Trump's America, March 2017: Using His Inside VOICE

https://nytimes.com/2017/03/01/us/politics/obama-trump-russia-election-hacking.html

I swear that's the fourth article I've seen with the obama-trump-russia-election-hacking slug.

WALL PROTOTYPES. Some greedy fucks now get to line up and hold their hands out for tenders for fucking WALL PROTOTYPE CONTRACTS. Never mind actually building any of the fucking things.

― Stoop Crone (Trayce)

I'm picturing a Spinal Tap Stonehenge type scenario.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/03/01/white-house-proposes-cutting-epa-staff-by-one-fifth-eliminating-key-programs

The Office of Management and Budget has suggested deep cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget that would reduce its staff by one-fifth in the first year and eliminate dozens of programs, according to details of a document reviewed by The Washington Post.

I'm picturing a Spinal Tap Stonehenge type scenario.

― nickn, Wednesday, March 1, 2017 8:26 PM (twelve minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"Whether Donald Trump knows the difference between feet and inches is not my problem."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-spoke-twice-with-russian-ambassador-during-trumps-presidential-campaign-justice-officials-say/2017/03/01/77205eda-feac-11e6-99b4-9e613afeb09f_story.html?utm_term=.91eb33c64e70

lying to the Senate, nice

holy shit, this string of paragraphs is just incredible:

At his Jan. 10 Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, Sessions was asked by Sen. Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, what he would do if he learned of any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of the 2016 campaign.

“I’m not aware of any of those activities,” he responded. He added: “I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians.”

Officials said Sessions did not consider the conversations relevant to the lawmakers’ questions and did not remember in detail what he discussed with Kislyak.

“There was absolutely nothing misleading about his answer,” said Sarah Isgur Flores, Sessions’s spokeswoman.

In January, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) asked Sessions for answers to written questions. “Several of the President-elect’s nominees or senior advisers have Russian ties. Have you been in contact with anyone connected to any part of the Russian government about the 2016 election, either before or after election day?” Leahy wrote.

Sessions responded with one word: “No.”

Justice officials said Sessions met with Kislyak on Sept. 8 in his capacity as a member of the armed services panel rather than in his role as a Trump campaign surrogate.

“He was asked during the hearing about communications between Russia and the Trump campaign — not about meetings he took as a senator and a member of the Armed Services Committee,” Flores said.

She added that Sessions last year had more than 25 conversations with foreign ambassadors as a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, including the British, Korean, Japanese, Polish, Indian, Chinese, Canadian, Australian and German ambassadors, in addition to Kislyak.

...The Washington Post contacted all 26 members of the 2016 Senate Armed Services Committee to see if any lawmakers besides Sessions met with Kislyak in 2016. Of the 19 lawmakers who responded, every senator, including chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.), said they did not meet with the Russian ambassador last year. The other lawmakers on the panel did not respond as of Wednesday evening.

Looks like the Russia stuff is picking up heat. I'm going to stop playing amateur pundit cuz I clearly have no clue what I'm talking about. Fingers crossed.

I keep googling "trump" and "heart attack" every few days

I'm losing track of what investigations are where on Russia. so what's the significance (if there is any) of this story: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-congress-idUSKBN169037. is this just the next sequence of something that was already happening, nbd other than it was reported on?

Honestly, I'm not actually watching this--it's on while I eat cereal between a couple of Mad Men episodes. (Felt like I had to make that clear.) But Lindsay Graham just this: "My biggest fear is not losing. It's not speaking up when I know something's wrong." He's on CNN with McCain.

I guess he has been marginally better than his friend the past year.

But Lindsay Graham just this: "My biggest fear is not losing. It's not speaking up when I know something's wrong."

"...and I know something is wrong when all we can manage to get out of this budget is a meanly $54 billion increase for the military. it's time to speak up."

if i was the evil advisor guy i would whisper that into his headset. or say it to him over my own headset a normal volume, at a distance, i mean.

ok this was more clear, from BBC: "The House intelligence panel inquiry will scrutinise contacts between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and Moscow, members confirmed.
Until now, Republican senators had been reluctant to agree to Democratic Party demands for the inquiry."

it would almost be better if Trump and staff just defied his lawyer's instructions and deleted everything on record and have the cover-up be what speedily undoes him

This Russia coverup shit is gonna bite them in the ass. Not cuz of what they did, but because of the constant lying about it.

also quite possible Trump is downplaying the issue cos he legitimately doesn't know the magnitude of it or how deep in it some of his operatives were simply cos he's a delegating bumblefuck who doesn't pay attention

He knows he's being blackmailed.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/evansville-indiana-synagogue-shot_us_58b6ecbce4b060480e0db5fd

Enough is fucking enough.

This Russia/Ukraine, Trump, Flynn, Sessions, Cohen etc. shit keeps getting weirder and weirder, deeper and deeper.

These hate crimes and harassment, even when Trump's gone I don't expect them to stop. It's like 30% of the country thinks we're living in 1972 or something. (And another 5% or so Germany in the '30s.)

yeah when you stoke those fires they're not just going to go away cos the guy who started em isn't around.

things you used to be able to take for granted LAST YEAR (ie politicians vocally decrying shit like this) = gone now. unreal.

sorry adjustment needed

(ie RIGHT WING politicians)

idk if i can keep perpetually hoping for the trump admin to collapse but i will happily take that piece of shit sessions getting the boot

So now Sessions lied under oath about Russia? Fucking lol

yeah dude makes Ashcroft look like a homie

it's hard to say this bc there's so much competition but sometimes sessions really seems like the most disgusting reprehensible garbage human being in the admin

stiff competition though, it's a real horse race

lol https://twitter.com/BuzzFeedNews/status/837146431848775680/photo/1

Cummings one of the few Dems who has been consistently on message

Sessions even has beady devil eyes

Pelosi calling for resignation, too, and Sessions formally under FBI investigation? (Says WSJ?)

hah I was about to post that WSJ article

https://www.wsj.com/articles/investigators-probed-jeff-sessions-contacts-with-russian-officials-1488424871

Trump's all like MAN I HAD 24 HOURS OF ADULATION, EVEN FROM THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA

i hope he crashes and burns and takes others down with him

So close to getting one full day of positive news coverage

a Sessions resignation (not to put the cart before the Trojan horse) would have much more lasting damage than Flynn. two resignations in record time would be unthinkable, and having the dude heading up the Department of Justice implicated has much worse optics (if that's possible)

it might also have the effect of driving up support for russia/putin among the batshit rightwing. polls have already shown that conservative opinion of putin has skyrocketed since trump's ascent (while remaining very low for others). if russian connections end up taking down both flynn and sessions, the looniest will defend the fort.

yeah this is a positive development for sure

Lol every one of these bonkers Russian conspiracy theories is gonna turn out to be true

I remember when 80% of this thread was like "cmon theres no pisstape"

lol at the spokesperson's weaksauce spin. He didn't disclose it because the meeting wasn't relevant to the question, because he met with Russia in his capacity as a Senator, and not as a Trump surrogate.

Except the question posed to him didn't frame it like that at all - it asked point blank if he had "any" contact with Russian officials. even if that were true, the burden is on you to disclose that meeting and then provide the clarifying context, not answer incorrectly and then state it's ok because everybody should have assumed the context.

spokesperson also seems to be confused as to whether he just forgot about the meetings or remembered and found them irrelevant.

lord why do these bombshells happen right before bedtime. I am gonna be up all night refreshing.

Trifecta of scoops: NYT, WaPo and WSJ, all within a couple hours of each other.

In January, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) asked Sessions for answers to written questions. “Several of the President-elect’s nominees or senior advisers have Russian ties. Have you been in contact with anyone connected to any part of the Russian government about the 2016 election, either before or after election day?” Leahy wrote.

Sessions responded with one word: “No.”

"It depends upon what the meaning of the word 'contact' is....if it means did I have sex with a Russian official, than was a completely true statement".

or whatever the bizarro clinton/sessions version of that is without typos

fuckin' bollweevil

"Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador, is considered by US intelligence to be one of Russia's top spies and spy-recruiters in Washington, according to current and former senior US government officials."

wow. that's from the CNN article, right?

jesus. the text i just sent my wife to describe what happened was surreal to type.

"btw sessions is going down, not official yet but there's breaking news that he met multiple times with one of Russia's top spies/spy recruiters during Trump's campaign and then lied about it under oath in confirmation hearings."

NYT doesn't seem to have a story on it yet.

I think it was CNN - I'm reading so many articles I can't recall where I cribbed it from.

yeah this one's not going away. even as spin, his spokesperson's response was weak not well constructed (at one point she makes it sound like he forgot the meetings, in another that he remembered but found it irrelevant).

NYT folded some info about it into one of their earlier reports, and the timestamp hasn't been updated to reflect it.

It was on CNN:

Michael Weiss‏Verified account @michaeldweiss 1h1 hour ago
More
Evan Perez just said it on CNN, so I suppose I can here: Kislyak wasn't just ambassador, he was Russia's "top spy recruiter" in D.C.: SVR.