General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Mueller report may describe what happened this way.
A hostile foreign attack and attempted takeover of our election process and the United States Government. An attack coordinated with Trump, the Trump campaign and others. The attack was followed up by a attempted major cover up at the highest levels of our government.
The debate on impeachment will be over.
I have said this from the beginning , Mueller is going to shock the American people. One could argue this attack was just as serious as the attack on Pearl Harbor. We saw the damage right away with Pearl Harbor. We can't see the damage from this attack yet. Mueller will show us the damage. Mueller is going to show us things that will scare the hell out of us. When the Mueller report comes out America is going to change. The conversation is going to change. Laws are going to change. Our lives may change.
Mueller may describe this as an act of war. Putin crossed a line he may regret in the future. We may do more then just put sanctions in place.
Botany
(70,657 posts)Biden: McConnell stopped Obama from calling out Russians
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/paul-ryan-keeps-it-family-kevin-mccarthy-russia-trump
Paul Ryan keeps it all in the family.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/is-the-michael-cohen-prague-story-true
And why was Michael Cohen's cell phone going off in Prague in the late summer of 2016?
(Key point in the Steele Dossier, Cohen met with Russians in Prague to help rig the election.)
On Dec. 27, McClatchy DCa reputable news outlet that broke the most important stories about the Iraq Warreported that cell phone tower records obtained by foreign intelligence sources place Michael Cohen (or at least his phone) in Prague in the late summer of 2016. The story says this information, as well as the fruits of electronic eavesdropping by an Eastern European intelligence agency that picked up discussion among Russians of Cohens presence in Prague, are now in the possession of the office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
If the McClatchy story is true, it has huge implications for Donald Trump's survival in the presidency. But thats a major if; unlike many other scoops about the Mueller probe, no other outlet has been able to confirm McClatchys reporting. And the McClatchy reporters have made it clear that they have no corroborating evidence of their claims and that some of their sources are indirect at best.
The stakes are immense. If the McClatchy story is validated, it would strongly suggest that Mueller has evidence that in 2016 Trump sent his personal lawyer and fixer to Europe to meet with a high-ranking Kremlin official. The point of the meeting, if it occurred, was ostensibly to discuss Russian concerns that their intrusion in the presidential campaign on Trumps behalf might be exposed. This would confirm an important section of the (in)famous Steele dossier and offer major evidence of Trumps participation in a criminal conspiracy.
Paying off porn stars, obstruction of justice, corrupt Russian real estate dealstheyre all serious, even criminal, but not in the same league as Prague (or another place where Prague-like meetings might have taken place). A meeting or multiple meetings of this kind would be the crown jewels of what Mueller in court filings calls the core of his investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election.
UpInArms
(51,295 posts)nt
2naSalit
(86,963 posts)and it's going to rock the world in some ways. But we may come out of this ahead in many ways which could set a new pace for getting serious issues addressed. I am optimistic about what will come though I know there will be some real ugly stuff along the way... change has to come, and quickly, or we will kill everything on the planet.
ScratchCat
(2,022 posts)What if Putin himself is charged, or simply both Putin and Trump are listed as un-indicted co-conspirators? There's no wiggle room for the GOP.
NewJeffCT
(56,829 posts)that made me a tiny bit hopeful that blatant crimes and corruption from Trump can get an impeachment conviction - I'm paraphrasing here - but, almost every Senator holds out at least some hope of being president some day, and if they can vote to convict Trump of High Crimes & Misdemeanors, their path to the presidency is one person shorter.
The quote was originally in regards to the Republicans having orgasms over Arnold Schwarzenegger's win the governor's race in California. Right after the GOP high of Arnold's win, there was Republican talk of amending the Constitution to allow people that were not natural born US citizens to become president. The guy, a staunch Republican, said that there is no way that it would get through Congress because 90% of the Senate wants to be president some day and Arnold would get in the way of that if the amendment passed.
Of course, Arnold tanked as governor and California needed Jerry Brown to come in and clean up the mess.