Donald Trump presidency discussion thread V

Itssoeasy

The answers to the questions by mueller to trump and trump answers have a very Jeff “I don’t recall” sessions feel to them. I think all or most of them start with some variation of “I don’t remember/ I don’t recall” and no way did trump give those answers all by himself.

peddlelies

rossie1977 wrote: »

Abernathy is a Republican. His views are very partisan.

That's OK. I know it to be true regardless.

Billy Mays

Leroy42 wrote: »

From The guardian:

Bill Barr’s pre-spin on the Mueller report is looking shakier by the minute. The attorney general told us this morning that the White House had “fully cooperated” with the investigation.

Let’s not forget that Trump refused to be interviewed by Mueller – instead he only agreed to give written responses. Now, we get to see for the first time the president’s answers to the questions the special counsel posed him, reproduced as an appendix.

As a clearly exasperated Mueller notes, “the president stated on more than 30 occasions that he ‘does not recall’ or ‘remember’ or ‘have an independent recollection’” of information called for by the questions.

When you read Trump’s answers you can see what Mueller means. Take the first three responses the president gives relating to the Trump Tower meeting between his son Don Jr and a group of Russians in June 2016.

They begin:

- “I have no recollection…”

- “Nor do I recall…”

- “I have no independent recollection…”

After he received these replies, Mueller went back to Trump and asked again for a face-to-face interview, given the “inadequacy of the written format”. Trump declined.

One of the great memories of all time apparently

Midlife

peddlelies wrote: »

That's OK. I know it to be true regardless.

"Yes, Fox News is an echo chamber for the right, but no more than CNN and MSNBC are for the left, as far as conservatives are concerned. To be fair, when a Democrat is in the White House, the networks switch places, with Fox News criticizing every move, and MSNBC and CNN defending the Oval Office fortress."

This is what you know to be true?

And also that Meuller and his team should be investigated?

That's all the article says, apart from 'Barr is a great guy'.

Thepoet85

Also from the report:

"The evidence we obtained about the President’s actions and intent presents difficult issues that would need to be resolved if we were making a traditional prosecutorial judgement. At the same time, if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards however we are unable to reach that judgment. Accordingly while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."

So enough leaning one way and another that both sides can claim victory I guess.

FatherTed

peddlelies wrote: »

What's with the tone? You'll see it says late summer 2016, and mentions a possible future release. Assange was on cable TV touting a second release during that summer, without specific dates it's meaningless.

We don't know specifically because most of that page is conveniently redacted so one cannot say exactly either way.

Leroy42

peddlelies wrote: »

Leroy42 wrote: »

What it clearly shows is that the media have been shown to he pretty spot on in their reporting throughout.

Depends on the media you're talking about I suppose. CNN and MSNBC disgraced themselves.

Fox got it pretty much spot on.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/04/15/admit-it-fox-news-has-been-right-all-along/

"Admit It: Fox News Has been Right All Along.”

I was more talking about NYT and WaPo.

You know, the enemies of the people with so much fake news.

Turns out they were pretty much bang on on all the major stories.

Itssoeasy

Thepoet85 wrote: »

Also from the report:

"The evidence we obtained about the President’s actions and intent presents difficult issues that would need to be resolved if we were making a traditional prosecutorial judgement. At the same time, if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards however we are unable to reach that judgment. Accordingly while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."

So enough leaning one way and another that both sides can claim victory I guess.

And nudge the congress to take up the baton.

peddlelies

Leroy42 wrote: »

I was more talking about NYT and WaPo.

You know, the enemies of the people with so much fake news.

Turns out they were pretty much bang on on all the major stories.

The New York times got the entire thing rolling back in 2017 and gave it credibility

https://www.businessinsider.com/comey-new-york-times-story-russia-inaccurate-2017-6?r=US&IR=T

"Former FBI Director James Comey on Thursday publicly disputed much of a February New York Times report that said top officials in President Donald Trump's campaign had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials before the election.

In a dramatic Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, Sen. Jim Risch asked Comey about a private hearing in February in which Comey told the committee that the report "upset" Comey so much he "surveyed the intelligence community to see whether [he was] missing something in that," and that Comey sought out Republican and Democratic senators to push back against the report."

Ben Done

Seth Abramson is live tweeting his page by page of the report - worth reading..

peddlelies

Ben Done wrote: »

Seth Abramson is live tweeting his page by page of the report - worth reading..

The guy who wrote the conspiracy book and made millions off useful idiots? Can't wait. I wonder if Mueller has read it.

"How Trump betrayed America" indeed.

Brian?

Holy sh1t. Fox news are tearing into Barr for defending Trump. Criticising Barr for not actually talking about the report.

Brian?

Trump tries to have 4 different people interfere or sack Mueller. The only reason it wasn't obstruction of justice was that they refused.

So sat Fox news. Are they the liberal mainstream media now??

Itssoeasy

Brian? wrote: »

Holy sh1t. Fox news are tearing into Barr for defending Trump. Criticising Barr for not actually talking about the report.

Which presenters are saying this ? Is shep smith one of them ? He's not on the Trump fan club so not surprising if it's him.

Brian?

Itssoeasy wrote: »

Which presenters are saying this ? Is shep smith one of them ? He's not on the Trump fan club so not surprising if it's him.

Yep, Sheppard Smith and your man Chris something that does Fox on Sunday.

I know Sheppard isn't a big fan of Trump, but they are really going after him here.

Itssoeasy

Brian? wrote: »

Itssoeasy wrote: »

Which presenters are saying this ? Is shep smith one of them ? He's not on the Trump fan club so not surprising if it's him.

Yep, Sheppard Smith and your man Chris something that does Fox on Sunday.

I know Sheppard isn't a big fan of Trump, but they are really going after him here.

Chris Wallace who may not be as clearly not a fan of trump but does ask awkward questions and doesn’t always play ball. But we can debate how much this report hurts trump. But I think we can all agree I think that this report in no way fully clear trump like he says.

Toeuptony

kilns wrote: »

Basically all of Trumps written answers including I cannot recall or I have no recollection. That includes the famous Trump Tower meeting

But how can that be, considering "Donald Trump’s very, very large eh-brain.".

peddlelies

This is absolutely brilliant, shows the intellect of the man.

https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1118879464170115072

Brian?

peddlelies wrote: »

This is absolutely brilliant, shows the intellect of the man.

https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1118879464170115072

What? I'm sure Barr is a smart guy, but he said nothing there and simply batted away the question.

Brian?

Toeuptony wrote: »

But how can that be, considering "Donald Trump’s very, very large eh-brain.".

Sheppard Smith and Chris Wallace had a good laugh about this. Shep said "This is from a man who told us he has the greatest memory".

Brian?

A good point made here. The.majority redacted sections related to ongoing legal matters. No one knows what they are yet. This is just the beginning.

Outlaw Pete

Ben about sums it up....

https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1118965342863155200?s=19

The left, as ever, just determined to get Trump... anything at all will do.

Very little genuineness about much of the vitriol about.

peddlelies

Brian? wrote: »

What? I'm sure Barr is a smart guy, but he said nothing there and simply batted away the question.

I found it very impressive on Barr's part to dismantle a tough question in such a controlled manner with quick calculated retorts, he's obviously extremely intelligent.

She attempts to ask a legitimately tough question using multiple examples on him protecting Trump, but the final part of it where she quotes Barr as saying that he considered Trump's sincerity in the obstruction case backfires hard on her, because Barr is able to discount most of her initial question which would be very tough to answer, and tells her he was using exact evidence in Mueller's report itself to make that determination on Trump's intention. ( on his sincerity )

She then goes on to quote him and says you said "You faced an unprecedented situation". Barr then asks "Is there another precedent?". She replies "No." Barr then asks "So unprecedented is an accurate description?" She replies "Yes".

Itssoeasy

So Sarah sanders has admitted that her saying on camera that FBI agents had lost faith in James comey was not based on facts. Haha

jooksavage

Ok, my favourite part of the report so far is the bit where Trump is pressuring Don McGahn to change his statement about how he directed him to tell Rosenstein to fire Mueller because of "conflicts of interest". McGahn won't change his truthful recollection and Trump gets pissed and asks him why he takes so many notes anyway. McGahn fires back that it's because he's a "real lawyer". Trump then says that he's had plenty of good lawyers like ROY COHN: "he did not take notes"

Now it is possible that Trump might not be able to afford the calibre of high end solicitor I got to handle my mortgage drawdowns, but if they're not taking notes, that's not great.

EltonJohn69

I see trump didn't take any questions on his way too marine one today...... I would have liked to see him answer some questions regarding the muller report

peddlelies

jooksavage wrote: »

Ok, my favourite part of the report so far is the bit where Trump is pressuring Don McGahn to change his statement about how he directed him to tell Rosenstein to fire Mueller because of "conflicts of interest". McGahn won't change his truthful recollection and Trump gets pissed and asks him why he takes so many notes anyway. McGahn fires back that it's because he's a "real lawyer". Trump then says that he's had plenty of good lawyers like ROY COHN: "he did not take notes"

Now it is possible that Trump might not be able to afford the calibre of high end solicitor I got to handle my mortgage drawdowns, but if they're not taking notes, that's not great.

In all likelihood if it wasn't for the people around him disobeying his firing orders, he would have been indicted for obstruction or worse. Imagine the uproar if Mueller was fired?

If the report shows anything it's how impulsive he is. You must be insanely reckless to be indicted even when there's no real underlying crime, at least connected directly to him.

The biggest mistake he ever made was firing James Comey, the SC says the evidence points to him doing that because Comey wouldn't say publicly he wasn't under investigation. On one hand ok I get it the cloud is ruining your Presidency, but jesus. Mueller being fired would make it 10 times worse.

EltonJohn69

this report is worse for trump then I expected.... if an when Muller goes in front of congress, Trump could struggle in 2020

batgoat

brendanwalsh wrote: »

Congrats to trump
He was proven to be telling the truth
Mainstream media shown up once again

It looks awful for him and it looks like he used an attorney General to spin it for him.

peddlelies

EltonJohn69 wrote: »

this report is worse for trump then I expected.... if an when Muller goes in front of congress, Trump could struggle in 2020

Uh, think you're a bit wrong there. It's a huge win for Trump. All people will remember is the conclusions, in a few weeks nobody will be talking about it anymore and they'll have moved on to the next thing to attack him on, most likely his tax returns.