Thread: Mueller's Russian Interference investigation

^^You’ve either misstated or misunderstood Mueller’s appointment as Special Counsel, the reasons for it, and the scope of the investigation to begin with: it's neither dependent on nor because of the FISA warrants.

And yeah, Flynn hasn’t been to Court for sentencing but he has already pled guilty so that’s basically irrelevant.

Originally Posted by jamescollister

Do any of you bother to actually look up anything but opinion pieces in the media, Flynn has not been to court for sentencing.
A federal judge presiding the case has ordered Mueller to disclose the evidence, which has not happened [yet] why would be the question, month have passed.

Quilt or innocence has little to do with the legal system, it's the rules/law that count, defense files for discovery, prosecution has to disclose.
Problem as both the Dems and Republicans agree the the Steele dossier was used for the FISA warrants, but the FBI never confirmed the facts in them, as was required under the law.

The Mueller investigation was instigated as a result of those warrants, if as it appears they weren't confirmed by the FBI as true, then they are out as evidence and anything resulting from those warrants is out as well.

Fruit of the poisonous tree [legal term] meaning nothing that Mueller finds can be used as evidence. As said Guilt or innocence means little in the big boys courts.

You've been watching Fox again, haven't you?

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan told the government in a filing to turn over any exculpatory evidence, known as“Brady” material, that could potentially help Flynn’s defense or information that is“material either to the defendant’s guilt or punishment.”
The order by the judge is considered routine, and the government by law is required to turn over such information to the defense if it exists.

Mueller Subpoenas Trump Organization, Demanding Documents About Russia

WASHINGTON — The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has subpoenaed the Trump Organization in recent weeks to turn over documents, including some related to Russia, according to two people briefed on the matter. The order is the first known instance of the special counsel demanding records directly related to President Trump’s businesses, bringing the investigation closer to the president.


The breadth of the subpoena was not clear, nor was it clear why Mr. Mueller issued it instead of simply asking for the documents from the company, an umbrella organization that encompasses Mr. Trump’s business ventures. Mr. Mueller ordered the Trump Organization to hand over records related to Russia and other topics he is investigating, the people said.


The subpoena is the latest indication that the investigation, which Mr. Trump’s lawyers once regularly assured him would be completed by now, will continue for at least several more months. Word of the subpoena came as Mr. Mueller appears to be broadening his inquiry to examine the role foreign money may have played in funding Mr. Trump’s political activities. In recent weeks, Mr. Mueller’s investigators have questioned witnesses, including an adviser to the United Arab Emirates, about the flow of Emirati money into the United States.

MORE https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/15/u...er-russia.html

Not sure how we missed this tidbit of news concerning the House Intelligence Comittee's findings exonerated Trump previously reported on this thread.

If anyone know who Trey Gowdy is, he is a red state Republican who was on Trump's transition team along with Devin Nunes. He was on the House panel and is saying the report is not correct and that Russia did help Trump get elected. Gowdy know a lot more than most others about what transpired!




Gowdy breaks from GOP committee, says Russia worked to undermine Clinton


A top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee distanced himself Tuesday from one of the panel's most explosive findings in its Russia investigation — that the FBI, CIA and NSA overplayed their hand when they declared Russia preferred a Donald Trump victory in the 2016 election.


Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina said that the evidence gathered by the committee clearly showed Russia's disdain for Trump's rival, Hillary Clinton, and was "motivated in whole or in part by a desire to harm her candidacy or undermine her Presidency had she prevailed."


A source familiar with Gowdy's thinking said the congressman believes there's no difference between opposing Clinton and backing Trump in what had become, effectively, a two-person race. The source added that Gowdy "disagrees with the conclusion" that the intelligence agencies got it wrong.


"He believes the debate over whether desiring a negative outcome for Clinton necessarily meant Russia had a preference for candidate Trump is a distinction that doesn't make a difference," the source said.


Gowdy's conclusion is at odds with an overview of the findings of the House's Russia investigation released Monday by the probe's top Republican, Rep. Mike Conaway of Texas. Among the findings: Although the committee agrees Russia interfered in the election, the intelligence community failed to adequately back up its claim "with respect to Putin's supposed preference for candidate Trump."


"The conclusion that Putin was trying to help Trump, we don't think that's supported by the underlying data," Conaway said in a phone interview, when asked to elaborate on the committee's finding.


He said Republicans on the committee agreed with "98 percent" of the intelligence agencies' findings but broke on that central issue. Conaway described a laborious effort to confirm the intelligence community's findings, enshrined in its January 2017 assessment that declared with "high confidence" that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government "developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump."


In the end, Conaway said, the committee found that the agencies didn't meet the burden to prove that assessment.


GOP lawmakers and aides told POLITICO that the committee report isn't a wholesale refutation of the intelligence community's findings. Rather, it's a judgment that the evidence simply fell short of proving the Russian government's preference for Trump, even though the evidence indicates animus toward Clinton.


Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) emphasized that point on CNN on Monday night, suggesting that the evidence of Russia's disdain for Clinton was evident but that it did not necessarily support a conclusion that the Russians backed Trump's candidacy. Conaway, too, argues that the discrepancy is an issue of the "analytic tradecraft" that the intelligence agencies used to reach their conclusion.


Other Republicans on the panel agreed that the evidence failed to support the intel agencies' conclusions.


“It is my belief that Russia’s intent was to influence our elections by having the American people distrust the institutions that serve them," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) in a statement, when asked whether she supported the report's conclusions. "However, I do not believe this interference swayed the electorate to vote for one candidate or another. "


Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) put it even more bluntly.


"The CIA just got it wrong," Stewart said on CNN on Monday night, saying he had viewed the raw intelligence the agencies used to reach their determination. "The CIA just got it wrong, just like they did, by the way, in the Gulf War, when they said there were weapons of mass destruction."


The committee's finding tracks with an exchange that Conaway had publicly with former FBI Director James Comey in a March 2017 hearing at the outset of the House's Russia probe. Using a football analogy, Conaway challenged Comey on the FBI's determination that Russia wanted to help Trump.


"I mean the logic is that because he really didn't like president — the candidate Clinton, that he automatically liked Trump. That assessment's based on what?" Conaway wondered.
Comey replied, "Well, it's based on more than that. But part of it is, and we're not getting into the details of it here, but part of it is the logic. Whoever the Red Raiders are playing, you want the Red Raiders to win, by definition, you want their opponent to lose."


"I know, but this says that ... you wanted her to lose and wanted him to win. Is that what you were saying?" Conaway responded.


"Right. They're inseparable," Comey said.

Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Tuesday that Democrats had hoped to at least find agreement with Republicans on the fundamentals of Russia's scheme to interfere in the 2016 election. But that hope evaporated, he said, with the GOP's decision to break from the intelligence community.


"It had been our hope for some time that even if there were areas of disagreement with the majority, that we could at least come together on a report that validated the findings of the intelligence community," he told reporters at the Capitol. "If this is where the GOP is coming from, it represents to me the completeness of their capitulation to the White House, and that leaves very little common ground."


Democrats issued a 22-page report charging that Republicans abdicated their responsibility to conduct a thorough Russia probe, instead cutting off avenues of investigation and refusing to call dozens of potential witnesses.


"The decision to shut down the investigation before key witnesses could be interviewed and vital documentary evidence obtained will prevent us from fully discharging our duty to the House and to the American people," the Democrats said in their report, which identifies 30 witnesses Democrats wanted to call.


https://www.politico.com/story/2018/...blicans-461612

Republicans fear they botched Russia report rollout

GOP lawmakers are on the defensive after challenging the intelligence community’s findings on election meddling.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/...a-probe-465805

Originally Posted by misskit

The subpoena is the latest indication that the investigation, which Mr. Trump’s lawyers once regularly assured him would be completed by now, will continue for at least several more months

IMO, it's good that mueller's examining every possible angle of a conspiracy theory: trump hooking up with the russians to defeat hillary.

then, when he's finished and doesn't bring charges against trump, nobody will question his decision.



posters on this thread might feel that they were led astray by the mainstream media, though.

Originally Posted by Farangrakthai

posters on this thread might feel that they were led astray by the mainstream media, though.

Define mainstream media, please.

Does FRT know that Mueller was appointed in response to baldy orange cunto going on national television and saying that he sacked Comey because of the Russia investigation?

Or is Fox News the "MSM" he's talking about?

FBI Deputy Director, Andrew McCabe fired a day before his retirement. Now this.

Trump’s Lawyer: It’s Time to End the Mueller Probe

The president’s personal attorney hopes Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein follows ‘the brilliant and courageous example’ of Sessions, who just fired Andrew McCabe.

President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, John Dowd, told The Daily Beast on Saturday morning that he hopes Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will shut down Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russia’s election interference.


Reached for comment by email about the firing of former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, Dowd sent The Daily Beast the text of Trump’s most recent tweet on the subject, which applauded the dismissal.


“I pray that Acting Attorney General Rosenstein will follow the brilliant and courageous example of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility and Attorney General Jeff Sessions and bring an end to alleged Russia Collusion investigation manufactured by McCabe’s boss James Comey based upon a fraudulent and corrupt Dossier,” Dowd then wrote.


In making the statement, a senior member of Trump's legal team joins the calls from his base to end the probe. As late as mid-December, another Trump lawyer, Ty Cobb, had brushed aside talk of stopped Mueller’s investigation, stressing that there was "no consideration at the White House of terminating the special counsel." The president himself has called the Mueller probe a “witch hunt,” but has not publicly urged Rosenstein to shutter it.


When The Daily Beast initially asked Dowd if he was speaking on behalf of the president, he answered, “Yes as his counsel.” After publication of this story, however, Dowd emailed to say he was actually speaking in his personal capacity, and not on the president’s behalf.


The White House did not immediately return a request for comment.


As part of his initial email, Dowd included the text below, which is an annotated version of a line from a well-known 20th century play:



“What's that smell in this room[Bureau}? Didn't you notice it, Brick [Jim]? Didn't you notice a powerful and obnoxious odor of mendacity in this room[Bureau}?... There ain't nothin' more powerful than the odor of mendacity[corruption]... You can smell it. It smells like death.” Tennessee Williams- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof


Rosenstein, who is overseeing the probe because Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from matters related to the 2016 campaign, has publicly defended and praised Mueller’s work. Five days ago, he told USA Today, "The special counsel is not an unguided missile... I don't believe there is any justification at this point for terminating the special counsel."


Sessions announced on Friday night that he had fired McCabe, citing “lack of candor”—a fireable offense in the bureau. McCabe has long been a top target for Republicans, in part because his wife ran for office in Virginia as a Democrat and took campaign contributions from a close ally of Hillary Clinton. McCabe also featured in a controversial memo from Republicans on the House intelligence committee, which charged he improperly obtained authorization to surveil a former Trump campaign employee. McCabe has defended the way he obtained the warrant.


https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps...robert-mueller

Originally Posted by CSFFan

Define mainstream media, please.

To them it is anything other than Fox, breitbart and the right wing echo chamber.

Originally Posted by Farangrakthai

IMO, it's good that mueller's examining every possible angle of a conspiracy theory: trump hooking up with the russians to defeat hillary.

then, when he's finished and doesn't bring charges against trump, nobody will question his decision.



posters on this thread might feel that they were led astray by the mainstream media, though.

After reading the above^^, you might reconsider. Trump’s attorneys are trying to stop the investigation because it will incriminate Trump. If they thought Mueller would exonerate Trump, they would let the probe run its course.

Originally Posted by misskit

After reading the above^^, you might reconsider. Trump’s attorneys are trying to stop the investigation because it will incriminate Trump. If they thought Mueller would exonerate Trump, they would let the probe run its course.

Otherwise known as "Obstruction of Justice".

Oh dear it is looking like Harry's precious orange cunto thread is going to unravel and become the perfect nothing-burger.

The “Russiagate” collusion theory took a huge blow this week, as the House Intelligence Committee’s probe into Russia meddling came to an end.

While the special counsel probe continues, the House Intelligence Committee’s conclusion of “no collusion” underscored the lack of any evidence to date of any such activities.
“The collusion conspiracy theory is breaking down. There is no evidence of collusion at this point after year-plus investigations in the House and Senate. [Rep. Adam Schiff] claimed a year ago he had more than circumstantial evidence of collusion, but he still can’t produce it,” said a source involved in Congress’s Russia investigations.
“And we’ve seen nothing on collusion from [special counsel Robert] Mueller. In addition, everyone now knows the Steele dossier is a fraud, and that the FBI was using it anyway. So the only thing sustaining the collusion narrative now is the media’s complicity in it.”
Democrats on the committee complained they just were not allowed to dig deep enough — after more than a year of investigating and 73 witness interviews. They have vowed to keep investigating, although without the power to compel witnesses or documents, it is hard to imagine they will make much progress.
And they continue to argue that disparate incidents amounted to collusion — a London professor telling Trump volunteer campaign aide George Papadopoulos that the Russians had thousands of emails that were embarrassing to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump Jr. showing receptivity by accepting a meeting with a Russian lawyer who purportedly had dirt on Clinton.

advertisement

But the lead Republican on the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia probe, Rep. Mike Conaway (R-TX), dismissed that idea, telling reporters after the committee’s conclusion was announced:

Only Tom Clancy or Vince Flynn or someone else like that could take this series of inadvertent contacts with each other, or meetings, whatever, and weave that into some sort of a fictional page-turner spy thriller. But we’re not dealing with fiction, we’re dealing with facts. And we found no evidence of any collusion, of anything that people were actually doing, other than taking a meeting they shouldn’t have taken or inadvertently being in the same building.

Perhaps the biggest blow to Democrats is the loss of the probe as a political vehicle ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.
The House Intelligence Committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), had become a cable news fixture talking about Russia collusion and suspected leaker to CNN about the probe. The RNC tracked Schiff’s TV interviews in the last 13 months about the probe at 227.
“It’s not shocking that the person most upset by the outcome had used the investigation to launch his TV career,” Republican National Committee spokesman Michael Ahrens told the Washington Examiner.
Schiff also tried to fundraise off of the Russia probe, claiming in one campaign ad that Trump and his “friends at Breitbart” were going after him.
Although the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary Committees continue their investigations, the top Democrats on those committees have been nowhere near as vocal or partisan. And there are no signs that either committee has found any collusion yet. In October, Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Richard Burr (R-NC) told reporters that he had no “initial findings” on collusion, ten months after the investigation began.
Contrary to Trump critics’ fears and accusations, the end of the House probe does not appear to affect the special counsel’s investigation. According to the New York Times, Mueller opened a new avenue of inquiry in recent weeks, requesting all documents related to Russia from the Trump Organization, despite the president’s warning Mueller to stay out of his finances.
But Andrew McCarthy, senior fellow at the National Review and a former prosecutor, said any evidence of collusion found by the special counsel would have likely leaked by now. He also noted that indictments against former National Security adviser Michael Flynn, former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, his business associate Rick Gates, and former volunteer campaign adviser George Papadopoulos have not been related to collusion.
“If you look at the charging instruments that Mueller has filed, the indictments and information that’s come out, the guilty pleas that have come out,” he said, “he’s even got guys who clearly have connections with Russia, like Papadopoulos and Flynn and Manafort and Gates, and there’s not a whisper in any of these charges that there was a conspiracy between Trump and Russia.”
The ending of the House Intelligence Committee probe could mean a second special counsel, however, now that House Republican lawmakers have more time to investigate potential misbehavior at the Justice Department and the FBI.

House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) has said the committee will continue to investigate FISA abuse, the unmasking of Americans’ names in intelligence reports, the origins and use of the Trump dossier, and intelligence community leaks.
Additionally, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), House Intelligence Committee member and chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, recently requested — along with House Judiciary Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) — that Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appoint a second special counsel.
That request has now been echoed by four senators, including the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, increasing the chances that it will happen, or that a DOJ prosecutor will be assigned to investigate the matter.
A second special counsel could ensure that any investigation into the DOJ and FBI continues, even if Democrats take the House in the 2018 midterm elections, which, historically, they are favored to do, as the opposing party of an incumbent president.
However, the pressure is on House Republicans to do as much as they can before that might happen, McCarthy noted.
“There’s a limited number of legislative days that they have left in an election year,” he said. “If they lose control of the House, the investigation’s over because the Democrats will kill the investigation.”

'Russiagate' Collusion Theory Takes Blow as House Intelligence Committee Probe Ends

Mueller doesn’t give a fuck what Breitbart thinks of what some GOP toadies say.

It’s Fake News.

^congratulations on your speed reading skills...
And lack of comprehension skills...

This ‘story’ is reporting on ‘news’ from last week. It was Fake News then and it’s Fake News still.

You’re a bit slow. Welcome to the new week Earl.

^Completely immaterial, RussiaGate is officially a nothingburger.

Enjoy, ya dumfuck...

See, that sort of ‘article’ is written specifically for angry old white men who think their feelz equate to facts - AKA. Trumptards, AKA. you.

Enjoy your Fake News, Earl.

Meanwhile Mueller still doesn’t give a fuck.

Originally Posted by Mr Earl

Oh dear it is looking like Harry's precious orange cunto thread is going to unravel and become the perfect nothing-burger.

'Russiagate' Collusion Theory Takes Blow as House Intelligence Committee Probe Ends

Seriously. Mr. Earl. You think Breitbart reporting that a bunch of GOP hacks ended an investigation that they deliberately fucked up and didn't finish anyway has any bearing on the special prosecutor?

I believe the phrase is "Dream On".

^ I suppose ya be right Harry. Mueller is gonna milk this one completely dry, while running cover for Hillary/Clinton Foundation/FBI/DOJ/CIA/NSA/RealRussiaGate.

Earl has taken up permanent residency in Fake News Trumptard La-la Land.

Originally Posted by Mr Earl

The “Russiagate” collusion theory took a huge blow this week, as the House Intelligence Committee’s probe into Russia meddling came to an end.

for reasons already discussed, this house 'intelligence' committee never had any credibility whatsoever. everyone knew where nunes would make sure they ended up.

but it doesn't matter at all because:

1. the senate judiciary committee has some semblance of credibility, and their work continues. unlike in the house, there are republicans on that committee who put loyalty to the country before trump.

2: most importantly, the special counsel's office continues its investigation. and should trump decide its in his own self-interest to start a constitutional crisis by firing mueller, then the case will be continued in other venues...where trump doesn't have the power to pardon.

disciples of the orange jesus would do well to think about this quote from michelle obama:

the presidency doesn't change who you are....it reveals who you are.


trump only cares about trump.
he talks a lot about loyalty...but it's a one way street....loyalty to him. he has no loyalty to anyone but himself.
if anything that is what the presidency has revealed about who trump is.

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

Earl has taken up permanent residency in Fake News Trumptard La-la Land.

Jane Goodall could do a whole new book studying this particular bunch of primates.

So spiteful baldy orange cunto got his evil pixie to sack McCabe two days before he got his full pension.

Now it seem there is a queue of democrats wanting to hire McCabe as a federal employee for two days to work on some "urgent stuff".