Independent Special Counsel Appointed in Trump investigation

[Sandy]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/17/us/p ... .html?_r=0

This is moving with lightning speed.

I've had the popcorn and soda out to watch the show for a while now. Looks like I'll need to stock up.

[Jon Estes]

[KeithE]

[Sandy]

Looks like Jon got most of his information from commentary again, and not fact.

The FBI and CIA have already concluded that there is plenty of evidence pointing to Russian interference in the election. And the FBI has already turned up connections to the Trump campaign, and identified persons within the campaign who made contact with the division of Russian intelligence that was responsible for most of the interference. If you've been paying attention, you'd know, from the reactions of Trump administration officials, that someone inside the White House is leaking information, giving the FBI directions as to where to look.

If you don't want to look at "mainstream media" reports, the transcripts of the testimony in both the house and senate intelligence committees, laying out the evidence, can be picked up from CSPAN, or other sources without commentary. To claim that there's no evidence, either of interference or collusion, is patently false. To claim that this is a Democratic smear campaign is also patently false. The Republicans are the majority party in both houses, and have the majority of members on both intelligence committees. If there were "no evidence," they'd simply announce that there was none, and shut this down. So would the Republican-controlled justice department. It might help if someone on the White House staff could control Trump's twitter finger, or keep him from firing people who are in key positions related to the investigation, so obstruction of justice doesn't get added to the charges.

It's not going to be a matter of tying Trump or Pence "personally" to the collusion. It's going to be a matter of "what did he know, and when did he know it??" And whether or not his planned firings of justice department staff, and now the FBI director, is obstruction of justice. Chris Matthews gave a great rundown of all of this, all factual, all documented, all citations of specific testimony, last night. This won't go into 2019, the GOP wants it to be done and over with enough time to hope that memory fades before November 2018 gets here, and so that Ryan and McConnell are still in house and Senate leadership. John McCain stated this is "worse than Watergate." That took 14 months, from the time Nixon fired Cox, to his resignation, prior to being impeached.

[Jon Estes]

[Rvaughn]

[Sandy]

Breitbart? The "we lie for money news service"? Breitbart screeches like a demon being exorcised when the truth gets close.

Jon, you're wrong. Deal with it.

There is evidence that there was interference, collusion, and about the only thing that is left is how much did Trump know and when did he know it. We will find out soon enough.

John McCain is loopy? ROFL! I guarantee you, you weren't saying that when he was running against Obama for the presidency. I love to watch the conservative obfuscation, denial, lies and hypocrisy. It's almost as much of a show as watching the Donald and his red faced blubbering.

You need to go back and take a look at Clapper's testimony. He did not deny that there was collusion. Nor did any of the other you mentioned there. They are not saying there is no evidence of collusion, or no connection to the Trump campaign. They are saying that, so far, there hasn't been any evidence presented that directly connects Trump to any of the collusion that was taking place inside his campaign. Slight difference. But again, as they've all said, including the Republicans who were pushing for the independent counsel, it's a matter of finding out how much Trump knew, and when he knew it. Pence too, for that matter.

[Rvaughn]

[Sandy]

[Rvaughn]

Yes, both parties and most politicians have their particular brand of obfuscation (and the "third parties" do, too). I'll grant you that Democrats and Republicans are riding different "moral high horses" (whether they are moral or not).

[Sandy]

18.

The number of undisclosed contacts between the Russian intelligence agents responsible for interfering with the election, and Trump campaign officials.

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