The Mueller Investigation

[_Maxine Waters]

Perhaps the US should use the paper type of vote we have in Australia. I got to the voting place I ask an officer who I provide my name. They cross my name off and hand me a voting slip.Cannot hack that system.

That would be discriminatory to low income and illegal alien voters. As it now stands we can't even ask them to provide a driver's license or identification card.

[_Maxine Waters]

Mueller is never going to give a press conference and say, "We've looked at the facts and found no evidence of Russian collusion." They'll hand down some indictments on a few low level people you've never heard of and it will be treated as a big find by CNN. I think many of the perjury charges against low level Trump team members who you probably have never heard of will be dropped since the Mueller lied in an attempt to dig something up against the President. As the economy continues to improve and DJT's popularity increases, secretly the Democrats are going to tell Mueller to pull the plug on this because they know if they do not, they'll be torched again in the 2018 midterm elections.

To really understand what this investigation is about given that there was no collusion nor evidence of it you have to understand that in the mind of many liberals, establishment Republicans and Washington insiders pushing this that any unscrupulous tactics justifies finding a way to get rid of Trump. They only believe in democracy when they agree with it. It's similar to LDS who talk about lying for the Lord.

[_Kevin Graham]

Mueller is never going to give a press conference and say, "We've looked at the facts and found no evidence of Russian collusion."

Why the F would Mueller do a press conference, you moron?

And yes, there is already evidence of collusion. Trump went on national television and urged Russia to engage in espionage against us, asking them to hack Hillary's emails. That's evidence of collusion.

Donald Trump's son got busted for attending a meeting with Russians who were promising campaign dirt on Hillary. That's evidence of collusion.

There’s the admission from Trump foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos that, back in April 2016, a Russian government-connected source tipped him off that the Russian government had “dirt” on Clinton, consisting of “thousands of emails.” That's evidence of collusion.

There are the reports that a GOP operative who contacted Russian hackers in search of Clinton’s deleted emails last fall suggested he was in contact with Michael Flynn, a Trump adviser, about his effort. That's evidence of collusion.

And the fact that a dozen of his campaign members got caught lying about their connections with Russians. That's evidence of collusion.

Trump's right hand man said it was treasonous for senior campaign officials to have secret meetings with Russians in Trump Tower. That's evidence of collusion.

And now we know beyond all doubt that Russia interfered with our election in an attempt to get Trump elected. That's evidence too because the whole premise of collusion rests on that fact.

Trump's son-in law wanted a secret back-channel of communication with Russia. That's evidence of collusion.

If Obama had done any of this you're be calling to for his head on a pike.

The rest of your stupid rant is just Alex Jones crap.

It took years before the Watergate investigation was able to get an indictment and along the way Nixon was saying the same stupid crap Trump is now saying about how he's innocent, it is all a witch hunt, it is a waste of tax payer time, etc. He doesn't come across as an innocent person. He comes across as a man who is upset because he isn't able to obstruct justice this time without having Republicans in Congress turn on him and impeach him for that alone.

Having said that, it is very unlikely he could get an indictment because collusion would be extremely difficult to prove. The only reason Nixon got impeached is because he made the mistake of making tapes and they got into the hands of the prosecutor.

[_MeDotOrg]

[_MeDotOrg]

Mueller is never going to give a press conference and say, "We've looked at the facts and found no evidence of Russian collusion."

Personally, I love to see our President have a Press Conference. He hasn't had one if over a year.

The Daily Beast:

A little more than three weeks after his inauguration, Donald Trump gave his first-ever press conference as president.

Over the course of 77 dizzying minutes, Trump told journalists hastily corralled into the East Room that Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election was “fake news,” asked an African-American reporter whether she was friends with the Congressional Black Congress, and declared that members of the media who printed leaks from within his own White House should be “ashamed of themselves.”

One year later, that circus-like exchange remains Trump’s first, last, and only formal press conference—the longest period of time without a solo press conference held by an American president in at least half a century.

According to records stretching back to the Coolidge administration and compiled by the American Presidency Project, Trump has gone longer without conducting a formal solo press conference than any president since at least Lyndon Johnson. By the end of his first year in office, President Barack Obama had held 11 solo press conferences; President George W. Bush had held five.

So if you like Press conferences, let's have our President give one. Let's ask him why he hasn't enforced sanctions against Russia.

[_honorentheos]

Mueller is never going to give a press conference and say, "We've looked at the facts and found no evidence of Russian collusion." They'll hand down some indictments on a few low level people you've never heard of and it will be treated as a big find by CNN. I think many of the perjury charges against low level Trump team members who you probably have never heard of will be dropped since the Mueller lied in an attempt to dig something up against the President. As the economy continues to improve and DJT's popularity increases, secretly the Democrats are going to tell Mueller to pull the plug on this because they know if they do not, they'll be torched again in the 2018 midterm elections.

To really understand what this investigation is about given that there was no collusion nor evidence of it you have to understand that in the mind of many liberals, establishment Republicans and Washington insiders pushing this that any unscrupulous tactics justifies finding a way to get rid of Trump. They only believe in democracy when they agree with it. It's similar to LDS who talk about lying for the Lord.

Here's a few selections of the language from the current indictment that are really worth thinking through for their implications -
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/ar ... ia/553601/

Defendant INTERNET RESEARCH AGENCY LLC (''ORGANIZATION") is a Russian organization engaged in operations to interfere with elections and political processes.

Defendants, posing as U.S. persons and creating false U.S. personas, operated social media pages and groups designed to attract U.S. audiences. These groups and pages, which addressed divisive U.S. political and social issues, falsely claimed to be controlled by U.S. activists when, in fact, they were controlled by Defendants. Defendants also used the stolen identities of real U.S. persons to post on ORGANIZATION-controlled social media accounts. Over time, these social media accounts became Defendants' means to reach significant numbers of Americans for purposes of interfering with the U.S. political system, including the presidential election of 2016.

Defendant ORGANIZATION had a strategic goal to sow discord in the U.S. political system, including the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Defendants posted derogatory information about a number of candidates, and by early to mid-2016, Defendants' operations included supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump ("Trump Campaign") and disparaging Hillary Clinton.

Some Defendants, posing as U.S. persons and without revealing their Russian association, communicated with unwitting individuals associated with the Trump Campaign and with other political activists to seek to coordinate political activities.

The ORGANIZATION employed hundreds of individuals for its online operations, ranging from creators of fictitious personas to technical and administrative support. The ORGANIZATION's annual budget totaled the equivalent of millions of U.S. dollars.

The ORGANIZATION sought, in part, to conduct what it called "information warfare against the United States of America" through fictitious U.S. personas on social media platforms and other Internet-based media.

By in or around May 2014, the ORGANIZATION's strategy included interfering with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, with the stated goal of "spread[ing] distrust towards the candidates and the political system in general."

Defendants and their co-conspirators, through fraud and deceit, created hundreds of social media accounts and used them to develop certain fictitious U.S. personas into "leader[ s] of public opinion" in the United States.

To hide their Russian identities and ORGANIZATION affiliation, Defendants and their coconspirators-particularly POLOZOV and the ORGANIZATION's IT department-purchased space on computer servers located inside the United States in order to set up virtual private networks ("VPNs"). Defendants and their co-conspirators connected from Russia to the U.S.—based infrastructure by way of these VPNs and conducted activity inside the United States—including accessing online social media accounts, opening new accounts, and communicating with real U.S. persons—while masking the Russian origin and control of the activity.

In or around 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators also used, possessed, and transferred, without lawful authority, the social security numbers and dates of birth of real U.S. persons without those persons' knowledge or consent. Using these means of identification, Defendants and their co-conspirators opened accounts at PayPal, a digital payment service provider; created false means of identification, including fake driver's licenses; and posted on ORGANIZATION-controlled social media accounts using the identities of these U.S. victims. Defendants and their co-conspirators also obtained, and attempted to obtain, false identification documents to use as proof of identity in connection with maintaining accounts and purchasing advertisements on social media sites.

By 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators used their fictitious online personas to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election. They engaged in operations primarily intended to communicate derogatory information about Hillary Clinton, to denigrate other candidates such as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and to support Bernie Sanders and then-candidate Donald Trump.

On or about February 10, 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators internally circulated an outline of themes for future content to be posted to ORGANIZATION-controlled social media accounts. Specialists were instructed to post content that focused on "politics in the USA" and to "use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest (except Sanders and Trump- we support them)."

On or about November 2, 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators used the same account to post allegations of "#VoterFraud by counting tens of thousands of ineligible mail in Hillary votes being reported in Broward County, Florida."

From at least April 2016 through November 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators, while concealing their Russian identities and ORGANIZATION affiliation through false personas, began to produce, purchase, and post advertisements on U.S. social media and other online sites expressly advocating for the election of then-candidate Trump or expressly opposing Clinton. Defendants and their co-conspirators did not report their expenditures to the Federal Election Commission, or register as foreign agents with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Defendants and their co-conspirators thereafter destroyed evidence for the purpose of impeding the investigation. On or about September 13, 2017, KAVERZINA wrote in an email to a family member: "We had a slight crisis here at work: the FBI busted our activity (not a joke). So, I got preoccupied with covering tracks together with the colleagues." KAVERZINA further wrote, "I created all these pictures and posts, and the Americans believed that it was written by their people."

On or about August 2, 20I6, and August 3, 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators, through the use of a stolen identity of a real U.S. person, T.W., sent emails to certain grassroots groups located in Florida that stated in part: My name is [T.W.] and I represent a conservative patriot community named as “Being Patriotic.” … So we’re gonna organize a flash mob across Florida to support Mr. Trump. We clearly understand that the elections winner will be predestined by purple states. And we must win Florida. … We got a lot of volunteers in ~25 locations and it’s just the beginning. We’re currently choosing venues for each location and recruiting more activists. This is why we ask you to spread this information and participate in the flash mob.

Those are just a few selected quotes from the indictment.

[_EAllusion]

I may be mistaken, but I think the most recent indictments are the first official confirmation we've had that Russia was actively attempting to bolster the Stein campaign to peel away votes from Clinton. Anyone paying attention already knew this, but I haven't seen it show up in any charges or intelligence conclusions up to this point.

[_honorentheos]

cont.

Keeping that in mind, reflect on the following, Ajax.

The President was briefed on what the intelligence community knew about Russian meddling in the election early on in his Presidency. And his response? Fake news and blocking bi-partisan sanctions from being imposed on Russia for messing with our democracy.

Go back and read the posts on this board from August to the election. There are countless examples just from our small little community of how effective the Russian campaign was in creating disenchantment with our democratic system, with making people want to just shut off and tune out. Is it a coincidence that the Russians were pushing Sanders and Trump and look at who people were supporting.

But even more crazy is this: Why did so many Trump affiliated people lie when asked about their interactions with Russians? No one is now disputing that Russian interference was occurring, so we can't assume they were lying because there was nothing to the claims the Russians were attempting to manipulate the election and voter participation.

Is it because they are just habitual liars? That seems like a genuine possibility. It could also be because the other shoe has yet to drop, though. Either way, the hard reality is that you are the willing participant in a propaganda campaign against the United States of America and continue to play the role of dumb-fuck Russian dupe.

[_honorentheos]

I may be mistaken, but I think the most recent indictments are the first official confirmation we've had that Russia was actively attempting to bolster the Stein campaign to peel away votes from Clinton. Anyone paying attention already knew this, but I haven't seen it show up in any charges or intelligence conclusions up to this point.

It was the first I'd heard it confirmed.

I'm curious how people's perspectives are affected by reading the Russian campaign included pushing support of Sanders? Does it matter to anyone? I'm curious because it leaves open the crazy reality that the only reason we didn't have the two primary winners going into the General Election be the two directly being pushed by Russian trolls is the Democrat primary relying on super delegates to offset populist irrationality...

[_EAllusion]

Honorentheos -

I think part of the game here that Ajax is into is hyper-focus on the term collusion. We already know with rock-solid evidence that Donald Trump was aware of Russian attempts to alter the election while he was actively running interference for them. We know with less solid, but probable evidence that Donald Trump was aware of ongoing illegal activity to the same effect and ran interference for them. The man held a press conference and called on Russia to engage in espionage against his opponent, for goodness sake.

We know that Donald Trump is quite aware of efforts ongoing even right now and has systematically downplayed it in public relations and avoided protective measures like enforcing sanctions passed by Congress with veto-proof majorities. This level of complicity already seems traitorous and definitely is the president working to enable a hostile foreign power to undermine US democracy to his benefit. That's appalling enough. Ajax is really looking for is smoking gun evidence that rises to the level of a something like a videotaped confession that Trump actively coordinated with Russians to this effect. But that almost misses the point, doesn't it? Yes, there is several points of circumstantial evidence already out in the public that Trump may have knowingly participated in coordination with Russia for election interference, including an email trail of his high level campaign reps trying to collude with Russia that they lied about, so it is natural to want to rebut strident proclamations that there is no evidence at all out there. But really, that Trump has behaved in complicit fashion with it and has systematically behaved in such a way that obstructs investigators and misinforms the public about it is already enough to condemn him in the harshest terms.

All that said, if there is absolutely nothing to this whole Russian connection story, why have high level Trump officials been repeatedly caught lying about it? Do they just like to lie? Ajax has to account for this fact somehow.