacked emails that intelligence officials say was meant to hurt Hillary Clinton and benefit Donald Trump.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fly ... ad-n761256

[BDKJMU]

BOOM!

The Justice Department will appoint former FBI director Robert Mueller as special counsel to take over the Russia investigation.

He will be subject to the the normal Justice Department rules that apply to special counsels. The last special counsel was Patrick Fitzgerald, who was appointed to investigate the leaking of a CIA operative's name.

The appointment was made by Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general.

[Skjellyfetti]

Yeah, this week has been one long fap. I'm raw.

[BDKJMU]

Yeah, this week has been one long fap. I'm raw.

And you'll be fapping well into next year for what turns out to be a nothingburger..

[Skjellyfetti]

I'd rather be fapping and scarfing popcorn than clenchin my butthole for the next year.

Special counsels / independent prosecutors, etc. don't result in "nothingburgers" very often, BDK (ever?).

Flynn, Manafort, Page, and Roger Fucking Stone better all be squeaky clean. Not to mention Trump. Their financials are going to be pored over. They're all getting deposed.

[Skjellyfetti]

New story on Flynn.

So, TeamTrump...

- knew that Flynn was under FBI investigation for being a foreign agent during the transition.
- was warned by Obama not to hire him
- hired him anyway as National Security Advisor
- warned 3 times by the acting Attorney General about Flynn
- tried to enourage the FBI to "let him go"
- fired after warnings became public

Michael T. Flynn told President Trump’s transition team weeks before the inauguration that he was under federal investigation for secretly working as a paid lobbyist for Turkey during the campaign, according to two people familiar with the case.

Despite this warning, which came about a month after the Justice Department notified Mr. Flynn of the inquiry, Mr. Trump made Mr. Flynn his national security adviser. The job gave Mr. Flynn access to the president and nearly every secret held by American intelligence agencies.

Mr. Flynn’s disclosure, on Jan. 4, was first made to the transition team’s chief lawyer, Donald F. McGahn II, who is now the White House counsel. That conversation, and another one two days later between Mr. Flynn’s lawyer and transition lawyers, shows that the Trump team knew about the investigation of Mr. Flynn far earlier than has been previously reported.

His legal issues have been a problem for the White House from the beginning and are at the center of a growing political crisis for Mr. Trump. Mr. Flynn, who was fired after 24 days in the job, was initially kept on even after the acting attorney general, Sally Q. Yates, warned the White House that he might be subject to blackmail by the Russians for misleading Vice President Mike Pence about the nature of conversations he had with the Russian ambassador to Washington.

After Mr. Flynn’s dismissal, Mr. Trump tried to get James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director, to drop the investigation — an act that some legal experts say is grounds for an investigation of Mr. Trump for possible obstruction of justice. He fired Mr. Comey on May 9.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/17/us/p ... .html?_r=0

[Pwns]

I predict when this investigation is done both Trump and Donks will be whining that it was rigged (the latter cuz Mueller was a Bushitler McCheneyburton appointee).

[Skjellyfetti]

New Flynnburger!

Flynn held up attack on ISIS capital, consistent with wishes of Turkey - for which he was an undeclared foreign agent.

One of the Trump administration’s first decisions about the fight against the Islamic State was made by Michael Flynn weeks before he was fired – and it conformed to the wishes of Turkey, whose interests, unbeknownst to anyone in Washington, he’d been paid more than $500,000 to represent.

The decision came 10 days before Donald Trump had been sworn in as president, in a conversation with President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, Susan Rice, who had explained the Pentagon’s plan to retake the Islamic State’s de facto capital of Raqqa with Syrian Kurdish forces whom the Pentagon considered the U.S.’s most effective military partners. Obama’s national security team had decided to ask for Trump’s sign-off, since the plan would all but certainly be executed after Trump had become president.

Flynn didn’t hesitate. According to timelines distributed by members of Congress in the weeks since, Flynn told Rice to hold off, a move that would delay the military operation for months.

If Flynn explained his answer, that’s not recorded, and it’s not known whether he consulted anyone else on the transition team before rendering his verdict. But his position was consistent with the wishes of Turkey, which had long opposed the United States partnering with the Kurdish forces – and which was his undeclared client.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politic ... 49647.html





Tweets aging like wine.

[Vidav]

The real story isn't what Trump said to the Russians, but the fact that there was a rat in the room who committed a felony by leaking to the Wa Po. How many/who were were people were in the Oval Office at the time? Couldn't have been that many...but obviously at least one too many...

It's a felony to say that someone else gave classified information?

Honest question, not a troll. Once the president says it to someone who doesn't have clearance wouldn't it no longer be classified information? I mean, once he tells a foreign agent, they don't have to follow our rules about not sharing it, right? So once Trump said it like he it wouldn't it no longer be classified?