Posted on 06/15/2019 1:27:02 AM PDT by John Semmens
President Trump's open-minded response to a hypothetical question posed by ABC's George Stephanopoulos unleashed a fire-storm of pious denunciations from Democrats and the media. Stephanopoulos asked Trump whether he would listen to any "dirt" on a political opponent if it were offered by a foreign government. Trump said "yes. Suppose, for example, that Norway wanted to tell me something unsettling about a person in our government or running for office. I think I'd listen and maybe pass on this information to the FBI if I thought it warranted their attention."
Loser of the 2016 presidential election Hillary Clinton pounced on Trump's remarks calling them "the smoking gun that proves he is unfit to be president." She went on to contrast Trump's "invitation to foreign meddling" with her own "measured response to the 'dirt' on Trump my campaign bought from Christopher Steele. We didn't broadcast a plea for foreign interference. We worked behind the scenes and, I might add, with the FBI to ensure that the information would be used properly."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) echoed Clinton's take, pointing out that "when Trump asked the Russians to find Hillary's lost emails in 2016 he was a private citizen and lacked authority to interact with foreign governments. Hillary, in contrast, was acting with the full cooperation of the Obama Administration in the effort to block the most unqualified candidate for the presidency in our nation's history. Just because that effort failed doesn't make Trump's election legitimate. We can't allow him to misuse the normal presidential communications with foreign governments as a mask for future illegal interactions with them."
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) averred that "the mere possibility of accepting political information from a foreign government as President Trump implied he might is simply unthinkable. It strikes at the very heart of our democracy. It was bad enough that the Democrats did this to try to sully Trump's reputation, but Republicans need to have higher ethical standards even if that means we lose to law-breaking Democrats. I agree with the great Senator Henry Clay that it is better to be right than be president. That way you keep your self respect."
Federal Election Commission (FEC) Chairwoman Ellen Weintraub joined the chorus of objections to Trump's remarks stating "it is illegal for any person to solicit, accept, or receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a U.S. Election." She attempted to distinguish Trump's hypothetical answer from the 2016 actions of the Clinton campaign by "citing some clear differences. First, while it is true that the Steele dossier was compiled by a former British spy and based on information obtained from the Russian government, the connection to Clinton was not direct. Two American intermediaries were between her campaign and the foreigners. Second, since the Clinton campaign paid several million dollars for this 'dirt' it was not a contribution to her campaign per se. It was a straightforward purchase, much like the purchase of an imported cigar from a local smoke shop, for example."
Trump characterized the outrage over his answer "hysterical hypocrisy. The fact is that it was the Democrats who actively solicited dirt concocted by a foreigner and worked with top FBI officials to use it to undermine my campaign and my administration. In the process they violated the civil rights of dozens of Americans by spying on their private conversations, abused their authority by intimidating witnesses, and forced taxpayers to bear the enormous expenses of investigating a non-existent crime. Given what happened it's ridiculous for anyone to claim that calling in the FBI to stop election interference makes any sense."
However, calling in the FBI would be mandatory if legislation just proposed by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn) is enacted. Blumenthal called his "Duty to Report" Act "essential if we want to preserve our form of government. As they have shown in their valiant effort to derail the Trump Administration these past two years, the FBI is our last line of defense against a hostile takeover of our government. Rather than expecting this heroic agency to have to do its crucial work covertly it's time we formally legitimize their role by requiring that all candidates report to the FBI and get the agency's approval before they are allowed to compete in the race for the presidency. If my bill had been in effect prior to the 2016 election Trump would not have been able to clear this hurdle and America would now be under the guidance of the most qualified person to ever seek the office."
if you missed any of this week's other semi-news/semi-satire posts you can find them at...
https://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Opinion/263004-2019-06-15-semi-news-semi-satire-june-16-2019-edition.htm
ping
Yeah....’Duty to Report’.
While in satire, you could end up with a division in the FBI (if this were to occur) of 300 agents just working on politician ‘dirt’.
The curious thing...a KGB guy could take a vacation in the US, and meet five or six newspaper people, who gulp down Margaritas and tell the guy one-hundred bits of dirt. Then the KGB guy goes back to Moscow and writes the whole report up (from a vacation). Then some Russian political figure gets the report, and offers to sell it back to the American politician or focus-group. And this would be considered illegal by this law they are talking about passing. However, if you got the dirt straight from the US journalist...that would be legal and not reportable. Pretty screwed up.
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By the way........ does anyone know HOW Trump came to do this interview with Little Georgie?
Who suggested he do this?
All this BS ...... when in reality DJT is correct.
It's only "Foreign Meddling" when Trump suggests it, not when Hillary and her evil cohorts buy it and use it for every evil purpose.
However, if you got the dirt straight from the US journalist...that would be legal and not reportable. Pretty screwed up."
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yep .....
Meaningless Bullshit.
DJT is at his best when he correctly identifies these rats as "the enemy of the people." He needs to live those words and not offer Little Wiseguys an audience. But to answer your question, he ultimately approved the Stephanopoulos interview.
When I read satire about American politics I have to keep reminding myself that it’s satire. The truth nowadays is so bizarre it’s hard to discern where reality ends and grotesque fantasy begins.
Good God, you have to warn us before posting pictures of that hag!
“By the way........ does anyone know HOW Trump came to do this interview with Little Georgie?”
I’m sure that President Trump knows what he’s about.
;-)
If they made a bucket for the eyes, that is the one I would have grabbed!
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