The Putin - Trump Controversy: Here to Stay - Links between Trump and Russia are being officially investigated by the FBI

[Pontifex Maximus]

I mean, that's literally what you did. You posted the story to say there was no collusion, I quoted the part that disputed that assertion.

I think I dealt fairly with the parts of the piece which contradict my position in my post above.

If other campaigns broke the law they should be prosecuted too, but we're not talking about other campaigns here.

Fair. Why do you think other campaigns aren't being scrutinized at all?

It would be pretty stupid of me to definitively conclude that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia considering there is no concrete evidence of that yet, don't you think? What I do believe is that there were enough suspicious links and interactions between members of the Trump campaign and Russians to warrant a thorough investigation - an investigation that has already prosecuted several members of Trump's campaign for lying to the FBI/Congress.

What's your assessment of the evidence, or maybe lack thereof, that any collusion occurred at this point? If you had to place your bets right now, where would you put your money?

Now let me ask you something. Why would Trump fire Comey, and why would all these people tell these lies, if everything they did was legal? Why take that risk?

Because often time the only person in Trump's way is Trump, and as for the perjury traps and indictments, that is just part and parcel of this stage of the judicial process and investigations. I think a lot of people made independent mistakes in a belated effort to cover their own asses. These are people who have found themselves in extraordinarily stressful situations. Being placed under oath before a tribunal or an investigative authority it a highly stressful situation. The campaign finance issue has plagued campaigns on both sides of the aisle, but the magnifying glass on this case and how politically charged it is has led to a strict application of the law. Even Obama's campaigns had issues with this. I personally don't care much about the campaign finance laws, I don't see them as effective or necessary so I'm willing to give Obama, Edwards, and anyone else a pass on them. I'm in a very small minority in this opinion, nearly all conservatives and liberals will disagree with me here but I just don't see the problem with it. I think the campaign finance laws presuppose that the average voter is an impressionable idiot susceptible to propaganda. Not even a plurality of citizens living under the Third Reich believed Goebbels's .

[B. W.]

Considering Andrew McCarthy and his views I could care less.

Here's an article addressing McCarthy's own article in the National Review:

https://www.lawfareblog.com/andrew-c...uction-justice

Just so you know, Schoenfeld is an antiTrumper and former advisor to Mitt Romney who is an anti-Trump republican.

So, what you have is two anti-Trumpers and one of them now believes the whole investigation was a sham and he happens to be a former federal prosecutor.

[HannibalExMachina]

I think the campaign finance laws presuppose that the average voter is an impressionable idiot susceptible to propaganda. Not even a plurality of citizens living under the Third Reich believed Goebbels's .

see, thats the fundamental flaw in the argument, they are. they do. they did. enough people believe trump blindely, enough people fell for nazi propaganda to keep them in power to the end. majority is debatable in the end, but if a majority stands by, as it still does, thats enough.

[Pontifex Maximus]

I think it had more to do with the fact Hitler was a military dictator who beside had a group of hundreds of thousands of ruffians personally loyal to him. Not to stray too far off the topic but there's a great social history by Nicholas Stargardt called The German War which focuses in part on German propaganda efforts. I don't think Trump put a radio in everyone's house and then used state sponsored media to indoctrinate them but in any event, I don't see the data supporting spending on advertising with dramatically altering elections, or even moderately. I'm sure there is some correlation or else it wouldn't be an issue, btu I doubt how effective it actually is.

[TheDarkKnight]

President Trump took to Twitter on Sunday to apparently circulate a call for the jailing of those who investigate him, including Special Counsel Robert Mueller. “‘These guys, the investigators, ought to be in jail. What they have done, working with the Obama intelligence agencies, is simply unprecedented,’” Trump wrote, quoting conservative pundit Rush Limbaugh. “‘This is one of the greatest political hoaxes ever perpetrated on the people of this Country, and Mueller is a coverup.’” He later added, in his own words, that “The Mueller investigation is totally conflicted, illegal and rigged! Should never have been allowed to begin, except for the Collusion and many crimes committed by the Democrats. Witch Hunt!”

Calling for the people investigating your campaign, your inauguration, your transition, and your friends to be thrown in jail. The actions of an innocent, good, intelligent man.

This is a dangerous call for action for a president* to take, and the bootlickers are marching lockstep behind this nutjob every day. I can't imagine how these same people would be acting if the same thing was happening to Obama or Hillary or any of the other "demonic" Democrats that haunt their minds. Would probably be out trying to kill people, if the MAGAbomber and other fans of Trump are any indication. Yokel Haram and Meal Team Six are full of such headcases. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if Trump starts suggesting that the "second amendment" people should take care of the problem for him.

Very fine people

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-...-to-be-in-jail


Meanwhile, Mueller has subpoenaed another Cambridge Analytica employee

Brittany Kaiser, a former director at Cambridge Analytica, has been subpoenaed by special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation regarding possible links between President Trump's 2016 campaign and the Russian government, The Guardian reports.

The big picture: Kaiser is the second former employee from Cambridge Analytica, a now-shuttered, Trump-linked British analytics firm that harvested the data of millions of Facebook users, to be drawn into Mueller's probe. Kaiser told The Guardian that the subpoena came after a report that she'd visited WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in February 2017 to discuss the results of the 2016 election while still employed by the firm.

https://www.axios.com/mueller-invest...23880a348.html

You'll remember that data has been confirmed to be passed between the campaign (Manafort) and the Russians. Will be interesting to see where this goes.

This nothingberder sure is getting juicier.

[Katsumoto]

The NYT dropped a new report yesterday with some juicy nuggets:

During a lunch with one of his longtime allies, Chris Christie, the former Republican governor of New Jersey, Mr. Trump said that firing Mr. Flynn would end the Russia inquiry.

“This Russia thing is all over now because I fired Flynn,” Mr. Trump said, according to a new book by Mr. Christie.

Mr. Christie disagreed with that assessment. “This Russia thing is far from over,” Mr. Christie wrote that he told Mr. Trump, who responded: “What do you mean? Flynn met with the Russians. That was the problem. I fired Flynn. It’s over.”

Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, was also at the lunch with Mr. Christie and viewed the firing the way his father-in-law did. “That’s right, firing Flynn ends the whole Russia thing,” Mr. Kushner said, according to Mr. Christie’s book.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/19/u...gtype=Homepage

Stupid Watergate? Stupid Watergate.

[TheDarkKnight]

Not only that but just so people know...Stone has been given a full gag order after the stunt he pulled over the weekend on social media. I'm impressed the judge and prosecution didn't just lose their patience with him and rescind his bond but giving him one more chance (which he will probably up anyway) won't hurt either.

Did anyone read his "apology"? What .

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...221-story.html

[Pontifex Maximus]

Apparently we have week or so before results are published

[TheDarkKnight]

Mueller dropped an 800 page sentencing memo on Paul Manafort for his DC case, which can add up to another 20-ish years onto his equally-long likely sentence in his Virginia case, if I am reading the news correctly.

Though apparently there are limits on such things. Probably only will get 10 additional years? Which is still up to 34 years.

Law is weird.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/23/robe...-manafort.html
https://www.apnews.com/73ea05874b14439996546df7c8eebc03

So assuming that the courts follow the advice of Mueller's team, AND decide to make them subsequent sequential rather than concurrent, then Manafort will never step outside of prison as a free man again. Unless of course Trump decides to abuse his pardon power. Which of course he has never done so we have nothing to worry about...

But New York State is already starting their own case against Manafort in case that happens.

[Gaidin]

The NYT dropped a new report yesterday with some juicy nuggets:



https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/19/u...gtype=Homepage

Stupid Watergate? Stupid Watergate.

The thing that appears to keep things together in the lower echelons of government is a crazy request comes down, they say they'll see what they're allowed to do, and no followup happens.

[Elfdude]

https://www.npr.org/2019/02/27/69675...mp-lawbreaking

Jaw dropping. The records kept will be pretty difficult to refute.

[B. W.]

The only thing I see that's jaw dropping is that the Dems issued a subpoena to someone to testify before Congress that has already been convicted of lying to Congress and who, incidentally, is waiting to be sentenced by a Dem prosecutor.

Anybody that can't see through this has blinders on. His testimony is not worth my time.

[Katsumoto]

Republicans trying so hard to discredit Cohen because he lied to Congress... on Trump's behalf. But that second part isn't important, right?

[The spartan]

The only thing I see that's jaw dropping is that the Dems issued a subpoena to someone to testify before Congress that has already been convicted of lying to Congress and who, incidentally, is waiting to be sentenced by a Dem prosecutor.

You are totally right; Cohen got in trouble for lying to congress under oath, was pretty quickly caught, confessed, and sentenced to years in prison. Now he is back to lie to congress again under oath, just after being caught for doing that. Makes perfect sense. I guess he just wants to spend more time in prison?

[irontaino]

https://www.npr.org/2019/02/27/69675...mp-lawbreaking

Jaw dropping. The records kept will be pretty difficult to refute.

Trump is a crook, a racist, and a pathological liar. In other news, water is wet. I still think it's pretty funny that people looked at this guy who spent literal decades building a reputation as a self promoting conman and said "he seems trustworthy".

[The spartan]

Trump is a crook, a racist, and a pathological liar. In other news, water is wet.

I think that is what his supporters like about him.

[Katsumoto]

In a sane world, the fact that the president’s former lawyer produced evidence that the president knowingly and deceptively committed a federal crime — hush money payments that violated campaign finance laws — is something that even members of the president’s own party would find disquieting. But not today’s Republican Party.

Instead, in the most transparent and ham-handed way, they saw no evil and heard no evil, unless it involved Mr. Cohen. Republicans on the committee tried to destroy the credibility of his testimony, not because they believe that his testimony is false, but because they fear it is true.

By now Republicans must know, deep in their hearts, that Mr. Cohen’s portrayal of Mr. Trump as a “racist,” “a con man” and “a cheat” is spot on. So it is the truth they fear, and it is the truth — the fundamental reality of the world as it actually is — that they feel compelled to destroy. This is the central organizing principle of the Republican Party now. More than tax cuts. More than trade wars. More even than building a wall on our southern border. Republicans are dedicated to annihilating truth in order to defend Mr. Trump and they will go after anyone, from Mr. Cohen to Robert Mueller, who is a threat to him.

He is their emperor, and they are his political Praetorian Guard.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/27/o...gtype=Homepage

Harsh, but unfortunately true.

[Big War Bird]

It seems to me Cohen confirmed everything we already knew - Trump is basket full of bad personality traits, and he didn't collude with Russia.

[Morifea]

This comment of the NYT is on spot.
I frankly think the Republicans did a grave error by taking Trump as their Champion. All the strategic work in the backround during the Obama years, the securing of the congress, appointing judges, getting governors, gerrymandering as if there is no tommorow, all that work will be lost because they appointed this toddler in Chief.
Imagine what this party could have archieved if they appointed someone decent, someone that gets things done, someone no member of this Party has to be ashamed of.

[Katsumoto]

It seems to me Cohen confirmed everything we already knew - Trump is basket full of bad personality traits, and he didn't collude with Russia.

I think surely you understand it was a bit more than Trump's 'bad personality traits' that Cohen's testimony provided - it alleged and provided potential evidence of illegal activities.