RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE IN 2016 US ELECTION & SPIN-OFF INVESTIGATIONS

[HairOfTheDog]

So the Senate has agreed with all our intelligence officials that Russia meddled in our election to help trump and trump intends to meet with Putin without any aides/note takers/etc. being present.

As much as I think the American people deserve to know what they discussed,I hope there's not a sincere strong push to call Trump's translator/interpreter in front of the Congress to testify about the content of the private conversation between Trump and Putin.

Translators operate under confidentiality agreements and I think it would be wrong and problematic to politicize them.

There sure has been a lot of activity surrounding the Russia interference investigation starting just ahead of the Trump/Putin secret summit in Helsinki.

--12 Russian governmental operative indicted for hacking the DNC. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/13/us/po...cking.html

(continued)

[HairOfTheDog]

--A 29-year-old Russian woman was arrested for espionage. According to prosecutors, ^ Mariia Butina was living as a gun-loving graduate student in the U.S. and cohabitating with an older American man who's a Republican consultant. She was able to infiltrate the NRA and the National Prayer Group and attend the inauguration. She also reportedly traded sex for access/information to pass on to her Russian boss. She's being held without bail because she's been deemed a flight risk. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/16/us/po...tment.html

--After Trump expressed doubt in U.S. Intelligences' unanimous reports of illegal Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and praised Putin's "strong and powerful" denial..........his top Intelligence advisor, DNI Dan Coats, took to the media (without White House approval). Coats told the American people that there is no doubt the Russians were behind the hacking and other election crimes, that they're still doing it, that Russian operatives have been fucking with our electrical grids and infrastructure, and that the U.S. is on red-level alert in those regards. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/poli...789436002/

--Last night, the NYT published an article indicating that Trump received a detailed briefing laying out proof that Vladimir V Putin had directed complex cyber interference into our 2016 elections. Trump received that classified briefing (which included U.S. intelligence and corroborating intelligence reports from other countries) in January 2017, two weeks ahead of his inauguration. Trump's repeated public claims of no knowledge for over a year have been lies. The Obama Administration wanted the matter investigated early on, but Senate Majority Leader McConnell denied the request and reportedly threatened to paint the request as a partisan hit job if it went public. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/18/world...ling-.html

Things are really heating up.

[Duchess]

Things are really heating up.

I hope there are pants on fire all over DC.

This morning House GOP voted down funding for grants for states to secure their voting systems. However, there is funding for trump's stupid fucking parade. Initial costs are at $12 million.

[HairOfTheDog]

This morning House GOP voted down funding for grants for states to secure their voting systems. However, there is funding for trump's stupid fucking parade. Initial costs are at $12 million.

Truly fucked-up priorities.

Another thing that I find really short-sighted and worrisome..........when Bolton was appointed National Security Advisor, he abolished the position of Cyber Czar for national security.

The position was aimed at harmonizing government policy on cybersecurity and digital warfare. To me, that's a very important role and will become more critical in the future.

I still haven't seen anything to indicate there's a plan to protect the U.S. from cyber infiltration in upcoming elections. I don't expect to see all the security details publicized, of course. But, it would sure be nice to know that there are qualified personnel in our government doing everything possible to protect the integrity of future elections.

[HairOfTheDog]

I just heard Andrea Mitchell interview Dan Coats, Trump's Director of National Intelligence.

He was very honest. Coats admitted that he would not have advised Trump to meet with Putin without aides/transcribers and that he still doesn't know what Trump and Putin discussed during their private summit in Helsinki last week.

Coats told Mitchell that the reason he made a public statement after the Trump/Putin post-summit press conference was because he felt it was his duty to set the record straight; the U.S. is under cyber attack from Russia. He gave examples of scenarios whereby Russia could cause harm to Americans by hacking and fucking with banking systems, electric grids, infrastructure apparatus, etc...

During the televised interview, oddly enough, Mitchell told Coats of breaking news from the White House. The news is that Trump has advised Bolton to invite Putin to the White House. Coats admitted that he had no advance notice regarding the invitation and begrudgingly joked about it.

I hope Coats doesn't throw in the towel and resign. He's qualified and competent; we need him, in my opinion.

[Duchess]

Trump received that classified briefing (which included U.S. intelligence and corroborating intelligence reports from other countries) in January 2017, two weeks ahead of his inauguration. Trump's repeated public claims of no knowledge for over a year have been lies.

You know who else got those briefings, Pence. I often forget about his complicity because he flies under the radar.

It was reported last night that the staff in the west wing are upset with DNI Coats. They say he went rogue. Imagine that, telling the truth equals going rogue in their eyes.

[HairOfTheDog]

It was reported last night that the staff in the west wing are upset with DNI Coats. They say he went rogue. Imagine that, telling the truth equals going rogue in their eyes.

I didn't think Coats was disrespectful to the President in any way.



He was being honest and doing his job in a very relatable manner, from my perspective.

I really hope he doesn't get fired or pressured into resigning, but I won't be surprised if his days are now numbered.

[HairOfTheDog]

I expect we will see more "cooperating" witnesses as Trump tries to shift blame onto others and throw people to the wolves. I think Cohen's family might be threatened which is why he is taking so much of the fall. He made some cryptic comments weeks ago. And witnesses in Russian mob cases or associated with Putin and Trump seem to suffer unreasonably high rates of accidentally killing themselves with falls from tall buildings or running into blunt objects with their skulls.

I think you're right about more witnesses cooperating as the investigations progress.  New potential witnesses are coming to light and Michael Cohen sure seems to be ready to tell the truth and cooperate if he gets charged.

Yesterday, one of the seized Cohen tapes was leaked.  It was among the minority pieces of evidence deemed as "privileged" by the special reviewer.  So, the only people who would have had access to it are Cohen's attorneys and Trump's attorneys (not investigators).  There's debate over whether the Cohen team released it as a warning shot, or the Trump team released it to control the narrative + pull the rug out from Cohen's ability to use it in negotiating a deal with prosecutors + distract from the Helsinki clusterfuck.

The tape is a recording of an in-person conversation between Trump and Cohen regarding paying off Karen McDougal. McDougal is the playboy model who Trump said he knew nothing about after her story leaked two weeks before the election.  Her story was leaked despite Trump's friends at the National Enquirer paying her for her story and then not publishing it and subjecting her to NDA.  

Yesterday Cohen met with Al Sharpton, with whom he's been friendly for 20 yearss.  He wanted Sharpton to let everyone know that he will not cover for Trump and will put his family and country first if it comes down to it.  He also wanted Sharpton to voice his disappointment in Trump for lying in his disparagement of the media.

Cohen is not a good guy, not by a long shot, in my opinion.  But I think he knows he's gonna be held accountable for all his shady dealings and is sincere about no longer being willing to take a bullet or play the villain to cover for Trump's shady shit.

(continued)

[HairOfTheDog]

Also, a New York Madame (who was involved in the Elliot Spitzer scandal and take down) was named as someone Mueller and company are looking to interview.  She is a long-time associate and friend of Roger Stone, one of the shadiest political bullshit spreaders in history and a close associate of Trump's for decades.  Mueller is interested in Stone in regards to facilitating the release of the illegally hacked DNC emails.  Stone's communications with Gucifer 2.0 and Wikileaks is under scrutiny, but he hasn't been charged with anything thus far.  Now, Mueller wants a word with the Madame who was serving as Stone's assistant/secretary when those communications went down.

Paul Manafort doesn't seem to be cooperating with investigators in regards to the financial charges he's facing.  I think Manafort is going down hard and he's definitely connected to a lot of ruthless leaders and operators in eastern Europe.  Manafort's in jail pending trial because he attempted to tamper with witnesses.  He's failed in all his attempts to get a change of venue, get charges dropped, get the trial delayed again...  A few days ago, the prosecutor asked for immunity for 5 witnesses the state plans to call to testify against Manafort.

[Duchess]

Huh. I didn't delete any posts in this thread. WTF.

[Duchess]

*face palm* Don't mind me.

[Maggot]

Well Trump didn't sell Russia ¹⁄₄ of Americas uranium. In fact he didn't even secure speaking rights for any of his family at 500,000 a pop. The entire thing was a failure.

[Duchess]

Well Trump didn't sell Russia ¹⁄₄ of Americas uranium. In fact he didn't even secure speaking rights for any of his family at 500,000 a pop. The entire thing was a failure.

Who sold Uranium to Russia?

Do you really want to get into trump enriching himself and his family? I can accommodate that.

[Maggot]

Well Trump didn't sell Russia ¹⁄₄ of Americas uranium. In fact he didn't even secure speaking rights for any of his family at 500,000 a pop. The entire thing was a failure.

Who sold Uranium to Russia?

Do you really want to get into trump enriching himself and his family? I can accommodate that.

It would be OK if the money went to his foundation or something especially any speaking fees that came from it.

[HairOfTheDog]

Paul Manafort looks a lot different these days, less like a caricature and more like a normal person.  Gone are the hair dye and fancy suits.   Now, it's natural hair and a green jail jumpsuit.

In today's hearing, the prosecutors stated that this financial/tax fraud case won't focus on the 2016 election or other political matters, except in regards to an incident whereby Manafort promised a banker access to positions in the Trump Administration in return for a very large loan.  The state's attorneys also indicated they wish to reference Russian oligarchs where relevant to their case because Manafort received multi millions of dollars from those sources.

Anyway, Judge Tellis granted the prosecutors in Virginia's request to immunize five witnesses who will be testifying against Manafort.  Bad news for Manafort and his legal team.  

The judge granted a defense motion as well, agreeing to delay the trial so Manafort and his attorney can further review some image evidence.  The defense had asked the trial to be delayed by several months, but Judge Tellis agreed to only six days.  The trial will now begin on Tuesday, July 31^st.  

Story:  https://www.wfmynews2.com/article/news/n...b98d3070b5

[Duchess]

It would be OK if the money went to his foundation or something especially any speaking fees that came from it.

The trump foundation? The same foundation he used to pay for things for himself, things like a painting of trump or the signed football helmet for example, that foundation?

[Duchess]

So, 11 House Republicans have introduced articles of impeachment against DAG Rod Rosenstein. Article 1 accuses Rosenstein of failing to recuse himself from an investigation that doesn't exist. Articles II & IV accuse him of redacting sensitive law enforcement information from documents, something the DOJ has done for years. Article III accuses him of supervising an unnecessary redaction and then acknowledging it was a mistake and Article V accuses Rosenstein of supervising events that occurred during the Obama administration.  

It's not a serious document & it's doubtful it will go anywhere. I sorta wish they'd hold an open hearing about it so we can all see, once again, how fucking stupid these ridiculous bastards are.

[Blindgreed1]

Well Trump didn't sell Russia ¹⁄₄ of Americas uranium. In fact he didn't even secure speaking rights for any of his family at 500,000 a pop. The entire thing was a failure.

And then there's this
http://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/397902-...y-american
This whole thing has become a dog and pony show

[Maggot]

Maybe Trump told him he would have more "leway" once he was re-elected. 

[HairOfTheDog]

So, 11 House Republicans have introduced articles of impeachment against DAG Rod Rosenstein. Article 1 accuses Rosenstein of failing to recuse himself from an investigation that doesn't exist. Articles II & IV accuse him of redacting sensitive law enforcement information from documents, something the DOJ has done for years. Article III accuses him of supervising an unnecessary redaction and then acknowledging it was a mistake and Article V accuses Rosenstein of supervising events that occurred during the Obama administration.  

It's not a serious document & it's doubtful it will go anywhere. I sorta wish they'd hold an open hearing about it so we can all see, once again, how fucking stupid these ridiculous bastards are.

Such a blatant deflection attempt, AGAIN.  

There is no cause for impeachment of Rosenstein, of course.  I agree, there is no chance this idiocy will go anywhere, not even with the Republicans in the House.  Some of those Republican Representatives at least have the sense to know that if they appease the President but look like idiots to to the sane people in their districts, they risk losing their seats and any future career potential.