The Russia Investigations and other Trump-related cases

[RoseMorninStar]

General McCaffrey has spoken out as well. Retired four-star Army general: Trump, 'under the sway of Putin,' threatens national security

Reluctantly I have concluded that President Trump is a serious threat to US national security. He is refusing to protect vital US interests from active Russian attacks. It is apparent that he is for some unknown reason under the sway of Mr Putin.
— Barry R McCaffrey (@mccaffreyr3) March 16, 2018

[RoseMorninStar]

Oh, John Brennan too:

“When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America…America will triumph over you,” Brennan tweeted on Saturday.

That's some descriptive writing!

[Frelga]

https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/ ... 4894336000

Politico

WOW. Trey GOWDY addresses Trump's lawyer this AM:

"if you have an innocent client Mr. Dowd, act like it.”

GOWDY also emphasizes that House Intel Committee's Russia report is *NOT* conclusive about collusion -- only that they didn't get evidence of collusion from witnesses they talked to -- and didn't talk to Flynn, Manafort, Papadopoulos, etc.

"You don’t know what you don’t know."

[Voronwë the Faithful]

And Conoway (who supposedly led the investigation after Nunes supposedly recused himself) flat out said they weren't even charged with investigation collusion and didn't do so.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... spartanntp

[Frelga]

I, also, found no evidence that my toll transponder is under the seat in my car because I didn't look for it after it fell. Because this is what it means to find no evidence.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Amongst all the craziness with Trump's tweets and the firing of McCabe (and other Stormy weather on the horizon), it has also come out that prosecutors from Mueller's office had their first face to face meeting with Trump's lawyers to talk about what questions they would want to ask Trump. It is clear that mostly want to interview him about potential obstruction of justice issues.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/19/politics ... index.html

[RoseMorninStar]

I went down the internet rabbit hole today. It began with an article on the Cambridge Analytica/Facebook 'breach' which lead me to articles on Joseph Chancellor, Alexandr Kogan, Christopher Wylie. Which prompted me to look up the SCL group and Global Science Research. Which lead to Robert Mercer, Breitbart/Bannon, and the huge -no, enormous- amounts of money to influence elections all over the world, and eventually landed at an article on Rentec (Rennaisance technologies) featuring some names who are becoming familiar; Dmitry Rybolovlev, Deutsche Bank, Dmitry Firtash, and others. It would seem Robert Mercer is almost certainly a money launderer for Putin and very involved in influencing elections around the world. They REALLY didn't want Hillary Clinton. (However, they seem to have 'hedge-funded' their bets by having James Simon invest in the Clinton campaign). They wanted Ted Cruz and settled for Trump. (I wonder what they make of their investment at this point?) The Russia investigation is obviously about FAR more than Trump and it looks like the tentacles reach around the globe. I would find it difficult to believe Trump did not know about this, and if he didn't/doesn't he's a fool. Bannon almost certainly knows everything.

[Dave_LF]

The Russia investigation is obviously about FAR more than Trump and it looks like the tentacles reach around the globe.

Bingo. That's what motivated me to say earlier that, in my mind, it's become more important to root out the Russian influence than to "get" Trump. e.g. in the event that something like a plea deal could be reached. But he may be in so deep that the two amount to the same thing.

[Cenedril_Gildinaur]

What do people imagine the outcome of this investigation to be?

[Frelga]

Here's Jeff Flake, the Republican Senator from Arizona.

We are begging the president not to fire the special counsel. Don't create a constitutional crisis. Congress cannot preempt such a firing. Our only constitutional remedy is after the fact, through impeachment. No one wants that outcome. Mr. President, please don't go there.

I don't know why he's begging instead of warning, or whom he includes as "we", but I believe this is the first time a Republican spoke in favor of impeachment.

[River]

I suppose, given that Flake is not and never has been on the Trump train and that he's retiring after his current term, he'd be the first of the GOP to go there in public.

I heard Flake interview a few times on NPR during the primaries and the run-up to the 2016 general. After Trump clinched he just sounded so sad I wanted to give him a hug.

[Frelga]

Here's someone who, unlike Flake, doesn't mince words.

An "Ashamed" Fox News Commentator Just Quit The "Propaganda Machine"

This is an excerpt from his email, and the entire thing is well worth reading.

Four decades ago, I took an oath as a newly commissioned officer. I swore to "support and defend the Constitution," and that oath did not expire when I took off my uniform. Today, I feel that Fox News is assaulting our constitutional order and the rule of law, while fostering corrosive and unjustified paranoia among viewers. Over my decade with Fox, I long was proud of the association. Now I am ashamed.

In my view, Fox has degenerated from providing a legitimate and much-needed outlet for conservative voices to a mere propaganda machine for a destructive and ethically ruinous administration. When prime-time hosts--who have never served our country in any capacity--dismiss facts and empirical reality to launch profoundly dishonest assaults on the FBI, the Justice Department, the courts, the intelligence community (in which I served) and, not least, a model public servant and genuine war hero such as Robert Mueller--all the while scaremongering with lurid warnings of "deep-state" machinations-- I cannot be part of the same organization, even at a remove. To me, Fox News is now wittingly harming our system of government for profit.

As a Russia analyst for many years, it also has appalled me that hosts who made their reputations as super-patriots and who, justifiably, savaged President Obama for his duplicitous folly with Putin, now advance Putin's agenda by making light of Russian penetration of our elections and the Trump campaign.

This is Lt Col Ralph Peters, whom Fox has suspended in 2015 for calling President Obama a "total pussy."

[Inanna]

What do people imagine the outcome of this investigation to be?

In terms of outcome? I expect nothing. Nothing will happen, nothing will change.

[River]

I expect indictments from Mueller, fecklessness from Congress, and Twitter tantrums from the White House. Hopefully Mueller's final report will be released to the public in some form or other, and that will come with more fecklessness from Congress and Twitter tantrums from the White House.

[RoseMorninStar]

Law and politics are not my forte. I have gotten sucked in by the sheer absurdity. I can actually recall the day.. a small event in the news on March 4, 2003 in the run-up to the Iraq war.
Outcome? I am not sure. It would be my very uneducated guess the exposure of money laundering & tax evasion (by many individuals) and illegal foreign money (and propaganda) in our elections. Mueller is looking for proof (of whatever) beyond a shadow of a doubt. A very few extremely wealthy people (some of whom are not US citizens) should not have near complete control over our Democratic Republic. Another country should not have control over our elections. CSL & Cambridge Analytica should not illegally be gathering and utilizing information from American citizens to create chaos and propaganda for their own purposes. However, it is likely so enormous.. what will happen? Will anything be done? Perhaps it is too late? They were also involved in Brexit and other elections around the world.

This next section got a bit long, but since I typed it up I'm going to post it. Maybe some of you are aware of the Mercer family. I had heard of them but had not realized the extent of their influence until reading about Cambridge Analytica propaganda machine.

I was reading about Robert Mercer today (and his daughter Rebekah, who is generally seen as the family mouthpiece since Robert is reclusive) and what I've read I have found unsettling. I would say he is likely on the (genius side) of the autism spectrum. He has trouble looking anyone in the eye and doesn't speak much. He is said to be painfully socially awkward and has said, "“I’m happy going through my life without saying anything to anybody.” He is a genius at coding and with data, and as is often the case with autistics, he has odd obsessions and phobias. He prefers the company of cats to humans, which isn't necessarily unusual, but he also doesn't believe most humans have the VALUE of a cat, who can 'at least give pleasure'. His philosophy is devoid of empathy or compassion (I don't say that from an emotional point of view but from reading who he is and the things he has said/believes and his lack of emotional capacity). He believes some pretty far out there (Alt-right) conspiracy stuff and has pumped millions into promoting his theories, which is where Breitbart and Cambridge Analytica come and where we as a nation find ourselves today. While they are right wing, their purpose is not necessarily to influence the Republican party, they wish to obliterate it, and government altogether 'to fit on the head of a pin.' They are libertarians and despise the Republican party. Therefore, they do not care if a buffoon and clown has been elected. They desire chaos. They court failure. The Mercers are accustomed to getting what they want. 100%. I cannot help but wonder if our government fits on the head of a pin, what do they think the consequences of that would be? We would be a push-over for aggressive nations. What about the CDC? and other socially valuable organizations?

Some of the concepts Robert believes and backs with tens of millions. Does any of it sound familiar?
The Japanese are smarter/healthier because of the atomic bomb, so we need not fear atomic warfare or nuclear accidents.
Climate change is a hoax, or if not a hoax global warming is beneficial to humans.
He hates the Clintons and believes that they, with the help of the CIA, are running a drug-running operation out of Mena, Arkansas which involves many murders. He has promoted a lot of far-out anti-Clinton conspiracy theories via propaganda.
He believes the US should have 'kept the oil' in Iraq 'since it was there'. (Expropriating another country’s natural resources is a violation of international law.)
They are heavy backers of Citizens United and contribute more to the Koch fund that the Koch brothers do.
He believes chemtrails really are a thing.
He believes black people were better off 'better taken care of' as slaves.
Human beings are only of value as the sum of their wealth/they are only worth what they are paid. Teachers make little and therefore are worth virtually nothing.
Anyone who does not make money or is on a social program is of negative value. I do not know but I assumed this was aimed at the elderly/disabled? And also those on welfare.
He has odd obsessions. He backed an Oregon man who collects urine for political office
He owns Breitbart (well, his daughters do now) and he supported it with $10 million
One of his model train sets was purchased for $2.7 Million and he has the countries largest (or one of the largest) machine gun collections (and are very pro-gun).
He is pro-death penalty and pro-life (heh). :rolling eyes:
He hates Mitch McConnell.
He has deducted pay from workers as punishment for 'poor work', an example being that a worker did not replace his shampoo bottle which was less than 2/3 empty.
Rebekah Mercer's was on the Trump transition team and General Michael Flynn was her pick for National Security advisor.
RENTEC (Rennaisance Technologies) is the 2nd largest hedge fund in the US and is known for Russian oligarch/Putin money laundering and connections with Deutsche Bank.

Bannon founded the GAI (Government Accountability Institute) with Rebekah Mercer on the board of directors.

The G.A.I. billed itself as a nonpartisan research institute, but in 2015 Bannon told Bloomberg Businessweek that its mission was to dig up dirt on politicians and feed it to the mainstream media. (A G.A.I. staffer called this “weaponizing” information.) The group reportedly hired an expert to comb the Deep Web—sites that don’t show up in standard searches—for incriminating information about its targets. The plan was to exploit the mainstream media’s growing inability to finance investigative reporting by doing it for them.

G.A.I.’s president is the conservative writer Peter Schweizer.

A comment on Wikipedia's entry for Cambridge Analytica

SCL Group calls itself a "global election management agency"[15], while Politico reported it was known for involvement "in military disinformation campaigns to social media branding and voter targeting".[6] SCL’s involvement in the political world has been primarily in the developing world where it has been used by the military and politicians to study and manipulate public opinion and political will. Slate writer Sharon Weinberger compared one of SCL's hypothetical test scenarios to fomenting a coup.

[Cenedril_Gildinaur]

What do people imagine the outcome of this investigation to be?

In terms of outcome? I expect nothing. Nothing will happen, nothing will change.

Really? Actually I expect the same.

But I see some on the far left expecting this to result in Trump being impeached ... and some on the far right expecting the investigation to backfire and dig up yet more dirt on the Clinton campaign.

[RoseMorninStar]

Trump is not helping himself and acts as guilty as one can possibly act. Fawning all over Putin and not standing up for what is good for our country and allies or taking the advice of our National Security advisors. What a wimp. Putin must have something big on him and is just revealing in Trump's inability to do anything.

While not the Mueller investigation, the Senate* Intelligence committee today issued a bipartisan statement in regards to the Russian election meddling and they will be taking measures to secure the upcoming elections. That's a start. Especially since the White House will not issue orders to do anything or utilize the money that was set aside to protect our elections. What a disgrace.
*edited

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I think you might mean the Senate Intelligence committee, who are holding hearings on the issue today. The House Intelligence committee can't reach bipartisan agreement on anything.

Sent from my LG G6 using Tapatalk

[RoseMorninStar]

I think you might mean the Senate Intelligence committee, who are holding hearings on the issue today. The House Intelligence committee can't reach bipartisan agreement on anything.

Oh heavens yes. I did mean the Senate. Duly noted & corrected/edited.

[Frelga]

"Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen has filed a discharge petition to force a floor vote on a bill to protect Robert Mueller. https://t.co/bjnemb0Qx5"

Not sure what it means, either in practical terms or politically, but there it is.