General / Off-Topic Trump: Legal Issues (was The Testimony of James Comey)

[Robin of Spiritwood]

Unrecorded meeting at G20 : Putin and Trump

A previously undisclosed meeting between the 2 leaders went on for an hour. No records of the content are available because only a Russian interpreter was present. Trump left his seat, in public, and went over to Putin.
White House has ratified this second meeting, and admitted that it took place.

Why is Trump holding unrecorded meetings with Russia, and why does he not trust other Americans to know what he is doing?

This actually took place while his son's meeting was being exposed at home, so whatever it was they had to discuss was worth the further political compromise of displaying the secrecy and subservience of the relationship.

Meanwhile, Bob Muellers team has called in Number 8, the Russian money launderer, to testify.
Muller's team includes financial investigators of significant pedigree. It is noteworthy that this 8th person
is the one last disclosed, the one furtherist from the secrecy firewall that they tried to erect.
Whatever they most want to hide is connected here.

 

[Minonian]

Look, this is just where we differ. Well, we probably differ on a great many things, but...

You seem to believe a degree of risk is acceptable. I don't. I feel when there is risk involved, or even the possibility, I value the concerns and lives of my countrymen highest.

Don't brother yourself. She is at denial.

 

[hairychris]

A previously undisclosed meeting between the 2 leaders went on for an hour. No records of the content are available because only a Russian interpreter was present. Trump left his seat, in public, and went over to Putin.
White House has ratified this second meeting, and admitted that it took place.

Why is Trump holding unrecorded meetings with Russia, and why does he not trust other Americans to know what he is doing?

This actually took place while his son's meeting was being exposed at home, so whatever it was they had to discuss was worth the further political compromise of displaying the secrecy and subservience of the relationship.

Meanwhile, Bob Muellers team has called in Number 8, the Russian money launderer, to testify.
Muller's team includes financial investigators of significant pedigree. It is noteworthy that this 8th person
is the one last disclosed, the one furtherist from the secrecy firewall that they tried to erect.
Whatever they most want to hide is connected here.

Yeah.... meeting a foreign leader with no-one else from your side present? Hmm.

Oh, and rumours seem to be that Trump used Putin's translator at these meetings, not an American one. That leaves some interesting potential problems.

The guy's a cretin. Whether or not you support his policies he's a liability.

 

[who?]

Yeah.... meeting a foreign leader with no-one else from your side present? Hmm.

Oh, and rumours seem to be that Trump used Putin's translator at these meetings, not an American one. That leaves some interesting potential problems.

The guy's a cretin. Whether or not you support his policies he's a liability.

I don't know what the true story of the relationship is; it might be relatively innocuous... BUT...

The Trump administration's handling of this whole mess will be studied for generations as an example of how to cluster your F%^&'s when handling an awkward and/or embarrassing problem.

 

[hairychris]

I don't know what the true story of the relationship is; it might be relatively innocuous... BUT...

The Trump administration's handling of this whole mess will be studied for generations as an example of how to cluster your F%^&'s when handling an awkward and/or embarrassing problem.

The point I was making was not so much whether the meeting or relationship itself is a problem, but that not having your own translator to back you up is. There's no-one to back Trump up if Putin makes stuff up about the conversation, and Trump also may have missed subtleties and agreed to hell-knows-what.

So... either Trump is incompetent or he doesn't want US officials to know what he's saying to Putin. Or both.

 

[who?]

The point I was making was not so much whether the meeting or relationship itself is a problem, but that not having your own translator to back you up is. There's no-one to back Trump up if Putin makes stuff up about the conversation, and Trump also may have missed subtleties and agreed to hell-knows-what.

So... either Trump is incompetent or he doesn't want US officials to know what he's saying to Putin. Or both.

Sure! My point was just generalising at how poor the administration's choices have been throughout this whole affair. How could he possibly think that having an - apparently undisclosed - meeting, alone with Putin would be a smart thing to do? He's either hiding something big or he's making mind-numbingly bad decisions.

 

[hairychris]

Sure! My point was just generalising at how poor the administration's choices have been throughout this whole affair. How could he possibly think that having an - apparently undisclosed - meeting, alone with Putin would be a smart thing to do? He's either hiding something big or he's making mind-numbingly bad decisions.

I absolutely agree.

I suppose that I was trying to say that even if his behaviour up to now was perfect it would still be a screw-up - and one that could potentially be argued as innocent.

However, taking history into account it's simply another item to add to the pile.

 

[Ian Skippy]

I have to admit my spider senses have been tingling for quite a while now. This is just too incompetent and stupid.

[tinfoilhat]wouldnt be surprised if the GPO have already decided to ditch Trump. Use the clown to create noise while some policies are being pushed through, then replace him with Pence when the 2018 elections draw near.[/tinfoilhat]

 

[hairychris]

[tinfoilhat]wouldnt be surprised if the GPO have already decided to ditch Trump. Use the clown to create noise while some policies are being pushed through, then replace him with Pence when the 2018 elections draw near.[/tinfoilhat]

I've been thinking/saying this since before the election.

GOP have the power to bin Trump. They also have their tax cuts to push through. Now either they were thinking that Trump would be a distraction, or that he could have the blame put on him and then they could be seen to get rid of him... plus of course they could harness his angry core supporters. Their thinking was probably that he would not do anything too terminal before they got their plans through, and then some reason would be conveniently found to start proceedings before the 2018s.

The problem for them is that the wheels seem to have come off that particular wagon.

Firstly, Trump has had problems since before he was sworn in, like the whole Flynn thing, which means that he has very little political capital to use to help the GOP. That and Trump only seems to want to sign stuff in stupid ceremonies as opposed to actually work. HAving him there doesn't help the GOP much.

Secondly, the GOP's plans seem to be running into problems. They handled Obamacare/Medicade so badly that their own members have been saying that they can't support them. They may have better luck with tax cuts, but it's a bad start. So, this makes keeping Trump around for longer a better idea.

Thirdly, Trump has managed to alienate all of his major international allies as well as the machinery of government itself. He is not going to get any help from there, and GOP politicians are also aware of the damage that's being done. This is another reason why GOP may need to get rid of him sooner rather than later. There are enough politicians on that side who can see the history books looming.

Fourthly, the longer this goes on the more that the GOP machine is complicit in whatever carnage Trump causes.

It's an entertaining situation. Either Trump stays in, GOP try to push bills through while also covering for his behaviour and forever having their name associated with that, or Trump is pushed which will make his base go absolutely mad, lose any plausible deniability over service cuts, and may well be too late to having names sullied.

However we've already seen the GOP blaming the Dems for losing healthcare changes, and apparently 45% of Trump supporters in a poll think that Trump Jr meeting with Russians did not happen when he has already admitted in on Twitter and on national TV that he did so there may be a lot of stupid to deal with.

 

[Frank]

Sure! My point was just generalising at how poor the administration's choices have been throughout this whole affair. How could he possibly think that having an - apparently undisclosed - meeting, alone with Putin would be a smart thing to do? He's either hiding something big or he's making mind-numbingly bad decisions.

"OR he's making mind-numbingly bad decisions"?

I don't understand the "or".

He could be guilty which mean it is an incredibly mind-numbingly bad decision.

Or he could actually be innocent, but there is a lot of concern about his connections with Russia which would make this just a mind-numbingly bad decision.

My God! I can't feel my mind! It's gone completely numb.

 

[Cosmo]

Are you still going on about the fake conspiracy theories. [haha]

NYTimes omits reporting that Clinton State Dept employee also attended Don Jr.'s meeting with Russians, speaking volumes about the NYT's bias and intent to influence public's opinion of events rather than to merely report the news.

http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/...inton-state-department-link-trump-jr-meeting/

 

[hairychris]

Are you still going on about the fake conspiracy theories. [haha]

NYTimes omits reporting that Clinton State Dept employee also attended Don Jr.'s meeting with Russians, speaking volumes about the NYT's bias and intent to influence public's opinion of events rather than to merely report the news.

http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/...inton-state-department-link-trump-jr-meeting/

Breitbart?

Fake news.

[hehe]

 

[Ian Skippy]

Breitbart?

Fake news.

[hehe]

Its weird that people read that non-ironically. In related news: a guy who once prepared the catering for a conference were Clinton attended, also prepared the sandwiches when the Russian meeting took place!

CLINTON DID IT! LOCK HER UP!

Honestly, it is mind-boggling the length some here will go to to deny the issues. They attempted to get foreign aid from a government that may be the biggest competitor on the global market together with China, to influence the nation presidential election. They denied it, lied about it to FBI, and were caught. And what do the brave trumpeteers have?

A translator may have been there.

*sigh*

 

[Robin of Spiritwood]

Are you still going on about the fake conspiracy theories. [haha]

NYTimes omits reporting that Clinton State Dept employee also attended Don Jr.'s meeting with Russians, speaking volumes about the NYT's bias and intent to influence public's opinion of events rather than to merely report the news.

http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/...inton-state-department-link-trump-jr-meeting/

Yes, because Breitbart merely reports the news?
Trump is literally employing a Breitbart man inside the White House, took major donations from Mercer who bankrolls Breitbart, and got elected because of bots run by Cambridge Analytica, owned by Mercer.

Breitbart is a central part of the conspiracy.

It ceased to be a "theory" after the confession & the published e-mail chain.

The sad truth is that some Americans helped sell their country to the Russians because "socialism". And they obviously STILL cannot figure it out- perhaps, they never shall.

 

[GJ51]

Yes, because Breitbart merely reports the news?

Here, maybe this will help you,

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/anatoli-samochornov-translator-donald-trump-jr-meeting/

 

[AJW]

Here, maybe this will help you,

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/anatoli-samochornov-translator-donald-trump-jr-meeting/

...Samochornov is not a State Department employee...

Seems clear enough to me...

 

[Robin of Spiritwood]

Seems clear enough to me...

The Right's continued obsession with tying anything they can to Hillary cannot be explained.
She is no longer a political threat. What is the point of the effort?

And how brain damaged do you have to be to make a claim that Hillary is somehow involved in a meeting between the Trumps and the Russians when the POINT of the meeting is to defeat Hillary, by conspiracy, criminal theft of files, and espionage against the USA?

Edit:
I freely admit, that once more I have overestimated the basic intelligence of the bottom 1/3 of the population. Of COURSE this would be completely acceptable to that audience. Why wouldn't it be?

 

[FuzzySpider]

The sad truth is that some Americans helped sell their country to the Russians because "socialism". And they obviously STILL cannot figure it out- perhaps, they never shall.

Not quite true.

"Sell" implies they got something for it, they were in fact scammed out of their country.

The Right's continued obsession with tying anything they can to Hillary cannot be explained.
She is no longer a political threat. What is the point of the effort?

It distracts the hard-of-thinking supporters they depend on.

 

[Minonian]

And how brain damaged do you have to be to make a claim that Hillary is somehow involved in a meeting between the Trumps and the Russians when the POINT of the meeting is to defeat Hillary, by conspiracy, criminal theft of files, and espionage against the USA?

It's too even to be a sarcastic joke to make the charges go away.

 

[GJ51]

Seems clear enough to me...

Oh... can we just add a bit more context?

"The translator who attended the June 2016 meeting with Donald Trump Jr., Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin is a former State Department contractor, CBS News' Kylie Atwood has learned. The translator has been identified as Anatoli Samochornov, who a State Department spokesperson confirmed has done contract work for them. Samochornov is not a State Department employee, the spokesperson said, but has worked with the State Department's Office of Language Services as an interpreter. Samochornov also helped the State Department implement exchange programs when he was working for Meridian International, a nonprofit that has a cooperative agreement with the State Department. "