Uh, it's not material that the ****ing campaign manager had an undisclosed 10-figure financial relationship with a Russian puppet political party? Or, as we've subsequently learned, that he was deep in the hole to a Russian oligarch and sought to use his position to "get whole?" How is that extraneous?
So whats the exchange then? If this is a HUGE piece of the case for collusion what happened? How did the making whole lead to the collusion efforts?
you might want to check the Dossier for a discussion of Manafort's role
So whats the exchange then? If this is a HUGE piece of the case for collusion what happened? How did the making whole lead to the collusion efforts?
I'm responding to your saying it's extraneous. It's not--not if one is intellectually honest, anyway. I don't know what "the exchange" was, or if there was one. It's also quite possible Manafort was canned before he had a chance to do anything but passive influence, if indeed there was any intent at all. But if you're remotely grounded in reality, that guy seeking out the campaign and volunteering to work for free is a neon-lit blinking sign that says "investigate me."
I am shocked that the NY Times is coming out with an article that is in essence a rebuke to the rights assertion about the importance of the Dossier. I never could have seen this coming!![]()
I know this article is very long and will give most of you a headache to read, but it is the most complete account of what I think happened in terms of creating a financial dependency between Trump and the Russians.
http://www.newsweek.com/2017/12/29/donald-trump-russia-secret-deutsche-bank-753780.html
The money quote is from Richard Dearlove, the former head of British secret intelligence service MI6.
“What lingers for Trump may be what deals—on what terms—he did after the financial crisis of 2008 to borrow Russian money when others in the West would not lend to him.”
Never really feel like we've heard a convincing explanation for this one:
There was another Kushner-Kislyak meeting, on December 1 at Trump Tower. Flynn, Trump’s adviser, was present too, as Kushner made an unusual proposal: He asked Kislyak if it would be possible to set up a secret and secure communications channel between the Trump transition team and the Kremlin. The purpose, it seems, was to keep their conversations hidden from the outgoing Obama administration and U.S. intelligence. Could this be done, Kushner wondered, by using Russian diplomatic facilities in the United States? The inquiry was staggeringly naïve.
If you don't believe in the 'deep state' them this is a bad look. If you believe it exists it looks like a smart move.
There is no plausible situation in which this is a smart move.
There is no plausible situation in which this is a smart move.
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Further, for such an intricate Web of collusion it's odd how so many desperate attempts were made to have the trump campaign and Putin meet.
I've read a somewhat different take. At the meeting where Papadopoulos talked up his contacts, Trump was interested but non-committal. Sessions is the guy who shut it down.