Flynn Hires Sidney Powell. Mueller’s ‘Pit Bull’ Meets His Match, Again.

Sara ^ | June 12th 2019 | Sara Carter

[Jacquerie]

Embattled Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn has hired well known defense attorney Sidney Powell to represent him before his sentencing hearing in Washington D.C.’s federal court. Flynn, who fired his attorneys last week, will still fully cooperate with the government in all cases pending, Powell told SaraACarter.com.

Flynn’s former legal counsel Robert Kelner and Stephen Anthony offered no explanation for their abrupt dismissal telling SaraACarter.com they “decline to comment.”

Powell is the author of the New York Times best seller and tell-all book Licensed To Lie, which exposed the corruption within the justice system. The book is based on the case Powell won against prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, when he was deputy and later director of the Enron Task Force.

Weissmann served as Mueller’s second in command for the special counsel investigation into the Trump campaign, despite the fact that his tactics have been highly criticized by both judges and colleagues. He was called unscrupulous and has had several significant issues raised about how he operated during the Mueller inquiry into Trump campaign officials, including Flynn.

He prosecuted the accounting firm Arthur Andersen LLP, which ended in the collapse of the firm and 85,000 jobs lost world wide. Maureen Mahoney took the case to the Supreme Court, and Powell consulted. Mahoney overturned Weissmann’s conviction and the decision was reversed unanimously by the court.

Powell has openly stated in columns and on cable networks that Weissmann’s dirty tactics of withholding exculpatory evidence and threatening witnesses to garner prosecutions should have had him disbarred long ago.

[DainBramage]

As you well know the plan was to take down Flynn and Trump after she was elected....but she lost.
All of this now is survival mode deflection.

[YogicCowboy]

I apologize.

I read it twice, and thought you meant Flynn should have asked what they had, seen nothing, and refused to play along.

As you can see elsewhere on this forum, even this thread, there are plenty who care nothing about Flynn’s rights.

Trump has indeed been abused. However, he has not lost his house, has not been SWATted, and is not in solitary. I am more concerned about those who helped him attain high office and were ruined for it.

Again: I apologize.

[lewislynn]

What you are saying means BANKRUPTING the FAMILY....LOSING their HOMES AND REPUTATIONS!!

Not to mention all of the negative emotions caused by it...Yes, THAT is what I'm saying.

[ETL]

I am no Flynn fan but they way he was pushed out by Pence smacks of palace intrigue. Pence is a loyal GOPe and not one of the MAGA good guys, IMO. Flynn was with POTUS way before Pence parachuted in and was one of the few early supporters given a major role in the Trump admin.

Strongly disagree. It was likely Pence who set Trump straight on Putin and Russia.

Once I heard him at the VP debate I immediately knew team Trump was going to be tough regarding Russia. Before that, I had serious doubts. I think Trump was very naive early on in regards to Putin and Russia.

At some point, right around the time Pence came in, I recall Trump saying something like, "Boy, did I learn a LOT this week". I am 99% positive that he was referring to some sort of briefing or discussion he had with people in the know regarding Russia. I need to go back and see if I can find the precise quote so to nail it down.

Mike Pence on Putin and Russia:

(from the VP debate on Oct 5, 2016)

“When Donald Trump and I observe that, as I’ve said, in Syria, in Iran, in Ukraine, that the small and bullying leader of Russia has been stronger on the world stage than this administration, that’s stating painful facts. That’s not an endorsement of Vladimir Putin — that’s an indictment of the weak and feckless leadership of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.” ..."

What we’re dealing with is the — you know, there’s an old proverb that says the Russian bear never dies, it just hibernates.

And the truth of the matter is, the weak and feckless foreign policy of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has awakened an aggression in Russia that first appeared a few years ago with their move in Georgia, now their move into Crimea, now their move into the wider Middle East.

[Captain7seas]

“I hope this ends in Weissman and Mueller getting disbarred”

What about the little trip to deliver a sample of our uranium to a “hostile foreign power” Mueller is said to have taken?

[DoughtyOne]

No apology needed. I understood what had happened.

No problem.

I agree with you. What’s more, it was revealed that at least one of these two had been investigated, and they dropped the case.

It was revived because of hatred for Trump. That bothers me a lot too.

[Hostage]

Is that an old photo of her? If it is, just wow!

[Hostage]

Did you check the transcript?

Why did the wiki ‘authority’ use the qualifier ‘apparently’? I’ll tell you why. They used it to insinuate their own bias into the narrative. You either know or you don’t know.

There are too many self-promoting aholes in the political joker field who take circumstances and incomplete facts and twist them to their own ends in a bid to boost their delusional self-importance.

Whenever I see such ‘reporting’ I say in my mind “get the eff out!”

A further example is this idiot wiki writer followed the “apparently” canard with a little dig that Gen. Flynn did not report the transaction. First of all, idiot doesn’t know if Gen. Flynn got permission or not, and if he did get permission, there is no need for a report except on taxes which are private.

So I see red flag BS all over this joker’s stinkpile

It looks and smells like garbage. You promulgated it. Shame on you.

[Hostage]

Two words put your argument into the looney bin:

“ROBIN GRITZ”

Look her up.

[ETL]

That is entirely irrelevant.

It is entirely relevant to making the case that Flynn may well have been a Democrat or Russian stooge on a mission to set Trump up.

Manafort has even more deeply troubling ties to Russia, particularly through Putin's former puppet in the Ukraine (Viktor Yanukovych). ie, the same individual and political party as the scum that Joe Biden's son was working with there. Mykola Zlochevsky owned the gas giant that Hunter Biden was in deep with.

[RT (Russia Today) is a Russia state-owned and controlled propaganda media outlet -ETL]

From The Daily Caller, May 5, 2019

* Hunter Biden was appointed to the board of directors of a Ukranian company [Burisma] as part of an effort to recruit well-connected Americans while the company was under investigation, according to The New York Times.

* Then-Vice President Joe Biden played a role in pressuring Ukraine to oust the country’s top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, who was investigating the company, Burisma.

* Shokin’s successor initially ended the investigation into Burisma, but decided in March 2019 to reopen it.

https://dailycaller.com/2019/05/05/biden-ukraine-burisma-trump/

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

From 2014...

The Federalist
May 13, 2014
Mollie Hemingway

"In late April, around the time the vice president made an official trip to Ukraine, Burisma allegedly appointed Devon Archer, one of Hunter Biden’s business partners, to its board as well.

Here’s a brief write-up on the story from the Moscow Times, an English-language news service based in Russia.

These dual announcements raise more questions than they answer. The prominence of the individuals involved — Hunter Biden is the vice president’s son, while Devon Archer was a major bundler for John Kerry and also his stepson’s college roommate

https://thefederalist.com/2014/05/13/9-questions-to-ask-about-bidens-work-with-a-gas-company-in-ukraine/

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Mykola Zlochevsky

Same article, Daily Caller, May 5, 2019

“Burisma is a natural gas exploration and production company owned by Mykola Zlochevsky, a cabinet member of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich. [Viktor Yanukovich was Putin’s stooge in the Ukraine -ETL].

Yanukovich was removed from his position in February 2014.

He [Yanukovich] currently lives in exile in Russia and is wanted by Ukraine for high treason.

Zlochevsky later fled the country in late-2014 as Ukrainian prosecutors launched investigations into his time in public office as well as his private businesses.”

https://dailycaller.com/2019/05/05/biden-ukraine-burisma-trump/

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Viktor Yanukovych (Party of Regions), Putin's stooge in the Ukraine -ETL]

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Viktor Yanukovych vs Viktor Yushchenko

In 2004, as President Kuchma's term came to an end, [Viktor] Yushchenko announced his candidacy for president as an independent.

His major rival was Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. ..."

The campaign was often bitter and violent.

Yushchenko became seriously ill in early September 2004.

He was flown to Vienna’s Rudolfinerhaus clinic for treatment and diagnosed with acute pancreatitis, accompanied by interstitial edematous changes, due to a serious viral infection and chemical substances that are not normally found in food products.

Yushchenko claimed that he had been poisoned by government agents.

After the illness, his face was greatly disfigured: jaundiced, bloated, and pockmarked.

British toxicologist Professor John Henry of St Mary’s Hospital in London declared the changes in Yushchenko’s face were due to chloracne, which results from dioxin poisoning.[17]

Dutch toxicologist Bram Brouwer also stated his changes in appearance were the result of chloracne, and found dioxin levels in Yushchenko’s blood 6,000 times above normal.[18]

On December 11, Dr. Michael Zimpfer of the Rudolfinerhaus clinic declared that Yushchenko had ingested TCDD dioxin and had 1,000 times the usual concentration in his body.[19]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Yushchenko#TCDD_poisoning

_________________________________________________________

Yushchenko, hero of Ukraine's Orange Revolution warns Europe that Putin won't stop at Crimea

by Matthew Schofield - McClatchy Foreign Staff
March 27, 2014

Viktor Yushchenko

Many Ukrainians believe you need look no further than the face of Viktor Yushchenko to understand Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

Once smooth and ruggedly handsome, it still bears the scars from an assassination attempt when someone slipped dioxin into Yushchenko's food. ..."

Read more here:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/article24765781.html#storylink=cpy

________________________________________________________________

[ETL]

Obama White House counsel Gregory Craig

“Kostiantyn Kulyk, deputy head of Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s international affairs office, said that investigators had evidence that a number of Western figures, such as Obama White House counsel Gregory Craig, also received money from the Party of Regions, the party of ousted Ukranian President Viktor Yanukovych, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Craig was recently indicted for allegedly lying about his dealings with Ukraine.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/trump-says-clinton-and-obama-administration-links-with-ukraine-should-be-investigated_2896213.html

____________________________________________________

"Prosecutors who brought charges against Craig, the former Obama White House counsel, focused on a Ukrainian businessman who was also a major donor to Clinton’s organization, the Clinton Foundation, The Epoch Times reported earlier in April."

https://www.theepochtimes.com/trump-says-clinton-and-obama-administration-links-with-ukraine-should-be-investigated_2896213.html

[ETL]

From Newsweek, Feb 12, 2019...

Vladimir Putin’s Adviser [Vladislav Surkov] Tells Americans: ‘Russia Interferes in Your Brains, We Change Your Conscience’

Cristina Maza (Newsweek)
Feb 12, 2019

Americans who worry about Russia election interference should stop focusing on such trivialities and instead realize that the idea that they have a choice over how they are governed is a mere illusion, Vladislav Surkov, an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, wrote in an op-ed published this week.

“The illusion of choice is the most important illusion, the main trick of Western democracy especially….

The rejection of this illusion in favor of the reality that everything is predestined will allow society to reflect first on our vision of democratic development,” Surkov wrote.

“Foreign politicians talk about Russia’s interference in elections and referendums around the world.

In fact, the matter is even more serious: Russia interferes in your brains, we change your conscience, and there is nothing you can do about it.”

Election interference is not the main thing Americans should be worried about, said an adviser to the Russian president.

In his op-ed for the Russian publication Nezavisimaya Gazeta, or “Independent Newspaper,” Surkov also laid out Putin’s vision of returning Russia to its rightful role as a global superpower and exporting “Putinism” as an ideology to be adopted around the world.

“After having fallen from the USSR to the Russian Federation, Russia stopped collapsing and began to recover and return to its natural and only possible state as a large nation that is on the rise,” he wrote.

“The great role assigned to our country in the history of the world does not allow us to leave the stage or keep silent among the crowd….

It does not promise peace….

Putin’s great political machine is only gaining momentum and gearing up for a long, difficult, and interesting job,” Surkov continued.

He then went on to describe Putin as the founder of modern Russia, similar to the Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk or France’s Charles de Gaulle.

“Putinism is the ideology of the future,” he wrote.

“The political system created in Russia is suitable not only for the future of local areas, it clearly has significant export potential.” ...”

https://www.newsweek.com/russia-president-vladimir-putin-election-americans-1327793

_______________________________________________________________________________________

“Foreign politicians talk about Russia’s interference in elections and referendums around the world. In fact, the matter is even more serious: Russia interferes in your brains, we change your conscience, and there is nothing you can do about it.”

--Vladislav Surkov, aide to Vladimir Putin

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Re: Top Putin advisor Vladislav Surkov

May 31, 2019

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-California) on Robert Mueller’s May 29, 2019 (final?) press conference:

Nunes: "He [Mueller] was so blatantly dishonest yesterday that he says, well, the Office of Legal Counsel says that you can’t indict a sitting president.

Well, he should have been gone after day two.

He has no Russians, except for the Fusion and Clinton Russians, and possibly the dirty cop, the FBI’s Russians, those are the only Russians that he has, to show connections to the Trump campaign.

Clearly, the Clinton operation is heavily working with Russians or Russian disinformation.

He didn’t take time to look into any of that[!]”

Partial transcript above begins at about the 1:34 mark in the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yutgFcr5T9A&list=PLlTLHnxSVuIyw5jPrLmewrpBJAPYKhgml&index=3

___________________________________________________________________________________

Re: Top Putin advisor Vladislav Surkov

May 19, 2019

[Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Devin] Nunes said Clinton's campaign and the DNC "plainly colluded" with the Russians to receive and disseminate false information about Trump"

Devin Nunes 'likely' sending obstruction criminal referral over Steele-State Department meeting

by Daniel Chaitin | May 19, 2019

Newly released notes from an Oct. 11, 2016, meeting between Steele and former [Hillary-Obama] Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kathleen Kavalec cast doubt on the reliability of his dossier and called into question the information provided to the court in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act application that was submitted later that month against onetime Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

The notes, which Kavalec is believed to have emailed to the FBI in mid-October, indicate that Steele knew he had been hired by Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee and had been told they wanted his findings made public prior to the 2016 election on Nov. 8.

The Daily Caller reported the notes show Steele identified Russian sources, including former Russian foreign intelligence director Vyacheslav Trubnikov and Vladislav Surkov, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Nunes said Clinton's campaign and the DNC "plainly colluded" with the Russians to receive and disseminate false information about Trump.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/devin-nunes-likely-sending-obstruction-criminal-referral-over-steele-state-department-meeting

________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Foreign politicians talk about Russia’s interference in elections and referendums around the world. In fact, the matter is even more serious: Russia interferes in your brains, we change your conscience, and there is nothing you can do about it.”

--Vladislav Surkov, aide to Vladimir Putin

[ETL]

Paul Manafort was reportedly introduced to the Trump campaign by way of a then-trusted associate named Thomas J. Barrack.

Again, the Wikipedia bits are footnoted.

Paul Manafort

In February 2016, Manafort approached Donald Trump through a mutual friend, Thomas J. Barrack Jr.

He pointed out his experience advising presidential campaigns in the United States and around the world, described himself as an outsider not connected to the Washington establishment, and offered to work without salary.[49]

In March 2016, he joined Trump’s presidential campaign...”

In August 2016, Manafort’s connections to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his pro-Russian Party of Regions drew national attention in the US, where it was reported that Manafort may have received $12.7 million in off-the-books funds from the Party of Regions.[56]

On August 17, 2016, Donald Trump received his first security briefing.[57]

The same day, August 17, Trump shook up his campaign organization in a way that appeared to minimize Manafort’s role.

It was reported that members of Trump’s family, particularly Jared Kushner who had originally been a strong backer of Manafort, had become uneasy about his Russian connections and suspected that he had not been forthright about them.[58]

Manafort stated in an internal staff memorandum that he would “remain the campaign chairman and chief strategist, providing the big-picture, long-range campaign vision”.[59]

However, two days later, Trump announced his acceptance of Manafort’s resignation from the campaign after Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway took on senior leadership roles within that campaign.[60][61]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Manafort#Chairman_of_Donald_Trump’s_2016_campaign

__________________________________________________________

Thomas J. Barrack Jr

After Trump became president, Barrack acted as a middleman between him and Arab princes.[37]

He denies a quote attributed to him in the 2018 book Fire and Fury that he said Trump was, “not only crazy” but “stupid”.[38]

In a 2017 Washington Post article, Barrack commented on Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric and proposals to ban immigrants from certain Muslim countries and put up a border wall with Mexico. “He’s better than this,” he said.[39]

Barrack was interviewed during the Special Counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, in particular regarding Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Konstantin Kilimnik, Cambridge Analytica, the Trump campaign, the Trump transition team, and the financing of the Trump inauguration.[40][41]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_J._Barrack_Jr.#Political_activity

________________________________________

It's good to be a billionaire!

Thomas J. Barrack Jr.

[ETL]

Again, as with the above liberal Newsweek article on this guy (Vladislav Surkov), this BBC piece below was meant to 'dirty' Trump!

Guess they didn't know, or thought it would come out, at the time that, according to reports, he was actually working with the Dems to HURT TRUMP and HELP HILLARY! LOL!

Meet the most powerful man you’ve never heard of [Vladislav Surkov]

In the BBC Radio 4 series The Puppet Master, reporter Gabriel Gatehouse gets to the bewildering heart of contemporary Russia by exploring the fortunes of a secretive, complicated and controversial man.

His name is Vladislav Surkov – also known as Putin’s Rasputin, the Grey Cardinal of the Kremlin or the Puppet Master.

Here, Gabriel reveals some fascinating things he learned along the way...

1. He is one of the architects of the post-truth world

Long before Donald Trump weaponized the term ‘fake news’, Surkov was honing his art.

Today, Moscow is using Surkov’s techniques to sow political confusion in democracies throughout the western world.

A former associate said:

“That’s a fashion created and nourished by Surkov: this flavour of post-modernism. Nothing is true. There is no truth. There are alternative truths.”

2. He rose from nowhere to become the power behind the throne in Putin’s Russia

He invented ‘Sovereign Democracy’, a system in which the illusion of democratic choice only had one outcome: the continuation of Putin’s rule. One former colleague said of him:

“At the ends of his fingers he controlled the threads of so many political structures.

Those structures were so complicated that only Surkov knew where everything was: the opposition, the political parties, MPs, the governors, the creation or closing down of political movements or NGOs, the church, the media, civil society...”

3. He started his career as a bodyguard to an oligarch

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia’s richest man, hired him as part of his security detail.

The businessman soon realized that Surkov’s brains were more valuable than his brawn.

He put him in charge of PR, where he honed his skills in the arts of deception and misdirection at the murky intersection of business and politics.

After they fell out, Khodorkovsky ended up in jail, while Surkov helped run a PR campaign against him.

4. He trained as a theatre director

Surkov studied theatre in Moscow before being expelled, for fighting, or so the legend goes.

These skills would come in handy later on, when he controlled both the pro-Kremlin parties and the opposition.

One former Kremlin advisor said:

“He was thinking about himself as the guy who is running the show, trying to find the place of every actor in his play and performance.”

5. He controls [pro-Russia] separatist groups in Ukraine

Leaked documents from his office in the Kremlin show Surkov running a network of activists in the eastern Donbas region, where separatist fighters are waging a war against Kiev with support from Moscow.

A former [pro-Russia] rebel leader said:

“Periodically I would meet with Vladislav Surkov.

He is one of the cleverest people I’ve ever met in my life.

I sometimes think of him as an actor, alone on the stage.

I’m watching his show, and at the same time I’m learning from him: the art of politics, the art of the possible.”

6. He is a fan of Tupac Shakur and beat poetry

In his office in the Kremlin he had a framed portrait of the American rap artist alongside a picture of Vladimir Putin.

He’s also a connoisseur of the abstract artist Jackson Pollock, and can recite beat poet Allen Ginsberg by heart —in English.

While he controlled Russian politics with a combination of artistic cunning and political ruthlessness, he also found time to write lyrics for the Russian rock band Agatha Christie.

7. He wrote a postmodernist novel

About Zero is part dystopian fiction, part twisted confession.

The story was published under a pseudonym in 2009, at the height of Surkov’s power.

The hero is a ruthless gangster-publisher, a gun-toting poetry nerd, who bribes critics and journalists in the service of corrupt politicians, manipulating the truth to create fake news.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/28TzwkvPxBrDh69KgNh8VwP/meet-the-most-powerful-man-you-ve-never-heard-of

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Steele Identified Russian Dossier Sources, Notes Reveal

The Daily Caller | US
Chuck Ross | Investigative Reporter
May 16, 2019

• Christopher Steele told a [Obama-Hillary] State Department official a former Russian spy chief and a top Kremlin adviser were involved in an operation to collect compromising information on Donald Trump.
• The State Department official’s notes also indicate Steele claimed the Russians, Vyacheslav Trubnikov and Vladislav Surkov, were “sources” for the dossier.
• There is no evidence the compromising material mentioned in the dossier actually exists, raising questions about whether Steele was given disinformation.
• Trubnikov, the former head of the SVR, also has links to Stefan Halper, an FBI informant who had contact with [who had SPIED on] the Trump campaign.

  Dossier author Christopher Steele identified a former Russian spy chief and a top adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin as being involved in handling potentially compromising information about President Donald Trump, State Department notes show.

  In her notes, [Hillary Clinton/Obama] State Department official Kathleen Kavalec also referred to the two Russians — former Russian foreign intelligence chief Vyacheslav Trubnikov and Putin aide Vladislav Surkov — as “sources.” ...”

  https://dailycaller.com/2019/05/16/steele-dossier-sources-state-department/

[ETL]

This guy is nothing new in Russia. His type has been in power since the Russian Revolution. That means for about the last 100 years.

Where did I say or imply that he was something 'new', although 'specifics' on this particular guy do clearly matter, as does the fact that he is someone around *now* and reportedly involved in the still-breaking DEMOCRAT-Russia collusion story. The slime ball Dems tried to make it appear as if Trump was colluding with the Russians, when all the time it was THEY who were.

Again, the point here is that this top advisor to Putin was reportedly working to help Hillary win the election, not Trump, as the Newsweek and BBC articles imply.

He was named by Steele as one of his key sources for the Hillary/DNC paid for dossier. The Newsweek and BBC articles I posted warning about this guy came out BEFORE his name was attached to the Steel dossier. In other words, they thought these articles would be HARMFUL to Trump and help Hillary win the election.

It should be an absolutely no-brainer to everyone here that the Russians would have way more preferred Hillary over Trump-Pence, given all that the Obama-Biden-Hillary admin did to help strengthen their hand militarily. OBH gave Putin everything he wanted and more in such critical areas as missile defense, the New Start nuke treaty, the Iran nuke deal, which Putin absolutely loved and boasted to have played a big part in formulating.

Then of course there was the Obama-Hillary Uranium-One deal, where they allowed Russia to grab control of a whopping 20% of our uranium production! And they did all that as Obama practically crippled us militarily. I can't believe that there are still people, especially on FR, that don't get this.

[lodi90]

Strongly disagree. It was likely Pence who set Trump straight on Putin and Russia.

---

You sound like a Democrat. There was never anything to “set straight” on Putin. Trump wasn’t stuffing his pockets with Russian cash while in the White House. So what if Trump had some dumb campaign season rhetoric on Russia. Mountain out of a mole hill here.

Pence is great at running his mouth. He has been totally AWOL as the Deep State has assaulted POTUS and his supporters. Flynn was an early supporter of POTUS and the GOP absolutely does not want those type of people in President Trump’s ear. We saw this recently when Romney and the Senate GOP denied Trump his MAGA Fed picks. I suppose you agree with that, too.

[Gene Eric]

After Mueller threatened his son.

[ETL]

Re: Strongly disagree. It was likely Pence who set Trump straight on Putin and Russia.

You sound like a Democrat. There was never anything to “set straight” on Putin.

First of all, how could you not know, especially at this late time, that the notoriously traitorous democrats are absolutely full of sh*t with their "tough talk" regarding Putin and Russia? They tried to pin Russia collusion on Trump when all the time it was THEY who were colluding with the Russians.

And in case you forgot, here is Trump BEFORE Mike Pence joined the team in July 2016...

And to be clear, I couldn't possibly be happier with the way Trump has turned out, in every or darn near every area of his decision making. He is hitting 110% on all cylinders, especially regarding his very tough stance on Russia, and China. He has just about undone every dangerous thing the Obama-Hillary admin did to strengthen Russia's hand (missile defense, New Start nuke treaty, the Putin-loving Iran deal, etc), including a major rebuilding of the military.

As I said earlier, I thought he was naive on Russia early on in his campaign, which is why I was originally a Ted Cruz supporter.

Sept 2015

“50 years is enough , “ Trump said in an interview with the Daily Caller published Tuesday, referring to Obama’s decision to re-establish U.S. ties with Cuba.

“I think it’s fine. I think it’s fine, but we should have made a better deal,” Trump added. “ The concept of opening with Cuba is fine.”

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/08/politics/donald-trump-cuba-diplomatic-opening/index.html
___________________________________________________

Dec 2015

Trump: Vladimir Putin’s praise is ‘a great honor’...It is always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond ,”

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/263660-trump-calls-highly-respected-putins-comments-a-great-honor
___________________________________________________

Dec 2015

During Friday’s ‘Morning Joe’ interview, Trump said he has ‘always felt fine about Putin.’

‘I think that he is a strong leader. He’s a powerful leader,’ Trump said.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3365976/At-s-leader-Trump-s-extraordinary-verdict-Vladimir-Putin-two-cozy-up.html
___________________________________________________

Oct 2015

“I think that I would probably get along with him [Putin] very well.”
—Donald Trump, CBS’ Face The Nation, Oct 2015
___________________________________________________

Dec 2015

Joe Scarborough: Again, he [Putin] kills journalists that don’t agree with him

Trump: Well, I think our country does plenty of killing also, Joe, so, you know. There’s a lot of stupidity going on in the world right now, Joe. Lot of killing going on, a lot of stupidity, and that’s the way it is.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3365976/At-s-leader-Trump-s-extraordinary-verdict-Vladimir-Putin-two-cozy-up.html

[ETL]

Looking back at it now that we know that the Russians actually tried to help Hillary win, Putin’s complimentary remarks of Trump back in 2015-2016 were clearly meant to hurt Trump. To make it APPEAR as if he actually like Trump and wanted him to win. This as they probably arranged to plant a few fakes into his campaign (Manafort and Flynn). It makes more and more sense as time goes by.

Of course they wanted a pathetically weak/accommodating Hillary Clinton to win. The last thing on earth that Putin wanted, especially at this time when Russia is on the move, was a very strong-on-defense team like Trump-Pence.