But... it's not even good spin. Jr just said Kushner was in there for like half an hour and manifort like 15 min. He acted like that was nothing. Uhm, THAT'S 15 MINUTES OF NOT NOTHING!!! If I was on trump's side, I'd garbage bag that guy, muzzle and tie him, then drop him off a low bridge into high water. But I'm not. So fuck that guy! Keep talking junior!!!
What if it's a case of Junior falling on his sword in an attempt to take the blame for Senior? As it is, it seems that the current message is "Donny Senior had no idea I was meeting with the Russians". But seriously... if Junior just showed up, along with Kushner and Co., with incriminating information about Clinton, out of the blue, don't you think that everyone else will be asking a million questions about where it came from before using it as major cannon fodder for the campaign?
Dude is potentially breaking federal law. You're talking jail time. He's just smart enough to know money can plea out, and just stupid enough to not realize how they can and will connect this to his dad. Look at donny jr like a frat kid drunk driving in daddy's car. He comes out of a party hammered on miller lite, jack, and coke, figures he'll show off in the BMW his dad bought him driving down frat row with underage women in bikinis hanging out the windows. He over corrects, swerves and wrecks and people get injured. Guess who pays the bill? Daddy. Daddy trump is paying the bill for all this.
I've read in several places that wapo is currently sitting on a story and being told to hold off on releasing it at the request of the intelligence community. I don't know if it's true or not. But if it is, it must pretty damning. I would love it if there was some sort of transcript of the Kushner, Jr., Manafort meeting with Trump Sr. on speaker phone or something.
FINALLY someone has a good idea about politics here. There is waaaaay too strong of an anti-intellectualism current to allow this to happen, unfortunately. He's a well-known guy whose claim to fame has been getting mobsters off the hook since the early '90s and was mentored by the guy who got John Gotti off. I kid you fucking not. He also plays in a symphony!
Don't put anything past our National Embarrassment In Chief. I wouldn't doubt for a second that he asked someone to record this meeting (in fact, I think it's probable, given the reports on his past behavior). He's the CEO that wants to know everything, or at least have the ability to know everything, so he feels like he has control if he wants to have it. And yet he gets his daily intelligence briefings from fox and friends.
For all that we talk about the media on this board, we rarely discuss the way Fox News has operated in the Trump administration and what that means for the country.
I think that the Fox News network reports on shit and Trump follows their lead... regardless of how right or wrong they are. There have been a number of Fox News reports that Trump has tweeted about that have proven to be incorrect later on.
I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not but do you remember when Trump accused Obama of wiretapping him? Seemingly out of nowhere? What sparked that? The intelligence community has been watching Russian people for a long time. And were possibly surveilling Russians who might have been communicating with Trump. He might have been recorded incidentally talking to people who were under surveillance. I'm not trying to be a conspiracy theorist but I think this whole thing is exactly what it looks like. I think Trump wanted the presidency to make a buck and the Russians saw an opportunity to get what they wanted(lifted sanctions and a humiliated USA) by helping him. Meanwhile, Mueller has hired like 15 attorneys known for prosecuting the mob,flipping witnesses, and prosecuting financial crimes. the Trumps have hired lawyers known for defending the Mafia. He thinks he can run the country like a mob boss because that's how dictators do things. Notice how he really warms up to people like Putin, Duterte, Erdogan and the Saudis and is passively hostile towards people like Merkel or Macron. Theres 28374738 coincidences at this point and it's just too many for there to be nothing there.
I think they've pretty well admitted the fact that some members of the Trump administration were under surveillance because they popped up while they were surveilling some "bad guys". He's an idiot without any real political experience who idolized Putin and has extensive dealings with Russia... he was by far the desirable candidate compared to Clinton when it comes to their own best interests.
In addition Trump has been receiving classified briefings since August 17 of last year. The FBI says they were investigating Russian interference since July? I think. Was he told about the Russian activities that Obama was told about? The activities that Obama placed more sanctions on and booted Russians from this country over. If Trump knew about all of this and lied repeatedly about to aid in the cover up, as well as the people involved lying, that is accesssory after the fact. A big deal. Remember all of those stories about Trump only getting briefed here and there? Or having other people get the briefing and then relaying what was important to him? Why was that? Plausible deniability? Did his briefing include info about Russian interference? If not, why? If he is the main subject of an investigation, would he be let in on that investigation and be told what they found?
My big question is, if he's been doing some illegal shit, who's going to hold him accountable? Everything I've heard so far basically says it's up to the majority to decide, and they're the GOP, so while they may proclaim public outrage, fuck all is going to actually be done about it. Who has the authority to say, "you've broken the law, put your hands behind your back, and you have the right to remain silent"? Does it come down to a vote of his party?
I have to admit, part of me wishes that someone in authority would re-instate Comey as a Special Agent who could then arrest and mirandize Trump.
I think when his approval rating drops below 30% you will start to see republicans publicly jump ship. Once you have them in fear of their jobs, they will get rid of him. Don't forget that AG Scheiderman in New York is building a RICO case against him from which he cannot pardon anyone. You think his casinos and properties were legit? It was a Russia money laundering operation.
Is it possible Trump Jr. released this stuff ahead of a leak, or fully knowing it was going to come out in the investigation anyway? If he knew those emails were already in the hands of the investigation/WaPo/etc, why not post them and get the first strike? Also, Trump is a Republican the way Dracula is Transylvanian: technically, but he's never been welcome in the village. I can't imagine a bunch of his "colleagues" are going to pitch in and save his ass (Or Pence's) for how he's treated them, made the party look and for how their own base will respond. Personally, I think (and have thought) the whole administration is tainted by Russian influence. The question is: how do you clean this mess up? Let's say Trump Jr. unknowingly committed a crime. Let's not forget Trump can and would use his powers to provoke a major distraction, say a military engagement, to buy back support. At what point do Trump's presidential powers become limited when members of his family are committing federal crimes and/or possibly treason? Somewhere, Rambo is pissing cobra venom right now.
This is bait. It HAS to be. Goldstone will be revealed as some Deep State dem operative, and Jr. et al played along to suss out the traitorous middleman. I find it hard to believe Junior, Kushner *and* Manafort were all this stupid at the same time. One of the three should've been smart enough to warn the other two.