The Trump Investigation(s) Thread

pr0ner · Post by **pr0ner** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 10:19 am

One of Trump's lawyers, John Dowd, speaking on behalf of the president, says it's time for Rosenstein to end Muller's probe into the Russia Collusion investigation.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 10:22 am

Holy shit:

“I pray that Acting Attorney General Rosenstein will follow the brilliant and courageous example of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility and Attorney General Jeff Sessions and bring an end to alleged Russia Collusion investigation manufactured by McCabe’s boss James Comey based upon a fraudulent and corrupt Dossier,” Dowd then wrote.

pr0ner · Post by **pr0ner** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 10:30 am

Amazing, isn't it?

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 10:50 am

Okay now I think he's 100% guilty and that shit is going down soon.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 2:47 pm

pr0ner wrote: ↑Sat Mar 17, 2018 10:19 am One of Trump's lawyers, John Dowd, speaking on behalf of the president, says it's time for Rosenstein to end Muller's probe into the Russia Collusion investigation.

Doesn't his camp, including the Trumpster fire himself, say this about every day? What's new about yet another henchman saying it?

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 2:50 pm

“I pray that Acting Attorney General Rosenstein will..."

Well, he's only praying that it ends. He may even be sending his thoughts. So, meh.

pr0ner · Post by **pr0ner** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 3:53 pm

Of course, now Dowd is walking back his comments, saying he was speaking in his own personal capacity and not on behalf of the President.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 8:40 pm

Here's someone not walking it back:

link

Guilty As Fuck wrote:The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 9:34 pm

I know he's been denying this all along, but I think there's been some clear escalation in recent weeks. Trump is fukt and he knows it.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 10:37 pm

When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America...America will triumph over you.

That is only the Former CIA Director making a bold claim....nbd.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 11:46 pm

Every single person knows this. Even those who have shoved it way down inside where they keep their other dark secrets, out of the light of day.

The "full extent"? The stuff we have very, very, very strong indications of are already enough to make him nothing but a street conman, except for scale.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Sun Mar 18, 2018 9:41 am

The meltdown continues. I always feel like this must be coming to an end soon but it just keeps going.

Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? Another Dem recently added...does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!

Edit: As usual his facts are wrong.

We found 9 of 16 team members made donations to Democrats; 7 have made none. And Mueller is a Republican.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Sun Mar 18, 2018 10:50 am

You forget, anyone who might have disagreed with Trump or was responsible for investigating him automatically becomes an enemy, and therefore a Democrat.

Seen through that (fucking asinine to anyone with half a brain) lens, it makes perfect sense.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Sun Mar 18, 2018 10:55 am

Who's a good boy? Who gets a round of golf?

Aides have decided to whisk Trump to a golf course today.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Sun Mar 18, 2018 10:57 am

Thomas Ricks wrote:What Trump is not saying: "I am cooperating fully with investigators because I have nothing to hide, and I look forward to the day when I am fully exonerated by their findings."

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Sun Mar 18, 2018 8:11 pm

John McCain wrote:Special Counsel Mueller has served our country with honesty and integrity. It’s critical he be allowed to complete a thorough investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election — unimpeded.

If it comes to it, I hope we can depend on John McCain to lead the remaining patriotic Republicans in defense of the Republic.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Sun Mar 18, 2018 8:14 pm

Well, we can certainly count on him to talk a big game and then toss a coin with his vote.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Sun Mar 18, 2018 8:46 pm

Zaxxon wrote: ↑Sun Mar 18, 2018 8:14 pm Well, we can certainly count on him to talk a big game and then toss a coin with his vote.

I'm pretty much done with McCain. I wish him well in other aspects of his life however.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 9:34 am

Kind of odd that he's suddenly freaking out again when they as for Trump Org information. I doubt it's related.

Honestly I think he's more worried about what shady deals he's done than he is about Russia. He knows if they dig deep enough (like an inch) they are going to find all kinds of things that may be totally unrelated to the election.

Remus West · Post by **Remus West** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 10:50 am

Octavious wrote: ↑Mon Mar 19, 2018 9:34 am Kind of odd that he's suddenly freaking out again when they as for Trump Org information. I doubt it's related. Honestly I think he's more worried about what shady deals he's done than he is about Russia. He knows if they dig deep enough (like an inch) they are going to find all kinds of things that may be totally unrelated to the election.

I really think this is true only to a degree. I think he is almost certainly guilty of laundering Russian mob money and they will find that if so. I really don't think he is directly guilty of collusion because I think enough people in his campaign probably took care of it for him and the Russian efforts didn't really need his aid. He is absolutely guilty of not defending the nation from Russia however and as such should be removed from office post haste.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 11:06 am

Remus West wrote: ↑Mon Mar 19, 2018 10:50 am
Octavious wrote: ↑Mon Mar 19, 2018 9:34 am Kind of odd that he's suddenly freaking out again when they as for Trump Org information. I doubt it's related. Honestly I think he's more worried about what shady deals he's done than he is about Russia. He knows if they dig deep enough (like an inch) they are going to find all kinds of things that may be totally unrelated to the election.
I really think this is true only to a degree. I think he is almost certainly guilty of laundering Russian mob money and they will find that if so. I really don't think he is directly guilty of collusion because I think enough people in his campaign probably took care of it for him and the Russian efforts didn't really need his aid. He is absolutely guilty of not defending the nation from Russia however and as such should be removed from office post haste.

I think all of this to but it's just what makes sense. I have faith in Mueller to expose any shenanigans and will live with his findings as much as I despise everything about our government now. OtOH, if the administration hand ties him or ousts him with all of the reality TV puppies they have been playing then I'm done. I'm not sure what done means, but it's the state I will be in.

Remus West · Post by **Remus West** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 12:05 pm

LordMortis wrote: ↑Mon Mar 19, 2018 11:06 am
Remus West wrote: ↑Mon Mar 19, 2018 10:50 am
Octavious wrote: ↑Mon Mar 19, 2018 9:34 am Kind of odd that he's suddenly freaking out again when they as for Trump Org information. I doubt it's related. Honestly I think he's more worried about what shady deals he's done than he is about Russia. He knows if they dig deep enough (like an inch) they are going to find all kinds of things that may be totally unrelated to the election.
I really think this is true only to a degree. I think he is almost certainly guilty of laundering Russian mob money and they will find that if so. I really don't think he is directly guilty of collusion because I think enough people in his campaign probably took care of it for him and the Russian efforts didn't really need his aid. He is absolutely guilty of not defending the nation from Russia however and as such should be removed from office post haste.
I think all of this to but it's just what makes sense. I have faith in Mueller to expose any shenanigans and will live with his findings as much as I despise everything about our government now. OtOH, if the administration hand ties him or ousts him with all of the reality TV puppies they have been playing then I'm done. I'm not sure what done means, but it's the state I will be in.

For me, were I still a single man with no children it would have meant taking the time off my job with or without pay to attend the rallies and protests to visit my State's representatives - Republican and Democrat - in person to demand action from them. Today, I'm not sure what it means.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 4:08 pm

Twitter is lighting up over revelations from a BBC Channel 4 investigative report on Cambridge Analytica, the data firm employed by Trump (and of which Steve Bannon was once VP). Leading Brexit campaigners also relied on CA.

The report is just now airing, but reporters who've had advance viewings say it includes secretly recorded footage of the CEO admitting to using prostitutes to entrap politicians, staging false corruption "stings," and using bribes and other dirty tricks in elections around the world. This is in addition to the misuse of Facebook data that has had them in the news in recent days.

The British government is already talking of warrants to seize their servers, and of hearings to bring in executives and whistleblowers. A lot could blow up out of this. These criminals were in the business of subverting elections, plain and simple.

Kushner and Manafort (who probably knew CA's methods from his work in Eastern European elections) pushed hard to get them involved in the Trump campaign.

pr0ner · Post by **pr0ner** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 4:32 pm

Here's the start of a Cambridge Analytica twitter thread "defending" their practices.

They also categorically deny all the news reports coming out about them.

Pretty much all of their tweets are getting ratioed.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 4:36 pm

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 4:40 pm

pr0ner wrote: ↑Mon Mar 19, 2018 4:32 pm Here's the start of a Cambridge Analytica twitter thread "defending" their practices.

They also categorically deny all the news reports coming out about them.

Pretty much all of their tweets are getting ratioed.

My favorite:

Advertising is not coercive; people are smarter than that 5/8

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 4:41 pm

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Mon Mar 19, 2018 4:40 pm
pr0ner wrote: ↑Mon Mar 19, 2018 4:32 pm Here's the start of a Cambridge Analytica twitter thread "defending" their practices.

They also categorically deny all the news reports coming out about them.

Pretty much all of their tweets are getting ratioed.
My favorite:

Advertising is not coercive; people are smarter than that 5/8

5/8 Really? Because that is basically the exact opposite of what your founder says in this presentation at the 2016 Concordia Annual Summit in New York:

pr0ner · Post by **pr0ner** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 4:47 pm

Mr. Fed has some advice:

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 5:05 pm

I certainly don't mind when these guys just hang themselves in the public square. CA was tied into the Mercers and Bannon heavily as well. This is breaking in the UK around Brexit mostly but they certainly seemed to have had a big impact over here too.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 5:19 pm

Holman wrote: ↑Mon Mar 19, 2018 4:08 pm Twitter is lighting up over revelations from a BBC Channel 4 investigative report on Cambridge Analytica, the data firm employed by Trump (and of which Steve Bannon was once VP). Leading Brexit campaigners also relied on CA.

The report is just now airing, but reporters who've had advance viewings say it includes secretly recorded footage of the CEO admitting to using prostitutes to entrap politicians, staging false corruption "stings," and using bribes and other dirty tricks in elections around the world. This is in addition to the misuse of Facebook data that has had them in the news in recent days.

The British government is already talking of warrants to seize their servers, and of hearings to bring in executives and whistleblowers. A lot could blow up out of this. These criminals were in the business of subverting elections, plain and simple.

Kushner and Manafort (who probably knew CA's methods from his work in Eastern European elections) pushed hard to get them involved in the Trump campaign.

Tomorrow may be even more interesting:

He said: “… we just put information into the bloodstream of the internet, and then, and then watch it grow, give it a little push every now and again… like a remote control. It has to happen without anyone thinking, ‘that’s propaganda’, because the moment you think ‘that’s propaganda’, the next question is, ‘who’s put that out?’.”…

…In the meetings, the executives boasted that Cambridge Analytica and its parent company Strategic Communications Laboratories (SCL) had worked in more than two hundred elections across the world, including Nigeria, Kenya, the Czech Republic, India and Argentina.

The company is at the centre of a scandal over its role in the harvesting of more than 50 million Facebook profiles…

…This report is Part Two of a Channel 4 News series, ‘Data, Democracy and Dirty Tricks’, investigating Cambridge Analytica.

Part Three, on the company’s work in the United States, will be broadcast at 7pm tomorrow (Tuesday, 20 March 2018). You can watch Part One here.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 4:38 pm

The episode is out and...oh lordy.

An investigation by Channel 4 News has revealed how Cambridge Analytica claims it ran ‘all’ of President Trump’s digital campaign – and may have broken election law. As the report went on air, the firm announced it has suspended chief executive Alexander Nix, pending a full investigation.

Mr Nix boasted about Cambridge Analytica’s work for Trump, saying: “We did all the research, all the data, all the analytics, all the targeting, we ran all the digital campaign, the television campaign and our data informed all the strategy.”

Separately, Mr Turnbull described how the company could create proxy organisations to discreetly feed negative material about opposition candidates on to the Internet and social media.

He said: “Sometimes you can use proxy organisations who are already there. You feed them. They are civil society organisations.. Charities or activist groups, and we use them – feed them the material and they do the work…

“We just put information into the bloodstream to the internet and then watch it grow, give it a little push every now and again over time to watch it take shape. And so this stuff infiltrates the online community and expands but with no branding – so it’s unattributable, untrackable.”

Cambridge Analytica’s senior executives were also filmed discussing a twin-track strategy to campaigning, putting out positive messages through the official Donald J Trump for President campaign, while negative material was pushed out through outside organisations.

Cambridge Analytica’s chief data scientist Dr Tayler said: “As part of it, sometimes you have to separate it from the political campaign itself. So in America you know there are independent expenditure groups running behind the campaign… Super pacs. Political action committees.

“So, campaigns are normally subject to limits about how much money they can raise. Whereas outside groups can raise an unlimited amount. So the campaign will use their finite resources for things like persuasion and mobilisation and then they leave the ‘air war’ they call it, like the negative attack ads to other affiliated groups.”

In a different meeting, Mr Turnbull described how the company created the “Defeat Crooked Hilary” brand of attack ads, that were funded by the Make America Number 1 super-PAC and watched more than 30 million times during the campaign.

Coordination between an official election campaign and any outside groups is illegal under US election law. Cambridge Analytica deny wrongdoing, insisting a strict firewall separated out their activity and that they were transparent about their work on political campaigns and PACs.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 5:05 pm

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Tue Mar 20, 2018 4:38 pm The episode is out and...oh lordy.

As the report went on air, the firm announced it has suspended chief executive Alexander Nix, pending a full investigation.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Thu Mar 22, 2018 11:32 am

John Dowd, Trump's lead lawyer in the special counsel inquiry, has resigned. Says Trump is increasingly ignoring his advice.

On the one hand this could presage Trump firing Mueller. On the other hand Dowd has been telling Trump he shouldn't testify before Mueller, and Trump has been indicating that he wants to, so it could also mean that Trump is going to go ahead and testify.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu Mar 22, 2018 11:37 am

Just as another lawsuit is filed. Awkward.

Sepiche · Post by **Sepiche** » Thu Mar 22, 2018 11:40 am

El Guapo wrote: ↑Thu Mar 22, 2018 11:32 am John Dowd, Trump's lead lawyer in the special counsel inquiry, has resigned. Says Trump is increasingly ignoring his advice.

On the one hand this could presage Trump firing Mueller. On the other hand Dowd has been telling Trump he shouldn't testify before Mueller, and Trump has been indicating that he wants to, so it could also mean that Trump is going to go ahead and testify.

By the accounts in the press, Dowd has come off as one of the more hawkish members of Drumpf's team, while Ty Cobb has been the one calling for cooperation. No idea what really goes on behind closed doors, but I will probably be more worried if/when Ty Cobb goes.

I've been getting a good laugh out of the stories that have been running the press this week, with rumors popping up that various high powered lawyers are going to join Drumpf's team only to have them come out with denials. The subtext appears to be Drumpf complaining to his friends about his lawyers and throwing out the names of all the big time lawyers who want to work for him, then his friends spill this to the press, it gets reported, and those lawyers run away screaming.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Thu Mar 22, 2018 12:38 pm

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Thu Mar 22, 2018 11:37 am Just as another lawsuit is filed. Awkward.

Omg, a lawsuit that is only appropriate if he's the president? So awesome.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Thu Mar 22, 2018 12:52 pm

Dowd, on Monday: "It's time for the Mueller probe to end."

Dowd, on Thursday: FML.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu Mar 22, 2018 12:59 pm

I love that song! It's right up there with "Seagulls!"

But yeah, the needs to end now, now would sound like a desperation more than ever. Except nope, just idiocy.

Dowd’s exit comes as the president seeks to shake up his legal team amid frustrations within the White House over Mueller’s probe, which has cast a cloud over the administration for more than a year now.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Thu Mar 22, 2018 2:18 pm

Zaxxon wrote: ↑Thu Mar 22, 2018 12:52 pm Dowd, on Monday: "It's time for the Mueller probe to end."

Dowd, on Thursday: FML.

I've seen this video like a dozen times in different topics around the internet, and every time I think to myself how much I'd like to use it as a "All Employees" email sometime on my last day somewhere...

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Mar 22, 2018 4:26 pm

JUST NOW: Trump, asked if he still wants to testify before Mueller: “Yes. I would like to.”