ShivaX
3700
Putin is our friend and we should let him defend us from threats.
It’s also bad to sell him uranium.
Seriously, pick a throughline.
After reading an article on these meetings in the WP, this seems like much ado about nothing (or next to nothing at most).
And things are back on schedule this morning. Seriously, attacking Comey for leaking again. He’s running out of new material.
Legal opinion that discuss the implications of “much ado about nothing.”
Campaign Finance Law Implications
This new and remarkable information adds considerably to the potential criminal violation of the federal law that prohibits “substantial assistance” to foreign nationals seeking to influence a federal election. Now we have, as part of the public record, specific and private actions to establish intent to provide this assistance. Donald Trump can’t very well sustain his position that in calling for the Russians to find the missing email, he was merely joking. His campaign was furthering behind closed doors the objective that the candidate was “jokingly” professing. If confirmed and further developed in the Mueller investigation, these facts also bolster the campaign’s exposure to “aiding and abetting” liability for a campaign finance violation.
There are two additional grounds for that criminal liability: the campaign’s “coordination” with Russian foreign national sources, as a result of which it received an illegal contribution, and its “solicitation” of this illegal contribution, each of which independently violate the law.
ShivaX
3704
Kemper is fine with Russia doing whatever they want, because it’s fine.
Also laws don’t apply to Republicans or something.
Also:
But he’s a Trump (sort of) and a “Republican” so I’m sure federal laws and intelligence shit doesn’t apply to him.
No big deal though.
Timex
3705
Russia approached a candidate who was running for president, and told them that they wanted to meet because they had kompromat on their political opponent. That candidate then agreed to have their campaign meet with the Russian agent.
This alone is illegal. Like, seriously. Straight up illegal.
What’s “bonus bad” here is that, because it’s illegal, they were effectively GIVING the Russians kompromat on THEMSELVES when they did it, compromising Trump and his campaign.
It wasn’t collusion, it was just attempted collusion!
Trump Junior just lawyered up, big time.
This really is stupid watergate.
We’ve been wondering “What the hell?” on this since yesterday, since it’s fucking crazy that 5 White House advisors are the sources of the meeting information.
TPM has a theory, and it isn’t crazy:
I mean, we strongly suspect that one of the biggest sources within the White House spilling dirt on others to the Times is Jared Kushner. Dude may have thrown his own brother in law in front of the firing squad.
Which, per the just security article is also illegal.
C’mon, Trumpy Junior couldn’t even collude properly. Give the guy a break! He already looks like. . . well. . . what he looks like. Guy’s got it rough!
Not surprising. The families of kings and emperors often went around poisoning one another.
Hey! Emin Agalarov the singer whose publicist arranged the meeting with Trump Jr. and the Russian lawyer has a music video from 2013 with Donald Trump. This is actually a thing that happened.
Edit: Clarified relationships
I wonder how many times throughout the day that Mueller and his team roll their eyes while building this mound of evidence they must have…
Miramon
3718
I don’t expect anything much from Mueller at all. I doubt anyone in the current administration is indicted. People like Kushner and Jr. might get a perfunctory wrist-slap in a report of findings (though probably not even that), but I’d be amazed if anyone now in the White House is indicted.
This is probably all a big misunderstanding.
I don’t think it can really compare to sloppy email server management, can it? Now that’s bad.
