It’s that time again….
Here is the latest insanity and nonsense in the ongoing Trump-Russia-Corruption-General Asshatery Timeline. You can also view previous updates on June 18th, June 14th, June 12th, June 9th, June 6th, and June 2nd.
We have more and more rumors after Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse came forward with the thought that Gen. Michael Flynn has flipped and is currently cooperating with the Mueller investigation in exchange for a suspended or lesser sentence for his violations of the Logan Act and 18 USC 1001 and perjury for lying to the FBI.
Former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has testified that Putin personally directed the attack on America’s election, although they didn’t attempt to specifically change votes, they instead endeavored to target specific swing districts and economically frustrated Obama, Stein and Sanders voters with disinformation and fake rumors about Clinton to depress her vote.
And Hannity is back again with a new conspiracy theory that the intelligence community and mainstream media have a plot to hype “Russia” in order to implement a “soft coup” against Trump. Yeah, right I wish. That Mueller has “conflicts” because of his friendship with Comey, and he’s hired former attorneys who worked with the Clinton Foundation and that we should really be investigating Loretta Lynch for the “Tarmac Talk” and “Matters.”
Not surprisingly at all Trump’s new “he is and he isn’t” being investigated lawyer Sekulow has been fully onboard with the “Soft Coup” talking point for months now. It’s essentially Trump’s worst fear.
I’m sure Trump really loves this kind of television, but it’s factually empty.
Just for the record the “Uranium One” deal involved a mostly Canadian company and the one Russian on their stockholder had left before the deal was complete, so that charge is false. There is no evidence that Loretta Lynch tried to steer the investigation into Clinton’s server in any specific direction, the most she might have done was stay more in line with DOJ protocols on revealing information about an ongoing investigation but she didn’t change the conclusion that was ultimately reached that Hillary didn’t willfully violate the law, unlike say — the way that Flynn and Kushner have by lying on their security forms.
None of what Hannity says is going to change Mueller’s investigation particularly if Flynn is truly cooperating because there actually is a specific reason why he lied on his SF-86 forms about multiple meetings and financial arrangements he had with Russia, a reason that might include deliberately trying to “pay back” Russia for the solid they did Trump during the election by, for example, trying to suspend the sanctions on Russia four individual separate times while the Senate pushes to stop them, although that seems to have hit a snag.
I mean it’s not like a Trump surrogate like Jack Kingston specifically travelled to Russia and told them Trump would remove sanctions on Russia. Except that he did back in December.
On Monday, Jack Kingston, a former Trump surrogate, briefed American businesspeople in Russia on what they might expect from the incoming administration.
Lifting Western sanctions that were imposed on Russia because of its armed intervention in Ukraine has become the top priority not only for the Kremlin but for foreign companies working in Moscow.
During the campaign, Trump indicated he would reconsider those sanctions and suggested he would get along fine with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Trump can look at sanctions. They've been in place long enough," Kingston told NPR in Moscow. "Has the desired result been reached? He doesn't have to abide by the Obama foreign policy. That gives him a fresh start."
Kingston said he had mostly met with businesspeople in Moscow and that there had been no meetings with Russian government officials or U.S. diplomats. Now was the time, he said, for business to step up and play a role in "soft diplomacy."
Lifting those sanctions which were put in place because of Russia’s invading Crimea and messing with Ukraine in response to their influence on our election is exactly what “collusion” looks like.
- June 19th —
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June 20th —
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June 21st —
It just keeps going and going...