KARL: What I am getting is that this is all building up to the Mueller report and raising expectations of a bombshell report. And there have been expectations that have been building, of course, for over a year on this. But people who are closest to what Mueller has been doing, interacting with the special counsel caution me that this report is almost certain to be anti-climactic. If you look at what the FBI was investigating in that New York Times report, you look at what they were investigating, Mueller did not go anywhere with that investigation. He has been writing his report in real time through these indictments and we have seen nothing from Mueller on the central question of, was there any coordination, collusion, with the Russians in the effort to meddle in the elections? Or was there even any knowledge on the part of the president or anybody in his campaign with what the Russians were doing, there’s been no indication of that …
STEPHANOPOULOS: They hadn’t laid that out yet in the indictments but how do things like the Trump Tower meeting with Russians, Don Jr., Paul Manafort, Paul Manafort giving polling data to Ukrainian oligarchs, the pursuit of a Trump Tower in Moscow. How does that fit into this theory?
KARL: What we’ve certainly seen over and over again is the people around the president, first of all, have been willing to lie to investigators, and had their own dealings with Russians, had their own agendas with Russians. And Manafort was trying to get paid for his work on behalf of Ukraine. Flynn had his own dealings. But it is not added up to anything of the central question, again, was there anybody – was the Trump campaign aware of or coordinating with the Russians in their effort to meddle with the election. So far there’s been nothing on that and I’m led to believe don’t expect there’s going to be any.
Nonsense. First, as we are all told repeatedly, Mueller runs a tight ship and never leaks. Second, there will BE no report because there is nothing to pin on Trump. It’s all be a huge waste of effort, emotion, time and money and that is the last thing the left wants to hear. Since the “investigation” was begun to give liberals what they WANTED to hear, there will be no report.
See? You don’t need a report; the reason not a single shred of evidence to be suspicious, much less to prove collusion is that EVERYONE is a liar!
It’s not that there isn’t any proof, it’s just that three years of illegal surveillance, spies and investigations is not enough to find it. But it’s there, damnit!! It’s there!
I know… Bigfoot ate it.
@Deplorable Me: Get with the program, it was Bigfoots pet chupacabra, after they got on the UFO to fly to the secret alien/nazi underground base of Antactica. If you leave out the details it makes no sense and no one will believe you, let alone the one eyed, one horned, flying, purple people eaters aka reliable sources or the channeled pleiadians aka sources close to Mueller 😉
@Deplorable Me, #1:
Mueller’s investigation hasn’t been all about Donald Trump.
The investigation revealed that Michael Flynn had been compromised by the Russians. Without an investigation, we would have had a National Security Advisor to the President who would be susceptible to blackmail. Putin could have played this guy with any number of possible objectives. Would you be OK with that? Not me.
Then there’s Manafort, chairman of Trump’s campaign organization. His influence would have followed Trump to the White House. This guy had all sorts of high-level connections that could have been exploited by the Russians. They would have had enormous leverage over him. The investigation neutralized that threat.
Do you think Rick Gates wouldn’t have been potentially useful to the Russians?
I know you don’t take the election meddling seriously. Fancy Bear and Cozy Bear’s activities are probably considered totally irrelevant. Mueller’s indictments of 12 named Russian military intelligence officers will keep those guys out of the country and under close watch. Grumpy Bear has as yet made no public comment.
What was learned about Donald Jr, Jared Kushner, and Donald himself remains to be seen. Even if that comes to nothing, the investigation will have already revealed and/or eliminated a number of serious national security threats. Robert Mueller should get a commendation, but he certainly won’t be getting any from this administration.
The following, from just a few days ago, is priceless. It reveals how much we can remain blind to, even when a big red arrow with blinking lights is pointing directly at it: GOP Senator: Manafort Wasn’t Colluding, He Knew Russian Agent ‘For a Very Long Time’
@Greg:
And the charges that were filed indicate this in what way?
He was fired before the campaign was over.
Gee how will we know with Muellers team so ready to actually face them in court.
Only connected to the Democrats and their activities. Allowing a supposed spy into the country Hillarys team of lawyers having more contact with her than Jr.
You are high on Unicorn farts keep huffing that stuff its already caused brain damage.
@Greg:
Wait… what? What WAS it about? I thought it was all about Trump’s Russian collusion, something so obvious and evident that the evidence was all over the place, hiding out in plain view… no? I thought every indictment was a nail in Trump’s coffin, moving inevitably and irrevocably, inexorably towards the ultimate revelation that Trump colluded with his Russian buddies to win the 2016 election.
Um…. no. It didn’t. It falsely accused him of lying, drained his finances and threatened his family until he pled guilty to, basically, not remembering word for word what the transcripts of the illegal recordings of his legitimate conversations said.
Manafort was not engaged with any Russian agents.
Mueller’s blind squirrel looking for a nut “investigation” has been an utter and complete failure. They knew going in there was no collusion because they knew the basis for all their “evidence” was based on the false dossier, which they never bothered to try to verify because they knew it was false. Their hope was to get someone so scared they would repeat any lie Mueller ordered them to swear to.
You can be reassured, though, that you now have the most honest and loyal President ever imagined. Just think if this level of scrutiny had been applied to Muslim-preferring Obama. It could have saved us all a lot of misery.
Rick Gates, Paul Manafort’s longtime business partner, took the witness stand in Manafort’s financial crimes trial for the second time on Tuesday, this time revealing that the former Trump campaign chair had worked on policies to help bring Ukraine closer to the European Union. @Greg: Intelligencer never heard of this site before I guess there is a reason for that, pop up propaganda sites that google pushes in its search engines.
Bringing the Ukraine closer to the EU with its many NATO members, seems a backwards plan for a Russian tool. Maybe thats why they stiffed him of fees. Podestas Worked With Same Ukrainians as Manafort Ukrainian center paid $900,000 to Podesta Group in 2013
@kitt, #4:
He concealed a request made to the Russian ambassador before Obama left office, when he had no official capacity or legal authority that allowed him to do so. He also concealed having acted as a paid agent on behalf of the Turkish government. A threat to reveal either illegal act could have been used to gain leverage over him. Exercising such influence in small, seemingly irrelevant matters could have been used to get him in even deeper and gradually increase their power over him. That’s the usual pattern.
He was fired when it became clear that he was likely to be investigated. His past efforts to promote a Russian-backed candidate in Ukraine were already well known. He shouldn’t have been hired in the first place.
Our intelligence agencies have a clear understanding of what they do, and what they’ve done. This isn’t something that you ignore because you can’t bring them into a courtroom for trial.
Their most recent connections were with the Trump organization.
@Greg: The chats he had with the ambasador were not illegal nor unusual in a transition. Do you think he was trying to conceal them? Really? He was a member of Defense Intelligence Agency in the Obama admin, you think he didn’t know about surveillence stuff, see huffing unicorn farts has caused more damage than you think.
He was talking with many ambassadors setting up relations with the incoming admin.FLYNN HAD TO BE SILENCED. Flynn maintains President Obama fired him from the Defense Intelligence Agency because he took a stand against “radical Islamism,” and claimed Al-Qaeda was expanding its ranks around the globe. His bestselling book, Fields of Flight, describing how the intelligence gathering arena has become way too “politicized.”
Flynn dubbed the current Obama administration approach to the war on terror as timid. He also said Obama’s strategy appears to falsely believe peaceful and diplomatic efforts are all that is needed to defeat terrorism in even the bloodiest regions of the Middle east.
Trump set Mattis to do a job, Mattis stalled then settled into a quagmire warned about by Schwarzkopf, now we are getting out.
Were you told the Flynn briefed the DIA both before and after his trip to Russia? Speaking fees are not illegal.
Bull Trump demoted Manafort so he quit then replaced him with Kelley Ann from the Cruz campaign she was tireless. The media was suckered right in with Bannon all the free air time…priceless!
What ever happened to Muellers suit against the Russians that showed up?
All the Russian hoax leads back to Hillary every sticky icky part of the web of lies and corruption.
Wheres the report? Seems there must be a pony under all this equine scat.
@kitt:
He was a coffee boy, right?
@Michael: Manafort was with Trumps campaign for 5 months, only 3 of those months as manager. After Trump demoted him he resigned in Aug of 2016 and then Kelly was manager she still is with her boss today the first woman to lead a presidential campaign to victory in American History.
Did you come for more education Mikey?
@kitt, #8:
It’s more than having had a chat. Asking the Russian ambassador to delay the vote on a pending U.N. resolution was a Logan Act violation. Asking him a week later not to escalate the response to U.S. sanctions against Russia for election meddling was also a Logan Act violation. He apparently understood these actions had, in fact, been illegal, or he wouldn’t have lied to the FBI in an effort to cover them up. Flynn had to know that lying to the FBI was itself a crime. It isn’t something to be taken lightly.
He was the incoming National Security Adviser. He had EVERY right to contact any of his counterparts.
THAT was definitely a mistake he made; same mistake the Podesta’s forgot to file as well… which they were allowed to file retroactively. Gen. Flynn was not afforded that luxury… because he was not a Hillary liberal.
He was fired when it was thought he had done something wrong. No one anticipated an “investigation” of something many lobbyists routinely do.
No it wasn’t. He was a member of the incoming government. He had every right to try to head off incoming problems. Now, Kerry, after he left government, telling Iranians not to cooperate and negotiate with Trump… THAT’S a clear Logan Act violation. Let me know when HE is indicted and then we can talk about Gen. Flynn.
He didn’t lie. The agents that interviewed him, as well as Comey said he didn’t lie or mislead them. It was clearly stated on the 302 that Mueller destroyed and rewrote.
@kitt:
That’s why they’re pissed; Kelley Ann kicked their ass and made them like it!
Well, that is a mischaracterization of the suit. He was charging Russians that weren’t SUPPOSED to show up. When one did, he ran from it like a little girl because he never had any intention of meeting any of them in court.
@kitt:
It’s laughable that you’re actually trying to say that running the campaign somehow equals having only an easily-overlooked, tangential connection to Trump.
@Michael: He ran it for a short time. When his connections to Ukraine were revealed, he was fired. So, where is the collusion? Tell us. Where is all that collusion that at one time was hanging on trees and scattered all over the ground for all to see? Where is it? Where did it go?
You’ve been lied to on a grand scale. Apparently, you like it.
@Deplorable Me: Michael thinks you hire a campaign manager to flirt with Putin.
The Article is trying to keep their expectations to a reasonable level. Both he and Greg taking turns at the back end of the gassy Unicorn. Notice he doesnt seem to have an opinion on the subject.
He wants to me to make much more than employer employee relationship out of he situation.
Greg has blown up polling data into top secret information, we saw how accurate the polls were in Nov of 2016. OVER 90 % chance Hillary would be getting sauced in the White House. She lost 37 out of 50 States.
You know you have to change your handle to Muther F’er Me now. 😉
@Deplorable Me:
That’s not the point I was addressing in my comment, but you know that. Again, I’m referring to the struggle you guys are undergoing to make Manafort seem like a peripheral player in the Trump campaign when he was, in fact, running the whole thing for several months.
@kitt:
No, I think you hire a campaign manager to run things, which is exactly what Manafort did. He ran things, however much you might want to pretend that he didn’t.
@Michael: Where did I say he wasnt running things, thats what managers do.
Problem is you try to read between lines, oh she means this or that and dont comprehend how asinine the conclusion is that you come to.
Pretty obvious he sucked at running the campaign, he was suppose to bring order to the chaos of Trumps campaign. Guess what Trumps campaign was always about let Trump be Trump. We were loving the media pissing its pants over something he never said, cause they too couldnt just take what he said, they had to twist it to their interpretation.
@Deplorable Me, #12:
That he was the incoming National Security Advisor made no difference. Until the new administration was in place, its representatives had no constitutional authority whatsoever to be attempting to redirect the nation’s foreign policy. At any given time this nation is led by ONE constitutional government, not two. There is, in fact, a specific law that forbids such negotiations. Flynn knew this, or he wouldn’t have lied about it.
The requests made to Sergey Kislyak lend credibility to already existing concerns that such secretive trading of favors with foreign powers may have begun before Trump was even elected.
@Greg: You are so full of gas man, want to discuss a secret trip undertaken by an emissary to Tehran on behalf of Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign. Mr. Obama used a secret back channel to Tehran to assure the mullahs that he was a friend of the Islamic Republic, and that they would be very happy with his policies. The secret channel was Ambassador William G. Miller, who served in Iran during the shah’s rule, as chief of staff for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Before he was President elect! Theres a word for that TREASON!
What was his second wife doing Valerie Jarrett, his closest adviser. Middle Eastern leaders reported personal visits from Ms. Jarrett, who briefed them on her efforts to manage the Iranian relationship. He was taking orders from the Mullahs on military actions in the ME. Our Navy personell being taken captive by Iranians in alumicrafts? https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/01/18/pentagon-releases-new-details-on-how-u-s-sailors-were-taken-captive-by-iran/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.91a86062bc4d
There are badder boats for fishing cruises on the big lakes.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/01/12/these-are-the-u-s-navy-riverine-command-boats-that-iran-just-took-into-custody/?utm_term=.fc3a752757dd look at the guns on the boats you really believe this wasnt a set up?
Go blow your foolishness on the Vox or Salon comment section.
@kitt, #20:
That’s another deceptive comparison. Obama’s intermediary wasn’t attempting to persuade a foreign government to delay the pending vote on a U.N. resolution, or to alter their response to sanctions imposed by the U.S. in response to election meddling because something could be done about them once the new administration was in charge. Flynn, having no authority to do so, was asking for specific things from the Putin government. Some degree of reciprocity was at least implied, otherwise it would have been a foolish request. This crossed a line. At least in retrospect, Flynn knew it.
@kitt:
Just as an aside, you’re often only semi-literate.
@kitt: What is ridiculous is that these people enthusiastically supported Obama, even after he was caught on open mic PROMISING to be able to do whatever Putin wanted him to do after he had gotten the votes out of his useful idiots one last time. After that, he bent over backwards to make sure Iran was a strong ally of Russia’s in the region and Putin was unmolested in Syria. He also blocked efforts to prevent Russia from interfering in our elections. Yet, they clamor to call reasonable and proper communications with Russia as “collusion”. Clearly the only thing any of them care about is having something to bitch about in regards to Trump. Yet, it has all fallen apart.
@Michael:
The point is collusion. THAT is the point. Where is the collusion? Who has colluded? Why were there investigations into collusion? Collusion, collusion, collusion… it’s all we’ve heard about; where is the damned collusion?
What does it mean to you that as soon as anything untoward concerning Manafort was revealed, Trump cut him loose?
Says the guy that can’t understand that Manafort was fired because he was not what he presented himself to be and that severed his relationship to Trump… or hardly anything else, for that matter.
@Greg:
It makes all the difference in the world. He already had contacts with the Ambassador from his position in the Obama administration; there was no reason to not commence work as soon as possible. Recommending to the Russians NOT to do things that would make working with them in the future any more difficult was absolutely proper; he wasn’t, like Kerry, telling them to ignore the foreign policy of the administration in power. Furthermore, NO CHARGES were ever brought for him speaking with the ambassador. There was nothing wrong with what he did.
Besides, Obama did the same thing… on a much larger scale. As a CANDIDATE.
But no one prosecutes liberals, do they?
Umm… how do you know?
Gen. Flynn never did anything wrong; he was merely the victim of the left trying to destroy the Trump administration bit by bit. Destroying innocent people is just fine with liberals and that is disgusting.
@Michael: Can you once comment on the subject? Once? If you have an opinion on a thread you gutless fool post it!
Run along be a grammer nazi elsewhere.
@Deplorable Me: Actually it was a vendetta against Flynn for him writing a book critical of Barry. How he politicized agencies and was soft on terrorism.
@Deplorable Me, #24:
It wasn’t the same thing at all. Obama was overheard over an open microphone telling Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian Prime Minister, that he would have greater flexibility after the upcoming election. That was an entirely factual statement. Politicians avoid taking up complex, controversial issues in the run up to an election.
What makes this entirely different, however, is that Obama was already President of the United States. The upcoming election was the one that gave him his second term. He had full constitutional authority to engage in such a discussion with the representative of a foreign government, and no doubt routinely did so. It had already been his job for nearly four years.
Nor was he promising to be able “to do whatever Putin wanted him to do.” That’s total, unmitigated bullshit. There are videos and transcripts of the entire exchange.
@Greg:
Yet as events transpired, his “flexibility” was in reality bowing down and letting Putin have his way with him. Oh, and did Obama call all his cabinet together and inform them he had made sure Putin knew he would be happy to be his bitch for his full second term? Isn’t that what Trump is being criticized for now? Why was there no uproar over Obama telling Putin, when he thought no one would hear or no, that he would be doing his bidding from then on out? We KNOW why, don’t we?
I’m not disputing that he had the right to talk to Medvedev; I am pointing out that Obama, not Trump, was the pawn of Putin. THAT is collusion, not campaigning on trying to improve political relations with an adversary. At no time did Trump secretly promise Putin that he would cave in to him as soon as he didn’t have to worry about any more elections.
No, it’s not bullshit. It’ accurate because that is what Obama did. Further, the only reason any of us know anything about it is due to the open mic. And, as we can see here, while you continue to accuse Trump of collusion with the Russians based on NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER, you make excuses for Obama doing exactly what you accuse Trump of doing.
THAT is bullshit. Hypocritical bullshit.
@Deplorable Me:
Even if I were to stipulate your point, one has nothing to do with the other.
@kitt:
I’ve already commented on the topic more than once in this thread.
@Michael: Scrolled up and you comment to other people gutless. Check it yourself.
@kitt:
I guess I’m not following you. First you’re upset that I’m not addressing the topic of the thread. Then, when I point out that I am, your complaint turns into one of how I’m not addressing you
I address comments to you frequently. I also address the topics of the threads frequently. What the hell do you want? See if you can set aside the name-calling and the attempts at wit for just a second and just come out and say what you want.
Sweet Jesus…
@Michael: You only comment to other people its a trolling technique then if you do not like the comment become a spelling or grammar Nazi. Go ahead and look see if you have 1 stand alone comment about the thread.
I did not complain you were not addressing me that is another piss poor attempt to twist a comment into what it does not say.
At times when you are addressing me it is totally mindless!
A ton of tax payer dollars have been wasted on a retaliatory, unconstitutional investigation. What will the results be, it was all an empty rabbit hole. A huge conspiracy theory woven by media and the weaponized FBI and CIA.
@kitt: What’s the unconstitutional part?
@kitt:
Then what are you freaking out about? If it’s going to be an empty rabbit hole or a hoax or a witch hunt or whatever, then you will be vindicated when Mueller submits his report full of nothing (or, as Deplorable Me suggests, when he literally fails to submit any report at all).
What’s the unconstitutional part?
Our justice system is set up to investigate a crime not investigate til you find one, we have a vast legal code.
1.Rosenstein’s special counsel order identifies collusion as the crime but no such crime exists in US Law.
Rosenstein and Mueller’s entire team have known conflicts of interest.
Rod Rosenstein signed a FISA application to spy on Trump but he never recused himself from the Mueller investigation.
Rosenstein was “acting attorney general” only on matters Sessions had recused himself. Sessions only recused himself from DOJ investigations of 2016 campaign. Yet, Rosenstein claimed to authorize Mueller to investigate matters dating back to 2006 & ending before 2016.
Rosenstein does not have authorization over tax crimes. Only the Assistant Attorney General in charge of Tax Division can authorize indictments of tax crimes.
Rosenstein is not the Attorney General of the United States, and could not monopolize supervision of Mueller for matters that did not relate to Sessions’ recusal.
By Rosenstein issuing his expanded authorization to Mueller in secret, Rosenstein created a secret inquisitor, unelected and un-appointed by elected officials, with all the powers of the federal criminal law enforcement, but none of the democratic checks and balances.
If none of the above causes you any concern you are part of the problem.
They are our political rivals, we dont care if they are innocent string em up.
@Michael:
How about the part that brings false, unsupported charges against people that bankrupts them trying to defend themselves against prosecutors with unlimited funding trying to force them to lie about Trump? How about throwing a guy in solitary confinement based on an indictment? How about forcing attorneys to violate an attorney/client privilege? Then there are the FISA warrants based on lies and unfounded accusations and illegal surveillance.
Aside from the national embarrassment of half of our government acting like petulant children when they didn’t get their way, in case you haven’t noticed, the stock markets and the economy reacts to the endless threats of impeachment, baseless accusations and false “bombshells” the left continues to generate in order to justify their existence. Besides wasting money and resources (it affected the FBI’s reaction to the threat to Parkland High School, which resulted in needless tragedy), it is absolutely pointless and has forever damaged the confidence citizens should have in the fairness of their government, the honesty of the FBI and DOJ and trust in our electoral system. But, obviously to liberals, it’s merely a humorous diversion.
@Deplorable Me, #27:
I don’t recall any point during his time in office when Obama needed to publicly deny ever having “worked for the Russians.” There was never a pattern of events surrounding him that gave rise to such a question.
@Greg:
The real question during his time was Is there any evidence he worked for America.
@Greg: Yeah, because the media never questioned anything Obama did. Yet, he did, didn’t he? The first thing he did was, at Putin’s insistence, pull our missile defenses out of Poland and Czechoslovakia. Then he ceded Syria to him. Then he enabled Iran to be a better and more powerful ally of Russia. He, along with Hillary, signed off on the Uranium One sale. Then he blocked efforts to block Russia from interfering in our elections. No, they never questioned anything Obama did, which probably contributed to him being such a disaster.
On the other hand, without even the slightest indication Trump has done anything to benefit the Russians at the cost of the United States, the media has propagated the false narrative of Trump colluding with and being an agent of Putin.
Go figure. It’s almost like they are totally corrupt, dishonest and nothing but a propaganda tool of the Democrats.
@Deplorable Me, #39:
There was no such system in Poland and Czechoslovakia to pull out. What Obama did was cancel the Bush administration’s plans to create one. Given that Russia and the U.S. already have enough nukes and delivery systems to obliterate one another several times over, he thought it was wiser to rely on that existing deterrent and focus instead on defenses to counter the growing threat posed by Iran’s missile and nuclear program.
Obama abandons missile defense shield in Europe
@Greg: There was going to be. The Poles wanted it and the Czechs wanted it. It was a defense against rogues like Iran as well as Russia and Obama scuttled it without even getting anything in return but Putin’ approving smile. Clearly, all Obama sought was Putin’s “favor”.
If he wanted to trade that system for, say Russia leaving Ukraine and Crimea alone, that might make sense. But to just pull it all out just so Putin would like him?
Then Syria. Then the “flexibility”. Then doing Iran’s bidding.
But, of course, liberals, the media (oops… redundancy again) and the IC didn’t see anything unusual about that. After all, Brennan voted communist. His goal, like Obama’s, was to make the US weaker.
Aside from confirming Obama’s weakness or stupidity, it mostly confirms the massive and utter hypocrisy and duplicity of the left. Mueller is not about seeking collusion; it’s about destroying Trump for winning the election. The plot is failing.
Oh, please. Obama and Putin had an adversarial relationship. They didn’t get along personally. Neither was doing the other any favors.
@Greg: Yeah, Obama couldn’t accommodate and please Putin fast enough for Putin. Very adversarial. That’s why promised to be more flexible and gave Putin that stern “cut it out” as he stopped all physical measures to block Russian interference in the 2016 election, if it was actually Russians and not Democrats playing Russians.
Sure. Putin and Obama were good buddies, Hillary Clinton sold 20 percent of America’s uranium to Russia, ISIS has been defeated, and there was no collusion.
When this sort of repetition suddenly stops working, there’s going to be a flood of pent up reality as if a dam has broken.
@Greg:
It’s about time you faced reality.
@Greg:
I hope you can take it. There is no smoking gun just the smoke they are blowing up your a$$.
There might be some surprises, but most likely not connected to Don maybe connected closer to Preibus and a bit of GOP back stabbing.
I would like all emails and texts examined of Retired GOP members.
@Greg:
You mean like November 9, 2016?