Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

This is dead girl, live boy, a goat, two wetsuits and a dildo territory.  oh, and pink furry handcuffs.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

The only way through is to slog through the muck one step at at time.

A fool as well as an oath-breaker.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

When we show up, we win.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

T R E 4 5 O N

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

You are here: Home / Politics / Goddamned Traitors / Obviously, a major malfunction…

Obviously, a major malfunction…

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Anonymous White House officials throwing Trump under the bus to the WSJ:

LOL!

PS: I adore Ted Lieu:

I have no idea what’s going to happen, fellow citizens. But this has been a remarkable news day. Maybe this motherfucker is finally going to get what he deserves.

ETA:

She was right about everything. Everything.

Reader Interactions

111Comments

  2. 2.

    Teddys Person

    Maybe this motherfucker is finally going to get what he deserves.

    I for one am going to spend the remainder of my day in tepid hope.

  3. 3.

    schrodingers_cat

    While no one was looking USCIS has gone ahead and made renewing or changing your immigration status a minefield that could land you in deportation proceedings if you are not careful.
    But we like legal immigrants, they said.
    thread

  6. 6.

    jl

    If last few days of news, and Trump’s (IMHO very expected) weirdo performance at his performance review, give the GOP electoral state fair train wreck in November some more steam, that is all I care about right now.

  7. 7.

    lamh36

    I see Rand Paul on CNN trying to talk over w/Wolf Blitzer so he can keep on defending what Trump has done that NO OTHER President, esp a Dem Prez would EVER get away with. What does Russia have on Senator Paul I wonder?

  9. 9.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud: Do you think we are in the middle, or the beginning of the end? At very least, the end of the beginning, sprinting into the middle.

    I am going to be happy. Too much not so coincidental behavior going on in past months. Ryan out, wave of GOP retirements …

  11. 11.

    Mike in DC

    @Baud:
    IF and only if Trump is outed as an active Russian intelligence asset, I do agree that the worm will turn exceedingly swiftly. You can’t stage a successful d’etat with only 27 percent of the general public and at best a plurality of elites behind you.

  12. 12.

    J.

    Maybe this motherfucker is finally going to get what he deserves.

    HAHAHAHAHA. Nope. But thanks for playing. (The Russian mob owns too many Republican Congresscritters at this point.)

  14. 14.

    dmsilev

    The White House had planned for Trump to “push Putin” at today’s presser,

    I assume ‘push’ is some hot new slang for ‘suck up to’?

  16. 16.

    Yarrow

    @lamh36: Both Rand and his dad have plenty of ties to Russia. Of course Rand is desperately trying to change the subject or blame anyone else for anything else. He’s in deep shit.

  18. 18.

    danielx

    @Baud:

    Not swiftly enough, dammit. And I admit the thought of President Pence does not have me doing cartwheels, particularly as he is up to his lips in the same manure.

    I know it’s a tired trope at this point, but chalk up today’s drama as one more example where if HRC had done it, forget impeachment – Republicans would be howling for her to burned at the stake on the White House lawn.

  19. 19.

    trollhattan

    These Russian DNCC hack details from the indictment via Politico’s Eric Geller are pretty damn interesting, if not disturbing at how hackable we all probably are.

    — Peering over DCCC employees’ shoulders: Between April and June 2016, the hackers installed malware called X-Agent on “at least ten DCCC computers,” according to the indictment. The malware silently lurked on the DCCC network, stealing employees’ passwords and watching their keystrokes and their screens as they typed sensitive details about finances and other sensitive information. It also transferred DCCC files to a server in Arizona that the Russians had leased.

    On April 14, the Russians used the malware to watch their first DCCC victim communicating with colleagues and planning “fundraising and voter outreach projects.” Eight days later, they watched a second employee discuss the committee’s finances.

    — Breaking into the DNC: The indictment reveals that the Russians got into the DNC through their access to the DCCC. On April 18, they used their malware to steal the credentials of a DCCC employee who had access to the DNC network. From there, they set to work gaining wider access to the DNC. By the end of June 2016, they had accessed around 33 DNC computers. Four days after first breaching the DNC, the Russians bundled up several gigabytes of committee data for transfer. They later moved it to a server they leased in Illinois.

    Between late May and early June 2016, according to the indictment, the hackers breached the DNC’s Microsoft-hosted email service and stole “thousands of emails” from committee workers.

  21. 21.

    The Dangerman

    @Baud:

    …but it will come swiftly.

    Swiftly … and loudly; it’ll be like the 4th of July at the Rose Bowl there will be so many pyrotechnics going off.

  22. 22.

    lamh36

    GTFO…JIM.

    You are one of the MAIN reasons why we have this Orange Buffoon as President today!

    @Comey
    14m14 minutes ago
    This was the day an American president stood on foreign soil next to a murderous lying thug and refused to back his own country. Patriots need to stand up and reject the behavior of this president.
    twitter.com/Comey/status/1018965071786110976

  25. 25.

    lamh36

    @MichLKosinski
    5m5 minutes ago
    More
    Sen Rand Paul aso REFUSING TO ANSWER THE QUESTION, who do you believe– the US intel community, or Putin?? Says “that’s not the question.”

  27. 27.

    Yarrow

    @Elizabelle: Whether it’s the beginning, middle or end, i’s going to accelerate from here.

    From a WH source: Even those who like Trump no longer like Trump.— Brian J. Karem (@BrianKarem) July 16, 2018

  28. 28.

    piratedan

    … waiting patiently for the next wave of NYT features on Trump voters and how they feel that Trump’s direction on making the USA subservient to Russia’s needs will bring more jobs to the heartland and will salve their need for constant bashing of people with different quantities of melanin content in their skin.

    can only hope that we’ve finally whetted the appetite of the media to actually be interested in the treason story and start digging deeper into not only Trump, but their beloved GOP and even some of their fellow journos and their publications…

  30. 30.

    The Dangerman

    @danielx:

    …Louie Gohmert’s head spinning around on his shoulders, a la Linda Blair.

    Hannity for me. The rot goes way deep … and lot of people are going to be doing the hokey POKEY (that’s what it’s all about) if not outright going Jim Jones on us.

  33. 33.

    Patricia Kayden

    @lamh36: How is that not the question when the Intelligence community just came out on Friday (and even before then) and clearly stated that Russians interfered in our elections? Rand Paul should just come out and say that he could care less about the integrity of our election process and our democracy in general. With him and other Republicans, it’s party over country.

  34. 34.

    trollhattan

    @danielx:
    Until proven otherwise I’m assuming Gomert is too stupid to grasp the implication of any of this mess. He’s off making another “blame Hillary” unflowchart poster for the house floor.

  35. 35.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Elizabelle:
    @Mike in DC:
    @Baud:
    As a comment from the dead Things Done Changed thread explained, I’m worried that the Russians will attempt to delegitimize anyone who appears to be a uniting figure so that no national consensus will form, like it has in scandals like Watergate in the past. The commenter suggested that that is what is happening to Sanders (not immediately calling for ICE to be abolished for example).

    Midnight Lurker also made an interesting observation: that whatever plan has been cooked up by the Russian government, has possibly gone south due to something Trump has done, and right now they’re trying salvage what is left of it.

  36. 36.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    the whole thing– Putin saying of course he wanted trump to win, the fucking soccer ball– was Putin mocking trump and the United States, but trump is os fucking dumb and needy he doesn’t know he’s being taunted, and used to taunt the rest of us

  37. 37.

    Yarrow

    @danielx: Pence will not be President for long if he does assume the office. Remember that he headed the transition team. He knows a lot more than he wants people to think he does. And that doesn’t even address what he is hiding in those emails when he was Gov. of Indiana.

  39. 39.

    Brachiator

    The White House had planned for Trump to “push Putin” at today’s presser, thinking any confrontational approach would come as a surprise and “make him look good,” one official said.

    “Obviously, it didn’t happen,” the official said.

    Again, Trump resists being handled or taking any advice that would make him look “cautious” or “statesmanlike.” He just is not going to do it. This has been consistent since early on, and compounded when he won his big victory with tax reform, aka, “mo’ money for the rich.”

    However, the official propaganda arm of the Trump administration, Fox News, still has to help him recover from his dreadful summit performance, and craft a message to give assurances to the dopes who continue to support him. From the Hill:

    Trump is scheduled to sit down for interview with Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson before departing Helsinki for Washington, D.C.

    I fully expect both hosts to tell Trump how masterful he was in dealing with Putin.

  43. 43.

    Mary G

    Wow, the affidavit of Kevin Helson, the FBI agent supporting Butina’s arrest, contains all the receipts. Particularly, about the use of the National Prayer Breakfast (which needs to stop) to meet and influence Americans.

  44. 44.

    chris

    A rusty chainsaw STAT!

    UPDATE: 24 hours after downplaying campaign interference and calling Mueller's probe a "witch hunt," Rand Paul has announced a trip to Russia "to discuss common ground with their leaders and help prevent further, unnecessary escalation of tensions."? t.co/z9cDZ46fr5— Frank Dale (@fwdale) 16 July 2018

  45. 45.

    jl

    @trollhattan: I saw of clip of Gohmert’s demented and vile performance at last weeks Strzok hearings.

    Who is the Congresswomen who yelled ‘You need your medications!” at the prefect moment? That clip should be featured in oppo ads against Gohmert during the campaign. Can we get her some kind of medal, distinguished service award, or something?

  46. 46.

    hueyplong

    Even if they eventually get away with it, I am enjoying the perceived discomfort of GOPers who know a Russian has not just been indicted, but is in actual custody.

    Some guys are dying to have some conversations with one another.

  49. 49.

    lamh36

    If nothing else…the continuous smirk on Putin’s face during this entire Helsinki fiasco…ANY sane person should be PISSED…

  50. 50.

    Shell

    Maybe this motherfucker is finally going to get what he deserves.

    God, I wish I could the sound of hounds in the distance…. If only!

  52. 52.

    Elizabelle

    James Fallows in The Atlantic: This Is the Moment of Truth for Republicans
    The GOP can either defend the United States or serve the damaged and defective man who is now its president.

    There are exactly two possible explanations for the shameful performance the world witnessed on Monday, from a serving American president.

    Either Donald Trump is flat-out an agent of Russian interests—maybe witting, maybe unwitting, from fear of blackmail, in hope of future deals, out of manly respect for Vladimir Putin, out of gratitude for Russia’s help during the election, out of pathetic inability to see beyond his 306 electoral votes. Whatever the exact mixture of motives might be, it doesn’t really matter.

    Or he is so profoundly ignorant, insecure, and narcissistic that he did not realize that, at every step, he was advancing the line that Putin hoped he would advance, and the line that the American intelligence, defense, and law-enforcement agencies most dreaded.

    Conscious tool. Useful idiot. Those are the choices, though both are possibly true, so that the main question is the proportions.

    Whatever the balance of motivations, what mattered was that Trump’s answers were indistinguishable from Putin’s, starting with the fundamental claim that Putin’s assurances about interference in U.S. democracy (“He was incredibly strong and confident in his denial”) deserved belief over those of his own Department of Justice (“I think the probe is a disaster for our country”).

    …. never before have I seen an American president consistently, repeatedly, publicly, and shockingly advance the interests of another country over those of his own government and people.

    Trump manifestly cannot help himself. This is who he is.

    Those who could do something are the 51 Republican senators and 236 Republican representatives who have the power to hold hearings, issue subpoenas, pass resolutions of censure, guarantee the integrity of Robert Mueller’s investigation, condemn the past Russian election interference, shore up protections against the next assault, and in general defend their country rather than the damaged and defective man who is now its president.

    For 18 months, members of this party have averted their eyes from Trump, rather than disturb the Trump elements among their constituency or disrupt the party’s agenda on tax cuts and the Supreme Court. They already bear responsibility for what Trump has done to his office.

    Strong words.

    ETA: Fallows left out the possibility that Trump is owned by Russia, that he’s indebted to them keeping his empire afloat, quite aside from any electoral help. Wonder why?

  56. 56.

    Platonailedit

    DNI Coats said last week that the U.S.'s digital infrastructure is "literally under attack" and warned that among state actors, Russia is the "worst offender."

    Trump told CBS News: "I don't know if I agree with that.

    "t.co/9pITVuYmbf— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 16, 2018

    ‘cuz this ignoramus turd knows everything cyber?

  57. 57.

    MisterForkbeard

    @lamh36: Granted, fuck Comey. On the other hand: I’m happy to have everyone we can openly calling Trump a traitor, and that’s pretty much what Comey is doing.

  58. 58.

    Tokyokie

    I’d like to think the political end for these treasonous fucks is rapidly approaching, but then I think of the end of the Costa-Gavras political thriller Z (based on the 1960s military coup in Greece). The movie’s omnipresent journalist is on TV, showing mugs of the coup planners and announcing their sentences, when suddenly his mug is shown, and a different news reader is telling of his sentence (longer than that of any of the coup participants), then revealing the untimely deaths of all the opposition party officials, who are the movie’s main characters. In other words, as Yogi Berra would say, “It ain’t over till it’s over.”

    (I found the sequence from Z on YouTube, but only in French and without English subtitles, so I didn’t link to it.)

  59. 59.

    Roger Moore

    @chris:

    UPDATE: 24 hours after downplaying campaign interference and calling Mueller’s probe a “witch hunt,” Rand Paul has announced a trip to Russia “to discuss common ground with their leaders and help prevent further, unnecessary escalation of tensions.”? t.co/z9cDZ46fr5— Frank Dale (@fwdale) 16 July 2018

    Here’s hoping they announce his indictment while he’s there.

  65. 65.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Brachiator: I’m kind of looking forward to this. Hannity and Carlson are going to do their damndest to make Trump look like a brave hero taking on the traitors back home, and I really want to be able to throw this in their faces when it inevitably blows up.

    Honestly, given that Hannity apparently speaks to Trump every other night on an unsecured phone and Hannity’s own russian/wikileaks connections, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if various intelligence services don’t have evidence of Hannity knowing about Russian interference and lying about it daily to his viewers.

    @chris: Oh look, another traitor. Huh, it’s weird that there’s just so many of these in the GOP? Must be a coincidence.

  66. 66.

    Jay

    Funny, I’m old enough to remember back in the day when July/August were dead zones for political news.

  67. 67.

    hueyplong

    The thought of Rand Paul fleeing prosecution to defect fills me with joy.

    Check out some of those 97-2 and 96-3 votes.

  69. 69.

    Brachiator

    @schrodingers_cat:

    While no one was looking USCIS has gone ahead and made renewing or changing your immigration status a minefield that could land you in deportation proceedings if you are not careful.

    Thanks for noting this. I read a story on this earlier, but never posted anything about it.

    None of this has anything to do with security, or keeping the country safe, or any of the other lies Trump offers. It is nothing but petty cruelty. Trump seems to believe that some people simply do not deserve to be citizens or residents, or that they somehow have taken advantage of the system. And, as we all know, Trump has this weird thing about being treated unfairly or being taken advantage of. And he must root out those he deems to be unworthy, no matter what.

  70. 70.

    Shell

    Trump is scheduled to sit down for interview with Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson

    Its almost impossible to conceive that he really believes that he’s done something wonderful. But,,,there you are. He also believes that his poll numbers are better than Abraham Lincoln’s, so….

  71. 71.

    opiejeanne

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Is anyone watching or going to watch Sacred Games on Netflix?

    I looked up the description and it sounds interesting. We are flailing around, looking for the next series to watch. Just finished Season 1 of No Offence and are trying to watch a somewhat confusing Australian series called Secret City. Two episodes in and the jury’s still out. Someone died (was murdered) and we didn’t remember the character until a photo of him was shown later. We’ve already figured out a plot twist, pretty damned sure of what’s coming on that one line, but damn the bodies are starting to pile up in a manner that makes me wonder why everyone involved doesn’t make a run for it.

  72. 72.

    MisterForkbeard

    @lamh36: Don’t care. Comey fucked up horribly and is responsible for this. But he also has some level of influence, so him calling Trump a traitor is a good thing.

  73. 73.

    Yarrow

    @Adam L Silverman: I know! I even commented in that thread. I just like to remember some of the details. I commented about Grassley’s post at the time. It’s all been out there in plain sight if anyone was looking.

  74. 74.

    Elizabelle

    One-two punch from The Atlantic. Here is David Frum weighing in, too.

    The Crisis Facing America
    The country can no longer afford to wait to ascertain why President Trump has subordinated himself to Putin—it must deal with the fact that he has.

    …. The reasons for Trump’s striking behavior—whether he was bribed or blackmailed or something else—remain to be ascertained. That he has publicly refused to defend his country’s independent electoral process—and did so jointly with the foreign dictator who perverted that process—is video-recorded fact.

    And it’s a fact that has to be seen in the larger context of his actions in office: denouncing the EU as a “foe,” threatening to break up nato, wrecking the U.S.-led world trading system, intervening in both U.K. and German politics in support of extremist and pro-Russian forces, and his continued refusal to act to protect the integrity of U.S. voting systems—it adds up to a political indictment whether or not it quite qualifies as a criminal one.

    America is a very legalistic society, in which public discussion often deteriorates into lawyers arguing whether any statutes have been violated. But confronting the country in the wake of Helsinki is this question: Can it afford to wait to ascertain why Trump has subordinated himself to Putin after the president has so abjectly demonstrated that he has subordinated himself? Robert Mueller is leading a legal process. The United States faces a national-security emergency.

    The Atlantic is soliciting reader opinions. Via Letter to the Editor via email link. (You’ll recall they had to do away with their comments section, because it was Troll Central, but they do seem interesting in taking the pulse of their readers and anyone else who cares to check in with them.)

  77. 77.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @lamh36:

    What does Russia have on Senator Paul I wonder?

    With the NRA revelations today, the default answer to questions like this has to be “They funded his campaign and provided data for his strategies.”

  78. 78.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Patricia Kayden: To shield himself from charges of collusion and conspiracy now? As in “I couldn’t have been part of the conspiracy! Look at how anti-Russia I am!”

  80. 80.

    schrodingers_cat

    @opiejeanne: I don’t love the gangster genre but I do like the team (the directors, the writing team and the onscreen talent) associated with it. I checked it out for 5 minutes, the English dubbed version seems clunky, I may watch the Hindi original.

  81. 81.

    ruemara

    @Mary G: Seconded. Any of these state religion hybrids need to stop. If it’s not as innocuous as the Passover Seder & Iftar dinner, then it needs to go.

    @Patricia Kayden: He’s an evil man hoping that age and gaslighting will allow him to die in his own bed.

  82. 82.

    jl

    @Patricia Kayden: McConnell is the most cynical operator imaginable. He’ll say whatever it takes.
    Does he give interviews or go on the news talkies anymore? If so, maybe some corporate celeb news diva will ask him why he blew a bipartisan effort to block Russia govt’s attempts at election tampering in 2016?

  83. 83.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @lamh36:

    What does Russia have on Senator Paul I wonder?

    Paul is a libertarian, greed is the only virtue so it goes without saying Paul been bought and paid for.

    And let us for a moment savior the irony of a Rayndain like Paul selling out the to Commies.

  84. 84.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Brachiator: I know so many people stuck in the interminably long GC queues. The ones that left for greener pastures seem smarter now.

    ETA: Like my two friends who are a couple both in long term visas with no clear path to a green card. One a researcher in genetics and another a pediatric oncologist. They have a daughter who is a US citizen.

  85. 85.

    efgoldman

    @J.:

    The Russian mob owns too many Republican Congresscritters

    They don’t own the prosecutors and the courts.

  86. 86.

    SenyorDave

    Maybe this motherfucker is finally going to get what he deserves.

    Die in prison, with a long stint as bitch to an inmate named Madcow. maybe madcow has a gambling problem, and uses the orange POS to pay off his debts.

    Hey, a guy can hope, can’t he?

  87. 87.

    Kathleen

    I have theories based on extensive reading and paying close attention the last 55 years.
    1. One of the powerful factions is done with Trump and Sanders. They’ve served their purpose and outlived usefulness. The primary shift due to Trump’s tariff policies which will create
    havoc for too many large global businesses.
    2. Ocasio-Cortez is Bernie v.2 and will play the role of “Gadfly From The Left” and continue Sanders’ role as Rodent Purity Procreator.
    3. The script has changed. The media do not react like this unless they’ve received “the new script”.
    4. The goal is to maintain fascist rethuglican agenda and Trump is collateral damage.. Media will be focused on celebrating Trump’s departure and maintaining Fascist rethuglican
    agenda. Expect the media to return to its primal state of intoning “both sides” (in best concerned NPR voice) and bashing Democrats.
    5. As everyone here has said, we have to do all we can to elect Dems this year and prove to ourselves we really do have power even in the face of Rethuglican treachery and evil.

    On another note, did anyone else see anything on Twitter this morning about a very strange tweet supposedly from Trumps account? It seemed to freak a lot of people out. I’m going o try to retrieve it and provide link in comments if successful.

  88. 88.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @lamh36:

    If nothing else…the continuous smirk on Putin’s face during this entire Helsinki fiasco…ANY sane person should be PISSED…

    I just can’t help thinking – PBS was saying this is Putin’s revenge of the collapse of the Soviet Union, and I can’t help but note that how many of the Republicans getting caught up in this are Chickenhawks from the Cold War. WTF, did Putin spend the last thirty years luring these A-holes in with own greed for something like this?

    While it’s infuriating as an American you got to be impressed how Putin is getting a twofer off of this.

  89. 89.

    kindness

    Meh! I’m confident Republicans in Congress will do absolutely nothing. I’m also confident that the Fox News contingent likes Putin more than Hillary or Barack. Those people won’t demand anything (except another hippie punching specticle).

  90. 90.

    schrodingers_cat

    Continuation of my earlier comment 84.
    When I talked to them the last (3 years ago) they were hoping to apply for a greencard through their respective employers. Since they are from India, if that petition/s is successful it would take anywhere from a few years to decades to get the actual GC (depending on which category of the employment based permanent residency they qualify for, there are at least 5 sub types that I know of, IANAL)

  91. 91.

    les

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    And let us for a moment savior the irony of a Rayndain like Paul selling out the to Commies.

    Ah, but Putin’s Russia is as close to libertarian as you can get, no? Love to see Rand try to survive there.

  93. 93.

    M. Bouffant

    Nope.

    The American people are going to get what they deserve, good & hard, for letting Trump into the Executive Mansion. Sucker-ass chumps.

  96. 96.

    Sherparick

    @lamh36: His dream to abolish the income tax, social security, & Medicare. Senator Paul will gladly accept Russian help to turn the U.S.A. into a Christianist Galt Gulch. That end justify the means (Trump & Putin).

  99. 99.

    Sherparick

    @M. Bouffant: One should remember that the majority of the people who voted did not vote for him. He did not win a plurality. A minority, a malignant minority rules this country & they no longer have legitimacy. Certainly not after today.

  100. 100.

    Aleta

    Good to remember that before the election, Aleksander Torshin (close to Putin, Deputy Governor of the B. of Russia, m*b connections, suspected to be the person who directed Maria Butina*)

    (requested that) Trump attend an event on the sidelines of a National Rifle Association convention in Louisville, Kentucky, in May 2016, (three) sources said. The email also suggests Torshin was seeking to meet with a high-level Trump campaign official during the convention, and that he may have had a message for Trump from Putin, the sources said.

    Kushner rebuffed the request after receiving a lengthy email exchange about it between a West Virginia man and Trump campaign aide Rick Dearborn, the sources said.
    “Pass on this,” Kushner responded, according to a letter sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee Friday evening (in November 2017).

    (Kushner had failed to disclose the request.)

    However, Torshin was seated with the candidate’s son, Donald Trump Jr., during a private dinner on the sidelines of a May 2016 NRA event during the convention in Louisville, according to an account Torshin gave to Bloomberg. Congressional investigators have no clear explanation for how that came to be, according to sources familiar with the matter.

    Alan Futerfas, lawyer for Donald Trump Jr., confirmed to NBC News that his client spoke with Torshin at the dinner, but he said the men were not sitting together.

    “Donald J. Trump Jr. was attending an NRA convention and having dinner when an acquaintance asked him to say hello to Torshin and made an introduction,” Futerfas said. “They made small talk for a few minutes and went back to their separate meals. That is the extent of their communication or contact.”

    Futerfas said the men didn’t talk politics, but instead talked about guns. (NBC, Nov 2017)

    *Esquire: “From as early as 2015 and continuing through at least February 2017, Butina worked at the direction of a high-level official in the Russian government who was previously a member of the legislature of the Russian Federation and later became a top official at the Russian Central Bank. This Russian official was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control in April 2018. The court filings detail the Russian official’s and Butina’s efforts for Butina to act as an agent of Russia inside the United States by developing relationships with U.S. persons and infiltrating organizations having influence in American politics, for the purpose of advancing the interests of the Russian Federation.”

  106. 106.

    efgoldman

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Rand Paul should just come out and say that he could care less about the integrity of our election process

    the senator with the racoon on his head needs to worry about a primary from the right, rather than as Dem from the left.

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