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Post by Old Badger on May 26, 2017 22:46:56 GMT -5
It appears there may be a witness who can tie the Trump campaign directly to Russia: "Oleg V. Deripaska, a Russian oligarch once close to President Trump’s former campaign manager, has offered to cooperate with congressional committees investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election, but lawmakers are unwilling to accept his conditions, according to congressional officials...Mr. Deripaska, an aluminum magnate who is a member of the inner circle of the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, recently offered to cooperate with congressional intelligence committees in exchange for a grant of full immunity, according to three congressional officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue publicly. But the Senate and House panels turned him down because of concerns that immunity agreements create complications for federal criminal investigators, the officials said." And then there's a new development on the Kushner story: "Jared Kushner and Russia’s ambassador to Washington discussed the possibility of setting up a secret and secure communications channel between Trump’s transition team and the Kremlin, using Russian diplomatic facilities in an apparent move to shield their pre-inauguration discussions from monitoring, according to U.S. officials briefed on intelligence reports." This is reading more and more like a John le Carré novel: shady characters, backdoor channels, compromised national security, dishonesty, betrayal. All we need is a death or two and it practically writes itself.
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Post by Old Badger on May 29, 2017 22:02:46 GMT -5
"Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, was looking for a direct line to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia — a search that in mid-December found him in a room with a Russian banker whose financial institution was deeply intertwined with Russian intelligence, and remains under sanction by the United States. Federal and congressional investigators are now examining what exactly Mr. Kushner and the Russian banker, Sergey N. Gorkov, wanted from each other. The banker is a close associate of Mr. Putin, but he has not been known to play a diplomatic role for the Russian leader. That has raised questions about why he was meeting with Mr. Kushner at a crucial moment in the presidential transition, according to current and former officials familiar with the investigations." linkDear Jared, some friendly advice: Think about re-locating to a country that does not have an extradition treaty with the US. Look into that sooner rather than later. Yours, Anonymous.
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Post by Old Badger on May 30, 2017 11:16:51 GMT -5
Another day..."Russian government officials discussed having potentially "derogatory" information about then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and some of his top aides in conversations intercepted by US intelligence during the 2016 election, according to two former intelligence officials and a congressional source. One source described the information as financial in nature and said the discussion centered on whether the Russians had leverage over Trump's inner circle. The source said the intercepted communications suggested to US intelligence that Russians believed "they had the ability to influence the administration through the derogatory information." This is not a drip...drip...drip scandal. It's now open faucets. The national security agency professionals are going around their political masters to leak what they know to the media. CNN has joined the WP, NYT, and WSJ as their outlets of choice, providing yet another spigot in the leaky plumbing. This is not going to go stop until the Trump Administration sinks, one way or another.
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Post by Old Badger on Jun 1, 2017 13:02:16 GMT -5
"The Trump administration is moving toward handing back to Russia two diplomatic compounds, near New York City and on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, that its officials were ejected from in late December as punishment for Moscow’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. President Barack Obama said Dec. 29 that the compounds were being 'used by Russian personnel for intelligence-related purposes' and gave Russia 24 hours to vacate them. Separately, Obama expelled from the United States what he said were 35 Russian 'intelligence operatives.' "Early last month, the Trump administration told the Russians that it would consider turning the properties back over to them if Moscow would lift its freeze, imposed in 2014 in retaliation for U.S. sanctions related to Ukraine, on construction of a new U.S. consulate on a certain parcel of land in St. Petersburg. Two days later, the U.S. position changed. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at a meeting in Washington that the United States had dropped any linkage between the compounds and the consulate, according to several people with knowledge of the exchanges... "Russia said it used the facilities, both of which had diplomatic immunity, for rest and recreation for embassy and U.N. employees and to hold official events. But U.S. officials dating to the Reagan administration, based on aerial and other surveillance, had long believed they were also being used for intelligence purposes." linkOh, that hard-bargaining Real Estate Baron! He not only gives stuff to the Russians, but he does it unconditionally, without reciprocity. So harsh: Obama wouldn't even think to do that! What a tough negotiator Trump is...with Germany, Britain, and the Pope. Saudi Arabia? Russia? Hey, ya gotta make friends somewhere, right? Honestly, I hang my head in shame daily.
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Post by Old Badger on Jun 14, 2017 17:03:04 GMT -5
The Senate voted 97-2 for a package of sanctions against Russia. These provisions were added to a bill providing new sanctions on Iran and codify sanctions imposed by Obama last year as well as new ones. A key provision is a congressional process to review any lifting of sanctions before they take effect. This is a shot across the bow to Trump and Tillerson. Basically, senators united around the proposition that they don't trust Trump or his team to deal with Russia. Remarkable. Lee and Paul voted no; Van Hollen did not vote.
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Post by Old Badger on Jun 14, 2017 17:40:48 GMT -5
Just posted to WP website: "The special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election is interviewing senior intelligence officials as part of a widening probe that now includes an examination of whether President Trump attempted to obstruct justice, officials said. The move by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III to investigate Trump’s own conduct marks a major turning point in the nearly year-old FBI investigation, which until recently focused on Russian meddling during the presidential campaign and on whether there was any coordination between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Investigators have also been looking for any evidence of possible financial crimes among Trump associates, officials said... "Five people briefed on the requests, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said Daniel Coats, the current director of national intelligence, Adm. Mike Rogers, head of the National Security Agency, and Rogers’ recently departed deputy, Richard Ledgett, agreed to be interviewed by Mueller’s investigators as early as this week. The investigation has been cloaked in secrecy and it’s unclear how many others have been questioned by the FBI." Inevitable. The leak may be an effort to make it harder for Trump to fire Mueller. Anyway, the "nothing here" defense no longer holds up.
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Post by buckybasser on Jun 14, 2017 18:27:44 GMT -5
How wonderful OB.
Unnamed sources - unauthorized to speak publically about an ongoing investigation - leak details to the nation's leading print source of leftist propaganda!
And (coincidentally of course) on the same day an alt-left extremist Bernie operative attempts to start a violent political revolution by shooting members of the GOP at softball practice.
Got to change that news cycle at CNN... Got to give Rachel something to talk about... Scalise will probably live - and he is NRA anyways... The gun did it...
Lets get right back to not accepting election results and destroying the republic!
Yeah liberalism - you must be so proud.
Absolutely sickening.
>O
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Post by Old Badger on Jun 14, 2017 18:35:13 GMT -5
Get a grip. You're connecting a long-expected leak on the investigation with a nut-case shooting at Members of Congress? You really are losing it. I guess the endless failures since the GOP took over all the levers must have you frustrated, but this is beyond dumb.
EDIT: CNN is reporting that Mueller met with Burr and Warner today. That would lead me to speculate that the leak actually came from Capitol Hill, perhaps DC's most permeable sieve.
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Post by buckybasser on Jun 14, 2017 19:59:40 GMT -5
As must be the case when you worship the world's most failed political ideology, your random 'nut-case' characterization entirely ignores the facts. This is purely political and here are some inconvenient facts about your party's media-created Frankenstein shooter... - Still distraught over the 2016 election (like all the liberals and their lap dog media)
- Said it is time to destroy Trump & Company (like 98% of the panelists shown on lap dog media)
- HUGE fan of Rachel Maddow (the new chosen lap dog of the alt-left)
- Bernie campaign volunteer (because the DNC's rapid destruction of the republic is just too slow)
- Trolled near ball field to ensure he was shooting only Republicans
Thinking that the Washington Post is a legitimate news source?
Thinking that the Washington Post would not selectively choose when to run a story in order to change a news cycle to inflict the most damage on Trump?
Well - these thoughts place you in an escape pod leaving the 'beyond dumb' galaxy for places even further beyond...
>O
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Post by Old Badger on Jun 14, 2017 21:08:36 GMT -5
Have a drink, get a good night's sleep, call your shrink in the morning, and get your head on straight, please.
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Post by Old Badger on Jun 15, 2017 10:13:28 GMT -5
WP has a nice summary of the three "prongs" of the Mueller investigation: Russian election meddling and possible collusion with the Trump campaign: A key question is whether Russia merely preferred Trump or worked with members of his campaign. Comey confirmed in previous testimony March 20 that the FBI was investigating the possibility of collusion between the campaign and Russia. Former CIA director John Brennan testified May 23 that his agency alerted the FBI last year to a troubling pattern of contacts between Russian officials and Trump associates...Trump associates reportedly under scrutiny include the president's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and former advisers Roger Stone and Carter Page. Possible attempts to obstruct justice: The timing of the FBI's decision to investigate the president for possible obstruction coincides with Trump's admission, in a May 11 interview with NBC News, that he was thinking of the Russia probe when he terminated Comey...A second potential concern for Mueller relates to actions Trump might have taken to impede a separate FBI investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn.. Possible financial crimes: The Post reported that investigators are scrutinizing meetings held by Jared Kushner, Trump's adviser and son-in-law, including a December sit-down with Sergey Gorkov, the head of Vnesheconombank, which was sanctioned by the Obama administration after Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its support of separatists in eastern Ukraine...Investigators also are examining the dealings of Flynn. A grand jury in Alexandria, Va., has issued subpoenas for records related to Flynn’s businesses and finances...In March, Flynn retroactively registered with the Justice Department as a paid foreign agent for Turkish interests.
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Post by Old Badger on Jun 15, 2017 15:18:00 GMT -5
Two law professors make the case for obstruction of justice charges against Trump: "So far, the case against Mr. Trump involves three key events. First, James Comey said that when he was the F.B.I. director, the president told him in a Valentine’s Day chat, 'I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go.' Two Federal Courts of Appeals have held that similar 'I hope' statements can — depending on the context — support charges of obstruction. "Second, President Trump reportedly asked the director of national intelligence, Daniel Coats, in a private meeting in late March if Coats could get the F.B.I. to back off its Flynn probe. President Nixon’s attempt to use the C.I.A. to shut down the Watergate investigation was one of the reasons the House Judiciary Committee voted for articles of impeachment on obstruction charges. "Last, President Trump fired Mr. Comey on May 9 and then said on television that the firing was related to the Russia inquiry — a signal to Comey’s replacement, Acting Director Andrew McCabe, that he should roll back the investigation if he wanted to stay on as F.B.I. chief. "Even if none of those specific incidents would qualify as obstruction on its own, federal courts have said that an entire course of conduct can constitute obstruction. And whether Mr. Trump succeeded in his efforts is legally irrelevant, because federal law criminalizes attempted obstruction as well as successful obstruction. Nor does it matter whether there was an actual underlying crime."
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Post by buckybasser on Jun 15, 2017 16:30:14 GMT -5
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Post by Old Badger on Jun 15, 2017 18:29:38 GMT -5
You can trot out all the quotations you want, 'basser, but at the end of the day there's Mueller and his team, Trump has to worry about. And they are a more formidable lot than the cited op-ed writers; from The Guardian: Lisa Page, a justice department trial attorney with a substantial record of investigating Russian and former Soviet organised crime and in particular its reputed godfather, Semion Mogilevich. Andrew Weissmann, an organised crime expert who oversaw lengthy cases in the US district court for the eastern district of New York focused on the city’s mafia families and their infiltration of Wall Street. Michael Dreeben, a former deputy solicitor general who has argued more than 100 cases before the US supreme court. Rosenzweig described him on the Lawfare blog as “quite possibly the best criminal appellate lawyer in America” and said he represented even worse news for Trump last week than Comey’s damning testimony. James Quarles, who was part of the Watergate taskforce and focus on irregularities in GOP campaign finance. Former FBI agent, Aaron Zebley, a cybersecurity specialist who, according to Wired magazine, was part of the bureau’s I-49 counter-terrorism unit, which helped track down the bombers who blew up the US embassies in east Africa in 1998. He worked as a counsel at the justice department’s national security division. Jeannie Rhee, who was deputy assistant attorney general in the Obama administration and is an expert on the intersection of criminal law and government. “This is a team with wide expertise that is really top notch,” said Karen Greenberg, the director of the Center on National Security at Fordham University. “These are people who have a number of competencies who have dealt with fraud and corruption and who know government well. All of them know obstruction of justice and many have worked with Mueller and with each other before.”
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Post by buckybasser on Jun 15, 2017 19:00:59 GMT -5
I do not know the answer to this, but I know liberalism quicker than you can tie (or now likely Velcro ) your shoe... How many folks that you listed are donors to the DNC or other radical alt-left lunatic fringe extremist groups (I.e. AFL-CIO, AFSCME, Audubon, NEA, SEIU, Sierra Club, Teamsters, WWF)? I am just so curious because we certainly do not want politics to influence this critical investigation! Please do tell us just how neutral the Mueller team is before I can find their extremist affiliations. The simplest way to proceed is to go person-by-person on your list. >O
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Post by buckybasser on Jun 15, 2017 19:27:19 GMT -5
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Post by Old Badger on Jun 15, 2017 19:40:51 GMT -5
How many folks that you listed are donors to the DNC or other radical alt-left lunatic fringe extremist groups (I.e. AFL-CIO, AFSCME, Audubon, NEA, SEIU, Sierra Club, Teamsters, WWF)? You didn't have to check; it was in the story I linked. And how many GOP contributors, would you guess? Let's start with Mueller himself, lol! Here's the actual latest news: Trump is "lashing out" at reports Mueller's investigating possible obstruction, always a tell with him. More telling: Pence has hired a lawyer. Also, "Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is investigating the finances and business dealings of Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, as part of the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, according to officials familiar with the matter. FBI agents and federal prosecutors have also been examining the financial dealings of other Trump associates, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Carter Page, who was listed as a foreign-policy adviser for the campaign." Dershowitz, Turley, and McCarthy can write all the op-eds they like, but Mueller is running the investigation.
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Post by Old Badger on Jun 15, 2017 22:22:15 GMT -5
J. Beauregard Sessions lied to Congress yet again: "An American lobbyist for Russian interests who helped craft an important foreign policy speech for Donald Trump has confirmed that he attended two dinners hosted by Jeff Sessions during the 2016 campaign, apparently contradicting the attorney general’s sworn testimony given this week. Sessions testified under oath on Tuesday that he did not believe he had any contacts with lobbyists working for Russian interests over the course of Trump’s campaign. But Richard Burt, a former ambassador to Germany during the Reagan administration, who has represented Russian interests in Washington, told the Guardian that he could confirm previous media reports that stated he had contacts with Sessions at the time."
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Post by bigapplebucky on Jun 19, 2017 19:36:52 GMT -5
Nixon ran Watergate and 45 and the Republicans have and are colluding with the Russians. Obvious from the beginning for both.
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Post by jon on Jun 21, 2017 8:20:35 GMT -5
Well, we are beginning to see Dems backing away from this particular hoax, and now they are blocking witness testimony.http://freebeacon.com/national-security/democrats-block-witnesses-testifying-house-intel-probe/
¨Schiff has asserted in the past that evidence of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign is "more than circumstantial," contrary to other intelligence and congressional oversight members who have said there is no evidence.
On Sunday, Schiff appeared to back off his earlier comments somewhat. Pressed on ABC News to explain the nature of the evidence of collusion, the lawmaker said: "Well, I think there is evidence. I can't go into the particulars of our closed investigation. But I also think there is also evidence of obstruction. But in both cases, I would say, whether there is some evidence doesn't mean there is proof beyond a reasonable doubt."
BTW, if there was Russian influence in the election it was because the Obama administration was unable to maintain the most basic security. But the point here may be that any real investigation will reveal systemic criminality in the Obama administration surveilance & unmasking of its political opponents. I would love to see Trey Gowdy question Rice, Comey, Powers, et al under oath. If Mueller is not a political hack---a big if---this whole thing will blow back on the Dems so hard they will become irrelevant.
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Post by Old Badger on Jun 22, 2017 7:38:53 GMT -5
¨Schiff has asserted in the past that evidence of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign is "more than circumstantial," contrary to other intelligence and congressional oversight members who have said there is no evidence. On Sunday, Schiff appeared to back off his earlier comments somewhat. Pressed on ABC News to explain the nature of the evidence of collusion, the lawmaker said: "Well, I think there is evidence. I can't go into the particulars of our closed investigation. But I also think there is also evidence of obstruction. But in both cases, I would say, whether there is some evidence doesn't mean there is proof beyond a reasonable doubt." So contrary to the Beacon story and your post, Schiff actually is saying now what he was saying before. Ho-hum.
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Post by Old Badger on Jun 23, 2017 10:48:40 GMT -5
The WP has just put out a front-page story: "In political terms, Russia’s interference was the crime of the century, an unprecedented and largely successful destabilizing attack on American democracy. It was a case that took almost no time to solve, traced to the Kremlin through cyber-forensics and intelligence on Putin’s involvement. And yet, because of the divergent ways Obama and Trump have handled the matter, Moscow appears unlikely to face proportionate consequences." Obama was informed by the CIA in early August, but spent 5 months dithering over what to do, "debated dozens of options for deterring or punishing Russia, including cyberattacks on Russian infrastructure, the release of CIA-gathered material that might embarrass Putin and sanctions that officials said could 'crater' the Russian economy. But in the end, in late December, Obama approved a modest package combining measures that had been drawn up to punish Russia for other issues — expulsions of 35 diplomats and the closure of two Russian compounds — with economic sanctions so narrowly targeted that even those who helped design them describe their impact as largely symbolic." I'm increasingly furious about how Obama dealt with this Russian attack on our system. He should have been honest with the public last summer.
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Post by Old Badger on Jun 23, 2017 17:05:30 GMT -5
So, Trump now is threatening to fire Mueller. Everyone knows that he wants to do it to end the investigation. Everyone knows he's being held back by his more seasoned staff. But everyone also knows that he won't be able to stop himself. The question for the Republican Party then will be whether they are prepared to stand by this guy, or finally will grow a pair and vote to set up an Independent Counsel. There's no doubt at all the Dems will introduce a bill to do just that, and force the GOP to vote on it. And they'll be running ads in the districts of vulnerable Members asking why they're hiding Russian attacks on our elections.
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Post by Old Badger on Jun 25, 2017 15:16:50 GMT -5
Trump's new defense: Blame the Democrats! Sure, he may have colluded with the Russians but: Donald J. TrumpVerified account @realdonaldtrump Hillary Clinton colluded with the Democratic Party in order to beat Crazy Bernie Sanders. Is she allowed to so collude? Unfair to Bernie! LOL! Yes, Hillary "colluded" with Democrats! So, I guess that means it's OK for Trump to have colluded with the Russians because, hell, everybody "colludes" with somebody! But not only was it Hilary's fault, oh no, as explained by Kellyanne Conway:: “It's the Obama administration that was responsible for doing absolutely nothing from August to January with the knowledge that Russia was hacking into our election. They did absolutely nothing. They're responsible for this.” Obama did it, too! Why didn't they stop our collusion with the Russians and WikiLeaks when they were in power? If they had, maybe we wouldn't be here in the WH taking all this guff from the media. Damn those cunning Democrats for doing this to us! My only question: Are these guys employed by Comedy Channel to write this stuff?
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Post by buckybasser on Jun 25, 2017 17:06:01 GMT -5
Actually OB - the comedy (or irony) is that anyone ever believes the propagandists of the world's most failed political ideology. When your ideas & policies are doomed to fail at a 100% rate and can never be fixed - what do you do to get votes? You must create a fictional narrative because there is no other option... You are selling the world's most assuredly failed product - luckily the U.S. has lots of willing sheep! Plato, More, Fourier, Saint-Simon, Owen, Marx, Engels, Babeuf, Lenin, Stalin, Crosland, Mitterrand, Debs, Mao, Minh, Sihanouk, Castro... What more do you need? Liberalism is a Ford Pinto that self destructs if you try to make it safe - it can never be tweaked or altered for success - the result doomed for all of time... So the party of (sore) losers must change the story from the utter failure of everything & anything liberal to the evil Donald Trump monster... Oh no! See a Coal Monster here or a Bigfoot? To the Political Science students who read me here (BTW - Thanks!) you should have seen it in November! Start of Russian Probe a radical liberal NYT operative hoax:
nypost.com/2017/06/24/inside-the-shadowy-intelligence-firm-behind-the-trump-dossier/Radical DNC Operatives at CNN retract Trump / Russia (fake) story:
www.buzzfeed.com/passantino/cnn-russia-coverage-publishing-restrictions?utm_term=.qbq1bWEmX#.tjOmQOK2yRussia / Trump story failing miserably on the campaign trail:thehill.com/homenews/campaign/339248-dems-push-leaders-to-talk-less-about-russia>O
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Post by Old Badger on Jun 25, 2017 22:19:01 GMT -5
Alas, 'basser, as the utter disaster of the current Administration becomes more and more obvious, you seem to have gone further and further into that fantasy world of yours. I get the impulse to denial, but I have to admit I find it disheartening because when you try to be lucid you add to the discussion, but when you go off on these weird tangents I have to admit I just stop reading. It's a totally ineffective form of communication, which I've tried to explain many times. Rather than provoking thoughtful interchange, it shuts it down. FWIW
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Post by Old Badger on Jun 25, 2017 22:35:35 GMT -5
Even Republicans despair at Trump's denials: "Government officials, members of Congress from both parties and even some Trump supporters had hoped that, with the campaign behind him, Mr. Trump would finally speak declaratively about the email hacking and recognize the threat Russian cyberattacks present, without asterisks, wisecracks, caveats or obfuscation. That hope has dissipated...It is not easy to explain why the president won’t concede the Russia question, but aides and friends say the matter hits him where he is most vulnerable. Mr. Trump, who often conflates himself with the institutions he serves, sees questions about Russia as an effort by Democrats and stragglers from the 'Never Trump' movement to delegitimize his election victory...Officials in a number of states have complained that the White House has done little to try to safeguard the 2018 and 2020 elections against potential Russian intrusions, even as evidence grows that there were efforts to tamper with voter rolls last year." Trump continues to act like a recalcitrant child, a guilty colluder, or both. It's asinine, and self-destructive. But here's how one of his former campaign officials explains this inexplicable behavior: “If Putin adamantly denies that he did it, it’s frankly not an issue to the president.”
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Post by buckybasser on Jun 27, 2017 15:15:55 GMT -5
A fantasy world, denial and weird tangent versus actual video tape?
I repeat (no commentary) my post was a 'fantasy world, denial and a weird tangent'...
Except there is an actual video proving what I said is 100% true! Oops - how utterly embarrassing and there goes the narrative...
Also, when is somebody going to start paying me for ideas (using Pravda exactly like I have for years) that I put out for free on this friggin' message board!?
Stop stealing my stuff! Sheesh!
>O
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Post by Old Badger on Jun 27, 2017 17:10:51 GMT -5
A fantasy world, denial and weird tangent versus actual video tape? Why would anyone rely on a "news" channel for anything but video of ongoing events? CNN doesn't do news anymore; they do a version of Fox's opinionating. Worse than worthless.
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Post by buckybasser on Jun 27, 2017 18:11:11 GMT -5
YES! We can finally agree! I do not watch any cable news - FOX or CNN! On some days I will consume up to 12 hours of A.M. conservative talk radio while working... You should try this - it might make you more normal. >O
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