Trump's Russian Collusion

[ggait]

You guys are talking about the wrong SDNY. There's at least three different SDNYs, and they all operate separately.

First, there's the USDC for SDNY. That's the federal court. Second, there's the USAO for SDNY. That's the prosecutors. Third, there's the FBI field office for SDNY.

USAO/SDNY is currently run by Jeffrey Berman. Berman was appointed by Trump and he was formerly a law partner of Giuliani at the Greenberg Traurig firm. Reports are that Rudy supported Berman for USAO for DNJ (Chris Christie's old job) but preferred someone else for USAO/SDNY (Preet Baharra's old job). USAO/SDNY does not leak, just like Mueller's SCO does not leak.

So most legal eagles think that the Buzzfeed sources are from the FBI office in SDNY.

FBI/SDNY is known to be leak-ey. If you recall, leaks coming out of FBI/SDNY supposedly pressured James Comey to go public about Anthony Weiner's laptop back in late 2016. At the time, it was believed that FBI/SDNY was very pro-Trump (nickname -- Trump-landia) and very very anti-Hillary. But I'm sure that FBI/SDNY has people of all political stripes.

On this one, I doubt that the driver is the politics. More likely just law enforcers sharing what they think they know.

It is impossible to tell exactly what SCO is disputing in Buzzfeed's story. Most legal eagles think that most (but not absolutely 100.00%) of Buzzfeed's story will ultimately prove true, and that Mueller is objecting to a few details directly related to SCO (but not challenging the whole story). It is clear that Mueller is telling the leakers to STFU.

From court filings, we do know that USAO/SDNY, Mueller SCO, Cohen, Rudy and Buzzfeed all agree that:

1. Trump Tower Moscow discussions lasted throughout the 2016 election cycle.
2. Cohen briefed Trump on those discussions.
3. Cohen lied about the discussions and briefings to Congress.
4. Cohen and Team Trump "interacted" with each other over his perjurious Congressional testimony.

What's in dispute:

1. Exactly what kind of interaction was there over Cohen's testimony? Coordination or heads up or review/editing, etc. etc. etc.?

2. Cohen's legal filings say the lies were "in accordance with" Trump's directives. Buzzfeed story says "Cohen also told the special counsel that the president personally instructed him to lie." And that SCO learned this from Trump Org emails, texts and documents.

[Trinity]

Kinda suspicious that FanLax went dark during the Trump Shutdown Cave. Anyway, what did we miss? Roger Stone joins the many Friends of Trump headed to jail for lying about the Russia probe. Oh, and he needs your money. GoFundMe opportunities abound. Strong showing from the Proud Boys at Stone arraignment.

Also, Boy Jared did indeed flunk his Security review, despite the NYT whitewash at the time. Got an overriding opinion from Trump stooge Carl Kline, as did 30 other WH appointments who also were denied clearances. Who are these bums? Why is their lack of experience so necessary? Congressional hearings will be epic.

One more thing. The Russians tried to creat a false link between the Dossier and the Skripal attack.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/0 ... kripal-ex/

[Typical Lax Dad]

Kinda suspicious that FanLax went dark during the Trump Shutdown Cave. Anyway, what did we miss? Roger Stone joins the many Friends of Trump headed to jail for lying about the Russia probe. Oh, and he needs your money. GoFundMe opportunities abound. Strong showing from the Proud Boys at Stone arraignment.

Also, Boy Jared did indeed flunk his Security review, despite the NYT whitewash at the time. Got an overriding opinion from Trump stooge Carl Kline, as did 30 other WH appointments who also were denied clearances. Who are these bums? Why is their lack of experience so necessary? Congressional hearings will be epic.

One more thing. The Russians tried to creat a false link between the Dossier and the Skripal attack.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/0 ... kripal-ex/

Proud Boys must have shouted with glee when Roger Stone mentioned the only person he is interested in seeing pardoned is Marcus Garvey of all people.

[Trinity]

NYT UPDATE: After @USTreasury lifted sanctions against OLEG DERIPASKA's companies, the main one (EN+) named 7 new directors, including Chris Burnham, who served on TRUMP's transition team & worked for @AmbJohnBolton at United Nations. nytimes.com/2019/01/27/us/….

Deutsche Bank alumnus. Trump’s only bank.

[dislaxxic]

TWO DETAILS THAT MANY ARE MISSING IN/ABOUT THE STONE INDICTMENT

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[dislaxxic]

Roger Stone is a ‘slam dunk’ to go to jail unless he begs for a plea deal and flips on Trump — here’s why

“Unfortunately for Stone, and what makes fighting this case futile, is that the government will not need to rely on the credibility of any individuals to make its case. The email and text evidence laid out in excruciating detail in the indictment is not open to interpretation,” he detailed. “And if that were not enough—and believe me, it is—the case will be tried in D.C. There is a facile critique that liberals are soft on crime. That can be true where the defendants are perceived to be from a disadvantaged minority. But have pity on an arrogant, white-collar defendant who is in cahoots with a despised Republican president; you will witness righteous fury.”

According to the former prosecutor, Stone may not even be offered a deal to turn on President Trump due to his credibility problems.

“Do not expect to see Special Counsel Robert Mueller make any attempt to flip Stone and have him cooperate. A defendant like Stone is far more trouble than he is worth to a prosecutor. Stone is too untrustworthy for a prosecutor to ever rely upon,” he explained. “In short, Mueller does not need Stone to get to someone else and, even if he did, he could not rely on whatever Stone told him. Stone has nothing to sell that Mueller would be interested in buying.”

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[RedFromMI]

Roger Stone is a ‘slam dunk’ to go to jail unless he begs for a plea deal and flips on Trump — here’s why

“Unfortunately for Stone, and what makes fighting this case futile, is that the government will not need to rely on the credibility of any individuals to make its case. The email and text evidence laid out in excruciating detail in the indictment is not open to interpretation,” he detailed. “And if that were not enough—and believe me, it is—the case will be tried in D.C. There is a facile critique that liberals are soft on crime. That can be true where the defendants are perceived to be from a disadvantaged minority. But have pity on an arrogant, white-collar defendant who is in cahoots with a despised Republican president; you will witness righteous fury.”

According to the former prosecutor, Stone may not even be offered a deal to turn on President Trump due to his credibility problems.

“Do not expect to see Special Counsel Robert Mueller make any attempt to flip Stone and have him cooperate. A defendant like Stone is far more trouble than he is worth to a prosecutor. Stone is too untrustworthy for a prosecutor to ever rely upon,” he explained. “In short, Mueller does not need Stone to get to someone else and, even if he did, he could not rely on whatever Stone told him. Stone has nothing to sell that Mueller would be interested in buying.”

..

There is an article in this morning's NYT that claims the most likely thing that Mueller wants from Roger Stone is his devices - and maybe access to WhatsApp, etc. Charges would then be leverage to get into the encrypted communications...

[holmes435]

There is an article in this morning's NYT that claims the most likely thing that Mueller wants from Roger Stone is his devices - and maybe access to WhatsApp, etc. Charges would then be leverage to get into the encrypted communications...

Not surprising considering how much Manafort screwed up on the same stuff.

These guys think they're James Bond, or just invincible.

[Matnum PI]

So many people lying, witness tampering, etc. and, in every case, "to protect the president". Yet he didn't do anything wrong. I don't understand that...

[Typical Lax Dad]

So many people lying, witness tampering, etc. and, in every case, "to protect the president". Yet he didn't do anything wrong. I don't understand that...

These are not excuses you would accept from children. From the very beginning my question was "why all the lying"...... one excuse in the old Lax Power days was that if these people told the truth, democrats would have wrongfully accused the incoming administration of working with the Russian government....the other excuse was that all the contacts were normal and those folks were just doing their jobs......remember those days?

[dislaxxic]

Even dumping Pencey for Nikki won't likely save him now...we're just too far down the Rabbit Hole with this Very Serious Genius.

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[Matnum PI]

If a mob boss was sitting at a coffee shop sipping a cappuccino while their #2, #3, #4,#etc. were all being arrested and convicted of very real, mob-like crimes (e.g. Earning money illegally, not paying taxes, stealing, witness tampering, lying, etc.), no one would say, Lies! Conspiracy! John Gotti's only crime is being the target of the FBI! etc. I don't know. I guess it wasn't no one. People in Little Italy and the Italian communities in Brooklyn and Queens said, John's being set-up! etc. I don't know. Maybe I just have different blind spots.

[old salt]

So many people lying, witness tampering, etc. and, in every case, "to protect the president". Yet he didn't do anything wrong. I don't understand that...

Because it would be politically untenable to tell the truth. Once the lying starts, it cascades & snowballs.

Look at it from the perspective of a bunch of grifters, wannabes & con men who never expected to win, but just wanted to hype their personal brands so they could cash in after losing & lead a political resistance movement against Pres HRC.
They're more comfortable lying than being truthful. They get away with it because so much of political spin & hype borders on lying.
A cynical electorate & public no longer anticipates hearing the truth from politicians.

There's still no evidence of any pre-hacking or meddling collaboration between Russia & the Trump campaign.
If there was a willingness or overture to collaborate after the hacking & meddling started, there's no evidence that it came to fruition , or that it was criminal if it did.

If the key to the whole espionage Manchurian Candidate theory rides on Roger Stone's encrypted e-comms, ...I wouldn't get my hopes up.
I'm still inclined to think that Andy McCarthy's 3 stooges theory is more likely :
https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/01/ ... onspiracy/

Massively inappropriate & impolitic but not criminal.
I think that's why (D) Congressional leaders are so hesitant to suggest impeachment, but happy to continue to stretch it out to hammer Trump, ensure his defeat & gain more seats in 2020.

Glad we're back online. Thanks Matnum, for keeping the lifeboat afloat.

[Typical Lax Dad]

There's still no evidence of any pre-hacking or meddling collaboration between Russia & the Trump campaign.

Post hacking meddling and collaboration is a low enough standard for me.......

[ggait]

There's still no evidence of any pre-hacking or meddling collaboration between Russia & the Trump campaign.
If there was a willingness or overture to collaborate after the hacking & meddling started, there's no evidence that it came to fruition , or that it was criminal if it did.

This is meaningless. It does not tell us anything one way or the other.

It would be very logical and expected that such evidence (especially if it fingers Trump himself) would be the last card that Mueller would reveal. If Mueller has the nuts, you would expect that we wouldn't see it until the end game. So not seeing the nuts at this point literally tells us nothing. It doesn't prove Mueller has the nuts. And it certainly doesn't prove that he doesn't.

Sure the Trumpsters can count every day that passes without a Mueller kill shot as a good day. And feel that the more days that pass brings them closer to ultimately dodging the bullet.

Problem is, the cards revealed so far (10 spades, jack spades, queen spades) are completely consistent with Mueller holding the royal flush. And completely consistent with Mueller not having the royal flush.

[Matnum PI]

old salt, i'm not following. The Russians hacked the Dems and gave the info to Assange/Wikileaks. Assange/Wikileaks worked with Stone. Stone worked with Trump's campaign including a "senior official". Post-Mueller and Stone, this is clear. With these recent events, I'm baffled how the author in The National Review can say what he's saying. Or more accurately, I'm baffled that someone's "What?!" detector wouldn't spring into action while reading it.

[dislaxxic]

In addition, impeachment certainly does NOT need to be over a "criminal" matter in the sense that Salty is trying to push. High Crimes and Misdemeanors can and will come in to play. That is not to say that there will be NO outright criminality found. In fact, with this crowd, i'd say that possibility is definitely greater than 50-50...

ps: then, there's the overt law-breaking we've seen being adjudicated in the SDNY...you know, the campaign finance crimes...

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[Trinity]

Remember Trump dictated the “Adoption” lie from Air Force One?
“Adoption” issue is now settled for Deripaska/Putin.
Mission Accomplished.

[holmes435]

Officials rejected Jared Kushner [and 30+ other Trump officials) for top secret security clearance, but were overruled

This news came out before the Roger Stone arrest. Trump then took over a big chunk of the news cycle with his temporary government opening deal (wonder why... ).

If this was a Clinton White House, or most anyone else, wouldn't this be on the front page for a few days?

[old salt]

old salt, i'm not following. The Russians hacked the Dems and gave the info to Assange/Wikileaks. Assange/Wikileaks worked with Stone. Stone worked with Trump's campaign including a "senior official". Post-Mueller and Stone, this is clear. With these recent events, I'm baffled how the author in The National Review can say what he's saying. Or more accurately, I'm baffled that someone's "What?!" detector wouldn't spring into action while reading it.

Stone tried to contact Assange & hoped to get advance info from him. It still has not been established that he succeeded or that "Assange/Wikileaks worked with Stone."

Even if they did, it's not necessarily criminal. Maybe Stone & Corsi were hoping to win a Pulitzer for InfoWars by working with Assange, just like Bart Gellman won one for the Wash Post, back when Assange & Wikileaks were the darlings of the left.