The Trump Investigation(s) Thread

[El Guapo]

He sounds fully exonerated.

That's a rather serious allegation for the POTUS to be making. It's telling that no one will do a damn thing about it.

Wasn't it only a week or two ago when Huckabee said the same thing and the defense was that oh, no, she just meant that people running the investigation were accusing Trump of treason, which is punishable by death, the treason, not the accusing, what are you crazy although accusing a president is probably treason, right? Like do we forget this shit?

He will be calling for arrests and executions. Well, someone will put it out there again and see what kind of reaction it gets. Until it's safe for him to say it.

What Huckabee said was ambiguous. This was definitely not.

[LawBeefaroni]

He sounds fully exonerated.

That's a rather serious allegation for the POTUS to be making. It's telling that no one will do a damn thing about it.

Wasn't it only a week or two ago when Huckabee said the same thing and the defense was that oh, no, she just meant that people running the investigation were accusing Trump of treason, which is punishable by death, the treason, not the accusing, what are you crazy although accusing a president is probably treason, right? Like do we forget this shit?

He will be calling for arrests and executions. Well, someone will put it out there again and see what kind of reaction it gets. Until it's safe for him to say it.

What Huckabee said was ambiguous. This was definitely not.

Huckabee was running it up the flagpole. Any ambiguity was merely for the sake of plausable deniability. They do this all the time. Yet we still give them the benefit of the doubt, every time.

[LawBeefaroni]

He sounds fully exonerated.

That's a rather serious allegation for the POTUS to be making. It's telling that no one will do a damn thing about it.

Wasn't it only a week or two ago when Huckabee said the same thing and the defense was that oh, no, she just meant that people running the investigation were accusing Trump of treason, which is punishable by death, the treason, not the accusing, what are you crazy although accusing a president is probably treason, right? Like do we forget this shit?

He will be calling for arrests and executions. Well, someone will put it out there again and see what kind of reaction it gets. Until it's safe for him to say it.

What Huckabee said was ambiguous. This was definitely not.

Huckabee was running it up the flagpole. Any ambiguity was merely for the sake of plausable deniability. They do this all the time. Yet we still give them the benefit of the doubt, every time.

[Jaymann]

And twice on Wednesday.

[Zarathud]

I hate the hypocrisy and the fakeness of this terrible reality TV President. They're breaking the barriers of respectability and appropriateness several times daily. After years of OUTRAGE! over the most minor flaws of Clintons and Obama (real and imagined), it's just too ridiculous.

[Kraken]

Robert Reich's mantra is Pay no attention to what Trump says, but watch carefully what he does.

That's moronic. He does the same stupid shit that he says. He's got all the subtlety and effectiveness of a rusty chainsaw. The only reason that his words and actions don't align at times is that his handlers (and, rarely, the law) reel him in).

He is his words. That's almost entirely all he is.

75% of the crap that he spews is lies and fantasy. He spews it because the nation, led by the media, dutifully chatters about whatever agenda he chooses. Most of the time it's a diversion meant to fire up his base and drive the rest of us insane. And we fall for it over and over and over again.

Go ahead, read the Trump Presidency thread and notice how often that's happened. I'll wait.

[GreenGoo]

75% of the crap that he spews is lies and fantasy. He spews it because the nation, led by the media, dutifully chatters about whatever agenda he chooses. Most of the time it's a diversion meant to fire up his base and drive the rest of us insane. And we fall for it over and over and over again.

Go ahead, read the Trump Presidency thread and notice how often that's happened. I'll wait.

Uh...this is drumpf. He's not doing it because he's a smart guy getting us to jump through hoops. These are his actual thoughts and feelings. This was him in the 80's, in the 90's, in the 00's, and this was him during Obama's presidency. As someone who took a closer look at him in the 80's because the media loved him, and then kept an eye on him over the years, I can say he is one of the simplest men I've come across. Ask Hepcat just what a great schemer drumpf has been over the years.

This is literally what he thinks. That it drives us crazy and fires up his base is pure coincidence. Well, more like a self reinforcing feedback loop. It's like a monkey who makes noise and gets food when he makes certain noises. He then believes those noises are his thoughts.

I'm not even kidding.

The idea that he is an outrage machine is kind of true, in that he is outrageous and can't help but be so, but that it's intentional and designed for a specific, crafty purpose is demonstrably untrue.

He was *exactly* this outrageous before he was president. The *reason* we chatter about it constantly *now* is because it's the president of the USoA saying this shit. Obama publicly mocked him for his stupidity and this is the sole reason that drumpf wants to burn everything Obama did to the ground. He doesn't give 2 shits about the specifics of Obama's policies and accomplishments, he only cares that they are Obama's. I can guarantee you that if Obama had made significant tax cuts for the rich drumpf would be trying to undo them, or at least replace them with something with is name on them.

You have an emotionally stunted man-child as president, and everything that goes with that. *That* is why the media and OO goes nuts every time he says something.

edit: We have tons of leaks from inside and outside his own circle, all claiming that what he actually thinks is twice as bad as what gets out to the public, only that much of it is contained as much as possible by advisors. Even then he rebels when at the podium or alone in the bathroom with his twitter account. Decades of evidence and testimony by both drumpf-haters and loyalists shows this to be true.

[Zarathud]

It's not deliberate but manipulative. And instinctive because it's worked his whole life.

The Republican party has adopted it as camouflage, partly about political expediency but also because Trump controls the base.

Trump knows if he ever loses the MAGA crowd, this ends badly for him. So Trump will go to any lengths to keep their support. But he doesn't have to govern. In fact, I think he avoids it because it's work and it may alienate the crowd. Scapegoats and resentment and fear turn out crowds.

[GreenGoo]

It's not deliberate but manipulative. And instinctive because it's worked his whole life.

The Republican party has adopted it as camouflage, partly about political expediency but also because Trump controls the base.

Trump knows if he ever loses the MAGA crowd, this ends badly for him. So Trump will go to any lengths to keep their support. But he doesn't have to govern. In fact, I think he avoids it because it's work and it may alienate the crowd. Scapegoats and resentment and fear turn out crowds.

Oh, it's absolutely manipulative. It's also hamfisted.

Doesn't anyone question why the billionaire president of the united states can't get financing from anyone who isn't tied to the Russian Oligarchy? I mean, how stupid and terrible do you have to be to get the US financial system to turn it's back on you? Seriously. Here's an American with, by most accounts, a TON of money, who also happens to be the most powerful man in the US at the moment, and American banks are like "yeah, no, thanks but no thanks". That alone should boggle peoples' minds.

[Kraken]

It's not deliberate but manipulative. And instinctive because it's worked his whole life.

The Republican party has adopted it as camouflage, partly about political expediency but also because Trump controls the base.

Yeah, this. While Trump emcees his circus, and we all lurch from crisis to outrage to ridicule to depression, the GOP quietly enacts its agenda, grateful for the shade.

The first step in overcoming that is to stop being swept up in whatever Trump saw on TV. As a news junkie, I'm guilty of following along. But I'm being more mindful about when we're being played.

[YellowKing]

But it's not like we can do a whole hell of a lot about it, at least not until election time.

IE - I don't know what difference it makes if we're swept along or not. This administration is going to do what they're going to do whether we're paying attention or not.

[GreenGoo]

But it's not like we can do a whole hell of a lot about it, at least not until election time.

IE - I don't know what difference it makes if we're swept along or not. This administration is going to do what they're going to do whether we're paying attention or not.

I agree. It's not like the GOP are working in the Star Chamber. It's all right there in front of America. Kraken is implying that without drumpf's distractions, the GOP couldn't "get away with it". But that's been clearly shown this cycle that they can. And that they probably always could. It makes me wonder if Nixon had to step down at all. Of course there have been decades of us vs them rhetoric to turn the American people against each other even further, but politics have never been bipartisan. The newspapers of the early 20th century were as cutthroat as it gets with regard to the opposition party.

It's (the idea) laughable that America is outraged while not paying attention to the "real issues".

[Combustible Lemur]

since birth?! that's almost an outrageous claim.

One month in he was complaining about his mother's breastmilk, saying "Trump breastmilk is the best, top class, everyone says so, much better than this cheap low cost breastmilk that I'm getting."

By some accounts, both his grandad and dad were hucksters. It's in his blood.

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[Jeff V]

since birth?! that's almost an outrageous claim.

One month in he was complaining about his mother's breastmilk, saying "Trump breastmilk is the best, top class, everyone says so, much better than this cheap low cost breastmilk that I'm getting."

So...you're suggesting he was left with a Mexican wet nurse as a baby? That must explain something.

[Pyperkub]

But it's not like we can do a whole hell of a lot about it, at least not until election time.

IE - I don't know what difference it makes if we're swept along or not. This administration is going to do what they're going to do whether we're paying attention or not.

I agree. It's not like the GOP are working in the Star Chamber. It's all right there in front of America. Kraken is implying that without drumpf's distractions, the GOP couldn't "get away with it". But that's been clearly shown this cycle that they can. And that they probably always could. It makes me wonder if Nixon had to step down at all. Of course there have been decades of us vs them rhetoric to turn the American people against each other even further, but politics have never been bipartisan. The newspapers of the early 20th century were as cutthroat as it gets with regard to the opposition party.

It's (the idea) laughable that America is outraged while not paying attention to the "real issues".

Nixon only had to step down because the tapes came out, and even then the wsj was defending him.

[Zarathud]

There are youtube videos of the news coverage just before Nixon's resignation. People were still defending him but ultimately saying it would be better "putting this distraction behind the country to focus on our economic problems." It drove home that people really pay attention to economic issues hitting their pocketbooks.

[GreenGoo]

There are youtube videos of the news coverage just before Nixon's resignation. People were still defending him but ultimately saying it would be better "putting this distraction behind the country to focus on our economic problems." It drove home that people really pay attention to economic issues hitting their pocketbooks.

On the plus side the US economy is booming under drumpf, so it's all good.

[Remus West]

There are youtube videos of the news coverage just before Nixon's resignation. People were still defending him but ultimately saying it would be better "putting this distraction behind the country to focus on our economic problems." It drove home that people really pay attention to economic issues hitting their pocketbooks.

On the plus side the US economy is booming under drumpf, so it's all good.

I hate this comment. I know you were not serious but I really hate when I hear people make this comment because way to often they are serious.

[Holman]

Think of the degree to which most Americans literally have no idea what is going on.

Beyond the ones who get all their opinions from Fox and from their Fox-loving neighbors, there are the ones who are barely touched by any news at all.

I saw a poll that showed Pete Buttigieg (whom we've been discussing endlessly here, and whose sudden rise seems to be *the* story of the race right now) still has national name recognition only somewhere in the 20's. That seems impossible, but there it is, and I imagine it tells us a lot about how unengaged Americans are with the life of the Republic.

[gilraen]

I saw a poll that showed Pete Buttigieg (whom we've been discussing endlessly here, and whose sudden rise seems to be *the* story of the race right now) still has national name recognition only somewhere in the 20's. That seems impossible, but there it is, and I imagine it tells us a lot about how unengaged Americans are with the life of the Republic.

Granted, half the news anchors across the country are still learning to pronounce his name correctly.

[El Guapo]

I saw a poll that showed Pete Buttigieg (whom we've been discussing endlessly here, and whose sudden rise seems to be *the* story of the race right now) still has national name recognition only somewhere in the 20's. That seems impossible, but there it is, and I imagine it tells us a lot about how unengaged Americans are with the life of the Republic.

Granted, half the news anchors across the country are still learning to pronounce his name correctly.

Honestly I think the Buttegieg name recognition here vs. the nation is more a sign of his natural demographics than of some media failure.

[GreenGoo]

So Obama advisor Greg Craig was indicted recently following Mueller's investigation for reasons similar to some of Manafort's crimes.


WSJ article

How does this jibe with "no more indictments" from the Mueller report and everything that was inferred from that?

[Remus West]

So Obama advisor Greg Craig was indicted recently following Mueller's investigation for reasons similar to some of Manafort's crimes.


WSJ article

How does this jibe with "no more indictments" from the Mueller report and everything that was inferred from that?

KAC tweeted about this like it was a victory because Craig work in the Obama White House. While failing, of course, to note that he was arrested for actions taken after leaving said White House and going to work for Manafort.

[Blackhawk]

I saw a poll that showed Pete Buttigieg (whom we've been discussing endlessly here, and whose sudden rise seems to be *the* story of the race right now) still has national name recognition only somewhere in the 20's. That seems impossible, but there it is, and I imagine it tells us a lot about how unengaged Americans are with the life of the Republic.

Granted, half the news anchors across the country are still learning to pronounce his name correctly.

As somebody who doesn't watch broadcast news, I still have no idea. I'm pretty sure it's ˈbʌtˈplʌɡ

[El Guapo]

So Obama advisor Greg Craig was indicted recently following Mueller's investigation for reasons similar to some of Manafort's crimes.


WSJ article

How does this jibe with "no more indictments" from the Mueller report and everything that was inferred from that?

There are spin-off investigations being conducted by U.S. Attorney's Offices derived from work in the Mueller investigation. So there will be more indictments almost certainly, just not more Mueller-branded indictments.

[GreenGoo]

So...fully exonerated then.

[El Guapo]

So...fully exonerated then.

The most exonerated any individual has ever been.

[GreenGoo]

So...fully exonerated then.

The most exonerated any individual has ever been.

Would you say so exonerated that the exoneration has made other people guilty of the things the exoneration exonerated him of?

[Jaymann]

So...fully exonerated then.

The most exonerated any individual has ever been.

He is so exonerated, it is treasonous to say otherwise.

[El Guapo]

So...fully exonerated then.

The most exonerated any individual has ever been.

He is so exonerated, it is treasonous to say otherwise.

White House Says Mueller Report Must Be Kept Private Because It’s So Exonerating It Would Drive Public Mad.

[Remus West]

So...fully exonerated then.

The most exonerated any individual has ever been.

He is so exonerated, it is treasonous to say otherwise.

White House Says Mueller Report Must Be Kept Private Because It’s So Exonerating It Would Drive Public Mad.

upon reading the 300-page report, would be reduced to “gibbering idiots,” foaming at the mouth as they read the secret revelations

So we would all become tRump supporters?

What does it say about this timeline that I clicked on the article assuming it was a real one before noticing the Onion?

[Unagi]

White House Says Mueller Report Must Be Kept Private Because It’s So Exonerating It Would Drive Public Mad.

What does it say about this timeline that I clicked on the article assuming it was a real one before noticing the Onion?

White House Says Mueller Report Must Be Kept Private Because It’s So Exonerating It Would Drive Public Mad

Before you resolve the link - real or fake headline?

I thought for a second there I was going mad.

[Unagi]

guessing it's Remus....

 Remus 
 



maybe with stessier.

[Holman]

So...fully exonerated then.

The most exonerated any individual has ever been.

He is so exonerated, it is treasonous to say otherwise.

White House Says Mueller Report Must Be Kept Private Because It’s So Exonerating It Would Drive Public Mad.

[Zarathud]

Letting Trump appoint this clown was a mistake. Coverup!

[Smoove_B]

Nunes was trying to meet with Barr to get him to press charges against those that were investigating Trump:

Nunes’ accusations of misconduct are aimed at a slew of former FBI and Justice Department officials, who he alleges committed crimes in their pursuit of allegations that President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign conspired with Russians to influence the election.

Nunes has in recent days foreshadowed plans to send eight "criminal referrals" — informal requests for the Justice Department to investigate — directly to Barr. He said on Sean Hannity's Fox News show Thursday night that he intends to meet with Barr "when appropriate" to discuss the referrals, and plans to bring fellow GOP intelligence committee member John Ratcliffe, a former U.S. attorney, to the meeting. Nunes said he wouldn't name the targeted officials publicly but would share his recommendations with Barr.

For a report that ultimately found "no collusion" and no obstruction (as we've been assured), there definitely seems to be a lot of movement to go after the investigators. Weird, right?

[Zarathud]

Obstruction of attempted justice?

[Holman]

Barr's redacted Mueller report is expected to be released tomorrow.

Trump has been nuts all week about the "Dirty Cops" who conducted the No Collusion No Obstruction investigation.

Meanwhile, Giuliani announced that he has been preparing a 35-page rebuttal to the report, which suggests that he has already read it even though Congressional leaders have not.

Fully exonerated though!!

[El Guapo]

Barr's redacted Mueller report is expected to be released tomorrow.

Trump has been nuts all week about the "Dirty Cops" who conducted the No Collusion No Obstruction investigation.

Meanwhile, Giuliani announced that he has been preparing a 35-page rebuttal to the report, which suggests that he has already read it even though Congressional leaders have not.

Fully exonerated though!!

Giuliani has been working on a phantom rebuttal of varying length for some time.

[Pyperkub]

Barr's redacted Mueller report is expected to be released tomorrow.

Trump has been nuts all week about the "Dirty Cops" who conducted the No Collusion No Obstruction investigation.

Meanwhile, Giuliani announced that he has been preparing a 35-page rebuttal to the report, which suggests that he has already read it even though Congressional leaders have not.

Fully exonerated though!!

I expect that all references to ongoing investigations, as well as any Counter-Intelligence references will be redacted/removed. A look:

The narrow wording of Mueller’s partial sentence that Barr quoted in his letter limits the question of coordination to a “tacit or express” agreement “with the Russian government.” Yet, the Russians’ interventions – which aimed, in part, to help Trump win and to denigrate Hillary Clinton — were surely meant to hide those two elements. This wording leaves open the possibility that Mueller found plentiful coordination with others who were not part of the government but were a step, or several steps, removed.

A Russian lawyer such as Natalia Veselnitskaya, who has connections to the Kremlin but is not herself a member of the government, and who participated in a meeting with campaign officials where Russian dirt on Clinton was supposed to be shared, certainly fell into this category. ...

...What does Mueller’s report actually say?

The bracket around the first letter of the Mueller quote is another small clue that more may be behind the curtain than we’ve been allowed to see so far. “[T]he investigation did not establish that the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.” The bracket around the T indicates there is a phrase that begins that sentence.

This, of course, is speculation, but the first part of that sentence — at one end of the spectrum — might be, “Although we detailed a number of troubling links between the Trump campaign and people associated with the Russian government, including links with worrisome national security implications, the investigation did not establish that the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.” Alternatively, the first part of that sentence might also more reassuringly read, “After running every lead to the ground, the investigation did not establish that the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”

But without seeing the actual report, we just don’t know. And given the public record of the Trump campaign’s contacts with many Russians and its officials’ repeated lies about those contacts, it is difficult to believe Mueller found nothing with national security implications...

...Importantly, Barr’s letter says Mueller’s investigation does back up the intelligence community’s overall findings that Russia interfered in the election, an idea Trump has consistently refused to accept. Furthermore, the letter confirms that “Russian-affiliated individuals” made “multiple offers” to assist the campaign. Notably, no one on the campaign ever reported those offers to the FBI and everyone consistently lied about them when asked. We need to discuss, as a nation, if this is acceptable for U.S. politicians going forward. The standard of merely having “no criminal liability” is comically low for the position of U.S. president; other, higher standards of ethics and morality should be discussed.