RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE IN 2016 US ELECTION & SPIN-OFF INVESTIGATIONS

[Duchess]

 It's gonna be OK.

Promise me! Promise me right now!

...and if it's not, I want the authorization to come and eat you with a spoon.

[Duchess]

He is the Lance Armstrong of Presidents. He is grabbing the US by the pussy and violating a beautiful nation.

  Dying  

[aussiefriend]

*hugs* you get it.

[aussiefriend]

Don't be sarcastic Fry Guy. Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.

I don't know you that well, but given that Trumps base are generally menacing racists and undereducated that have been deceived I have to admit I was surprised by your post. No mortified. Particularly as the media on him here is not sanitized.

I will stay tuned in regards to you but I have no energy to reprogram you I have too much on my plate living and dealing with the most corrupt State in Australia.

I have net Julia Gillard. The pictures might be in the members forum. She is authentic and kind but she let women down by creating hardship for single mothers who were already living in poverty. It was a case of because she never had kids she didn't get it and never will. It didn't affect me but I know people whose lives had terrible suffering because of her actions. To rub salt into the wound she is remorseless.

[Fry Guy]

Dear God what are you all saying. Most of America do not want Trump run out on a rail.

Yes, they do. The majority of Americans didn't even vote for him.

Most Americans don't even vote for ANY President because they are apathetic generally. So that is a moot argument and you know that, right?

Fry Guy, don't piss me off. I didn't make that shit up. They had experts on CNN who explained this complicated web. I can't repeat that in here.

Do your homework. Seek the truth not just what you want to see.

Trump has forced himself on the US citizens. He cheated. He is the Lance Armstrong of Presidents. He is grabbing the US by the pussy and violating a beautiful nation.

Don't be uneducated. If you have a limited understanding the only thing I can say is dont allow yourself to be brainwashed. Think for yourself for God's sake. Be strong.

You are brainwashed. I am actually more than happy to look at sources on both sides.
CNN touted poll experts who all quoted Hillary as having 85%-97% chance of winning the election. Were they experts? What about those expert economists who said that the economy would not go above 3%? Were they expert? Is it now 4%+?

You have not countered one of my facts. Being people with smart theories guess at something or create clever propaganda, it does not mean you need to believe it.

How exactly did Trump "cheat"? You have facts or more "CNN experts" tell you what to think?

[Duchess]

Most Americans don't even vote for ANY President because they are apathetic generally. So that is a moot argument and you know that, right?

Fry Guy, the majority of Americans who voted in the election did not vote for trump. That's a fact. It's a fact even trump voters acknowledge.

[Fry Guy]

Duchess yes we know that Hillary won the popular vote. She got more votes than Trump.

We also know that generally speaking approximately 30% of the eligible votes for Republicans and approximately 30% of the voting public votes for Democrat and approximately 40% doesn't vote at all.

If you think trying to tell me that Hillary had a comparatively small lead on Trump with the popular vote and this somehow indicates he is unpopular with Americans generally it is a stupid argument and I do not think you are stupid.

He won the electoral college which he could NOT do if he was not reasonably popular. He did not get 3% of the vote he did not get 20 electoral college votes. Hillary got slightly more votes than him and it was not enough to have even affected the outcome in the electoral college.

He is just as popular with his base as he ever was and he is solidifying the Republican base generally. Democrats are split between the Bernie and Alexandre Progressives, and the Biden, Hillary, Kamala Establishment.

[aussiefriend]

oh fuck off Fry Guy you don't even know me. I responded I tried to be kind and diplomatic in explaining my position as well as giving you a chance.

You are using my words. I suggested you might be brainwashed initially and you come back at me with the same? It's futile.

I have not given you much on my background others in here know. If there was anyone in here who is a candidate to NOT be programmed it's me.

I'm not doing this back and forth with you. I dont have the energy literally.

[Duchess]

Duchess yes we know that Hillary won the popular vote. She got more votes than Trump.

We also know that generally speaking approximately 30% of the eligible votes for Republicans and approximately 30% of the voting public votes for Democrat and approximately 40% doesn't vote at all.

If you think trying to tell me that Hillary had a comparatively small lead on Trump with the popular vote and this somehow indicates he is unpopular with Americans generally it is a stupid argument and I do not think you are stupid.

He won the electoral college which he could NOT do if he was not reasonably popular. He did not get 3% of the vote he did not get 20 electoral college votes. Hillary got slightly more votes than him and it was not enough to have even affected the outcome in the electoral college.

He is just as popular with his base as he ever was and he is solidifying the Republican base generally. Democrats are split between the Bernie and Alexandre Progressives, and the Biden, Hillary, Kamala Establishment.

  If you know that why do I have to come back and clarify?

I didn't say anything at all about those who sat out the election. Didn't try to tell you Secretary Clinton had a lead either, matter of fact I didn't mention her.

Never said he wasn't popular with his base, he is. He's their dear leader. It's that 35% that keeps him going.

[Maggot]

I don't hold a lot of stock in polls but Trumps approval ratings have been around 50% since he was elected through all the imagined bad things the left has tossed at the wall people believe he is doing a good job. It's amazing isn't it?

[aussiefriend]

It's not about left or right. It's about corruption degrading the office and most of all throwing your country under the bus. John McCain a true warrior. Trumps a draft dodger the list goes on and on. Porn stars, hookers. Stop defending the indefensible. It's not about left or right. It's bigger than that.

God help your country so many good hearted people there. Your armed forces Commander and Chief being lead by a draft dodger.

I liked George W. People used to make fun of him. The forces loved him AND he could take a joke. He is a real Christian. He is a kind man who helps veterans.

[Maggot]

The country will be fine but thanks for your concern.   feel free to borrow the ideas that are working so well.

[Fry Guy]

In 2008 - 80 million voting aged people did not vote. That is 131 million voting aged people that DID vote.
So about 38% of voting aged people did not vote.
About 28% of voting aged people voted for McCain (59,934,814)
About 34% of voting aged people voted for Barrack (69,456,897)

In 2012 - 93 million voting aged people did not vote. That is 126 million voting aged people that DID vote.
So about 42% of voting aged people did not vote.
About 28% of voting aged people voted for Romney (60,589,084)
About 30% of voting aged people voted for Barrack (65,446,032)

So let's run a common narrative based on similar facts.

Barack Obama was terrible and really unpopular. Only just over a third of Americans voted for him in 2012. Get had a strong base but that was it. Most people did not care about him enough to vote for him. Hell, only 30% of Americans voted for him on 2012.

Come on guys let's not have this silly different standards. Yes statistics CAN help a point BUT AM I right in what I said because I have facts to back it?

I will give you the tip. I do not believe this ideological narrative as it relates to Obama nor Trump

[HairOfTheDog]

No Stone left unturned?



Roger Stone said this weekend that he predicts Donald Trump Jr. will be charged with lying to investigators about the Trump Tower meeting.

Stone also predicts that he himself will be indicted, claiming he's being targeted because the "Deep State Liberals" are out to get him.  

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-r...ller-probe
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...g-FBI.html

Roger's always been the propagator of batshit bullshit and conspiracy theories to benefit his political clients, and he's doing it like he (literally) needs the money on his own behalf now.  He's begging for people to donate to his defense fund.  

Roger seems to forget that he bragged about being in contact with the releasers of the hacked DNC and Podesta emails.  Hacking is a crime, of course, and aiding a crime is also a crime.  Roger now claims he didn't really say what he absolutely said (which was recorded real time). https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/10/us/po...ation.html

It was noted in July that Mueller's indictment of Russian military officers in the 2016 hacking of the Democratic National Committee appeared to make reference to Stone.

Anyway, I don't know about Jr., but I think Roger's prediction regarding himself is accurate.

[HairOfTheDog]

Another Guilty Plea




^ Samuel Patten entered his plea in federal court in Washington, shortly after prosecutors released a four-page charging document that accused him of performing lobbying and consulting work in the United States and Ukraine but failing to register as a foreign agent as required by the Justice Department.

Patten told Judge Amy Berman Jackson that he suffers from mental illness and is under the care of a psychiatrist and is taking medication. Jackson asked whether he is suffering from depression and anxiety, and he quickly responded, "Correct, your honor." She ordered him to continue seeing his psychiatrist and to avoid alcohol.

Prosecutors said Patten formed a company with the Russian national and it received $1,000,000 for its work advising Ukraine's Opposition Bloc party, including a prominent Ukraine oligarch. Prosecutors said this violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Patten is also accused of facilitating a $50,000 illegal foreign donation to the Trump inauguration fund using a U.S. citizen as a straw donor.

Patten was a business associate of Konstantin Kilimnik, a man U.S. authorities have said has ties to Russian intelligence and is a co-defendant in a pending case against Paul Manafort in Washington, brought by special counsel Robert Mueller's team, that accuses them both of witness tampering.

The Patten case was brought by the U.S. attorney's office in Washington and the Department of Justice's National Security Division, and not by special counsel Robert Mueller, whose team has been investigating potential coordination between Moscow and the Trump campaign.

Refs and legal docs: 
https://www.lawfareblog.com/document-w-s...eign-power
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/w-samuel-pa...ign-agent/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...agent.html

(Note:  I edited this thread title to more accurately reflect thread progress and content.)

[HairOfTheDog]

George Papadopoulos Sentencing

In a court filing yesterday, Papadopoulos's attorneys asked U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss to place Papadopoulos on probation rather than incarceration.

The filing contests the Special Counsel's assertion that Papadopoulos' falsehoods impeded Mueller's investigation.


In a photo from President Trump's Twitter account posted on March 31, 2016, George Papadopoulos, third from left, sits with then-candidate Trump, Jeff Sessions, and others at what was labeled a national security meeting in Washington. 

Papadopoulos’s attorneys wrote that his “motives for lying to the FBI were wrongheaded indeed but far from the sinister spin the Government suggests. Caught off-guard by an impromptu interrogation, Mr. Papadopoulos misled investigators to save his professional aspirations and preserve a perhaps misguided loyalty to his master,” an apparent reference to Trump.

Papadopoulos’s sentencing will be a milestone marking the close of the case that launched the FBI investigation of possible Trump campaign connections with Russia. Officials have said the FBI opened a counterintelligence investigation in summer 2016, after an Australian diplomat reported to American counterparts that Papadopoulos had told him over drinks in May 2016 that the Russians held damning information about Clinton.

Papadopoulos, 31, pleaded guilty last year to lying to the FBI about key details of his conversations with a London-based professor about how the Russians held dirt on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in the form of thousands of emails.


(continued)

[HairOfTheDog]

Contesting prosecutors’ contention that he has provided little cooperation to the probe, Papadopoulos’s lawyers argued that he has volunteered information in an effort to help — such as describing a March 31, 2016, meeting he attended with Trump and then-Sen. Jeff Sessions where Papadopoulos announced soon after introducing himself that he could get Trump a meeting with Russian President Vladi­mir Putin.

For the first time, Papadopoulos’s lawyers revealed that the young adviser felt encouraged by Trump to continue those efforts, writing in the court filing that “Mr. Trump nodded with approval and deferred to Mr. Sessions, who appeared to like the idea and stated that the campaign should look into it.”

That account conflicts with what Sessions, now attorney general, testified to Congress. Sessions told the House Judiciary Committee in November 2017 that he remembered offering “pushback” when Papadopoulos raised the idea, suggesting he had shut down the young adviser’s proposal for a Trump-Putin meeting. A spokeswoman for Sessions declined to comment yesterday.

While Mueller's team did not recommend a sentence length, six months behind bars is the standard for the crime to which he pleaded guilty.

Full story: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/...22b3e93e06

[Duchess]

The filing contests the Special Counsel's assertion that Papadopoulos' falsehoods impeded Mueller's investigation.

Didn't George's lies prevent the investigators from talking to a professor who was said to have more details about "the dirt on Hillary"?

[HairOfTheDog]

The filing contests the Special Counsel's assertion that Papadopoulos' falsehoods impeded Mueller's investigation.

Didn't George's lies prevent the investigators from talking to a professor who was said to have more details about "the dirt on Hillary"?

That's right.  According to the court filing, the professor specified the dirt as being thousands of emails pertaining to Hillary Clinton.  That was months before the Russian-hacked DNC and Podesta emails started being released by WikiLeaks in the weeks leading up to election day.

Snip:
Papadopoulos met in London with a Russian-linked professor Joseph Mifsud, who claimed the Russians had thousands of emails that would be damaging to Hillary Clinton, during the 2016 campaign.

Mifsud, who is not named in the court filing but has been named in news reports, introduced Papadopoulos to a Russian woman and a Russian national connected to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Papadopoulos then communicated with the three over a period of months and discussed setting up a meeting between Russian officials and the Trump campaign.

According to court docs, Papadopoulos lied to investigators "on at least a dozen occasions," falsely saying he communicated with Mifsud BEFORE he joined the Trump campaign. After he hired a lawyer and met with investigator again in February 2017, Papadoplous still did not correct his false statements. Instead, he deactivated his Facebook account where he had communicated with the professor and Russian national and bought a new phone. (Had Papadopoulos been honest with the investigators, the professor could have been questioned before he left the U.S. on February 11, 2017.)

"The defendant’s lies also hindered the government’s ability to discover who else may have known or been told about the Russians possessing "dirt" on Clinton,” the filing says. "Had the defendant told the FBI the truth when he was interviewed in January 2017, the FBI could have quickly taken numerous investigative steps to help determine, for example, how and where the Professor obtained the information, why the Professor provided the information to the defendant, and what the defendant did with the information after receiving it."

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/...iling-says

[Duchess]

Another liar connected to this case got a month in the slammer, George deserves that, at the very least.