Thread: Mueller's Russian Interference investigation

Originally Posted by misskit

^ Not all of them are snakes. Some are weasels!

And don't forget the moles.

So Nunes is now trying to claim he didn't talk to the President, but in fact went to the "White House grounds" to meet "someone" who had classified information.

Predictably he can't say who the contact was or what the information is, even to his fellow committee members.

Then he cancels the next public hearing without telling them.

And yet says allegations that he is fucking up the investigation on behalf of the orange-faced wanker are not true and he won't recuse himself even though he's been caught with his pants down.

The GOP have got used to bare faced lying.

Which is why they are fighting an independent commission.

There is a cover up going on. We don't know what they are hiding but it is clear that Nunes is a shill for the White House. They (the Trump inner circle) are either incredibly stupid or incredibly treasonous.

The White House in collusion with Nunes are trying to keep Sally Yates from testifying. Apparently she has info which contradicts the official White House story on Mike Flynn, not some huge revelation regarding the Russians.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...=.56fa894091ec

Originally Posted by misskit

The White House in collusion with Nunes are trying to keep Sally Yates from testifying. Apparently she has info which contradicts the official White House story on Mike Flynn, not some huge revelation regarding the Russians.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...=.56fa894091ec

It's been public knowledge for a long time that Yates told the WH that Flynn was lying, three weeks before they sacked him for lying.

it's all a big conspiracy, the Russians did 911 too, that is if we are to believe Harry and his team mates

There is no doubt the Russians interfered in the US elections. That was a conspiracy.

It looks as though at the very least, Trump is tied up in laundering Russian mafia money or illgotten money. This may be part of the hold Russians have over Trump.

I think Trump appointments were given positions to help foster this illegal business as well as hide Trump connections and give help to Russians already being investigated.

The Russians would benefit greatly for Trump to win. Why wouldn't they conspire with his campaign to help him win?

Originally Posted by Humbert

They (the Trump inner circle) are either incredibly stupid or incredibly treasonous.

Or perhaps right in the middle of the venn diagram?

Originally Posted by misskit

This may be part of the hold Russians have over Trump.

I'm sure he wouldn't want any videos of urinating prostitutes to get out, either.

Originally Posted by misskit

There is no doubt the Russians interfered in the US elections. That was a conspiracy.

Wondering why Trump had not been elected by the will of American people?

A new inquiry. Across party lines, excellent.

Check out the last line.

Senators vow Trump-Russia inquiry will be bipartisan and independent
Leaders of Senate’s intelligence committee promised independent inquiry that would ‘follow the intelligence wherever it leads’ amid allegations of a cover-up

David Smith and Sabrina Siddiqui in Washington
Wednesday 29 March 2017 18.15 EDT Last modified on Wednesday 29 March 2017 19.55 EDT

The leaders of the Senate intelligence committee have pledged that their investigation of Russian interference in last year’s presidential election will be independent and bipartisan, as a bitter dispute continues to cloud a similar inquiry in the House of Representatives.

In a good-humoured and tactile show of unity on Wednesday, Republican senator Richard Burr and his Democratic counterpart Mark Warner told reporters that they owe it to America, and the world, to “follow the intelligence wherever it leads”. Their first public hearing takes place tomorrow, with former NSA chief Keith Alexander being the most prominent witness.


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Burr, the committee chairman, initially deflected questions about alleged collusion between Trump’s associates and Moscow, insisting: “We would be crazy to try to draw conclusions from where we are in the investigation.”

But asked whether Trump was directly involved, he acknowledged: “We know that our challenge is to answer that question for the American people in our conclusions.”

US intelligence agencies found that Russian-backed hackers meddled in last November’s election with the intention of hurting Hillary Clinton’s campaign and helping Trump. Emails from the Democratic National Committee and Clinton’s campaign manager, John Podesta, were hacked and released via WikiLeaks.

Warner gave an insight into the extent of the covert Russian operation and said it was important to put the public on alert because of a fundamental threat to democracy, in the US and abroad.

This included reports of “upwards of a thousand paid internet trolls working out of a facility in Russia, in effect taking over a series of computers, which are then called a botnet. They can then generate news down to specific areas … in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, where you would not have been receiving – whoever your vendor may have been – ‘Trump versus Clinton’, but instead ‘Clinton is sick’ or ‘Clinton is taking money from some source’. Fake news.”

Warner added: “If you Google ‘election hacking’ during the period leading up to the election and immediately afterwards, you wouldn’t get Fox or ABC or New York Times. What you get is four out of the first five stories that popped up were Russian propaganda: RT News, Sputnik, others.”


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The two senators said they also wanted to publicise Russia’s attempts to influence upcoming polls in Europe. Burr said it was safe to assume the Russians were “actively involved” in the forthcoming French election, adding: “We feel part of our responsibility is to educate the rest of the world what’s going on because it’s now into character assassination of candidates.”

Burr, who served as a security adviser to Trump’s campaign, confirmed that he voted for the Republican nominee but said he had not coordinated with the White House on the reach of the investigation, which he described as one of the biggest of his congressional career.

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He said: “This investigation’s scope will go wherever the intelligence leads it, so it is absolutely crucial that every day we spend trying to separate fact from fiction and to find some intelligence thread that sends us to the factual side of all the names and all the places that you in this room have written about.”

The bipartisan display was notably different from the ongoing strife at the House intelligence committee, where Democrats have called on chairman Devin Nunes to recuse himself over his close relationship with the White House.

Burr, a senator for North Carolina, said: “Mark and I work hand in hand on this and, contrary to maybe popular belief, we’re partners to see that this is completed and we’ve got a product in the end of the day that we can have bipartisanship in supporting.”

Burr said the Senate committee this week made 20 requests for individuals to be interviewed. Five already have interviews scheduled. Some may be held in public, some in private. No date has yet been set for Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, who has acknowledged meetings with Russians during the transition.

Another potential witness is retired general Mike Flynn, a former Trump campaign aide and national security adviser. Burr said: “We’ve had conversations with a lot of people. You would think less of us if General Flynn wasn’t on that list.”

Burr and Warner said they would issue subpoenas to compel witnesses to testify if necessary but acknowledged it was “tough” to compel individuals from overseas to attend because subpoenas would not necessarily carry any weight in foreign jurisdictions. It was reported on Wednesday that the committee could seek to interview Christopher Steele, the former British intelligence operative who compiled the dossier that alleges a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The stakes are high for the Senate investigation – and a separate one by the FBI – because of disarray on the House committee. Adam Schiff, its top Democrat, has made clear his concerns about the conduct of Nunes, including a mysterious visit last week to the White House grounds to review classified material. But Warner expressed confidence in Burr, arguing that Russia’s attempt to “hijack” the election went beyond party affiliation.


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Warner, a senator for Virginia, said: “We’re here to assure you, and more importantly the American people who are watching and listening, that we will get to the bottom of this. Richard and I have known each other a long time and the chairman and I both have a serious concern about what the Russians have done and continue to do around the world.”

He added: “Some of the techniques that Russia used in this election, as we find more and more, would send a chill down anyone who believes in the democratic process in this country and around the world.”

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Despite his impatience to get answers, Warner said it would be necessary to take time. “Getting it right is more important than getting it done quickly.”

The senators said the committee was nearing completion of a review of thousands of documents related to the investigation and would hold its first public hearing on Thursday.

Earlier, Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, said he was still looking into who cleared Nunes into the White House, as well as who met with the House intelligence chief to examine classified information pertaining to the investigation into Russia.

“I asked preliminary questions; I’ve not gotten answers yet,” Spicer told reporters, before growing characteristically testy at the line of questioning.

“It’s interesting that there seems to be this fascination with the process,” Spicer said.

“[It’s] ‘how did he get here, what door did he enter’ … as opposed to what I think it should be,” Spicer said, pointing to the “substance” of Nunes’s information.

Spicer added he was not “personally” aware of who acted as Nunes’s source from within the White House for stating, without evidence, that the Obama administration surveilled Trump aides during the transition.

While acknowledging the incident had created a perception of impropriety, the White House spokesman stood by Nunes amid calls for the House intelligence chairman to recuse himself from his committee’s inquiry into Russian interference in the election.

“There is nothing that I see that is problematic in him conducting an investigation,” Spicer said.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...trump-election

^I saw Burr and Warner on the news earlier. They appear responsible and sincere. I trust those two men to get to the bottom of this fiasco.

Originally Posted by misskit

It looks as though at the very least, Trump is tied up in laundering Russian mafia money or illgotten money. This may be part of the hold Russians have over Trump.

I think Trump appointments were given positions to help foster this illegal business as well as hide Trump connections and give help to Russians already being investigated.

I'm sure whatever is there will all come out in the wash at some point but I find it very hard to believe that someone (a very rich and successful someone) who had allegedly been involved in laundering "Russian mafia money" or "illgotten" money, would want to get involved in US politics at the highest level, knowing the scrutiny he would get at that level. It just doesn't make sense. Surely he'd just continue doing what he had been doing.

Originally Posted by Neverna

Originally Posted by misskit

It looks as though at the very least, Trump is tied up in laundering Russian mafia money or illgotten money. This may be part of the hold Russians have over Trump.

I think Trump appointments were given positions to help foster this illegal business as well as hide Trump connections and give help to Russians already being investigated.

I'm sure whatever is there will all come out in the wash at some point but I find it very hard to believe that someone (a very rich and successful someone) who had allegedly been involved in laundering "Russian mafia money" or "illgotten" money, would want to get involved in US politics at the highest level, knowing the scrutiny he would get at that level. It just doesn't make sense. Surely he'd just continue doing what he had been doing.

You have to remember that the orange-faced wanker thinks he is "smarter than most people".

^ That plus greed.

If it looks like a cover-up and walks like a cover-up.

John Dean talking about Trump and Watergate:

"If there is nothing there, nothing to hide, you open the doors and invite them in," says John Dean, of Watergate fame. "When you start seeing a big pushback and blaming it all on the media, you know there's something there."

Dean, who has followed Trump-Russia revelations closely, brings unique insight. He was President Richard Nixon's White House counsel as the Watergate scandal began to break in 1973, and he helped mastermind the coverup that ultimately brought Nixon down. He later pleaded guilty to obstructing justice and was a witness against some of the Nixon aides who were convicted in federal conspiracy trials.

Dean and other Watergate veterans have a sense of deja vu watching the Trump White House dissembling, enlisting accommodating Republicans to knock down credible stories and reacting to a drip, drip, drip of revelations.

Last week came more reports of contacts between Russian officials and Trump backers, along with the news that Attorney General Jeff Sessions met privately with the Russian ambassador in September and denied it during his confirmation hearing. Thus Sessions became the third Trump insider to be caught in evasions about Russia connections, after former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and campaign foreign-policy adviser Carter Page.

On Thursday, Sessions removed himself from any investigation of charges that Russia tried to sway the presidential election.

When Dean heard Republican Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes declare recently that there's "no evidence" of wrongdoing, he says he thought of Hugh Scott. Scott was the Senate Republican leader who in 1973 repeatedly said he'd spoken to the White House and concluded that Watergate was much ado about little.

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/artic...dean-s-deja-vu

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

You have to remember that the orange-faced wanker thinks he is "smarter than most people".

And is too arrogant to realise he's wrong.

Originally Posted by misskit

I saw Burr and Warner on the news earlier. They appear responsible and sincere. I trust those two men to get to the bottom of this fiasco.

I certianly hope so but it's going to take some time. Let the FBI do their thing. Let the Senate committee do their thing. The allegations opinions and partisan nonsense needs to cease until the Senate publishes their findings. All this Russian stuff is important but to the average American tax, jobs and health care are the biggies. The Russian issue is diverting attention away from the biggies.

Originally Posted by Norton

Originally Posted by misskit

I saw Burr and Warner on the news earlier. They appear responsible and sincere. I trust those two men to get to the bottom of this fiasco.

I certianly hope so but it's going to take some time. Let the FBI do their thing. Let the Senate committee do their thing. The allegations opinions and partisan nonsense needs to cease until the Senate publishes their findings. All this Russian stuff is important but to the average American tax, jobs and health care are the biggies. The Russian issue is diverting attention away from the biggies.

I must disagree with you there.
Trump has thus far shown that he has little idea about policy-making, no idea about diplomacy, and is proving to be incompetent and totally unsuitable to hold the position. The nation can not remove him for those things until the next election, so for the sake of the nation, it is of paramount importance to find out if he can be removed for something else.

Originally Posted by Maanaam

And is too arrogant to realise he's wrong.

What's the difference between arrogance and simply being delusional?

Originally Posted by Dragonfly

it's all a big conspiracy, the Russians did 911 too, that is if we are to believe Harry and his team mates

What are you babbling on about you stupid garlic munching fag. I've never said anything of the kind.

Originally Posted by Maanaam

it is of paramount importance to find out if he can be removed for something else.

Agree but nothing will happen until the facts are made known which could take a couple years. Until they are there are urgent other matters to deal with. The Russian ties are red herrings which divert attention from matters of greater concern to average Americans.

Originally Posted by Norton

Originally Posted by Maanaam

it is of paramount importance to find out if he can be removed for something else.

Agree but nothing will happen until the facts are made known which could take a couple years. Until they are there are urgent other matters to deal with. The Russian ties are red herrings which divert attention from matters of greater concern to average Americans.

Yes, but.
The things he is capable of changing in a way that he wants to change them are all damaging, so as Humbert says, it's better everything is stalled and he does nothing.
Far better to try to oust him and then get on with the things that are important to the people.