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Trump Russia Tag

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 17, 2017 30 Comments
The Department of Justice has appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller III as special counsel to its investigation into possible Russian interference in our presidential election. The Wall Street Journal reported:
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the appointment because Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from any investigation related to the 2016 race. Mr. Rosenstein said in a statement that “I determined that it is in the public interest for me to exercise my authority and appoint a Special Counsel to assume responsibility of this matter.”

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on May 16, 2017 35 Comments
How are Dems playing their reaction to the news that President Trump shared intelligence information with the Russians during a White House visit? Judging by the statement from former Obama special assistant Ned Price, they've turned it up to 11. Appearing on today's Morning Joe, Price said:

"Last week we had this hearing of all national security officials on worldwide threats. And of course, they covered ISIL, they covered Syria, North Korea. I think we have to start asking ourselves: at what point does this administration itself become a threat we have to be concerned about?"

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 16, 2017 39 Comments
Yesterday, The Washington Post caused mass hysteria when it released a report that President Donald Trump provided highly classified information to the Russian Foreign Minister and Ambassador. Of course the publication used anonymous sources. National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster denied the story through a written statement and in front of the press. Then today he went before the press again and told reporters that Trump did not compromise any sources or methods to the Russians. He described the discussion as "wholly appropriate."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 15, 2017 79 Comments
The Washington Post ran a story late this afternoon claiming Donald Trump, in his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister and Ambassador, disclosed highly classified information, including information that could reveal sources and methods. Despite the length of the story, the allegations of substance are all in this single paragraph:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 04, 2017 17 Comments
Unless there are more facts that come out, the charges that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians during the campaign should go down as one of the most preposterous and dangerous conspiracy theories in recent political history. It is a theory pushed relentlessly in the media and by Democrats to try to undermine our political institutions, including the Electoral College. It is the foam coming out of the mouths of Democrats and #NeverTrump Republicans. It is spread with reckless abandon by Twitter and social media personalities you never heard of until they started shouting that Trump and his cohorts had committed treason; now they have hundreds of thousands of followers who retweet by the thousands every innuendo. I wrote about this back in February, The fact-free Intelligence Community-Media trial of Trump by innuendo. Yet what evidence is there even now to support the conspiracy theory? As of this moment, apparently none.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 12, 2017 20 Comments
According to a report by the Washington Post, the FBI obtained a FISA warrant last summer to monitor former Trump adviser, Carter Page. WaPo's report is based on information provided by anonymous sources not at liberty to discuss the investigation. The FBI and DOJ believed Page may have been acting as a foreign agent. So far, this is the closest public evidence that there may have been Trump camp/Russian collaboration, but even at that, obtaining a warrant is not indicative of collusion, simply a suspicion of.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 08, 2017 40 Comments
Donald Trump ordered a limited military strike on a Syrian air base after the Syrian military was believed behind a chemical weapons airstrike that killed dozens. The military strike generally received praise both because it happened and because, at least for now, it was limited and intended to establish the red line that Obama ignored. Whatever other horrific warfare has taken place in Syria, and it has been horrible on a historic scale, the use of chemical weapons would not be tolerated. The plans for an attack were drawn up by the U.S. military, among many alternatives. The Russians, apparently, were alerted at some level beforehand since the attack was on an airbase also used by the Russians. To have done otherwise would have risked a wider conflict if Russian troops were hit by U.S. launched missiles. So that minimal coordination, which takes place among several militaries operating in the skies over Syria, was a cautious move by the U.S. military and Trump. The widespread praise for Trump's action has triggered some really bizarre conspiracy theories.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 07, 2017 16 Comments
When Devin Nunes stepped away from the Russia probe despite his position as the Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, it was a major victory for those seeking to obfuscate and stall one of the two tracks of investigation: The unmasking of names that Susan Rice has admitted doing, though she claims no political motive. The event precipitating Nunes withdrawal was a series of ethics complaints filed by left-wing groups, including MoveOn.org, which triggered a House Ethics Committee investigation. That fact that there is an investigation means nothing in itself. Mercedes Schlapp points out how the tactics used against Nunes helped shape the ultimate decision:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 06, 2017 51 Comments
This is breaking news and will be updated. Republican House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, who exposed the "unmasking" of information regarding the Trump transition team by the Obama administration, has announced he will step aside from the Russia investigation This is a major victory for Democrats, who have smeared and attacked Nunes, and comes after liberal interest groups filed ethics complaints against Nunes, leading to an ethics investigation. [Post to be updated]

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 05, 2017 15 Comments
My post, At this point, anti-Trump Russia hysteria smells like Ben Rhodes-style echo chamber, has received a pretty good reaction. The basis thesis was that what is happening to Trump when it comes to Russia is similar to the admitted deception and media echo chamber created by Ben Rhodes, communications point man for the Obama administration's push for the Iran nuclear deal. That deception involved the false narrative of nuclear talks sparked by a newly-found moderation in the Iranian regime, and the creation of a self-sustaining echo chamber of naive media and aligned pro-Iranian interest groups. The goal was not just to advance the Iran nuclear deal, but also to provide cover for the overall objective of a Grand Bargain with Iran, giving Iran regional hegemony. While the anti-Trump Russia echo chamber doesn't mirror the Iran echo chamber precisely in details, it's pretty close when it comes to creating a similar effect.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on April 05, 2017 15 Comments
On CNN this morning, Chris Cuomo said to Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah, "Breitbart is using you as a poster boy. You know that is the president's viewing of choice. He loves to see what they put out. They are using you as the poster boy that Susan Rice was politically motivated in unmasking." Cuomo told Lee, "it does seem as though you're saying Rice has to prove it wasn't politically motivated for me to believe that it wasn't. And that's not fair." Retorted Lee: "That is an absolutely absurd manipulation of what I said. That is not at all what I said. I did in fact say that something like this could have happened. I did in fact say it's not absurd to suggest something like this could have happened. And every time I've said anything like that, it's been accompanied by 'I don't know what Susan Rice did. I don't know the facts of the case."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 04, 2017 56 Comments
Susan Rice is at the center of the storm over reports that she "unmasked" the names of Trump campaign and transition officials, as described in our prior post, Susan Rice unmasked? Previously said “I know nothing about” Nunes allegations. Given Rice's past tattered history with regard to the Benghazi video, it's almost a certainty that there now will be dual track congressional investigations -- of alleged Trump campaign interactions with Russia and Obama administration attempts to undermine the incoming administration. Seeking to quiet the storm, Rice appeared on Andrea Mitchell's MSNBC show. Mitchell would be viewed as a safe space for Rice in which Rice could explain away the issue.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 02, 2017 18 Comments
Devin Nunes is now the object of Democrat ire because of his claim that he has seen evidence that presents a possible problem with "unmasking" names of Trump campaign and administration officials by the Obama administration unrelated to Russia. The allegations are explosive and could open up a wide investigation of Obama administration officials. That is not what Democrats want, they want investigations focused solely on the as yet unproven claim that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in the campaign.

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 30, 2017 9 Comments
The Senate Intelligence Committee held its first hearing on possible Russian interference during the 2016 presidential election and its "information warfare." It was revealed that hackers targeted Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) during his presidential campaign:
"Former members of my presidential campaign team who had access to the internal information of my presidential campaign were targeted by IP addresses with an unknown location within Russia," Rubio said Thursday. "That effort was unsuccessful. I would also inform the committee within the last 24 hours, at 10:45 a.m. yesterday, a second attempt was made, again, against former members of my presidential campaign team who had access to our internal information -- again targeted from an IP address from an unknown location in Russia. And that effort was also unsuccessful."

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on March 28, 2017 20 Comments
Tuesday, American Urban Radio Networks White House correspondent, April Ryan, asked White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer how the administration was working to "revamp their image" after two and a half months of bad press. The exchange quickly became a heated one. "With all these investigations, questions of what is is, how does this administration try to revamp its image? Two and a half months in -- you've got this Yates story today, you've got other things going on, you've got Russia, you've got wiretapping..." began Ryan.

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 06, 2017 68 Comments
Former President Barack Obama's Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told Chuck Todd on Meet The Press that evidence between President Donald Trump and Russia do not exist:
We did not include any evidence in our report, and I say, "our," that's N.S.A., F.B.I. and C.I.A., with my office, the Director of National Intelligence, that had anything, that had any reflection of collusion between members of the Trump campaign and the Russians. There was no evidence of that included in our report.
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