All things Trump + Russia Part 4

For all of Stone's faults, he certainly has a sense of style. That hat, along with a french blue shirt with spread collar, and loosely-knotted garza grossa grenadine tie ... he's got quite the sense of sprezzatura about him.
 
carlitos said:
For all of Stone's faults, he certainly has a sense of style. That hat, along with a french blue shirt with spread collar, and loosely-knotted garza grossa grenadine tie ... he's got quite the sense of sprezzatura about him.
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Then there's that Nixon tattoo . . .
 
Resume said:
Then there's that Nixon tattoo . . .
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49070349897_69a9495534.jpg
 
Fast Eddie B said:
[qimg]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49070349897_69a9495534.jpg[/qimg]
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Funny thing is almost everybody who worked at the Nixon White House have little respect for Stone;he had a very,very,minor job,basically he was a gofer/errand boy. He might have met Nixon once or twice.
 
dudalb said:
Funny thing is almost everybody who worked at the Nixon White House have little respect for Stone;he had a very,very,minor job,basically he was a gofer/errand boy. He might have met Nixon once or twice.
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Was Nixon still in office when he got it? Never mind that it's weird to have such a tattoo, but of a disgraced President?
 
carlitos said:
For all of Stone's faults, he certainly has a sense of style. That hat, along with a french blue shirt with spread collar, and loosely-knotted garza grossa grenadine tie ... he's got quite the sense of sprezzatura about him.
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He'll be trading all in that for an Orange jump suit.

But you know what they say.

"Orange is the new black".
 
There are 2 things in particular that bother me about the results of the Stone case:

- Its possible that, despite the number of charges he was convicted on, sentencing guidelines suggest he may only spend a year or 2 in jail.

- He has been released from prison until sentencing.

He is a self-professed dirty trickster who was convicted on all accounts. Prior to the trial the judge had to issue a gag order because of Stone's shenanigans, and he has shown no remorse for his crimes (angling for a pardon for Trump, and blaming the legal system.) He should not be free awaiting sentencing... he should be behind bars NOW. Given his past history I would not trust him to act properly prior to his sentencing.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/15/trump-friend-roger-stone-found-guilty-of-lying-to-congress.html
 
Segnosaur said:
Looks like Stone is angling for a pardon....

From: https://www.newsweek.com/roger-ston...ry-deliberates-his-fate-please-pardon-1471905
...Stone on Thursday reportedly begged President Donald Trump to pardon him through a message sent to InfoWars far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones... "And he said to me, 'Alex, barring a miracle, I appeal to God and I appeal to your listeners for prayer, and I appeal to the president to pardon me because to do so would be an action that would show these corrupt courts that they're not going to get away with persecuting people for their free speech or for the crime of getting the president elected...'"

And there you have it... breaking the law is a form of free speech.

Its not like any president would be dumb enough to listen to a conspiracy web site though, right? Right?

I wonder if there are any state-level charges that can be directed at Stone (the way they hit Manafort following his conviction, to prevent the risk of pardons.)
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Since he's under a gag order, which he's violated before and the judge slapped him down for, I don't see this going down well.
 
Squeegee Beckenheim said:
Since he's under a gag order, which he's violated before and the judge slapped him down for, I don't see this going down well.
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He may be under a gag order but he has already been released pending sentencing (despite the prosecutors recommending he be held in custody.)

They really do seem to be treating him with kid gloves.

Sent from my LM-X320 using Tapatalk
 
Beelzebuddy said:
Will the pardon be immediate, or saved to steal headlines from some suitably damaging news cycle?
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We should take bets. I'm going to bet Trump is saving these up until his impeachment is over (provided gutless Republicans keep him in office) and the election is over. So during the lame duck or just after being sworn in for term 2.
 
Segnosaur said:
He may be under a gag order but he has already been released pending sentencing (despite the prosecutors recommending he be held in custody.)

They really do seem to be treating him with kid gloves.

Sent from my LM-X320 using Tapatalk
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Whether or not he's already been released pending sentencing is a different matter to how the judge is going to react to him once again violating a gag order he's already been slapped down for violating.
 
carlitos said:
For all of Stone's faults, he certainly has a sense of style. That hat, along with a french blue shirt with spread collar, and loosely-knotted garza grossa grenadine tie ... he's got quite the sense of sprezzatura about him.
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The spread collar and his very weak shoulders add up to a strange look. But, at least his suits are tailored to fit his odd shape.
 
carlitos said:
For all of Stone's faults, he certainly has a sense of style. That hat, along with a french blue shirt with spread collar, and loosely-knotted garza grossa grenadine tie ... he's got quite the sense of sprezzatura about him.
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I don't get what people see in his taste. Looks like a clash between a gay maitre d and a low-level mafioso trying too hard to look the part.
 
trustbutverify said:
carlitos said:
For all of Stone's faults, he certainly has a sense of style. That hat, along with a french blue shirt with spread collar, and loosely-knotted garza grossa grenadine tie ... he's got quite the sense of sprezzatura about him.
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I don't get what people see in his taste. Looks like a clash between a gay maitre d and a low-level mafioso trying too hard to look the part.
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You seem to be agreeing with each other.
 
Dr. Keith said:
The spread collar and his very weak shoulders add up to a strange look. But, at least his suits are tailored to fit his odd shape.
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Forget the shoulders, I can't get get past the shape of his head
 
jimbob said:
Forget the shoulders, I can't get get past the shape of his head
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Me too! That's quite the slope leading to a near cone-head in side profile. Maybe the midwife permanently bent his noggin with the spatula when turning him around?
 
Am I the only one who is reminded of Peter Sellers when I see Roger Stone?
 
https://twitter.com/AdamSerwer/status/1202378829370740738

Barr’s entire effort to substantiate the last two years of a “deep state” conspiracy has flopped, despite a monumental effort on his behalf. https://washingtonpost.com/national...e084dc-16a9-11ea-9110-3b34ce1d92b1_story.html
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Article and excerpt embedded in tweet.

Another source: https://twitter.com/Tom_Winter/status/1202378200027762689

NEW: A source familiar with the draft of the IG's report has confirmed to
@PeteWilliamsNBC
that John Durham has found nothing to indicate that Joseph Mifsud was a U.S. intelligence plant used to kickoff the Trump 2016 campaign investigation.

First reported by
@washingtonpost
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So, the Inspector General's report is now out. What it found:

From: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...isa-warrant-russia-probe-released/1499906001/
...the FBI was legally justified in launching its inquiry into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and that there was no “documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the FBI’s decision to conduct these operations.”
...
Republicans have complained that the FBI, in its applications to seek and renew surveillance on Page, concealed its reliance on Steele's findings. But copies of those applications released after USA TODAY and others sued showed FBI investigators did disclose to judges that Steele was seeking information to "discredit" Trump, and investigators had broader suspicions about Page's ties to the Russian government.

The report did find that some of the investigation was handled poorly (errors in some of the applications for surveillance, and a lawyer who didn't disclose his association with Steele (who created the infamous 'steele dossier') to his supervisors. I am sure the republicans will ignore the main conclusions (i.e. the 'no bias') and focus only on the errors.
 
Segnosaur said:
So, the Inspector General's report is now out. What it found:

From: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...isa-warrant-russia-probe-released/1499906001/
...the FBI was legally justified in launching its inquiry into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and that there was no “documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the FBI’s decision to conduct these operations.”
...
Republicans have complained that the FBI, in its applications to seek and renew surveillance on Page, concealed its reliance on Steele's findings. But copies of those applications released after USA TODAY and others sued showed FBI investigators did disclose to judges that Steele was seeking information to "discredit" Trump, and investigators had broader suspicions about Page's ties to the Russian government.

.
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This was all clear to anyone who isn't a trump conspiracy loon. Hell, the report even notes that the information has been publicly available through the USAToday suit. So all the IG is doing is to confirm what we knew.
 
From the Impeachment thread:

Stacyhs said:
Sadly, Trump supporters will believe Barr and Trump over the actual IG report. They'll believe this:

White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement: "The shocking report from the DOJ Inspector General shows an out-of-control FBI under President Obama and former Director Jim Comey."

President Trump, meanwhile, called the FBI's conduct "a disgrace" and said it was "far worse than ever thought possible."
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fi...eleases-findings-on-russia-probe-surveillance

Lindsey Graham is also maintaining his position as a Trump brown noser:

Graham started the presser by arguing that “the point I want to make is: let’s assume for a moment it started out OK, it sure as hell didn’t end OK.”

Despite acknowledging that “there may be reasonable differences about whether there was a lawful predicate,” Graham said that “not only did the system got off the rails” but in his view became a “criminal enterprise.”
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“Not only did the system go off the rails, but in my view became a criminal enterprise to defraud the FISA court, to deny American citizen Carter Page’s constitutional rights and to continue an operation against President Trump — as President of the United States — that I think was fundamentally flawed and unlawful,” Graham said, before saying that “these are statements I don’t make lightly” and are “based on the findings of the report.”
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https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/graham-reaction-doj-ig-report

What a putz.
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It's truly extraordinary what US politics has become.
 
The Great Zaganza said:
To be fair, they did put decades of work into it. If a single-term Trump is the payoff for that, it might not have been worth the effort.
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Donald Trump is a symptom, not a cause.

IMO there's a better than even chance that he'll get re-elected and in any case the GOP has a lock on the judiciary which will pay off for decades.

There's no reason to assume that the GOP will change tactics. They are working to ensure that they can secure the Presidency and majorities in both houses even if they lose the national popular vote by a significant margin. Playing to the religious fundamentalists, white underclass and assorted "deplorables" will continue to deliver electorally for the foreseeable future IMO.
 
The Great Zaganza said:
To be fair, they did put decades of work into it. If a single-term Trump is the payoff for that, it might not have been worth the effort.
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It's much more than Trump. The entire Republican party is corrupt and a large minority of the population supports that corruption. This is a cancer that will take decades to cure.
 
Trump Retweeted

The White House
@WhiteHouse
President @realDonaldTrump on the Department of Justice Inspector General's Report: "It's a disgrace what's happened with respect to the things that were done to our country. It should never again happen to another President."


Ronna McDaniel
@GOPChairwoman
It’s official: Under Obama and Biden, Comey’s FBI used Dem-funded smears to spy on @realDonaldTrump’s campaign, then brazenly used that false information in renewal applications.
A complete abuse of power.
 
Though the strategy is hardly new, for some reason this latest twisting of the truth is causing a marked elevation in my level of despair. I mean, it’s a carbon copy of disinformation campaigns run by what history shows were or became ruthless despots. We’re not yet there, but you can see it coming.
 
Fast Eddie B said:
Though the strategy is hardly new, for some reason this latest twisting of the truth is causing a marked elevation in my level of despair. I mean, it’s a carbon copy of disinformation campaigns run by what history shows were or became ruthless despots. We’re not yet there, but you can see it coming.
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Admittedly... there were strong signs of the GOP moving in that direction during Bush Jr's time. When it comes to Trump, it's been quite obvious that he wants to be a dictator from the start and that the GOP is perfectly willing to indulge him. How low their bottom line is, well, that wasn't obvious from the start, but it quickly became clear that all pretense of morals and principle is nothing more than pretense. The concentration camps, alone, provided enough evidence that they don't care. About morals. About principles. About nearly anything good that they claimed to care about.
 
Jeff Tiedrich tweeted:
@ItsJeffTiedrich said:
Lavrov: "President Trump, is gift for you. is commemorative pen"

Trump: "thank you, thank you. what a tremendous gift. just tremendous"

Lavrov: "please to speak louder into pen"
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Captain_Swoop said:
Trump Retweeted

The White House
@WhiteHouse
President @realDonaldTrump on the Department of Justice Inspector General's Report: "It's a disgrace what's happened with respect to the things that were done to our country. It should never again happen to another President."


Ronna McDaniel
@GOPChairwoman
It’s official: Under Obama and Biden, Comey’s FBI used Dem-funded smears to spy on @realDonaldTrump’s campaign, then brazenly used that false information in renewal applications.A complete abuse of power.
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How is that "official" when the IG report concluded exactly the opposite? The ability of the GOP to so brazenly lie...and for Trump supporters to swallow it whole...is unbelievable.

We found no evidence that the FBI attempted to place any [confidential human sources] within the Trump campaign, or task any [confidential human sources] to report on the Trump campaign,” the report found, while noting that the FBI did hold “several” meetings with “individuals affiliated with the Trump campaign, including a high-level campaign official who was not a subject of the investigation.
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ETA: This isn't the first time Barr has lied about what a report has concluded:

Well, Special Counsel Mueller did not indicate that his purpose was to leave the decision to Congress.
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(Barr)

The conclusion that Congress may apply obstruction laws to the President’s corrupt exercise of the powers of office accords with our constitutional system of checks and balances and the principle that no person is above the law
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(Mueller Report)

Barr also misrepresented Mueller's finding on obstruction of justice to the point that Mueller felt compelled to address the issue:
[A]s set forth in the report after that investigation, if we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so. We did not, however, make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime.
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Barr is nothing but a Trump crony.
 
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A little more fallout from the release of the report:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/ju...es-doj-fbi-unwanted-invasion-privacy-n1099321
Former FBI lawyer Lisa Page sued her old employers Tuesday, charging they unlawfully released inflammatory text messages between her and FBI agent Peter Strzok in order to redirect Republican anger from top officials at the Department of Justice.
...
The lawsuit was filed one day after the Justice Department's inspector general found Page "did not play a role in the decision" to open an investigation into the Trump campaign's involvement with Russia in the 2016 election, despite President Donald Trump having tweeted that she's one of the people "who started the disgraceful Witch Hunt."

I was debating whether I should have put this here or in the general Trump thread, but since it was triggered by the release of the report here was probably the best place.

I suspect she'll lose (just based on what you hear about these lawsuits). But, I do wonder if Trump or Barr will be dragged into this. Always nice when Trump has to deal with lawsuits.
 
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