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Trump campaign had at least 18 undisclosed contacts with Russians - sources

M

mid83

Member
Hazzuh said:
I'm not so sure. They could have just been doing something dodgy but not illegal but Trump decided to keep escalating things rather than back down because that is what he always does.

Its also very possible that they didn't actually break the law or anything in the campaign but they did in the cover up in the subsequent months.
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I don't think this was some huge evil plot that Trump and Putin put together either before or at some point during the campaign. Maybe evidence will eventually prove me wrong, but that's my feeling at this point.

If anything, I think Trump likely approached it like he would in the real estate world where you have to create relationships with some shifty characters to get business done.

Of course adding in Flynn, Manafort and Trump's tendency to lie at will has blown this up into the scandal it is.
 
K

King Tubby

Member
Auto_aim1 said:
Back channel communications between two govts isn't that rare though.
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In a vacuum, sure. But between Trump and Putin, with all the other Russia connections we know about, and coordinated by Flynn? This is definitely something they're going to have him testify about at some point.
 
S

Steel

Banned
ThoseDeafMutes said:
It's a terrible look considering all the other smoke, but not entirely unprescedented historically. The republican whataboutism will be that Democrat JFK used his brother as a conduit to the USSR outside of official lines.
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I mean, in a vaccum, nah this isn't conclusive evidence or anything.
 
A

A Serious Man

Member
Bit of a non-story to be honest. We already knew there were contacts and the report says there is no evidence of collusion in the reports they've reviewed.
 
F

Fergie

Banned
Looks like Trump was delegating to his surrogates.
Keeping himself out of direct communication to Russian contacts.

But I'm sure this investigation will unearth more stuff.
 
O

Orbis Tabula

Member
I was waiting for hundreds of instances of contact, not 18. I'd like more, but I suppose that's what the ongoing investigation is for.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Juneau Joe said:
I was waiting for hundreds of instances of contact, not 18. I'd like more, but I suppose that's what the ongoing investigation is for.
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18 sounds like a lot to me.

Imagine if you're trying to keep things secret and on the downlow, and 18 is the number of times you accidentally communicated through official channels and made a paper trail.

It's like 18 porn websites you forgot to visit in Incognito Mode. It's the tip of a much larger iceberg.
 
I

Impeccable

Member
Love the fact there is so much stuff being dragged up that something like this - something that would have been a bigger "gotcha" a week ago - is starting to be normalized even on here now.

I guess that is what happens.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Impeccable said:
Love the fact there is so much stuff being dragged up that something like this - something that would have been a bigger "gotcha" a week ago - is starting to be normalized even on here now.

I guess that is what happens.
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The people contributing to the fatalism "this will never stick/his supporters will never care" are not innocent in this.

They're re-running a primitive logic on their brain that they learned on election day over and over again, and it's wrong and not helpful.
 
H

Horns

Member
If there is anything I have learned about this administration, there is more to this that we will learn soon and whatever they say is a lie.
 
T

the_batman

Banned
it's just a little treason, they're still good! they're still good!

edit: wtf is with people saying this isn't a big deal? i guess the idea of Russia blackmailing and using Americans as high up as in the White House for their own gain isn't important? and the idea of a secret line between Trump and Putin where he can just give away all of our secrets is disgusting and treasonous.
 
Bitch Pudding

Bitch Pudding

Member
Those accusations are all lies the mainstream media made up! All the trump campaign did was prank calling the Russians. It's all a big joke and Dems just have no sense of humor.
 
B

BlueTsunami

there is joy in sucking dick
The goalpost has steadily moved to communications not being illegal as the argument instead of acknowledging this as being indicative of a very dangerous precedent. You can even see it in this thread now. Remember when it was vehemently stated there were no communications with Russia? Shades of "I am not a crook".
 
J

jelly

Member
You don't usually need a back channel unless you have something to hide. Foreign Ambassadors etc. are there for a reason.
 
B

Bit-Bit

Member
mid83 said:
I don't think this was some huge evil plot that Trump and Putin put together either before or at some point during the campaign. Maybe evidence will eventually prove me wrong, but that's my feeling at this point.

If anything, I think Trump likely approached it like he would in the real estate world where you have to create relationships with some shifty characters to get business done.

Of course adding in Flynn, Manafort and Trump's tendency to lie at will has blown this up into the scandal it is.
Click to expand...
It's just light treason! Says the guy being advised by people committing ALL the treasons.

Stop trying to defend this shit storm. It just makes you look like a shill.
 
K

Kinan

Member
Oh, nice, Medvetchuk is mentioned. Lock him up, USA, this would help Ukraine more than any lethal weapons delivery. He is so slimy that Ukraine cannot (yet) find any evidence to jail him, even though everyone knows he is a Putin's arm in Ukraine and his party is responsible for many Russia-orchestrated protests/actions.
He also was our only channel of communication with Putin, but that communication was/is very one-sided, so I do not see any more value in it. What the point to listen to things Putin says if Putin's actions say something completely different?
 
S

Sho_Nuff82

Member
Steel said:
Can we go without a headline like this for one day? No? What, you're saying that there'll be another major headline in 12 hours or so? Oh.

And...



Uh, this is the most damning part honestly.
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Flynn is going to get the hammer for this, especially with it occurring before inauguration.
 
M

mid83

Member
Bit-Bit said:
It's just light treason! Says the guy being advised by people committing ALL the treasons.

Stop trying to defend this shit storm. It just makes you look like a shill.
Click to expand...

Who's defending anything? Did I say what he did was ok? I'm just saying I don't think it's some grand top down conspiracy Trump and Putin launched in 2015.
 
S

Spoiled Milk

Banned
Those discussions focused on mending U.S.-Russian economic relations strained by sanctions imposed on Moscow, cooperating in fighting Islamic State in Syria and containing a more assertive China, the sources said.
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He's the president, this is called diplomacy. This is the quo - the only thing I'm interested in is the quid. And the only quid I'm interested in is a direct money transfer between a Putin associate and a Trump associate. Anything else is not prosecutable and not worth shit in court.

jelly said:
You don't usually need a back channel unless you have something to hide. Foreign Ambassadors etc. are there for a reason.
Click to expand...

He wasn't president yet, he didn't have access to the normal channels.
 
S

Sho_Nuff82

Member
mid83 said:
Who's defending anything? Did I say what he did was ok? I'm just saying I don't think it's some grand top down conspiracy Trump and Putin launched in 2015.
Click to expand...

Creating backdoor deals to grease up the transition of power and circumvent national security, while receiving large kickbacks from at least two foreign powers, while at least one of those foreign powers attacked our infrastructure, and then lying about it for months (including in Senate confirmation hearings), is like a Tom Clancy-level conspiracy.

The only ones that we know 100% that Trump knew about (and did nothing about) are Flynn and Kushner, but his recent almost-secret meeting with Kislyak basically destroys his last shred of plausible deniability.
 
D

DerangedHermit

Member
Monocle said:
buttery males
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OCpAHoc.png
 
P

pirateluigi

Member
Deku Tree said:
Trump supporters: 'People are sick and tired of media'


http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us...supporters-people-are-sick-and-tired-of-media
Click to expand...

I've encountered all too many people who feel this way. Just this morning I was told that it's all a witch hunt because:

Same goes for the so-called Russia investigation. Flynn was cleared by the FBI and he was the only hope of finding a link according to those who believed in this non-sense.
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And you can't argue with people that think this way. Any facts you present are either made up by the liberal media or lies told by jealous bureaucrats.
 
F

Fritz

Member
Honest question: how is the resistance in the public coming along? It seems Trump is getting weaker and weaker. People opposed to this president should really push hard for an impeachment. And by that i mean there should be a lot of people on the streets demonstrating (think level of organisation and scale of the women's march for example). This coming from someone with an outside perspective. Is activity increasing, stable, decreasing?



"America First", lol. More like "let's put the "me" into America".
 
H

hitme

Member
I woke up (4:40 AM PST) just to see if there's something new... and I was right.

Forget the 6PM EST bombs each of the last few days, let's have things break every twelve hours.

Can't wait until the rest of U. S. GAF wakes up and sees this.
 
K

keuja

Member
Auto_aim1 said:
Back channel communications between two govts isn't that rare though.


What do you disagree with? The article doesn't have explosive info.


Good luck trying to get them to demilitarise the SCS.
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Trump and the Trump campaign are not the government though. Why use a backchannel? Something to hide?
 
T

teh_pwn

"Saturated fat causes heart disease as much as Brawndo is what plants crave."
Bernbaum said:
I need a break.
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I'm good. The faster this admin is gone the better. I'm even nostalgic for W at this point. Trump is one of the worst President in US history. This will also likely result in Dem house so well have some checks and balancing.
 
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