Posted on 07/28/2017 7:46:48 PM PDT by springwater13
The evidence that has emerged from this meeting strongly suggests that this was not an effort to establish a secure back channel for collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign but an influence operation with one simple objective: to undermine the presidential election.
Sophisticated Russian intelligence tradecraft that was meant to be kept secret would not have permitted such an insecure opening gambit for establishing continuing communication with the Trump campaign. They would not have used something as insecure as email, or relied on liaison cutouts who could so easily be traced to the Kremlin. Instead, the Russians who attended the meeting had obvious Kremlin ties, including Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Moscow lawyer who has done work on behalf of the F.S.B.; Rinat Akhmetshin, a Russian-American lobbyist who served in the Soviet military; and Mr. Agalarov, whose father is a real estate titan close to Mr. Putin.
I can’t say how news of the meeting broke, but once it did, Mr. Putin achieved one of his goals: throwing the American government into greater turmoil amid the frenzied media coverage, escalating F.B.I. and congressional investigations and intensified political conflict. And with the revelation that Russia was behind the meddling, Mr. Putin achieved another objective: to allow Russia, despite its economic and military inferiority, to claim that it could rival the United States on the global playing field. He could do all this while denying, with a wink and a nod, any involvement.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Very informative. Thanks. I’m passing it on.
Rosenstein might be clean or on the fence. He got Comey fired, on rock-solid basis. I'm not sure he helped bury any bodies, unlike McCabe, Rybicki and Baker.
Now that the spotlight has turned to GPS Fusion being paid by Democrats to collude with Russians against Trump, the NYT proclaims that “collusion” is so yesterday.
NYT = absolutely shameless.
I’d like to know who put Rosenstein forward as acting AG. It seems to me that his part in the gambit was to put forward Mueller as special counsel. I’m assuming that RR, for all his stellar rep (who knows if it’s true) is controlled by others, and was forced to name Mueller. Of all the possible special counsels who could have been named, he names Comey’s BFF and confederate of 20 years? That does not pass the smell test. Anybody who believes the selection of Mueller was legit, I have a bridge to sell them in Brooklyn.
Gauntlet Thrown: House Judiciary Demands Special Counsel To Investigate Comey, Lynch, And Clinton
Gauntlet Thrown: House Judiciary Demands Special Counsel To Investigate Comey, Lynch, And Clinton
Opinions on that position turn on how one views the selection of Mueller, out of all the people in the world, to go after Trump.
I think Rosenstein was more or less forced, by circumstances, to appoint a SC. Sessions was sidelined by reasonable protocol. He can;t be used or seen as using his power to favor Trump or disfavor Hillary. That's good for him, and it's good for the system and it's good for Trump - Sessions is not the only warrior on Trump's side.
Rosenstein, being the source of rationale to fire Comey, and also being a "Trump boy" for being nominated and appointed, has a similar problem as Sessions, just muted.
But the turd that Comey left in the punchbowl, the "open investigations" cited in his March 20 testimony, those have to be publicly closed.
Enter a SC. Maybe Rosenstein thought Mueller was clean, although that isn't a credible belief, Rosenstein can't be that naive. Maybe the selection is done with the expectation Mueller would expose himself, given the opportunity.
At any rate, list out those that ought to be prosecuted and jailed. I don't think Rosenstein is on that list. Clinton, Comey, Lynch, Brennan, Baker, Powers and Rice (and there are more), yes, they are on the "prosecute and jail" list. Mueller could be too, or at least he is in the same cohort having "deep state malfeasance cover-up artist" as a career.
That said, a handful of them might be able to gin up public pressure, even if they can't affect the outcome of any investigatory or deliberative activity. It is past time for somebody in Congress, in addition to Grassley, to question the false narrative that has taken hold and dominated the news cycles for months. So far, Congress has facilitated advancing and legitimizing the false narrative. The way i see it, Congress is as guilty of perpetrating the coup attempt, as Comey is.
To me the turd in the punchbowl is the selection of MUELLER out of all possible candidates. A pal-confederate-conspirator for decades with Comey. The “one guy” guaranteed to protect Comey while going after Trump.
That doesn’t “just happen.”
Great reporting here: read this.
Brennan, Rice, Power, Obama – Political Unmasking, More Coup Evidence
http://rickwells.us/brennan-rice-power-obama-political-unmasking-coup-evidence/#prettyPhoto
“The plot thickens.” Comey, Clinton, Lynch, Power etc are now desperate as cornered wolverines, hence their desperation to take out Trump.
I think Sessions. He's Sessions' #2. Nomination came a couple months after inauguration. He's the longests serving US attorney, and was introduced at his confirmation hearing by MD's two DEM senators.
The only opposition to Rosenstein came from Sen. Richard Blumenthal. The Connecticut Democrat said Rosenstein has an "impressive background," but he opposed him because he has not committed to appoint an outside investigator on Russia.
Rosenstein moves forward for deputy attorney general - Apr 3, 2017
As I said in my previous, I think SC was in the cards, to protect Rosenstein from direct blowback if he'd have spiked the bogus allegations of Comey.
Mueller might be a Rosenstein mistake, or it might have been agreed to behind the scenes (Rosentein and Trump converstation, pretext being to discuss Mueller as FBI had, in as much as FBI head reports to Rosenstein).
Too early to tell. Mueller's reputation, and by extention, decades of FBI reputation, can't be discreted if Mueller is allowed to stay in private life.
Mueller might turn into a cornered wolverine before this plays out.
Trump interviewed Mueller to head the FBI. I think the meeting was a pretext to size him up.
I mean peel it back further. Who put Mueller’s name to Sessions? Who first suggested Mueller, no doubt padding his resume and his stellar integrity quals, etc, barf alert.
The conflicts of interest are just so glaring, to anybody who took time to dig. For one thing, one FBI director potentially trashing another? No way. Right there, you can’t have one ex FBI director investigating another. From a bureaucratic POV, that is a conflict out of the gate.
Then go back to Mueller and Sessions working to protect each other and support each other going back 20+ years.
Somebody just “suggested” Mueller as the perfect choice, and Rosenstein and Sessions “bit.”
Who was that somebody? That’s the level I’m interested in. Of course on an overt level Sessions and RR named him.
But who suggested to them that Mueller was the perfect choice? THAT’S the guy I’m interested in. A reporter like Herrridge or Atkisson could get that information, not us.
But that’s the crucial link in the “deep state coup trap.” Mueller was the key to the trap.
Please take ten minutes and watch my video above, save me a lot of typing.
The video at 55 I mean.
The video was from July 27th, before Scaramoochi’s drunken phone rant, or the Priebus firing. The rest is still dead on target IMHO.
Bracken Exposes Deep State Coup Plot Against POTUS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRKIsBlzVOk&feature=youtu.be
Nobody. Sessions said he was out of it, and I belive he was. When the Trump campaign is cleared, Sessions' name will have no attachment to that. Unlike Comey clearing Hillary, and Lynch clearing a host of others.
-- The conflicts of interest are just so glaring, to anybody who took time to dig. For one thing, one FBI director potentially trashing another? --
Mueller isn't investigating Comey. I do agree, he has taken it on hiself to legitimize Comey having left the turd in the punchbowl. The two of them are polishing each other's reputations. But as of now, Comey is not in Mueller's jurisdiction, and Mueller can't give Comey legal protection. The most he can give is perception protection.
-- Somebody just "suggested" Mueller as the perfect choice, and Rosenstein and Sessions "bit." --
Rosenstien bit. Sessions had recused from "matters relating to the campaign" a few weeks before Mueller was appointed.
-- But who suggested to them that Mueller was the perfect choice? THAT'S the guy I'm interested in. --
I hadn't thought of that, but it appears Trump was aware Mueller was "floating around," because he interviewed him days before Rosenstein picked him.
Mueller is part of the swamp.
-- Please take ten minutes and watch my video above, save me a lot of typing. --
I watched it some time ago. Your video is the reason I suggested you add a few names to your list, back around post 60 or so. I think you have a very good handle on what is going on.
Now that the trail of evidence of Russian collusion is pointing to the demoncraps instead of President Trump, they want to drop the whole subject.
If Rosenstein is working to drain the swamp (just hypothetically), naming Mueller gives Mueller a choice. Mueller can either investigate just the Trump campaign, or he can play the typical head-hunting games favored by swamp creatures.
The situation BEFORE a SC is named, whether naming of an SC is in the view of Trump or not, is a test for Rosenstein.
Now, I can see the logic or pushing taint backwards from Mueller, to Rosenstein, to Sessions, and where does that logic end? Who picked Sessions? But while I can see the logic, I don't accept it. The players, circumstances, etc. are more complex. Maybe complex enough that Trump sincerely believes that Sessions is in on a plot to depose Trump, after all, if we follow Mueller's taint backwards, that's where it ends up.
Use the same logic with Priebus to his leaker secretary. She's tainted, is he? How could Trump dispose of any Priebus threat without hiring him?
Which brings me back to Rosenstein. Assume the opposite hypothetical. He was lying in wait, part of the swamp, and when given an opportunity or pretext to go after Trump, he picks the baddest, most biased, most powerful swamp dweller he can think of, because he believes Mueller is most capable.
What's needed is a bit more spotlight on Rosenstein. It's coming. Mueller is drawing the spotlight over, and Rosenstein won't be able to avoid it. Rosenstein can either cabin Mueller's investigation, "Comey memo" him, assert that Mueller is usurping the role of FBI, outside of his authorization - that Mueller flouted DoJ regulations by proceeding beyond the recognition that SC cannot convert a counterintelligence investigation into a criminal one, without identifying the crime.
Whatever Rosenstein's gambit and motivation are, they haven't played out yet.
One problem of discussing NYT articles is that I would have to pay to see them. I am assuming he is talking about the Trump Jr. meeting. “Obvious Kremlin ties?” Anti-Trump characters are going to claim that any meetings with Russians are tantamount to meeting with Putin. Maybe the author has a better argument somewhere in the article, who knows.
It’s now simply a case of the Rushkies trying to influence the election.
I don’t get this. Trump was never expected to win either by the U.S. press, pundits, pollsters or the Russians. Russia wanted Clinton to win but as a weak blackmailable entity. That isn’t influencing the election, that is doing what they have been doing for the past 80 years or so - undermining. The Russians are just as devastated by Trump’s win as the Swamp! This should be as clear as a bell to everyone.
Seems the Russians and the DEMs and the Congress have the same objective.
I think you have reached the right conclusion. Certainly Russia would have benefited greatly by a Clinton win; especially if they could taint her and control her. Now that Trump unexpectedly won, the Russians are in a great and financial bind! This all leads me to MY conclusion that ONLY “deplorables” have any sense. I think both the Russians and the Democrats pulled out the wrong Jenga log.
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