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Special counsel is investigating Trump for possible obstruction of justice, officials

Banzai

Member
The one thing that really makes me question this is how buddy-buddy Trump has been with Russia from day -500. It's just not a normal position, especially from a Republican.

Maybe his corrupt aides influenced him, maybe he's just a big fan of Russia for some other unknown reason, but it's always been weird that he won't say one bad word about Russia or Putin regarding anything. Somehow he considers them our best ally and no one has put worth any good reasoning for why that is.

True. I suppose we can't do much but wait for official word once the investigations are complete.
This whole thing will sure make an interesting documentary to watch a few months down the line, though.
 
Not a surprise and this was likely already happening. The real piece of news I want to know about is what evidence do they have to go on.

You don't just investigate the President on just suspicion. That said with Trump who knows.

This is not a big mystery is it? When it comes to obstruction of justice specifically, the Comey hearings / memos in combination with Trump's public statements would be enough to start digging for corroboration, right? They still have to turn evidence into proof but there seems to be enough there.

It's the collusion/conspiracy/money laundering charges that are murky from the outside looking in.
 

numble

Member
I really can't imagine a halfway realistic scenario where the Senate has to even vote on conviction. Especially when it's so easy to simply bump him off the ballot.

An impeachment and trial started in 2019 is going to last well into 2020.

The Clinton impeachment and trial only lasted 2 months.
 

cameron

Member
The times story ends with this juicy tidbit

https://nytimes.com/2017/06/14/us/politics/mueller-trump-special-counsel-investigation.html

DCU2KwBWAAEYqkA.jpg

WaPo, NYT, and WSJ all came bearing gifts last night. As noted by the BBC's coverage: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40283036
VIJFzXI.png
 

Vagabundo

Member
I think Trump has a lot of dirty money tied up overseas, laundered through his businesses. Knowing the type of guy he is he wouldn't give too shits about laws or who he deals with.

It will get messy if they manage to follow the breadcrumbs. We'll know they are getting close when he starts panicking.

How come there is no thread about this on r/the_d?
��

There are a few rage threads and oblique references. But they mostly ignore anything too negative until their King tells them what to think.

"Trump now has LEGAL STANDING to SHUT Special Counsel DOWN , They ILLEGALLY leaked investigation details"

naw naw naw naw I'm not listening.
 

Razmos

Member
You might be missing the literal 4D chess that's being played here.

They can play whatever cards they want and still be holding their best cards for later use.

Who's to say they're not testing reactions from the Trump administration?
Wait so are we playing chess or cards, I'm confused
 

benjipwns

Banned
The Clinton impeachment and trial only lasted 2 months.
Yeah but they're going to have to get enough of the Mueller investigation completed, then hold hearings and then move it to the Senate with who knows how many of them out campaigning for President. Plus the budget and everything else.

GOP had the advantage of lame duck and a non-election period to do all of that. Plus it was the start of the term.
 

shiba5

Member
The one thing that really makes me question this is how buddy-buddy Trump has been with Russia from day -500. It's just not a normal position, especially from a Republican.

Maybe his corrupt aides influenced him, maybe he's just a big fan of Russia for some other unknown reason, but it's always been weird that he won't say one bad word about Russia or Putin regarding anything. Somehow he considers them our best ally and no one has put worth any good reasoning for why that is.

He's a fan because they gave him lots of money when no one else would.
 
Yeah, thats my take.

Trump working with some unsavory contacts to get a leg up and hurt Hillary during the election absolutely seems like something he'd be all for. Its just playing hardball right? Politics is a dirty business and he knows it better than anyone, right? He knows it first hand. And lying and avoiding any and all personal responsibility is second nature to this guy. We've all seen it, time and time again.

This whole idea that he was blissfully unaware of the machinations of his close inner circle, who worked collectively and in secret without any input from their big boss doesn't pass the smell test at all.

I agree with this.

Also if you look at Trump's past dealings, he's not above dealing with shady characters in order advance his financial agenda. Rachel Maddow a few months ago did some good segments on the Trump family's questionable business dealings in the middle east and Asia. One business partner actually had mob ties.

Trump may not involve himself with the nitty-gritty details, but he definitely green-lighted those deals. In some of the deals, it was either a complete lack of due diligence on multi-million dollar deals or flat out corruption.

Also, why was the Trump transition including Jared Kushner trying to establish super-secret back channels with the Russians? To the point of wanting to use Russian intelligence communication systems. That request from Kushner was with the full knowledge of Flynn an experienced intelligence official, so it can't be chalked up to naivety.

It's pretty clear on some level Michael Flynn was Trump's "Girl Friday". Considering how close Flynn and Trump were during the campaign, it's hard to imagine Flynn was completely freelancing without Trump's knowledge on all the meetings Flynn had with various Russian officials. We know Trump isn't a loyal guy but he keeps asking various intelligence officials to drop the Flynn investigation.

Both Flynn and Jeff Session became advisors to the Trump campaign roughly around the same time. Yet Trump was about to dump Jeff Sessions in recent weeks because he feels Sessions has brought him trouble with the special prosecutor. Michael Flynn in comparison has brought Trump a TON of trouble and basically set the entire thing in motion with the call to the Russian ambassador and all the other half-dozen disclosures of being a foreign agent and etc. Yet Trump supposedly still holds Michael Flynn in high regard and keeps relentlessly defending him. There was even talk of trying to get him back in the administration. Trump has practically thrown almost everyone under the bus who has given him bad press. Michael Flynn has given Trump a megaton of bad press yet Trump treats Flynn with kid gloves.

One thing I hope the Mueller investigation turns up is how intertwined are Trump and Flynn. The obstruction of justice inquiry that Trump faces is purely because Trump kept trying to put the brakes on the Flynn investigation.
 

E-Cat

Member
One of the funniest and most apt 'shops I've seen in my ~17 years on GAF. Absolutely amazing.
holy shit this is real

edit: this was made before this announcement. if you dont know, now you know
Yeah. The thing originated completely by accident in another thread, prior to the news!

I used the original comic as the OP, then asked if someone could photoshop orange hair on him. Tence made the hair and Permanently A came up with Mueller, separately from each other. I merely combined the two:

+
=
Crazy how it turned out even more apt than anyone could've predicted.
 

Ac30

Member
I sometimes wonder what the ripple effects of an impeachment would be - didn't Clinton's approval ratings climb quite dramatically after he was impeached? It could well be a double-edged sword; maybe he's better as a lame duck with a Dem house until he gets voted out in 2020. Wouldn't that give people a reason to rally behind him, he's already doing a swell job of killing his own base.

I guess it all depends on how much better Pence would really be.
 

entremet

Member
To be honest, I feel this is way more substantial than the Russian ties, which I’m not fully convinced will turn out any smoking guns.
 

cameron

Member
Nice.

They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice

— Donald J. Trump‏ (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2017
 

Chuckie

Member
Yeah. The thing originated completely by accident in another thread, prior to the news!

I used the original comic as the OP, then asked if someone could photoshop orange hair on him. Tence made the hair and Permanently A came up with Mueller, separately from each other. I merely combined the two:


+

=

Crazy how it turned out even more apt than anyone could've predicted.

Lol. That thing is getting a lot of mileage.
 

PnCIa

Member
Nice.

They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice

— Donald J. Trump‏ (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2017
I was really, really wondering there for a second if this was a real tweet or not. Suffice to say...it was. God damn america.
 

Razmos

Member
Nice.

They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice

— Donald J. Trump‏ (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2017
The "nice" is the kind of thing I'd say as a teenager when I was annoyed with someone.

A quick reminder that this man is 71 and the leader of the free world
 
The "nice" is the kind of thing I'd say as a teenager when I was annoyed with someone.

A quick reminder that this man is 71 and the leader of the free world
He probably wrote nice to finish off the rest of the tweet soon
Because when has he made a single tweet before lol
 

kaioshade

Member
Cite your sources pls? Never seen that. All I ever see is a wide variety of "and so it begins".

Tired of this defeatist bs. If that's all you have to contribute, just walk past the thread.

It always “begins” when something is brought up. So not those EXACT words but the sentiment that a new piece of news will be instrumental in getting him removed from office. i will respectfully disagree that wanting to see actual consequences is “defeatist bs”
 

jelly

Member
I know it's Trump and broken record reply but I can't believe he tweeted that.

His lawyers better hope they get paid...
 
Nice.

They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice

— Donald J. Trump‏ (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2017

'They' being the combined CIA, NSA, DHS and FBI on top of conclusions shared by British and Dutch security services.

All made up. Just to hurt him.

jenniferlawrence.gif
 

darkinstinct

...lacks reading comprehension.
But Comey assured him THREE time's he wasn't personally under investigation!!!!

Before he got fired. That changed things. But obviously this is just Mueller getting word out there after Trump tested the waters of the implications of firing Mueller. By stating outright that Trump is being investigated Mueller makes it much harder for Trump to fire him, because he'd instantly look guilty.
 

Steejee

Member
Few more weeks of this and his lawyers are put to suicide watch.

------

In other news, we should expect Rosenstein to recuse himself soon from overseeing Mueller.

Given how scummy and seemingly bad his personal lawyer is, I think we can switch from suicide watch to "Hey, flip on Trump and you can escape jail!"
 

SteveWD40

Member
Nice.

They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice

— Donald J. Trump‏ (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2017

Trump seems to think that if he controls the narrative he controls reality.

Like, if he is guilty and found to be such, it won't matter what his followers think / believe (unless he is banking on mass riots if he is impeached etc...)

I am still convinced he is looking for the right time to quit, the whole point was that he and Bannon were going to use the (unsuccessful they assumed) run at the WH as a platform to launch a TV channel.
 

nomster

Member
To be honest, I feel this is way more substantial than the Russian ties, which I’m not fully convinced will turn out any smoking guns.
They just brought financial and organized crime experts into the investigation, why would you think that?
 
Well I bet this throws a wrench in Trump wanting to fire Mueller now. Hopefully this helps being down the GOP during the mid-term elections.
 
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