The Trump Investigation(s) Thread

[Holman]

Russia continues to say they had nothing to do with Meddling in our Election! Where is the DNC Server, and why didn’t Shady James Comey and the now disgraced FBI agents take and closely examine it? Why isn’t Hillary/Russia being looked at? So many questions, so much corruption!

Russia continues to say they had nothing to do with Meddling in our Election!

He doesn't even do stupid well.

[hepcat]

Putin he'll believe. But not his own people.

I'm guessing the summit is for the official signing over of America to Russia.

[Holman]

I'm completely convinced that Trump isn't Putin's hostage--there's no fear of a pee tape here, no leverage forcing Trump to act under duress.

Instead, Trump has seen Putin's oligarch wealth and oligarch power for decades, and he wants the same for himself. Does anyone doubt that "becoming the richest man In the world" hasn't been Trump's dream since childhood? Right now Putin is that man, and as far as Trump can conceive, Putin's system works.

Trump imagines a new ethno-nationalist axis running through Washington and Moscow (perhaps allied with Beijing and whatever wealthy oil despots can enrich his family), with the rich but weak democracies of Europe there to be hazed and exploited. It has already started.

I guarantee there will be talk of "re-evaluating our relationship with NATO" after this summit. And the Party of Reagan will go right along with it.

[GreenGoo]

But that's, in theory, achievable without Putin's approval. Or Kim's.

How do you explain Drumpf's desire to get along with these two monsters while crapping on anyone friendly to the US?

[Holman]

But that's, in theory, achievable without Putin's approval. Or Kim's.

How do you explain Drumpf's desire to get along with these two monsters while crapping on anyone friendly to the US?

The Axis. He wants to shift the US to alliances with despots who can grease the skids for each other while they consolidate authoritarian power at home. He wants a world where the truly powerful few control everything with none of the mess that comes from democracy and criticism and investigations.

Trump runs on a primitive animal brain that craves and respects power. His narcissism makes impossible the kind of self-reflection that would produce doubts about any of this. In Trump's view, Xi and Putin are just better leaders than Merkel or Macron because they get everything they want. Even Kim is attractive for the same reason.

It's really that simple.

[hepcat]

That's backed up by his well documented history of cozying up to the mob back in the day.

[Holman]

That's backed up by his well documented history of cozying up to the mob back in the day.

And specifically the Russian mob...

When I say "It's not the pee tape," I don't mean to say that Putin has nothing on Trump. (I imagine he has years of proof of financial crimes that he could use if he needed it.) I simply mean that Trump is a willing rather than an unwilling partner.

This is worse.

[El Guapo]

That's backed up by his well documented history of cozying up to the mob back in the day.

And specifically the Russian mob...

When I say "It's not the pee tape," I don't mean to say that Putin has nothing on Trump. (I imagine he has years of proof of financial crimes that he could use if he needed it.) I simply mean that Trump is a willing rather than an unwilling partner.

This is worse.

I think that's right. Trump wants to be just like Putin. It's also the case that Putin almost necessarily has various forms of leverage over him, stemming from his financial ties with the Russian elite and various election collusion activities. It's unclear which is pushing him to be more Russia friendly, but they're both pushing in the same direction, so it doesn't really matter too much.

[GreenGoo]

That's backed up by his well documented history of cozying up to the mob back in the day.

It's not that that isn't true, I'm just not sure how that helps him set up his own oligarchy paradise. Cozying in public has some fairly serious drawbacks, especially when/if Meuller's case goes forward. Public opinion is still important, and being seen as a Putin friend can't help when he's charged.

What's stopping him from cozying in private, while maintaining distance in public?

[GreenGoo]

so it doesn't really matter too much.

I think it will matter to the American public. Eventually.

[Holman]

That's backed up by his well documented history of cozying up to the mob back in the day.

It's not that that isn't true, I'm just not sure how that helps him set up his own oligarchy paradise. Cozying in public has some fairly serious drawbacks, especially when/if Meuller's case goes forward. Public opinion is still important, and being seen as a Putin friend can't help when he's charged.

What's stopping him from cozying in private, while maintaining distance in public?

You're talking like Trump is a reasonable, risk-averse political calculator rather than a raging narcissist who truly, genuinely believes that he is the smartest leader and best negotiator and most important person in the world. He has no choice.

Trump's narcissism has served him incredibly well. There have been a few hiccups and he has paid a few fines (the system is obviously rigged by jealous losers and greedy lawyers against a giant like him), but his willingness to flout the law and make his own rules has brought him literally to the highest position in the land. It made him rich in the 1980s and saved his ass in the 1990s; it made him a celebrity in the 2000s, and it literally made him a World Leader in 2016.

Why would he change now? For Donald Trump, this is how success works.

And now it's up to us to prove him wrong.

[GungHo]

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/michael ... d=56304585

I hope this guy has hired some security. Sounds like he could go falling down some stairs at any moment now.

I guess we still don't know for sure if he's trying to signal trump that he'd better get a pardon or else, or if he's legitimately concerned about his reputation and doing right by the country.

[Paingod]

I guess we still don't know for sure if he's trying to signal trump that he'd better get a pardon or else, or if he's legitimately concerned about his reputation and doing right by the country.

I don't think he gives a wet fart about the country - but his own ass, certainly. He's interested in rebuilding himself and his reputation; if he survives, and he has to start sooner than later.

I don't see any agency in the US agreeing to kill a US citizen for Trump. If Cohen finds himself in a stairs accident, I'd sooner think it was Putin - but Putin is probably just enjoying the show.

[tjg_marantz]

Putin he'll believe. But not his own people.

I'm guessing the summit is for the official signing over of America to Russia.

Louisiana Purchase 2: Electric Trumpaloo?

[El Guapo]

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/michael ... d=56304585

I hope this guy has hired some security. Sounds like he could go falling down some stairs at any moment now.

I guess we still don't know for sure if he's trying to signal trump that he'd better get a pardon or else, or if he's legitimately concerned about his reputation and doing right by the country.

Yeah, he's probably flipped. Among other things, he's ended his joint defense agreement with Trump, which Flynn also did shortly before flipping.

Also, thinking about this some more, I'm not sure that the New York double jeopardy loophole (even assuming it doesn't get fixed) is as big a problem as I've been thinking. It basically says that once a person has been indicted by a grand jury federally, double-jeopardy 'attaches' (even if they're subsequently pardoned). But that can be avoided just by Mueller not indicting the relevant people for at least some of the long jail term bearing state level crimes for which there is evidence. For Michael Cohen, for example, as the article notes there's probably a fair number of state level crimes that he could probably go to jail for a long time over. And Cohen doesn't care about not going to jail *for Russia collusion*, he cares about not going to jail period. Mueller is working with the NY AG, and can credibly say, "if you don't flip, I'll indict you for X, and you'll go to jail for a long time. And if Trump does pardon you for that (not certain), then I'll make sure that the NY AG indicts you for Y and Z, and Trump can't pardon you for that."

[Skinypupy]

For some reason, Fox News has suddenly decided to question Cohen's credibility.

Following an off-camera interview in which Cohen pledged his loyalty not to President Trump but to his family and his country, the hosts of Fox’s Outnumbered came down hard on the full-time fixer and sometime lawyer, openly questioning his “credibility” ahead of his potential cooperation with two separate investigations into the president.

“If he knows something that is so important and yet he’s willing to sort of taunt the president by seeming to go against him, what does that say about this person as a witness?” Faulkner wondered aloud. “It gets difficult to kind of even see him as credible at this point. I don’t know what he knows, just based on the way he’s acting.”

Later, she added, “The one thing we know about Michael Cohen is that he’ll throw anybody under the bus.” Faulkner pointed to the moment in court when Cohen gave up Fox News’ own Sean Hannity as his mystery “third client.”

Weird, can't imagine why that would happen.

[Pyperkub]

Cohen is fishing for a pardon, trying to put pressure on Trump. If he was actually putting family and country over loyalty, he'd already be cooperating, IMHO.

[Zaxxon]

Cohen is fishing for a pardon, trying to put pressure on Trump. If he was actually putting family and country over loyalty, he'd already be cooperating, IMHO.

I'm with Guap. He may be fishing for a pardon, but he's unlikely to get one as he's almost certainly in too deep at the state level, making a presidential pardon beside the point.

He's gonna flip, or he's going to spend a very long time in jail. Does he still seem the type to make that sacrifice after this weekend's interview?

[Holman]

Maybe he's just trying to polish the narrative?

It's certainly starting to look like he has flipped or is flippable, and it seems clear that New York can bring the pain even if Trump pardons him. This talk of family and country might be his attempt to salvage some reputation for when all this is over. I'm sure he expects a tell-all book deal, at least.

[El Guapo]

Cohen is fishing for a pardon, trying to put pressure on Trump. If he was actually putting family and country over loyalty, he'd already be cooperating, IMHO.

I'm with Guap. He may be fishing for a pardon, but he's unlikely to get one as he's almost certainly in too deep at the state level, making a presidential pardon beside the point.

He's gonna flip, or he's going to spend a very long time in jail. Does he still seem the type to make that sacrifice after this weekend's interview?

I think he may well be fishing for a pardon with that interview. There's no reason for him not to - a pardon would help him, as it at least reduces his maximum criminal liability. The problem is that it probably doesn't reduce it enough for him to avoid a long jail sentence, which gives him incentive to flip.

[El Guapo]

Supreme Court agrees to hear 'double jeopardy' case in the fall.

Basically they're going to revisit the "separate sovereigns" doctrine, which allows federal and state governments to charge the same person for the same crime.

On the one hand, I think it probably makes sense to revisit the doctrine in general - allowing different branches of the government (especially now that we've collectively admitted that states are not really sovereign) to charge for the same crime seems excessively cruel and ridiculous. But goddamn the timing is super troubling. Apparently Ginsburg has questioned the doctrine in the past, so she may well have been among the votes to hear the case, but the timing looks to be a troubling sign that the court's majority may be eager to help Trump out.

Like I said, I don't think that this would help Cohen very much, because he probably has state liability that Mueller wouldn't reach regardless. But for other important administration figures, that may not be the case.

[Pyperkub]

Cohen is fishing for a pardon, trying to put pressure on Trump. If he was actually putting family and country over loyalty, he'd already be cooperating, IMHO.

I'm with Guap. He may be fishing for a pardon, but he's unlikely to get one as he's almost certainly in too deep at the state level, making a presidential pardon beside the point.

He's gonna flip, or he's going to spend a very long time in jail. Does he still seem the type to make that sacrifice after this weekend's interview?

I think he may well be fishing for a pardon with that interview. There's no reason for him not to - a pardon would help him, as it at least reduces his maximum criminal liability. The problem is that it probably doesn't reduce it enough for him to avoid a long jail sentence, which gives him incentive to flip.

Technically, I think he's fishing for the best deal he can get, and putting pressure on Trump to do something to give him a better choice.

[El Guapo]

Cohen is fishing for a pardon, trying to put pressure on Trump. If he was actually putting family and country over loyalty, he'd already be cooperating, IMHO.

I'm with Guap. He may be fishing for a pardon, but he's unlikely to get one as he's almost certainly in too deep at the state level, making a presidential pardon beside the point.

He's gonna flip, or he's going to spend a very long time in jail. Does he still seem the type to make that sacrifice after this weekend's interview?

I think he may well be fishing for a pardon with that interview. There's no reason for him not to - a pardon would help him, as it at least reduces his maximum criminal liability. The problem is that it probably doesn't reduce it enough for him to avoid a long jail sentence, which gives him incentive to flip.

Technically, I think he's fishing for the best deal he can get, and putting pressure on Trump to do something to give him a better choice.

I think that's right. Also anything that pardon does to help him out (money under the table, a pardon, whatever else) gives him at least slightly more leverage with Mueller.

[Holman]

Oh hey nothing to see here...

Trump wants time alone with Putin at upcoming summit: no aides, no witnesses.

[malchior]

Oh hey nothing to see here...

Trump wants time alone with Putin at upcoming summit: no aides, no witnesses.

I put this in a different thread. I still goggle at this. The GOP is completely silent on this. Fuck 'em. I hope this whole thing eventually blows up in their corrupt faces.

[El Guapo]

Oh hey nothing to see here...

Trump wants time alone with Putin at upcoming summit: no aides, no witnesses.

I put this in a different thread. I still goggle at this. The GOP is completely silent on this. Fuck 'em. I hope this whole thing eventually blows up in their corrupt faces.

Oh, to get a microphone in that room.

[Isgrimnur]

Oh hey nothing to see here...

Trump wants time alone with Putin at upcoming summit: no aides, no witnesses.

I put this in a different thread. I still goggle at this. The GOP is completely silent on this. Fuck 'em. I hope this whole thing eventually blows up in their corrupt faces.

Oh, to get a microphone in that room.

I'm sure there's more than one. Just not one with instructions printed in English.

[El Guapo]

Oh hey nothing to see here...

Trump wants time alone with Putin at upcoming summit: no aides, no witnesses.

I put this in a different thread. I still goggle at this. The GOP is completely silent on this. Fuck 'em. I hope this whole thing eventually blows up in their corrupt faces.

Oh, to get a microphone in that room.

I'm sure there's more than one. Just not one with instructions printed in English.

I have to think that every intelligence service is going to penetrate that meeting. Everyone needs their own leverage points on Trump.

[El Guapo]

[Isgrimnur]

Tweet without CNN link

CNN

Embattled Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Scott Pruitt directly appealed to President Donald Trump this spring to fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions and let him run the Department of Justice instead, according to three people familiar with the proposal. In an Oval Office conversation with Trump, Pruitt offered to temporarily replace Sessions for 210 days under the Vacancies Reform Act, telling the President he would return to Oklahoma afterward to run for office.

Pruitt's direct appeal to the President has not been reported previously.

Advisers quickly shot down the proposal, but it came at a time when Trump's frustration with Sessions over his decision to recuse himself from overseeing the Russia investigation had resurfaced. Trump has complained loudly and publicly about the recusal for the last 14 months, and floated replacing Sessions with Pruitt as recently as April.

[malchior]

I thought that Pruitt coveted AG was widely reported several times before.

[Pyperkub]

Let's not forget, the GOP was supposedly hacked as well. Not to mention that any Nunes (or others) laptops, e-mails, texts, etc. could've been hacked. My running hypothesis is that these guys are not choosing party over country, it's that they've been Kompromat-ed.

They didn't hack the RNC, they tried and failed. They were only able to hack some old domains and individual Republicans.

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter ... blican-na/

Trump said the Russians "tried to hack the Republican National Committee, and they were unable to break through."

While Russians were able to get into the email accounts of some Republican individuals and state-level Republican organizations, they did not break into the Republican National Committee’s current system, according to the director of the FBI.

Russians did access email domains associated with the RNC that were no longer in use, but the information was outdated and wasn’t released. Additionally, it’s not completely clear why hackers were unable to get into the current RNC.

The gist of Trump’s claim is correct, but it’s important to keep in mind that Russian hackers did access some Republican data, including the outdated RNC account. So we rate his claim Mostly True.

While the DNC had bad actors actually maintain their computers and let them have access to the entire shebang. Then did everything they could to obstruct the perpetrators being brought to justice.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/frankminit ... 76d42e4414

In a plot Tom Clancy might have dreamed up, an IT staffer who’d worked for Democrats in Congress was arrested by federal officials and charged with bank fraud. Fox News has reported that officers and agents from the U.S. Capitol Police, the FBI and Customs and Border Protection, were involved in the arrest of Imran Awan at Dulles International Airport not far from Washington, D.C., as he tried to fly away to Pakistan.

Awan has pleaded not guilty to bank fraud, but his strange case has all the feeling of the opening scene of a movie that might soon include political corruption and so much more.

Democrats are being understandably quiet about the hill staffer who had been employed by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) as of Tuesday morning, but has now reportedly been fired. Politico has reported that Awan is “at the center of a criminal investigation potentially impacting dozens of lawmakers.” Awan was arrested after wiring $283,000 from the Congressional Federal Credit Union to Pakistan, says The Daily Caller.

Now RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has gone on FOX Business to demand that Democrats explain what this is all about.

McDaniel said, “We have to get to the bottom of this, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz has obstructed at every level on something that affects potentially our national security. So to have this gentlemen try and leave the country yesterday, and now we know there is bank fraud and we know he destroyed these hard drives, when you read story about the Marine that found them in the apartment he was trying to rent. I mean, it is a long story but something we have to get to the bottom of. We are not hearing the Democrats talk about it at all. Where's Debbie Wasserman Schultz? And we also need to know why the DNC never turned over their hard drive to the FBI to review it as to their hacking situation. So the Democrats are on TV and they're grandstanding every chance they get, but they're not complying and they're not being forthright with their role."

Gee, surprise, surprise, but Imran Awan only committed bank fraud, and was explicitly cleared of every single conspriracy theory Rip/Fox/the GOP were pushing. Who knew they were a bunch of liars... /snark

.S. prosecutors took the unusual step Tuesday of clearing Awan of any computer-related charges, though it had never actually charged him with any. According to the Washington Post, prosecutors wrote in a plea agreement that it had “uncovered no evidence” that Awan “violated federal law with respect to the House computer systems.” That includes “stealing equipment or illegally accessing or transferring information,” the Post reported.

The prosecutors wrote that a “thorough investigation” was completed, clearing Awan of the allegations raised by Caller, though the site was not identified by name. The investigation included, the Post reported, “forensic analysis of computer equipment and other devices, log-on usage data, and interviews with about 40 witnesses.”

President Trump also joined the smearing of Awan, suggesting in an April tweet that he was somehow tied to the 2016 hacking of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) server, urging the Justice Department to not let Awan “off the hook.”

[Pyperkub]

Oh hey nothing to see here...

Trump wants time alone with Putin at upcoming summit: no aides, no witnesses.

I put this in a different thread. I still goggle at this. The GOP is completely silent on this. Fuck 'em. I hope this whole thing eventually blows up in their corrupt faces.

Oh, to get a microphone in that room.

I'm sure there's more than one. Just not one with instructions printed in English.

I have to think that every intelligence service is going to penetrate that meeting. Everyone needs their own leverage points on Trump.

It's all about who can pee further - we'll require DNA evidence!

[Zarathud]

Oh hey nothing to see here...

Trump wants time alone with Putin at upcoming summit: no aides, no witnesses.

The CIA should be tape recording the meeting, for national security.

[GungHo]

Senate panel upholds finding that Russia backed Trump, contradicting House

Didnt see that yall had commented on this yet(or maybe I'm just looking in the wrong thread). Seems like that should mean something.

[msteelers]

Senate panel upholds finding that Russia backed Trump, contradicting House

Didnt see that yall had commented on this yet(or maybe I'm just looking in the wrong thread). Seems like that should mean something.

Nice of them to bury the news on the day before a major holiday.

[gbasden]

Um, what? I guess they are just admitting it now.

Republican Senators visit Kremlin on 4th of July

Why were the Republican senators in Russia seeking the friendship of Russian officials, even as investigators back home confirm that Russia attacked the 2016 election?

One answer may be found in a report by The Dallas Morning News from last year that detailed extensive contributions, well into the millions, flowed from Russian oligarchs linked to Putin into the Republican party during the 2016 campaign.

It's amazing what the cold warriors have turned into. Lickspittles all.

[LordMortis]

But Tuesday was also the day that Alabama Senator Richard Shelby (pictured above left) leader of the GOP group that met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (pictured above right) to tell him, “we have some common interests. We are competitors, but we don’t necessarily need to be adversaries,” as quoted by CNBC.

Shelby is the swamp but he's so good at being the swamp he will never get voted out of office. I don't think any other politician, not even any of the Kentuckians have been so successful at holding up processes to bring home the pork or redesign tax law incentivize business to his state.

To date I've never thought of him as morally bankrupt as the likes of McConnell though and I've always been pleasantly surprised he as been clear of the orbits of Trump. I wonder if that's just been my ignorance.

[Holman]

One of the senators (Daines of Montana) sent this tweet last night:



He was in Russia at the time.

[LawBeefaroni]

That's a funny looking onion dome.



Also, the Russia trip makes even more sense when you figure that all the world's top sex workers are there for the World Cup. It's like the RNC times 1,000.