PapaD is an idiot, as @joshtpm pts out. We s/d stop sympathizing w/ Page b/c he's an idiot. Who do you think CIA..1/ https://t.co/UIkinp9JVH
— Max Bergmann (@maxbergmann) November 3, 2017
So don't expect American assets for Russian intel to be geniuses. Russians seemed to be trying to coopt anyone and everyone. Expect morons.
— Max Bergmann (@maxbergmann) November 3, 2017
Josh Marshall, at TPM:
Former Trump campaign advisor Michael Caputo went on MSNBC this afternoon and said George Papadopoulos was “stupid” and “had no business” being at that March 2016 foreign policy advisor meeting where he apparently talked up his ability to set up meetings with Russians or even with Vladimir Putin. He went on to say that Papadopoulos was only there because Donald Trump was getting slammed for not having any foreign policy advisors and a group was thrown together with basically zero idea of who the people even were.
“He was invited in because at the time the campaign was really reeling from criticism that it had no foreign policy or other advisers,” Caputo said during an interview with Katy Tur. “Donald Trump prided himself on running a lean and mean campaign. That group was slap dash put together in a way another campaign wouldn’t do it. Papadopoulos had no business being there.”…
But none of this is a defense. It’s irrelevant. He had no business being there and yet he was there. According to government charging documents he remained an advisor almost until the end of the campaign and was clearly in regular email contact with the campaign’s policy director, Sam Clovis. The Trumpers have long pushed this argument that they were too inexperienced, disorganized or simply too stupid to have conspired with Russians to subvert the election. That’s not how it works. As we’ve noted in recent days, intelligence operatives (of any country) are looking precisely for people who are desperate, stupid, inexperienced, crooked when they are trying to penetrate or compromise any organization or find collaborators within it. That is when you have something to work with.
The Trumpers might just as well have said well, Don Jr. and Jared Kushner, two complete neophytes and rubes, had zero business with senior roles running the campaign and meeting with foreign government emissaries as we know they did in the June meeting at Trump Tower. Definitely, “stupid”, definitely “no business” being there. And yet they were there. Desperate, stupid, inexperienced, crooked – the Trumpers checked basically every box…
And then there’s this guy…
New: Trump Campaign Adviser Met With Russian Officials in 2016 https://t.co/tAVcCQdx1d
— Mark Mazzetti (@MarkMazzettiNYT) November 4, 2017
Page tells @jaketapper he mentioned his Russia trip to others on the campaign in addition to Jeff Sessions
— Jeremy Herb (@jeremyherb) November 3, 2017
he is so chatty. very very chatty. https://t.co/fEUO5I0olL
— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) November 3, 2017
Carter Page is going to look happier at his arraignment than most men do at their weddings.
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) November 3, 2017
This is a serious question: why does Carter Page keep going on television?
— Kai Ryssdal (@kairyssdal) November 3, 2017
He is the Kato Kaelin of the Trump Administration
— Todd Heberlein (@toddheberlein) November 3, 2017
Why does anyone go on television? They like the attention. https://t.co/xMRCuwwAU7
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) November 3, 2017
.
Speaking of which…
Trump on Papadopoulos meeting: "I don't remember much about that meeting, it was a very unimportant meeting. Don't remember much about it." pic.twitter.com/Z8C7XQfHlz
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) November 3, 2017
Don't think for one second that Mueller's team doesn't document word for word everything the President says in moments like this here. https://t.co/aD1odWvkZy
— Bradley P. Moss, Esq (@BradMossEsq) November 3, 2017
Russiagate Minor Players Open Thread: “Clowns & Imbeciles”Post + Comments (62)