American Politics Thread: Orange is the new POTUS

[Fuzz]

If burning sources to protect the integrity of an election isn't a significant enough reason to do it, what is?

[ResAlien]

Maybe Donnie was right in firing Comey. While his reasons were 100% self serving and stupid it appears serendipitous now as more and more evidence points to Comey kinda sucking at his job.

[IliketoPuck]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

If burning sources to protect the integrity of an election isn't a significant enough reason to do it, what is?

Really?

Burning intelligence assets isn't just like burning a piece of paper.

People's lives are literally at stake over a decision like that.

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by ResAlien

Maybe Donnie was right in firing Comey. While his reasons were 100% self serving and stupid it appears serendipitous now as more and more evidence points to Comey kinda sucking at his job.

That's crap and Comey did a decent job given the situation... the FBI would have been screwed any way you looked at it. If he didn't act on the info, it would have been leaked to the GOP and they would have used that to discredit both the FBI, DOJ and Democrats with the FULL force of the GOP party resources.

The right wing media with the likes of Hannity, O'Reilly and even Jones would have parroted the fake news like no tomorrow and the more the FBI denies it, the more the Trumpist supporters would have viewed it to be true. They would have burned assets with little results and would have likely caused a huge chunk of the public to lose their trust in the FBI, etc.

Getting in front of it was the least bad choice available to him at the time at at least the FBI could have escaped relatively unscathed. Russians knew exactly how to exploit this. It was a lose-lose situation.

[ResAlien]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

That's crap and Comey did a decent job given the situation... the FBI would have been screwed any way you looked at it. If he didn't act on the info, it would have been leaked to the GOP and they would have used that to discredit both the FBI, DOJ and Democrats with the FULL force of the GOP party resources.

The right wing media with the likes of Hannity, O'Reilly and even Jones would have parroted the fake news like no tomorrow and the more the FBI denies it, the more the Trumpist supporters would have viewed it to be true. They would have burned assets with little results and would have likely caused a huge chunk of the public to lose their trust in the FBI, etc.

Getting in front of it was the least bad choice available to him at the time at at least the FBI could have escaped relatively unscathed. Russians knew exactly how to exploit this. It was a lose-lose situation.

So you're saying the head of the FBI was outwitted by the Russians. Still sounds like he was kinda crap at his job. He could have gotten ahead of it and not editorialized his comments about Hillary, which had the same effect of the story coming out anyway. He got played like a fiddle is what this looks like.

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by ResAlien

So you're saying the head of the FBI was outwitted by the Russians. Still sounds like he was kinda crap at his job. He could have gotten ahead of it and not editorialized his comments about Hillary, which had the same effect of the story coming out anyway. He got played like a fiddle is what this looks like.

But his comments about Hillary's handling of her emails was not editorialized but true, her handling of information on her servers was crappy. He had to maintain the appearance of impartiality of the FBI otherwise the GOP would have pounced on that as well.

Half the US political system was outwitted by the Russians and the other half actively helped them. FBI itself wasn't far enough ahead in the counter-intelligence game, that wouldn't have changed the handling of that particular situation.

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

If burning sources to protect the integrity of an election isn't a significant enough reason to do it, what is?

The FBI was also banking on a Clinton election victory, as was pretty much every other news outlet and polling body. Didn't happen like they thought.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

The FBI was also banking on a Clinton election victory, as was pretty much every other news outlet and polling body. Didn't happen like they thought.

Which is an odd position to hold when you keep throwing her under the bus.

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Which is an odd position to hold when you keep throwing her under the bus.

But saved her from being crushed by a tank. If he hadn't done that as the Russia manufactured alternative facts would have been public and GOP ammo.

[photon]

No wonder Trump wants Clarke in the Dept of Homeland Security! Someone had the temerity to talk to Clarke on an airplane and not grovel so Clarke had him detained and questioned. Then he taunted him on Facebook. Exactly the kind of thing that appeals to Trump's base.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/news/i...nge/342245001/

[HotHotHeat]

This is interesting. Almost as if Breitbart traffic numbers were turned off with a switch.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

I don't understand what the numbers indicate... they're higher at the bottom of the Y axis.

[calumniate]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

I don't understand what the numbers indicate... they're higher at the bottom of the Y axis.

It's a ranking, you silly genius

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

I don't understand what the numbers indicate... they're higher at the bottom of the Y axis.

I don't know the source of the data, but it indicates "rank", not "number of views", so lower (#1) is better.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Got it. Surprised and somewhat disappointed to see Buzzfeed trending up. Ew.

[Party Elephant]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Got it. Surprised and somewhat disappointed to see Buzzfeed trending up. Ew.

I can give you 18 reasons why that is the case (number 5 will blow your mind!)

[Cube Inmate]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

This is interesting. Almost as if Breitbart traffic numbers were turned off with a switch.

Is the implication that during Dec-May there was a "bot" operation of some kind giving inflated page hits? If so, who would do this and why? If so, why would it have been discontinued this month?

[flylock shox]

Pretty explosive breaking story in the Washington post now re Kushner trying to set up secret communications lines with the Kremlin.

[chemgear]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...=.40b6ea12d275

Jared Kushner and Russia’s ambassador to Washington discussed the possibility of setting up a secret and secure communications channel between Trump’s transition team and the Kremlin, using Russian diplomatic facilities in an apparent move to shield their pre-inauguration discussions from monitoring, according to U.S. officials briefed on intelligence reports.

Ambassador Sergei Kislyak reported to his superiors in Moscow that Kushner, then President-elect Trump’s son-in-law and confidant, made the proposal during a meeting on Dec. 1 or 2 at Trump Tower, according to intercepts of Russian communications that were reviewed by U.S. officials. Kislyak said Kushner suggested using Russian diplomatic facilities in the United States for the communications.

The meeting also was attended by Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser.

The White House disclosed the fact of the meeting only in March, playing down its significance. But people familiar with the matter say the FBI now considers the encounter, as well as another meeting Kushner had with a Russian banker, to be of investigative interest.

Kislyak reportedly was taken aback by the suggestion of allowing an American to use Russian communications gear at its embassy or consulate — a proposal that would have carried security risks for Moscow as well as the Trump team.

[direwolf]

The Senate Intelligence Committee is now requesting Trump campaign documents, emails, and phone records going back to his campaign's launch in 2015.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.26a25378d7b0

The request to Trump’s political operatives represents the first time that Trump’s official campaign structure has been drawn into the Senate committee’s ongoing bipartisan investigation. That investigation is separate from the federal probe being led by the Justice Department’s special counsel, former FBI director Robert S. Mueller III.

The demand follows a Senate request months earlier for the campaign committee to preserve documents.

Dozens of former staffers are expected to be contacted in the coming days to make sure they are aware of what they are required to produce and how to submit those documents, the people added.