Is it just me, or does something smell like

[annabanana]

watergate around here?

Watching MSNBC & flipping around to CNN, . . . . . . hearing the breaking, "competing" stories from both The Times & The Post . . .

. Could it even be possible that a damn dam may break after all?

[Frogg]

1. You Betcha!

[Raster]

2. Bring it! Now it appears that Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, III may indeed have lied...

...to Congress during his confirmation hearings as Attorney General. Yes indeedy, it appears The Evil KKKeebler Elf DID SPEAK TO THE RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TWICE DURING THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, contrary to his sworn testimony.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-spoke-twice-with-russian-ambassador-during-trumps-presidential-campaign-justice-officials-say/2017/03/01/77205eda-feac-11e6-99b4-9e613afeb09f_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_no-name%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.12bfd7e8c664

Sessions met with Russian envoy twice last year, encounters he later did not disclose

Then-Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) spoke twice last year with Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Justice Department officials said, encounters he did not disclose when asked about possible contacts between members of President Trump’s campaign and representatives of Moscow during Sessions’s confirmation hearing to become attorney general.

<snip, more>

[bdamomma]

14. hmmm.....

Sessions huh??? Sleazy SOB.... I would love to see the next two people to come up McConnell and Ryan in this fiasco too.

[Initech]

17. That whole fucking party is guilty of this.

They knew damn well what they were doing when they voted for Shitler.

[csziggy]

29. Sessions met with a Russian envoy at the RNC Convention?

Why was a Russian envoy at an American political convention if not to work his contacts in that party?

I've heard tonight - either on CNN or on MSNBC, been hopping back and forth - that the Sessions meetings were either at a Heritage Foundation event or at the RNC Convention. Could have been the same thing since Heritage Foundation is so intimately involved with the RNC.

[Princess Turandot]

40. FYI According to the WaPo article, Sessions met with Kislyak in his senate office...

in 9/16:

One of the meetings was a private conversation between Sessions and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak that took place in September in the senator’s office, at the height of what U.S. intelligence officials say was a Russian cyber campaign to upend the U.S. presidential race.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-spoke-twice-with-russian-ambassador-during-trumps-presidential-campaign-justice-officials-say/2017/03/01/77205eda-feac-11e6-99b4-9e613afeb09f_story.html?utm_term=.19ce726a193e

[csziggy]

51. Later in the article is the part I heard discussed

Two months before the September meeting, Sessions attended a Heritage Foundation event in July on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention that was attended by roughly 50 ambassadors. When the event was over, a small group of ambassadors approached Sessions as he was leaving the podium, and Kislyak was among them, the Justice Department official said.

Sessions then spoke individually to some of the ambassadors, including Kislyak, the official said. In the informal exchanges, the ambassadors expressed appreciation for his remarks and some of them invited him to events they were sponsoring, said the official, citing a former Sessions staffer who was at the event.

I have not been paying as close attention to the details - my husband has been out of town and got home during the coverage of these stories. While he was gone I had appointments with a cardiologist and our accountant so I had to update him on what had happened. Plus, in between we were watching the coverage and discussing it.

[Raster]

22. I would ABSOLUTELY FUCKING LOVE to see Comrades Ryan and McConnell implicated to HIGH HEAVEN!

OH YES, Let the whole lot of them spend the rest of their lives in Federal prisons for TREASON!

[oldtime dfl_er]

28. YES

+10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

[iluvtennis]

42. Ditto...

...especially since McConnell would agree to do a bipartsian investigation that Obama asked him to.

[OliverQ]

47. Not sure we're that lucky.

Congress Republicans seem to get away with anything they want these days. But trying to cover all this up is straight up obstruction.

[smirkymonkey]

49. Oh yes - after seeing those shit-eating smirks on their faces last night

I want them to go down so hard! I want to see them both whimpering in fear and pain.

[3catwoman3]

3. "Could it even be possible that a damn dam may break after all?"

I freakin' hope so.

Just what we need - a lying AG.

[C_U_L8R]

4. It's the coverup that gets them

And there are so many moving parts, there's no way either Trump or Putin can contain it. Sooner or later, one of the co-conspirators will decide its better to spill the beans than to rot in jail. You can almost sense the calculus ticking off in their heads. Maybe it's still too soon and they believe there's a slim chance Trump will prevail. But that wall is crumbling.

[bdamomma]

10. between the NYT and the Washington Post

these stories will keep on coming out, also the Intelligence community aren't letting this stuff slide.

[dchill]

5. I love the smell of Watergate in the morning...

Smells like victory!

[shraby]

6. The guys who buy ink by the barrel are in competition to get the most breaking news!

[brush]

45. Woohoo! As an old newspaper guy I am so glad to see this. Newspapers know how to actually...

do investigative journalism, unlike most broadcaster reporters with their stand-ups at a scene with a mike and cameraman.

[bdamomma]

7. This Russian thing is not over

Keep it front and center.

[femmocrat]

8. I think this is worse than Watergate.

I hope this isn't something we get all excited about and then nothing happens. Sessions seems to be splitting hairs about whether the contact was campaign-related.
And of course, he conveniently can't remember the details.

[annabanana]

9. Substantively, there's no question about it.

Watergate was a "third rate break-in" . . .

[triron]

61. This makes watergate look like kid's play

[uponit7771]

12. +1, watergate didn't involve another country IIRC

[Wounded Bear]

26. Yeah, Watergate was internal...

this is international.

[C_U_L8R]

11. It also seems like quite a coincidence

That MSNBC had already reserved the
whole evening to discuss Trump's Russiapoop.
Happy accident or heads up.

[annabanana]

13. pu-tay-ta, pu--tah-ta. . . .I'm just glad it's out there. . .n/t

[bdamomma]

16. me too.

What is the Sinatra song??? that's life, riding high in February shot down in March...just making up my own lyrics.

[mopinko]

18. april/may

[NBachers]

44. You're forgiven- You just had a "Sessions Moment."

[uponit7771]

36. +1

[jack69]

15. In Watergate's case, the cover up was almost worse than the burglary.

However, no treason was involved. Which seems to be the case here.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

19. Watergate was much worse than we might remember.

The coverup was more than the coverup of the burglary; it involved wiretapping phones and stealing documents, and there was a huge, extremely complex web of crimes like money laundering, the diversion of huge amounts of campaign contributions to illegally fund the sabotage of Democratic candidates and the break-in of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office to subvert the Pentagon Papers trial; and the obstruction of justice by interfering with the FBI's investigations - among other things. The attempted cover-up was itself attempted to be covered up. Watergate was an enormous collection of crimes and created a scenario for a serious constitutional crisis. Eventually 69 government officials were charged with crimes and 48 were found guilty.

This could be just as bad, or worse. But we shouldn't forget how very bad the Watergate scandal was.

[uponit7771]

37. It would be nice if 48 people in this situation all were found guilty and they were all KGOPrs

[Samantha]

62. And Nixon considered pardoning himself!

Gerald Ford talked him out of it, saying he would be impeached regardless, and that the best thing for him as well as the Country was for him to simply resign.

Sam

[KingCharlemagne]

39. um, the cover-up involved obstruction of justice. So not

"almost worse." Not by a Sam Ervin country mile.

[elias7]

20. This is treason & it involves Trump & co., Sessions, McConnell, Ryan, et al

This is huge

[brush]

48. I bet McConnell and Ryan are sweating bullets now, no longer with those smug smiles on their faces.

[elias7]

66. Yes, we can dream

[roamer65]

21. Certainly has a "1974" smell to it.

But far worse and deeper.

[fun n serious]

23. This is bigger than watergate nt

[dchill]

60. Way.

[Dem2]

24. Local news lead with this story

Breaking News!

It's one thing after another, how can they brush it all under the rug?

[old guy]

25. I refuse to get too excited.

I do not want my heart broken yet again.

[Zo Zig]

27. Teen Spirit?

Denmark?
Napalm in the morning?

[hrmjustin]

30. The shit is hitting the fan!

[oldtime dfl_er]

31. If you're not

following John Dean on Twitter, now would be a good time to get aboard! @JohnWDean

[GoCubsGo]

32. No. Watergate was a petty scandal in comparison.

Given the looks on the faces of the Joint Chiefs last night, and the fact that the Intelligence agencies are all pissed off, I think one or both groups might be laying the dynamite on the dam as we speak.

[KingCharlemagne]

41. Watergate was NOT "a petty scandal in comparison" It was a

grave constitutional crisis where the branch entrusted with enforcing the law actually broke the law.Not petty in comparison to this. Different.

[GoCubsGo]

46. Yes. It was grave.

But, I'm sorry. There is no comparison. This goes WAY beyond what happened with Watergate. We have one party colluding with the goddamn Russian government to steal an election. And, we have Russian operatives running the White House. They are not only breaking laws, they basically staged a coup. Different, yes. And, much, much, much more of a grave situation than Watergate. It's Watergate on steroids, and then some.

[randr]

33. Smells like treason to me

[BainsBane]

65. To me too.

[joet67]

34. Worse than. I smell treason. nt

[CK_John]

35. More like Benedict Arnold. nt

[democratisphere]

38. There is nothing like the smell of a drained swamp in the morning!

[spanone]

43. fingers crossed.

[zentrum]

50. Not there yet. This isn't

...the 70's. Or the old style Repug Party which used to have some people serious about governing. Or the same as an era when Democrats had real clout---they had a majority in both House and Senate. The court was not as conservative. The press was still corporate but nothing as sold out as today. Our current press would be kissing 45's ass, Moonves--style, if he hadn't attacked them.

So I don't think we have the means---yet---to have a real Watergate denouement.

[joanbarnes]

52. WAY Smellier!

[MFM008]

53. YES

[mobeau69]

54. LOL!

[radical noodle]

55. This is way worse than Watergate IMHO

But it's good to see it playing out so quickly. Hope it doesn't take as long as Watergate to play out.

[Merrigay]

56. I'm with you old guy.

With r's in charge of just about everything, I think it will be a long, hard, bumpy road to get to the bottom of this--if we ever do in time to get rid of 45 and his administration. I'm very willing to be wrong and hope I am.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

57. There are some strange defensive tweets being promoted on Twitter tonight. n/t

[calimary]

58. Uh-HUH.

Smells like "there is a cancer on the presidency..." (and it's growing bigger and more deadly every day... )

Also - the Richard Engel stuff is sounding pretty serious, too. He's reporting that it's awfully quiet re: trump in Moscow now. The Kremlin has issued what he called "a directive" to the effect of "no more trump" to its media - and whereas there was wall-to-wall trump on TV and newspapers and everywhere since his rise, and everybody was celebrating his election and how it was gonna Make Russia Great Again (he described it using those words, too), and now everybody's clammed up everywhere. Not a word. It's all about Putin and his election campaign for next year now.

MAN-OH-MAN, trump is running on tremendously thin ice if the Russians see no use for him anymore. If they think he's not turning out the way they wanted, and won't help them further their own agenda, what will they do about him? Does all that blackmail dossier stuff come into play now? Are they gonna start thinking they're going to need to put a leash on him now?

What do they do with an asset they no longer find valuable or useful?

And they thought trump was the asset straight from Heaven.

MAN this is sounding like a big-time spy novel.

[ginnyinWI]

64. it could be simply that Putin sees the media attention

in Russia as damaging to Trump. Wants to keep it all on the QT until this blows over and he can then get the goodies Trump has promised.

[southerncrone]

59. In many ways it is Watergate 2.0

Paranoid president
Cabinet acting like plumbers
Instead of file cabinets, they're searching cyber files, emails.

[Skittles]

63. I know it's already cutting into Trump's post-speech afterglow

[raven mad]

67. More like a broken sewer line or an overflowing septic tank.

But anyone who's ever had dealings with Sessions and the rest already knows that.