American Politics Thread: Orange is the new POTUS

[flylock shox]

Man, this Washington Post subscription is turning out to be one of the best investments I've ever made.

Particularly so given what's likely to happen to my other investments when the US collapses on itself...

[MissTeeks]

https://nytimes.com/2017/05/17/us/po....co/qPmRrn94Jo

WASHINGTON — Michael T. Flynn told President Trump’s transition team weeks before the inauguration that he was under federal investigation for secretly working as a paid lobbyist for Turkey during the campaign, according to two people familiar with the case.

Despite this warning, which came about a month after the Justice Department notified Mr. Flynn of the inquiry, Mr. Trump made Mr. Flynn his national security adviser. The job gave Mr. Flynn access to the president and nearly every secret held by American intelligence agencies.

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by Thor

Thankfully he can't

Nixon fired his special prosecutor.

[driveway]

Israel was warned about sharing intel with Trump.

http://www.businessinsider.com/trump...aign=buffer-bi

Israel reportedly was the source of the highly classified intelligence President Donald Trump disclosed to Russian diplomats last week. It was also said to have been warned months ago by US intelligence officials not to share classified information with Trump, for fear it might be leaked to Russia.

"Donald Trump's upcoming inauguration as the next president of the United States is causing Israeli intelligence officials to lose sleep as well," Ronen Bergman reported for the Israeli news outlet Ynetnews on January 12.

"Discussions held in closed forums recently raised fears of a leakage of Israeli intelligence top-classified information, clandestine modus operandi, and sources, which have been exposed to the American intelligence community over the past 15 years, to Russia — and from there to Iran," the report said.

[wwkayaker]

Originally Posted by Thor

Thankfully he can't

Apparently he can. I just read an article written by Robert Reich in which he states the special prosecutor can be fired.

[JackJack]

That would probably be his last play out of desperation. The damage would already be done.

[HockeyIlliterate]

Originally Posted by MissTeeks

https://nytimes.com/2017/05/17/us/po....co/qPmRrn94Jo

Wasn't Pence in charge of the transition team?

And wasn't the "official" reason why Flynn was fired was because he allegedly lied to Pence months after the fact?

At this point, Trump isn't going to be the only one impeached. And if the Ryan money laundering stuff is true, then hello President Hatch.

And to think...Romney wasn't liked by many Republicans because he is Mormon.

[oldschoolcalgary]

Originally Posted by MissTeeks

https://nytimes.com/2017/05/17/us/po....co/qPmRrn94Jo

geeezus... its like he didn't have any advisers at all...

If true, this is just shockingly bad judgement on Trump's part...

Flynn, if he had any integrity, should have recused himself from consideration

[wwkayaker]

Desperation indeed. I would say it is doubtful that trump would fire the investigator but who the hell knows. His arrogance seems to have no bounds.

[Thor]

Originally Posted by Aarongavey

Nixon fired his special prosecutor.

I was incorrect, the rules set out for this were created in 1999, allowing the President to fire the special prosecutor, but with Nixon he himself didn't fire the SP, he had to get someone to do it, which is what the Saturday night massacre was, as people refused to do it for Nixon and resigned.

If Trump were stupid enough to fire Mueller utter chaos will ensue loool

[calumniate]

So does this mean the wall and the Muslim ban and waterboarding won't come to fruition? I'd really had my hopes up for that great, great, hugely awesome stuff. It would have been beautiful

[photon]

Wow this Flynn stuff could be worse than anyone thought. No idea how reliable this site is though.

Flynn stopped military plan Turkey opposed – after being paid as its agent
One of the Trump administration’s first decisions about the fight against the Islamic State was made by Michael Flynn weeks before he was fired – and it conformed to the wishes of Turkey, whose interests, unbeknownst to anyone in Washington, he’d been paid more than $500,000 to represent.

The decision came 10 days before Donald Trump had been sworn in as president, in a conversation with President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, Susan Rice, who had explained the Pentagon’s plan to retake the Islamic State’s de facto capital of Raqqa with Syrian Kurdish forces whom the Pentagon considered the U.S.’s most effective military partners. Obama’s national security team had decided to ask for Trump’s sign-off, since the plan would all but certainly be executed after Trump had become president.

Flynn didn’t hesitate. According to timelines distributed by members of Congress in the weeks since, Flynn told Rice to hold off, a move that would delay the military operation for months.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/poli...151149647.html

[photon]

How Trump's statement about the special counsel compares with other Presidents' statements in similar situations.

But Trump’s reaction to the special counsel is in fact a dramatic departure from the standard set by modern American presidents. Previous presidents have emphasized the importance of the special counsel appointments, welcomed the investigations as necessary, and offered personal praise for the law enforcement official suddenly thrust into the national spotlight.

Trump does none of the above. In a statement that begins by claiming a “thorough investigation will confirm what we already know,” Trump instead fails to offer even a patina of support for the investigation.

https://www.vox.com/2017/5/17/156565...robert-mueller

-----

EDIT: 538 on the ups and downs of the special counsel. It does take a way a nail for the Dems to hammer.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...ews-for-trump/

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by photon

Wow this Flynn stuff could be worse than anyone thought. No idea how reliable this site is though.

Flynn stopped military plan Turkey opposed – after being paid as its agent
One of the Trump administration’s first decisions about the fight against the Islamic State was made by Michael Flynn weeks before he was fired – and it conformed to the wishes of Turkey, whose interests, unbeknownst to anyone in Washington, he’d been paid more than $500,000 to represent.

The decision came 10 days before Donald Trump had been sworn in as president, in a conversation with President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, Susan Rice, who had explained the Pentagon’s plan to retake the Islamic State’s de facto capital of Raqqa with Syrian Kurdish forces whom the Pentagon considered the U.S.’s most effective military partners. Obama’s national security team had decided to ask for Trump’s sign-off, since the plan would all but certainly be executed after Trump had become president.

Flynn didn’t hesitate. According to timelines distributed by members of Congress in the weeks since, Flynn told Rice to hold off, a move that would delay the military operation for months.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/poli...151149647.html

McClatchy used to be a significant player in the media game but has seen its reach shrink over the years. Pretty good source, mostly made up of smaller papers IIRC.

[Fozzie_DeBear]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

Man the whole lot of them could be going to prison. Someone commented yesterday on an MSNBC youtube video that Hatch will be the 46th, before that WAPO article dropped. Also said that there is like 70 people being indicted. #OrangeJulius

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ipbR_dqu5s

Rapacious Interloper17 hours ago
Trump, Pence, and Paul Ryan are all going down in this; there are already sealed indictments for them and about 70 other conspirators. Orrin Hatch will be the 46th POTUS. You heard it here 1st.

Orrin Hatch isn't perfect...but what an upgrade

[oldschoolcalgary]

Originally Posted by photon

Wow this Flynn stuff could be worse than anyone thought. No idea how reliable this site is though.

Flynn stopped military plan Turkey opposed – after being paid as its agent
One of the Trump administration’s first decisions about the fight against the Islamic State was made by Michael Flynn weeks before he was fired – and it conformed to the wishes of Turkey, whose interests, unbeknownst to anyone in Washington, he’d been paid more than $500,000 to represent.

The decision came 10 days before Donald Trump had been sworn in as president, in a conversation with President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, Susan Rice, who had explained the Pentagon’s plan to retake the Islamic State’s de facto capital of Raqqa with Syrian Kurdish forces whom the Pentagon considered the U.S.’s most effective military partners. Obama’s national security team had decided to ask for Trump’s sign-off, since the plan would all but certainly be executed after Trump had become president.

Flynn didn’t hesitate. According to timelines distributed by members of Congress in the weeks since, Flynn told Rice to hold off, a move that would delay the military operation for months.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/poli...151149647.html

pretty amazing stuff... and by 'amazing' i mean damning...

the connection between Flynn and Trump seems to be the main fault line... there is some kind of link between them and I am sure that Mueller will be looking hard at any deeper connections here.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Fozzie_DeBear

Orrin Hatch isn't perfect...but what an upgrade

His LGBT stance is still archaic, but at least he seems able to push his personal bias aside when it comes to legislation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orrin_Hatch#LGBT_issues

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by wwkayaker

Desperation indeed. I would say it is doubtful that trump would fire the investigator but who the hell knows. His arrogance seems to have no bounds.

We are talking about a guy who made his own TV show so that he could publicly fire people.

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by New Era

When House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy suggested in 2016 that Trump was getting paid off by Putin, Paul Ryan silenced discussion and instructed Republicans to keep that "in the family." There may be more than meets the eye to claims that the Feds have Ryan and McConnell on tape admitting to laundering money through the GOP. Things are getting very interesting.

GOP and Ryan's lies are just outright ridiculous. Just look what happens when you introduce evidence into things. Lies and immediately spin spin spin.

When initially asked to comment on the exchange, Brendan Buck, a spokesman for Ryan, said: “That never happened,” and Matt Sparks, a spokesman for McCarthy, said: “The idea that McCarthy would assert this is absurd and false.”

After being told that The Post would cite a recording of the exchange, Buck, speaking for the GOP House leadership, said: “This entire year-old exchange was clearly an attempt at humor. No one believed the majority leader was seriously asserting that Donald Trump or any of our members were being paid by the Russians. What’s more, the speaker and leadership team have repeatedly spoken out against Russia’s interference in our election, and the House continues to investigate that activity.”

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by calumniate

So does this mean the wall and the Muslim ban and waterboarding won't come to fruition? I'd really had my hopes up for that great, great, hugely awesome stuff. It would have been beautiful

Still not likely, but more likely than earlier today.

Up until now the Russia cloud has been hanging over the GOP, stalling their agenda. With an easy it on Trump questions, they can now move forward with tax reform, budgets, denying women their own uterus, etc.

Dems just gave their arrows and quiver to a guy who only cares about illegal acts. We may now never know what Comey and Trump talked about, etc.