Trump and Putin, behind the scenes

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Amazing stuff..

President Donald Trump reportedly fawned over Russian President Vladimir Putin to his aides after they met for a high stakes summit in Helsinki last week. The Washington Post reported that Trump specifically admired how Putin is "strong, smart, and cunning." He also reportedly said he relished his interactions with the Russian leader. Trump stunned observers when, during a press conference after the Helsinki summit, he refused to denounce Putin, declined to hold Russia accountable for its interference in the 2016 election, and suggested the FBI was part of a conspiracy to underine his election victory. Instead, he touted the "direct, open, deeply productive dialogue" he had with Putin. In turn, national security experts said, Putin played Trump like a fiddle.

Trump and Putin's discussion in their private meeting has not been disclosed, but Russian ambassador Anatoly Antonov said Wednesday Trump made "important verbal agreements" on issues such as the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria. "I think I did great at the news conference," Trump told CBS Evening News anchor Jeff Glor Wednesday amid harsh blowback from lawmakers, intelligence veterans, and even some of his own allies.

Report: Trump fawned over Putin after meeting, said he was strong, smart, cunning - Business Insider

President Trump reportedly complained that a reporter’s question about Russian interference in the 2016 election during a press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin was too difficult. The Washington Post reported Saturday that Trump wondered why Associated Press reporter Jonathan Lemire had been selected to ask the president a question, rather than someone who would have presented him with an easier query. Lemire asked if Trump would, “with the whole world watching, tell President Putin that you denounce what happened in 2016, and would you warn him to never do it again?” Trump replied by asking why the FBI didn’t take a server from the Democratic National Committee to directly investigate hacking claims. He added “I don’t see any reason why it would be” Russia.

Trump complained reporter's question at summit was too hard: report

Too difficult a question???!

Well, given the answer he bumbled, perhaps there is something to it. Amazing stuff..

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Some other stuff Trump failed to mention during his PR with Putin..

Instead of defending US interests at his press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 16, Trump kowtowed to the dictator. He bought Putin’s denials that Russia didn’t interfere in the 2016 presidential election, even though Trump’s top intelligence officials have repeatedly stated that Russia did — and provided evidence of this fact weeks before Trump was inaugurated. The US president also failed in other ways. He didn’t shame Putin for working with Iran to prop up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and relentlessly bombing innocent civilians. He also didn’t push back on Putin’s attempt to take over Georgia in 2008, or his invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Trump’s performance was so bad, in fact, that the administration received widespread, bipartisan condemnation for it, and even official congressional action in the form of a nonbinding resolution to rebuke it.
The president doesn’t seem to be bothered by any of this. He just invited Putin to the White House for another meeting in the fall. What’s really surprising about this past week is how caught off guard the American people were by what transpired. Here are the five main takeaways, in case you missed the action..

Trump’s Putin and Russia week: 5 depressing things we learned - Vox

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A former Fox News reporter told ThinkProgress that Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia through Stone. In an August 2016 email exchange that was published in April, Stone admitted to meeting recently with WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange. Stone also tweeted about the release of stolen documents from the Clinton campaign before WikiLeaks posted them. Trump’s Justice Department has linked WikiLeaks to Russian intelligence. Davis is at least the sixth former employee of Stone, who has contradicted himself several times about his suspected role in Russian election interference, to be connected with Mueller’s investigation.

Mueller probe targets Roger Stone with subpoena of ‘Manhattan Madam’ – ThinkProgress

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The only reporter to obtain a complete Trump tax return, Tim O'Brien, tells Lawrence O'Donnell the information in Pres. Trump's tax returns would help answer whether Trump is "beholden" to Vladimir Putin. David Frum explains why Trump's tax returns have become a national security concern.

Could Trump’s tax returns explain Helsinki performance?

You have to see the attached video!

• Trump went bankrupt in the early 1990s, no US bank would loan to him
  
• He was bailed out via Deutsche Bank
  
• All of a sudden, Trump started to buy golf courses all over the place, with his own cash, stuff that he never did before and the courses weren't necessarily great business propositions.
  

As a side note, the British tax payer was on the hook for 50K pounds for letting Trump stay on his own golf course resort in Scotland while he was waiting to meet Putin after visiting Theresa May, the UK Prime Minister.

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Very good article, with the inescapable conclusion that something really weird is going on:

To recap: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein revealed indictments against 12 Russians for the hacks of the Democratic National Committee, and we learned that Russian hackers went after Hillary Clinton’s private office for the first time on the very day Trump said, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.” At the NATO summit in Brussels, Trump attacked a close European ally—Germany—and generally questioned the value of the alliance. Next, he visited the United Kingdom and trashed Prime Minister Theresa May. Then, in Helsinki, he met with Vladimir Putin privately for two hours, with no U.S. officials present other than a translator. After this suspicious meeting, he sang the Russian strongman’s praises at a news conference at which he said he viewed Putin’s denials on a par with the unanimous and unchallenged conclusions of America’s intelligence agencies.

With every other world leader, the physically imposing Trump attempts to dominate—witness his alpha-male handshakes with French President Emanuel Macron or his flamboyant man-spreading next to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Yet with the diminutive Putin—who is maybe 5 feet, 6 inches tall—he’s oddly submissive. During the public portion of their encounter, Trump was slumping in his chair, as if defeated. Why? Why did he insist on a one-on-one meeting with Putin in the first place? And why does Trump inevitably return to questioning the irrefutable evidence that Russia meddled in the 2016 election?

We can dispense with the explanation, conveyed anonymously by senior administration officials, that “his brain can’t process that collusion and cyberattacks are two different things.” We can also forget about the widely held theory that he views the various Russia investigations as a threat to the legitimacy of his election, and therefore a devastating blow to his sense of self-worth. Or, at least, neither offers a sufficient explanation for why Trump consistently parrots Russian talking points on NATO, the American media, U.S. troop deployments, Ukraine and the legitimacy of the postwar liberal order. What does any of that have to do with his tender ego? Do we really think Trump has an informed position on, say, Montenegro’s history of aggression? Could Trump find Montenegro on a map? Nor is it credible to point to actions his administration has taken that are “tough on Russia.” Trump has questioned proposals to supply the Ukrainian government with anti-tank missiles and sniped at Congress for wanting to impose fresh sanctions on Moscow.

Why I’m No Longer a Russiagate Skeptic - POLITICO Magazine

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Yesterday..

“So President Obama knew about Russia before the Election,” Trump tweeted. “Why didn’t he do something about it? Why didn’t he tell our campaign? Because it is all a big hoax, that’s why, and he thought Crooked Hillary was going to win!!!”

Donald Trump Calls Russian Election Meddling A 'Big Hoax' | Time

Today..

Russian hackers were able to penetrate the control rooms of hundreds of U.S. utilities last year as part of a campaign against power company vendors that could be ongoing, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials told the Journal that hackers working for a state-sponsored group known as Dragonfly or Energetic Bear were able to get inside the networks of U.S. utilities to the point that they could have disrupted power service and caused blackouts. “They got to the point where they could have thrown switches” said Jonathan Homer, chief of industrial-control-system analysis for DHS.

DHS: Russian hackers got into control rooms of US utilities | TheHill

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President Trump launched a barrage of tweets on Monday morning, taking aim at a series of familiar targets ranging from the news media to Amazon to the special counsel investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. In the string of tweets, Trump first targeted special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russia's election meddling, claiming that recently released documents related to a surveillance warrant on Carter Page, a former campaign adviser to Trump, proved that FBI officials acted improperly during the 2016 presidential race.  He called Mueller's investigation "totally conflicted and discredited" and demanded the probe be brought to an end immediately.  "So we now find out that it was indeed the unverified and Fake Dirty Dossier, that was paid for by Crooked Hillary Clinton and the DNC, that was knowingly & falsely submitted to FISA and which was responsible for starting the totally conflicted and discredited Mueller Witch Hunt!" Trump tweeted.

Trump hits Russia probe, Amazon in tweet barrage | TheHill

Amazing stuff, considering this is the President of the US..

• Steele, the author of the "Fake Dirty Dossier" is a highly respected former head of the Russian desk at MI6 (UK).
  
• Steele was unaware of who paid him, and in effect, he was first paid by a Republican operative, only after Trump gained the Republican nomination did the Democrats take over. 
  
• But this happened via lawyers, Hillary wasn't aware of this, otherwise why not make the findings public before the election, or at least hint at its existence?
  
• Steele's dossier, which is raw intelligence so some stuff is likely being false or difficult to corroborate, but nevertheless there is a good deal of the dossier that has panned out. 
  
• No less than four different judges, all of them appointed by Republicans, and a host of other people signed off on four different FISA applications. It must have been one giant conspiracy of they were all in it.
  
• Contrary to what the Nunes memo argues, it is clear they knew the dossier was paid for by the Democrats.
  
• That Mueller "witch hunt" has already indited scores of people..
  

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Did Trump know about the famous meeting Trump Jr., Kuchner and Manafort took with Russians who claimed they had dirt on Hillary Clinton?

• Trump himself has vehemently denied any prior knowledge multiple times.
  
• Trump Jr. denied he told his father, he went on Fox with Hannity arguing that it was such a "nothingburger, there was nothing to tell.."
  

Is this credible? No:

• Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer is now willing to testify that Trump was told in advance of the meeting.
  
• Trump Jr. sits just one floor below his father in Trump Tower and they frequently interact.
  
• Donald Trump is a very hands-on manager, according to those who have worked for him.
  
• Just days after the meeting Trump tweeted that imminent news about Hillary Clinton would appear (it didn't, but it's a rather curious coincidence).
  
• The meeting was deemed important enough for Trump Jr. to bring Jared Kuchner and Trump's campaign manager Paul Manafort to the meeting, would Don Jr. really not tell his daddy??
  
• There is now even talk of a prior meeting to this, two days before.
  
• The meeting was arranged by intermediates that are good acquaintances of Trump Sr. 
  
• It wouldn't be the first time Trump people lied about this.
  

The latter point (the lies) might take some elaboration:

• Trump Jr. first line of defense has always been that there was no contact with Russians. He even got terribly upset when a journalist suggested there had been meetings and started to rant.
  
• His second line of defense was that there were no scheduled meetings with Russians, he "might have ran into some Russians at some time.."
  
• When news broke out about the meeting, his line of defense shifted again, this time arguing it was a meeting about adoption.
  
• Trump Jr. was finally forced to release his emails because the New York Times was going to reveal much more about the meeting, it turned out Trump Jr. was promised "dirt on Hillary Clinton" and Trump Jr. answered "I love it."
  
• The first response, about the meeting being about adoptions, was drafted by Donald Trump aboard Airforce 1 on the way back from the G20 meeting. They have denied that as well for quite some time, until it turned out to be true.
  

And now the goalposts have been shifted again, by Rudy Giuliani, who argued that collusion isn't a crime, and when asked whether the President had prior knowledge about the meeting his only defense was that he wasn't present in that meeting.

George Washington University law professor and legal expert Jonathan Turley said Monday that President Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen flipping could mean that the president is "one witness away from a potential catastrophe." “I think the Cohen development is very serious,” Turley, who is an opinion contributor at The Hill, said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." “He’s one witness away from a potential catastrophe. If any of those five witnesses breaks and supports Michael Cohen, this will get real bad, real fast." Turley made the remarks just days after CNN reported that Cohen said Trump knew of a 2016 Trump Tower meeting between his son and a Kremlin-connected lawyer ahead of time. .

MSNBC legal expert: Cohen flipping puts Trump 'one witness away' from catastrophe | TheHill

To be continued..

[Admin]

Someone's getting nervous..

President Trump on Wednesday called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to stop the Russia investigation, a significant escalation of his attacks against the long-running probe that has dogged his presidency. "Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further," Trump tweeted. The president also accused special counsel Robert Mueller of being "totally conflicted," adding that "his 17 Angry Democrats that are doing his dirty work are a disgrace to USA."

Trump calls on Sessions to end Russia probe ‘right now’ | TheHill

If you or your family members or friends are under investigations you too would like it to stop but needless to say, that's not how a society based on the rule of law functions, and it's dismaying that the President, who should uphold the rule of law, instead is undermining it.

And now we know why..

President Trump's barrage of tweets Wednesday morning going after special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation reportedly came after the president learned that Mueller wants to ask him about obstruction of justice. ABC News, citing sources close to the White House, reported that Trump was upset with Mueller’s interest in obstruction and fired off a fresh round of attacks on the special counsel's credibility while calling for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to end the probe. "Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further," Trump tweeted.

Trump tweet storm came after learning Mueller wants to ask about obstruction: report | TheHill

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There is ample evidence that Trump has known for some time that Russia cyber-attacked the United States in 2016 and knows that we are still under attack. His own national security officials have bolstered the damning evidence that is mounting against the president. Last week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo testified to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Trump has “a complete and proper understanding of what happened,” referring to Russian interference in the 2016 election.   Pompeo continued, “I know — I briefed him on it for over a year,” when he headed the CIA. 

In other words, this isn’t Watergate, where the issue was, what did the president know and when did he know it? Presidential knowledge of the Russian attack is not in dispute. Trump knows the attacks are still going on. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats has stated, “the warning lights are blinking red again. Today, the digital infrastructure that serves this country is literally under attack.” Coats identified Russia as the “most aggressive foreign actor.” The president surely understands the serious nature of these attacks. Before Trump appointed national security adviser John Bolton, Bolton asserted that the Russian interference in the 2016 election “is far more than just a quotidian covert operation. It is in fact a casus belli, a true act of war.”

Trump hasn’t used the powers of his office to stop the attacks, for example, by issuing an ultimatum that Russia cease or face severe consequences. Instead, at the Helsinki summit he backed Russian President Vladimir Putin, contradicting the conclusions of U.S. intelligence officials and denying any election meddling. After a political firestorm broke out in the United States, Trump said, “I now accept our intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place.” Trump then added in the same breath, “Could be other people. A lot of people out there.” The president’s waffling unmistakably signals that he will not hold Russia accountable, which will only encourage Putin to continue the attacks. 

Despite blatantly ignoring his own intelligence officials, siding with Putin and dismissing the validity of Russia’s threat to American democracy, there has been remarkably little discussion of whether Trump committed an impeachable offense by abandoning his post in the face of attacks on the United States. The public apparently just isn’t shocked enough to angrily demand explanations and accountability from elected leaders — although they should be. In another era, such as the Cold War, the reaction would have been different. Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy or Reagan would not have waffled in responding to interference by the Soviet Union in an American presidential election. Americans wouldn’t have accepted such a reaction if they did. Whatever the explanation for our apathy, the country is under attack by Russia and the president of the United States evidently couldn’t care less.

Russian meddling continues and Trump couldn’t care less | TheHill

And the explanation could be very simple, he actually benefited from it, and continues to benefit from it.