“No Collusion!” This refrain is repeated constantly by President Trump and his media minions on Fox and in the print media. It begs a consideration of the links between his associates and Russia in and around the last presidential election in the USA.
I was going to do a blog on all the ties between Trump affiliated people and the Russians, but this has already been done. See here...
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/03/connections-trump-putin-russia-ties-chart-flynn-page-manafort-sessions-214868
This is over six months old, and other links have been revealed since then, but it is excellent - way better than anything I could do.
Here is an updated timeline of the links to Russia...
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/a-timeline-of-the-trump-russia-scandal-w511067
In the face of a relentlessly compromised journalism in the USA, on both the Left and Right, some organizations are still just sticking to the facts. Thank goodness. There may be hope!
So what do we know?
While having a relationship with Russians is not a crime, given the depth and breadth of these links, it is simply impossible to not have concerns about Russian influence over President Trump and his entourage both before, during and after the last presidential election. Some of the ties were directly with representatives of the Russian state during the formation of his administration, and/or with Putin himself.
Keep in mind that the US intelligence services confirmed months ago that Russia did engage in interference in the US presidential election. Trump has recently said that he sides with them, conveniently ignoring the essential point that the conclusion that there was Russian influence may serve as an indictment of his election and his entire administration. But what choice did he have - he runs the intelligence services now.
With this in mind, the only issue for consideration is did anyone associated with Trump help the Russians interfere in the election? Or, does any of this amount to collusion?
So far, this could be seen as mostly host of seemingly inconvenient connections that point in the direction of common interests and hoped for outcomes, and possible opportunities for cooperation and joint benefit. However, it does go beyond this...there are many causes for significant concern, pointing directly to possible collusion.
Consider that one person has been convicted of lying to the FBI about these contacts - Papadopoulos - and two others continue to apologize for lapses in memory related to their Russian contacts - even when testifying under oath before Congress (Sessions and Kushner.) This does not bode well for Trump. People who have nothing to hide do not typically try to hide things.
We also know that there is a strong likelihood that contacts with the Russians influenced the downgrading of the Republican party policy on Ukraine - before such contacts the Republicans were considering a policy of arming Ukraine, afterward they were not at the insistence of the Trump campaign.
As well, there are apparent links to WikiLeaks, where many of the damaging e-mails regarding Clinton and her associates likely came from hackers who were linked to Russia. If Trump linked persons knew that this came from hacking activities of a foreign power trying to influence a US presidential election, they had to call the police, not try to reap the political benefits.
Finally, and as has been noted in these pages, the crime of conspiracy to subvert a US presidential election in concert with a foreign power can probably be made out as a result of the meeting that Manafort, Kushner and Trump Jr, attended on June 16, 2016. They went to the meeting to do just that, and they received information, reviewed it, and handed it back with a view to possibly using the information to damage the Clinton campaign. Understand - this is not research. If it was in concert with a foreign government to subvert a US election, it is criminal activity in the same vein as treason. In my opinion, this act of reviewing material cements the crime of conspiracy as you usually need an act to accompany any conspiratorial plan. We shall see.
And so, the “smoking gun” hasn’t been found, but there are so many plumes of smoke spiraling skyward here that Smokey the Bear would have significant concerns that the entire forest is about to burn down.
Stay tuned. Put out your campfires...
I was going to do a blog on all the ties between Trump affiliated people and the Russians, but this has already been done. See here...
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/03/connections-trump-putin-russia-ties-chart-flynn-page-manafort-sessions-214868
This is over six months old, and other links have been revealed since then, but it is excellent - way better than anything I could do.
Here is an updated timeline of the links to Russia...
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/a-timeline-of-the-trump-russia-scandal-w511067
In the face of a relentlessly compromised journalism in the USA, on both the Left and Right, some organizations are still just sticking to the facts. Thank goodness. There may be hope!
So what do we know?
While having a relationship with Russians is not a crime, given the depth and breadth of these links, it is simply impossible to not have concerns about Russian influence over President Trump and his entourage both before, during and after the last presidential election. Some of the ties were directly with representatives of the Russian state during the formation of his administration, and/or with Putin himself.
Keep in mind that the US intelligence services confirmed months ago that Russia did engage in interference in the US presidential election. Trump has recently said that he sides with them, conveniently ignoring the essential point that the conclusion that there was Russian influence may serve as an indictment of his election and his entire administration. But what choice did he have - he runs the intelligence services now.
With this in mind, the only issue for consideration is did anyone associated with Trump help the Russians interfere in the election? Or, does any of this amount to collusion?
So far, this could be seen as mostly host of seemingly inconvenient connections that point in the direction of common interests and hoped for outcomes, and possible opportunities for cooperation and joint benefit. However, it does go beyond this...there are many causes for significant concern, pointing directly to possible collusion.
Consider that one person has been convicted of lying to the FBI about these contacts - Papadopoulos - and two others continue to apologize for lapses in memory related to their Russian contacts - even when testifying under oath before Congress (Sessions and Kushner.) This does not bode well for Trump. People who have nothing to hide do not typically try to hide things.
We also know that there is a strong likelihood that contacts with the Russians influenced the downgrading of the Republican party policy on Ukraine - before such contacts the Republicans were considering a policy of arming Ukraine, afterward they were not at the insistence of the Trump campaign.
As well, there are apparent links to WikiLeaks, where many of the damaging e-mails regarding Clinton and her associates likely came from hackers who were linked to Russia. If Trump linked persons knew that this came from hacking activities of a foreign power trying to influence a US presidential election, they had to call the police, not try to reap the political benefits.
Finally, and as has been noted in these pages, the crime of conspiracy to subvert a US presidential election in concert with a foreign power can probably be made out as a result of the meeting that Manafort, Kushner and Trump Jr, attended on June 16, 2016. They went to the meeting to do just that, and they received information, reviewed it, and handed it back with a view to possibly using the information to damage the Clinton campaign. Understand - this is not research. If it was in concert with a foreign government to subvert a US election, it is criminal activity in the same vein as treason. In my opinion, this act of reviewing material cements the crime of conspiracy as you usually need an act to accompany any conspiratorial plan. We shall see.
And so, the “smoking gun” hasn’t been found, but there are so many plumes of smoke spiraling skyward here that Smokey the Bear would have significant concerns that the entire forest is about to burn down.
Stay tuned. Put out your campfires...
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