In an update to my post earlier this evening on CNN’s reporting that the classified US Intel Community (IC) report submitted and briefed to the President, the President-elect, and the Congressional Gang of Eight including an annex/appendix referencing Russian active measures and kompromat of the President-elect, I linked to Buzzfeed’s subsequent reporting. Buzzfeed’s report included a synopsis of the CNN report, as well as a summary of what is in the alleged oppo report compiled by a former MI6 officer. It also included a link to the pdf of that oppo report.
I’ve now had a chance, between dinner, responding to comments, reviewing what those I considered informed sources have written on this, and watching news coverage of it and the farewell address, to actually make my way through it. I’ve read it slowly and carefully. Here’s what I think is going on with it:
1. As DM correctly notes in comments to my earlier post,
No, I don’t think it’s a false flag. I am just suggesting that one be cautious about the details in the Buzzfeed document. We know the IC is worried that Trump is compromised, we just don’t know what they think the Russians have on him.
It’s not too hard to imagine someone hearing rumors about the ex-MI6 person’s report (which, after all, was circulated to Republican opposition research people (presumably last Spring?) and Democrats (last Fall?)). Someone might then elaborate on them, counting on the IC rumors to give their story some legs and credibility.
Of course, it’s also pretty easy to imagine the actual ex-MI6 person’s report getting widely enough circulated that Buzzfeed got a copy and has printed it (though, once again, we don’t know which details of this document the IC considers credible and corroborated).
I think this is a correct amount of skepticism. From what David Corn seems to be intimating, this is, indeed, the file he saw before his reporting on this back at the end of October 2016.
John Schindler, a former NSA Tech Director, is indicating this is legit – both what CNN reported and the report that Buzzfeed posted.
Retired Senior Chief Petty Officer, and Naval Intelligence officer, Malcolm Nance, who’s book on Russian active measures to disrupt the 2016 election was published several months before the election, also supports Corn’s reporting and his confirmation that this is the information he saw and referenced for his October 2016 reporting.
Rick Wilson, who ran former CIA National Clandestine Service officer Evan McMullin’s Independent campaign for the presidency, and who was trying to work this oppo research into the media during the campaign, is also confirming this is, at least, some of that material. He also denies being Buzzfeed’s source.
Liz Mair, who was also working for a competing campaign during the GOP primaries has indicated that some the material in the oppo research report that Buzzfeed posted is material that she’s familiar with.
2. What I think we’re looking at here are two different, but related things. The first is the CNN reporting, which states clearly that a two page annex/appendix was including with the IC’s classified report and briefings to the President, President-elect, and Gang of 8. This is based on the oppo research report prepared by a former MI6 officer that indicates the Russians have kompromat on the President-elect. The second is the report Buzzfeed posted, which is alleged to be the actual oppo report.
In regard to the former, the IC would not have included this in their report or briefings if they didn’t have confidence in the source of the oppo research report – the former MI6 officer. This doesn’t mean that the IC has done a full vetting and has high confidence, rather it means they are comfortable enough with the reports author and his sources and are concerned enough with the possibility and probability that the President-elect could be compromised that they wanted the information in the report and briefing.
This is different than the report Buzzfeed posted. If, in fact, what Buzzfeed posted is the oppo research cited by the IC in the annex/appendix to their classified report and briefing, which has been intimated, but not completely confirmed, then the questions become: what can be verified and what can’t. Michael Cohen, the attorney for the Trump Organization referenced in the report, has already pushed back on the report’s allegation that he was a key go between. He claims to have been at USC visiting the campus with his son at the end of August 2016 and USC’s baseball program has confirmed this. John Schindler has pushed back on this, asserting that alias documents could have been used. The report that Buzzfeed posted makes this allegation about Cohen being the primary go between starting sometime in August a central component. A good deal of its credibility will rise or fall on the ability to verify this allegation.
3. So what does this leave us with? Two different things. The first is the CNN reporting about the two page annex/appendix to the IC’s classified report and briefings to the President, President-elect, and Gang of Eight. The second is the report that Buzzfeed posted. At this stage I think the former is solid reporting. CNN wouldn’t have run it without vetting that the annex/appendix was indeed part of the IC’s classified report. It confirms and then furthers David Corn’s reporting from the end of October 2016 and, to some extent, some of Kurt Eichenwald’s reporting from the beginning of November 2016.
The second is the report Buzzfeed posted. This is alleged to be the source document for the two page annex/appendix to the IC’s classified report on Russian interference in the 2016 US elections. At this point there is not enough information to confirm or deny the veracity of the report that Buzzfeed posted or if it is, indeed, the basis for the annex/appendix to the IC’s report. Buzzfeed referred to the report this way, which I also directly quoted and attributed to them in the update to my earlier post this evening:
A dossier making explosive — but unverified — allegations that the Russian government has been “cultivating, supporting and assisting” President-elect Donald Trump for years and gained compromising information about him has been circulating among elected officials, intelligence agents, and journalists for weeks.
For the time being explosive, but unverified seems to be the way to approach this.
Mike J
Will Trump release a long form urinalysis?
WJS
Any chance this had something to do with James Woolsey’s abrupt decision to have nothing to do whatsoever with the Trump team?
And, while the golden shower thing is the sex angle that will be seized upon, the real offense here is the information that details the ongoing coordination between Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, and the Russian government. Carter Page is also referenced in the report. Why has CIA been silent in all of this? It’s all pretty mind boggling.
Adam L Silverman
@WJS: The fact that CNN was able to report about the annex is a sign that the IC is not being silent.
Yarrow
This tweet from Schindler lifted my spirits slightly.
Of course then it’s Pence. I won’t be satisfied unless and until senior GOP leadership is implicated and taken down as well.
Major Major Major Major
What does being a key cutout mean?
WJS
@Adam L Silverman: It sure would have been helpful to have this information in October is what I meant.
If it took until December to verify this information, that’s one thing. But I keep seeing evidence that if the American people had had this information in October or September, it might have had some impact on the election.
Or maybe not. I hear they really like the peeing stuff in the red states.
Montysano
Well, one problem PEOTUS has is that, true or not, it certainly seems entirely plausible to far too many people.
Is it just me, or is there something very Sun Tzu/Art of War about this? Is this eleventh-dimensional payback for being a birther asshole?
Hitless
I think people (perhaps I should say Democrats in elected office) should forget about the particulars of this report. They are like a questionable Arkansas real estate deal…in themselves they are only possible malfeasance. They are grounds for demanding an intense investigation of everything…a special prosecutor from the opposition party…with unlimited powers to find out whether or not the officials in the Trump administration are comprised. That is what prudence and precedent demands. We cannot let the future of the Republic be jeopardized by an unwillingness to ensure the patriotism of those we elect to office.
Adam L Silverman
@Major Major Major Major: He was the key go between. According to the report Buzzfeed posted he took over that role from Manafort.
Schlemazel
@Major Major Major Major:
A cut out is the courier or mechanism for transmitting information.
EDIT: aaand I see Adam got there first & better
FoxinSocks
Just called my reps and left the following message:
“Tomorrow, I expect you to demand that Trump relinquish any claim to be President-Elect. I expect the same of Mike Pence. The Trump campaign colluded with the enemy and no one associated with that campaign can come to power. This is an unprecedented situation, so we must have unprecedented solutions. I call for new elections and a full, independent investigation. I also call on the resignation of Mitch McConnell, who clearly knew Trump was compromised and did everything he could to protect him.”
Omnes Omnibus
@Schlemazel: Do people no longer read spy novels?
Major Major Major Major
@Omnes Omnibus: I used to but don’t recall the term. It’s been a while though.
Jane Dough
@Hitless: Are you kidding? The American people are NEVER going to forget about the particulars of this report.
piratedan
let me know when Mr Chafetz assembles his Congressional investigatory committee to look into these alleged improprieties…
maybe there’s a middle ground here but I really can’t see it… either GOP finds a way through its purchased media minions to distract us with a new shiny and plays this off as “partisan politics” or else they all go down in motherfucking flames… and I do mean ALL of them. Mitchie, Paulie and the remainder of the Hitler Glee Club. Everyone gets tainted and shunned and kicked out. Someone is going to have to follow each of the levers… political power, sexual duress, financial gain. The NYT is obviously compromised, it should no longer be considered a primary news source because I can’t find any other explanation that explains their coverage of the election. The GOP has been compromised because they gleefully used the media and the FB (fucking) I to run their agenda, which is starting to look like it was run by the FSB. Great job making America First guys, you’re brilliant effing Patriots. Then the media networks themselves for allowing this travesty of NEWS to one, even be considered and second discussed as if there was any fucking crime other than the fact that they had hacked e-mails from a suspicious source that essentially showed no fucking crime other than the one that a political agency was hacked by outside sources. Trees, Forrest, shrubbery, who the fuck knows… all we know is that there is something suspicious and as soon as we know what the fuck it is we’ll be sure to breathlessly speculate.
The fact that we have so many people rooting for these assholes with no fucking idea on what it is they are exactly rooting for is incredibly astonishing.
JordanRules
Is it possible Russia gave the jackass the birther issue to run with as part of their alleged long-time grooming of him?
reality-based (the original, not the troll)
well, on the plus side – the word “treason” has made it into the New York Times re trump.
from this story
Peeing Russian hookers aside – this is not only the most damaging, but the most easily proved. Let us remember, the ONLY change that Trump wanted to the GOP platform was softening the language condemning the Putin Invasion of Ukraine. There were many witnesses in the room who saw Manafort demand – and get – the change. So here’s the quid for the pro quo –
From Washington Post, July 16th: “Trump campaign guts GOP anti-Russia stance on the Ukraine
Yarrow
@piratedan:
I know which one I prefer!
Redshift
One of the many terrifying things about this is that it completely explains Trump’s we on the IC. They are assembling and verifying this compromising information about him, therefore they must be discredited and destroyed. This will be disastrous for the country, of course, but Trump is incapable of giving a rat’s ass about anything but himself.
Rinse and repeat endlessly for as long as he’s allowed to hold office…
Rommie
@WJS: I’m willing to guess the CIA has been silent because of caution – they HAVE to get this right or Trump’s cronies will destroy them.
Then again, that assumes competent leadership, which is an easy ticket to a pie in the face. I really hope they are lining up the ducks, however.
Manyakitty
Yeah, the peeing is funny, gross, and terribly disrespectful, but meh. I feel like there’s a much dirty sex scandal, possibly involving Ivanka or obviously underage girls who look just like her.
I’d like to think the Russian interference will bring him down, and it’s definitely getting more traction, but I fear it’s not enough yet.
rikyrah
The Spooks are not playing. And, I expect more shoes to drop.
Thoroughly Pizzled
Nobody was able to leak this document during the campaign? Gee, thanks, media.
Manyakitty
@JordanRules: Yeah. That makes sense. Never considered it.
rikyrah
@Rommie:
I believe that they have it right. They haven’t lasted this long without being able to destroy enemies.
This is not a matter of them seeing the President as weak.
This is a matter of them KNOWING that the President is a wholly owned subsidiary of an enemy power. And, that he has declared war on them.
We live in strange times.
Hitless
FWIW, even out of power an enterprising Dem congressperson could:
1) Demand all of Trump’s financials and other documents in a full investigation
2) If that is stymied by the Republican majority state that an independent and non-partisan group will form to pursue that investigation…maybe Evan McMullin would sign on for bipartisan cover…I imagine someone could be found to anonymously fund it.
Adam L Silverman
@Thoroughly Pizzled: A lot of the reporters I’ve seen comment on this, from Richard Engel on Maddow’s show to Ken Vogel from Politico to David Corn himself have all indicated that they couldn’t validate all of it (Engel), that parts like the golden showers just didn’t ring true (Vogel based on Trump reportedly being a germophobe) to not being able to validate parts of it, so only reporting what they could validate (Corn). Eichenwald tweeted earlier tonight that some of this stuff is legit, but a lot he actually was able to disprove. So…
Keith P.
@Yarrow: It was going to be Pence anyway. He had to have been offered the Kasich deal (run the country, let Trump go on camera)…just nobody ever asks the Trump people about it.
@Adam L Silverman: Trump may be a germaphobe, but he does like gold. A lot.
Manyakitty
@rikyrah: They better be big enough for Shaq.
reality-based (the original, not the troll)
@Major Major Major Major:
I think it’s time we all brushed up on our John Le Carre. I love all his books – but Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Smiley’s People may be required reading again.
Adam L Silverman
@JordanRules: @Manyakitty: Sam Nunberg has stated, in interviews on MSNBC with Chris Hayes, that he helped Trump come up with pushing the Birther stuff as a strategic communication strategy to brand Trump for the anti-Obama portions of the electorate. He also stated, flat out, that he himself didn’t believe it, was unsure what Trump actually believed, but that it was an effective strategy to set him up for a Presidential run.
Trentrunner
@Adam L Silverman: The report said Trump was paying the prostitutes to pee on each other, NOT HIM, so…watersports for germaphobes?
danielx
@Omnes Omnibus:
I read them all right, but there hasn’t been a plot like this since the Manchurian Candidate. Even that didn’t come close to the present…plot? Situation? Crisis? Debacle? Absurdity?
And the more that comes out, the more Trump voters (most of them) will say Liberal Media! Liberal lies! Lalala I can’t hear you.
I truly hope Hilary Clinton is sitting with her feet propped up in front of a roaring fireplace, holding an Irish coffee or something and laughing a long, nasty laugh.
reality-based (the original, not the troll)
OH – and did everybody see this little Angus King/James Comey gem? Where he refuses to answer when pressed by Wyden whether there is an ongoing FBI investigation into trump?
And Comey says – wait for it – “We never comment on open investigations.” I thought King’s head would explode. Twitter is having fun with this .
Never mind #golden showers – how do we get #ComeyMustResign to trend?
King vs Comey
MisterForkbeard
@reality-based (the original, not the troll): To be fair, the changes to the republican platform don’t constitute PROOF that Trump colluded with Russia. Neither do any of the other times Trump went out to bat for Russian interests.
But I’ll be damned if it doesn’t look incredibly suspicious.
pattonbt
Can Trump get R Kelly to perform at his inauguration?
crawdad
#truthiness
Major Major Major Major
@pattonbt: Haha, stealing that!
danielx
@rikyrah:
Then there’s the whole bit about having to answer to a petulant and incurious nine year old who listens to no one, has difficulty focusing on anything for more than ten minutes, manufactures his own reality and cannot keep his mouth shut if the fate of the world depends on it, which at some point it very well might.
Oh yeah, and a serial abuser of women and seriously twisted sick fuck.
danielx
From FB….
Manyakitty
@Adam L Silverman: Wow. That’s grotesque. And trump was a big enough idiot to go along with it. He’s nothing more than an id in a saggy skin suit.
clay
@pattonbt: Better yet, make it Dave Chappelle dressed as R. Kelly:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NhgC2o6IEeo
r€nato
Trump seems to be really pissed about this… leak.
Manyakitty
@Manyakitty: I meant Id. The edit button never showed after I posted
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@r€nato: some leaks leave a stain on one’s… reputation
Adam L Silverman
@Manyakitty: Well that’s Nunberg’s side of things. We’ve never heard Trump’s.
Roger Moore
@Schlemazel:
Not just a courier. “Cutout” implies that you’re using a courier to hide the contact between the parties, not just for convenience.
pattonbt
And everyone who thinks something will come of this, please disabuse yourself of that belief. Nothing, I repeat, nothing will become of this. The only lingering effects of this will be “pee” jokes about president little hands here and there. And while mocking little hands and goading him is fun, he will be laughing the whole time he (aware / unaware) flushes the US down the toilet.
The R’s (and the base) will simply say that coordinating with the Russians to defeat Clinton was patriotic and now that the lurid details are out, Trump can no longer be blackmailed by it. Case closed. Move along.
Yarrow
@Keith P.: That may be what they offered him, but Kushner is in role of key adviser, kind of pushing Pence aside. Last couple of days the thinking seems to be that Pence will be used to communicate with Congress. That’s kind of a demotion. Kushner may not want to give up his powerful role. There are other players that may be in Trump’s ear telling him he can hang on. Those players likely have little government experience so don’t really know what they’re up against.
pattonbt
@clay: So true. He should do a one off skit now on it.
Manyakitty
@Adam L Silverman: At this point, he may not remember the truth. He seems entirely disconnected from it.
Roger Moore
@pattonbt:
That had better not be a public performance.
Schlemazel
@Omnes Omnibus:
I know they lost their appeal to me some time ago. The last one I really enjoyed was “Hunt For Red October” . I lost the ability to suspend disbelief.
Peej
@reality-based (the original, not the troll):
Trump is Tinkle Taylor Sellout Spy
Schlemazel
@efgoldman:
good point, I missed that bit
But so did Adam so I don’t feel so bad any more
reality-based (the original, not the troll)
@MisterForkbeard:
– especially because the Ukraine/Russia thing was the ONLY change they wanted – and Paul Manafort personally insisted on it
other than that, they didn’t give a shit about the platform
Hitless
@pattonbt:
I agree that on it’s own, the disclosure does nothing damaging to the incoming government. There is strong incentive to ignore it. Especially given that the most salacious details may not be true.
However, if anyone in Congress has the moral courage/gambling self-interest to do so, they can use this information to leverage further investigations. Perhaps history can be a guide as to whether or not an ongoing investigation would be politically worthwhile.
Schlemazel
@piratedan:
One thing I expect and we need to have a response for is conflating the two documents. You know they are going to flash the BuzzFeed doc & loudly say “THIS IS NOT AN INTEL REPORT” in an effort to discredit the information. They are lying by telling only part of the truth. That big doc is the oppo research paid for by the GOP & the 2 pager on CNN is a different thing all together, it is an official document. They will try to discredit the whole story on that weak sauce & given out shitty media may just get away with it
Yarrow
@pattonbt: Maybe. But there’s more there there. For instance, this GOS diary with links to Financial Times articles outlining Trump’s involvement and financing by the Russian mob. Of course we don’t know the details because he won’t release any tax returns or disclose his financial interests. Perhaps the CIA has better info on all that.
crawdad
Schlemazel
@Manyakitty:
Would you be surprised to learn that the Russians also have him with under-aged girls on tape? The guy likes them young
Adam L Silverman
@Manyakitty: I honestly don’t know. I would think that if all of these allegations were spurious. Or if there was a simple explanation for his long held policy preferences dating back to 1987 in favor of collaborating with the then Soviet Union on nuclear weapons proliferation, on redefining how the US interacts with its treaty and statutory allies and partners, and now with Russia under Putin that he and his team would get it out. Quickly, succinctly, effectively. What gives things like this credibility isn’t just that Russia did indeed engage in active measures, desinformaziya, kompromat, and influence operations to influence Americans during the 2016 elections, but that the President-elect and his team either stonewall in regard to all of this or dissemble. That has everyone’s antenna up.
As much as I’m somewhere between confused and concerned by what I’ve seen articulated by the President-elect as his foreign, defense, and national security policy preferences, I would be a lot less worried if the seeming, alleged, rumored, Russian connections were put to bed. Its one thing to want to make a policy break with past US positions and move in a new direction, its another for it to appear that the proposed policy break is the result of influence by a hostile foreign competitor.
Tenar Arha (same Tenar, more Nameless Ones)
I’m seriously punchy right now anyway, but tonight I was LMAO in my car driving home from my father’s bedside.
I had somehow come up with two plausible stories of the near future:
1) Today, in multiple art studios all across the United States of America & maybe the world, artists have been inspired by the PEOTUS & the Piss Christ to create new works of art. Many are starting with last Halloween’s Trump mask & a big glass vase…and a six-pack of beer to begin their urine collection….
2) Today, inspired by PEOTUS, a new form of protest was born, urine balloon bombing, the practice of filling water balloons with urine, frequently thrown at & dropped from PEOTUS’ hotels because “he obviously likes golden showers.” In a related form, others have begun squirt gunning, tournaments using various PEOTUS’ photos after epic beer drinking fests.
Schlemazel
@pattonbt:
James Taylor offered to perform “Shower the People”
Adam L Silverman
@Schlemazel: Yep, the allegation here is really more of a go between. I’ll edit it up top.
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman:
The cover up is what gets people in the end.
ruemara
@Peej: YES!
Mart
@reality-based (the original, not the troll): From that article,
“He has called for a reduction of the U.S. commitment to NATO. He simply doesn’t see Russia as a dangerous threat.
For Denman, the Trump campaign’s actions betrayed the U.S. commitment to supporting struggling democracies around the world, which she considers a core Republican value.”
Team Trump actively ran on disrupting/hurting the NATO alliance, and nobody in the GOP was concerned, (other than the influential Ms. Denman).
GregB
There was an interview with a comic, Joey Diaz from Jersey. He said that Trump was involved with the mob due to real estate dealings. Said it was very common in NJ back in the 80’s.
Going with what he knew. MO as they used to call it. Just this time the mobster was the big fish.
Major Major Major Major
@Adam L Silverman: @Yarrow: They do it for like everything though. It’s turned our entire government-covering media into kremlinology.
Mike J
Nice thread here.
https://twitter.com/SwiftOnSecurity/status/797116729931550720
Frank in midtown
Meh, they love Nixon and Raygun, both of whom where treasonous bast@rds. They don’t and won’t care.
Yarrow
@Major Major Major Major: Hell, I feel like even average citizens that want to know what’s going on have to engage in some kremlinology.
cmorenc
@Hitless:
Note that the Whitewater investigation would have fizzle out with a conclusion of “nothing here”, had the GOP not won both houses of congress in the 1994 off-year elections. The threshold necessary to force a serious breach in the GOP leadership stonewall against any adequately serious, “intense” investigation into Trump’s background is vastly higher than would be the case if the Democrats had won control of the Senate while Clinton still narrowly lost the e.v. to Trump. That’s not to say that the revelations oozing from the intelligence community might not become so irresistibly damming that the wall gets forcibly breached and the congressional GOP is forced to turn on Trump.
Major Major Major Major
@Yarrow: I remember when Obama’s transition had things out every day. Easy to follow. Sigh.
cmorenc
@FoxinSocks:
Hello, President Paul Ryan. Hello, right-wing socioeconomic Randianism gone wild, and not mere oligarchic billionaire kleptocracy.
The Ancient Randonneur
So still no confirmation that Trump is a Goldwater Republican?
Schlemazel
@cmorenc:
That is why we need to keep the pressure on this topic. Make the god damned GOP eat their own for fear of losing everything. The ugly sex angle is just the wedge to drive people who still want to appear decent from Trump. If it works Trump is gone, Pense is damaged & the GOP is distracted from their usual routine of destruction
ruemara
@cmorenc: Pretty sure that’s what’s already in the cards.
Captain C
@Trentrunner: Isn’t urine sterile?
Major Major Major Major
@cmorenc: Also known as a good alternative to nuclear armageddon.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
because of course…
Schlemazel
@Captain C:
No, Bacteria are present even in the urine of healthy people not suffering from a urinary tract infection.
Schlemazel
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
What those tapes give Putin is worth a whole hell of a lot more than a million, or even a billion, dollars
GregB
Have people started publicly jeering Comey for leaving America at the edge of this abyss?
The Dangerman
Who woulda thunk that two of the most known facts about our incoming President are his claims regarding grabbing pu$$y and now it’s this pissy stuff? Seems we need to change the vowel again to make it “posse” and string the fucker up by his balls.
cmorenc
@Adam L Silverman:
The Bush National Guard investigative story should be a cautionary tale about how to ratfuck a damming genuine story by planting seemingly damning, but fake evidence that can be proved false. Just as Rather was set up (probably by a Rove raftucking operation), we need to be careful that someone in the Trump camp or Russia isn’t creating the “golden shower” story or some other piece of tempting evidence that will then be proven to be convincingly false, derailing further credible inquiry into the soundly damning elements.
Major Major Major Major
@cmorenc: Very good point. (‘kerning!!1’)
James Powell
@Roger Moore:
Wouldn’t using a man known to be a party’s lawyer as a cutout make it difficult to hide the contact?
Anya
This is so disturbing. I am legit scared about all this craziness. It’s all so weird. It’s out of political thriller. It’s so disgusting and super scary that I hope all the crazy stuff is not true. Because if it’s true then it means that a lot of people representing varies American institutions & establishments (journalists, FBI, Congress, political campaign, etc.) decided it was okay for this man to become our president.
cbear
Donald Trump: Urine Trouble
/shamelessly stolen from a friend on FB
Adrift
Well Trump is known for his golden accessories. Why would a shower be out of the question?
Aside from the above snark, we all knew there was some serious kompromat on Trump. The urgent issue is what can we do about it?????
Schlemazel
@cmorenc:
You are right and that is why we need to make sure the 2-pager that is an intel report is kept separate from the buzzfeed jamboree. I intend to use to oppo research to poke & prod the Trump people as much as possible but we need to be clear that the golden shower story is just
pissingicing on the cake, the real threat is that Putin owns Trump without it.Adrift
@GregB:
That’s the least he should be subject to. He should be dragged out for a public trial in the town square and if found guilty thrown to the wolves.
Suffragete City elftx
What jumped out at me in the Buzzfeed dossier was the allegations of kickbacks and bribes to China.
Almost makes sense if his harassment of them is who/where that money went and he knows they can’t say anything out loud.
hovercraft
@piratedan:
You mean this asshole:
Chaffetz Still Not Ready To Drop Probe Into Hillary Clinton’s Emails
Caitlin MacNeal JANUARY 10, 2017
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), the chair of the House Oversight Committee, on Monday maintained that he is not done investigating Hillary Clinton even though she lost the presidential election, as he stated just after the election.
“This was never a political targeting from the beginning. Just because there’s a political election doesn’t mean it goes away. So of course I’m going to continue to pursue that,” Chaffetz told reporters, according to Buzzfeed News. “It’s potentially one of the largest breaches of security in the history of the State Department. It cannot and should never be repeated again. How was it that so much information was able to migrate out the door? These are still open questions that we need to finish up so they don’t happen again.”
———————————————
Look at the date on the fucking article. He was I suspect trying to both cover his own ass against charges of a political witch hunt, and muddy the waters because he knew this shit was about to hit the fan, and wanted espionage associated with both sides giving the shitgibbon cover.
Millard Filmore
@Schlemazel: They may PAY a million to get the tape, but once Penthouse publishes it, any exclusive arrangement goes out the window. For copyright purposes, Russia owns the “rights”, which will be ignored on all the file sharing boards. At best, they can pay to be first to show.
Major Major Major Major
nm. Night all!
clem
“What’s the difference between a chickpea and a garbanzo bean?
I’ve never had a garbanzo bean pea on my face” #goldenshowers
@RoanLynch
GregB
Taiwan reportedly scrambles jets in response to China sending a carrier into straits.
Also, Paul Manaforts’ Twitter hasn’t been updated dince 12/19.
Cacti
So basically, the media’s been sitting on this for months, but had no problem catapulting whatever Trump/GOP/Russia friendly bilge that Wikileaks served up.
Aleta
I think it will take a while longer and more than this to get him out. While we wait, let’s demand the resignations of the news heads at NBC, CNN, NYT, ABC, WSJ, Fcx, and of course the FBI. A tell as to the truth of the story is KaC’s statement “He has said he is not aware of that.”
Gretchen
@WJS: There was information that servers in Trump Tower were only communicating with Russian banks. This was widely reported in October. His team had extensive contacts and financial ties to Russia. Nobody cared. Trump communicating with Russia, who cares. DNC emails hacked that didn’t even involve Clinton – treason.
Before the Iraq invasion, this old lady in Kansas thought they were impatient to push the weapons inspectors out before they had an answer. Before this election, this old lady in Kansas could see that Trump had many troubling Russian connections. The Sunday Showz people knew better in both cases, until afterward, when they were going “Why didn’t anyone tell us?”
fuckwit
@GregB: Does this happen often? Is this part of the normal process of these two countries regularly flipping each other off with both hands?
Or is this a new, dangerous development?
Gretchen
@JordanRules: Wow. Never thought of that but it could be.
Adrift
@Gretchen:
This. A thousand times this. No. One. Cared. Now we have a huge fucking mess and yes, a constitutional crisis. Covered in piss.
Mnemosyne
I heard a great new term for our upcoming form of government that’s a little hard to say, but is worth it: “psychopathocracy.”
Adrift
@Mnemosyne: At the risk of sounding sick I think the era will be referred to as “the Golden Age”.
Mnemosyne
@Gretchen:
@Adrift:
Thirded. These connections to Russia were well-known during the whole election season and the MSM didn’t care enough to look into them. Thanks a lot, assholes. You helped break our country.
Adrift
@Mnemosyne: The MSM bastards have been (mal)practicing for a very long time. It takes determination and courage to be lickspittles.
Mnemosyne
Here’s my final paranoid thought of the night: is James Comey going to ask for Robert Hanssen to be pardoned? After all, Comey and Hanssen were both working for the same goals. ?
Adrift
@Mnemosyne: James Comey can ask for anything he wants, but in the end he will only get what is granted to him by the Furher.
I would hope that these revelations would mobilize people to stop the incoming abomination but given recent history and the lack of “giving a shit” among the populace, I’m afraid we will slide into the dustbin of history. I only hope we don’t take the entire planet down with us.
ETA punctuation correction
Xenos
Anybody notice Item 4 on page 8, where source E claims the Trump campaign was feeding Putin intel on the families and assets of Russian oligarchs in the US? Where would they get this information, if it is not just the sort of marketing info that the Trump Real Estate / money laundering business keeps?
Considering the ties between the Trump campaign and crooked elements in the FBI, this could be part of a very serious bit of espionage. Should be followed up quite vigorously.
Eljai
@Xenos: I haven’t read it through yet. That’s very interesting, though. I was thinking that the salacious details would get the media’s attention, but that there was a hell of a lot more going on. I’ll have to go back and review it more closely and take some notes. This thing just keeps getting curiouser!
Shalimar
@Mnemosyne: Corn and Nance were the only ones to report on the MI6 officer’s report before the election. I suspect that it will come out over the course of this week that pretty much every major news organization had it and didn’t follow up to confirm that it was legitimate. I expect to see people like Chuck Todd casually confirm that they had read it months ago.
edited to add: Wilson was actively shopping it around for months, so yes, of course everyone read it.
Shalimar
@James Powell: It makes a lot more sense for Cohen to have sent a trusted assistant to the meeting rather than go himself. Manafort also seems like his ties to Russia would make it too risky for him to personally be the go-between before Cohen. But possibly Trump insisted that it be someone he knew and trusted personally, which isn’t a large circle.
Mai.naem.mobile
CNNs story has Carl Bernstein as one of the bylines. Guess Woodward was too busy fluffing Lumpy.
Mai.naem.mobile
When I saw Golden Showers trending on Twiiter yesterday I thought it had to do with excessive rain in SF. Seriously. And I know what golden showers means. It just didn’t occur to me that tha kind of golden showers
would ever trend on Twitter.
DougJ
@Mike J:
Awesome
Joyce H
@Xenos: So the allegation has been made that Trump was feeding personal and financial information about Russian oligarchs back to the Russian government? Whew, the Secret Service’s job just got a lot more interesting! Those guys don’t fool around.
Anne Laurie
@Mai.naem.mobile:
As a conspiracy theorist regarding anything to do with Watergate, that’s the datum that worries me, just a little. If Bernstein was the Permanent GOP Party’s “useful idiot” when Woodward was tasked to get an increasingly paranoid Nixon out of the Oval Office by any means necessary, does CNN pinning his name on this story mean the American public is about to get catfished by the Rethugs again? Either by turning Trump’s allegiance to Putin into haha-tinfoil-hat material, or by getting Trump turfed out so he can be replaced by a more secure (less electable) True Republican like Pence / Ryan?
Yeah, I know, Bernstein’s just a marquee name, in the newspaper business — I’ve been sniffing the smoke in the hall of mirrors too hard…
Applejinx
@Trentrunner: Urine is sterile. Surely he knows that.
Clean Sheets
Pogonip
@Adam L Silverman: Hi Adam, while reading headlines in the bathroom I saw, on a few sites, information trickling out that the hooker part of this is a 4chan hoax. If so, it’s a good one!
Mai.naem.mobile
@Anne Laurie: I didnt know that about Bernstein. I thought Bernstein was supposed to be the brains behind the operation.
Mai.naem.mobile
Also,I haven’t read the report but I saw a blurb from an NRI guy on Twitter that the dossier also says the Russians have a paid source in the Democratic party.
Lee
I see others have brought this up. I want to reiterate that you no longer have to be present to be a go between.
J R in WV
Perhaps someone should ask the Supremes to injunct an inauguration for someone now coming to be suspected of treasonous plot against the nation’s security? Perhaps Obama should ask the court to appoint Joe Biden to be acting president until security agencies dig to the bottom of Trump/Pence’s treason
And after IC finishes with investigation, then either revoke election to be revoted on a very tight schedule with new Republican candidates OR declare that minus the treason trump/pence lost, thus Clinton to be inaugurated as clear winner who didn’t commit treason. In any case Supremes to determine how to proceed with Trump/Pence OUT of picture.
We are so screwed!
I’m believing the current info about golden showers is false to spoil the rest of the good info, but that there is video/financial material that puts Trump in a vise and Putin’s hand on the screw. Money laundering at places of wagering, causing bankruptcy of otherwise very profitable establishment.
Now prepare to go see doctor. No worries, nothing serious.
Iowa Old Lady
@Montysano: I was thinking the same thing. The report is believable because it fits with actions and words we’ve seen from Trump.
@Yarrow: I’d like to believe Trump won’t be able to continue after these revelations, but who’s going to stop him?
manyakitty
@Schlemazel: Nope. I’m sure they all look like very young Ivankas, too.
manyakitty
@Adam L Silverman: Thank you. That organized and stated my concerns much more clearly than I could. How can we possibly allow such a compromised administration to take office?
Anne Laurie
@Mai.naem.mobile:
Bernstein (goes the theory) has never done anything above the level of mediocrity since his “glory days” pursuing Mark Felt’s leads. Woodward, of course, has produced a steady string of profitable (unreadable) “blockbuster” books. Which, combined with Woodward’s pre-reporting tenure in the intelligence community, is why some people believe he was tasked with taking out a no-longer-useful-to-the-GOP Nixon… in return for his lifetime sinecure as a Very Serious Person.