Really well actually. It has forced Jr. to change his story multiple times.

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

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I actually agree with your take, so it is interesting to see stories in the last few weeks where obama insiders are bagging on him for "not doing more"; I think the latest is his former leaker in chief, nat sec advisor Tom Donilon.

Sure, someone covertly working for the Russians are going to freely admit that they are doing so. I'm also sure there would be a clear paper trail that clearly shows who all the Russian operatives are. And a Russian operative is going to be completely honest about their activities when confronted.

Breaking news this morning. Personally, I'm getting tired of all the leaks on both sides. I get the sense that there are competing factions of leakers, and I think what they're all doing is illegal and wrong. So I'm not seeking out the actual email, nor will I give it a shit-ton of credence. I'm increasingly in the "let Mueller do his job" camp. (yes, I know arguing here is pretty much the opposite of that - it's a problem I have).

Now there is something we can agree on!

NYTimes now has the email (thread).

What's the next defense? That the NYTimes is being duped by #FakeEmail?

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"Go yell at an M&M"

https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/884789418455953413/photo/1

If a Russian contacts you and tells you they have dirt of a candidate and alarm bells aren't running in your head, you're stupid or don't give a shit about doing the right thing. So you're either a dupe or worse. And being a dupe doesn't absolve you from anything.

3 anonymous sources? How are those working out for NYT and CNN so far?

I'd say having anonymous sources has worked extremely well for the NYTimes. They have been right on just about 100% of their stories. Can you point to a single event in the last year where 3 anonymous sources were all wrong?

I want to see the email 1st.

A confirmed e-mail will not change any Trump supporters mind. They are in it for the long haul.

LOL The high and mighty have spoken!!! Riiiiiiiight. Im sure thats what anyone running a campaign would do. Welp.. It is does look really really bad for Don Jr and I will interested to see what if anything comes of this.

Not really high and mighty. Self preservation is a better motivation. You have to be pretty stupid to not realize how many things can go wrong in such a situation.

That doesn't appear to be the whole email chain, as it seems to start in the middle about the meeting, and not about why the meeting occurred.

Did you note the reference to the "Russian government attorney"? You know, that woman who is not a Russian government attorney?

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"Go yell at an M&M"

Damn....


http://www.politico.com/...ussian-lawyer-240402

You might want to do some research on campaign finance laws and how it relates to foreign nationals. I'm not sure Jr's lawyer is very thrilled with him putting that out there.

ETA - though this puts a little more mud in the water on that front than some others I have read

http://www.nbcnews.com/...n-even-crime-n781571

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

You gonna give them some credit now?

You mean like this?

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/14/us/the-2000-campaign-the-debate-gore-aide-receives-then-lets-go-of-hot-potato.html


http://articles.latimes.com/2000/sep/14/news/mn-20941

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Kevin

http://kevinmetcalfe.dreamhosters.com
My Strava

Obama has the blood of Russian orphans on his hands.

Here is the reason Putin retaliated with the adoption ban: a bipartisan bill signed by Obama.

The Magnitsky Act, formally known as the Russia and Moldova Jackson-Vanik Repeal and Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012, is a bipartisan bill passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Obama in November–December 2012, intending to punish Russian officials responsible for the death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in a Moscow prison in 2009.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnitsky_Act

Who knew that #FakeNews started in 2000?

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"Go yell at an M&M"

“The Crown prosecutor of Russia met with his father Aras this morning and in their meeting offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father,” Goldstone writes. “This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump — helped along by Aras and Emin.”

Wow. I wonder what documents the Trump administration received.

Trump Jr. said they didn't receive anything of value but he has consistently lied so you can pretty much ignore what he says. You can bet that Mueller and the other teams investigating the relationships are going to be looking into this.

Yup! I'm happy to admit when I am wrong. I said earlier this looks really bad for Don Jr. I wonder what his lawyer thinks of him releasing the email. I hope to god he testifies on live TV in front of the Senate. Will be entertaining to say the least. I dont know campaign law at all but if laws were broken with this, I believe he should be prosecuted. Now the question becomes what did Sr know and when or if he knew at all. Short of a confession I doubt we will ever know that.

I said earlier this looks really bad for Don Jr. I wonder what his lawyer thinks of him releasing the email. I hope to god he testifies on live TV in front of the Senate. Will be entertaining to say the least. I dont know campaign law at all but if laws were broken with this, I believe he should be prosecuted.

Would Trump Jr. face charges if he is a private citizen?

Trump Jr. is the one coming out but Kirshner was also involved along with Mannafort so I assume they would be in the same position.

No the question becomes what did Sr know and when or if he knew at all. Short of a confession I doubt we will ever know that.

Yes, you can bet that there is no documentation to link Trump to those conversations and if there is, I would be very surprised. There is also probably a zero chance that Trump didn't know about the meetings but it will be impossible to prove.

If I'm not mistaken, he released them just minutes before NYT did, so I'm guessing his lawyers were advocating for it, getting out ahead of it, and all.


Trump has been the quintessential politician in stepping on or jettisoning anyone and everyone who creates a problem for him, so it will be interesting to see how he responds now that the inevitable has happened.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

So, let's play this out. Don Jr. has some dialogue/meetings with what appears to be Russian operative(s) promising dirt on HRC. Meeting(s) take place and either no dirt was forthcoming or not anything we've know about or have seen.

Pres Trump has denied any knowledge of such meetings or emails, etc.

Either no useful information was provided, or useful information was provided and used by the Trump campaign, not sure at this point.

What are the realistic outcomes? Trump Jr charged with a crime? Wouldn't dad just pardon him? Pres Trump charged with collusion and/or other crimes? Seems very unlikely given what information is out there at the moment on this topic.

Brings the entire election into question and 'Pubs get on board with tossing Trump and his family out of DC? (I can actually see this happening, frankly).

Other realistic outcomes that could happen? If there's a there there - what are the realistic outcomes?

I guess, again, it depends on how we're defining there.

If we're defining it as a core Trump Campaign advisor being shown to have knowingly met with a proxy of the Russian government for the purpose of receiving material that was likely obtained via espionage, and then lying about it and denying it didn't happen, it seems pretty clear that there is there.

I have no idea how that would affect Donald Sr., legally speaking. Probably not at all, though his constant, otherwise inexplicable pattern of denying, defusing, and deflecting Russia's involvement in the election, even at the expense of our own intelligence community's reputation, would certainly give the impression he was operating that way to protect himself or his family.

We're treading squarely in Occam's Razor territory now.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

Other realistic outcomes that could happen? If there's a there there - what are the realistic outcomes?

One of the things that confuses me is that there are investigations to see if there was collusion between the Trump administration and the Russians involving the election. If the Trump administration met with a Russian to talk about some dirt on Hillary, that appears to me to be collusion.

So, then what? As another article posted above notes, it may not be illegal to collude so then why are there so many investigations into collusion?

It appears they it is illegal if the Russians gave something of value. I assume information has value so how do you quantify it? Do they have to prove that the information they received changed the vote?

I don't think there is any way for this to end other than establishing that the Trump administration did work with the Russians, the Russians were involved but no one can prove the impact so nothing more can be done.