Allow me a three part joke. First, this:
FBI agents have repeatedly questioned former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page about his contacts with Russians and his interactions with the Trump campaign, according to people familiar with the investigation.
Over a series of five meetings in March, totaling about 10 hours of questioning, Page repeatedly denied wrongdoing when asked about allegations that he may have acted as a kind of go-between for Russia and the Trump campaign, according to a person familiar with Page’s account.
The interviews with the FBI are the most extensive known questioning of a potential suspect in the probe of possible Russian connections to associates of President Trump. The questioning of Page came more than a month before the Russian investigation was put under the direction of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III.
Page confirmed Monday that the interviews occurred, calling them “extensive discussions.” He declined to say if he has spoken to investigators since the March interviews.
He said the FBI agents “acknowledged that I’m a loyal American veteran but indicated that their management was concerned that I did not believe the conclusions” of a Jan 6. U.S. intelligence report describing Russian government interference in the U.S. election. “Our frank and open conversations gave me confidence that there are still logical, honest individuals at the bureau who respect civil rights and the Constitution,’’ he said.
Next, here’s Carter Page just having a conversation:
Sorry for the long setup, but trust me, this is worth it. And now, the punchline:
Because it is against the law for an individual to lie to FBI agents about a material issue under investigation, many lawyers recommend that their clients not sit for interviews with the bureau without an attorney present. Page said he spoke without an attorney and wasn’t concerned about the risks because he told the truth.
I say again, the firmest evidence I have seen that there is no Russian involvement in the 2016 election is that Carter Page hasn’t taken a nose dive out of a hotel window.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
I don’t really know what that dude’s deal is. He’s the squirreliest motherfucker I ever clapped eyes on. When he gave those interviews on MSNBC, he looked like he was scared Vladimir Putin himself was going to pop up from behind the desk and atomic wedgie him to death.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
And that is, for the record, without question the worst way to go.
Omnes Omnibus
Many? The rest are committing malpractice.
Mai.naem.mobile
I looked Carter Page up a while back. He’s an Academy grad. I believe Naval Academy. He shouldn’t be stupid .I don’t understand this guy.
Wapiti
The stories of FBI interrogators getting information from terror suspects, not with torture, but by being patient listeners…
Clearly Page never paid attention to those stories, not if he really believes it when he says, “Our frank and open conversations gave me confidence that there are still logical, honest individuals at the bureau who respect civil rights and the Constitution.’’
? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?
@Mai.naem.mobile: Hubris. Arrogance. Dunning-Kreuger.
How’s that?
? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?
@Wapiti: I have a feeling Carter Page only gives a shit about those things as long as they apply to him. To non-white, liberal lessers, not so much
Quinerly
@Mai.naem.mobile:
Naval Academy, Georgetown, NYU, and a PHD in London. I shake my head in shock everytime I see him speak. Just. Don’t. Get. It.
Mnemosyne
The other possibility with Page is that he genuinely doesn’t think it was wrong to conspire with the Russians, so he has no problem telling the FBI all about it.
Though if I were the FBI and dealing with the guy, I might wonder who was so obviously setting him up to be the scapegoat.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mai.naem.mobile: Bill Kristol has an AB and PhD from Harvard. Just saying.
rk
@Quinerly:
Some of the stupidest people I’ve met are PhDs. Also, Ben Carson neurosurgeon, plus moron.
Oatler.
@Mai.naem.mobile: “He’s and old friend! we were at the Academy together…”- Captain Kirk
Aleta
He’s rabid, or chews ergot.
Mai.naem.mobile
@Omnes Omnibus: Besides the fact that I don’t equivocate Harvard with the Naval Academy I don’t think Bill Kristol is stupid. I think he’s an asshole and I don’t think he would have gotten into Harvard without Daddy Kristol. I know there are legacy people like John McCain but I personally have a good opinion of the smarts of the academies. It might be because I’ve known a person who went to the Air Force Academy and a couple who went to West Point. They were really smart impressive people.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Omnes Omnibus: My father knew Bill Kristol back when he was a prof in the Kennedy School and Kristol was a PhD student. He says Kristol was really, really smart, and that he has no idea when he became so stupid.
Jim Parene
I thought he looked a bit twitchy. Ergot would explain that.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Mai.naem.mobile: You can become a Harvard undergraduate as a legacy. You don’t get into the PhD program that way.
wjs
@rk: Ahem.
“Hi, I’m Fredrik deBoer, a writer and academic. I am the Academic Assessment Manager for Brooklyn College in the City University of New York. My research interests include standardized tests of college learning, writing assessment, second language writing, corpus linguistics, and educational policy. I have a PhD from Purdue University, an MA from the University of Rhode Island, and a BA from Central Connecticut State University. I am a member of the American Federation of Teachers, the Professional Staff Congress of CUNY, and New York State United Teachers.”
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
Atomic wedgies are bad, yes, but what about the dreaded Rear Admiral?!?
Omnes Omnibus
@Mai.naem.mobile: I served with Academy grads. Several of whom were my friends. OTOH, some were racist assholes. Just saying.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mai.naem.mobile: How do you feel about National Merit Scholars?
Mnemosyne
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
Kristol sold his soul for cash on the barrel head. It’s as simple as that.
burnspbesq
There’s a dorm room at a Level 1 Federal facility with Carter Page’s name on it. He’s so going down, for 1001 if for nothing else.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@wjs:
Gack…
Man, ol’ DeBore sure managed to annoy the shit out of a lot of people. That mix of condescension, self-adoration and using 100 words to express what could have been said in ten worked wonders.
danielx
That right there makes me question his intelligence, no matter what his qualifications and education may be. Both guilty and non-guilty people lawyer up when faced with less-than-friendly inquires from any law enforcement agency, if they’re smart. If you are being questioned in connection with a federal investigation, you’re already head down and six feet deep up shit creek.
mary todd
I was just watching Rachel Maddox and the last Q for Neal Katyal – former Solicitor General – elicited the reply that he +/- approved of Gorsuch, that he thought Gorsuch was the Republican equivalent of Kagan or Sotomayor and would develop into a …. somethingsomethingadmirable jurist. I wanted to cry. I READ his dissent today in the Birth Certificate case – he was counting angels on pinheads, wanted to deny relief because they asked for it under the wrong statute and besides what else did they want other than what they had? Damn Neal Katyal anyway.
Cathie from Canada
Collusion? OF COURSE there was collusion between the Trump campaign, the Russians, and Trump himself. The Russians told Manafort or Page or Stone or Flynn or all of them that they could help Trump with the election plus help with financing family projects. So they talked to Trump and he said, great idea, go ahead, so they did.
I cannot understand why the US media acts so mystified about why Trump has behaved so strangely about the Russia investigation — to me, it has always been obvious that he is acting like a guilty 12-year old: hiding his personal involvement, making up justifications for what he did, trying to stop the investigations, calling everyone names, and trying to blame it on someone else — you know, the usual stuff Trump always does.
PPCLI
@Cathie from Canada: Very true – Trump’s obviously guilty behaviour has been obvious all along, even before it became clear that since his bankruptcy troubles decades ago, he has been leaving trails of evidence as obvious as the path of alpha-radiation left by Litvinenko’s assassins. His tone and reaction in the “No puppet! No puppet! You’re the puppet!” was so obviously shot through with panic and desperation that I couldn’t understand how the election wasn’t over at that very moment.
The latest giveaway is how many official and unofficial Trump spokespeople and Fox news newscaster/propagandists have suddenly, all at once, switched from the latest fallback trench “OK, the Russians were involved but there was no collusion” and started floating the line that even if there had been collusion, it wouldn’t have been illegal, you know, just (at worst) “inappropriate”. Someone has just learned about compelling evidence of collusion and has put out the word that we have always been at war with Eastasia.
Steeplejack
@Mai.naem.mobile:
John McCain went to the Naval Academy. Somebody’s got to graduate at the bottom of the class.
Amir Khalid
@Cathie from Canada:
I’ve been a journo. It’s not cool to state in print (or online) “This guy is obviously guilty!” no matter how obvious his guilt seems to you. If the guy is never charged, or if he is acquitted at trial, you and your employer are going to be staring at the business end of a libel action.
patrick II
@mary todd:
I saw that too, and had about the same reaction. In addtion to the reasons you stated, he added that a justification for supporting Gorsuch was that “they” won the election. No, asshole, Obama won the election in which the seat came open. The only reason Trump appointed Gorsuch is a break with over two hundred years of Senatorial procedure.
All of this “reasonableness” is why dems keep losing.
Gvg
@patrick II: you know, that right there is evidence of collusion or something. Why would the Senate not allow Obama to appoint the Supreme Court justice if they thought Clinton was going to win? Enough of them thought a fix was in, to make it worth it.
Woodrow/asim
@Gvg: What in all that is holy makes you think they would have stopped when Clinton (of all people) was elected?
These assholes will find any excuse, any loophole, any reason to push for the people and policies they want.
Dupe70
“He said the FBI agents “acknowledged that I’m a loyal American veteran but indicated that their management was concerned that I did not believe the conclusions” of a Jan 6. U.S. intelligence report describing Russian government interference in the U.S. election. “Our frank and open conversations gave me confidence that there are still logical, honest individuals at the bureau who respect civil rights and the Constitution,’’ he said.”
The FBI totally good cop / bad copped him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8z7NC5sgik
Amaranthine RBG
@Dupe70:
Or more likely, only good copped him.
You get more information that way, usually.
mai naem mobile
@Omnes Omnibus: I know this thread is dead but… my orIginal point was that I wouldn’t put Academy grads in my top twenty groups of people who I would expect to be atupid. There’s just something wrong with him. Psych issues,gambling problems,blackmail stuff…who the hell knows???
Amaranthine RBG
Anyone know what specific criminal charges would apply to collusion?
patrick II
@mai naem mobile:
Most of us have known people who, if you put a book in front of them in an academic setting, can do quite well; but if you put them in the real world they have trouble not walking into walls. All the FBI had to do was point him in the direction of a wall and let him walk into it.
Stan
@patrick II: YES
tones
@Woodrow/asim: I think the point was that if they suspected a dem was going to win anyway , there would be less reason to hold off, and not let Obama put one up – almost like they were NOT worried that Clinton was going to win for some reason …
Dupe
@Amaranthine RBG: Yes but the bad cop was the spectre of their “bosses” who didn’t believe Carter.