Thread: Mueller's Russian Interference investigation

Originally Posted by uncle junior

Trumps out by the end of the year....my prediction

Based on his current 75% approval... you dimtards are truly living in delusion.

Originally Posted by Norton

How so? I can't see impeachment or him resigning.

i'm sticking with my summer prediction for his resignation.

once he realizes that dems will take the house and genuine oversight will be taking place, he'll bail. not to mention the very real possibility that mueller sends an obstruction case to a dem controlled congress. he's not going to stand by and let his sons and son-in-law give testimony to congress (about everything from money laundering to collusion) on live TV.

don't forget that he doesn't actually want to do the job...he loves the title and accoutrements, but not the work involved.

Originally Posted by Mr Earl

Based on his current 75% approval

Sure there is a poll somewhere has him at 75% but average across many polls has him at 42%.

Originally Posted by Mr Earl

Based on his current 75% approval

this must be based on your perpetual 100% idiocy.

his approval rating is nowhere near 75%....he's never breached 50% in a national poll

stop drinking so much piss.

Rasmussen has his approval at below 50%.....can't get more pro trump then them for 'accepted' polls.

Not about polls anyway....once Mueller releases his report trump's weak supporters in Congress won't have a choice but bail on him.

Originally Posted by raycarey

this must be based on your perpetual 100% idiocy.

his approval rating is nowhere near 75%....he's never breached 50% in a national poll

stop drinking so much piss.

To be fair he might mean a 75% approval rate with senile white men who are wrong 100% of the time and drink their own piss?

This is just too funny to pass up posting here.

Former Hippies Put in Horrible Position of Rooting for F.B.I.


By Andy Borowitz













Photograph by Michael Ochs Archives / Getty


WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Former hippies across the United States have been put in the unbearable position of rooting for the F.B.I., hippies have confirmed.


From Vermont to California, erstwhile hippies bemoaned a nightmare scenario that has forced them to side with a law-enforcement agency they have despised since the Summer of Love.


“I always dreamed I’d spend my retirement surrounded by my grandchildren, telling them that the F.B.I. were fascist pigs,” Carol Foyler, a former hippie who lives in Santa Cruz, said. “That dream has been shot to hell.”


Her husband, Mick, nodded his head in sad agreement. “We were so happy when pot was legalized in California,” he said. “But the fact that we’re now on the same side as the F.B.I. has ruined even that.”


Now in their seventies, the Foylers are spending their days doing things they never dreamed possible when they traipsed through the mud at Woodstock: going door to door in Santa Cruz, asking other former freaks to sign a pro-F.B.I. petition.


“Donald Trump has wrecked America’s standing around the world, spread misogyny and bigotry, ravaged the environment, and endorsed a child molester,” Carol said. “But making people like us support the F.B.I. is the most unforgivable thing he’s done.”

https://www.newyorker.com/humor/boro...ooting-for-fbi

^ Haha. When I read the headline (funnily enough with the Summer of Love springing to mind) I was anticipating something else with the word "rooting".

Originally Posted by misskit

“But making people like us support the F.B.I. is the most unforgivable thing he’s done.”

Even funnier than where my mind sprung to.

US President Donald Trump has approved the release of a classified Republican memo that alleges bias against him at the FBI and Justice Department.

Key points:
The document claims the FBI used an unsubstantiated report to obtain a warrant to conduct surveillance on a Trump adviser
Democrats claim the memo is an attempt to undermine Robert Mueller's probe into Russia's involvement in the 2016 election campaign
The FBI said it had "grave concerns about material omissions of fact" in the document
The move ratcheted up the stakes in a showdown with senior law enforcement officials over the probe into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.


Ignoring the urgings of the FBI earlier this week, Mr Trump declassified the four-page memo and sent it to Congress, where Republicans on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee immediately released it to the public.


The document claims the FBI used an unsubstantiated, Democrat-funded research report to obtain a warrant to conduct surveillance on a Trump adviser.


The Republican President told reporters that the contents of the document told a disgraceful story of bias against him and that "a lot of people should be ashamed".


"I think it's terrible, if you want to know the truth. I think it's a disgrace what's going on in this country," he said.


"I think it's a disgrace. The memo was sent to Congress. It was declassified. Congress will do whatever they're going to do."


The document has become a flashpoint in a battle between Republicans and Democrats over Special Counsel Robert Mueller's criminal probe into possible collusion between Mr Trump's campaign and Russia to sway the 2016 presidential election, and any actions to impede the investigation.


Mr Mueller is also believed to be investigating any attempts to impede his probe.


Mr Trump has repeatedly complained about Mr Mueller's investigation, which has cast a shadow over his first year in office, calling it a witch hunt and denying any collusion or obstruction of justice.


Moscow has denied any election meddling.


The memo, criticised by the FBI as incomplete and slammed by Democrats as an attempt to undermine Mr Mueller's probe, purports to show that the investigation of ties between the Trump campaign and Russia was driven by political bias.


The document, commissioned by the Republican Chairman of the House Intelligence panel, Devin Nunes, uses the case of investigations into a Trump campaign aide, Carter Page, saying the FBI used a biased source to justify surveillance on him.


Memo could spark political storm




It alleges that a dossier of Trump-Russia contacts compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele, and funded in part by US Democrats, formed an "essential part" of requests for electronic surveillance on Mr Page that began in October, 2016.


It said the initial application and subsequent renewal applications did not mention the link between Mr Steele and the Democrats. It also portrays Mr Steele as biased, saying he "was passionate about him [Trump] not being president".


Democrats have depicted the memo, which was crafted by Republican members of the intelligence panel, as misleading, based on a selective use of highly classified data and intended to discredit Mr Mueller's work.


"The selective release and politicisation of classified information sets a terrible precedent and will do long-term damage to the Intelligence Community and our law enforcement agencies," Democrats on the House intelligence panel said in a statement on Friday.


The Democrats said they hoped to release their own memo responding to the allegations on February 5.


The entire file that the Justice Department used to apply to a special court for permission to eavesdrop on Mr Page remains highly classified, making it hard to evaluate the memo's contents.
Two days ago, in a rare public rebuke of the President and Republicans in Congress who were pushing to release the classified memo, the FBI said it had "grave concerns about material omissions of fact" in the document and it should not be made public.
On Friday, FBI agents defended their work and said they "have not, and will not, allow partisan politics to distract" from their mission.
The Russia conspiracy theory doesn't add up


A murder, the IT rip-off and a mysterious man in a photo. It's the "counter-narrative" to the Russian hacking theory, writes John Barron.

"The American people should know that they continue to be well-served by the world's preeminent law enforcement agency," FBI Agents Association President Thomas O'Connor said in a statement after the memo's release.
Earlier on Friday, Mr Trump accused the country's top law enforcement officers, some of whom he appointed himself, of politicising investigations in favour of Democrats and against his fellow Republicans.
"The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicised the sacred investigative process in favour of Democrats and against Republicans, something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago," Mr Trump wrote on Twitter.

Donald J. Trump
✔@realDonaldTrump


The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans - something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago. Rank & File are great people!
7:33 PM - Feb 2, 2018

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But the President praised "rank and file" FBI employees.
His latest salvo was sure to worsen frayed relations with agencies that are supposed to be politically independent.
James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence under former president Barack Obama, said Mr Trump's attack on the FBI and Justice Department was the "pot calling the kettle black".
Seeking to defuse the conflict over the memo, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan backed the release of a Democratic counterpoint document.
His office said he backed making the Democrats' rebuttal public if it did not reveal intelligence gathering sources or methods.

Donald Trump releases classified Republican memo claiming FBI bias in fight over Russia probe - Donald Trump's America - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Originally Posted by Cujo

The document claims the FBI used an unsubstantiated report to obtain a warrant to conduct surveillance on a Trump adviser

So, to substatiate it, don't investigate?

When there is even a hint of serious crime (eg pedophilia, murder, spying, being a traitor), it behooves law enforcement to start looking into it immediately. Better to err on the side of caution, especially with serious crime.

It’s aready being pointed out that Nunes’ memo undermines his argument. George Papadopoulous is who triggered the investigation, not the Steele Dossier.

https://www.vox.com/world/2018/2/2/1...mo-dud-release

I would be interested in seeing your pretty sure sources.

Sad thing is,it's all based on emotion.

From NPR

For one thing, the memo does not detail what other evidence, if any, the FBI and DOJ used to ask to authorize and sustain surveillance of Page. It also does not make clear that the FISA court only reauthorizes warrants in cases that are yielding intelligence.


In other words, the FBI and the Justice Department were able to get judges to permit continued surveillance because the agencies were able to show that the warrants were producing something.


"You have to provide results to the court that are pertinent to intelligence-related collection to keep the surveillance in a constantly renewed status," said Douglas, who is now with Guidepost Solutions. "You have to have active, ongoing intelligence gathering to keep it up."


The memo undercuts another aspect of the narrative that some Republicans have pushed — that the Steele dossier was the sole foundation of the FBI's Trump campaign-Russia probe.


But the memo says that was not the case.


Instead, it says, overtures by Russian operatives to a junior campaign adviser are what sparked the FBI's counterintelligence investigation.


George Papadopoulos — who has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about those contacts — "triggered" the opening of the investigation, the memo says.


Court documents have described offers that Papadopoulos received of "dirt" on Hillary Clinton and "off the record" meetings involving him and other campaign aides and Russian leaders.


Papadopoulos told an Australian diplomat about these offers on a drunken night out in London, according to The New York Times. The Australian then reported what he had heard through official channels to the United States, and the FBI began to investigate.


The story has been told before, but the Nunes memo confirms for the first time that the Russia probe began with Papadopoulos and not with other evidence, including the unverified Steele dossier. The dossier was used later as part of an application for a warrant to conduct surveillance on another Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page, according to the document.

https://www.npr.org/2018/02/02/58271...-investigation

Did anyone see that Trump's cheerleader and member of his transition team, Trey Gowdy, is quitting Congress? He is the 9th Republican to not run of re-election. This is the turnip who carried on the Bengazi probe for two years and millions of dollars, coming up with nothing on Hillary Clinton.

Gowdy has now angered Trump supporters by saying the Mueller probe is entirely legitimate.

^ they're trying to muddy the water like they (more or less) did with benghazi.

Originally Posted by CSFFan

Trump is probably having someone explain things to him in small, simple words

"Mr. President, this is turning into a huuuuge shithole."

Originally Posted by CSFFan

Trump is probably having someone explain things to him in small, simple words, repeatedly,

That just makes him dig his heels in. The WH staff have an expression for it which escapes me now...something along the lines of being contrary out of the principle of "I'm a genius, so nobody tells me what to do".

Originally Posted by CSFFan

by asking Nunes if he worked with the White House in developing the memo.

They already did ask and Nunes refused to answer.
Which was an answer

Nunes is getting hit from all sides for his stupid memo. Would like to post the ad which the hopeful challenger to Nunes' congressional seat is broadcasting but can't find a direct link. You'll just have to take a look at it on this Mother Jones article.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics...-and-his-memo/

^ there might be some marketing gurus who would say his ad repeats "Nunes" far too many times. It's sublimanal and will actually reach the rednecks in a way that is contrary to the intent.

Originally Posted by misskit

Nunes is getting hit from all sides for his stupid memo

Nunes will be reelected. His district has 10% more registered republicans than dems. It's Trump country. Nunes is a local hero as far as his electorate is concerned.

So let me see if I have this straight: Nunes is still in charge of the House Russian investigation despite rescuing himself after having been caught sneaking to the White House to share information with the people he was supposed to be investigating, and now a memo he authored that contains more factual inaccuracies than a standard Flake post has been released to cast aspersions on and discredit a parallel investigation by Justice / the FBI...

The republicans really are dragging the US constitution through the dirt. Of course the big risk with that is that the only way the democrats can counteract it is to drag themselves down to that level, which would ultimately be a disaster for the American people.