Mueller's Russian Interference investigation

**elche** · 31-10-2017, 02:05 AM

Originally Posted by Farangrakthai

... the only meeting (with don jr , etc) was about adoption and the magnisky act (promising info about a hillary/russian conspiracy).

You'll be turd polishing right up until they hang him.

**bsnub** · 31-10-2017, 06:05 AM

Why George Papadopoulos' guilty plea is a much bigger problem for Trump than the Manafort indictment

Even as President Trump was on Twitter insisting that the indictment of former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was meaningless because it involved activities unrelated to Trump or the campaign came news that former Trump foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos had pled guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with, wait for it, Russia.The Manafort news drew the bigger headlines Monday morning -- understandable given his high-profile role at the top of the Trump campaign. But, the Papadopoulos guilty plea -- and the fact that he has been cooperating with the special counsel investigation since his July arrest -- strikes me as significantly more problematic for Trump and his White House in the medium-to-long term.

This paragraph from the FBI's guilty plea agreement with Papadopoulos is incredible:

"In truth and in fact, however, and as set forth above, defendant PAPADOPOULOS met the Professor for the first time on or about March 14, 2016, after defendant PAPADOPOULOS had already learned he would be a foreign policy advisor for the Campaign; the Professor showed interest in defendant PAPADOPOULOS only after learning of his role on the Campaign; and the Professor told defendant PAPADOPOULOS about the Russians possessing" dirt" on then-candidate Clinton in late April 2016, more than a month after defendant PAPADOPOULOS had joined the Campaign."

So, Papadopoulos copped to lying to the FBI about the timing of his contacts with Russians. In his initial interview in January 2017, Papadopoulos was insistent that he had reached out to his foreign contact "The Professor" (amazing!) before he had formally joined the Trump presidential campaign. He was arrested in July, pleaded guilty in October and appears to have been cooperating in between.

And, most importantly the "Professor"onlyshowed interest in Papadopoulos after it became known that he was employed by the Trump campaign.

That. Is. A. Very. Big. Deal.

The obvious question is why Papadopolous initially lied to the FBI -- despite being warned that doing so would have major consequences. Why, if there was nothing to hide about his relationship -- or attempted relationship with Russian officials -- would Papadopoulos feel the need to put himself in serious legal jeopardy by lying about the timing of his conversations with "the Professor"?

We don't know the answer to that question. But, we do know one reason why Papadopoulos was pursuing the relationship with the Russians; he believed they had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton. This, again from Papadopoulos' plea agreement, makes that plain:

"On or about April 26, 2016, defendant PAPADOPOULOS met the Professor for breakfast at a London hotel. During this meeting, the Professor told defendant PAPADOPOULOS that he had just returned from a trip to Moscow where he had met with high-level Russian government officials. The Professor told defendant PAPADOPOULOS that on that trip he (the Professor) learned that the Russians had obtained "dirt" on then-candidate Clinton. The Professor told defendant PAPADOPOULOS, as defendant PAPADOPOULOS later described to the FBI, that "They [the Russians] have dirt on her"; "the Russians had emails of Clinton"; "they have thousands of emails."

The broad goal of the Russian contact with Papadopoulos was to get Trump to visit Russia during the campaign -- a visit where he would huddle with Russian officials and maybe even meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Obviously, that trip never happened.

So, to recap:

1. "The Professor" only expressed interest in Papadopoulos after it became clear that he would play a role in the Trump campaign as a foreign policy advisor.
2. Papadopoulos lied about the timing of his interactions with "The Professor." Those lies were aimed at suggesting the interactions came before Papadopoulos was an adviser to the Trump campaign. But, in fact, those interactions were because Papadopoulos worked for Trump, not in spite of them
3. Papadopoulos' interactions with "The Professor" were driven by the promise of "dirt" on Clinton in the from of "thousands of emails" regarding Clinton.
4. Papadopoulos seems to have been cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation since July.

Given all of that, it's much harder for Trump and his allies to dismiss Papadopoulos than Manafort. What's more, court documents make clear he was in contact with high-ranking campaign officials about his contacts with the Russians. A senior former campaign adviser told CNN's Gloria Borger that Papadopoulos was not a major player.

"He was a zero. A non-event," the adviser said.

But, what Papadopolous has already admitted to doing -- lying to the FBI about his conversations with Russian operatives regarding "dirt" on Trump's general election opponent -- is a very big deal. A bigger deal -- in terms of the investigation into Russia's attempted meddling in the election and allegations of collusion -- than the dozen counts laid out in the Manafort indictment.

And the day is still young!

Papadopoulos' guilty plea is much bigger problem for Trump than the Manafort indictment - CNNPolitics

**Maanaam** · 31-10-2017, 06:23 AM

^ All that may be so, but really it only serves to indict the Russians in interference and not Trump in complicity or collusion.
Unfortunately.

**bsnub** · 31-10-2017, 06:39 AM

Originally Posted by Maanaam

Unfortunately.

Seriously? We are closer to collusion than we have ever been after today. Mueller and his team are just getting started. This is most likely the tip of the iceberg.

**bsnub** · 31-10-2017, 06:40 AM

George Papadopoulos’s Plea Deal Is Very, Very Bad News for Attorney General Jeff Sessions

The biggest news of Mueller Monday — the rollout of a money-laundering indictment against Donald Trump’s former campaign adviser, Paul Manafort and campaign aide Rick Gates, and the unsealing of a false-statements plea deal by another campaign volunteer, George Papadopoulos — may involve someone not named explicitly in either indictment: Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

That’s because Sessions has repeatedly testified to the Senate that he knows nothing about any collusion with the Russians. (Though in his most recent appearance, he categorized that narrowly by saying he did not “conspire with Russia or an agent of the Russian government to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.”)

But the Papadopoulos plea shows that Sessions — then acting as Trump’s top foreign policy adviser — was in a March 31, 2016, meeting with Trump, at which Papadopoulos explained “he had connections that could help arrange a meeting between then-candidate Trump and President Putin.” It also shows that Papadopoulos kept a number of campaign officials in the loop on his efforts to set up a meeting between Trump and Putin, though they secretly determined that the meeting “should be someone low level in the campaign so as not to send any signal,” itself a sign the campaign was trying to hide its efforts to make nice with the Russians.

Papadopoulos also learned, on April 26, that the Russians “have dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails.” A key part of Papadopoulos’s cooperation must pertain to what he told the Trump campaign about these emails. According to his complaint, he originally claimed he hadn’t told anyone on the campaign about the dirt on Clinton because he didn’t know if it was real. But as his plea makes clear, after being arrested, he “met with the Government on numerous occasions to provide information and answer questions.” There would be no reason for Papadopoulos to lie about the significance of the emails in January unless he did so to hide his discussions of them with the rest of the campaign.

That suggests the campaign knew, a month before Paul Manafort and Donald Trump Jr. took a meeting with a Russian lawyer to get dirt on Clinton, that the Russians had already told Papadopoulos about dirt in thousands of stolen emails.

To be sure, Papadopoulos’s plea perhaps hurts Trump the most. After all, Trump was in the March 31 meeting too, along with Sessions. Trump personally intervened in the White House spin about the June 9, 2016, meeting, pushing the line — and the lie — that it pertained to adoptions rather than obtaining dirt on Clinton.

But unlike Trump, Sessions’s claims about such meetings came in sworn testimony to the Senate. During his confirmation process, Sessions was asked a key question by Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn.: “If there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do?”

“Senator Franken, I’m not aware of any of those activities,” Sessions responded. “I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I didn’t have — did not have communications with the Russians, and I’m unable to comment on it.”

The question, however, was about Sessions’s knowledge of such communications, and we now know he was in a meeting in which they were discussed.

More recently, on October 18, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., asked Sessions a series of questions about his knowledge of interactions with Russians, including whether he had discussed emails with Russian officials since the campaign. To that question, Sessions said he “did not recall.”

Franken then asked, in an attempt to clarify the confirmation questions, “You don’t believe that surrogates from the Trump campaign had communications with the Russians?”

“I did not — and I’m not aware of anyone else that did. I don’t believe that it happened,” said the attorney general whose own department had, two weeks earlier, already gotten a guilty plea from a campaign surrogate describing such discussions with Russians.

Most curiously, Sessions seemed unable to answer what kind of communication he had had with Special Counsel Robert Mueller. “Have you been requested to be interviewed by the special counsel?” Leahy asked. “You’ll have to ask the special counsel,” the attorney general responded. While Sessions’s spokesperson later made it clear he hadn’t been approached for an interview, that says nothing about any discussions about the possibility of testimony.

It’s part of a pattern that began early for Sessions. He initially denied categorically meeting with Russians during the campaign, but was forced to walk that back when it emerged he had met at least twice with then-Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. He then claimed that the meetings had focused purely on foreign affairs and his senatorial duties, a claim rebutted by Kislyak himself, who told his superiors that he spoke with Sessions about the 2016 campaign.

https://theintercept.com/2017/10/30/...orney-general/

**tomcat** · 31-10-2017, 06:42 AM

Originally Posted by Maanaam

All that may be so, but really it only serves to indict the Russians in interference and not Trump in complicity or collusion

Originally Posted by bsnub

And the day is still young!

...get a room...

**tomcat** · 31-10-2017, 06:51 AM

...interesting commentary:

Manafort Indictment Should and Shouldn't Terrify Trump

The campaign wasn't implicated, but could he withstand a similar investigation into his family's finances?
By Timothy L. O'Brien

What comes next.
Photographer: Kevin DietschSpecial Counsel Robert Mueller unfurled his first federal indictment Monday in his probe of possible collusion among Donald Trump, his presidential campaign and Russia, filing federal fraud charges against Paul Manafort -- Trump's former campaign manager and a globe-trotting political consultant whose business came to include work for allies of the Kremlin.

Manafort and one of his business associates, Rick Gates, are accused in a 31-page indictment of a number of financial crimes that occurred between 2006 and 2016, including money laundering, tax fraud, failure to disclose payments from foreign companies and bank accounts, and failure to register as an agent of the Ukraine government. As the indictment outlines in withering detail, Manafort "conspired to defraud the United States." (Manafort and Gates have pleaded not guilty, according to CNN).

What the indictment doesn't do (at least not yet, since other charges against Manafort could be added later) is put the president of the United States in immediate legal peril. So to all of the Democrats, Trump critics and #ImpeachTrump fans joyously embracing the Manafort indictment as something of a reckoning, relax. You're just not there yet.

It's worth pointing out that Manafort's work for the Trump campaign isn't mentioned in the indictment, although statements he made during his three-month tenure as campaign chairman in 2016 are cited. In that context, Manafort's financial wheeling and dealing in Eastern Europe and the fun stuff he did with payments he apparently went out of his way to mask ($655,000 on landscaping! $849,000 on clothes!) don't yet intersect with the Oval Office.

Manafort is also someone Trump himself is probably not too concerned about. Yes, the indictment gives Mueller and his Justice Department team the leverage they need squeeze Manafort for more juice on Trump that they don't already have, of course. But to the extent that any of that revolves around collusion with Russia to tip the 2016 campaign in Trump's favor, well, Trump is much less exposed. Collusion isn't a federal crime (though some campaign actions relating to collusion could be crimes). He also could withstand a collusion fight in the court of public opinion, particularly with his intensely committed base.
But Trump has other reasons to be concerned, because the Manafort indictment may offer a blueprint of the kind of charges Mueller may ultimately bring against Trump himself -- charges involving financial crimes such as money laundering and tax evasion, listed in painful detail for all the nation to see.

While Team Trump is pushing the idea that Manafort's shady dealings are his own problem, they also make him a model Trump associate. The president, never one to follow rules, has repeatedly gone into business with career criminals over the years, including guys like Felix Sater of the Bayrock Group. An immigrant to the U.S. from the former Soviet Union, Sater has organized crime ties and links to Russia, all of which is surely on Mueller's radar.
Mueller's pursuit of the money trail is likely what Trump fears the most in the Russia probe, not collusion. An investigation into his own financial and business history as well as the dealings of family members like Kushner -- and his three eldest children, Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric – are more threatening than anything else Mueller might be weighing.
Since before Trump was inaugurated, son-in-law Jared Kushner has scrambled to arrange financing for his family's troubled skyscraper, 666 Fifth Avenue. His solicitations involved Chinese financiers, and he met with a prominent Russian banker during the same period (though he denies talking business with the Russian). Mueller is reportedly focused on Kushner as part of his investigation.
A barometer of how much all of this concerns Trump is, as always, Twitter. Trump has been pressing his case against the media and law enforcement on Twitter for more than a week, repeatedly trying to shift the focus on him and Russia instead of "Crooked Hillary" and her myriad nefarious deals.

In part, this is due to recent reporting that the infamous Steele dossier exploring Trump's possible Russian conflicts was funded by Democrats, a fact that was already known for about a year. Trump pounced on that news to suggest that the entire Russia probe sprang into existence because of the dossier and, ergo, was a "witch hunt" orchestrated by Democrats.

The Mueller indictment, as does most of the fact pattern surrounding the Russian probe, shreds the idea that the Steele dossier was the foundational document for law enforcement and intelligence agencies interested in Trump's intersections with Russia. Investigators are clearly exploring multiple tracks.

Trump (as well as loyalists like Roger Stone and Sebastian Gorka) also went into defensive overdrive on Twitter over the weekend, after CNN broke the news on Friday evening that Mueller was likely to file charges against someone in the Trump orbit.
That carried over into this morning, after news broke of the Manafort indictment:

Donald J. Trump
✔@realDonaldTrump

Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren't Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus?????

Donald J. Trump
✔@realDonaldTrump

....Also, there is NO COLLUSION!
9:28 PM - Oct 30, 2017

It's useful to the president to try to bring the focus back on "collusion" and away from other subjects like "obstruction" or "fraud," but his Twitter feed wouldn't be on fire if he wasn't seriously worried. And the president may be fuming because when he stares at the Mueller indictment, he might be concerned that he's staring into a mirror.

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-10-30/why-manafort-s-indictment-should-and-shouldn-t-terrify-trump

**Norton** · 31-10-2017, 07:09 AM

Originally Posted by Maanaam

All that may be so, but really it only serves to indict the Russians in interference and not Trump in complicity or collusion

True. Much more to come but premature for the bring down Trump crowd to declare victory. Still far from anything directly proving Trump personally knew, was complicit or colluded in any illegal activities.

Mueller's investigation is going to continue through most of next year. Trump's best response at this point should be "no comment". His biggest risk at this point is potential of obstruction of justice for interference in the investigation.

**tomcat** · 31-10-2017, 08:01 AM

Originally Posted by Norton

Trump's best tweet at this point should be "no comment"

...ftfy...

**AntRobertson** · 31-10-2017, 08:20 AM

Originally Posted by Farangrakthai

ant and boyz have been saying this to doubters of the conspiracy theory for almost a year:

"you don't know there wasn't a conspiracy between the russians and the trump/trump campaign to defeat hlllary. the investigation is still under way and i still think in the end the conspiracy theory will be proven true by the investigations.

or something to that effect.

I actually haven't said anything of the sort.

Please stop using my name to prop up your straw-men and lies.

Originally Posted by Farangrakthai

if ant and boyz were to look at the manafort indictment objectively, they'd say that mueller is misusing his power and money to go after manafort for charges that have nothing to do with russian collusion in desperate hope of getting manafort to tell them something they don't know (after a year of investigating they couldn't find by themselves)

Highlighting not mine!

Trump Russian Ties investigation

Originally Posted by Farangrakthai

...hlllary...clinton...democrats...democrats...dem ocrats...slick willy...hillary...hillary...hillary campaign/dnc...dnc and hillary campaign...hiillary and the deep state...potential hillary/russian conspiracy theory...

You are still doing it wrong.

**bsnub** · 31-10-2017, 08:25 AM

Word is he may have been wearing a wire since July.

Papadopoulos might be working against the president

Mueller’s team describes Papadopoulos as a “proactive cooperator.” That’s a big deal.

Here’s why: Mueller purposely sealed the indictment and kept the arrest secret so that others wouldn’t know Papadopoulos was working with his team — because the probe might be using Papadopoulos to obtain even more information on possible Trump-Russia collusion.

The Toronto Star’s Daniel Dale reports that when prosecutors consider someone to be a “proactive cooperator,” it could signal that that person was wearing a wire.And if that’s true, that means Papadopoulos might’ve talked to Trump campaign officials with a wire on. That’s still speculative, of course, but it could pose a serious problem for Trump if officials with secrets to keep unknowingly divulged information to a wired-up Papadopoulos.

https://www.vox.com/world/2017/10/30...-trump-mueller

**Cujo** · 31-10-2017, 11:03 AM

Originally Posted by Farangrakthai

the only meeting (with don jr , etc) was about adoption and the magnisky act (promising info about a hillary/russian conspiracy).

You've GOT to be kidding.

**AntRobertson** · 31-10-2017, 11:09 AM

You have to look at it objectively.

Which is to say allow your subjective views to replace actual facts.

**harrybarracuda** · 31-10-2017, 11:47 AM

What did the bubble and squeak get by way of punishment for pleading guilty?

Or is this subject to how much his squealing elicits by way of convictions?

**Cujo** · 31-10-2017, 12:01 PM

Paul Manafort walked into the modern wood-panelled courtroom, accompanied by a US marshall, with his hands firmly behind his back as if wearing handcuffs. He was not, but the ensuing hour made clear how steeply he has fallen

In July last year Manafort was walking tall in expensive suits at the Republican national convention in Cleveland, regularly briefing reporters and trashing opponents as he witnessed the coronation of his boss, Donald Trump, as the party’s nominee for president.
On Monday, by contrast, he endured the humiliation of standing before a judge, pleading not guilty to criminal charges and being told the conditions of his house arrest. The man who enjoyed “a lavish lifestyle” is no longer allowed to travel abroad. But there was no sign of repentance or regret.
Manafort, 68, and his deputy Rick Gates have been indicted on 12 charges of conspiracy against the US, conspiracy to launder money, failing to register as a foreign agent, making false statements and failure to report offshore bank accounts. The indictments do not mention Trump or Russian meddling in the election

At about 2.45pm on Monday, Manafort and Gates appeared at an arraignment hearing US district court of the District of Columbia, with walking distance of the US Capitol and Trump International Hotel. Courtroom four was packed with journalists and onlookers, some of whom were reprimanded by ushers for using mobile phones.

The room hushed as Manafort appeared solemn and stony faced, wearing a dark blue suit, white shirt and defiantly bright blue tie – not the colour of someone trying to remain anonymous. Gates had an open collar and no tie. They took their seats to the left of US magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson, who ran the hearing with brisk efficiency. Behind her were marble tiles and a “United States district court” seal.
Once it was agreed there was no need to read the indictment in court, Robinson asked how Manafort pleaded. His attorney, Kevin Downing, replied: “There is no plea, your honour.”
Robinson was puzzled and sought clarification. Downing explained: “The plea is not guilty to all of the charges.”
The lawyer added that Manafort “definitely disagrees with the strength of the indictment” against him.
Manafort remained impassive. Gates’s attorney made the same plea. Gates sat with his hand clasped in front of him on a table.
The judge heard that Manafort has given wildly varied estimates of his personal assets to investigators, ranging from $20m to $100m. Gates, likewise, has given his as between $30m and $2m. This had made it difficult to establish suitable bonds.
In the end, Manafort was freed on a $10m bond meant to guarantee his future court appearances. Gates’s bond was $5m. They will not have to pay the sums unless they violate the court’s directions. Under home confinement, they must check in with law enforcement daily by phone and are allowed out only for court appearances, to meet lawyers, for medical emergencies and for religious observance.
An official from pre-trial services requested “high-intensity supervision” for Manafort as he is considered a flight risk. Both of the accused have already surrendered their passports as they await trial.

Sitting down, Manafort looked pensively around the room and across the table at Downing, who must have made a comment, because Manafort’s face melted into a rare smile. It was not the expression of a man who was rattled.
He rose to his feet and, ramrod-backed, raised his hand on oath. He was asked if he agreed to the conditions of his confinement and of the bond. He answered “I do,” twice. A status hearing will be held on 2 November.
Manafort left the courtroom as he had entered, hands folded behind his back. He potentially faces up to 80 years in prison, according to a review of the federal charges and the relevant statutes by the Associated Press. Gates faces up to 70 years.
Soon after, Downing appeared outside the court to issue a statement, mentioning Trump for the first time. “President Donald Trump was correct,” he said. “There is no evidence the Trump campaign colluded with the Russia government.

“Mr Manafort represented pro-European Union campaigns for the Ukrainians and in the course of that representation he was seeking to further democracy and to help the Ukrainians come closer to the United States and to the EU. Those activities ended in 2014, two years before Mr Manafort served in the Trump campaign.”
Downing added that he found it “ridiculous” that the Manafort’s use of offshore accounts amount to a scheme to conceal funds from the US government. Like his former employer, Manafort intends to keep fighting.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/30/paul-manafort-court-not-guilty-plea-charges

**harrybarracuda** · 31-10-2017, 01:07 PM

Downing added that he found it “ridiculous” that the Manafort’s use of offshore accounts amount to a scheme to conceal funds from the US government.

So what the fuck did he think it was for?

Twat.

**bsnub** · 31-10-2017, 02:06 PM

Here is what was going on over in fantasy land....

The revelation Monday of charges against three former Trump campaign officials in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe into possible Russian influence in American politics delivered a sharp jolt to the news cycle.

Anticipation over the arrests had been high for days after news that the first charges in Mueller's investigation were imminent had seeped out over the weekend. And the documents outlining allegations against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, business partner Rick Gates and former Trump foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, laid out what investigators had found in unvarnished detail.

For most national media outlets, the news that three campaign officials had been charged headlined websites and front pages, and were the focus of most of the day's coverage, including in the traditionally conservative Wall Street Journal.

But in the highly politicized media environment, where news is increasingly targeted to partisan audiences, the indictment story played out very differently on conservative sites, such as Fox News, Breitbart and the Daily Caller.

Here is a look at the news as seen through a conservative media lens.

A ‘nothing burger’

The most notable conservative reaction came quickly, from the man who looms large over the investigation: President Trump.

“Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign,” the president wrote on Twitter soon after the indictments were made public Monday morning. “But why aren’t Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus?????”

He added: “Also, there is NO COLLUSION!”

Subsequent narratives echoed the president, downplaying the significance of the arrests.

“These transactions predate Paul Manafort’s involvement with the campaign,” conservative talk radio host Laura Ingraham said on her show. “The idea that this is a bad day for Trump because it in any way alludes to a collusion with Russia — you’ve got to be living on another planet if you think that.”

She added: “This is a nothing burger.”

Some reports seemed to hew closely to White House talking points.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the president's press secretary, said the arrests had “nothing to do with the president … Most of them took place well before the campaign ever even existed.”

Fox News' chief Washington correspondent James Rosen noted during an evening report that “Donald Trump is far removed from the allegations.”

“If there was collusion, any evidence or even an allegation has yet to be revealed by the special counsel,” the network's chief White House correspondent John Roberts noted.

The New York Post — which, along with Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, is also owned by Rupert Murdoch — had nearly dropped the story of the indictments from its homepage by the end of the day, focusing instead on sexual harassment scandals related to Kevin Spacey, Peyton Manning and Harvey Weinstein.

Many viewers noticed how the story was covered differently by various television networks.

“CNN: Manafort indicted. MSNBC: Manafort indicted. Fox News: Is it mongooses or mongeese? We talk to experts,” comedian Kumail Nanjiani joked about the disparity in coverage.

Earlier, viewers pointed out that Fox News ran a segment on a hamburger emoji while CNN and MSNBC covered the indictments. Of course, other mainstream outlets covered the hamburger emoji story, too.

The Trump dossier and a 2010 uranium deal

Some news outlets played up coverage casting doubt on the integrity of the investigation, a long-running narrative that heated up on conservative media last week before the arrests.

Rush Limbaugh opened his show on Monday talking about the Clinton campaign's connection to the dossier compiled by Fusion GPS on Donald Trump, a point the president has recently been tweeting about. The Washington Post reported last week that the campaign and the Democratic National Committee helped fund the research that lead to the dossier.

“Ergo the leak on Friday that Mueller had an indictment,” Limbaugh said. “That totally changed the narrative, it changed the direction, and its purpose was to basically cover up and shift away to the side the Clinton involvement in the Trump dossier. It was a classic case of distraction.”

He added: “And none of it, I can tell you, with ontological certitude, none of the Manafort indictment as we sit here today has a single thing to do with Donald Trump, with the Trump campaign or with Russian collusion.”

Alex Jones’ Infowars, a popular site and radio show that frequently promotes misinformation and conspiracy theories, led its website with three stories about Spacey, who had been accused of making sexual advances on a 14-year-old actor.

“This is more sour grapes and it’s not going well,” Jones said of Mueller probe, between advertisements for colloidal silver, anti-fascist Infowars T-shirts and a bizarre aside that Hitler was photographed in 1955 alive in Argentina, 10 years after his death.

Speaking on Jones' show, informal Trump adviser Roger J. Stone Jr. called for the president to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate a 2010 uranium deal that has become the center of a controversy gaining steam in conservative media — with allegations that the Clintons benefited despite little evidence indicating as much.

“That investigation would have to focus on Mr. Mueller, Mr. Comey, Mr. McCabe, the associate director of the FBI and (Deputy Attorney General) Rod Rosenstein,” Stone said. “Those gentlemen would have to step down if they were the target of a federal investigation.”

On Fox News, contributor Michael Goodwin argued that Mueller should resign. “I think he has to be purer than Caesar’s wife here,” Goodwin said. “I think these conflicts will muddy the waters.”

The Gateway Pundit, a site with a wide following known for trafficking in falsehoods, echoed previous statements the president has made in calling the investigation the “Mueller Witch Hunt.”

RT, a Russian state-sponsored media network, ran an opinion piece on its homepage that asked, “Is Russiagate dead?” The headline continued: “Paul Manafort & Kiev caught up in FBI dragnet, Kremlin not mentioned.”

Talking about Podesta and Clinton

Other sites focused on the announcement that Tony Podesta — a prominent lobbyist, Democrat and brother of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chief — planned to resign after his firm was indirectly referenced in the charges against Manafort and Gates.

By evening, Breitbart’s lead story was about Podesta — illustrated with a photo of him with a drink in his hand — though he had not been charged with a crime or named in the court filings.

The most prominent story Breitbart ran about the charges highlighted remarks from Sarah Huckabee Sanders: “WH: Manafort arrest ‘has nothing to do with the president.’” By the end of the day, the site's lead story was about Spacey.

The influential aggregator the Drudge Report appeared to lead with a story about the arrests. “MUELLER'S HALLOWEEN,” the site's lead headline blared. “WASHINGTON SPOOKED.” But the headlines linked to The Washington Post's story about Tony Podesta. Other stories linked on the site seemed to cast doubt on the investigation: “JUDGE AN OBAMA APPOINTEE, CLINTON DONOR”; “Manafort's Constitutional Rights Violated?” “FORMER PROSECUTOR: SHAKY, OVERCHARGED CASE.”

The Daily Caller also chose to go big with the Podesta news, with two stories. The most prominent stories about the probe were about how Trump was never mentioned in the indictment, and about an error — blamed on Mueller (“Mueller Makes Key Error,” the headline read) — in the Manafort indictment that misidentified former Ukraine prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko as the country’s former president.

Fox News host Sean Hannity opened his show with a monologue about the Clinton connections to the uranium deal and the Trump dossier.

“The very thing they are accusing President Trump of doing, they did it themselves,” he said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.d1325b79eb80

**Maanaam** · 31-10-2017, 02:48 PM

"When he was asked about the scope of the investigation a few months ago, Mr Trump warned Mr Mueller would cross a "red line" if he pried into the Trump family's finances.
If the special counsel does cross that line, don't discount the possibility of Mr Trump firing him, causing a political crisis that would dwarf anything we've seen so far."

The worst is yet to come for Donald Trump - NZ Herald

**Slick** · 31-10-2017, 03:30 PM

Democratic power lobbyist Tony Podesta, founder of the Podesta Group, is stepping down from the firm that bears his name after coming under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/...r-probe-244314

**AntRobertson** · 31-10-2017, 03:32 PM

And thus the Distract-o-Tron(TM) was activated and turd polishing begun in earnest...

**bsnub** · 31-10-2017, 03:37 PM

^^ See where you have been today. Clearly over in fantasy land. Lets see what story has wheels.

I hope he gets nailed if he did something wrong. That is the difference between people like myself and trumpanzees like you is I put the country first, you put yourself and the GOP above the country. The last time an administration had these types of indictments come down was during watergate.

Maybe you could comment on the three men that have been charged with very serious crimes instead of posting your usual pitchers? Podesta has been charged with nothing.

**tomcat** · 31-10-2017, 03:49 PM

...I expect disparaging alt-right attacks on the judges and the prosecutors involved, the FBI...as well as the usual suspect: that bully Clinton...

**bsnub** · 31-10-2017, 03:51 PM

Originally Posted by tomcat

I expect disparaging alt-right attacks on the judges and the prosecutors involved, the FBI...as well as the usual suspect: that bully Clinton...

Expect? That is already happening full stop. Clearly you did not read my post just above about what is going on over in the right wing alternate reality? That post was further validated by slickshit coming in here and posting about Tony Podesta which is a desperate attempt at distraction.

**tomcat** · 31-10-2017, 03:53 PM

Originally Posted by bsnub

Clearly you did not read my post just above

*cough*...it's covered in runny spit...

**bsnub** · 31-10-2017, 03:58 PM

Originally Posted by tomcat

*cough*...it's covered in runny spit...

You lovely sick bastard you are welcome at my place anytime.

Thread: Mueller's Russian Interference investigation

Thread Tools

Display

How conservative media reacted to the Mueller indictments

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

Posting Permissions