[NYT] Trump Campaign Aides Had Repeated Contacts With Russian Intelligence

Nothing ever sticks.

 

Were they knowingly communicating with Russian spies?

 

until the transcripts of the conversations are published no one will know for sure.

 

Well, he literally came out and said it.

"The leaks are absolutely real, the news is fake, because so much of the news is fake."

 

LOL. This is the world of the Trumpee. Leaks are absolutely real and is false.

 

The leaks only documented the factual conversations that happened, that ultimately led to the truth…

Where have I heard that before?

 

I don't see how Flynn is going to avoid being charged by the FBI. I doubt that even Comey, who blatantly came down in support of Trump late in the election (and is keeping his job, when damned near every other carry over from the previous administration is out the door), will be able to save Mr. Flynn. He lied to the FBI. That's a felony. I don't think he's the only member of Trump's inner circle who will eventually face serious charges.

 

So...what happened here? Looks like the CIA's attempt to blackmail TRump hasn't gone much further.

 

Yep, that's right. All of the investigations are completely over, and all the results have been analyzed. Plus the CIA will have to deal with less money since they were going to make fortune blackmailing Trump.

 

Check out John Schindler, former NSA agent turned reporter: https://twitter.com/20committee

Don't let a short attention span distract you from the fact that President Trump has an eery and unnatural amount of affection for Putin's Russia while those around him have financial incentive to praise our enemy.

 

I don't see how republicans in congress can bury any investigation of Trump officials and Russian government officials.

Trump campaign chairman Manafort faced blackmail attempt, hacks suggest

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/paul-manafort-blackmail-russia-trump-235275

 

Did you see what happened last Friday? This was big news that didn't get a ton of coverage, and certainly govt. officials were tight lipped about it given the nature of the information that the FBI shared with the Ethics committee.

(Basically Comey with the FBI met with the Ethics committee in a closed door confidential meeting)

Commitments directly after about multiple investigations going forward at multiple levels of the government. The question is now... can the FBI, the GOP leaders, & the committee members BURY the information they got or present the results of the investigation that do NOT incriminate Trump (ala Hillary's email investigation)????

Best case scenario the Republicans & Trump have is a Clinton/Email type of solution. This isn't going away folks. For the Democratic leaders that have a voice and the media.... NEVER mention Trump's name without involving the Russian investigation. The GOP did a great job of smearing Hillary for two years with the email scandal & Benghazi. Dems need to learn from this tactic and just keep telling America Trump=Russian scandal. Don't get distracted by the shiny new object.

Worst case scenario for Trump/GOP is that there is so much evidence against Trump that they see/find THAT THE MEDIA WILL EVENTUALLY REPORT FROM A LEAK that they then have to charge Trump with a crime. I think its more likely right now the FBI & GOP are looking at ways of burying this scandal IF whatever information they have isn't going to leak. Nobody should trust the FBI to do the right thing here unless they have to cover their own A#$.

 

The

The FBI, GOP, and committee are not the ones with the info. The recordings of Flynn and the Russian ambassador were made by someone else.

 

Right. If I remember correctly that one thing you are talking about (Flynn's call intercepted on the 29th of Dec) was an intelligence intercept but it didn't say which agency I don't think. I'd assume wire taps are probably CIA or NSA.

However the key investigation, based on the information I have, is going to be heavily relying on the FBI, and the Attorney Generals office (another side note about Sessions & recusing himself) since those are the primary "Law Enforcement Entities" responsible for prosecution or not. So the information is there, and this Flynn phone call, based on what we've heard is just one piece of information. But the big thing that folks have focused on is the transcript from the call because if only once Flynn said something like "The President wanted me to tell you X..." he's potentially incriminated Trump himself.

My point being, if the Dems are as good at nasty politics as the GOP is, the Trump Russia scandal should at the very least be Hillary/Private server level EVEN with a Comey/Sessions cover up.

 

unless an independent counsel is appointed, there is zero chance anything will come from this. Even if an independent counsel is appointed, there is still a very small chance of finding any criminal action by the Trump camp.

 

I agree, unless the information they have they believe is compromised and subject to be leaked either from the media or from foreign parties such as the Russians (who might blackmail the President for instance). If it comes out that the FBI & AG covered up for the President it will be bad bad news for the country.

I would expect that if there is enough outcry & pressure (not sure how much pressure the Dems & the general public can put but...), they will try to establish a "Warren Report" type of "Independent Investigation" where the purpose is to really button up the incident where the country can move on. Lets face it.... the JFK assassination is the blueprint for buttoning up an incident nicely to close the case... despite if you believe the Grassy Knoll theory or any other theory.

More than likely though, as I suggest, its going to turn out to be like the Hillary/Private server scandal in the end. Even an Benghazi-type of investigation is highly unlikely with a Republican house. The major point I'm making though is that if the Dems are good at dirty politics like the GOP is they will continue to hammer away and away and away about this one weak point to force that narrative into the minds of Americans like the GOP is very good at. When you think of Hillary you think Benghazi & Email scandal. Dems need to make sure that when you think of Trump you think Russian puppet.

 

The only way I see real damage can be done is somehow the CIA/NSA is able to get Russian documents showing that Trump camp colluded with the Russians, if such documents actually exits, like phone or chat transcripts, voice recordings, etc.

 

Maybe I'm just being pessimistic here, but I think even the CIA/NSA can bury any condemning information if they have enough pressure put on them to do so from their superiors in the Govt. and if they believe the information isn't compromised and at risk of leaking. That's the most important part IMO. Would Nixon have had to resign if the journalist Carl Bernstein hadn't received leaked information on Nixon? I think that's a big part of how the intelligence community will cooperate with the investigation & provide the "needed" results"

Of course this is based on the theory that the circumstantial evidence we have now turns out to incriminate Trump personally. Of course its always the case that Flynn & Mannafort had "Gone Rogue", but anyone with half a brain would realize that its highly unlikely Trump was in the dark on the contacts with Russia for two full years with at least two of his top campaign officials.

 

Yes, the worst case is someone like Flynn or his advisers take the hit, I do not believe for a second they will be able to get Trump. However, if his camp is indicated, that is as good as indicting him I think, he will not win a second term in that case.

 

House GOP behaving predictably:
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-conflicts-house-resolution-235288