Trump's staff coordinated with the Russians during the election

Yeah right.

 

Still no proof of collusion. LOL

 

"We can't go on like this. " Like what?

 

It appears as though Mueller's investigation is going in the direction of constructing an obstruction of justice case.

 

CNN reports, "Former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty Friday to lying to the FBI about conversations with Russia's ambassador and disclosed that he is cooperating with the special counsel's office.

"Flynn is the first person inside President Donald Trump's administration to be reached by special counsel Robert Mueller's probe. The developments are a sign that the investigation is intensifying, and details revealed Friday provide the clearest picture yet of coordination between Flynn and other Trump advisers in their contact with Russian officials to influence international policy."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/01/politics/michael-flynn-charged/index.html

Flynn did not do this on his own. It is reasonable to assume Trump ordered Flynn to make a deal with the Russians. By now there is little doubt that the President feels he is above U.S. laws, the laws governing our relationships with our friends and enemies abroad, and the laws of common sense.

 

I think you guys should prepare yourselves for the fact that you are not going to get what you want here. Your mental investment in this has gone beyond rationality.

 

Federal prosecutors say Flynn was directed by a “very senior member” of the Presidential transition team. Trump’s lawyers believe that unnamed aide was Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser, Jared Kushner, according to a lawyer briefed on the matter. The transition team was led by Vice President Mike Pence, and its top members included Kushner; Reince Priebus, Trump’s first chief of staff; and K.T. McFarland.

The New York Times reports, "Mr. Flynn’s admissions in his plea deal could deeply undercut the arguments made in January by Mr. Trump and his aides that they were not fully aware of Mr. Flynn’s discussion with Russians about sanctions imposed on Russia by the Obama administration over the election meddling. In fact, the documents say multiple members of the team coordinated the specifics of Mr. Flynn’s outreach to Russia and knew that the conversations were about sanctions."

Logic dictates this would include Trump. Trump has shown a propensity to stick his nose into everything, even where it doesn't belong. It is inconceivable that all this is going on, including communicating with a hostile foreign power, and Trump didn't know?

Evidence that Trump is directly involved is the response from the White House. It is surreal.

“Nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than Mr. Flynn,” White House lawyer Ty Cobb said. That is untrue. The plea documents make clear not only that Flynn lied but that he lied with the full knowledge of senior Trump transition officials, who allowed his misstatements to stand unchallenged. Flynn was a senior advisor on Trump's campaign team and transition team along with being appointed Trump's NSA. To say this involves only Flynn is ludicrous.

The other response is even more ridiculous. The White House portrayed Flynn as a “former Obama administration official.” Obama fired Flynn as Defense Intelligence Agency director and Obama personally warned Trump about Flynn. Also Trump dawdled in acting on Flynn for 18 days after then-acting attorney general Sally Yates warned officials that Flynn was lying about his phone calls with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the transition.

Next came the White House assertion that the Obama administration gave the Trump transition team their blessing for the phone call to Kislyak. In other words, the Obama administration gave Flynn permission to undercut the Obama administration in its dealings with a hostile foreign power. Absurd.

It is easy to see the White House is clueless in attempting to handle this development.

Through it all, Trump, who heretofore can't keep his mouth shut, is keeping his mouth shut. Not a peep or a tweet out of him.

 

Of that there is little doubt. Proving that Trump collaborated with the Russians might be hard to prove. Proof that he obstructed the investigation will be a lot easier.

He fired Comey for not ending his investigation of Flynn. He even admitted it to the Russian ambassador and foreign minister in the Oval Office.

Trump pressed multiple Senate Republicans to end the Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Multiple lawmakers and aides said that Trump asked several top Republicans, including committee chairman Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) to end the investigation quickly.

 

He fired Comey for overstepping his bounds in the Clinton email investigation. But by all means keep

 

Right, ten months after the fact, and four months after he took office. Trump is a little slow, huh.

On the other hand, you seem to have a reading problem. Wow! What a shock that is.

 

ABC News reports, "Special counsel Robert Mueller has issued a subpoena to Germany’s largest bank, in a possible sign the investigation into Russian election interference may be expanding toward the finances of President Donald Trump or other individuals under scrutiny by the special counsel."

Deutsche Bank lent the Trump Organization more than $300 million for real estate transactions before Trump became President. Deutsche Bank had been one of Trump’s most reliable lenders. ABC News previously reported the bank helped finance the renovation of the Old Post Office in Washington, the purchase of the Doral golf course in Florida and the construction of an office building in Chicago.

In an interview this July, Trump told The New York Times that examination of his or his family’s finances by Mueller would cross a red line. “I think that’s a violation,” Trump told the paper. “Look, this is about Russia.”

It will be interesting to see what, if anything, Trump does or says about this development. I'm guessing he does nothing.

John Roberts on Fox News reported that a reliable source in the White House said there was no subpoena. Turns out that reliable source was one of Trump's lawyers, Jay Sekulow. There have been other questionable statements from Trump's lawyers recently. This begs a question. Is lying becoming one their tactics? The strategy fits well with their client.

 

Muller has now wandered so far afoul of his mandate and the Constitution that nothing and I mean nothing will ever come of this. This is just designed to keep Trump tied up till the next election cycle. But by all means keep

 

"On the other hand, you seem to have a reading problem."

Not at all, I just have the ability to sort out truth from BS.

 

Isn't it interesting that Putin would lavish praises on the American President? Putin, who said he was on first name terms with Trump, praised the U.S. President for what he said were his achievements.

“I‘m not the one to evaluate the president’s work. That needs to be done by the voters, the American people,” Putin told his annual news conference in Moscow, in answer to a question.

“(But) we are objectively seeing that there have been some major accomplishments, even in the short time he has been working. Look at how the markets have grown. This speaks to investors’ trust in the American economy.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...bricated-spymania-praises-trump-idUSKBN1E817N

Putin sounds like Sean Hannity. Interesting, huh. Gotta admit this is a first.

Then there is this.

President Trump is so consistently irritated by Russia talk that officials avoid discussing the country during the president's daily intelligence briefings, The Washington Post reported Thursday — despite the fact that all U.S. intelligence agencies agree that the Kremlin launched a concerted disruption operation during the 2016 election.

"If you talk about Russia, meddling, interference — that takes the [briefing] off the rails," a former intelligence official told the Post. In the event that officials do have to deliver Trump potentially upsetting information about Russia, they carefully structure their briefings in order to "soften the impact" of the information, the Post reported.

The issue, the Post explained, is that Trump feels that he cannot accept that Russia meddled in the 2016 election without invalidating his electoral victory:

http://theweek.com/speedreads/743370/officials-apparently-avoid-talking-about-russia-briefings-trump

Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), the chairman of the intelligence committee, has defended President Trump’s reluctance to talk about Russia as a threat.

In other words, when it comes to Russia, Trump is paranoid.

 

This is surreal. The President is engaging in extortion.

As special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s inquiry into Trump’s actions appears to be reaching a critical point. Trump and his allies are proposing a bargain, with a not-so-subtle message to Democrats: “If you don’t want your people to be investigated, remain quiet as we shut down the congressional investigations and undercut the special counsel. If my people are going to be investigated, then so will yours.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...ba379b809ab_story.html?utm_term=.990bf6c958f2

Trump is so incompetent he doesn't know that it is not the Democrats who are investigating him. It is the Republicans. Four Republican committees are investigating him. The Republican-controlled DOJ is investigating him. Trump appointee to the FBI, Chris Wray, is a Republican. The special prosecutor, Mueller, is a Republican.

I don't know if this is a lack of intelligence or a mental problem, but there is something seriously wrong with Trump.

Trump's efforts to derail this investigation are rather humorous.

And pathetic. Again, we have to ask ourselves, is there any reason why we should take him seriously?

 

*shakes head**walks away*

 

I cannot understand Trump's attack on the FBI and the department of justice. It does not make sense.

"The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans - something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago," Trump wrote in a tweet.

His position is just plain stupid. The leaders of the FBI and DOJ are Republicans he appointed! The idea that they could be sympathetic to "Democrats and against Republicans" is simply absurd.

Sure, he wants to marginalize Mueller's investigation into Russian activities, but, if he somehow succeeds -- which is extremely doubtful -- it would be a pyrrhic victory. Faith in our justice system and deep respect for the FBI are core values of the Republican Party. To toss that away on the remote chance that he will discredit Mueller will cost more than he is receiving in benefit.

That is also true of Republican representatives in the House who are vainly trying to defend him. Which would explain why they are leaving in droves. So far, 34 Republicans in the House are quitting.

 

Looks like the Mueller investigation has pretty much run out of gas and sputtered to a halt. Too bad so sad lefties. But I told ya so.

 

Mueller needs to nail the orange, Russian, pig before he sells the US to Putin.

 

Ha! You wish...many more indictments to come and of course the interview of the Liar in Chief.

 

In his early morning tweet, Trump wrote, "The Russian “hoax” was that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia - it never did!"

Hu-hum, another lie from our President.

His attorney general met with the Russian ambassador twice, once in his office, then lied about it to the Senate committee confirming him.

His former NSA who he fired, Mike Flynn, made a deal with the Russian ambassador during the transition period, meaning Flynn was a private citizen at the time. The deal conflicted with official U.S. policy with a hostile power that had interfered in our elections.

Trump's son, son-in-law, and campaign manager met with four Russian operatives at Trump's home, Trump Tower, in June of 2016.

Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, has had multiple dealings with the Kremlin and he has been indicted for doing so.

One of Trump's senior advisors during the campaign, Rick Gates, has had multiple dealings with the Kremlin and he has been indicted for doing so. Gates will plead guilty and will cooperate with Mueller.

Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has had so many dealings with the Russians, at least 100, that he has failed to properly fill out the forms required for a security clearance. Serious questions are swirling around Kushner’s security clearance — which is still pending more than a year after he entered the White House. By some strange coincidence, Kushner requests more intelligence information than any other White House official. I don't believe in coincidences.

A member of Trump's team, George Papadopulous, lied to the FBI about his Russian involvement. He has pleaded guilty and has been cooperating with Mueller since July.

Another member of Trump's team, Carter Page, admitted to be an advisor to the Kremlin in 2013. On November 2, 2017, Page testified to the U.S. House Intelligence Committee that he had informed Jeff Sessions, Corey Lewandowski, Hope Hicks and other Trump campaign officials that he was traveling to Russia to give a speech in July 2016. Page testified that he had met with Russian government officials during this trip and had sent a post-meeting report via email to members of the Trump campaign.

In all, nine members of Trump's team, either close associates or members of his family, have had connections to Russia.

Trump refuses to acknowledge Russia interfered in our election.

Trump refuses to take steps to prevent Russia from interfering in future elections.

Trump refuses to impose sanctions against Russia that were authorized by a bill he signed in August. The sanctions were caused by Russia's interference in our election.

Trump had this to say about Putin during the election campaign. "I'm saying that I'd possibly have a good relationship. He's been very nice to me."

 

Oh, yes, this indictment had very little to do with Trump's connections to Russia.

A lot more needs to be said about Trump's financial dealings with Russia. We know he has had them before he became President. Perhaps that is the hold Putin has on Trump and why Trump refuses to take any action against Russia. He still can't admit that Russia interfered in our election on his behalf. He is the only one on the planet with that point of view.