The day after Donald Trump fired James Comey (because of “the Russia thing”), the only thing on his public schedule was a meeting in the Oval Office with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak. Trump didn’t allow American media or even White House photographers in the meeting. He did allow some Russian photographers in the meeting, because he thought that they were from the Russian government and he wanted to provide Vladimir Putin with personal photographic evidence of puppet skillz. As it turns out, the photographers were from a Russian media outlet (or something) and the photos were released publicly almost immediately. Some in the White House were mad about it, claiming that the Russians “tricked” them and now, suddenly, the Russians can’t be trusted.
At the same Oval Office meeting with the completely un-vetted photographers, Donald Trump revealed highly classified and highly sensitive intelligence information to the Russians. This story is absolutely horrifying.
President Trump revealed highly classified information to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador in a White House meeting last week, according to current and former U.S. officials, who said Trump’s disclosures jeopardized a critical source of intelligence on the Islamic State. The information the president relayed had been provided by a U.S. partner through an intelligence-sharing arrangement considered so sensitive that details have been withheld from allies and tightly restricted even within the U.S. government, officials said.
The partner had not given the United States permission to share the material with Russia, and officials said Trump’s decision to do so endangers cooperation from an ally that has access to the inner workings of the Islamic State. After Trump’s meeting, senior White House officials took steps to contain the damage, placing calls to the CIA and the National Security Agency.
“This is code-word information,” said a U.S. official familiar with the matter, using terminology that refers to one of the highest classification levels used by American spy agencies. Trump “revealed more information to the Russian ambassador than we have shared with our own allies.”
For almost anyone in government, discussing such matters with an adversary would be illegal. As president, Trump has broad authority to declassify government secrets, making it unlikely that his disclosures broke the law. The CIA declined to comment, and the NSA did not respond to requests for comment. But officials expressed concern about Trump’s handling of sensitive information as well as his grasp of the potential consequences. Exposure of an intelligence stream that has provided critical insight into the Islamic State, they said, could hinder the United States’ and its allies’ ability to detect future threats.
“It is all kind of shocking,” said a former senior U.S. official who is close to current administration officials. “Trump seems to be very reckless and doesn’t grasp the gravity of the things he’s dealing with, especially when it comes to intelligence and national security. And it’s all clouded because of this problem he has with Russia.”
In his meeting with Lavrov, Trump seemed to be boasting about his inside knowledge of the looming threat. “I get great intel. I have people brief me on great intel every day,” the president said, according to an official with knowledge of the exchange.
That WaPo story has a ton of additional information about the highly sensitive nature of the information and how much Trump revealed, not to mention what a gut-punch it is for the American intelligence community. The CIA and NSA work with partners around the world and it sounds like the information Trump revealed came from someone who really put himself in harm’s way by cooperating with the Americans. Buzzfeed confirmed WaPo’s story and one official told Buzzfeed, “It’s far worse than what has already been reported.” All because Trump wanted to brag to the Russians. The Russians don’t even have to blackmail him – Trump is so f–king stupid that he’ll tell you whatever you want to know just because he’s the bigliest and best bad hombre in the room.
What does it take to start impeachment? I am so over this bull.
Republicans who actually want to do their jobs. But they won’t so flipping the house.
It’s funny because they impeached Clinton over lying about sex and they are letting Trump sell us out to Russia day in and day out. Oh and erode every department and our constitution. But they won’t impeach him unless we apply the pressure that they won’t have jobs next year
IKR ?
This is beyond crazy, I don’t understand how they can let him do this, without any consequence. Seriously.
They impeached Clinton because he LIED about cheating his wife (astonishing: a cheating husband lies…) and the Orange Clown can say all the stuff he wants not anyone.
I was thinking about that last night, as a matter of fact. I remember very clearly all of the fuss around the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal – everyone was talking about it, even here in Canada – and now a Republican president does something 1000 times worse and they’re all sitting on their hands. Hell, John McCain even defended their Dear Leader by saying that the Pres can “declassify” information whenever he wants.
I just…my mind boggles. Unless their Dear Leader actually rips apart the Constitution whilst dancing on the flag, I don’t see them ever actually doing anything about him.
A number of the “House Impeachment Managers” are still in Congress, notably Lindsay Graham, who is now in the Senate. I need him to explain why he believes obstruction of justice by lying about an extra-marital, consensual BJ is an impeachable offense but obstruction of justice by firing the head of the investigation into your possible collusion with a foreign power to throw a US election because you hoped doing so would end the investigation and then sharing classified intel with that foreign power is not.
This isn’t just, or even primarily, about domestic issues. Our president is going to singlehanded destroy our alliances and torpedo our foreign policy. I’m glad I went to Paris when I did.
Call your elected officials and continue to apply pressure. I called all my reps and senators this morning at their home districts and DC.
Swing Left is a group that finds the most vulnerable red districts in your area, to help move seats that matter.
Republicans that put their country ahead of party. But I fear many of the top dogs in the GOP are compromised in all of this Russian stuff so they will stay silent. Just this morning Marco Rubio was tweeting bible verses. We don’t need your bible verses, little Marco. We need you to grown a damn spine.
Just saw Ben Sasse on Morning Joe. He was asked about the ennui of his GOP colleagues. His answer? Both parties lie. Fuck him.
He could also resign.
That would entail admitting defeat which we know Bigley would never do…
The only person who has the power to impeach Trump is Paul ryan, and that won’t happen. He’s rather focus on passing the American health care act before 2018 (where the gop well probably lose power). Evil evil people are controlling the USA right now. They legit don’t give a shit about anyone.
Yes that crossed my mind. The GOPers were so gung ho on taking down Clinton for having the nerve to cheat on his wife (like all of them are clean – I’m looking at you, eye of Newt) but selling country secrets to an enemy of the state is ok? WTF people! Russia is and always will be the enemy of the state. The older generation GOPers know this. Not these imbeciles running the country to the ground.
I hope they are happy when Putin moves into the White House and he begins his great purge of Congress!
I keep wondering that. They have more than enough to do it. There has to be something else at play. From what I understand Pence is a party man and will fall in line without being an international embarrassment. He seems easily controlled and can form coherent sentences. The longer this takes the angrier the public seems to be getting, it also gives the Republicans less time to try and change the narrative and act like they didn’t sit on their asses while your country burned. I guess they are confident they will be fine.
This will cost him and is only the beginning. What else has he bragged about to his masters? Now we know why the US press were kept out, he clearly planned to sh!t the bed to show off.
Trump meltdown on twitter in 1 2 3…….
Trump has already Tweeted this morning, basically throwing McMaster under the bus.
This is treason.
Will McMaster resign or get fired?
But McMaster was on the news last night saying that didn’t happen. How he can lie and then have his Boss double cross him boggles the mind. I wish Comey and all those people Orangino crossed would disclose the hell out of what’s going on.
No, the Prez really does have the authority to declassify any information at will. So Trump’s actions were legal, just horribly stupid with major bad consequences. Turns out the info source was Israel, and you don’t want to get on the bad side of Israeli intel.
I wonder if Pence will be taking the foreign trip now instead of Trump. Donald is really in big trouble right now and even he may realize it. Not good if he has a major meltdown overseas.
He’s tweeting he has the right to do this. People are replying that he didn’t because it wasn’t our intel to reveal and the source is probably dead now, thanks to him.
The man has a lot of blood on his hands for only being in office just over 100 days.
Shambles – yes, he does. I’m surprised the press hasn’t highlighted this issue more often. It seems that there is great concern that lives were comprised in this latest clusterf*ck – we may never know, but the intelligence community will.
Maybe the Intelligence Community should start leaking some damaging stuff about Orangino. His tax returns are a start. Someone out there has intel on the whole family.
And congress has “the right” to vote and declare war on our friend France, too, but if they did that all hell would break loose! I am so angry about this that I have not been able to call my red state senators to complain about it yet. They are all just abetting treason. So mad I could spit nails!
This is what depressed me the most. Some people were risking their lives to save others, to bring peace, and then Trump opens his mouth and those heroes are now presumably dead.
This will have such serious consequences for a long time. The US can’t be trusted now. We are all in greater danger because of Trump’s irresponsibility.
He is so insecure it is destroying him. Repeatedly bragging as he circles the drain.
Spine chilling.
This is so outrageous. If Obama or Clinton had done something like this, conservatives would be calling for their heads and the greatest scandal would ensue. All the Repubs say is that “as President he has the right to declassify information.” Thing is, this twit was bragging about the intel like a f-cking idiot. I hope and pray the intel community has had enough of this clown and will now make every effort to bring him down.
By any means necessary. Malcolm X by way of Jean-Paul Satre.
If Obama or Clinton had done a *fraction* of what Trump has already done (violating the emoluments clause, threatening to blackmail the former FBI director, firing 3 people to hinder an ongoing investigation, i.e. obstruction of justice, and now this latest scandal) they would already be in handcuffs. I don’t know what it’s going to take at this point. It’s pretty fucking obvious that Trump is guilty of treason. He’s not even hiding it at this point. I think the people are going to have to orchestrate a march on DC and refuse to leave until the House begins impeachment proceedings for anything to happen.
That or a country-wide strike.
Drumpf and his supporters are fu*king hypocrites. They attack Hillary all the time because of this e-mail thing, scream “lock her up” but Drumpf is much worse – he’s a traitor who must be removed from office immediately.
Their response today is that this is a Fake News coverup to distract from Hillary’s murder of Seth Rich, a DNC staffer who was shot to death last year.
LOL Trump and his people are the ones who always try to distract from Russia etc.
If I ever, ever hear anyone, even my own father, speak one word about the way Hillary handled classified information, I will take the nearest liquid and pour it all over them, no matter what it is.
It’s a joke that he still has supporters.
Maybe some of the golden liquid Trump is meant to be fond of might be particularly satisfying?
Oh yeah some people I went to high school with and are FB friends are still in denial. They called it “fake” news and then they said it’s ok. It just boggles the mind!
Yes, Hillary never revealed classified info to unauthorized persons and never “mishandled” it. That was all just a Trumpian smear. She always handled it on the State Department server.
Comey thought a small number of messages should have been classified, but the senders disagreed and they certainly weren’t marked classified. Comey said they found no evidence that anything on her server had been hacked. Since Bill had it set up for his own purposes, my bet was that her private server was more secure than State at the time. Government servers at that early point were not only a tad difficult but were dealing with hacking fairly often for a while.
In contrast, Flynn had a secret server in his office while still working under Obama and he used it to pass along classified info to unauthorized contacts in NATO. And Trump obviously carelessly revealed highly classified info to people who were not supposed to receive it, based on the wishes of whoever risked their neck to get it. Trump did not decide to declassify the info after due deliberation. He spilled it while chatting with Russian officials just to brag about all the wonderful intel he was getting daily. This is the kind of stuff that can actually get people killed, which is why it isn’t normal to do. Trump is such a toddler.
People in the White House are obviously getting more worried by the minute about the Toddler-in-Chief, hence the stepped up leaking.
Somebody is very likely dead because of this, and if other intel agencies were distrustful of sharing information with him before…
The GOP astonish me with their ability to turn a blind eye to all this. What’s it going to take?
This … there is no word bad enough to describe how low this filth is … has put human lives at risk. The source is now in increased danger, thanks to him. The allies who provided the information are now in danger of having their intelligence methods exposed, thanks to him. Our own intelligence agencies are at risk of losing their contacts because nobody trusts us any more, which puts our lives at risk, thanks to him. The Trumpets are screaming that it is all “fake news” to distract from the murder last year of DNC staffer Seth Rich – they have no qualms about exploiting someone’s death to protect this filth. McConnell refused to comment yesterday and Ryan is too busy pushing his Death Pools & postcard-sized tax form to care.
And if Princess Nagini tries to distract from this by posting cute pictures of her spawn today, she is evil to the core.
His stooges are already lying their asses off. And ryan has basically said, “Naughty boy, now don’t do it again.” I hope our allies blow up and cause a holy stink until those pu$$ies in Congress do something.
The responses are same old scratched record sound bites. This is concerning. Do better. If this happened, it could be worth looking into.
Talk, but no action. And I am including both parties in this assessment, sad to say.
No one will trust America anymore thanks to this twerp.
Yep. Vlad must be having a good laugh at his puppets expense right about now.
Yeah, I can see him laughing his a$$ off in his office.
The whole world is laughing at us. Trump has made a YUGE laughingstock of America and its people
Honestly Beth, we’re not laughing at you, we’re f*cking scared. We’ve never been closer to a nuclear holocaust than we are right now.
I’ve said this before, but stories like this one just prove my point: there is nothing* that we as an international community can do regarding Syria, Ukraine or any other crisis unless it’s something that can be done without the US. America under Trump is not a reliable ally anymore.
*nothing that would actually improve the situation
Co-sign.
When will President Rump rename The United States of America to The United States of Russia?
I’m just going to sit here and wait for all the ‘ lock her up’ and ‘but her emails’ people to come out and fight this.
*crickets*
Party before country GOP idiots. You think the intel community is going to like this? Also if the argument is that it’s been declassified ANYONE can file a FOIA request for that now. Morons
You don’t have to wait at all. They were all over twitter last night bellowing, “Fake news, fake news, fake news,” and accusing WaPo of treason. They’ll go to their graves sucking his you know what.
He fucked up. Anyone in the intel community that knows something or has the means to investigate, if they weren’t already pissed before, is pissed as hell now.
Yeah, he did this on purpose he is a Russian agent and we all know for sure now.
I am horrified as to how low the bar is set for Donald Trump. I am really astounded as to how every thing Donald Trump is normalized and downgraded. We are all becoming insensitive to his atrocities. He gets away with everything where as Hillary gets crucified on the spot.
The Republicans screamed when pictures were published of Obama with his feeet up on the Resolute desk. Show some respect for the Oval Office they said. But their idiot Trump welcomes Russian spies to the Oval Office and brags to them about his great intel and reveals classified information. And the damn Republicans find excuses for him. This is treason.
Me too. It’s sickening how much he has been allowed to get away with.
Either trump is deliberately trying to destroy the United State’s reputation in the eyes of its friends and allies or this is all just another diversion tactic away from a meteor sized pile of crap that will hit the fan soon( former FBI chief Comey talking about what really happened)
My worry is that trump is feeling cornered and may lash out or do something truly reckless, to show the critics and world he is still in charge
Yes, like war with North Korea. I sincerely hope not.
Jesus take the wheel. Let the cover up begin. #fakenews 😒
Also notice the one news channel not covering this story yesterday? Faux News. Gotta keep those sheep stupid
Last night all Sean Hannity could talk about was media bias against Trump, nothing about this story. Although Tucker Carlson did discuss it on his show, it was played down. I wonder how these men on Fox live with themselves by pushing this utter bull. The WaPo broke Watergate for goodness sake, they have a solid reputation and do not pander to lying presidents. For my #fakenews I go to Fox.
Sean Hannity can go jump off a ledge somewhere. He’s the one who wants Trump to stop the daily briefings and just update us all with tweets that are about his accomplishments. Hope he’s choking on his words this morning.
WaPo editor is Marty Baron. The same editor who was in charge of the Boston Globe when they broke the Catholic priest molestation scandal. Their credentials are impeccable.
I didn’t know Marty Baron was at WaPo. Reading that, I felt a little sense of internal relief. Save us, journalists!
I tuned in to see what Faux was reporting. It was all about, “we need to find out who leaked this to WaPo” and no concern whatsoever about Drumpf’s actions.
Remember crooked Hilary? She was sooo crooked that Americans couldn’t trust her!!! I can’t believe that Trumpsters believed what two timing Trump told them! OMG Trumpsters! How proud and happy are you now? SAD
Jesus, his supporters are insane. They don’t care what he does, they don’t care about the progression of America, or its citizens’ safety. All they care about is seeing liberals go insane without being able to do squat about it. It’s revolting. It’s all, “Haha, we won, you lost! Nyah!”
This morning they insist this is fake news to distract from news that a DNC staffer who was murdered last year had links to Wikileaks so Hillary herself must have shot him. And this is on the Tweets in which Trump admits what he did.
The people recently gathered to protest about the removal of a confederate statue – led by the punch in the face go to man Richard Spence – were chanting “Russia is our friend”. Apparently 56% of republicans now see Russia as a pal, compared to 14% three years ago. So all that invading and imprisoning and murdering opponents – and of course Interfering in the US election – is ok by them.
Wait…was this BEFORE or AFTER Hillary set up that pedophile ring in the basement of a pizza parlor?
And, don’t forget, she also murdered Vince Foster. Made it look like a suicide.
What a clever girl. And so efficient!
They’ve recently dug up some bodies in Arkansas. Hillary’s work, I’m sure.
Once again, his administration denies this story and then Trump confirms it via Twitter this morning. McMaster was the only one with a shred of credibility and now that’s ruined. If I were McMaster, I would resign effective immediately.
And the hypocrisy of the Republicans is just totally…predictable.
Yeah and of course he had McMaster out there defending him yesterday and telling the press the WaPo story was false. McMaster needs to resign. I think if he and Mattis – the only two in his cabinet with some credibility – were to resign, then maybe Rethuglicans would finally get on board with impeachment. And I loathe Reince Preibus, but if he resigned too that would be a big deal.
they ALL need to resign. folks need to get on the streets and demonstrate, demonstrate, demonstrate in women’s marches numbers! I am so furious. such a scandalous bunch of criminals in the white house.. and I am not even american.
Yep McMaster was left twisting in the wind after he publicly denied the shared intel happened. Tillerson denied it too.
McMaster was careful to just say that Trump did not reveal sources or methods, but WaPo never claimed that. What Trump did do (and admits) is give enough information that the Russians can figure out the source. That’s what WaPo’s sources were also saying.
And nobody can touch him for doing it because the President can indeed declassify material pretty much at will. People were asking Obama to do that about the Russia connections information before he left office, but he didn’t. Instead, his staff spread it around to people authorized to receive it to keep The Donald from shredding and deleting.
The people involved with relevant committees in Congress probably do know why this is a big deal, though. It may be legal, but it shows horrible judgment and will have serious consequences now and in future. I thought it was dangerous giving Trump security briefings as a candidate also, he’s a thoughtless blabbermouth who wants to impress people. Something like this was bound to happen sooner or later.
McMaster is also saying that Trump did this on the spur of the moment. Which means NO thought behind what he was saying or who he was saying it to. The NY Times is saying that the intel came from Israel (no confirmation from Israel on this, but why would they confirm it and put their people in danger). If he does something like this on the “spur of the moment” then he could use the nuclear football on a whim and then we are truly screwed.
Allowing un-vetted photographers in the OO is less than amateurish. This (also) shows how unprepared the WH is under Drumpf. The president may have the power to unclassify information but there are repercussions and Drumpf is clueless. A joker as Commander in Chief. How can he be trusted by the US Army? And NATO allies? There is a meeting scheduled with NATO in Brussels this month. Nightmare. NIGHTMARE !!
There is some information he has no authority to declassify and this intel fit that category. It wasn’t ours. It can be reverse engineered to reveal the source and intelligence methods used. He has put lives at risk that were not his to put in harm’s way.
ITA with your comment.
I didn’t imply he had the right to declassify this kind of info. I meant that part of my comment as “in general”.
Very interesting, Lightpurple.
I flipped over to Faux News right after this story broke, and (believe it or not) their WH reporter made this point as the in-studio hack bellowed about how he had the right to declassify anything. It came from another source-country, which requires their permission.
The people he will be having meetings with abroad need to be aware that they can’t rely on him keeping anything confidential if there are closed sessions.
How many investigations did they have on Bneghazi?????
Democrats must flip the House. Keep the outrage and motivation to vote going!!
The Republicans are in deep with the Russians. And they have enough time to suppress enough votes and gerrymander enough districts to ensure they will never be voted out. And with no term limits, we are screwed. This is why they are not speaking out. They are not afraid of losing their seats, at all. We may never get rid of these thugs. They want to fear-monger about terrorism? They ARE the terrorists!
Honestly, if the Republicans are in bed with Russia than you can bet they can/have gotten to Democrats also. Remember when we thought being a Corporate stooge was a GOP trait and then slowly realized almost every single elected Democrat was also bought and paid for? Anyone is susceptible to the tactics Russia and Putin use, it’s why they’re so successful at it. Greed, fear, pride, ambition… none of those traits are exclusive to Conservatives or Republicans.
All you have to do is look at which reps are calling for a special prosecutor/independent investigation, which ones aren’t (silence), and which ones are set against it. Then you will know who is in bed with Russia and who is not. There are only a few Republicans saying it is needed. The overwhelming majority are Democrats. I’m just saying, you’re not completely inaccurate. But I think you missed my main point: Republicans have a stranglehold on power right now, and have the means and ability to insure they do not lose seats in 2018, which is what the left is holding onto as the last vestibule of hope. It’s not going to happen. The gerrymandering and voter suppression will insure they maintain their seats, so they are not afraid of losing their jobs no matter how many phone calls and faxes they receive. And Russia is helping them do it. Why would they bite the hand that feeds them?!
I did miss your main point, thank you for explaining it without being condescending. Its much appreciated : )
Juls – yes, this investigation will ultimately become a litmus test. But it will take time to distinguish between mindless Party loyalty and possible corruption.
It’s easy for the Democrats to pursue all this because fortunately Trump is not a Democrat any more and they are the Opposition Party. So Party loyalty and “country over Party” coincide for them. Republicans have a whole different set of pressures on them – Paul Ryan can easily destroy House members for disobedience in many ways, trashing their whole career. The ones who are not running for re-election have more freedom, we’re seeing that now with Chaffetz.
Does anybody else think that maybe this story might be blown out of proportion? I am no fan of trump by any means…but I see a lot of news citing buzzfeed.
No, it’s not blown out of proportion. Washington Post sourced and broke the story, not Buzzfeed. Read the WaPo story.
Confirmed by NY Times .
I take it back….now he’s tweeting about it
Nope confirmed by Trump’s tweet this morning. He admits he shared info with them, but he says he had every right to.
No – actually this is the worst thing he’s “alleged” to have done to date. This puts lives at risk. He’s the leak. It’s reckless and dangerous beyond all description.
As you say in followup, Trump himself has now confirmed it. Or at least whoever wrote his tweet did. It was too coherent to come from Donald.
I think this highlights how worried and downright scared people in the White House are about Trump’s behavior. He’s getting wilder and causing even more chaos than usual. They are leaking because they need to warn the outside world about him. We’re lucky that Trump is so careless now that he proudly admits what he’s done fairly quickly after a few days of having his staff lie about it, so the leaks are being confirmed by The Donald himself.
While everyone’s focused on the craziness of the Comey firing and now this debacle, Trump is quietly increasing the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan. None of this will end well for the U.S. Our allies will no longer trust us on any level. The U.S. will truly be isolated on the world stage and no longer a key player–just like the Russians want.
Yup. I read a story yesterday about how China is taking our place as the world leader in clean energy initiatives. They’re going to spend billions in other countries investing in clean energy and they’re making a huge investment in attracting top scientists from around the world to come to China to do research. Meanwhile in America, we’ll still be burning the small amount of coal :/
It’s always been said that what made America great was our ability to attract the best and brightest, and that’s all been destroyed in a matter of months due to Trump’s travel ban and his anti-science policies. And now, even though we have the biggest army, as you said, no other world leaders will trust us. We’ll basically be a third world country with a first world military (we kind of actually are anyhow, as we treat our citizens like shit compared to other first world countries). It’s really sad. But the people wanted “change”, right? Well, that’s what they’re going to get.
I agree with ever single thing you said. I don’t think we are coming back from this. I think the trump voters want to burn it all down. The more chaos, the better. And that voting block has now determined the course for America.
That could only happen is Trump remains in power, but he’ll be gone soon, and things will slowly go back to normal.
I’m not American, but I believe the USA can recover from this.
Change for change’s sake can be overrated. Having your house hit by a tornado is a change, but I don’t recommend it.
Sad but true, JulP.
@Aren – Thank you for saying this. We’re in the midst of a storm like we have never seen, yet others have been through one and can guide us to hope.
But god forbid Obama gets paid for a speech or Hillary has emails. God forbid.
This is all so bizarre and I keep wondering how history will judge this entire catastrophe. I’m not even surprised anymore. Horrified, yes. But not surprised.
I’m hoping that it will end the Republican Party. Anyone who stands by and makes excuses for this behavior doesn’t deserve to be in our Congress.
We are living in a new time – a post-presidential one. Food for thought.
Seeing a lot of “if a dem did this, yada yada”…
Forget party lines! The nation’s leader. Given the most sensitive information is telling a nation that is not our ally about it. And he’s doing it to BRAG for his own ego! Moron doesn’t cover it!
I choked on my coffee while tearing up reading this.
And yea. People risk their lives for this type of info.
I think the reason people are imagining anyone else doing this is because at this point, it’s getting harder and harder to see just how outrageous all of this is. Everybody’s getting tired of being on high alert for yet another disaster every day so to keep it in perspective, it helps to imagine what would happen if someone else did this. You may have choked on your coffee but others probably barely blinked. Because of course this happened. Of course he would do this and then basically confirm it on Twitter.
It’s a nightmare situation. I’m in a Trump support area. They went from “at least it’s not hillary” to “aren’t we enemies with Russia?
So, there is a turning of the tide.
The damage and cost though… omg. And should Trump have to make distance with Russia. Because he will. Self preservation will kick in. So much will come out.
And yea. Treason is happening.
Sending you good vibes, wine, and hang-in-theres. I’m far far away with an ocean between me and this bullsh*t and I still fear for my health some days. I’m too young for blood pressure issues.
At some point he will be left with only the most insane supporters and even the GOP will notice. At some point. Let it come soon because this is becoming the new normal. No human being can live with a constant feeling of NOOOO OMFG WHAT?
This administration has to end.
Yep. November 2018 / January 2019 is too far away.
This is the most horrifying thing he’s done so far, and that’s saying something. He has put every single American life at risk because of his narcissism and stupidity.
Yes, the Commander in Chief can declassify any documents he likes. But if anyone thinks this act hasn’t seriously jeopardized (if not outright destroyed) the US intelligence community’s credibility on the world stage is denying reality. Do you think ANYONE close to ISIS will share information with the Americans now? All because Bigly Baby Fists wanted to look like a big man in front of his Russian puppetmasters. He’s a petulant man-child and has compromised the safety of Americans and its operatives all over the world to feed his ego. He needs to be impeached NOW.
Meanwhile, Congressional Republicans love to talk the talk about what patriots they are, attempting to piggyback on the work of real patriots who have sacrificed untold horror for the safety and prosperity of the nation. Well, now they finally have a chance to walk the walk and they continue to do absolutely nothing. All in the name of greed and sucking up to the 1% at the expense of everyone else.
Remember all the Republicans who stood with this unscrupulous charlatan and NEVER EVER let them slither away from their association with this appallingly corrupt administration. Focus your efforts into defeating them in the midterm elections.
Exactly.
And some sources are saying that the information he gave away is more serious than initially thought.
During the weekend, I had a horrible night of sleep full of nightmares brought on by this idiot. Now this. How low does this have to get before something is done. The standard for him is so low that we may never reach it to get rid of him.
Perfect headline.
http://twitter.com/rjszczerba/status/864454736476606464
As of 9:30 AM, Ryan’s Washington office was still taking messages. Reach out and tell him what you think.
Were you the one who posted the number in the other thread? I called, thank you!
I’m in the process of sending him a fax.
House Speaker Ryan,
The position of FBI director is non-partisan. In 1973, it became law that the FBI director would serve a 10 year term in order to remain independent of the president.
The sitting president fired the FBI director, and 2 days later he admitted out loud that it happened because the FBI director is investigating him for ties to Russia.
The position of FBI director is non-partisan. That means everyone, no matter what side they’re on or if they choose to be on no side at all, should be concerned about what’s going on here and what it means for us. If the president is not held accountable, we cannot move forward as the same country which functions as a democratic republic with 3 separate branches, each of which checks and balances the other 2.
If we just let this go, fundamental pieces of what we are as a nation will be broken, and I really don’t know how we move on from there.
The fact that you and your fellow republican leaders have not taken any actions to hold the president accountable, or even denounced his criminal behavior, is unacceptable. He has obstructed justice, shared classified intel with the same foreign adversary he’s being investigated for having ties to, and has a pattern of either firing anyone who gets too close, or somehow causing the recusal or resignation of anyone who gets too close. He has committed crimes the likes of which, had President Obama been the perpetrator, you and your fellow republican leaders would have had strokes with the outrage.
You and your fellow republican leaders are public servants, and you work for the American people. The American people demand that you support the appointment of an independent prosecutor, support the formation of an independent commission, and refuse to support the president’s FBI director. You must hold the president accountable. The people will be holding you accountable at the polls in 2018 and beyond.
I cosign this
But, ugh… you just know, or I just hope, they are acting 1 way, but feeling another. Gathering behind the scenes to take him down while showing a United party front.
That is a GREAT response. Applause.👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
This was a wonderful response! May I use it as a template to send my own fax?
Shambles,
I love your spirit and agree with your thoughts but this communication is way too long for anybody at the other end to read it.
When contacting a legislator, try to keep it short and sweet. Such as:
“Dear Senator _____________,
Please take positive action to remove Donald Trump from the Presidency. He is a danger to our nation.
Sincerely,
Jane Taxpayer
A voting resident of _____________ who cares about her country.”
All they want to do on the receiving end is to tally up the incoming as either “positive” or “negative”. Make it easy for them and do it often!
@Deeanna excellent advice! I’ll definitely keep this in mind! (I’m making a folder of templates, seeing as how I’m having to call my reps over and over. Haha)
It’s time to call it:
Republicans are traitors. All of them. If you cosign this traitorous mess, you are a traitor.
Yep. And I think there needs to be a discussion about Ryan being unfit to be Speaker.
I don’t get it. I would figure this would give the Reps a chance to get a pres. Pence? Isn’t that more preferable to them? Don’t get me wrong he is still a freaking nightmare, but still…
Rumors are swirling that the Russia stuff potentially implicates Ryan, Pence, McConnell and other members of the GOP leadership. If that’s the case, the reason they’re supporting Trump has nothing to do with Trump and everything to do with saving their own skins.
If this is true, I think the question becomes who turns first to save himself.
GOP servers were hacked at the same time at Hillary’s/democrats – only her hack was report en mass by the press. There are a lot of skeletons in closets that Ryan, Pence, McConnell et all don’t want to come out – probably the usual stuff that old white men don’t want their little wives at home to find out about.
I am so tired of these disclaimers that “he doesn’t grasp the gravity of these matters” and etc. I disagree strongly! I believe he absolutely knows what he is doing. Putin wanted that info, and he gave it to him. Period. He is a traitor to our country and a danger to the free world!!!
Absolutely. “In his meeting with Lavrov, Trump seemed to be boasting about his inside knowledge of the looming threat. ‘I get great intel. I have people brief me on great intel every day,’ the president said, according to an official with knowledge of the exchange.” Fucking twat.
My theory: The Repubs hoped to impeach Trump quickly, but quickly discovered that his supporters would riot, so they are taking his side to appease that base. And killing themselves while doing it.
This is obviously extremely terrifying and disgusting and I am losing sleep worrying about my husband (who is military) and avoiding the neighbors in my Trump-supporting neighborhood. My husband is active duty and is coming home every day infuriated at the things he has to endure hearing from his superiors, who are still trying to find ways to defend Trump and his stupidity.
BUT, I think the thing that makes me physically cringe is picturing Trump in the Oval Office calling all his cronies in to reassure him that he didn’t do anything wrong. “Hey, I was allowed to do that, right? I didn’t do anything wrong. No, I didn’t do anything wrong. Look at this electoral map! See all the red marks? Those people know I didn’t do anything wrong!”
I’m so angry to the point of getting flustered. I feel like we are all just flailing our arms in anger because THIS IS INSANE.
Sorry for any incoherence. I am livid.
Slightly OT, but I just finished watching The Salesman by the great Iranian director, Asghar Farhadi. It won the Oscar for best foreign film this year, but Mr. Farhadi did not attend due to trump’s obscene, xenophobic travel ban. Mr. Farhadi sent the statement below. To the cinephiles here, do yourself a favor and seek out this director’s films. I’ve seen his last four and they’re all wonderful. Based on what a lot of you have recommended, I know you’ll like them.
“I’m sorry I’m not with you tonight. My absence is out of respect for the people of my country and those of other six nations whom have been disrespected by the inhuman law that bans entry of immigrants to the U.S. Dividing the world into the U.S. and our enemies categories creates fear. A deceitful justification for aggression and war. These wars prevent democracy and human rights in countries which have themselves been victims of aggression.
Filmmakers can turn their cameras to capture shared human qualities and break stereotypes of various nationalities and religions. They create empathy between us and others. An empathy which we need today more than ever.”
What do the Russians have on McMaster because now(just like with Nunes, Rosenstein, McCabe, Paul Ryan, Lindsey Graham, Jason C, Spicer, Hallee Jackon, Kristen Welker, and Kelly Odennell) he too has lost his backbone? Instead of coming out and telling the truth, McMaster opted to make more excuses, blame the people who exposed what Trump did during the meeting, and claim that being President means that Trump can do whatever wants to even though there are checks and balances that state otherwise. When is enough going to be enough for the GOP and people like McMaster? When Russia changes out our flag for theirs? It’s crazy how McMaster doesn’t think anything wrong with Trump inviting the Russians to the WH.
It’s possible that he thinks he can help restrain Trump if he can avoid getting fired. I doubt that he can keep Trump from doing anything, but that would be a legitimate reason for trying to hang in there. He didn’t exactly lie. Trump didn’t spill methods and exact sources, but probably because he couldn’t remember or understand them.
Or maybe McMaster was never the shining light people assumed. One problem with having career military people in such positions is that it’s hard for many of them to shake off strong military traditions of loyalty to the commander even if he’s an idiot. There’s a reason military have to be retired for a certain number of years before taking certain government positions, gives them time to shake off the military and become “civilians” again. Lifelong civilians have a bit less of a problem with such situations. Well, usually. We’ll have to wait and see what McMaster does.
Well the pigs who voted Trump can get what they want now: if there’s a large scale
Terrorist attack on US soil and missions abroad, then they Can just blame Muslims. And it’s likely that we headed towards that large scale
Attack, esp if intelligence agencies worldwide stop sharing info with USA as a result
Of this ugly stupid toddler- president.
I said this above but: I think it’s time for a conversation about Paul Ryan being unfit to be Speaker of the House. He’s neglecting his Constitutional duties, after all. If he won’t take out Trump, Ryan needs to go so that someone capable of the job will do it.
I’m not sure anything on earth could give me more glorious schadenfreude than Smuggy McSmugface being removed from office.
YES. Paul Ryan has Constitutional obligations that are greater than the loyalty to party or to an individual like the President.
The NYTimes has dropped a story today that claims orange is calling his entire staff incompetent, including dear son-in-law.
They close the piece with three sources saying that orange is so one-page-bullet point-doesn’t like details, that he doesn’t have the “interest or knowledge” to leak specifics.
Well he’s a F&^%ing Idiot, so he should know.
ha. that’s our only hope – that he really doesn’t know the details to even leak anything. meanwhile the leaks against him continue – sounds like the idiot will need to find those “tapes” to disprove comey’s memo about his improper attempt to influence the flynn investigation.
The BBC is reporting that the intelligence came from Israel – Mossad is one crazy organisation that only a fool would p!ss off. Israel will not he happy about this.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39937258
Quote: ‘The White House refused to comment on reports that Israel was the source.’
I hope Mossad is pissed off to the nth degree, more pissed off than they’ve ever been, so pissed off it burns. They can be very dangerous to piss off.
When I was in college, i knew a couple of people who were retired intelligence officials. The universal consensus was do not cross Mossad, because they will destroy you. One guy commented that Mossad made the CIA look like amateurs (and I wish I was still in touch with him, because I would love to hear his thoughts about the past week).
I’ll admit it: I’m kind of OK if Mossad wants to make an example of our president.
My apologies to Mossad.
He seriously needs to be impeached ASAP!
Breaking news, Comey kept a paper trail with his dealing with 45. He wrote after the dinner with 45 that 45 kicked out everyone out of the room except for Comey. President speak with Comey asking him to let the Flynn matter go because “Flynn is a good guy”. Comey knew 45 wanted to influence him and went to his office and wrote the momo the day often what 45 asked him. Well, 45 threatened Comey that he has “tapes” on him so now he can released his “tapes” because 45 is denying that what Comey has said.
The pressure is being upped – first the intel leak (which will piss of the Israeli’s as its being reported here in the UK it was their intel he blabbed about) and now this!?!?!?!
The Intel community are unsheathing their knives.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/trump-russia-leak-israel-source-classified-information-say-officials-a7739496.html
This is SO HUGE.
That is impeachable. If Comey’s memos are as well documented and plentiful as it sounds, this could be it.
I am scared to hope, but I am also scared to be governed by a madman for too much longer.
A flicker of hope – that what Pence will be president. If you think that Donald is bad – try Pence. Not only will he have all the power behind him because the party likes him but…….he is extremely religious. Say goodbye to abortion if he gets in along with a whole lot of other stuff. Right now things are having a hard time passing because members of the party don’t like Trump. But if Pence were president Obama care would be finished quickly and it would be way worse then what is purposed now. I don’t think that people on this site know what they are wishing for. It would be like jumping from the frying pan into the fire. It might feel like you won at the beginning but by the end it would be awful.
Cheryl, nuclear war would be less likely under Pence. At the end of the day, that’s what matters most. The other stuff can be fixed, a nuclear holocaust can’t be.
This doesn’t surprise me (it even gives me a flicker of hope!). Everything I’ve read about Comey is that he’s committed to his job and concerned about protecting his legacy. I can absolutely see him being the one willing to stand up to Trump.
If some Republicans were smarter, they would recognize this as a moment to become An American hero Forever and Ever in history books.
Much as I’m concerned about Big Brother, in this case, I look forward to intelligence agencies opening their files and sharing with their good friends in the media.
It comes out that Comey had a memo about Trump asking him to stop the Flynn investigation and still the GOP refuse to do anything. The one thing that stood out about the memo is that it contained Trump’s repetitive talk(for some crazy reason, Trump repeats what he says, he did it a lot when he was calling into stations and posing as that Miller man). They also stated that Comey’s memo can’t be true because McCabe, the same man who leaked information to Reince about the Dossier, said that the WH didn’t try to interfere with the investigation.
So when Trump waited for Comey to go to LA to fire him, could it be because Trump was trying to destroy those memos that Comey had on file? The press is very gullible. Do they really think that Sessions, Rosenstein, and McCabe are going to hand over any information that Comey left behind to challenge Trump? That stuff was destroyed the day that Comey was fired.
The Russian bots are very busy and active right now.
Why is the press rewriting history? Trump admitted to Lester Holt that he fired Comey because of the Russian investigation, but somehow that isn’t obstruction of justice? I’m tired of the press and GOP pushing that Trump can do whatever he wants, without any consequences, because he is the President. That’s not how out system works. We are not a dictatorship.
McMaster and the GOP members are still making excuses for Trump leaking information about Israel to the Russians the day after he fired Comey to stop the Russian Investigation.
This is all a mess. When will the GOP say enough is enough?
It’s just crazy how Pete Williams has been going out of his way to defend Trump since he fired Comey. He is now saying that asking Comey to stop the investigation into Flynn isn’t obstruction of justice because you have to look at intent. What? The 3 major problems with the WH: Trump, the GOP who make excuses and blame everyone else for Trump’s behavior, and the reporters like Pete Williams, Haillee Jackson, Kristen Welker, and Kelly Odennell who will do anything to normalize and defend Trump because they are more concerned about keeping their spots in Spicer’s press briefings or being able to travel with Trump.
Maybe Comey had backups in another file. He’s a smart man. I’m sure he knew who he was dealing with, The king of lies #45. I know the fans here has known, even before the election that #45 was a lyer, a snake oil sales man and a con artist. I bet Comey must have about 100 files all over D.C. With those memos, Just in case 45 and his people tries to destroy them.
Comey’s a smart man, a career security professional – he will have copies or the originals kept elsewhere. They think they got to the evidence using Trumps personal bodyguard.
The worm has really turned! Looks like Hillary’s email server was a lot more secure than Trump’s mouth!
Excellent post.
It’s crazy. The GOP(in particular Jason Chaffetz) are rushing to get subpoenas of Comey’s memos(probably because they have been ordered by Trump to destroy whatever they didn’t destroy when they fired Comey), yet where was Jason Chaffetz when the Democrats were asking for subpoenas of Trump’s WH tapes, all the records the WH had on Flynn(Jason suddenly had foot problems when it came time to do this), and the conversation that Trump had at the WH with the Russians after firing Comey? We should be asking what Russia got when they hacked the RNC because the GOP are afraid to take action against Trump and it has gotten worse since Trump’s meeting with the Russians. Even Trump said he was afraid of Putin, refusing to turn down the meeting with Russians because he just can’t tell Putin no.
Princess Nagini the Corrupt of the Most Sacred Horcruxed Vagina just posted a picture of her baby, as she ALWAYS does to keep the faithful oohing & aahing over the fruit of the Most Sacred Horcruxed Vagina and defending her against all the bad things people say to her about bad daddy Voldemort.
This would be in horrible taste, but I would not be opposed to someone taking that photo and photoshopping it so the baby is wearing a prison uniform.
I know. I should be better than that …
The biggest threat is still nuclear war though. This man is utterly incompetant and corrupt, and because of the stupidity of the voters and of the electoral system of one nation, he has the power to destroy the whole human race. Well done America. As a non-American looking in, it’s been incredibly frustrating to be watching with helplessness as America made a decision that could wipe out all humanity and we got no say in it. Stupid voters voting in a stupid electoral system which puts a stupid amount of power in one single stupid man and that could result in a nuclear war wiping out all humankind. Well done America. Well done.
Just read that Comey wrote detailed memos after pretty much every conversation he had with President Tweeter. He had a habit of doing so particularly for conversations that he thought might cause later problems and Trump’s were problematic in general. The FBI decided not to publicize or notify anyone outside the agency on some disturbing ones to avoid distracting from the investigation. Comey did have to refuse to stop investigations when President Tweeter asked.
Such FBI memos written at the time of an event (“contemporaneous”) have held up as evidence in court before. Others in the FBI knew about the memos also and had conversations with Comey about such events (bless his little heart for being so cautious) and many are not classified, so FBI people have actually read some of them over the phone to reporters.
Chaffetz, who has become much braver since he decided not to run for re-election in 2018, has demanded all relevant memos and documents concerning conversations between Trump and Comey from the FBI.
“Ha, ha!”
– Nelson, The Simpsons
Israel will no longer share information with the us as they don’t wantt their agents killed. so how long before our other allies won’t share important info with us . yeah we’re so much safer with 45 than Hillary as president