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

While Trumpsters continue to circle the wagons, more key republicans call for Sessions to recuse himself and/or call for an independent investigation...

 

He said all kinds of dumb **** and did many reprehensible actions and he still got voted in. He is like the Teflon Don.

 

Obama threatened Britons on Brexit was that business as usual? I think it is and since you disagree you must have been really upset at Obama for election interfering impacting an entire continent!

 

but they still want to blame the Russians instead of themselves. idiots.

 

And yet, the British Parliament doesn't want Trump to visit... go figure!

 

The Russians interfering in themselves is a deal but not a huge one. The Russians interfering because they have something to gain by having Donald become president (due to some sort of backroom deal with Donald) IS a big story and should be thoroughly investigated especially since Mr. Trump refuses to show his taxes to show he has no business ties to Russia.

 

No. There you go again.

What most of us seek, including many Republicans and independents, mind you, is understanding just exactly what the Russians did and with whom they were communicating as we approached our presidential election. Now, we have to ask, why would two of Trump's appointees lie about (or at the very least obfuscate and hide) their communications with Russian officials. And why, the majority of Americans want to know, won't the POTUS share his tax returns? He promised he would do so if and when he won the presidency.

You can keep saying it's business as usual, but according to most of the intelligence community, it is simply not. If you want to discount an entire field of experts, okay, but it doesn't help your position carry much water.

Nobody (okay, very very small group) thinks the Russians elected Trump. But the Russians wanted to elect Trump, and he has a disturbing number of campaign connections to Russia. Some logical people believe it's just too many to claim coincidence. I'm willing to await more evidence and want a very independent investigation.

 

Well, you might be right about that but add something very important: as AG, he would be in charge of prosecuting any improper collaboration with a foreign government that tried to influence our election. He needs to be squeaky clean, at minimum, of all this Russian weirdness if he's going to help get to the bottom of it. I think that is what's amplified the story. It's just ****ing fishy that he went out of his way to claim he definitely hadn't had any contacts. Why the hell do that? Maybe it was, as you suggest, just an odd mistake in a long confirmation hearing. It's difficult to answer waves and waves of questions, if you aren't used to it.

 

Another connecting point...

Trump Jr. Was Apparently Paid at Least $50,000 by Kremlin-Connected Foreign-Policy Group

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slat...m_russia_connected_group.html?ref=patrick.net

 

He did not vote for Trump but he is defending him like president Trump is his dear leader, more than people I know that voted for Trump.

 

I don't care who he voted for, he just keeps repeating falsehoods about people he would label his foes, making them cartoons and strawmen instead of respectfully dealing with their legitimate concerns. Guess it makes it easier to hate people, or something. Humans gonna human.

 

Concern Comey is covering for the man he helped get elected:
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/schiff-doj-235615

But her emails...

 

I know Trump and Russia don't have a secret evil plot to rule the world simply because everyone and their mothers knows about these small time conversations. You guys can't be that stupid or that smart.

 

He should definitely recuse himself of this particular case (really even without this controversy).

 

This isn't about world domination. Like any country, Russia's chief objective is self-preservation and the sanctions imposed on it for annexing Crimea/continued meddling in Ukraine were severely harming their economy. In a kleptocratic society that depends on a few major exports for cash, the freezing of bank accounts and energy exports amount to an existential crisis.

A unified Western front, embodied by the EU and NATO, represented a continued threat to the Putin government and Russian stability. Thus, the campaign to undermine confidence in Western democracy. If anti-international feeling could be eroded via social media, strategic hacking and leaking of political communications, and a major party's candidate/patsy sought nothing but praise while stoking nationalist fervor, Russia could not only see sanctions removed, but realign the geopolitical world order that has seen it isolated after the collapse of the USSR. Combine that desire with Putin's personal animus toward Hillary Clinton and you have a very motivated party.

I do not think Russia believed Donald Trump would win the election. But, they still shot their shot. Once he won and the transition was underway, I believe that's what motivated the surreptitious communication regarding sanctions between Trump team officials and Russian officials. Now Russia is emboldened and meddling in German and French elections this year. The more Russia can fragment the Western alliance, the more it can reemerge into what it believes as its rightful place in the geopolitical world.

 

From 2/27:

"The committee's ranking Democrat, Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), quickly responded, saying the committee's investigation is in its "infancy" and it's too soon to reach conclusions about the evidence.

"We haven't obtained any of the evidence yet, so it's premature for us to be saying we've reached any conclusion about the issue of collusion," Schiff said. "The most that we've had are private conversations, the chair and I, with intelligence officials. That's not a substitute for an investigation."

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wa...gence-panel-publicizes-scope-of-russia-probe/

 

Breaking... Sessions will recuse himself...

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/atto...ns-recusing-campaign-probes/story?id=45858137

 

Yikes, shades of General Flynn: