Quote :

"Why is everyone so obsessed with this russia thing? Our government has been colluding with Saudi Arabia (our real enemy) for decades and no one bats an eye. It really does sound like you just want to freak out about everything trump does"

Because their world view is entirely determined by leftist fake news narratives.

5/13/2017 2:49:29 PM

Quote :

"Why is everyone so obsessed with this russia thing? Our government has been colluding with Saudi Arabia (our real enemy) for decades and no one bats an eye. It really does sound like you just want to freak out about everything trump does."

As a foreign policy, the United States government "colludes" with Saudi Arabia to advance the interests of the United States. Congress is involved in this and as such, Americans ultimately have input via voting.

The allegations regarding the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence supposes collusion designed to benefit the Russian government, Russian business interests and Donald Trump's campaign staff's (possibly including himself) personal financial interests.

If this does not clear up why people are freaking out about the Trump thing versus your example, I'm afraid further discussion is pointless.

Furthermore, if an investigation uncovers no wrongdoing, you won't hear someone like me continuing to push the narrative. I'd still discuss why Trump is an utterly awful choice for president (as would have been Hillary) but you have to distinguish between an opinion on his competency to lead our nation and the facts as to whether he or his friends sold out America to our greatest existential threat.

[Edited on May 13, 2017 at 4:19 PM. Reason : a]

5/13/2017 4:17:41 PM

(i'd prefer to link the original source from he WSJ but it you have to subscribe to read)

Justice Dept. requests Manafort's bank records in Russia probe: report

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/333235-justice-department-requests-manaforts-bank-records-in-russia

Quote :

"The Justice Department requested bank records of President Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort as part of the federal investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, according to a new report. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Justice Department requested Manafort’s bank records from Citizen Financial Group Inc. in April. It’s unclear whether that was the only bank that was asked to turn over records, according to the report. Manafort has come under intense scrutiny for his financial transactions. In March, the Treasury Department obtained financial records from Cyprus as part of a federal anti-corruption probe into Manafort’s past work in eastern Europe. Those Cyprus accounts were investigated for money laundering, NBC News later reported. Manafort also came under scrutiny for financial dealings immediately after he stepped down as Trump’s campaign chairman last year. On the same day he stepped down, he formed a shell corporation and took out loans worth $13 million from Trump-connected businesses, according to The New York Times. Manafort left Trump’s campaign as questions swirled around his finances and past lobbying work for Viktor Yanukovych, the ousted pro-Russia Ukrainian president and other pro-Russia figures."

5/14/2017 10:59:20 AM

WSJ is fake news

5/14/2017 6:25:02 PM

Oh yes the ol' liberal rag the WSJ.

5/14/2017 10:34:24 PM

In JCE's mind, anything that isn't favorable to Trump is "fake news"

5/15/2017 9:55:00 AM

There isn't a more conservative "msm" news outlet than Fox, but WSJ comes in at a very close 2nd.

5/15/2017 9:57:08 AM

He is the current GOP in a nutshell. Trolls.

5/15/2017 10:01:19 AM

And of course, they can't cite a source that isn't "fake". But somehow they know the "real" story.

5/15/2017 10:08:43 AM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wall_Street_Journal

Quote :

"The Wall Street Journal is an American business-focused, English-language international daily newspaper based in New York City. The Journal, along with its Asian and European editions, is published six days a week by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corp."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_Corp

Quote :

"News Corporation (officially referred to as News Corp; trading as News Corp) is an American multinational mass media company, formed as a spin-off of the former News Corporation (as founded by Rupert Murdoch in 1979) focusing on newspapers and publishing.[2] It is one of two companies which succeeded the former News Corporation, alongside 21st Century Fox—which consists of the old News Corporation's broadcasting and media properties, such as Fox Entertainment Group. The spin out was structured so that 21st Century Fox would be the legal successor and continuation of the old News Corporation, with the new News Corp being an entirely new company formed by a stock split."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_Entertainment_Group

Quote :

"Fox News Group"

5/15/2017 10:29:53 AM

lol at all of you taking that post seriously

5/15/2017 10:35:47 AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gHDmXYNJ0c

5/15/2017 3:59:41 PM

Apparently, Trump gave the Russians important information about our most important ally in Syria (ISIS).

5/15/2017 6:05:03 PM

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/us/politics/james-comey-trump-flynn-russia-investigation.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=span-ab-top-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/16/politics/trump-james-comey-memo/index.html

Quote :

"Multiple White House officials refuted the claim on Tuesday, including one who said a "conversation of that nature" did not happen."

But this

http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/i-was-going-to-fire-comey-anyway-trump-tells-lester-holt-in-interview-941538371971

Quote :

"This is not a truthful or accurate portrayal of the conversation between the President and Mr. Comey.""

I guess as long as Trump can produce the "tapes" he can prove Comey is lying.

[Edited on May 16, 2017 at 6:30 PM. Reason : a]

5/16/2017 6:05:16 PM

Comey's recollection written down directly after the conversation is fake news. The Flynn-Russia thing is completely fake news purported by the leftist SJW echo chamber, obviously there is no smoke, no fire, just stupid communists that hate America

5/16/2017 7:18:24 PM

And we have a special prosecutor. Very (not) fake news.

5/17/2017 6:14:11 PM

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/house-majority-leader-to-colleagues-in-2016-i-think-putin-pays-trump/2017/05/17/515f6f8a-3aff-11e7-8854-21f359183e8c_story.html?utm_term=.0098eee4967e

Quote :

"KIEV, Ukraine — A month before Donald Trump clinched the Republican nomination, one of his closest allies in Congress — House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy — made a politically explosive assertion in a private conversation on Capitol Hill with his fellow GOP leaders: that Trump could be the beneficiary of payments from Russian President Vladimir Putin. “There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) said, according to a recording of the June 15, 2016 exchange, which was listened to and verified by The Washington Post. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is a Californian Republican known in Congress as a fervent defender of Putin and Russia. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) immediately interjected, stopping the conversation from further exploring McCarthy’s assertion, and swore the Republicans present to secrecy."

Quote :

"Evan McMullin, who in his role as policy director to the House Republican Conference participated in the June 15 conversation, said: “It’s true that Majority Leader McCarthy said that he thought candidate Trump was on the Kremlin’s payroll. Speaker Ryan was concerned about that leaking.” "

Aaaand, queue the Republican fall-back position after it's proven they lied:

Quote :

"When initially asked to comment on the exchange, Brendan Buck, a spokesman for Ryan, said: “That never happened,” and Matt Sparks, a spokesman for McCarthy, said: “The idea that McCarthy would assert this is absurd and false.” After being told that The Post would cite a recording of the exchange, Buck, speaking for the GOP House leadership, said: “This entire year-old exchange was clearly an attempt at humor. No one believed the majority leader was seriously asserting that Donald Trump or any of our members were being paid by the Russians. What’s more, the speaker and leadership team have repeatedly spoken out against Russia’s interference in our election, and the House continues to investigate that activity.” “This was a failed attempt at humor,” Sparks said. "

[Edited on May 17, 2017 at 6:50 PM. Reason : a]

5/17/2017 6:49:06 PM

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-contacts-idUSKCN18E106

It seems like it's all about Flynn now. Which makes Trump's continued support of him so bizarre. There is a very possible scenario that Flynn did this all on his own but because of the President's intense loyalty to the man he put himself in a situation to be implicated.

All opinion though. We will see where the facts lead..

[Edited on May 18, 2017 at 7:59 AM. Reason : ^ tbf, it probably was jokes. But joking about your candidate being owned by Putin is odd.]

5/18/2017 7:58:41 AM

Quote :

"Veterans of previous election campaigns said some contact with foreign officials during a campaign was not unusual"

That won't stop us from spinning this conspiracy theory as hard as we can!

18 calls with Russia over 7 months? They only had 17 calls with *insert other country* ...

Anything to take the narrative away from the Podesta emails! Muh Narrative!

5/18/2017 10:14:33 AM

Quote :

"WASHINGTON (AP) — Top Republican on Senate intelligence panel says Michael Flynn's lawyers say he will not honor subpoena."

Not really how subpoena's work.

[Edited on May 18, 2017 at 11:27 AM. Reason : Flynn will get a presidential pardon obviously thi]

5/18/2017 11:25:28 AM

Under the Clinton precedent apparently that is how they work

5/18/2017 1:34:48 PM

Cherokee posted the story above about House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said: "There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump"

Quote :

"https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/house-majority-leader-to-colleagues-in-2016-i-think-putin-pays-trump/2017/05/17/515f6f8a-3aff-11e7-8854-21f359183e8c_story.html?utm_term=.0098eee4967e [...] "

This was dismissed as humor, however Rorhrabacher is known as one of Russia's biggest defenders in congress and more relavently, the FBI Once warned him that Russian agents were trying to recruit him!:

F.B.I. Once Warned G.O.P. Congressman That Russian Spies Were Recruiting Him
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/19/us/politics/dana-rohrabacher-russia-spies.html

Quote :

"WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. warned a Republican congressman in 2012 that Russian spies were trying to recruit him, officials said, an example of how aggressively Russian agents have tried to influence Washington politics. The congressman, Dana Rohrabacher of California, has been known for years as one of Moscow’s biggest defenders in Washington and as a vocal opponent of American economic sanctions against Russia. He claims to have lost a drunken arm-wrestling match with the current Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, in the 1990s. He is one of President Trump’s staunchest allies on Capitol Hill. As a newly appointed special counsel investigates connections between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives, the warning to Mr. Rohrabacher shows that the F.B.I. has for years viewed Russian spies, sometimes posing as diplomats, as having a hand in Washington."

Quote :

"But the F.B.I. has taken seriously the possibility that Russian spies would target American politicians. In a secure room at the Capitol, an F.B.I. agent told Mr. Rohrabacher in 2012 that Russian spies were trying to recruit him as an “agent of influence” — someone the Russian government might be able to use to steer Washington policy-making, former officials said."

5/19/2017 9:47:38 AM

The first 1,000 New York Times articles didn't substantiate the narrative... perhaps the next 1000 will?

#FakeNews

5/19/2017 10:25:48 AM

[ignore]

5/19/2017 10:57:25 AM

Trump Told Russians That Firing 'Nut Job' Comey Eased Pressure From Investigation
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/19/us/politics/trump-russia-comey.html

5/19/2017 4:22:36 PM

Quote :

"The first 1,000 New York Times articles didn't substantiate the narrative... perhaps the next 1000 will?"

5/19/2017 5:20:22 PM

[ignore]

5/19/2017 5:39:51 PM

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/23/politics/john-brennan-house-intelligence-committee/index.html

5/23/2017 2:50:07 PM

5/23/2017 3:46:21 PM

Jeff Sessions didn't disclose his contacts with Russian diplomats on his official security clearance forms. Obviously this is illegal.

The fucking Attorney General! How can he not know this?

5/24/2017 6:39:04 PM

He knew.

All of this is a concerted effort to cover shit up.

5/24/2017 6:58:56 PM

NYT isn't doing to much lately. Wapo has been coming with that fire. I wonder how much they know that they want to slow leak fo maximum publicity. They are the wikileaks of MSM.

5/24/2017 7:55:20 PM

I think it's actually a little overblown in Sessions case after reading about it a bit more. Seems like he left off other foreign contacts too..

[Edited on May 24, 2017 at 9:35 PM. Reason : in other words, without more information these could be very innocuous meetings]

5/24/2017 9:32:03 PM

SF-86 is a long, but straight forward form.

https://www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/sf86-non508.pdf

Page 59, Section 19:

Quote :

"Do you have, or have you had, close and/or continuing contact with a foreign national within the last seven (7) years with whom you, or your spouse, or cohabitant are bound by affection, influence, common interests, and/or obligation? Include associates as well as relatives, not previously listed in Section 18. A foreign national is defined as any person who is not a citizen or national of the U.S."

Page 72, Section 20B:

Quote :

"Have you in the past seven (7) years provided advice or support to any individual associated with a foreign business or other foreign organization that you have not previously listed as a former employer? (Answer "No" if all your advice or support was authorized pursuant to official U.S. Government business.)"

There are a few more situations but the point is this - Sessions declined to report meetings with foreign nationals (in particular, foreign nationals associated with foreign intelligence activities) that occurred in the course of his duties as a Trump campaign surrogate, which is not official U.S. Government business.

If this was isolated, I'd honestly tend to agree with you. But given the fact that nearly everyone Trump has surrounded himself with has 1) met with all kinds of Russians 2) lied about them 3) kept them out of their SF-86 forms, I am far more inclined to believe this is all part of the same problem.

I'm not saying throw the guy in jail or convict the guy, but he does not receive the benefit of the doubt (from an investigative standpoint) given everything else going on.

5/24/2017 9:50:06 PM

Quote :

"Wapo has been coming with that fire."

WaPo had like 8 debunked stories over the course of a month

5/25/2017 8:48:37 PM

King Kushner also under investigation as part of Russia probe!

5/25/2017 8:57:00 PM

^^ credible source plz

5/25/2017 9:04:06 PM

The only thing I can think of is the "Comey went for additional resources."

They have a much better track record than the WH.

[Edited on May 25, 2017 at 9:35 PM. Reason : The WH lies 8 times a day ]

5/25/2017 9:35:17 PM

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/05/25/the-investigation-of-jared-kushner-fits-a-very-troubling-pattern/

5/25/2017 11:43:45 PM

jesus christ kushner

5/26/2017 7:56:08 PM

Maybe I've seen too many Jack Ryan movies but why is this a big deal?

[Edited on May 26, 2017 at 8:07 PM. Reason : OIC, it would be hidden from US CI]

5/26/2017 8:02:50 PM

^^^^

Quote :

"WaPo had like 8 debunked stories over the course of a month"

but MUH NARRATIVE!

5/26/2017 10:30:07 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR9kAaXNPik


[Edited on May 27, 2017 at 8:49 AM. Reason : fsd]

5/27/2017 8:49:13 AM

http://www.npr.org/2017/05/26/530297344/report-kushner-discussed-setting-up-secret-communications-with-russia?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20170526

Game. Set. Match

5/27/2017 11:59:30 AM

^ Wow, that can't be good for tha Trump.

5/27/2017 7:15:37 PM

The future President wants to speak with other countries... and bypass a deepstate and press that are working to undermine him...

But muh narrative Conspiracy Theory

5/27/2017 8:04:09 PM

BUT MUH NARRATIVE

5/27/2017 8:04:37 PM

setting up communication channels after the election to bypass all the illegal surveillance going on within our intelligence agencies? sounds reasonable. if there was actual collusion during the election, wouldn't these communication lines have been established a year earlier?

5/28/2017 7:38:37 PM

What illegal surveillance are you referencing?

Also, collusion could have occurred through a different communication channel.

5/28/2017 9:15:42 PM

lol, you cuckolds will reach for any defense

5/28/2017 10:54:42 PM