I encourage you to read Jack F. Matlock’s piece at The Nation on the facts as we know them in the “Russia-gate” affair. I think his enumeration of the facts is fair. The piece is relatively brief so go on over and read it.
I remain content to let the Mueller investigation do its work and I won’t speculate on what its outcome will be. It should also be noted that the facts as Mr. Matlock lists them are based on what has been made public. Maybe there’s more that hasn’t been made public yet. Maybe there isn’t.
I read that earlier. I wish he would post more.
In general, I agree – the investigations need to continue. I still believe that it’s doubtful the primary allegations against Trump will stick, but it’s very likely he’ll be “caught” on something else, a la Bill Clinton.
I guess we read the same stuff. Don’t know what that says.
In an effort to stimulate discussion:
Items 1-3 really make the case that the impact of Russian interference was immaterial and that claims by pols and media that “multiple agencies” have opined that it was are simply propaganda.
Item 4 is a policy preference. Who wants to make the case that Trump should be harder on Russia (as opposed to, say, China – pick your fights people), or that he was, as a certain children’s book author claimed, Russia’s buttboy? But then again, he’s deranged these days.
Item 7 is the key point. One can speculate that we don’t know what we don’t know. Technically true, but banal. I used to chastise mouse balled credit officers with the quip, “yes, Phil, an asteroid could come down and kill the business tonight, now back to the real credit issues.”
One ought to take the responsibility to formulate some sort of credible scenario before unwrapping fortune cookies with the left hand and spinning on the Ouija board with the right.
I’d like to point out that anyone who hasn’t tumbled to what has really transpired here is either a really dim bulb, or blinded by partisanship. The DoJ and its sub, the FBI were politicized and weaponized. The evidence for that is right in front of you if you don’t drool. And it wasn’t that hard to see. All you had to do was follow the reporting of Sara Carter and John Solomon. For a year now. Its been waved off as “Fox” reporting. The problem is, they aren’t Fox. They are Sara Carter and John Solomon. But its all coming out now. The IG report will be ugly.
I’m waiting for anyone here to profess they believe the Trump spy’s, er, “informants” (snicker) were for Trump’s own benefit, plus God, Mother and Country.
That’s a definitive IQ or honesty test.
1) I don’t think anyone knows how to quantify the effects on the election.
2) The summation is correct if you acknowledge that he leaves out a lot of stuff. Carter Page first lying about not telling the campaign he was going to Russia, then admitting that he told the campaign and also told Sessions. Page claiming he had a private meeting with a Russian Deputy minister in his email, then claiming he just shook hands with the guy. Sessions and Flynn “forgetting” about meetings with Russians. Papodoplous bragging about getting dirt from the Russians. Secret meeting with Jr, Kushner et al with Russian representatives. Lots of smoke, maybe a fire.
I suspect that they will probably find that Trump brought on some shady people (Manafort) and a few doofus types like Carter. It wouldn’t surprise me if one of them made some sort of deal for cash or future favors. Doubt very much Trump is directly involved.
Let the investigation finish. If Trump gets interviewed let’s hope he makes a lie similar to what Clinton did and he gets nailed on it like Clinton did. Not hard to imagine Trump lying about sex.
Steve
That’s a pretty good one paragraph summary of what I think is probably the case.
Any visions of the president being perp-walked are vividly imaginary. Unless something changes pretty drastically he won’t be impeached.
Trump’s not going to be impeached. But legally, given who he is, he’s going to be saying everything that lawyers tell their clients not to say. I’m not going to be surprised if he was telling Flynn in front of witnesses to lie. There are many ways not to say lie while saying lie. Trump doesn’t know them.
He is stuck with the DNC emails. Russia seems to have behind that–the whole thing is pretty dumb, which was why his sons were involved. But again these people are idiots. There might be an email which says basically–Russian intelligence stole these emails. Let’s talk to them. Get emails!
His bigger issue is that he’s very tied into money that comes in cash, and he, as Cohen has proved, is insanely easy to blackmail. Will he be impeached for this? No. But the picture of his finances which will emerge is going to bad and brutal, far worse than we think now. What’s going to happen if Mueller finds he was tied into some mob murder? Not really a precedent for this–Nixon and the Clintons were crooked, but they were also politicians. Politicians might be greedy, but they did go into politics. Trump was a broke outer-borough fraud who was funneling money in from Russia who got into politics. Way different.
The summation is correct if you acknowledge that he leaves out a lot of stuff. Carter Page first lying about not telling the campaign he was going to Russia, then admitting that he told the campaign and also told Sessions. Page claiming he had a private meeting with a Russian Deputy minister in his email, then claiming he just shook hands with the guy. Sessions and Flynn “forgetting†about meetings with Russians. Papodoplous bragging about getting dirt from the Russians. Secret meeting with Jr, Kushner et al with Russian representatives. Lots of smoke, maybe a fire.
I don’t think the stuff you’ve added is as accurate as you think it is, Steve.
Pappadopoulos’ conversation with Downer was not as originally reported, and the whole thing reeks of a setup (CIA probably initially planting something to legitimize the FBI investigation.)
Even the Don Jr meeting- with a Russian lawyer/lobbyist who coincidentally was working with Fusion GPS, and had to get a visa waiver from the State Department, and who was accompanied by a translator who had a history of employment with the State Department. Come on.
I was resistant to the idea that the IC and Obama administrations were really this corrupt, but as Guarneri mentions the reporting on these revelations has been solid. It stinks to high heaven, and I can’t imagine how these institutions will ever recover their reputations. I think the only thing some of the right leaning reporters are getting wrong is that there well may be illegalities uncovered yet in the Trump campaign. The CW seems to be that it would have leaked by now. Well, maybe, but leaks are selective and self serving, and Mueller may have been able to enforce discipline. We’ll see.
The advantage goes to observers who take off partisan blinders and see that the corruption is through and through.
Not really a precedent for this–Nixon and the Clintons were crooked, but they were also politicians. Politicians might be greedy, but they did go into politics. Trump was a broke outer-borough fraud who was funneling money in from Russia who got into politics. Way different
Meh. The Clintons were just working a different facet of the money laundering schemes.
MM’s mention of finances got me thinking about something I hadn’t considered – that Trump’s tax returns may come to light after all thanks to the Mueller investigation. It seems there will likely be a lot of scrutiny on whether everything was reported correctly.
It practically goes without saying that it wasn’t. When you’ve got a tax return as long and complicated as his and a tax code as enormous and byzantine as ours, IMO it’s just impossible for it to be 100% correct. And that’s even when you’re exceedingly scrupulous. I’m going out on a limb here but I’m going to speculate that Mr. Trump is what used to be called an “aggressive deducter”.