Michelle Goldberg asks “Are Republicans Covering for Trump, or for Themselves?” Of all the interlocking mysteries of the Trump-Russia scandal, one that I’ve found particularly perplexing is the utter servility of congressional Republicans before a president many of them hate and believe to be compromised by a foreign power. Yes, I know they’re thrilled about tax cuts and judges. Given … Read More
Putin’s Comin’
President Trump has asked his national security adviser John Bolton to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to Washington for a second summit. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced that plans are underway for a second summit after Trump floated the news in an earlier tweet today. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats informed on stage at Aspen Security Forum … Read More
Trump Was Briefed About Russian Interference Two Weeks Before He Became President
NY Times: Two weeks before his inauguration, Donald J. Trump was shown highly classified intelligence indicating that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had personally ordered complex cyberattacks to sway the 2016 American election. The evidence included texts and emails from Russian military officers and information gleaned from a top-secret source close to Mr. Putin, who had described to the … Read More
More Cleanup On Aisle Trump
Yesterday, the day after Trump’s unconvincing walkback of believing Putin over the US intelligence community, this happened at a press pool spray: The exact exchange that just occurred in the White House 👇 REPORTER: Is Russia still targeting the US, Mr. President? TRUMP: Thank you very much. No. (Shakes head) REPORTER: No? You don’t believe that to be the case? … Read More
The Spy Who Loved Me
This is some serious Cold War movie stuff: A Russian woman charged this week with serving as a foreign agent has been in regular contact with Russian intelligence, the Justice Department says, and she attempted to offer sex in exchange for a position with an organization she targeted. Prosecutors included that information in court documents as part of their request … Read More
Treason Summit Fallout
It’s been compared to Pearl Harbor and 9/11. These comparisons, to me, aren’t apt. For one thing, people died. More importantly, those tragedies weren’t self-inflicted. But the gravity of what Trump did has even surpassed his “both sides” comment of Charlottesville. Virtually every politician and pundit has condemned the disastrous press conference. “Treason” and “traitor” are on many lips, while … Read More
In Other News, The OTHER Trump-Russia Connection
This is getting almost no coverage (update: okay NOW it is), but there is breaking news on another front. The DOJ just announced the arrest of an unregistered Russian agent, Maria Butina. Right now, the only charge is that Ms. Butina was an unregistered foreign agent, but the FBI was investigating her on the belief that she worked at the … Read More
Treason Summit
On the heels of the NATO summit, where President Trump dissed our strongest allies, Trump is now visiting Vladimir Putin in Russia. Just moments ago, he and Putin ended their special two-hours-and-10-minutes one-on-one meeting with no advisers and no witnesses and no note-takers. One official, according to CNN, said it was because he doesn’t want his aides interrupting or undercutting … Read More
Breaking: More Indictments Today
The Justice Department just announced that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will be be holding a press conference at Main Justice at 11:45 ET to make a “law enforcement announcement.” Rosenstein could be announcing action taken in any manner of case, but the last time we received a notice like this from the Justice Department was on a Friday in … Read More
Strzok To Testify
Peter Strzok, a former FBI official who was removed from the special counsel’s investigation of Russian involvement in the 2016 U.S. elections, testifies before a public joint hearing of two House committees responsible for FBI and Justice Department oversight. Strzok is the right wing whipping boy — to listen to Fox, you would think he single-handedly masterminded the Trump-Russia investigation. … Read More
Breaking: Senate Confirms Benczkowski to Justice Department And He Could Decide Fate Of Russia Investigation
On purely partisan lines (Manchin broke Dem ranks; McCain unable to vote), the Senate has just confirmed a top Justice Department official who could help oversee the Trump-Russia investigation, despite his own troubling connections to Russia and his close ties to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Brian Benczkowski, a former Senate aide to Sessions, will now lead the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, a job … Read More
Trump Administration Can’t Reunify Families It Broke Apart
NBC: The Justice Department asked a federal judge this afternoon to extend the court mandated deadlines for reuniting nearly 3,000 migrant children who were separated from their parents while crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. Attorneys for the U.S. government claimed the court mandate for returning all children under age 5 to their parents by July 10 and all other children by July 26 does not … Read More
A Clarification
Just won lawsuit filed by the DNC and a bunch of Democrat crazies trying to claim the Trump Campaign (and others), colluded with Russia. They haven’t figured out that this was an excuse for them losing the election! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 6, 2018 It would be a full time job trying to correct this asshole, but I … Read More
Huge Scandal If True
At least 40 immigrant U.S. Army reservists and recruits have been discharged or now have questionable futures in the country despite having been promised citizenship in exchange for their military service, the Associated Press reports. Per the AP, some who have been discharged said they didn’t get an answer as to why, while others said they were told “they’d been labeled … Read More
The Origins Of “Collusion”
Collusion is not a crime. It is not even a legal concept. Yet, when people speculate about mis-doings between the Trump campaign and Russia, that is the noun used — “collusion”. And, of course, it is Trump’s go-to tweet word. But how did the word “collusion” get introduced into the public lexicon? And who is initially responsible for introducing it? … Read More