Opinion | As it turns out, there really was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia - The Washington Post
Is anyone paying attention? Trump colluded with Russia in 2016!
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The investigation by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III ended anticlimactically. Although Mueller's report detailed evidence of Russian interference and the Trump team's welcome receipt of help from Moscow, there was insufficient evidence on the so-called "collusion" — that is conspiracy — to rise to the level of criminality. However, thanks to the misleading spin from Attorney General William P. Barr, the extent of the cooperation — collusion, in laymen's terms — was obscured.
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On Tuesday, the Republican-chaired Senate Intelligence Committee released a report with damning details of the extent of cooperation between the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence operatives.
The Post reports: "The long-awaited report from the Senate Intelligence Committee contains dozens of new findings that appear to show more direct links between Trump associates and Russian intelligence, and pierces the president's long-standing attempts to dismiss the Kremlin's intervention on his behalf as a hoax." These include a determination "that a longtime partner of Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was, in fact, a Russian intelligence officer."
Also according to The Post:
The report also for the first time cites evidence that that alleged operative, Konstantin Kilimnik, may have been directly involved in the Russian plot to break into a Democratic Party computer network and provide plundered files to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks. . . . It offers new proof that former national security adviser Michael Flynn lied about his conversations with the Russia's ambassador to the United States, raises troubling questions about Manafort's decision to squander a plea agreement with prosecutors by lying to Mueller's team, and accuses Blackwater founder Erik Prince of 'deceptive' accounts of his meetings with a Russian oligarch in the Seychelles weeks before Trump was sworn into office.
Just as Norman Eisen, former counsel for the House impeachment managers, detailed in his book "A Case for the American People: The United States v. Donald J. Trump," the intelligence committee report suggests, according to The Post, that there was evidence Trump had lied about discussions concerning Roger Stone and the WikiLeaks release of stolen Democratic emails. "Collusion simply means Trump and those around him wrongly working together with Russia and its satellites, and the fact of that has long been apparent," Eisen told me. "Indeed, it was clear to anyone with eyes from the moment Trump asked, 'Russia, if you're listening.' " Eisen added, "The Senate report is a valuable contribution advancing our understanding, including explaining former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort's nexus to Russian intelligence. The report further elucidates our understanding of collusion via WikiLeaks, which acted as a Russian cut-out."
In addition, the Trump Tower meeting on June 9, 2016, with Manafort and Donald Trump Jr. included Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian attorney and, according to the report "part of a broader influence operation targeting the United States that was coordinated, at least in part with elements of the Russian government."
That Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the acting committee chairman, declared there was no evidence of collusion is belied by the mounds of evidence in the bombshell-filled report. Eisen tweeted, "I said it was collusion at the time and I have not wavered. Every additional piece of evidence that has come in has only proved it more."
Max Bergmann, who runs the Center for American Progress's Moscow Project told me, "He did it. He colluded with Russia during the 2016 election." He added, "The bipartisan report from the Senate Intelligence Committee should erase any lingering doubt that Trump and his campaign deliberately sought out and coordinated with Russia and its influence operations during the election." Moreover, "the report also demonstrates that the president of the United States is a clear counterintelligence threat to the country. He is not only compromised by his close contact with the Kremlin but he eagerly sought out covert Russian support in 2016." Bergmann warns that "Trump is certainly willing to cheat again in 2020, and there is no doubt the Kremlin will do what it can to help him."
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) acknowledged proof of the "alarming lengths to which Donald Trump and his campaign welcomed and relied on a hostile foreign power's interference in the 2016 election." However, Pelosi stressed Russia's ongoing efforts to interfere with our election and Trump's apparent unwillingness to defend our democracy. "America's intelligence and law enforcement communities have made clear that the Russian Government is continuing to wage a massive intervention campaign to benefit the President, warning of a '365-days-a-year threat' to compromise the 2020 elections and undermine our democracy."
The bipartisan committee report should leave us with a number of troubling loose ends.
First, it is almost inconceivable that Mueller did not find the same factual tidbits that the Senate did. Whether the special counsel was unable to obtain cooperation of certain witnesses or felt constrained by Trump's constant bullying is unknown. We come away with the conclusion that he did not find the facts that were there, and that he did not explain with enough clarity and urgency what significance they had.
Second, Rubio and every Republican member of the Senate Intelligence Committee had access to information pointing to a clear pattern of collusion. For them to continue to defend Trump, look the other way when more evidence of improper conduct with a foreign government (i.e., Ukraine) and impugn Democrats for following the facts is nothing short of reprehensible.
Finally, we are left with the question of why Trump behaved as he did. Was he trying to cement a business deal underway during the 2016 campaign, or was he simply disloyal to the United States, willing to use an enemy's help and then lie to cover it up? Given the president's current behavior and his willingness to wreak havoc on our elections to hold on to power, I suspect it is the latter. Whatever the reason, as Eisen put it: "With this latest and bipartisan exposure of the whole sordid tale, there can be no remaining doubt. Trump and his campaign colluded with Russia to help them win the 2016 election."
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The US Senate report, dubbed The Rubio Report, damns Trump's 2016 campaign for colluding with Russia.
They had their chance to remove that parasite from the WH and blew it.
It could be accomplished successfully in days if the gop wasn't in the bag with Putin and Trump!
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Hopefully Biden will drain that swamp with the first to go is the Turtle. It is a good thing he is from the Jelly state because I know quite a few people from there who want to bend him over and do to him what he has been doing to KY for years.
Read this and then get back to us...
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/08/18/senate-details-paul-manafort-ties-russian-intel-officer-kilimnik/3390437001/?utm_source=AMP&utm_medium=UpNext
I am right here now. no need to get back to you.
Then why didn't you admit you were wrong?
wrong?
wtf?
the claim was made (sweeping generalization) that the GOP is "traitorous scum" and I disagree with it. that doesn't make me wrong, but go ahead and take a fucking shot at proving me wrong instead of flapping your gums about it.
There NEVER was, NOR is there now, ANY credible evidence of collusion
bullchit
WRONGO!
Then seed the report that shows it.
Dog-do.
Just because you don't find the evidence (released to date) credible, doesn't make it so. We are going to learn what hasn't yet been told after Trump is no longer a 'sitting president'.
The committee's BIPARTISAN report admits there was collusion, it also shows just how f' up the Senate's "trial" was. It shows that Conservatives in the Senate were willing to put Party over Country. ( Something I think is treasonous.)
Once he is gone from the WH, Putin will sing like a canary as he no longer will have any use for him.
The committee's BIPARTISAN report admits there was collusion,
It does no such thing. Just because some left wing clickbait site claims that, doesn’t make it true. The report confirmed the findings of the mueller report.
also shows just how f' up the Senate's "trial" was. It shows that conservatives
So it appears you don’t really understand anything that’s happened. The house refused to impeach trump over the “collusion” theory. Largely Because mueller demonstrated no collusion existed. The senate report covers the same ground as the mueller report (with additional information about how nonsensical the Steele dossier was).
simply put, there is no relationship between the senate report issued yesterday and the impeachment trial.
Geeze Louise, even when the GOP admits there was collusion, some Trumpbots either bury their heads in the sand or stick their fingers in their ears and yell "NO NO NO NO NO!"
Why don't you show us where in the report it says that? To make a claim like that and not be able to support it.....
Don't forget some that are paid to yell, "NO NO NO NO NO!"
The gop cannot get away with denial now. This was the gop's own Senate Report. "THE RUBIO REPORT".
From now on the deniers all look like dumbasses...
they already did, just further illustrating their dumbassery
They already did before this.
After what, 5 tries, you’ve resorted to Jennifer Rubin, the craziest person on the internet?
pretty much says it all.
For those of you who would like to read the actual report I am including a PDF file download link . It's about 1,000 pages so you might need popcorn.
https://
www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/report_volume5.pdf
Copy and paste into your browser and delete the spaces between the https stuff and the www.
I do not like to accidentally download stuff - I assume that others feel the same.
Mine also, except that I would be puking too much to sleep anyway.
Lol .... another never Trumper, blowing a never Trumper dog whistle, and gaining some more useful idiots to support her stuff.
Hilarious!
Are you denying the GoP lead Senate report findings?
Yes, until the "facts" are more well known and not spun by known anti Trump media sources.
Do you automatically believe clearly biased people and media sources?
Or is that only when it supports your preferred narrative?
I'm too busy to read something that doesn't contain even one verifiable fact. Can you sum up the gist of what this report shows?
And 'what about' the Obama administration knowing that Russia was allegedly "interfering" in our election, and yet remaining silent and doing nothing about it?
And, as HRC once so snidely said..."at this point, what difference does it make"?
You can read the report for yourself. Do you not agree with it's findings?
Unlike left/right partisans here I avoid opinion articles. Which is why in my question I referred to the report and not the article.
Things rarely support my preferred narrative nor did I give you my opinion for or against. I asked you a question in which you deflected as usual. Just answer the question. Do you disagree with the findings of the Senate report?
I find it highly unlikely the Senate report doesn't contain facts... I suppose it's possible, but then you'd actually have to read it to find out, wouldn't you?
If the report had been released by the Dems, some here would be glued to it like a pubescent boy glued to a Playboy magazine he found under his dad's bed and declaring it a fake report.
Be very careful here Greg, the accusations of trolling can't be very far behind this comment.
No. It's an official Senate report. Read it yourself and draw your own conclusions or remain ignorant of the contents.
Were you asleep throughout December of 2016 Greg? Obama kicked out dozens of Russian spies for hacking and closed two Russian compounds in MD & NY. It was in all the newspapers...even Fox carried it nightly.
No difference at all to those that refuse to participate. Snide? Fits most of your Malarkey accurately.
Asked and answered
Nope, as noted above, answered as is usual. Keep spinning though .... it keeps you busy
Asked and answered
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If I gave a damn I would read it, but what's the point? If collusion is true then the Dems can call for another investigation,
or maybe try to impeach Trump again during his second term.
Knock off the personal attacks and taunting.
What's so important about this report? Both Barr and Mueller said there was no provable collusion between Putin and Trump. Russia might have tried to "influence" the election on social media, but nothing was done that really "interfered" with the election, that was fairly won by Trump. Why are Dems beating this dead horse of an issue.
Finally, quit calling me by name. I thought that was against the code of conduct.
Take some responsibility and start brining facts. At least try to post a link in support of your position Greg. Copy and paste it..... become part of the discussion. It will take the bullseye off you. Make it work.
Whiskey foxtrot echo charlie.