Is it possible that Trump's aides were working with Russia without Trump knowing it?

[Yavin4]

Or, they kept Trump in the dark so that he would have plausible deniability? My theory is that Roger Stone, Carter Page, and Paul Manafort all didn't think that Trump had a chance of winning. They went along with Russia's plan to undermine Hillary's presidency so that they could do business with Russia's oligarchs.

Maybe Trump knew or maybe he didn't. Or maybe he didn't want to know at all. Or, maybe he wanted to be in the dark, but wanted Russia to know that he was on their side and look forward to the post-election deals to come. Besides, no one would investigate the tampering since Hillary won anyway.

After Trump won, he was stunned. He had two problems. Could he still do deals with the Russian oligarchs and what if his team's collusion with the Russians was investigated? For the first problem, he signaled to the Russians through Flynn and others that they could still do business. But on the second problem? Well, we're seeing how they're handling it now.

[Bettie]

1. Nope.

He knew and he was with them.

[dalton99a]

6. He is the gang leader.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. He's a control freak. There's no way he didn't know.

[dalton99a]

3. How do you explain the Putin worship?

[enid602]

45. trump

How do you explain how Trump's companies got through 2008 without another bankruptcy? Could only be Russian money.

[JI7]

4. no

[kimbutgar]

5. He is not innocent and he's known all along that Russia was going to help him.

[SouthernIrish]

9. He knows

He takes direction from Bannon and Putin. What a total.bunch of treasonous facists we have in the WH. They all need to be put in jail.

[GP6971]

7. No way.

That would be disloyal on the part of his aides and 45 doesn't tolerate disloyalty.

[napi21]

8. NO! He's much too hands on and micromanages his people. maybe one alone could, but

the leaked stories have already involved.

[Generic Brad]

10. Bwa-ha-ha-ha

Comedy gold!

[BumRushDaShow]

11. No

He is in hock to them because U.S. banks wouldn't give him anymore loans. He had $600+ million dollars worth of debt.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/21/us/politics/donald-trump-debt.html

[Merlot]

29. Yes he's in debt to russia

Wonder how much of his debt has been forgiven by now? Maybe the big payoff is when sanctions get lifted.

[BumRushDaShow]

37. Or

one chunk forgiven if we turn our heads when they invade Ukraine and another when the sanctions are lifted!

[obnoxiousdrunk]

12. No.

[jrthin]

13. No.

[delisen]

14. Inclined to think he knew. Not a plausible deniability type. Reckless.

He didn't waver in his positive comments on Putin throughout. I thought it odd-why such abject allegiance? He is used to lying and could have said negative things about Putin to curry favor with some voters and still go pro-Russia after the election.

He did not want the Russians to think he was wavering.

It was as though he felt he had to convince them that he was doing everything he could to be loyal, win or lose he was theirs.

I thought they were holding a big carrot or big stick over him, or both.

The remark he made when he asked an interviewer, "Do you think we're so pure? -sounded to me like a man who knew he was involved in something big and not good.

[Merlot]

30. That "Do you think we're so pure?" remark sounded like classic projection

[uponit7771]

35. +1, he sounded turned to me in that comment

[onecaliberal]

15. Not a chance

[KewlKat]

16. Is it possible those women wizzed on the Con?

I'd say both are 50/50.....

[lanlady]

17. In a word:

Nyet.

[mnmoderatedem]

40. Da

you are correct

[Stinky The Clown]

18. Yes, of course it is possible. It is also highly unlikely.

[wryter2000]

19. Lots of people stole my answer

No

[2naSalit]

20. Nope.

[Jimbo101]

21. What kind of boss doesn't know,...

what their employees are doing ?

especially a micro-manager like Trump

And If he didn't know (highly unlikely) - he should have known. (more likely)

[highplainsdem]

22. No. He has way too many ties to Russia, over too many years.

[Foamfollower]

23. Nixon likely didn't know of the Watergate breakin when it happened.

Didn't matter. Like Trump, he was actively involved in the coverup. That's what brought down Nixon and is what will bring down Trump.

[Kimchijeon]

24. Nah trump knew

No way he didn't know .

[moondust]

25. Too much smoke.

Too many fumbling idiots.

He knew.

[Chasstev365]

26. Hell No!

[BainsBane]

27. No, if they were he would do something about it

Instead, he's covering up. Plus the financial trail is coming into focus. He's gotten hundreds of millions from the Russians, according to David Cay Johnson.

[Jarqui]

28. He's a control freak as someone said above

A micro manager

Look at this stuff :

https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/1gg6SdgftOynibeZjThGfa6eN8myZFYgtv7ztdJgeJSU/mobilebasic

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RbpBxJ3QNyvts_w16UcSSGeH7cSrXK9U3wIq0OOq-Xs/preview

Carter Page, Stone admitting Assange connection, Giuliani knowing FBI stuff before it went down, Manafort resignation due to his connections with Russia, Flynn lying & resignation, Session lying & recusal

No tax returns - probably owing a bunch of dough to Russia

All that stuff happened and Trump didn't know a thing? Then he shouldn't be President.

[triron]

31. Too many of his tweets/campaign statements

coincident with what interactions were taking place as evidenced in documents and leaks. So no way Jose'

[hurple]

32. No

Absolutely not

[Mme. Defarge]

33. No.

[MFM008]

34. rrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhttttttttt

no. He is a control freak.

[LibraLiz1973]

36. No

He knew

[meadowlander]

38. No, for all the reasons above

plus I just don't see him covering for employees that "went rogue" given that he never takes responsibility for anything when he can avoid it. He would cut them loose if he could. The fact that he's standing behind people like Sessions means he's in it up to his eyeballs.

[Dorian Gray]

39. I think DT

is an idiot. It's possible he knew and didn't think about it. It's possible he didn't know at all. It's possible that he knew and thought the public wouldn't find out. Who knows?

But he isn't fit for the presidency and his house of cards will come tumbling down.

[Vinca]

41. No. This all revolves around $$$$ and how much Trump is in hock to the Russians.

[sarah FAILIN]

42. Why else would kislyak be brought in Trump tower

Trump was only able to meet with him sneakily and he needed to see him. He was in on it.

[struggle4progress]

43. It's just a coincidence that Cohen, Flynn, Gordon, Kushner, Manafort, Page, Sessions, and Tillerson

all had Russian contacts!

Really, there is nothing unusual here: the Republicans have always been willing to do anything to win elections, and lying about dealings with foreign governments is no big deal!

Remember how the Clintons murdered Vince Foster to cover up the Benghazi scandal? We should investigate that!

[Warren DeMontague]

44. No. But I think you're right, like everyone else, Trump and his team really thought they were going

to get clobbered.

So why the fuck not? Hail Mary pass, and all that.. They knew that no one would give a shit about it after they lost, like you say.

Maybe they figured they'd ditch the rules, throw for the end zone, and in the unlikely event that it worked out, they'd figure that part out afterwards.