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[Dubbedinenglish]

I don't understand what Tillerson has to do with this latest stuff (not complaining but just don't know) and I really don't understand this Russian Ambassador / Syria stuff. This is all moving too fast

Tillerson's credentials for SoS is receiving a friendship award from Putin and working around sanctions of Russia and Iran. Was also pretty suspect his name showed up after Putin publicly said "no" to Romney.

There is something called the Logan Act, which forbids citizens from contacting and dealing with states under sanction without the approval of the state department. Flynn (Trumps nat'l sec advisor) was in contact with the Russian government after the expulsion of diplomats by Obama without State Department approval. Pretty clearly violating the Logan Act.

 

[Veitsev]

I don't understand what Tillerson has to do with this latest stuff (not complaining but just don't know) and I really don't understand this Russian Ambassador / Syria stuff. This is all moving too fast

Ties with Russia/Oil industry and was given the Order of Friendship by Putin.

 

[jelly]

Self preservation

 

[Infinite Stars]

You know what I just realized? There's been minimal "but 4chan" the deeper we are into this affair of stupidity.

Not saying that it's confirmed, but when Damage control stops, you know it's beginning to get real

 

[guek]

https://twitter.com/GOP/status/819668764191059968

a whole lot of layers to this onion

what is this

 

[Gutek]

what is this

Deflection

 

[wesleyshark]

what is this

"Squirrel!"

 

[smokeymicpot]

Kind of hyped for trump tweet.

 

[Fancyarcher]

Senator on CNN saying Tillerson's confirmation is definitely in doubt now.

Great news!

 

[Evolved1]

Kind of hyped for trump tweet.

If he doesn't tweet, that will get me excited.

Means they have his ass on lock-down.

 

[Fancyarcher]

what is this

Desperation!

 

[BronsonLee]

If Trump wasn't gonna shut up before, he definitely won't now

 

[kris.]

I eagerly await tonight's flurry of tweets.

 

[smokeymicpot]

If he doesn't tweet, that will get me excited.

Means they have his ass on lock-down.

You know he will tweet. It is gonna be so pissy like a teenage girl missing prom.

 

[Nafai1123]

"THE SENATE (GOP & DEMS) HAVE BEEN CAUGHT UP IN A WITCH HUNT. WASTING TAXPAYER $$$. SAD!"

There you go.

 

[kris.]

"THE SENATE (GOP & DEMS) HAVE BEEN CAUGHT UP IN A WITCH HUNT. WASTING TAXPAYER $$$. SAD!"

There you go.

donald is that u

 

[Zukkoyaki]

"THE SENATE (GOP & DEMS) HAVE BEEN CAUGHT UP IN A WITCH HUNT. WASTING TAXPAYER $$$. SAD!"

There you go.

Forgot something about Russia already saying it isn't true

 

[iRAWRasaurus]

Hope they're working on this 24/7 for the next week. Somebody deliver them some Adderall

my man.

 

[jelly]

Kind of hyped for trump tweet.

I didn't want the job anyway! Only losers work in politics, I won. I'm going for a HOT shower.

 

[The Chosen One]

CNN is saying this decision was made in the last 24 hours.

They will be looking specifically to find links between Trumps team and Russia or Russian middlemen.

Oh wow. I thought this was just the investigation on Russian hacking and cyber security in general that McConnel discussed a few weeks ago.

But if this is actually in response to events of the last 24-48 hours, then this is pretty big.

 

[Evolved1]

"THE SENATE (GOP & DEMS) HAVE BEEN CAUGHT UP IN A WITCH HUNT. WASTING TAXPAYER $$$. SAD!"

There you go.

Honestly cannot tell if it's real -- I'll actually have to go look.

Sigh

 

[BronsonLee]

There's CLEARLY merit to that report now.

 

[smokeymicpot]

"THE SENATE (GOP & DEMS) HAVE BEEN CAUGHT UP IN A WITCH HUNT. WASTING TAXPAYER $$$. SAD!"

There you go.

Gonna be more salty and he will name names.

 

[The Chosen One]

So Flynn seems to be in clear violation of the Logan act.

Unless we know for sure what was discussed, I don't think we can definitively say if he violated the Logan Act.

 

[LookAtMeGo]

I had nothing to do with this. All lies. Ask Putin! Call him! Terrble lies. Many such cases! Autism!!

 

[Rebel Leader]

Unless we know for sure what was discussed, I don't think we can definitively say if he violated the Logan Act.

He surely wasn't talking about golf or grandkids

 

[How About No]

my man.

 

[Already Torn]

"THE SENATE (GOP & DEMS) HAVE BEEN CAUGHT UP IN A WITCH HUNT. WASTING TAXPAYER $$$. SAD!"

There you go.

No mention of Hillary Clinton or CNN?

 

[Polari]

That Chris Baugh summary should be removed from the OP - it's baseless speculation.

 

[KernelPanic]

I've probably read too many spy novels but former KGB agent and Russian oil exec Oleg Erovinkin died of a heart attack end of December.

http://stocknewsusa.com/2016/12/29/...eg-erovinkin-found-dead-backseat-black-lexus/

Besides that:

Russian Ambassador in Turkey, Andrei Karlov, was assassinated in Ankara on December 19th.

Another Russian diplomat, Petr Polshikov, was found dead in his apartment in Moscow that same day.

Yves Chandelon, NATO chief auditor on terrorist financing and money laundering, was also found dead in his car on 16th December.

I wonder if some of those guys were Chris Steele informants. The NATO guy is interesting. Schindler said something about NATO intel finding financial ties between Trump and Russia.

Just fooling around I guess

 

[newshinycd]

компроGAZI!

Phone calls!!

Passports!

 

[sphagnum]

"The Senate will decide your fate!"
"I AM THE SENATE."

 

[ZOONAMI]

No mention of Hillary Clinton or CNN?

THE SENATE #WITCHUNT IS IN BED WITH #CROOKEDHILLARY AND CNN IS #FAKENEWS AND RUSSIA SAID THERE ARE NO TAPES. SAD!

 

[guek]

Deflection

"Squirrel!"

Desperation!

No, seriously though, what is this? The article itself is overly long and rambling.

I'm only half way through but as far as I can tell, the only connection is that Alexandra Chalupa did a ton of independent research on Manafort and had some meetings with both the Qcampaign and the Ukrainian embassy and may have exchanged information with both parties but never as a direct representative of either.

 

[Infinite Stars]

I've probably read too many spy novels but former KGB agent and Russian oil exec Oleg Erovinkin died of a heart attack end of December.

http://stocknewsusa.com/2016/12/29/...eg-erovinkin-found-dead-backseat-black-lexus/

Besides that:



I wonder if some of those guys were Chris Steele informants. The NATO guy is interesting. Schindler said something about NATO intel finding financial ties between Trump and Russia.

Just fooling around I guess

It's a stretch of the highest caliber, but with everything that has happened it doesn't seem Completely impossible.

 

[blackw0lf]

Smart analysis of the Flynn-Russian Ambassador conversation, and whether that violated any norms or laws, over at Slate

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slat...ns_is_this_normal.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_top

Bottom line

Meetings between the president-elect’s team and foreign officials are Normal. Negotiations that undermine a sitting president’s foreign policy are not unprecedented, but remain highly controversial and Not Normal.

So what Flynn did was not without precedent, but it's highly controversial, for good reason.

As for breaking the law, Tom Cotton possibly violated the Logan Act when he and other Senators wrote to Iran to scuttle the Iran deal. And nothing happened to him. So probably same here.

 

[Exploratory]

Ladies and gentlemen, I need an update. I read the update in the OP but it seems this story is still developing beyond what's there.

 

[iapetus]

what is this

 

[mo60]

So what has happened in the last few hours or so?

 

[-Plasma Reus-]

So what has happened in the last few hours or so?

An investigation has been called in to connections between Trump's team and Russia.

 

[Mully]

Gonna be more salty and he will name names.

He surely wasn't talking about golf or grandkids

It doesn't matter. The argument is now whether he was talking a Russia/Syria deal or not.

 

[JasoNsider]

Hey all, I'm a Canadian guy that's not totally up to speed on American political structure. Can somebody explain to me the significance of this? Does the Senate have complete independence from Trump and will certainly operate for the best interest of the people? I'm just curious how big a deal this news is.

 

[Waldo Lydecker]

When I see Trump I somehow see a person very much drugged for... Alzheimers? He doesn't look healthy to me.

 

[smokeymicpot]

It doesn't matter. The argument is now whether he was talking a Russia/Syria deal or not.

I know but the gravey is the salty respones.

 

[Nafai1123]

Hey all, I'm a Canadian guy that's not totally up to speed on American political structure. Can somebody explain to me the significance of this? Does the Senate have complete independence from Trump and will certainly operate for the best interest of the people? I'm just curious how big a deal this news is.

Yeah the Senate is independent so nothing Trump can do to stop this. Whether they will operate with the best interest of the people is a mystery. 8 GOP and 7 Dems on the committee.

 

[JasoNsider]

Yeah the Senate is independent so nothing Trump can do to stop this. Whether they will operate with the best interest of the people is a mystery. 8 GOP and 7 Dems on the committee.

Ok, thanks for the info! I assumed all this but wanted to check with those who know more about how this works. To an outsider, this announcement of investigation sounds gravely serious.

 

[chadskin]

Michael Flynn, President-elect Donald Trump's choice for national security adviser, held five phone calls with Russia's ambassador to Washington on the day the United States retaliated for Moscow's interference in the U.S. presidential election, three sources familiar with the matter said.

The calls occurred between the time the Russian embassy was told about U.S. sanctions and the announcement by Russian President Vladimir Putin that he had decided against reprisals, said the sources. They spoke on condition of anonymity, citing internal U.S. government deliberations about the issue.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-idUSKBN14X1YX

The plot thickens.

 

[NihonTiger90]

Yeah the Senate is independent so nothing Trump can do to stop this. Whether they will operate with the best interest of the people is a mystery. 8 GOP and 7 Dems on the committee.

Specifically, its:

GOP:
Richard Burr, North Carolina, Chairman
Jim Risch, Idaho
Marco Rubio, Florida
Susan Collins, Maine
Roy Blunt, Missouri
James Lankford, Oklahoma
Tom Cotton, Arkansas
John Cornyn, Texas

Dems:

Mark Warner, Virginia, Vice Chairman
Dianne Feinstein, California
Ron Wyden, Oregon
Martin Heinrich, New Mexico
Angus King, Maine (Independent, caucuses with Democrats)
Joe Manchin, West Virginia
Kamala Harris, California

Collins is a more moderate Republican (most moderate of the bunch, actually) and should be the "swing vote" on the panel. Cotton is a nutcase, but he may hate Russia enough that he's willing to keep an open mind a bit. Rubio will do whatever he thinks is best for his political future. The rest of the Republicans will probably try to do what they can to make sure Trump and Co. stay clean but there could be surprises and they'll all turn on him if there's irrefutable evidence to do so (and save themselves in the process).

 

[Knuckle Sandwich]

When I see Trump I somehow see a person very much drugged for... Alzheimers? He doesn't look healthy to me.

He's not healthy. I dunno about alzheimers but the dude is 70, overweight and eats KFC.

 

[Forgotten_Taco]

Chris Steel gave the the dossier to the FBI in August.