Report: More Attempted Collusion

[_Some Schmo]

Just how stupid do you have to be to trust Drumpf? Seriously.

There's stupid, and then there's Drumpf-supporting-stupid. The only way you're not stupid as a Drumpf supporter is if you're a traitor. Take your pick.

[_Xenophon]

We can't be too far away from the final, "Actually, collusion with Russia is good because it helps us own the libs" pivot at this point.

Well we aren't quite there yet but we did officially move from "there is no collusion" to "collusion is not illegal". I know others have suggested it but I don't think I've heard it from Trump's own defense team until this morning.

Time to revive that constitutional crises thread... again?

[_Kevin Graham]

So after two years of denials, constant whining about how no one in the Trump campaign has anything to do with Russia, how there was "no collusion no collusion no collusion" etc etc etc.

Our idiot in chief just tweeted that the entire purpose for the Russians to meet with his son was so the Trump campaign could get dirt on Hillary. Basically, admitting attempted collusion and definitely a conspiracy to commit a crime.

But Trump says its OK because it is all "legal." So that must make it right. Because Trump supporters know they're not supposed to pay any attention to what they see or hear unless it is coming from him. If he says the sky is falling, then it is.

[_subgenius]

newsflash:
wanting/getting dirt on a political opponent during an election campaign is not collusion and not something that Americans consider as controversial...in fact, our mud slinging traditions find such tactics as acceptable.

[_Chap]

newsflash:
wanting/getting dirt on a political opponent during an election campaign is not collusion and not something that Americans consider as controversial...in fact, our mud slinging traditions find such tactics as acceptable.

Erm ... not even if you get that information from a foreign power that is injecting the supposed information into the US body politic for its own ends? And that foreign power is, shall we say, not exactly Canada, but a known and longterm geopolitical adversary?

Long, long ago, If I recall correctly, a British diplomat in the US responded to a query from a person representing himself as a naturalised US citizen of British origin, who asked how he should vote in a presidential election. The diplomat advised him as requested.

In fact the enquiry was a set-up by a journalist, and in the ensuing scandal the diplomat was forced to leave his post. Perhaps the US was more sensitive to foreign interference in its elections in those days?

[_subgenius]

Oh, so if a Democrat does it, let's call it a dossier...but if a Republican does it - collusion. Nevertheless, there is no law against receiving information from non-US citizens. But thanks for piling rumors and presuppositions on top of the limited facts you have on hand.

[_Kevin Graham]

newsflash:
wanting/getting dirt on a political opponent during an election campaign is not collusion and not something that Americans consider as controversial...in fact, our mud slinging traditions find such tactics as acceptable.

Collusion itself is not a crime, remember? Conspiracy is, however. And obviously they conspired which doesn't hinge on any success of their stated purpose for conspiring.

The latest version of the 2016 meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer basically undercuts numerous Trump claims.

“Every conspiracy is a form of collusion,” Stanford law professor Robert Weisberg said when we spoke by phone on Tuesday. “Conspiracy is an agreement to do a crime plus some overt act in that direction. It’s really that simple.” An advantage of the law from a prosecutorial standpoint, Weisberg added, was that “you can punish the agreement and the overt act even if no one comes very, very close to committing the crime.”

[_Kevin Graham]

Oh, so if a Democrat does it, let's call it a dossier...but if a Republican does it - collusion. Nevertheless, there is no law against receiving information from non-US citizens. But thanks for piling rumors and presuppositions on top of the limited facts you have on hand.

The Dossier began by Right Wingers and the guy doing it had no idea who was paying for it. That's not a conspiracy with a hostile foreign government who has clear malicious intentions to harm our democracy.

[_subgenius]

Collusion itself is not a crime, remember?

I never said collusion was a crime, perhaps check the title of this thread in between your moving goal posts.

[_Kevin Graham]

‘Hillary’s campaign will die this week’: Trump adviser knew about WikiLeaks’ efforts in advance

Remember the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election?

You know, the probe of possible collusion with a foreign adversary and obstruction of justice by the current president that has already resulted in more than 100 criminal charges against dozens of people, including guilty pleas from President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, former campaign manager, and multiple former advisers?

It’s easy to forget since special counsel Robert Mueller’s team remained even quieter than usual during the weeks before the midterm elections, per longstanding Justice Department policy (memo to former FBI director James Comey), but things are starting to heat up again on the Russia front now that the campaign season has passed.

NBC News reportedly obtained text messages in which Roger Stone, Trump’s former campaign adviser, was informed of WikiLeaks’ plans to release stolen information from Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign days before the group starting doing so.

“Hillary’s campaign will die this week,” radio personality Randy Credico, who allegedly served as a conduit between Stone and WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange during the 2016 campaign, told Stone via text on October 1 of that year.

As NBC News reports, “the text messages provided by Stone to NBC News show that Credico appeared to be providing regular updates to Stone on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s plans in the days before the hacked emails were released.”

Sure enough, WikiLeaks started releasing stolen emails from Clinton’s campaign during that week, on October 7, hours after the “Access Hollywood tape,” in which then-candidate Trump bragged about sexually assaulting women, became public. On that day, President Barack Obama’s administration also blamed Russia for hacking the Democratic National Committee (DNC) for the first time.

The text messages do not mention former Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, as The Atlantic’s Natasha Bertrand noted, who Stone warned would soon be “in the barrel” on Twitter in August 2016.

Stone was also told “Julian Assange has kryptonite on Hillary” by Credico in August of 2016, per NBC News’ latest report.

Credico has already been subpoenaed by Mueller’s investigation. Stone allegedly tried to hide messages that he sent Credico from the House Intelligence Committee.

In addition to all of this, Mueller is also reportedly investigating Stone for possible witness intimidation of Credico.

Stone also claimed he had limited contact with Trump’s 2016 campaign, on which he served as an adviser, but emails released last month showed Stone was communicating with campaign chair Steve Bannon around the time that WikiLeaks started sharing the stolen information.

Stone has acknowledged communicating with the hacker Guccifer 2.0 during the 2016 campaign, but that account denied any connection to Russia. However, the U.S. intelligence community assessed “with high confidence” that Russian intelligence was behind both DCLeaks and Guccifer 2.0, which provided the stolen information about Clinton’s campaign and the DNC to Wikileaks.

Trump mentioned WikiLeaks 164 times in the final month of the 2016 campaign, including infamously exclaiming “I love WikiLeaks!” at a rally.