Good ol' Spicy keeps sticking his foot in his mouth. He went on Wolf Blitzer to apologize for his remarks about Hitler and said he doesn't want to distract from Trump's efforts to destabilize the Middle East.
The FBI obtained a secret court order last summer to monitor the communications of an adviser to presidential candidate Donald Trump, part of an investigation into possible links between Russia and the campaign, law enforcement and other U.S. officials said.
The FBI and the Justice Department obtained the warrant targeting Carter Page’s communications after convincing a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge that there was probable cause to believe Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power, in this case Russia, according to the officials.
This is the clearest evidence so far that the FBI had reason to believe during the 2016 presidential campaign that a Trump campaign adviser was in touch with Russian agents. Such contacts are now at the center of an investigation into whether the campaign coordinated with the Russian government to swing the election in Trump’s favor.
Page has not been accused of any crimes, and it is unclear whether the Justice Department might later seek charges against him or others in connection with Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election. The counterintelligence investigation into Russian efforts to influence U.S. elections began in July, officials have said. Most such investigations don’t result in criminal charges.
The officials spoke about the court order on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of a counterintelligence probe.
Good ol' Spicy keeps sticking his foot in his mouth. He went on Wolf Blitzer to apologize for his remarks about Hitler and said he doesn't want to distract from Trump's efforts to destabilize the Middle East.
Election in Kansas today to replace Pompeo in the House. Any other time and this should be a super-easy, 20-30% win for the Republicans, so anything else will be seen as trouble for the Republican mid-term odds.
Election in Kansas today to replace Pompeo in the House. Any other time and this should be a super-easy, 20-30% win for the Republicans, so anything else will be seen as trouble for the Republican mid-term odds.
Hmm, looks like Thompson might have a shot! I don't know Kansas, but of the roughly 300 precincts not reporting yet, about 200 of them are in Sedgewick county where Wichita is, and where Thompson is currently leading 57% to 41%.
With 60% reporting, it's looking pretty good for the democrat. Down by three points, but 2/3 of the precincts remaining are in Wichita where he's up 55-43 (should translate to about 12k vote swing; he is currently down 2k).
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"For thousands of years humans were oppressed - as some of us still are - by the notion that the universe is a marionette whose strings are pulled by a god or gods, unseen and inscrutable." - Carl Sagan Freedom consonant with responsibility.
That would be pretty interesting, would that precipitate a drop in support of Trump from the rest of his party?
I imagine there will be a lot of trying to read the tealeaves in the next couple days, but from what I've seen, in most rural counties, the number of registered republicans who showed up to vote has fallen off a cliff, down 50%, sometimes more; meanwhile, Democrat turnout is more or less even with the general election turnout.
In a brief exchange with the New York Post's Michael Goodwin on Tuesday, Trump seemed to deliberately place Bannon at arm's length, suggesting that his role as an adviser has been oversold and even appearing to threaten Bannon's job.
Goodwin says he asked Trump if he still has confidence in Bannon, who is reportedly feuding with Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner. And Trump didn't exactly disabuse Goodwin of the idea that Bannon is embattled. In fact, he did quite the opposite.
“I like Steve, but you have to remember he was not involved in my campaign until very late,” Trump said. “I had already beaten all the senators and all the governors, and I didn't know Steve. I’m my own strategist, and it wasn't like I was going to change strategies because I was facing crooked Hillary.”
Ouch. Bannon joined the campaign in August for the lion's share of the general election, taking on the role of campaign CEO. He and Kellyanne Conway, the campaign manager, were the titular heads of the campaign. Trump then kept Bannon on as his chief political adviser in the White House, serving alongside chief of staff Reince Priebus.
In his comments to Goodwin, Trump also nodded to the tensions that exist in the White House and appeared to place the onus on Bannon to make things right — or else.
“Steve is a good guy, but I told them to straighten it out or I will,” Trump said.
Well, Estes won but it sure wasn't by the 32% it was last time for the GOP, looks like it's closer to 6.
Yep, Wichita ended up breaking almost 50-50 instead of the earlier Democratic advantage.
Still, not a great omen for the GOP. I look forward to the Georgia race coming up soon.
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"For thousands of years humans were oppressed - as some of us still are - by the notion that the universe is a marionette whose strings are pulled by a god or gods, unseen and inscrutable." - Carl Sagan Freedom consonant with responsibility.
