CNN reports that top members of the Trump campaign were in frequent contact with Russian government officials during the presidential election.
Trump aides were in constant touch with senior Russian officials during campaign – CNN
https://apple.news/Aff-8BHpyRSyeepRInbxxvQ
From the Washington Post:
“Russia carried out a comprehensive cyber campaign to sabotage the U.S. presidential election, an operation that was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin and ultimately sought to help elect Donald Trump, U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in a remarkably blunt assessment released Friday.
“The report depicts Russian interference as unprecedented in scale, saying that Moscow’s role represented “a significant escalation in directness, level of activity, and scope of effort” beyond previous election-related espionage.
“The campaign initially sought to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process, “denigrate” Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and damage her expected presidency. But in time, Russia “developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump” and repeatedly sought to artificially boost his election chances.”
The New York Times reports the same story.
What are the reasons for the close ties between the Russian government and Trump’s National Security Advisor?
Did Michael Flynn collude with the Russian government to elect Trump?
Why won’t the Republicans hold hearings?
Why Attorney General Sessions investigate the Trump-Putin link?
Did Putin choose Trump as our president?
Why don’t the Republicans care?
Do they love power more than their country?
is Trump an illegitimate president?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I have no real answers for most of those questions. But in response to the last one: Yes, of course. The recent actions–or lack thereof–of Republican politicians show that all they really care about is staying in office (a normally very cushy, low stress job!) and building power. They are in collusion to stay in office and in competition to amass power. Sort of like a pack of wolves.
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It’s clear the Russian have some hold over The Donald but whether it’s one made of a golden shower, or worse, a crooked deal, or the habit of money laundering, etc., the net result seems to explain his bromance with the Rasputin of the KGB. What sorts of quid pro quo were discussed is, today, anybody’s guess, but it will come out, eventually. Both our NSA and the Russian equivalent know and the former will make a move if the cowardly Republican Congress doesn’t get off it’s dead backside and begin an Honest investigation. The R’s certainly know how: 50+ votes to repeal Obama-care; 9+ different commissions to investigate Benghazi; X+ investigations on H’s e-mails, etc etc.
JVK
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JVK,
Another possibility. Trump’s financial empire has been floated by Putin’s billions. We can’t know unless he releases his tax returns. The Republicans had a chance to request a confidential review, and they voted no today.
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I wonder at what point Trump’s tax returns can be subpoenaed.
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YES. I keep getting the feeling that Trump is leveraged up to his eyeballs; who likely holds his massive loans?
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At first I thought he might be in debt to Russian oligarchs. Then I remembered that no one in Russia becomes a billionaire without Putin’s permission, and if they cross Putin, he takes away their billions and jails them on “Trumped-up” charges.
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true Russian trumpery 🙂
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Diane,
I read the NY TIMES article that you referred and what is interesting is the statements that you left out…..and this article is close to the same article earlier – I believe – will research it – as this one – same item seems to appear – conjectures and no facts to support any item – only item in difference is the Flynn issue -= but notice that no direct info regarding the conversations – I thought he was to contact many leaders of the world – he was the chief spy for the US and he knew that anything in a phone call is recorded – the shadow govt is trying to undermine Trump – the intelligence committee is leaking info – partial info – a crime – but I digress and to the article –
4th paragraph noted that that “The officials interviewed in recent weeks said that, so far, they had seen no evidence of such cooperation.” The same comment from the Times from October noted no evidence….
So I would conclude that what we are confronted with is conjectures based on contact – alleged or otherwise – I guess no one should call Russia and its ambassadors?
Paul Manafort take down – that was walked back as well in the article
and interference from Russia i the elections – “A report from American intelligence agencies that was made public in January concluded that the Russian government had intervened in the election in part to help Mr. Trump, but did not address whether any members of the Trump campaign had participated in the effort.” So does this mean Trump not involved?
Trump Campaign Aides Had Repeated Contacts With Russian Intelligence
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT, MARK MAZZETTI and MATT APUZZOFEB. 14, 2017
President Trump spoke with Vladimir V. Putin on Jan. 28. His national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, right, resigned Monday. Credit Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
WASHINGTON — Phone records and intercepted calls show that members of Donald J. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election, according to four current and former American officials.
American law enforcement and intelligence agencies intercepted the communications around the same time they were discovering evidence that Russia was trying to disrupt the presidential election by hacking into the Democratic National Committee, three of the officials said. The intelligence agencies then sought to learn whether the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians on the hacking or other efforts to influence the election.
The officials interviewed in recent weeks said that, so far, they had seen no evidence of such cooperation.
But the intercepts alarmed American intelligence and law enforcement agencies, in part because of the amount of contact that was occurring while Mr. Trump was speaking glowingly about the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin. At one point last summer, Mr. Trump said at a campaign event that he hoped Russian intelligence services had stolen Hillary Clinton’s emails and would make them public.
Paul D. Manafort, Mr. Trump’s former campaign chairman, at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July. Credit Sam Hodgson for The New York Times
The officials said that one of the advisers picked up on the calls was Paul Manafort, who was Mr. Trump’s campaign chairman for several months last year and had worked as a political consultant in Ukraine. The officials declined to identify the other Trump associates on the calls.
The call logs and intercepted communications are part of a larger trove of information that the F.B.I. is sifting through as it investigates the links between Mr. Trump’s associates and the Russian government, as well as the hacking of the D.N.C., according to federal law enforcement officials. As part of its inquiry, the F.B.I. has obtained banking and travel records and conducted interviews, the officials said.
Mr. Manafort, who has not been charged with any crimes, dismissed the officials’ accounts in a telephone interview on Tuesday. “This is absurd,” he said. “I have no idea what this is referring to. I have never knowingly spoken to Russian intelligence officers, and I have never been involved with anything to do with the Russian government or the Putin administration or any other issues under investigation today.”
He added, “It’s not like these people wear badges that say, ‘I’m a Russian intelligence officer.’”
Several of Mr. Trump’s associates, like Mr. Manafort, have done business in Russia. And it is not unusual for American businessmen to come in contact with foreign intelligence officials, sometimes unwittingly, in countries like Russia and Ukraine, where the spy services are deeply embedded in society. Law enforcement officials did not say to what extent the contacts might have been about business.
The officials would not disclose many details, including what was discussed on the calls, the identity of the Russian intelligence officials who participated, and how many of Mr. Trump’s advisers were talking to the Russians. It is also unclear whether the conversations had anything to do with Mr. Trump himself.
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A report from American intelligence agencies that was made public in January concluded that the Russian government had intervened in the election in part to help Mr. Trump, but did not address whether any members of the Trump campaign had participated in the effort.
The intercepted calls are different from the wiretapped conversations last year between Michael T. Flynn, Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, and Sergey I. Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador to the United States. In those calls, which led to Mr. Flynn’s resignation on Monday night, the two men discussed sanctions that the Obama administration imposed on Russia in December.
But the cases are part of American intelligence and law enforcement agencies’ routine electronic surveillance of the communications of foreign officials.
The F.B.I. declined to comment. The White House also declined to comment Tuesday night, but earlier in the day, the press secretary, Sean Spicer, stood by Mr. Trump’s previous comments that nobody from his campaign had contact with Russian officials before the election.
“There’s nothing that would conclude me that anything different has changed with respect to that time period,” Mr. Spicer said in response to a question.
Two days after the election in November, Sergei A. Ryabkov, the deputy Russian foreign minister, said “there were contacts” during the campaign between Russian officials and Mr. Trump’s team.
But I see a bigger issue – a “shadow govt” capable taking down an administration – a “soft takeover” by people in the govt – I see this as a Constitutional crisis in part…..
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All of the above !
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Let’s be clear here. The Trump-Russia story has long legs. There’s a lot more to come out; we are only at the beginning.
There’s simply no question now but that Trump campaign officials were in touch with Russian intelligence during the presidential campaign.
There’s also no question that Russian intelligence interceded in the campaign — by hacking DNC and other emails, disseminating them, and by altering and distorting them to make them appear to be incriminating — to hurt Clinton and to help Trump. In the last 4 weeks of the campaign, Trump cited those emails 164 times, and he also cited fake news from Russian-created news sites.
There’s also no question that the rubes bought the nonsense. Michael Flynn, liar and Russian contact man, led the “lock her up!” chants at the Republican national convention.
There’s also no question that top Republican elected officials and top RNC officials colluded with the Russian efforts. These people were briefed about the Russian efforts early in the summer of 2016, and they were asked to join in a bipartisan statement outlining and condemning the Russian hacking. They refused. More than once.
Article III, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution describes this kind of behavior.
The question now is what will Republicans in Congress do about any of this?
Isn’t is way past time for a revival of democratic citizenship as the primary focus of public schooling?
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William Saletan has an interesting piece in Slate, in which he lays out the four guiding principles of the Trump administration. They are, he says:
“Loyalty within Trump’s circle is more important than loyalty to country…The only information that matters is what comes from Trump’s circle…The only standard of right and wrong is what Trump thinks…Trump’s secrets are as sacred as the country’s secrets.”
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/02/kellyanne_conway_s_clarifying_response_to_the_flynn_debacle.html
Given all that we know about the Trump campaign and its ties to Russian intelligence, and considering The Yam’s cabinet-level appointments (Tillerson at State, for example, and the now-departed Flynn), it’s probably time to stop calling the man behind the curtain “president” and start calling him by a more proper name: Agent Orange.
Busta Rhymes had it right.
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“The question now is what will Republicans in Congress do about any of this?”
I read that a recent poll showed a large percentage of registered Republican voters approve of Putins’ leadership in Russia.
Why wouldn’t those numbers reflect the opinions/actions of some of our elected officials, as well? Heavy handed, do what I say or you’re done system of government. EzPz when the different shades of gray are taken out of the equation.
Whether this is true or not, the fact remains that Republicans don’t like to break ranks. But I don’t think any of them have ever seen anything like this.
Hopefully…
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Trump, Pence and DeVos discussed education yesterday. Pay attention to the consistently negative language they use regarding public schools and then the positive language they use regarding charter schools.
They launch these campaign events with “public schools are failing” and them switch to the positive options: private and charter schools. It’s blatantly manipulative.
This is the US Department of Education conducting this anti-public schools campaign on the public dime.
It’s outrageous. It’s not even that they offer nothing of value to public schools- it’s that they actively malign public schools to promote charters and vouchers.
And you’re paying for it.
There is absolutely no reason to invite these people into public schools. They add no value to public schools at all. They’re asking to come into your school so they can use your school to promote charters and vouchers. There’s no reason people are obligated to go along with that. We’re not under some duty to allow these folks to destroy our schools. It’s bad enough that we’re paying them.
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Over 792,000 American Patriots have signed this petition:
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/immediat…
Fellow Citizens will you join us in demanding that President Trump release his taxes to show the true scope of his “foreign entanglements”?
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Why didn’t this come out sooner…like the day they intercepted the phone calls? I feel like they knew about this for a while and have just been waiting to see how much ‘he’ screws up before trying to take him down. I also feel like his replacement is just as bad…can’t we just call this election a wash and start over? Please?!
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So one of the journalists who wrote the story was on NPR this morning, and his story is much different from your.
What are the reasons for the close ties between the Russian government and Trump’s National Security Advisor?
°° There is only ONE call identified between Flynn and the ambassador, and that was AFTER the election.°°
Did Michael Flynn collude with the Russian government to elect Trump?
°°Michael Flynn had only ONE contact with Russian staff )ambassador’ and that was AFTER the election.°°
Most communication took place between the former chair of Trump´s campaign, and that was no secret, since there were business ties in existence already.
So, until we have more FACTS published, there is nothing but guess work going on.
And on national TV this morning±
Why won’t the Republicans hold hearings?
There WILL be hearings about this, planned by the Republicans. Although, Sen. Schumer wants an independent committee to check on this.
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Rudy,
Why did Flynn resign if he is innocent? The NSA listens to every phone call with foreign agents. It reported calls during the campaign that involved Flynn, Roger Stone, Carter Page, and Paul Manafort. During the campaign. During the campaign. What presidential candidate is surrounded by aides who communicate with foreign governments–one in particular–during the campaign? Manafort, then the campaign manager, worked for the anti-western, anti-American leader of Ukraine, who is close to Putin. I admit I don’t know enough, but these are facts, not speculation.
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Flynn made, according to NYT reporter, ONE call during the transition period. The content of the call is known. A Democrat wants to charge him with breaking Logan law – a civilian meddling in national politics. Not treason.
You accused him of treason, It was a dumb thing to do. If doing dumb things should be considered treasonous, then lock up lots and lots of people.
He resigned because he was less than honest about the event. If you cannot trust your staff members, no matter what situation you’re in, you best make them leave.
As far as the inner workings of the White house go, no one really understands those, no matter which party is in charge. Why trump knew about this weeks before Pence – not our problem.
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I am not Flynn’s judge. I am not a lawyer. The latest reports say that NSA wiretaps captured members of Trump’s campaign talking to Russian government officials DURING THE CAMPAIGN. My opinion, not a legal judgment: that’s treason. Mike Flynn spoke at the GOP convention and led chants of “Lock her up.” He then said that if he had done 1/10 of the things Hillary had done, he would be in jail. He was right. He should be in jail.
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UNTIL you know the CONTENT of the conversation, and whether or not it matches the legal definition of treason, it is just a conversation that should not have taken place. EVEN (BTW, I am using caps since I cannot bold text) if the discussion was about the status of the relation between the US and Russia, and whether or not sanctions would be lifted, changed, or maintain the same level, that still does not rise to the level of treason in any way, shape or form.
You are accusing Flyn of treason. I’m saying let’s hold off on the sensationalistic approach, and wait till the FACTS are clearer. BTW, nothing to do with alternate facts, but not with factoids either!
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Rudy Schellekens
“UNTIL you know the CONTENT of the conversation, and whether or not it matches the legal definition of treason, ”
What has been admitted by the Trump team was 5 calls back on December 26th To wish them Merry Christmas, not one.
“There were contacts,” Sergei A. Ryabkov, the deputy foreign minister, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. “We continue to do this and have been doing this work during the election campaign,” he said.
Mr. Ryabkov said officials in the Russian Foreign Ministry were familiar with many of the people he described as Mr. Trump’s entourage. “I cannot say that all, but a number of them maintained contacts with Russian representatives,” Mr. Ryabkov said.” 11/10/16
What other ambassadors or Governments did they call and how often. Who else did they wish Merry Christmas to. Who else did they call and how often during the campaign. In the words of our fearless leader . ” and you can go – – – – yourself . That level of discourse is only warranted for those who would defend this abomination remaining in the most dangerous position in the world.
If Trump says the Central Park 5 are still guilty after a another man confessed, DNA evidence , exoneration by the state of NY and winning a civil law suit . . Then this crew should be burnt at the stake in a Public barn fire
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Rudy
You are so easy> I go right to the source .
This a– wipe should have been locked up the following morning.but
POTUS was more concerned with his legacy then saving the American Democracy.
“There were contacts,” Sergei A. Ryabkov, the deputy foreign minister, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. “We continue to do this and have been doing this work during the election campaign,” he said.
Mr. Ryabkov said officials in the Russian Foreign Ministry were familiar with many of the people he described as Mr. Trump’s entourage. “I cannot say that all, but a number of them maintained contacts with Russian representatives,” Mr. Ryabkov said. !0/11/16
Straight from the Russian horses mouth. If that is not enough then you would be the other horses orifice..
You did not need the NY Times yesterday , to tell you that this was a Russian orchestrated Coup with help from the NY office of the FBI.
And Diane I would tell you to stop wasting your time with traitors who put their ridiculous politics above nation. Tell you to get on the phone with your reps and ask for impeachment . But it is hopeless getting through to Schumer
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You must not have read my comment above.
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Paranoia is rampant with internal fighting in the intelligence community. Even the New York Times fails to use the word “allegedly” since no proof is provided, but only shadowy sources, could be fake news. Mr. Manafort has denied speaking with any known Russian agent. The media should be filing a FOIL request for the information rather than reporting it as fact, could be fake news.
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a different perspective
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-02-14/the-political-assassination-of-michael-flynn
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Joseph,
Sounds good to me. Innocent people don’t resign. I would like to see all the deplorables resign, one at a time or all together.
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Ab so tute ly
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Only Flynn resigned, and we all know that he was not transparent with the administration. All others are speculative w/o evidence. Seeing a lot of name calling lately, which limits authentic discourse. Many are unhappy with the election results, but overthrowing an elected leader would be the endgame for “democracy”. We have a system of checks and balances along with a free press. Don’t despair, there will be another election, or we will go the way of Ukraine’s coup and the mess that they are in. There was once a leader in Europe who labeled some of his citizens as deplorables..
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Joseph,
I agree with Trump on one issue. He said it again and again: the election was rigged. He was right.
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What’s so disturbing about all of this is that the administration is dodging question after question and refuting known facts (aka: they’re blatantly lying) time after time…
…and he’s only been in office for a month.
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I feel the same distaste and contempt for Trump that most readers of this blog do, and it may still be revealed (though it hasn’t been yet) that Trump’s people were conniving with members of the Russian government or intelligence services.
Still, I’d like to suggest a little caution and restraint regarding the eagerness to involve our intelligence agencies in domestic political matters. That is certain to come back to haunt us, especially if a “progressive” ever gets elected to high office. Do you really think that, having tasted domestic political influence, the intelligence agencies will “return to their barracks?” Not likely.
By all means, let’s resist and reject Trumpismo, but let’s do it via People Power and democracy, not through the NSA. Remember that, even if/when we get Trump out, reactionary Republicans still control the federal and many state governments; we need to be organized and mobilized to take them on and eventually defeat them
Relying on the Deep State to do our politics for us will do nothing – in fact it will enervate and further distort them – to reverse the problems that have brought us to this point.
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Michael,
I respect your views but when the NSA reports that campaign officials in the midst of a Presidential campaign are communicating with agents of a foreign government, I want to know about it. Not after the election. We are treading very dangerous ground. There should be a thorough bipartisan investigation and a full report to the public.
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I agree there should be an investigation.
While they’re at it, they might also consider looking into the negotiations between Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign and the Khomeini government in Iran, regarding the release of the US embassy hostages. As readers may recall, the Iranian hostages were a major reason Jimmy Carter lost that election, and the hostages were released literally as Reagan was being sworn in. Funny, that.
But back to Trump, Flynn, et.al.: my advice here is, when it comes to involving the intelligence agencies or law enforcement in domestic politics, be careful what you wish for.
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Michael,
We have it already, whether or not we wish for it.
What we don’t have is bipartisan support for a full investigation of what happened during the election between Trump and Russia, between Manafort and Russia, between Roger Stone and Russia, between Carter Page and Russia, between Flynn and Putin. Maybe nothing happened. We need to know. I would like an impartial investigation of Christopher Steele’s dossier. True or false? Facts are needed. Not alternative facts. True facts.
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Diane, I assume the “it” you refer to is intelligence agency intrusion into and arbitration of domestic politics.
If true, then the horse is out of the barn (which then burned down behind it), an investigation is beside the point, and democracy in this country is little more than a revenue-generating spectacle intended to distract the rubes (that would be us) while the so-called “adults” continue feeding off the carcass of the Republic.
Like i said, be careful what you wish for.
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Michael, surely you don’t think that the FBI never intruded in domestic politics. Did you forget James Comey?
When Trump declares himself king, Comey will be knighted. Sir James the Magnificent.
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I think we’re close to exhausting this thread, Diane, but one could also argue that Comey interfered with politics by treating Hillary’s use of classified information differently from that of lower-level (and whistle-blowing) government employees.
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Here’s a link to an article that develops my comments above in greater detail: theweek.comarticles/680068/americas-spies-anonymously-took-down-michael-flynn
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Yes, Michael. James Comey has a lot to answer for…a lot. Maybe he has some reasonable explanations. Maybe he doesn’t. Only an independent counsel investigation will likely be able to ascertain the truth.
Republicans in Congress do not want an independent counsel. They hope they can sweep this entire thing under the rug. Not likely.
The fact are already out there. Russian intelligence agencies interceded in the presidential campaign against Hillary Clinton and in favor of Agent Orange. (By the way, there were plenty of commenters on this site who bought the Russian-spread propaganda and fake news about Clinton, and they helped to spread it it farther.) It’s also clear that Republicans in Congress and at the RNC aided and abetted the Russian efforts by refusing to publicly expose them and condemn them and agree to an immediate investigation.
Given all the secretiveness involved in this sordid mess, and the inherent connection to the intelligence world, it’s kind of hard not to have the intelligence agencies placed purely on the sidelines.
This story is going to get bigger. And American citizens have a vital – the key – role to play. No question.
But guess what? So do the public schools. There’s is a glaring need for civics education, and more importantly, for a genuine focus on democratic citizenship and its core values of popular sovereignty (now more than ever), equality, justice, tolerance, freedoms for all citizens, and promoting the general welfare of the Republic.
We cannot afford to keep waiting….
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According to the NYT on 021517, there is absolutely no evidence for what you claim here, “The fact are already out there. Russian intelligence agencies interceded in the presidential campaign against Hillary Clinton and in favor of Agent Orange. (By the way, there were plenty of commenters on this site who bought the Russian-spread propaganda and fake news about Clinton, and they helped to spread it it farther.) It’s also clear that Republicans in Congress and at the RNC aided and abetted the Russian efforts by refusing to publicly expose them and condemn them and agree to an immediate investigation.”
Not even the leadership in the Democratic Party agrees with this point of view. Hilary lost because Hilary ignored segments of her constituency. The battle happening now for the leadership of the DNC all agree with that as the reason for the loss.
Hilary’s biggest financial backers do not agree with you statement. Days after the election the conversation with Hilary and backers was about the fact that she ignored requests from voters to show up in their states.
The numbers, by the way, support this. She lost by 1.03 % of the vote, totalled in the three states. That is squeaking by. Not a convincing win – but crucial states.
I have my own reasons for not voting for her – but those were formed over the past 8 years, and not during this election cycle.
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Rudy,
No one took seriously the Russian manipulation of the hacks and leaks when they happened. Now the media realize Trump was elected by Putin and Assange, tag team.
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Which is your PERSONAL interpretation of the facts. To which you are, just like everyone else, entitle to. But that is NOT what the CURRENT belief of the wannabe leaders of the DNC is, nor is it the conclusion drawn buy the very reporters who wrote about the contacts.
And again, IF indeed the leaks were from a disgruntled staff member… If that indeed is the case, I will be expecting your apology to those whom you have been accusing of foul play…
Just a thought
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Dude,
You seem about as unhinged form reality as is Agent Orange.
Everything that I wrote in my comment above is in the public domain.
Top Republican leaders – in Congress and at the RNC – were fully briefed on the Russian hacks and asked to join in a bipartisan explanation and condemnation They declined to doso. More than once.
Thus, they picked party and ideology over country and democratic values. Agent Orange knew too. Yet, in the final four week, he cited the hacked emails 164 times, in addition to fake news from a Russian-created fake news site.
Behavior such as this is described in Article III, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution.
Check it out. You sure so seem to me in favor it it.
I most certainly am not.
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More lies is all this country needs. How are people going to get facts when they aren’t being broadcasted?
Here is a headline from the NYT:
Conservative Talk Radio Stands Behind Trump Despite Turmoil
By SABRINA TAVERNISE
After the resignation of his national security adviser, President Trump is seen by talk radio hosts and listeners as the victim of leaks and Washington insiders.
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And there are some conservative newscasters who are very concerned about Trump overstepping the boundaries of his authority. Hopefully they’ll stay with that mindset.
My take is, thank God for the leaks. It means that people on the inside know that there’s a serious problem, here.
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Trump hits back at US media reports on Russia contacts
15 February 2017 From the section US & Canada..BBC
…The latest allegations look set to reignite tensions between the president and his own intelligence services, which flared during the 2016 election campaign, says BBC Washington correspondent Gary O’Donoghue.
They come a day after National Security Adviser Michael Flynn resigned amid a row over reports he discussed US sanctions by phone with a Russian diplomat before Mr Trump took office.
Leading Republicans have joined calls for a wide investigation into Mr Flynn’s links with Russia.
And on Wednesday Adam Schiff, a Democrat on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, said he would push for the committee’s investigations into Russian hacking to be expanded to include Mr Flynn’s phone calls, Reuters news agency reported.
The FBI and a Senate committee are also investigating the claims.
Mr Trump appeared to attack the NSA and the FBI for what he described as leaks to the media about the contacts.
“Information is being illegally given to the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost by the intelligence community (NSA and FBI?),” he tweeted.
But in another tweet he suggested that the reports were “non-sense” produced by his Democratic opponents.
“This Russian connection non-sense is merely an attempt to cover-up the many mistakes made in Hillary Clinton’s losing campaign.”…
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38983742
……………
Trump always has to blame someone. The NSA and the FBI are leaking illegal information and the Dems are giving out false information to cover Hillary’s loosing. I wish Trump would grow up. Impossible when you’ve reached 70 and still act like a child who knows everything is someone else’s fault.
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Clinton lost because Republicans spent lots of time and taxpayer money investigating nonsense “scandals, like Benghazi. She lost because Russian intelligence agencies hacked emails that were slowly leaked, and that were altered into fake news. She lost because Trump and Republicans played all the fake news up and because the fake news was pushed relentlessly by Fox and right-wing websites. She lost because of xenophobia, racism, and sexism — all promoted by Agent Orange – and because of voter suppression, and because too many Americans are – in fact – not committed to democratic values.
Agent Orange is not just acting like a child, he is flat-out dangerous.
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Why is it that OUTSIDERS think they know better than insiders why Clinton lost? Few if any in the democrat leadership take that point of view. They put the responsibility completely on Clinton. People who are in positions to understand impacts and consequences from professional backgrounds do not consider the email (Or Benghazi, for that matter) as a contributing cause.
I’m not sure if even Clinton herself considers those major causes.
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http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/15/politics/hillary-clinton-john-podesta-russian-hacking/
Clinton on the reasons WHY the hacking…
Podesta conveniently forgetting to mention that the FBI had warned the DNC over a year ago, repeatedly, that there seemed to be hacking going on of the DNC servers – which warnings were ignored!
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There were eight Congressional investigations of Benghazi that came up empty.
How many investigations will there be of Trump campaign’s relations with Russia and his dear friend Putin?
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A Selection of Verbatim Quotes From Trump’s First Solo Press Conference as President
By Osita Nwanevu
On Thursday, Donald Trump held his first solo press conference as president of the United States, in what was ostensibly an announcement of his replacement nominee for secretary of labor, Alexander Acosta. It turned out to be about so much more. Below is a selection of his verbatim responses to questions.
On National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s resignation: “[W]hen I looked at the information I said I don’t think he did anything wrong. If anything, he did something right. I was coming into office. He ‘looked at the information. ‘He said, huh, that’s fine. That’s what they are supposed to do. They are supposed to—he didn’t just call Russia, he called and spoke to both ways—I think there were 30-some-odd countries. Doing the job. You know, he was just doing his job. The thing is, he didn’t tell our vice president properly, and then he said he didn’t remember. So either way, it wasn’t very satisfactory to me.”
On bad press: “I will be honest. I sort of enjoy this back and forth, and I have all my life, but I have never seen more dishonest people than frankly the political media. I thought the business media were much more honest. I never get phone calls from the media. How do they write a story without asking me or how do they write a story in the New York Times, put it on the front page? That was like the story they wrote on the women and me, front page, massive story. And it was nasty. And then they called, they said, ‘I never said that. We like Mr. Trump.’ They called my office. ‘We like Mr. Trump. We never said that.’ It was totally—they totally misrepresented those very wonderful women.”
On bad press again: “I don’t mind bad stories. I can handle a bad story better than anybody. As long as it’s true.”
On leaks: “When WikiLeaks, which I have nothing to do with, comes out and happens to give, they are not giving classified information. They are giving stuff, what was said in an office about Hillary cheating on the debates, which by the way, nobody mentions. Nobody mentions that Hillary received the questions to the debates. Can you imagine, seriously, can you imagine if I received the questions? It would be the electric chair. OK? He should be put in the electric—you would even call for the institution of the death penalty. Maybe not you, John.”
On bad press again: “And I’ll tell you what else I see. I see tone. You know the word tone. The tone is such hatred. I’m really not a bad person, by the way. No, but the tone is—I do get good ratings, you have to admit that—the tone is such hatred. I watched this morning a couple of the networks—I have to say, Fox and Friends in the morning, they’re very honorable people.”
On a response to recent Russian actions, including their buzzing of an American destroyer and movement of a spy ship to the coast of Connecticut: “If I was just brutal on Russia right now, just brutal, people would say—you would say—‘Oh isn’t that wonderful?’ I know you well enough. Then you would say, ‘He was too tough. He shouldn’t have done that.’ ”
On relations with Russia in general: “I have been briefed. I and I can tell you, one thing about a briefing that we’re allowed to say, because anybody that ever read the most basic book can say it, nuclear holocaust would be like no other.”
Again on a response to Russian actions: “I’m not going to tell you anything about what response I do. … Because I don’t talk about military and I don’t talk about certain other things. … So I don’t have to tell you. I don’t want to be one of these guys that say [imitative voice] ‘Yes, here’s what we’re going to do.’ I don’t have to do that. I don’t have to tell you what I’m going to do in North Korea. I don’t have to tell you what I’m going to do in North Korea. And I don’t have to tell you what I’m going to do with Iran. You know why? Because they shouldn’t know. And eventually you guys are going to get tired of asking that question. So, when you ask me, what am I going to do with the ship, the Russian ship, as an example? I’m not going to tell you. But hopefully I won’t have to do anything. But I’m not going to tell you.”
On how the government will respond to a surge in anti-Semitic hate incidents post-election: “Folks, number one, I am the least anti-semitic person that you have ever seen in your entire life. Number two, racism. The least racist person. We did relatively well in fact, relative to other people running as a Republican—quiet, quiet, quiet—see he lied about he was going to get up and ask a very straight simple question. So, you know. Welcome to the world of the media. But let me just tell you something. I hate the charge. I find it repulsive, I hate even the question because people that know me and you heard the prime minister, you heard Netanyahu yesterday, did you hear him Bibi, he said I’ve known Donald Trump for a long time, and then he said forget it, so you should take that instead of having to get up and asking a very insulting question like that.”
In response to a question from American Urban Radio Networks’ April Ryan, who is black, on potentially meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus: “Do you want to set up the meeting? Do you want to set up the meeting? Are they friends of yours? No, set up the—let’s go. Set up a meeting. I would love to meet with the black caucus, I think it’s great—the Congressional Black Caucus.”
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Peculiar thing about his press conference. He defended Mike Flynn. Blamed the media for being unfair to him.
Who fired Flynn? Not the media. Donald Trump. Did he forget?
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