The worst espionage case ever?

[kentuck]

Vladimir Putin puts one of his agents, the American, Donald Trump, into the White House.

General Flynn is busted for lying to the FBI about his phone calls with the Russian officials, even before sworn into office. The writing was on the wall.

For four years, the Russian agent, Trump, did every thing imaginable to hurt the US and its allies and to help Russia and Vladimir Putin. In one instance, in Helsinki, defended Putin over his own intelligence.

Ridiculed and attacked NATO and the European leaders, threatening them with large fines in order to stay in the organization.

Accepted Russian assistance, including money thru the NRA, to help Republicans in different elections in different states.

Nobody knows how much intelligence was passed to third parties? Nobody imagined that the Russian "agent" would steal the most secret intelligence documents in the US Government.
But, he did.

The experts will assess the damage and it will be huge. There will be nothing like it in the history of this country. Every other case pales in comparison.

The challenge now is for the American people to come to grips with the truth. The Republican Party leaders were used by a Russian "agent" to betray this country.

Their denial is as "extreme" as their political positions.

[Claustrum]

1. My feeling is, a lot of our IC agency will have to rebuild or give up their methods of collecting

intelligence. We will probably not find out how far reaching the secret documents he took with him. It's hard to imagine TFG isn't Putin's puppet when he basically destroyed our intelligent gathering methods on his way out of office.

[kentuck]

5. By the end of his 4 years, he was able to put a loyalist and a little-known Congressman....

...named John Ratcliffe in charge of the DNI, and with access to all intelligence from every department of government. He had little foreign experience and was a sycophant that said something nice about Trump and was appointed to the position. It made the access easy.

[Lonestarblue]

12. I hope the FBI is also investigating Ratcliffe.

The Situation Room is the only place in the White House where the most secret of these top secret documents can be viewed, yet Trump took documents like this to his living quarters. Why was Ratcliffe not protecting national defense and insisting that the documents be returned? It seems we need some new rules for the DNI.

[lapfog_1]

2. A lot of highly placed Russians fell out of windows or staircases in the last 5 years

You have to sort of imagine that some of them might have been our assets and Trump passed along their names to his handlers.

[AllaN01Bear]

3. pushed.

[Sogo]

24. Recall the story that Rachel did, some (#?) years ago:

a Russian person was removed from a meeting in progress by having a bag thrown over his head, and he was taken from the room. Implication was that he was a double agent. I believe it was in relation to the 2016 US election, with news coming out about some aspect of Russia's involvement....

[Botany]

4. 3 Americans have been convicted of espionage @ the level where Trump might have been at:

1) The Rosenbergs both executed

2) FBI agent Robert Hanssen 15 life terms @ the US Fed Super Max Prison @ Florence, Colorado

So what should Trump get for this?

?20220831063604

[Lonestarblue]

13. Depends on whether the FBI can prove that he shared any top secret information with another

country. If so, definitely life in prison because I think execution would be off the table today.

If there’s no proof that he shared the information, I think he might not even get jail time, assuming he’s even prosecuted of course. If he is prosecuted and found guilty, I think the DOJ would be lenient, giving too much deference again to a former president, and go for home confinement, confiscation of all passports, gag orders on using social media, and agreement to never again run for public office.

[Mr. Ected]

6. The crimes happened. The evidence has been presented and all of our eyes have seen it.

Sure, due process and all that.

But in the end, the question will be, what punishment fits these particular crimes?

"There is no precedent for an ex-president to be held criminally liable for anything".

"There is no precedent for an ex-president to have knowingly and maliciously defied the government on matters concerning national security".

They need to drop the anvil on this guy. A light sentence or no sentence at all would have catastrophic effects in the future. See Ford's pardon of Nixon for support.

[KPN]

7. Couldn't agree more.

[kentuck]

8. I don't believe they would be going thru this investigation if they were not going to indict.

It is just a question of when?

My advice to Benedict Donald is to "get an effing good defense attorney".

[liberalla]

20. That's step one! Step two is PAY him/her, and step three is LISTEN to them (take their advice).

I expect him to run around willy-nilly and continue shouting his head off for a while yet.
He's not going to suddenly "behave" and conduct himself appropriately yet... Not a chance!

[Hermit-The-Prog]

9. Lock him up, NOW. Get him to flip on the rest of the Gangsters Of Putin.

[Joinfortmill]

10. I agree. It's very, very bad.

[Wild blueberry]

11. Asset, not agent

Flush is too ignorant and indiscreet to be an agent. Putin's ASSet.
Now, whether his first (abruptly deceased) and third wives are agents, well.......?
All in all, way too many Russian contacts to be coincidence.

[KS Toronado]

14. If true

"Accepted Russian assistance, including money thru the NRA, to help Republicans in different elections
in different states."

I hope Biden mentions this in his broadcast tomorrow. Ds running for office should also.

[Bo Zarts]

15. Don't forget Melania Knauss Trump

I think she is a cog in that wheel of espionage.

[Evolve Dammit]

16. "But he did." Good post

[Submariner]

17. This would have been an unbelievable Alfred Hitchcock movie

so much intrigue and high treason to jam into a 2 hour movie.

Ken Burns PBS documentary staff might as well get going now making a Trump documentary and title it "Two Weeks".

[Wednesdays]

26. Two Months. nt

[H2O Man]

18. Recommended.

I'm just waking up. The news is overwhelming. This is indeed the worst case ever.

[kentuck]

19. I'm sure it is worse than what anyone here has said.

It is always worse with Trump. It is overwhelming.

[H2O Man]

22. The DOJ filing:

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/30/politics/read-doj-response-trump-special-master/index.html

[kentuck]

30. Hmmm.. web server is down...

message recd.

[calimary]

21. Yeah, same here.

Gobsmacked before even the first cup of coffee!

[H2O Man]

23. I'm reading the filing,

and posted a link to it above (#22) My head is spinning. I guess that should satisfy those who question if the DOJ/FBI are doing their job!

[bucolic_frolic]

25. The fallout will be ongoing and extensive

They can assess all they want, that assessment may not be total and comprehensive. They may not be able to admit to the damage at some points. It may take a large amount of time and resources to asses some components. Assessment may require tests of many types, and reassessment. Alternative and replacement methods may need to be created. Disinformation may or may not be effective.

[Ferrets are Cool]

27. The movie will be riviting IF the ending is a good one.

[BlueWavePsych]

28. Somebody has to go to jail for this!

[Xoan]

29. Benedict Arnold is smiling.

His tenure is over.

[Mike Niendorff]

31. Republican leadership wasn't used, wasn't played.

They were in on it, 100%.

Whether through compromise, greed or ambition, they were very very much on board, and we cannot afford to give them a pass just because a more obvious participant got caught.


MDN