The only read that makes sense to me outside of outright espionage is that the transition team, especially Trump’s inner circle, really bought into the deep state bollocks and thought Obama would try to overturn the election somehow using intercept intel.
All in one spot.
It’s long.
Banzai
3159
I know treason is a broad term, with the whole not being at war with russia thing, but aiding and comforting enemies seems pretty accurate.
magnet
3160
1 - It’s illegal, but no one has ever been convicted of it. The sole indictment, in 1803, was later dropped. TBH it’s kind of a stupid law, who knows if it would withstand judicial scrutiny today.
2 - A request for a private communication channel, which was denied to him, is not espionage. It’s pretty fishy, and certainly warrants more investigation.
3 - Yup
4 - Yeah, revoking clearance would normally be a slam dunk.
At the very least, I think we can agree that Kushner has stayed out of the spotlight up until this point, and had seemingly kept his nose clean for the most part (in terms of what the public was aware of). That has now changed drastically.
ShivaX
3162
Requesting the private comm channel could very likely be espionage. There isn’t really such a thing as Attempted Espionage. It’s a bit of a grey area, but I wouldn’t discount it out of hand.
Odds are they’ll focus on the easy felonies in his lying on his security clearance though. Much easier to prove and effectively no wiggle room legally. His clearance should have been revoked instantly, but laws and rules no longer mean anything so I expect him to keep clearance for a while longer, then he’ll lose it and nothing else will happen. At least until the hammer finally drops on the entire corrupt clan.
Soma
3163
Where is the source of this information? If it comes from Russian sources then you have to ask if it is Russian feeding BS and further destabilising US politics. Half truths are the most convincing lies.
And of course the first parties aren’t going to say anything. But if Flynn would testify on record to that, then it would be different.
Which is why it should be thoroughly investigated, and put Kushner on trial if there is enough evidence for prosecution. “People with knowledge of the discussion” as in NYTimes, or “US official briefed on the intelligence reports” as in WaPo, isn’t going to cut it in court.
Timex
3164
Well, we already know he talked to the Russians multiple times, and did not declare this on his clearance form.
It’s coming from the intelligence community, isn’t it? We know that they were listening in to Kislyak’s conversations so this was undoubtedly picked up by US Intelligence in the course of monitoring a likely foreign agent.
I’ll agree with you that no one should go to jail until the investigations have run their course but, as Timex has said, this information needs to be out there before charges are brought because Kushner is a major security risk in the meantime.
Communication intercepts from surveillance on Kyslak conducted by the US intel community. They weren’t trying to capture anything on Flynn, Kushner or anyone else in the incoming administration. They just showed up in their comms.
ShivaX
3168
Yep, just monitoring foreign agents as they always do. Flynn should have known they would be monitoring him, yet he’s too stupid or crazy to care and did it anyway. Kushner at least wasn’t part of the intel community.
Democrats are too weak and disorganized to make anything out of this, the republicans have no morals and only want money, the media are too eager for advertising revenue and the next 24-hours news cycle to dig deeper into stories, and constant new ‘leaks’ of anything is attrition warfare on peoples attention. The result is that in a few months time it will be “Oh, that trump; what has he done this time!™” - complete with a laugh track and catchy 25 second intro tune on NBC.
ShivaX
3170
Actually, print media is killing it right now.
24 hour news… well, that’s how we got here in the first fucking place.
Timex
3171
Ukraine is trolling Russia on Twitter right now.
ShivaX
3172
It was a thing of beauty.
But this is also true:
Timex
3173
What does it mean for a country to tweet? I mean, who runs that official feed? Does the U.S. have an official twitter account independent of Trump and all the various people in Congress etc.?
Maybe this will be the good thing to come of a Trump administration: Taking national conflicts to Twitter. Winner is decided by likes/retweets, and no one gets blown up.
