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

I suspect that was Nixon's early defense too...

 

Nixon was stupid for keeping the tapes, he could have destroyed them all before anyone called for them. I do not believe there is such evidence on Trump, unless the Russians have them and use them for some reason.

 

Heck, for all we know, Wikileaks has tapes...

 

... and the rats, er, top republicans are fleeing the Sessions sinking ship:

Republican Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House of Representatives Oversight Committee, said on Twitter that Sessions "should clarify his testimony and recuse himself."

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the No. 2 House Republican, told MSNBC, "I just think for any investigation going forward, you want to make sure everybody trusts the investigation," McCarthy said. Asked if that meant Sessions should recuse himself from the investigation, McCarthy said: "I think it would be easier from that standpoint, yes." In a later interview with Fox News, Mccarthy said he was not calling for Sessions to recuse himself, saying he would leave the decision to Sessions.

Republican Senator Jeff Flake, a member of Judiciary Committee, told Reuters, "Obviously he is going to need to clarify and likely recuse himself from any investigation with regard to the Russians." But Flake added Democrats were premature in demanding Sessions' resignation.

Recusing himself for what I wonder?

 

As the London branch of RT, I do not suspect that Wikileaks will be releasing them if they have them.

 

Wow there are a lot of people trying hard to spin this. There must be some real worry from the pro-Sessions crowd.

 

I know its still early, but would Ted Cruz be a candidate for US Attorney General? Perhaps Sheriff Clarke? Sheriff Joe?

 

People never learn, lying is more damaging than the actual acts.

 

Looks like this decision was a mistake, no?

Trump’s team nixed ethics course for White House staff

By Isaac Arnsdorf and Josh Dawsey
03/02/17 06:00 AM EST

President Donald Trump’s team rejected a course for senior White House staff, Cabinet nominees and other political appointees that would have provided training on leadership, ethics and management, according to documents obtained by POLITICO.

The documents suggest the program could have better prepared officials for working within existing laws and executive orders, and provided guidance on how to navigate Senate confirmation for nominees and political appointees, how to deal with congressional and media scrutiny, and how to work with Congress and collaborate with agencies — some of the same issues that have become major stumbling blocks in the early days of the administration.

But the contract was never awarded because after the election the transition team shifted its priorities, according to a letter the General Services Administration sent to bidders such as the Partnership for Public Service. The program was expected to cost $1 million, the documents show.

It is unclear whether the administration put in place its own program or offered any rigorous training to appointees and nominees across the government. The contract-based training program was authorized in 2000. The Obama and Bush transitions both received the training.

“It has been determined that the requirements as defined in the RFQ do not accurately reflect the current needs of the Presidential Transition Team,” the GSA contracting officer, Matthew Gormley, wrote in the Jan. 10 letter.

The agency’s cancellation notice elaborated on the reasons for dropping the program.

“As a result of a change in Presidential Transition Team leadership after the Nov. 8, 2016, election, there have been changes in the PTT’s goals for the political appointee orientation program,” it said. Shortly after the election, Vice President Mike Pence took over running the transition from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Several political appointees at agencies said they received very little training and that the period between the election and Inauguration Day was hectic. There has also been little contact between the political appointees at agencies and the longtime civil servants because of a lack of trust, several of these people said.

The lack of training likely fueled a series of early missteps in the presidency, as aides fired off executive orders and new rules without briefing Congress or their peers at agencies.

"It looks like a good program, and I wish they had implemented it,” said Norm Eisen, a White House ethics lawyer in the Obama administration who now leads the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "It might have spared them the numerous ethics and other messes they have encountered.”

 

More key republicans call for Sessions to recuse himself:

Sen. Rob Portman:

He released a short statement about the attorney general's involvement in any DOJ Russia investigation:

“Jeff Sessions is a former colleague and a friend, but I think it would be best for him and for the country to recuse himself from the DOJ Russia probe.”

Sen. Richard Burr:

The senator from North Carolina brought up that Sessions said in the past he would recuse himself if it was necessary:

“The Attorney General has said he would recuse himself when needed and I trust him to make what he feels is the appropriate decision as to his involvement in any investigation into Russian active measures and the 2016 election.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham to CNN:

It's "a no-brainer" for Sessions to recuse himself if he had contacts with Russians.
However, Graham said he is opposed to a special prosecutor.

 

I'm surprised he's against a special prosecutor--I hold Graham in high regard even though I'm a liberal.

 

I don't know. He said point blank he had had no contact with the Russians, period, and the question from Franken was "during the course of the campaign". The weirdest part to me is not that he had contact but that he went out of his way to say he himself had not had contact with them. The question wasn't even about his own conduct.

Studies on lying show that when people are nervous under questioning they sometimes go to the lie earlier than they need to do so. (Former colleague at my U was a psych expert on this and I've read all her papers.) But Sessions is too experienced and smart to do that, I would think. Just totally bizarro.

 

Trump manages to get one day of decent press thanks to an average (but for Trump way above average) speech and then the next day, a Washington Post story completely obliterates all of that good will.

I dont know how Trump is going to survive four years. They've been in constant crisis mode and its only been 2 months.

 

Franken's question was a follow-up to a question about campaign contact but I know you don't care about those details because you just want to be right.

 

It sounds worse listening to it again, but I think there is room for that to have been a mistake, not an intentional lie.

I do think this is more about politics than anything else. If this wasn't such a divisive administration, and somebody without other question marks on his resume, I don't think there would be so much discussion.

 

I hope the left keeps on the Russian link (which is such a non-story because all foreign parties try to influence each other) because the longer they do the more their party crumbles. Keep tearing yourselves apart!

 

You act like that's an accident. When will you learn that Washington Compost knows exactly what they are doing and when to do it. They are not journalists. They don't serve you or inform you unconditionally. They only serve themselves and their agenda. They are just a tool.

 

If Trump hadn't made so many dumb mistakes, his opponents wouldn't have ammunition with which to attack him.

 

You know better than to act like the Russian interference in our election was just business as usual. Also if you think the left are the ones being torn apart by the Russian stories, then I don't know what to tell you.

 

LOL!