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

Dude, post your own thoughts.

 

Sessions stepping down is an admission of guilt, 100 percent.

How long until Trump is out of office? He is in full twitter meltdown mode. Embarrassing.

 

Known liberal operative Evan McMullin:

 

Trump is confirming a lot of rumored information regarding FISA warrants with today's meltdown. He is learning just how far up his ass our and foreign intelligence agencies really were... rather, he has learned how far up the asses of the Russians with whom he colludes/does business our agencies were.

He better keep booking self enrichment trips to Mar a Lago because, if this pace keeps up, he might not get a chance to lift sanctions on Russia and cash in as per the Steele Dossier (which looks more credible everyday).

 

It's not going away Trumplstiltskins...

Despite early denials, growing list of Trump camp contacts with Russians haunts White House

 

I'd like to point out, as a fan of network graphs, that the graph above does not show that Trump has any known link to Vladimir Putin, but instead has a known link to the "Russian Government".

 

A difference without distinction.

 

Trump Seeks Inquiry Into Unproved Allegations That Obama Tapped His Phones - The New York Times
https://apple.news/AwzUkdb9MRH2Hs6fCyGo8Ug

The desperation is at epic levels, now. My guess is that Trump and his people realize they are cornered on the Russia collusion and Trumpnis freaking out. He knows the end may be near. Time to publicize both the evidence behind the warrants, the transcripts generated from the FISA warrant, and Trump's tax returns.

To gin up a new birther-style conspiracy and demand investigations is a textbook authoritarian move, despite it clearly being a Trump Twitter tantrum inspired by reading conspiracy websites. If House Republicans fall in line to use investigative power to distract from the core issues and intimidate opponents instead of bringing all we know about Russia and Trump to light, then we are officially in Banana Republic territory. FoxNews state TV is already falling in line, and their misinformed viewers are likely not far behind.

Democracy is clearly a fragile thing... and ours is in danger. The more Trump, the Republican administration, and the congressional GOP dig in to protect their power, the closer we get to a point of no return with respect to dealing with Trump/Bannon/Russia without a constitutional crisis or worse.

Thank goodness there are some in the GOP like Lindsey Graham who aren't toeing the party line.

 

Josh Marshall offers that Trump may not be colluding with Russia but simply a guy who knows his business ties may/will reveal shady connections and embarrassing information.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-innocent-explanation-part-2-the-mailer-standard

This is more inline with the "useful idiot" interpretation of Trump just being a greedy con man who Putin saw as an easy mark to exploit in Putin's war against the West/NATO. Hard to imagine, but all of Trump's behavior could be explained by wanting to keep his finances secret while his aides and advisors hold their own agendas. Any way it goes, congress needs to publicize those tax returns.

 

Trump apparently wants wire-tapping to be part of the investigation into Russia. As far as anyone can tell, there is as much evidence tying Trump and his campaign to the Russian hacks as there is evidence showing Trump's Tower was wire-tapped.

 

Actually the evidence tying Trump and his campaign to the Russian subversion of our democratic process is completely circumstantial, but there is far more of it than the evidence about Trump tower being wire-tapped.

That being said, I really do hope the investigation expands to include this. It would be awesome.

 

Supposedly, Trump wants to use Russia to stunt Iran's growing influence and power within Syria. This would appease two US allies: Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Perhaps this is not the approach favored by Republicans OR Democrats. The only other two options really are to either deploy tens of thousands of US troops or find another regional ally to substitute for Russia (Turkey?).

The whole notion that Trump is some kind of Russian spy who has been "cultivated" for over a decade is so ludicrous that it warrants actual evidence. Yet, this is the working theory of many CF members and other Americans. It's scary to think how little evidence people need to jump to conclusion. Again, it's as though Trump has this uncanny ability to force people to stoop to his level and forget about their own game plan (i.e. Republican debates, presidential debates, media, etc).

 

Where are you getting this from? This is the false narrative that the right has been trying to use to dismiss the whole issue. We want to know about quid pro quo and colllusion with Russian interests to loosen sanctions, negotiating with a foreign government, hacking, etc. Who is honestly saying on this BBS or in the MSM that Trump and some of his key surrogates are active Russian spies/subverters?

 

Nope. This is the real deal. Russia is also part of Trump's vision for the war on terror.

Netanyahu to meet Putin, says Iran seeks permanent foothold in Syria

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday to voice opposition to what the Israeli leader charged were Iran's attempts to establish a permanent military foothold in Syria.

"In the framework of a (future peace agreement) or without one, Iran is attempting to base itself permanently in Syria - either through a military presence on the ground or a naval presence - and also through a gradual attempt to open a front against us on the Golan Heights," Netanyahu told his cabinet in public remarks on Sunday.

...

 

Reuters? Are we believing the MSM today? Fake news or real news? I'm so confused!

 

This is all well and good for Netanyahu. But, it doesn't change the fact that Russia's Syria campaign has focused on maintaining Bashar al-Assad's grip on power and that Assad, as an Alawite, will always seek support from Shia Iran against the Sunni Arabs surrounding him.

 

Huh? What does this have to do with the topic of Russian-spies-sleeper-cell-in-The-Whitehouse? Maybe I'm the one missing the point...which wouldn't be the first time, I admit.

 

Where are you seeing evidence for Russian spies in the White House?

You'd almost think that's kind of why Israel is worried about the war in Syria.

 

I was asking you about this, you seem to claim that the Trump detractors here on the BBS and in the MSM are claiming that Trump is a Russian spy or Manchurian Candidate being controlled by Russia to subvert the US of A. I said I'm not aware of any serious person saying this; we want to know about the connections, quid pro quo, etc. In essence, there is some kind of "there" there and we should know through an independent investigation. Especially after the latest round of wide-eyed, spittle throwing accusations rolling off the Trump Twitter Train.

 

Totally! But where I'm confused is why overtures to Russia are the key to some sort of tolerable peace in Syria. Russia supports Assad who is supported by Iran. Ergo, a dominant Alawite government in Syria gives Iran a strategic foothold near Israel (more than they already have with Hezbollah in Lebanon). Why is Russia being treated like a peaceful partner in all of this?

Putin's motivations are not, and should be not, aligned with those of the US.