Trump's Russia scandal keeps getting deeper: At this point, campaign collusion might be the least...

[DonViejo]

MONDAY, MAY 15, 2017 09:00 AM EDT

Trump’s Russia scandal keeps getting deeper: At this point, campaign collusion might be the least of his problems

Firing Comey didn't end the collusion inquiry — but Trump's clumsy coverup and financial ties are his real problem

BOB CESCA

With every passing day and every passing derp, President Donald Trump makes his campaign’s possible collusion with Russia to hijack last year’s election seem almost secondary. Surely that’s not his intention — indeed, it’s exactly the opposite. But anyone, regardless of politics, who has observed Trump’s reactions to the deepening Russia story can plainly see that the 45th president is way out of his depth.

Anyone with even a remedial understanding of politics and public relations understands that Trump is bungling the White House reaction to the ongoing investigation, turning an already harrowing treason probe into a harrowing treason probe made far more toxic by an obvious coverup.

It’s still unclear exactly what’s wrong with the president that he continues to botch and fumble the political reaction to the widening Russia scandal. We should definitely rule out, with prejudice, any argument that the president is practicing “three-dimensional chess” — that is, the “crazy like a fox” theory suggesting that Trump is working his way through a twisty Machiavellian strategy that we mere mortals are incapable of understanding. There’s nothing like that going on here. Chances are, Trump is being perpetually stymied by a combination of his desperation to kill the Russia probe; his clinical delusions, in which he believes certain things are real that clearly aren’t; his political ignorance; and, of course, his erratic kneejerk style of blurting gibberish and lies without any message discipline or self-censorship.

As a result, we’re treated to events like last week in which the president fired James Comey, the now-former FBI director who was deeply involved with investigating Trump’s links to Russia, followed by a shit-show the likes of which we have rarely witnessed in presidential politics since 1974. As if the firing of Comey wasn’t suspicious enough, the White House at first tried to claim that it happened specifically because of the way Comey had handled Hillary Clinton email scandal. That was the line throughout the first 24 hours of the aftermath.

Then came the whiplash.

Contrary to everything the White House, including Vice President Mike Pence, had said about Comey’s firing, Trump inexplicably confessed to NBC News’ Lester Holt that he fired Comey because he wanted the Russia scandal to end — which, of course, screams out obstruction of justice. Trump said to Holt, “And in fact when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story. It’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won.'”

more
http://www.salon.com/2017/05/15/trumps-russia-scandal-keeps-getting-deeper-at-this-point-campaign-collusion-might-be-the-least-of-his-problems/

[dalton99a]

1. Kick.

[Wounded Bear]

2. I expect there to be criminal conduct discovered...

going right to the top of the Trump family. At the very least, money-laundering.

[berksdem]

7. I think

you are spot on about the money-laundering. The only thing I want to know is when is the FBI going to drop the bomb and send this criminal to jail! I keep waking up each day hoping to see something!! Anything....

[L. Coyote]

3. We've reached the "pick a crime to impeach with" moment.

Link to tweet

It is going to be an interesting week. last week Trump's world imploded. This week it might super-nova in a massive explosion.

EXCLUSIVE: Sealed Indictment granted against Donald Trump

Link to tweet

Trump's New Impeachable Offenses: Obstruction of Justice, Conspiracy, Abuse of Power

[brush]

4. Stupid is as stupid does. I don't know why they keep letting him be interviewed.

He unknowingly admitted to obstruction of justice on national TV and thought he was being smart to clear up story behind the Comey firing once and for all.

And this guy is in charge of our country.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

11. His staff might be thinking "Let tRump be tRump" so we can get this misery over with.

It sounds like it is not a happy place to work, even for the zealous true believers.

[J_William_Ryan]

5. Trump has no idea what he is doing.

"It’s still unclear exactly what’s wrong with the president that he continues to botch and fumble the political reaction to the widening Russia scandal."

Actually it's very clear.

Trump has no knowledge or understanding of sound, responsible governance and public policy.

[Sunlei]

6. Trump better speak up before the Republicans who colluded with Russia to attack Americas democracy

throw trump and his good old boy "dossier-ed" adventures in Russia under the bus.

[neohippie]

8. Thank God for the Dutch

From the Netherlands comes investigations into Trump and how he does business

http://www.alternet.org/video/donald-trumps-financial-ties-russian-oligarchs-and-mobsters-detailed-new-documentary



They've posted a documentary about Trump's murky ties to the Russians and it's on YouTube

The documentary shows how Trump not only helped hide the identity of his mobster business partner, prompting an ongoing lawsuit accusing Trump of criminal racketeering, but also how Trump used that internal company crisis to demand more money. It goes on to show how Russian oligarchs saw Trump's properties as a way to get their money out of Russia, and describes the international financial networks that are akin to a pyramid scheme for money laundering. It also notes how the law firm of Trump's political adviser, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, helped set up a money-laundering account in the Netherlands used by Bayrock.

snip

"For months, the FBI has been investigating Russian interference in the American presidential elections," the fimmakers continue. "Zembla is investigating another explosive dossier concerning Trump’s involvement with the Russians: Trump’s business and personal ties to oligarchs from the former Soviet Union. Powerful billionaires suspected of money laundering and fraud, and of having contacts in Moscow and with the mafia. What do these relationships say about Trump and why does he deny them? How compromising are these dubious business relationships for the 45th president of the United States? And are there connections with the Netherlands? Zembla meets with one of Trump’s controversial cronies and speaks with a former CIA agent, fraud investigators, attorneys, and an American senator, among others."

The documentary's YouTube description barely does justice to the film's investigative reporting. While American journalists are following Trump's tweets and tantrums, they followed the money into a world where the lines between outright profiteering and organized crime are blurred. What they found on a fact-based money trail reveals much about who the real Trump is and how he operates.

[ProudProgressiveNow]

9. K&R nt

[rolypolychloe]

10. It needs to be collusion

If it is collusion, Trump was never a legitimate president. If he was never really president, under the premise that a criminal should be deprived of the fruits of his crime, all his appointments can be impeached, including his supreme court appointments. All 5-4 decisions can be invalidated or at least challenged. If it is collusion, you can challenge the legitimacy of any republican candidate that won in 2016, especially if Russian funds provided campaign cash. Maybe get control of Senate? I don't mind at all if financial crimes are lumped on top of the collusion charges, but a collusion conviction must be top priority.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

12. Trump really IS delusional

if he thinks that the decision of whether or not something should be investigated is ultimately his decision. Of course, I think that some of that delusion comes from having been a private citizen a mega-businessman for so long and never really having to be held accountable for anything. He got so used to lying, intimidating his enemies, and keeping things tied up in courts indefinitely until the people suing him ultimately gave that he thinks that he can continue to do the same thing as President and, while it's true that being President gives one a lot of power, it's also more restrictive by virtue that our system, although imperfect, was designed to hold Presidents accountable and to encourage transparency. It's faltering a bit under Trump but it is why Trump is in the trouble that he is in. It is now up to Republicans, whom currently control Congress, to step up to the plate and really do what they need to be doing more of under this President than with the last, which is to hold him accountable and let the chips fall where they may.