British and Dutch intel report Putin people and Trump people met in Europe throughout campaign.

[Squinch]

Jaysus!

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/03/british-dutch-passed-along-intel-about-meetings-between-trump-team-and-russia

American allies, including the British and the Dutch, had provided information describing meetings in European cities between Russian officials — and others close to Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin — and associates of President-elect Trump, according to three former American officials who requested anonymity in discussing classified intelligence. Separately, American intelligence agencies had intercepted communications of Russian officials, some of them within the Kremlin, discussing contacts with Mr. Trump’s associates.

[nolabear]

1. I'm running out of schadenfreude. This is an attempt to take the US down.

It's a concerted effort to destroy this government under the guise of populism. Incredible.

[Squinch]

2. And ALL these republicans went along with it so they could line their pockets by

sucking money out of programs for the poor and sick.

So these guys SOLD OUT THE AMERICAN DEMOCRACY so they could steal a few bucks.

The evil of this is bigger than I can get my head around right now.

I may complain and gripe about how our government works, but at heart I am a patriotic sap. I think that the American government is the best idea anyone has ever come up with, though it is very messy in execution.

But these guys putting that idea in jeopardy is not forgivable.

[luvMIdog]

4. that's all they have cared about for years Careers , power & their own money

[Mr. Evil]

39. I'm beginning to think

that the Russians weren't so surprised that 45 won. I'm also beginning to think that the election outcome was rigged. There's just too much Russian shit floating around 45 and his crew.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

60. "Rigged" was on tRump's mind so he projected it onto Hillary, many times during the campaign. . . nt

[Grammy23]

80. Agree....many of the accusations he lobbed at Hillary

were an exact reflection of things HE was doing. It almost got to be a game to see how many things he projected about her that he was already doing in triplicate. So the word "rigged" became one of his go to words, especially in the last 1/3 of the campaign, suggesting Hillary's campaign had rigged the outcome of the election. He pulled that one out in speech after speech at his rallies. And the crowd ate it up.

[LiberalLovinLug]

92. Why does that work so well?

To accuse the other side of things that you are guilty of. Because Republicans do it all the time and it seems to work.

I guess what it does is not only deflect criticism, but it also causes the other party consternation. Because they are not guilty of the same crimes, they naturally want to vigorously defend themselves and it comes off as 'thou dost protest too much'.

Combine that with a cowardly MSM that refused to entertain the idea that perhaps truth was more important than keeping a close horse race. And wanted to always leave it up in the air, she said...he said.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

93. It's mind space. By occupying your mind, they crowd out positive associations for our side.

The thousands of times you heard about Benghazi!! and emails!! were the thousands of times that you were not thinking about Hillary's platform.

It in a way becomes worse when Democrats were forced into defending. Because every time you heard a defense pointing how ridiculous the Benghazi!! investigations were was it crowded out thinking about Hillary's extraordinary qualifications.

It's how tRump won. He occupied the mind space of the media who then went on and on about him and that caused tRump to occupy the mind space of the voters, crowding out Democrats.

It's why he tweets and says outrageous things. Do not look at the Bannon behind the curtain strangling the government; look at what tRump just tweeted!

See this discussion of how Rachel Maddow gets it: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028740602

[LiberalLovinLug]

94. Good points

But we have to find new ways now to fight that. How?

Is the only alternative to make up fake stories about Trump, ourselves? Although it would be hard to invent anything much more outrageous than the facts we see today. And then have the best actors in the Dem party go on as guests, or better yet hire some kind of Kellyanne Conway, and push these false accusations over and over? And the key is to come up with a new one almost every day so that the MSM does not have time to even confirm the one you threw out there yesterday. And/or keep repeating the word Yakla Yakla Yakla!!!! for months on end?

That is the problem though. I don't think we want to stoop to their level of purposeful deceit. For one, Democratic voters are smarter than that and probably wouldn't put up with it. So then how do we do it? I think they have such an advantage at least in middle America with the complete monopoly on daytime talk radio.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

95. Bernie found ways to occupy mind space. Study his method. Besides, he's a bird whisperer

And it wouldn't hurt to say "Yakla Raid Killed USA Child" every so often.

You are right; we don't need to stoop to RepubliCon depths of deceit.

[LiberalLovinLug]

97. Yes, I think Bernie tapped into a winning strategy

at least as far as attracting the crowds. His secret was repeating over and over a few talking points like "It is not acceptable that the top one-tenth of 1 percent now owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent". We heard this ad nauseum. Even I as a Bernie supporter was getting bored with his few one liners. But the fact is that worked. Hillary was continually tweeking her positions, already quite nuanced. It was either too short and meaningless like "stronger together" or voters were told to go to hillaryclinton.com to find out the details of her platform.

[Percy Cholmondeley]

62. They're all accessories

Accessories to these crimes. When they vote not to investigate, they're incriminating themselves. This is already bigger than Watergate.

[vlyons]

76. Silence implies consent

Most Republicans have either publicly defended Trump and actively stonewalled investigation, or remained silent. Well keeping mum and not saying a peep is not a ddefense, because legally silence implies consent. The whole Republican party is a vast criminal enterprise.

[Botany]

29. "This is an attempt to take the US down."

This was a coup and people committed treason.

Line them all up against a wall with blindfolds. The republicans
worked with Russia to rig the elections. Motherfuckers.

[GeoWilliam750]

55. Then there is the other weird question

It seems that pretty much every intelligence service in the world knew what was going on. It also seems that Mossad of Israel is/was very wary about sharing intelligence with a Trump White House.

And yet, Netanyahu has been extremely supportive of Trump, and what can only be described as a highly aggressive assault on US democracy. There is nary a peep from Netanyahu at the rapidly rising anti-semitism in the US.

[Squinch]

66. That's a good question.

[triron]

58. Malcolm Nance went there on MSNBC last nite.

[elmac]

34. republiCons have a long history of taking this country down

Nixon campaign dealing with S Vietnam to prolong war, Reagan dealing with Iran to sabotage Carters re-election and now tRump working with our enemy putin to undermine the election.

[workinclasszero]

79. Its a Russian coup by Trump, Bannon and Putin for sure

What is sickening is how all republicans are ready and willing to sell out America to Putin, fucking traitors!

[King_Klonopin]

87. I still think Manafort has a ton of stink on him !

When is he going to come up specifically in these allegations ?

Or is he already a permanent resident of Russia ?

[workinclasszero]

88. Oh how could I forget that traitor?

Just another Russian stooge in Dumpf's Russian puppet inner circle.

There's to many to keep track of without a scorecard.

[luvMIdog]

3. omg this just keeps getting bigger

[Squinch]

6. I suspect there might be one Republican dog catcher in Peoria who isn't in the Russians' pockets,

but that's all. The rest of them have been bought.

[ret5hd]

7. And that single dog catcher is wondering why he was left out.

[Squinch]

10. And it was because everyone thought he couldn't keep a secret.

[brer cat]

15. Are you ratting out the leaker, Squinch?

[Squinch]

19. It was Marvin the Dog Catcher! I told you he was a big mouth!

[calimary]

32. ROFL!

[vanlassie]

38. No it was his dog they were worried about.

The one who always spills the beans!!!

[KittyWampus]

5. so which Trump associates were in Europe at that time?

[Squinch]

8. I don't know, but I first heard it on MSNBC who said they had it from the NYT, and when

I went looking for a print version I found the MotherJones.

I am assuming those outlets have checked the source, so though we don't know now, I suspect we soon will. The fact that it is the Dutch and the British intelligence agencies, and this article says other countries as well, makes me think it is credible.

MSNBC just said it again.

[triron]

35. Perhaps Louise Mensch might have an idea?

[HurricaneWarning]

51. Ivanka and Jared were there.

They took pictures with Putin's girlfriend. I thought it was unusual to leave a new born baby at the time.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

63. Wendi Deng. At the height of an intense campaign. When tRump was relying on I&J's counsel.

Meet Wendi Deng, the evil genius who hangs with Ivanka and (probably) bangs Putin
http://fusion.net/story/337101/ivanka-trump-putin-murdoch-wendy-deng-croatia/

[certainot]

96. ah. better times.

[Brother Buzz]

9. It's Not the Crime, It's the Cover-up ... Redux

[OldHippieChick]

20. John Dean, John Dean,

John Dean

[RedSpartan]

28. He knows of what he speaks...

http://thisamericancarnageblog.com/an-expert-witness/

[SticksnStones]

44. It's the crime AND the cover up

and the blatant hubris they exhibiting in thinking no one would catch on.

[JenniferJuniper]

52. No, this time it's the crime(s)

[Brother Buzz]

59. It's dicey, but they could probably have 'splained it away early on

by coming clean and gotten a slap on the hand (and probably lost the election), but the constant stream of cover ups and denials is the catalyst that is driving this story, and may well prove to be this administration's undoing.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

64. When the coverup cracks, the core of the crime is exposed. . . . nt

[VOX]

11. Like a toxic cake rising in the oven...somebody slam the door!

These fuckers must go DOWN!

[jmg257]

12. Let's get the damn names..."associates" seems a little broad. You're gona spill, then spill.

[dalton99a]

13. Of course, Putin had to make sure his plan would succeed.

[Squinch]

16. I give Putin a lot of credit for his almost cartoonish evil dictator skills, and it was very

brilliant of him to undermine our election, and our Democracy the way he did.

But he really screwed up when he chose this band of stooges as his minions. He's having a big "Doh!" moment right now.

[jannyd65]

30. So true....

I have been saying for days now that Putin must be rethinking his strategy to back these people! One would have that he would have backed people who were more intelligent and used some discretion in their dealings....an example, Sean Spicer tweeting his password.

The brain trust that is running this country right now-sheesh!!!!!!! More like a brain truss....

[world wide wally]

50. And the real evil genius of it is that IF his plan works, Putin assumes control of the most

powerful military ever assembled on Earth without a shot being fired.

[murielm99]

82. I think he wants his minions dumb.

If they know too much, he has them killed.

Putin wanted anybody but Hillary. She is smart. She would have surrounded herself with smart advisors, and never put up with any of his aggression or crap. He would have been stymied by her. He would not have been able to destabilize Europe, or hack their elections either. Europe respects Hillary, and would work with her while she protected them as people and allies.

[gratuitous]

14. Mark 4:22

"For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light."

A Bible verse (there are actually several places in the Gospels where Jesus says this or something similar) to keep handy against the day you have to interact with fundamentalist friends or family members.

[Achilleaze]

17. republicans selling out America to freaking Evil Empire Russia

totally sucks to be a republican traitor.

The whole freaking KGOpee should be banned for eternity

[eleny]

18. now a warning?!

[Cha]

21. Love those British and Dutch Intels!

Post this again..

Link to tweet

Refused to pay and wouldn't take the time.. too busy Violating ETHICS!

[Squinch]

22. This just kills me. We should just drop this into every thread. It's too freaking much.

[Cha]

25. Please do.. I'll do my part.. good idea.

[BumRushDaShow]

46. You know what is ironic about that tweet?

Just today, Beauregard, in response to a question at his presser about Drumpf telling reporters that he shouldn't recuse himself, admitted that "They don't know the rules".

TRANSCRIPT -

<...>

QUESTION: The White House press secretary and the president himself both said today that they think you should not recuse yourself from these investigations. (inaudible)

SESSIONS: I did share with White House counsel, and my staff has, that I intend to recuse myself this afternoon. But I feel like — because they didn't — they don't know the rules, the ethics rules, most people don't and — but when you evaluate the rules, I feel like that I am — I should not be involved investigating a campaign I had a role in.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/03/02/transcript-of-jeff-sessionss-recusal-press-conference-annotated/?utm_term=.23fd730d5771

<...>

Hmmmm.... wonder why?

[Cha]

57. ".. Don't know the Rules.."?! he's the so-called "president".. WTF

he doesn't know the fooking RULES!

Thank you for that, BRDS!

[Marthe48]

23. the only way trump could get something is dishonestly

He cheated and got the prize. So he didn't win and the world knows he didn't win.

[smirkymonkey]

24. Hah! Busted!

[Homeoutside]

26. That sounds almost like

it was "constant contact".

[ffr]

27. There goes the media meme. ICs around the globe are running across this info

Russia. tRump. Russia. Manafort. Russia. Flynn. Russia. Tillerson. Russia. Ross. Russia. Sessions. Russia. Russia. Russia. Russia. Russia. Russia. Russia. Russia. Russia. Russia.

It goes on for miles.

tRump should resign in shame.

[Tanuki]

31. I'm curious about who Jared Kushner met with during his trip

with Ivanka to Macedonia last summer. Maybe Wendi Murdoch Deng was a misdirection from someone even more...interesting.

[tanyev]

36. Me too. Although I think it was Croatia.

They made sure there were photos of Ivanka and Wendi in entertainment magazines doing touristy things.

[Generic Brad]

40. Isn't Wendy Deng Putin's mistress?

Am I the only one who thought that was the tip of an iceberg?

[tanyev]

45. She's rumored to be, but I don't know if anyone has confirmed it.

Google doesn't have any pictures of them together.

[Tanuki]

41. It was indeed Croatia. My bad! I probably had Macedonia on my brain

because of all the anti-Hillary fake news the teenagers there put out on the Internet to the point of saturation during the campaign.

[Freethinker65]

33. Thanks Obama!

And thanks also to the global IC

[bucolic_frolic]

37. It was like a hostile corporate takeover of the whole country

Privatizing everything

[ananda]

42. Yikes!

The wallpaper is really falling off the wall now.

The whole conspiracy is coming unglued!

[KewlKat]

43. Throughout the summer...hmmm...so who in that swamp was traveling to Europe, Russia, etc

Stone made some trips overseas, as did Carter Page, Manafort, not sure about Tillerson but I think he may not have been thought of at that time last year. Was Ghouliani out of the country? Pretty sure The Con Jr was over there somewhere and wasn't Kushner?

Lots of candidates for the guilty parties........what are your guesses?

[BumRushDaShow]

48. Ghouliani is who I'm concerned about at the moment

His "security" company was part of the campaign and he was gleefully bouncing around on cable news "hinting" about more Clinton email releases days before Comey made his October surprise announcement.

Now he's under investigation by the IG but it will be interesting to see if he had also been deep in the mess -

As inspector general launches review, Rudy Giuliani again insists he received no FBI leaks
By Matt Zapotosky January 13


<...>

Giuliani dismissed as a “bunch of garbage” allegations in an unverified report circulating in media and political circles — a summary of which was included in an intelligence briefing — that the Russian government had compromising information on Trump, and that there was an exchange of information between Trump surrogates and Russian intermediaries.

Giuliani, who functioned as a Trump surrogate during the campaign and was recently named an informal cybersecurity adviser, said he himself had no contact with Russian government intermediaries. “I don’t speak Russian,” he quipped. He also said he had not discussed the matter with Trump.

Giuliani said he was concerned with nation state hacking, including that conducted by Russia, and would work in his new role in the administration to bring private and government cybersecurity experts together to bolster cyber defense.

“My job is really simple,” he said. “It’s to get the private sector to interact with the government and give them information about what they’re doing.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/01/13/as-inspector-general-launches-review-rudy-giuliani-again-insists-he-received-no-fbi-leaks/

[SticksnStones]

47. Sheriff David Clarke was in Russia

Same time as Flynn and Stein...allegedly



Curious...

https://www.palmerreport.com/politics/david-clarke-trump-russia-flynn-putin/1645/

http://www.liberalamerica.org/2016/11/23/sheriff-david-clarke-met-russian-gun-group-dime-tapped-trump-video/

[They_Live]

90. Hmm.

Just a coincidence.

[SticksnStones]

91. Oh, I'm sure it was...just as his prime speaking slot at the convention...

...was just to fill some time.

[reflection]

49. At this point,

it's about time for the media to start using a backwards R whenever they put Trump's name on the screen.

[world wide wally]

53. I love that idea.

Also to designate a (Republican from wherever)

[reflection]

61. Whichever network "accidentally" does it first

Has me for life

[Amimnoch]

54. Яepublikan Party.

[uponit7771]

68. Please right an OP on how to do the backwards R... thx in advance for any input.

[Amimnoch]

70. Cyrllic Capital Letter Ya

https://unicode-table.com/en/042F/

Can be found in the character map, a little less than half way down under the Arial font group.

Я

[uponit7771]

71. Я THX !!!

[Mountain Mule]

83. Another way to do this

Is to just look up Доналд Трамп in Wikipedia and have it translate the page into Russian. I saved "Russian translation of Доналд Трамп" as a Word document and keep its tab open for a convenient cut and paste as needed.

Been using it quite a bit lately.

[world wide wally]

69. Nailed it!

[uponit7771]

67. +1

[spanone]

56. an international coup. we're lucky we got a stupid, inept so-called president.

[tenorly]

65. This was the 2016 equivalent of Poppy Bush's 1980 meetings with Iranians in Paris and Madrid.

During which they apparently agreed to hold the hostages until the very minute Reagan took office.

Kissinger, during NBC's election night coverage in '80, famously "predicted" the very thing would happen. I'd be willing to bet he knew of this bit of treason with the Russians as well.

[tenorly]

73. There is at least one BIG difference between Bush 41 and Cheeto:

Bush was Mr. CIA, and - right or wrong - never pursued any initiatives without first discussing and planning them with his intelligence colleagues (as well as other powers-that-be).

Trump, on the other hand, is a loose cannon who looks at the Presidency as nothing but a cash cow though which he can become a real billionaire. Besides himself, his only other loyalty seems to be to his much-loved (and I mean much loved) daughter.

[littlemissmartypants]

74. This thread alerted on itself.

That's how explosive their situation is. Yay!

Without fools there would be no wisdom.

[littlemissmartypants]

75. Thanks Squince.

Kicking.

[Hekate]

77. Tremendous thanks to our allies, but Christ on a Trailer Hitch what were the Trumpites smoking?

I can't fathom their worldview, except to imagine they see no borders, just various locations with inconvenient laws that need to be circumvented, people who need to be bribed to one degree or another. No loyalty to the USA as I have always thought of it -- but if you can locate the levers of power, there will be a handy army at your disposal.

Remember when Ivanka went out to Eastern Europe last year for a vacay with her pal Wendy Deng, who's been Putin's main squeeze these past several years? That was weird -- but since I've started developing this new theory, it makes sense.

Daddy Trump has a sprawling multinational business Empire, Ivanka is the Crown Princess, Wendy has amassed a fortune in her own right, and Putin is an Oligarchical Czar. Of them all, Putin seems to be most attached to the country of his birth -- not just the money and perks, but the actual national boundaries, which he wants to expand back to the old USSR reach.

Sec of State Tillerson -- does he see the world as anything more than an arterial structure pumping oil?

[truebluegreen]

78. Although some people's motives are murkier

I'll bet Trump and his unlovely spawn are in it for the money. That's all he's ever cared about...well, "winning", but money is the way he keeps score.

How much is he going to make from lifting sanctions and making oil-y deals with Putin (with Tillerson to help and Price to remove impediments, etc).

[ButSeeYa]

81. Maybe the question should be...

"Is there anyone in the Trump campaign/administration who has NOT met with the Russians?"

[Maru Kitteh]

84. Hopefully our allies will save us from ourselves.

I'll reserve comment on whether or not we deserve rescue; but it would be best for humanity if others helped to save us all from Trump.

Well, except Vladimir Putin. But fuck him.

[joet67]

85. So to my mind this whole administration is illegitimate. Because I am not The Donald, though,

I also realize it is not my mind that rules, it is the law that does so. Good thing for him.

That all being said, truly it is illegitimate, and therefore nothing he says or does or tries to do should stand. So far, most of his stuff has failed or is failing, but the "administration" is likely to do all it can continue to get away with until they are stopped.

More importantly- and we have never been here in 240 years- I don't believe that anyone in the entire line of succession should be rewarded with the Presidency. Yet to my knowledge we have no known remedy.

What would be our options (limited though they may be)?

I could easily support calling for a new election, but of course I honestly wouldn't expect that get any traction. With our congressional races every two years means we have constant campaigning going on the House races, and 1/3 of the Senate is due in 2018.

I just don't think we need to suffer (and that is the correct word) the uselessness of a lame-duck administration until 2020, and I also don't think we should suffer a patently illegitimate one for even one hour.

Any chance we could arrange a new election (even interim)? A one-time deal.

[UCmeNdc]

86. Finally the Americans are listening.

[Nitram]

89. Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock

The suspense is killing me! I hope Trump is sweating, but his egotistic narcissism probably has him completely oblivious of the consequences of this to his ambitions.