RussiaGate

[snoiduspoitus]

The most frightening thing is that Mueller's investigation will probably never be able to catch up to the truth.

 

[ZiprHead]

I predict Mueller and possibly others will be fired very soon.

 

[Deepak]

Did Trump just implicate Sessions?

https://www.theatlantic.com/politic...iticizes-sessions-over-russia-recusal/534282/

Apparently Sessions should have known in November, when he was appointed as AG, that there would be an investigation and that Sessions would have to potentially recuse himself.

 

[Ford]

I predict Mueller and possibly others will be fired very soon.

I have a feeling that Mueller started preparing for this possibility when he got the job. Like Comey taking copious notes about his meetings with Trump - knowing that he would be fired and called to testify - Mueller is documenting everything, leaving a clear paper trail, and likely instructing his staff on how to proceed when he gets canned. Trump has basically gone to war with career FBI agents. This will not end well.

 

[blastula]

I doubt Mueller has met Trump at all. If he's fired, the reason will still be obvious without any memos. But any notes about it would be from the Deputy AG who would be the one to fire Mueller, on Trump's order.

 

[Opoponax]

I predict Mueller and possibly others will be fired very soon.

I have a feeling that Mueller started preparing for this possibility when he got the job. Like Comey taking copious notes about his meetings with Trump - knowing that he would be fired and called to testify - Mueller is documenting everything, leaving a clear paper trail, and likely instructing his staff on how to proceed when he gets canned. Trump has basically gone to war with career FBI agents. This will not end well.

Yeah. And it's not like Trump knows the legal ins and outs of how to get away with something like this, and he certainly hasn't surrounded himself with people who do. Instead, he's hired the same lawyer-goons who represented him in his business dealings.

Trump has grown so accustomed to being able to pick fights he can always win or buy his way out of, that he doesn't seem to understand he's gotten into the ring with a multitude of prize fighters who are all bigger, smarter, stronger, faster and inestimably more skilled than he is. But that's what morons do, I guess.

 

[Horatio Parker]

I predict Mueller and possibly others will be fired very soon.

I think this is why Mueller's running a very tight ship.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ElectEngr]

I'm waiting to see what Wray does at FBI.

Later,
ElectEngr

 

[Copernicus]

CNN is reporting that number 8 at the meeting is linked to money laundering.

That's what the whole thing is about - they're ALL connected to money laundering. The Magnitsky Act represents a barrier to certain means of money laundering, and every single person in that meeting REALLY wants it to go away. When they say "adoption", they might as well say "mob money". Trump was elected with laundered Russian money, his failed business was rescued by laundered Russian money and the guy who has the goods on him is still sitting on billions - maybe hundreds of billions - in dirty money that still needs laundering. It's an urgent situation.

Exactly right. Trump has been arguing that his hour-long tete-a-tete with Putin at the G20 dinner party--with no one other than Putin's translator listening in--was inconsequential. When asked what they talked about, he mentioned "adoptions":

Trump says he exchanged ‘pleasantries,’ talked adoptions with Putin at G-20 dinner

 

[Copernicus]

There are conflicting reports on whether the three stooges were left with a folder of such information. However, the plan appears to have been an offer of help with the smear campaign against Hillary Clinton in return for removal of the sanctions after Trump won the election. The form of that help need not have been actual hard copy information passed on at that meeting, although Trump did publicly claim he was going to release such information on Hillary at the time. He did not go ahead with his threat, but a month later (July), he publicly called on Russia to "find" her lost emails. The Russians were already in possession of the material when the June meeting had occurred. So he and the Russians may have decided that the releases of information would be more effective if timed for release at strategic points in the campaign. The timing of the releases appears to have followed that pattern.

There's no fault in my view with your postulate as something like this as you have put it could have happened and thus presents a line of investigation to follow.

Though it's difficult to gauge an impact on an audience but seeing what was broadcast when would be of interest.

There again I would have one question on this to add. If RTV had such information which it could broadcast anyway, there would be no need to pass this to the Trump campaign other than to let this filter into right wing media and through campaign outlets. This is more than a widening of the search and not a narrowing.

Actually, the Russians are not all that familiar with managing US election campaigns. The timing of releases appears to have been done by someone very knowledgeable about when to release damaging materials. Hence, a huge data release came just an hour after the Access Hollywood tape made the news, and that helped to dampen down its negative impact on Trump.

See Politifact on this: It's True: WikiLeaks dumped Podesta emails hour after Trump video surfaced

It looks like they had the hacked Podesta materials loaded up and ready to go as soon as they perceived a need for it. Because the timing was so quick, a lot of people suspect that the Russians had to have been colluding with people in the Trump campaign.

 

[whichphilosophy]

CNN is reporting that number 8 at the meeting is linked to money laundering.

That's what the whole thing is about - they're ALL connected to money laundering. The Magnitsky Act represents a barrier to certain means of money laundering, and every single person in that meeting REALLY wants it to go away. When they say "adoption", they might as well say "mob money". Trump was elected with laundered Russian money, his failed business was rescued by laundered Russian money and the guy who has the goods on him is still sitting on billions - maybe hundreds of billions - in dirty money that still needs laundering. It's an urgent situation.

I would think that due to the Russian double accounting system (perhaps a triple accounting system like in China) money which has already possibly been washed will be sent to a Delaware company.

An investigation may have to trace the route of funds within Russia first. Some of these could be diverted to Cyprus or Panama (popular Russian laundry) but also some other locations.

Double accounting system would suggest the official books and the hidden ones. A third set of accounts which I have seen and been told about is data for investors and shows higher returns than the official tax returns. However nowadays this is less possible.

Enron for instance over reported profits (to attract investors) and collapsed in 2001. In such cases funds would be squirreled away such as huge payments for its executives just before it collapsed. One example was where Directors paid themselves huge bonuses just before the demise occurred.

Yukos on the other hand was purported to have under reported its profits (so as to evade taxes).

Some years ago I found a loophole in the UK and set up my own company which was an 'Audit Free' company. It was a Delaware company that would be registered in the UK under English law with the following exceptions.
t
1. Accounts did not have to be audited. An own signed statement was necessary
2. There were no fines for being late on filing returns to Her Majesty's revenue and VAT departments.

I didn't make anything as I was simply providing services to a large company didn't claim for rebates on expenses but it meant I saved a few hours each.re

This loophole has been closed but Delaware is still very much alive protected by Delaware's 'flexible customer friendly laws.'

 

[whichphilosophy]

There's no fault in my view with your postulate as something like this as you have put it could have happened and thus presents a line of investigation to follow.

Though it's difficult to gauge an impact on an audience but seeing what was broadcast when would be of interest.

There again I would have one question on this to add. If RTV had such information which it could broadcast anyway, there would be no need to pass this to the Trump campaign other than to let this filter into right wing media and through campaign outlets. This is more than a widening of the search and not a narrowing.

Actually, the Russians are not all that familiar with managing US election campaigns. The timing of releases appears to have been done by someone very knowledgeable about when to release damaging materials. Hence, a huge data release came just an hour after the Access Hollywood tape made the news, and that helped to dampen down its negative impact on Trump.

See Politifact on this: It's True: WikiLeaks dumped Podesta emails hour after Trump video surfaced

It looks like they had the hacked Podesta materials loaded up and ready to go as soon as they perceived a need for it. Because the timing was so quick, a lot of people suspect that the Russians had to have been colluding with people in the Trump campaign.

Loose threads are always the ones to try and tug to see if there is anything behind these. Timing does of course provide circumstances.

 

[Elixir]

That's what the whole thing is about - they're ALL connected to money laundering. The Magnitsky Act represents a barrier to certain means of money laundering, and every single person in that meeting REALLY wants it to go away. When they say "adoption", they might as well say "mob money". Trump was elected with laundered Russian money, his failed business was rescued by laundered Russian money and the guy who has the goods on him is still sitting on billions - maybe hundreds of billions - in dirty money that still needs laundering. It's an urgent situation.

Exactly right. Trump has been arguing that his hour-long tete-a-tete with Putin at the G20 dinner party--with no one other than Putin's translator listening in--was inconsequential. When asked what they talked about, he mentioned "adoptions":

Trump says he exchanged ‘pleasantries,’ talked adoptions with Putin at G-20 dinner

Heh... "adoption" is the new word for money laundering:

 

[whichphilosophy]

There are no doubt different sides to this but this report disputes the accuracy of the ABC report. There be other conclusions but there are still no direct links in terms of money and paper chains.

http://www.snopes.com/russia-paid-donald-trump-millions-of-dollars/

CLAIM
ABC News has reported that Donald Trump received millions of dollars from Russia.
RATING
Mostly false

While Trump has expressed an affinity for Putin, no evidence of a direct monetary link between Trump and the Kremlin has been presented. The question raised by the ABC report was the possibility that Trump might use the office of president to benefit his own finances, while the blog posts asserted that Trump’s relationship with Russia had less to do with business than with cozying up to the Kremlin — a claim that was not made by the original source of the story.

A proper investigation involving the collection of circumstances, reports and witness statements needs to be collated as step 1 of 10 (or so).

The same media has been loud but again not producing indefeasible facts in their reporting. If Snopes is correct is suggests also contradictions.

 

[blastula]

There are no doubt different sides to this but this report disputes the accuracy of the ABC report.

No, it doesn't, it disputes how blogs portrayed the ABC story. Those blogs misrepresented ABC, just like you misrepresented Snopes.

Delete your account, you illiterate baboon.

 

[whichphilosophy]

There are no doubt different sides to this but this report disputes the accuracy of the ABC report.

No, it doesn't, it disputes how blogs portrayed the ABC story. Those blogs misrepresented ABC, just like you misrepresented Snopes.

Delete your account, you illiterate baboon.

Quoting Snopes by way of cut and past of its conclusion does not constitute misrepresentation thus your statement to that degree is illogical

If you think Snopes is wrong per the conclusion I also posted, then logically you would have a counter-statement to refute it.

Clearly you don't.

You can look at the last couple of posts by Copernicus1 which rationally analyses a couple of points.

 

[blastula]

That you quoted them is irrelevant. You said "this report disputes the accuracy of the ABC report." But it does not in any way do so. The part you quoted doesn't do so. You are wrong/ illiterate/ confused/ malicious troll. Take your pick. Just go away.

 

[Copernicus]

It does appear that there is a Russia connection in terms of hundreds of millions of dollars lent to Trump and his family members, but it is not a direct connection. Putin and his cronies control Vneshekonombank (VEB) and the Russia-sanctioned VTB bank. Trump's loans from Deutsche Bank were considered very risky at a time when few other lenders were interested in taking the risk. Deutsche Bank has a formal relationship with those banks and has been accused of laundering roughly $10 billion for Russian oligarchs. VEB is not a real bank in Russia, not being under the control of Russia's central bank, and it is financed by private interests (i.e. probably Putin and cronies--VEB has been called Putin's "slush fund").

See The Russian bank whose boss met with Jared Kushner keeps popping up as the Trump-Putin story unfolds

Sergei Gorkov, who has had formal training in Russian intelligence operations, nominally runs VEB and was the so-called "banker" that Kislyak arranged for Jared Kushner to meet in December, when Kushner was seeking to open up a "back channel" to the Russian government via Russian intelligence services.

This may sound like it is made up. It is surreal. Nevertheless, all of this and more has been in the public record for a long time now and is under direct investigation by Mueller.

Now, today we learn that Trump-Mueller tensions escalate. It looks like Trump is feeling the heat and is working up a case for firing Mueller. He is directly interfering with the investigation in broad daylight. And what is Congress going to do about that? Nothing so far. Congress is adept at cooking up nothingburgers.

 

[blastula]

Trump team seeks to control, block Mueller’s Russia investigation - The Washington Post

Some of President Trump’s lawyers are exploring ways to limit or undercut special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia investigation, building a case against what they allege are his conflicts of interest and discussing the president’s authority to grant pardons, according to people familiar with the effort.

Trump has asked his advisers about his power to pardon aides, family members and even himself in connection with the probe, according to one of those people. A second person said Trump’s lawyers have been discussing the president’s pardoning powers among themselves.

Trump’s legal team declined to comment on the issue. But one adviser said the president has simply expressed a curiosity in understanding the reach of his pardoning authority, as well as the limits of Mueller’s investigation.

“This is not in the context of, ‘I can’t wait to pardon myself,” a close adviser said.

He's just asking for a friend.

Trump Aides, Seeking Leverage, Investigate Mueller’s Investigators - The New York Times

President Trump’s lawyers and aides are scouring the professional and political backgrounds of investigators hired by the special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, looking for conflicts of interest they could use to discredit the investigation — or even build a case to fire Mr. Mueller or get some members of his team recused, according to three people with knowledge of the research effort.

The search for potential conflicts is wide-ranging. It includes scrutinizing donations to Democratic candidates, investigators’ past clients and Mr. Mueller’s relationship with James B. Comey, whose firing as F.B.I. director is part of the special counsel’s investigation.

Not acting guilty at all.

 

[Deepak]

Trump team seeks to control, block Mueller’s Russia investigation - The Washington Post



He's just asking for a friend.

Trump Aides, Seeking Leverage, Investigate Mueller’s Investigators - The New York Times

President Trump’s lawyers and aides are scouring the professional and political backgrounds of investigators hired by the special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, looking for conflicts of interest they could use to discredit the investigation — or even build a case to fire Mr. Mueller or get some members of his team recused, according to three people with knowledge of the research effort.

The search for potential conflicts is wide-ranging. It includes scrutinizing donations to Democratic candidates, investigators’ past clients and Mr. Mueller’s relationship with James B. Comey, whose firing as F.B.I. director is part of the special counsel’s investigation.

Not acting guilty at all.

No president has sought to pardon himself, so no courts have reviewed it. Although Kalt says the weight of the law argues against a president pardoning himself, he says the question is open and predicts such an action would move through the courts all the way to the Supreme Court.

Contemplating pardoning oneself is probably the height of mental masturbation. I remember this coming up during the Clinton proceedings too - (a) it's a fucking case of impeachment as spelled out in the Constitution, and (b) I doubt Madison would have bothered to put the ink on paper if the POTUS could just say 'nuh-uh' to the whole thing.