Russiagate

[DJL 235]

mr2mk1g

Thing is though, if the election campaign itself becomes tainted by collusion with Russia (assuming that's demonstrated) how can Pence take over? He would be just as much in office due to collusion with a foreign power. Might be different if the downfall came about due to exposure of a cover up though, I suppose.

I wonder if he would meet with Merkel without his wife there.

"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

[wmw999 2,446]

Far be it from me to support the likes of Trump (and his ilk ), but you guys are sounding just like the guys crowing over the endless Hillary investigations right now.

Just sayin'
Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[yoink 321]

Well said, Wendy.

[ryoder 1,590]

Michael Hayden gives his view: http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/the-administration/332696-michael-hayden-when-trumps-washington-starts-to

With three high profile firings in quick succession, it's beginning to feel a little bit like Nicaragua around here. A very pro-American European friend weighed in with me by email shortly after the White House announcement: “Astonishing. Your institutions appear to be in meltdown.”

He has a point.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[DJL 235]

wmw999

Far be it from me to support the likes of Trump (and his ilk ), but you guys are sounding just like the guys crowing over the endless Hillary investigations right now.

Just sayin'
Wendy P.

I know you're speaking to others besides me but I want to reiterate that it's public knowledge that Trump did not like the Russian investigation. Whether he took impeachable action is a different issue. I think his decision to fire Comey was influenced by the Russian investigation but was more about how he feels it affects his image than an effort to hide any wrong-doing by himself or his campaign staff.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/10/comey-firing-trump-russia-238192

Edit: After having written that thought it again boggles my mind that he's so vain that he would risk the appearance of a cover-up just because he's pissed that the investigation might make him look bad.

"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

[SkyDekker 1,465]

wmw999

Far be it from me to support the likes of Trump (and his ilk ), but you guys are sounding just like the guys crowing over the endless Hillary investigations right now.

Just sayin'
Wendy P.

If we get to a finding after 5 completed investigations and we are talking about starting a 6th, maybe then you will have a point.

[ryoder 1,590]

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[billvon 2,991]

> I think his decision to fire Comey was influenced by the Russian investigation

White House explanation for the firing yesterday:

"The president over the last couple of months lost confidence in Director Comey, the [Department of Justice] lost confidence in Director Comey, bipartisan members of Congress made it clear that they had lost confidence in Director Comey, and, most importantly, the rank and file of the FBI had lost confidence in their director."

So the most important factor in his firing was the loss of confidence in the employees of the FBI.

Today:

=================
Acting FBI head contradicts White House: Comey had ‘broad support’ in FBI
By Katie Bo Williams
05/11/17

The Hill

Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe on Thursday directly contradicted a claim by the White House that the “rank and file” at the FBI had lost faith in recently fired Director James Comey.

"Director Comey enjoyed broad support within the FBI and still does to this day," McCabe told the Senate Intelligence Committee, calling it the "greatest privilege" of his professional career to work with Comey.

"I can confidently tell you that the vast majority of employees enjoyed a deep and positive connection to Director Comey,” he added, calling it “not accurate” to say otherwise.
===================

[normiss 798]

GOP should be just as outraged at Trump calling Comey as they were with Lynch meeting Bill Clinton.
Except in this case, it's an admitted crime.

[ryoder 1,590]

Uh, oh!
Looks like McCabe may be the next one in front of the firing squad.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[tkhayes 348]

there are a few that are already upset about it. Political retribution has an ugly head on all sides. The FBi insiders could undermine Trump's goals and more vigorously pursue his Russia case.

lawmakers that think he is being a dick about it could stall legislation if they think this was a political firing even if there was no case.

Either way, not sure how Trump could think that the flimsy excuses as to why Comey was being fired are even worthy of acceptance. As usual,different excuses from different people and dept's, and then all backtracking some to correct who said what after the fact.

This guy could not order a pizza without fucking it up.

[wolfriverjoe 1,523]

wmw999

Far be it from me to support the likes of Trump (and his ilk ), but you guys are sounding just like the guys crowing over the endless Hillary investigations right now.

Just sayin'
Wendy P.

I guess I don't see a comparison.

At all.

In one case, there was an attack. There was confusion during and about that attack, so various things didn't happen the way some people would have liked. There were a number of different explanations for the reasons behind the attack, some of which turned out to be incorrect.
Anyone with even the barest understanding of military actions and protocol could see that there really wasn't anything else that could have been done at the time.
Anyone with even the barest of understanding of crisis management can understand how the explanations got mixed up.

To imply that there was any sort of criminal action, or even negligence is, to put it mildly, stupid. To imply that there was a cover up is also stupid.

OTOH, there is mounting evidence that members of Trump's campaign were in contact with Russian officials. Both "overt" ones (actual government employees) and "shadow" ones (those that take their orders from Putin or his overlords, but don't actually earn a government check). There's some pretty strong indication that Flynn committed a couple crimes. Kushner may have too. Manafort is almost certainly a Russian agent.
Then, of course, there's the fact that the Russians have bankrolled Trump himself. They either own sizable chunks of some of his businesses, or Trump owes them a ton of money. Nobody knows for sure (or at least no one who will talk).

The NYT has an editorial out:

Quote

It was a solid brief; Mr. Comey’s misjudgments in his handling of the F.B.I. investigation of Hillary Clinton’s private email server were indeed serious. Yet you must know that these fair criticisms were mere pretext for Mr. Trump, who dumped Mr. Comey just as he was seeking more resources to investigate ties between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
You must also know that in ordering you to write the memo, Mr. Trump exploited the integrity you have earned over nearly three decades in public service, spending down your credibility as selfishly as he has spent other people’s money throughout his business career. We can only hope that your lack of an explicit recommendation to fire Mr. Comey reflects your own refusal to go as far as the president wanted you to.
After Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from these matters, because of his own contacts during the campaign with the Russians, the power to launch a truly credible investigation has fallen to you, and you alone.
You have one choice: Appoint a special counsel who is independent of both the department and the White House. No one else would have the standing to assure the public it is getting the truth. While a handful of Republican senators and representatives expressed concern at Mr. Comey’s firing, there is as yet no sign that the congressional investigations into Russian interference will be properly staffed or competently run. And Americans can have little faith that the Justice Department, or an F.B.I. run by Mr. Trump’s handpicked replacement, will get to the bottom of whether and how Russia helped steal the presidency for Mr. Trump.

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[billvon 2,991]

>Either way, not sure how Trump could think that the flimsy excuses as to why Comey was being
>fired are even worthy of acceptance.

The White House recently admitted that a reason for firing Comey was to bring the Russian investigation to an end. (The White House spokeswoman who said that is no doubt now being fired or "reassigned" but still . . .)

>This guy could not order a pizza without fucking it up.

Well, he does eat pizza with a fork.

[jakee 1,489]

tkhayes

This guy could not order a pizza without fucking it up.

"I think I want a pizza with some fruit on it, and some meat. Like ham and pineapple - you know, a Hawaiian"

"Ok"

"You know what that is, a Hawaiian?"

"Uh, yeah"

"You've heard of Hawaiian pizza before?"

"Yes"

"Because I haven't heard of it. I just thought of it a few days ago. I thought, they have pineapple in Hawaii, so why not put it on pizza and call it a Hawaiian!"


(Actually that's totally unrealistic. If he thought he'd invented a new pizza he'd call it a Trump. Duh)

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[rushmc 23]

billvon

>worked the same for Obama.

Yes it did. Should work the same for Trump. Funny how you "discover" new ethical distinctions when it is your savior who's in trouble.

>and still not quotes that says Trump is under investigation.

Other than the Comey quote. But that doesn't matter any more since Trump fired him, right?

So after the hearing today with the deputy director who is not a trump fan are you ready to retract a bunch of your posts now?

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[billvon 2,991]

>So after the hearing today with the deputy director who is not a trump fan are you ready to retract
>a bunch of your posts now?

You mean the deputy director who said that Trump was wrong, and Comey was held in high regard by the rank and file FBI?

[billvon 2,991]

>The White House recently admitted that a reason for firing Comey was to bring the Russian
>investigation to an end.

So the shit hit the fan (again) when the White House admitted that they were firing Comey to end the investigation, so Trump immediately reversed course. Today Trump said that Comey's firing might "lengthen out the investigation."

They can't even get their story straight.

[Phil1111 1,149]

Comey's firing has brought out lies from the everyone involved. Oh well, another day at the office.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/333008-white-houses-fbi-story-unravels

Poor Sean, under the stress from lying he has to hide in the bushes of the WH. Everyone speculating if he is the next to be fired:
White House says rumored Spicer replacement ‘wrong’: report
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/333054-white-house-says-rumored-spicer-replacement-wrong-report

All while he is off serving in the USN reserve.

Back to trump. Unknown to all he is also a mechanical engineer as well!

President Trump said he has told the Navy to return to decades-old steam-powered catapult technology to launch aircraft from the new Gerald Ford-class aircraft carriers, rather than use a new digital launch system.

“It sounded bad to me. Digital. They have digital. What is digital? And it’s very complicated, you have to be Albert Einstein to figure it out. And I said—and now they want to buy more aircraft carriers. I said, ‘What system are you going to be—‘ ‘Sir, we’re staying with digital.’ I said, ‘No you’re not. You going to goddamned steam, the digital costs hundreds of millions of dollars more money and it’s no good.’
http://thehill.com/policy/defense/333040-trump-wants-goddamned-steam-catapults-on-new-aircraft-carriers

[billvon 2,991]

It's afternoon so of course Trump has reversed himself again. He now admits that his decision was influenced by Comey's Russia investigation.

"Regardless of recommendation I was going to fire Comey. Knowing, there was no good time to do it. And in fact when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have one. "

[normiss 798]

I was impressed when he claimed zero ties to Russia, no loans, no money, no business.
Which one of the 3 Trump men are lying now?
Without seeing their taxes, it's impossible to tell really.

[ryoder 1,590]

tkhayes

This guy could not order a pizza without fucking it up.

Nobody can order a pizza like Trump!!!!
He orders the most beautiful pizzas you've ever seen!!!
When he order pizza, it will be better and cheaper than Obama's pizza, and everybody gets a slice!!!
And he will make Italy pay for it!!!

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[Phil1111 1,149]

normiss

I was impressed when he claimed zero ties to Russia, no loans, no money, no business.
Which one of the 3 Trump men are lying now?
Without seeing their taxes, it's impossible to tell really.

“Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets,” Trump’s son, Donald Jr., told a real estate conference in 2008, according to an account posted on the website of eTurboNews, a trade publication. “We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-trumps-financial-ties-to-russia-and-his-unusual-flattery-of-vladimir-putin/2016/06/17/dbdcaac8-31a6-11e6-8ff7-7b6c1998b7a0_story.html?utm_term=.f9379f2ada6a

Russians are not the only American adversaries to support Trump’s business. The state-owned Central Bank of China has loaned Trump hundreds of millions of dollars. The New York Times has reported that American companies owned by Trump have at least $650 million in debt and the Bank of China is among the lenders. Voters need to know how much Trump and his businesses owe Chinese banks as well as Russian oligarchs.
http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presidential-campaign/302216-how-much-money-does-the-trump-organization-owe

[kallend 2,027]

rushmc

***>worked the same for Obama.

Yes it did. Should work the same for Trump. Funny how you "discover" new ethical distinctions when it is your savior who's in trouble.

>and still not quotes that says Trump is under investigation.

Other than the Comey quote. But that doesn't matter any more since Trump fired him, right?

So after the hearing today with the deputy director who is not a trump fan are you ready to retract a bunch of your posts now?

It seems that the one who didn't hear him (or more likely failed to comprehend what he heard) is YOU.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[rushmc 23]

billvon

>Trump campaign

Ah. So it's the "Trump campaign" and the "Trump administration" so it doesn't involve Trump.

Perhaps five layers of tinfoil would be a better choice for your new hat.

Quote

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) on Thursday vouched for President Trump’s assertion in a letter to former FBI Director James Comey that he was not under investigation by the FBI. Feinstein concurs.

No extra resources have been asked for.

The investigation will continue.

The deputy director did NOT threaten to resign.


Hmmm

You got nothing to retract?

Nothing?

Seems like you like fake news.......

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[normiss 798]

This morning the WH is reporting that Spicey will return to the Press Confrontation today.

Who the hell gets to do 37.5 hours reserve duty in the middle of a week????


The most disturbing thing in all of this insanity is the silence of the Republican "leaders".