Lest We Forget . . .
How we got to this point? Maybe now seems like a good time to review the five core truths about the Russia scandal.
“Lest We Forget …” | Homeless on the High Desert, August 29, 2022, g’da said
“It was a few days after the FBI executed a court-approved search warrant at Mar-a-Lago. Donald Trump started complaining anew about the investigation into the Russia scandal, reiterating his familiar belief that the controversy ‘was a hoax.’” The former president echoed the line again the other day.
“Russia attacked the American elections in 2016“
Every U.S. intelligence agency and lawmakers from both parties have long agreed that the Kremlin launched an expansive and expensive covert military intelligence operation that targeted the U.S. political system in 2016. This basic fact is no longer contested — except by Trump, who publicly declares he found Vladimir Putin more reliable than his own administration’s officials. Its importance is too often overlooked.
Russia’s goal was to put Trump in power
The Kremlin’s operation was not politically neutral: Moscow attacked our elections in the hopes of helping dictate the outcome. According to the findings of U.S. intelligence agencies, the Mueller investigation, and the multi-step investigation from the GOP-led Senate Intelligence Committee, Russia saw Trump as a prospective ally and believed it would be in its interests if the Republican were in the White House.
Russia and Team Trump were political allies
As regular readers know, investigations from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team and the GOP-led Senate Intelligence Committee documented the extent to which Trump and his team welcomed, received, and benefited from Russian campaign assistance. (They also obstructed the investigation into this assistance — by some measures, 10 times.)
The evidence also showed there was coordination and high-level connections between Trump’s political operation and those responsible for the attack on our elections. The Senate Intelligence Committee’s report at one point literally described a “direct tie between senior Trump Campaign officials and the Russian intelligence services.”
Team Trump lied about its communications with Russia
No, really, Team Trump lied about its communications with Russia. A lot. Out loud and on record. Over and over again, Trump and his spokespersons insisted there were absolutely no interactions between the Republican, his political operation, and their Russian benefactors. We now know definitively that they were lying — though they still haven’t been forthcoming about why.
The Russia scandal led to felony convictions and prison
For an alleged “hoax,” the Russia scandal led to an amazing number of federal prosecutions. In fact, the investigation — the one Lowry derided as “a national fiasco” — led to the convictions of, among others, Trump’s White House national security advisor, campaign chairman, deputy campaign chairman, foreign policy advisor, personal lawyer, and 13 Russian nationals who interfered in our elections as part of the larger plot.
g’da . . . “I hear we’ve got lots of room at Gitmo.”
“Lest We Forget” … | Homeless on the High Desert
Why Trump World is suddenly focusing anew on the Russia scandal (msnbc.com)
Trump was accused of using classification to hide information from FOIA requests when that type of information would not have been classified or classified at that level under former presidents. No way to tell without knowing what was in the documents, so catch-22.
Could Trump have been able to get his hands on all the copies of the information that showed he was conspiring with Russia? Not that I would want to start rumors around those empty folders. /s
Could it be that Trump was just trying to hide the evidence of his Russia connections that the intelligence community had gathered? I would not have thought about that possibility, but if Trump brings it back to the Russia “hoax” maybe it does relate to those investigations.
I do think that Trump is his own worst enemy.
Jane:
He does not know when to shut up. His ego prevents him from doing so. We maybe never know what he was trying to do for now. It will come out eventually and probably years later.
The national archives can probably determine what is missing and what they have and do not have. I wonder if they ID the folders in some manner? On the surface or with a buried chip? Log the contents of the folder to the chip. trump is not smart for sure.He is too big on the privileged side to cover his tracks.
We will not know for a while what he did either. You could be right on Russia which would give the DOJ a reason to indict him for espionage. Probably never happen.
I am astounded by the audacity of his supporters. Loud boasting about trump, not worth the reply to, and side stepping a physical confrontation. They deny he did any wrong.