Trump fails at Putin summit, and another Russian operative indicted

[Starlight]

Trump's summit with Putin in Finland, and the associated news conference, have cast Trump in a particularly poor light, with even numerous conservatives criticizing his answers.

McCain: ‘No Prior President Has Ever Abased Himself More Abjectly Before a Tyrant’:

The Arizona senator leads a chorus of GOP condemnations of the president’s press conference with Vladimir Putin.

In a shocking press conference with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump said he didn’t “see any reason why” Russia would have meddled in the 2016 election. Instead of criticizing the Kremlin over its illegal annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, the president blamed both the U.S. and Russia for the strained state of relations, and called Robert Mueller’s investigation a “disaster for our country.”

Arizona senator John McCain described the 45-minute press conference as “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.”... “No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant.”....

Texas [Republican] congressman Will Hurd, a former CIA officer, suggested that Putin had successfully manipulated the president.

“I've seen Russian intelligence manipulate many people over my professional career and I never would have thought that the US President would become one of the ones getting played by old KGB hands,” he said on Twitter.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman [Republican] Bob Corker told reporters that Trump’s remarks “made us look as a nation more like a pushover.” “I did not think this was a good moment for our country," he said, later adding, “This was a very good day for President Putin.”

South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham described the press conference as a “missed opportunity” to hold Russia accountable for election interference. “This answer by President Trump will be seen by Russia as a sign of weakness and create far more problems than it solves,” he said in a tweet.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said there is “no question” that Russia interfered in the U.S. election.

“The president must appreciate that Russia is not our ally,” he said. “There is no moral equivalence between the United States and Russia, which remains hostile to our most basic values and ideals.”

Trump's shocking statements and abasement of America at the press conference led to "treason" becoming the top-searched word in online-dictionaries.


Meanwhile, back in America, the DoJ announced it has arrested a major Russian operative named Butina, who is assistant to a Russian senator. And there's some pretty juicy stuff in the filings:

BUTINA established contact with U.S. [GOP strategist] in Moscow in or around 2013. U.S. [GOP strategist] worked with BUTINA to jointly arrange introductions to U.S. persons having influence in American politics, including [the NRA], for the purpose of advancing the agenda of the Russian Federation...

Butina to US [GOP strategist] in March 2015: "[The Republican party] would likely obtain control over the U.S. government after the 2016 elections."...

On October 4, 2016, U.S. [GOP strategist] sent an email to an acquaintance. The email covered a number of topics. Within the email, U.S. [GOP strategist] stated, "Unrelated to specific presidential campaigns, I've been involved in securing a VERY private line of communication between the Kremlin and key [Republican party] leaders through, of all conduits, the [NRA]."

Also of note is that:
November 11, 2016: Maria Butina messages a Russian politician asking him what "our people" thought about a Secretary of State contender.
Late November 2016: Christopher Steele says Kremlin intervened to block Trump’s initial choice for Secretary of State, Mitt Romney.

From predicting a Republican win 18 months out from the election, to vetoing a secretary state nominee after the election... and the Russians appear to have significant influence on the GOP and the NRA. Meanwhile, Trump is making America look like an obvious puppet of Putin on the world stage.

[Starlight]

Rolling Stone had an article a couple of months ago covering the Russian activities w.r.t. the NRA. The background information given in this article has led to people thinking that the unnamed GOP strategist referenced in the Butina indictment is either David Keene or Paul Erickson.

Inside the Decade-Long Russian Campaign to Infiltrate the NRA and Help Elect Trump:

In November 2013, the president of the National Rifle Association, David Keene, was introduced as an honored guest at the conference of the Right to Bear Arms, a gun lobby in Moscow. “There are no peoples that are more alike than Americans and Russians,” Keene said. “We’re hunters. We’re shooters. We value the same kinds of things.” Keene underscored his friendship with Alexander Torshin, a top politician in the ruling party of Vladimir Putin; for the past three years, Keene said, “I’ve hosted your senator Alexander Torshin at the National Rifle Association’s annual meetings.” In words that now carry a darker connotation, Keene insisted, “We need to work together.”...

Keene proved an easy mark. A career lobbyist who advised presidential candidates from Ronald Reagan to Mitt Romney, he was a longtime chair of the American Conservative Union, which organizes the annual CPAC convention. NRA board member Grover Norquist has praised Keene as “a conservative Forrest Gump” who’s been at “the center of all things conservative for decades.” Keene, with a sweep of white hair, owlish glasses and a patrician bearing, might move in cutthroat political circles, but friends say his personality runs against type. “He’s like a teddy bear,” says Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, who has known Keene for decades. “He’s not hard-edged at all. He’s a gentleman.” (Keene did not respond to multiple interview requests.)...

As a guest of Keene, Butina joined the rituals of the Golden Ring of Freedom, even ringing the NRA’s liberty bell. “To the right to bear arms for citizens of the whole world,” she said as the bell sounded. Her first American trip, she blogged, culminated in “an experience at the Washington office of the NRA.” Standing before the group’s blue-glass headquarters, she posed for a photo with Keene.

Butina and Torshin soon began leveraging their NRA connections to gain personal access to GOP presidential contenders. Not yet a declared candidate, Trump addressed the NRA’s 2015 convention in Nashville. “We need strength,” Trump said. “We need people that are respected. Putin has no respect for our president.” Torshin has claimed he met Trump in Nashville, and that Trump ribbed him: “ So, you’re from Russia – when are you going to invade Latvia?” The Trump White House has denied this encounter took place.

....

Butina’s intelligence, drive and charisma won her powerful friends in the NRA. But she became remarkably close with one lifelong GOP activist in particular: Paul Erickson. Six-feet-four, with a bald crown ringed by graying curls, Erickson has a skier’s build and greets fellow Yalies with a fight-song-inspired “Boola, Boola.” A member of the same cohort of college Republicans that produced Norquist, Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed and disgraced super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Erickson has enjoyed a vivid and varied career. A rabid anti-communist, he spent the summer of 1983 sending supplies to insurgents battling the USSR in Afghanistan. He has lobbied on behalf of Zairean strongman Mobutu Sese Seko, mounted the “Love Hurts” media tour for celebrity penis amputee John Wayne Bobbitt and was credited as an executive producer on Abramoff’s 1989 B-movie Red Scorpion, starring Dolph Lundgren.

Like Keene, with whom he served on the board of the American Conservative Union, Erickson is a low-profile everywhere man, described by one friend as a “secret master of the political universe.” He has helped run a number of GOP presidential campaigns, serving as national political director for nativist Pat Buchanan’s 1992 run. (Erickson did not respond to repeated interview requests.) In 2013, Erickson joined the NRA’s first visit to the Right to Bear Arms conference in Moscow – the following September, according to Butina’s blog, he returned to Russia, solo, to address her group on behalf of the NRA.

As she tracked GOP presidential candidates in 2015, Butina touched down, repeatedly, in South Dakota, where Erickson lives. In July, she lectured at a camp for young Republicans with Erickson by her side. That same month, the duo appeared on a podcast in Manhattan. Erickson regaled the audience with a creation myth about Right to Bear Arms worthy of a Silicon Valley startup. “Maria is very humble,” Erickson said. “She started the Right to Bear Arms in the Russian version of McDonald’s with friends, and her work became noticed by the highest levels of the Russian government.” In September, the pair partied by the graveside of F. Scott Fitzgerald in Maryland. Butina wore a flapper’s silver headband and a long string of pearls; Erickson carried a bottle of rum and a copy of The Great Gatsby.

[Tassman]

Trump's summit with Putin in Finland, and the associated news conference, have cast Trump in a particularly poor light, with even numerous conservatives criticizing his answers.

McCain: ‘No Prior President Has Ever Abased Himself More Abjectly Before a Tyrant’:

The Arizona senator leads a chorus of GOP condemnations of the president’s press conference with Vladimir Putin.

In a shocking press conference with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump said he didn’t “see any reason why” Russia would have meddled in the 2016 election. Instead of criticizing the Kremlin over its illegal annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, the president blamed both the U.S. and Russia for the strained state of relations, and called Robert Mueller’s investigation a “disaster for our country.”

Arizona senator John McCain described the 45-minute press conference as “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.”... “No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant.”....

Texas [Republican] congressman Will Hurd, a former CIA officer, suggested that Putin had successfully manipulated the president.

“I've seen Russian intelligence manipulate many people over my professional career and I never would have thought that the US President would become one of the ones getting played by old KGB hands,” he said on Twitter.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman [Republican] Bob Corker told reporters that Trump’s remarks “made us look as a nation more like a pushover.” “I did not think this was a good moment for our country," he said, later adding, “This was a very good day for President Putin.”

South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham described the press conference as a “missed opportunity” to hold Russia accountable for election interference. “This answer by President Trump will be seen by Russia as a sign of weakness and create far more problems than it solves,” he said in a tweet.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said there is “no question” that Russia interfered in the U.S. election.

“The president must appreciate that Russia is not our ally,” he said. “There is no moral equivalence between the United States and Russia, which remains hostile to our most basic values and ideals.”

Trump's shocking statements and abasement of America at the press conference led to "treason" becoming the top-searched word in online-dictionaries.


Meanwhile, back in America, the DoJ announced it has arrested a major Russian operative named Butina, who is assistant to a Russian senator. And there's some pretty juicy stuff in the filings:

BUTINA established contact with U.S. [GOP strategist] in Moscow in or around 2013. U.S. [GOP strategist] worked with BUTINA to jointly arrange introductions to U.S. persons having influence in American politics, including [the NRA], for the purpose of advancing the agenda of the Russian Federation...

Butina to US [GOP strategist] in March 2015: "[The Republican party] would likely obtain control over the U.S. government after the 2016 elections."...

On October 4, 2016, U.S. [GOP strategist] sent an email to an acquaintance. The email covered a number of topics. Within the email, U.S. [GOP strategist] stated, "Unrelated to specific presidential campaigns, I've been involved in securing a VERY private line of communication between the Kremlin and key [Republican party] leaders through, of all conduits, the [NRA]."

Also of note is that:
November 11, 2016: Maria Butina messages a Russian politician asking him what "our people" thought about a Secretary of State contender.
Late November 2016: Christopher Steele says Kremlin intervened to block Trump’s initial choice for Secretary of State, Mitt Romney.

From predicting a Republican win 18 months out from the election, to vetoing a secretary state nominee after the election... and the Russians appear to have significant influence on the GOP and the NRA. Meanwhile, Trump is making America look like an obvious puppet of Putin on the world stage.

Trump is a traitor. It's as simple as that.

[Mountain Man]

The basic rule of thumb for these things is that whatever liberals are saying is the exact opposite of reality.

Source: Debrief on Trump-Putin Presser

Last Friday, in a carefully timed construct, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein delivered a purely political statement to the media under the auspices of indictments against 13 Russians. Make no mistake, the entire construct of Mueller’s team project; and the enabling of Rod Rosenstein; was intended to do what it has been doing for over a year, diminish, disrupt and eventually stop President Trump.

President Trump remains an existential threat to the business interests within the apparatus of professional politics. Additionally, candidate Trump defeated the professional political class despite the stunningly Machiavellian surveillance schemes of the deep administrative state which supports the corrupt enterprise within it.

The Friday objective of team Mueller/Rosenstein, which includes hundreds of career left-wing DC bureaucrats/officials behind them, was to paint President Trump into a corner ahead of his meeting with Russian President Putin. The media wing of the intransigent state would then use the ridiculous indictment to frame the preferred narrative and remain on offense against President Trump.

Here is where we watch the echo-chamber media wash, rinse and repeat the same ‘Gruberism‘ mistake. The architects of the administrative state are counting on being able to manipulate the “stupidity of the American voter“, again. What everyone forgets about that time in 2010, is that 70% of the American voters knew exactly what the Gruber schemes were. Hence in November of 2010 the largest political reversal of elected DC officials took place. The usurpers were “shellacked“. Bigly.

Things are never as they appear projected by the echo-chamber media apparatus.

With that in mind, just like November 2010, the November 2016 election proved the U.S. electorate are very much awake and aware of what has been transpiring within the administrative state for several years. Again, bigly. Americans are born with liberty in their DNA, a conscious orientation to reality, and a very healthy skepticism toward big, institutional and corrupt government.

Despite our militant cynicism we are continually underestimated and it becomes rather silly to watch Toto Trump pull back the curtain as those like Mueller and Rosenstein shout even louder into their microphone. The majority of Americans, far more than the professional political class will accept, clearly see the constructs of fraud and deceit as they transpire. Despite the best efforts of the institutional state, and their media narrative engineers, the majority position is growing, not shrinking.

The underlying premise behind the current voices gasping at the Trump-Putin press conference, is the Mueller/Rosenstein anti-Trump/pro-administrative state narrative du-jour. There is no Wizard of Oz (Russian Collusion/Conspiracy), therefore the pretext for the Trump-Putin inquisition is silly. Remove the pretext, pull back that curtain, and the narrative collapses upon itself because it was built entirely around a fraudulent premise.

Believe me, the overwhelming majority of the American electorate see this absurdity. Those who are at risk; those who participated in the 2015/2016 usurping activity; want/need to deny the majority exist. They are currently in the process of failing:

[…] Make no mistake: This is nakedly politicized law enforcement. There is absolutely no chance any of the Russian officials charged will ever see the inside of an American courtroom. The indictment is a strictly political document by which the special counsel seeks to justify the existence of his superfluous investigation.

[…] Rosenstein made another telling remark at his big press conference. The Justice Department, he explained, will now “transition responsibility for this case to our Department’s National Security Division while we await the apprehension of the defendants.”

Now, stop giggling over that last part — the bit where we hold our breath until Russian dictator Vladimir Putin extradites his spies into the FBI’s waiting arms. I’m talking about the first part: Mueller’s case, the definitive case about what Russia did to interfere in the 2016 election, is no longer Mueller’s case. It is being “transitioned” — i.e., buried — in the Justice Department unit that deals with counterintelligence matters that do not result in public trials.

[…] Lacking the requisite basis to conduct a criminal investigation, the Justice Department used its counterintelligence mission as a pretext for appointing a special counsel. This was grossly improper: (1) Counterintelligence work, which is geared at thwarting the operations of hostile foreign powers, is not the prosecutor work of building criminal cases; (2) not surprisingly, then, there is no authority in the regulations to assign a special counsel to a counterintelligence investigation; and (3) because counterintelligence authorities do not afford Americans the due-process protections required in criminal investigations, the Justice Department is not permitted to use counterintelligence as a pretext for conducting what is actually an effort to build a criminal prosecution.

Now Mueller has taken the next logical wayward step: He has woven an indictment that can never be tried out of counterintelligence work against foreign governments that is not supposed to be the subject of criminal prosecution — i.e., the subject of public courtroom testing under due-process rules.

This is not the way counterintelligence is supposed to work. And the Justice Department knows it. That is why Mueller’s indictment will now be the property of DOJ’s National Security Division, the home of other non-prosecutable foreign counterintelligence work that is never intended to see the light of day in a public courtroom.

https://theconservativetreehouse.com...till-at-stake/

© Copyright Original Source

Source: Paranoia May Destroy Ya’ – The Collective Response From the Co-Conspirators…

At first glance saying: yesterday was a very good day, might sound like spin. However, for those who have been frustrated about the lack of righteous push-back from the executive office; the attacks from the former “spygate” co-conspirators might be just what is needed to trigger President Trump to declassify the underlying material.

Consider the tweets from James Comey (former FBI), John Brennan (former CIA), Sally Yates (former DOJ), and statement from Ash Carter (former DoD).

[...]

Think about the bigger questions: Why would former administration officials feel the need to engage in such discourse? What exactly does their response say about their personal attachment to current events? …and more importantly, what do they all have in common?

If you note they are all connected to the intelligence apparatus, and more specifically the well documented FISA abuse, well, yeah, things start making a lot of sense. After all, at the center of all the intelligence corruption in 2015/2016 is the exploitation of FBI/NSA databases for political opposition research and weaponization.

The over-the-top responses to a meeting and press conference between President Trump and Russian President Putin highlights the extent to which the prior officials have formed all of their defenses around the Russian conspiracy narrative. They are all-in.

The Russian conspiracy narrative was formed as both their insurance policy against a Trump administration; and a necessary collective defense -passed on to Robert Mueller inc- to ensure an offense was always present to insure their activity never surfaced.

However, in a rather unusual way, an elevated urgency in attack formation by the Scheme Team; their UniParty allies in the DC swamp; and their media advocates writ large; might end up pushing Trump toward a position where he decides to unleash the atomic sledgehammer of truth and declassify material that will finally outline the plot publicly.

One thing is sure, Trump won’t quit the fight; I’m not sure they realize that… yet. So in an odd way, and specifically because there’s an abundant amount of material available for declassification that can highlight the fraud, I find myself happy to see the increased vitriol. Example: Think about what would happen if Trump took away the redactions from the April 2017 FISA Court Order/Ruling on the 2015/2016 FISA abuse.

https://theconservativetreehouse.com...-conspirators/

© Copyright Original Source

Maybe the liberal media would be more fawning if Trump had staged an embarrassing photo op with him and Putin pressing a "reset" button.

Hillary-Clinton-Sergei-Lavrov.jpg

[rogue06]

Maybe the liberal media would be more fawning if Trump had staged an embarrassing photo op with him and Putin pressing a "reset" button.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]28889[/ATTACH]

Or whispered how he would have more flexibility to negotiate with them after being re-elected.

[Mountain Man]

Meanwhile, back in America, the DoJ announced it has arrested a major Russian operative named Butina, who is assistant to a Russian senator. And there's some pretty juicy stuff in the filings:

BUTINA established contact with U.S. [GOP strategist] in Moscow in or around 2013. U.S. [GOP strategist] worked with BUTINA to jointly arrange introductions to U.S. persons having influence in American politics, including [the NRA], for the purpose of advancing the agenda of the Russian Federation...

Butina to US [GOP strategist] in March 2015: "[The Republican party] would likely obtain control over the U.S. government after the 2016 elections."...

On October 4, 2016, U.S. [GOP strategist] sent an email to an acquaintance. The email covered a number of topics. Within the email, U.S. [GOP strategist] stated, "Unrelated to specific presidential campaigns, I've been involved in securing a VERY private line of communication between the Kremlin and key [Republican party] leaders through, of all conduits, the [NRA]."

Also of note is that:
November 11, 2016: Maria Butina messages a Russian politician asking him what "our people" thought about a Secretary of State contender.
Late November 2016: Christopher Steele says Kremlin intervened to block Trump’s initial choice for Secretary of State, Mitt Romney.

From predicting a Republican win 18 months out from the election, to vetoing a secretary state nominee after the election... and the Russians appear to have significant influence on the GOP and the NRA. Meanwhile, Trump is making America look like an obvious puppet of Putin on the world stage.

As the late Paul Harvey used to say, "And now, the rest of the story..."

Source: CNN

CNN has previously reported that during the presidential campaign, Torshin worked with his protégé, Butina, as well as other associates, to try to arrange back-channel communications between Putin and then-candidate Trump. Those efforts appear to have been rebuffed by members of the Trump campaign, according to previous CNN reporting and documents that were provided to the House Intelligence Committee.

http://www.cnn.com/2018/07/16/politi...ina/index.html

© Copyright Original Source

[rogue06]

As the late Paul Harvey used to say, "And now, the rest of the story..."

Source: CNN

CNN has previously reported that during the presidential campaign, Torshin worked with his protégé, Butina, as well as other associates, to try to arrange back-channel communications between Putin and then-candidate Trump. Those efforts appear to have been rebuffed by members of the Trump campaign, according to previous CNN reporting and documents that were provided to the House Intelligence Committee.

http://www.cnn.com/2018/07/16/politi...ina/index.html

© Copyright Original Source

Niggling details

[Mountain Man]

Never let the facts get in the way of a good anti-Trump narrative...

[Charles]

The basic rule of thumb for these things is that whatever liberals are saying is the exact opposite of reality.

So, when your president trusts a former KGB agent, a man who is actively working to undermine democracy, over the intelligence services in his own country, your main concern is still "liberals"? I think this says quite a lot about the extent to which some Trump supporters are driven by an anti-Hillary-liberal-Obama or whatever agenda that they think all means are justified to achieve their goal.

[firstfloor]

Never let the facts get in the way of a good anti-Trump narrative...

Even Trump is anti-Trump:

US President Donald Trump has said he accepts US intelligence agencies' conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election - despite declining to do so just a day ago.

-BBC

[Mountain Man]

So, when your president trusts a former KGB agent, a man who is actively working to undermine democracy, over the intelligence services in his own country, your main concern is still "liberals"

Two things to consider:

1) There is zero credible evidence that Russia "meddled" in our election or even indirectly changed a single a vote.
2) There is a mountain of evidence that operatives inside our own intelligence organizations have been actively conspiring against Trump since he won the Republican primary and have lied through the teeth about their own abuses of power.

So while I don't entirely trust Putin, I do trust him more than our intelligence agencies.

[One Bad Pig]

So, when your president trusts a former KGB agent, a man who is actively working to undermine democracy, over the intelligence services in his own country, your main concern is still "liberals"? I think this says quite a lot about the extent to which some Trump supporters are driven by an anti-Hillary-liberal-Obama or whatever agenda that they think all means are justified to achieve their goal.

Trump tends to attempt geniality at press conferences with other world leaders, and sometimes says stuff he shouldn't. He really should be more careful about what he says (in a multitude of situations), but AFAICT what he says at such events should be taken with a large grain of salt.

[One Bad Pig]

Two things to consider:

1) There is zero credible evidence that Russia "meddled" in our election....

I wouldn't go that far. I suspect their main goal was to spread chaos and undermine trust in the system, however. Our own dear leaders have been much more blatant in meddling in other countries' elections *cough* Obama *cough*, but I don't see the people commenting here now have any issue with that.

[Charles]

Two things to consider:

1) There is zero credible evidence that Russia "meddled" in our election or even indirectly changed a single a vote.
2) There is a mountain of evidence that operatives inside our own intelligence organizations have been actively conspiring against Trump since he won the Republican primary and have lied through the teeth about their own abuses of power.

So while I don't entirely trust Putin, I do trust him more than our intelligence agencies.

Ok. It seems you disagree with Trump then. "I accept our intelligence community's conclusion that Russia's meddling in the 2016 election took place."

https://www.google.dk/amp/s/amp.cnn....nce/index.html

So now you neither trust intelligence services nor Trump but only Putin?

Trump accepts a conclusion for which you say there is zero evidence. So you still trust him even on that, or?

[Tassman]

Two things to consider:

1) There is zero credible evidence that Russia "meddled" in our election or even indirectly changed a single a vote.
2) There is a mountain of evidence that operatives inside our own intelligence organizations have been actively conspiring against Trump since he won the Republican primary and have lied through the teeth about their own abuses of power.

So while I don't entirely trust Putin, I do trust him more than our intelligence agencies.

This defies belief. There is considerable evidence that Russia "meddled". The Republican led Senate Intelligence Committee report supports U.S. intelligence agencies’ conclusion that Russia tried to help Donald Trump win the 2016 election and hurt Hillary's chances. Yet you dismiss your own country's findings in favour of supporting the views of the hostile power that engineered the interference? Really!!