Current Affairs Donald Trump POS: Judgement cometh and that right soon

[abelard]

As an ally? The main US base in the region is there, they have diplomatic contacts with everyone (which makes discreet talks a lot easier) and they aren't going to drag the US into a war against one of their (the Qatari's) enemies. Even the terrorism funding that the Saudis are so enraged by - the backing of the Muslim Brotherhood and allowing al-Jazeera to operate - is something that is in the interests of the US and the West, given that the MB are a political movement who stand for election and a free press is vital to a free society.

They have funded very dodgy people as well of course, but so has everyone else.

Well, there is that base, I suppose. I ask in part to try to make sense of what the Americans think they're doing.

I wouldn't want to dox myself, or even less to seem self-important (I do not even begin to exist in this world), but I used to hold a position where I often had the chance to speak candidly with foreign policy practitioners, for lack of a better word. And it was always striking just how loathed Qatar is in the Arab world (to say nothing of Israel). The Muslim Brotherhood is decidedly not in what the US sees as in its interests in the Middle East, nor, public rhetoric notwithstanding, are free presses or societies, all of which Obama made very clear after the Egyptian elections. Beyond that, Qatar more than anyone has worked to see that ISIS and Al-Qaeda are sustained.

I would be surprised if Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and friends haven't been pushing for something like this for years, finding themselves pleasantly surprised when Trump, who couldn't find any of them on a map, and who agrees with whatever he's been told most recently, abruptly signed on. But one would have thought White House babysitters like Mattis and McMaster would have intervened - or are scrambling to do so now.

 

[LinekersLegs]

But special investigations by nature tend to cover far more comprehensive ground than the scandals that prompt them - nobody can really predict at the outset what they'll uncover. And with a figure like Trump, there's inevitably an entire bouquet of liabilities and vulnerabilities beyond just Russia.

Aye, real estate is a notoriously shady investment area at the best of times even before you bring in Trumps questionable ethics and Russian meddling. Wouldn't be at all surprised with a Kushner "pay for play" style deal where Russians get the admin dropping sanctions in return for funding his New York building or that in the past Trump had dabbled in money laundering when US lenders wouldn't loan to him. Trump foundation doesn't look squeaky clean either.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danale...charity-money-into-his-business/#786d42956b4a

If Mueller does head off into other areas it seems he'll have experienced staff
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/06/mueller-russia-probe-trump-239163
But Mueller’s biggest hire to date was Weissmann, who is taking a leave from his current post leading the Justice Department’s criminal fraud section. The two men have a long history together at the FBI, where Weissmann served as both the bureau’s general counsel from 2011 to 2013 and as Mueller’s special counsel in 2005.

Weissmann’s prosecution record includes overseeing the investigations into more than 30 people while running the Enron Task Force, including CEOs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. And while working in the U.S. attorney’s office in the eastern district of New York, he tried more than 25 cases involving members of the Genovese, Colombo and Gambino crime families.

 

[abelard]

Aye, real estate is a notoriously shady investment area at the best of times even before you bring in Trumps questionable ethics and Russian meddling. Wouldn't be at all surprised with a Kushner "pay for play" style deal where Russians get the admin dropping sanctions in return for funding his New York building or that in the past Trump had dabbled in money laundering when US lenders wouldn't loan to him. Trump foundation doesn't look squeaky clean either.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danale...charity-money-into-his-business/#786d42956b4a

If Mueller does head off into other areas it seems he'll have experienced staff
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/06/mueller-russia-probe-trump-239163
But Mueller’s biggest hire to date was Weissmann, who is taking a leave from his current post leading the Justice Department’s criminal fraud section. The two men have a long history together at the FBI, where Weissmann served as both the bureau’s general counsel from 2011 to 2013 and as Mueller’s special counsel in 2005.

Weissmann’s prosecution record includes overseeing the investigations into more than 30 people while running the Enron Task Force, including CEOs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. And while working in the U.S. attorney’s office in the eastern district of New York, he tried more than 25 cases involving members of the Genovese, Colombo and Gambino crime families.

Indeed. There's almost no part of the world where his companies haven't conjured up suspicions.

I'd love for Mueller and friends to get to the bottom of the Azerbaijan affair, for example:

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/13/donald-trumps-worst-deal

 

[DanEFC92]

 

[DanEFC92]

 

[RAFUH]

This is one reason why I'm still skeptical Russian collusion with Trump himself will be found, although it is an unusual argument for a Republican senator to be making.

I am going with collusion by proxy or ignorance.

Collusion has a connotation of knowing what you are doing is wrong. I don't think there is a lot of right vs wrong in Trump's world.

 

[SerenityNigh]

If not this, something soon will be messy for the whole Trump clan

 

[abelard]

I am going with collusion by proxy or ignorance.

Collusion has a connotation of knowing what you are doing is wrong. I don't think there is a lot of right vs wrong in Trump's world.

If there is any actual collusion, it is far more likely to be the result of proxy or ignorance.

But I think the real scandal, if there is one, will be obstruction of justice, because unlike collusion by proxy or ignorance, it would involve Trump directly, and with foresight and deliberation.

Whatever the case may be, Trump's potential deposal would ideally come only after an election of some sort - most likely, the midterms.

Decent Americans are in danger of overplaying their hand if all they can show is smoke without fire. The punishment has to be seen to fit the crime. Trump's small band of active supporters has a much lower impropriety threshold than most of us in the developed world, but there are still enough of them and their guns that it would cause lasting and possibly quite violent damage should this standard not be met. After all, these are people who have invested their very identities in their own sense of victimhood, which they will not relinquish without overwhelming evidence, or a very destructive fight.

Electoral outcomes, on the other hand, are harder to contest than "fake news" (aka reality, which has a well-known liberal bias).

 

[DanEFC92]

 

[DanEFC92]

 

[verreauxi]

Even the despicables don't like working for the despicable.

 

[RAFUH]

Think we can all agree we wouldn't want to be left alone with Trump



Comey Told Sessions: Don’t Leave Me Alone With Trump

WASHINGTON — The day after President Trump asked James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director, to end an investigation into his former national security adviser, Mr. Comey confronted Attorney General Jeff Sessions and said he did not want to be left alone again with the president, according to current and former law enforcement officials

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/06/...nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&_r=0

 

[verreauxi]

This Russian-Qatari connection is interesting...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ted-fake-news-story-that-led-to-crisis-report

 

[LinekersLegs]

If there is any actual collusion, it is far more likely to be the result of proxy or ignorance.

But I think the real scandal, if there is one, will be obstruction of justice, because unlike collusion by proxy or ignorance, it would involve Trump directly, and with foresight and deliberation.

Whatever the case may be, Trump's potential deposal would ideally come only after an election of some sort - most likely, the midterms.

Decent Americans are in danger of overplaying their hand if all they can show is smoke without fire. The punishment has to be seen to fit the crime. Trump's small band of active supporters has a much lower impropriety threshold than most of us in the developed world, but there are still enough of them and their guns that it would cause lasting and possibly quite violent damage should this standard not be met. After all, these are people who have invested their very identities in their own sense of victimhood, which they will not relinquish without overwhelming evidence, or a very destructive fight.

Electoral outcomes, on the other hand, are harder to contest than "fake news" (aka reality, which has a well-known liberal bias).

Hard to see this, on top of the request to Comey, as anything other than a least flirting with obstruction of an investigation.

Coats testimony tomorrow could be interesting.

 

[Huyton Layne]

So sad and pathetic. Such a little man.

http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-funneled-kids-cancer-charity-money-businesses-621927

Excerpts:

Eric Trump, who first hosted the Eric Trump Foundation golf invitational in 2007, has always maintained that he is able to hold the event on Trump Organization courses free of charge, and that much of the food, drinks, entertainment and equipment is either comped or paid for by sponsors. According to tax filings obtained by Forbes, the event expenses averaged around $50,000 for each of its first four years.

Then, in 2011, the cost rose to $142,000. This was allegedly because Trump learned that the course was being used without charge, and became upset. "Mr. Trump had a cow," Ian Gillule, a former membership and marketing director at Trump National Westchester, told Forbes. "He flipped. He was like, 'We're donating all of this stuff, and there's no paper trail? No credit?' And he went nuts. He said, 'I don't care if it's my son or not—everybody gets billed.'"

Trump then essentially laundered money through the tournament by having his foundation donate to his son, in order to cover the event fees that the Trump Organization was now being paid.

By 2015, the event's expenses had reached $322,000. Forbes spoke with golf tournament organizers and the former head golf pro at Trump National Westchester, and no one could fathom how a one-day charity event could cost so much money.