Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

“Joe Biden deserved better than he got from some folks in his own party.”

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

The lights are all blinking red.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Come on, man.

Bark louder, little dog.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

You are here: Home / Politics / Impeachment / Russiagate Open Thread

Russiagate Open Thread

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It’s hard to follow the cast of thousands, vividly interacting over periods of years, some of them making news on the story even today. The conflicting narratives, floating from Trump tweets through the too-credulous national media, along with the Fox setpieces and outright propaganda confuse even further.

Part of the confusion is that the scoops are not unearthed in chronological order. So it’s easy to feel that you’ve heard something before, when in fact it’s another nugget of evidence on a subpart of the big pile.

A shape is beginning to emerge out of those nuggets, but it has holes and irregularities. The bottom line is that so many, including Trump’s children, in the Trump campaign had interactions with Russians. Some plainly to receive dirt on Hillary Clinton, some for money, and probably many other things. Now including the lovely Ivanka.

David Corn has shaped up a short overview.

It’s still not as concise as I’d like it to be, and he interrupts himself too many times, but it’s helpful. Maybe I’ll try to formulate a simple narrative, but not right now. I’ve got visitors this afternoon, gonna enjoy the New Mexico Museum of History with them.

Reader Interactions

55Comments

  2. 2.

    rikyrah

    The bottom line is that so many, including Trump’s children, in the Trump campaign had interactions with Russians. Some plainly to receive dirt on Hillary Clinton, some for money, and probably many other things. Now including the lovely Ivanka.

    yeah!!

    not that we didn’t already know that she was dirty.

    Remember, the reporter who busted Ivanka in Panama wound up being killed.
    Lucretia’s up to her eyeballs in all of this,and deserves an orange jumpsuit along with the rest of her family.

  4. 4.

    trollhattan

    re. The Buzzfeed Ivanka thing…

    Ivanka Trump wields unusually strong influence over a president known for his unpredictability and impulsiveness. Though her efforts to moderate her father’s right-wing tendencies have not always succeeded, such as when he withdrew from the Paris climate accord despite her opposition, she remains uniquely close to him. She has been by his side for years in business and was one of his most trusted and popular surrogates during the presidential campaign. She has an office in the West Wing and a small staff of advisers.

    Implies she has succeeded in coaxing moderation from dear old dad. What one thing has she accomplished in that regard? Was he ready to bomb Rosie O’Donnell?

  5. 5.

    TenguPhule

    China warns U.S. against provocations following B-52 flyby

    China lashed out at the U.S. on Wednesday after a pair of B-52 bombers flew past a Chinese-held shoal in the South China Sea, amid escalating words and displays of military strength from the two major Pacific powers.

    Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying warned the U.S. against “hyping up militarization and stirring up trouble,” while promising that China would take all necessary measures to defend its sovereignty.

    The U.S. “doing whatever they want is risky and China will not be threatened by any military warships,” Hua told reporters at a daily briefing in Beijing.

  6. 6.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    Are we going to get a press conference from Mueller that lays everything out or is his team going to put together a report that will only be seen by Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell?

    I’m dreaming of a morning where we get a surprise Breaking banner at the top of the WaPo site indicating a press conference at 11:00am EDT with Mueller walking in and mentioning that “reporters might want to use the bathroom now because we’re going to be here for awhile.”

  7. 7.

    Yutsano

    @J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: Only if the Justice Department authorizes its release. Otherwise it goes as a sealed report to Congress. But we also know Congress is basically a sieve with this sort of stuff.

  9. 9.

    rikyrah

    Don’t be surprised if Lucretia turns up preggers the closer the probe gets.
    (Don’t call me sexist…you know she’d pull this ploy)

  10. 10.

    TenguPhule

    Sigh, Context is everything. And means nothing to Republicans intent on winning the news cycle.

    Secret Obama-era permit let Iran convert funds to dollars

    After striking an elusive nuclear deal with Iran, the Obama administration found itself in a quandary in early 2016: Iran had been promised access to its long-frozen overseas reserves, including $5.7 billion stuck in an Omani bank.

    To spend it, Iran wanted to convert the money into U.S. dollars and then euros, but top U.S. officials had repeatedly promised Congress that Iran would never gain access to America’s financial system.

    Those assurances notwithstanding, the Obama administration secretly issued a license to let Iran sidestep U.S. sanctions for the brief moment required to convert the funds through an American bank, an investigation by Senate Republicans released Wednesday showed. The plan failed when two U.S. banks refused to participate.

    Yet two years later, the revelation is re-igniting the bitter debate over the nuclear deal and whether former President Barack Obama was too eager to grant concessions to Tehran.

    “The Obama administration misled the American people and Congress because they were desperate to get a deal with Iran,” said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who chairs the Senate panel that conducted the investigation.

    And Republican Rep. Ed Royce, the House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, accused Obama of trying to “hide a secret push to give the ayatollah access to the U.S. dollar.”

    Not so, former Obama administration officials said, arguing the decision to grant the license adhered to the spirt of the deal, which included allowing Iran to regain access to foreign reserves that had been off-limits because of U.S. sanctions. They said the public assurances that Iran would be kept out were intended to dispel incorrect reports about nonexistent proposals that would have gone much farther by letting Iran actually buy or sell things in dollars.

  12. 12.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    Every time I see Ivanka Trump’s face I can’t help but see her father’s features.

  15. 15.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @TenguPhule:
    Let’s do switching around with this sentence. It will probably come true:

    “The Trump administration misled the American people and Congress because they were desperate to get a deal with North Korea,”

    Oh, and fuck Rob Portman. I hate that I’m stuck with him as one of my senators.

  17. 17.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Yutsano:
    I guess after. I remember seeing her that one documentary about rich kids years ago and I thought she looked alright. But really, I think it’s my disgust of her father (and her somewhat resembling him) is what makes thinks she looks ugly now.

  18. 18.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Everyone has different standards of beauty. Nothing wrong with being skinny or blond. It’s a person’s character that is what counts. Ivanka isn’t much better than her father; she’s a rich, spoiled daddy’s girl who turns a blind eye to the suffering of others but is self-aware enough to want to look good by spreading rumors about herself whispering in daddy’s ear to not be such an asshole, mm’kay?

  19. 19.

    Yutsano

    @ Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  : It’s the pressure. You can tell she’s applying her make-up more heavily now than in the past. Being under intense scrutiny all the time is hard enough for anyone, let alone a person who has never had to be accountable for her actions before. She’s getting uglier for the same reason her father is looking worse and worse: the pressure in the Oval Office is some of the most intense in the world.

  20. 20.

    catclub

    @Yutsano:

    But we also know Congress is basically a sieve with this sort of stuff.

    generally, yes, but I think there have been some reports we have begged for Democrats to release, or read on the floor, and …. nothing.
    I think there was a report on torture, and a report on 9/11 which fall into this category. No leaks.

  21. 21.

    catclub

    @TenguPhule: except it did not even happen, the headline should read Obama admin attempted to allow not Iran,
    but actually an Omani bank, convert Iranian accounts to dollars.

  22. 22.

    TenguPhule

    Middle schoolers given bulletproof shields for starting high school

    Honest to the gods I thought this was a fucking joke at first. Surely reality couldn’t be this cruel?

    Students at a school in Pennsylvania have received a bulletproof backplate for their backpacks as a gift for graduating eighth grade. The ballistic shields were donated by a local company and given to students at St Cornelius school in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, as a leaving present before high school.

    The manufacturer, Unequal, claims on its website that the shield is “kid friendly” and allows you to “be prepared” when “terror strikes”. The shield retails at $149 (although when the Guardian checked, the site was offering 10% off for people using the somewhat tasteless discount code “battle ready”).

    In footage of the gifting ceremony, children were left speechless by the sombre tone of the gift. The president of Unequal was also invited to speak, telling students “it’s sad that times have called for such a product to be invented, but we have answered such a call”.

    I can’t even.

  23. 23.

    James Powell

    @trollhattan:

    What one thing has she accomplished in that regard?

    She convinced every single person in the entire press/media world to repeat that myth.

  24. 24.

    TenguPhule

    @catclub: Story is already spreading to Wapo, I expect FTNYT to be next. They’re gonna Bengahzi the Solandra out of this Butter Emails.

  26. 26.

    The Moar You Know

    Students at a school in Pennsylvania have received a bulletproof backplate for their backpacks as a gift for graduating eighth grade. The ballistic shields were donated by a local company and given to students at St Cornelius school in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, as a leaving present before high school

    @TenguPhule: Gotta break those kids to body armor early. How else are we going to keep the flow of cannon fodder for our bumbling world misadventures?

  27. 27.

    The Moar You Know

    except it did not even happen, the headline should read Obama admin attempted to allow not Iran, but actually an Omani bank, convert Iranian accounts to dollars.

    @catclub: you cannot believe that any media outlet anywhere in the world is going to go with a view that nuanced.

  28. 28.

    Jeffro

    Wow, Alexandra Petri is SHRILL in the WaPo right now…she has had. it. with fake patriotism

  30. 30.

    rikyrah

    @J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:

    I’m dreaming of a morning where we get a surprise Breaking banner at the top of the WaPo site indicating a press conference at 11:00am EDT with Mueller walking in and mentioning that “reporters might want to use the bathroom now because we’re going to be here for awhile.”

    me too

  31. 31.

    rikyrah

    YEAH, BABY!!

    New Stormy Daniels lawsuit claims her former lawyer betrayed her and “hatched a plan” with Trump attorney Michael Cohen to get the adult film actress to publicly deny she had an affair with President Trump. https://t.co/0do0SvuDug

    — NBC News (@NBCNews) June 6, 2018

    Attached to the Stormy Daniels lawsuit are text messages exchanged between Michael Cohen and Daniels’ former lawyer Keith Davidson.

    They’re worth a read. More here: https://t.co/N3ioPrZXlW pic.twitter.com/vV4EkWtlzr

    — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 6, 2018

  32. 32.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Yutsano:
    They brought it on themselves is all I can say. I wonder if they could have had Trump declared mentally incompetent?

  33. 33.

    El Caganer

    @TenguPhule: Probably the most useful gift they’re going to get as they go off to HS and perhaps college. It would have been nice if this company could have given them some rational gun control measures, but that ain’t happening.

  35. 35.

    germy

    @Jeffro: She gets better and better.

    Trump’s patriotism is remembering the tune but not the words.

    God bless America, land that I love (animals, build the wall, lock her up), from the mountains to the prairies to the oceans white with foam! God bless America, my home sweet home. God bless America, hmm hmm, hmmm. Hm.

    One WaPo’s best.

  36. 36.

    rikyrah

    Giuliani says Mueller’s team is trying to frame Trump

    JERUSALEM — Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani says special counsel Robert Mueller’s team is trying to frame President Trump.

    Giuliani, who has been serving as Trump’s lawyer amid the Russia scandal, says Wednesday in Israel that Mueller’s team includes “13 highly partisan Democrats … (who) are trying very very hard to frame him to get him in trouble when he hasn’t done anything wrong.”

    Speaking to the Globes capital market conference in Tel Aviv, Giuliani says Trump has the power to pardon himself but won’t because he is innocent.

    It was the latest in Giuliani’s often contradictory comments surrounding the probe into Russia’s potential meddling in U.S elections.

  37. 37.

    zhena gogolia

    @rikyrah:

    Excellent thread. I get the impression that a lot of people who weren’t interested in politics before are FURIOUS about Trump. I pray that this helps us in Nov.

  40. 40.

    Amir Khalid

    @rikyrah:
    Now that’s just crazy talk. That’s all thats come out of Rudy G since he became Trump’s lawyer.

  41. 41.

    Barbara

    @Yutsano: He filed a lawsuit in California in connection with either the McDougal or Daniels matter. He was not admitted in California but I thought he was admitted in New York.

  42. 42.

    El Caganer

    @rikyrah: I keep hearing this “13 Democrat” line. When are they going to name these 13? And – if they don’t plan to – when is somebody going to ask them for a list of exactly who these people are? AFAIK, most people in Mueller’s operation (including Mueller) are Republicans.

  43. 43.

    trollhattan

    @rikyrah:
    As long as the frame is gilded I’m guessing Trump will like it just fine. Since he’s a witch we know where to get the wood.

  44. 44.

    catclub

    @El Caganer:

    When are they going to name these 13?

    They are on a sheet of paper buried with Joe McCarthy.

    I think you would search long and hard to find 13 Democrats in the FBI.

  45. 45.

    catclub

    @TenguPhule: Once you read the story, the ONLY news is that Obama did not broadcast what they were doing
    (trying to do- and did not actually complete) on daily news conferences. Everything else was by the book.
    so, yeah.

  46. 46.

    rikyrah

    He does all this grifting, and ANOTHER AIDE RESIGNS?

    PHUCK. OUTTA.HERE.

    Pruitt Aide Resigns Amid Scandals
    Elaina Plott
    59 mins ago

    A top aide to Scott Pruitt, Millan Hupp, resigned from the Environmental Protection Agency, according to a source briefed on the matter and documents reviewed by The Atlantic. Her last day will be Friday.

    Hupp, who worked as the director of scheduling and advance, has been entangled in many of the scandals dogging EPA Administrator Pruitt. In March, she was one of two aides who received hefty salary bumps, even after the White House refused Pruitt’s request for raises. And as The Washington Post reported on Monday, she recently testified to the House Oversight Committee that she regularly spent her days doing personal tasks for Pruitt, from hunting for housing to calling the Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C., to inquire about purchasing a used mattress.

    According to one top EPA official, the 26-year-old was “tired of being thrown under the bus by Pruitt,” and weary of seeing her name constantly appear in headlines about the agency. Officials began drafting her resignation paperwork on Monday morning, just after portions of her congressional testimony were made public.

    Hupp’s testimony contributed to the long list of scandals and improprieties plaguing the agency—including, most notably, that Pruitt rented a Capitol Hill condo from an energy lobbyist for just $50 a month, and spent more than $40,000 on a soundproof booth in his office on the taxpayers’ dime. For months now, according to multiple White House and EPA sources, officials as senior as Chief of Staff John Kelly have lobbied President Donald Trump to fire Pruitt.

  47. 47.

    YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)

    @catclub: Polifact names names and has details of the connections. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2018/mar/21/donald-trump/fact-checking-donald-trumps-claims-about-Mueller/ As always the truth is a bit less than claimed but at least a dozen had some connection to Democrats or the party. ‘ETA from the article: “Brett Kappel, an attorney specializing in political law and government ethics at the firm Akerman LLP, said that in his experience, “Justice Department lawyers tend to skew towards the Democrats while FBI agents are overwhelmingly Republican.”,

  49. 49.

    p.a.

    Levenson and the physics commenters better get on the ball about the tachyon field: we’re all REAL tired of this timeline…

  52. 52.

    Jeffro

    Still trying to picture what would’ve happened if a president Hillary Clinton had been informed by the acting Attorney General that her national security advisor was working for the Russians … and her response was to do nothing for a couple of weeks.

    Oh and then retaliate against that at acting Attorney General it at the next available opportunity .

    I mean, I have a pretty good idea of what would happen … i’m just not quite sure whether or not the Republicans would jump on it and call for Hillary‘s impeachment, or drawing and quartering

  53. 53.

    Chet Murthy

    @germy: Damn, not just one of WaPo’s best, but this particular column is one of -her- best. Just brilliant.

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