The Trump Investigation(s) Thread

[Isgrimnur]

David Asman is a Fox News/Business talking head.

[Holman]

Reports are there was indeed at least one FBI representative implanted, for political purposes, into my campaign for president. It took place very early on, and long before the phony Russia Hoax became a “hot” Fake News story. If true - all time biggest political scandal!

"For political purposes" is of course completely false.

But it's nice of Trump to keep reminding us that Carter Page and Paul Manafort were on the FBI/CIA radar long before Trump's campaign even began.

[Isgrimnur]

Video: David Asman covering for Lou Dobbs

[Sepiche]

I predict this will go like all their other big reveals... they'll make a huge deal out of it all over Conservative news outlets, the information will release at some point, people will see they were misrepresenting key facts about the situation, and when once again nothing they throw at the wall sticks, we'll quickly forget about the whole episode.

[Unagi]

Reports are there was indeed at least one FBI representative implanted, for political purposes, into my campaign for president. It took place very early on, and long before the phony Russia Hoax became a “hot” Fake News story. If true - all time biggest political scandal!

"For political purposes" is of course completely false.

But it's nice of Trump to keep reminding us that Carter Page and Paul Manafort were on the FBI/CIA radar long before Trump's campaign even began.

It's as if the phony Russia Hoax is phony and maybe also a total hoax.

[GreenGoo]

But it's nice of Trump to keep reminding us that Carter Page and Paul Manafort were on the FBI/CIA radar long before Trump's campaign even began.

This was my thought as well. He just can't help putting his foot in it. He must give his lawyers ulcers.

[El Guapo]

But it's nice of Trump to keep reminding us that Carter Page and Paul Manafort were on the FBI/CIA radar long before Trump's campaign even began.

This was my thought as well. He just can't help putting his foot in it. He must give his lawyers ulcers.

There's a reason why Trump has had such a hard time finding respectable lawyers.

That said, one thing that Trump has demonstrated is that leaning into a scandal without shame is way more effective than you would think.

[LordMortis]

Video: David Asman covering for Lou Dobbs

Wait, so this is Trump tweeting Asman as a source for evidence of DOJ as spies against Trump, when Asman was reporting on a Tweet by Trump that claimed Andrew McCarthy says "there's probably no doubt" Yes, that's the quote "there's probably no doubt they had at least one informant in the campaign."

And this is in reference to the fact Page and Papa Smurph have seemingly been under investigation since 2014.

Mother. Fucker.

[GreenGoo]

[Sepiche]

Ha. I just read Giuliani was already walking things back slightly on CNN this morning:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ ... w-with-cnn

On the FBI informant who reportedly met with Trump campaign officials in the run-up to the 2016 election: “I don’t know for sure, nor does the President, that there really was [an informant],” Giuliani said. “We’re told that.”

This could very well just be another one of Nunes idiot schemes where they leak BS information to each other to "win" a couple of news cycles.

[Isgrimnur]

Nice...

Earlier this month, former New York City Mayor turned Donald Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani claimed that the president cannot be subpoenaed — a legal argument that flatly contradicted an argument he himself made in 1998 during the investigation of President Bill Clinton. On Friday, CNN’s Chris Cuomo asked him about the contradiction; he simply started shouting.

First, Cuomo asked him how he could make the claim that contradicted his earlier argument. “I never heard of a subpoena for the president’s person,” Giuliani argued. “Let’s distinguish between a subpoena for documents and a subpoena that takes the President out of the oval office and puts him in front of a grand jury or hearing. Can’t do it. Can’t do the second. You can’t do the first.”

When Cuomo noted that that was exactly what was going on in 1998 when was asked by Charlie Rose whether Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr could bring Clinton before a grand jury, Giuliani responded, “Oh come on. It’s not even relevent.”

Cuomo then played the clip in which Rose specifically asked Giuliani, “If the president is asked to testify, subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury and says no, not gonna do it?” and the former federal prosecutor had responded, “You gotta do it.”

As Cuomo played the clip, an angered Giuliani screamed, “That’s really unfair. What you’re doing right now is extremely unfair. It’s the reason people don’t come on this show.

[LordMortis]

As someone who eyerolls about 98% of memes that spam social media...

Please let that become a meme. Please let that become a meme. Please let that become a meme.

[Unagi]

LOL - and coming from a Cuomo too.

[Paingod]

The relevant interview, jumped to the tantrum.

[LordMortis]

[pr0ner]

Rudy is losing it, literally, in front of our very eyes.

[Kraken]

And yet he is expected to guest star in several more episodes, so his ratings must be good.

[Pyperkub]

Rudy is losing it, literally, in front of our very eyes.

Oh, that happened many, many years ago. It's just on TV again - I guess we can call it a rerun...

[Carpet_pissr]

And yet he is expected to guest star in several more episodes, so his ratings must be good.

That's all that matters in America 2018, baby!

[pr0ner]

Rudy is losing it, literally, in front of our very eyes.

Oh, that happened many, many years ago. It's just on TV again - I guess we can call it a rerun...

Maybe I don't remember him going this loony before.

[Paingod]

It's probably a progressive process and not just a recurring concept.

[Smoove_B]

I had so much respect for Rudy during and right after the horrific events of 9/11/2001. However, he's really transformed himself into a giant pile of human garbage since then. Or maybe he was human garbage all along and somehow managed to transcend his nature when it was needed. I guess it doesn't matter at this point.

[stessier]

I had so much respect for Rudy during and right after the horrific events of 9/11/2001. However, he's really transformed himself into a giant pile of human garbage since then. Or maybe he was human garbage all along and somehow managed to transcend his nature when it was needed. I guess it doesn't matter at this point.

John Oliver did a piece on him within the last 2 weeks. It was enlightening.

[GreenGoo]

I had so much respect for Rudy during and right after the horrific events of 9/11/2001. However, he's really transformed himself into a giant pile of human garbage since then. Or maybe he was human garbage all along and somehow managed to transcend his nature when it was needed. I guess it doesn't matter at this point.

+1. He really did an outstanding job leading after 9/11. So did Bush, in my opinion. Until Iraq.

Now Rudy is insane.

[Unagi]

Rudy is losing it, literally, in front of our very eyes.

Oh, that happened many, many years ago. It's just on TV again - I guess we can call it a rerun...

redux

[Unagi]

I had so much respect for Rudy during and right after the horrific events of 9/11/2001. However, he's really transformed himself into a giant pile of human garbage since then. Or maybe he was human garbage all along and somehow managed to transcend his nature when it was needed. I guess it doesn't matter at this point.

+1. He really did an outstanding job leading after 9/11. So did Bush, in my opinion. Until Iraq.

I give a great degree of that feeling (that a great number of us shared) to us. And the circumstances. While they both needed certain qualities to deliver what we needed - it was us that REALLY needed something and they gave it. I am reluctant to paint with too broad a brush that hue of praise upon them... but yes - their personality seemed to sufice when the shit hit the fan.

[Sepiche]

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/18/politics ... index.html

An unsupported theory circulating on Capitol Hill and conservative media outlets about an "informant" spying on the Trump campaign reached new heights Friday morning, as President Donald Trump tweeted about the "all time greatest political scandal."

But US officials tell CNN that the confidential intelligence source was not planted inside the campaign to provide information to investigators.
One of the officials said the informant is a US citizen, but provided no other details on the identity.

The officials say that the identity of the informant had been closely held at the highest levels of the FBI and intelligence community, and the individual has been a source for the FBI and CIA for years.

[LordMortis]

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/18/politics ... index.html

An unsupported theory circulating on Capitol Hill and conservative media outlets about an "informant" spying on the Trump campaign reached new heights Friday morning, as President Donald Trump tweeted about the "all time greatest political scandal."

But US officials tell CNN that the confidential intelligence source was not planted inside the campaign to provide information to investigators.
One of the officials said the informant is a US citizen, but provided no other details on the identity.

The officials say that the identity of the informant had been closely held at the highest levels of the FBI and intelligence community, and the individual has been a source for the FBI and CIA for years.

So you're saying Haspel is about to follow orders and send the source to Thailand?

[Holman]

Holy crap! What if Tiffany has been wearing a wire the whole time??

Seriously, though, at what point does Devin Nunes realize that he's facing obstruction charges as well?

[hepcat]

Holy crap! What if Tiffany has been wearing a wire the whole time??

That would be great for the D. He always has her taken away after any publicity shots, so she's never really around. You don't think he has room for two daughters in his life, do you???

[Rip]

No, not Tiffany. They used a Cambridge professor named Stefan Halper to attempt to entrap Trump people. The real kicker is that it was before the Australian diplomat conversation with Papadopoulos that supposedly started the investigation (oops). On top of that they even had one of Halpers tramps "research assistants"(Azra Turk) overtly flirt with him to try to really put the squeeze on him.

[Kurth]

No, not Tiffany. They used a Cambridge professor named Stefan Halper to attempt to entrap Trump people. The real kicker is that it was before the Australian diplomat conversation with Papadopoulos that supposedly started the investigation (oops). On top of that they even had one of Halpers tramps "research assistants"(Azra Turk) overtly flirt with him to try to really put the squeeze on him.

Why would you bother posting this without links/sources?

[hepcat]

You can always tell when Rip's been watching a 007 movie.

Remember when he was posting links to Seth Rich conspiracies?

Good times...good times.

[Unagi]

No, not Tiffany. They used a Cambridge professor named Stefan Halper to attempt to entrap Trump people. The real kicker is that it was before the Australian diplomat conversation with Papadopoulos that supposedly started the investigation (oops). On top of that they even had one of Halpers tramps "research assistants"(Azra Turk) overtly flirt with him to try to really put the squeeze on him.

Why would you bother posting this without links/sources?

guessing this is the story: https://theintercept.com/2018/05/19/the ... -election/

[Smoove_B]

It's weird - the usual suspects are all blathering on about the professor and NBC news is saying:

No evidence has surfaced publicly indicating that Halper was acting as a government informant.

[Rip]

No, not Tiffany. They used a Cambridge professor named Stefan Halper to attempt to entrap Trump people. The real kicker is that it was before the Australian diplomat conversation with Papadopoulos that supposedly started the investigation (oops). On top of that they even had one of Halpers tramps "research assistants"(Azra Turk) overtly flirt with him to try to really put the squeeze on him.

Why would you bother posting this without links/sources?

https://theintercept.com/2018/05/19/the ... -election/

http://dailycaller.com/2018/05/17/halpe ... adopoulos/

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justic ... ys-n875516

http://www.investmentwatchblog.com/stef ... s-the-spy/

https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comme ... _as_their/

https://www.themarketswork.com/2018/05/ ... adopoulos/

Enough, or you want some more? I forgot many of you live under rocks.

[Fitzy]

The real kicker is that it was before the Australian diplomat conversation with Papadopoulos that supposedly started the investigation (oops).

Good attempted spin, but ultimately wrong. The professor (unnamed in WP article) met with Page before the official investigation but he was already suspected of helping the Russians (since 2013). If a suspected foreign agent is engaging with a US politician should the US intelligence agencies ignore that? Nor can they just tell the Trump campaign, since it was suspected, not yet proven.

After the start of the investigation (July 31) he met with the Papadopoulos (Sept 2) and Clovis (August 31 or Sept 1).

If the US intelligence agencies made a mistake, it's that they bent over backwards to not influence the election with the information they had.

[Holman]

Oh hey look. Breaking on the NYT: It turns out the Trumps will collude with foreigners even if they *aren't* Russian.

Trump Jr. and Other Aides Met With Gulf Emissary Offering Help to Win Election.

It's a long article reflecting lots of research. This is a big story.

Three months before the 2016 election, a small group gathered at Trump Tower to meet with Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son. One was an Israeli specialist in social media manipulation. Another was an emissary for two wealthy Arab princes. The third was a Republican donor with a controversial past in the Middle East as a private security contractor.

The meeting was convened primarily to offer help to the Trump team, and it forged relationships between the men and Trump insiders that would develop over the coming months — past the election and well into President Trump’s first year in office, according to several people with knowledge of their encounters.

Erik Prince, the private security contractor and the former head of Blackwater, arranged the meeting, which took place on Aug. 3, 2016. The emissary, George Nader, told Donald Trump Jr. that the crown princes who led Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were eager to help his father win election as president. The social media specialist, Joel Zamel, extolled his company’s ability to give an edge to a political campaign; by that time, the firm had already drawn up a multimillion-dollar proposal for a social media manipulation effort to help elect Mr. Trump.

The meetings, which have not been reported previously, are the first indication that countries other than Russia may have offered assistance to the Trump campaign in the months before the presidential election. The interactions are a focus of the investigation by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, who was originally tasked with examining possible Trump campaign coordination with Russia in the election.

Mr. Nader is cooperating with the inquiry, and investigators have questioned numerous witnesses in Washington, New York, Atlanta, Tel Aviv and elsewhere about what foreign help may have been pledged or accepted, and about whether any such assistance was coordinated with Russia, according to witnesses and others with knowledge of the interviews.

tl;dr: There were several meetings, all of them (just like the Trump Tower meeting with Russians) *after* the Trump campaign had been warned that it was illegal to engage with foreign help in the election, and all of them explicitly aimed at arranging election help. The full extent of activities is still under investigation.

Saudi and UAE officials appear to have been involved in efforts to shape US policy after Trump's election.

Mueller's team is known to have recently cooperated with Israeli law enforcement to seize computers from an Israeli firm offering services similar to Cambridge Analytica.

Don Jr. is definitely fucked, as is Erik Prince and perhaps others.

[RunningMn9]

I predict nothing happens. Nothing will ever happen.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Isgrimnur]

Not until at least one of the houses of Congress can actually control some of the levers of power, and/or the Mueller investigation is released.

The wheels turn slowly, friends, but make no mistake, the wheels turn.