The Trump thread: All things Donald

[Athos_131]

Everything we know about the Mueller probe so far

From the get-go, DOJ gave Mueller leverage to take the Russia probe wherever he thinks it needs to go. The original mandate cleared him to explore “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump,” and it also gave the green light on “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation.”

Be afraid Donald.  Be very, very afraid.

#Resist

[horny guy]

wouldn't have been great if the same probe was after Obama or Hillary. oh that's right.. they're above the law.

[Athos_131]

wouldn't have been great if the same probe was after Obama or Hillary. oh that's right.. they're above the law.

I'm curious why Robert Mueller would need to probe those two in regard to Russian meddling in the election.

Please cite a credible source.

#Resist

[Athos_131]

The Trump Organization’s new budget hotel venture is an ethics nightmare

#Resist

[horny guy]

Trump can't change the number of sheets on the toilet paper he uses without it making news and people twisting it to a negative. Who was the last president that such media attention. Don't you ever feel like you are being used as a pawn by the real crooks in politics that don't want the system to change?

[Lois]

wouldn't have been great if the same probe was after Obama or Hillary. oh that's right.. they're above the law.

Oh but they did you silly poppet, but they did not find anything.  So they were stuck with making up stories about pizza.
 

[Athos_131]

Trump can't change the number of sheets on the toilet paper he uses without it making news and people twisting it to a negative. Who was the last president that such media attention. Don't you ever feel like you are being used as a pawn by the real crooks in politics that don't want the system to change?

I asked you cite sources.  You did not.

If you care to challenge my posts in this thread please cite credible sources.   Otherwise your posts on this topic are specious at best.

#Resist

[Athos_131]

Sessions Is Said to Have Offered to Resign



#Resist

[Athos_131]

A Twitter bot is taking Trump more seriously than his own staff

#Resist

[Katiebee]

Trump can't change the number of sheets on the toilet paper he uses without it making news and people twisting it to a negative. Who was the last president that such media attention. Don't you ever feel like you are being used as a pawn by the real crooks in politics that don't want the system to change?

that would be Lincoln.

However, the reasons he attracted so much attention was much different.

[joan1984]

  Heard today that Trump's Approval Rating is one point higher than was President Bill Clinton's, as of June 7... same exact day in office, first term.

  Very interesting, eh.  No so 'unprecedented', and President Clinton had a
Democrat Congress when he started.

[Lois]

It's not the approval rating, but the intensity of the disapproval rating:

SUPPORT FOR DONALD TRUMP'S IMPEACHMENT IS NOW HIGHER THAN HIS APPROVAL RATING
BY CHRIS RIOTTA

http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-impeachment-support-odds-removal-approval-rating-white-house-620913

[Sensualtravler]

Oh Joanie! You such a silly troll!  Still don't like pilots flying the airplane I see!

Some people know the importance of experts and experience.  That is why our enemies set out to kill or discredit them right away. That is why the 9-11 hijackers killed the pilots first thing. And that is why the Russians hacked the DNC and backed Trump.

And Russia won the election. NATO has been dealt a huge blow, and the USA is now a joke and not the leader of the free world. Putin cannot be happier.

How does it feel to be a Russian stooge?

Wow! You're always asking for sources for statements made, yet there has been absolutely NO proof forwarded directly connecting Trump to either the DNC hacking or colluding with Putin to fix the election. Isn't it time to stop your delusional thinking and finally admit Trump was the peoples choice over Hillary because they simply didn't trust her?

[Lois]

Sorry, but last I checked Hillary won the POPULAR vote by over TWO MILLION.  And there is lots of proof of Russian meddling.  Maybe you should read back through my prior posts?  Also, now a Special Investigator has been appointed.  Would such an investigator been appointed if there was no evidence?  I don't think so.

As for declaring Putin the winner of the election, the evidence is self evident. What would Putin wish for most in this word?  The end of the USA's de-facto leadership of the free world? CHECK. The end of NATO?  CHECK.

Well NATO is still around, but Trump has certainly done his best to wreck it.

Oh, and Putin's bonus - the USA is now the laughing stock of the world.  Any nation that has a system that would let a pussy-grabbing-demagogue, and buffoon become president is not a nation worth being taken seriously.

[Athos_131]

It amazes me how people refuse to read credible sources, then spout rhetoric based on their ill-informed knowledge of the subject.

Apparently clicking a link is way too much work.

Mueller’s Investigation Goes Wide

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is casting a wide net in his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether President Trump’s campaign colluded with Moscow.

The Associated Press reported Friday that the former FBI director’s inquiry will absorb a federal criminal investigation into Paul Manafort, the taciturn political operative who led Trump’s campaign last summer. Manafort resigned in August amid media reports about his previous work with former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and other Kremlin-aligned parties in the country. He was succeeded by former Breitbart publisher Steve Bannon, who now serves as Trump’s chief strategist in the White House.

Manafort is under scrutiny as part of the sprawling federal investigation into Russian electoral interference, which began last July. But the AP reported Trump’s former campaign chairman has been under investigation by the Justice Department since the collapse of Yanukovych’s presidency during the Euromaidan protests in 2014. Manafort has not registered as a lobbyist for foreign interests, as might have been required by federal law.

The report follows similar accounts earlier on Friday that Mueller had also taken charge of an ongoing federal grand-jury investigation into Michael Flynn, a retired lieutenant general who briefly served as Trump’s national-security adviser. Trump fired Flynn in February after media reports revealed Flynn had lied to Vice President Mike Pence and top White House officials about his phone calls with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak in December.

According to Reuters, the federal grand-jury investigation in eastern Virginia is probing Flynn’s lobbying work on behalf of Turkish businessmen. Federal prosecutors have issued subpoenas in the case in recent months, suggesting the investigation is beyond its preliminary stages. Flynn formally registered as a lobbyist for foreign interests after his departure from the Trump administration. Flynn, Manafort, and Trump have denied any wrongdoing in the sprawling Russia investigation and related cases; Trump himself described the probe as a “witch hunt” in May.

That “witch hunt” took a new form in May when Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller as special counsel to lead it. His choice came two weeks after President Trump suddenly fired former FBI Director James Comey, who had been overseeing the intensifying Russia investigation. The White House initially claimed Trump had acted on the Justice Department’s recommendation, only to be contradicted by Trump himself in a NBC interview the following day.

In the days that followed Comey’s ouster, reports surfaced that Comey had kept memos detailing conversations in February in which Trump asked him to halt the investigation into Flynn. U.S. officials also leaked an Oval Office conversation between Trump and top Russian diplomats the day after Comey’s firing in which Trump reportedly said the dismissal would relieve pressure on him from the Russia investigation. That raised questions about whether Trump had committed obstruction of justice, a federal crime cited in the articles of impeachment drafted against Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton.

The AP suggested obstruction-of-justice inquiries could become part of the Russia investigation if Mueller chooses to pursue them. In an interview with AP reporters, Rosenstein said he would recuse himself if Mueller took that path, citing his role in Comey’s ouster. “I’ve talked with Director Mueller about this,” Rosenstein told the news organizations. “He’s going to make the appropriate decisions, and if anything that I did winds up being relevant to his investigation then, as Director Mueller and I discussed, if there’s a need from me to recuse I will.”

Absorbing the Flynn and Manafort investigations gives Mueller both practical and strategic advantages. While neither probe may directly relate to the core Russia inquiry, Mueller’s oversight of them avoids any complications that might arise from having two separate Justice Department investigations of the same person. If either of those inquiries results in criminal charges, Mueller would also be positioned to use the threat of prosecution as leverage against both men to extract testimony on Russia. Flynn previously offered to testify before Congress and the FBI in exchange for immunity, suggesting he could be interested in making a deal.

That could bode ill politically for President Trump, who is struggling to regain control over his presidency’s trajectory as the Russia investigation consumes more attention in Washington. The capital’s fixation will likely intensify next week when Comey testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee in an open hearing on June 8—the former FBI director’s first public remarks since his dramatic ouster last month.

#Resist

[Northwest]

States are filling in for the leadership vacuum in Washington by cutting their own climate deals. Here are a couple of the first, but I suspect not the last ones to ignore Trump's regressive climate polities:


Hawaii Becomes America’s First State To Join The Paris Climate Accord

“It is time for states and governors to lead,” Gov. David Ige said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hawaii-joins-paris-accord_us_5938096de4b01fc18d3f5f64?d2f


As Trump Bails On Paris Accord, China Turns To A Different Climate Ally: California

In a rare meeting between a state official and a national leader, Gov. Jerry Brown discussed climate change cooperation this week with China’s President Xi Jinping.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/china-california-jerry-brown_us_5937ca14e4b0ce1e7409255a?ai8

[Athos_131]

‘I need loyalty’: James Comey’s riveting prepared testimony about what Trump asked him, annotated

#Resist

[joan1984]

"It's always something, eh?"

It's not the approval rating, but the intensity of the disapproval rating:

SUPPORT FOR DONALD TRUMP'S IMPEACHMENT IS NOW HIGHER THAN HIS APPROVAL RATING
BY CHRIS RIOTTA

http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-impeachment-support-odds-removal-approval-rating-white-house-620913

[Athos_131]

President Trump's Approval Rating Hit Another New Low

#Resist

[Athos_131]

Top intelligence official told associates Trump asked him if he could intervene with Comey on FBI Russia probe

#Resist