RussiaGate

[Jimmy Higgins]

And I ponder, why in the fuck anyone didn't destroy this stuff right after the meeting?!

It's why John Oliver calls this Stupid Watergate. It's like Watergate, but everyone involved is stupid.

The more you learn, the more you realize that these guys are just fucking stupid.

Did the FBI pick up an old 2016 calendar that had dates marked with notes like "Conspire with Russia 11:00 AM" too?

 

[Elixir]

It's why John Oliver calls this Stupid Watergate. It's like Watergate, but everyone involved is stupid.

The more you learn, the more you realize that these guys are just fucking stupid.

Did the FBI pick up an old 2016 calendar that had dates marked with notes like "Conspire with Russia 11:00 AM" too?

Prolly. But again, like (so many other gaffes within) this administration, it was "just a joke".

 

[Horatio Parker]

...in July 2003, when Putin arrested Russia’s biggest oligarch and richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Putin grabbed Khodorkovsky off his private jet, took him back to Moscow, put him on trial, and allowed television cameras to film Khodorkovsky sitting in a cage right in the middle of the courtroom. That image was extremely powerful, because none of the other oligarchs wanted to be in the same position. After Khodorkovsky’s conviction, the other oligarchs went to Putin and asked him what they needed to do to avoid sitting in the same cage as Khodorkovsky. From what followed, it appeared that Putin’s answer was, “Fifty percent.” He wasn’t saying 50 percent for the Russian government or the presidential administration of Russia, but 50 percent for Vladimir Putin personally. From that moment on, Putin became the biggest oligarch in Russia and the richest man in the world, and my anti-corruption activities would no longer be tolerated.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politic...ony-to-the-senate-judiciary-committee/534864/

 

[Ford]

And I ponder, why in the fuck anyone didn't destroy this stuff right after the meeting?!

It's why John Oliver calls this Stupid Watergate. It's like Watergate, but everyone involved is stupid.

The more you learn, the more you realize that these guys are just fucking stupid.

There's another level to it, though.

The thing about Nixon (and his crew) was that they were not only smarter than Trump & Company, but what they did - while certainly wrong - was motivated by their belief that they were doing something that was best for the country. I think they really sincerely believed that doing crooked things to keep Tricky Dick in the White House was in a way serving their country. And while he was a crook, I do believe Nixon himself was a patriot. He wasn't in it for the money.

The crooks in the Trump administration are all about the money. They look at their Russian sponsors with envy, and hope to emulate the Putin oligarchy by using their positions in government to line their pockets at the expense of the country they were hired to serve.

The key difference being that word "serve." Nixon was a lifelong public servant. Trump has lived a life of self service. He's surrounded himself with people who think like he does. Apart from perhaps one or two of his vaunted generals, Trump's team isn't in this for the country, and they don't think they're serving anyone but themselves.

 

[Tristan Scott]

How in the world did that stay unreported for two weeks?! This is incredible news. No wonder Trump up'd the rhetoric last week.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/08/09/fbi-paul-manafort/?utm_term=.a6bde19d5287

No idea, but THIS is big.

Especially when you consider that one week later Mueller calls for a grand jury probe and today it was announced that he has subpoenaed Manafort's bank records

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/08/09/fbi-paul-manafort/?utm_term=.a6bde19d5287

No idea, but THIS is big.

Especially when you consider that one week later Mueller calls for a grand jury probe and today it was announced that he has subpoenaed Manafort's bank records

And in three weeks, Trump will be speaking at Manafort's funeral.

 

[Elixir]

Especially when you consider that one week later Mueller calls for a grand jury probe and today it was announced that he has subpoenaed Manafort's bank records

And in three weeks, Trump will be speaking at Manafort's funeral.

Maybe they can get a group rate for Manafort, Tillerson, Flynn, Roger Stone, Gorka, Comey, Rogers, Carter Page,Sessions... boy, those hit-men are going to be busy!

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

And in three weeks, Trump will be speaking at Manafort's funeral.

Maybe they can get a group rate for Manafort, Tillerson, Flynn, Roger Stone, Gorka, Comey, Rogers, Carter Page,Sessions... boy, those hit-men are going to be busy!

Don't forget this guy, too.

 

[Will Wiley]

How in the world did that stay unreported for two weeks?! This is incredible news. No wonder Trump up'd the rhetoric last week.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/08/09/fbi-paul-manafort/?utm_term=.a6bde19d5287

No idea, but THIS is big.

3. He's got lots of ties to Russia. A Russian aluminum magnate. A pro-Russian former Ukrainian president. A Republican congressman who advocates for close ties between the United States and Russia. A business associate from his time in Ukraine who once served in the Russian army and had dinner with Manafort during the campaign.

What the fuck is wrong with America and Russia having close ties?

Have all you people gone insane? Why do Americans love war and love making enemies? What the fuck is wrong with you people?

You are no different to John MCain...but somehow you think you are different

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

What the fuck is wrong with America and Russia having close ties?

Nothing.

 

[ZiprHead]

What the fuck is wrong with America and Russia having close ties?

You really think the above is what this is about?

 

[barbos]

It's about military-industrial complex, they want a new Cold War and they want it now. China is still not good enough excuse, therefore it must be Russia.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

You are no different to John MCain...but somehow you think you are different

Wait, are you saying we all have brain cancer? That's annoying.

 

[ZiprHead]

You are no different to John MCain...but somehow you think you are different

Wait, are you saying we all have brain cancer? That's annoying.

You have brain cancer. It's all in your head.

 

[RavenSky]

nm

 

[whichphilosophy]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/08/09/fbi-paul-manafort/?utm_term=.a6bde19d5287

No idea, but THIS is big.

3. He's got lots of ties to Russia. A Russian aluminum magnate. A pro-Russian former Ukrainian president. A Republican congressman who advocates for close ties between the United States and Russia. A business associate from his time in Ukraine who once served in the Russian army and had dinner with Manafort during the campaign.

What the fuck is wrong with America and Russia having close ties?

Have all you people gone insane? Why do Americans love war and love making enemies? What the fuck is wrong with you people?

You are no different to John MCain...but somehow you think you are different

If Russia's claims are true then it has a sophisticated counter-missile defensive defence system then surely we could let them pop out Kim's missile tests assuming we can easily track them.

https://www.rt.com/news/377916-rogozin-russian-new-icbm/

There's a lot of things wrong with Russia, but even if it is symbiotic, the US and Europe are key trading partners. It will be a good partner at helping to clean up the mess in the Middle East.

 

[barbos]

Latest development in Russia-US great diplomatic war. US suspends issuing visas until September 1 and then extends waiting period to 3 months and restricting everything to the embassy in Moscow..
I admit I did not see that coming, but to be fair, Lavrov himself (who is a smartest living diplomat) did not see that coming either. He tacitly admitted that by saying Russia will not be responding and saying US wants to provoke protests in Russia. Basically US made it extremely difficult to get visa.
I have to give it to State Department, it's a clear win for them.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Latest development in Russia-US great diplomatic war. US suspends issuing visas until September 1 and then extends waiting period to 3 months and restricting everything to the embassy in Moscow..
I admit I did not see that coming, but to be fair, Lavrov himself (who is a smartest living diplomat) did not see that coming either. He tacitly admitted that by saying Russia will not be responding and saying US wants to provoke protests in Russia. Basically US made it extremely difficult to get visa.
I have to give it to State Department, it's a clear win for them.

What did you expect? You kick out our people and yet expect the embassy to operate normally despite not having the staff to do so??

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Ya, that sounds like less of a diplomatic coup than it does a consequence of not having people working there to do this stuff. If Lavrov did not see coming that kicking out the embassy staff would lead to a slow down in the jobs being done by embassy staff, then he's not the smartest living diplomat, but actually just an idiot.

 

[Horatio Parker]

The latest...

Two sources familiar with the inquiry tell McClatchy that investigators are working to confirm information indicating that Manafort and the consulting firms he led earned between $80 million and $100 million over a decade from pro-Moscow Ukrainian and Russian clients.

Mueller’s expanded focus on Manafort’s complicated financial picture is zeroing in on whether he may have evaded taxes or engaged in any money laundering schemes, the sources say, and the hunt for his financial records through a labyrinth of offshore bank and business accounts has become an important prong of the investigation.

[...]

Whether Manafort can be squeezed depends in part on whether he failed to report foreign income and overseas bank accounts annually to the Internal Revenue Service as required by law. The volume of money said to be involved and the time elapsed could put him at significant risk.

“If Manafort is shown to have violated the tax laws and the disclosure laws in connection with his foreign income, then he may be facing substantial jail time and large fines,” said Jennifer Rodgers, a former federal prosecutor and the executive director of Columbia Law School’s Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity. If the violations are willful, the penalties go up.

That’s the sort of pressure that could cause Manafort to cut a deal with Mueller under which he might receive leniency in return for divulging what contact he and other Trump aides had with Russian officials and operatives during 2016.

"Based on my experience with prosecutors, it would be typical that they're getting financial information to pressure Manafort to cooperate in a bigger case,” said former Justice Department prosecutor Barak Cohen, who is now a lawyer at Perkins Coie in Washington.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article168495437.html