Trump II

[LesPalenik]

Ok, I give you that it's been a pretty bad start 

Based on that diagnosis, what's the prognosis? Great End or Really Bad End?

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Based on that diagnosis, what's the prognosis? Great End or Really Bad End?

Will see 

[Farmer]

Yeah, but Stallone could read a script (that he wrote).  There's little evidence of Trump being able to stay on script :-)

[ppmax2]

It just keeps getting worse...

Trump ally Kevin McCarthy tells Paul Ryan he thinks Trump is getting paid by Putin…astonishing recording:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/house-majority-leader-to-colleagues-in-2016-i-think-putin-pays-trump/2017/05/17/515f6f8a-3aff-11e7-8854-21f359183e8c_story.html


Out of curiosity, when was the last news anyone heard about healthcare, tax reform, the wall, or any of the other nutty bullshit Trump was supposed to be doing? Are Trump supporters tired of winning yet?

[Littlefield]

They leaked the only info showing Trump colluded with Putin.
Don

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

"The incredible media hypocrisy over Trump's Russia leak"

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/05/17/marc-thiessen-incredible-media-hypocrisy-over-trumps-russia-leak.html

[Schewe]

Adding some photo content to the Trump thread, here's a story about the photographer who got to shoot the Trump/Russian meeting.

‘Hysteria over my White House shoot is nonsense’ – Russian photographer who filmed Lavrov & Trump


Министр иностранных дел РФ Сергей Лавров и президент США Дональд Трамп, Вашингтон, 10 мая
© Александр Щербак/ТАСС

A Russian photographer from the TASS news agency, who was the official photographer for Russia's Foreign Minister Lavrov during his US trip, has spoken out about the hype surrounding his recent work assignment, describing the criticism as "absurd and ludicrous." On Wednesday, photographer Aleksandr Shcherbak, together with an American photojournalist, were in the Oval Office ahead of the closed-door meeting between Lavrov and US President Donald Trump and tasked with taking official pictures to be distributed to international media.

"Proper protocol was followed in this procedure," the White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said at a Thursday press briefing, adding that the White House also "had an official photographer in the room." However, the routine assignment triggered hysteria in the US media and spurred a range of conspiracy theories. There was even a suggestion that Shcherbak could have planted a spying device in the Oval Office.

“I cannot understand the hysteria around this issue,” Shcherbak told RT, rejecting such insinuations as ridiculous. “Everyone who’s has to undergo a standard screening procedure. First they checked me, then my belongings and devices, and only afterwards took me to the Oval Office.” “I think this media outcry is due to their anger of not being allowed in for such an important meeting. But I’m not surprised anymore by what Western media outlets say. As we have seen they do not hold themselves to any ethical standard,” the photographer added.

Describing the whole situation as "nonsense," the Russian photographer posted an "address to the US media" on his Facebook page. "I am an individual who is not in the public eye and I've never commented on my work before, but this hysteria around my photoshoot at the White House has forced me to write this post," Shcherbak wrote on Thursday.

I'm not sure he really understood what happened regarding the ban of US journalists and why he was allowed to go in and shoot. But in any event, it wasn't his fault, he was just ding his job. Bet he never expected to get this much attention...

Here's a link to a report with "Sasha" video story

[Schewe]

"The incredible media hypocrisy over Trump's Russia leak"

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/05/17/marc-thiessen-incredible-media-hypocrisy-over-trumps-russia-leak.html

Trump may have stumbled badly in his meeting with the Russians, but he has a long way to go before he does the kind of damage that President Obama and his team of intelligence sieves did – with the help of The New York Times and other news outlets now crowing over his error.

So, pivot and blame Obama?

And that makes Trump look less stooopid?

[Schewe]

Trump Team Knew Flynn Was Under Investigation Before He Came to White House

Title kinda says it all...either stupid, crooked or incompetent...prolly all three.

And what does Flynn know that worries Trump to the point Trump asked Comey to stop the Flynn investigation? And does Flynn get immunity? Likely not at this point.

The other guy in the middle of a criminal investigation is Paul Manafort. Seems Manafort and Flynn are both in deep doodoo.



Flynn and Manafort emerge as ‘key figures’ in probe as special counsel takes over Russia investigation

NBC News reports two close aides to Donald Trump have emerged as “key figures” in the investigation into Russian collusion with the Trump campaign. Four law enforcement officials told NBC News that “multiple grand jury subpoenas” have been issued in connection with former Campaign Manager Paul Manafort and former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.

[Schewe]

Does Donald Trump still want to be president?
By John Moody–Executive Vice President, Executive Editor for Fox News.

President Trump seems hell-bent on courting controversy, if not downright enmity, from the Washington establishment. His vague comments about what he said, or didn’t say, to former FBI Director James Comey, as well as similar questions about what he told Russian diplomats in the Oval Office raise a serious question: does he still want to be president?

There is no surer way to ensure negative press coverage (“No politician in history has been treated worse,” he lamented on Wednesday) than to antagonize the press. Banning American news media from his Oval Office conversation with Russia’s foreign minister, while allowing a TASS photographer to record the event, may be payback against a press corps he despises. But it also fuels suspicions that he is indebted, somehow, to the Kremlin.

His undisciplined tweets give the public contradictory information, and a sense that he wants to run the country via social media instead of democratic debate.

The question is: to what end?

Does anybody really think America can stand 1,342 (and counting down) more days of Trump?

BTW, here's a handy countdown clock TIME UNTIL TRUMP LEAVES OFFICE

[pegelli]

"The incredible media hypocrisy over Trump's Russia leak"

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/05/17/marc-thiessen-incredible-media-hypocrisy-over-trumps-russia-leak.html

Do you think this is credible? What else do you expect from Fox news opinion then to eternally support Donald Trump and not miss an opportunity to take another stab at Obama? 

[Chairman Bill]

Frankly, the more I read of Trump's shenanigins with the Russians, the more I expect to see him in matching hair, skin & jumpsuit, with shackles & handcuffs.

[Otto Phocus]

Does Donald Trump still want to be president?
By John Moody–Executive Vice President, Executive Editor for Fox News.

I always had a feeling that Trump never wanted to be president.  What he wanted was for the GOP to kick him out.  Then he could start another populist career being a political commentator.  It is, after all, much easier to criticize the president than it is to be the president.  By having the GOP establishment kick him out of the race, he would then be free to criticize both the DNC and the RNC.  That's money in the bank for Trump.  "If they had not kicked me out, I could have turned this country around!"  It is what Trump does best, garner publicity and criticize.  I think he found his true medium not in real estate but in reality TV. 

During his campaign, I really thought that he was making all these outrageous comments in order to be not selected.  I imagine that he was surprised that every time he said something stupid, his numbers went up!  After a while, what could he do?  He really could not quit his campaign as that would not look good for him.  Until the election, even he did not think he had much of a chance, hence his peremptory comments about the election.  He was setting the stage. He wanted to lose so he could criticize the election system.

But now that he is president, he can paint an picture of "everyone is against me" and "I am the most attacked president in the history that I don't know". now he can, with his ego intact, resign  "Listen, I tried to help the country but the congress, GOP, media, Disney, McDonalds, ect were all against me.  There is really nothing I could do.  The system is broken and it is everyone else's fault but mine".  Thereby setting himself up for a bigly career as a political commentator.  "Well if only congress let me handle things, I would have fixed xxx" without actually having any accountability for doing anything.

I would not be surprised if he resigned during his term and I would be surprised if he ran for re-election.

He does not want the job of being president, he wants a job where he can criticize the president.. and the political parties without being held accountable.

[Littlefield]

Frankly, the more I read of Trump's shenanigins with the Russians, the more I expect to see him in matching hair, skin & jumpsuit, with shackles & handcuffs.

I doubt Trump could be imprisoned while in office.
Don

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/olc/opinions/2000/10/31/op-olc-v024-p0222.pdf

[Alan Klein]

Trump also defended Hilary after the election, that she shouldn't be prosecuted regarding anything she did, that is time to move on.  He probably feels similarly about Flynn who supported him and told Comey how he felt.

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Exclusive: Trump campaign had at least 18 undisclosed contacts with Russians - sources
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-contacts-idUSKCN18E106

"Michael Flynn and other advisers to Donald Trump’s campaign were in contact with Russian officials and others with Kremlin ties in at least 18 calls and emails during the last seven months of the 2016 presidential race, current and former U.S. officials familiar with the exchanges told Reuters.

The previously undisclosed interactions form part of the record now being reviewed by FBI and congressional investigators probing Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election and contacts between Trump’s campaign and Russia.

Six of the previously undisclosed contacts described to Reuters were phone calls between Sergei Kislyak, Russia's ambassador to the United States, and Trump advisers, including Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser, three current and former officials said.

Conversations between Flynn and Kislyak accelerated after the Nov. 8 vote as the two discussed establishing a back channel for communication between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that could bypass the U.S. national security bureaucracy, which both sides considered hostile to improved relations, four current U.S. officials said.

In January, the Trump White House initially denied any contacts with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign. The White House and advisers to the campaign have since confirmed four meetings between Kislyak and Trump advisers during that time.

The people who described the contacts to Reuters said they had seen no evidence of wrongdoing or collusion between the campaign and Russia in the communications reviewed so far. But the disclosure could increase the pressure on Trump and his aides to provide the FBI and Congress with a full account of interactions with Russian officials and others with links to the Kremlin during and immediately after the 2016 election."

Why deny the contacts if there was nothing to hide???? At best it was stupid, but maybe there was more. Time will tell.

Cheers,
Bart

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Do you think this is credible? What else do you expect from Fox news opinion ..

Pieter, you can surely do better than that. The ad hominem media argument is very tiresome and worn out by now.

There are dozen examples in the article, all verifiable from the press coverage at the time. The author himself is (emphasis mine):

A member of the White House senior staff under President George W. Bush, Thiessen served as chief speechwriter to the president and to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Before joining the Bush administration, Thiessen spent more than six years as spokesman and senior policy adviser to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms (R-NC). A weekly columnist for The Washington Post, Thiessen is also a contributor to Fox News...

Actually, come to think of it, writing for the WaPo is what should disqualify him from being taken seriously at this point 

[Alan Klein]

Exclusive: Trump campaign had at least 18 undisclosed contacts with Russians - sources
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-contacts-idUSKCN18E106

"Michael Flynn and other advisers to Donald Trump’s campaign were in contact with Russian officials and others with Kremlin ties in at least 18 calls and emails during the last seven months of the 2016 presidential race, current and former U.S. officials familiar with the exchanges told Reuters.

The previously undisclosed interactions form part of the record now being reviewed by FBI and congressional investigators probing Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election and contacts between Trump’s campaign and Russia.

Six of the previously undisclosed contacts described to Reuters were phone calls between Sergei Kislyak, Russia's ambassador to the United States, and Trump advisers, including Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser, three current and former officials said.

Conversations between Flynn and Kislyak accelerated after the Nov. 8 vote as the two discussed establishing a back channel for communication between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that could bypass the U.S. national security bureaucracy, which both sides considered hostile to improved relations, four current U.S. officials said.

In January, the Trump White House initially denied any contacts with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign. The White House and advisers to the campaign have since confirmed four meetings between Kislyak and Trump advisers during that time.

The people who described the contacts to Reuters said they had seen no evidence of wrongdoing or collusion between the campaign and Russia in the communications reviewed so far. But the disclosure could increase the pressure on Trump and his aides to provide the FBI and Congress with a full account of interactions with Russian officials and others with links to the Kremlin during and immediately after the 2016 election."

Why deny the contacts if there was nothing to hide? At best it was stupid, but maybe there was more. Time will tell.

Cheers,
Bart

The article itself states there was no evidence of wrongdoing or collision with the Russians. Thanks for providing more evidence there's nothing there.   More fake news.   This whole thing is about politics.   Trying to now destroy President Trump because they failed at destroying candidate Trump.

[Otto Phocus]

I doubt Trump could be imprisoned while in office.
Don

That is correct, the president enjoys a temporary immunity from criminal prosecution via the justice department while in office.  Once his term is over, however, he is liable for criminal prosecution.  The only body that can try the president is the Senate after articles of impeachment have been approved by the House.

The limit of the Senate's power is to remove the president from office.  The Senate does not have the power to send the former president to prison.  That power, would transfer back to the judicial branch where the, now former, president would be tried again.

The SCotUS did determine that a president can be subject to a civil trial for activities conducted prior to the president assuming the office. The president enjoys some level of immunity against civil action for actions taken during the president's term.

oops, I left out something about the penalties of impeachment.

Article 1 section 3 of the constitution

"Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law."

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... he wants a job where he can criticize the president...

Like most of us in this thread... and wider