Yes.
It goes to building a case for motive on General Flynn that relies on evidence developed from the intel community, and not mere inference or hearsay.
I may be out on a limb here, but I’m pretty sure the intelligence community had known this for a long, long time.
Perhaps, but it’s never been provided as evidence of motive to an active investigation. Perhaps there were assumptions, inferences and presumptions of this motive…but now there’s something more concrete, which is important.
This is indeed noteworthy. Originally the assumption was “the IC has evidence that Russia might have influence over Flynn … but for all we know that evidence might be secondhand or inferential.” Now we’re being told “the IC has intercepted messages of the Russians bragging that they have influence over Flynn.”
LMN8R
2960
Can we just do over the election or something instead of following the ordinary line of succession?
We’re just…Biden time until that happens right??
ShivaX
2961
Then he’d end up talking about something else illegal he did and get caught anyway.
Timex
2962
It’s pardons all the way down
ShivaX
2963
I’m pretty sure this is Trump’s actual “plan.”
magnet
2964
Just in case you are serious: presumably Trump would be forced to testify after the inevitable impeachment for pardoning himself. And pardons can’t be issued for perjury (or other crime) that hasn’t happened yet.
I think we can infer from the Russian chatter about Flynn influencing trump that there is no direct collusion with trump but not necessarily the campaign, although imo that remains unlikely as well. But trump is so incomprehensibly stupid he’s managed to prove - in the full light of day and entirely on his own accord - that he tried to obstruct the investigation. Now some of this seems to stem from Kushner pushing him - which probably means Kushner is trying to hide some sort of illegal financial shenanigans - but whatever the reason obstruction is no longer a question.
It took two years for Republicans and the general public to turn against Nixon. But I don’t think that happens here; i.e., Republicans and their core voters will continue to support him. Most Republicans simply don’t care. They don’t care that a foreign government overtly influenced the election (including House races) for their benefit, they don’t care about the gross abuse of power and attempted (however incompetently) obstruction of an FBI investigation and director - they don’t in fact care about constitutional principles nor their obligations. Republicans will without shame lie and contradict themselves mid-sentence and just shrug because they know they can get away with it.
It remains to be seen if Democrats can rally the non-voters, persuadables and millennials to their cause. That they couldn’t do so in 2016 doesn’t bode well.
You need 67 votes in the Senate to remove Trump from office. If Trump doesn’t agree to resign, I don’t see him being ousted for anything that’s been revealed so far. They’ll never get the 67 votes.
So I don’t even know if there’s anything the GOP can do if Trump doesn’t want to quit. Trump can continue to drag down the party and they will be powerless to stop him. In some ways, as long as Trump doesn’t blow up the world, the Democrats are better with Trump in office than if Pence becomes president.
Maybe that’s true, but I think the country is worse off under the current arrangement.
What worries me about Pence is he may be better able to implement a lot of the far right policy ideas. Trump writes down a tax cut plan on a cocktail napkin. Pence will actually submit a plan with a lot of details, and then we’ll see the big push for tax cuts for the rich along with hidden tax increases for the middle class and poor in form of increased service fees, reduction in services, etc.
So I’m of the opinion that a GOP that is waving its arms because they have no idea how to deal with Trump is better than a GOP working closely with Pence.
I tend to agree, but then there’s that not insignificant chance that Trump may lead us to some kind of war that would be far costlier than a couple years of Pence’s policy implementation. It’s a risk either way.
Universal healthcare will be hard to deliver after a thermonuclear war.
Not really. No one left to cover.
Oghier
2973
I agree with you. To the GOP base, America’s most dangerous enemy isn’t Russia, or even ISIS. It’s “liberals” and immigrants.
Someone should poll them for the popularity of Pelosi, Clinton, Putin, Assad and Al-Baghdadi. Any bets on who comes in last?
Supermutancy is a pre-existing condition, right?
