Trump and Putin, behind the scenes

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Anthony Scaramucci’s appointment as White House communications director is supposed to help President Trump move his messaging away from the relentless Russia scandal—but first Scaramucci may have to get past his own Russia issue. Since January, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has pressed the Trump administration to determine whether Scaramucci, at a January meeting, may have broken the law by discussing possible joint investments with the head of a Russian sovereign wealth fund that is under US sanctions. The White House and the Treasury Department have so far blown off Warren’s inquires.

Scaramucci May Have a Russia Problem of His Own – Mother Jones

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Soo, take this in for a moment..

Jeff Sessions, one of the first and most loyal Trump supporters, is possibly on the way out. Why? 

Not because he's messed up policy, he's an ardent "lock them up" kind of guy at the Justice department, just like Trump and his supporters like it (it's not effective, but according to these guys science is for wussies). 

What has he done wrong? He recused himself from anything to do with the Russian investigation. According to many, that's about the only thing he's done right (as he, like so many in Trump's orbit, "forgot" to mention a couple of meetings with Russians during the campaign and transition), but not to Trump. 

The only effect of recusing himself for Trump is that Sessions cannot lay on special council Robert Mueller, who is investigating the ties between the Trump campaign and the Russians. 

So Trump is simply frustrated that Sessions can no longer sabotage or delay or derail the Mueller investigations, and that's the only reason he wants to get rid of him.

Trump and his advisers are floating possible replacements for Attorney General Jeff Sessions — and the list includes Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), The Washington Post reports. Cruz and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani ® are reportedly among the candidates Trump’s team is considering to replace Sessions, though Giuliani said earlier in the day that he's not being considered.

Trump has repeatedly said that he is disappointed by Sessions’s decision to recuse himself from the probe into ties between the Trump administration and Russia, saying in an interview last week that he would have never hired Sessions if he knew he would recuse himself..

Cruz being considered to replace Sessions: report | TheHill

Speaking about Ted Cruz, you have to read this, that really sums him up..

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Amazing, you were one of the earliest and staunchest supporters of Trump, and then you have to deal with this nonsense..

President Donald Trump continued his public criticism of his own attorney general, Jeff Sessions, over Twitter on Tuesday morning.
"Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes (where are E-mails & DNC server) & Intel leakers!" Trump tweeted. 

"Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump campaign - 'quietly working to boost Clinton.' So where is the investigation A.G. @seanhannity," Trump tweeted earlier in the morning, apparently attributing the quote to Fox News host Sean Hannity. As an Alabama senator, Sessions was among Trump's earliest and highest-profile supporters. In March, however, he recused himself from any investigation into connections between Trump's presidential campaign and Russia after it was revealed that he had failed to disclose at least two meetings he had during the campaign with Russia's ambassador to the US.

The president called Sessions "beleaguered" in a tweet Monday. "So why aren't the Committees and investigators, and of course our beleaguered A.G., looking into Crooked Hillarys crimes & Russia relations?" Trump tweeted.

Trump attacks Attorney General Jeff Sessions - Business Insider

Political analysts say Trump appears to be backing Sessions into a corner in the hopes that he will resign — a theory bolstered in recent days by reports that Trump is considering replacements like Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York. According to the news website Axios, Trump recently asked a longtime political associate what would happen if he fired Sessions, whom he called "beleaguered" in a tweet Monday. Trump has expressed anger with Sessions for recusing himself in March from the investigation into Russia's election interference and whether the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow.

"Sessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should've told me before he took the job so I could choose someone else," Trump told The New York Times last week. Responding to Trump's comments last week, Sessions told reporters he planned to remain in his role "as long as that is appropriate."

What could happen if Jeff Sessions resigns - Business Insider

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This is a former Watergate prosecutor speaking, and she's not impressed with Kushner, to put it mildly..

Wine-Banks said Kushner’s explanations for excluding more than 100 foreign contacts from his initial ethics disclosure forms were not believable to her. She added that the most unbelievable of Kushner’s excuses was the fact that he claims that he did not know what the meeting with the Russian lawyer was about before going in. Wine-Banks said there were still so many questions about Kushner’s statement that were left unanswered and called on investigators to interview Kushner’s assistant and other people who were present in the meeting. “These are just lies, they are not believable,” she said.

Ex-Watergate prosecutor: Kushner’s explanations ‘blatantly ridiculous’ | TheHill

Quite frankly, it seems ridiculous to assume Kushner went to a meeting which was supposed to unveil dirt on Hillary with the compliments of the Russian government. 

It's also not believable that nobody told Trump. His son, his campaign manager (Manafort) and his son in law were all there and the meeting was in Trump tower and Trump's surrogates never cease to claim that he's such a hands-on guy, that nothing happens without him knowing about it. 

The fact that Russia was willing to help the Trump campaign (per the emails received by Trump Jr.) and claimed to have dirt on Hillary which they could use in the campaign is a big deal that contrasts sharply by how these people (Kushner and Trump Jr.) described it and conveniently forgot that it even took place.

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Here is Fox host Gregg Jarrett:

GREGG JARRETT: If I were the president and Robert Mueller starts digging around into my finances, I’d go down to the nearest federal judge and get an injunction because the special counsel doesn’t have unlimited latitude to look into somebody’s finances. The law says there has to be just cause and a reasonable basis. And I can easily envision those federal judges saying, “Wait a minute. You’re not allowed to engage in a fishing expedition into somebody’s finances. Show me the probable cause" and so far there is none. [...] The whole Mueller/Comey investigation, and it can be called that because they may be acting in collusion to get the president. The whole thing stinks like Limburger cheese. I’ve never seen so many conflicts of interest all rolled into one investigation. Mueller has a disqualifying conflict of interest and under the special counsel statute, he is required to recuse himself because of his close relationship with Comey. The statute literally says that. And he hasn’t done it, which raises a serious conflict of interest question.

Fox's Gregg Jarrett: Trump should get an injunction to stop investigation into his finances

Noooo, we must avoid at all cost to find out what's in Trump's finances!! Never!

One thing is pretty sure though, he's got something to hide:

1. He never published his tax returns
   
2. He fired Comey basically because the Russian investigation and boasted to the Russians the next day that that would lift a huge weight of his back
   
3. He's publicly humiliating Jeff Sessions, his Attorney General and one of his earliest and most loyal supporters, the only reason is because Sessions has recused himself from the Russian investigation (after "forgetting" to mention some meetings with them on his security clearance, something that is epidemic in Trump circles) which stops him from pressuring or firing Robert Mueller who leads the Russian investigation.
   

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From the WSJ editorial page, no less..

The Wall Street Journal editorial page, hardly a left-wing Donald Trump critic, called on the president to adopt a new strategy on the Russia probe: "radical transparency." Specifically, Trump, family members, campaign operatives and business associates should release anything pertinent to the investigation, any meeting with Russians or Americans with Russia ties and "every Trump business relationship with Russians going back years." This information includes his tax returns.  It's sound advice. There's no way Trump will take it. He has stuff he wants to hide. More likely, he'll try to fire the special counsel investigating him and pardon his family and himself.  The Washington scandal cliches -- it's always better to get everything out or the cover-up is always worse than the crime -- are inoperative if you're covering up bad deeds.

Trump Barrels Down a Road of No Return - Bloomberg

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On CNN’s New Day, a co-author of a January Politico article that conservative media have recently touted to claim that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) colluded with the Ukrainian government in a similar way to the alleged possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government explained that the situations are actually “very, very different.” Politico’s David Stern pointed out that “what we said in the article is that we don't have, as far as we can see, the type of top-down and wide, broad attack on the American election that was being alleged” about the Russian government and the Trump campaign. Stern added that the DNC consultant mentioned in the report who spoke to officials at the Ukrainian Embassy “was possibly, you could say freelancing when she spoke to them,” and not directed by the DNC. Right-wing media, as well as presidential aides and President Donald Trump’s lawyer, have all pushed the dubious Ukrainian collusion claim to downplay recent revelations about meetings between Russians and Trump’s family and campaign aides.

Politico reporter debunks right-wing attempts to use his article for Ukrainian collusion narrative

While the statement offers insight into 4 key meetings with Russian foreign nationals, many of the details contradict previous remarks from White House officials, including their initial, categorical claim that there was no contact between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Kushner admits to four contacts with Russians that the White House previously denied

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President Trump reportedly dictated a misleading statement about his son's meeting with a Russian lawyer that was ultimately issued to the New York Times by Donald Trump Jr., The Washington Post reported Monday evening. Trump dictated the statement on July 8, while he was en route back to the United States from the G-20 summit in Germany, to director of strategic communications Hope Hicks, the Post said. 

The statement about a meeting Trump Jr. had with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign emphasized that it was “not a campaign issue at the time.” Instead, it said the topic had been primarily Russian adoption policy. But a few days later, news broke that Trump Jr. arranged the meeting believing he would obtain harmful information about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The New York Times first disclosed details of the meeting that took place in July 2016, and also included Jared Kushner, and then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

Trump dictated statement for son on Russia meeting: report | TheHill

Let us try to summarize:

• First they denied any meeting with any Russians had taken place and attacked people as liars and fake news providers daring to suggest such things
  
• Then it became clear a host of Trump people suffered from a rare (and very contagious!) form of amnesia and they started to remember meetings, which got people into trouble (Sessions, Flyn, Kushner etc.)
  
• Then Trump Jr. turned out to have had a meeting (despite him blasting people daring to suggest such a vile thing), and he had to change his story about that meeting several times within the time span of a few days, as new details came out.
  
• In his first reaction to the news, Trump Jr. claimed that the meeting was about adoption..
  
• The NYT at the time suggested that Trump Sr. signed off on that first reaction
  
• Then the Trump campaign argued that this was nonsense, Trump Sr. wasn't involved and he did have no knowledge of that meeting.
  
• Then emails appeared where it stated in unequivocal terms what the meeting was about: The Russian Government was helping the Trump campaign by providing dirt on Hillary. So it became crystal clear Trump Jr. first reaction was nonsense.
  
• What was also unequivocal was Trump Jr. reaction: "I love it!" And he took the campaign manager and Kushner with him to the meeting.
  
• Now it has become clear that Trump Sr. not only signed off on that nonsense statement, he dictated it. And that against the wishes of Trump Jr. lawyers..
  

Lies and obfuscation abound, at every step. But this is all a big nothingburger..

In the meantime, can anyone really believe that Trump Sr. didn't know anything about that meeting at the time, being such a hands-on guy

[Admin]

Huh?!

A defamation lawsuit filed by longtime Fox News contributor Rod Wheeler against the network alleges that President Trump was directly involved in concocting a fake story intended to undercut the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russian hackers waged cyberattacks against Democratic targets to help him get elected.

The Fox News story — headlined “DC MURDER MYSTERY: Slain DNC staffer was WikiLeaks’ source, say investigators” — was heavily promoted on Sean Hannity’s show and Fox & Friends, but was retracted by Fox News about a week after it was published. It falsely claimed there was evidence linking slain former Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich with WikiLeaks, which published emails hacked from the DNC...

The lawsuit claims that Butowsky and Zimmerman hoped the story “would debunk reports the Russian were responsible for the DNC hacks” and “undermine reports of collusion between Russia and the Trump Administration.” It claims that in the weeks ahead of the article’s publication, Butowsky was in touch with then-Press Secretary Sean Spicer, White House strategist Steve Bannon, and Department of Justice spokesperson Sarah Flores “regarding his efforts related to Seth Rich.” Wheeler says he and Butowsky met with Spicer “and provided him with a copy of [Wheeler’s] investigative notes.”

But the day the story was published, Spicer denied having foreknowledge of the Fox News report, saying during the White House press briefing that “I’m not aware of that… it would be highly inappropriate to do that.” Spicer has now changed his story. He confirmed to NPR that he met with Butowsky after all.

Wheeler claims that he became upset when he read the Fox News piece and saw the fabricated quotes attributed to him.

UPDATE (12:15 p.m., 8/1): In a statement, Fox News President Jay Wallace doesn’t deny that Trump was involved in the network’s since-retracted Seth Rich story, but says “[t]he accusation that FoxNews.com published Malia Zimmerman’s story to help detract from coverage of the Russia collusion issue is completely erroneous.”

Explosive lawsuit alleges Trump reviewed and approved bogus Fox News story on Seth Rich

If this is true it's incredible. Hannety is still peddling this nonsense, by the way.

And yet another one having to change his story after being caught with the facts..

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Can you believe these people?? How many times can they lie and get caught before they're ridiculed by everybody?

President Donald Trump acted "as any father would" in dictating the initial misleading statement that Donald Trump Jr. used when confronted by The New York Times earlier this month about his June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday.

White House: Trump acted 'as any father would' in dictating Trump Jr statement - Business Insider

First they denied that such a meeting took place, then they argued (as it now turns out, under Trump Sr. guidance) that it was about adoption, then they had to change that story a couple of times, then they denied the President had anything to do with it and now even that turns out to be BS. 

But hey, he was doing what any father would have done, which is lying to save his OWN ass, right?