Two Person World
(Everything Else is “Fake
News”)
This post is quite long but you
can read it at the original links below or follow along below. The original post follows this
major update which blasts the reporting in the original post links and
guess who rips it? Yep, the T-in-C (Twitter-in-Chief, President Donald J Trump).
Highlights from this update follow these two headlines. Quite
frankly this is getting way out of hand and as well as the Tweets from Mr. Trump, don’t you think?
Trump: “Fake news media is going crazy” over Russia
And
Trump denies Russia “conspiracy theories”
WASHINGTON (USA Today) — Facing renewed
questions and investigations about contacts between his associates and Russia
over last year's election, President Trump denounced “conspiracy theories” that
he claims are being spun by the media and illegal intelligence leaks.
Note: Trump’s 5 tweets are at the bottom of the USA Today article.
You have to read them to believe them, but this one tops them all I think.
Truly unbelievable for sure (my emphasis is added):
@realDonaldTrump: The fake news media is going crazy with their conspiracy theories and
blind hatred. @MSNBC & @CNN are unwatchable. @Foxandfriends is great!
My note: “Fox is
great” – whew boy. Yeah, and so was Herr Doktor Joseph Goebbels and his stuff great if you
followed that ilk…!!!
That Tweet and others came as The New York Times reported that phone records and intercepted
calls show that members of Trump's campaign team had repeated contacts
with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the
election in which Russia is accused of interfering via the hacking of
Democratic officials.
In another tweet,
Trump accused his critics of scandal-mongering out of deference to defeated
Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, saying in part:
“This Russian
connection non-sense is merely an attempt to cover-up the many mistakes made in Hillary
Clinton's losing campaign.”
Trump then complained about news leaks in a third dramatic tweet:
“Information is being illegally given to the failing @nytimes
& @washingtonpost by the intelligence community (NSA and FBI?).
Just like Russia.”
My Note: Wow – just like Russia – I bet our intelligence community
who helps keep us free and safe enjoy that comparison that are just like Russia!!! Astonishing.
So, is there anyone at all out there who still does not doubt the capability of
Trump to “lead” our country and who still follows and supports and trusts him?
If so, may I suggest you call 9/11 now and tell them that you “Need immediate help STAT, and transport to the
nearest mental hospital…”
Original post from here:
WASHINGTON
(NY TIMES) — Phone records and intercepted calls show that members of Donald J. Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and
other Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence
officials in the year before the election, according to four current and former
American officials.
American law
enforcement and intelligence agencies intercepted the communications around the
same time that they were discovering evidence that Russia was trying to disrupt the presidential election by hacking into the Democratic
National Committee, three of the officials said. The intelligence agencies then
sought to learn whether the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians on
the hacking or other efforts to influence the election.
The officials
interviewed in recent weeks said that, so far, they had seen no evidence of
such cooperation.
But the intercepts
alarmed American intelligence and law enforcement agencies, in part because of
the amount of contact that was occurring while Mr. Trump was speaking glowingly
about the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin. At one point last summer, Mr.
Trump said at a campaign event that he hoped Russian intelligence services had
stolen Hillary Clinton’s emails and would make them public.
The officials said
the intercepted communications were not limited to Trump campaign officials,
and included other associates of Mr. Trump. On the Russian side, the contacts
also included members of the Russian government outside of the intelligence
services, the officials said. All of the current and former officials spoke on
the condition of anonymity because the continuing investigation is classified.
The officials said
that one of the advisers picked up on the calls was Paul Manafort, who was Mr.
Trump’s campaign chairman for several months last year and had worked as a
political consultant in Russia and Ukraine. The officials declined to identify
the other Trump associates on the calls.
The call logs and intercepted communications are part of a larger trove of information that the FBI is sifting through as it investigates the links between Mr. Trump’s associates and the Russian government, as well as the DNC hack, according to federal law enforcement officials. As part of its inquiry, the FBI has obtained banking and travel records and conducted interviews, the officials said.
Mr. Manafort, who
has not been charged with any crimes, dismissed the accounts of the American
officials in a telephone interview on Tuesday. “This is absurd. I have no idea
what this is referring to. I have never knowingly spoken to Russian
intelligence officers, and I have never been involved with anything to do with
the Russian government or the Putin administration or any other issues under
investigation today.
It’s not like these people wear badges that say: I’m a
Russian intelligence officer.”
Several of Mr.
Trump’s associates, like Mr. Manafort, have done business in Russia, and it is
not unusual for American businessmen to come in contact with foreign
intelligence officials, sometimes unwittingly, in countries like Russia and
Ukraine, where the spy services are deeply embedded in society. Law enforcement
officials did not say to what extent the contacts may have been about business.
Officials would
not disclose many details, including what was discussed on the calls, which
Russian intelligence officials were on the calls, and how many of Mr. Trump’s
advisers were talking to the Russians. It is also unclear whether the
conversations had anything to do with Mr. Trump himself.
A published report
from American intelligence agencies that was made public in January concluded
that the Russian government had intervened in the election in part to help Mr.
Trump, but did not address whether any members of the Trump campaign had
participated in the effort.
The intercepted
calls are different from the wiretapped conversations last year between Michael
T. Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser, and Sergey I.
Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States. During those calls, which
led to Mr. Flynn’s resignation on Monday night, the two men discussed sanctions that
the Obama administration imposed on Russia in December.
But the cases are
part of the routine electronic surveillance of communications of foreign
officials by American intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
The White House
did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The FBI declined to
comment.
Two days after the
election in November, Sergei A. Ryabkov, the deputy Russian foreign minister, said that “there were contacts” during the campaign between Russian officials
and Mr. Trump’s team, adding: “Obviously, we
know most of the people from his entourage.” (Interview with the Russian Interfax news agency).
The Trump
transition team previously denied Mr. Ryabkov’s statement. “This is not accurate,” Hope
Hicks, a spokeswoman for Mr. Trump, said at the time.
The NSA, which monitors the communications of foreign intelligence
services, initially captured the communications between Mr. Trump’s associates
and Russians as part of routine foreign surveillance. After that, the FBI asked the NSA to collect as much information as possible about the Russian
operatives on the phone calls, and to search through troves of previous
intercepted communications that had not been analyzed.
The FBI has
closely examined at least three other people close to Mr. Trump, although it is
unclear if their calls were intercepted. They are Carter Page, a businessman
and former foreign policy adviser to the campaign; Roger Stone, a longtime
Republican operative; and Mr. Flynn. All of the men
have strongly denied they had any improper contacts with Russian officials.
As part of the
inquiry, the FBI is also trying to assess the credibility of information
contained in a dossier that was given to the bureau last year by a former
British intelligence operative. The dossier contained a raft of salacious
allegations about connections between Mr. Trump, his associates and the Russian
government. It also included unsubstantiated claims that the Russians had
embarrassing videos that could be used to blackmail Mr. Trump.
The FBI has
spent several months investigating the leads in the dossier, but has yet to
confirm any of its most explosive allegations.
Senior FBI officials believe that the former British intelligence officer who compiled the
dossier, Christopher Steele, has a credible track record, and he briefed FBI investigators last year about how he obtained the information. One American law
enforcement official said that FBI agents had made contact with some of Mr.
Steele’s sources.
The FBI’s
investigation into Mr. Manafort began last spring as an outgrowth of a criminal
investigation into his work for a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine and
for the country’s former president, Viktor F. Yanukovych.
The investigation
has focused on why he was in such close contact with Russian and Ukrainian
intelligence officials.
The bureau did not
have enough evidence to obtain a warrant for a wiretap of Mr. Manafort’s
communications, but it had the NSA closely scrutinize the communications of
Ukrainian officials he had met.
The FBI investigation is proceeding at the same time that separate investigations into
Russian interference in the election are gaining momentum on Capitol Hill.
Those investigations, by the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, are
examining not only the Russian hacking but also any contacts that Mr. Trump’s
team had with Russian officials during the campaign.
On Tuesday, top
Republican lawmakers said that Mr. Flynn should be one focus of the
investigation, and that he should be called to testify before Congress. Senator
Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said
that the news surrounding Mr. Flynn in recent days underscored “how many
questions still remain unanswered to the American people more than three months
after Election Day, including who was aware of what, and when.”
Mr. Warner said
that Mr. Flynn’s resignation would not stop the committee “from continuing to
investigate General Flynn, or any other campaign official who may have had
inappropriate and improper contacts with Russian officials prior to the
election.”
Ladies and gentlemen: This
whatever we choose to call it, this Trump-Putin/Russian connection is the story
of the Century, and truly unparalleled in American history. We need answers and yes,
“We the People” have a compelling need to know the truth – the whole truth and
nothing but the truth – a cliché, but compelling for sure.
Thanks for stopping by. This as they say, is a long way from being over.
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