Thursday, April 19, 2018 11:31:04 PM
Part 186, some of Russian meddling, and related, material from F6 big ones. These from a post Monday, 04/16/18, covering March
19, 2018, and headed, Masha Gessen on the Role of Anti-Putin Candidates in the Russian Election & Calls for Voter Boycott
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=140064627
The first
Masha Gessen on the Role of Anti-Putin Candidates in the Russian Election & Calls for Voter Boycott
Published on Mar 19, 2018 by Democracy Now! [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzuqE7-t13O4NIDYJfakrhw / https://www.youtube.com/user/democracynow , https://www.youtube.com/user/democracynow/videos ]
Watch an exclusive excerpt from our February interview with Masha Gessen, the award-winning Russian-American journalist and staff writer at The New Yorker, in which she discusses the pending Russian presidential election. Her recent book, “The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia [ https://www.amazon.com/Future-History-Totalitarianism-Reclaimed-Russia/dp/159463453X ],” won the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2017 [ http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2017.html ]. Her new book, “Never Remember: Searching for Stalin’s Gulags in Putin’s Russia [ https://www.amazon.com/Never-Remember-Searching-Stalins-Gulags/dp/0997722967 ],” comes out on March 20.
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/3/19/masha_gessen_on_the_role_of [with embedded video, and transcript]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcGcIL28bJw [with comments]
Ok, this, the third, is long, but JimLur ..
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=140155107 ..
and other conservatives are salivating over the idea, so included here
Full Show - McCabe: Corruption, Entitlement, Patronage, Perjury - 03/19/2018
Published on Mar 19, 2018 by Real News with David Knight [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC1L9FOMSaPgMyoLSnps47g , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC1L9FOMSaPgMyoLSnps47g/videos ]
19Mar18 Broadcast
McCabe’s internal corruption of favoritism and patronage is exposed in an EEO lawsuit. But the outrage in Washington, DC speaks of the sense of entitlement and lifelong employment that runs throughout the bureaucracies from top to bottom. McCabe’s attempt to defend himself adds another charge of perjury to Comey. Then, President Trump ramps up the insane War on Drugs that has failed for half a century, there’s more to Facebook & Cambridge Analytica than the surface story, and William F Jasper joins to talk about China’s dictatorship, protected by globalists since Nixon.
[from Alex Jones and his merry band of batshit bullshitters]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrtfULJso1I [with comments] [also at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3dS_B7vY7g (with comments)]
As Knight simply parrots Trump in so many cases i'll slip these two in
-
"Hillary Clinton lied many times to the FBI."
— Donald Trump on Monday, December 4th, 2017 in remarks to reporters
Donald Trump falsely claims Hillary Clinton lied to FBI
By Miriam Valverde on Tuesday, December 5th, 2017 at 9:00 a.m.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/dec/05/donald-trump/donald-trump-falsely-claims-hillary-clinton-lied-f/
and
McCabe was asked about media contacts on the day Comey was fired
by Matt Zapotosky and Karoun Demirjian March 20 Email the author
The troubles that led to the ouster of Andrew McCabe as FBI deputy director began the same day that his boss, James B. Comey, was fired, when FBI investigators exploring media leaks approached McCabe for a conversation, people familiar with the matter said.
[...]
McCabe — who was fired from the FBI last week 26 hours before he could retire with full benefits — acknowledges that he authorized two FBI officials to talk to a reporter, though he denies that doing so was inappropriate and claims he “answered questions truthfully and as accurately as I could amidst the chaos that surrounded me.” The inspector general has not yet released the report detailing the allegations against McCabe, though it has been described by people familiar with its contents who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/mccabe-was-asked-about-press-contacts-on-the-day-comey-was-fired/2018/03/20/ab5031f8-2b8d-11e8-8688-e053ba58f1e4_story.html?utm_term=.113c2cb770b4
-
On to the eighth
March 19: Team Trump fired Andrew McCabe. What does this mean for Russian probe?
Published on Mar 19, 2018 by ThinkProgress [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYdasX3ym3E5r1iozVllmzA , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYdasX3ym3E5r1iozVllmzA/videos ]
Editor-in-chief Judd Legum sits down with ThinkProgress reporter Aaron Rupar to discuss the fallout over former CIA
deputy director Andrew McCabe’s firing and how top republicans are coming forward to support Mueller's investigation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qpvoMHsxDs [no comments yet]
The fourteenth
The calls from propagandists to remove Mueller
Published on Mar 19, 2018 by mediamatters4america [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_70iWZ6ym2cglS_kv5YfmA / https://www.youtube.com/user/mediamatters4america , https://www.youtube.com/user/mediamatters4america/videos ]
On air, these propagandists play to Trump’s worst impulses, urging him to behave like an authoritarian by prosecuting his political foes and describing the Mueller probe as a “coup.” The ad hoc outside advisers from the president’s television screen include Hannity and Jeanine Pirro, who have led the pro-Trump media’s frequent calls for ending the Mueller investigation and “cleansing” the ranks of the Justice Department and FBI.
Here are some of the calls for the termination of the special counsel probe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTSsFvm9XQg [with comments]
Nineteenth, and the next two
Exposed: Trump digital firm caught on tape touting dirty tricks
The Beat with Ari Melber
3/19/18
Undercover camera catches an executive at the Trump digital firm, Cambridge Analytica, bragging about entrapping political rivals and using misinformation to win campaigns.
Congressman Mike Quigley. a member of the House Intelligence Committee calls on Facebook to testify saying, “we need to ask Facebook…how did this happen?”
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-melber/watch/exposed-trump-digital-firm-caught-on-tape-touting-dirty-tricks-1189910595725 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEbc-GAGscs [with comments]
*
Tribe: Trump 'orchestrating a massive cover-up' worse than Nixon
The Beat with Ari Melber
3/19/18
Harvard impeachment expert Laurence Tribe says we are seeing a “slow-motion constitutional crisis” and calls the White House “cover-up more
serious than that of Richard Nixon.” Tribe also explains why firing FBI official Andrew McCabe builds a “strong case for obstruction of justice.”
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-melber/watch/tribe-trump-orchestrating-a-massive-cover-up-worse-than-nixon-1189909059831 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKGUPrcEGoA [with comments]
*
Stormy Daniels' Lawyer: Fox News won't book me
The Beat with Ari Melber
3/19/18
Stormy Daniels’ Lawyer Michael Avenatti joins Ari Melber revealing he hasn’t “received a single request” to appear on Fox News even after
Trump revealed he is “David Dennison.” Avenatti also claims he has evidence to prove Trump knew about threats made against Stormy Daniels.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-melber/watch/stormy-daniels-lawyer-fox-news-won-t-book-me-1189921347713 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fv3rIvPEPVI [with comments]
The twenty-fourth, fifth, and sixth items
Christopher Wylie: The Whistleblower Who Exposed Cambridge Analytica's Facebook Scam (HBO)
Published on Mar 19, 2018 by VICE News
LONDON — Christopher Wylie played a big role in building one of the most effective political weapons of the digital age. Now he’s trying to make amends.
The 28-year-old London-based Canadian is defying a non-disclosure agreement to blow the whistle on his former employer Cambridge Analytica, the controversial political analytics firm known for its work on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in the U.S. and Uhuru Kenyatta’s in Kenya. He says the U.K.-based company, which he helped found in 2013, has built a powerful software program to predict and influence the choices of voters by using data harvested from 50 million leaked Facebook profiles.
The data was collected by an app called thisisyourdigitallife, owned by the Cambridge-based academic Aleksandr Kogan, which was downloaded by about 270,000 people. Users were paid to take a personality test, which they were told would be used for academic research. They might not have known that it also harvested information on their Facebook friends, creating a vast data set that was ultimately sold by Kogan to Cambridge Analytica.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yPvRaKQikE [with comments]
--
The president abandons restraint regarding the special counsel - and there is expected to be much more to come.
All In with Chris Hayes
3/19/18
The president abandons restraint regarding the special counsel - and there is expected to be much more to come.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/the-president-abandons-restraint-regarding-the-special-counsel-and-there-is-expected-to-be-much-more-to-come-1189943363842 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfKkJhwj1yc [with comments]
*
Trump campaign's data firm accused of gross wrongdoing
All In with Chris Hayes
3/19/18
Cambridge Analytica, the Trump campaign's big data company, now stands accused of wrongdoing - including possible criminal acts - on two continents.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/trump-campaign-s-data-firm-accused-of-gross-wrongdoing-1189946947560
Thirtieth to thirty-fifth
Digesting Felix Sater's conversation with Chris Hayes
All In with Chris Hayes
3/19/18
Jackie Speier, Natasha Bertrand, and James Henry join Chris Hayes to digest his conversation
with one of the most fascinating figures in the Trump-Russia story, Felix Sater.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/digesting-felix-sater-s-conversation-with-chris-hayes-1189952067945
Heh, Trump's likely "concealment fraud" statute of limitation doesn't run out until 2020.
--
Cambridge Analytica scandal rocks already rattled Trump world
The Rachel Maddow Show
3/19/18
As Donald Trump's lawyers are desperately trying to protect him from a Robert Mueller interview and the
top level firings keep piling up, Rachel Maddow looks at a whole new arena of scandal for the Trump team.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/cambridge-analytica-scandal-rocks-already-rattled-trump-world-1190020675802 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbLyTqPweQg [with comments]
*
Democrats seek tech company probe as part of election protection
The Rachel Maddow Show
3/19/18
Senator Amy Klobuchar talks with Rachel Maddow about the need for tesimony and investigations into the
abuse of American voters' personal information on social media sites vulnerable to unscrupulous bad actors.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/democrats-seek-tech-company-probe-as-part-of-election-protection-1190024771564
*
Trump stirs obstruction case with attacks on Comey witnesses
The Rachel Maddow Show
3/19/18
Rachel Maddow reviews how Donald Trump has publicly targeted members of James Comey's inner circle
who are likely corroborating witnesses to testimony Comey has given to Robert Mueller's investigation.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-stirs-obstruction-case-with-attacks-on-comey-witnesses-1190050883700
*
Trump corrupting Mueller probe by attacking witnesses, officials
The Rachel Maddow Show
3/19/18
Neal Katyal, former U.S. acting solicitor general, talks with Rachel Maddow about how out of line Donald Trump
is with his attacks on law enforcement officials and witnesses in Robert Mueller's Trump Russia investigation.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-corrupting-mueller-probe-by-attacking-witnesses-officials-1190032451798
*
Trump gets new lawyer as Mueller witness ugly past comes to light
The Rachel Maddow Show
3/19/18
Rachel Maddow shows where Donald Trump's new lawyer, Joe diGenova, intersects with the child porn problems of George Nader, a lobbyist who is
reportedly cooperating with Robert Mueller's investigation, and wonders if the connection is why so much of Nader's past is becoming public now.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-gets-new-lawyer-as-mueller-witness-ugly-past-comes-to-light-1190059075603
Thirty-seven to forty
Lawrence: Trump's staff is keeping tabs on their convos with him
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
3/19/18
Trump doesn't realize it, but his staff is memorializing every conversation they have with him in the Oval Office, Lawrence O'Donnell
says. It's the same step Andrew McCabe and James Comey took and will act as evidence of his efforts to possibly obstruct justice.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/lawrence-trump-s-staff-is-keeping-tabs-on-their-convos-with-him-1190012995932 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhKXriWKVOg [with comments]
*
New reports: Mueller and Trump teams finally meet
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
3/19/18
As the probe intensifies, Trump adds a new lawyer to his Russia team, Joe diGenova, who has a history of pushing conspiracies about
the probe on right-wing media outlets. Lawrence O'Donnell discusses with Barbara McQuade, David Cay Johnston, and Michael Isikoff.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/new-reports-mueller-and-trump-teams-finally-meet-1190022211646 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W49kwUeUchk [with comments]
*
Trump lawyer's new interview about alleged Stormy Daniels threats
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
3/19/18
In a new interview, Trump's attorney Michael Cohen responds to the alleged physical threats against Stormy Daniels. Lawrence
O'Donnell reminds us of Cohen's long history of threatening people on behalf of Trump. David Cay Johnston and Kurt Andersen join.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/trump-lawyer-s-new-interview-about-alleged-stormy-daniels-threats-1190024771513
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Trump's legal team shake up and what it means for Mueller probe defense
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams
3/20/18
Late breaking reporting from the Washington Post and the New York Times on Donald Trump’s legal team
moves, and what they might signal for the president’s legal strategy with special counsel Robert Mueller.
©2018 NBCNews.com
[originally aired March 19, 2018]
http://www.msnbc.com/brian-williams/watch/trump-s-legal-team-shake-up-and-what-it-means-for-mueller-probe-defense-1190064195588 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcI3CCDD6L0 [with comments]
Leave one about Trump feeling more comfortable in the job, to
Former Andrew McCabe colleague criticizes Trump's attacks
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams
3/20/18
Former FBI Executive Assistant Director Robert Anderson, who’s known Andrew McCabe for two decades, weighs
in on the president’s weekend Twitter tirade, and the damage to the bureau from Trump’s attacks on the FBI.
©2018 NBCNews.com
[originally aired March 19, 2018]
http://www.msnbc.com/brian-williams/watch/former-andrew-mccabe-colleague-criticizes-trump-s-attacks-1190066243920 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27mm_3ga3To [with comments]
To "stashed March 19, 2018:"
Everything you need to know about the Cambridge Analytica-Facebook debacle
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/03/19/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-cambridge-analytica-facebook-debacle/
Everything You Need to Know About Facebook, Cambridge Analytica and the Trump Campaign
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/facebook-cambridge-data-trump,news-26800.html
Whistleblower claims Trump aides met with Cambridge Analytica prior to campaign
Christopher Wylie says both Steve Bannon and Corey Lewandowski were working with the firm long before Trump launched his bid.
https://thinkprogress.org/trump-aides-cambridge-analytica-872e244f5c83/
Kushner, Manafort were primary players in hiring Cambridge Analytica for Trump campaign
Andrea Mitchell Reports
Mar.19.2018
http://www.msnbc.com/andrea-mitchell-reports/watch/kushner-manafort-were-primary-players-in-hiring-cambridge-analytica-for-trump-campaign-1189530691843
Cambridge Analytica whistleblower says company worked with Corey Lewandowski, Steve Bannon
In a live interview with TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie, Christopher Wylie, a former employee of British company Cambridge Analytica, says the company misused personal Facebook data of some 50 million people to help influence the 2016 presidential election. Wylie says the company met with former Trump campaign manager (and current outside adviser) Corey Lewandowski, former chief strategist Steve Bannon as well as Russian oil companies.
https://www.today.com/video/cambridge-analytica-whistleblower-says-the-company-worked-with-trump-campaign-strategist-and-steve-bannon-1189326915651
Cambridge Analytica, the shady data firm that might be a key Trump-Russia link, explained
Why House investigators think this company might have gamed Facebook and helped Russia spread fake news.
Mar 17, 2018
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/10/16/15657512/cambridge-analytica-christopher-wylie-facebook-trump-russia
Did Jared Kushner’s Data Operation Help Select Facebook Targets for the Russians?
The Russians used social media to rile the electorate. Investigators wonder if they had inside help.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/09/jared-kushner-data-operation-russia-facebook
Five reasons why a single Trump tweet on Mueller stretched the truth
First Read is your briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/five-reasons-why-single-trump-tweet-mueller-stretched-truth-n857831
Donald Trump may not be able to fire Robert Mueller. So he's doing the next best thing.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/19/politics/trump-witch-hunt-analysis/index.html
Trump to Hire Lawyer Who Has Pushed Theory That Justice Dept. Framed the President
MANCHESTER, N.H. — President Trump has decided to hire the longtime Washington lawyer Joseph E. diGenova, who has pushed the theory on television that Mr. Trump was framed by F.B.I. and Justice Department officials, to bolster his legal team, according to three people told of the decision.
Mr. diGenova is not expected to take a lead role but will instead serve as a more aggressive player on the president’s legal team. Mr. Trump broke over the weekend from the longstanding advice of some of his lawyers that he refrain from directly attacking the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, a sign of his growing unease with the investigation.
The hire has not been announced, and Mr. Trump frequently changes his mind and sometimes adjusts his plans based on media coverage. It was not clear whether Mr. Trump planned to hire other lawyers.
Mr. diGenova has endorsed the notion that a secretive group of F.B.I. agents concocted the Russia investigation as a way to keep Mr. Trump from becoming president. “There was a brazen plot to illegally exonerate Hillary Clinton and, if she didn’t win the election, to then frame Donald Trump with a falsely created crime,” he said on Fox News in January. He added, “Make no mistake about it: A group of F.B.I. and D.O.J. people were trying to frame Donald Trump of a falsely created crime.”
Little evidence has emerged to support that theory.
Mr. Trump’s legal team has been in tumult in recent weeks. On Saturday, Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, John Dowd, called on the Justice Department to end the special counsel investigation. Mr. Dowd said at the time that he was speaking for the president but later backtracked. According to two people briefed on the matter, he was in fact acting at the president’s urging to call for an end to the inquiry.
Earlier this month, Mr. Trump did not tell his lawyers that he was in discussions with another Washington lawyer, Emmet T. Flood, about representing him. Mr. Flood represented former President Bill Clinton during his impeachment proceedings.
Mr. diGenova did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Mr. diGenova is law partners with his wife, Victoria Toensing. Ms. Toensing has also represented Sam Clovis, the former Trump campaign co-chairman, and Erik Prince, the founder of the security contractor Blackwater and an informal adviser to Mr. Trump. Mr. Prince attended a meeting in January 2017 with a Russian investor in the Seychelles that the special counsel is investigating.
Mr. diGenova has worked in Washington legal circles for decades. He is a former Republican-appointed United States attorney for the District of Columbia. And he has served as an independent counsel in government waste, fraud and abuse investigations, notably a three-year criminal inquiry into whether officials in the George H.W. Bush administration broke any laws in their search for damaging information about then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton.
In 1995, Mr. diGenova declared the investigation he led was “unnecessary.” And, he said, “a Kafkaesque journey for a group of innocent Americans comes to an end.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/us/politics/joseph-digenova-trump-lawyer.html
Trump-Sessions Relationship at Crossroads After President’s Attack on Mueller
President called out Mueller by name in weekend tweet attacks
Sessions recusal from Russia probe has been target for Trump
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-19/trump-sessions-relations-at-crossroads-after-attack-on-mueller
The problem with hindsight
Over the weekend,President Donald Trump’s long-simmering feud with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election caught fire and this destructive blaze appears far from contained.
Whether these flames die out or continue to consume Washington remains uncertain. And while much will depend on Mueller's progress and Trump's tolerance, for the foreseeable future, our politics will involve a fight over perception and plausible arguments.
Both skeptics and believers will assert their theories about Trump's relationship with Russia, hoping they can persuade public opinion in advance of the 2018 midterm elections. For partisans, majority control of the Congress and future governing authority are what's at stake in this battle for perception. And since the majority of the public believes Mueller will conduct a fair investigation (61 percent), Republicans will wage this fight going uphill.
In addition to the partisan broadsides, another debate has ensued among journalists, scholars and lawyers about whether or not Trump and his campaign engaged in a conspiracy, or actively colluded with Russian operatives before or after the presidential election. The stakes here are more about "getting it right, first," so as to burnish one's reputation as a political analyst or insightful observer.
But there's a glaring problem with most of what has been written and said, whether by partisans or pundits, and it is this: Trump wasn't supposed to win the presidency. In other words, nearly all of the analyses that have been articulated have been bedeviled by the assumption that Trump and his team believed that Trump would become the president.
We know this is not true. No one thought Trump would win — not even Trump.
According to the book written by Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie, on election night, Trump said: "Dave, can you believe this? We just started this to have some fun."
Let me repeat, Trump said: "to have some fun." He did not say: "to win."
Trump likely also thought that running for president would be "fun" because a presidential campaign would provide him with the biggest platform he could imagine to enhance his celebrity and increase the value of his personal brand. And with these greatly improved assets, he would be able to make more money — after he lost. In essence, for Trump to maximize his future development opportunities and revive his business (and perhaps, even solve son-in-law Jared Kushner's serious debt problem on 666 Park Ave.), he needed to win the Republican nomination and lose the general election. Then, he'd own 2017.
The glitch in this plan was that Trump won.
That inconvenient and unintended outcome of his campaign appears to have transformed Trump's business development strategy (i.e., make foreign friends, build a hotel in Moscow, and cultivate investor relationships to repay debt in New York) into a possible illegal conspiracy with an unfriendly foreign power.
Considering this from another angle, had Trump lost the presidency, does one believe that either he or his campaign would be receiving such scrutiny? No.
But the answer is "no" not because partisans want to delegitimize his win (as he seems to believe) or because the "deep state" and "the elites" are repulsed by all he stands for (even if they are). The answer is "no" because if he had lost, he wouldn't have the enormous power of the presidency at his disposal. If he had lost, he would not be in a position to compromise the country's interests to a hostile foreign power.
If he had lost, he would have been merely a famous loser. In our upside down world, where social media friends and name identification are valued as real assets and connote one's net worth, famous losers can make far more money than discreet winners.
And while Trump’s team (namely, Paul Manafort and Rick Gates) may have found themselves in some legal trouble for campaign finance violations for receiving foreign donations, it is much more likely that had Trump lost, there would be a Justice Department investigation of President Hillary Clinton's role with the Clinton Foundation rather than one of Trump.
This doesn't have to do with which politician did the worse thing, it has to do with who now has the power to do harm to the United States of America. At the moment, that individual is Trump, and not Clinton. Had Trump lost, it would be different.
The other problem is that cover-ups to put past behavior into a less embarrassing light tend to look like conspiracies in hindsight. More often than not, the truth is simpler: people make bad decisions, and when they realize their bad decision will become public, they try to cover it up with new actions that will alter people’s perceptions. Typically, these cover-ups make things worse, not better, and people get caught — not necessarily for the bad decision or mistake they made, but for not admitting their error or wrongdoing, and trying to cover it up.
Viewed through this lens, when Trump’s activities and decisions during the campaign — from not investing any real money in his campaign infrastructure to hiring Manafort in March 2016 when it looked like he might lose the nomination to Sen. Ted Cruz, to the several meetings his campaign advisors had with influential Russians — it seems clear that Trump was attempting to execute an ill-considered business development strategy, not trying to win the presidency. In short, he failed by winning.
Now, just because Trump likely was coordinating with Russia for business and not politics, doesn't mean that he should get away with unscrupulous behavior. At this point, Mueller seems highly likely to catch him and his staff for having engaged in a cover-up (e.g., obstruction of justice, perjury, destruction of evidence, etc.).
Still with respect to engaging in a treasonous conspiracy with Russia to subvert American democracy, it's probably best to remember what Eric Trump said about his father's nature: "My father sees only one color — green."
Lara M. Brown is director of the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University. Follow her on Twitter @LaraMBrownPhD.
http://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/379084-the-problem-with-hindsight
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/d8tqkWLr8SCSkWM4yXDKkHMLztO-M?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Kushner and MBS: A tale of two princes
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/19/opinions/trump-kushner-mbs-meeting-opinion-bergen/index.html
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dc0PccmwwtJ53nMf84ZkzD9UWMHwM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
A 'huge clue' may reveal that Mueller's endgame is to nail Trump for obstruction
The special counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly more interested in the activities of Donald Trump during his time as president than during his campaign activities.
It suggests he's building a case that Trump obstructed justice by firing FBI Director James Comey.
Trump went on a Twitter tirade against the FBI over the weekend after reports that Mueller had subpoenaed the Trump Organization for documents related to its efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.
Comey and Andrew McCabe, another recently fired top FBI official, kept detailed memos about their conversations with Trump and will most likely be critical witnesses in the obstruction investigation.
http://www.businessinsider.com/huge-clue-may-reveal-muellers-endgameto-nail-trump-for-obsturction-fbi-2018-3
more: https://www.google.com/search?q=a+huge+clue+about+muellers+endgame
Trump’s lawyers have turned over documents to Mueller with hopes of limiting interview scope
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-lawyers-have-turned-over-documents-to-mueller-with-hopes-of-limiting-interview-scope/2018/03/19/9174cd54-2b9f-11e8-b0b0-f706877db618_story.html
Fox News’s Sean Hannity is suddenly an expert on Trump and Mueller
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2018/03/19/fox-newss-sean-hannity-is-suddenly-an-expert-on-trump-and-mueller/
19, 2018, and headed, Masha Gessen on the Role of Anti-Putin Candidates in the Russian Election & Calls for Voter Boycott
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=140064627
The first
Masha Gessen on the Role of Anti-Putin Candidates in the Russian Election & Calls for Voter Boycott
Published on Mar 19, 2018 by Democracy Now! [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzuqE7-t13O4NIDYJfakrhw / https://www.youtube.com/user/democracynow , https://www.youtube.com/user/democracynow/videos ]
Watch an exclusive excerpt from our February interview with Masha Gessen, the award-winning Russian-American journalist and staff writer at The New Yorker, in which she discusses the pending Russian presidential election. Her recent book, “The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia [ https://www.amazon.com/Future-History-Totalitarianism-Reclaimed-Russia/dp/159463453X ],” won the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2017 [ http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2017.html ]. Her new book, “Never Remember: Searching for Stalin’s Gulags in Putin’s Russia [ https://www.amazon.com/Never-Remember-Searching-Stalins-Gulags/dp/0997722967 ],” comes out on March 20.
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/3/19/masha_gessen_on_the_role_of [with embedded video, and transcript]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcGcIL28bJw [with comments]
Ok, this, the third, is long, but JimLur ..
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=140155107 ..
and other conservatives are salivating over the idea, so included here
Full Show - McCabe: Corruption, Entitlement, Patronage, Perjury - 03/19/2018
Published on Mar 19, 2018 by Real News with David Knight [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC1L9FOMSaPgMyoLSnps47g , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC1L9FOMSaPgMyoLSnps47g/videos ]
19Mar18 Broadcast
McCabe’s internal corruption of favoritism and patronage is exposed in an EEO lawsuit. But the outrage in Washington, DC speaks of the sense of entitlement and lifelong employment that runs throughout the bureaucracies from top to bottom. McCabe’s attempt to defend himself adds another charge of perjury to Comey. Then, President Trump ramps up the insane War on Drugs that has failed for half a century, there’s more to Facebook & Cambridge Analytica than the surface story, and William F Jasper joins to talk about China’s dictatorship, protected by globalists since Nixon.
[from Alex Jones and his merry band of batshit bullshitters]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrtfULJso1I [with comments] [also at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3dS_B7vY7g (with comments)]
As Knight simply parrots Trump in so many cases i'll slip these two in
-
"Hillary Clinton lied many times to the FBI."
— Donald Trump on Monday, December 4th, 2017 in remarks to reporters
Donald Trump falsely claims Hillary Clinton lied to FBI
By Miriam Valverde on Tuesday, December 5th, 2017 at 9:00 a.m.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/dec/05/donald-trump/donald-trump-falsely-claims-hillary-clinton-lied-f/
and
McCabe was asked about media contacts on the day Comey was fired
by Matt Zapotosky and Karoun Demirjian March 20 Email the author
The troubles that led to the ouster of Andrew McCabe as FBI deputy director began the same day that his boss, James B. Comey, was fired, when FBI investigators exploring media leaks approached McCabe for a conversation, people familiar with the matter said.
[...]
McCabe — who was fired from the FBI last week 26 hours before he could retire with full benefits — acknowledges that he authorized two FBI officials to talk to a reporter, though he denies that doing so was inappropriate and claims he “answered questions truthfully and as accurately as I could amidst the chaos that surrounded me.” The inspector general has not yet released the report detailing the allegations against McCabe, though it has been described by people familiar with its contents who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/mccabe-was-asked-about-press-contacts-on-the-day-comey-was-fired/2018/03/20/ab5031f8-2b8d-11e8-8688-e053ba58f1e4_story.html?utm_term=.113c2cb770b4
-
On to the eighth
March 19: Team Trump fired Andrew McCabe. What does this mean for Russian probe?
Published on Mar 19, 2018 by ThinkProgress [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYdasX3ym3E5r1iozVllmzA , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYdasX3ym3E5r1iozVllmzA/videos ]
Editor-in-chief Judd Legum sits down with ThinkProgress reporter Aaron Rupar to discuss the fallout over former CIA
deputy director Andrew McCabe’s firing and how top republicans are coming forward to support Mueller's investigation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qpvoMHsxDs [no comments yet]
The fourteenth
The calls from propagandists to remove Mueller
Published on Mar 19, 2018 by mediamatters4america [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_70iWZ6ym2cglS_kv5YfmA / https://www.youtube.com/user/mediamatters4america , https://www.youtube.com/user/mediamatters4america/videos ]
On air, these propagandists play to Trump’s worst impulses, urging him to behave like an authoritarian by prosecuting his political foes and describing the Mueller probe as a “coup.” The ad hoc outside advisers from the president’s television screen include Hannity and Jeanine Pirro, who have led the pro-Trump media’s frequent calls for ending the Mueller investigation and “cleansing” the ranks of the Justice Department and FBI.
Here are some of the calls for the termination of the special counsel probe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTSsFvm9XQg [with comments]
Nineteenth, and the next two
Exposed: Trump digital firm caught on tape touting dirty tricks
The Beat with Ari Melber
3/19/18
Undercover camera catches an executive at the Trump digital firm, Cambridge Analytica, bragging about entrapping political rivals and using misinformation to win campaigns.
Congressman Mike Quigley. a member of the House Intelligence Committee calls on Facebook to testify saying, “we need to ask Facebook…how did this happen?”
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-melber/watch/exposed-trump-digital-firm-caught-on-tape-touting-dirty-tricks-1189910595725 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEbc-GAGscs [with comments]
*
Tribe: Trump 'orchestrating a massive cover-up' worse than Nixon
The Beat with Ari Melber
3/19/18
Harvard impeachment expert Laurence Tribe says we are seeing a “slow-motion constitutional crisis” and calls the White House “cover-up more
serious than that of Richard Nixon.” Tribe also explains why firing FBI official Andrew McCabe builds a “strong case for obstruction of justice.”
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-melber/watch/tribe-trump-orchestrating-a-massive-cover-up-worse-than-nixon-1189909059831 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKGUPrcEGoA [with comments]
*
Stormy Daniels' Lawyer: Fox News won't book me
The Beat with Ari Melber
3/19/18
Stormy Daniels’ Lawyer Michael Avenatti joins Ari Melber revealing he hasn’t “received a single request” to appear on Fox News even after
Trump revealed he is “David Dennison.” Avenatti also claims he has evidence to prove Trump knew about threats made against Stormy Daniels.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-melber/watch/stormy-daniels-lawyer-fox-news-won-t-book-me-1189921347713 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fv3rIvPEPVI [with comments]
The twenty-fourth, fifth, and sixth items
Christopher Wylie: The Whistleblower Who Exposed Cambridge Analytica's Facebook Scam (HBO)
Published on Mar 19, 2018 by VICE News
LONDON — Christopher Wylie played a big role in building one of the most effective political weapons of the digital age. Now he’s trying to make amends.
The 28-year-old London-based Canadian is defying a non-disclosure agreement to blow the whistle on his former employer Cambridge Analytica, the controversial political analytics firm known for its work on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in the U.S. and Uhuru Kenyatta’s in Kenya. He says the U.K.-based company, which he helped found in 2013, has built a powerful software program to predict and influence the choices of voters by using data harvested from 50 million leaked Facebook profiles.
The data was collected by an app called thisisyourdigitallife, owned by the Cambridge-based academic Aleksandr Kogan, which was downloaded by about 270,000 people. Users were paid to take a personality test, which they were told would be used for academic research. They might not have known that it also harvested information on their Facebook friends, creating a vast data set that was ultimately sold by Kogan to Cambridge Analytica.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yPvRaKQikE [with comments]
--
The president abandons restraint regarding the special counsel - and there is expected to be much more to come.
All In with Chris Hayes
3/19/18
The president abandons restraint regarding the special counsel - and there is expected to be much more to come.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/the-president-abandons-restraint-regarding-the-special-counsel-and-there-is-expected-to-be-much-more-to-come-1189943363842 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfKkJhwj1yc [with comments]
*
Trump campaign's data firm accused of gross wrongdoing
All In with Chris Hayes
3/19/18
Cambridge Analytica, the Trump campaign's big data company, now stands accused of wrongdoing - including possible criminal acts - on two continents.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/trump-campaign-s-data-firm-accused-of-gross-wrongdoing-1189946947560
Thirtieth to thirty-fifth
Digesting Felix Sater's conversation with Chris Hayes
All In with Chris Hayes
3/19/18
Jackie Speier, Natasha Bertrand, and James Henry join Chris Hayes to digest his conversation
with one of the most fascinating figures in the Trump-Russia story, Felix Sater.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/digesting-felix-sater-s-conversation-with-chris-hayes-1189952067945
Heh, Trump's likely "concealment fraud" statute of limitation doesn't run out until 2020.
--
Cambridge Analytica scandal rocks already rattled Trump world
The Rachel Maddow Show
3/19/18
As Donald Trump's lawyers are desperately trying to protect him from a Robert Mueller interview and the
top level firings keep piling up, Rachel Maddow looks at a whole new arena of scandal for the Trump team.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/cambridge-analytica-scandal-rocks-already-rattled-trump-world-1190020675802 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbLyTqPweQg [with comments]
*
Democrats seek tech company probe as part of election protection
The Rachel Maddow Show
3/19/18
Senator Amy Klobuchar talks with Rachel Maddow about the need for tesimony and investigations into the
abuse of American voters' personal information on social media sites vulnerable to unscrupulous bad actors.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/democrats-seek-tech-company-probe-as-part-of-election-protection-1190024771564
*
Trump stirs obstruction case with attacks on Comey witnesses
The Rachel Maddow Show
3/19/18
Rachel Maddow reviews how Donald Trump has publicly targeted members of James Comey's inner circle
who are likely corroborating witnesses to testimony Comey has given to Robert Mueller's investigation.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-stirs-obstruction-case-with-attacks-on-comey-witnesses-1190050883700
*
Trump corrupting Mueller probe by attacking witnesses, officials
The Rachel Maddow Show
3/19/18
Neal Katyal, former U.S. acting solicitor general, talks with Rachel Maddow about how out of line Donald Trump
is with his attacks on law enforcement officials and witnesses in Robert Mueller's Trump Russia investigation.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-corrupting-mueller-probe-by-attacking-witnesses-officials-1190032451798
*
Trump gets new lawyer as Mueller witness ugly past comes to light
The Rachel Maddow Show
3/19/18
Rachel Maddow shows where Donald Trump's new lawyer, Joe diGenova, intersects with the child porn problems of George Nader, a lobbyist who is
reportedly cooperating with Robert Mueller's investigation, and wonders if the connection is why so much of Nader's past is becoming public now.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-gets-new-lawyer-as-mueller-witness-ugly-past-comes-to-light-1190059075603
Thirty-seven to forty
Lawrence: Trump's staff is keeping tabs on their convos with him
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
3/19/18
Trump doesn't realize it, but his staff is memorializing every conversation they have with him in the Oval Office, Lawrence O'Donnell
says. It's the same step Andrew McCabe and James Comey took and will act as evidence of his efforts to possibly obstruct justice.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/lawrence-trump-s-staff-is-keeping-tabs-on-their-convos-with-him-1190012995932 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhKXriWKVOg [with comments]
*
New reports: Mueller and Trump teams finally meet
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
3/19/18
As the probe intensifies, Trump adds a new lawyer to his Russia team, Joe diGenova, who has a history of pushing conspiracies about
the probe on right-wing media outlets. Lawrence O'Donnell discusses with Barbara McQuade, David Cay Johnston, and Michael Isikoff.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/new-reports-mueller-and-trump-teams-finally-meet-1190022211646 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W49kwUeUchk [with comments]
*
Trump lawyer's new interview about alleged Stormy Daniels threats
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
3/19/18
In a new interview, Trump's attorney Michael Cohen responds to the alleged physical threats against Stormy Daniels. Lawrence
O'Donnell reminds us of Cohen's long history of threatening people on behalf of Trump. David Cay Johnston and Kurt Andersen join.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/trump-lawyer-s-new-interview-about-alleged-stormy-daniels-threats-1190024771513
--
Trump's legal team shake up and what it means for Mueller probe defense
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams
3/20/18
Late breaking reporting from the Washington Post and the New York Times on Donald Trump’s legal team
moves, and what they might signal for the president’s legal strategy with special counsel Robert Mueller.
©2018 NBCNews.com
[originally aired March 19, 2018]
http://www.msnbc.com/brian-williams/watch/trump-s-legal-team-shake-up-and-what-it-means-for-mueller-probe-defense-1190064195588 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcI3CCDD6L0 [with comments]
Leave one about Trump feeling more comfortable in the job, to
Former Andrew McCabe colleague criticizes Trump's attacks
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams
3/20/18
Former FBI Executive Assistant Director Robert Anderson, who’s known Andrew McCabe for two decades, weighs
in on the president’s weekend Twitter tirade, and the damage to the bureau from Trump’s attacks on the FBI.
©2018 NBCNews.com
[originally aired March 19, 2018]
http://www.msnbc.com/brian-williams/watch/former-andrew-mccabe-colleague-criticizes-trump-s-attacks-1190066243920 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27mm_3ga3To [with comments]
To "stashed March 19, 2018:"
Everything you need to know about the Cambridge Analytica-Facebook debacle
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/03/19/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-cambridge-analytica-facebook-debacle/
Everything You Need to Know About Facebook, Cambridge Analytica and the Trump Campaign
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/facebook-cambridge-data-trump,news-26800.html
Whistleblower claims Trump aides met with Cambridge Analytica prior to campaign
Christopher Wylie says both Steve Bannon and Corey Lewandowski were working with the firm long before Trump launched his bid.
https://thinkprogress.org/trump-aides-cambridge-analytica-872e244f5c83/
Kushner, Manafort were primary players in hiring Cambridge Analytica for Trump campaign
Andrea Mitchell Reports
Mar.19.2018
http://www.msnbc.com/andrea-mitchell-reports/watch/kushner-manafort-were-primary-players-in-hiring-cambridge-analytica-for-trump-campaign-1189530691843
Cambridge Analytica whistleblower says company worked with Corey Lewandowski, Steve Bannon
In a live interview with TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie, Christopher Wylie, a former employee of British company Cambridge Analytica, says the company misused personal Facebook data of some 50 million people to help influence the 2016 presidential election. Wylie says the company met with former Trump campaign manager (and current outside adviser) Corey Lewandowski, former chief strategist Steve Bannon as well as Russian oil companies.
https://www.today.com/video/cambridge-analytica-whistleblower-says-the-company-worked-with-trump-campaign-strategist-and-steve-bannon-1189326915651
Cambridge Analytica, the shady data firm that might be a key Trump-Russia link, explained
Why House investigators think this company might have gamed Facebook and helped Russia spread fake news.
Mar 17, 2018
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/10/16/15657512/cambridge-analytica-christopher-wylie-facebook-trump-russia
Did Jared Kushner’s Data Operation Help Select Facebook Targets for the Russians?
The Russians used social media to rile the electorate. Investigators wonder if they had inside help.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/09/jared-kushner-data-operation-russia-facebook
Five reasons why a single Trump tweet on Mueller stretched the truth
First Read is your briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/five-reasons-why-single-trump-tweet-mueller-stretched-truth-n857831
Donald Trump may not be able to fire Robert Mueller. So he's doing the next best thing.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/19/politics/trump-witch-hunt-analysis/index.html
Trump to Hire Lawyer Who Has Pushed Theory That Justice Dept. Framed the President
MANCHESTER, N.H. — President Trump has decided to hire the longtime Washington lawyer Joseph E. diGenova, who has pushed the theory on television that Mr. Trump was framed by F.B.I. and Justice Department officials, to bolster his legal team, according to three people told of the decision.
Mr. diGenova is not expected to take a lead role but will instead serve as a more aggressive player on the president’s legal team. Mr. Trump broke over the weekend from the longstanding advice of some of his lawyers that he refrain from directly attacking the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, a sign of his growing unease with the investigation.
The hire has not been announced, and Mr. Trump frequently changes his mind and sometimes adjusts his plans based on media coverage. It was not clear whether Mr. Trump planned to hire other lawyers.
Mr. diGenova has endorsed the notion that a secretive group of F.B.I. agents concocted the Russia investigation as a way to keep Mr. Trump from becoming president. “There was a brazen plot to illegally exonerate Hillary Clinton and, if she didn’t win the election, to then frame Donald Trump with a falsely created crime,” he said on Fox News in January. He added, “Make no mistake about it: A group of F.B.I. and D.O.J. people were trying to frame Donald Trump of a falsely created crime.”
Little evidence has emerged to support that theory.
Mr. Trump’s legal team has been in tumult in recent weeks. On Saturday, Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, John Dowd, called on the Justice Department to end the special counsel investigation. Mr. Dowd said at the time that he was speaking for the president but later backtracked. According to two people briefed on the matter, he was in fact acting at the president’s urging to call for an end to the inquiry.
Earlier this month, Mr. Trump did not tell his lawyers that he was in discussions with another Washington lawyer, Emmet T. Flood, about representing him. Mr. Flood represented former President Bill Clinton during his impeachment proceedings.
Mr. diGenova did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Mr. diGenova is law partners with his wife, Victoria Toensing. Ms. Toensing has also represented Sam Clovis, the former Trump campaign co-chairman, and Erik Prince, the founder of the security contractor Blackwater and an informal adviser to Mr. Trump. Mr. Prince attended a meeting in January 2017 with a Russian investor in the Seychelles that the special counsel is investigating.
Mr. diGenova has worked in Washington legal circles for decades. He is a former Republican-appointed United States attorney for the District of Columbia. And he has served as an independent counsel in government waste, fraud and abuse investigations, notably a three-year criminal inquiry into whether officials in the George H.W. Bush administration broke any laws in their search for damaging information about then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton.
In 1995, Mr. diGenova declared the investigation he led was “unnecessary.” And, he said, “a Kafkaesque journey for a group of innocent Americans comes to an end.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/us/politics/joseph-digenova-trump-lawyer.html
Trump-Sessions Relationship at Crossroads After President’s Attack on Mueller
President called out Mueller by name in weekend tweet attacks
Sessions recusal from Russia probe has been target for Trump
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-19/trump-sessions-relations-at-crossroads-after-attack-on-mueller
The problem with hindsight
Over the weekend,President Donald Trump’s long-simmering feud with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election caught fire and this destructive blaze appears far from contained.
Whether these flames die out or continue to consume Washington remains uncertain. And while much will depend on Mueller's progress and Trump's tolerance, for the foreseeable future, our politics will involve a fight over perception and plausible arguments.
Both skeptics and believers will assert their theories about Trump's relationship with Russia, hoping they can persuade public opinion in advance of the 2018 midterm elections. For partisans, majority control of the Congress and future governing authority are what's at stake in this battle for perception. And since the majority of the public believes Mueller will conduct a fair investigation (61 percent), Republicans will wage this fight going uphill.
In addition to the partisan broadsides, another debate has ensued among journalists, scholars and lawyers about whether or not Trump and his campaign engaged in a conspiracy, or actively colluded with Russian operatives before or after the presidential election. The stakes here are more about "getting it right, first," so as to burnish one's reputation as a political analyst or insightful observer.
But there's a glaring problem with most of what has been written and said, whether by partisans or pundits, and it is this: Trump wasn't supposed to win the presidency. In other words, nearly all of the analyses that have been articulated have been bedeviled by the assumption that Trump and his team believed that Trump would become the president.
We know this is not true. No one thought Trump would win — not even Trump.
According to the book written by Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie, on election night, Trump said: "Dave, can you believe this? We just started this to have some fun."
Let me repeat, Trump said: "to have some fun." He did not say: "to win."
Trump likely also thought that running for president would be "fun" because a presidential campaign would provide him with the biggest platform he could imagine to enhance his celebrity and increase the value of his personal brand. And with these greatly improved assets, he would be able to make more money — after he lost. In essence, for Trump to maximize his future development opportunities and revive his business (and perhaps, even solve son-in-law Jared Kushner's serious debt problem on 666 Park Ave.), he needed to win the Republican nomination and lose the general election. Then, he'd own 2017.
The glitch in this plan was that Trump won.
That inconvenient and unintended outcome of his campaign appears to have transformed Trump's business development strategy (i.e., make foreign friends, build a hotel in Moscow, and cultivate investor relationships to repay debt in New York) into a possible illegal conspiracy with an unfriendly foreign power.
Considering this from another angle, had Trump lost the presidency, does one believe that either he or his campaign would be receiving such scrutiny? No.
But the answer is "no" not because partisans want to delegitimize his win (as he seems to believe) or because the "deep state" and "the elites" are repulsed by all he stands for (even if they are). The answer is "no" because if he had lost, he wouldn't have the enormous power of the presidency at his disposal. If he had lost, he would not be in a position to compromise the country's interests to a hostile foreign power.
If he had lost, he would have been merely a famous loser. In our upside down world, where social media friends and name identification are valued as real assets and connote one's net worth, famous losers can make far more money than discreet winners.
And while Trump’s team (namely, Paul Manafort and Rick Gates) may have found themselves in some legal trouble for campaign finance violations for receiving foreign donations, it is much more likely that had Trump lost, there would be a Justice Department investigation of President Hillary Clinton's role with the Clinton Foundation rather than one of Trump.
This doesn't have to do with which politician did the worse thing, it has to do with who now has the power to do harm to the United States of America. At the moment, that individual is Trump, and not Clinton. Had Trump lost, it would be different.
The other problem is that cover-ups to put past behavior into a less embarrassing light tend to look like conspiracies in hindsight. More often than not, the truth is simpler: people make bad decisions, and when they realize their bad decision will become public, they try to cover it up with new actions that will alter people’s perceptions. Typically, these cover-ups make things worse, not better, and people get caught — not necessarily for the bad decision or mistake they made, but for not admitting their error or wrongdoing, and trying to cover it up.
Viewed through this lens, when Trump’s activities and decisions during the campaign — from not investing any real money in his campaign infrastructure to hiring Manafort in March 2016 when it looked like he might lose the nomination to Sen. Ted Cruz, to the several meetings his campaign advisors had with influential Russians — it seems clear that Trump was attempting to execute an ill-considered business development strategy, not trying to win the presidency. In short, he failed by winning.
Now, just because Trump likely was coordinating with Russia for business and not politics, doesn't mean that he should get away with unscrupulous behavior. At this point, Mueller seems highly likely to catch him and his staff for having engaged in a cover-up (e.g., obstruction of justice, perjury, destruction of evidence, etc.).
Still with respect to engaging in a treasonous conspiracy with Russia to subvert American democracy, it's probably best to remember what Eric Trump said about his father's nature: "My father sees only one color — green."
Lara M. Brown is director of the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University. Follow her on Twitter @LaraMBrownPhD.
http://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/379084-the-problem-with-hindsight
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/d8tqkWLr8SCSkWM4yXDKkHMLztO-M?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Kushner and MBS: A tale of two princes
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/19/opinions/trump-kushner-mbs-meeting-opinion-bergen/index.html
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dc0PccmwwtJ53nMf84ZkzD9UWMHwM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
A 'huge clue' may reveal that Mueller's endgame is to nail Trump for obstruction
The special counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly more interested in the activities of Donald Trump during his time as president than during his campaign activities.
It suggests he's building a case that Trump obstructed justice by firing FBI Director James Comey.
Trump went on a Twitter tirade against the FBI over the weekend after reports that Mueller had subpoenaed the Trump Organization for documents related to its efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.
Comey and Andrew McCabe, another recently fired top FBI official, kept detailed memos about their conversations with Trump and will most likely be critical witnesses in the obstruction investigation.
http://www.businessinsider.com/huge-clue-may-reveal-muellers-endgameto-nail-trump-for-obsturction-fbi-2018-3
more: https://www.google.com/search?q=a+huge+clue+about+muellers+endgame
Trump’s lawyers have turned over documents to Mueller with hopes of limiting interview scope
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-lawyers-have-turned-over-documents-to-mueller-with-hopes-of-limiting-interview-scope/2018/03/19/9174cd54-2b9f-11e8-b0b0-f706877db618_story.html
Fox News’s Sean Hannity is suddenly an expert on Trump and Mueller
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2018/03/19/fox-newss-sean-hannity-is-suddenly-an-expert-on-trump-and-mueller/
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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