One of the most frustrating and awful parts about the return of the on-the-record, on-camera White House briefings this week has been the repetition of the Bigly White House’s new talking point, that the investigation into Trump-Russia is a “hoax” or a “false narrative.” As in, Robert Mueller is just independent counseling over there about nothing, and it has nothing to do with Emperor Bigly or anyone close to him. Meanwhile, the president and all of his people are lawyering up at a steady clip, it’s looking more and more like Paul Manafort will turn, and Mike Flynn is pleading the fifth, likely because he committed treason. And it’s Mike Flynn at the center of yet another bombshell about the Trump-Russia investigation. The story comes from the Wall Street Journal and the article is paywalled, so I’m just going to use NY Mag’s coverage:
One of the oddities of the investigation into Donald Trump’s relations with Russia is the degree to which he has largely enjoyed a presumption of innocence in the court of public opinion. David Brooks, who has hardly taken a sympathetic line on the administration, wrote recently, “it is striking how little evidence there is that any underlying crime occurred — that there was any actual collusion between the Donald Trump campaign and the Russians.” Mike Allen observed, “if Trump had kept Comey and stopped obsessing about his investigation, his legal troubles might have blown over: No evidence of collusion has emerged.”
That line of defense is likely to disappear now that The Wall Street Journal has reported that Peter Smith, a Republican opposition researcher who said he was working for Michael Flynn, colluded with Russian hackers to try to obtain stolen emails from Hillary Clinton. The Journal reports that Smith referred to conversations with Flynn in emails with associates, and that U.S. intelligence has evidence of “Russian hackers discussing how to obtain emails from Mrs. Clinton’s server and then transmit them to Mr. Flynn via an intermediary.” The Trump defense does not inspire a lot of confidence. “A Trump campaign official said that Mr. Smith didn’t work for the campaign,” reports the Journal, “and that if Mr. Flynn coordinated with him in any way, it would have been in his capacity as a private individual.” Obtaining hacked information from Russia for the campaign as a campaign staffer versus doing it as a private individual is a distinction without much difference.
This whole idea that collusion hasn’t been “proven” is absurd at this point, even without Mike Flynn’s specific involvement in accessing the information hacked by Russian operatives, on Putin’s orders. I have always maintained – and I will continue to believe – that the proof of collusion is in Donald Trump’s actions, his firing of James Comey and Sally Yates, his comments to the Russian ambassador in the Oval Office, and more. The coverup IS the collusion. And Bigly’s fat ass is guilty of treason.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
I trust Mueller is lining up his ducks in a row. But once he presents his evidence we as a people have to be to pressure our government like never before to hold Trump accountable.
My biggest fear is that once Mueller presents his case, the Republican Congress and courts will do their best to stonewall and ensure justice is not served.
The conservative media is already laying the groundwork by saying that even if there was collusion, it’s not really such a bad thing. I truly fear that there is nothing that Mueller can show that will have republicans calling for Trump’s impeachment.
Smith conviently died. The far left media needs to start swirling some conspiracy theories around that. To quote Sara Sanders, we to “fight fire with fire.”
Smith was also 81 years old when he died, so while part of me wants to play that game of saying it’s a conspiracy, it would also be pointless.
Well investigation may not be over until 2018 and the house may flip. Please vote.
And @megan I’m interested to hear that the Wall Street journal is now the far left. The only fire that’s happening under this administration is the dumpster fire of an unhinged childish president that causes problems for his staff (and this country) every day. Anyone that defends this angry narcissistic embarrassment needs to question their loyalty to our democracy and blind allegiance to a party that has gone seriously off the rails.
They only need to follow the dead bodies starting from the man behind the dossier, up to 4 to 5 people already dead under dubious circumstances. This Russian hack is no joke, Putin is killing anyone involved on his side. Trump is a murderer as much as Putin
“Did people in Donald Trump’s campaign access Hillary Clinton’s emails?”
With everything else that has come out about this administration, I would be very surprised if they didn’t.
I wonder if they tried but failed with her private server, which may have been more secure and invisible than Government servers at some point. State and other government servers have been hacked in the past. By the campaign, though, she wouldn’t have been using State at all because she was no longer Secretary of State.
Nothing to add except that he is an ugly tiny fingered, beady eyed, miniscule mouthed sort of vermin. Hideous in every way.
May I add my daily reminder that I loathe anyone that voted for this creature and put us in the perilous position that we find ourselves in today?
@Tate continue adding that reminder daily! I hope that there are at least ppl out there who feel ashamed at voting for this vulgarian toad and have the grace to apologize to their nation for their idiocy.
Shane Harris WSJ report all but confirms it. That is why Toxic Tangerine tweeted and GOP saying collusion is not s big deal and Grassley and Graham is looking to shut down the investigation, they knew this story was coming and it’s true.
The noose is getting tighter for Dumplethinskin but for some reason I think he and his team is going to get away with colluding with the Russians. Rachel had an interesting story about this the other day and the more detailed she became the more complicated this whole collusion story is getting. Like there is so much going on that if the government tries to really nail them with a charge(s) they may be able to ease their way out of it.
What I really want to know is why would Paul Manafort and Flynn would through everything away to align themselves with Dump? Manafort is a career cartoon villain and was making alot of money before this. Flynn was a decortated general who could have easily peddled his bs on the faux news network and CNN. He could have even written books to right wing lunatics and made bank. From what I can tell Flynn didn’t really make much money while on the campaign and when he was hired. What were they promised to get them to sign up and do everything they did?
Lastly, this is Obama’s best revenge. The man is white water rafting with his family on vacation and the people who made his life hell for 8 years are getting their just desserts for the obstruction and harassment they gave to him during his time in office. Everything they claimed that Obama was doing (not reaching out to the other side, making back room deals, acting like a king, abusing his power, etc) Foolius has actually done thrice over. And more is coming.
It does not speak well for the future of America if Trump gets away with this. I hope you are wrong.
@Aiobhan Targaryen
Maybe Flynn and Manafort were being blackmailed by the Russians which is why they were willing to give up opportunities to make great money elsewhere? Since both men had been involved with shady deals for a while, it probably wasn’t hard to blackmail them.
Flynn went from being one of the most well-regarded generals in the anti-terrorism realm to being embarrassed and forced into early retirement by the Obama administration. His downfall was largely of his own making, but I’m guessing he still holds a few grudges. He also really, really believes radical Islamic terrorism is a clear and present danger to the security of the western world, and the Democrats wouldn’t do enough to fight it. In Donald Trump he found someone who would not only listen to what he had to say, but go all in and fully embrace his strategies for combatting it. Oh, and he did appear on Fox News after his retirement, which is probably how he came to Trump’s attention in the first place.
I don’t feel good about baby fists being taken down, but I think a few of his disciples/opportunists will be prosecuted because of their direct line to Putin’s sanctioned hackers.
But I agree that baby fists’ actions point to knowledge of all kinds of collusion with others. And just as horrific is Trump’s election fraud panel demanding that all 50 states give the personal information and voting records of all registered voters from several years back to the most recent election. Why would they do that except to terrorize and possibly seek some kind of retribution. This is a very evil administration.
babyfists’methods are akin to Putin’s.
David Brooks is an idiotic ninny. I don’t care that some call him a moderate, sensible Republican, I find most of what he writes to be absurd and the statement above from him is no exception.
I’m hoping the Washington Post article that’s been rumored to exist, the one that’s so explosive and possibly revealing that the IC has asked them to sit on it, comes out soon.
Seriously, who doubts that the Trump colluded?
I guess this explains his ridiculous, albeit unsurprising, lashing out at Morning Joe……distraction from the actual story. Ugh, I hate him.
Check out Eric Holder’s recent tweets.
Senator Ted Lieu alluded that the last time Holder tweeted something like that, Comey was fired. Perhaps judgment day is coming? I think it would be apropos if they released all of it on Independence Day.
Thank you! It is disheartening that the foreign media (those that exist in the US) don’t even cover his mad tweets and all this evidence. My own mother yesterday told me there is no collusion because they didn’t find it?!?!?! OMG it took so much for me to calmly tell her it took 2 years before they got the goods on Nixon. I reminded her I was a toddler when Watergate happened and she should full well remember it better than me.
Knowing Mueller, he’s taking his sweet time to comb through everything and once he’s done there will be a flood of information. I agree with Kaiser, there’s currently a lot of proof that lard butt is covering up something.
Does Bigly not realize it’s still an active investigation? Why would they discuss evidence of an on going active investigation? BINGO – they wouldn’t. So just because we haven’t seen it yet – doesn’t mean it’s not there.
It’s also very clear they are making sure they have everything correct & locked down before they press charges or go public with the information they have. I believe we only have one shot to take Cheeto down so if they need a few months to get everything together to nail him and every single one of his cronies I’m here for it.
I think Bigly does not realize a lot of things. And even when one of his staff “educates him” about something it is in one ear and out the other with no stops along the way.
Bigly is still at a stage in his dementia where he can bluster and confabulate – and after all, he gets all that presidential deference. This stage doesn’t last forever, though. And if he has what I think he has, when these people degrade it can be a noticeable sudden drop in their level of cognition, unlike the gradual fade of Alzheimers.
I think his close family members know there’s something not right with him. And I mean in addition to the things that haven’t been right with him all of his life.
How is it I wonder that the POTUS has the time to watch as much television as Trump is reported to watch?
What do you think it is that he’s got?
Based on his behaviors I think he has Lewy Body Dementia. It is a different form of dementia from Alzheimers dementia. Named for Dr. Lewy, who discovered “Lewy bodies” ( a protein) in the brain that cause Parkinson’s Disease. Same cause for LBD except the proteins are found at a different location in the brain.
Lewy Body Dementia is the second leading cause of dementia after Alzheimers. It has some different characteristics. For one thing rather than a long, slow slide downhill of Alzheimers, the LBD patient – at least at the earlier stages – can have good days/bad days or even good weeks/bad weeks. You don’t usually see fluctuations like that in the other dementias.
Another characteristic – again, in the earlier stages – is they may only exhibit confusion/inabilities in certain areas of their thinking. Other areas may remain unchanged for some time, and this contributes to their ability to “fake it”. But there certainly is an increasing forgetfulness, not just for events but even for words.
Signs I saw in a family member as it progressed:
A “coarsening of personality”, meaning the loss of social niceties. A formerly polite person becomes quite rude and self-centered. They may even push people out of their way in line. They also lose their “internal filter” and will come out with things like saying “You stupid idiot!” to a caregiver who is assisting them.
A lessening of vocabulary and a misuse and/or a misunderstanding of words.
An overall sense of agitation and tenseness with lots of finger tapping, drumming on tables or the arms of chairs.
A quickness to anger that could lead to explosive outburst of raised voice/shouting invectives.
An increasing paranoia – “people out to do me wrong” “people out to get my money” Attributing devious/dishonest motives to others.
Delusions – fixed false beliefs. Once they have glommed onto an explanation for something in their mind, it becomes “fixed” so that despite neutral evidence they have made an error in thinking, they will not/cannot change their mind. Example: LBD person looks out window and sees neighbor lifting lid of their trash bin placed at curb for pickup. Person immediately concludes that neighbor is “going through my trash, stealing things” no matter how little sense that makes. Talk to neighbor, determine he picked up errant piece of trash laying on curb & placed into bin. Factual info conveyed to LBD person but from then on they refer to neighbor as “guy who steals out of my trash bin”. Forever.
It goes on and on. And it only gets worse and worse. They make extremely poor decisions and they lose the ability to learn new things. They have very poor/disrupted sleep. They can have auditory and/or visual hallucinations. (My relative had these; would call police to report strangers in the house.) Deterioration is in a “step-like” manner, meaning one day they wake up and are a lot worse and it does not go away.
There is specific testing that, along with behaviors, can assist with diagnosis. There are a few meds that seem to help, but many others that will make it worse. At the very least the patient and his family need to be taught which meds – many of them over the counter – should be avoided. A geriatric neuropsychiatrist is the best for diagnosis and medication.
Somehow, someway Donald Trump needs to be examined for this.
Normally, it is the family that insists on and arranges for testing. But it is hard to do. It is equal to telling a parent they can no longer drive their car. But worse.
One last comment: I forgot to add, this is what Robin Williams was diagnosed with.